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diff --git a/37413-0.txt b/37413-0.txt index 295ae9d..16dc4ab 100644 --- a/37413-0.txt +++ b/37413-0.txt @@ -1,25 +1,4 @@ - THE DUKE DECIDES - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: The Duke Decides - -Author: Headon Hill - -Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37413] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 37413 *** Produced by Darleen Dove, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. @@ -6740,375 +6719,4 @@ added had she so chosen, that it had required a woman’s knowledge of woman’s heart to inspire in the General the insight which had steered the Duke’s storm-tossed bark to harbor. - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37413 - -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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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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: The Duke Decides - -Author: Headon Hill - -Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37413] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - - -Produced by Darleen Dove, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. - -This file was produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries. - - THE DUKE DECIDES - By HEADON HILL - - Author of _By a Hair's-Breadth_, etc. - - _New York_ - A. WESSELS COMPANY - 1904 - - Copyright, 1903, by _A. Wessels Company_ - - Published, 1903 - - PRESS OF - BRAUNWORTH & CO. - BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS - BROOKLYN, N. Y. - -[Illustration: _Leonie Sherman_] - - ---- - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I--_The Man with the Mandate_ - CHAPTER II--_On Board the_ St. Paul - CHAPTER III--_A Task-master in Goggles_ - CHAPTER IV--_The Lady in the Landau_ - CHAPTER V--_Ziegler Begins to Move_ - CHAPTER VI--_The General is Curious_ - CHAPTER VII--_The Men on the Stairs_ - CHAPTER VIII--_The Cut Panel_ - CHAPTER IX--_The Strategy of the General_ - CHAPTER X--_A Duty Call_ - CHAPTER XI--_On the Terrace_ - CHAPTER XII--_The Man Under the Seat_ - CHAPTER XIII--_At the Keeper's Cottage_ - CHAPTER XIV--_Too Many Women_ - CHAPTER XV--_A New Cure for Headache_ - CHAPTER XVI--_A Delicate Mission_ - CHAPTER XVII--_Where is the Duke?_ - CHAPTER XVIII--_The Senator and the Securities_ - CHAPTER XIX--_In the Crypt_ - CHAPTER XX--_In the Muniment Room_ - CHAPTER XXI--_The Honor of the House_ - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - Leonie Sherman - A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her? - The procession of three led by the stranger. - I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. - - ---- - - - - -CHAPTER I--_The Man with the Mandate_ - - -At six o'clock on a May evening, at an uptown corner of Broadway, in New -York City, the bowels of the earth opened and disgorged a crowd of -weary-faced men and women who scattered in all directions. They were the -employees of a huge "dry-goods store," leaving work for the day. It was -a stringent rule of the firm that everyone drawing wages, from the smart -managers of departments and well-dressed salesladies down to the -counting-house drudges and check-boys, should descend into the basement, -and there file past the timekeeper and a private detective before -passing up a narrow staircase, and so out by a sort of stage-door into -the side street. - -The great plate-glass portals on the main thoroughfare were not for the -working bees of this hive of industry--only for the gay butterflies of -fashion by whom they lived. - -The last to come out was a young man dressed in a threadbare suit of -tweeds, that somehow hardly seemed American, either in cut or fabric. -There might have been a far-away reminiscence of Perthshire moors -clinging to them, or earlier memories of a famous creator in Bond -Street; but suggestion of the reach-me-down shops from which New York -clerks clothe themselves there was none. A flush of anger was fading on -their owner's face as he came out into the sunlight, leaving a mild -annoyance that presently gave place to a grin. - -The firm's detective, rendered suspicious by a bulging pocket, had just -searched him, and had failed to apologize on finding the protuberance to -be nothing but a bundle of un-eatable sandwiches that were being taken -home to confound the landlady of the young man's cheap boarding-house. - -The indignity did not rankle long. It was only a detail in the -topsy-turvydom that in one short year had changed a subaltern in a crack -English cavalry regiment into an ill-paid drudge in a dry-goods store. -Twelve months before Charles Hanbury had been playing polo and riding -gymkhana races in Upper India, but extravagance beyond his means had -brought swift ruin in its train. Tired of helping him out of scrapes, -his connections had refused further assistance; and, leaving the Army, -he had come out to "the States" with the idea of roughing it on the -Western plains. Still misfortune had dogged his steps. A fall down a -hatchway on the voyage out had hopelessly lamed him, and he had been -compelled to ward off starvation by obtaining his present inglorious -berth. - -His work--adding up columns of figures entered from the -sales-tickets--was quite irresponsible, and he was paid accordingly. He -drew eight dollars a week, of which five went to his boarding-house -keeper. - -Limping up ---- Street, he turned into the Bowery, intending to take his -usual homeward route across the big bridge into Brooklyn. Unable to -afford a street-car, he walked to and from the store daily, and it was -one of his few amusements to study the cosmopolitan life of the teeming -and sordid thoroughfare through which his way led. - -He was still chuckling over the discomfiture of the tame detective, when -his eye was caught by a label in a cheap boot-store. "Three dollars the -pair," ran the legend, which drew a rueful sigh from one who had -paid--and alas! still owed--as many guineas for a pair of dancing-pumps. - -"I don't suppose they'd sell me half a pair, for that's all it runs to," -he muttered, turning regretfully away from the vamped-up frauds, and in -so doing jerking the elbow of a passer-by. The victim of his sudden -move--a stout, fair man in a light frock-coat and a Panama straw -hat--stopped, and seemed inclined to resent the awkwardness. - -"I really beg your pardon," the culprit said with easy politeness. "I -was so absorbed in my reflections that I forgot for the moment that the -Bowery requires cautious steering." - -"You are an Englishman?" returned the other, with a milder countenance. -"So am I. No need to apologize. As a fellow-countryman in foreign parts, -permit me to offer you some liquid refreshment. In other words, come -into that dive next door and have a drink." - -With an imperceptible shrug, Mr. Hanbury allowed himself to be -persuaded. He would lose his supper at his boarding-house by the -irregularity, but dissipation seldom came his way nowadays, and the -prospect of whisky at some one else's expense was tempting. Yes, he had -fallen low enough for that! The stout Englishman somehow conveyed the -impression that he would not expect to be treated in return by his new -acquaintance, who was prepared to take advantage of his liberality. To -do him justice, Hanbury's complacence was not entirely due to spirituous -longings, but to a homesick instinct aroused by the Cockney accent of -the vulgar stranger. - -The garish underground saloon into which they descended was almost empty -at that early hour of the evening. Drinks having been set before them at -one of the circular tables, the host subjected his guest to a scrutiny -so searching that its object broke into a laugh. - -"You are sizing me up pretty closely," he remarked, with a touch of -annoyance. - -"Exactly; but not so as to give offence, I hope," was the reply. "I -should like to know your name, if you have no objection." - -"Hanbury--Charles Hanbury. Perhaps you will make the introduction -mutual?" said the younger man, appeased by the other's conciliatory -manner. - -"Call me Jevons," the stout man answered. "Now look here, Mr. Hanbury; -it's not my game to begin our acquaintance under false pretences. The -fact is, I contrived that you should jostle me just now, and so give me -a chance to speak. I spotted you as an Englishman and a gentleman a -fortnight ago, and I've noticed you pass along the Bowery every day -since. I am in need of an Englishman, who is also a gentleman, to take -on a job with a fortune--a moderate fortune--at the back of it." - -"You can hardly have mistaken me for an investor," said Hanbury, with a -quizzical glance at his threadbare seams and dilapidated boots. "Believe -me, I am a very broken-down gentleman; but still, my gentility survives, -I suppose, and I am willing to treat it as a commercial asset, if that -is what you mean." - -Mr. Jevons gulped down his liquor without comment and did not utter -another word till the glasses had been replenished. Then, hitching his -chair closer, he produced a pocket-book from which he extracted five -one-hundred-dollar notes. - -"Before we leave this place I shall hand these over to you for -preliminary expenses--if we come to terms," he said, watching the effect -of the display on his companion's face. Satisfied with the eager glance -in the tired eyes, he proceeded more confidentially: "There is a risk to -be run, but it doesn't amount to much; and if the scheme comes off it -will set you on your legs again. Part of this money you will have to -spend in a first-class passage to England by the next steamer, and -there'll be plenty more for you on arrival." - -"My dear friend, you seem to be a sort of Aladdin. If you only knew the -existence I have been leading here, without the courage to terminate it, -you would be assured of my answer," replied Hanbury, wondering but not -caring much what was expected of him. To escape from his dry-goods -drudgery and return to England with money in his pocket and the prospect -of more--why, the ex-cavalry officer felt that he would loot the Crown -Jewels for that! And he said so in so many words. - -"Then you're the man for us," was the verdict of Mr. Jevons. "It's a bit -on the cross--not burglary, but a little matter of planting some -beautifully imitated paper. Is that too steep for you?" - -Hanbury made a wry face, but answered without hesitation: - -"Aiding a forgery isn't quite the road to fortune I should have chosen, -but beggars--you know the maxim. Society hasn't been too kind to me, and -I don't see why I should range myself on its side. Yes, I'll do it; and -if I'm caught, stone-breaking at Portland won't be any worse than adding -up figures in a subterranean counting-house. Let me have the -particulars, Mr. Jevons, and I'll see it through to the best of an -ability that hasn't much to recommend it." - -"You shall have the particulars," said the other; then stopped, and -laughed rather nervously. "You must understand that I am but a -subordinate in this matter, and we have reached the only unpleasant part -of my task," he went on. "It is not congenial to have to use a -threat--even a confidential one; yet I am instructed to do so, before I -enlighten you further." - -The rascal's concern was unmistakably genuine; and Hanbury, with the -good-humored tolerance of his class, hastened to reassure him. - -"Go on; I can guess what you have to disclose--the pains and penalties -for breach of faith, eh?" - -Jevons nodded, and bent his shiny, perspiring face nearer. "It is a big -thing, involving enormous outlay and the interests of an organization -commanding great resources," he whispered. "Your life wouldn't be worth -five minutes' purchase if you deserted us after you had been entrusted -with the details. Now, will you have them on those conditions, or shall -we say 'Good-night' to each other?" - -Hanbury stretched out his hand impatiently for the notes. "Pray satisfy -my curiosity, and let me have them on those conditions," he said. "My -life is of no earthly value to me. Besides, with all my faults, I'm not -one to turn back after putting my hand to the plough. If I do, by all -means give me my quietus as mercifully as may be." - -"Then here goes," whispered Jevons, mouth to ear. "The game is the -planting of faked United States Treasury Bonds on the Bank of England to -the tune of three million sterling--pounds, not dollars, you know. You -will proceed to England by the _St. Paul_, sailing for Southampton the -day after to-morrow, and on arrival in London you will at once call on -Mr. Clinton Ziegler, at the Hotel Cecil. He is our chief, and will give -you final instructions as to your part in the campaign. You'll find him -a handsome paymaster." - -"I look forward to making Mr. Ziegler's acquaintance with interest," -replied Hanbury, pocketing the notes which the other passed to him. "Am -I to have the pleasure of your company on the voyage?" - -"I'm afraid not; my work is here," said Jevons. "And--well, it's not -altogether healthy for me on the other side." The confession was -accompanied by a wink which forcibly brought it home to the recruit that -he had joined the criminal classes. His new friend--"pal," he supposed -he ought to call him--evidently thought him worthy of personal -confidence. - -They had another drink together at the bar, and parted outside the -saloon, Hanbury making his belated way towards Brooklyn. Once or twice -he turned abruptly to see if he was being followed, but the aggressive -white Panama hat was nowhere visible, the conclusion being obvious that -the astute Mr. Jevons had ascertained his domicile, as well as his place -of employment, before broaching his delicate business. - -Tramping along the teeming Bowery and across the footway of the mighty -bridge, the ex-hussar enjoyed to the full the exultation of feeling -money in his pocket once more. It was not much, and it was as good as -spent already in the cost of a passage and an outfit; but it was the -earnest of more to come, and, above all, it franked the exile home to -England. At the price of his honor, perhaps? Well, yes; but what was -honor to a dry-goods clerk at eight dollars a week? He might have taken -a different view two years ago, when honor stood for something in his -creed; but not now, with the world against him. - -Entering the sordid boarding-house, he mounted to his top-floor bedroom, -aware that he had forfeited his supper of beef-hash, and that it was too -late to go to the dining-room in quest thereof. His eyrie under the -roof, flanked on one side by the apartment of a German car-driver and on -the other by that of an Irish porter, was furnished with little else -than a bed and a toilet-table. - -On the toilet-table lay a telegram addressed to him--the first he had -received since he had been in America. The unwonted sight caused his -hands to tremble a little as he tore it open, but they trembled a good -deal more as he read the fateful words: - -"_Your uncle and cousin have been killed in a railway accident. Come to -England at once. Have cabled a thousand pounds to Morgan's to your -credit.--Pattisons._" - -"Pattisons" were the family solicitors, and he who a moment before had -called himself Charles Hanbury now knew that his true description would -appear in the next issue of "Debrett" as "Charles Augustus Trevor -Fitzroy Hanbury, seventh Duke of Beaumanoir," with a rent-roll of two -hundred thousand a year. - -And he stood committed, on pain of assassination, to aid and abet in the -palming off of bogus bonds on the Bank of England! - - - - -CHAPTER II--_On Board the_ St. Paul - - -The _St. Paul_ sped eastwards across the summer sea, and surely of all -the human hopes and fears carried by the great liner those locked in the -breast of the new Duke were the most momentous. To gain a little -breathing time, he had booked his passage as plain Charles Hanbury. In -the brief interval before sailing he had seen no more of Jevons, but he -guessed that that shrewd practitioner would have watched him, or had him -watched, on board, even if there was not a spy upon him among his -fellow-passengers; and he wished to let it be inferred that his voyage -was undertaken solely in observance of the compact made in the Bowery -dive. - -For as yet he was by no means certain of his attitude towards that -compact. It was true that the cast-off wastrel of two days ago was now -one of the premier peers of England, hastening home to take possession -of his fortune and estates. But where was the good of being a duke if -you were to be a dead duke? he argued with a cynicism bred of his -misfortunes rather than innate. There had been a genuine ring about the -proposal of Jevons that left no doubt as to the reality of the menace -held out; the man's reluctance in broaching the penalty of desertion -carried conviction that it was no mere flower of speech. - -On the whole, the Duke was inclined to call on the arch rogue at the -Hotel Cecil before incurring a risk that might render his dukedom a -transitory possession. Then, if the part he was expected to play proved -to be within his powers and without much chance of detection, he might -still elect to play it, and so enjoy in security his hereditary -privileges. - -It will be seen that the seventh Duke of Beaumanoir was not troubled -with moral scruples, and that the principle of _noblesse oblige_ had no -place as yet in his somewhat seared philosophy. It was enough for the -moment that he had gained something worth having and keeping, and he -meant to have it and keep it by the most efficacious method. Whether -that method would prove to be connivance in a gigantic crime or the -denouncement of the latter to Scotland Yard could only be decided by a -personal interview with the mysterious Ziegler. Yes, he would pay that -visit to the Hotel Cecil, at any rate, and be guided by what passed -there as to his future course of action. - -"A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Hanbury," said a gay voice at his elbow, -as on the third day of the voyage he leaned over the rail of the -promenade deck and ruminated on his dilemma. Wheeling round he looked -down into the laughing eyes of a girl, a very dainty and charming girl, -who sat next him at the saloon table. No formal introduction had taken -place between them, for lack of mutual friends; but he had learned from -the card designating her place at table that she was Miss Leonie -Sherman, and it is to be presumed that she had gathered his name in the -same way. - -"I will earn that penny," he said with mock gravity. "I was debating how -far one might legitimately carry the principle of doing evil that good -might come." - -It was a strange answer to make to a shipboard acquaintance of three -days, and Miss Sherman regarded him with a newly awakened interest. - -"It depends," she said, "whether the good is to accrue to yourself or to -other people." - -"Oh, to myself," he replied, smiling. "I am not a philanthropist--quite -the other way about." - -"Then, whatever it is, you oughtn't to do it," said the girl, decidedly. -"It will be horrid of you to as much as contemplate anything of the -kind. You had much better do good lest evil befall; and the opportunity -occurs right here, at this very moment." - -"I shall be most happy--without prejudice to my intentions as to the -reverse of the medal," said Beaumanoir, lightly. - -"Then help me to avoid a lecture from my mother by taking me for a -promenade," proceeded Leonie, indicating a portly lady who had ascended -from the lower deck and was peering about in search. "She is the best -and dearest of mothers, but she has set her heart on a vain thing, and -it is becoming the least bit tiresome. I can see that she is going to -din it into me again, if she catches me. Her idea is that the sole duty -of an American girl going to England is to 'spread herself,' as they say -out West, to marry an English duke." - -His Grace of Beaumanoir listened with an unmoved countenance. - -"Yes," he said, "to marry a duke might--probably would--be an -unmitigated evil. I will help you to avoid it with pleasure. Let us walk -by all means, Miss Sherman, if you don't mind my awkward limp." - -So they joined the procession of promenaders, and there and then -cemented a friendship which ripened quickly, as friendships between the -opposite sexes do at sea. The haughty salesladies of the dry-goods store -had not deigned to notice the counting-house drudge, and Leonie's -piquant beauty made instant captive of one who had been deprived of the -society of women for over a year. She had all the frank _camaraderie_ of -the well-bred American, and her eager anticipations of the good time she -was to have in Europe were infectious. In her company Beaumanoir was -able to forget the dark shadow hanging over him, and to give himself up -to the enjoyment of the hour. He began by being deeply grateful to her -for taking him out of himself; and gratitude to a charming girl with a -ravishing figure and a complexion of tinted ivory is like to have its -heels trod by a warmer sentiment. - -Leonie, in her turn, was interested in the reserved young Englishman, -who had so little to say about his doings in America, and less about his -position and prospects in his native land. As he paced with his slight -limp at her side or lounged with her at the rail, she tried to draw him -out; but she could get nothing from him but that he had been in New York -on business, and that business was taking him home. Yet, though reticent -on his own affairs, he talked freely about all that concerned herself, -and painted vivid word-pictures of the delights that awaited her in -London. - -The girl, having nothing to conceal, told him freely of herself and of -her plans and projects. She and her mother were going to stay with -English friends in London till the end of the season, when perhaps they -would run over to Paris and Rome for a month before returning to America -in the autumn. Her father, Senator Sherman, was to have accompanied -them; but he had been detained by public business at Washington, and was -to join them a little later in London. - -On the fifth day of the voyage, as the _St. Paul_ was approaching the -Irish coast, Leonie and Beaumanoir were sitting on deck after dinner, -chatting in the twilight, when she suddenly laid her hand on his arm. - -"I want you to notice that man who has just gone by--the one smoking the -fag-end of a cigar in a holder," she whispered, with a gesture towards -the stream of passengers passing and repassing between the rows of -chairs. - -Beaumanoir's gaze followed her indication to an insignificant little -figure in a brown covert-coat and tweed cap. - -"Yes. What of him?" he asked. He had not spoken to this passenger, but -now that attention was called to him he had an idea that the fellow had -loomed largely during the last few days. - -"That man is watching you, Mr. Hanbury," replied Leonie with conviction. -"I wonder you haven't observed it yourself. Whenever you are talking he -hangs about trying to listen; when you are on deck he is on deck; if you -go below, he goes below. If you were a fugitive from justice, and he a -detective, he couldn't shadow you more closely." - -The Duke winced inwardly. - -"I am not a fugitive from justice," he said, with the mental addition of -"yet." He could not tell this laughing maiden that the man was probably -spying on him in the interest, not of justice, but of crime--to see that -he was true to a pledge to place forged bonds; for now that he had been -put on his guard he had no doubt that his pretty informant was right. -The stranger occupied the cabin next to him, and was always hovering -near him in the smoking-room, unobtrusively but persistently. - -Thanking the girl for her warning in a careless tone that implied that -he had no reason to be anxious, he changed the subject. But before he -turned in that night he made it his business to ascertain from his -bedroom steward the name of his next-door neighbor, which proved to be -Marker. - -"Probably Mr. Marker's functions are confined to espionage. If that is a -sample of the sort of bravo to be employed should I kick over the -traces, I haven't much to fear," he reflected, as he switched off the -electric light and composed himself to dream of Leonie Sherman. - - - - -CHAPTER III--_A Task-master in Goggles_ - - -The next morning the _St. Paul_ arrived at Southampton, but Beaumanoir -contrived to secure a seat in the same compartment of the boat-train, -and his parting with his new friends was therefore deferred till they -reached Waterloo. - -He was sorely tempted to enlist the elder lady's favor by making known -his proper style and rank; though, to do her justice, Mrs. Sherman's -fondness for the peerage was largely a humorous fiction on her -daughter's part. The Senator's wife was really a simple-minded body, -with an abiding admiration for the unattainable, and the British -aristocracy was naturally included in that category. - -But the sight of Mr. Marker's covert-coat hovering near them on the -arrival platform checked the Duke's intention, which the next moment was -rendered unnecessary by Mrs. Sherman herself. - -"Come and see us, Mr. Hanbury," she said, extending the tips of her -fingers in farewell. "We are to be the guests of some good friends of -ours at 140 Grosvenor Gardens, and we know them well enough to make -ourselves at home. The Senator will be over in a week or two, and he'll -be glad to thank you for your politeness." - -"I will pay my respects without fail," Beaumanoir responded; and a -minute later, after a warmer pressure of Leonie's well-gloved hand, he -stood watching their cab with its load of "saratogas" drive down the -incline. By the void in his heart he knew that the girl in the -coquettish toque, who had just repeated her mother's invitation with her -eyes, was all the world to him. - -He turned to look after his scanty baggage with a sigh. How different it -would all have been if he had chosen some other route to his Brooklyn -boarding-house on the eventful night when the plausible Jevons had -waylaid him! All would have been plain sailing, and he could have asked -Leonie with a clear conscience to share his new-found honors and wealth. -As it was he stood committed to a felonious enterprise which would fill -her with contempt and loathing did she know of it; though, if he -abandoned it, instinct told him he was a doomed man. - -The sight of the insignificant spy Marker lurking behind a pile of -luggage reminded him that his peril might commence at any moment if he -showed any sign of inconstancy to his pledge. Not that he anticipated -trouble from the covert-coated whippersnapper himself; but the mere fact -of it having been thought worth while to shadow him across the Atlantic -spelled danger, and suggested an organization that would stop at nothing -to safeguard itself. - -However, he had made up his mind to call on the mysterious Ziegler, and -by doing so at once he might prove his fidelity and secure a respite -from this unpleasant espionage. Summoning a hansom, he bade the driver -take him to the Hotel Cecil, and looking back he saw Marker following in -another cab. - -In the few minutes that elapsed before he was driven into the courtyard -of the palatial hotel he settled a problem that had been vexing him not -a little during the voyage. Should he introduce himself to Ziegler as -the Duke of Beaumanoir or as plain Charles Hanbury, the name by which he -had been "engaged"? If he was for a brief space to be the consort of -professional thieves, he would prefer to lead a double life--to perform -his misdeeds as a commoner, and to keep his dukedom spotless. So it was -that he gave his name as Hanbury to the clerk in the bureau of the -hotel. - -While waiting the return of the bell-boy who was sent to announce his -arrival, Beaumanoir looked about for Marker, but the spy was nowhere -visible in or from the entrance-hall. Having shepherded him to the fold, -it was evidently no part of his duty to obtrude himself till further -orders. - -A minute later the neophyte in crime was limping up the grand staircase -in wake of the bell-boy, who conducted him to one of the best private -suites on the first floor overlooking the Embankment. It was a moment -charged with electricity as the Duke of Beaumanoir found himself face to -face with the man who had hired him in his poverty, and now held him -fetter-bound in his good fortune. - -"Yet could this be he--this personification of aged helplessness lying -among the cushions of an invalid chair, who, in a thin, piping treble, -requested his visitor to come closer? Beaumanoir had pictured all sorts -of ideals of the master in crime, but Mr. Clinton Ziegler in the flesh -resembled none of them. A snowy beard covered the lower half of his -face, drooping over his chest, but the puffy cheeks were visible, and -their full purple hue betokened some cutaneous affection. The eyes were -shaded by blue glasses. - -"You are the person sent by Jevons from New York?" he began in his -parrot-like tones. "Good! What is your name? For the moment I have -forgotten it, and I cannot lay my hand on the cablegram relating to -you." - -Encouraged by the feeble senility of one whom he had expected to find a -tower of strength--a grim, inscrutable being with an inscrutable -manner--the Duke was confirmed in his intention to preserve the secret -of his rank. - -"My name is Charles Hanbury," he answered, boldly. - -But an awakening, instant and complete, was in store for him. The words -were hardly out of his mouth when Mr. Ziegler coughed a signal, and -three masked men rushed upon him from the adjoining bedroom, pinioning -his arms and stifling his sudden cry of alarm. - -"What shall we do with him, sir?" asked one of the men. - -"Chloroform him first; then you must dispose of him at leisure," came -the monotonous piping treble from the invalid chair. - -One of the assailants made immediate preparations for obeying the -behest, but just as he was about to saturate a handkerchief Ziegler -laughed shrilly: - -"Let him alone, boys. He lied to me, and I wanted to give him a -lesson--that's all." - -The men, at a sign from their chief, retired into the bedroom. - -"Now, perhaps you will recognize that I am not to be played with, _your -Grace_," squeaked Mr. Ziegler. "Also that my ears are as long as my -arms. I have known for some days that the gentleman whom my good friend -Jevons was able to procure has had a sudden change in his fortunes, and -I congratulate myself upon it. It doubles your value to us, all the more -since your early call upon me after landing shows that you mean to abide -by your bargain. But there must be no more petty reservations and -concealments like that. If you try them on, rest assured that they will -be detected and dealt with." - -The Duke straightened his rumpled collar, and looked, as he felt, a -beaten man. The mass of infirmity in the wheel-chair held, without -doubt, a power with which he could not cope. On the face of it the -notion that a man could be violently made away with in a crowded London -hotel might seem melodramatic and improbable, but the experience of the -last few minutes had shown him how readily it could be done by a chief -as well served as Ziegler appeared to be. And if he was at the man's -mercy in a crowded hostelry like the Cecil, where would he be safe? Yes, -if he was to enjoy his dukedom, he would have to go through with his -task. - -"Well, give me my instructions. What am I to do?" he said, stiffly. - -"You have made a very good beginning already," replied Ziegler, watching -him narrowly through the tinted glasses. "A gentleman, acting on behalf -of the United States Government, will shortly bring to this country the -three million pounds' worth of Treasury bonds which we mean to have. It -will be your task to relieve him of the paper, substituting bonds of our -own make, which will be deposited at the Bank of England as security -against a shipment of gold." - -"I see," the Duke murmured, mechanically. "But," he added with more -animation, "how have I made a beginning already?" - -"By making yourself agreeable to Miss Leonie Sherman. It is her father, -Senator Sherman, who is bringing the real bonds," was the answer, which -struck a chill to the Duke's heart and kept him speechless with -amazement. This old scoundrel seemed to know everything, to have -arranged everything, irrespective of time and space. - -"You ought to be grateful for my foresight in smoothing the way for -you," Ziegler croaked, in evident enjoyment of his perplexity. "It was -my agent who, by securing the good offices of a steward, had you placed -next Miss Sherman at the saloon table on the _St. Paul_, with the result -that he was able to report to me this morning from Southampton by -telegraph that you had made use of your opportunity." - -"I see," was all the Duke could feebly repeat. - -"You have been invited to call on the Shermans in London? You know where -they are staying, 140 Grosvenor Gardens?" - -"Yes," said Beaumanoir. - -"Good! Then your Grace will go on as you have begun. Gain the girl's -confidence, and that of her mother--the latter will be easy under the -auspices of your new dignity--and come here again at twelve o'clock on -Saturday morning, three days hence. I may then have further instructions -for you." - -And Mr. Clinton Ziegler waved a white, well-formed hand in dismissal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--_The Lady in the Landau_ - - -Beaumanoir passed into the corridor with unsteady steps, dazed by the -enormity of his entanglement. He had been caught so easily, yet he was -held so firmly. His first impulse was to rush off to Scotland Yard, -expose the white-bearded wire-puller in the invalid chair, and claim -protection. But that course would entail confession of his engagement as -a criminal instrument, to the everlasting disgrace of the great family -of which he was now the head. The alternatives were foul treachery to -the girl of his heart or almost certain death at the hands of Ziegler's -disciplined ruffians. - -He had reached the top of the broad staircase when a step, almost -inaudible on the thick pile carpet, sounded behind him and a hand fell -on his shoulder. - -"Charley, old boy! Or is it 'your Grace' I should be calling you? What -the dickens are you doing here?" said the young man who had overtaken -him. - -Beaumanoir's harassed brows cleared as he met Alec Forsyth's honest gaze -and he felt the grip of his honest hand. Their ways had lain apart for -the last few years, but a very real friendship, begun in the Eton -playing fields, had survived separation. Of all his acquaintances, Alec -had been the only one to go down to Liverpool twelve months before to -bid scapegrace Charles Hanbury farewell. - -"I had a call to make, before going to Pattisons' in Lincoln's Inn," -said the Duke. And then with quick apprehension he added, pointing to -the door he had just left: "Have you come from there? Have you business -with Ziegler too?" - -"Ziegler? Who's Ziegler?" asked Forsyth, looking puzzled by his sudden -confusion. "No, I haven't been to those rooms, but to the suite beyond. -A duty call on a certain Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, but, thank goodness, she -wasn't at home. Now about yourself, Charley. Fortune smiles again, eh?" - -"It's only a sickly grin at present," Beaumanoir replied, dejectedly. -"See here, Alec; I've got my bag on a cab outside. I landed at -Southampton too early for lunch. Come and talk to me while I get a snack -before going to the lawyers." - -A few minutes later they were seated in a Strand restaurant, and the -young Scotsman heard all about his friend's struggles with the demon of -poverty in New York, but never a word of the trouble that was brooding. -In his turn Forsyth was able to fill in the blanks of the family -solicitor's cablegram, and enlightened Beaumanoir as to the manner of -his succession to the title. The late Duke was traveling to Newmarket in -a racing "special," accompanied by his nephew and heir, George Hanbury, -when they had both met their deaths in a collision. - -The double funeral had taken place at Prior's Tarrant, the ancestral -seat of the Dukes of Beaumanoir in Hertfordshire, three days before, the -arrangements having been made by the solicitors, in the absence of the -next successor. The last Duke having been a childless widower, and both -his brothers, the fathers respectively of George and Charles Hanbury, -having predeceased him, there had been no near relatives to follow the -late head of the house to his last resting-place. - -"Let me see, my cousin George had a sister, Sybil, who used to live with -my uncle," Beaumanoir mused aloud. "I wonder what has become of her." - -"I believe that she is still at your town house in Piccadilly," replied -Forsyth with a constraint which the other did not notice in his -self-absorption. But the next moment it struck Beaumanoir as odd that -the information should have been so readily forthcoming, for he had been -unaware that his friend knew his relatives. - -"You have made Sybil Hanbury's acquaintance, then?" he asked. - -"Yes, since your departure for America," was the reply. "I had the -pleasure of meeting her first at my uncle's in Grosvenor -Gardens--General Sadgrove's, you know. I dare say you remember him?" - -"Oh, yes; I remember the General well--a shrewd old party with eyes like -gimlets," said Beaumanoir. "But what's this about Grosvenor Gardens?" he -added quickly. "The Sadgroves used to live in Bruton Street." - -"Quite so; but they moved to 140 Grosvenor Gardens, last Christmas." - -"140!" exclaimed the Duke. "Why, that's where the Shermans are going to -stay. Some friends of mine who--who came over in the same ship," he went -on to explain rather lamely. - -Forsyth shot an amused glance at his old crony. "Yes, I know that Uncle -Jem was expecting some Americans to put up with him, and he has been -raving about the charms of the young lady of the party for the last -fortnight. You are excited, Charley. Your manner has struck me as -strange since we met at the hotel. Is it permitted to inquire if my -uncle is entertaining unawares--a future Duchess?" - -To the young Scotsman's surprise, the Duke showed signs for a moment of -taking the light-spoken banter amiss. Beaumanoir flushed, and muttered -something inarticulate, but pulled himself together and diverted their -talk into a fresh channel, clumsily enough. - -"Don't gas about me, old chap," he said. "Tell me of yourself. Is the -world using you better than formerly?" - -"About the same," Forsyth replied with a shrug. "They gave me a -twenty-pound rise last year, so my pay as a third-grade clerk in the -Foreign Office is now the princely sum of 230 per annum. Not a -brilliant prospect. When I'm a worn-out old buffer of sixty I shall be -able to retire on a pension about equal to my present pay." - -"Then look here, Alec; chuck the public service and come to me," said -the Duke, eagerly. "I'll give you eight hundred a year to begin with, -and rises up to two thousand; and you can have the dower-house at -Prior's Tarrant to live in. Call yourself private secretary, bailiff, -anything you please--only come. The fact is--well, I've been a bit -shaken by--by what I've gone through. I want someone near me who's more -than a mere hireling." - -It was Forsyth's turn to flush now, but with pleasure at the offer made -to him. He accepted it in a few simple words, and the Duke rose and paid -his score. - -"Come with me to Pattisons'," he said. "Then we'll go on to Piccadilly -and take possession." - -The business at the lawyers', which consisted of little more than -arranging future meetings, was soon finished, and the Duke and his new -secretary took a fresh cab to the West End. As they bowled along -Beaumanoir inquired further about his cousin Sybil, whom, owing to his -absence in India and more latterly to his estrangement from his -relations, he had never met. Forsyth imparted the information that for -the last six months, since she "came out," she had virtually ruled the -late Duke's household. - -"But she can be little more than a child," Beaumanoir protested. -"Anyhow, I can't keep a cousin of eighteen on as _my_ housekeeper -without setting Mrs. Grundy's tongue wagging. The question arises what -to do with her. Old Pattison tells me she is well provided for, but I -don't like telling her to clear out if it does not occur to her to go. -What sort is she, Alec?" - -"That's rather a stiff question to put to _me_," Forsyth replied, as -though to himself. "I had better make my confession first as last," he -went on hurriedly. "You are her nearest relative now, and the head of -her family. Ever since I first saw Sybil Hanbury the dearest wish of my -heart has been to make her my wife, but without prospects of any kind I -couldn't very well ask her. There you have it, my noble patron, in a -nutshell." - -Beaumanoir patted his friend's knee affectionately. - -"My dear fellow, go in and win, so far as I am concerned," he said. -"While I am above ground your prospects need stand in your way no -longer. But you haven't answered my question, which I'll put in another -way. How is she likely to take my appearance on the scene?" - -"I'm afraid she's rather prejudiced. Her brother George didn't love you -much, you know, and she is greatly cut up by his loss," Forsyth replied, -with the dogged manner of the honest man who has to say a disagreeable -thing. "I don't think that you need be under any apprehension about her -staying on at Beaumanoir House when you show up. To be candid, I saw her -yesterday, and she said she should begin packing as soon as she was sure -that you hadn't been drowned on the voyage home." - -"Good girl!" ejaculated the Duke. "The unexpressed hope did her much -honor, only it's a pity it didn't come off. Now, Alec, if you'll see her -first--she needn't see me at all if she doesn't wish to--and tell her -from me that she's not to hurry out of the house, because I'm going to -oscillate between Prior's Tarrant and a hotel for the present, I shall -be immensely obliged to you." - -"But you said just now that you were going to take possession." - -"I have changed my mind. There are reasons which I cannot explain to you -why my immediate neighborhood is likely to be dangerous for the present. -I should be sorry to subject my fair cousin to any unpleasantness. -Though not a word of this to her or anyone else, please." - -The cab was drawing up before the ducal mansion, and Forsyth forbore to -put into words the astonishment which he looked. As the two men were -about to ascend the steps to the entrance, a landau, which was being -driven slowly by, drew to the curb, and a lady who, besides the -servants, was the sole occupant, called out: - -"Surely you're not going to cut me, Mr. Forsyth. Too proud to know poor -little me, eh, now that you've taken to calling on dukes?" - -A murmur of annoyance escaped Forsyth, but perforce he went to the -carriage and shook the daintily gloved hand held out to him. - -"How do you do, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton?" he said, adding the reproving -whisper, "That _is_ the Duke." - -The lady in the landau raised her lorgnettes and calmly surveyed the -waiting nobleman. - -"How very interesting!" she purred, adding aloud so that the subject of -her request could not fail to hear, "Why don't you introduce him, -instead of keeping him standing there? We Americans are death on dukes, -you know." - -At a gesture from Forsyth, who tried to convey his disgust by a look, -Beaumanoir limped forward, smiling. His misfortunes had made him -something of a democrat, and he had always been ready to see the comic -side of things till tragedy that morning had claimed him for its own. In -meeting the advances of the agent Jevons in the Bowery saloon he had -been largely influenced by the humor of the situation--of the scion of a -ducal house consenting to "get a bit" by passing forged bonds. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, a handsome blonde with an elegant figure and a -childish voice, received the Duke with effusion. - -"I stopped my carriage to ask Mr. Forsyth to tea on Saturday," she -prattled. "I do hope your Grace will come too. I am staying at the -Cecil, and shall be delighted to see you." - -The unblushing effrontery of the invitation failed to strike Beaumanoir -in his sudden horror at the associations called up by it. This frivolous -butterfly of a woman occupied the next suite of rooms to those in which -Ziegler was spinning his villainous web--in which that terrible old man -had unfolded to him the details of his treacherous task. Strange, too, -that he should be bidden to the mild dissipation of an afternoon -tea-table in that hotel, of all others, on the very day when he was due -to go there on business so different, for Saturday was the day appointed -by Ziegler for his call for "further instructions." - -Conscious that the mocking eyes of the lady in the landau were watching -him with a curious inquiry, he mastered his emotion, and at the same -time came to a decision on the vital issue before him. Probably he would -have arrived at the same one without the incentive of avoiding an -unpalatable engagement, but Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's invitation to tea -was undoubtedly the final influence in setting him on the straight path. - -"I am very sorry," he replied, and there was a new dignity in his tone, -"but I must ask you to excuse me. I am going down to-morrow to Prior's -Tarrant, my place in Hertfordshire, and I shall not be in town on -Saturday." - -For the fraction of a second the rebuffed hostess seemed taken aback by -the refusal. She flushed slightly under her powder, and the taper -fingers twitched on the handle of her sunshade. But without any -appreciable pause she answered gaily: - -"That's most unkind of you. Well, what must be must be. Good-bye, your -Grace. Good-bye, Mr. Forsyth; I shall expect you, anyhow. Drive on, -Bennett." - -The carriage rolled away. - -"I am glad you snubbed her," Forsyth exclaimed. "She has been made a -good deal of in certain circles during the last month or two, and -presumes a lot on the strength of it." - -"Did I snub her?" said the Duke carelessly. "I am sure I didn't mean to, -for she deserves better things of me. You'd hardly believe it, Alec, but -that little episode has jerked me into deciding a crucial point--no less -than whether to be a man or a cur. At the same time it has put me quite -outside the pale as a resident under the same roof as my cousin. On -second thoughts, I will not go in at all, but I shall be obliged if you -will see her and convey the message I gave you--that Beaumanoir House is -at her disposal till she can quite conveniently leave it." - -"But what are you going to do yourself?" said Forsyth in sheer -bewilderment. - -"First I shall go to Bond Street, to gladden the hearts of some of my -old creditors; then by an evening train to Prior's Tarrant," was the -reply. "And, Alec," proceeded the Duke earnestly, "if you can get leave -from the Foreign Office, pending retirement, and join me there as soon -as possible, you will place me under a very deep obligation." - - - - -CHAPTER V--_Ziegler Begins to Move_ - - -On the following Sunday morning the Duke of Beaumanoir stood at one of -the windows of the long library at Prior's Tarrant, idly beating a -tattoo on the glass. The June sunshine flooded the bosky leafage of the -glorious expanse of park, and nearer still the parterres of the old -Dutch garden were gay with summer bloom; but the beauties of the -landscape were lost upon the watcher at the window. - -Nearly four and twenty hours had elapsed since he had failed to keep his -appointment with Mr. Ziegler, and he was wondering how and when that -autocrat of high-grade crime would signalize his displeasure at the -mutiny. That sooner or later an edict would issue against him from the -invalid chair in the first-floor suite he had not the slightest doubt. -He knew that he had to deal with men playing a great game for a great -stake in deadly earnest. - -The Dukes of Beaumanoir had never been famous for their virtues, any -more than they had been cowards, and it was rather a dawning sense of -responsibility than fear, either for his reputation or his person, that -filled him with apprehension. If "anything happened" to him, such a lot -would happen to so many other people. For instance, it had only occurred -to him since he came down to the country that if Ziegler killed him his -death would mean ruin to Alec Forsyth, who had thrown up a sure position -to serve him. The next heir was an elderly cousin with a large family to -provide for, and he would certainly not retain Forsyth in his -employment. - -Then, again, Beaumanoir reflected with a sigh, his new and sweet -friendship with Leonie Sherman--a friendship to which no blot on his -escutcheon need now put limits--would be rudely snapped. The King of -Terrors would take away what his saved honor had restored, and perhaps -it was the bitterest drop in his cup to feel that he might be giving his -life to lose what in another sense he would have given his life to win. -To ask Leonie to link her fate to his, with that dark shadow hanging -over him, was out of the question. - -Once he had taken up his pen to denounce Ziegler to the police -authorities anonymously, but he had despondingly laid it down again. -That crafty practitioner had doubtless safeguarded himself against such -an obvious course by being prepared with an unimpeachable record which -it would be impossible to shake unless he came forward and avowed -complicity. There, again, dishonor waited for him, and he had already -made his choice that a short shrift was preferable to that. - -The gloom of his mood was enhanced by his intense loneliness in the huge -feudal monastery that now called him master, for Forsyth had been unable -to join him, owing to difficulties in obtaining release from his present -duties. - -Beaumanoir took out and read for the fifth time a letter which had -arrived that morning from his friend and secretary: - - "My dear Duke (I mustn't use the irreverent 'Charley' any - more),--I am still having trouble with the F.O. people about my - departure, but I think I may safely promise to get away to you - on Tuesday. In fact, I shall make a point of doing so, even if I - have to leave the public service in disgrace, for you must - forgive my saying that I am rather uneasy about you. The other - day you seemed like a man with a millstone round his neck, and I - take it that one of the duties of a private secretary is to - remove millstones from the person of his employer. I only wish - you would confide fully in me, and command me in any way--but - that is, of course, your affair. - - "I dined with my uncle, General Sadgrove, last night, and had - the pleasure of meeting Mrs. and Miss Sherman there. The latter - is indeed a charming girl. She was rather shy in talking about - you, having heard from my uncle that the Mr. Hanbury she met on - shipboard was probably the Duke of Beaumanoir on his way to - enter into his kingdom. Mrs. Sherman waxed enthusiastic on your - 'old-world courtesy' and the General, who chaffs the old lady, - remarked that she had been equally laudatory before she - discovered your rank. - - "They were all very kind and congratulatory on my announcing my - engagement to Sybil, which, as I wrote you yesterday, was - ratified within ten minutes of your leaving me at the door of - Beaumanoir House. - - "You may be interested to hear that I did _not_ go to tea with - Mrs. Talmage Eglinton to-day.--Yours, - - "_Alec Forsyth_." - -The Duke crushed the letter back into his pocket, and came to a -resolution. - -"I'll run up to town to-morrow and call on the Shermans," he said to -himself. "And now I'll do the proper thing, and go to church. I'm not -going to crouch in corners because of that patriarchal old fiend at the -Cecil." - -The church at which generations of Hanburys had worshiped was in the -center of Tarrant village, a mile from the lodge gates, but there was a -short cut to it across the park. This was the route taken by the Duke, -who first crossed the greensward and then passed out by a private wicket -into the road after traversing the belt of copse that fringed the -demesne. The villagers, who had waited for his coming, standing -bare-headed in the churchyard, were a little disappointed that he had -not driven up in full state. But the solitary gentleman limping up the -path atoned for the lack of ceremony and won their hearts by his -friendly smile; and a handshake to one or two of the older inhabitants, -whom he remembered as a boy, clinched the matter. The verdict went round -that the new Duke would "do." - -The service that morning was, it is to be feared, more ducal than -devotional. From the white-robed choir, ranged among the tombs of -dead-and-gone Hanburys in the chancel, to the hard-breathing rustics on -the back benches every eye was turned and steadily kept on the lonely -figure in the family pew. While grateful for the homage paid him, the -Duke was not sorry when the ordeal was over and he was free to make his -way homeward. - -But he was not to get off so easily. As he was about to let himself -through the private gate into the park, intending to go back, as he had -come, through the copse, footsteps sounded behind him, and Mr. Bristow, -the vicar, overtook him. They had already met on the previous day. - -"Your Grace is alone still?" panted the clergyman. "Ah, I thought your -secretary wouldn't find it so easy to cast his shackles. I am -commissioned by Mrs. Bristow to say--I hope you won't think us -presuming--that we shall be delighted if you will give us your company -at our homely lunch." - -A sudden impulse prompted Beaumanoir to accept the invitation. He had -taken a liking for the hale, vigorous old vicar, who had the archives of -his family by rote, and an hour or two in his society would take him out -of himself. So he turned back and accompanied his host to the vicarage, -where he made a good impression on Mrs. Bristow by his cordial praise of -her training of the choir and by appreciation of her strawberries and -cream. - -It was past four when he returned to Prior's Tarrant, to be met in the -entrance-hall by the butler with a face eloquent of "something wrong." - -"What is it, Manson?" he asked. "Mr. Bristow sent a boy, did he not, to -say that I was lunching at the vicarage?" - -"Yes, your Grace. It isn't that," was the agitated reply. "I have to -report an outrage that's been committed on one of the under-servants. -Jennings, the third gardener, was coming back from church through the -copse in the park, when he was lassoed, your Grace, same as they do -buffalo, I've been told, in foreign parts. A rope shot out of the bushes -over his shoulders, and then a man ran up as he was struggling on the -ground; but let him go, saying it was a joke. Jennings hasn't got any -enemies that he knows of, and it was a wicked thing to do, because he's -a bit of a cripple and walks lame. It's shook him a good deal." - -"I am not surprised at that," said the Duke. "Possibly it was only -intended as a practical joke, but you had better inform the constable in -the village, and instruct him to inquire into the matter." - -The butler retired, and the Duke smiled grimly. - -"Ziegler has begun to put in some of his fine work," he muttered. "The -initial blunder of his agents in mistaking a servant's limp for mine -won't stop him long. I shall begin to like the excitement soon, I -expect." - -But as the day wore to evening, and the evening to night, the sensation -of being _hunted_ vexed his nerves. He found himself prolonging his -solitary dinner for the sake of the company of the butler and footman -who waited upon him, and afterwards he abstained from the moonlit stroll -on the terrace to which he felt tempted. It was not till the mansion had -been barred and bolted for the night that he ceased to fumble frequently -for the revolver which he had carried all day. - -Before retiring he inquired of Manson if the constable had traced the -maltreaters of Jennings, and he was not surprised to learn that there -had been no discoveries. Mr. Clinton Ziegler was not the man to employ -agents incapable of baffling a village policeman. - -The room which Beaumanoir occupied was the great state bed-chamber that -had been used by his predecessors from time immemorial--a gaunt -apartment with a cavernous fireplace and heavily curtained mullioned -windows. He did not like the room, but had consented to sleep there on -seeing that the old retainers would be scandalized by his sleeping -anywhere but in the "Duke's Room." - -After locking the door and seeing to the window fastenings, he took the -additional precaution of examining the chimney. Bending his head clear -of the massive mantelpiece, he looked up and saw that at the end of the -broad shaft quite a large circle of star-lit sky was visible, while a -cold blast struck downwards of sufficient volume to purify the air of -the room. - -He lay awake for some time, but he must have been slumbering fitfully -for over an hour when he felt himself gradually awakening--not from any -sudden start, but from a growing sense of strange oppression in his -lungs. As his senses returned the choking sensation increased, and -finally he lay wide awake, wondering what was the matter. Every minute -it became harder to breathe the stifling air, and at last he flung the -bedclothes off in the hope of relief, and in doing so saw something so -unaccountable that his reeling senses were stricken with amazement -rather than fear. - -There was a fire in the grate. Glowing steadily in the recess of the -ancient fireplace a great red ball burned, without flicker and without -flame, but lurid with the unwavering light that comes from fuel fused to -intense heat. - -Even without the terrible oppression at his chest there would have been -a weird horror in this mysterious fire introduced into his room at dead -of night--into a room with locked door and fastened windows. But what -did this ghastly struggle for breath portend? - -"Charcoal! Ziegler!" were the two words that buzzed in response through -his fast-clouding brain. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--_The General is Curious_ - - -On the following afternoon at tea-time four ladies were seated in the -pleasant drawing-room of 140 Grosvenor Gardens, the residence of General -Sadgrove, late of the Indian Staff Corps. Mrs. Sadgrove, a fair, plump, -elderly dame, needs no special description, and two of the other -tea-drinkers--Mrs. Senator Sherman, as she preferred to be called, and -her daughter Leonie--we have met before. - -The fourth occupant of the room--a girl dressed in deep mourning--was -Sybil Hanbury, who had come to discuss her engagement to Alec Forsyth -with her motherly old friend, Alec's aunt by marriage, Mrs. Sadgrove. -Owing to the recent deaths in her family the engagement was not to be -publicly announced at present; but Sybil had no secrets from the -Sadgroves, who had known her from a baby, long before she had been taken -up, on the death of her parents, by her grandfather, the late Duke of -Beaumanoir. - -Miss Hanbury owed her attractiveness to her essentially English type, -not of beauty--she would have disdained to lay claim to that--but of -fresh, healthy coloring, a suspicion of tomboyishness, and a lithe, -supple figure that stood her in good stead in the hunting and hockey -fields. A trifle slangy on occasion, she was a good hater and a staunch -friend, with a temper--as she had warned Alec already--that would need a -lot of humoring if they were not to have "ructions." - -"I've got the makings of a termagant, my dear boy, but it will be all -right if you rule me with a velvet glove," she had remarked within five -minutes of their first kiss. - -In fact, Miss Sybil Hanbury was a bit of a hoyden; but a very capable -little hoyden for all that, and absolutely fearless. - -The two girls had naturally paired off together, and the subject of -their talk was, equally naturally, the new Duke--Alec's friend, Sybil's -cousin, and Leonie's chance acquaintance on the _St. Paul_. - -[Illustration: _"A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?"_] - -Sybil, after listening to Leonie's rather halting description of the -fellow passenger whom she had known as "Mr. Hanbury," owned frankly that -she had never heard any good of her cousin, but she hastened to add: - -"He's given my prejudice a nasty knock, though, in behaving so well to -my young man. Gave him a billet as private sec. that enabled Alec -to--you know. A man can't be much of a wrong 'un who'll stick to old -pals when they have no claim on him." - -Leonie tried not to show surprise at the vernacular. - -"He seemed very kind and considerate. I don't think he can ever have -done anything dishonorable," she replied. - -"Nobody ever accused him of that," Sybil assented. "It was only that he -was extravagant, and that my grandfather got tired of paying his debts. -You see, he wasn't the next heir, and--well, perhaps they were a little -hard on him. I'm quite prepared to like him now." - -The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a servant, who -announced: - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton." - -"A fellow countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?" Sybil -whispered, as a radiant vision in pale pink under a large "picture" hat -sailed in, and was greeted with somewhat frigid politeness by Mrs. -Sadgrove. - -"No; I am not acquainted with either the name or the lady," Leonie -replied, struck with a strange antipathy to the bold eyes that seemed to -be mastering every detail in the room, herself included. Indeed, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton stared so markedly both at Leonie and her mother that -Mrs. Sadgrove thought they must have met, and promptly introduced them -as American friends staying in the house. The introduction was not a -success, for the Shermans knew everyone worth knowing in American -society, and the fact that they had never so much as heard of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton argued her outside the pale. - -The elegant vision received her snubbing with cool unconcern, and after -a few generalities turned again to her hostess and engaged in the -trifling chatter of a "duty" call, making one or two unsuccessful -attempts to include Sybil, to whom she had not been introduced, in the -conversation. - -"That woman is a brute," Sybil said to Leonie under her breath. "I'll -tell you about her when she's gone." - -The door opened, and there entered an iron-gray man of sixty, whose -coming might almost have been the cause of expediting the departure of -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, so quickly did she rise and begin her good-byes. - -"No, really I can't stay, dear Mrs. Sadgrove, even to have the pleasure -of a chat with the General," she prattled. "I have half a dozen other -calls to pay, and you have beguiled me into staying too long already. -Good-bye. Good-bye, General. Pray don't trouble to come down." And with -a half-impudent bow of exaggerated respect to the Shermans, she swept -out, with the master of the house in attendance. - -General Sadgrove returned at once to the drawing-room after escorting -the visitor to her carriage. He was a man who bore his years easily; -singularly slow and scant of speech, but alert of eye and almost jaunty -in the erectness of his bearing. He had gained his C.B. for prominent -services in the suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity, and his name is -still held in wholesome dread by the criminals of India whose method is -violence. It had once been said of him by a high official: "Jem Sadgrove -doesn't have to worry about _finding_ clues. He makes them for himself, -and they always yield a true scent. He's got the nose of a fox-terrier, -and the patience and speed of a greyhound." - -But that was long ago, and it might be supposed that in such pleasant -duties of retirement as the ushering out of dainty visitors from his -wife's tea-table his faculties had become blunted. Nor in the -law-abiding precincts of Belgravia could there be scope for the old-time -energy. Yet Mrs. Sadgrove, who knew the signs and portents of her -husband's face, looked twice at him with just a shade of anxiety as she -asked whether he would take some tea. - -"Thanks," he said, and taking his cup he went and stood on the rug -before the empty hearth. He stirred his tea slowly, with his eyes -wandering from one to the other of the four women in the room. - -"You good people seem singularly calm, considering that you must just -have been listening to a very exciting story," he remarked. - -"Indeed, no," replied Sybil, taking upon herself to answer. "The lady to -whom you have just been doing the polite bored us intensely. Leonie -says, for all the dash she's cutting in London, she's an _incognita_ so -far as America is concerned." - -The General continued to stir his tea impassively. - -"Did she not inform you in the course of her small talk," he inquired -presently, "that on her way here her carriage had knocked a man down and -gone near to killing him?" - -The question evoked a chorus of interested negatives. - -"Neither did she say anything to me about it," said the General gravely. - -"Then how did you become aware of the accident?" Mrs. Sadgrove ventured -to ask. - -"Saw it," returned the General. "It happened in Buckingham Palace Road. -I was passing at the time, on my way home from the club. Her coachman -drove right over the fellow as he was crossing the roadway at the -corner. He was knocked down, and it was the merest shave that he wasn't -trampled by the horses and crushed by the wheels. As it was, he escaped -with a bit of a shaking and a dusty coat. At any rate, he got up and -walked into the nearest barber's--for a wash and brush-up, I suppose." - -Further questioned, the General in his jerky way informed his fair -audience that he was sure that it was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's jobbed -landau that had wrought the mischief, and that she herself was in it at -the time. It was the same vehicle which he had found at his own door on -reaching home ten minutes ago, and to which he had just conducted her. - -"Funny that she should be so secretive about it," said Mrs. Sadgrove, -reflectively. "It's the sort of thing that most women, coming fresh from -the scene, would have been full of--especially as it must have been the -coachman's fault, and not her own." - -"Exactly," was the General's curt comment. - -"She's a--a _creature_," Sybil Hanbury exclaimed, viciously. "Thank -goodness, I don't know her; but I've heard all about her from Alec. The -poor boy can't abide her; she makes eyes at him so unblushingly." - -"Then we can appreciate your sentiments about her," remarked the General -with the flicker of a smile. "How did we come to know this lady?" he -added to his wife. - -Mrs. Sadgrove explained that she had been asked as a favor to call on -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by a mutual acquaintance, a certain Lady -Roseville, but had regretted it ever since. Their intercourse had, -however, been of the slightest, being confined to the interchange of a -couple of formal visits, and to an invitation by Mrs. Sadgrove to a -musical "at home," at which Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had endeavored to -embark on a flirtation with Alec Forsyth. - -"She's a rich widow, I believe; and I don't think she would ever have -been heard of if the Rosevilles hadn't taken her up," Mrs. Sadgrove -concluded. - -The series of grunts with which the General received this information -had hardly ceased when again the footman appeared in the doorway and -announced, with all due importance: - -"His Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The occupants of the drawing-room were all accustomed to the "usages of -polite society," either in Britannic or Transatlantic form; but it was -impossible for them to repress a flutter of excitement as the visitor -entered, his original "cavalry swing" marred but not wholly obliterated -by his limp. Leonie tried hard not to blush, and failed. Mrs. Sherman -interlaced her fingers nervously. Sybil Hanbury stared hard at the -cousin whose stately town house she was occupying, and who had waved a -magic wand over her lover's prospects. Mrs. Sadgrove was the graceful -and interested hostess, and the General--well, the General was surprised -for once into a start which was only invisible because nobody was -looking at him. - -Beaumanoir's manner was perfectly easy and self-possessed, but there was -a harassed look in his eyes which did not entirely fade as he responded -to his welcome. But it was not that which had caused the General to -start. - -_The Duke was the man whom he had seen knocked down by Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's carriage, to the imminent peril of his life._ - -The "wash and brush-up" had been effectual as regards the ducal -garments, but they could not hide the black silk sling in which he -carried his left arm. It was General Sadgrove's way to allow events to -shape themselves, and saying nothing of the scene he had witnessed as he -welcomed the distinguished visitor, he waited for the Duke to refer to -his mishap himself. - -But no. The victim of the accident was apparently as much inclined to -reticence as had been the fair cause of it. It was Mrs. Sherman who -unconsciously provoked the mendacious statement which stimulated the -General's curiosity. - -"I'm afraid that your Grace has hurt your hand," said the Senator's -wife, pointing to a broad strip of diachylon plaster that ran from the -Duke's wrist to the ball of his thumb. - -"Yes, I--I grazed it rather badly against the wheel in getting out of a -cab," Beaumanoir replied with a momentary loss of his self-possession. -The discomposure passed at once, and only the observer on the hearth-rug -noticed it. The same shrewd observer presently perceived that the -visitor was definitely leading the conversation to the subject of the -arrival in England of Senator Sherman; and, more than that, that he was -waxing a shade more inquisitive than good-breeding allowed as to the -nature of the senatorial journey. - -"Ah! he's coming on political business, I think you told me?" the Duke -remarked in a half-tone of interrogation on Leonie saying that her -father, according to advices received that morning, was to sail in two -days' time on the _Campania_, and would be due at Liverpool early in the -following week. - -"Well, it's political business in a way," Mrs. Sherman struck in. "My -husband is coming over in charge of a large amount of Government -securities, which are to be deposited at the Bank of England against a -shipment of English gold to the United States." - -"He's got the opening he wanted. Now, what on earth is he going to do -with it?" said the General to himself as he watched keenly. - -"Rather a dangerous mission, I should say," was the Duke's comment on -the information imparted to him. - -"Dangerous! How can that be?" Leonie exclaimed, wondering. "United -States Treasury bonds are not explosive." - -"No, but the world is full of sharps, Miss Sherman, and some of them -might fancy having a shy for such a haul," said Beaumanoir with a trace -more of earnestness than the occasion seemed to require. "If I had a -relative starting on such an errand, I should be inclined to cable him -to--ah--to look out for himself," he added in direct appeal to Mrs. -Sherman. - -But the good lady laughed the suggestion to scorn, alleging playfully -that "it would be as much as her place was worth" to tackle the Senator -that way. It would be a hint that he wasn't able to take care of himself -or of his charge, and would be resented accordingly. - -The Duke abandoned the subject, but the General noted the disappointment -in the tired eyes. - -"His Grace knows something. Let's see--he was on his beam-ends when he -was unearthed in New York," the old hunter of Thugs and Dacoits muttered -under his gray mustache. - -Beaumanoir made no long stay after his ineffectual effort to sound a -warning note. There had been no opportunity for individual talk; but in -saying his adieus he had two words with Sybil, who had been observing -her cousin quite as intently as, and a good deal more openly than, the -General. - -"I'm going to look Alec up now, at his diggings in John Street," he -said. "Probably I shall ask him to put me up to-night." - -"It's a shame that you should have to do so," Sybil blurted in her -boyish fashion. "You've been awfully good to us. I ought to have cleared -out of Beaumanoir House at once, and I'll 'git' as soon as ever I can -make other arrangements." - -"I beg you'll do nothing of the kind," Beaumanoir made genial answer. -"Alec is about the only friend I have, and--and I need a friend, Cousin -Sybil. It has been a pleasure to serve him and you--if it can be called -serving you," he added with a thoughtful gravity that puzzled the girl. - -She shook hands with a warmth that bespoke the death of old prejudices, -and General Sadgrove, who had hardly exchanged two words with his -visitor, accompanied him to the hall-door. - -"Are you walking, Duke? Or shall I whistle a cab?" he asked. - -Beaumanoir looked up the street and down the street, and gave a queer -little shrug. - -"It won't make any difference whether I walk or drive," he said. -"Good-bye, General." - -Having gazed the limping figure out of sight, the General went back into -the house and made for his private den--a cozy apartment crammed with -Eastern spoils. There he leisurely selected a cigar and seated himself -in a big saddle-bag chair. - -"There is something brewing," he growled gently. "I perceive a vibration -in the moral atmosphere which quite recalls old days. I wonder what it -means?" - - - - -CHAPTER VII--_The Men on the Stairs_ - - -The rooms--two in number--occupied by Alec Forsyth in John Street, -Adelphi, were in a house let off in bachelor chambers, with the -exception of the ground floor, which was used as an office by a firm of -wholesale wine-merchants. The young Scotsman's limited income had -precluded a more aristocratic locality; and, at any rate, John Street -offered the advantage of being within a few minutes' walk of his daily -work in Downing Street. - -In the daytime, when the tenants were out at their various avocations, -the upper part of the dingy old building was deserted, save by the -housekeeper in the attics; while the counting-house abutting on the -street was all life and bustle. At night the conditions were reversed, -the wine-merchant's premises being locked up and silent, and the rooms -above occupied. - -On the evening of that Monday on which the Duke of Beaumanoir called on -the Shermans at the residence of General Sadgrove, Alec was busy in his -sitting-room, tearing up papers and preparing generally for his -departure to Prior's Tarrant on the morrow. It was past eight, and he -had just lit the gas, when the door suddenly opened and Beaumanoir came -in. - -"Why, Charley--hang it! Duke, I mean--I thought you were in the -country!" Alec exclaimed, more astonished by his friend's actions than -by his appearance there. - -For, after slipping quietly in, Beaumanoir had turned sharp round and -loosed the catch of the spring-lock. Not satisfied with that, he also -shot home the two old-fashioned bolts with which the door was fitted, -top and bottom, and then flung himself into an easy chair, mopping his -brow with his handkerchief. - -"I don't think I was spotted, but it's best to be on the safe side," he -muttered. Then aloud: "I came to ask you to give me a shake-down -to-night, old chap, on a sofa or anything; only I don't know if it's -fair to you; my proximity carries a pretty considerable risk. But I've -been--rather worried, and I seem to want company." - -Forsyth rose, and laid an affectionate hand on the Duke's shoulder. - -"Now, look here," he said, firmly. "I'm going to forget that you're my -employer at a generous salary, and remember only that I'm your friend. -What does all this mean? You've been hurt somehow, too. Just make a -clean breast of it, and let's see what can be done." - -Beaumanoir shook his head sadly. - -"I can't make a clean breast of it," he began; then pulled up short and -went on. "At least, I can't tell you causes, but I'll tell you effects. -My life has been attempted twice certainly, possibly three times, since -noon yesterday." - -"How?" said Alec with Scotch brevity. - -"A lame gardener was set upon at Prior's Tarrant, and released on his -assailants finding that they had mistaken him for me. And at night they -got on the roof and tried to suffocate me by letting a brazier of -charcoal down into the grate and plugging the chimney. Luckily I awoke, -and managed to crawl out of the room in time." - -"But surely you raised an alarm and caught the fellows? They couldn't -get off the roof and escape so quickly as that," exclaimed Alec, half -incredulous. - -Again the Duke shook his head. - -"I raised no alarm, and they did get away, after pulling up the brazier -and leaving no trace," he replied. "There are reasons, Alec, why I could -not have appeared against them had they been caught--the same reasons -why I can't confide more fully in you." - -"You must have done something very bad--murder at least," said Forsyth, -gravely. - -"On the contrary, I have done nothing at all," Beaumanoir retorted. "It -is for not doing something that I am being persecuted." - -"Well, what about the third attempt?" - -"It happened this afternoon, as I was on my way to your uncle's. A -carriage knocked me down and very nearly crumpled me. But that may have -been an accident." - -"Did you take stock of the driver and the people in the carriage?" - -Beaumanoir was obliged to admit that he had not. In his disheveled state -he had been only anxious to be cleaned down and have his wrist attended -to, and it was not till after the carriage had driven rapidly away that -he had connected the incident with the other attempts. - -Forsyth said nothing for the moment, but fetched some cigarettes from -the mantelpiece; and it was not until they had smoked in silence for -awhile that he blurted out suddenly: - -"This can't be allowed to go on. It makes everything impossible. Have -you any reason to think that the people who are pursuing you will do so -indefinitely--until they have settled you?" - -Beaumanoir considered before replying, as though the point had not -occurred to him before. - -"No," he said, with a nervous laugh. "Things have crowded so in the last -few hours that I haven't thought much about any sort of future. I cannot -be sure, but I believe if I could pull through till the end of next -week--say, for another fortnight--that the danger would pass." - -Forsyth sat and ruminated, blowing blue smoke-rings; and then, after two -or three minutes of silence, a faint noise sounded in the room. The -Duke, whose nerves were tuned to concert pitch, heard it first, and -turned a pair of wide-open eyes on the door. Forsyth's gaze followed, -and they both saw the handle of the door move. The door itself, being -locked and double bolted, of course refused to yield to the gentle -pressure from without. - -Forsyth laid his finger to his lips for silence, and motioned Beaumanoir -to retire into the bedroom, which communicated by means of folding doors -with the sitting-room. When the Duke had noiselessly disappeared, -Forsyth stole to the outer door, and having first quietly drawn the -bolts he quickly unlocked it and flung it open, to be confronted by an -under-sized little man, who shrank back from his threatening attitude. - -"Who the deuce are you--and what do you want, disturbing me at this time -of night?" Forsyth demanded fiercely. - -"These are Mr. Crofton's chambers, ain't they, sir?" bleated the -intruder. - -"No; they are not. There's no one of that name in the house that I know -of," replied Forsyth, partially mollified by his mild manner, and wholly -so when the little man proceeded to apologize for his mistake, -explaining that he was from a chemist's in the Strand with some medicine -for the gentleman, but that he must have come to the wrong house. - -Holding up a bottle as evidence of his _bona fides_, he retreated -downstairs, excusing himself to the last; but before going he had -managed to snatch a comprehensive glance round the room. Forsyth waited -on the landing until his steps had died away, and then went back into -his room, barring the door as before. - -"It's all right," he said, going to the folding doors. "Only some chap -who had mistaken the address." - -"Not much mistake there," replied the Duke, outwardly calm, but gone -very white. "I caught a peep of him. He's a johnny who shadowed me over -from America, and never left me till just before I met you at the Cecil. -He called himself Marker, and--and he's in this business, Alec." - -"He didn't look very formidable. Why, you could lick the thread-paper -little skimp with one hand," said Forsyth, beginning to wonder if his -friend's mind were unhinged. It was not like the once gay hussar Charley -Hanbury--intrepid horseman, champion boxer, and good all-round -athlete--to funk a miserable wisp such as that! - -"He is only the spy, I expect--sent to find out if I was here," replied -Beaumanoir, passing a weary hand over his eyes. - -Moved by a sudden impulse, Forsyth went into the bedroom, shutting the -door behind him so as to be in the dark. The window commanded a view of -the street, and the blind had not been drawn. Looking down, he saw a man -sauntering on the opposite pavement, who presently coming under the rays -of a street-lamp was revealed as Marker. Forsyth waited until the spy -turned and slowly retraced his steps, and then went back into the -sitting-room. - -"You have convinced me that there is something in all this," he said. -"That fellow is mouching about outside." - -"I'll go. I can't subject you to this sort of thing," said Beaumanoir, -reaching for the new hat which he had purchased after his "accident." - -But Forsyth pushed him back into his chair. - -"A duke isn't necessarily a fool," he said, roughly. "What you want most -is a good sleep, and you shall have it--here in these rooms. Mr. Marker -can't _know_ that you are here, or he wouldn't have come to the door -with that bogus yarn. Also, he is evidently not satisfied that you are -_not_ here, or he would have gone away. It remains to throw dust in his -eyes and fool him a bit. Lord! how I wish my uncle, General Sadgrove, -was with us!" - -"He seemed to me a trifle dull," remarked the Duke, inconsequently. - -Forsyth made allowances, and did not answer. - -"See here," he said, after a minute's reflection. "This is the plan to -throw the spy off the scent. It's nine o'clock--just the hour when it -would be quite natural for a bachelor to go to his club. I will stroll -round to Northumberland Avenue, and drop into the Constitutional for an -hour. In the meanwhile, do you stay here and lie low behind locked -doors, and with gas turned down. That rascal will almost certainly -retire to his employers baffled, for he would not think that I should go -out and leave you alone." - -"That sounds promising," Beaumanoir assented. "But don't stay a moment -longer than the hour, Alec. I don't think I could stand it." - -Forsyth reassured him, and having slipped into evening clothes and -donned a light overcoat, he issued his final instructions. It was -beginning to be natural to him now to take the lead, after that glimpse -of the lurking figure in the light of the street-lamp. Beaumanoir was to -lock and bolt himself in, and only open on hearing the password "_Rat_." - -These matters arranged, Forsyth departed, and, after waiting until he -heard the bolts shot, went down into the street, where the spy was still -in evidence, prowling on the other side. He made no attempt to follow -Forsyth, who, affecting not to notice him, walked rapidly the short -distance to his club. There he remained in the smoking-room with what -patience he could muster for the full hour, determined not to return -till time enough had elapsed for Marker to come to the desired -conclusion and act upon it. - -It was half-past ten when Forsyth set out to retrace his steps to John -Street, and almost as soon as he entered that deserted thoroughfare he -saw that the watcher was no longer at his post. Eager to relieve -Beaumanoir from his solitary state of siege, he made all haste to the -house, and was passing quickly through the entry when he heard footsteps -on the landing above. A gas-jet was kept burning over the closed door of -the wine-merchant's office, for the benefit of the resident tenants on -the upper floors, so that he had a clear view of the straight stone -stairs. Before he reached the latter two men came into view, hurriedly -descending, and talking together in muffled undertones--one a gaunt, -hungry-looking individual in the garb of a clergyman; the other, burly -and bull-necked, dressed in shabby tweeds and bowler hat. - -Forsyth stood aside at the stair-foot for them to pass, and then, moved -by the furtive glances they turned back at him, he ran upstairs two -steps at a time. He knew all his fellow-lodgers by sight; but these men -were strangers, and he did not like the looks of the curiously assorted -pair. On coming to the door of his rooms, he rapped and spoke the agreed -signal, but something prompted him not to wait, and simultaneously he -turned the handle. The door swung open at once, without any unbarring -from within. - -"Where have you got to?" cried Forsyth, peering round the room, in which -the gas burned low, just as he had left it. - -There was no response; and with a sinking heart he turned on a full -light and dashed into the bedroom, only to find that also vacant. The -Duke of Beaumanoir had vanished from his refuge. - -There was no doubt that he was in neither of the rooms. A hasty search -put that beyond question. Instinctively Forsyth ran to the outer door -and at once made the discovery--for which he was already prepared--that -his chambers had been forcibly entered during his absence. The door had -been wrenched open with a jemmy, and had simply been pulled to on the -departure of the intruders. The shattered woodwork round the spring-lock -told its own tale, though the mystery was increased by the fact that the -old-fashioned bolts had been withdrawn. - -But what of Beaumanoir? - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--_The Cut Panel_ - - -In the famous white drawing-room at Beaumanoir House Sybil Hanbury was -preparing to end a solitary evening by the simple process of going to -bed. The butler, a martyr to punctilio, had insisted on lighting every -jet in the chandeliers and in the sconces on the walls, with the result -that the vast apartment scintillated like a ball-room, accentuating the -loneliness of the black-clad little figure of its sole occupant. - -Sybil laid aside her book, and surveyed the splendid emptiness of the -room with a smile of amusement for her monopoly of so much gorgeously -upholstered space. But as she realized that her monopoly of the white -drawing-room was only a detail in the much larger incongruity of her -monopoly of the Piccadilly mansion, her face took a graver look. - -"I trust that the Vincents will be ready to take me in next week," she -mused with a touch of impatience. "The idea of a score of servants and -an acre of ducal palace being run for a simple body like me is too -ridiculous, especially with the rightful owner ready to take -possession." - -She had been both puzzled and attracted by her cousin at General -Sadgrove's that afternoon. As a child she had heard so much contemptuous -obloquy poured on the absent ne'er-do-well that, in spite of his -generosity to Alec Forsyth and his consideration for herself, she had -been prepared to cling to the old prejudice. It had, however, at once -broken down under the pathetic plea for friendship which she had -discerned in the Duke's troubled eyes, for her womanly insight told her -that the new head of the family was under the influence of a mental -strain almost amounting to physical distress. - -"He looks like a man sitting on an infernal machine, listening to the -tick-tack of the clock-work," she reflected. "Yet I don't think he's -wicked, or the sort of person with a past likely to fly up and hit him -in the face. I wish I knew what he is grizzling about, so that Alec and -I could do him a good turn in exchange for his benevolence." - -She had risen with the intention of retiring to her own room, when the -butler entered hurriedly, and with traces of well-disciplined agitation -on his episcopal countenance. Mr. Prince had grown gray in the ducal -service; but, beyond a slight fatherliness of manner, he did not presume -on the fact towards the orphan scion of the great house. - -"I really don't know, Miss, if I ought to disturb you so late on such a -matter," he said. "Two men have called to see his Grace, and, failing -him, insisted on my ascertaining if you would receive them." - -"I know nothing of the Duke's affairs, and I am just going up to bed," -Sybil replied, wondering at the usually correct retainer's excitement. -"Besides, Prince, 'insist' is rather a curious word to use here," she -added with a trace of asperity. - -"I should not have ventured to repeat such an objectionable phrase, -Miss, if it had not been used with a sort of authority," the butler -hastened to put himself right. "I ought to have mentioned that they are -Scotland Yard detectives, which accounts for my being a bit flurried." - -Sybil promptly sat down again and bade Prince show the visitors in. She -had no desire to pry into her cousin's business, nor did her reception -of the police-officers imply any such intention. But at that moment her -preconceived notion that the Duke was the center of a mystery took -definite shape, and she was above all things loyal to the house. She -decided that in her cousin's interest it would be wiser to see these -men, and, if possible, fore-arm herself with a knowledge of their -designs. - -But when Prince returned it was to usher in not two men, but only one--a -cadaverous, middle-aged person in the garb of a clergyman, who waited -obsequiously near the door while his card was presented by the butler. - -"I found when I got back into the hall that he'd sent the other man -away, Miss--said there was no need for two of them to intrude upon you," -explained Prince in an undertone. - -Sybil nodded, but the furtive glances of the clerically dressed visitor -caused her to call Prince back as he was retiring. - -"I trust you didn't leave them alone in the hall?" she whispered. - -"Oh, dear, no, Miss; William, the second footman, was on duty in the -hall while I came to you," was the reply, uttered in a slightly injured -tone. - -Prince having taken a dignified departure, Sybil beckoned forward the -individual whom his card proclaimed to be "Inspector Chantrey, Criminal -Investigation Department." He advanced with a shambling walk and with -deprecating gestures in keeping with his disguise; but Sybil formed the -opinion that all his nervousness was not simulated. It struck her that -he was listening intently as he threaded his way through the priceless -Louis Seize garniture of the white drawing-room. - -He stood before her at last, for all the world like a half-famished wolf -in the presence of a very wide-awake and dainty lamb that had not the -least intention of being devoured. He spoke hurriedly--almost -perfunctorily, as though he set no great store by his questions or the -answers to them; and all the time that listening attitude was -noticeable. - -"I called in the hope of finding his Grace at home," he began, with a -half-note of interrogation. - -"Well, the butler will have told you that he is not at home," said Sybil -sharply. - -"True; but servants are not always reliable, and I thought I had better -see one of the family. Might I ask if the Duke is expected here -to-night?" - -"No, he isn't. What do you want him for?" snapped Sybil. - -The _aplomb_ of the question seemed to take the inquisitor back. He -glanced curiously at the girl in the high-backed arm-chair, first -scanning her tenacious little face, but quickly dropping his shifty eyes -to the carelessly crossed shoes. - -He began to "hem" and "ha." - -"The fact of the matter is, we have had a communication from the county -police at Prior's Tarrant, in respect of an assault on one of the -servants in the park yesterday. The local people think the attack may -have been intended for the Duke, and they have wired us to make -inquiries." - -The reason alleged for his visit sounded plausible, and in some degree -might account for the hunted look she had surprised in the Duke's eyes. -Yet she was not altogether satisfied. It was conceivable that the police -should want to question the Duke, but the excuse for intruding on her at -such an hour hardly seemed adequate. - -"I am still at a loss to see how I can be of service to you in a matter -of which I know nothing," she said, not attempting to keep the suspicion -out of her voice. - -"I only desired to make sure, madam, that the Duke was not at home. -Having obtained that assurance from the fountain-head, pray permit me to -withdraw," was the nervously spoken reply, punctuated by an awkward bow -and the commencement of a hurried retreat. But the visitor had only -taken three steps down the long vista of the room when the door was -flung open, and Prince announced, with the air of one who springs a -surprise: - -"His Grace the Duke!" - -Beaumanoir was very pale, but he advanced without hesitation, meeting -Sibyl's interrogator half-way up the room. Startled as she was by her -cousin's unexpected appearance, the girl intuitively rose and went -forward, vaguely conscious of a desire to hear if the man repeated the -same tale. - -"Well, sir?" said the Duke, curtly. - -Sybil hardly knew whether or no she was relieved when, word for word, -the man repeated the reason he had just given her for his call. Watching -her cousin's face, she saw the pallor yield to a flush of evident -annoyance. - -"Oh, yes; something of the kind occurred in the park at Prior's -Tarrant," he angrily replied. "But all this about the man being mistaken -for me is officious nonsense--too trivial to warrant your pushing your -way into this young lady's presence at eleven o'clock at night. I shall -complain to your superiors of this most impertinent intrusion." - -"What could it mean?" Sybil asked herself. The man's nervous air--his -attitude of listening--had disappeared. His sly face grew sleekly -impudent under Beaumanoir's rebuke and it was quite jauntily that he -answered: - -"Then I'll bid your Grace good-night. Very possibly you'll reconsider -the advisability of raising the question at Scotland Yard." - -The clerical coat-tails went flapping down the room, the Duke following -them to the door, where he handed their owner over to Prince, who was -hovering in the hall. Having given a sharp order to "show the gentleman -out," Beaumanoir returned to Sybil, humbly apologetic, but with signs of -haste in his manner. - -"My dear cousin, I am more than annoyed at Prince's laxity in admitting -that fellow," he said, taking her hand. "It is fortunate that I chanced -to look in in the hope of finding you up, and so was able to rid you of -him. I came to leave a message for Alec in case he calls presently." - -"But Alec is the pink of propriety," exclaimed Sibyl, laughing in spite -of herself. "He doesn't call on an unprotected damsel, even if he is -engaged to her, at eleven o'clock at night." - -"Nevertheless, I believe that he will call here very shortly; and I -should like him to be told that I am all right, and, in fact, that I am -going out of town for a few days to the sea-side. I will communicate -with him when I want him to enter on his secretarial duties. That is -all, I think. I must really be off now." - -But Sybil would not at once take his proffered hand. She remembered that -he had mentioned that he was to spend the night at Alec's chambers, and -this sudden derangement of plans, coupled with the lurking suggestion in -his message, was, to say the least of it, mysterious. Looking into the -tired eyes, she found again that expression of sleepless worry that had -puzzled her. Why should it be necessary for this young man, newly come -to great wealth and station, to notify his friend so feverishly that he -was "all right," and in the same breath announce his retreat from London -to some vague destination--not to his own country-seat? - -"As you expect Alec here, wouldn't it be better to wait for him?" she -urged; adding navely, "I could even offer you a bed, if you would -condescend to make yourself at home in your own house." - -But Beaumanoir was in no mood to perceive the humor of the situation. He -was clearly fidgeting to be gone, and Sybil could only conclude that he -wanted to be gone before Alec arrived. With a girl's faith in her -lover's power to surmount most difficulties, she decided to try and -detain her cousin as long as possible; but her diplomacy was not called -into play. Prince, now wearing an air of mild protest at all these -excursions and alarums, appeared in the doorway to announce: - -"Mr. Forsyth." - -Beaumanoir was evidently disconcerted at not having made his exit in -time; and Sybil, recognizing that there was something between the two -men not for her ears, tactfully withdrew to the other end of the room, -after smiling a greeting to her lover. She thought none the worse of him -because he was too preoccupied to return it. She was beginning to -discern an undercurrent of serious import beneath the happenings of the -past half-hour. - -"What made you break cover, old chap? You've given me a pretty scare," -said Forsyth to the Duke. "When I found you'd gone, I came on here on -the off-chance." - -"I didn't think it fair to subject you to the sort of night you might -have had with me as an inmate, so I cleared out," Beaumanoir replied, -wearily. "I guessed you'd inquire here, so I called in to leave word -that I was all right--up to date." - -"You were not molested before quitting my chambers?" - -"No. Why do you ask?" - -"Because the place has been visited; it must have been after you left," -said Forsyth, gravely. And he went on to relate how he had found the -door broken open, and how he had met two suspicious-looking men on the -stairs, one dressed as a clergyman and the other in shabby tweeds. - -"Dressed as a clergyman?" cried Beaumanoir, startled into forgetfulness -of Sybil's presence in the room. "Then, Alec, I have stood face to face -with death in this house not ten minutes ago. I found your sham parson -here, professing to be an official detective; but I doubted him from the -first." - -His raised tones reached Sybil, who realized that the house of -Beaumanoir was confronted by no ordinary emergency. What the peril could -be that threatened her noble relative she had no means of knowing, or -any wish to know; but the Duke's description of himself as standing -"face to face with death" amid the seeming security of his own white -drawing-room touched her with the icy hand of unknown dread, and, -moreever, filled her with a sense of responsibility. The man who was not -safe under the dazzling lights of that splendid apartment, with a host -of servants within call, was going forth into all the insecurity of the -London streets at midnight because, her instinct told her, he would not -expose her to the same danger. - -Her cousin's chivalry appealed not only to her loyalty to the house, but -to that protective impulse which springs readily in every woman's heart. - -"I couldn't help overhearing you," she said, coming forward. "I, too, -doubted that man--very strongly. I am sure he meant no good. But what I -want to say, Cousin Charles, is that you must remain here to-night. If -you go out of the house, I shall go also." - -Forsyth shot a grateful look at her. - -"The best possible plan," he said, quickly. "Now, don't be obstinate, -Duke. The man has left the premises, I presume? Good! That being so, we -shall be a poor lot if we can't prevent his getting in again, which he -is hardly likely to attempt. There is nothing to hinder you from -spending a quiet night here, without the slightest risk of -unpleasantness either to Sybil or to yourself, and in the morning you -and I can talk over your future movements at leisure." - -"And I quite meant what I said," Sybil added, firmly. "If you won't stay -here, you will put me to the inconvenience of turning out and going to -an hotel at twelve o'clock at night. I have no intention of being forced -into the horrid feeling that I am keeping you from the shelter of your -own roof." - -Under the pleading of the two pairs of kindly eyes turned on him -Beaumanoir wavered. The chance of sleep and rest was tempting. He -stepped to the door, and found Prince in the great entrance-hall. - -"That man who called himself a detective has gone?" he inquired. "You -are sure there is no mistake about it? You showed him to the door -yourself, and saw him out?" - -"And secured the door immediately afterwards, your Grace. Mr. Forsyth -will bear me out in that; I had to withdraw the bolts to admit him." - -Beaumanoir returned to the drawing-room. - -"You are both very good, and I will stay for to-night only," he -assented. "I wish I could make the explanation I owe you, but--well, I -am the victim of circumstances." - -"The explanation will keep," said Forsyth, bluntly. "May I stay too?" - -The permission was, of course, accorded, and Sybil bade them good-night -and retired to her room, giving orders on the way for two adjoining -bedrooms to be prepared for them. The two men went into the smoking-room -for a whisky and cigarette while the rooms were being got ready; but -each with tacit consent avoided the topic of the moment. The one idea in -Alec's mind was to let Beaumanoir have a good sleep, and persuade him -into a serious discussion in the morning. - -They parted at the door of their bedrooms on the first floor, where the -late Duke's valet, who was still in the house, had done everything -possible to cope with the sudden emergency. Pajamas had been routed out, -and toilet requisites provided. The windows of both rooms looked out -over the ceaseless traffic of Piccadilly, so that no danger could be -apprehended from that quarter; yet Forsyth sat for a long time before -turning in to bed. In his ignorance of what was the source of the Duke's -danger, he had been loath to excite remark among the servants by fussing -about the proper locking up of the mansion; but the stately tread of -Prince going his rounds reassured him on that point, and eventually he -slept. - -In the meanwhile, Sybil, in her room at the other end of the same -corridor, was finding a still greater difficulty in composing herself to -rest. The events of the evening, in such startling contrast with the -normal calm of the dignified establishment that had been her home, had -unsettled--not to say alarmed--her, and she felt no inclination to the -lace-edged pillow that usually wooed her to willing slumbers. She was a -sound, healthy girl, untroubled by nerves; but she felt a singular need -for alertness, unreasonable perhaps, but imperative. - -The Duke's anxiety to make sure that the clerically dressed individual -had really left the house had impressed her; and now, too late for -inquiry, she remembered that she had omitted to mention that _two_ men -had called, one of them not having been shown into her presence. The -latter, Prince had said, had been dismissed by his colleague; but his -departure had only been witnessed by William, the second footman--a -dreamy servant at the best of times, and unreliable by reason of a -hopeless attachment to the senior housemaid. The thought thrilled Sybil -that the other man, having hoodwinked the footman, might still be in the -house, concealed in one of the many unused rooms. - -The idea of a lurking prowler, biding his time in the stillness of the -sleeping household, kept her wakeful. Once or twice she looked out into -the corridor; but the flicker of her candle only showed two rows of -closed doors, without a sign of life, and each time she went back and -tried to fix her attention on a book. So the night dragged into the -small hours; and about three o'clock, after a longer interval than -before, she determined to take one more peep and then get into bed. - -She had already grasped the door-handle, when she withdrew her hand as -though it had been stung by an adder. A faint scrooping sound told her -that someone was doing something in the corridor, and half a minute's -strained listening told her that, whatever that something was, it was -persistent and continuous. It went on and on, like the drone of a bee in -a bottle. - -Silently crossing the room, she turned down her gas to a pin-point and -blew out the candle with which she had intended to investigate. Then she -returned to the door, and, opening it noiselessly, tiptoed into the -outer darkness. Here the sound, though still faint, was more distinctly -audible, and she was able to locate it at the door of the room occupied -by the Duke. The discovery left her no time for fear, or even for -conjecture. There was only one thing to be done--to rouse Alec and the -Duke, but without, till that supreme moment, alarming the unseen -manipulator at her cousin's door. Thus would she narrow the time at the -disposal of that mysterious person for revising his plans and effecting -his escape. - -The thick pile carpet made for silence, and she stole quietly along the -broad passage, touching and counting the doors till she reached that of -Forsyth's room--only a few feet from the gentle buz-buz that had -attracted her attention, and only a few feet from someone stealthily at -work in the dark. A steady snore from the interior of the Duke's chamber -explained his complacence under that uncanny tampering with his -approaches. - -Again giving herself no time for fear, Sybil beat a rat-tat on Forsyth's -door, calling him by name. The sound at the next door immediately -ceased, an instant of intense silence following, and then almost -simultaneously two things happened. An iron grip settled on the girl's -wrist, just as Forsyth flung open the door of his room, in which he had -wisely turned the gas full on as he leaped out of bed. The light -streamed into the corridor and shone upon a man in shabby tweeds and -bowler hat, who was holding Sybil, but not so hampered that he was -prevented from drawing a revolver and aiming straight at Forsyth's head. - -[Illustration: _"The procession of three led by the stranger."_] - -Whether he intended to fire or offer an ultimatum was not demonstrated, -for before he could do either he was taken in the rear and found himself -a target. There stood the Duke in his pajamas, with a handy little Smith -and Wesson not a foot from the intruder's temples, and with his left -hand significantly extended. - -"Give me that pistol," he said, sternly. - -Beaumanoir was dealing with a tangible foe at last, and with a thrill of -racial pride Sybil noted the light of battle in her relative's eye. It -was, therefore, more than a shock to her when the Duke, having relieved -the tweed-coated lurker of his weapon, calmly added: - -"Now, sir, if you will be good enough to march in front of me down to -the front door, I will let you out. You two," he continued, addressing -Sybil and Forsyth in the same quiet tones, "will greatly oblige me by -not raising any alarm or disturbing the servants while I am gone." - -"I am coming downstairs with you," said Forsyth, drily. - -When the procession of three, led by the stranger with a brace of -pistols at his head, had filed off to the grand staircase, Sybil ran -back to her room and fetched her candle. An inspection of the Duke's -door showed that a panel had been partially cut out with a watch-spring -saw, which was still sticking in the almost invisible fissure. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--_The Strategy of the General_ - - -Some five hours later General Sadgrove, at his house in Grosvenor -Gardens, was taking his morning tub, when a servant tapped at the door -of the bathroom and informed him that Mr. Alec Forsyth wanted to see him -very urgently. The General as speedily as possible donned his -dressing-gown and descended to his sanctum. His keen eyes just glanced -at the troubled face of the young man standing on the hearth-rug; then, -in his laconic way, he asked: - -"What's wrong, laddie? Your chum Beaumanoir been in the wars?" - -Forsyth favored him with a startled stare, and then broke into an uneasy -laugh. - -"You seem to have been exercising your faculty of second-sight already, -Uncle Jem," he said. - -"The man was being _stalked_," said the General. "Has anyone caught -him?" - -"Very nearly," replied Forsyth; and he proceeded to narrate the events -of the night, and also what Beaumanoir had told him of the previous -attempts on his life. At mention of the Duke's absolute refusal to -disclose the cause of the vendetta and to invoke the protection of the -police, General Sadgrove drew a long breath. On hearing that he had in -the small hours of that morning, thanks to the vigilance of Sybil -Hanbury, held one of his would-be assassins at his mercy, but had -quietly escorted him to the door and let him go, the whilom hunter of -Dacoits uttered inarticulate grunts. - -"And now, Uncle Jem, I have come to you for help," Forsyth proceeded -earnestly. "I have persuaded the Duke to permit me to tell you in -strictest confidence as much as he has told me, and I think if you can -make any suggestions for baffling these unknown malefactors that he will -adopt them--always provided your advice does not entail going to the -police. He has given me his word of honor to remain at Beaumanoir House -until I return; but the odds are they'll have another shy at him -directly he pokes his nose outside." - -The General had been absently toying with a tray of Indian curios, but -he now looked sharply up at his nephew. - -"You are not exactly blind, Alec, and can read between the lines," he -said. "Reluctance on the part of a man threatened with murder to -communicate with the authorities must mean that he has got an ugly sort -of secret himself." - -"You know his record, sir. Charles Hanbury was never anyone's enemy but -his own, and I expect the Duke of Beaumanoir is much the same," replied -Forsyth with a warmth which left the General quite unmoved. The old -warrior reverted to his curios and spent a couple of minutes in -balancing an Afghan dagger on his finger, till, apparently inspired by -the performance, he laid the venomous blade aside. - -"I agree with you in one aspect of the case," he said. "An insurance -company, knowing what we know, would be ill-advised to take a risk on -his Grace's life. The chances are in favor of his being a dead man -within twenty-four hours of his quitting his present shelter. I presume -that precautions have been taken against any more bogus detectives, or -bogus anything else, gaining access to him during your absence?" - -Forsyth replied that the Duke had promised to remain in his own room -till he returned, and that the butler had been instructed to admit no -one into the house on any pretence whatever. Moreover, he added, with a -proud note in his voice, Sybil was co-operating, and was thoroughly -alive to the emergency. - -"Then," said the General, briskly, "I will finish dressing, and when we -have had a mouthful of breakfast I will go back with you to Beaumanoir -House. We must get your Duke into the interior of a safer zariba than a -Piccadilly mansion before we can open parallel trenches against such a -persistent enemy." - -General Sadgrove and Alec breakfasted alone together, the former, -indeed, hurrying the meal purposely so as to get away before the ladies -appeared. He had seen enough the previous day, when the Duke was calling -on the Shermans, to make him shy of explaining to his guests that he was -bound for Beaumanoir House at nine o'clock in the morning, both Mrs. -Sherman and Leonie being aware that his acquaintance with the Duke only -dated from yesterday. He shrewdly suspected that the young people who -had been fellow-passengers on the _St. Paul_ took more than a platonic -interest in each other, and he did not want to stimulate that interest -into anxiety until he was better informed. - -He pursued the subject apologetically as soon as he was in the cab with -his nephew. - -"Sorry I made you bolt your food," he said. "I hate lying to women if it -can be avoided. The Shermans, who are staying with me, know -Beaumanoir--traveled in the same ship with him. It would have excited -remark to mention our destination." - -Forsyth, who had experience of his uncle's methods, perceived that he -was being pumped, and he had no objection. Having summoned this wily -man-hunter to his assistance, he was not foolish enough to expect -results without full disclosure. - -"I understand your reluctance to disturb the Shermans," he replied. -"Beaumanoir has spoken several times about them--in fact, he seemed -rather unduly excited when he first heard from me that they were at your -house. I have thought that he might be _pris_ of Leonie, though, as I -have not seen them together, I can form no opinion whether the -attraction is mutual." - -The General, having acquired his information, relapsed into silence, -which was only broken by Forsyth as the cab turned into Piccadilly. The -short drive was nearly over, but before the cab stopped he contrived to -describe briefly his chance meeting with the Duke, on the day of the -latter's arrival in England, at the Hotel Cecil, and with an effort of -memory he recalled the name of the man--Clinton Ziegler--whom the Duke -had been to see. - -"I dare say it's not important, but it just occurred to me that I had -better mention it while there was an opportunity," he concluded, -stealing a sidelong glance at his uncle's face, which, as usual, was -illegible. But a movement of the General's well-gloved right hand in the -direction of his left shirt-cuff, coupled with the gleam of a gold -pencil-case, suggested that the name of Mr. Clinton Ziegler had been -deemed worthy of record. - -They were admitted to the ducal residence by Prince, whose dignity -barely enabled him to stifle the inward curiosity with which he was -devoured. In common with the other servants, he had not been told of the -midnight alarm, and his orders to put the house practically into a state -of siege had naturally mystified him. The damage to the bedroom door was -not visible except under close examination, and Sybil having swept up -the sawdust, none of the household had yet discovered it. - -"No one has called, sir, except one or two of the usuals to the -tradesmen's entrance, and they were kept outside," the butler remarked -as he relieved the two gentlemen of their hats and canes. - -At Forsyth's request they were shown into the smoking-room--a cozy den, -with only one window overlooking Piccadilly, to which the General -immediately walked. His gaze roved over the crowded thoroughfare, -comprehending pedestrians and passing vehicles in one swift scrutiny, -and, apparently satisfied, he turned away just as Sybil entered, looking -as fresh and sprightly as though she had slept the clock round. The -General greeted her in the curt manner he affected to all women -impartially, but an extra pressure of her hand may have had reference to -her vigilant gallantry. - -"His Grace is sulking," she said, with a smile. "At least, he refuses to -leave his room until he has seen you, General Sadgrove. I tapped at his -door and told him you were here, but he said that if you want to see him -you had better go upstairs. Very rude of him, isn't it?" - -"Very sensible," replied the General. "I would prefer to see him alone, -if you will be so good as to escort me, Miss Hanbury. Alec," he added, -"while I am gone just sit on this ottoman behind the window-curtain and -keep your eye on that apple-woman under the railings of the Green Park. -When I come back, be prepared to tell me exactly what she has done and -how many customers she has had." - -Forsyth nodded, and the General went away with Sybil, who conducted him -up the grand staircase and left him at the door of the Duke's room. It -was characteristic of the man that, having heard all there was to hear -of her proceedings from his nephew, he forbore to waste words on what -had occurred, but dismissed her with an injunction. - -"Now run away and help Alec, but don't let the apple-woman know that -those sharp eyes are observing her," he said, unbending so far as to -give her a playful push. - -His knock and mention of his name was followed by the sound of footsteps -as the occupant of the room remembered that he had turned the key and -hastened to admit the visitor. Beaumanoir was fully dressed, and had -just finished breakfast. - -"Don't think me a coward for locking the door, General," he said, as he -shook hands. "This is a pretty bad gang that I am dodging." - -The General's comment was to turn and re-lock the door himself, after a -critical glance at the sawn panel. "I have spent my life in breaking up -bad gangs," he said, when he had taken the chair indicated. "I am a bit -rusty with disuse, but I should very much like to try conclusions with -this one. From what I hear, they must be worthy of anyone's steel." - -Beaumanoir indulged in a careworn smile. - -"Three attempts in forty-eight hours speaks to their zeal, at any rate," -he replied. "But seriously, General, you start badly handicapped," he -went on. "I don't even know that I want them broken up, as you call it, -for there must be no publicity. I can give you no clues nor answer any -questions. All I ask of your great experience is how to thwart a -determined hankering after my poor life--a hankering which may possibly -cease if I survive for another week." - -"You positively decline to give me any assistance?" - -"Positively; the honor of my house forbids it." - -The General tried to look pensive--a difficult matter to a gentleman of -iron visage and bushy eyebrows. - -"I am not going to ask questions," he said almost plaintively, without -mentioning that there were some he had no need to ask and others which -he fully intended to answer himself. "I am here to give advice, and it -is to get out of London into the open, so that your friends can look -after you. Professors of crime find their art more difficult in the -country, where every gossiping woman in the village street is a possible -witness. I want your Grace to go down to Prior's Tarrant, and allow me -the honor of accompanying you as a guest." - -The suggestion was met by a blank negative, and caused the Duke to rise -and pace the room in more agitation than he had yet shown. - -"Why, the very place is hateful to me since last Sunday night," he -exclaimed. "You would realize that yourself, General, if you had been -introduced to those silent fumes stealing down the chimney. I was -thinking of going to some hotel by the sea when Forsyth and Sibyl -induced me to remain here for the night, with such lively consequences. -Come with me as my guest anywhere else, but not to Prior's Tarrant." - -"Nevertheless, I should feel surer of your safety there than anywhere, -and I do not speak without reason," replied the General, with a metallic -snap in his voice. "I should wish at least to be accorded the privilege -of finishing my proposition." - -Beaumanoir promptly apologized very gracefully for his discourteous -interruption, excusing it on the score of the strain on his nerves. He -would be delighted to listen to any proposals, but nothing would shake -his determination not to go back to Prior's Tarrant. - -"My dear sir, the tangled woodland of the park there is the ideal spot -for a lurking assassin. Medival architecture provided the house with -nooks and corners which it would tax even your foresight to patrol," he -insisted. - -"But," said the General, "there is safety in numbers; and I was going to -propose--rather coolly, perhaps--that you should have a house-party -there. If I might bring Mrs. Sadgrove, and Alec and Sybil Hanbury would -also give us their company, it would lend color to my own presence. The -last two-named, as you have occasion to know, form a valuable -body-guard." - -The Duke stared at his visitor with something like horrified amazement. - -"You forget, General, in your kind eagerness to serve me, that you have -guests staying in your own house whom you cannot desert," he said, -wondering how even an old man with his years behind him could suffer -such lapse of memory when Leonie Sherman was one of the guests. He was -almost angry that his visitor, being thus reminded, did not instantly -abase himself. - -But instead of shame General Sadgrove had only justification to -offer--not profuse, because that was not his way--but complete. - -"I had not forgotten the Shermans," he replied, in a tone of oddly -contrasted reproof and apology. "I had it in my mind that if you -entertained my view you would stretch a point, and make matters easy for -me by inviting my guests as well." And the shrewd old diplomatist -succeeded in looking as though the barefaced bait he was dangling was a -piece of effrontery he only dared moot under stress of the emergency. - -Beaumanoir, flushing scarlet, stopped short in his restless pacing and -swallowed the hook. - -"I never thought of that," he said, looking down at the General with -more interest than he had yet shown. "And," he added, with unaffected -modesty, "I very much doubt if they would come." - -This was virtual surrender, and the General had an easy task to brush -away objections obviously raised in the hopes of their demolition. Short -notice? Well, perhaps; but Americans were used to a less formal -hospitality than ours, and would take it as a compliment. Brief -shipboard acquaintance? Nonsense. Five days' association on a "liner" -was equivalent to a friendship of years. The chance of the Shermans -being involved in a tragedy in which they had no concern? The General -pledged his word that, whatever happened at Prior's Tarrant, no harm -should befall the Senator's wife and daughter or breath of scandal -assail them. - -Before he left the room the General had arranged to return later in the -day, possibly bringing with him his Pathan servant, Azimoolah Khan, -whose aid he meant to enlist in securing the Duke's safety at his -country-seat. In the meanwhile, he would go home and prepare the ladies -for joining the party on the morrow, Beaumanoir's formal invitations -following by post. - -On his way down the broad staircase General Sadgrove chuckled audibly to -himself: "I thought the prospect of entertaining Leonie in his ancestral -halls would fetch him. Mustn't have her falling in love with him, -though, till he can show a clean sheet." A little lower down he stopped -and stared at a huge canvas of the third Duke, but without heeding the -bewigged and lace-ruffled counterfeit of the Georgian courtier. -"Concentration!" he muttered. "The first axiom in a crime-problem is to -concentrate the items. I shall have two of 'em now, by George, right -under the same blanket--and with luck I'll have three." - -In the hall Prince was hovering fatuously, assisted by a brace of tall -flunkeys who fell under the General's critical gaze. One of them was the -absent-minded William, all unconscious that he had allowed "Inspector -Chantrey's" understudy to slip upstairs the night before. Him Sadgrove -severely rejected, selecting his colleague. - -"There's an apple-woman under the rails opposite," he said, producing a -sovereign. "Run across and offer this for her basket and its contents. -If she refuses, the chances are that she will almost immediately move -away. In that case, if you can follow her a little distance, without -letting her observe you, bring me back word directly she stops and -speaks to anyone." - -The well-trained servant, with scarcely the blink of an eyelash for his -extraordinary mission, started to fulfil it, and the General hastened on -to the smoking-room, where Forsyth and Sybil were still on guard at the -window. - -"Has the woman been doing any business?" he asked as he entered. - -"She has only had one customer, who got off a Hammersmith 'bus and -walked on," replied Sybil, without removing her gaze. "And now--why, -it's one of our liveries--Steptoe, the first footman, is going up to -her. Oh, but this is interesting. He is offering her a coin, and she is -shaking her head." - -"Go on," said the General. - -"Steptoe is recrossing the road towards the house without buying -anything, and--yes, the woman has taken up her basket and is leaving her -pitch, don't you call it? She too is crossing to this side of the road, -but higher up. Steptoe has turned and is looking after her, and--now I -can't see any more without putting my head out of window." - -Sybil stopped, breathless; and, without comment on the episode she had -just witnessed, the General informed her and Forsyth of the proposed -move to Prior's Tarrant. As was to be expected, neither of the engaged -couple had any objection to an arrangement which would bring them -together under the same roof, Sybil remarking navely that it was one -thing to be allowed solitary house-room as a poor relation, and quite -another to stay with the Duke as a guest. She promised to hold herself -in readiness to join Mrs. Sadgrove and the Shermans on the morrow and go -down with them, while Forsyth was to wait for his orders until the -General returned in the afternoon. - -"We may have a ticklish job in getting our noble convoy from one laager -to the other, and I shall want you as an aide-de-camp, Alec, as well as -Azimoolah Khan for the more serious work," the General explained. - -"Azimoolah!" Forsyth exclaimed, remembering certain blood-curdling -stories of his uncle's old orderly, who had exchanged the fierce joys of -Thug-hunting for the milder enjoyment of valeting his beloved Sahib in -Belgravia. "Surely his methods smack too much of the jungle and the -nullah for this country." - -"That's why I want to cart the whole bag of tricks into the jungle," -said the General, grimly. "Well?" he added, as Steptoe entered and -tendered the sovereign on a salver. - -"The woman wouldn't take it, sir," was the reply. "She got up and went -round the corner into Air Street, where she was met by the person who -called here last night dressed as a clergyman, only he was dressed as a -working-man to-day. They went away together in a four-wheeler." - -"Thank you--that simplifies things considerably," said the General, and, -announcing his intention of returning later, he bade the footman call a -cab and followed him out of the room. - -"I wonder what he has got up his sleeve," Forsyth mused aloud, as he and -Sibyl watched the wiry figure into the cab. "The spirit of the chase has -gripped him tight, and he's in full cry already." - - - - -CHAPTER X--_A Duty Call_ - - -General Sadgrove was not the man to embark on an undertaking without -clearing the ground of doubtful points, and he drove home by way of New -Scotland Yard, where, firmly refusing his reasons for wanting to know, -he extracted the information that there was no such officer as -"Inspector Chantrey" on the police roster. On arrival at Grosvenor -Gardens he first sought and obtained a private interview with his wife, -and astonished her by imparting the projected visit to Prior's Tarrant. - -"You are at the old work, Jem; I can see it in your eye," she said after -one glance at her husband's stern, introspective face. "Is there -danger?" - -"To me possibly; to another certainly," the General responded. "In fact, -Madge, it is touch and go whether I can save a man's life. I do not know -yet if he is a good man, but his life is an important one." - -"Then of course I will go with you," said Mrs. Sadgrove, guessing whose -that life was from Alec Forsyth's early call. "The Shermans, dear -people, will be delighted to stay in a duke's historic mansion, even if -the invitation is a little irregular, for are they not Americans? I will -go to the morning-room and break it to them." - -"Without a hint of what is brewing, mind," said the General, and -vanished into his own den. He sat for a while in thought, and presently -rang the bell. It was answered by a tall Oriental in native costume and -turban, who made low obeisance, but listlessly, as though bored to -death. As he straightened himself, however, his coal-black eyes, raised -deferentially to his master's, blazed into sudden fire. - -"Allah be praised! The black tribe walks again!" he cried in his -vernacular, reading the sign as easily as Mrs. Sadgrove had done. - -"Yes, Azimoolah, the black tribe walks. We go to pit cunning against -cunning and right against wrong, you and I, as in the days when we rode -the jungle-paths under the Indian moon," the General replied in the same -tongue. "Art glib of speech and handy with those iron arms of thine, as -in the old times when we earned our pensions beyond the black water?" - -"Try me, sahib--only try me," came the quick answer. "I have feared that -I was growing fat and soft in this city of laziness, where the tame -_polis_ use not the ways known to you and me, O leader of midnight -pursuits. But that look in your eye brings back the old heart-hunger. I -want a quarry, sahib, fleet of foot and strong of arm and wily of -tongue, to match with all those of thine and mine. Show me such an one, -sahib." - -"So will I, Azimoolah--not one, but twenty quarries, maybe, whom it will -tax all our ancient skill to defeat," said the General, with a frosty -smile for his follower's eagerness. "Take heed while I give orders." - -The conclave that ensued lasted until luncheon, at which it was noticed, -though not remarked upon, by Mrs. Sadgrove that Azimoolah Khan did not -as usual station himself behind his master's chair. The General, too, -made no reference to his retainer's absence, but plunged at once into a -totally unfounded explanation of the wholesale invitation to Prior's -Tarrant. The Duke of Beaumanoir, he averred, wished to be kind to his -young kinswoman, Sybil Hanbury, by asking her down while Alec Forsyth -was there, and as that was impossible without a chaperon, he, the -General, had suggested a small house-party with Mrs. Sadgrove and Mrs. -Sherman to play propriety. - -Mrs. Sherman evinced unfeigned delight at the prospect, her only anxiety -being as to the length of the visit. Her husband, the Senator, with his -precious charge of Treasury Bonds, was due in a week, and she would wish -to be in London to receive him on arrival. Leonie, too, who did not seem -to share her mother's enthusiasm for accepting the ducal hospitality, -pressed the point with some pertinacity. The General, however, was equal -to the occasion. - -"No dates were mentioned," he said, looking his guests guilelessly in -the face. "But as his Grace alluded to the pleasure with which he -anticipated making the Senator's acquaintance, I presume he takes it for -granted that your husband will go straight to Prior's Tarrant from -Liverpool." - -Mrs. Sherman and Leonie exchanged glances, as though to say that that -settled the matter, as indeed, from their point of view, it did. Senator -Leonidas Sherman was the kindest of husbands and the most indulgent of -fathers; but if he had landed in England and found that he had been -deprived of the chance of staying with a duke, he would have made things -hum for all concerned. - -"Beaumanoir, having lived in your country, has a warm corner in his -heart for all Americans," said the General. "And talking of Americans, -my dear," he proceeded, addressing his wife, "I shouldn't like to be -uncivil to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. As we are all going out of town, what -do you say to returning her call this afternoon? If you are not -otherwise engaged, I will order the carriage for four o'clock." - -When the General--who never in his life had paid a duty call without -grumbling--spoke like that Mrs. Sadgrove knew what was expected of her, -and did it. She had not the faintest inkling of his reasons for sudden -politeness to a pushing woman whom they all disliked. In the old days, -when she had gone out into camp with her husband, and had sat silent in -the tent amid the coming and going of troopers and mysterious spies, she -had always divined when a great _coup_, resulting in the death or -capture of some notorious malefactor, was vexing his brain. She had -watched the spreading of the net without troubling him with questions -about the meshes. So now, though inwardly disquieted by this -recrudescence of the professional instinct, she abstained from worrying -him, confident that the veteran would achieve his purpose as ruthlessly -as the zealous young captain of thirty years ago. - -Without demur the ordering of the carriage was agreed to, and when it -came round at the appointed hour the Sadgroves were reinforced by Mrs. -Sherman and Leonie, who, at a hint from the General, had been induced to -accompany them. During the drive the General fidgeted a good deal about -the pace at which his fine pair of bays was being driven, and once or -twice checked the coachman; but his wife, who had learned to notice -trifles, observed also that he frequently consulted his watch, and -concluded that his anxiety was not entirely on the score of his cattle. -Of this she was assured when, as the equipage turned into the courtyard -of the hotel, he replaced his watch with a scarcely audible sigh of -relief. What was it for which they were neither too late nor too early, -she wondered. - -At the bureau they were informed that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was at home, -and the party, having been handed over to a bell-boy, passed on--with -the exception of the General, who lagged behind for a moment. - -"You have a gentleman staying in the hotel of the name of Ziegler, have -you not--Clinton Ziegler?" he inquired of the clerk. "Ah, thank you--I -was not mistaken then. Do you happen to know if he is in his rooms at -present?" - -The answer was that Mr. Ziegler was certain to be in, as he was an -invalid and never went out. Oh yes; he saw people--a good many, but -always in his own apartments, and he never frequented the public rooms. -His suite was in the same corridor as that of Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton--next to it, in fact. No; the gentleman and lady were not -friends, or even acquainted, the clerk believed. At any rate, they had -arrived at different times, and he had never heard of any connection -between them. - -Thanking his informant, the General hurried after the others and caught -them up in time to be ushered with them into Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's -luxurious reception-room. The handsome widow, beautifully gowned, and -already apprised by speaking-tube that visitors were coming up, received -them with effusion, and made no effort to conceal her surprise when the -General appeared in the wake of the ladies. She rallied him on his -new-found politeness, and openly avowed that he must have some secret -object in seeking her good-will. - -The General, disclaiming anything unusual in his conduct, bore the flow -of badinage meekly, but under his gray mustache he muttered: - -"Confound the woman! She is clever, or else Jem Sadgrove has blundered." - -The conversation drifted into the usual channels of small talk, and by -the time the General joined in he had assimilated one important fact in -connection with his surroundings. The suite of apartments in which he -was doing the penance of a duty call was a split suite. There was a door -at the end of the room, across which a fairly heavy writing-table was -placed, denoting that the door was not in use, as naturally it would -have been if the room beyond had been one of those rented by Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton. The discovery and his own deduction caused an odd -little crease at the corner of the General's mouth, and he seized the -earliest opportunity to put in his word. - -"I've got some news for you, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. You are about to be -the recipient of a very high honor." - -"Really! But this is extremely interesting," was the reply, accompanied -by a flash of scrutiny, quickly changed to a charming smile. "Pray don't -keep me in suspense, General. Am I to go for a cruise in the royal -yacht, or dine with the Lord Mayor?" - -"The Duke of Beaumanoir is going to ask you down to his country-place at -Prior's Tarrant," said the General, imperturbably ignoring her -persiflage. "I was with him this morning, and I gathered that you'll -have your invitation in the course of the day. We're all going down. The -Duke is Alec's new boss, don't you know, and he has taken a liking to -the lot of us." - -He carefully avoided his wife's eyes and those of his guests as he burst -this amazing bombshell, thereby depriving himself of the sight of a toss -of Leonie's pretty head and of the raising of two pairs of elderly -eyebrows. His hostess had his sole attention, and she repaid it fully. -For the first time in his experience of her Mrs. Talmage Eglinton -changed color and seemed at a loss for words. He helped her out, and -himself too, with the same old lie, and his manner was perfect--just -that of the simple old soldier: - -"The Duke dotes on Americans, don't you know. Says he was introduced to -you by my nephew outside Beaumanoir House the day he landed, and when it -came out in conversation that we knew you, he insisted on your being -asked. Thought it would please Alec, don't you know." - -The last sentence was spoken carelessly, as though it was an -afterthought, but it had an effect that all the skill at Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's disposal could not hide--an effect transient only, but so -marked that the three other women in the room, coldly hostile as they -were, did not fail to note it. The flush which had tinged her cheek on -hearing of the invitation deepened, and a softer light gleamed for a -moment in her fine eyes. - -But whether the General's explanation was deemed adequate, or whether -she intended to accept the invitation, there was no present means of -knowing. For the sedate calm of the afternoon call was suddenly -interrupted by a tremendous uproar beyond the closed door that was -blocked by the writing-table--a babel of confused voices and the -shuffling of feet. The ladies looked at one another in alarm, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton fully sharing the agitation of her visitors. Indeed, -she rose and glided swiftly towards the closed door, and then, as though -recollecting that it was not available, made for the principal entrance -of her suite. - -The General rose and followed her into the corridor, the commotion being -so great as to excuse his doing so. In fact, the sounds from the next -room were so appalling as to suggest that his protection might be -necessary against some broken-out lunatic, and out in the corridor it -was evident that some such idea prevailed among the hotel attendants. A -cluster of them had already collected at the door of the adjoining -apartments, and more were arriving. - -"What is all this disturbance?" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton inquired of one of -them, and the General, close behind, discerned a tremulous note in her -indignation. - -The man she accosted did not know, but another, who had been inside the -suite, at that moment pushed his way out and overheard the question. - -"It's nothing really serious, madam," he said. "An Indian Prince who had -applied for rooms was being shown round, when he took a fancy to enter -that suite--occupied by Mr. Clinton Ziegler. The Prince is in there now, -and nothing will induce him to leave peaceably, as he can't be made to -understand that the rooms are engaged. He doesn't appear to know much -English, but I am going for one of the curry cooks, who will doubtless -be able to interpret for us." - -"No need to waste time in fetching the cook," interposed the General. "I -speak most of the Indian dialects, and I dare say I can get him to -quit." - -"You'd better be careful, then, sir," said the attendant. "He pretty -nearly strangled Mr. Ziegler's secretary when he tried to put him out." - -Disdaining the warning and accepting the implied permission, the General -elbowed his way into the invaded territory, from which, after a couple -of minutes, he emerged with a tall Asiatic who was wreathed in -apologetic smiles, and talking volubly in an unknown tongue. The -intruder was dressed in a gorgeously embroidered purple vestment, and in -his snowy turban blazed a diamond the size of a pigeon's egg. From the -doorway of the invaded suite a couple of pale, fierce faces glared for -an instant, and then the door was shut. - -"It's all right," the General announced to the assembled spectators, who -by this time included Mrs. Sadgrove and the Shermans. "This is his -Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur, and he didn't mean to be rude. Just -a little misunderstanding of his legal rights outside his own -jurisdiction. He says he'll look for rooms at some other hotel, as he -can't have those he wants here." - -A murmur of relief went up from the embarrassed attendants, who with -great deference proceeded to escort the swarthy potentate to the -carriage which it was understood was waiting for him. At the same time -Mrs. Sadgrove held out her hand to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, and, declining -that lady's not too pressing offer of tea, sailed away to the -stair-head, accompanied by Leonie and her mother. The General was the -last to make his adieus, and he made them, oddly enough, much more -cordially than the women-folk. - -"Pleasant thing, a short parting," he ejaculated, as he bent over the -fair American's jeweled hand. "We shall meet in a day or two at Prior's -Tarrant, eh?" - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton smiled sweetly up at the rugged face of the -veteran man-hunter. - -"Come, General, you can't expect me to give myself away like that," she -said. "I shan't make up my mind until I get the invitation. You might be -a bad, bold dissembler, you know, just taking a rise out of me; and then -what a fool I should look if I had said that I was going to stay with -the Duke." - -"I might be a dissembler, but you couldn't look a fool--under any -circumstances," replied the General gallantly, as he turned away. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood watching the erect figure march down the -corridor, and suddenly called after him: - -"When does the Duke himself go into the country, General?" - -The erect figure wheeled as on a pivot, and the answer came back without -a second's pause. - -"To-night, by the 8.45 from St. Pancras. Alec Forsyth goes down with -him." - - - - -CHAPTER XI--_On the Terrace_ - - -The home park at Prior's Tarrant lay bathed in the gentle glow of a -waning moon, but the hoary faade of the mansion itself, and the terrace -that skirted it, were in shadow. Up and down in front of the long row of -windows a red spark passed and repassed with monotonous regularity--the -light of General Sadgrove's cigar as he waited in growing impatience for -the coming of the Duke. - -After his social duties of the afternoon he had paid a hurried visit to -Beaumanoir House to arrange for the Duke's departure in company with his -new secretary, and then, armed with credentials from the Duke and -heralded by a preparatory telegram, he had proceeded to the -Hertfordshire seat by an earlier train. He had good reasons for -traveling separately. And now the carriage which he had sent to the -little wayside station of Tarrant Road two miles off was overdue, and -the General was beginning to chafe. - -"I hope I haven't been too cocksure," he muttered, under his -close-trimmed gray mustache. "I pinned my faith to Alec's company -securing the fellow's safety on the journey at least." - -He took another turn, and then, striking a vesta, looked at his watch. -It was twenty minutes to eleven, whereas if those he expected had caught -the 8.45 from St. Pancras, the carriage should have been back half an -hour ago. He had hardly finished this calculation when from behind a -gigantic vase on the plinth of the steps leading to the lower level of -the gardens there sounded the hiss of a cobra, thrice repeated. - -"Azimoolah?" said the General, softly. - -His faithful servitor glided forward, almost invisible in the shabby -blue tunic which had replaced the spotless white garments of Grosvenor -Gardens. - -"A queer orderly-room, sahib, but not more so than some we wot of in the -by-ways of the Deccan," he whispered, glancing up at the loom of the -great mansion. "Well, I have done thy bidding, and have secured a -lodging in the village as a poor vendor of Oriental trifles. -Furthermore, I have already done some good police work." - -"You have discovered that there are strangers dwelling in the place?" - -"Not so, sahib; but they have been _seen_ in the village," was the -reply. "The woman with whom I have hired shelter says that two men, -professing to be painters, were in the park all day painting the trees -and the deer, for which purpose they had obtained permission of the -steward. Whence the men came the woman did not know, but they drove in -in a dog-cart on the St. Albans road." - -"Your informant could not tell you if the picture was finished--whether -the men were coming again?" the General asked quickly. - -It was too dark to see the Pathan's face, but a ring in his carefully -managed undertone told of pride in the answer: - -"_She_ could not tell _me_, sahib, but _I_ can tell _you_. The picture -makes the trees look like cauliflowers and the deer like unto swine. -Moreover, it is not finished, and the men are coming again--to-morrow, -perchance." - -General Sadgrove congratulated himself on his foresight. He would have -preferred having Azimoolah in the house with him, but he had detached -him from personal service, and had sent him down separately to pick up -unconsidered trifles in the character of a traveling huckster. And the -old sleuth-hound had done well, after only a couple of hours in the -place, in bringing this news of painters who could not paint, yet were -returning on the morrow. The General had such absolute trust in his -henchman's methods that he did not trouble to inquire how the news had -been acquired, thereby sparing Azimoolah the needless narrative of a -deal with the landlady of the "Hanbury Arms," where the strangers had -put up their cart and lunched. - -"Very good, old jungle-wolf," was all the comment he vouchsafed, and, -making a mental note to see that the park was barred in future to the -limners of "deer like unto swine," he was passing on to further -instructions when the sound of wheels was heard far away down the -avenue, and a moment later carriage-lamps twinkled into view round a -corner in the drive. - -"Here they come," he said. "Better make yourself scarce now, but stay -within call in case I want you." - -Azimoolah vanished in the darkness, and the General strolled on to the -end of the terrace, where the descent of a flight of steps brought him -to the main entrance of the mansion. Stationing himself under the -portico, he waited the arrival of the brougham, which presently swung to -a standstill, while the big hall door was opened wide by ready hands, -and shed a blaze of light on--an empty carriage. - -"What's this mean, Perrett?" asked the General, outwardly calm for all -the big lump in his throat, and cool enough to remember the name of the -gray-haired coachman, learned on his own drive from the station. "Has -not his Grace arrived?" - -"No, sir," replied the old servant, leaning from the box. "There has -been an accident to the 8.45. No one hurt, sir. No need for alarm, for -his Grace can't have been in the train." - -"How do you get at that?" the General asked, doubtfully. - -"The train was derailed between St. Albans and Harpenden, sir. Some of -the passengers were shaken, but none badly injured; so the fast train -that followed was run on to the up metals and brought them on, stopping -at every station. But none got out at Tarrant Road. James here," -indicating the footman, "ran along the train and looked into every -carriage, but he could not see the Duke." - -And Perrett won golden opinions from the General by adding that, not -satisfied with that, he got the station-master to wire up the line to -the point of the accident, and received in reply the positive assurance -that no injured persons had been left behind. All had been forwarded to -their destinations by the succeeding fast train, which had been made -"slow" for the purpose. - -The General had already mastered the time-table, and knew that only one -more train from London would stop at Tarrant Road that night--the last, -due at a quarter past midnight. The coachman therefore received, as he -had expected, orders to return to the station in time to meet that -train, and the General, lighting a fresh cigar, strolled back to the -terrace, where, in response to his low whistle, Azimoolah glided to his -side. - -"There is work afoot," he said, briefly. "Canst, as of yore, do without -sleep at a pinch?" - -"Ay, and without food if it is so willed by Allah and the sahib." - -Whereupon the General gave him the best directions he could to the scene -of the railway accident fifteen miles away, and bade him hie thither -with all speed and glean particulars on the spot, especially with regard -to the life they were pledged to defend and the nature of the accident, -which might be no accident at all, but a move of their mysterious -antagonists. It needed but few words to make Azimoolah understand, and -he was gone--even before his hand, raised in unconscious salute, had -dropped to his side. - -The General fell to pacing to and fro again, striving to penetrate the -new situation that had arisen, and, as was his wont when matters went -wrong, not sparing himself much scathing criticism. For what had seemed -to him good reason, he had put all his eggs in one basket--"gone -nap"--as he reflected, on the Duke and Forsyth catching the 8.45, and -now disaster had overtaken that very train. If the village post-office -had been open, he would have wired to know if the Duke was still at -Beaumanoir House, for everything hinged on whether he had started, and -Sadgrove felt an ominous presentiment that he had. The people he was -playing against were not the sort to wreck a train without prospect of -adequate result. - -Presently the twin lamps went twinkling down the avenue again, and the -General tried to comfort himself with the hope that when they reappeared -Beaumanoir would be in the carriage. After all, Alec Forsyth was with -him. What had befallen the one should have befallen the other, and he -had the greatest confidence in his nephew's readiness and resource. It -might even be, the General told himself, that Alec had suspected foul -play to the 8.45, and had purposely delayed departure--although, in -conflict with this theory, arose the conjecture that in that case the -railway people would have been warned, and there would have been no -"accident" at all. - -But what was the use of following threads which, in the absence of a -substantial starting-point, led nowhere? The worried veteran gave up the -futile task in favor of more practical work, and occupied himself in -learning the route by which the miscreants who had tried to suffocate -the Duke had reached the chimney-stack over his chamber. He found that a -decayed buttress had given them access to the top of the ancient -refectory, whence an easy climb along a slanting gutter-pipe formed a -royal road to the roof of the main building. - -The discovery, interesting in itself, was doubly so from the deduction -to be made therefrom. The men who had climbed the roof would have been -caught like rats in a trap if the Duke had raised the alarm, and they -must either have had complete confidence in their ability to kill him by -the charcoal fumes, or, in the event of a hitch, in the Duke's -unwillingness to rouse the household. - -"Egad! but they must have a nasty grip on him, to trust to his not -squealing under such provocation," the General murmured, as the sound of -wheels drew him at last from the age-worn buttress back to the portico. -"If he's turned up all right I'll try and persuade him to confide the -secret before we go to bed." - -But when the brougham stopped, it disgorged no Duke, but only Alec -Forsyth, pale of face, and for once in his life half afraid of meeting -his uncle's expectant eye. But he kept his presence of mind sufficiently -to control his voice as he informed the General--the information being -really for the servants who had appeared at the hall door--that his -Grace had not arrived. In silence the General led the way to the -dining-room, and it was not until he had dismissed the butler with the -assurance that they would need nothing more that night that he found -speech in the curt monosyllable, "Well?" - -For answer Alec handed him a telegraph form conveying the message: - - "_To A. Forsyth, passenger by 8.45, St. Pancras terminus._ - - "_Come back at once, urgent. Am in great distress. Persons - threatening Duke detained here. He will be quite safe if he goes - on, though not if he returns with you--Sybil Hanbury, Beaumanoir - House._" - -The General glanced through it and gripped the position. - -"Beaumanoir was in the 8.45?" he snapped. "That telegram is a forgery, -and you show it to me to explain your separation from him?" - -Forsyth bowed his head in grieved assent to both questions. - -"I am, of course, to blame for trusting that infernal thing," he said. -"But I had better put you in possession of the facts at once, for until -I reached Tarrant Road station and learned of Beaumanoir's non-arrival -from the coachman I had hoped that he had come through all right. I -ascertained at Harpenden, where I first heard of the smash, that no one -had suffered serious injury." - -The facts as related by Forsyth were very simple in themselves, though -greatly enhancing the perplexity of the Duke's disappearance. The two -friends had left Beaumanoir House in a hansom, giving themselves, as had -been arranged, barely time enough to catch the train at St. Pancras. -They had already taken their seats in an empty compartment on which the -guard had, at their request, placed an "engaged" label, when a -telegraph-boy came along the line of carriages, inquiring for Forsyth by -name. On reading the message he had acted on the impulse of the moment, -and asking the Duke to excuse him on the score of urgent private -business, had left the train and driven back to Beaumanoir House, to -find the telegram repudiated by Sybil as not emanating from her and its -contents quite unfounded. - -"I expect she let you have it," the General remarked grimly. - -"She was a little cross," admitted Forsyth, flushing at the -reminiscence. "I do not see, though, that I could have ignored what -purported to be an appeal for assistance from a woman in -distress--leaving aside my personal relations with her." - -"Don't kick, laddie. I'm to blame for leaving our precious vanishing -nobleman in the hands of a man in love. What next?" - -"I hurried back to St. Pancras, and, just missing the fast train which -afterwards picked up the 8.45 passengers at the scene of the accident, -had to kick my heels until the last train started. But it was no -accident, Uncle Jem. A big baulk of timber had been placed across the -rails, they told me at Harpenden." - -The General knitted his brows and pondered the problem, presently -suggesting tentatively that there was no proof that the Duke had after -all gone in the 8.45. He might, on finding himself suddenly deprived of -his companion, have got out before it started. But this theory was at -once knocked on the head by Forsyth's assertion that the train had begun -to move before he left the platform, and that Beaumanoir, still seated -in the "engaged" compartment, had waved him farewell. If the Duke had -not got out at an intermediate station, he must have disappeared at the -place of derailment, the latter contingency being the more probable. -Also the most alarming, because the stranded passengers had had to wait -for three-quarters of an hour at the side of the line in the dark, at a -remote spot surrounded by woods. - -"Humph! It looks very much as if they'd got him this time," was the -General's final comment. And he straightway walked over to the sideboard -and poured himself out a glass of wine, motioning his nephew to join -him. The action was significant of conclusiveness, and seemed to say -that, doom having overtaken the Duke, there was nothing more to be done. -The old gentleman drank his wine slowly, then turned to Forsyth with the -fierce exclamation: - -"First time Jem Sadgrove was ever beaten by a woman. Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton, or whatever she may choose to call herself, has scored a -record." - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton! What on earth has she got to do with it?" was -Forsyth's astounded rejoinder. - -A good deal, it appeared, according to the view which the General had -contrived to piece together, and which, leaning against the sideboard, -he proceeded to propound in spasmodic jerks. Beginning with a -description of how he had witnessed Beaumanoir's narrow escape of being -run down by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's landau, he hinted at the dawn of -suspicion in his own mind on finding her immediately afterwards calling -at his house, yet strangely silent on having nearly killed a man in the -streets. Then, when Forsyth had consulted him after the midnight episode -at Beaumanoir House, and had told him of the Duke's visit on the day of -his arrival from New York to someone occupying the next suite at the -hotel to that of Mrs. Eglinton, he had been fairly certain of his clue. -Having satisfied himself by personal observation that the ducal mansion -in Piccadilly was closely watched, he had set himself the task of -establishing a connection between the _soi-disant_ widow and her -neighbor at the hotel--a task which had been successful so far as -convincing himself went. - -Forsyth recognized that, for all the mischance of the evening, his uncle -had put in some good detective work, and said so. "You must have been -quick, too," he added. "Is it permitted to ask how you managed it?" - -"It was very simple," the General replied, with a relish for the -remembrance. "I carted all the women off to call on the lady, and while -we were there Azimoolah, in the character of an Indian rajah, blundered -into Mr. Clinton Ziegler's rooms, which I had in the meanwhile -ascertained communicated with Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's. When the -prearranged hubbub commenced she gave herself away by an unconscious -movement to the communicating door, showing that she was in the habit of -using it, unknown to the hotel people, who believe that they have -divided one big suite into two smaller ones let separately. She's -clever, and pulled herself together at once, but I had got what I -wanted--the fact that she was anxious about the rumpus my good old Khan, -tricked out in a suit from Nathan's and a stage diamond, was raising -next door." - -"That seems convincing, certainly," said Forsyth. - -"Azimoolah's experiences were even more so. Mr. Clinton Ziegler has some -associates with a very pretty way with them when Asiatic princes stumble -by chance into his rooms. Of course, it was Azimoolah's cue to be a bit -boisterous and persistent, but they needn't have roused the tiger in him -by giving him the congenial task of disarming them of two uncommonly -murderous knives. Funny thing is, that when I went in as an interpreting -peace-maker, I saw no sign of Ziegler, who, I gathered at the hotel -bureau, is an invalid and never goes out. The two men in the room were -able-bodied fellows, fashionably dressed, but with that in their faces -which there is no mistaking. The 'crime-look' is an open sign to those -who know." - -The General paused and looked at his nephew curiously. "Then I made a -false move," he went on--"a false move which may have wiped the seventh -Duke of Beaumanoir out of the peerage. I told Mrs. Talmage Eglinton that -the Duke was going down to Prior's Tarrant by the 8.45. Yes, you may -well stare, but I had an object. I also told her that you were going -down with him, believing that that would secure you both a peaceful -journey; for, vulgarly speaking, the woman is glaringly sweet upon you, -laddie. I ought to have given such a combination as she works with -credit for the cunning which drew you from your post." - -Forsyth flushed with annoyance. It was not pleasant to hear that his -friend's life might have been sacrificed through his uncle's perception -of a feminine weakness which had irked him throughout the London -season--in fact, ever since Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had made her -mysterious appearance on the fringe of society. The card, however, on -which the General had staked and apparently lost had been distinctly -"the game" if he, Forsyth, had only played up to it himself by sticking -like wax to poor hunted Beaumanoir. - -But _why_ was Beaumanoir being hunted? That easy-mannered unfortunate, -who had exchanged a life of reckless irresponsibility for sordid penury, -and the latter for the headship of a historic house, had performed all -these _demivoltes_ without making a visible enemy save himself. Why -should he have incurred a remorseless hatred which aimed at nothing less -than his life? - -"The Star-spangled Banner looms largely on the horizon of all this," the -young man mused aloud. "Can you explain that phase of the mystery, Uncle -Jem?" - -"The hub of the wheel, I take it, is my old friend Leonidas Sherman, or, -rather, the three millions sterling which he is on his way to this -country with," said the General briskly. "Big American robbery, worked -by a disciplined gang, and somehow your pal Beaumanoir is entangled. The -day he was at our house he tried vaguely to warn Leonie. Hinted that -Sherman should be warned to be careful." - -Forsyth heard the amazing theory with an inward qualm lest his shrewd -old relative should have hit on the solution of the puzzle, and it -filled him with greater apprehension than even the physical peril of the -Duke had instilled. "Entanglement" in Beaumanoir's case could only mean -complicity, for if his knowledge of the scheme was not a guilty -knowledge, if he had become possessed of the secret accidentally, why -did he not invoke the aid of the police and expose the conspirators? -Forsyth saw that the General read what was passing in his mind, and he -clutched at the only visible straw in defence of his friend. - -"If Beaumanoir was culpably implicated these scoundrels wouldn't want to -kill him, any more than he would want to queer their game by having -Senator Sherman warned," he said. - -"There you put your finger on the _crux_," replied the General, who -disliked the raising of questions which he could not answer. - -"And," proceeded Forsyth, pursuing his slight advantage, "you would -never have got Beaumanoir to assent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton being asked -here if he had known her to be a professional criminal. The 'honor of -the house,' as he calls it, is undoubtedly the motive of his -inexplicable silence. He would hardly compromise that august sentiment, -for which he is apparently willing to die, by desecrating Prior's -Tarrant with the presence of a woman likely to figure in the -police-courts--a woman, too, who, if your theory is correct, has designs -against the father of the girl for whom I veritably believe he has more -than a passing regard." - -The General, secretly in danger of losing his temper--a thing he never -really did--concealed his emotion by affecting to ruminate. The thought -of his invitation to the dashing American, afterwards carelessly -endorsed by the Duke, restored his equanimity. - -"That was a neat touch," he remarked meditatively as he selected a cigar -from his case. "If his Grace is not cold meat, I'd give a good deal to -be living under the same roof with him and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton for a -few days, with the prospect of Senator Sherman's arrival at the end of -them." - -He held the cigar he had chosen poised between finger and thumb, and -suddenly gazed round with a comical expression at the rich appurtenances -of the majestic dining-room. The maze of this latter-day pursuit had led -him into unfamiliar paths. His ancient triumphs had been won under the -free sky, where he could unravel a knotty point with the aid of tobacco -at will; but now he wanted to smoke, and was confronted by sternly -repressive ducal splendor. - -"Mustn't light up here, I suppose," he grunted. "Let's get into the open -and have a whiff. Yes, I know it's two o'clock, but we can't go to bed." - -He moved to one of the French windows, and, parting the heavy curtains, -unfastened the bolts and stepped out on to the terrace where he had -spent the earlier hours of the evening. Instantly both he and Forsyth, -who followed close behind, became conscious of the sound of heavy -breathing. As the shaft of light shot from the opened window they saw -that at the apex of the shaft, half way to the balustrade of the -terrace, two men were locked together on the ground in a ferocious -struggle, while twenty paces off, in the shadow of the gray pile, the -dim shapes of two other men paused irresolute, as if their advance had -been checked by the sudden opening of the window. - -For two seconds General Sadgrove's eyes blazed along the line of light; -then with a spring that would have done credit to one of half his age, -he hurled himself upon the combatants, and selecting the topmost for his -onslaught, dragged him from the prone figure below. - -"Get back to the window! Watch those other fellows!" he called to his -nephew, who was hurrying to his assistance. And Forsyth did as he was -bid, though he had hardly run back and put himself on guard when the two -distant prowlers vanished into the deeper shadows of the refectory wall. - -With no gentle hand the General hauled his struggling captive towards -the window. Half Forsyth's attention was diverted to the other party to -the fray, who was slowly rising from the ground, and the other half to -the dark end of the terrace, where the remaining pair had disappeared; -and it was therefore not until the General had arrived, hanging like a -terrier to his prisoner, that the obedient sentinel had eyes for them. -But at last he had to stand aside to allow the veteran firebrand to drag -the fighting, kicking figure into the room, and then only did he notice -details. - -"You've got the wrong one!" he exclaimed. "Don't you see--that's your -own man, Azimoolah?" - - - - -CHAPTER XII--_The Man Under the Seat_ - - -When the Duke of Beaumanoir found himself alone in the railway carriage -after Alec Forsyth's departure he sank back in his corner with a certain -sense of relief. The events of the last twenty-four hours had filled him -with a very sincere regard for his cousin Sybil, and he had not much -faith in the assurance given him by General Sadgrove that his journey -down to Prior's Tarrant would be free from danger. His past experiences -led him to expect that the terrible Ziegler and his myrmidons would be -more than a match for the shrewd but somewhat out-of-date Indian -officer, and if there was to be an "episode" on the railway he would be -glad to think that it could not now plunge his plucky young cousin into -mourning for her lover. - -"She is a girl in a thousand," he murmured, as he lit a cigarette; "I -should never forgive myself if I were the means of making her a widow -before she is a wife. If, as I half suspect, Alec's detachment was -effected by a ruse on the part of the graybeard at the Cecil--well, I -take off my hat to that gentleman for his consideration." - -As the train gathered speed, rushing through the twinkling suburban -lights, the Duke put his feet on the opposite cushions and reviewed the -situation--calmly, but always with but slender faith in being able "to -worry through" with his life. That had really become quite a secondary -object with him, so far as his personal safety was concerned; yet his -present attitude was to escape the attentions of Ziegler long enough to -convey a warning to Senator Sherman of the plot against him. Whether his -nerves would be proof against the strain till the Senator's arrival at -Liverpool was a phase of the case which he did not care to contemplate -too closely. - -Ziegler, he felt sure, would have grasped the position to a nicety, and -would use every device in his apparently limitless _repertoire_ to give -him his quietus before Leonie's father set foot on shore. It might well -be that another attempt would be made on him before he reached the -sheltering zone of Prior's Tarrant, wherein General Sadgrove had -promised him safety. - -His reflections were cut short by the slowing down of the train for the -stoppage at Kentish Town, and the Duke's sensations at that moment -hardly presaged a comfortable journey for him, brief though it would be. -The compartment was labeled "reserved," it was true, and the guard had -been tipped to see that the legend was respected, but that stood for -little when people of the Ziegler type were on the move, and he looked -forward with dread to the future stoppages if his heart was to thump -like this. - -Which is a study in the quality of _fear_, for Beaumanoir was of the -kind that leads cavalry charges to visible and certain death with gay -recklessness. - -The present trouble passed, however, for the guard hovered round the -carriage and gave no chance to invaders, who in any case would have had -some difficulty in effecting an entrance, as the door was locked. The -train sped on again, out into the country now, through the balmy summer -night, and Beaumanoir breathed more freely. One of the dreaded stoppages -was notched off the list. - -So, too, were Hendon and Mill Hill safely negotiated, and Beaumanoir was -able to contemplate the slackened speed for Elstree with greater -equanimity. As before, the guard's portly form loomed large outside the -compartment the moment the train stopped, and so doubtless would have -remained had not a loud, imperious voice on the platform summoned him to -a divided duty. - -"Here, guard! What are you about there? Hurry up now, and open this -door!" came the choleric command. - -With a deprecatory glance at the Duke's carriage the guard perforce -hurried off, and Beaumanoir peered out of the window after him. The -official had gone to the assistance of a tall, well-groomed gentleman, -who, with an air of irritable importance, was fumbling with the -door-handle of a first-class compartment some way along the train. The -traveler was of the type that secures the immediate respect of railway -servants--dressed in brand new creaseless clothes, every immaculate -pocket of which suggested the jingle of half-sovereigns. A man carrying -a yellow hatbox and a rug lurked deferentially behind the magnate and -cast reproachful glances at the guard, who was now thoroughly alive to -his opportunities and opened the door with a flourish. The tall man, -whom Beaumanoir took for a brother duke, or at least a director of the -line, stepped with dignity into the compartment; the menial handed in -the hatbox and rugs, and sought a second-class carriage; the guard waved -his lamp, and the train moved on. - -Beaumanoir withdrew his head and sank back in his corner, catching just -a glimpse of the guard preparing to spring into his van as it neared -him. The station lights flashed past, and the long line of carriages -swung into the outer darkness, the little diversion of the important -passenger leaving Beaumanoir amused and comforted. To the man who had -tramped his weary way along the Bowery to his five-dollar boarding-house -within the month this exhibition of class privileges and distinctions -was breezily refreshing, seeing that he was now in a position to claim -them himself. - -Immunity from danger through four suburban stations had brought a -delicious sense of calm, and as he leaned back he thought how nice it -would be to live the life of an English nobleman, free from all sordid -cares and humiliations. And if he could wake up at the end of a week and -find that his entanglement was all a nightmare, or, at any rate, that -Ziegler's bark was worse than his bite, and that Senator Sherman had -safely deposited the bonds at the Bank--well, in that improved state of -things what was to prevent his asking Leonie to share his new-found -privileges? - -Then, suddenly, the icy finger touched his heart again. As the blue -wreaths of cigarette smoke in which he had conjured up this alluring -vision rolled away he became conscious that his gaze, hitherto absorbed -and preoccupied with day-dreams, was in reality riveted on a material -object under the opposite seat. A very material object indeed--no less -than the heel of a man's boot. - -At sight of this disturbing element Beaumanoir's sensations were of a -mixed order. First of all, he could see so little of the boot that he -could not be sure that there was a man attached to it, though the -presumption was in favor of that supposition, for he was quite certain -that it had not been there long, or he would have noticed it before. He -guessed, so alert had his mind become under stress of emergencies, that -the wearer of the boot had got into the compartment on the off side -while he himself had been looking out of the window in Elstree station. - -But if so, and the man had invaded his privacy with sinister design, why -should he have plunged at once into a position of utter impotence? No -one flattened out under the low seat of a first-class railway carriage -is capable of active violence without a preliminary struggle to free -himself, during which he would be at the mercy of his intended victim. -The only design that Beaumanoir could attribute to him was that he would -presently wriggle to the front and use a pistol. - -He sat and eyed the motionless boot, and then an impulse, swift and -irresistible, seized him. - -"Come out of that, you beggar!" he cried; and, stooping down, he gripped -the boot, wondering whether he was to be rewarded with a haul or whether -he would have to laugh at himself for grabbing someone's discarded -footgear. But the first touch told him that here was no empty boot, and, -his fingers closing on it like a vise, he put forth all his strength and -dragged its wearer, snarling and spluttering, out on to the open floor. -There was no sign of a pistol, but as a measure of precaution Beaumanoir -pulled out his own Smith and Wesson. - -"Get up and sit in that corner," he said sternly, eyeing the puny form -of the invader with curiosity. Open violence at any rate was not to be -apprehended from the stunted little figure of a man who coweringly -obeyed his order. - -But as his captive turned round and showed his sullen face the Duke knew -that this was no mere impecunious vagabond, sneaking a cheap railway -journey. His fellow passenger was part and parcel of the peril that -menaced him--had, in fact, been a fellow-passenger of his before. For -the wizened, mean-looking face was the face of the spy Marker, who had -been pointed out to him by Leonie on board the _St. Paul_, and who had -afterwards shadowed him to the Hotel Cecil on landing. - -"So we meet again, Mr. Marker," said the Duke with pleasant irony. "I -should have thought that your friend Mr. Ziegler could have provided you -with a railway fare rather than let you travel like a broken racing -sharp--under the seat." - -The fellow blinked his ferret eyes viciously, but began a futile attempt -at prevarication. "My name, I guess, ain't Marker, and I never heard of -anyone called Ziegler," he whined. - -"Very possibly your name may not be Marker, though you booked under it -on the _St. Paul_; but you are undoubtedly acquainted with the old -rascal at the Cecil who calls himself Ziegler," Beaumanoir retorted. - -"You seem to know a powerful sight more about me than I know myself," -was the sullen reply. - -Beaumanoir made a long scrutiny of the weak but cunning countenance of -the spy, and he came to the conclusion that this was one of the -underlings of the combination, to be trusted only with minor tasks in -the great game. His presence there under the seat of the compartment was -the more unaccountable, since he was not the sort of creature with -either nerve or physique to murder anything stronger than a fly. - -"Look here, my good chap," said Beaumanoir with tolerant contempt, -after, as he thought, gauging Mr. Marker's caliber. "You've got a bit -out of your depth with the people you're trying to swim with. Why not -chuck Ziegler and Co. and come over to me? I'll make it worth your -while." - -But the only response was a dull shake of the insignificant head and the -sulky rejoinder: "I don't know what you're getting at, Mister. I'll -chuck anybody you like and come over to you with pleasure if you will -stand the price of a ticket to St. Albans." - -The persistent denial was as absurd as the suggested reason for his -presence under the seat, and Beaumanoir began to lose patience. "I -suppose," he said, "that you will maintain that you did not go to Mr. -Forsyth's chambers in John Street last night under the pretence of being -a chemist's messenger?" - -"Never been in John Street in my life," came back the pat and obvious -lie. - -It seemed useless to argue further, and Beaumanoir preserved silence -till the train ran into Radlett Station, when he put into practice the -course he had decided upon. At least he would force the creature to -disclosure and put him to some inconvenience, as it was possible that -thereby he might disconcert his plans, whatever they might be. Lowering -the window, he called to the guard, and informed the astonished official -that he had found a man traveling under the seat without a ticket. - -Then uprose the righteous wrath of the guard, who had Mr. Marker by the -collar in a trice and twisted him out on to the platform with the sharp -demand: - -"Now, young man, your name and address, and quick about it." - -"What for?" inquired Marker, openly insolent. - -"Defrauding the Company by traveling without previously paying the fare, -contrary to By-law 18." - -The spy broke into a jeering cackle. "You've only got _his_ word for it -that I haven't got a ticket," he replied. "I nipped under the seat -because I thought he was a lunatic, and a gent can travel that way, I -reckon, if he's paid his shot. Here's the ticket, Mister. I'll make -tracks to another carriage." - -With which he produced a first-class ticket all in order and walked off -along the platform, leaving the Duke and the guard looking after him, -the former with a curious smile, the latter with dismayed perplexity. - -"Well, of all the funny games!" exclaimed the official. "He must have -got in at Elstree while I was attending to that there toff, and blessed -if he ain't scooting into the same compartment with him now. Your Grace -will understand that I couldn't interfere with him, seeing that he had a -ticket and you didn't prefer no charge?" - -"All right, guard," replied Beaumanoir, with his weary smile. "It really -doesn't matter. He seems to have taken me for a madman, while I took him -for a dead-head, that's all. These little misunderstandings will arise, -you know. We're behind time, eh?" - -Taking the hint, the guard retired and started the train, Beaumanoir -resuming his seat in a frame of mind only to be described as mixed. He -stared out into the gloom of night, wondering what was to come next. His -little stratagem had succeeded, in so far as it had revealed Marker as -the possessor of a ticket, and therefore as presumably charged with some -design against himself, though it had shed no light on the nature of -that design. But the adroitness with which the wretched spy had -extricated himself made him gnash his teeth because of the impudent -reliance on his inability to assign a reason to the guard for fearing an -intruder. That in itself was clear evidence that Mr. Marker was under -the seat with a very real purpose. - -Had that purpose been entirely thwarted by his discovery? was the -question which buzzed through the Duke's brain to the tune of the -rolling wheels. There had been an air of insolent confidence in the -fellow as he showed his ticket and walked away which hardly tallied with -total discomfiture. And then, mused Beaumanoir, was there not ground for -further apprehension in his selection of a fresh compartment and a fresh -traveling companion? Could it be that "the toff" who had entered the -train at Elstree was an accomplice, and that Mr. Marker had gone to -report to him and concert new measures? It might well be so, for, -whether wittingly or no, the swaggering passenger had certainly caused -the diversion which had enabled Marker to open the door on the off side -and creep under the seat. - -The reflection that the spy might have confederates on the train did not -add to Beaumanoir's equanimity, and at the next stop he let down the -window again and peered along the line of carriages. Sure enough, he -caught a glimpse of a head protruding from the compartment into which -Marker had disappeared--not the head of Marker himself, but of the -imperious person who had played the magnate and distracted the guard. -The head was instantly withdrawn, but it had done a useful work in -convincing Beaumanoir that he was really an object of interest in that -quarter, and not to Marker alone. - -"I wish they would _do_ something and end this beastly suspense," the -hunted man muttered to himself as the train moved on once more; "though, -for the matter of that, they can't do anything till I get out at Tarrant -Road--unless they openly come to the door and shoot me at one of the few -remaining stoppages." - -But he was soon to learn that stations were not to be the only -stopping-places for the 8.45 that night. It had come to a steep -gradient, up which it was plodding laboriously, when suddenly there was -a bumping thud that hurled Beaumanoir on to the opposite seat; the -wheels screeched on the metals as if in agony; a tremor as of impending -dissolution quivered through the framework of the carriage, and the -train jerked to a standstill. - -Beaumanoir had the door open instantly with his own private key, and -clambering down on to the side of the line nearly fell into the arms of -the guard, hurrying from the rear van towards the engine. - -"Run into an obstruction, I expect, your Grace--nothing very serious, I -hope," panted the guard as he went scrunching over the ballast to the -center of disaster. - -People were swarming out of the carriages, all of them evidently more -frightened than hurt, and Beaumanoir strained his eyes through the -leaping, scuffling figures to the compartment occupied by his enemies. -Yes, there they were, and apparently the thing was to be done in -character to the last. The tall, well-dressed man opened the door, -called "Guard!" in the same old tone of importance, and, getting no -response, began to leisurely descend on to the permanent way, followed -by Marker, who feigned to hold no converse with him. At the same time -there hastened up the man who had handed in the hatbox and rug, and then -the three were swallowed up in the shadows beyond the radius of light -from the carriage windows. - -For the night had fallen inky dark, and outside that narrow band of -artificial light all was as black as the nether pit. Shrieking women and -agitated men appeared for a moment on the footboards and disappeared, -directly they had traversed the short zone of light, into the outer -gloom of the waste ground at the side of the railway. - -Casting a comprehensive glance at his surroundings, the Duke saw that -the accident had occurred at a lonely spot where the line was hemmed in -on either hand by dense woods running right up to the rail-fence that -bounded the track. Instinct prompted him to quit the dangerous proximity -of his own compartment, and at the same time he desired to ascertain how -long the delay was likely to last. This he could only do by proceeding -to the front of the train, but to reach the engine would entail passing -the place where the mysterious three lurked in the shadows. In order to -avoid them, therefore, he darted across the zone of light, hoping to -escape observation, dived under the train, and made his way forward on -the other side of the line, shielded from his foes by the carriages. - -One glance at the derailed engine sufficed to show him the nature of the -accident, and to inform him of the reason for it. A barrier composed of -baulks of timber, supplemented by heaped-up ballast, had been built -across the six-foot way, and from the excited remarks of driver, stoker, -and guard Beaumanoir gathered that the locomotive was so damaged that -even when the obstruction was removed it would be unable to proceed -under its own steam. The passengers would have to wait till a relief -train came along, unless they elected to trudge three miles to the next -or the last station. - -It was all too plain to Beaumanoir that here was no accident at all, but -an outrage designed to strand him in that lonely place, where amid the -darkness and the confusion murder would come easy. The choice of the -locality, half-way up a steep gradient where the speed would be reduced -to a minimum, pointed to no desire to injure the passengers generally; -indeed, there would have been an obvious intention to avoid a really -perilous collision, seeing that some of the conspirators were on board. -He could pretty accurately gauge Marker's functions now. The spy was to -have kept close to him after the "accident," so as to signal his -whereabouts in the darkness to the more active members of the gang. - -The emissaries of Ziegler would have to dispense with that aid now, but -still Beaumanoir could not shut his eyes to his imminent peril. The -three who had traveled in the train were on the other side of the line, -but the contingent--there would be at least two of them--who had wrecked -the engine were probably lurking somewhere near. He could have no -assurance that they were not at his very elbow, stealing on him through -the dense undergrowth that fringed the fence. - -A shout from the guard to the passengers congregated behind the train -told him that at least half an hour must elapse before they could be -picked up and carried on, and he at once decided that to stay at the -spot would be intolerable. He should go mad if he remained at the mercy -of invisible adversaries whom he could not _hit back_. If they would -only come out into the open, in a body if they liked, so that he could -empty the six chambers of his revolver into them before he went down, he -would take his risks gladly; but to stand still in the dark, not knowing -how soon a stab in the back would be his fate, was the thing too much. -There and then he ended the situation by climbing the fence and plunging -into the wood. - -He had not taken six steps through the brambles when from the pitch -darkness ahead a low, flute-like whistle sounded, to be instantly -answered by the cracking of a twig a little to the right of him. His -present intention to quit the scene and make his way to Prior's Tarrant -on foot across country had evidently been foreseen and provided for. -Those bushes were _occupied_, and his retreat at that point was cut off. -He clambered back on to the railway, and, running as hard as his -lameness would allow, close to the fence, he again essayed the wood two -hundred yards ahead of the engine. This time he won free into the tangle -of the copse without any sign of pursuit, and presently came to an open -"ride" where progress was easier. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--_At the Keeper's Cottage_ - - -The Duke followed the ride for some distance, the clamor of voices -around the wrecked train growing every moment less distinct till they -died away altogether, and he guessed that he was in the heart of the -wood, half a mile from the scene of the disaster. Whether or no he was -pursued he had no means of knowing, with such diabolical cunning pitted -against him; but, at any rate, no sound of pursuit reached his straining -ears, and he began to hope that his break-away had been undetected. - -Suddenly the ride turned abruptly to the right, and at the end of a -glade, some hundred yards further on, he saw the lights of a dwelling. -Across the intervening years came a flash of remembrance. These must be -the celebrated coverts of his neighbor, Sir Claude Asprey, and the house -ahead must be the keeper's cottage where, when an Eton boy spending the -holidays with his uncle at Prior's Tarrant, he had lunched as a member -of Sir Claude's shooting-party ten years ago. The place was graven on -his memory, because the day was a red-letter one by reason of his having -shot his first pheasant thereon. - -Without any definite plan in his head, but actuated by a longing for -human companionship, however brief, he went up to the door of the -cottage and knocked, his arrival being also heralded by the barking of -dogs at the side of the house. The door was almost immediately thrown -open by a stalwart, ruddy-faced man of sixty, who carried a candle and -stared in open-mouthed wonder at a well-dressed visitor at such an hour -and place. Beaumanoir looked at him closely, and smiled his first smile -of pleasure since Forsyth's hand had gripped his on the day he landed. - -"I can see you've forgotten me, Mayne," he said, "though I should have -known you anywhere--time has touched you so slightly. Don't you -recollect young Charley Hanbury, who came over with the Duke of -Beaumanoir to a big shoot with Sir Claude in '91?" - -A gleam shone in the honest keeper's keen eyes. "Of course I remember, -sir," he replied, adding quickly: "Begging your Grace's pardon, for -you'll be the Duke yourself now?' - -"Yes, I am the Duke, Mayne, and a very unfortunate one," Beaumanoir -laughed. "There has been a mild sort of smash-up on the railway yonder, -and I started to walk to Prior's Tarrant rather than hang about for a -relief train. I was a bit hazy about my direction, so I thought I'd -inquire, and at the same time reassure you that it wasn't a poacher who -was abroad in the woods. May I come in while you give me my bearings?" - -"Come in, your Grace, and welcome; but it isn't in my house that I shall -direct you. It's not likely that I'm going to let you wander about my -woods on a dark night when I can guide you out of them myself and think -it an honor," was the keeper's cordially respectful reply. - -Beaumanoir was conscious that standing in a lighted doorway was hardly -the place for him just then, and he followed into a roomy kitchen, -professionally eloquent with its array of guns and sporting prints. -Mayne explained that his wife had just gone up to bed, and that all the -youngsters, whom perhaps it might please his Grace to remember, were out -in the world. - -Beaumanoir dropped into a chair, and to gratify his kindly host accepted -a horn tankard of home-brewed ale, which he sipped while he satisfied -Mayne's curiosity about the "accident." He would have given much to take -the keeper into his confidence about the personal element in the -outrage, but that luxury could not be indulged in without impossible -disclosures. Considering that he had eliminated the most pertinent part -of his narrative, he was unable to account for the growing gravity with -which it was received till Mayne disburdened himself. - -"I wonder your Grace can take your narrow escape so lightly," said the -keeper. "Providence must have been in two minds about you to-night." - -"How so?" asked the Duke, starting. Surely General Sadgrove had not been -spreading indiscreet reports in the county already. There had not been -time. - -"It isn't a fortnight since his Grace your uncle and your cousin were -killed on the railway," replied the keeper. - -The coincidence had not occurred to Beaumanoir, nor if it had would it -have troubled him; but he was relieved to find that Mayne's solemnity -was due to the traditional superstition of a gamekeeper. To have his -terrible secret, or so much as a hint of it, suspected by this cheery -old associate of the happiest day of his boyhood would have been a blow -indeed. - -"Yes," he admitted, though in a different sense; "I have certainly had a -narrow escape, and it has shaken me a little, Mayne. On second thoughts, -if you would let me lie down for a few hours on that very comfortable -settle, I would defer my departure for Prior's Tarrant till the morning. -I really don't feel quite equal to trudging so far to-night." - -This was true enough, for though he was physically fit he dreaded -leaving this haven of rest and apparent security for the darkling wood, -in which his remorseless foes were probably searching for him. The -promised escort of the unsuspecting keeper would be of little value, -for, unwarned of any peril, the man would be simply an encumbrance, -equally liable with himself to swift death at any moment at the hands of -the enormous odds against them. Apart from other considerations, he -could not subject the good fellow to such a risk, though he would have -preferred, had it been possible to proceed alone, to have got to Prior's -Tarrant that night and so have ended the suspense under which Forsyth -and the General must be laboring. - -Of course the proposal was hailed with delight, Mayne only insisting -that he should wake his wife and get her to prepare the spare bedroom. -Of this, however, Beaumanoir would not hear, and he was trying to -persuade his host to retire for the night when a dog barked furiously at -the back of the house. - -"That's old Tear'em; there'll be someone moving," said Mayne, going out -into the passage and listening intently. - -Beaumanoir remained in the kitchen, but for all that it was he, with his -highly strung nerves, who was the first to catch the sound of a footstep -without--a stealthy footstep, not approaching the cottage door boldly, -but creeping close to the window. The next instant, however, before he -could communicate with Mayne, another and a brisker step, without any -attempt at secrecy, crunched on the pebble path, and there came a tap at -the cottage door. Mayne immediately opened it. - -"Sorry to disturb you, but there has been a railway accident," a man -said in tones that struck Beaumanoir as vaguely familiar. "I'm tired of -waiting about at the side of the line. Can you give me shelter for the -night?" - -"If you'll please to walk in, sir, I'll see what can be done," came the -reply of the hospitable keeper. "I've got one of the passengers in here -already." - -The next moment there appeared in the doorway of the kitchen the tall -man who had hectored the guard at Elstree station and who had afterwards -been joined by the spy, Marker, at Radlett. Whatever his purpose, he was -plainly not disposed to lay aside his air of self-importance as yet. He -glanced superciliously at Beaumanoir, and promptly appropriated the -chair which the latter had risen from at the first alarm. Loyal to his -own county, this was more than Mayne could stand; he hastened to effect -a one-sided introduction. - -"Beg pardon, sir, but you've taken the Duke's chair," he said. "This -gentleman is his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The newcomer rose with alacrity. "Sorry, I'm sure," he said, taking -another seat. "We are companions in misfortune, Duke, if, as I -understand, you were traveling in that wretched 8.45 from St. Pancras." - -Beaumanoir's sense of humor, ever present, but of late repressed by -stress of circumstances, broke out at the efforts of this man, who spoke -with a pronounced American accent, and who, he was persuaded, was there -with murderous intent, to sustain the _rle_ of an English gentleman. He -had not forgotten that other and more furtive footstep under the window, -but he could not resist the sport of leading this rascal on. The mood -had seized him to avoid being killed if he could; but, if that were not -possible, to extract all available fun out of the process. And it might -serve either of these contingencies to lead his adversary into the -belief that he was not being imposed on by all this specious posing. - -"Yes, I was in the 8.45," he replied, looking the other squarely in the -face. "You joined it at Elstree, I think. I noticed you because a man -who was found under the seat of my compartment got into yours at -Radlett, and I saw you leaving the train with him after the accident." - -For the fraction of a second the man failed to control the answering -defiance of his eyes, but he got a grip of himself soon enough to -prevent a premature explosion. "Really?" he said, with affected -carelessness. "He was under the seat, eh? Funny sort of person to be -traveling first-class; but, of course, you will understand that I am not -acquainted with him." - -Beaumanoir made no comment. He had got what he wanted. That sudden -tell-tale gleam of menace had discounted the subsequent disclaimer, and -he knew that this man had been no chance fellow-passenger with Marker, -the spy. What was more, the man knew that he knew it, and Beaumanoir -shrewdly guessed that the effort of control was intended to deceive not -him but the keeper. The rascal was biding his time till he had learned -what dispositions were to be made for the night, when doubtless he would -shape his actions accordingly; and, in the meanwhile, it was necessary -to his purpose that Sir Claude Asprey's honest old retainer should -regard him as an innocent guest. - -Again that persistent reliance on the Duke's impotence to speak up and -boldly claim protection. All through the hot pursuit that leaguered him -so closely this was the bitterest drop in Beaumanoir's cup, for it was -he himself who had placed the gag in his own mouth, he himself who had -forged the fetters that kept him from running to Scotland Yard with an -exposure of the whole conspiracy. And it is galling to be hampered by a -past lapse from virtue when you have abandoned evil courses and are like -to lose your life for doing so. - -"Now that this gentleman has come in your Grace will _have_ to have the -spare bedroom," said Mayne triumphantly, moving towards the door. "The -wife will have it ready for you in a brace of shakes." - -Beaumanoir detained him with a hasty gesture. "One minute," he said, -"I'm not at all sure that I care about having the bedroom. I had -arranged to sleep downstairs on the settle, you know. Why shouldn't we -adhere to that plan, and let this gentleman have the room?" - -He was moved to discover which of the two sleeping-places his enemies -would prefer him to occupy, and also by the imperative need of gaining -time to gauge the altered circumstances. Moreover, if Mayne went -upstairs to consult his wife he would be left alone with this great -strapping potential assassin, who as like as not would promptly admit -half a dozen other assassins from outside. Strangely enough, it was the -potential assassin himself who solved his dilemma--by tossing a -visiting-card on to the table. - -"I shouldn't dream of sleeping in the bedroom while you are roughing it -down here, your Grace," he said. "I shall certainly insist on occupying -the settle." - -Beaumanoir picked up the card and read: - - Colonel Anstruther Walcot, - 14th Dragoon Guards. - -The sight of that card, for all his imminent danger, cheered him, as -showing that his opponents were not infallible. Not only had they made -the initial blunder of furnishing this obvious Yankee with the outward -semblance and name of an English officer commanding a distinguished -regiment, relying on the fact that the real owner of the name was in -India, but they had chanced to select the name of the colonel of -Beaumanoir's old regiment. - -The impostor's card inspired him with an idea. He would accept him at -his own valuation. - -"Very well," he said, rising from his chair. "As I am the first comer, -perhaps it is right that I should be first served. I'll take the -bedroom, Mayne; but there's no need to disturb your wife. If you'll show -me up we'll soon put the room to rights. Good-night, sir, and thank you -for your courtesy." - -With which he signed to the keeper to lead the way and followed him out, -casting a glance at the American to see how he took the arrangement. -Diagnosis of the man's face was, however, impossible, for he had already -turned to the window and was drawing aside the curtain--to signal to his -fellows, Beaumanoir had no doubt. - -Mayne mounted the steep cottage staircase, Beaumanoir limping awkwardly -in his wake into one of two rooms on the tiny landing. The moment they -had crossed the threshold he perceived that the chamber was little -better than a trap. The man downstairs would simply have him at his -mercy, after admitting his companions and probably screwing up the door -of the keeper's sleeping apartment. Locks and bolts to the primitive -doors there were none. He recognized all too late that it would have -been better to have insisted on the Yankee occupying this room and on -remaining downstairs himself, when he would at least have formed a wedge -between the traitor in the camp and his colleagues outside. - -To stay the night in the room was out of the question, and he determined -to put in practice the inspiration derived from "Colonel Walcot's" card. - -"Mayne," he said, laying his hand on the astonished keeper's shoulder, -"I must get out of this at once, without the gentleman below being aware -of it, and you must help me." - -"But, your Grace----" began Mayne. - -"Don't withstand me," Beaumanoir cut short the protest. "I cannot go -into a long explanation, but it's like this. That man is the colonel of -my former regiment--an old brother officer, you understand. My name was -Hanbury then, and he either does not, or pretends not to, recognize me. -It is not a nice thing to have to confess, but I borrowed money in those -days from Colonel Walcot, which never till now have I had it in my power -to repay. It would distress me greatly to have that money mentioned -before I have repaid it, as I shall do to-morrow, so if you can contrive -to let me out without his knowledge I'll make for Prior's Tarrant and -never forget your assistance." - -Mayne scratched his grizzled head in pained perplexity. To his slow -brain the incident of a wealthy nobleman fleeing in the dead of night -from a creditor presented a startling incongruity, but gradually it -recurred to him that he had heard that the new Duke had been "a bit -wild" when in the army; and, after all, his reluctance to be recognized -by the Colonel till he had had time to liquidate the debt seemed but -natural. - -"Yes, it can be done, your Grace," replied the keeper, softly opening -the lattice casement. "The lean-to roof of the woodshed reaches right up -here, and there's a pile of faggots against the shed. You can get down -easy enough, and as it's the back of the house, if you are careful, he -won't know anything about it. But I'll come, too, and show your Grace -the way out of the wood." - -"On no account, Mayne," said Beaumanoir quickly. "You'll be much more -useful here. I'll find my way out of the wood all right, but you must go -back to the kitchen and tell Colonel Walcot that I am going to bed. It's -only a white lie, and here's a five-pound note on account of it. Stay -with him as long as you can--half an hour at least--and then go to bed -yourself." - -"Very well, your Grace; I don't like it, but I'll do it." - -"And see here, Mayne: there's one thing more. In the morning, or -whenever Colonel Walcot discovers that I have gone away, tell him from -me why I went, and that I intend to repay him all I owe him. _All I owe -him_, don't forget that." - -Directly he was alone Beaumanoir left himself no time for weighing the -chances, but took the risk. Squeezing through the window, he climbed -down the sloping roof of the woodshed and thence by way of the -faggot-pile to the ground. He was well aware that every step, as he -groped his way across the clearing into the thicket, might be his last, -for doubtless he had been traced to the cottage and the whole pack were -somewhere about. His only hope lay in the probability that they were in -front of the house, where they could hold themselves ready to obey -signals from the kitchen window or a summons from the door. - -It might have been that this was the case, for Beaumanoir reached the -trees without interference, and at once shaped a course for the edge of -the wood. His progress was difficult by reason of the darkness and the -density of the undergrowth, but fortune favored him in so far that he -presently hit upon a public foot-path, and so came eventually to a stile -giving on a high road. At the next cross-ways was a sign-post, which he -read by the light of a wax match, and thence onward limped steadily -forward for Prior's Tarrant, with growing confidence that he had eluded -pursuit. - -Great, then, was his dismay when, on turning into his own park, he -became conscious that he was being shadowed by someone whose stealthy -pid-pad sounded resolutely behind him. As he mounted the terrace steps -it grew louder; the man who was following him was close behind and -gaining quickly. Something in the Duke's tired brain seemed to snap, and -with just a glance at the lighted window of the dining-room where -General Sadgrove was in the act of drawing up the blind, he turned at -the top of the steps and flung himself, half mad with rage and terror, -on the faithful Azimoolah, who had picked him up near the sign-post and -shepherded him safely for the rest of the journey. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--_Too Many Women_ - - -General Sadgrove relaxed his grip on Azimoolah's lean neck, not as a -consequence of Alec Forsyth's exclamation, but because he and his -captive had crossed the threshold of the French window--gone "off," in -fact, from the stage on which he had been playing a little comedy for -the benefit of an invisible audience. Forsyth guessed at once that the -pulley-hauley business on the terrace had only been a sham, from the -half-playful push with which his uncle released the now passive Indian, -and also from the more than half-contemptuous glance flung at himself. - -The next moment the other party to the tussle on the terrace elucidated -the matter by walking up to the window instead of running away. It was -the Duke himself, outwardly calm, but somewhat disheveled by the fray, -and looking very sleepy. Entering the room he gave Forsyth's hand an -affectionate squeeze, and turned to secure the window. - -"It's all right," he said, in the listless tone that he always used -nowadays. "When the train got stuck up I smelt rats, and cleared out -from the locality--thought it better to cut across country on foot than -to stay about a spot where I was probably being looked for. But this -beggar," pointing to Azimoolah, standing at "attention," proudly erect, -"must have shadowed me, and caught me up just as I was coming to tap at -the window. You will confer a great favor on me by letting him go." - -This dogged determination to take no prisoners strengthened the -General's suspicions of his host, and there was a harsh ring in the -laugh with which he explained that Azimoolah was his own emissary, who, -on returning from the scene of the accident, had mistaken the Duke for -one of their unknown adversaries. He did not mention that there were two -genuine prowlers outside who, but for Azimoolah's intervention, would -have fallen on their prey, and who were probably intensely puzzled by -finding someone else playing the same game as themselves. - -"And now, if your Grace will go to bed, I will guarantee you a good -night's rest," added the General. "You must not forget that you will -have ladies to entertain to-morrow." - -Beaumanoir gave a tired shrug. - -"Even without that inducement I'd take your prescription, General," he -replied. "This hide-and-seek is rather wearing; but if you two good -fellows can keep me in the land of the living for the next few days, I -shan't worry you further." - -He left the room, dragging his lame foot painfully, and the General, -stricken with a sudden sympathy, whispered Forsyth to accompany him. - -"The poor beggar is troubled," he said. "Sleep on the sofa in his room, -and don't be afraid to close your eyes--as soon as _he_ is asleep. -Azimoolah and I will see there's no bother. But your friend mustn't be -left alone. Danger from his own pistol--see?" - -Forsyth nodded with grieved comprehension, and followed the Duke. On his -departure the General turned to Azimoolah, who had stood like a statue -since his release, and the twain exchanged a twinkle of mutual -congratulation. - -"We managed that quite in the old style, O taker of many thieves," said -the General in Hindustani. "'Twas well that you heard and quickly obeyed -my whisper to offer resistance, for so we have deceived the malefactors -who beheld us into the belief that you also are an enemy of the house." - -"The sahib's praise is sweet as the honey of Kashmir," responded -Azimoolah, gravely. "Is it the Heaven-born's will that I should go out -and slay these dealers in iniquity?" - -The commission entrusted to him, however, held promise of no such -luxury. On the contrary, Azimoolah received strict injunction to avoid -violence except in the last extremity--in self-defence or to prevent -entry into the house. The duty laid down for him was to patrol the -grounds, and instantly apprise the General of any action on the part of -the two trespassers that pointed to a renewal of aggressiveness that -night. - -"I shall remain in this room till daybreak; if anything occurs, make the -signal outside," were the General's final instructions as he loosed his -human watch-dog on to the terrace, after putting out the lights to -conceal the opening of the window. Then, having carefully closed it, he -sat himself down in the dark, and presently slumbered, secure in the -knowledge that none could approach the mansion while Azimoolah was on -guard. Also, he was pretty sure that the siege would not be raised till -the two prowlers should have reported to their superiors the doings and, -as they would believe, the capture of the strange rival who had -forestalled them. - -The General's confidence was justified, for the night passed without -further alarms, and the three gentlemen met at the breakfast-table under -ordinary country-house conditions. The servants being in the room, no -reference was made to the abnormal circumstances that had brought them -together, though Beaumanoir, in the course of reading letters that had -come by post, held up a gorgeously monogrammed note, and remarked that -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had accepted his invitation and would be with them -on the morrow. - -"She writes rather flippantly for a stranger," he added, eyeing the -scented missive doubtfully, but not offering to show it. "I hope it's -all right for her to meet my cousin Sybil, and--er--the other ladies. -She's coming on your recommendation, you know, General, so you must -vouch for her good behavior." - -Sadgrove growled unintelligibly, and was at pains to conceal a sudden -upheaval of his facial muscles. For the Duke's reference to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton in her relations to the other guests had all at once opened up -to his mind a contingency which he had overlooked--a terrible -contingency, which demanded instant consideration before the American -widow was admitted to the house. He made an early excuse for quitting -the table, and, exacting a promise that Beaumanoir and Forsyth would for -the present remain indoors, he went out into the park to face the -position alone, and thresh it out to a conclusion. - -Walking under the trees in the historic elm avenue, it was not till he -had smoked a whole cigar and lit another that he was able to approach -the problem with anything like calmness. For he was suffering from the -humiliation of having to admit that he had committed the grievous error -of imperiling the life of a woman--one, too, whom he held in -affectionate regard only second to his wife. If his suspicion of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was as well founded as instinct told him, she ought -never to have been asked to stay under the same roof as Sybil Hanbury, -her victorious rival in the affections of a man who had repulsed her -advances by stolidly ignoring them. - -"Gad! but I'd cut my hand off rather than harm should come to that girl, -let alone never being able to look Alec in the face again," he muttered, -as he gnawed his white mustache in perplexity. - -The situation was indeed serious from the point of view that Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was head of a gang of international criminals, and that -she was, moreover, as he put it in his simple soldier phrase, "sweet -upon" his nephew Alec. If, for her as yet unexplained ends, she would -not stick at assassinating the Duke of Beaumanoir, she would be capable -of wreaking a deadly vengeance on the girl who had won the heart she -hungered for. Once installed as a guest in the mansion, she would have -plenty of facilities of which she might make venomous use. The General -had engineered her invitation with the laudable purpose of keeping her -under constant observation and of making communication with her -confederates difficult; but in his zeal for check-mating her predatory -designs he had forgotten her amatory ones. - -It was true that Sybil's engagement had not yet been published to the -world, but the Shermans, who were also to be the Duke's guests, knew of -it, and to enter into explanations with Mrs. Sherman, the voluble and -unsophisticated, would be going far towards defeating his cherished hope -of protecting that lady's husband from the gang without implicating the -Duke. As it was, the invitation of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, of which he -was suspected of being the cause, had excited more than curiosity among -his American visitors, who had nearly upset his arrangements by -canceling their own visit on learning that their mysterious fellow -countrywoman was to be of the party. One crumb of comfort he derived -from the fact that in all things he could rely on his wife's discretion. -Though they had exchanged no word on the subject, he knew that, without -penetrating or wishing to penetrate his motive in trafficking with Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, his wife guessed that he had one; he knew that he -could depend upon her unquestioning aid if he asked for it. - -"I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew, as Sherman himself would -put it," he mused, with a sigh for the old days of jingling -bridle-chains and night rides, when he had merrily run down his Thugs -and Dacoits without female influence upsetting his calculations. The -female influence had been there, doubtless, with all its jealousies and -consequent treacheries; but all that had been Azimoolah's department. It -had fallen to the silent-footed, black-bearded Pathan to explore the -under-currents of social life in the native villages, and he had not -worried his chief with details till the patient sapping of traitorous -brains was done, and all that remained was to sally forth and hunt the -faithless lover or erring husband who was also a breaker of laws. -Azimoolah's knowledge in India of the eternal feminine had been -extensive and peculiar; but the General felt that he could not with -propriety set him poking into love affairs which included Sybil Hanbury -in its scope. - -Another point which harassed the General's soul was the new light shed -on the Duke's attitude towards Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by his mild -displeasure at the style of her note. The General was assured that the -remark at the breakfast-table had been the genuine expression of an -honest doubt as to the fitness of the sparkling widow to mix with -gentle-women; whereas the Duke could have had no doubt whatever if he -had had relations with the gang of whom he, the General, believed this -woman to be the moving spirit. It certainly seemed that the Duke was -ignorant that she was a dangerous adventuress, for, though he might have -suspected her of designs against himself and yet have consented to her -presence at Prior's Tarrant, he would never have subjected Sybil to the -peril of daily intercourse with a potential murderess. All along -Beaumanoir had shown a chivalrous disposition to protect his cousin from -even minor annoyances. - -"Perhaps there are two distinct crowds after Sherman's gold bonds, and -Beaumanoir is in with the Ziegler lot, and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is -playing against them," the General mused as he turned his steps back to -the house. "To think that the fellow holds the key of it all, and won't -speak, is what riles me." - -The immediate dilemma confronted him whether or no to impart to his -nephew the cause for alarm that had arisen about Sybil. He had been -surprised at first that a man of Alec Forsyth's shrewdness had not seen -for himself a danger threatening the girl he loved; but closer -examination disclosed a reason. Forsyth was too modest, too little of a -coxcomb, for it to occur to him that violence could result from a -misplaced passion for himself. On the whole, the General decided that, -as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was not due till the next day, he would say -nothing to Alec at present. - -"If I can make Beaumanoir disgorge his secret, the trouble may not -arise," he comforted himself. Though the veteran's faith in himself was -shaken, and he wished he had resisted the temptation to meddle with -crime outside his old Eastern sphere, he was not the man to take his -hand from the plough. He would devote all his diplomacy to penetrating -the cause of the Duke's obstinate silence. - -As he had anticipated, there was a lull that day in the activity of the -enemy--at any rate of overt attempts. No communication reached him from -Azimoolah, who would certainly have been heard from if suspicious -characters had been on the move in the neighborhood of the mansion; for, -though unseen, that tireless tracker might be trusted to be at his post, -which was anywhere and everywhere within the radius of a mile. The -denser thickets of the park possibly concealed him, or it might be that -he hovered in the nearer precincts of the gardens, unseen but ready. His -presence relieved the General from disturbing the routine of the -household by special instructions to the servants, who were still -fluttered by the lassooing of the lame gardener on the previous Sunday. -So far, all the precaution that the General had delegated to others than -himself and Forsyth was to give the bailiff a quiet hint, as a message -from the Duke, not to admit the "artists" to the park, should they -present themselves again. But up to the hour of luncheon the painters of -"deer like unto swine" had not renewed their application or put in an -appearance. - -In the afternoon Beaumanoir, shaking off some of his weary apathy, went -down to the portico with his male guests to receive the four ladies, who -arrived in time for tea, which, with the General's acquiescence, was to -be taken on the terrace. No sooner were the first greetings over than -Mrs. Sadgrove caught her husband's eye and telegraphed the information -that she had something for his private ear at the earliest opportunity. -He therefore contrived to lag behind with her while Beaumanoir did the -honors to Leonie and her mother, and Forsyth paired off with Sybil, as -the party mounted the marble steps to the terrace. - -"Jem," said Mrs. Sadgrove, scanning the rugged face of her spouse with a -sidelong scrutiny, "I received an anonymous letter this morning. Let -them get ahead a bit, and I'll show it to you." - -The screed which she put into his hand contained but five words: - -"_There is danger from Ziegler._" - -General Sadgrove's Eastern experiences had not educated him into an -expert in calligraphy, but it needed no particular insight to perceive -that this was a lady's handwriting, clumsily disguised. He transferred -his attention to the paper, half a sheet of "note"; and here he was -rewarded with a startling discovery. He had noticed that the letter of -acceptance from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, which the Duke had received at -breakfast, had been heavily charged with a peculiar perfume, and this -unsigned missive was simply reeking of the same pungent fragrance. He -had sat next the Duke, and knew that there was no mistake. - -"You have no idea who sent this?" he asked. - -"I seem to recognize the scent as having come to me before in -notes--proper, signed notes," Mrs. Sadgrove replied, evasively. And then -she added, with gentle significance, not from curiosity, but from a -desire to help him in case he did not know: "I heard the name of Ziegler -when we were calling at the Cecil yesterday. It was mentioned, I think, -by one of the attendants as that of the gentleman occupying the rooms -where the disturbance was." - -The General looked hard at her, and saw that his little drama had not -deceived the companion of his Indian days. - -"Yes," he said, shortly. "Do not trouble about this, Madge. It's all in -the day's work." - -But he himself was greatly troubled, inasmuch as if that anonymous -warning came from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton all his "case" was demolished, -and a perfect maze of new problems was presented. A warning from her -would be presumptive evidence that she was an ally, and--sad blow to his -_amour propre_--would stultify all the theories he had based on what he -had fondly hoped was an unerring intuition. He would have to begin all -over again, solacing himself--and it was no small solace--with the -reflection that he had raised an unnecessary bogey in anticipating -danger to Sybil Hanbury from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's visit. - -Yet by the time he reached the top of the terrace steps reaction had set -in, and he began to think that his brain could not have lost all its -cunning. For, unless in the very improbable event of Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton having found out something about the mysterious Ziegler through -occupying the next suite to him since yesterday, she must still be the -heart and core of the evil influence he had to combat. Without knowledge -she would not have been in a position to warn; and, like the Duke, how -could she have obtained knowledge without complicity? Why, too, should -she also be unwilling to use her knowledge openly? No, he came back to -the opinion that there must originally have been one gigantic plot -against Senator Sherman's precious charge, and that there must have been -a split in the camp; but from which section, or whether by both -sections, the Duke was threatened was an irritating conundrum. Anyhow, -Sybil Hanbury's peril assumed ugly shape again in the General's mind. - -"The woman must have sent it to mislead--to throw dust in my eyes," he -murmured, not knowing that he spoke aloud. And following up that train -of reasoning he found it grow into conviction. The letter was not really -anonymous. That is to say, the writer had been at particular pains to -disclose her identity by means of the scent if General Sadgrove deemed -the communication sent to his wife of sufficient importance to -investigate. The letter had been despatched, he now felt assured, with -the express purpose of whitewashing the sender in the event of any -further "accident" happening to the Duke. In short, he was of opinion -that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had suspected his manoeuvre at the hotel, and -had devised this method of hoodwinking him, and of diverting his -vigilance from herself during her forthcoming visit if her suspicions -were correct. The craftiness of the idea was obvious, and the General -was beginning to be delighted with his perspicacity when, lo and behold, -the whole fabric crumbled again, from a flaw at the very base of the -structure. It was inconceivable that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, if she was -guilty of criminal intent, should have directed his thoughts to Ziegler, -who, if not a confederate, was certainly part and parcel of the mystery. - -"Too many women in it," he growled, testily, unaware, in the brown study -into which he had fallen, that he had seated himself in one of the cane -chairs round about the tea-table at which Sybil Hanbury was already -presiding. He was also unconscious that he had expressed himself -audibly--at least, so far as concerned Sybil, who at that moment -happened to be handing him his cup. Indeed, he repeated the phrase, the -sentiment of it growing in vigor from the sight of Leonie Sherman -listening to Beaumanoir's description of his ancestral home, and of Mrs. -Sherman and Mrs. Sadgrove talking to Alec Forsyth. - -Sybil gave the old man a queer look, more affectionate than reproachful; -and when she had finished pouring out tea came and took a vacant seat -beside him. For a while she drank her tea in silence, stealing a -half-amused glance now and then at the puckered face of the checked -hunter of men. The General was gazing moodily across the green expanse -of park, wishing with all his heart that Azimoolah, on guard out there -in the leafy solitudes, was a fitting oracle to consult in a matter -touching the private feelings of _memsahibs_. - -"No," he growled regretfully, and again aloud; "this must be a white -man's war." - -Sybil leaned over and tapped his knee with her gold tea-spoon. The -General started, smiled fatuously at the celebrated Beaumanoir heirloom, -as though he were expected to admire it, and then suddenly came down -from the clouds, realizing that the young woman with the bright eyes -searching his face was something more than a source of anxiety to him. -She was a factor to be reckoned with, and if he was a judge of the human -countenance she was about to enforce that view. - -"A white man's war with too many women in it, General?" she asked, -archly. "Isn't that rather an anomaly?" - -"It's gospel truth," the General replied, with sturdy insistence. "Sign -of senile decay, though, thinking aloud." - -"_You_ are not decayed. You might as well accuse _me_ of being in my -first childhood, and I have really passed that," Sybil smiled back at -him. "But," she added, "I am childish enough to be a little hurt that -you don't appear to think so." - -"My dear girl, what have I done? 'Pon honor, I don't know that I have -done anything," the General protested piteously. - -"That's just it. It's because you have done nothing, or next to nothing, -that your contemptuous reference to 'too many women' seems to me a -trifle unkind," replied Sybil, pretending to misunderstand him. "What -would have happened to my cousin, when the panel was cut the other night -at Beaumanoir House, if it hadn't been for a woman?" - -The General accepted the reproof in thoughtful silence, forced to admit -to himself that it was not uncalled for. If it had not been for Sybil -Hanbury's nerve and courage on the occasion when the bogus detective -officer had secreted himself in the Duke's town house, the answer to her -question might have had to be written in blood. Her quick apprehension -of subtle danger, her determination to sit up and watch, and her cool -presence of mind in face of the emergency when it arose, had saved the -situation and stamped her as of sterling metal. - -"I apologize," he jerked out presently. "I still think there are too -many women in the business, but you ain't one of 'em." - -"Thank you," Sybil returned, drily. "And, that being so, wouldn't it be -a good plan to ask a woman to help you, on the principle of setting a -thief to catch a thief, you know?" - -The General shot a rather shamefaced glance at the firm mouth and -steadfast eyes of this plucky young enthusiast, and thereupon he decided -to enlist her as an adviser in the more intricate questions that vexed -him. There was the chance that woman's wit would fathom woman's guile, -and tell him why Mrs. Talmage Eglinton should want to point the index of -suspicion at Ziegler, who was probably her _confrre_ in crime. Woman's -wit might even tell him why his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir, engaged in -such a simple ducal pastime as making sheep's-eyes at a pretty American -girl, should yet recoil abashed whenever Leonie turned her frankly -responsive but puzzled gaze on him. Above all, the course proposed would -enable this brave English girl to do what he was beginning to fear he -could not do for her--to take care of herself. - -"Yes," he said, putting down his cup with a grim smile, "I'll take you -on, soon as you've finished your tea. And," he added, fumbling for his -cigar-case, "I'll try and not frighten you." - -Sybil rose at once, and together they strolled along the terrace to a -distance from the chatter round the tea-table, which had drowned their -incipient confidences. When they were quite out of earshot Sybil turned -and confronted the General, and the lighter tone with which she had -"played" him was lacking now. - -"Tell me," she said gravely, "why Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is so anxious to -kill my poor cousin and spoil that charming idyll." - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton!" stammered the General. "How on earth did you -know that?" - -"How did I know!" his new coadjutor repeated with scorn. "In the same -way that she must know herself that _you_ know, you dear silly old man. -Because of the absolutely absurd invitation to her to come and stay here -at Prior's Tarrant without rhyme or reason." - -And then, when General Sadgrove had recovered from the shock of finding -that he was not quite inscrutable, they talked, very seriously, for -upwards of half an hour. - - - - -CHAPTER XV--_A New Cure for Headache_ - - -"I wonder if General Sadgrove and Mr. Forsyth are lunatics?" Sybil -Hanbury purred softly, after joining in the chorus of thanks which -greeted a superb rendering of Strelezki's "Arlequin" on the long disused -grand piano in the tapestry-room. This apartment was more cozy and -homelike than the vast white drawing-room at Beaumanoir House, but it -was quite large enough for isolated conversations. - -The uncomplimentary confidence was made into the shell-like ear of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, who, faultlessly gowned by Worth, was sitting apart -with her nominal hostess in the embrasure of an oriel window. The Duke -was hovering near the piano, and Forsyth was talking to Mrs. Sadgrove -and Mrs. Sherman. The General was not present, having excused himself -from coming straight from the dining-room on the plea of having a letter -to write. - -Sybil's disjointed remark--for it followed a discussion on French -cookery--caused a sudden twist of the ivory shoulders towards her, the -swift eagerness of the movement being discounted by the languorous stare -of slowly interested surprise. There was a hint of resentment, perhaps -also a trace of alarm, in the wheeling of the dcollete shoulders; in -the stare these emotions were corrected into a mild desire to hear more -of such a sweeping surmise. - -"Lunatics--those two!" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton exclaimed, in -well-modulated astonishment. "That's what you English call rather a -large order, isn't it? What makes you say so?" - -"Hush! My cousin is trying to persuade Miss Sherman to sing," replied -Sybil. "Wait till she has begun, and I'll tell you. It's too funny to -keep to one's self." - -For two days now the house-party at Prior's Tarrant had been increased -by the elegant addition of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, and on the surface -matters were pursuing their normal course. The Duke had received his -latest guest with a democratic courtesy none the less cordial because of -her floridly expressed note, which in the stress of other preoccupations -he had forgotten altogether. He had a vague idea that the General had -wished the vivacious American to be included because she was a fellow -countrywoman of the Shermans, and that was quite enough to ensure his -good-will towards her. - -This view was so far from being the right one that Mrs. Sherman and -Leonie had only succeeded in being coldly polite to the latest arrival. -Mrs. Sadgrove, with an inkling that the beautifully dressed but too -effusive American was an important factor in her husband's schemes, was -more outwardly complacent, but it was reserved for Sybil to shower upon -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton special civilities which had ended, after two days -only, in their becoming constant companions, if not bosom friends. If -the handsome visitor wanted to walk in the park or to be shown some -object of interest in the gardens, Sybil was always at hand to accompany -her; and if it rained, as it had done all this day, she spent hours in -entertaining her in her own rooms. - -As for Forsyth, Sybil deserted him entirely; and as the other ladies -abstained from discussing personal topics before the unpopular guest, -there had been no making known beyond the small circle who knew it -already of the new secretary's engagement to his employer's cousin. -Singularly enough, this was one of the very few subjects which the girl -did not touch upon in her confidences to her new friend. - -Presently the importunities of the Duke, backed by a general murmur of -request, prevailed, and Leonie began a quaint old melody in a clear -contralto that at any other time would have held Sybil an enthralled -listener. As it was, she took instant advantage of the rippling flood of -sound that filled the room to resume her talk, though for the moment the -continuity was not apparent. - -"Beaumanoir House was burgled the other night, and we caught a man -trying to get into my cousin's bedroom," she whispered. - -"No. Really? I--I saw nothing in the papers," replied Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton in even tones, but with another turn of the white shoulders and -a sudden shading of her eyes the better to watch the fair narrator's -face. - -"That was because the Duke let the man go--didn't want any fuss just -after coming into the title; and quite reasonable, I call it," Sybil -proceeded. "And that's where the fun comes in. Mr. Forsyth insists that -my cousin is the proposed victim of some diabolical plot, anarchist or -otherwise, and he took General Sadgrove into his confidence. The old -gentleman, as you may not be aware, was a sort of policeman in India, -and is cracked on finding out things. Naturally, to one of that -temperament, the mystery Mr. Forsyth chose to make out of a vulgar -attempt at robbery was like a spark on tinder, and the General caught on -at once. They're both fairly on the job--as amateur detectives, you -know--and they think they've got a clue." - -"How truly interesting! And the clue?" - -"Of the most remote kind--not even arrived at, _ la_ Sherlock Holmes, -by inspecting cigarette ashes. It seems that Mr. Forsyth--who, by the -way, had been to leave a card on you--met the Duke at the Cecil, coming -away from the suite of a Mr. Ziegler. He chose to think that my cousin -was looking agitated, whereas he was only tired after his voyage. Mr. -Ziegler, therefore, if you please, has fallen under the ban of suspicion -from these wiseacres, and is supposed to be murderously inclined towards -the poor Duke. Even the mischief of some wretched boy in playing tricks -with the train he traveled by the other night is attributed to this -probably harmless Mr. Ziegler." - -"And his Grace--does he also attribute these things to the same -quarter?" asked Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, scarcely with the breathless -interest due to such tremendous doings. She had a way of opening her -eyes wide when putting a question--a mannerism which had the effect of -creating doubt whether she was intensely eager or only bored. - -"He thinks it all nonsense--same as I do," Sybil made answer. "He has -told these over-clever gentlemen to leave the thing alone, and I expect -if he finds out what the General is up to that he'll turn them both out -of the house and give Mr. Forsyth his dismissal. Of course, you won't -say anything--will you?--because I'm only a poor relation, and I can't -afford to offend people." - -"I am discretion itself. What is General Sadgrove up to, dear?" was the -reply. - -Sybil's pretty mouth bent close to confide the startling fact that the -General was going to London in the morning with the intention of -bearding Mr. Ziegler in his den--otherwise, in his rooms at the Cecil. -If he should be refused permission to see Ziegler, or, seeing him, -should be unable to satisfy himself of his respectability, he was going -straight on to Scotland Yard to impart his suspicions to the -authorities. Sybil sketched the carrying out of this amazing programme -and its probable consequences with much animation and ridicule, but her -hearer's interest tailed off into undisguised indifference, ending in a -deliberate yawn. - -"What a very stupid affair!" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton murmured. "Do you -know, it has made me quite sleepy, and--and I think I'll go to bed. I -have started a real, clawing, hammering headache. Shouldn't wonder if I -am not laid up to-morrow." - -Nodding a good-night to the others, she rose and swept from the room, -followed by Sybil, who, profusely sympathetic, insisted on accompanying -her to her own apartments. At the door of the latter a dark-eyed, -slender woman, in a black dress with broad white collar and cuffs, was -standing. This was Rosa, the French maid, on whose services Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton professed herself entirely dependent. - -"One of my headaches, Rosa. The pink draught--quickly!" cried the -incipient invalid, and pausing on the threshold she bade an affectionate -good-night to her girlish admirer. "I am not really ill--only a little -run down," she assured her. "I do _hope_ I shan't have to keep my room -to-morrow." - -The brilliant vision of Parisian elegance having vanished into the room, -Sybil made her way downstairs, and in the hall encountered General -Sadgrove, who wore a light overcoat over his evening things and a gray -felt hat. He was engaged in wiping the wet from his patent-leather shoes -with his handkerchief, but looked up on Sybil's approach, and, removing -his hat, went on with his occupation. - -"Still raining?" said Sybil, carelessly. - -"Like the very--I mean, like it used to in the monsoon," the General -checked himself. - -No more passed, except a slight raising of the old soldier's eyebrows -and a corresponding droop of one of the lady's eyelids. The General -having restored the gloss to his footgear and doffed his overcoat, they -went on with linked arms to the tapestry-room, where, however, the party -shortly broke up, the ladies to retire for the night, and the men to go -to the smoking-room. The Duke remained but a short time, leaving the -General and Forsyth with the playful remark that he was growing quite -bold after two days' immunity, and hoped they would not sit up all -night--which was exactly what one or other of them had been doing ever -since they came to Prior's Tarrant, and, moreover, what they intended to -do for the present. - -"Sybil has done her part," said the General, as soon as he was alone -with his nephew. "And I have prepared Azimoolah to be on the lookout for -results. He tells me that the men in the dog-cart were outside the park -wall again last night, and that there was the same exhibition of a red -lamp in that infernal French maid's window." - -"An abortive attempt at communication?" asked Forsyth. - -"That or something worse," replied the General. "It may only be that the -woman inside wants to confer with her confederates without; or it may be -that the red lamp is a signal to them not to approach any nearer or try -to get into the house. I incline to the latter being the explanation, as -on each occasion the men in the cart have driven off immediately on -seeing the red lamp, and there has been no attempt at short or long -flashes, or any sort of code talk, Azimoolah tells me. In either case, -it points to those beauties upstairs being aware that you and I are on -guard, and that any attempt on their part to give admission to outsiders -would be frustrated." - -"But if she knows that a watch is being kept, surely madam will not dare -to leave the house?" suggested Forsyth, in the tentative tone that was -necessary to preserve his uncle's good humor. - -"If she does, it will show that she's cornered, and that Sybil's guess -has hit the bull's eye," said the General, adding, with a significant -grimace, "a preparatory headache has been started already. You had -better go to bed and leave me to see to the commencement of the cure." - -Two hours later Azimoolah Khan, lying flattened out like a huge lizard -on the parapet of the terrace, and thanking Allah that the rain had -ceased, suddenly pricked up his ears and thanked Allah again that the -time for relieving his cramped limbs had come. At first his ears were -the only part of his body affected by the slight sound he had heard, but -some thirty seconds later, keeping the rest of him motionless, he -goggled his eyes round to one of the ground-floor windows and -saw--seeing in the dark was one of his accomplishments--a female figure -turn from it and flit along the terrace towards the steps leading down -to the park. Waiting till the figure had gained the lower level, he slid -from the parapet and gave noiseless chase. - -The woman in front spared no precaution to guard against pursuit. She -stopped many times and listened; she doubled on her tracks; and as soon -as she reached the woodland belt she proved to be an expert in the art -of taking cover. But she had to do with probably the most wily exponent -of woodcraft at that moment in England, and her pursuer was never at -fault. Dark as the night was, Azimoolah never lost her for an instant. -With sinuous movements that never caused a twig to crack, the lithe -Pathan was always creeping, gliding, dodging close behind, till he -stopped within ten paces of the park wall, and from the shelter of an -oak trunk watched his quarry nimbly climb the obstacle. No sooner had -she disappeared than he swung himself to the top of the wall, and peered -over just as a horse broke into a trot on the other side. - -Piercing the gloom, his keen sight distinguished the shape of a -fast-receding rubber-tired dog-cart, in which three figures were seated; -and, having fulfilled his mission, he dropped back to the ground. In a -few minutes he was on the terrace again, hissing like a cobra outside -the smoking-room. General Sadgrove opened the French casement. - -"The daughter of Sheitan came from the fifth window, and has gone away, -even as the sahib predicted, in the cart with two men," Azimoolah -reported. - -"Which road did they take?" - -"To the left--the Senalban road, sahib." - -"St. Albans, eh? Then she's going to catch the 3.15 up night mail," -muttered the General. "Well, good-night, old _jungle-wallah_. You've got -your orders," he added, closing and bolting the window. - -The next morning there were two absentees from the -breakfast-table--General Sadgrove, who by overnight arrangement had -breakfasted by himself, so as to be driven to Tarrant Road in time for -the nine o'clock train to town, and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who was -confined to her bed by a bad headache. The news of the indisposition was -imparted to Sybil by the maid Rosa at her mistress's door, and was -accompanied by a regretful but firm refusal of admission to the patient. - -"Madame is so _dsole_ not to receive you, ma'amselle, but she 'ave ze -malady too strr-rong for speak even with her dearest friend," was the -ultimatum which sent Miss Hanbury from the door with a doleful face, -which somehow took quite a different expression when she had turned the -corner. - -For some mysterious reason her aloofness from her lover vanished that -morning, and she and Forsyth were on the best of terms. They spent two -hours together wandering in the park, where in one of the more remote -glades Azimoolah flitted up to them from the bushes, and, regarding -Sybil with awe-struck veneration, made a deep salaam and was gone. The -Duke, who had given his word of honor to the General not to go beyond -the park gates, passed the time partly with his bailiff and partly -strolling with Leonie in the gardens and glass-houses. The friendship -between Beaumanoir and his beautiful guest, so promisingly begun on -board the _St. Paul_, seemed to have lost ground. Though he was much in -her society, he avoided intimate topics, and often puzzled her with a -hastily averted look of wistful tenderness in strange contrast to his -assiduous but commonplace hospitality. - -Half an hour before luncheon General Sadgrove, returning on foot from -the station and looking five years older for his run up to London, met -the two young couples, who had now joined forces, as they were entering -the mansion. Forsyth gave his uncle an anxious glance of inquiry, but -the old man passed him by unheeding, and addressed the Duke in a tone of -icy formality. - -"I shall be obliged if your Grace will give me five minutes in the -library on a very urgent matter," he said, adding, with significant -emphasis, "_I have been with Mr. Ziegler this morning._" - -Beaumanoir, gone all pale and tremulous, made a palpable effort at -self-control as he replied: - -"Come into the library by all means, General. But I am afraid you will -find me quite as reticent as I am sure Ziegler was." - -The interview lasted till long after the luncheon gong had sounded, and -when at length the Duke and the General entered the dining-room two -pairs of watchful eyes observed that their relative attitudes had been -reversed. The General's usually impassive face was working so painfully -that Mrs. Sadgrove half rose from her chair at sight of her husband, -checking herself with difficulty; while the Duke bore himself almost -jauntily, and began chaffing Sybil about her devotion to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton, who was still, by latest bulletin from Rosa, "suffering ze -grand torments" and unable to leave her room. - -The afternoon passed without external signs that the house-party was -living on the verge of an active volcano. But as it was growing dusk -Forsyth, at the risk of being late for dinner, took a solitary walk in -the direction of a certain stile, by which the Prior's Tarrant pastures -were approached by a short cut across fields from Tarrant Road railway -station. He arrived at the stile in the nick of time to give a helping -hand to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who had just reached the spot from the -opposite direction. The hour was the one when the guests at the house -might be expected to be dressing for dinner, and it also tallied with -the arrival of a London train at the station; but neither alluded to -these incidentals of such an obviously chance meeting. - -"I trust that your headache is better," said Forsyth, politely. - -But the headache, he was assured, was rather worse than better. The -sufferer averred that she had slipped out an hour before, to go for a -quiet walk in the meadows in the hope of obtaining relief; but the -remedy had been of no avail, and all that remained was to go back to -bed. - -"Won't you walk back with me?" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton added, devouring -the young Scotsman's healthy, good-looking face with eyes of invitation. -"I don't seem ever to get you alone nowadays." - -"I am very sorry, but I have to go a little further," replied Forsyth, -and, raising his hat, he passed on. But it was a very little way further -that he had to go, for at the end of the first meadow he turned and -followed in the lady's wake back to the mansion, catching, as he did so, -a glimpse of Azimoolah moving stealthily in the bushes at the side of -the path. - -That night the post-bag which one of the Prior's Tarrant grooms conveyed -to the office in the village contained a letter addressed to "Clinton -Ziegler, Esqre.," at the Hotel Cecil, couched thus: - - "_The gentleman interviewed in the Bowery, New York, by Mr. - Jevons on your behalf has reconsidered the matter, and is now - prepared to carry out his commitment. He is so shaken by recent - occurrences that he does not feel up to coming himself till he - has received assurances, but his secretary will call at the - hotel on Monday for instructions, which please hand to the - secretary in writing and carefully sealed._" - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--_A Delicate Mission_ - - -It was on Sunday evening that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, after a pious -pilgrimage to the village church in company with her assiduous friend -Sybil Hanbury, sought the Duke and asked if she might have a carriage to -take her to the station for the up-train on the following morning. She -would return in the evening, she said, but imperative business with her -milliner and tailor demanded her presence in London for a few hours. - -Beaumanoir, in courteously promising that her request should be attended -to, regarded her with a wan smile. "You will have a companion--that is, -if you do not mind Mr. Forsyth sharing the station brougham with you," -he added. "Alec has to go to London to-morrow on my business--leases at -the solicitors', isn't it?" - -He turned for confirmation to Forsyth, who, with General Sadgrove, had -been strolling with him on the terrace. - -"Yes, leases at the solicitors'," replied the private secretary, -flushing slightly. The General looked indifferent. - -"Really?" said the lady. "There must be a lot of that sort of thing to -see to just now, I suppose. Of course, I shall be delighted to have Mr. -Forsyth's escort, provided he drops me at Bond Street. I cannot have a -critical male person following me across my tailor's sacred threshold." - -She shook a gay finger at the party and disappeared into one of the -French windows--a vision of dainty _chiffons_ and rustling silks. - -"She's gone to put her prayer-book away," laughed Forsyth, in the -nervous manner of one wishing to cover an awkward situation. - -"She needs one," muttered the General under his mustache, shooting a -furtive glance at his nephew. - -Beaumanoir said nothing, and the three paced on, hardly speaking, till -it was time to dress for dinner. Since the General's return from town on -the day of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's headache, not exactly a coolness, but -a constraint, had sprung up between them. A suspicion of cross-purposes -was in the air, which kept them silent when all together, but -communicative enough when any two of them were alone in solitary places. - -It was so now, for the General waited till the Duke had left them to go -up to his dressing-room before he remarked in a tone of grim humor: - -"I told you that you would have her for a traveling companion." - -"I don't anticipate much pleasure from the journey," Forsyth replied, -gloomily, and reddening under the searching gaze with which his uncle -raked him. - -But with the exception of the short drive to the station, during which -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was unusually preoccupied, he was spared the -uncongenial _tte--tte_ he had expected. When the train came in the -fair American said chaffingly that she knew he was dying to smoke--that, -anyhow, she was in a mood for meditation herself, and intended to -indulge it in the seclusion of a "ladies' compartment." Forsyth -responded with the barest protest demanded by courtesy, and went away to -a smoking-carriage, much relieved. - -He saw her again at St. Pancras; indeed, he contrived to be near enough -to overhear the direction to an address in Bond Street which she gave to -her cabman, but he noticed the not unexpected fact that here in London -she had no desire for his society. She had hurried into the vehicle -without looking round for him, and was driven away at a pace that -betokened special instructions to the driver. - -Forsyth took another cab and bade his man keep the first cab in sight. -Before long he perceived that the lady was in truth going to Bond -Street, and presently he had the satisfaction of seeing her discharge -her cab and skip lightly into the shop of a fashionable _modiste_ in -that thoroughfare. His complacence was a little marred by uncertainty -whether she had observed him or not, but from the quick turn of her head -as she crossed the pavement he was rather inclined to think that she -had. - -"It doesn't matter, really," he reflected. "She knows that we suspect -her complicity, or she wouldn't have tried to blind her trail to the -hotel by driving here first. Strange, though, that, suspecting that, she -should have taken so much trouble." - -He ordered his driver to take him to the Hotel Cecil, and at the same -time to keep a lookout to see whether they in turn were being followed -by the lady whom they had just run to ground. But when he was set down -at the main entrance of the great twelve-storied palace he received the -assurance that nothing of the sort had occurred. - -"Not so keen after you, sir, as you was after her," ejaculated the smart -cabman as he whipped up and wheeled round, dissatisfied, after the -manner of his kind, with the extra half-crown he had received for his -"shadowing job." - -Forsyth shuddered. "_Keen_, by George!" he murmured ruefully. "If only -my devotion to poor old Charley could have led me into paths untrodden -by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton my task would have been a lighter one." - -He went into the bureau and inquired if Mr. Clinton Ziegler was in, -receiving the stereotyped reply that Mr. Ziegler was _always_ in, being -an invalid. Whereupon he sent up his card, first penciling thereon the -words, "Private Secretary to the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The bell-boy who took up the card reappeared almost immediately, flying -down the grand staircase three steps at a time. - -"Please to come up at _once_, sir, the gentleman said," was the boy's -urgent appeal. - -Forsyth, with a feeling of having "burned his ships," obeyed with equal -alacrity, and was shown into the suite made memorable by the raid of his -Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur, otherwise General Sadgrove's -faithful orderly, Azimoolah Khan. He noticed in passing in that the door -of the next suite--that of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton--was slightly ajar, but -his attention was immediately claimed by the welcome he received in Mr. -Ziegler's apartments. Just inside the door he was met by a tall, -bold-eyed man whom, from Beaumanoir's description, he had no difficulty -in recognizing as the sham "Colonel Anstruther Walcot," but who -introduced himself as Leopold Benzon, Mr. Ziegler's private secretary. - -The idea of a professional criminal being served with such specious pomp -tickled Forsyth's sense of humor; but, restraining an impulse to laugh -in the fellow's face, he responded gravely to the salutation and stated -his business. He had come, he said, after mentioning his name, on behalf -of the Duke of Beaumanoir, to see Mr. Ziegler by appointment on a matter -of private business. - -"Mr. Ziegler is expecting you," Benzon replied, scrutinizing the -visitor's face narrowly. "Unfortunately he is not so well as usual this -morning, and is not yet dressed. I must ask you to wait a little till he -is ready to receive you." - -Forsyth bowed and took the chair offered him, not without an inward -chuckle at the discrepancy between the haste of the bell-boy's summons -to the suite and the delay in receiving him. To his mind the position -was clear. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton desired to keep up the polite fiction -of her innocence to the end, yet Ziegler was apparently not prepared to -go forward with the business without an opportunity of consulting her. -She had come up to town for the express purpose of advising, perhaps -supervising, her colleagues at an important crisis, and was doubtless on -her way to the hotel after the diversion he had created, so that it was -necessary to get him out of the entrance-hall before she passed up to -her suite. - -"I shouldn't wonder if she isn't the boss of the show, with Ziegler, who -is probably her husband, as figure-head," Forsyth told himself. - -Benzon, with a polite excuse, had retired into an inner room; but his -place had immediately been taken by a well-dressed but cadaverous -individual whom Forsyth recognized as the man in clerical attire whom he -had seen descending the stairs in John Street after the forcible entry -into his chambers, the miscreant who later on the same eventful night -had called at Beaumanoir House in the character of a disguised -police-officer. - -There was evidently no disposition to leave him alone in the ante-room, -and so give him a chance to open the outer door and witness Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's arrival in the next suite. So twenty minutes passed, and -Forsyth was speculating as to how communication would be carried on with -the female partner during the forthcoming interview, when Benzon -returned and announced that Mr. Ziegler was awaiting him. He could not -help observing how much better suited was this bowing and smirking -American swindler to the _rle_ of a superior flunkey than to that of a -British cavalry officer. - -The next moment he found himself in the principal reception-room of the -suite, face to face with a frail old man of unpleasant appearance, who, -Forsyth noticed with quick intuition, was reclining on a couch that had -been drawn across a closed door. There was another--open--door leading -into the bedroom, but the closed one must be the same which from the -other side of it had confirmed the General's suspicions of the occupant -of the adjoining suite. Forsyth could picture to himself Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's shell-like ear glued to that door, its fair owner prepared to -tap gentle signals by the Morse code on the panels if things did not go -to her liking in the audience-chamber. - -His conjectures were brought down to the bed-rock of fact by the -croaking voice of the invalid on the couch. Mr. Ziegler's repulsive -aspect, his purple cheeks, and green-shaded eyes suggested some horrible -cutaneous affection, though Forsyth was not so ingenuous as to accept -the disfigurements as genuine. - -"I am sorry to have detained you, sir," Ziegler began, and then paused -abruptly. Forsyth wondered if he had been brought up with a round turn -by a tap on the door close to his ear. There seemed something tentative, -as though the speaker were trying his ground, in that first disjointed -utterance. - -"It does not matter," Forsyth replied, and then in his turn came to a -sudden stop. His diplomatic training at the Foreign Office had taught -him the advantage of allowing the other side to open the proceedings. He -who has the first word is seldom the one to have the last. - -But it appeared that Mr. Ziegler was also alive to the value of -reserving his fire. "I presume that the Duke of Beaumanoir instructed -you on the nature of the business you were to transact with me?" he -said, and there was a firmer ring in the curious metallic voice than -when he made his first brief apology. - -"On the contrary, he left me quite in the dark about it," Forsyth made -answer. "All I understood was that I was to fetch something which you -would hand me in person." - -Ziegler took a leisurely survey of the young Scotsman through his green -glasses. "Then you did not come here expecting to have to use your own -discretion in any way--to traffic with me, in fact?" he presently asked. - -"Certainly not," Forsyth replied. "I gathered that the part I was to -play was solely that of a trusted messenger who could be relied on to -say nothing about his errand afterwards." - -"Not even to General Sadgrove?" flashed back the answering question so -swiftly that for an instant Forsyth was taken aback. - -"I am not one to betray my employer's secrets--even to my uncle, General -Sadgrove," he said, recovering himself quickly. - -"Very good!" was the croaking comment. "I deemed it necessary to sound -you because we are aware of the foolish meddling--I might also say -muddling--of that mischievous old man. We know also that you have aided -and abetted him in an attempt to swim against a tide that is far too -strong for both of you." - -"I quite admit that," responded Forsyth, boldly. "My uncle has been -doing his best to protect the Duke's life, and as in duty bound I have -used my efforts to assist him--up to a certain point." - -"What do you mean--up to a certain point?" - -"I mean that as the Duke seems now to have taken matters actively into -his own hands by opening up communication with you, I am naturally -rather at the disposition of my employer than of anyone else." - -"Truly a faithful servant," said Ziegler, with a strong suspicion of a -sneer. "And now, Mr. Forsyth, I have a question to ask which you are at -liberty to answer or not as you please, but on which the future security -of his Grace will probably depend. I shall draw my own deductions from a -refusal to answer, and take it as an affirmative. Has the Duke disclosed -to either you or General Sadgrove, or, as far as you are aware, to -anyone else, the reason of his recent differences with us?" - -Forsyth rejoiced that he was able to reply in the negative. "No," he -said promptly and with evident truth; "he has always steadily refused to -enlighten my uncle and myself as to the cause of his being so -persecuted. We have been kept absolutely in the dark." - -He did not feel called upon to add, as he might have done, that a good -deal of that darkness had been penetrated by General Sadgrove's acumen, -and that the design on Senator Sherman's gold bonds was an open book to -them. - -Ziegler, however, was satisfied with the reply. Signing to the -pretentious Benzon, who throughout the interview had hovered close to -his master's couch, he conferred with him in a whisper, and then -addressed Forsyth again with a request that he would wait for a few -minutes in the ante-room, when a letter for the Duke would be handed to -him and he would be free to depart. - -"Good-day to you, sir," added the arch-plotter. "I regret that my -infirmities preclude me from offering you hospitality. These little -encounters become, I find, more fatiguing with advancing years." - -Bidding him a curt good-morning, Forsyth returned to the ante-room, -accompanied by the cadaverous individual, who had also been present at -the interview. Benzon remained behind, softly shutting the door on them, -and there was a distinct click of the key being turned in the lock. His -companion making no overture for conversation, Forsyth sat down and -affected to read a newspaper, though he was really straining his ears to -catch what passed in the inner room. Already perplexed by having seen no -signs of communication between Ziegler and the next suite, he was trying -to ascertain if a conference was now proceeding with the fair tenant -next door. No sound reached him, however, till after the lapse of some -twenty minutes Benzon came swiftly out of the inner room with a heavily -sealed letter in his hand. - -"This," said Ziegler's aide-de-camp, "is the packet which my chief -wishes you to deliver to the Duke of Beaumanoir. You are alive to the -importance of seeing that it reaches its destination without being lost -or tampered with?" - -"My dear sir, I should not, I imagine, have been entrusted with this -very uncongenial errand unless I had been thought capable of carrying it -out," replied Forsyth, in a tone of annoyance. - -"Take it, then," Benzon proceeded. "And you are, please, to inform his -Grace that Mr. Ziegler, though he would have preferred to see him in -person, is satisfied with the discretion of his emissary." - -"Thanks, but I don't think I need a testimonial from Mr. Ziegler to -recommend me to the Duke," replied Forsyth, coolly, as he buttoned the -letter into the breast-pocket of his frock coat and with a bow took his -departure. - -Out in the corridor he breathed more freely. "I don't think that I -overdid my exhibition of temper," he told himself. "A little touchiness -was to be expected under the circumstances." - -He had begun to descend the stairs into the entrance-hall, when he -saw--with something of a shock--coming up, and therefore about to meet -him, the lady whom he believed to be in the next suite to Ziegler's, -advising her partners through the communicating door. He had got it -firmly into his head that during the twenty minutes he had been kept -waiting that door had been opened, and the terms of the letter settled -between the two principals; and here was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton not in -her rooms at all, but apparently only just arrived. - -"Ah, Mr. Forsyth!" she cried, coquettishly. "You have been up to my -suite to look for me, with a view to standing me a luncheon somewhere. -Now don't deny that you were disappointed when you found that I had not -reached the hotel and that the suite was locked up." - -Could he have been mistaken? Forsyth asked himself. If so, the mistake -was not really his, but General Sadgrove's, and the entire bottom was -knocked out of the veteran's theory as to this woman's complicity. - -"But I have not been up to your rooms," was all he could reply on the -spur of the moment. "I had business with the gentleman who occupies the -adjoining suite." - -If it was not genuine, the look of disappointment that stole into her -face was a consummate piece of acting. "Oh, was that all," she said, -with a queer little laugh. "Well, that doesn't absolve you from asking -me to lunch now that you have the chance." - -"I shall be delighted," was the only answer he could make without -showing open hostility. - -"Wait in the hall, then," said Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. "I am only going -up to see if some jewelry I left locked up when I went down to Prior's -Tarrant is safe." - -She hurried up the remaining stairs, and Forsyth continued his way down -to the hall, a prey to conflicting emotions. Disgust at having to lunch -with a woman he abhorred was the least of them. What worried him most at -that moment was the doubt, restored by this meeting, whether Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was not, after all, the victim of a chain of -coincidences. - -And then, suddenly, a flicker of light broke on the situation -through--of all places in the world--a tiny flaw in the lady's defensive -armor. She had spoken of her suite as locked up, but he remembered now -that the outer door of it had been slightly ajar when he went in to his -interview with Ziegler. He went up to the big uniformed porter on duty -at the swing doors, and asked him if he knew Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by -sight. - -"Oh yes, sir," the man replied. "You'll catch her if you run up to her -rooms sharp. She's just going out." - -"Going out?" exclaimed Forsyth, with well simulated surprise. "I thought -I caught a glimpse of her going upstairs a moment ago. She seemed to -have only just arrived." - -"Oh no, sir; she came in an hour ago, and was on her way out just now -when she found she'd forgotten something." - -Forsyth left the proximity of the porter quickly, and went and waited at -the foot of the staircase. The horizon had cleared again, and he smiled -at the very thin trick which had so nearly deceived him--would have -deceived him, in fact, if one of the gang, eagerly expecting her, had -not chanced to be at her door when he went up. After concluding her -business with her accomplices she had contrived the meeting on the -stairs to throw dust in his eyes, going, in her desire for realism, to -the length of explaining to the hall-porter why she had gone upstairs -again after coming down into the hall. Well, he would hold her to the -lunch invitation; let her think that she had hoodwinked him; and -endeavor to ascertain whether she was courting his society as a mere -bluff to lend color to her deception, or with some other object as yet -undefined. - -He had not long to wait for her. Tripping lightly down the stairs, she -joined him with a charming assumption that he would be interested to -hear that her jewels were "quite safe," and she supplemented the -information with the request that they should not lunch in the hotel. - -"I am known here, and people stare so," she said. "Take me somewhere -where we can be quiet. I have got something to say." - -"Very well," he replied. "Come over to Kettner's. There won't be much of -a crowd there at this time of day." And he strove hard to be polite as -he steered her across the Strand, though he could have wished himself -back at the Foreign Office, with no prospects and no Duke to serve, if -Sybil's brave young face had not been in his mind's eye. - -At the restaurant Mrs. Talmage Eglinton chose a table in a remote corner -of the dining-room and devoted herself to a careful study of the _menu_. -It was not till she had selected her dishes and quizzed the appearance -of the other customers that she developed her plan of attack. - -"You don't seem at all interested in the fact that I have something to -say to you," she began, leaning back and scanning him critically. Her -voluptuous style of beauty had never had any attraction for him; to-day -it positively repelled. - -"My worst enemies have never accused me of being curious," he answered -lightly. "Nay, I am not discourteous," he protested, seeing the angry -gleam in the fine eyes. "I only mean that I cannot work myself into a -fever about a communication the subject of which I am ignorant of." - -"Tell me," she said abruptly, "what reason you had for following me from -St. Pancras to Bond Street this morning?" - -Whatever her motive she was pushing him hard, and Forsyth's presence of -mind failed him. He flushed and began to stammer. - -[Illustration: _"I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton."_] - -"It is useless to deny it," she cut him short. "I saw you in the cab -quite plainly as I entered the shop, and my cabby had previously told me -that I was being shadowed. Now, Mr. Forsyth, when a gentleman follows a -lady about the streets he either does it because he means her some harm, -or because--well, because he is not quite indifferent to her. Which was -it in your case?" - -This was a poser, and it had to be faced with instant decision. Rapidly -reflecting that unless he was then and there prepared to accuse his fair -_vis--vis_ with complicity with Ziegler there was only one course open -to him, he took it promptly. He little thought that within the next -forty-eight hours his fate--to live or to die--would depend on the -demeanor he then adopted. - -"I certainly did not follow you with a bad motive, and--there, a -straight question deserves a straight answer--I am very far from being -indifferent to you, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton," he said. - -After that the amenities flowed in the most friendly channel, though -Forsyth suffered agonies, and it required all his skill as an amateur -actor of repute to sustain the part of a diffident lover hovering on the -brink of a declaration. - -In the afternoon they returned to Prior's Tarrant together, outwardly on -the best of terms; but, needless to say, Forsyth was still "hovering." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--_Where is the Duke?_ - - -The next day was that set for the arrival of Senator Sherman, though it -would be quite late in the afternoon before he could reach Prior's -Tarrant from Liverpool. Mrs. Sherman had addressed a letter to him on -board the _Campania_, explaining matters and passing on a cordial -invitation from Beaumanoir that he would join the party on landing. - -Latterly there had been an entire absence of the excursions and alarums -which had marked the earlier days of the house-party. General Sadgrove -and Alec Forsyth had relaxed none of their vigilance, and Azimoolah -still ranged the glades of the park, but no more unauthorized artists -had put in an appearance, nor had any member of the party suffered from -headache, entailing the strange cure of a midnight journey. - -On this eventful morning it so happened that the ladies were all -assembled in the breakfast-room before any of the gentlemen were down. -Sybil, presiding at the tea and coffee equipage, was evincing deep -interest in Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's narrative of her purchases in London -the day before; Mrs. Sherman was wondering to Mrs. Sadgrove whether -"Leonidas" would come straight to Prior's Tarrant, or insist on -depositing the bonds in the Bank of England first; and Leonie was -looking dreamily through the open windows across the park--she was often -dreaming nowadays; so was the Duke. - -Presently General Sadgrove strode in and took his seat, making no -apology, because breakfast was a come-as-you-please meal, and no one was -expected to be punctual. But when he had said good-morning all round he -glanced uneasily at the vacant places of Beaumanoir and Forsyth. The two -young men were usually up and about before anyone. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had broken off in the middle of describing a new -and ravishing hat to Sybil in order to smile a welcome to the grim old -warrior. She was now following the direction of his glance, and -commented on it in sprightly fashion. - -"The naughty Duke and the naughty Mr. Forsyth!" she purred. "I believe -you men keep most frightfully late hours in this house, General. What is -it that you do--play cards or gamble with dominoes?" - -"No, it's chess," jerked out the General, regarding her impassively. -"Mate to the King and the Black Queen to move. All that sort of thing, -don't you know." - -The American widow trilled out a silvery laugh, and the veteran attacked -his breakfast. But, looking singularly old this morning, he seemed to -have but little appetite, and ate slowly, frowning at the two empty -places; and when Alec Forsyth came in alone, and white as a sheet, he -was on his legs in a moment. - -"Where is the Duke?" the General flung at his nephew. - -"I don't know; he's not in his room, and I can't find him anywhere in -the nearer gardens," was the reply. "I should like to speak to you for a -moment," Forsyth added, with a significant glance at the ladies, who had -so far failed to grasp that there was anything serious in a Duke being -late for breakfast in his own house. - -It needed no second request to bring the General out into the hall. "Now -tell me shortly," said the old man as soon as they were alone together. - -What Forsyth had to tell did not amount to much. As was his custom, he -had gone to Beaumanoir's room as soon as he was dressed, and had found -it vacant. As, however, the bed had been slept in, he apprehended -nothing wrong, thinking merely that the Duke was smoking an early -cigarette on the terrace. Seeing no sign of him there, he extended his -search in the grounds, but again with no result. The next step was to -question the servants, none of whom had seen their master since the -previous day. - -The General stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't believe that woman -knows anything," he said at length. "I was watching her when you came -in. She seemed to be surprised, and even disconcerted, by your news." - -"Perhaps one of her colleagues has acted independently, or there may be -divided counsels in the camp," Forsyth suggested. "In that case----" - -"In _any_ case, what we have to do is to find Beaumanoir, dead or -alive," the General interrupted. "See here, Alec, you must get a grip on -yourself and go in and eat your breakfast calmly--just to prevent a -premature panic among the women. I'll go and hunt up Azimoolah. If there -has been any stir during the night he is sure to know of it." - -But as the General descended the terrace steps he was smitten with -inward misgivings on that point. Had his faithful henchman detected -anything unusual during the hours of darkness he would, long ere this, -have been up to the house to report; besides which, if he had come -across any lurking miscreants he would have seen to it that no harm -befell the Duke. And here was the Duke missing. The hypothesis was that -Azimoolah had either been eluded or had himself fallen a victim to foul -play. - -Influenced by this fear, the General quickened his pace, and as soon as -he reached the wooded portion of the park uttered at frequent intervals -his signal for the Pathan to appear. But glade after glade he traversed, -scaring the rabbits with his cobra-like hiss, yet the lithe form of -Azimoolah nowhere broke through the bushes. The General did not desist -till he had thoroughly drawn the coverts, abandoning after a while his -strange noises for a systematic scrutiny of the ground. He knew that had -Azimoolah been in the park as a live man he would have answered the -well-known call by now; whereas if he was lying cold and stark somewhere -in the thicket, by patient search alone could he be found. - -At the end of a fruitless hour the General went back to the house, -realizing that not only the Duke, but the Duke's most capable protector, -was missing. The blow was a severe one, for, apart from the ominous -mystery of this dual disappearance, a certain scheme that had come to -very near maturity was rendered null and void--a scheme that before -another day dawned was to have cut the claws of Ziegler and Co. for -ever. - -There was the bare chance that Beaumanoir might have turned up during -his absence, and General Sadgrove covered the ground at his best pace; -but he was destined to find no such pleasant surprise in store for him. -Forsyth met him, as he mounted the terrace steps, with the significant -inquiry whether he had discovered anything. - -"Nothing, and Azimoolah has gone too," was the reply. "Where are the -women?" - -"In the morning-room; they are not alarmed as yet, only a little -uneasy--especially Leonie." - -"She would be, but we needn't mind her," the General rejoined, -brusquely. "What do you make of Ziegler's understudy?" - -"I cannot make much of her," replied Forsyth. "I am inclined to agree -with you that she is as much in a fog as the rest of us." - -The General grunted, and proposed that they should at once go up and -rummage Beaumanoir's room for clues, a course which they instantly -adopted. Since the charcoal episode their host had resolutely refused to -occupy "the Duke's room," preferring to that grim state apartment a -smaller chamber in the corridor where most of the guests were -accommodated. Access was gained to it by two different doors, one -leading to it through a dressing-room, the other directly opening into -it. They chose the latter as being the nearest, and as they entered -distinctly heard the swish of a silk skirt in the dressing-room, -followed by the soft closing of the dressing-room door. - -Alert and bristling like an angry terrier, the General stepped quickly -back into the corridor--just in time to see another door gently shut a -little farther on. - -"You were right, laddie," he said, rejoining Forsyth. "She has been here -before us on the same errand. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is as much -bewildered as we are by the turn of events, and she has been trying to -arrive at conclusions from an inspection of the Duke's room." - -They began their "rummage," which was made easier for them by the fact -that the housemaids had not yet paid their morning visit to the room. -The bed had certainly been slept in, and there were also indications -that the occupant had made a perfunctory sort of toilet afterwards. -There was fresh lather on a shaving-paper, and soapy water in the -wash-basin, to show that Beaumanoir had been able to attend to his -person. - -"Whatever has happened to him didn't happen here," said the General with -decision. "He left this room a free agent, at all events. The question -then arises, When and why did he leave it, and has he left the confines -of the park?" - -"He must have made a cold toilet," said Forsyth. "See, here is the hot -water which was brought up for him at eight o'clock this morning, and -also the water for his tub." - -He stepped outside into the corridor and pointed to a small and a large -can that had been placed close outside the door of the dressing-room. By -the General's advice the Duke had been in the habit of keeping both -doors locked at night, and the cans were never brought in by the servant -who called him. A valet had not yet been engaged. - -"And there by the wash-stand is the empty can he used overnight," said -the General. "Yes, there is the dirty water, in which he washed his -hands before going to bed, in the waste-pail. We fix him, then, to -having slept for some hours, and to having got up early and left the -house in the small hours before anyone was about." - -"It looks as if he were playing a lone hand at some game of his own," -said Forsyth, doubtfully. - -But the General would have no vague conjectures. Having settled within -approximate limits the time when Beaumanoir quitted his room, he desired -to learn how he had left the house. He himself had been sitting up from -two, at which hour he relieved Forsyth, till five o'clock, and he would -stake his reputation that no one had been moving during the period of -his vigilance. The Duke must have left the house between five and six, -at which latter hour the servants began to be moving. - -This view was strengthened by inquiry from the butler, who reported that -on going his rounds to open up the house he had discovered one of the -windows of the smoking-room unbolted, though he had himself seen to the -fastenings the night before. He had not thought anything of it, -supposing that one of the gentlemen had gone out for an early stroll. - -The General led Forsyth aside. "Whatever has happened to Beaumanoir, he -has courted his own fate by going outside unattended," he said. "It -almost looks as if he had been lured out by some trick of his enemies, -in which case Azimoolah has probably been done to death while -endeavoring to protect him. Come and help me search the park once more, -and then if we find nothing we must call in the police." - -Making a detour by the stable-yard, so as to avoid meeting and being -questioned by the ladies, they struck out for the leafy recesses of the -broad belt of woodland that fringed the park. Allotting one section to -Forsyth and taking the other himself, the General repeated the process -of the morning, peering into the bushes, turning over heaps of leaves -and probing the bracken with his stick, but all to no purpose. No -gruesome corpse, either of English nobleman or of dark-skinned Asiatic, -met their straining eyes. - -"We must give it up," said the General at last. "Now that we are down -here we had better go out through the wicket-gate into the village and -tell the constable to send for his superiors. We have reached the limit, -and poor Beaumanoir's secrets can belong to him no longer, I fear." - -Forsyth assented that it would be no longer advisable, even if it were -possible, to keep the Duke's affairs out of the hands of the police, and -the two made their way toward the private gate in the park wall through -which Beaumanoir had gone to church on his first memorable Sunday at -Prior's Tarrant. They were approaching the gate, not by the path, but -skirting the wall through the undergrowth, when a lissome body appeared -suddenly at the top of the wall, poised there for a moment, and then -dropped almost at their feet. It was Azimoolah Khan, dusty and out of -breath, but very far from being a dead man. - -"How is this, thou son of Sheitan?" exclaimed the General, affecting -sternness to hide his pleasure. "It was not your wont in the jungle days -to desert your post in times of danger. In your absence some evil thing -has befallen him whom we are pledged to guard." - -"Nay, Sahib, but hear me. It is not thy servant who has deserted his -post, but his post which has deserted him," protested the Pathan, with -dignified reproof. "The great Lord Duke ran away--oh so far and so -fast--and thy servant ran after in his tracks to see that no harm befell -him." - -"Well, where is the Duke now, man?" the General blurted out in great -excitement. "Surely you haven't come back to tell me that you have lost -him?" - -"The Duke is in the fire-carriage, Sahib; and thy servant having no -sufficient money or orders from the Sahib, was not able to follow -further than the station," Azimoolah replied. - -Pressed to be more explicit, this was the story he had to impart. He had -been patrolling the park, ever with a watchful eye for the house, when -between five and six he had seen the Duke come from one of the -ground-floor windows and make at great speed for the coppices. Keeping -himself concealed, Azimoolah had quickly perceived that it was the -Duke's intention to leave the park by the wicket gate, and, considering -it his duty not to lose sight of him, he had climbed the wall and -followed. Avoiding the village street, Beaumanoir had struck into a -series of lanes which presently brought him back into the main road -beyond the farthest habitation. Thenceforward, with Azimoolah shadowing -him, he had commenced a tramp which lasted between two and three hours, -and finally ended at a railway station in a fair-sized country town. - -"You ascertained the name of the town?" asked the General. - -Yes, after the train had steamed away Azimoolah had not omitted to -inquire the name of the town. It was Tring. He had also inquired at the -booking-office where the Duke had taken a ticket for, but the clerk had -refused the information with a rude remark about the color of his -skin--a remark which, east of Suez, might have brought him a taste of -cold steel. - -"And then, Sahib," concluded the narrator, "without bite or sup I -started to run back again, being sore afraid lest thy heart should be -troubled by these things." - -The General patted his orderly's lean shoulder. "You have done right, -old sheep-dog," he said. "And as the lamb has broken loose from the fold -you can go and get food and take a few hours' rest. Come, Alec! Let us -get back and see what Bradshaw has to tell us." - -Azimoolah having vanished over the boundary wall for his lodging in the -village, they returned to the house and repaired to the library. Forsyth -found a Northwestern time-table and turned up Tring. - -"Beaumanoir must have caught the 7.30 down," he said, running his finger -down the page. "It's a slow train, stopping at every station, and -doesn't go beyond Bletchley." - -The General was growing querulous. "Bletchley!" he snorted. "What the -deuce does he want at Bletchley? It's a little one-horse town in North -Bucks, isn't it?" - -"Hold on, it's more than that," said Forsyth, still with his finger on -the column. "It's a junction where fast trains stop, and--yes!--he could -change there into the North of England express, which calls there at -8.10." - -The two men looked at each other in silence and with something of -consternation. - -"Liverpool is in the north of England," said the General after a pause, -"and Sherman is due to arrive there to-day." - -"I cannot and will not believe that Beaumanoir has gone wrong after -all," Forsyth angrily replied to his uncle's significant remark. He -spoke with such heat that neither of them noticed that the library door -had been opened and that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood there, smiling at -them. - -"Who has gone wrong?" she purred sweetly. "For goodness' sake, don't -tell me that the Duke has run away with a housemaid!" - -She was looking at Forsyth with eyes that bored like gimlets, and he -thought of the letter from Ziegler, addressed to the Duke, entrusted to -him the day before. Was it something in that letter that made her stare -so steadfastly and yet with something of mockery in her gaze? Having -good reason to be aware of the contents of that letter, he thought it -likely. Only in that case calculations had been all at sea, and -Beaumanoir--alas, poor Beaumanoir! - -It was the General who answered the lady's banter, and that without any -visible discomfiture. "No, it isn't the Duke who has gone wrong," he -said calmly. "We were talking of someone not nearly so exalted. Our host -is all right--gone away for a few hours by an early train on business. -We have found out all about his movements, and I shall be obliged, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, if you will kindly reassure the other ladies that -Beaumanoir's absence is satisfactorily accounted for." - -"How delighted Miss Sherman will be. I will go and tell them all, at -once," cried the American gaily. And she swept out of the room with an -exuberant triumph not lost on those who remained behind. - -"Wherever the Duke has gone, and with whatever motive, Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton is pleased," the General mused aloud. - -"She will find herself mistaken if she thinks he has gone to play her -game," said Alec Forsyth, staunch as ever to his friend. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII--_The Senator and the Securities_ - - -On the hurricane-deck of the _Campania_, as the leviathan liner thrust -her huge bulk towards the landing-stage through the lesser fry of the -teeming Mersey traffic, a big man, wearing a light-gray frock-coat and a -broad-brimmed soft white hat, stood talking to the purser. Senator -Leonidas Sherman was accounted the handsomest man at Washington, and in -his broad, well-chiseled, clean-shaven face was reflected that honesty -and shrewd alertness which had caused his selection for his present -trust. - -"I don't want the box out before the last moment, Mr. Seaton, and if you -can conveniently keep the bullion-room locked till you hand it over I -should be obliged," the Senator was saying. - -The brass-buttoned official gave a ready assent to the distinguished -passenger's request. - -"I'd rather you had your job than me, sir," he added, seriously. "The -equivalent of three million sterling in a little leather thing like -that, and to have to cart it up to London all by your lone self--why, -it's enough to make one shudder." - -"It doesn't me," the Senator replied simply, with an unconscious gesture -to his hip-pocket. "I have a bit of a reputation to live up to, you -know. If it's to be shooting, my early training has taught me to draw -first; and if it's to be confidence-men--well, it's some years since I -was born." - -The purser nodded and went about his duties while Sherman leaned over -the forward rail and watched the shore, looming larger now every moment. -The Senator was no back-woods "hayseed." A man of culture and much -travel, he possessed far more than a guide-book knowledge of every -European capital, and did not make the mistake of under-estimating -London as a hatching-ground for crime. Till his precious charge was -deposited in the Bank of England and he had fingered the receipt he was -prepared for emergencies. The gold shipment which his Government had -negotiated against the bonds he was bringing had been buzzed about in -Wall Street for two months and more--ample time for the maturing of -predatory schemes. - -Aided by the company's tug, the great steamer sidled up to the -landing-stage, and as soon as the gangways were opened the usual stream -of passengers' friends began to push their way on board. The -hurricane-deck towered high above the level of the quay, and Senator -Sherman, not expecting anyone to meet him, retained his post of vantage -at the rail, looking down with amused interest at the embracings and -hand-shakings. He had no need to hurry, for it was too late to catch a -train to London in time to reach the Bank before it closed for the day, -and he preferred to let the ship clear before he claimed the box of -bonds from the purser. - -Suddenly he heard his name spoken inquiringly at his elbow, and wheeling -smartly round he found himself looking into the harassed eyes of a -well-dressed man whom he had seen, a few minutes before, pass on board -from the landing-stage. He had specially noticed him from a limp which -impeded his progress across the crowded gangway. - -"Yes, my name is Sherman, but I haven't the pleasure of knowing yours," -said the Senator shortly. There was a diffident air about this -tired-looking individual--a something that might be shyness or might be -guile--that put him on his guard. Could it be that one of the -"confidence-men," about whom he had just spoken so lightly, was going to -practise on him ere even the securities were out of the purser's -custody? He wondered what tale would be unfolded for his entrapment. - -"I am the Duke of Beaumanoir," the stranger replied, after a nervous -glance round. "I don't suppose you ever heard of me. There wouldn't have -been time for a letter from your people to reach you from this side -before you sailed." - -"You know my wife and daughter?" the Senator asked, sharply. The "tale" -was developing on the grand scale, he told himself. - -"I have the privilege of knowing Mrs. and Miss Sherman," replied the -Duke, flushing under the keen scrutiny to which he was being subjected. -"I have also the honor of being their host. They are staying, together -with their friends the Sadgroves, at my place in Hertfordshire. I--I -came down to meet you in the hope of inducing you to join them there." - -"Very good of you. May I ask how you came to make their acquaintance?" -asked the Senator, in an arid tone. - -"I traveled in the same ship with them from New York, and General -Sadgrove, with whom they stayed on arrival, happened to be the uncle of -my friend and secretary, Alec Forsyth," Beaumanoir made answer. - -An amused twinkle flashed into the Senator's clear eyes. He was quite -certain now that the man was an impostor with designs on the three -millions. The only spice of truth in the fellow's story, he told -himself, probably was that he had sailed in the _St. Paul_, which would -have given him the opportunity of gathering from his wife or Leonie the -particulars he was now working on. The Senator had no doubt that if he -accompanied this rather poor specimen of a criminal decoy an attempt -would be made to relieve him of the bonds--possibly to murder him. It -was all a little too thin--especially the dangling of an exalted title -as a bait to catch an American. This part of the scheme really annoyed -him, as casting on a foible of his fellow-countrymen a reflection which -he felt to be not wholly undeserved. The Senator became dangerous. - -"Very well, your Grace; if my family is under your roof, it is the right -place for me," he said more affably. "I accept your invitation in the -spirit in which it is given. I have a matter of three million sterling -in securities to get from the bullion-room, and then I'm your man. -Kindly wait here." - -A grim smile played round the Senator's firm lips when, after going -through the needful formalities with the purser, he quitted the -steamer's stronghold, carrying the leather despatch-box. He would lead -the rascal on, making his mouth water, gently titillate his -expectations, and then, having got him fairly on the hooks, hand him -over to the police. Delighted with the prospect of thwarting a rogue, he -sought his state-room to collect his personal baggage and have it -conveyed ashore. The first thing that met his eye on entering the -state-room was a letter in his wife's handwriting that had just been -delivered. - -It bore date of the previous day, and informed him that the writer and -Leonie were staying as the guests of the Duke of Beaumanoir at his -country seat, Prior's Tarrant. Mrs. Sherman went on to explain the -circumstances, so far as she was aware of them, of the invitation, and -she wound up with the hope that the Senator would join them immediately -on landing. The Duke, who was the embodiment of affability, had -cordially expressed that wish, she wrote; without, however, mentioning -the Duke's intention of going to Liverpool to meet the _Campania_. - -Senator Sherman read the letter twice, assured himself of the -authenticity of the handwriting, examined the postmark, and--made a wry -face. It looked as if he had been too hasty in jumping to a conclusion -about the young man waiting for him on the hurricane-deck, and he began -to regret the curt demeanor he had assumed. He was not quite convinced, -however, owing to the absence of any allusion to the Duke meeting -him--in itself an extraordinary proceeding. Good republican as he was, -the Senator fully appreciated the cleavage of English class -distinctions, and he was aware that great nobles do not, as a rule, wait -at seaport towns to welcome perfect strangers. It was possible that the -depressed individual on deck might, after all, be a criminal who had -discovered Mrs. Sherman's visit to the Duke of Beaumanoir and was -turning his knowledge to evil account. Still, though caution was called -for, his wife's letter invested the man's story with a credibility which -it had wholly lacked, and when he rejoined him the Senator's manner was -altered accordingly. The Duke having telegraphed for the carriage to -meet them at Tarrant Road, they took a cab together to Lime Street -station, and were fortunate enough to find a train on the point of -starting. It was a corridor express, made up entirely of vestibule cars, -and the fact caused the Duke an annoyance which partially revived the -Senator's suspicions. - -"I don't like this," Beaumanoir said, glancing with what looked very -like dismay up and down the well-filled car as they took their seats. "I -should have preferred an ordinary first-class compartment that we could -have had reserved." - -"Ah! I suppose a duke is bound to be a bit exclusive," said the Senator, -guardedly. - -Beaumanoir, who a month before had regarded a ride in a Bowery -street-car as an unattainable luxury, was betrayed into disclaiming any -such snobbery. - -"It isn't that----" he was beginning hotly, when he pulled up short and -feebly subsided, without explaining why he should have desired a -_tte--tte_ journey. - -With the starting of the train a sustained and confidential conversation -became impracticable, nor did either of the fellow travelers seem -inclined for one; but as they sped southward the Senator found plenty of -food for reflection in his companion's behavior. To the experienced -American eye the outline of a pistol was plainly apparent in the -breast-pocket of the Duke, whose fingers never strayed far from that -receptacle--an attitude which was always more distinctly marked during -the infrequent stoppages. Except when it was distracted into a swift and -nervous glance round by a movement of one of the other passengers, the -Duke's gaze was always focused on the precious box which the Senator -carried on his lap. - -"Either he means to rob me himself, or he is scared lest someone else -will," was the Senator's conclusion. - -But the journey came to an end without either of these consummations -being arrived at or even attempted, and the sight of the coroneted -carriage and the ducal liveries at Tarrant Road station removed the -Senator's last lingering doubt as to the Duke's identity. And, twenty -minutes later, when, still hugging his despatch-box, he found his wife -and daughter waiting to welcome him under the portico at Prior's -Tarrant, he was ready to laugh at himself; and what the Senator was -ready to do he usually did promptly--as now. - -"Ah, Jem!" he cried, as General Sadgrove came forward to greet him. -"You'll never believe what an ass I've been making of myself. Something -in the British soil, I guess. It's only this minute that I've been able -to clear my silly brain of a lurking suspicion that his Grace's kindness -in coming to meet me covered a design on this little box. Took him for a -sort of bunco-steerer." - -The General passed over the remark as a careless jest without pursuing -it, but shook hands with his old friend warmly. The veteran was looking -careworn and aged, the Senator thought, and he wondered, too, at the -queer searching glance which the General cast upon their mutual host as -the latter limped from the brougham into the hall. The Duke was engaged -in making light of the thanks and reproaches showered upon him for going -to Liverpool, wherefrom the Senator guessed that that singular -proceeding had been unknown beforehand to the house-party. - -They all went into the tapestry-room, where Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, now -happily recovered from her headache of three days ago, was chatting to -Sybil Hanbury and Alec Forsyth. The necessary introductions were -effected by Beaumanoir, whose spirits had wonderfully revived with his -entry into the house--to such an extent, indeed, that Leonie put it down -to a few hours in the company of her breezy father, little thinking that -they had traveled two hundred miles together without exchanging half as -many words. Yet if there was nothing forced about the Duke's sudden -gaiety it certainly suggested unnatural excitement, and everyone present -was impressed by his changed demeanor. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was so -affected by it that in narrowly observing her host she failed to notice -that for some minutes after the introduction she herself was the object -of observation, not to say a pretty sharp scrutiny, on the part of -Senator Sherman. - -"Say, your Grace," exclaimed the Senator, recovering from his -abstraction and turning with some abruptness to the Duke, "I can't enjoy -your hospitality with a whole heart till I've got this treasure under -lock and key. Have you got any place where I can deposit the box with -tolerable confidence of finding it when I want to take it to the Bank of -England to-morrow? It's a just retribution, I guess, to have to make you -its custodian after suspecting you of wanting to lift it." - -Beaumanoir, it seemed, was quite equal to the occasion. - -"I can guarantee the impregnability of the fire-proof safe in my -muniment room," he replied with alacrity. "If you will come with me, we -will lock it up at once." - -Sturdily disregarding the badinage of his wife and Leonie for thinking -robbery possible at Prior's Tarrant, the Senator followed the Duke, and -was conducted by him along many corridors to a stone-floored chamber -lined with shelves full of dusty archives, and furnished only with a -carved oak table and a few worm-eaten chairs. But, what was more to the -purpose, a brand-new safe, resplendent in green and gold, the very -latest patent of the most eminent manufacturers, occupied an imposing -position at the far end. Producing a key, the Duke unlocked the safe, -with no result till a touch on a hidden spring caused the heavy steel -door to roll slowly outwards. The interior was nearly filled with -parchment-bound volumes exactly like those on the shelves, but there was -plenty of room for the box. - -The Senator promptly placed his precious charge in the vacant space, and -heaved a sigh of relief. - -"It ought to be all right there," he said. - -"It ought to be," Beaumanoir echoed, as he set the mechanism in motion. -And when the heavy door had slid noiselessly back into position, he -turned the key and pocketed it with an air of achievement. "Come, Mr. -Sherman," he said lightly, "let us go and rejoin the ladies. Now that we -have got that safely housed we shall both feel much--er--more -comfortable, shan't we?" - - - - -CHAPTER XIX--_In the Crypt_ - - -Late on the evening of Senator Sherman's arrival at Prior's Tarrant he -was alone with General Sadgrove in the smoking-room, the Duke of -Beaumanoir and Forsyth having avowedly gone up to bed. Under the -influence of the genial American, and with the Duke himself in a more -expansive mood, dinner and the subsequent reunion in the tapestry-room -had been prolonged later than recently, and the chiming clock on the -mantelpiece tinkled out the hour of midnight as the Senator put the -question: - -"Who the dickens is that Talmage Eglinton woman, Jem?" - -The General started, but affected a carelessness which he was far from -feeling in the trite reply that "Goodness only knew." He proceeded, -however, to temper the crudity of the remark with the information that -the lady in question was staying in London for the season, professed to -hail from Chicago, and was reputed wealthy. - -"She is hardly the type of American one expects to meet in such a house -as this--or wants to meet anywhere," said the Senator. "And," he added, -poising the match with which he was about to light another of his own -green Havanas, "she is the cause of prejudice in a usually unbiased -mind. She has the misfortune to be fashioned in the likeness of one Cora -Lestrade, a person of note in my country, whom I once saw in my capacity -of Visiting Prison Commissioner. That was three years ago, but of course -it can't be the same woman." - -"It would be a curious coincidence," was all the General would admit. -"She was taken up by Lord and Lady Roseville, impecunious folk who would -take up anyone for value received. What was this Cora Lestrade's -particular line of business?" - -The Senator reflected for a moment. - -"I don't think she specialized herself," he said. "Her forte was -organization, and I heard that at the time she was taken she bossed a -complete outfit, comprising forgers, confidence-men, train-robbers, and -high-grade criminals of all sorts, who operated over the entire -universe. They used to regard her as a queen. It was hinted at her trial -that they were all fascinated by the spell of her charms, though she -would never favor any of the crew in that way. Probably that was the -secret of her power over them." - -"You don't happen to know when her sentence expired?" the General asked, -after a pause. - -"It didn't expire; she broke jail--an easy matter for one as well served -as she was by a clever crowd with unlimited financial resources." - -The two old cronies relapsed into a thoughtful silence, neither of them -showing a disposition to retire for the night, though the intense -stillness prevailing in the great house implied that everyone else was -asleep. Yet it was not so, for Alec Forsyth was at that moment -uncommonly busy before the looking-glass in his bedroom. On the -toilet-table there lay open a theatrical "make-up" box, from which he -was putting the finishing touches to a very creditable transformation of -himself into a semblance of the Duke. His deft usage of the various -pigments revealed him as no tyro at the task, for which, indeed, his -proficiency as an amateur actor had inspired the idea. - -"That will do, I think," he said to himself after a final survey. "It is -a good thing that the scene is to be played without limelight effects; -but it is my voice that will give me away if anything does." - -He rose and crossed the room once or twice, copying Beaumanoir's slight -limp to the life. Then, having consulted his watch, he took from his -pocket-book a letter, addressed to the man he was about to personate, -and refreshed his memory. - -"I congratulate you on this return to your senses," the writer began. -"My agents inform me that the gentleman in whom we are interested is -expected to stay at Prior's Tarrant as your guest on arrival, being due -on Tuesday. On Tuesday night you will leave unfastened the door leading -into the crypt from the Dutch garden, so that I and my assistants may -obtain access secretly. You will come down into the crypt an hour after -midnight, when I will hand you the documents for substitution. Do not -fail to make your arrangements so that the exchange may be effected -without a hitch, and as rapidly as possible. As host you should have no -difficulty in inspiring the necessary confidence to put the business -through, and you will then be troubled no further by us.--C. Z." - -"Poor old Beau! He's played up as well as if we had told him all about -our plan," Forsyth muttered as he replaced the letter and took another -look at himself in the glass. "I trust they won't call me 'your Grace,' -and make me laugh." - -But it was in no laughing mood that he switched off the electric light, -listened at the door for fully a minute, and then softly opened it. His -room, as it had been in the London house, was next to that of the Duke, -and, satisfied that there was no one in the corridor, he slid out softly -and shut the door behind him. A few natural steps having brought him -opposite the Duke's room, he fell at once into Beaumanoir's limp, and so -continued his way to the head of a secondary staircase that led down to -the service rooms on the ground floor. - -At the foot of the stairs, never forgetting his limp, he traversed -several passages in which at long intervals only had a light been left -burning, and at length he came to a massive oak door. Opening this, he -found himself at the top of a flight of straight stone steps, running -down into the blackness of the great subterranean chamber, which had -been used as a crypt in the old monastic days. The shutting of the door -cut off the last ray of light, and there being no rails to the steps he -struck a wax match in order to make the descent in safety. But the -feeble flame had hardly flickered out when it was rendered useless by a -dazzling beam of white effulgence that suddenly sprang into being and -shone upon him from below. - -"Hang it all, I didn't allow for this!" he thought uneasily. "They have -brought one of those wretched portable electric lamps, and I doubt if -the disguise will stand. However, here goes." - -Nerving himself for the ordeal, he went slowly down the steps, and so -limped across the stone floor towards a spot in the very center of the -crypt where five figures were grouped under the groined roof. He had -only time to observe that one figure--that of an old man with snow-white -beard and puffed, purple cheeks--stood slightly in advance of the rest, -when on his near approach an order was given in a queer, parrot-like -squeak to switch out the lamp. The crypt was windowless, but it was -conceivable that a light in the interior might be seen from outside -under the door leading into the gardens. Hence, doubtless, the -precaution. - -"You have made all preparations above, Duke?" was queried in the same -piping voice. - -"The bonds are in my own safe, and I obtained the key of the Senator's -despatch-box by a trick--picked his pocket, in fact--after dinner," -Forsyth replied, in a perfect imitation of Beaumanoir's tone. He was -beginning to feel more confident in being able to sustain his part; he -would not, he thought, have lived to reach this parley if his disguise -had been penetrated. - -"Then," the unseen spokesman proceeded, "all you have to do is to take -this bundle of papers and place them in the box, extracting the -originals, and returning here at once with them. It will then give me -pleasure to absolve you from further service." - -Forsyth felt a large packet pressed into his grasp, and he instantly -turned with it to go towards the steps, expecting that the lamp would be -switched on to guide him. This proved to be the case, and he was glad -that those five scoundrels only had a back view of him as he limped -across the floor and laboriously climbed the steps. Nor when he had -passed through the door out of their sight was there any quickening of -his halting gait to show that he was exulting in that he had so far -successfully risked his life for his friend. And it was well that he -kept up his part, for as he crossed under the well of the staircase to -the servants' bedrooms he caught a glimpse of Rosa, Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's French maid, watching him over the banisters. - -Mounting to his own room he locked the bundle of papers he had received -away in one of his trunks, from which he first took a packet of similar -dimensions, formidably sealed. Without wasting a moment he placed this -packet under his arm, and, falling once more into Beaumanoir's limp, -retraced his steps to the crypt, where, as soon as he had passed through -the door, a beam from the portable lamp shed a glare on his descent to -the level of the floor. The five figures, with the white-bearded old man -in advance, awaited him as before. - -As Forsyth approached he hoped every moment to hear those parrot-like -tones order the light to be cut off, but this time no such welcome sound -fell upon his ears. He had to advance quite close with the full radiance -of the lamp shining on him. The light, he soon perceived, had been -retained for the purpose of examining the packet, which Ziegler snatched -from him with impatient vehemence; and suddenly Forsyth was confronted -with a situation not wholly unforeseen, but which he had hoped to avoid -in the haste of the gang to make off with their plunder. Not content -with a scrutiny of the carefully taped and sealed dummy package, Ziegler -was about to undo the fastenings and look at the contents, which -consisted of nothing more valuable than tissue paper. - -It seemed an age while the lithe white fingers broke the seals and -disarranged the tape, and Forsyth steadied himself for the inevitable -discovery. He was not prepared to lose his life at the hands of this -murderous crew without a fight for it, five to one though they were; and -it occurred to him that at the first sign of violence his best plan -would be to smash the electric lamp with a well-directed kick, and then -try and elude them in the dark. Ziegler's face was in shadow, the -miscreant holding the lamp being behind him; but Forsyth saw at last, by -the swift upward jerk of the arch-robber's head, that the worthlessness -of the bundle was known to him. It was probable, too, from the prolonged -silent stare with which he gazed and gazed at the Duke's counterfeit, -that the latter's identity was no longer a secret. - -With quite a natural movement Forsyth edged a little nearer to the man -with the lamp, and the movement seemed to break the spell which held -Ziegler speechless. The chief turned abruptly to his followers. - -"I must have a word with this gentleman--with the Duke--alone," he -squeaked. "Go out into the garden and await close outside--within call. -Here, I will keep the lamp." Forsyth noticed that the well-shaped hand -with which he grasped the contrivance was shaking violently--so -violently, that the ray with which he guided his four subordinates -through the groined arches to the door wavered like a will-o'-the-wisp. -He waited till the last one had filed out before he turned again to the -man who had baffled him. - -"Well, Mr. Forsyth?" he piped, and the high-pitched note quivered and -trembled as the lamp-ray had done. - -"Well, sir?" Forsyth repeated, in blank amazement at the sparing of his -life, for unless some hidden treachery beyond his fathoming was afoot, -he could not doubt that it was spared. He was more than a physical match -for the aged evil-doer in front of him, and before the others could be -recalled he could make good his retreat into the house by the way he had -come. The quiet acceptance of defeat by the bloodthirsty old schemer was -a puzzle beyond solution, if it was not a veil for some further -villainy. - -"You have beaten me, Mr. Forsyth--you and General Sadgrove," Ziegler -went on. "I don't suppose it's of any use my offering you a bribe to -bring me back the package you have obtained so smartly? I would make it -a very large one." - -"Not the slightest use," Forsyth answered, almost laughing, yet more -than ever puzzled by the _navet_ of the question. "I have been at -considerable pains to deprive you of your bogus bonds, and it is hardly -likely, Mr. Ziegler, that I am going to restore your power over the Duke -of Beaumanoir. He is a brave man, and doesn't fear death. You can't hurt -him that way; but with these forgeries in your possession you might make -some sort of a story good against him. Without them, anything you could -say would be an idle tale." - -"That is not the point, believe me, Mr. Forsyth," the shrill voice -quavered almost pleadingly. "The contents of that package took three of -my most skilled colleagues months to prepare. They are proud of their -work--love those forged bonds as if they were their children. To their -pride in their work I should owe my life, if you would give them back to -me." - -Forsyth could hardly believe his ears. Could this tremulous dotard be -the redoubtable master of crime whom he and his uncle had been fighting -throughout the last crowded week? "I really don't see how your not -particularly valuable life can depend on your possession of a lot of -bogus bonds," he said, with genuine curiosity. The appeal to his pity -filled him with vague uneasiness, the alleged reason for it being so -utterly absurd. Yet Ziegler was ready with an explanation, more or less -plausible. - -"My associates will kill me for being duped out of their handiwork," he -answered, glancing fearfully to the garden entrance. "They would perhaps -pardon the miscarriage of the main scheme, but to have parted with -material which might yet have been turned to account will seal my -doom--that, and having allowed you to survive your triumph over us." - -Forsyth saw now--or thought he saw--why the murderous crew had been -ordered off in ignorance of the miscarriage. It was to enable Ziegler to -make this desperate appeal for the restitution of the bogus bonds, so -that he might "save his face" with his comrades. It would be ample -excuse in their eyes--flatter their vanity, as their tottering chief had -hinted--if he had himself been deceived by the fabricated securities. -But they had seen him examine the parcel; they would know that he had -made the discovery on the spot, and yet had not decreed instant death to -their successful opponent. One flaw in this chain of reasoning Forsyth, -himself no casuist, overlooked. It did not occur to him that the old -practitioner with the white beard and the squeaky voice could have put -himself right with his companions if he had hounded them on to him the -moment he knew he was fingering tissue-paper and not United States -Treasury bonds, good, bad, or indifferent. - -"Well, Mr. Clinton Ziegler," said Forsyth, eager now to have done with -the matter in the only possible way, "your appeal is dismissed with -costs--on the higher scale. What does it matter to me what happens to -you? If you had had your way you would have earned a legal hanging four -times in the last week. If your friends save the common hangman the -trouble, so much the better for all concerned, especially as they would -thereby get themselves hanged also." - -"Nothing will move you?" - -"Absolutely nothing; and now I'll trouble you to clear off the premises -if you and your gentlemen outside don't want to be treated as ordinary -burglars." - -"What if I call them back and have you strangled?" - -With the way of escape open behind him Forsyth laughed at the futile -threat, and to the group outside in the Dutch garden it must have -sounded like a friendly laugh of mutual satisfaction and farewell, for -he gently pushed the old man before him to the garden door and shut it -on him. Then, having carefully shot the heavy bolts, he groped his way -back to the stone steps leading up into the house, triumphant, yet not -wholly convinced. The ignominious collapse of Mr. Clinton Ziegler was -almost too good to be true, and he was painfully conscious that such an -astute antagonist was not likely to have thrown all his cards on to the -table. - -The fact, however, remained that the schemers had been deprived of their -spurious bonds, without which their carefully planned design to obtain -possession of the genuine ones fell to the ground. - -"And their blood-feud against the poor chap will surely cease, now that -there is no crime, past or contemplated, for which he can denounce -them," Forsyth comforted himself as he stepped from the door at the head -of the stone stairs and hastened along the dimly lit corridor, limping -no longer. His destination was the smoking-room, where he guessed that -the General would be eagerly awaiting news. - - - - -CHAPTER XX--_In the Muniment Room_ - - -While Alec Forsyth was engaged in showing Ziegler out of the crypt, the -Duke of Beaumanoir, in happy ignorance of the perilous effort his friend -was making for him, sat in the dark muniment room, still as a cat, with -his eyes on the door. He had drawn one of the oak chairs close to the -safe in which Senator Sherman's genuine bonds reposed. He had -established himself on guard, in case, trickery having failed, violent -methods should be adopted at the last moment to obtain the huge plunder. - -He thought it improbable that, with General Sadgrove in the house and -Azimoolah somewhere loose around it, any of the gang would break in -unseen, still less that they would reach the muniment room. He sincerely -hoped that the vigilance of those trained watch-dogs would prevail, for, -though he was prepared to atone for his folly by defending the safe at -the cost of his life, if need be, he did not see how that could be done -without opening up the scandal he had gone through so much to avoid. He -had bought the safe, had met the Senator at Liverpool, and now, unknown -to anyone, was keeping his lonely vigil in the firm determination that, -at all hazards, the bonds should reach the Bank of England in safety; -but there was a dread in his heart lest the tell-tale emergency he was -providing against should arise. - -For here it becomes necessary to say that the letter sent to Ziegler in -London five days before, and purporting to convey the Duke's submission -and request for instructions, which were called for by Alec Forsyth, was -not written by the Duke at all, or even with his cognizance. It had been -the joint production of General Sadgrove and Forsyth, with an eye to -immediate immunity for the Duke from further murderous attacks, and to -the enactment of some such dangerous comedy as had just been played in -the crypt. Though when that deceptive missive was penned, its authors -expected, in varying degrees, as will presently be seen, tragedy rather -than comedy. And he who by right of youth and friendship necessarily -took the greater risk was the one who, not being fully informed by his -uncle, had most cause for apprehension from the masquerade. - -But Beaumanoir, sitting in the dark with his Smith and Wesson at full -cock amid the archives of the house he was concerned to preserve -stainless, was aware of none of these tortuous dealings. Had his zeal -allowed him to indulge in the luxury of a light, he might have whiled -away the time by perusing some of the musty chronicles around him, and -have so drawn comfort from the knowledge that if his misdeed was -published with the usual trimmings in every paper in the kingdom, he -would still compare favorably with some of his race who had gone before. -So far he had never stolen poor men's land under the protection of the -Commons Enclosure Act, or appropriated tenants' improvements to his own -enrichment. - -True, it was a dirty trick he had put his hand to--a dirty trick in -dirty company--and he hated himself for it to the full. But he had been -a denizen of another world when Ziegler's emissary had annexed him, body -and soul, as plain Charles Hanbury, in the Bowery saloon. He remembered -that world now with a horror and a loathing greater, if possible, than -when he had endured it--the sordid life in the five-dollar -boarding-house, the lunch of tough sandwiches of Texas beef which had -bulged his pockets on the way to his duties in the big dry goods store, -the insolence of his Irish-American and German fellow-workers because of -his English speech. And the haughty salesladies who had drawn their -skirts from him as they squeezed past the tame detective at the -time-keeper's box--sitting there in the dark muniment room, even his -present trouble could not check a smile at thinking what those damsels -would have done if told that he had been about to become a duke within -the month. - -Yes, it had been a dirty trick that he had undertaken to escape all -this, but somehow the thing had not seemed so bad when he was -unacquainted with the persons interested. Just as old-time smugglers -persuaded themselves that there was no dishonesty in defrauding the -state, so in the same light he had regarded the spoliation of a big -corporation like the Bank of England or the United States Treasury, -whichever would have been the ultimate loser when the lawyers had -settled the matter. He would never have gone into the business, even in -his despairing exile, if he had not looked upon it as a breach of -honesty which no single individual would be an appreciable loser. He -made no excuses for himself on this score, but merely analyzed his state -of mind philosophically, by no means salving his conscience because he -had dropped the affair the moment individualities had become involved, -or laying claim to any merit for a repentance sustained at such imminent -peril. - -"Whatever is the upshot of it all I can never be too thankful that I -came over in the same ship with the Shermans," he muttered, "and for -being brought up with a round turn by the knowledge that the one to bear -the brunt of my iniquity would have been Leonie's father. Why, the -excellent Senator might have been suspected of having stolen the bonds -himself. Funny that that view didn't occur to me till I knew the -people." - -The same gratitude had filled his simple soul twenty times during the -last week, even when his enemies had pressed him most sorely; but it -recurred with redoubled force now that he was within sight of the end. -By noon on the morrow the Senator would have safely housed the -securities at the Bank, and then his own responsibility would cease. -Ziegler could kill him then, and welcome, if he still thought it worth -while, though the chief of the organization was not, he imagined, the -sort of person to waste time and energy on a purely sentimental revenge. -If Ziegler carried on the feud after the bonds were safe from him it -would be, as before, to secure silence about the attempt, and he could -fling no stigma on the family name without divulging details that would -incriminate his gang. And the family name was all that mattered. - -Beaumanoir had just rounded off his forecast in this satisfactory manner -when he was suddenly startled back into the present by a faint sound far -down the corridor on which the muniment room abutted. He knew perfectly -well what the sound was--the "scroop" of the spring-driven swivel-roller -that automatically closed a baize door shutting off the servants' -premises. He had half risen from his chair when another sound--the -tinkle of a pebble cast against the window from outside--distracted his -attention; but disregarding it in favor of the more pressing emergency, -he made haste towards the door of the room. - -The room was at the extreme end of the corridor, looking along it -lengthwise, and it was not therefore necessary for the Duke to disclose -himself at the door, which he had purposely left partially open, in -order to reconnoiter. Standing in the darkness a few feet from the door, -he was able to see who was coming, and the sight sent a thrill of -despair to his heart. All his pleasant anticipations of oblivion for his -transgression were rudely shattered, for the old man who, white-bearded -and with cat-like tread, came along the passage was Ziegler himself. -Another figure was dimly discerned close behind, but of that the Duke -took no heed. His eyes were riveted on the one in front--on the evil man -who had the power to change his destiny. There was something curiously -fantastic, something unreal, in the aged miscreant gliding towards him, -framed in the gaping darkness of the doorway. - -The opening into a branch passage, leading to another part of the -mansion, lay between Ziegler and the muniment room, and there was a bare -chance that he might turn in that direction. In reality he had to -advance but a few steps before the point could be settled, but it seemed -a whole on to the Duke, and, to add to the tension of his nerves, -another pebble struck the window. All hope of being able to preserve his -secret had fled now, and Beaumanoir strove to concentrate his reeling -brain on how best to summon assistance and ward off an attack on the -safe. If only he knew who that was throwing up stones from -outside--whether friend or foe--he could decide whether to run to the -window and open it or leave it alone. He dared not act in ignorance, -possibly to admit a third adversary. The window was ten feet from the -ground, but the wall was covered with gnarled ivy stems up which an -active man could readily climb. - -While he was hesitating the matter was arranged for him. There was no -time to reach the window, for Ziegler passed the branch corridor without -as much as looking at it, and was coming straight on to the muniment -room. Beaumanoir raised his revolver, but lowered it again, incapable of -shooting a fellow-creature in cold blood, and also fascinated by a -horrible curiosity to learn the intruder's intention. He could not as -yet be absolutely certain that Ziegler knew that the bonds were in the -safe. He would wait till it was attacked before he made a counter-move. - -In this mind he slipped behind a huge oak press laden with expired -leases, and had hardly ensconced himself when Ziegler entered the room, -followed, to Beaumanoir's surprise, by a woman, whom he did not -recognize, in the faint light diffused from the corridor, as Rosa, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton's French maid. The shadowy figures--that of the frail -old man and of the trim soubrette--stood motionless and silent just -within the doorway, evidently mastering the landmarks of the room. Then, -at a whisper from Ziegler, the maid glided with a nod of comprehension -to the nearest window, and was busy with the hasp when the rattle of -still another pebble on the glass accelerated her movements. She swung -the casement outwards, and in a muffled voice called down: - -"'Tis ze right room. You are to come oop." - -A rustling noise, as of foliage shaken, rising from below warned the -Duke that if he waited longer he might be beset by a horde of -assailants. It spurred him to instant action. Set in the wall close to -his place of concealment was the switch of the electric light, and -stretching out his left hand he turned it on, at the same time stepping -forward and covering Ziegler with his pistol. The old man blinked at him -in the sudden glow, and then, quietly turning, shut the door. His object -must have been to prevent his voice penetrating into the house, for he -croaked out to the Frenchwoman by the window the petulant order: - -"Tell Benzon to hurry." - -The maid, relaxing the venomous glare with which she was regarding -Beaumanoir, put out her head and obeyed. A renewal of the rustling and -the sound of heavy breathing told her that her request had been heard, -and drew a harsh laugh from Ziegler. Fixing the Duke with a cruel gaze, -he remarked calmly, in his thin falsetto: - -"The champion safe-cracksman of America will be here in a moment. Your -Grace will have the opportunity of seeing a very pretty piece of work if -you care to remain till I have exchanged this package for the one -inside. You are not going to be fool enough to use that pistol and give -yourself away at this stage, and if you were, my friend Benzon would be -equal to the occasion." And holding up the parcel of tissue paper which -he had received from Forsyth in the crypt, he shook it mockingly at the -Duke. - -But in so doing he reckoned literally without his host. With a spring -that wrenched his lame foot painfully Beaumanoir leaped upon him, and, -crushing the white beard to a throat that somehow seemed less scraggy -than might have been expected, dragged him to the door and contrived to -get it open with his left hand. So struggling, the pair stumbled into -the corridor, and Beaumanoir was about to shout lustily for help, when -his voice dwindled into a panting: - -"Thank God you've come! I've got this one, but there is a woman in -there, and--and others are coming in through the window." - -For in the corridor, hurrying towards him, were General Sadgrove, -Senator Sherman, and Alec Forsyth, each with revolvers in their hands, -while Sybil Hanbury brought up the rear, looking as if she resented that -position. In the presence of this formidable phalanx Beaumanoir felt his -captive wilt in his grasp, and indeed he himself was swept back by it, -still holding on, into the muniment room, where the woman Rosa was in -the act of retreating from the window. The General took command quite -naturally, bidding Forsyth guard the door, while he himself advanced to -the window, very stern and upright, and muttering as he went: - -"What can Azimoolah have been about? He must be past his work." - -But the words were hardly spoken when the subject of his censure leaped -in through the window, drawing his breath quickly, but not otherwise -inconvenienced by a limp bundle of humanity which he carried over his -shoulder, and now proceeded to dump like a sack on the floor. After -securing the window, the Pathan turned and gravely saluted the General. - -"There were three others, sahib, but they are gone," he said simply. "At -sight of thy servant fear seemed to fall upon them, so that they fled -across the _maidan_ like deer flushed by a cheetah. But this one was -already climbed nigh to the window, so I followed, and choking him a -little, brought him in." And with his foot he slightly spurned the -motionless form of his prisoner, whom the Duke and Forsyth recognized as -the hero of the watch-spring saw who had been surprised cutting out the -panel at Beaumanoir House a week before. - -"Choked him a little!" said the General with a grim chuckle. "You don't -seem to have left much life in him, but it was no case for standing on -ceremony. And now, madam," continued the veteran, facing round to where -Beaumanoir stood with his grip on Ziegler's collar, "your disguise need -hamper you no longer--that is, if you prefer to finish this business in -your own person. Get the pull of your sex, you know." - -"Yes, I guess that wig doesn't do justice to Cora Lestrade," interjected -Senator Sherman, and with a dexterous twirl of his wrist he jerked off -the elaborate head-gear which had effectually transformed the dashing -lady known as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton into a repulsive old man. But it was -only when feminine instinct had prompted her with a swift application of -her handkerchief to remove the purple stain that had added the semblance -of disease to old age that the Duke recognized his guest. - -"I do not understand," he murmured, feebly. - -And it seemed that Alec Forsyth, in spite of the part entrusted to him -in the comedy of the crypt, had been ignorant of the identity of his -antagonist, for a cry of astonishment escaped him. On the other hand, -the demure smile that played round Sybil Hanbury's pretty mouth -betokened a closer intimacy with the foregoings of this wonderful -development. Forsyth's sharp exclamation had the effect of rousing -Azimoolah's captive from his swoon. The man raised himself on his elbow, -and, grasping the situation, remained quietly watchful. - -"And now, your Grace, before another word is said, let me shake you by -the hand right here, and thank you for all the patient courage you have -shown and all the danger you have incurred to baffle as waspish a gang -as ever hailed from my side of the ditch," said the Senator, suiting the -action to the word, greatly to the embarrassment of the Duke, and -provoking a scornful laugh from the fantastic figure in male attire. - -"Why, he was one of us," she sneered. "It was only when he found he had -something to lose that he backed out." - -The Senator looked her up and down with a fine contempt. - -"So much for a great reputation," he said. "My good Lestrade, the -warders who told me you were the cleverest woman in Sing-Sing must have -made a grievous error, for a really clever criminal would never have -been cornered by a brave man pretending to join the confederacy. The -Duke has not tripped once all through the affair, except that he has -been a little too reckless in exposing his valuable life to peril. The -result of his heroic conduct is that you are outwitted all along the -line, and that the three millions are secure in that safe." - -This misdescription of the case, so adroitly near the mark and yet -differing from the truth in the all-important word "_pretending_," made -the Duke catch his breath. Somehow the matter which he had believed -himself to be working single-handed seemed to have been taken out of his -shaky grasp, and, shamed by the unmerited praise, he waited for the -rejoinder of the adventuress. It came crisp and sharp. - -"Then what you have to do is to call in the police and hand us over to -justice," she said defiantly. "The authorities will be puzzled to find a -reason for all you worthy amateurs bottling up your knowledge of a crime -that would have shaken two continents. I think I shall be able to -instruct my counsel so that by the time he has done with him his Grace -won't be much of a hero." - -The Senator smiled superior. - -"Ah!" he retorted, pleasantly; "you might have tried that if you had had -the chance. But then, you see, you won't have it. I'm only a visitor -here--like yourself, his Grace's guest--but I believe the intention is -that you and your friend, who really need not scowl so, are not to face -a judge this time. General Sadgrove has charge of what we may call the -liberation department, and he will enlighten you." - -The man Benzon, lying propped on his elbow, with Azimoolah standing over -him statuesquely menacing, shot a sly glance of triumph at his -confederate, but it met with only a sickly smile for a response. -Lestrade's eyes turned with shrinking expectancy to the General, her -insolent demeanor having vanished, strangely enough, at the hint that -she would not be detained. - -"Yes, there will be no prosecution," the General said, sternly. "The -Duke took the onus of defeating your aims upon him before he was called -to his present high station, and his friends are unanimous that he ought -not to pursue the matter now. You, Madame Lestrade, will be allowed to -depart early to-morrow morning in the name you have chosen to assume; -and you, sir, can go at once by the way you came--through the window." - -The man Benzon rose to his feet with alacrity, trying vainly to catch -the eye of his accomplice, and shooting furtive glances at the package -which she still carried. There was evidently something that he did not -understand, and wanted to before he availed himself of the unexpected -permission. There came a curious gleam into the General's eyes as he -noticed this perplexity, and when he took up his parable again there was -a ring in his voice that chained his hearers' attention. Sybil, too, -leaned forward, watching the two bond-robbers alternately, as though -expecting a surprise for them. - -"Before you go I will explain what is puzzling you," the General went -on, addressing himself to Benzon, and pointing to the dummy package in -Cora Lestrade's hand. "You are under the impression that those are the -bonds, and you are half inclined to think that we are letting you go in -ignorance of what you believe to be the case--that the genuine bonds -were handed to that lady in the crypt by the Duke. Know, then, that the -Duke wasn't in the crypt at all, nor were any bonds handed over. His -Grace's place was taken by Mr. Forsyth there, who succeeded in getting -from her the spurious bonds and handed her in return a lot of blank -paper. See--examine it for yourself." - -And quickly possessing himself of the parcel, he held it for inspection. -A spasm crossed Benzon's sinister face, and there escaped him the -involuntary cry: - -"But you looked at the things, Cora, and pronounced them correct. You -said we were only coming here for the heirlooms in the safe; yet you -must have known." - -"Quite so," the General proceeded, disregarding a smothered remark from -the female culprit. "She knew that she had been hoodwinked, because she -recognized my nephew under his disguise, and so at once examined the -parcel. Thereupon she deceived you and her other associates for a -private reason that had nothing to do with the interests of your -precious combination. Like to hear what that reason was?" - -Benzon flung a reproachful, half-imploring look at his strangely garbed -chief, as though seeking for a denial from her, but failing to catch her -downcast eye, he gave a sullen assent to the question. - -"Very well," the General went on, inexorably. "She withheld her -confidence from her colleagues because she desired to save the life of -Mr. Forsyth from the murderous vengeance of you gentlemen who are so -handy with charcoal braziers and railway accidents. So she made a last -desperate effort to obtain the bonds by persuading you to break into the -safe under a false pretext--used you as tools, do you understand?--to -repair her own breach of faith to you without having to confess it. Her -idea was doomed to failure, anyway, for, apart from his Grace's -vigilance, she was effectually watched by Miss Hanbury from the moment -of her readmission into the house by that Frenchwoman. When 'Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton',"--with a fine scorn on the name--"crept out dressed -like that, we wanted to see whether she would go straight to her room -when she came back, don't you know." - -He paused, but not with an air of finality. No one had ever suspected -Jem Sadgrove in the old days of an eye for dramatic effect. He must have -been coached by somebody into leading up to the question now to be put -with fierce insistence by the saturnine Benzon, and, to judge by the -eager interest in Sybil's dilated eyes, that young lady had been the -coach. - -"Why should Cora Lestrade want to spare Mr. Forsyth?" asked the man, -taking a step forward, to be instantly reminded of his position by the -lean brown hand of Azimoolah falling like a vise on his shoulder. The -Pathan evidently cherished a lingering hope that there might yet arise a -pretext for treating "the black tribe" in the old way. - -"Because, sir, a woman can't help herself in matters of the heart, and -even the worst of 'em is capable of an unselfish attachment," the -General replied, with slow emphasis. But he hastened to add, as if eager -to disavow responsibility for the introduction of sentiment: "At least, -so I was advised. The little scheme for obtaining the sham securities -was based on the supposition that this woman had a liking for Mr. -Forsyth, and would do him no hurt if she recognized him. That forecast -has turned out to be well founded." - -"Uncle Jem!" Forsyth protested, flushing hotly. - -"Yes, laddie, I know you would not have taken the job on if I had -informed you who Ziegler was," said the General. "There would have been -less to fear, but there would have been a dash of the underhand about it -that wouldn't have suited you. But I should never have allowed you to -walk into such a death-trap as that crypt would have been without the -safeguard we--that is, I--trusted to. It wasn't a case for being too -nice. There's no such thing as taking a mean advantage of people -threatening life and property, they told me when I was taught my trade." - -The man Benzon, who had kept his gaze fixed on the face of Cora -Lestrade, removed it now, and, with a cool politeness that struck an -unaccountable chill to most of his hearers, thanked the General for -enlightening him on "a point of considerable importance," and begged -permission to depart if he was really not to be detained. At a sign from -his master Azimoolah stood aside, and the man swung himself out of the -window, gained a foothold on the ivy stems, and was gone. When they had -all turned away from the darkling face framed for a moment among the -creepers, it was seen that she who had loomed so largely in their lives -of late as "Mr. Clinton Ziegler" and "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton" was swaying -and about to fall. - -"Thank you," she said, recovering herself with a painful effort as -Senator Sherman, who happened to be nearest, came to her assistance. "It -was only a passing weakness, but I shall be glad if I may go to my -room." - -And with a flicker of the old impudence she mimicked General Sadgrove: - -"Even the worst of 'em is capable of feeling shaken on hearing sentence -of death pronounced," adding, with a swift change of manner, "and that -is what I have heard in this room to-night." - -But in the morning, when, with the Frenchwoman Rosa, she took her -departure by a train leaving so early that none of the house-party were -visible, it was observed by the servants that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was -in the highest spirits, and, if possible, more stylishly appareled than -usual. And Mr. Manson, the butler, looking regretfully after the station -brougham as it drove away, murmured benedictions, having palmed the -largest tip that had come his way in a quarter of a century. - -"A thorough lady," he sighed, as he closed the hall door and went in to -preside at the breakfast sideboard. "Pity she was called away -unexpected." - - - - -CHAPTER XXI--_The Honor of the House_ - - -The Treasury bonds had reached their goal in the vaults of the Bank of -England, and Senator Sherman, having duly discharged his duty to his -Republic, was speeding back to his wife and daughter at Prior's Tarrant, -with, as he quaintly phrased it, "a considerable load off his chest." In -the reserved compartment with him were the Duke of Beaumanoir and -General Sadgrove, who had insisted on forming an escort. - -The Duke, who had been buoyed up with excitement till the bonds were -safe in the bank, had fallen into dejection on the return journey. His -two companions persisted in treating him as a hero, whereas he guessed -that they were both aware of the true state of the case. He knew that -one of them was, for he had himself, under threat of information being -given to the police, confessed everything to the General after the -latter's visit to the hotel on the day of "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" -supposed confinement to her room; and, at any rate, the Senator must -have heard something of the truth, or he would not have been prepared -the night before to confound Cora Lestrade's correct accusation with a -generous but entirely erroneous construction of his complicity. - -All this made Beaumanoir miserable and ill at ease, the more so that he -had three times attempted, without success, to terminate his false -position. The two gentlemen had evidently entered into a friendly -conspiracy to maintain their own reading of his conduct; and whenever he -began to make penitential allusions to it, one or other of them would, -so to speak, jump down his throat with an encomium on the motive they -chose to attribute to him for originally allying himself to the Lestrade -combination. Nor did it add to his comfort on the last of these -occasions to catch the Senator deliberately winking at the General. - -Now this was exasperating in the present and intolerable for the future, -for Beaumanoir had set his heart on that to which, conscience told him, -a clear understanding with Senator Sherman was essential. But at last he -abandoned direct efforts and sank back in his corner, hoping to obtain -an opening by more diplomatic methods presently. - -In the meanwhile, the General was satisfying the curiosity of the -Senator, and incidentally that of the Duke, as to the identification of -the self-styled Mrs. Talmage Eglinton with the mysterious Clinton -Ziegler. He described the tangle of doubt and surmise he had got into -when he had convinced himself that the occupants of the neighboring -suites at the hotel were both concerned in the plot against the bonds, -without being able to carry the matter further. And especially did he -lay stress on the deadlock that had been reached when "Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's" artfully concocted anonymous warning against "Ziegler" had -caused him to waver in his suspicions of her guilt. - -"It took a woman to nose that out," said the General, with a whimsical -grimace. "Miss Sybil heard me grumbling--unfortunate habit, talking to -one's self--and put me right in a brace of shakes. 'Why,' she snaps out, -after she'd pumped me about my difficulty, 'they must be one and the -same person. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton _is_ Ziegler, and her intention is -that after they've finished the business the Eglinton part of her will -remain and the Ziegler part will vanish--with the odium of anything that -may happen, don't you see. I didn't see it at once, but consented to lay -a trap, and blessed if the girl wasn't right. Soon as the Eglinton was -posted up by Sybil that I was going up next day to call on Ziegler at -the hotel, and that I was going to raise Cain if I wasn't admitted, she -shammed sick and sneaked out of the house, with old Azimoolah at her -heels, to keep the appointment." - -He went on to tell how his call on "Ziegler," followed by "Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's" clandestine return to the house as witnessed by Alec -Forsyth, had brushed all doubts aside and cleared the way for the final -_coup_ in the crypt, again suggested by Sybil, for obtaining the bogus -bonds and so drawing the sting of the enemy. - -"The girl has got grit," was the Senator's admiring comment. "The right -sort of grit, because she trusted to her man having it too. And, -thunder, but it was plucky of him to face that crew in ignorance of the -saving clause in his favor." - -"Yes, the boy behaved well," the General admitted. "But I think the Duke -beat him for courage in going to meet you at Liverpool in ignorance that -we had drawn off the cut-throats who he had reason to believe would dog -him directly he left the house. Alec had to make up for a bad lapse. We -never allowed laxity in our service, and Alec was lax, very lax, in -giving them that chance on the railway." - -Beaumanoir sat up at this, and, leaning forward, tapped the General on -the knee. - -"Oblige me by not drawing comparisons," he said--for him--quite -fiercely. "If I have come out of the ordeal of the last few days -unscathed, and with the honor of my house untarnished, it is in great -part due to Alec's loyalty to a poor weak coward. Had I done my duty I -should have gone to the police the moment Lestrade unfolded her plot, -instead of embarking on a course of secrecy and moral cowardice which -kept alive the danger to Senator Sherman and his charge. I did not see -it at the time, but the gang would assuredly have matured some other -plan for trying for the plunder, using some other wretched tool, -perhaps, if they hadn't been gammoned into believing that I had caved -in. It was gross moral cowardice of me to give them the chance." - -The torrent of words flowed so quickly that neither of his hearers was -able to check it, and it was so evidently the outcome of deep emotion -that it was equally impossible to ignore it. The Senator, with a twinkle -in his shrewd gray eyes, laid a warning hand on the General's shoulder -and took it upon himself to answer--with a question which had the -instant effect of soothing Beaumanoir, for it implied a concession of -the position he desired to take up. - -"What should you have done in the same circumstances, but with this -difference--that you had landed in England a simple commoner instead of -the representative of an ancient and noble family?" the Senator -inquired. - -"Informed the authorities, of course," the Duke replied without -hesitation. - -"Good! Then assuming for the sake of argument your charge against -yourself to be correct, you incurred a mortal peril voluntarily, not -from personal considerations affecting yourself, but for fear of -involving other people--most of them dead, by the way--in disgrace. I -don't see how you can make moral cowardice out of that." - -"_I_ do," said Beaumanoir, bluntly. - -"But," proceeded the Senator, with bland insistence, "you might have -avoided the peril to your own life and the besmirching of the family -name by the simple expedient of carrying out the behests of Ziegler and -Company. You had every facility for pulling the job off without a breath -of suspicion ever touching you." - -The diplomatic opening, the psychological moment, for which poor, -blundering Beaumanoir had been hoping, had arrived. It would be -uncharitable to suggest that it was proffered to him, as a card is -"forced," by an American gentleman with a taste for strawberry leaves; -but be it as it may, Beaumanoir was not too dull to seize his chance. - -"I might have done that--I was tempted to," he blurted out. "In fact, I -believe I should have done it if--if I hadn't come over in the same ship -with your--with Mrs. and Miss Sherman." - -The General, sitting up stiffly with his chin on the knob of his malacca -cane, turned his head sharply to hear his old friend's judgment on this -amazing confession. It was pronounced with Trans-Atlantic briskness. - -"Then, sir, by token of that frankness, your Grace is a straight man," -the Senator said, decidedly, and with an air that invested his words -with greater weight than was perhaps due to their moral perspective. -"And," he added in a lighter vein, "somehow, the honor of your house -seems to have got inextricably mixed with that of mine." - -"That's exactly the way I hoped you'd look at it," responded the Duke, -earnestly. "I think you take my meaning. May I speak to Leonie?" - -"It's what I should do in your place," was the Senator's reply--a reply -which had the effect of relaxing General Sadgrove's ramrod-like -attitude, and of causing that grim man-hunter to subside into his -corner, with a not unkindly chuckle. - - ---- - -On a winter afternoon, six months afterwards, Alec Forsyth entered the -firelit dining-room of the Prior's Tarrant dower-house, which, as agent -of the ducal estates, he had occupied since his marriage in September. -The Duke and Duchess were away in Egypt on their honeymoon, and Forsyth -had been doing the honors of a big shoot in the home coverts to a party -of neighboring country gentlemen. Sybil, who had been sitting in a low -chair by the hearth, rose and drew him to the blaze, first relieving him -of his gun. - -"I won't light the lamp yet, dear," she said. "I am forced to refer to -the forbidden subject, and you may want to blush." - -"Forbidden subject?" said Forsyth, not for the moment comprehending. - -"Well, of course you haven't taken to forbidding me anything yet; -perhaps 'tacitly avoided' would be a better phrase," the young wife -replied, perching herself on the arm of her husband's chair. "I refer to -that poor creature whose one redeeming point was, as the dear General -put it on that eventful night, an unselfish attachment to your noble -self." - -Forsyth had never been able to bring himself to talk of the reason of -his uncle's confidence in his safety in the crypt that night, when he -had lent himself to a ruse which he had believed meant death if he was -recognized. He had loathed "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" obtrusive -admiration long before he had entered the lists against her, and it was -from a knowledge of his feelings that the General had abstained from -informing him beforehand of the terrible Ziegler's identity, guessing -that his natural delicacy would have prevented him from turning to -account a sentimental weakness so necessary to a successful issue, yet -so revolting to his modesty. - -"Must you really refer to that wretched woman?" he asked, as soon as he -saw Sybil's meaning. - -"Only to tell you that she is dead," was the reply. "It is in the -_Standard_, which came after you had left for the coverts. There, I must -light the lamp, after all, so that you may read it yourself." - -When the lamp shone out on the pleasant, homelike room, this was the -paragraph which Forsyth read: - -"On the arrival at Vienna of the through mail train from Budapest on -Thursday night a fashionably dressed female was found alone in a -first-class compartment, stabbed to the heart. The police inquiries have -established her identity as Cora Lestrade, a notorious American -ex-convict, who is believed to have practised on the credulity of highly -placed personages in nearly every European capital. At the time of her -death she was traveling as the Countess Poniatowski. A man who was in -another compartment of the train, dressed as a Roman priest, but who is -supposed to be one of the band of professional criminals ruled by this -extraordinary woman, has been arrested in connection with the -occurrence." - -Forsyth laid the paper down--Sybil told him a month later that it was -"with a sigh of relief"--and said: - -"She seemed to expect something of the sort when she spoke about her -death sentence and showed such fear of the man Benzon. But isn't Uncle -Jem's intuition marvelous? He has always held that the confederacy would -come to loggerheads and be no longer dangerous after our victorious -tussle with them." - -"Yes, dear," Sybil assented, dutifully. "Your uncle is a very remarkable -man, with very remarkable gifts." But she did not add, as she might have -added had she so chosen, that it had required a woman's knowledge of -woman's heart to inspire in the General the insight which had steered -the Duke's storm-tossed bark to harbor. - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37413 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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-
-.. meta::
- :PG.Id: 37413
- :PG.Title: The Duke Decides
- :PG.Released: 2011-09-12
- :PG.Rights: Public Domain
- :PG.Producer: Darleen Dove
- :PG.Producer: Mary Meehan
- :PG.Producer: the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
- :PG.Credits: This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.
- :DC.Creator: Headon Hill
- :MARCREL.ill:
- :DC.Title: The Duke Decides
- :DC.Language: en
- :DC.Created: 1903
- :coverpage: images/cover.jpg
-
-.. role:: small-caps
- :class: small-caps
-
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-================
-THE DUKE DECIDES
-================
-
-.. _pg-header:
-
-.. container:: pgheader language-en
-
- .. style:: paragraph
- :class: noindent
-
- 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
- http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-
-
- |
-
- .. _pg-machine-header:
-
- .. container::
-
- Title: The Duke Decides
-
- Author: Headon Hill
-
- Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37413]
-
- Language: English
-
- Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
- |
-
- .. _pg-start-line:
-
- \*\*\* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES \*\*\*
-
- |
- |
- |
- |
-
- .. _pg-produced-by:
-
- .. container::
-
- Produced by Darleen Dove, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
-
- |
-
- This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.
-
-
-.. figure:: images/cover.jpg
- :align: center
-
-.. class:: center x-large
-
- | THE DUKE DECIDES
- | By HEADON HILL
-
-.. class:: center small
-
- | Author of *By a Hair's-Breadth*, etc.
-
-.. image:: images/tpdeco.jpg
- :align: center
-
-.. class:: center small
-
- | *New York*
- | A. WESSELS COMPANY
- | 1904
-
- | Copyright, 1903, by :small-caps:`A. Wessels Company`
-
- | Published, 1903
-
- | PRESS OF
- | BRAUNWORTH & CO.
- | BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
- | BROOKLYN, N. Y.
-
-
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- Leonie Sherman
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-.. contents:: CONTENTS
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-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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-
- | `Leonie Sherman`_
- | `A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?`_
- | `The procession of three led by the stranger.`_
- | `I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton.`_
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-
-CHAPTER I—*The Man with the Mandate*
-======================================
-
-
-At six o'clock on a May evening, at an
-uptown corner of Broadway, in New
-York City, the bowels of the earth opened and
-disgorged a crowd of weary-faced men and
-women who scattered in all directions. They
-were the employees of a huge "dry-goods
-store," leaving work for the day. It was a
-stringent rule of the firm that everyone drawing
-wages, from the smart managers of departments
-and well-dressed salesladies down to the
-counting-house drudges and check-boys, should
-descend into the basement, and there file past
-the timekeeper and a private detective before
-passing up a narrow staircase, and so out by a
-sort of stage-door into the side street.
-
-The great plate-glass portals on the main
-thoroughfare were not for the working bees of
-this hive of industry—only for the gay butterflies
-of fashion by whom they lived.
-
-The last to come out was a young man
-dressed in a threadbare suit of tweeds, that
-somehow hardly seemed American, either in cut
-or fabric. There might have been a far-away
-reminiscence of Perthshire moors clinging to
-them, or earlier memories of a famous creator
-in Bond Street; but suggestion of the reach-me-down
-shops from which New York clerks
-clothe themselves there was none. A flush of
-anger was fading on their owner's face as he
-came out into the sunlight, leaving a mild annoyance
-that presently gave place to a grin.
-
-The firm's detective, rendered suspicious by
-a bulging pocket, had just searched him, and
-had failed to apologize on finding the protuberance
-to be nothing but a bundle of un-eatable
-sandwiches that were being taken home
-to confound the landlady of the young man's
-cheap boarding-house.
-
-The indignity did not rankle long. It was
-only a detail in the topsy-turvydom that in one
-short year had changed a subaltern in a crack
-English cavalry regiment into an ill-paid
-drudge in a dry-goods store. Twelve months
-before Charles Hanbury had been playing
-polo and riding gymkhana races in Upper India,
-but extravagance beyond his means had
-brought swift ruin in its train. Tired of helping him out of scrapes, his connections had refused
-further assistance; and, leaving the
-Army, he had come out to "the States" with
-the idea of roughing it on the Western plains.
-Still misfortune had dogged his steps. A fall
-down a hatchway on the voyage out had hopelessly
-lamed him, and he had been compelled
-to ward off starvation by obtaining his present
-inglorious berth.
-
-His work—adding up columns of figures
-entered from the sales-tickets—was quite irresponsible,
-and he was paid accordingly. He
-drew eight dollars a week, of which five went
-to his boarding-house keeper.
-
-Limping up —— Street, he turned into the
-Bowery, intending to take his usual homeward
-route across the big bridge into Brooklyn.
-Unable to afford a street-car, he walked to and
-from the store daily, and it was one of his few
-amusements to study the cosmopolitan life of
-the teeming and sordid thoroughfare through
-which his way led.
-
-He was still chuckling over the discomfiture
-of the tame detective, when his eye was caught
-by a label in a cheap boot-store. "Three dollars
-the pair," ran the legend, which drew a
-rueful sigh from one who had paid—and alas!
-still owed—as many guineas for a pair of dancing-pumps.
-
-"I don't suppose they'd sell me half a
-pair, for that's all it runs to," he muttered,
-turning regretfully away from the vamped-up
-frauds, and in so doing jerking the elbow
-of a passer-by. The victim of his sudden
-move—a stout, fair man in a light frock-coat
-and a Panama straw hat—stopped, and seemed
-inclined to resent the awkwardness.
-
-"I really beg your pardon," the culprit said
-with easy politeness. "I was so absorbed in
-my reflections that I forgot for the moment
-that the Bowery requires cautious steering."
-
-"You are an Englishman?" returned the
-other, with a milder countenance. "So am I.
-No need to apologize. As a fellow-countryman
-in foreign parts, permit me to offer you
-some liquid refreshment. In other words, come
-into that dive next door and have a drink."
-
-With an imperceptible shrug, Mr. Hanbury
-allowed himself to be persuaded. He
-would lose his supper at his boarding-house by
-the irregularity, but dissipation seldom came
-his way nowadays, and the prospect of whisky
-at some one else's expense was tempting. Yes,
-he had fallen low enough for that! The stout
-Englishman somehow conveyed the impression
-that he would not expect to be treated in return
-by his new acquaintance, who was prepared
-to take advantage of his liberality. To
-do him justice, Hanbury's complacence was
-not entirely due to spirituous longings, but to
-a homesick instinct aroused by the Cockney
-accent of the vulgar stranger.
-
-The garish underground saloon into which
-they descended was almost empty at that early
-hour of the evening. Drinks having been set
-before them at one of the circular tables, the
-host subjected his guest to a scrutiny so
-searching that its object broke into a laugh.
-
-"You are sizing me up pretty closely," he
-remarked, with a touch of annoyance.
-
-"Exactly; but not so as to give offence, I
-hope," was the reply. "I should like to know
-your name, if you have no objection."
-
-"Hanbury—Charles Hanbury. Perhaps
-you will make the introduction mutual?" said
-the younger man, appeased by the other's conciliatory
-manner.
-
-"Call me Jevons," the stout man answered.
-"Now look here, Mr. Hanbury; it's not my
-game to begin our acquaintance under false
-pretences. The fact is, I contrived that you
-should jostle me just now, and so give me a
-chance to speak. I spotted you as an Englishman
-and a gentleman a fortnight ago, and
-I've noticed you pass along the Bowery every
-day since. I am in need of an Englishman,
-who is also a gentleman, to take on a job with
-a fortune—a moderate fortune—at the back
-of it."
-
-"You can hardly have mistaken me for an
-investor," said Hanbury, with a quizzical
-glance at his threadbare seams and dilapidated
-boots. "Believe me, I am a very broken-down
-gentleman; but still, my gentility survives, I
-suppose, and I am willing to treat it as a commercial
-asset, if that is what you mean."
-
-Mr. Jevons gulped down his liquor without
-comment and did not utter another word till
-the glasses had been replenished. Then, hitching
-his chair closer, he produced a pocket-book
-from which he extracted five one-hundred-dollar
-notes.
-
-"Before we leave this place I shall hand
-these over to you for preliminary expenses—if
-we come to terms," he said, watching the
-effect of the display on his companion's face.
-Satisfied with the eager glance in the tired
-eyes, he proceeded more confidentially: "There
-is a risk to be run, but it doesn't amount to
-much; and if the scheme comes off it will set
-you on your legs again. Part of this money
-you will have to spend in a first-class passage
-to England by the next steamer, and there'll
-be plenty more for you on arrival."
-
-"My dear friend, you seem to be a sort of
-Aladdin. If you only knew the existence I
-have been leading here, without the courage to
-terminate it, you would be assured of my
-answer," replied Hanbury, wondering but not
-caring much what was expected of him. To
-escape from his dry-goods drudgery and
-return to England with money in his pocket
-and the prospect of more—why, the ex-cavalry
-officer felt that he would loot the Crown Jewels
-for that! And he said so in so many words.
-
-"Then you're the man for us," was the verdict
-of Mr. Jevons. "It's a bit on the cross—not
-burglary, but a little matter of planting
-some beautifully imitated paper. Is that too
-steep for you?"
-
-Hanbury made a wry face, but answered
-without hesitation:
-
-"Aiding a forgery isn't quite the road to
-fortune I should have chosen, but beggars—you
-know the maxim. Society hasn't been too
-kind to me, and I don't see why I should range
-myself on its side. Yes, I'll do it; and if I'm
-caught, stone-breaking at Portland won't be
-any worse than adding up figures in a subterranean
-counting-house. Let me have the particulars,
-Mr. Jevons, and I'll see it through
-to the best of an ability that hasn't much to
-recommend it."
-
-"You shall have the particulars," said the
-other; then stopped, and laughed rather nervously.
-"You must understand that I am but
-a subordinate in this matter, and we have
-reached the only unpleasant part of my task,"
-he went on. "It is not congenial to have to
-use a threat—even a confidential one; yet I
-am instructed to do so, before I enlighten you
-further."
-
-The rascal's concern was unmistakably
-genuine; and Hanbury, with the good-humored
-tolerance of his class, hastened to
-reassure him.
-
-"Go on; I can guess what you have to disclose—the
-pains and penalties for breach of
-faith, eh?"
-
-Jevons nodded, and bent his shiny, perspiring
-face nearer. "It is a big thing, involving
-enormous outlay and the interests of an organization commanding great resources," he
-whispered. "Your life wouldn't be worth five
-minutes' purchase if you deserted us after you
-had been entrusted with the details. Now, will
-you have them on those conditions, or shall we
-say 'Good-night' to each other?"
-
-Hanbury stretched out his hand impatiently
-for the notes. "Pray satisfy my curiosity, and
-let me have them on those conditions," he said.
-"My life is of no earthly value to me. Besides,
-with all my faults, I'm not one to turn back
-after putting my hand to the plough. If I do,
-by all means give me my quietus as mercifully
-as may be."
-
-"Then here goes," whispered Jevons, mouth
-to ear. "The game is the planting of faked
-United States Treasury Bonds on the Bank of
-England to the tune of three million sterling—pounds,
-not dollars, you know. You will proceed
-to England by the *St. Paul*, sailing for
-Southampton the day after to-morrow, and on
-arrival in London you will at once call on Mr.
-Clinton Ziegler, at the Hotel Cecil. He is our
-chief, and will give you final instructions as to
-your part in the campaign. You'll find him a
-handsome paymaster."
-
-"I look forward to making Mr. Ziegler's acquaintance with interest," replied Hanbury,
-pocketing the notes which the other passed to
-him. "Am I to have the pleasure of your company
-on the voyage?"
-
-"I'm afraid not; my work is here," said
-Jevons. "And—well, it's not altogether
-healthy for me on the other side." The confession
-was accompanied by a wink which forcibly
-brought it home to the recruit that he had
-joined the criminal classes. His new friend—"pal,"
-he supposed he ought to call him—evidently
-thought him worthy of personal confidence.
-
-They had another drink together at the bar,
-and parted outside the saloon, Hanbury making
-his belated way towards Brooklyn. Once
-or twice he turned abruptly to see if he was
-being followed, but the aggressive white
-Panama hat was nowhere visible, the conclusion
-being obvious that the astute Mr. Jevons
-had ascertained his domicile, as well as his place
-of employment, before broaching his delicate
-business.
-
-Tramping along the teeming Bowery and
-across the footway of the mighty bridge, the
-ex-hussar enjoyed to the full the exultation
-of feeling money in his pocket once more. It
-was not much, and it was as good as spent
-already in the cost of a passage and an outfit;
-but it was the earnest of more to come, and,
-above all, it franked the exile home to England.
-At the price of his honor, perhaps?
-Well, yes; but what was honor to a dry-goods
-clerk at eight dollars a week? He might have
-taken a different view two years ago, when
-honor stood for something in his creed; but not
-now, with the world against him.
-
-Entering the sordid boarding-house, he
-mounted to his top-floor bedroom, aware that
-he had forfeited his supper of beef-hash, and
-that it was too late to go to the dining-room in
-quest thereof. His eyrie under the roof,
-flanked on one side by the apartment of a German
-car-driver and on the other by that of an
-Irish porter, was furnished with little else than
-a bed and a toilet-table.
-
-On the toilet-table lay a telegram addressed
-to him—the first he had received since he had
-been in America. The unwonted sight caused
-his hands to tremble a little as he tore it open,
-but they trembled a good deal more as he read
-the fateful words:
-
-"*Your uncle and cousin have been killed in
-a railway accident. Come to England at once.
-Have cabled a thousand pounds to Morgan's
-to your credit.—Pattisons.*"
-
-"Pattisons" were the family solicitors, and
-he who a moment before had called himself
-Charles Hanbury now knew that his true description
-would appear in the next issue of
-"Debrett" as "Charles Augustus Trevor Fitzroy
-Hanbury, seventh Duke of Beaumanoir,"
-with a rent-roll of two hundred thousand a
-year.
-
-And he stood committed, on pain of assassination,
-to aid and abet in the palming off of
-bogus bonds on the Bank of England!
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II—*On Board the* St. Paul
-====================================
-
-
-The *St. Paul* sped eastwards across the
-summer sea, and surely of all the human hopes
-and fears carried by the great liner those
-locked in the breast of the new Duke were the
-most momentous. To gain a little breathing
-time, he had booked his passage as plain
-Charles Hanbury. In the brief interval before
-sailing he had seen no more of Jevons, but
-he guessed that that shrewd practitioner would
-have watched him, or had him watched, on
-board, even if there was not a spy upon him
-among his fellow-passengers; and he wished
-to let it be inferred that his voyage was undertaken
-solely in observance of the compact
-made in the Bowery dive.
-
-For as yet he was by no means certain of
-his attitude towards that compact. It was true
-that the cast-off wastrel of two days ago was
-now one of the premier peers of England,
-hastening home to take possession of his fortune
-and estates. But where was the good of
-being a duke if you were to be a dead duke?
-he argued with a cynicism bred of his misfortunes
-rather than innate. There had been a
-genuine ring about the proposal of Jevons that
-left no doubt as to the reality of the menace
-held out; the man's reluctance in broaching
-the penalty of desertion carried conviction that
-it was no mere flower of speech.
-
-On the whole, the Duke was inclined to call
-on the arch rogue at the Hotel Cecil before incurring
-a risk that might render his dukedom
-a transitory possession. Then, if the part he
-was expected to play proved to be within his
-powers and without much chance of detection,
-he might still elect to play it, and so enjoy in
-security his hereditary privileges.
-
-It will be seen that the seventh Duke of
-Beaumanoir was not troubled with moral scruples,
-and that the principle of *noblesse oblige*
-had no place as yet in his somewhat seared
-philosophy. It was enough for the moment
-that he had gained something worth having
-and keeping, and he meant to have it and keep
-it by the most efficacious method. Whether
-that method would prove to be connivance in a
-gigantic crime or the denouncement of the latter
-to Scotland Yard could only be decided by
-a personal interview with the mysterious Ziegler.
-Yes, he would pay that visit to the Hotel
-Cecil, at any rate, and be guided by what
-passed there as to his future course of action.
-
-"A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Hanbury,"
-said a gay voice at his elbow, as on the
-third day of the voyage he leaned over the rail
-of the promenade deck and ruminated on his
-dilemma. Wheeling round he looked down
-into the laughing eyes of a girl, a very dainty
-and charming girl, who sat next him at the
-saloon table. No formal introduction had
-taken place between them, for lack of mutual
-friends; but he had learned from the card
-designating her place at table that she was
-Miss Leonie Sherman, and it is to be presumed
-that she had gathered his name in the same
-way.
-
-"I will earn that penny," he said with mock
-gravity. "I was debating how far one might
-legitimately carry the principle of doing evil
-that good might come."
-
-It was a strange answer to make to a shipboard
-acquaintance of three days, and Miss
-Sherman regarded him with a newly awakened
-interest.
-
-"It depends," she said, "whether the good
-is to accrue to yourself or to other people."
-
-"Oh, to myself," he replied, smiling. "I am
-not a philanthropist—quite the other way
-about."
-
-"Then, whatever it is, you oughtn't to do it,"
-said the girl, decidedly. "It will be horrid of
-you to as much as contemplate anything of the
-kind. You had much better do good lest evil
-befall; and the opportunity occurs right here,
-at this very moment."
-
-"I shall be most happy—without prejudice
-to my intentions as to the reverse of the
-medal," said Beaumanoir, lightly.
-
-"Then help me to avoid a lecture from my
-mother by taking me for a promenade," proceeded
-Leonie, indicating a portly lady who
-had ascended from the lower deck and was
-peering about in search. "She is the best and
-dearest of mothers, but she has set her heart on
-a vain thing, and it is becoming the least bit
-tiresome. I can see that she is going to din it
-into me again, if she catches me. Her idea
-is that the sole duty of an American girl going
-to England is to 'spread herself,' as they say
-out West, to marry an English duke."
-
-His Grace of Beaumanoir listened with an
-unmoved countenance.
-
-"Yes," he said, "to marry a duke might—probably
-would—be an unmitigated evil. I
-will help you to avoid it with pleasure. Let
-us walk by all means, Miss Sherman, if you
-don't mind my awkward limp."
-
-So they joined the procession of promenaders,
-and there and then cemented a friendship
-which ripened quickly, as friendships between
-the opposite sexes do at sea. The
-haughty salesladies of the dry-goods store had
-not deigned to notice the counting-house
-drudge, and Leonie's piquant beauty made
-instant captive of one who had been deprived
-of the society of women for over a year. She
-had all the frank *camaraderie* of the well-bred
-American, and her eager anticipations of the
-good time she was to have in Europe were infectious.
-In her company Beaumanoir was
-able to forget the dark shadow hanging over
-him, and to give himself up to the enjoyment
-of the hour. He began by being deeply grateful
-to her for taking him out of himself; and
-gratitude to a charming girl with a ravishing
-figure and a complexion of tinted ivory is like
-to have its heels trod by a warmer sentiment.
-
-Leonie, in her turn, was interested in the
-reserved young Englishman, who had so little
-to say about his doings in America, and less
-about his position and prospects in his native
-land. As he paced with his slight limp at her
-side or lounged with her at the rail, she tried
-to draw him out; but she could get nothing
-from him but that he had been in New York
-on business, and that business was taking him
-home. Yet, though reticent on his own affairs,
-he talked freely about all that concerned herself,
-and painted vivid word-pictures of the
-delights that awaited her in London.
-
-The girl, having nothing to conceal, told
-him freely of herself and of her plans and
-projects. She and her mother were going to
-stay with English friends in London till the
-end of the season, when perhaps they would
-run over to Paris and Rome for a month before
-returning to America in the autumn. Her
-father, Senator Sherman, was to have accompanied
-them; but he had been detained by public
-business at Washington, and was to join
-them a little later in London.
-
-On the fifth day of the voyage, as the *St.
-Paul* was approaching the Irish coast, Leonie
-and Beaumanoir were sitting on deck after
-dinner, chatting in the twilight, when she suddenly
-laid her hand on his arm.
-
-"I want you to notice that man who has just
-gone by—the one smoking the fag-end of a
-cigar in a holder," she whispered, with a gesture
-towards the stream of passengers passing
-and repassing between the rows of chairs.
-
-Beaumanoir's gaze followed her indication
-to an insignificant little figure in a brown
-covert-coat and tweed cap.
-
-"Yes. What of him?" he asked. He had
-not spoken to this passenger, but now that
-attention was called to him he had an idea that
-the fellow had loomed largely during the last
-few days.
-
-"That man is watching you, Mr. Hanbury,"
-replied Leonie with conviction. "I wonder
-you haven't observed it yourself. Whenever
-you are talking he hangs about trying to listen;
-when you are on deck he is on deck; if you go
-below, he goes below. If you were a fugitive
-from justice, and he a detective, he couldn't
-shadow you more closely."
-
-The Duke winced inwardly.
-
-"I am not a fugitive from justice," he said,
-with the mental addition of "yet." He could
-not tell this laughing maiden that the man was
-probably spying on him in the interest, not of
-justice, but of crime—to see that he was true to
-a pledge to place forged bonds; for now that
-he had been put on his guard he had no doubt
-that his pretty informant was right. The
-stranger occupied the cabin next to him, and
-was always hovering near him in the smoking-room,
-unobtrusively but persistently.
-
-Thanking the girl for her warning in a careless
-tone that implied that he had no reason
-to be anxious, he changed the subject. But
-before he turned in that night he made it his
-business to ascertain from his bedroom steward
-the name of his next-door neighbor, which
-proved to be Marker.
-
-"Probably Mr. Marker's functions are confined
-to espionage. If that is a sample of the
-sort of bravo to be employed should I kick
-over the traces, I haven't much to fear," he
-reflected, as he switched off the electric light
-and composed himself to dream of Leonie
-Sherman.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III—*A Task-master in Goggles*
-========================================
-
-
-The next morning the *St. Paul* arrived at
-Southampton, but Beaumanoir contrived to
-secure a seat in the same compartment of the
-boat-train, and his parting with his new friends
-was therefore deferred till they reached
-Waterloo.
-
-He was sorely tempted to enlist the elder
-lady's favor by making known his proper style
-and rank; though, to do her justice, Mrs. Sherman's
-fondness for the peerage was largely a
-humorous fiction on her daughter's part. The
-Senator's wife was really a simple-minded
-body, with an abiding admiration for the unattainable,
-and the British aristocracy was naturally
-included in that category.
-
-But the sight of Mr. Marker's covert-coat
-hovering near them on the arrival platform
-checked the Duke's intention, which the next
-moment was rendered unnecessary by Mrs.
-Sherman herself.
-
-"Come and see us, Mr. Hanbury," she
-said, extending the tips of her fingers in farewell.
-"We are to be the guests of some good
-friends of ours at 140 Grosvenor Gardens, and
-we know them well enough to make ourselves
-at home. The Senator will be over in a week
-or two, and he'll be glad to thank you for your
-politeness."
-
-"I will pay my respects without fail," Beaumanoir
-responded; and a minute later, after a
-warmer pressure of Leonie's well-gloved hand,
-he stood watching their cab with its load of
-"saratogas" drive down the incline. By the
-void in his heart he knew that the girl in the
-coquettish toque, who had just repeated her
-mother's invitation with her eyes, was all the
-world to him.
-
-He turned to look after his scanty baggage
-with a sigh. How different it would all have
-been if he had chosen some other route to his
-Brooklyn boarding-house on the eventful night
-when the plausible Jevons had waylaid him!
-All would have been plain sailing, and he could
-have asked Leonie with a clear conscience to
-share his new-found honors and wealth. As
-it was he stood committed to a felonious enterprise
-which would fill her with contempt and
-loathing did she know of it; though, if he abandoned it, instinct told him he was a doomed
-man.
-
-The sight of the insignificant spy Marker
-lurking behind a pile of luggage reminded him
-that his peril might commence at any moment
-if he showed any sign of inconstancy to his
-pledge. Not that he anticipated trouble from
-the covert-coated whippersnapper himself; but
-the mere fact of it having been thought worth
-while to shadow him across the Atlantic spelled
-danger, and suggested an organization that
-would stop at nothing to safeguard itself.
-
-However, he had made up his mind to call
-on the mysterious Ziegler, and by doing so at
-once he might prove his fidelity and secure a
-respite from this unpleasant espionage. Summoning
-a hansom, he bade the driver take him
-to the Hotel Cecil, and looking back he saw
-Marker following in another cab.
-
-In the few minutes that elapsed before he
-was driven into the courtyard of the palatial
-hotel he settled a problem that had been vexing
-him not a little during the voyage. Should he
-introduce himself to Ziegler as the Duke of
-Beaumanoir or as plain Charles Hanbury, the
-name by which he had been "engaged"? If he
-was for a brief space to be the consort of professional thieves, he would prefer to lead a
-double life—to perform his misdeeds as a
-commoner, and to keep his dukedom spotless.
-So it was that he gave his name as Hanbury to
-the clerk in the bureau of the hotel.
-
-While waiting the return of the bell-boy
-who was sent to announce his arrival, Beaumanoir
-looked about for Marker, but the spy
-was nowhere visible in or from the entrance-hall.
-Having shepherded him to the fold, it
-was evidently no part of his duty to obtrude
-himself till further orders.
-
-A minute later the neophyte in crime was
-limping up the grand staircase in wake of the
-bell-boy, who conducted him to one of the best
-private suites on the first floor overlooking the
-Embankment. It was a moment charged with
-electricity as the Duke of Beaumanoir found
-himself face to face with the man who had
-hired him in his poverty, and now held him
-fetter-bound in his good fortune.
-
-"Yet could this be he—this personification of
-aged helplessness lying among the cushions of
-an invalid chair, who, in a thin, piping treble,
-requested his visitor to come closer? Beaumanoir
-had pictured all sorts of ideals of the
-master in crime, but Mr. Clinton Ziegler in the
-flesh resembled none of them. A snowy beard
-covered the lower half of his face, drooping
-over his chest, but the puffy cheeks were visible,
-and their full purple hue betokened some
-cutaneous affection. The eyes were shaded by
-blue glasses.
-
-"You are the person sent by Jevons from
-New York?" he began in his parrot-like tones.
-"Good! What is your name? For the moment
-I have forgotten it, and I cannot lay my
-hand on the cablegram relating to you."
-
-Encouraged by the feeble senility of one
-whom he had expected to find a tower of
-strength—a grim, inscrutable being with an
-inscrutable manner—the Duke was confirmed
-in his intention to preserve the secret of his
-rank.
-
-"My name is Charles Hanbury," he answered,
-boldly.
-
-But an awakening, instant and complete,
-was in store for him. The words were hardly
-out of his mouth when Mr. Ziegler coughed
-a signal, and three masked men rushed upon
-him from the adjoining bedroom, pinioning
-his arms and stifling his sudden cry of alarm.
-
-"What shall we do with him, sir?" asked one
-of the men.
-
-"Chloroform him first; then you must dispose
-of him at leisure," came the monotonous
-piping treble from the invalid chair.
-
-One of the assailants made immediate
-preparations for obeying the behest, but just
-as he was about to saturate a handkerchief
-Ziegler laughed shrilly:
-
-"Let him alone, boys. He lied to me, and
-I wanted to give him a lesson—that's all."
-
-The men, at a sign from their chief, retired
-into the bedroom.
-
-"Now, perhaps you will recognize that I
-am not to be played with, *your Grace*,"
-squeaked Mr. Ziegler. "Also that my ears are
-as long as my arms. I have known for some
-days that the gentleman whom my good friend
-Jevons was able to procure has had a sudden
-change in his fortunes, and I congratulate
-myself upon it. It doubles your value to us,
-all the more since your early call upon me after
-landing shows that you mean to abide by your
-bargain. But there must be no more petty
-reservations and concealments like that. If
-you try them on, rest assured that they will be
-detected and dealt with."
-
-The Duke straightened his rumpled collar,
-and looked, as he felt, a beaten man. The
-mass of infirmity in the wheel-chair held, without
-doubt, a power with which he could not
-cope. On the face of it the notion that a man
-could be violently made away with in a crowded
-London hotel might seem melodramatic and
-improbable, but the experience of the last few
-minutes had shown him how readily it could be
-done by a chief as well served as Ziegler appeared
-to be. And if he was at the man's
-mercy in a crowded hostelry like the Cecil,
-where would he be safe? Yes, if he was to
-enjoy his dukedom, he would have to go
-through with his task.
-
-"Well, give me my instructions. What am
-I to do?" he said, stiffly.
-
-"You have made a very good beginning already,"
-replied Ziegler, watching him narrowly
-through the tinted glasses. "A gentleman,
-acting on behalf of the United States
-Government, will shortly bring to this country
-the three million pounds' worth of Treasury
-bonds which we mean to have. It will be
-your task to relieve him of the paper, substituting
-bonds of our own make, which will be
-deposited at the Bank of England as security
-against a shipment of gold."
-
-"I see," the Duke murmured, mechanically.
-"But," he added with more animation, "how
-have I made a beginning already?"
-
-"By making yourself agreeable to Miss
-Leonie Sherman. It is her father, Senator
-Sherman, who is bringing the real bonds," was
-the answer, which struck a chill to the Duke's
-heart and kept him speechless with amazement.
-This old scoundrel seemed to know
-everything, to have arranged everything, irrespective
-of time and space.
-
-"You ought to be grateful for my foresight
-in smoothing the way for you," Ziegler
-croaked, in evident enjoyment of his perplexity.
-"It was my agent who, by securing the
-good offices of a steward, had you placed next
-Miss Sherman at the saloon table on the *St.
-Paul*, with the result that he was able to report
-to me this morning from Southampton by telegraph
-that you had made use of your opportunity."
-
-"I see," was all the Duke could feebly repeat.
-
-"You have been invited to call on the Shermans
-in London? You know where they are
-staying, 140 Grosvenor Gardens?"
-
-"Yes," said Beaumanoir.
-
-"Good! Then your Grace will go on as you
-have begun. Gain the girl's confidence, and
-that of her mother—the latter will be easy
-under the auspices of your new dignity—and
-come here again at twelve o'clock on Saturday
-morning, three days hence. I may then have
-further instructions for you."
-
-And Mr. Clinton Ziegler waved a white,
-well-formed hand in dismissal.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV—*The Lady in the Landau*
-=====================================
-
-
-Beaumanoir passed into the corridor with
-unsteady steps, dazed by the enormity of his
-entanglement. He had been caught so easily,
-yet he was held so firmly. His first impulse
-was to rush off to Scotland Yard, expose the
-white-bearded wire-puller in the invalid chair,
-and claim protection. But that course would
-entail confession of his engagement as a criminal
-instrument, to the everlasting disgrace of
-the great family of which he was now the head.
-The alternatives were foul treachery to the girl
-of his heart or almost certain death at the
-hands of Ziegler's disciplined ruffians.
-
-He had reached the top of the broad staircase
-when a step, almost inaudible on the thick
-pile carpet, sounded behind him and a hand
-fell on his shoulder.
-
-"Charley, old boy! Or is it 'your Grace' I
-should be calling you? What the dickens are
-you doing here?" said the young man who had
-overtaken him.
-
-Beaumanoir's harassed brows cleared as he
-met Alec Forsyth's honest gaze and he felt the
-grip of his honest hand. Their ways had lain
-apart for the last few years, but a very real
-friendship, begun in the Eton playing fields,
-had survived separation. Of all his acquaintances,
-Alec had been the only one to go down
-to Liverpool twelve months before to bid
-scapegrace Charles Hanbury farewell.
-
-"I had a call to make, before going to Pattisons'
-in Lincoln's Inn," said the Duke. And
-then with quick apprehension he added, pointing
-to the door he had just left: "Have you
-come from there? Have you business with
-Ziegler too?"
-
-"Ziegler? Who's Ziegler?" asked Forsyth,
-looking puzzled by his sudden confusion.
-"No, I haven't been to those rooms, but to the
-suite beyond. A duty call on a certain Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton, but, thank goodness, she
-wasn't at home. Now about yourself, Charley.
-Fortune smiles again, eh?"
-
-"It's only a sickly grin at present," Beaumanoir
-replied, dejectedly. "See here, Alec;
-I've got my bag on a cab outside. I landed
-at Southampton too early for lunch. Come
-and talk to me while I get a snack before
-going to the lawyers."
-
-A few minutes later they were seated in a
-Strand restaurant, and the young Scotsman
-heard all about his friend's struggles with the
-demon of poverty in New York, but never a
-word of the trouble that was brooding. In
-his turn Forsyth was able to fill in the blanks
-of the family solicitor's cablegram, and enlightened
-Beaumanoir as to the manner of his
-succession to the title. The late Duke was
-traveling to Newmarket in a racing "special,"
-accompanied by his nephew and heir, George
-Hanbury, when they had both met their deaths
-in a collision.
-
-The double funeral had taken place at
-Prior's Tarrant, the ancestral seat of the
-Dukes of Beaumanoir in Hertfordshire, three
-days before, the arrangements having been
-made by the solicitors, in the absence of the
-next successor. The last Duke having been a
-childless widower, and both his brothers, the
-fathers respectively of George and Charles
-Hanbury, having predeceased him, there had
-been no near relatives to follow the late head
-of the house to his last resting-place.
-
-"Let me see, my cousin George had a sister,
-Sybil, who used to live with my uncle," Beaumanoir
-mused aloud. "I wonder what has
-become of her."
-
-"I believe that she is still at your town house
-in Piccadilly," replied Forsyth with a constraint
-which the other did not notice in his
-self-absorption. But the next moment it
-struck Beaumanoir as odd that the information
-should have been so readily forthcoming,
-for he had been unaware that his friend knew
-his relatives.
-
-"You have made Sybil Hanbury's acquaintance,
-then?" he asked.
-
-"Yes, since your departure for America,"
-was the reply. "I had the pleasure of meeting
-her first at my uncle's in Grosvenor Gardens—General
-Sadgrove's, you know. I dare say
-you remember him?"
-
-"Oh, yes; I remember the General well—a
-shrewd old party with eyes like gimlets," said
-Beaumanoir. "But what's this about Grosvenor
-Gardens?" he added quickly. "The
-Sadgroves used to live in Bruton Street."
-
-"Quite so; but they moved to 140 Grosvenor
-Gardens, last Christmas."
-
-"140!" exclaimed the Duke. "Why, that's
-where the Shermans are going to stay. Some
-friends of mine who—who came over in the
-same ship," he went on to explain rather
-lamely.
-
-Forsyth shot an amused glance at his old
-crony. "Yes, I know that Uncle Jem was expecting
-some Americans to put up with him,
-and he has been raving about the charms of
-the young lady of the party for the last fortnight.
-You are excited, Charley. Your manner
-has struck me as strange since we met at
-the hotel. Is it permitted to inquire if my
-uncle is entertaining unawares—a future
-Duchess?"
-
-To the young Scotsman's surprise, the Duke
-showed signs for a moment of taking the light-spoken
-banter amiss. Beaumanoir flushed,
-and muttered something inarticulate, but
-pulled himself together and diverted their talk
-into a fresh channel, clumsily enough.
-
-"Don't gas about me, old chap," he said.
-"Tell me of yourself. Is the world using you
-better than formerly?"
-
-"About the same," Forsyth replied with a
-shrug. "They gave me a twenty-pound rise
-last year, so my pay as a third-grade clerk in
-the Foreign Office is now the princely sum of
-£230 per annum. Not a brilliant prospect.
-When I'm a worn-out old buffer of sixty I
-shall be able to retire on a pension about equal
-to my present pay."
-
-"Then look here, Alec; chuck the public service
-and come to me," said the Duke, eagerly.
-"I'll give you eight hundred a year to begin
-with, and rises up to two thousand; and you
-can have the dower-house at Prior's Tarrant
-to live in. Call yourself private secretary,
-bailiff, anything you please—only come. The
-fact is—well, I've been a bit shaken by—by
-what I've gone through. I want someone near
-me who's more than a mere hireling."
-
-It was Forsyth's turn to flush now, but with
-pleasure at the offer made to him. He accepted
-it in a few simple words, and the Duke
-rose and paid his score.
-
-"Come with me to Pattisons'," he said.
-"Then we'll go on to Piccadilly and take possession."
-
-The business at the lawyers', which consisted
-of little more than arranging future meetings,
-was soon finished, and the Duke and his new
-secretary took a fresh cab to the West End.
-As they bowled along Beaumanoir inquired
-further about his cousin Sybil, whom, owing
-to his absence in India and more latterly to
-his estrangement from his relations, he had
-never met. Forsyth imparted the information
-that for the last six months, since she "came
-out," she had virtually ruled the late Duke's
-household.
-
-"But she can be little more than a child,"
-Beaumanoir protested. "Anyhow, I can't
-keep a cousin of eighteen on as *my* housekeeper
-without setting Mrs. Grundy's tongue
-wagging. The question arises what to do with
-her. Old Pattison tells me she is well provided
-for, but I don't like telling her to clear
-out if it does not occur to her to go. What
-sort is she, Alec?"
-
-"That's rather a stiff question to put to
-*me*," Forsyth replied, as though to himself.
-"I had better make my confession first as
-last," he went on hurriedly. "You are her
-nearest relative now, and the head of her family.
-Ever since I first saw Sybil Hanbury the
-dearest wish of my heart has been to make her
-my wife, but without prospects of any kind
-I couldn't very well ask her. There you have
-it, my noble patron, in a nutshell."
-
-Beaumanoir patted his friend's knee affectionately.
-
-"My dear fellow, go in and win, so far as
-I am concerned," he said. "While I am above
-ground your prospects need stand in your way
-no longer. But you haven't answered my
-question, which I'll put in another way. How
-is she likely to take my appearance on the
-scene?"
-
-"I'm afraid she's rather prejudiced. Her
-brother George didn't love you much, you
-know, and she is greatly cut up by his loss,"
-Forsyth replied, with the dogged manner of
-the honest man who has to say a disagreeable
-thing. "I don't think that you need be under
-any apprehension about her staying on at
-Beaumanoir House when you show up. To
-be candid, I saw her yesterday, and she said
-she should begin packing as soon as she was
-sure that you hadn't been drowned on the voyage
-home."
-
-"Good girl!" ejaculated the Duke. "The
-unexpressed hope did her much honor, only
-it's a pity it didn't come off. Now, Alec, if
-you'll see her first—she needn't see me at all
-if she doesn't wish to—and tell her from me
-that she's not to hurry out of the house, because
-I'm going to oscillate between Prior's Tarrant
-and a hotel for the present, I shall be immensely
-obliged to you."
-
-"But you said just now that you were going
-to take possession."
-
-"I have changed my mind. There are reasons
-which I cannot explain to you why my
-immediate neighborhood is likely to be dangerous
-for the present. I should be sorry to subject
-my fair cousin to any unpleasantness.
-Though not a word of this to her or anyone
-else, please."
-
-The cab was drawing up before the ducal
-mansion, and Forsyth forbore to put into
-words the astonishment which he looked. As
-the two men were about to ascend the steps
-to the entrance, a landau, which was being
-driven slowly by, drew to the curb, and a lady
-who, besides the servants, was the sole occupant,
-called out:
-
-"Surely you're not going to cut me, Mr.
-Forsyth. Too proud to know poor little me,
-eh, now that you've taken to calling on dukes?"
-
-A murmur of annoyance escaped Forsyth,
-but perforce he went to the carriage and shook
-the daintily gloved hand held out to him.
-
-"How do you do, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton?"
-he said, adding the reproving whisper,
-"That *is* the Duke."
-
-The lady in the landau raised her lorgnettes
-and calmly surveyed the waiting nobleman.
-
-"How very interesting!" she purred, adding
-aloud so that the subject of her request could
-not fail to hear, "Why don't you introduce
-him, instead of keeping him standing there?
-We Americans are death on dukes, you know."
-
-At a gesture from Forsyth, who tried to
-convey his disgust by a look, Beaumanoir
-limped forward, smiling. His misfortunes
-had made him something of a democrat, and
-he had always been ready to see the comic side
-of things till tragedy that morning had
-claimed him for its own. In meeting the advances
-of the agent Jevons in the Bowery
-saloon he had been largely influenced by the
-humor of the situation—of the scion of a ducal
-house consenting to "get a bit" by passing
-forged bonds.
-
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, a handsome blonde
-with an elegant figure and a childish voice, received
-the Duke with effusion.
-
-"I stopped my carriage to ask Mr. Forsyth
-to tea on Saturday," she prattled. "I do hope
-your Grace will come too. I am staying at
-the Cecil, and shall be delighted to see you."
-
-The unblushing effrontery of the invitation
-failed to strike Beaumanoir in his sudden horror
-at the associations called up by it. This
-frivolous butterfly of a woman occupied the
-next suite of rooms to those in which Ziegler
-was spinning his villainous web—in which that
-terrible old man had unfolded to him the details
-of his treacherous task. Strange, too, that
-he should be bidden to the mild dissipation of
-an afternoon tea-table in that hotel, of all
-others, on the very day when he was due to
-go there on business so different, for Saturday
-was the day appointed by Ziegler for his call
-for "further instructions."
-
-Conscious that the mocking eyes of the lady
-in the landau were watching him with a curious
-inquiry, he mastered his emotion, and at the
-same time came to a decision on the vital issue
-before him. Probably he would have arrived
-at the same one without the incentive of avoiding
-an unpalatable engagement, but Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton's invitation to tea was undoubtedly
-the final influence in setting him on
-the straight path.
-
-"I am very sorry," he replied, and there was
-a new dignity in his tone, "but I must ask you
-to excuse me. I am going down to-morrow to
-Prior's Tarrant, my place in Hertfordshire,
-and I shall not be in town on Saturday."
-
-For the fraction of a second the rebuffed
-hostess seemed taken aback by the refusal.
-She flushed slightly under her powder, and the
-taper fingers twitched on the handle of her
-sunshade. But without any appreciable pause
-she answered gaily:
-
-"That's most unkind of you. Well, what
-must be must be. Good-bye, your Grace.
-Good-bye, Mr. Forsyth; I shall expect you,
-anyhow. Drive on, Bennett."
-
-The carriage rolled away.
-
-"I am glad you snubbed her," Forsyth exclaimed.
-"She has been made a good deal of
-in certain circles during the last month or two,
-and presumes a lot on the strength of it."
-
-"Did I snub her?" said the Duke carelessly.
-"I am sure I didn't mean to, for she deserves
-better things of me. You'd hardly believe it,
-Alec, but that little episode has jerked me into
-deciding a crucial point—no less than whether
-to be a man or a cur. At the same time it has
-put me quite outside the pale as a resident
-under the same roof as my cousin. On second
-thoughts, I will not go in at all, but I shall be
-obliged if you will see her and convey the message I gave you—that Beaumanoir House is
-at her disposal till she can quite conveniently
-leave it."
-
-"But what are you going to do yourself?"
-said Forsyth in sheer bewilderment.
-
-"First I shall go to Bond Street, to gladden
-the hearts of some of my old creditors; then by
-an evening train to Prior's Tarrant," was the
-reply. "And, Alec," proceeded the Duke
-earnestly, "if you can get leave from the Foreign
-Office, pending retirement, and join me
-there as soon as possible, you will place me
-under a very deep obligation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V—*Ziegler Begins to Move*
-====================================
-
-
-On the following Sunday morning the Duke
-of Beaumanoir stood at one of the windows of
-the long library at Prior's Tarrant, idly beating
-a tattoo on the glass. The June sunshine
-flooded the bosky leafage of the glorious expanse
-of park, and nearer still the parterres of
-the old Dutch garden were gay with summer
-bloom; but the beauties of the landscape were
-lost upon the watcher at the window.
-
-Nearly four and twenty hours had elapsed
-since he had failed to keep his appointment
-with Mr. Ziegler, and he was wondering how
-and when that autocrat of high-grade crime
-would signalize his displeasure at the mutiny.
-That sooner or later an edict would issue
-against him from the invalid chair in the first-floor
-suite he had not the slightest doubt. He
-knew that he had to deal with men playing a
-great game for a great stake in deadly earnest.
-
-The Dukes of Beaumanoir had never been
-famous for their virtues, any more than they
-had been cowards, and it was rather a dawning
-sense of responsibility than fear, either for his
-reputation or his person, that filled him with
-apprehension. If "anything happened" to
-him, such a lot would happen to so many other
-people. For instance, it had only occurred to
-him since he came down to the country that if
-Ziegler killed him his death would mean ruin
-to Alec Forsyth, who had thrown up a sure
-position to serve him. The next heir was an
-elderly cousin with a large family to provide
-for, and he would certainly not retain Forsyth
-in his employment.
-
-Then, again, Beaumanoir reflected with a
-sigh, his new and sweet friendship with Leonie
-Sherman—a friendship to which no blot on his
-escutcheon need now put limits—would be
-rudely snapped. The King of Terrors would
-take away what his saved honor had restored,
-and perhaps it was the bitterest drop in his
-cup to feel that he might be giving his life to
-lose what in another sense he would have given
-his life to win. To ask Leonie to link her fate
-to his, with that dark shadow hanging over
-him, was out of the question.
-
-Once he had taken up his pen to denounce
-Ziegler to the police authorities anonymously,
-but he had despondingly laid it down again.
-That crafty practitioner had doubtless safeguarded
-himself against such an obvious
-course by being prepared with an unimpeachable
-record which it would be impossible to
-shake unless he came forward and avowed complicity.
-There, again, dishonor waited for
-him, and he had already made his choice that
-a short shrift was preferable to that.
-
-The gloom of his mood was enhanced by his
-intense loneliness in the huge feudal monastery
-that now called him master, for Forsyth had
-been unable to join him, owing to difficulties in
-obtaining release from his present duties.
-
-Beaumanoir took out and read for the fifth
-time a letter which had arrived that morning
-from his friend and secretary:
-
- "My dear Duke (I mustn't use the irreverent
- 'Charley' any more),—I am still having
- trouble with the F.O. people about my departure,
- but I think I may safely promise to get
- away to you on Tuesday. In fact, I shall
- make a point of doing so, even if I have to
- leave the public service in disgrace, for you
- must forgive my saying that I am rather uneasy about you. The other day you seemed
- like a man with a millstone round his neck,
- and I take it that one of the duties of a private
- secretary is to remove millstones from the person
- of his employer. I only wish you would
- confide fully in me, and command me in any
- way—but that is, of course, your affair.
-
- "I dined with my uncle, General Sadgrove,
- last night, and had the pleasure of meeting
- Mrs. and Miss Sherman there. The latter is
- indeed a charming girl. She was rather shy
- in talking about you, having heard from my
- uncle that the Mr. Hanbury she met on shipboard
- was probably the Duke of Beaumanoir
- on his way to enter into his kingdom. Mrs.
- Sherman waxed enthusiastic on your 'old-world
- courtesy' and the General, who chaffs
- the old lady, remarked that she had been
- equally laudatory before she discovered your
- rank.
-
- "They were all very kind and congratulatory
- on my announcing my engagement to
- Sybil, which, as I wrote you yesterday, was
- ratified within ten minutes of your leaving me
- at the door of Beaumanoir House.
-
- "You may be interested to hear that I did
- *not* go to tea with Mrs. Talmage Eglinton to-day.—Yours,
-
- ":small-caps:`Alec Forsyth`."
-
-The Duke crushed the letter back into his
-pocket, and came to a resolution.
-
-"I'll run up to town to-morrow and call on
-the Shermans," he said to himself. "And now
-I'll do the proper thing, and go to church.
-I'm not going to crouch in corners because of
-that patriarchal old fiend at the Cecil."
-
-The church at which generations of Hanburys
-had worshiped was in the center of
-Tarrant village, a mile from the lodge gates,
-but there was a short cut to it across the park.
-This was the route taken by the Duke, who
-first crossed the greensward and then passed
-out by a private wicket into the road after
-traversing the belt of copse that fringed the
-demesne. The villagers, who had waited for
-his coming, standing bare-headed in the
-churchyard, were a little disappointed that he
-had not driven up in full state. But the solitary
-gentleman limping up the path atoned
-for the lack of ceremony and won their hearts
-by his friendly smile; and a handshake to one
-or two of the older inhabitants, whom he remembered
-as a boy, clinched the matter.
-The verdict went round that the new Duke
-would "do."
-
-The service that morning was, it is to be
-feared, more ducal than devotional. From the
-white-robed choir, ranged among the tombs
-of dead-and-gone Hanburys in the chancel, to
-the hard-breathing rustics on the back benches
-every eye was turned and steadily kept on the
-lonely figure in the family pew. While grateful
-for the homage paid him, the Duke was
-not sorry when the ordeal was over and he was
-free to make his way homeward.
-
-But he was not to get off so easily. As he
-was about to let himself through the private
-gate into the park, intending to go back, as he
-had come, through the copse, footsteps sounded
-behind him, and Mr. Bristow, the vicar, overtook
-him. They had already met on the previous
-day.
-
-"Your Grace is alone still?" panted the
-clergyman. "Ah, I thought your secretary
-wouldn't find it so easy to cast his shackles.
-I am commissioned by Mrs. Bristow to say—I
-hope you won't think us presuming—that
-we shall be delighted if you will give us your
-company at our homely lunch."
-
-A sudden impulse prompted Beaumanoir to
-accept the invitation. He had taken a liking
-for the hale, vigorous old vicar, who had the
-archives of his family by rote, and an hour or
-two in his society would take him out of himself.
-So he turned back and accompanied his
-host to the vicarage, where he made a good
-impression on Mrs. Bristow by his cordial
-praise of her training of the choir and by appreciation
-of her strawberries and cream.
-
-It was past four when he returned to Prior's
-Tarrant, to be met in the entrance-hall by the
-butler with a face eloquent of "something
-wrong."
-
-"What is it, Manson?" he asked. "Mr.
-Bristow sent a boy, did he not, to say that I
-was lunching at the vicarage?"
-
-"Yes, your Grace. It isn't that," was the
-agitated reply. "I have to report an outrage
-that's been committed on one of the under-servants.
-Jennings, the third gardener, was
-coming back from church through the copse
-in the park, when he was lassoed, your Grace,
-same as they do buffalo, I've been told, in foreign
-parts. A rope shot out of the bushes over
-his shoulders, and then a man ran up as he
-was struggling on the ground; but let him go,
-saying it was a joke. Jennings hasn't got any
-enemies that he knows of, and it was a wicked
-thing to do, because he's a bit of a cripple and
-walks lame. It's shook him a good deal."
-
-"I am not surprised at that," said the Duke.
-"Possibly it was only intended as a practical
-joke, but you had better inform the constable
-in the village, and instruct him to inquire into
-the matter."
-
-The butler retired, and the Duke smiled
-grimly.
-
-"Ziegler has begun to put in some of his
-fine work," he muttered. "The initial blunder
-of his agents in mistaking a servant's limp for
-mine won't stop him long. I shall begin to like
-the excitement soon, I expect."
-
-But as the day wore to evening, and the
-evening to night, the sensation of being *hunted*
-vexed his nerves. He found himself prolonging
-his solitary dinner for the sake of the company
-of the butler and footman who waited
-upon him, and afterwards he abstained from
-the moonlit stroll on the terrace to which he
-felt tempted. It was not till the mansion had
-been barred and bolted for the night that he
-ceased to fumble frequently for the revolver
-which he had carried all day.
-
-Before retiring he inquired of Manson if
-the constable had traced the maltreaters of
-Jennings, and he was not surprised to learn
-that there had been no discoveries. Mr. Clinton
-Ziegler was not the man to employ agents
-incapable of baffling a village policeman.
-
-The room which Beaumanoir occupied was
-the great state bed-chamber that had been used
-by his predecessors from time immemorial—a
-gaunt apartment with a cavernous fireplace
-and heavily curtained mullioned windows. He
-did not like the room, but had consented to
-sleep there on seeing that the old retainers
-would be scandalized by his sleeping anywhere
-but in the "Duke's Room."
-
-After locking the door and seeing to the
-window fastenings, he took the additional precaution
-of examining the chimney. Bending
-his head clear of the massive mantelpiece, he
-looked up and saw that at the end of the broad
-shaft quite a large circle of star-lit sky was
-visible, while a cold blast struck downwards of
-sufficient volume to purify the air of the room.
-
-He lay awake for some time, but he must
-have been slumbering fitfully for over an hour
-when he felt himself gradually awakening—not
-from any sudden start, but from a growing
-sense of strange oppression in his lungs. As
-his senses returned the choking sensation increased,
-and finally he lay wide awake, wondering
-what was the matter. Every minute
-it became harder to breathe the stifling air, and
-at last he flung the bedclothes off in the hope
-of relief, and in doing so saw something so
-unaccountable that his reeling senses were
-stricken with amazement rather than fear.
-
-There was a fire in the grate. Glowing
-steadily in the recess of the ancient fireplace a
-great red ball burned, without flicker and without
-flame, but lurid with the unwavering light
-that comes from fuel fused to intense heat.
-
-Even without the terrible oppression at his
-chest there would have been a weird horror in
-this mysterious fire introduced into his room at
-dead of night—into a room with locked door
-and fastened windows. But what did this
-ghastly struggle for breath portend?
-
-"Charcoal! Ziegler!" were the two words
-that buzzed in response through his fast-clouding
-brain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI—*The General is Curious*
-=====================================
-
-
-On the following afternoon at tea-time four
-ladies were seated in the pleasant drawing-room
-of 140 Grosvenor Gardens, the residence
-of General Sadgrove, late of the Indian Staff
-Corps. Mrs. Sadgrove, a fair, plump, elderly
-dame, needs no special description, and two of
-the other tea-drinkers—Mrs. Senator Sherman,
-as she preferred to be called, and her
-daughter Leonie—we have met before.
-
-The fourth occupant of the room—a girl
-dressed in deep mourning—was Sybil Hanbury,
-who had come to discuss her engagement
-to Alec Forsyth with her motherly old friend,
-Alec's aunt by marriage, Mrs. Sadgrove.
-Owing to the recent deaths in her family the
-engagement was not to be publicly announced
-at present; but Sybil had no secrets from the
-Sadgroves, who had known her from a baby,
-long before she had been taken up, on the death
-of her parents, by her grandfather, the late
-Duke of Beaumanoir.
-
-Miss Hanbury owed her attractiveness to
-her essentially English type, not of beauty—she
-would have disdained to lay claim to that—but
-of fresh, healthy coloring, a suspicion of
-tomboyishness, and a lithe, supple figure that
-stood her in good stead in the hunting and
-hockey fields. A trifle slangy on occasion, she
-was a good hater and a staunch friend, with a
-temper—as she had warned Alec already—that
-would need a lot of humoring if they were
-not to have "ructions."
-
-"I've got the makings of a termagant, my
-dear boy, but it will be all right if you rule me
-with a velvet glove," she had remarked within
-five minutes of their first kiss.
-
-In fact, Miss Sybil Hanbury was a bit of a
-hoyden; but a very capable little hoyden for
-all that, and absolutely fearless.
-
-The two girls had naturally paired off together,
-and the subject of their talk was,
-equally naturally, the new Duke—Alec's
-friend, Sybil's cousin, and Leonie's chance acquaintance
-on the *St. Paul*.
-
-.. _`A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?`:
-
-.. figure:: images/illus2.jpg
- :align: center
- :alt: A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?
-
- "A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?"
-
-Sybil, after listening to Leonie's rather halting
-description of the fellow passenger whom
-she had known as "Mr. Hanbury," owned
-frankly that she had never heard any good of
-her cousin, but she hastened to add:
-
-"He's given my prejudice a nasty knock,
-though, in behaving so well to my young man.
-Gave him a billet as private sec. that enabled
-Alec to—you know. A man can't be much
-of a wrong 'un who'll stick to old pals when
-they have no claim on him."
-
-Leonie tried not to show surprise at the vernacular.
-
-"He seemed very kind and considerate. I
-don't think he can ever have done anything
-dishonorable," she replied.
-
-"Nobody ever accused him of that," Sybil
-assented. "It was only that he was extravagant,
-and that my grandfather got tired of
-paying his debts. You see, he wasn't the next
-heir, and—well, perhaps they were a little hard
-on him. I'm quite prepared to like him now."
-
-The conversation was interrupted by the entrance
-of a servant, who announced:
-
-"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton."
-
-"A fellow countrywoman of yours. I wonder
-if you know her?" Sybil whispered, as a
-radiant vision in pale pink under a large "picture"
-hat sailed in, and was greeted with
-somewhat frigid politeness by Mrs. Sadgrove.
-
-"No; I am not acquainted with either
-the name or the lady," Leonie replied, struck
-with a strange antipathy to the bold eyes that
-seemed to be mastering every detail in the
-room, herself included. Indeed, Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton stared so markedly both at
-Leonie and her mother that Mrs. Sadgrove
-thought they must have met, and promptly
-introduced them as American friends staying
-in the house. The introduction was not a success,
-for the Shermans knew everyone worth
-knowing in American society, and the fact
-that they had never so much as heard of Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton argued her outside the
-pale.
-
-The elegant vision received her snubbing
-with cool unconcern, and after a few generalities
-turned again to her hostess and engaged
-in the trifling chatter of a "duty" call, making
-one or two unsuccessful attempts to include
-Sybil, to whom she had not been introduced,
-in the conversation.
-
-"That woman is a brute," Sybil said to
-Leonie under her breath. "I'll tell you about
-her when she's gone."
-
-The door opened, and there entered an iron-gray
-man of sixty, whose coming might almost
-have been the cause of expediting the departure
-of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, so quickly did
-she rise and begin her good-byes.
-
-"No, really I can't stay, dear Mrs. Sadgrove,
-even to have the pleasure of a chat with
-the General," she prattled. "I have half a
-dozen other calls to pay, and you have beguiled
-me into staying too long already. Good-bye.
-Good-bye, General. Pray don't trouble to
-come down." And with a half-impudent bow
-of exaggerated respect to the Shermans, she
-swept out, with the master of the house in attendance.
-
-General Sadgrove returned at once to the
-drawing-room after escorting the visitor to
-her carriage. He was a man who bore his years
-easily; singularly slow and scant of speech, but
-alert of eye and almost jaunty in the erectness
-of his bearing. He had gained his C.B. for
-prominent services in the suppression of
-Thuggee and Dacoity, and his name is still
-held in wholesome dread by the criminals of
-India whose method is violence. It had once
-been said of him by a high official: "Jem Sadgrove
-doesn't have to worry about *finding*
-clues. He makes them for himself, and they
-always yield a true scent. He's got the nose
-of a fox-terrier, and the patience and speed of
-a greyhound."
-
-But that was long ago, and it might be supposed
-that in such pleasant duties of retirement
-as the ushering out of dainty visitors
-from his wife's tea-table his faculties had become
-blunted. Nor in the law-abiding precincts
-of Belgravia could there be scope for
-the old-time energy. Yet Mrs. Sadgrove, who
-knew the signs and portents of her husband's
-face, looked twice at him with just a shade of
-anxiety as she asked whether he would take
-some tea.
-
-"Thanks," he said, and taking his cup he
-went and stood on the rug before the empty
-hearth. He stirred his tea slowly, with his eyes
-wandering from one to the other of the four
-women in the room.
-
-"You good people seem singularly calm,
-considering that you must just have been
-listening to a very exciting story," he remarked.
-
-"Indeed, no," replied Sybil, taking upon
-herself to answer. "The lady to whom you
-have just been doing the polite bored us intensely.
-Leonie says, for all the dash she's
-cutting in London, she's an *incognita* so far as
-America is concerned."
-
-The General continued to stir his tea impassively.
-
-"Did she not inform you in the course of her
-small talk," he inquired presently, "that on her
-way here her carriage had knocked a man
-down and gone near to killing him?"
-
-The question evoked a chorus of interested
-negatives.
-
-"Neither did she say anything to me about
-it," said the General gravely.
-
-"Then how did you become aware of the accident?"
-Mrs. Sadgrove ventured to ask.
-
-"Saw it," returned the General. "It happened
-in Buckingham Palace Road. I was
-passing at the time, on my way home from the
-club. Her coachman drove right over the fellow
-as he was crossing the roadway at the corner.
-He was knocked down, and it was the
-merest shave that he wasn't trampled by the
-horses and crushed by the wheels. As it was,
-he escaped with a bit of a shaking and a dusty
-coat. At any rate, he got up and walked into
-the nearest barber's—for a wash and brush-up,
-I suppose."
-
-Further questioned, the General in his jerky
-way informed his fair audience that he was
-sure that it was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's
-jobbed landau that had wrought the mischief,
-and that she herself was in it at the time. It
-was the same vehicle which he had found at
-his own door on reaching home ten minutes
-ago, and to which he had just conducted her.
-
-"Funny that she should be so secretive about
-it," said Mrs. Sadgrove, reflectively. "It's the
-sort of thing that most women, coming fresh
-from the scene, would have been full of—especially
-as it must have been the coachman's
-fault, and not her own."
-
-"Exactly," was the General's curt comment.
-
-"She's a—a *creature*," Sybil Hanbury exclaimed,
-viciously. "Thank goodness, I don't
-know her; but I've heard all about her from
-Alec. The poor boy can't abide her; she makes
-eyes at him so unblushingly."
-
-"Then we can appreciate your sentiments
-about her," remarked the General with the
-flicker of a smile. "How did we come to know
-this lady?" he added to his wife.
-
-Mrs. Sadgrove explained that she had been
-asked as a favor to call on Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-by a mutual acquaintance, a certain
-Lady Roseville, but had regretted it ever since.
-Their intercourse had, however, been of the
-slightest, being confined to the interchange of
-a couple of formal visits, and to an invitation
-by Mrs. Sadgrove to a musical "at home," at
-which Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had endeavored
-to embark on a flirtation with Alec Forsyth.
-
-"She's a rich widow, I believe; and I don't
-think she would ever have been heard of if the
-Rosevilles hadn't taken her up," Mrs. Sadgrove
-concluded.
-
-The series of grunts with which the General
-received this information had hardly ceased
-when again the footman appeared in the doorway
-and announced, with all due importance:
-
-"His Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir."
-
-The occupants of the drawing-room were all
-accustomed to the "usages of polite society,"
-either in Britannic or Transatlantic form; but
-it was impossible for them to repress a flutter
-of excitement as the visitor entered, his original
-"cavalry swing" marred but not wholly
-obliterated by his limp. Leonie tried hard not
-to blush, and failed. Mrs. Sherman interlaced
-her fingers nervously. Sybil Hanbury stared
-hard at the cousin whose stately town house
-she was occupying, and who had waved a
-magic wand over her lover's prospects. Mrs.
-Sadgrove was the graceful and interested hostess,
-and the General—well, the General was
-surprised for once into a start which was only
-invisible because nobody was looking at him.
-
-Beaumanoir's manner was perfectly easy
-and self-possessed, but there was a harassed
-look in his eyes which did not entirely fade
-as he responded to his welcome. But it was
-not that which had caused the General to start.
-
-*The Duke was the man whom he had seen
-knocked down by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's
-carriage, to the imminent peril of his life.*
-
-The "wash and brush-up" had been effectual
-as regards the ducal garments, but they could
-not hide the black silk sling in which he carried
-his left arm. It was General Sadgrove's way
-to allow events to shape themselves, and saying
-nothing of the scene he had witnessed as
-he welcomed the distinguished visitor, he
-waited for the Duke to refer to his mishap
-himself.
-
-But no. The victim of the accident was
-apparently as much inclined to reticence as
-had been the fair cause of it. It was Mrs.
-Sherman who unconsciously provoked the
-mendacious statement which stimulated the
-General's curiosity.
-
-"I'm afraid that your Grace has hurt your
-hand," said the Senator's wife, pointing to a
-broad strip of diachylon plaster that ran from
-the Duke's wrist to the ball of his thumb.
-
-"Yes, I—I grazed it rather badly against
-the wheel in getting out of a cab," Beaumanoir
-replied with a momentary loss of his self-possession.
-The discomposure passed at once,
-and only the observer on the hearth-rug noticed
-it. The same shrewd observer presently
-perceived that the visitor was definitely leading
-the conversation to the subject of the arrival in
-England of Senator Sherman; and, more than
-that, that he was waxing a shade more inquisitive
-than good-breeding allowed as to the nature
-of the senatorial journey.
-
-"Ah! he's coming on political business, I
-think you told me?" the Duke remarked in a
-half-tone of interrogation on Leonie saying
-that her father, according to advices received
-that morning, was to sail in two days' time on
-the *Campania*, and would be due at Liverpool
-early in the following week.
-
-"Well, it's political business in a way," Mrs.
-Sherman struck in. "My husband is coming
-over in charge of a large amount of Government
-securities, which are to be deposited at
-the Bank of England against a shipment of
-English gold to the United States."
-
-"He's got the opening he wanted. Now,
-what on earth is he going to do with it?" said
-the General to himself as he watched keenly.
-
-"Rather a dangerous mission, I should say,"
-was the Duke's comment on the information
-imparted to him.
-
-"Dangerous! How can that be?" Leonie
-exclaimed, wondering. "United States Treasury
-bonds are not explosive."
-
-"No, but the world is full of sharps, Miss
-Sherman, and some of them might fancy having
-a shy for such a haul," said Beaumanoir
-with a trace more of earnestness than the occasion
-seemed to require. "If I had a relative
-starting on such an errand, I should be inclined
-to cable him to—ah—to look out for
-himself," he added in direct appeal to Mrs.
-Sherman.
-
-But the good lady laughed the suggestion to
-scorn, alleging playfully that "it would be as
-much as her place was worth" to tackle the
-Senator that way. It would be a hint that he
-wasn't able to take care of himself or of his
-charge, and would be resented accordingly.
-
-The Duke abandoned the subject, but the
-General noted the disappointment in the tired
-eyes.
-
-"His Grace knows something. Let's see—he
-was on his beam-ends when he was unearthed
-in New York," the old hunter of
-Thugs and Dacoits muttered under his gray
-mustache.
-
-Beaumanoir made no long stay after his
-ineffectual effort to sound a warning note.
-There had been no opportunity for individual
-talk; but in saying his adieus he had two words
-with Sybil, who had been observing her cousin
-quite as intently as, and a good deal more
-openly than, the General.
-
-"I'm going to look Alec up now, at his diggings
-in John Street," he said. "Probably I
-shall ask him to put me up to-night."
-
-"It's a shame that you should have to do
-so," Sybil blurted in her boyish fashion.
-"You've been awfully good to us. I ought
-to have cleared out of Beaumanoir House at
-once, and I'll 'git' as soon as ever I can make
-other arrangements."
-
-"I beg you'll do nothing of the kind," Beaumanoir
-made genial answer. "Alec is about
-the only friend I have, and—and I need a
-friend, Cousin Sybil. It has been a pleasure
-to serve him and you—if it can be called serving
-you," he added with a thoughtful gravity
-that puzzled the girl.
-
-She shook hands with a warmth that bespoke
-the death of old prejudices, and General Sadgrove,
-who had hardly exchanged two words
-with his visitor, accompanied him to the hall-door.
-
-"Are you walking, Duke? Or shall I
-whistle a cab?" he asked.
-
-Beaumanoir looked up the street and down
-the street, and gave a queer little shrug.
-
-"It won't make any difference whether I
-walk or drive," he said. "Good-bye, General."
-
-Having gazed the limping figure out of
-sight, the General went back into the house and
-made for his private den—a cozy apartment
-crammed with Eastern spoils. There he leisurely
-selected a cigar and seated himself in a
-big saddle-bag chair.
-
-"There is something brewing," he growled
-gently. "I perceive a vibration in the moral
-atmosphere which quite recalls old days. I
-wonder what it means?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII—*The Men on the Stairs*
-=====================================
-
-
-The rooms—two in number—occupied by
-Alec Forsyth in John Street, Adelphi, were
-in a house let off in bachelor chambers, with
-the exception of the ground floor, which was
-used as an office by a firm of wholesale wine-merchants.
-The young Scotsman's limited
-income had precluded a more aristocratic locality;
-and, at any rate, John Street offered
-the advantage of being within a few minutes'
-walk of his daily work in Downing Street.
-
-In the daytime, when the tenants were out
-at their various avocations, the upper part of
-the dingy old building was deserted, save by
-the housekeeper in the attics; while the counting-house
-abutting on the street was all life
-and bustle. At night the conditions were reversed,
-the wine-merchant's premises being
-locked up and silent, and the rooms above occupied.
-
-On the evening of that Monday on which
-the Duke of Beaumanoir called on the Shermans at the residence of General Sadgrove,
-Alec was busy in his sitting-room, tearing up
-papers and preparing generally for his departure
-to Prior's Tarrant on the morrow. It
-was past eight, and he had just lit the gas,
-when the door suddenly opened and Beaumanoir
-came in.
-
-"Why, Charley—hang it! Duke, I mean—I
-thought you were in the country!" Alec
-exclaimed, more astonished by his friend's actions
-than by his appearance there.
-
-For, after slipping quietly in, Beaumanoir
-had turned sharp round and loosed the catch
-of the spring-lock. Not satisfied with that, he
-also shot home the two old-fashioned bolts with
-which the door was fitted, top and bottom, and
-then flung himself into an easy chair, mopping
-his brow with his handkerchief.
-
-"I don't think I was spotted, but it's best
-to be on the safe side," he muttered. Then
-aloud: "I came to ask you to give me a shake-down
-to-night, old chap, on a sofa or anything;
-only I don't know if it's fair to you; my
-proximity carries a pretty considerable risk.
-But I've been—rather worried, and I seem to
-want company."
-
-Forsyth rose, and laid an affectionate hand
-on the Duke's shoulder.
-
-"Now, look here," he said, firmly. "I'm
-going to forget that you're my employer at a
-generous salary, and remember only that I'm
-your friend. What does all this mean?
-You've been hurt somehow, too. Just make a
-clean breast of it, and let's see what can be
-done."
-
-Beaumanoir shook his head sadly.
-
-"I can't make a clean breast of it," he began;
-then pulled up short and went on. "At
-least, I can't tell you causes, but I'll tell you
-effects. My life has been attempted twice certainly,
-possibly three times, since noon yesterday."
-
-"How?" said Alec with Scotch brevity.
-
-"A lame gardener was set upon at Prior's
-Tarrant, and released on his assailants finding
-that they had mistaken him for me. And at
-night they got on the roof and tried to suffocate
-me by letting a brazier of charcoal down
-into the grate and plugging the chimney.
-Luckily I awoke, and managed to crawl out of
-the room in time."
-
-"But surely you raised an alarm and caught
-the fellows? They couldn't get off the roof
-and escape so quickly as that," exclaimed Alec,
-half incredulous.
-
-Again the Duke shook his head.
-
-"I raised no alarm, and they did get away,
-after pulling up the brazier and leaving no
-trace," he replied. "There are reasons, Alec,
-why I could not have appeared against them
-had they been caught—the same reasons why
-I can't confide more fully in you."
-
-"You must have done something very bad—murder
-at least," said Forsyth, gravely.
-
-"On the contrary, I have done nothing at
-all," Beaumanoir retorted. "It is for not
-doing something that I am being persecuted."
-
-"Well, what about the third attempt?"
-
-"It happened this afternoon, as I was on
-my way to your uncle's. A carriage knocked
-me down and very nearly crumpled me. But
-that may have been an accident."
-
-"Did you take stock of the driver and the
-people in the carriage?"
-
-Beaumanoir was obliged to admit that he
-had not. In his disheveled state he had been
-only anxious to be cleaned down and have his
-wrist attended to, and it was not till after the
-carriage had driven rapidly away that he had
-connected the incident with the other attempts.
-
-Forsyth said nothing for the moment, but
-fetched some cigarettes from the mantelpiece;
-and it was not until they had smoked in silence
-for awhile that he blurted out suddenly:
-
-"This can't be allowed to go on. It makes
-everything impossible. Have you any reason
-to think that the people who are pursuing you
-will do so indefinitely—until they have settled
-you?"
-
-Beaumanoir considered before replying, as
-though the point had not occurred to him before.
-
-"No," he said, with a nervous laugh.
-"Things have crowded so in the last few hours
-that I haven't thought much about any sort of
-future. I cannot be sure, but I believe if I
-could pull through till the end of next week—say,
-for another fortnight—that the danger
-would pass."
-
-Forsyth sat and ruminated, blowing blue
-smoke-rings; and then, after two or three
-minutes of silence, a faint noise sounded in the
-room. The Duke, whose nerves were tuned to
-concert pitch, heard it first, and turned a pair
-of wide-open eyes on the door. Forsyth's gaze
-followed, and they both saw the handle of the
-door move. The door itself, being locked and
-double bolted, of course refused to yield to the
-gentle pressure from without.
-
-Forsyth laid his finger to his lips for silence,
-and motioned Beaumanoir to retire into the
-bedroom, which communicated by means of
-folding doors with the sitting-room. When
-the Duke had noiselessly disappeared, Forsyth
-stole to the outer door, and having first quietly
-drawn the bolts he quickly unlocked it and
-flung it open, to be confronted by an under-sized
-little man, who shrank back from his
-threatening attitude.
-
-"Who the deuce are you—and what do you
-want, disturbing me at this time of night?"
-Forsyth demanded fiercely.
-
-"These are Mr. Crofton's chambers, ain't
-they, sir?" bleated the intruder.
-
-"No; they are not. There's no one of that
-name in the house that I know of," replied
-Forsyth, partially mollified by his mild manner,
-and wholly so when the little man proceeded
-to apologize for his mistake, explaining
-that he was from a chemist's in the Strand with
-some medicine for the gentleman, but that he
-must have come to the wrong house.
-
-Holding up a bottle as evidence of his *bona
-fides*, he retreated downstairs, excusing himself
-to the last; but before going he had managed
-to snatch a comprehensive glance round the
-room. Forsyth waited on the landing until his
-steps had died away, and then went back into
-his room, barring the door as before.
-
-"It's all right," he said, going to the folding
-doors. "Only some chap who had mistaken
-the address."
-
-"Not much mistake there," replied the
-Duke, outwardly calm, but gone very white.
-"I caught a peep of him. He's a johnny who
-shadowed me over from America, and never
-left me till just before I met you at the Cecil.
-He called himself Marker, and—and he's in
-this business, Alec."
-
-"He didn't look very formidable. Why,
-you could lick the thread-paper little skimp
-with one hand," said Forsyth, beginning to
-wonder if his friend's mind were unhinged.
-It was not like the once gay hussar Charley
-Hanbury—intrepid horseman, champion boxer,
-and good all-round athlete—to funk a miserable
-wisp such as that!
-
-"He is only the spy, I expect—sent to find
-out if I was here," replied Beaumanoir, passing
-a weary hand over his eyes.
-
-Moved by a sudden impulse, Forsyth went
-into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him
-so as to be in the dark. The window commanded
-a view of the street, and the blind had
-not been drawn. Looking down, he saw a man
-sauntering on the opposite pavement, who
-presently coming under the rays of a street-lamp
-was revealed as Marker. Forsyth waited
-until the spy turned and slowly retraced his
-steps, and then went back into the sitting-room.
-
-"You have convinced me that there is something
-in all this," he said. "That fellow is
-mouching about outside."
-
-"I'll go. I can't subject you to this sort of
-thing," said Beaumanoir, reaching for the new
-hat which he had purchased after his "accident."
-
-But Forsyth pushed him back into his chair.
-
-"A duke isn't necessarily a fool," he said,
-roughly. "What you want most is a good
-sleep, and you shall have it—here in these
-rooms. Mr. Marker can't *know* that you are
-here, or he wouldn't have come to the door with
-that bogus yarn. Also, he is evidently not satisfied
-that you are *not* here, or he would have
-gone away. It remains to throw dust in his
-eyes and fool him a bit. Lord! how I wish my
-uncle, General Sadgrove, was with us!"
-
-"He seemed to me a trifle dull," remarked
-the Duke, inconsequently.
-
-Forsyth made allowances, and did not answer.
-
-"See here," he said, after a minute's reflection.
-"This is the plan to throw the spy off
-the scent. It's nine o'clock—just the hour
-when it would be quite natural for a bachelor
-to go to his club. I will stroll round to Northumberland
-Avenue, and drop into the Constitutional
-for an hour. In the meanwhile, do
-you stay here and lie low behind locked doors,
-and with gas turned down. That rascal will
-almost certainly retire to his employers baffled,
-for he would not think that I should go out and
-leave you alone."
-
-"That sounds promising," Beaumanoir assented.
-"But don't stay a moment longer
-than the hour, Alec. I don't think I could
-stand it."
-
-Forsyth reassured him, and having slipped
-into evening clothes and donned a light overcoat,
-he issued his final instructions. It was
-beginning to be natural to him now to take the
-lead, after that glimpse of the lurking figure
-in the light of the street-lamp. Beaumanoir
-was to lock and bolt himself in, and only open
-on hearing the password "*Rat*."
-
-These matters arranged, Forsyth departed,
-and, after waiting until he heard the bolts shot,
-went down into the street, where the spy was
-still in evidence, prowling on the other side.
-He made no attempt to follow Forsyth, who,
-affecting not to notice him, walked rapidly the
-short distance to his club. There he remained
-in the smoking-room with what patience he
-could muster for the full hour, determined not
-to return till time enough had elapsed for Marker
-to come to the desired conclusion and act
-upon it.
-
-It was half-past ten when Forsyth set out
-to retrace his steps to John Street, and almost
-as soon as he entered that deserted thoroughfare
-he saw that the watcher was no longer at
-his post. Eager to relieve Beaumanoir from
-his solitary state of siege, he made all haste to
-the house, and was passing quickly through the
-entry when he heard footsteps on the landing
-above. A gas-jet was kept burning over the
-closed door of the wine-merchant's office, for
-the benefit of the resident tenants on the upper
-floors, so that he had a clear view of the
-straight stone stairs. Before he reached the
-latter two men came into view, hurriedly descending,
-and talking together in muffled
-undertones—one a gaunt, hungry-looking
-individual in the garb of a clergyman; the
-other, burly and bull-necked, dressed in shabby
-tweeds and bowler hat.
-
-Forsyth stood aside at the stair-foot for
-them to pass, and then, moved by the furtive
-glances they turned back at him, he ran upstairs
-two steps at a time. He knew all his
-fellow-lodgers by sight; but these men were
-strangers, and he did not like the looks of the
-curiously assorted pair. On coming to the
-door of his rooms, he rapped and spoke the
-agreed signal, but something prompted him
-not to wait, and simultaneously he turned the
-handle. The door swung open at once, without
-any unbarring from within.
-
-"Where have you got to?" cried Forsyth,
-peering round the room, in which the gas
-burned low, just as he had left it.
-
-There was no response; and with a sinking
-heart he turned on a full light and dashed into
-the bedroom, only to find that also vacant. The
-Duke of Beaumanoir had vanished from his
-refuge.
-
-There was no doubt that he was in neither
-of the rooms. A hasty search put that beyond
-question. Instinctively Forsyth ran to the
-outer door and at once made the discovery—for
-which he was already prepared—that his
-chambers had been forcibly entered during his
-absence. The door had been wrenched open
-with a jemmy, and had simply been pulled to
-on the departure of the intruders. The shattered
-woodwork round the spring-lock told its
-own tale, though the mystery was increased by
-the fact that the old-fashioned bolts had been
-withdrawn.
-
-But what of Beaumanoir?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII—*The Cut Panel*
-==============================
-
-
-In the famous white drawing-room at Beaumanoir
-House Sybil Hanbury was preparing
-to end a solitary evening by the simple process
-of going to bed. The butler, a martyr to punctilio,
-had insisted on lighting every jet in the
-chandeliers and in the sconces on the walls,
-with the result that the vast apartment scintillated
-like a ball-room, accentuating the loneliness
-of the black-clad little figure of its sole
-occupant.
-
-Sybil laid aside her book, and surveyed the
-splendid emptiness of the room with a smile of
-amusement for her monopoly of so much gorgeously
-upholstered space. But as she realized
-that her monopoly of the white drawing-room
-was only a detail in the much larger incongruity
-of her monopoly of the Piccadilly mansion,
-her face took a graver look.
-
-"I trust that the Vincents will be ready to
-take me in next week," she mused with a touch
-of impatience. "The idea of a score of servants and an acre of ducal palace being run
-for a simple body like me is too ridiculous,
-especially with the rightful owner ready to
-take possession."
-
-She had been both puzzled and attracted by
-her cousin at General Sadgrove's that afternoon.
-As a child she had heard so much contemptuous
-obloquy poured on the absent ne'er-do-well
-that, in spite of his generosity to Alec
-Forsyth and his consideration for herself, she
-had been prepared to cling to the old prejudice.
-It had, however, at once broken down
-under the pathetic plea for friendship which
-she had discerned in the Duke's troubled eyes,
-for her womanly insight told her that the new
-head of the family was under the influence of
-a mental strain almost amounting to physical
-distress.
-
-"He looks like a man sitting on an infernal
-machine, listening to the tick-tack of the clock-work,"
-she reflected. "Yet I don't think he's
-wicked, or the sort of person with a past likely
-to fly up and hit him in the face. I wish I
-knew what he is grizzling about, so that Alec
-and I could do him a good turn in exchange
-for his benevolence."
-
-She had risen with the intention of retiring
-to her own room, when the butler entered hurriedly,
-and with traces of well-disciplined agitation
-on his episcopal countenance. Mr.
-Prince had grown gray in the ducal service;
-but, beyond a slight fatherliness of manner, he
-did not presume on the fact towards the orphan
-scion of the great house.
-
-"I really don't know, Miss, if I ought to disturb
-you so late on such a matter," he said.
-"Two men have called to see his Grace, and,
-failing him, insisted on my ascertaining if you
-would receive them."
-
-"I know nothing of the Duke's affairs, and
-I am just going up to bed," Sybil replied,
-wondering at the usually correct retainer's excitement.
-"Besides, Prince, 'insist' is rather a
-curious word to use here," she added with a
-trace of asperity.
-
-"I should not have ventured to repeat such
-an objectionable phrase, Miss, if it had not
-been used with a sort of authority," the butler
-hastened to put himself right. "I ought to
-have mentioned that they are Scotland Yard
-detectives, which accounts for my being a bit
-flurried."
-
-Sybil promptly sat down again and bade
-Prince show the visitors in. She had no desire
-to pry into her cousin's business, nor did her
-reception of the police-officers imply any such
-intention. But at that moment her preconceived
-notion that the Duke was the center of
-a mystery took definite shape, and she was
-above all things loyal to the house. She decided
-that in her cousin's interest it would be
-wiser to see these men, and, if possible, fore-arm
-herself with a knowledge of their designs.
-
-But when Prince returned it was to usher in
-not two men, but only one—a cadaverous,
-middle-aged person in the garb of a clergyman,
-who waited obsequiously near the door
-while his card was presented by the butler.
-
-"I found when I got back into the hall that
-he'd sent the other man away, Miss—said there
-was no need for two of them to intrude upon
-you," explained Prince in an undertone.
-
-Sybil nodded, but the furtive glances of the
-clerically dressed visitor caused her to call
-Prince back as he was retiring.
-
-"I trust you didn't leave them alone in the
-hall?" she whispered.
-
-"Oh, dear, no, Miss; William, the second
-footman, was on duty in the hall while I came
-to you," was the reply, uttered in a slightly
-injured tone.
-
-Prince having taken a dignified departure,
-Sybil beckoned forward the individual whom
-his card proclaimed to be "Inspector Chantrey,
-Criminal Investigation Department." He
-advanced with a shambling walk and with
-deprecating gestures in keeping with his disguise;
-but Sybil formed the opinion that all
-his nervousness was not simulated. It struck
-her that he was listening intently as he
-threaded his way through the priceless Louis
-Seize garniture of the white drawing-room.
-
-He stood before her at last, for all the world
-like a half-famished wolf in the presence of a
-very wide-awake and dainty lamb that had not
-the least intention of being devoured. He
-spoke hurriedly—almost perfunctorily, as
-though he set no great store by his questions
-or the answers to them; and all the time that
-listening attitude was noticeable.
-
-"I called in the hope of finding his Grace at
-home," he began, with a half-note of interrogation.
-
-"Well, the butler will have told you that he
-is not at home," said Sybil sharply.
-
-"True; but servants are not always reliable,
-and I thought I had better see one of the
-family. Might I ask if the Duke is expected
-here to-night?"
-
-"No, he isn't. What do you want him for?"
-snapped Sybil.
-
-The *aplomb* of the question seemed to take
-the inquisitor back. He glanced curiously at
-the girl in the high-backed arm-chair, first
-scanning her tenacious little face, but quickly
-dropping his shifty eyes to the carelessly
-crossed shoes.
-
-He began to "hem" and "ha."
-
-"The fact of the matter is, we have had a
-communication from the county police at
-Prior's Tarrant, in respect of an assault on
-one of the servants in the park yesterday. The
-local people think the attack may have been
-intended for the Duke, and they have wired us
-to make inquiries."
-
-The reason alleged for his visit sounded
-plausible, and in some degree might account
-for the hunted look she had surprised in the
-Duke's eyes. Yet she was not altogether satisfied.
-It was conceivable that the police should
-want to question the Duke, but the excuse for
-intruding on her at such an hour hardly seemed
-adequate.
-
-"I am still at a loss to see how I can be of
-service to you in a matter of which I know
-nothing," she said, not attempting to keep the
-suspicion out of her voice.
-
-"I only desired to make sure, madam, that
-the Duke was not at home. Having obtained
-that assurance from the fountain-head, pray
-permit me to withdraw," was the nervously
-spoken reply, punctuated by an awkward bow
-and the commencement of a hurried retreat.
-But the visitor had only taken three steps
-down the long vista of the room when the door
-was flung open, and Prince announced, with
-the air of one who springs a surprise:
-
-"His Grace the Duke!"
-
-Beaumanoir was very pale, but he advanced
-without hesitation, meeting Sibyl's interrogator
-half-way up the room. Startled as she
-was by her cousin's unexpected appearance,
-the girl intuitively rose and went forward,
-vaguely conscious of a desire to hear if the
-man repeated the same tale.
-
-"Well, sir?" said the Duke, curtly.
-
-Sybil hardly knew whether or no she was
-relieved when, word for word, the man repeated
-the reason he had just given her for his
-call. Watching her cousin's face, she saw the
-pallor yield to a flush of evident annoyance.
-
-"Oh, yes; something of the kind occurred in
-the park at Prior's Tarrant," he angrily replied.
-"But all this about the man being mistaken
-for me is officious nonsense—too trivial
-to warrant your pushing your way into this
-young lady's presence at eleven o'clock at
-night. I shall complain to your superiors of
-this most impertinent intrusion."
-
-"What could it mean?" Sybil asked herself.
-The man's nervous air—his attitude of
-listening—had disappeared. His sly face
-grew sleekly impudent under Beaumanoir's
-rebuke and it was quite jauntily that he answered:
-
-"Then I'll bid your Grace good-night. Very
-possibly you'll reconsider the advisability of
-raising the question at Scotland Yard."
-
-The clerical coat-tails went flapping down
-the room, the Duke following them to the door,
-where he handed their owner over to Prince,
-who was hovering in the hall. Having given
-a sharp order to "show the gentleman out,"
-Beaumanoir returned to Sybil, humbly apologetic,
-but with signs of haste in his manner.
-
-"My dear cousin, I am more than annoyed
-at Prince's laxity in admitting that fellow,"
-he said, taking her hand. "It is fortunate that
-I chanced to look in in the hope of finding you
-up, and so was able to rid you of him. I came
-to leave a message for Alec in case he calls
-presently."
-
-"But Alec is the pink of propriety," exclaimed
-Sibyl, laughing in spite of herself.
-"He doesn't call on an unprotected damsel,
-even if he is engaged to her, at eleven o'clock
-at night."
-
-"Nevertheless, I believe that he will call here
-very shortly; and I should like him to be told
-that I am all right, and, in fact, that I am
-going out of town for a few days to the sea-side.
-I will communicate with him when I
-want him to enter on his secretarial duties.
-That is all, I think. I must really be off now."
-
-But Sybil would not at once take his proffered
-hand. She remembered that he had
-mentioned that he was to spend the night at
-Alec's chambers, and this sudden derangement
-of plans, coupled with the lurking suggestion
-in his message, was, to say the least of it, mysterious.
-Looking into the tired eyes, she found
-again that expression of sleepless worry that
-had puzzled her. Why should it be necessary
-for this young man, newly come to great
-wealth and station, to notify his friend so
-feverishly that he was "all right," and in the
-same breath announce his retreat from London
-to some vague destination—not to his own
-country-seat?
-
-"As you expect Alec here, wouldn't it be
-better to wait for him?" she urged; adding
-naïvely, "I could even offer you a bed, if you
-would condescend to make yourself at home in
-your own house."
-
-But Beaumanoir was in no mood to perceive
-the humor of the situation. He was clearly
-fidgeting to be gone, and Sybil could only conclude
-that he wanted to be gone before Alec
-arrived. With a girl's faith in her lover's
-power to surmount most difficulties, she decided
-to try and detain her cousin as long as
-possible; but her diplomacy was not called into
-play. Prince, now wearing an air of mild
-protest at all these excursions and alarums,
-appeared in the doorway to announce:
-
-"Mr. Forsyth."
-
-Beaumanoir was evidently disconcerted at
-not having made his exit in time; and Sybil,
-recognizing that there was something between
-the two men not for her ears, tactfully withdrew
-to the other end of the room, after smiling
-a greeting to her lover. She thought none
-the worse of him because he was too preoccupied
-to return it. She was beginning to discern
-an undercurrent of serious import beneath the
-happenings of the past half-hour.
-
-"What made you break cover, old chap?
-You've given me a pretty scare," said Forsyth
-to the Duke. "When I found you'd gone, I
-came on here on the off-chance."
-
-"I didn't think it fair to subject you to the
-sort of night you might have had with me as
-an inmate, so I cleared out," Beaumanoir replied,
-wearily. "I guessed you'd inquire here,
-so I called in to leave word that I was all right—up
-to date."
-
-"You were not molested before quitting my
-chambers?"
-
-"No. Why do you ask?"
-
-"Because the place has been visited; it must
-have been after you left," said Forsyth,
-gravely. And he went on to relate how he had
-found the door broken open, and how he had
-met two suspicious-looking men on the stairs,
-one dressed as a clergyman and the other in
-shabby tweeds.
-
-"Dressed as a clergyman?" cried Beaumanoir,
-startled into forgetfulness of Sybil's
-presence in the room. "Then, Alec, I have
-stood face to face with death in this house not
-ten minutes ago. I found your sham parson
-here, professing to be an official detective; but
-I doubted him from the first."
-
-His raised tones reached Sybil, who realized
-that the house of Beaumanoir was confronted
-by no ordinary emergency. What the peril
-could be that threatened her noble relative she
-had no means of knowing, or any wish to
-know; but the Duke's description of himself
-as standing "face to face with death" amid the
-seeming security of his own white drawing-room
-touched her with the icy hand of unknown
-dread, and, moreever, filled her with a
-sense of responsibility. The man who was not
-safe under the dazzling lights of that splendid
-apartment, with a host of servants within call,
-was going forth into all the insecurity of the
-London streets at midnight because, her instinct
-told her, he would not expose her to the
-same danger.
-
-Her cousin's chivalry appealed not only to
-her loyalty to the house, but to that protective
-impulse which springs readily in every woman's
-heart.
-
-"I couldn't help overhearing you," she said,
-coming forward. "I, too, doubted that man—very strongly. I am sure he meant no good.
-But what I want to say, Cousin Charles, is
-that you must remain here to-night. If you
-go out of the house, I shall go also."
-
-Forsyth shot a grateful look at her.
-
-"The best possible plan," he said, quickly.
-"Now, don't be obstinate, Duke. The man has
-left the premises, I presume? Good! That
-being so, we shall be a poor lot if we can't
-prevent his getting in again, which he is hardly
-likely to attempt. There is nothing to hinder
-you from spending a quiet night here, without
-the slightest risk of unpleasantness either to
-Sybil or to yourself, and in the morning you
-and I can talk over your future movements at
-leisure."
-
-"And I quite meant what I said," Sybil
-added, firmly. "If you won't stay here, you
-will put me to the inconvenience of turning out
-and going to an hotel at twelve o'clock at
-night. I have no intention of being forced into
-the horrid feeling that I am keeping you from
-the shelter of your own roof."
-
-Under the pleading of the two pairs of
-kindly eyes turned on him Beaumanoir wavered.
-The chance of sleep and rest was
-tempting. He stepped to the door, and found
-Prince in the great entrance-hall.
-
-"That man who called himself a detective
-has gone?" he inquired. "You are sure there
-is no mistake about it? You showed him to the
-door yourself, and saw him out?"
-
-"And secured the door immediately afterwards,
-your Grace. Mr. Forsyth will bear me
-out in that; I had to withdraw the bolts to
-admit him."
-
-Beaumanoir returned to the drawing-room.
-
-"You are both very good, and I will stay
-for to-night only," he assented. "I wish I
-could make the explanation I owe you, but—well,
-I am the victim of circumstances."
-
-"The explanation will keep," said Forsyth,
-bluntly. "May I stay too?"
-
-The permission was, of course, accorded,
-and Sybil bade them good-night and retired
-to her room, giving orders on the way for two
-adjoining bedrooms to be prepared for them.
-The two men went into the smoking-room for
-a whisky and cigarette while the rooms were
-being got ready; but each with tacit consent
-avoided the topic of the moment. The one
-idea in Alec's mind was to let Beaumanoir
-have a good sleep, and persuade him into a
-serious discussion in the morning.
-
-They parted at the door of their bedrooms
-on the first floor, where the late Duke's valet,
-who was still in the house, had done everything
-possible to cope with the sudden emergency.
-Pajamas had been routed out, and toilet requisites
-provided. The windows of both rooms
-looked out over the ceaseless traffic of Piccadilly,
-so that no danger could be apprehended
-from that quarter; yet Forsyth sat for a long
-time before turning in to bed. In his ignorance
-of what was the source of the Duke's
-danger, he had been loath to excite remark
-among the servants by fussing about the
-proper locking up of the mansion; but the
-stately tread of Prince going his rounds reassured
-him on that point, and eventually he
-slept.
-
-In the meanwhile, Sybil, in her room at the
-other end of the same corridor, was finding a
-still greater difficulty in composing herself to
-rest. The events of the evening, in such startling
-contrast with the normal calm of the dignified
-establishment that had been her home,
-had unsettled—not to say alarmed—her, and
-she felt no inclination to the lace-edged pillow
-that usually wooed her to willing slumbers.
-She was a sound, healthy girl, untroubled by
-nerves; but she felt a singular need for alertness,
-unreasonable perhaps, but imperative.
-
-The Duke's anxiety to make sure that the
-clerically dressed individual had really left the
-house had impressed her; and now, too late for
-inquiry, she remembered that she had omitted
-to mention that *two* men had called, one of
-them not having been shown into her presence.
-The latter, Prince had said, had been dismissed
-by his colleague; but his departure had only
-been witnessed by William, the second footman—a
-dreamy servant at the best of times,
-and unreliable by reason of a hopeless attachment
-to the senior housemaid. The thought
-thrilled Sybil that the other man, having hoodwinked
-the footman, might still be in the
-house, concealed in one of the many unused
-rooms.
-
-The idea of a lurking prowler, biding his
-time in the stillness of the sleeping household,
-kept her wakeful. Once or twice she looked
-out into the corridor; but the flicker of her
-candle only showed two rows of closed doors,
-without a sign of life, and each time she went
-back and tried to fix her attention on a book.
-So the night dragged into the small hours; and
-about three o'clock, after a longer interval
-than before, she determined to take one more
-peep and then get into bed.
-
-She had already grasped the door-handle,
-when she withdrew her hand as though it had
-been stung by an adder. A faint scrooping
-sound told her that someone was doing something
-in the corridor, and half a minute's
-strained listening told her that, whatever that
-something was, it was persistent and continuous.
-It went on and on, like the drone of a
-bee in a bottle.
-
-Silently crossing the room, she turned down
-her gas to a pin-point and blew out the candle
-with which she had intended to investigate.
-Then she returned to the door, and, opening it
-noiselessly, tiptoed into the outer darkness.
-Here the sound, though still faint, was more
-distinctly audible, and she was able to locate it
-at the door of the room occupied by the Duke.
-The discovery left her no time for fear, or even
-for conjecture. There was only one thing to
-be done—to rouse Alec and the Duke, but
-without, till that supreme moment, alarming
-the unseen manipulator at her cousin's door.
-Thus would she narrow the time at the disposal
-of that mysterious person for revising his
-plans and effecting his escape.
-
-The thick pile carpet made for silence, and
-she stole quietly along the broad passage,
-touching and counting the doors till she
-reached that of Forsyth's room—only a few
-feet from the gentle buz-buz that had attracted
-her attention, and only a few feet from someone
-stealthily at work in the dark. A steady
-snore from the interior of the Duke's chamber
-explained his complacence under that uncanny
-tampering with his approaches.
-
-Again giving herself no time for fear, Sybil
-beat a rat-tat on Forsyth's door, calling him
-by name. The sound at the next door immediately
-ceased, an instant of intense silence following,
-and then almost simultaneously two
-things happened. An iron grip settled on the
-girl's wrist, just as Forsyth flung open the
-door of his room, in which he had wisely turned
-the gas full on as he leaped out of bed. The
-light streamed into the corridor and shone
-upon a man in shabby tweeds and bowler hat,
-who was holding Sybil, but not so hampered
-that he was prevented from drawing a revolver
-and aiming straight at Forsyth's head.
-
-
-.. _`The procession of three led by the stranger.`:
-
-.. figure:: images/illus3.jpg
- :align: center
- :alt: The procession of three led by the stranger.
-
- "The procession of three led by the stranger."
-
-Whether he intended to fire or offer an ultimatum was not demonstrated, for before he
-could do either he was taken in the rear and
-found himself a target. There stood the Duke
-in his pajamas, with a handy little Smith and
-Wesson not a foot from the intruder's temples,
-and with his left hand significantly extended.
-
-"Give me that pistol," he said, sternly.
-
-Beaumanoir was dealing with a tangible foe
-at last, and with a thrill of racial pride Sybil
-noted the light of battle in her relative's eye.
-It was, therefore, more than a shock to her
-when the Duke, having relieved the tweed-coated
-lurker of his weapon, calmly added:
-
-"Now, sir, if you will be good enough to
-march in front of me down to the front door,
-I will let you out. You two," he continued,
-addressing Sybil and Forsyth in the same
-quiet tones, "will greatly oblige me by not raising
-any alarm or disturbing the servants while
-I am gone."
-
-"I am coming downstairs with you," said
-Forsyth, drily.
-
-When the procession of three, led by the
-stranger with a brace of pistols at his head,
-had filed off to the grand staircase, Sybil ran
-back to her room and fetched her candle. An
-inspection of the Duke's door showed that a
-panel had been partially cut out with a watch-spring
-saw, which was still sticking in the
-almost invisible fissure.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX—*The Strategy of the General*
-==========================================
-
-
-Some five hours later General Sadgrove, at
-his house in Grosvenor Gardens, was taking
-his morning tub, when a servant tapped at the
-door of the bathroom and informed him that
-Mr. Alec Forsyth wanted to see him very
-urgently. The General as speedily as possible
-donned his dressing-gown and descended to
-his sanctum. His keen eyes just glanced at
-the troubled face of the young man standing
-on the hearth-rug; then, in his laconic way, he
-asked:
-
-"What's wrong, laddie? Your chum Beaumanoir
-been in the wars?"
-
-Forsyth favored him with a startled stare,
-and then broke into an uneasy laugh.
-
-"You seem to have been exercising your
-faculty of second-sight already, Uncle Jem,"
-he said.
-
-"The man was being *stalked*," said the General.
-"Has anyone caught him?"
-
-"Very nearly," replied Forsyth; and he proceeded to narrate the events of the night, and
-also what Beaumanoir had told him of the previous
-attempts on his life. At mention of the
-Duke's absolute refusal to disclose the cause
-of the vendetta and to invoke the protection
-of the police, General Sadgrove drew a long
-breath. On hearing that he had in the small
-hours of that morning, thanks to the vigilance
-of Sybil Hanbury, held one of his would-be
-assassins at his mercy, but had quietly escorted
-him to the door and let him go, the whilom
-hunter of Dacoits uttered inarticulate grunts.
-
-"And now, Uncle Jem, I have come to you
-for help," Forsyth proceeded earnestly. "I
-have persuaded the Duke to permit me to tell
-you in strictest confidence as much as he has
-told me, and I think if you can make any suggestions
-for baffling these unknown malefactors
-that he will adopt them—always provided
-your advice does not entail going to the police.
-He has given me his word of honor to remain
-at Beaumanoir House until I return; but the
-odds are they'll have another shy at him
-directly he pokes his nose outside."
-
-The General had been absently toying with
-a tray of Indian curios, but he now looked
-sharply up at his nephew.
-
-"You are not exactly blind, Alec, and can
-read between the lines," he said. "Reluctance
-on the part of a man threatened with murder
-to communicate with the authorities must
-mean that he has got an ugly sort of secret
-himself."
-
-"You know his record, sir. Charles Hanbury
-was never anyone's enemy but his own,
-and I expect the Duke of Beaumanoir is much
-the same," replied Forsyth with a warmth
-which left the General quite unmoved. The
-old warrior reverted to his curios and spent a
-couple of minutes in balancing an Afghan
-dagger on his finger, till, apparently inspired
-by the performance, he laid the venomous
-blade aside.
-
-"I agree with you in one aspect of the case,"
-he said. "An insurance company, knowing
-what we know, would be ill-advised to take a
-risk on his Grace's life. The chances are in
-favor of his being a dead man within twenty-four
-hours of his quitting his present shelter.
-I presume that precautions have been taken
-against any more bogus detectives, or bogus
-anything else, gaining access to him during
-your absence?"
-
-Forsyth replied that the Duke had promised
-to remain in his own room till he returned, and
-that the butler had been instructed to admit no
-one into the house on any pretence whatever.
-Moreover, he added, with a proud note in his
-voice, Sybil was co-operating, and was thoroughly
-alive to the emergency.
-
-"Then," said the General, briskly, "I will
-finish dressing, and when we have had a mouthful
-of breakfast I will go back with you to
-Beaumanoir House. We must get your Duke
-into the interior of a safer zariba than a Piccadilly
-mansion before we can open parallel
-trenches against such a persistent enemy."
-
-General Sadgrove and Alec breakfasted
-alone together, the former, indeed, hurrying
-the meal purposely so as to get away before
-the ladies appeared. He had seen enough the
-previous day, when the Duke was calling on
-the Shermans, to make him shy of explaining
-to his guests that he was bound for Beaumanoir
-House at nine o'clock in the morning,
-both Mrs. Sherman and Leonie being aware
-that his acquaintance with the Duke only dated
-from yesterday. He shrewdly suspected that
-the young people who had been fellow-passengers
-on the *St. Paul* took more than a platonic
-interest in each other, and he did not want to
-stimulate that interest into anxiety until he was
-better informed.
-
-He pursued the subject apologetically as
-soon as he was in the cab with his nephew.
-
-"Sorry I made you bolt your food," he said.
-"I hate lying to women if it can be avoided.
-The Shermans, who are staying with me, know
-Beaumanoir—traveled in the same ship with
-him. It would have excited remark to mention
-our destination."
-
-Forsyth, who had experience of his uncle's
-methods, perceived that he was being pumped,
-and he had no objection. Having summoned
-this wily man-hunter to his assistance, he was
-not foolish enough to expect results without
-full disclosure.
-
-"I understand your reluctance to disturb the
-Shermans," he replied. "Beaumanoir has
-spoken several times about them—in fact, he
-seemed rather unduly excited when he first
-heard from me that they were at your house.
-I have thought that he might be *épris* of
-Leonie, though, as I have not seen them together,
-I can form no opinion whether the
-attraction is mutual."
-
-The General, having acquired his information,
-relapsed into silence, which was only
-broken by Forsyth as the cab turned into Piccadilly.
-The short drive was nearly over, but
-before the cab stopped he contrived to describe
-briefly his chance meeting with the Duke, on
-the day of the latter's arrival in England, at
-the Hotel Cecil, and with an effort of memory
-he recalled the name of the man—Clinton Ziegler—whom
-the Duke had been to see.
-
-"I dare say it's not important, but it just
-occurred to me that I had better mention it
-while there was an opportunity," he concluded,
-stealing a sidelong glance at his uncle's face,
-which, as usual, was illegible. But a movement
-of the General's well-gloved right hand
-in the direction of his left shirt-cuff, coupled
-with the gleam of a gold pencil-case, suggested
-that the name of Mr. Clinton Ziegler had been
-deemed worthy of record.
-
-They were admitted to the ducal residence
-by Prince, whose dignity barely enabled him
-to stifle the inward curiosity with which he was
-devoured. In common with the other servants,
-he had not been told of the midnight alarm,
-and his orders to put the house practically into
-a state of siege had naturally mystified him.
-The damage to the bedroom door was not visible
-except under close examination, and Sybil
-having swept up the sawdust, none of the
-household had yet discovered it.
-
-"No one has called, sir, except one or two
-of the usuals to the tradesmen's entrance, and
-they were kept outside," the butler remarked
-as he relieved the two gentlemen of their hats
-and canes.
-
-At Forsyth's request they were shown into
-the smoking-room—a cozy den, with only one
-window overlooking Piccadilly, to which the
-General immediately walked. His gaze roved
-over the crowded thoroughfare, comprehending
-pedestrians and passing vehicles in one
-swift scrutiny, and, apparently satisfied, he
-turned away just as Sybil entered, looking as
-fresh and sprightly as though she had slept the
-clock round. The General greeted her in the
-curt manner he affected to all women impartially,
-but an extra pressure of her hand may
-have had reference to her vigilant gallantry.
-
-"His Grace is sulking," she said, with a
-smile. "At least, he refuses to leave his room
-until he has seen you, General Sadgrove. I
-tapped at his door and told him you were here,
-but he said that if you want to see him you had
-better go upstairs. Very rude of him, isn't
-it?"
-
-"Very sensible," replied the General. "I
-would prefer to see him alone, if you will be so
-good as to escort me, Miss Hanbury. Alec,"
-he added, "while I am gone just sit on this ottoman
-behind the window-curtain and keep
-your eye on that apple-woman under the railings
-of the Green Park. When I come back,
-be prepared to tell me exactly what she has
-done and how many customers she has had."
-
-Forsyth nodded, and the General went
-away with Sybil, who conducted him up the
-grand staircase and left him at the door of the
-Duke's room. It was characteristic of the
-man that, having heard all there was to hear
-of her proceedings from his nephew, he forbore
-to waste words on what had occurred, but
-dismissed her with an injunction.
-
-"Now run away and help Alec, but don't let
-the apple-woman know that those sharp eyes
-are observing her," he said, unbending so far
-as to give her a playful push.
-
-His knock and mention of his name was followed
-by the sound of footsteps as the occupant
-of the room remembered that he had
-turned the key and hastened to admit the visitor.
-Beaumanoir was fully dressed, and had
-just finished breakfast.
-
-"Don't think me a coward for locking the
-door, General," he said, as he shook hands.
-"This is a pretty bad gang that I am dodging."
-
-The General's comment was to turn and re-lock
-the door himself, after a critical glance at
-the sawn panel. "I have spent my life in
-breaking up bad gangs," he said, when he had
-taken the chair indicated. "I am a bit rusty
-with disuse, but I should very much like to try
-conclusions with this one. From what I hear,
-they must be worthy of anyone's steel."
-
-Beaumanoir indulged in a careworn smile.
-
-"Three attempts in forty-eight hours speaks
-to their zeal, at any rate," he replied. "But
-seriously, General, you start badly handicapped,"
-he went on. "I don't even know
-that I want them broken up, as you call it, for
-there must be no publicity. I can give you
-no clues nor answer any questions. All I ask
-of your great experience is how to thwart a
-determined hankering after my poor life—a
-hankering which may possibly cease if I survive
-for another week."
-
-"You positively decline to give me any assistance?"
-
-"Positively; the honor of my house forbids
-it."
-
-The General tried to look pensive—a difficult
-matter to a gentleman of iron visage and
-bushy eyebrows.
-
-"I am not going to ask questions," he said
-almost plaintively, without mentioning that
-there were some he had no need to ask and
-others which he fully intended to answer himself.
-"I am here to give advice, and it is to
-get out of London into the open, so that your
-friends can look after you. Professors of
-crime find their art more difficult in the country,
-where every gossiping woman in the village
-street is a possible witness. I want your
-Grace to go down to Prior's Tarrant, and
-allow me the honor of accompanying you as a
-guest."
-
-The suggestion was met by a blank negative,
-and caused the Duke to rise and pace the
-room in more agitation than he had yet shown.
-
-"Why, the very place is hateful to me since
-last Sunday night," he exclaimed. "You
-would realize that yourself, General, if you
-had been introduced to those silent fumes stealing
-down the chimney. I was thinking of
-going to some hotel by the sea when Forsyth
-and Sibyl induced me to remain here for the
-night, with such lively consequences. Come
-with me as my guest anywhere else, but not to
-Prior's Tarrant."
-
-"Nevertheless, I should feel surer of your
-safety there than anywhere, and I do not speak
-without reason," replied the General, with a
-metallic snap in his voice. "I should wish at
-least to be accorded the privilege of finishing
-my proposition."
-
-Beaumanoir promptly apologized very
-gracefully for his discourteous interruption,
-excusing it on the score of the strain on his
-nerves. He would be delighted to listen to
-any proposals, but nothing would shake his determination
-not to go back to Prior's Tarrant.
-
-"My dear sir, the tangled woodland of the
-park there is the ideal spot for a lurking assassin.
-Mediæval architecture provided the house
-with nooks and corners which it would tax
-even your foresight to patrol," he insisted.
-
-"But," said the General, "there is safety in
-numbers; and I was going to propose—rather
-coolly, perhaps—that you should have a house-party
-there. If I might bring Mrs. Sadgrove,
-and Alec and Sybil Hanbury would also give
-us their company, it would lend color to my
-own presence. The last two-named, as you
-have occasion to know, form a valuable body-guard."
-
-The Duke stared at his visitor with something
-like horrified amazement.
-
-"You forget, General, in your kind eagerness
-to serve me, that you have guests staying
-in your own house whom you cannot desert,"
-he said, wondering how even an old man with
-his years behind him could suffer such lapse of
-memory when Leonie Sherman was one of the
-guests. He was almost angry that his visitor,
-being thus reminded, did not instantly abase
-himself.
-
-But instead of shame General Sadgrove
-had only justification to offer—not profuse,
-because that was not his way—but complete.
-
-"I had not forgotten the Shermans," he replied,
-in a tone of oddly contrasted reproof
-and apology. "I had it in my mind that if
-you entertained my view you would stretch a
-point, and make matters easy for me by inviting
-my guests as well." And the shrewd old
-diplomatist succeeded in looking as though the
-barefaced bait he was dangling was a piece of
-effrontery he only dared moot under stress of
-the emergency.
-
-Beaumanoir, flushing scarlet, stopped short
-in his restless pacing and swallowed the hook.
-
-"I never thought of that," he said, looking
-down at the General with more interest than
-he had yet shown. "And," he added, with unaffected
-modesty, "I very much doubt if they
-would come."
-
-This was virtual surrender, and the General
-had an easy task to brush away objections obviously
-raised in the hopes of their demolition.
-Short notice? Well, perhaps; but Americans
-were used to a less formal hospitality than
-ours, and would take it as a compliment.
-Brief shipboard acquaintance? Nonsense.
-Five days' association on a "liner" was equivalent
-to a friendship of years. The chance of
-the Shermans being involved in a tragedy in
-which they had no concern? The General
-pledged his word that, whatever happened at
-Prior's Tarrant, no harm should befall the
-Senator's wife and daughter or breath of scandal
-assail them.
-
-Before he left the room the General had arranged
-to return later in the day, possibly
-bringing with him his Pathan servant, Azimoolah Khan, whose aid he meant to enlist in
-securing the Duke's safety at his country-seat.
-In the meanwhile, he would go home and prepare
-the ladies for joining the party on the
-morrow, Beaumanoir's formal invitations following
-by post.
-
-On his way down the broad staircase General
-Sadgrove chuckled audibly to himself: "I
-thought the prospect of entertaining Leonie
-in his ancestral halls would fetch him.
-Mustn't have her falling in love with him,
-though, till he can show a clean sheet." A
-little lower down he stopped and stared at a
-huge canvas of the third Duke, but without
-heeding the bewigged and lace-ruffled counterfeit
-of the Georgian courtier. "Concentration!"
-he muttered. "The first axiom in a
-crime-problem is to concentrate the items. I
-shall have two of 'em now, by George, right
-under the same blanket—and with luck I'll
-have three."
-
-In the hall Prince was hovering fatuously,
-assisted by a brace of tall flunkeys who fell
-under the General's critical gaze. One of
-them was the absent-minded William, all unconscious
-that he had allowed "Inspector
-Chantrey's" understudy to slip upstairs the
-night before. Him Sadgrove severely rejected,
-selecting his colleague.
-
-"There's an apple-woman under the rails
-opposite," he said, producing a sovereign.
-"Run across and offer this for her basket and
-its contents. If she refuses, the chances are
-that she will almost immediately move away.
-In that case, if you can follow her a little distance,
-without letting her observe you, bring
-me back word directly she stops and speaks to
-anyone."
-
-The well-trained servant, with scarcely the
-blink of an eyelash for his extraordinary mission,
-started to fulfil it, and the General hastened
-on to the smoking-room, where Forsyth
-and Sybil were still on guard at the window.
-
-"Has the woman been doing any business?"
-he asked as he entered.
-
-"She has only had one customer, who got
-off a Hammersmith 'bus and walked on," replied
-Sybil, without removing her gaze. "And
-now—why, it's one of our liveries—Steptoe,
-the first footman, is going up to her. Oh, but
-this is interesting. He is offering her a coin,
-and she is shaking her head."
-
-"Go on," said the General.
-
-"Steptoe is recrossing the road towards the
-house without buying anything, and—yes, the
-woman has taken up her basket and is leaving
-her pitch, don't you call it? She too is crossing
-to this side of the road, but higher up. Steptoe
-has turned and is looking after her, and—now
-I can't see any more without putting my
-head out of window."
-
-Sybil stopped, breathless; and, without comment
-on the episode she had just witnessed, the
-General informed her and Forsyth of the proposed
-move to Prior's Tarrant. As was to be
-expected, neither of the engaged couple had
-any objection to an arrangement which would
-bring them together under the same roof,
-Sybil remarking naïvely that it was one thing
-to be allowed solitary house-room as a poor
-relation, and quite another to stay with the
-Duke as a guest. She promised to hold herself
-in readiness to join Mrs. Sadgrove and
-the Shermans on the morrow and go down
-with them, while Forsyth was to wait for his
-orders until the General returned in the afternoon.
-
-"We may have a ticklish job in getting our
-noble convoy from one laager to the other, and
-I shall want you as an aide-de-camp, Alec, as
-well as Azimoolah Khan for the more serious
-work," the General explained.
-
-"Azimoolah!" Forsyth exclaimed, remembering
-certain blood-curdling stories of his
-uncle's old orderly, who had exchanged the
-fierce joys of Thug-hunting for the milder enjoyment
-of valeting his beloved Sahib in Belgravia.
-"Surely his methods smack too much
-of the jungle and the nullah for this country."
-
-"That's why I want to cart the whole bag
-of tricks into the jungle," said the General,
-grimly. "Well?" he added, as Steptoe entered
-and tendered the sovereign on a salver.
-
-"The woman wouldn't take it, sir," was the
-reply. "She got up and went round the corner
-into Air Street, where she was met by the
-person who called here last night dressed as a
-clergyman, only he was dressed as a working-man
-to-day. They went away together in a
-four-wheeler."
-
-"Thank you—that simplifies things considerably,"
-said the General, and, announcing his
-intention of returning later, he bade the footman
-call a cab and followed him out of the
-room.
-
-"I wonder what he has got up his sleeve,"
-Forsyth mused aloud, as he and Sibyl watched
-the wiry figure into the cab. "The spirit of
-the chase has gripped him tight, and he's in
-full cry already."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X—*A Duty Call*
-=========================
-
-
-General Sadgrove was not the man to
-embark on an undertaking without clearing
-the ground of doubtful points, and he drove
-home by way of New Scotland Yard, where,
-firmly refusing his reasons for wanting to
-know, he extracted the information that there
-was no such officer as "Inspector Chantrey"
-on the police roster. On arrival at Grosvenor
-Gardens he first sought and obtained a private
-interview with his wife, and astonished her by
-imparting the projected visit to Prior's Tarrant.
-
-"You are at the old work, Jem; I can see it
-in your eye," she said after one glance at her
-husband's stern, introspective face. "Is there
-danger?"
-
-"To me possibly; to another certainly," the
-General responded. "In fact, Madge, it is
-touch and go whether I can save a man's life.
-I do not know yet if he is a good man, but his
-life is an important one."
-
-"Then of course I will go with you," said
-Mrs. Sadgrove, guessing whose that life was
-from Alec Forsyth's early call. "The Shermans,
-dear people, will be delighted to stay in
-a duke's historic mansion, even if the invitation
-is a little irregular, for are they not Americans?
-I will go to the morning-room and
-break it to them."
-
-"Without a hint of what is brewing, mind,"
-said the General, and vanished into his own
-den. He sat for a while in thought, and presently
-rang the bell. It was answered by a tall
-Oriental in native costume and turban, who
-made low obeisance, but listlessly, as though
-bored to death. As he straightened himself,
-however, his coal-black eyes, raised deferentially
-to his master's, blazed into sudden fire.
-
-"Allah be praised! The black tribe walks
-again!" he cried in his vernacular, reading the
-sign as easily as Mrs. Sadgrove had done.
-
-"Yes, Azimoolah, the black tribe walks.
-We go to pit cunning against cunning and
-right against wrong, you and I, as in the days
-when we rode the jungle-paths under the Indian
-moon," the General replied in the same
-tongue. "Art glib of speech and handy with
-those iron arms of thine, as in the old times
-when we earned our pensions beyond the black
-water?"
-
-"Try me, sahib—only try me," came the
-quick answer. "I have feared that I was
-growing fat and soft in this city of laziness,
-where the tame *polis* use not the ways known
-to you and me, O leader of midnight pursuits.
-But that look in your eye brings back the old
-heart-hunger. I want a quarry, sahib, fleet
-of foot and strong of arm and wily of tongue,
-to match with all those of thine and mine.
-Show me such an one, sahib."
-
-"So will I, Azimoolah—not one, but twenty
-quarries, maybe, whom it will tax all our ancient
-skill to defeat," said the General, with a
-frosty smile for his follower's eagerness.
-"Take heed while I give orders."
-
-The conclave that ensued lasted until
-luncheon, at which it was noticed, though not
-remarked upon, by Mrs. Sadgrove that Azimoolah
-Khan did not as usual station himself
-behind his master's chair. The General, too,
-made no reference to his retainer's absence,
-but plunged at once into a totally unfounded
-explanation of the wholesale invitation to
-Prior's Tarrant. The Duke of Beaumanoir,
-he averred, wished to be kind to his young
-kinswoman, Sybil Hanbury, by asking her
-down while Alec Forsyth was there, and as
-that was impossible without a chaperon, he,
-the General, had suggested a small house-party
-with Mrs. Sadgrove and Mrs. Sherman
-to play propriety.
-
-Mrs. Sherman evinced unfeigned delight at
-the prospect, her only anxiety being as to the
-length of the visit. Her husband, the Senator,
-with his precious charge of Treasury
-Bonds, was due in a week, and she would wish
-to be in London to receive him on arrival.
-Leonie, too, who did not seem to share her
-mother's enthusiasm for accepting the ducal
-hospitality, pressed the point with some pertinacity.
-The General, however, was equal to
-the occasion.
-
-"No dates were mentioned," he said, looking
-his guests guilelessly in the face. "But as his
-Grace alluded to the pleasure with which he
-anticipated making the Senator's acquaintance,
-I presume he takes it for granted that
-your husband will go straight to Prior's Tarrant
-from Liverpool."
-
-Mrs. Sherman and Leonie exchanged
-glances, as though to say that that settled the
-matter, as indeed, from their point of view,
-it did. Senator Leonidas Sherman was the
-kindest of husbands and the most indulgent of
-fathers; but if he had landed in England and
-found that he had been deprived of the chance
-of staying with a duke, he would have made
-things hum for all concerned.
-
-"Beaumanoir, having lived in your country,
-has a warm corner in his heart for all Americans,"
-said the General. "And talking of
-Americans, my dear," he proceeded, addressing
-his wife, "I shouldn't like to be uncivil to
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. As we are all going
-out of town, what do you say to returning her
-call this afternoon? If you are not otherwise
-engaged, I will order the carriage for four
-o'clock."
-
-When the General—who never in his life
-had paid a duty call without grumbling—spoke
-like that Mrs. Sadgrove knew what was
-expected of her, and did it. She had not the
-faintest inkling of his reasons for sudden politeness
-to a pushing woman whom they all
-disliked. In the old days, when she had gone
-out into camp with her husband, and had sat
-silent in the tent amid the coming and going
-of troopers and mysterious spies, she had
-always divined when a great *coup*, resulting
-in the death or capture of some notorious malefactor,
-was vexing his brain. She had watched
-the spreading of the net without troubling him
-with questions about the meshes. So now,
-though inwardly disquieted by this recrudescence
-of the professional instinct, she abstained
-from worrying him, confident that the veteran
-would achieve his purpose as ruthlessly as the
-zealous young captain of thirty years ago.
-
-Without demur the ordering of the carriage
-was agreed to, and when it came round at the
-appointed hour the Sadgroves were reinforced
-by Mrs. Sherman and Leonie, who, at a hint
-from the General, had been induced to accompany
-them. During the drive the General
-fidgeted a good deal about the pace at which
-his fine pair of bays was being driven, and
-once or twice checked the coachman; but his
-wife, who had learned to notice trifles, observed
-also that he frequently consulted his watch,
-and concluded that his anxiety was not entirely
-on the score of his cattle. Of this she was
-assured when, as the equipage turned into the
-courtyard of the hotel, he replaced his watch
-with a scarcely audible sigh of relief. What
-was it for which they were neither too late nor
-too early, she wondered.
-
-At the bureau they were informed that Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton was at home, and the
-party, having been handed over to a bell-boy,
-passed on—with the exception of the General,
-who lagged behind for a moment.
-
-"You have a gentleman staying in the hotel
-of the name of Ziegler, have you not—Clinton
-Ziegler?" he inquired of the clerk. "Ah, thank
-you—I was not mistaken then. Do you happen
-to know if he is in his rooms at present?"
-
-The answer was that Mr. Ziegler was certain
-to be in, as he was an invalid and never
-went out. Oh yes; he saw people—a good
-many, but always in his own apartments, and
-he never frequented the public rooms. His
-suite was in the same corridor as that of Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton—next to it, in fact. No;
-the gentleman and lady were not friends, or
-even acquainted, the clerk believed. At any
-rate, they had arrived at different times, and
-he had never heard of any connection between
-them.
-
-Thanking his informant, the General hurried
-after the others and caught them up in
-time to be ushered with them into Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton's luxurious reception-room.
-The handsome widow, beautifully gowned,
-and already apprised by speaking-tube that
-visitors were coming up, received them with
-effusion, and made no effort to conceal her
-surprise when the General appeared in the
-wake of the ladies. She rallied him on his
-new-found politeness, and openly avowed that
-he must have some secret object in seeking her
-good-will.
-
-The General, disclaiming anything unusual
-in his conduct, bore the flow of badinage
-meekly, but under his gray mustache he muttered:
-
-"Confound the woman! She is clever, or
-else Jem Sadgrove has blundered."
-
-The conversation drifted into the usual
-channels of small talk, and by the time the
-General joined in he had assimilated one important
-fact in connection with his surroundings.
-The suite of apartments in which he
-was doing the penance of a duty call was a
-split suite. There was a door at the end of the
-room, across which a fairly heavy writing-table
-was placed, denoting that the door was not in
-use, as naturally it would have been if the room
-beyond had been one of those rented by Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton. The discovery and his
-own deduction caused an odd little crease at
-the corner of the General's mouth, and he
-seized the earliest opportunity to put in his
-word.
-
-"I've got some news for you, Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton. You are about to be the recipient
-of a very high honor."
-
-"Really! But this is extremely interesting,"
-was the reply, accompanied by a flash of
-scrutiny, quickly changed to a charming smile.
-"Pray don't keep me in suspense, General.
-Am I to go for a cruise in the royal yacht, or
-dine with the Lord Mayor?"
-
-"The Duke of Beaumanoir is going to ask
-you down to his country-place at Prior's Tarrant,"
-said the General, imperturbably ignoring
-her persiflage. "I was with him this morning,
-and I gathered that you'll have your
-invitation in the course of the day. We're all
-going down. The Duke is Alec's new boss,
-don't you know, and he has taken a liking to
-the lot of us."
-
-He carefully avoided his wife's eyes and
-those of his guests as he burst this amazing
-bombshell, thereby depriving himself of the
-sight of a toss of Leonie's pretty head and of
-the raising of two pairs of elderly eyebrows.
-His hostess had his sole attention, and she repaid it fully. For the first time in his experience
-of her Mrs. Talmage Eglinton changed
-color and seemed at a loss for words. He
-helped her out, and himself too, with the same
-old lie, and his manner was perfect—just that
-of the simple old soldier:
-
-"The Duke dotes on Americans, don't you
-know. Says he was introduced to you by my
-nephew outside Beaumanoir House the day he
-landed, and when it came out in conversation
-that we knew you, he insisted on your being
-asked. Thought it would please Alec, don't
-you know."
-
-The last sentence was spoken carelessly, as
-though it was an afterthought, but it had an
-effect that all the skill at Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's
-disposal could not hide—an effect transient
-only, but so marked that the three other
-women in the room, coldly hostile as they were,
-did not fail to note it. The flush which had
-tinged her cheek on hearing of the invitation
-deepened, and a softer light gleamed for a
-moment in her fine eyes.
-
-But whether the General's explanation was
-deemed adequate, or whether she intended to
-accept the invitation, there was no present
-means of knowing. For the sedate calm of
-the afternoon call was suddenly interrupted
-by a tremendous uproar beyond the closed
-door that was blocked by the writing-table—a
-babel of confused voices and the shuffling of
-feet. The ladies looked at one another in
-alarm, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton fully sharing
-the agitation of her visitors. Indeed, she rose
-and glided swiftly towards the closed door,
-and then, as though recollecting that it was not
-available, made for the principal entrance of
-her suite.
-
-The General rose and followed her into the
-corridor, the commotion being so great as to
-excuse his doing so. In fact, the sounds from
-the next room were so appalling as to suggest
-that his protection might be necessary against
-some broken-out lunatic, and out in the corridor
-it was evident that some such idea prevailed
-among the hotel attendants. A cluster
-of them had already collected at the door of
-the adjoining apartments, and more were arriving.
-
-"What is all this disturbance?" Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton inquired of one of them, and
-the General, close behind, discerned a tremulous
-note in her indignation.
-
-The man she accosted did not know, but
-another, who had been inside the suite, at that
-moment pushed his way out and overheard the
-question.
-
-"It's nothing really serious, madam," he
-said. "An Indian Prince who had applied for
-rooms was being shown round, when he took a
-fancy to enter that suite—occupied by Mr.
-Clinton Ziegler. The Prince is in there now,
-and nothing will induce him to leave peaceably,
-as he can't be made to understand that
-the rooms are engaged. He doesn't appear to
-know much English, but I am going for one
-of the curry cooks, who will doubtless be able
-to interpret for us."
-
-"No need to waste time in fetching the
-cook," interposed the General. "I speak most
-of the Indian dialects, and I dare say I can
-get him to quit."
-
-"You'd better be careful, then, sir," said the
-attendant. "He pretty nearly strangled Mr.
-Ziegler's secretary when he tried to put him
-out."
-
-Disdaining the warning and accepting the
-implied permission, the General elbowed his
-way into the invaded territory, from which,
-after a couple of minutes, he emerged with a
-tall Asiatic who was wreathed in apologetic
-smiles, and talking volubly in an unknown
-tongue. The intruder was dressed in a gorgeously
-embroidered purple vestment, and in
-his snowy turban blazed a diamond the size
-of a pigeon's egg. From the doorway of the
-invaded suite a couple of pale, fierce faces
-glared for an instant, and then the door was
-shut.
-
-"It's all right," the General announced to
-the assembled spectators, who by this time included
-Mrs. Sadgrove and the Shermans.
-"This is his Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur,
-and he didn't mean to be rude. Just
-a little misunderstanding of his legal rights
-outside his own jurisdiction. He says he'll
-look for rooms at some other hotel, as he can't
-have those he wants here."
-
-A murmur of relief went up from the embarrassed
-attendants, who with great deference
-proceeded to escort the swarthy potentate
-to the carriage which it was understood was
-waiting for him. At the same time Mrs. Sadgrove
-held out her hand to Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton, and, declining that lady's not too
-pressing offer of tea, sailed away to the stair-head,
-accompanied by Leonie and her mother.
-The General was the last to make his adieus,
-and he made them, oddly enough, much more
-cordially than the women-folk.
-
-"Pleasant thing, a short parting," he ejaculated,
-as he bent over the fair American's
-jeweled hand. "We shall meet in a day or two
-at Prior's Tarrant, eh?"
-
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton smiled sweetly up
-at the rugged face of the veteran man-hunter.
-
-"Come, General, you can't expect me to give
-myself away like that," she said. "I shan't
-make up my mind until I get the invitation.
-You might be a bad, bold dissembler, you
-know, just taking a rise out of me; and then
-what a fool I should look if I had said that I
-was going to stay with the Duke."
-
-"I might be a dissembler, but you couldn't
-look a fool—under any circumstances," replied
-the General gallantly, as he turned away.
-
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood watching the
-erect figure march down the corridor, and suddenly
-called after him:
-
-"When does the Duke himself go into the
-country, General?"
-
-The erect figure wheeled as on a pivot, and
-the answer came back without a second's pause.
-
-"To-night, by the 8.45 from St. Pancras.
-Alec Forsyth goes down with him."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI—*On the Terrace*
-=============================
-
-
-The home park at Prior's Tarrant lay
-bathed in the gentle glow of a waning moon,
-but the hoary façade of the mansion itself, and
-the terrace that skirted it, were in shadow. Up
-and down in front of the long row of windows
-a red spark passed and repassed with monotonous
-regularity—the light of General Sadgrove's
-cigar as he waited in growing impatience
-for the coming of the Duke.
-
-After his social duties of the afternoon he
-had paid a hurried visit to Beaumanoir House
-to arrange for the Duke's departure in company
-with his new secretary, and then, armed
-with credentials from the Duke and heralded
-by a preparatory telegram, he had proceeded
-to the Hertfordshire seat by an earlier train.
-He had good reasons for traveling separately.
-And now the carriage which he had sent to the
-little wayside station of Tarrant Road two
-miles off was overdue, and the General was
-beginning to chafe.
-
-"I hope I haven't been too cocksure," he
-muttered, under his close-trimmed gray mustache.
-"I pinned my faith to Alec's company
-securing the fellow's safety on the journey at
-least."
-
-He took another turn, and then, striking a
-vesta, looked at his watch. It was twenty
-minutes to eleven, whereas if those he expected
-had caught the 8.45 from St. Pancras, the carriage
-should have been back half an hour ago.
-He had hardly finished this calculation when
-from behind a gigantic vase on the plinth of
-the steps leading to the lower level of the gardens
-there sounded the hiss of a cobra, thrice
-repeated.
-
-"Azimoolah?" said the General, softly.
-
-His faithful servitor glided forward, almost
-invisible in the shabby blue tunic which had
-replaced the spotless white garments of Grosvenor
-Gardens.
-
-"A queer orderly-room, sahib, but not more
-so than some we wot of in the by-ways of the
-Deccan," he whispered, glancing up at the
-loom of the great mansion. "Well, I have
-done thy bidding, and have secured a lodging
-in the village as a poor vendor of Oriental
-trifles. Furthermore, I have already done
-some good police work."
-
-"You have discovered that there are
-strangers dwelling in the place?"
-
-"Not so, sahib; but they have been *seen* in
-the village," was the reply. "The woman with
-whom I have hired shelter says that two men,
-professing to be painters, were in the park all
-day painting the trees and the deer, for which
-purpose they had obtained permission of the
-steward. Whence the men came the woman
-did not know, but they drove in in a dog-cart
-on the St. Albans road."
-
-"Your informant could not tell you if the
-picture was finished—whether the men were
-coming again?" the General asked quickly.
-
-It was too dark to see the Pathan's face, but
-a ring in his carefully managed undertone told
-of pride in the answer:
-
-"*She* could not tell *me*, sahib, but *I* can tell
-*you*. The picture makes the trees look like
-cauliflowers and the deer like unto swine.
-Moreover, it is not finished, and the men are
-coming again—to-morrow, perchance."
-
-General Sadgrove congratulated himself
-on his foresight. He would have preferred
-having Azimoolah in the house with him, but
-he had detached him from personal service,
-and had sent him down separately to pick up
-unconsidered trifles in the character of a traveling
-huckster. And the old sleuth-hound
-had done well, after only a couple of hours in
-the place, in bringing this news of painters
-who could not paint, yet were returning on the
-morrow. The General had such absolute
-trust in his henchman's methods that he did
-not trouble to inquire how the news had been
-acquired, thereby sparing Azimoolah the
-needless narrative of a deal with the landlady
-of the "Hanbury Arms," where the strangers
-had put up their cart and lunched.
-
-"Very good, old jungle-wolf," was all the
-comment he vouchsafed, and, making a mental
-note to see that the park was barred in future
-to the limners of "deer like unto swine," he was
-passing on to further instructions when the
-sound of wheels was heard far away down the
-avenue, and a moment later carriage-lamps
-twinkled into view round a corner in the drive.
-
-"Here they come," he said. "Better make
-yourself scarce now, but stay within call in
-case I want you."
-
-Azimoolah vanished in the darkness, and the
-General strolled on to the end of the terrace,
-where the descent of a flight of steps brought
-him to the main entrance of the mansion.
-Stationing himself under the portico, he waited
-the arrival of the brougham, which presently
-swung to a standstill, while the big hall door
-was opened wide by ready hands, and shed a
-blaze of light on—an empty carriage.
-
-"What's this mean, Perrett?" asked the
-General, outwardly calm for all the big lump
-in his throat, and cool enough to remember the
-name of the gray-haired coachman, learned on
-his own drive from the station. "Has not his
-Grace arrived?"
-
-"No, sir," replied the old servant, leaning
-from the box. "There has been an accident
-to the 8.45. No one hurt, sir. No need for
-alarm, for his Grace can't have been in the
-train."
-
-"How do you get at that?" the General
-asked, doubtfully.
-
-"The train was derailed between St. Albans
-and Harpenden, sir. Some of the passengers
-were shaken, but none badly injured; so the
-fast train that followed was run on to the up
-metals and brought them on, stopping at every
-station. But none got out at Tarrant Road.
-James here," indicating the footman, "ran
-along the train and looked into every carriage,
-but he could not see the Duke."
-
-And Perrett won golden opinions from the
-General by adding that, not satisfied with that,
-he got the station-master to wire up the line
-to the point of the accident, and received in
-reply the positive assurance that no injured
-persons had been left behind. All had been
-forwarded to their destinations by the succeeding
-fast train, which had been made "slow"
-for the purpose.
-
-The General had already mastered the time-table,
-and knew that only one more train from
-London would stop at Tarrant Road that
-night—the last, due at a quarter past midnight.
-The coachman therefore received, as
-he had expected, orders to return to the station
-in time to meet that train, and the General,
-lighting a fresh cigar, strolled back to the terrace,
-where, in response to his low whistle,
-Azimoolah glided to his side.
-
-"There is work afoot," he said, briefly.
-"Canst, as of yore, do without sleep at a
-pinch?"
-
-"Ay, and without food if it is so willed by
-Allah and the sahib."
-
-Whereupon the General gave him the best
-directions he could to the scene of the railway
-accident fifteen miles away, and bade him hie
-thither with all speed and glean particulars on
-the spot, especially with regard to the life they
-were pledged to defend and the nature of the
-accident, which might be no accident at all,
-but a move of their mysterious antagonists.
-It needed but few words to make Azimoolah
-understand, and he was gone—even before his
-hand, raised in unconscious salute, had
-dropped to his side.
-
-The General fell to pacing to and fro again,
-striving to penetrate the new situation that
-had arisen, and, as was his wont when matters
-went wrong, not sparing himself much scathing
-criticism. For what had seemed to him
-good reason, he had put all his eggs in one
-basket—"gone nap"—as he reflected, on the
-Duke and Forsyth catching the 8.45, and now
-disaster had overtaken that very train. If the
-village post-office had been open, he would
-have wired to know if the Duke was still at
-Beaumanoir House, for everything hinged on
-whether he had started, and Sadgrove felt an
-ominous presentiment that he had. The people
-he was playing against were not the sort to
-wreck a train without prospect of adequate
-result.
-
-Presently the twin lamps went twinkling
-down the avenue again, and the General tried
-to comfort himself with the hope that when
-they reappeared Beaumanoir would be in the
-carriage. After all, Alec Forsyth was with
-him. What had befallen the one should have
-befallen the other, and he had the greatest
-confidence in his nephew's readiness and resource.
-It might even be, the General told
-himself, that Alec had suspected foul play to
-the 8.45, and had purposely delayed departure—although,
-in conflict with this theory, arose
-the conjecture that in that case the railway
-people would have been warned, and there
-would have been no "accident" at all.
-
-But what was the use of following threads
-which, in the absence of a substantial starting-point,
-led nowhere? The worried veteran gave
-up the futile task in favor of more practical
-work, and occupied himself in learning the
-route by which the miscreants who had tried to
-suffocate the Duke had reached the chimney-stack
-over his chamber. He found that a decayed
-buttress had given them access to the
-top of the ancient refectory, whence an easy
-climb along a slanting gutter-pipe formed a
-royal road to the roof of the main building.
-
-The discovery, interesting in itself, was
-doubly so from the deduction to be made therefrom.
-The men who had climbed the roof
-would have been caught like rats in a trap if
-the Duke had raised the alarm, and they must
-either have had complete confidence in their
-ability to kill him by the charcoal fumes, or,
-in the event of a hitch, in the Duke's unwillingness
-to rouse the household.
-
-"Egad! but they must have a nasty grip on
-him, to trust to his not squealing under such
-provocation," the General murmured, as the
-sound of wheels drew him at last from the age-worn
-buttress back to the portico. "If he's
-turned up all right I'll try and persuade him
-to confide the secret before we go to bed."
-
-But when the brougham stopped, it disgorged
-no Duke, but only Alec Forsyth, pale
-of face, and for once in his life half afraid of
-meeting his uncle's expectant eye. But he
-kept his presence of mind sufficiently to control
-his voice as he informed the General—the
-information being really for the servants who
-had appeared at the hall door—that his Grace
-had not arrived. In silence the General led
-the way to the dining-room, and it was not
-until he had dismissed the butler with the assurance
-that they would need nothing more
-that night that he found speech in the curt
-monosyllable, "Well?"
-
-For answer Alec handed him a telegraph
-form conveying the message:
-
- "*To A. Forsyth, passenger by 8.45, St.
- Pancras terminus.*
-
- "*Come back at once, urgent. Am in great
- distress. Persons threatening Duke detained
- here. He will be quite safe if he goes on,
- though not if he returns with you—Sybil
- Hanbury, Beaumanoir House.*"
-
-The General glanced through it and
-gripped the position.
-
-"Beaumanoir was in the 8.45?" he snapped.
-"That telegram is a forgery, and you show it
-to me to explain your separation from him?"
-
-Forsyth bowed his head in grieved assent to
-both questions.
-
-"I am, of course, to blame for trusting that
-infernal thing," he said. "But I had better
-put you in possession of the facts at once, for
-until I reached Tarrant Road station and
-learned of Beaumanoir's non-arrival from the
-coachman I had hoped that he had come
-through all right. I ascertained at Harpenden,
-where I first heard of the smash, that no
-one had suffered serious injury."
-
-The facts as related by Forsyth were very
-simple in themselves, though greatly enhancing
-the perplexity of the Duke's disappearance.
-The two friends had left Beaumanoir
-House in a hansom, giving themselves, as had
-been arranged, barely time enough to catch
-the train at St. Pancras. They had already
-taken their seats in an empty compartment on
-which the guard had, at their request, placed
-an "engaged" label, when a telegraph-boy
-came along the line of carriages, inquiring for
-Forsyth by name. On reading the message he
-had acted on the impulse of the moment, and
-asking the Duke to excuse him on the score of
-urgent private business, had left the train and
-driven back to Beaumanoir House, to find the
-telegram repudiated by Sybil as not emanating
-from her and its contents quite unfounded.
-
-"I expect she let you have it," the General
-remarked grimly.
-
-"She was a little cross," admitted Forsyth,
-flushing at the reminiscence. "I do not see,
-though, that I could have ignored what purported
-to be an appeal for assistance from a
-woman in distress—leaving aside my personal
-relations with her."
-
-"Don't kick, laddie. I'm to blame for leaving
-our precious vanishing nobleman in the
-hands of a man in love. What next?"
-
-"I hurried back to St. Pancras, and, just
-missing the fast train which afterwards picked
-up the 8.45 passengers at the scene of the accident,
-had to kick my heels until the last train
-started. But it was no accident, Uncle Jem.
-A big baulk of timber had been placed across
-the rails, they told me at Harpenden."
-
-The General knitted his brows and pondered
-the problem, presently suggesting tentatively
-that there was no proof that the Duke
-had after all gone in the 8.45. He might, on
-finding himself suddenly deprived of his companion,
-have got out before it started. But
-this theory was at once knocked on the head
-by Forsyth's assertion that the train had begun
-to move before he left the platform, and that
-Beaumanoir, still seated in the "engaged"
-compartment, had waved him farewell. If
-the Duke had not got out at an intermediate
-station, he must have disappeared at the place
-of derailment, the latter contingency being the
-more probable. Also the most alarming, because
-the stranded passengers had had to wait
-for three-quarters of an hour at the side of the
-line in the dark, at a remote spot surrounded
-by woods.
-
-"Humph! It looks very much as if they'd
-got him this time," was the General's final
-comment. And he straightway walked over
-to the sideboard and poured himself out a glass
-of wine, motioning his nephew to join him.
-The action was significant of conclusiveness,
-and seemed to say that, doom having overtaken
-the Duke, there was nothing more to be
-done. The old gentleman drank his wine
-slowly, then turned to Forsyth with the fierce
-exclamation:
-
-"First time Jem Sadgrove was ever beaten
-by a woman. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, or
-whatever she may choose to call herself, has
-scored a record."
-
-"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton! What on earth
-has she got to do with it?" was Forsyth's astounded
-rejoinder.
-
-A good deal, it appeared, according to the
-view which the General had contrived to piece
-together, and which, leaning against the sideboard, he proceeded to propound in spasmodic
-jerks. Beginning with a description of how
-he had witnessed Beaumanoir's narrow escape
-of being run down by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's
-landau, he hinted at the dawn of suspicion
-in his own mind on finding her immediately
-afterwards calling at his house, yet
-strangely silent on having nearly killed a man
-in the streets. Then, when Forsyth had consulted
-him after the midnight episode at Beaumanoir
-House, and had told him of the Duke's
-visit on the day of his arrival from New York
-to someone occupying the next suite at the
-hotel to that of Mrs. Eglinton, he had been
-fairly certain of his clue. Having satisfied
-himself by personal observation that the ducal
-mansion in Piccadilly was closely watched, he
-had set himself the task of establishing a connection
-between the *soi-disant* widow and her
-neighbor at the hotel—a task which had been
-successful so far as convincing himself went.
-
-Forsyth recognized that, for all the mischance
-of the evening, his uncle had put in
-some good detective work, and said so. "You
-must have been quick, too," he added. "Is it
-permitted to ask how you managed it?"
-
-"It was very simple," the General replied,
-with a relish for the remembrance. "I carted
-all the women off to call on the lady, and while
-we were there Azimoolah, in the character of
-an Indian rajah, blundered into Mr. Clinton
-Ziegler's rooms, which I had in the meanwhile
-ascertained communicated with Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton's. When the prearranged hubbub
-commenced she gave herself away by an unconscious
-movement to the communicating
-door, showing that she was in the habit of using
-it, unknown to the hotel people, who believe
-that they have divided one big suite into two
-smaller ones let separately. She's clever, and
-pulled herself together at once, but I had got
-what I wanted—the fact that she was anxious
-about the rumpus my good old Khan, tricked
-out in a suit from Nathan's and a stage diamond,
-was raising next door."
-
-"That seems convincing, certainly," said
-Forsyth.
-
-"Azimoolah's experiences were even more
-so. Mr. Clinton Ziegler has some associates
-with a very pretty way with them when Asiatic
-princes stumble by chance into his rooms. Of
-course, it was Azimoolah's cue to be a bit boisterous
-and persistent, but they needn't have
-roused the tiger in him by giving him the congenial task of disarming them of two uncommonly
-murderous knives. Funny thing is,
-that when I went in as an interpreting peace-maker,
-I saw no sign of Ziegler, who, I gathered
-at the hotel bureau, is an invalid and
-never goes out. The two men in the room
-were able-bodied fellows, fashionably dressed,
-but with that in their faces which there is no
-mistaking. The 'crime-look' is an open sign
-to those who know."
-
-The General paused and looked at his
-nephew curiously. "Then I made a false
-move," he went on—"a false move which may
-have wiped the seventh Duke of Beaumanoir
-out of the peerage. I told Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton that the Duke was going down to
-Prior's Tarrant by the 8.45. Yes, you may
-well stare, but I had an object. I also told
-her that you were going down with him, believing
-that that would secure you both a
-peaceful journey; for, vulgarly speaking, the
-woman is glaringly sweet upon you, laddie.
-I ought to have given such a combination as
-she works with credit for the cunning which
-drew you from your post."
-
-Forsyth flushed with annoyance. It was not
-pleasant to hear that his friend's life might
-have been sacrificed through his uncle's perception
-of a feminine weakness which had
-irked him throughout the London season—in
-fact, ever since Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had
-made her mysterious appearance on the fringe
-of society. The card, however, on which the
-General had staked and apparently lost had
-been distinctly "the game" if he, Forsyth, had
-only played up to it himself by sticking like
-wax to poor hunted Beaumanoir.
-
-But *why* was Beaumanoir being hunted?
-That easy-mannered unfortunate, who had
-exchanged a life of reckless irresponsibility
-for sordid penury, and the latter for the headship
-of a historic house, had performed all
-these *demivoltes* without making a visible
-enemy save himself. Why should he have incurred
-a remorseless hatred which aimed at
-nothing less than his life?
-
-"The Star-spangled Banner looms largely
-on the horizon of all this," the young man
-mused aloud. "Can you explain that phase
-of the mystery, Uncle Jem?"
-
-"The hub of the wheel, I take it, is my old
-friend Leonidas Sherman, or, rather, the three
-millions sterling which he is on his way to this
-country with," said the General briskly. "Big
-American robbery, worked by a disciplined
-gang, and somehow your pal Beaumanoir is
-entangled. The day he was at our house he
-tried vaguely to warn Leonie. Hinted that
-Sherman should be warned to be careful."
-
-Forsyth heard the amazing theory with an
-inward qualm lest his shrewd old relative
-should have hit on the solution of the puzzle,
-and it filled him with greater apprehension
-than even the physical peril of the Duke had
-instilled. "Entanglement" in Beaumanoir's
-case could only mean complicity, for if his
-knowledge of the scheme was not a guilty
-knowledge, if he had become possessed of the
-secret accidentally, why did he not invoke the
-aid of the police and expose the conspirators?
-Forsyth saw that the General read what was
-passing in his mind, and he clutched at the
-only visible straw in defence of his friend.
-
-"If Beaumanoir was culpably implicated
-these scoundrels wouldn't want to kill him, any
-more than he would want to queer their game
-by having Senator Sherman warned," he said.
-
-"There you put your finger on the *crux*,"
-replied the General, who disliked the raising
-of questions which he could not answer.
-
-"And," proceeded Forsyth, pursuing his
-slight advantage, "you would never have got
-Beaumanoir to assent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-being asked here if he had known her to
-be a professional criminal. The 'honor of the
-house,' as he calls it, is undoubtedly the motive
-of his inexplicable silence. He would hardly
-compromise that august sentiment, for which
-he is apparently willing to die, by desecrating
-Prior's Tarrant with the presence of a woman
-likely to figure in the police-courts—a woman,
-too, who, if your theory is correct, has designs
-against the father of the girl for whom I veritably
-believe he has more than a passing
-regard."
-
-The General, secretly in danger of losing
-his temper—a thing he never really did—concealed
-his emotion by affecting to ruminate.
-The thought of his invitation to the dashing
-American, afterwards carelessly endorsed by
-the Duke, restored his equanimity.
-
-"That was a neat touch," he remarked meditatively
-as he selected a cigar from his case.
-"If his Grace is not cold meat, I'd give a good
-deal to be living under the same roof with him
-and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton for a few days,
-with the prospect of Senator Sherman's arrival
-at the end of them."
-
-He held the cigar he had chosen poised between
-finger and thumb, and suddenly gazed
-round with a comical expression at the rich
-appurtenances of the majestic dining-room.
-The maze of this latter-day pursuit had led
-him into unfamiliar paths. His ancient triumphs
-had been won under the free sky, where
-he could unravel a knotty point with the aid
-of tobacco at will; but now he wanted to
-smoke, and was confronted by sternly repressive
-ducal splendor.
-
-"Mustn't light up here, I suppose," he
-grunted. "Let's get into the open and have
-a whiff. Yes, I know it's two o'clock, but
-we can't go to bed."
-
-He moved to one of the French windows,
-and, parting the heavy curtains, unfastened the
-bolts and stepped out on to the terrace where
-he had spent the earlier hours of the evening.
-Instantly both he and Forsyth, who followed
-close behind, became conscious of the sound of
-heavy breathing. As the shaft of light shot
-from the opened window they saw that at the
-apex of the shaft, half way to the balustrade
-of the terrace, two men were locked together
-on the ground in a ferocious struggle, while
-twenty paces off, in the shadow of the gray
-pile, the dim shapes of two other men paused
-irresolute, as if their advance had been checked
-by the sudden opening of the window.
-
-For two seconds General Sadgrove's eyes
-blazed along the line of light; then with a
-spring that would have done credit to one of
-half his age, he hurled himself upon the combatants,
-and selecting the topmost for his onslaught,
-dragged him from the prone figure
-below.
-
-"Get back to the window! Watch those
-other fellows!" he called to his nephew, who
-was hurrying to his assistance. And Forsyth
-did as he was bid, though he had hardly run
-back and put himself on guard when the two
-distant prowlers vanished into the deeper
-shadows of the refectory wall.
-
-With no gentle hand the General hauled his
-struggling captive towards the window. Half
-Forsyth's attention was diverted to the other
-party to the fray, who was slowly rising from
-the ground, and the other half to the dark end
-of the terrace, where the remaining pair had
-disappeared; and it was therefore not until the
-General had arrived, hanging like a terrier to
-his prisoner, that the obedient sentinel had eyes
-for them. But at last he had to stand aside to
-allow the veteran firebrand to drag the fighting,
-kicking figure into the room, and then
-only did he notice details.
-
-"You've got the wrong one!" he exclaimed.
-"Don't you see—that's your own man, Azimoolah?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII—*The Man Under the Seat*
-======================================
-
-
-When the Duke of Beaumanoir found himself
-alone in the railway carriage after Alec
-Forsyth's departure he sank back in his corner
-with a certain sense of relief. The events of
-the last twenty-four hours had filled him with
-a very sincere regard for his cousin Sybil, and
-he had not much faith in the assurance given
-him by General Sadgrove that his journey
-down to Prior's Tarrant would be free from
-danger. His past experiences led him to expect
-that the terrible Ziegler and his myrmidons
-would be more than a match for the
-shrewd but somewhat out-of-date Indian
-officer, and if there was to be an "episode" on
-the railway he would be glad to think that it
-could not now plunge his plucky young cousin
-into mourning for her lover.
-
-"She is a girl in a thousand," he murmured,
-as he lit a cigarette; "I should never forgive
-myself if I were the means of making her a
-widow before she is a wife. If, as I half suspect, Alec's detachment was effected by a ruse
-on the part of the graybeard at the Cecil—well,
-I take off my hat to that gentleman for
-his consideration."
-
-As the train gathered speed, rushing
-through the twinkling suburban lights, the
-Duke put his feet on the opposite cushions
-and reviewed the situation—calmly, but
-always with but slender faith in being able "to
-worry through" with his life. That had really
-become quite a secondary object with him, so
-far as his personal safety was concerned; yet
-his present attitude was to escape the attentions
-of Ziegler long enough to convey a warning
-to Senator Sherman of the plot against
-him. Whether his nerves would be proof
-against the strain till the Senator's arrival at
-Liverpool was a phase of the case which he did
-not care to contemplate too closely.
-
-Ziegler, he felt sure, would have grasped
-the position to a nicety, and would use every
-device in his apparently limitless *repertoire* to
-give him his quietus before Leonie's father
-set foot on shore. It might well be that another
-attempt would be made on him before
-he reached the sheltering zone of Prior's Tarrant, wherein General Sadgrove had promised
-him safety.
-
-His reflections were cut short by the slowing
-down of the train for the stoppage at Kentish
-Town, and the Duke's sensations at that moment
-hardly presaged a comfortable journey
-for him, brief though it would be. The compartment
-was labeled "reserved," it was true,
-and the guard had been tipped to see that the
-legend was respected, but that stood for little
-when people of the Ziegler type were on the
-move, and he looked forward with dread to the
-future stoppages if his heart was to thump
-like this.
-
-Which is a study in the quality of *fear*, for
-Beaumanoir was of the kind that leads cavalry
-charges to visible and certain death with gay
-recklessness.
-
-The present trouble passed, however, for
-the guard hovered round the carriage and gave
-no chance to invaders, who in any case would
-have had some difficulty in effecting an entrance,
-as the door was locked. The train sped
-on again, out into the country now, through
-the balmy summer night, and Beaumanoir
-breathed more freely. One of the dreaded
-stoppages was notched off the list.
-
-So, too, were Hendon and Mill Hill safely
-negotiated, and Beaumanoir was able to contemplate
-the slackened speed for Elstree with
-greater equanimity. As before, the guard's
-portly form loomed large outside the compartment
-the moment the train stopped, and so
-doubtless would have remained had not a loud,
-imperious voice on the platform summoned
-him to a divided duty.
-
-"Here, guard! What are you about there?
-Hurry up now, and open this door!" came the
-choleric command.
-
-With a deprecatory glance at the Duke's
-carriage the guard perforce hurried off, and
-Beaumanoir peered out of the window after
-him. The official had gone to the assistance of
-a tall, well-groomed gentleman, who, with an
-air of irritable importance, was fumbling with
-the door-handle of a first-class compartment
-some way along the train. The traveler was
-of the type that secures the immediate respect
-of railway servants—dressed in brand new
-creaseless clothes, every immaculate pocket of
-which suggested the jingle of half-sovereigns.
-A man carrying a yellow hatbox and a rug
-lurked deferentially behind the magnate and
-cast reproachful glances at the guard, who was
-now thoroughly alive to his opportunities and
-opened the door with a flourish. The tall man,
-whom Beaumanoir took for a brother duke, or
-at least a director of the line, stepped with dignity
-into the compartment; the menial handed
-in the hatbox and rugs, and sought a second-class
-carriage; the guard waved his lamp, and
-the train moved on.
-
-Beaumanoir withdrew his head and sank
-back in his corner, catching just a glimpse of
-the guard preparing to spring into his van as
-it neared him. The station lights flashed past,
-and the long line of carriages swung into the
-outer darkness, the little diversion of the important
-passenger leaving Beaumanoir amused
-and comforted. To the man who had tramped
-his weary way along the Bowery to his five-dollar
-boarding-house within the month this
-exhibition of class privileges and distinctions
-was breezily refreshing, seeing that he was
-now in a position to claim them himself.
-
-Immunity from danger through four suburban
-stations had brought a delicious sense of
-calm, and as he leaned back he thought how
-nice it would be to live the life of an English
-nobleman, free from all sordid cares and humiliations.
-And if he could wake up at the
-end of a week and find that his entanglement
-was all a nightmare, or, at any rate, that Ziegler's
-bark was worse than his bite, and that
-Senator Sherman had safely deposited the
-bonds at the Bank—well, in that improved
-state of things what was to prevent his asking
-Leonie to share his new-found privileges?
-
-Then, suddenly, the icy finger touched his
-heart again. As the blue wreaths of cigarette
-smoke in which he had conjured up this alluring
-vision rolled away he became conscious
-that his gaze, hitherto absorbed and preoccupied
-with day-dreams, was in reality riveted on
-a material object under the opposite seat. A
-very material object indeed—no less than the
-heel of a man's boot.
-
-At sight of this disturbing element Beaumanoir's
-sensations were of a mixed order.
-First of all, he could see so little of the boot
-that he could not be sure that there was a man
-attached to it, though the presumption was in
-favor of that supposition, for he was quite certain
-that it had not been there long, or he
-would have noticed it before. He guessed, so
-alert had his mind become under stress of
-emergencies, that the wearer of the boot had
-got into the compartment on the off side while
-he himself had been looking out of the window
-in Elstree station.
-
-But if so, and the man had invaded his privacy
-with sinister design, why should he have
-plunged at once into a position of utter impotence?
-No one flattened out under the low
-seat of a first-class railway carriage is capable
-of active violence without a preliminary struggle
-to free himself, during which he would be
-at the mercy of his intended victim. The only
-design that Beaumanoir could attribute to him
-was that he would presently wriggle to the
-front and use a pistol.
-
-He sat and eyed the motionless boot, and
-then an impulse, swift and irresistible, seized
-him.
-
-"Come out of that, you beggar!" he cried;
-and, stooping down, he gripped the boot, wondering
-whether he was to be rewarded with a
-haul or whether he would have to laugh at
-himself for grabbing someone's discarded
-footgear. But the first touch told him that
-here was no empty boot, and, his fingers closing
-on it like a vise, he put forth all his
-strength and dragged its wearer, snarling and
-spluttering, out on to the open floor. There
-was no sign of a pistol, but as a measure of
-precaution Beaumanoir pulled out his own
-Smith and Wesson.
-
-"Get up and sit in that corner," he said
-sternly, eyeing the puny form of the invader
-with curiosity. Open violence at any rate was
-not to be apprehended from the stunted little
-figure of a man who coweringly obeyed his
-order.
-
-But as his captive turned round and showed
-his sullen face the Duke knew that this was no
-mere impecunious vagabond, sneaking a cheap
-railway journey. His fellow passenger was
-part and parcel of the peril that menaced him—had,
-in fact, been a fellow-passenger of his
-before. For the wizened, mean-looking face
-was the face of the spy Marker, who had been
-pointed out to him by Leonie on board the *St.
-Paul*, and who had afterwards shadowed him
-to the Hotel Cecil on landing.
-
-"So we meet again, Mr. Marker," said the
-Duke with pleasant irony. "I should have
-thought that your friend Mr. Ziegler could
-have provided you with a railway fare rather
-than let you travel like a broken racing sharp—under
-the seat."
-
-The fellow blinked his ferret eyes viciously,
-but began a futile attempt at prevarication.
-"My name, I guess, ain't Marker, and I never
-heard of anyone called Ziegler," he whined.
-
-"Very possibly your name may not be
-Marker, though you booked under it on the
-*St. Paul*; but you are undoubtedly acquainted
-with the old rascal at the Cecil who calls himself
-Ziegler," Beaumanoir retorted.
-
-"You seem to know a powerful sight more
-about me than I know myself," was the sullen
-reply.
-
-Beaumanoir made a long scrutiny of the
-weak but cunning countenance of the spy, and
-he came to the conclusion that this was one of
-the underlings of the combination, to be
-trusted only with minor tasks in the great
-game. His presence there under the seat of
-the compartment was the more unaccountable,
-since he was not the sort of creature with either
-nerve or physique to murder anything stronger
-than a fly.
-
-"Look here, my good chap," said Beaumanoir
-with tolerant contempt, after, as he
-thought, gauging Mr. Marker's caliber.
-"You've got a bit out of your depth with the
-people you're trying to swim with. Why not
-chuck Ziegler and Co. and come over to me?
-I'll make it worth your while."
-
-But the only response was a dull shake of
-the insignificant head and the sulky rejoinder:
-"I don't know what you're getting at, Mister.
-I'll chuck anybody you like and come over
-to you with pleasure if you will stand the price
-of a ticket to St. Albans."
-
-The persistent denial was as absurd as the
-suggested reason for his presence under the
-seat, and Beaumanoir began to lose patience.
-"I suppose," he said, "that you will maintain
-that you did not go to Mr. Forsyth's chambers
-in John Street last night under the pretence of
-being a chemist's messenger?"
-
-"Never been in John Street in my life,"
-came back the pat and obvious lie.
-
-It seemed useless to argue further, and
-Beaumanoir preserved silence till the train ran
-into Radlett Station, when he put into practice
-the course he had decided upon. At least he
-would force the creature to disclosure and put
-him to some inconvenience, as it was possible
-that thereby he might disconcert his plans,
-whatever they might be. Lowering the window,
-he called to the guard, and informed the
-astonished official that he had found a man
-traveling under the seat without a ticket.
-
-Then uprose the righteous wrath of the
-guard, who had Mr. Marker by the collar in a
-trice and twisted him out on to the platform
-with the sharp demand:
-
-"Now, young man, your name and address,
-and quick about it."
-
-"What for?" inquired Marker, openly insolent.
-
-"Defrauding the Company by traveling
-without previously paying the fare, contrary
-to By-law 18."
-
-The spy broke into a jeering cackle.
-"You've only got *his* word for it that I haven't
-got a ticket," he replied. "I nipped under the
-seat because I thought he was a lunatic, and
-a gent can travel that way, I reckon, if he's
-paid his shot. Here's the ticket, Mister. I'll
-make tracks to another carriage."
-
-With which he produced a first-class ticket
-all in order and walked off along the platform,
-leaving the Duke and the guard looking
-after him, the former with a curious smile, the
-latter with dismayed perplexity.
-
-"Well, of all the funny games!" exclaimed
-the official. "He must have got in at Elstree
-while I was attending to that there toff, and
-blessed if he ain't scooting into the same compartment
-with him now. Your Grace will
-understand that I couldn't interfere with him,
-seeing that he had a ticket and you didn't
-prefer no charge?"
-
-"All right, guard," replied Beaumanoir,
-with his weary smile. "It really doesn't matter.
-He seems to have taken me for a madman,
-while I took him for a dead-head, that's
-all. These little misunderstandings will arise,
-you know. We're behind time, eh?"
-
-Taking the hint, the guard retired and
-started the train, Beaumanoir resuming his
-seat in a frame of mind only to be described
-as mixed. He stared out into the gloom of
-night, wondering what was to come next. His
-little stratagem had succeeded, in so far as it
-had revealed Marker as the possessor of a
-ticket, and therefore as presumably charged
-with some design against himself, though it
-had shed no light on the nature of that design.
-But the adroitness with which the wretched
-spy had extricated himself made him gnash his
-teeth because of the impudent reliance on his
-inability to assign a reason to the guard for
-fearing an intruder. That in itself was clear
-evidence that Mr. Marker was under the seat
-with a very real purpose.
-
-Had that purpose been entirely thwarted by
-his discovery? was the question which buzzed
-through the Duke's brain to the tune of the
-rolling wheels. There had been an air of insolent
-confidence in the fellow as he showed his
-ticket and walked away which hardly tallied
-with total discomfiture. And then, mused
-Beaumanoir, was there not ground for further
-apprehension in his selection of a fresh compartment
-and a fresh traveling companion?
-Could it be that "the toff" who had entered
-the train at Elstree was an accomplice, and
-that Mr. Marker had gone to report to him
-and concert new measures? It might well be
-so, for, whether wittingly or no, the swaggering
-passenger had certainly caused the diversion
-which had enabled Marker to open the
-door on the off side and creep under the seat.
-
-The reflection that the spy might have confederates
-on the train did not add to Beaumanoir's
-equanimity, and at the next stop he let
-down the window again and peered along the
-line of carriages. Sure enough, he caught a
-glimpse of a head protruding from the compartment
-into which Marker had disappeared—not
-the head of Marker himself, but of the
-imperious person who had played the magnate
-and distracted the guard. The head was instantly withdrawn, but it had done a useful
-work in convincing Beaumanoir that he was
-really an object of interest in that quarter, and
-not to Marker alone.
-
-"I wish they would *do* something and end
-this beastly suspense," the hunted man muttered
-to himself as the train moved on once
-more; "though, for the matter of that, they
-can't do anything till I get out at Tarrant
-Road—unless they openly come to the door
-and shoot me at one of the few remaining stoppages."
-
-But he was soon to learn that stations were
-not to be the only stopping-places for the 8.45
-that night. It had come to a steep gradient,
-up which it was plodding laboriously, when
-suddenly there was a bumping thud that
-hurled Beaumanoir on to the opposite seat; the
-wheels screeched on the metals as if in agony;
-a tremor as of impending dissolution quivered
-through the framework of the carriage, and
-the train jerked to a standstill.
-
-Beaumanoir had the door open instantly
-with his own private key, and clambering down
-on to the side of the line nearly fell into the
-arms of the guard, hurrying from the rear van
-towards the engine.
-
-"Run into an obstruction, I expect, your
-Grace—nothing very serious, I hope," panted
-the guard as he went scrunching over the ballast
-to the center of disaster.
-
-People were swarming out of the carriages,
-all of them evidently more frightened than
-hurt, and Beaumanoir strained his eyes
-through the leaping, scuffling figures to the
-compartment occupied by his enemies. Yes,
-there they were, and apparently the thing was
-to be done in character to the last. The tall,
-well-dressed man opened the door, called
-"Guard!" in the same old tone of importance,
-and, getting no response, began to leisurely
-descend on to the permanent way, followed by
-Marker, who feigned to hold no converse with
-him. At the same time there hastened up the
-man who had handed in the hatbox and rug,
-and then the three were swallowed up in the
-shadows beyond the radius of light from the
-carriage windows.
-
-For the night had fallen inky dark, and outside
-that narrow band of artificial light all was
-as black as the nether pit. Shrieking women
-and agitated men appeared for a moment on
-the footboards and disappeared, directly they
-had traversed the short zone of light, into the
-outer gloom of the waste ground at the side of
-the railway.
-
-Casting a comprehensive glance at his surroundings,
-the Duke saw that the accident had
-occurred at a lonely spot where the line was
-hemmed in on either hand by dense woods running
-right up to the rail-fence that bounded
-the track. Instinct prompted him to quit the
-dangerous proximity of his own compartment,
-and at the same time he desired to ascertain
-how long the delay was likely to last. This
-he could only do by proceeding to the front of
-the train, but to reach the engine would entail
-passing the place where the mysterious three
-lurked in the shadows. In order to avoid
-them, therefore, he darted across the zone
-of light, hoping to escape observation, dived
-under the train, and made his way forward on
-the other side of the line, shielded from his
-foes by the carriages.
-
-One glance at the derailed engine sufficed
-to show him the nature of the accident, and to
-inform him of the reason for it. A barrier
-composed of baulks of timber, supplemented
-by heaped-up ballast, had been built across the
-six-foot way, and from the excited remarks
-of driver, stoker, and guard Beaumanoir
-gathered that the locomotive was so damaged
-that even when the obstruction was removed
-it would be unable to proceed under its own
-steam. The passengers would have to wait
-till a relief train came along, unless they
-elected to trudge three miles to the next or the
-last station.
-
-It was all too plain to Beaumanoir that here
-was no accident at all, but an outrage designed
-to strand him in that lonely place, where amid
-the darkness and the confusion murder would
-come easy. The choice of the locality, half-way
-up a steep gradient where the speed
-would be reduced to a minimum, pointed to no
-desire to injure the passengers generally; indeed,
-there would have been an obvious intention
-to avoid a really perilous collision, seeing
-that some of the conspirators were on board.
-He could pretty accurately gauge Marker's
-functions now. The spy was to have kept
-close to him after the "accident," so as to signal
-his whereabouts in the darkness to the more
-active members of the gang.
-
-The emissaries of Ziegler would have to dispense
-with that aid now, but still Beaumanoir
-could not shut his eyes to his imminent peril.
-The three who had traveled in the train were
-on the other side of the line, but the contingent—there
-would be at least two of them—who
-had wrecked the engine were probably
-lurking somewhere near. He could have no
-assurance that they were not at his very elbow,
-stealing on him through the dense undergrowth
-that fringed the fence.
-
-A shout from the guard to the passengers
-congregated behind the train told him that at
-least half an hour must elapse before they
-could be picked up and carried on, and he at
-once decided that to stay at the spot would be
-intolerable. He should go mad if he remained
-at the mercy of invisible adversaries
-whom he could not *hit back*. If they would
-only come out into the open, in a body if they
-liked, so that he could empty the six chambers
-of his revolver into them before he went down,
-he would take his risks gladly; but to stand
-still in the dark, not knowing how soon a stab
-in the back would be his fate, was the thing too
-much. There and then he ended the situation
-by climbing the fence and plunging into the
-wood.
-
-He had not taken six steps through the
-brambles when from the pitch darkness ahead
-a low, flute-like whistle sounded, to be instantly answered by the cracking of a twig a
-little to the right of him. His present intention
-to quit the scene and make his way to
-Prior's Tarrant on foot across country had
-evidently been foreseen and provided for.
-Those bushes were *occupied*, and his retreat at
-that point was cut off. He clambered back
-on to the railway, and, running as hard as his
-lameness would allow, close to the fence, he
-again essayed the wood two hundred yards
-ahead of the engine. This time he won free
-into the tangle of the copse without any sign
-of pursuit, and presently came to an open
-"ride" where progress was easier.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII—*At the Keeper's Cottage*
-========================================
-
-
-The Duke followed the ride for some distance,
-the clamor of voices around the wrecked
-train growing every moment less distinct till
-they died away altogether, and he guessed that
-he was in the heart of the wood, half a mile
-from the scene of the disaster. Whether or
-no he was pursued he had no means of knowing,
-with such diabolical cunning pitted
-against him; but, at any rate, no sound of
-pursuit reached his straining ears, and he began
-to hope that his break-away had been undetected.
-
-Suddenly the ride turned abruptly to the
-right, and at the end of a glade, some hundred
-yards further on, he saw the lights of a dwelling.
-Across the intervening years came a
-flash of remembrance. These must be the
-celebrated coverts of his neighbor, Sir Claude
-Asprey, and the house ahead must be the
-keeper's cottage where, when an Eton boy
-spending the holidays with his uncle at Prior's
-Tarrant, he had lunched as a member of Sir
-Claude's shooting-party ten years ago. The
-place was graven on his memory, because the
-day was a red-letter one by reason of his having
-shot his first pheasant thereon.
-
-Without any definite plan in his head, but
-actuated by a longing for human companionship,
-however brief, he went up to the door of
-the cottage and knocked, his arrival being also
-heralded by the barking of dogs at the side of
-the house. The door was almost immediately
-thrown open by a stalwart, ruddy-faced man
-of sixty, who carried a candle and stared in
-open-mouthed wonder at a well-dressed visitor
-at such an hour and place. Beaumanoir
-looked at him closely, and smiled his first smile
-of pleasure since Forsyth's hand had gripped
-his on the day he landed.
-
-"I can see you've forgotten me, Mayne,"
-he said, "though I should have known you
-anywhere—time has touched you so slightly.
-Don't you recollect young Charley Hanbury,
-who came over with the Duke of Beaumanoir
-to a big shoot with Sir Claude in '91?"
-
-A gleam shone in the honest keeper's keen
-eyes. "Of course I remember, sir," he replied,
-adding quickly: "Begging your Grace's
-pardon, for you'll be the Duke yourself now?'
-
-"Yes, I am the Duke, Mayne, and a
-very unfortunate one," Beaumanoir laughed.
-"There has been a mild sort of smash-up on
-the railway yonder, and I started to walk to
-Prior's Tarrant rather than hang about for a
-relief train. I was a bit hazy about my direction,
-so I thought I'd inquire, and at the same
-time reassure you that it wasn't a poacher who
-was abroad in the woods. May I come in
-while you give me my bearings?"
-
-"Come in, your Grace, and welcome; but it
-isn't in my house that I shall direct you. It's
-not likely that I'm going to let you wander
-about my woods on a dark night when I can
-guide you out of them myself and think it an
-honor," was the keeper's cordially respectful
-reply.
-
-Beaumanoir was conscious that standing in
-a lighted doorway was hardly the place for
-him just then, and he followed into a roomy
-kitchen, professionally eloquent with its array
-of guns and sporting prints. Mayne explained
-that his wife had just gone up to bed,
-and that all the youngsters, whom perhaps it
-might please his Grace to remember, were out
-in the world.
-
-Beaumanoir dropped into a chair, and to
-gratify his kindly host accepted a horn tankard
-of home-brewed ale, which he sipped
-while he satisfied Mayne's curiosity about the
-"accident." He would have given much to
-take the keeper into his confidence about the
-personal element in the outrage, but that luxury
-could not be indulged in without impossible
-disclosures. Considering that he had
-eliminated the most pertinent part of his narrative,
-he was unable to account for the growing
-gravity with which it was received till
-Mayne disburdened himself.
-
-"I wonder your Grace can take your narrow
-escape so lightly," said the keeper.
-"Providence must have been in two minds
-about you to-night."
-
-"How so?" asked the Duke, starting.
-Surely General Sadgrove had not been
-spreading indiscreet reports in the county already.
-There had not been time.
-
-"It isn't a fortnight since his Grace your
-uncle and your cousin were killed on the railway,"
-replied the keeper.
-
-The coincidence had not occurred to Beaumanoir,
-nor if it had would it have troubled
-him; but he was relieved to find that Mayne's
-solemnity was due to the traditional superstition
-of a gamekeeper. To have his terrible
-secret, or so much as a hint of it, suspected by
-this cheery old associate of the happiest day
-of his boyhood would have been a blow indeed.
-
-"Yes," he admitted, though in a different
-sense; "I have certainly had a narrow escape,
-and it has shaken me a little, Mayne. On
-second thoughts, if you would let me lie down
-for a few hours on that very comfortable settle,
-I would defer my departure for Prior's
-Tarrant till the morning. I really don't feel
-quite equal to trudging so far to-night."
-
-This was true enough, for though he
-was physically fit he dreaded leaving this
-haven of rest and apparent security for the
-darkling wood, in which his remorseless foes
-were probably searching for him. The promised
-escort of the unsuspecting keeper would
-be of little value, for, unwarned of any peril,
-the man would be simply an encumbrance,
-equally liable with himself to swift death at
-any moment at the hands of the enormous odds
-against them. Apart from other considerations,
-he could not subject the good fellow to
-such a risk, though he would have preferred,
-had it been possible to proceed alone, to have
-got to Prior's Tarrant that night and so have
-ended the suspense under which Forsyth and
-the General must be laboring.
-
-Of course the proposal was hailed with delight,
-Mayne only insisting that he should
-wake his wife and get her to prepare the spare
-bedroom. Of this, however, Beaumanoir
-would not hear, and he was trying to persuade
-his host to retire for the night when a dog
-barked furiously at the back of the house.
-
-"That's old Tear'em; there'll be someone
-moving," said Mayne, going out into the passage
-and listening intently.
-
-Beaumanoir remained in the kitchen, but
-for all that it was he, with his highly strung
-nerves, who was the first to catch the sound of
-a footstep without—a stealthy footstep, not
-approaching the cottage door boldly, but
-creeping close to the window. The next instant,
-however, before he could communicate
-with Mayne, another and a brisker step, without
-any attempt at secrecy, crunched on the
-pebble path, and there came a tap at the cottage
-door. Mayne immediately opened it.
-
-"Sorry to disturb you, but there has been a
-railway accident," a man said in tones that
-struck Beaumanoir as vaguely familiar. "I'm
-tired of waiting about at the side of the line.
-Can you give me shelter for the night?"
-
-"If you'll please to walk in, sir, I'll see what
-can be done," came the reply of the hospitable
-keeper. "I've got one of the passengers in
-here already."
-
-The next moment there appeared in the
-doorway of the kitchen the tall man who had
-hectored the guard at Elstree station and who
-had afterwards been joined by the spy,
-Marker, at Radlett. Whatever his purpose,
-he was plainly not disposed to lay aside his air
-of self-importance as yet. He glanced superciliously
-at Beaumanoir, and promptly appropriated
-the chair which the latter had risen
-from at the first alarm. Loyal to his own
-county, this was more than Mayne could
-stand; he hastened to effect a one-sided introduction.
-
-"Beg pardon, sir, but you've taken the
-Duke's chair," he said. "This gentleman is
-his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir."
-
-The newcomer rose with alacrity. "Sorry,
-I'm sure," he said, taking another seat. "We
-are companions in misfortune, Duke, if, as
-I understand, you were traveling in that
-wretched 8.45 from St. Pancras."
-
-Beaumanoir's sense of humor, ever present,
-but of late repressed by stress of circumstances,
-broke out at the efforts of this man,
-who spoke with a pronounced American accent,
-and who, he was persuaded, was there
-with murderous intent, to sustain the *rôle* of
-an English gentleman. He had not forgotten
-that other and more furtive footstep under
-the window, but he could not resist the sport
-of leading this rascal on. The mood had seized
-him to avoid being killed if he could; but, if
-that were not possible, to extract all available
-fun out of the process. And it might serve
-either of these contingencies to lead his adversary
-into the belief that he was not being imposed
-on by all this specious posing.
-
-"Yes, I was in the 8.45," he replied, looking
-the other squarely in the face. "You joined
-it at Elstree, I think. I noticed you because a
-man who was found under the seat of my compartment
-got into yours at Radlett, and I saw
-you leaving the train with him after the accident."
-
-For the fraction of a second the man failed
-to control the answering defiance of his eyes,
-but he got a grip of himself soon enough to
-prevent a premature explosion. "Really?" he
-said, with affected carelessness. "He was under
-the seat, eh? Funny sort of person to be
-traveling first-class; but, of course, you will
-understand that I am not acquainted with
-him."
-
-Beaumanoir made no comment. He had
-got what he wanted. That sudden tell-tale
-gleam of menace had discounted the subsequent
-disclaimer, and he knew that this man
-had been no chance fellow-passenger with
-Marker, the spy. What was more, the man
-knew that he knew it, and Beaumanoir
-shrewdly guessed that the effort of control
-was intended to deceive not him but the keeper.
-The rascal was biding his time till he had
-learned what dispositions were to be made for
-the night, when doubtless he would shape his
-actions accordingly; and, in the meanwhile, it
-was necessary to his purpose that Sir Claude
-Asprey's honest old retainer should regard
-him as an innocent guest.
-
-Again that persistent reliance on the Duke's
-impotence to speak up and boldly claim protection.
-All through the hot pursuit that
-leaguered him so closely this was the bitterest
-drop in Beaumanoir's cup, for it was he himself
-who had placed the gag in his own mouth, he
-himself who had forged the fetters that kept
-him from running to Scotland Yard with an
-exposure of the whole conspiracy. And it is
-galling to be hampered by a past lapse from
-virtue when you have abandoned evil courses
-and are like to lose your life for doing so.
-
-"Now that this gentleman has come in your
-Grace will *have* to have the spare bedroom,"
-said Mayne triumphantly, moving towards the
-door. "The wife will have it ready for you in
-a brace of shakes."
-
-Beaumanoir detained him with a hasty gesture.
-"One minute," he said, "I'm not at all
-sure that I care about having the bedroom. I
-had arranged to sleep downstairs on the settle,
-you know. Why shouldn't we adhere to
-that plan, and let this gentleman have the
-room?"
-
-He was moved to discover which of the two
-sleeping-places his enemies would prefer him
-to occupy, and also by the imperative need of
-gaining time to gauge the altered circumstances.
-Moreover, if Mayne went upstairs
-to consult his wife he would be left alone with
-this great strapping potential assassin, who as
-like as not would promptly admit half a dozen
-other assassins from outside. Strangely
-enough, it was the potential assassin himself
-who solved his dilemma—by tossing a visiting-card
-on to the table.
-
-"I shouldn't dream of sleeping in the bedroom
-while you are roughing it down here,
-your Grace," he said. "I shall certainly insist
-on occupying the settle."
-
-Beaumanoir picked up the card and read:
-
-::
-
- Colonel Anstruther Walcot,
- 14th Dragoon Guards.
-
-The sight of that card, for all his imminent
-danger, cheered him, as showing that his opponents
-were not infallible. Not only had
-they made the initial blunder of furnishing
-this obvious Yankee with the outward semblance
-and name of an English officer commanding
-a distinguished regiment, relying on
-the fact that the real owner of the name was
-in India, but they had chanced to select the
-name of the colonel of Beaumanoir's old regiment.
-
-The impostor's card inspired him with an
-idea. He would accept him at his own valuation.
-
-"Very well," he said, rising from his chair.
-"As I am the first comer, perhaps it is right
-that I should be first served. I'll take the bedroom, Mayne; but there's no need to disturb
-your wife. If you'll show me up we'll soon
-put the room to rights. Good-night, sir, and
-thank you for your courtesy."
-
-With which he signed to the keeper to lead
-the way and followed him out, casting a glance
-at the American to see how he took the arrangement.
-Diagnosis of the man's face was,
-however, impossible, for he had already turned
-to the window and was drawing aside the curtain—to
-signal to his fellows, Beaumanoir had
-no doubt.
-
-Mayne mounted the steep cottage staircase,
-Beaumanoir limping awkwardly in his wake
-into one of two rooms on the tiny landing.
-The moment they had crossed the threshold he
-perceived that the chamber was little better
-than a trap. The man downstairs would simply
-have him at his mercy, after admitting his
-companions and probably screwing up the
-door of the keeper's sleeping apartment.
-Locks and bolts to the primitive doors there
-were none. He recognized all too late that it
-would have been better to have insisted on the
-Yankee occupying this room and on remaining
-downstairs himself, when he would at least
-have formed a wedge between the traitor in
-the camp and his colleagues outside.
-
-To stay the night in the room was out of the
-question, and he determined to put in practice
-the inspiration derived from "Colonel Walcot's"
-card.
-
-"Mayne," he said, laying his hand on the
-astonished keeper's shoulder, "I must get out
-of this at once, without the gentleman below
-being aware of it, and you must help me."
-
-"But, your Grace——" began Mayne.
-
-"Don't withstand me," Beaumanoir cut
-short the protest. "I cannot go into a long
-explanation, but it's like this. That man is
-the colonel of my former regiment—an old
-brother officer, you understand. My name was
-Hanbury then, and he either does not, or pretends
-not to, recognize me. It is not a nice
-thing to have to confess, but I borrowed money
-in those days from Colonel Walcot, which
-never till now have I had it in my power to
-repay. It would distress me greatly to have
-that money mentioned before I have repaid it,
-as I shall do to-morrow, so if you can contrive
-to let me out without his knowledge I'll make
-for Prior's Tarrant and never forget your
-assistance."
-
-Mayne scratched his grizzled head in pained
-perplexity. To his slow brain the incident of
-a wealthy nobleman fleeing in the dead of
-night from a creditor presented a startling incongruity,
-but gradually it recurred to him
-that he had heard that the new Duke had been
-"a bit wild" when in the army; and, after all,
-his reluctance to be recognized by the Colonel
-till he had had time to liquidate the debt
-seemed but natural.
-
-"Yes, it can be done, your Grace," replied
-the keeper, softly opening the lattice casement.
-"The lean-to roof of the woodshed reaches
-right up here, and there's a pile of faggots
-against the shed. You can get down easy
-enough, and as it's the back of the house, if
-you are careful, he won't know anything about
-it. But I'll come, too, and show your Grace
-the way out of the wood."
-
-"On no account, Mayne," said Beaumanoir
-quickly. "You'll be much more useful here.
-I'll find my way out of the wood all right, but
-you must go back to the kitchen and tell
-Colonel Walcot that I am going to bed. It's
-only a white lie, and here's a five-pound note
-on account of it. Stay with him as long as you
-can—half an hour at least—and then go to
-bed yourself."
-
-"Very well, your Grace; I don't like it, but
-I'll do it."
-
-"And see here, Mayne: there's one thing
-more. In the morning, or whenever Colonel
-Walcot discovers that I have gone away, tell
-him from me why I went, and that I intend
-to repay him all I owe him. *All I owe him*,
-don't forget that."
-
-Directly he was alone Beaumanoir left himself
-no time for weighing the chances, but took
-the risk. Squeezing through the window, he
-climbed down the sloping roof of the woodshed
-and thence by way of the faggot-pile to
-the ground. He was well aware that every
-step, as he groped his way across the clearing
-into the thicket, might be his last, for doubtless
-he had been traced to the cottage and the
-whole pack were somewhere about. His only
-hope lay in the probability that they were in
-front of the house, where they could hold themselves
-ready to obey signals from the kitchen
-window or a summons from the door.
-
-It might have been that this was the case,
-for Beaumanoir reached the trees without interference,
-and at once shaped a course for the
-edge of the wood. His progress was difficult
-by reason of the darkness and the density of
-the undergrowth, but fortune favored him in
-so far that he presently hit upon a public foot-path,
-and so came eventually to a stile giving
-on a high road. At the next cross-ways was
-a sign-post, which he read by the light of a
-wax match, and thence onward limped steadily
-forward for Prior's Tarrant, with growing
-confidence that he had eluded pursuit.
-
-Great, then, was his dismay when, on turning
-into his own park, he became conscious
-that he was being shadowed by someone whose
-stealthy pid-pad sounded resolutely behind
-him. As he mounted the terrace steps it grew
-louder; the man who was following him was
-close behind and gaining quickly. Something
-in the Duke's tired brain seemed to snap, and
-with just a glance at the lighted window of
-the dining-room where General Sadgrove was
-in the act of drawing up the blind, he turned
-at the top of the steps and flung himself, half
-mad with rage and terror, on the faithful Azimoolah,
-who had picked him up near the sign-post
-and shepherded him safely for the rest of
-the journey.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV—*Too Many Women*
-==============================
-
-
-General Sadgrove relaxed his grip on
-Azimoolah's lean neck, not as a consequence
-of Alec Forsyth's exclamation, but because he
-and his captive had crossed the threshold of
-the French window—gone "off," in fact, from
-the stage on which he had been playing a little
-comedy for the benefit of an invisible audience.
-Forsyth guessed at once that the pulley-hauley
-business on the terrace had only been a sham,
-from the half-playful push with which his
-uncle released the now passive Indian, and
-also from the more than half-contemptuous
-glance flung at himself.
-
-The next moment the other party to the
-tussle on the terrace elucidated the matter by
-walking up to the window instead of running
-away. It was the Duke himself, outwardly
-calm, but somewhat disheveled by the fray,
-and looking very sleepy. Entering the room
-he gave Forsyth's hand an affectionate
-squeeze, and turned to secure the window.
-
-"It's all right," he said, in the listless tone
-that he always used nowadays. "When the
-train got stuck up I smelt rats, and cleared out
-from the locality—thought it better to cut
-across country on foot than to stay about a
-spot where I was probably being looked for.
-But this beggar," pointing to Azimoolah,
-standing at "attention," proudly erect, "must
-have shadowed me, and caught me up just as
-I was coming to tap at the window. You will
-confer a great favor on me by letting him go."
-
-This dogged determination to take no prisoners
-strengthened the General's suspicions of
-his host, and there was a harsh ring in the
-laugh with which he explained that Azimoolah
-was his own emissary, who, on returning from
-the scene of the accident, had mistaken the
-Duke for one of their unknown adversaries.
-He did not mention that there were two genuine
-prowlers outside who, but for Azimoolah's
-intervention, would have fallen on their prey,
-and who were probably intensely puzzled by
-finding someone else playing the same game
-as themselves.
-
-"And now, if your Grace will go to bed, I
-will guarantee you a good night's rest," added
-the General. "You must not forget that you
-will have ladies to entertain to-morrow."
-
-Beaumanoir gave a tired shrug.
-
-"Even without that inducement I'd take
-your prescription, General," he replied. "This
-hide-and-seek is rather wearing; but if you two
-good fellows can keep me in the land of the
-living for the next few days, I shan't worry
-you further."
-
-He left the room, dragging his lame foot
-painfully, and the General, stricken with a
-sudden sympathy, whispered Forsyth to accompany
-him.
-
-"The poor beggar is troubled," he said.
-"Sleep on the sofa in his room, and don't be
-afraid to close your eyes—as soon as *he* is
-asleep. Azimoolah and I will see there's no
-bother. But your friend mustn't be left alone.
-Danger from his own pistol—see?"
-
-Forsyth nodded with grieved comprehension,
-and followed the Duke. On his departure
-the General turned to Azimoolah, who had
-stood like a statue since his release, and the
-twain exchanged a twinkle of mutual congratulation.
-
-"We managed that quite in the old style, O
-taker of many thieves," said the General in
-Hindustani. "'Twas well that you heard and
-quickly obeyed my whisper to offer resistance,
-for so we have deceived the malefactors who
-beheld us into the belief that you also are an
-enemy of the house."
-
-"The sahib's praise is sweet as the honey of
-Kashmir," responded Azimoolah, gravely.
-"Is it the Heaven-born's will that I should go
-out and slay these dealers in iniquity?"
-
-The commission entrusted to him, however,
-held promise of no such luxury. On the contrary,
-Azimoolah received strict injunction to
-avoid violence except in the last extremity—in
-self-defence or to prevent entry into the
-house. The duty laid down for him was to
-patrol the grounds, and instantly apprise the
-General of any action on the part of the two
-trespassers that pointed to a renewal of aggressiveness
-that night.
-
-"I shall remain in this room till daybreak;
-if anything occurs, make the signal outside,"
-were the General's final instructions as he
-loosed his human watch-dog on to the terrace,
-after putting out the lights to conceal the
-opening of the window. Then, having carefully
-closed it, he sat himself down in the dark,
-and presently slumbered, secure in the knowledge that none could approach the mansion
-while Azimoolah was on guard. Also, he was
-pretty sure that the siege would not be raised
-till the two prowlers should have reported to
-their superiors the doings and, as they would
-believe, the capture of the strange rival who
-had forestalled them.
-
-The General's confidence was justified, for
-the night passed without further alarms, and
-the three gentlemen met at the breakfast-table
-under ordinary country-house conditions. The
-servants being in the room, no reference was
-made to the abnormal circumstances that had
-brought them together, though Beaumanoir,
-in the course of reading letters that had come
-by post, held up a gorgeously monogrammed
-note, and remarked that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-had accepted his invitation and would be
-with them on the morrow.
-
-"She writes rather flippantly for a stranger,"
-he added, eyeing the scented missive
-doubtfully, but not offering to show it. "I
-hope it's all right for her to meet my cousin
-Sybil, and—er—the other ladies. She's coming
-on your recommendation, you know, General,
-so you must vouch for her good behavior."
-
-Sadgrove growled unintelligibly, and was
-at pains to conceal a sudden upheaval of his
-facial muscles. For the Duke's reference to
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton in her relations to the
-other guests had all at once opened up to his
-mind a contingency which he had overlooked—a
-terrible contingency, which demanded instant
-consideration before the American
-widow was admitted to the house. He made
-an early excuse for quitting the table, and,
-exacting a promise that Beaumanoir and Forsyth
-would for the present remain indoors, he
-went out into the park to face the position
-alone, and thresh it out to a conclusion.
-
-Walking under the trees in the historic elm
-avenue, it was not till he had smoked a whole
-cigar and lit another that he was able to
-approach the problem with anything like
-calmness. For he was suffering from the
-humiliation of having to admit that he had
-committed the grievous error of imperiling
-the life of a woman—one, too, whom he held
-in affectionate regard only second to his wife.
-If his suspicion of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-was as well founded as instinct told him, she
-ought never to have been asked to stay under
-the same roof as Sybil Hanbury, her victorious
-rival in the affections of a man who had repulsed her advances by stolidly ignoring them.
-
-"Gad! but I'd cut my hand off rather than
-harm should come to that girl, let alone never
-being able to look Alec in the face again," he
-muttered, as he gnawed his white mustache in
-perplexity.
-
-The situation was indeed serious from the
-point of view that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-was head of a gang of international criminals,
-and that she was, moreover, as he put it in his
-simple soldier phrase, "sweet upon" his nephew
-Alec. If, for her as yet unexplained ends, she
-would not stick at assassinating the Duke of
-Beaumanoir, she would be capable of wreaking
-a deadly vengeance on the girl who had
-won the heart she hungered for. Once installed
-as a guest in the mansion, she would
-have plenty of facilities of which she might
-make venomous use. The General had engineered
-her invitation with the laudable purpose
-of keeping her under constant observation
-and of making communication with her confederates
-difficult; but in his zeal for check-mating
-her predatory designs he had forgotten
-her amatory ones.
-
-It was true that Sybil's engagement had
-not yet been published to the world, but the
-Shermans, who were also to be the Duke's
-guests, knew of it, and to enter into explanations
-with Mrs. Sherman, the voluble and
-unsophisticated, would be going far towards
-defeating his cherished hope of protecting that
-lady's husband from the gang without implicating
-the Duke. As it was, the invitation of
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, of which he was
-suspected of being the cause, had excited more
-than curiosity among his American visitors,
-who had nearly upset his arrangements by
-canceling their own visit on learning that their
-mysterious fellow countrywoman was to be of
-the party. One crumb of comfort he derived
-from the fact that in all things he could rely
-on his wife's discretion. Though they had exchanged
-no word on the subject, he knew that,
-without penetrating or wishing to penetrate
-his motive in trafficking with Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton, his wife guessed that he had one;
-he knew that he could depend upon her unquestioning
-aid if he asked for it.
-
-"I guess I've bitten off more than I can
-chew, as Sherman himself would put it," he
-mused, with a sigh for the old days of jingling
-bridle-chains and night rides, when he had
-merrily run down his Thugs and Dacoits without female influence upsetting his calculations.
-The female influence had been there, doubtless,
-with all its jealousies and consequent treacheries;
-but all that had been Azimoolah's department.
-It had fallen to the silent-footed,
-black-bearded Pathan to explore the under-currents
-of social life in the native villages,
-and he had not worried his chief with details
-till the patient sapping of traitorous brains
-was done, and all that remained was to sally
-forth and hunt the faithless lover or erring
-husband who was also a breaker of laws. Azimoolah's
-knowledge in India of the eternal
-feminine had been extensive and peculiar; but
-the General felt that he could not with propriety
-set him poking into love affairs which
-included Sybil Hanbury in its scope.
-
-Another point which harassed the General's
-soul was the new light shed on the Duke's
-attitude towards Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by
-his mild displeasure at the style of her note.
-The General was assured that the remark at
-the breakfast-table had been the genuine expression
-of an honest doubt as to the fitness
-of the sparkling widow to mix with gentle-women;
-whereas the Duke could have had no
-doubt whatever if he had had relations with
-the gang of whom he, the General, believed
-this woman to be the moving spirit. It certainly
-seemed that the Duke was ignorant that
-she was a dangerous adventuress, for, though
-he might have suspected her of designs
-against himself and yet have consented to her
-presence at Prior's Tarrant, he would never
-have subjected Sybil to the peril of daily intercourse
-with a potential murderess. All
-along Beaumanoir had shown a chivalrous disposition
-to protect his cousin from even minor
-annoyances.
-
-"Perhaps there are two distinct crowds
-after Sherman's gold bonds, and Beaumanoir
-is in with the Ziegler lot, and Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton is playing against them," the General
-mused as he turned his steps back to the
-house. "To think that the fellow holds the
-key of it all, and won't speak, is what riles
-me."
-
-The immediate dilemma confronted him
-whether or no to impart to his nephew the
-cause for alarm that had arisen about Sybil.
-He had been surprised at first that a man of
-Alec Forsyth's shrewdness had not seen for
-himself a danger threatening the girl he loved;
-but closer examination disclosed a reason.
-Forsyth was too modest, too little of a coxcomb,
-for it to occur to him that violence could
-result from a misplaced passion for himself.
-On the whole, the General decided that, as
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was not due till the
-next day, he would say nothing to Alec at
-present.
-
-"If I can make Beaumanoir disgorge his
-secret, the trouble may not arise," he comforted
-himself. Though the veteran's faith in
-himself was shaken, and he wished he had resisted
-the temptation to meddle with crime
-outside his old Eastern sphere, he was not the
-man to take his hand from the plough. He
-would devote all his diplomacy to penetrating
-the cause of the Duke's obstinate silence.
-
-As he had anticipated, there was a lull that
-day in the activity of the enemy—at any rate
-of overt attempts. No communication reached
-him from Azimoolah, who would certainly
-have been heard from if suspicious characters
-had been on the move in the neighborhood of
-the mansion; for, though unseen, that tireless
-tracker might be trusted to be at his post,
-which was anywhere and everywhere within
-the radius of a mile. The denser thickets of
-the park possibly concealed him, or it might be
-that he hovered in the nearer precincts of the
-gardens, unseen but ready. His presence relieved
-the General from disturbing the routine
-of the household by special instructions to the
-servants, who were still fluttered by the lassooing
-of the lame gardener on the previous Sunday.
-So far, all the precaution that the
-General had delegated to others than himself
-and Forsyth was to give the bailiff a quiet
-hint, as a message from the Duke, not to admit
-the "artists" to the park, should they present
-themselves again. But up to the hour of
-luncheon the painters of "deer like unto swine"
-had not renewed their application or put in an
-appearance.
-
-In the afternoon Beaumanoir, shaking off
-some of his weary apathy, went down to the
-portico with his male guests to receive the four
-ladies, who arrived in time for tea, which, with
-the General's acquiescence, was to be taken on
-the terrace. No sooner were the first greetings
-over than Mrs. Sadgrove caught her husband's
-eye and telegraphed the information that she
-had something for his private ear at the earliest
-opportunity. He therefore contrived to lag
-behind with her while Beaumanoir did the
-honors to Leonie and her mother, and Forsyth
-paired off with Sybil, as the party mounted
-the marble steps to the terrace.
-
-"Jem," said Mrs. Sadgrove, scanning the
-rugged face of her spouse with a sidelong
-scrutiny, "I received an anonymous letter this
-morning. Let them get ahead a bit, and I'll
-show it to you."
-
-The screed which she put into his hand contained
-but five words:
-
-"*There is danger from Ziegler.*"
-
-General Sadgrove's Eastern experiences
-had not educated him into an expert in calligraphy,
-but it needed no particular insight to
-perceive that this was a lady's handwriting,
-clumsily disguised. He transferred his attention
-to the paper, half a sheet of "note";
-and here he was rewarded with a startling discovery.
-He had noticed that the letter of acceptance
-from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, which
-the Duke had received at breakfast, had been
-heavily charged with a peculiar perfume, and
-this unsigned missive was simply reeking of
-the same pungent fragrance. He had sat
-next the Duke, and knew that there was no
-mistake.
-
-"You have no idea who sent this?" he asked.
-
-"I seem to recognize the scent as having
-come to me before in notes—proper, signed
-notes," Mrs. Sadgrove replied, evasively. And
-then she added, with gentle significance, not
-from curiosity, but from a desire to help him
-in case he did not know: "I heard the name
-of Ziegler when we were calling at the Cecil
-yesterday. It was mentioned, I think, by one
-of the attendants as that of the gentleman
-occupying the rooms where the disturbance
-was."
-
-The General looked hard at her, and saw
-that his little drama had not deceived the companion
-of his Indian days.
-
-"Yes," he said, shortly. "Do not trouble
-about this, Madge. It's all in the day's work."
-
-But he himself was greatly troubled, inasmuch
-as if that anonymous warning came
-from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton all his "case"
-was demolished, and a perfect maze of new
-problems was presented. A warning from
-her would be presumptive evidence that she
-was an ally, and—sad blow to his *amour
-propre*—would stultify all the theories he had
-based on what he had fondly hoped was an
-unerring intuition. He would have to begin
-all over again, solacing himself—and it was
-no small solace—with the reflection that he
-had raised an unnecessary bogey in anticipating
-danger to Sybil Hanbury from Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton's visit.
-
-Yet by the time he reached the top of the
-terrace steps reaction had set in, and he began
-to think that his brain could not have lost all
-its cunning. For, unless in the very improbable
-event of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton having
-found out something about the mysterious
-Ziegler through occupying the next suite to
-him since yesterday, she must still be the heart
-and core of the evil influence he had to combat.
-Without knowledge she would not have been
-in a position to warn; and, like the Duke, how
-could she have obtained knowledge without
-complicity? Why, too, should she also be
-unwilling to use her knowledge openly? No,
-he came back to the opinion that there must
-originally have been one gigantic plot against
-Senator Sherman's precious charge, and that
-there must have been a split in the camp; but
-from which section, or whether by both sections,
-the Duke was threatened was an irritating
-conundrum. Anyhow, Sybil Hanbury's
-peril assumed ugly shape again in the General's
-mind.
-
-"The woman must have sent it to mislead—to throw dust in my eyes," he murmured, not
-knowing that he spoke aloud. And following
-up that train of reasoning he found it grow
-into conviction. The letter was not really
-anonymous. That is to say, the writer had
-been at particular pains to disclose her identity
-by means of the scent if General Sadgrove
-deemed the communication sent to his wife of
-sufficient importance to investigate. The letter
-had been despatched, he now felt assured,
-with the express purpose of whitewashing the
-sender in the event of any further "accident"
-happening to the Duke. In short, he was of
-opinion that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had suspected
-his manoeuvre at the hotel, and had
-devised this method of hoodwinking him, and
-of diverting his vigilance from herself during
-her forthcoming visit if her suspicions were
-correct. The craftiness of the idea was obvious,
-and the General was beginning to be
-delighted with his perspicacity when, lo and
-behold, the whole fabric crumbled again, from
-a flaw at the very base of the structure. It
-was inconceivable that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton,
-if she was guilty of criminal intent, should
-have directed his thoughts to Ziegler, who, if
-not a confederate, was certainly part and
-parcel of the mystery.
-
-"Too many women in it," he growled, testily,
-unaware, in the brown study into which
-he had fallen, that he had seated himself in
-one of the cane chairs round about the tea-table
-at which Sybil Hanbury was already
-presiding. He was also unconscious that he
-had expressed himself audibly—at least, so
-far as concerned Sybil, who at that moment
-happened to be handing him his cup. Indeed,
-he repeated the phrase, the sentiment of it
-growing in vigor from the sight of Leonie
-Sherman listening to Beaumanoir's description
-of his ancestral home, and of Mrs. Sherman
-and Mrs. Sadgrove talking to Alec
-Forsyth.
-
-Sybil gave the old man a queer look, more
-affectionate than reproachful; and when she
-had finished pouring out tea came and took a
-vacant seat beside him. For a while she drank
-her tea in silence, stealing a half-amused
-glance now and then at the puckered face of
-the checked hunter of men. The General was
-gazing moodily across the green expanse of
-park, wishing with all his heart that Azimoolah,
-on guard out there in the leafy solitudes, was a fitting oracle to consult in a
-matter touching the private feelings of *memsahibs*.
-
-"No," he growled regretfully, and again
-aloud; "this must be a white man's war."
-
-Sybil leaned over and tapped his knee with
-her gold tea-spoon. The General started,
-smiled fatuously at the celebrated Beaumanoir
-heirloom, as though he were expected to admire
-it, and then suddenly came down from the
-clouds, realizing that the young woman with
-the bright eyes searching his face was something
-more than a source of anxiety to him.
-She was a factor to be reckoned with, and if
-he was a judge of the human countenance she
-was about to enforce that view.
-
-"A white man's war with too many women
-in it, General?" she asked, archly. "Isn't that
-rather an anomaly?"
-
-"It's gospel truth," the General replied,
-with sturdy insistence. "Sign of senile decay,
-though, thinking aloud."
-
-"*You* are not decayed. You might as well
-accuse *me* of being in my first childhood, and
-I have really passed that," Sybil smiled back
-at him. "But," she added, "I am childish
-enough to be a little hurt that you don't appear
-to think so."
-
-"My dear girl, what have I done? 'Pon
-honor, I don't know that I have done anything,"
-the General protested piteously.
-
-"That's just it. It's because you have done
-nothing, or next to nothing, that your contemptuous
-reference to 'too many women'
-seems to me a trifle unkind," replied Sybil,
-pretending to misunderstand him. "What
-would have happened to my cousin, when the
-panel was cut the other night at Beaumanoir
-House, if it hadn't been for a woman?"
-
-The General accepted the reproof in
-thoughtful silence, forced to admit to himself
-that it was not uncalled for. If it had not
-been for Sybil Hanbury's nerve and courage
-on the occasion when the bogus detective officer
-had secreted himself in the Duke's town house,
-the answer to her question might have had to
-be written in blood. Her quick apprehension
-of subtle danger, her determination to sit up
-and watch, and her cool presence of mind in
-face of the emergency when it arose, had saved
-the situation and stamped her as of sterling
-metal.
-
-"I apologize," he jerked out presently. "I
-still think there are too many women in the
-business, but you ain't one of 'em."
-
-"Thank you," Sybil returned, drily. "And,
-that being so, wouldn't it be a good plan to ask
-a woman to help you, on the principle of setting
-a thief to catch a thief, you know?"
-
-The General shot a rather shamefaced
-glance at the firm mouth and steadfast eyes
-of this plucky young enthusiast, and thereupon
-he decided to enlist her as an adviser in
-the more intricate questions that vexed him.
-There was the chance that woman's wit would
-fathom woman's guile, and tell him why Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton should want to point the
-index of suspicion at Ziegler, who was probably
-her *confrère* in crime. Woman's wit
-might even tell him why his Grace the Duke
-of Beaumanoir, engaged in such a simple
-ducal pastime as making sheep's-eyes at a
-pretty American girl, should yet recoil abashed
-whenever Leonie turned her frankly responsive
-but puzzled gaze on him. Above all,
-the course proposed would enable this brave
-English girl to do what he was beginning to
-fear he could not do for her—to take care of
-herself.
-
-"Yes," he said, putting down his cup with
-a grim smile, "I'll take you on, soon as you've
-finished your tea. And," he added, fumbling
-for his cigar-case, "I'll try and not frighten
-you."
-
-Sybil rose at once, and together they strolled
-along the terrace to a distance from the chatter
-round the tea-table, which had drowned their
-incipient confidences. When they were quite
-out of earshot Sybil turned and confronted the
-General, and the lighter tone with which she
-had "played" him was lacking now.
-
-"Tell me," she said gravely, "why Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton is so anxious to kill my
-poor cousin and spoil that charming idyll."
-
-"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton!" stammered the
-General. "How on earth did you know that?"
-
-"How did I know!" his new coadjutor repeated
-with scorn. "In the same way that she
-must know herself that *you* know, you dear
-silly old man. Because of the absolutely absurd
-invitation to her to come and stay here at
-Prior's Tarrant without rhyme or reason."
-
-And then, when General Sadgrove had recovered
-from the shock of finding that he was
-not quite inscrutable, they talked, very seriously,
-for upwards of half an hour.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV—*A New Cure for Headache*
-======================================
-
-
-"I wonder if General Sadgrove and Mr.
-Forsyth are lunatics?" Sybil Hanbury purred
-softly, after joining in the chorus of thanks
-which greeted a superb rendering of Strelezki's
-"Arlequin" on the long disused grand
-piano in the tapestry-room. This apartment
-was more cozy and homelike than the vast
-white drawing-room at Beaumanoir House, but
-it was quite large enough for isolated conversations.
-
-The uncomplimentary confidence was made
-into the shell-like ear of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton,
-who, faultlessly gowned by Worth, was
-sitting apart with her nominal hostess in the
-embrasure of an oriel window. The Duke was
-hovering near the piano, and Forsyth was talking
-to Mrs. Sadgrove and Mrs. Sherman. The
-General was not present, having excused himself
-from coming straight from the dining-room
-on the plea of having a letter to write.
-
-Sybil's disjointed remark—for it followed
-a discussion on French cookery—caused a
-sudden twist of the ivory shoulders towards
-her, the swift eagerness of the movement being
-discounted by the languorous stare of slowly
-interested surprise. There was a hint of resentment,
-perhaps also a trace of alarm, in the
-wheeling of the décolletée shoulders; in the
-stare these emotions were corrected into a mild
-desire to hear more of such a sweeping surmise.
-
-"Lunatics—those two!" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-exclaimed, in well-modulated astonishment.
-"That's what you English call rather
-a large order, isn't it? What makes you say
-so?"
-
-"Hush! My cousin is trying to persuade
-Miss Sherman to sing," replied Sybil. "Wait
-till she has begun, and I'll tell you. It's too
-funny to keep to one's self."
-
-For two days now the house-party at Prior's
-Tarrant had been increased by the elegant
-addition of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, and on
-the surface matters were pursuing their normal
-course. The Duke had received his latest
-guest with a democratic courtesy none the less
-cordial because of her floridly expressed note,
-which in the stress of other preoccupations he
-had forgotten altogether. He had a vague
-idea that the General had wished the vivacious
-American to be included because she was a
-fellow countrywoman of the Shermans, and
-that was quite enough to ensure his good-will
-towards her.
-
-This view was so far from being the right
-one that Mrs. Sherman and Leonie had only
-succeeded in being coldly polite to the latest
-arrival. Mrs. Sadgrove, with an inkling that
-the beautifully dressed but too effusive American
-was an important factor in her husband's
-schemes, was more outwardly complacent, but
-it was reserved for Sybil to shower upon Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton special civilities which had
-ended, after two days only, in their becoming
-constant companions, if not bosom friends.
-If the handsome visitor wanted to walk in the
-park or to be shown some object of interest in
-the gardens, Sybil was always at hand to accompany
-her; and if it rained, as it had done
-all this day, she spent hours in entertaining her
-in her own rooms.
-
-As for Forsyth, Sybil deserted him entirely;
-and as the other ladies abstained from discussing
-personal topics before the unpopular
-guest, there had been no making known beyond
-the small circle who knew it already of
-the new secretary's engagement to his employer's
-cousin. Singularly enough, this was
-one of the very few subjects which the girl did
-not touch upon in her confidences to her new
-friend.
-
-Presently the importunities of the Duke,
-backed by a general murmur of request, prevailed,
-and Leonie began a quaint old melody
-in a clear contralto that at any other time
-would have held Sybil an enthralled listener.
-As it was, she took instant advantage of the
-rippling flood of sound that filled the room to
-resume her talk, though for the moment the
-continuity was not apparent.
-
-"Beaumanoir House was burgled the other
-night, and we caught a man trying to get into
-my cousin's bedroom," she whispered.
-
-"No. Really? I—I saw nothing in the
-papers," replied Mrs. Talmage Eglinton in
-even tones, but with another turn of the white
-shoulders and a sudden shading of her eyes
-the better to watch the fair narrator's face.
-
-"That was because the Duke let the man go—didn't
-want any fuss just after coming into
-the title; and quite reasonable, I call it," Sybil
-proceeded. "And that's where the fun comes
-in. Mr. Forsyth insists that my cousin is the
-proposed victim of some diabolical plot, anarchist
-or otherwise, and he took General Sadgrove
-into his confidence. The old gentleman,
-as you may not be aware, was a sort of policeman
-in India, and is cracked on finding out
-things. Naturally, to one of that temperament,
-the mystery Mr. Forsyth chose to make
-out of a vulgar attempt at robbery was like a
-spark on tinder, and the General caught on at
-once. They're both fairly on the job—as
-amateur detectives, you know—and they think
-they've got a clue."
-
-"How truly interesting! And the clue?"
-
-"Of the most remote kind—not even arrived
-at, *à la* Sherlock Holmes, by inspecting cigarette
-ashes. It seems that Mr. Forsyth—who,
-by the way, had been to leave a card on you—met
-the Duke at the Cecil, coming away
-from the suite of a Mr. Ziegler. He chose
-to think that my cousin was looking agitated,
-whereas he was only tired after his voyage.
-Mr. Ziegler, therefore, if you please, has fallen
-under the ban of suspicion from these wiseacres,
-and is supposed to be murderously inclined
-towards the poor Duke. Even the mischief
-of some wretched boy in playing tricks
-with the train he traveled by the other night
-is attributed to this probably harmless Mr.
-Ziegler."
-
-"And his Grace—does he also attribute
-these things to the same quarter?" asked Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton, scarcely with the breathless
-interest due to such tremendous doings.
-She had a way of opening her eyes wide when
-putting a question—a mannerism which had
-the effect of creating doubt whether she was
-intensely eager or only bored.
-
-"He thinks it all nonsense—same as I do,"
-Sybil made answer. "He has told these over-clever
-gentlemen to leave the thing alone, and
-I expect if he finds out what the General is
-up to that he'll turn them both out of the
-house and give Mr. Forsyth his dismissal. Of
-course, you won't say anything—will you?—because
-I'm only a poor relation, and I can't
-afford to offend people."
-
-"I am discretion itself. What is General
-Sadgrove up to, dear?" was the reply.
-
-Sybil's pretty mouth bent close to confide
-the startling fact that the General was going
-to London in the morning with the intention
-of bearding Mr. Ziegler in his den—otherwise,
-in his rooms at the Cecil. If he should be refused
-permission to see Ziegler, or, seeing
-him, should be unable to satisfy himself of his
-respectability, he was going straight on to
-Scotland Yard to impart his suspicions to the
-authorities. Sybil sketched the carrying out
-of this amazing programme and its probable
-consequences with much animation and ridicule,
-but her hearer's interest tailed off into undisguised
-indifference, ending in a deliberate
-yawn.
-
-"What a very stupid affair!" Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton murmured. "Do you know, it has
-made me quite sleepy, and—and I think I'll
-go to bed. I have started a real, clawing,
-hammering headache. Shouldn't wonder if I
-am not laid up to-morrow."
-
-Nodding a good-night to the others, she rose
-and swept from the room, followed by Sybil,
-who, profusely sympathetic, insisted on accompanying
-her to her own apartments. At the
-door of the latter a dark-eyed, slender woman,
-in a black dress with broad white collar and
-cuffs, was standing. This was Rosa, the
-French maid, on whose services Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton professed herself entirely dependent.
-
-"One of my headaches, Rosa. The pink
-draught—quickly!" cried the incipient invalid,
-and pausing on the threshold she bade an affectionate good-night to her girlish admirer.
-"I am not really ill—only a little run down,"
-she assured her. "I do *hope* I shan't have to
-keep my room to-morrow."
-
-The brilliant vision of Parisian elegance
-having vanished into the room, Sybil made her
-way downstairs, and in the hall encountered
-General Sadgrove, who wore a light overcoat
-over his evening things and a gray felt hat.
-He was engaged in wiping the wet from his
-patent-leather shoes with his handkerchief, but
-looked up on Sybil's approach, and, removing
-his hat, went on with his occupation.
-
-"Still raining?" said Sybil, carelessly.
-
-"Like the very—I mean, like it used to in
-the monsoon," the General checked himself.
-
-No more passed, except a slight raising of
-the old soldier's eyebrows and a corresponding
-droop of one of the lady's eyelids. The General
-having restored the gloss to his footgear
-and doffed his overcoat, they went on with
-linked arms to the tapestry-room, where, however,
-the party shortly broke up, the ladies to
-retire for the night, and the men to go to the
-smoking-room. The Duke remained but a
-short time, leaving the General and Forsyth
-with the playful remark that he was growing
-quite bold after two days' immunity, and
-hoped they would not sit up all night—which
-was exactly what one or other of them had
-been doing ever since they came to Prior's
-Tarrant, and, moreover, what they intended
-to do for the present.
-
-"Sybil has done her part," said the General,
-as soon as he was alone with his nephew.
-"And I have prepared Azimoolah to be on the
-lookout for results. He tells me that the men
-in the dog-cart were outside the park wall
-again last night, and that there was the same
-exhibition of a red lamp in that infernal
-French maid's window."
-
-"An abortive attempt at communication?"
-asked Forsyth.
-
-"That or something worse," replied the General.
-"It may only be that the woman inside
-wants to confer with her confederates without;
-or it may be that the red lamp is a signal to
-them not to approach any nearer or try to get
-into the house. I incline to the latter being
-the explanation, as on each occasion the men in
-the cart have driven off immediately on seeing
-the red lamp, and there has been no attempt at
-short or long flashes, or any sort of code talk,
-Azimoolah tells me. In either case, it points
-to those beauties upstairs being aware that you
-and I are on guard, and that any attempt on
-their part to give admission to outsiders would
-be frustrated."
-
-"But if she knows that a watch is being
-kept, surely madam will not dare to leave the
-house?" suggested Forsyth, in the tentative
-tone that was necessary to preserve his uncle's
-good humor.
-
-"If she does, it will show that she's cornered,
-and that Sybil's guess has hit the bull's eye,"
-said the General, adding, with a significant
-grimace, "a preparatory headache has been
-started already. You had better go to bed
-and leave me to see to the commencement of
-the cure."
-
-Two hours later Azimoolah Khan, lying
-flattened out like a huge lizard on the parapet
-of the terrace, and thanking Allah that the
-rain had ceased, suddenly pricked up his ears
-and thanked Allah again that the time for relieving
-his cramped limbs had come. At first
-his ears were the only part of his body affected
-by the slight sound he had heard, but some
-thirty seconds later, keeping the rest of him
-motionless, he goggled his eyes round to one
-of the ground-floor windows and saw—seeing
-in the dark was one of his accomplishments—a
-female figure turn from it and flit along the
-terrace towards the steps leading down to the
-park. Waiting till the figure had gained the
-lower level, he slid from the parapet and gave
-noiseless chase.
-
-The woman in front spared no precaution
-to guard against pursuit. She stopped many
-times and listened; she doubled on her tracks;
-and as soon as she reached the woodland belt
-she proved to be an expert in the art of taking
-cover. But she had to do with probably the
-most wily exponent of woodcraft at that moment
-in England, and her pursuer was never
-at fault. Dark as the night was, Azimoolah
-never lost her for an instant. With sinuous
-movements that never caused a twig to crack,
-the lithe Pathan was always creeping, gliding,
-dodging close behind, till he stopped within
-ten paces of the park wall, and from the shelter
-of an oak trunk watched his quarry nimbly
-climb the obstacle. No sooner had she disappeared
-than he swung himself to the top of
-the wall, and peered over just as a horse broke
-into a trot on the other side.
-
-Piercing the gloom, his keen sight distinguished
-the shape of a fast-receding rubber-tired dog-cart, in which three figures were
-seated; and, having fulfilled his mission, he
-dropped back to the ground. In a few minutes
-he was on the terrace again, hissing like
-a cobra outside the smoking-room. General
-Sadgrove opened the French casement.
-
-"The daughter of Sheitan came from the
-fifth window, and has gone away, even as the
-sahib predicted, in the cart with two men,"
-Azimoolah reported.
-
-"Which road did they take?"
-
-"To the left—the Senalban road, sahib."
-
-"St. Albans, eh? Then she's going to
-catch the 3.15 up night mail," muttered the
-General. "Well, good-night, old *jungle-wallah*.
-You've got your orders," he added, closing
-and bolting the window.
-
-The next morning there were two absentees
-from the breakfast-table—General Sadgrove,
-who by overnight arrangement had breakfasted
-by himself, so as to be driven to Tarrant
-Road in time for the nine o'clock train to
-town, and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who was
-confined to her bed by a bad headache. The
-news of the indisposition was imparted to
-Sybil by the maid Rosa at her mistress's door,
-and was accompanied by a regretful but firm
-refusal of admission to the patient.
-
-"Madame is so *désolée* not to receive you,
-ma'amselle, but she 'ave ze malady too
-strr-rong for speak even with her dearest
-friend," was the ultimatum which sent Miss
-Hanbury from the door with a doleful face,
-which somehow took quite a different expression
-when she had turned the corner.
-
-For some mysterious reason her aloofness
-from her lover vanished that morning, and she
-and Forsyth were on the best of terms. They
-spent two hours together wandering in the
-park, where in one of the more remote glades
-Azimoolah flitted up to them from the bushes,
-and, regarding Sybil with awe-struck veneration,
-made a deep salaam and was gone. The
-Duke, who had given his word of honor to the
-General not to go beyond the park gates,
-passed the time partly with his bailiff and
-partly strolling with Leonie in the gardens
-and glass-houses. The friendship between
-Beaumanoir and his beautiful guest, so promisingly
-begun on board the *St. Paul*, seemed
-to have lost ground. Though he was much in
-her society, he avoided intimate topics, and
-often puzzled her with a hastily averted look
-of wistful tenderness in strange contrast to his
-assiduous but commonplace hospitality.
-
-Half an hour before luncheon General Sadgrove,
-returning on foot from the station and
-looking five years older for his run up to London,
-met the two young couples, who had now
-joined forces, as they were entering the mansion.
-Forsyth gave his uncle an anxious
-glance of inquiry, but the old man passed him
-by unheeding, and addressed the Duke in a
-tone of icy formality.
-
-"I shall be obliged if your Grace will give
-me five minutes in the library on a very urgent
-matter," he said, adding, with significant emphasis,
-"*I have been with Mr. Ziegler this
-morning.*"
-
-Beaumanoir, gone all pale and tremulous,
-made a palpable effort at self-control as he
-replied:
-
-"Come into the library by all means, General.
-But I am afraid you will find me quite
-as reticent as I am sure Ziegler was."
-
-The interview lasted till long after the
-luncheon gong had sounded, and when at
-length the Duke and the General entered the
-dining-room two pairs of watchful eyes observed
-that their relative attitudes had been
-reversed. The General's usually impassive
-face was working so painfully that Mrs. Sadgrove
-half rose from her chair at sight of her
-husband, checking herself with difficulty;
-while the Duke bore himself almost jauntily,
-and began chaffing Sybil about her devotion
-to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who was still, by
-latest bulletin from Rosa, "suffering ze grand
-torments" and unable to leave her room.
-
-The afternoon passed without external signs
-that the house-party was living on the verge
-of an active volcano. But as it was growing
-dusk Forsyth, at the risk of being late for dinner,
-took a solitary walk in the direction of a
-certain stile, by which the Prior's Tarrant pastures
-were approached by a short cut across
-fields from Tarrant Road railway station.
-He arrived at the stile in the nick of time to
-give a helping hand to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton,
-who had just reached the spot from the
-opposite direction. The hour was the one
-when the guests at the house might be expected
-to be dressing for dinner, and it also tallied
-with the arrival of a London train at the station;
-but neither alluded to these incidentals
-of such an obviously chance meeting.
-
-"I trust that your headache is better," said
-Forsyth, politely.
-
-But the headache, he was assured, was rather
-worse than better. The sufferer averred that
-she had slipped out an hour before, to go for
-a quiet walk in the meadows in the hope of obtaining
-relief; but the remedy had been of no
-avail, and all that remained was to go back to
-bed.
-
-"Won't you walk back with me?" Mrs.
-Talmage Eglinton added, devouring the
-young Scotsman's healthy, good-looking face
-with eyes of invitation. "I don't seem ever to
-get you alone nowadays."
-
-"I am very sorry, but I have to go a little
-further," replied Forsyth, and, raising his hat,
-he passed on. But it was a very little way
-further that he had to go, for at the end of the
-first meadow he turned and followed in the
-lady's wake back to the mansion, catching, as
-he did so, a glimpse of Azimoolah moving
-stealthily in the bushes at the side of the path.
-
-That night the post-bag which one of the
-Prior's Tarrant grooms conveyed to the office
-in the village contained a letter addressed to
-"Clinton Ziegler, Esqre.," at the Hotel Cecil,
-couched thus:
-
- "*The gentleman interviewed in the Bowery,
- New York, by Mr. Jevons on your behalf has
- reconsidered the matter, and is now prepared
- to carry out his commitment. He is so shaken
- by recent occurrences that he does not feel up
- to coming himself till he has received assurances,
- but his secretary will call at the hotel on
- Monday for instructions, which please hand to
- the secretary in writing and carefully sealed.*"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI—*A Delicate Mission*
-==================================
-
-
-It was on Sunday evening that Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton, after a pious pilgrimage to
-the village church in company with her assiduous
-friend Sybil Hanbury, sought the
-Duke and asked if she might have a carriage
-to take her to the station for the up-train on
-the following morning. She would return in
-the evening, she said, but imperative business
-with her milliner and tailor demanded her
-presence in London for a few hours.
-
-Beaumanoir, in courteously promising that
-her request should be attended to, regarded her
-with a wan smile. "You will have a companion—that
-is, if you do not mind Mr. Forsyth
-sharing the station brougham with you," he
-added. "Alec has to go to London to-morrow
-on my business—leases at the solicitors',
-isn't it?"
-
-He turned for confirmation to Forsyth,
-who, with General Sadgrove, had been strolling
-with him on the terrace.
-
-"Yes, leases at the solicitors'," replied the
-private secretary, flushing slightly. The
-General looked indifferent.
-
-"Really?" said the lady. "There must be a
-lot of that sort of thing to see to just now, I
-suppose. Of course, I shall be delighted to
-have Mr. Forsyth's escort, provided he drops
-me at Bond Street. I cannot have a critical
-male person following me across my tailor's
-sacred threshold."
-
-She shook a gay finger at the party and disappeared
-into one of the French windows—a
-vision of dainty *chiffons* and rustling silks.
-
-"She's gone to put her prayer-book away,"
-laughed Forsyth, in the nervous manner of
-one wishing to cover an awkward situation.
-
-"She needs one," muttered the General under
-his mustache, shooting a furtive glance at
-his nephew.
-
-Beaumanoir said nothing, and the three
-paced on, hardly speaking, till it was time to
-dress for dinner. Since the General's return
-from town on the day of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's
-headache, not exactly a coolness, but a
-constraint, had sprung up between them. A
-suspicion of cross-purposes was in the air,
-which kept them silent when all together, but
-communicative enough when any two of them
-were alone in solitary places.
-
-It was so now, for the General waited till
-the Duke had left them to go up to his dressing-room
-before he remarked in a tone of grim
-humor:
-
-"I told you that you would have her for a
-traveling companion."
-
-"I don't anticipate much pleasure from the
-journey," Forsyth replied, gloomily, and reddening
-under the searching gaze with which
-his uncle raked him.
-
-But with the exception of the short drive to
-the station, during which Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-was unusually preoccupied, he was spared
-the uncongenial *tête-à-tête* he had expected.
-When the train came in the fair American said
-chaffingly that she knew he was dying to
-smoke—that, anyhow, she was in a mood for
-meditation herself, and intended to indulge it
-in the seclusion of a "ladies' compartment."
-Forsyth responded with the barest protest demanded
-by courtesy, and went away to a
-smoking-carriage, much relieved.
-
-He saw her again at St. Pancras; indeed,
-he contrived to be near enough to overhear
-the direction to an address in Bond Street
-which she gave to her cabman, but he noticed
-the not unexpected fact that here in London
-she had no desire for his society. She had
-hurried into the vehicle without looking round
-for him, and was driven away at a pace that
-betokened special instructions to the driver.
-
-Forsyth took another cab and bade his man
-keep the first cab in sight. Before long he
-perceived that the lady was in truth going to
-Bond Street, and presently he had the satisfaction
-of seeing her discharge her cab and
-skip lightly into the shop of a fashionable
-*modiste* in that thoroughfare. His complacence
-was a little marred by uncertainty
-whether she had observed him or not, but from
-the quick turn of her head as she crossed the
-pavement he was rather inclined to think that
-she had.
-
-"It doesn't matter, really," he reflected.
-"She knows that we suspect her complicity, or
-she wouldn't have tried to blind her trail to the
-hotel by driving here first. Strange, though,
-that, suspecting that, she should have taken so
-much trouble."
-
-He ordered his driver to take him to the
-Hotel Cecil, and at the same time to keep a
-lookout to see whether they in turn were being
-followed by the lady whom they had just run
-to ground. But when he was set down at the
-main entrance of the great twelve-storied palace
-he received the assurance that nothing of
-the sort had occurred.
-
-"Not so keen after you, sir, as you was after
-her," ejaculated the smart cabman as he
-whipped up and wheeled round, dissatisfied,
-after the manner of his kind, with the extra
-half-crown he had received for his "shadowing
-job."
-
-Forsyth shuddered. "*Keen*, by George!"
-he murmured ruefully. "If only my devotion
-to poor old Charley could have led me into
-paths untrodden by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-my task would have been a lighter one."
-
-He went into the bureau and inquired if
-Mr. Clinton Ziegler was in, receiving the
-stereotyped reply that Mr. Ziegler was *always*
-in, being an invalid. Whereupon he sent up
-his card, first penciling thereon the words,
-"Private Secretary to the Duke of Beaumanoir."
-
-The bell-boy who took up the card reappeared
-almost immediately, flying down the
-grand staircase three steps at a time.
-
-"Please to come up at *once*, sir, the gentleman
-said," was the boy's urgent appeal.
-
-Forsyth, with a feeling of having "burned
-his ships," obeyed with equal alacrity, and was
-shown into the suite made memorable by the
-raid of his Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur,
-otherwise General Sadgrove's faithful
-orderly, Azimoolah Khan. He noticed in
-passing in that the door of the next suite—that
-of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton—was slightly
-ajar, but his attention was immediately
-claimed by the welcome he received in Mr.
-Ziegler's apartments. Just inside the door
-he was met by a tall, bold-eyed man whom,
-from Beaumanoir's description, he had no difficulty
-in recognizing as the sham "Colonel
-Anstruther Walcot," but who introduced himself
-as Leopold Benzon, Mr. Ziegler's private
-secretary.
-
-The idea of a professional criminal being
-served with such specious pomp tickled Forsyth's
-sense of humor; but, restraining an impulse
-to laugh in the fellow's face, he responded
-gravely to the salutation and stated
-his business. He had come, he said, after
-mentioning his name, on behalf of the Duke
-of Beaumanoir, to see Mr. Ziegler by appointment
-on a matter of private business.
-
-"Mr. Ziegler is expecting you," Benzon replied,
-scrutinizing the visitor's face narrowly.
-"Unfortunately he is not so well as usual this
-morning, and is not yet dressed. I must ask
-you to wait a little till he is ready to receive
-you."
-
-Forsyth bowed and took the chair offered
-him, not without an inward chuckle at the discrepancy
-between the haste of the bell-boy's
-summons to the suite and the delay in receiving
-him. To his mind the position was clear.
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton desired to keep up the
-polite fiction of her innocence to the end, yet
-Ziegler was apparently not prepared to go
-forward with the business without an opportunity
-of consulting her. She had come up to
-town for the express purpose of advising,
-perhaps supervising, her colleagues at an important
-crisis, and was doubtless on her way
-to the hotel after the diversion he had created,
-so that it was necessary to get him out of the
-entrance-hall before she passed up to her suite.
-
-"I shouldn't wonder if she isn't the boss of
-the show, with Ziegler, who is probably her
-husband, as figure-head," Forsyth told himself.
-
-Benzon, with a polite excuse, had retired
-into an inner room; but his place had immediately
-been taken by a well-dressed but
-cadaverous individual whom Forsyth recognized
-as the man in clerical attire whom he had
-seen descending the stairs in John Street after
-the forcible entry into his chambers, the miscreant
-who later on the same eventful night
-had called at Beaumanoir House in the character
-of a disguised police-officer.
-
-There was evidently no disposition to leave
-him alone in the ante-room, and so give him a
-chance to open the outer door and witness
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's arrival in the next
-suite. So twenty minutes passed, and Forsyth
-was speculating as to how communication
-would be carried on with the female partner
-during the forthcoming interview, when Benzon
-returned and announced that Mr. Ziegler
-was awaiting him. He could not help observing
-how much better suited was this bowing
-and smirking American swindler to the *rôle* of
-a superior flunkey than to that of a British
-cavalry officer.
-
-The next moment he found himself in the
-principal reception-room of the suite, face to
-face with a frail old man of unpleasant appearance,
-who, Forsyth noticed with quick intuition,
-was reclining on a couch that had been
-drawn across a closed door. There was another—open—door
-leading into the bedroom,
-but the closed one must be the same which
-from the other side of it had confirmed the
-General's suspicions of the occupant of the adjoining
-suite. Forsyth could picture to himself
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's shell-like ear
-glued to that door, its fair owner prepared to
-tap gentle signals by the Morse code on the
-panels if things did not go to her liking in the
-audience-chamber.
-
-His conjectures were brought down to the
-bed-rock of fact by the croaking voice of the
-invalid on the couch. Mr. Ziegler's repulsive
-aspect, his purple cheeks, and green-shaded
-eyes suggested some horrible cutaneous affection,
-though Forsyth was not so ingenuous as
-to accept the disfigurements as genuine.
-
-"I am sorry to have detained you, sir,"
-Ziegler began, and then paused abruptly.
-Forsyth wondered if he had been brought up
-with a round turn by a tap on the door close to
-his ear. There seemed something tentative, as
-though the speaker were trying his ground, in
-that first disjointed utterance.
-
-"It does not matter," Forsyth replied, and
-then in his turn came to a sudden stop. His
-diplomatic training at the Foreign Office had
-taught him the advantage of allowing the
-other side to open the proceedings. He who
-has the first word is seldom the one to have the
-last.
-
-But it appeared that Mr. Ziegler was also
-alive to the value of reserving his fire. "I presume
-that the Duke of Beaumanoir instructed
-you on the nature of the business you were to
-transact with me?" he said, and there was a
-firmer ring in the curious metallic voice than
-when he made his first brief apology.
-
-"On the contrary, he left me quite in the
-dark about it," Forsyth made answer. "All
-I understood was that I was to fetch something
-which you would hand me in person."
-
-Ziegler took a leisurely survey of the young
-Scotsman through his green glasses. "Then
-you did not come here expecting to have to use
-your own discretion in any way—to traffic
-with me, in fact?" he presently asked.
-
-"Certainly not," Forsyth replied. "I gathered
-that the part I was to play was solely that
-of a trusted messenger who could be relied on
-to say nothing about his errand afterwards."
-
-"Not even to General Sadgrove?" flashed
-back the answering question so swiftly that
-for an instant Forsyth was taken aback.
-
-"I am not one to betray my employer's secrets—even
-to my uncle, General Sadgrove,"
-he said, recovering himself quickly.
-
-"Very good!" was the croaking comment.
-"I deemed it necessary to sound you because
-we are aware of the foolish meddling—I might
-also say muddling—of that mischievous old
-man. We know also that you have aided and
-abetted him in an attempt to swim against a
-tide that is far too strong for both of you."
-
-"I quite admit that," responded Forsyth,
-boldly. "My uncle has been doing his best to
-protect the Duke's life, and as in duty bound I
-have used my efforts to assist him—up to a
-certain point."
-
-"What do you mean—up to a certain
-point?"
-
-"I mean that as the Duke seems now to
-have taken matters actively into his own hands
-by opening up communication with you, I am
-naturally rather at the disposition of my employer
-than of anyone else."
-
-"Truly a faithful servant," said Ziegler,
-with a strong suspicion of a sneer. "And
-now, Mr. Forsyth, I have a question to ask
-which you are at liberty to answer or not as
-you please, but on which the future security of
-his Grace will probably depend. I shall draw
-my own deductions from a refusal to answer,
-and take it as an affirmative. Has the Duke
-disclosed to either you or General Sadgrove,
-or, as far as you are aware, to anyone else, the
-reason of his recent differences with us?"
-
-Forsyth rejoiced that he was able to reply
-in the negative. "No," he said promptly and
-with evident truth; "he has always steadily refused
-to enlighten my uncle and myself as to
-the cause of his being so persecuted. We have
-been kept absolutely in the dark."
-
-He did not feel called upon to add, as he
-might have done, that a good deal of that darkness
-had been penetrated by General Sadgrove's
-acumen, and that the design on Senator
-Sherman's gold bonds was an open book
-to them.
-
-Ziegler, however, was satisfied with the reply.
-Signing to the pretentious Benzon, who
-throughout the interview had hovered close to
-his master's couch, he conferred with him in a
-whisper, and then addressed Forsyth again
-with a request that he would wait for a few
-minutes in the ante-room, when a letter for the
-Duke would be handed to him and he would
-be free to depart.
-
-"Good-day to you, sir," added the arch-plotter.
-"I regret that my infirmities preclude
-me from offering you hospitality.
-These little encounters become, I find, more
-fatiguing with advancing years."
-
-Bidding him a curt good-morning, Forsyth
-returned to the ante-room, accompanied by the
-cadaverous individual, who had also been
-present at the interview. Benzon remained
-behind, softly shutting the door on them, and
-there was a distinct click of the key being
-turned in the lock. His companion making
-no overture for conversation, Forsyth sat
-down and affected to read a newspaper,
-though he was really straining his ears to
-catch what passed in the inner room. Already
-perplexed by having seen no signs of communication
-between Ziegler and the next suite,
-he was trying to ascertain if a conference was
-now proceeding with the fair tenant next door.
-No sound reached him, however, till after the
-lapse of some twenty minutes Benzon came
-swiftly out of the inner room with a heavily
-sealed letter in his hand.
-
-"This," said Ziegler's aide-de-camp, "is the
-packet which my chief wishes you to deliver to
-the Duke of Beaumanoir. You are alive to
-the importance of seeing that it reaches its destination
-without being lost or tampered with?"
-
-"My dear sir, I should not, I imagine, have
-been entrusted with this very uncongenial errand
-unless I had been thought capable of carrying
-it out," replied Forsyth, in a tone of
-annoyance.
-
-"Take it, then," Benzon proceeded. "And
-you are, please, to inform his Grace that Mr.
-Ziegler, though he would have preferred to
-see him in person, is satisfied with the discretion
-of his emissary."
-
-"Thanks, but I don't think I need a testimonial
-from Mr. Ziegler to recommend me to
-the Duke," replied Forsyth, coolly, as he buttoned
-the letter into the breast-pocket of his
-frock coat and with a bow took his departure.
-
-Out in the corridor he breathed more freely.
-"I don't think that I overdid my exhibition of
-temper," he told himself. "A little touchiness
-was to be expected under the circumstances."
-
-He had begun to descend the stairs into the
-entrance-hall, when he saw—with something
-of a shock—coming up, and therefore about
-to meet him, the lady whom he believed to be
-in the next suite to Ziegler's, advising her
-partners through the communicating door.
-He had got it firmly into his head that during
-the twenty minutes he had been kept waiting
-that door had been opened, and the terms of
-the letter settled between the two principals;
-and here was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton not in
-her rooms at all, but apparently only just arrived.
-
-"Ah, Mr. Forsyth!" she cried, coquettishly.
-"You have been up to my suite to look for me,
-with a view to standing me a luncheon somewhere.
-Now don't deny that you were disappointed
-when you found that I had not
-reached the hotel and that the suite was locked
-up."
-
-Could he have been mistaken? Forsyth
-asked himself. If so, the mistake was not
-really his, but General Sadgrove's, and the entire
-bottom was knocked out of the veteran's
-theory as to this woman's complicity.
-
-"But I have not been up to your rooms,"
-was all he could reply on the spur of the moment. "I had business with the gentleman
-who occupies the adjoining suite."
-
-If it was not genuine, the look of disappointment
-that stole into her face was a consummate
-piece of acting. "Oh, was that all,"
-she said, with a queer little laugh. "Well,
-that doesn't absolve you from asking me to
-lunch now that you have the chance."
-
-"I shall be delighted," was the only answer
-he could make without showing open hostility.
-
-"Wait in the hall, then," said Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton. "I am only going up to see if some
-jewelry I left locked up when I went down to
-Prior's Tarrant is safe."
-
-She hurried up the remaining stairs, and
-Forsyth continued his way down to the hall, a
-prey to conflicting emotions. Disgust at having
-to lunch with a woman he abhorred was
-the least of them. What worried him most at
-that moment was the doubt, restored by this
-meeting, whether Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was
-not, after all, the victim of a chain of coincidences.
-
-And then, suddenly, a flicker of light broke
-on the situation through—of all places in the
-world—a tiny flaw in the lady's defensive
-armor. She had spoken of her suite as locked
-up, but he remembered now that the outer door
-of it had been slightly ajar when he went in
-to his interview with Ziegler. He went up to
-the big uniformed porter on duty at the swing
-doors, and asked him if he knew Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton by sight.
-
-"Oh yes, sir," the man replied. "You'll
-catch her if you run up to her rooms sharp.
-She's just going out."
-
-"Going out?" exclaimed Forsyth, with well
-simulated surprise. "I thought I caught a
-glimpse of her going upstairs a moment ago.
-She seemed to have only just arrived."
-
-"Oh no, sir; she came in an hour ago, and
-was on her way out just now when she found
-she'd forgotten something."
-
-Forsyth left the proximity of the porter
-quickly, and went and waited at the foot of
-the staircase. The horizon had cleared again,
-and he smiled at the very thin trick which had
-so nearly deceived him—would have deceived
-him, in fact, if one of the gang, eagerly expecting
-her, had not chanced to be at her door
-when he went up. After concluding her business
-with her accomplices she had contrived
-the meeting on the stairs to throw dust in his
-eyes, going, in her desire for realism, to the
-length of explaining to the hall-porter why she
-had gone upstairs again after coming down
-into the hall. Well, he would hold her to the
-lunch invitation; let her think that she had
-hoodwinked him; and endeavor to ascertain
-whether she was courting his society as a mere
-bluff to lend color to her deception, or with
-some other object as yet undefined.
-
-He had not long to wait for her. Tripping
-lightly down the stairs, she joined him with a
-charming assumption that he would be interested
-to hear that her jewels were "quite safe,"
-and she supplemented the information with the
-request that they should not lunch in the hotel.
-
-"I am known here, and people stare so," she
-said. "Take me somewhere where we can be
-quiet. I have got something to say."
-
-"Very well," he replied. "Come over to
-Kettner's. There won't be much of a crowd
-there at this time of day." And he strove hard
-to be polite as he steered her across the Strand,
-though he could have wished himself back at
-the Foreign Office, with no prospects and no
-Duke to serve, if Sybil's brave young face had
-not been in his mind's eye.
-
-At the restaurant Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-chose a table in a remote corner of the dining-room and devoted herself to a careful study
-of the *menu*. It was not till she had selected
-her dishes and quizzed the appearance of the
-other customers that she developed her plan of
-attack.
-
-"You don't seem at all interested in the fact
-that I have something to say to you," she
-began, leaning back and scanning him critically.
-Her voluptuous style of beauty had
-never had any attraction for him; to-day it
-positively repelled.
-
-"My worst enemies have never accused me
-of being curious," he answered lightly. "Nay,
-I am not discourteous," he protested, seeing
-the angry gleam in the fine eyes. "I only
-mean that I cannot work myself into a fever
-about a communication the subject of which
-I am ignorant of."
-
-"Tell me," she said abruptly, "what reason
-you had for following me from St. Pancras
-to Bond Street this morning?"
-
-Whatever her motive she was pushing him
-hard, and Forsyth's presence of mind failed
-him. He flushed and began to stammer.
-
-.. _`I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton.`:
-
-.. figure:: images/illus4.jpg
- :align: center
- :alt: I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton.
-
- "I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton."
-
-"It is useless to deny it," she cut him short.
-"I saw you in the cab quite plainly as I entered
-the shop, and my cabby had previously
-told me that I was being shadowed. Now,
-Mr. Forsyth, when a gentleman follows a lady
-about the streets he either does it because he
-means her some harm, or because—well, because
-he is not quite indifferent to her.
-Which was it in your case?"
-
-This was a poser, and it had to be faced with
-instant decision. Rapidly reflecting that unless
-he was then and there prepared to accuse
-his fair *vis-à-vis* with complicity with Ziegler
-there was only one course open to him, he took
-it promptly. He little thought that within
-the next forty-eight hours his fate—to live or
-to die—would depend on the demeanor he then
-adopted.
-
-"I certainly did not follow you with a bad
-motive, and—there, a straight question deserves
-a straight answer—I am very far from
-being indifferent to you, Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton," he said.
-
-After that the amenities flowed in the most
-friendly channel, though Forsyth suffered
-agonies, and it required all his skill as an amateur
-actor of repute to sustain the part of a
-diffident lover hovering on the brink of a
-declaration.
-
-In the afternoon they returned to Prior's
-Tarrant together, outwardly on the best of
-terms; but, needless to say, Forsyth was still
-"hovering."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII—*Where is the Duke?*
-===================================
-
-
-The next day was that set for the arrival
-of Senator Sherman, though it would be quite
-late in the afternoon before he could reach
-Prior's Tarrant from Liverpool. Mrs. Sherman
-had addressed a letter to him on board the
-*Campania*, explaining matters and passing on
-a cordial invitation from Beaumanoir that he
-would join the party on landing.
-
-Latterly there had been an entire absence
-of the excursions and alarums which had
-marked the earlier days of the house-party.
-General Sadgrove and Alec Forsyth had relaxed
-none of their vigilance, and Azimoolah
-still ranged the glades of the park, but no more
-unauthorized artists had put in an appearance,
-nor had any member of the party suffered
-from headache, entailing the strange cure of a
-midnight journey.
-
-On this eventful morning it so happened
-that the ladies were all assembled in the
-breakfast-room before any of the gentlemen
-were down. Sybil, presiding at the tea and
-coffee equipage, was evincing deep interest in
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's narrative of her
-purchases in London the day before; Mrs.
-Sherman was wondering to Mrs. Sadgrove
-whether "Leonidas" would come straight to
-Prior's Tarrant, or insist on depositing the
-bonds in the Bank of England first; and
-Leonie was looking dreamily through the open
-windows across the park—she was often
-dreaming nowadays; so was the Duke.
-
-Presently General Sadgrove strode in and
-took his seat, making no apology, because
-breakfast was a come-as-you-please meal, and
-no one was expected to be punctual. But
-when he had said good-morning all round he
-glanced uneasily at the vacant places of Beaumanoir
-and Forsyth. The two young men
-were usually up and about before anyone.
-
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had broken off in
-the middle of describing a new and ravishing
-hat to Sybil in order to smile a welcome to the
-grim old warrior. She was now following the
-direction of his glance, and commented on it
-in sprightly fashion.
-
-"The naughty Duke and the naughty Mr.
-Forsyth!" she purred. "I believe you men
-keep most frightfully late hours in this house,
-General. What is it that you do—play cards
-or gamble with dominoes?"
-
-"No, it's chess," jerked out the General, regarding
-her impassively. "Mate to the King
-and the Black Queen to move. All that sort
-of thing, don't you know."
-
-The American widow trilled out a silvery
-laugh, and the veteran attacked his breakfast.
-But, looking singularly old this morning, he
-seemed to have but little appetite, and ate
-slowly, frowning at the two empty places; and
-when Alec Forsyth came in alone, and white
-as a sheet, he was on his legs in a moment.
-
-"Where is the Duke?" the General flung at
-his nephew.
-
-"I don't know; he's not in his room, and I
-can't find him anywhere in the nearer gardens,"
-was the reply. "I should like to speak
-to you for a moment," Forsyth added, with a
-significant glance at the ladies, who had so far
-failed to grasp that there was anything serious
-in a Duke being late for breakfast in his own
-house.
-
-It needed no second request to bring the
-General out into the hall. "Now tell me
-shortly," said the old man as soon as they were
-alone together.
-
-What Forsyth had to tell did not amount to
-much. As was his custom, he had gone to
-Beaumanoir's room as soon as he was dressed,
-and had found it vacant. As, however, the
-bed had been slept in, he apprehended nothing
-wrong, thinking merely that the Duke was
-smoking an early cigarette on the terrace.
-Seeing no sign of him there, he extended his
-search in the grounds, but again with no result.
-The next step was to question the servants,
-none of whom had seen their master
-since the previous day.
-
-The General stroked his chin thoughtfully.
-"I don't believe that woman knows anything,"
-he said at length. "I was watching her when
-you came in. She seemed to be surprised, and
-even disconcerted, by your news."
-
-"Perhaps one of her colleagues has acted independently,
-or there may be divided counsels
-in the camp," Forsyth suggested. "In that
-case——"
-
-"In *any* case, what we have to do is to find
-Beaumanoir, dead or alive," the General interrupted.
-"See here, Alec, you must get a grip
-on yourself and go in and eat your breakfast
-calmly—just to prevent a premature panic
-among the women. I'll go and hunt up Azimoolah.
-If there has been any stir during the
-night he is sure to know of it."
-
-But as the General descended the terrace
-steps he was smitten with inward misgivings
-on that point. Had his faithful henchman
-detected anything unusual during the hours of
-darkness he would, long ere this, have been up
-to the house to report; besides which, if he had
-come across any lurking miscreants he would
-have seen to it that no harm befell the Duke.
-And here was the Duke missing. The hypothesis
-was that Azimoolah had either been
-eluded or had himself fallen a victim to foul
-play.
-
-Influenced by this fear, the General quickened
-his pace, and as soon as he reached the
-wooded portion of the park uttered at frequent
-intervals his signal for the Pathan to appear.
-But glade after glade he traversed, scaring
-the rabbits with his cobra-like hiss, yet the lithe
-form of Azimoolah nowhere broke through the
-bushes. The General did not desist till he had
-thoroughly drawn the coverts, abandoning
-after a while his strange noises for a systematic
-scrutiny of the ground. He knew that
-had Azimoolah been in the park as a live man
-he would have answered the well-known call
-by now; whereas if he was lying cold and stark
-somewhere in the thicket, by patient search
-alone could he be found.
-
-At the end of a fruitless hour the General
-went back to the house, realizing that not only
-the Duke, but the Duke's most capable protector,
-was missing. The blow was a severe
-one, for, apart from the ominous mystery of
-this dual disappearance, a certain scheme that
-had come to very near maturity was rendered
-null and void—a scheme that before another
-day dawned was to have cut the claws of Ziegler
-and Co. for ever.
-
-There was the bare chance that Beaumanoir
-might have turned up during his absence, and
-General Sadgrove covered the ground at his
-best pace; but he was destined to find no such
-pleasant surprise in store for him. Forsyth
-met him, as he mounted the terrace steps, with
-the significant inquiry whether he had discovered
-anything.
-
-"Nothing, and Azimoolah has gone too,"
-was the reply. "Where are the women?"
-
-"In the morning-room; they are not alarmed
-as yet, only a little uneasy—especially Leonie."
-
-"She would be, but we needn't mind her,"
-the General rejoined, brusquely. "What do
-you make of Ziegler's understudy?"
-
-"I cannot make much of her," replied Forsyth.
-"I am inclined to agree with you that
-she is as much in a fog as the rest of us."
-
-The General grunted, and proposed that
-they should at once go up and rummage Beaumanoir's
-room for clues, a course which they
-instantly adopted. Since the charcoal episode
-their host had resolutely refused to occupy
-"the Duke's room," preferring to that grim
-state apartment a smaller chamber in the corridor
-where most of the guests were accommodated.
-Access was gained to it by two
-different doors, one leading to it through a
-dressing-room, the other directly opening into
-it. They chose the latter as being the nearest,
-and as they entered distinctly heard the swish
-of a silk skirt in the dressing-room, followed
-by the soft closing of the dressing-room door.
-
-Alert and bristling like an angry terrier, the
-General stepped quickly back into the corridor—just
-in time to see another door gently shut
-a little farther on.
-
-"You were right, laddie," he said, rejoining
-Forsyth. "She has been here before us on the
-same errand. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is as
-much bewildered as we are by the turn of
-events, and she has been trying to arrive at
-conclusions from an inspection of the Duke's
-room."
-
-They began their "rummage," which was
-made easier for them by the fact that the
-housemaids had not yet paid their morning
-visit to the room. The bed had certainly been
-slept in, and there were also indications that
-the occupant had made a perfunctory sort of
-toilet afterwards. There was fresh lather on
-a shaving-paper, and soapy water in the wash-basin,
-to show that Beaumanoir had been able
-to attend to his person.
-
-"Whatever has happened to him didn't happen
-here," said the General with decision. "He
-left this room a free agent, at all events. The
-question then arises, When and why did he
-leave it, and has he left the confines of the
-park?"
-
-"He must have made a cold toilet," said
-Forsyth. "See, here is the hot water which
-was brought up for him at eight o'clock this
-morning, and also the water for his tub."
-
-He stepped outside into the corridor and
-pointed to a small and a large can that had
-been placed close outside the door of the dressing-room.
-By the General's advice the Duke
-had been in the habit of keeping both doors
-locked at night, and the cans were never
-brought in by the servant who called him. A
-valet had not yet been engaged.
-
-"And there by the wash-stand is the empty
-can he used overnight," said the General.
-"Yes, there is the dirty water, in which he
-washed his hands before going to bed, in the
-waste-pail. We fix him, then, to having slept
-for some hours, and to having got up early and
-left the house in the small hours before anyone
-was about."
-
-"It looks as if he were playing a lone hand
-at some game of his own," said Forsyth,
-doubtfully.
-
-But the General would have no vague conjectures.
-Having settled within approximate
-limits the time when Beaumanoir quitted his
-room, he desired to learn how he had left the
-house. He himself had been sitting up from
-two, at which hour he relieved Forsyth, till five
-o'clock, and he would stake his reputation that
-no one had been moving during the period of
-his vigilance. The Duke must have left the
-house between five and six, at which latter hour
-the servants began to be moving.
-
-This view was strengthened by inquiry from
-the butler, who reported that on going his
-rounds to open up the house he had discovered
-one of the windows of the smoking-room unbolted,
-though he had himself seen to the
-fastenings the night before. He had not
-thought anything of it, supposing that one of
-the gentlemen had gone out for an early stroll.
-
-The General led Forsyth aside. "Whatever
-has happened to Beaumanoir, he has courted
-his own fate by going outside unattended," he
-said. "It almost looks as if he had been lured
-out by some trick of his enemies, in which case
-Azimoolah has probably been done to death
-while endeavoring to protect him. Come and
-help me search the park once more, and then
-if we find nothing we must call in the police."
-
-Making a detour by the stable-yard, so as
-to avoid meeting and being questioned by the
-ladies, they struck out for the leafy recesses of
-the broad belt of woodland that fringed the
-park. Allotting one section to Forsyth and
-taking the other himself, the General repeated
-the process of the morning, peering into the
-bushes, turning over heaps of leaves and probing the bracken with his stick, but all to no
-purpose. No gruesome corpse, either of English
-nobleman or of dark-skinned Asiatic, met
-their straining eyes.
-
-"We must give it up," said the General at
-last. "Now that we are down here we had
-better go out through the wicket-gate into the
-village and tell the constable to send for his
-superiors. We have reached the limit, and
-poor Beaumanoir's secrets can belong to him
-no longer, I fear."
-
-Forsyth assented that it would be no longer
-advisable, even if it were possible, to keep the
-Duke's affairs out of the hands of the police,
-and the two made their way toward the private
-gate in the park wall through which Beaumanoir
-had gone to church on his first memorable
-Sunday at Prior's Tarrant. They were approaching
-the gate, not by the path, but skirting
-the wall through the undergrowth, when
-a lissome body appeared suddenly at the top
-of the wall, poised there for a moment, and
-then dropped almost at their feet. It was
-Azimoolah Khan, dusty and out of breath, but
-very far from being a dead man.
-
-"How is this, thou son of Sheitan?" exclaimed
-the General, affecting sternness to
-hide his pleasure. "It was not your wont in
-the jungle days to desert your post in times
-of danger. In your absence some evil thing
-has befallen him whom we are pledged to
-guard."
-
-"Nay, Sahib, but hear me. It is not thy
-servant who has deserted his post, but his post
-which has deserted him," protested the Pathan,
-with dignified reproof. "The great Lord
-Duke ran away—oh so far and so fast—and
-thy servant ran after in his tracks to see that
-no harm befell him."
-
-"Well, where is the Duke now, man?" the
-General blurted out in great excitement.
-"Surely you haven't come back to tell me that
-you have lost him?"
-
-"The Duke is in the fire-carriage, Sahib;
-and thy servant having no sufficient money or
-orders from the Sahib, was not able to follow
-further than the station," Azimoolah replied.
-
-Pressed to be more explicit, this was the
-story he had to impart. He had been patrolling
-the park, ever with a watchful eye for the
-house, when between five and six he had seen
-the Duke come from one of the ground-floor
-windows and make at great speed for the coppices.
-Keeping himself concealed, Azimoolah
-had quickly perceived that it was the Duke's
-intention to leave the park by the wicket gate,
-and, considering it his duty not to lose sight of
-him, he had climbed the wall and followed.
-Avoiding the village street, Beaumanoir had
-struck into a series of lanes which presently
-brought him back into the main road beyond
-the farthest habitation. Thenceforward, with
-Azimoolah shadowing him, he had commenced
-a tramp which lasted between two and three
-hours, and finally ended at a railway station
-in a fair-sized country town.
-
-"You ascertained the name of the town?"
-asked the General.
-
-Yes, after the train had steamed away Azimoolah
-had not omitted to inquire the name
-of the town. It was Tring. He had also inquired
-at the booking-office where the Duke
-had taken a ticket for, but the clerk had refused
-the information with a rude remark
-about the color of his skin—a remark which,
-east of Suez, might have brought him a taste
-of cold steel.
-
-"And then, Sahib," concluded the narrator,
-"without bite or sup I started to run back
-again, being sore afraid lest thy heart should
-be troubled by these things."
-
-The General patted his orderly's lean shoulder.
-"You have done right, old sheep-dog,"
-he said. "And as the lamb has broken loose
-from the fold you can go and get food and
-take a few hours' rest. Come, Alec! Let us
-get back and see what Bradshaw has to tell
-us."
-
-Azimoolah having vanished over the boundary
-wall for his lodging in the village, they
-returned to the house and repaired to the library.
-Forsyth found a Northwestern time-table
-and turned up Tring.
-
-"Beaumanoir must have caught the 7.30
-down," he said, running his finger down the
-page. "It's a slow train, stopping at every
-station, and doesn't go beyond Bletchley."
-
-The General was growing querulous.
-"Bletchley!" he snorted. "What the deuce
-does he want at Bletchley? It's a little one-horse
-town in North Bucks, isn't it?"
-
-"Hold on, it's more than that," said Forsyth,
-still with his finger on the column. "It's
-a junction where fast trains stop, and—yes!—he
-could change there into the North of England
-express, which calls there at 8.10."
-
-The two men looked at each other in silence
-and with something of consternation.
-
-"Liverpool is in the north of England," said
-the General after a pause, "and Sherman is
-due to arrive there to-day."
-
-"I cannot and will not believe that Beaumanoir
-has gone wrong after all," Forsyth angrily
-replied to his uncle's significant remark.
-He spoke with such heat that neither of them
-noticed that the library door had been opened
-and that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood there,
-smiling at them.
-
-"Who has gone wrong?" she purred sweetly.
-"For goodness' sake, don't tell me that the
-Duke has run away with a housemaid!"
-
-She was looking at Forsyth with eyes that
-bored like gimlets, and he thought of the letter
-from Ziegler, addressed to the Duke, entrusted
-to him the day before. Was it something
-in that letter that made her stare so
-steadfastly and yet with something of mockery
-in her gaze? Having good reason to be aware
-of the contents of that letter, he thought it
-likely. Only in that case calculations had been
-all at sea, and Beaumanoir—alas, poor Beaumanoir!
-
-It was the General who answered the lady's
-banter, and that without any visible discomfiture.
-"No, it isn't the Duke who has gone
-wrong," he said calmly. "We were talking of
-someone not nearly so exalted. Our host is all
-right—gone away for a few hours by an early
-train on business. We have found out all
-about his movements, and I shall be obliged,
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, if you will kindly
-reassure the other ladies that Beaumanoir's
-absence is satisfactorily accounted for."
-
-"How delighted Miss Sherman will be. I
-will go and tell them all, at once," cried the
-American gaily. And she swept out of the
-room with an exuberant triumph not lost on
-those who remained behind.
-
-"Wherever the Duke has gone, and with
-whatever motive, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is
-pleased," the General mused aloud.
-
-"She will find herself mistaken if she thinks
-he has gone to play her game," said Alec Forsyth,
-staunch as ever to his friend.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII—*The Senator and the Securities*
-================================================
-
-
-On the hurricane-deck of the *Campania*, as
-the leviathan liner thrust her huge bulk towards
-the landing-stage through the lesser fry of the
-teeming Mersey traffic, a big man, wearing a
-light-gray frock-coat and a broad-brimmed
-soft white hat, stood talking to the purser.
-Senator Leonidas Sherman was accounted the
-handsomest man at Washington, and in his
-broad, well-chiseled, clean-shaven face was reflected
-that honesty and shrewd alertness which
-had caused his selection for his present trust.
-
-"I don't want the box out before the last
-moment, Mr. Seaton, and if you can conveniently
-keep the bullion-room locked till you
-hand it over I should be obliged," the Senator
-was saying.
-
-The brass-buttoned official gave a ready assent
-to the distinguished passenger's request.
-
-"I'd rather you had your job than me, sir,"
-he added, seriously. "The equivalent of three
-million sterling in a little leather thing like
-that, and to have to cart it up to London all
-by your lone self—why, it's enough to make
-one shudder."
-
-"It doesn't me," the Senator replied simply,
-with an unconscious gesture to his hip-pocket.
-"I have a bit of a reputation to live up to, you
-know. If it's to be shooting, my early training
-has taught me to draw first; and if it's to be
-confidence-men—well, it's some years since I
-was born."
-
-The purser nodded and went about his duties
-while Sherman leaned over the forward
-rail and watched the shore, looming larger now
-every moment. The Senator was no back-woods
-"hayseed." A man of culture and much
-travel, he possessed far more than a guide-book
-knowledge of every European capital,
-and did not make the mistake of under-estimating
-London as a hatching-ground for
-crime. Till his precious charge was deposited
-in the Bank of England and he had fingered
-the receipt he was prepared for emergencies.
-The gold shipment which his Government had
-negotiated against the bonds he was bringing
-had been buzzed about in Wall Street for two
-months and more—ample time for the maturing
-of predatory schemes.
-
-Aided by the company's tug, the great
-steamer sidled up to the landing-stage, and as
-soon as the gangways were opened the usual
-stream of passengers' friends began to push
-their way on board. The hurricane-deck
-towered high above the level of the quay, and
-Senator Sherman, not expecting anyone to
-meet him, retained his post of vantage at the
-rail, looking down with amused interest at the
-embracings and hand-shakings. He had no
-need to hurry, for it was too late to catch a
-train to London in time to reach the Bank before
-it closed for the day, and he preferred to
-let the ship clear before he claimed the box of
-bonds from the purser.
-
-Suddenly he heard his name spoken inquiringly
-at his elbow, and wheeling smartly round
-he found himself looking into the harassed eyes
-of a well-dressed man whom he had seen, a few
-minutes before, pass on board from the
-landing-stage. He had specially noticed him
-from a limp which impeded his progress across
-the crowded gangway.
-
-"Yes, my name is Sherman, but I haven't
-the pleasure of knowing yours," said the Senator
-shortly. There was a diffident air about
-this tired-looking individual—a something
-that might be shyness or might be guile—that
-put him on his guard. Could it be that one
-of the "confidence-men," about whom he had
-just spoken so lightly, was going to practise
-on him ere even the securities were out of the
-purser's custody? He wondered what tale
-would be unfolded for his entrapment.
-
-"I am the Duke of Beaumanoir," the
-stranger replied, after a nervous glance round.
-"I don't suppose you ever heard of me. There
-wouldn't have been time for a letter from your
-people to reach you from this side before you
-sailed."
-
-"You know my wife and daughter?" the
-Senator asked, sharply. The "tale" was developing
-on the grand scale, he told himself.
-
-"I have the privilege of knowing Mrs. and
-Miss Sherman," replied the Duke, flushing
-under the keen scrutiny to which he was being
-subjected. "I have also the honor of being
-their host. They are staying, together with
-their friends the Sadgroves, at my place in
-Hertfordshire. I—I came down to meet you
-in the hope of inducing you to join them
-there."
-
-"Very good of you. May I ask how you
-came to make their acquaintance?" asked the
-Senator, in an arid tone.
-
-"I traveled in the same ship with them from
-New York, and General Sadgrove, with whom
-they stayed on arrival, happened to be the uncle
-of my friend and secretary, Alec Forsyth,"
-Beaumanoir made answer.
-
-An amused twinkle flashed into the Senator's
-clear eyes. He was quite certain now that
-the man was an impostor with designs on the
-three millions. The only spice of truth in the
-fellow's story, he told himself, probably was
-that he had sailed in the *St. Paul*, which would
-have given him the opportunity of gathering
-from his wife or Leonie the particulars he was
-now working on. The Senator had no doubt
-that if he accompanied this rather poor specimen
-of a criminal decoy an attempt would be
-made to relieve him of the bonds—possibly
-to murder him. It was all a little too thin—especially
-the dangling of an exalted title as a
-bait to catch an American. This part of the
-scheme really annoyed him, as casting on a
-foible of his fellow-countrymen a reflection
-which he felt to be not wholly undeserved. The
-Senator became dangerous.
-
-"Very well, your Grace; if my family is
-under your roof, it is the right place for me,"
-he said more affably. "I accept your invitation
-in the spirit in which it is given. I have
-a matter of three million sterling in securities
-to get from the bullion-room, and then I'm
-your man. Kindly wait here."
-
-A grim smile played round the Senator's
-firm lips when, after going through the needful
-formalities with the purser, he quitted the
-steamer's stronghold, carrying the leather
-despatch-box. He would lead the rascal on,
-making his mouth water, gently titillate his
-expectations, and then, having got him fairly
-on the hooks, hand him over to the police. Delighted
-with the prospect of thwarting a rogue,
-he sought his state-room to collect his personal
-baggage and have it conveyed ashore. The
-first thing that met his eye on entering the
-state-room was a letter in his wife's handwriting
-that had just been delivered.
-
-It bore date of the previous day, and informed
-him that the writer and Leonie were
-staying as the guests of the Duke of Beaumanoir
-at his country seat, Prior's Tarrant. Mrs.
-Sherman went on to explain the circumstances,
-so far as she was aware of them, of the invitation,
-and she wound up with the hope that the
-Senator would join them immediately on landing.
-The Duke, who was the embodiment of
-affability, had cordially expressed that wish,
-she wrote; without, however, mentioning the
-Duke's intention of going to Liverpool to meet
-the *Campania*.
-
-Senator Sherman read the letter twice, assured
-himself of the authenticity of the handwriting,
-examined the postmark, and—made
-a wry face. It looked as if he had been too
-hasty in jumping to a conclusion about the
-young man waiting for him on the hurricane-deck,
-and he began to regret the curt demeanor
-he had assumed. He was not quite convinced,
-however, owing to the absence of any allusion
-to the Duke meeting him—in itself an extraordinary
-proceeding. Good republican as he
-was, the Senator fully appreciated the cleavage
-of English class distinctions, and he was aware
-that great nobles do not, as a rule, wait at seaport
-towns to welcome perfect strangers. It
-was possible that the depressed individual on
-deck might, after all, be a criminal who had
-discovered Mrs. Sherman's visit to the Duke
-of Beaumanoir and was turning his knowledge
-to evil account. Still, though caution was
-called for, his wife's letter invested the man's
-story with a credibility which it had wholly
-lacked, and when he rejoined him the Senator's
-manner was altered accordingly. The Duke
-having telegraphed for the carriage to meet
-them at Tarrant Road, they took a cab together
-to Lime Street station, and were fortunate
-enough to find a train on the point of starting.
-It was a corridor express, made up entirely of
-vestibule cars, and the fact caused the Duke
-an annoyance which partially revived the Senator's
-suspicions.
-
-"I don't like this," Beaumanoir said, glancing
-with what looked very like dismay up and
-down the well-filled car as they took their seats.
-"I should have preferred an ordinary first-class
-compartment that we could have had reserved."
-
-"Ah! I suppose a duke is bound to be a bit
-exclusive," said the Senator, guardedly.
-
-Beaumanoir, who a month before had regarded
-a ride in a Bowery street-car as an unattainable
-luxury, was betrayed into disclaiming
-any such snobbery.
-
-"It isn't that——" he was beginning hotly,
-when he pulled up short and feebly subsided,
-without explaining why he should have desired
-a *tête-à-tête* journey.
-
-With the starting of the train a sustained
-and confidential conversation became impracticable,
-nor did either of the fellow travelers
-seem inclined for one; but as they sped southward
-the Senator found plenty of food for reflection
-in his companion's behavior. To the
-experienced American eye the outline of a pistol
-was plainly apparent in the breast-pocket
-of the Duke, whose fingers never strayed far
-from that receptacle—an attitude which was
-always more distinctly marked during the infrequent
-stoppages. Except when it was distracted
-into a swift and nervous glance round
-by a movement of one of the other passengers,
-the Duke's gaze was always focused on the
-precious box which the Senator carried on his
-lap.
-
-"Either he means to rob me himself, or he
-is scared lest someone else will," was the Senator's
-conclusion.
-
-But the journey came to an end without
-either of these consummations being arrived at
-or even attempted, and the sight of the coroneted
-carriage and the ducal liveries at Tarrant
-Road station removed the Senator's last lingering
-doubt as to the Duke's identity. And,
-twenty minutes later, when, still hugging his
-despatch-box, he found his wife and daughter
-waiting to welcome him under the portico at
-Prior's Tarrant, he was ready to laugh at himself;
-and what the Senator was ready to do
-he usually did promptly—as now.
-
-"Ah, Jem!" he cried, as General Sadgrove
-came forward to greet him. "You'll never believe
-what an ass I've been making of myself.
-Something in the British soil, I guess. It's
-only this minute that I've been able to clear
-my silly brain of a lurking suspicion that his
-Grace's kindness in coming to meet me covered
-a design on this little box. Took him for a sort
-of bunco-steerer."
-
-The General passed over the remark as a
-careless jest without pursuing it, but shook
-hands with his old friend warmly. The veteran
-was looking careworn and aged, the Senator
-thought, and he wondered, too, at the
-queer searching glance which the General cast
-upon their mutual host as the latter limped
-from the brougham into the hall. The Duke
-was engaged in making light of the thanks and
-reproaches showered upon him for going to
-Liverpool, wherefrom the Senator guessed
-that that singular proceeding had been unknown
-beforehand to the house-party.
-
-They all went into the tapestry-room, where
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, now happily recovered
-from her headache of three days ago,
-was chatting to Sybil Hanbury and Alec Forsyth.
-The necessary introductions were effected
-by Beaumanoir, whose spirits had wonderfully
-revived with his entry into the house—to
-such an extent, indeed, that Leonie put
-it down to a few hours in the company of her
-breezy father, little thinking that they had
-traveled two hundred miles together without
-exchanging half as many words. Yet if there
-was nothing forced about the Duke's sudden
-gaiety it certainly suggested unnatural excitement,
-and everyone present was impressed by
-his changed demeanor. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-was so affected by it that in narrowly
-observing her host she failed to notice that for
-some minutes after the introduction she herself
-was the object of observation, not to say a
-pretty sharp scrutiny, on the part of Senator
-Sherman.
-
-"Say, your Grace," exclaimed the Senator,
-recovering from his abstraction and turning
-with some abruptness to the Duke, "I can't
-enjoy your hospitality with a whole heart till
-I've got this treasure under lock and key.
-Have you got any place where I can deposit
-the box with tolerable confidence of finding it
-when I want to take it to the Bank of England
-to-morrow? It's a just retribution, I
-guess, to have to make you its custodian after
-suspecting you of wanting to lift it."
-
-Beaumanoir, it seemed, was quite equal to
-the occasion.
-
-"I can guarantee the impregnability of the
-fire-proof safe in my muniment room," he replied
-with alacrity. "If you will come with
-me, we will lock it up at once."
-
-Sturdily disregarding the badinage of his
-wife and Leonie for thinking robbery possible
-at Prior's Tarrant, the Senator followed the
-Duke, and was conducted by him along many
-corridors to a stone-floored chamber lined with
-shelves full of dusty archives, and furnished
-only with a carved oak table and a few worm-eaten
-chairs. But, what was more to the purpose,
-a brand-new safe, resplendent in green
-and gold, the very latest patent of the most
-eminent manufacturers, occupied an imposing
-position at the far end. Producing a key, the
-Duke unlocked the safe, with no result till a
-touch on a hidden spring caused the heavy steel
-door to roll slowly outwards. The interior was
-nearly filled with parchment-bound volumes
-exactly like those on the shelves, but there was
-plenty of room for the box.
-
-The Senator promptly placed his precious
-charge in the vacant space, and heaved a sigh
-of relief.
-
-"It ought to be all right there," he said.
-
-"It ought to be," Beaumanoir echoed, as he
-set the mechanism in motion. And when the
-heavy door had slid noiselessly back into position,
-he turned the key and pocketed it with an
-air of achievement. "Come, Mr. Sherman," he
-said lightly, "let us go and rejoin the ladies.
-Now that we have got that safely housed we
-shall both feel much—er—more comfortable,
-shan't we?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX—*In the Crypt*
-============================
-
-
-Late on the evening of Senator Sherman's
-arrival at Prior's Tarrant he was alone with
-General Sadgrove in the smoking-room, the
-Duke of Beaumanoir and Forsyth having
-avowedly gone up to bed. Under the influence
-of the genial American, and with the Duke
-himself in a more expansive mood, dinner and
-the subsequent reunion in the tapestry-room
-had been prolonged later than recently, and
-the chiming clock on the mantelpiece tinkled
-out the hour of midnight as the Senator put
-the question:
-
-"Who the dickens is that Talmage Eglinton
-woman, Jem?"
-
-The General started, but affected a carelessness
-which he was far from feeling in the trite
-reply that "Goodness only knew." He proceeded,
-however, to temper the crudity of the
-remark with the information that the lady in
-question was staying in London for the season,
-professed to hail from Chicago, and was reputed
-wealthy.
-
-"She is hardly the type of American one
-expects to meet in such a house as this—or
-wants to meet anywhere," said the Senator.
-"And," he added, poising the match with which
-he was about to light another of his own green
-Havanas, "she is the cause of prejudice in
-a usually unbiased mind. She has the misfortune
-to be fashioned in the likeness of one Cora
-Lestrade, a person of note in my country,
-whom I once saw in my capacity of Visiting
-Prison Commissioner. That was three years
-ago, but of course it can't be the same woman."
-
-"It would be a curious coincidence," was all
-the General would admit. "She was taken up
-by Lord and Lady Roseville, impecunious folk
-who would take up anyone for value received.
-What was this Cora Lestrade's particular line
-of business?"
-
-The Senator reflected for a moment.
-
-"I don't think she specialized herself," he
-said. "Her forte was organization, and I heard
-that at the time she was taken she bossed a
-complete outfit, comprising forgers, confidence-men,
-train-robbers, and high-grade
-criminals of all sorts, who operated over the
-entire universe. They used to regard her as a
-queen. It was hinted at her trial that they
-were all fascinated by the spell of her charms,
-though she would never favor any of the crew
-in that way. Probably that was the secret of
-her power over them."
-
-"You don't happen to know when her sentence
-expired?" the General asked, after a
-pause.
-
-"It didn't expire; she broke jail—an easy
-matter for one as well served as she was by a
-clever crowd with unlimited financial resources."
-
-The two old cronies relapsed into a thoughtful
-silence, neither of them showing a disposition
-to retire for the night, though the intense
-stillness prevailing in the great house implied
-that everyone else was asleep. Yet it was not
-so, for Alec Forsyth was at that moment uncommonly
-busy before the looking-glass in his
-bedroom. On the toilet-table there lay open a
-theatrical "make-up" box, from which he was
-putting the finishing touches to a very creditable
-transformation of himself into a semblance
-of the Duke. His deft usage of the
-various pigments revealed him as no tyro at the
-task, for which, indeed, his proficiency as an
-amateur actor had inspired the idea.
-
-"That will do, I think," he said to himself
-after a final survey. "It is a good thing that
-the scene is to be played without limelight effects;
-but it is my voice that will give me away
-if anything does."
-
-He rose and crossed the room once or twice,
-copying Beaumanoir's slight limp to the life.
-Then, having consulted his watch, he took
-from his pocket-book a letter, addressed to
-the man he was about to personate, and refreshed
-his memory.
-
-"I congratulate you on this return to your
-senses," the writer began. "My agents inform
-me that the gentleman in whom we are interested
-is expected to stay at Prior's Tarrant as
-your guest on arrival, being due on Tuesday.
-On Tuesday night you will leave unfastened
-the door leading into the crypt from the Dutch
-garden, so that I and my assistants may obtain
-access secretly. You will come down into the
-crypt an hour after midnight, when I will hand
-you the documents for substitution. Do not
-fail to make your arrangements so that the exchange
-may be effected without a hitch, and
-as rapidly as possible. As host you should
-have no difficulty in inspiring the necessary
-confidence to put the business through, and
-you will then be troubled no further by us.—C.
-Z."
-
-"Poor old Beau! He's played up as well as
-if we had told him all about our plan," Forsyth
-muttered as he replaced the letter and took another
-look at himself in the glass. "I trust
-they won't call me 'your Grace,' and make
-me laugh."
-
-But it was in no laughing mood that he
-switched off the electric light, listened at the
-door for fully a minute, and then softly opened
-it. His room, as it had been in the London
-house, was next to that of the Duke, and, satisfied
-that there was no one in the corridor, he
-slid out softly and shut the door behind him.
-A few natural steps having brought him opposite
-the Duke's room, he fell at once into
-Beaumanoir's limp, and so continued his way
-to the head of a secondary staircase that led
-down to the service rooms on the ground floor.
-
-At the foot of the stairs, never forgetting
-his limp, he traversed several passages in which
-at long intervals only had a light been left
-burning, and at length he came to a massive
-oak door. Opening this, he found himself at
-the top of a flight of straight stone steps, running
-down into the blackness of the great subterranean
-chamber, which had been used as a
-crypt in the old monastic days. The shutting
-of the door cut off the last ray of light, and
-there being no rails to the steps he struck a
-wax match in order to make the descent in
-safety. But the feeble flame had hardly flickered
-out when it was rendered useless by a
-dazzling beam of white effulgence that suddenly
-sprang into being and shone upon him
-from below.
-
-"Hang it all, I didn't allow for this!" he
-thought uneasily. "They have brought one of
-those wretched portable electric lamps, and I
-doubt if the disguise will stand. However,
-here goes."
-
-Nerving himself for the ordeal, he went
-slowly down the steps, and so limped across the
-stone floor towards a spot in the very center of
-the crypt where five figures were grouped under
-the groined roof. He had only time to observe
-that one figure—that of an old man with snow-white
-beard and puffed, purple cheeks—stood
-slightly in advance of the rest, when on his
-near approach an order was given in a queer,
-parrot-like squeak to switch out the lamp. The
-crypt was windowless, but it was conceivable
-that a light in the interior might be seen from
-outside under the door leading into the gardens.
-Hence, doubtless, the precaution.
-
-"You have made all preparations above,
-Duke?" was queried in the same piping voice.
-
-"The bonds are in my own safe, and I obtained
-the key of the Senator's despatch-box
-by a trick—picked his pocket, in fact—after
-dinner," Forsyth replied, in a perfect imitation
-of Beaumanoir's tone. He was beginning
-to feel more confident in being able to sustain
-his part; he would not, he thought, have lived
-to reach this parley if his disguise had been
-penetrated.
-
-"Then," the unseen spokesman proceeded,
-"all you have to do is to take this bundle of
-papers and place them in the box, extracting
-the originals, and returning here at once with
-them. It will then give me pleasure to absolve
-you from further service."
-
-Forsyth felt a large packet pressed into his
-grasp, and he instantly turned with it to go
-towards the steps, expecting that the lamp
-would be switched on to guide him. This
-proved to be the case, and he was glad that
-those five scoundrels only had a back view of
-him as he limped across the floor and laboriously
-climbed the steps. Nor when he had
-passed through the door out of their sight was
-there any quickening of his halting gait to
-show that he was exulting in that he had so far
-successfully risked his life for his friend. And
-it was well that he kept up his part, for as he
-crossed under the well of the staircase to the
-servants' bedrooms he caught a glimpse of
-Rosa, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's French maid,
-watching him over the banisters.
-
-Mounting to his own room he locked the
-bundle of papers he had received away in one
-of his trunks, from which he first took a packet
-of similar dimensions, formidably sealed.
-Without wasting a moment he placed this
-packet under his arm, and, falling once more
-into Beaumanoir's limp, retraced his steps to
-the crypt, where, as soon as he had passed
-through the door, a beam from the portable
-lamp shed a glare on his descent to the level of
-the floor. The five figures, with the white-bearded
-old man in advance, awaited him as
-before.
-
-As Forsyth approached he hoped every moment
-to hear those parrot-like tones order the
-light to be cut off, but this time no such welcome sound fell upon his ears. He had to
-advance quite close with the full radiance of
-the lamp shining on him. The light, he soon
-perceived, had been retained for the purpose of
-examining the packet, which Ziegler snatched
-from him with impatient vehemence; and suddenly
-Forsyth was confronted with a situation
-not wholly unforeseen, but which he had hoped
-to avoid in the haste of the gang to make off
-with their plunder. Not content with a scrutiny
-of the carefully taped and sealed dummy
-package, Ziegler was about to undo the fastenings
-and look at the contents, which consisted
-of nothing more valuable than tissue paper.
-
-It seemed an age while the lithe white fingers
-broke the seals and disarranged the tape, and
-Forsyth steadied himself for the inevitable discovery.
-He was not prepared to lose his life
-at the hands of this murderous crew without a
-fight for it, five to one though they were; and
-it occurred to him that at the first sign of
-violence his best plan would be to smash the
-electric lamp with a well-directed kick, and
-then try and elude them in the dark. Ziegler's
-face was in shadow, the miscreant holding the
-lamp being behind him; but Forsyth saw at
-last, by the swift upward jerk of the arch-robber's head, that the worthlessness of the bundle
-was known to him. It was probable, too, from
-the prolonged silent stare with which he gazed
-and gazed at the Duke's counterfeit, that the
-latter's identity was no longer a secret.
-
-With quite a natural movement Forsyth
-edged a little nearer to the man with the lamp,
-and the movement seemed to break the spell
-which held Ziegler speechless. The chief
-turned abruptly to his followers.
-
-"I must have a word with this gentleman—with
-the Duke—alone," he squeaked. "Go out
-into the garden and await close outside—within
-call. Here, I will keep the lamp." Forsyth
-noticed that the well-shaped hand with which
-he grasped the contrivance was shaking violently—so
-violently, that the ray with which
-he guided his four subordinates through the
-groined arches to the door wavered like a will-o'-the-wisp.
-He waited till the last one had
-filed out before he turned again to the man
-who had baffled him.
-
-"Well, Mr. Forsyth?" he piped, and the
-high-pitched note quivered and trembled as the
-lamp-ray had done.
-
-"Well, sir?" Forsyth repeated, in blank
-amazement at the sparing of his life, for unless
-some hidden treachery beyond his fathoming
-was afoot, he could not doubt that it was
-spared. He was more than a physical match
-for the aged evil-doer in front of him, and before
-the others could be recalled he could make
-good his retreat into the house by the way he
-had come. The quiet acceptance of defeat by
-the bloodthirsty old schemer was a puzzle beyond
-solution, if it was not a veil for some
-further villainy.
-
-"You have beaten me, Mr. Forsyth—you
-and General Sadgrove," Ziegler went on. "I
-don't suppose it's of any use my offering you
-a bribe to bring me back the package you have
-obtained so smartly? I would make it a very
-large one."
-
-"Not the slightest use," Forsyth answered,
-almost laughing, yet more than ever puzzled
-by the *naïveté* of the question. "I have been
-at considerable pains to deprive you of your
-bogus bonds, and it is hardly likely, Mr. Ziegler,
-that I am going to restore your power
-over the Duke of Beaumanoir. He is a brave
-man, and doesn't fear death. You can't hurt
-him that way; but with these forgeries in your
-possession you might make some sort of a story
-good against him. Without them, anything
-you could say would be an idle tale."
-
-"That is not the point, believe me, Mr. Forsyth,"
-the shrill voice quavered almost pleadingly.
-"The contents of that package took
-three of my most skilled colleagues months to
-prepare. They are proud of their work—love
-those forged bonds as if they were their children.
-To their pride in their work I should
-owe my life, if you would give them back to
-me."
-
-Forsyth could hardly believe his ears. Could
-this tremulous dotard be the redoubtable master
-of crime whom he and his uncle had been
-fighting throughout the last crowded week?
-"I really don't see how your not particularly
-valuable life can depend on your possession of
-a lot of bogus bonds," he said, with genuine
-curiosity. The appeal to his pity filled him
-with vague uneasiness, the alleged reason for
-it being so utterly absurd. Yet Ziegler was
-ready with an explanation, more or less plausible.
-
-"My associates will kill me for being duped
-out of their handiwork," he answered, glancing
-fearfully to the garden entrance. "They would
-perhaps pardon the miscarriage of the main
-scheme, but to have parted with material which
-might yet have been turned to account will seal
-my doom—that, and having allowed you to
-survive your triumph over us."
-
-Forsyth saw now—or thought he saw—why
-the murderous crew had been ordered off in
-ignorance of the miscarriage. It was to enable
-Ziegler to make this desperate appeal for the
-restitution of the bogus bonds, so that he might
-"save his face" with his comrades. It would
-be ample excuse in their eyes—flatter their
-vanity, as their tottering chief had hinted—if
-he had himself been deceived by the fabricated
-securities. But they had seen him examine the
-parcel; they would know that he had made the
-discovery on the spot, and yet had not decreed
-instant death to their successful opponent. One
-flaw in this chain of reasoning Forsyth, himself
-no casuist, overlooked. It did not occur to him
-that the old practitioner with the white beard
-and the squeaky voice could have put himself
-right with his companions if he had hounded
-them on to him the moment he knew he was
-fingering tissue-paper and not United States
-Treasury bonds, good, bad, or indifferent.
-
-"Well, Mr. Clinton Ziegler," said Forsyth,
-eager now to have done with the matter in the
-only possible way, "your appeal is dismissed
-with costs—on the higher scale. What does it
-matter to me what happens to you? If you
-had had your way you would have earned a
-legal hanging four times in the last week. If
-your friends save the common hangman the
-trouble, so much the better for all concerned,
-especially as they would thereby get themselves
-hanged also."
-
-"Nothing will move you?"
-
-"Absolutely nothing; and now I'll trouble
-you to clear off the premises if you and your
-gentlemen outside don't want to be treated as
-ordinary burglars."
-
-"What if I call them back and have you
-strangled?"
-
-With the way of escape open behind him
-Forsyth laughed at the futile threat, and to
-the group outside in the Dutch garden it must
-have sounded like a friendly laugh of mutual
-satisfaction and farewell, for he gently pushed
-the old man before him to the garden door and
-shut it on him. Then, having carefully shot
-the heavy bolts, he groped his way back to the
-stone steps leading up into the house, triumphant,
-yet not wholly convinced. The ignominious
-collapse of Mr. Clinton Ziegler was
-almost too good to be true, and he was painfully
-conscious that such an astute antagonist
-was not likely to have thrown all his cards on
-to the table.
-
-The fact, however, remained that the
-schemers had been deprived of their spurious
-bonds, without which their carefully planned
-design to obtain possession of the genuine ones
-fell to the ground.
-
-"And their blood-feud against the poor chap
-will surely cease, now that there is no crime,
-past or contemplated, for which he can denounce
-them," Forsyth comforted himself as
-he stepped from the door at the head of the
-stone stairs and hastened along the dimly lit
-corridor, limping no longer. His destination
-was the smoking-room, where he guessed that
-the General would be eagerly awaiting news.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX—*In the Muniment Room*
-===================================
-
-
-While Alec Forsyth was engaged in showing
-Ziegler out of the crypt, the Duke of
-Beaumanoir, in happy ignorance of the perilous
-effort his friend was making for him, sat
-in the dark muniment room, still as a cat, with
-his eyes on the door. He had drawn one of
-the oak chairs close to the safe in which Senator
-Sherman's genuine bonds reposed. He
-had established himself on guard, in case,
-trickery having failed, violent methods should
-be adopted at the last moment to obtain the
-huge plunder.
-
-He thought it improbable that, with General
-Sadgrove in the house and Azimoolah
-somewhere loose around it, any of the gang
-would break in unseen, still less that they
-would reach the muniment room. He sincerely
-hoped that the vigilance of those trained watch-dogs
-would prevail, for, though he was prepared
-to atone for his folly by defending the
-safe at the cost of his life, if need be, he did
-not see how that could be done without opening
-up the scandal he had gone through so
-much to avoid. He had bought the safe, had
-met the Senator at Liverpool, and now, unknown
-to anyone, was keeping his lonely vigil
-in the firm determination that, at all hazards,
-the bonds should reach the Bank of England
-in safety; but there was a dread in his heart
-lest the tell-tale emergency he was providing
-against should arise.
-
-For here it becomes necessary to say that the
-letter sent to Ziegler in London five days before,
-and purporting to convey the Duke's submission
-and request for instructions, which
-were called for by Alec Forsyth, was not written
-by the Duke at all, or even with his cognizance.
-It had been the joint production of
-General Sadgrove and Forsyth, with an eye
-to immediate immunity for the Duke from
-further murderous attacks, and to the enactment
-of some such dangerous comedy as had
-just been played in the crypt. Though when
-that deceptive missive was penned, its authors
-expected, in varying degrees, as will presently
-be seen, tragedy rather than comedy. And he
-who by right of youth and friendship necessarily
-took the greater risk was the one who,
-not being fully informed by his uncle, had
-most cause for apprehension from the masquerade.
-
-But Beaumanoir, sitting in the dark with
-his Smith and Wesson at full cock amid the
-archives of the house he was concerned to preserve
-stainless, was aware of none of these tortuous
-dealings. Had his zeal allowed him to
-indulge in the luxury of a light, he might have
-whiled away the time by perusing some of the
-musty chronicles around him, and have so
-drawn comfort from the knowledge that if his
-misdeed was published with the usual trimmings
-in every paper in the kingdom, he would
-still compare favorably with some of his race
-who had gone before. So far he had never
-stolen poor men's land under the protection of
-the Commons Enclosure Act, or appropriated
-tenants' improvements to his own enrichment.
-
-True, it was a dirty trick he had put his
-hand to—a dirty trick in dirty company—and
-he hated himself for it to the full. But he had
-been a denizen of another world when Ziegler's
-emissary had annexed him, body and soul, as
-plain Charles Hanbury, in the Bowery saloon.
-He remembered that world now with a horror
-and a loathing greater, if possible, than when
-he had endured it—the sordid life in the five-dollar
-boarding-house, the lunch of tough sandwiches
-of Texas beef which had bulged his
-pockets on the way to his duties in the big dry
-goods store, the insolence of his Irish-American
-and German fellow-workers because of his
-English speech. And the haughty salesladies
-who had drawn their skirts from him as they
-squeezed past the tame detective at the time-keeper's
-box—sitting there in the dark muniment
-room, even his present trouble could not
-check a smile at thinking what those damsels
-would have done if told that he had been about
-to become a duke within the month.
-
-Yes, it had been a dirty trick that he had
-undertaken to escape all this, but somehow
-the thing had not seemed so bad when he was
-unacquainted with the persons interested.
-Just as old-time smugglers persuaded themselves
-that there was no dishonesty in defrauding
-the state, so in the same light he had regarded
-the spoliation of a big corporation like
-the Bank of England or the United States
-Treasury, whichever would have been the ultimate
-loser when the lawyers had settled the
-matter. He would never have gone into the
-business, even in his despairing exile, if he had
-not looked upon it as a breach of honesty
-which no single individual would be an appreciable
-loser. He made no excuses for himself
-on this score, but merely analyzed his state of
-mind philosophically, by no means salving his
-conscience because he had dropped the affair
-the moment individualities had become involved,
-or laying claim to any merit for a
-repentance sustained at such imminent peril.
-
-"Whatever is the upshot of it all I can never
-be too thankful that I came over in the same
-ship with the Shermans," he muttered, "and
-for being brought up with a round turn by
-the knowledge that the one to bear the brunt
-of my iniquity would have been Leonie's
-father. Why, the excellent Senator might
-have been suspected of having stolen the bonds
-himself. Funny that that view didn't occur to
-me till I knew the people."
-
-The same gratitude had filled his simple soul
-twenty times during the last week, even when
-his enemies had pressed him most sorely; but
-it recurred with redoubled force now that he
-was within sight of the end. By noon on the
-morrow the Senator would have safely housed
-the securities at the Bank, and then his own
-responsibility would cease. Ziegler could kill
-him then, and welcome, if he still thought it
-worth while, though the chief of the organization
-was not, he imagined, the sort of person
-to waste time and energy on a purely sentimental
-revenge. If Ziegler carried on the
-feud after the bonds were safe from him it
-would be, as before, to secure silence about the
-attempt, and he could fling no stigma on the
-family name without divulging details that
-would incriminate his gang. And the family
-name was all that mattered.
-
-Beaumanoir had just rounded off his forecast
-in this satisfactory manner when he was
-suddenly startled back into the present by a
-faint sound far down the corridor on which
-the muniment room abutted. He knew perfectly
-well what the sound was—the "scroop"
-of the spring-driven swivel-roller that automatically
-closed a baize door shutting off the
-servants' premises. He had half risen from
-his chair when another sound—the tinkle of a
-pebble cast against the window from outside—distracted
-his attention; but disregarding it in
-favor of the more pressing emergency, he
-made haste towards the door of the room.
-
-The room was at the extreme end of the
-corridor, looking along it lengthwise, and it
-was not therefore necessary for the Duke to
-disclose himself at the door, which he had purposely
-left partially open, in order to reconnoiter.
-Standing in the darkness a few feet
-from the door, he was able to see who was
-coming, and the sight sent a thrill of despair
-to his heart. All his pleasant anticipations of
-oblivion for his transgression were rudely shattered,
-for the old man who, white-bearded and
-with cat-like tread, came along the passage was
-Ziegler himself. Another figure was dimly
-discerned close behind, but of that the Duke
-took no heed. His eyes were riveted on the
-one in front—on the evil man who had the
-power to change his destiny. There was something
-curiously fantastic, something unreal, in
-the aged miscreant gliding towards him,
-framed in the gaping darkness of the doorway.
-
-The opening into a branch passage, leading
-to another part of the mansion, lay between
-Ziegler and the muniment room, and there was
-a bare chance that he might turn in that direction.
-In reality he had to advance but a few
-steps before the point could be settled, but it
-seemed a whole æon to the Duke, and, to add
-to the tension of his nerves, another pebble
-struck the window. All hope of being able to
-preserve his secret had fled now, and Beaumanoir
-strove to concentrate his reeling brain on
-how best to summon assistance and ward off
-an attack on the safe. If only he knew who
-that was throwing up stones from outside—whether
-friend or foe—he could decide
-whether to run to the window and open it or
-leave it alone. He dared not act in ignorance,
-possibly to admit a third adversary. The
-window was ten feet from the ground, but the
-wall was covered with gnarled ivy stems up
-which an active man could readily climb.
-
-While he was hesitating the matter was arranged
-for him. There was no time to reach
-the window, for Ziegler passed the branch
-corridor without as much as looking at it, and
-was coming straight on to the muniment room.
-Beaumanoir raised his revolver, but lowered it
-again, incapable of shooting a fellow-creature
-in cold blood, and also fascinated by a horrible
-curiosity to learn the intruder's intention. He
-could not as yet be absolutely certain that Ziegler
-knew that the bonds were in the safe. He
-would wait till it was attacked before he made
-a counter-move.
-
-In this mind he slipped behind a huge oak
-press laden with expired leases, and had hardly
-ensconced himself when Ziegler entered the
-room, followed, to Beaumanoir's surprise, by
-a woman, whom he did not recognize, in the
-faint light diffused from the corridor, as Rosa,
-Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's French maid. The
-shadowy figures—that of the frail old man
-and of the trim soubrette—stood motionless
-and silent just within the doorway, evidently
-mastering the landmarks of the room. Then,
-at a whisper from Ziegler, the maid glided
-with a nod of comprehension to the nearest
-window, and was busy with the hasp when the
-rattle of still another pebble on the glass accelerated
-her movements. She swung the casement
-outwards, and in a muffled voice called
-down:
-
-"'Tis ze right room. You are to come oop."
-
-A rustling noise, as of foliage shaken, rising
-from below warned the Duke that if he waited
-longer he might be beset by a horde of assailants.
-It spurred him to instant action. Set in
-the wall close to his place of concealment was
-the switch of the electric light, and stretching
-out his left hand he turned it on, at the same
-time stepping forward and covering Ziegler
-with his pistol. The old man blinked at him in
-the sudden glow, and then, quietly turning,
-shut the door. His object must have been to
-prevent his voice penetrating into the house,
-for he croaked out to the Frenchwoman by the
-window the petulant order:
-
-"Tell Benzon to hurry."
-
-The maid, relaxing the venomous glare with
-which she was regarding Beaumanoir, put out
-her head and obeyed. A renewal of the rustling
-and the sound of heavy breathing told her
-that her request had been heard, and drew a
-harsh laugh from Ziegler. Fixing the Duke
-with a cruel gaze, he remarked calmly, in his
-thin falsetto:
-
-"The champion safe-cracksman of America
-will be here in a moment. Your Grace will
-have the opportunity of seeing a very pretty
-piece of work if you care to remain till I have
-exchanged this package for the one inside.
-You are not going to be fool enough to use
-that pistol and give yourself away at this stage,
-and if you were, my friend Benzon would be
-equal to the occasion." And holding up the
-parcel of tissue paper which he had received
-from Forsyth in the crypt, he shook it mockingly
-at the Duke.
-
-But in so doing he reckoned literally without
-his host. With a spring that wrenched his
-lame foot painfully Beaumanoir leaped upon
-him, and, crushing the white beard to a throat
-that somehow seemed less scraggy than might
-have been expected, dragged him to the door
-and contrived to get it open with his left hand.
-So struggling, the pair stumbled into the corridor,
-and Beaumanoir was about to shout
-lustily for help, when his voice dwindled into
-a panting:
-
-"Thank God you've come! I've got this
-one, but there is a woman in there, and—and
-others are coming in through the window."
-
-For in the corridor, hurrying towards him,
-were General Sadgrove, Senator Sherman, and
-Alec Forsyth, each with revolvers in their
-hands, while Sybil Hanbury brought up the
-rear, looking as if she resented that position.
-In the presence of this formidable phalanx
-Beaumanoir felt his captive wilt in his grasp,
-and indeed he himself was swept back by it, still
-holding on, into the muniment room, where
-the woman Rosa was in the act of retreating
-from the window. The General took command
-quite naturally, bidding Forsyth guard
-the door, while he himself advanced to the
-window, very stern and upright, and muttering
-as he went:
-
-"What can Azimoolah have been about? He
-must be past his work."
-
-But the words were hardly spoken when the
-subject of his censure leaped in through the
-window, drawing his breath quickly, but not
-otherwise inconvenienced by a limp bundle of
-humanity which he carried over his shoulder,
-and now proceeded to dump like a sack on the
-floor. After securing the window, the Pathan
-turned and gravely saluted the General.
-
-"There were three others, sahib, but they are
-gone," he said simply. "At sight of thy servant
-fear seemed to fall upon them, so that
-they fled across the *maidan* like deer flushed by
-a cheetah. But this one was already climbed
-nigh to the window, so I followed, and choking
-him a little, brought him in." And with his
-foot he slightly spurned the motionless form
-of his prisoner, whom the Duke and Forsyth
-recognized as the hero of the watch-spring saw
-who had been surprised cutting out the panel
-at Beaumanoir House a week before.
-
-"Choked him a little!" said the General with
-a grim chuckle. "You don't seem to have left
-much life in him, but it was no case for standing
-on ceremony. And now, madam," continued
-the veteran, facing round to where
-Beaumanoir stood with his grip on Ziegler's
-collar, "your disguise need hamper you no
-longer—that is, if you prefer to finish this
-business in your own person. Get the pull of
-your sex, you know."
-
-"Yes, I guess that wig doesn't do justice to
-Cora Lestrade," interjected Senator Sherman,
-and with a dexterous twirl of his wrist he
-jerked off the elaborate head-gear which had
-effectually transformed the dashing lady
-known as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton into a repulsive
-old man. But it was only when feminine
-instinct had prompted her with a swift
-application of her handkerchief to remove the
-purple stain that had added the semblance of
-disease to old age that the Duke recognized his
-guest.
-
-"I do not understand," he murmured,
-feebly.
-
-And it seemed that Alec Forsyth, in spite of
-the part entrusted to him in the comedy of
-the crypt, had been ignorant of the identity
-of his antagonist, for a cry of astonishment
-escaped him. On the other hand, the demure
-smile that played round Sybil Hanbury's
-pretty mouth betokened a closer intimacy with
-the foregoings of this wonderful development.
-Forsyth's sharp exclamation had the effect of
-rousing Azimoolah's captive from his swoon.
-The man raised himself on his elbow, and,
-grasping the situation, remained quietly
-watchful.
-
-"And now, your Grace, before another word
-is said, let me shake you by the hand right here,
-and thank you for all the patient courage you
-have shown and all the danger you have incurred
-to baffle as waspish a gang as ever
-hailed from my side of the ditch," said the
-Senator, suiting the action to the word, greatly
-to the embarrassment of the Duke, and provoking
-a scornful laugh from the fantastic
-figure in male attire.
-
-"Why, he was one of us," she sneered. "It
-was only when he found he had something to
-lose that he backed out."
-
-The Senator looked her up and down with a
-fine contempt.
-
-"So much for a great reputation," he said.
-"My good Lestrade, the warders who told me
-you were the cleverest woman in Sing-Sing
-must have made a grievous error, for a really
-clever criminal would never have been cornered
-by a brave man pretending to join the confederacy.
-The Duke has not tripped once all
-through the affair, except that he has been a
-little too reckless in exposing his valuable life
-to peril. The result of his heroic conduct is
-that you are outwitted all along the line, and
-that the three millions are secure in that safe."
-
-This misdescription of the case, so adroitly
-near the mark and yet differing from the
-truth in the all-important word "*pretending*,"
-made the Duke catch his breath. Somehow
-the matter which he had believed himself to be
-working single-handed seemed to have been
-taken out of his shaky grasp, and, shamed by
-the unmerited praise, he waited for the rejoinder
-of the adventuress. It came crisp and
-sharp.
-
-"Then what you have to do is to call in the
-police and hand us over to justice," she said
-defiantly. "The authorities will be puzzled to
-find a reason for all you worthy amateurs bottling
-up your knowledge of a crime that would
-have shaken two continents. I think I shall
-be able to instruct my counsel so that by the
-time he has done with him his Grace won't be
-much of a hero."
-
-The Senator smiled superior.
-
-"Ah!" he retorted, pleasantly; "you might
-have tried that if you had had the chance. But
-then, you see, you won't have it. I'm only a
-visitor here—like yourself, his Grace's guest—but
-I believe the intention is that you and your
-friend, who really need not scowl so, are not to
-face a judge this time. General Sadgrove has
-charge of what we may call the liberation department,
-and he will enlighten you."
-
-The man Benzon, lying propped on his elbow,
-with Azimoolah standing over him
-statuesquely menacing, shot a sly glance of
-triumph at his confederate, but it met with
-only a sickly smile for a response. Lestrade's
-eyes turned with shrinking expectancy to the
-General, her insolent demeanor having vanished,
-strangely enough, at the hint that she
-would not be detained.
-
-"Yes, there will be no prosecution," the General
-said, sternly. "The Duke took the onus
-of defeating your aims upon him before he was
-called to his present high station, and his
-friends are unanimous that he ought not to
-pursue the matter now. You, Madame Lestrade,
-will be allowed to depart early to-morrow
-morning in the name you have chosen to assume;
-and you, sir, can go at once by the way
-you came—through the window."
-
-The man Benzon rose to his feet with alacrity, trying vainly to catch the eye of his
-accomplice, and shooting furtive glances at
-the package which she still carried. There was
-evidently something that he did not understand,
-and wanted to before he availed himself
-of the unexpected permission. There came a
-curious gleam into the General's eyes as he
-noticed this perplexity, and when he took up
-his parable again there was a ring in his voice
-that chained his hearers' attention. Sybil, too,
-leaned forward, watching the two bond-robbers
-alternately, as though expecting a surprise for
-them.
-
-"Before you go I will explain what is puzzling
-you," the General went on, addressing
-himself to Benzon, and pointing to the dummy
-package in Cora Lestrade's hand. "You are
-under the impression that those are the bonds,
-and you are half inclined to think that we are
-letting you go in ignorance of what you believe
-to be the case—that the genuine bonds were
-handed to that lady in the crypt by the Duke.
-Know, then, that the Duke wasn't in the crypt
-at all, nor were any bonds handed over. His
-Grace's place was taken by Mr. Forsyth there,
-who succeeded in getting from her the spurious
-bonds and handed her in return a lot of blank
-paper. See—examine it for yourself."
-
-And quickly possessing himself of the parcel,
-he held it for inspection. A spasm crossed
-Benzon's sinister face, and there escaped him
-the involuntary cry:
-
-"But you looked at the things, Cora, and
-pronounced them correct. You said we were
-only coming here for the heirlooms in the safe;
-yet you must have known."
-
-"Quite so," the General proceeded, disregarding
-a smothered remark from the female
-culprit. "She knew that she had been hoodwinked,
-because she recognized my nephew
-under his disguise, and so at once examined the
-parcel. Thereupon she deceived you and her
-other associates for a private reason that had
-nothing to do with the interests of your
-precious combination. Like to hear what that
-reason was?"
-
-Benzon flung a reproachful, half-imploring
-look at his strangely garbed chief, as though
-seeking for a denial from her, but failing to
-catch her downcast eye, he gave a sullen assent
-to the question.
-
-"Very well," the General went on, inexorably.
-"She withheld her confidence from her
-colleagues because she desired to save the life
-of Mr. Forsyth from the murderous vengeance
-of you gentlemen who are so handy with charcoal
-braziers and railway accidents. So she
-made a last desperate effort to obtain the bonds
-by persuading you to break into the safe under
-a false pretext—used you as tools, do you
-understand?—to repair her own breach of faith
-to you without having to confess it. Her idea
-was doomed to failure, anyway, for, apart
-from his Grace's vigilance, she was effectually
-watched by Miss Hanbury from the moment
-of her readmission into the house by that
-Frenchwoman. When 'Mrs. Talmage Eglinton',"—with
-a fine scorn on the name—"crept
-out dressed like that, we wanted to see whether
-she would go straight to her room when she
-came back, don't you know."
-
-He paused, but not with an air of finality.
-No one had ever suspected Jem Sadgrove in
-the old days of an eye for dramatic effect. He
-must have been coached by somebody into leading
-up to the question now to be put with fierce
-insistence by the saturnine Benzon, and, to
-judge by the eager interest in Sybil's dilated
-eyes, that young lady had been the coach.
-
-"Why should Cora Lestrade want to spare
-Mr. Forsyth?" asked the man, taking a step
-forward, to be instantly reminded of his position
-by the lean brown hand of Azimoolah falling
-like a vise on his shoulder. The Pathan
-evidently cherished a lingering hope that there
-might yet arise a pretext for treating "the black
-tribe" in the old way.
-
-"Because, sir, a woman can't help herself in
-matters of the heart, and even the worst of 'em
-is capable of an unselfish attachment," the
-General replied, with slow emphasis. But he
-hastened to add, as if eager to disavow responsibility
-for the introduction of sentiment: "At
-least, so I was advised. The little scheme for
-obtaining the sham securities was based on the
-supposition that this woman had a liking for
-Mr. Forsyth, and would do him no hurt if she
-recognized him. That forecast has turned out
-to be well founded."
-
-"Uncle Jem!" Forsyth protested, flushing
-hotly.
-
-"Yes, laddie, I know you would not have
-taken the job on if I had informed you who
-Ziegler was," said the General. "There would
-have been less to fear, but there would have
-been a dash of the underhand about it that
-wouldn't have suited you. But I should never
-have allowed you to walk into such a death-trap
-as that crypt would have been without the safeguard
-we—that is, I—trusted to. It wasn't a
-case for being too nice. There's no such thing
-as taking a mean advantage of people threatening
-life and property, they told me when I was
-taught my trade."
-
-The man Benzon, who had kept his gaze
-fixed on the face of Cora Lestrade, removed
-it now, and, with a cool politeness that struck
-an unaccountable chill to most of his hearers,
-thanked the General for enlightening him on
-"a point of considerable importance," and
-begged permission to depart if he was really
-not to be detained. At a sign from his master
-Azimoolah stood aside, and the man swung
-himself out of the window, gained a foothold
-on the ivy stems, and was gone. When they
-had all turned away from the darkling face
-framed for a moment among the creepers, it
-was seen that she who had loomed so largely in
-their lives of late as "Mr. Clinton Ziegler" and
-"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton" was swaying and
-about to fall.
-
-"Thank you," she said, recovering herself
-with a painful effort as Senator Sherman, who
-happened to be nearest, came to her assistance.
-"It was only a passing weakness, but I shall
-be glad if I may go to my room."
-
-And with a flicker of the old impudence she
-mimicked General Sadgrove:
-
-"Even the worst of 'em is capable of feeling
-shaken on hearing sentence of death pronounced,"
-adding, with a swift change of manner,
-"and that is what I have heard in this room
-to-night."
-
-But in the morning, when, with the Frenchwoman
-Rosa, she took her departure by a train
-leaving so early that none of the house-party
-were visible, it was observed by the servants
-that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was in the highest
-spirits, and, if possible, more stylishly appareled
-than usual. And Mr. Manson, the
-butler, looking regretfully after the station
-brougham as it drove away, murmured benedictions,
-having palmed the largest tip that had
-come his way in a quarter of a century.
-
-"A thorough lady," he sighed, as he closed
-the hall door and went in to preside at the
-breakfast sideboard. "Pity she was called
-away unexpected."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI—*The Honor of the House*
-======================================
-
-
-The Treasury bonds had reached their goal
-in the vaults of the Bank of England, and
-Senator Sherman, having duly discharged his
-duty to his Republic, was speeding back to his
-wife and daughter at Prior's Tarrant, with, as
-he quaintly phrased it, "a considerable load off
-his chest." In the reserved compartment with
-him were the Duke of Beaumanoir and General
-Sadgrove, who had insisted on forming an
-escort.
-
-The Duke, who had been buoyed up with
-excitement till the bonds were safe in the bank,
-had fallen into dejection on the return journey.
-His two companions persisted in treating him
-as a hero, whereas he guessed that they were
-both aware of the true state of the case. He
-knew that one of them was, for he had himself,
-under threat of information being given to the
-police, confessed everything to the General
-after the latter's visit to the hotel on the day
-of "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" supposed confinement to her room; and, at any rate, the Senator
-must have heard something of the truth,
-or he would not have been prepared the night
-before to confound Cora Lestrade's correct accusation
-with a generous but entirely erroneous
-construction of his complicity.
-
-All this made Beaumanoir miserable and
-ill at ease, the more so that he had three times
-attempted, without success, to terminate his
-false position. The two gentlemen had evidently
-entered into a friendly conspiracy to
-maintain their own reading of his conduct; and
-whenever he began to make penitential allusions
-to it, one or other of them would, so to
-speak, jump down his throat with an encomium
-on the motive they chose to attribute to him for
-originally allying himself to the Lestrade
-combination. Nor did it add to his comfort on
-the last of these occasions to catch the Senator
-deliberately winking at the General.
-
-Now this was exasperating in the present
-and intolerable for the future, for Beaumanoir
-had set his heart on that to which, conscience
-told him, a clear understanding with Senator
-Sherman was essential. But at last he abandoned
-direct efforts and sank back in his corner, hoping to obtain an opening by more
-diplomatic methods presently.
-
-In the meanwhile, the General was satisfying
-the curiosity of the Senator, and incidentally
-that of the Duke, as to the identification
-of the self-styled Mrs. Talmage Eglinton
-with the mysterious Clinton Ziegler. He described
-the tangle of doubt and surmise he had
-got into when he had convinced himself that
-the occupants of the neighboring suites at the
-hotel were both concerned in the plot against
-the bonds, without being able to carry the matter
-further. And especially did he lay stress
-on the deadlock that had been reached when
-"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" artfully concocted
-anonymous warning against "Ziegler" had
-caused him to waver in his suspicions of her
-guilt.
-
-"It took a woman to nose that out," said the
-General, with a whimsical grimace. "Miss
-Sybil heard me grumbling—unfortunate habit,
-talking to one's self—and put me right in a
-brace of shakes. 'Why,' she snaps out, after
-she'd pumped me about my difficulty, 'they
-must be one and the same person. Mrs. Talmage
-Eglinton *is* Ziegler, and her intention is
-that after they've finished the business the Eglinton part of her will remain and the Ziegler
-part will vanish—with the odium of anything
-that may happen, don't you see. I didn't see
-it at once, but consented to lay a trap, and
-blessed if the girl wasn't right. Soon as the
-Eglinton was posted up by Sybil that I was
-going up next day to call on Ziegler at the
-hotel, and that I was going to raise Cain if I
-wasn't admitted, she shammed sick and
-sneaked out of the house, with old Azimoolah
-at her heels, to keep the appointment."
-
-He went on to tell how his call on "Ziegler,"
-followed by "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" clandestine
-return to the house as witnessed by
-Alec Forsyth, had brushed all doubts aside and
-cleared the way for the final *coup* in the crypt,
-again suggested by Sybil, for obtaining the
-bogus bonds and so drawing the sting of the
-enemy.
-
-"The girl has got grit," was the Senator's
-admiring comment. "The right sort of grit,
-because she trusted to her man having it too.
-And, thunder, but it was plucky of him to
-face that crew in ignorance of the saving clause
-in his favor."
-
-"Yes, the boy behaved well," the General
-admitted. "But I think the Duke beat him for
-courage in going to meet you at Liverpool in
-ignorance that we had drawn off the cut-throats
-who he had reason to believe would dog
-him directly he left the house. Alec had to
-make up for a bad lapse. We never allowed
-laxity in our service, and Alec was lax, very
-lax, in giving them that chance on the railway."
-
-Beaumanoir sat up at this, and, leaning forward,
-tapped the General on the knee.
-
-"Oblige me by not drawing comparisons,"
-he said—for him—quite fiercely. "If I have
-come out of the ordeal of the last few days
-unscathed, and with the honor of my house
-untarnished, it is in great part due to Alec's
-loyalty to a poor weak coward. Had I done
-my duty I should have gone to the police the
-moment Lestrade unfolded her plot, instead of
-embarking on a course of secrecy and moral
-cowardice which kept alive the danger to Senator
-Sherman and his charge. I did not see
-it at the time, but the gang would assuredly
-have matured some other plan for trying for
-the plunder, using some other wretched tool,
-perhaps, if they hadn't been gammoned into
-believing that I had caved in. It was gross
-moral cowardice of me to give them the
-chance."
-
-The torrent of words flowed so quickly that
-neither of his hearers was able to check it, and
-it was so evidently the outcome of deep emotion
-that it was equally impossible to ignore it.
-The Senator, with a twinkle in his shrewd gray
-eyes, laid a warning hand on the General's
-shoulder and took it upon himself to answer—with
-a question which had the instant effect
-of soothing Beaumanoir, for it implied a concession
-of the position he desired to take up.
-
-"What should you have done in the same circumstances,
-but with this difference—that you
-had landed in England a simple commoner instead
-of the representative of an ancient and
-noble family?" the Senator inquired.
-
-"Informed the authorities, of course," the
-Duke replied without hesitation.
-
-"Good! Then assuming for the sake of argument
-your charge against yourself to be
-correct, you incurred a mortal peril voluntarily,
-not from personal considerations affecting
-yourself, but for fear of involving other people—most
-of them dead, by the way—in disgrace.
-I don't see how you can make moral cowardice
-out of that."
-
-"*I* do," said Beaumanoir, bluntly.
-
-"But," proceeded the Senator, with bland
-insistence, "you might have avoided the peril
-to your own life and the besmirching of the
-family name by the simple expedient of carrying
-out the behests of Ziegler and Company.
-You had every facility for pulling the job off
-without a breath of suspicion ever touching
-you."
-
-The diplomatic opening, the psychological
-moment, for which poor, blundering Beaumanoir
-had been hoping, had arrived. It would
-be uncharitable to suggest that it was proffered
-to him, as a card is "forced," by an American
-gentleman with a taste for strawberry leaves;
-but be it as it may, Beaumanoir was not too
-dull to seize his chance.
-
-"I might have done that—I was tempted
-to," he blurted out. "In fact, I believe I
-should have done it if—if I hadn't come over
-in the same ship with your—with Mrs. and
-Miss Sherman."
-
-The General, sitting up stiffly with his chin
-on the knob of his malacca cane, turned his
-head sharply to hear his old friend's judgment
-on this amazing confession. It was pronounced
-with Trans-Atlantic briskness.
-
-"Then, sir, by token of that frankness, your
-Grace is a straight man," the Senator said,
-decidedly, and with an air that invested his
-words with greater weight than was perhaps
-due to their moral perspective. "And," he
-added in a lighter vein, "somehow, the honor
-of your house seems to have got inextricably
-mixed with that of mine."
-
-"That's exactly the way I hoped you'd look
-at it," responded the Duke, earnestly. "I
-think you take my meaning. May I speak to
-Leonie?"
-
-"It's what I should do in your place," was
-the Senator's reply—a reply which had the
-effect of relaxing General Sadgrove's ramrod-like
-attitude, and of causing that grim
-man-hunter to subside into his corner, with a
-not unkindly chuckle.
-
-----
-
-On a winter afternoon, six months afterwards,
-Alec Forsyth entered the firelit dining-room
-of the Prior's Tarrant dower-house,
-which, as agent of the ducal estates, he had
-occupied since his marriage in September.
-The Duke and Duchess were away in Egypt
-on their honeymoon, and Forsyth had been
-doing the honors of a big shoot in the home
-coverts to a party of neighboring country gentlemen.
-Sybil, who had been sitting in a low
-chair by the hearth, rose and drew him to the
-blaze, first relieving him of his gun.
-
-"I won't light the lamp yet, dear," she said.
-"I am forced to refer to the forbidden subject,
-and you may want to blush."
-
-"Forbidden subject?" said Forsyth, not for
-the moment comprehending.
-
-"Well, of course you haven't taken to forbidding
-me anything yet; perhaps 'tacitly
-avoided' would be a better phrase," the young
-wife replied, perching herself on the arm of
-her husband's chair. "I refer to that poor
-creature whose one redeeming point was, as the
-dear General put it on that eventful night, an
-unselfish attachment to your noble self."
-
-Forsyth had never been able to bring himself
-to talk of the reason of his uncle's confidence
-in his safety in the crypt that night, when
-he had lent himself to a ruse which he had believed
-meant death if he was recognized. He
-had loathed "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" obtrusive
-admiration long before he had entered
-the lists against her, and it was from a knowledge
-of his feelings that the General had
-abstained from informing him beforehand of
-the terrible Ziegler's identity, guessing that his
-natural delicacy would have prevented him
-from turning to account a sentimental weakness
-so necessary to a successful issue, yet so
-revolting to his modesty.
-
-"Must you really refer to that wretched
-woman?" he asked, as soon as he saw Sybil's
-meaning.
-
-"Only to tell you that she is dead," was the
-reply. "It is in the *Standard*, which came
-after you had left for the coverts. There, I
-must light the lamp, after all, so that you may
-read it yourself."
-
-When the lamp shone out on the pleasant,
-homelike room, this was the paragraph which
-Forsyth read:
-
-"On the arrival at Vienna of the through
-mail train from Budapest on Thursday night
-a fashionably dressed female was found alone
-in a first-class compartment, stabbed to the
-heart. The police inquiries have established
-her identity as Cora Lestrade, a notorious
-American ex-convict, who is believed to have
-practised on the credulity of highly placed
-personages in nearly every European capital.
-At the time of her death she was traveling as
-the Countess Poniatowski. A man who was in
-another compartment of the train, dressed as
-a Roman priest, but who is supposed to be one
-of the band of professional criminals ruled by
-this extraordinary woman, has been arrested in
-connection with the occurrence."
-
-Forsyth laid the paper down—Sybil told
-him a month later that it was "with a sigh of
-relief"—and said:
-
-"She seemed to expect something of the sort
-when she spoke about her death sentence and
-showed such fear of the man Benzon. But
-isn't Uncle Jem's intuition marvelous? He
-has always held that the confederacy would
-come to loggerheads and be no longer dangerous
-after our victorious tussle with them."
-
-"Yes, dear," Sybil assented, dutifully.
-"Your uncle is a very remarkable man, with
-very remarkable gifts." But she did not add, as
-she might have added had she so chosen, that it
-had required a woman's knowledge of woman's
-heart to inspire in the General the insight
-which had steered the Duke's storm-tossed
-bark to harbor.
-
-|
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diff --git a/37413-rst/images/cover.jpg b/37413-rst/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e8cdb12..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413-rst/images/illus1.jpg b/37413-rst/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7113aec..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/illus1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413-rst/images/illus2.jpg b/37413-rst/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 94f5624..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/illus2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413-rst/images/illus3.jpg b/37413-rst/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 745ac87..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/illus3.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413-rst/images/illus4.jpg b/37413-rst/images/illus4.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a9d171b..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/illus4.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413-rst/images/tpdeco.jpg b/37413-rst/images/tpdeco.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0121cfd..0000000 --- a/37413-rst/images/tpdeco.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/37413.txt b/37413.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1b783a1..0000000 --- a/37413.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7125 +0,0 @@ - THE DUKE DECIDES - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: The Duke Decides - -Author: Headon Hill - -Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37413] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - - -Produced by Darleen Dove, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. - -This file was produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries. - - THE DUKE DECIDES - By HEADON HILL - - Author of _By a Hair's-Breadth_, etc. - - _New York_ - A. WESSELS COMPANY - 1904 - - Copyright, 1903, by _A. Wessels Company_ - - Published, 1903 - - PRESS OF - BRAUNWORTH & CO. - BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS - BROOKLYN, N. Y. - -[Illustration: _Leonie Sherman_] - - ---- - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I--_The Man with the Mandate_ - CHAPTER II--_On Board the_ St. Paul - CHAPTER III--_A Task-master in Goggles_ - CHAPTER IV--_The Lady in the Landau_ - CHAPTER V--_Ziegler Begins to Move_ - CHAPTER VI--_The General is Curious_ - CHAPTER VII--_The Men on the Stairs_ - CHAPTER VIII--_The Cut Panel_ - CHAPTER IX--_The Strategy of the General_ - CHAPTER X--_A Duty Call_ - CHAPTER XI--_On the Terrace_ - CHAPTER XII--_The Man Under the Seat_ - CHAPTER XIII--_At the Keeper's Cottage_ - CHAPTER XIV--_Too Many Women_ - CHAPTER XV--_A New Cure for Headache_ - CHAPTER XVI--_A Delicate Mission_ - CHAPTER XVII--_Where is the Duke?_ - CHAPTER XVIII--_The Senator and the Securities_ - CHAPTER XIX--_In the Crypt_ - CHAPTER XX--_In the Muniment Room_ - CHAPTER XXI--_The Honor of the House_ - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - Leonie Sherman - A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her? - The procession of three led by the stranger. - I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. - - ---- - - - - -CHAPTER I--_The Man with the Mandate_ - - -At six o'clock on a May evening, at an uptown corner of Broadway, in New -York City, the bowels of the earth opened and disgorged a crowd of -weary-faced men and women who scattered in all directions. They were the -employees of a huge "dry-goods store," leaving work for the day. It was -a stringent rule of the firm that everyone drawing wages, from the smart -managers of departments and well-dressed salesladies down to the -counting-house drudges and check-boys, should descend into the basement, -and there file past the timekeeper and a private detective before -passing up a narrow staircase, and so out by a sort of stage-door into -the side street. - -The great plate-glass portals on the main thoroughfare were not for the -working bees of this hive of industry--only for the gay butterflies of -fashion by whom they lived. - -The last to come out was a young man dressed in a threadbare suit of -tweeds, that somehow hardly seemed American, either in cut or fabric. -There might have been a far-away reminiscence of Perthshire moors -clinging to them, or earlier memories of a famous creator in Bond -Street; but suggestion of the reach-me-down shops from which New York -clerks clothe themselves there was none. A flush of anger was fading on -their owner's face as he came out into the sunlight, leaving a mild -annoyance that presently gave place to a grin. - -The firm's detective, rendered suspicious by a bulging pocket, had just -searched him, and had failed to apologize on finding the protuberance to -be nothing but a bundle of un-eatable sandwiches that were being taken -home to confound the landlady of the young man's cheap boarding-house. - -The indignity did not rankle long. It was only a detail in the -topsy-turvydom that in one short year had changed a subaltern in a crack -English cavalry regiment into an ill-paid drudge in a dry-goods store. -Twelve months before Charles Hanbury had been playing polo and riding -gymkhana races in Upper India, but extravagance beyond his means had -brought swift ruin in its train. Tired of helping him out of scrapes, -his connections had refused further assistance; and, leaving the Army, -he had come out to "the States" with the idea of roughing it on the -Western plains. Still misfortune had dogged his steps. A fall down a -hatchway on the voyage out had hopelessly lamed him, and he had been -compelled to ward off starvation by obtaining his present inglorious -berth. - -His work--adding up columns of figures entered from the -sales-tickets--was quite irresponsible, and he was paid accordingly. He -drew eight dollars a week, of which five went to his boarding-house -keeper. - -Limping up ---- Street, he turned into the Bowery, intending to take his -usual homeward route across the big bridge into Brooklyn. Unable to -afford a street-car, he walked to and from the store daily, and it was -one of his few amusements to study the cosmopolitan life of the teeming -and sordid thoroughfare through which his way led. - -He was still chuckling over the discomfiture of the tame detective, when -his eye was caught by a label in a cheap boot-store. "Three dollars the -pair," ran the legend, which drew a rueful sigh from one who had -paid--and alas! still owed--as many guineas for a pair of dancing-pumps. - -"I don't suppose they'd sell me half a pair, for that's all it runs to," -he muttered, turning regretfully away from the vamped-up frauds, and in -so doing jerking the elbow of a passer-by. The victim of his sudden -move--a stout, fair man in a light frock-coat and a Panama straw -hat--stopped, and seemed inclined to resent the awkwardness. - -"I really beg your pardon," the culprit said with easy politeness. "I -was so absorbed in my reflections that I forgot for the moment that the -Bowery requires cautious steering." - -"You are an Englishman?" returned the other, with a milder countenance. -"So am I. No need to apologize. As a fellow-countryman in foreign parts, -permit me to offer you some liquid refreshment. In other words, come -into that dive next door and have a drink." - -With an imperceptible shrug, Mr. Hanbury allowed himself to be -persuaded. He would lose his supper at his boarding-house by the -irregularity, but dissipation seldom came his way nowadays, and the -prospect of whisky at some one else's expense was tempting. Yes, he had -fallen low enough for that! The stout Englishman somehow conveyed the -impression that he would not expect to be treated in return by his new -acquaintance, who was prepared to take advantage of his liberality. To -do him justice, Hanbury's complacence was not entirely due to spirituous -longings, but to a homesick instinct aroused by the Cockney accent of -the vulgar stranger. - -The garish underground saloon into which they descended was almost empty -at that early hour of the evening. Drinks having been set before them at -one of the circular tables, the host subjected his guest to a scrutiny -so searching that its object broke into a laugh. - -"You are sizing me up pretty closely," he remarked, with a touch of -annoyance. - -"Exactly; but not so as to give offence, I hope," was the reply. "I -should like to know your name, if you have no objection." - -"Hanbury--Charles Hanbury. Perhaps you will make the introduction -mutual?" said the younger man, appeased by the other's conciliatory -manner. - -"Call me Jevons," the stout man answered. "Now look here, Mr. Hanbury; -it's not my game to begin our acquaintance under false pretences. The -fact is, I contrived that you should jostle me just now, and so give me -a chance to speak. I spotted you as an Englishman and a gentleman a -fortnight ago, and I've noticed you pass along the Bowery every day -since. I am in need of an Englishman, who is also a gentleman, to take -on a job with a fortune--a moderate fortune--at the back of it." - -"You can hardly have mistaken me for an investor," said Hanbury, with a -quizzical glance at his threadbare seams and dilapidated boots. "Believe -me, I am a very broken-down gentleman; but still, my gentility survives, -I suppose, and I am willing to treat it as a commercial asset, if that -is what you mean." - -Mr. Jevons gulped down his liquor without comment and did not utter -another word till the glasses had been replenished. Then, hitching his -chair closer, he produced a pocket-book from which he extracted five -one-hundred-dollar notes. - -"Before we leave this place I shall hand these over to you for -preliminary expenses--if we come to terms," he said, watching the effect -of the display on his companion's face. Satisfied with the eager glance -in the tired eyes, he proceeded more confidentially: "There is a risk to -be run, but it doesn't amount to much; and if the scheme comes off it -will set you on your legs again. Part of this money you will have to -spend in a first-class passage to England by the next steamer, and -there'll be plenty more for you on arrival." - -"My dear friend, you seem to be a sort of Aladdin. If you only knew the -existence I have been leading here, without the courage to terminate it, -you would be assured of my answer," replied Hanbury, wondering but not -caring much what was expected of him. To escape from his dry-goods -drudgery and return to England with money in his pocket and the prospect -of more--why, the ex-cavalry officer felt that he would loot the Crown -Jewels for that! And he said so in so many words. - -"Then you're the man for us," was the verdict of Mr. Jevons. "It's a bit -on the cross--not burglary, but a little matter of planting some -beautifully imitated paper. Is that too steep for you?" - -Hanbury made a wry face, but answered without hesitation: - -"Aiding a forgery isn't quite the road to fortune I should have chosen, -but beggars--you know the maxim. Society hasn't been too kind to me, and -I don't see why I should range myself on its side. Yes, I'll do it; and -if I'm caught, stone-breaking at Portland won't be any worse than adding -up figures in a subterranean counting-house. Let me have the -particulars, Mr. Jevons, and I'll see it through to the best of an -ability that hasn't much to recommend it." - -"You shall have the particulars," said the other; then stopped, and -laughed rather nervously. "You must understand that I am but a -subordinate in this matter, and we have reached the only unpleasant part -of my task," he went on. "It is not congenial to have to use a -threat--even a confidential one; yet I am instructed to do so, before I -enlighten you further." - -The rascal's concern was unmistakably genuine; and Hanbury, with the -good-humored tolerance of his class, hastened to reassure him. - -"Go on; I can guess what you have to disclose--the pains and penalties -for breach of faith, eh?" - -Jevons nodded, and bent his shiny, perspiring face nearer. "It is a big -thing, involving enormous outlay and the interests of an organization -commanding great resources," he whispered. "Your life wouldn't be worth -five minutes' purchase if you deserted us after you had been entrusted -with the details. Now, will you have them on those conditions, or shall -we say 'Good-night' to each other?" - -Hanbury stretched out his hand impatiently for the notes. "Pray satisfy -my curiosity, and let me have them on those conditions," he said. "My -life is of no earthly value to me. Besides, with all my faults, I'm not -one to turn back after putting my hand to the plough. If I do, by all -means give me my quietus as mercifully as may be." - -"Then here goes," whispered Jevons, mouth to ear. "The game is the -planting of faked United States Treasury Bonds on the Bank of England to -the tune of three million sterling--pounds, not dollars, you know. You -will proceed to England by the _St. Paul_, sailing for Southampton the -day after to-morrow, and on arrival in London you will at once call on -Mr. Clinton Ziegler, at the Hotel Cecil. He is our chief, and will give -you final instructions as to your part in the campaign. You'll find him -a handsome paymaster." - -"I look forward to making Mr. Ziegler's acquaintance with interest," -replied Hanbury, pocketing the notes which the other passed to him. "Am -I to have the pleasure of your company on the voyage?" - -"I'm afraid not; my work is here," said Jevons. "And--well, it's not -altogether healthy for me on the other side." The confession was -accompanied by a wink which forcibly brought it home to the recruit that -he had joined the criminal classes. His new friend--"pal," he supposed -he ought to call him--evidently thought him worthy of personal -confidence. - -They had another drink together at the bar, and parted outside the -saloon, Hanbury making his belated way towards Brooklyn. Once or twice -he turned abruptly to see if he was being followed, but the aggressive -white Panama hat was nowhere visible, the conclusion being obvious that -the astute Mr. Jevons had ascertained his domicile, as well as his place -of employment, before broaching his delicate business. - -Tramping along the teeming Bowery and across the footway of the mighty -bridge, the ex-hussar enjoyed to the full the exultation of feeling -money in his pocket once more. It was not much, and it was as good as -spent already in the cost of a passage and an outfit; but it was the -earnest of more to come, and, above all, it franked the exile home to -England. At the price of his honor, perhaps? Well, yes; but what was -honor to a dry-goods clerk at eight dollars a week? He might have taken -a different view two years ago, when honor stood for something in his -creed; but not now, with the world against him. - -Entering the sordid boarding-house, he mounted to his top-floor bedroom, -aware that he had forfeited his supper of beef-hash, and that it was too -late to go to the dining-room in quest thereof. His eyrie under the -roof, flanked on one side by the apartment of a German car-driver and on -the other by that of an Irish porter, was furnished with little else -than a bed and a toilet-table. - -On the toilet-table lay a telegram addressed to him--the first he had -received since he had been in America. The unwonted sight caused his -hands to tremble a little as he tore it open, but they trembled a good -deal more as he read the fateful words: - -"_Your uncle and cousin have been killed in a railway accident. Come to -England at once. Have cabled a thousand pounds to Morgan's to your -credit.--Pattisons._" - -"Pattisons" were the family solicitors, and he who a moment before had -called himself Charles Hanbury now knew that his true description would -appear in the next issue of "Debrett" as "Charles Augustus Trevor -Fitzroy Hanbury, seventh Duke of Beaumanoir," with a rent-roll of two -hundred thousand a year. - -And he stood committed, on pain of assassination, to aid and abet in the -palming off of bogus bonds on the Bank of England! - - - - -CHAPTER II--_On Board the_ St. Paul - - -The _St. Paul_ sped eastwards across the summer sea, and surely of all -the human hopes and fears carried by the great liner those locked in the -breast of the new Duke were the most momentous. To gain a little -breathing time, he had booked his passage as plain Charles Hanbury. In -the brief interval before sailing he had seen no more of Jevons, but he -guessed that that shrewd practitioner would have watched him, or had him -watched, on board, even if there was not a spy upon him among his -fellow-passengers; and he wished to let it be inferred that his voyage -was undertaken solely in observance of the compact made in the Bowery -dive. - -For as yet he was by no means certain of his attitude towards that -compact. It was true that the cast-off wastrel of two days ago was now -one of the premier peers of England, hastening home to take possession -of his fortune and estates. But where was the good of being a duke if -you were to be a dead duke? he argued with a cynicism bred of his -misfortunes rather than innate. There had been a genuine ring about the -proposal of Jevons that left no doubt as to the reality of the menace -held out; the man's reluctance in broaching the penalty of desertion -carried conviction that it was no mere flower of speech. - -On the whole, the Duke was inclined to call on the arch rogue at the -Hotel Cecil before incurring a risk that might render his dukedom a -transitory possession. Then, if the part he was expected to play proved -to be within his powers and without much chance of detection, he might -still elect to play it, and so enjoy in security his hereditary -privileges. - -It will be seen that the seventh Duke of Beaumanoir was not troubled -with moral scruples, and that the principle of _noblesse oblige_ had no -place as yet in his somewhat seared philosophy. It was enough for the -moment that he had gained something worth having and keeping, and he -meant to have it and keep it by the most efficacious method. Whether -that method would prove to be connivance in a gigantic crime or the -denouncement of the latter to Scotland Yard could only be decided by a -personal interview with the mysterious Ziegler. Yes, he would pay that -visit to the Hotel Cecil, at any rate, and be guided by what passed -there as to his future course of action. - -"A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Hanbury," said a gay voice at his elbow, -as on the third day of the voyage he leaned over the rail of the -promenade deck and ruminated on his dilemma. Wheeling round he looked -down into the laughing eyes of a girl, a very dainty and charming girl, -who sat next him at the saloon table. No formal introduction had taken -place between them, for lack of mutual friends; but he had learned from -the card designating her place at table that she was Miss Leonie -Sherman, and it is to be presumed that she had gathered his name in the -same way. - -"I will earn that penny," he said with mock gravity. "I was debating how -far one might legitimately carry the principle of doing evil that good -might come." - -It was a strange answer to make to a shipboard acquaintance of three -days, and Miss Sherman regarded him with a newly awakened interest. - -"It depends," she said, "whether the good is to accrue to yourself or to -other people." - -"Oh, to myself," he replied, smiling. "I am not a philanthropist--quite -the other way about." - -"Then, whatever it is, you oughtn't to do it," said the girl, decidedly. -"It will be horrid of you to as much as contemplate anything of the -kind. You had much better do good lest evil befall; and the opportunity -occurs right here, at this very moment." - -"I shall be most happy--without prejudice to my intentions as to the -reverse of the medal," said Beaumanoir, lightly. - -"Then help me to avoid a lecture from my mother by taking me for a -promenade," proceeded Leonie, indicating a portly lady who had ascended -from the lower deck and was peering about in search. "She is the best -and dearest of mothers, but she has set her heart on a vain thing, and -it is becoming the least bit tiresome. I can see that she is going to -din it into me again, if she catches me. Her idea is that the sole duty -of an American girl going to England is to 'spread herself,' as they say -out West, to marry an English duke." - -His Grace of Beaumanoir listened with an unmoved countenance. - -"Yes," he said, "to marry a duke might--probably would--be an -unmitigated evil. I will help you to avoid it with pleasure. Let us walk -by all means, Miss Sherman, if you don't mind my awkward limp." - -So they joined the procession of promenaders, and there and then -cemented a friendship which ripened quickly, as friendships between the -opposite sexes do at sea. The haughty salesladies of the dry-goods store -had not deigned to notice the counting-house drudge, and Leonie's -piquant beauty made instant captive of one who had been deprived of the -society of women for over a year. She had all the frank _camaraderie_ of -the well-bred American, and her eager anticipations of the good time she -was to have in Europe were infectious. In her company Beaumanoir was -able to forget the dark shadow hanging over him, and to give himself up -to the enjoyment of the hour. He began by being deeply grateful to her -for taking him out of himself; and gratitude to a charming girl with a -ravishing figure and a complexion of tinted ivory is like to have its -heels trod by a warmer sentiment. - -Leonie, in her turn, was interested in the reserved young Englishman, -who had so little to say about his doings in America, and less about his -position and prospects in his native land. As he paced with his slight -limp at her side or lounged with her at the rail, she tried to draw him -out; but she could get nothing from him but that he had been in New York -on business, and that business was taking him home. Yet, though reticent -on his own affairs, he talked freely about all that concerned herself, -and painted vivid word-pictures of the delights that awaited her in -London. - -The girl, having nothing to conceal, told him freely of herself and of -her plans and projects. She and her mother were going to stay with -English friends in London till the end of the season, when perhaps they -would run over to Paris and Rome for a month before returning to America -in the autumn. Her father, Senator Sherman, was to have accompanied -them; but he had been detained by public business at Washington, and was -to join them a little later in London. - -On the fifth day of the voyage, as the _St. Paul_ was approaching the -Irish coast, Leonie and Beaumanoir were sitting on deck after dinner, -chatting in the twilight, when she suddenly laid her hand on his arm. - -"I want you to notice that man who has just gone by--the one smoking the -fag-end of a cigar in a holder," she whispered, with a gesture towards -the stream of passengers passing and repassing between the rows of -chairs. - -Beaumanoir's gaze followed her indication to an insignificant little -figure in a brown covert-coat and tweed cap. - -"Yes. What of him?" he asked. He had not spoken to this passenger, but -now that attention was called to him he had an idea that the fellow had -loomed largely during the last few days. - -"That man is watching you, Mr. Hanbury," replied Leonie with conviction. -"I wonder you haven't observed it yourself. Whenever you are talking he -hangs about trying to listen; when you are on deck he is on deck; if you -go below, he goes below. If you were a fugitive from justice, and he a -detective, he couldn't shadow you more closely." - -The Duke winced inwardly. - -"I am not a fugitive from justice," he said, with the mental addition of -"yet." He could not tell this laughing maiden that the man was probably -spying on him in the interest, not of justice, but of crime--to see that -he was true to a pledge to place forged bonds; for now that he had been -put on his guard he had no doubt that his pretty informant was right. -The stranger occupied the cabin next to him, and was always hovering -near him in the smoking-room, unobtrusively but persistently. - -Thanking the girl for her warning in a careless tone that implied that -he had no reason to be anxious, he changed the subject. But before he -turned in that night he made it his business to ascertain from his -bedroom steward the name of his next-door neighbor, which proved to be -Marker. - -"Probably Mr. Marker's functions are confined to espionage. If that is a -sample of the sort of bravo to be employed should I kick over the -traces, I haven't much to fear," he reflected, as he switched off the -electric light and composed himself to dream of Leonie Sherman. - - - - -CHAPTER III--_A Task-master in Goggles_ - - -The next morning the _St. Paul_ arrived at Southampton, but Beaumanoir -contrived to secure a seat in the same compartment of the boat-train, -and his parting with his new friends was therefore deferred till they -reached Waterloo. - -He was sorely tempted to enlist the elder lady's favor by making known -his proper style and rank; though, to do her justice, Mrs. Sherman's -fondness for the peerage was largely a humorous fiction on her -daughter's part. The Senator's wife was really a simple-minded body, -with an abiding admiration for the unattainable, and the British -aristocracy was naturally included in that category. - -But the sight of Mr. Marker's covert-coat hovering near them on the -arrival platform checked the Duke's intention, which the next moment was -rendered unnecessary by Mrs. Sherman herself. - -"Come and see us, Mr. Hanbury," she said, extending the tips of her -fingers in farewell. "We are to be the guests of some good friends of -ours at 140 Grosvenor Gardens, and we know them well enough to make -ourselves at home. The Senator will be over in a week or two, and he'll -be glad to thank you for your politeness." - -"I will pay my respects without fail," Beaumanoir responded; and a -minute later, after a warmer pressure of Leonie's well-gloved hand, he -stood watching their cab with its load of "saratogas" drive down the -incline. By the void in his heart he knew that the girl in the -coquettish toque, who had just repeated her mother's invitation with her -eyes, was all the world to him. - -He turned to look after his scanty baggage with a sigh. How different it -would all have been if he had chosen some other route to his Brooklyn -boarding-house on the eventful night when the plausible Jevons had -waylaid him! All would have been plain sailing, and he could have asked -Leonie with a clear conscience to share his new-found honors and wealth. -As it was he stood committed to a felonious enterprise which would fill -her with contempt and loathing did she know of it; though, if he -abandoned it, instinct told him he was a doomed man. - -The sight of the insignificant spy Marker lurking behind a pile of -luggage reminded him that his peril might commence at any moment if he -showed any sign of inconstancy to his pledge. Not that he anticipated -trouble from the covert-coated whippersnapper himself; but the mere fact -of it having been thought worth while to shadow him across the Atlantic -spelled danger, and suggested an organization that would stop at nothing -to safeguard itself. - -However, he had made up his mind to call on the mysterious Ziegler, and -by doing so at once he might prove his fidelity and secure a respite -from this unpleasant espionage. Summoning a hansom, he bade the driver -take him to the Hotel Cecil, and looking back he saw Marker following in -another cab. - -In the few minutes that elapsed before he was driven into the courtyard -of the palatial hotel he settled a problem that had been vexing him not -a little during the voyage. Should he introduce himself to Ziegler as -the Duke of Beaumanoir or as plain Charles Hanbury, the name by which he -had been "engaged"? If he was for a brief space to be the consort of -professional thieves, he would prefer to lead a double life--to perform -his misdeeds as a commoner, and to keep his dukedom spotless. So it was -that he gave his name as Hanbury to the clerk in the bureau of the -hotel. - -While waiting the return of the bell-boy who was sent to announce his -arrival, Beaumanoir looked about for Marker, but the spy was nowhere -visible in or from the entrance-hall. Having shepherded him to the fold, -it was evidently no part of his duty to obtrude himself till further -orders. - -A minute later the neophyte in crime was limping up the grand staircase -in wake of the bell-boy, who conducted him to one of the best private -suites on the first floor overlooking the Embankment. It was a moment -charged with electricity as the Duke of Beaumanoir found himself face to -face with the man who had hired him in his poverty, and now held him -fetter-bound in his good fortune. - -"Yet could this be he--this personification of aged helplessness lying -among the cushions of an invalid chair, who, in a thin, piping treble, -requested his visitor to come closer? Beaumanoir had pictured all sorts -of ideals of the master in crime, but Mr. Clinton Ziegler in the flesh -resembled none of them. A snowy beard covered the lower half of his -face, drooping over his chest, but the puffy cheeks were visible, and -their full purple hue betokened some cutaneous affection. The eyes were -shaded by blue glasses. - -"You are the person sent by Jevons from New York?" he began in his -parrot-like tones. "Good! What is your name? For the moment I have -forgotten it, and I cannot lay my hand on the cablegram relating to -you." - -Encouraged by the feeble senility of one whom he had expected to find a -tower of strength--a grim, inscrutable being with an inscrutable -manner--the Duke was confirmed in his intention to preserve the secret -of his rank. - -"My name is Charles Hanbury," he answered, boldly. - -But an awakening, instant and complete, was in store for him. The words -were hardly out of his mouth when Mr. Ziegler coughed a signal, and -three masked men rushed upon him from the adjoining bedroom, pinioning -his arms and stifling his sudden cry of alarm. - -"What shall we do with him, sir?" asked one of the men. - -"Chloroform him first; then you must dispose of him at leisure," came -the monotonous piping treble from the invalid chair. - -One of the assailants made immediate preparations for obeying the -behest, but just as he was about to saturate a handkerchief Ziegler -laughed shrilly: - -"Let him alone, boys. He lied to me, and I wanted to give him a -lesson--that's all." - -The men, at a sign from their chief, retired into the bedroom. - -"Now, perhaps you will recognize that I am not to be played with, _your -Grace_," squeaked Mr. Ziegler. "Also that my ears are as long as my -arms. I have known for some days that the gentleman whom my good friend -Jevons was able to procure has had a sudden change in his fortunes, and -I congratulate myself upon it. It doubles your value to us, all the more -since your early call upon me after landing shows that you mean to abide -by your bargain. But there must be no more petty reservations and -concealments like that. If you try them on, rest assured that they will -be detected and dealt with." - -The Duke straightened his rumpled collar, and looked, as he felt, a -beaten man. The mass of infirmity in the wheel-chair held, without -doubt, a power with which he could not cope. On the face of it the -notion that a man could be violently made away with in a crowded London -hotel might seem melodramatic and improbable, but the experience of the -last few minutes had shown him how readily it could be done by a chief -as well served as Ziegler appeared to be. And if he was at the man's -mercy in a crowded hostelry like the Cecil, where would he be safe? Yes, -if he was to enjoy his dukedom, he would have to go through with his -task. - -"Well, give me my instructions. What am I to do?" he said, stiffly. - -"You have made a very good beginning already," replied Ziegler, watching -him narrowly through the tinted glasses. "A gentleman, acting on behalf -of the United States Government, will shortly bring to this country the -three million pounds' worth of Treasury bonds which we mean to have. It -will be your task to relieve him of the paper, substituting bonds of our -own make, which will be deposited at the Bank of England as security -against a shipment of gold." - -"I see," the Duke murmured, mechanically. "But," he added with more -animation, "how have I made a beginning already?" - -"By making yourself agreeable to Miss Leonie Sherman. It is her father, -Senator Sherman, who is bringing the real bonds," was the answer, which -struck a chill to the Duke's heart and kept him speechless with -amazement. This old scoundrel seemed to know everything, to have -arranged everything, irrespective of time and space. - -"You ought to be grateful for my foresight in smoothing the way for -you," Ziegler croaked, in evident enjoyment of his perplexity. "It was -my agent who, by securing the good offices of a steward, had you placed -next Miss Sherman at the saloon table on the _St. Paul_, with the result -that he was able to report to me this morning from Southampton by -telegraph that you had made use of your opportunity." - -"I see," was all the Duke could feebly repeat. - -"You have been invited to call on the Shermans in London? You know where -they are staying, 140 Grosvenor Gardens?" - -"Yes," said Beaumanoir. - -"Good! Then your Grace will go on as you have begun. Gain the girl's -confidence, and that of her mother--the latter will be easy under the -auspices of your new dignity--and come here again at twelve o'clock on -Saturday morning, three days hence. I may then have further instructions -for you." - -And Mr. Clinton Ziegler waved a white, well-formed hand in dismissal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--_The Lady in the Landau_ - - -Beaumanoir passed into the corridor with unsteady steps, dazed by the -enormity of his entanglement. He had been caught so easily, yet he was -held so firmly. His first impulse was to rush off to Scotland Yard, -expose the white-bearded wire-puller in the invalid chair, and claim -protection. But that course would entail confession of his engagement as -a criminal instrument, to the everlasting disgrace of the great family -of which he was now the head. The alternatives were foul treachery to -the girl of his heart or almost certain death at the hands of Ziegler's -disciplined ruffians. - -He had reached the top of the broad staircase when a step, almost -inaudible on the thick pile carpet, sounded behind him and a hand fell -on his shoulder. - -"Charley, old boy! Or is it 'your Grace' I should be calling you? What -the dickens are you doing here?" said the young man who had overtaken -him. - -Beaumanoir's harassed brows cleared as he met Alec Forsyth's honest gaze -and he felt the grip of his honest hand. Their ways had lain apart for -the last few years, but a very real friendship, begun in the Eton -playing fields, had survived separation. Of all his acquaintances, Alec -had been the only one to go down to Liverpool twelve months before to -bid scapegrace Charles Hanbury farewell. - -"I had a call to make, before going to Pattisons' in Lincoln's Inn," -said the Duke. And then with quick apprehension he added, pointing to -the door he had just left: "Have you come from there? Have you business -with Ziegler too?" - -"Ziegler? Who's Ziegler?" asked Forsyth, looking puzzled by his sudden -confusion. "No, I haven't been to those rooms, but to the suite beyond. -A duty call on a certain Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, but, thank goodness, she -wasn't at home. Now about yourself, Charley. Fortune smiles again, eh?" - -"It's only a sickly grin at present," Beaumanoir replied, dejectedly. -"See here, Alec; I've got my bag on a cab outside. I landed at -Southampton too early for lunch. Come and talk to me while I get a snack -before going to the lawyers." - -A few minutes later they were seated in a Strand restaurant, and the -young Scotsman heard all about his friend's struggles with the demon of -poverty in New York, but never a word of the trouble that was brooding. -In his turn Forsyth was able to fill in the blanks of the family -solicitor's cablegram, and enlightened Beaumanoir as to the manner of -his succession to the title. The late Duke was traveling to Newmarket in -a racing "special," accompanied by his nephew and heir, George Hanbury, -when they had both met their deaths in a collision. - -The double funeral had taken place at Prior's Tarrant, the ancestral -seat of the Dukes of Beaumanoir in Hertfordshire, three days before, the -arrangements having been made by the solicitors, in the absence of the -next successor. The last Duke having been a childless widower, and both -his brothers, the fathers respectively of George and Charles Hanbury, -having predeceased him, there had been no near relatives to follow the -late head of the house to his last resting-place. - -"Let me see, my cousin George had a sister, Sybil, who used to live with -my uncle," Beaumanoir mused aloud. "I wonder what has become of her." - -"I believe that she is still at your town house in Piccadilly," replied -Forsyth with a constraint which the other did not notice in his -self-absorption. But the next moment it struck Beaumanoir as odd that -the information should have been so readily forthcoming, for he had been -unaware that his friend knew his relatives. - -"You have made Sybil Hanbury's acquaintance, then?" he asked. - -"Yes, since your departure for America," was the reply. "I had the -pleasure of meeting her first at my uncle's in Grosvenor -Gardens--General Sadgrove's, you know. I dare say you remember him?" - -"Oh, yes; I remember the General well--a shrewd old party with eyes like -gimlets," said Beaumanoir. "But what's this about Grosvenor Gardens?" he -added quickly. "The Sadgroves used to live in Bruton Street." - -"Quite so; but they moved to 140 Grosvenor Gardens, last Christmas." - -"140!" exclaimed the Duke. "Why, that's where the Shermans are going to -stay. Some friends of mine who--who came over in the same ship," he went -on to explain rather lamely. - -Forsyth shot an amused glance at his old crony. "Yes, I know that Uncle -Jem was expecting some Americans to put up with him, and he has been -raving about the charms of the young lady of the party for the last -fortnight. You are excited, Charley. Your manner has struck me as -strange since we met at the hotel. Is it permitted to inquire if my -uncle is entertaining unawares--a future Duchess?" - -To the young Scotsman's surprise, the Duke showed signs for a moment of -taking the light-spoken banter amiss. Beaumanoir flushed, and muttered -something inarticulate, but pulled himself together and diverted their -talk into a fresh channel, clumsily enough. - -"Don't gas about me, old chap," he said. "Tell me of yourself. Is the -world using you better than formerly?" - -"About the same," Forsyth replied with a shrug. "They gave me a -twenty-pound rise last year, so my pay as a third-grade clerk in the -Foreign Office is now the princely sum of L230 per annum. Not a -brilliant prospect. When I'm a worn-out old buffer of sixty I shall be -able to retire on a pension about equal to my present pay." - -"Then look here, Alec; chuck the public service and come to me," said -the Duke, eagerly. "I'll give you eight hundred a year to begin with, -and rises up to two thousand; and you can have the dower-house at -Prior's Tarrant to live in. Call yourself private secretary, bailiff, -anything you please--only come. The fact is--well, I've been a bit -shaken by--by what I've gone through. I want someone near me who's more -than a mere hireling." - -It was Forsyth's turn to flush now, but with pleasure at the offer made -to him. He accepted it in a few simple words, and the Duke rose and paid -his score. - -"Come with me to Pattisons'," he said. "Then we'll go on to Piccadilly -and take possession." - -The business at the lawyers', which consisted of little more than -arranging future meetings, was soon finished, and the Duke and his new -secretary took a fresh cab to the West End. As they bowled along -Beaumanoir inquired further about his cousin Sybil, whom, owing to his -absence in India and more latterly to his estrangement from his -relations, he had never met. Forsyth imparted the information that for -the last six months, since she "came out," she had virtually ruled the -late Duke's household. - -"But she can be little more than a child," Beaumanoir protested. -"Anyhow, I can't keep a cousin of eighteen on as _my_ housekeeper -without setting Mrs. Grundy's tongue wagging. The question arises what -to do with her. Old Pattison tells me she is well provided for, but I -don't like telling her to clear out if it does not occur to her to go. -What sort is she, Alec?" - -"That's rather a stiff question to put to _me_," Forsyth replied, as -though to himself. "I had better make my confession first as last," he -went on hurriedly. "You are her nearest relative now, and the head of -her family. Ever since I first saw Sybil Hanbury the dearest wish of my -heart has been to make her my wife, but without prospects of any kind I -couldn't very well ask her. There you have it, my noble patron, in a -nutshell." - -Beaumanoir patted his friend's knee affectionately. - -"My dear fellow, go in and win, so far as I am concerned," he said. -"While I am above ground your prospects need stand in your way no -longer. But you haven't answered my question, which I'll put in another -way. How is she likely to take my appearance on the scene?" - -"I'm afraid she's rather prejudiced. Her brother George didn't love you -much, you know, and she is greatly cut up by his loss," Forsyth replied, -with the dogged manner of the honest man who has to say a disagreeable -thing. "I don't think that you need be under any apprehension about her -staying on at Beaumanoir House when you show up. To be candid, I saw her -yesterday, and she said she should begin packing as soon as she was sure -that you hadn't been drowned on the voyage home." - -"Good girl!" ejaculated the Duke. "The unexpressed hope did her much -honor, only it's a pity it didn't come off. Now, Alec, if you'll see her -first--she needn't see me at all if she doesn't wish to--and tell her -from me that she's not to hurry out of the house, because I'm going to -oscillate between Prior's Tarrant and a hotel for the present, I shall -be immensely obliged to you." - -"But you said just now that you were going to take possession." - -"I have changed my mind. There are reasons which I cannot explain to you -why my immediate neighborhood is likely to be dangerous for the present. -I should be sorry to subject my fair cousin to any unpleasantness. -Though not a word of this to her or anyone else, please." - -The cab was drawing up before the ducal mansion, and Forsyth forbore to -put into words the astonishment which he looked. As the two men were -about to ascend the steps to the entrance, a landau, which was being -driven slowly by, drew to the curb, and a lady who, besides the -servants, was the sole occupant, called out: - -"Surely you're not going to cut me, Mr. Forsyth. Too proud to know poor -little me, eh, now that you've taken to calling on dukes?" - -A murmur of annoyance escaped Forsyth, but perforce he went to the -carriage and shook the daintily gloved hand held out to him. - -"How do you do, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton?" he said, adding the reproving -whisper, "That _is_ the Duke." - -The lady in the landau raised her lorgnettes and calmly surveyed the -waiting nobleman. - -"How very interesting!" she purred, adding aloud so that the subject of -her request could not fail to hear, "Why don't you introduce him, -instead of keeping him standing there? We Americans are death on dukes, -you know." - -At a gesture from Forsyth, who tried to convey his disgust by a look, -Beaumanoir limped forward, smiling. His misfortunes had made him -something of a democrat, and he had always been ready to see the comic -side of things till tragedy that morning had claimed him for its own. In -meeting the advances of the agent Jevons in the Bowery saloon he had -been largely influenced by the humor of the situation--of the scion of a -ducal house consenting to "get a bit" by passing forged bonds. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, a handsome blonde with an elegant figure and a -childish voice, received the Duke with effusion. - -"I stopped my carriage to ask Mr. Forsyth to tea on Saturday," she -prattled. "I do hope your Grace will come too. I am staying at the -Cecil, and shall be delighted to see you." - -The unblushing effrontery of the invitation failed to strike Beaumanoir -in his sudden horror at the associations called up by it. This frivolous -butterfly of a woman occupied the next suite of rooms to those in which -Ziegler was spinning his villainous web--in which that terrible old man -had unfolded to him the details of his treacherous task. Strange, too, -that he should be bidden to the mild dissipation of an afternoon -tea-table in that hotel, of all others, on the very day when he was due -to go there on business so different, for Saturday was the day appointed -by Ziegler for his call for "further instructions." - -Conscious that the mocking eyes of the lady in the landau were watching -him with a curious inquiry, he mastered his emotion, and at the same -time came to a decision on the vital issue before him. Probably he would -have arrived at the same one without the incentive of avoiding an -unpalatable engagement, but Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's invitation to tea -was undoubtedly the final influence in setting him on the straight path. - -"I am very sorry," he replied, and there was a new dignity in his tone, -"but I must ask you to excuse me. I am going down to-morrow to Prior's -Tarrant, my place in Hertfordshire, and I shall not be in town on -Saturday." - -For the fraction of a second the rebuffed hostess seemed taken aback by -the refusal. She flushed slightly under her powder, and the taper -fingers twitched on the handle of her sunshade. But without any -appreciable pause she answered gaily: - -"That's most unkind of you. Well, what must be must be. Good-bye, your -Grace. Good-bye, Mr. Forsyth; I shall expect you, anyhow. Drive on, -Bennett." - -The carriage rolled away. - -"I am glad you snubbed her," Forsyth exclaimed. "She has been made a -good deal of in certain circles during the last month or two, and -presumes a lot on the strength of it." - -"Did I snub her?" said the Duke carelessly. "I am sure I didn't mean to, -for she deserves better things of me. You'd hardly believe it, Alec, but -that little episode has jerked me into deciding a crucial point--no less -than whether to be a man or a cur. At the same time it has put me quite -outside the pale as a resident under the same roof as my cousin. On -second thoughts, I will not go in at all, but I shall be obliged if you -will see her and convey the message I gave you--that Beaumanoir House is -at her disposal till she can quite conveniently leave it." - -"But what are you going to do yourself?" said Forsyth in sheer -bewilderment. - -"First I shall go to Bond Street, to gladden the hearts of some of my -old creditors; then by an evening train to Prior's Tarrant," was the -reply. "And, Alec," proceeded the Duke earnestly, "if you can get leave -from the Foreign Office, pending retirement, and join me there as soon -as possible, you will place me under a very deep obligation." - - - - -CHAPTER V--_Ziegler Begins to Move_ - - -On the following Sunday morning the Duke of Beaumanoir stood at one of -the windows of the long library at Prior's Tarrant, idly beating a -tattoo on the glass. The June sunshine flooded the bosky leafage of the -glorious expanse of park, and nearer still the parterres of the old -Dutch garden were gay with summer bloom; but the beauties of the -landscape were lost upon the watcher at the window. - -Nearly four and twenty hours had elapsed since he had failed to keep his -appointment with Mr. Ziegler, and he was wondering how and when that -autocrat of high-grade crime would signalize his displeasure at the -mutiny. That sooner or later an edict would issue against him from the -invalid chair in the first-floor suite he had not the slightest doubt. -He knew that he had to deal with men playing a great game for a great -stake in deadly earnest. - -The Dukes of Beaumanoir had never been famous for their virtues, any -more than they had been cowards, and it was rather a dawning sense of -responsibility than fear, either for his reputation or his person, that -filled him with apprehension. If "anything happened" to him, such a lot -would happen to so many other people. For instance, it had only occurred -to him since he came down to the country that if Ziegler killed him his -death would mean ruin to Alec Forsyth, who had thrown up a sure position -to serve him. The next heir was an elderly cousin with a large family to -provide for, and he would certainly not retain Forsyth in his -employment. - -Then, again, Beaumanoir reflected with a sigh, his new and sweet -friendship with Leonie Sherman--a friendship to which no blot on his -escutcheon need now put limits--would be rudely snapped. The King of -Terrors would take away what his saved honor had restored, and perhaps -it was the bitterest drop in his cup to feel that he might be giving his -life to lose what in another sense he would have given his life to win. -To ask Leonie to link her fate to his, with that dark shadow hanging -over him, was out of the question. - -Once he had taken up his pen to denounce Ziegler to the police -authorities anonymously, but he had despondingly laid it down again. -That crafty practitioner had doubtless safeguarded himself against such -an obvious course by being prepared with an unimpeachable record which -it would be impossible to shake unless he came forward and avowed -complicity. There, again, dishonor waited for him, and he had already -made his choice that a short shrift was preferable to that. - -The gloom of his mood was enhanced by his intense loneliness in the huge -feudal monastery that now called him master, for Forsyth had been unable -to join him, owing to difficulties in obtaining release from his present -duties. - -Beaumanoir took out and read for the fifth time a letter which had -arrived that morning from his friend and secretary: - - "My dear Duke (I mustn't use the irreverent 'Charley' any - more),--I am still having trouble with the F.O. people about my - departure, but I think I may safely promise to get away to you - on Tuesday. In fact, I shall make a point of doing so, even if I - have to leave the public service in disgrace, for you must - forgive my saying that I am rather uneasy about you. The other - day you seemed like a man with a millstone round his neck, and I - take it that one of the duties of a private secretary is to - remove millstones from the person of his employer. I only wish - you would confide fully in me, and command me in any way--but - that is, of course, your affair. - - "I dined with my uncle, General Sadgrove, last night, and had - the pleasure of meeting Mrs. and Miss Sherman there. The latter - is indeed a charming girl. She was rather shy in talking about - you, having heard from my uncle that the Mr. Hanbury she met on - shipboard was probably the Duke of Beaumanoir on his way to - enter into his kingdom. Mrs. Sherman waxed enthusiastic on your - 'old-world courtesy' and the General, who chaffs the old lady, - remarked that she had been equally laudatory before she - discovered your rank. - - "They were all very kind and congratulatory on my announcing my - engagement to Sybil, which, as I wrote you yesterday, was - ratified within ten minutes of your leaving me at the door of - Beaumanoir House. - - "You may be interested to hear that I did _not_ go to tea with - Mrs. Talmage Eglinton to-day.--Yours, - - "_Alec Forsyth_." - -The Duke crushed the letter back into his pocket, and came to a -resolution. - -"I'll run up to town to-morrow and call on the Shermans," he said to -himself. "And now I'll do the proper thing, and go to church. I'm not -going to crouch in corners because of that patriarchal old fiend at the -Cecil." - -The church at which generations of Hanburys had worshiped was in the -center of Tarrant village, a mile from the lodge gates, but there was a -short cut to it across the park. This was the route taken by the Duke, -who first crossed the greensward and then passed out by a private wicket -into the road after traversing the belt of copse that fringed the -demesne. The villagers, who had waited for his coming, standing -bare-headed in the churchyard, were a little disappointed that he had -not driven up in full state. But the solitary gentleman limping up the -path atoned for the lack of ceremony and won their hearts by his -friendly smile; and a handshake to one or two of the older inhabitants, -whom he remembered as a boy, clinched the matter. The verdict went round -that the new Duke would "do." - -The service that morning was, it is to be feared, more ducal than -devotional. From the white-robed choir, ranged among the tombs of -dead-and-gone Hanburys in the chancel, to the hard-breathing rustics on -the back benches every eye was turned and steadily kept on the lonely -figure in the family pew. While grateful for the homage paid him, the -Duke was not sorry when the ordeal was over and he was free to make his -way homeward. - -But he was not to get off so easily. As he was about to let himself -through the private gate into the park, intending to go back, as he had -come, through the copse, footsteps sounded behind him, and Mr. Bristow, -the vicar, overtook him. They had already met on the previous day. - -"Your Grace is alone still?" panted the clergyman. "Ah, I thought your -secretary wouldn't find it so easy to cast his shackles. I am -commissioned by Mrs. Bristow to say--I hope you won't think us -presuming--that we shall be delighted if you will give us your company -at our homely lunch." - -A sudden impulse prompted Beaumanoir to accept the invitation. He had -taken a liking for the hale, vigorous old vicar, who had the archives of -his family by rote, and an hour or two in his society would take him out -of himself. So he turned back and accompanied his host to the vicarage, -where he made a good impression on Mrs. Bristow by his cordial praise of -her training of the choir and by appreciation of her strawberries and -cream. - -It was past four when he returned to Prior's Tarrant, to be met in the -entrance-hall by the butler with a face eloquent of "something wrong." - -"What is it, Manson?" he asked. "Mr. Bristow sent a boy, did he not, to -say that I was lunching at the vicarage?" - -"Yes, your Grace. It isn't that," was the agitated reply. "I have to -report an outrage that's been committed on one of the under-servants. -Jennings, the third gardener, was coming back from church through the -copse in the park, when he was lassoed, your Grace, same as they do -buffalo, I've been told, in foreign parts. A rope shot out of the bushes -over his shoulders, and then a man ran up as he was struggling on the -ground; but let him go, saying it was a joke. Jennings hasn't got any -enemies that he knows of, and it was a wicked thing to do, because he's -a bit of a cripple and walks lame. It's shook him a good deal." - -"I am not surprised at that," said the Duke. "Possibly it was only -intended as a practical joke, but you had better inform the constable in -the village, and instruct him to inquire into the matter." - -The butler retired, and the Duke smiled grimly. - -"Ziegler has begun to put in some of his fine work," he muttered. "The -initial blunder of his agents in mistaking a servant's limp for mine -won't stop him long. I shall begin to like the excitement soon, I -expect." - -But as the day wore to evening, and the evening to night, the sensation -of being _hunted_ vexed his nerves. He found himself prolonging his -solitary dinner for the sake of the company of the butler and footman -who waited upon him, and afterwards he abstained from the moonlit stroll -on the terrace to which he felt tempted. It was not till the mansion had -been barred and bolted for the night that he ceased to fumble frequently -for the revolver which he had carried all day. - -Before retiring he inquired of Manson if the constable had traced the -maltreaters of Jennings, and he was not surprised to learn that there -had been no discoveries. Mr. Clinton Ziegler was not the man to employ -agents incapable of baffling a village policeman. - -The room which Beaumanoir occupied was the great state bed-chamber that -had been used by his predecessors from time immemorial--a gaunt -apartment with a cavernous fireplace and heavily curtained mullioned -windows. He did not like the room, but had consented to sleep there on -seeing that the old retainers would be scandalized by his sleeping -anywhere but in the "Duke's Room." - -After locking the door and seeing to the window fastenings, he took the -additional precaution of examining the chimney. Bending his head clear -of the massive mantelpiece, he looked up and saw that at the end of the -broad shaft quite a large circle of star-lit sky was visible, while a -cold blast struck downwards of sufficient volume to purify the air of -the room. - -He lay awake for some time, but he must have been slumbering fitfully -for over an hour when he felt himself gradually awakening--not from any -sudden start, but from a growing sense of strange oppression in his -lungs. As his senses returned the choking sensation increased, and -finally he lay wide awake, wondering what was the matter. Every minute -it became harder to breathe the stifling air, and at last he flung the -bedclothes off in the hope of relief, and in doing so saw something so -unaccountable that his reeling senses were stricken with amazement -rather than fear. - -There was a fire in the grate. Glowing steadily in the recess of the -ancient fireplace a great red ball burned, without flicker and without -flame, but lurid with the unwavering light that comes from fuel fused to -intense heat. - -Even without the terrible oppression at his chest there would have been -a weird horror in this mysterious fire introduced into his room at dead -of night--into a room with locked door and fastened windows. But what -did this ghastly struggle for breath portend? - -"Charcoal! Ziegler!" were the two words that buzzed in response through -his fast-clouding brain. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--_The General is Curious_ - - -On the following afternoon at tea-time four ladies were seated in the -pleasant drawing-room of 140 Grosvenor Gardens, the residence of General -Sadgrove, late of the Indian Staff Corps. Mrs. Sadgrove, a fair, plump, -elderly dame, needs no special description, and two of the other -tea-drinkers--Mrs. Senator Sherman, as she preferred to be called, and -her daughter Leonie--we have met before. - -The fourth occupant of the room--a girl dressed in deep mourning--was -Sybil Hanbury, who had come to discuss her engagement to Alec Forsyth -with her motherly old friend, Alec's aunt by marriage, Mrs. Sadgrove. -Owing to the recent deaths in her family the engagement was not to be -publicly announced at present; but Sybil had no secrets from the -Sadgroves, who had known her from a baby, long before she had been taken -up, on the death of her parents, by her grandfather, the late Duke of -Beaumanoir. - -Miss Hanbury owed her attractiveness to her essentially English type, -not of beauty--she would have disdained to lay claim to that--but of -fresh, healthy coloring, a suspicion of tomboyishness, and a lithe, -supple figure that stood her in good stead in the hunting and hockey -fields. A trifle slangy on occasion, she was a good hater and a staunch -friend, with a temper--as she had warned Alec already--that would need a -lot of humoring if they were not to have "ructions." - -"I've got the makings of a termagant, my dear boy, but it will be all -right if you rule me with a velvet glove," she had remarked within five -minutes of their first kiss. - -In fact, Miss Sybil Hanbury was a bit of a hoyden; but a very capable -little hoyden for all that, and absolutely fearless. - -The two girls had naturally paired off together, and the subject of -their talk was, equally naturally, the new Duke--Alec's friend, Sybil's -cousin, and Leonie's chance acquaintance on the _St. Paul_. - -[Illustration: _"A countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?"_] - -Sybil, after listening to Leonie's rather halting description of the -fellow passenger whom she had known as "Mr. Hanbury," owned frankly that -she had never heard any good of her cousin, but she hastened to add: - -"He's given my prejudice a nasty knock, though, in behaving so well to -my young man. Gave him a billet as private sec. that enabled Alec -to--you know. A man can't be much of a wrong 'un who'll stick to old -pals when they have no claim on him." - -Leonie tried not to show surprise at the vernacular. - -"He seemed very kind and considerate. I don't think he can ever have -done anything dishonorable," she replied. - -"Nobody ever accused him of that," Sybil assented. "It was only that he -was extravagant, and that my grandfather got tired of paying his debts. -You see, he wasn't the next heir, and--well, perhaps they were a little -hard on him. I'm quite prepared to like him now." - -The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a servant, who -announced: - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton." - -"A fellow countrywoman of yours. I wonder if you know her?" Sybil -whispered, as a radiant vision in pale pink under a large "picture" hat -sailed in, and was greeted with somewhat frigid politeness by Mrs. -Sadgrove. - -"No; I am not acquainted with either the name or the lady," Leonie -replied, struck with a strange antipathy to the bold eyes that seemed to -be mastering every detail in the room, herself included. Indeed, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton stared so markedly both at Leonie and her mother that -Mrs. Sadgrove thought they must have met, and promptly introduced them -as American friends staying in the house. The introduction was not a -success, for the Shermans knew everyone worth knowing in American -society, and the fact that they had never so much as heard of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton argued her outside the pale. - -The elegant vision received her snubbing with cool unconcern, and after -a few generalities turned again to her hostess and engaged in the -trifling chatter of a "duty" call, making one or two unsuccessful -attempts to include Sybil, to whom she had not been introduced, in the -conversation. - -"That woman is a brute," Sybil said to Leonie under her breath. "I'll -tell you about her when she's gone." - -The door opened, and there entered an iron-gray man of sixty, whose -coming might almost have been the cause of expediting the departure of -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, so quickly did she rise and begin her good-byes. - -"No, really I can't stay, dear Mrs. Sadgrove, even to have the pleasure -of a chat with the General," she prattled. "I have half a dozen other -calls to pay, and you have beguiled me into staying too long already. -Good-bye. Good-bye, General. Pray don't trouble to come down." And with -a half-impudent bow of exaggerated respect to the Shermans, she swept -out, with the master of the house in attendance. - -General Sadgrove returned at once to the drawing-room after escorting -the visitor to her carriage. He was a man who bore his years easily; -singularly slow and scant of speech, but alert of eye and almost jaunty -in the erectness of his bearing. He had gained his C.B. for prominent -services in the suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity, and his name is -still held in wholesome dread by the criminals of India whose method is -violence. It had once been said of him by a high official: "Jem Sadgrove -doesn't have to worry about _finding_ clues. He makes them for himself, -and they always yield a true scent. He's got the nose of a fox-terrier, -and the patience and speed of a greyhound." - -But that was long ago, and it might be supposed that in such pleasant -duties of retirement as the ushering out of dainty visitors from his -wife's tea-table his faculties had become blunted. Nor in the -law-abiding precincts of Belgravia could there be scope for the old-time -energy. Yet Mrs. Sadgrove, who knew the signs and portents of her -husband's face, looked twice at him with just a shade of anxiety as she -asked whether he would take some tea. - -"Thanks," he said, and taking his cup he went and stood on the rug -before the empty hearth. He stirred his tea slowly, with his eyes -wandering from one to the other of the four women in the room. - -"You good people seem singularly calm, considering that you must just -have been listening to a very exciting story," he remarked. - -"Indeed, no," replied Sybil, taking upon herself to answer. "The lady to -whom you have just been doing the polite bored us intensely. Leonie -says, for all the dash she's cutting in London, she's an _incognita_ so -far as America is concerned." - -The General continued to stir his tea impassively. - -"Did she not inform you in the course of her small talk," he inquired -presently, "that on her way here her carriage had knocked a man down and -gone near to killing him?" - -The question evoked a chorus of interested negatives. - -"Neither did she say anything to me about it," said the General gravely. - -"Then how did you become aware of the accident?" Mrs. Sadgrove ventured -to ask. - -"Saw it," returned the General. "It happened in Buckingham Palace Road. -I was passing at the time, on my way home from the club. Her coachman -drove right over the fellow as he was crossing the roadway at the -corner. He was knocked down, and it was the merest shave that he wasn't -trampled by the horses and crushed by the wheels. As it was, he escaped -with a bit of a shaking and a dusty coat. At any rate, he got up and -walked into the nearest barber's--for a wash and brush-up, I suppose." - -Further questioned, the General in his jerky way informed his fair -audience that he was sure that it was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's jobbed -landau that had wrought the mischief, and that she herself was in it at -the time. It was the same vehicle which he had found at his own door on -reaching home ten minutes ago, and to which he had just conducted her. - -"Funny that she should be so secretive about it," said Mrs. Sadgrove, -reflectively. "It's the sort of thing that most women, coming fresh from -the scene, would have been full of--especially as it must have been the -coachman's fault, and not her own." - -"Exactly," was the General's curt comment. - -"She's a--a _creature_," Sybil Hanbury exclaimed, viciously. "Thank -goodness, I don't know her; but I've heard all about her from Alec. The -poor boy can't abide her; she makes eyes at him so unblushingly." - -"Then we can appreciate your sentiments about her," remarked the General -with the flicker of a smile. "How did we come to know this lady?" he -added to his wife. - -Mrs. Sadgrove explained that she had been asked as a favor to call on -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by a mutual acquaintance, a certain Lady -Roseville, but had regretted it ever since. Their intercourse had, -however, been of the slightest, being confined to the interchange of a -couple of formal visits, and to an invitation by Mrs. Sadgrove to a -musical "at home," at which Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had endeavored to -embark on a flirtation with Alec Forsyth. - -"She's a rich widow, I believe; and I don't think she would ever have -been heard of if the Rosevilles hadn't taken her up," Mrs. Sadgrove -concluded. - -The series of grunts with which the General received this information -had hardly ceased when again the footman appeared in the doorway and -announced, with all due importance: - -"His Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The occupants of the drawing-room were all accustomed to the "usages of -polite society," either in Britannic or Transatlantic form; but it was -impossible for them to repress a flutter of excitement as the visitor -entered, his original "cavalry swing" marred but not wholly obliterated -by his limp. Leonie tried hard not to blush, and failed. Mrs. Sherman -interlaced her fingers nervously. Sybil Hanbury stared hard at the -cousin whose stately town house she was occupying, and who had waved a -magic wand over her lover's prospects. Mrs. Sadgrove was the graceful -and interested hostess, and the General--well, the General was surprised -for once into a start which was only invisible because nobody was -looking at him. - -Beaumanoir's manner was perfectly easy and self-possessed, but there was -a harassed look in his eyes which did not entirely fade as he responded -to his welcome. But it was not that which had caused the General to -start. - -_The Duke was the man whom he had seen knocked down by Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's carriage, to the imminent peril of his life._ - -The "wash and brush-up" had been effectual as regards the ducal -garments, but they could not hide the black silk sling in which he -carried his left arm. It was General Sadgrove's way to allow events to -shape themselves, and saying nothing of the scene he had witnessed as he -welcomed the distinguished visitor, he waited for the Duke to refer to -his mishap himself. - -But no. The victim of the accident was apparently as much inclined to -reticence as had been the fair cause of it. It was Mrs. Sherman who -unconsciously provoked the mendacious statement which stimulated the -General's curiosity. - -"I'm afraid that your Grace has hurt your hand," said the Senator's -wife, pointing to a broad strip of diachylon plaster that ran from the -Duke's wrist to the ball of his thumb. - -"Yes, I--I grazed it rather badly against the wheel in getting out of a -cab," Beaumanoir replied with a momentary loss of his self-possession. -The discomposure passed at once, and only the observer on the hearth-rug -noticed it. The same shrewd observer presently perceived that the -visitor was definitely leading the conversation to the subject of the -arrival in England of Senator Sherman; and, more than that, that he was -waxing a shade more inquisitive than good-breeding allowed as to the -nature of the senatorial journey. - -"Ah! he's coming on political business, I think you told me?" the Duke -remarked in a half-tone of interrogation on Leonie saying that her -father, according to advices received that morning, was to sail in two -days' time on the _Campania_, and would be due at Liverpool early in the -following week. - -"Well, it's political business in a way," Mrs. Sherman struck in. "My -husband is coming over in charge of a large amount of Government -securities, which are to be deposited at the Bank of England against a -shipment of English gold to the United States." - -"He's got the opening he wanted. Now, what on earth is he going to do -with it?" said the General to himself as he watched keenly. - -"Rather a dangerous mission, I should say," was the Duke's comment on -the information imparted to him. - -"Dangerous! How can that be?" Leonie exclaimed, wondering. "United -States Treasury bonds are not explosive." - -"No, but the world is full of sharps, Miss Sherman, and some of them -might fancy having a shy for such a haul," said Beaumanoir with a trace -more of earnestness than the occasion seemed to require. "If I had a -relative starting on such an errand, I should be inclined to cable him -to--ah--to look out for himself," he added in direct appeal to Mrs. -Sherman. - -But the good lady laughed the suggestion to scorn, alleging playfully -that "it would be as much as her place was worth" to tackle the Senator -that way. It would be a hint that he wasn't able to take care of himself -or of his charge, and would be resented accordingly. - -The Duke abandoned the subject, but the General noted the disappointment -in the tired eyes. - -"His Grace knows something. Let's see--he was on his beam-ends when he -was unearthed in New York," the old hunter of Thugs and Dacoits muttered -under his gray mustache. - -Beaumanoir made no long stay after his ineffectual effort to sound a -warning note. There had been no opportunity for individual talk; but in -saying his adieus he had two words with Sybil, who had been observing -her cousin quite as intently as, and a good deal more openly than, the -General. - -"I'm going to look Alec up now, at his diggings in John Street," he -said. "Probably I shall ask him to put me up to-night." - -"It's a shame that you should have to do so," Sybil blurted in her -boyish fashion. "You've been awfully good to us. I ought to have cleared -out of Beaumanoir House at once, and I'll 'git' as soon as ever I can -make other arrangements." - -"I beg you'll do nothing of the kind," Beaumanoir made genial answer. -"Alec is about the only friend I have, and--and I need a friend, Cousin -Sybil. It has been a pleasure to serve him and you--if it can be called -serving you," he added with a thoughtful gravity that puzzled the girl. - -She shook hands with a warmth that bespoke the death of old prejudices, -and General Sadgrove, who had hardly exchanged two words with his -visitor, accompanied him to the hall-door. - -"Are you walking, Duke? Or shall I whistle a cab?" he asked. - -Beaumanoir looked up the street and down the street, and gave a queer -little shrug. - -"It won't make any difference whether I walk or drive," he said. -"Good-bye, General." - -Having gazed the limping figure out of sight, the General went back into -the house and made for his private den--a cozy apartment crammed with -Eastern spoils. There he leisurely selected a cigar and seated himself -in a big saddle-bag chair. - -"There is something brewing," he growled gently. "I perceive a vibration -in the moral atmosphere which quite recalls old days. I wonder what it -means?" - - - - -CHAPTER VII--_The Men on the Stairs_ - - -The rooms--two in number--occupied by Alec Forsyth in John Street, -Adelphi, were in a house let off in bachelor chambers, with the -exception of the ground floor, which was used as an office by a firm of -wholesale wine-merchants. The young Scotsman's limited income had -precluded a more aristocratic locality; and, at any rate, John Street -offered the advantage of being within a few minutes' walk of his daily -work in Downing Street. - -In the daytime, when the tenants were out at their various avocations, -the upper part of the dingy old building was deserted, save by the -housekeeper in the attics; while the counting-house abutting on the -street was all life and bustle. At night the conditions were reversed, -the wine-merchant's premises being locked up and silent, and the rooms -above occupied. - -On the evening of that Monday on which the Duke of Beaumanoir called on -the Shermans at the residence of General Sadgrove, Alec was busy in his -sitting-room, tearing up papers and preparing generally for his -departure to Prior's Tarrant on the morrow. It was past eight, and he -had just lit the gas, when the door suddenly opened and Beaumanoir came -in. - -"Why, Charley--hang it! Duke, I mean--I thought you were in the -country!" Alec exclaimed, more astonished by his friend's actions than -by his appearance there. - -For, after slipping quietly in, Beaumanoir had turned sharp round and -loosed the catch of the spring-lock. Not satisfied with that, he also -shot home the two old-fashioned bolts with which the door was fitted, -top and bottom, and then flung himself into an easy chair, mopping his -brow with his handkerchief. - -"I don't think I was spotted, but it's best to be on the safe side," he -muttered. Then aloud: "I came to ask you to give me a shake-down -to-night, old chap, on a sofa or anything; only I don't know if it's -fair to you; my proximity carries a pretty considerable risk. But I've -been--rather worried, and I seem to want company." - -Forsyth rose, and laid an affectionate hand on the Duke's shoulder. - -"Now, look here," he said, firmly. "I'm going to forget that you're my -employer at a generous salary, and remember only that I'm your friend. -What does all this mean? You've been hurt somehow, too. Just make a -clean breast of it, and let's see what can be done." - -Beaumanoir shook his head sadly. - -"I can't make a clean breast of it," he began; then pulled up short and -went on. "At least, I can't tell you causes, but I'll tell you effects. -My life has been attempted twice certainly, possibly three times, since -noon yesterday." - -"How?" said Alec with Scotch brevity. - -"A lame gardener was set upon at Prior's Tarrant, and released on his -assailants finding that they had mistaken him for me. And at night they -got on the roof and tried to suffocate me by letting a brazier of -charcoal down into the grate and plugging the chimney. Luckily I awoke, -and managed to crawl out of the room in time." - -"But surely you raised an alarm and caught the fellows? They couldn't -get off the roof and escape so quickly as that," exclaimed Alec, half -incredulous. - -Again the Duke shook his head. - -"I raised no alarm, and they did get away, after pulling up the brazier -and leaving no trace," he replied. "There are reasons, Alec, why I could -not have appeared against them had they been caught--the same reasons -why I can't confide more fully in you." - -"You must have done something very bad--murder at least," said Forsyth, -gravely. - -"On the contrary, I have done nothing at all," Beaumanoir retorted. "It -is for not doing something that I am being persecuted." - -"Well, what about the third attempt?" - -"It happened this afternoon, as I was on my way to your uncle's. A -carriage knocked me down and very nearly crumpled me. But that may have -been an accident." - -"Did you take stock of the driver and the people in the carriage?" - -Beaumanoir was obliged to admit that he had not. In his disheveled state -he had been only anxious to be cleaned down and have his wrist attended -to, and it was not till after the carriage had driven rapidly away that -he had connected the incident with the other attempts. - -Forsyth said nothing for the moment, but fetched some cigarettes from -the mantelpiece; and it was not until they had smoked in silence for -awhile that he blurted out suddenly: - -"This can't be allowed to go on. It makes everything impossible. Have -you any reason to think that the people who are pursuing you will do so -indefinitely--until they have settled you?" - -Beaumanoir considered before replying, as though the point had not -occurred to him before. - -"No," he said, with a nervous laugh. "Things have crowded so in the last -few hours that I haven't thought much about any sort of future. I cannot -be sure, but I believe if I could pull through till the end of next -week--say, for another fortnight--that the danger would pass." - -Forsyth sat and ruminated, blowing blue smoke-rings; and then, after two -or three minutes of silence, a faint noise sounded in the room. The -Duke, whose nerves were tuned to concert pitch, heard it first, and -turned a pair of wide-open eyes on the door. Forsyth's gaze followed, -and they both saw the handle of the door move. The door itself, being -locked and double bolted, of course refused to yield to the gentle -pressure from without. - -Forsyth laid his finger to his lips for silence, and motioned Beaumanoir -to retire into the bedroom, which communicated by means of folding doors -with the sitting-room. When the Duke had noiselessly disappeared, -Forsyth stole to the outer door, and having first quietly drawn the -bolts he quickly unlocked it and flung it open, to be confronted by an -under-sized little man, who shrank back from his threatening attitude. - -"Who the deuce are you--and what do you want, disturbing me at this time -of night?" Forsyth demanded fiercely. - -"These are Mr. Crofton's chambers, ain't they, sir?" bleated the -intruder. - -"No; they are not. There's no one of that name in the house that I know -of," replied Forsyth, partially mollified by his mild manner, and wholly -so when the little man proceeded to apologize for his mistake, -explaining that he was from a chemist's in the Strand with some medicine -for the gentleman, but that he must have come to the wrong house. - -Holding up a bottle as evidence of his _bona fides_, he retreated -downstairs, excusing himself to the last; but before going he had -managed to snatch a comprehensive glance round the room. Forsyth waited -on the landing until his steps had died away, and then went back into -his room, barring the door as before. - -"It's all right," he said, going to the folding doors. "Only some chap -who had mistaken the address." - -"Not much mistake there," replied the Duke, outwardly calm, but gone -very white. "I caught a peep of him. He's a johnny who shadowed me over -from America, and never left me till just before I met you at the Cecil. -He called himself Marker, and--and he's in this business, Alec." - -"He didn't look very formidable. Why, you could lick the thread-paper -little skimp with one hand," said Forsyth, beginning to wonder if his -friend's mind were unhinged. It was not like the once gay hussar Charley -Hanbury--intrepid horseman, champion boxer, and good all-round -athlete--to funk a miserable wisp such as that! - -"He is only the spy, I expect--sent to find out if I was here," replied -Beaumanoir, passing a weary hand over his eyes. - -Moved by a sudden impulse, Forsyth went into the bedroom, shutting the -door behind him so as to be in the dark. The window commanded a view of -the street, and the blind had not been drawn. Looking down, he saw a man -sauntering on the opposite pavement, who presently coming under the rays -of a street-lamp was revealed as Marker. Forsyth waited until the spy -turned and slowly retraced his steps, and then went back into the -sitting-room. - -"You have convinced me that there is something in all this," he said. -"That fellow is mouching about outside." - -"I'll go. I can't subject you to this sort of thing," said Beaumanoir, -reaching for the new hat which he had purchased after his "accident." - -But Forsyth pushed him back into his chair. - -"A duke isn't necessarily a fool," he said, roughly. "What you want most -is a good sleep, and you shall have it--here in these rooms. Mr. Marker -can't _know_ that you are here, or he wouldn't have come to the door -with that bogus yarn. Also, he is evidently not satisfied that you are -_not_ here, or he would have gone away. It remains to throw dust in his -eyes and fool him a bit. Lord! how I wish my uncle, General Sadgrove, -was with us!" - -"He seemed to me a trifle dull," remarked the Duke, inconsequently. - -Forsyth made allowances, and did not answer. - -"See here," he said, after a minute's reflection. "This is the plan to -throw the spy off the scent. It's nine o'clock--just the hour when it -would be quite natural for a bachelor to go to his club. I will stroll -round to Northumberland Avenue, and drop into the Constitutional for an -hour. In the meanwhile, do you stay here and lie low behind locked -doors, and with gas turned down. That rascal will almost certainly -retire to his employers baffled, for he would not think that I should go -out and leave you alone." - -"That sounds promising," Beaumanoir assented. "But don't stay a moment -longer than the hour, Alec. I don't think I could stand it." - -Forsyth reassured him, and having slipped into evening clothes and -donned a light overcoat, he issued his final instructions. It was -beginning to be natural to him now to take the lead, after that glimpse -of the lurking figure in the light of the street-lamp. Beaumanoir was to -lock and bolt himself in, and only open on hearing the password "_Rat_." - -These matters arranged, Forsyth departed, and, after waiting until he -heard the bolts shot, went down into the street, where the spy was still -in evidence, prowling on the other side. He made no attempt to follow -Forsyth, who, affecting not to notice him, walked rapidly the short -distance to his club. There he remained in the smoking-room with what -patience he could muster for the full hour, determined not to return -till time enough had elapsed for Marker to come to the desired -conclusion and act upon it. - -It was half-past ten when Forsyth set out to retrace his steps to John -Street, and almost as soon as he entered that deserted thoroughfare he -saw that the watcher was no longer at his post. Eager to relieve -Beaumanoir from his solitary state of siege, he made all haste to the -house, and was passing quickly through the entry when he heard footsteps -on the landing above. A gas-jet was kept burning over the closed door of -the wine-merchant's office, for the benefit of the resident tenants on -the upper floors, so that he had a clear view of the straight stone -stairs. Before he reached the latter two men came into view, hurriedly -descending, and talking together in muffled undertones--one a gaunt, -hungry-looking individual in the garb of a clergyman; the other, burly -and bull-necked, dressed in shabby tweeds and bowler hat. - -Forsyth stood aside at the stair-foot for them to pass, and then, moved -by the furtive glances they turned back at him, he ran upstairs two -steps at a time. He knew all his fellow-lodgers by sight; but these men -were strangers, and he did not like the looks of the curiously assorted -pair. On coming to the door of his rooms, he rapped and spoke the agreed -signal, but something prompted him not to wait, and simultaneously he -turned the handle. The door swung open at once, without any unbarring -from within. - -"Where have you got to?" cried Forsyth, peering round the room, in which -the gas burned low, just as he had left it. - -There was no response; and with a sinking heart he turned on a full -light and dashed into the bedroom, only to find that also vacant. The -Duke of Beaumanoir had vanished from his refuge. - -There was no doubt that he was in neither of the rooms. A hasty search -put that beyond question. Instinctively Forsyth ran to the outer door -and at once made the discovery--for which he was already prepared--that -his chambers had been forcibly entered during his absence. The door had -been wrenched open with a jemmy, and had simply been pulled to on the -departure of the intruders. The shattered woodwork round the spring-lock -told its own tale, though the mystery was increased by the fact that the -old-fashioned bolts had been withdrawn. - -But what of Beaumanoir? - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--_The Cut Panel_ - - -In the famous white drawing-room at Beaumanoir House Sybil Hanbury was -preparing to end a solitary evening by the simple process of going to -bed. The butler, a martyr to punctilio, had insisted on lighting every -jet in the chandeliers and in the sconces on the walls, with the result -that the vast apartment scintillated like a ball-room, accentuating the -loneliness of the black-clad little figure of its sole occupant. - -Sybil laid aside her book, and surveyed the splendid emptiness of the -room with a smile of amusement for her monopoly of so much gorgeously -upholstered space. But as she realized that her monopoly of the white -drawing-room was only a detail in the much larger incongruity of her -monopoly of the Piccadilly mansion, her face took a graver look. - -"I trust that the Vincents will be ready to take me in next week," she -mused with a touch of impatience. "The idea of a score of servants and -an acre of ducal palace being run for a simple body like me is too -ridiculous, especially with the rightful owner ready to take -possession." - -She had been both puzzled and attracted by her cousin at General -Sadgrove's that afternoon. As a child she had heard so much contemptuous -obloquy poured on the absent ne'er-do-well that, in spite of his -generosity to Alec Forsyth and his consideration for herself, she had -been prepared to cling to the old prejudice. It had, however, at once -broken down under the pathetic plea for friendship which she had -discerned in the Duke's troubled eyes, for her womanly insight told her -that the new head of the family was under the influence of a mental -strain almost amounting to physical distress. - -"He looks like a man sitting on an infernal machine, listening to the -tick-tack of the clock-work," she reflected. "Yet I don't think he's -wicked, or the sort of person with a past likely to fly up and hit him -in the face. I wish I knew what he is grizzling about, so that Alec and -I could do him a good turn in exchange for his benevolence." - -She had risen with the intention of retiring to her own room, when the -butler entered hurriedly, and with traces of well-disciplined agitation -on his episcopal countenance. Mr. Prince had grown gray in the ducal -service; but, beyond a slight fatherliness of manner, he did not presume -on the fact towards the orphan scion of the great house. - -"I really don't know, Miss, if I ought to disturb you so late on such a -matter," he said. "Two men have called to see his Grace, and, failing -him, insisted on my ascertaining if you would receive them." - -"I know nothing of the Duke's affairs, and I am just going up to bed," -Sybil replied, wondering at the usually correct retainer's excitement. -"Besides, Prince, 'insist' is rather a curious word to use here," she -added with a trace of asperity. - -"I should not have ventured to repeat such an objectionable phrase, -Miss, if it had not been used with a sort of authority," the butler -hastened to put himself right. "I ought to have mentioned that they are -Scotland Yard detectives, which accounts for my being a bit flurried." - -Sybil promptly sat down again and bade Prince show the visitors in. She -had no desire to pry into her cousin's business, nor did her reception -of the police-officers imply any such intention. But at that moment her -preconceived notion that the Duke was the center of a mystery took -definite shape, and she was above all things loyal to the house. She -decided that in her cousin's interest it would be wiser to see these -men, and, if possible, fore-arm herself with a knowledge of their -designs. - -But when Prince returned it was to usher in not two men, but only one--a -cadaverous, middle-aged person in the garb of a clergyman, who waited -obsequiously near the door while his card was presented by the butler. - -"I found when I got back into the hall that he'd sent the other man -away, Miss--said there was no need for two of them to intrude upon you," -explained Prince in an undertone. - -Sybil nodded, but the furtive glances of the clerically dressed visitor -caused her to call Prince back as he was retiring. - -"I trust you didn't leave them alone in the hall?" she whispered. - -"Oh, dear, no, Miss; William, the second footman, was on duty in the -hall while I came to you," was the reply, uttered in a slightly injured -tone. - -Prince having taken a dignified departure, Sybil beckoned forward the -individual whom his card proclaimed to be "Inspector Chantrey, Criminal -Investigation Department." He advanced with a shambling walk and with -deprecating gestures in keeping with his disguise; but Sybil formed the -opinion that all his nervousness was not simulated. It struck her that -he was listening intently as he threaded his way through the priceless -Louis Seize garniture of the white drawing-room. - -He stood before her at last, for all the world like a half-famished wolf -in the presence of a very wide-awake and dainty lamb that had not the -least intention of being devoured. He spoke hurriedly--almost -perfunctorily, as though he set no great store by his questions or the -answers to them; and all the time that listening attitude was -noticeable. - -"I called in the hope of finding his Grace at home," he began, with a -half-note of interrogation. - -"Well, the butler will have told you that he is not at home," said Sybil -sharply. - -"True; but servants are not always reliable, and I thought I had better -see one of the family. Might I ask if the Duke is expected here -to-night?" - -"No, he isn't. What do you want him for?" snapped Sybil. - -The _aplomb_ of the question seemed to take the inquisitor back. He -glanced curiously at the girl in the high-backed arm-chair, first -scanning her tenacious little face, but quickly dropping his shifty eyes -to the carelessly crossed shoes. - -He began to "hem" and "ha." - -"The fact of the matter is, we have had a communication from the county -police at Prior's Tarrant, in respect of an assault on one of the -servants in the park yesterday. The local people think the attack may -have been intended for the Duke, and they have wired us to make -inquiries." - -The reason alleged for his visit sounded plausible, and in some degree -might account for the hunted look she had surprised in the Duke's eyes. -Yet she was not altogether satisfied. It was conceivable that the police -should want to question the Duke, but the excuse for intruding on her at -such an hour hardly seemed adequate. - -"I am still at a loss to see how I can be of service to you in a matter -of which I know nothing," she said, not attempting to keep the suspicion -out of her voice. - -"I only desired to make sure, madam, that the Duke was not at home. -Having obtained that assurance from the fountain-head, pray permit me to -withdraw," was the nervously spoken reply, punctuated by an awkward bow -and the commencement of a hurried retreat. But the visitor had only -taken three steps down the long vista of the room when the door was -flung open, and Prince announced, with the air of one who springs a -surprise: - -"His Grace the Duke!" - -Beaumanoir was very pale, but he advanced without hesitation, meeting -Sibyl's interrogator half-way up the room. Startled as she was by her -cousin's unexpected appearance, the girl intuitively rose and went -forward, vaguely conscious of a desire to hear if the man repeated the -same tale. - -"Well, sir?" said the Duke, curtly. - -Sybil hardly knew whether or no she was relieved when, word for word, -the man repeated the reason he had just given her for his call. Watching -her cousin's face, she saw the pallor yield to a flush of evident -annoyance. - -"Oh, yes; something of the kind occurred in the park at Prior's -Tarrant," he angrily replied. "But all this about the man being mistaken -for me is officious nonsense--too trivial to warrant your pushing your -way into this young lady's presence at eleven o'clock at night. I shall -complain to your superiors of this most impertinent intrusion." - -"What could it mean?" Sybil asked herself. The man's nervous air--his -attitude of listening--had disappeared. His sly face grew sleekly -impudent under Beaumanoir's rebuke and it was quite jauntily that he -answered: - -"Then I'll bid your Grace good-night. Very possibly you'll reconsider -the advisability of raising the question at Scotland Yard." - -The clerical coat-tails went flapping down the room, the Duke following -them to the door, where he handed their owner over to Prince, who was -hovering in the hall. Having given a sharp order to "show the gentleman -out," Beaumanoir returned to Sybil, humbly apologetic, but with signs of -haste in his manner. - -"My dear cousin, I am more than annoyed at Prince's laxity in admitting -that fellow," he said, taking her hand. "It is fortunate that I chanced -to look in in the hope of finding you up, and so was able to rid you of -him. I came to leave a message for Alec in case he calls presently." - -"But Alec is the pink of propriety," exclaimed Sibyl, laughing in spite -of herself. "He doesn't call on an unprotected damsel, even if he is -engaged to her, at eleven o'clock at night." - -"Nevertheless, I believe that he will call here very shortly; and I -should like him to be told that I am all right, and, in fact, that I am -going out of town for a few days to the sea-side. I will communicate -with him when I want him to enter on his secretarial duties. That is -all, I think. I must really be off now." - -But Sybil would not at once take his proffered hand. She remembered that -he had mentioned that he was to spend the night at Alec's chambers, and -this sudden derangement of plans, coupled with the lurking suggestion in -his message, was, to say the least of it, mysterious. Looking into the -tired eyes, she found again that expression of sleepless worry that had -puzzled her. Why should it be necessary for this young man, newly come -to great wealth and station, to notify his friend so feverishly that he -was "all right," and in the same breath announce his retreat from London -to some vague destination--not to his own country-seat? - -"As you expect Alec here, wouldn't it be better to wait for him?" she -urged; adding naively, "I could even offer you a bed, if you would -condescend to make yourself at home in your own house." - -But Beaumanoir was in no mood to perceive the humor of the situation. He -was clearly fidgeting to be gone, and Sybil could only conclude that he -wanted to be gone before Alec arrived. With a girl's faith in her -lover's power to surmount most difficulties, she decided to try and -detain her cousin as long as possible; but her diplomacy was not called -into play. Prince, now wearing an air of mild protest at all these -excursions and alarums, appeared in the doorway to announce: - -"Mr. Forsyth." - -Beaumanoir was evidently disconcerted at not having made his exit in -time; and Sybil, recognizing that there was something between the two -men not for her ears, tactfully withdrew to the other end of the room, -after smiling a greeting to her lover. She thought none the worse of him -because he was too preoccupied to return it. She was beginning to -discern an undercurrent of serious import beneath the happenings of the -past half-hour. - -"What made you break cover, old chap? You've given me a pretty scare," -said Forsyth to the Duke. "When I found you'd gone, I came on here on -the off-chance." - -"I didn't think it fair to subject you to the sort of night you might -have had with me as an inmate, so I cleared out," Beaumanoir replied, -wearily. "I guessed you'd inquire here, so I called in to leave word -that I was all right--up to date." - -"You were not molested before quitting my chambers?" - -"No. Why do you ask?" - -"Because the place has been visited; it must have been after you left," -said Forsyth, gravely. And he went on to relate how he had found the -door broken open, and how he had met two suspicious-looking men on the -stairs, one dressed as a clergyman and the other in shabby tweeds. - -"Dressed as a clergyman?" cried Beaumanoir, startled into forgetfulness -of Sybil's presence in the room. "Then, Alec, I have stood face to face -with death in this house not ten minutes ago. I found your sham parson -here, professing to be an official detective; but I doubted him from the -first." - -His raised tones reached Sybil, who realized that the house of -Beaumanoir was confronted by no ordinary emergency. What the peril could -be that threatened her noble relative she had no means of knowing, or -any wish to know; but the Duke's description of himself as standing -"face to face with death" amid the seeming security of his own white -drawing-room touched her with the icy hand of unknown dread, and, -moreever, filled her with a sense of responsibility. The man who was not -safe under the dazzling lights of that splendid apartment, with a host -of servants within call, was going forth into all the insecurity of the -London streets at midnight because, her instinct told her, he would not -expose her to the same danger. - -Her cousin's chivalry appealed not only to her loyalty to the house, but -to that protective impulse which springs readily in every woman's heart. - -"I couldn't help overhearing you," she said, coming forward. "I, too, -doubted that man--very strongly. I am sure he meant no good. But what I -want to say, Cousin Charles, is that you must remain here to-night. If -you go out of the house, I shall go also." - -Forsyth shot a grateful look at her. - -"The best possible plan," he said, quickly. "Now, don't be obstinate, -Duke. The man has left the premises, I presume? Good! That being so, we -shall be a poor lot if we can't prevent his getting in again, which he -is hardly likely to attempt. There is nothing to hinder you from -spending a quiet night here, without the slightest risk of -unpleasantness either to Sybil or to yourself, and in the morning you -and I can talk over your future movements at leisure." - -"And I quite meant what I said," Sybil added, firmly. "If you won't stay -here, you will put me to the inconvenience of turning out and going to -an hotel at twelve o'clock at night. I have no intention of being forced -into the horrid feeling that I am keeping you from the shelter of your -own roof." - -Under the pleading of the two pairs of kindly eyes turned on him -Beaumanoir wavered. The chance of sleep and rest was tempting. He -stepped to the door, and found Prince in the great entrance-hall. - -"That man who called himself a detective has gone?" he inquired. "You -are sure there is no mistake about it? You showed him to the door -yourself, and saw him out?" - -"And secured the door immediately afterwards, your Grace. Mr. Forsyth -will bear me out in that; I had to withdraw the bolts to admit him." - -Beaumanoir returned to the drawing-room. - -"You are both very good, and I will stay for to-night only," he -assented. "I wish I could make the explanation I owe you, but--well, I -am the victim of circumstances." - -"The explanation will keep," said Forsyth, bluntly. "May I stay too?" - -The permission was, of course, accorded, and Sybil bade them good-night -and retired to her room, giving orders on the way for two adjoining -bedrooms to be prepared for them. The two men went into the smoking-room -for a whisky and cigarette while the rooms were being got ready; but -each with tacit consent avoided the topic of the moment. The one idea in -Alec's mind was to let Beaumanoir have a good sleep, and persuade him -into a serious discussion in the morning. - -They parted at the door of their bedrooms on the first floor, where the -late Duke's valet, who was still in the house, had done everything -possible to cope with the sudden emergency. Pajamas had been routed out, -and toilet requisites provided. The windows of both rooms looked out -over the ceaseless traffic of Piccadilly, so that no danger could be -apprehended from that quarter; yet Forsyth sat for a long time before -turning in to bed. In his ignorance of what was the source of the Duke's -danger, he had been loath to excite remark among the servants by fussing -about the proper locking up of the mansion; but the stately tread of -Prince going his rounds reassured him on that point, and eventually he -slept. - -In the meanwhile, Sybil, in her room at the other end of the same -corridor, was finding a still greater difficulty in composing herself to -rest. The events of the evening, in such startling contrast with the -normal calm of the dignified establishment that had been her home, had -unsettled--not to say alarmed--her, and she felt no inclination to the -lace-edged pillow that usually wooed her to willing slumbers. She was a -sound, healthy girl, untroubled by nerves; but she felt a singular need -for alertness, unreasonable perhaps, but imperative. - -The Duke's anxiety to make sure that the clerically dressed individual -had really left the house had impressed her; and now, too late for -inquiry, she remembered that she had omitted to mention that _two_ men -had called, one of them not having been shown into her presence. The -latter, Prince had said, had been dismissed by his colleague; but his -departure had only been witnessed by William, the second footman--a -dreamy servant at the best of times, and unreliable by reason of a -hopeless attachment to the senior housemaid. The thought thrilled Sybil -that the other man, having hoodwinked the footman, might still be in the -house, concealed in one of the many unused rooms. - -The idea of a lurking prowler, biding his time in the stillness of the -sleeping household, kept her wakeful. Once or twice she looked out into -the corridor; but the flicker of her candle only showed two rows of -closed doors, without a sign of life, and each time she went back and -tried to fix her attention on a book. So the night dragged into the -small hours; and about three o'clock, after a longer interval than -before, she determined to take one more peep and then get into bed. - -She had already grasped the door-handle, when she withdrew her hand as -though it had been stung by an adder. A faint scrooping sound told her -that someone was doing something in the corridor, and half a minute's -strained listening told her that, whatever that something was, it was -persistent and continuous. It went on and on, like the drone of a bee in -a bottle. - -Silently crossing the room, she turned down her gas to a pin-point and -blew out the candle with which she had intended to investigate. Then she -returned to the door, and, opening it noiselessly, tiptoed into the -outer darkness. Here the sound, though still faint, was more distinctly -audible, and she was able to locate it at the door of the room occupied -by the Duke. The discovery left her no time for fear, or even for -conjecture. There was only one thing to be done--to rouse Alec and the -Duke, but without, till that supreme moment, alarming the unseen -manipulator at her cousin's door. Thus would she narrow the time at the -disposal of that mysterious person for revising his plans and effecting -his escape. - -The thick pile carpet made for silence, and she stole quietly along the -broad passage, touching and counting the doors till she reached that of -Forsyth's room--only a few feet from the gentle buz-buz that had -attracted her attention, and only a few feet from someone stealthily at -work in the dark. A steady snore from the interior of the Duke's chamber -explained his complacence under that uncanny tampering with his -approaches. - -Again giving herself no time for fear, Sybil beat a rat-tat on Forsyth's -door, calling him by name. The sound at the next door immediately -ceased, an instant of intense silence following, and then almost -simultaneously two things happened. An iron grip settled on the girl's -wrist, just as Forsyth flung open the door of his room, in which he had -wisely turned the gas full on as he leaped out of bed. The light -streamed into the corridor and shone upon a man in shabby tweeds and -bowler hat, who was holding Sybil, but not so hampered that he was -prevented from drawing a revolver and aiming straight at Forsyth's head. - -[Illustration: _"The procession of three led by the stranger."_] - -Whether he intended to fire or offer an ultimatum was not demonstrated, -for before he could do either he was taken in the rear and found himself -a target. There stood the Duke in his pajamas, with a handy little Smith -and Wesson not a foot from the intruder's temples, and with his left -hand significantly extended. - -"Give me that pistol," he said, sternly. - -Beaumanoir was dealing with a tangible foe at last, and with a thrill of -racial pride Sybil noted the light of battle in her relative's eye. It -was, therefore, more than a shock to her when the Duke, having relieved -the tweed-coated lurker of his weapon, calmly added: - -"Now, sir, if you will be good enough to march in front of me down to -the front door, I will let you out. You two," he continued, addressing -Sybil and Forsyth in the same quiet tones, "will greatly oblige me by -not raising any alarm or disturbing the servants while I am gone." - -"I am coming downstairs with you," said Forsyth, drily. - -When the procession of three, led by the stranger with a brace of -pistols at his head, had filed off to the grand staircase, Sybil ran -back to her room and fetched her candle. An inspection of the Duke's -door showed that a panel had been partially cut out with a watch-spring -saw, which was still sticking in the almost invisible fissure. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--_The Strategy of the General_ - - -Some five hours later General Sadgrove, at his house in Grosvenor -Gardens, was taking his morning tub, when a servant tapped at the door -of the bathroom and informed him that Mr. Alec Forsyth wanted to see him -very urgently. The General as speedily as possible donned his -dressing-gown and descended to his sanctum. His keen eyes just glanced -at the troubled face of the young man standing on the hearth-rug; then, -in his laconic way, he asked: - -"What's wrong, laddie? Your chum Beaumanoir been in the wars?" - -Forsyth favored him with a startled stare, and then broke into an uneasy -laugh. - -"You seem to have been exercising your faculty of second-sight already, -Uncle Jem," he said. - -"The man was being _stalked_," said the General. "Has anyone caught -him?" - -"Very nearly," replied Forsyth; and he proceeded to narrate the events -of the night, and also what Beaumanoir had told him of the previous -attempts on his life. At mention of the Duke's absolute refusal to -disclose the cause of the vendetta and to invoke the protection of the -police, General Sadgrove drew a long breath. On hearing that he had in -the small hours of that morning, thanks to the vigilance of Sybil -Hanbury, held one of his would-be assassins at his mercy, but had -quietly escorted him to the door and let him go, the whilom hunter of -Dacoits uttered inarticulate grunts. - -"And now, Uncle Jem, I have come to you for help," Forsyth proceeded -earnestly. "I have persuaded the Duke to permit me to tell you in -strictest confidence as much as he has told me, and I think if you can -make any suggestions for baffling these unknown malefactors that he will -adopt them--always provided your advice does not entail going to the -police. He has given me his word of honor to remain at Beaumanoir House -until I return; but the odds are they'll have another shy at him -directly he pokes his nose outside." - -The General had been absently toying with a tray of Indian curios, but -he now looked sharply up at his nephew. - -"You are not exactly blind, Alec, and can read between the lines," he -said. "Reluctance on the part of a man threatened with murder to -communicate with the authorities must mean that he has got an ugly sort -of secret himself." - -"You know his record, sir. Charles Hanbury was never anyone's enemy but -his own, and I expect the Duke of Beaumanoir is much the same," replied -Forsyth with a warmth which left the General quite unmoved. The old -warrior reverted to his curios and spent a couple of minutes in -balancing an Afghan dagger on his finger, till, apparently inspired by -the performance, he laid the venomous blade aside. - -"I agree with you in one aspect of the case," he said. "An insurance -company, knowing what we know, would be ill-advised to take a risk on -his Grace's life. The chances are in favor of his being a dead man -within twenty-four hours of his quitting his present shelter. I presume -that precautions have been taken against any more bogus detectives, or -bogus anything else, gaining access to him during your absence?" - -Forsyth replied that the Duke had promised to remain in his own room -till he returned, and that the butler had been instructed to admit no -one into the house on any pretence whatever. Moreover, he added, with a -proud note in his voice, Sybil was co-operating, and was thoroughly -alive to the emergency. - -"Then," said the General, briskly, "I will finish dressing, and when we -have had a mouthful of breakfast I will go back with you to Beaumanoir -House. We must get your Duke into the interior of a safer zariba than a -Piccadilly mansion before we can open parallel trenches against such a -persistent enemy." - -General Sadgrove and Alec breakfasted alone together, the former, -indeed, hurrying the meal purposely so as to get away before the ladies -appeared. He had seen enough the previous day, when the Duke was calling -on the Shermans, to make him shy of explaining to his guests that he was -bound for Beaumanoir House at nine o'clock in the morning, both Mrs. -Sherman and Leonie being aware that his acquaintance with the Duke only -dated from yesterday. He shrewdly suspected that the young people who -had been fellow-passengers on the _St. Paul_ took more than a platonic -interest in each other, and he did not want to stimulate that interest -into anxiety until he was better informed. - -He pursued the subject apologetically as soon as he was in the cab with -his nephew. - -"Sorry I made you bolt your food," he said. "I hate lying to women if it -can be avoided. The Shermans, who are staying with me, know -Beaumanoir--traveled in the same ship with him. It would have excited -remark to mention our destination." - -Forsyth, who had experience of his uncle's methods, perceived that he -was being pumped, and he had no objection. Having summoned this wily -man-hunter to his assistance, he was not foolish enough to expect -results without full disclosure. - -"I understand your reluctance to disturb the Shermans," he replied. -"Beaumanoir has spoken several times about them--in fact, he seemed -rather unduly excited when he first heard from me that they were at your -house. I have thought that he might be _epris_ of Leonie, though, as I -have not seen them together, I can form no opinion whether the -attraction is mutual." - -The General, having acquired his information, relapsed into silence, -which was only broken by Forsyth as the cab turned into Piccadilly. The -short drive was nearly over, but before the cab stopped he contrived to -describe briefly his chance meeting with the Duke, on the day of the -latter's arrival in England, at the Hotel Cecil, and with an effort of -memory he recalled the name of the man--Clinton Ziegler--whom the Duke -had been to see. - -"I dare say it's not important, but it just occurred to me that I had -better mention it while there was an opportunity," he concluded, -stealing a sidelong glance at his uncle's face, which, as usual, was -illegible. But a movement of the General's well-gloved right hand in the -direction of his left shirt-cuff, coupled with the gleam of a gold -pencil-case, suggested that the name of Mr. Clinton Ziegler had been -deemed worthy of record. - -They were admitted to the ducal residence by Prince, whose dignity -barely enabled him to stifle the inward curiosity with which he was -devoured. In common with the other servants, he had not been told of the -midnight alarm, and his orders to put the house practically into a state -of siege had naturally mystified him. The damage to the bedroom door was -not visible except under close examination, and Sybil having swept up -the sawdust, none of the household had yet discovered it. - -"No one has called, sir, except one or two of the usuals to the -tradesmen's entrance, and they were kept outside," the butler remarked -as he relieved the two gentlemen of their hats and canes. - -At Forsyth's request they were shown into the smoking-room--a cozy den, -with only one window overlooking Piccadilly, to which the General -immediately walked. His gaze roved over the crowded thoroughfare, -comprehending pedestrians and passing vehicles in one swift scrutiny, -and, apparently satisfied, he turned away just as Sybil entered, looking -as fresh and sprightly as though she had slept the clock round. The -General greeted her in the curt manner he affected to all women -impartially, but an extra pressure of her hand may have had reference to -her vigilant gallantry. - -"His Grace is sulking," she said, with a smile. "At least, he refuses to -leave his room until he has seen you, General Sadgrove. I tapped at his -door and told him you were here, but he said that if you want to see him -you had better go upstairs. Very rude of him, isn't it?" - -"Very sensible," replied the General. "I would prefer to see him alone, -if you will be so good as to escort me, Miss Hanbury. Alec," he added, -"while I am gone just sit on this ottoman behind the window-curtain and -keep your eye on that apple-woman under the railings of the Green Park. -When I come back, be prepared to tell me exactly what she has done and -how many customers she has had." - -Forsyth nodded, and the General went away with Sybil, who conducted him -up the grand staircase and left him at the door of the Duke's room. It -was characteristic of the man that, having heard all there was to hear -of her proceedings from his nephew, he forbore to waste words on what -had occurred, but dismissed her with an injunction. - -"Now run away and help Alec, but don't let the apple-woman know that -those sharp eyes are observing her," he said, unbending so far as to -give her a playful push. - -His knock and mention of his name was followed by the sound of footsteps -as the occupant of the room remembered that he had turned the key and -hastened to admit the visitor. Beaumanoir was fully dressed, and had -just finished breakfast. - -"Don't think me a coward for locking the door, General," he said, as he -shook hands. "This is a pretty bad gang that I am dodging." - -The General's comment was to turn and re-lock the door himself, after a -critical glance at the sawn panel. "I have spent my life in breaking up -bad gangs," he said, when he had taken the chair indicated. "I am a bit -rusty with disuse, but I should very much like to try conclusions with -this one. From what I hear, they must be worthy of anyone's steel." - -Beaumanoir indulged in a careworn smile. - -"Three attempts in forty-eight hours speaks to their zeal, at any rate," -he replied. "But seriously, General, you start badly handicapped," he -went on. "I don't even know that I want them broken up, as you call it, -for there must be no publicity. I can give you no clues nor answer any -questions. All I ask of your great experience is how to thwart a -determined hankering after my poor life--a hankering which may possibly -cease if I survive for another week." - -"You positively decline to give me any assistance?" - -"Positively; the honor of my house forbids it." - -The General tried to look pensive--a difficult matter to a gentleman of -iron visage and bushy eyebrows. - -"I am not going to ask questions," he said almost plaintively, without -mentioning that there were some he had no need to ask and others which -he fully intended to answer himself. "I am here to give advice, and it -is to get out of London into the open, so that your friends can look -after you. Professors of crime find their art more difficult in the -country, where every gossiping woman in the village street is a possible -witness. I want your Grace to go down to Prior's Tarrant, and allow me -the honor of accompanying you as a guest." - -The suggestion was met by a blank negative, and caused the Duke to rise -and pace the room in more agitation than he had yet shown. - -"Why, the very place is hateful to me since last Sunday night," he -exclaimed. "You would realize that yourself, General, if you had been -introduced to those silent fumes stealing down the chimney. I was -thinking of going to some hotel by the sea when Forsyth and Sibyl -induced me to remain here for the night, with such lively consequences. -Come with me as my guest anywhere else, but not to Prior's Tarrant." - -"Nevertheless, I should feel surer of your safety there than anywhere, -and I do not speak without reason," replied the General, with a metallic -snap in his voice. "I should wish at least to be accorded the privilege -of finishing my proposition." - -Beaumanoir promptly apologized very gracefully for his discourteous -interruption, excusing it on the score of the strain on his nerves. He -would be delighted to listen to any proposals, but nothing would shake -his determination not to go back to Prior's Tarrant. - -"My dear sir, the tangled woodland of the park there is the ideal spot -for a lurking assassin. Mediaeval architecture provided the house with -nooks and corners which it would tax even your foresight to patrol," he -insisted. - -"But," said the General, "there is safety in numbers; and I was going to -propose--rather coolly, perhaps--that you should have a house-party -there. If I might bring Mrs. Sadgrove, and Alec and Sybil Hanbury would -also give us their company, it would lend color to my own presence. The -last two-named, as you have occasion to know, form a valuable -body-guard." - -The Duke stared at his visitor with something like horrified amazement. - -"You forget, General, in your kind eagerness to serve me, that you have -guests staying in your own house whom you cannot desert," he said, -wondering how even an old man with his years behind him could suffer -such lapse of memory when Leonie Sherman was one of the guests. He was -almost angry that his visitor, being thus reminded, did not instantly -abase himself. - -But instead of shame General Sadgrove had only justification to -offer--not profuse, because that was not his way--but complete. - -"I had not forgotten the Shermans," he replied, in a tone of oddly -contrasted reproof and apology. "I had it in my mind that if you -entertained my view you would stretch a point, and make matters easy for -me by inviting my guests as well." And the shrewd old diplomatist -succeeded in looking as though the barefaced bait he was dangling was a -piece of effrontery he only dared moot under stress of the emergency. - -Beaumanoir, flushing scarlet, stopped short in his restless pacing and -swallowed the hook. - -"I never thought of that," he said, looking down at the General with -more interest than he had yet shown. "And," he added, with unaffected -modesty, "I very much doubt if they would come." - -This was virtual surrender, and the General had an easy task to brush -away objections obviously raised in the hopes of their demolition. Short -notice? Well, perhaps; but Americans were used to a less formal -hospitality than ours, and would take it as a compliment. Brief -shipboard acquaintance? Nonsense. Five days' association on a "liner" -was equivalent to a friendship of years. The chance of the Shermans -being involved in a tragedy in which they had no concern? The General -pledged his word that, whatever happened at Prior's Tarrant, no harm -should befall the Senator's wife and daughter or breath of scandal -assail them. - -Before he left the room the General had arranged to return later in the -day, possibly bringing with him his Pathan servant, Azimoolah Khan, -whose aid he meant to enlist in securing the Duke's safety at his -country-seat. In the meanwhile, he would go home and prepare the ladies -for joining the party on the morrow, Beaumanoir's formal invitations -following by post. - -On his way down the broad staircase General Sadgrove chuckled audibly to -himself: "I thought the prospect of entertaining Leonie in his ancestral -halls would fetch him. Mustn't have her falling in love with him, -though, till he can show a clean sheet." A little lower down he stopped -and stared at a huge canvas of the third Duke, but without heeding the -bewigged and lace-ruffled counterfeit of the Georgian courtier. -"Concentration!" he muttered. "The first axiom in a crime-problem is to -concentrate the items. I shall have two of 'em now, by George, right -under the same blanket--and with luck I'll have three." - -In the hall Prince was hovering fatuously, assisted by a brace of tall -flunkeys who fell under the General's critical gaze. One of them was the -absent-minded William, all unconscious that he had allowed "Inspector -Chantrey's" understudy to slip upstairs the night before. Him Sadgrove -severely rejected, selecting his colleague. - -"There's an apple-woman under the rails opposite," he said, producing a -sovereign. "Run across and offer this for her basket and its contents. -If she refuses, the chances are that she will almost immediately move -away. In that case, if you can follow her a little distance, without -letting her observe you, bring me back word directly she stops and -speaks to anyone." - -The well-trained servant, with scarcely the blink of an eyelash for his -extraordinary mission, started to fulfil it, and the General hastened on -to the smoking-room, where Forsyth and Sybil were still on guard at the -window. - -"Has the woman been doing any business?" he asked as he entered. - -"She has only had one customer, who got off a Hammersmith 'bus and -walked on," replied Sybil, without removing her gaze. "And now--why, -it's one of our liveries--Steptoe, the first footman, is going up to -her. Oh, but this is interesting. He is offering her a coin, and she is -shaking her head." - -"Go on," said the General. - -"Steptoe is recrossing the road towards the house without buying -anything, and--yes, the woman has taken up her basket and is leaving her -pitch, don't you call it? She too is crossing to this side of the road, -but higher up. Steptoe has turned and is looking after her, and--now I -can't see any more without putting my head out of window." - -Sybil stopped, breathless; and, without comment on the episode she had -just witnessed, the General informed her and Forsyth of the proposed -move to Prior's Tarrant. As was to be expected, neither of the engaged -couple had any objection to an arrangement which would bring them -together under the same roof, Sybil remarking naively that it was one -thing to be allowed solitary house-room as a poor relation, and quite -another to stay with the Duke as a guest. She promised to hold herself -in readiness to join Mrs. Sadgrove and the Shermans on the morrow and go -down with them, while Forsyth was to wait for his orders until the -General returned in the afternoon. - -"We may have a ticklish job in getting our noble convoy from one laager -to the other, and I shall want you as an aide-de-camp, Alec, as well as -Azimoolah Khan for the more serious work," the General explained. - -"Azimoolah!" Forsyth exclaimed, remembering certain blood-curdling -stories of his uncle's old orderly, who had exchanged the fierce joys of -Thug-hunting for the milder enjoyment of valeting his beloved Sahib in -Belgravia. "Surely his methods smack too much of the jungle and the -nullah for this country." - -"That's why I want to cart the whole bag of tricks into the jungle," -said the General, grimly. "Well?" he added, as Steptoe entered and -tendered the sovereign on a salver. - -"The woman wouldn't take it, sir," was the reply. "She got up and went -round the corner into Air Street, where she was met by the person who -called here last night dressed as a clergyman, only he was dressed as a -working-man to-day. They went away together in a four-wheeler." - -"Thank you--that simplifies things considerably," said the General, and, -announcing his intention of returning later, he bade the footman call a -cab and followed him out of the room. - -"I wonder what he has got up his sleeve," Forsyth mused aloud, as he and -Sibyl watched the wiry figure into the cab. "The spirit of the chase has -gripped him tight, and he's in full cry already." - - - - -CHAPTER X--_A Duty Call_ - - -General Sadgrove was not the man to embark on an undertaking without -clearing the ground of doubtful points, and he drove home by way of New -Scotland Yard, where, firmly refusing his reasons for wanting to know, -he extracted the information that there was no such officer as -"Inspector Chantrey" on the police roster. On arrival at Grosvenor -Gardens he first sought and obtained a private interview with his wife, -and astonished her by imparting the projected visit to Prior's Tarrant. - -"You are at the old work, Jem; I can see it in your eye," she said after -one glance at her husband's stern, introspective face. "Is there -danger?" - -"To me possibly; to another certainly," the General responded. "In fact, -Madge, it is touch and go whether I can save a man's life. I do not know -yet if he is a good man, but his life is an important one." - -"Then of course I will go with you," said Mrs. Sadgrove, guessing whose -that life was from Alec Forsyth's early call. "The Shermans, dear -people, will be delighted to stay in a duke's historic mansion, even if -the invitation is a little irregular, for are they not Americans? I will -go to the morning-room and break it to them." - -"Without a hint of what is brewing, mind," said the General, and -vanished into his own den. He sat for a while in thought, and presently -rang the bell. It was answered by a tall Oriental in native costume and -turban, who made low obeisance, but listlessly, as though bored to -death. As he straightened himself, however, his coal-black eyes, raised -deferentially to his master's, blazed into sudden fire. - -"Allah be praised! The black tribe walks again!" he cried in his -vernacular, reading the sign as easily as Mrs. Sadgrove had done. - -"Yes, Azimoolah, the black tribe walks. We go to pit cunning against -cunning and right against wrong, you and I, as in the days when we rode -the jungle-paths under the Indian moon," the General replied in the same -tongue. "Art glib of speech and handy with those iron arms of thine, as -in the old times when we earned our pensions beyond the black water?" - -"Try me, sahib--only try me," came the quick answer. "I have feared that -I was growing fat and soft in this city of laziness, where the tame -_polis_ use not the ways known to you and me, O leader of midnight -pursuits. But that look in your eye brings back the old heart-hunger. I -want a quarry, sahib, fleet of foot and strong of arm and wily of -tongue, to match with all those of thine and mine. Show me such an one, -sahib." - -"So will I, Azimoolah--not one, but twenty quarries, maybe, whom it will -tax all our ancient skill to defeat," said the General, with a frosty -smile for his follower's eagerness. "Take heed while I give orders." - -The conclave that ensued lasted until luncheon, at which it was noticed, -though not remarked upon, by Mrs. Sadgrove that Azimoolah Khan did not -as usual station himself behind his master's chair. The General, too, -made no reference to his retainer's absence, but plunged at once into a -totally unfounded explanation of the wholesale invitation to Prior's -Tarrant. The Duke of Beaumanoir, he averred, wished to be kind to his -young kinswoman, Sybil Hanbury, by asking her down while Alec Forsyth -was there, and as that was impossible without a chaperon, he, the -General, had suggested a small house-party with Mrs. Sadgrove and Mrs. -Sherman to play propriety. - -Mrs. Sherman evinced unfeigned delight at the prospect, her only anxiety -being as to the length of the visit. Her husband, the Senator, with his -precious charge of Treasury Bonds, was due in a week, and she would wish -to be in London to receive him on arrival. Leonie, too, who did not seem -to share her mother's enthusiasm for accepting the ducal hospitality, -pressed the point with some pertinacity. The General, however, was equal -to the occasion. - -"No dates were mentioned," he said, looking his guests guilelessly in -the face. "But as his Grace alluded to the pleasure with which he -anticipated making the Senator's acquaintance, I presume he takes it for -granted that your husband will go straight to Prior's Tarrant from -Liverpool." - -Mrs. Sherman and Leonie exchanged glances, as though to say that that -settled the matter, as indeed, from their point of view, it did. Senator -Leonidas Sherman was the kindest of husbands and the most indulgent of -fathers; but if he had landed in England and found that he had been -deprived of the chance of staying with a duke, he would have made things -hum for all concerned. - -"Beaumanoir, having lived in your country, has a warm corner in his -heart for all Americans," said the General. "And talking of Americans, -my dear," he proceeded, addressing his wife, "I shouldn't like to be -uncivil to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. As we are all going out of town, what -do you say to returning her call this afternoon? If you are not -otherwise engaged, I will order the carriage for four o'clock." - -When the General--who never in his life had paid a duty call without -grumbling--spoke like that Mrs. Sadgrove knew what was expected of her, -and did it. She had not the faintest inkling of his reasons for sudden -politeness to a pushing woman whom they all disliked. In the old days, -when she had gone out into camp with her husband, and had sat silent in -the tent amid the coming and going of troopers and mysterious spies, she -had always divined when a great _coup_, resulting in the death or -capture of some notorious malefactor, was vexing his brain. She had -watched the spreading of the net without troubling him with questions -about the meshes. So now, though inwardly disquieted by this -recrudescence of the professional instinct, she abstained from worrying -him, confident that the veteran would achieve his purpose as ruthlessly -as the zealous young captain of thirty years ago. - -Without demur the ordering of the carriage was agreed to, and when it -came round at the appointed hour the Sadgroves were reinforced by Mrs. -Sherman and Leonie, who, at a hint from the General, had been induced to -accompany them. During the drive the General fidgeted a good deal about -the pace at which his fine pair of bays was being driven, and once or -twice checked the coachman; but his wife, who had learned to notice -trifles, observed also that he frequently consulted his watch, and -concluded that his anxiety was not entirely on the score of his cattle. -Of this she was assured when, as the equipage turned into the courtyard -of the hotel, he replaced his watch with a scarcely audible sigh of -relief. What was it for which they were neither too late nor too early, -she wondered. - -At the bureau they were informed that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was at home, -and the party, having been handed over to a bell-boy, passed on--with -the exception of the General, who lagged behind for a moment. - -"You have a gentleman staying in the hotel of the name of Ziegler, have -you not--Clinton Ziegler?" he inquired of the clerk. "Ah, thank you--I -was not mistaken then. Do you happen to know if he is in his rooms at -present?" - -The answer was that Mr. Ziegler was certain to be in, as he was an -invalid and never went out. Oh yes; he saw people--a good many, but -always in his own apartments, and he never frequented the public rooms. -His suite was in the same corridor as that of Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton--next to it, in fact. No; the gentleman and lady were not -friends, or even acquainted, the clerk believed. At any rate, they had -arrived at different times, and he had never heard of any connection -between them. - -Thanking his informant, the General hurried after the others and caught -them up in time to be ushered with them into Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's -luxurious reception-room. The handsome widow, beautifully gowned, and -already apprised by speaking-tube that visitors were coming up, received -them with effusion, and made no effort to conceal her surprise when the -General appeared in the wake of the ladies. She rallied him on his -new-found politeness, and openly avowed that he must have some secret -object in seeking her good-will. - -The General, disclaiming anything unusual in his conduct, bore the flow -of badinage meekly, but under his gray mustache he muttered: - -"Confound the woman! She is clever, or else Jem Sadgrove has blundered." - -The conversation drifted into the usual channels of small talk, and by -the time the General joined in he had assimilated one important fact in -connection with his surroundings. The suite of apartments in which he -was doing the penance of a duty call was a split suite. There was a door -at the end of the room, across which a fairly heavy writing-table was -placed, denoting that the door was not in use, as naturally it would -have been if the room beyond had been one of those rented by Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton. The discovery and his own deduction caused an odd -little crease at the corner of the General's mouth, and he seized the -earliest opportunity to put in his word. - -"I've got some news for you, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. You are about to be -the recipient of a very high honor." - -"Really! But this is extremely interesting," was the reply, accompanied -by a flash of scrutiny, quickly changed to a charming smile. "Pray don't -keep me in suspense, General. Am I to go for a cruise in the royal -yacht, or dine with the Lord Mayor?" - -"The Duke of Beaumanoir is going to ask you down to his country-place at -Prior's Tarrant," said the General, imperturbably ignoring her -persiflage. "I was with him this morning, and I gathered that you'll -have your invitation in the course of the day. We're all going down. The -Duke is Alec's new boss, don't you know, and he has taken a liking to -the lot of us." - -He carefully avoided his wife's eyes and those of his guests as he burst -this amazing bombshell, thereby depriving himself of the sight of a toss -of Leonie's pretty head and of the raising of two pairs of elderly -eyebrows. His hostess had his sole attention, and she repaid it fully. -For the first time in his experience of her Mrs. Talmage Eglinton -changed color and seemed at a loss for words. He helped her out, and -himself too, with the same old lie, and his manner was perfect--just -that of the simple old soldier: - -"The Duke dotes on Americans, don't you know. Says he was introduced to -you by my nephew outside Beaumanoir House the day he landed, and when it -came out in conversation that we knew you, he insisted on your being -asked. Thought it would please Alec, don't you know." - -The last sentence was spoken carelessly, as though it was an -afterthought, but it had an effect that all the skill at Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's disposal could not hide--an effect transient only, but so -marked that the three other women in the room, coldly hostile as they -were, did not fail to note it. The flush which had tinged her cheek on -hearing of the invitation deepened, and a softer light gleamed for a -moment in her fine eyes. - -But whether the General's explanation was deemed adequate, or whether -she intended to accept the invitation, there was no present means of -knowing. For the sedate calm of the afternoon call was suddenly -interrupted by a tremendous uproar beyond the closed door that was -blocked by the writing-table--a babel of confused voices and the -shuffling of feet. The ladies looked at one another in alarm, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton fully sharing the agitation of her visitors. Indeed, -she rose and glided swiftly towards the closed door, and then, as though -recollecting that it was not available, made for the principal entrance -of her suite. - -The General rose and followed her into the corridor, the commotion being -so great as to excuse his doing so. In fact, the sounds from the next -room were so appalling as to suggest that his protection might be -necessary against some broken-out lunatic, and out in the corridor it -was evident that some such idea prevailed among the hotel attendants. A -cluster of them had already collected at the door of the adjoining -apartments, and more were arriving. - -"What is all this disturbance?" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton inquired of one of -them, and the General, close behind, discerned a tremulous note in her -indignation. - -The man she accosted did not know, but another, who had been inside the -suite, at that moment pushed his way out and overheard the question. - -"It's nothing really serious, madam," he said. "An Indian Prince who had -applied for rooms was being shown round, when he took a fancy to enter -that suite--occupied by Mr. Clinton Ziegler. The Prince is in there now, -and nothing will induce him to leave peaceably, as he can't be made to -understand that the rooms are engaged. He doesn't appear to know much -English, but I am going for one of the curry cooks, who will doubtless -be able to interpret for us." - -"No need to waste time in fetching the cook," interposed the General. "I -speak most of the Indian dialects, and I dare say I can get him to -quit." - -"You'd better be careful, then, sir," said the attendant. "He pretty -nearly strangled Mr. Ziegler's secretary when he tried to put him out." - -Disdaining the warning and accepting the implied permission, the General -elbowed his way into the invaded territory, from which, after a couple -of minutes, he emerged with a tall Asiatic who was wreathed in -apologetic smiles, and talking volubly in an unknown tongue. The -intruder was dressed in a gorgeously embroidered purple vestment, and in -his snowy turban blazed a diamond the size of a pigeon's egg. From the -doorway of the invaded suite a couple of pale, fierce faces glared for -an instant, and then the door was shut. - -"It's all right," the General announced to the assembled spectators, who -by this time included Mrs. Sadgrove and the Shermans. "This is his -Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur, and he didn't mean to be rude. Just -a little misunderstanding of his legal rights outside his own -jurisdiction. He says he'll look for rooms at some other hotel, as he -can't have those he wants here." - -A murmur of relief went up from the embarrassed attendants, who with -great deference proceeded to escort the swarthy potentate to the -carriage which it was understood was waiting for him. At the same time -Mrs. Sadgrove held out her hand to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, and, declining -that lady's not too pressing offer of tea, sailed away to the -stair-head, accompanied by Leonie and her mother. The General was the -last to make his adieus, and he made them, oddly enough, much more -cordially than the women-folk. - -"Pleasant thing, a short parting," he ejaculated, as he bent over the -fair American's jeweled hand. "We shall meet in a day or two at Prior's -Tarrant, eh?" - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton smiled sweetly up at the rugged face of the -veteran man-hunter. - -"Come, General, you can't expect me to give myself away like that," she -said. "I shan't make up my mind until I get the invitation. You might be -a bad, bold dissembler, you know, just taking a rise out of me; and then -what a fool I should look if I had said that I was going to stay with -the Duke." - -"I might be a dissembler, but you couldn't look a fool--under any -circumstances," replied the General gallantly, as he turned away. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood watching the erect figure march down the -corridor, and suddenly called after him: - -"When does the Duke himself go into the country, General?" - -The erect figure wheeled as on a pivot, and the answer came back without -a second's pause. - -"To-night, by the 8.45 from St. Pancras. Alec Forsyth goes down with -him." - - - - -CHAPTER XI--_On the Terrace_ - - -The home park at Prior's Tarrant lay bathed in the gentle glow of a -waning moon, but the hoary facade of the mansion itself, and the terrace -that skirted it, were in shadow. Up and down in front of the long row of -windows a red spark passed and repassed with monotonous regularity--the -light of General Sadgrove's cigar as he waited in growing impatience for -the coming of the Duke. - -After his social duties of the afternoon he had paid a hurried visit to -Beaumanoir House to arrange for the Duke's departure in company with his -new secretary, and then, armed with credentials from the Duke and -heralded by a preparatory telegram, he had proceeded to the -Hertfordshire seat by an earlier train. He had good reasons for -traveling separately. And now the carriage which he had sent to the -little wayside station of Tarrant Road two miles off was overdue, and -the General was beginning to chafe. - -"I hope I haven't been too cocksure," he muttered, under his -close-trimmed gray mustache. "I pinned my faith to Alec's company -securing the fellow's safety on the journey at least." - -He took another turn, and then, striking a vesta, looked at his watch. -It was twenty minutes to eleven, whereas if those he expected had caught -the 8.45 from St. Pancras, the carriage should have been back half an -hour ago. He had hardly finished this calculation when from behind a -gigantic vase on the plinth of the steps leading to the lower level of -the gardens there sounded the hiss of a cobra, thrice repeated. - -"Azimoolah?" said the General, softly. - -His faithful servitor glided forward, almost invisible in the shabby -blue tunic which had replaced the spotless white garments of Grosvenor -Gardens. - -"A queer orderly-room, sahib, but not more so than some we wot of in the -by-ways of the Deccan," he whispered, glancing up at the loom of the -great mansion. "Well, I have done thy bidding, and have secured a -lodging in the village as a poor vendor of Oriental trifles. -Furthermore, I have already done some good police work." - -"You have discovered that there are strangers dwelling in the place?" - -"Not so, sahib; but they have been _seen_ in the village," was the -reply. "The woman with whom I have hired shelter says that two men, -professing to be painters, were in the park all day painting the trees -and the deer, for which purpose they had obtained permission of the -steward. Whence the men came the woman did not know, but they drove in -in a dog-cart on the St. Albans road." - -"Your informant could not tell you if the picture was finished--whether -the men were coming again?" the General asked quickly. - -It was too dark to see the Pathan's face, but a ring in his carefully -managed undertone told of pride in the answer: - -"_She_ could not tell _me_, sahib, but _I_ can tell _you_. The picture -makes the trees look like cauliflowers and the deer like unto swine. -Moreover, it is not finished, and the men are coming again--to-morrow, -perchance." - -General Sadgrove congratulated himself on his foresight. He would have -preferred having Azimoolah in the house with him, but he had detached -him from personal service, and had sent him down separately to pick up -unconsidered trifles in the character of a traveling huckster. And the -old sleuth-hound had done well, after only a couple of hours in the -place, in bringing this news of painters who could not paint, yet were -returning on the morrow. The General had such absolute trust in his -henchman's methods that he did not trouble to inquire how the news had -been acquired, thereby sparing Azimoolah the needless narrative of a -deal with the landlady of the "Hanbury Arms," where the strangers had -put up their cart and lunched. - -"Very good, old jungle-wolf," was all the comment he vouchsafed, and, -making a mental note to see that the park was barred in future to the -limners of "deer like unto swine," he was passing on to further -instructions when the sound of wheels was heard far away down the -avenue, and a moment later carriage-lamps twinkled into view round a -corner in the drive. - -"Here they come," he said. "Better make yourself scarce now, but stay -within call in case I want you." - -Azimoolah vanished in the darkness, and the General strolled on to the -end of the terrace, where the descent of a flight of steps brought him -to the main entrance of the mansion. Stationing himself under the -portico, he waited the arrival of the brougham, which presently swung to -a standstill, while the big hall door was opened wide by ready hands, -and shed a blaze of light on--an empty carriage. - -"What's this mean, Perrett?" asked the General, outwardly calm for all -the big lump in his throat, and cool enough to remember the name of the -gray-haired coachman, learned on his own drive from the station. "Has -not his Grace arrived?" - -"No, sir," replied the old servant, leaning from the box. "There has -been an accident to the 8.45. No one hurt, sir. No need for alarm, for -his Grace can't have been in the train." - -"How do you get at that?" the General asked, doubtfully. - -"The train was derailed between St. Albans and Harpenden, sir. Some of -the passengers were shaken, but none badly injured; so the fast train -that followed was run on to the up metals and brought them on, stopping -at every station. But none got out at Tarrant Road. James here," -indicating the footman, "ran along the train and looked into every -carriage, but he could not see the Duke." - -And Perrett won golden opinions from the General by adding that, not -satisfied with that, he got the station-master to wire up the line to -the point of the accident, and received in reply the positive assurance -that no injured persons had been left behind. All had been forwarded to -their destinations by the succeeding fast train, which had been made -"slow" for the purpose. - -The General had already mastered the time-table, and knew that only one -more train from London would stop at Tarrant Road that night--the last, -due at a quarter past midnight. The coachman therefore received, as he -had expected, orders to return to the station in time to meet that -train, and the General, lighting a fresh cigar, strolled back to the -terrace, where, in response to his low whistle, Azimoolah glided to his -side. - -"There is work afoot," he said, briefly. "Canst, as of yore, do without -sleep at a pinch?" - -"Ay, and without food if it is so willed by Allah and the sahib." - -Whereupon the General gave him the best directions he could to the scene -of the railway accident fifteen miles away, and bade him hie thither -with all speed and glean particulars on the spot, especially with regard -to the life they were pledged to defend and the nature of the accident, -which might be no accident at all, but a move of their mysterious -antagonists. It needed but few words to make Azimoolah understand, and -he was gone--even before his hand, raised in unconscious salute, had -dropped to his side. - -The General fell to pacing to and fro again, striving to penetrate the -new situation that had arisen, and, as was his wont when matters went -wrong, not sparing himself much scathing criticism. For what had seemed -to him good reason, he had put all his eggs in one basket--"gone -nap"--as he reflected, on the Duke and Forsyth catching the 8.45, and -now disaster had overtaken that very train. If the village post-office -had been open, he would have wired to know if the Duke was still at -Beaumanoir House, for everything hinged on whether he had started, and -Sadgrove felt an ominous presentiment that he had. The people he was -playing against were not the sort to wreck a train without prospect of -adequate result. - -Presently the twin lamps went twinkling down the avenue again, and the -General tried to comfort himself with the hope that when they reappeared -Beaumanoir would be in the carriage. After all, Alec Forsyth was with -him. What had befallen the one should have befallen the other, and he -had the greatest confidence in his nephew's readiness and resource. It -might even be, the General told himself, that Alec had suspected foul -play to the 8.45, and had purposely delayed departure--although, in -conflict with this theory, arose the conjecture that in that case the -railway people would have been warned, and there would have been no -"accident" at all. - -But what was the use of following threads which, in the absence of a -substantial starting-point, led nowhere? The worried veteran gave up the -futile task in favor of more practical work, and occupied himself in -learning the route by which the miscreants who had tried to suffocate -the Duke had reached the chimney-stack over his chamber. He found that a -decayed buttress had given them access to the top of the ancient -refectory, whence an easy climb along a slanting gutter-pipe formed a -royal road to the roof of the main building. - -The discovery, interesting in itself, was doubly so from the deduction -to be made therefrom. The men who had climbed the roof would have been -caught like rats in a trap if the Duke had raised the alarm, and they -must either have had complete confidence in their ability to kill him by -the charcoal fumes, or, in the event of a hitch, in the Duke's -unwillingness to rouse the household. - -"Egad! but they must have a nasty grip on him, to trust to his not -squealing under such provocation," the General murmured, as the sound of -wheels drew him at last from the age-worn buttress back to the portico. -"If he's turned up all right I'll try and persuade him to confide the -secret before we go to bed." - -But when the brougham stopped, it disgorged no Duke, but only Alec -Forsyth, pale of face, and for once in his life half afraid of meeting -his uncle's expectant eye. But he kept his presence of mind sufficiently -to control his voice as he informed the General--the information being -really for the servants who had appeared at the hall door--that his -Grace had not arrived. In silence the General led the way to the -dining-room, and it was not until he had dismissed the butler with the -assurance that they would need nothing more that night that he found -speech in the curt monosyllable, "Well?" - -For answer Alec handed him a telegraph form conveying the message: - - "_To A. Forsyth, passenger by 8.45, St. Pancras terminus._ - - "_Come back at once, urgent. Am in great distress. Persons - threatening Duke detained here. He will be quite safe if he goes - on, though not if he returns with you--Sybil Hanbury, Beaumanoir - House._" - -The General glanced through it and gripped the position. - -"Beaumanoir was in the 8.45?" he snapped. "That telegram is a forgery, -and you show it to me to explain your separation from him?" - -Forsyth bowed his head in grieved assent to both questions. - -"I am, of course, to blame for trusting that infernal thing," he said. -"But I had better put you in possession of the facts at once, for until -I reached Tarrant Road station and learned of Beaumanoir's non-arrival -from the coachman I had hoped that he had come through all right. I -ascertained at Harpenden, where I first heard of the smash, that no one -had suffered serious injury." - -The facts as related by Forsyth were very simple in themselves, though -greatly enhancing the perplexity of the Duke's disappearance. The two -friends had left Beaumanoir House in a hansom, giving themselves, as had -been arranged, barely time enough to catch the train at St. Pancras. -They had already taken their seats in an empty compartment on which the -guard had, at their request, placed an "engaged" label, when a -telegraph-boy came along the line of carriages, inquiring for Forsyth by -name. On reading the message he had acted on the impulse of the moment, -and asking the Duke to excuse him on the score of urgent private -business, had left the train and driven back to Beaumanoir House, to -find the telegram repudiated by Sybil as not emanating from her and its -contents quite unfounded. - -"I expect she let you have it," the General remarked grimly. - -"She was a little cross," admitted Forsyth, flushing at the -reminiscence. "I do not see, though, that I could have ignored what -purported to be an appeal for assistance from a woman in -distress--leaving aside my personal relations with her." - -"Don't kick, laddie. I'm to blame for leaving our precious vanishing -nobleman in the hands of a man in love. What next?" - -"I hurried back to St. Pancras, and, just missing the fast train which -afterwards picked up the 8.45 passengers at the scene of the accident, -had to kick my heels until the last train started. But it was no -accident, Uncle Jem. A big baulk of timber had been placed across the -rails, they told me at Harpenden." - -The General knitted his brows and pondered the problem, presently -suggesting tentatively that there was no proof that the Duke had after -all gone in the 8.45. He might, on finding himself suddenly deprived of -his companion, have got out before it started. But this theory was at -once knocked on the head by Forsyth's assertion that the train had begun -to move before he left the platform, and that Beaumanoir, still seated -in the "engaged" compartment, had waved him farewell. If the Duke had -not got out at an intermediate station, he must have disappeared at the -place of derailment, the latter contingency being the more probable. -Also the most alarming, because the stranded passengers had had to wait -for three-quarters of an hour at the side of the line in the dark, at a -remote spot surrounded by woods. - -"Humph! It looks very much as if they'd got him this time," was the -General's final comment. And he straightway walked over to the sideboard -and poured himself out a glass of wine, motioning his nephew to join -him. The action was significant of conclusiveness, and seemed to say -that, doom having overtaken the Duke, there was nothing more to be done. -The old gentleman drank his wine slowly, then turned to Forsyth with the -fierce exclamation: - -"First time Jem Sadgrove was ever beaten by a woman. Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton, or whatever she may choose to call herself, has scored a -record." - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton! What on earth has she got to do with it?" was -Forsyth's astounded rejoinder. - -A good deal, it appeared, according to the view which the General had -contrived to piece together, and which, leaning against the sideboard, -he proceeded to propound in spasmodic jerks. Beginning with a -description of how he had witnessed Beaumanoir's narrow escape of being -run down by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's landau, he hinted at the dawn of -suspicion in his own mind on finding her immediately afterwards calling -at his house, yet strangely silent on having nearly killed a man in the -streets. Then, when Forsyth had consulted him after the midnight episode -at Beaumanoir House, and had told him of the Duke's visit on the day of -his arrival from New York to someone occupying the next suite at the -hotel to that of Mrs. Eglinton, he had been fairly certain of his clue. -Having satisfied himself by personal observation that the ducal mansion -in Piccadilly was closely watched, he had set himself the task of -establishing a connection between the _soi-disant_ widow and her -neighbor at the hotel--a task which had been successful so far as -convincing himself went. - -Forsyth recognized that, for all the mischance of the evening, his uncle -had put in some good detective work, and said so. "You must have been -quick, too," he added. "Is it permitted to ask how you managed it?" - -"It was very simple," the General replied, with a relish for the -remembrance. "I carted all the women off to call on the lady, and while -we were there Azimoolah, in the character of an Indian rajah, blundered -into Mr. Clinton Ziegler's rooms, which I had in the meanwhile -ascertained communicated with Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's. When the -prearranged hubbub commenced she gave herself away by an unconscious -movement to the communicating door, showing that she was in the habit of -using it, unknown to the hotel people, who believe that they have -divided one big suite into two smaller ones let separately. She's -clever, and pulled herself together at once, but I had got what I -wanted--the fact that she was anxious about the rumpus my good old Khan, -tricked out in a suit from Nathan's and a stage diamond, was raising -next door." - -"That seems convincing, certainly," said Forsyth. - -"Azimoolah's experiences were even more so. Mr. Clinton Ziegler has some -associates with a very pretty way with them when Asiatic princes stumble -by chance into his rooms. Of course, it was Azimoolah's cue to be a bit -boisterous and persistent, but they needn't have roused the tiger in him -by giving him the congenial task of disarming them of two uncommonly -murderous knives. Funny thing is, that when I went in as an interpreting -peace-maker, I saw no sign of Ziegler, who, I gathered at the hotel -bureau, is an invalid and never goes out. The two men in the room were -able-bodied fellows, fashionably dressed, but with that in their faces -which there is no mistaking. The 'crime-look' is an open sign to those -who know." - -The General paused and looked at his nephew curiously. "Then I made a -false move," he went on--"a false move which may have wiped the seventh -Duke of Beaumanoir out of the peerage. I told Mrs. Talmage Eglinton that -the Duke was going down to Prior's Tarrant by the 8.45. Yes, you may -well stare, but I had an object. I also told her that you were going -down with him, believing that that would secure you both a peaceful -journey; for, vulgarly speaking, the woman is glaringly sweet upon you, -laddie. I ought to have given such a combination as she works with -credit for the cunning which drew you from your post." - -Forsyth flushed with annoyance. It was not pleasant to hear that his -friend's life might have been sacrificed through his uncle's perception -of a feminine weakness which had irked him throughout the London -season--in fact, ever since Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had made her -mysterious appearance on the fringe of society. The card, however, on -which the General had staked and apparently lost had been distinctly -"the game" if he, Forsyth, had only played up to it himself by sticking -like wax to poor hunted Beaumanoir. - -But _why_ was Beaumanoir being hunted? That easy-mannered unfortunate, -who had exchanged a life of reckless irresponsibility for sordid penury, -and the latter for the headship of a historic house, had performed all -these _demivoltes_ without making a visible enemy save himself. Why -should he have incurred a remorseless hatred which aimed at nothing less -than his life? - -"The Star-spangled Banner looms largely on the horizon of all this," the -young man mused aloud. "Can you explain that phase of the mystery, Uncle -Jem?" - -"The hub of the wheel, I take it, is my old friend Leonidas Sherman, or, -rather, the three millions sterling which he is on his way to this -country with," said the General briskly. "Big American robbery, worked -by a disciplined gang, and somehow your pal Beaumanoir is entangled. The -day he was at our house he tried vaguely to warn Leonie. Hinted that -Sherman should be warned to be careful." - -Forsyth heard the amazing theory with an inward qualm lest his shrewd -old relative should have hit on the solution of the puzzle, and it -filled him with greater apprehension than even the physical peril of the -Duke had instilled. "Entanglement" in Beaumanoir's case could only mean -complicity, for if his knowledge of the scheme was not a guilty -knowledge, if he had become possessed of the secret accidentally, why -did he not invoke the aid of the police and expose the conspirators? -Forsyth saw that the General read what was passing in his mind, and he -clutched at the only visible straw in defence of his friend. - -"If Beaumanoir was culpably implicated these scoundrels wouldn't want to -kill him, any more than he would want to queer their game by having -Senator Sherman warned," he said. - -"There you put your finger on the _crux_," replied the General, who -disliked the raising of questions which he could not answer. - -"And," proceeded Forsyth, pursuing his slight advantage, "you would -never have got Beaumanoir to assent to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton being asked -here if he had known her to be a professional criminal. The 'honor of -the house,' as he calls it, is undoubtedly the motive of his -inexplicable silence. He would hardly compromise that august sentiment, -for which he is apparently willing to die, by desecrating Prior's -Tarrant with the presence of a woman likely to figure in the -police-courts--a woman, too, who, if your theory is correct, has designs -against the father of the girl for whom I veritably believe he has more -than a passing regard." - -The General, secretly in danger of losing his temper--a thing he never -really did--concealed his emotion by affecting to ruminate. The thought -of his invitation to the dashing American, afterwards carelessly -endorsed by the Duke, restored his equanimity. - -"That was a neat touch," he remarked meditatively as he selected a cigar -from his case. "If his Grace is not cold meat, I'd give a good deal to -be living under the same roof with him and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton for a -few days, with the prospect of Senator Sherman's arrival at the end of -them." - -He held the cigar he had chosen poised between finger and thumb, and -suddenly gazed round with a comical expression at the rich appurtenances -of the majestic dining-room. The maze of this latter-day pursuit had led -him into unfamiliar paths. His ancient triumphs had been won under the -free sky, where he could unravel a knotty point with the aid of tobacco -at will; but now he wanted to smoke, and was confronted by sternly -repressive ducal splendor. - -"Mustn't light up here, I suppose," he grunted. "Let's get into the open -and have a whiff. Yes, I know it's two o'clock, but we can't go to bed." - -He moved to one of the French windows, and, parting the heavy curtains, -unfastened the bolts and stepped out on to the terrace where he had -spent the earlier hours of the evening. Instantly both he and Forsyth, -who followed close behind, became conscious of the sound of heavy -breathing. As the shaft of light shot from the opened window they saw -that at the apex of the shaft, half way to the balustrade of the -terrace, two men were locked together on the ground in a ferocious -struggle, while twenty paces off, in the shadow of the gray pile, the -dim shapes of two other men paused irresolute, as if their advance had -been checked by the sudden opening of the window. - -For two seconds General Sadgrove's eyes blazed along the line of light; -then with a spring that would have done credit to one of half his age, -he hurled himself upon the combatants, and selecting the topmost for his -onslaught, dragged him from the prone figure below. - -"Get back to the window! Watch those other fellows!" he called to his -nephew, who was hurrying to his assistance. And Forsyth did as he was -bid, though he had hardly run back and put himself on guard when the two -distant prowlers vanished into the deeper shadows of the refectory wall. - -With no gentle hand the General hauled his struggling captive towards -the window. Half Forsyth's attention was diverted to the other party to -the fray, who was slowly rising from the ground, and the other half to -the dark end of the terrace, where the remaining pair had disappeared; -and it was therefore not until the General had arrived, hanging like a -terrier to his prisoner, that the obedient sentinel had eyes for them. -But at last he had to stand aside to allow the veteran firebrand to drag -the fighting, kicking figure into the room, and then only did he notice -details. - -"You've got the wrong one!" he exclaimed. "Don't you see--that's your -own man, Azimoolah?" - - - - -CHAPTER XII--_The Man Under the Seat_ - - -When the Duke of Beaumanoir found himself alone in the railway carriage -after Alec Forsyth's departure he sank back in his corner with a certain -sense of relief. The events of the last twenty-four hours had filled him -with a very sincere regard for his cousin Sybil, and he had not much -faith in the assurance given him by General Sadgrove that his journey -down to Prior's Tarrant would be free from danger. His past experiences -led him to expect that the terrible Ziegler and his myrmidons would be -more than a match for the shrewd but somewhat out-of-date Indian -officer, and if there was to be an "episode" on the railway he would be -glad to think that it could not now plunge his plucky young cousin into -mourning for her lover. - -"She is a girl in a thousand," he murmured, as he lit a cigarette; "I -should never forgive myself if I were the means of making her a widow -before she is a wife. If, as I half suspect, Alec's detachment was -effected by a ruse on the part of the graybeard at the Cecil--well, I -take off my hat to that gentleman for his consideration." - -As the train gathered speed, rushing through the twinkling suburban -lights, the Duke put his feet on the opposite cushions and reviewed the -situation--calmly, but always with but slender faith in being able "to -worry through" with his life. That had really become quite a secondary -object with him, so far as his personal safety was concerned; yet his -present attitude was to escape the attentions of Ziegler long enough to -convey a warning to Senator Sherman of the plot against him. Whether his -nerves would be proof against the strain till the Senator's arrival at -Liverpool was a phase of the case which he did not care to contemplate -too closely. - -Ziegler, he felt sure, would have grasped the position to a nicety, and -would use every device in his apparently limitless _repertoire_ to give -him his quietus before Leonie's father set foot on shore. It might well -be that another attempt would be made on him before he reached the -sheltering zone of Prior's Tarrant, wherein General Sadgrove had -promised him safety. - -His reflections were cut short by the slowing down of the train for the -stoppage at Kentish Town, and the Duke's sensations at that moment -hardly presaged a comfortable journey for him, brief though it would be. -The compartment was labeled "reserved," it was true, and the guard had -been tipped to see that the legend was respected, but that stood for -little when people of the Ziegler type were on the move, and he looked -forward with dread to the future stoppages if his heart was to thump -like this. - -Which is a study in the quality of _fear_, for Beaumanoir was of the -kind that leads cavalry charges to visible and certain death with gay -recklessness. - -The present trouble passed, however, for the guard hovered round the -carriage and gave no chance to invaders, who in any case would have had -some difficulty in effecting an entrance, as the door was locked. The -train sped on again, out into the country now, through the balmy summer -night, and Beaumanoir breathed more freely. One of the dreaded stoppages -was notched off the list. - -So, too, were Hendon and Mill Hill safely negotiated, and Beaumanoir was -able to contemplate the slackened speed for Elstree with greater -equanimity. As before, the guard's portly form loomed large outside the -compartment the moment the train stopped, and so doubtless would have -remained had not a loud, imperious voice on the platform summoned him to -a divided duty. - -"Here, guard! What are you about there? Hurry up now, and open this -door!" came the choleric command. - -With a deprecatory glance at the Duke's carriage the guard perforce -hurried off, and Beaumanoir peered out of the window after him. The -official had gone to the assistance of a tall, well-groomed gentleman, -who, with an air of irritable importance, was fumbling with the -door-handle of a first-class compartment some way along the train. The -traveler was of the type that secures the immediate respect of railway -servants--dressed in brand new creaseless clothes, every immaculate -pocket of which suggested the jingle of half-sovereigns. A man carrying -a yellow hatbox and a rug lurked deferentially behind the magnate and -cast reproachful glances at the guard, who was now thoroughly alive to -his opportunities and opened the door with a flourish. The tall man, -whom Beaumanoir took for a brother duke, or at least a director of the -line, stepped with dignity into the compartment; the menial handed in -the hatbox and rugs, and sought a second-class carriage; the guard waved -his lamp, and the train moved on. - -Beaumanoir withdrew his head and sank back in his corner, catching just -a glimpse of the guard preparing to spring into his van as it neared -him. The station lights flashed past, and the long line of carriages -swung into the outer darkness, the little diversion of the important -passenger leaving Beaumanoir amused and comforted. To the man who had -tramped his weary way along the Bowery to his five-dollar boarding-house -within the month this exhibition of class privileges and distinctions -was breezily refreshing, seeing that he was now in a position to claim -them himself. - -Immunity from danger through four suburban stations had brought a -delicious sense of calm, and as he leaned back he thought how nice it -would be to live the life of an English nobleman, free from all sordid -cares and humiliations. And if he could wake up at the end of a week and -find that his entanglement was all a nightmare, or, at any rate, that -Ziegler's bark was worse than his bite, and that Senator Sherman had -safely deposited the bonds at the Bank--well, in that improved state of -things what was to prevent his asking Leonie to share his new-found -privileges? - -Then, suddenly, the icy finger touched his heart again. As the blue -wreaths of cigarette smoke in which he had conjured up this alluring -vision rolled away he became conscious that his gaze, hitherto absorbed -and preoccupied with day-dreams, was in reality riveted on a material -object under the opposite seat. A very material object indeed--no less -than the heel of a man's boot. - -At sight of this disturbing element Beaumanoir's sensations were of a -mixed order. First of all, he could see so little of the boot that he -could not be sure that there was a man attached to it, though the -presumption was in favor of that supposition, for he was quite certain -that it had not been there long, or he would have noticed it before. He -guessed, so alert had his mind become under stress of emergencies, that -the wearer of the boot had got into the compartment on the off side -while he himself had been looking out of the window in Elstree station. - -But if so, and the man had invaded his privacy with sinister design, why -should he have plunged at once into a position of utter impotence? No -one flattened out under the low seat of a first-class railway carriage -is capable of active violence without a preliminary struggle to free -himself, during which he would be at the mercy of his intended victim. -The only design that Beaumanoir could attribute to him was that he would -presently wriggle to the front and use a pistol. - -He sat and eyed the motionless boot, and then an impulse, swift and -irresistible, seized him. - -"Come out of that, you beggar!" he cried; and, stooping down, he gripped -the boot, wondering whether he was to be rewarded with a haul or whether -he would have to laugh at himself for grabbing someone's discarded -footgear. But the first touch told him that here was no empty boot, and, -his fingers closing on it like a vise, he put forth all his strength and -dragged its wearer, snarling and spluttering, out on to the open floor. -There was no sign of a pistol, but as a measure of precaution Beaumanoir -pulled out his own Smith and Wesson. - -"Get up and sit in that corner," he said sternly, eyeing the puny form -of the invader with curiosity. Open violence at any rate was not to be -apprehended from the stunted little figure of a man who coweringly -obeyed his order. - -But as his captive turned round and showed his sullen face the Duke knew -that this was no mere impecunious vagabond, sneaking a cheap railway -journey. His fellow passenger was part and parcel of the peril that -menaced him--had, in fact, been a fellow-passenger of his before. For -the wizened, mean-looking face was the face of the spy Marker, who had -been pointed out to him by Leonie on board the _St. Paul_, and who had -afterwards shadowed him to the Hotel Cecil on landing. - -"So we meet again, Mr. Marker," said the Duke with pleasant irony. "I -should have thought that your friend Mr. Ziegler could have provided you -with a railway fare rather than let you travel like a broken racing -sharp--under the seat." - -The fellow blinked his ferret eyes viciously, but began a futile attempt -at prevarication. "My name, I guess, ain't Marker, and I never heard of -anyone called Ziegler," he whined. - -"Very possibly your name may not be Marker, though you booked under it -on the _St. Paul_; but you are undoubtedly acquainted with the old -rascal at the Cecil who calls himself Ziegler," Beaumanoir retorted. - -"You seem to know a powerful sight more about me than I know myself," -was the sullen reply. - -Beaumanoir made a long scrutiny of the weak but cunning countenance of -the spy, and he came to the conclusion that this was one of the -underlings of the combination, to be trusted only with minor tasks in -the great game. His presence there under the seat of the compartment was -the more unaccountable, since he was not the sort of creature with -either nerve or physique to murder anything stronger than a fly. - -"Look here, my good chap," said Beaumanoir with tolerant contempt, -after, as he thought, gauging Mr. Marker's caliber. "You've got a bit -out of your depth with the people you're trying to swim with. Why not -chuck Ziegler and Co. and come over to me? I'll make it worth your -while." - -But the only response was a dull shake of the insignificant head and the -sulky rejoinder: "I don't know what you're getting at, Mister. I'll -chuck anybody you like and come over to you with pleasure if you will -stand the price of a ticket to St. Albans." - -The persistent denial was as absurd as the suggested reason for his -presence under the seat, and Beaumanoir began to lose patience. "I -suppose," he said, "that you will maintain that you did not go to Mr. -Forsyth's chambers in John Street last night under the pretence of being -a chemist's messenger?" - -"Never been in John Street in my life," came back the pat and obvious -lie. - -It seemed useless to argue further, and Beaumanoir preserved silence -till the train ran into Radlett Station, when he put into practice the -course he had decided upon. At least he would force the creature to -disclosure and put him to some inconvenience, as it was possible that -thereby he might disconcert his plans, whatever they might be. Lowering -the window, he called to the guard, and informed the astonished official -that he had found a man traveling under the seat without a ticket. - -Then uprose the righteous wrath of the guard, who had Mr. Marker by the -collar in a trice and twisted him out on to the platform with the sharp -demand: - -"Now, young man, your name and address, and quick about it." - -"What for?" inquired Marker, openly insolent. - -"Defrauding the Company by traveling without previously paying the fare, -contrary to By-law 18." - -The spy broke into a jeering cackle. "You've only got _his_ word for it -that I haven't got a ticket," he replied. "I nipped under the seat -because I thought he was a lunatic, and a gent can travel that way, I -reckon, if he's paid his shot. Here's the ticket, Mister. I'll make -tracks to another carriage." - -With which he produced a first-class ticket all in order and walked off -along the platform, leaving the Duke and the guard looking after him, -the former with a curious smile, the latter with dismayed perplexity. - -"Well, of all the funny games!" exclaimed the official. "He must have -got in at Elstree while I was attending to that there toff, and blessed -if he ain't scooting into the same compartment with him now. Your Grace -will understand that I couldn't interfere with him, seeing that he had a -ticket and you didn't prefer no charge?" - -"All right, guard," replied Beaumanoir, with his weary smile. "It really -doesn't matter. He seems to have taken me for a madman, while I took him -for a dead-head, that's all. These little misunderstandings will arise, -you know. We're behind time, eh?" - -Taking the hint, the guard retired and started the train, Beaumanoir -resuming his seat in a frame of mind only to be described as mixed. He -stared out into the gloom of night, wondering what was to come next. His -little stratagem had succeeded, in so far as it had revealed Marker as -the possessor of a ticket, and therefore as presumably charged with some -design against himself, though it had shed no light on the nature of -that design. But the adroitness with which the wretched spy had -extricated himself made him gnash his teeth because of the impudent -reliance on his inability to assign a reason to the guard for fearing an -intruder. That in itself was clear evidence that Mr. Marker was under -the seat with a very real purpose. - -Had that purpose been entirely thwarted by his discovery? was the -question which buzzed through the Duke's brain to the tune of the -rolling wheels. There had been an air of insolent confidence in the -fellow as he showed his ticket and walked away which hardly tallied with -total discomfiture. And then, mused Beaumanoir, was there not ground for -further apprehension in his selection of a fresh compartment and a fresh -traveling companion? Could it be that "the toff" who had entered the -train at Elstree was an accomplice, and that Mr. Marker had gone to -report to him and concert new measures? It might well be so, for, -whether wittingly or no, the swaggering passenger had certainly caused -the diversion which had enabled Marker to open the door on the off side -and creep under the seat. - -The reflection that the spy might have confederates on the train did not -add to Beaumanoir's equanimity, and at the next stop he let down the -window again and peered along the line of carriages. Sure enough, he -caught a glimpse of a head protruding from the compartment into which -Marker had disappeared--not the head of Marker himself, but of the -imperious person who had played the magnate and distracted the guard. -The head was instantly withdrawn, but it had done a useful work in -convincing Beaumanoir that he was really an object of interest in that -quarter, and not to Marker alone. - -"I wish they would _do_ something and end this beastly suspense," the -hunted man muttered to himself as the train moved on once more; "though, -for the matter of that, they can't do anything till I get out at Tarrant -Road--unless they openly come to the door and shoot me at one of the few -remaining stoppages." - -But he was soon to learn that stations were not to be the only -stopping-places for the 8.45 that night. It had come to a steep -gradient, up which it was plodding laboriously, when suddenly there was -a bumping thud that hurled Beaumanoir on to the opposite seat; the -wheels screeched on the metals as if in agony; a tremor as of impending -dissolution quivered through the framework of the carriage, and the -train jerked to a standstill. - -Beaumanoir had the door open instantly with his own private key, and -clambering down on to the side of the line nearly fell into the arms of -the guard, hurrying from the rear van towards the engine. - -"Run into an obstruction, I expect, your Grace--nothing very serious, I -hope," panted the guard as he went scrunching over the ballast to the -center of disaster. - -People were swarming out of the carriages, all of them evidently more -frightened than hurt, and Beaumanoir strained his eyes through the -leaping, scuffling figures to the compartment occupied by his enemies. -Yes, there they were, and apparently the thing was to be done in -character to the last. The tall, well-dressed man opened the door, -called "Guard!" in the same old tone of importance, and, getting no -response, began to leisurely descend on to the permanent way, followed -by Marker, who feigned to hold no converse with him. At the same time -there hastened up the man who had handed in the hatbox and rug, and then -the three were swallowed up in the shadows beyond the radius of light -from the carriage windows. - -For the night had fallen inky dark, and outside that narrow band of -artificial light all was as black as the nether pit. Shrieking women and -agitated men appeared for a moment on the footboards and disappeared, -directly they had traversed the short zone of light, into the outer -gloom of the waste ground at the side of the railway. - -Casting a comprehensive glance at his surroundings, the Duke saw that -the accident had occurred at a lonely spot where the line was hemmed in -on either hand by dense woods running right up to the rail-fence that -bounded the track. Instinct prompted him to quit the dangerous proximity -of his own compartment, and at the same time he desired to ascertain how -long the delay was likely to last. This he could only do by proceeding -to the front of the train, but to reach the engine would entail passing -the place where the mysterious three lurked in the shadows. In order to -avoid them, therefore, he darted across the zone of light, hoping to -escape observation, dived under the train, and made his way forward on -the other side of the line, shielded from his foes by the carriages. - -One glance at the derailed engine sufficed to show him the nature of the -accident, and to inform him of the reason for it. A barrier composed of -baulks of timber, supplemented by heaped-up ballast, had been built -across the six-foot way, and from the excited remarks of driver, stoker, -and guard Beaumanoir gathered that the locomotive was so damaged that -even when the obstruction was removed it would be unable to proceed -under its own steam. The passengers would have to wait till a relief -train came along, unless they elected to trudge three miles to the next -or the last station. - -It was all too plain to Beaumanoir that here was no accident at all, but -an outrage designed to strand him in that lonely place, where amid the -darkness and the confusion murder would come easy. The choice of the -locality, half-way up a steep gradient where the speed would be reduced -to a minimum, pointed to no desire to injure the passengers generally; -indeed, there would have been an obvious intention to avoid a really -perilous collision, seeing that some of the conspirators were on board. -He could pretty accurately gauge Marker's functions now. The spy was to -have kept close to him after the "accident," so as to signal his -whereabouts in the darkness to the more active members of the gang. - -The emissaries of Ziegler would have to dispense with that aid now, but -still Beaumanoir could not shut his eyes to his imminent peril. The -three who had traveled in the train were on the other side of the line, -but the contingent--there would be at least two of them--who had wrecked -the engine were probably lurking somewhere near. He could have no -assurance that they were not at his very elbow, stealing on him through -the dense undergrowth that fringed the fence. - -A shout from the guard to the passengers congregated behind the train -told him that at least half an hour must elapse before they could be -picked up and carried on, and he at once decided that to stay at the -spot would be intolerable. He should go mad if he remained at the mercy -of invisible adversaries whom he could not _hit back_. If they would -only come out into the open, in a body if they liked, so that he could -empty the six chambers of his revolver into them before he went down, he -would take his risks gladly; but to stand still in the dark, not knowing -how soon a stab in the back would be his fate, was the thing too much. -There and then he ended the situation by climbing the fence and plunging -into the wood. - -He had not taken six steps through the brambles when from the pitch -darkness ahead a low, flute-like whistle sounded, to be instantly -answered by the cracking of a twig a little to the right of him. His -present intention to quit the scene and make his way to Prior's Tarrant -on foot across country had evidently been foreseen and provided for. -Those bushes were _occupied_, and his retreat at that point was cut off. -He clambered back on to the railway, and, running as hard as his -lameness would allow, close to the fence, he again essayed the wood two -hundred yards ahead of the engine. This time he won free into the tangle -of the copse without any sign of pursuit, and presently came to an open -"ride" where progress was easier. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--_At the Keeper's Cottage_ - - -The Duke followed the ride for some distance, the clamor of voices -around the wrecked train growing every moment less distinct till they -died away altogether, and he guessed that he was in the heart of the -wood, half a mile from the scene of the disaster. Whether or no he was -pursued he had no means of knowing, with such diabolical cunning pitted -against him; but, at any rate, no sound of pursuit reached his straining -ears, and he began to hope that his break-away had been undetected. - -Suddenly the ride turned abruptly to the right, and at the end of a -glade, some hundred yards further on, he saw the lights of a dwelling. -Across the intervening years came a flash of remembrance. These must be -the celebrated coverts of his neighbor, Sir Claude Asprey, and the house -ahead must be the keeper's cottage where, when an Eton boy spending the -holidays with his uncle at Prior's Tarrant, he had lunched as a member -of Sir Claude's shooting-party ten years ago. The place was graven on -his memory, because the day was a red-letter one by reason of his having -shot his first pheasant thereon. - -Without any definite plan in his head, but actuated by a longing for -human companionship, however brief, he went up to the door of the -cottage and knocked, his arrival being also heralded by the barking of -dogs at the side of the house. The door was almost immediately thrown -open by a stalwart, ruddy-faced man of sixty, who carried a candle and -stared in open-mouthed wonder at a well-dressed visitor at such an hour -and place. Beaumanoir looked at him closely, and smiled his first smile -of pleasure since Forsyth's hand had gripped his on the day he landed. - -"I can see you've forgotten me, Mayne," he said, "though I should have -known you anywhere--time has touched you so slightly. Don't you -recollect young Charley Hanbury, who came over with the Duke of -Beaumanoir to a big shoot with Sir Claude in '91?" - -A gleam shone in the honest keeper's keen eyes. "Of course I remember, -sir," he replied, adding quickly: "Begging your Grace's pardon, for -you'll be the Duke yourself now?' - -"Yes, I am the Duke, Mayne, and a very unfortunate one," Beaumanoir -laughed. "There has been a mild sort of smash-up on the railway yonder, -and I started to walk to Prior's Tarrant rather than hang about for a -relief train. I was a bit hazy about my direction, so I thought I'd -inquire, and at the same time reassure you that it wasn't a poacher who -was abroad in the woods. May I come in while you give me my bearings?" - -"Come in, your Grace, and welcome; but it isn't in my house that I shall -direct you. It's not likely that I'm going to let you wander about my -woods on a dark night when I can guide you out of them myself and think -it an honor," was the keeper's cordially respectful reply. - -Beaumanoir was conscious that standing in a lighted doorway was hardly -the place for him just then, and he followed into a roomy kitchen, -professionally eloquent with its array of guns and sporting prints. -Mayne explained that his wife had just gone up to bed, and that all the -youngsters, whom perhaps it might please his Grace to remember, were out -in the world. - -Beaumanoir dropped into a chair, and to gratify his kindly host accepted -a horn tankard of home-brewed ale, which he sipped while he satisfied -Mayne's curiosity about the "accident." He would have given much to take -the keeper into his confidence about the personal element in the -outrage, but that luxury could not be indulged in without impossible -disclosures. Considering that he had eliminated the most pertinent part -of his narrative, he was unable to account for the growing gravity with -which it was received till Mayne disburdened himself. - -"I wonder your Grace can take your narrow escape so lightly," said the -keeper. "Providence must have been in two minds about you to-night." - -"How so?" asked the Duke, starting. Surely General Sadgrove had not been -spreading indiscreet reports in the county already. There had not been -time. - -"It isn't a fortnight since his Grace your uncle and your cousin were -killed on the railway," replied the keeper. - -The coincidence had not occurred to Beaumanoir, nor if it had would it -have troubled him; but he was relieved to find that Mayne's solemnity -was due to the traditional superstition of a gamekeeper. To have his -terrible secret, or so much as a hint of it, suspected by this cheery -old associate of the happiest day of his boyhood would have been a blow -indeed. - -"Yes," he admitted, though in a different sense; "I have certainly had a -narrow escape, and it has shaken me a little, Mayne. On second thoughts, -if you would let me lie down for a few hours on that very comfortable -settle, I would defer my departure for Prior's Tarrant till the morning. -I really don't feel quite equal to trudging so far to-night." - -This was true enough, for though he was physically fit he dreaded -leaving this haven of rest and apparent security for the darkling wood, -in which his remorseless foes were probably searching for him. The -promised escort of the unsuspecting keeper would be of little value, -for, unwarned of any peril, the man would be simply an encumbrance, -equally liable with himself to swift death at any moment at the hands of -the enormous odds against them. Apart from other considerations, he -could not subject the good fellow to such a risk, though he would have -preferred, had it been possible to proceed alone, to have got to Prior's -Tarrant that night and so have ended the suspense under which Forsyth -and the General must be laboring. - -Of course the proposal was hailed with delight, Mayne only insisting -that he should wake his wife and get her to prepare the spare bedroom. -Of this, however, Beaumanoir would not hear, and he was trying to -persuade his host to retire for the night when a dog barked furiously at -the back of the house. - -"That's old Tear'em; there'll be someone moving," said Mayne, going out -into the passage and listening intently. - -Beaumanoir remained in the kitchen, but for all that it was he, with his -highly strung nerves, who was the first to catch the sound of a footstep -without--a stealthy footstep, not approaching the cottage door boldly, -but creeping close to the window. The next instant, however, before he -could communicate with Mayne, another and a brisker step, without any -attempt at secrecy, crunched on the pebble path, and there came a tap at -the cottage door. Mayne immediately opened it. - -"Sorry to disturb you, but there has been a railway accident," a man -said in tones that struck Beaumanoir as vaguely familiar. "I'm tired of -waiting about at the side of the line. Can you give me shelter for the -night?" - -"If you'll please to walk in, sir, I'll see what can be done," came the -reply of the hospitable keeper. "I've got one of the passengers in here -already." - -The next moment there appeared in the doorway of the kitchen the tall -man who had hectored the guard at Elstree station and who had afterwards -been joined by the spy, Marker, at Radlett. Whatever his purpose, he was -plainly not disposed to lay aside his air of self-importance as yet. He -glanced superciliously at Beaumanoir, and promptly appropriated the -chair which the latter had risen from at the first alarm. Loyal to his -own county, this was more than Mayne could stand; he hastened to effect -a one-sided introduction. - -"Beg pardon, sir, but you've taken the Duke's chair," he said. "This -gentleman is his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The newcomer rose with alacrity. "Sorry, I'm sure," he said, taking -another seat. "We are companions in misfortune, Duke, if, as I -understand, you were traveling in that wretched 8.45 from St. Pancras." - -Beaumanoir's sense of humor, ever present, but of late repressed by -stress of circumstances, broke out at the efforts of this man, who spoke -with a pronounced American accent, and who, he was persuaded, was there -with murderous intent, to sustain the _role_ of an English gentleman. He -had not forgotten that other and more furtive footstep under the window, -but he could not resist the sport of leading this rascal on. The mood -had seized him to avoid being killed if he could; but, if that were not -possible, to extract all available fun out of the process. And it might -serve either of these contingencies to lead his adversary into the -belief that he was not being imposed on by all this specious posing. - -"Yes, I was in the 8.45," he replied, looking the other squarely in the -face. "You joined it at Elstree, I think. I noticed you because a man -who was found under the seat of my compartment got into yours at -Radlett, and I saw you leaving the train with him after the accident." - -For the fraction of a second the man failed to control the answering -defiance of his eyes, but he got a grip of himself soon enough to -prevent a premature explosion. "Really?" he said, with affected -carelessness. "He was under the seat, eh? Funny sort of person to be -traveling first-class; but, of course, you will understand that I am not -acquainted with him." - -Beaumanoir made no comment. He had got what he wanted. That sudden -tell-tale gleam of menace had discounted the subsequent disclaimer, and -he knew that this man had been no chance fellow-passenger with Marker, -the spy. What was more, the man knew that he knew it, and Beaumanoir -shrewdly guessed that the effort of control was intended to deceive not -him but the keeper. The rascal was biding his time till he had learned -what dispositions were to be made for the night, when doubtless he would -shape his actions accordingly; and, in the meanwhile, it was necessary -to his purpose that Sir Claude Asprey's honest old retainer should -regard him as an innocent guest. - -Again that persistent reliance on the Duke's impotence to speak up and -boldly claim protection. All through the hot pursuit that leaguered him -so closely this was the bitterest drop in Beaumanoir's cup, for it was -he himself who had placed the gag in his own mouth, he himself who had -forged the fetters that kept him from running to Scotland Yard with an -exposure of the whole conspiracy. And it is galling to be hampered by a -past lapse from virtue when you have abandoned evil courses and are like -to lose your life for doing so. - -"Now that this gentleman has come in your Grace will _have_ to have the -spare bedroom," said Mayne triumphantly, moving towards the door. "The -wife will have it ready for you in a brace of shakes." - -Beaumanoir detained him with a hasty gesture. "One minute," he said, -"I'm not at all sure that I care about having the bedroom. I had -arranged to sleep downstairs on the settle, you know. Why shouldn't we -adhere to that plan, and let this gentleman have the room?" - -He was moved to discover which of the two sleeping-places his enemies -would prefer him to occupy, and also by the imperative need of gaining -time to gauge the altered circumstances. Moreover, if Mayne went -upstairs to consult his wife he would be left alone with this great -strapping potential assassin, who as like as not would promptly admit -half a dozen other assassins from outside. Strangely enough, it was the -potential assassin himself who solved his dilemma--by tossing a -visiting-card on to the table. - -"I shouldn't dream of sleeping in the bedroom while you are roughing it -down here, your Grace," he said. "I shall certainly insist on occupying -the settle." - -Beaumanoir picked up the card and read: - - Colonel Anstruther Walcot, - 14th Dragoon Guards. - -The sight of that card, for all his imminent danger, cheered him, as -showing that his opponents were not infallible. Not only had they made -the initial blunder of furnishing this obvious Yankee with the outward -semblance and name of an English officer commanding a distinguished -regiment, relying on the fact that the real owner of the name was in -India, but they had chanced to select the name of the colonel of -Beaumanoir's old regiment. - -The impostor's card inspired him with an idea. He would accept him at -his own valuation. - -"Very well," he said, rising from his chair. "As I am the first comer, -perhaps it is right that I should be first served. I'll take the -bedroom, Mayne; but there's no need to disturb your wife. If you'll show -me up we'll soon put the room to rights. Good-night, sir, and thank you -for your courtesy." - -With which he signed to the keeper to lead the way and followed him out, -casting a glance at the American to see how he took the arrangement. -Diagnosis of the man's face was, however, impossible, for he had already -turned to the window and was drawing aside the curtain--to signal to his -fellows, Beaumanoir had no doubt. - -Mayne mounted the steep cottage staircase, Beaumanoir limping awkwardly -in his wake into one of two rooms on the tiny landing. The moment they -had crossed the threshold he perceived that the chamber was little -better than a trap. The man downstairs would simply have him at his -mercy, after admitting his companions and probably screwing up the door -of the keeper's sleeping apartment. Locks and bolts to the primitive -doors there were none. He recognized all too late that it would have -been better to have insisted on the Yankee occupying this room and on -remaining downstairs himself, when he would at least have formed a wedge -between the traitor in the camp and his colleagues outside. - -To stay the night in the room was out of the question, and he determined -to put in practice the inspiration derived from "Colonel Walcot's" card. - -"Mayne," he said, laying his hand on the astonished keeper's shoulder, -"I must get out of this at once, without the gentleman below being aware -of it, and you must help me." - -"But, your Grace----" began Mayne. - -"Don't withstand me," Beaumanoir cut short the protest. "I cannot go -into a long explanation, but it's like this. That man is the colonel of -my former regiment--an old brother officer, you understand. My name was -Hanbury then, and he either does not, or pretends not to, recognize me. -It is not a nice thing to have to confess, but I borrowed money in those -days from Colonel Walcot, which never till now have I had it in my power -to repay. It would distress me greatly to have that money mentioned -before I have repaid it, as I shall do to-morrow, so if you can contrive -to let me out without his knowledge I'll make for Prior's Tarrant and -never forget your assistance." - -Mayne scratched his grizzled head in pained perplexity. To his slow -brain the incident of a wealthy nobleman fleeing in the dead of night -from a creditor presented a startling incongruity, but gradually it -recurred to him that he had heard that the new Duke had been "a bit -wild" when in the army; and, after all, his reluctance to be recognized -by the Colonel till he had had time to liquidate the debt seemed but -natural. - -"Yes, it can be done, your Grace," replied the keeper, softly opening -the lattice casement. "The lean-to roof of the woodshed reaches right up -here, and there's a pile of faggots against the shed. You can get down -easy enough, and as it's the back of the house, if you are careful, he -won't know anything about it. But I'll come, too, and show your Grace -the way out of the wood." - -"On no account, Mayne," said Beaumanoir quickly. "You'll be much more -useful here. I'll find my way out of the wood all right, but you must go -back to the kitchen and tell Colonel Walcot that I am going to bed. It's -only a white lie, and here's a five-pound note on account of it. Stay -with him as long as you can--half an hour at least--and then go to bed -yourself." - -"Very well, your Grace; I don't like it, but I'll do it." - -"And see here, Mayne: there's one thing more. In the morning, or -whenever Colonel Walcot discovers that I have gone away, tell him from -me why I went, and that I intend to repay him all I owe him. _All I owe -him_, don't forget that." - -Directly he was alone Beaumanoir left himself no time for weighing the -chances, but took the risk. Squeezing through the window, he climbed -down the sloping roof of the woodshed and thence by way of the -faggot-pile to the ground. He was well aware that every step, as he -groped his way across the clearing into the thicket, might be his last, -for doubtless he had been traced to the cottage and the whole pack were -somewhere about. His only hope lay in the probability that they were in -front of the house, where they could hold themselves ready to obey -signals from the kitchen window or a summons from the door. - -It might have been that this was the case, for Beaumanoir reached the -trees without interference, and at once shaped a course for the edge of -the wood. His progress was difficult by reason of the darkness and the -density of the undergrowth, but fortune favored him in so far that he -presently hit upon a public foot-path, and so came eventually to a stile -giving on a high road. At the next cross-ways was a sign-post, which he -read by the light of a wax match, and thence onward limped steadily -forward for Prior's Tarrant, with growing confidence that he had eluded -pursuit. - -Great, then, was his dismay when, on turning into his own park, he -became conscious that he was being shadowed by someone whose stealthy -pid-pad sounded resolutely behind him. As he mounted the terrace steps -it grew louder; the man who was following him was close behind and -gaining quickly. Something in the Duke's tired brain seemed to snap, and -with just a glance at the lighted window of the dining-room where -General Sadgrove was in the act of drawing up the blind, he turned at -the top of the steps and flung himself, half mad with rage and terror, -on the faithful Azimoolah, who had picked him up near the sign-post and -shepherded him safely for the rest of the journey. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--_Too Many Women_ - - -General Sadgrove relaxed his grip on Azimoolah's lean neck, not as a -consequence of Alec Forsyth's exclamation, but because he and his -captive had crossed the threshold of the French window--gone "off," in -fact, from the stage on which he had been playing a little comedy for -the benefit of an invisible audience. Forsyth guessed at once that the -pulley-hauley business on the terrace had only been a sham, from the -half-playful push with which his uncle released the now passive Indian, -and also from the more than half-contemptuous glance flung at himself. - -The next moment the other party to the tussle on the terrace elucidated -the matter by walking up to the window instead of running away. It was -the Duke himself, outwardly calm, but somewhat disheveled by the fray, -and looking very sleepy. Entering the room he gave Forsyth's hand an -affectionate squeeze, and turned to secure the window. - -"It's all right," he said, in the listless tone that he always used -nowadays. "When the train got stuck up I smelt rats, and cleared out -from the locality--thought it better to cut across country on foot than -to stay about a spot where I was probably being looked for. But this -beggar," pointing to Azimoolah, standing at "attention," proudly erect, -"must have shadowed me, and caught me up just as I was coming to tap at -the window. You will confer a great favor on me by letting him go." - -This dogged determination to take no prisoners strengthened the -General's suspicions of his host, and there was a harsh ring in the -laugh with which he explained that Azimoolah was his own emissary, who, -on returning from the scene of the accident, had mistaken the Duke for -one of their unknown adversaries. He did not mention that there were two -genuine prowlers outside who, but for Azimoolah's intervention, would -have fallen on their prey, and who were probably intensely puzzled by -finding someone else playing the same game as themselves. - -"And now, if your Grace will go to bed, I will guarantee you a good -night's rest," added the General. "You must not forget that you will -have ladies to entertain to-morrow." - -Beaumanoir gave a tired shrug. - -"Even without that inducement I'd take your prescription, General," he -replied. "This hide-and-seek is rather wearing; but if you two good -fellows can keep me in the land of the living for the next few days, I -shan't worry you further." - -He left the room, dragging his lame foot painfully, and the General, -stricken with a sudden sympathy, whispered Forsyth to accompany him. - -"The poor beggar is troubled," he said. "Sleep on the sofa in his room, -and don't be afraid to close your eyes--as soon as _he_ is asleep. -Azimoolah and I will see there's no bother. But your friend mustn't be -left alone. Danger from his own pistol--see?" - -Forsyth nodded with grieved comprehension, and followed the Duke. On his -departure the General turned to Azimoolah, who had stood like a statue -since his release, and the twain exchanged a twinkle of mutual -congratulation. - -"We managed that quite in the old style, O taker of many thieves," said -the General in Hindustani. "'Twas well that you heard and quickly obeyed -my whisper to offer resistance, for so we have deceived the malefactors -who beheld us into the belief that you also are an enemy of the house." - -"The sahib's praise is sweet as the honey of Kashmir," responded -Azimoolah, gravely. "Is it the Heaven-born's will that I should go out -and slay these dealers in iniquity?" - -The commission entrusted to him, however, held promise of no such -luxury. On the contrary, Azimoolah received strict injunction to avoid -violence except in the last extremity--in self-defence or to prevent -entry into the house. The duty laid down for him was to patrol the -grounds, and instantly apprise the General of any action on the part of -the two trespassers that pointed to a renewal of aggressiveness that -night. - -"I shall remain in this room till daybreak; if anything occurs, make the -signal outside," were the General's final instructions as he loosed his -human watch-dog on to the terrace, after putting out the lights to -conceal the opening of the window. Then, having carefully closed it, he -sat himself down in the dark, and presently slumbered, secure in the -knowledge that none could approach the mansion while Azimoolah was on -guard. Also, he was pretty sure that the siege would not be raised till -the two prowlers should have reported to their superiors the doings and, -as they would believe, the capture of the strange rival who had -forestalled them. - -The General's confidence was justified, for the night passed without -further alarms, and the three gentlemen met at the breakfast-table under -ordinary country-house conditions. The servants being in the room, no -reference was made to the abnormal circumstances that had brought them -together, though Beaumanoir, in the course of reading letters that had -come by post, held up a gorgeously monogrammed note, and remarked that -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had accepted his invitation and would be with them -on the morrow. - -"She writes rather flippantly for a stranger," he added, eyeing the -scented missive doubtfully, but not offering to show it. "I hope it's -all right for her to meet my cousin Sybil, and--er--the other ladies. -She's coming on your recommendation, you know, General, so you must -vouch for her good behavior." - -Sadgrove growled unintelligibly, and was at pains to conceal a sudden -upheaval of his facial muscles. For the Duke's reference to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton in her relations to the other guests had all at once opened up -to his mind a contingency which he had overlooked--a terrible -contingency, which demanded instant consideration before the American -widow was admitted to the house. He made an early excuse for quitting -the table, and, exacting a promise that Beaumanoir and Forsyth would for -the present remain indoors, he went out into the park to face the -position alone, and thresh it out to a conclusion. - -Walking under the trees in the historic elm avenue, it was not till he -had smoked a whole cigar and lit another that he was able to approach -the problem with anything like calmness. For he was suffering from the -humiliation of having to admit that he had committed the grievous error -of imperiling the life of a woman--one, too, whom he held in -affectionate regard only second to his wife. If his suspicion of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was as well founded as instinct told him, she ought -never to have been asked to stay under the same roof as Sybil Hanbury, -her victorious rival in the affections of a man who had repulsed her -advances by stolidly ignoring them. - -"Gad! but I'd cut my hand off rather than harm should come to that girl, -let alone never being able to look Alec in the face again," he muttered, -as he gnawed his white mustache in perplexity. - -The situation was indeed serious from the point of view that Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was head of a gang of international criminals, and that -she was, moreover, as he put it in his simple soldier phrase, "sweet -upon" his nephew Alec. If, for her as yet unexplained ends, she would -not stick at assassinating the Duke of Beaumanoir, she would be capable -of wreaking a deadly vengeance on the girl who had won the heart she -hungered for. Once installed as a guest in the mansion, she would have -plenty of facilities of which she might make venomous use. The General -had engineered her invitation with the laudable purpose of keeping her -under constant observation and of making communication with her -confederates difficult; but in his zeal for check-mating her predatory -designs he had forgotten her amatory ones. - -It was true that Sybil's engagement had not yet been published to the -world, but the Shermans, who were also to be the Duke's guests, knew of -it, and to enter into explanations with Mrs. Sherman, the voluble and -unsophisticated, would be going far towards defeating his cherished hope -of protecting that lady's husband from the gang without implicating the -Duke. As it was, the invitation of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, of which he -was suspected of being the cause, had excited more than curiosity among -his American visitors, who had nearly upset his arrangements by -canceling their own visit on learning that their mysterious fellow -countrywoman was to be of the party. One crumb of comfort he derived -from the fact that in all things he could rely on his wife's discretion. -Though they had exchanged no word on the subject, he knew that, without -penetrating or wishing to penetrate his motive in trafficking with Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, his wife guessed that he had one; he knew that he -could depend upon her unquestioning aid if he asked for it. - -"I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew, as Sherman himself would -put it," he mused, with a sigh for the old days of jingling -bridle-chains and night rides, when he had merrily run down his Thugs -and Dacoits without female influence upsetting his calculations. The -female influence had been there, doubtless, with all its jealousies and -consequent treacheries; but all that had been Azimoolah's department. It -had fallen to the silent-footed, black-bearded Pathan to explore the -under-currents of social life in the native villages, and he had not -worried his chief with details till the patient sapping of traitorous -brains was done, and all that remained was to sally forth and hunt the -faithless lover or erring husband who was also a breaker of laws. -Azimoolah's knowledge in India of the eternal feminine had been -extensive and peculiar; but the General felt that he could not with -propriety set him poking into love affairs which included Sybil Hanbury -in its scope. - -Another point which harassed the General's soul was the new light shed -on the Duke's attitude towards Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by his mild -displeasure at the style of her note. The General was assured that the -remark at the breakfast-table had been the genuine expression of an -honest doubt as to the fitness of the sparkling widow to mix with -gentle-women; whereas the Duke could have had no doubt whatever if he -had had relations with the gang of whom he, the General, believed this -woman to be the moving spirit. It certainly seemed that the Duke was -ignorant that she was a dangerous adventuress, for, though he might have -suspected her of designs against himself and yet have consented to her -presence at Prior's Tarrant, he would never have subjected Sybil to the -peril of daily intercourse with a potential murderess. All along -Beaumanoir had shown a chivalrous disposition to protect his cousin from -even minor annoyances. - -"Perhaps there are two distinct crowds after Sherman's gold bonds, and -Beaumanoir is in with the Ziegler lot, and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is -playing against them," the General mused as he turned his steps back to -the house. "To think that the fellow holds the key of it all, and won't -speak, is what riles me." - -The immediate dilemma confronted him whether or no to impart to his -nephew the cause for alarm that had arisen about Sybil. He had been -surprised at first that a man of Alec Forsyth's shrewdness had not seen -for himself a danger threatening the girl he loved; but closer -examination disclosed a reason. Forsyth was too modest, too little of a -coxcomb, for it to occur to him that violence could result from a -misplaced passion for himself. On the whole, the General decided that, -as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was not due till the next day, he would say -nothing to Alec at present. - -"If I can make Beaumanoir disgorge his secret, the trouble may not -arise," he comforted himself. Though the veteran's faith in himself was -shaken, and he wished he had resisted the temptation to meddle with -crime outside his old Eastern sphere, he was not the man to take his -hand from the plough. He would devote all his diplomacy to penetrating -the cause of the Duke's obstinate silence. - -As he had anticipated, there was a lull that day in the activity of the -enemy--at any rate of overt attempts. No communication reached him from -Azimoolah, who would certainly have been heard from if suspicious -characters had been on the move in the neighborhood of the mansion; for, -though unseen, that tireless tracker might be trusted to be at his post, -which was anywhere and everywhere within the radius of a mile. The -denser thickets of the park possibly concealed him, or it might be that -he hovered in the nearer precincts of the gardens, unseen but ready. His -presence relieved the General from disturbing the routine of the -household by special instructions to the servants, who were still -fluttered by the lassooing of the lame gardener on the previous Sunday. -So far, all the precaution that the General had delegated to others than -himself and Forsyth was to give the bailiff a quiet hint, as a message -from the Duke, not to admit the "artists" to the park, should they -present themselves again. But up to the hour of luncheon the painters of -"deer like unto swine" had not renewed their application or put in an -appearance. - -In the afternoon Beaumanoir, shaking off some of his weary apathy, went -down to the portico with his male guests to receive the four ladies, who -arrived in time for tea, which, with the General's acquiescence, was to -be taken on the terrace. No sooner were the first greetings over than -Mrs. Sadgrove caught her husband's eye and telegraphed the information -that she had something for his private ear at the earliest opportunity. -He therefore contrived to lag behind with her while Beaumanoir did the -honors to Leonie and her mother, and Forsyth paired off with Sybil, as -the party mounted the marble steps to the terrace. - -"Jem," said Mrs. Sadgrove, scanning the rugged face of her spouse with a -sidelong scrutiny, "I received an anonymous letter this morning. Let -them get ahead a bit, and I'll show it to you." - -The screed which she put into his hand contained but five words: - -"_There is danger from Ziegler._" - -General Sadgrove's Eastern experiences had not educated him into an -expert in calligraphy, but it needed no particular insight to perceive -that this was a lady's handwriting, clumsily disguised. He transferred -his attention to the paper, half a sheet of "note"; and here he was -rewarded with a startling discovery. He had noticed that the letter of -acceptance from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, which the Duke had received at -breakfast, had been heavily charged with a peculiar perfume, and this -unsigned missive was simply reeking of the same pungent fragrance. He -had sat next the Duke, and knew that there was no mistake. - -"You have no idea who sent this?" he asked. - -"I seem to recognize the scent as having come to me before in -notes--proper, signed notes," Mrs. Sadgrove replied, evasively. And then -she added, with gentle significance, not from curiosity, but from a -desire to help him in case he did not know: "I heard the name of Ziegler -when we were calling at the Cecil yesterday. It was mentioned, I think, -by one of the attendants as that of the gentleman occupying the rooms -where the disturbance was." - -The General looked hard at her, and saw that his little drama had not -deceived the companion of his Indian days. - -"Yes," he said, shortly. "Do not trouble about this, Madge. It's all in -the day's work." - -But he himself was greatly troubled, inasmuch as if that anonymous -warning came from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton all his "case" was demolished, -and a perfect maze of new problems was presented. A warning from her -would be presumptive evidence that she was an ally, and--sad blow to his -_amour propre_--would stultify all the theories he had based on what he -had fondly hoped was an unerring intuition. He would have to begin all -over again, solacing himself--and it was no small solace--with the -reflection that he had raised an unnecessary bogey in anticipating -danger to Sybil Hanbury from Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's visit. - -Yet by the time he reached the top of the terrace steps reaction had set -in, and he began to think that his brain could not have lost all its -cunning. For, unless in the very improbable event of Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton having found out something about the mysterious Ziegler through -occupying the next suite to him since yesterday, she must still be the -heart and core of the evil influence he had to combat. Without knowledge -she would not have been in a position to warn; and, like the Duke, how -could she have obtained knowledge without complicity? Why, too, should -she also be unwilling to use her knowledge openly? No, he came back to -the opinion that there must originally have been one gigantic plot -against Senator Sherman's precious charge, and that there must have been -a split in the camp; but from which section, or whether by both -sections, the Duke was threatened was an irritating conundrum. Anyhow, -Sybil Hanbury's peril assumed ugly shape again in the General's mind. - -"The woman must have sent it to mislead--to throw dust in my eyes," he -murmured, not knowing that he spoke aloud. And following up that train -of reasoning he found it grow into conviction. The letter was not really -anonymous. That is to say, the writer had been at particular pains to -disclose her identity by means of the scent if General Sadgrove deemed -the communication sent to his wife of sufficient importance to -investigate. The letter had been despatched, he now felt assured, with -the express purpose of whitewashing the sender in the event of any -further "accident" happening to the Duke. In short, he was of opinion -that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had suspected his manoeuvre at the hotel, and -had devised this method of hoodwinking him, and of diverting his -vigilance from herself during her forthcoming visit if her suspicions -were correct. The craftiness of the idea was obvious, and the General -was beginning to be delighted with his perspicacity when, lo and behold, -the whole fabric crumbled again, from a flaw at the very base of the -structure. It was inconceivable that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, if she was -guilty of criminal intent, should have directed his thoughts to Ziegler, -who, if not a confederate, was certainly part and parcel of the mystery. - -"Too many women in it," he growled, testily, unaware, in the brown study -into which he had fallen, that he had seated himself in one of the cane -chairs round about the tea-table at which Sybil Hanbury was already -presiding. He was also unconscious that he had expressed himself -audibly--at least, so far as concerned Sybil, who at that moment -happened to be handing him his cup. Indeed, he repeated the phrase, the -sentiment of it growing in vigor from the sight of Leonie Sherman -listening to Beaumanoir's description of his ancestral home, and of Mrs. -Sherman and Mrs. Sadgrove talking to Alec Forsyth. - -Sybil gave the old man a queer look, more affectionate than reproachful; -and when she had finished pouring out tea came and took a vacant seat -beside him. For a while she drank her tea in silence, stealing a -half-amused glance now and then at the puckered face of the checked -hunter of men. The General was gazing moodily across the green expanse -of park, wishing with all his heart that Azimoolah, on guard out there -in the leafy solitudes, was a fitting oracle to consult in a matter -touching the private feelings of _memsahibs_. - -"No," he growled regretfully, and again aloud; "this must be a white -man's war." - -Sybil leaned over and tapped his knee with her gold tea-spoon. The -General started, smiled fatuously at the celebrated Beaumanoir heirloom, -as though he were expected to admire it, and then suddenly came down -from the clouds, realizing that the young woman with the bright eyes -searching his face was something more than a source of anxiety to him. -She was a factor to be reckoned with, and if he was a judge of the human -countenance she was about to enforce that view. - -"A white man's war with too many women in it, General?" she asked, -archly. "Isn't that rather an anomaly?" - -"It's gospel truth," the General replied, with sturdy insistence. "Sign -of senile decay, though, thinking aloud." - -"_You_ are not decayed. You might as well accuse _me_ of being in my -first childhood, and I have really passed that," Sybil smiled back at -him. "But," she added, "I am childish enough to be a little hurt that -you don't appear to think so." - -"My dear girl, what have I done? 'Pon honor, I don't know that I have -done anything," the General protested piteously. - -"That's just it. It's because you have done nothing, or next to nothing, -that your contemptuous reference to 'too many women' seems to me a -trifle unkind," replied Sybil, pretending to misunderstand him. "What -would have happened to my cousin, when the panel was cut the other night -at Beaumanoir House, if it hadn't been for a woman?" - -The General accepted the reproof in thoughtful silence, forced to admit -to himself that it was not uncalled for. If it had not been for Sybil -Hanbury's nerve and courage on the occasion when the bogus detective -officer had secreted himself in the Duke's town house, the answer to her -question might have had to be written in blood. Her quick apprehension -of subtle danger, her determination to sit up and watch, and her cool -presence of mind in face of the emergency when it arose, had saved the -situation and stamped her as of sterling metal. - -"I apologize," he jerked out presently. "I still think there are too -many women in the business, but you ain't one of 'em." - -"Thank you," Sybil returned, drily. "And, that being so, wouldn't it be -a good plan to ask a woman to help you, on the principle of setting a -thief to catch a thief, you know?" - -The General shot a rather shamefaced glance at the firm mouth and -steadfast eyes of this plucky young enthusiast, and thereupon he decided -to enlist her as an adviser in the more intricate questions that vexed -him. There was the chance that woman's wit would fathom woman's guile, -and tell him why Mrs. Talmage Eglinton should want to point the index of -suspicion at Ziegler, who was probably her _confrere_ in crime. Woman's -wit might even tell him why his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir, engaged in -such a simple ducal pastime as making sheep's-eyes at a pretty American -girl, should yet recoil abashed whenever Leonie turned her frankly -responsive but puzzled gaze on him. Above all, the course proposed would -enable this brave English girl to do what he was beginning to fear he -could not do for her--to take care of herself. - -"Yes," he said, putting down his cup with a grim smile, "I'll take you -on, soon as you've finished your tea. And," he added, fumbling for his -cigar-case, "I'll try and not frighten you." - -Sybil rose at once, and together they strolled along the terrace to a -distance from the chatter round the tea-table, which had drowned their -incipient confidences. When they were quite out of earshot Sybil turned -and confronted the General, and the lighter tone with which she had -"played" him was lacking now. - -"Tell me," she said gravely, "why Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is so anxious to -kill my poor cousin and spoil that charming idyll." - -"Mrs. Talmage Eglinton!" stammered the General. "How on earth did you -know that?" - -"How did I know!" his new coadjutor repeated with scorn. "In the same -way that she must know herself that _you_ know, you dear silly old man. -Because of the absolutely absurd invitation to her to come and stay here -at Prior's Tarrant without rhyme or reason." - -And then, when General Sadgrove had recovered from the shock of finding -that he was not quite inscrutable, they talked, very seriously, for -upwards of half an hour. - - - - -CHAPTER XV--_A New Cure for Headache_ - - -"I wonder if General Sadgrove and Mr. Forsyth are lunatics?" Sybil -Hanbury purred softly, after joining in the chorus of thanks which -greeted a superb rendering of Strelezki's "Arlequin" on the long disused -grand piano in the tapestry-room. This apartment was more cozy and -homelike than the vast white drawing-room at Beaumanoir House, but it -was quite large enough for isolated conversations. - -The uncomplimentary confidence was made into the shell-like ear of Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, who, faultlessly gowned by Worth, was sitting apart -with her nominal hostess in the embrasure of an oriel window. The Duke -was hovering near the piano, and Forsyth was talking to Mrs. Sadgrove -and Mrs. Sherman. The General was not present, having excused himself -from coming straight from the dining-room on the plea of having a letter -to write. - -Sybil's disjointed remark--for it followed a discussion on French -cookery--caused a sudden twist of the ivory shoulders towards her, the -swift eagerness of the movement being discounted by the languorous stare -of slowly interested surprise. There was a hint of resentment, perhaps -also a trace of alarm, in the wheeling of the decolletee shoulders; in -the stare these emotions were corrected into a mild desire to hear more -of such a sweeping surmise. - -"Lunatics--those two!" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton exclaimed, in -well-modulated astonishment. "That's what you English call rather a -large order, isn't it? What makes you say so?" - -"Hush! My cousin is trying to persuade Miss Sherman to sing," replied -Sybil. "Wait till she has begun, and I'll tell you. It's too funny to -keep to one's self." - -For two days now the house-party at Prior's Tarrant had been increased -by the elegant addition of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, and on the surface -matters were pursuing their normal course. The Duke had received his -latest guest with a democratic courtesy none the less cordial because of -her floridly expressed note, which in the stress of other preoccupations -he had forgotten altogether. He had a vague idea that the General had -wished the vivacious American to be included because she was a fellow -countrywoman of the Shermans, and that was quite enough to ensure his -good-will towards her. - -This view was so far from being the right one that Mrs. Sherman and -Leonie had only succeeded in being coldly polite to the latest arrival. -Mrs. Sadgrove, with an inkling that the beautifully dressed but too -effusive American was an important factor in her husband's schemes, was -more outwardly complacent, but it was reserved for Sybil to shower upon -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton special civilities which had ended, after two days -only, in their becoming constant companions, if not bosom friends. If -the handsome visitor wanted to walk in the park or to be shown some -object of interest in the gardens, Sybil was always at hand to accompany -her; and if it rained, as it had done all this day, she spent hours in -entertaining her in her own rooms. - -As for Forsyth, Sybil deserted him entirely; and as the other ladies -abstained from discussing personal topics before the unpopular guest, -there had been no making known beyond the small circle who knew it -already of the new secretary's engagement to his employer's cousin. -Singularly enough, this was one of the very few subjects which the girl -did not touch upon in her confidences to her new friend. - -Presently the importunities of the Duke, backed by a general murmur of -request, prevailed, and Leonie began a quaint old melody in a clear -contralto that at any other time would have held Sybil an enthralled -listener. As it was, she took instant advantage of the rippling flood of -sound that filled the room to resume her talk, though for the moment the -continuity was not apparent. - -"Beaumanoir House was burgled the other night, and we caught a man -trying to get into my cousin's bedroom," she whispered. - -"No. Really? I--I saw nothing in the papers," replied Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton in even tones, but with another turn of the white shoulders and -a sudden shading of her eyes the better to watch the fair narrator's -face. - -"That was because the Duke let the man go--didn't want any fuss just -after coming into the title; and quite reasonable, I call it," Sybil -proceeded. "And that's where the fun comes in. Mr. Forsyth insists that -my cousin is the proposed victim of some diabolical plot, anarchist or -otherwise, and he took General Sadgrove into his confidence. The old -gentleman, as you may not be aware, was a sort of policeman in India, -and is cracked on finding out things. Naturally, to one of that -temperament, the mystery Mr. Forsyth chose to make out of a vulgar -attempt at robbery was like a spark on tinder, and the General caught on -at once. They're both fairly on the job--as amateur detectives, you -know--and they think they've got a clue." - -"How truly interesting! And the clue?" - -"Of the most remote kind--not even arrived at, _a la_ Sherlock Holmes, -by inspecting cigarette ashes. It seems that Mr. Forsyth--who, by the -way, had been to leave a card on you--met the Duke at the Cecil, coming -away from the suite of a Mr. Ziegler. He chose to think that my cousin -was looking agitated, whereas he was only tired after his voyage. Mr. -Ziegler, therefore, if you please, has fallen under the ban of suspicion -from these wiseacres, and is supposed to be murderously inclined towards -the poor Duke. Even the mischief of some wretched boy in playing tricks -with the train he traveled by the other night is attributed to this -probably harmless Mr. Ziegler." - -"And his Grace--does he also attribute these things to the same -quarter?" asked Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, scarcely with the breathless -interest due to such tremendous doings. She had a way of opening her -eyes wide when putting a question--a mannerism which had the effect of -creating doubt whether she was intensely eager or only bored. - -"He thinks it all nonsense--same as I do," Sybil made answer. "He has -told these over-clever gentlemen to leave the thing alone, and I expect -if he finds out what the General is up to that he'll turn them both out -of the house and give Mr. Forsyth his dismissal. Of course, you won't -say anything--will you?--because I'm only a poor relation, and I can't -afford to offend people." - -"I am discretion itself. What is General Sadgrove up to, dear?" was the -reply. - -Sybil's pretty mouth bent close to confide the startling fact that the -General was going to London in the morning with the intention of -bearding Mr. Ziegler in his den--otherwise, in his rooms at the Cecil. -If he should be refused permission to see Ziegler, or, seeing him, -should be unable to satisfy himself of his respectability, he was going -straight on to Scotland Yard to impart his suspicions to the -authorities. Sybil sketched the carrying out of this amazing programme -and its probable consequences with much animation and ridicule, but her -hearer's interest tailed off into undisguised indifference, ending in a -deliberate yawn. - -"What a very stupid affair!" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton murmured. "Do you -know, it has made me quite sleepy, and--and I think I'll go to bed. I -have started a real, clawing, hammering headache. Shouldn't wonder if I -am not laid up to-morrow." - -Nodding a good-night to the others, she rose and swept from the room, -followed by Sybil, who, profusely sympathetic, insisted on accompanying -her to her own apartments. At the door of the latter a dark-eyed, -slender woman, in a black dress with broad white collar and cuffs, was -standing. This was Rosa, the French maid, on whose services Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton professed herself entirely dependent. - -"One of my headaches, Rosa. The pink draught--quickly!" cried the -incipient invalid, and pausing on the threshold she bade an affectionate -good-night to her girlish admirer. "I am not really ill--only a little -run down," she assured her. "I do _hope_ I shan't have to keep my room -to-morrow." - -The brilliant vision of Parisian elegance having vanished into the room, -Sybil made her way downstairs, and in the hall encountered General -Sadgrove, who wore a light overcoat over his evening things and a gray -felt hat. He was engaged in wiping the wet from his patent-leather shoes -with his handkerchief, but looked up on Sybil's approach, and, removing -his hat, went on with his occupation. - -"Still raining?" said Sybil, carelessly. - -"Like the very--I mean, like it used to in the monsoon," the General -checked himself. - -No more passed, except a slight raising of the old soldier's eyebrows -and a corresponding droop of one of the lady's eyelids. The General -having restored the gloss to his footgear and doffed his overcoat, they -went on with linked arms to the tapestry-room, where, however, the party -shortly broke up, the ladies to retire for the night, and the men to go -to the smoking-room. The Duke remained but a short time, leaving the -General and Forsyth with the playful remark that he was growing quite -bold after two days' immunity, and hoped they would not sit up all -night--which was exactly what one or other of them had been doing ever -since they came to Prior's Tarrant, and, moreover, what they intended to -do for the present. - -"Sybil has done her part," said the General, as soon as he was alone -with his nephew. "And I have prepared Azimoolah to be on the lookout for -results. He tells me that the men in the dog-cart were outside the park -wall again last night, and that there was the same exhibition of a red -lamp in that infernal French maid's window." - -"An abortive attempt at communication?" asked Forsyth. - -"That or something worse," replied the General. "It may only be that the -woman inside wants to confer with her confederates without; or it may be -that the red lamp is a signal to them not to approach any nearer or try -to get into the house. I incline to the latter being the explanation, as -on each occasion the men in the cart have driven off immediately on -seeing the red lamp, and there has been no attempt at short or long -flashes, or any sort of code talk, Azimoolah tells me. In either case, -it points to those beauties upstairs being aware that you and I are on -guard, and that any attempt on their part to give admission to outsiders -would be frustrated." - -"But if she knows that a watch is being kept, surely madam will not dare -to leave the house?" suggested Forsyth, in the tentative tone that was -necessary to preserve his uncle's good humor. - -"If she does, it will show that she's cornered, and that Sybil's guess -has hit the bull's eye," said the General, adding, with a significant -grimace, "a preparatory headache has been started already. You had -better go to bed and leave me to see to the commencement of the cure." - -Two hours later Azimoolah Khan, lying flattened out like a huge lizard -on the parapet of the terrace, and thanking Allah that the rain had -ceased, suddenly pricked up his ears and thanked Allah again that the -time for relieving his cramped limbs had come. At first his ears were -the only part of his body affected by the slight sound he had heard, but -some thirty seconds later, keeping the rest of him motionless, he -goggled his eyes round to one of the ground-floor windows and -saw--seeing in the dark was one of his accomplishments--a female figure -turn from it and flit along the terrace towards the steps leading down -to the park. Waiting till the figure had gained the lower level, he slid -from the parapet and gave noiseless chase. - -The woman in front spared no precaution to guard against pursuit. She -stopped many times and listened; she doubled on her tracks; and as soon -as she reached the woodland belt she proved to be an expert in the art -of taking cover. But she had to do with probably the most wily exponent -of woodcraft at that moment in England, and her pursuer was never at -fault. Dark as the night was, Azimoolah never lost her for an instant. -With sinuous movements that never caused a twig to crack, the lithe -Pathan was always creeping, gliding, dodging close behind, till he -stopped within ten paces of the park wall, and from the shelter of an -oak trunk watched his quarry nimbly climb the obstacle. No sooner had -she disappeared than he swung himself to the top of the wall, and peered -over just as a horse broke into a trot on the other side. - -Piercing the gloom, his keen sight distinguished the shape of a -fast-receding rubber-tired dog-cart, in which three figures were seated; -and, having fulfilled his mission, he dropped back to the ground. In a -few minutes he was on the terrace again, hissing like a cobra outside -the smoking-room. General Sadgrove opened the French casement. - -"The daughter of Sheitan came from the fifth window, and has gone away, -even as the sahib predicted, in the cart with two men," Azimoolah -reported. - -"Which road did they take?" - -"To the left--the Senalban road, sahib." - -"St. Albans, eh? Then she's going to catch the 3.15 up night mail," -muttered the General. "Well, good-night, old _jungle-wallah_. You've got -your orders," he added, closing and bolting the window. - -The next morning there were two absentees from the -breakfast-table--General Sadgrove, who by overnight arrangement had -breakfasted by himself, so as to be driven to Tarrant Road in time for -the nine o'clock train to town, and Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who was -confined to her bed by a bad headache. The news of the indisposition was -imparted to Sybil by the maid Rosa at her mistress's door, and was -accompanied by a regretful but firm refusal of admission to the patient. - -"Madame is so _desolee_ not to receive you, ma'amselle, but she 'ave ze -malady too strr-rong for speak even with her dearest friend," was the -ultimatum which sent Miss Hanbury from the door with a doleful face, -which somehow took quite a different expression when she had turned the -corner. - -For some mysterious reason her aloofness from her lover vanished that -morning, and she and Forsyth were on the best of terms. They spent two -hours together wandering in the park, where in one of the more remote -glades Azimoolah flitted up to them from the bushes, and, regarding -Sybil with awe-struck veneration, made a deep salaam and was gone. The -Duke, who had given his word of honor to the General not to go beyond -the park gates, passed the time partly with his bailiff and partly -strolling with Leonie in the gardens and glass-houses. The friendship -between Beaumanoir and his beautiful guest, so promisingly begun on -board the _St. Paul_, seemed to have lost ground. Though he was much in -her society, he avoided intimate topics, and often puzzled her with a -hastily averted look of wistful tenderness in strange contrast to his -assiduous but commonplace hospitality. - -Half an hour before luncheon General Sadgrove, returning on foot from -the station and looking five years older for his run up to London, met -the two young couples, who had now joined forces, as they were entering -the mansion. Forsyth gave his uncle an anxious glance of inquiry, but -the old man passed him by unheeding, and addressed the Duke in a tone of -icy formality. - -"I shall be obliged if your Grace will give me five minutes in the -library on a very urgent matter," he said, adding, with significant -emphasis, "_I have been with Mr. Ziegler this morning._" - -Beaumanoir, gone all pale and tremulous, made a palpable effort at -self-control as he replied: - -"Come into the library by all means, General. But I am afraid you will -find me quite as reticent as I am sure Ziegler was." - -The interview lasted till long after the luncheon gong had sounded, and -when at length the Duke and the General entered the dining-room two -pairs of watchful eyes observed that their relative attitudes had been -reversed. The General's usually impassive face was working so painfully -that Mrs. Sadgrove half rose from her chair at sight of her husband, -checking herself with difficulty; while the Duke bore himself almost -jauntily, and began chaffing Sybil about her devotion to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton, who was still, by latest bulletin from Rosa, "suffering ze -grand torments" and unable to leave her room. - -The afternoon passed without external signs that the house-party was -living on the verge of an active volcano. But as it was growing dusk -Forsyth, at the risk of being late for dinner, took a solitary walk in -the direction of a certain stile, by which the Prior's Tarrant pastures -were approached by a short cut across fields from Tarrant Road railway -station. He arrived at the stile in the nick of time to give a helping -hand to Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, who had just reached the spot from the -opposite direction. The hour was the one when the guests at the house -might be expected to be dressing for dinner, and it also tallied with -the arrival of a London train at the station; but neither alluded to -these incidentals of such an obviously chance meeting. - -"I trust that your headache is better," said Forsyth, politely. - -But the headache, he was assured, was rather worse than better. The -sufferer averred that she had slipped out an hour before, to go for a -quiet walk in the meadows in the hope of obtaining relief; but the -remedy had been of no avail, and all that remained was to go back to -bed. - -"Won't you walk back with me?" Mrs. Talmage Eglinton added, devouring -the young Scotsman's healthy, good-looking face with eyes of invitation. -"I don't seem ever to get you alone nowadays." - -"I am very sorry, but I have to go a little further," replied Forsyth, -and, raising his hat, he passed on. But it was a very little way further -that he had to go, for at the end of the first meadow he turned and -followed in the lady's wake back to the mansion, catching, as he did so, -a glimpse of Azimoolah moving stealthily in the bushes at the side of -the path. - -That night the post-bag which one of the Prior's Tarrant grooms conveyed -to the office in the village contained a letter addressed to "Clinton -Ziegler, Esqre.," at the Hotel Cecil, couched thus: - - "_The gentleman interviewed in the Bowery, New York, by Mr. - Jevons on your behalf has reconsidered the matter, and is now - prepared to carry out his commitment. He is so shaken by recent - occurrences that he does not feel up to coming himself till he - has received assurances, but his secretary will call at the - hotel on Monday for instructions, which please hand to the - secretary in writing and carefully sealed._" - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--_A Delicate Mission_ - - -It was on Sunday evening that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, after a pious -pilgrimage to the village church in company with her assiduous friend -Sybil Hanbury, sought the Duke and asked if she might have a carriage to -take her to the station for the up-train on the following morning. She -would return in the evening, she said, but imperative business with her -milliner and tailor demanded her presence in London for a few hours. - -Beaumanoir, in courteously promising that her request should be attended -to, regarded her with a wan smile. "You will have a companion--that is, -if you do not mind Mr. Forsyth sharing the station brougham with you," -he added. "Alec has to go to London to-morrow on my business--leases at -the solicitors', isn't it?" - -He turned for confirmation to Forsyth, who, with General Sadgrove, had -been strolling with him on the terrace. - -"Yes, leases at the solicitors'," replied the private secretary, -flushing slightly. The General looked indifferent. - -"Really?" said the lady. "There must be a lot of that sort of thing to -see to just now, I suppose. Of course, I shall be delighted to have Mr. -Forsyth's escort, provided he drops me at Bond Street. I cannot have a -critical male person following me across my tailor's sacred threshold." - -She shook a gay finger at the party and disappeared into one of the -French windows--a vision of dainty _chiffons_ and rustling silks. - -"She's gone to put her prayer-book away," laughed Forsyth, in the -nervous manner of one wishing to cover an awkward situation. - -"She needs one," muttered the General under his mustache, shooting a -furtive glance at his nephew. - -Beaumanoir said nothing, and the three paced on, hardly speaking, till -it was time to dress for dinner. Since the General's return from town on -the day of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's headache, not exactly a coolness, but -a constraint, had sprung up between them. A suspicion of cross-purposes -was in the air, which kept them silent when all together, but -communicative enough when any two of them were alone in solitary places. - -It was so now, for the General waited till the Duke had left them to go -up to his dressing-room before he remarked in a tone of grim humor: - -"I told you that you would have her for a traveling companion." - -"I don't anticipate much pleasure from the journey," Forsyth replied, -gloomily, and reddening under the searching gaze with which his uncle -raked him. - -But with the exception of the short drive to the station, during which -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was unusually preoccupied, he was spared the -uncongenial _tete-a-tete_ he had expected. When the train came in the -fair American said chaffingly that she knew he was dying to smoke--that, -anyhow, she was in a mood for meditation herself, and intended to -indulge it in the seclusion of a "ladies' compartment." Forsyth -responded with the barest protest demanded by courtesy, and went away to -a smoking-carriage, much relieved. - -He saw her again at St. Pancras; indeed, he contrived to be near enough -to overhear the direction to an address in Bond Street which she gave to -her cabman, but he noticed the not unexpected fact that here in London -she had no desire for his society. She had hurried into the vehicle -without looking round for him, and was driven away at a pace that -betokened special instructions to the driver. - -Forsyth took another cab and bade his man keep the first cab in sight. -Before long he perceived that the lady was in truth going to Bond -Street, and presently he had the satisfaction of seeing her discharge -her cab and skip lightly into the shop of a fashionable _modiste_ in -that thoroughfare. His complacence was a little marred by uncertainty -whether she had observed him or not, but from the quick turn of her head -as she crossed the pavement he was rather inclined to think that she -had. - -"It doesn't matter, really," he reflected. "She knows that we suspect -her complicity, or she wouldn't have tried to blind her trail to the -hotel by driving here first. Strange, though, that, suspecting that, she -should have taken so much trouble." - -He ordered his driver to take him to the Hotel Cecil, and at the same -time to keep a lookout to see whether they in turn were being followed -by the lady whom they had just run to ground. But when he was set down -at the main entrance of the great twelve-storied palace he received the -assurance that nothing of the sort had occurred. - -"Not so keen after you, sir, as you was after her," ejaculated the smart -cabman as he whipped up and wheeled round, dissatisfied, after the -manner of his kind, with the extra half-crown he had received for his -"shadowing job." - -Forsyth shuddered. "_Keen_, by George!" he murmured ruefully. "If only -my devotion to poor old Charley could have led me into paths untrodden -by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton my task would have been a lighter one." - -He went into the bureau and inquired if Mr. Clinton Ziegler was in, -receiving the stereotyped reply that Mr. Ziegler was _always_ in, being -an invalid. Whereupon he sent up his card, first penciling thereon the -words, "Private Secretary to the Duke of Beaumanoir." - -The bell-boy who took up the card reappeared almost immediately, flying -down the grand staircase three steps at a time. - -"Please to come up at _once_, sir, the gentleman said," was the boy's -urgent appeal. - -Forsyth, with a feeling of having "burned his ships," obeyed with equal -alacrity, and was shown into the suite made memorable by the raid of his -Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur, otherwise General Sadgrove's -faithful orderly, Azimoolah Khan. He noticed in passing in that the door -of the next suite--that of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton--was slightly ajar, but -his attention was immediately claimed by the welcome he received in Mr. -Ziegler's apartments. Just inside the door he was met by a tall, -bold-eyed man whom, from Beaumanoir's description, he had no difficulty -in recognizing as the sham "Colonel Anstruther Walcot," but who -introduced himself as Leopold Benzon, Mr. Ziegler's private secretary. - -The idea of a professional criminal being served with such specious pomp -tickled Forsyth's sense of humor; but, restraining an impulse to laugh -in the fellow's face, he responded gravely to the salutation and stated -his business. He had come, he said, after mentioning his name, on behalf -of the Duke of Beaumanoir, to see Mr. Ziegler by appointment on a matter -of private business. - -"Mr. Ziegler is expecting you," Benzon replied, scrutinizing the -visitor's face narrowly. "Unfortunately he is not so well as usual this -morning, and is not yet dressed. I must ask you to wait a little till he -is ready to receive you." - -Forsyth bowed and took the chair offered him, not without an inward -chuckle at the discrepancy between the haste of the bell-boy's summons -to the suite and the delay in receiving him. To his mind the position -was clear. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton desired to keep up the polite fiction -of her innocence to the end, yet Ziegler was apparently not prepared to -go forward with the business without an opportunity of consulting her. -She had come up to town for the express purpose of advising, perhaps -supervising, her colleagues at an important crisis, and was doubtless on -her way to the hotel after the diversion he had created, so that it was -necessary to get him out of the entrance-hall before she passed up to -her suite. - -"I shouldn't wonder if she isn't the boss of the show, with Ziegler, who -is probably her husband, as figure-head," Forsyth told himself. - -Benzon, with a polite excuse, had retired into an inner room; but his -place had immediately been taken by a well-dressed but cadaverous -individual whom Forsyth recognized as the man in clerical attire whom he -had seen descending the stairs in John Street after the forcible entry -into his chambers, the miscreant who later on the same eventful night -had called at Beaumanoir House in the character of a disguised -police-officer. - -There was evidently no disposition to leave him alone in the ante-room, -and so give him a chance to open the outer door and witness Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's arrival in the next suite. So twenty minutes passed, and -Forsyth was speculating as to how communication would be carried on with -the female partner during the forthcoming interview, when Benzon -returned and announced that Mr. Ziegler was awaiting him. He could not -help observing how much better suited was this bowing and smirking -American swindler to the _role_ of a superior flunkey than to that of a -British cavalry officer. - -The next moment he found himself in the principal reception-room of the -suite, face to face with a frail old man of unpleasant appearance, who, -Forsyth noticed with quick intuition, was reclining on a couch that had -been drawn across a closed door. There was another--open--door leading -into the bedroom, but the closed one must be the same which from the -other side of it had confirmed the General's suspicions of the occupant -of the adjoining suite. Forsyth could picture to himself Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's shell-like ear glued to that door, its fair owner prepared to -tap gentle signals by the Morse code on the panels if things did not go -to her liking in the audience-chamber. - -His conjectures were brought down to the bed-rock of fact by the -croaking voice of the invalid on the couch. Mr. Ziegler's repulsive -aspect, his purple cheeks, and green-shaded eyes suggested some horrible -cutaneous affection, though Forsyth was not so ingenuous as to accept -the disfigurements as genuine. - -"I am sorry to have detained you, sir," Ziegler began, and then paused -abruptly. Forsyth wondered if he had been brought up with a round turn -by a tap on the door close to his ear. There seemed something tentative, -as though the speaker were trying his ground, in that first disjointed -utterance. - -"It does not matter," Forsyth replied, and then in his turn came to a -sudden stop. His diplomatic training at the Foreign Office had taught -him the advantage of allowing the other side to open the proceedings. He -who has the first word is seldom the one to have the last. - -But it appeared that Mr. Ziegler was also alive to the value of -reserving his fire. "I presume that the Duke of Beaumanoir instructed -you on the nature of the business you were to transact with me?" he -said, and there was a firmer ring in the curious metallic voice than -when he made his first brief apology. - -"On the contrary, he left me quite in the dark about it," Forsyth made -answer. "All I understood was that I was to fetch something which you -would hand me in person." - -Ziegler took a leisurely survey of the young Scotsman through his green -glasses. "Then you did not come here expecting to have to use your own -discretion in any way--to traffic with me, in fact?" he presently asked. - -"Certainly not," Forsyth replied. "I gathered that the part I was to -play was solely that of a trusted messenger who could be relied on to -say nothing about his errand afterwards." - -"Not even to General Sadgrove?" flashed back the answering question so -swiftly that for an instant Forsyth was taken aback. - -"I am not one to betray my employer's secrets--even to my uncle, General -Sadgrove," he said, recovering himself quickly. - -"Very good!" was the croaking comment. "I deemed it necessary to sound -you because we are aware of the foolish meddling--I might also say -muddling--of that mischievous old man. We know also that you have aided -and abetted him in an attempt to swim against a tide that is far too -strong for both of you." - -"I quite admit that," responded Forsyth, boldly. "My uncle has been -doing his best to protect the Duke's life, and as in duty bound I have -used my efforts to assist him--up to a certain point." - -"What do you mean--up to a certain point?" - -"I mean that as the Duke seems now to have taken matters actively into -his own hands by opening up communication with you, I am naturally -rather at the disposition of my employer than of anyone else." - -"Truly a faithful servant," said Ziegler, with a strong suspicion of a -sneer. "And now, Mr. Forsyth, I have a question to ask which you are at -liberty to answer or not as you please, but on which the future security -of his Grace will probably depend. I shall draw my own deductions from a -refusal to answer, and take it as an affirmative. Has the Duke disclosed -to either you or General Sadgrove, or, as far as you are aware, to -anyone else, the reason of his recent differences with us?" - -Forsyth rejoiced that he was able to reply in the negative. "No," he -said promptly and with evident truth; "he has always steadily refused to -enlighten my uncle and myself as to the cause of his being so -persecuted. We have been kept absolutely in the dark." - -He did not feel called upon to add, as he might have done, that a good -deal of that darkness had been penetrated by General Sadgrove's acumen, -and that the design on Senator Sherman's gold bonds was an open book to -them. - -Ziegler, however, was satisfied with the reply. Signing to the -pretentious Benzon, who throughout the interview had hovered close to -his master's couch, he conferred with him in a whisper, and then -addressed Forsyth again with a request that he would wait for a few -minutes in the ante-room, when a letter for the Duke would be handed to -him and he would be free to depart. - -"Good-day to you, sir," added the arch-plotter. "I regret that my -infirmities preclude me from offering you hospitality. These little -encounters become, I find, more fatiguing with advancing years." - -Bidding him a curt good-morning, Forsyth returned to the ante-room, -accompanied by the cadaverous individual, who had also been present at -the interview. Benzon remained behind, softly shutting the door on them, -and there was a distinct click of the key being turned in the lock. His -companion making no overture for conversation, Forsyth sat down and -affected to read a newspaper, though he was really straining his ears to -catch what passed in the inner room. Already perplexed by having seen no -signs of communication between Ziegler and the next suite, he was trying -to ascertain if a conference was now proceeding with the fair tenant -next door. No sound reached him, however, till after the lapse of some -twenty minutes Benzon came swiftly out of the inner room with a heavily -sealed letter in his hand. - -"This," said Ziegler's aide-de-camp, "is the packet which my chief -wishes you to deliver to the Duke of Beaumanoir. You are alive to the -importance of seeing that it reaches its destination without being lost -or tampered with?" - -"My dear sir, I should not, I imagine, have been entrusted with this -very uncongenial errand unless I had been thought capable of carrying it -out," replied Forsyth, in a tone of annoyance. - -"Take it, then," Benzon proceeded. "And you are, please, to inform his -Grace that Mr. Ziegler, though he would have preferred to see him in -person, is satisfied with the discretion of his emissary." - -"Thanks, but I don't think I need a testimonial from Mr. Ziegler to -recommend me to the Duke," replied Forsyth, coolly, as he buttoned the -letter into the breast-pocket of his frock coat and with a bow took his -departure. - -Out in the corridor he breathed more freely. "I don't think that I -overdid my exhibition of temper," he told himself. "A little touchiness -was to be expected under the circumstances." - -He had begun to descend the stairs into the entrance-hall, when he -saw--with something of a shock--coming up, and therefore about to meet -him, the lady whom he believed to be in the next suite to Ziegler's, -advising her partners through the communicating door. He had got it -firmly into his head that during the twenty minutes he had been kept -waiting that door had been opened, and the terms of the letter settled -between the two principals; and here was Mrs. Talmage Eglinton not in -her rooms at all, but apparently only just arrived. - -"Ah, Mr. Forsyth!" she cried, coquettishly. "You have been up to my -suite to look for me, with a view to standing me a luncheon somewhere. -Now don't deny that you were disappointed when you found that I had not -reached the hotel and that the suite was locked up." - -Could he have been mistaken? Forsyth asked himself. If so, the mistake -was not really his, but General Sadgrove's, and the entire bottom was -knocked out of the veteran's theory as to this woman's complicity. - -"But I have not been up to your rooms," was all he could reply on the -spur of the moment. "I had business with the gentleman who occupies the -adjoining suite." - -If it was not genuine, the look of disappointment that stole into her -face was a consummate piece of acting. "Oh, was that all," she said, -with a queer little laugh. "Well, that doesn't absolve you from asking -me to lunch now that you have the chance." - -"I shall be delighted," was the only answer he could make without -showing open hostility. - -"Wait in the hall, then," said Mrs. Talmage Eglinton. "I am only going -up to see if some jewelry I left locked up when I went down to Prior's -Tarrant is safe." - -She hurried up the remaining stairs, and Forsyth continued his way down -to the hall, a prey to conflicting emotions. Disgust at having to lunch -with a woman he abhorred was the least of them. What worried him most at -that moment was the doubt, restored by this meeting, whether Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton was not, after all, the victim of a chain of -coincidences. - -And then, suddenly, a flicker of light broke on the situation -through--of all places in the world--a tiny flaw in the lady's defensive -armor. She had spoken of her suite as locked up, but he remembered now -that the outer door of it had been slightly ajar when he went in to his -interview with Ziegler. He went up to the big uniformed porter on duty -at the swing doors, and asked him if he knew Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by -sight. - -"Oh yes, sir," the man replied. "You'll catch her if you run up to her -rooms sharp. She's just going out." - -"Going out?" exclaimed Forsyth, with well simulated surprise. "I thought -I caught a glimpse of her going upstairs a moment ago. She seemed to -have only just arrived." - -"Oh no, sir; she came in an hour ago, and was on her way out just now -when she found she'd forgotten something." - -Forsyth left the proximity of the porter quickly, and went and waited at -the foot of the staircase. The horizon had cleared again, and he smiled -at the very thin trick which had so nearly deceived him--would have -deceived him, in fact, if one of the gang, eagerly expecting her, had -not chanced to be at her door when he went up. After concluding her -business with her accomplices she had contrived the meeting on the -stairs to throw dust in his eyes, going, in her desire for realism, to -the length of explaining to the hall-porter why she had gone upstairs -again after coming down into the hall. Well, he would hold her to the -lunch invitation; let her think that she had hoodwinked him; and -endeavor to ascertain whether she was courting his society as a mere -bluff to lend color to her deception, or with some other object as yet -undefined. - -He had not long to wait for her. Tripping lightly down the stairs, she -joined him with a charming assumption that he would be interested to -hear that her jewels were "quite safe," and she supplemented the -information with the request that they should not lunch in the hotel. - -"I am known here, and people stare so," she said. "Take me somewhere -where we can be quiet. I have got something to say." - -"Very well," he replied. "Come over to Kettner's. There won't be much of -a crowd there at this time of day." And he strove hard to be polite as -he steered her across the Strand, though he could have wished himself -back at the Foreign Office, with no prospects and no Duke to serve, if -Sybil's brave young face had not been in his mind's eye. - -At the restaurant Mrs. Talmage Eglinton chose a table in a remote corner -of the dining-room and devoted herself to a careful study of the _menu_. -It was not till she had selected her dishes and quizzed the appearance -of the other customers that she developed her plan of attack. - -"You don't seem at all interested in the fact that I have something to -say to you," she began, leaning back and scanning him critically. Her -voluptuous style of beauty had never had any attraction for him; to-day -it positively repelled. - -"My worst enemies have never accused me of being curious," he answered -lightly. "Nay, I am not discourteous," he protested, seeing the angry -gleam in the fine eyes. "I only mean that I cannot work myself into a -fever about a communication the subject of which I am ignorant of." - -"Tell me," she said abruptly, "what reason you had for following me from -St. Pancras to Bond Street this morning?" - -Whatever her motive she was pushing him hard, and Forsyth's presence of -mind failed him. He flushed and began to stammer. - -[Illustration: _"I am very far from being indifferent to Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton."_] - -"It is useless to deny it," she cut him short. "I saw you in the cab -quite plainly as I entered the shop, and my cabby had previously told me -that I was being shadowed. Now, Mr. Forsyth, when a gentleman follows a -lady about the streets he either does it because he means her some harm, -or because--well, because he is not quite indifferent to her. Which was -it in your case?" - -This was a poser, and it had to be faced with instant decision. Rapidly -reflecting that unless he was then and there prepared to accuse his fair -_vis-a-vis_ with complicity with Ziegler there was only one course open -to him, he took it promptly. He little thought that within the next -forty-eight hours his fate--to live or to die--would depend on the -demeanor he then adopted. - -"I certainly did not follow you with a bad motive, and--there, a -straight question deserves a straight answer--I am very far from being -indifferent to you, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton," he said. - -After that the amenities flowed in the most friendly channel, though -Forsyth suffered agonies, and it required all his skill as an amateur -actor of repute to sustain the part of a diffident lover hovering on the -brink of a declaration. - -In the afternoon they returned to Prior's Tarrant together, outwardly on -the best of terms; but, needless to say, Forsyth was still "hovering." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--_Where is the Duke?_ - - -The next day was that set for the arrival of Senator Sherman, though it -would be quite late in the afternoon before he could reach Prior's -Tarrant from Liverpool. Mrs. Sherman had addressed a letter to him on -board the _Campania_, explaining matters and passing on a cordial -invitation from Beaumanoir that he would join the party on landing. - -Latterly there had been an entire absence of the excursions and alarums -which had marked the earlier days of the house-party. General Sadgrove -and Alec Forsyth had relaxed none of their vigilance, and Azimoolah -still ranged the glades of the park, but no more unauthorized artists -had put in an appearance, nor had any member of the party suffered from -headache, entailing the strange cure of a midnight journey. - -On this eventful morning it so happened that the ladies were all -assembled in the breakfast-room before any of the gentlemen were down. -Sybil, presiding at the tea and coffee equipage, was evincing deep -interest in Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's narrative of her purchases in London -the day before; Mrs. Sherman was wondering to Mrs. Sadgrove whether -"Leonidas" would come straight to Prior's Tarrant, or insist on -depositing the bonds in the Bank of England first; and Leonie was -looking dreamily through the open windows across the park--she was often -dreaming nowadays; so was the Duke. - -Presently General Sadgrove strode in and took his seat, making no -apology, because breakfast was a come-as-you-please meal, and no one was -expected to be punctual. But when he had said good-morning all round he -glanced uneasily at the vacant places of Beaumanoir and Forsyth. The two -young men were usually up and about before anyone. - -Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had broken off in the middle of describing a new -and ravishing hat to Sybil in order to smile a welcome to the grim old -warrior. She was now following the direction of his glance, and -commented on it in sprightly fashion. - -"The naughty Duke and the naughty Mr. Forsyth!" she purred. "I believe -you men keep most frightfully late hours in this house, General. What is -it that you do--play cards or gamble with dominoes?" - -"No, it's chess," jerked out the General, regarding her impassively. -"Mate to the King and the Black Queen to move. All that sort of thing, -don't you know." - -The American widow trilled out a silvery laugh, and the veteran attacked -his breakfast. But, looking singularly old this morning, he seemed to -have but little appetite, and ate slowly, frowning at the two empty -places; and when Alec Forsyth came in alone, and white as a sheet, he -was on his legs in a moment. - -"Where is the Duke?" the General flung at his nephew. - -"I don't know; he's not in his room, and I can't find him anywhere in -the nearer gardens," was the reply. "I should like to speak to you for a -moment," Forsyth added, with a significant glance at the ladies, who had -so far failed to grasp that there was anything serious in a Duke being -late for breakfast in his own house. - -It needed no second request to bring the General out into the hall. "Now -tell me shortly," said the old man as soon as they were alone together. - -What Forsyth had to tell did not amount to much. As was his custom, he -had gone to Beaumanoir's room as soon as he was dressed, and had found -it vacant. As, however, the bed had been slept in, he apprehended -nothing wrong, thinking merely that the Duke was smoking an early -cigarette on the terrace. Seeing no sign of him there, he extended his -search in the grounds, but again with no result. The next step was to -question the servants, none of whom had seen their master since the -previous day. - -The General stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't believe that woman -knows anything," he said at length. "I was watching her when you came -in. She seemed to be surprised, and even disconcerted, by your news." - -"Perhaps one of her colleagues has acted independently, or there may be -divided counsels in the camp," Forsyth suggested. "In that case----" - -"In _any_ case, what we have to do is to find Beaumanoir, dead or -alive," the General interrupted. "See here, Alec, you must get a grip on -yourself and go in and eat your breakfast calmly--just to prevent a -premature panic among the women. I'll go and hunt up Azimoolah. If there -has been any stir during the night he is sure to know of it." - -But as the General descended the terrace steps he was smitten with -inward misgivings on that point. Had his faithful henchman detected -anything unusual during the hours of darkness he would, long ere this, -have been up to the house to report; besides which, if he had come -across any lurking miscreants he would have seen to it that no harm -befell the Duke. And here was the Duke missing. The hypothesis was that -Azimoolah had either been eluded or had himself fallen a victim to foul -play. - -Influenced by this fear, the General quickened his pace, and as soon as -he reached the wooded portion of the park uttered at frequent intervals -his signal for the Pathan to appear. But glade after glade he traversed, -scaring the rabbits with his cobra-like hiss, yet the lithe form of -Azimoolah nowhere broke through the bushes. The General did not desist -till he had thoroughly drawn the coverts, abandoning after a while his -strange noises for a systematic scrutiny of the ground. He knew that had -Azimoolah been in the park as a live man he would have answered the -well-known call by now; whereas if he was lying cold and stark somewhere -in the thicket, by patient search alone could he be found. - -At the end of a fruitless hour the General went back to the house, -realizing that not only the Duke, but the Duke's most capable protector, -was missing. The blow was a severe one, for, apart from the ominous -mystery of this dual disappearance, a certain scheme that had come to -very near maturity was rendered null and void--a scheme that before -another day dawned was to have cut the claws of Ziegler and Co. for -ever. - -There was the bare chance that Beaumanoir might have turned up during -his absence, and General Sadgrove covered the ground at his best pace; -but he was destined to find no such pleasant surprise in store for him. -Forsyth met him, as he mounted the terrace steps, with the significant -inquiry whether he had discovered anything. - -"Nothing, and Azimoolah has gone too," was the reply. "Where are the -women?" - -"In the morning-room; they are not alarmed as yet, only a little -uneasy--especially Leonie." - -"She would be, but we needn't mind her," the General rejoined, -brusquely. "What do you make of Ziegler's understudy?" - -"I cannot make much of her," replied Forsyth. "I am inclined to agree -with you that she is as much in a fog as the rest of us." - -The General grunted, and proposed that they should at once go up and -rummage Beaumanoir's room for clues, a course which they instantly -adopted. Since the charcoal episode their host had resolutely refused to -occupy "the Duke's room," preferring to that grim state apartment a -smaller chamber in the corridor where most of the guests were -accommodated. Access was gained to it by two different doors, one -leading to it through a dressing-room, the other directly opening into -it. They chose the latter as being the nearest, and as they entered -distinctly heard the swish of a silk skirt in the dressing-room, -followed by the soft closing of the dressing-room door. - -Alert and bristling like an angry terrier, the General stepped quickly -back into the corridor--just in time to see another door gently shut a -little farther on. - -"You were right, laddie," he said, rejoining Forsyth. "She has been here -before us on the same errand. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton is as much -bewildered as we are by the turn of events, and she has been trying to -arrive at conclusions from an inspection of the Duke's room." - -They began their "rummage," which was made easier for them by the fact -that the housemaids had not yet paid their morning visit to the room. -The bed had certainly been slept in, and there were also indications -that the occupant had made a perfunctory sort of toilet afterwards. -There was fresh lather on a shaving-paper, and soapy water in the -wash-basin, to show that Beaumanoir had been able to attend to his -person. - -"Whatever has happened to him didn't happen here," said the General with -decision. "He left this room a free agent, at all events. The question -then arises, When and why did he leave it, and has he left the confines -of the park?" - -"He must have made a cold toilet," said Forsyth. "See, here is the hot -water which was brought up for him at eight o'clock this morning, and -also the water for his tub." - -He stepped outside into the corridor and pointed to a small and a large -can that had been placed close outside the door of the dressing-room. By -the General's advice the Duke had been in the habit of keeping both -doors locked at night, and the cans were never brought in by the servant -who called him. A valet had not yet been engaged. - -"And there by the wash-stand is the empty can he used overnight," said -the General. "Yes, there is the dirty water, in which he washed his -hands before going to bed, in the waste-pail. We fix him, then, to -having slept for some hours, and to having got up early and left the -house in the small hours before anyone was about." - -"It looks as if he were playing a lone hand at some game of his own," -said Forsyth, doubtfully. - -But the General would have no vague conjectures. Having settled within -approximate limits the time when Beaumanoir quitted his room, he desired -to learn how he had left the house. He himself had been sitting up from -two, at which hour he relieved Forsyth, till five o'clock, and he would -stake his reputation that no one had been moving during the period of -his vigilance. The Duke must have left the house between five and six, -at which latter hour the servants began to be moving. - -This view was strengthened by inquiry from the butler, who reported that -on going his rounds to open up the house he had discovered one of the -windows of the smoking-room unbolted, though he had himself seen to the -fastenings the night before. He had not thought anything of it, -supposing that one of the gentlemen had gone out for an early stroll. - -The General led Forsyth aside. "Whatever has happened to Beaumanoir, he -has courted his own fate by going outside unattended," he said. "It -almost looks as if he had been lured out by some trick of his enemies, -in which case Azimoolah has probably been done to death while -endeavoring to protect him. Come and help me search the park once more, -and then if we find nothing we must call in the police." - -Making a detour by the stable-yard, so as to avoid meeting and being -questioned by the ladies, they struck out for the leafy recesses of the -broad belt of woodland that fringed the park. Allotting one section to -Forsyth and taking the other himself, the General repeated the process -of the morning, peering into the bushes, turning over heaps of leaves -and probing the bracken with his stick, but all to no purpose. No -gruesome corpse, either of English nobleman or of dark-skinned Asiatic, -met their straining eyes. - -"We must give it up," said the General at last. "Now that we are down -here we had better go out through the wicket-gate into the village and -tell the constable to send for his superiors. We have reached the limit, -and poor Beaumanoir's secrets can belong to him no longer, I fear." - -Forsyth assented that it would be no longer advisable, even if it were -possible, to keep the Duke's affairs out of the hands of the police, and -the two made their way toward the private gate in the park wall through -which Beaumanoir had gone to church on his first memorable Sunday at -Prior's Tarrant. They were approaching the gate, not by the path, but -skirting the wall through the undergrowth, when a lissome body appeared -suddenly at the top of the wall, poised there for a moment, and then -dropped almost at their feet. It was Azimoolah Khan, dusty and out of -breath, but very far from being a dead man. - -"How is this, thou son of Sheitan?" exclaimed the General, affecting -sternness to hide his pleasure. "It was not your wont in the jungle days -to desert your post in times of danger. In your absence some evil thing -has befallen him whom we are pledged to guard." - -"Nay, Sahib, but hear me. It is not thy servant who has deserted his -post, but his post which has deserted him," protested the Pathan, with -dignified reproof. "The great Lord Duke ran away--oh so far and so -fast--and thy servant ran after in his tracks to see that no harm befell -him." - -"Well, where is the Duke now, man?" the General blurted out in great -excitement. "Surely you haven't come back to tell me that you have lost -him?" - -"The Duke is in the fire-carriage, Sahib; and thy servant having no -sufficient money or orders from the Sahib, was not able to follow -further than the station," Azimoolah replied. - -Pressed to be more explicit, this was the story he had to impart. He had -been patrolling the park, ever with a watchful eye for the house, when -between five and six he had seen the Duke come from one of the -ground-floor windows and make at great speed for the coppices. Keeping -himself concealed, Azimoolah had quickly perceived that it was the -Duke's intention to leave the park by the wicket gate, and, considering -it his duty not to lose sight of him, he had climbed the wall and -followed. Avoiding the village street, Beaumanoir had struck into a -series of lanes which presently brought him back into the main road -beyond the farthest habitation. Thenceforward, with Azimoolah shadowing -him, he had commenced a tramp which lasted between two and three hours, -and finally ended at a railway station in a fair-sized country town. - -"You ascertained the name of the town?" asked the General. - -Yes, after the train had steamed away Azimoolah had not omitted to -inquire the name of the town. It was Tring. He had also inquired at the -booking-office where the Duke had taken a ticket for, but the clerk had -refused the information with a rude remark about the color of his -skin--a remark which, east of Suez, might have brought him a taste of -cold steel. - -"And then, Sahib," concluded the narrator, "without bite or sup I -started to run back again, being sore afraid lest thy heart should be -troubled by these things." - -The General patted his orderly's lean shoulder. "You have done right, -old sheep-dog," he said. "And as the lamb has broken loose from the fold -you can go and get food and take a few hours' rest. Come, Alec! Let us -get back and see what Bradshaw has to tell us." - -Azimoolah having vanished over the boundary wall for his lodging in the -village, they returned to the house and repaired to the library. Forsyth -found a Northwestern time-table and turned up Tring. - -"Beaumanoir must have caught the 7.30 down," he said, running his finger -down the page. "It's a slow train, stopping at every station, and -doesn't go beyond Bletchley." - -The General was growing querulous. "Bletchley!" he snorted. "What the -deuce does he want at Bletchley? It's a little one-horse town in North -Bucks, isn't it?" - -"Hold on, it's more than that," said Forsyth, still with his finger on -the column. "It's a junction where fast trains stop, and--yes!--he could -change there into the North of England express, which calls there at -8.10." - -The two men looked at each other in silence and with something of -consternation. - -"Liverpool is in the north of England," said the General after a pause, -"and Sherman is due to arrive there to-day." - -"I cannot and will not believe that Beaumanoir has gone wrong after -all," Forsyth angrily replied to his uncle's significant remark. He -spoke with such heat that neither of them noticed that the library door -had been opened and that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton stood there, smiling at -them. - -"Who has gone wrong?" she purred sweetly. "For goodness' sake, don't -tell me that the Duke has run away with a housemaid!" - -She was looking at Forsyth with eyes that bored like gimlets, and he -thought of the letter from Ziegler, addressed to the Duke, entrusted to -him the day before. Was it something in that letter that made her stare -so steadfastly and yet with something of mockery in her gaze? Having -good reason to be aware of the contents of that letter, he thought it -likely. Only in that case calculations had been all at sea, and -Beaumanoir--alas, poor Beaumanoir! - -It was the General who answered the lady's banter, and that without any -visible discomfiture. "No, it isn't the Duke who has gone wrong," he -said calmly. "We were talking of someone not nearly so exalted. Our host -is all right--gone away for a few hours by an early train on business. -We have found out all about his movements, and I shall be obliged, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton, if you will kindly reassure the other ladies that -Beaumanoir's absence is satisfactorily accounted for." - -"How delighted Miss Sherman will be. I will go and tell them all, at -once," cried the American gaily. And she swept out of the room with an -exuberant triumph not lost on those who remained behind. - -"Wherever the Duke has gone, and with whatever motive, Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton is pleased," the General mused aloud. - -"She will find herself mistaken if she thinks he has gone to play her -game," said Alec Forsyth, staunch as ever to his friend. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII--_The Senator and the Securities_ - - -On the hurricane-deck of the _Campania_, as the leviathan liner thrust -her huge bulk towards the landing-stage through the lesser fry of the -teeming Mersey traffic, a big man, wearing a light-gray frock-coat and a -broad-brimmed soft white hat, stood talking to the purser. Senator -Leonidas Sherman was accounted the handsomest man at Washington, and in -his broad, well-chiseled, clean-shaven face was reflected that honesty -and shrewd alertness which had caused his selection for his present -trust. - -"I don't want the box out before the last moment, Mr. Seaton, and if you -can conveniently keep the bullion-room locked till you hand it over I -should be obliged," the Senator was saying. - -The brass-buttoned official gave a ready assent to the distinguished -passenger's request. - -"I'd rather you had your job than me, sir," he added, seriously. "The -equivalent of three million sterling in a little leather thing like -that, and to have to cart it up to London all by your lone self--why, -it's enough to make one shudder." - -"It doesn't me," the Senator replied simply, with an unconscious gesture -to his hip-pocket. "I have a bit of a reputation to live up to, you -know. If it's to be shooting, my early training has taught me to draw -first; and if it's to be confidence-men--well, it's some years since I -was born." - -The purser nodded and went about his duties while Sherman leaned over -the forward rail and watched the shore, looming larger now every moment. -The Senator was no back-woods "hayseed." A man of culture and much -travel, he possessed far more than a guide-book knowledge of every -European capital, and did not make the mistake of under-estimating -London as a hatching-ground for crime. Till his precious charge was -deposited in the Bank of England and he had fingered the receipt he was -prepared for emergencies. The gold shipment which his Government had -negotiated against the bonds he was bringing had been buzzed about in -Wall Street for two months and more--ample time for the maturing of -predatory schemes. - -Aided by the company's tug, the great steamer sidled up to the -landing-stage, and as soon as the gangways were opened the usual stream -of passengers' friends began to push their way on board. The -hurricane-deck towered high above the level of the quay, and Senator -Sherman, not expecting anyone to meet him, retained his post of vantage -at the rail, looking down with amused interest at the embracings and -hand-shakings. He had no need to hurry, for it was too late to catch a -train to London in time to reach the Bank before it closed for the day, -and he preferred to let the ship clear before he claimed the box of -bonds from the purser. - -Suddenly he heard his name spoken inquiringly at his elbow, and wheeling -smartly round he found himself looking into the harassed eyes of a -well-dressed man whom he had seen, a few minutes before, pass on board -from the landing-stage. He had specially noticed him from a limp which -impeded his progress across the crowded gangway. - -"Yes, my name is Sherman, but I haven't the pleasure of knowing yours," -said the Senator shortly. There was a diffident air about this -tired-looking individual--a something that might be shyness or might be -guile--that put him on his guard. Could it be that one of the -"confidence-men," about whom he had just spoken so lightly, was going to -practise on him ere even the securities were out of the purser's -custody? He wondered what tale would be unfolded for his entrapment. - -"I am the Duke of Beaumanoir," the stranger replied, after a nervous -glance round. "I don't suppose you ever heard of me. There wouldn't have -been time for a letter from your people to reach you from this side -before you sailed." - -"You know my wife and daughter?" the Senator asked, sharply. The "tale" -was developing on the grand scale, he told himself. - -"I have the privilege of knowing Mrs. and Miss Sherman," replied the -Duke, flushing under the keen scrutiny to which he was being subjected. -"I have also the honor of being their host. They are staying, together -with their friends the Sadgroves, at my place in Hertfordshire. I--I -came down to meet you in the hope of inducing you to join them there." - -"Very good of you. May I ask how you came to make their acquaintance?" -asked the Senator, in an arid tone. - -"I traveled in the same ship with them from New York, and General -Sadgrove, with whom they stayed on arrival, happened to be the uncle of -my friend and secretary, Alec Forsyth," Beaumanoir made answer. - -An amused twinkle flashed into the Senator's clear eyes. He was quite -certain now that the man was an impostor with designs on the three -millions. The only spice of truth in the fellow's story, he told -himself, probably was that he had sailed in the _St. Paul_, which would -have given him the opportunity of gathering from his wife or Leonie the -particulars he was now working on. The Senator had no doubt that if he -accompanied this rather poor specimen of a criminal decoy an attempt -would be made to relieve him of the bonds--possibly to murder him. It -was all a little too thin--especially the dangling of an exalted title -as a bait to catch an American. This part of the scheme really annoyed -him, as casting on a foible of his fellow-countrymen a reflection which -he felt to be not wholly undeserved. The Senator became dangerous. - -"Very well, your Grace; if my family is under your roof, it is the right -place for me," he said more affably. "I accept your invitation in the -spirit in which it is given. I have a matter of three million sterling -in securities to get from the bullion-room, and then I'm your man. -Kindly wait here." - -A grim smile played round the Senator's firm lips when, after going -through the needful formalities with the purser, he quitted the -steamer's stronghold, carrying the leather despatch-box. He would lead -the rascal on, making his mouth water, gently titillate his -expectations, and then, having got him fairly on the hooks, hand him -over to the police. Delighted with the prospect of thwarting a rogue, he -sought his state-room to collect his personal baggage and have it -conveyed ashore. The first thing that met his eye on entering the -state-room was a letter in his wife's handwriting that had just been -delivered. - -It bore date of the previous day, and informed him that the writer and -Leonie were staying as the guests of the Duke of Beaumanoir at his -country seat, Prior's Tarrant. Mrs. Sherman went on to explain the -circumstances, so far as she was aware of them, of the invitation, and -she wound up with the hope that the Senator would join them immediately -on landing. The Duke, who was the embodiment of affability, had -cordially expressed that wish, she wrote; without, however, mentioning -the Duke's intention of going to Liverpool to meet the _Campania_. - -Senator Sherman read the letter twice, assured himself of the -authenticity of the handwriting, examined the postmark, and--made a wry -face. It looked as if he had been too hasty in jumping to a conclusion -about the young man waiting for him on the hurricane-deck, and he began -to regret the curt demeanor he had assumed. He was not quite convinced, -however, owing to the absence of any allusion to the Duke meeting -him--in itself an extraordinary proceeding. Good republican as he was, -the Senator fully appreciated the cleavage of English class -distinctions, and he was aware that great nobles do not, as a rule, wait -at seaport towns to welcome perfect strangers. It was possible that the -depressed individual on deck might, after all, be a criminal who had -discovered Mrs. Sherman's visit to the Duke of Beaumanoir and was -turning his knowledge to evil account. Still, though caution was called -for, his wife's letter invested the man's story with a credibility which -it had wholly lacked, and when he rejoined him the Senator's manner was -altered accordingly. The Duke having telegraphed for the carriage to -meet them at Tarrant Road, they took a cab together to Lime Street -station, and were fortunate enough to find a train on the point of -starting. It was a corridor express, made up entirely of vestibule cars, -and the fact caused the Duke an annoyance which partially revived the -Senator's suspicions. - -"I don't like this," Beaumanoir said, glancing with what looked very -like dismay up and down the well-filled car as they took their seats. "I -should have preferred an ordinary first-class compartment that we could -have had reserved." - -"Ah! I suppose a duke is bound to be a bit exclusive," said the Senator, -guardedly. - -Beaumanoir, who a month before had regarded a ride in a Bowery -street-car as an unattainable luxury, was betrayed into disclaiming any -such snobbery. - -"It isn't that----" he was beginning hotly, when he pulled up short and -feebly subsided, without explaining why he should have desired a -_tete-a-tete_ journey. - -With the starting of the train a sustained and confidential conversation -became impracticable, nor did either of the fellow travelers seem -inclined for one; but as they sped southward the Senator found plenty of -food for reflection in his companion's behavior. To the experienced -American eye the outline of a pistol was plainly apparent in the -breast-pocket of the Duke, whose fingers never strayed far from that -receptacle--an attitude which was always more distinctly marked during -the infrequent stoppages. Except when it was distracted into a swift and -nervous glance round by a movement of one of the other passengers, the -Duke's gaze was always focused on the precious box which the Senator -carried on his lap. - -"Either he means to rob me himself, or he is scared lest someone else -will," was the Senator's conclusion. - -But the journey came to an end without either of these consummations -being arrived at or even attempted, and the sight of the coroneted -carriage and the ducal liveries at Tarrant Road station removed the -Senator's last lingering doubt as to the Duke's identity. And, twenty -minutes later, when, still hugging his despatch-box, he found his wife -and daughter waiting to welcome him under the portico at Prior's -Tarrant, he was ready to laugh at himself; and what the Senator was -ready to do he usually did promptly--as now. - -"Ah, Jem!" he cried, as General Sadgrove came forward to greet him. -"You'll never believe what an ass I've been making of myself. Something -in the British soil, I guess. It's only this minute that I've been able -to clear my silly brain of a lurking suspicion that his Grace's kindness -in coming to meet me covered a design on this little box. Took him for a -sort of bunco-steerer." - -The General passed over the remark as a careless jest without pursuing -it, but shook hands with his old friend warmly. The veteran was looking -careworn and aged, the Senator thought, and he wondered, too, at the -queer searching glance which the General cast upon their mutual host as -the latter limped from the brougham into the hall. The Duke was engaged -in making light of the thanks and reproaches showered upon him for going -to Liverpool, wherefrom the Senator guessed that that singular -proceeding had been unknown beforehand to the house-party. - -They all went into the tapestry-room, where Mrs. Talmage Eglinton, now -happily recovered from her headache of three days ago, was chatting to -Sybil Hanbury and Alec Forsyth. The necessary introductions were -effected by Beaumanoir, whose spirits had wonderfully revived with his -entry into the house--to such an extent, indeed, that Leonie put it down -to a few hours in the company of her breezy father, little thinking that -they had traveled two hundred miles together without exchanging half as -many words. Yet if there was nothing forced about the Duke's sudden -gaiety it certainly suggested unnatural excitement, and everyone present -was impressed by his changed demeanor. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was so -affected by it that in narrowly observing her host she failed to notice -that for some minutes after the introduction she herself was the object -of observation, not to say a pretty sharp scrutiny, on the part of -Senator Sherman. - -"Say, your Grace," exclaimed the Senator, recovering from his -abstraction and turning with some abruptness to the Duke, "I can't enjoy -your hospitality with a whole heart till I've got this treasure under -lock and key. Have you got any place where I can deposit the box with -tolerable confidence of finding it when I want to take it to the Bank of -England to-morrow? It's a just retribution, I guess, to have to make you -its custodian after suspecting you of wanting to lift it." - -Beaumanoir, it seemed, was quite equal to the occasion. - -"I can guarantee the impregnability of the fire-proof safe in my -muniment room," he replied with alacrity. "If you will come with me, we -will lock it up at once." - -Sturdily disregarding the badinage of his wife and Leonie for thinking -robbery possible at Prior's Tarrant, the Senator followed the Duke, and -was conducted by him along many corridors to a stone-floored chamber -lined with shelves full of dusty archives, and furnished only with a -carved oak table and a few worm-eaten chairs. But, what was more to the -purpose, a brand-new safe, resplendent in green and gold, the very -latest patent of the most eminent manufacturers, occupied an imposing -position at the far end. Producing a key, the Duke unlocked the safe, -with no result till a touch on a hidden spring caused the heavy steel -door to roll slowly outwards. The interior was nearly filled with -parchment-bound volumes exactly like those on the shelves, but there was -plenty of room for the box. - -The Senator promptly placed his precious charge in the vacant space, and -heaved a sigh of relief. - -"It ought to be all right there," he said. - -"It ought to be," Beaumanoir echoed, as he set the mechanism in motion. -And when the heavy door had slid noiselessly back into position, he -turned the key and pocketed it with an air of achievement. "Come, Mr. -Sherman," he said lightly, "let us go and rejoin the ladies. Now that we -have got that safely housed we shall both feel much--er--more -comfortable, shan't we?" - - - - -CHAPTER XIX--_In the Crypt_ - - -Late on the evening of Senator Sherman's arrival at Prior's Tarrant he -was alone with General Sadgrove in the smoking-room, the Duke of -Beaumanoir and Forsyth having avowedly gone up to bed. Under the -influence of the genial American, and with the Duke himself in a more -expansive mood, dinner and the subsequent reunion in the tapestry-room -had been prolonged later than recently, and the chiming clock on the -mantelpiece tinkled out the hour of midnight as the Senator put the -question: - -"Who the dickens is that Talmage Eglinton woman, Jem?" - -The General started, but affected a carelessness which he was far from -feeling in the trite reply that "Goodness only knew." He proceeded, -however, to temper the crudity of the remark with the information that -the lady in question was staying in London for the season, professed to -hail from Chicago, and was reputed wealthy. - -"She is hardly the type of American one expects to meet in such a house -as this--or wants to meet anywhere," said the Senator. "And," he added, -poising the match with which he was about to light another of his own -green Havanas, "she is the cause of prejudice in a usually unbiased -mind. She has the misfortune to be fashioned in the likeness of one Cora -Lestrade, a person of note in my country, whom I once saw in my capacity -of Visiting Prison Commissioner. That was three years ago, but of course -it can't be the same woman." - -"It would be a curious coincidence," was all the General would admit. -"She was taken up by Lord and Lady Roseville, impecunious folk who would -take up anyone for value received. What was this Cora Lestrade's -particular line of business?" - -The Senator reflected for a moment. - -"I don't think she specialized herself," he said. "Her forte was -organization, and I heard that at the time she was taken she bossed a -complete outfit, comprising forgers, confidence-men, train-robbers, and -high-grade criminals of all sorts, who operated over the entire -universe. They used to regard her as a queen. It was hinted at her trial -that they were all fascinated by the spell of her charms, though she -would never favor any of the crew in that way. Probably that was the -secret of her power over them." - -"You don't happen to know when her sentence expired?" the General asked, -after a pause. - -"It didn't expire; she broke jail--an easy matter for one as well served -as she was by a clever crowd with unlimited financial resources." - -The two old cronies relapsed into a thoughtful silence, neither of them -showing a disposition to retire for the night, though the intense -stillness prevailing in the great house implied that everyone else was -asleep. Yet it was not so, for Alec Forsyth was at that moment -uncommonly busy before the looking-glass in his bedroom. On the -toilet-table there lay open a theatrical "make-up" box, from which he -was putting the finishing touches to a very creditable transformation of -himself into a semblance of the Duke. His deft usage of the various -pigments revealed him as no tyro at the task, for which, indeed, his -proficiency as an amateur actor had inspired the idea. - -"That will do, I think," he said to himself after a final survey. "It is -a good thing that the scene is to be played without limelight effects; -but it is my voice that will give me away if anything does." - -He rose and crossed the room once or twice, copying Beaumanoir's slight -limp to the life. Then, having consulted his watch, he took from his -pocket-book a letter, addressed to the man he was about to personate, -and refreshed his memory. - -"I congratulate you on this return to your senses," the writer began. -"My agents inform me that the gentleman in whom we are interested is -expected to stay at Prior's Tarrant as your guest on arrival, being due -on Tuesday. On Tuesday night you will leave unfastened the door leading -into the crypt from the Dutch garden, so that I and my assistants may -obtain access secretly. You will come down into the crypt an hour after -midnight, when I will hand you the documents for substitution. Do not -fail to make your arrangements so that the exchange may be effected -without a hitch, and as rapidly as possible. As host you should have no -difficulty in inspiring the necessary confidence to put the business -through, and you will then be troubled no further by us.--C. Z." - -"Poor old Beau! He's played up as well as if we had told him all about -our plan," Forsyth muttered as he replaced the letter and took another -look at himself in the glass. "I trust they won't call me 'your Grace,' -and make me laugh." - -But it was in no laughing mood that he switched off the electric light, -listened at the door for fully a minute, and then softly opened it. His -room, as it had been in the London house, was next to that of the Duke, -and, satisfied that there was no one in the corridor, he slid out softly -and shut the door behind him. A few natural steps having brought him -opposite the Duke's room, he fell at once into Beaumanoir's limp, and so -continued his way to the head of a secondary staircase that led down to -the service rooms on the ground floor. - -At the foot of the stairs, never forgetting his limp, he traversed -several passages in which at long intervals only had a light been left -burning, and at length he came to a massive oak door. Opening this, he -found himself at the top of a flight of straight stone steps, running -down into the blackness of the great subterranean chamber, which had -been used as a crypt in the old monastic days. The shutting of the door -cut off the last ray of light, and there being no rails to the steps he -struck a wax match in order to make the descent in safety. But the -feeble flame had hardly flickered out when it was rendered useless by a -dazzling beam of white effulgence that suddenly sprang into being and -shone upon him from below. - -"Hang it all, I didn't allow for this!" he thought uneasily. "They have -brought one of those wretched portable electric lamps, and I doubt if -the disguise will stand. However, here goes." - -Nerving himself for the ordeal, he went slowly down the steps, and so -limped across the stone floor towards a spot in the very center of the -crypt where five figures were grouped under the groined roof. He had -only time to observe that one figure--that of an old man with snow-white -beard and puffed, purple cheeks--stood slightly in advance of the rest, -when on his near approach an order was given in a queer, parrot-like -squeak to switch out the lamp. The crypt was windowless, but it was -conceivable that a light in the interior might be seen from outside -under the door leading into the gardens. Hence, doubtless, the -precaution. - -"You have made all preparations above, Duke?" was queried in the same -piping voice. - -"The bonds are in my own safe, and I obtained the key of the Senator's -despatch-box by a trick--picked his pocket, in fact--after dinner," -Forsyth replied, in a perfect imitation of Beaumanoir's tone. He was -beginning to feel more confident in being able to sustain his part; he -would not, he thought, have lived to reach this parley if his disguise -had been penetrated. - -"Then," the unseen spokesman proceeded, "all you have to do is to take -this bundle of papers and place them in the box, extracting the -originals, and returning here at once with them. It will then give me -pleasure to absolve you from further service." - -Forsyth felt a large packet pressed into his grasp, and he instantly -turned with it to go towards the steps, expecting that the lamp would be -switched on to guide him. This proved to be the case, and he was glad -that those five scoundrels only had a back view of him as he limped -across the floor and laboriously climbed the steps. Nor when he had -passed through the door out of their sight was there any quickening of -his halting gait to show that he was exulting in that he had so far -successfully risked his life for his friend. And it was well that he -kept up his part, for as he crossed under the well of the staircase to -the servants' bedrooms he caught a glimpse of Rosa, Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's French maid, watching him over the banisters. - -Mounting to his own room he locked the bundle of papers he had received -away in one of his trunks, from which he first took a packet of similar -dimensions, formidably sealed. Without wasting a moment he placed this -packet under his arm, and, falling once more into Beaumanoir's limp, -retraced his steps to the crypt, where, as soon as he had passed through -the door, a beam from the portable lamp shed a glare on his descent to -the level of the floor. The five figures, with the white-bearded old man -in advance, awaited him as before. - -As Forsyth approached he hoped every moment to hear those parrot-like -tones order the light to be cut off, but this time no such welcome sound -fell upon his ears. He had to advance quite close with the full radiance -of the lamp shining on him. The light, he soon perceived, had been -retained for the purpose of examining the packet, which Ziegler snatched -from him with impatient vehemence; and suddenly Forsyth was confronted -with a situation not wholly unforeseen, but which he had hoped to avoid -in the haste of the gang to make off with their plunder. Not content -with a scrutiny of the carefully taped and sealed dummy package, Ziegler -was about to undo the fastenings and look at the contents, which -consisted of nothing more valuable than tissue paper. - -It seemed an age while the lithe white fingers broke the seals and -disarranged the tape, and Forsyth steadied himself for the inevitable -discovery. He was not prepared to lose his life at the hands of this -murderous crew without a fight for it, five to one though they were; and -it occurred to him that at the first sign of violence his best plan -would be to smash the electric lamp with a well-directed kick, and then -try and elude them in the dark. Ziegler's face was in shadow, the -miscreant holding the lamp being behind him; but Forsyth saw at last, by -the swift upward jerk of the arch-robber's head, that the worthlessness -of the bundle was known to him. It was probable, too, from the prolonged -silent stare with which he gazed and gazed at the Duke's counterfeit, -that the latter's identity was no longer a secret. - -With quite a natural movement Forsyth edged a little nearer to the man -with the lamp, and the movement seemed to break the spell which held -Ziegler speechless. The chief turned abruptly to his followers. - -"I must have a word with this gentleman--with the Duke--alone," he -squeaked. "Go out into the garden and await close outside--within call. -Here, I will keep the lamp." Forsyth noticed that the well-shaped hand -with which he grasped the contrivance was shaking violently--so -violently, that the ray with which he guided his four subordinates -through the groined arches to the door wavered like a will-o'-the-wisp. -He waited till the last one had filed out before he turned again to the -man who had baffled him. - -"Well, Mr. Forsyth?" he piped, and the high-pitched note quivered and -trembled as the lamp-ray had done. - -"Well, sir?" Forsyth repeated, in blank amazement at the sparing of his -life, for unless some hidden treachery beyond his fathoming was afoot, -he could not doubt that it was spared. He was more than a physical match -for the aged evil-doer in front of him, and before the others could be -recalled he could make good his retreat into the house by the way he had -come. The quiet acceptance of defeat by the bloodthirsty old schemer was -a puzzle beyond solution, if it was not a veil for some further -villainy. - -"You have beaten me, Mr. Forsyth--you and General Sadgrove," Ziegler -went on. "I don't suppose it's of any use my offering you a bribe to -bring me back the package you have obtained so smartly? I would make it -a very large one." - -"Not the slightest use," Forsyth answered, almost laughing, yet more -than ever puzzled by the _naivete_ of the question. "I have been at -considerable pains to deprive you of your bogus bonds, and it is hardly -likely, Mr. Ziegler, that I am going to restore your power over the Duke -of Beaumanoir. He is a brave man, and doesn't fear death. You can't hurt -him that way; but with these forgeries in your possession you might make -some sort of a story good against him. Without them, anything you could -say would be an idle tale." - -"That is not the point, believe me, Mr. Forsyth," the shrill voice -quavered almost pleadingly. "The contents of that package took three of -my most skilled colleagues months to prepare. They are proud of their -work--love those forged bonds as if they were their children. To their -pride in their work I should owe my life, if you would give them back to -me." - -Forsyth could hardly believe his ears. Could this tremulous dotard be -the redoubtable master of crime whom he and his uncle had been fighting -throughout the last crowded week? "I really don't see how your not -particularly valuable life can depend on your possession of a lot of -bogus bonds," he said, with genuine curiosity. The appeal to his pity -filled him with vague uneasiness, the alleged reason for it being so -utterly absurd. Yet Ziegler was ready with an explanation, more or less -plausible. - -"My associates will kill me for being duped out of their handiwork," he -answered, glancing fearfully to the garden entrance. "They would perhaps -pardon the miscarriage of the main scheme, but to have parted with -material which might yet have been turned to account will seal my -doom--that, and having allowed you to survive your triumph over us." - -Forsyth saw now--or thought he saw--why the murderous crew had been -ordered off in ignorance of the miscarriage. It was to enable Ziegler to -make this desperate appeal for the restitution of the bogus bonds, so -that he might "save his face" with his comrades. It would be ample -excuse in their eyes--flatter their vanity, as their tottering chief had -hinted--if he had himself been deceived by the fabricated securities. -But they had seen him examine the parcel; they would know that he had -made the discovery on the spot, and yet had not decreed instant death to -their successful opponent. One flaw in this chain of reasoning Forsyth, -himself no casuist, overlooked. It did not occur to him that the old -practitioner with the white beard and the squeaky voice could have put -himself right with his companions if he had hounded them on to him the -moment he knew he was fingering tissue-paper and not United States -Treasury bonds, good, bad, or indifferent. - -"Well, Mr. Clinton Ziegler," said Forsyth, eager now to have done with -the matter in the only possible way, "your appeal is dismissed with -costs--on the higher scale. What does it matter to me what happens to -you? If you had had your way you would have earned a legal hanging four -times in the last week. If your friends save the common hangman the -trouble, so much the better for all concerned, especially as they would -thereby get themselves hanged also." - -"Nothing will move you?" - -"Absolutely nothing; and now I'll trouble you to clear off the premises -if you and your gentlemen outside don't want to be treated as ordinary -burglars." - -"What if I call them back and have you strangled?" - -With the way of escape open behind him Forsyth laughed at the futile -threat, and to the group outside in the Dutch garden it must have -sounded like a friendly laugh of mutual satisfaction and farewell, for -he gently pushed the old man before him to the garden door and shut it -on him. Then, having carefully shot the heavy bolts, he groped his way -back to the stone steps leading up into the house, triumphant, yet not -wholly convinced. The ignominious collapse of Mr. Clinton Ziegler was -almost too good to be true, and he was painfully conscious that such an -astute antagonist was not likely to have thrown all his cards on to the -table. - -The fact, however, remained that the schemers had been deprived of their -spurious bonds, without which their carefully planned design to obtain -possession of the genuine ones fell to the ground. - -"And their blood-feud against the poor chap will surely cease, now that -there is no crime, past or contemplated, for which he can denounce -them," Forsyth comforted himself as he stepped from the door at the head -of the stone stairs and hastened along the dimly lit corridor, limping -no longer. His destination was the smoking-room, where he guessed that -the General would be eagerly awaiting news. - - - - -CHAPTER XX--_In the Muniment Room_ - - -While Alec Forsyth was engaged in showing Ziegler out of the crypt, the -Duke of Beaumanoir, in happy ignorance of the perilous effort his friend -was making for him, sat in the dark muniment room, still as a cat, with -his eyes on the door. He had drawn one of the oak chairs close to the -safe in which Senator Sherman's genuine bonds reposed. He had -established himself on guard, in case, trickery having failed, violent -methods should be adopted at the last moment to obtain the huge plunder. - -He thought it improbable that, with General Sadgrove in the house and -Azimoolah somewhere loose around it, any of the gang would break in -unseen, still less that they would reach the muniment room. He sincerely -hoped that the vigilance of those trained watch-dogs would prevail, for, -though he was prepared to atone for his folly by defending the safe at -the cost of his life, if need be, he did not see how that could be done -without opening up the scandal he had gone through so much to avoid. He -had bought the safe, had met the Senator at Liverpool, and now, unknown -to anyone, was keeping his lonely vigil in the firm determination that, -at all hazards, the bonds should reach the Bank of England in safety; -but there was a dread in his heart lest the tell-tale emergency he was -providing against should arise. - -For here it becomes necessary to say that the letter sent to Ziegler in -London five days before, and purporting to convey the Duke's submission -and request for instructions, which were called for by Alec Forsyth, was -not written by the Duke at all, or even with his cognizance. It had been -the joint production of General Sadgrove and Forsyth, with an eye to -immediate immunity for the Duke from further murderous attacks, and to -the enactment of some such dangerous comedy as had just been played in -the crypt. Though when that deceptive missive was penned, its authors -expected, in varying degrees, as will presently be seen, tragedy rather -than comedy. And he who by right of youth and friendship necessarily -took the greater risk was the one who, not being fully informed by his -uncle, had most cause for apprehension from the masquerade. - -But Beaumanoir, sitting in the dark with his Smith and Wesson at full -cock amid the archives of the house he was concerned to preserve -stainless, was aware of none of these tortuous dealings. Had his zeal -allowed him to indulge in the luxury of a light, he might have whiled -away the time by perusing some of the musty chronicles around him, and -have so drawn comfort from the knowledge that if his misdeed was -published with the usual trimmings in every paper in the kingdom, he -would still compare favorably with some of his race who had gone before. -So far he had never stolen poor men's land under the protection of the -Commons Enclosure Act, or appropriated tenants' improvements to his own -enrichment. - -True, it was a dirty trick he had put his hand to--a dirty trick in -dirty company--and he hated himself for it to the full. But he had been -a denizen of another world when Ziegler's emissary had annexed him, body -and soul, as plain Charles Hanbury, in the Bowery saloon. He remembered -that world now with a horror and a loathing greater, if possible, than -when he had endured it--the sordid life in the five-dollar -boarding-house, the lunch of tough sandwiches of Texas beef which had -bulged his pockets on the way to his duties in the big dry goods store, -the insolence of his Irish-American and German fellow-workers because of -his English speech. And the haughty salesladies who had drawn their -skirts from him as they squeezed past the tame detective at the -time-keeper's box--sitting there in the dark muniment room, even his -present trouble could not check a smile at thinking what those damsels -would have done if told that he had been about to become a duke within -the month. - -Yes, it had been a dirty trick that he had undertaken to escape all -this, but somehow the thing had not seemed so bad when he was -unacquainted with the persons interested. Just as old-time smugglers -persuaded themselves that there was no dishonesty in defrauding the -state, so in the same light he had regarded the spoliation of a big -corporation like the Bank of England or the United States Treasury, -whichever would have been the ultimate loser when the lawyers had -settled the matter. He would never have gone into the business, even in -his despairing exile, if he had not looked upon it as a breach of -honesty which no single individual would be an appreciable loser. He -made no excuses for himself on this score, but merely analyzed his state -of mind philosophically, by no means salving his conscience because he -had dropped the affair the moment individualities had become involved, -or laying claim to any merit for a repentance sustained at such imminent -peril. - -"Whatever is the upshot of it all I can never be too thankful that I -came over in the same ship with the Shermans," he muttered, "and for -being brought up with a round turn by the knowledge that the one to bear -the brunt of my iniquity would have been Leonie's father. Why, the -excellent Senator might have been suspected of having stolen the bonds -himself. Funny that that view didn't occur to me till I knew the -people." - -The same gratitude had filled his simple soul twenty times during the -last week, even when his enemies had pressed him most sorely; but it -recurred with redoubled force now that he was within sight of the end. -By noon on the morrow the Senator would have safely housed the -securities at the Bank, and then his own responsibility would cease. -Ziegler could kill him then, and welcome, if he still thought it worth -while, though the chief of the organization was not, he imagined, the -sort of person to waste time and energy on a purely sentimental revenge. -If Ziegler carried on the feud after the bonds were safe from him it -would be, as before, to secure silence about the attempt, and he could -fling no stigma on the family name without divulging details that would -incriminate his gang. And the family name was all that mattered. - -Beaumanoir had just rounded off his forecast in this satisfactory manner -when he was suddenly startled back into the present by a faint sound far -down the corridor on which the muniment room abutted. He knew perfectly -well what the sound was--the "scroop" of the spring-driven swivel-roller -that automatically closed a baize door shutting off the servants' -premises. He had half risen from his chair when another sound--the -tinkle of a pebble cast against the window from outside--distracted his -attention; but disregarding it in favor of the more pressing emergency, -he made haste towards the door of the room. - -The room was at the extreme end of the corridor, looking along it -lengthwise, and it was not therefore necessary for the Duke to disclose -himself at the door, which he had purposely left partially open, in -order to reconnoiter. Standing in the darkness a few feet from the door, -he was able to see who was coming, and the sight sent a thrill of -despair to his heart. All his pleasant anticipations of oblivion for his -transgression were rudely shattered, for the old man who, white-bearded -and with cat-like tread, came along the passage was Ziegler himself. -Another figure was dimly discerned close behind, but of that the Duke -took no heed. His eyes were riveted on the one in front--on the evil man -who had the power to change his destiny. There was something curiously -fantastic, something unreal, in the aged miscreant gliding towards him, -framed in the gaping darkness of the doorway. - -The opening into a branch passage, leading to another part of the -mansion, lay between Ziegler and the muniment room, and there was a bare -chance that he might turn in that direction. In reality he had to -advance but a few steps before the point could be settled, but it seemed -a whole aeon to the Duke, and, to add to the tension of his nerves, -another pebble struck the window. All hope of being able to preserve his -secret had fled now, and Beaumanoir strove to concentrate his reeling -brain on how best to summon assistance and ward off an attack on the -safe. If only he knew who that was throwing up stones from -outside--whether friend or foe--he could decide whether to run to the -window and open it or leave it alone. He dared not act in ignorance, -possibly to admit a third adversary. The window was ten feet from the -ground, but the wall was covered with gnarled ivy stems up which an -active man could readily climb. - -While he was hesitating the matter was arranged for him. There was no -time to reach the window, for Ziegler passed the branch corridor without -as much as looking at it, and was coming straight on to the muniment -room. Beaumanoir raised his revolver, but lowered it again, incapable of -shooting a fellow-creature in cold blood, and also fascinated by a -horrible curiosity to learn the intruder's intention. He could not as -yet be absolutely certain that Ziegler knew that the bonds were in the -safe. He would wait till it was attacked before he made a counter-move. - -In this mind he slipped behind a huge oak press laden with expired -leases, and had hardly ensconced himself when Ziegler entered the room, -followed, to Beaumanoir's surprise, by a woman, whom he did not -recognize, in the faint light diffused from the corridor, as Rosa, Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton's French maid. The shadowy figures--that of the frail -old man and of the trim soubrette--stood motionless and silent just -within the doorway, evidently mastering the landmarks of the room. Then, -at a whisper from Ziegler, the maid glided with a nod of comprehension -to the nearest window, and was busy with the hasp when the rattle of -still another pebble on the glass accelerated her movements. She swung -the casement outwards, and in a muffled voice called down: - -"'Tis ze right room. You are to come oop." - -A rustling noise, as of foliage shaken, rising from below warned the -Duke that if he waited longer he might be beset by a horde of -assailants. It spurred him to instant action. Set in the wall close to -his place of concealment was the switch of the electric light, and -stretching out his left hand he turned it on, at the same time stepping -forward and covering Ziegler with his pistol. The old man blinked at him -in the sudden glow, and then, quietly turning, shut the door. His object -must have been to prevent his voice penetrating into the house, for he -croaked out to the Frenchwoman by the window the petulant order: - -"Tell Benzon to hurry." - -The maid, relaxing the venomous glare with which she was regarding -Beaumanoir, put out her head and obeyed. A renewal of the rustling and -the sound of heavy breathing told her that her request had been heard, -and drew a harsh laugh from Ziegler. Fixing the Duke with a cruel gaze, -he remarked calmly, in his thin falsetto: - -"The champion safe-cracksman of America will be here in a moment. Your -Grace will have the opportunity of seeing a very pretty piece of work if -you care to remain till I have exchanged this package for the one -inside. You are not going to be fool enough to use that pistol and give -yourself away at this stage, and if you were, my friend Benzon would be -equal to the occasion." And holding up the parcel of tissue paper which -he had received from Forsyth in the crypt, he shook it mockingly at the -Duke. - -But in so doing he reckoned literally without his host. With a spring -that wrenched his lame foot painfully Beaumanoir leaped upon him, and, -crushing the white beard to a throat that somehow seemed less scraggy -than might have been expected, dragged him to the door and contrived to -get it open with his left hand. So struggling, the pair stumbled into -the corridor, and Beaumanoir was about to shout lustily for help, when -his voice dwindled into a panting: - -"Thank God you've come! I've got this one, but there is a woman in -there, and--and others are coming in through the window." - -For in the corridor, hurrying towards him, were General Sadgrove, -Senator Sherman, and Alec Forsyth, each with revolvers in their hands, -while Sybil Hanbury brought up the rear, looking as if she resented that -position. In the presence of this formidable phalanx Beaumanoir felt his -captive wilt in his grasp, and indeed he himself was swept back by it, -still holding on, into the muniment room, where the woman Rosa was in -the act of retreating from the window. The General took command quite -naturally, bidding Forsyth guard the door, while he himself advanced to -the window, very stern and upright, and muttering as he went: - -"What can Azimoolah have been about? He must be past his work." - -But the words were hardly spoken when the subject of his censure leaped -in through the window, drawing his breath quickly, but not otherwise -inconvenienced by a limp bundle of humanity which he carried over his -shoulder, and now proceeded to dump like a sack on the floor. After -securing the window, the Pathan turned and gravely saluted the General. - -"There were three others, sahib, but they are gone," he said simply. "At -sight of thy servant fear seemed to fall upon them, so that they fled -across the _maidan_ like deer flushed by a cheetah. But this one was -already climbed nigh to the window, so I followed, and choking him a -little, brought him in." And with his foot he slightly spurned the -motionless form of his prisoner, whom the Duke and Forsyth recognized as -the hero of the watch-spring saw who had been surprised cutting out the -panel at Beaumanoir House a week before. - -"Choked him a little!" said the General with a grim chuckle. "You don't -seem to have left much life in him, but it was no case for standing on -ceremony. And now, madam," continued the veteran, facing round to where -Beaumanoir stood with his grip on Ziegler's collar, "your disguise need -hamper you no longer--that is, if you prefer to finish this business in -your own person. Get the pull of your sex, you know." - -"Yes, I guess that wig doesn't do justice to Cora Lestrade," interjected -Senator Sherman, and with a dexterous twirl of his wrist he jerked off -the elaborate head-gear which had effectually transformed the dashing -lady known as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton into a repulsive old man. But it was -only when feminine instinct had prompted her with a swift application of -her handkerchief to remove the purple stain that had added the semblance -of disease to old age that the Duke recognized his guest. - -"I do not understand," he murmured, feebly. - -And it seemed that Alec Forsyth, in spite of the part entrusted to him -in the comedy of the crypt, had been ignorant of the identity of his -antagonist, for a cry of astonishment escaped him. On the other hand, -the demure smile that played round Sybil Hanbury's pretty mouth -betokened a closer intimacy with the foregoings of this wonderful -development. Forsyth's sharp exclamation had the effect of rousing -Azimoolah's captive from his swoon. The man raised himself on his elbow, -and, grasping the situation, remained quietly watchful. - -"And now, your Grace, before another word is said, let me shake you by -the hand right here, and thank you for all the patient courage you have -shown and all the danger you have incurred to baffle as waspish a gang -as ever hailed from my side of the ditch," said the Senator, suiting the -action to the word, greatly to the embarrassment of the Duke, and -provoking a scornful laugh from the fantastic figure in male attire. - -"Why, he was one of us," she sneered. "It was only when he found he had -something to lose that he backed out." - -The Senator looked her up and down with a fine contempt. - -"So much for a great reputation," he said. "My good Lestrade, the -warders who told me you were the cleverest woman in Sing-Sing must have -made a grievous error, for a really clever criminal would never have -been cornered by a brave man pretending to join the confederacy. The -Duke has not tripped once all through the affair, except that he has -been a little too reckless in exposing his valuable life to peril. The -result of his heroic conduct is that you are outwitted all along the -line, and that the three millions are secure in that safe." - -This misdescription of the case, so adroitly near the mark and yet -differing from the truth in the all-important word "_pretending_," made -the Duke catch his breath. Somehow the matter which he had believed -himself to be working single-handed seemed to have been taken out of his -shaky grasp, and, shamed by the unmerited praise, he waited for the -rejoinder of the adventuress. It came crisp and sharp. - -"Then what you have to do is to call in the police and hand us over to -justice," she said defiantly. "The authorities will be puzzled to find a -reason for all you worthy amateurs bottling up your knowledge of a crime -that would have shaken two continents. I think I shall be able to -instruct my counsel so that by the time he has done with him his Grace -won't be much of a hero." - -The Senator smiled superior. - -"Ah!" he retorted, pleasantly; "you might have tried that if you had had -the chance. But then, you see, you won't have it. I'm only a visitor -here--like yourself, his Grace's guest--but I believe the intention is -that you and your friend, who really need not scowl so, are not to face -a judge this time. General Sadgrove has charge of what we may call the -liberation department, and he will enlighten you." - -The man Benzon, lying propped on his elbow, with Azimoolah standing over -him statuesquely menacing, shot a sly glance of triumph at his -confederate, but it met with only a sickly smile for a response. -Lestrade's eyes turned with shrinking expectancy to the General, her -insolent demeanor having vanished, strangely enough, at the hint that -she would not be detained. - -"Yes, there will be no prosecution," the General said, sternly. "The -Duke took the onus of defeating your aims upon him before he was called -to his present high station, and his friends are unanimous that he ought -not to pursue the matter now. You, Madame Lestrade, will be allowed to -depart early to-morrow morning in the name you have chosen to assume; -and you, sir, can go at once by the way you came--through the window." - -The man Benzon rose to his feet with alacrity, trying vainly to catch -the eye of his accomplice, and shooting furtive glances at the package -which she still carried. There was evidently something that he did not -understand, and wanted to before he availed himself of the unexpected -permission. There came a curious gleam into the General's eyes as he -noticed this perplexity, and when he took up his parable again there was -a ring in his voice that chained his hearers' attention. Sybil, too, -leaned forward, watching the two bond-robbers alternately, as though -expecting a surprise for them. - -"Before you go I will explain what is puzzling you," the General went -on, addressing himself to Benzon, and pointing to the dummy package in -Cora Lestrade's hand. "You are under the impression that those are the -bonds, and you are half inclined to think that we are letting you go in -ignorance of what you believe to be the case--that the genuine bonds -were handed to that lady in the crypt by the Duke. Know, then, that the -Duke wasn't in the crypt at all, nor were any bonds handed over. His -Grace's place was taken by Mr. Forsyth there, who succeeded in getting -from her the spurious bonds and handed her in return a lot of blank -paper. See--examine it for yourself." - -And quickly possessing himself of the parcel, he held it for inspection. -A spasm crossed Benzon's sinister face, and there escaped him the -involuntary cry: - -"But you looked at the things, Cora, and pronounced them correct. You -said we were only coming here for the heirlooms in the safe; yet you -must have known." - -"Quite so," the General proceeded, disregarding a smothered remark from -the female culprit. "She knew that she had been hoodwinked, because she -recognized my nephew under his disguise, and so at once examined the -parcel. Thereupon she deceived you and her other associates for a -private reason that had nothing to do with the interests of your -precious combination. Like to hear what that reason was?" - -Benzon flung a reproachful, half-imploring look at his strangely garbed -chief, as though seeking for a denial from her, but failing to catch her -downcast eye, he gave a sullen assent to the question. - -"Very well," the General went on, inexorably. "She withheld her -confidence from her colleagues because she desired to save the life of -Mr. Forsyth from the murderous vengeance of you gentlemen who are so -handy with charcoal braziers and railway accidents. So she made a last -desperate effort to obtain the bonds by persuading you to break into the -safe under a false pretext--used you as tools, do you understand?--to -repair her own breach of faith to you without having to confess it. Her -idea was doomed to failure, anyway, for, apart from his Grace's -vigilance, she was effectually watched by Miss Hanbury from the moment -of her readmission into the house by that Frenchwoman. When 'Mrs. -Talmage Eglinton',"--with a fine scorn on the name--"crept out dressed -like that, we wanted to see whether she would go straight to her room -when she came back, don't you know." - -He paused, but not with an air of finality. No one had ever suspected -Jem Sadgrove in the old days of an eye for dramatic effect. He must have -been coached by somebody into leading up to the question now to be put -with fierce insistence by the saturnine Benzon, and, to judge by the -eager interest in Sybil's dilated eyes, that young lady had been the -coach. - -"Why should Cora Lestrade want to spare Mr. Forsyth?" asked the man, -taking a step forward, to be instantly reminded of his position by the -lean brown hand of Azimoolah falling like a vise on his shoulder. The -Pathan evidently cherished a lingering hope that there might yet arise a -pretext for treating "the black tribe" in the old way. - -"Because, sir, a woman can't help herself in matters of the heart, and -even the worst of 'em is capable of an unselfish attachment," the -General replied, with slow emphasis. But he hastened to add, as if eager -to disavow responsibility for the introduction of sentiment: "At least, -so I was advised. The little scheme for obtaining the sham securities -was based on the supposition that this woman had a liking for Mr. -Forsyth, and would do him no hurt if she recognized him. That forecast -has turned out to be well founded." - -"Uncle Jem!" Forsyth protested, flushing hotly. - -"Yes, laddie, I know you would not have taken the job on if I had -informed you who Ziegler was," said the General. "There would have been -less to fear, but there would have been a dash of the underhand about it -that wouldn't have suited you. But I should never have allowed you to -walk into such a death-trap as that crypt would have been without the -safeguard we--that is, I--trusted to. It wasn't a case for being too -nice. There's no such thing as taking a mean advantage of people -threatening life and property, they told me when I was taught my trade." - -The man Benzon, who had kept his gaze fixed on the face of Cora -Lestrade, removed it now, and, with a cool politeness that struck an -unaccountable chill to most of his hearers, thanked the General for -enlightening him on "a point of considerable importance," and begged -permission to depart if he was really not to be detained. At a sign from -his master Azimoolah stood aside, and the man swung himself out of the -window, gained a foothold on the ivy stems, and was gone. When they had -all turned away from the darkling face framed for a moment among the -creepers, it was seen that she who had loomed so largely in their lives -of late as "Mr. Clinton Ziegler" and "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton" was swaying -and about to fall. - -"Thank you," she said, recovering herself with a painful effort as -Senator Sherman, who happened to be nearest, came to her assistance. "It -was only a passing weakness, but I shall be glad if I may go to my -room." - -And with a flicker of the old impudence she mimicked General Sadgrove: - -"Even the worst of 'em is capable of feeling shaken on hearing sentence -of death pronounced," adding, with a swift change of manner, "and that -is what I have heard in this room to-night." - -But in the morning, when, with the Frenchwoman Rosa, she took her -departure by a train leaving so early that none of the house-party were -visible, it was observed by the servants that Mrs. Talmage Eglinton was -in the highest spirits, and, if possible, more stylishly appareled than -usual. And Mr. Manson, the butler, looking regretfully after the station -brougham as it drove away, murmured benedictions, having palmed the -largest tip that had come his way in a quarter of a century. - -"A thorough lady," he sighed, as he closed the hall door and went in to -preside at the breakfast sideboard. "Pity she was called away -unexpected." - - - - -CHAPTER XXI--_The Honor of the House_ - - -The Treasury bonds had reached their goal in the vaults of the Bank of -England, and Senator Sherman, having duly discharged his duty to his -Republic, was speeding back to his wife and daughter at Prior's Tarrant, -with, as he quaintly phrased it, "a considerable load off his chest." In -the reserved compartment with him were the Duke of Beaumanoir and -General Sadgrove, who had insisted on forming an escort. - -The Duke, who had been buoyed up with excitement till the bonds were -safe in the bank, had fallen into dejection on the return journey. His -two companions persisted in treating him as a hero, whereas he guessed -that they were both aware of the true state of the case. He knew that -one of them was, for he had himself, under threat of information being -given to the police, confessed everything to the General after the -latter's visit to the hotel on the day of "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" -supposed confinement to her room; and, at any rate, the Senator must -have heard something of the truth, or he would not have been prepared -the night before to confound Cora Lestrade's correct accusation with a -generous but entirely erroneous construction of his complicity. - -All this made Beaumanoir miserable and ill at ease, the more so that he -had three times attempted, without success, to terminate his false -position. The two gentlemen had evidently entered into a friendly -conspiracy to maintain their own reading of his conduct; and whenever he -began to make penitential allusions to it, one or other of them would, -so to speak, jump down his throat with an encomium on the motive they -chose to attribute to him for originally allying himself to the Lestrade -combination. Nor did it add to his comfort on the last of these -occasions to catch the Senator deliberately winking at the General. - -Now this was exasperating in the present and intolerable for the future, -for Beaumanoir had set his heart on that to which, conscience told him, -a clear understanding with Senator Sherman was essential. But at last he -abandoned direct efforts and sank back in his corner, hoping to obtain -an opening by more diplomatic methods presently. - -In the meanwhile, the General was satisfying the curiosity of the -Senator, and incidentally that of the Duke, as to the identification of -the self-styled Mrs. Talmage Eglinton with the mysterious Clinton -Ziegler. He described the tangle of doubt and surmise he had got into -when he had convinced himself that the occupants of the neighboring -suites at the hotel were both concerned in the plot against the bonds, -without being able to carry the matter further. And especially did he -lay stress on the deadlock that had been reached when "Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's" artfully concocted anonymous warning against "Ziegler" had -caused him to waver in his suspicions of her guilt. - -"It took a woman to nose that out," said the General, with a whimsical -grimace. "Miss Sybil heard me grumbling--unfortunate habit, talking to -one's self--and put me right in a brace of shakes. 'Why,' she snaps out, -after she'd pumped me about my difficulty, 'they must be one and the -same person. Mrs. Talmage Eglinton _is_ Ziegler, and her intention is -that after they've finished the business the Eglinton part of her will -remain and the Ziegler part will vanish--with the odium of anything that -may happen, don't you see. I didn't see it at once, but consented to lay -a trap, and blessed if the girl wasn't right. Soon as the Eglinton was -posted up by Sybil that I was going up next day to call on Ziegler at -the hotel, and that I was going to raise Cain if I wasn't admitted, she -shammed sick and sneaked out of the house, with old Azimoolah at her -heels, to keep the appointment." - -He went on to tell how his call on "Ziegler," followed by "Mrs. Talmage -Eglinton's" clandestine return to the house as witnessed by Alec -Forsyth, had brushed all doubts aside and cleared the way for the final -_coup_ in the crypt, again suggested by Sybil, for obtaining the bogus -bonds and so drawing the sting of the enemy. - -"The girl has got grit," was the Senator's admiring comment. "The right -sort of grit, because she trusted to her man having it too. And, -thunder, but it was plucky of him to face that crew in ignorance of the -saving clause in his favor." - -"Yes, the boy behaved well," the General admitted. "But I think the Duke -beat him for courage in going to meet you at Liverpool in ignorance that -we had drawn off the cut-throats who he had reason to believe would dog -him directly he left the house. Alec had to make up for a bad lapse. We -never allowed laxity in our service, and Alec was lax, very lax, in -giving them that chance on the railway." - -Beaumanoir sat up at this, and, leaning forward, tapped the General on -the knee. - -"Oblige me by not drawing comparisons," he said--for him--quite -fiercely. "If I have come out of the ordeal of the last few days -unscathed, and with the honor of my house untarnished, it is in great -part due to Alec's loyalty to a poor weak coward. Had I done my duty I -should have gone to the police the moment Lestrade unfolded her plot, -instead of embarking on a course of secrecy and moral cowardice which -kept alive the danger to Senator Sherman and his charge. I did not see -it at the time, but the gang would assuredly have matured some other -plan for trying for the plunder, using some other wretched tool, -perhaps, if they hadn't been gammoned into believing that I had caved -in. It was gross moral cowardice of me to give them the chance." - -The torrent of words flowed so quickly that neither of his hearers was -able to check it, and it was so evidently the outcome of deep emotion -that it was equally impossible to ignore it. The Senator, with a twinkle -in his shrewd gray eyes, laid a warning hand on the General's shoulder -and took it upon himself to answer--with a question which had the -instant effect of soothing Beaumanoir, for it implied a concession of -the position he desired to take up. - -"What should you have done in the same circumstances, but with this -difference--that you had landed in England a simple commoner instead of -the representative of an ancient and noble family?" the Senator -inquired. - -"Informed the authorities, of course," the Duke replied without -hesitation. - -"Good! Then assuming for the sake of argument your charge against -yourself to be correct, you incurred a mortal peril voluntarily, not -from personal considerations affecting yourself, but for fear of -involving other people--most of them dead, by the way--in disgrace. I -don't see how you can make moral cowardice out of that." - -"_I_ do," said Beaumanoir, bluntly. - -"But," proceeded the Senator, with bland insistence, "you might have -avoided the peril to your own life and the besmirching of the family -name by the simple expedient of carrying out the behests of Ziegler and -Company. You had every facility for pulling the job off without a breath -of suspicion ever touching you." - -The diplomatic opening, the psychological moment, for which poor, -blundering Beaumanoir had been hoping, had arrived. It would be -uncharitable to suggest that it was proffered to him, as a card is -"forced," by an American gentleman with a taste for strawberry leaves; -but be it as it may, Beaumanoir was not too dull to seize his chance. - -"I might have done that--I was tempted to," he blurted out. "In fact, I -believe I should have done it if--if I hadn't come over in the same ship -with your--with Mrs. and Miss Sherman." - -The General, sitting up stiffly with his chin on the knob of his malacca -cane, turned his head sharply to hear his old friend's judgment on this -amazing confession. It was pronounced with Trans-Atlantic briskness. - -"Then, sir, by token of that frankness, your Grace is a straight man," -the Senator said, decidedly, and with an air that invested his words -with greater weight than was perhaps due to their moral perspective. -"And," he added in a lighter vein, "somehow, the honor of your house -seems to have got inextricably mixed with that of mine." - -"That's exactly the way I hoped you'd look at it," responded the Duke, -earnestly. "I think you take my meaning. May I speak to Leonie?" - -"It's what I should do in your place," was the Senator's reply--a reply -which had the effect of relaxing General Sadgrove's ramrod-like -attitude, and of causing that grim man-hunter to subside into his -corner, with a not unkindly chuckle. - - ---- - -On a winter afternoon, six months afterwards, Alec Forsyth entered the -firelit dining-room of the Prior's Tarrant dower-house, which, as agent -of the ducal estates, he had occupied since his marriage in September. -The Duke and Duchess were away in Egypt on their honeymoon, and Forsyth -had been doing the honors of a big shoot in the home coverts to a party -of neighboring country gentlemen. Sybil, who had been sitting in a low -chair by the hearth, rose and drew him to the blaze, first relieving him -of his gun. - -"I won't light the lamp yet, dear," she said. "I am forced to refer to -the forbidden subject, and you may want to blush." - -"Forbidden subject?" said Forsyth, not for the moment comprehending. - -"Well, of course you haven't taken to forbidding me anything yet; -perhaps 'tacitly avoided' would be a better phrase," the young wife -replied, perching herself on the arm of her husband's chair. "I refer to -that poor creature whose one redeeming point was, as the dear General -put it on that eventful night, an unselfish attachment to your noble -self." - -Forsyth had never been able to bring himself to talk of the reason of -his uncle's confidence in his safety in the crypt that night, when he -had lent himself to a ruse which he had believed meant death if he was -recognized. He had loathed "Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's" obtrusive -admiration long before he had entered the lists against her, and it was -from a knowledge of his feelings that the General had abstained from -informing him beforehand of the terrible Ziegler's identity, guessing -that his natural delicacy would have prevented him from turning to -account a sentimental weakness so necessary to a successful issue, yet -so revolting to his modesty. - -"Must you really refer to that wretched woman?" he asked, as soon as he -saw Sybil's meaning. - -"Only to tell you that she is dead," was the reply. "It is in the -_Standard_, which came after you had left for the coverts. There, I must -light the lamp, after all, so that you may read it yourself." - -When the lamp shone out on the pleasant, homelike room, this was the -paragraph which Forsyth read: - -"On the arrival at Vienna of the through mail train from Budapest on -Thursday night a fashionably dressed female was found alone in a -first-class compartment, stabbed to the heart. The police inquiries have -established her identity as Cora Lestrade, a notorious American -ex-convict, who is believed to have practised on the credulity of highly -placed personages in nearly every European capital. At the time of her -death she was traveling as the Countess Poniatowski. A man who was in -another compartment of the train, dressed as a Roman priest, but who is -supposed to be one of the band of professional criminals ruled by this -extraordinary woman, has been arrested in connection with the -occurrence." - -Forsyth laid the paper down--Sybil told him a month later that it was -"with a sigh of relief"--and said: - -"She seemed to expect something of the sort when she spoke about her -death sentence and showed such fear of the man Benzon. But isn't Uncle -Jem's intuition marvelous? He has always held that the confederacy would -come to loggerheads and be no longer dangerous after our victorious -tussle with them." - -"Yes, dear," Sybil assented, dutifully. "Your uncle is a very remarkable -man, with very remarkable gifts." But she did not add, as she might have -added had she so chosen, that it had required a woman's knowledge of -woman's heart to inspire in the General the insight which had steered -the Duke's storm-tossed bark to harbor. - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUKE DECIDES *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37413 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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