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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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