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diff --git a/old/7crbl10.txt b/old/7crbl10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..594c49a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7crbl10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13949 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crimson Blind , by Fred M. White + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Crimson Blind + +Author: Fred M. White + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9832] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CRIMSON BLIND *** + + + + +E-text Prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE CRIMSON BLIND + +By FRED. M. WHITE + +1905 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + + I. "WHO SPEAKS?" + II. THE CRIMSON BLIND + III. THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS + IV. IN EXTREMIS + V. "RECEIVED WITH THANKS" + VI. A POLICY OF SILENCE + VII. No. 218, BRUNSWICK SQUARE + VIII. HATHERLY BELL + IX. THE BROKEN FIGURE + X. THE HOUSE OF THE SILENT SORROW + XI. AFTER REMBRANDT + XII. "THE CRIMSON BLIND" + XIII. "GOOD DOG!" + XIV. BEHIND THE BLIND + XV. A MEDICAL OPINION + XVI. MARGARET SEES A GHOST + XVII. THE PACE SLACKENS + XVIII. A COMMON ENEMY + XIX. ROLLO SHOWS HIS TEETH + XX. FRANK LITTIMER + XXI. A FIND + XXII. "THE LIGHT THAT FAILED" + XXIII. INDISCRETION + XXIV. ENID LEARNS SOMETHING + XXV. LITTIMER CASTLE + XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST + XXVII. SLIGHTLY FARCICAL + XXVIII. A SQUIRE OF DAMES + XXIX. THE MAN WITH THE THUMB AGAIN + XXX. GONE! + XXXI. BELL ARRIVES + XXXII. HOW THE SCHEME WORKED OUT + XXXIII. THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE + XXXIV. THE PUZZLING OF HENSON + XXXV. CHRIS HAS AN IDEA + XXXVL. A BRILLIANT IDEA + XXXVII. ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE +XXXVIII. A LITTLE FICTION + XXXIX. THE FASCINATION OF JAMES MERRITT + XL. A USEFUL DISCOVERY + XLI. A DELICATE ERRAND + XLII. PRINCE RUPERT'S RING + XLIII. NEARING THE TRUTH + XLIV. ENID SPEAKS + XLV. ON THE TRAIL + XLVI. LITTIMER'S EYES ARE OPENED + XLVII. THE TRACK BROADENS + XLVIII. WHERE IS RAWLINS? + XLIX. A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE + L. RAWLINS IS CANDID + LI. HERITAGE IS WILLING + LII. PUTTING THE LIGHT OUT + LIII. UNSEALED LIPS + LIV. WHERE IS THE RING? + LV. KICKED OUT + LVI. WHITE FANGS + LVII. HIDE AND SEEK + + + + +THE CRIMSON BLIND. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"WHO SPEAKS?" + + +David Steel dropped his eyes from the mirror and shuddered as a man who +sees his own soul bared for the first time. And yet the mirror was in +itself a thing of artistic beauty--engraved Florentine glass in a frame +of deep old Flemish oak. The novelist had purchased it in Bruges, and now +it stood as a joy and a thing of beauty against the full red wall over +the fireplace. And Steel had glanced at himself therein and seen murder +in his eyes. + +He dropped into a chair with a groan for his own helplessness. Men have +done that kind of thing before when the cartridges are all gone and the +bayonets are twisted and broken and the brown waves of the foe come +snarling over the breastworks. And then they die doggedly with the stones +in their hands, and cursing the tardy supports that brought this black +shame upon them. + +But Steel's was ruin of another kind. The man was a fighter to his +finger-tips. He had dogged determination and splendid physical courage; +he had gradually thrust his way into the front rank of living novelists, +though the taste of poverty was still bitter in his mouth. And how good +success was now that it had come! + +People envied him. Well, that was all in the sweets of the victory. They +praised his blue china, they lingered before his Oriental dishes and the +choice pictures on the panelled walls. The whole thing was still a +constant pleasure to Steel's artistic mind. The dark walls, the old oak +and silver, the red shades, and the high artistic fittings soothed him +and pleased him, and played upon his tender imagination. And behind there +was a study, filled with books and engravings, and beyond that again a +conservatory, filled with the choicest blossoms. Steel could work with +the passion flowers above his head and the tender grace of the tropical +ferns about him, and he could reach his left hand for his telephone and +call Fleet Street to his ear. + +It was all unique, delightful, the dream of an artistic soul realised. +Three years before David Steel had worked in an attic at a bare deal +table, and his mother had L3 per week to pay for everything. Usually +there was balm in this recollection. + +But not to-night, Heaven help him, not to-night! Little grinning demons +were dancing on the oak cornices, there were mocking lights gleaming from +Cellini tankards that Steel had given far too much money for. It had not +seemed to matter just at the time. If all this artistic beauty had +emptied Steel's purse there was a golden stream coming. What mattered it +that the local tradesmen were getting a little restless? The great +expense of the novelist's life was past. In two years he would be rich. +And the pathos of the thing was not lessened by the fact that it was +true. In two years' time Steel would be well off. He was terribly short +of ready money, but he had just finished a serial story for which he was +to be paid L500 within two months of the delivery of the copy; two novels +of his were respectively in their fourth and fifth editions. But these +novels of his he had more or less given away, and he ground his teeth as +he thought of it. Still, everything spelt prosperity. If he lived, David +Steel was bound to become a rich man. + +And yet he was ruined. Within twenty-four hours everything would pass out +of his hands. To all practical purposes it had done so already. And all +for the want of L1,000! Steel had earned twice that amount during the +past twelve months, and the fruits of his labour were as balm to his soul +about him. Within the next twelve months he could pay the debt three +times over. He would cheerfully have taken the bill and doubled the +amount for six months' delay. + +And all this because he had become surety for an absconding brother. +Steel had put his pride in his pocket and interviewed his creditor, a +little, polite, mild-eyed financier, who meant to have his money to the +uttermost farthing. At first he had been suave and sympathetic, until he +had discovered that Steel had debts elsewhere, and then-- + +Well, he had signed judgment, and to-morrow he could levy execution. +Within a few hours the bottom would fall out of the universe so far as +Steel was concerned. Within a few hours every butcher and baker and +candle-stick-maker would come abusively for his bill. Steel, who could +have faced a regiment, recoiled fearfully from that. Within a week his +oak and silver would have to be sold and the passion flower would wither +on the walls. + +Steel had not told anybody yet; the strong man had grappled with his +trouble alone. Had he been a man of business he might have found some way +out of the difficulty. Even his mother didn't know. She was asleep +upstairs, perhaps dreaming of her son's greatness. What would the dear +old mater say when she knew? Well, she had been a good mother to him, and +it had been a labour of love to furnish the house for her as for himself. +Perhaps there would be a few tears in those gentle eyes, but no more. +Thank God, no reproaches there. + +David lighted a cigarette and paced restlessly round the dining-room. +Never had he appreciated its quiet beauty more than he did now. There +were flowers, blood-red flowers, on the table under the graceful electric +stand that Steel had designed himself. He snapped off the light as if the +sight pained him, and strode into his study. For a time he stood moodily +gazing at his flowers and ferns. How every leaf there was pregnant with +association. There was the Moorish clock droning the midnight hour. When +Steel had brought that clock-- + +"Ting, ting, ting. Pring, pring, ping, pring. Ting, ting, ting, ting." + +But Steel heard nothing. Everything seemed as silent as the grave. It was +only by a kind of inner consciousness that he knew the hour to be +midnight. Midnight meant the coming of the last day. After sunrise some +greasy lounger pregnant of cheap tobacco would come in and assume that he +represented the sheriff, bills would be hung like banners on the outward +walls, and then.-- + +"Pring, pring, pring. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting. +Pring, pring, pring." + +Bells, somewhere. Like the bells in the valley where the old vicarage +used to stand. Steel vaguely wondered who now lived in the house where he +was born. He was staring in the most absent way at his telephone, utterly +unconscious of the shrill impatience of the little voice. He saw the +quick pulsation of the striker and he came back to earth again. + +Jefferies of the _Weekly Messenger_, of course. Jefferies was fond of a +late chat on the telephone. Steel wondered grimly, if Jefferies would +lend him L1,000. He flung himself down in a deep lounge-chair and placed +the receiver to his ear. By the deep, hoarse clang of the wires, a +long-distance message, assuredly. + +"From London, evidently. Halloa, London! Are you there?" + +London responded that it was. A clear, soft voice spoke at length. + +"Is that you, Mr. Steel? Are you quite alone? Under the circumstances you +are not busy to-night?" + +Steel started. He had never heard the voice before. It was clear and +soft and commanding, and yet there was just a suspicion of mocking +irony in it. + +"I'm not very busy to-night," Steel replied. "Who is speaking to me?" + +"That for the present we need not go into," said the mocking voice. "As +certain old-fashioned contemporaries of yours would say, 'We meet as +strangers!' Stranger yet, you are quite alone!" + +"I am quite alone. Indeed, I am the only one up in the house." + +"Good. I have told the exchange people not to ring off till I have +finished with you. One advantage of telephoning at this hour is that one +is tolerably free from interruption. So your mother is asleep? Have you +told her what is likely to happen to you before many hours have elapsed?" + +Steel made no reply for a moment. He was restless and ill at ease +to-night, and it seemed just possible that his imagination was playing +him strange tricks. But, no. The Moorish clock in its frame of +celebrities droned the quarter after twelve; the scent of the Dijon roses +floated in from the conservatory. + +"I have told nobody as yet," Steel said, hoarsely. "Who in the name of +Heaven are you?" + +"That in good time. But I did not think you were a coward." + +"No man has ever told me so--face to face." + +"Good again. I recognise the fighting ring in your voice. If you lack +certain phases of moral courage, you are a man of pluck and resource. +Now, somebody who is very dear to me is at present in Brighton, not +very far from your own house. She is in dire need of assistance. You +also are in dire need of assistance. We can be of mutual advantage to +one another." + +"What do you mean by that?" Steel whispered. + +"Let me put the matter on a business footing. I want you to help my +friend, and in return I will help you. Bear in mind that I am asking you +to do nothing wrong. If you will promise me to go to a certain address in +Brighton to night and see my friend, I promise that before you sleep the +sum of L1,000 in Bank of England notes shall be in your possession." + +No reply came from Steel. He could not have spoken at that moment for the +fee-simple of Golconda. He could only hang gasping to the telephone. Many +a strange and weird plot came and went in that versatile brain, but never +one more wild than this. Apparently no reply was expected, for the +speaker resumed:-- + +"I am asking you to do no wrong. You may naturally desire to know why my +friend does not come to you. That must remain my secret, our secret. We +are trusting you because we know you to be a gentleman, but we have +enemies who are ever on the watch. All you have to do is to go to a +certain place and give a certain woman information. You are thinking that +this is a strange mystery. Never was anything stranger dreamt of in your +philosophy. Are you agreeable?" + +The mocking tone died out of the small, clear voice until it was +almost pleading. + +"You have taken me at a disadvantage," Steel said. "And you know--" + +"Everything. I am trying to save you from ruin. Fortune has played you +into my hands. I am perfectly aware that if you were not on the verge of +social extinction you would refuse my request. It is in your hands to +decide. You know that Beckstein, your creditor, is absolutely merciless. +He will get his money back and more besides. This is his idea of +business. To-morrow you will be an outcast--for the time, at any rate. +Your local creditors will be insolent to you; people will pity you or +blame you, as their disposition lies. On the other hand, you have but to +say the word and you are saved. You can go and see the Brighton +representatives of Beckstein's lawyers, and pay them in paper of the Bank +of England." + +"If I was assured of your bona-fides," Steel murmured. + +A queer little laugh, a laugh of triumph, came over the wires. + +"I have anticipated that question. Have you Greenwich time about you?" + +Steel responded that he had. It was five-and-twenty minutes past twelve. +He had quite ceased to wonder at any questions put to him now. It was all +so like one of his brilliant little extravanganzas. + +"You can hang up your receiver for five minutes," the voice said. +"Precisely at half-past twelve you go and look on your front doorstep. +Then come back and tell me what you have found. You need not fear that I +shall go away." + +Steel hung up the receiver, feeling that he needed a little rest. His +cigarette was actually scorching his left thumb and forefinger, but he +was heedless of the fact. He flicked up the dining-room lights again and +rapidly made himself a sparklet soda, which he added to a small whisky. +He looked almost lovingly at the gleaming Cellini tankard, at the pools +of light on the fair damask. Was it possible that he was not going to +lose all this, after all? + +The Moorish clock in the study droned the half-hour. + +David gulped down his whisky and crept shakily to the front door with a +feeling on him that he was doing something stealthily. The bolts and +chain rattled under his trembling fingers. Outside, the whole world +seemed to be sleeping. Under the wide canopy of stars some black object +picked out with shining points lay on the white marble breadth of the top +step. A gun-metal cigar-case set in tiny diamonds. + +The novelist fastened the front door and staggered to the study. A +pretty, artistic thing such as David had fully intended to purchase for +himself. He had seen one exactly like it in a jeweller's window in North +Street. He had pointed it out to his mother. Why, it was the very one! No +doubt whatever about it! David had had the case in his hands and had +reluctantly declined the purchase. + +He pressed the spring, and the case lay open before him. Inside were +papers, soft, crackling papers; the case was crammed with them. They were +white and clean, and twenty-five of them in all. Twenty-five Bank of +England notes for L10 each--L250! + +David fought the dreamy feeling off and took down the telephone receiver. + +"Are you there?" he whispered, as if fearful of listeners. "I--I have +found your parcel." + +"Containing the notes. So far so good. Yes, you are right, it is the +same cigar-case you admired so much in Lockhart's the other day. Well, +we have given you an instance of our bona-fides. But L250 is of no use +to you at present. Beckstein's people would not accept it on +account--they can make far more money by 'selling you up,' as the poetic +phrase goes. It is in your hands to procure the other L750 before you +sleep. You can take it as a gift, or, if you are too proud for that, you +may regard it as a loan. In which case you can bestow the money on such +charities as commend themselves to you. Now, are you going to place +yourself entirely in my hands?" + +Steel hesitated no longer. Under the circumstances few men would, as he +had a definite assurance that there was nothing dishonourable to be +done. A little courage, a little danger, perhaps, and he could hold up +his head before the world; he could return to his desk to-morrow with +the passion flowers over his head and the scent groves sweet to his +nostrils. And the mater could dream happily, for there would be no +sadness or sorrow in the morning. + +"I will do exactly what you tell me," he said. + +"Spoken like a man," the voice cried. "Nobody will know you have left +the house--you can be home in an hour. You will not be missed. Come, time +is getting short, and I have my risks as well as others. Go at once to +Old Steine. Stand on the path close under the shadow of the statue of +George IV. and wait there. Somebody will say 'Come,' and you will follow. +Goodnight." + +Steel would have said more, but the tinkle of his own bell told him that +the stranger had rung off. He laid his cigar-case on the writing-table, +slipped his cigarette-case into his pocket, satisfied himself that he had +his latch-key, and put on a dark overcoat. Overhead the dear old mater +was sleeping peacefully. He closed the front door carefully behind him +and strode resolutely into the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CRIMSON BLIND + + +David walk swiftly along, his mind in a perfect whirl. Now that once he +had started he was eager to see the adventure through. It was strange, +but stranger things had happened. More than one correspondent with queer +personal experiences had taught him that. Nor was Steel in the least +afraid. He was horribly frightened of disgrace or humiliation, but +physical courage he had in a high degree. And was he not going to save +his home and his good name? + +David had not the least doubt on the latter score. Of course he would +do nothing wrong, neither would he keep the money. This he preferred +to regard as a loan--a loan to be paid off before long. At any rate, +money or no money, he would have been sorry to have abandoned the +adventure now. + +His spirits rose as he walked along, a great weight had fallen from his +shoulders. He smiled as he thought of his mother peacefully sleeping at +home. What would his mother think if she knew? But, then, nobody was to +know. That had been expressly settled in the bond. + +Save for an occasional policeman the streets were deserted. It was a +little cold and raw for the time of year, and a fog like a pink blanket +was creeping in from the sea. Down in the Steine the big arc-lights +gleamed here and there like nebulous blue globes; it was hardly possible +to see across the road. In the half-shadow behind Steel the statue of the +First Gentleman in Europe glowed gigantic, ghost-like in the mist. + +It was marvellously still there, so still that David could hear the +tinkle of the pebbles on the beach. He stood back by the gate of the +gardens watching the play of the leaf silhouettes on the pavement, +quaint patterns of fantastic designs thrown up in high relief by the +arc-light above. From the dark foggy throat of St. James's Street came +the tinkle of a cycle bell. On so still a night the noise seemed bizarre +and out of place. Then the cycle loomed in sight; the rider, muffled and +humped over the front wheel, might have been a man or a woman. As the +cyclist flashed by something white and gleaming dropped into the road, +and the single word "Come" seemed to cut like a knife through the fog. +That was all; the rider had looked neither to the right nor to the left, +but the word was distinctly uttered. At the same instant an arm dropped +and a long finger pointed to the gleaming white square in the road. It +was like an instantaneous photograph--a flash, and the figure had +vanished in the fog. + +"This grows interesting," Steel muttered. "Evidently my shadowy friend +has dropped a book of rules in the road for me. The plot thickens." + +It was only a plain white card that lay in the road. A few lines were +typed on the back of it. The words might have been curt, but they were to +the point:-- + +"Go along the sea front and turn into Brunswick Square. Walk along the +right side of the square until you reach No. 219. You will read the +number over the fanlight. Open the door and it will yield to you; there +is no occasion to knock. The first door inside the hall leads to the +dining-room. Walk into there and wait. Drop this card down the gutter +just opposite you." + +David read the directions once or twice carefully. He made a mental note +of 219. After that he dropped the card down the drain-trap nearest at +hand. A little way ahead of him he heard the cycle bell trilling as if in +approval of his action. But David had made up his mind to observe every +rule of the game. Besides, he might be rigidly watched. + +The spirit of adventure was growing upon Steel now. He was no longer +holding the solid result before his eyes. He was ready to see the thing +through for its own sake. And as he hurried up North Street, along +Western Road, and finally down Preston Street, he could hear the purring +tinkle of the cycle bell before him. But not once did he catch sight of +the shadowy rider. + +All the same his heart was beating a little faster as he turned into +Brunswick Square. All the houses were in pitchy darkness, as they +naturally would be at one o'clock in the morning, so it was only with +great difficulty that Steel could make out a number here and there. As he +walked slowly and hesitatingly along the cycle bell drummed impatiently +ahead of him. + +"A hint to me," David muttered. "Stupid that I should have forgotten the +directions to read the number over the fanlight. Also it is logical to +suppose that I am going to find lights at No. 219. All right, my friend; +no need to swear at me with that bell of yours." + +He quickened his pace again and finally stopped before one of the big +houses where lights were gleaming from the hall and dining-room windows. +They were electric lights by their great power, and, save for the hall +and dining-room, the rest of the house lay in utter darkness. The cycle +bell let off an approving staccato from behind the blankety fog as Steel +pulled up. + +There was nothing abnormal about the house, nothing that struck the +adventurer's eye beyond the extraordinary vividness of the crimson +blind. The two side-windows of the big bay were evidently shuttered, +but the large centre gleamed like a flood of scarlet overlaid with a +silken sheen. Far across the pavement the ruby track struck into the +heart of the fog. + +"Vivid note," Steel murmured. "I shall remember that impression." + +He was destined never to forget it, but it was only one note in the gamut +of adventure now. With a firm step he walked up the marble flight and +turned the handle. It felt dirty and rusty to the touch. Evidently the +servants were neglectful, or they were employed by people who had small +regard for outward appearances. + +The door opened noiselessly, and Steel closed it behind him. A Moorish +lantern cast a brilliant flood of light upon a crimson carpet, a chair, +and an empty oak umbrella-stand. Beyond this there was no atom of +furniture in the hall. It was impossible to see beyond the dining-room +door, for a heavy red velvet curtain was drawn across. David's first +impression was the amazing stillness of the place. It gave him a queer +feeling that a murder had been committed there, and that everybody had +fled, leaving the corpse behind. As David coughed away the lump in his +throat the cough sounded strangely hollow. + +He passed into the dining-room and looked eagerly about him. The room was +handsomely furnished, if a little conventional--a big mahogany table in +the centre, rows of mahogany chairs upholstered in morocco, fine modern +prints, most of them artist's proofs, on the walls. A big marble clock, +flanked by a pair of vases, stood on the mantelshelf. There were a large +number of blue vases on the sideboard. The red distemper had faded to a +pale pink in places. + +"Tottenham Court Road," Steel smiled to himself. "Modern, solid, +expensive, but decidedly inartistic. Ginger jars fourteen guineas a pair, +worth about as many pence. Moneyed people, solid and respectable, of the +middle class. What brings them playing at mystery like this?" + +The room was most brilliantly lighted both from overhead and from the +walls. On the shining desert of the dining-table lay a small, flat parcel +addressed to David Steel, Esq. The novelist tore off the cover and +disclosed a heap of crackling white papers beneath. Rapidly he fluttered +the crisp sheets over--seventy-five Bank of England notes for L10 each. + +It was the balance of the loan, the price paid for Steel's presence. All +he had to do now was to place the money in his pocket and walk out of the +house. A few steps and he would be free with nobody to say him nay. It +was a temptation, but Steel fought it down. He slipped the precious notes +into his pocket and buttoned his coat tightly over them. He had no fear +for the coming day now. + +"And yet," he murmured, "what of the price I shall have to pay for this?" + +Well, it was worth a ransom. And, so long as there was nothing +dishonourable attached to it, Steel was prepared to redeem his pledge. He +knew perfectly well from bitter experience that the poor man pays +usurious rates for fortune's favours. And he was not without a strange +sense of gratitude. If-- + +Click, click, click. Three electric switches were snapped off almost +simultaneously outside, and the dining-room was plunged into pitchy +darkness. Steel instantly caught up a chair. He was no coward, but he was +a novelist with a novelist's imagination. As he stood there the sweetest, +most musical laugh in the world broke on his ear. He caught the swish of +silken drapery and the subtle scent that suggested the fragrance of a +woman's hair. It was vague, undefined, yet soothing. + +"Pray be seated, Mr. Steel," the silvery voice said. "Believe me, had +there been any other way, I would not have given you all this trouble. +You found the parcel addressed to you? It is an earnest of good faith. Is +not that a correct English expression?" + +David murmured that it was. But what did the speaker mean? She asked the +question like a student of the English language, yet her accent and +phrasing were perfect. She laughed again noiselessly, and once more Steel +caught the subtle, entrancing perfume. + +"I make no further apology for dragging you here at this time," the sweet +voice said. "We knew that you were in the habit of sitting up alone late +at night, hence the telephone message. You will perhaps wonder how we +came to know so much of your private affairs. Rest assured that we learnt +nothing in Brighton. Presently you may gather why I am so deeply +interested in you; I have been for the past fortnight. You see, we were +not quite certain that you would come to our assistance unless we could +find some means of coercing you. Then we go to one of the smartest +inquiry agents in the world and say: 'Tell us all about Mr. David Steel +without delay. Money is no object.' In less than a week we know all about +Beckstein. We leave matters till the last moment. If you only knew how +revolting it all was!" + +"So your tone seems to imply, madam," Steel said, drily. + +"Oh, but truly. You were in great trouble, and we found a way to get you +out. At a price; ah, yes. But your trouble is nothing compared with +mine--which brings me to business. A fortnight ago last Monday you posted +to Mr. Vanstone, editor of the _Piccadilly Magazine_, the synopsis of the +first four or five chapters of a proposed serial for the journal in +question. You open that story with a young and beautiful woman who is in +deadly peril. Is not that so?" + +"Yes," Steel said, faintly. "It is just as you suggest. But how--" + +"Never mind that, because I am not going to tell you. In common +parlance--is not that the word?--that woman is in a frightful fix. +There is nothing strained about your heroine's situation, because I +have heard of people being in a similar plight before. Mr. Steel, I +want you to tell me truthfully and candidly, can you see the way clear +to save your heroine? Oh, I don't mean by the long arm of coincidence +or other favourite ruses known to your craft. I mean by common sense, +logical methods, by brilliant ruses, by Machiavelian means. Tell me, do +you see a way?" + +The question came eagerly, almost imploringly, from the darkness. David +could hear the quick gasps of his questioner, could catch the rustle of +the silken corsage as she breathed. + +"Yes," he said, "I can see a brilliant way out that would satisfy the +strictest logician. But you--" + +"Thank Heaven! Mr. Steel, I am your heroine. I am placed in exactly the +same position as the woman whose story you are going to write. The +setting is different, the local colouring is not the same, but the same +deadly peril menaces me. For the love of Heaven hold out your hand to +save a lonely and desperate woman whose only crime is that she is rich +and beautiful. Providence had placed in my hands the gist of your +heroine's story. Hence this masquerade; hence the fact that you are here +to-night. I have helped _you_--help _me_ in return." + +It was some time before Steel spoke. + +"It shall be as you wish," he said. "I will tell you how I propose to +save my heroine. Her sufferings are fiction; yours will be real. But if +you are to be saved by the same means, Heaven help you to bear the +troubles that are in front of you. Before God, it would be more merciful +for me to be silent and let you go your own way." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS + + +David was silent for some little time. The strangeness of the situation +had shut down on him again, and he was thinking of nothing else for the +moment. In the dead stillness of the place he could hear the quick +breathing of his companion; the rustle of her dress seemed near to him +and then to be very far off. Nor did the pitchy darkness yield a jot to +his now accustomed eyes. He held a hand close to his eyes, but he could +see nothing. + +"Well?" the sweet voice in the darkness said, impatiently. "Well?" + +"Believe me, I will give you all the assistance possible. If you would +only turn up the light--" + +"Oh, I dare not. I have given my word of honour not to violate the seal +of secrecy. You may say that we have been absurdly cautious in this +matter, but you would not think so if you knew everything. Even now the +wretch who holds me in his power may have guessed my strategy and be +laughing at me. Some day, perhaps--" + +The speaker stopped, with something like a sob in her throat. + +"We are wasting precious time," she went on, more calmly. "I had better +tell you my history. In _your_ story a woman commits a crime: she is +guilty of a serious breach of trust to save the life of a man she loves. +By doing so she places the future and the happiness of many people in the +hands of an abandoned scoundrel. If she can only manage to regain the +thing she has parted from the situation is saved. Is not that so?" + +"So far you have stated the case correctly," David murmured. + +"As I said before, I am in practically similar case. Only, in my +situation, I hastened everything and risked the happiness of many people +for the sake of a little child." + +"Ah!" David cried. "Your own child? No! The child of one very near and +dear to you, then. From the mere novelist point of view, that is a far +more artistic idea than mine. I see that I shall have to amend my story +before it is published." + +A rippling little laugh came like the song of a bird in the darkness. + +"Dear Mr. Steel," the voice said, "I implore you to do nothing of the +kind. You are a man of fertile imagination--a plot more or less makes +no difference to you. If you publish that story you go far on the way +to ruin me." + +"I am afraid that I am in the dark in more senses than one," David +murmured. + +"Then let me enlighten you. Daily your books are more widely read. My +enemy is a great novel reader. You publish that story, and what results? +You not only tell that enemy my story, but you show him my way out of the +difficulty, and show him how he can checkmate my every move. Perhaps, +after I have escaped from the net--" + +"You are right," Steel said, promptly. "From a professional point of view +the story is abandoned. And now you want me to show you a rational and +logical, a _human_ way out." + +"If you can do so you have my everlasting gratitude." + +"Then you must tell me in detail what it is you want to recover. My +heroine parts with a document which the villain knows to be a forgery. +Money cannot buy it back because the villain can make as much money as he +likes by retaining it. He does as he likes with the family property; he +keeps my heroine's husband out of England by dangling the forgery and its +consequences over his head. What is to be done? How is the ruffian to be +bullied into a false sense of security by the one man who desires to +throw dust in his eyes?" + +"Ah," the voice cried, "ah, if you could only tell me that! Let _my_ +ruffian only imagine that I am dead; let him have proofs of it, and the +thing is done. I could reach him _then_; I could tear from him the letter +that--but I need not go into details. But he is cunning as the serpent. +Nothing but the most convincing proofs would satisfy him." + +"A certificate of death signed by a physician beyond reproach?" + +"Yes, that would do. But you couldn't get a medical man like that to +commit felony." + +"No, but we could trick him into it," Steel exclaimed. "In my story a +fraud is perpetrated to blind the villain and to deprive him of his +weapons. It is a case of the end justifying the means. But it is one +thing, my dear lady, to commit fraud actually and to perpetrate it in a +novel. In the latter case you can defy the police, but unfortunately you +and I are dealing with real life. If I am to help you I must be a party +to a felony." + +"But you will! You are not going to draw back now? Mr. Steel, I have +saved your home. You are a happy man compared to what you were two hours +ago. If the risk is great you have brains and imagination to get out of +danger. Show me how to do it, and the rest shall be mine. You have never +seen me, you know nothing, not even the name of the person who called you +over the telephone. You have only to keep your own counsel, and if I wade +in blood to my end you are safe. Tell me how I can die, disappear, +leaving that one man to believe I am no more. And don't make it too +ingenious. Don't forget that you promised to tell me a rational way out +of the difficulty. How can it be done?" + +"In my pocket I have a cutting from the _Times_, which contains a +chapter from the history of a medical student who is alone in London. It +closely resembles my plot. He says he has no friends, and he deems it +prudent for reasons we need not discuss to let the world assume that he +is dead. The rest is tolerably easy. He disguises himself and goes to a +doctor of repute, whom he asks to come and see his brother--_i.e.,_ +himself--who is dangerously ill. The doctor goes later in the day and +finds his patient in bed with severe internal inflammation. This is +brought about by a free use of albumen. I don't know what amount of +albumen one would take without extreme risk, but you could pump that +information out of any doctor. Well, our medical man calls again and yet +again, and finds his patient sinking. The next day the patient, +disguised, calls upon his doctor with the information that his 'brother' +is dead. The doctor is not in the least surprised, and without going to +view the body gives a certificate of death. Now, I admit that all this +sounds cheap and theatrical, but you can't get over facts. The thing +actually happened a little time ago in London, and there is no reason +why it shouldn't happen again." + +"You suggest that I should do this thing?" the voice asked. + +"Pardon me, I did nothing of the kind," Steel replied "You asked me to +show you how my heroine gets herself out of a terrible position, and I am +doing it. You are not without friends. The way I was called up tonight +and the way I was brought here prove that. With the aid of your friends +the thing is possible to you. You have only to find a lodging where +people are not too observant and a doctor who is too busy, or too +careless, to look after dead patients, and the thing is done. If you +desire to be looked upon as dead--especially by a powerful enemy--I +cannot recommend a more natural, rational way than this. As to the +details, they may be safely left to you. The clever manner in which you +have kept up the mystery to-night convinces me that I have nothing to +teach you in this direction. And if there is anything more I can do--" + +"A thousand, thousand thanks," the voice cried, passionately. "To be +looked upon as 'dead,' to be near to the rascal who smiles to think that +I am in my grave.... And everything so dull and prosaic on the surface! +Yes, I have friends who will aid me in the business. Some day I may be +able to thank you face to face, to tell you how I managed to see your +plot. May I?" + +The question came quite eagerly, almost imploringly. In the darkness +Steel felt a hand trembling on his breast, a cool, slim hand, with many +rings on the fingers. Steel took the hand and carried it to his lips. + +"Nothing would give me greater pleasure," he said. "And may you be +successful. Good-night." + +"Good-night, and God bless you for a real gentleman and a true friend. I +will go out of the room first and put the lights up afterwards. You will +walk away and close the door behind you. The newspaper cutting! Thanks. +And once more good-night, but let us hope not good-bye." + +She was gone. Steel could hear the distant dying swish of silk, the +rustling of the portiere, and then, with a flick, the lights came up +again. Half-blinded by the sudden illumination Steel fumbled his way to +the door and into the street. As he did so Hove Town Hall clock chimed +two. With a cigarette between his teeth David made his way home. + +He could not think it all out yet; he would wait until he was in his own +comfortable chair under the roses and palms leading from his study. A +fine night of adventure, truly, and a paying one. He pressed the precious +packet of notes to his side and his soul expanded. + +He was home at last. But surely he had closed the door before he started? +He remembered distinctly trying the latch. And here the latch was back +and the door open. The quick snap of the electric light declared nobody +in the dining-room. Beyond, the study was in darkness. Nobody there, +but--stop! + +A stain on the carpet; another by the conservatory door. Pots of flowers +scattered about, and a huddled mass like a litter of empty sacks in one +corner. Then the huddled mass resolved itself into the figure of a man +with a white face smeared with blood. Dead! Oh, yes, dead enough. + +Steel flew to the telephone and rang furiously. + +"Give me 52, Police Station," he cried. "Are you there? Send somebody at +once up here--15, Downend Terrace. There has been murder done here. For +Heaven's sake come quickly." + +Steel dropped the receiver and stared with strained eyes at the dreadful +sight before him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN EXTREMIS + + +For some time--a minute, an hour--Steel stood over the dreadful thing +huddled upon the floor of his conservatory. Just then he was incapable of +consecutive ideas. + +His mind began to move at length. The more he thought of it the more +absolutely certain he was that he had fastened the door before leaving +the house. True, the latch was only an ordinary one, and a key might +easily have been made to fit it. As a matter of fact, David had two, one +in reserve in case of accidents. The other was usually kept in a +jewel-drawer of the dressing-table. Perhaps-- + +David went quietly upstairs. It was just possible that the murderer was +in the house. But the closest search brought nothing to light. He pulled +out the jewel-drawer in the dressing-table. The spare latchkey had gone! +Here was something to go upon. + +Then there was a rumbling of an electric bell somewhere that set David's +heart beating like a drum. The hall light streamed on a policeman in +uniform and an inspector in a dark overcoat and a hard felt hat. On the +pavement was a long shallow tray, which David recognised mechanically as +the ambulance. + +"Something very serious, sir?" Inspector Marley asked, quietly. "I've +brought the doctor with me." + +David nodded. Both the inspector and the doctor were acquaintances of +his. He closed the door and led the way into the study. Just inside the +conservatory and not far from the huddled figure lay David's new +cigar-case. Doubtless, without knowing it, the owner had whisked it off +the table when he had sprung the telephone. + +"'Um," Marley muttered. "Is this a clue, or yours, sir?" + +He lifted the case with its diamonds gleaming like stars on a dark night. +David had forgotten all about it for the time, had forgotten where it +came from, or that it contained L250 in bank-notes. + +"Not mine," he said. "I mean to say, of course, it is mine. A recent +present. The shock of this discovery has deprived me of my senses +pretty well." + +Marley laid the cigar-case on the table. It seemed strange to him, who +could follow a tragedy calmly, that a man should forget his own property. +Meanwhile Cross was bending over the body. David could see a face smooth +like that of a woman. A quick little exclamation came from the doctor. + +"A drop of brandy here, and quick as possible," he commanded. + +"You don't mean to say," Steel began; "you don't--" + +Cross waved his arm, impatiently. The brandy was procured as speedily as +possible. Steel, watching intently, fancied that he detected a slight +flicker of the muscles of the white, stark face. + +"Bring the ambulance here," Cross said, curtly. "If we can get this poor +chap to the hospital there is just a chance for him. Fortunately, we have +not many yards to go." + +As far as elucidation went Marley naturally looked to Steel. + +"I should like to have your explanation, sir," he said, gravely. + +"Positively, I have no explanation to offer," David replied. "About +midnight I let myself out to go for a stroll, carefully closing the door +behind me. Naturally, the door was on the latch. When I came back an hour +or so later, to my horror and surprise I found those marks of a struggle +yonder and that poor fellow lying on the floor of the conservatory." + +"'Um. Was the door fast on your return?" + +"No, it was pulled to, but it was open all the same." + +"You didn't happen to lose your latch-key during your midnight +stroll, sir?" + +"No, it was only when I put my key in the door that I discovered it to be +open. I have a spare latch-key which I keep for emergencies, but when I +went to look for it just now the key was not to be found. When I came +back the house was perfectly quiet." + +"What family have you, sir? And what kind of servants?" + +"There is only myself and my mother, with three maids. You may dismiss +any suspicion of the servants from your mind at once. My mother trained +them all in the old vicarage where I was born, and not one of the trio +has been with us less than twelve years." + +"That simplifies matters somewhat," Marley said, thoughtfully. +"Apparently your latch-key was stolen by somebody who has made careful +study of your habits. Do you generally go for late walks after your +household has gone to bed, sir?" + +David replied somewhat grudgingly that he had never done such a thing +before. He would like to have concealed the fact, but it was bound to +come out sooner or later. He had strolled along the front and round +Brunswick Square. Marley shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, it's a bit of a puzzle to me," he admitted. "You go out for a +midnight walk--a thing you have never done before--and when you come back +you find somebody has got into your house by means of a stolen latch-key +and murdered somebody else in your conservatory. According to that, two +people must have entered the house." + +"That's logic," David admitted. "There can be no murder without the slain +_and_ the slayer. My impression is that somebody who knows the ways of +the house watched me depart. Then he lured his victim in here under +pretence that it was his own house--he had the purloined latch-key--and +murdered him. Audacious, but a far safer way than doing it out of doors." + +But Marley's imagination refused to go so far. The theory was plausible +enough, he pointed out respectfully, if the assassin had been assured +that these midnight rambles were a matter of custom. The point was a +shrewd one, and Steel had to admit it. He almost wished now that he had +suggested that he often took these midnight rambles. He regretted the +fiction still more when Marley asked if he had had some appointment +elsewhere to-night. + +"No," David said, promptly, "I hadn't." + +He prevaricated without hesitation. His adventure in Brunswick Square +could not possibly have anything to do with the tragedy, and nothing +would be gained by betraying that trust. + +"I'll run round to the hospital and come and see you again in the +morning, sir," Marley said. "Whatever was the nature of the crime, it +wasn't robbery, or the criminal wouldn't have left that cigar-case of +yours behind. Sir James Lythem had one stolen like that at the last +races, and he valued it at L80." + +"I'll come as far as the hospital with you," said Steel. + +At the bottom of the flight of steps they encountered Dr. Cross and the +policeman. The former handed over to Marley a pocket-book and some +papers, together with a watch and chain. + +"Everything that we could find upon him," he explained. + +"Is the poor fellow dead yet?" David asked. + +"No," Cross replied. "He was stabbed twice in the back in the region of +the liver. I could not say for sure, but there is just a chance that he +may recover. But one thing is pretty certain--it will be a good long +time before he is in a position to say anything for himself. Good-night, +Mr. Steel." + +David went indoors thoughtfully, with a general feeling that something +like a hand had grasped his brain and was squeezing it like a sponge. He +was free from his carking anxiety now, but it seemed to him that he was +paying a heavy price for his liberty. Mechanically, he counted out the +bank-notes, and almost as mechanically he cut his initials on the +gun-metal inside the cigar-case. He was one of the kind of men who like +to have their initials everywhere. + +He snapped the lights out and went to bed at last. But not to sleep. The +welcome dawn came at length and David took his bath gratefully. He would +have to tell his mother what had happened, suppressing all reference to +the Brunswick Square episode. It was not a pleasant story, but Mrs. Steel +assimilated it at length over her early tea and toast. + +"It might have been you, my dear," she said, placidly. "And, indeed, it +is a dreadful business. But why not telephone to the hospital and ask how +the poor fellow is?" + +The patient was better but was still in an unconscious condition. + + + +CHAPTER V + +"RECEIVED WITH THANKS." + + +Steel swallowed a hasty breakfast and hurried off town-wards. He had +L1,000 packed away in his cigar-case, and the sooner he was free from +Beckstein the better he would be pleased. He came at length to the +offices of Messrs. Mossa and Mack, whose brass-plate bore the legend that +the gentry in questions were solicitors, and that they also had a +business in London. As David strode into the offices of the senior +partner that individual looked up with a shade of anxiety in his deep, +Oriental eyes. + +"If you have come to offer terms," he said, nasally, "I am sorry--" + +"To hear that I have come to pay you in full," David said, grimly; "L974 +16s. 4d. up to yesterday, which I understand is every penny you can +rightfully claim. Here it is. Count it." + +He opened the cigar-case and took the notes therefrom. Mr. Mossa +counted them very carefully indeed. The shade of disappointment was +still upon his aquiline features. He had hoped to put in execution +to-day and sell David up. In that way quite L200 might have been added +to his legitimate earnings. + +"It appears to be all correct," Mossa said, dismally. + +"So I imagined, sir. You will be so good as to indorse the receipt on the +back of the writ. Of course you are delighted to find that I am not +putting you to painful extremities. Any other firm of solicitors would +have given me time to pay this. But I am like the man who journeyed from +Jericho to Jerusalem--" + +"And fell amongst thieves! You dare to call me a thief? You dare--" + +"I didn't," David said, drily. "That fine, discriminating mind of yours +saved me the trouble. I have met some tolerably slimy scoundrels in my +time, but never any one of them more despicable than yourself. Faugh! +the mere sight of you sickens me. Let me get out of the place so that I +can breathe." + +David strode out of the office with the remains of his small fortune +rammed into his pocket. In the wild, unreasoning rage that came over him +he had forgotten his cigar-case. And it was some little time before Mr. +Mossa was calm enough to see the diamonds winking at him. + +"Our friend is in funds," he muttered. "Well, he shall have a dance for +his cigar-case. I'll send it up to the police-station and say that some +gentleman or other left it here by accident. And if that Steel comes back +we can say that there is no cigar-case here. And if Steel does not see +the police advertisement he will lose his pretty toy, and serve him +right. Yes, that is the way to serve him out." + +Mr. Mossa proceeded to put his scheme into execution whilst David was +strolling along the sea front. He was too excited for work, though he +felt easier in his mind than he had done for months. He turned +mechanically on to the Palace Pier, at the head of which an Eastbourne +steamer was blaring and panting. The trip appealed to David in his +present frame of mind. Like most of his class, he was given to acting on +the spur of the moment.... It was getting dark as David let himself into +Downend Terrace with his latchkey. + +How good it was to be back again! The eye of the artist rested fondly +upon the beautiful things around. And but for the sport of chance, the +whim of fate, these had all passed from him by this time. It was good to +look across the dining-table over venetian glass, to see the pools of +light cast by the shaded electric, to note the feathery fall of flowers, +and to see that placid, gentle face in its frame of white hair opposite +him. Mrs. Steel's simple, unaffected pride in her son was not the least +gratifying part of David's success. + +"You have not suffered from the shock, mother?" he asked. + +"Well, no," Mrs. Steel confessed, placidly. "You see, I never had what +people call nerves, my dear. And, after all, I saw nothing. Still, I am +very, very sorry for that poor young man, and I have sent to inquire +after him several times." + +"He is no worse or I should have heard of it." + +"No, and no better. And Inspector Marley has been here to see you +twice to-day." + +David pitied himself as much as a man could pity himself considering his +surroundings. It was rather annoying that this should have happened at a +time when he was so busy. And Marley would have all sorts of questions to +ask at all sorts of inconvenient seasons. + +Steel passed into his study presently and lighted a cigarette. Despite +his determination to put the events of yesterday from his mind, he found +himself constantly returning to them. What a splendid dramatic story they +would make! And what a fascinating mystery could be woven round that +gun-metal cigar-case! + +By the way, where was the cigar-case? On the whole it would be just as +well to lock the case away till he could discover some reasonable excuse +for its possession. His mother would be pretty sure to ask where it came +from, and David could not prevaricate so far as she was concerned. But +the cigar-case was not to be found, and David was forced to the +conclusion that he had left it in Mossa's office. + +A little annoyed with himself he took up the evening _Argus_. There was +half a column devoted to the strange case at Downend Terrace, and just +over it a late advertisement to the effect that a gun-metal cigar-case +had been found and was in the hands of the police awaiting an owner. + +David slipped from the house and caught a 'bus in St. George's Road. + +At the police-station he learnt that Inspector Marley was still on the +premises. Marley came forward gravely. He had a few questions to ask, but +nothing to tell. + +"And now perhaps you can give me some information?" David said, "You are +advertising in to-night's _Argus_ a gun-metal cigar-case set with +diamonds." + +"Ah," Marley said, eagerly, "can you tell us anything about it?" + +"Nothing beyond the fact that I hope to satisfy you that the case is +mine." + +Marley stared open-mouthed at David for a moment, and then relapsed into +his sapless official manner. He might have been a detective +cross-examining a suspected criminal. + +"Why this mystery?" David asked. "I have lost a gun-metal cigar-case set +with diamonds, and I see a similar article is noted as found by the +police. I lost it this morning, and I shrewdly suspect that I left it +behind me at the office of Mr. Mossa." + +"The case was sent here by Mr. Mossa himself," Marley admitted. + +"Then, of course, it is mine. I had to give Mr. Mossa my opinion of him +this morning, and by way of spiting me he sent that case here, hoping, +perhaps, that I should not recover it. You know the case Marley--it was +lying on the floor of my conservatory last night." + +"I did notice a gun-metal case there," Marley said, cautiously. + +"As a matter of fact, you called my attention to it and asked if it +was mine." + +"And you said at first that it wasn't, sir." + +"Well, you must make allowances for my then frame of mind," David +laughed. "I rather gather from your manner that somebody else has been +after the case; if that is so, you are right to be reticent. Still, it is +in your hands to settle the matter on the spot. All you have to do is to +open the case, and if you fail to find my initials, D.S., scratched in +the left-hand top corner, then I have lost my property and the other +fellow has found his." + +In the same reticent fashion Marley proceeded to unlock a safe in the +corner, and from thence he produced what appeared to be the identical +cause of all this talk. He pulled the electric table lamp over to him and +proceeded to examine the inside carefully. + +"You are quite right," he said, at length. "Your initials are here." + +"Not strange, seeing that I scratched them there last night," said David, +drily. "When? Oh, it was after you left my house last night." + +"And it has been some time in your possession, sir?" + +"Oh, confound it, no. It was--well, it was a present from a friend for a +little service rendered. So far as I understand, it was purchased at +Lockhart's, in North Street. No, I'll be hanged if I answer any more of +your questions, Marley. I'll be your Aunt Sally so far as you are +officially concerned. But as to yonder case, your queries are distinctly +impertinent." + +Marley shook his head gravely, as one might over a promising but +headstrong boy. + +"Do I understand that you decline to account for the case?" he asked. + +"Certainly I do. It is connected with some friends of mine to whom I +rendered a service a little time back. The whole thing is and must remain +an absolute secret." + +"You are placing yourself in a very delicate position, Mr. Steel." + +David started at the gravity of the tone. That something was radically +wrong came upon him like a shock. And he could see pretty clearly that, +without betraying confidence, he could not logically account for the +possession of the cigar-case. In any case it was too much to expect +that the stolid police officer would listen to so extravagant a tale +for a moment. + +"What on earth do you mean, man?" he cried. + +"Well, it's this way, sir," Marley proceeded to explain. "When I pointed +out the case to you lying on the floor of your conservatory last night +you said it wasn't yours. You looked at it with the eyes of a stranger, +and then you said you were mistaken. From information given me last night +I have been making inquiries about the cigar-case. You took it to Mr. +Mossa's, and from it you produced notes to the value of nearly L1,000 to +pay off a debt. Within eight-and forty hours you had no more prospect of +paying that debt than I have at this moment. Of course, you will be able +to account for those notes. You can, of course?" + +Marley looked eagerly at his visitor. A cold chill was playing up +and down Steel's spine. Not to save his life could he account for +those notes. + +"We will discuss that when the proper time comes," he said, with fine +indifference. + +"As you please, sir. From information also received I took the case to +Walen's, in West Street, and asked Mr. Walen if he had seen the case +before. Pressed to identify it, he handed me a glass and asked me to find +the figures (say) '1771. x 3,' in tiny characters on the edge. I did so +by the aid of the glass, and Mr. Walen further proceeded to show me an +entry in his purchasing ledger which proved that a cigar-case in +gun-metal and diamonds bearing that legend had been added to the stock +quite recently--a few weeks ago, in fact." + +"Well, what of that?" David asked, impatiently. "For all I know, the case +might have come from Walen's. I said it came from a friend who must needs +be nameless for services equally nameless. I am not going to deny that +Walen was right." + +"I have not quite finished," Marley said, quietly. "Pressed as to when +the case had been sold, Mr. Walen, without hesitation, said: 'Yesterday, +for L72 15s.' The purchaser was a stranger, whom Mr. Walen is prepared +to identify. Asked if a formal receipt had been given, Walen said that it +had. And now I come to the gist of the whole matter. You saw Dr. Cross +hand me a mass of papers, etc., taken from the person of the gentleman +who was nearly killed in your house?" + +David nodded. His breath was coming a little faster. His quick mind had +run on ahead; he saw the gulf looming before him. + +"Go on," said he, hoarsely, "go on. You mean to say that--" + +"That amongst the papers found in the pocket of the unfortunate stranger +was a receipted bill for the very cigar-case that lies here on the table +before you!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A POLICY OF SILENCE + + +Steel dropped into a chair and gazed at Inspector Marley with mild +surprise. At the same time he was not in the least alarmed. Not that he +failed to recognise the gravity of the situation, only it appealed in the +first instance to the professional side of his character. + +"Walen is quite sure?" he asked. "No possible doubt about that, eh?" + +"Not in the least. You see, he recognised his private mark at once, and +Brighton is not so prosperous a place that a man could sell a L70 +cigar-case and forget all about it--that is, a second case, I mean. It's +most extraordinary." + +"Rather! Make a magnificent story, Marley." + +"Very," Marley responded, drily. "It would take all your well-known +ingenuity to get your hero out of this trouble." + +Steel nodded gravely. This personal twist brought him to the earth again. +He could clearly see the trap into which he had placed himself. There +before him lay the cigar-case which he had positively identified as his +own; inside, his initials bore testimony to the fact. And yet the same +case had been identified beyond question as one sold by a highly +respectable local tradesman to the mysterious individual now lying in the +Sussex County Hospital. + +"May I smoke a cigarette?" David asked. + +"You may smoke a score if they will be of any assistance to you, sir," +Marley replied. "I don't want to ask you any questions and I don't want +you--well, to commit yourself. But really, sir, you must admit--" + +The inspector paused significantly. David nodded again. + +"Pray proceed," he said: "speak from the brief you have before you." + +"Well, you see it's this way," Marley said, not without hesitation. "You +call us up to your house, saying that a murder has been committed there; +we find a stranger almost at his last gasp in your conservatory with +every signs of a struggle having taken place. You tell us that the +injured man is a stranger to you; you go on to say that he must have +found his way into your house during a nocturnal ramble of yours. Well, +that sounds like common sense on the face of it. The criminal has studied +your habits and has taken advantage of them. Then I ask if you are in the +habit of taking these midnight strolls, and with some signs of hesitation +you say that you have never done such a thing before. Charles Dickens was +very fond of that kind of thing, and I naturally imagined that you had +the same fancy. But you had never done it before. And, the only time, a +man is nearly murdered in your house." + +"Perfectly correct," David murmured. "Gaboriau could not have put it +better. You might have been a pupil of my remarkable acquaintance +Hatherly Bell." + +"I am a pupil of Mr. Bell's," Marley said, quietly. "Seven years ago he +induced me to leave the Huddersfield police to go into his office, where +I stayed until Mr. Bell gave up business, when I applied for and gained +my present position. Curious you should mention Mr. Bell's name, seeing +that he was here so recently as this afternoon." + +"Staying in Brighton?" Steel asked, eagerly. "What is his address?" + +"No. 219, Brunswick Square." + +It took all the nerve that David possessed to crush the cry that rose to +his lips. It was more than strange that the man he most desired to see at +this juncture should be staying in the very house where the novelist had +his great adventure. And in the mere fact might be the key to the problem +of the cigar-case. + +"I'll certainly see Bell," he muttered. "Go on, Marley." + +"Yes, sir. We now proceed to the cigar-case that lies before you. It was +also lying on the floor of your conservatory on the night in question. I +suggested that here we might have found a clue, taking the precaution at +the same time to ask if the article in question was your property. You +looked at the case as one does who examines an object for the first time, +and proceeded to declare that it was not yours. I am quite prepared to +admit that you instantly corrected yourself. But I ask, is it a usual +thing for a man to forget the ownership of a L70 cigar-case?" + +"A nice point, and I congratulate you upon it," David said. + +"Then we will take the matter a little farther. A day or two ago you were +in dire need of something like L1,000. Temporarily, at any rate, you were +practically at the end of your resources. If this money were not +forthcoming in a few hours you were a ruined man. In vulgar parlance, you +would have been sold up. Mossa and Mack had you in their grip, and they +were determined to make all they could out of you. The morning following +the outrage at your house you call upon Mr. Mossa and produce the +cigar-case lying on the table before you. From that case you produce +notes sufficient to discharge your debt--Bank of England notes, the +numbers of which, I need hardly say, are in my possession. The money is +produced from the case yonder, which case we _know_ was sold to the +injured man by Mr. Walen." + +Marley made a long and significant pause. Steel nodded. + +"There seems to be no way out of it," he said. + +"I can see one," Marley suggested. "Of course, it would simplify matters +enormously if you merely told me in confidence whence came those notes. +You see, as I have the numbers, I could verify your statement beyond +question, and--" + +Marley paused again and shrugged his shoulders. Despite his cold, +official manner, he was obviously prompted by a desire to serve his +companion. And yet, simple as the suggestion seemed, it was the very last +thing with which Steel could comply. + +The novelist turned the matter over rapidly in his mind. His quick +perceptions flashed along the whole logical line instantaneously. He was +like a man who suddenly sees a midnight landscape by the glare of a +dazzling flash of lightning. + +"I am sorry," he said, slowly, "very sorry, to disappoint you. Were our +situations reversed, I should take up your position exactly. But it so +happens that I cannot, dare not, tell you where I got those notes from. +So far as I am concerned they came honestly into my hands in payment for +special services rendered. It was part of my contract that I should +reveal the secret to nobody. If I told you the story you would decline to +believe it; you would say that it was a brilliant effort of a novelist's +imagination to get out of a dangerous position." + +"I don't know that I should," Marley replied. "I have long since ceased +to wonder at anything that happens in or connected with Brighton." + +"All the same I can't tell you, Marley," Steel said, as he rose. "My lips +are absolutely sealed. The point is: what are you going to do?" + +"For the present, nothing," Marley replied. "So long as the man in the +hospital remains unconscious I can do no more than pursue what +Beaconsfield called 'a policy of masterly inactivity.' I have told you a +good deal more than I had any right to do, but I did so in the hope that +you could assist me. Perhaps in a day or two you will think better of it. +Meanwhile--" + +"Meanwhile I am in a tight place. Yes, I see that perfectly well. It is +just possible that I may scheme some way out of the difficulty, and if so +I shall be only too pleased to let you know. Good-night, Marley, and many +thanks to you." + +But with all his ingenuity and fertility of imagination David could see +no way out of the trouble. He sat up far into the night scheming; there +was no flavour in his tobacco; his pictures and flowers, his silver and +china, jarred upon him. He wished with all his heart now that he had let +everything go. It need only have been a temporary matter, and there were +other Cellini tankards, and intaglios, and line engravings in the world +for the man with money in his purse. + +He could see no way out of it at all. Was it not possible that the whole +thing had been deliberately planned so as to land him and his brains into +the hands of some clever gang of swindlers? Had he been tricked and +fooled so that he might become the tool of others? It seemed hard to +think so when he recalled the sweet voice in the darkness and its +passionate plea for help. And yet the very cigar-case that he had been +told was the one he admired at Lockhart's had proved beyond question to +be one purchased from Walen's! + +If he decided to violate his promise and tell the whole story nobody +would believe him. The thing was altogether too wild and improbable for +that. And yet, he reflected, things almost as impossible happen in +Brighton every day. And what proof had he to offer? + +Well, there was one thing certain. At least three-quarters of those +bank-notes--the portion he had collected at the house with the crimson +blind--could not possibly be traced to the injured man. And, again, it +was no fault of Steel's that Marley had obtained possession of the +numbers of the notes. If the detective chose to ferret out facts for +himself no blame could attach to Steel. If those people had only chosen +to leave out of the question that confounded cigar-case! + +David's train of thought was broken as an idea came to him. It was not so +long since he had a facsimile cigar-case in his hand at Lockhart's, in +North Street. Somebody connected with the mystery must have seen him +admiring it and reluctantly declining the purchase, because the voice +from the telephone told him that the case was a present and that it had +come from the famous North Street establishment. + +"By Jove!" David cried. "I'll go to Lockhart's tomorrow and see if the +case is still there. If so, I may be able to trace it." + +Fairly early the next morning David was in North Street. For the time +being he had put his work aside altogether. He could not have written a +dozen consecutive lines to save the situation. The mere effort to +preserve a cheerful face before his mother was a torture. And at any time +he might find himself forced to meet a criminal charge. + +The gentlemanly assistant at Lockhart's remembered Steel and the +cigar-case perfectly well, but he was afraid that the article had been +sold. No doubt it would be possible to obtain a facsimile in the course +of a few days. + +"Only I required that particular one," Steel said. "Can you tell me when +it was sold and who purchased it?" + +A junior partner did, and could give some kind of information. Several +people had admired the case, and it had been on the point of sale several +times. Finally, it had passed into the hands of an American gentleman +staying at the Metropole. + +"Can you tell me his name?" David asked, "or describe him?" + +"Well, I can't, sir," the junior partner said, frankly. "I haven't the +slightest recollection of the gentleman. He wrote from the Metropole on +the hotel paper describing the case and its price and inclosed the full +amount in ten-dollar notes and asked to have the case sent by post to the +hotel. When we ascertained that the notes were all right, we naturally +posted the case as desired, and there, so far as we are concerned, was an +end of the matter." + +"You don't recollect his name?" + +"Oh, yes. The name was John Smith. If there is anything wrong---" + +David hastily gave the desired assurance. He wanted to arouse no +suspicion. All the same, he left Lockhart's with a plethora of suspicions +of his own. Doubtless the jewellers would be well and fairly satisfied so +long as the case had been paid for, but from the standpoint of David's +superior knowledge the whole transaction fairly bristled with suspicion. + +Not for one moment did Steel believe in the American at the Metropole. +Somebody stayed there doubtless under the name of John Smith, and that +said somebody had paid for the cigar-case in dollar notes the tracing of +which might prove a task of years. Nor was it the slightest use to +inquire at the Metropole, where practically everybody is identified by a +number, and where scores come and go every day. John Smith would only +have to ask for his letters and then drop quietly into a sea of oblivion. + +Well, David had got his information, and a lot of use it was likely to +prove to him. As he walked thoughtfully homewards he was debating in his +mind whether or not he might venture to call at or write to 219, +Brunswick Square, and lay his difficulties before the people there. At +any rate, he reflected, with grim bitterness, they would know that he was +not romancing. If nothing turned up in the meantime he would certainly +visit Brunswick Square. + +He sat in his own room puzzling the matter out till his head ached and +the flowers before him reeled in a dazzling whirl of colour. He looked +round for inspiration, now desperately, as he frequently did when the +warp of his delicate fancy tangled. The smallest thing sometimes fed the +machine again--a patch of sunshine, the chip on a plate, the damaged edge +of a frame. Then his eye fell on the telephone and he jumped to his feet. + +"What a fool I am!" he exclaimed. "If I had been plotting this business +out as a story. I should have thought of that long ago.... No, I don't +want any number, at least, not in that way. Two nights ago I was called +up by somebody from London who held the line for fully half an hour or +so. I've--I've forgotten the address of my correspondent, but if you can +ascertain the number ... yes, I shall be here if you will ring me up when +you have got it.... Thanks." + +Half an hour passed before the bell trilled again. David listened +eagerly. At any rate, now he was going to know the number whence the +mysterious message came--0017, Kensington, was the number. David muttered +his thanks and flew to his big telephone directory. Yes, there it +was--"0017, 446, Prince's Gate, Gilead Gates." + +The big volume dropped with a crash on the floor. David looked down at +the crumpled volume with dim, misty amazement. + +"Gilead Gates," he murmured. "Quaker, millionaire, and philanthropist. +One of the most highly-esteemed and popular men in England. And from his +house came the message which has been the source of all the mischief. And +yet there are critics who say the plots of my novels are too fantastic!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NO. 2l8, BRUNSWICK SQUARE + + +The emotion of surprise seemed to have left Steel altogether. After the +last discovery he was prepared to believe anything. Had anybody told him +that the whole Bench of Bishops was at the bottom of the mystery he would +have responded that the suggestion was highly probable. + +"Still, it's what the inimitable Dick Swiveller would call a +staggerer," he muttered. "Gates, the millionaire, the one great +capitalist who has the profound respect of the labour world. No, a man +with a record like that couldn't have anything to do with it. Still, it +must have been from his house that the mysterious message came. The +post-office people working the telephone trunk line would know that--a +fact which probably escaped the party who called me up.... I'll go to +Brunswick Square and see that woman. Money or no money, I'll not lie +under an imputation like this." + +There was one thing to be done beforehand, and that was to see Dr. Cross. +From the latter's manner he evidently knew nothing of the charge hanging +over Steel's head. Marley was evidently keeping that close to himself and +speaking to nobody. + +"Oh, the man is better." Cross said, cheerfully. "He hasn't been +identified yet, though the Press has given us every assistance. I fancy +the poor fellow is going to recover, though I am afraid it will be a +long job." + +"He hasn't recovered consciousness, then?" + +"No, and neither will he for some time to come. There seems to be a +certain pressure on the brain which we are unable to locate, and we dare +not try the Roentgen rays yet. So on the whole you are likely to escape +with a charge of aggravated assault." + +David smiled grimly as he went his way. He walked the whole distance to +Hove along North Street and the Western Road, finally turning down +Brunswick Square instead of _up_ it, as he had done on the night of the +great adventure. He wondered vaguely why he had been specially instructed +to approach the house that way. + +Here it was at last, 219, Brunswick Square--220 above and, of course, 218 +below the house. It looked pretty well the same in the daylight, the same +door, the same knocker, and the same crimson blind in the centre of the +big bay window. David knocked at the door with a vague feeling of +uncertainty as to what he was going to do next. A very staid, +old-fashioned footman answered his ring and inquired his business. + +"Can--can I see your mistress?" David stammered. + +The staid footman became, if possible, a little more reserved. If the +gentleman would send in his card he would see if Miss Ruth was +disengaged. David found himself vaguely wondering what Miss Ruth's +surname might be. The old Biblical name was a great favourite of his. + +"I'm afraid I haven't a card," he said. "Will you say that Mr. Steel +would like to see--er--Miss Ruth for a few minutes? My business is +exceedingly pressing." + +The staid footman led the way into the dining-room. Evidently this was no +frivolous house, where giddy butterflies came and went; such gaudy +insects would have been chilled by the solemn decorum of the place. David +followed into the dining-room in a dreamy kind of way, and with the +feeling that comes to us all at times, the sensation of having done and +seen the same thing before. + +Nothing had been altered. The same plain, handsome, expensive furniture +was here, the same mahogany and engravings, the same dull red walls, with +the same light stain over the fire-place--a dull, prosperous, +square-toed-looking place. The electric fittings looked a little +different, but that might have been fancy. It was the identical room. +David had run his quarry to earth, and he began to feel his spirits +rising. Doubtless he could scheme some way out of the difficulty and +spare his phantom friends at the same time. + +"You wanted to see me, sir? Will you be so good as to state your +business?" + +David turned with a start. He saw before him a slight, graceful figure, +and a lovely, refined face in a frame of the most beautiful hair that he +had ever seen. The grey eyes were demure, with just a suggestion of mirth +in them; the lips were made for laughter. It was as if some dainty little +actress were masquerading in Salvation garb, only the dress was all +priceless lace that touched David's artistic perception. He could imagine +the girl as deeply in earnest as going through fire and water for her +convictions. Also he could imagine her as Puck or Ariel--there was +rippling laughter in every note of that voice of hers. + +"I--I, eh, yes," Steel stammered. "You see, I--if I only knew whom I had +the pleasure of addressing?" + +"I am Miss Ruth Gates, at your service. Still, you asked for me by name." + +David made no reply for a moment. He was tripping over surprises again. +What a fool he had been not to look out the name of the occupant of 219 +in the directory. It was pretty evident that Gilead Gates had a house in +Brighton as well as one in town. Not only had that telephone message +emanated from the millionaire's residence, but it had brought Steel to +the philanthropist's abode in Brighton. If Mr. Gates himself had strolled +into the room singing a comic song David would have expressed no emotion. + +"Daughter of the famous Gilead Gates?" David asked, feebly. + +"No, niece, and housekeeper. This is not my uncle's own house, he has +merely taken this for a time. But, Mr. Steel--" + +"Mr. _David_, Steel--is my name familiar to you?" + +David asked the question somewhat eagerly. As yet he was only feeling +his way and keenly on the lookout for anything in the way of a clue. He +saw the face of the girl grow white as the table-cover, he saw the +lurking laughter die in her eyes, and the purple black terror dilating +the pupils. + +"I--I know you quite well by reputation," the girl gasped. Her little +hands were pressed to her left side as if to check some deadly pain +there. "Indeed, I may say I have read most of your stories. I--I hope +that there is nothing wrong." + +Her self-possession and courage were coming back to her now. But the +spasm of fear that had shaken her to the soul was not lost upon Steel. + +"I trust not," he said, gravely. "Did you know that I was here two +nights ago?" + +"Here!" the girl cried. "Impossible! In the house! The night before last! +Why, we were all in bed long before midnight." + +"I am not aware that I said anything about midnight," David +responded, coldly. + +An angry flush came sweeping over the face of the girl, annoyance at her +own folly, David thought. She added quickly that she and her uncle had +only been down in Brighton for three days. + +"Nevertheless, I was in this room two nights ago," David replied. "If you +know all about it, I pray you to give me certain information of vital +importance to me; if not, I shall be compelled to keep my extraordinary +story to myself, for otherwise you would never believe it. Do you or do +you not know of my visit here?" + +The girl bent her head till Steel could see nothing but the glorious +amber of her hair. He could see, too, the fine old lace round her throat +was tossing like a cork on a stream. + +"I can tell you nothing," she said. "Nothing, nothing, nothing." + +It was the voice of one who would have spoken had she dared. With +anybody else Steel would have been furiously angry. In the present case +he could only admire the deep, almost pathetic, loyalty to somebody who +stood behind. + +"Are you sure you were in this house?" the girl asked, at length. + +"Certain!" David exclaimed. "The walls, the pictures, the +furniture--all the same. I could swear to the place anywhere. Miss +Gates, if I cannot prove that I was here at the time I name, it is +likely to go very hard with me." + +"You mean that a certain inconvenience--" + +"Inconvenience! Do you call a charge of murder, or manslaughter at best, +inconvenient? Have you not seen the local papers? Don't you know that two +nights ago, during my absence from home, a strange man was practically +done to death in my conservatory? And during the time of the outrage, as +sure as Heaven is above us, I was in this room." + +"I am sorry, but I am sure that you were not." + +"Ah, you are going to disappoint me? And yet you know something. You +might have been the guiltiest of creatures yourself when I disclosed my +identity. No prisoner detected in some shameful crime ever looked more +guilty than you." + +The girl stood there, saying nothing. Had she rang the bell and ordered +the footman to put him out of the house, Steel would have had no cause +for complaint. But she did nothing of the kind. She stood there torn by +conflicting emotions. + +"I can give you no information," she said, presently. "But I am as +positive one way as you are another that you have never been in this +house before. I may surmise things, but as I hope to be judged fairly I +can give you no information. I am only a poor, unhappy girl, who is doing +what she deems to be the best for all parties concerned. And I can tell +you nothing, nothing. Oh, won't you believe that I would do anything to +serve you if I were only free?" + +She held out her hand with an imploring gesture, the red lips were +quivering, and her eyes were full of tears. David's warm heart went out +to her; he forgot all his own troubles and dangers in his sympathy for +the lovely creature in distress. + +"Pray say no more about it," he cried. He caught the outstretched hand in +his and carried it to his lips. "I don't wish to hurry you; in fact, +haste is dangerous. And there is ample time. Nor am I going to press you. +Still, before long you may find some way to give me a clue without +sacrificing a jot of your fine loyalty to--well, others. I would not +distress you for the world, Miss Gates. Don't you think that this has +been the most extraordinary interview?" + +The tears trembled like diamonds on the girl's long lashes and a smile +flashed over her face. The sudden transformation was wonderfully +fascinating. + +"What you might call an impossible interview," she laughed. "And all the +more impossible because it was quite impossible that you could ever have +been here before." + +"When I was in this room two nights ago," David protested, "I saw---" + +"Did you see me, for instance? If not, you couldn't have been here." + +A small, misshapen figure, with the face of a Byron--Apollo on the bust +of a Satyr--came in from behind the folding doors at the back of the +dining-room carrying some letters in his hand. The stranger's dark, +piercing eyes were fixed inquiringly upon Steel. + +"Bell," the latter cried; "Hatherly Bell! you have been listening!" + +The little man with the godlike head admitted the fact, coolly. He +had been writing letters in the back room and escape had been +impossible for him. + +"Funny enough, I was going to look you up to-day," he said. "You did me +a great service once, and I am longing to repay you. I came down here to +give my friend Gates the benefit of my advice and assistance over a +large philanthropic scheme he has just evolved. And, writing letters +yonder on that subject, I heard your extraordinary conversation. Can I +help you, Steel?" + +"My dear fellow," David cried, "if you offered me every intellect in +Europe I should not choose one of them so gladly as yours." + +"Then let us shake hands on the bargain. And now I am going to stagger +you; I heard you state positively that two nights ago you were in this +very room." + +"I am prepared to testify the fact on oath anywhere, my dear Bell." + +"Very well; will you be good enough to state the hour?" + +"Certainly. I was here from one o'clock--say between one and two." + +"And I was here also. From eleven o'clock till two I was in this very +room working out some calculations at this very table by the aid of my +reading-lamp, no other light being in the room, or even in the house, as +far as I know. It is one of my fads--as fools call them--to work in a +large, dark room with one brilliant light only. Therefore you could not +possibly have been in the house, to say nothing of this room, on the +night in question." + +David nodded feebly. There was no combating Bell's statement. + +"I presume that this is No. 219?" he asked. + +"Certainly it is," Miss Gates replied. "We are all agreed about _that_." + +"Because I read the number over the fanlight," Steel went on. "And I came +here by arrangement. And there was everything as I see it now. Bell, you +must either cure me of this delusion, or you must prove logically to me +that I have made a mistake. So far as I am concerned, I am like a child +struggling with the alphabet." + +"We'll start now," said Bell. "Come along." + +Steel rose none too willingly. He would fain have lingered with Ruth. She +held out her hand; there was a warm, glad smile on her face. + +"May you be successful," she whispered. "Come and see me again, because I +shall be very, very anxious to know. And I am not without guilt.... If +you only knew!" + +"And I may come again?" David said, eagerly. + +A further smile and a warm pressure of the hand were the only reply. +Presently Steel was standing outside in the road with Bell. The latter +was glancing at the house on either side of 219. The higher house was +let; the one nearest the sea--218--was empty. A bill in the window gave +the information that the property was in the hands of Messrs. Wallace and +Brown, Station Quadrant, where keys could be obtained. + +"We'll make a start straightaway," said Bell. "Come along." + +"Where are you going to at that pace?" Steel asked. + +"Going to interview Messrs. Wallace and Brown. At the present moment I am +a gentleman who is in search of a house of residence, and I have a +weakness for Brunswick Square in particular, especially for No. 218. +Unless I am greatly mistaken I am going to show you something that will +startle even the most callous novelist." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HATHERLY BELL + + +The queer, misshapen figure striding along by Steel's side would have +attracted attention anywhere; indeed, Hatherly Bell had been an +attractive personality from his schooldays. A strange mixture of vanity +and brilliant mental qualities, Bell had almost as many enemies as +friends. He was morbidly miserable over the score of his personal +appearance despite the extraordinary beauty of his face--to be pitied or +even sympathised with almost maddened him. Yet there were many women who +would gladly have shared the lot of Hatherly Bell. + +For there was strength in the perfectly moulded face, as well as beauty. +It was the face of a man possessed of marvellous intellectual powers, and +none the less attractive because, while the skin was as fair as a woman's +and the eyes as clear as a child's, the wavy hair was absolutely white. +The face of a man who had suffered fiercely and long. A face hiding a +great sorrow. + +Time was when Bell had promised to stand in the front rank of operative +physicians. In brain troubles and mental disorders he had distinguished +himself. He had a marvellous faculty for psychological research; indeed, +he had gone so far as to declare that insanity was merely a disease and +capable of cure the same as any ordinary malady. "If Bell goes on as he +has started," a great German specialist once declared, "he will +inevitably prove to be the greatest benefactor to mankind since the +beginning of the world." Bell was to be the man of his time. + +And then suddenly he had faded out as a star drops from the zenith. There +had been dark rumours of a terrible scandal, a prosecution burked by +strong personal influence, mysterious paragraphs in the papers, and the +disappearance of the name of Hatherly Bell from the rank of great medical +jurists. Nobody seemed to know anything about it, but Bell was ignored by +all except a few old friends, and henceforth he devoted his attention to +criminology and the evolution of crime. It was Bell's boast that he could +take a dozen men at haphazard and give you their vices and virtures +point-blank. He had a marvellous gift that way. + +A few people stuck to him, Gilead Gates amongst the number. The +millionaire philanthropist had need of someone to pick the sheep from the +goats, and Bell made no mistakes. David Steel had been able to do the +specialist some slight service a year or two before, and Bell had been +pleased to magnify this into a great favour. + +"You are a fast walker," David said, presently. + +"That's because I am thinking fast," Bell replied. "Steel, you are in +great trouble?" + +"It needs no brilliant effort on your part to see that," David said, +bitterly. "Besides, you heard a great deal just now when you--you--" + +"Listened," Bell said, coolly. "Of course I had no intention of playing +eavesdropper; and I had no idea who the Mr. Steel was who wanted to see +Miss Gates. They come day by day, my dear fellow, garbed in the garb of +Pall Mall or Petticoat Lane as the case may be, but they all come for +money. Sometimes it is a shilling, sometimes L100. But I did not gather +from your chat with Miss Gates what your trouble was." + +"Perhaps not, but Miss Gates knew perfectly well." + +Bell patted his companion, approvingly. + +"It is a pleasure to help a lucid-minded man like yourself," he said. +"You go straight to the root of the sore and cut all the superfluous +matter away. I was deeply interested in the conversation which I +overheard just now. You are in great trouble, and that trouble is +connected with 219, Brunswick Square--a house where you have never +been before." + +"My dear chap, I was in that dining-room two nights ago. Nothing will +convince me to the--" + +"There you are wrong, because I am going to convince you to the +contrary. You may smile and shake your head, but before an hour has +passed I am going to convince you beyond all question that you were +never inside No. 219." + +"Brave words," David muttered. "Still, an hour is not a long time to +wait." + +"No. But you must enlighten me if I am to assist you. I am profoundly +interested. You come to the house of my friend on a desperate errand. +Miss Gates is a perfect stranger to you, and yet the mere discovery of +your identity fills her with the most painful agitation. Therefore, +though you have never been in 219 before, you are pretty certain, and I +am pretty certain, that Ruth Gates knows a deal about the thing that is +touching you. On the contrary, I know nothing on that head. Won't you let +me into the secret?" + +"I'll tell you part," Steel replied. "And I'll put it pithily. For mere +argument we assume that I am selected to assist a damsel in distress who +lives at No. 219, Brunswick Square. We will assume that the conversation +leading up to the flattering selection took place over the telephone. As +a matter of fact, it did take place over the telephone. The thing was +involved with so much secrecy that I naturally hesitated. I was offered +L1,000 for my services; also I was reminded by my unseen messenger that I +was in dire need of that money." + +"And were you?" + +"My dear fellow, I don't fancy that I should have hesitated at burglary +to get it. And all I had to do was to meet a lady secretly in the dead of +night at No. 219, and tell her how to get out of a certain difficulty. It +all resolved itself round the synopsis of a proposed new story of mine. +But I had better go into details." + +David proceeded to do so. Bell, with his arm crooked through that of his +companion, followed the story with an intelligent and nattering interest. + +"Very strange and very fascinating," he said, presently. "I'll think it +out presently. Nobody could possibly think of anything but their toes in +Western Road. Go on." + +"Now I am coming to the point. I had the money, I had that lovely +cigar-case, and subsequently I had that battered and bleeding specimen of +humanity dumped down in the most amazing manner in my conservatory. The +cigar-case lay on the conservatory floor, remember--swept off the table +when I clutched for the telephone bell to call for the police. When +Marley came he asked if the cigar-case was mine. At first I said no, +because, you see--" + +"I see quite plainly. Pray go on." + +"Well, I lose that cigar-case; I leave it in the offices of Mossa, to +whom I pay nearly L1,000. Mossa, to spite me, takes or sends the case to +the police, who advertise it not knowing that it is mine. You will see +why they advertise it presently--" + +"Because it belonged to the injured man, eh?" + +David pulled up and regarded his companion with amazement. + +"How on earth--" he gasped. "Do you mean to say that you know--" + +"Nothing at present, I assure you," Bell said, coolly. "Call it +intuition, if you like. I prefer to call it the result of logical mental +process. I'm right, of course?" + +"Of course you are. I'd claimed that case for my own. I had cut my +initials inside, as I showed Marley when I went to the police-station. +And then Marley tells me how I paid Mossa nearly L1,000; how the money +must have come into my hands in the nick of time. That was pretty bad +when I couldn't for the life of me give a lucid reason for the possession +of those notes; but there was worse to come. In the pocket of the injured +man was a receipt for a diamond-studded gun-metal cigar-case, purchased +the day of the outrage. And Walen, the jeweller, proved beyond a doubt +that the case I claimed was purchased at his shop." + +Bell nodded gravely. + +"Which places you in an exceedingly awkward position," he said. + +"A mild way of putting it," David replied. "If that fellow dies the +police have enough evidence to hang me. And what is my defence? The story +of my visit to No. 219. And who would believe that cock-and-bull story? +Fancy a drama like that being played out in the house of such a pillar of +respectability as Gilead Gates." + +"It isn't his house," said Bell. "He only takes it furnished." + +"In anybody else your remark would be puerile," David said, irritably. + +"It's a deeper remark than you are aware of at present," Bell replied. "I +quite see your position. Nobody would believe you, of course. But why not +go to the post-office and ask the number of the telephone that called you +up from London?" + +The question seemed to amuse David slightly. Then his lips were drawn +humorously. + +"When my logical formula came back I thought of that," he said. "On +inquiring as to who it was rang me up on that fateful occasion I learnt +that the number was 0017 Kensington and that--" + +"Gates's own number at Prince's Gate," Bell exclaimed. "The plot +thickens." + +"It does, indeed," David said, grimly. "It is Wilkie Collins gone mad, +Gaboriau _in extremis_, Du Boisgobey suffering from _delirium tremens_. +I go to Gates's house here, and am solemnly told in the midst of +surroundings that I can swear to that I have never been there before; +the whole mad expedition is launched by the turning of the handle of a +telephone in the house of a distinguished, trusted, if prosaic, +citizen. Somebody gets hold of the synopsis of a story of mine, Heaven +knows how--" + +"That is fairly easy. The synopsis was short, I suppose?" + +"Only a few lines, say 1,000 words, a sheet of paper. My writing is very +small. It was tucked into a half-penny open envelope--a mazagine office +envelope, marked 'Proof, urgent.' There were the proofs of a short story +in the buff envelope." + +"Which reached its destination in due course?" + +"So I hear this morning. But how on earth--" + +"Easily enough. The whole thing gets slipped into a larger open envelope, +the kind of big-mouthed affair that enterprising firms send out circulars +and patterns with. This falls into the hands of the woman who is at the +bottom of this and every other case, and she reads the synopsis from +sheer curiosity. The case fits her case, and there you are. Mind you, I +don't say that this is how the thing actually happened, but how it might +have done so. When did you post the letter?" + +"I can't give you the date. Say ten days ago." + +"And there would be no hurry for a reply," Bell said, thoughtfully. "And +you had no cause for worry on that head. Nor need the woman who found it +have kept the envelope beyond the delay of a single post, which is only a +matter of an hour or so in London. If you go a little farther we find +that money is no object, hence the L1,000 offer and the careful, and +doubtless expensive, inquiry into your position. Steel, I am going to +enjoy this case." + +"You're welcome to all the fun you can get out of it," David said, +grimly. "So far as I am concerned, I fail to see the humour. Isn't this +the office you are after?" + +Bell nodded and disappeared, presently to return with two exceedingly +rusty keys tied together with a drab piece of tape. He jingled them on +his long, slender forefinger with an air of positive enjoyment. + +"Now come along," he said. "I feel like a boy who has marked down +something rare in the way of a bird's nest. We will go back to Brunswick +Square exactly the same way as you approached it on the night of the +great adventure." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BROKEN FIGURE + + +"Any particular object in that course?" David asked. + +"There ought to be an object in everything that even an irrational man +says or does," Bell replied. "I have achieved some marvellous results by +following up a single sentence uttered by a patient. Besides, on the +evening in question you were particularly told to approach the house from +the sea front." + +"Somebody might have been on the look-out near the Western Road +entrance," Steel suggested. + +"Possibly. I have another theory.... Here we are. The figures over the +fanlights run from 187 upwards, gradually getting to 219 as you breast +the slope. At one o'clock in the morning every house would be in +darkness. Did you find that to be so?" + +"I didn't notice a light anywhere till I reached 219." + +"Good again. And you could only find 219 by the light over the door. +Naturally you were not interested in and would not have noticed any other +number. Well, here is 218, where I propose to enter, and for which +purpose I have the keys. Come along." + +David followed wonderingly. The houses in Brunswick Square are somewhat +irregular in point of architecture, and Nos. 218 and 219 were the only +matched pair thereabouts. Signs were not wanting, as Bell pointed out, +that at one time the houses had been occupied as one residence. The two +entrance-halls were back to back, so to speak, and what had obviously +been a doorway leading from one to the other had been plastered up within +comparatively recent memory. + +The grim and dusty desolation of an empty house seemed to be supplemented +here by a deeper desolation. Not that there was any dust on the ground +floor, which seemed a singular thing seeing that elsewhere the boards +were powdered with it, and festoons of brown cobwebs hung everywhere. +Bell smiled approvingly as David Steel pointed the fact out to him. + +"Do you note another singular point?" the former asked. + +"No," David said, thoughtfully; "I--stop! The two side-shutters in the +bay-windows are closed, and there is the same vivid crimson blind in the +centre window. And the self colour of the walls is exactly the same. The +faint discoloration by the fireplace is a perfect facsimile." + +"In fact, _this_ is the room you were in the other night," Bell +said, quietly. + +"Impossible!" Steel cried. "The blind may be an accident, so might the +fading of the distemper. But the furniture, the engravings, the fittings +generally--" + +"Are all capable of an explanation, which we shall arrive at with +patience." + +"Can we arrive at the number over the door with patience?" + +"Exactly what I was coming to. I noticed an old pair of steps in the back +sitting-room. Would you mind placing them against the fanlight for me?" + +David complied readily enough. He was growing credulous and interested in +spite of himself. At Bell's instigation he placed the steps before the +fanlight and mounted them. Over his head were the figures 218 in +elongated shape and formed in white porcelain. + +"Now then," Bell said, slowly. "Take this pocket-knife, apply the blade +to the _right-hand_ lower half of the bottom of the 8--to half the small +O, in fact--and I shall be extremely surprised if the quarter section +doesn't come away from the glass of the fanlight, leaving the rest of the +figure intact. Very gently, please. I want you to convince yourself that +the piece comes away because it is broken, and not because the pressure +has cracked it. Now then." + +The point of the knife was hardly under the edge of the porcelain before +the segment of the lower circle dropped into Steel's hand. He could feel +the edges of the cement sticking to his fingers. As yet the full force of +the discovery was not apparent to him. + +"Go out into the road and look at the fanlight," Bell directed. + +David complied eagerly. A sharp cry of surprise escaped him as he looked +up. The change was apparent. Instead of the figures 218 he could read now +the change to 219--a fairly indifferent 9, but one that would have passed +muster without criticism by ninety-nine people out of a hundred. With a +strong light behind the figures the clumsy 9 would never have been +noticed at all. The very simplicity and ingeniousness of the scheme was +its safeguard. + +"I should like to have the address of the man who thought that out," +David said, drily. + +"Yes, I fancy that you are dealing with quite clever people," Bell +replied. "And now I have shown you how utterly you have been deceived +over the number we will go a little farther. For the present, the way in +which the furniture trick was worked must remain a mystery. But there has +been furniture here, or this room and the hall would not have been so +carefully swept and garnished whilst the rest of the house remains in so +dirty a condition. If my eyes don't deceive me I can see two fresh nails +driven into the archway leading to the back hall. On those nails hung the +curtain that prevented you seeing more than was necessary. Are you still +incredulous as to the house where you had your remarkable adventure?" + +"I confess that my faith has been seriously shaken," David admitted. "But +about the furniture? And about my telephone call from Mr. Gates's town +house? And about my adventure taking place in the very next house to the +one taken by him at Brighton? And about Miss Gates's agitation when she +learnt my identity? Do you call them coincidences?" + +"No, I don't," Bell said, promptly. "They are merely evidences of clever +folks taking advantage of an excellent strategic position. I said just +now that it was an important point that Mr. Gates had merely taken the +next door furnished. But we shall come to that side of the theory in due +course. Have you any other objection to urge?" + +"One more, and I have finished for the present. When I came here the +other night--provided of course that I did come here--immediately upon my +entering the dining-room the place was brilliantly illuminated. Now, +directly the place was void the supply of electric current would be cut +off at the meter. So far as I can judge, some two or three units must +have been consumed during my visit. There could not be many less than ten +lights burning for an hour. Now, those units must show on the meter. Can +you read an electric meter?" + +"My dear fellow, there is nothing easier." + +"Then let us go down into the basement and settle the matter. There is +pretty sure to be a card on the meter made up to the day when the last +tenant went out. See, the supply is cut off now." + +As Steel spoke he snapped down the hall switch and no result came. Down +in the basement by the area door stood the meter. Both switches were +turned off, but on Bell pressing them down Steel was enabled to light +the passage. + +"There's the card," Bell exclaimed. "Made up to 25th June, 1895, since +when the house has been void. Just a minute whilst I read the meter. Yes, +that's right. According to this the card in your hand, provided that the +light has not been used since the index was taken, should read at 1521. +What do you make of the card?" + +"1532," David cried. "Which means eleven units since the meter was last +taken. Or, if you like to put it from your point of view, eleven units +used the night that I came here. You are quite right, Bell. You have +practically convinced me that I have been inside the real 219 for the +first time to-day. And yet the more one probes the mystery the more +astounding does it become.... What do you propose to do next?" + +"Find out the name of the last tenant or owner." Bell suggested. +"Discover what the two houses were used for when they were occupied by +one person. Also ascertain why on earth the owners are willing to let a +house this size and in this situation for a sum like L80 per annum. Let +us go and take the keys back to the agents." + +Steel was nothing loth to find himself in the fresh air again. Some +progress had been made like the opening of a chess-match between masters, +and yet the more Steel thought of it the more muddled and bewildered did +he become. No complicated tangle in the way of a plot had ever been +anything like the skein this was. + +"I'm like a child in your hands," he said. "I'm a blind man on the end of +a string; a man dazed with wine in a labyrinth. And if ever I help a +woman again--" + +He paused as he caught sight of Ruth Gates's lovely face through the +window of No. 219. Her features were tinged with melancholy; there was a +look of deepest sympathy and feeling and compassion in her glorious +eyes. She slipped back as Steel bowed, and the rest of his speech was +lost in a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE OF THE SILENT SORROW + + +A bell tolled mournfully with a slow, swinging cadence like a passing +bell. On winter nights folks, passing the House of the Silent Sorrow, +compared the doleful clanging to the boom that carries the criminal from +the cell to the scaffold. Every night all the year round the little +valley of Longdean echoed to that mournful clang. Perhaps it was for this +reason that a wandering poet christened the place as the House of the +Silent Sorrow. + +For seven years this had been going on now, until nobody but strangers +noticed it. From half-past seven till eight o'clock that hideous bell +rang its swinging, melancholy note. Why it was nobody could possibly +tell. Nobody in the village had ever been beyond the great rusty gates +leading to a dark drive of Scotch firs, though one small boy bolder than +the rest had once climbed the lichen-strewn stone wall and penetrated the +thick undergrowth beyond. Hence he had returned, with white face and +staring eyes, with the information that great wild dogs dwelt in the +thickets. Subsequently the village poacher confirmed this information. He +was not exactly loquacious on the subject, but merely hinted that the +grounds of Longdean Grange were not salubrious for naturalists with a +predatory disposition. + +Indeed, on moonlight nights those apocryphal hounds were heard to bay and +whimper. A shepherd up late one spring night averred that he had seen two +of them fighting. But nobody could say anything about them for certain; +also it was equally certain that nobody knew anything about the people at +Longdean Grange. The place had been shut up for thirty years, being +understood to be in Chancery, when the announcement went forth that a +distant relative of the family had arranged to live there in future. + +What the lady of the Grange was like nobody could say. She had arrived +late one night accompanied by a niece, and from that moment she had never +been beyond the house. None of the large staff of servants ever left the +grounds unless it was to quit altogether, and then they were understood +to leave at night with a large bonus in money as a recompense for their +promise to evacuate Sussex without delay. Everything was ordered by +telephone from Brighton, and left at the porter's lodge. The porter was a +stranger, also he was deaf and exceedingly ill-tempered, so that long +since the village had abandoned the hope of getting anything out of him. +One rational human being they saw from the Grange occasionally, a big man +with an exceedingly benevolent face and mild, large, blue eyes--a man +full of Christian kindness and given to largesse to the village boys. The +big gentleman went by the name of "Mr. Charles," and was understood to +have a lot of pigeons of which he was exceedingly fond. But who "Mr. +Charles" was, or how he got that name, it would have puzzled the wisest +head of the village to tell. + +And yet, but for the mighty clamour of that hideous bell and that belt of +wildness that surrounded it, Longdean Grange was a cheerful-looking house +enough. Any visitor emerging from the drive would have been delighted +with it. For the lawns were trim and truly kept, the beds were blazing +masses of flowers, the creepers over the Grange were not allowed to riot +too extravagantly. And yet the strange haunting sense of fear was there. +Now and again a huge black head would uplift from the coppice growth, and +a long, rumbling growl come from between a double row of white teeth. For +the dogs were no fiction, they lived and bred in the fifteen or twenty +acres of coppice round the house, where they were fed regularly and +regularly thrashed without mercy if they showed in the garden. Perhaps +they looked more fierce and truculent than they really were, being Cuban +bloodhounds, but they gave a weird colour to the place and lent it new +terror to the simple folk around. + +The bell was swinging dolefully over the stable-turret; it rang out its +passing note till the clock struck eight and then mercifully ceased. At +the same moment precisely as she had done any time the last seven years +the lady of the house descended the broad, black oak staircase to the +hall. A butler of the old-fashioned type bowed to her and announced that +dinner was ready. He might have been the butler of an archbishop from +his mien and deportment, yet his evening dress was seedy and shiny to +the last degree, his patent leather boots had long lost their lustre, +his linen was terribly frayed and yellow. Two footmen in livery stood in +the hall. They might have been supers playing on the boards of a +travelling theatre, their once smartly cut and trimmed coats hung +raggedly upon them. + +As to the lady, who was tall and handsome, with dark eyes and features +contrasting strangely with hair as white as the frost on a winter's +landscape, there was a far-away, strained look in the dark eyes, as if +they were ever night and day looking for something, something that would +never be found. In herself the lady was clean and wholesome enough, but +her evening dress of black silk and lace was dropping into fragments, the +lace was in rags upon her bosom, though there were diamonds of great +value in her white hair. + +And here, strangely allied, were wealth and direst poverty; the whole +place was filled with rare and costly things, pictures, statuary, china; +the floors were covered with thick carpets, and yet everything was +absolutely smothered in dust. A thick, white, blankety cloud of it lay +everywhere. It obscured the china, it dimmed the glasses of the pictures, +it piled in little drifts on the heads and arms of the dingy statues +there. Many years must have passed since a housemaid's brush or duster +had touched anything in Longdean Grange. It was like a palace of the +Sleeping Beauty, wherein people walked as in a waking dream. + +The lady of the house made her way slowly to the dining-room. Here dinner +was laid out daintily and artistically enough--a _gourmet_ would have +drawn up to the table with a feeling of satisfaction. Flowers were there, +and silver and cut-glass, china with a history of its own, and the whole +set out on a tablecloth that was literally dropping to pieces. + +It was a beautiful room in itself, lofty, oak panelled from floor to +roof, with a few pictures of price on the walls. There was plenty of +gleaming silver glowing like an argent moon against a purple sky, and yet +the same sense of dust and desolation was everywhere. Only the dinner +looked bright and modern. + +There were two other people standing by the table, one a girl with a +handsome, intellectual face full of passion but ill repressed; the other +the big fair man known to the village as "Mr. Charles." As a matter of +fact, his name was Reginald Henson, and he was distantly related to Mrs. +Henson, the strange chatelaine of the House of the Silent Sorrow. He was +smiling blandly now at Enid Henson, the wonderfully beautiful girl with +the defiant, shining eyes. + +"We may be seated now that madam is arrived," Henson said, gravely. + +He spoke with a certain mocking humility and a queer wry smile on his +broad, loose mouth that filled Enid with a speechless fury. The girl was +hot-blooded--a good hater and a good friend. And the master passion of +her life was hatred of Reginald Henson. + +"Madam has had a refreshing rest?" Henson suggested. "Pardon our anxious +curiosity." + +Again Enid raged, but Margaret Henson might have been of stone for all +the notice she took. The far-away look was still in her eyes as she felt +her way to the table like one in a dream. Then she dropped suddenly into +a chair and began grace in a high, clear voice. + +".... And the Lord make us truly thankful. And may He, when it seemeth +good to Him, remove the curse from this house and in due season free the +innocent and punish the guilty. For the burden is sore upon us, and there +are times when it seems hard to bear." + +The big man played with his knife and fork, smilingly. An acute observer +might have imagined that the passionate plaint was directed at him. If so +it passed harmlessly over his broad shoulders. In his immaculate evening +dress he looked strangely out of place there. Enid had escaped the +prevailing dilapidation, but her gown of grey homespun was severe as the +garb of a charity girl. + +"Madam is so poetical," Henson murmured. "And charmingly sanguine." + +"Williams," Mrs. Henson said, quite stoically, "my visitor will have some +champagne." + +She seemed to have dropped once again into the commonplace, painfully +exact as a hostess of breeding must be to an unwelcome guest. And yet she +never seemed to see him; those dark eyes were looking, ever looking, into +the dark future. The meal proceeded in silence save for an oily sarcasm +from Henson. In the dense stillness the occasional howl of a dog could be +heard. A slight flush of annoyance crossed Henson's broad face. + +"Some day I shall poison all those hounds," he said. + +Enid looked up at him swiftly. + +"If _all_ the hounds round Longdean were poisoned or shot it would be a +good place to live in," she said. + +Henson smiled caressingly, like Petruchio might have done in his +milder moments. + +"My dear Enid, you misjudge me," he said. "But I shall get justice +some day." + +Enid replied that she fervently hoped so, and thus the strange meal +proceeded with smiles and gentle words from Henson, and a wild outburst +of bitterness from the girl. So far as she was concerned the servants +might have been mere automatons. The dust rose in clouds as the latter +moved silently. It was hot in there, and gradually the brown powder +grimed like a film over Henson's oily skin. At the head of the table +Margaret Henson sat like a woman in a dream. Ever, ever her dark eyes +seemed to be looking eagerly around. Thirsty men seeking precious water +in a desert might have looked like her. Ever and anon her lips moved, but +no sound came from them. Occasionally she spoke to one or the other of +her guests, but she never followed her words with her eyes. Such a sad, +pathetic, pitiable figure, such a grey sorrow in her rags and snowy hair. + +The meal came to an end at length, and Mrs. Henson rose suddenly. There +was a grotesque suggestion of the marionette in the movement. She bowed +as if to some imaginary personage and moved with dignity towards the +door. Reginald Henson stood aside and opened it for her. She passed +into the dim hall as if absolutely unconscious of his presence. Enid +flashed a look of defiance at him as she disappeared into the gloom and +floating dust. + +Henson's face changed instantly, as if a mask had fallen from his smug +features. He became alert and vigorous. He was no longer patron of the +arts, a wide-minded philanthropist, the man who devotes himself to the +good of humanity. The blue eyes were cold and cruel, there was a hungry +look about the loose mouth. + +"Take a bottle of claret and the cigars into the small library, +Williams," he said. "And open the window, the dust stifles me." + +The dignified butler bowed respectfully. He resembled the typical bad +butler of fiction in no respect, but his thoughts were by no means +pleasant as he hastened to obey. Enid was loitering in the hall as +Williams passed with the tray. + +"Small study and the window open, miss," he whispered. "There's some game +on--oh, yes, there is some blessed game on again to-night. And him so +anxious to know how Miss Christiana is. Says she ought to call him in +professionally. Personally I'd rather call in an undertaker who was +desperately hard up for a job." + +"All right, Williams," Enid replied. "My sister is worse to-night. And +unless she gets better I shall insist upon her seeing a doctor. And I am +obliged for the hint about Mr. Henson. The little study commands the +staircase leading to my sister's bedroom." + +"And the open window commands the garden," Williams said, drily. + +"Yes, yes. Now go. You are a real friend, Williams, and I will never +forget your goodness. Run along--I can actually _feel_ that man coming." + +As a matter of fact, Henson was approaching noiselessly. Despite his +great bulk he had the clean, dainty step of a cat; his big, rolling ears +were those of a hare. Henson was always listening. He would have listened +behind a kitchen door to a pair of chattering scullery-maids. He liked to +find other people out, though as yet he had not been found out himself. +He stood before the world as a social missioner; he made speeches at +religious gatherings and affected the women to tears. He was known to +devote a considerable fortune to doing good; he had been asked to stand +for Parliament, where his real ambition lay. Gilead Gates had alluded to +Reginald Henson as his right-hand man. + +He crept along to the study, where the lamps were lighted and the silver +claret-jug set out. He carefully dusted a big arm-chair and began to +smoke, having first carefully extinguished the lamps and seen that the +window leading to the garden was wide open. Henson was watching for +something. In his feline nature he had the full gift of feline patience. +To serve his own ends he would have sat there watching all night if +necessary. He heard an occasional whimper, a howl from one of the dogs; +he heard Enid's voice singing in the drawing-room. The rest of the house +was quite funereal enough for him. + +In the midst of the drawing-room Margaret Henson sat still as a statue. +The distant, weary expression never left her eyes for a moment. As the +stable clock, the only one going on the premises, struck ten, Enid +crossed over from the piano to her aunt's side. There was an eager look +on her face, her eyes were gleaming like frosty stars. + +"Aunt," she whispered; "dear, I have had a message!" + +"Message of woe and desolation," Margaret Henson cried. "Tribulation and +sorrow on this wretched house. For seven long years the hand of the Lord +has lain heavily upon us." + +She spoke like one who was far away from her surroundings. And yet no +one could look in her eyes and say that she was mad. It was a proud, +passionate spirit, crushed down by some bitter humiliation. Enid's +eyes flashed. + +"That scoundrel has been robbing you again," she said. + +"Two thousand pounds," came the mechanical reply, "to endow a bed in some +hospital. And there is no escape, no hope unless we drag the shameful +secret from him. Bit by bit and drop by drop, and then I shall die and +you and Christiana will be penniless." + +"I daresay Chris and myself will survive that," Enid said, cheerfully. +"But we have a plan, dear aunt; we have thought it out carefully. +Reginald Henson has hidden the secret somewhere and we are going to find +it. The secret is hidden not far off, because our cousin has occasion to +require it frequently. It is like the purloined letter in Edgar Poe's +wonderful story." + +Margaret Henson nodded and mumbled. It seemed almost impossible to make +her understand. She babbled of strange things, with her dark eyes ever +fixed on the future. Enid turned away almost despairingly. At the same +time the stable clock struck the half-hour after ten. Williams slipped +in with a tray of glasses, noiselessly. On the tray lay a small pile of +tradesmen's books. The top one was of dull red with no lettering upon +it at all. + +"The housekeeper's respectful compliments, miss, and would you go through +them to-morrow?" Williams said. He tapped the top book significantly. +"To-morrow is the last day of the month." + +Enid picked up the top book with strange eagerness. There were pages of +figures and cabalistic entries that no ordinary person could make +anything of. Pages here and there were signed and decorated with pink +receipt stamps. Enid glanced down the last column, and her face grew a +little paler. + +"Aunt," she whispered, "I've got to go out. At once; do you understand? +There is a message here; and I am afraid that something dreadful has +happened. Can you sing?" + +"Ah, yes; a song of lamentation--a dirge for the dead." + +"No, no; seven years ago you had a lovely voice. I recollect what a +pleasure it was to me as a child; and they used to say that my voice +was very like yours, only not so sweet or so powerful. Aunt, I must go +out; and that man must know nothing about it. He is by the window in +the small library now, watching--watching. Help me, for the love of +Heaven, help me." + +The girl spoke with a fervency and passion that seemed to waken a +responsive chord in Margaret Henson's breast. A brighter gleam crept +into her eyes. + +"You are a dear girl," she said, dreamily; "yes, a dear girl. And I loved +singing; it was a great grief to me that they would not let me go upon +the stage. But I haven't sung since--since _that_--" + +She pointed to the huddled heap of china and glass and dried, dusty +flowers in one corner. Ethel shuddered slightly as she followed the +direction of the extended forefinger. + +"But you must try," she whispered. "It is for the good of the family, for +the recovery of the secret. Reginald Henson is sly and cruel and clever. +But we have one on our side now who is far more clever. And, unless I can +get away to-night without that man knowing, the chance may be lost for +ever. Come!" + +Margaret commenced to sing in a soft minor. At first the chords were thin +and dry, but gradually they increased in sweetness and power. The +hopeless, distant look died from the singer's eyes; there was a flush on +her cheeks that rendered her years younger. + +"Another one," she said, when the song was finished, "and yet another. +How wicked I have been to neglect this balm that God sent me all these +years. If you only knew what the sound of my own voice means to me! +Another one, Enid." + +"Yes, yes," Enid whispered. "You are to sing till I return. You are +to leave Henson to imagine that I am singing. He will never guess. +Now then." + +Enid crept away into the hall, closing the door softly behind her. She +made her way noiselessly from the house and across the lawn. As Henson +slipped through the open window into the garden Enid darted behind a +bush. Evidently Henson suspected nothing so far as she was concerned, for +she could see the red glow of the cigar between his lips. The faint +sweetness of distant music filled the air. So long as the song continued +Henson would relax his vigilance. + +He was pacing down the garden in the direction of the drive. Did the man +know anything? Enid wondered. He had so diabolically cunning a brain. He +seemed to find out everything, and to read others before they had made up +their minds for themselves. + +The cigar seemed to dance like a mocking sprite into the bushes. Usually +the man avoided those bushes. If Reginald Henson was afraid of one thing +it was of the dogs. And in return they hated him as he hated them. + +Enid's mind was made up. If the sound of that distant voice should only +cease for a moment she was quite sure Henson would turn back. But he +could hear it, and she knew that she was safe. Enid slipped past him into +the bushes and gave a faint click of her lips. Something moved and +whined, and two dark objects bounded towards her. She caught them +together by their collars and cuffed them soundly. Then she led the way +back so as to get on Henson's tracks. + +He was walking on ahead of her now, beating time softly to the music of +the faintly distant song with his cigar. Enid could distinctly see the +sweep of the red circle. + +"Hold him, Dan," she whispered. "Watch, Prance; watch, boy." + +There was a low growl as the hounds found the scent and dashed forward. +Henson came up all standing and sweating in every pore. It was not the +first time he had been held up by the dogs, and he knew by hard +experience what to expect if he made a bolt for it. + +Two grim muzzles were pressed against his trembling knees; he saw four +rows of ivory flashing in the dim light. Then the dogs crouched at his +feet, watching him with eyes as red and lurid as the point of his own +cigar. Had he attempted to move, had he tried coercion, they would have +fallen upon him and torn him in pieces. + +"Confusion to the creatures!" he cried, passionately. "I'll get a +revolver; I'll buy some prussic acid and poison the lot. And here I'll +have to stay till Williams locks up the stables. Wouldn't that little +Jezebel laugh at me if she could see me now? She would enjoy it better +than singing songs in the drawing-room to our sainted Margaret. Steady, +you brutes! I didn't move." + +He stood there rigidly, almost afraid to take the cigar from his lips, +whilst Enid sped without further need for caution down the drive. The +lodge-gates were closed and the deaf porter's house in darkness, so that +Enid could unlock the wicket without fear of detection. She rattled the +key on the bars and a figure slipped out of the darkness. + +"Good heavens, Ruth, is it really _you_?" Enid cried. + +"Really me, Enid. I came over on my bicycle. I am supposed to be round at +some friend's house in Brunswick Square, and one of the servants is +sitting up for me. Is Reginald safe? He hasn't yet discovered the secret +of the tradesman's book?" + +"That's all right, dear. But why are you here? Has something dreadful +happened?" + +"Well, I will try to tell you so in as few words as possible. I never +felt so ashamed of anything in my life." + +"Don't tell me that our scheme has failed!" "Perhaps I need not go so far +as that. The first part of it came off all right, and then a very +dreadful thing happened. We have got Mr. David Steel into frightful +trouble. He is going to be charged with attempted murder and robbery." + +"Ruth! But tell me. I am quite in the dark." + +"It was the night when--well, you know the night. It was after Mr. Steel +returned home from his visit to 219, Brunswick Square--" + +"You mean 218, Ruth." + +"It doesn't matter, because he knows pretty well all about it by this +time. It would have been far better for us if we hadn't been quite so +clever. It would have been far wiser to have taken Mr. Steel entirely +into our confidence. Oh, oh, Enid, if we had only left out that little +sentiment over the cigar-case! Then we should have been all right." + +"Dearest girl, my time is limited. I've got Reginald held up for the +time, but at any moment he may escape from his bondage. What about the +cigar-case?" + +"Well, Mr. Steel took it home with him. And when he got home he found a +man nearly murdered lying in his conservatory. That man was conveyed to +the Sussex County Hospital, where he still lies in an unconscious state. +On the body was found a receipt for a gun-metal cigar-case set with +diamonds." + +"Good gracious, Ruth, you don't mean to say--" + +"Oh, I do. I can't quite make out how it happened, but that same case +that we--that Mr. Steel has--has been positively identified as one +purchased from Walen by the injured man. There is no question about it. +And they have found out about Mr. Steel being short of money, and the +L1,000, and everything." + +"But we _know_ that that cigar-case from Lockhart's in North Street was +positively--" + +"Yes, yes. But what has become of that? And in what strange way was the +change made? I tell you that the whole thing frightens me. We thought +that we had hit upon a scheme to solve the problem, and keep our friends +out of danger. There was the American at Genoa who volunteered to assist +us. A week later he was found dead in his bed. Then there was +Christiana's friend, who disappeared entirely. And now we try further +assistance in the case of Mr. Steel, and he stands face to face with a +terrible charge. And he has found us out." + +"He has found us out? What do you mean?" + +"Well, he called to see me. He called at 219, of course. And directly I +heard his name I was so startled that I am afraid I betrayed myself. Such +a nice, kind, handsome man, Enid; so manly and good over it all. Of +course he declared that he had been at 219 before, and I could only +declare that he had done nothing of the kind. Never, never have I felt so +ashamed of myself in my life before." + +"It seems a pity," Enid said, thoughtfully. "You said nothing about 218?" + +"My dear, he found it out. At least, Hatherly Bell did for him. Hatherly +Bell happened to be staying down with us, and Hatherly Bell, who knows +Mr. Steel, promptly solved, or half solved, that side of the problem. And +Hatherly Bell is coming here to-night to see Aunt Margaret. He--" + +"Here!" Enid cried. "To see Aunt Margaret? Then he found out about you. +At all hazards Mr. Bell must not come here--he _must_ not. I would rather +let everything go than that. I would rather see auntie dead and Reginald +Henson master here. You _must_--" + +In the distance came the rattle of harness bells and the trot of a horse. + +"I'm afraid it's too late," Ruth Gates said, sadly. "I am afraid that +they are here already. Oh, if we had only left out that wretched +cigar-case!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER REMBRANDT + + +"Before we go any farther," Bell said, after a long pause, "I should like +to search the house from top to bottom. I've got a pretty sound theory in +my head, but I don't like to leave anything to chance. We shall be pretty +certain to find something." + +"I am entirely in your hands," David said, wearily. "So far as I am +capable of thinking out anything, it seems to me that we have to find +the woman." + +"_Cherchez la femme_ is a fairly sound premise in a case like this, but +when we have found the woman we shall have to find the man who is at the +bottom of the plot. I mean the man who is not only thwarting the woman, +but giving you a pretty severe lesson as to the advisability of minding +your own business for the future." + +"Then you don't think I am being made the victim of a vile conspiracy?" + +"Not by the woman, certainly. You are the victim of some fiendish +counterplot by the man, who has not quite mastered what the woman is +driving at. By placing you in dire peril he compels the woman to speak to +save you, and thus to expose her hand." + +"Then in that case I propose to sit tight," David said, grimly. "I am +bound to be prosecuted for robbery and attempted murder in due course. If +my man dies I am in a tight place." + +"And if he recovers your antagonist may be in a tighter," Bell chuckled. +"And if the man gets well and that brain injury proves permanent--I mean +if the man is rendered imbecile--why, we are only at the very threshold +of the mystery. It seems a callous thing to say, but this is the +prettiest problem I have had under my hands." + +"Make the most of it," David said, sardonically. "I daresay I should see +the matter in a more rational light if I were not so directly concerned. +But, if we are going to make a search of the premises, the sooner we +start the better." + +Upstairs there was nothing beyond certain lumber. There were dust and +dirt everywhere, save in the hall and front dining-room, which, as +Bell sapiently pointed out, had obviously been cleared to make ready +for Steel's strange reception. Down in the housekeeper's room was a +large collection of dusty furniture, and a number of pictures and +engravings piled with their faces to the wall. Bell began idly to turn +the latter over. + +"I am a maniac on the subject of old prints," he explained. "I never see +a pile without a wild longing to examine them. And, by Jove, there are +some good things here. Unless I am greatly mistaken--here, Steel, pull up +the blinds! Good heavens, is it possible?" + +"Found a Sistine Madonna or a stray Angelo?" David asked. "Or a ghost? +What _is_ the matter? Is it another phase of the mystery?" + +"The Rembrandt," Bell gasped. "Look at it, man!" + +Steel bent eagerly over the engraving. An old print, an old piece of +china, an antique jewel, always exercised a charm over the novelist. He +had an unerring eye for that kind of thing. + +"Exquisite," he cried. "A Rembrandt, of course, but I don't recollect +the picture." + +"The picture was destroyed by accident after Rembrandt had engraved it +with his own hand," Bell proceeded to explain. He was quite coherent now, +but he breathed fast and loud, "I shall proceed to give you the history +of the picture presently, and more especially a history of the +engraving." + +"Has it any particular name?" David asked. + +"Yes, we found that out. It was called 'The Crimson Blind!'" + +"No getting away from the crimson blind," David murmured. "Still, I can +quite imagine that to have been the name of the picture. That shutter +or blind might have had a setting sun behind it, which would account +for the tender warmth of the kitchen foreground and the deep gloom +where the lovers are seated. By Jove, Bell, it is a magnificent piece +of work. I've a special fancy for Rembrandt engravings, but I never saw +one equal to that." + +"And you never will," Bell replied, "save in one instance. The picture +itself was painted in Rembrandt's modest lodging in the Keizerskroon +Tavern after the forced sale of his paintings at that hostel in the year +1658. At that time Rembrandt was painfully poor, as his recorded tavern +bills show. The same bills also disclose the fact that 'The Crimson +Blind' was painted for a private customer with a condition that the +subject should be engraved as well. After one impression had been taken +off the plate the picture was destroyed by a careless servant. In a +sudden fit of rage Rembrandt destroyed the plate, having, they say, only +taken one impression from it." + +"Then there is only one of these engravings in the world? What a find!" + +"There is one other, as I know to my cost," Bell said, significantly. +"Until a few days ago I never entertained the idea that there were two. +Steel, you are the victim of a vile conspiracy, but it is nothing to the +conspiracy which has darkened my life." + +"Sooner or later I always felt that I should get to the bottom of the +mystery, and now I am certain of it. And, strange as it may seem, I +verily believe that you and I are hunting the same man down--that the one +man is at the bottom of the two evils. But you shall hear my story +presently. What we have to find out now is who was the last tenant and +who is the present owner of the house, and incidentally learn who this +lumber belongs to. Ah, this has been a great day for me!" + +Bell spoke exultingly, a great light shining in his eyes. And David +sapiently asked no further questions for the present. All that he wanted +to know would come in time. The next move, of course, was to visit the +agent of the property. + +A smart, dapper little man, looking absurdly out of place in an +exceedingly spacious office, was quite ready to give every information. +It was certainly true that 218, Brunswick Square, was to be let at an +exceedingly low rent on a repairing lease, and that the owner had a lot +more property in Brighton to be let on the same terms. The lady was +exceedingly rich and eccentric; indeed, by asking such low rents she was +doing her best to seriously diminish her income. + +"Do you know the lady at all?" Bell asked. + +"Not personally," the agent admitted. "So far as I can tell, the property +came into the present owner's hands some years ago by inheritance. The +property also included a very old house, called Longdean Grange, not far +from Rottingdean, where the lady, Mrs. Henson, lives at present. Nobody +ever goes there, nobody ever visits there, and to keep the place free +from prying visitors a large number of savage dogs are allowed to prowl +about the grounds." + +Bell listened eagerly. Watching him, David could see that his eyes +glinted like points of steel. There was something subtle behind all this +common-place that touched the imagination of the novelist. + +"Has 218 been let during the occupation of the present owner?" +Bell asked. + +"No," the agent replied. "But the present owner--as heir to the +property--I am told, was interested in both 218 and 219, which used to be +a kind of high-class convalescent home for poor clergy and the widows and +daughters of poor clergy in want of a holiday. The one house was for the +men and the other for the women, and both were furnished exactly alike; +in fact, Mr. Gates's landlord, the tenant of 219, bought the furniture +exactly as it stands when the scheme fell through." + +Steel looked up swiftly. A sudden inspiration came to him. + +"In that case what became of the precisely similar furniture in +218?" he asked. + +"That I cannot tell you," the agent said. "That house was let as it stood +to some sham philanthropist whose name I forget. The whole thing was a +fraud, and the swindler only avoided arrest by leaving the country. +Probably the goods were stored somewhere or perhaps seized by some +creditor. But I really can't say definitely without looking the matter +up. There are some books and prints now left in the house out of the +wreck. We shall probably put them in a sale, only they have been +overlooked. The whole lot will not fetch L5." + +"Would you take L5 for them?" Bell asked. + +"Gladly. Even if only to get them carted away." + +Bell gravely produced a L5 note, for which he asked and received a +receipt. Then he and Steel repaired to 218 once more, whence they +recovered the Rembrandt, and subsequently returned the keys of the house +to the agent. There was an air of repressed excitement about Bell which +was not without its effect upon his companion. The cold, hard lines +seemed to have faded from Bell's face; there was a brightness about him +that added to his already fine physical beauty. + +"And now, perhaps, you will be good enough to explain," David suggested. + +"My dear fellow, it would take too long," Bell cried. "Presently I am +going to tell you the story of the tragedy of my life. You have doubtless +wondered, as others have wondered, why I dropped out of the road when the +goal was in sight. Well, your curiosity is about to be gratified. I am +going to help you, and in return you are going to help me to come back +into the race again. By way of a start, you are going to ask me to come +and dine with you to-night." + +"At half-past seven, then. Nothing will give me greater pleasure." + +"Spoken like a man and a brother. We will dine, and I will tell you my +story after the house is quiet. And if I ask you to accompany me on a +midnight adventure you will not say me nay?" + +"Not in my present mood, at any rate. Adventure, with a dash of danger in +it, suits my present mood exactly. And if there is to be physical +violence, so much the better. My diplomacy may be weak, but physically I +am not to be despised in a row." + +"Well, we'll try and avoid the latter, if possible," Bell laughed. +"Still, for your satisfaction, I may say there is just the chance of a +scrimmage. And now I really must go, because I have any amount of work to +do for Gates. Till half-past seven, _au revoir_." + +Steel lighted a cigarette and strolled thoughtfully homewards along the +front. The more he thought over the mystery the more tangled it became. +And yet he felt perfectly sure that he was on the right track. The +discovery that both those houses had been furnished exactly alike at one +time was a most important one. And David no longer believed that he had +been to No. 219 on the night of the great adventure. Then he found +himself thinking about Ruth Gates's gentle face and lovely eyes, until he +looked up and saw the girl before him. + +"You--you wanted to speak to me?" he stammered. + +"I followed you on purpose," the girl said, quietly, "I can't tell you +everything, because it is not my secret to tell. But believe me +everything will come out right in the end. Don't think badly of me, don't +be hard and bitter because--" + +"Because I am nothing of the kind," David smiled. "It is impossible to +look into a face like yours and doubt you. And I am certain that you are +acting loyally and faithfully for the sake of others who--" + +"Yes, yes, and for your sake, too. Pray try and remember that. For your +sake, too. Oh, if you only knew how I admire and esteem you! If only--" + +She paused with the deep blush crimsoning her face. David caught her +hand, and it seemed to him for a moment that she returned the pressure. + +"Let me help you," he whispered. "Only be my friend and I will forgive +everything." + +She gave him a long look of her deep, velvety eyes, she flashed him a +little smile, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE CRIMSON BLIND" + + +Hatherly Bell turned up at Downend Terrace gay and debonair as if he had +not a single trouble in the world. His evening dress was of the smartest +and he had a rose in his buttonhole. From his cab he took a square brown +paper parcel, which he deposited in David's study with particular care. + +He made no allusion whatever to the sterner business of the evening; he +was gay and light-hearted as a child, so that Mrs. Steel sat up quite an +hour later than her usual time, absolutely unconscious of the fact that +she had broken a rigid rule of ten years' standing. + +"Now let us go into the study and smoke a cigar," David suggested. + +Bell dragged a long deck-chair into the conservatory and lighted a Massa. +Steel's offer of whisky and soda was declined. + +"An ideal place for a novelist who has a keen eye for the beautiful," +he said. "There you have your books and pictures, your stained glass +and china, and when you turn your eyes this way they are gladdened by +green foliage and lovely flowers. It's hard to connect such a room with +a tragedy." + +"And yet the tragedy was worked out close by where you are sitting. But +never mind that. Come to your story, and let me see if we can fit it +into mine." + +Bell took a fresh pull at his cigar and plunged into his subject. + +"About seven years ago professional business took me to Amsterdam; a +brilliant young medical genius who was drinking himself prematurely into +his grave had made some wonderful discoveries relating to the brain and +psychology generally, so I decided to learn what I could before it + was too late. I found the young doctor to be an exceedingly good + fellow, only too ready to speak of his discoveries, and there I + stayed for a year. My word! what do I not owe to that misguided + mind! And what a revolution he would have made in medicine and + surgery had he only lived! + +"Well, in Amsterdam I got to know everybody who was worth +knowing--medical, artistic, social. And amongst the rest was an +Englishman called Lord Littimer, his son, and an exceedingly clever +nephew of his, Henson by name, who was the son's tutor. Littimer was a +savant, a scholar, and a fine connoisseur as regarded pictures. He was +popularly supposed to have the finest collection of old prints in +England. He would travel anywhere in search of something fresh, and the +rumour of some apocryphal treasure in Amsterdam had brought him thither. +He and I were friends from the first, as, indeed, were the son and +myself. Henson, the nephew, was more quiet and reserved, but fond, as I +discovered, of a little secret dissipation. + +"In those days I was not averse to a little life myself. I was +passionately fond of all games of cards, and I am afraid that I was in +the habit of gambling to a greater extent than I could afford. I don't +gamble now and I don't play cards: in fact, I shall never touch a card +again as long as I live. Why, you shall hear all in good time. + +"We were all getting on very well together at that time when Lord +Littimer's sister paid us a visit. She came accompanied by a daughter +called Enid. I will not describe her, because no words of mine could do +her justice. In a word, I fell over head and ears in love with Enid, and +in that state I have remained ever since. Of all the crosses that I have +to bear the knowledge that I love Enid and that she loves--and despises +--me, is by far the heaviest. But I don't want to dwell upon that." + +"We were a very happy party there until Van Sneck and Von Gulden turned +up. Enid and I had come to an understanding, and, though we kept our +secret, we were not going to do so for long. From the very first Von +Gulden admired her. He was a handsome, swaggering soldier, a +good-looking, wealthy man, who had a great reputation for gallantry, and +something worse. Perhaps the fellow guessed how things lay, for he never +troubled to conceal his dislike and contempt for me. It is no fault of +mine that I am extremely sensitive as to my personal appearance, but Von +Gulden played upon it until he drove me nearly mad. He challenged me +sneeringly to certain sports wherein he knew I could not shine; he +challenged me to ecarte, where I fancied I was his master. + +"Was I? Well, we had been dining that night, and perhaps too freely, for +I entirely lost my head before I began the game in earnest. Those covert +sneers had nearly driven me mad. To make a long story short, when I got +up from the table that night, I owed my opponent nearly L800, without the +faintest prospect of paying a tenth part of it. I was only a poor, +ambitious young man then, with my way to make in the world. And if that +money were not forthcoming in the next few days I was utterly ruined." + +"The following morning the great discovery was made. The Van Sneck I have +alluded to was an artist, a dealer, a man of the shadiest reputation, +whom my patron, Lord Littimer, had picked up. It was Van Sneck who +produced the copy of 'The Crimson Blind.' Not only did he produce the +copy, but he produced the history from some recently discovered papers +relating to the Keizerskroon Tavern of the year 1656, which would have +satisfied a more exacting man than Littimer. In the end the Viscount +purchased the engraving for L800 English. + +"You can imagine how delighted he was with his prize--he had secured an +engraving by Rembrandt that was absolutely unique. Under more favourable +circumstances I should have shared that pleasure. But I was face to face +with ruin, and therefore I had but small heart for rejoicing. + +"I came down the next morning after a sleepless night, and with a wild +endeavour to scheme some way of getting the money to pay my creditor. To +my absolute amazement I found a polite note from the lieutenant coldly +thanking me for the notes I had sent him by messenger, and handing me a +formal receipt for L800. At first I regarded it as a hoax. But, with all +his queer ways, Von Gulden was a gentleman. Somebody had paid the debt +for me. And somebody had, though I have never found out to this day." + +"All the same, you have your suspicions?" Steel suggested. + +"I have a very strong suspicion, but I have never been able to verify it. +All the same, you can imagine what an enormous weight it was off my mind, +and how comparatively cheerful I was as I crossed over to the hotel of +Lord Littimer after breakfast. I found him literally beside himself with +passion. Some thief had got into his room in the night and stolen his +Rembrandt. The frame was intact, but the engraving had been rolled up and +taken away." + +"Very like the story of the stolen Gainsborough." + +"No doubt the one theft inspired the other. I was sent off on foot to +look for Van Sneck, only to find that he had suddenly left the city. He +had got into trouble with the police, and had fled to avoid being sent to +gaol. And from that day to this nothing has been seen of that picture." + +"But I read to-day that it is still in Littimer Castle," said David. + +"Another one," Bell observed. "Oblige me by opening yonder parcel. There +you see is the print that I purchased to-day for L5. This, _this_, my +friend, is the print that was stolen from Littimer's lodgings in +Amsterdam. If you look closely at it you will see four dull red spots in +the left-hand corner. They are supposed to be blood-spots from a cut +finger of the artist. I am prepared to swear that this is the very print, +frame and all, that was purchased in Amsterdam from that shady scoundrel +Van Sneck." + +"But Littimer is credited with having one in his collection," +David urged. + +"He has one in his collection," Bell said, coolly, "And, moreover, he is +firmly under the impression that he is at present happy in the possession +of his own lost treasure. And up to this very day I was under exactly the +same delusion. Now I know that there must have been two copies of the +plate, and that this knowledge was used to ruin me." + +"But," Steel murmured, "I don't exactly see--" + +"I am just coming to that. We hunted high and low for the picture, but +nowhere could it be found. The affair created a profound impression in +Amsterdam. A day or two later Von Gulden went back to his duty on the +Belgian frontier and business called me home. I packed my solitary +portmanteau and departed. When I arrived at the frontier I opened my +luggage for the Custom officer and the whole contents were turned out +without ceremony. On the bottom was a roll of paper on a stick that I +quite failed to recognise. An inquisitive Customs House officer opened it +and immediately called the lieutenant in charge. Strange to say, he +proved to be Von Gulden. He came up to me, very gravely, with the paper +in his hand. + +"'May I inquire how this came amongst your luggage?' he asked. + +"I could say nothing; I was dumb. For there lay the Rembrandt. The red +spots had been smudged out of the corner, but there, the picture was. + +"Well, I lost my head then. I accused Von Gulden of all kinds of +disgraceful things. And he behaved like a gentleman--he made me ashamed +of myself. But he kept the picture and returned it to Littimer, and I +was ruined. Lord Littimer declined to prosecute, but he would not see me +and he would hear of no explanation. Indeed, I had none to offer. Enid +refused to see me also or reply to my letters. The story of my big +gambling debt, and its liquidation, got about. Steel, I was ruined. Some +enemy had done this thing, and from that day to this I have been a +marked man." + +"But how on earth was it done?" Steel cried. + +"For the present I can only make surmises," Bell replied. "Van Sneck was +a slippery dog. Of course, he had found two of those plates. He kept the +one back so as to sell the other at a fancy price. My enemy discovered +this, and Van Sneck's sudden flight was his opportunity. He could afford +to get rid of me at an apparently dear rate. He stole Littimer's +engraving--in fact, he must have done so, or I should not have it at this +moment. Then he smudged out some imaginary spots on the other and hid it +in my luggage, knowing that it would be found. Also he knew that it would +be returned to Littimer, and that the stolen plate could be laid aside +and produced at some remote date as an original find. The find has been +mine, and it will go hard if I can't get to the bottom of the mystery +now. It is strange that your mysterious trouble and mine should be bound +up so closely together, but in the end it will simplify matters, for the +very reason that we are both on the hunt for the same man." + +"Which man we have got to find, Bell." + +"Granted. We will bait for him as one does for a wily old trout. The fly +shall be the Rembrandt, and you see he will rise to it in time. But +beyond this I have made one or two important discoveries to-day. We are +going to the house of the strange lady who owns 218 and 219, Brunswick +Square, and I shall be greatly mistaken if she does not prove to be an +old acquaintance of mine. There will be danger." + +"You propose to go to-night?" + +"I propose to go at once," Bell said. "Dark hours are always best for +dark business. Now, which is the nearest way to Longdean Grange?" + +"So the House of the Silent Sorrow, as they call it, is to be our +destination! I must confess that the place has ever held a strange +fascination for me. We will go over the golf links and behind Ovingdean +village. It is a rare spot for a tragedy." + +Bell rose and lighted a fresh cigar. + +"Come along," he said. "Poke that Rembrandt behind your books with its +face to the wall. I would not lose that for anything now. No, on second +thoughts I find I shall have to take it with me." + +David closed the door carefully behind him, and the two stepped out into +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"GOOD DOG!" + + +Two dancing eyes of flame were streaming up the lane towards the girls, a +long shadow slanted across the white pathway, the steady flick of hoofs +drew nearer. Then the hoofs ceased their smiting of the dust and a man's +voice spoke. + +"Better turn and wait for us by the farm, driver," the voice said. "Bell, +can you manage, man?" + +"Who was that?" Enid whispered. "A stranger?" + +"Not precisely," Ruth replied. "That is Mr. David Steel. Oh, I am sure +we can trust him. Don't annoy him. Think of the trouble he is in for +our sakes." + +"I do," Enid said, drily. "I am also thinking of Reginald. If our dear +Reginald escapes from the fostering care of the dogs we shall be ruined. +That man's hearing is wonderful. He will come creeping down here on those +large flat feet of his, and that cunning brain will take in everything +like a flash. Good dog!" + +A hound in the distance growled, and then another howled mournfully. It +was the plaint of the beast who has found his quarry, impatient for the +gaoler to arrive. So long as that continued Henson was safe. Any attempt +to escape, and he would be torn to pieces. Just at the present moment +Enid almost hoped that the attempt would be made. It certainly was all +right for the present, but then Williams might happen along on his way to +the stables at any moment. + +The two men were coming nearer. They both paused as the dogs gave tongue. +Through the thick belt of trees lights gleamed from one or two windows of +the house. Steel pulled up and shuddered slightly in spite of himself. + +"Crimson blinds," he said. "Crimson blinds all through this business. +They are beginning to get on my nerves. What about those dogs, Bell?" + +"Dogs or no dogs, I am not going back now," Bell muttered. "It's +perfectly useless to come here in the daytime; therefore we must fall +back upon a little amateur burglary. There's a girl yonder who might have +assisted me at one time, but--" + +Enid slipped into the road. The night was passably light and her +beautiful features were fairly clear to the startled men in the road. + +"The girl is here," she said. "What do you want?" + +Bell and his companion cried out simultaneously: Bell because he was so +suddenly face to face with one who was very dear to him, David because it +seemed to him that he recognised the voice from the darkness, the voice +of his great adventure. And there was another surprise as he saw Ruth +Gates side by side with the owner of that wonderful voice. + +"Enid!" Bell cried, hoarsely. "I did not expect--" + +"To confront me like this," the girl said, coldly. "That I quite +understand. What I don't understand is why you intrude your hated +presence here." + +Bell shook his handsome head mournfully. He looked strangely downcast and +dejected, and none the less, perhaps, because a fall in crossing the down +had severely wrenched his ankle. But for a belated cab on the Rottingdean +road he would not have been here now. + +"As hard and cruel as ever," he said. "Not one word to me, not one word +in my defence. And all the time I am the victim of a vile conspiracy--" + +"Conspiracy! Do you call vulgar theft a conspiracy?" + +"It was nothing else," David put in, eagerly. "A most extraordinary +conspiracy. The kind of thing that you would not have deemed possible out +of a book." + +"And who might this gentleman be?" Enid asked, haughtily. + +"A thousand pardons for my want of ceremony," David said. "If I had not +been under the impression that we had met before I should never have +presumed--" + +"Oh, a truce to this," Bell cried. "We are wasting time. The hour is not +far distant, Enid, when you will ask my pardon. Meanwhile I am going up +to the house, and you are going to take me there. Come what way, I don't +sleep to-night until I have speech with your aunt." + +David had drawn a little aside. By a kind of instinct Ruth Gates +followed him. A shaft of grey light glinted upon her cycle in the grass +by the roadside. Enid and Bell were talking in vehement whispers--they +seemed to be absolutely unconscious of anybody else but themselves. +David could see the anger and scorn on the pale, high-bred face; he +could see Bell gradually expanding as he brought all his strength and +firm power of will to bear. + +"What will be the upshot of it?" Ruth asked, timidly. + +"Bell will conquer," David replied. "He always does, you know." + +"I am afraid you don't take my meaning, Mr. Steel." + +David looked down into the sweet, troubled face of his companion, and +thence away to the vivid crimson patches beyond the dark belt of foliage. +Ever and anon the intense stillness of the night was broken by the +long-drawn howl of one of the hounds. David remembered it for years +afterwards; it formed the most realistic chapter of one of his most +popular novels. + +"Heaven only knows," he said. "I have been dragged into this business, +but what it means I know no more than a child. I am mixed up in it, +and Bell is mixed up in it, and so are you. Why we shall perhaps know +some day." + +"You are not angry with me?" + +"Why, no. Only you might have had a little more confidence in me." + +"Mr. Steel, we dared not. We wanted your advice, and nothing more. Even +now I am afraid I am saying too much. There is a withering blight over +yonder house that is beyond mere words. And twice gallant gentlemen have +come forward to our assistance. Both of them are dead. And if we had +dragged you, a total stranger, into the arena, we should morally have +murdered you." + +"Am I not within the charmed circle now?" David smiled. + +"Not of our free will," Ruth said, eagerly. "You came into the tangle +with Hatherly Bell. Thank Heaven you have an ally like that. And yet I am +filled with shame--" + +"My dear young lady, what have you to be ashamed of?" + +Ruth covered her face with her hands for a moment and David saw a tear or +two trickle through the slim fingers. He took the hands in his, gently, +tenderly, and glanced into the fine, grey eyes. Never had he been moved +to a woman like this before. + +"But what will you think of me?" Ruth whispered. "You have been so good +and kind and I am so foolish. What can you think of a girl who is all +this way from home at midnight? It is so--so unmaidenly." + +"It might be in some girls, but not in you," David said, boldly. "One has +only to look in your face and see that only the good and the pure dwell +there. But you were not afraid?" + +"Horribly afraid. The very shadows startled me. But when I discovered +your errand to-night I was bound to come. My loyalty to Enid demanded it, +and I had not one single person in the world whom I could trust." + +"If you had only come to me, Miss Ruth--" + +"I know, I know now. Oh, it is a blessed thing for a lonely girl to have +one good man that she can rely upon. And you have been so very good, and +we have treated you very, very badly." + +But David would not hear anything of the kind. The whole adventure was +strange to a degree, but it seemed to matter nothing so long as he had +Ruth for company. Still, the girl must be got home. She could not be +allowed to remain here, nor must she be permitted to return to Brighton +alone. Bell strode up at the same moment. + +"Miss Henson has been so good as to listen to my arguments," he said. "I +am going into the house. Don't worry about me, but send Miss Gates home +in the cab. I shall manage somehow." + +David turned eagerly to Ruth. + +"That will be best," he said. "We can put your machine on the cab, and +I'll accompany you part of the way home. Our cabman will think that you +came from the house. I shan't be long, Bell." + +Ruth assented gratefully. As David put her in the cab Bell whispered to +him to return as soon as possible, but the girl heard nothing of this. + +"How kind--how kind you are," she murmured. + +"Perhaps some day you will be kind to me," David said, and Ruth blushed +in the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BEHIND THE BLIND + + +There was a long pause till the sound of the horse's hoofs died away. +Bell was waiting for his companion to speak. Her head was partly turned +from him, so that he could only watch the dainty beauty of her profile. +She stood there cold and still, but he could see that she was +profoundly agitated. + +"I never thought to see the day when I should trust you again," she said; +"I never expected to trust any man again." + +"You will trust me, darling," Bell said, passionately. "If you still care +for me as I care for you. _Do_ you?" + +The question came keen as steel. Enid shivered and hesitated. Bell laid a +light hand on her arm. + +"Speak," he said. "I am going to clear myself, I am going to take back +my good name. But if you no longer care for me the rest matters +nothing. Speak." + +"I am not one of those who change, God pity me," Enid murmured. + +Bell drew a long, deep breath. He wanted no assurance beyond that. + +"Then lead the way," he said. "I have come at the right time; I have been +looking for you everywhere, and I find you in the hour of your deepest +sorrow. When I knew your aunt last she was a cheerful, happy woman. From +what I hear now she is suffering, you are all suffering, under some +blighting grief." + +"Oh, if you only knew what that sorrow was, Hatherly." + +"Hatherly! How good the old name sounds from your lips. Nobody has ever +called me that since--since we parted. And to think that I should have +been searching for you all these years, when Miss Ruth Gates could have +given me the clue at any time. And why have you been playing such strange +tricks upon my friend David Steel? Why have you---What is that?" + +Somebody was moving somewhere in the grounds, and a voice shouted for +help. Enid started forward. + +"It is Williams coming from the stables," she said. "I have so arranged +it that the dogs are holding up my dear cousin, Reginald Henson, who is +calling upon Williams to release him. If Reginald gets back to the house +now we are ruined. Follow me as well as you can." + +Enid disappeared down a narrow, tangled path, leaving Bell to limp along +painfully in her track. A little way off Henson was yelling lustily for +assistance. Williams, who had evidently taken in the situation, was +coming up leisurely, chuckling at the discomfiture of the enemy. The +hounds were whining and baying. From the house came the notes of a love +song passionately declaimed. A couple of the great dogs came snarling up +to Bell and laid their grimy muzzles on his thighs. A cold sensation +crept up and down his spine as he came to a standstill. + +"The brutes!" he muttered. "Margaret Henson must be mad indeed to have +these creatures about the place. Ah! would you? Very well, I'll play the +game fairly, and not move. If I call out I shall spoil the game. If I +remain quiet I shall have a pleasant night of it. Let us hope for the +best and that Enid will understand the situation." + +Meanwhile Enid had come up with Williams. She laid her hand imperiously +upon his lips. + +"Not a word," she whispered. "Mr. Henson is held up by the dogs. He must +remain where he is till I give you the signal to release him. I know you +answered his call, but you are to go no farther." + +Williams assented willingly enough. Everything that tended to the +discomfort of Reginald Henson filled him with a peculiar and +deep-seated pleasure. + +"Very well, miss," he said, demurely. "And don't you hurry, miss. This is +a kind of job that calls for plenty of patience. And I'm really shocking +deaf tonight." + +Williams retreated leisurely in the direction of the stables, but his +malady was not so distressing that he failed to hear a groan and a +snarling curse from Henson. Enid fled back along the track, where she +found Bell standing patiently with a dog's muzzle close to either knee. +His face was white and shining, otherwise he showed no signs of fear. +Enid laid a hand on the head of either dog, and they rolled like great +cats at her feet in the bushes. + +"Now come swiftly," she whispered. "There is no time to be lost." + +They were in the house at last, crossing the dusty floor, with the motes +dancing in the lamp-light, deadening their footsteps and muffling the +intense silence. Above the stillness rose the song from the drawing-room; +from without came the restless murmur of the dogs. Enid entered the +drawing-room, and Bell limped in behind her. The music immediately +ceased. As Enid glanced at her aunt she saw that the far-away look had +died from her eyes, that the sparkle and brightness of reason were there. +She had come out of the mist and the shadows for a time at any rate. + +"Dr. Hatherly Bell to see you, aunt," Enid said, in a low tone. + +Margaret Henson shot up from the piano like a statue. There was no +welcome on her face, no surprise there, nothing but deep, unutterable +contempt and loathing. + +"I have been asleep," she said. She passed her hand dreamily over her +face. "I have been in a dream for seven long years. Enid brought me back +to the music again to-night, and it touched my heart, and now I am awake +again. Do you recollect the 'Slumber Song,' Hatherly Bell? The last time +I sang it you were present. It was a happy night; the very last happy +night in the world to me." + +"I recollect it perfectly well, Lady Littimer," Bell said. + +"Lady Littimer! How strange it is to hear that name again. Seven years +since then. Here I am called Margaret Henson, and nobody knows. And +now _you_ have found out. Do you come here to blackmail and rob me +like the rest?" + +"I come here entirely on your behalf and my own, my lady." + +"That is what they all say--and then they rob me. You stole the +Rembrandt." + +The last words came like a shot from a catapult. Enid's face grew colder. +Bell drew a long tube of discoloured paper carefully tied round a stick +from his pocket. + +"I am going to disprove that once and for all," he said. "The Rembrandt +is at present in Lord Littimer's collection. There is an account of it in +to-day's _Telegraph_. It is perfectly familiar to both of you. And, that +being the case, what do you think of this?" + +He unrolled the paper before Enid's astonished eyes. Margaret Henson +glanced at it listlessly; she was fast sinking into the old, strange +oblivion again. But Enid was all rapt attention. + +"I would have sworn to that as Lord Littimer's own," she gasped. + +"It is his own," Bell replied. "Stolen from him and a copy placed by some +arch-enemy in my portmanteau, it was certain to be found on the frontier. +Don't you see that there were two Rembrandts? When the one from my +portmanteau was restored to Littimer his own was kept by the thief. +Subsequently it would be exposed as a new find, with some story as to its +discovery, only, unfortunately for the scoundrel, it came into my +possession." + +"And where did you find it?" Enid asked. "I found it," Bell said, slowly, +"in a house called 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton." + +A strange cry came from Enid's lips. She stood swaying before her lover, +white as the paper upon which her eyes were eagerly fixed. Margaret +Henson was pacing up and down the room, her lips muttering, and raising a +cloud of pallid dust behind her. + +"I--I am sorry," Enid said, falteringly. "And all these years I have +deemed you guilty. But then the proof was so plain; I could not deny the +evidence of my own senses. And Von Gulden came to me saying how deeply +distressed he was, and that he would have prevented the catastrophe if he +could. Well?" + +A servant stood waiting in the doorway with wondering eyes at the sight +of a stranger. + +"I'm sorry, miss," she said, "but Miss Christiana is worse; indeed, she +quite frightens me. I've taken the liberty of telephoning to Dr. Walker." + +The words seemed to bring consciousness to Margaret Henson. + +"Christiana worse," she said. "Another of them going; it will be a happy +release from a house of sorrow like this. I will come up, Martin." + +She swept out of the room after the servant. Enid appeared hardly to have +heard. Bell looked at her inquiringly and with some little displeasure. + +"I fancy I have heard you speak of your sister Christiana," he said. +"Is she ill?" + +"She is at the point of death, I understand; you think that I am callous. +Oh, if you only knew! But the light will come to us all in time, God +willing. Look at this place, look at the blight of it, and wonder how we +endure it. Hatherly, I have made a discovery." + +"We seem to be living in an atmosphere of discoveries. What is it?" + +"I will answer your question by asking another. You have been made the +victim of a vile conspiracy. For seven years your career has been +blighted. And I have lost seven years of my life, too. Have you any idea +who your enemy is?" + +"Not the faintest, but, believe me, I shall find out in time. And +then---" + +A purple blackness like the lurid light of a storm flashed into his eyes, +the lines of his mouth grew rigid. Enid laid a hand tenderly on his arm. + +"Your enemy is the common enemy of us all," she said. "We have wasted the +years, but we are young yet. Your enemy is Reginald Henson." + +"Enid, you speak with conviction. Are you sure of this?" + +"Certain. When I have time I will tell you everything. But not now. And +that man must never know that you have been near the house to-night, not +so much for your sake as for the sake of your friend David Steel. Now I +can see the Providence behind it all. Hatherly, tell me that you forgive +me before the others come back." + +"My darling, I cannot see how you could have acted otherwise." + +Enid turned towards him with a great glad light in her eyes. She said +nothing, for the simple reason that there was nothing to say. Hatherly +Bell caught her in his strong arms, and she swayed to reach his lips. In +that delicious moment the world was all forgot. + +But not for long. There was a sudden rush and a tumble of feet on the +stairs, there was a strange voice speaking hurriedly, then the +drawing-room door opened and Margaret Henson came in. She was looking +wild and excited and talked incoherently. An obviously professional man +followed her. + +"My dear madam," he was saying, "I have done all I can. In the last few +days I have not been able to disguise from myself that there was small +hope for the patient. The exhaustion, the shock to the system, the +congestion, all point to an early collapse." + +"Is my sister so much worse, Dr. Walker?" Enid asked, quietly. + +"She could not be any worse and be alive," the doctor said. "Unless I am +greatly mistaken the gentleman behind you is Mr. Hatherly Bell. I presume +he has been called in to meet me? If so, I am sincerely glad, because I +shall be pleased to have a second opinion. A bad case of"--here followed +a long technical name--"one of the worst cases I have ever seen." + +"You can command me, Enid," Bell said. "If I can." + +"No, no," Enid cried. "What am I saying? Please to go upstairs +with Martin." + +Bell departed, wonderingly. Enid flew to the door and out into the night. +She could hear Henson cursing and shouting, could hear the snarling +clamour of the dogs. At the foot of the drive she paused and called Steel +softly by name. To her intense relief he came from the shadow. + +"I am here," he cried. "Do you want me?" + +"Yes, yes," Enid panted. "Never more were your services needed. My sister +is dying; my sister must--die. And Hatherly Bell is with her, and--you +understand?" + +"Yes," said David. A vivid flash of understanding had come to him. "Bell +shall do as I tell him. Come along." + +"Hold him up, dear doggies," Enid murmured. "Hold him up and I'll love +both of you for ever." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A MEDICAL OPINION + + +David Steel followed his guide with the feelings of the man who has +given himself over to circumstances. There was a savour of nightmare +about the whole thing that appealed distinctly to his imagination. The +darkness, the strange situation, the vivid streaks of the crimson +blinds--the crimson blind that seemed an integral part of the +mystery--all served to stimulate him. The tragic note was deepened by +the whine and howling of the dogs. + +"There is a man over there," David whispered. + +"A man who is going to stay there," Enid said, with grim satisfaction. +"It is virtually necessary that Mr. Reginald Henson should not be +disturbed. The dogs have a foolish weakness for his society. So long as +he shows no signs of boredom he is safe." + +David smiled with a vague grasp of the situation. Apparently the cue was +to be surprised at nothing that he saw about the House of the Silent +Sorrow. The name of Reginald Henson was more or less familiar to him as +that of a man who stood high in public estimation. But the bitter +contempt in his companion's voice suggested that there was another side +to the man's character. + +"I hope you are not asking me to do anything wrong," David murmured. + +"I am absolutely certain of it," the girl said. "It is a case of the end +justifying the means; and if ever the end justified the means, it does in +this case. Besides--" + +Enid Henson hesitated. David's quick perception prompted him. + +"Besides, it is my suggestion," he said. "When I had the pleasure of +seeing you before--" + +"Pardon me, you have never had the pleasure of seeing me before." + +"Ah, you would make an excellent Parliamentary fencer. I bow to your +correction and admit that I have never _seen_ you before. But your voice +reminds me of a voice I heard very recently under remarkable +circumstances. It was my good fortune to help a lady in distress a little +time back. If she had told me more I might have aided her still further. +As it is, her reticence has landed me into serious trouble." + +Enid grasped the speaker's arm convulsively. + +"I am deeply sorry to hear it," she whispered. "Perhaps the lady in +question was reticent for your sake. Perhaps she had confided more +thoroughly in good men before. And suppose those good men had +disappeared?" + +"In other words, that they had been murdered. Who by?" + +There was a snarl from one of the hounds hard by, and a deep, angry curse +from Henson. Enid pointed solemnly in his direction. No words of hers +would have been so thrilling and eloquent. David strode along without +further questions on that head. + +"But there is one thing that you must tell me," he said, as they stood +together in the porch. "Is the first part of my advice going to be +carried out?" + +"Yes. That is why you are here now. Stay here one moment whilst I get you +pencil and paper... There! Now will you please write what I suggest? Dr. +Bell is with my sister. At least, I suppose he is with her, as Dr. Walker +desired to have his opinion. My sister is dying--dying, you understand?" + +Enid's voice had sunk to a passionate whisper. The hand that she laid on +David's shoulder was trembling strangely. At that moment he would've done +anything for her. A shaft of light filtered from the hall into the porch, +and lit up the paper that the girl thrust upon Steel. + +"Now write," she commanded. "Ask no questions, but write what I ask, and +trust me implicitly." + +David nodded. After all, he reflected, he could not possibly get himself +into a worse mess than he was in already. And he felt that he could trust +the girl by his side. Her beauty, her earnestness, and her obvious +sincerity touched him. + +"Write," Enid whispered. "Say, 'See nothing and notice nothing, I implore +you. Only agree with everything that Dr. Walker says, and leave the room +as quickly as possible!' Now sign your name. We can go into the +drawing-room and wait till Dr. Bell comes down. You are merely a friend +of his. I will see that he has this paper at once." + +Enid led the way into the drawing-room. She gave no reasons for the +weird strangeness of the place, it was no time for explanations. As for +Steel, he gazed around him in fascinated astonishment. A novelist ever +on the look-out for new scenes and backgrounds, the aspect of the room +fascinated him. He saw the dust rising in clouds, he saw the wilted +flowers, he noted the overturned table, obviously untouched and +neglected for years, and he wondered. Then he heard the babel of +discordant voices overhead. What a sad house it was, and how dominant +was the note of tragedy. + +Meanwhile, with no suspicion of the path he was treading, Bell had gone +upstairs. He came at length to the door of the room where the sick girl +lay. There was a subdued light inside and the faint suggestion of illness +that clings to the chamber of the sufferer. Bell caught a glimpse of a +white figure lying motionless in bed. It was years now since he had acted +thus in a professional capacity, but the old quietness and caution came +back by instinct. As he would have entered Margaret Henson came out and +closed the door. + +"You are not going in there," she said. "No, no. Everything of mine +you touch you blight and wither. If the girl is to die, let her die +in peace." + +She would have raised her voice high, but a lightning glance from Bell +quieted her. It was not exactly madness that he had to deal with, and he +knew it. The woman required firm, quiet treatment. Dr. Walker stood +alongside, anxious and nervous. The man with the quiet practice of the +well-to-do doctor was not used to scenes of this kind. + +"You have something to conceal," Bell said, sternly. "Open the door." + +"Really, my dear sir," Walker said, fussily. "Really, I fancy that under +the circumstances--" + +"You don't understand this kind of case," Bell interrupted. "I do." + +Walker dropped aside with a muttered apology. Bell approached the figure +in the doorway and whispered a few words rapidly in her ear. The effect +was electrical. The figure seemed to wilt and shrivel up, all the power +and resistance had gone. She stepped aside, moaning and wringing her +hands. She babbled of strange things; the old, far-away look came into +her eyes again. + +Without a word of comment or sign of triumph Bell entered the sick room. +Then he raised his head and sniffed the heavy atmosphere as an eager +hound might have done. A quick, sharp question rose to his lips, only to +be instantly suppressed as he noted the vacant glance of his colleague. + +The white figure on the bed lay perfectly motionless. It was the figure +of a young and exceedingly beautiful girl, a beauty heightened and +accentuated by the dead-white pallor of her features. Still the face +looked resolute and the exquisitely chiselled lips were firm. + +"Albumen," Bell muttered. "What fiend's game is this? I wonder if that +scoundrel--but, no. In that case there would be no object in concealing +my presence here. I wonder--" + +He paused and touched the pure white brow with his fingers. At the +same moment Enid came into the room. She panted like one who has run +fast and far. + +"Well," she whispered, "is she better, better or--Hatherly, read this." + +The last words were so low that Bell hardly heard them. He shot a swift +glance at his colleague before he opened the paper. One look and he had +mastered the contents. Then the swift glance was directed from Walker to +the girl standing there looking at Bell with a world of passionate +entreaty and longing in her eyes. + +"It is _your_ sister who lies there," Bell whispered, meaningly, "and +yet you--" + +He paused, and Enid nodded. There was evidently a great struggle going on +in Bell's mind. He was grappling with something that he only partially +understood, but he did know perfectly well that he was being asked to do +something absolutely wrong and that he was going to yield for the sake of +the girl he loved. + +He rose abruptly from the bedside and crossed over to Walker. + +"You are perfectly correct," he said. "At this rate--at this rate the +patient cannot possibly last till the morning. It is quite hopeless." + +Walker smiled feebly. + +"It is a melancholy satisfaction to have my opinion confirmed," he said. +"Miss Henson, if you will get Williams to see me as far as the +lodge-gates ... it is so late that--er--" + +Williams came at length, and the little doctor departed. Enid fairly +cowered before the blazing, searching look that Bell turned upon her. She +fell to plucking the bedclothes nervously. + +"What does it mean?" he asked, hoarsely. "What fiend's plaything are you +meddling with? Don't you know that if that girl dies it will be murder? +It was only for your sake that I didn't speak my mind before the fool who +has just gone. He has seen murder done under his eyes for days, and he is +ready to give a certificate of the cause of death. And the strange thing +is that in the ordinary way he would be quite justified in doing so." + +"Chris is not going to die; at least, not in that way," Enid +whispered, hoarsely. + +"Then leave her alone. No more drugs; no medicine even. Give Nature a +chance. Thank Heaven, the girl has a perfect constitution." + +"Chris is not going to die," Enid repeated, doggedly, "but the +certificate will be given, all the same. Oh, Hatherly, you must trust +me--trust me as you have never done before. Look at me, study me. Did you +ever know me to do a mean or dishonourable thing?" + +They were down in the drawing-room again; David waiting, with a strange +sense of embarrassment under Margaret Henson's distant eyes; indeed, it +was probable that she had never noticed him at all. All the same she +turned eagerly to Bell. + +"Tell me the worst," she cried. "Tell me all there is to know." + +"Your niece's sufferings are over," Bell said, gravely; "I have no more +to tell you." + +A profound silence followed, broken presently by angry voices outside. +Then Williams looked in at the door and beckoned Enid to him. His face +was wreathed in an uneasy grin. + +"Mr. Henson has got away," he said. "Blest if I can say how. And they +dogs have rolled him about, and tore his clothes, and made such a picture +of him as you never saw. And a sweet temper he's in!" + +"Where is he now?" Enid asked. "There are people here he must not see." + +"Well, he came back in through the study window, swearing dreadful for so +respectable a gentleman. And he went right up to his room, after ordering +whisky and soda-water." + +Enid flew back to the drawing-room. Not a moment was to be lost. At any +hazard Reginald Henson must be kept in ignorance of the presence of +strangers. A minute later, and the darkness of the night had swallowed +them up. Williams fastened the lodge-gates behind them, and they turned +their faces in the direction of Rottingdean Road. + +"A strange night's work," David said, presently. + +"Aye, but pregnant with result," Bell answered. There was a stern, +exulting ring in his voice. "There is much to do and much danger to be +faced, but we are on the right track at last. But why did you send me +that note just now?" + +David smiled as he lighted a cigarette. + +"It is part of the scheme," he said. "Part of my scheme, you understand. +But, principally, I sent you the note because Miss Enid asked me to." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MARGARET SEES A GHOST + + +With a sigh of unutterable relief Enid heard Williams returning. Reginald +Henson had not come down yet, and the rest of the servants had retired +some time. Williams came up with a request as to whether he could do +anything more before he went to bed. + +"Just one thing," said Enid. "The good dogs have done their work well +to-night, but they have not quite finished. Find Rollo for me, and bring +him here quick. Then you can shut up the house, and I will see that Mr. +Henson is made comfortable after his fright." + +The big dog came presently and followed Enid timidly upstairs. Apparently +the great black-muzzled brute had been there before, as evidently he knew +he was doing wrong. He crawled along the corridor till he came to the +room where the sick girl lay, and here he followed Enid. The lamp was +turned down low as Enid glanced at the bed. Then she smiled faintly, yet +hopefully. + +There was nobody in the room. The patient's bed was empty! + +"It works well," Enid murmured. "May it go on as it has been started. +Lie down, Rollo; lie there, good dog. And if anybody comes in tear him +to pieces." + +The great brute crouched down obediently, thumping his tail on the floor +as an indication that he understood. As if a load had been taken from her +mind Enid crept down the stairs. She had hardly reached the hall before +Henson followed her. His big face was white with passion; he was +trembling from head to foot from fright and pain. There was a red rash on +his forehead that by no means tended to improve his appearance. + +"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, hoarsely. + +Enid looked at him coolly. She could afford to do so now. All the danger +was past, and she felt certain that the events of the evening were +unknown to him. + +"I might ask you the same question," she said. "You look white and +shaken; you might have been thrown violently into a heap of stones. But +please don't make a noise. It is not fitting now. Chris--" + +Enid hesitated; the prevarication did not come so easily as she +had expected. + +"Chris has gone," she said. "She passed away an hour ago." + +Henson muttered something that sounded like consolation. He could be +polite and suave enough on occasions, but not to-night. Even +philanthropists are selfish at times. Moreover, his nerves were badly +shaken and he wanted a stimulant badly. + +"I am going to bed," Enid said, wearily. "Goodnight." + +She went noiselessly upstairs, and Henson passed into the library. He was +puzzled over this sudden end of Christiana Henson. He was half inclined +to believe that she was not dead at all; he belonged to the class of men +who believe nothing without proof. Well, he could easily ascertain that +for himself. There would be quite time enough in the morning. + +For a long time Henson sat there thinking and smoking, as was his usual +custom. Like other great men, he had his worries and troubles, and that +they were mainly of his own making did not render them any lighter. So +long as Margaret Henson was under the pressure of his thumb, money was no +great object. But there were other situations where money was utterly +powerless. + +Henson was about to give it up as a bad job, for tonight at any rate. He +wondered bitterly what his admirers would say if they knew everything. He +wondered--what was that? + +Somebody creeping about the house, somebody talking in soft, though +distinct, whispers. His quick ears detected that sound instantly. He +slipped into the hall; Margaret Henson was there, with the remains of +what had once been a magnificent opera-cloak over her shoulders. + +"How you startled me!" Henson said, irritably. "Why don't you go to bed?" + +Enid, looking over the balustrade from the landing, wondered so also, but +she kept herself prudently hidden. The first words that she heard drove +all the blood from her heart. + +"I cannot," the feeble, moaning voice said. "The house is full of ghosts; +they haunt and follow me everywhere. And Chris is dead, and I have seen +her spirit." + +"So I'm told," Henson said, with brutal callousness. "What was the +ghost like?" + +"Like Chris. All pale and white, with a frightened look on her face. And +she was all dressed in white, too, with a cloak about her shoulders. And +just when I was going to speak to her she turned and disappeared into +Enid's bedroom. And there are other ghosts--" + +"One at a time, please," Henson said, grimly. "So Christiana's ghost +passed into her sister's bedroom. You come and sit quietly in the library +whilst I investigate matters." + +Margaret Henson complied in her dull, mechanical way, and Enid flew like +a flash of light to her room. Another girl was there--a girl exceedingly +like her, but looking wonderfully pale and drawn. + +"That fiend suspects," Enid said. "How unfortunate it was that you +should meet aunt like that. Chris, you must go back again. Fly to your +own room and compose yourself. Only let him see you lying white and still +there, and he must be satisfied." + +Chris rose with a shudder. + +"And if the wretch offers to touch me," she moaned, "If he does--" + +"He will not. He dare not. Heaven help him if he tries any experiment of +that kind. If he does, Rollo will kill him to a certainty." + +"Ah, I had forgotten the faithful dog. Those dogs are more useful to us +than a score of men. I will step by the back way and through my +dressing-room. Oh, Enid, how glad I shall be to find myself outside the +walls of this dreadful house!" + +She flew along the corridor and gained her room in safety. It was an +instant's work to throw off her cloak and compose herself rigidly under +the single white sheet. But though she lay still her heart was beating +to suffocation as she heard the creak and thud of a heavy step coming up +the stairs. Then the door was opened in a stealthy way and Henson came +in. He could see the outline of the white figure, and a sigh of +satisfaction escaped him. A less suspicious man would have retired at +once; a man less engaged upon his task would have seen two great amber +eyes close to the floor. + +"An old woman's fancy," he muttered. "Still, as I am here, I'll make +sure that--" + +He stretched out his hand to touch the marble forehead, there was a snarl +and a gurgle, and Henson came to the ground with a hideous crash that +carried him staggering beyond the door into the corridor. Rollo had the +intruder by the throat; a thousand crimson and blue stars danced before +the wretched man's eyes; he grappled with his foe with one last +despairing effort, and then there came over him a vague, warm +unconsciousness. When he came to himself he was lying on his bed, with +Williams and Enid bending over him. + +"How did it happen?" Enid asked, with simulated anxiety. + +"I--I was walking along the corridor," Henson gasped, "going--going to +bed, you see; and one of those diabolical dogs must have got into the +house. Before I knew what I was doing the creature flew at my throat and +dragged me to the floor. Telephone for Walker at once. I am dying, +Williams." + +He fell back once more utterly lost to his surroundings. There was a +great, gaping, raw wound at the side of the throat that caused Enid +to shudder. + +"Do you think he is--dead, Williams?" she asked. + +"No such luck as that," Williams said, with the air of a confirmed +pessimist. "I hope you locked that there bedroom door and put the key in +your pocket, miss. I suppose we'd better send for the doctor, unless you +and me puts him out of his misery. There's one comfort, however, Mr. +Henson will be in bed for the next fortnight, at any rate, so he'll be +powerless to do any prying about the house. The funeral will be over long +before he's about again." + + * * * * * + +The first grey streaks of dawn were in the air as Enid stood outside the +lodge-gates. She was not alone, for a neat figure in grey, marvellously +like her, was by her side. The figure in grey was dressed for travelling +and she carried a bag in her hand. + +"Good-bye, dear, and good luck to you," she said. "It is dangerous +to delay." + +"You have absolutely everything that you require?" Enid asked. + +"Everything. By the time you are at breakfast I shall be in London. And +once I am there the search for the secret will begin in earnest." + +"You are sure that Reginald Henson suspected nothing?" + +"I am perfectly certain that he was satisfied; indeed, I heard him say +so. Still, if it had not been for the dogs! We are going to succeed, +Enid, something at my heart tells me so. See how the sun shines on +your face and in your dear eyes. Au revoir, an omen--an omen of a +glorious future." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PACE SLACKENS + + +Steel lay sleepily back in the cab, not quite sure whether his +cigarette was alight or not. They were well into the main road again +before Bell spoke. + +"It is pretty evident that you and I are on the same track," he said. + +"I am certain that I am on the right one," David replied; "but, when I +come to consider the thing calmly, it seems more by good luck than +anything else. I came out with you to-night seeking adventure, and I am +bound to admit that I found it. Also, I found the lady who interviewed me +in the darkness, which is more to the point." + +"As a matter of fact, you did nothing of the kind," said Bell, with the +suggestion of a laugh. + +"Oh! Case of the wrong room over again. I was ready to swear it. Whom did +I speak to? Whose voice was it that was so very much like hers?" + +"The lady's sister. Enid Henson was not at 218, Brunswick Square, on +the night in question. Of that you may be certain. But it's a queer +business altogether. Rascality I can understand. I am beginning to +comprehend the plot of which I am the victim. But I don't mind +admitting that up to the present I fail to comprehend why those girls +evolved the grotesque scheme for getting assistance at your hands. The +whole thing savours of madness." + +"I don't think so," David said, thoughtfully. "The girls are romantic as +well as clever. They are bound together by the common ties of a common +enmity towards a cunning and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel. By the +merest accident in the world they discovered that I am in a position to +afford them valuable advice and assistance. At the same time they don't +want me to be brought into the business, for two reasons--the first, +because the family secret is a sacred one; the second, because any +disclosures would land me in great physical danger. Therefore they put +their heads together and evolve this scheme. Call it a mad venture if you +like, but if you consider the history of your own country you can find +wilder schemes evolved and carried out by men who have had brains enough +to be trusted with the fortunes of the nation. If these girls had been +less considerate for my safety--" + +"But," Bell broke in eagerly, "they failed in that respect at the very +outset. You must have been spotted instantly by the foe, who has +cunningly placed you in a dangerous position, perhaps as a warning to +mind your own business in future. And if those girls come forward to save +you--and to do so they must appear in public, mind you--they are bound to +give away the whole thing. Mark the beautiful cunning of it. My word, we +have a foe worthy of our steel to meet." + +"_We_? Do you mean to say that your enemy and mine is a common one?" + +"Certainly. When I found my foe I found yours." + +"And who may he be, by the same token?" + +"Reginald Henson. Mind you, I had no more idea of it than the dead when I +went to Longdean Grange to-night. I went there because I had begun to +suspect who occupied the place and to try and ascertain how the Rembrandt +engraving got into 218, Brunswick Square. Miss Gates must have heard us +talking over the matter, and that was why she went to Longdean Grange +to-night." + +"I hope she got home safe," said David. "The cab man says he put her down +opposite the Lawns." + +"I hope so. Well, I found out who the foe was. And I have a pretty good +idea why he played that trick upon me. He knew that Enid Henson and +myself were engaged; he could see what a danger to his schemes it would +be to have a man like myself in the family. Then the second Rembrandt +turned up, and there was his chance for wiping me off the slate. After +that came the terrible family scandal between Lord Littimer and his wife. +I cannot tell you anything of that, because I cannot speak with definite +authority. But you could judge of the effect of it on Lady Littimer +to-night." + +"I haven't the faintest recollection of seeing Lady Littimer to-night." + +"My dear fellow, the poor lady whom you met as Mrs. Henson is really Lady +Littimer. Henson is her maiden name, and those girls are her nieces. +Trouble has turned the poor woman's brain. And at the bottom of the whole +mystery is Reginald Henson, who is not only nephew on his mother's side, +but is also next heir but one to the Littimer title. At the present +moment he is blackmailing that unhappy creature, and is manoeuvring to +get the whole of her large fortune in his hands. Reginald Henson is the +man those girls want to circumvent, and for that reason they came to you. +And Henson has found it out to a certain extent and placed you in an +awkward position." + +"Witness my involuntary guest and the notes and the cigar-case," David +said. "But does he know what I advised one of the girls--my princess of +the dark room--to do?" + +"I don't fancy he does. You see, that advice was conveyed by word of +mouth. The girls dared not trust themselves to correspondence, otherwise +they might have approached you in a more prosaic manner. But I confess +you startled me to-night." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"When you sent me that note. What you virtually asked me to do was to +countenance murder. When I went into the sick room I saw that Christiana +Henson was dying. The first idea that flashed across my mind was that +Reginald Henson was getting the girl out of the way for his own purposes. +My dear fellow, the whole atmosphere literally spoke of albumen. Walker +must have been blind not to see how he was being deceived. I was about to +give him my opinion pretty plainly when your note came up to me. And +there was Enid, with her whole soul in her large eyes, pleading for my +silence. If the girl died I was accessory after and before the fact. You +will admit that that was a pretty tight place to put a doctor in." + +"That's because you didn't know the facts of the case, my dear Bell." + +"Then perhaps you'll be so good as to enlighten me," Bell said, drily. + +"Certainly. That was part of my scheme. In that synopsis of the story +obtained by the girls by some more or less mechanical means, the reputed +death of a patient forms the crux of the tale. The idea occurred to me +after reading a charge against a medical student some time ago in the +_Standard_. The man wanted to get himself out of the way; he wanted to +be considered as dead, in fact. By the artful use of albumen in certain +doses he produced symptoms of disease which will be quite familiar to +you. He made himself so ill that his doctor naturally concluded that he +was dying. As a matter of fact, he was dying. Had he gone on in the same +way another day he would have been dead. Instead of this he drops the +dosing and, going to his doctor in disguise, says that he _is_ dead. He +gets a certificate of his own demise, and there you are. I am not +telling you fiction, but hard fact recorded in a high-class paper. The +doctor gave the certificate without viewing the body. Well, it struck me +that we had here the making of a good story, and I vaguely outlined it +for a certain editor. In my synopsis I suggested that it was a woman who +proposed to pretend to die thus so as to lull the suspicions of a +villain to sleep, and thus possess herself of certain vital documents. +My synopsis falls into certain hands. The owner of those hands asks me +how the thing was done. I tell her. In other words, the so-called murder +that you imagined you had discovered to-night was the result of design. +Walker will give his certificate, Reginald Henson will regard Miss +Christiana as dead and buried, and she will be free to act for the +honour of the family." + +"But they might have employed somebody else." + +"Who would have had to be told the history of the family dishonour. So +far I fancy I have made the ground quite clear. But the mystery of the +cigar-case and the notes and the poor fellow in the hospital is still as +much a mystery as ever. We are like two allied forces working together, +but at the same time under the disadvantage of working in the dark. You +can see, of course, that the awful danger I stand in is as terrible for +those poor girls." + +"Of course I do. Still, we have a key to your trouble. It is a +dreadfully rusty one and will want a deal of oiling before it's used, +but there it is." + +"Where, my dear fellow, where?" David asked. + +"Why, in the Sussex County Hospital, of course. The man may die, in +which case everything must be sacrificed in order to save your good +name. On the other hand, he may get better, and then he will tell us all +about it." + +"He might. On the other hand, he might plead ignorance. It is possible +for him to suggest that the whole affair was merely a coincidence, so far +as he was concerned." + +"Yes, but he would have to explain how he burgled your house, and what +business he had to get himself half murdered in your conservatory. Let us +get out here and walk the rest of the way to your house. Our cabby knows +quite enough about us without having definite views as to your address." + +The cabman was dismissed with a handsome _douceur_, and the twain turned +off the front at the corner of Eastern Terrace. Late as it was, there +were a few people lounging under the hospital wall, where there was a +suggestion of activity about the building unusual at that time of the +night. A rough-looking fellow, who seemed to have followed Bell and Steel +from the front, dropped into a seat by the hospital gates and laid his +head back as if utterly worn out. Just inside the gates a man was smoking +a cigarette. + +"Halloa, Cross," David cried, "you are out late tonight!" + +"Heavy night," Cross responded, sleepily, "with half a score of accidents +to finish with. Some of Palmer of Lingfield's private patients thrown off +a coach and brought here in the ambulance. Unless I am greatly mistaken, +that is Hatherly Bell with you." + +"The same," Bell said, cheerfully. "I recollect you in Edinburgh. So some +of Palmer's patients have come to grief. Most of his special cases used +to pass through my hands." + +"I've got one here to-night who recollects you perfectly well," said +Cross. "He's got a dislocated shoulder, but otherwise he is doing well. +Got a mania that he's a doctor who murdered a patient." + +"Electric light anything to do with the story?" Bell asked, eagerly. + +"That's the man. Seems to have a wonderfully brilliant intellect if you +can only keep him off that topic. He spotted you in North Street +yesterday, and seemed wonderfully disappointed to find you had nothing +whatever to do with this institution." + +"If he is not asleep," Bell suggested, "and you have no objection--" + +Cross nodded and opened the gate. Before passing inside Bell took the +rolled-up Rembrandt from his deep breast-pocket and handed it to David. + +"Take care of this for me," he whispered. "I'm going inside. I've dropped +upon an old case that interested me very much years ago, and I'd like to +see my patient again. See you in the morning, I expect. Good-night." + +David nodded in reply and went his way. It was intensely quiet and still +now; the weary loafer at the outside hospital seat had disappeared. +There was nobody to be seen anywhere as David placed his key in the +latch and opened the door. Inside the hall-light was burning, and so was +the shaded electric lamp in the conservatory. The study leading to the +conservatory was in darkness. The effect of the light behind was +artistic and pleasing. + +It was with a sense of comfort and relief that David fastened the door +behind him. Without putting up the light in the study David laid the +Rembrandt on his table, which was immediately below the window in his +work-room. The night was hot; he pushed the top sash down liberally. + +"I must get that transparency removed," he murmured, "and have the window +filled with stained glass. The stuff is artistic, but it is so frankly +what it assumes to be." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A COMMON ENEMY + + +David idly mixed himself some whisky and soda water in the dining-room, +where he finished his cigarette. He was tired and ready for bed now, so +tired that he could hardly find energy enough to remove his boots and get +into the big carpet slippers that were so old and worn. He put down the +dining-room lights and strolled into the study. Just for a moment he sat +there contemplating with pleased, tired eyes the wilderness of bloom +before him. + +Then he fell into a reverie, as he frequently did. An idea for a +fascinating story crept unbidden into his mind. He gazed vaguely around +him. Some little noise outside attracted his attention, the kind of noise +made by a sweep's brushes up a chimney. David turned idly towards the +open window. The top of it was but faintly illuminated by the light of +the conservatory gleaming dully on the transparency over the glass. But +David's eyes were keen, and he could see distinctly a man's thumb crooked +downwards over the frame of the ash. Somebody had swarmed up the +telephone holdfasts and was getting in through the window. Steel slipped +well into the shadow, but not before an idea had come to him. He removed +the rolled-up Rembrandt from the table and slipped it behind a row of +books in the book-case. Then he looked up again at the crooked thumb. + +He would recognise that thumb again anywhere. It was flat like the head +of a snake, and the nail was no larger than a pea--a thumb that had +evidently been cruelly smashed at one time. The owner of the thumb might +have been a common burglar, but in the light of recent events David was +not inclined to think so. At any rate he felt disposed to give his theory +every chance. He saw a long, fustian-clad arm follow the scarred thumb, +and a hand grope all over the table. + +"Curse me," a foggy voice whispered, hoarsely. "It ain't here. And the +bloke told me--" + +The voice said no more, for David grabbed at the arm and caught the wrist +in a vice-like grip. Instantly another arm shot over the window and an +ugly piece of iron piping was swung perilously near Steel's head. +Unfortunately, he could see no face. As he jumped back to avoid a blow +his grasp relaxed, there was a dull thud outside, followed by the tearing +scratch of boots against a wall and the hollow clatter of flying feet. +All David could do was to close the window and regret that his +impetuosity had not been more judiciously restrained. + +"Now, what particular thing was he after?" he asked himself. "But I had +better defer any further speculations on the matter till the morning. +After the fright he had my friend won't come back again. And I'm just as +tired as a dog." + +But there were other things the next day to occupy David's attention +besides the visit of his nocturnal friend. He had found out enough the +previous evening to encourage him to go farther. And surely Miss Ruth +Gates could not refuse to give him further information. + +He started out to call at 219, Brunswick Square, as soon as he deemed it +excusable to do so. Miss Gates was out, the solemn butler said, but she +might be found in the square gardens. David came upon her presently with +a book in her lap and herself under a shady tree. She was not reading, +her eyes were far away. As she gave David a warm greeting there was a +tender bloom on her lovely face. + +"Oh, yes, I got home quite right," she said. "No suspicion was aroused at +all. And you?" + +"I had a night thrilling enough for yellow covers, as Artemus Ward says. +I came here this morning to throw myself on your mercy, Miss Gates. Were +I disposed to do so, I have information enough to force your hand. But I +prefer to hear everything from your lips." + +"Did Enid tell you anything?" Ruth faltered. + +"Well, she allowed me to know a great deal. In the first place, I know +that you had a great hand in bringing me to 218 the other night. I know +that it was you who suggested that idea, and it was you who facilitated +the use of Mr. Gates's telephone. How the thing was stage-managed matters +very little at present. It turns out now that your friend and Dr. Bell +and myself have a common enemy." + +Ruth looked up swiftly. There was something like fear in her eyes. + +"Have--have you discovered the name of that enemy?" she asked. + +"Yes, I know now that our foe is Mr. Reginald Henson." + +"A man who is highly respected. A man who stands wonderfully high in +public estimation. There are thousands and thousands of people who look +upon him as a great and estimable creature. He gives largely in +charities, he devotes a good deal of his time to the poor. My uncle, who +_is_ a good man, if you like, declares that Reginald Henson is absolutely +indispensable to him. At the next election that man is certain to be +returned to Parliament to represent an important northern constituency. +If you told my uncle anything about him, he would laugh at you." + +"I have not the slightest intention of approaching your uncle on this +matter at present." + +"Because you could prove nothing. Nobody can prove anything." + +"But Christiana Henson may in time." + +Once more Ruth flashed a startled look at her companion. + +"So you have discovered something about that?" she whispered. + +"I have discovered everything about it. Legally speaking, the young lady +is dead. She died last night, as Dr. Walker will testify. She passed away +in the formula presented by me the night that I met her in the darkness +at 218, Brunswick Square. Now, will you be so good as to tell me how +those girls got hold of my synopsis?" + +"That came about quite naturally. Your synopsis and proof in an open +envelope were accidentally slipped into a large circular envelope used by +a firm of seed merchants and addressed to Longdean Grange, sent out no +doubt amongst thousands of others. Chris saw it, and, prompted by +curiosity, read it. Out of that our little plot was gradually evolved. +You see, I was at school with those two girls, and they have few secrets +from me. Naturally, I suggested the scheme because I see a great deal of +Reginald Henson. He comes here; he also comes very frequently to our +house in Prince's Gate. And yet I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart, +that I ever touched the thing, for your sake." + +The last words were spoken with a glance that set David's pulses beating. +He took Ruth's half-extended hand in his, and it was not withdrawn. + +"Don't worry about me," he said. "I shall come out all right in the end. +Still, I shall look eagerly forward to any assistance that you can afford +me. For instance, what hold has Henson got on his relatives?" + +"That I cannot tell you," Ruth cried. "You must not ask me. But we were +acting for the best; our great object was to keep you out of danger." + +"There is no danger to me if I can only clear myself," Steel replied. "If +you could only tell me where those bank-notes came from! When I think of +that part of the business I am filled with shame. And yet if you only +knew how fond I am of my home.... At the same time, when I found that I +was called upon to help ladies in distress I should have refused all +offers of reward. If I had done so I should have had no need of your +pity. And yet--and yet it is very sweet to me." + +He pressed the hand in his, and the pressure was returned. David forget +all about his troubles for the time; and it was very cool and pleasant +and quiet there. + +"I am afraid that those notes were forced upon us," she said. "Though I +frankly believe that the enemy does not know what we have learnt to do +from you. And as to the cigar-case: would it not be easy to settle that +matter by asking a few questions?" + +"My dear young lady, I have done so. And the more questions I ask the +worse it is for me. The cigar-case I claimed came from Walen's, beyond +all question, and was purchased by the mysterious individual now in the +hospital. I understood that the cigar-case was the very one I admired at +Lockhart's some time ago, and--" + +"If you inquire at Lockhart's you will find such to be the case." + +David looked up with a puzzled expression. Ruth spoke so seriously, and +with such an air of firm conviction, that he was absolutely staggered. + +"So I did," he said. "And was informed in the most positive way by the +junior partner that the case I admired had been purchased by an American +called Smith and sent to the Metropole after he had forwarded +dollar-notes for it. Surely you don't suppose that a firm like Lockhart's +would be guilty of anything--" + +Ruth rose to her feet, her face pale and resolute. + +"This must be looked to," she said. "The cigar-case sent to you on that +particular night was purchased at Lockhart's by myself and paid for with +my own money!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ROLLO SHOWS HIS TEETH + + +The blinds were all down at Longdean Grange, a new desolation seemed to +be added to the gloom of the place. Out in the village it had by some +means become known that there was somebody dead in the house, either +madam herself or one of those beautiful young ladies whom nobody had ever +seen. Children loitering about the great lodge-gates regarded Williams +with respectful awe and Dr. Walker with curiosity. The doctor was the +link connecting the Grange with the outside world. + +To add to the gloom of it all the bell over the stables clanged +mournfully. The noise made Walker quite nervous as he walked up the drive +by Williams's side. Not for a pension would he have dared approach the +house alone. Williams, in the seediest and most dilapidated rusty black, +had a face of deepest melancholy. + +"But why that confound--Why do they ring that bell?" Walker asked, +irritably. + +"Madam ordered it, sir," Williams replied. "She's queerer than ever, is +mistress. She don't say much, but Miss Christiana's death is a great +shock to her. She ordered the bell to be tolled, and she carried on awful +when Miss Enid tried to stop it." + +Walker murmured vaguely something doubtless representing sympathy. + +"And my other patient, Williams?" he asked. "How is he getting along? +Really, you ought to keep those dogs under better control. It's a +dreadful business altogether. Fancy a man of Mr. Henson's high character +and gentle disposition being attacked by a savage dog in the very house! +I hope the hound is securely kennelled." + +"Well, he isn't, sir," Williams said, with just the glint of a grin on +his dry features. "And it wasn't altogether Rollo's fault. That dog was +so devoted to Miss Christiana as you never see. And he got to know as +the poor young lady was dying. So he creeps into the house and lies +before her bedroom door, and when Mr. Henson comes along the dog takes +it in his 'ead as he wants to go in there. And now Rollo's got inside, +and nobody except Miss Enid dare go near. I pity that there undertaker +when he comes." + +Walker shuddered slightly. Longdean Grange was a fearful place for the +nerves. Nothing of the routine or the decorous ever happened there. The +fees were high and the remuneration prompt, or Walker would have handed +over his patient cheerfully to somebody else. Not for a moment did he +imagine that Williams was laughing at him. Well, he need not see the +body, which was a comfort. With a perfectly easy conscience he could give +a certificate of death. And if only somebody would stop that hideous +bell! Someone was singing quietly in the drawing-room, and the music +seemed to be strangely bizarre and out of place. + +Inside it seemed like a veritable house of the dead--the shadow of +tragedy loomed everywhere. The dust rose in clouds from the floor as the +servants passed to and fro. They were all clad in black, and shuffled +uneasily, as if conscious that their clothes did not belong to them. Enid +came out into the hall to meet the doctor. Her face seemed terribly white +and drawn; there was something in her eyes that suggested anxiety more +than grief. + +"I suppose you have come principally to see Mr. Henson?" she said. "But +my sister--" + +"No occasion to intrude upon your grief for a moment, Miss Henson," +Walker said, quietly. "As I have told you before, there was very little +hope for your sister from the first. It was a melancholy satisfaction to +me to find my diagnosis confirmed in every detail by so eminent an +authority as Dr. Hatherly Bell. I will give you a certificate with +pleasure--at once." + +"You would like to see my sister?" Enid suggested. + +The quivering anxiety was in her eyes again, the strained look on her +face. Walker was discreetly silent as to what he had heard about that +bloodhound, but he had by no means forgotten it. + +"Not the least occasion, I assure you," he said, fervently. "Your sister +had practically passed away when I last saw her. There are times +when--er--you see--but really there is no necessity." + +"Mr. Henson is terribly fastidious about these things." + +"Then he shall be satisfied. I shall tell him that I have--er--seen the +body. And I have, you know. In these matters a medical man cannot be too +careful. If you will provide me with pen and ink--" + +"Thank you very much. Will you come this way, please?" + +Walker followed into the drawing-room. Mrs. Henson, wearing something +faded and dishevelled in the way of a mourning dress, was crooning some +dirge at the piano. Her white hair was streaming loosely over her +shoulders, there was a vacant stare in her eyes. The intruders might have +been statues for all the heed she took of them. Presently the discordant +music ceased, and she began to pace noiselessly up and down the room. + +"Another one gone," she murmured; "the best-beloved. It is always the +best-beloved that dies, and the one we hate that is left. Take all those +coaches away, send the guests back home. Why do they come chattering and +feasting here? She shall be drawn by four black horses to Churchfield in +the dead of the night, and there laid in the family vault." + +"Mrs. Henson's residence," Enid explained, in a whisper. "It is some +fifteen miles away. She has made up her mind that my sister shall be +taken away as she says--to-morrow night. Is this paper all that is +necessary for the--you understand? I have telephoned to the undertaker in +Brighton." + +Walker hastened to assure the girl that what little further formality was +required he would see to himself. All he desired now was to visit Henson +and get out of the house as soon as possible. As he hurried from the +drawing-room he heard Mrs. Henson crooning and muttering, he saw the +vacant glare in her eyes, and vaguely wondered how soon he should have +another patient here. + +Reginald Henson sat propped up in his bed, white and exhausted. Beyond +doubt he had had a terrible shock and fright, and the droop of his +eyelids told of shattered nerves. There was a thick white bandage round +his throat, his left shoulder was strapped tightly. He spoke with +difficulty. + +"Do we feel any better this morning?" Walker asked, cheerfully. + +"No, we don't," said Henson, with a total absence of his usual +graciousness of manner. "We feel confoundedly weak, and sick, and dizzy. +Every time I drop off to sleep I wake with a start and a feeling that +that infernal dog is smothering me. Has the brute been shot yet?" + +"I don't fancy so; in fact, he is still at his post upstairs, and +therefore--" + +"Therefore you have not seen the body of my poor dear cousin?" + +"Otherwise I could have given no certificate," Walker said, with dignity. +"If I have satisfied myself, sir, and the requirements of the law, why, +then, everybody is satisfied. I _have_ seen the body." + +Technically the little doctor spoke the truth. Henson muttered +something that sounded like an apology. Walker smiled graciously and +suggested that rest and a plain diet were all that his patient needed. +Rest was the great thing. The bandages need not be removed for a day or +two, at the expiration of which time he would look in again. Once the +road was reached in safety Walker took off his hat and wiped the beads +from his forehead. + +"What a house," he muttered. "What a life to lead. Thank goodness I need +not go there again before Saturday. If anybody were to offer me a small +glass of brandy with a little soda now, I should feel tempted to break +through my rule and drink it." + +Meanwhile the long terror of the day dragged on inside the house. The +servants crept about the place on tiptoe, the hideous bell clanged out, +Mrs. Henson paced wearily up and down the drawing-room, singing and +muttering to herself, until Enid was fain to fly or break down and yell +hysterically. It was one of Margaret Henson's worst days. + +The death of Christiana seemed to affect her terribly. Enid watched her +in terror. More than once she was fearful that the frail thread would +snap--the last faint glimmer of reason go out for ever. And yet it would +be madness to tell Margaret Henson the truth. In the first place she +would not have understood, and on the other hand she might have +comprehended enough to betray to Reginald Henson. As it was, her grief +was obvious and sincere enough. The whole thing was refinedly cruel, but +really there was no help for it. And things had gone on splendidly. + +Henson was powerless to interfere, and the doctor was satisfied. Once she +had put her hand to the plough Enid's quick brain saw her through. But +she would have been hard put to it to deceive Henson under his very nose +without the help of the bloodhound. Now she could see her way still +farther. She waited nervously for a ring from the lodge-gates to the +house, and about four o'clock it came. The undertaker was at the gates +waiting for an escort to the Grange. + +Enid passed her tongue out over a pair of dry lips. The critical moment +was at hand. If she could get through the next hour she was safe. If +not--but there must be no "if not," she told herself. The undertaker +came, suave, quiet, respectful, but he dropped back from the bedroom door +as he saw two gleaming, amber eyes regarding him menacingly. + +"The dog loved my sister," Enid explained, quietly. "But he has found +his way to her room, and he refuses to move. He fancies that we have +done something her.... Oh, no, I couldn't poison him! And it would be a +dreadful thing if there were to be anything like a struggle _here_. +Come, Rollo." + +Evidently the dog had learned his lesson well. He wagged his great tail, +but refused to move. The undertaker took a couple of steps forward and +Rollo's crest rose. There was a flash of white teeth and a growl. At the +end of half an hour no progress had been made. + +"There's only one thing for it," suggested Williams, in his rusty voice. +"We can get the dog away for ten minutes at midnight. He likes a run +then, and I'll bring the other dogs to fetch him, like." + +"My time is very valuable just now," the undertaker suggested, humbly. + +"Then you had better measure me," said Enid, turning a face absolutely +flaming red and deadly white to the speaker. "It is a dreadful, ghastly +business altogether, but I cannot possibly think of any other way. The +idea of anything like a struggle here is abhorrent.... And the dog's +fidelity is so touching. My sister and I were exactly alike, except that +she was fairer than me." + +The undertaker was understood to demur slightly on professional grounds. +It was very irregular and not in the least likely to give satisfaction. + +"What does it matter?" Enid cried, passionately. She was acting none the +less magnificently because her nerves were quivering like harpstrings. +"When I am dead you can fling me in a ditch, for all I care. We are a +strange family and do strange things. The question of satisfaction need +not bother you. Take my measure and send the coffin home to-morrow, and +we will manage to do the rest. Then to-morrow night you will have a +four-horse hearse here at eleven o'clock, and drive the coffin to +Churchfield Church, where you will be expected. After that your work will +be finished." + +The bewildered young man responded that things should be exactly as the +young lady required. He had seen many strange and wild things in his +time, but none so strange and weird as this. It was all utterly +irregular, of course, but people after all had a right to demand what +they paid for. Enid watched the demure young man in black down the +corridor, and then everything seemed to be enveloped in a dense purple +mist, the world was spinning under her feet, there was a great noise like +the rush of mighty waters in her brain. With a great effort she threw off +the weakness and came to herself, trembling from head to foot. + +"Courage," she murmured, "courage. This life has told on me more than I +thought. With Chris's example before me I must not break down now." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FRANK LITTIMER + + +The lamps gleamed upon the dusty statuary and pictures and faded flowers +in the hall, they glinted upon a long polished oak casket there reposing +upon trestles. Ever and anon a servant would peep in and vanish again as +if ashamed of something. The house was deadly quiet now, for Mrs. Henson +had fallen asleep worn out with exhaustion, and Enid had instantly +stopped the dreadful clamour of the bell. The silence that followed was +almost as painful as the noise had been. + +On the coffin were wreaths of flowers. Enid sat in the drawing-room with +the door open, where she could see everything, but was herself unseen. +She was getting terribly anxious and nervous again; the hour was near +eleven, and the hearse might arrive at any time. She would know no kind +of peace until she could get that hideous mockery out of the house. + +She sat listening thus, straining her ears to catch the slightest sound. +Suddenly there came a loud clamour at the front door, an imperative +knocking that caused Enid's heart to come into her mouth. Who could it +be? What stranger had passed the dogs in that way? + +She heard crabbed, sour, but courageous old Williams go to the door. She +heard the clang of bolts and the rattle of chains, and then a weird cry +from Williams. A voice responded that brought Enid, trembling and livid, +into the hall. A young man with a dark, exceedingly handsome face and +somewhat effeminate mouth stood there, with eyes for nothing but the +shining flower-decked casket on the trestles. He seemed beside himself +with rage and grief; he might have been a falsely imprisoned convict face +to face with the real culprit. + +"Why didn't you let me know?" he cried. "Why didn't you let me know?" + +His voice rang in the roof. Enid flew to his side and placed her hand +upon his lips. + +"Your mother is asleep, Frank," she said. "She has had no sleep for three +nights. A long rest may be the means of preserving her sanity. Why did +you come here?" + +The young man laughed silently. It was ghastly mirth to see, and it +brought the tears into Enid's eyes. She had forgotten the danger of the +young man's presence. + +"I heard that Chris was ill," he said. "They told me that she was +dying. And I could not keep away. And now I have come too late. Oh, +Chris, Chris!" + +He fell on his knees by the side of the coffin, his frame shaken by +tearless sobs. Enid bit her lips to keep back the words that rose to +them. She would have given much to have spoken the truth. But at any +hazard she must remain silent. She waited till the paroxysm of grief had +passed away, then she touched the intruder gently on the shoulder. + +"There is great danger for you in this house," she said. + +"What do I care for danger when Chris lies yonder?" + +"But, dear Frank, there are others to consider besides yourself. There is +your mother, for instance. Oh, you ought not to have come here to-night. +If your father knew!" + +"My father? He would be the last person in the world to know. And what +cares he about anything, so long as he has his prints and his paintings? +He has no feelings, no heart, no soul, I may say." + +"Frank, you must go at once. Do you know that Reginald Henson is here? He +has ears like a hare; it will be nothing less than a miracle unless he +hears your voice. And then--" + +The young man was touched at last. The look of grief died out of his eyes +and a certain terror filled them. + +"I think that I should have come in any case," he whispered. "I don't +want to bring any further trouble upon you, Enid, but I wanted to see the +last of her. I came here, and some of the dogs remembered me. If not, I +might have had no occasion to trouble you. And I won't stay, seeing that +Henson is here. Let me have something to remember her by; let me look +into her room for a moment. If you only knew how I loved her! And you +look as if you had no grief at all." + +Enid started guiltily. She had quite forgotten her _role_ for the time. +Indeed, there was something unmistakably like relief on her face as she +heard the porter's bell ring from the lodge to the house. Williams +shuffled away, muttering that he would be more useful in the house than +out of it just now, but a glance from Enid subdued him. Presently there +came the sound of wheels on the gravel outside. + +"They have come for the--the coffin," Enid murmured. "Frank, it would be +best for you to go. Go upstairs, if you like; you know the way. Only, +don't stay here." + +The young man went off dreamily. A heavy grief dulled and blinded his +senses; he walked along like one who wanders in his sleep. Christiana's +room door was open and a lamp was there. There were dainty knick-knacks +on the dressing-table, a vase or two of faded flowers--everything that +denotes the presence of refined and gracious womanhood. + +Frank Littimer stood there looking round him for some little time. On a +table by the bedside stood a photograph of a girl in a silver frame. +Littimer pounced upon it hungrily. It was a good picture--the best of +Christiana's that he had ever seen. He slipped out into the corridor and +gently closed the door behind him. Then he passed along with his whole +gaze fixed on the portrait. The girl seemed to be smiling out of the +frame at him. He had loved Christiana since she was a child; he felt that +he had never loved her so much as at this moment. Well, he had something +to remember her by--he had not come here in vain. + +It seemed impossible yet to realise that Christiana was dead, that he +would never look into her sunny, tender face again. No, he would wake up +presently and find it had all been a dream. And how different to the last +time he was here. He had been smuggled into the house, and he had +occupied the room with the oak door. He-- + +The room with the oak door opened and a big man with a white bandage +round his throat stood there with tottering limbs and an ugly smile on +his loose mouth. Littimer started back. + +"Reginald," he exclaimed, "I didn't expect to see you here, or--" + +"Or you would never have dared to come?" Henson said, hoarsely. "I heard +your voice and I was bound to give you a welcome, even at considerable +personal inconvenience. Help me back to bed again. And now, you insolent +young dog, how dare you show your face here?" + +"I came to see Chris," Littimer said, doggedly. "And I came too late. +Even if I had known that I was going to meet you, I should have been here +all the same. Oh, I know what you are going to say; I know what you +think. And some day I shall break out and defy you to do your worst." + +Henson smiled as one might do at the outbreak of an angry child. His eyes +flashed and his tongue spoke words that Littimer fairly cowed before. And +yet he did not show it. He was like a boy who has found a stone for the +man who stands over him with the whip. With quick intuition Henson saw +this, and in a measure his manner changed. + +"You will say next that you are not afraid of me," he suggested. + +"Well," Littimer replied, slowly; "I am not so much afraid of you +as I was." + +"Ah! so you imagine that you have discovered something?" + +Littimer apparently struggled between a prudent desire for silence and +a disposition to speak. The sneer on the face of his enemy fairly +maddened him. + +"Yes," he said, with a note of elation in his voice, "I have made a +discovery, but I am not going to tell you how or where my discovery is. +But I've found Van Sneck." + +A shade of whiter pallor came over Henson's face. Then his eyes took on a +murderous, purple-black gleam. All the same, his voice was quite steady +as he replied. + +"I'm afraid that is not likely to benefit you much," he said. "Would you +mind handing me that oblong black book from the dressing-table? I want +you to do something for me. What's that?" + +There was just the faintest suggestion of a sound outside. It was Enid +listening with all her ears. She had not been long in discovering what +had happened. Once the ghastly farcical incubus was off her shoulders she +had followed Littimer upstairs. As she passed Henson's room the drone of +voices struck on her ears. She stood there and listened. She would have +given much for this not to have happened, but everything happened for the +worst in that accursed house. + +But Henson's last words were enough for her. She gathered her skirts +together and flew down the stairs. In the hall Williams stood, with a +grin on his face, pensively scraping his chin with a dry forefinger. + +"Now what's the matter, miss?" he cried. + +"Don't ask questions," Enid cried. "Go and get me the champagne nippers. +The champagne nippers at once. If you can't find them, then bring me a +pair of pliers. Then come to me on the leads outside the bathroom. It's a +matter of life and death." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A FIND + + +David did not appear in the least surprised; indeed, he was long since +past that emotion. Before the bottom of the mystery was reached a great +many more strange things were pretty sure to happen. + +"So you bought that cigar-case yourself?" he said. + +"Indeed, I did," Ruth answered, eagerly. "Of course I have long known +you by name and I have read pretty well all your tales. I--I liked your +work so much." + +David was flattered. The shy, sweet admiration in Ruth's eyes +touched him. + +"And I was very glad to meet you," Ruth went on. "You see, we all liked +your stories. And we knew one or two people who had met you, and +gradually you became quite like a friend of ours--Enid and Chris and +myself, you understand. Then a week or two ago I came down to Brighton +with my uncle to settle all about taking the house here. And I happened +to be in Lockhart's buying something when you came in and asked to see +the cigar-case. I recognised you from your photographs, and I was +interested. Of course, I thought no more of it at the time, until Enid +came up to London and told me all about the synopsis, and how strangely +the heroine's case in your proposed story was like hers. Enid wondered +how you were going to get the girl out of her difficulty, and I jokingly +suggested that she had better ask you. She accepted the idea quite +seriously, saying that if you had a real, plausible way out of the +trouble you might help her. And gradually our scheme was evolved. You +were not to know, because of the possible danger to yourself." + +"At the hands of Reginald Henson, of course?" + +"Yes. Our scheme took a long time, but we got it worked out at last. We +decided on the telephone because we thought that we could not be traced +that way, never imagining for a moment that you could get the number of +your caller over the trunk line. Enid came up to town, and worked the +telephone, Chris was in No. 218, and I brought the money." + +"You placed that cigar-case on my doorstep?" + +"Yes, I was wound up for anything. It was I whom you saw riding the +bicycle through Old Steine; it was I who dropped the card of +instructions. It seems a shameful thing to say and to do now, but +I--well, I enjoyed it at the time. And I did it for the sake of my +friends. Do I look like that sort of a girl, Mr. Steel?" + +David glanced into the beautiful shy eyes with just the suggestion of +laughter in them. + +"You look all that is loyal and good and true," he exclaimed. "And I +don't think I ever admired you quite so much as I do at this moment." + +Ruth laughed and looked down. There was something in David's glance that +thrilled her and gave her a sense of happiness she would have found it +hard to describe. + +"I am so glad you do not despise me," she whispered. + +"Despise you!" David cried. "Why? If you only knew how I, well, how I +loved you! Don't be angry. I mean every word that I say; my feelings for +you are as pure as your own heart. If you could care for me as you do for +those others I should have a friend indeed." + +"You have made me care for you very much indeed, Mr. Steel," Ruth +whispered. + +"Call me David..... How nice my plain name sounds from your lips. Ruth +and David. But I must hold myself in hand for the present. Still, I am +glad you like me." + +"Well, you have been so good and kind. We have done you a great deal of +injury and you never blamed us. And you are just the man I have always +pictured as the man I could love ... David!" + +"Well, it was only one little kiss, and I'm sure nobody saw us, dear. And +later on, when you are my wife--" + +"Don't you think we had better keep to business for the present?" Ruth +said, demurely. + +"Perhaps. There is one little point that you must clear up before we go +any farther. How did you manage to furnish those two big dining-rooms +exactly alike?" + +"Why, the furniture is there. At the top of the house, in a large attic, +all the furniture is stored." + +"But the agent told me it had been removed." + +"He was wrong. You can't expect the agent to recollect everything about a +house. The place belonged to the lady whom we may call Mrs. Margaret +Henson at one time. When her home scheme fell through she sold one house +as it was. In the other she stored the furniture. Enid knew of all this, +of course. We managed to get a latch--key to fit 218, and Enid and a man +did the rest. Her idea was to keep you in the dark as much as possible. +After the interview the furniture was put back again, and there you are." + +"Diplomatic and clever, and decidedly original, not to say feminine. In +the light of recently acquired knowledge I can quite see why your friends +desired to preserve their secret. But they need not have taken all those +precautions. Had they written--" + +"They dared not. They were fearful as to what might become of the reply." + +"But they might have come to me openly." + +"Again, they dared not for your sake. You know a great deal, David, but +there is darkness and trouble and wickedness yet that I dare not speak +of. And you are in danger. Already Reginald Henson has shown you what +he can do." + +"And yet he doesn't know everything," David smiled. "He may have stabbed +me in the back, but he is quite ignorant as to what advice I gave to Enid +Henson, which brings me back to the cigar-case. You saw me looking at it +in Lockhart's. Go on." + +"Yes, I watched you with a great deal of curiosity. Finally you went off +out of the shop saying that you could not afford to buy the cigar-case, +and I thought no more of the matter for a time. Then we found out all +about your private affairs. Oh, I am ashamed almost to go on." + +The dainty little face grew crimson; the hand in David's trembled. + +"But we were desperate. And, after all, we were doing no harm. It was +just then that the idea of the cigar-case came into my mind. We knew that +if we could get you to take that money it would only be as a loan. I +suggested the gift of the case as a memento of the occasion. I purchased +that case with my own money and I placed it with its contents on the +doorstep of your house." + +"Did you watch it all the time?" + +"No, I didn't. But I was satisfied that nobody passed, and I was +sufficiently near to hear your door open at the hour appointed. Of +course, we had carefully rehearsed the telephone conversation, and I knew +exactly what to do." + +David sat very thoughtfully for some little time. + +"The case must have been changed," he said. "It is very difficult to say +how, but there is no other logical solution of the matter. At about +half-past twelve on that eventful night you placed on my doorstep a +gun-metal cigar-case, mounted in diamonds, that you had purchased from +Lockhart's?" + +"Yes, and the very one that you admired. Of that I am certain." + +"Very well. I take that case with me to 218, Brunswick Square, and I +bring it back again. Did I take it with me or not? Anyhow, it was found +on the floor beside the body. It never passed out of my possession to my +knowledge. Next day I leave it at the office of Messrs. Mossa and Mack, +and it gets into the hands of the police." + +"Was it not possibly changed there, David?" + +"No, because of the initials I had scratched inside it. And beyond all +question that case--the same case, mind you, that I picked up on my +doorstep--was purchased by the man now lying in the hospital here from +Walen's, in West Street. Now, how was the change made?" + +"If I could only see my way to help you!" + +"The change was made the day you bought the case. By the way, what +time was it?" + +"I can't tell you the exact time," Ruth replied. "It was on the morning +of the night of your adventure." + +"And you kept it by you all the time." + +"Yes. It was in a little box sealed with yellow wax and tied with yellow +string. I went to 219 after I had made the purchase. My uncle was there +and he was using the back sitting-room as an office. He had brought a lot +of papers with him to go through." + +"Ah! Did you put your package down?" + +"Just for a moment on the table. But surely my uncle would not--" + +"One moment, please. Was anybody with your uncle at the time?" + +Ruth gave a sudden little cry. + +"How senseless of me to forget," she cried. "My uncle was down merely for +the day, and, as he was very busy, he sent for Mr. Reginald Henson to +help him. I did not imagine that Mr. Henson would know anything. But even +now I cannot see what--" + +"Again let me interrupt you. Did you leave the room at all?" + +"Yes. It is all coming back to me now. My uncle's medicine was locked up +in my bag. He asked me to go for it and I went, leaving my purchase on +the table. It is all coming back to me now.... When I returned Mr. Henson +was quite alone, as somebody had called to see my uncle. Mr. Henson +seemed surprised to see me back so soon, and as I entered he crushed +something up in his hand and dropped it into the waste-paper basket. But +my parcel was quite intact." + +"Yellow wax and yellow string and all?" + +"Yes, so far as I remember. It was Mr. Henson who reminded my uncle about +his medicine." + +"And when you were away the change was made. Strange that your uncle +should be so friendly with both Henson and Bell. Have they ever met under +your roof?" + +"No," Ruth replied. "Henson has always alluded to Dr. Bell as a lost man. +He professes to be deeply sorry for him but he has declined to meet him. +Where are you going?" + +"I am going with you to see if we can find anything in the waste-paper +basket at No. 219. Bell tells me that your servants have instructions to +touch no papers, and I know that the back sitting-room of your house is +used as a kind of office. I want, if possible, to find the paper that +Henson tried to hide on the day you bought the cigar-case." + +The basket proved to be a large one, and was partially filled with +letters that had never been opened--begging-letters, Ruth said. For half +an hour David was engaged in smoothing out crumpled sheets of paper, +until at length his search was rewarded. He held a packet of note-paper, +the usual six sheets, one inside the other, that generally go to +correspondence sheets of good quality. It was crushed up, but Steel +flattened it out and held it up for Ruth's inspection. + +"Now, here is a find!" he cried. "Look at the address in green at the +top: '15, Downend Terrace.' Five sheets of my own best notepaper, printed +especially for myself, in this basket! Originally this was a block of six +sheets, but the one has been written upon and the others crushed up like +this. Beyond doubt the paper was stolen from my study. And--what's this?" + +He held up the thick paper to the light. At the foot of the top sheet was +plainly indented in outline the initials "D. S." + +"My own cipher," David went on. "Scrawled in so boldly as to mark on the +under sheet of paper. Almost invariably I use initials instead of my full +name unless it is quite formal business." + +"And what is to be done now?" Ruth asked. + +"Find the letter forged over what looks like a genuine cipher," David +said, grimly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"THE LIGHT THAT FAILED" + + +Bell followed Dr. Cross into the hospital with a sense of familiar +pleasure. The cool, sweet smell of the place, the decorous silence, the +order of it all appealed to him strongly. It was as the old war-horse +who sniffs the battle from afar. And the battle with death was ever a +joy to Bell. + +"This is all contrary to regulations, of course," he suggested. + +"Well, it is," Cross admitted. "But I am an enthusiast, and one doesn't +often get a chance of chatting with a brilliant, erratic star like +yourself. Besides, our man is not in the hospital proper. He is in a +kind of annexe by my own quarters, and he scoffs the suggestion of +being nursed." + +Bell nodded, understanding perfectly. He came at length to a +brilliantly-lighted room, where a dark man with an exceedingly high +forehead and wonderfully piercing eyes was sitting up in bed. The dark +eyes lighted with pleasure as they fell upon Bell's queer, shambling +figure and white hair. + +"The labour we delight in physics pain," he greeted with a laugh and a +groan. "It's worth a badly twisted shoulder to have the pleasure of +seeing Hatherly Bell again. My dear fellow, how are you?" + +The voice was low and pleasant, there was no trace of insanity about the +speaker. Bell shook the proffered hand. For some little time the +conversation proceeded smoothly enough. The stranger was a good talker; +his remarks were keen and to the point. + +"I hope you will be comfortable here," Bell suggested. + +A faint subtle change came over the other's face. + +"All but one thing," he whispered. "Don't make a fuss about it, because +Cross is very kind. But I can't stand the electric light. It reminds me +of the great tragedy of my life. But for the electric light I should be a +free man with a good practice to-day." + +"So you are harping on that string again," Bell said, coldly. "I fancied +that I had argued you out of that. You know perfectly well that it is all +imagination, Heritage." + +Heritage passed his left hand across his eyes in a confused kind of way. + +"When you look at one like that I fancy so," he said. "When I was under +your hands I was forgetting all about it. And now it has all come back +again. Did I tell you all about it, Cross?" + +Bell gave Cross a significant glance, and the latter shook his head. + +"Well, it was this way," Heritage began, eagerly. His eyes were gleaming +now, his whole aspect was changed. "I was poor and struggling, but I had +a grand future before me. There was a patient of mine, a rich man, who +had a deadly throat trouble. And he was going to leave me all his money +if I cured him. He told me he had made a will to that effect, and he had +done so. And I was in direst straits for some ready cash. When I came to +operate I used an electric light, a powerful light--you know what I mean. +The operation failed and my patient died. The operation failed because +the electric light went out at a critical time. + +"People said it was a great misfortune for me, because I was on the +threshold of a new discovery which would have made my name. Nothing of +the kind. I deliberately cut the positive wire of the electric light so +that I should fail, and so that my patient might die and I might get +all his money at once. And he did die, and nobody suspected me--nobody +could possibly have found me out. Then I went mad and they put me under +Bell's care. I should have got well, only he gave up his practice and +drifted into the world again. My good, kind friend Reginald Henson +heard of my case; he interested some people in me and placed me where I +am at present." + +"So Reginald Henson knows all about it?" Bell asked, drily. + +"My dear fellow, he is the best friend I have in the world. He was most +interested in my case. I have gone over it with him a hundred times. I +showed him exactly how it was done. And now you know why I loathe the +electric light. When it shines in my eyes it maddens me; it brings back +to me the recollection of that dreadful time, it causes me to--" + +"Heritage," Bell said, sternly, "close your eyes at once, and be silent." + +The patient obeyed instantly. He had not forgotten the old habit of +obedience. When he opened his eyes again at length he looked round him in +a foolish, shamefaced manner. + +"I--I am afraid I have been rambling," he muttered. "Pray don't notice +me, Bell; if you are as good a fellow as you used to be, come and see me +again. I'm tired now." + +Bell gave the desired assurance, and he and Cross left the room together. + +"Any sort of truth in what he has been saying?" asked the latter. + +"Very little," Bell replied. "Heritage is an exceedingly clever fellow +who has not yet recovered from a bad breakdown some years ago. I had +nearly cured him at one time, but he seems to have lapsed into bad ways +again. Some day, when I have time, I shall take up his case once more." + +"Did he operate, or try some new throat cure?" + +"Exactly. He was on the verge of discovering some way of operating for +throat cases with complete success. You can imagine how excited he was +over his discovery. Unfortunately the patient he experimented on died +under the operation, not because the light went out or any nonsense of +that kind, but from failure of the heart's action owing to excitement. +Heritage had no sleep for a fortnight, and he broke down altogether. For +months he was really mad, and when his senses came back to him he had +that hallucination. Some day it will go, and some day Heritage will take +up the dropped threads of his discovery and the world will be all the +better for it. And now, will you do me a favour?" + +"I will do anything that lies in my power." + +"Then be good enough to let me have a peep at the man who was found +half-murdered in my friend David Steel's conservatory. I'm interested in +that case." + +Cross hesitated for a moment. + +"All right," he said. "There can't be any harm in that. Come this way." + +Bell strolled along with the air of a man who is moved by no more than +ordinary curiosity. But from the first he had made up his mind not to +lose this opportunity. He had not the remotest idea what he expected to +find, but he had a pretty good idea that he was on the verge of an +important discovery. He came at length to the bedside of the mysterious +stranger. The man was lying on his back in a state of coma, his breath +came heavily between his parted lips. + +Bell bent low partly to examine the patient, partly to hide his face +from Cross. If Bell had made any discovery he kept the fact rigidly +to himself. + +"Looks very young," he muttered. "But then he is one of those men who +never grow any hair on their faces. Young as he looks, I should judge him +to be at least forty-five, and, if I am not mistaken, he is a man who has +heard the chimes at midnight or later. I'm quite satisfied." + +"It's more than I am," Cross said, when at length he and his visitor were +standing outside together. "Look here, Bell, you're a great friend of +Steel's, whom I believe to be a very good fellow. I don't want to get him +into any harm, but a day or two ago I found this letter in a pocket-book +in a belt worn by our queer patient. Steel says the fellow is a perfect +stranger to him, and I believe that statement. But what about this +letter? I ought to have sent it to the police, but I didn't. Read it." + +And Cross proceeded to take a letter from his pocket. It was on thick +paper; the stamped address given was "15, Downend Terrace." There was no +heading, merely the words "Certainly, with pleasure, I shall be home; in +fact, I am home every night till 12.30, and you may call any time up till +then. If you knock quietly on the door I shall hear you.--D.S." + +"What do you make of it?" Cross asked. + +"It looks as if your patient had called at Steel's house by appointment," +Bell admitted. "Here is the invitation undoubtedly in Steel's +handwriting. Subsequently the poor fellow is found in Steel's house +nearly murdered, and yet Steel declares solemnly that the man is a +perfect stranger to him. It is a bad business, but I assure you that +Steel is the soul of honour. Cross, would you be so good as to let me +have that letter for two or three days?" + +"Very well," Cross said, after a little hesitation. "Good-night." + +Bell went on his way homeward with plenty of food for thought. + +He stopped just for a moment to light a cigar. + +"Getting towards the light," he muttered; "getting along. The light is +not going to fail after all. I wonder what Reginald Henson would say if +he only knew that I had been to the hospital and recognised our mutual +friend Van Sneck there!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +INDISCRETION + + +The expression on Henson's usually benign countenance would have startled +such of his friends and admirers as regarded him as a shining light and +great example. The smug satisfaction, the unctuous sweetness of the +expansive blue eyes were gone; a murderous gleam shone there instead. His +lips were set and rigid, the strong hand seemed to be strangling the +bedclothes. It wanted no effort of imagination to picture Henson as the +murderer stooping over his prey. The man had discarded his mask +altogether. + +"Oh," he said, between his teeth, "you are a clever fellow. You would +have made an excellent detective. And so you have found out where Van +Sneck is?" + +"I have already told you so," Littimer said, doggedly. + +"How many days have you been hanging about Brighton?" + +"Two or three. I came when I heard that Chris was ill. I didn't dare to +come near the house, at least not too near, for fear of being seen. But I +pumped the doctor. Then he told me that Chris was dead, and I risked it +all to see the last of her." + +"Yes, yes," Henson said, testily; "but what has this to do with +Van Sneck?" + +"I was looking for Van Sneck. I found that he had been here. I discovered +that he had left his rooms and had not returned to them. Then it occurred +to me to try the hospital. I pretended that I was in search of some +missing relative, and they showed me three cases of bad accidents, the +victims of which had not been identified. And the third was Van Sneck." + +Littimer told his story with just the suggestion of triumph in his voice. +Henson was watching him with the keenest possible interest. + +"Do you know how Van Sneck got there?" he asked. + +Littimer nodded. Evidently he had heard most of the story. Henson was +silent for some little time. He was working out something in his mind. +His smile was not a pleasant one; it was nothing like his bland platform +smile, for instance. + +"Give me that black book," he said. "Do you know how to work the +telephone?" + +"I daresay I could learn. It doesn't look hard." + +"Well, that is an extension telephone on the table yonder worked in +connection with the main instrument in the library. I like to have my own +telephone, as it is of the greatest assistance to me. Turn that handle +two or three times and put that receiver to your ear. When the Exchange +answers tell them to put you on to O,017 Gerrard." + +Littimer obeyed mechanically, but though he rang and rang again no answer +came. With a snarling curse Henson dragged himself out of bed and crossed +the room, with limbs that shook under him. + +He twirled the handle round passionately. + +"You always were a fool," he growled, "and you always will be." + +Still no reply came. Henson whirled angrily, but he could elicit no +response. He kicked the instrument over and danced round it impotently. +Littimer had never seen him in such a raging fury before. The language of +the man was an outrage, filthy, revolting, profane. No yelling, drunken +Hooligan could have been more fluent, more luridly diffuse. + +"Go on," Littimer said, bitterly. "I like to hear you. I like to hear the +smug, plausible Pharisee, the friend of the good and pious, going on like +this. I'd give fifty years of my life to have just a handful of your +future constituents here for a moment." + +Henson paused suddenly and requested that Littimer should help him into +bed. + +"I can afford to speak freely before you," he said. "Say a word against +me and I'll crush you. Put out a hand to injure me and I'll wipe you off +the face of the earth. It's absolutely imperative that I should send an +important telephone message to London at once, and here the machine has +broken down and no chance of its being repaired for a day or two. Curse +the telephone." + +He lay back on his bed utterly exhausted by his fit of passion. One of +the white bandages about his throat had started, and a little thin stream +of blood trickled down his chest. Littimer waited for the next move. He +watched the crimson fluid trickle over Henson's sleeping-jacket. He could +have watched the big scoundrel bleeding to death with the greatest +possible pleasure. + +"What was Van Sneck doing here?" + +The voice came clear and sharp from the bed. Littimer responded to it as +a cowed hound does to a sudden yet not quite unexpected lash from a +huntsman's whip. His manliness was of small account where Henson was +concerned. For years he had come to heel like this. Yet the question +startled him and took him entirely by surprise. + +"He was looking for the lost Rembrandt." + +But Littimer's surprise was as nothing to Henson's amazement. He lay flat +on his back so that his face could not be seen. From the expression of it +he had obtained a totally unexpected reply to his question. He was so +amazed that he had no words for the moment. But his quick intelligence +and amazing cunning grasped the possibilities of the situation. Littimer +was in possession of information to which he was a stranger. Except in a +vague way he had not the remotest idea what Littimer was talking about. +But the younger man must not know that. + +"So Van Sneck told you so?" he asked. "What a fool he must have been! And +why should he come seeking for the Rembrandt in Brighton?" + +"Because he knows it was there, I suppose." + +"It isn't here, because it doesn't exist. The thing was destroyed by +accident by the police when they raided Van Sneck's lodgings years ago." + +"Van Sneck told me that he had actually seen the picture in Brighton." + +Henson chuckled. The noise was intended to convey amused contempt, and it +had that effect, so far as Littimer was concerned. It was well for Henson +that the latter could not see the strained anxiety of his face. The man +was alert and quivering with excitement in every limb. Still he chuckled +again as if the whole thing merely amused him. + +"'The Crimson Blind' is Van Sneck's weak spot," he said. "It is King +Charles's head to him. By good or bad luck--it is in your hands to say +which--you know all about the way in which it became necessary to get +Hatherly Bell on our side. All the same, the Rembrandt--the _other_ +one--is destroyed." + +"Van Sneck has seen the picture," Littimer said, doggedly. + +"Oh, play the farce out to the end," Henson laughed, good-humouredly. +"Where did he see it?" + +"He says he saw it at 218, Brunswick Square." + +Henson's knees suddenly came up to his nose, then he lay quite flat again +for a long time. His face had grown white once more, his lips utterly +bloodless. Fear was written all over him. A more astute man than Littimer +would have seen the beads standing out on his forehead. It was some +little time before he dared trust himself to speak again. + +"I know the house you mean," he said. "It is next door to the temporary +residence of my esteemed friend, Gilead Gates. At the present moment the +place is void--" + +"And has been ever since your bogus 'Home' broke up. Years ago, before +you used your power to rob and oppress us as you do now, you had a Home +there. You collected subscriptions right and left in the name of the +Reverend Felix Crosbie, and you put the money into your pocket. A certain +weekly journal exposed you, and you had to leave suddenly or you would +have found yourself in the hands of the police. You skipped so suddenly +that you had no time even to think of your personal effects, which you +understood were sold to defray expenses. But they were not sold, as +nobody cared to throw good money after bad. Van Sneck got in with the +agent under pretence of viewing the house, and he saw the picture there." + +"Why didn't he take it with him?" Henson asked, with amused scorn. He was +master of himself again and had his nerves well under control. + +"Well, that was hardly like Van Sneck. Our friend is nothing if not +diplomatic. But when he did manage to get into the house again the +picture was gone." + +"Excellent!" Henson cried. "How dramatic! There is only one thing +required to make the story complete. The picture was taken away by +Hatherly Bell. If you don't bring that in as the _denouement_ I shall be +utterly disappointed." + +"You needn't be," Littimer said, coolly. "That is exactly what did +happen." + +Henson chuckled again, quite a parody of a chuckle this time. He could +detect the quiet suggestion of triumph in Littimer's voice. + +"Did Van Sneck tell you all this?" he asked. + +"Not the latter part of it," Littimer replied, "seeing that he was in the +hospital when it happened. But I know it is true because I saw Bell and +David Steel, the novelist, come away from the house, and Bell had the +picture under his arm. And that's why Van Sneck's agent couldn't find it +the second time he went. Check to you, my friend, at any rate. Bell will +go to my father with Rembrandt number two, and compare it with number +one. And then the fat will be in the fire." + +Henson yawned affectedly. All the same he was terribly disturbed and +shaken. All he wanted now was to be alone and to think. So far as he +could tell nobody besides Littimer knew anything of the matter. And no +starved, cowed, broken-hearted puppy was ever closer under the heel of +his master than Littimer. He still held all the cards; he still +controlled the fortunes of two ill-starred houses. + +"You can leave me now," he said. "I'm tired. I have had a trying day, and +I need sleep; and the sooner you are out of the house the better. For +your own sake and for the sake of those about you, you need not say one +word of this to Enid Henson." + +Littimer promised meekly enough. With those eyes blazing upon him he +would have promised anything. We shall see presently what a stupendous +terror Henson had over the younger man, and in what way all the sweetness +and savour of life was being crushed out of him. + +He closed the door behind him, and immediately Henson sat up in bed. He +reached for his handkerchief and wiped the big beads from his forehead. + +"So the danger has come at last," he muttered. "I am face to face with +it, and I knew I should be. Hatherly Bell is not the man to quietly lie +down under a cloud like that. The man has brains, and patience, and +indomitable courage. Now, does he suspect that I have any hand in the +business? I must see him when my nerves are stronger and try and get at +the truth. If he goes to Lord Littimer with that picture he shakes my +power and my position perilously. What a fool I was not to get it away. +But, then, I only escaped from the Brighton police in those days by the +skin of my teeth. And they had followed me from Huddersfield like those +cursed bloodhounds here. I wonder--" + +He paused, as the brilliant outline of some cunning scheme occurred to +him. A thin, cruel smile crept over his lips. Never had he been in a +tight place yet without discovering a loophole of escape almost before he +had seen the trap. + +A fit of noiseless laughter shook him. + +"Splendid," he whispered. "Worthy of Machiavelli himself! Provided always +that I can get there first. If I could only see Bell's face afterwards, +hear Littimer ordering him off the premises. The only question is, am I +up to seeing the thing through?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ENID LEARNS SOMETHING + + +Reginald Hensen struggled out of bed and into his clothing as best he +could. He was terribly weak and shaky, far more weak than he had imagined +himself to be, but he was in danger now, and his indomitable will-power +pulled him through. What a fool Littimer had been to tell him so much +merely so that he might triumph over his powerful foe for a few minutes. +But Henson was planning a little scheme by which he intended to repay the +young man tenfold. He had no doubt as to the willingness of his tool. + +He took a bottle of brandy from a drawer and helped himself to a liberal +dose. Walker had expressly forbidden anything of the kind, but it was no +time for nice medical obedience. The grateful stimulant had its +immediate effect. Then Henson rang the bell, and after a time Williams +appeared tardily. + +"You are to go down to Barnes and ask him to send a cab here as soon as +possible," Henson said. "I have to go to London by the first train in +the morning." + +Williams nodded, with his mouth wide open. He was astonished and not a +little alarmed at the strength and vitality of this man. And only a few +hours before Williams had learnt with deep satisfaction that Henson would +be confined to his bed for some days. + +Henson dressed at length and packed a small portmanteau. But he had to +sit on his bed for some little time and sip a further dose of brandy +before he could move farther. After all there was no hurry. A full hour +was sure to elapse before the leisurely Barnes brought the cab to the +lodge-gates. + +Henson crept downstairs at length and trod his catlike way to the +library. Once there he proceeded to make a minute inspection of the +telephone. He turned the handle just the fragment of an inch and a queer +smile came over his face. Then he crept as silently upstairs, opened the +window of the bathroom quietly, and slipped on to the leads. There were a +couple of insulators here, against the wire of one of which Henson tapped +his knuckles gently. The wire gave back an answering twang. The other +jangled limp and loose. + +"One of the wires cut," Henson muttered. "I expected as much. Madame Enid +is getting a deal too clever. I suppose this is some suggestion of her +very astute friend David Steel. Well, I have given Mr. Steel one lesson +in minding his own business, and if he interferes further I shall have to +give him another. He will be in gaol before long charged with attempted +murder and robbery with violence, and so exit Steel. After that the girl +will be perhaps chary of seeking outside assistance. And this will be the +third I have had to get rid of. Heavens! How feeble I feel, how weak I +am. And yet I must go through this thing now." + +He staggered into the house again and dropped into a chair. There was a +loud buzzing in his ears, so that he could hardly hear the murmur of +voices in the drawing-room below. This was annoying, because Henson +liked to hear everything that other folks said. Then he dropped off into +a kind of dreamy state, coming back presently to the consciousness that +he had fainted. + +Meanwhile Frank Littimer had joined Enid in the drawing-room. The house +was perfectly quiet and still by this time; the dust-cloud hung on the +air and caused the lamps to burn with a spitting blue flame. Enid's face +looked deadly pale against her black dress. + +"So you have been seeing Reginald," she said. "Why--why did you do it?" + +"I didn't mean to," Frank muttered. "I never intended him to know that I +had been in the house at all. But I was passing his room and he heard me. +He seemed to know my footsteps. I believe if two mice ran by him twice in +the darkness he could tell the difference between them." + +"You had an interesting conversation. What did he want to use the +telephone for?" + +"I don't know. I tried to manipulate it for him, but the instrument was +out of order." + +"I know. I had a pretty shrewd idea what our cousin was going to do. You +see, I was listening at the door. Not a very ladylike thing to do, but +one must fight Henson with his own tools. When I heard him ask for the +telephone directory I ran out and nipped one of the wires by the +bathroom. Frank, it would have been far wiser if you hadn't come." + +Littimer nodded gloomily. There was something like tears in his eyes. + +"I know it," he said. "I hate the place and its dreadful associations. +But I wanted to see Chris first. Did she say anything about me +before--before--" + +"My dear boy, she loved you always. She knew and understood, and was +sorry. And she never, never forgot the last time that you were in +the house." + +Frank Littimer glanced across the room with a shudder. His eyes dwelt +with fascination on the overturned table with its broken china and glass +and wilted flowers in the corner. + +"It is not the kind of thing to forget," he said, hoaresly. "I can see my +father now--" + +"Don't," Enid shuddered, "don't recall it. And your mother has never been +the same since. I doubt if she will ever be the same again. From that day +to this nothing has ever been touched in the house. And Henson comes here +when he can and makes our lives hideous to us." + +"I fancy I shook him up to-night," Littimer said, with subdued triumph. +"He seemed to shudder when I told him that I had found Van Sneck." + +Enid started from her chair. Her eyes were shining with the sudden +brilliancy of unveiled stars. + +"You have found Van Sneck!" she whispered. "Where?" + +"Why, in the Brighton Hospital. Do you mean to say that you don't know +about it, that you don't know that the man found so mysteriously in Mr. +David Steel's house and Van Sneck are one and the same person?" + +Enid resumed her seat again. She was calm enough now. + +"It had not occurred to me," she said. "Indeed, I don't know why it +should have done. Sooner or later, of course, I should have suggested to +Mr. Steel to try and identify the man, but--" + +"My dear Enid, what on earth are you talking about?" + +"Nonsense," Enid said, in some confusion. "Things you don't understand at +present, and things you are not going to understand just yet. I read in +the papers that the man was quite a stranger to Mr. Steel. But are you +certain that it _is_ Van Sneck?" + +"Absolutely certain. I went to the hospital and identified him." + +"Then there is no more to be said on that point. But you were foolish to +tell Reginald." + +"Not a bit of it. Why, Henson has known it all along. You needn't get +excited. He is a deep fellow, and nobody knows better than he how to +disguise his feelings. All the same, he was just mad to know what I had +discovered, you could see it in his face. Reginald Henson--" + +Littimer paused, open-mouthed, for Henson, dressed and wrapped ready for +the journey, had come quietly into the drawing-room. The deadly pallor of +his face, the white bandages about his throat, only served to render his +appearance more emphatic and imposing. He stood there with the halo of +dust about him, looking like the evil genius of the place. + +"I fear I startled you," he said, with a sardonic smile. "And I fear that +in the stillness of the place I have overheard a great part of your +conversation. Frank, I must congratulate you on your discretion, so far. +But seeing that you are young and impressionable, I am going to move +temptation out of your way. Enid, I am going on a journey." + +"I trust that it is a long one, and that it will detain you for a +considerable period," Enid said, coldly. + +"It is neither far, nor is it likely to keep me," Henson smiled. +"Williams has just come in with the information that the cab awaits me at +the gate. Now, then!" + +The last words were flung at Littimer with contemptuous command. The hot +blood flared into the young man's face. Enid's eyes flashed. + +"If my cousin likes to stay here," she said, "why--" + +"He is coming with me," Henson said, hoarsely. "Do you understand? With +me! And if I like to drag him--or _you_, my pretty lady--to the end of +the world or the gates of perdition, you will have to come. Now, get +along before I compel you." + +Enid stood with fury in her eyes and clenched hands as Littimer slunk +away out of the house, Henson following between his victim and Williams. +He said no words till the lodge-gates were past and the growl of the dogs +had died into the distance. + +"We are going to Littimer Castle," said Henson. + +"Not there," Littimer groaned--"not there, Henson! I couldn't--I couldn't +go to that place!" + +Henson pointed towards the cab. + +"Littimer or perdition!" he said. "You don't want to go to the latter +just yet? Jump in, then!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +LITTIMER CASTLE + + +If you had asked the first five people on the Littimer Estate what they +thought of the lord of the soil you would have had a different answer +from every one. One woman would have said that a kinder and better man +never lived; her neighbour would have declared Lord Littimer to be as +hard as the nether millstone. Farmer George would rate him a jolly good +fellow, and tell how he would sit in the kitchen over a mug of ale; +whilst Farmer John swore at his landlord as a hard-fisted, grasping miser +devoid of the bowels of compassion. + +At the end of an hour you would be utterly bewildered, not knowing what +to believe, and prepared to set the whole village down as a lot of +gossips who seemed to mind everything but its own business. And, +perhaps, Lord Littimer might come riding through on his big black horse, +small, lithe, brown as mahogany, and with an eye piercing as a +diamond-drill. One day he looked almost boyishly young, there would be a +smile on his tanned face. And then another day he would be bent in the +saddle, huddled up, wizened, an old, old man, crushed with the weight of +years and sorrow. + +In sooth he was a man of moods and contradictions, changeable as an April +sky, and none the less quick-tempered and hard because he knew that +everybody was terribly afraid of him. And he had a tongue, too, a +lashing, cutting tongue that burnt and blistered. Sometimes he would be +quite meek and angry under the reproaches of the vicar, and yet the same +day history records it that he got off his horse and administered a sound +thrashing to the village poacher. Sometimes he got the best of the vicar, +and sometimes that worthy man scored. They were good friends, these two, +though the vicar never swerved in his fealty to Lady Littimer, whose +cause he always championed. But nobody seemed to know anything about that +dark scandal. They knew that there had been a dreadful scene at the +castle seven years before, and that Lady Littimer and her son had left +never to return. Lady Littimer was in a madhouse somewhere, they said, +and the son was a wanderer on the face of the earth. And when Lord +Littimer died every penny of the property, the castle included, would go +to her ladyship's nephew, Mr. Reginald Henson. + +In spite of the great cloud that hung over the family Lord Littimer did +not seem to have changed. He was just a little more caustic than ever, +his tongue a little sharper. The servants could have told a different +story, a story of dark moods and days when the bitterness of the shadow +of death lay on the face of their master. Few men could carry their grief +better, and because Littimer carried his grief so well he suffered the +more. We shall see what the sorrow was in time. + +There are few more beautiful places in England than Littimer Castle. +The house stood on a kind of natural plateau with many woods behind, a +trout stream ran clean past the big flight of steps leading to the hall, +below were terrace after terrace of hanging gardens, and to the left a +sloping, ragged drop of 200ft into the sea. To the right lay a +magnificently-timbered park, with a herd of real wild deer--perhaps the +only herd of this kind in the country. When the sun shone on the grey +walls they looked as if they had been painted by some cunning hand, so +softly were the greys and reds and blues blended. + +Inside the place was a veritable art gallery. There were hundreds of +pictures and engravings there. All round the grand staircase ran a long, +deep corridor, filled with pictures. There were alcoves here fitted up as +sitting-rooms, and in most of them some gem or another was hung. When the +full flood of electric light was turned on at night the effect was almost +dazzling. There were few pictures in the gallery without a history. + +Lord Littimer had many hobbies, but not one that interested him like +this. There were hundreds of rare birds shot by him in different parts +of the world; the corridors and floors were covered by skins, the spoil +of his rifle; here and there a stuffed bear pranced startlingly; but +the pictures and prints were the great amusement of his lordship's +lonely life. + +He passed along the corridor now towards the great oriel window at the +end. A brilliant sunlight filled the place with shafts of golden and blue +and purple as it came filtered through the stained glass. At a table in +the window a girl sat working a typewriter. She might have passed for +beautiful, only her hair was banded down in hideously Puritan fashion on +each side of her delicate, oval face, her eyes were shielded by +spectacles. But they were lovely, steady, courageous blue eyes, as +Littimer did not fail to observe. Also he had not failed to note that his +new secretary could do very well without the glasses. + +The typewriter and secretary business was a new whim of Littimer's. He +wanted an assistant to catalogue and classify his pictures and prints, +and he had told the vicar so. He wanted a girl who wasn't a fool, a girl +who could amuse him and wouldn't be afraid of him, and he thought he +would have an American. To which the vicar responded that the whole +thing was nonsense, but he had heard of a Boston girl in England who had +a passion for that kind of thing and who was looking for a situation of +the kind in a genuine old house for a year or so. The vicar added that +he had not seen the young lady, but he could obtain her address. A reply +came in due course, a reply that so pleased the impetuous Earl that he +engaged the applicant on the spot. And now she had been just two hours +in the house. + +"Well," Littimer cried, "and how have you been getting on?" + +Miss Christabel Lee looked up, smilingly. + +"I am getting on very well indeed," she said. "You see, I have made a +study of this kind of thing all my lifetime, and most of your pictures +are like old friends to me. Do you know, I fancy that you and I are going +to manage very well together?" + +"Oh, do you? They say I am pretty formidable at times." + +"I shan't mind that a bit. You see, my father was a man with a +villainous temper. But a woman can always get the better of a +bad-tempered man unless he happens to be one of the lower classes who +uses his boots. If he is a gentleman you have him utterly at your mercy. +Have you a sharp tongue?" + +"I flatter myself I can be pretty blistering on occasions," Littimer +said, grimly. + +"How delightful! So can I. You and I will have some famous battles later +on. Only I warn you that I never lose my temper, which gives me a +tremendous advantage. I haven't been very well lately, so you must be +nice to me for a week or two." + +Littimer smiled and nodded. The grim lord of the castle was not +accustomed to this kind of thing, and he was telling himself that he +rather liked it. + +"And now show me the Rembrandt," Miss Lee said, impatiently. + +Littimer led the way to a distant alcove lighted from the side by a +latticed window. There was only one picture in the excellent light there, +and that was the famous Rembrandt engraving. Littimer's eyes lighted up +quite lovingly as they rested upon it. The Florentine frame was hung so +low that Miss Lee could bring her face on a level with it. + +"This is the picture that was stolen from you?" she asked. + +"Yes, that's the thing that there was all the fuss about. It made a great +stir at the time. But I don't expect that it will happen again." + +"Why not?" Miss Lee asked. "When an attempt of that sort is made it is +usually followed by another, sometimes after the lapse of years. Anybody +getting through that window could easily get the frame from its two nails +and take out the paper." + +"Do you think so?" Littimer asked, uneasily. + +"I am certain of it. Take my advice and make it secure. The panels behind +are hard wood--thick black oak. Lord Littimer, I am going to get four +brass-headed stays and drive them through some of the open ornamental +work into the panel so as to make the picture quite secure. It is an iron +frame, I suppose." + +"Wrought-iron, gilt," said Littimer. "Yes, one could easily drive four +brass-headed stays through the open work and make the thing safe. I'll +have it seen to." + +But Miss Lee insisted that there was no time like the present. She had +discovered that Littimer had an excellent carpenter's shop on the +premises; indeed, she admitted to being no mean performer with the lathe +herself. She flitted down the stairs light as thistledown. + +"A charming girl!" Littimer said, cynically. "I wonder why she came to +this dull hole? A quarrel with her young man, perhaps. If I were a young +man myself I might--But women are all the same. I should be a happier man +if I had never trusted one. If--" + +The face darkened; a heavy scowl lined his brows as he paced up and +down. Christabel came back presently with hammer and some brass-headed +stays in her hand. + +"Don't utterly destroy the frame," Littimer said, resignedly. "It is +reputed to be Ouentin Matsy's work, and I had it cut to its present +fashion. I'll go to the end of the gallery till the execution's over." + +"On the contrary," Miss Lee said, firmly, "you will stay where you +are told." + +A little to his own surprise Littimer remained. He saw the nails driven +firmly in and finished off with a punch so that there might be no danger +of hammering the exquisitely wrought frame. Miss Lee stood regarding her +work with a suggestion of pride. + +"There," she said, "I flatter myself a carpenter could have done +no better." + +"You don't know our typical carpenter," Littimer said. "Here is Tredwell +with a telegram. For Miss Lee? I hope it isn't an intimation that some +relative has died and left you a fortune. At least, if it is, you mustn't +go until we've had one of those quarrels you promised me." + +Christabel glanced at the telegram and slipped it into her pocket. There +were just a few words in the telegram that would have been +unintelligible to the ordinary understanding. The girl did not even +comprehend, but Littimer's eyes were upon her, and the cipher had to +keep for a time. Littimer walked away at an intimation that his steward +desired to see him. + +Instantly the girl's manner changed. She glanced at the Rembrandt with a +shrewd smile that meant something beyond a mere act of prudence well +done. Then she went down to the library and began an eager search for a +certain book. She found it at length, the "David Copperfield" in the +"Charles Dickens" edition of the great novelist's works. For the next +hour or so she was flitting over the pages with the cipher telegram +spread out before her. A little later and the few jumbled, meaningless +words were coded out into a lengthy message. Christabel read them over a +few times, then with the aid of a vesta she reduced the whole thing, +telegram and all, to tinder, which she carefully crushed and flung out of +the window. + +She looked away down the terrace, she glanced at the dappled deer +knee-deep in the bracken, she caught a glimpse of the smiling sea, and +her face saddened for a moment. + +"How lovely it all is," she murmured. "How exquisitely beautiful and how +utterly sad! And to think that if I possessed the magician's wand for a +moment I could make everything smile again. He is a good man--a better +man than anybody takes him to be. Under his placid, cynical surface he +conceals a deal of suffering. Well, we shall see." + +She replaced the "Copperfield" on the shelf and turned to go again. +In the hall she met Lord Littimer dressed for riding. He smiled as +she passed. + +"Au revoir till dinner-time," he said. "I've got to go and see a tenant. +Oh, yes, I shall certainly expect the pleasure of your company to dinner. +And now that the Rembrandt--" + +"It is safe for the afternoon," Christabel laughed. "It is generally +when the family are dining that the burglar has his busy time. A +pleasant ride to you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST + + +Lord Littimer returned, as he declared, with the spirits and appetite of +a schoolboy. All the same, he did not for one moment abandon his usual +critical analysis. He rattled on gaily, but he was studying his guest all +the same. She might have been the typical American lady student; but he +was not blind to the fact that the plain muslin and lace frock she wore +was made in Paris or that her manners and style must have been picked up +in the best society. She sat there under the shaded lights and behind the +bank of flowers like as to the manner born, and her accent was only +sufficiently American to render her conversation piquant. + +"You have always been used to this class of life?" Littimer asked. + +"There you are quite mistaken," Christabel said, coolly. "For the last +few years my existence has been anything but a bed of roses. And your +remark, my lord, savours slightly of impertinent curiosity. I might as +well ask you why your family is not here." + +"We agree to differ," Littimer responded. "I recollect it caused me a +great deal of annoyance at the time. And my son chose to take his +mother's part. You knew I had a son?" + +"Yes," said Christabel, without looking up from the peach she was +peeling. "I have met him." + +"Indeed. And what opinion did you form of my son, may I ask?" + +"Well, I rather liked him. He seemed to me to be suffering from some +great trouble, and trouble I am sure that was not of his own creating." + +"Which means to say you feel rather sorry for Frank. But when you say the +trouble was not of his own creating you are entirely mistaken. It is not +a nice thing to say, Miss Lee, but my son was an utter and most +unmitigated young scoundrel. If he came here he would be ordered out of +the house. So far as I am concerned, I have no son at all. He sides with +his mother, and his mother has a considerable private fortune of her own. +Where she is at the present moment I have no idea. Nor do I care. Seems +odd, does it not, that I should have been very fond of that woman at one +time, just as it seems odd to think that I should have once been fond of +treacle tart?" + +Littimer spoke evenly and quietly, with his eyes full upon the girl. He +was deceiving himself, but he was not deceiving her for a moment. His +callousness seemed to be all the more marked because the servants were in +the room. But Christabel could see clearly what an effort it was. + +"You love your wife still," she said, so low that only Littimer heard. +His eyes flashed, his face flamed with a sudden spasm of passion. + +"Are we to quarrel so early as this?" he whispered. + +"I never quarrel," Christabel said, coolly; "I leave my antagonist to do +that. But I have met your son, and I like him. He may be weak, but he is +a gentleman. You have made a mistake, and some day you will be sorry for +it. Do you grow those orchids yourself?" + +Littimer laughed, with no sign of anger remaining. All the same, +Christabel could see that his thin brown hand was shaking. She noticed +the lines that pain had given under those shrewd black eyes. + +"You must see my orchids," he said. "Most of the specimens I obtained +myself. They tell me I have at least three unique kinds. And now, if you +will permit me, I am going to smoke. The drawing-room is at your +disposal, though I rarely enter it myself. I always retire at eleven, but +that need not bind you in any way. It has been altogether a most +delightful evening." + +But Christabel did not dally long in the drawing-room. As she went +upstairs and along the corridor she heard the snapping of the electric +lights all over the house as the servants were preparing to retire. She +paused just a moment in the alcove where the precious Rembrandt was and +located carefully the position of the switch there. Then she retired to +her own room, where she changed her dress for a simple black gown. A big +clock somewhere was striking twelve as she finished. She looked out of +her door. The whole house was in darkness, the silence seemed to cling +like a curtain. + +She paused for a moment as if afraid to take the next step. If it was +fear, she shook it aside resolutely and crept into the corridor. She +carried something shining in her hands--something that gleamed in the +dim, uncertain light from the big window. She stood just for an instant +with a feeling that somebody was climbing up the ivy outside the house. +She felt her way along until she came to the alcove containing the +Rembrandt and then she stopped. Her hand slid along the wall till her +fingers touched the switch of the electric light. + +She stood for a long time there perfectly motionless. It was a still +night outside, and there was nothing to account for the rustling of the +ivy leaves. The rattling came in jerks, spasmodically, stopping every now +and then and resuming again. It was no longer a matter of imagination, it +was a certainty. Somebody was climbing up the ivy to the window. + +Leaning eagerly forward, Christabel could hear the sound of laboured +breathing. She seemed to see the outline of an arm outside, she could +catch the quick rattle of the sash, she could almost see a bent wire +crooked through the beaded edges of the casement. Yes, she was right. +The window swung noiselessly back and a figure stood poised on the +ledge outside. + +With a quick breath and a fluttering of her heart Christabel felt for +the switch. + +"It will be all right," she murmured; "the other one will fancy that the +light is necessary. Courage, my dear courage, and the game is yours. Ah!" + +The intruder dropped inside and pulled the window behind him. Evidently +he was on familiar ground, though he seemed to be seeking an unfamiliar +object. Christabel's hand stole along to the switch; there was a click, +and the alcove was bathed in brilliant light. The intruder shrank back +with a startled cry. He rubbed his dazed eyes. + +"Why not come in through the front door, Mr. Littimer?" Christabel +drawled, coolly. + +Frank Littimer had no words for a moment. He was wondering who this woman +was and what she was doing here. American, evidently, by her accent, and +also by the revolver that she handled so assuredly. + +"That is the way you used to enter," Christabel proceeded, "when you had +been out contrary to parental instructions and the keepers expected to +have a fracas with the poachers. Your bedroom being exactly opposite, +detection was no easy matter. Your bedroom has never been touched since +you left. The key is still outside the door. Will you kindly enter it?" + +"But--" Frank stammered. "But I assure you that I cannot--" + +"Take the Rembrandt away. You cannot. The frame is of iron, and it is +fastened to the wall. It would take an experienced carpenter quite a +long time to remove it. Therefore your mission has failed. It is very +annoying, because it puts the other man in a very awkward position. +The position is going to be still more awkward presently. Please go to +your room." + +"My dear lady, if my father knows that I am in the house--" + +"He is not going to know that you are in the house, at least not for some +little time. And when you see him it will be better not to say more than +is necessary. Later on you will recognise what a friend I am to you." + +"You are not showing it at present," Littimer said, desperately. + +"The patient rarely sees any virtue in his medicine. Now, please, go to +your room. I can hear the other man muttering and getting anxious down +below. Now, if you approach that window again I am pretty certain that my +revolver will go off. You see, I am an American, and we are so careless +with such weapons. Please go to your room at once." + +"And if I refuse your ridiculous request?" + +"You will not find my request in the least ridiculous. If you refuse I +shall hold you up with my weapon and alarm the whole house. But I don't +want to do that, for the sake of the other man. He is so very +respectable, you know, and anything unconventional may be so awkward for +him. Yes, it is just as I expected. He is coming up the ivy to +investigate himself. Go!" + +The revolver covered Littimer quite steadily. He could see into the blue +rim, and he was conscious of strange cold sensations down his spine. A +revolver is not a pretty thing at the best of times; it is doubly +hazardous in the hands of a woman. + +"What do you want with me?" he asked. + +"My dear man, I want to do nothing with you. Only do as you are told +and--there! The other man is coming up the ivy. He can't understand the +light and you not returning. He imagines that you are looking in the +wrong place. Please go." + +Littimer backed before the weapon, backed until he was in the doorway. +Suddenly the girl gave him a push, shut the door to, and turned the key +in the lock. Almost at the same instant another figure loomed large in +the window-frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SLIGHTLY FARCICAL + + +Something bulky was struggling to get through the window. Half hidden in +the shadow, Christabel watched with the deepest interest. If she had been +afraid at first that sensation had entirely departed by this time. From +the expression of her face she might have been enjoying the novel +situation. It was certainly not without a suggestion of the farcical. + +The burly figure contrived to squeeze through the narrow casement at +length and stood breathing loudly in the corridor. It was not a pleasant +sight that met Christabel's gaze--a big man with a white, set face and +rolling eyes and a stiff bandage about his throat. Evidently the intruder +was utterly exhausted, for he dropped into a chair and nursed his head +between his hands. + +"Now what has become of that fool?" he muttered. "Ah!" + +He looked round him uneasily, but his expression changed as his eyes fell +on the Rembrandt. He had the furtive look of a starving man who picks up +a purse whilst the owner is still in sight. He staggered towards the +picture and endeavoured to take it gently from the support. He tried +again and again, and then in a paroxysm of rage he tore at the +frame-work. + +"I guess that it can't be done," Christabel said, drawlingly. "See, +stranger?" + +Reginald Henson fairly gasped. As he turned round the ludicrous mixture +of cunning and confusion, anger and vexatious alarm on his face caused +the girl to smile. + +"I--I beg your pardon," he stammered. + +"I said it can't be done," the girl drawled, coolly. "Sandow couldn't do +it. The frame is made of iron and it is fixed to the wall by four long +stays. It's a neat job, though I say it myself; I persuaded Lord Littimer +to have it done. And when I heard you two prowling about down there I was +glad. I've got the other one safe." + +"Oh, you've got the other one safe?" Henson said, blankly. + +He would have liked to have burst out into a torrent of passion, only he +recognised his position. The thing was shamefully funny. It was anything +but nice for a man of his distinguished position to be detected in an act +suspiciously like vulgar burglary. Still, there must be some plausible +way out of the difficulty if he could only think of it. Only this girl +with the quaint, pretty face and spectacles did not look in the least +like a fool. He would have to try what blandishments would do. + +"Are you aware who I am?" he asked, blandly. + +"What does it matter? I've got the other one, and no doubt he will be +identified by the police. If he doesn't say too much he may get off with +a light sentence. It is quite easy to see that you are the greater +scoundrel of the two." + +"My dear young lady, do you actually take me for a burglar?" + +There was a note of deep pain in Henson's voice. He had dropped into a +chair again, with a feeling of utter weakness upon him. The girl's +resolute mien and the familiar way in which she handled her revolver +filled him with the deepest apprehension. + +"I am a very old friend and relative of Lord Littimer's," he said. + +"Oh, indeed. And is the other man a relative of Lord Littimer's also?" + +"Oh, why, confound it, yes. The other man, as you call him, is Lord +Littimer's only son." + +Christabel glanced at Henson, not without admiration. + +"Well, you are certainly a cool hand," she said. "You are two clever +thieves who have come here for the express purpose of robbing Lord +Littimer of one of his art treasures. I happen to catch one, and he +immediately becomes the son of the owner of the place. I am so fortunate +as to bag the other bird, and he resolves himself into a relative of my +host's. And you really expect me to believe a Hans Andersen fairy story +like that!" + +"I admit that appearances are against me," Henson said, humbly. "But I am +speaking the truth." + +"Oh, indeed. Then why didn't you come in through the front door? The +violent exercise you were taking just now must be dangerous to a man of +your build!" + +"I am afraid I shall have to make a clean breast of it," Henson said, +with what he fondly imagined to be an engaging smile. "You may, perhaps, +be aware that yonder Rembrandt has a history. It was stolen from its +present owner once, and I have always said that it will be stolen again. +Many a time have I urged Lord Littimer to make it secure." + +"How grateful you should be to me for having done so!" + +"Ah, you are cynical still, which is a bad thing for one so young +and--er--charming. I came down here to see my very noble relative, and +his son accompanied me. I came to try and make peace between father and +son. But that is a family matter which, forgive me, I cannot discuss with +a stranger. Our train was late, or we should have been here long ago. On +reaching the castle it struck me as a good idea to give Lord Littimer a +lesson as to his carelessness. My idea was to climb through the window, +abstract the Rembrandt, and slip quietly into my usual bedroom here. Then +in the morning, after the picture has been missed, I was going to tell +the whole story. That is why Mr. Littimer entered this way and why I +followed when I found that he had failed to return. It was a foolish +thing to do, and the _denouement_ has been most humiliating. I assure you +that is all." + +"Not quite," Christabel drawled. "There is something else." + +"And what may that be, my dear young lady?" + +"To tell your story to Lord Littimer before you sleep. That kind of +romance may do for Great Britain, but it wouldn't make good family +reading in the States." + +"But, my dear young lady, I beg of you, implore you--" + +"Come off the grass! I'm to let you go quietly to bed and retire myself, +so that when morning arrives you will be missing together with as much +plunder as you can carry away. No, sir." + +Henson advanced angrily. His prudence had gone for the time. As he came +down upon Christabel she raised her revolver and fired two shots in quick +succession over Henson's shoulder. The noise went echoing and +reverberating along the corridor like a crackling of thunder. A door came +open with a click, then a voice demanded to know what was wrong. + +"Now I guess the fat is in the fire," Christabel said. + +Henson dropped into a chair and groaned. Lord Littimer, elegantly attired +in a suit of silk pyjamas and carrying a revolver in his hand, came +coolly down the corridor. A curious servant or two would have followed, +but he waved them back crisply. + +"Miss Lee," he said, with a faint, sarcastic emphasis, "and my dear +friend and relative, Reginald Henson--Reginald, the future owner of +Littimer Castle!" + +"So he told me, but I wouldn't believe him," said Christabel. + +"It is a cynical age," Littimer remarked. "Reginald, what does +this mean?" + +Henson shook his head uneasily. + +"The young lady persisted in taking me for a burglar," he groaned. + +"And why not?" Christabel demanded. "I was just going to bed when I heard +voices in the forecourt below and footsteps creeping along. I came into +the corridor with my revolver. Presently one of the men climbed up the +ivy and got into the corridor. I covered him with my revolver and fairly +drove him into a bedroom and locked him in." + +"So you killed with both barrels?" Littimer cried, with infinite +enjoyment. + +"Then the other one came. He came to steal the Rembrandt." + +"Nothing of the kind," the wretched Henson cried. "I came to give you a +lesson, Lord Littimer. My idea was to get in through the window, steal +the Rembrandt, and, when you had missed it, confess the whole story. My +character is safe." + +"Giddy," Littimer said, reproachfully. "You are so young, so boyish, so +buoyant, Reginald. What would your future constituents have said had they +seen you creeping up the ivy? They are a grave people who take themselves +seriously. Egad, this would be a lovely story for one of those prying +society papers. 'The Philanthropist and the Picture.' I've a good mind to +send it to the Press myself." + +Littimer sat down and laughed with pure enjoyment. + +"And where is the other partridge?" he asked, presently. + +Christabel seemed to hesitate for a moment, her sense of humour of the +situation had departed. Her hand shook as she turned the key in the door. + +"I am afraid you are going to have an unpleasant surprise," Henson said. + +Littimer glanced keenly at the speaker. All the laughter died out of +his eyes; his face grew set and stern as Frank Littimer emerged into +the light. + +"And what are you doing here?" he asked, hoarsely. "What do you expect to +gain by taking part in a fool's trick like this? Did I not tell you never +to show your face here again?" + +The young man said nothing. He stood there looking down, dogged, quiet, +like one tongue-tied. Littimer thundered out his question again. He +crossed over, laying his hands on his son's shoulders and shaking him as +a terrier might shake a rat. + +"Did you come for anything?" he demanded. "Did you expect any +mercy from--" + +Frank Littimer shook off his grasp gently. He looked up for the +first time. + +"I expected nothing," he said. "I--I did not come of my own free will. I +am silent now for the sake of myself and others. But the time may +come--God knows it has been long delayed. For the present, I am bound in +honour to hold my tongue." + +He flashed one little glance at Henson, a long, angry glance. Littimer +looked from one to the other in hesitation for a moment. The hard lines +between his brows softened. + +"Perhaps I am wrong," he muttered. "Perhaps there has been a mistake +somewhere. And if ever I find out I have--pshaw, I am talking like a +sentimental schoolgirl. Have I not had evidence strong as proof of Holy +Writ that ... Get out of my sight, your presence angers me. Go, and never +let me see you again. Reginald, you were a fool to bring that boy here +to-night. See him off the premises and fasten the door again." + +"Surely," Christabel interfered, "surely at this time of the night--" + +"You should be in bed," Littimer said, tartly. "My dear young lady, if +you and I are to remain friends I must ask you to mind your own business. +It is a dreadfully difficult thing for a woman to do, but you must try. +You understand?" + +Christabel was evidently putting a strong constraint on her tongue, for +she merely bowed and said nothing. She had her own good reasons for the +diplomacy of silence. Henson and Frank Littimer were disappearing in the +direction of the staircase. + +"I say nothing," Christabel said. "But at the same time I don't fancy I +shall care very much for your distinguished friend Reginald Henson." + +Littimer smiled. All his good humour seemed to have returned to him. Only +the dark lines under his eyes were more accentuated. + +"A slimy, fawning hound," he whispered. "A mean fellow. And the best of +it is that he imagines that I hold the highest regard for him. +Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A SQUIRE OF DAMES + + +A little later, and Christabel sat before her looking-glass with her +lovely hair about her shoulders. The glasses were gone and her +magnificent eyes gleamed and sparkled. + +"Good night's work," she said to her smiling reflection. "Now the danger +is passed and now that I am away from that dreadful house I feel a +different being. Strange what a difference a few hours has made! And I +hardly need my disguise--even at this moment I believe that Enid would +not recognise me. She will be pleased to know that her telegram came in +so usefully. Well, here I am, and I don't fancy that anybody will +recognise Christabel Lee and Chris Henson for one and the same person." + +She sat there brushing her hair and letting her thoughts drift along idly +over the events of the evening. Reginald Henson would have felt less easy +in his mind had he known what these thoughts were. Up to now that oily +scoundrel hugged himself with the delusion that nobody besides Frank +Littimer and himself knew that the second copy of "The Crimson Blind" had +passed into Bell's possession. + +But Chris was quite aware of the fact. And Chris _as_ Chris was supposed +by Henson to be dead and buried, and was, therefore, in a position to +play her cards as she pleased. Up to now it seemed to her that she had +played them very well indeed. A cipher telegram from Longdean had warned +her that Henson was coming there, had given her more than a passing hint +what Henson required, and her native wit had told her why Henson was +after the Rembrandt. + +Precisely why he wanted the picture she had not discovered yet. But she +knew that she would before long. And she knew also that Henson would try +and obtain the print without making his presence at Littimer Castle +obvious. He was bringing Frank Littimer with him, and was therefore going +to use the younger man in some cunning way. + +That Henson would try and get into the castle surreptitiously Chris had +felt from the first. Once he did so the rest would be easy, as he knew +exactly where to lay his hand on the picture. Therefore he could have no +better time than the dead of night. If his presence were betrayed he +could turn the matter aside as a joke and trust to his native wit later +on. If he had obtained the picture by stealth he would have discreetly +disappeared, covering his tracks as he retreated. + +Still, it had all fallen out very fortunately. Henson had been made to +look ridiculous; he had been forced to admit that he was giving Littimer +a lesson over the Rembrandt, and though the thing appeared innocent +enough on the surface, Chris was sanguine that later on she could bring +this up in evidence against him. + +"So far so good," she told herself. "Watch, watch, watch, and act when +the time comes. But it was hard to meet Frank to-night and be able to say +nothing. And how abjectly miserable he looked! Well, let us hope that the +good time is coming." + +Chris was up betimes in the morning and out on the terrace. She felt no +further uneasiness on the score of the disguise now. Henson was certain +to be inquisitive, it was part of his nature, but he was not going to +learn anything. Chris smiled as she saw Henson lumbering towards her. He +seemed all the better for his night's rest. + +"The rose blooms early here," he said, gallantly. "Let me express +the hope that you have quite forgiven me for the fright I gave you +last night." + +"I guess I don't recollect the fright," Chris drawled. "And if there was +any fright I calculate it was on the other side. And how are you this +morning? You look as if you had been in the wars. Got some trouble with +your throat, or what?" + +"A slight operation," Henson said, airily. "I have been speaking too +much in public lately and a little something had to be removed. I am +much better." + +The ready lie tripped off his tongue. Chris smiled slightly. + +"Do you know, you remind me very much of somebody," he went on. "And yet +I don't know why, because you are quite different. Lord Littimer tells me +you are an American." + +"The Stars and Stripes," Chris laughed. "I guess our nation is the first +on earth. Now, if you happen to know anything about Boston--" + +"I never was in Boston in my life," Henson replied, hastily. The name +seemed to render him uneasy. "Have you been in England very long?" + +Chris replied that she was enjoying England for the first time. But she +was not there to answer questions, her _role_ was to ask them. But she +was dealing with a past-master in the art of gleaning information, and +Henson was getting on her nerves. She gave a little cry of pleasure as a +magnificent specimen of a bloodhound came trotting down the terrace and +paused in friendly fashion before her. + +"What a lovely dog," she exclaimed. "Do you like dogs, Mr. Henson?" + +She looked up beamingly into his face as she spoke; she saw the heavy +features darken and the eyes grow small with anger. + +"I loathe them, and they loathe me," Henson growled. "Look at him!" + +He pointed to the dog, who showed his teeth with an angry growl. And yet +the great sleek head lay against the girl's knee in perfect confidence. +Henson looked on uneasily and backed a little way. The dog marked his +every movement. + +"See how the brute shows his teeth at me," he said. + +"Please send him away, Miss Lee. I am certain he is getting ready for +a spring." + +Henson's face was white and hot and wet, his lips trembled. He was +horribly afraid. Chris patted the silky head and dismissed the dog +with a curt command. He went off instantly with a wistful, backward +look in his eye. + +"We are going to be great friends, that doggie and I," Chris said, gaily. +"And I don't like you any the better, Mr. Henson, because you don't like +dogs and they don't like you. Dogs are far better judges of character +than you imagine. Dr. Bell says--" + +"What Dr. Bell?" Henson demanded, swiftly. + +Chris had paused just in time: perhaps her successful disguise had made +her a trifle reckless. + +"Dr. Hatherly Bell," she said. "He used to be a famous man before he fell +into disgrace over something or another. I heard him lecture on the +animal instinct in Boston once, and he said--but as you don't care for +dogs it doesn't matter what he said." + +"Do you happen to know anything about him?" Henson asked. + +"Very little. I never met him, if that is what you mean. But I heard that +he had done something particularly disgraceful. Why do you ask?" + +"Nothing more than a mere coincidence," Henson replied. "It is just a +little strange that you should mention his name here, especially after +what had happened last night. I suppose that, being an American, you fell +in love with the Rembrandt. It was you who suggested securing it in its +place, and then preventing my little jest from being successfully carried +out. Of course you have heard that the print was stolen once?" + +"The knowledge is as general as the spiriting away of the +Gainsborough Duchess." + +"Quite so. Well, the man who stole the Rembrandt was Dr. Hatherly Bell. +He stole it that he might pay a gambling debt, and it was subsequently +found in his luggage before he could pass it on to the purchaser. I am +glad you mentioned it, because the name of Bell is not exactly a +favourite at the castle." + +"I am much obliged to you," said Chris, gravely. "Was Dr. Bell a +favourite once?" + +"Oh, immense. He had great influence over Lord Littimer. He--but here +comes Littimer in one of his moods. He appears to be angry about +something." + +Littimer strode up, with a frown on his face and a telegram in his hand. +Henson assumed to be mildly sympathetic. + +"I hope it is nothing serious?" he murmured. + +"Serious," Littimer cried. "The acme of audacity--yes. The telegram has +just come. 'Must see you tonight on important business affecting the +past. Shall hope to be with you some time after dinner!'" + +"And who is the audacious aspirant to an interview?" Chris asked, +demurely. + +"A man I expect you never heard of," said Littimer, "but who is quite +familiar to Henson here. I am alluding to that scoundrel Hatherly Bell." + +"Good heavens!" Henson burst out. "I--I mean, what colossal impudence!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MAN WITH THE THUMB AGAIN + + +Chris gave Henson one swift searching glance before her eyes dropped +demurely to the ground. Lord Littimer appeared to be taking no heed of +anything but his own annoyance. But quick as Chris had been, Henson was +quicker. He was smiling the slow, sad smile of the man who turns the +other cheek because it is his duty to do so. + +"And when does Dr. Bell arrive?" he asked. + +"He won't arrive at all," Littimer said, irritably. "Do you suppose I +am going to allow that scoundrel under my roof again? The amazing +impudence of the fellow is beyond everything. He will probably reach +Moreton Station by the ten o'clock train. The drive will take him an +hour, if I choose to permit the drive, which I don't. I'll send a groom +to meet the train with a letter. When Bell has read that letter he will +not come here." + +"I don't think I should do that," Henson said, respectfully. + +"Indeed! You are really a clever fellow. And what would you do?" + +"I should suffer Bell to come. As a Christian I should deem it my duty to +do so. It pains me to say so, but I am afraid that I cannot contravert +your suggestion that Bell is a scoundrel. It grieves me to prove any man +that. And in the present instance the proofs were overpowering. But there +is always a chance--a chance that we have misjudged a man on false +evidence." + +"False evidence! Why, the Rembrandt was actually found in Bell's +portmanteau." + +"Dear friend, I know it," Henson said, with the same slow, forgiving +smile. "But there have been cases of black treachery, dark conspiracies +that one abhors. And Bell might have made some stupendous discovery +regarding his character. I should see him, my lord; oh, yes, I should +most undoubtedly see him." + +"And so should I," Chris put in, swiftly. + +Littimer smiled, with all traces of his ill-temper gone. He seemed to +be contemplating Henson with his head on one side, as if to fathom +that gentleman's intentions. There was just the suspicion of contempt +in his glance. + +"In the presence of so much goodness and beauty I feel quite lost," he +said. "Very well, Henson, I'll see Bell. I may find the interview +diverting." + +Henson strolled away with a sigh of gentle pleasure. Once out of sight he +flew to the library, where he scribbled a couple of telegrams. They were +carefully worded and related to some apocryphal parcel required without +delay, and calculated to convey nothing to the lay mind. A servant was +despatched to the village with them. Henson would have been pleased had +he known that the fascinating little American had waylaid his messenger +and read his telegrams under the plea of verifying one of the addresses. +A moment or two later and those addresses were carefully noted down in a +pocket-book. It was past five before Chris found herself with a little +time on her hands again. Littimer had kept her pretty busy all the +afternoon, partly because there was so much to do, but partly from the +pleasure that he derived from his secretary's society. He was more free +with her than he had been with any of her sex for years. It was +satisfactory, too, to learn that Littimer regarded Henson as a smug and +oily hypocrite, and that the latter was only going to be left Littimer +Castle to spite the owner's other relations. + +"Now you run into the garden and get a blow." Littimer said at length. "I +am telling you a lot too much. I am afraid you are a most insinuating +young person." + +Chris ran out into the garden gaily. Despite the crushing burden on her +shoulders she felt an elation and a flow of spirits she had not been +conscious of for years. The invigorating air of the place seemed to have +got into her veins, the cruel depression of the House of the Silent +Sorrow was passing away. Again, she had hope and youth on her side, and +everything was falling out beautifully. It was a pleasanter world than +Chris had anticipated. + +She went along more quietly after a time. There was a tiny arbour on a +terrace overlooking the sea to which Chris had taken a particular fancy. +She picked her way daintily along the grass paths between the roses until +she suddenly emerged upon the terrace. She had popped out of the roses +swiftly as a squirrel peeps from a tree. + +Somebody was in the arbour, two people talking earnestly. One man +stood up with his back to Chris, one hand gripping the outside ragged +bark of the arbour frame with a peculiarly nervous, restless force. +Chris could see the hand turned back distinctly. A piece of bark was +being crumbled under a strong thumb. Such a thumb! Chris had seen +nothing like it before. + +It was as if at some time it had been smashed flat with a hammer, a +broad, strong, cruel-looking thumb, flat and sinister-looking as the head +of a snake. In the centre, like a pink pearl dropped in a filthy gutter, +was one tiny, perfectly-formed nail. + +The owner of the thumb stepped back the better to give way to a fit of +hoarse laughter. He turned slightly aside and his eyes met those of +Chris. They were small eyes set in a coarse, brutal face, the face of a +criminal, Chris thought, if she were a judge of such matters. It came +quite as a shock to see that the stranger was in clerical garb. + +"I--I beg your pardon," Chris stammered. "But I--" + +Henson emerged from the arbour. For once in a way he appeared confused, +there was a flush on his face that told of annoyance ill suppressed. + +"Please don't go away," he said. "Mr. Merritt will think that he has +alarmed you. Miss Lee, this is my very good friend and co-worker in the +field, the Reverend James Merritt." + +"Is Mr. Merritt a friend of Lord Littimer's?" Chris asked, demurely. + +"Littimer hates the cloth," Henson replied "Indeed, he has no sympathy +whatever with my work. I met my good friend quite by accident in the +village just now, and I brought him here for a chat. Mr. Merritt is +taking a well-earned holiday." + +Chris replied graciously that she didn't doubt it. She did not deem it +necessary to add that she knew that one of Mr. Henson's mystic telegrams +had been addressed to one James Merritt at an address in Moreton Wells, a +town some fifteen miles away. That the scoundrel was up to no good she +knew perfectly well. + +"Your work must be very interesting," she said. "Have you been in the +Church long, Mr. Merritt?" + +Merritt said hoarsely that he had not been in the Church very long. His +dreadful grin and fog voice suggested that he was a brand plucked from +the burning, and that he had only recently come over to the side of the +angels. The whole time he spoke he never met Chris's glance once. The +chaplain of a convict prison would have turned from him in disgust. +Henson was obviously ill at ease. In his suave, diplomatic way he +contrived to manoeuvre Merritt off the ground at length. + +"An excellent fellow," he said, with exaggerated enthusiasm. "It was a +great day for us when we won over James Merritt. He can reach a class +which hitherto we have not touched." + +"He looks as if he had been in gaol," Chris said. + +"Oh, he has," Henson admitted, candidly. "Many a time." + +Chris deemed it just possible that the unpleasant experience might be +endured again, but she only smiled and expressed herself to be deeply +interested. The uneasiness in Henson's manner gradually disappeared. + +Evidently the girl suspected nothing. She would have liked to have asked +a question or two about Mr. Merritt's thumb, but she deemed it prudent +not to do so. + +Dinner came at length, dinner served in the great hall in honour of the +recently arrived guest, and set up in all the panoply and splendour that +Littimer affected at times. The best plate was laid out on the long +table. There were banks and coppices of flowers at either corner, a huge +palm nodded over silver and glass and priceless china. The softly shaded +electric lights made pools of amber flame on fruit and flowers and +gleaming crystal. Half-a-dozen big footmen went about their work with +noiseless tread. + +Henson shook his head playfully at all this show and splendour. His good +humour was of the elephantine order, and belied the drawn anxiety of his +eyes. Luxurious and peaceful as the scene was, there seemed to Chris to +be a touch of electricity in the air, the suggestion of something about +to happen. Littimer glanced at her admiringly. She was dressed in white +satin, and she had in her hair a single diamond star of price. + +"Of course Henson pretends to condemn all this kind of thing," Littimer +said. "He would have you believe that when he comes into his own the +plate and wine will be sold for the benefit of the poor, and the seats of +the mighty filled with decayed governesses and antiquated shop-walkers." + +"I hope that time may long be deferred," Henson murmured. + +"And so do I," Littimer said, drily, "which is one of the disadvantages +of being conservative. By the way, who was that truculent-looking +scoundrel I saw with you this afternoon?" + +Henson hastened to explain. Littimer was emphatically of opinion that +such visitors were better kept at a distance for the present. When all +the rare plate and treasures of Littimer Castle had been disposed of for +philanthropic purposes it would not matter. + +"There was a time when the enterprising burglar got his knowledge of the +domestic and physical geography of a house from the servants. Now he +reforms, with the great advantage that he can lay his plan of campaign +from personal observation. It is a much more admirable method, and tends +to avert suspicion from the actual criminal." + +"You would not speak thus if you knew Merritt," said Henson. + +"All the same, I don't want the privilege," Littimer smiled. "A man with +a face like that couldn't reform; nature would resent such an enormity. +And yet you can never tell. Physically speaking, my quondam friend +Hatherly Bell has a perfect face." + +"I confess I am anxious to see him," Chris said. "I--I heard him lecture +in America. He had the most interesting theory about dogs. Mr. Henson +hates dogs." + +"Yes," Henson said, shortly, "I do, and they hate me, but that does not +prevent my being interested in the coming of Dr. Bell. And nobody hopes +more sincerely than myself that he will succeed in clearly vindicating +his character." + +Littimer smiled sarcastically as he trifled with his claret glass. In his +cynical way he was looking forward to the interview with a certain sense +of amusement. And there was a time when he had enjoyed Bell's society +immensely. + +"Well, you will not have long to wait now," he said. "It is long past +ten, and Bell is due at any moment after eleven. Coffee in the +balcony, please." + +It was a gloriously warm night, with just a faint suspicion of a breeze +on the air. Down below the sea beat with a gentle sway against the +cliffs; on the grassy slopes a belated lamb was bleating for its dam. +Chris strolled quietly down the garden with her mind at peace for a time. +She had almost forgotten her mission for the moment. A figure slipped +gently past her on the grass, but she utterly failed to notice it. + +"An exceedingly nice girl, that," Littimer was saying, "and distinctly +amusing. Excuse me if I leave you here--a tendency to ague and English +night air don't blend together." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +GONE! + + +It was the very moment that Henson had been waiting for. All his +listlessness had vanished. He sprang to his feet and made his way +hurriedly across the lawn. Dark as it was, he slipped along with the ease +of one who is familiar with every inch of the ground. A man half his +weight and half his age could have been no more active. + +He advanced to what seemed to be the very edge of the cliff and +disappeared. There were rocks and grassy knolls which served as landmarks +to him. A slip of the foot might have resulted in a serious accident. +Above the gloom a head appeared. + +"That you, Merritt?" Henson asked, hoarsely. + +"Oh, it's me right enough," came the muttered reply. "Good job as I'm +used to a seafaring life, or I should never have got up those cliffs. +Where's the girl?" + +"Oh, the girl's right enough. She's standing exactly where she can hear +the cry of the suffering in distress. You can leave that part of the +drama to me. She's a smart girl with plenty of pluck, but all the same I +am going to make use of her. Have you got the things?" + +"Got everything, pardner. Got a proper wipe over the skull, too." + +"How on earth did you manage to do that?" + +"Meddling with Bell, of course. Why didn't you let him come and produce +his picture in peace? We should have been all ready to flabbergaster him +when he did come." + +"My good Merritt, I have not the slightest doubt about it. My plans are +too carefully laid for them to go astray. But, at the same time, I firmly +believe in having more than one plan of attack and more than two ways of +escape. If we could have despoiled Bell of his picture it would have been +utterly useless for him to have come here. He would have gone back +preferring to accept defeat to arriving with a cock-and-bull story to the +effect that he had been robbed of his treasure on the way. And so he got +the best of you, eh?" + +"Rather! I fancied that I was pretty strong, but--well, it doesn't +matter. Here I am with the tools, and I ain't going to fail this time. +Before Bell comes the little trap will be ready and you will be able to +prove an alibi." + +Henson chuckled hoarsely. He loved dramatic effect, and here was one to +hand. He almost fancied that he could see the white outline of Chris's +figure from where he stood. + +"Get along," he said. "There is no time to lose." + +Merritt nodded and began to make his way upward. Some way above him +Chris was looking down. Her quick ear had detected some suspicious +sound. She watched eagerly. Just below her the big electric light on the +castle tower cast a band of flame athwart the cliff. Chris looked down +steadily at this. Presently she saw a hand uplifted into the belt of +flame, a hand grasping for a ledge of rock, and a quickly stifled cry +rose to her lips. The thumb on the hand was smashed flat, there was a +tiny pink nail in the centre. + +Chris's heart gave one quick leap, then her senses came back to her. She +needed nobody to tell her that the owner of the hand was James Merritt. +Nor did she require any fine discrimination to perceive that he was up to +no good. That it had something to do with the plot against Bell she felt +certain. But the man was coming now, he could only reach the top of the +cliffs just under the wall where she was standing. Chris peered eagerly +down into the path of light until the intruder looked up. Then she jerked +back, forgetting that she was in the darkness and absolutely invisible. +The action was disastrous, however, for it shook Chris's diamond star +from her head, and it fell gently almost at the feet of the climber. An +instant later and his eyes had fallen upon it. + +"What bloomin' luck," he said, hoarsely. "I suppose that girl yonder must +have dropped it over. Well, it is as good as a couple of hundred pound to +me, anyway. Little missie, you'd better take a tearful farewell of your +lumps of sugar, as you'll never see them again." + +To Chris's quivering indignation he slipped the star into his +breast-pocket. Just for the moment the girl was on the point of crying +out. She was glad she had refrained a second after, for a really +brilliant thought occurred to her. She had never evolved anything more +clever in her life, but she did not quite realise that as yet. + +Nearer and nearer the man with the maimed thumb came. Chris stepped back +into the shadow. She waited till the intruder had slipped past her in the +direction of the castle, and prepared to follow at a discreet distance. +Whatever he was after, she felt sure he was being ordered and abetted by +Reginald Henson. Two minutes, five minutes, elapsed before she moved. + +What was that? Surely a voice somewhere near her moaning for help. Chris +stood perfectly still, listening for the next cry. Her sense of humanity +had been touched, she had forgotten Merritt entirely. Again the stifled +cry for help came. + +"Who are you?" Chris shouted. "And where are you?" + +"Henson," came the totally unexpected reply. "I'm down below on a ledge +of rock. No, I'm not particularly badly hurt, but I dare not move." + +Chris paused for a moment, utterly bewildered. Henson must have been on +the look-out for his accomplice, she thought, and had missed his footing +and fallen. Pity he had not fallen a little farther, she murmured +bitterly, and broken his neck. But this was only for a moment, and her +sense of justice and humanity speedily returned. + +"I cannot see anything of you," she said. + +"All the same, I can see your outline," Henson said, dismally. "I don't +feel quite so frightened now. I can hang on a bit longer, especially now +I know assistance is at hand. At first I began to be afraid that I was a +prisoner for the night. No; don't go. If I had a rope I should have the +proper confidence to swarm up again. And there is a coil of rope in the +arbour close by you. Hang it straight down over that middle boulder and +fasten your end round one of those iron pilasters." + +The rope was there as Henson stated; indeed, he had placed it there +himself. With the utmost coolness and courage Chris did as she was +desired. But it took some little time to coax the rope to go over in the +proper direction. There was a little mutter of triumph from below, and +presently Henson, with every appearance of utter exhaustion, climbed over +the ledge to the terrace. At the same moment an owl hooted twice from the +long belt of trees at the bottom of the garden. + +"I hope you are none the worse for your adventure?" Chris asked, +politely. + +Henson said sententiously that he fancied not. His familiarity with the +cliffs had led him too far. If he had not fallen on a ledge of rock +goodness only knows what might have happened. Would Chris be so good as +to lend him the benefit of her arm back to the castle? Chris was +graciously willing, but she was full of curiosity at the same time. Had +Henson really been in danger, or was the whole thing some part of an +elaborate and cunning plot? Henson knew perfectly well that she had taken +a great fancy to the upper terrace, and he might-- + +Really it was difficult to know what to think. They passed slowly along +till the lights here and there from the castle shone on their faces. At +the same time a carriage had driven up to the hall door and a visitor was +getting out. With a strange sense of eagerness and pleasure Chris +recognised the handsome features and misshapen shape of Hatherly Bell. + +"The expected guest has arrived," Henson said. + +There was such a queer mixture of snarling anger and exulting triumph in +his voice that Chris looked up. Just for an instant Henson had dropped +the mask. A ray of light from the open door streamed fully across his +face. The malignant pleasure of it startled Chris. Like a flash she began +to see how she had been used by those miscreants. + +"He is very handsome," she contrived to say, steadily. + +"Handsome is that handsome does," Henson quoted. "Let us hope that Dr. +Bell will succeed in his mission. He has my best wishes." + +Chris turned away and walked slowly as possible up the stairs. Another +minute with that slimy hypocrite and she felt she must betray herself. +Once out of sight she flew along the corridor and snapped up the electric +light. She fell back with a stifled cry of dismay, but she was more +sorrowful than surprised. + +"I expected it," she said. "I knew that this was the thing they +were after." + +The precious copy of Rembrandt was no longer there! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +BELL ARRIVES + + +There were more sides to the mystery than David Steel imagined. It had +seemed to him that he had pretty well all the threads in his hands, but +he would have been astonished to know how much more Hatherly Bell and +Enid Henson could have told him. + +But it seemed to Bell that there was one very important thing to be done +before he proceeded any farther. He was interested in the mystery as he +was interested in anything where crime and cunning played a part. But he +was still more intent upon clearing his good name; besides, this would +give him a wider field of action. + +In the light of recent discoveries it had become imperative that he +should once more be on good terms with Lord Littimer. Once this was +accomplished, Bell saw his way to the clearing up of the whole +complication. It was a great advantage to know who his enemy was; it was +a still greater advantage to discover the hero of the cigar-case and the +victim of the outrage in Steel's conservatory was the graceless scamp Van +Sneck, the picture dealer, who had originally sold "The Crimson Blind" to +Lord Littimer. + +It was all falling out beautifully. Not only had Van Sneck turned up in +the nick of time, but he was not in a position to do any further +mischief. It suited Bell exactly that Van Sneck should be _hors de +combat_ for the moment. + +The first thing to be done was to see Lord Littimer without delay. Bell +had no idea of humbly soliciting an interview. He proceeded to a +telegraph office the first thing the following morning and wired Littimer +to the effect that he must see him on important business. He had an hour +or two at his disposal, so he took a cab as far as Downend Terrace. He +found Steel slug-hunting in the conservatory, the atmosphere of which was +blue with cigarette smoke. + +"So you are not working this morning?" he asked. + +"How the dickens can I work?" David exclaimed, irritably. "Not that I +haven't been trying. I might just as well take a long holiday till this +mystery is cleared up for all the good I am. What is the next move?" + +"My next move is to go to Littimer and convince him that he has done me a +great wrong. I am bound to have Littimer's ear once more." + +"You are going to show him the spare Rembrandt, eh?" + +"That's it. I flatter myself I shall astonish him. I've sent a telegram +to say I'm coming to-day, after which I shall proceed to storm the +citadel. I feel all the safer because nobody knows I have the engraving." + +"My dear chap, somebody knows you have the picture." + +"Impossible!" Bell exclaimed. "Only yourself and Enid Henson can possibly +be aware that--" + +"All the same, I am speaking the truth," David said. "Last night when you +went into the hospital you gave me the print to take care of. At the same +time I noticed a rough-looking man presumedly asleep on the seat in the +road facing the hospital. Afterwards when I looked round he had +disappeared. At the time I thought nothing of it. When I came in here I +placed the precious roll of paper on my writing-table under the window +yonder. The window is a small one, as you can see, and was opened about a +foot at the top. I sat here with the light down and the room faintly +illuminated by the light in the conservatory. After a little time I saw a +hand and arm groping for something on the table, and I'm quite sure the +hand and arm were groping for your Rembrandt. The fellow muttered +something that I failed to understand, and I made a grab for him and got +him. Then the other hand made a dash for my head with an ugly piece of +gas-piping, and I had to let go." + +"And you saw no more of the fellow?" + +"No; I didn't expect to. I couldn't see his face, but there was one +peculiarity he had that I might tell you for your future guidance. He had +a thumb smashed as flat as the head of a snake, with one tiny pink nail +in the middle of it. So, if you meet a man like that on your journey +to-day, look to yourself. On the whole, you see that our enemies are a +little more awake than you give them credit for." + +Bell nodded thoughtfully. The information was of the greatest possible +value to him. It told him quite plainly that Reginald Henson knew +exactly what had happened. Under ordinary circumstances by this time +Henson would be on his way to Littimer Castle, there to checkmate the +man he had so deeply injured. But fortunately Henson was laid by the +heels, or so Bell imagined. + +"I am really obliged to you," Bell said. "Your information is likely to +be of the greatest possible service to me. I'm sorry you can't work." + +"Don't worry about me," David said, grimly. "I'm gaining a vast quantity +of experience that will be of the greatest value to me later on. Besides, +I can go and compare notes with Miss Ruth Gates whilst you are away. She +is soothing." + +"So I should imagine," Bell said, drily. "No, I must be off. I'll let you +know what happens at Littimer Castle. Good luck to you here." + +And Bell bustled off. He was pleased to find a recent telegram of +acceptance from Littimer awaiting him, and before five o'clock he was +in the train for London. It was only after he left London that he began +to crawl along. Thanks to slow local lines and a badly fitting cross +service it was nearly eleven o'clock before he reached Moreton Station. +It did not matter much, because Littimer had said that a carriage +should meet him. + +However, there was no conveyance of any kind outside the station. One +sleepy porter had already departed, and the other one, who took Bell's +ticket, and was obviously waiting to lock up, deposed that a carriage +from the castle had come to the station, but that some clerical gentleman +had come along and countermanded it. Whereupon the dog-cart had departed. + +"Very strange," Bell muttered. "What sort of a parson was it?" + +"I only just saw his face," the porter yawned. "Dressed in black, with a +white tie and a straw hat. Walked in a slouching kind of way with his +hands down; new curate from St. Albans, perhaps. Looked like a chap as +could take care of himself in a row." + +"Thanks," Bell said, curtly. "I'll manage the walk; it's only two miles. +Good-night." + +Bell's face was grim and set as he stepped out into the road. He knew +fairly well what this meant. It was pretty evident that his arch-enemy +knew his movements perfectly well, and that a vigorous attempt was being +made to prevent him reaching the castle. He called back to the porter. + +"How long since the carriage went?" he asked. + +A voice from the darkness said "Ten minutes," and Bell trudged on with +the knowledge that one of his enemies at least was close at hand. That +Reginald Henson was at the castle he had not the remotest idea. Nor did +he fear personal violence. Despite his figure, he was a man of enormous +strength and courage. But he had not long to wait. + +Somebody was coming down the lonely road towards him, somebody in +clerical attire. The stranger stopped and politely, if a little huskily, +inquired if he was on the right way to Moreton Station. Bell responded as +politely that he was, and asked to know the time. Not that he cared +anything about the time; what he really wanted was to see the stranger's +hands. The little ruse was successful. In the dim light Bell could see a +flattened, hideous thumb with the pink parody of a nail upon it. + +"Thanks, very much," he said, crisply. "Keep straight on." + +He half turned as the stranger swung round. The latter darted at Bell, +but he came too late. Bell's fist shot out and caught him fairly on the +forehead. Then the stick in Bell's left hand came down with crushing +force on the prostrate man's skull. So utterly dazed and surprised was he +that he lay on the ground for a moment, panting heavily. + +"You murderous ruffian," Bell gasped. "You escaped convict in an honest +man's clothes. Get up! So you are the fellow--" + +He paused suddenly, undesirous of letting the rascal see that he knew too +much. The other man rolled over suddenly like a cat and made a dash for a +gap in the hedge. He was gone like a flash. Pursuit would be useless, for +pace was not Bell's strong point. And he was not fearful of being +attacked again. + +"Henson seems to be pretty well served," he muttered, grimly. + +Meanwhile, the man with the thumb was flying over the fields in the +direction of Littimer. He made his way across country to the cliffs with +the assured air of one who knows every inch of the ground. He had failed +in the first part of his instructions, and there was no time to be lost +if he was to carry out the second part successfully. + +He struck the cliffs at length a mile or so away, and proceeded to +scramble along them till he lay hidden just under the terraces at +Littimer Castle. He knew that he was in time for this part of the +programme, despite the fact that his head ached considerably from the +force and vigour of Bell's assault. He lay there, panting and breathing +heavily, waiting for the signal to come. + +Meanwhile, Bell was jogging along placidly and with no fear in his heart +at all. He did not need anybody to tell him what was the object of his +late antagonist's attack. He knew perfectly well that if the ruffian had +got the better of him he would never have seen the Rembrandt again. +Henson's hounds were on the track; but it would go hard if they pulled +the quarry down just as the sanctuary was in sight. Presently Bell could +see the lights of the castle. + +By the lodge-gates stood a dog-cart; in the flare of the lamps Bell +recognised the features of the driver, a very old servant of Littimer's. +Bell took in the situation at a glance. + +"Is this the way you come for me, Lund?" he asked. + +"I'm very sorry, sir," Lund replied. "But a clergyman near the station +said you had gone another way, so I turned back. And when I got here I +couldn't make top nor tail of the story. Blest if I wasn't a bit nervous +that it might have been some plant to rob you. And I was going to drive +slowly along to the station again when you turned up." + +"Oh, there's nothing wrong," said Bell, cheerfully. "And I don't look as +if I'd come to any harm. Anybody staying at the castle, Lund?" + +"Only Mr. Reginald Henson, sir," Lund said, disparagingly. + +Bell started, but his emotion was lost in the darkness. It came as a +great surprise to him to find that the enemy was actually in the field. +And how apprehensive of danger he must be to come so far with his health +in so shattered a condition. Bell smiled to himself as he pictured +Henson's face on seeing him once more under that roof. + +"How long has Mr. Henson been here?" he asked. + +"Only came yesterday, sir. Shall I drive you up to the house? And if you +wouldn't mind saying nothing to his lordship about my mistake, sir--" + +"Make your mind easy on that score," Bell said, drily. "His lordship +shall know nothing whatever about it. On the whole, I had better drive up +to the house. How familiar it all looks, to be sure." + +A minute later and Bell stood within the walls of the castle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +HOW THE SCHEME WORKED OUT + + +Chris crossed the corridor like one who walks in a dream. She had not +enough energy left to be astonished even. Her mind travelled quickly over +the events of the past hour, and she began to see the way clear. But how +had somebody or other managed to remove the picture? Chris examined the +spot on the wall where the Rembrandt had been with the eye of a +detective. + +That part of the mystery was explained in a moment. A sharp cutting +instrument, probably a pair of steel pliers with a lever attachment, had +been applied to the head of the four stays, and the flat heads had been +pinched off as clean as if they had been string. After that it was merely +necessary to remove the frame, and a child could have done the rest. + +"How clever I am," Chris told herself, bitterly. "I'm like the astute +people who put Chubb locks on Russia leather jewel-cases that anybody +could rip open with a sixpenny penknife. And in my conceit I deemed the +Rembrandt to be absolutely safe. Now what--what is the game?" + +It was much easier to ask the question than to answer it. But there were +some facts sufficiently obvious to Chris. In the first place she knew +that Reginald Henson was at the bottom of the whole thing; she knew that +he had traded on the fact that she had taken a fancy to the terrace as an +after-dinner lounge; indeed, she had told him so earlier in the day. He +had traded on the knowledge that he could prove an alibi if any +suspicions attached to him. The fact that he was in danger owing to a +slip on the edge of the cliff was all nonsense. He had not been in any +danger at all; he had seen Chris there, and he had made all that parade +with an eye to the future. As a matter of course, he was down there +settling matters with his accomplice of the maimed thumb, who had chosen +the cliff way of getting into the castle as the swiftest and the surest +from detection. + +Yes, it was pretty obvious that the man with the thumb had stolen the +print, and that by this time he was far away with his possession. While +Chris was helping Henson the latter's accomplice had slipped into the +castle and effected the burglary. Chris flicked out the light in the +alcove as a servant came along. It was not policy for any of the +domestics to be too wise. Chris forced a smile to her face as the maid +came along. + +"Allen," she asked, "are there many owls about here?" + +"Never a one as I know, miss," the maid responded confidently. "I've been +here for eleven years, and I never heard of such a thing. Clifford, the +head keeper, couldn't sleep at nights if he thought as there was such a +thing on the estate. Have you heard one, miss?" + +"I was evidently mistaken," Chris said. "Of course you would know best." + +So the cry of the owl had been a signal of success. Chris sat in the +gloom there resolved to see the comedy played through. The events of the +night were not over yet. + +"I'd give something to know what has taken place in the dining-room," +Chris murmured. + +She was going to know before long. The lights were being extinguished all +over the house. Henson came up to bed heavily, as one who is utterly worn +out. At the same time he looked perfectly satisfied with himself. He +might have been a vigilant officer who had settled all his plans and was +going to seek a well-earned rest before the enemy came on to his +destruction. In sooth Henson was utterly worn out. He had taxed his +strength to the uttermost, but he was free to rest now. + +Meanwhile, the conference in the dining-room proceeded. Lord Littimer had +received his guest with frigid politeness, to which Bell had responded +with an equally cold courtesy. Littimer laid his cigar aside and looked +Bell steadily in the face. + +"I have granted your request against my better judgment," he said. "I am +not sanguine that the least possible good can come of it. But I have +quite grown out of all my illusions; I have seen the impossible proved +too often. Will you take anything?" + +"I hope to do so presently," Bell said, pointedly; "but not yet. In the +first instance I have to prove to you that I have not stolen your +Rembrandt." + +"Indeed? I should like to know how you propose to do that." + +"I shall prove it at once. You were under the impression that you +possessed the only copy of the 'Crimson Blind' in existence. When you +lost yours and a copy of the picture was found in my possession, you were +perfectly justified in believing that I was the thief." + +"I did take that extreme view of the matter," Littimer said, drily. + +"Under the circumstances I should have done the same thing. But you were +absolutely wrong, because there were two copies of the picture. Yours was +stolen by an enemy of mine who had the most urgent reasons for +discrediting me in your eyes, and the other was concealed amongst my +belongings. It was no loss to the thief, because subsequently the stolen +one--my own one being restored to you--could have been exposed and +disposed of as a new find. Your print is in the house?" + +"It hangs in the gallery at the present moment." + +"Very good. Then, my lord, what do you say to this?" + +Bell took the roll of paper from his pocket, and gravely flattened it out +on the table before him, so that the full rays of the electric light +should fall upon it. Littimer was a fine study of open-mouthed surprise. +He could only stand there gaping, touching the stained paper with his +fingers and breathing heavily. + +"Here is a facsimile of your treasure," Bell went on. "Here is the same +thing. You are a good judge on these matters, and I venture to say you +will call it genuine. There is nothing of forgery about the engraving." + +"Good heavens, no," Littimer snapped. "Any fool could see that." + +"Which you will admit is a very great point in my favour," Bell +said, gravely. + +"I begin to think that I have done you a great injustice," Littimer +admitted; "but, under the circumstances, I don't see how I could have +done anything else. Look at that picture. It is exactly the same as mine. +There is exactly the same discolouration in the margin in exactly the +same place." + +"Probably they lay flat on the top of one another for scores of years." + +"Possibly. I can't see the slightest difference in the smallest +particular. Even now I cannot rid myself of the feeling that I am the +victim of some kind of plot or delusion. The house is quiet now and there +is nobody about. Before I believe the evidence of my senses--and I have +had cause to doubt them more than once--I should like to compare this +print with mine. Will you follow me to the gallery, if you haven't +forgotten the way?" + +Littimer took up the treasure from the table gingerly. + +He was pleased and at the same time disappointed; pleased to find that he +had been mistaken all these years, sorry in the knowledge that his +picture was unique no longer. He said nothing until the alcove was +reached, and Chris drew back in the shadow to let the others pass. + +"Now to settle the question for all time," Littimer said. "Will you be so +good as to turn on the electric light? You will find the switch in the +angle of the wall on your right. And when we have settled the affair and +I have apologized to you in due form, you shall command my services and +my purse to right the wrong. If it costs me L10,000 the man who has done +this thing shall suffer. Please to put up the light, Bell." + +Chris listened breathlessly. She was not quite certain what she was about +to see. She could hear Bell fumbling for the light, she heard the click +of the switch, and then she saw the brilliant belt of flame flooding the +alcove. Littimer paused and glanced at Bell, the latter looked round the +alcove as if seeking for something. + +"I cannot see the picture here," he said. "If have made a mistake--" + +Littimer stood looking at the speaker with eyes like blazing stars. Just +for a moment or two he was speechless with indignation. + +"You charlatan," he said, hoarsely. "You barefaced trickster." + +Bell started back. His mute question stung Littimer to the quick. + +"You wanted to be cleared," the latter said. "You wanted to befool me +again. You come here in some infernally cunning fashion, you steal my +picture from the frame and have the matchless audacity to pass it off for +a second one. Man alive, if it were earlier I would have you flogged from +the house like the ungrateful dog that you are." + +Chris checked down the cry that rose to her lips. She saw, as in a flash +of lightning, the brilliancy and simplicity and cunning of Henson's +latest and most masterly scheme. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE + + +After the first passionate outburst of scorn Lord Littimer looked at his +visitor quietly. There was something almost amusing in the idea that Bell +should attempt such a trick upon him. And the listener was thoroughly +enjoying the scene now. There was quite an element of the farcical about +it. In the brilliant light she could see Littimer's dark, bitter face and +the helpless amazement on the strong features of Hatherly Bell. And, +meanwhile, the man who had brought the impossible situation about was +calmly sleeping after his strenuous exertions. + +Chris smiled to herself as she thought out her brilliant _coup_. It +looked to her nothing less than a stroke of genius, two strokes, in fact, +as will be seen presently. Before many hours were over Henson's position +in the house would be seriously weakened. He had done a clever thing, but +Chris saw her way to a cleverer one still. + +Meanwhile the two men were regarding one another suspiciously. On a round +Chippendale table the offending Rembrandt lay between them. + +"I confess," Bell said, at length, "I confess that I am utterly taken by +surprise. And yet I need not be so astonished when I come to think of the +amazing cunning and audacity of my antagonist. He has more foresight than +myself. Lord Littimer, will you be so kind as to repeat your last +observation over again?" + +"I will emphasize it, if you like?" Littimer replied. "For some deep +purpose of your own, you desired to make friends with me again. You tell +me you are in a position to clear your character. Very foolishly I +consent to see you. You come here with a roll of paper in your possession +purporting to be a second copy of my famous print. All the time you knew +it to be mine--mine, stolen an hour or two ago and passed instantly to +you. Could audacity go farther? And then you ask me to believe that you +came down from town with a second engraving in your possession." + +"As I hope to be saved, I swear it!" Bell cried. + +"Of course you do. A man with your temerity would swear anything. +Credulous as I may be, I am not credulous enough to believe that _my_ +picture would be stolen again at the very time that you found _yours_" + +"Abstracted by my enemy on purpose to land me in this mess." + +"Ridiculous," Littimer cried. "Pshaw, I am a fool to stand here arguing; +I am a fool to let you stay in the house. Why, I don't believe you could +bring a solitary witness to prove that yonder picture was yours." + +"You are mistaken, my lord. I could bring several." + +"Credible witnesses? Witnesses whose characters would bear +investigation?" + +"I fancy so," Bell said, quietly. "Two nights ago, for instance, I showed +the very picture lying before you to a lady of your acquaintance, Miss +Enid Henson. I couldn't have had _your_ picture two nights ago, could I? +And Miss Henson was graciously pleased to observe that I had been made +the victim of a vile conspiracy." + +"Why do you insult me by mentioning that name?" Littimer said, hoarsely. +His face was very pale, and sombre anger smouldered in his eyes. "Tell me +you showed the thing to my wife next." + +"I did," said Bell, coolly. "Lady Littimer was in the room at the time." + +Something like a groan escaped from Littimer's pallid lips. The +smouldering light in his eyes flashed into flame. He advanced upon Bell +with a quivering, uplifted arm. Chris slipped swiftly out of the shade +and stood between the two men. + +"Dr. Bell speaks the truth," she said. "And I am going to prove it." + +Littimer dropped into a chair and gave way to silent laughter. His mood +had changed utterly. He lounged there, a cynical, amused man of the +world again. + +"Upon my word, I am vastly obliged to you for your comedy," he said. "I +hope your salary as leading lady in Bell's company is a handsome one, +Miss Lee." + +"Let us hope that it is more handsome than your manners, my lord," Chris +said, tartly. "I beg to remark that I have never seen Dr. Bell before. +Oh, yes, I have been listening to your conversation, because I expected +something of the kind. The Rembrandt was stolen some time before Dr. Bell +arrived here, and in due course I shall show you the thief. Lord +Littimer, I implore you to be silent and discreet in this matter. Have a +little patience. Quite by accident I have made an important discovery, +but this is hardly the place to discuss it. Before daylight I hope to be +able to prove beyond question that you have greatly wronged Dr. Bell." + +"I shall be glad to be convinced of it," Littimer said, sincerely. "But +why this secrecy?" + +"Secrecy is absolutely necessary for the conviction of the thief." + +Bell looked eagerly at the speaker. + +"I have not the remotest notion who this young lady is," he said, "but I +am greatly obliged to her." + +"My secretary, Miss Lee," Littimer murmured; "an American from Boston, +and evidently a great deal cleverer than I gave her credit for, which +is saying a great deal. Miss Lee, if you know anything, I implore you +to speak." + +"Not here," Chris said, firmly. "Stone walls have ears. I tell you the +Rembrandt was stolen just before Dr. Bell reached the house. Also I tell +you it is imperative that nobody but ourselves must know the fact for the +present. You trust me, Lord Littimer?" + +"I trust you as implicitly as I do anybody." + +Chris smiled at the diplomatic response. She approached the panel of the +wall on which the Rembrandt had been fastened. She indicated the long +steel stays which had been clamped on to the iron frame. "Look at them," +she said. "It was my suggestion that the stays should be attached to the +frame to prevent anything like this robbery. I made the stays secure +myself. And what happened to justify my prudence? Why, the very same +night somebody came here after the picture." + +"Henson!" Littimer cried. "Ah! But he could have come openly." + +"It is not in the nature of the man to do things openly," Chris went on. +"I know more about the man than you imagine, but that you are to keep to +yourself. He comes here in the dead of the night and he gets into the +house through an upstair window. A man of his bulk, if you please! And +he comes here hot-foot and breathless at a time when common prudence +should have kept him in bed. Why? Because he knows that Dr. Bell has the +other Rembrandt and will come to prove it, and because he knows that if +he can steal the Littimer Rembrandt he can precipitate the very impasse +that he has brought about. But he could not steal the picture because it +was fast." + +"You are a very clever young lady," Littimer said, drily. "You will tell +me next that you expected Henson to try this thing on." + +"I did," Chris said, coolly. "I had a telegram to warn me so." + +Littimer smiled. All this mystery and cleverness was after his own heart. +He lighted his cigarette and tendered his case in the friendliest +possible manner to Bell. + +"Go on," he said, "I am deeply interested." + +"I prefer not to go into details," Chris resumed. "All I ask you to do is +to be entirely guided by me when you have heard my story. I have admitted +to you that I knew when Henson was coming, and why am I interested? +Because it happens that Reginald Henson has greatly injured someone I +cared for deeply. Well, I fastened up the picture--he came. He sneaked in +like the thief that he was because his accomplice and tool had failed to +save him the trouble. Lord Littimer, I will not pain you by saying who +Henson's accomplice was." + +Littimer nodded gloomily. + +"Not that I blame that accomplice; he could not help himself. Ah, when +the whole truth comes to be told, what a black business it will be. Well, +Henson came to steal the picture and I caught him in the act. If you had +seen his fat, greasy, crestfallen face! Then he pretended that it was all +done for a jest and as a warning to Lord Littimer. And Lord Littimer, the +most cynical of men, allowed it to pass." + +"I couldn't see what he had to gain," Littimer pleaded. "I don't now, as +a matter of fact." + +"Neither will you for the present," said Chris. "Still, you will be so +good as to assume the same hospitality and courtesy towards Henson as you +extend at present." + +"I daresay I can manage it," said Littimer, cynically. "I used to be a +society man once." + +"Henson did not deceive me for a moment," Chris went on. "He was bound to +have the picture, and, being baffled one way, he tried another. Look +here, Lord Littimer. Let me assume for a moment that Dr. Bell came down +here to steal your picture, get rid of the frame, and palm off your own +engraving for another. Now, in the name of common sense, let me ask you a +single question. Could Dr. Bell have possibly known that the frame of the +Rembrandt was securely fastened to the wall and that I had attached it +quite recently? And could he in the short time at his disposal have +procured the necessary tools to cut away the stays? Again, Dr. Bell can +prove, I suppose, exactly what time he left London to-day. No, we must +look farther for the thief." + +"There is something else also we have to look for," said Dr. Bell. "And +that is the frame. You say it was of iron and consequently heavy. The +thief would discard the frame and roll up the print." + +"That is a brilliant suggestion," said Chris, eagerly. "And if we only +had the frame I could set Lord Littimer's doubts to rest entirely. I +happen to know that the real thief came and went by the cliff under the +terrace. If the frame was thrown into the gorse, there it--" + +"Might stay for ages," Littimer exclaimed. "By Jove, I'm just in the mood +to carry this business a stage or two farther before I go to bed. Bell, +there are two or three cycle lamps in the gun-room. You used to be a +pretty fearless climber. What do you say to a hunt round for an hour or +two whilst the house is quiet?" + +Bell assented eagerly. Chris waited with what patience she could command +till daylight began to show faintly and redly in the east. Then she heard +the sound of voices outside, and Littimer and Bell staggered in carrying +the frame between them. + +"Got it," Littimer exclaimed, with the triumphant exultation of a +schoolboy who has successfully looted a rare bird's-nest. "We found it +half-way down the cliff, hidden behind a patch of samphire. And it +doesn't seem to be any the worse for the adventure. Now, Miss Wiseacre, +seeing that we have the frame, perhaps you will fulfil your promise of +convincing me, once and for all, that yonder Rembrandt cannot possibly +belong to me." + +"I am going to do so," Chris said, quietly. "You told me you had to cut +the margin of your print by an inch or so round to fit that quaint old +frame. So far as I can see, the print before you is quite intact. Now, if +it is too large for the frame--" + +Littimer nodded eagerly. Bell fitted the dingy paper to the back of the +frame and smiled. There was an inch or more to spare all round. Nobody +spoke for a moment. + +"You could make it smaller, but you couldn't make it bigger," Littimer +said. "Bell, when I have sufficiently recovered I'll make a humble and +abject apology to you. And now, wise woman from the West, what is the +next act in the play?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE PUZZLING OF HENSON + + +Chris smiled with the air of one who is perfectly satisfied with her +work. + +"For the present I fancy we have done enough," she said. "I want to go to +bed now, and I want you both to do the same. Also I shall be glad if you +will come down in the morning as if nothing had happened. Tell Reginald +Henson casually that you have been convinced that you have done Dr. Bell +a grave injustice, and give no kind of particulars. And please treat Mr. +Henson in the same fashion as before. There is only one other thing." + +"Name it, and it is yours," Littimer cried. + +"Well, cut the margin off that print, or at any rate turn the margin +down, fit it into the frame, and hang it up as if nothing had happened." + +Littimer looked at Chris with a puzzled expression for a moment, and then +his features relaxed into a satyr-like grin. + +"Capital," he said, "I quite understand what you mean. And I must be +there to see it, eh?--yes, I must be there to see. I would not miss it +for strawberry leaves." + +The thing was done and the picture restored to its place. Bell drew Chris +aside for a moment. + +"Do you rise early in the morning?" he asked, meaningly. + +"Always," Chris replied, demurely. "I find the terrace charming before +breakfast. Good-night." + +Bell was down betimes despite the fact that it had been daylight before +he was in bed. Along the terrace, looking over the cliffs, Chris was +already walking, a great cluster of red and yellow roses in her hand. She +looked as fresh and bright as if she and excitement were strangers. All +the same she seemed to avoid Bell's eyes. + +"Isn't it lovely here?" she exclaimed. "And these roses with the dew +still upon them. Well, Dr. Bell, have you made fresh discoveries?" + +"I have discovered that Henson is going to take his breakfast in bed," +Bell said gravely. "Also that he requires a valet at half-past ten. At +that time I hope to be in the corridor with Lord Littimer and yourself. +Also I have made a further discovery." + +"And what is that, Dr. Bell?" + +"That you and I have met before--once before when I attended you in a +kind of official capacity, and when I behaved in a distinctly +discreditable professional manner. Dr. Walker was present. Dr. Walker +seems to have been singularly short-sighted." + +The roses fell from Chris's hands on to the path. Her face had grown very +pale indeed; there was a frightened, appealing look in her eyes. + +"Dr. Bell," she gasped, "do you suppose that anybody else knows--Henson, +for instance? And I imagined that I had utterly deceived him!" + +Bell smiled meaningly. + +"I don't think you need have the slightest anxiety on that score," he +said. "You see, Henson is comfortably assured that you are dead and +buried. Whereas I know all about it. Fortunately for me, I became mixed +up in this strange business on behalf of my friend, David Steel; +indeed, but for Steel, I should probably have given you away to our +friend Walker." + +"But surely you guessed that--" + +"Not for the moment. You see, it was only a few minutes before that a +flood of interesting light had been let in upon Henson's character by +your sister to me, and my first idea was that Henson was poisoning you +for some purpose of his own. Subsequently Steel told me all about that +side of the story on our way back to Brighton." + +"How did you penetrate my disguise?" + +"My dear young lady, I have not penetrated your disguise. Your disguise +is perfect--so quaint and daringly original--and would deceive even +Henson's eyes. I guessed who you were directly I found that you were +taking a philanthropic interest in our friend. It came to me by a kind of +intuition, the knack that stood me in such good stead in my professional +days. When you said that you had been warned of Henson's coming by +telegram I was certain." + +"Then perhaps you guessed that Enid sent me the telegram?" + +"That was obvious. Also it was obvious that Henson brought Frank +Littimer along." + +"Oh, he did. It was Frank's mission to steal the picture. I confronted +him with a revolver and locked him in one of the bedrooms. It took all my +courage and good resolutions to prevent me from betraying myself to the +poor fellow." + +"Rather cruel of you, wasn't it?" + +"Well, yes. But I wanted to make the exposure as complete as possible. +When the time comes to strip Reginald Henson of his pretentions and flog +him from the family, the more evidence we can pile up the better. But +Frank is not bad; he is merely weak and utterly in the power of that +man. If we can only break the bonds, Frank will be a powerful factor on +our side." + +"I daresay. But how was the Rembrandt stolen? Littimer's, I mean." + +"It was worked through an accomplice," Chris explained. "It had to be +done before you arrived. And there was no better time than night for the +operation. I guessed that when Henson drew the fact from me that I liked +the terrace after dinner. By a bit of good luck I found the accomplice +and himself together in the day; in fact, I forced Reginald's hand so +that he had to introduce me to the man." + +"In which case you would know him again?" + +"Of course. Presently I am going to show you a little more of the comedy. +Well, I was on the terrace pretty late when I heard dear Reginald down +the cliff calling for assistance. He pretended that he had slipped down +the cliff and could not get up again. By the aid of a rope that +fortunately happened to be close at hand I saved our dear friend's life. +I have learnt from one of the gardeners just now that Reginald placed the +rope there himself--a most effective touch, you must admit." + +"Very," Bell said, drily. "But I quite fail to see why--" + +"I am coming to that. Don't you see that if anything happened Reginald +could prove that he was not near the house at the time? But just before +that I saw his accomplice come up the cliff; indeed, he passed quite +close to me on his way to the house. Reginald quite overlooked this fact +in his heed for his own safety. When I had effected my gallant rescue I +heard an owl hoot. Now, there are no owls about here. + +"I guessed what that meant--it was a signal of success. Then I went back +to the corridor and the Rembrandt was gone. The stays had been cut away. +At first I was dreadfully upset, but the more I thought of it the more +sure I was that it was all for the best." + +"But you might have raised an alarm and caught the thief, who--" + +"Who would have been promptly disclaimed by Reginald. Let me tell you, +sir, that I have the thief and the lost Rembrandt in the hollow of my +hands. Before the day is out I shall make good my boast. And there's the +breakfast bell." + +It looked quite natural some time later for the three conspirators to be +lounging about the gallery when Henson emerged from his bedroom. He +appeared bright and smiling, and most of the bandages had been removed +from his throat. All the same he was not pleased to see Bell there; he +gazed uneasily at the doctor and from him to Littimer. + +"You know Bell," the latter said, carelessly. "Fact is, there's been a +great mistake." + +Bell offered him his hand heartily. It cost him a huge effort, but the +slimy scoundrel had to be fought with his own weapons. Henson shook his +head with the air of a man extending a large and generous meed of +forgiveness. He sought in vain to read Bell's eyes, but there was a +steady, almost boyish, smile in them. + +"I indeed rejoice," he said, unctuously. "I indeed +rejoice--rejoice--rejoice!" + +He repeated the last word helplessly; he seemed to have lost all his +backbone, and lapsed into a flabby, jellified mass of quivering white +humanity. His vacant, fishy eyes were fixed upon the Rembrandt in a kind +of dull, sleepy terror. + +"I'm not well," he gasped. "Not so strong as I imagined. I'll--I'll go +and lie down again. Later on I shall want a dogcart to drive me to +Moreton Wells. I--" + +He paused again, glanced at the picture, and passed heavily to his room. +Littimer smiled. + +"Splendid," he said. "It was worth thousands just to see his face." + +"All the same," Chris said, quietly; "all the same, that man is not to +leave for Moreton Wells till I've had a clear hour's start of him. Dr. +Bell will you accompany me?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +CHRIS HAS AN IDEA + + +Lord Littimer polished his rarely used eye-glass carefully and favoured +Chris with a long, admiring stare. At the same time he was wondering why +the girl should have taken such a vivid interest in Reginald Henson and +his doings. For some years past it had been Littimer's whim to hold up +Henson before everybody as his successor, so far as the castle went. He +liked to see Henson's modest smirk and beautiful self-abasement, for in +sooth his lordship had a pretty contempt for the man who hoped to succeed +him. But the will made some time ago by Littimer would have come as a +painful shock to the philanthropist. + +"It is a very pretty tangle as it stands," he said. "Miss Lee, let me +compliment you upon your astuteness in this matter. Only don't tell me +you schemed your way here, and that you are a lady detective. I read a +good many novels, and I don't like them." + +"You may be easy on that score," Chris laughed. "I am not a lady +detective. All the same, I have defeated Mr. Reginald Henson." + +"You think he is at the bottom of the mystery of the other Rembrandt." + +"I am certain of it; unless you like to believe in the truth of his +charming scheme to give you a lesson, as he called it. As a matter of +fact, Mr. Henson discovered the existence of the other print; he +discovered that Dr. Bell possessed it--the rest I leave to your own +astuteness. You saw his face just now?" + +"Oh, yes. It was a fine study in emotions. If you could find the other +picture--" + +"I hope to restore it to you before the day has passed." + +Littimer applauded, gently. He was charmed, he said, with the whole +comedy. The first two acts had been a brilliant success. If the third was +only as good he would regard Miss Lee as his benefactor for ever. It was +not often that anybody intellectually amused him; in fact, he must add +Miss Lee to his collection. + +"Then you must play a part yourself," Chris said, gaily. "I am going into +Moreton Wells, and Dr. Bell accompanies me. Mr. Henson is not to know +that we have gone, and he is not to leave the house for a good hour or so +after our departure. What I want is a fair start and the privilege of +bringing a guest home to dinner." + +"Vague, mysterious, and alluring," Littimer said. "Bring the guest by all +means. I will pledge my diplomacy that you have a long start. Really, I +don't know when I have enjoyed myself so much. You shall have the big +waggonette for your journey." + +"And join it beyond the lodge-gates," Chris said, thoughtfully. "Dr. +Bell, you shall stroll through the park casually; I will follow as +casually later on." + +A little later Henson emerged from his room dressed evidently for a +journey. He looked flabby and worried; there was an expression very like +fear in his eyes. The corridor was deserted as he passed the place where +the Rembrandt hung. He paused before the picture in a hesitating, +fascinated way. His feet seemed to pull up before it involuntarily. + +"What does it mean?" he muttered. "What in the name of fate has happened? +It is impossible that Merritt could have played me a trick like that; he +would never have dared. Besides, he has too much to gain by following my +instructions. I fancy--" + +Henson slipped up to the picture as a sudden idea came to him. If the +picture had not been removed at all the stays would still be intact. And +if they were intact Merritt was likely to have a bad quarter of an hour +later on. It would be proof that-- + +But the stays were not intact. The heads had been shaved off with some +cutting instrument; the half of the stays gleamed like silver in the +morning light. And yet the Rembrandt was there. The more Henson dwelt +upon it the more he was puzzled. He began to wonder whether some deep +trap was being laid for him. + +But, no, he had seen no signs of it. In some way or another Bell had +managed to ingratiate himself with Littimer again, but not necessarily +for long, Henson told himself, with a vicious grin. Nor was Littimer the +kind of man who ever troubled himself to restrain his feelings. If he had +got to the bottom of the whole business he would have had Henson kicked +out of the house without delay. + +But Littimer suspected nothing. His greeting just now showed that Bell +suspected nothing, because he had shaken hands in the heartiest manner +possible. And as for Miss Lee, she was no more than a smart Yankee girl, +and absolutely an outsider. + +Still, it was dreadfully puzzling. And it was not nice to be puzzled at a +time when the arch-conspirator ought to know every move of the game. +Therefore it became necessary to go into Moreton Wells and see Merritt +without delay. As Henson crossed the hall the cheerful voice of Littimer +hailed him. + +"Reginald," he cried, "I want your assistance and advice." + +With a muttered curse Henson entered the library. Littimer was seated +at a table, with a cigarette in his mouth, his brows drawn over a mass +of papers. + +"Sit down and have a cigar," he said. "The fact is I am setting my +affairs in order--I am going to make a fresh will. If you hadn't come +down last night I should probably have sent for you. Now take my +bank-book and check those figures." + +"Shall we be long?" Henson asked, anxiously. + +Littimer tartly hoped that Henson could-spare him an hour. It was not +usual, he said, for a testator to be refused assistance from the chief +benefactor under his will. Henson apologized, with a sickly smile. He had +important business of a philanthropic kind in Moreton Wells, but he had +no doubt that it could wait for an hour. And then for the best part of +the morning he sat fuming politely, whilst Littimer chattered in the most +amiable fashion. Henson had rarely seen him in a better mood. It was +quite obvious that he suspected nothing. Meanwhile Chris and Bell were +bowling along towards Moreton Wells. They sat well back in the roomy +waggonette, so that the servants could not hear them. Chris regarded Bell +with a brilliant smile on her face. + +"Confess," she said, "confess that you are consumed with curiosity." + +"It would be just as well to acknowledge it at once," Bell admitted. "In +the happy old days your sister Enid always said that you were the clever +and audacious one of the family. She said you would do or dare anything." + +"I used to imagine so," Chris said, more quietly. "But the life of the +last few years tried one's nerves terribly. Still, the change has done me +a deal of good--the change and the knowledge that Reginald Henson regards +me as dead. But you want to know how I am going to get the Rembrandt?" + +"That is what is consuming me at present," Bell said. + +"Well, we are going to see the man who has it," Chris explained, coolly. +"I have his address in Moreton Wells at the present moment, and for the +rest he is called the Rev. James Merritt. Between ourselves he is no more +a reverend than you are." + +"And if the gentleman is shy or refuses to see us?" + +"Then he will be arrested on a charge of theft." + +"My dear young lady, before you can get a warrant for that kind of thing +you have to prove the theft, you have to swear an information to the +effect that you believe the property is in the possession of the thief, +and that is not easy." + +"There is nothing easier. I am prepared to swear that cheerfully." + +"That you actually know that the property is in the possession of +the thief?" + +"Certainly I do. I saw him put it in his pocket." + +Bell looked at the speaker with blank surprise. If such was the fact, +then Chris's present statement was exactly opposed to all that she had +said before. She sat opposite to Bell, with a little gleam of mischief in +her lovely eyes. + +"You saw that man steal the Rembrandt?" Bell gasped. + +"Certainly not. But I did see him steal my big diamond star and put it in +his pocket. And I can swear an information on _that_." + +"I see that you have something interesting to tell me," Bell said. + +"Oh, indeed, I have. We will hark back now to the night before last, +when Reginald Henson made his personal attempt to obtain the Rembrandt +and then played the trick upon you that was so very near to being a +brilliant success." + +"It would have been but for you," Bell murmured. + +"Well, really, I am inclined to think so. And perhaps Lord Littimer would +have given you in custody on a second charge of theft. If he had done so +it would have gone hard with you to prove your innocence. But I am +wandering from the point. Henson failed. But he was going to try again. I +watched him carefully yesterday and managed to see his letters and +telegrams. Then I found that he had telegraphed to James Merritt, whose +address in Moreton Wells I carefully noted down. It did not require much +intellect to grasp the fact that this Merritt was to be the accomplice in +the new effort to steal the picture, Mr. Merritt came over and saw his +chief, with whom he had a long conversation in the grounds. I also forced +myself on Mr. Merritt's notice. + +"He was introduced to me as a brand plucked from the burning, a +converted thief who had taken orders of some kind. He is a sorry-looking +scoundrel, and I took particular note of him, especially the horrible +smashed thumb." + +"The what!" Bell exclaimed. "A thumb like a snake's head with a little +pink nail on it?" + +"The same man. So you happen to have met him?" + +"We met on our way here," Bell said, drily. "The rascal sent the dogcart +away from the station so that I should have to walk home, and he attacked +me in the road. But I half-expected something of the kind, and I was +ready for him. And he was the man with the thumb. I should have told you +all this before, but I had forgotten it in watching your fascinating +diplomacy. When the attack was defeated the rascal bolted in the +direction of the cliffs. Of course, he was off to tell Henson of the +failure of the scheme and to go on with the plot for getting the other +picture. If he had stolen my Rembrandt then the other would have +remained. I couldn't have turned up with a cock-and-bull story of having +started with the picture and being robbed of it by a total stranger in +the road ... But I am interrupting you." + +"Well, I marked that thumb carefully. I have already told you that the +thief passed me on his way to the house when he came up the cliff. I was +leaning over the terrace when I saw him emerge into a band of light +caused by the big arc in the castle tower. I forgot that I was in deep +shadow and that he could not possibly see me. I jerked my head back +suddenly, and my diamond star fell out and dropped almost at the feet of +the intruder. Then he saw it, chuckled over it--placed it in his pocket. +I was going to call out, but I didn't. I had a sudden idea, Dr. Bell--I +had an idea that almost amounted to an inspiration." + +Chris paused for a moment and her eyes sparkled. Bell was watching her +with the deepest interest and admiration." + +"I let the man keep it," Chris went on, more slowly, "with an eye to the +future. The man had stolen the thing and I was in a position to prove +it. He would be pretty sure to pawn the star--he probably has done so by +this time, and therefore we have him in our power. We have only to +discover where the diamonds have been 'planted'--is that the correct +expression?--I can swear an information, and the police will +subsequently search the fellow's lodgings. When the search is made the +missing Rembrandt will be found there. Mr. Merritt would hardly dare to +pawn that." + +"Even if he knew its real value, which I doubt," Bell said, thoughtfully. +"Henson would not tell his tool too much. Let me congratulate you upon +your idea, Miss Chris. That diamond star of yours is a powerful factor in +our hands, and you always have the consciousness of knowing that you can +get it back again. Now, what are we going to do next?" + +"Going to call upon Mr. Merritt, of course," Chris said, promptly. "You +forget that I have his address. I am deeply interested in the welfare of +the criminal classes, and you are also an enthusiast. I've looked up the +names of one or two people in the directory who go in for that kind of +thing, and I'm going to get up a bazaar at Littimer Castle for the +benefit of the predatory classes who have turned over a new leaf. I am +particularly anxious for Mr. Merritt to give us an address. Don't you +think that will do?" + +"I should think it would do very well indeed," Bell said. + +The quaint and somewhat exclusive town of Moreton Wells was reached in +due course and the street where the Rev. James Merritt resided located at +length. It was a modest two-storeyed tenement, and the occupier of the +rooms was at home. Chris pushed her way gaily in, followed by Bell, +before the occupant could lay down the foul clay pipe he was smoking and +button the unaccustomed stiff white collar round his throat. Merritt +whipped a tumbler under the table with amazing celerity, but no cunning +of his could remove the smell of gin that hung pungently on the murky +atmosphere. + +Merritt dodged his head back defiantly as if half expecting a blow. His +eyes were strained a little anxiously over Bell's shoulder as if fearful +of a shadow. Bell had seen the type before--Merritt was unconsciously +looking for the police. + +"I am so glad to find you at home," Chris said, sweetly. + +Merritt muttered something that hardly sounded complimentary. It was +quite evident that he was far from returning the compliment. He had +recognised Bell, and was wondering fearfully if the latter was as sure +of his identity. Bell's face betrayed nothing. All the same he was +following Merritt's uneasy eye till it rested on a roll of dirty paper +on the mantelshelf. That roll of paper was the missing Rembrandt, and +he knew it. + +"Won't you offer me a chair?" Chris asked, in the sweetest +possible manner. + +Merritt sulkily emptied a chair of a pile of cheap sporting papers, and +demanded none too politely what business the lady had with him. Chris +proceeded to explain at considerable length. As Merritt listened his +eyes gleamed and a broadening grin spread over his face. He had done a +great deal of that kind of thing, he admitted. Since Henson had taken +him up the police had not been anything like so inquisitive, and his +present pose was fruitful of large predatory gains. The latter fact +Merritt kept to himself. On the whole the prospect appealed to his +imagination. Henson wouldn't like it, but, then, Henson was not in a +position to say too much. + +"I thought perhaps if you came over with us and dined at the castle," +Chris suggested. She spoke slowly and thoughtfully, with her eyes on the +ground. "Say to-night. Will you come?" + +Merritt grinned extensively once more. The idea of his dining at the +castle appealed to his own peculiar sense of humour. He was at his ease, +seeing that Bell failed to recognise him. To dine at the castle, to note +the plate, and get a minute geographical knowledge of the place from +personal observation! ... His mouth watered at the thought. + +"They ought to be more careful yonder," he suggested. "There's plate and +there's pictures." + +"Nothing has ever been stolen from Littimer Castle," Bell said, crisply. +He read the leer in Merritt's eyes as he spoke of pictures. "Nothing +whatever." + +"What, not lately?" Merritt asked. "Didn't I hear tell of a--" + +He paused, conscious of saying too much. Bell shook his head again. An +utterly puzzled expression crept over Mr. Merritt's engaging countenance. +At the present moment an art treasure of price stood in that very room, +and here was a party from the castle utterly innocent of the robbery. +Chris glanced at Bell and smiled. + +"I love the pictures," she said, "especially the prints. That Rembrandt, +'The Crimson Blind,' for instance. I found a fresh light in it this +morning and called Lord Littimer's attention to it before we started. I +should lock that up if it were mine." + +Merritt's eyes fairly bulged as he listened. Had he not half-suspected +some deep "plant" he would have been vastly amused. But then he had got +the very picture these people were speaking about close to hand at the +very moment. + +"Tell you what," he said, suddenly. "I ain't used to swell society ways, +but I'm always ready to sacrifice myself to the poor fellows who ain't +found the straight path like me. And if you gets up your bazaar, I'll do +what I can to 'elp." + +"Then you will dine with us to-night?" Chris asked, eagerly. "Don't say +no, I met a man once with a past like yours at Lady Roslingham's, and he +was so interesting. We will call for you in an hour's time with the +waggonette. Then we can settle half our plans before dinner." + +Merritt was graciously pleased to be agreeable. Moreover, he was utterly +puzzled and absolutely consumed with an overpowering curiosity. It seemed +also to him to be a sheer waste of providence to discard such an offer. +And the plate at Littimer Castle was superb! + +Meanwhile Chris and Bell walked down the street together. "He was puzzled +over the Rembrandt," Chris said. "Seeing that he has our picture--" + +"No doubt about it. The picture was rolled up and stood on the +mantelshelf. I followed Merritt's gaze, knowing perfectly well that it +would rest presently on the picture if it was in the room. At the same +time, our interesting friend, in chuckling over the way he has deceived +us, clean forgot the yellow pawnticket lying on the table." + +"Dr. Bell, do you mean to say that--" + +"That I know where your diamond star was pledged. Indeed I do. Merritt +had probably just turned out his pockets as we entered. The pawnticket +was on the table and related to a diamond aigrette pawned by one James +Merritt--mark the simple cunning of the man--with Messrs. Rutter and Co., +117, High Street. That in itself is an exceedingly valuable discovery, +and one we can afford to keep to ourselves for the present. At the same +time I should very much like to know what Rutter and Co. are like. Let me +go down to the shop and make some simple purchase." + +Rutter and Co. proved to be a very high-class shop indeed, despite the +fact that there was a pawnbroking branch of the business. The place was +quite worthy of Bond Street, the stock was brilliant and substantial, the +assistants quite above provincial class. As Bell was turning over some +sleeve-links, Chris was examining a case of silver and gold +cigarette-cases and the like. She picked up a cigar-case at length and +asked the price. At the mention of fifty guineas she dropped the trifle +with a little _moue_ of surprise. + +"It looks as if it had been used," she said. + +"It is not absolutely new, madam," the assistant admitted, "therefore +the price is low. But the gentleman who sold it to us proved that he had +only had it for a few days. The doctor had ordered him not to smoke in +future, and so--" + +Chris turned away to something else. Bell completed his purchase, and +together they left the shop. Once outside Chris gripped her companion's +arm excitedly. + +"Another great discovery," she said. "Did you see me looking at that +cigar-case--a gun-metal one set with diamonds? You recollect that Ruth +Gates purchased a case like that for that--that foolishness we thought of +in connection with Mr. Steel. The case had a little arrow shaped scratch +with the head of the arrow formed of the biggest diamond. Enid told me +all this the night before I left Longdean Grange. Dr. Bell, I am +absolutely certain that I have had in my hand just now the very case +bought by Ruth from Lockhart's in Brighton!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +A BRILLIANT IDEA + + +Bell was considerably impressed with the importance of Chris's discovery, +though at the same time he was not disposed to regard it in the light of +a coincidence. + +"It's a useful discovery in its way," he said; "but not very remarkable +when you come to think of it. Somebody with an eye to damaging Steel +changed that cigar-case. How the change affected Steel you know as well +as I do. But the cigar-case purchased by Ruth Gates must be somewhere, +and we are as likely to find it near Reginald Henson as anywhere else, +seeing that he is at the bottom of the whole business. That change was +made either by himself or by somebody at his instigation. Once the change +was made he would not bother about the spare cigar-case. His ally +probably came here to see Henson; the latter as likely as not threw him +over, knowing that the fellow would not dare to talk; hence the thing is +turned into money. I am merely speculating, of course, under the +assumption that you are quite sure of your facts." + +"Absolutely," Chris cried, eagerly. "Two long, irregular scratches +leading up in arrow-headed shape to the big diamond in the centre. Ruth +told Enid all about that the very last time they discussed the matter +together." + +"How came Ruth Gates to remember it so clearly?" + +"Well, she did it herself. She was rubbing some specks off the case at +the last moment, and the scratches were made accidentally with the stones +in one of her rings." + +Bell was fain to admit that the discovery was an important one. "We'll +leave it for the present," he said. "In a small place like this so +valuable an article is likely to remain in stock for some time. I'll call +in again to-morrow on the pretence of getting further goods and obtain +all the information there is to be gained as to who sold the case and +what he was like. There is just time for a little lunch before we take up +our reverend friend. Where shall we go?" + +Chris would like to see the Lion. There was a marvellous coffee-room +there with panelled walls and a ceiling by Pugin, and an Ingle-nook +filled with rare Dutch tiles. They had the beautiful old place to +themselves, so that they could talk freely. Chris crumbled her bread and +sipped her soup with an air of deep abstraction. + +"A great idea is forming itself in my mind," she said. + +"What, another one?" Bell smiled. "Is it the air of the place or what? +Really, there is a brilliancy about you that is striking." + +Chris laughed. She was full of the joy of life to-day. + +"It is the freedom," she said. "If you only knew what it is to feel free +after the dull, aching, monotonous misery of the last few years. To be +constantly on the treadmill, to be in the grasp of a pitiless scoundrel. +At first you fight against it passionately, with a longing to be doing +something, and gradually you give way to despair. And now the weight is +off my shoulders, and I am free to act. Fancy the reward of finding +Reginald Henson out!" + +"Reginald Henson is the blight upon your house. In what way?" + +"Ah, I cannot tell you. It is a secret that we never discuss even among +ourselves. But he has the power over us, he has blighted all our lives. +But if I could get hold of a certain thing the power would be broken. +That is what I am after, what I am working for. And it is in connection +with my endeavour that the new idea came to me." + +"Can't you give me some general idea of it?" Bell asked. + +"Well, I want to make Merritt my friend. I want him to imagine that I am +as much of an adventuress as he is an adventurer. I want to let him see +that I could send him to prison--" + +"So you can by telling the police of the loss of your star." + +"And getting Merritt arrested and sent to gaol where I couldn't make use +of him? No, no. The thing is pretty vague in my mind at present. I have +to work it out as one would a story; as David Steel would work it out, +for instance. Ah!" + +Chris clapped her hands rapturously, and a little cry of delight +escaped her. + +"The very thing," she exclaimed. "If I could lay all the facts before Mr. +Steel and get him to plan out all the details! His fertile imagination +would see a way out at once. But he is far away and there is no time to +be lost. Is there no way of getting at him?" + +Chris appealed almost imploringly to her companion. She made a pretty +picture with the old oak engravings behind her. Bell smiled as he helped +himself to asparagus. + +"Why not adopt the same method by which you originally introduced +yourself to the distinguished novelist?" he asked. "Why not use +Littimer's telephone?" + +Chris pushed her plate away impetuously. + +"I am too excited to eat any more," she said. "I am filled with the new +idea. Of course, I could use the telephone to speak to Mr. Steel, and to +Enid as well. If the scheme works out as I anticipate, I shall have to +hold a long conversation with Enid, a dangerous thing so long as Reginald +Henson is about." + +"I'll keep Henson out of the way. The best thing is to wait till +everybody has gone to bed to-night and call Steel up then. You will be +certain to get him after eleven, and there will be no chance of your +being cut off at that hour of the night in consequence of somebody else +wanting the line. The same remark applies to your sister." + +Chris nodded radiantly. + +"Thrice blessed telephone," she said. "I can get in all I want without +committing myself to paper or moving from the spot where my presence is +urgently needed. We will give Mr. Steel a pleasant surprise to-night, and +this time I shall get him into no trouble." + +The luncheon was finished at length, and an intimation sent to Merritt +that his friends were waiting for him at the Lion. As his powerful figure +was seen entering the big Norman porch Henson came down the street +driving a dog-cart at a dangerous rate of speed. + +"Our man is going to have his trouble for his pains," Bell chuckled. "He +has come to interview Merritt. How pleased he will be to see Merritt at +dinner-time." + +Merritt shambled in awkwardly, obviously suppressing a desire to touch +his forelock. There was a sheepish grin on his face, a suppressed triumph +in his eyes. He had been recently shaved and his hair cut, but despite +these improvements, and despite his clerical garb, he was not exactly the +class of man to meet in a dark lane after sunset. + +Chris, however, showed nothing of this in her greeting. Long before +Littimer Castle was reached she had succeeded in putting Merritt quite at +his ease. He talked of himself and his past exploits, he boasted of his +cunning. It was only now and again that he pulled himself up and piously +referred to the new life that he was now leading. Bell was studying him +carefully; he read the other's mind like an open book. When the +waggonette finally pulled up before the castle Littimer strolled up and +stood there regarding Merritt quietly. + +"So this is the gentleman you were going to bring to dinner?" he +said, grimly. "I have seen him before in the company of our dear +Reginald. I also--" + +Chris shot Littimer an imploring glance. Merritt grinned in friendly +fashion. Bell, in his tactful way, piloted the strange guest to the +library before Littimer and Chris had reached the hall. The former +polished his eyeglass and regarded Chris critically. + +"My dear young lady," he said smoothly, "originality is a passion with +me, eccentricity draws me as a magnet; but as yet I have refrained from +sitting down to table with ticket-of-leave men. Your friend has 'convict' +writ large upon his face." + +"He has been in gaol, of course," Chris admitted, cheerfully. + +"Then let me prophesy, and declare that he will be in gaol again. Why +bring him here?" + +"Because it is absolutely necessary," Chris said, boldly. "That man can +help me--help _us_, Lord Littimer. I am not altogether what I seem. There +is a scoundrel in your house compared with whom James Merritt is an +innocent child. That scoundrel has blighted your life and the lives of +your family; he has blighted my life for years. And I am here to expose +him, and I am here to right the wrong and bring back the lost happiness +of us all. I cannot say more, but I implore you to let me have my own way +in this matter." + +"Oh!" Littimer said, darkly, "so you are masquerading here?" + +"I am. I admit it. Turn me out if you like; refuse to be a party to my +scheme. You may think badly of me now, probably you will think worse of +me later on. But I swear to you that I am acting with the best and purest +motives, and in your interest as much as my own." + +"Then you are not entitled even to the name you bear?" + +"No, I admit it freely. Consider, I need not have told you anything. +Things cannot be any worse than they are. Let me try and make them +better. Will you, will you _trust_ me?" + +Chris's voice quivered, there were tears in her eyes. With a sudden +impulse Littimer laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked long and +searchingly into her eyes. + +"Very well," he said, with a gentle sigh. "I will trust you. As a matter +of fact, I have felt that I could trust you from the first. I won't pry +into your schemes, because if they are successful I shall benefit by +them. And if you like to bring a cartload of convicts down here, pray do +so. It will only puzzle the neighbours, and drive them mad with +curiosity, and I love that." + +"And you'll back me up in all I say and do?" Chris asked. + +"Certainly I will. On the whole, I fancy I am going to have a pleasant +evening. I don't think dear Reginald will be pleased to see his friend at +dinner. If any of the spoons are missing I shall hold you responsible." + +Chris went off to her room well pleased with the turn of events. +Brilliant audacity had succeeded where timid policy might have resulted +in dismal failure. And Littimer had refrained from asking any awkward +questions. From the window she could see Bell and Merritt walking up and +down the terrace, the latter talking volubly and worrying at a big cigar +as a dog might nuzzle at a bone. Chris saw Littimer join the other two +presently and fall in with their conversation. His laugh came to the +girl's ear more than once. It was quite evident that the eccentric +nobleman was enjoying the ex-convict's society. But Littimer had never +been fettered by conventional rules. + +The dog-cart came up presently and Henson got out. He had an anxious, +worried look; there was an ugly frown between his brows. He contrived to +be polite as Chris emerged. He wanted to know where Littimer was. + +"On the terrace, I fancy," Chris said, demurely. "I guess he is having a +long chat with that parson friend of yours--the brand plucked from the +burning, you know." + +"Merritt," Henson said, hoarsely. "Do you mean to say that Merritt is +here? And I've been looking for--I mean, I have been into Moreton Wells. +Why did he come?" + +Chris opened her eyes in innocent surprise. + +"Why," she said, "I fetched him. I'm deeply interested in brands of +that kind." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE + + +Henson forced a smile to his face and a hand from his side as he +approached Merritt and the rest. It was not until the two found +themselves alone that the mask was dropped. + +"You infernally insolent scoundrel," Henson said, between his teeth. "How +dare you come here? You've done your work for the present, and the sooner +you go back to your kennel in London the better. If I imagined that you +meant any harm I'd crush you altogether." + +"I didn't come on my own," Merritt whined. "So keep your 'air on. That +young lady came and fetched me--regular gone on me, she is. And there's +to be high jinks 'ere--a bazaar for the benefit of pore criminals as +can't get no work to do. You 'eard what his lordship said. And I'm goin' +to make a speech, like as I used to gull the chaplains. Lor', it's funny, +ain't it?" + +Henson failed to see the humour of the situation. He was uneasy and +suspicious. Moreover, he was puzzled by this American girl, and he hated +to be puzzled. She had social aspirations, of course; she cared nothing +for decayed or reformed criminals, and this silly bazaar was only +designed so that the ambitious girl could find her way into the county +set. Then she would choose a husband, and nothing more would be heard of +Merritt and Co. Henson had a vague notion that all American girls are on +the look-out for English husbands of the titled order. + +"Littimer must be mad," he muttered. "I can't understand Littimer; I +can't understand anything. Which reminds me that I have a crow to pluck +with you. Why didn't you do as I told you last night?" + +"Did," said Merritt, curtly. "Got the picture and took it home with me." + +"You liar! The picture is in the corridor at the present time." + +"Liar yourself! I've got the picture on my mantelshelf in my sitting-room +rolled up as you told me to roll it up and tied with a piece of cotton. +It was your own idea as the thing was to be left about casual-like as +being less calculated to excite suspicion. And there it is at the present +moment, and I'll take my oath to it." + +Henson fairly gasped. He had been inside that said sitting-room not two +hours before, and he had not failed to notice a roll of paper on the +mantelshelf. And obviously Merritt was telling the truth. And equally +obviously the Rembrandt was hanging in the corridor at the present +moment. Henson had solved and evolved many ingenious puzzles in his time, +but this one was utterly beyond him. + +"Some trick of Dr. Bell's, perhaps," Merritt suggested. + +"Bell suspects nothing. He is absolutely friendly to me. He could not +disguise his feelings like that. Upon my word I was never so utterly at +sea before in all my life. And as for Littimer, why, he has just made a +fresh will more in my favour than the old one. But I'll find out. I'll +get to the bottom of this business if it costs me a fortune." + +He frowned moodily at his boots; he turned the thing over in his mind +until his brain was dazed and muddled. The Rembrandt had been stolen, and +yet there was the Rembrandt in its place. Was anything more amazing and +puzzling? And nobody else seemed in the least troubled about it. Henson +was more than puzzled; deep down in his heart he was frightened. + +"I must keep my eyes open," he said. "I must watch night and day. Do you +suppose Miss Lee noticed anything when she called to-day?" + +"Not a bit of it," said Merritt, confidently "She came to see me; she +had no eyes for anybody but your humble servant. Where did she get my +address from? Why, didn't you introduce me to the lady yourself, and +didn't I tell her I was staying at Moreton Wells for a time? I'm goin' +to live in clover for a bit, my pippin. Cigars and champagne, wine and +all the rest of it." + +"I wish you were at the bottom of the sea before you came here," Henson +growled. "You mind and be careful what you're doing with the champagne. +They don't drink by the tumbler in the society you are in now, remember. +Just one or two glasses and no more. If you take too much and let your +tongue run you will find your stay here pretty short." + +Apparently the hint was not lost on Merritt, for dinner found him in a +chastened mood. His natural audacity was depressed by the splendour and +luxury around him; the moral atmosphere held him down. There were so +many knives and forks and glasses on the table, such a deal of food that +was absolutely strange to him. The butler behind made him shiver. +Hitherto in Merritt's investigations into great houses he had fought +particularly shy of butlers and coachmen and upper servants of that +kind. The butler's sniff and his cold suggestion as to hock slightly +raised Merritt's combative spirit. And the champagne was poor, thin +stuff after all. A jorum of gin and water, or a mug of beer, was what +Merritt's soul longed for. + +And what a lot of plate there was on the table and sideboard! Some of it +was gold, too. Merritt's greedy professional eye appraised the collection +at some hundreds of pounds--hundreds of pounds--that is, after the stuff +had been disposed of. In imagination he had already drugged the butler +and was stuffing the plate into his bag. + +Henson said very little. He was too busily engaged in watching his +confederate. He wished from the bottom of his heart now that Chris had +never seen Merritt. She was smiling at him now and apparently hanging on +every word. Henson had seen society ladies doing this kind of thing +before with well-concealed contempt. So long as people liked to play his +game for him he had no objection. But this was quite different. Merrit +had warmed a little under the influence of his fifth glass of champagne, +but his eye looked lovingly and longingly in the direction of a silver +spirit-stand on the sideboard. The dinner came to an end at length, to +Henson's great relief, and presently the whole party wandered out to the +terrace. Bell dropped behind with Chris. + +"Now is your time," he whispered. "Henson dare not lose sight of Merritt +before he goes to bed, and I'll keep the latter out here for a good long +spell. I've muffled the striker of the telephone so that the bell will +make no noise when you get your call back from Brighton, so that you +must be near enough to the instrument to hear the click of the striker. +Make haste." + +Chris dropped back to the library and rapidly fluttered over the leaves +of the "Telephone Directory." She found what she wanted at length and +asked to be put on to Brighton. Then she sat down in an armchair in the +darkness close under the telephone, prepared to wait patiently. She +could just see the men on the terrace, could catch the dull glow red of +their cigars. + +Her patience was not unduly tried. At the end of a quarter of an hour the +striker clicked furiously. Chris reached for the receiver and lay back +comfortably in her chair with the diaphragm to her ear. "Are you there?" +she asked, quietly. "Is that you, Mr. Steel?" To her great relief the +answering voice was Steel's own. He seemed to be a little puzzled as to +who his questioner was. + +"Can't you guess?" Chris replied. "This is not the first time I have had +you called. You have not forgotten 218, Brunswick Square, yet?" + +Chris smiled as she heard Steel's sudden exclamation. + +"So you are my fair friend whom I saw in the dark?" he said. "Yes, I +recognise your voice now. You are Miss Chris--well, I won't mention the +name aloud, because people might ask what a well-regulated corpse meant +by rousing respectable people up at midnight. I hope you are not going to +get me into trouble again." + +"No, but I am going to ask your advice and assistance. I want you to be +so good as to give me the plot of a story after I have told you the +details. And you are to scheme the thing out at once, please, because +delay is dangerous. Dr. Bell--" + +"What's that? Will you tell me where you are speaking from?" + +"I am at present located at Littimer Castle. Yes, Dr. Bell is here. Do +you want him?" + +"I should think so," Steel exclaimed. "Please tell him at once that the +man who was found here half dead--you know the man I mean--got up and +dressed himself in the absence of the nurse and walked out of the +hospital this morning. Since then he has not been seen or heard of. I +have been looking up Bell everywhere. Will you tell him this at once? +I'll go into your matter afterwards. Don't be afraid; I'll tell the +telephone people not to cut us off till I ring. Please go at once." + +The voice was urgent, not to say imperative. Chris dropped the +receiver into its space and crept into the darkness in the direction +of the terrace. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +A LITTLE FICTION + + +Bell seemed to know by intuition that Chris required him, or perhaps he +caught a glimpse of her white dress from the terrace. Anyway, he strolled +leisurely in her direction. + +"Something has happened?" he whispered, as he came up. + +"Well, yes," Chris replied, "though I should like to know how you +guessed that. I had no difficulty in getting Mr. Steel on the +telephone, but he would say nothing directly he heard that you were +here beyond a peremptory request that you were to be told at once that +Van Sneck has gone." + +"Gone!" Bell echoed, blankly. "What do you mean by that?" + +"He has disappeared from the hospital at Brighton to-day. Mr. Steel +thinks they were extra busy, or something of that kind. Anyway, Van Sneck +got up and dressed himself and left the hospital without being observed. +It seems extraordinary to me." + +"And yet quite possible," Bell said, thoughtfully. "Van Sneck had +practically recovered from the flesh wounds; it was the injury to his +head that was the worst part. He resembled an irresponsible lunatic more +than anything else. Steel wants me, of course?" + +"He suggests that you should go down to Brighton without delay." + +"All right, I'll make some excuse to take the first train in the morning. +We've got a fine start of Henson, and that's a good thing. If Van Sneck +comes within his net we shall have a deal of trouble. I had hoped to get +permission to operate on Van Sneck, and relied upon him to solve the +mystery. And now you had better go back to your telephone." + +Chris hurried back again. A whispered word satisfied her that Steel was +still at the other end. + +"Dr. Bell starts as early as possible to-morrow," she said. "If you will +listen carefully I will give you a brief outline of all that has happened +since I have been here." + +Chris proceeded to tell her story succinctly and briefly. From little +sounds and signs she could tell that Steel was greatly interested. The +story of the man with the thumb fascinated him. It appealed to his +professional instincts. + +"And what do you want to do with him?" Steel asked. + +"Well, you see, I have him in my power," Chris explained. "We can get the +other Rembrandt any time we like now, but that is quite a minor +consideration. What I want is for Merritt to know that I can have him +arrested at any time for stealing my star. It's Enid's star, as a matter +of fact; but that is a detail." + +"An important one, surely," Steel's voice came thin and clear. +"Suppose that our dear friend chances to recognise it? ... No, don't +ring off yet." + +"I'm not. Oh, you are speaking to the Exchange people ... Yes, yes; we +shall be a long time yet ... Are you there? Well, Henson has never seen +the star. Enid bought it just before the great trouble came, and +afterwards she never had the heart to wear it." + +"I understand. You want Merritt to know this?" + +"Well, I do and I don't," Chris explained. "I am anxious not to frighten +the man. I want to get him in my power, and I want to prove to him that +it would be to his advantage for him to come over to my side. Suppose +that Enid gave it out that the star had been stolen? And suppose that I +could save him at the critical moment? I shouldn't mind him thinking that +I had stolen the star in the first place. That is why I am asking you as +a novelist to help me." + +"You would have made an excellent novelist yourself," David said, +admiringly. "Give me five minutes.... Are you there? I fancy I have it. +Can't you hear me? That's better. I'll see Miss Gates the first thing in +the morning and get her to go over to Longdean and see your sister.... +Confound it, don't cut us off yet. What does it matter so long as the +messages are paid for? Nobody else wants the line. Well, I may for an +hour more.... Are you there? Very sorry; it's the fault of the Post +Office people. Here is the plot in a nutshell. Your sister has lost a +diamond star. She gives a minute description of it to the police, and +drops a hint to the effect that she believes it was taken away by +mistake--in other words, was stolen--from her in London by a chance +acquaintance called Christabel Lee--" + +"Ah," Chris cried, "how clever you are!" + +"I have long suspected it," the thin voice went on, drily. "The full +description of the star will be printed in the _Police Gazette_, a copy +of which every respectable pawnbroker always gets regularly. I suppose +the people where the star was pawned are respectable?" + +"Highly so. They have quite a Bond Street establishment attached." + +"So much the better. They will see the advertisement, and they will +communicate with the police. The Reverend James Merritt will be +arrested--" + +"I don't quite like that," Chris suggested. + +"Oh, it's necessary. He will be arrested at the castle. Knowing his +antecedents, the police will not stand upon any ceremony with him. You +will be filled with remorse. You have plunged back into a career of crime +again a being who was slowly climbing into the straight path once more. +You take the blame upon yourself--it was at your instigation that Merritt +pawned the star." + +"But, really, Mr. Steel--" + +"Oh, I know. But the end justifies the means. You save Mr. Merritt, there +is a bond of sympathy between you, he will regard you as a great light in +his interesting profession. You saved him because you had appropriated +the star yourself." + +"And go to gaol instead of Mr. Merritt?" + +"Not a bit of it. The star you deemed to be yours. You had one very like +it when you saw Miss Henson, when you were staying in London at the same +hotel. By some means the jewels got mixed. You are confident that an +exchange has been made. Also you are confident that if Miss Henson will +search her jewel-case she will find a valuable star that does not belong +to her. Miss Henson does so, she is distressed beyond measure, she offers +all kinds of apologies. Exit the police. You need not tell Merritt how +you get out of the difficulty, and thus you increase his respect for you. +There, that would make a very ingenious and plausible magazine story. It +should be more convincing in real life." + +"Capital!" Chris murmured. "What an advantage it is to have a novelist to +advise one! Many, many thanks for all your kindness. Good-night!" + +Chris rang off with a certain sense of relief. It was some time later +before she had a chance of conveying to Bell what had happened. He +listened gravely to all that Chris had to say. + +"Just the sort of feather-brained idea that would occur to a novelist," +he said. "For my part, I should prefer to confront Merritt with his +theft, and keep the upper hand of him that way." + +"And he would mistrust me and betray me at the first opportunity. +Besides, in that case, he would know at once that I wanted to get to the +bottom of his connection with Reginald Henson. Mr. Steel's plan may be +bizarre, but it is safe." + +"I never thought of that," Bell admitted. "I begin to imagine that +you are more astute than I gave you credit for, which is saying a +great deal." + +Chris was down early the following morning, only to find Bell at +breakfast with every sign of making an early departure. He was very +sorry, he explained, gravely, to his host and Chris, but his letters gave +him no option, He would come back in a day or two if he might. A moment +later Henson came into the room, ostentatiously studying a Bradshaw. + +"And where are you going?" Littimer asked. "Why do you all abandon me? +Reginald, do you mean to say that you are going to refuse me the light of +your countenance?" + +"Is Dr. Bell going, too?" Henson asked, with just a suggestion of +uneasiness. "I mean--er--" + +"Business," Bell said. "I came here at great personal +inconvenience. And you?" + +"London," Henson replied. "A meeting to-day that I cannot get out of. A +couple of letters by this morning's post have decided me." + +Chris said nothing; she appeared to be quite indifferent until she had a +chance to speak to Bell alone. She looked a little anxious. + +"He has found out about Van Sneck," she said. "Truly he is a marvellous +man! And he had no letters this morning. I opened the post-bag +personally. But I'm glad he's going, because I shall have James Merritt +all to myself." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE FASCINATION OF JAMES MERRITT + + +On the whole Mr. James Merritt, ex-convict and now humanitarian, was +enjoying himself immensely. He did not sleep at the castle, for Lord +Littimer drew the line there, but he contrived to get most of his meals +under that hospitable roof, and spent a deal of time there. It was by no +means the first time he had been "taken up" by the aristocracy since his +conversion, and his shyness was wearing off. Moreover, Henson had given +his henchman strict instructions to keep his eyes open with a view to +getting at the bottom of the Rembrandt mystery. + +Still, there is always a crumpled rose-leaf somewhere, and Merritt had +his. A few days after Henson departed so hurriedly from town the stolen +Rembrandt disappeared from Merritt's rooms. Nobody knew anything about +it; the thing had vanished, leaving no trace of the thief behind. +Perhaps Merritt would have been less easy in Littimer's society had he +known that the missing print was securely locked away in the latter's +strong room. Still, had Merritt been acquainted with the classics, +_carpe diem_ would like as not have been his favourite motto. He +declined to worry over the matter until Henson's return. It was not for +him to know, yet, that Chris had actually gone over to Moreton Wells, +and, during the absence of Merritt's landlady, calmly walked into the +house and taken the picture away. + +"You are going to see some fun presently," she said, coolly, to the +astonished Littimer, as she laid the missing picture before him. "No, I +shall not tell you anything more at present. You shall hear the whole +story when Reginald Henson stands in the pillory before you. You know now +that Henson was at the bottom of the plot to destroy Dr. Bell's +character?" + +"I always felt that our Reginald was a great scoundrel," Littimer +purred over his cigarette. "And if you succeed in exposing him +thoroughly I shall watch the performance with the greatest possible +pleasure. I am not curious, my dear young lady, but I would give +sixpence to know who you are." + +"Keep your sixpence," Chris laughed, "and you'll know all in good time. +All I ask is not to be astonished at anything that happens." + +Littimer averred that he had long since lost the power of astonishment. +There was a brightness and restlessness about Chris to-day that +considerably added to her charms. It was nearly a week now since Bell and +Henson had departed, and in the meantime Chris had heard nothing from +Longdean. Half an hour before a telegram had arrived to the effect that a +gentleman in a blue coat might be expected at Littimer Castle at any +moment. The police were coming, and Merritt was late to-day. If Merritt +failed to turn up the whole situation would be spoilt. It was with a +feeling of unutterable relief that Chris saw him coming up the drive." + +"Come on the terrace," she said. "I have something very serious to say to +you. Mr. Merritt, you have got us both into very serious trouble. Why did +you do it?" + +"Ain't done nothing," Merritt said, doggedly. He repeated the old +formula, "What's up?" + +"Er--it's about my diamond star," said Chris. "I lost it a few days ago. +If I had known what was going to happen I should have put up with my +loss. But I made inquiries through the police without saying a word to +anybody, and now I find the star was pawned in Moreton Wells." + +"Oh, lor," Merritt gasped. "You don't mean to say the police know +that, miss?" + +"Indeed I do. You see, once I allowed matters to go out of my hands I was +powerless. The case now rests entirely with the police. And I am informed +that they may come here and arrest you at any moment. I fear there is no +escape for you--you pawned the thing yourself in your own name. What a +thousand pities you yielded to sudden temptation." + +"But I found it," Merritt whined. "I'll take my oath as I found it under +the terrace. I--I--was rambling along the cliffs one day and I found it. +And I didn't know it was yours. If I had known it was yours, I'd never +have gone and done no such a thing." + +Chris shook her head sadly. + +"And just as you were getting on so nicely," she said. + +"That's it," Merritt whined, brokenly. "Just as I was properly spoofing +everybody as I--I mean just as I was getting used to a better life. But +you can save me, miss; you can say as you were hard up for money and +that, knowing as I knew the ropes, you got me to pawn it for you. Put it +in that way and there's not a policeman in England as can touch me." + +"I had thought of it," Chris said, with a pretty assumption of distress. +"But, but--Mr. Merritt, I have a terrible confession to make. It was not +I who started the police: it was somebody else. You see, the star was not +my property at all. I--I got it in London." + +Mr. Merritt looked up with involuntary admiration. + +"You don't mean to say as you nicked it?" he asked. "Well, well." + +Chris bent her face lower to conceal her agitation, Her shoulders were +heaving, but not with emotion. The warmth of Merritt's admiration had +moved her to silent laughter, and she had made the exact impression that +she had desired. + +"I have telegraphed to the lady, who is more or less of a friend of +mine," she said. "I have urged her to take no further steps in the +matter. I fancy that she is a good and kind girl and that--but a reply +might come at any time." + +There was a reply on the way now, as Chris knew perfectly well. The whole +thing had been carefully arranged and planned to the moment by Steel and +the others. + +"I dare say they'll let you down easy," Merritt said, disconsolately; +"but it'll be hot for me. I've copped it too many times before, you see." + +"Yes, I see," Chris said, thoughtfully. "Mr. Merritt, I have made up my +mind: if I had not--er--borrowed that star, it would not have been lost, +and you would not have found it, and there would have been no trouble. My +conscience would not rest if I allowed you to be dragged back into the +old life again. I am going to save you--I am going to tell the police +that you pawned that star for me at my instigation." + +Merritt was touched even to tears. There was not an atom of chivalry in +the rascal's composition. He had little or no heed for the trouble that +his companion appeared to be piling up for herself, but he was touched to +the depths of his soul. Here was a clever girl, who in her own way +appeared to be a member of his profession, who was prepared to sacrifice +herself to save another. Self-sacrifice is a beautiful and tender thing, +and Merritt had no intention of thwarting it. + +"Do that, and I'm your pal for life," he said, huskily. "And I never went +back on a pal yet. Ask anybody as really knows me. 'Tain't as if you +weren't one of us, neither. I'd give a trifle to know what your little +game is here, eh?" + +Chris smiled meaningly. Merritt's delusion was distinctly to be fostered. + +"You shall help me then, presently," she said in a mysterious whisper. +"Help me and keep your own counsel, and there will be the biggest job you +ever had in your life. Only let you and I get out of this mess, and we +shall see what we shall see presently." + +Merritt looked speechless admiration. He had read of this class of +high-toned criminals in the gutter stories peddled by certain publishers, +but he had never hoped to meet one in the flesh. He was still gazing +open-mouthed at Chris as two men came along the avenue. + +They were both in plain clothes, but they had "policeman" writ large all +over them. + +"Cops, for a million," Merritt gurgled, with a pallid face. "You can tell +'em when you're asleep. And they are after me; they're coming this way. +I'll be all right presently." + +"I hope so," Chris said, with a curling lip. "You look guilty +enough now." + +Merritt explained that it was merely the first emotion, and would pass +off presently. Nor did he boast in vain. He was quite cool as the +officers came up and called him by name. + +"That's me," Merritt said. "What's the trouble?" + +One of the officers explained. He had no warrant, he said, but all the +same he would have to trouble Mr. Merritt to accompany him to Moreton +Wells. A diamond star not yet definitely identified had been handed over +to the police, the same having been pawned by James Merritt. + +"That's quite right," Merritt said, cheerfully. "I pawned it for +this young lady here--Miss Lee. Of course, if it is not her +property, why, then--" + +The officer was palpably taken back. He knew more than he cared to say. +The star had been pledged by Merritt, as he cheerfully admitted, but the +owner of the star had lost the gem in London under suspicious +circumstances in which Miss Lee was mixed up. And at present it was not +the policy of the police to arrest Miss Lee. That would come later. + +"I am afraid that there has been a misapprehension altogether," Chris +said. "Allow me to explain: Mr. Merritt, would you step aside for a +moment? I have to speak of private matters. Thank you. Now, sir, I am +quite prepared to admit that the ornament pledged does not belong to me, +but to Miss Henson, whom I met in London. I took the star by mistake. You +may smile, but I have one very like it. If Miss Henson had searched her +jewels properly she would have found that she had my star--that I had +hers. I heard of the business quite by accident, and telegraphed to Miss +Henson to look searchingly amongst her jewels. She has a large amount, +and might easily have overlooked my star. Here is a boy with a telegram. +Will you take it from him and read it aloud? It is addressed to me, you +will find." + +It was. It was signed "Enid Henson"; it went on to say that the sender +was fearfully sorry for all the trouble she had caused, but that she had +found Miss Lee's star with her jewels. Also she had telegraphed at once +to the police at Moreton Wells to go no farther. + +"Looks like a mistake," the officer muttered. "But if we get that +telegram--" + +"Which has reached the police-station by this time," Chris interrupted. +"Come into the castle and ask the question over the telephone. I suppose +you are connected?" + +The officer said they were; in fact, they had only recently joined the +Exchange. A brief visit to the telephone, and the policeman came back, +with a puzzled air and a little more deference in his manner, with the +information that he was to go back at once, as the case was closed. + +"I've seen some near things in my time, but nothing nearer than this," he +said. "Still, it's all right now. Very sorry to have troubled you, miss." + +The officers departed with the air of men who had to be satisfied, +despite themselves. Merritt came forward with an admiration almost +fawning. He did not know quite how the thing had happened, but Chris had +done the police. Smartness and trickery of that kind were the highest +form of his idolatry. His admiration was nearly beyond words. + +"Well, strike me," he gasped. "Did ever anyone ever see anything like +that? You, as cool as possible, and me with my heart in my mouth all +the time. And there ain't going to be no trouble, no sort of bother +over the ticket?" + +"You hand over that ticket to me," Chris smiled, "and there will be an +end of the matter. And if you try to play me false in any way, why, it +will be a bad day for you. Give me your assistance, and it will be the +best day's work you ever did in your life." + +Merritt's heart was gained. His pride was touched. + +"Me go back on you?" he cried, hoarsely. "After what you've done? Only +say the word, only give old Jim Merritt a call, and it's pitch-and-toss +to manslaughter for those pretty eyes of yours. Good day's work! Aye, for +both of us." + +And Chris thought so too. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +A USEFUL DISCOVERY + + +Waiting with the eagerness of the greyhound in leash, David Steel was +more annoyed and vexed over the disappearance of the wounded Van Sneck +than he cared to admit. He had an uneasy feeling that the unseen foe had +checkmated him again. And he had built up so many hopes upon this +strangely-uninvited guest of his. If that man spoke he could tell the +truth. And both Cross and Bell had declared that he would not die. + +David found Cross in a frame of mind something like his own. It was late +in the afternoon before it transpired that Van Sneck was gone, and, +unfortunately, David did not know where to find Bell just at the moment. +Cross had very little to say. + +"A most unpleasant incident," he remarked. "But these things will happen, +you know. We have been so busy lately, and our vigilance has been +slightly relaxed. Oh, it is impossible to guard against everything, but +he is certain to be found." + +"You don't think," David suggested, "that anybody secretly connected with +the man's past--" + +"No, I don't," Cross snapped; "that would be impossible. The man had +something on his mind, and so far as bodily condition was concerned he +was getting quite strong again. In his dazed state he got up and dressed +himself and went away. He seems to have been seeking for somebody or +something for days. We are certain to have him again before long." + +With which poor consolation David returned home again. He was restless +and desirous of human companionship. He even resented it, as a kind of +affront, that his mother had chosen at this time to go to Hassocks to +stay with an old friend for a couple of days. That Mrs. Steel knew +practically nothing of her son's trouble counted for naught. Therefore it +was with something akin to pleasure that David found Ruth Gates waiting +in the drawing-room for him when he came in from his walk on the +following afternoon. Nothing had been heard of Van Sneck in the meantime, +but thanks to Chris's telephone message late the previous night he had +got in touch with Bell, who was coming south without delay. + +There was a look of shy pleasure in Ruth's eyes and a deep carmine flush +on her cheeks. + +"You don't think that this is very bold of me?" she asked. + +"I am pretty Bohemian in any case," David laughed, as he looked down +fondly into the shy, sweet eyes. "And I'm too overjoyed to see you to +think about anything else. I wish my mother was at home. No, I don't, +because I have you all to myself." + +"David! On an occasion like this you ought to be the pink of propriety. +Do you know, I believe that I have made a great discovery?" + +"Indeed, little girl! And what have you found out?" + +"Well, you must tell me something before my discovery seems valuable. +David, you are a close student of human nature. Is it possible for men of +phenomenal cunning to make careless mistakes? Do the most clever +criminals ever make childish blunders?" + +"My dear child, if they didn't the police would have very little chance. +For instance, I have discovered how those enemies of ours got hold of the +notepaper that lured Van Sneck here. They sent a messenger to Carter's, +in East Street, presumedly knowing that my dies were there, and ordered a +quarter of a ream of paper and envelopes. These were to be sent to an +address in East Grinstead in a hurry. Now, that was very clever and +smart, but here comes the folly. Those people, in the stress of business, +actually forgot to ascertain the cost and pay for the paper, so that it +was down yesterday in my last quarter's bill. Oh, yes, I assure you, the +most brilliant criminals do the most incredibly foolish things." + +Ruth looked relieved. Her pretty features relaxed into a smile. + +"Then I fancy Reginald Henson has done so," she said. "I fancy I have +solved the mystery of the cigar-case--I mean, the mystery of the one +I bought." + +"And which was changed for the one purchased at Walen's, hence these +tears. But Lockharts say that _our_ case was really purchased by an +American." + +"Yes, I know. And I fancy that the manager honestly thought so. But I +think I can explain that." + +It was David's turn to look up eagerly. + +"Do you mean it?" he exclaimed. "It will make a wonderful difference if +you can. That has been one of the most bewildering knots of the whole +puzzle. If we could only trace the numbers of those notes, I suppose +changed at the same time as the cigar-case." + +"Indeed they were not," Ruth cried. "I have ascertained that the case was +changed by Henson, as you and I have already decided. Henson made the +exchange not at the time we thought." + +"Not when you left the package on the table for him to see?" + +"No; at least I can't say. He had the other case then, probably, passed +on to him by Van Sneck. Or perhaps he merely ascertained what I had +purchased. That was sufficient for his purpose. Of course he must have +found out all about our scheme. After I had laid my cigar-case on your +doorstep a man quietly changed it for the other purchased at Walen's. But +this is the alternate theory only. Any way, I am absolutely certain that +you got exactly the same notes that we had placed in the original case." + +"That might be," David said, thoughtfully. "But that does not explain the +fact that Lockhart's sold _your_ case to an American at the Metropole." + +"I fancy I can even explain that, dear. My uncle came down suddenly +to-day from London. He wanted certain papers in a great hurry. Now, those +papers were locked up in a drawer at 219 given over specially to Mr. +Henson. My uncle promptly broke open the drawer and took out the papers. +Besides those documents the drawer contained a package in one of +Lockhart's big linen-lined envelopes--a registered letter envelope, in +fact. My uncle had little time to spare, as he was bound to be back in +London to-night. He suggested that as the back of the drawer was broken +and the envelope presumably contained valuables, I had better take care +of it. Well, I must admit at once that I steamed the envelope open. I +shouldn't have done so if Lockhart's name had not been on the flap. In a +little case inside I found a diamond bracelet, which I have in my pocket, +together with a receipted bill for seventy odd pounds made out to me." + +"To you?" David cried. "Do you mean to say that--" + +"Indeed I do. The receipt was made out to me, and with it was a little +polite note to the effect that Messrs. Lockhart had made the exchange of +the cigar-case for the diamond bracelet, and that they hoped Miss Gates +would find the matter perfectly satisfactory." + +David was too astonished to say anything for the moment. The skein +was too tangled to be thought out all at once. Presently he began to +see his way. + +"Under ordinary circumstances the change seems impossible," he said. +"Especially seeing that the juggling could not have been done without +both the cases--but I had forgotten how easily the cases were changed. I +have it! What is the date of that letter?" + +Ruth slowly unfolded a document she had taken from her purse. + +"The day following what you call your great adventure," she said. "Henson +or somebody took the real case--my case--back to Lockhart's and changed +it in my name. I had previously been admiring this selfsame bracelet, and +they had tried to sell it to me. My dear boy, don't you see this is all +part of the plot to plunge you deeper and deeper into trouble, to force +us all to speak to save you? There are at least fifteen assistants at +Lockhart's. Of course the ultimate sale of the cigar-case to this +American could be proved, seeing that the case had got back into stock +again, and at the same time the incident of the change quite forgotten. +And when you go and ask questions at Lockhart's--as you were pretty sure +to do, as Henson knew--you are told of the sale only to the American. +Depend upon it, that American was Henson himself or somebody in his pay. +David, that man is too cunning, _too_ complex. And some of these days it +is going to prove his fall." + +David nodded thoughtfully. And yet, without something very clever and +intricate in the way of a scheme, Henson could not have placed him in his +present fix. + +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "You and I must go down to +Lockhart's and make a few inquiries. With that diamond bracelet and +letter in your possession you should have no difficulty in refreshing +their memories. Will you have some tea?" + +"I am too excited," Ruth laughed. "I couldn't eat or drink anything just +at present. David, what a lovely house you have." + +"I'm glad to hear that you are going to like it," David said, drily. + +Lockhart's received their customers in the usual courtly style. They were +sorry they had no recollection of the transaction to which madam +referred. The sale of the bracelet was clear, because that was duly and +properly recorded on the books, and as indeed was the sale of the +gun-metal cigar-case to an American gentleman at the Metropole. If madam +said that she had purchased the cigar-case, why--still the polite +assistant was most courteously incredulous. + +The production of the letter made a difference. There was a passing of +confidences from one plate-glass counter to another, and presently +another assistant came forward. He profoundly regretted that there had +been a mistake, but he remembered the incident perfectly. It was the day +before he had departed on his usual monthly visit to the firm's Paris +branch. Madam had certainly purchased the cigar-case; but before the sale +could be posted in the stock ledger madam had sent a gentleman to change +the case for the diamond bracelet previously admired. The speaker had +attended to both the sale and the exchange; in fact, his cab was waiting +for him during the latter incident. + +"I trust there is nothing wrong?" he asked, anxiously. + +"Not in the least," Ruth hastened to reply. "The whole matter is a kind +of comedy that I wanted to solve. It is a family joke, you understand. +And who made the exchange?" + +"Mr. Gates, madam. A tall gentleman, dressed in--" + +"That is quite sufficient, thank you," said Ruth. "I am sorry to trouble +you over so silly a matter." + +The assistant assured madam with an air of painful reproach that nothing +was counted a trouble in that establishment. He bowed his visitors out +and informed them that it was a lovely afternoon, a self-evident axiom +that the most disputatious could not well deny. + +"You see how your inquiries might have been utterly baffled but for this +find of mine," Ruth said, as the two went along North Street. "We shall +find presently that the Metropole American and Reginald Henson are one +and the same person." + +"And you fancy that he made the exchange at Lockhart's?" + +"I feel pretty certain of it," Ruth replied. "And you will be sure later +on to find that he had a hand in the purchase of the other cigar-case +from Walen's. Go to Marley's and get him to make inquiries as to whether +or not Walen's got their case down on approval." + +David proceeded to do so without further delay. Inspector Marley was out, +but David left a message for him. Would he communicate by telephone later +on? Steel had just finished his dinner when Marley rang him up. + +"Are you there? Yes, I have seen Walen. Your suggestion was quite right. +Customer had seen cigar-case exactly like it in Lockhart's, only too +dear. Walen dealt with some manufacturers and got case down. Oh, no, +never saw customer again. That sort of thing happens to shopkeepers every +day. Yes. Walen thinks he would recognise his man again. Nothing more? +Good-night, sir." + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +A DELICATE ERRAND + + +It looked like being a long, dull evening for Steel if he were not going +to the theatre or anything of that kind. He generally read till about +eleven o'clock, after which he sat up for another couple of hours +plotting out the day's task for to-morrow. To-night he could only wander +restlessly about his conservatory, snipping off a dead leaf here and +there and wondering where the whole thing was going to end. + +With a certain sense of relief David heard the front door-bell trill +about eleven o'clock. Somebody was coming to see him, and it didn't +matter much who in Steel's present frame of mind. But he swept into the +study with a feeling of genuine pleasure as Hatherly Bell was announced. + +"My dear fellow, I'm delighted to see you," he cried. "Take the big +armchair. Let me give you a cigar and a whisky and soda and make you +comfortable. That's better." + +"I'm tired out," Bell said. "In London all day, and since six with Cross. +Can you put me up for the night?" + +"My bachelor bedroom is always ready, Bell." + +"Thanks. I don't fancy you need be under any apprehension that anybody +has spirited Van Sneck away. In the first place Henson, who seems to have +discovered what happened, is in a terrible state about it. He wanted very +badly to remain at Littimer, but when he heard that Van Sneck had left +the hospital he came down here; in fact, we travelled together. Of course +he said nothing whatever about Van Sneck, whom he is supposed to know +nothing about, but I could see that he was terribly disturbed. The worst +of it is that Cross was going to get me to operate on Van Sneck; and +Heritage, who seems wonderfully better, was going to assist." + +"Is your unfortunate friend up to that kind of thing now?" David asked. + +"I fancy so. Do you know that Heritage used to have a fairly good +practice near Littimer Castle? Lord Littimer knows him well. I want +Heritage to come into this. I want to get at the reason why Henson has +been so confoundedly good to Heritage. For years he has kept his eye upon +him; for years he has practically provided him with a home at Palmer's. +And when Heritage mentions Henson's name he always does so with a kind of +forced gratitude." + +"You think that Heritage is going to be useful to us?" + +"I fancy so. Mind you, it is only my idea--what I call intuition, for +want of a better word. And what have you been doing lately?" + +David proceeded to explain, giving the events of the afternoon in full +detail. Bell followed the account with the deepest interest. Then he +proceeded to tell his own story. David appeared to be fascinated with the +tale of the man with the thumb-nail. + +"So Miss Chris hopes to hypnotise the man with the thumb," he said. "You +have seen more of her than I have, Bell. Does she strike you as she +strikes me--a girl of wonderfully acute mind allied to a pluck and +audacity absolutely brilliant?" + +"She is that and more," Bell said, warmly. "Now that she is free to act +she has developed wonderfully. Look how cleverly she worked out that +Rembrandt business, how utterly she puzzled Henson, and how she helped me +to get into Littimer's good books again without Henson even guessing at +the reason. And now she has forced the confidence of that rascal Merritt. +She has saved him from a gaol into which she might have thrown him at any +moment, she has convinced him that she is something exceedingly brilliant +in the way of an adventuress, with a great _coup_ ahead. Later on she +will use Merritt, and a fine hard-cutting tool she will find him." + +"Where is Henson at the present moment?" David asked. + +"I left him in London this afternoon," Bell replied. "But I haven't the +slightest doubt in the world that he has made his way to Brighton by this +time. In all probability he has gone to Longdean." + +Bell paused as the telephone bell rang out shrilly. The mere sound of it +thrilled both of them with excitement. And what a useful thing the +telephone had proved! + +"Are you there?" came the quick, small whisper. "Is that you, Mr. Steel? +I am Enid Henson." + +There was a long pause, during which David was listening intently. Bell +could see him growing rigid with the prospect of something keen, alert, +and vigorous. + +"Bell is here with me at this moment," he said. "Just wait a minute +whilst I tell him. Don't go away, please. Under the circumstances it +might be dangerous for me to ring you ... Just a moment. Here's a +pretty mess." + +"Well," Bell said, impatiently, "I'm only a mere man, after all." + +"Henson is at Longdean; he turned up an hour ago, and at the present +moment is having his supper in the library before going to bed. But that +is not the worst part of it. Williams heard the dogs making a great noise +by the gates, and went to see what was wrong. Some poor, demented fellow +had climbed over the wall, and the dogs were holding him up. Fortunately, +he did not seem to be conscious of his danger, and as he stood still the +hounds did him no harm. Williams was going to put the intruder into the +road again when Miss Henson came up. And whom do you suppose the poor, +wandering tramp to be?" + +Bell pitched his cigar into the grate full of flowers and jumped +to his feet. + +"Van Sneck, for a million," he cried. "My head to a cocoanut on it." + +"The same. They managed to get the poor fellow into the house before +Williams brought Henson from the lodge, and he's in the stables now in a +rather excited condition. Now, I quite agree with Miss Henson that Henson +must be kept in ignorance of the fact, also that Van Sneck must be got +away without delay. To inform the hospital authorities would be to spoil +everything and play into Henson's hands. But he must be got away +to-night." + +"Right you are. We'll go and fetch him. _Et apres_?" + +"_Et apres_ he will stay here. He shall stay _here_, and you shall say +that it is dangerous to remove him. Cross shall be told and Marley shall +be told, and the public shall be discreetly kept in ignorance for the +present. I'll go over there at once, as there is no time to be lost. Miss +Henson suggests that I should come, and she tells me that Williams will +wait at the lodge-gates for me. But you are going to stay here." + +"Oh, indeed! And why am I going to stay here?" + +"Because, my dear friend, I can easily manage the business single-handed, +and because you must run no risk of meeting Henson yonder. You are not +now supposed to know where the family are, nor are you supposed to take +the faintest interest in them. Stay here and make yourself comfortable +till I return.... Are you there? I will be at Longdean as soon as +possible and bring Van Sneck here. No, I won't ring off; you had better +do that. I shall be over in less than an hour." + +David hung up the receiver and proceeded to don a short covert coat and a +cap. In the breast-pocket of the coat he placed a revolver. + +"Just as well to be on the safe side," he said. "Though I am not likely +to be troubled with the man with the thumb again. Still, Henson may have +other blackguards; he may even know where Van Sneck is at the present +moment, for all I know to the contrary." + +"I feel rather guilty letting you go alone," Bell said. + +"Not a bit of it," said David, cheerfully. "Smoke your cigar, and if +you need any supper ring for it. You can safely leave matters in my +hands. Van Sneck shall stay here till he is fit, and then you shall +operate upon him. After that he ought to be as clay in the hands of the +potter. So long." + +And David went off gaily enough. He kept to the cliffs for the first part +of the distance, and then struck off across the fields in the direction +of Longdean. The place was perfectly quiet, the village was all in +darkness as he approached the lodge-gates of the Grange. Beyond the drive +and between the thick, sad firs that shielded the house he could see the +crimson lights gleaming here and there. He could catch the rumble and +scratch in the bushes, and ever and again a dog whined. The big gate was +closed as David peeped in searching for his guide. + +"Williams," he whispered; "Williams, where are you?" + +But no reply came. The silence was full of strange, rushing noises, the +rush of blood in David's head. He called again and again, but no reply +came. Then he heard the rush and fret of many feet, the cry of a pack of +hounds, a melancholy cry, with a sombre joy in it. He saw a light +gleaming fitfully in the belt of firs. + +"No help for it," David muttered. "I must chance my luck. I never saw a +dog yet that I was afraid of. Well, here goes." + +He scrambled over the wall and dropped on the moist, clammy earth on the +other side. He fumbled forward a few steps, and then stopped suddenly, +brought up all standing by the weird scene which was being solemnly +enacted under his astonished eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +PRINCE RUPERT'S RING + + +Whilst events were moving rapidly outside, time at Longdean Grange seemed +to stand still. The dust and the desolation were ever there. The gloom +brooded like an evil spirit. And yet it was but the calm before the storm +that was coming to banish the hoary old spectres for good. + +Still, Enid felt the monotony to be as maddening as ever. There were +times when she rebelled passionately against the solitude of the place. +There were moments to her when it seemed that her mind couldn't stand the +strain much longer. + +But she had hope, that blessed legacy to the sanguine and the young. And +there were times when she would creep out and see Ruth Gates, who found +the Rottingdean Road very convenient for cycling just now. And there was +always the anticipation of a telephone message from Chris. Originally the +telephone had been established so that the household could be run without +the intrusion of tradesmen and other strangers. It had seemed a great +anomaly at the time, but now Enid blessed it every moment of the day. And +she was, perhaps, not quite so unhappy as she deemed herself to be. She +had her lover back again now, with his character free from every +imputation. + +The sun straggled in through the dim, dusty panes; the monotonous voice +of Mrs. Henson droned in the drawing-room. It was what Williams called +one of the unhappy lady's "days." Sometimes she was quiet and reasonable, +at other times the dark mood hung heavily upon her. She was pacing up and +down the drawing-room, wringing her hands and whimpering to herself. Enid +had slipped into the grounds for a little fresh air; the house oppressed +her terribly to-day. The trim lawns and blazing flowerbeds were a +pleasant contrast to the misery and disorder of the house. + +Enid passed on into the shadow of the plantation. A little farther on +nearer the wall the dogs seemed to be excited about something. William's +rusty voice could be heard expostulating with some intruder. By him +stood a man who, though fairly well dressed, looked as if he had slept +in his garments for days. There was a dazed, puzzled, absent expression +on his face. + +"You might have been killed," Williams croaked. "If you hadn't stood +still they dogs would have pulled you to pieces. How did you get here?" + +"I've lost it," the stranger muttered. "I've lost it somewhere, and I +shall have no rest till I find it." + +"Well, go and look in the road," Williams suggested, smoothly. +"Nothing ever gets lost here. Just you hop over that wall and try your +luck outside." + +Enid came forward. Evidently the intruder was no stranger to her. +Williams started to explain volubly. But Enid cut him short at once. + +"A most extraordinary thing has happened," she said. "It is amazing +that this man should come here of all places. Williams, this is the man +Van Sneck." + +"What, the chap as was wounded in the hospital, miss?" + +"The same. The man is not in full possession of his senses. And if +Reginald Henson finds him now it is likely to go hard with him. He must +be taken into the house and looked after until I can communicate with +somebody I can trust. Mr. Steel, I think. He must be got back to the +hospital. It is the only place where he is safe." + +Van Sneck seemed to be looking on with the vacant stare of the mindless. +He suffered himself to be led to the house, where he was fed like a +child. It was in vain that Enid plied him with all kinds of questions. +He had lost something--he would have no peace till he had found it. This +was the one burden of his cry. Enid crossed to the window in some +perplexity. The next moment she had something else to occupy her mind. +Reginald Henson was coming up the drive. Just for an instant Enid felt +inclined to despair. + +"Williams," she cried, "Mr. Henson is here. On no account must he see our +unfortunate visitor. He cannot possibly know that Van Sneck is here; the +whole thing is an accident. I am going down into the hall. I shall +contrive to get Mr. Henson into the drawing-room. Without delay you must +smuggle Mr. Van Sneck into your apartments over the stable. You will be +perfectly safe if you go down the back staircase. As soon as the +drawing-room door closes, go." + +Williams nodded. He was essentially a man of action rather than words. +With all the coolness she could summon up Enid descended to the hall. +She gave a little gesture of surprise and disdain as she caught sight +of Henson. + +"So you came down to welcome me?" Enid said, coldly. + +A sudden light of rage lit up Henson's blue eyes. He caught Enid almost +roughly by the shoulders and pushed her into the drawing-room. There was +something coming, she knew. It was a relief a minute or two later to hear +Williams's whistle as he crossed the courtyard. Henson knew nothing of +Van Sneck's presence, nor was he likely to do so now. + +"You are forgetting yourself," Enid said. "How dare you touch me +like that?" + +"By heavens," Henson whispered, vehemently, "when I consider how I have +been fooled by you I wonder that I do not strike the life out of you. +Where is your sister?" + +Enid assumed an air of puzzled surprise. She raised her eyebrows, coldly. +But it needed no very brilliant intelligence to tell her that Henson had +discovered something. + +"I had only one sister," she said, "and she is--" + +"Dead! Rot. No more dead than I am. A nice little scheme you had put up +together with that scribbling ass David Steel. But Steel is going to get +a lesson not to interfere in my affairs, and you are going to get one +also. Where is your sister?" + +Despite his bullying triumph there was something nervous and anxious +about the tone of the question. It was not quite like Henson to let his +adversary see that he had scored a point. But since the affair of the +dogs Henson had not been quite his old self. It was easy to see that he +had found out a great deal, but he had not found out where Chris was yet. + +"I know nothing," said Enid. "I shall answer no questions." + +"Very well. But I shall find out. Accident put me on the trail first. And +I have been to see that man Walker. He never saw your sister after her +'death,' nor did the undertaker. And I might have met my death at the +fangs of that dog you put upon me. What a fool Walker was." + +Enid looked up a little anxiously. Had Walker said anything about a +second opinion? Had he betrayed to Henson the fact that he had been +backed up by Hatherly Bell? Because they had taken a deal of trouble to +conceal the fact that Bell had been in the house. + +"Dr. Walker should have called in another opinion," she said, mockingly. + +"The man was too conceited for that, and you know it," Henson growled; +"and finely you played upon his vanity." + +Enid was satisfied. Walker had evidently said nothing about Bell; and +Henson, though he had just come from Littimer, knew nothing about Chris. + +"You have made a statement," she said, "and in reply I say nothing. You +have chosen to assume that my sister is still alive. Well, it is a free +country, and you are at liberty to think as you please. If we had +anything to gain by the course you suggest--" + +"Anything to gain!" Henson burst out angrily. + +"Everything to gain. One whom I deemed to be dead is free to follow me to +pry into my affairs, to rob me. That was part of Steel's precious scheme, +I presume. If you and your sister and Miss Gates hadn't talked so loudly +that day in the garden I might not--" + +"Have listened," said Enid, coldly. "Ears like a hare and head like a +cat. But you don't know everything, and you never will. You scoundrel, +you creeping, crawling scoundrel! If I only dared to speak. If I cared +less for the honour of this unhappy family--" + +"If you could only get the ring," said Henson, with a malicious +sneer. "But the ring is gone. The ruby ring lies at the bottom of the +North Sea." + +Some passionate, heedless words rose to Enid's lips, but she checked +them. All she could do now was to watch and wait till darkness. Van +Sneck must be got out of the way before anything else was done. She did +not dare to use the telephone yet, though she had made up her mind to +ask Steel to come over and take Van Sneck away. Later on she could send +the message. + +Van Sneck had eaten a fairly good meal, so Williams said, and had fallen +into a heavy sleep. There was nothing for it but to wait and watch. +Dinner came in due course, with Mrs. Henson, ragged and unkempt as usual, +taking no notice of Henson, who watched her furtively during the meal. +Enid escaped to her own room directly afterwards, and Henson followed his +hostess to the drawing-room. + +Once there his manner changed entirely. His lips grew firm, his eyes were +like points of steel. Mrs. Henson was pacing the dusty floor, muttering +and crooning to herself. Henson touched her arm, at the same time holding +some glittering object before her eyes. It was a massive ruby ring with +four black pearls on either side. + +"Look here," he whispered. "Do you recognise it? Have you seen it +before?" + +A pitiful, wailing cry came from Mrs. Henson's lips. She was trembling +from head to foot with a strange agitation. She gazed at the ring as a +thirsty man in a desert might have looked on a draught of cold spring +water. She stretched out her hand, but Henson drew back. + +"I thought you had not forgotten it," he smiled. "It means much to you, +honour, peace, happiness--your son restored to his proper place in the +world. Last time I was here I wanted money, a mere bagatelle to you. Now +I want L10,000." + +"No, no," Mrs. Henson cried. "You will ruin me--L10,000! What do you do +with all the money? You profess to give it all to charity. But I know +better. Much you give away that more may come back from it. But that +money you get from a credulous public. And I could expose you, ah, how I +could expose you, Reginald Henson." + +"Instead of which you will let me have that L10,000." + +"I cannot. You will ruin me. Have you not had enough? Give me the ring." + +Henson smilingly held the gem aloft. Mrs. Henson raised her arm, with the +dust rising in choking clouds around her. Then with an activity +astonishing in one of her years she sprang upon Henson and tore the ring +from his grasp. The thing was so totally unexpected from the usually +gentle lady that Henson could only gasp in astonishment. + +"I have it," Mrs. Henson cried. "I have it, and I am free!" + +Henson sprang towards her. With a quick, fleet step she crossed to the +window and fled out into the night. A raging madness seemed to have come +over her again; she laughed and she cried as she sped on into the bushes, +followed by Henson. In his fear and desperation the latter had quite +forgotten the dogs. He was in the midst of them, they were clustered +round himself and Mrs. Henson, before he was aware of the fact. + +"Give me the ring," he said. "You can't have it yet. Some day I will +restore it to you. Be sensible. If anybody should happen to see you." +Mrs. Henson merely laughed. The dogs were gambolling around her like so +many kittens. They did not seem to heed Henson in the joy of her +presence. He came on again, he made a grab for her dress, but the rotten +fabric parted like a cobweb in his hand. A warning grunt came from one of +the dogs, but Henson gave no heed. + +"Give it me," he hissed; "or I will tear it from you." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +HEARING THE TRUTH + + +David Steel stood contemplating the weird scene with almost doubting +eyes. In his wildest moments he had never imagined anything more dramatic +than this. The candle in its silver sconce that Mrs. Henson had snatched +up before her flight was perilously near her flimsy dress. Henson caught +her once more in a fierce grip. David could stand it no longer. As Henson +came by him his right arm flashed out, there was a dull thud, and Henson, +without having the least idea what had happened, fell to the ground, with +a very hazy idea of his surroundings for a moment or two. + +Equally unconscious that she had a protector handy, Mrs. Henson turned +and fled for the house. A minute later and she was followed by Henson, +still puzzling his racking head to know what had happened. David would +have followed, but the need for caution flashed upon him. If he stood +there perfectly still Henson would never know who his antagonist was. +David stood there waiting. As he glanced round he saw some little object +glittering near to his feet. It was the ruby ring! + +"Be you there, sir?" a rusty voice whispered close by. + +"I am, Williams," David replied; "I have been waiting for some time." + +Williams chuckled, making no kind of apology for his want of punctuality. + +"I've been looking after our man, sir," he said. "That Dutch chap what +Miss Enid said you'd come for. And I saw all that business in the +shrubbery just now. My! if I didn't feel good when you laid out Henson on +the grass. The sound of that smack was as good as ten years' wages for +me. And he's gone off to his room with a basin of vinegar and a ream of +brown paper. Why didn't you break his neck?" + +David suggested that the law took a prejudiced view of that kind of +thing, and that it would be a pity to hang anyone for such a creature as +Reginald Henson. + +"Our man is all right?" he asked. + +"As a trivet," said Williams. "Sleeping like a baby; he is in my own +bed over the stable. I'll show you into the harness-room, where Miss +Enid's waiting for you, sir, and then I'll go and see as Henson don't +come prowling about. Not as he's likely to, considering the clump on +the side of the head you gave him. I take it kind of Providence to let +me see that!" + +Williams hobbled away, chuckling to himself and followed by David. There +was a feeble oil-lamp in the harness-room. Enid was waiting there +anxiously. + +"So you have put Henson out of the way for a time," she said. "He passed +me just now using awful language, and wondering how it had all come +about. Wasn't it a strange thing that Van Sneck should come here?" + +"Not very," David said. "He is evidently looking for his master, +Reginald Henson. I have not the slightest doubt that he has been here +many times before. Williams says he is asleep. Pity to wake him just +yet, don't you think?" + +"Perhaps it is. But I am horribly afraid of our dear friend Reginald, all +the same." + +"Our dear Reginald will not trouble us just yet. He came down as far as +London with Bell. Of course he had heard the news of Van Sneck's flight. +Was he disturbed?" + +"I have never seen him in such a passion before, Mr. Steel. And not only +was he in a passion, but he was horribly afraid about something. And he +has made a discovery." + +"He hasn't found out that your sister--" + +"Is at Littimer Castle? That is really the most consoling part of the +business. He has been at Littimer for a day or two, and he has not the +remotest idea that Christabel Lee is our Chris." + +"A feather in your sister's cap. She has quite captivated Littimer, +Bell says." + +"And she played her part splendidly. Mr. Steel, it is very, very good to +know that Hatherly has cleared himself in the eyes of Lord Littimer at +last. Did Reginald suspect--" + +"Nothing," Steel said. "He is utterly and hopelessly puzzled over the +whole business. And Bell has managed to convince him that he is not +suspected at all. That business over the Rembrandt was really a brilliant +bit of comedy. But what has Henson found out?" + +"That Chris is not dead. He has seen Walker and the undertaker. But he +does not know yet that Dr. Bell was in the house that eventful night, +which is a blessing. As a matter of fact, Reginald has not been quite the +same man since Rollo nearly killed him that exciting evening. His nerves +seem to be greatly shaken." + +"That is because the rascal feels the net closing round him," Steel said. +"It was a fine stroke on your sister's part to win over that fellow +Merritt to her side. I supplied the details per telephone, but the plot +was really Miss Chris's. How on earth should we have managed without the +telephone over this business?" + +"I am at a loss to say," Enid smiled. "But tell me about that plot. I am +quite in the dark as to that side of the matter." + +David proceeded to explain his own and Chris's ingenious scheme for +getting Merritt into their power. Enid followed the story with vast +enjoyment, tempered with the fact that Henson was so near. + +"I should never have thought of that," she said; "but Chris was always so +clever. But tell me, what was Henson doing in the garden just now? +Williams says he was illtreating my aunt, but that seems hardly possible +even for Reginald." + +"It was over a ring that Mrs. Henson had," David explained. "She was +running away with it, and Henson was trying to get it back. You see--" + +"A ring!" Enid gasped. "Did you happen to see it? Oh, if it is only--. +But he would not be so silly as that. A ring is the cause of all the +trouble. _Did_ you see it?" + +"I not only saw it but I have it in my possession," David replied. + +Enid turned up the flaring little lamp with a shaking hand. Quite +unstrung, she held out her fingers for the ring. + +"It is just possible," she said, hoarsely, "that you possess the key of +the situation. If that ring is what I hope it is we can tumble Henson +into the dust to-morrow. We can drive him out of the country, and he will +never, never trouble us again. How did you get it?" + +"Mrs. Henson dropped it and I picked it up." + +"Please let me see it," Enid said, pleadingly. "Let me be put out of +my misery." + +David handed the ring over; Enid regarded it long and searchingly. With a +little sigh of regret she passed it back to David once more. + +"You had better keep it," she said. "At any rate, it is likely to be +valuable evidence for us later on. But it is not the ring I hoped to see. +It is a clever copy, but the black pearls are not so fine, and the +engraving inside is not so worn as it used to be on the original. It is +evidently a copy that Henson has had made to tease my aunt with, to offer +her at some future date in return for the large sums of money that she +gave him. No; the original of that ring is popularly supposed to be at +the bottom of the North Sea. If such had been the case--seeing that +Henson had never handled it before the Great Tragedy came--the original +must be in existence." + +"Why so?" David asked. + +"Because the ring must have been copied from it," Enid said. "It is a +very faithful copy indeed, and could not have been made from mere +directions--take the engraving inside, for instance. The engraving forms +the cipher of the house of Littimer, If Henson has the real ring, if we +can find it, the tragedy goes out of our lives for ever." + +"I should like to hear the story," said Steel. + +Enid paused and lowered the lamp as a step was heard outside. But it was +only Williams. + +"Mr. Henson is in his bedroom still," he said. "I've just taken him the +cigars. He's got a lump on his head as big as a billiard-ball. Thinks he +hit it against a branch. And my lady have locked herself in her room and +refused to see anybody." + +"Go and look at our patient," Enid commanded. + +Williams disappeared, to return presently with the information that Van +Sneck was still fast asleep and lying very peacefully. + +"Looks like waiting till morning, it do," he said. "And now I'll go back +and keep my eye on that 'ere distinguished philanthropist." + +Williams disappeared, and Enid turned up the lamp again. Her face was +pale and resolute. She motioned David towards a chair. + +"I'll tell you the story," she said. "I am going to confide in you the +saddest and strangest tale that ever appealed to an imaginative +novelist." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +ENID SPEAKS + + +"I am going to tell you the story of the great sorrow that has darkened +all our lives, but I shall have to go a long way back to do it," Enid +said. "I go back to the troublous day of Charles, as far back as the +disastrous fight at Naseby. Of course I am speaking more from a Royalist +point of view, for the Littimers were always followers of the Court. + +"Mind you, there is doubtless a deal that is legendary about what I am +going to tell you. But the ring given to my ancestor Rupert Littimer by +Prince Rupert himself is an actuality. + +"Naseby was over, and, so the legend goes, Prince Rupert found himself +desperately situated and in dire peril of capture by Cromwell's +troops, under one Colonel Carfax, a near neighbour of Rupert Littimer; +indeed, the Carfax estates still run parallel with the property round +Littimer Castle. + +"Now, Carfax was hated by all those who were attached to the fortunes of +the King. Seeing that he was of aristocratic birth, it was held that he +had violated his caste and creed by taking sides with the Roundheads. +History has told us that he was right, and that the Cavaliers, +picturesque as they were, were fighting a dubious cause. But I need not +go into that. Carfax was a hard, stern man who spared nobody, and many +were the stories told of his cruelty. + +"He and Rupert Littimer were especially at daggers drawn. I believe that +both of them had been in love with the same woman or something of that +kind. And the fact that she did not marry either made little difference +to the bitterness between them. + +"Well, Carfax was pressing close on Rupert, so close, indeed, that unless +some strategy were adopted the brilliant cavalry leader was in dire +peril. It was there that my ancestor, Rupert Littimer, came forward with +his scheme. He offered to disguise himself and go into the camp of Carfax +and take him prisoner. The idea was to steal into the tent of Carfax and, +by threatening him with his life, compel him to issue certain orders, the +result of which would be that Prince Rupert could get away. + +"'You will never come back again, friend,' the Prince said. + +"Rupert Littimer said he was prepared to run all risk of that. 'And if I +do die you shall tell my wife, sir,' he said. 'And when the child is +born, tell him that his father died as he should have done for his King +and for his country.'" + +"'Oh, there is a child coming?' Rupert asked. + +"Littimer replied that for aught he knew he was a father already. And +then he went his way into the camp of the foe with his curls cut short +and in the guise of a countryman who comes with valuable information. +And, what is more, he schemed his way into Carfax's tent, and at the +point of a dagger compelled him to write a certain order which my +ancestor's servant, who accompanied him, saw carried into effect, and so +the passage for Prince Rupert was made free." + +"The ruse would have succeeded all round but for some little accident +that I need not go into now. Rupert Littimer was laid by the heels, his +disguise was torn off, and he stood face to face with his hereditary foe. +He was told that he had but an hour to live." + +"'If you have any favour to ask, say it,' Carfax said. + +"'I have no favour to ask, properly so-called,' Littimer replied; 'but I +am loth to die without knowing whether or not I have left anybody to +succeed me--anybody who will avenge the crime upon you and yours in the +years to come. Let me go as far as Henson Grange, and I pledge you my +word I will return in the morning!' + +"But Carfax laughed the suggestion to scorn. The Court party were all +liars and perjurers, and their word was not to be taken. + +"'It is as I say,' Rupert Littimer repeated. 'My wife lies ill at Henson +Grange and in sore trouble about me. And I should like to see my child +before I die,' + +"'Then you shall have the chance,' Carfax sneered. 'I will keep you a +close prisoner here for two days, and if at the end of that time nothing +happens, you die. If, on the other hand, a child is born to you, then you +shall go from here a free man.' + +"And so the compact was made. Unfortunately or fortunately, as the case +may be, the story got abroad, and some indiscreet person carried the news +to Dame Littimer. Ill as she was, she insisted upon getting up and going +over to Carfax's camp at once. She had barely reached there before--well, +long ere Rupert Littimer's probation was over, he was the father of a +noble boy. They say that the Roundheads made a cradle for the child out +of a leather breastplate, and carried it in triumph round the camp. And +they held the furious Carfax to his word, and the story spread and spread +until it came to the ears of Prince Rupert. + +"Then he went to see Dame Littimer, and from his own hand he drew what +is known in our family as Prince Rupert's ring. He placed it on Dame +Littimer's hand, there to remain for a year and a day, and when the +year was up it was to be put aside for the bride of the heir of the +house for ever, to be worn by her till a year and a day had elapsed +after her first child was born. And that has been done for all time, my +aunt, Lady Littimer, being the last to wear it. After Frank was born it +was put carefully away for his bride. But the great tragedy came, and +until lately we fancied that the ring was lost to us for ever. There +is, in a few words, the story of Prince Rupert's ring. So far it is +quite common property" + +Enid ceased to speak for a time. But it was evident that she had +more to say. + +"An interesting story," David said. "And a pretty one to put into a book, +especially as it is quite true. But you have lost the ring, you say?" + +"I fancied so till to-night," Enid replied. "Indeed, I hardly knew what +to think. Sometimes I imagined that Reginald Henson had it, at other +times I imagined that it was utterly gone. But the mere fact that Henson +possesses a copy practically convinces me that he has the original. As I +said before, a true copy could not have been made from mere instructions. +And if I could only get the original our troubles are all over." + +"But I don't see how the ring has anything to do with--" + +"With the family dishonour. No, I am coming to that. We arrive at the +time, seven years ago, when my aunt and Lord Littimer and Frank were all +living happily at Littimer Castle. I told you just now that the Carfax +estates adjoin the Littimer property. The family is still extant and +powerful, but the feud between the two houses has never ceased. Of +course, people don't carry on a vendetta these peaceful days, but the +families have not visited for centuries. + +"There was a daughter Claire, whom Frank Littimer got to know by some +means or other. But for the silly family feud nobody would have noticed +or cared, and there would have been an end to the matter, because Frank +has always loved my sister Chris, and we all knew that he would marry her +some of these days. + +"Lord Littimer was furiously angry when he heard that Frank and Claire +had got on speaking terms. He imperiously forbade any further +intercourse, and General Carfax did the same. The consequence was that +these two foolish young people elected to fancy themselves greatly +aggrieved, and so a kind of Romeo and Juliet, Montague and Capulet, +business sprang up. There were secret meetings, meetings entirely +innocent, I believe, and a correspondence which became romantic and +passionate on Claire Carfax's side. The girl had fallen passionately in +love with Frank, whilst he regarded the thing as a mere pastime. He did +not know then, indeed nobody seemed to know till afterwards, that there +was insanity in the poor girl's family, though Hatherly Bell's friend, +Dr. Heritage, who then had a practice near Littimer, warned us as well as +he could. Nobody dreamt how far the thing had gone. + +"Then those letters of Claire's fell into Lord Littimer's hands. He found +them and locked them up in his safe. Frank, furious at being treated like +a boy, swore to break open the safe and get his letters back. He did so. +And in the same safe, and in the same drawer, was Prince Rupert's ring. +When Lord Littimer missed the letters he missed the ring also and a large +sum of money in notes that he had just received from his tenants. Frank +had stolen the ring and the money, or so it seemed. I shall not soon +forget that day. + +"After taking the letters Frank had gone straight to Moreton Wells, and +it looked for a little time as if he had fled. Within an hour of the +discovery of his loss Lord Littimer met Claire Carfax on the cliffs. She +was wearing Prince Rupert's ring. Frank had sent it to her, she said. +Anybody but a man in a furious passion would have seen that the girl was +not responsible for her actions. Littimer told her the true circumstances +of the case. She laughed at him in a queer, vacant way and fled through +the woods. She went down to the beach, where she took a boat and rowed +herself out into the bay. A mile or more from the shore she jumped into +the water, and from that day to this nothing further has been seen of +poor Claire Carfax." + +"Or the ring, either?" David asked. + +"Or the ring either. The same night Lady Littimer started after her boy. +Littimer was going to have Frank prosecuted. Lady Littimer fled to +Longdean Grange, where Frank joined her. Then my uncle turned up, and +there was a scene. It is said that Lord Littimer struck his wife, but +Frank says that she fell against his gesticulating fist. Anyway, it was +the same as a blow, and Lady Littimer dropped on the floor, dragging a +table down with her, flowers and china and all. You have seen that table +in Longdean Granges Since then it has never been touched, the place has +never been swept or dusted or garnished. You have seen my aunt, and you +know what the shock has done for her--the shock and the steady +persecutions of Reginald Henson." + +"Who seems to be at the bottom of the whole trouble," said David. "But do +you think that was the real ring on the poor girl's finger?" + +"I don't. I fancy Henson had a copy made for emergencies. It was he who +sent the copy to Claire, and it was the copy that Littimer saw on her +hand. You see, directly Frank broke open that safe, Henson, who was at +the castle at the time, saw his opportunity--he could easily scheme some +way of making use of it. If that plot against Frank had failed he would +have invented another. And the unexpected suicide of Claire Carfax played +into his hands. Henson has that ring somewhere, and it will be our task +to find it." + +"And when we have done so?" + +"Give it to Lord Littimer and tell him where we found it. And then we +shall be rid of one of the most pestilential rascals the world has ever +seen. When you get back to Brighton I want you to tell this story to +Hatherly Bell." + +"I will," David replied. "What a weird, fascinating story it is! And the +sooner I am back the better I shall be pleased. I wonder if our man is +awake yet. If you will excuse me, I will go up and see. Ah!" + +There was the sound of somebody moving overhead. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +ON THE TRAIL + + +At the same moment Williams came softly in. There was a grin of +satisfaction on his face. + +"The brute is fast asleep," he said. "I've just been in his room. He left +the lamp burning, and there is a lump on the side of his head as big as +an ostrich egg. But he didn't mean to go to sleep; he hasn't taken any of +his clothes off. On the whole, sir, wouldn't it be better for you to wake +our man up and get him away?" + +David was of the same opinion. Van Sneck was lying on the bed looking +vacantly about him. He seemed older and more worn, perhaps, because his +beard and moustache were growing ragged and dirty on his face. He pressed +his hand to his head in a confused kind of way. + +"I tell you I can't find it," he said; "the thing slipped out of my +hand--a small thing like that easily might. What's the good of making a +fuss about a ring not worth L20? Search my pockets if you like. What a +murderous-looking dog you are when you're out of temper!" + +All this in a vague, rambling way, in a slightly foreign accent. David +touched him on the shoulder. + +"Won't you come back with me to Brighton?" he said. + +"Certainly," was the ready response; "you look a good sort of chap. I'll +go anywhere you please. Not that I've got a penny of money left. What a +spree it has been. Who are you?" + +"My name is Steel. I am David Steel, the novelist." + +A peculiarly cunning look came over Van Sneck's face. + +"I got your letter," he said. "And I came. It was after I had had that +row with Henson. Henson is a bigger scoundrel than I am, though you may +not think it." + +"I accept your statement implicitly," David said, drily. + +"Well, he is. And I got your letter. And I called.... And you nearly +killed me. And I dropped it down in the corner of the conservatory." + +"Dropped what?" David asked, sharply. + +"Nothing," said Van Sneck. "What do you mean by talking about dropping +things. I never dropped anything in my life. I make others do that, eh, +eh! But I can't remember anything. It just comes back to me, and then +there is a wheel goes round in my head.... Who are you?" + +David gave up the matter as hopeless. This was emphatically a case +for Bell. Once let him get Van Sneck back to Brighton and Bell could +do the rest. + +"We'd better go," he said to Enid. "We are merely wasting time here." + +"I suppose so," Enid said, thoughtfully. "All the same, I should greatly +like to know what it is that our friend Van Sneck dropped." + +It was a long and tedious journey back to Brighton again, for the patient +seemed to tire easily, and he evinced a marked predilection for sitting +by the roadside and singing. It was very late before David reached his +house. Bell beamed his satisfaction. Van Sneck, with a half-gleam of +recognition of his surroundings, and with a statement that he had been +there before, lapsed into silence. Bell produced a small phial in a +chemist's wrapper and poured the contents into a glass. With a curt +command to drink he passed the glass over to Van Sneck. + +The latter drank the small dose, and Bell carried him more or less to a +ground-floor bedroom behind the dining-room. There he speedily undressed +his patient and got him into bed. Van Sneck was practically fast asleep +before his head had touched the pillow. + +"I went out and got that dose with a view to eventualities," Bell +explained. "I know pretty well what is the matter with Van Sneck, and I +propose to operate upon him, with the help of Heritage. I've put him in +my bed and locked the door. I shall sleep in the big armchair." + +David flung himself into a big deck lounge and lighted a cigarette. + +"My word, that has been a bit of a business," he said. "Pour me out a +little whisky in one of the long glasses and fill it up with soda.... +Oh, that's better. I never felt so thirsty in my life. I got Van Sneck +away without Henson having the slightest suspicion that he was there, +and I had the satisfaction of giving Henson a smashing blow without his +seeing me." + +"Sounds like conjuring," Bell said, behind his cigar. "Explain yourself." + +David went carefully into details. He told the story of Prince Rupert's +ring to a listener who followed him with the most flattering attention. + +"Of course, all this is new to me," Bell said, presently, "though I knew +the family well up to that time. Depend upon it, Enid is right. Henson +has got the ring. But how fortunately everything seems to have turned out +for the scoundrel." + +"If a man likes to be an unscrupulous blackguard he can make use of all +events," David said. "But even Henson is not quite so clever as we take +him to be. He has found out the trick we played upon him over Chris +Henson, but he hasn't the faintest idea that all this time he has been +living under the same roof at Littimer." + +"The girl is a wonderful actress," Bell replied. "I only guessed who she +was. If I hadn't known as much as I do she would have deceived me. But +Henson has shot his bolt. After we have operated upon Van Sneck we shall +be pretty near the truth. It is a great pull to have him in the house." + +"And a nasty thing for Henson--" + +"Who will find out before to-morrow is over. I feel pretty sure that this +house is watched carefully. Any firm of private detectives would do that, +and they need be told nothing either. I know that I was followed when I +went to the chemist's to fetch that dose for our friend yonder. Still, it +is a sign that Henson is getting frightened." + +"Why do you bring Heritage into this matter?" David asked. + +"Well, for a variety of reasons. First of all, Heritage is an old +friend of mine, and I take a great interest in his case. I am going to +give him a chance to recover his lost confidence, and he is a splendid +operator. Besides, I want to know why Henson has gone out of his way to +be so kind to Heritage. And, finally, Heritage was the family doctor of +the Carfax people you just mentioned before he went to practise in +London. Let me once get Heritage round again, and I shall be greatly +disappointed if he does not give us a good deal of valuable information +regarding Reginald Henson." + +"And Cross. What about him?" + +"Oh, Cross will do as I ask him. Without egotism, he knows that the case +is perfectly safe in my hands. And if we care to look after Van Sneck, +why, there will be one the less burden in the hospital. What a funny +business it is! Van Sneck gets nearly done to death under this roof, and +he comes back here to be cured again." + +David yawned sleepily as he rose. + +"Well, I've had enough of it for to-night," he said. "I'm dog-tried, and +I must confess to feeling sick of the Hensons and Littimers, and all +their works." + +"Including their friend, Miss Ruth Gates?" Bell said, slily. "Still, they +have made pretty good use of you, and I expect you will be glad to get +back to your work again. At the same time, you need not trouble your head +for plots for many a day." + +David admitted that the situation had its compensations, and went off to +bed. Bell met him the next day as fresh as if he had had a full night's +rest, and vouchsafed the information that the patient was as well as +possible. He was cold and no longer feverish. + +"In fact, he is ready for the operation at any time," he said. "I shall +get Heritage here to dinner, and we shall operate afterwards with +electric light. It will be a good steadier for Heritage's nerves, and +the electric light is the best light of all for this business. If you +have got a few yards of spare flex from your reading-lamp I'll rig the +thing up without troubling your electrician. I can attach it to your +study lamp." + +"I've got what you want," David said. "Now come in to breakfast." + +There was a pile of letters on the table, and on the top a telegram. It +was a long message, and Bell watched Steel's face curiously. + +"From Littimer Castle," he suggested. "Am I right?" + +"As usual," David cried. "My little scheme over that diamond star has +worked magnificently. Miss Chris tells me that she has--by Jove, Bell, +just listen--she has solved the problem of the cigar-case; she has found +out the whole thing. She wants me to meet her in London to-morrow, when +she will tell me everything." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +LITTIMER'S EYES ARE OPENED + + +Lord Littimer sat on the terrace, shaded from the sun by an awning over +his deck-chair. From his expression he seemed to be at peace with all the +world. His brown, eager face had lost its usually keen, suspicious look; +he smoked a cigarette lazily. Chris sat opposite him looking as little +like a hard-working secretary as possible. + +As a matter of fact, there was nothing for her to do. Littimer had +already tired of his lady secretary idea, and had Chris not +interested and amused him he would have found some means to get rid +of her before now. + +But she did interest and amuse and puzzle him. There was something +charmingly reminiscent about the girl. She was like somebody he had once +known and cared for, but for the life of him he could not think who. And +when curiosity sometimes got the better of good breeding Chris would +baffle him in the most engaging manner. + +"Really, you are an exceedingly clever girl," he said. + +"In fact, we are both exceedingly clever," Chris replied, coolly. "And +yet nobody is ever quite so clever as he imagines himself to be. Do you +ever make bad mistakes, Lord Littimer?" + +"Sometimes," Littimer said, with a touch of cynical humour. "For +instance, I married some years ago. That was bad. Then I had a son, which +was worse." + +"At one time you were fond of your family?" + +"Well, upon my word, you are the only creature I ever met who has had the +audacity to ask me that question. Yes, I was very fond of my wife and my +son, and, God help me, I am fond of them still. I don't know why I talk +to you like this." + +"I do," Chris said, gently. "It is because unconsciously you yearn for +sympathy. And you fancy you are in no way to blame; you imagine that you +acted in the only way consistent with your position and dignity. You +fancied that your son was a vulgar thief. And I am under the impression +that Lady Littimer had money." + +"She had a large fortune," Littimer said, faintly. "Miss Lee, do you know +that I have a great mind to box your ears?" + +Chris laughed unsteadily. She was horribly frightened, though she did not +show it. She had been waiting for days to catch Littimer in this mood. +And she did not feel disposed to go back now. The task must be +accomplished some time. + +"Lady Littimer was very rich," she went on, "and she was devoted to +Frank, your son. Now, if he had wanted a large sum of money very badly, +and had gone to his mother, she would have given it to him without the +slightest hesitation?" + +"What fond mother wouldn't?" + +"I am obliged to you for conceding the point. Your son wanted money. +and he robbed you when he could have had anything for the asking from +his mother." + +"Sounds logical," Littimer said, flippantly. "Who had the money?" + +"The same man who stole Prince Rupert's ring--Reginald Henson." + +Littimer dropped his cigarette and sat upright in his chair. He was keen +and alert enough now. There were traces of agitation on his face. + +"That is a serious accusation," he said. + +"Not more serious than your accusation against your son," Chris retorted. + +"Well, perhaps not," Littimer admitted. "But why do you take up +Frank's cause in this way? Is there any romance budding under my +unconscious eyes?" + +"Now you are talking nonsense," Chris said, with just a touch of colour +in her cheeks. "I say, and I am going to prove when the time comes, that +Reginald Henson was the thief. I am sorry to pain you, but it is +absolutely necessary to go into these matters. When those foolish +letters, written by a foolish girl, fell into your hands, your son vowed +that he would get them back, by force if necessary. He made that rash +speech in hearing of Reginald Henson. Henson probably lurked about until +he saw the robbery committed. Then it occurred to him that he might do a +little robbery on his own account, seeing that your son would get the +credit of it. The safe was open, and so he walked off with your ring and +your money." + +"My dear young lady, this is all mere surmise." + +"So you imagine. At that time Reginald Henson had a kind of home which he +was running at 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton. Lady Littimer had just +relinquished a similar undertaking there. Previously Reginald Henson had +a home at Huddersfield. Mind you, he didn't run either in his own name, +and he kept studiously in the background. But he was desperately hard up +at the time in consequence of his dissipation and extravagance, and the +money he collected for his home went into his own pocket. Then the police +got wind of the matter, and Reginald Henson discreetly disappeared from +Brighton just in time to save himself from arrest for frauds there and at +Huddersfield. A member of the Huddersfield police is in a high position +at Brighton. He has recognised Reginald Henson as the man who was +'wanted' at Huddersfield. I don't know if there will be a prosecution +after all these years, but there you are." + +"You are speaking from authority?" + +"Certainly I am. Reginald Henson, as such, is not known to Inspector +Marley, but I sent the latter a photograph of Henson, and he returned it +this morning with a letter to the effect that it was the man the +Huddersfield police were looking for." + +"What an interesting girl you are," Littimer murmured. "Always so +full of surprises. Our dear Reginald is even a greater rascal than I +took him for." + +"Well, he took your money, and that saved him. He took your ring, a +facsimile of which he had made before for some ingenious purpose. It came +with a vengeance. Then Claire Carfax committed suicide, thanks to your +indiscretion and folly." + +"Go on. Rub it in. Never mind about my feelings." + +"I'm not minding," Chris said, coolly. "Henson saw his game and played it +boldly. I could not have told you all this yesterday, but a letter I had +this morning cleared the ground wonderfully. Henson wanted to cause +family differences, and he succeeded. Previously he got Dr. Bell out of +the way by means of the second Rembrandt. You can't deny there is a +second Rembrandt now, seeing that it is locked up in your safe. And where +do you think Bell found it? Why, at 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton, +where Henson had to leave it seven years ago when the police were so hot +upon his trail. He was fearful lest you and Bell should come together +again, and that is why he came here at night to steal your Rembrandt. And +yet you trusted that man blindly all the time your own son was suffering +on mere suspicions. How blind you have been!" + +"I'm blind still," Littimer said, curtly. "My dear young lady, I admit +that you are making out a pretty strong case; indeed, I might go farther, +and say that you have all my sympathy. But what you say would not be +taken as evidence in a court of law. If you produce that ring, for +instance--but that is at the bottom of the North Sea." + +Chris took a small cardboard box from her pocket, and from thence +produced a ring. It was a ruby ring with black pearls on either side, and +had some inscription inside. + +"Look at that," she said. "It was sent to me to-day by my--by a friend of +mine. It is the ring which Reginald Henson shows to Lady Littimer when he +wants money from her. It was lost by Henson a night or two ago, and it +fell into the hands of someone who is interested, like myself, in the +exposure and disgrace of Reginald Henson." + +Littimer examined the ring carefully. + +"It is a wonderfully good imitation," he said, presently. + +"So I am told," said Chris. "So good that it must have actually been +copied from the original. Now, how could Henson have had a copy made +unless he possessed the original? Will you be good enough to answer me +that question, Lord Littimer?" + +Littimer could do no more than gaze at the ring in his hand for +some time. + +"I could have sworn--indeed, I am ready to swear--that the real ring was +never in anybody's possession but mine from the day that Frank was a year +old till it disappeared. Of course, scores of people had looked at it, +Henson amongst the rest. But how did Claire Carfax--" + +"Easily enough. Henson had a first copy made from a description. I don't +know why; probably we shall never know why. Probably he had it done when +he knew that your son and Miss Carfax had struck up a flirtation. It was +he who forged a letter from Frank to Miss Carfax, enclosing the ring. By +that means he hoped to create mischief which, if it had been nipped in +the bud, could never have been traced to him. As matters turned out he +succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. He had got the real ring, too, +which was likely to prove a very useful thing in case he ever wanted to +make terms. A second and a faithful copy was made--the copy you hold in +your hands--to hold temptingly over Lady Littimer's head when he wanted +large sums of money from her." + +"The scoundrel! He gets the money, of course?" + +"He does. To my certain knowledge he has had nearly L70,000. But the case +is in good hands. You have only to wait a few days longer and the man +will be exposed. Already, as you see, I have wound his accomplice, the +Reverend James Merritt, round my finger. Of course, the idea of getting +up a bazaar has all been nonsense. I am only waiting for a little further +information, and then Merritt will feel the iron hand under the velvet +glove. Unless I am greatly mistaken, Merritt can tell us where Prince +Rupert's ring is. Already Van Sneck is in our grasp." + +"Van Sneck! Is he in England?" + +"He is. Did you read that strange case of a man being found half murdered +in the conservatory of Mr. Steel, the novelist, in Brighton? Well, that +was Van Sneck. But I can't tell you any more at present. You must wait +and be content." + +"Tell me one thing, and I will wait as long as you like. Who are you?" + +Chris shook her head, merrily. A great relief had been taken off her +mind. She had approached a delicate and difficult matter, and she had +succeeded beyond her expectations. That she had shaken the man opposite +her sorely was evident from his face. The hardness had gone from his +eyes, his lips were no longer bitter and cynical. + +"I may have been guilty of a great wrong," he murmured. "All these years +I may have been living under a misapprehension. And you have told me what +I should never have suspected, although I have never had a high opinion +of my dear Reginald. Where is my wife now?" + +"She is still at Longdean Grange. You will notice a great change in her, +a great and sorrowful change. But it is not too late to--" + +Littimer rose and went swiftly towards the house. At any other time the +action would have been rude, but Chris fully understood. She had +touched the man to the bottom of his soul, and he was anxious to hide +his emotion. + +"Poor man," Chris murmured. "His hard cynicism conceals a deal of +suffering. But the suffering is past; we have only to wait patiently for +daylight now." + +Chris rose restlessly in her turn and strolled along the terrace to her +favourite spot looking over the cliffs. There was nobody about; it was +very hot there. The girl removed her glasses and pushed back the banded +hair from her forehead. She had drawn a photograph from her pocket which +she was regarding intently. She was quite heedless of the fact that +somebody was coming along the cliffs towards her. She raised the +photograph to her lips and kissed it tenderly. + +"Poor Frank," she murmured. "Poor fellow, so weak and amiable. And yet +with all your faults--" + +Chris paused, and a little cry escaped her lips. Frank Littimer, looking +very wild and haggard, stood before her. + +"I beg your pardon," he began. "I came to see you because--" + +The words died away. He staggered back, pale as the foam beating on the +rocks below, his hand clutching at his left side as if there was some +mortal pain there. + +"Chris," he murmured. "Chris, Chris, Chris! And they told me--" + +He could say no more, he could only stand there trembling from head to +foot, fearful lest his mocking senses were making sport of him. Surely, +it was some beautiful vision he had come upon. With one unsteady hand he +touched the girl's sleeve; he pressed her warm red cheeks with his +fingers, and with that touch his manhood came back to him. + +"Darling," he whispered, eagerly. "Dearest, what does it mean?" + +Chris stood there, smiling rosily. She had not meant to betray herself; +fate had done that for her, and she was not sorry. It was a cruel trick +they had played upon Frank, but it had been necessary. Chris held out her +hand with a loving little gesture. + +"Are you not going to kiss me, dear?" she asked, sweetly. + +Frank Littimer needed no further invitation. It was quiet and secluded +there, and nobody could possibly see them. With a little sigh Chris felt +her lover's arms about her and his kisses warm on her lips. The clever, +brilliant girl had disappeared; a pretty, timid creature stood in her +place for the time. For the moment Frank Littimer could do no more than +gaze into her eyes with rapture and amazement. There was plenty of time +for explanations. + +"Let us go into the arbour," Frank suggested. "No, I am not going to +release your hand for a moment. If I do you will fly away again. Chris, +dear Chris, why did you serve me so?" + +"It was absolutely necessary," Chris replied. "It was necessary to +deceive Reginald Henson. But it was hard work the other night." + +"You mean when I came here and--" + +"Tried to steal the Rembrandt. Oh, you needn't explain. I know that you +had to come. And we have Henson in our power at last." + +"I am afraid that is too good to be true. But tell me everything from the +beginning. I am as dazed and confused as a tired man roused out of a +sound sleep." + +Chris proceeded to explain from the beginning of all things. It was an +exceedingly interesting and exciting narrative to Frank Littimer, and he +followed it carefully. He would have remained there all day listening to +the music of Chris's voice and looking into her eyes. He had come there +miserable and downcast to ask a question, and behold he had suddenly +found all the joy and sweetness of existence. + +"And so you have accomplished all this?" he said, at length. "What a +glorious adventure it must have been, and how clever you are! So is Mr. +David Steel. Many a time I have tried to break through the shackles, but +Reginald has always been too strong for me." + +"Well, he's shot his bolt, now," Chris smiled. "I have just been opening +your father's eyes." + +Frank laughed as he had not laughed for a long time. + +"Do you mean to say he doesn't know who you are?" he asked. + +"My dear boy, he hasn't the faintest idea. Neither had you the faintest +idea when I made you a prisoner the other night. But he will know soon." + +"God grant that he may," Frank said, fervently. + +He bent over and pressed his lips passionately to those of Chris. When he +looked up again Lord Littimer was standing before the arbour, wearing his +most cynical expression. + +"He does know," he said. "My dear young lady, you need not move. The +expression of sweet confusion on your face is infinitely pleasing. I did +not imagine that one so perfectly self-possessed could look like that. It +gives me quite a nice sense of superiority. And you, sir?" + +The last words were uttered a little sternly. Frank had risen. His face +was pale, his manner resolute and respectful. + +"I came here to ask Miss Lee a question, sir, not knowing, of course, +who she was." + +"And she betrayed herself, eh?" + +"I am sorry if I have done so," Chris said, "but I should not have done +so unless I had been taken by surprise. It was so hot that I had taken +off my glasses and put my hair up. Then Frank came up and surprised me." + +"You have grown an exceedingly pretty girl, Chris," Littimer said, +critically. "Of course, I recognise you now. You are nicer-looking than +Miss Lee." + +Chris put on her glasses and rolled her hair down resolutely. + +"You will be good enough to understand that I am going to continue Miss +Lee for the present," she said. "My task is a long way from being +finished yet. Lord Littimer, you are not going to send Frank away?" + +Littimer looked undecided. + +"I don't know," he said. "Frank, I have heard a great deal to-day to +cause me to think that I might have done you a grave injustice. And yet I +am not sure.... In any case, it would be bad policy for you to remain +here. If the news came to the ears of Reginald Henson it might upset Miss +Machiavelli's plans." + +"That had not occurred to me for the moment," Chris exclaimed. "On the +whole, Frank had better not stay. But I should dearly like to see you two +shake hands." + +Frank Littimer made an involuntary gesture, and then he drew back. + +"I'd--I'd rather not," he said. "At least, not until my character has +been fully vindicated. Heaven knows I have suffered enough for a boyish +indiscretion,'' + +"And you have youth on your side," Littimer said gravely. "Whereas I--" + +"I know, I know. It has been terrible all round. I took those letters +of poor Claire's away because they were sacred property, and for no eye +but mine--" + +"No eye but yours saw them. I was going to send them back again. I +wish I had." + +"Aye, so do I. I took them and destroyed them. But I take Heaven to +witness that I touched nothing else besides. If it was the last word I +ever uttered--what is that fellow doing here in that garb? It is one of +Henson's most disreputable tools." + +Merritt was coming across the terrace. He paused suspiciously as he +caught sight of Frank, but Chris, with a friendly wave of her hand, +encouraged him to come on. + +"It is all part of the game," she said. "I sent for our friend Merritt, +but when I did so I had no idea that Frank would be present. Since you +are here you might just as well stay and hear a little more of the +strange doings of Reginald Henson. The time has come to let Merritt know +that I am not the clever lady burglar he takes me for." + +Merritt came up doggedly. Evidently the presence of Frank Littimer +disturbed him. Chris motioned him to a seat, quite gaily. + +"You are very punctual," she said. "I told you I wanted you to give Lord +Littimer and myself a little advice and assistance. In the first place we +want to know where that gun-metal diamond-mounted cigar-case, at present +for sale in Rutter's window, came from. We want to know how it got there +and who sold it to Rutter's people. Also we want to know why Van Sneck +purchased a similar cigar-case from Walen's, of Brighton." + +Merritt's heavy jaw dropped, his face turned a dull yellow. He looked +round helplessly for some means of escape, and then relinquished the idea +with a sigh. + +"Done," he said. "Clear done. And by a woman, too! A smart woman, I +admit, but a woman all the same. And yet why didn't you--" + +Merritt paused, lost in the contemplation of a problem beyond his +intellectual strength. + +"You have nothing to fear," Chris said, with a smile. "Tell us all +you know and conceal nothing, and you will be free when we have done +with you." + +Merritt wiped his dry lips with the back of his hand. + +"I come peaceable," he said, hoarsely. "And I'm going to tell you all +about it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE TRACK BROADENS + + +There was an uneasy grin on Merrill's face, a suggestion that he did not +altogether trust those around him. Hard experience in the ways of the +wicked had taught him the folly of putting his confidence in anyone. Just +for the moment the impulse to shuffle was upon him. + +"If I say nothing, then I can't do any harm," he remarked, sapiently. +"Best, on the whole, for me to keep my tongue between my teeth." + +"Mr. Henson is a dangerous man to cross," Chris suggested. + +"He is that," Merritt agreed. "You don't know him as I do." + +Chris conceded the point, though she had her own views on that +matter. Lord Littimer had seated himself on the broad stone bench +along the terrace, whence he was watching the scene with the greatest +zest and interest. + +"You imagine Mr. Henson to be a friend of yours?" Chris asked. + +Merritt nodded and grinned. So long as he was useful to Henson he was +fairly safe. + +"Mr. Merritt," Chris asked, suddenly, "have you ever heard of +Reuben Taylor?" + +The effect of the question was electrical. Merritt's square jaw dropped +with a click, there was fear in the furtive eyes that he cast around him. + +"I read about Reuben Taylor in one of our very smart papers lately," +Chris went on. "It appears that Mr. Taylor is a person who nobody seems +to have seen, but who from time to time does a vast service to the +community at large. He is not exactly a philanthropist, for he is well +rewarded for his labours both by the police and his clients. Suppose Mr. +Merritt here had done some wrong." + +"A great effort of imagination," Littimer murmured, gently. + +"Had done something wrong, and an enemy or quondam friend wants to 'put +him away.' I believe that is the correct expression. In that case he does +not go to the police himself, because he is usually of a modest and +retiring disposition. No, he usually puts down a few particulars in the +way of a letter and sends it to Reuben Taylor under cover at a certain +address. Is not that quite correct, Mr. Merritt?" + +"Right," Merritt said, hoarsely. "Some day we shall find out who Taylor +is, and--" + +"Never mind that. Do you know that the night before your friend Mr. +Henson left the Castle he placed in the post-bag a letter addressed to +Mr. Reuben Taylor? In view of what I read recently in the paper alluded +to the name struck me as strange. Now, Mr. Merritt, is it possible that +letter had anything to do with you?" + +Merritt did not appear to hear the question. His eyes were fixed on +space; there was a sanguine clenching of his fists as if they had been +about the throat of a foe. + +"If I had him here," he murmured. "If I only had him here! He's given me +away. After all that I have done for him he's given me away." + +His listeners said nothing; they fully appreciated the situation. +Merritt's presence at the Castle was both dangerous and hazardous +for Henson. + +"If you went away to-day you might be safe?" Chris suggested. + +"Aye, I might," Merritt said, with a cunning grin in his eyes. "If I had +a hundred pounds." + +Chris glanced significantly at Littimer, who nodded and took up +the parable. + +"You shall have the money," he said. "And you shall go as soon as you +have answered Miss Lee's questions." + +Merritt proclaimed himself eager to say anything. But Merritt's +information proved to be a great deal less than she had anticipated. + +"I stole that picture," Merritt confessed. "I was brought down here on +purpose. Henson sent to London and said he had a job for me. It was to +get the picture from Dr. Bell. I didn't ask any questions, but set to +work at once." + +"Did you know what the picture was?" Chris asked. + +"Bless you, yes; it was a Rembrandt engraving. Why, it was I who in the +first place stole the first Rembrandt from his lordship yonder, in +Amsterdam. I got into his lordship's sitting-room by climbing down a +spout, and I took the picture." + +"But the other belonged to Van Sneck," said Chris. + +"It did; and Van Sneck had to leave Amsterdam hurriedly, being wanted +by the police. Henson told me that Van Sneck had a second copy of 'The +Crimson Blind,' and I had to burgle that as well; and I had to get +into Dr. Bell's room and put the second copy in his portmanteau. Why? +Ask somebody wiser than me. It was all some deep game of Henson's, +only you may be pretty sure he didn't tell _me_ what the game was. I +got my money and returned to London, and till pretty recently I saw no +more of Henson." + +"But you came into the game again," said Littimer. + +"Quite lately, your lordship. I went down to Brighton. I was told as Bell +had got hold of the second Rembrandt owing to Henson's carelessness, and +that he was pretty certain to bring it here. He did bring it here, and I +tried to stop him on the way, and he half killed me." + +"Those half measures are so unsatisfactory," Littimer smiled. + +Merritt grinned. He fully appreciated the humour of the remark. + +"That attack and the way it was brought about were suggested by Henson," +he went on. "If it failed, I was to come up to the Castle here without +delay and tell Henson so. I came, and he covered my movements whilst I +pinched the picture. I had been told that the thing was fastened to the +wall, but a pair of steel pliers made no odds to that. I took the picture +home, and two days later it vanished. And that's all I know about it." + +"Lame and impotent conclusion!" said Littimer. + +"Wait a moment," Chris cried. "You found the diamond star which +you pawned--" + +"At your request, miss. Don't go for to say as you've forgotten that." + +"I have forgotten nothing," Chris said, with a smile. "I want to know +about the cigar-case." + +Merritt looked blankly at the speaker. Evidently this was strange +ground to him. + +"I don't know anything about that," he said. "What sort of a cigar-case?" + +"Gun-metal set with diamonds. The same case or a similar one to that +purchased by Van Sneck from Walen's in Brighton. Come, rack your brains a +bit. Did you ever see anything of Van Sneck about the time of his +accident? You know where he is?" + +"Yes. He's in the County Hospital at Brighton, He was found in Mr. +Steel's house nearly dead. It's coming back to me now. A gun-metal +cigar-case set in diamonds. That would be a dull thing with sparkling +stones all over it. Of course! Why, I saw it in Van Sneck's hands the day +he was assaulted. I recollect asking him where he got it from, and he +said that it was a present from Henson. He was going off to meet Henson +then by the corner of Brunswick Square." + +"Did you see Van Sneck again that day?" + +"Later on in the afternoon. We went into the Continental together. Van +Sneck had been drinking." + +"You did not see the cigar-case again?" + +"No. Van Sneck gave me a cigar which he took from the common sort of case +that they give away with seven cigars for a shilling. I asked him if he +had seen Henson, and he said that he had. He seemed pretty full up +against Henson, and said something about the latter having played him a +scurvy trick and he didn't like it, and that he'd be even yet. I didn't +take any notice of that, because it was no new thing for Henson to play +it low down on his pals." + +"Did anything else happen at that interview?" Chris asked, anxiously. +"Think! The most trivial thing to you would perhaps be of the greatest +importance to us." + +Merritt knitted his brows thoughtfully. + +"We had a rambling kind of talk," he said. "It was mostly Van Sneck who +talked. I left him at last because he got sulky over my refusal to take a +letter for him to Kemp Town." + +"Indeed! Do you recollect where that letter was addressed to?" + +"Well, of course I've forgotten the address; but it was to some writing +man--Stone, or Flint, or--" + +"Steel, perhaps?" + +"That's the name! David Steel, Esq. Van Sneck wanted me to take that +letter, saying as it would put a spoke in Reginald Henson's wheel, but I +didn't see it. A boy took the letter at last." + +"Did you see an answer come back?" + +"Yes, some hour or so later. Van Sneck seemed to be greatly pleased with +it. He said he was going to make an evening call late that night that +would cook Henson's goose. And he was what you call gassy about +it: said he had told Henson plump and plain what he was going to do, and + that he was not afraid of Henson or any man breathing." + +Chris asked no further questions for the moment. The track was getting +clearer. She had, of course, heard by this time of the letter presumedly +written by David Steel to the injured man Van Sneck, which had been found +in his pocket by Dr. Cross. The latter had been written most assuredly in +reply to the note Merritt had just alluded to, but certainly not written +by David Steel. Who, then, seeing that it was Steel's private note-paper? +The more Chris thought over this the more she was puzzled. Henson could +have told her, of course, but nobody else. + +Doubtless, Henson had started on his present campaign with a dozen +different schemes. Probably one of them called for a supply of Steel's +note-paper. Somebody unknown had procured the paper, as David Steel had +testimony in the form of his last quarter's account. The lad engaged by +Van Sneck to carry the letter from the Continental to 15, Downend +Terrace, must have been intercepted by Henson or somebody in Henson's pay +and given the forged reply, a reply that actually brought Van Sneck to +Steel's house on the night of the great adventure. Henson had been warned +by the somewhat intoxicated Van Sneck what he was going to do, and he had +prepared accordingly. + +A sudden light came to Chris. Henson had found out part of their scheme. +He knew that David Steel would be probably away from home on the night in +question. In that case, having made certain of this, and having gained a +pretty good knowledge of Steel's household habits, what easier than to +enter Steel's house in his absence, wait for Van Sneck, and murder him +then and there? + +It was not a pretty thought, and Chris recoiled from it. + +"How could Van Sneck have got into Steel's house?" she asked. "I know for +a fact that Mr. Steel was not at home, and that he closed the door +carefully behind him when he left the house that night." + +Merritt grinned at the simplicity of the question. It was not worthy of +the brilliant lady who had so far got the better of him. + +"Latch-keys are very much alike," he said. "Give me three latch-keys, and +I'll open ninety doors out of a hundred. Give me six latch-keys of +various patterns, and I'll guarantee to open the other ten." + +"I had not thought of that," Chris admitted. "Did Van Sneck happen by any +chance to tell you what he and Mr. Henson had been quarrelling about?" + +"He was too excited to tell anything properly. He was jabbering something +about a ring all the time." + +"What sort of a ring?" + +"That I can't tell you, miss. I fancy it was a ring that Van Sneck +had made." + +"Made! Is Van Sneck a working jeweller or anything of that kind?" + +"He's one of the cleverest fellows with his fingers that you ever saw. +Give him a bit of old gold and a few stones and he'll make you a bracelet +that will pass for antique. Half the so-called antiques picked up on the +Continent have been faked by Van Sneck. There was that ring, for +instance, that Henson had, supposed to be the property of some swell he +called Prince Rupert. Why, Van Sneck copied it for him in a couple of +days, till you couldn't tell t'other from which." + +Chris choked the cry that rose to her lips. She glanced at Littimer, who +had dropped his glass, and was regarding Merritt with a kind of frozen, +pallid curiosity. Chris signalled Littimer to speak. She had no words of +her own for the present. + +"How long ago was that?" Littimer asked, hoarsely. + +"About seven years, speaking from memory. There were two copies made--one +from description. The other was much more faithful. Perhaps there were +three copies, but I forget now. Van Sneck raved over the ring; it might +have been a mine of gold for the fuss he made over it." + +Littimer asked no further questions. But from the glance he gave first to +Chris and then to his son the girl could see that he was satisfied. He +knew at last that he had done his son a grave injustice--he knew the +truth. It seemed to Chris that years had slipped suddenly from his +shoulders. His face was still grave and set; his eyes were hard; but the +gleam in them was for the man who had done him this terrible injury. + +"I fancy we are wandering from the subject," Chris said, with +commendable steadiness. "We will leave the matter of the ring out of the +question. Mr. Merritt, I don't propose to tell you too much, but you can +help me a little farther on the way. That cigar-case you saw in Van +Sneck's possession passed to Mr. Henson. By him, or by somebody in his +employ, it was substituted for a precisely similar case intended for a +present to Mr. Steel. The substitution has caused Mr. Steel a great deal +of trouble." + +"Seeing as Van Sneck was found half dead in Mr. Steel's house, and seeing +as he claimed the cigar-case, what could be proved to be Van Sneck's, I'm +not surprised," Merritt grinned. + +"Then you know all about it?" + +"Don't know anything about it," Merritt growled, doggedly. "I guessed +that. When you said as the one case had been substituted for the other, +it don't want a regiment of schoolmasters to see where the pea lies. What +you've got to do now is to find Mr. Steel's case." + +"I have already found it, as I hinted to you. It is at Rutter's, in +Moreton Wells. It was sold to them by the gentleman who had given up +smoking. I want you to go into Moreton Wells with me to-day and see if +you can get at the gentleman's identity." + +Mr. Merritt demurred. It was all very well for Chris, he pointed out in +his picturesque language. She had her little lot of fish to fry, but at +the same time he had to draw his money and be away before the police were +down upon him. If Miss Lee liked to start at once--" + +"I am ready at any moment," Chris said. "In any case you will have +to go to Moreton Wells, and I can give you a little more information +on the way." + +"You had better go along, Frank," Littimer suggested, under his breath. +"I fervently hope now that the day is not far distant when you can return +altogether, but for the present your presence is dangerous. We must give +that rascal Henson no cause for suspicion." + +"You are quite right," Frank replied. "And I'd like to--to shake hands +now, dad." + +Littimer put out his hand, without a word. The cool, cynical man of the +world would have found it difficult to utter a syllable just then. When +he looked up again he was smiling. + +"Go along," he said. "You're a lucky fellow, Frank. That girl's one in +a million." + +A dog-cart driven by Chris brought herself and her companion into +Moreton Wells in an hour, Frank had struck off across country in the +direction of the nearest station. The appearance of himself in More ton +Wells on the front of a dog-cart from the Castle would have caused a +nine days' wonder. + +"Now, what I want to impress upon you is this," said Chris. "Mr. Steel's +cigar-case was stolen and one belonging to Van Sneck substituted for it. +The stolen one was returned to the shop from which it was purchased +almost immediately, so soon, indeed, that the transaction was never +entered on the books. We are pretty certain that Reginald Henson did +that, and we know that he is at the bottom of the mystery. But to prevent +anything happening, and to prevent our getting the case back again, +Henson had to go farther. The case must be beyond our reach. Therefore, I +decline to believe that it was a mere coincidence that took a stranger +into Lockhart's directly after Henson had been there to look at some +gun-metal cigar-cases set in diamonds. The stranger purchased the case, +and asked for it to be sent to the Metropole to 'John Smith.' With the +hundreds of letters and visitors there it would be almost impossible to +trace the case or the man." + +"Lockhart's might help you?" + +"They have as far as they can. The cigar-case was sold to a tall +American. Beyond that it is impossible to go." + +A meaning smile dawned on Merritt's face. + +"They might have taken more notice of the gentleman at Rutter's," he +said, "being a smaller shop. I'm going to admire that case and pretend +it belonged to a friend of mine." + +"I want you to try and buy it for me," Chris said, quietly. + +Rutter's was reached at length, and after some preliminaries the +cigar-case was approached. Merritt took it up, with a well-feigned air of +astonishment. + +"Why, this must have belonged to my old friend, B--," he exclaimed. +"It's not new?" + +"No, sir," the assistant explained. "We purchased it from a gentleman +who stayed for a day or two here at the Lion, a friend of Mr. +Reginald Henson." + +"A tall man?" said Merritt, tentatively. "Long, thin beard and slightly +marked with small-pox? Gave the name of Rawlins?" + +"That's the gentleman, sir. Perhaps you may like to purchase the case?" + +The purchase was made in due course, and together Chris and her queer +companion left the shop. + +"Rawlins is an American swindler of the smartest type," said Merritt. "If +you get him in a corner ask him what he and Henson were doing in America +some two years ago. Rawlins is in this little game for certain. But you +ought to trace him by means of the Lion people. Oh, lor'!" + +Merritt slipped back into an entry as a little, cleanshaven man passed +along the street. His eyes had a dark look of fear in them. + +"They're after me," he said, huskily. "That was one of them. Excuse +me, miss." + +Merritt darted away and flung himself into a passing cab. His face was +dark with passion; the big veins stood out on his forehead like cords. + +"The cur," he snarled--"the mean cur! I'll be even with him yet. If I +can only catch the 4.48 at the Junction I'll be in London before them. +And I'll go down to Brighton, if I have to foot it all the way, and, +once I get there, look to yourself, Reginald Henson. A hundred pounds is +a good sum to go on with. I'll kill that cur--I'll choke the life out of +him. Cabby, if you get to the Junction by a quarter to five I'll give +you a quid." + +"The quid's as good as mine, sir," cabby said, cheerfully. "Get +along, lass." + +Meanwhile Chris had returned thoughtfully to the dog-cart, musing over +the last discovery. She felt quite satisfied with her afternoon's work. +Then a new idea struck her. She crossed over to the post-office and +dispatched a long telegram thus:-- + +"To David Steel, 15, Downend Terrace, Brighton. + +"Go to Walen's and ascertain full description of the tentative customer +who suggested the firm should procure gun-metal cigar-case for him to +look at. Ask if he was a tall man with a thin beard and a face slightly +pock-marked. Then telephone result to me here. Quite safe, as Henson is +away. Great discoveries to tell you.--CHRISTABEL LEE." + +Chris paid for her telegram and then drove thoughtfully homeward. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +WHERE IS RAWLINS? + + +Lord Littimer was greatly interested in all that Chris had to say. The +whole story was confided to him after dinner. Over his coffee on the +terrace he offered many shrewd suggestions. + +"There is one thing wherein you have made a mistake," he said. "And that +is in your idea that Henson changed those cigar-cases after Miss Gates +laid your votive offering on Steel's doorstep." + +"How else could it be done?" Chris said. + +"My dear, the thing is quite obvious. You have already told me that +Henson was quite aware what you were going to do--at least that he knew +you were going to consult Steel. Also he knew that you were going to make +Steel a present, and by a little judicious eavesdropping he contrived to +glean all about the cigar-case. The fellow has already admitted to your +sister that he listened. How long was that before you bought the +cigar-case?" + +"I should say it might have been a week. We had inquiries to make, you +know. In the first instance we never dreamt of offering Mr. Steel money. +I blush to think of that folly." + +"Well, blush a little later on when you have more time. Then Henson had a +week to work out his little scheme. He knows all about the cigar-case; he +knows where it is going to be bought. Then he goes to Lockhart's and +purchases some trifle in the shape of a cigar-case; he has it packed up, +yellow string and all. This is his dummy. By keeping his eyes open he +gets the chance he is waiting for. Ruth Gates hadn't the faintest idea +that he knew anything when she left that case the day she bought it +within reach of Henson. He gets her out of the way for a minute or two, +he unties the parcel, and places the Van Sneck case in it. No, by Jove, +he needn't have bought anything from Lockhart's at all. I only thought of +that to account for the yellow string and the stamped paper that +Lockhart's people use. He first takes one case out of the parcel and +replaces it with another, and there you are. You may depend upon it that +was the way in which it was done." + +The more Chris thought over the matter the more certain she felt that +such was the case. Like most apparently wonderful things, the explanation +was absurdly simple. A conjurer's most marvellous tricks are generally +the easiest. + +"How foolish of us not to have thought of this before," Chris said, +thoughtfully. "At any rate, we know all about it now. And we know who +bought the cigar-case so promptly returned to Lockhart's by Henson. I +should like to see this Rawlins." + +"You have got to find him first," said Littimer. + +"I'm going into Moreton Wells again to-morrow to make inquiries," +said Chris. + +But she was saved the trouble. Once more the ever-blessed telephone stood +her in good stead. She was just on the point of starting for Moreton +Wells when Steel called her up. Chris recognised him with a thrill of +eager pleasure. + +"You need not be afraid," she said. "You can speak quite freely. How is +Van Sneck?" + +"Very queer," David responded. "Bell hoped to have operated upon him +before this, but such a course has not been deemed quite prudent. The day +after to-morrow it will be, I expect. Henson has found out where Van +Sneck is." + +"Indeed. Has he been to see you?" + +"He has been more than once on all kinds of ingenious pretences. But I +didn't call you up to tell you this. We have been making inquiries at +Walen's, Marley and myself. The time has come now to let Marley behind +the scenes a bit." + +"Did Walen's people know anything about the tall American?" + +"Oh, yes. A tall American with a thin beard and a faint suggestion of +small-pox called about a week before the great adventure, and asked to +see some gun-metal diamond-mounted cigar-cases--like the one in +Lockhart's window." + +"Did he really volunteer that remark?" + +"He did, saying also that Lockhart's were too dear. Walen's hadn't got +what he wanted, but they promised to get some cases out of stock, which +meant that they would go to the same wholesale house as Lockhart's and +get some similar cases. As a matter of fact, one of Walen's assistants +was sent round to study the case in Lockhart's window. The cases were +procured on the chance of a sale, but the American never turned up again. +No notice was taken of this, because such things often happen to +shopkeepers." + +"And this was about a week before the night of the great adventure?" + +"Yes. Wait a bit. I have not quite finished yet. Now, once I had +ascertained this, an important fact becomes obvious. The American didn't +want a cigar-case at all." + +"But he subsequently purchased the one returned to Lockhart's shop." + +"That remark does not suggest your usual acumen. The American was +preparing the ground for Van Sneck to purchase with a view to a +subsequent exchange. You have not fully grasped the vileness of this +plot yet. I went to Lockhart's and succeeded in discovering that the +purchaser of the returned case was a tall American, quite of the +pattern I expected. Then I managed to get on to the trail at the +Metropole here. They recollected when I could describe the man; they +also recollected the largeness of his tips. Then I traced my man to the +Lion at Moreton Wells, where he had obviously gone to see Reginald +Henson. From the Lion our friend went to the Royal at Scarsdale Sands, +where he is staying at present." + +"Under the name of John Smith?" + +"I suppose so, seeing that all the inquiries under that name were +successful. If you would like me to come up and interview the man +for you--" + +"I should like you to do nothing of the kind," Chris said. "You are more +useful in Brighton, and I am going to interview Mr. John Smith Rawlins +for myself. Good-bye. Just one moment. For the next few days my address +will be the Royal Hotel, Scarsdale Sands." + +Chris countermanded the dog-cart she had ordered and repaired to the +library, where Littimer was tying some trout-flies behind a cloud of +cigarette smoke. + +"Thought you had gone to Moreton Wells," he said. "Been at the telephone +again? A pretty nice bill I shall have to pay for all those long messages +of yours." + +"Mr. Steel pays this time," Chris said, gaily. "He has just given me some +information that obviates the necessity of going into the town. My dear +uncle, you want a change. You look tired and languid--" + +"Depression of spirits and a disinclination to exercise after food. Also +a morbid craving for seven to eight hours' sleep every night. What's the +little game?" + +"Bracing air," Chris laughed. "Lord Littimer and his secretary, Miss Lee, +are going to spend a few days at Scarsdale Sands, Royal Hotel, to +recuperate after their literary labours." + +"The air here being so poor and enervating," Littimer said, cynically. +"In other words, I suppose you have traced Rawlins to Scarsdale Sands?" + +"How clever you are," said Chris, admiringly. "Walen's American and +Lockhart's American, with the modest pseudonym of John Smith, are what +Mrs. Malaprop would call three single gentlemen rolled into one. We are +going to make the acquaintance of John Smith Rawlins." + +"Oh, indeed, and when do we start, may I ask?" + +Chris responded coolly that she hoped to get away in the course of the +day. With a great show of virtuous resignation Lord Littimer consented. + +"I have always been the jest of fortune," he said, plaintively; "but I +never expected to be dragged all over the place at my time of life by a +girl who is anxious to make me acquainted with the choicest blackguardism +in the kingdom. I leave my happy home, my cook, and my cellar, for at +least a week of hotel living. Well, one can only die once." + +Chris bustled away to make the necessary arrangements. Some few hours +later Lord Littimer was looking out from his luxurious private +sitting-room with the assumption of being a martyr. He and Chris were +dressed for dinner; they were waiting for the bell to summon them to the +dining-room. When they got down at length they found quite a large number +of guests already seated at the many small tables. + +"Your man here?" Littimer asked, languidly. + +Chris indicated two people seated in a window opposite. + +"There!" she whispered. "There he is. And what a pretty girl with him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE + + +Littimer put up his glass and gazed with apparent vacancy in the +direction of the window. He saw a tall man with a grey beard and hair; a +man most immaculately dressed and of distinctly distinguished appearance. +Littimer was fain to admit that he would have taken him for a gentleman +under any circumstances. In manner, style, and speech he left nothing to +be desired. + +"That chap has a fortune in his face and accent," Littimer said. "'Pon my +word, he is a chance acquaintance that one would ask to dinner without +the slightest hesitation. And the girl--" + +"Is his daughter," Chris said. "The likeness is very strong." + +"It is," Littimer admitted. "A singularly pretty, refined girl, with +quite the grand air. It is an air that mere education seldom gives; but +it seems to have done so in yonder case. And how fond they seem to be of +one another! Depend upon it, Chris, whatever that man may be his daughter +knows nothing of it. And yet you tell me that the police--" + +"Well, never mind the police, now. We can get Mr. Steel to tell Marley +all about 'John Smith' if we can't contrive to force his hand without. +But with that pretty girl before my eyes I shouldn't like to do anything +harsh. Up till now I have always pictured the typical educated scoundrel +as a man who was utterly devoid of feelings of any kind." + +Dinner proceeded quietly enough, Chris having eyes for hardly anything +else beyond the couple in the window. She rose presently, with a little +gasp, and hastily lifted a tankard of iced water from the table. The girl +opposite her had turned pale and her dark head had drooped forward. + +"I hope it is not serious," said Chris. "Drink a little of this; +it is iced." + +"And they told me they had no ice in the house," the man Rawlins +muttered. "A little of this, Grace. It is one of her old fainting fits. +Ah, that is better." + +The man Rawlins spoke with the tenderest solicitude. The look of positive +relief on his face as his daughter smiled at him told of a deep devotion +and affection for the girl. Chris, looking on, was wondering vaguely +whether or not she had made a mistake. + +"Lord Littimer obtained our ice," she said. "Pray keep this. Oh, yes, +that is Lord Littimer over there. I am his secretary." + +Littimer strolled across himself and murmured his condolences. A little +time later and the four of them were outside in the verandah taking ices +together. Rawlins might have been, and no doubt was, a finished +scoundrel, but there was no question as to his fascinating manner and his +brilliant qualities as a conversationalist. A man of nerve too, and full +of resources. All the same, Littimer was asking himself and wondering who +the man really was. By birth he must have been born a gentleman, Littimer +did not doubt for a moment. + +But there was one soft spot in the man, and that was his love for his +daughter. For her sake he had been travelling all over the world for +years; for years he had despaired of seeing her live to womanhood. But +she was gradually growing better; indeed, if she had not walked so far +to-day nothing would have happened. All the time that Rawlins was talking +his eyes were resting tenderly on his daughter. The hard, steely look +seemed to have gone out of them altogether. + +Altogether a charming and many-sided rascal, Littimer thought. He +was fond, as he called it, of collecting types of humanity, and here +was a new and fascinating specimen. The two men talked together till +long after dark, and Rawlins never betrayed himself. He might have +been an Ambassador or Cabinet Minister unbending after a long period +of heavy labour. + +Meanwhile Chris had drawn Grace Rawlins apart from the others. The girl +was quiet and self-contained, but evidently a lady. She seemed to have +but few enthusiasms, but one of them was for her father. He was the most +wonderful man in the world, the most kind and considerate. He was very +rich; indeed, it was a good thing, or she would never have been able to +see so much of the world. He had given up nearly the whole of his life to +her, and now she was nearly as strong as other girls. Chris listened in a +dazed, confused kind of way. She had not expected anything like this; and +when had Rawlins found time for those brilliant predatory schemes that +she had heard of? + +"Well, what do you think of them?" Littimer asked, when at length he and +Chris were alone. "I suppose it isn't possible that you and I have made +a mistake?" + +"I'm afraid not," Chris said, half sadly. "But what a strange case +altogether." + +"Passing strange. I'll go bail that that man is born and bred a +gentleman; and, what is more, he is no more of an American than I am. I +kept on forgetting from time to time what he was and taking him for one +of our own class. And, finally, I capped my folly by asking him to bring +his daughter for a drive to-morrow and a lunch on the Gapstone. What do +you think of that?" + +"Splendid," Chris said, coolly. "Nothing could be better. You will be +good enough to exercise all your powers of fascination on Miss Rawlins +to-morrow, and leave her father to me. I thought of a little plan tonight +which I believe will succeed admirably. At first I expected to have to +carry matters with a high hand, but now I am going to get Mr. Rawlins +through his daughter. I shall know all I want to by to-morrow night." + +Littimer smiled at this sanguine expectation. + +"I sincerely hope you will," he said, drily. "But I doubt it very much +indeed. You have one of the cleverest men in Europe to deal with. +Good-night." + +But Chris was in no way cast down. She had carefully planned out her +line of action, and the more she thought over it the more sure of +success she felt. A few hours more and--but she didn't care to dwell too +closely on that. + +It was after luncheon that Chris's opportunity came. Lord Littimer and +Grace Rawlins had gone off to inspect something especially beautiful in +the way of a waterfall, leaving Chris and Rawlins alone. The latter was +talking brilliantly over his cigarette. + +"Is Lord Littimer any relation of yours?" he asked. + +"Well, yes," Chris admitted. "I hope he will be a nearer relation +before long." + +"Oh, you mean to say--may I venture to congratulate--" + +"It isn't quite that," Chris laughed, with a little rising in colour. "I +am not thinking of Lord Littimer, but of his son.... Yes, I see you raise +your eyebrows--probably you are aware of the story, as most people are. +And you are wondering why I am on such friendly terms with Lord Littimer +under the circumstances. And I am wondering why you should call yourself +John Smith." + +The listener coolly flicked the ash from his cigarette. His face was +like a mask. + +"John Smith is a good name," he said. "Can you suggest a better?" + +"If you ask me to do so I can. I should call myself John Rawlins." + +There was just the ghost of a smile on Rawlins's lips. + +"There is a man of that name," he said, slowly, "who attained +considerable notoriety in the States. People said that he was the +_derniere cri_ of refined rascality. He was supposed to be without +feeling of any kind; his villainies were the theme of admiration amongst +financial magnates. There were brokers who piously thanked Providence +because Rawlins had never thought of going on the Stock Exchange, where +he could have robbed and plundered with impunity. And this Rawlins always +baffles the police. If he baffles them a little longer they won't be able +to touch him at all. At present, despite his outward show, he has hardly +a dollar to call his own. But he is on to a great _coup_ now, and, +strange to say, an honest one. Do you know the man, Miss Lee?" + +Chris met the speaker's eyes firmly. + +"I met him last night for the first time," she said. + +"In that case you can hardly be said to know him," Rawlins murmured. "If +you drive him into a corner he will do desperate things. If you tried +that game on with him you would regret it for the rest of your life. Good +heavens, you are like a child playing about amidst a lot of unguarded +machinery. Why do you do it?" + +"That I will tell you presently. Mr. Rawlins, you have a daughter." + +The hard look died out of the listener's eyes. + +"Whom I love better than my life," he said. "There are two John +Rawlins's--the one you know; and, well, the other one. I should be sorry +to show you the other one." + +"For the sake of your daughter I don't want to see the other one." + +"Then why do you pit yourself against me like this?" + +"I don't think you are displaying your usual lucidity," Chris said, +coolly. Her heart was beating fast, but she did not show it. "Just +reflect for a moment. I have found you out. I know pretty well what you +are. I need not have told you anything of this. I need have done no more +than gone to the police and told them where to find you. But I don't want +to do that; I hate to do it after what I saw last night. You have your +child, and she loves you. Could I unmask you before her eyes?" + +"You would kill her," Rawlins said, a little unsteadily; "and you would +kill me, I verily believe. That child is all the world to me. I committed +my first theft so that she could have the change the doctors declared to +be absolutely necessary. I intended to repay the money--the old, old +story. And I was found out by my employers and discharged. Thank +goodness, my wife was dead. Since then I have preyed on society.... But I +need not go into that sordid story. You are not going to betray me?" + +"I said before that I should do nothing of the kind." + +"Then why do you let me know that you have discovered my identity?" + +"Because I want you to help me. I fancy you respect my sex, Mr. Rawlins?" + +"Call me Smith, please. I have always respected your sex. All the +kindness and sympathy of my life have been for women. And I can lay my +hand on my heart and declare that I never yet wronged one of them in +thought or deed. The man who is cruel to women is no man." + +"And yet your friend Reginald Henson is that sort." + +Rawlins smiled again. He began to understand a little of what was passing +in Chris's mind. + +"Would you mind going a little more into details?" he suggested. "So +Henson is that sort. Well, I didn't know, or he had never had my +assistance in his little scheme. Oh, of course, I have known him for +years as a scoundrel. So he oppresses women." + +"He has done so for a long time: he is blighting my life and the life of +my sister and another. And it seems to me that I have that rascal under +my thumb at last. You cannot save him--you can do no more than place +obstacles in my way; but even those I should overcome. And you admit that +I am likely to be dangerous to you." + +"You can kill my daughter. I am in your power to that extent." + +"As if I should," Chris said. "It is only Reginald Henson whom I want to +strike. I want you to answer a few questions; to tell me why you went to +Walen's and induced them to procure a certain cigar-case for you, and why +you subsequently went to Lockhart's at Brighton and bought a precisely +similar one." + +Rawlins looked in surprise at the speaker. A tinge of admiration was on +his face. There was a keenness and audacity after his own heart. + +"Go on," he said, slowly. "Tell me everything openly and freely, and +when you have done so I will give you all the information that lies in +my power." + + + + +CHAPTER L + +RAWLINS IS CANDID + + +"So Reginald Henson bullies women," Rawlins said, after a long pause. +There was a queer smile on his face; he appeared perfectly at his ease. +He did not look in the least like a desperate criminal whom Chris could +have driven out of the country by one word to the police. In his +perfectly-fitting grey suit he seemed more like a lord of ancient acres +than anything else. "It is not a nice thing to bully women." + +"Reginald Henson finds it quite a congenial occupation," Chris +said, bitterly. + +Rawlins pulled thoughtfully at his cigarette. + +"I am to a certain extent in your power," he said. "You have discovered +my identity at a time when I could sacrifice thousands for it not to be +known that I am in England. How you have discovered me matters as little +as how a card-player gets the ace of trumps. And I understand that the +price of your silence is the betrayal of Henson?" + +"That is about what it comes to," said Chris. + +"In the parlance of the lower type of rascal, I am to 'round on my pal'?" + +"If you like to put it in that way, Mr. Smith." + +"I never did such a thing in my life before. And, at the same time, I +don't mind admitting that I was never so sorely tried. At the present +moment I am on the verge of a large fortune, and I am making my grand +_coup_ honestly. Would you deem it exaggeration on my part if I said that +I was exceedingly glad of the fact?" + +"Mr. Smith," Chris said, earnestly, "I have seen how fond you are of your +daughter." + +"That is an exceedingly clever remark of yours, young lady," Rawlins +smiled. "You know that you have found the soft spot in my nature, and you +are going to hammer on it till you reduce me to submission. I am not a +religious man, but my one prayer is that Grace shall never find me out. +When my _coup_ comes off I am going to settle in England and become +intensely respectable." + +"With Reginald Henson for your secretary, I suppose?" + +"No, I am going to drop the past. But to return to our subject. Are you +asking me to betray Henson to the police?" + +"Nothing of the kind," Chris cried, hastily. "I--I would do anything to +avoid a family scandal. All I want is a controlling power over the man." + +"The man who bullies women?" + +"The same. For seven years he has wrecked the lives of five of us--three +women. He has parted husband and wife, he has driven the man I love into +exile. And the poor wife is gradually going hopelessly mad under his +cruelties. And he blackmails us, he extorts large sums of money from us. +If you only knew what we have suffered at the hands of the rascal!" + +Rawlins nodded in sympathy. + +"I did not imagine that," he said. "Of course, I have known for years +that Henson was pretty bad. You may smile, but I have never had any +sympathy with his methods and hypocritical ways, perhaps because I never +did anything of the kind myself. Nobody can say that I ever robbed +anybody who was poor or defenceless or foolish. By heavens, I am a more +honest man than hundreds of London and New York capitalists. It is the +hard rogues amongst us who have always been my mark. But to injure and +wound women and children!" + +"Which means that you are going to help me?" Chris asked, quietly. + +"As far as I can, certainly. Especially as you are going to let Henson +down easily. Now please ask me any questions that you like." + +"This is very good of you," said Chris. "In the first place, did you ever +hear Mr. Henson speak of his relations or friends?" + +"Nobody beyond Lord Littimer. You see, Henson and I were extremely useful +to one another once or twice, but he never trusted me, and I never +trusted him. I never cared for his methods." + +"Did you go to Brighton lately on purpose to help him?" + +"Certainly not. I had business in Brighton for some considerable time, +and my daughter was with me. When she went away to stay with friends for +a short time I moved to the Metropole." + +"Then why did you go to Walen's in Brighton and ask them to show you some +gun-metal cigar-cases like the one in Lockhart's window?" + +"Simply because Henson asked me to. He came to me just before I went to +the Metropole and told me he had a big thing on. He didn't give me the +least idea what it was, nor did I ask him. He suggested the idea of the +cigar-case, and said that I need not go near Walen's again, and I didn't. +I assure you I had no curiosity on the matter. In any case a little thing +like that couldn't hurt me. Some days later Henson came to me again, and +asked me to go to Lockhart's and purchase the cigar-case I had previously +seen. He wanted me to get the case so that I could not be traced. Again I +agreed. I was leaving the Metropole the next day, so the matter was easy. +I called and purchased the cigar-case on approval, I forwarded +dollar-notes in payment from the Metropole, and the next day I left." + +"And you did all that without a single question?" + +"I did. It was only a little consideration for an old confederate." + +"And suppose that confederate had played you false?" + +Two tiny points of flame danced in Rawlins's eyes. + +"Henson would never have dared," he said. "My mind was quite easy on +that score." + +"I understand," Chris murmured. "And you kept the cigar-case?" + +"Yes, I rather liked it. And I could afford a luxury of that kind +just then." + +"Then why did you dispose of it to Rutter's in Moreton Wells? And why +Moreton Wells?" + +Rawlins laughed as he lighted a fresh cigarette. + +"I came to Moreton Wells knowing that Henson was at Littimer Castle," he +explained. "I went there to borrow L200 from Henson. Unfortunately I +found him in great need of money. Somebody who had promised him a large +sum of money had disappointed him." + +Chris smiled. She had heard all about Lady Littimer's adventure with the +ring, and her stubborn refusal to give Henson any further supplies. + +"Presently I can tell you who disappointed Henson," she said. "But fancy +you being short of--" + +"Of ready money; I frequently am. One of your great millionaires told me +lately that he was frequently hard up for a thousand pounds cash. I have +frequently been hard up for five pounds. Hence the fact that I sold the +cigar-case at Moreton Wells." + +"Well, the ground is clear so far," said Chris. "Do you know Van Sneck?" + +"I know Van Sneck very well," Rawlins said, without hesitation. "A +wonderfully clever man." + +"And a great scoundrel, I presume?" + +"Well, on the whole, I should say not. Weak, rather than wicked. Van +Sneck has been a tool and creature of Henson's for years. If he could +only keep away from the drink he might make a fortune. But what has Van +Sneck got to do with it?" + +"A great deal," Chris said, drily. "And now, please, follow carefully +what I am going to say. A little time ago we poor, persecuted women put +our heads together to get free from Reginald Henson. We agreed to ask Mr. +David Steel, the well-known novelist, to show us a way of escape. +Unhappily for us, Henson got to know of it." + +Rawlins was really interested at last. + +"Pardon me," he said, eagerly, "if I ask a question or two before you +proceed. Is Mr. David Steel the gentleman who found a man half murdered +in his house in Brighton?" + +"The same. But don't you know who the injured man was?" + +"You don't mean to say it was Van Sneck?" Rawlins cried. + +Chris nodded gravely. Rawlins looked like a man who was groping about in +a sudden dazzle of blinding light. + +"I begin to understand," he muttered. "The scoundrel!" + +"After that I will resume," Chris said. "You must understand that Mr. +Steel was a stranger to us. We hit upon the idea of interviewing him +anonymously, so to speak, and we were going to give him a gun-metal +cigar-case mounted in diamonds. A friend of mine purchased that +cigar-case at Lockhart's. Mind you, Reginald Henson knew all about this. +The same day Henson's tool, Van Sneck, purchased a similar case from +Walen's--a case really procured for your approval--and later on in the +day the case passed from Van Sneck to Henson, who dexterously changed +the cases." + +"Complex," Rawlins muttered. "But I begin to see what is coming." + +"The cases were changed, and the one from Walen's in due course became +Mr. Steel's. Now note where Henson's diabolical cunning comes in. The +same night Van Sneck is found half murdered in Mr. Steel's house, and in +his pocket is the receipt for the very cigar-case that Mr. Steel claimed +as his own property." + +"Very awkward for Steel," Rawlins said, thoughtfully. + +"Of course it was. And why was it done? So that we should be forced to +come forward and exonerate Mr. Steel from blame. We should have had to +tell the whole story, and then Henson would have learnt what steps we +were taking to get rid of him." + +Rawlins was quiet for some time. Admiration for the scheme was uppermost +in his mind, but there was another thought that caused him to glance +curiously at Chris. + +"And that is all you know?" he asked. + +"Not quite," Chris replied. "I know that on the day of the attempted +murder Van Sneck quarrelled with Reginald Henson, who he said had treated +him badly. Van Sneck had in some way found out that Reginald Henson meant +mischief to Mr. Steel. Also he couldn't get the money he wanted. Probably +he had purchased that cigar-case at Walen's, and Henson could not repay +him for the purchase of it. Then he went off and wrote to Mr. Steel, +asking the latter to see him, as he had threatened Henson he would do." + +"Ah!" Rawlins exclaimed, suddenly. "Are you sure of this?" + +"Certain. I heard it from a man who was with Van Sneck at the time, a man +called Merritt." + +"James Merritt. Really, you have been in choice company, Miss Lee. Your +knowledge of the criminal classes is getting extensive and peculiar." + +"Merritt told me this. And an answer came back." + +"An answer from Mr. Steel?" + +"Purporting to be an answer from Mr. Steel. A very clever forgery, as a +matter of fact. Of course that forgery was Henson's work, because we know +that Henson coolly ordered notepaper in Mr. Steel's name. He forgot to +pay the bill, and that is how the thing came out. Besides, the little wad +of papers on which the forgery was written is in Mr. Steel's hands. Now, +what do you make of that?" + +Rawlins turned the matter over thoughtfully in his mind. + +"Did Henson know that Mr. Steel would be from home that night?" he asked. + +"Of course. He probably also knew where our meeting with Mr. Steel was to +take place." + +"Then the matter is pretty obvious," said Rawlins. "Van Sneck, by some +means or other, gets an inkling of what is going on. He wanted money from +Henson, which he couldn't get, Henson being very short lately, and then +they quarrelled. Van Sneck was fool enough to threaten Henson with what +he was going to do. Van Sneck's note was dispatched by hand and +intercepted by Henson with a reply. By the way, will you be good enough +to give me the gist of the reply?" + +"It was a short letter from Mr. Steel and signed with his initials, and +saying in effect that he was at home every night and would see Van Sneck +about twelve or some time like that. He was merely to knock quietly, as +the household would be in bed, and Mr. Steel would let him in." + +"And Mr. Steel never wrote that letter at all?" + +"No; for the simple reason that he never had Van Sneck's note." + +"Which Henson intercepted, of course. Now, the mere fact of the reply +coming on Mr. Steel's paper is evidence that Henson had plotted some +other or alternative scheme against Mr. Steel. How long before the +cigar-case episode had you decided to consult the novelist?" + +"We began to talk about it nine or ten days before." + +"And Henson got to hear of it. Then a better idea occurred to Henson, and +the first idea which necessitated getting hold of Mr. Steel's notepaper +was abandoned. Subsequently, as you have just told me, the note-paper +came in useful after all. Henson knew that Steel would be out that night. +And, therefore, Van Sneck is deliberately lured to Steel's house to be +murdered there." + +"I see," Chris said, faintly. "This had never occurred to me before. +Murdered, by whom?" + +"By whom? Why, by Reginald Henson, of course." + +Just for a moment Chris felt as if all the world was slipping away +under her feet. + +"But how could he do it?" she asked. + +"Quite easily. And throw all the blame on Mr. Steel. Look at the evidence +he had ready to his hand against the latter. The changed cigar-case would +come near to hang a man. And Van Sneck was in the way. Steel goes out to +meet you or some of your friends. All his household are in bed. As a +novelist he comes and goes as he likes and nobody takes any heed. He goes +and leaves his door on the latch. Any money it is the common latch they +put on thousands of doors. Henson lets himself into the house and coolly +waits Van Sneck's coming. The rest you can imagine." + +Chris had no reply for a moment or two. Rawlins's suggestion had burst +upon her like a bomb. And it was all so dreadfully, horribly probable. +Henson could have done this thing with absolute impunity. It was +impossible to imagine for a moment that David Steel was the criminal. Who +else could it be, then, but Reginald Henson? + +"I'm afraid this has come as a shock to you," Rawlins said, quietly. + +"It has, indeed," said Chris. "And your reasoning is so dreadfully +logical." + +"Well, I may be wrong, after all," Rawlins suggested. + +Chris shook her head doubtfully. She felt absolutely assured that Rawlins +was right. But, then, Henson would hardly have run so terrible a risk for +a little thing like that. He could easily have silenced Van Sneck by a +specious promise or two. There must be another reason for-- + +It came to Chris in a moment. She saw the light quite plainly. + +"Mr. Smith," she said, eagerly, "where did you first meet Henson and +Van Sneck?" + +"We first came together some eight years ago in Amsterdam." + +"Would you mind telling me what your business was?" + +"So far as I can recollect it was connected with some old silver--William +and Mary and Queen Anne cups and _jardinieres_. We had made a bit of a +find that we could authenticate, but we wanted a lot of the stuff, +well--faked. You see, Van Sneck was an authority on that kind of thing, +and we employed him to cut marks off small genuine things and attach them +to spurious large ones. On the whole, we made a very successful business +of it for a long time." + +"You found Van Sneck an excellent copyist. Did he ever copy +anything for you?" + +"No. But Henson employed him now and again. Van Sneck could construct a +thing from a mere description. There was a ring he did for Henson--" + +"Was that called Prince Rupert's ring, by any chance?" + +"That was the name of the ring. Why?" + +"We will come to that presently. Did you ever see Prince Rupert's ring?" + +"Well, I did. It was in Amsterdam again, about a year later than the time +I mentioned just now. Henson brought the real ring for Van Sneck to copy. +Van Sneck went into raptures over it. He said he had never seen anything +of the kind so beautiful. He made a copy of the ring, which he handed +back with the original to Henson." + +Chris nodded. This pretty faithful copy of the ring was the one that +Henson had used as a magnet to draw Lady Littimer's money and the same +one that had found its way into Steel's possession. But Chris had another +idea to follow up. + +"You hinted to me just now that Henson was short of money," she said. "Do +you mean to say he is in dire need of some large sum?" + +"That's it," Rawlins replied. "I rather fancy there has been some stir +with the police over some business up at Huddersfield some years ago." + +"A so-called home both there and at Brighton?" + +"That's it. It was the idea that Henson conveyed to me when I saw him at +Moreton Wells. It appears that a certain Inspector Marley, of the +Brighton Police, is the same man who used to have the warrants for the +Huddersfield affair in his hands. Henson felt pretty sure that Marley had +recognised him. He told me that if the worst came to the worst he had +something he could sell to Littimer for a large sum of money." + +"I know," Chris exclaimed. "It is the Prince Rupert's ring." + +"Well, I can't say anything about that. Is this ring a valuable +property?" + +"Not in itself. But the loss of it has caused a dreadful lot of misery +and suffering. Mr. Smith, Reginald Henson had no business with that ring +at all. He stole it and made it appear as if somebody else had done so by +means of conveying the copy to the very last person who should have +possessed it. That sad business broke up a happy home and has made five +people miserable for many years. And whichever way you turn, whichever +way you look, you find the cloven foot of Henson everywhere. Now, what +you have told me just now gives me a new idea. The secret that Henson was +going to sell to Lord Littimer for a large sum was the story of the +missing ring and the restitution of the same." + +"Kind of brazening it out, you mean?" + +"Yes. Lord Littimer would give three times ten thousand pounds to have +that ring again. But at this point Henson has met with a serious check in +his plans. Driven into a corner, he has resolved to make a clean breast +of it to Lord Littimer. He procures the ring from his strong box, and +then he makes a discovery." + +"Which is more than I have. Pray proceed." + +"He discovers that he has not got the real Prince Rupert's ring." + +Rawlins looked up with a slightly puzzled air. + +"Will you kindly tell me what you mean?" he said. + +"It was a forgery. Van Sneck made a copy from a mere description. That +copy served its purpose with a vengeance, and is now at the bottom of the +North Sea. I need not go into details, because it is a family secret, and +does not concern our conversation at all. At that time the _real_ ring +came into Henson's possession, and he wanted a copy to hold over the head +of an unfortunate lady whom he would have ruined before long. You told me +just now that Van Sneck had fallen in love with Prince Rupert's ring and +could hardly bear to part with it. He didn't." + +"No? But how could he retain it?" + +"Quite easily. The copy was quite faithful, but still _it was_ a copy. +But secretly Van Sneck makes a copy that would deceive everybody but an +expert, and this he hands over to--" + +"To Henson as the real ring," Rawlins cried, excitedly. + +Chris smiled, a little pleased at her acumen. + +"Precisely," she said. "I see that you are inclined to be of my opinion." + +"Well, upon my word, I am," Rawlins confessed. "But I don't quite +see why--" + +"Please let me finish," Chris went on, excitedly. "Reginald Henson is +driven back on his last trenches. He has to get the ring for Lord +Littimer. He takes out the ring after all these years, never dreaming +that Van Sneck would dare to play such a trick upon him, and finds out +the forgery. Did you ever see that man when he is really angry?" + +"He is not pretty then," Rawlins said. + +"Pretty! He is murder personified. Kindly try to imagine his feelings +when he discovers he has been deceived. Mind you, this is only a theory +of mine, but I feel certain that it will prove correct. Henson's last +hope is snatched away from him. But he does not go straight to Van Sneck +and accuse him of his duplicity. He knows that Van Sneck stole the ring +for sheer love of the gem, and that he would not dare to part with it. He +assumes that the ring is in Van Sneck's possession. And when Van Sneck +threatened to expose part of the business to Mr. Steel, Henson makes no +attempt to soothe him. Why? Because he sees a cunning way of getting back +the ring. He himself lures Van Sneck to Mr. Steel's house, and there he +almost murders him for the sake of the ring. Of course, he meant to kill +Van Sneck in such a way that the blame could not possibly fall upon him." + +"Can you prove that he knew anything about it?" + +"I can prove that he knew who Van Sneck was at a time when the hospital +people were doing their best to identify the man. And I know how +fearfully uneasy he was when he got to know that some of us were aware +who Van Sneck was. It has been a pretty tangle for a long time, but the +skein is all coming out smoothly at last. And if we could get the ring +which Henson forced by violence from Van Sneck--" + +"Excuse me. He did nothing of the kind." + +Chris looked up eagerly. + +"Oh," she cried, "have you more to tell me, then?" + +"Nothing authentic," Rawlins said; "merely surmise. Van Sneck is going to +recover. If he does it will be hard for Henson, who ought to get away +with his plunder at once. Why doesn't he go and blackmail Lord Littimer +and sell him the ring and clear out of the country? He doesn't do so +because the ring is not yet in his possession." + +"Then you imagine that Van Sneck--" + +"Still has the ring probably in his possession at the present moment. If +you only knew where Van Sneck happened to be." + +Chris rose to her feet with an excited cry. + +"I do know," she exclaimed; "he is in the house where he was half +murdered. And Mr. Steel shall know all this before he sleeps to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +HERITAGE IS WILLING + + +Bell's sanguine expectation that Van Sneck would be ready for an +immediate operation was not quite correct. As the day wore on the man +seemed more feverish and restless, which feverishness was followed by a +certain want of strength. After due deliberation Dr. Cross suggested that +the operation should be postponed for a day or two. + +"The man is out of our hands," he said. "You have identified him, and +you desire that he should remain here. It is pretty irregular +altogether. And I hope I shan't get into trouble over it. Still, in such +capable hands as yours--" + +Bell acknowledged the compliment with a smile. + +"Between Heritage and myself," he said, "we shall pull him through, eh, +Heritage?" + +The other doctor nodded brightly. For some little time he had been +directly under Bell's influence, and that had meant a marvellous change +for the better, he had lost a deal of his hesitating manner, and was +looking forward to the operation with the keenest interest. + +"However, I will put you all right," Bell said. "I fancy the time has +come when we can confide to a certain extent in Marley. And if the police +approve of Van Sneck being here, I don't see that you can say any more." + +Cross was emphatically of the same opinion. Later on, in the course of a +long interview with Marley, Bell and Steel opened the latter's eyes to a +considerable extent. + +"Well, I must congratulate you, sir," he said to Steel. "I'm bound to +confess that things looked pretty black against you at one time. Indeed, +I should have been fully justified in arresting you for the attempted +murder of Van Sneck." + +"But you never deemed me guilty, Marley?" + +"No, I didn't," Marley said, thoughtfully. "I argued in your favour +against my better judgment. I gather even now that there is a great deal +for me to know." + +"And which you are not going to learn," Bell said, drily. "When we have +Van Sneck all right again, and ready to swear to the author of the +mischief, you will have to be satisfied." + +"That would satisfy me, sir. And I'm glad that cigar-case mystery is +settled. You'll let me know how the operation goes on?" + +Steel promised to do so, and the two returned to Downend Terrace +together. They found Heritage a little excited and disturbed. + +"Do you know I have had a visitor?" he exclaimed. + +Bell started slightly. He looked just a little anxious. + +"I'm going to guess it at once," he said. "Reginald Henson has +been here." + +"You are certainly a wonderful fellow," Heritage said, admiringly. +"Nobody else could possibly have guessed that. He came to see me, +of course." + +"Oh, of course," Bell said, drily. "Naturally, he would have no +ulterior motive. Did he happen to know that we had a kind of patient +under the roof?" + +Heritage explained that Henson seemed to know something about it. Also, +by singular coincidence, he had met Van Sneck abroad. He expressed a +desire to see the patient, but Heritage's professional caution had got +the better of his friendship for once. Henson had given way finally, +saying that he hoped to call again later in the day. + +"It's a good thing you were firm," Bell said, grimly. "Otherwise there +would have been no need for an operation on Van Sneck. My dear Heritage, +it's quite time your eyes were opened to the true nature of your friend. +Henson watched Steel and myself out of the house He wanted to see Van +Sneck; he has probably known from the first that the latter was here." + +"Matter of philanthropy, perhaps," Heritage suggested. + +"A matter of murder," Bell said, sternly. "My dear fellow, Van Sneck was +nearly done to death in yonder conservatory, and his would-be assassin +was Reginald Henson." + +"I was never more astounded in my life," gasped Heritage. "I have always +looked upon Henson as the soul of honour and integrity. And he has always +been so kind to me." + +"For his own purposes, no doubt. You say that he found you a home after +your misfortunes came upon you. He came to see you frequently. And yet he +always harped upon that wretched hallucination of yours. Why? Because you +were the Carfax family doctor for a time, and at any moment you might +have given valuable information concerning the suicide of Claire Carfax. +Tell Heritage the story of Prince Rupert's ring, Steel." + +David proceeded to do so at some length. Heritage appeared to be deeply +interested. And gradually many long-forgotten things came back to him. + +"I recollect it all perfectly well," he said. "Miss Carfax and myself +were friends. Like most people with badly balanced intellects, she had +her brilliant moments. Why, she showed me that ring with a great deal of +pride, but she did not tell me its history. She was very strange in her +manner that morning; indeed, I warned her father that she wanted to be +most carefully looked after." + +"Did she say how she got the ring?" Steel asked. + +Heritage did not answer for a moment. + +"Oh, yes," he said, presently, "She said it was a present from a good +boy, and that Reginald Henson had given it her in an envelope. I met +Henson close by, but I didn't mention the ring." + +"And there you have the whole thing in a nutshell!" Bell exclaimed. +"Nothing of this came out at the inquest, because the ring story was +hushed up, and Heritage was not called because he had nothing to do with +the suicide. But Henson probably saw poor Claire Carfax show you the +ring, and he got a bit frightened, and he kept an eye upon you +afterwards. When you broke down he looked after you, and he took precious +good care to keep your hallucination always before your eyes. Whenever he +came to see you he always did that." + +"You are quite right there," Heritage admitted. "He mentioned it this +afternoon when I said I was going to take part in the operation on Van +Sneck. He asked me if I thought it wise to try my nerves so soon again +with the electric light." + +"And I hope you told him he was talking nonsense," Bell said, hastily. +"There, let us change the subject. The mere mention of that man's name +stifles me." + +Morning brought a long letter from Chris Henson to David, giving him in +detail the result of her recent interview with John Rawlins. There was a +postscript to the letter which David showed to Bell with a certain +malicious glee. + +"A nasty one for our friend Henson," he said. "What a sweet surprise it +will be for that picturesque gentleman the next time he goes blackmailing +to Longdean Grange." + +Bell chuckled in his turn. The net was drawing very close about Henson. + +"How is Van Sneck to-day?" David asked. + +"Much better," Bell replied. "I propose to operate to-night. I'm glad to +hear that your mother is going to be away a day or two longer." + +Heritage appeared to be ready and eager for the work before him. A +specially powerful electric light had been rigged up in connection with +the study lamp, and an operating table improvised from the kitchen. More +than once Bell looked eagerly at Heritage, but the latter stood the +scrutiny bravely. Once the operation was successfully through. Heritage +would never suffer from hallucinations again. + +"I fancy everything is ready now," Bell said, at length. "After dinner +to-night and this thing will be done. Then the story will be told--" + +"Mr. Reginald Henson to see you, sir." + +A servant looked in with this information and a card on a tray. There was +a slight commotion outside, the vision of a partially-wrecked bicycle on +the path, and a dusty figure in the hall with his head in his hand. + +"The gentleman has met with an accident, sir," the parlourmaid said. +Henson seemed to be knocked about a great deal. He was riding down the +terrace, he said, when suddenly he ran over a dog, and-- + +"What sort of a dog?" Bell snapped out. "What colour and size?" + +Henson was utterly taken aback by the suddenness of the question. He +gasped and stammered. He could not have told Bell more plainly that the +"accident" was an artistic fake. + +"You must stay here till you feel all right again," David suggested. + +"Stay here for the night," Bell growled, _sotto voce._ "Stay here till +to-morrow morning and hear something from Van Sneck's lips that will +finish his interesting career for some time. Medical treatment be hanged. +A clothes-brush and some soap and water are all the physic that he +requires." + +Presently Henson professed himself to be better. His superficial injuries +he bore with a manly fortitude quite worthy of his high reputation. He +could afford to smile at them. But he feared that there was something +internal of a sufficiently serious nature. Every time he moved he +suffered exquisite agony. He smiled in a faint kind of way. Bell watched +him as a cat watches a mouse. And he could read a deeper purpose behind +that soft, caressing manner. What it was he did not know, but he meant to +find out before the day was passed. + +"Hadn't we better send him to the hospital?" David suggested. + +"What for?" was Bell's brutal response. "There's nothing whatever the +matter with the man." + +"But he has every appearance of great pain." + +"To you, perhaps, but not to me. The man is shamming. He has come here +for some purpose, which will be pretty sure to transpire presently. The +knave never dreams that we are watching him, and he hugs himself with the +delusion that we take his story for gospel. Fancy a man in the state that +he pretends to be in sending his card to you! Let him stay where we can +keep an eye upon the chap. So long as he is under our observation he +can't do any mischief outside." + +There was wisdom in what Bell suggested, and David agreed. Despite his +injuries, Henson made a fair tea, and his dinner, partaken of on the +dining-room sofa, was an excellent one. + +"And now, do not let me detain you, as you have business," he smiled. "I +shall be quite comfortable here if you will place a glass of water by my +side. The pain makes me thirsty. No, you need not have any further +consideration for me." + +He smiled with patient resignation, the smile that he had found so +effective on platforms. He lay back with his eyes half closed. He seemed +to be asleep. + +"I fancy we can leave him now," Bell said, with deep sarcasm. "We need +have no further anxiety. Perfect rest is all that he requires." + +Henson nodded in a sleepy fashion; his eyes were closed now till the +others had left the room. Once he was alone he was alert and +vigorous again. + +"Ten minutes," he muttered, "say, a quarter of an hour. A touch, a spot +of water, and the thing is done. And I can never be found out." + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +PUTTING THE LIGHT OUT + + +Once the trio were in the operating-room Bell gave one rapid glance at +Heritage. But the latter seemed to have forgotten all his fears. There +was an alert air about him; he was quiet and steady. There was something +of the joy of battle in his eyes. + +"Now go and fetch Van Sneck in," Bell said. + +The patient came at length. Everything was ready. Van Sneck murmured +something and looked vaguely about him, like a man suddenly aroused from +a deep sleep. But he obeyed quite willingly when Bell commanded him to +get on the table. A moment or two later and he was gone under the +influence of the ether administered by Bell. + +A case of glittering instruments lay on the table. The strong +electric light was switched on and hung just over the head of the +unconscious patient. + +"You hold the sponge," Bell whispered to David. "There will be very +little blood. I like to have a man with me who has coolness and courage. +Oh, here is the spot. Feel the depression of the skull, Heritage. That is +where the pressure lies, and no larger than a pea." + +Heritage nodded, without reply. He took up the knife, there was a flash +of steel in the brilliant light and a sudden splash of blood. There was a +scrape, scrape that jolted horribly on David's nerves, followed by a +convulsive movement of Van Sneck's body. + +"Beautiful, beautiful," Heritage murmured. "How easily it comes away." + +Bell was watching in deep admiration of the strong hand that was yet +light as thistledown. The big electric light flickered for just a moment, +and Heritage stood upright. + +"Don't be a fool," Bell said, sternly. "It's a mere matter of current." +Heritage muttered that it must be. Nevertheless it had given him quite a +turn. His face was set and pale and his hand shook ever so slightly. The +knife was cutting deep, deeper-- + +A snarling oath broke from Bell's lips as the light flickered again and +popped out suddenly, leaving the whole room in intense darkness. Heritage +cried aloud. David felt a hand guiding his fingers to the patient's head. + +"Press the sponge down there and press hard," Bell whispered. "It's a +matter of life and death. Another minute and Van Sneck would have gone. +Heritage, Heritage, pull yourself together. It was no fault of yours the +light went out--the fault is mine." + +Bell stumbled down the kitchen stairs and returned with a candle. The +electric lights were out all over the ground floor with the exception of +the hall. One of the circuits had given out completely, as sometimes +happens with the electric light. Bell leapt on a table and turned the +hall light out. A second later and he was dragging the long spare flex +from the impromptu operating-room to the swinging cord over the hall +lamp. With a knife he cut the cord loose, he stripped the copper wires +beneath, and rapidly joined one flex to the other. + +"It's amateur work, but I fancy it will do," he muttered. "Anyway, that +rascal is powerless to interfere with the circuit that controls the +hall light." + +Snap went the hall switch--there was a sudden cry from Heritage as the +big lamp over the head of Van Sneck flared up again. Bell raced into the +study and shut the door. + +"A trick," he gasped. "The light was put out. For Heaven's sake, +Heritage, don't get brooding over those fancies of yours _now._ I tell +you the thing was done deliberately. Here, if you are too weak or feeble, +give the knife to _me_." + +The request had a sting in it. With an effort Heritage pulled +himself together. + +"No," he said, firmly, "I'll do it. It was a cruel, dastardly trick to +play upon me, but I quite see now that it _was_ a trick. Only it's going +to make a man of me instead." + +Bell nodded. His eyes were blazing, but he said nothing. He watched +Heritage at work with stern approval. Nothing could have been more +scientific, more skilful. It seemed a long time to David, looking on, but +it was a mere matter of minutes. + +"Finished," Heritage said, with a triumphant thrill. "And successful." + +"And another second would have seen an end of our man," Bell said. "He's +coming round again. Get those bandages on, Heritage. I'll look after the +mess. Give him the drug. I want him to sleep for a good long time." + +"Will he be sensible to-morrow?" David asked. + +"I'll pledge my reputation upon it," Bell said. "Hadn't you better +telephone down to your electrician to come and see to those lights? I see +the fuse in the meter is intact; it is only on the one circuit that they +have gone." + +Van Sneck opened his eyes and stared languidly about him. In a clear, +weak, yet wholly sensible voice he asked where he was, and then lapsed +into slumber. A little later and he lay snug and still in bed. There was +a look of the deepest pleasure in the eyes of Heritage. + +"I've saved him and he's saved me," he said. "But it was touch and go for +both of us when that light failed. But for Bell I fancied that I should +have fainted. And then it came to me that it was some trick, and my nerve +returned." + +"Never to leave you again," Bell said. "It tried you high, and found you +not wanting." + +"Heaven be praised," Heritage murmured. "But how was it done?" + +Bell's face was stern as he took the kitchen candlestick from the table +and went in the direction of the dining-room. + +"Come with me, and I'll explain," he said, curtly. + +The dining-room was in pitchy darkness, for the lights there had been on +the short circuit; indeed, the lights on the ground floor had all failed +with the exception of the hall, which fortunately had been on another +circuit. The fact had saved Van Sneck's life, for if Bell had not +speedily used that one live wire the patient must have perished. + +Henson looked up from his sofa with a start and a smile. + +"I am afraid I must have been asleep," he said, languidly. + +"Liar," Bell thundered. "You have been plotting murder. And but for a +mere accident the plot would have been successful. You have worked out +the whole thing in your mind; you came here on purpose. You came here to +stifle the light at the very moment when we were operating on Van Sneck. +You thought that all the lights on the floor would be on the same +circuit; you have been here before." + +"Are you mad?" Henson gasped. "When have I been here before--" + +"The night that you lured Van Sneck here by a forged letter and left him +for dead." + +Henson gasped, his lips moved, but no words came from them. + +"You have a little knowledge of electricity," Bell went on. "And you saw +your way pretty clear to spoil our operation to-night. You got that idea +from yonder wall-plug, into which goes the plunger of the reading lamp on +the cabinet yonder. At the critical moment all you had to do was to dip +your fingers in water and press the tips of them against the live wire in +the wall-plug. You did so, and immediately the wires fired all over the +circuit and plunged us in darkness. But the hall light remained sound, +and Van Sneck was saved. If it is any consolation to you, he will be as +sensible as any of us to-morrow." + +"Hensen had risen to his feet, pale and trembling, He protested, but it +was all in vain. Bell approached the china wall-plug and pointed to it. + +"Hold the candle down," he said. "There! You can see that the surface is +still wet, there is water in the holes now, and some of it has trickled +down the distemper on the wall. You ought to be shot where you stand, +murderous dog." + +Henson protested, with some dignity. It was all so much Greek to him, he +said. He had been sleeping so quietly that he had not seen the light +fail. Bell cut him short. + +"Get out," he cried. "Go away; you poison the air that honest men +breathe, and you are as fit and well as I am. Why don't you pitch him +into the street, Steel? Why don't you telephone to Marley at the +police-station, and say that the Huddersfield swindler is here? Oh, if +you only knew what an effort it is to keep my hands off him!" + +Henson made for the door with alacrity. A moment later and he was in the +street, dazed, confused, and baffled, and with the conviction strong upon +him that he had failed in his great _coup_. Van Sneck would be sensible +to-morrow--he would speak. And then-- + +But he dared not think of that at present. He wanted all his nerve and +courage now. He had just one last chance, one single opportunity of +making money, and then he must get out of the country without delay. He +almost wished now that he had not been quite so precipitate in the matter +of James Merritt. That humble tool might have been of great advantage to +him at this moment. But Merritt had threatened to be troublesome and must +be got out of the way. But then, the police had not picked Merritt up +yet. Was it possible that Merritt had found out that-- + +But Henson did not care to think of that, either, He would go back to the +quiet lodgings he had taken in Kemp Town for a day or two, he would +change his clothes and walk over to Longdean Grange, and it would go hard +if he failed to get a cheque from the misguided lady there. If he were +quick he could be there by eleven o'clock. + +He passed into his little room. He started back to see a man sleeping in +his armchair. Then the man, disturbed by the noise of the newcomer, +opened his eyes. And those eyes were gleaming with a glow that filled +Henson's heart with horrible dread. It was Merritt who sat opposite him, +and it was Merritt whose eyes told Henson that he knew of the latter's +black treachery. Henson was face to face with death, and he knew it. + +He turned and fled for his life; he scudded along the streets, past the +hospital and up towards the downs, with Merritt after him. The start was +not long, but it was sufficient. Merritt took the wrong turn, and, with a +heart beating fast and hard, Henson climbed upwards. It was a long time +before his courage came back to him. He did not feel really easy in his +mind until he had passed the lodge-gates at Longdean Grange, where he was +fortunate enough, after a call or two, to rouse up Williams. + +The latter came with more alacrity than usual. There was a queer grin on +his face and a suggestion of laughter in his eyes. + +"There seems to be a lot of light about," Henson cried. "Take me up +to the house, and don't let anybody know I am here. Your mistress +gone to bed?" + +"She's in the drawing-room," Williams said, "singing. And Miss Enid's +there. I am sure they will be glad to see you, sir." + +Henson doubted it, but made no reply. There was a chatter of voices in +the drawing-room, a chatter of a lightsomeness that Henson had never +heard before. Well, he would soon settle all that. He passed quietly into +the room, then stood in puzzled fear and amazement. + +"Our dear nephew," said a cool, sarcastic voice. "Come in, sir, come in. +This is quite charming. Well, my sweet philanthropist and most engaging +gentleman, and what may we have the pleasure of doing for you to-night?" + +"Lord Littimer?" Henson gasped. "Lord Littimer _here_?" + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +UNSEALED LIPS + + +Bell gave a gesture of relief as the door closed upon Henson. Heritage +looked like a man who does not quite understand. + +"I haven't quite got the hang of it yet," he said. "Was that done for +my benefit?" + +"Of course it was," Bell replied. "Henson found out that Van Sneck was +here, as he was certain to do sooner or later. He comes here to make +inquiries and finds you; also he comes to spy out the land. Now, without +being much of a gambler, I'm willing to stake a large sum that he +introduced the subject of your old trouble?" + +"He invariably did that," Heritage admitted. + +"Naturally. That was part of the game. And you told him that you had got +over your illness and that you were going to do the operation. And you +told him how. Where were you when the little conversation between Henson +and yourself took place?" + +"He was asked into the dining-room." + +"And then you told him everything. Directly Henson's eyes fell upon that +wall-plug he knew how to act. He made up his mind that the electric light +should fail at a critical moment. Hence the dramatic 'accident' with the +cycle. Once Henson had got into the house the rest was easy. He had only +to wet his fingers and press them hard against the two wires in the +wallplug and out pops the light, in consequence of the fuses blowing out. +I don't know where Henson learnt the trick, but I do know that I was a +fool not to think of it. You see, the hall light being dropped through +from the floor above was on another circuit. If it hadn't been we should +have had our trouble with Van Sneck for nothing." + +"He would have died?" David asked. + +The two doctors nodded significantly. + +"What a poisonous scoundrel he is!" David cried. "Miss Chris Henson does +not hesitate to say that he was more or less instrumental in removing two +people who helped her and her sister to defeat Henson, and now he makes +two attacks on Van Sneck's life. Really, we ought to inform the police +what has happened and have him arrested before he can do any further +mischief. Penal servitude for life would about fit the case." + +Van Sneck was jealously guarded by Heritage and Bell for the next few +hours. He awoke the next morning little the worse for the operation. His +eyes were clear now; the restless, eager look had gone from them. + +"Where am I?" he demanded. "What has happened?" + +Bell explained briefly. As he spoke his anxiety passed away. He saw that +Van Sneck was following quite intelligently and rationally. + +"I remember coming here," the Dutchman said. "I can't recall the rest +just now. I feel like a man who is trying to piece the fragments of a +dream together." + +"You'll have it all right in an hour or two," Bell said, with an +encouraging smile. "Meanwhile your breakfast is ready. Yes, you can smoke +afterwards if you like. And then you shall tell me all about Reginald +Henson. As a matter of fact, we know all about it now." + +"Oh," Van Sneck said, blankly. "You do, eh?" + +"Yes, even to the history of the second Rembrandt, and the reason why +Henson stabbed you and gave you that crack over the head. If you tell me +the truth you are safe; if you don't--why, you stand a chance of joining +Henson in the dock." + +Bell went off, leaving Van Sneck to digest this speech at his leisure. +Van Sneck lay back on his bed, propped up with pillows, and smoked many +cigarettes before he expressed a desire to see Bell again. The latter +came in with Steel; Heritage had gone elsewhere. + +"This gentleman is Mr. Steel?" Van Sneck suggested. + +Bell responded somewhat drily that it was. "But I see you are going to +tell us everything," he went on. "That being so, suppose you begin at the +beginning. When you sold that copy of the 'Crimson Blind' to Lord +Littimer had you the other copy?" + +"Ach, you have got to the bottom of things, it seems," Van Sneck gurgled. + +"Yes, and I have saved your life, foolish as it might seem," Bell +replied. "You came very near to losing it the second attempt last night +at Henson's hands. Henson is done for, played out, burst up. We can +arrest him on half-a-dozen charges when we please. We can have you +arrested any time on a charge of conspiracy over those pictures--" + +"Of which I am innocent; I swear it," Van Sneck said, solemnly. "Those +two Rembrandts--they fell into my hands by what you call a slice of good +luck. I am working hand in glove with Henson at the time, and show him +them. I suggest Lord Littimer as a purchaser. He would, perhaps, buy the +two, which would be a little fortune for me. Then Henson, he says, 'Don't +you be a fool, Van Sneck. Suppress the other; say nothing about it. You +get as much from Littimer for the one as you get for the two, because +Lord Littimer think it unique.'" + +"That idea commended itself to a curio dealer?" Bell suggested, drily. + +"But yes," Van Sneck said, eagerly. "Later on we disclose the other and +get a second big price. And Lord Littimer he buy the first copy for a +long price." + +"After which you discreetly disappear," said Steel. "Did you steal those +pictures?" + +"No," Van Sneck said, indignantly. "They came to me in the way of honest +business--a poor workman who knows nothing of their value, and takes +fifteen marks for them." + +"Honest merchant," David murmured. "Pray go on." + +"I had to go away. Some youthful foolishness over some garnets raked up +after many years. The police came down upon me so suddenly that I got +away with the skin of my teeth. I leave the other Rembrandt, everything, +behind me. I do not know that Henson he give me away so that he can steal +the other Rembrandt." + +"So you have found that out?" said Bell. "Who told you?" + +"I learn that not so long ago. I learn it from a scoundrel called +Merritt, a tool of Henson. He tells me to go to Littimer Castle to +steal the Rembrandt for Henson, because Di. Bell, he find _my_ +Rembrandt. Then I what you call pump Merritt, and he tells me all about +the supposed robbery at Amsterdam and what was found in the portmanteau +of good Dr. Bell yonder. Then I go to Henson and tell him what I find +out, and he laughs. Mind you, that was after I came here from Paris on +business for Henson." + +"About the time you bought that diamond-mounted cigar-case?" David +asked, quietly. + +Van Sneck nodded. He was evidently impressed by the knowledge possessed +by his questioners. + +"That's it," he said. "I buy it because Henson ask me to. Henson say he +make it all right about the Rembrandt, and that if I do as I am told he +give me L500. His money is to come on a certain day, but I pump and I +pump, and I find that there is some game against Mr. Steel, who is a +great novelist." + +"That is very kind of you," David said, modestly. + +"One against Miss Enid Henson," Van Sneck went on. "I met that young lady +once and I liked her; therefore, I say I will be no party to getting her +into trouble. And Henson says I am one big fool, and that he is only +giving Mr. Steel a lesson in the art of minding his own business. So I +ask no further questions, though I am a good bit puzzled. With the last +bank-notes I possess I go to a place called Walen's and buy the +cigar-case that Henson says. I meet him and hand over the case and ask +him for my money. Henson swears that he has no money at all, not even +enough to repay me the price of the cigar-case. He has been disappointed. +And I have been drinking. So I swear I will write and ask Mr. Steel to +see me, and I do so." + +"And you get an answer?" David asked. + +"Sir, I do. You said you would see me the same night. It was a forgery?" + +"It was. Henson had anticipated something like that. I know all about the +forgery, how my notepaper was procured, and when the forgery was written. +But that has very little to do with the story now. Please go on." + +Van Sneck paused before he proceeded. + +"I am not quite sober," he said. "I am hot with what I called my +wrongs. I come here and ring the bell. The hall was in darkness. There +was a light in the conservatory, but none in the study. I quite +believed that it was Mr. Steel who opened the door and motioned me +towards the study. Then the door of the study closed and locked behind +me, and the electric light shot up. When I turned round I found myself +face to face with Henson." + +Van Sneck paused again and shuddered at some hideous recollection. +His eyes were dark and eager; there was a warm moisture like varnish +on his face. + +"Even that discovery did not quite sober me," he went on. "I fancied it +was some joke, or that perhaps I had got into the wrong house. But no, +it was the room of a literary gentleman. I--I expected to see Mr. Steel +come in or to try the door. Henson smiled at me. Such a smile! He asked +me if I had the receipt for the cigar-case about me, and I said it was +in my pocket. Then he smiled again, and something told me my life was +in danger. + +"I was getting pretty sober by that time. It came to me that I had been +lured there; that Henson had got into the house during the absence of the +owner. It was late at night in a quiet house, and nobody had seen me +come. If that man liked to kill me he could do so and walk out of the +house without the faintest chance of discovery. And he was twice my size, +and a man without feeling. I looked round me furtively lor a weapon. + +"He saw my glance and understood it, and smiled again. I was trembling +from head to foot now with a vague, nameless terror. From the very first +I knew that I had not the smallest chance. Henson approached me and laid +his hand on my shoulder. He wanted something, he gave that something a +name. If I passed that something over to him I was free, if not-- + +"Well, gentlemen, I didn't believe him. He had made a discovery that +frightened me. And I had what he wanted in my pocket. If I had handed it +over to him he would not have spared me. As he approached me my foot +slipped and I stumbled into the conservatory. I fell backwards. And then +I recovered myself and defied Henson. + +"'Fool,' he hissed, 'do you want to die?' + +"But I knew that I should die in any case. Even then I could smile to +myself as I thought how I could baffle my foe. Once, twice, three times +he repeated his demands, and each time I was obdurate. I knew that he +would kill me in any case. + +"He came with a snarl of rage; there was a knife in his hand. I hurled +a flower-pot at his head and missed him. The next instant and he had me +by the throat. I felt his knife between my shoulders, then a stunning +blow on the head, and till I woke here to-day I cannot recollect a +single thing." + +Van Sneck paused and wiped his face, wet with the horror of the +recollection. David Steel gave Bell a significant glance, and the +latter nodded. + +"Was the thing that Henson wanted a ring?" Steel asked, quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +WHERE IS THE RING? + + +Van Sneck looked up with some signs of confusion. He had not +expected a question of that kind. There was just the suggestion of +cunning on his face. + +"A ring!" he murmured, vaguely. "A ring! What ring?" + +"Now, look here," David said, sternly. "You are more or less in our +power, you know, but we are not disposed to be hard on you so long as you +are quite candid with us. Henson required something that he believed to +be in your possession; indeed, you have as good as said you had it with +you. Henson lured you into my house to get that more than anything else. +That he would have killed you even after he got it, I firmly believe. But +that is not the point. Now, was not Henson looking for Prince Rupert's +ring that you got from him by means of a trick?" + +Van Sneck dropped his hands helplessly on the bed. + +"Gentlemen," he whined, "you are too much for me. The marvellous +accuracy of your knowledge is absolutely overwhelming. It was the ring +Henson was after." + +"The one you stole from him years ago! But what did you know about it?" + +Van Sneck smiled. + +"There is no living man who knows more about those things than I do," he +said. "It is a passion and a study with me. And some seven years ago, in +Holland, Henson gave me the description of a ring he wanted me to copy. +Henson never told me what the ring was called, but I knew it was the +Prince Rupert ring. I made the copy, and Henson was pleased with it. Some +time later he came to me with the original, and asked for another copy. I +meant to be honest, but my love for those things got the better of me. I +made him two copies: the one good, and the other an exact facsimile of +the Prince Rupert. These I handed over to Henson, and he went away +perfectly satisfied that he had a good copy and the original. I chuckled +to myself, feeling pretty sure that he would never find out." + +"But he did find out?" David said. + +"Only lately. Probably he took it to an expert for valuation or perhaps +for sale. Lately his idea was to offer the ring to Lord Littimer for a +huge sum of money, but when he discovered he had been done he knew that +Lord Littimer would not be so deceived. Also he had a pretty good idea +that I should keep the ring about me. You see, I dared not sell an +historic gem like that. And, as usual, Henson was perfectly right." + +"Then you had the ring in your pocket the night you came here?" asked +Steel, with a commendable effort at coolness. "Did Henson get it?" + +"No, he didn't," Van Sneck chuckled. "Come what might, I had made up my +mind that he should never see that ring again. You see, I was frightened +and confused, and I was not properly sober, and I did something with the +ring, though to save my life I couldn't say what I did. Do you know, Dr. +Bell, I have lost my sense of smell?" + +Steel wriggled impatiently about on his chair. The interruption was +exasperating. Bell, however, seemed to take a different view of the +matter altogether. + +"Quite naturally," he said. "The blow on your head held all your senses +suspended for a time. After the operation I should not have been +surprised to have found you half blind and stone deaf into the bargain. +But one thing is certain--your smell will come back to you. It may remain +in abeyance for a few days, it may return in a few moments." + +"What on earth has this to do with our interview?" David asked. + +"I fancy a great deal," Bell said. "The sense of smell has a great deal +to do with memory. Doesn't the scent of flowers bring back vivid +recollections of things sometimes for years forgotten? Van Sneck was +going to say the air was heavy with the fragrance of some particular +blossom when he was struck down by Henson in your conservatory." + +"Very clever man, Dr. Bell," Van Sneck said, admiringly. "He seems to see +right through your mind and out at the other side. To a great extent I +recollect all that happened that eventful night. And just at the very +last I seem to smell something powerful. That smell came to my nostrils +just like a flash and then had gone again. Gentlemen, if I could have a +good long scent at that flower I tell you what I did with that ring." + +"Sounds rather complex," David said. + +"Not a bit of it," Bell retorted. "Our friend is talking sound common +sense, and our friend is going to rest now late into the afternoon, when +well put him into an armchair with some pillows and let him sit in the +conservatory. Associating with familiar surroundings frequently works +wonders. Van Sneck, you go to sleep." + +Van Sneck closed his eyes obediently. He was somewhat tired with the +interview. But, on the whole, Bell decided that he was doing very well +indeed. And there was very little more to be done for the present. The +two men smoked their cigars peacefully. + +"We have got to the end," Bell said. + +"I fancy so," David murmured, "But we can't save the scandal. I don't see +how Reginald Henson is going to get out of the mess without a +prosecution." + +Any further speculation as to the future of that engaging rascal was cut +short by a pleasant surprise, no other than the unexpected arrival of +Ruth Gates and Chris Henson. The latter was beaming with health and +happiness; she had discarded her disguise, and stood confessed before all +the world like the beautiful creature that she was. + +"What does it all mean?" David asked. "What will Longdean village say?" + +"What does Longdean village know?" Chris retorted. "They are vaguely +aware that somebody was taken away from the house a short time ago to be +buried, but that is all their knowledge. And there is no more need for +disguise, Lord Littimer says. He knows pretty well everything. He has +been very restless and uneasy for the past day or two, and yesterday he +left saying that he had business in London. Early to-day I had a +characteristic telegram from him saying that he was at Longdean, and that +I was necessary to his comfort there. I was to come clothed in my right +mind, and I was to bring Mr. Steel and Dr. Bell along." + +"It can't be managed," said Bell. "We've got Van Sneck here." + +"And I had forgotten all about him," said Chris. "Was the operation +successful?" + +Bell told his budget of good news down to the story of the ring and the +mysterious manner in which it had disappeared again. David had followed +Ruth into the conservatory, where she stood with her dainty head buried +over a rose. + +She looked up with a warm, shy smile on her face. + +"I hope you are satisfied," she said, "you are safe now?" + +"I was never very much alarmed, dearest," Steel said. "If this thing had +never happened I might never have met you. And as soon as this business +is definitely settled I shall come and see your uncle. I am a very +impatient man, Ruth." + +"And you shall see my uncle when you please, dear," she said. "You will +find him quite as charming as you say your mother is. What will she say?" + +"Say? That you are the dearest and sweetest girl in the world, and that I +am a lucky fellow. But you are not going off already?" + +"Indeed, we must. We have a cab at the door. And I am going to brave the +horrors of Longdean Grange and spend the night there. Only, I fancy that +the horrors have gone for ever. I shall be very disappointed if you don't +come to-morrow." + +Behind a friendly palm David bent and kissed the shy lips, with a vow +that he would see Longdean Grange on the morrow. Then Chris caught up +Ruth with a whirl, and they were gone. + +It was after ten that Bell and Steel managed to convey Van Sneck to the +conservatory. The place was filled with brightness and scent and colour +and the afterglow of the sunshine. The artistic eye of the Dutchman +lighted up with genuine pleasure. + +"They say you islanders are crude and cold, and have no sense of the +beautiful," he said. "But there are no houses anywhere to compare with +those of the better-class Englishman. Look at those colours blending--" + +"Hang those colours," said Bell, vigorously. "Steel, there is nothing +like moisture to bring out the full fragrance of flowers. Turn on your +hose and give your plants a good watering." + +"It's the proper time," David laughed. "Turn on the tap for me." + +A cooling stream played on the flowers; plants dropped their heads filled +with the diamond moisture; the whole atmosphere was filled with the odour +of moist earth. Then the air seemed laden with the mingled scent. + +"I can smell the soil," Van Sneck cried. "How good it is to smell +anything again! And I can just catch a suggestion of the perfume of +something familiar. What's that red bloom?" + +He pointed to a creeper growing up the wall. David broke off a spray. + +"That's a kind of Japanese passion flower," he said. "It has a lovely +full-flavoured scent like a mixture of violets and almonds. Smell it." + +Van Sneck placed the wet dripping spray to his nose. Just for an instant +it conveyed nothing to him. Then he half rose with a triumphant cry. + +"Steady there," said Bell. "You mustn't get up, you know. I see you are +excited. Has it come back to you again?" + +"That's the scent," Van Sneck cried. "The air was full of that as I fell +backwards. And Henson stood over me exactly by that cracked tile where +Mr. Steel is now. Give me a moment and I shall be able to tell you +everything ... Oh, yes, the first time I slipped on purpose. I told you I +stumbled. But that was a ruse. And as I fell I took the ring from my +waistcoat-pocket ... Let me have another sniff of that bloom. Yes, I've +got it now quite clear." + +"You know where the ring is?" David asked, eagerly. + +"Well, not quite that. I took it from my pocket and pitched it away from +me ... I saw it fall on to a pot covered with moss, but I can't say which +pot or in which corner. I only know that I threw it over my shoulder, and +that it dropped into the thick moss that lies on the top of all the pots. +I laughed to myself as it fell, and I rejoiced to see that Henson knew +nothing of it." + +"And it is still here?" Bell demanded. + +Van Sneck nodded solemnly. + +"I swear it," he said. "Prince Rupert's ring is in this conservatory." + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +KICKED OUT + + +Reginald Henson had had more than one unpleasant surprise lately, +but none so painful as the sight of Lord Littimer seated in the +Longdean Grange drawing-room with the air of a man who is very much +at home indeed. + +The place was strangely changed, too. There was an air of neatness and +order about the room that Henson had never seen before. The dust and dirt +had absolutely vanished; it might have been the home of any ordinary +wealthy and refined people. And all Lady Littimer's rags and patches had +disappeared. She was dressed in somewhat old-fashioned style, but +handsomely and well. She sat beside Littimer with a smile on her face. +But the cloud seemed to have rolled from her mind; her eyes were clear, +if a little frightened. From the glance that passed between Littimer and +herself it was easy to see that the misunderstanding was no more. + +"You are surprised to see me here?" said Littimer. + +Henson stammered out something and shrank towards, the door. Littimer +ordered him back again. He came with a slinking, dogged air; he avoided +the smiling contempt in Enid's eyes. + +"My presence appears to be superfluous," he said, bitterly. + +"And mine appears to be a surprise," Littimer replied. "Come, are you not +glad to see me, my heir and successor? What has become of the old +fawning, cringing smile? Why, if some of your future constituents could +see you now they might be justified in imagining that you had done +something wrong. Look at yourself." + +Littimer indicated a long gilt mirror on the opposite wall. Henson +glanced at it involuntarily and dropped his eyes. Could that abject, +white-faced sneak be himself? Was that the man whose fine presence and +tender smile had charmed thousands? It seemed impossible. + +"What have I done?" he asked. + +"What have you not done?" Littimer thundered. "In the first place you did +your best to ruin Hatherly Bell's life. You robbed me of a picture to do +so, and your friend Merritt tried to rob me again. But I have both those +pictures now. You did that because you were afraid of Bell--afraid lest +he should see through your base motives. And you succeeded for a time, +for the coast was clear. And then you proceeded to rob me of my son by +one of the most contemptible tricks ever played by one man on another. It +was you who stole the money and the ring; you who brought about all that +sorrow and trouble by means of a forgery. But there are other people on +your track as well as myself. You were at your last gasp. You were coming +to see me to sell that ring for a large sum to take you out of the +country, and then you discovered that you hadn't really got the ring." + +"What--what are you talking about?" Henson asked, feebly. + +"Scoundrel!" Littimer cried. "Innocent and pure to the last. I know all +about Van Sneck and those forgeries of Prince Rupert's ring. And I know +how Van Sneck was nearly done to death in Mr. Steel's house; and I know +why--good heavens! It seems impossible that I could have been deceived +all these years by such a slimy, treacherous scoundrel. And I might have +gone on still but for a woman--" + +"A lady detective," Henson sneered. "Miss Lee." + +Littimer smiled. It was good, after all, to defeat and hoodwink +the rascal. + +"Miss Chris Henson," he said. "It never occurred to you that Miss Chris +and Miss Lee were one and the same person. You never guessed. And she +played with you as if you had been a child. How beautifully she exposed +you over those pictures. Ah, you should have seen your face when you saw +the stolen Rembrandt back again in its place. And after that you were mad +enough to think that I trusted you. My dear, what shall we do with this +pretty fellow?" + +Lady Littimer shook her head doubtfully. It was plain that the presence +of Henson disturbed her. There was just a suggestion of the old madness +in her eyes. + +"Send him away," she said. "Let him go." + +"Send him away by all means," Littimer went on. "But letting him go is +another matter. If we do the police will pick him up on other charges. +There is a certain consolation in knowing that his evil career is likely +to be shortened by some years. But I shall have no mercy. Scotland Yard +shall know everything." + +There was a cold ring in Littimer's voice that told Henson of his +determination to carry out his threat. The other troubles he might +wriggle out of, but this one was terribly real. It was time to try +conciliation. + +"It will be a terrible scandal for the family, my lord," he whined. + +Littimer rose to his feet. A sudden anger flared into his eyes. He was a +smaller man than Henson, but the latter cowed before him. + +"You dog!" he cried. "What greater scandal than that of the past few +years? Does not all the world know that there is, or has been, some heavy +cloud over the family honour? Lord and Lady Littimer have parted, and her +ladyship has gone away. That is only part of what the gossips have said. +And in these domestic differences it is always the woman who suffers. +Everybody always says that the woman has done something wrong. For years +my wife has been under this stigma. If she had chosen to keep before the +world after she left me most people would have ignored her. And you talk +to me of a family scandal!" + +"You will only make bad worse, my lord." + +"No," Littimer cried. "I am going to make bad infinitely better. We come +together again, but we say nothing of the past. And the world sneers and +says the past is ignored for politic considerations. And so the public +is going to know the truth, you dog. The whole facts of the case have +gone to my solicitor, and by this time to-morrow a warrant will be +issued against you. And I shall stand in open court and tell the whole +world my story." + +"In fairness to Lady Littimer," said Enid, speaking for the first time, +"you could do no less." + +"You were always against me," Henson snarled + +"Because I always knew you," said Enid. "And the more I knew of you the +greater was my contempt. And you came here ever on the same +errand--money, money, money. From first to last you have robbed my aunt +of something like L70,000. And always by threats or the promise that you +would some day restore the ring to the family." + +"As to the ring," Henson protested, "I swear--" + +"I suppose a lie more or less makes no difference to an expert like +yourself," Enid went on, with cold contempt. "You took advantage of my +aunt's misfortunes. Ah, she is a different woman since Lord Littimer came +here. But her sorrow has crushed her down, and that forgery of the ring +you dangled before her eyes deceived her." + +"I never showed her the ring," Henson said, brazenly. + +"And you can look me in the face and say that? One night Lady Littimer +snatched it from you and ran into the garden. You followed and struggled +for the ring. And Mr. David Steel, who stood close by, felled you to the +earth with a blow on the side of your head. I wonder he didn't kill you. +I should have done so in his place. And yet it would be a pity to hang +anyone for your death. See here!" + +Enid produced the ring from her pocket. Lord Littimer looked at it +intently. + +"Have you seen this before, my dear?" he asked his wife. + +"Many a time," Lady Littimer said, sadly. "Take it away, it reminds me of +too many bitter memories. Take it out of my sight." + +"An excellent forgery," Littimer murmured. "A forgery calculated +to deceive many experts even. I will compare it with the original +by and by." + +Henson listened with a sinking feeling at his heart. Was it possible, he +wondered, that Lord Littimer had really recovered the original? He had +had hopes of getting it back even now, and making it the basis of terms +of surrender. Lady Littimer snatched the ring from Littimer's grasp and +threw it through the open window into the garden. + +She stood up facing Henson, her head thrown back, her eyes flaming with a +new resolution. It seemed hardly possible to believe that this fine, +handsome woman with the white hair could be the poor demented creature +that the others once had known. + +"Reginald Henson, listen to me," she cried. "For your own purpose you +cruelly and deliberately set out to wreck the happiness of several lives. +For mere money you did this; for sheer love of dissipation you committed +this crime. You nearly deprived me of my reason. I say nothing about the +money, because that is nothing by comparison. But the years that are lost +can never come back to me again. When I think of the past and the past of +my poor, unhappy boy I feel that I have no forgiveness for you. If +you--Oh, go away; don't stay here--go. If I had known you were coming I +should have forbidden you the house. Your mere presence unnerves me. +Littimer, send him away." + +Littimer rose to his feet and rang the bell. + +"You will be good enough to rid me of your hateful presence," he said, +"at once; now go." + +But Henson still stood irresolute. He fidgeted from one foot to the +other. He seemed to have some trouble that he could find no +expression for. + +"I want to go away," he murmured. "I want to leave the country. But at +the present moment I am practically penniless. If you would advance me--" + +Littimer laughed aloud. + +"Upon my word," he said, "your coolness is colossal. I am going to +prosecute you, I am doing my best to bring you into the dock. And you ask +me--_me_, of all men--to find you money so that you can evade justice! +Have you not had enough--are you never satisfied? Williams, will you see +Mr. Henson off the premises?" + +The smiling Williams bowed low. + +"With the greatest possible pleasure, my lord," he said. "Any further +orders, my lord?" + +"And he is not to come here again, you understand." Williams seemed to +understand perfectly. With one backward sullen glance Henson quitted the +room and passed into the night with his companion. Williams was whistling +cheerfully, with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. + +"Is that how you treat a gentleman?" Henson demanded. + +"I ain't a gentleman," Williams said. "Never set up to be. And I ain't a +dirty rascal who has just been kicked out of a nobleman's house. Here, +stop that. Try that game on again and I'll call the dogs. And don't show +me any of your airs, please. I'm only a servant, but I am an honest man." + +Henson stifled his anger as best he could. He was too miserable and +downcast to think of much besides himself at present. Once the +lodge-gates were open, Williams stood aside for him to pass. The +temptation was irresistible. And Henson's back was turned. With a kick of +concentrated contempt and fury Williams shot Henson into the road, where +he landed full on his face. His cup of humiliation was complete. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +WHITE FANGS + + +Henson took his weary way in the direction of Brighton. He had but a few +pounds he could call his own, and not nearly enough to get away from the +country, and at any moment he might be arrested. He was afraid to go back +to his lodgings for fear of Merritt. That Merritt would kill him if he +got the chance he felt certain. And Merritt was one of those dogged, +patient types who can wait any time for the gratification of their +vengeance. + +Merritt was pretty certain to be hanging about for his opportunity. On +the whole the best thing would be to walk straight to the Central +Brighton Station and take the first train in the morning to town. There +he could see Gates--who as yet knew nothing--and from him it would be +possible to borrow a hundred or two, and then get away. And there were +others besides Gates. + +Henson trudged away for a mile or so over the downs. Then he came down +from the summit of the castle he was building with a rude shock to earth +again. A shadow seemed to rise from the ground, a heavy clutch was on his +shoulder, and a hoarse voice was in his ear. + +"Got you!" the voice said. "I knew they'd kick you out yonder, and I +guessed you'd sneak home across the downs. And I've fairly copped you!" + +Henson's knees knocked together. Physically he was a far stronger and +bigger man than Merritt, but he was taken unawares, and his nerves had +been sadly shaken of late. + +Merritt forced him backwards until he lay on the turf with his antagonist +kneeling on his chest. He dared not struggle, he dared not exert himself. +Presently he might get a chance, and if he did it would go hard with +James Merritt. + +"What are you going to do?" he gasped. + +Merritt drew a big, jagged stone towards him with one foot. + +"I'm going to bash your brains out with this," he said, hoarsely. His +eyes were gleaming, and in the dim light his mouth was set like a steel +trap. "I'm going to have a little chat with you first, and then down this +comes on the top of your skull, and it'll smash you like a bloomin' +eggshell. Your time's come, Henson. Say your prayers." + +"I can't," Henson whined. "And what have I done?" + +Merritt rocked heavily on the other's breastbone, almost stifling him. +"Wot?" he said, scoffingly. The pleasing mixture of gin and fog in his +throat rendered him more hideously hoarse than usual. "Not make up a +prayer! And you a regular dab at all that game! Why, I've seen the women +snivellin' like babies when you've been ladlin' it out. Heavens, what a +chap you would be on the patter! How you would kid the chaplain!" + +"Merritt, you're crushing the life out of me." + +Merritt ceased his rocking for a moment, and the laughter died out of his +gleaming eyes. + +"I don't want to be prematoor," he said. "Yes, you'd make a lovely +chaplain's pet, but I can't spare you. I'm going to smash that 'ere wily +brain of yours, so as it won't be useful any more. I'll teach you to put +the narks on to a poor chap like myself." + +"Merritt, I swear to you that I never--" + +"You can swear till you're black in the face, and you can keep on +swearing till you're lily-white again, and then it won't be any good. You +gave me away to Taylor because you were afraid I should do you harm at +Littimer Castle. That Daisy Bell of a girl there told me so." + +Henson groaned. It was not the least part of his humiliation that a mere +girl got the better of him in this way. And what on earth had she known +of Reuben Taylor? But the fact remained that she had known, and that she +had warned Merritt of his danger. It was the one unpardonable crime in +Henson's decalogue, the one thing Merritt could not forgive. + +Henson's time was come. He did not need anyone to tell him that. Unless +something in the nature of a miracle happened, he was a dead man in a few +moments; and life had never seemed quite so sweet as it tasted at the +present time. + +"You gave me away for no reason at all," Merritt went on. "I'm a pretty +bad lot, but I never rounded on a pal yet, and never shall. More than one +of them have served me bad, but I always let them go their own way, and +I've been a good and faithful servant to you--" + +"It was not you," Henson gurgled, "that I wrote that letter about, but--" + +"Chuck it," Merritt said, furiously. "Tell me any more of your lies and +I'll smash your jaw in for you. It _was_ me. I spotted Scotter in Moreton +Wells within a day or two. And Mr. Scotter had come for me. And I got +past Bronson in Brighton by the skin of my teeth. I turned into your +lodgings under his very eyes almost. Before this time to-morrow I shall +be arrested. But I'm going to have my vengeance first." + +The last words came with intense deliberation. There was no mistaking +their significance. Henson deemed it wise to try another tack. + +"I was wrong," he said, humbly. "I am very, very sorry; I lost my nerve +and got frightened, Merritt. But there is time yet. You always make more +money with me than with anybody else. And I'm going abroad presently." + +"Oh, you're going abroad, are you?" Merritt said, slowly. "Going to +travel in a Pullman car and put up at all the Courts of Europe. And I'm +coming as chief secretary to the Grand Panjandrum himself. Sound an +alluring kind of programme." + +"I'll give you a hundred pounds to get away with if you will--" + +"Got a hundred pounds of my own in my pocket at the present moment," was +the unexpected reply. "As you gave me away, consequently I gave you away +to his lordship, and he planked down a hundred canaries like the swell +that he is. So I don't want your company or your money. And I'm going to +finish you right away." + +The big stone was poised over Henson's head. He could see the jagged +part, and in imagination feel it go smashing into his brain. The time for +action had come. He snatched at Merritt's right arm and drew the knotted +fingers down. The next instant and he had bitten Merritt's thumb to the +bone. With a cry of rage and pain the stone was dropped. Henson snatched +it up and fairly lifted Merritt off his chest with a blow under the chin. + +Merritt rolled over on the grass, and Henson was on his feet in an +instant. The great stone went down perilously near to Merritt's head. +Still snarling and frothing from the pain Merritt stumbled to his feet +and dashed a blow blindly at the other. + +In point of size and strength there was only one in it. Had Henson stood +up to his opponent on equal terms there could only have been one issue. +But his nerves were shattered, he was nothing like the man he had been +two months ago. At the first onslaught he turned and fled towards the +town, leaving Merritt standing there in blank amazement. + +"Frightened of me," he muttered. "But this ain't the way it's going +to finish." + +He darted off in hot pursuit; he raced across a rising shoulder of the +hill and cut off Henson's retreat. The latter turned and scurried back in +the direction of Long-dean Grange, with Merritt hot on his heels. He +could not shake the latter off. + +Merritt was plodding doggedly on, pretty sure of his game. He was hard as +nails, whereas good living and a deal of drinking, quite in a gentlemanly +way, had told heavily on Henson. Unless help came unexpectedly Henson was +still in dire peril. There was just a chance that a villager might be +about; but Longdean was more or less a primitive place, and most of the +houses there had been in darkness for hours. + +His foot slipped, he stumbled, and Merritt, with a whoop of triumph, was +nearly upon him. But it was only a stagger, and he was soon going again. +Still, Merritt was close behind him; Henson could almost feel his hot +breath on his neck. And he was breathing heavily and distressfully +himself, whilst he could hear how steadily Merritt's lungs were working. +He could see the lights of Longdean Grange below him; but they seemed a +long way off, whilst that steady pursuit behind had something relentless +and nerve-destroying about it. + +They were pounding through the village now. Henson gave vent to one cry +of distress, but nothing came of it but the mocking echo of his own voice +from a distant belt of trees. Merritt shot out a short, sneering laugh. +He had not expected flagrant cowardice like this. He made a sudden spurt +forward and caught Henson by the tail of his coat. + +With a howl of fear the latter tore himself away, and Merritt reeled +backwards. He came down heavily over a big stone, and at the same moment +Henson trod on a hedge-stake. He grabbed it up and half turned upon his +foe. But the sight of Merritt's grim face was too much for him, and he +turned and resumed his flight once more. + +He yelled again as he reached the lodge-gates, but the only response was +the barking and howling of the dogs in the thick underwood beyond. There +was no help for it. Doubtless the deaf old lodge-keeper had been in bed +hours ago. Even the dogs were preferable to Merritt. Henson scrambled +headlong over the wall and crashed through the thickets beyond. + +Merritt pulled up, panting with his exertion. + +"Gone to cover," he muttered. "I don't fancy I'll follow. The dogs there +might have a weakness for tearing my throat out and Henson will keep, +I'll just hang about here till daylight and wait for my gentleman. And +I'll follow him to the end of the earth." + +Meanwhile Henson blundered on blindly, fully under the impression that +Merritt was still upon his trail. One of the hounds, a puppy three parts +grown, rose and playfully pulled at his coat. It was sheer play, but at +the same time it was a terrible handicap, and in his fear Henson lost all +his horror of the dogs. + +"Loose, you brute," he panted. "Let go, I say. Very well, take that!" + +He paused and brought the heavy stake down full on the dog's muzzle. +There was a snarling scream of pain, and the big pup sprang for his +assailant. An old, grey hound came up and seemed to take in the situation +at a glance. With a deep growl he bounded at Henson and caught him by the +throat. Before the ponderous impact of that fine free spring Henson went +down heavily to the ground. + +"Help!" he gurgled. "Help! help! help!" + +The worrying teeth had been firmly fixed, the ponderous weight pressed +all the breath from Henson's distressed lungs. He gurgled once again, +gave a little shuddering sigh, and the world dwindled to a thick sheet of +blinding darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +HIDE-AND-SEEK + + +Bell's professional enthusiasm got the better of his curiosity for the +moment. It was a nice psychological problem. Already Steel was +impulsively busy in the conservatory pulling the pots down. It was a +regretful thing to have to do, but everything had to be sacrificed, David +shut his teeth grimly and proceeded with his task. + +"What on earth are you doing?" Bell asked, with a smile. + +"Pulling the place to pieces," David responded. "I daresay I shall feel +pretty sick about it later on, but the thing has to be done. Cut those +wires for me, and let those creepers down as tenderly as possible. We +can't get to the little pots until we have moved the big ones." + +Bell coolly declined to do anything of the kind. He surveyed the two +graceful banks of flowers there, the carefully trained creepers trailing +so naturally and yet so artistically from the roof to the ground, and the +sight pleased him. + +"My dear chap," he said, "I am not going to sit here and allow you to +destroy the work of so many hours. There is not the slightest reason to +disturb anything. Unless I am greatly mistaken, Van Sneck will lay his +had upon the ring for us without so much as the sacrifice of a blossom." + +"I don't fancy so," Van Sneck replied. "I can't remember." + +"Well, you are going to," Bell said, cheerfully. "Did you ever hear of +artificial memory?" + +"The sort of thing you get in law courts and political speeches?" David +suggested. "All the same, if you have some patent way of getting at the +facts I shall be only too glad to spare my poor flowers. Their training +has been a labour of love with me." + +Bell smoked on quietly for some time. He toyed with the red blossoms +which had so stimulated Van Sneck's recollection, then tossed a spray +over to Van Sneck and suggested that the latter should put it in his +button-hole. + +"So as to have the fragrance with you all the time," he said. + +Van Sneck obeyed quietly, remarking that the scent was very pungent. The +Dutchman was restless and ill at ease; he seemed to be dissatisfied with +himself--he had the air of a man who has set out with two or three +extremely important matters of business and who has completely forgotten +what one of them is. + +"You needn't distress yourself," David said, kindly. + +"I beg your pardon," Bell said, tartly. "He is to do that very same +thing. Mental exercise never hurts anybody. Van Sneck is going to worry +till he puzzles it out. Will you describe the ring to us?" + +The Dutchman complied at considerable length. He dwelt on the beauty of +the workmanship and the exceeding fineness of the black pearls; he talked +with the freedom and expression of the expert. Bell permitted him to +ramble on about historic rings in general. But all the same he could see +that Van Sneck was far from easy in his mind. Now and then a sudden gleam +came into his eyes: memory played for the fragment of a second on a +certain elusive chord and was gone. + +"Were you smoking the night you came here?" Bell asked, suddenly. + +"Yes," Van Sneck replied, "a cigarette. Henson handed it over to me. I +don't deny that I was terribly frightened, I smoked the cigarette out +of bravado." + +"You went into the conservatory yonder and admired the flowers," +Bell observed. + +Van Sneck looked up with astonishment and admiration. + +"I did," he confessed. "But I don't see how you know that." + +"I guessed it. It takes the brain some little time to get level to the +imagination. And as soon as you came face to face with Henson you knew +what was going to happen. You were a little dazed and frightened, and a +little overcome by liquor into the bargain. But even then, though you +were probably unconscious of it yourself, you were seeking some place to +hide the ring." + +"I rather believe I was," Van Sneck said, thoughtfully. + +"You smoked a cigarette there. Where did you put the end?" + +Van Sneck rose and went into the conservatory. He walked directly to a +large pot of stephanotis in a distant corner and picked the stump of a +gold-tipped cigarette from thence. + +"I dropped it in there," he said. "Strange; if you had asked me that +question two minutes ago I should not have been able to answer it. And +now I distinctly remember pitching it in there and watching it scorch +some of that beautiful lace-like moss. There is a long trail of it +hanging down behind. I recollect how funnily it occurred to me, even in +the midst of my danger, that the trail would look better brought over the +front of the pot. Thus." + +He lifted the long, graceful spiral and brought it forward. Steel nodded, +approvingly. + +"I came very near to dropping the ring in there," Van Sneck explained. "I +had it in my fingers--I took it for the purpose from my waistcoat-pocket. +Then I saw Henson's eye on me and I changed my mind. I wish I had been +more sober." + +Bell was examining a pot a little lower down. A piece had been chipped +off, leaving a sharp, clean, red edge with a tiny tip of hair upon it. + +"You fell here," he exclaimed. "Your head struck the pot. Here is a +fragment of your hair on it. It is human hair beyond a doubt, and the +shade matches to a nicety. After that--" + +A sudden cry broke from the Dutchman. + +"I've got it!" he exclaimed. "You have cleverly led my mind into the +right direction. The only marvel is that I did not think of it before. +You will find the ring in the pot where the tuberose grows. I am quite +certain you will find it amongst the moss at the base." + +David carefully scooped up all the loose moss from the pot and laid it on +the study table. Then he shook the stuff out, and something glittering +lay on the table--a heavy ring of the most exquisite and cunning +workmanship, with a large gem in the centre, flanked by black pearls on +either side. Van Sneck took it in his fingers lovingly. + +"Here you are," he said. "Ach, the beauty! Well, you've got it now, and +do you take care of it lest it falls into my hands again. If I got a +chance I would steal it once more, and yet again, and again. Ah, what +mischief those things cause, to be sure!" + +The speaker hardly knew how much mischief the ring in question had +caused, nor did his companions seek to enlighten him. David wrapped it up +carefully and placed it in his pocket. + +"I'm glad that is settled," he said. "And I'm glad that I didn't have to +injure my flowers. Bell, you really are a most wonderful fellow." + +Bell smiled with the air of a man who is well satisfied with himself. At +this moment a servant came in with a message to the effect that Inspector +Marley desired to see Mr. Steel on important business. + +"Couldn't have come at a better time," David murmured. "Ask Mr. +Marley in here." + +Marley came smilingly, yet mysterious. He evinced no surprise at the +sight of Van Sneck. He was, doubtless, aware of the success of the +operation on the latter. He particularly desired to know where Mr. +Reginald Henson was to be found. + +"This is a queer place to look for him," said Steel. + +"But he was here yesterday," Marley protested. "He had an accident." + +"Bogus," said Steel. "We turned him out of the house. Is he wanted?" + +Marley explained that he was wanted on three different charges; in fact, +the inspector had the warrants in his pocket at the present moment. + +"Well, it's only by good chance that you haven't got one for me," David +laughed. "If you have ten minutes to spare, between Van Sneck and myself +we can clear up the mystery of the diamond-mounted cigar-case for you." + +Marley had the time to spare, and, indeed, he was keen enough to hear the +solution of the mystery. A short explanation from David, followed by a +few pithy, pertinent questions to Van Sneck, and he was perfectly +satisfied. + +"And yet I seemed to have an ideal case against you, Mr. Steel," he said. +"Seems almost a pity to cut a career like Mr. Henson's short, does it +not? Which reminds me that I am wasting time here. Any time you and Van +Sneck happen to be passing the police-station the cigar-case is entirely +at your disposal." + +And Marley bustled off upon the errand that meant so much for Reginald +Henson. He was hardly out of the house before Ruth Gates arrived. She +looked a little distressed; she would not stay for a moment, she +declared. Her machine was outside, and she was riding over to Longdean +without delay. A note had just been sent to her from Chris. + +"My uncle is in Paris," she said. "So I am going over to Longdean for a +few days. Lord Littimer is there, and Frank also. The reconciliation is +complete and absolute. Chris says the house is not the same now, and that +she didn't imagine that it could be so cheerful. Reginald Henson--" + +"My dear child, Henson is not there now." + +"Well, he is. He went there last night, knowing that he was at his last +gasp, with the idea of getting more money from Lady Littimer. To his +great surprise he found Littimer there also. It was anything but a +pleasant interview for Mr. Henson, who was finally turned out of the +house. It is supposed that he came back again, for they found him this +morning in the grounds with one of the dogs upon him. He is most horribly +hurt, and lies at the lodge in a critical condition. I promised Chris +that I would bring a message to you from Lord Littimer. He wants you and +Dr. Bell to come over this afternoon and stay to dinner." + +"We'll come, with pleasure," David said. "I'll go anywhere to have the +chance of a quiet hour with you, Ruth. So far ours has been rather a +prosaic wooing. And, besides, I shall want you to coach me up on my +interview with your uncle. You have no idea how nervous I am. And at the +last he might refuse to accept me for your husband." + +Ruth looked up fondly into her lover's face. + +"As if he could," she said, indignantly. "As if any man could find fault +with you." + +David drew the slender figure to his side and kissed the sweet, shy lips. + +"When you are my wife," he said, "and come to take a closer and tenderer +interest in my welfare--" + +"Could I take a deeper interest than I do now, David?" + +"Well, perhaps not. But you will find that a good many people find fault +with me. You have no idea what the critics say sometimes. They declare +that I am an impostor, a copyist; they say that I am--" + +"Let them say what they like," Ruth laughed. "That is mere jealousy, and +anybody can criticise. To me you are the greatest novelist alive." + +There was only one answer to this, and Ruth broke away, declaring that +she must go at once. + +"But you will come this afternoon?" she said. "And you will make +Lord Littimer like you. Some people say he is queer, but I call him +an old darling." + +"He will like me, he is bound to. I've got something, a present for him, +that will render him my slave for life. _Au revoir_ till the gloaming." + + * * * * * + +The dew was rising from the grass, the silence of the perfect morning was +broken by the uneasy cries of the dogs. From their strange whimpering +Williams felt pretty sure that something was wrong. At most times he +would have called the dogs to him and laid into them with a whip, for +Williams knew no fear, and the hounds respected his firm yet kindly rule. + +But Williams was in an exceptionally good temper this morning. Everything +had turned out as he had hoped for and anticipated, and the literal +kicking-out of Henson the previous evening was still fresh and sweet in +his memory. It would be something to boast of in his declining years. + +"Drat the dogs," he exclaimed. "Now, what's the matter? I had better +go and see. Got a fox in a hole, perhaps! We shall have to tie 'em up +in future." + +Williams darted into the thicket. Then he came full upon Henson, lying on +his back, with his white, unconscious face and staring eyes turned to the +sky, and two great dogs fussing uneasily about him. A big pup close by +had a large swelling on his head. By Henson's side lay the ash stick he +had picked up when pursued by Merritt. + +Williams bent over the stark, still figure and shuddered as he saw how +his clothing was all torn away from the body; saw the deep wounds in +the chest and throat; he could see that Henson still breathed. His +loud shouts for assistance brought Frank Littimer and the lodge-keeper +to the spot. Together they carried the body to the lodge and sent for +the doctor. + +"The case is absolutely hopeless," Walker said, after he had made his +examination. "The poor fellow may linger till the morning, but I doubt +if he will recognise anybody again. Does anybody know how the thing +came about?" + +Nobody but Merritt could have thrown any light upon the mystery, and he +was far away. Williams shook his head as he thought of his parting with +Henson the previous night. + +"I let him out and closed the gate behind him," he said. "He must have +come back for something later on and gone for the dogs. He certainly hit +one of the pups over the head with a stick, and that probably set the +others on to him. Nobody will ever know the rights of the business." + +And nobody ever did, for Henson lingered on through the day and far into +the night. At the house Lord Littimer was entertaining a party at dinner. +Everything had been explained; the ring had been produced and generally +admired. All was peace and happiness. They were all on the terrace in the +darkness when Williams came up from the lodge. + +"Is there any further news?" Lord Littimer asked. + +"Yes, my lord," Williams said, quietly. "Dr. Walker has just come, and +would like to see you at once. Mr. Reginald Henson died ten minutes ago." + +A hush came over the hitherto noisy group. It was some little time before +Lord Littimer returned. He had only to confirm the news. Reginald Henson +was dead; he had escaped justice, after all. + +"Well, I'm not sorry," Lady Littimer said. "It is a rare disgrace +saved to the family. And there have been trouble and sorrow enough and +to spare." + +"But your own good name, my dear?" Lord Littimer said. "And Frank's?" + +"We can live all that down, my dear husband. Frank will be too happy with +Chris to care what gossips say. And Dr. Bell and Enid will be as happy as +the others." + +"And Ruth and myself, too," David said, quietly. "Later on I shall tell +in a book how three sirens got me into a perfect sea of mischief." + +"What shall you call the book?" Littimer asked. + +"What better title could I have," David said, "than _The Crimson Blind_?" + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CRIMSON BLIND *** + +This file should be named 7crbl10.txt or 7crbl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7crbl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7crbl10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Crimson Blind + +Author: Fred M. White + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9832] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CRIMSON BLIND *** + + + + +E-text Prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE CRIMSON BLIND + +By FRED. M. WHITE + +1905 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + + I. "WHO SPEAKS?" + II. THE CRIMSON BLIND + III. THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS + IV. IN EXTREMIS + V. "RECEIVED WITH THANKS" + VI. A POLICY OF SILENCE + VII. No. 218, BRUNSWICK SQUARE + VIII. HATHERLY BELL + IX. THE BROKEN FIGURE + X. THE HOUSE OF THE SILENT SORROW + XI. AFTER REMBRANDT + XII. "THE CRIMSON BLIND" + XIII. "GOOD DOG!" + XIV. BEHIND THE BLIND + XV. A MEDICAL OPINION + XVI. MARGARET SEES A GHOST + XVII. THE PACE SLACKENS + XVIII. A COMMON ENEMY + XIX. ROLLO SHOWS HIS TEETH + XX. FRANK LITTIMER + XXI. A FIND + XXII. "THE LIGHT THAT FAILED" + XXIII. INDISCRETION + XXIV. ENID LEARNS SOMETHING + XXV. LITTIMER CASTLE + XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST + XXVII. SLIGHTLY FARCICAL + XXVIII. A SQUIRE OF DAMES + XXIX. THE MAN WITH THE THUMB AGAIN + XXX. GONE! + XXXI. BELL ARRIVES + XXXII. HOW THE SCHEME WORKED OUT + XXXIII. THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE + XXXIV. THE PUZZLING OF HENSON + XXXV. CHRIS HAS AN IDEA + XXXVL. A BRILLIANT IDEA + XXXVII. ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE +XXXVIII. A LITTLE FICTION + XXXIX. THE FASCINATION OF JAMES MERRITT + XL. A USEFUL DISCOVERY + XLI. A DELICATE ERRAND + XLII. PRINCE RUPERT'S RING + XLIII. NEARING THE TRUTH + XLIV. ENID SPEAKS + XLV. ON THE TRAIL + XLVI. LITTIMER'S EYES ARE OPENED + XLVII. THE TRACK BROADENS + XLVIII. WHERE IS RAWLINS? + XLIX. A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE + L. RAWLINS IS CANDID + LI. HERITAGE IS WILLING + LII. PUTTING THE LIGHT OUT + LIII. UNSEALED LIPS + LIV. WHERE IS THE RING? + LV. KICKED OUT + LVI. WHITE FANGS + LVII. HIDE AND SEEK + + + + +THE CRIMSON BLIND. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"WHO SPEAKS?" + + +David Steel dropped his eyes from the mirror and shuddered as a man who +sees his own soul bared for the first time. And yet the mirror was in +itself a thing of artistic beauty--engraved Florentine glass in a frame +of deep old Flemish oak. The novelist had purchased it in Bruges, and now +it stood as a joy and a thing of beauty against the full red wall over +the fireplace. And Steel had glanced at himself therein and seen murder +in his eyes. + +He dropped into a chair with a groan for his own helplessness. Men have +done that kind of thing before when the cartridges are all gone and the +bayonets are twisted and broken and the brown waves of the foe come +snarling over the breastworks. And then they die doggedly with the stones +in their hands, and cursing the tardy supports that brought this black +shame upon them. + +But Steel's was ruin of another kind. The man was a fighter to his +finger-tips. He had dogged determination and splendid physical courage; +he had gradually thrust his way into the front rank of living novelists, +though the taste of poverty was still bitter in his mouth. And how good +success was now that it had come! + +People envied him. Well, that was all in the sweets of the victory. They +praised his blue china, they lingered before his Oriental dishes and the +choice pictures on the panelled walls. The whole thing was still a +constant pleasure to Steel's artistic mind. The dark walls, the old oak +and silver, the red shades, and the high artistic fittings soothed him +and pleased him, and played upon his tender imagination. And behind there +was a study, filled with books and engravings, and beyond that again a +conservatory, filled with the choicest blossoms. Steel could work with +the passion flowers above his head and the tender grace of the tropical +ferns about him, and he could reach his left hand for his telephone and +call Fleet Street to his ear. + +It was all unique, delightful, the dream of an artistic soul realised. +Three years before David Steel had worked in an attic at a bare deal +table, and his mother had £3 per week to pay for everything. Usually +there was balm in this recollection. + +But not to-night, Heaven help him, not to-night! Little grinning demons +were dancing on the oak cornices, there were mocking lights gleaming from +Cellini tankards that Steel had given far too much money for. It had not +seemed to matter just at the time. If all this artistic beauty had +emptied Steel's purse there was a golden stream coming. What mattered it +that the local tradesmen were getting a little restless? The great +expense of the novelist's life was past. In two years he would be rich. +And the pathos of the thing was not lessened by the fact that it was +true. In two years' time Steel would be well off. He was terribly short +of ready money, but he had just finished a serial story for which he was +to be paid £500 within two months of the delivery of the copy; two novels +of his were respectively in their fourth and fifth editions. But these +novels of his he had more or less given away, and he ground his teeth as +he thought of it. Still, everything spelt prosperity. If he lived, David +Steel was bound to become a rich man. + +And yet he was ruined. Within twenty-four hours everything would pass out +of his hands. To all practical purposes it had done so already. And all +for the want of £1,000! Steel had earned twice that amount during the +past twelve months, and the fruits of his labour were as balm to his soul +about him. Within the next twelve months he could pay the debt three +times over. He would cheerfully have taken the bill and doubled the +amount for six months' delay. + +And all this because he had become surety for an absconding brother. +Steel had put his pride in his pocket and interviewed his creditor, a +little, polite, mild-eyed financier, who meant to have his money to the +uttermost farthing. At first he had been suave and sympathetic, until he +had discovered that Steel had debts elsewhere, and then-- + +Well, he had signed judgment, and to-morrow he could levy execution. +Within a few hours the bottom would fall out of the universe so far as +Steel was concerned. Within a few hours every butcher and baker and +candle-stick-maker would come abusively for his bill. Steel, who could +have faced a regiment, recoiled fearfully from that. Within a week his +oak and silver would have to be sold and the passion flower would wither +on the walls. + +Steel had not told anybody yet; the strong man had grappled with his +trouble alone. Had he been a man of business he might have found some way +out of the difficulty. Even his mother didn't know. She was asleep +upstairs, perhaps dreaming of her son's greatness. What would the dear +old mater say when she knew? Well, she had been a good mother to him, and +it had been a labour of love to furnish the house for her as for himself. +Perhaps there would be a few tears in those gentle eyes, but no more. +Thank God, no reproaches there. + +David lighted a cigarette and paced restlessly round the dining-room. +Never had he appreciated its quiet beauty more than he did now. There +were flowers, blood-red flowers, on the table under the graceful electric +stand that Steel had designed himself. He snapped off the light as if the +sight pained him, and strode into his study. For a time he stood moodily +gazing at his flowers and ferns. How every leaf there was pregnant with +association. There was the Moorish clock droning the midnight hour. When +Steel had brought that clock-- + +"Ting, ting, ting. Pring, pring, ping, pring. Ting, ting, ting, ting." + +But Steel heard nothing. Everything seemed as silent as the grave. It was +only by a kind of inner consciousness that he knew the hour to be +midnight. Midnight meant the coming of the last day. After sunrise some +greasy lounger pregnant of cheap tobacco would come in and assume that he +represented the sheriff, bills would be hung like banners on the outward +walls, and then.-- + +"Pring, pring, pring. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting. +Pring, pring, pring." + +Bells, somewhere. Like the bells in the valley where the old vicarage +used to stand. Steel vaguely wondered who now lived in the house where he +was born. He was staring in the most absent way at his telephone, utterly +unconscious of the shrill impatience of the little voice. He saw the +quick pulsation of the striker and he came back to earth again. + +Jefferies of the _Weekly Messenger_, of course. Jefferies was fond of a +late chat on the telephone. Steel wondered grimly, if Jefferies would +lend him £1,000. He flung himself down in a deep lounge-chair and placed +the receiver to his ear. By the deep, hoarse clang of the wires, a +long-distance message, assuredly. + +"From London, evidently. Halloa, London! Are you there?" + +London responded that it was. A clear, soft voice spoke at length. + +"Is that you, Mr. Steel? Are you quite alone? Under the circumstances you +are not busy to-night?" + +Steel started. He had never heard the voice before. It was clear and +soft and commanding, and yet there was just a suspicion of mocking +irony in it. + +"I'm not very busy to-night," Steel replied. "Who is speaking to me?" + +"That for the present we need not go into," said the mocking voice. "As +certain old-fashioned contemporaries of yours would say, 'We meet as +strangers!' Stranger yet, you are quite alone!" + +"I am quite alone. Indeed, I am the only one up in the house." + +"Good. I have told the exchange people not to ring off till I have +finished with you. One advantage of telephoning at this hour is that one +is tolerably free from interruption. So your mother is asleep? Have you +told her what is likely to happen to you before many hours have elapsed?" + +Steel made no reply for a moment. He was restless and ill at ease +to-night, and it seemed just possible that his imagination was playing +him strange tricks. But, no. The Moorish clock in its frame of +celebrities droned the quarter after twelve; the scent of the Dijon roses +floated in from the conservatory. + +"I have told nobody as yet," Steel said, hoarsely. "Who in the name of +Heaven are you?" + +"That in good time. But I did not think you were a coward." + +"No man has ever told me so--face to face." + +"Good again. I recognise the fighting ring in your voice. If you lack +certain phases of moral courage, you are a man of pluck and resource. +Now, somebody who is very dear to me is at present in Brighton, not +very far from your own house. She is in dire need of assistance. You +also are in dire need of assistance. We can be of mutual advantage to +one another." + +"What do you mean by that?" Steel whispered. + +"Let me put the matter on a business footing. I want you to help my +friend, and in return I will help you. Bear in mind that I am asking you +to do nothing wrong. If you will promise me to go to a certain address in +Brighton to night and see my friend, I promise that before you sleep the +sum of £1,000 in Bank of England notes shall be in your possession." + +No reply came from Steel. He could not have spoken at that moment for the +fee-simple of Golconda. He could only hang gasping to the telephone. Many +a strange and weird plot came and went in that versatile brain, but never +one more wild than this. Apparently no reply was expected, for the +speaker resumed:-- + +"I am asking you to do no wrong. You may naturally desire to know why my +friend does not come to you. That must remain my secret, our secret. We +are trusting you because we know you to be a gentleman, but we have +enemies who are ever on the watch. All you have to do is to go to a +certain place and give a certain woman information. You are thinking that +this is a strange mystery. Never was anything stranger dreamt of in your +philosophy. Are you agreeable?" + +The mocking tone died out of the small, clear voice until it was +almost pleading. + +"You have taken me at a disadvantage," Steel said. "And you know--" + +"Everything. I am trying to save you from ruin. Fortune has played you +into my hands. I am perfectly aware that if you were not on the verge of +social extinction you would refuse my request. It is in your hands to +decide. You know that Beckstein, your creditor, is absolutely merciless. +He will get his money back and more besides. This is his idea of +business. To-morrow you will be an outcast--for the time, at any rate. +Your local creditors will be insolent to you; people will pity you or +blame you, as their disposition lies. On the other hand, you have but to +say the word and you are saved. You can go and see the Brighton +representatives of Beckstein's lawyers, and pay them in paper of the Bank +of England." + +"If I was assured of your bona-fides," Steel murmured. + +A queer little laugh, a laugh of triumph, came over the wires. + +"I have anticipated that question. Have you Greenwich time about you?" + +Steel responded that he had. It was five-and-twenty minutes past twelve. +He had quite ceased to wonder at any questions put to him now. It was all +so like one of his brilliant little extravanganzas. + +"You can hang up your receiver for five minutes," the voice said. +"Precisely at half-past twelve you go and look on your front doorstep. +Then come back and tell me what you have found. You need not fear that I +shall go away." + +Steel hung up the receiver, feeling that he needed a little rest. His +cigarette was actually scorching his left thumb and forefinger, but he +was heedless of the fact. He flicked up the dining-room lights again and +rapidly made himself a sparklet soda, which he added to a small whisky. +He looked almost lovingly at the gleaming Cellini tankard, at the pools +of light on the fair damask. Was it possible that he was not going to +lose all this, after all? + +The Moorish clock in the study droned the half-hour. + +David gulped down his whisky and crept shakily to the front door with a +feeling on him that he was doing something stealthily. The bolts and +chain rattled under his trembling fingers. Outside, the whole world +seemed to be sleeping. Under the wide canopy of stars some black object +picked out with shining points lay on the white marble breadth of the top +step. A gun-metal cigar-case set in tiny diamonds. + +The novelist fastened the front door and staggered to the study. A +pretty, artistic thing such as David had fully intended to purchase for +himself. He had seen one exactly like it in a jeweller's window in North +Street. He had pointed it out to his mother. Why, it was the very one! No +doubt whatever about it! David had had the case in his hands and had +reluctantly declined the purchase. + +He pressed the spring, and the case lay open before him. Inside were +papers, soft, crackling papers; the case was crammed with them. They were +white and clean, and twenty-five of them in all. Twenty-five Bank of +England notes for £10 each--£250! + +David fought the dreamy feeling off and took down the telephone receiver. + +"Are you there?" he whispered, as if fearful of listeners. "I--I have +found your parcel." + +"Containing the notes. So far so good. Yes, you are right, it is the +same cigar-case you admired so much in Lockhart's the other day. Well, +we have given you an instance of our bona-fides. But £250 is of no use +to you at present. Beckstein's people would not accept it on +account--they can make far more money by 'selling you up,' as the poetic +phrase goes. It is in your hands to procure the other £750 before you +sleep. You can take it as a gift, or, if you are too proud for that, you +may regard it as a loan. In which case you can bestow the money on such +charities as commend themselves to you. Now, are you going to place +yourself entirely in my hands?" + +Steel hesitated no longer. Under the circumstances few men would, as he +had a definite assurance that there was nothing dishonourable to be +done. A little courage, a little danger, perhaps, and he could hold up +his head before the world; he could return to his desk to-morrow with +the passion flowers over his head and the scent groves sweet to his +nostrils. And the mater could dream happily, for there would be no +sadness or sorrow in the morning. + +"I will do exactly what you tell me," he said. + +"Spoken like a man," the voice cried. "Nobody will know you have left +the house--you can be home in an hour. You will not be missed. Come, time +is getting short, and I have my risks as well as others. Go at once to +Old Steine. Stand on the path close under the shadow of the statue of +George IV. and wait there. Somebody will say 'Come,' and you will follow. +Goodnight." + +Steel would have said more, but the tinkle of his own bell told him that +the stranger had rung off. He laid his cigar-case on the writing-table, +slipped his cigarette-case into his pocket, satisfied himself that he had +his latch-key, and put on a dark overcoat. Overhead the dear old mater +was sleeping peacefully. He closed the front door carefully behind him +and strode resolutely into the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CRIMSON BLIND + + +David walk swiftly along, his mind in a perfect whirl. Now that once he +had started he was eager to see the adventure through. It was strange, +but stranger things had happened. More than one correspondent with queer +personal experiences had taught him that. Nor was Steel in the least +afraid. He was horribly frightened of disgrace or humiliation, but +physical courage he had in a high degree. And was he not going to save +his home and his good name? + +David had not the least doubt on the latter score. Of course he would +do nothing wrong, neither would he keep the money. This he preferred +to regard as a loan--a loan to be paid off before long. At any rate, +money or no money, he would have been sorry to have abandoned the +adventure now. + +His spirits rose as he walked along, a great weight had fallen from his +shoulders. He smiled as he thought of his mother peacefully sleeping at +home. What would his mother think if she knew? But, then, nobody was to +know. That had been expressly settled in the bond. + +Save for an occasional policeman the streets were deserted. It was a +little cold and raw for the time of year, and a fog like a pink blanket +was creeping in from the sea. Down in the Steine the big arc-lights +gleamed here and there like nebulous blue globes; it was hardly possible +to see across the road. In the half-shadow behind Steel the statue of the +First Gentleman in Europe glowed gigantic, ghost-like in the mist. + +It was marvellously still there, so still that David could hear the +tinkle of the pebbles on the beach. He stood back by the gate of the +gardens watching the play of the leaf silhouettes on the pavement, +quaint patterns of fantastic designs thrown up in high relief by the +arc-light above. From the dark foggy throat of St. James's Street came +the tinkle of a cycle bell. On so still a night the noise seemed bizarre +and out of place. Then the cycle loomed in sight; the rider, muffled and +humped over the front wheel, might have been a man or a woman. As the +cyclist flashed by something white and gleaming dropped into the road, +and the single word "Come" seemed to cut like a knife through the fog. +That was all; the rider had looked neither to the right nor to the left, +but the word was distinctly uttered. At the same instant an arm dropped +and a long finger pointed to the gleaming white square in the road. It +was like an instantaneous photograph--a flash, and the figure had +vanished in the fog. + +"This grows interesting," Steel muttered. "Evidently my shadowy friend +has dropped a book of rules in the road for me. The plot thickens." + +It was only a plain white card that lay in the road. A few lines were +typed on the back of it. The words might have been curt, but they were to +the point:-- + +"Go along the sea front and turn into Brunswick Square. Walk along the +right side of the square until you reach No. 219. You will read the +number over the fanlight. Open the door and it will yield to you; there +is no occasion to knock. The first door inside the hall leads to the +dining-room. Walk into there and wait. Drop this card down the gutter +just opposite you." + +David read the directions once or twice carefully. He made a mental note +of 219. After that he dropped the card down the drain-trap nearest at +hand. A little way ahead of him he heard the cycle bell trilling as if in +approval of his action. But David had made up his mind to observe every +rule of the game. Besides, he might be rigidly watched. + +The spirit of adventure was growing upon Steel now. He was no longer +holding the solid result before his eyes. He was ready to see the thing +through for its own sake. And as he hurried up North Street, along +Western Road, and finally down Preston Street, he could hear the purring +tinkle of the cycle bell before him. But not once did he catch sight of +the shadowy rider. + +All the same his heart was beating a little faster as he turned into +Brunswick Square. All the houses were in pitchy darkness, as they +naturally would be at one o'clock in the morning, so it was only with +great difficulty that Steel could make out a number here and there. As he +walked slowly and hesitatingly along the cycle bell drummed impatiently +ahead of him. + +"A hint to me," David muttered. "Stupid that I should have forgotten the +directions to read the number over the fanlight. Also it is logical to +suppose that I am going to find lights at No. 219. All right, my friend; +no need to swear at me with that bell of yours." + +He quickened his pace again and finally stopped before one of the big +houses where lights were gleaming from the hall and dining-room windows. +They were electric lights by their great power, and, save for the hall +and dining-room, the rest of the house lay in utter darkness. The cycle +bell let off an approving staccato from behind the blankety fog as Steel +pulled up. + +There was nothing abnormal about the house, nothing that struck the +adventurer's eye beyond the extraordinary vividness of the crimson +blind. The two side-windows of the big bay were evidently shuttered, +but the large centre gleamed like a flood of scarlet overlaid with a +silken sheen. Far across the pavement the ruby track struck into the +heart of the fog. + +"Vivid note," Steel murmured. "I shall remember that impression." + +He was destined never to forget it, but it was only one note in the gamut +of adventure now. With a firm step he walked up the marble flight and +turned the handle. It felt dirty and rusty to the touch. Evidently the +servants were neglectful, or they were employed by people who had small +regard for outward appearances. + +The door opened noiselessly, and Steel closed it behind him. A Moorish +lantern cast a brilliant flood of light upon a crimson carpet, a chair, +and an empty oak umbrella-stand. Beyond this there was no atom of +furniture in the hall. It was impossible to see beyond the dining-room +door, for a heavy red velvet curtain was drawn across. David's first +impression was the amazing stillness of the place. It gave him a queer +feeling that a murder had been committed there, and that everybody had +fled, leaving the corpse behind. As David coughed away the lump in his +throat the cough sounded strangely hollow. + +He passed into the dining-room and looked eagerly about him. The room was +handsomely furnished, if a little conventional--a big mahogany table in +the centre, rows of mahogany chairs upholstered in morocco, fine modern +prints, most of them artist's proofs, on the walls. A big marble clock, +flanked by a pair of vases, stood on the mantelshelf. There were a large +number of blue vases on the sideboard. The red distemper had faded to a +pale pink in places. + +"Tottenham Court Road," Steel smiled to himself. "Modern, solid, +expensive, but decidedly inartistic. Ginger jars fourteen guineas a pair, +worth about as many pence. Moneyed people, solid and respectable, of the +middle class. What brings them playing at mystery like this?" + +The room was most brilliantly lighted both from overhead and from the +walls. On the shining desert of the dining-table lay a small, flat parcel +addressed to David Steel, Esq. The novelist tore off the cover and +disclosed a heap of crackling white papers beneath. Rapidly he fluttered +the crisp sheets over--seventy-five Bank of England notes for £10 each. + +It was the balance of the loan, the price paid for Steel's presence. All +he had to do now was to place the money in his pocket and walk out of the +house. A few steps and he would be free with nobody to say him nay. It +was a temptation, but Steel fought it down. He slipped the precious notes +into his pocket and buttoned his coat tightly over them. He had no fear +for the coming day now. + +"And yet," he murmured, "what of the price I shall have to pay for this?" + +Well, it was worth a ransom. And, so long as there was nothing +dishonourable attached to it, Steel was prepared to redeem his pledge. He +knew perfectly well from bitter experience that the poor man pays +usurious rates for fortune's favours. And he was not without a strange +sense of gratitude. If-- + +Click, click, click. Three electric switches were snapped off almost +simultaneously outside, and the dining-room was plunged into pitchy +darkness. Steel instantly caught up a chair. He was no coward, but he was +a novelist with a novelist's imagination. As he stood there the sweetest, +most musical laugh in the world broke on his ear. He caught the swish of +silken drapery and the subtle scent that suggested the fragrance of a +woman's hair. It was vague, undefined, yet soothing. + +"Pray be seated, Mr. Steel," the silvery voice said. "Believe me, had +there been any other way, I would not have given you all this trouble. +You found the parcel addressed to you? It is an earnest of good faith. Is +not that a correct English expression?" + +David murmured that it was. But what did the speaker mean? She asked the +question like a student of the English language, yet her accent and +phrasing were perfect. She laughed again noiselessly, and once more Steel +caught the subtle, entrancing perfume. + +"I make no further apology for dragging you here at this time," the sweet +voice said. "We knew that you were in the habit of sitting up alone late +at night, hence the telephone message. You will perhaps wonder how we +came to know so much of your private affairs. Rest assured that we learnt +nothing in Brighton. Presently you may gather why I am so deeply +interested in you; I have been for the past fortnight. You see, we were +not quite certain that you would come to our assistance unless we could +find some means of coercing you. Then we go to one of the smartest +inquiry agents in the world and say: 'Tell us all about Mr. David Steel +without delay. Money is no object.' In less than a week we know all about +Beckstein. We leave matters till the last moment. If you only knew how +revolting it all was!" + +"So your tone seems to imply, madam," Steel said, drily. + +"Oh, but truly. You were in great trouble, and we found a way to get you +out. At a price; ah, yes. But your trouble is nothing compared with +mine--which brings me to business. A fortnight ago last Monday you posted +to Mr. Vanstone, editor of the _Piccadilly Magazine_, the synopsis of the +first four or five chapters of a proposed serial for the journal in +question. You open that story with a young and beautiful woman who is in +deadly peril. Is not that so?" + +"Yes," Steel said, faintly. "It is just as you suggest. But how--" + +"Never mind that, because I am not going to tell you. In common +parlance--is not that the word?--that woman is in a frightful fix. +There is nothing strained about your heroine's situation, because I +have heard of people being in a similar plight before. Mr. Steel, I +want you to tell me truthfully and candidly, can you see the way clear +to save your heroine? Oh, I don't mean by the long arm of coincidence +or other favourite ruses known to your craft. I mean by common sense, +logical methods, by brilliant ruses, by Machiavelian means. Tell me, do +you see a way?" + +The question came eagerly, almost imploringly, from the darkness. David +could hear the quick gasps of his questioner, could catch the rustle of +the silken corsage as she breathed. + +"Yes," he said, "I can see a brilliant way out that would satisfy the +strictest logician. But you--" + +"Thank Heaven! Mr. Steel, I am your heroine. I am placed in exactly the +same position as the woman whose story you are going to write. The +setting is different, the local colouring is not the same, but the same +deadly peril menaces me. For the love of Heaven hold out your hand to +save a lonely and desperate woman whose only crime is that she is rich +and beautiful. Providence had placed in my hands the gist of your +heroine's story. Hence this masquerade; hence the fact that you are here +to-night. I have helped _you_--help _me_ in return." + +It was some time before Steel spoke. + +"It shall be as you wish," he said. "I will tell you how I propose to +save my heroine. Her sufferings are fiction; yours will be real. But if +you are to be saved by the same means, Heaven help you to bear the +troubles that are in front of you. Before God, it would be more merciful +for me to be silent and let you go your own way." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS + + +David was silent for some little time. The strangeness of the situation +had shut down on him again, and he was thinking of nothing else for the +moment. In the dead stillness of the place he could hear the quick +breathing of his companion; the rustle of her dress seemed near to him +and then to be very far off. Nor did the pitchy darkness yield a jot to +his now accustomed eyes. He held a hand close to his eyes, but he could +see nothing. + +"Well?" the sweet voice in the darkness said, impatiently. "Well?" + +"Believe me, I will give you all the assistance possible. If you would +only turn up the light--" + +"Oh, I dare not. I have given my word of honour not to violate the seal +of secrecy. You may say that we have been absurdly cautious in this +matter, but you would not think so if you knew everything. Even now the +wretch who holds me in his power may have guessed my strategy and be +laughing at me. Some day, perhaps--" + +The speaker stopped, with something like a sob in her throat. + +"We are wasting precious time," she went on, more calmly. "I had better +tell you my history. In _your_ story a woman commits a crime: she is +guilty of a serious breach of trust to save the life of a man she loves. +By doing so she places the future and the happiness of many people in the +hands of an abandoned scoundrel. If she can only manage to regain the +thing she has parted from the situation is saved. Is not that so?" + +"So far you have stated the case correctly," David murmured. + +"As I said before, I am in practically similar case. Only, in my +situation, I hastened everything and risked the happiness of many people +for the sake of a little child." + +"Ah!" David cried. "Your own child? No! The child of one very near and +dear to you, then. From the mere novelist point of view, that is a far +more artistic idea than mine. I see that I shall have to amend my story +before it is published." + +A rippling little laugh came like the song of a bird in the darkness. + +"Dear Mr. Steel," the voice said, "I implore you to do nothing of the +kind. You are a man of fertile imagination--a plot more or less makes +no difference to you. If you publish that story you go far on the way +to ruin me." + +"I am afraid that I am in the dark in more senses than one," David +murmured. + +"Then let me enlighten you. Daily your books are more widely read. My +enemy is a great novel reader. You publish that story, and what results? +You not only tell that enemy my story, but you show him my way out of the +difficulty, and show him how he can checkmate my every move. Perhaps, +after I have escaped from the net--" + +"You are right," Steel said, promptly. "From a professional point of view +the story is abandoned. And now you want me to show you a rational and +logical, a _human_ way out." + +"If you can do so you have my everlasting gratitude." + +"Then you must tell me in detail what it is you want to recover. My +heroine parts with a document which the villain knows to be a forgery. +Money cannot buy it back because the villain can make as much money as he +likes by retaining it. He does as he likes with the family property; he +keeps my heroine's husband out of England by dangling the forgery and its +consequences over his head. What is to be done? How is the ruffian to be +bullied into a false sense of security by the one man who desires to +throw dust in his eyes?" + +"Ah," the voice cried, "ah, if you could only tell me that! Let _my_ +ruffian only imagine that I am dead; let him have proofs of it, and the +thing is done. I could reach him _then_; I could tear from him the letter +that--but I need not go into details. But he is cunning as the serpent. +Nothing but the most convincing proofs would satisfy him." + +"A certificate of death signed by a physician beyond reproach?" + +"Yes, that would do. But you couldn't get a medical man like that to +commit felony." + +"No, but we could trick him into it," Steel exclaimed. "In my story a +fraud is perpetrated to blind the villain and to deprive him of his +weapons. It is a case of the end justifying the means. But it is one +thing, my dear lady, to commit fraud actually and to perpetrate it in a +novel. In the latter case you can defy the police, but unfortunately you +and I are dealing with real life. If I am to help you I must be a party +to a felony." + +"But you will! You are not going to draw back now? Mr. Steel, I have +saved your home. You are a happy man compared to what you were two hours +ago. If the risk is great you have brains and imagination to get out of +danger. Show me how to do it, and the rest shall be mine. You have never +seen me, you know nothing, not even the name of the person who called you +over the telephone. You have only to keep your own counsel, and if I wade +in blood to my end you are safe. Tell me how I can die, disappear, +leaving that one man to believe I am no more. And don't make it too +ingenious. Don't forget that you promised to tell me a rational way out +of the difficulty. How can it be done?" + +"In my pocket I have a cutting from the _Times_, which contains a +chapter from the history of a medical student who is alone in London. It +closely resembles my plot. He says he has no friends, and he deems it +prudent for reasons we need not discuss to let the world assume that he +is dead. The rest is tolerably easy. He disguises himself and goes to a +doctor of repute, whom he asks to come and see his brother--_i.e.,_ +himself--who is dangerously ill. The doctor goes later in the day and +finds his patient in bed with severe internal inflammation. This is +brought about by a free use of albumen. I don't know what amount of +albumen one would take without extreme risk, but you could pump that +information out of any doctor. Well, our medical man calls again and yet +again, and finds his patient sinking. The next day the patient, +disguised, calls upon his doctor with the information that his 'brother' +is dead. The doctor is not in the least surprised, and without going to +view the body gives a certificate of death. Now, I admit that all this +sounds cheap and theatrical, but you can't get over facts. The thing +actually happened a little time ago in London, and there is no reason +why it shouldn't happen again." + +"You suggest that I should do this thing?" the voice asked. + +"Pardon me, I did nothing of the kind," Steel replied "You asked me to +show you how my heroine gets herself out of a terrible position, and I am +doing it. You are not without friends. The way I was called up tonight +and the way I was brought here prove that. With the aid of your friends +the thing is possible to you. You have only to find a lodging where +people are not too observant and a doctor who is too busy, or too +careless, to look after dead patients, and the thing is done. If you +desire to be looked upon as dead--especially by a powerful enemy--I +cannot recommend a more natural, rational way than this. As to the +details, they may be safely left to you. The clever manner in which you +have kept up the mystery to-night convinces me that I have nothing to +teach you in this direction. And if there is anything more I can do--" + +"A thousand, thousand thanks," the voice cried, passionately. "To be +looked upon as 'dead,' to be near to the rascal who smiles to think that +I am in my grave.... And everything so dull and prosaic on the surface! +Yes, I have friends who will aid me in the business. Some day I may be +able to thank you face to face, to tell you how I managed to see your +plot. May I?" + +The question came quite eagerly, almost imploringly. In the darkness +Steel felt a hand trembling on his breast, a cool, slim hand, with many +rings on the fingers. Steel took the hand and carried it to his lips. + +"Nothing would give me greater pleasure," he said. "And may you be +successful. Good-night." + +"Good-night, and God bless you for a real gentleman and a true friend. I +will go out of the room first and put the lights up afterwards. You will +walk away and close the door behind you. The newspaper cutting! Thanks. +And once more good-night, but let us hope not good-bye." + +She was gone. Steel could hear the distant dying swish of silk, the +rustling of the portière, and then, with a flick, the lights came up +again. Half-blinded by the sudden illumination Steel fumbled his way to +the door and into the street. As he did so Hove Town Hall clock chimed +two. With a cigarette between his teeth David made his way home. + +He could not think it all out yet; he would wait until he was in his own +comfortable chair under the roses and palms leading from his study. A +fine night of adventure, truly, and a paying one. He pressed the precious +packet of notes to his side and his soul expanded. + +He was home at last. But surely he had closed the door before he started? +He remembered distinctly trying the latch. And here the latch was back +and the door open. The quick snap of the electric light declared nobody +in the dining-room. Beyond, the study was in darkness. Nobody there, +but--stop! + +A stain on the carpet; another by the conservatory door. Pots of flowers +scattered about, and a huddled mass like a litter of empty sacks in one +corner. Then the huddled mass resolved itself into the figure of a man +with a white face smeared with blood. Dead! Oh, yes, dead enough. + +Steel flew to the telephone and rang furiously. + +"Give me 52, Police Station," he cried. "Are you there? Send somebody at +once up here--15, Downend Terrace. There has been murder done here. For +Heaven's sake come quickly." + +Steel dropped the receiver and stared with strained eyes at the dreadful +sight before him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN EXTREMIS + + +For some time--a minute, an hour--Steel stood over the dreadful thing +huddled upon the floor of his conservatory. Just then he was incapable of +consecutive ideas. + +His mind began to move at length. The more he thought of it the more +absolutely certain he was that he had fastened the door before leaving +the house. True, the latch was only an ordinary one, and a key might +easily have been made to fit it. As a matter of fact, David had two, one +in reserve in case of accidents. The other was usually kept in a +jewel-drawer of the dressing-table. Perhaps-- + +David went quietly upstairs. It was just possible that the murderer was +in the house. But the closest search brought nothing to light. He pulled +out the jewel-drawer in the dressing-table. The spare latchkey had gone! +Here was something to go upon. + +Then there was a rumbling of an electric bell somewhere that set David's +heart beating like a drum. The hall light streamed on a policeman in +uniform and an inspector in a dark overcoat and a hard felt hat. On the +pavement was a long shallow tray, which David recognised mechanically as +the ambulance. + +"Something very serious, sir?" Inspector Marley asked, quietly. "I've +brought the doctor with me." + +David nodded. Both the inspector and the doctor were acquaintances of +his. He closed the door and led the way into the study. Just inside the +conservatory and not far from the huddled figure lay David's new +cigar-case. Doubtless, without knowing it, the owner had whisked it off +the table when he had sprung the telephone. + +"'Um," Marley muttered. "Is this a clue, or yours, sir?" + +He lifted the case with its diamonds gleaming like stars on a dark night. +David had forgotten all about it for the time, had forgotten where it +came from, or that it contained £250 in bank-notes. + +"Not mine," he said. "I mean to say, of course, it is mine. A recent +present. The shock of this discovery has deprived me of my senses +pretty well." + +Marley laid the cigar-case on the table. It seemed strange to him, who +could follow a tragedy calmly, that a man should forget his own property. +Meanwhile Cross was bending over the body. David could see a face smooth +like that of a woman. A quick little exclamation came from the doctor. + +"A drop of brandy here, and quick as possible," he commanded. + +"You don't mean to say," Steel began; "you don't--" + +Cross waved his arm, impatiently. The brandy was procured as speedily as +possible. Steel, watching intently, fancied that he detected a slight +flicker of the muscles of the white, stark face. + +"Bring the ambulance here," Cross said, curtly. "If we can get this poor +chap to the hospital there is just a chance for him. Fortunately, we have +not many yards to go." + +As far as elucidation went Marley naturally looked to Steel. + +"I should like to have your explanation, sir," he said, gravely. + +"Positively, I have no explanation to offer," David replied. "About +midnight I let myself out to go for a stroll, carefully closing the door +behind me. Naturally, the door was on the latch. When I came back an hour +or so later, to my horror and surprise I found those marks of a struggle +yonder and that poor fellow lying on the floor of the conservatory." + +"'Um. Was the door fast on your return?" + +"No, it was pulled to, but it was open all the same." + +"You didn't happen to lose your latch-key during your midnight +stroll, sir?" + +"No, it was only when I put my key in the door that I discovered it to be +open. I have a spare latch-key which I keep for emergencies, but when I +went to look for it just now the key was not to be found. When I came +back the house was perfectly quiet." + +"What family have you, sir? And what kind of servants?" + +"There is only myself and my mother, with three maids. You may dismiss +any suspicion of the servants from your mind at once. My mother trained +them all in the old vicarage where I was born, and not one of the trio +has been with us less than twelve years." + +"That simplifies matters somewhat," Marley said, thoughtfully. +"Apparently your latch-key was stolen by somebody who has made careful +study of your habits. Do you generally go for late walks after your +household has gone to bed, sir?" + +David replied somewhat grudgingly that he had never done such a thing +before. He would like to have concealed the fact, but it was bound to +come out sooner or later. He had strolled along the front and round +Brunswick Square. Marley shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, it's a bit of a puzzle to me," he admitted. "You go out for a +midnight walk--a thing you have never done before--and when you come back +you find somebody has got into your house by means of a stolen latch-key +and murdered somebody else in your conservatory. According to that, two +people must have entered the house." + +"That's logic," David admitted. "There can be no murder without the slain +_and_ the slayer. My impression is that somebody who knows the ways of +the house watched me depart. Then he lured his victim in here under +pretence that it was his own house--he had the purloined latch-key--and +murdered him. Audacious, but a far safer way than doing it out of doors." + +But Marley's imagination refused to go so far. The theory was plausible +enough, he pointed out respectfully, if the assassin had been assured +that these midnight rambles were a matter of custom. The point was a +shrewd one, and Steel had to admit it. He almost wished now that he had +suggested that he often took these midnight rambles. He regretted the +fiction still more when Marley asked if he had had some appointment +elsewhere to-night. + +"No," David said, promptly, "I hadn't." + +He prevaricated without hesitation. His adventure in Brunswick Square +could not possibly have anything to do with the tragedy, and nothing +would be gained by betraying that trust. + +"I'll run round to the hospital and come and see you again in the +morning, sir," Marley said. "Whatever was the nature of the crime, it +wasn't robbery, or the criminal wouldn't have left that cigar-case of +yours behind. Sir James Lythem had one stolen like that at the last +races, and he valued it at £80." + +"I'll come as far as the hospital with you," said Steel. + +At the bottom of the flight of steps they encountered Dr. Cross and the +policeman. The former handed over to Marley a pocket-book and some +papers, together with a watch and chain. + +"Everything that we could find upon him," he explained. + +"Is the poor fellow dead yet?" David asked. + +"No," Cross replied. "He was stabbed twice in the back in the region of +the liver. I could not say for sure, but there is just a chance that he +may recover. But one thing is pretty certain--it will be a good long +time before he is in a position to say anything for himself. Good-night, +Mr. Steel." + +David went indoors thoughtfully, with a general feeling that something +like a hand had grasped his brain and was squeezing it like a sponge. He +was free from his carking anxiety now, but it seemed to him that he was +paying a heavy price for his liberty. Mechanically, he counted out the +bank-notes, and almost as mechanically he cut his initials on the +gun-metal inside the cigar-case. He was one of the kind of men who like +to have their initials everywhere. + +He snapped the lights out and went to bed at last. But not to sleep. The +welcome dawn came at length and David took his bath gratefully. He would +have to tell his mother what had happened, suppressing all reference to +the Brunswick Square episode. It was not a pleasant story, but Mrs. Steel +assimilated it at length over her early tea and toast. + +"It might have been you, my dear," she said, placidly. "And, indeed, it +is a dreadful business. But why not telephone to the hospital and ask how +the poor fellow is?" + +The patient was better but was still in an unconscious condition. + + + +CHAPTER V + +"RECEIVED WITH THANKS." + + +Steel swallowed a hasty breakfast and hurried off town-wards. He had +£1,000 packed away in his cigar-case, and the sooner he was free from +Beckstein the better he would be pleased. He came at length to the +offices of Messrs. Mossa and Mack, whose brass-plate bore the legend that +the gentry in questions were solicitors, and that they also had a +business in London. As David strode into the offices of the senior +partner that individual looked up with a shade of anxiety in his deep, +Oriental eyes. + +"If you have come to offer terms," he said, nasally, "I am sorry--" + +"To hear that I have come to pay you in full," David said, grimly; "£974 +16s. 4d. up to yesterday, which I understand is every penny you can +rightfully claim. Here it is. Count it." + +He opened the cigar-case and took the notes therefrom. Mr. Mossa +counted them very carefully indeed. The shade of disappointment was +still upon his aquiline features. He had hoped to put in execution +to-day and sell David up. In that way quite £200 might have been added +to his legitimate earnings. + +"It appears to be all correct," Mossa said, dismally. + +"So I imagined, sir. You will be so good as to indorse the receipt on the +back of the writ. Of course you are delighted to find that I am not +putting you to painful extremities. Any other firm of solicitors would +have given me time to pay this. But I am like the man who journeyed from +Jericho to Jerusalem--" + +"And fell amongst thieves! You dare to call me a thief? You dare--" + +"I didn't," David said, drily. "That fine, discriminating mind of yours +saved me the trouble. I have met some tolerably slimy scoundrels in my +time, but never any one of them more despicable than yourself. Faugh! +the mere sight of you sickens me. Let me get out of the place so that I +can breathe." + +David strode out of the office with the remains of his small fortune +rammed into his pocket. In the wild, unreasoning rage that came over him +he had forgotten his cigar-case. And it was some little time before Mr. +Mossa was calm enough to see the diamonds winking at him. + +"Our friend is in funds," he muttered. "Well, he shall have a dance for +his cigar-case. I'll send it up to the police-station and say that some +gentleman or other left it here by accident. And if that Steel comes back +we can say that there is no cigar-case here. And if Steel does not see +the police advertisement he will lose his pretty toy, and serve him +right. Yes, that is the way to serve him out." + +Mr. Mossa proceeded to put his scheme into execution whilst David was +strolling along the sea front. He was too excited for work, though he +felt easier in his mind than he had done for months. He turned +mechanically on to the Palace Pier, at the head of which an Eastbourne +steamer was blaring and panting. The trip appealed to David in his +present frame of mind. Like most of his class, he was given to acting on +the spur of the moment.... It was getting dark as David let himself into +Downend Terrace with his latchkey. + +How good it was to be back again! The eye of the artist rested fondly +upon the beautiful things around. And but for the sport of chance, the +whim of fate, these had all passed from him by this time. It was good to +look across the dining-table over venetian glass, to see the pools of +light cast by the shaded electric, to note the feathery fall of flowers, +and to see that placid, gentle face in its frame of white hair opposite +him. Mrs. Steel's simple, unaffected pride in her son was not the least +gratifying part of David's success. + +"You have not suffered from the shock, mother?" he asked. + +"Well, no," Mrs. Steel confessed, placidly. "You see, I never had what +people call nerves, my dear. And, after all, I saw nothing. Still, I am +very, very sorry for that poor young man, and I have sent to inquire +after him several times." + +"He is no worse or I should have heard of it." + +"No, and no better. And Inspector Marley has been here to see you +twice to-day." + +David pitied himself as much as a man could pity himself considering his +surroundings. It was rather annoying that this should have happened at a +time when he was so busy. And Marley would have all sorts of questions to +ask at all sorts of inconvenient seasons. + +Steel passed into his study presently and lighted a cigarette. Despite +his determination to put the events of yesterday from his mind, he found +himself constantly returning to them. What a splendid dramatic story they +would make! And what a fascinating mystery could be woven round that +gun-metal cigar-case! + +By the way, where was the cigar-case? On the whole it would be just as +well to lock the case away till he could discover some reasonable excuse +for its possession. His mother would be pretty sure to ask where it came +from, and David could not prevaricate so far as she was concerned. But +the cigar-case was not to be found, and David was forced to the +conclusion that he had left it in Mossa's office. + +A little annoyed with himself he took up the evening _Argus_. There was +half a column devoted to the strange case at Downend Terrace, and just +over it a late advertisement to the effect that a gun-metal cigar-case +had been found and was in the hands of the police awaiting an owner. + +David slipped from the house and caught a 'bus in St. George's Road. + +At the police-station he learnt that Inspector Marley was still on the +premises. Marley came forward gravely. He had a few questions to ask, but +nothing to tell. + +"And now perhaps you can give me some information?" David said, "You are +advertising in to-night's _Argus_ a gun-metal cigar-case set with +diamonds." + +"Ah," Marley said, eagerly, "can you tell us anything about it?" + +"Nothing beyond the fact that I hope to satisfy you that the case is +mine." + +Marley stared open-mouthed at David for a moment, and then relapsed into +his sapless official manner. He might have been a detective +cross-examining a suspected criminal. + +"Why this mystery?" David asked. "I have lost a gun-metal cigar-case set +with diamonds, and I see a similar article is noted as found by the +police. I lost it this morning, and I shrewdly suspect that I left it +behind me at the office of Mr. Mossa." + +"The case was sent here by Mr. Mossa himself," Marley admitted. + +"Then, of course, it is mine. I had to give Mr. Mossa my opinion of him +this morning, and by way of spiting me he sent that case here, hoping, +perhaps, that I should not recover it. You know the case Marley--it was +lying on the floor of my conservatory last night." + +"I did notice a gun-metal case there," Marley said, cautiously. + +"As a matter of fact, you called my attention to it and asked if it +was mine." + +"And you said at first that it wasn't, sir." + +"Well, you must make allowances for my then frame of mind," David +laughed. "I rather gather from your manner that somebody else has been +after the case; if that is so, you are right to be reticent. Still, it is +in your hands to settle the matter on the spot. All you have to do is to +open the case, and if you fail to find my initials, D.S., scratched in +the left-hand top corner, then I have lost my property and the other +fellow has found his." + +In the same reticent fashion Marley proceeded to unlock a safe in the +corner, and from thence he produced what appeared to be the identical +cause of all this talk. He pulled the electric table lamp over to him and +proceeded to examine the inside carefully. + +"You are quite right," he said, at length. "Your initials are here." + +"Not strange, seeing that I scratched them there last night," said David, +drily. "When? Oh, it was after you left my house last night." + +"And it has been some time in your possession, sir?" + +"Oh, confound it, no. It was--well, it was a present from a friend for a +little service rendered. So far as I understand, it was purchased at +Lockhart's, in North Street. No, I'll be hanged if I answer any more of +your questions, Marley. I'll be your Aunt Sally so far as you are +officially concerned. But as to yonder case, your queries are distinctly +impertinent." + +Marley shook his head gravely, as one might over a promising but +headstrong boy. + +"Do I understand that you decline to account for the case?" he asked. + +"Certainly I do. It is connected with some friends of mine to whom I +rendered a service a little time back. The whole thing is and must remain +an absolute secret." + +"You are placing yourself in a very delicate position, Mr. Steel." + +David started at the gravity of the tone. That something was radically +wrong came upon him like a shock. And he could see pretty clearly that, +without betraying confidence, he could not logically account for the +possession of the cigar-case. In any case it was too much to expect +that the stolid police officer would listen to so extravagant a tale +for a moment. + +"What on earth do you mean, man?" he cried. + +"Well, it's this way, sir," Marley proceeded to explain. "When I pointed +out the case to you lying on the floor of your conservatory last night +you said it wasn't yours. You looked at it with the eyes of a stranger, +and then you said you were mistaken. From information given me last night +I have been making inquiries about the cigar-case. You took it to Mr. +Mossa's, and from it you produced notes to the value of nearly £1,000 to +pay off a debt. Within eight-and forty hours you had no more prospect of +paying that debt than I have at this moment. Of course, you will be able +to account for those notes. You can, of course?" + +Marley looked eagerly at his visitor. A cold chill was playing up +and down Steel's spine. Not to save his life could he account for +those notes. + +"We will discuss that when the proper time comes," he said, with fine +indifference. + +"As you please, sir. From information also received I took the case to +Walen's, in West Street, and asked Mr. Walen if he had seen the case +before. Pressed to identify it, he handed me a glass and asked me to find +the figures (say) '1771. x 3,' in tiny characters on the edge. I did so +by the aid of the glass, and Mr. Walen further proceeded to show me an +entry in his purchasing ledger which proved that a cigar-case in +gun-metal and diamonds bearing that legend had been added to the stock +quite recently--a few weeks ago, in fact." + +"Well, what of that?" David asked, impatiently. "For all I know, the case +might have come from Walen's. I said it came from a friend who must needs +be nameless for services equally nameless. I am not going to deny that +Walen was right." + +"I have not quite finished," Marley said, quietly. "Pressed as to when +the case had been sold, Mr. Walen, without hesitation, said: 'Yesterday, +for £72 15s.' The purchaser was a stranger, whom Mr. Walen is prepared +to identify. Asked if a formal receipt had been given, Walen said that it +had. And now I come to the gist of the whole matter. You saw Dr. Cross +hand me a mass of papers, etc., taken from the person of the gentleman +who was nearly killed in your house?" + +David nodded. His breath was coming a little faster. His quick mind had +run on ahead; he saw the gulf looming before him. + +"Go on," said he, hoarsely, "go on. You mean to say that--" + +"That amongst the papers found in the pocket of the unfortunate stranger +was a receipted bill for the very cigar-case that lies here on the table +before you!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A POLICY OF SILENCE + + +Steel dropped into a chair and gazed at Inspector Marley with mild +surprise. At the same time he was not in the least alarmed. Not that he +failed to recognise the gravity of the situation, only it appealed in the +first instance to the professional side of his character. + +"Walen is quite sure?" he asked. "No possible doubt about that, eh?" + +"Not in the least. You see, he recognised his private mark at once, and +Brighton is not so prosperous a place that a man could sell a £70 +cigar-case and forget all about it--that is, a second case, I mean. It's +most extraordinary." + +"Rather! Make a magnificent story, Marley." + +"Very," Marley responded, drily. "It would take all your well-known +ingenuity to get your hero out of this trouble." + +Steel nodded gravely. This personal twist brought him to the earth again. +He could clearly see the trap into which he had placed himself. There +before him lay the cigar-case which he had positively identified as his +own; inside, his initials bore testimony to the fact. And yet the same +case had been identified beyond question as one sold by a highly +respectable local tradesman to the mysterious individual now lying in the +Sussex County Hospital. + +"May I smoke a cigarette?" David asked. + +"You may smoke a score if they will be of any assistance to you, sir," +Marley replied. "I don't want to ask you any questions and I don't want +you--well, to commit yourself. But really, sir, you must admit--" + +The inspector paused significantly. David nodded again. + +"Pray proceed," he said: "speak from the brief you have before you." + +"Well, you see it's this way," Marley said, not without hesitation. "You +call us up to your house, saying that a murder has been committed there; +we find a stranger almost at his last gasp in your conservatory with +every signs of a struggle having taken place. You tell us that the +injured man is a stranger to you; you go on to say that he must have +found his way into your house during a nocturnal ramble of yours. Well, +that sounds like common sense on the face of it. The criminal has studied +your habits and has taken advantage of them. Then I ask if you are in the +habit of taking these midnight strolls, and with some signs of hesitation +you say that you have never done such a thing before. Charles Dickens was +very fond of that kind of thing, and I naturally imagined that you had +the same fancy. But you had never done it before. And, the only time, a +man is nearly murdered in your house." + +"Perfectly correct," David murmured. "Gaboriau could not have put it +better. You might have been a pupil of my remarkable acquaintance +Hatherly Bell." + +"I am a pupil of Mr. Bell's," Marley said, quietly. "Seven years ago he +induced me to leave the Huddersfield police to go into his office, where +I stayed until Mr. Bell gave up business, when I applied for and gained +my present position. Curious you should mention Mr. Bell's name, seeing +that he was here so recently as this afternoon." + +"Staying in Brighton?" Steel asked, eagerly. "What is his address?" + +"No. 219, Brunswick Square." + +It took all the nerve that David possessed to crush the cry that rose to +his lips. It was more than strange that the man he most desired to see at +this juncture should be staying in the very house where the novelist had +his great adventure. And in the mere fact might be the key to the problem +of the cigar-case. + +"I'll certainly see Bell," he muttered. "Go on, Marley." + +"Yes, sir. We now proceed to the cigar-case that lies before you. It was +also lying on the floor of your conservatory on the night in question. I +suggested that here we might have found a clue, taking the precaution at +the same time to ask if the article in question was your property. You +looked at the case as one does who examines an object for the first time, +and proceeded to declare that it was not yours. I am quite prepared to +admit that you instantly corrected yourself. But I ask, is it a usual +thing for a man to forget the ownership of a £70 cigar-case?" + +"A nice point, and I congratulate you upon it," David said. + +"Then we will take the matter a little farther. A day or two ago you were +in dire need of something like £1,000. Temporarily, at any rate, you were +practically at the end of your resources. If this money were not +forthcoming in a few hours you were a ruined man. In vulgar parlance, you +would have been sold up. Mossa and Mack had you in their grip, and they +were determined to make all they could out of you. The morning following +the outrage at your house you call upon Mr. Mossa and produce the +cigar-case lying on the table before you. From that case you produce +notes sufficient to discharge your debt--Bank of England notes, the +numbers of which, I need hardly say, are in my possession. The money is +produced from the case yonder, which case we _know_ was sold to the +injured man by Mr. Walen." + +Marley made a long and significant pause. Steel nodded. + +"There seems to be no way out of it," he said. + +"I can see one," Marley suggested. "Of course, it would simplify matters +enormously if you merely told me in confidence whence came those notes. +You see, as I have the numbers, I could verify your statement beyond +question, and--" + +Marley paused again and shrugged his shoulders. Despite his cold, +official manner, he was obviously prompted by a desire to serve his +companion. And yet, simple as the suggestion seemed, it was the very last +thing with which Steel could comply. + +The novelist turned the matter over rapidly in his mind. His quick +perceptions flashed along the whole logical line instantaneously. He was +like a man who suddenly sees a midnight landscape by the glare of a +dazzling flash of lightning. + +"I am sorry," he said, slowly, "very sorry, to disappoint you. Were our +situations reversed, I should take up your position exactly. But it so +happens that I cannot, dare not, tell you where I got those notes from. +So far as I am concerned they came honestly into my hands in payment for +special services rendered. It was part of my contract that I should +reveal the secret to nobody. If I told you the story you would decline to +believe it; you would say that it was a brilliant effort of a novelist's +imagination to get out of a dangerous position." + +"I don't know that I should," Marley replied. "I have long since ceased +to wonder at anything that happens in or connected with Brighton." + +"All the same I can't tell you, Marley," Steel said, as he rose. "My lips +are absolutely sealed. The point is: what are you going to do?" + +"For the present, nothing," Marley replied. "So long as the man in the +hospital remains unconscious I can do no more than pursue what +Beaconsfield called 'a policy of masterly inactivity.' I have told you a +good deal more than I had any right to do, but I did so in the hope that +you could assist me. Perhaps in a day or two you will think better of it. +Meanwhile--" + +"Meanwhile I am in a tight place. Yes, I see that perfectly well. It is +just possible that I may scheme some way out of the difficulty, and if so +I shall be only too pleased to let you know. Good-night, Marley, and many +thanks to you." + +But with all his ingenuity and fertility of imagination David could see +no way out of the trouble. He sat up far into the night scheming; there +was no flavour in his tobacco; his pictures and flowers, his silver and +china, jarred upon him. He wished with all his heart now that he had let +everything go. It need only have been a temporary matter, and there were +other Cellini tankards, and intaglios, and line engravings in the world +for the man with money in his purse. + +He could see no way out of it at all. Was it not possible that the whole +thing had been deliberately planned so as to land him and his brains into +the hands of some clever gang of swindlers? Had he been tricked and +fooled so that he might become the tool of others? It seemed hard to +think so when he recalled the sweet voice in the darkness and its +passionate plea for help. And yet the very cigar-case that he had been +told was the one he admired at Lockhart's had proved beyond question to +be one purchased from Walen's! + +If he decided to violate his promise and tell the whole story nobody +would believe him. The thing was altogether too wild and improbable for +that. And yet, he reflected, things almost as impossible happen in +Brighton every day. And what proof had he to offer? + +Well, there was one thing certain. At least three-quarters of those +bank-notes--the portion he had collected at the house with the crimson +blind--could not possibly be traced to the injured man. And, again, it +was no fault of Steel's that Marley had obtained possession of the +numbers of the notes. If the detective chose to ferret out facts for +himself no blame could attach to Steel. If those people had only chosen +to leave out of the question that confounded cigar-case! + +David's train of thought was broken as an idea came to him. It was not so +long since he had a facsimile cigar-case in his hand at Lockhart's, in +North Street. Somebody connected with the mystery must have seen him +admiring it and reluctantly declining the purchase, because the voice +from the telephone told him that the case was a present and that it had +come from the famous North Street establishment. + +"By Jove!" David cried. "I'll go to Lockhart's tomorrow and see if the +case is still there. If so, I may be able to trace it." + +Fairly early the next morning David was in North Street. For the time +being he had put his work aside altogether. He could not have written a +dozen consecutive lines to save the situation. The mere effort to +preserve a cheerful face before his mother was a torture. And at any time +he might find himself forced to meet a criminal charge. + +The gentlemanly assistant at Lockhart's remembered Steel and the +cigar-case perfectly well, but he was afraid that the article had been +sold. No doubt it would be possible to obtain a facsimile in the course +of a few days. + +"Only I required that particular one," Steel said. "Can you tell me when +it was sold and who purchased it?" + +A junior partner did, and could give some kind of information. Several +people had admired the case, and it had been on the point of sale several +times. Finally, it had passed into the hands of an American gentleman +staying at the Metropole. + +"Can you tell me his name?" David asked, "or describe him?" + +"Well, I can't, sir," the junior partner said, frankly. "I haven't the +slightest recollection of the gentleman. He wrote from the Metropole on +the hotel paper describing the case and its price and inclosed the full +amount in ten-dollar notes and asked to have the case sent by post to the +hotel. When we ascertained that the notes were all right, we naturally +posted the case as desired, and there, so far as we are concerned, was an +end of the matter." + +"You don't recollect his name?" + +"Oh, yes. The name was John Smith. If there is anything wrong---" + +David hastily gave the desired assurance. He wanted to arouse no +suspicion. All the same, he left Lockhart's with a plethora of suspicions +of his own. Doubtless the jewellers would be well and fairly satisfied so +long as the case had been paid for, but from the standpoint of David's +superior knowledge the whole transaction fairly bristled with suspicion. + +Not for one moment did Steel believe in the American at the Metropole. +Somebody stayed there doubtless under the name of John Smith, and that +said somebody had paid for the cigar-case in dollar notes the tracing of +which might prove a task of years. Nor was it the slightest use to +inquire at the Metropole, where practically everybody is identified by a +number, and where scores come and go every day. John Smith would only +have to ask for his letters and then drop quietly into a sea of oblivion. + +Well, David had got his information, and a lot of use it was likely to +prove to him. As he walked thoughtfully homewards he was debating in his +mind whether or not he might venture to call at or write to 219, +Brunswick Square, and lay his difficulties before the people there. At +any rate, he reflected, with grim bitterness, they would know that he was +not romancing. If nothing turned up in the meantime he would certainly +visit Brunswick Square. + +He sat in his own room puzzling the matter out till his head ached and +the flowers before him reeled in a dazzling whirl of colour. He looked +round for inspiration, now desperately, as he frequently did when the +warp of his delicate fancy tangled. The smallest thing sometimes fed the +machine again--a patch of sunshine, the chip on a plate, the damaged edge +of a frame. Then his eye fell on the telephone and he jumped to his feet. + +"What a fool I am!" he exclaimed. "If I had been plotting this business +out as a story. I should have thought of that long ago.... No, I don't +want any number, at least, not in that way. Two nights ago I was called +up by somebody from London who held the line for fully half an hour or +so. I've--I've forgotten the address of my correspondent, but if you can +ascertain the number ... yes, I shall be here if you will ring me up when +you have got it.... Thanks." + +Half an hour passed before the bell trilled again. David listened +eagerly. At any rate, now he was going to know the number whence the +mysterious message came--0017, Kensington, was the number. David muttered +his thanks and flew to his big telephone directory. Yes, there it +was--"0017, 446, Prince's Gate, Gilead Gates." + +The big volume dropped with a crash on the floor. David looked down at +the crumpled volume with dim, misty amazement. + +"Gilead Gates," he murmured. "Quaker, millionaire, and philanthropist. +One of the most highly-esteemed and popular men in England. And from his +house came the message which has been the source of all the mischief. And +yet there are critics who say the plots of my novels are too fantastic!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NO. 2l8, BRUNSWICK SQUARE + + +The emotion of surprise seemed to have left Steel altogether. After the +last discovery he was prepared to believe anything. Had anybody told him +that the whole Bench of Bishops was at the bottom of the mystery he would +have responded that the suggestion was highly probable. + +"Still, it's what the inimitable Dick Swiveller would call a +staggerer," he muttered. "Gates, the millionaire, the one great +capitalist who has the profound respect of the labour world. No, a man +with a record like that couldn't have anything to do with it. Still, it +must have been from his house that the mysterious message came. The +post-office people working the telephone trunk line would know that--a +fact which probably escaped the party who called me up.... I'll go to +Brunswick Square and see that woman. Money or no money, I'll not lie +under an imputation like this." + +There was one thing to be done beforehand, and that was to see Dr. Cross. +From the latter's manner he evidently knew nothing of the charge hanging +over Steel's head. Marley was evidently keeping that close to himself and +speaking to nobody. + +"Oh, the man is better." Cross said, cheerfully. "He hasn't been +identified yet, though the Press has given us every assistance. I fancy +the poor fellow is going to recover, though I am afraid it will be a +long job." + +"He hasn't recovered consciousness, then?" + +"No, and neither will he for some time to come. There seems to be a +certain pressure on the brain which we are unable to locate, and we dare +not try the Röntgen rays yet. So on the whole you are likely to escape +with a charge of aggravated assault." + +David smiled grimly as he went his way. He walked the whole distance to +Hove along North Street and the Western Road, finally turning down +Brunswick Square instead of _up_ it, as he had done on the night of the +great adventure. He wondered vaguely why he had been specially instructed +to approach the house that way. + +Here it was at last, 219, Brunswick Square--220 above and, of course, 218 +below the house. It looked pretty well the same in the daylight, the same +door, the same knocker, and the same crimson blind in the centre of the +big bay window. David knocked at the door with a vague feeling of +uncertainty as to what he was going to do next. A very staid, +old-fashioned footman answered his ring and inquired his business. + +"Can--can I see your mistress?" David stammered. + +The staid footman became, if possible, a little more reserved. If the +gentleman would send in his card he would see if Miss Ruth was +disengaged. David found himself vaguely wondering what Miss Ruth's +surname might be. The old Biblical name was a great favourite of his. + +"I'm afraid I haven't a card," he said. "Will you say that Mr. Steel +would like to see--er--Miss Ruth for a few minutes? My business is +exceedingly pressing." + +The staid footman led the way into the dining-room. Evidently this was no +frivolous house, where giddy butterflies came and went; such gaudy +insects would have been chilled by the solemn decorum of the place. David +followed into the dining-room in a dreamy kind of way, and with the +feeling that comes to us all at times, the sensation of having done and +seen the same thing before. + +Nothing had been altered. The same plain, handsome, expensive furniture +was here, the same mahogany and engravings, the same dull red walls, with +the same light stain over the fire-place--a dull, prosperous, +square-toed-looking place. The electric fittings looked a little +different, but that might have been fancy. It was the identical room. +David had run his quarry to earth, and he began to feel his spirits +rising. Doubtless he could scheme some way out of the difficulty and +spare his phantom friends at the same time. + +"You wanted to see me, sir? Will you be so good as to state your +business?" + +David turned with a start. He saw before him a slight, graceful figure, +and a lovely, refined face in a frame of the most beautiful hair that he +had ever seen. The grey eyes were demure, with just a suggestion of mirth +in them; the lips were made for laughter. It was as if some dainty little +actress were masquerading in Salvation garb, only the dress was all +priceless lace that touched David's artistic perception. He could imagine +the girl as deeply in earnest as going through fire and water for her +convictions. Also he could imagine her as Puck or Ariel--there was +rippling laughter in every note of that voice of hers. + +"I--I, eh, yes," Steel stammered. "You see, I--if I only knew whom I had +the pleasure of addressing?" + +"I am Miss Ruth Gates, at your service. Still, you asked for me by name." + +David made no reply for a moment. He was tripping over surprises again. +What a fool he had been not to look out the name of the occupant of 219 +in the directory. It was pretty evident that Gilead Gates had a house in +Brighton as well as one in town. Not only had that telephone message +emanated from the millionaire's residence, but it had brought Steel to +the philanthropist's abode in Brighton. If Mr. Gates himself had strolled +into the room singing a comic song David would have expressed no emotion. + +"Daughter of the famous Gilead Gates?" David asked, feebly. + +"No, niece, and housekeeper. This is not my uncle's own house, he has +merely taken this for a time. But, Mr. Steel--" + +"Mr. _David_, Steel--is my name familiar to you?" + +David asked the question somewhat eagerly. As yet he was only feeling +his way and keenly on the lookout for anything in the way of a clue. He +saw the face of the girl grow white as the table-cover, he saw the +lurking laughter die in her eyes, and the purple black terror dilating +the pupils. + +"I--I know you quite well by reputation," the girl gasped. Her little +hands were pressed to her left side as if to check some deadly pain +there. "Indeed, I may say I have read most of your stories. I--I hope +that there is nothing wrong." + +Her self-possession and courage were coming back to her now. But the +spasm of fear that had shaken her to the soul was not lost upon Steel. + +"I trust not," he said, gravely. "Did you know that I was here two +nights ago?" + +"Here!" the girl cried. "Impossible! In the house! The night before last! +Why, we were all in bed long before midnight." + +"I am not aware that I said anything about midnight," David +responded, coldly. + +An angry flush came sweeping over the face of the girl, annoyance at her +own folly, David thought. She added quickly that she and her uncle had +only been down in Brighton for three days. + +"Nevertheless, I was in this room two nights ago," David replied. "If you +know all about it, I pray you to give me certain information of vital +importance to me; if not, I shall be compelled to keep my extraordinary +story to myself, for otherwise you would never believe it. Do you or do +you not know of my visit here?" + +The girl bent her head till Steel could see nothing but the glorious +amber of her hair. He could see, too, the fine old lace round her throat +was tossing like a cork on a stream. + +"I can tell you nothing," she said. "Nothing, nothing, nothing." + +It was the voice of one who would have spoken had she dared. With +anybody else Steel would have been furiously angry. In the present case +he could only admire the deep, almost pathetic, loyalty to somebody who +stood behind. + +"Are you sure you were in this house?" the girl asked, at length. + +"Certain!" David exclaimed. "The walls, the pictures, the +furniture--all the same. I could swear to the place anywhere. Miss +Gates, if I cannot prove that I was here at the time I name, it is +likely to go very hard with me." + +"You mean that a certain inconvenience--" + +"Inconvenience! Do you call a charge of murder, or manslaughter at best, +inconvenient? Have you not seen the local papers? Don't you know that two +nights ago, during my absence from home, a strange man was practically +done to death in my conservatory? And during the time of the outrage, as +sure as Heaven is above us, I was in this room." + +"I am sorry, but I am sure that you were not." + +"Ah, you are going to disappoint me? And yet you know something. You +might have been the guiltiest of creatures yourself when I disclosed my +identity. No prisoner detected in some shameful crime ever looked more +guilty than you." + +The girl stood there, saying nothing. Had she rang the bell and ordered +the footman to put him out of the house, Steel would have had no cause +for complaint. But she did nothing of the kind. She stood there torn by +conflicting emotions. + +"I can give you no information," she said, presently. "But I am as +positive one way as you are another that you have never been in this +house before. I may surmise things, but as I hope to be judged fairly I +can give you no information. I am only a poor, unhappy girl, who is doing +what she deems to be the best for all parties concerned. And I can tell +you nothing, nothing. Oh, won't you believe that I would do anything to +serve you if I were only free?" + +She held out her hand with an imploring gesture, the red lips were +quivering, and her eyes were full of tears. David's warm heart went out +to her; he forgot all his own troubles and dangers in his sympathy for +the lovely creature in distress. + +"Pray say no more about it," he cried. He caught the outstretched hand in +his and carried it to his lips. "I don't wish to hurry you; in fact, +haste is dangerous. And there is ample time. Nor am I going to press you. +Still, before long you may find some way to give me a clue without +sacrificing a jot of your fine loyalty to--well, others. I would not +distress you for the world, Miss Gates. Don't you think that this has +been the most extraordinary interview?" + +The tears trembled like diamonds on the girl's long lashes and a smile +flashed over her face. The sudden transformation was wonderfully +fascinating. + +"What you might call an impossible interview," she laughed. "And all the +more impossible because it was quite impossible that you could ever have +been here before." + +"When I was in this room two nights ago," David protested, "I saw---" + +"Did you see me, for instance? If not, you couldn't have been here." + +A small, misshapen figure, with the face of a Byron--Apollo on the bust +of a Satyr--came in from behind the folding doors at the back of the +dining-room carrying some letters in his hand. The stranger's dark, +piercing eyes were fixed inquiringly upon Steel. + +"Bell," the latter cried; "Hatherly Bell! you have been listening!" + +The little man with the godlike head admitted the fact, coolly. He +had been writing letters in the back room and escape had been +impossible for him. + +"Funny enough, I was going to look you up to-day," he said. "You did me +a great service once, and I am longing to repay you. I came down here to +give my friend Gates the benefit of my advice and assistance over a +large philanthropic scheme he has just evolved. And, writing letters +yonder on that subject, I heard your extraordinary conversation. Can I +help you, Steel?" + +"My dear fellow," David cried, "if you offered me every intellect in +Europe I should not choose one of them so gladly as yours." + +"Then let us shake hands on the bargain. And now I am going to stagger +you; I heard you state positively that two nights ago you were in this +very room." + +"I am prepared to testify the fact on oath anywhere, my dear Bell." + +"Very well; will you be good enough to state the hour?" + +"Certainly. I was here from one o'clock--say between one and two." + +"And I was here also. From eleven o'clock till two I was in this very +room working out some calculations at this very table by the aid of my +reading-lamp, no other light being in the room, or even in the house, as +far as I know. It is one of my fads--as fools call them--to work in a +large, dark room with one brilliant light only. Therefore you could not +possibly have been in the house, to say nothing of this room, on the +night in question." + +David nodded feebly. There was no combating Bell's statement. + +"I presume that this is No. 219?" he asked. + +"Certainly it is," Miss Gates replied. "We are all agreed about _that_." + +"Because I read the number over the fanlight," Steel went on. "And I came +here by arrangement. And there was everything as I see it now. Bell, you +must either cure me of this delusion, or you must prove logically to me +that I have made a mistake. So far as I am concerned, I am like a child +struggling with the alphabet." + +"We'll start now," said Bell. "Come along." + +Steel rose none too willingly. He would fain have lingered with Ruth. She +held out her hand; there was a warm, glad smile on her face. + +"May you be successful," she whispered. "Come and see me again, because I +shall be very, very anxious to know. And I am not without guilt.... If +you only knew!" + +"And I may come again?" David said, eagerly. + +A further smile and a warm pressure of the hand were the only reply. +Presently Steel was standing outside in the road with Bell. The latter +was glancing at the house on either side of 219. The higher house was +let; the one nearest the sea--218--was empty. A bill in the window gave +the information that the property was in the hands of Messrs. Wallace and +Brown, Station Quadrant, where keys could be obtained. + +"We'll make a start straightaway," said Bell. "Come along." + +"Where are you going to at that pace?" Steel asked. + +"Going to interview Messrs. Wallace and Brown. At the present moment I am +a gentleman who is in search of a house of residence, and I have a +weakness for Brunswick Square in particular, especially for No. 218. +Unless I am greatly mistaken I am going to show you something that will +startle even the most callous novelist." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HATHERLY BELL + + +The queer, misshapen figure striding along by Steel's side would have +attracted attention anywhere; indeed, Hatherly Bell had been an +attractive personality from his schooldays. A strange mixture of vanity +and brilliant mental qualities, Bell had almost as many enemies as +friends. He was morbidly miserable over the score of his personal +appearance despite the extraordinary beauty of his face--to be pitied or +even sympathised with almost maddened him. Yet there were many women who +would gladly have shared the lot of Hatherly Bell. + +For there was strength in the perfectly moulded face, as well as beauty. +It was the face of a man possessed of marvellous intellectual powers, and +none the less attractive because, while the skin was as fair as a woman's +and the eyes as clear as a child's, the wavy hair was absolutely white. +The face of a man who had suffered fiercely and long. A face hiding a +great sorrow. + +Time was when Bell had promised to stand in the front rank of operative +physicians. In brain troubles and mental disorders he had distinguished +himself. He had a marvellous faculty for psychological research; indeed, +he had gone so far as to declare that insanity was merely a disease and +capable of cure the same as any ordinary malady. "If Bell goes on as he +has started," a great German specialist once declared, "he will +inevitably prove to be the greatest benefactor to mankind since the +beginning of the world." Bell was to be the man of his time. + +And then suddenly he had faded out as a star drops from the zenith. There +had been dark rumours of a terrible scandal, a prosecution burked by +strong personal influence, mysterious paragraphs in the papers, and the +disappearance of the name of Hatherly Bell from the rank of great medical +jurists. Nobody seemed to know anything about it, but Bell was ignored by +all except a few old friends, and henceforth he devoted his attention to +criminology and the evolution of crime. It was Bell's boast that he could +take a dozen men at haphazard and give you their vices and virtures +point-blank. He had a marvellous gift that way. + +A few people stuck to him, Gilead Gates amongst the number. The +millionaire philanthropist had need of someone to pick the sheep from the +goats, and Bell made no mistakes. David Steel had been able to do the +specialist some slight service a year or two before, and Bell had been +pleased to magnify this into a great favour. + +"You are a fast walker," David said, presently. + +"That's because I am thinking fast," Bell replied. "Steel, you are in +great trouble?" + +"It needs no brilliant effort on your part to see that," David said, +bitterly. "Besides, you heard a great deal just now when you--you--" + +"Listened," Bell said, coolly. "Of course I had no intention of playing +eavesdropper; and I had no idea who the Mr. Steel was who wanted to see +Miss Gates. They come day by day, my dear fellow, garbed in the garb of +Pall Mall or Petticoat Lane as the case may be, but they all come for +money. Sometimes it is a shilling, sometimes £100. But I did not gather +from your chat with Miss Gates what your trouble was." + +"Perhaps not, but Miss Gates knew perfectly well." + +Bell patted his companion, approvingly. + +"It is a pleasure to help a lucid-minded man like yourself," he said. +"You go straight to the root of the sore and cut all the superfluous +matter away. I was deeply interested in the conversation which I +overheard just now. You are in great trouble, and that trouble is +connected with 219, Brunswick Square--a house where you have never +been before." + +"My dear chap, I was in that dining-room two nights ago. Nothing will +convince me to the--" + +"There you are wrong, because I am going to convince you to the +contrary. You may smile and shake your head, but before an hour has +passed I am going to convince you beyond all question that you were +never inside No. 219." + +"Brave words," David muttered. "Still, an hour is not a long time to +wait." + +"No. But you must enlighten me if I am to assist you. I am profoundly +interested. You come to the house of my friend on a desperate errand. +Miss Gates is a perfect stranger to you, and yet the mere discovery of +your identity fills her with the most painful agitation. Therefore, +though you have never been in 219 before, you are pretty certain, and I +am pretty certain, that Ruth Gates knows a deal about the thing that is +touching you. On the contrary, I know nothing on that head. Won't you let +me into the secret?" + +"I'll tell you part," Steel replied. "And I'll put it pithily. For mere +argument we assume that I am selected to assist a damsel in distress who +lives at No. 219, Brunswick Square. We will assume that the conversation +leading up to the flattering selection took place over the telephone. As +a matter of fact, it did take place over the telephone. The thing was +involved with so much secrecy that I naturally hesitated. I was offered +£1,000 for my services; also I was reminded by my unseen messenger that I +was in dire need of that money." + +"And were you?" + +"My dear fellow, I don't fancy that I should have hesitated at burglary +to get it. And all I had to do was to meet a lady secretly in the dead of +night at No. 219, and tell her how to get out of a certain difficulty. It +all resolved itself round the synopsis of a proposed new story of mine. +But I had better go into details." + +David proceeded to do so. Bell, with his arm crooked through that of his +companion, followed the story with an intelligent and nattering interest. + +"Very strange and very fascinating," he said, presently. "I'll think it +out presently. Nobody could possibly think of anything but their toes in +Western Road. Go on." + +"Now I am coming to the point. I had the money, I had that lovely +cigar-case, and subsequently I had that battered and bleeding specimen of +humanity dumped down in the most amazing manner in my conservatory. The +cigar-case lay on the conservatory floor, remember--swept off the table +when I clutched for the telephone bell to call for the police. When +Marley came he asked if the cigar-case was mine. At first I said no, +because, you see--" + +"I see quite plainly. Pray go on." + +"Well, I lose that cigar-case; I leave it in the offices of Mossa, to +whom I pay nearly £1,000. Mossa, to spite me, takes or sends the case to +the police, who advertise it not knowing that it is mine. You will see +why they advertise it presently--" + +"Because it belonged to the injured man, eh?" + +David pulled up and regarded his companion with amazement. + +"How on earth--" he gasped. "Do you mean to say that you know--" + +"Nothing at present, I assure you," Bell said, coolly. "Call it +intuition, if you like. I prefer to call it the result of logical mental +process. I'm right, of course?" + +"Of course you are. I'd claimed that case for my own. I had cut my +initials inside, as I showed Marley when I went to the police-station. +And then Marley tells me how I paid Mossa nearly £1,000; how the money +must have come into my hands in the nick of time. That was pretty bad +when I couldn't for the life of me give a lucid reason for the possession +of those notes; but there was worse to come. In the pocket of the injured +man was a receipt for a diamond-studded gun-metal cigar-case, purchased +the day of the outrage. And Walen, the jeweller, proved beyond a doubt +that the case I claimed was purchased at his shop." + +Bell nodded gravely. + +"Which places you in an exceedingly awkward position," he said. + +"A mild way of putting it," David replied. "If that fellow dies the +police have enough evidence to hang me. And what is my defence? The story +of my visit to No. 219. And who would believe that cock-and-bull story? +Fancy a drama like that being played out in the house of such a pillar of +respectability as Gilead Gates." + +"It isn't his house," said Bell. "He only takes it furnished." + +"In anybody else your remark would be puerile," David said, irritably. + +"It's a deeper remark than you are aware of at present," Bell replied. "I +quite see your position. Nobody would believe you, of course. But why not +go to the post-office and ask the number of the telephone that called you +up from London?" + +The question seemed to amuse David slightly. Then his lips were drawn +humorously. + +"When my logical formula came back I thought of that," he said. "On +inquiring as to who it was rang me up on that fateful occasion I learnt +that the number was 0017 Kensington and that--" + +"Gates's own number at Prince's Gate," Bell exclaimed. "The plot +thickens." + +"It does, indeed," David said, grimly. "It is Wilkie Collins gone mad, +Gaboriau _in extremis_, Du Boisgobey suffering from _delirium tremens_. +I go to Gates's house here, and am solemnly told in the midst of +surroundings that I can swear to that I have never been there before; +the whole mad expedition is launched by the turning of the handle of a +telephone in the house of a distinguished, trusted, if prosaic, +citizen. Somebody gets hold of the synopsis of a story of mine, Heaven +knows how--" + +"That is fairly easy. The synopsis was short, I suppose?" + +"Only a few lines, say 1,000 words, a sheet of paper. My writing is very +small. It was tucked into a half-penny open envelope--a mazagine office +envelope, marked 'Proof, urgent.' There were the proofs of a short story +in the buff envelope." + +"Which reached its destination in due course?" + +"So I hear this morning. But how on earth--" + +"Easily enough. The whole thing gets slipped into a larger open envelope, +the kind of big-mouthed affair that enterprising firms send out circulars +and patterns with. This falls into the hands of the woman who is at the +bottom of this and every other case, and she reads the synopsis from +sheer curiosity. The case fits her case, and there you are. Mind you, I +don't say that this is how the thing actually happened, but how it might +have done so. When did you post the letter?" + +"I can't give you the date. Say ten days ago." + +"And there would be no hurry for a reply," Bell said, thoughtfully. "And +you had no cause for worry on that head. Nor need the woman who found it +have kept the envelope beyond the delay of a single post, which is only a +matter of an hour or so in London. If you go a little farther we find +that money is no object, hence the £1,000 offer and the careful, and +doubtless expensive, inquiry into your position. Steel, I am going to +enjoy this case." + +"You're welcome to all the fun you can get out of it," David said, +grimly. "So far as I am concerned, I fail to see the humour. Isn't this +the office you are after?" + +Bell nodded and disappeared, presently to return with two exceedingly +rusty keys tied together with a drab piece of tape. He jingled them on +his long, slender forefinger with an air of positive enjoyment. + +"Now come along," he said. "I feel like a boy who has marked down +something rare in the way of a bird's nest. We will go back to Brunswick +Square exactly the same way as you approached it on the night of the +great adventure." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BROKEN FIGURE + + +"Any particular object in that course?" David asked. + +"There ought to be an object in everything that even an irrational man +says or does," Bell replied. "I have achieved some marvellous results by +following up a single sentence uttered by a patient. Besides, on the +evening in question you were particularly told to approach the house from +the sea front." + +"Somebody might have been on the look-out near the Western Road +entrance," Steel suggested. + +"Possibly. I have another theory.... Here we are. The figures over the +fanlights run from 187 upwards, gradually getting to 219 as you breast +the slope. At one o'clock in the morning every house would be in +darkness. Did you find that to be so?" + +"I didn't notice a light anywhere till I reached 219." + +"Good again. And you could only find 219 by the light over the door. +Naturally you were not interested in and would not have noticed any other +number. Well, here is 218, where I propose to enter, and for which +purpose I have the keys. Come along." + +David followed wonderingly. The houses in Brunswick Square are somewhat +irregular in point of architecture, and Nos. 218 and 219 were the only +matched pair thereabouts. Signs were not wanting, as Bell pointed out, +that at one time the houses had been occupied as one residence. The two +entrance-halls were back to back, so to speak, and what had obviously +been a doorway leading from one to the other had been plastered up within +comparatively recent memory. + +The grim and dusty desolation of an empty house seemed to be supplemented +here by a deeper desolation. Not that there was any dust on the ground +floor, which seemed a singular thing seeing that elsewhere the boards +were powdered with it, and festoons of brown cobwebs hung everywhere. +Bell smiled approvingly as David Steel pointed the fact out to him. + +"Do you note another singular point?" the former asked. + +"No," David said, thoughtfully; "I--stop! The two side-shutters in the +bay-windows are closed, and there is the same vivid crimson blind in the +centre window. And the self colour of the walls is exactly the same. The +faint discoloration by the fireplace is a perfect facsimile." + +"In fact, _this_ is the room you were in the other night," Bell +said, quietly. + +"Impossible!" Steel cried. "The blind may be an accident, so might the +fading of the distemper. But the furniture, the engravings, the fittings +generally--" + +"Are all capable of an explanation, which we shall arrive at with +patience." + +"Can we arrive at the number over the door with patience?" + +"Exactly what I was coming to. I noticed an old pair of steps in the back +sitting-room. Would you mind placing them against the fanlight for me?" + +David complied readily enough. He was growing credulous and interested in +spite of himself. At Bell's instigation he placed the steps before the +fanlight and mounted them. Over his head were the figures 218 in +elongated shape and formed in white porcelain. + +"Now then," Bell said, slowly. "Take this pocket-knife, apply the blade +to the _right-hand_ lower half of the bottom of the 8--to half the small +O, in fact--and I shall be extremely surprised if the quarter section +doesn't come away from the glass of the fanlight, leaving the rest of the +figure intact. Very gently, please. I want you to convince yourself that +the piece comes away because it is broken, and not because the pressure +has cracked it. Now then." + +The point of the knife was hardly under the edge of the porcelain before +the segment of the lower circle dropped into Steel's hand. He could feel +the edges of the cement sticking to his fingers. As yet the full force of +the discovery was not apparent to him. + +"Go out into the road and look at the fanlight," Bell directed. + +David complied eagerly. A sharp cry of surprise escaped him as he looked +up. The change was apparent. Instead of the figures 218 he could read now +the change to 219--a fairly indifferent 9, but one that would have passed +muster without criticism by ninety-nine people out of a hundred. With a +strong light behind the figures the clumsy 9 would never have been +noticed at all. The very simplicity and ingeniousness of the scheme was +its safeguard. + +"I should like to have the address of the man who thought that out," +David said, drily. + +"Yes, I fancy that you are dealing with quite clever people," Bell +replied. "And now I have shown you how utterly you have been deceived +over the number we will go a little farther. For the present, the way in +which the furniture trick was worked must remain a mystery. But there has +been furniture here, or this room and the hall would not have been so +carefully swept and garnished whilst the rest of the house remains in so +dirty a condition. If my eyes don't deceive me I can see two fresh nails +driven into the archway leading to the back hall. On those nails hung the +curtain that prevented you seeing more than was necessary. Are you still +incredulous as to the house where you had your remarkable adventure?" + +"I confess that my faith has been seriously shaken," David admitted. "But +about the furniture? And about my telephone call from Mr. Gates's town +house? And about my adventure taking place in the very next house to the +one taken by him at Brighton? And about Miss Gates's agitation when she +learnt my identity? Do you call them coincidences?" + +"No, I don't," Bell said, promptly. "They are merely evidences of clever +folks taking advantage of an excellent strategic position. I said just +now that it was an important point that Mr. Gates had merely taken the +next door furnished. But we shall come to that side of the theory in due +course. Have you any other objection to urge?" + +"One more, and I have finished for the present. When I came here the +other night--provided of course that I did come here--immediately upon my +entering the dining-room the place was brilliantly illuminated. Now, +directly the place was void the supply of electric current would be cut +off at the meter. So far as I can judge, some two or three units must +have been consumed during my visit. There could not be many less than ten +lights burning for an hour. Now, those units must show on the meter. Can +you read an electric meter?" + +"My dear fellow, there is nothing easier." + +"Then let us go down into the basement and settle the matter. There is +pretty sure to be a card on the meter made up to the day when the last +tenant went out. See, the supply is cut off now." + +As Steel spoke he snapped down the hall switch and no result came. Down +in the basement by the area door stood the meter. Both switches were +turned off, but on Bell pressing them down Steel was enabled to light +the passage. + +"There's the card," Bell exclaimed. "Made up to 25th June, 1895, since +when the house has been void. Just a minute whilst I read the meter. Yes, +that's right. According to this the card in your hand, provided that the +light has not been used since the index was taken, should read at 1521. +What do you make of the card?" + +"1532," David cried. "Which means eleven units since the meter was last +taken. Or, if you like to put it from your point of view, eleven units +used the night that I came here. You are quite right, Bell. You have +practically convinced me that I have been inside the real 219 for the +first time to-day. And yet the more one probes the mystery the more +astounding does it become.... What do you propose to do next?" + +"Find out the name of the last tenant or owner." Bell suggested. +"Discover what the two houses were used for when they were occupied by +one person. Also ascertain why on earth the owners are willing to let a +house this size and in this situation for a sum like £80 per annum. Let +us go and take the keys back to the agents." + +Steel was nothing loth to find himself in the fresh air again. Some +progress had been made like the opening of a chess-match between masters, +and yet the more Steel thought of it the more muddled and bewildered did +he become. No complicated tangle in the way of a plot had ever been +anything like the skein this was. + +"I'm like a child in your hands," he said. "I'm a blind man on the end of +a string; a man dazed with wine in a labyrinth. And if ever I help a +woman again--" + +He paused as he caught sight of Ruth Gates's lovely face through the +window of No. 219. Her features were tinged with melancholy; there was a +look of deepest sympathy and feeling and compassion in her glorious +eyes. She slipped back as Steel bowed, and the rest of his speech was +lost in a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE OF THE SILENT SORROW + + +A bell tolled mournfully with a slow, swinging cadence like a passing +bell. On winter nights folks, passing the House of the Silent Sorrow, +compared the doleful clanging to the boom that carries the criminal from +the cell to the scaffold. Every night all the year round the little +valley of Longdean echoed to that mournful clang. Perhaps it was for this +reason that a wandering poet christened the place as the House of the +Silent Sorrow. + +For seven years this had been going on now, until nobody but strangers +noticed it. From half-past seven till eight o'clock that hideous bell +rang its swinging, melancholy note. Why it was nobody could possibly +tell. Nobody in the village had ever been beyond the great rusty gates +leading to a dark drive of Scotch firs, though one small boy bolder than +the rest had once climbed the lichen-strewn stone wall and penetrated the +thick undergrowth beyond. Hence he had returned, with white face and +staring eyes, with the information that great wild dogs dwelt in the +thickets. Subsequently the village poacher confirmed this information. He +was not exactly loquacious on the subject, but merely hinted that the +grounds of Longdean Grange were not salubrious for naturalists with a +predatory disposition. + +Indeed, on moonlight nights those apocryphal hounds were heard to bay and +whimper. A shepherd up late one spring night averred that he had seen two +of them fighting. But nobody could say anything about them for certain; +also it was equally certain that nobody knew anything about the people at +Longdean Grange. The place had been shut up for thirty years, being +understood to be in Chancery, when the announcement went forth that a +distant relative of the family had arranged to live there in future. + +What the lady of the Grange was like nobody could say. She had arrived +late one night accompanied by a niece, and from that moment she had never +been beyond the house. None of the large staff of servants ever left the +grounds unless it was to quit altogether, and then they were understood +to leave at night with a large bonus in money as a recompense for their +promise to evacuate Sussex without delay. Everything was ordered by +telephone from Brighton, and left at the porter's lodge. The porter was a +stranger, also he was deaf and exceedingly ill-tempered, so that long +since the village had abandoned the hope of getting anything out of him. +One rational human being they saw from the Grange occasionally, a big man +with an exceedingly benevolent face and mild, large, blue eyes--a man +full of Christian kindness and given to largesse to the village boys. The +big gentleman went by the name of "Mr. Charles," and was understood to +have a lot of pigeons of which he was exceedingly fond. But who "Mr. +Charles" was, or how he got that name, it would have puzzled the wisest +head of the village to tell. + +And yet, but for the mighty clamour of that hideous bell and that belt of +wildness that surrounded it, Longdean Grange was a cheerful-looking house +enough. Any visitor emerging from the drive would have been delighted +with it. For the lawns were trim and truly kept, the beds were blazing +masses of flowers, the creepers over the Grange were not allowed to riot +too extravagantly. And yet the strange haunting sense of fear was there. +Now and again a huge black head would uplift from the coppice growth, and +a long, rumbling growl come from between a double row of white teeth. For +the dogs were no fiction, they lived and bred in the fifteen or twenty +acres of coppice round the house, where they were fed regularly and +regularly thrashed without mercy if they showed in the garden. Perhaps +they looked more fierce and truculent than they really were, being Cuban +bloodhounds, but they gave a weird colour to the place and lent it new +terror to the simple folk around. + +The bell was swinging dolefully over the stable-turret; it rang out its +passing note till the clock struck eight and then mercifully ceased. At +the same moment precisely as she had done any time the last seven years +the lady of the house descended the broad, black oak staircase to the +hall. A butler of the old-fashioned type bowed to her and announced that +dinner was ready. He might have been the butler of an archbishop from +his mien and deportment, yet his evening dress was seedy and shiny to +the last degree, his patent leather boots had long lost their lustre, +his linen was terribly frayed and yellow. Two footmen in livery stood in +the hall. They might have been supers playing on the boards of a +travelling theatre, their once smartly cut and trimmed coats hung +raggedly upon them. + +As to the lady, who was tall and handsome, with dark eyes and features +contrasting strangely with hair as white as the frost on a winter's +landscape, there was a far-away, strained look in the dark eyes, as if +they were ever night and day looking for something, something that would +never be found. In herself the lady was clean and wholesome enough, but +her evening dress of black silk and lace was dropping into fragments, the +lace was in rags upon her bosom, though there were diamonds of great +value in her white hair. + +And here, strangely allied, were wealth and direst poverty; the whole +place was filled with rare and costly things, pictures, statuary, china; +the floors were covered with thick carpets, and yet everything was +absolutely smothered in dust. A thick, white, blankety cloud of it lay +everywhere. It obscured the china, it dimmed the glasses of the pictures, +it piled in little drifts on the heads and arms of the dingy statues +there. Many years must have passed since a housemaid's brush or duster +had touched anything in Longdean Grange. It was like a palace of the +Sleeping Beauty, wherein people walked as in a waking dream. + +The lady of the house made her way slowly to the dining-room. Here dinner +was laid out daintily and artistically enough--a _gourmet_ would have +drawn up to the table with a feeling of satisfaction. Flowers were there, +and silver and cut-glass, china with a history of its own, and the whole +set out on a tablecloth that was literally dropping to pieces. + +It was a beautiful room in itself, lofty, oak panelled from floor to +roof, with a few pictures of price on the walls. There was plenty of +gleaming silver glowing like an argent moon against a purple sky, and yet +the same sense of dust and desolation was everywhere. Only the dinner +looked bright and modern. + +There were two other people standing by the table, one a girl with a +handsome, intellectual face full of passion but ill repressed; the other +the big fair man known to the village as "Mr. Charles." As a matter of +fact, his name was Reginald Henson, and he was distantly related to Mrs. +Henson, the strange chatelaine of the House of the Silent Sorrow. He was +smiling blandly now at Enid Henson, the wonderfully beautiful girl with +the defiant, shining eyes. + +"We may be seated now that madam is arrived," Henson said, gravely. + +He spoke with a certain mocking humility and a queer wry smile on his +broad, loose mouth that filled Enid with a speechless fury. The girl was +hot-blooded--a good hater and a good friend. And the master passion of +her life was hatred of Reginald Henson. + +"Madam has had a refreshing rest?" Henson suggested. "Pardon our anxious +curiosity." + +Again Enid raged, but Margaret Henson might have been of stone for all +the notice she took. The far-away look was still in her eyes as she felt +her way to the table like one in a dream. Then she dropped suddenly into +a chair and began grace in a high, clear voice. + +".... And the Lord make us truly thankful. And may He, when it seemeth +good to Him, remove the curse from this house and in due season free the +innocent and punish the guilty. For the burden is sore upon us, and there +are times when it seems hard to bear." + +The big man played with his knife and fork, smilingly. An acute observer +might have imagined that the passionate plaint was directed at him. If so +it passed harmlessly over his broad shoulders. In his immaculate evening +dress he looked strangely out of place there. Enid had escaped the +prevailing dilapidation, but her gown of grey homespun was severe as the +garb of a charity girl. + +"Madam is so poetical," Henson murmured. "And charmingly sanguine." + +"Williams," Mrs. Henson said, quite stoically, "my visitor will have some +champagne." + +She seemed to have dropped once again into the commonplace, painfully +exact as a hostess of breeding must be to an unwelcome guest. And yet she +never seemed to see him; those dark eyes were looking, ever looking, into +the dark future. The meal proceeded in silence save for an oily sarcasm +from Henson. In the dense stillness the occasional howl of a dog could be +heard. A slight flush of annoyance crossed Henson's broad face. + +"Some day I shall poison all those hounds," he said. + +Enid looked up at him swiftly. + +"If _all_ the hounds round Longdean were poisoned or shot it would be a +good place to live in," she said. + +Henson smiled caressingly, like Petruchio might have done in his +milder moments. + +"My dear Enid, you misjudge me," he said. "But I shall get justice +some day." + +Enid replied that she fervently hoped so, and thus the strange meal +proceeded with smiles and gentle words from Henson, and a wild outburst +of bitterness from the girl. So far as she was concerned the servants +might have been mere automatons. The dust rose in clouds as the latter +moved silently. It was hot in there, and gradually the brown powder +grimed like a film over Henson's oily skin. At the head of the table +Margaret Henson sat like a woman in a dream. Ever, ever her dark eyes +seemed to be looking eagerly around. Thirsty men seeking precious water +in a desert might have looked like her. Ever and anon her lips moved, but +no sound came from them. Occasionally she spoke to one or the other of +her guests, but she never followed her words with her eyes. Such a sad, +pathetic, pitiable figure, such a grey sorrow in her rags and snowy hair. + +The meal came to an end at length, and Mrs. Henson rose suddenly. There +was a grotesque suggestion of the marionette in the movement. She bowed +as if to some imaginary personage and moved with dignity towards the +door. Reginald Henson stood aside and opened it for her. She passed +into the dim hall as if absolutely unconscious of his presence. Enid +flashed a look of defiance at him as she disappeared into the gloom and +floating dust. + +Henson's face changed instantly, as if a mask had fallen from his smug +features. He became alert and vigorous. He was no longer patron of the +arts, a wide-minded philanthropist, the man who devotes himself to the +good of humanity. The blue eyes were cold and cruel, there was a hungry +look about the loose mouth. + +"Take a bottle of claret and the cigars into the small library, +Williams," he said. "And open the window, the dust stifles me." + +The dignified butler bowed respectfully. He resembled the typical bad +butler of fiction in no respect, but his thoughts were by no means +pleasant as he hastened to obey. Enid was loitering in the hall as +Williams passed with the tray. + +"Small study and the window open, miss," he whispered. "There's some game +on--oh, yes, there is some blessed game on again to-night. And him so +anxious to know how Miss Christiana is. Says she ought to call him in +professionally. Personally I'd rather call in an undertaker who was +desperately hard up for a job." + +"All right, Williams," Enid replied. "My sister is worse to-night. And +unless she gets better I shall insist upon her seeing a doctor. And I am +obliged for the hint about Mr. Henson. The little study commands the +staircase leading to my sister's bedroom." + +"And the open window commands the garden," Williams said, drily. + +"Yes, yes. Now go. You are a real friend, Williams, and I will never +forget your goodness. Run along--I can actually _feel_ that man coming." + +As a matter of fact, Henson was approaching noiselessly. Despite his +great bulk he had the clean, dainty step of a cat; his big, rolling ears +were those of a hare. Henson was always listening. He would have listened +behind a kitchen door to a pair of chattering scullery-maids. He liked to +find other people out, though as yet he had not been found out himself. +He stood before the world as a social missioner; he made speeches at +religious gatherings and affected the women to tears. He was known to +devote a considerable fortune to doing good; he had been asked to stand +for Parliament, where his real ambition lay. Gilead Gates had alluded to +Reginald Henson as his right-hand man. + +He crept along to the study, where the lamps were lighted and the silver +claret-jug set out. He carefully dusted a big arm-chair and began to +smoke, having first carefully extinguished the lamps and seen that the +window leading to the garden was wide open. Henson was watching for +something. In his feline nature he had the full gift of feline patience. +To serve his own ends he would have sat there watching all night if +necessary. He heard an occasional whimper, a howl from one of the dogs; +he heard Enid's voice singing in the drawing-room. The rest of the house +was quite funereal enough for him. + +In the midst of the drawing-room Margaret Henson sat still as a statue. +The distant, weary expression never left her eyes for a moment. As the +stable clock, the only one going on the premises, struck ten, Enid +crossed over from the piano to her aunt's side. There was an eager look +on her face, her eyes were gleaming like frosty stars. + +"Aunt," she whispered; "dear, I have had a message!" + +"Message of woe and desolation," Margaret Henson cried. "Tribulation and +sorrow on this wretched house. For seven long years the hand of the Lord +has lain heavily upon us." + +She spoke like one who was far away from her surroundings. And yet no +one could look in her eyes and say that she was mad. It was a proud, +passionate spirit, crushed down by some bitter humiliation. Enid's +eyes flashed. + +"That scoundrel has been robbing you again," she said. + +"Two thousand pounds," came the mechanical reply, "to endow a bed in some +hospital. And there is no escape, no hope unless we drag the shameful +secret from him. Bit by bit and drop by drop, and then I shall die and +you and Christiana will be penniless." + +"I daresay Chris and myself will survive that," Enid said, cheerfully. +"But we have a plan, dear aunt; we have thought it out carefully. +Reginald Henson has hidden the secret somewhere and we are going to find +it. The secret is hidden not far off, because our cousin has occasion to +require it frequently. It is like the purloined letter in Edgar Poe's +wonderful story." + +Margaret Henson nodded and mumbled. It seemed almost impossible to make +her understand. She babbled of strange things, with her dark eyes ever +fixed on the future. Enid turned away almost despairingly. At the same +time the stable clock struck the half-hour after ten. Williams slipped +in with a tray of glasses, noiselessly. On the tray lay a small pile of +tradesmen's books. The top one was of dull red with no lettering upon +it at all. + +"The housekeeper's respectful compliments, miss, and would you go through +them to-morrow?" Williams said. He tapped the top book significantly. +"To-morrow is the last day of the month." + +Enid picked up the top book with strange eagerness. There were pages of +figures and cabalistic entries that no ordinary person could make +anything of. Pages here and there were signed and decorated with pink +receipt stamps. Enid glanced down the last column, and her face grew a +little paler. + +"Aunt," she whispered, "I've got to go out. At once; do you understand? +There is a message here; and I am afraid that something dreadful has +happened. Can you sing?" + +"Ah, yes; a song of lamentation--a dirge for the dead." + +"No, no; seven years ago you had a lovely voice. I recollect what a +pleasure it was to me as a child; and they used to say that my voice +was very like yours, only not so sweet or so powerful. Aunt, I must go +out; and that man must know nothing about it. He is by the window in +the small library now, watching--watching. Help me, for the love of +Heaven, help me." + +The girl spoke with a fervency and passion that seemed to waken a +responsive chord in Margaret Henson's breast. A brighter gleam crept +into her eyes. + +"You are a dear girl," she said, dreamily; "yes, a dear girl. And I loved +singing; it was a great grief to me that they would not let me go upon +the stage. But I haven't sung since--since _that_--" + +She pointed to the huddled heap of china and glass and dried, dusty +flowers in one corner. Ethel shuddered slightly as she followed the +direction of the extended forefinger. + +"But you must try," she whispered. "It is for the good of the family, for +the recovery of the secret. Reginald Henson is sly and cruel and clever. +But we have one on our side now who is far more clever. And, unless I can +get away to-night without that man knowing, the chance may be lost for +ever. Come!" + +Margaret commenced to sing in a soft minor. At first the chords were thin +and dry, but gradually they increased in sweetness and power. The +hopeless, distant look died from the singer's eyes; there was a flush on +her cheeks that rendered her years younger. + +"Another one," she said, when the song was finished, "and yet another. +How wicked I have been to neglect this balm that God sent me all these +years. If you only knew what the sound of my own voice means to me! +Another one, Enid." + +"Yes, yes," Enid whispered. "You are to sing till I return. You are +to leave Henson to imagine that I am singing. He will never guess. +Now then." + +Enid crept away into the hall, closing the door softly behind her. She +made her way noiselessly from the house and across the lawn. As Henson +slipped through the open window into the garden Enid darted behind a +bush. Evidently Henson suspected nothing so far as she was concerned, for +she could see the red glow of the cigar between his lips. The faint +sweetness of distant music filled the air. So long as the song continued +Henson would relax his vigilance. + +He was pacing down the garden in the direction of the drive. Did the man +know anything? Enid wondered. He had so diabolically cunning a brain. He +seemed to find out everything, and to read others before they had made up +their minds for themselves. + +The cigar seemed to dance like a mocking sprite into the bushes. Usually +the man avoided those bushes. If Reginald Henson was afraid of one thing +it was of the dogs. And in return they hated him as he hated them. + +Enid's mind was made up. If the sound of that distant voice should only +cease for a moment she was quite sure Henson would turn back. But he +could hear it, and she knew that she was safe. Enid slipped past him into +the bushes and gave a faint click of her lips. Something moved and +whined, and two dark objects bounded towards her. She caught them +together by their collars and cuffed them soundly. Then she led the way +back so as to get on Henson's tracks. + +He was walking on ahead of her now, beating time softly to the music of +the faintly distant song with his cigar. Enid could distinctly see the +sweep of the red circle. + +"Hold him, Dan," she whispered. "Watch, Prance; watch, boy." + +There was a low growl as the hounds found the scent and dashed forward. +Henson came up all standing and sweating in every pore. It was not the +first time he had been held up by the dogs, and he knew by hard +experience what to expect if he made a bolt for it. + +Two grim muzzles were pressed against his trembling knees; he saw four +rows of ivory flashing in the dim light. Then the dogs crouched at his +feet, watching him with eyes as red and lurid as the point of his own +cigar. Had he attempted to move, had he tried coercion, they would have +fallen upon him and torn him in pieces. + +"Confusion to the creatures!" he cried, passionately. "I'll get a +revolver; I'll buy some prussic acid and poison the lot. And here I'll +have to stay till Williams locks up the stables. Wouldn't that little +Jezebel laugh at me if she could see me now? She would enjoy it better +than singing songs in the drawing-room to our sainted Margaret. Steady, +you brutes! I didn't move." + +He stood there rigidly, almost afraid to take the cigar from his lips, +whilst Enid sped without further need for caution down the drive. The +lodge-gates were closed and the deaf porter's house in darkness, so that +Enid could unlock the wicket without fear of detection. She rattled the +key on the bars and a figure slipped out of the darkness. + +"Good heavens, Ruth, is it really _you_?" Enid cried. + +"Really me, Enid. I came over on my bicycle. I am supposed to be round at +some friend's house in Brunswick Square, and one of the servants is +sitting up for me. Is Reginald safe? He hasn't yet discovered the secret +of the tradesman's book?" + +"That's all right, dear. But why are you here? Has something dreadful +happened?" + +"Well, I will try to tell you so in as few words as possible. I never +felt so ashamed of anything in my life." + +"Don't tell me that our scheme has failed!" "Perhaps I need not go so far +as that. The first part of it came off all right, and then a very +dreadful thing happened. We have got Mr. David Steel into frightful +trouble. He is going to be charged with attempted murder and robbery." + +"Ruth! But tell me. I am quite in the dark." + +"It was the night when--well, you know the night. It was after Mr. Steel +returned home from his visit to 219, Brunswick Square--" + +"You mean 218, Ruth." + +"It doesn't matter, because he knows pretty well all about it by this +time. It would have been far better for us if we hadn't been quite so +clever. It would have been far wiser to have taken Mr. Steel entirely +into our confidence. Oh, oh, Enid, if we had only left out that little +sentiment over the cigar-case! Then we should have been all right." + +"Dearest girl, my time is limited. I've got Reginald held up for the +time, but at any moment he may escape from his bondage. What about the +cigar-case?" + +"Well, Mr. Steel took it home with him. And when he got home he found a +man nearly murdered lying in his conservatory. That man was conveyed to +the Sussex County Hospital, where he still lies in an unconscious state. +On the body was found a receipt for a gun-metal cigar-case set with +diamonds." + +"Good gracious, Ruth, you don't mean to say--" + +"Oh, I do. I can't quite make out how it happened, but that same case +that we--that Mr. Steel has--has been positively identified as one +purchased from Walen by the injured man. There is no question about it. +And they have found out about Mr. Steel being short of money, and the +£1,000, and everything." + +"But we _know_ that that cigar-case from Lockhart's in North Street was +positively--" + +"Yes, yes. But what has become of that? And in what strange way was the +change made? I tell you that the whole thing frightens me. We thought +that we had hit upon a scheme to solve the problem, and keep our friends +out of danger. There was the American at Genoa who volunteered to assist +us. A week later he was found dead in his bed. Then there was +Christiana's friend, who disappeared entirely. And now we try further +assistance in the case of Mr. Steel, and he stands face to face with a +terrible charge. And he has found us out." + +"He has found us out? What do you mean?" + +"Well, he called to see me. He called at 219, of course. And directly I +heard his name I was so startled that I am afraid I betrayed myself. Such +a nice, kind, handsome man, Enid; so manly and good over it all. Of +course he declared that he had been at 219 before, and I could only +declare that he had done nothing of the kind. Never, never have I felt so +ashamed of myself in my life before." + +"It seems a pity," Enid said, thoughtfully. "You said nothing about 218?" + +"My dear, he found it out. At least, Hatherly Bell did for him. Hatherly +Bell happened to be staying down with us, and Hatherly Bell, who knows +Mr. Steel, promptly solved, or half solved, that side of the problem. And +Hatherly Bell is coming here to-night to see Aunt Margaret. He--" + +"Here!" Enid cried. "To see Aunt Margaret? Then he found out about you. +At all hazards Mr. Bell must not come here--he _must_ not. I would rather +let everything go than that. I would rather see auntie dead and Reginald +Henson master here. You _must_--" + +In the distance came the rattle of harness bells and the trot of a horse. + +"I'm afraid it's too late," Ruth Gates said, sadly. "I am afraid that +they are here already. Oh, if we had only left out that wretched +cigar-case!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER REMBRANDT + + +"Before we go any farther," Bell said, after a long pause, "I should like +to search the house from top to bottom. I've got a pretty sound theory in +my head, but I don't like to leave anything to chance. We shall be pretty +certain to find something." + +"I am entirely in your hands," David said, wearily. "So far as I am +capable of thinking out anything, it seems to me that we have to find +the woman." + +"_Cherchez la femme_ is a fairly sound premise in a case like this, but +when we have found the woman we shall have to find the man who is at the +bottom of the plot. I mean the man who is not only thwarting the woman, +but giving you a pretty severe lesson as to the advisability of minding +your own business for the future." + +"Then you don't think I am being made the victim of a vile conspiracy?" + +"Not by the woman, certainly. You are the victim of some fiendish +counterplot by the man, who has not quite mastered what the woman is +driving at. By placing you in dire peril he compels the woman to speak to +save you, and thus to expose her hand." + +"Then in that case I propose to sit tight," David said, grimly. "I am +bound to be prosecuted for robbery and attempted murder in due course. If +my man dies I am in a tight place." + +"And if he recovers your antagonist may be in a tighter," Bell chuckled. +"And if the man gets well and that brain injury proves permanent--I mean +if the man is rendered imbecile--why, we are only at the very threshold +of the mystery. It seems a callous thing to say, but this is the +prettiest problem I have had under my hands." + +"Make the most of it," David said, sardonically. "I daresay I should see +the matter in a more rational light if I were not so directly concerned. +But, if we are going to make a search of the premises, the sooner we +start the better." + +Upstairs there was nothing beyond certain lumber. There were dust and +dirt everywhere, save in the hall and front dining-room, which, as +Bell sapiently pointed out, had obviously been cleared to make ready +for Steel's strange reception. Down in the housekeeper's room was a +large collection of dusty furniture, and a number of pictures and +engravings piled with their faces to the wall. Bell began idly to turn +the latter over. + +"I am a maniac on the subject of old prints," he explained. "I never see +a pile without a wild longing to examine them. And, by Jove, there are +some good things here. Unless I am greatly mistaken--here, Steel, pull up +the blinds! Good heavens, is it possible?" + +"Found a Sistine Madonna or a stray Angelo?" David asked. "Or a ghost? +What _is_ the matter? Is it another phase of the mystery?" + +"The Rembrandt," Bell gasped. "Look at it, man!" + +Steel bent eagerly over the engraving. An old print, an old piece of +china, an antique jewel, always exercised a charm over the novelist. He +had an unerring eye for that kind of thing. + +"Exquisite," he cried. "A Rembrandt, of course, but I don't recollect +the picture." + +"The picture was destroyed by accident after Rembrandt had engraved it +with his own hand," Bell proceeded to explain. He was quite coherent now, +but he breathed fast and loud, "I shall proceed to give you the history +of the picture presently, and more especially a history of the +engraving." + +"Has it any particular name?" David asked. + +"Yes, we found that out. It was called 'The Crimson Blind!'" + +"No getting away from the crimson blind," David murmured. "Still, I can +quite imagine that to have been the name of the picture. That shutter +or blind might have had a setting sun behind it, which would account +for the tender warmth of the kitchen foreground and the deep gloom +where the lovers are seated. By Jove, Bell, it is a magnificent piece +of work. I've a special fancy for Rembrandt engravings, but I never saw +one equal to that." + +"And you never will," Bell replied, "save in one instance. The picture +itself was painted in Rembrandt's modest lodging in the Keizerskroon +Tavern after the forced sale of his paintings at that hostel in the year +1658. At that time Rembrandt was painfully poor, as his recorded tavern +bills show. The same bills also disclose the fact that 'The Crimson +Blind' was painted for a private customer with a condition that the +subject should be engraved as well. After one impression had been taken +off the plate the picture was destroyed by a careless servant. In a +sudden fit of rage Rembrandt destroyed the plate, having, they say, only +taken one impression from it." + +"Then there is only one of these engravings in the world? What a find!" + +"There is one other, as I know to my cost," Bell said, significantly. +"Until a few days ago I never entertained the idea that there were two. +Steel, you are the victim of a vile conspiracy, but it is nothing to the +conspiracy which has darkened my life." + +"Sooner or later I always felt that I should get to the bottom of the +mystery, and now I am certain of it. And, strange as it may seem, I +verily believe that you and I are hunting the same man down--that the one +man is at the bottom of the two evils. But you shall hear my story +presently. What we have to find out now is who was the last tenant and +who is the present owner of the house, and incidentally learn who this +lumber belongs to. Ah, this has been a great day for me!" + +Bell spoke exultingly, a great light shining in his eyes. And David +sapiently asked no further questions for the present. All that he wanted +to know would come in time. The next move, of course, was to visit the +agent of the property. + +A smart, dapper little man, looking absurdly out of place in an +exceedingly spacious office, was quite ready to give every information. +It was certainly true that 218, Brunswick Square, was to be let at an +exceedingly low rent on a repairing lease, and that the owner had a lot +more property in Brighton to be let on the same terms. The lady was +exceedingly rich and eccentric; indeed, by asking such low rents she was +doing her best to seriously diminish her income. + +"Do you know the lady at all?" Bell asked. + +"Not personally," the agent admitted. "So far as I can tell, the property +came into the present owner's hands some years ago by inheritance. The +property also included a very old house, called Longdean Grange, not far +from Rottingdean, where the lady, Mrs. Henson, lives at present. Nobody +ever goes there, nobody ever visits there, and to keep the place free +from prying visitors a large number of savage dogs are allowed to prowl +about the grounds." + +Bell listened eagerly. Watching him, David could see that his eyes +glinted like points of steel. There was something subtle behind all this +common-place that touched the imagination of the novelist. + +"Has 218 been let during the occupation of the present owner?" +Bell asked. + +"No," the agent replied. "But the present owner--as heir to the +property--I am told, was interested in both 218 and 219, which used to be +a kind of high-class convalescent home for poor clergy and the widows and +daughters of poor clergy in want of a holiday. The one house was for the +men and the other for the women, and both were furnished exactly alike; +in fact, Mr. Gates's landlord, the tenant of 219, bought the furniture +exactly as it stands when the scheme fell through." + +Steel looked up swiftly. A sudden inspiration came to him. + +"In that case what became of the precisely similar furniture in +218?" he asked. + +"That I cannot tell you," the agent said. "That house was let as it stood +to some sham philanthropist whose name I forget. The whole thing was a +fraud, and the swindler only avoided arrest by leaving the country. +Probably the goods were stored somewhere or perhaps seized by some +creditor. But I really can't say definitely without looking the matter +up. There are some books and prints now left in the house out of the +wreck. We shall probably put them in a sale, only they have been +overlooked. The whole lot will not fetch £5." + +"Would you take £5 for them?" Bell asked. + +"Gladly. Even if only to get them carted away." + +Bell gravely produced a £5 note, for which he asked and received a +receipt. Then he and Steel repaired to 218 once more, whence they +recovered the Rembrandt, and subsequently returned the keys of the house +to the agent. There was an air of repressed excitement about Bell which +was not without its effect upon his companion. The cold, hard lines +seemed to have faded from Bell's face; there was a brightness about him +that added to his already fine physical beauty. + +"And now, perhaps, you will be good enough to explain," David suggested. + +"My dear fellow, it would take too long," Bell cried. "Presently I am +going to tell you the story of the tragedy of my life. You have doubtless +wondered, as others have wondered, why I dropped out of the road when the +goal was in sight. Well, your curiosity is about to be gratified. I am +going to help you, and in return you are going to help me to come back +into the race again. By way of a start, you are going to ask me to come +and dine with you to-night." + +"At half-past seven, then. Nothing will give me greater pleasure." + +"Spoken like a man and a brother. We will dine, and I will tell you my +story after the house is quiet. And if I ask you to accompany me on a +midnight adventure you will not say me nay?" + +"Not in my present mood, at any rate. Adventure, with a dash of danger in +it, suits my present mood exactly. And if there is to be physical +violence, so much the better. My diplomacy may be weak, but physically I +am not to be despised in a row." + +"Well, we'll try and avoid the latter, if possible," Bell laughed. +"Still, for your satisfaction, I may say there is just the chance of a +scrimmage. And now I really must go, because I have any amount of work to +do for Gates. Till half-past seven, _au revoir_." + +Steel lighted a cigarette and strolled thoughtfully homewards along the +front. The more he thought over the mystery the more tangled it became. +And yet he felt perfectly sure that he was on the right track. The +discovery that both those houses had been furnished exactly alike at one +time was a most important one. And David no longer believed that he had +been to No. 219 on the night of the great adventure. Then he found +himself thinking about Ruth Gates's gentle face and lovely eyes, until he +looked up and saw the girl before him. + +"You--you wanted to speak to me?" he stammered. + +"I followed you on purpose," the girl said, quietly, "I can't tell you +everything, because it is not my secret to tell. But believe me +everything will come out right in the end. Don't think badly of me, don't +be hard and bitter because--" + +"Because I am nothing of the kind," David smiled. "It is impossible to +look into a face like yours and doubt you. And I am certain that you are +acting loyally and faithfully for the sake of others who--" + +"Yes, yes, and for your sake, too. Pray try and remember that. For your +sake, too. Oh, if you only knew how I admire and esteem you! If only--" + +She paused with the deep blush crimsoning her face. David caught her +hand, and it seemed to him for a moment that she returned the pressure. + +"Let me help you," he whispered. "Only be my friend and I will forgive +everything." + +She gave him a long look of her deep, velvety eyes, she flashed him a +little smile, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE CRIMSON BLIND" + + +Hatherly Bell turned up at Downend Terrace gay and debonair as if he had +not a single trouble in the world. His evening dress was of the smartest +and he had a rose in his buttonhole. From his cab he took a square brown +paper parcel, which he deposited in David's study with particular care. + +He made no allusion whatever to the sterner business of the evening; he +was gay and light-hearted as a child, so that Mrs. Steel sat up quite an +hour later than her usual time, absolutely unconscious of the fact that +she had broken a rigid rule of ten years' standing. + +"Now let us go into the study and smoke a cigar," David suggested. + +Bell dragged a long deck-chair into the conservatory and lighted a Massa. +Steel's offer of whisky and soda was declined. + +"An ideal place for a novelist who has a keen eye for the beautiful," +he said. "There you have your books and pictures, your stained glass +and china, and when you turn your eyes this way they are gladdened by +green foliage and lovely flowers. It's hard to connect such a room with +a tragedy." + +"And yet the tragedy was worked out close by where you are sitting. But +never mind that. Come to your story, and let me see if we can fit it +into mine." + +Bell took a fresh pull at his cigar and plunged into his subject. + +"About seven years ago professional business took me to Amsterdam; a +brilliant young medical genius who was drinking himself prematurely into +his grave had made some wonderful discoveries relating to the brain and +psychology generally, so I decided to learn what I could before it + was too late. I found the young doctor to be an exceedingly good + fellow, only too ready to speak of his discoveries, and there I + stayed for a year. My word! what do I not owe to that misguided + mind! And what a revolution he would have made in medicine and + surgery had he only lived! + +"Well, in Amsterdam I got to know everybody who was worth +knowing--medical, artistic, social. And amongst the rest was an +Englishman called Lord Littimer, his son, and an exceedingly clever +nephew of his, Henson by name, who was the son's tutor. Littimer was a +savant, a scholar, and a fine connoisseur as regarded pictures. He was +popularly supposed to have the finest collection of old prints in +England. He would travel anywhere in search of something fresh, and the +rumour of some apocryphal treasure in Amsterdam had brought him thither. +He and I were friends from the first, as, indeed, were the son and +myself. Henson, the nephew, was more quiet and reserved, but fond, as I +discovered, of a little secret dissipation. + +"In those days I was not averse to a little life myself. I was +passionately fond of all games of cards, and I am afraid that I was in +the habit of gambling to a greater extent than I could afford. I don't +gamble now and I don't play cards: in fact, I shall never touch a card +again as long as I live. Why, you shall hear all in good time. + +"We were all getting on very well together at that time when Lord +Littimer's sister paid us a visit. She came accompanied by a daughter +called Enid. I will not describe her, because no words of mine could do +her justice. In a word, I fell over head and ears in love with Enid, and +in that state I have remained ever since. Of all the crosses that I have +to bear the knowledge that I love Enid and that she loves--and despises +--me, is by far the heaviest. But I don't want to dwell upon that." + +"We were a very happy party there until Van Sneck and Von Gulden turned +up. Enid and I had come to an understanding, and, though we kept our +secret, we were not going to do so for long. From the very first Von +Gulden admired her. He was a handsome, swaggering soldier, a +good-looking, wealthy man, who had a great reputation for gallantry, and +something worse. Perhaps the fellow guessed how things lay, for he never +troubled to conceal his dislike and contempt for me. It is no fault of +mine that I am extremely sensitive as to my personal appearance, but Von +Gulden played upon it until he drove me nearly mad. He challenged me +sneeringly to certain sports wherein he knew I could not shine; he +challenged me to écarté, where I fancied I was his master. + +"Was I? Well, we had been dining that night, and perhaps too freely, for +I entirely lost my head before I began the game in earnest. Those covert +sneers had nearly driven me mad. To make a long story short, when I got +up from the table that night, I owed my opponent nearly £800, without the +faintest prospect of paying a tenth part of it. I was only a poor, +ambitious young man then, with my way to make in the world. And if that +money were not forthcoming in the next few days I was utterly ruined." + +"The following morning the great discovery was made. The Van Sneck I have +alluded to was an artist, a dealer, a man of the shadiest reputation, +whom my patron, Lord Littimer, had picked up. It was Van Sneck who +produced the copy of 'The Crimson Blind.' Not only did he produce the +copy, but he produced the history from some recently discovered papers +relating to the Keizerskroon Tavern of the year 1656, which would have +satisfied a more exacting man than Littimer. In the end the Viscount +purchased the engraving for £800 English. + +"You can imagine how delighted he was with his prize--he had secured an +engraving by Rembrandt that was absolutely unique. Under more favourable +circumstances I should have shared that pleasure. But I was face to face +with ruin, and therefore I had but small heart for rejoicing. + +"I came down the next morning after a sleepless night, and with a wild +endeavour to scheme some way of getting the money to pay my creditor. To +my absolute amazement I found a polite note from the lieutenant coldly +thanking me for the notes I had sent him by messenger, and handing me a +formal receipt for £800. At first I regarded it as a hoax. But, with all +his queer ways, Von Gulden was a gentleman. Somebody had paid the debt +for me. And somebody had, though I have never found out to this day." + +"All the same, you have your suspicions?" Steel suggested. + +"I have a very strong suspicion, but I have never been able to verify it. +All the same, you can imagine what an enormous weight it was off my mind, +and how comparatively cheerful I was as I crossed over to the hotel of +Lord Littimer after breakfast. I found him literally beside himself with +passion. Some thief had got into his room in the night and stolen his +Rembrandt. The frame was intact, but the engraving had been rolled up and +taken away." + +"Very like the story of the stolen Gainsborough." + +"No doubt the one theft inspired the other. I was sent off on foot to +look for Van Sneck, only to find that he had suddenly left the city. He +had got into trouble with the police, and had fled to avoid being sent to +gaol. And from that day to this nothing has been seen of that picture." + +"But I read to-day that it is still in Littimer Castle," said David. + +"Another one," Bell observed. "Oblige me by opening yonder parcel. There +you see is the print that I purchased to-day for £5. This, _this_, my +friend, is the print that was stolen from Littimer's lodgings in +Amsterdam. If you look closely at it you will see four dull red spots in +the left-hand corner. They are supposed to be blood-spots from a cut +finger of the artist. I am prepared to swear that this is the very print, +frame and all, that was purchased in Amsterdam from that shady scoundrel +Van Sneck." + +"But Littimer is credited with having one in his collection," +David urged. + +"He has one in his collection," Bell said, coolly, "And, moreover, he is +firmly under the impression that he is at present happy in the possession +of his own lost treasure. And up to this very day I was under exactly the +same delusion. Now I know that there must have been two copies of the +plate, and that this knowledge was used to ruin me." + +"But," Steel murmured, "I don't exactly see--" + +"I am just coming to that. We hunted high and low for the picture, but +nowhere could it be found. The affair created a profound impression in +Amsterdam. A day or two later Von Gulden went back to his duty on the +Belgian frontier and business called me home. I packed my solitary +portmanteau and departed. When I arrived at the frontier I opened my +luggage for the Custom officer and the whole contents were turned out +without ceremony. On the bottom was a roll of paper on a stick that I +quite failed to recognise. An inquisitive Customs House officer opened it +and immediately called the lieutenant in charge. Strange to say, he +proved to be Von Gulden. He came up to me, very gravely, with the paper +in his hand. + +"'May I inquire how this came amongst your luggage?' he asked. + +"I could say nothing; I was dumb. For there lay the Rembrandt. The red +spots had been smudged out of the corner, but there, the picture was. + +"Well, I lost my head then. I accused Von Gulden of all kinds of +disgraceful things. And he behaved like a gentleman--he made me ashamed +of myself. But he kept the picture and returned it to Littimer, and I +was ruined. Lord Littimer declined to prosecute, but he would not see me +and he would hear of no explanation. Indeed, I had none to offer. Enid +refused to see me also or reply to my letters. The story of my big +gambling debt, and its liquidation, got about. Steel, I was ruined. Some +enemy had done this thing, and from that day to this I have been a +marked man." + +"But how on earth was it done?" Steel cried. + +"For the present I can only make surmises," Bell replied. "Van Sneck was +a slippery dog. Of course, he had found two of those plates. He kept the +one back so as to sell the other at a fancy price. My enemy discovered +this, and Van Sneck's sudden flight was his opportunity. He could afford +to get rid of me at an apparently dear rate. He stole Littimer's +engraving--in fact, he must have done so, or I should not have it at this +moment. Then he smudged out some imaginary spots on the other and hid it +in my luggage, knowing that it would be found. Also he knew that it would +be returned to Littimer, and that the stolen plate could be laid aside +and produced at some remote date as an original find. The find has been +mine, and it will go hard if I can't get to the bottom of the mystery +now. It is strange that your mysterious trouble and mine should be bound +up so closely together, but in the end it will simplify matters, for the +very reason that we are both on the hunt for the same man." + +"Which man we have got to find, Bell." + +"Granted. We will bait for him as one does for a wily old trout. The fly +shall be the Rembrandt, and you see he will rise to it in time. But +beyond this I have made one or two important discoveries to-day. We are +going to the house of the strange lady who owns 218 and 219, Brunswick +Square, and I shall be greatly mistaken if she does not prove to be an +old acquaintance of mine. There will be danger." + +"You propose to go to-night?" + +"I propose to go at once," Bell said. "Dark hours are always best for +dark business. Now, which is the nearest way to Longdean Grange?" + +"So the House of the Silent Sorrow, as they call it, is to be our +destination! I must confess that the place has ever held a strange +fascination for me. We will go over the golf links and behind Ovingdean +village. It is a rare spot for a tragedy." + +Bell rose and lighted a fresh cigar. + +"Come along," he said. "Poke that Rembrandt behind your books with its +face to the wall. I would not lose that for anything now. No, on second +thoughts I find I shall have to take it with me." + +David closed the door carefully behind him, and the two stepped out into +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"GOOD DOG!" + + +Two dancing eyes of flame were streaming up the lane towards the girls, a +long shadow slanted across the white pathway, the steady flick of hoofs +drew nearer. Then the hoofs ceased their smiting of the dust and a man's +voice spoke. + +"Better turn and wait for us by the farm, driver," the voice said. "Bell, +can you manage, man?" + +"Who was that?" Enid whispered. "A stranger?" + +"Not precisely," Ruth replied. "That is Mr. David Steel. Oh, I am sure +we can trust him. Don't annoy him. Think of the trouble he is in for +our sakes." + +"I do," Enid said, drily. "I am also thinking of Reginald. If our dear +Reginald escapes from the fostering care of the dogs we shall be ruined. +That man's hearing is wonderful. He will come creeping down here on those +large flat feet of his, and that cunning brain will take in everything +like a flash. Good dog!" + +A hound in the distance growled, and then another howled mournfully. It +was the plaint of the beast who has found his quarry, impatient for the +gaoler to arrive. So long as that continued Henson was safe. Any attempt +to escape, and he would be torn to pieces. Just at the present moment +Enid almost hoped that the attempt would be made. It certainly was all +right for the present, but then Williams might happen along on his way to +the stables at any moment. + +The two men were coming nearer. They both paused as the dogs gave tongue. +Through the thick belt of trees lights gleamed from one or two windows of +the house. Steel pulled up and shuddered slightly in spite of himself. + +"Crimson blinds," he said. "Crimson blinds all through this business. +They are beginning to get on my nerves. What about those dogs, Bell?" + +"Dogs or no dogs, I am not going back now," Bell muttered. "It's +perfectly useless to come here in the daytime; therefore we must fall +back upon a little amateur burglary. There's a girl yonder who might have +assisted me at one time, but--" + +Enid slipped into the road. The night was passably light and her +beautiful features were fairly clear to the startled men in the road. + +"The girl is here," she said. "What do you want?" + +Bell and his companion cried out simultaneously: Bell because he was so +suddenly face to face with one who was very dear to him, David because it +seemed to him that he recognised the voice from the darkness, the voice +of his great adventure. And there was another surprise as he saw Ruth +Gates side by side with the owner of that wonderful voice. + +"Enid!" Bell cried, hoarsely. "I did not expect--" + +"To confront me like this," the girl said, coldly. "That I quite +understand. What I don't understand is why you intrude your hated +presence here." + +Bell shook his handsome head mournfully. He looked strangely downcast and +dejected, and none the less, perhaps, because a fall in crossing the down +had severely wrenched his ankle. But for a belated cab on the Rottingdean +road he would not have been here now. + +"As hard and cruel as ever," he said. "Not one word to me, not one word +in my defence. And all the time I am the victim of a vile conspiracy--" + +"Conspiracy! Do you call vulgar theft a conspiracy?" + +"It was nothing else," David put in, eagerly. "A most extraordinary +conspiracy. The kind of thing that you would not have deemed possible out +of a book." + +"And who might this gentleman be?" Enid asked, haughtily. + +"A thousand pardons for my want of ceremony," David said. "If I had not +been under the impression that we had met before I should never have +presumed--" + +"Oh, a truce to this," Bell cried. "We are wasting time. The hour is not +far distant, Enid, when you will ask my pardon. Meanwhile I am going up +to the house, and you are going to take me there. Come what way, I don't +sleep to-night until I have speech with your aunt." + +David had drawn a little aside. By a kind of instinct Ruth Gates +followed him. A shaft of grey light glinted upon her cycle in the grass +by the roadside. Enid and Bell were talking in vehement whispers--they +seemed to be absolutely unconscious of anybody else but themselves. +David could see the anger and scorn on the pale, high-bred face; he +could see Bell gradually expanding as he brought all his strength and +firm power of will to bear. + +"What will be the upshot of it?" Ruth asked, timidly. + +"Bell will conquer," David replied. "He always does, you know." + +"I am afraid you don't take my meaning, Mr. Steel." + +David looked down into the sweet, troubled face of his companion, and +thence away to the vivid crimson patches beyond the dark belt of foliage. +Ever and anon the intense stillness of the night was broken by the +long-drawn howl of one of the hounds. David remembered it for years +afterwards; it formed the most realistic chapter of one of his most +popular novels. + +"Heaven only knows," he said. "I have been dragged into this business, +but what it means I know no more than a child. I am mixed up in it, +and Bell is mixed up in it, and so are you. Why we shall perhaps know +some day." + +"You are not angry with me?" + +"Why, no. Only you might have had a little more confidence in me." + +"Mr. Steel, we dared not. We wanted your advice, and nothing more. Even +now I am afraid I am saying too much. There is a withering blight over +yonder house that is beyond mere words. And twice gallant gentlemen have +come forward to our assistance. Both of them are dead. And if we had +dragged you, a total stranger, into the arena, we should morally have +murdered you." + +"Am I not within the charmed circle now?" David smiled. + +"Not of our free will," Ruth said, eagerly. "You came into the tangle +with Hatherly Bell. Thank Heaven you have an ally like that. And yet I am +filled with shame--" + +"My dear young lady, what have you to be ashamed of?" + +Ruth covered her face with her hands for a moment and David saw a tear or +two trickle through the slim fingers. He took the hands in his, gently, +tenderly, and glanced into the fine, grey eyes. Never had he been moved +to a woman like this before. + +"But what will you think of me?" Ruth whispered. "You have been so good +and kind and I am so foolish. What can you think of a girl who is all +this way from home at midnight? It is so--so unmaidenly." + +"It might be in some girls, but not in you," David said, boldly. "One has +only to look in your face and see that only the good and the pure dwell +there. But you were not afraid?" + +"Horribly afraid. The very shadows startled me. But when I discovered +your errand to-night I was bound to come. My loyalty to Enid demanded it, +and I had not one single person in the world whom I could trust." + +"If you had only come to me, Miss Ruth--" + +"I know, I know now. Oh, it is a blessed thing for a lonely girl to have +one good man that she can rely upon. And you have been so very good, and +we have treated you very, very badly." + +But David would not hear anything of the kind. The whole adventure was +strange to a degree, but it seemed to matter nothing so long as he had +Ruth for company. Still, the girl must be got home. She could not be +allowed to remain here, nor must she be permitted to return to Brighton +alone. Bell strode up at the same moment. + +"Miss Henson has been so good as to listen to my arguments," he said. "I +am going into the house. Don't worry about me, but send Miss Gates home +in the cab. I shall manage somehow." + +David turned eagerly to Ruth. + +"That will be best," he said. "We can put your machine on the cab, and +I'll accompany you part of the way home. Our cabman will think that you +came from the house. I shan't be long, Bell." + +Ruth assented gratefully. As David put her in the cab Bell whispered to +him to return as soon as possible, but the girl heard nothing of this. + +"How kind--how kind you are," she murmured. + +"Perhaps some day you will be kind to me," David said, and Ruth blushed +in the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BEHIND THE BLIND + + +There was a long pause till the sound of the horse's hoofs died away. +Bell was waiting for his companion to speak. Her head was partly turned +from him, so that he could only watch the dainty beauty of her profile. +She stood there cold and still, but he could see that she was +profoundly agitated. + +"I never thought to see the day when I should trust you again," she said; +"I never expected to trust any man again." + +"You will trust me, darling," Bell said, passionately. "If you still care +for me as I care for you. _Do_ you?" + +The question came keen as steel. Enid shivered and hesitated. Bell laid a +light hand on her arm. + +"Speak," he said. "I am going to clear myself, I am going to take back +my good name. But if you no longer care for me the rest matters +nothing. Speak." + +"I am not one of those who change, God pity me," Enid murmured. + +Bell drew a long, deep breath. He wanted no assurance beyond that. + +"Then lead the way," he said. "I have come at the right time; I have been +looking for you everywhere, and I find you in the hour of your deepest +sorrow. When I knew your aunt last she was a cheerful, happy woman. From +what I hear now she is suffering, you are all suffering, under some +blighting grief." + +"Oh, if you only knew what that sorrow was, Hatherly." + +"Hatherly! How good the old name sounds from your lips. Nobody has ever +called me that since--since we parted. And to think that I should have +been searching for you all these years, when Miss Ruth Gates could have +given me the clue at any time. And why have you been playing such strange +tricks upon my friend David Steel? Why have you---What is that?" + +Somebody was moving somewhere in the grounds, and a voice shouted for +help. Enid started forward. + +"It is Williams coming from the stables," she said. "I have so arranged +it that the dogs are holding up my dear cousin, Reginald Henson, who is +calling upon Williams to release him. If Reginald gets back to the house +now we are ruined. Follow me as well as you can." + +Enid disappeared down a narrow, tangled path, leaving Bell to limp along +painfully in her track. A little way off Henson was yelling lustily for +assistance. Williams, who had evidently taken in the situation, was +coming up leisurely, chuckling at the discomfiture of the enemy. The +hounds were whining and baying. From the house came the notes of a love +song passionately declaimed. A couple of the great dogs came snarling up +to Bell and laid their grimy muzzles on his thighs. A cold sensation +crept up and down his spine as he came to a standstill. + +"The brutes!" he muttered. "Margaret Henson must be mad indeed to have +these creatures about the place. Ah! would you? Very well, I'll play the +game fairly, and not move. If I call out I shall spoil the game. If I +remain quiet I shall have a pleasant night of it. Let us hope for the +best and that Enid will understand the situation." + +Meanwhile Enid had come up with Williams. She laid her hand imperiously +upon his lips. + +"Not a word," she whispered. "Mr. Henson is held up by the dogs. He must +remain where he is till I give you the signal to release him. I know you +answered his call, but you are to go no farther." + +Williams assented willingly enough. Everything that tended to the +discomfort of Reginald Henson filled him with a peculiar and +deep-seated pleasure. + +"Very well, miss," he said, demurely. "And don't you hurry, miss. This is +a kind of job that calls for plenty of patience. And I'm really shocking +deaf tonight." + +Williams retreated leisurely in the direction of the stables, but his +malady was not so distressing that he failed to hear a groan and a +snarling curse from Henson. Enid fled back along the track, where she +found Bell standing patiently with a dog's muzzle close to either knee. +His face was white and shining, otherwise he showed no signs of fear. +Enid laid a hand on the head of either dog, and they rolled like great +cats at her feet in the bushes. + +"Now come swiftly," she whispered. "There is no time to be lost." + +They were in the house at last, crossing the dusty floor, with the motes +dancing in the lamp-light, deadening their footsteps and muffling the +intense silence. Above the stillness rose the song from the drawing-room; +from without came the restless murmur of the dogs. Enid entered the +drawing-room, and Bell limped in behind her. The music immediately +ceased. As Enid glanced at her aunt she saw that the far-away look had +died from her eyes, that the sparkle and brightness of reason were there. +She had come out of the mist and the shadows for a time at any rate. + +"Dr. Hatherly Bell to see you, aunt," Enid said, in a low tone. + +Margaret Henson shot up from the piano like a statue. There was no +welcome on her face, no surprise there, nothing but deep, unutterable +contempt and loathing. + +"I have been asleep," she said. She passed her hand dreamily over her +face. "I have been in a dream for seven long years. Enid brought me back +to the music again to-night, and it touched my heart, and now I am awake +again. Do you recollect the 'Slumber Song,' Hatherly Bell? The last time +I sang it you were present. It was a happy night; the very last happy +night in the world to me." + +"I recollect it perfectly well, Lady Littimer," Bell said. + +"Lady Littimer! How strange it is to hear that name again. Seven years +since then. Here I am called Margaret Henson, and nobody knows. And +now _you_ have found out. Do you come here to blackmail and rob me +like the rest?" + +"I come here entirely on your behalf and my own, my lady." + +"That is what they all say--and then they rob me. You stole the +Rembrandt." + +The last words came like a shot from a catapult. Enid's face grew colder. +Bell drew a long tube of discoloured paper carefully tied round a stick +from his pocket. + +"I am going to disprove that once and for all," he said. "The Rembrandt +is at present in Lord Littimer's collection. There is an account of it in +to-day's _Telegraph_. It is perfectly familiar to both of you. And, that +being the case, what do you think of this?" + +He unrolled the paper before Enid's astonished eyes. Margaret Henson +glanced at it listlessly; she was fast sinking into the old, strange +oblivion again. But Enid was all rapt attention. + +"I would have sworn to that as Lord Littimer's own," she gasped. + +"It is his own," Bell replied. "Stolen from him and a copy placed by some +arch-enemy in my portmanteau, it was certain to be found on the frontier. +Don't you see that there were two Rembrandts? When the one from my +portmanteau was restored to Littimer his own was kept by the thief. +Subsequently it would be exposed as a new find, with some story as to its +discovery, only, unfortunately for the scoundrel, it came into my +possession." + +"And where did you find it?" Enid asked. "I found it," Bell said, slowly, +"in a house called 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton." + +A strange cry came from Enid's lips. She stood swaying before her lover, +white as the paper upon which her eyes were eagerly fixed. Margaret +Henson was pacing up and down the room, her lips muttering, and raising a +cloud of pallid dust behind her. + +"I--I am sorry," Enid said, falteringly. "And all these years I have +deemed you guilty. But then the proof was so plain; I could not deny the +evidence of my own senses. And Von Gulden came to me saying how deeply +distressed he was, and that he would have prevented the catastrophe if he +could. Well?" + +A servant stood waiting in the doorway with wondering eyes at the sight +of a stranger. + +"I'm sorry, miss," she said, "but Miss Christiana is worse; indeed, she +quite frightens me. I've taken the liberty of telephoning to Dr. Walker." + +The words seemed to bring consciousness to Margaret Henson. + +"Christiana worse," she said. "Another of them going; it will be a happy +release from a house of sorrow like this. I will come up, Martin." + +She swept out of the room after the servant. Enid appeared hardly to have +heard. Bell looked at her inquiringly and with some little displeasure. + +"I fancy I have heard you speak of your sister Christiana," he said. +"Is she ill?" + +"She is at the point of death, I understand; you think that I am callous. +Oh, if you only knew! But the light will come to us all in time, God +willing. Look at this place, look at the blight of it, and wonder how we +endure it. Hatherly, I have made a discovery." + +"We seem to be living in an atmosphere of discoveries. What is it?" + +"I will answer your question by asking another. You have been made the +victim of a vile conspiracy. For seven years your career has been +blighted. And I have lost seven years of my life, too. Have you any idea +who your enemy is?" + +"Not the faintest, but, believe me, I shall find out in time. And +then---" + +A purple blackness like the lurid light of a storm flashed into his eyes, +the lines of his mouth grew rigid. Enid laid a hand tenderly on his arm. + +"Your enemy is the common enemy of us all," she said. "We have wasted the +years, but we are young yet. Your enemy is Reginald Henson." + +"Enid, you speak with conviction. Are you sure of this?" + +"Certain. When I have time I will tell you everything. But not now. And +that man must never know that you have been near the house to-night, not +so much for your sake as for the sake of your friend David Steel. Now I +can see the Providence behind it all. Hatherly, tell me that you forgive +me before the others come back." + +"My darling, I cannot see how you could have acted otherwise." + +Enid turned towards him with a great glad light in her eyes. She said +nothing, for the simple reason that there was nothing to say. Hatherly +Bell caught her in his strong arms, and she swayed to reach his lips. In +that delicious moment the world was all forgot. + +But not for long. There was a sudden rush and a tumble of feet on the +stairs, there was a strange voice speaking hurriedly, then the +drawing-room door opened and Margaret Henson came in. She was looking +wild and excited and talked incoherently. An obviously professional man +followed her. + +"My dear madam," he was saying, "I have done all I can. In the last few +days I have not been able to disguise from myself that there was small +hope for the patient. The exhaustion, the shock to the system, the +congestion, all point to an early collapse." + +"Is my sister so much worse, Dr. Walker?" Enid asked, quietly. + +"She could not be any worse and be alive," the doctor said. "Unless I am +greatly mistaken the gentleman behind you is Mr. Hatherly Bell. I presume +he has been called in to meet me? If so, I am sincerely glad, because I +shall be pleased to have a second opinion. A bad case of"--here followed +a long technical name--"one of the worst cases I have ever seen." + +"You can command me, Enid," Bell said. "If I can." + +"No, no," Enid cried. "What am I saying? Please to go upstairs +with Martin." + +Bell departed, wonderingly. Enid flew to the door and out into the night. +She could hear Henson cursing and shouting, could hear the snarling +clamour of the dogs. At the foot of the drive she paused and called Steel +softly by name. To her intense relief he came from the shadow. + +"I am here," he cried. "Do you want me?" + +"Yes, yes," Enid panted. "Never more were your services needed. My sister +is dying; my sister must--die. And Hatherly Bell is with her, and--you +understand?" + +"Yes," said David. A vivid flash of understanding had come to him. "Bell +shall do as I tell him. Come along." + +"Hold him up, dear doggies," Enid murmured. "Hold him up and I'll love +both of you for ever." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A MEDICAL OPINION + + +David Steel followed his guide with the feelings of the man who has +given himself over to circumstances. There was a savour of nightmare +about the whole thing that appealed distinctly to his imagination. The +darkness, the strange situation, the vivid streaks of the crimson +blinds--the crimson blind that seemed an integral part of the +mystery--all served to stimulate him. The tragic note was deepened by +the whine and howling of the dogs. + +"There is a man over there," David whispered. + +"A man who is going to stay there," Enid said, with grim satisfaction. +"It is virtually necessary that Mr. Reginald Henson should not be +disturbed. The dogs have a foolish weakness for his society. So long as +he shows no signs of boredom he is safe." + +David smiled with a vague grasp of the situation. Apparently the cue was +to be surprised at nothing that he saw about the House of the Silent +Sorrow. The name of Reginald Henson was more or less familiar to him as +that of a man who stood high in public estimation. But the bitter +contempt in his companion's voice suggested that there was another side +to the man's character. + +"I hope you are not asking me to do anything wrong," David murmured. + +"I am absolutely certain of it," the girl said. "It is a case of the end +justifying the means; and if ever the end justified the means, it does in +this case. Besides--" + +Enid Henson hesitated. David's quick perception prompted him. + +"Besides, it is my suggestion," he said. "When I had the pleasure of +seeing you before--" + +"Pardon me, you have never had the pleasure of seeing me before." + +"Ah, you would make an excellent Parliamentary fencer. I bow to your +correction and admit that I have never _seen_ you before. But your voice +reminds me of a voice I heard very recently under remarkable +circumstances. It was my good fortune to help a lady in distress a little +time back. If she had told me more I might have aided her still further. +As it is, her reticence has landed me into serious trouble." + +Enid grasped the speaker's arm convulsively. + +"I am deeply sorry to hear it," she whispered. "Perhaps the lady in +question was reticent for your sake. Perhaps she had confided more +thoroughly in good men before. And suppose those good men had +disappeared?" + +"In other words, that they had been murdered. Who by?" + +There was a snarl from one of the hounds hard by, and a deep, angry curse +from Henson. Enid pointed solemnly in his direction. No words of hers +would have been so thrilling and eloquent. David strode along without +further questions on that head. + +"But there is one thing that you must tell me," he said, as they stood +together in the porch. "Is the first part of my advice going to be +carried out?" + +"Yes. That is why you are here now. Stay here one moment whilst I get you +pencil and paper... There! Now will you please write what I suggest? Dr. +Bell is with my sister. At least, I suppose he is with her, as Dr. Walker +desired to have his opinion. My sister is dying--dying, you understand?" + +Enid's voice had sunk to a passionate whisper. The hand that she laid on +David's shoulder was trembling strangely. At that moment he would've done +anything for her. A shaft of light filtered from the hall into the porch, +and lit up the paper that the girl thrust upon Steel. + +"Now write," she commanded. "Ask no questions, but write what I ask, and +trust me implicitly." + +David nodded. After all, he reflected, he could not possibly get himself +into a worse mess than he was in already. And he felt that he could trust +the girl by his side. Her beauty, her earnestness, and her obvious +sincerity touched him. + +"Write," Enid whispered. "Say, 'See nothing and notice nothing, I implore +you. Only agree with everything that Dr. Walker says, and leave the room +as quickly as possible!' Now sign your name. We can go into the +drawing-room and wait till Dr. Bell comes down. You are merely a friend +of his. I will see that he has this paper at once." + +Enid led the way into the drawing-room. She gave no reasons for the +weird strangeness of the place, it was no time for explanations. As for +Steel, he gazed around him in fascinated astonishment. A novelist ever +on the look-out for new scenes and backgrounds, the aspect of the room +fascinated him. He saw the dust rising in clouds, he saw the wilted +flowers, he noted the overturned table, obviously untouched and +neglected for years, and he wondered. Then he heard the babel of +discordant voices overhead. What a sad house it was, and how dominant +was the note of tragedy. + +Meanwhile, with no suspicion of the path he was treading, Bell had gone +upstairs. He came at length to the door of the room where the sick girl +lay. There was a subdued light inside and the faint suggestion of illness +that clings to the chamber of the sufferer. Bell caught a glimpse of a +white figure lying motionless in bed. It was years now since he had acted +thus in a professional capacity, but the old quietness and caution came +back by instinct. As he would have entered Margaret Henson came out and +closed the door. + +"You are not going in there," she said. "No, no. Everything of mine +you touch you blight and wither. If the girl is to die, let her die +in peace." + +She would have raised her voice high, but a lightning glance from Bell +quieted her. It was not exactly madness that he had to deal with, and he +knew it. The woman required firm, quiet treatment. Dr. Walker stood +alongside, anxious and nervous. The man with the quiet practice of the +well-to-do doctor was not used to scenes of this kind. + +"You have something to conceal," Bell said, sternly. "Open the door." + +"Really, my dear sir," Walker said, fussily. "Really, I fancy that under +the circumstances--" + +"You don't understand this kind of case," Bell interrupted. "I do." + +Walker dropped aside with a muttered apology. Bell approached the figure +in the doorway and whispered a few words rapidly in her ear. The effect +was electrical. The figure seemed to wilt and shrivel up, all the power +and resistance had gone. She stepped aside, moaning and wringing her +hands. She babbled of strange things; the old, far-away look came into +her eyes again. + +Without a word of comment or sign of triumph Bell entered the sick room. +Then he raised his head and sniffed the heavy atmosphere as an eager +hound might have done. A quick, sharp question rose to his lips, only to +be instantly suppressed as he noted the vacant glance of his colleague. + +The white figure on the bed lay perfectly motionless. It was the figure +of a young and exceedingly beautiful girl, a beauty heightened and +accentuated by the dead-white pallor of her features. Still the face +looked resolute and the exquisitely chiselled lips were firm. + +"Albumen," Bell muttered. "What fiend's game is this? I wonder if that +scoundrel--but, no. In that case there would be no object in concealing +my presence here. I wonder--" + +He paused and touched the pure white brow with his fingers. At the +same moment Enid came into the room. She panted like one who has run +fast and far. + +"Well," she whispered, "is she better, better or--Hatherly, read this." + +The last words were so low that Bell hardly heard them. He shot a swift +glance at his colleague before he opened the paper. One look and he had +mastered the contents. Then the swift glance was directed from Walker to +the girl standing there looking at Bell with a world of passionate +entreaty and longing in her eyes. + +"It is _your_ sister who lies there," Bell whispered, meaningly, "and +yet you--" + +He paused, and Enid nodded. There was evidently a great struggle going on +in Bell's mind. He was grappling with something that he only partially +understood, but he did know perfectly well that he was being asked to do +something absolutely wrong and that he was going to yield for the sake of +the girl he loved. + +He rose abruptly from the bedside and crossed over to Walker. + +"You are perfectly correct," he said. "At this rate--at this rate the +patient cannot possibly last till the morning. It is quite hopeless." + +Walker smiled feebly. + +"It is a melancholy satisfaction to have my opinion confirmed," he said. +"Miss Henson, if you will get Williams to see me as far as the +lodge-gates ... it is so late that--er--" + +Williams came at length, and the little doctor departed. Enid fairly +cowered before the blazing, searching look that Bell turned upon her. She +fell to plucking the bedclothes nervously. + +"What does it mean?" he asked, hoarsely. "What fiend's plaything are you +meddling with? Don't you know that if that girl dies it will be murder? +It was only for your sake that I didn't speak my mind before the fool who +has just gone. He has seen murder done under his eyes for days, and he is +ready to give a certificate of the cause of death. And the strange thing +is that in the ordinary way he would be quite justified in doing so." + +"Chris is not going to die; at least, not in that way," Enid +whispered, hoarsely. + +"Then leave her alone. No more drugs; no medicine even. Give Nature a +chance. Thank Heaven, the girl has a perfect constitution." + +"Chris is not going to die," Enid repeated, doggedly, "but the +certificate will be given, all the same. Oh, Hatherly, you must trust +me--trust me as you have never done before. Look at me, study me. Did you +ever know me to do a mean or dishonourable thing?" + +They were down in the drawing-room again; David waiting, with a strange +sense of embarrassment under Margaret Henson's distant eyes; indeed, it +was probable that she had never noticed him at all. All the same she +turned eagerly to Bell. + +"Tell me the worst," she cried. "Tell me all there is to know." + +"Your niece's sufferings are over," Bell said, gravely; "I have no more +to tell you." + +A profound silence followed, broken presently by angry voices outside. +Then Williams looked in at the door and beckoned Enid to him. His face +was wreathed in an uneasy grin. + +"Mr. Henson has got away," he said. "Blest if I can say how. And they +dogs have rolled him about, and tore his clothes, and made such a picture +of him as you never saw. And a sweet temper he's in!" + +"Where is he now?" Enid asked. "There are people here he must not see." + +"Well, he came back in through the study window, swearing dreadful for so +respectable a gentleman. And he went right up to his room, after ordering +whisky and soda-water." + +Enid flew back to the drawing-room. Not a moment was to be lost. At any +hazard Reginald Henson must be kept in ignorance of the presence of +strangers. A minute later, and the darkness of the night had swallowed +them up. Williams fastened the lodge-gates behind them, and they turned +their faces in the direction of Rottingdean Road. + +"A strange night's work," David said, presently. + +"Aye, but pregnant with result," Bell answered. There was a stern, +exulting ring in his voice. "There is much to do and much danger to be +faced, but we are on the right track at last. But why did you send me +that note just now?" + +David smiled as he lighted a cigarette. + +"It is part of the scheme," he said. "Part of my scheme, you understand. +But, principally, I sent you the note because Miss Enid asked me to." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MARGARET SEES A GHOST + + +With a sigh of unutterable relief Enid heard Williams returning. Reginald +Henson had not come down yet, and the rest of the servants had retired +some time. Williams came up with a request as to whether he could do +anything more before he went to bed. + +"Just one thing," said Enid. "The good dogs have done their work well +to-night, but they have not quite finished. Find Rollo for me, and bring +him here quick. Then you can shut up the house, and I will see that Mr. +Henson is made comfortable after his fright." + +The big dog came presently and followed Enid timidly upstairs. Apparently +the great black-muzzled brute had been there before, as evidently he knew +he was doing wrong. He crawled along the corridor till he came to the +room where the sick girl lay, and here he followed Enid. The lamp was +turned down low as Enid glanced at the bed. Then she smiled faintly, yet +hopefully. + +There was nobody in the room. The patient's bed was empty! + +"It works well," Enid murmured. "May it go on as it has been started. +Lie down, Rollo; lie there, good dog. And if anybody comes in tear him +to pieces." + +The great brute crouched down obediently, thumping his tail on the floor +as an indication that he understood. As if a load had been taken from her +mind Enid crept down the stairs. She had hardly reached the hall before +Henson followed her. His big face was white with passion; he was +trembling from head to foot from fright and pain. There was a red rash on +his forehead that by no means tended to improve his appearance. + +"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, hoarsely. + +Enid looked at him coolly. She could afford to do so now. All the danger +was past, and she felt certain that the events of the evening were +unknown to him. + +"I might ask you the same question," she said. "You look white and +shaken; you might have been thrown violently into a heap of stones. But +please don't make a noise. It is not fitting now. Chris--" + +Enid hesitated; the prevarication did not come so easily as she +had expected. + +"Chris has gone," she said. "She passed away an hour ago." + +Henson muttered something that sounded like consolation. He could be +polite and suave enough on occasions, but not to-night. Even +philanthropists are selfish at times. Moreover, his nerves were badly +shaken and he wanted a stimulant badly. + +"I am going to bed," Enid said, wearily. "Goodnight." + +She went noiselessly upstairs, and Henson passed into the library. He was +puzzled over this sudden end of Christiana Henson. He was half inclined +to believe that she was not dead at all; he belonged to the class of men +who believe nothing without proof. Well, he could easily ascertain that +for himself. There would be quite time enough in the morning. + +For a long time Henson sat there thinking and smoking, as was his usual +custom. Like other great men, he had his worries and troubles, and that +they were mainly of his own making did not render them any lighter. So +long as Margaret Henson was under the pressure of his thumb, money was no +great object. But there were other situations where money was utterly +powerless. + +Henson was about to give it up as a bad job, for tonight at any rate. He +wondered bitterly what his admirers would say if they knew everything. He +wondered--what was that? + +Somebody creeping about the house, somebody talking in soft, though +distinct, whispers. His quick ears detected that sound instantly. He +slipped into the hall; Margaret Henson was there, with the remains of +what had once been a magnificent opera-cloak over her shoulders. + +"How you startled me!" Henson said, irritably. "Why don't you go to bed?" + +Enid, looking over the balustrade from the landing, wondered so also, but +she kept herself prudently hidden. The first words that she heard drove +all the blood from her heart. + +"I cannot," the feeble, moaning voice said. "The house is full of ghosts; +they haunt and follow me everywhere. And Chris is dead, and I have seen +her spirit." + +"So I'm told," Henson said, with brutal callousness. "What was the +ghost like?" + +"Like Chris. All pale and white, with a frightened look on her face. And +she was all dressed in white, too, with a cloak about her shoulders. And +just when I was going to speak to her she turned and disappeared into +Enid's bedroom. And there are other ghosts--" + +"One at a time, please," Henson said, grimly. "So Christiana's ghost +passed into her sister's bedroom. You come and sit quietly in the library +whilst I investigate matters." + +Margaret Henson complied in her dull, mechanical way, and Enid flew like +a flash of light to her room. Another girl was there--a girl exceedingly +like her, but looking wonderfully pale and drawn. + +"That fiend suspects," Enid said. "How unfortunate it was that you +should meet aunt like that. Chris, you must go back again. Fly to your +own room and compose yourself. Only let him see you lying white and still +there, and he must be satisfied." + +Chris rose with a shudder. + +"And if the wretch offers to touch me," she moaned, "If he does--" + +"He will not. He dare not. Heaven help him if he tries any experiment of +that kind. If he does, Rollo will kill him to a certainty." + +"Ah, I had forgotten the faithful dog. Those dogs are more useful to us +than a score of men. I will step by the back way and through my +dressing-room. Oh, Enid, how glad I shall be to find myself outside the +walls of this dreadful house!" + +She flew along the corridor and gained her room in safety. It was an +instant's work to throw off her cloak and compose herself rigidly under +the single white sheet. But though she lay still her heart was beating +to suffocation as she heard the creak and thud of a heavy step coming up +the stairs. Then the door was opened in a stealthy way and Henson came +in. He could see the outline of the white figure, and a sigh of +satisfaction escaped him. A less suspicious man would have retired at +once; a man less engaged upon his task would have seen two great amber +eyes close to the floor. + +"An old woman's fancy," he muttered. "Still, as I am here, I'll make +sure that--" + +He stretched out his hand to touch the marble forehead, there was a snarl +and a gurgle, and Henson came to the ground with a hideous crash that +carried him staggering beyond the door into the corridor. Rollo had the +intruder by the throat; a thousand crimson and blue stars danced before +the wretched man's eyes; he grappled with his foe with one last +despairing effort, and then there came over him a vague, warm +unconsciousness. When he came to himself he was lying on his bed, with +Williams and Enid bending over him. + +"How did it happen?" Enid asked, with simulated anxiety. + +"I--I was walking along the corridor," Henson gasped, "going--going to +bed, you see; and one of those diabolical dogs must have got into the +house. Before I knew what I was doing the creature flew at my throat and +dragged me to the floor. Telephone for Walker at once. I am dying, +Williams." + +He fell back once more utterly lost to his surroundings. There was a +great, gaping, raw wound at the side of the throat that caused Enid +to shudder. + +"Do you think he is--dead, Williams?" she asked. + +"No such luck as that," Williams said, with the air of a confirmed +pessimist. "I hope you locked that there bedroom door and put the key in +your pocket, miss. I suppose we'd better send for the doctor, unless you +and me puts him out of his misery. There's one comfort, however, Mr. +Henson will be in bed for the next fortnight, at any rate, so he'll be +powerless to do any prying about the house. The funeral will be over long +before he's about again." + + * * * * * + +The first grey streaks of dawn were in the air as Enid stood outside the +lodge-gates. She was not alone, for a neat figure in grey, marvellously +like her, was by her side. The figure in grey was dressed for travelling +and she carried a bag in her hand. + +"Good-bye, dear, and good luck to you," she said. "It is dangerous +to delay." + +"You have absolutely everything that you require?" Enid asked. + +"Everything. By the time you are at breakfast I shall be in London. And +once I am there the search for the secret will begin in earnest." + +"You are sure that Reginald Henson suspected nothing?" + +"I am perfectly certain that he was satisfied; indeed, I heard him say +so. Still, if it had not been for the dogs! We are going to succeed, +Enid, something at my heart tells me so. See how the sun shines on +your face and in your dear eyes. Au revoir, an omen--an omen of a +glorious future." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PACE SLACKENS + + +Steel lay sleepily back in the cab, not quite sure whether his +cigarette was alight or not. They were well into the main road again +before Bell spoke. + +"It is pretty evident that you and I are on the same track," he said. + +"I am certain that I am on the right one," David replied; "but, when I +come to consider the thing calmly, it seems more by good luck than +anything else. I came out with you to-night seeking adventure, and I am +bound to admit that I found it. Also, I found the lady who interviewed me +in the darkness, which is more to the point." + +"As a matter of fact, you did nothing of the kind," said Bell, with the +suggestion of a laugh. + +"Oh! Case of the wrong room over again. I was ready to swear it. Whom did +I speak to? Whose voice was it that was so very much like hers?" + +"The lady's sister. Enid Henson was not at 218, Brunswick Square, on +the night in question. Of that you may be certain. But it's a queer +business altogether. Rascality I can understand. I am beginning to +comprehend the plot of which I am the victim. But I don't mind +admitting that up to the present I fail to comprehend why those girls +evolved the grotesque scheme for getting assistance at your hands. The +whole thing savours of madness." + +"I don't think so," David said, thoughtfully. "The girls are romantic as +well as clever. They are bound together by the common ties of a common +enmity towards a cunning and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel. By the +merest accident in the world they discovered that I am in a position to +afford them valuable advice and assistance. At the same time they don't +want me to be brought into the business, for two reasons--the first, +because the family secret is a sacred one; the second, because any +disclosures would land me in great physical danger. Therefore they put +their heads together and evolve this scheme. Call it a mad venture if you +like, but if you consider the history of your own country you can find +wilder schemes evolved and carried out by men who have had brains enough +to be trusted with the fortunes of the nation. If these girls had been +less considerate for my safety--" + +"But," Bell broke in eagerly, "they failed in that respect at the very +outset. You must have been spotted instantly by the foe, who has +cunningly placed you in a dangerous position, perhaps as a warning to +mind your own business in future. And if those girls come forward to save +you--and to do so they must appear in public, mind you--they are bound to +give away the whole thing. Mark the beautiful cunning of it. My word, we +have a foe worthy of our steel to meet." + +"_We_? Do you mean to say that your enemy and mine is a common one?" + +"Certainly. When I found my foe I found yours." + +"And who may he be, by the same token?" + +"Reginald Henson. Mind you, I had no more idea of it than the dead when I +went to Longdean Grange to-night. I went there because I had begun to +suspect who occupied the place and to try and ascertain how the Rembrandt +engraving got into 218, Brunswick Square. Miss Gates must have heard us +talking over the matter, and that was why she went to Longdean Grange +to-night." + +"I hope she got home safe," said David. "The cab man says he put her down +opposite the Lawns." + +"I hope so. Well, I found out who the foe was. And I have a pretty good +idea why he played that trick upon me. He knew that Enid Henson and +myself were engaged; he could see what a danger to his schemes it would +be to have a man like myself in the family. Then the second Rembrandt +turned up, and there was his chance for wiping me off the slate. After +that came the terrible family scandal between Lord Littimer and his wife. +I cannot tell you anything of that, because I cannot speak with definite +authority. But you could judge of the effect of it on Lady Littimer +to-night." + +"I haven't the faintest recollection of seeing Lady Littimer to-night." + +"My dear fellow, the poor lady whom you met as Mrs. Henson is really Lady +Littimer. Henson is her maiden name, and those girls are her nieces. +Trouble has turned the poor woman's brain. And at the bottom of the whole +mystery is Reginald Henson, who is not only nephew on his mother's side, +but is also next heir but one to the Littimer title. At the present +moment he is blackmailing that unhappy creature, and is manoeuvring to +get the whole of her large fortune in his hands. Reginald Henson is the +man those girls want to circumvent, and for that reason they came to you. +And Henson has found it out to a certain extent and placed you in an +awkward position." + +"Witness my involuntary guest and the notes and the cigar-case," David +said. "But does he know what I advised one of the girls--my princess of +the dark room--to do?" + +"I don't fancy he does. You see, that advice was conveyed by word of +mouth. The girls dared not trust themselves to correspondence, otherwise +they might have approached you in a more prosaic manner. But I confess +you startled me to-night." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"When you sent me that note. What you virtually asked me to do was to +countenance murder. When I went into the sick room I saw that Christiana +Henson was dying. The first idea that flashed across my mind was that +Reginald Henson was getting the girl out of the way for his own purposes. +My dear fellow, the whole atmosphere literally spoke of albumen. Walker +must have been blind not to see how he was being deceived. I was about to +give him my opinion pretty plainly when your note came up to me. And +there was Enid, with her whole soul in her large eyes, pleading for my +silence. If the girl died I was accessory after and before the fact. You +will admit that that was a pretty tight place to put a doctor in." + +"That's because you didn't know the facts of the case, my dear Bell." + +"Then perhaps you'll be so good as to enlighten me," Bell said, drily. + +"Certainly. That was part of my scheme. In that synopsis of the story +obtained by the girls by some more or less mechanical means, the reputed +death of a patient forms the crux of the tale. The idea occurred to me +after reading a charge against a medical student some time ago in the +_Standard_. The man wanted to get himself out of the way; he wanted to +be considered as dead, in fact. By the artful use of albumen in certain +doses he produced symptoms of disease which will be quite familiar to +you. He made himself so ill that his doctor naturally concluded that he +was dying. As a matter of fact, he was dying. Had he gone on in the same +way another day he would have been dead. Instead of this he drops the +dosing and, going to his doctor in disguise, says that he _is_ dead. He +gets a certificate of his own demise, and there you are. I am not +telling you fiction, but hard fact recorded in a high-class paper. The +doctor gave the certificate without viewing the body. Well, it struck me +that we had here the making of a good story, and I vaguely outlined it +for a certain editor. In my synopsis I suggested that it was a woman who +proposed to pretend to die thus so as to lull the suspicions of a +villain to sleep, and thus possess herself of certain vital documents. +My synopsis falls into certain hands. The owner of those hands asks me +how the thing was done. I tell her. In other words, the so-called murder +that you imagined you had discovered to-night was the result of design. +Walker will give his certificate, Reginald Henson will regard Miss +Christiana as dead and buried, and she will be free to act for the +honour of the family." + +"But they might have employed somebody else." + +"Who would have had to be told the history of the family dishonour. So +far I fancy I have made the ground quite clear. But the mystery of the +cigar-case and the notes and the poor fellow in the hospital is still as +much a mystery as ever. We are like two allied forces working together, +but at the same time under the disadvantage of working in the dark. You +can see, of course, that the awful danger I stand in is as terrible for +those poor girls." + +"Of course I do. Still, we have a key to your trouble. It is a +dreadfully rusty one and will want a deal of oiling before it's used, +but there it is." + +"Where, my dear fellow, where?" David asked. + +"Why, in the Sussex County Hospital, of course. The man may die, in +which case everything must be sacrificed in order to save your good +name. On the other hand, he may get better, and then he will tell us all +about it." + +"He might. On the other hand, he might plead ignorance. It is possible +for him to suggest that the whole affair was merely a coincidence, so far +as he was concerned." + +"Yes, but he would have to explain how he burgled your house, and what +business he had to get himself half murdered in your conservatory. Let us +get out here and walk the rest of the way to your house. Our cabby knows +quite enough about us without having definite views as to your address." + +The cabman was dismissed with a handsome _douceur_, and the twain turned +off the front at the corner of Eastern Terrace. Late as it was, there +were a few people lounging under the hospital wall, where there was a +suggestion of activity about the building unusual at that time of the +night. A rough-looking fellow, who seemed to have followed Bell and Steel +from the front, dropped into a seat by the hospital gates and laid his +head back as if utterly worn out. Just inside the gates a man was smoking +a cigarette. + +"Halloa, Cross," David cried, "you are out late tonight!" + +"Heavy night," Cross responded, sleepily, "with half a score of accidents +to finish with. Some of Palmer of Lingfield's private patients thrown off +a coach and brought here in the ambulance. Unless I am greatly mistaken, +that is Hatherly Bell with you." + +"The same," Bell said, cheerfully. "I recollect you in Edinburgh. So some +of Palmer's patients have come to grief. Most of his special cases used +to pass through my hands." + +"I've got one here to-night who recollects you perfectly well," said +Cross. "He's got a dislocated shoulder, but otherwise he is doing well. +Got a mania that he's a doctor who murdered a patient." + +"Electric light anything to do with the story?" Bell asked, eagerly. + +"That's the man. Seems to have a wonderfully brilliant intellect if you +can only keep him off that topic. He spotted you in North Street +yesterday, and seemed wonderfully disappointed to find you had nothing +whatever to do with this institution." + +"If he is not asleep," Bell suggested, "and you have no objection--" + +Cross nodded and opened the gate. Before passing inside Bell took the +rolled-up Rembrandt from his deep breast-pocket and handed it to David. + +"Take care of this for me," he whispered. "I'm going inside. I've dropped +upon an old case that interested me very much years ago, and I'd like to +see my patient again. See you in the morning, I expect. Good-night." + +David nodded in reply and went his way. It was intensely quiet and still +now; the weary loafer at the outside hospital seat had disappeared. +There was nobody to be seen anywhere as David placed his key in the +latch and opened the door. Inside the hall-light was burning, and so was +the shaded electric lamp in the conservatory. The study leading to the +conservatory was in darkness. The effect of the light behind was +artistic and pleasing. + +It was with a sense of comfort and relief that David fastened the door +behind him. Without putting up the light in the study David laid the +Rembrandt on his table, which was immediately below the window in his +work-room. The night was hot; he pushed the top sash down liberally. + +"I must get that transparency removed," he murmured, "and have the window +filled with stained glass. The stuff is artistic, but it is so frankly +what it assumes to be." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A COMMON ENEMY + + +David idly mixed himself some whisky and soda water in the dining-room, +where he finished his cigarette. He was tired and ready for bed now, so +tired that he could hardly find energy enough to remove his boots and get +into the big carpet slippers that were so old and worn. He put down the +dining-room lights and strolled into the study. Just for a moment he sat +there contemplating with pleased, tired eyes the wilderness of bloom +before him. + +Then he fell into a reverie, as he frequently did. An idea for a +fascinating story crept unbidden into his mind. He gazed vaguely around +him. Some little noise outside attracted his attention, the kind of noise +made by a sweep's brushes up a chimney. David turned idly towards the +open window. The top of it was but faintly illuminated by the light of +the conservatory gleaming dully on the transparency over the glass. But +David's eyes were keen, and he could see distinctly a man's thumb crooked +downwards over the frame of the ash. Somebody had swarmed up the +telephone holdfasts and was getting in through the window. Steel slipped +well into the shadow, but not before an idea had come to him. He removed +the rolled-up Rembrandt from the table and slipped it behind a row of +books in the book-case. Then he looked up again at the crooked thumb. + +He would recognise that thumb again anywhere. It was flat like the head +of a snake, and the nail was no larger than a pea--a thumb that had +evidently been cruelly smashed at one time. The owner of the thumb might +have been a common burglar, but in the light of recent events David was +not inclined to think so. At any rate he felt disposed to give his theory +every chance. He saw a long, fustian-clad arm follow the scarred thumb, +and a hand grope all over the table. + +"Curse me," a foggy voice whispered, hoarsely. "It ain't here. And the +bloke told me--" + +The voice said no more, for David grabbed at the arm and caught the wrist +in a vice-like grip. Instantly another arm shot over the window and an +ugly piece of iron piping was swung perilously near Steel's head. +Unfortunately, he could see no face. As he jumped back to avoid a blow +his grasp relaxed, there was a dull thud outside, followed by the tearing +scratch of boots against a wall and the hollow clatter of flying feet. +All David could do was to close the window and regret that his +impetuosity had not been more judiciously restrained. + +"Now, what particular thing was he after?" he asked himself. "But I had +better defer any further speculations on the matter till the morning. +After the fright he had my friend won't come back again. And I'm just as +tired as a dog." + +But there were other things the next day to occupy David's attention +besides the visit of his nocturnal friend. He had found out enough the +previous evening to encourage him to go farther. And surely Miss Ruth +Gates could not refuse to give him further information. + +He started out to call at 219, Brunswick Square, as soon as he deemed it +excusable to do so. Miss Gates was out, the solemn butler said, but she +might be found in the square gardens. David came upon her presently with +a book in her lap and herself under a shady tree. She was not reading, +her eyes were far away. As she gave David a warm greeting there was a +tender bloom on her lovely face. + +"Oh, yes, I got home quite right," she said. "No suspicion was aroused at +all. And you?" + +"I had a night thrilling enough for yellow covers, as Artemus Ward says. +I came here this morning to throw myself on your mercy, Miss Gates. Were +I disposed to do so, I have information enough to force your hand. But I +prefer to hear everything from your lips." + +"Did Enid tell you anything?" Ruth faltered. + +"Well, she allowed me to know a great deal. In the first place, I know +that you had a great hand in bringing me to 218 the other night. I know +that it was you who suggested that idea, and it was you who facilitated +the use of Mr. Gates's telephone. How the thing was stage-managed matters +very little at present. It turns out now that your friend and Dr. Bell +and myself have a common enemy." + +Ruth looked up swiftly. There was something like fear in her eyes. + +"Have--have you discovered the name of that enemy?" she asked. + +"Yes, I know now that our foe is Mr. Reginald Henson." + +"A man who is highly respected. A man who stands wonderfully high in +public estimation. There are thousands and thousands of people who look +upon him as a great and estimable creature. He gives largely in +charities, he devotes a good deal of his time to the poor. My uncle, who +_is_ a good man, if you like, declares that Reginald Henson is absolutely +indispensable to him. At the next election that man is certain to be +returned to Parliament to represent an important northern constituency. +If you told my uncle anything about him, he would laugh at you." + +"I have not the slightest intention of approaching your uncle on this +matter at present." + +"Because you could prove nothing. Nobody can prove anything." + +"But Christiana Henson may in time." + +Once more Ruth flashed a startled look at her companion. + +"So you have discovered something about that?" she whispered. + +"I have discovered everything about it. Legally speaking, the young lady +is dead. She died last night, as Dr. Walker will testify. She passed away +in the formula presented by me the night that I met her in the darkness +at 218, Brunswick Square. Now, will you be so good as to tell me how +those girls got hold of my synopsis?" + +"That came about quite naturally. Your synopsis and proof in an open +envelope were accidentally slipped into a large circular envelope used by +a firm of seed merchants and addressed to Longdean Grange, sent out no +doubt amongst thousands of others. Chris saw it, and, prompted by +curiosity, read it. Out of that our little plot was gradually evolved. +You see, I was at school with those two girls, and they have few secrets +from me. Naturally, I suggested the scheme because I see a great deal of +Reginald Henson. He comes here; he also comes very frequently to our +house in Prince's Gate. And yet I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart, +that I ever touched the thing, for your sake." + +The last words were spoken with a glance that set David's pulses beating. +He took Ruth's half-extended hand in his, and it was not withdrawn. + +"Don't worry about me," he said. "I shall come out all right in the end. +Still, I shall look eagerly forward to any assistance that you can afford +me. For instance, what hold has Henson got on his relatives?" + +"That I cannot tell you," Ruth cried. "You must not ask me. But we were +acting for the best; our great object was to keep you out of danger." + +"There is no danger to me if I can only clear myself," Steel replied. "If +you could only tell me where those bank-notes came from! When I think of +that part of the business I am filled with shame. And yet if you only +knew how fond I am of my home.... At the same time, when I found that I +was called upon to help ladies in distress I should have refused all +offers of reward. If I had done so I should have had no need of your +pity. And yet--and yet it is very sweet to me." + +He pressed the hand in his, and the pressure was returned. David forget +all about his troubles for the time; and it was very cool and pleasant +and quiet there. + +"I am afraid that those notes were forced upon us," she said. "Though I +frankly believe that the enemy does not know what we have learnt to do +from you. And as to the cigar-case: would it not be easy to settle that +matter by asking a few questions?" + +"My dear young lady, I have done so. And the more questions I ask the +worse it is for me. The cigar-case I claimed came from Walen's, beyond +all question, and was purchased by the mysterious individual now in the +hospital. I understood that the cigar-case was the very one I admired at +Lockhart's some time ago, and--" + +"If you inquire at Lockhart's you will find such to be the case." + +David looked up with a puzzled expression. Ruth spoke so seriously, and +with such an air of firm conviction, that he was absolutely staggered. + +"So I did," he said. "And was informed in the most positive way by the +junior partner that the case I admired had been purchased by an American +called Smith and sent to the Metropole after he had forwarded +dollar-notes for it. Surely you don't suppose that a firm like Lockhart's +would be guilty of anything--" + +Ruth rose to her feet, her face pale and resolute. + +"This must be looked to," she said. "The cigar-case sent to you on that +particular night was purchased at Lockhart's by myself and paid for with +my own money!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ROLLO SHOWS HIS TEETH + + +The blinds were all down at Longdean Grange, a new desolation seemed to +be added to the gloom of the place. Out in the village it had by some +means become known that there was somebody dead in the house, either +madam herself or one of those beautiful young ladies whom nobody had ever +seen. Children loitering about the great lodge-gates regarded Williams +with respectful awe and Dr. Walker with curiosity. The doctor was the +link connecting the Grange with the outside world. + +To add to the gloom of it all the bell over the stables clanged +mournfully. The noise made Walker quite nervous as he walked up the drive +by Williams's side. Not for a pension would he have dared approach the +house alone. Williams, in the seediest and most dilapidated rusty black, +had a face of deepest melancholy. + +"But why that confound--Why do they ring that bell?" Walker asked, +irritably. + +"Madam ordered it, sir," Williams replied. "She's queerer than ever, is +mistress. She don't say much, but Miss Christiana's death is a great +shock to her. She ordered the bell to be tolled, and she carried on awful +when Miss Enid tried to stop it." + +Walker murmured vaguely something doubtless representing sympathy. + +"And my other patient, Williams?" he asked. "How is he getting along? +Really, you ought to keep those dogs under better control. It's a +dreadful business altogether. Fancy a man of Mr. Henson's high character +and gentle disposition being attacked by a savage dog in the very house! +I hope the hound is securely kennelled." + +"Well, he isn't, sir," Williams said, with just the glint of a grin on +his dry features. "And it wasn't altogether Rollo's fault. That dog was +so devoted to Miss Christiana as you never see. And he got to know as +the poor young lady was dying. So he creeps into the house and lies +before her bedroom door, and when Mr. Henson comes along the dog takes +it in his 'ead as he wants to go in there. And now Rollo's got inside, +and nobody except Miss Enid dare go near. I pity that there undertaker +when he comes." + +Walker shuddered slightly. Longdean Grange was a fearful place for the +nerves. Nothing of the routine or the decorous ever happened there. The +fees were high and the remuneration prompt, or Walker would have handed +over his patient cheerfully to somebody else. Not for a moment did he +imagine that Williams was laughing at him. Well, he need not see the +body, which was a comfort. With a perfectly easy conscience he could give +a certificate of death. And if only somebody would stop that hideous +bell! Someone was singing quietly in the drawing-room, and the music +seemed to be strangely bizarre and out of place. + +Inside it seemed like a veritable house of the dead--the shadow of +tragedy loomed everywhere. The dust rose in clouds from the floor as the +servants passed to and fro. They were all clad in black, and shuffled +uneasily, as if conscious that their clothes did not belong to them. Enid +came out into the hall to meet the doctor. Her face seemed terribly white +and drawn; there was something in her eyes that suggested anxiety more +than grief. + +"I suppose you have come principally to see Mr. Henson?" she said. "But +my sister--" + +"No occasion to intrude upon your grief for a moment, Miss Henson," +Walker said, quietly. "As I have told you before, there was very little +hope for your sister from the first. It was a melancholy satisfaction to +me to find my diagnosis confirmed in every detail by so eminent an +authority as Dr. Hatherly Bell. I will give you a certificate with +pleasure--at once." + +"You would like to see my sister?" Enid suggested. + +The quivering anxiety was in her eyes again, the strained look on her +face. Walker was discreetly silent as to what he had heard about that +bloodhound, but he had by no means forgotten it. + +"Not the least occasion, I assure you," he said, fervently. "Your sister +had practically passed away when I last saw her. There are times +when--er--you see--but really there is no necessity." + +"Mr. Henson is terribly fastidious about these things." + +"Then he shall be satisfied. I shall tell him that I have--er--seen the +body. And I have, you know. In these matters a medical man cannot be too +careful. If you will provide me with pen and ink--" + +"Thank you very much. Will you come this way, please?" + +Walker followed into the drawing-room. Mrs. Henson, wearing something +faded and dishevelled in the way of a mourning dress, was crooning some +dirge at the piano. Her white hair was streaming loosely over her +shoulders, there was a vacant stare in her eyes. The intruders might have +been statues for all the heed she took of them. Presently the discordant +music ceased, and she began to pace noiselessly up and down the room. + +"Another one gone," she murmured; "the best-beloved. It is always the +best-beloved that dies, and the one we hate that is left. Take all those +coaches away, send the guests back home. Why do they come chattering and +feasting here? She shall be drawn by four black horses to Churchfield in +the dead of the night, and there laid in the family vault." + +"Mrs. Henson's residence," Enid explained, in a whisper. "It is some +fifteen miles away. She has made up her mind that my sister shall be +taken away as she says--to-morrow night. Is this paper all that is +necessary for the--you understand? I have telephoned to the undertaker in +Brighton." + +Walker hastened to assure the girl that what little further formality was +required he would see to himself. All he desired now was to visit Henson +and get out of the house as soon as possible. As he hurried from the +drawing-room he heard Mrs. Henson crooning and muttering, he saw the +vacant glare in her eyes, and vaguely wondered how soon he should have +another patient here. + +Reginald Henson sat propped up in his bed, white and exhausted. Beyond +doubt he had had a terrible shock and fright, and the droop of his +eyelids told of shattered nerves. There was a thick white bandage round +his throat, his left shoulder was strapped tightly. He spoke with +difficulty. + +"Do we feel any better this morning?" Walker asked, cheerfully. + +"No, we don't," said Henson, with a total absence of his usual +graciousness of manner. "We feel confoundedly weak, and sick, and dizzy. +Every time I drop off to sleep I wake with a start and a feeling that +that infernal dog is smothering me. Has the brute been shot yet?" + +"I don't fancy so; in fact, he is still at his post upstairs, and +therefore--" + +"Therefore you have not seen the body of my poor dear cousin?" + +"Otherwise I could have given no certificate," Walker said, with dignity. +"If I have satisfied myself, sir, and the requirements of the law, why, +then, everybody is satisfied. I _have_ seen the body." + +Technically the little doctor spoke the truth. Henson muttered +something that sounded like an apology. Walker smiled graciously and +suggested that rest and a plain diet were all that his patient needed. +Rest was the great thing. The bandages need not be removed for a day or +two, at the expiration of which time he would look in again. Once the +road was reached in safety Walker took off his hat and wiped the beads +from his forehead. + +"What a house," he muttered. "What a life to lead. Thank goodness I need +not go there again before Saturday. If anybody were to offer me a small +glass of brandy with a little soda now, I should feel tempted to break +through my rule and drink it." + +Meanwhile the long terror of the day dragged on inside the house. The +servants crept about the place on tiptoe, the hideous bell clanged out, +Mrs. Henson paced wearily up and down the drawing-room, singing and +muttering to herself, until Enid was fain to fly or break down and yell +hysterically. It was one of Margaret Henson's worst days. + +The death of Christiana seemed to affect her terribly. Enid watched her +in terror. More than once she was fearful that the frail thread would +snap--the last faint glimmer of reason go out for ever. And yet it would +be madness to tell Margaret Henson the truth. In the first place she +would not have understood, and on the other hand she might have +comprehended enough to betray to Reginald Henson. As it was, her grief +was obvious and sincere enough. The whole thing was refinedly cruel, but +really there was no help for it. And things had gone on splendidly. + +Henson was powerless to interfere, and the doctor was satisfied. Once she +had put her hand to the plough Enid's quick brain saw her through. But +she would have been hard put to it to deceive Henson under his very nose +without the help of the bloodhound. Now she could see her way still +farther. She waited nervously for a ring from the lodge-gates to the +house, and about four o'clock it came. The undertaker was at the gates +waiting for an escort to the Grange. + +Enid passed her tongue out over a pair of dry lips. The critical moment +was at hand. If she could get through the next hour she was safe. If +not--but there must be no "if not," she told herself. The undertaker +came, suave, quiet, respectful, but he dropped back from the bedroom door +as he saw two gleaming, amber eyes regarding him menacingly. + +"The dog loved my sister," Enid explained, quietly. "But he has found +his way to her room, and he refuses to move. He fancies that we have +done something her.... Oh, no, I couldn't poison him! And it would be a +dreadful thing if there were to be anything like a struggle _here_. +Come, Rollo." + +Evidently the dog had learned his lesson well. He wagged his great tail, +but refused to move. The undertaker took a couple of steps forward and +Rollo's crest rose. There was a flash of white teeth and a growl. At the +end of half an hour no progress had been made. + +"There's only one thing for it," suggested Williams, in his rusty voice. +"We can get the dog away for ten minutes at midnight. He likes a run +then, and I'll bring the other dogs to fetch him, like." + +"My time is very valuable just now," the undertaker suggested, humbly. + +"Then you had better measure me," said Enid, turning a face absolutely +flaming red and deadly white to the speaker. "It is a dreadful, ghastly +business altogether, but I cannot possibly think of any other way. The +idea of anything like a struggle here is abhorrent.... And the dog's +fidelity is so touching. My sister and I were exactly alike, except that +she was fairer than me." + +The undertaker was understood to demur slightly on professional grounds. +It was very irregular and not in the least likely to give satisfaction. + +"What does it matter?" Enid cried, passionately. She was acting none the +less magnificently because her nerves were quivering like harpstrings. +"When I am dead you can fling me in a ditch, for all I care. We are a +strange family and do strange things. The question of satisfaction need +not bother you. Take my measure and send the coffin home to-morrow, and +we will manage to do the rest. Then to-morrow night you will have a +four-horse hearse here at eleven o'clock, and drive the coffin to +Churchfield Church, where you will be expected. After that your work will +be finished." + +The bewildered young man responded that things should be exactly as the +young lady required. He had seen many strange and wild things in his +time, but none so strange and weird as this. It was all utterly +irregular, of course, but people after all had a right to demand what +they paid for. Enid watched the demure young man in black down the +corridor, and then everything seemed to be enveloped in a dense purple +mist, the world was spinning under her feet, there was a great noise like +the rush of mighty waters in her brain. With a great effort she threw off +the weakness and came to herself, trembling from head to foot. + +"Courage," she murmured, "courage. This life has told on me more than I +thought. With Chris's example before me I must not break down now." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FRANK LITTIMER + + +The lamps gleamed upon the dusty statuary and pictures and faded flowers +in the hall, they glinted upon a long polished oak casket there reposing +upon trestles. Ever and anon a servant would peep in and vanish again as +if ashamed of something. The house was deadly quiet now, for Mrs. Henson +had fallen asleep worn out with exhaustion, and Enid had instantly +stopped the dreadful clamour of the bell. The silence that followed was +almost as painful as the noise had been. + +On the coffin were wreaths of flowers. Enid sat in the drawing-room with +the door open, where she could see everything, but was herself unseen. +She was getting terribly anxious and nervous again; the hour was near +eleven, and the hearse might arrive at any time. She would know no kind +of peace until she could get that hideous mockery out of the house. + +She sat listening thus, straining her ears to catch the slightest sound. +Suddenly there came a loud clamour at the front door, an imperative +knocking that caused Enid's heart to come into her mouth. Who could it +be? What stranger had passed the dogs in that way? + +She heard crabbed, sour, but courageous old Williams go to the door. She +heard the clang of bolts and the rattle of chains, and then a weird cry +from Williams. A voice responded that brought Enid, trembling and livid, +into the hall. A young man with a dark, exceedingly handsome face and +somewhat effeminate mouth stood there, with eyes for nothing but the +shining flower-decked casket on the trestles. He seemed beside himself +with rage and grief; he might have been a falsely imprisoned convict face +to face with the real culprit. + +"Why didn't you let me know?" he cried. "Why didn't you let me know?" + +His voice rang in the roof. Enid flew to his side and placed her hand +upon his lips. + +"Your mother is asleep, Frank," she said. "She has had no sleep for three +nights. A long rest may be the means of preserving her sanity. Why did +you come here?" + +The young man laughed silently. It was ghastly mirth to see, and it +brought the tears into Enid's eyes. She had forgotten the danger of the +young man's presence. + +"I heard that Chris was ill," he said. "They told me that she was +dying. And I could not keep away. And now I have come too late. Oh, +Chris, Chris!" + +He fell on his knees by the side of the coffin, his frame shaken by +tearless sobs. Enid bit her lips to keep back the words that rose to +them. She would have given much to have spoken the truth. But at any +hazard she must remain silent. She waited till the paroxysm of grief had +passed away, then she touched the intruder gently on the shoulder. + +"There is great danger for you in this house," she said. + +"What do I care for danger when Chris lies yonder?" + +"But, dear Frank, there are others to consider besides yourself. There is +your mother, for instance. Oh, you ought not to have come here to-night. +If your father knew!" + +"My father? He would be the last person in the world to know. And what +cares he about anything, so long as he has his prints and his paintings? +He has no feelings, no heart, no soul, I may say." + +"Frank, you must go at once. Do you know that Reginald Henson is here? He +has ears like a hare; it will be nothing less than a miracle unless he +hears your voice. And then--" + +The young man was touched at last. The look of grief died out of his eyes +and a certain terror filled them. + +"I think that I should have come in any case," he whispered. "I don't +want to bring any further trouble upon you, Enid, but I wanted to see the +last of her. I came here, and some of the dogs remembered me. If not, I +might have had no occasion to trouble you. And I won't stay, seeing that +Henson is here. Let me have something to remember her by; let me look +into her room for a moment. If you only knew how I loved her! And you +look as if you had no grief at all." + +Enid started guiltily. She had quite forgotten her _rôle_ for the time. +Indeed, there was something unmistakably like relief on her face as she +heard the porter's bell ring from the lodge to the house. Williams +shuffled away, muttering that he would be more useful in the house than +out of it just now, but a glance from Enid subdued him. Presently there +came the sound of wheels on the gravel outside. + +"They have come for the--the coffin," Enid murmured. "Frank, it would be +best for you to go. Go upstairs, if you like; you know the way. Only, +don't stay here." + +The young man went off dreamily. A heavy grief dulled and blinded his +senses; he walked along like one who wanders in his sleep. Christiana's +room door was open and a lamp was there. There were dainty knick-knacks +on the dressing-table, a vase or two of faded flowers--everything that +denotes the presence of refined and gracious womanhood. + +Frank Littimer stood there looking round him for some little time. On a +table by the bedside stood a photograph of a girl in a silver frame. +Littimer pounced upon it hungrily. It was a good picture--the best of +Christiana's that he had ever seen. He slipped out into the corridor and +gently closed the door behind him. Then he passed along with his whole +gaze fixed on the portrait. The girl seemed to be smiling out of the +frame at him. He had loved Christiana since she was a child; he felt that +he had never loved her so much as at this moment. Well, he had something +to remember her by--he had not come here in vain. + +It seemed impossible yet to realise that Christiana was dead, that he +would never look into her sunny, tender face again. No, he would wake up +presently and find it had all been a dream. And how different to the last +time he was here. He had been smuggled into the house, and he had +occupied the room with the oak door. He-- + +The room with the oak door opened and a big man with a white bandage +round his throat stood there with tottering limbs and an ugly smile on +his loose mouth. Littimer started back. + +"Reginald," he exclaimed, "I didn't expect to see you here, or--" + +"Or you would never have dared to come?" Henson said, hoarsely. "I heard +your voice and I was bound to give you a welcome, even at considerable +personal inconvenience. Help me back to bed again. And now, you insolent +young dog, how dare you show your face here?" + +"I came to see Chris," Littimer said, doggedly. "And I came too late. +Even if I had known that I was going to meet you, I should have been here +all the same. Oh, I know what you are going to say; I know what you +think. And some day I shall break out and defy you to do your worst." + +Henson smiled as one might do at the outbreak of an angry child. His eyes +flashed and his tongue spoke words that Littimer fairly cowed before. And +yet he did not show it. He was like a boy who has found a stone for the +man who stands over him with the whip. With quick intuition Henson saw +this, and in a measure his manner changed. + +"You will say next that you are not afraid of me," he suggested. + +"Well," Littimer replied, slowly; "I am not so much afraid of you +as I was." + +"Ah! so you imagine that you have discovered something?" + +Littimer apparently struggled between a prudent desire for silence and +a disposition to speak. The sneer on the face of his enemy fairly +maddened him. + +"Yes," he said, with a note of elation in his voice, "I have made a +discovery, but I am not going to tell you how or where my discovery is. +But I've found Van Sneck." + +A shade of whiter pallor came over Henson's face. Then his eyes took on a +murderous, purple-black gleam. All the same, his voice was quite steady +as he replied. + +"I'm afraid that is not likely to benefit you much," he said. "Would you +mind handing me that oblong black book from the dressing-table? I want +you to do something for me. What's that?" + +There was just the faintest suggestion of a sound outside. It was Enid +listening with all her ears. She had not been long in discovering what +had happened. Once the ghastly farcical incubus was off her shoulders she +had followed Littimer upstairs. As she passed Henson's room the drone of +voices struck on her ears. She stood there and listened. She would have +given much for this not to have happened, but everything happened for the +worst in that accursed house. + +But Henson's last words were enough for her. She gathered her skirts +together and flew down the stairs. In the hall Williams stood, with a +grin on his face, pensively scraping his chin with a dry forefinger. + +"Now what's the matter, miss?" he cried. + +"Don't ask questions," Enid cried. "Go and get me the champagne nippers. +The champagne nippers at once. If you can't find them, then bring me a +pair of pliers. Then come to me on the leads outside the bathroom. It's a +matter of life and death." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A FIND + + +David did not appear in the least surprised; indeed, he was long since +past that emotion. Before the bottom of the mystery was reached a great +many more strange things were pretty sure to happen. + +"So you bought that cigar-case yourself?" he said. + +"Indeed, I did," Ruth answered, eagerly. "Of course I have long known +you by name and I have read pretty well all your tales. I--I liked your +work so much." + +David was flattered. The shy, sweet admiration in Ruth's eyes +touched him. + +"And I was very glad to meet you," Ruth went on. "You see, we all liked +your stories. And we knew one or two people who had met you, and +gradually you became quite like a friend of ours--Enid and Chris and +myself, you understand. Then a week or two ago I came down to Brighton +with my uncle to settle all about taking the house here. And I happened +to be in Lockhart's buying something when you came in and asked to see +the cigar-case. I recognised you from your photographs, and I was +interested. Of course, I thought no more of it at the time, until Enid +came up to London and told me all about the synopsis, and how strangely +the heroine's case in your proposed story was like hers. Enid wondered +how you were going to get the girl out of her difficulty, and I jokingly +suggested that she had better ask you. She accepted the idea quite +seriously, saying that if you had a real, plausible way out of the +trouble you might help her. And gradually our scheme was evolved. You +were not to know, because of the possible danger to yourself." + +"At the hands of Reginald Henson, of course?" + +"Yes. Our scheme took a long time, but we got it worked out at last. We +decided on the telephone because we thought that we could not be traced +that way, never imagining for a moment that you could get the number of +your caller over the trunk line. Enid came up to town, and worked the +telephone, Chris was in No. 218, and I brought the money." + +"You placed that cigar-case on my doorstep?" + +"Yes, I was wound up for anything. It was I whom you saw riding the +bicycle through Old Steine; it was I who dropped the card of +instructions. It seems a shameful thing to say and to do now, but +I--well, I enjoyed it at the time. And I did it for the sake of my +friends. Do I look like that sort of a girl, Mr. Steel?" + +David glanced into the beautiful shy eyes with just the suggestion of +laughter in them. + +"You look all that is loyal and good and true," he exclaimed. "And I +don't think I ever admired you quite so much as I do at this moment." + +Ruth laughed and looked down. There was something in David's glance that +thrilled her and gave her a sense of happiness she would have found it +hard to describe. + +"I am so glad you do not despise me," she whispered. + +"Despise you!" David cried. "Why? If you only knew how I, well, how I +loved you! Don't be angry. I mean every word that I say; my feelings for +you are as pure as your own heart. If you could care for me as you do for +those others I should have a friend indeed." + +"You have made me care for you very much indeed, Mr. Steel," Ruth +whispered. + +"Call me David..... How nice my plain name sounds from your lips. Ruth +and David. But I must hold myself in hand for the present. Still, I am +glad you like me." + +"Well, you have been so good and kind. We have done you a great deal of +injury and you never blamed us. And you are just the man I have always +pictured as the man I could love ... David!" + +"Well, it was only one little kiss, and I'm sure nobody saw us, dear. And +later on, when you are my wife--" + +"Don't you think we had better keep to business for the present?" Ruth +said, demurely. + +"Perhaps. There is one little point that you must clear up before we go +any farther. How did you manage to furnish those two big dining-rooms +exactly alike?" + +"Why, the furniture is there. At the top of the house, in a large attic, +all the furniture is stored." + +"But the agent told me it had been removed." + +"He was wrong. You can't expect the agent to recollect everything about a +house. The place belonged to the lady whom we may call Mrs. Margaret +Henson at one time. When her home scheme fell through she sold one house +as it was. In the other she stored the furniture. Enid knew of all this, +of course. We managed to get a latch--key to fit 218, and Enid and a man +did the rest. Her idea was to keep you in the dark as much as possible. +After the interview the furniture was put back again, and there you are." + +"Diplomatic and clever, and decidedly original, not to say feminine. In +the light of recently acquired knowledge I can quite see why your friends +desired to preserve their secret. But they need not have taken all those +precautions. Had they written--" + +"They dared not. They were fearful as to what might become of the reply." + +"But they might have come to me openly." + +"Again, they dared not for your sake. You know a great deal, David, but +there is darkness and trouble and wickedness yet that I dare not speak +of. And you are in danger. Already Reginald Henson has shown you what +he can do." + +"And yet he doesn't know everything," David smiled. "He may have stabbed +me in the back, but he is quite ignorant as to what advice I gave to Enid +Henson, which brings me back to the cigar-case. You saw me looking at it +in Lockhart's. Go on." + +"Yes, I watched you with a great deal of curiosity. Finally you went off +out of the shop saying that you could not afford to buy the cigar-case, +and I thought no more of the matter for a time. Then we found out all +about your private affairs. Oh, I am ashamed almost to go on." + +The dainty little face grew crimson; the hand in David's trembled. + +"But we were desperate. And, after all, we were doing no harm. It was +just then that the idea of the cigar-case came into my mind. We knew that +if we could get you to take that money it would only be as a loan. I +suggested the gift of the case as a memento of the occasion. I purchased +that case with my own money and I placed it with its contents on the +doorstep of your house." + +"Did you watch it all the time?" + +"No, I didn't. But I was satisfied that nobody passed, and I was +sufficiently near to hear your door open at the hour appointed. Of +course, we had carefully rehearsed the telephone conversation, and I knew +exactly what to do." + +David sat very thoughtfully for some little time. + +"The case must have been changed," he said. "It is very difficult to say +how, but there is no other logical solution of the matter. At about +half-past twelve on that eventful night you placed on my doorstep a +gun-metal cigar-case, mounted in diamonds, that you had purchased from +Lockhart's?" + +"Yes, and the very one that you admired. Of that I am certain." + +"Very well. I take that case with me to 218, Brunswick Square, and I +bring it back again. Did I take it with me or not? Anyhow, it was found +on the floor beside the body. It never passed out of my possession to my +knowledge. Next day I leave it at the office of Messrs. Mossa and Mack, +and it gets into the hands of the police." + +"Was it not possibly changed there, David?" + +"No, because of the initials I had scratched inside it. And beyond all +question that case--the same case, mind you, that I picked up on my +doorstep--was purchased by the man now lying in the hospital here from +Walen's, in West Street. Now, how was the change made?" + +"If I could only see my way to help you!" + +"The change was made the day you bought the case. By the way, what +time was it?" + +"I can't tell you the exact time," Ruth replied. "It was on the morning +of the night of your adventure." + +"And you kept it by you all the time." + +"Yes. It was in a little box sealed with yellow wax and tied with yellow +string. I went to 219 after I had made the purchase. My uncle was there +and he was using the back sitting-room as an office. He had brought a lot +of papers with him to go through." + +"Ah! Did you put your package down?" + +"Just for a moment on the table. But surely my uncle would not--" + +"One moment, please. Was anybody with your uncle at the time?" + +Ruth gave a sudden little cry. + +"How senseless of me to forget," she cried. "My uncle was down merely for +the day, and, as he was very busy, he sent for Mr. Reginald Henson to +help him. I did not imagine that Mr. Henson would know anything. But even +now I cannot see what--" + +"Again let me interrupt you. Did you leave the room at all?" + +"Yes. It is all coming back to me now. My uncle's medicine was locked up +in my bag. He asked me to go for it and I went, leaving my purchase on +the table. It is all coming back to me now.... When I returned Mr. Henson +was quite alone, as somebody had called to see my uncle. Mr. Henson +seemed surprised to see me back so soon, and as I entered he crushed +something up in his hand and dropped it into the waste-paper basket. But +my parcel was quite intact." + +"Yellow wax and yellow string and all?" + +"Yes, so far as I remember. It was Mr. Henson who reminded my uncle about +his medicine." + +"And when you were away the change was made. Strange that your uncle +should be so friendly with both Henson and Bell. Have they ever met under +your roof?" + +"No," Ruth replied. "Henson has always alluded to Dr. Bell as a lost man. +He professes to be deeply sorry for him but he has declined to meet him. +Where are you going?" + +"I am going with you to see if we can find anything in the waste-paper +basket at No. 219. Bell tells me that your servants have instructions to +touch no papers, and I know that the back sitting-room of your house is +used as a kind of office. I want, if possible, to find the paper that +Henson tried to hide on the day you bought the cigar-case." + +The basket proved to be a large one, and was partially filled with +letters that had never been opened--begging-letters, Ruth said. For half +an hour David was engaged in smoothing out crumpled sheets of paper, +until at length his search was rewarded. He held a packet of note-paper, +the usual six sheets, one inside the other, that generally go to +correspondence sheets of good quality. It was crushed up, but Steel +flattened it out and held it up for Ruth's inspection. + +"Now, here is a find!" he cried. "Look at the address in green at the +top: '15, Downend Terrace.' Five sheets of my own best notepaper, printed +especially for myself, in this basket! Originally this was a block of six +sheets, but the one has been written upon and the others crushed up like +this. Beyond doubt the paper was stolen from my study. And--what's this?" + +He held up the thick paper to the light. At the foot of the top sheet was +plainly indented in outline the initials "D. S." + +"My own cipher," David went on. "Scrawled in so boldly as to mark on the +under sheet of paper. Almost invariably I use initials instead of my full +name unless it is quite formal business." + +"And what is to be done now?" Ruth asked. + +"Find the letter forged over what looks like a genuine cipher," David +said, grimly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"THE LIGHT THAT FAILED" + + +Bell followed Dr. Cross into the hospital with a sense of familiar +pleasure. The cool, sweet smell of the place, the decorous silence, the +order of it all appealed to him strongly. It was as the old war-horse +who sniffs the battle from afar. And the battle with death was ever a +joy to Bell. + +"This is all contrary to regulations, of course," he suggested. + +"Well, it is," Cross admitted. "But I am an enthusiast, and one doesn't +often get a chance of chatting with a brilliant, erratic star like +yourself. Besides, our man is not in the hospital proper. He is in a +kind of annexe by my own quarters, and he scoffs the suggestion of +being nursed." + +Bell nodded, understanding perfectly. He came at length to a +brilliantly-lighted room, where a dark man with an exceedingly high +forehead and wonderfully piercing eyes was sitting up in bed. The dark +eyes lighted with pleasure as they fell upon Bell's queer, shambling +figure and white hair. + +"The labour we delight in physics pain," he greeted with a laugh and a +groan. "It's worth a badly twisted shoulder to have the pleasure of +seeing Hatherly Bell again. My dear fellow, how are you?" + +The voice was low and pleasant, there was no trace of insanity about the +speaker. Bell shook the proffered hand. For some little time the +conversation proceeded smoothly enough. The stranger was a good talker; +his remarks were keen and to the point. + +"I hope you will be comfortable here," Bell suggested. + +A faint subtle change came over the other's face. + +"All but one thing," he whispered. "Don't make a fuss about it, because +Cross is very kind. But I can't stand the electric light. It reminds me +of the great tragedy of my life. But for the electric light I should be a +free man with a good practice to-day." + +"So you are harping on that string again," Bell said, coldly. "I fancied +that I had argued you out of that. You know perfectly well that it is all +imagination, Heritage." + +Heritage passed his left hand across his eyes in a confused kind of way. + +"When you look at one like that I fancy so," he said. "When I was under +your hands I was forgetting all about it. And now it has all come back +again. Did I tell you all about it, Cross?" + +Bell gave Cross a significant glance, and the latter shook his head. + +"Well, it was this way," Heritage began, eagerly. His eyes were gleaming +now, his whole aspect was changed. "I was poor and struggling, but I had +a grand future before me. There was a patient of mine, a rich man, who +had a deadly throat trouble. And he was going to leave me all his money +if I cured him. He told me he had made a will to that effect, and he had +done so. And I was in direst straits for some ready cash. When I came to +operate I used an electric light, a powerful light--you know what I mean. +The operation failed and my patient died. The operation failed because +the electric light went out at a critical time. + +"People said it was a great misfortune for me, because I was on the +threshold of a new discovery which would have made my name. Nothing of +the kind. I deliberately cut the positive wire of the electric light so +that I should fail, and so that my patient might die and I might get +all his money at once. And he did die, and nobody suspected me--nobody +could possibly have found me out. Then I went mad and they put me under +Bell's care. I should have got well, only he gave up his practice and +drifted into the world again. My good, kind friend Reginald Henson +heard of my case; he interested some people in me and placed me where I +am at present." + +"So Reginald Henson knows all about it?" Bell asked, drily. + +"My dear fellow, he is the best friend I have in the world. He was most +interested in my case. I have gone over it with him a hundred times. I +showed him exactly how it was done. And now you know why I loathe the +electric light. When it shines in my eyes it maddens me; it brings back +to me the recollection of that dreadful time, it causes me to--" + +"Heritage," Bell said, sternly, "close your eyes at once, and be silent." + +The patient obeyed instantly. He had not forgotten the old habit of +obedience. When he opened his eyes again at length he looked round him in +a foolish, shamefaced manner. + +"I--I am afraid I have been rambling," he muttered. "Pray don't notice +me, Bell; if you are as good a fellow as you used to be, come and see me +again. I'm tired now." + +Bell gave the desired assurance, and he and Cross left the room together. + +"Any sort of truth in what he has been saying?" asked the latter. + +"Very little," Bell replied. "Heritage is an exceedingly clever fellow +who has not yet recovered from a bad breakdown some years ago. I had +nearly cured him at one time, but he seems to have lapsed into bad ways +again. Some day, when I have time, I shall take up his case once more." + +"Did he operate, or try some new throat cure?" + +"Exactly. He was on the verge of discovering some way of operating for +throat cases with complete success. You can imagine how excited he was +over his discovery. Unfortunately the patient he experimented on died +under the operation, not because the light went out or any nonsense of +that kind, but from failure of the heart's action owing to excitement. +Heritage had no sleep for a fortnight, and he broke down altogether. For +months he was really mad, and when his senses came back to him he had +that hallucination. Some day it will go, and some day Heritage will take +up the dropped threads of his discovery and the world will be all the +better for it. And now, will you do me a favour?" + +"I will do anything that lies in my power." + +"Then be good enough to let me have a peep at the man who was found +half-murdered in my friend David Steel's conservatory. I'm interested in +that case." + +Cross hesitated for a moment. + +"All right," he said. "There can't be any harm in that. Come this way." + +Bell strolled along with the air of a man who is moved by no more than +ordinary curiosity. But from the first he had made up his mind not to +lose this opportunity. He had not the remotest idea what he expected to +find, but he had a pretty good idea that he was on the verge of an +important discovery. He came at length to the bedside of the mysterious +stranger. The man was lying on his back in a state of coma, his breath +came heavily between his parted lips. + +Bell bent low partly to examine the patient, partly to hide his face +from Cross. If Bell had made any discovery he kept the fact rigidly +to himself. + +"Looks very young," he muttered. "But then he is one of those men who +never grow any hair on their faces. Young as he looks, I should judge him +to be at least forty-five, and, if I am not mistaken, he is a man who has +heard the chimes at midnight or later. I'm quite satisfied." + +"It's more than I am," Cross said, when at length he and his visitor were +standing outside together. "Look here, Bell, you're a great friend of +Steel's, whom I believe to be a very good fellow. I don't want to get him +into any harm, but a day or two ago I found this letter in a pocket-book +in a belt worn by our queer patient. Steel says the fellow is a perfect +stranger to him, and I believe that statement. But what about this +letter? I ought to have sent it to the police, but I didn't. Read it." + +And Cross proceeded to take a letter from his pocket. It was on thick +paper; the stamped address given was "15, Downend Terrace." There was no +heading, merely the words "Certainly, with pleasure, I shall be home; in +fact, I am home every night till 12.30, and you may call any time up till +then. If you knock quietly on the door I shall hear you.--D.S." + +"What do you make of it?" Cross asked. + +"It looks as if your patient had called at Steel's house by appointment," +Bell admitted. "Here is the invitation undoubtedly in Steel's +handwriting. Subsequently the poor fellow is found in Steel's house +nearly murdered, and yet Steel declares solemnly that the man is a +perfect stranger to him. It is a bad business, but I assure you that +Steel is the soul of honour. Cross, would you be so good as to let me +have that letter for two or three days?" + +"Very well," Cross said, after a little hesitation. "Good-night." + +Bell went on his way homeward with plenty of food for thought. + +He stopped just for a moment to light a cigar. + +"Getting towards the light," he muttered; "getting along. The light is +not going to fail after all. I wonder what Reginald Henson would say if +he only knew that I had been to the hospital and recognised our mutual +friend Van Sneck there!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +INDISCRETION + + +The expression on Henson's usually benign countenance would have startled +such of his friends and admirers as regarded him as a shining light and +great example. The smug satisfaction, the unctuous sweetness of the +expansive blue eyes were gone; a murderous gleam shone there instead. His +lips were set and rigid, the strong hand seemed to be strangling the +bedclothes. It wanted no effort of imagination to picture Henson as the +murderer stooping over his prey. The man had discarded his mask +altogether. + +"Oh," he said, between his teeth, "you are a clever fellow. You would +have made an excellent detective. And so you have found out where Van +Sneck is?" + +"I have already told you so," Littimer said, doggedly. + +"How many days have you been hanging about Brighton?" + +"Two or three. I came when I heard that Chris was ill. I didn't dare to +come near the house, at least not too near, for fear of being seen. But I +pumped the doctor. Then he told me that Chris was dead, and I risked it +all to see the last of her." + +"Yes, yes," Henson said, testily; "but what has this to do with +Van Sneck?" + +"I was looking for Van Sneck. I found that he had been here. I discovered +that he had left his rooms and had not returned to them. Then it occurred +to me to try the hospital. I pretended that I was in search of some +missing relative, and they showed me three cases of bad accidents, the +victims of which had not been identified. And the third was Van Sneck." + +Littimer told his story with just the suggestion of triumph in his voice. +Henson was watching him with the keenest possible interest. + +"Do you know how Van Sneck got there?" he asked. + +Littimer nodded. Evidently he had heard most of the story. Henson was +silent for some little time. He was working out something in his mind. +His smile was not a pleasant one; it was nothing like his bland platform +smile, for instance. + +"Give me that black book," he said. "Do you know how to work the +telephone?" + +"I daresay I could learn. It doesn't look hard." + +"Well, that is an extension telephone on the table yonder worked in +connection with the main instrument in the library. I like to have my own +telephone, as it is of the greatest assistance to me. Turn that handle +two or three times and put that receiver to your ear. When the Exchange +answers tell them to put you on to O,017 Gerrard." + +Littimer obeyed mechanically, but though he rang and rang again no answer +came. With a snarling curse Henson dragged himself out of bed and crossed +the room, with limbs that shook under him. + +He twirled the handle round passionately. + +"You always were a fool," he growled, "and you always will be." + +Still no reply came. Henson whirled angrily, but he could elicit no +response. He kicked the instrument over and danced round it impotently. +Littimer had never seen him in such a raging fury before. The language of +the man was an outrage, filthy, revolting, profane. No yelling, drunken +Hooligan could have been more fluent, more luridly diffuse. + +"Go on," Littimer said, bitterly. "I like to hear you. I like to hear the +smug, plausible Pharisee, the friend of the good and pious, going on like +this. I'd give fifty years of my life to have just a handful of your +future constituents here for a moment." + +Henson paused suddenly and requested that Littimer should help him into +bed. + +"I can afford to speak freely before you," he said. "Say a word against +me and I'll crush you. Put out a hand to injure me and I'll wipe you off +the face of the earth. It's absolutely imperative that I should send an +important telephone message to London at once, and here the machine has +broken down and no chance of its being repaired for a day or two. Curse +the telephone." + +He lay back on his bed utterly exhausted by his fit of passion. One of +the white bandages about his throat had started, and a little thin stream +of blood trickled down his chest. Littimer waited for the next move. He +watched the crimson fluid trickle over Henson's sleeping-jacket. He could +have watched the big scoundrel bleeding to death with the greatest +possible pleasure. + +"What was Van Sneck doing here?" + +The voice came clear and sharp from the bed. Littimer responded to it as +a cowed hound does to a sudden yet not quite unexpected lash from a +huntsman's whip. His manliness was of small account where Henson was +concerned. For years he had come to heel like this. Yet the question +startled him and took him entirely by surprise. + +"He was looking for the lost Rembrandt." + +But Littimer's surprise was as nothing to Henson's amazement. He lay flat +on his back so that his face could not be seen. From the expression of it +he had obtained a totally unexpected reply to his question. He was so +amazed that he had no words for the moment. But his quick intelligence +and amazing cunning grasped the possibilities of the situation. Littimer +was in possession of information to which he was a stranger. Except in a +vague way he had not the remotest idea what Littimer was talking about. +But the younger man must not know that. + +"So Van Sneck told you so?" he asked. "What a fool he must have been! And +why should he come seeking for the Rembrandt in Brighton?" + +"Because he knows it was there, I suppose." + +"It isn't here, because it doesn't exist. The thing was destroyed by +accident by the police when they raided Van Sneck's lodgings years ago." + +"Van Sneck told me that he had actually seen the picture in Brighton." + +Henson chuckled. The noise was intended to convey amused contempt, and it +had that effect, so far as Littimer was concerned. It was well for Henson +that the latter could not see the strained anxiety of his face. The man +was alert and quivering with excitement in every limb. Still he chuckled +again as if the whole thing merely amused him. + +"'The Crimson Blind' is Van Sneck's weak spot," he said. "It is King +Charles's head to him. By good or bad luck--it is in your hands to say +which--you know all about the way in which it became necessary to get +Hatherly Bell on our side. All the same, the Rembrandt--the _other_ +one--is destroyed." + +"Van Sneck has seen the picture," Littimer said, doggedly. + +"Oh, play the farce out to the end," Henson laughed, good-humouredly. +"Where did he see it?" + +"He says he saw it at 218, Brunswick Square." + +Henson's knees suddenly came up to his nose, then he lay quite flat again +for a long time. His face had grown white once more, his lips utterly +bloodless. Fear was written all over him. A more astute man than Littimer +would have seen the beads standing out on his forehead. It was some +little time before he dared trust himself to speak again. + +"I know the house you mean," he said. "It is next door to the temporary +residence of my esteemed friend, Gilead Gates. At the present moment the +place is void--" + +"And has been ever since your bogus 'Home' broke up. Years ago, before +you used your power to rob and oppress us as you do now, you had a Home +there. You collected subscriptions right and left in the name of the +Reverend Felix Crosbie, and you put the money into your pocket. A certain +weekly journal exposed you, and you had to leave suddenly or you would +have found yourself in the hands of the police. You skipped so suddenly +that you had no time even to think of your personal effects, which you +understood were sold to defray expenses. But they were not sold, as +nobody cared to throw good money after bad. Van Sneck got in with the +agent under pretence of viewing the house, and he saw the picture there." + +"Why didn't he take it with him?" Henson asked, with amused scorn. He was +master of himself again and had his nerves well under control. + +"Well, that was hardly like Van Sneck. Our friend is nothing if not +diplomatic. But when he did manage to get into the house again the +picture was gone." + +"Excellent!" Henson cried. "How dramatic! There is only one thing +required to make the story complete. The picture was taken away by +Hatherly Bell. If you don't bring that in as the _dénouement_ I shall be +utterly disappointed." + +"You needn't be," Littimer said, coolly. "That is exactly what did +happen." + +Henson chuckled again, quite a parody of a chuckle this time. He could +detect the quiet suggestion of triumph in Littimer's voice. + +"Did Van Sneck tell you all this?" he asked. + +"Not the latter part of it," Littimer replied, "seeing that he was in the +hospital when it happened. But I know it is true because I saw Bell and +David Steel, the novelist, come away from the house, and Bell had the +picture under his arm. And that's why Van Sneck's agent couldn't find it +the second time he went. Check to you, my friend, at any rate. Bell will +go to my father with Rembrandt number two, and compare it with number +one. And then the fat will be in the fire." + +Henson yawned affectedly. All the same he was terribly disturbed and +shaken. All he wanted now was to be alone and to think. So far as he +could tell nobody besides Littimer knew anything of the matter. And no +starved, cowed, broken-hearted puppy was ever closer under the heel of +his master than Littimer. He still held all the cards; he still +controlled the fortunes of two ill-starred houses. + +"You can leave me now," he said. "I'm tired. I have had a trying day, and +I need sleep; and the sooner you are out of the house the better. For +your own sake and for the sake of those about you, you need not say one +word of this to Enid Henson." + +Littimer promised meekly enough. With those eyes blazing upon him he +would have promised anything. We shall see presently what a stupendous +terror Henson had over the younger man, and in what way all the sweetness +and savour of life was being crushed out of him. + +He closed the door behind him, and immediately Henson sat up in bed. He +reached for his handkerchief and wiped the big beads from his forehead. + +"So the danger has come at last," he muttered. "I am face to face with +it, and I knew I should be. Hatherly Bell is not the man to quietly lie +down under a cloud like that. The man has brains, and patience, and +indomitable courage. Now, does he suspect that I have any hand in the +business? I must see him when my nerves are stronger and try and get at +the truth. If he goes to Lord Littimer with that picture he shakes my +power and my position perilously. What a fool I was not to get it away. +But, then, I only escaped from the Brighton police in those days by the +skin of my teeth. And they had followed me from Huddersfield like those +cursed bloodhounds here. I wonder--" + +He paused, as the brilliant outline of some cunning scheme occurred to +him. A thin, cruel smile crept over his lips. Never had he been in a +tight place yet without discovering a loophole of escape almost before he +had seen the trap. + +A fit of noiseless laughter shook him. + +"Splendid," he whispered. "Worthy of Machiavelli himself! Provided always +that I can get there first. If I could only see Bell's face afterwards, +hear Littimer ordering him off the premises. The only question is, am I +up to seeing the thing through?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ENID LEARNS SOMETHING + + +Reginald Hensen struggled out of bed and into his clothing as best he +could. He was terribly weak and shaky, far more weak than he had imagined +himself to be, but he was in danger now, and his indomitable will-power +pulled him through. What a fool Littimer had been to tell him so much +merely so that he might triumph over his powerful foe for a few minutes. +But Henson was planning a little scheme by which he intended to repay the +young man tenfold. He had no doubt as to the willingness of his tool. + +He took a bottle of brandy from a drawer and helped himself to a liberal +dose. Walker had expressly forbidden anything of the kind, but it was no +time for nice medical obedience. The grateful stimulant had its +immediate effect. Then Henson rang the bell, and after a time Williams +appeared tardily. + +"You are to go down to Barnes and ask him to send a cab here as soon as +possible," Henson said. "I have to go to London by the first train in +the morning." + +Williams nodded, with his mouth wide open. He was astonished and not a +little alarmed at the strength and vitality of this man. And only a few +hours before Williams had learnt with deep satisfaction that Henson would +be confined to his bed for some days. + +Henson dressed at length and packed a small portmanteau. But he had to +sit on his bed for some little time and sip a further dose of brandy +before he could move farther. After all there was no hurry. A full hour +was sure to elapse before the leisurely Barnes brought the cab to the +lodge-gates. + +Henson crept downstairs at length and trod his catlike way to the +library. Once there he proceeded to make a minute inspection of the +telephone. He turned the handle just the fragment of an inch and a queer +smile came over his face. Then he crept as silently upstairs, opened the +window of the bathroom quietly, and slipped on to the leads. There were a +couple of insulators here, against the wire of one of which Henson tapped +his knuckles gently. The wire gave back an answering twang. The other +jangled limp and loose. + +"One of the wires cut," Henson muttered. "I expected as much. Madame Enid +is getting a deal too clever. I suppose this is some suggestion of her +very astute friend David Steel. Well, I have given Mr. Steel one lesson +in minding his own business, and if he interferes further I shall have to +give him another. He will be in gaol before long charged with attempted +murder and robbery with violence, and so exit Steel. After that the girl +will be perhaps chary of seeking outside assistance. And this will be the +third I have had to get rid of. Heavens! How feeble I feel, how weak I +am. And yet I must go through this thing now." + +He staggered into the house again and dropped into a chair. There was a +loud buzzing in his ears, so that he could hardly hear the murmur of +voices in the drawing-room below. This was annoying, because Henson +liked to hear everything that other folks said. Then he dropped off into +a kind of dreamy state, coming back presently to the consciousness that +he had fainted. + +Meanwhile Frank Littimer had joined Enid in the drawing-room. The house +was perfectly quiet and still by this time; the dust-cloud hung on the +air and caused the lamps to burn with a spitting blue flame. Enid's face +looked deadly pale against her black dress. + +"So you have been seeing Reginald," she said. "Why--why did you do it?" + +"I didn't mean to," Frank muttered. "I never intended him to know that I +had been in the house at all. But I was passing his room and he heard me. +He seemed to know my footsteps. I believe if two mice ran by him twice in +the darkness he could tell the difference between them." + +"You had an interesting conversation. What did he want to use the +telephone for?" + +"I don't know. I tried to manipulate it for him, but the instrument was +out of order." + +"I know. I had a pretty shrewd idea what our cousin was going to do. You +see, I was listening at the door. Not a very ladylike thing to do, but +one must fight Henson with his own tools. When I heard him ask for the +telephone directory I ran out and nipped one of the wires by the +bathroom. Frank, it would have been far wiser if you hadn't come." + +Littimer nodded gloomily. There was something like tears in his eyes. + +"I know it," he said. "I hate the place and its dreadful associations. +But I wanted to see Chris first. Did she say anything about me +before--before--" + +"My dear boy, she loved you always. She knew and understood, and was +sorry. And she never, never forgot the last time that you were in +the house." + +Frank Littimer glanced across the room with a shudder. His eyes dwelt +with fascination on the overturned table with its broken china and glass +and wilted flowers in the corner. + +"It is not the kind of thing to forget," he said, hoaresly. "I can see my +father now--" + +"Don't," Enid shuddered, "don't recall it. And your mother has never been +the same since. I doubt if she will ever be the same again. From that day +to this nothing has ever been touched in the house. And Henson comes here +when he can and makes our lives hideous to us." + +"I fancy I shook him up to-night," Littimer said, with subdued triumph. +"He seemed to shudder when I told him that I had found Van Sneck." + +Enid started from her chair. Her eyes were shining with the sudden +brilliancy of unveiled stars. + +"You have found Van Sneck!" she whispered. "Where?" + +"Why, in the Brighton Hospital. Do you mean to say that you don't know +about it, that you don't know that the man found so mysteriously in Mr. +David Steel's house and Van Sneck are one and the same person?" + +Enid resumed her seat again. She was calm enough now. + +"It had not occurred to me," she said. "Indeed, I don't know why it +should have done. Sooner or later, of course, I should have suggested to +Mr. Steel to try and identify the man, but--" + +"My dear Enid, what on earth are you talking about?" + +"Nonsense," Enid said, in some confusion. "Things you don't understand at +present, and things you are not going to understand just yet. I read in +the papers that the man was quite a stranger to Mr. Steel. But are you +certain that it _is_ Van Sneck?" + +"Absolutely certain. I went to the hospital and identified him." + +"Then there is no more to be said on that point. But you were foolish to +tell Reginald." + +"Not a bit of it. Why, Henson has known it all along. You needn't get +excited. He is a deep fellow, and nobody knows better than he how to +disguise his feelings. All the same, he was just mad to know what I had +discovered, you could see it in his face. Reginald Henson--" + +Littimer paused, open-mouthed, for Henson, dressed and wrapped ready for +the journey, had come quietly into the drawing-room. The deadly pallor of +his face, the white bandages about his throat, only served to render his +appearance more emphatic and imposing. He stood there with the halo of +dust about him, looking like the evil genius of the place. + +"I fear I startled you," he said, with a sardonic smile. "And I fear that +in the stillness of the place I have overheard a great part of your +conversation. Frank, I must congratulate you on your discretion, so far. +But seeing that you are young and impressionable, I am going to move +temptation out of your way. Enid, I am going on a journey." + +"I trust that it is a long one, and that it will detain you for a +considerable period," Enid said, coldly. + +"It is neither far, nor is it likely to keep me," Henson smiled. +"Williams has just come in with the information that the cab awaits me at +the gate. Now, then!" + +The last words were flung at Littimer with contemptuous command. The hot +blood flared into the young man's face. Enid's eyes flashed. + +"If my cousin likes to stay here," she said, "why--" + +"He is coming with me," Henson said, hoarsely. "Do you understand? With +me! And if I like to drag him--or _you_, my pretty lady--to the end of +the world or the gates of perdition, you will have to come. Now, get +along before I compel you." + +Enid stood with fury in her eyes and clenched hands as Littimer slunk +away out of the house, Henson following between his victim and Williams. +He said no words till the lodge-gates were past and the growl of the dogs +had died into the distance. + +"We are going to Littimer Castle," said Henson. + +"Not there," Littimer groaned--"not there, Henson! I couldn't--I couldn't +go to that place!" + +Henson pointed towards the cab. + +"Littimer or perdition!" he said. "You don't want to go to the latter +just yet? Jump in, then!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +LITTIMER CASTLE + + +If you had asked the first five people on the Littimer Estate what they +thought of the lord of the soil you would have had a different answer +from every one. One woman would have said that a kinder and better man +never lived; her neighbour would have declared Lord Littimer to be as +hard as the nether millstone. Farmer George would rate him a jolly good +fellow, and tell how he would sit in the kitchen over a mug of ale; +whilst Farmer John swore at his landlord as a hard-fisted, grasping miser +devoid of the bowels of compassion. + +At the end of an hour you would be utterly bewildered, not knowing what +to believe, and prepared to set the whole village down as a lot of +gossips who seemed to mind everything but its own business. And, +perhaps, Lord Littimer might come riding through on his big black horse, +small, lithe, brown as mahogany, and with an eye piercing as a +diamond-drill. One day he looked almost boyishly young, there would be a +smile on his tanned face. And then another day he would be bent in the +saddle, huddled up, wizened, an old, old man, crushed with the weight of +years and sorrow. + +In sooth he was a man of moods and contradictions, changeable as an April +sky, and none the less quick-tempered and hard because he knew that +everybody was terribly afraid of him. And he had a tongue, too, a +lashing, cutting tongue that burnt and blistered. Sometimes he would be +quite meek and angry under the reproaches of the vicar, and yet the same +day history records it that he got off his horse and administered a sound +thrashing to the village poacher. Sometimes he got the best of the vicar, +and sometimes that worthy man scored. They were good friends, these two, +though the vicar never swerved in his fealty to Lady Littimer, whose +cause he always championed. But nobody seemed to know anything about that +dark scandal. They knew that there had been a dreadful scene at the +castle seven years before, and that Lady Littimer and her son had left +never to return. Lady Littimer was in a madhouse somewhere, they said, +and the son was a wanderer on the face of the earth. And when Lord +Littimer died every penny of the property, the castle included, would go +to her ladyship's nephew, Mr. Reginald Henson. + +In spite of the great cloud that hung over the family Lord Littimer did +not seem to have changed. He was just a little more caustic than ever, +his tongue a little sharper. The servants could have told a different +story, a story of dark moods and days when the bitterness of the shadow +of death lay on the face of their master. Few men could carry their grief +better, and because Littimer carried his grief so well he suffered the +more. We shall see what the sorrow was in time. + +There are few more beautiful places in England than Littimer Castle. +The house stood on a kind of natural plateau with many woods behind, a +trout stream ran clean past the big flight of steps leading to the hall, +below were terrace after terrace of hanging gardens, and to the left a +sloping, ragged drop of 200ft into the sea. To the right lay a +magnificently-timbered park, with a herd of real wild deer--perhaps the +only herd of this kind in the country. When the sun shone on the grey +walls they looked as if they had been painted by some cunning hand, so +softly were the greys and reds and blues blended. + +Inside the place was a veritable art gallery. There were hundreds of +pictures and engravings there. All round the grand staircase ran a long, +deep corridor, filled with pictures. There were alcoves here fitted up as +sitting-rooms, and in most of them some gem or another was hung. When the +full flood of electric light was turned on at night the effect was almost +dazzling. There were few pictures in the gallery without a history. + +Lord Littimer had many hobbies, but not one that interested him like +this. There were hundreds of rare birds shot by him in different parts +of the world; the corridors and floors were covered by skins, the spoil +of his rifle; here and there a stuffed bear pranced startlingly; but +the pictures and prints were the great amusement of his lordship's +lonely life. + +He passed along the corridor now towards the great oriel window at the +end. A brilliant sunlight filled the place with shafts of golden and blue +and purple as it came filtered through the stained glass. At a table in +the window a girl sat working a typewriter. She might have passed for +beautiful, only her hair was banded down in hideously Puritan fashion on +each side of her delicate, oval face, her eyes were shielded by +spectacles. But they were lovely, steady, courageous blue eyes, as +Littimer did not fail to observe. Also he had not failed to note that his +new secretary could do very well without the glasses. + +The typewriter and secretary business was a new whim of Littimer's. He +wanted an assistant to catalogue and classify his pictures and prints, +and he had told the vicar so. He wanted a girl who wasn't a fool, a girl +who could amuse him and wouldn't be afraid of him, and he thought he +would have an American. To which the vicar responded that the whole +thing was nonsense, but he had heard of a Boston girl in England who had +a passion for that kind of thing and who was looking for a situation of +the kind in a genuine old house for a year or so. The vicar added that +he had not seen the young lady, but he could obtain her address. A reply +came in due course, a reply that so pleased the impetuous Earl that he +engaged the applicant on the spot. And now she had been just two hours +in the house. + +"Well," Littimer cried, "and how have you been getting on?" + +Miss Christabel Lee looked up, smilingly. + +"I am getting on very well indeed," she said. "You see, I have made a +study of this kind of thing all my lifetime, and most of your pictures +are like old friends to me. Do you know, I fancy that you and I are going +to manage very well together?" + +"Oh, do you? They say I am pretty formidable at times." + +"I shan't mind that a bit. You see, my father was a man with a +villainous temper. But a woman can always get the better of a +bad-tempered man unless he happens to be one of the lower classes who +uses his boots. If he is a gentleman you have him utterly at your mercy. +Have you a sharp tongue?" + +"I flatter myself I can be pretty blistering on occasions," Littimer +said, grimly. + +"How delightful! So can I. You and I will have some famous battles later +on. Only I warn you that I never lose my temper, which gives me a +tremendous advantage. I haven't been very well lately, so you must be +nice to me for a week or two." + +Littimer smiled and nodded. The grim lord of the castle was not +accustomed to this kind of thing, and he was telling himself that he +rather liked it. + +"And now show me the Rembrandt," Miss Lee said, impatiently. + +Littimer led the way to a distant alcove lighted from the side by a +latticed window. There was only one picture in the excellent light there, +and that was the famous Rembrandt engraving. Littimer's eyes lighted up +quite lovingly as they rested upon it. The Florentine frame was hung so +low that Miss Lee could bring her face on a level with it. + +"This is the picture that was stolen from you?" she asked. + +"Yes, that's the thing that there was all the fuss about. It made a great +stir at the time. But I don't expect that it will happen again." + +"Why not?" Miss Lee asked. "When an attempt of that sort is made it is +usually followed by another, sometimes after the lapse of years. Anybody +getting through that window could easily get the frame from its two nails +and take out the paper." + +"Do you think so?" Littimer asked, uneasily. + +"I am certain of it. Take my advice and make it secure. The panels behind +are hard wood--thick black oak. Lord Littimer, I am going to get four +brass-headed stays and drive them through some of the open ornamental +work into the panel so as to make the picture quite secure. It is an iron +frame, I suppose." + +"Wrought-iron, gilt," said Littimer. "Yes, one could easily drive four +brass-headed stays through the open work and make the thing safe. I'll +have it seen to." + +But Miss Lee insisted that there was no time like the present. She had +discovered that Littimer had an excellent carpenter's shop on the +premises; indeed, she admitted to being no mean performer with the lathe +herself. She flitted down the stairs light as thistledown. + +"A charming girl!" Littimer said, cynically. "I wonder why she came to +this dull hole? A quarrel with her young man, perhaps. If I were a young +man myself I might--But women are all the same. I should be a happier man +if I had never trusted one. If--" + +The face darkened; a heavy scowl lined his brows as he paced up and +down. Christabel came back presently with hammer and some brass-headed +stays in her hand. + +"Don't utterly destroy the frame," Littimer said, resignedly. "It is +reputed to be Ouentin Matsy's work, and I had it cut to its present +fashion. I'll go to the end of the gallery till the execution's over." + +"On the contrary," Miss Lee said, firmly, "you will stay where you +are told." + +A little to his own surprise Littimer remained. He saw the nails driven +firmly in and finished off with a punch so that there might be no danger +of hammering the exquisitely wrought frame. Miss Lee stood regarding her +work with a suggestion of pride. + +"There," she said, "I flatter myself a carpenter could have done +no better." + +"You don't know our typical carpenter," Littimer said. "Here is Tredwell +with a telegram. For Miss Lee? I hope it isn't an intimation that some +relative has died and left you a fortune. At least, if it is, you mustn't +go until we've had one of those quarrels you promised me." + +Christabel glanced at the telegram and slipped it into her pocket. There +were just a few words in the telegram that would have been +unintelligible to the ordinary understanding. The girl did not even +comprehend, but Littimer's eyes were upon her, and the cipher had to +keep for a time. Littimer walked away at an intimation that his steward +desired to see him. + +Instantly the girl's manner changed. She glanced at the Rembrandt with a +shrewd smile that meant something beyond a mere act of prudence well +done. Then she went down to the library and began an eager search for a +certain book. She found it at length, the "David Copperfield" in the +"Charles Dickens" edition of the great novelist's works. For the next +hour or so she was flitting over the pages with the cipher telegram +spread out before her. A little later and the few jumbled, meaningless +words were coded out into a lengthy message. Christabel read them over a +few times, then with the aid of a vesta she reduced the whole thing, +telegram and all, to tinder, which she carefully crushed and flung out of +the window. + +She looked away down the terrace, she glanced at the dappled deer +knee-deep in the bracken, she caught a glimpse of the smiling sea, and +her face saddened for a moment. + +"How lovely it all is," she murmured. "How exquisitely beautiful and how +utterly sad! And to think that if I possessed the magician's wand for a +moment I could make everything smile again. He is a good man--a better +man than anybody takes him to be. Under his placid, cynical surface he +conceals a deal of suffering. Well, we shall see." + +She replaced the "Copperfield" on the shelf and turned to go again. +In the hall she met Lord Littimer dressed for riding. He smiled as +she passed. + +"Au revoir till dinner-time," he said. "I've got to go and see a tenant. +Oh, yes, I shall certainly expect the pleasure of your company to dinner. +And now that the Rembrandt--" + +"It is safe for the afternoon," Christabel laughed. "It is generally +when the family are dining that the burglar has his busy time. A +pleasant ride to you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST + + +Lord Littimer returned, as he declared, with the spirits and appetite of +a schoolboy. All the same, he did not for one moment abandon his usual +critical analysis. He rattled on gaily, but he was studying his guest all +the same. She might have been the typical American lady student; but he +was not blind to the fact that the plain muslin and lace frock she wore +was made in Paris or that her manners and style must have been picked up +in the best society. She sat there under the shaded lights and behind the +bank of flowers like as to the manner born, and her accent was only +sufficiently American to render her conversation piquant. + +"You have always been used to this class of life?" Littimer asked. + +"There you are quite mistaken," Christabel said, coolly. "For the last +few years my existence has been anything but a bed of roses. And your +remark, my lord, savours slightly of impertinent curiosity. I might as +well ask you why your family is not here." + +"We agree to differ," Littimer responded. "I recollect it caused me a +great deal of annoyance at the time. And my son chose to take his +mother's part. You knew I had a son?" + +"Yes," said Christabel, without looking up from the peach she was +peeling. "I have met him." + +"Indeed. And what opinion did you form of my son, may I ask?" + +"Well, I rather liked him. He seemed to me to be suffering from some +great trouble, and trouble I am sure that was not of his own creating." + +"Which means to say you feel rather sorry for Frank. But when you say the +trouble was not of his own creating you are entirely mistaken. It is not +a nice thing to say, Miss Lee, but my son was an utter and most +unmitigated young scoundrel. If he came here he would be ordered out of +the house. So far as I am concerned, I have no son at all. He sides with +his mother, and his mother has a considerable private fortune of her own. +Where she is at the present moment I have no idea. Nor do I care. Seems +odd, does it not, that I should have been very fond of that woman at one +time, just as it seems odd to think that I should have once been fond of +treacle tart?" + +Littimer spoke evenly and quietly, with his eyes full upon the girl. He +was deceiving himself, but he was not deceiving her for a moment. His +callousness seemed to be all the more marked because the servants were in +the room. But Christabel could see clearly what an effort it was. + +"You love your wife still," she said, so low that only Littimer heard. +His eyes flashed, his face flamed with a sudden spasm of passion. + +"Are we to quarrel so early as this?" he whispered. + +"I never quarrel," Christabel said, coolly; "I leave my antagonist to do +that. But I have met your son, and I like him. He may be weak, but he is +a gentleman. You have made a mistake, and some day you will be sorry for +it. Do you grow those orchids yourself?" + +Littimer laughed, with no sign of anger remaining. All the same, +Christabel could see that his thin brown hand was shaking. She noticed +the lines that pain had given under those shrewd black eyes. + +"You must see my orchids," he said. "Most of the specimens I obtained +myself. They tell me I have at least three unique kinds. And now, if you +will permit me, I am going to smoke. The drawing-room is at your +disposal, though I rarely enter it myself. I always retire at eleven, but +that need not bind you in any way. It has been altogether a most +delightful evening." + +But Christabel did not dally long in the drawing-room. As she went +upstairs and along the corridor she heard the snapping of the electric +lights all over the house as the servants were preparing to retire. She +paused just a moment in the alcove where the precious Rembrandt was and +located carefully the position of the switch there. Then she retired to +her own room, where she changed her dress for a simple black gown. A big +clock somewhere was striking twelve as she finished. She looked out of +her door. The whole house was in darkness, the silence seemed to cling +like a curtain. + +She paused for a moment as if afraid to take the next step. If it was +fear, she shook it aside resolutely and crept into the corridor. She +carried something shining in her hands--something that gleamed in the +dim, uncertain light from the big window. She stood just for an instant +with a feeling that somebody was climbing up the ivy outside the house. +She felt her way along until she came to the alcove containing the +Rembrandt and then she stopped. Her hand slid along the wall till her +fingers touched the switch of the electric light. + +She stood for a long time there perfectly motionless. It was a still +night outside, and there was nothing to account for the rustling of the +ivy leaves. The rattling came in jerks, spasmodically, stopping every now +and then and resuming again. It was no longer a matter of imagination, it +was a certainty. Somebody was climbing up the ivy to the window. + +Leaning eagerly forward, Christabel could hear the sound of laboured +breathing. She seemed to see the outline of an arm outside, she could +catch the quick rattle of the sash, she could almost see a bent wire +crooked through the beaded edges of the casement. Yes, she was right. +The window swung noiselessly back and a figure stood poised on the +ledge outside. + +With a quick breath and a fluttering of her heart Christabel felt for +the switch. + +"It will be all right," she murmured; "the other one will fancy that the +light is necessary. Courage, my dear courage, and the game is yours. Ah!" + +The intruder dropped inside and pulled the window behind him. Evidently +he was on familiar ground, though he seemed to be seeking an unfamiliar +object. Christabel's hand stole along to the switch; there was a click, +and the alcove was bathed in brilliant light. The intruder shrank back +with a startled cry. He rubbed his dazed eyes. + +"Why not come in through the front door, Mr. Littimer?" Christabel +drawled, coolly. + +Frank Littimer had no words for a moment. He was wondering who this woman +was and what she was doing here. American, evidently, by her accent, and +also by the revolver that she handled so assuredly. + +"That is the way you used to enter," Christabel proceeded, "when you had +been out contrary to parental instructions and the keepers expected to +have a fracas with the poachers. Your bedroom being exactly opposite, +detection was no easy matter. Your bedroom has never been touched since +you left. The key is still outside the door. Will you kindly enter it?" + +"But--" Frank stammered. "But I assure you that I cannot--" + +"Take the Rembrandt away. You cannot. The frame is of iron, and it is +fastened to the wall. It would take an experienced carpenter quite a +long time to remove it. Therefore your mission has failed. It is very +annoying, because it puts the other man in a very awkward position. +The position is going to be still more awkward presently. Please go to +your room." + +"My dear lady, if my father knows that I am in the house--" + +"He is not going to know that you are in the house, at least not for some +little time. And when you see him it will be better not to say more than +is necessary. Later on you will recognise what a friend I am to you." + +"You are not showing it at present," Littimer said, desperately. + +"The patient rarely sees any virtue in his medicine. Now, please, go to +your room. I can hear the other man muttering and getting anxious down +below. Now, if you approach that window again I am pretty certain that my +revolver will go off. You see, I am an American, and we are so careless +with such weapons. Please go to your room at once." + +"And if I refuse your ridiculous request?" + +"You will not find my request in the least ridiculous. If you refuse I +shall hold you up with my weapon and alarm the whole house. But I don't +want to do that, for the sake of the other man. He is so very +respectable, you know, and anything unconventional may be so awkward for +him. Yes, it is just as I expected. He is coming up the ivy to +investigate himself. Go!" + +The revolver covered Littimer quite steadily. He could see into the blue +rim, and he was conscious of strange cold sensations down his spine. A +revolver is not a pretty thing at the best of times; it is doubly +hazardous in the hands of a woman. + +"What do you want with me?" he asked. + +"My dear man, I want to do nothing with you. Only do as you are told +and--there! The other man is coming up the ivy. He can't understand the +light and you not returning. He imagines that you are looking in the +wrong place. Please go." + +Littimer backed before the weapon, backed until he was in the doorway. +Suddenly the girl gave him a push, shut the door to, and turned the key +in the lock. Almost at the same instant another figure loomed large in +the window-frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SLIGHTLY FARCICAL + + +Something bulky was struggling to get through the window. Half hidden in +the shadow, Christabel watched with the deepest interest. If she had been +afraid at first that sensation had entirely departed by this time. From +the expression of her face she might have been enjoying the novel +situation. It was certainly not without a suggestion of the farcical. + +The burly figure contrived to squeeze through the narrow casement at +length and stood breathing loudly in the corridor. It was not a pleasant +sight that met Christabel's gaze--a big man with a white, set face and +rolling eyes and a stiff bandage about his throat. Evidently the intruder +was utterly exhausted, for he dropped into a chair and nursed his head +between his hands. + +"Now what has become of that fool?" he muttered. "Ah!" + +He looked round him uneasily, but his expression changed as his eyes fell +on the Rembrandt. He had the furtive look of a starving man who picks up +a purse whilst the owner is still in sight. He staggered towards the +picture and endeavoured to take it gently from the support. He tried +again and again, and then in a paroxysm of rage he tore at the +frame-work. + +"I guess that it can't be done," Christabel said, drawlingly. "See, +stranger?" + +Reginald Henson fairly gasped. As he turned round the ludicrous mixture +of cunning and confusion, anger and vexatious alarm on his face caused +the girl to smile. + +"I--I beg your pardon," he stammered. + +"I said it can't be done," the girl drawled, coolly. "Sandow couldn't do +it. The frame is made of iron and it is fixed to the wall by four long +stays. It's a neat job, though I say it myself; I persuaded Lord Littimer +to have it done. And when I heard you two prowling about down there I was +glad. I've got the other one safe." + +"Oh, you've got the other one safe?" Henson said, blankly. + +He would have liked to have burst out into a torrent of passion, only he +recognised his position. The thing was shamefully funny. It was anything +but nice for a man of his distinguished position to be detected in an act +suspiciously like vulgar burglary. Still, there must be some plausible +way out of the difficulty if he could only think of it. Only this girl +with the quaint, pretty face and spectacles did not look in the least +like a fool. He would have to try what blandishments would do. + +"Are you aware who I am?" he asked, blandly. + +"What does it matter? I've got the other one, and no doubt he will be +identified by the police. If he doesn't say too much he may get off with +a light sentence. It is quite easy to see that you are the greater +scoundrel of the two." + +"My dear young lady, do you actually take me for a burglar?" + +There was a note of deep pain in Henson's voice. He had dropped into a +chair again, with a feeling of utter weakness upon him. The girl's +resolute mien and the familiar way in which she handled her revolver +filled him with the deepest apprehension. + +"I am a very old friend and relative of Lord Littimer's," he said. + +"Oh, indeed. And is the other man a relative of Lord Littimer's also?" + +"Oh, why, confound it, yes. The other man, as you call him, is Lord +Littimer's only son." + +Christabel glanced at Henson, not without admiration. + +"Well, you are certainly a cool hand," she said. "You are two clever +thieves who have come here for the express purpose of robbing Lord +Littimer of one of his art treasures. I happen to catch one, and he +immediately becomes the son of the owner of the place. I am so fortunate +as to bag the other bird, and he resolves himself into a relative of my +host's. And you really expect me to believe a Hans Andersen fairy story +like that!" + +"I admit that appearances are against me," Henson said, humbly. "But I am +speaking the truth." + +"Oh, indeed. Then why didn't you come in through the front door? The +violent exercise you were taking just now must be dangerous to a man of +your build!" + +"I am afraid I shall have to make a clean breast of it," Henson said, +with what he fondly imagined to be an engaging smile. "You may, perhaps, +be aware that yonder Rembrandt has a history. It was stolen from its +present owner once, and I have always said that it will be stolen again. +Many a time have I urged Lord Littimer to make it secure." + +"How grateful you should be to me for having done so!" + +"Ah, you are cynical still, which is a bad thing for one so young +and--er--charming. I came down here to see my very noble relative, and +his son accompanied me. I came to try and make peace between father and +son. But that is a family matter which, forgive me, I cannot discuss with +a stranger. Our train was late, or we should have been here long ago. On +reaching the castle it struck me as a good idea to give Lord Littimer a +lesson as to his carelessness. My idea was to climb through the window, +abstract the Rembrandt, and slip quietly into my usual bedroom here. Then +in the morning, after the picture has been missed, I was going to tell +the whole story. That is why Mr. Littimer entered this way and why I +followed when I found that he had failed to return. It was a foolish +thing to do, and the _dénouement_ has been most humiliating. I assure you +that is all." + +"Not quite," Christabel drawled. "There is something else." + +"And what may that be, my dear young lady?" + +"To tell your story to Lord Littimer before you sleep. That kind of +romance may do for Great Britain, but it wouldn't make good family +reading in the States." + +"But, my dear young lady, I beg of you, implore you--" + +"Come off the grass! I'm to let you go quietly to bed and retire myself, +so that when morning arrives you will be missing together with as much +plunder as you can carry away. No, sir." + +Henson advanced angrily. His prudence had gone for the time. As he came +down upon Christabel she raised her revolver and fired two shots in quick +succession over Henson's shoulder. The noise went echoing and +reverberating along the corridor like a crackling of thunder. A door came +open with a click, then a voice demanded to know what was wrong. + +"Now I guess the fat is in the fire," Christabel said. + +Henson dropped into a chair and groaned. Lord Littimer, elegantly attired +in a suit of silk pyjamas and carrying a revolver in his hand, came +coolly down the corridor. A curious servant or two would have followed, +but he waved them back crisply. + +"Miss Lee," he said, with a faint, sarcastic emphasis, "and my dear +friend and relative, Reginald Henson--Reginald, the future owner of +Littimer Castle!" + +"So he told me, but I wouldn't believe him," said Christabel. + +"It is a cynical age," Littimer remarked. "Reginald, what does +this mean?" + +Henson shook his head uneasily. + +"The young lady persisted in taking me for a burglar," he groaned. + +"And why not?" Christabel demanded. "I was just going to bed when I heard +voices in the forecourt below and footsteps creeping along. I came into +the corridor with my revolver. Presently one of the men climbed up the +ivy and got into the corridor. I covered him with my revolver and fairly +drove him into a bedroom and locked him in." + +"So you killed with both barrels?" Littimer cried, with infinite +enjoyment. + +"Then the other one came. He came to steal the Rembrandt." + +"Nothing of the kind," the wretched Henson cried. "I came to give you a +lesson, Lord Littimer. My idea was to get in through the window, steal +the Rembrandt, and, when you had missed it, confess the whole story. My +character is safe." + +"Giddy," Littimer said, reproachfully. "You are so young, so boyish, so +buoyant, Reginald. What would your future constituents have said had they +seen you creeping up the ivy? They are a grave people who take themselves +seriously. Egad, this would be a lovely story for one of those prying +society papers. 'The Philanthropist and the Picture.' I've a good mind to +send it to the Press myself." + +Littimer sat down and laughed with pure enjoyment. + +"And where is the other partridge?" he asked, presently. + +Christabel seemed to hesitate for a moment, her sense of humour of the +situation had departed. Her hand shook as she turned the key in the door. + +"I am afraid you are going to have an unpleasant surprise," Henson said. + +Littimer glanced keenly at the speaker. All the laughter died out of +his eyes; his face grew set and stern as Frank Littimer emerged into +the light. + +"And what are you doing here?" he asked, hoarsely. "What do you expect to +gain by taking part in a fool's trick like this? Did I not tell you never +to show your face here again?" + +The young man said nothing. He stood there looking down, dogged, quiet, +like one tongue-tied. Littimer thundered out his question again. He +crossed over, laying his hands on his son's shoulders and shaking him as +a terrier might shake a rat. + +"Did you come for anything?" he demanded. "Did you expect any +mercy from--" + +Frank Littimer shook off his grasp gently. He looked up for the +first time. + +"I expected nothing," he said. "I--I did not come of my own free will. I +am silent now for the sake of myself and others. But the time may +come--God knows it has been long delayed. For the present, I am bound in +honour to hold my tongue." + +He flashed one little glance at Henson, a long, angry glance. Littimer +looked from one to the other in hesitation for a moment. The hard lines +between his brows softened. + +"Perhaps I am wrong," he muttered. "Perhaps there has been a mistake +somewhere. And if ever I find out I have--pshaw, I am talking like a +sentimental schoolgirl. Have I not had evidence strong as proof of Holy +Writ that ... Get out of my sight, your presence angers me. Go, and never +let me see you again. Reginald, you were a fool to bring that boy here +to-night. See him off the premises and fasten the door again." + +"Surely," Christabel interfered, "surely at this time of the night--" + +"You should be in bed," Littimer said, tartly. "My dear young lady, if +you and I are to remain friends I must ask you to mind your own business. +It is a dreadfully difficult thing for a woman to do, but you must try. +You understand?" + +Christabel was evidently putting a strong constraint on her tongue, for +she merely bowed and said nothing. She had her own good reasons for the +diplomacy of silence. Henson and Frank Littimer were disappearing in the +direction of the staircase. + +"I say nothing," Christabel said. "But at the same time I don't fancy I +shall care very much for your distinguished friend Reginald Henson." + +Littimer smiled. All his good humour seemed to have returned to him. Only +the dark lines under his eyes were more accentuated. + +"A slimy, fawning hound," he whispered. "A mean fellow. And the best of +it is that he imagines that I hold the highest regard for him. +Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A SQUIRE OF DAMES + + +A little later, and Christabel sat before her looking-glass with her +lovely hair about her shoulders. The glasses were gone and her +magnificent eyes gleamed and sparkled. + +"Good night's work," she said to her smiling reflection. "Now the danger +is passed and now that I am away from that dreadful house I feel a +different being. Strange what a difference a few hours has made! And I +hardly need my disguise--even at this moment I believe that Enid would +not recognise me. She will be pleased to know that her telegram came in +so usefully. Well, here I am, and I don't fancy that anybody will +recognise Christabel Lee and Chris Henson for one and the same person." + +She sat there brushing her hair and letting her thoughts drift along idly +over the events of the evening. Reginald Henson would have felt less easy +in his mind had he known what these thoughts were. Up to now that oily +scoundrel hugged himself with the delusion that nobody besides Frank +Littimer and himself knew that the second copy of "The Crimson Blind" had +passed into Bell's possession. + +But Chris was quite aware of the fact. And Chris _as_ Chris was supposed +by Henson to be dead and buried, and was, therefore, in a position to +play her cards as she pleased. Up to now it seemed to her that she had +played them very well indeed. A cipher telegram from Longdean had warned +her that Henson was coming there, had given her more than a passing hint +what Henson required, and her native wit had told her why Henson was +after the Rembrandt. + +Precisely why he wanted the picture she had not discovered yet. But she +knew that she would before long. And she knew also that Henson would try +and obtain the print without making his presence at Littimer Castle +obvious. He was bringing Frank Littimer with him, and was therefore going +to use the younger man in some cunning way. + +That Henson would try and get into the castle surreptitiously Chris had +felt from the first. Once he did so the rest would be easy, as he knew +exactly where to lay his hand on the picture. Therefore he could have no +better time than the dead of night. If his presence were betrayed he +could turn the matter aside as a joke and trust to his native wit later +on. If he had obtained the picture by stealth he would have discreetly +disappeared, covering his tracks as he retreated. + +Still, it had all fallen out very fortunately. Henson had been made to +look ridiculous; he had been forced to admit that he was giving Littimer +a lesson over the Rembrandt, and though the thing appeared innocent +enough on the surface, Chris was sanguine that later on she could bring +this up in evidence against him. + +"So far so good," she told herself. "Watch, watch, watch, and act when +the time comes. But it was hard to meet Frank to-night and be able to say +nothing. And how abjectly miserable he looked! Well, let us hope that the +good time is coming." + +Chris was up betimes in the morning and out on the terrace. She felt no +further uneasiness on the score of the disguise now. Henson was certain +to be inquisitive, it was part of his nature, but he was not going to +learn anything. Chris smiled as she saw Henson lumbering towards her. He +seemed all the better for his night's rest. + +"The rose blooms early here," he said, gallantly. "Let me express +the hope that you have quite forgiven me for the fright I gave you +last night." + +"I guess I don't recollect the fright," Chris drawled. "And if there was +any fright I calculate it was on the other side. And how are you this +morning? You look as if you had been in the wars. Got some trouble with +your throat, or what?" + +"A slight operation," Henson said, airily. "I have been speaking too +much in public lately and a little something had to be removed. I am +much better." + +The ready lie tripped off his tongue. Chris smiled slightly. + +"Do you know, you remind me very much of somebody," he went on. "And yet +I don't know why, because you are quite different. Lord Littimer tells me +you are an American." + +"The Stars and Stripes," Chris laughed. "I guess our nation is the first +on earth. Now, if you happen to know anything about Boston--" + +"I never was in Boston in my life," Henson replied, hastily. The name +seemed to render him uneasy. "Have you been in England very long?" + +Chris replied that she was enjoying England for the first time. But she +was not there to answer questions, her _rôle_ was to ask them. But she +was dealing with a past-master in the art of gleaning information, and +Henson was getting on her nerves. She gave a little cry of pleasure as a +magnificent specimen of a bloodhound came trotting down the terrace and +paused in friendly fashion before her. + +"What a lovely dog," she exclaimed. "Do you like dogs, Mr. Henson?" + +She looked up beamingly into his face as she spoke; she saw the heavy +features darken and the eyes grow small with anger. + +"I loathe them, and they loathe me," Henson growled. "Look at him!" + +He pointed to the dog, who showed his teeth with an angry growl. And yet +the great sleek head lay against the girl's knee in perfect confidence. +Henson looked on uneasily and backed a little way. The dog marked his +every movement. + +"See how the brute shows his teeth at me," he said. + +"Please send him away, Miss Lee. I am certain he is getting ready for +a spring." + +Henson's face was white and hot and wet, his lips trembled. He was +horribly afraid. Chris patted the silky head and dismissed the dog +with a curt command. He went off instantly with a wistful, backward +look in his eye. + +"We are going to be great friends, that doggie and I," Chris said, gaily. +"And I don't like you any the better, Mr. Henson, because you don't like +dogs and they don't like you. Dogs are far better judges of character +than you imagine. Dr. Bell says--" + +"What Dr. Bell?" Henson demanded, swiftly. + +Chris had paused just in time: perhaps her successful disguise had made +her a trifle reckless. + +"Dr. Hatherly Bell," she said. "He used to be a famous man before he fell +into disgrace over something or another. I heard him lecture on the +animal instinct in Boston once, and he said--but as you don't care for +dogs it doesn't matter what he said." + +"Do you happen to know anything about him?" Henson asked. + +"Very little. I never met him, if that is what you mean. But I heard that +he had done something particularly disgraceful. Why do you ask?" + +"Nothing more than a mere coincidence," Henson replied. "It is just a +little strange that you should mention his name here, especially after +what had happened last night. I suppose that, being an American, you fell +in love with the Rembrandt. It was you who suggested securing it in its +place, and then preventing my little jest from being successfully carried +out. Of course you have heard that the print was stolen once?" + +"The knowledge is as general as the spiriting away of the +Gainsborough Duchess." + +"Quite so. Well, the man who stole the Rembrandt was Dr. Hatherly Bell. +He stole it that he might pay a gambling debt, and it was subsequently +found in his luggage before he could pass it on to the purchaser. I am +glad you mentioned it, because the name of Bell is not exactly a +favourite at the castle." + +"I am much obliged to you," said Chris, gravely. "Was Dr. Bell a +favourite once?" + +"Oh, immense. He had great influence over Lord Littimer. He--but here +comes Littimer in one of his moods. He appears to be angry about +something." + +Littimer strode up, with a frown on his face and a telegram in his hand. +Henson assumed to be mildly sympathetic. + +"I hope it is nothing serious?" he murmured. + +"Serious," Littimer cried. "The acme of audacity--yes. The telegram has +just come. 'Must see you tonight on important business affecting the +past. Shall hope to be with you some time after dinner!'" + +"And who is the audacious aspirant to an interview?" Chris asked, +demurely. + +"A man I expect you never heard of," said Littimer, "but who is quite +familiar to Henson here. I am alluding to that scoundrel Hatherly Bell." + +"Good heavens!" Henson burst out. "I--I mean, what colossal impudence!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MAN WITH THE THUMB AGAIN + + +Chris gave Henson one swift searching glance before her eyes dropped +demurely to the ground. Lord Littimer appeared to be taking no heed of +anything but his own annoyance. But quick as Chris had been, Henson was +quicker. He was smiling the slow, sad smile of the man who turns the +other cheek because it is his duty to do so. + +"And when does Dr. Bell arrive?" he asked. + +"He won't arrive at all," Littimer said, irritably. "Do you suppose I +am going to allow that scoundrel under my roof again? The amazing +impudence of the fellow is beyond everything. He will probably reach +Moreton Station by the ten o'clock train. The drive will take him an +hour, if I choose to permit the drive, which I don't. I'll send a groom +to meet the train with a letter. When Bell has read that letter he will +not come here." + +"I don't think I should do that," Henson said, respectfully. + +"Indeed! You are really a clever fellow. And what would you do?" + +"I should suffer Bell to come. As a Christian I should deem it my duty to +do so. It pains me to say so, but I am afraid that I cannot contravert +your suggestion that Bell is a scoundrel. It grieves me to prove any man +that. And in the present instance the proofs were overpowering. But there +is always a chance--a chance that we have misjudged a man on false +evidence." + +"False evidence! Why, the Rembrandt was actually found in Bell's +portmanteau." + +"Dear friend, I know it," Henson said, with the same slow, forgiving +smile. "But there have been cases of black treachery, dark conspiracies +that one abhors. And Bell might have made some stupendous discovery +regarding his character. I should see him, my lord; oh, yes, I should +most undoubtedly see him." + +"And so should I," Chris put in, swiftly. + +Littimer smiled, with all traces of his ill-temper gone. He seemed to +be contemplating Henson with his head on one side, as if to fathom +that gentleman's intentions. There was just the suspicion of contempt +in his glance. + +"In the presence of so much goodness and beauty I feel quite lost," he +said. "Very well, Henson, I'll see Bell. I may find the interview +diverting." + +Henson strolled away with a sigh of gentle pleasure. Once out of sight he +flew to the library, where he scribbled a couple of telegrams. They were +carefully worded and related to some apocryphal parcel required without +delay, and calculated to convey nothing to the lay mind. A servant was +despatched to the village with them. Henson would have been pleased had +he known that the fascinating little American had waylaid his messenger +and read his telegrams under the plea of verifying one of the addresses. +A moment or two later and those addresses were carefully noted down in a +pocket-book. It was past five before Chris found herself with a little +time on her hands again. Littimer had kept her pretty busy all the +afternoon, partly because there was so much to do, but partly from the +pleasure that he derived from his secretary's society. He was more free +with her than he had been with any of her sex for years. It was +satisfactory, too, to learn that Littimer regarded Henson as a smug and +oily hypocrite, and that the latter was only going to be left Littimer +Castle to spite the owner's other relations. + +"Now you run into the garden and get a blow." Littimer said at length. "I +am telling you a lot too much. I am afraid you are a most insinuating +young person." + +Chris ran out into the garden gaily. Despite the crushing burden on her +shoulders she felt an elation and a flow of spirits she had not been +conscious of for years. The invigorating air of the place seemed to have +got into her veins, the cruel depression of the House of the Silent +Sorrow was passing away. Again, she had hope and youth on her side, and +everything was falling out beautifully. It was a pleasanter world than +Chris had anticipated. + +She went along more quietly after a time. There was a tiny arbour on a +terrace overlooking the sea to which Chris had taken a particular fancy. +She picked her way daintily along the grass paths between the roses until +she suddenly emerged upon the terrace. She had popped out of the roses +swiftly as a squirrel peeps from a tree. + +Somebody was in the arbour, two people talking earnestly. One man +stood up with his back to Chris, one hand gripping the outside ragged +bark of the arbour frame with a peculiarly nervous, restless force. +Chris could see the hand turned back distinctly. A piece of bark was +being crumbled under a strong thumb. Such a thumb! Chris had seen +nothing like it before. + +It was as if at some time it had been smashed flat with a hammer, a +broad, strong, cruel-looking thumb, flat and sinister-looking as the head +of a snake. In the centre, like a pink pearl dropped in a filthy gutter, +was one tiny, perfectly-formed nail. + +The owner of the thumb stepped back the better to give way to a fit of +hoarse laughter. He turned slightly aside and his eyes met those of +Chris. They were small eyes set in a coarse, brutal face, the face of a +criminal, Chris thought, if she were a judge of such matters. It came +quite as a shock to see that the stranger was in clerical garb. + +"I--I beg your pardon," Chris stammered. "But I--" + +Henson emerged from the arbour. For once in a way he appeared confused, +there was a flush on his face that told of annoyance ill suppressed. + +"Please don't go away," he said. "Mr. Merritt will think that he has +alarmed you. Miss Lee, this is my very good friend and co-worker in the +field, the Reverend James Merritt." + +"Is Mr. Merritt a friend of Lord Littimer's?" Chris asked, demurely. + +"Littimer hates the cloth," Henson replied "Indeed, he has no sympathy +whatever with my work. I met my good friend quite by accident in the +village just now, and I brought him here for a chat. Mr. Merritt is +taking a well-earned holiday." + +Chris replied graciously that she didn't doubt it. She did not deem it +necessary to add that she knew that one of Mr. Henson's mystic telegrams +had been addressed to one James Merritt at an address in Moreton Wells, a +town some fifteen miles away. That the scoundrel was up to no good she +knew perfectly well. + +"Your work must be very interesting," she said. "Have you been in the +Church long, Mr. Merritt?" + +Merritt said hoarsely that he had not been in the Church very long. His +dreadful grin and fog voice suggested that he was a brand plucked from +the burning, and that he had only recently come over to the side of the +angels. The whole time he spoke he never met Chris's glance once. The +chaplain of a convict prison would have turned from him in disgust. +Henson was obviously ill at ease. In his suave, diplomatic way he +contrived to manoeuvre Merritt off the ground at length. + +"An excellent fellow," he said, with exaggerated enthusiasm. "It was a +great day for us when we won over James Merritt. He can reach a class +which hitherto we have not touched." + +"He looks as if he had been in gaol," Chris said. + +"Oh, he has," Henson admitted, candidly. "Many a time." + +Chris deemed it just possible that the unpleasant experience might be +endured again, but she only smiled and expressed herself to be deeply +interested. The uneasiness in Henson's manner gradually disappeared. + +Evidently the girl suspected nothing. She would have liked to have asked +a question or two about Mr. Merritt's thumb, but she deemed it prudent +not to do so. + +Dinner came at length, dinner served in the great hall in honour of the +recently arrived guest, and set up in all the panoply and splendour that +Littimer affected at times. The best plate was laid out on the long +table. There were banks and coppices of flowers at either corner, a huge +palm nodded over silver and glass and priceless china. The softly shaded +electric lights made pools of amber flame on fruit and flowers and +gleaming crystal. Half-a-dozen big footmen went about their work with +noiseless tread. + +Henson shook his head playfully at all this show and splendour. His good +humour was of the elephantine order, and belied the drawn anxiety of his +eyes. Luxurious and peaceful as the scene was, there seemed to Chris to +be a touch of electricity in the air, the suggestion of something about +to happen. Littimer glanced at her admiringly. She was dressed in white +satin, and she had in her hair a single diamond star of price. + +"Of course Henson pretends to condemn all this kind of thing," Littimer +said. "He would have you believe that when he comes into his own the +plate and wine will be sold for the benefit of the poor, and the seats of +the mighty filled with decayed governesses and antiquated shop-walkers." + +"I hope that time may long be deferred," Henson murmured. + +"And so do I," Littimer said, drily, "which is one of the disadvantages +of being conservative. By the way, who was that truculent-looking +scoundrel I saw with you this afternoon?" + +Henson hastened to explain. Littimer was emphatically of opinion that +such visitors were better kept at a distance for the present. When all +the rare plate and treasures of Littimer Castle had been disposed of for +philanthropic purposes it would not matter. + +"There was a time when the enterprising burglar got his knowledge of the +domestic and physical geography of a house from the servants. Now he +reforms, with the great advantage that he can lay his plan of campaign +from personal observation. It is a much more admirable method, and tends +to avert suspicion from the actual criminal." + +"You would not speak thus if you knew Merritt," said Henson. + +"All the same, I don't want the privilege," Littimer smiled. "A man with +a face like that couldn't reform; nature would resent such an enormity. +And yet you can never tell. Physically speaking, my quondam friend +Hatherly Bell has a perfect face." + +"I confess I am anxious to see him," Chris said. "I--I heard him lecture +in America. He had the most interesting theory about dogs. Mr. Henson +hates dogs." + +"Yes," Henson said, shortly, "I do, and they hate me, but that does not +prevent my being interested in the coming of Dr. Bell. And nobody hopes +more sincerely than myself that he will succeed in clearly vindicating +his character." + +Littimer smiled sarcastically as he trifled with his claret glass. In his +cynical way he was looking forward to the interview with a certain sense +of amusement. And there was a time when he had enjoyed Bell's society +immensely. + +"Well, you will not have long to wait now," he said. "It is long past +ten, and Bell is due at any moment after eleven. Coffee in the +balcony, please." + +It was a gloriously warm night, with just a faint suspicion of a breeze +on the air. Down below the sea beat with a gentle sway against the +cliffs; on the grassy slopes a belated lamb was bleating for its dam. +Chris strolled quietly down the garden with her mind at peace for a time. +She had almost forgotten her mission for the moment. A figure slipped +gently past her on the grass, but she utterly failed to notice it. + +"An exceedingly nice girl, that," Littimer was saying, "and distinctly +amusing. Excuse me if I leave you here--a tendency to ague and English +night air don't blend together." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +GONE! + + +It was the very moment that Henson had been waiting for. All his +listlessness had vanished. He sprang to his feet and made his way +hurriedly across the lawn. Dark as it was, he slipped along with the ease +of one who is familiar with every inch of the ground. A man half his +weight and half his age could have been no more active. + +He advanced to what seemed to be the very edge of the cliff and +disappeared. There were rocks and grassy knolls which served as landmarks +to him. A slip of the foot might have resulted in a serious accident. +Above the gloom a head appeared. + +"That you, Merritt?" Henson asked, hoarsely. + +"Oh, it's me right enough," came the muttered reply. "Good job as I'm +used to a seafaring life, or I should never have got up those cliffs. +Where's the girl?" + +"Oh, the girl's right enough. She's standing exactly where she can hear +the cry of the suffering in distress. You can leave that part of the +drama to me. She's a smart girl with plenty of pluck, but all the same I +am going to make use of her. Have you got the things?" + +"Got everything, pardner. Got a proper wipe over the skull, too." + +"How on earth did you manage to do that?" + +"Meddling with Bell, of course. Why didn't you let him come and produce +his picture in peace? We should have been all ready to flabbergaster him +when he did come." + +"My good Merritt, I have not the slightest doubt about it. My plans are +too carefully laid for them to go astray. But, at the same time, I firmly +believe in having more than one plan of attack and more than two ways of +escape. If we could have despoiled Bell of his picture it would have been +utterly useless for him to have come here. He would have gone back +preferring to accept defeat to arriving with a cock-and-bull story to the +effect that he had been robbed of his treasure on the way. And so he got +the best of you, eh?" + +"Rather! I fancied that I was pretty strong, but--well, it doesn't +matter. Here I am with the tools, and I ain't going to fail this time. +Before Bell comes the little trap will be ready and you will be able to +prove an alibi." + +Henson chuckled hoarsely. He loved dramatic effect, and here was one to +hand. He almost fancied that he could see the white outline of Chris's +figure from where he stood. + +"Get along," he said. "There is no time to lose." + +Merritt nodded and began to make his way upward. Some way above him +Chris was looking down. Her quick ear had detected some suspicious +sound. She watched eagerly. Just below her the big electric light on the +castle tower cast a band of flame athwart the cliff. Chris looked down +steadily at this. Presently she saw a hand uplifted into the belt of +flame, a hand grasping for a ledge of rock, and a quickly stifled cry +rose to her lips. The thumb on the hand was smashed flat, there was a +tiny pink nail in the centre. + +Chris's heart gave one quick leap, then her senses came back to her. She +needed nobody to tell her that the owner of the hand was James Merritt. +Nor did she require any fine discrimination to perceive that he was up to +no good. That it had something to do with the plot against Bell she felt +certain. But the man was coming now, he could only reach the top of the +cliffs just under the wall where she was standing. Chris peered eagerly +down into the path of light until the intruder looked up. Then she jerked +back, forgetting that she was in the darkness and absolutely invisible. +The action was disastrous, however, for it shook Chris's diamond star +from her head, and it fell gently almost at the feet of the climber. An +instant later and his eyes had fallen upon it. + +"What bloomin' luck," he said, hoarsely. "I suppose that girl yonder must +have dropped it over. Well, it is as good as a couple of hundred pound to +me, anyway. Little missie, you'd better take a tearful farewell of your +lumps of sugar, as you'll never see them again." + +To Chris's quivering indignation he slipped the star into his +breast-pocket. Just for the moment the girl was on the point of crying +out. She was glad she had refrained a second after, for a really +brilliant thought occurred to her. She had never evolved anything more +clever in her life, but she did not quite realise that as yet. + +Nearer and nearer the man with the maimed thumb came. Chris stepped back +into the shadow. She waited till the intruder had slipped past her in the +direction of the castle, and prepared to follow at a discreet distance. +Whatever he was after, she felt sure he was being ordered and abetted by +Reginald Henson. Two minutes, five minutes, elapsed before she moved. + +What was that? Surely a voice somewhere near her moaning for help. Chris +stood perfectly still, listening for the next cry. Her sense of humanity +had been touched, she had forgotten Merritt entirely. Again the stifled +cry for help came. + +"Who are you?" Chris shouted. "And where are you?" + +"Henson," came the totally unexpected reply. "I'm down below on a ledge +of rock. No, I'm not particularly badly hurt, but I dare not move." + +Chris paused for a moment, utterly bewildered. Henson must have been on +the look-out for his accomplice, she thought, and had missed his footing +and fallen. Pity he had not fallen a little farther, she murmured +bitterly, and broken his neck. But this was only for a moment, and her +sense of justice and humanity speedily returned. + +"I cannot see anything of you," she said. + +"All the same, I can see your outline," Henson said, dismally. "I don't +feel quite so frightened now. I can hang on a bit longer, especially now +I know assistance is at hand. At first I began to be afraid that I was a +prisoner for the night. No; don't go. If I had a rope I should have the +proper confidence to swarm up again. And there is a coil of rope in the +arbour close by you. Hang it straight down over that middle boulder and +fasten your end round one of those iron pilasters." + +The rope was there as Henson stated; indeed, he had placed it there +himself. With the utmost coolness and courage Chris did as she was +desired. But it took some little time to coax the rope to go over in the +proper direction. There was a little mutter of triumph from below, and +presently Henson, with every appearance of utter exhaustion, climbed over +the ledge to the terrace. At the same moment an owl hooted twice from the +long belt of trees at the bottom of the garden. + +"I hope you are none the worse for your adventure?" Chris asked, +politely. + +Henson said sententiously that he fancied not. His familiarity with the +cliffs had led him too far. If he had not fallen on a ledge of rock +goodness only knows what might have happened. Would Chris be so good as +to lend him the benefit of her arm back to the castle? Chris was +graciously willing, but she was full of curiosity at the same time. Had +Henson really been in danger, or was the whole thing some part of an +elaborate and cunning plot? Henson knew perfectly well that she had taken +a great fancy to the upper terrace, and he might-- + +Really it was difficult to know what to think. They passed slowly along +till the lights here and there from the castle shone on their faces. At +the same time a carriage had driven up to the hall door and a visitor was +getting out. With a strange sense of eagerness and pleasure Chris +recognised the handsome features and misshapen shape of Hatherly Bell. + +"The expected guest has arrived," Henson said. + +There was such a queer mixture of snarling anger and exulting triumph in +his voice that Chris looked up. Just for an instant Henson had dropped +the mask. A ray of light from the open door streamed fully across his +face. The malignant pleasure of it startled Chris. Like a flash she began +to see how she had been used by those miscreants. + +"He is very handsome," she contrived to say, steadily. + +"Handsome is that handsome does," Henson quoted. "Let us hope that Dr. +Bell will succeed in his mission. He has my best wishes." + +Chris turned away and walked slowly as possible up the stairs. Another +minute with that slimy hypocrite and she felt she must betray herself. +Once out of sight she flew along the corridor and snapped up the electric +light. She fell back with a stifled cry of dismay, but she was more +sorrowful than surprised. + +"I expected it," she said. "I knew that this was the thing they +were after." + +The precious copy of Rembrandt was no longer there! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +BELL ARRIVES + + +There were more sides to the mystery than David Steel imagined. It had +seemed to him that he had pretty well all the threads in his hands, but +he would have been astonished to know how much more Hatherly Bell and +Enid Henson could have told him. + +But it seemed to Bell that there was one very important thing to be done +before he proceeded any farther. He was interested in the mystery as he +was interested in anything where crime and cunning played a part. But he +was still more intent upon clearing his good name; besides, this would +give him a wider field of action. + +In the light of recent discoveries it had become imperative that he +should once more be on good terms with Lord Littimer. Once this was +accomplished, Bell saw his way to the clearing up of the whole +complication. It was a great advantage to know who his enemy was; it was +a still greater advantage to discover the hero of the cigar-case and the +victim of the outrage in Steel's conservatory was the graceless scamp Van +Sneck, the picture dealer, who had originally sold "The Crimson Blind" to +Lord Littimer. + +It was all falling out beautifully. Not only had Van Sneck turned up in +the nick of time, but he was not in a position to do any further +mischief. It suited Bell exactly that Van Sneck should be _hors de +combat_ for the moment. + +The first thing to be done was to see Lord Littimer without delay. Bell +had no idea of humbly soliciting an interview. He proceeded to a +telegraph office the first thing the following morning and wired Littimer +to the effect that he must see him on important business. He had an hour +or two at his disposal, so he took a cab as far as Downend Terrace. He +found Steel slug-hunting in the conservatory, the atmosphere of which was +blue with cigarette smoke. + +"So you are not working this morning?" he asked. + +"How the dickens can I work?" David exclaimed, irritably. "Not that I +haven't been trying. I might just as well take a long holiday till this +mystery is cleared up for all the good I am. What is the next move?" + +"My next move is to go to Littimer and convince him that he has done me a +great wrong. I am bound to have Littimer's ear once more." + +"You are going to show him the spare Rembrandt, eh?" + +"That's it. I flatter myself I shall astonish him. I've sent a telegram +to say I'm coming to-day, after which I shall proceed to storm the +citadel. I feel all the safer because nobody knows I have the engraving." + +"My dear chap, somebody knows you have the picture." + +"Impossible!" Bell exclaimed. "Only yourself and Enid Henson can possibly +be aware that--" + +"All the same, I am speaking the truth," David said. "Last night when you +went into the hospital you gave me the print to take care of. At the same +time I noticed a rough-looking man presumedly asleep on the seat in the +road facing the hospital. Afterwards when I looked round he had +disappeared. At the time I thought nothing of it. When I came in here I +placed the precious roll of paper on my writing-table under the window +yonder. The window is a small one, as you can see, and was opened about a +foot at the top. I sat here with the light down and the room faintly +illuminated by the light in the conservatory. After a little time I saw a +hand and arm groping for something on the table, and I'm quite sure the +hand and arm were groping for your Rembrandt. The fellow muttered +something that I failed to understand, and I made a grab for him and got +him. Then the other hand made a dash for my head with an ugly piece of +gas-piping, and I had to let go." + +"And you saw no more of the fellow?" + +"No; I didn't expect to. I couldn't see his face, but there was one +peculiarity he had that I might tell you for your future guidance. He had +a thumb smashed as flat as the head of a snake, with one tiny pink nail +in the middle of it. So, if you meet a man like that on your journey +to-day, look to yourself. On the whole, you see that our enemies are a +little more awake than you give them credit for." + +Bell nodded thoughtfully. The information was of the greatest possible +value to him. It told him quite plainly that Reginald Henson knew +exactly what had happened. Under ordinary circumstances by this time +Henson would be on his way to Littimer Castle, there to checkmate the +man he had so deeply injured. But fortunately Henson was laid by the +heels, or so Bell imagined. + +"I am really obliged to you," Bell said. "Your information is likely to +be of the greatest possible service to me. I'm sorry you can't work." + +"Don't worry about me," David said, grimly. "I'm gaining a vast quantity +of experience that will be of the greatest value to me later on. Besides, +I can go and compare notes with Miss Ruth Gates whilst you are away. She +is soothing." + +"So I should imagine," Bell said, drily. "No, I must be off. I'll let you +know what happens at Littimer Castle. Good luck to you here." + +And Bell bustled off. He was pleased to find a recent telegram of +acceptance from Littimer awaiting him, and before five o'clock he was +in the train for London. It was only after he left London that he began +to crawl along. Thanks to slow local lines and a badly fitting cross +service it was nearly eleven o'clock before he reached Moreton Station. +It did not matter much, because Littimer had said that a carriage +should meet him. + +However, there was no conveyance of any kind outside the station. One +sleepy porter had already departed, and the other one, who took Bell's +ticket, and was obviously waiting to lock up, deposed that a carriage +from the castle had come to the station, but that some clerical gentleman +had come along and countermanded it. Whereupon the dog-cart had departed. + +"Very strange," Bell muttered. "What sort of a parson was it?" + +"I only just saw his face," the porter yawned. "Dressed in black, with a +white tie and a straw hat. Walked in a slouching kind of way with his +hands down; new curate from St. Albans, perhaps. Looked like a chap as +could take care of himself in a row." + +"Thanks," Bell said, curtly. "I'll manage the walk; it's only two miles. +Good-night." + +Bell's face was grim and set as he stepped out into the road. He knew +fairly well what this meant. It was pretty evident that his arch-enemy +knew his movements perfectly well, and that a vigorous attempt was being +made to prevent him reaching the castle. He called back to the porter. + +"How long since the carriage went?" he asked. + +A voice from the darkness said "Ten minutes," and Bell trudged on with +the knowledge that one of his enemies at least was close at hand. That +Reginald Henson was at the castle he had not the remotest idea. Nor did +he fear personal violence. Despite his figure, he was a man of enormous +strength and courage. But he had not long to wait. + +Somebody was coming down the lonely road towards him, somebody in +clerical attire. The stranger stopped and politely, if a little huskily, +inquired if he was on the right way to Moreton Station. Bell responded as +politely that he was, and asked to know the time. Not that he cared +anything about the time; what he really wanted was to see the stranger's +hands. The little ruse was successful. In the dim light Bell could see a +flattened, hideous thumb with the pink parody of a nail upon it. + +"Thanks, very much," he said, crisply. "Keep straight on." + +He half turned as the stranger swung round. The latter darted at Bell, +but he came too late. Bell's fist shot out and caught him fairly on the +forehead. Then the stick in Bell's left hand came down with crushing +force on the prostrate man's skull. So utterly dazed and surprised was he +that he lay on the ground for a moment, panting heavily. + +"You murderous ruffian," Bell gasped. "You escaped convict in an honest +man's clothes. Get up! So you are the fellow--" + +He paused suddenly, undesirous of letting the rascal see that he knew too +much. The other man rolled over suddenly like a cat and made a dash for a +gap in the hedge. He was gone like a flash. Pursuit would be useless, for +pace was not Bell's strong point. And he was not fearful of being +attacked again. + +"Henson seems to be pretty well served," he muttered, grimly. + +Meanwhile, the man with the thumb was flying over the fields in the +direction of Littimer. He made his way across country to the cliffs with +the assured air of one who knows every inch of the ground. He had failed +in the first part of his instructions, and there was no time to be lost +if he was to carry out the second part successfully. + +He struck the cliffs at length a mile or so away, and proceeded to +scramble along them till he lay hidden just under the terraces at +Littimer Castle. He knew that he was in time for this part of the +programme, despite the fact that his head ached considerably from the +force and vigour of Bell's assault. He lay there, panting and breathing +heavily, waiting for the signal to come. + +Meanwhile, Bell was jogging along placidly and with no fear in his heart +at all. He did not need anybody to tell him what was the object of his +late antagonist's attack. He knew perfectly well that if the ruffian had +got the better of him he would never have seen the Rembrandt again. +Henson's hounds were on the track; but it would go hard if they pulled +the quarry down just as the sanctuary was in sight. Presently Bell could +see the lights of the castle. + +By the lodge-gates stood a dog-cart; in the flare of the lamps Bell +recognised the features of the driver, a very old servant of Littimer's. +Bell took in the situation at a glance. + +"Is this the way you come for me, Lund?" he asked. + +"I'm very sorry, sir," Lund replied. "But a clergyman near the station +said you had gone another way, so I turned back. And when I got here I +couldn't make top nor tail of the story. Blest if I wasn't a bit nervous +that it might have been some plant to rob you. And I was going to drive +slowly along to the station again when you turned up." + +"Oh, there's nothing wrong," said Bell, cheerfully. "And I don't look as +if I'd come to any harm. Anybody staying at the castle, Lund?" + +"Only Mr. Reginald Henson, sir," Lund said, disparagingly. + +Bell started, but his emotion was lost in the darkness. It came as a +great surprise to him to find that the enemy was actually in the field. +And how apprehensive of danger he must be to come so far with his health +in so shattered a condition. Bell smiled to himself as he pictured +Henson's face on seeing him once more under that roof. + +"How long has Mr. Henson been here?" he asked. + +"Only came yesterday, sir. Shall I drive you up to the house? And if you +wouldn't mind saying nothing to his lordship about my mistake, sir--" + +"Make your mind easy on that score," Bell said, drily. "His lordship +shall know nothing whatever about it. On the whole, I had better drive up +to the house. How familiar it all looks, to be sure." + +A minute later and Bell stood within the walls of the castle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +HOW THE SCHEME WORKED OUT + + +Chris crossed the corridor like one who walks in a dream. She had not +enough energy left to be astonished even. Her mind travelled quickly over +the events of the past hour, and she began to see the way clear. But how +had somebody or other managed to remove the picture? Chris examined the +spot on the wall where the Rembrandt had been with the eye of a +detective. + +That part of the mystery was explained in a moment. A sharp cutting +instrument, probably a pair of steel pliers with a lever attachment, had +been applied to the head of the four stays, and the flat heads had been +pinched off as clean as if they had been string. After that it was merely +necessary to remove the frame, and a child could have done the rest. + +"How clever I am," Chris told herself, bitterly. "I'm like the astute +people who put Chubb locks on Russia leather jewel-cases that anybody +could rip open with a sixpenny penknife. And in my conceit I deemed the +Rembrandt to be absolutely safe. Now what--what is the game?" + +It was much easier to ask the question than to answer it. But there were +some facts sufficiently obvious to Chris. In the first place she knew +that Reginald Henson was at the bottom of the whole thing; she knew that +he had traded on the fact that she had taken a fancy to the terrace as an +after-dinner lounge; indeed, she had told him so earlier in the day. He +had traded on the knowledge that he could prove an alibi if any +suspicions attached to him. The fact that he was in danger owing to a +slip on the edge of the cliff was all nonsense. He had not been in any +danger at all; he had seen Chris there, and he had made all that parade +with an eye to the future. As a matter of course, he was down there +settling matters with his accomplice of the maimed thumb, who had chosen +the cliff way of getting into the castle as the swiftest and the surest +from detection. + +Yes, it was pretty obvious that the man with the thumb had stolen the +print, and that by this time he was far away with his possession. While +Chris was helping Henson the latter's accomplice had slipped into the +castle and effected the burglary. Chris flicked out the light in the +alcove as a servant came along. It was not policy for any of the +domestics to be too wise. Chris forced a smile to her face as the maid +came along. + +"Allen," she asked, "are there many owls about here?" + +"Never a one as I know, miss," the maid responded confidently. "I've been +here for eleven years, and I never heard of such a thing. Clifford, the +head keeper, couldn't sleep at nights if he thought as there was such a +thing on the estate. Have you heard one, miss?" + +"I was evidently mistaken," Chris said. "Of course you would know best." + +So the cry of the owl had been a signal of success. Chris sat in the +gloom there resolved to see the comedy played through. The events of the +night were not over yet. + +"I'd give something to know what has taken place in the dining-room," +Chris murmured. + +She was going to know before long. The lights were being extinguished all +over the house. Henson came up to bed heavily, as one who is utterly worn +out. At the same time he looked perfectly satisfied with himself. He +might have been a vigilant officer who had settled all his plans and was +going to seek a well-earned rest before the enemy came on to his +destruction. In sooth Henson was utterly worn out. He had taxed his +strength to the uttermost, but he was free to rest now. + +Meanwhile, the conference in the dining-room proceeded. Lord Littimer had +received his guest with frigid politeness, to which Bell had responded +with an equally cold courtesy. Littimer laid his cigar aside and looked +Bell steadily in the face. + +"I have granted your request against my better judgment," he said. "I am +not sanguine that the least possible good can come of it. But I have +quite grown out of all my illusions; I have seen the impossible proved +too often. Will you take anything?" + +"I hope to do so presently," Bell said, pointedly; "but not yet. In the +first instance I have to prove to you that I have not stolen your +Rembrandt." + +"Indeed? I should like to know how you propose to do that." + +"I shall prove it at once. You were under the impression that you +possessed the only copy of the 'Crimson Blind' in existence. When you +lost yours and a copy of the picture was found in my possession, you were +perfectly justified in believing that I was the thief." + +"I did take that extreme view of the matter," Littimer said, drily. + +"Under the circumstances I should have done the same thing. But you were +absolutely wrong, because there were two copies of the picture. Yours was +stolen by an enemy of mine who had the most urgent reasons for +discrediting me in your eyes, and the other was concealed amongst my +belongings. It was no loss to the thief, because subsequently the stolen +one--my own one being restored to you--could have been exposed and +disposed of as a new find. Your print is in the house?" + +"It hangs in the gallery at the present moment." + +"Very good. Then, my lord, what do you say to this?" + +Bell took the roll of paper from his pocket, and gravely flattened it out +on the table before him, so that the full rays of the electric light +should fall upon it. Littimer was a fine study of open-mouthed surprise. +He could only stand there gaping, touching the stained paper with his +fingers and breathing heavily. + +"Here is a facsimile of your treasure," Bell went on. "Here is the same +thing. You are a good judge on these matters, and I venture to say you +will call it genuine. There is nothing of forgery about the engraving." + +"Good heavens, no," Littimer snapped. "Any fool could see that." + +"Which you will admit is a very great point in my favour," Bell +said, gravely. + +"I begin to think that I have done you a great injustice," Littimer +admitted; "but, under the circumstances, I don't see how I could have +done anything else. Look at that picture. It is exactly the same as mine. +There is exactly the same discolouration in the margin in exactly the +same place." + +"Probably they lay flat on the top of one another for scores of years." + +"Possibly. I can't see the slightest difference in the smallest +particular. Even now I cannot rid myself of the feeling that I am the +victim of some kind of plot or delusion. The house is quiet now and there +is nobody about. Before I believe the evidence of my senses--and I have +had cause to doubt them more than once--I should like to compare this +print with mine. Will you follow me to the gallery, if you haven't +forgotten the way?" + +Littimer took up the treasure from the table gingerly. + +He was pleased and at the same time disappointed; pleased to find that he +had been mistaken all these years, sorry in the knowledge that his +picture was unique no longer. He said nothing until the alcove was +reached, and Chris drew back in the shadow to let the others pass. + +"Now to settle the question for all time," Littimer said. "Will you be so +good as to turn on the electric light? You will find the switch in the +angle of the wall on your right. And when we have settled the affair and +I have apologized to you in due form, you shall command my services and +my purse to right the wrong. If it costs me £10,000 the man who has done +this thing shall suffer. Please to put up the light, Bell." + +Chris listened breathlessly. She was not quite certain what she was about +to see. She could hear Bell fumbling for the light, she heard the click +of the switch, and then she saw the brilliant belt of flame flooding the +alcove. Littimer paused and glanced at Bell, the latter looked round the +alcove as if seeking for something. + +"I cannot see the picture here," he said. "If have made a mistake--" + +Littimer stood looking at the speaker with eyes like blazing stars. Just +for a moment or two he was speechless with indignation. + +"You charlatan," he said, hoarsely. "You barefaced trickster." + +Bell started back. His mute question stung Littimer to the quick. + +"You wanted to be cleared," the latter said. "You wanted to befool me +again. You come here in some infernally cunning fashion, you steal my +picture from the frame and have the matchless audacity to pass it off for +a second one. Man alive, if it were earlier I would have you flogged from +the house like the ungrateful dog that you are." + +Chris checked down the cry that rose to her lips. She saw, as in a flash +of lightning, the brilliancy and simplicity and cunning of Henson's +latest and most masterly scheme. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE + + +After the first passionate outburst of scorn Lord Littimer looked at his +visitor quietly. There was something almost amusing in the idea that Bell +should attempt such a trick upon him. And the listener was thoroughly +enjoying the scene now. There was quite an element of the farcical about +it. In the brilliant light she could see Littimer's dark, bitter face and +the helpless amazement on the strong features of Hatherly Bell. And, +meanwhile, the man who had brought the impossible situation about was +calmly sleeping after his strenuous exertions. + +Chris smiled to herself as she thought out her brilliant _coup_. It +looked to her nothing less than a stroke of genius, two strokes, in fact, +as will be seen presently. Before many hours were over Henson's position +in the house would be seriously weakened. He had done a clever thing, but +Chris saw her way to a cleverer one still. + +Meanwhile the two men were regarding one another suspiciously. On a round +Chippendale table the offending Rembrandt lay between them. + +"I confess," Bell said, at length, "I confess that I am utterly taken by +surprise. And yet I need not be so astonished when I come to think of the +amazing cunning and audacity of my antagonist. He has more foresight than +myself. Lord Littimer, will you be so kind as to repeat your last +observation over again?" + +"I will emphasize it, if you like?" Littimer replied. "For some deep +purpose of your own, you desired to make friends with me again. You tell +me you are in a position to clear your character. Very foolishly I +consent to see you. You come here with a roll of paper in your possession +purporting to be a second copy of my famous print. All the time you knew +it to be mine--mine, stolen an hour or two ago and passed instantly to +you. Could audacity go farther? And then you ask me to believe that you +came down from town with a second engraving in your possession." + +"As I hope to be saved, I swear it!" Bell cried. + +"Of course you do. A man with your temerity would swear anything. +Credulous as I may be, I am not credulous enough to believe that _my_ +picture would be stolen again at the very time that you found _yours_" + +"Abstracted by my enemy on purpose to land me in this mess." + +"Ridiculous," Littimer cried. "Pshaw, I am a fool to stand here arguing; +I am a fool to let you stay in the house. Why, I don't believe you could +bring a solitary witness to prove that yonder picture was yours." + +"You are mistaken, my lord. I could bring several." + +"Credible witnesses? Witnesses whose characters would bear +investigation?" + +"I fancy so," Bell said, quietly. "Two nights ago, for instance, I showed +the very picture lying before you to a lady of your acquaintance, Miss +Enid Henson. I couldn't have had _your_ picture two nights ago, could I? +And Miss Henson was graciously pleased to observe that I had been made +the victim of a vile conspiracy." + +"Why do you insult me by mentioning that name?" Littimer said, hoarsely. +His face was very pale, and sombre anger smouldered in his eyes. "Tell me +you showed the thing to my wife next." + +"I did," said Bell, coolly. "Lady Littimer was in the room at the time." + +Something like a groan escaped from Littimer's pallid lips. The +smouldering light in his eyes flashed into flame. He advanced upon Bell +with a quivering, uplifted arm. Chris slipped swiftly out of the shade +and stood between the two men. + +"Dr. Bell speaks the truth," she said. "And I am going to prove it." + +Littimer dropped into a chair and gave way to silent laughter. His mood +had changed utterly. He lounged there, a cynical, amused man of the +world again. + +"Upon my word, I am vastly obliged to you for your comedy," he said. "I +hope your salary as leading lady in Bell's company is a handsome one, +Miss Lee." + +"Let us hope that it is more handsome than your manners, my lord," Chris +said, tartly. "I beg to remark that I have never seen Dr. Bell before. +Oh, yes, I have been listening to your conversation, because I expected +something of the kind. The Rembrandt was stolen some time before Dr. Bell +arrived here, and in due course I shall show you the thief. Lord +Littimer, I implore you to be silent and discreet in this matter. Have a +little patience. Quite by accident I have made an important discovery, +but this is hardly the place to discuss it. Before daylight I hope to be +able to prove beyond question that you have greatly wronged Dr. Bell." + +"I shall be glad to be convinced of it," Littimer said, sincerely. "But +why this secrecy?" + +"Secrecy is absolutely necessary for the conviction of the thief." + +Bell looked eagerly at the speaker. + +"I have not the remotest notion who this young lady is," he said, "but I +am greatly obliged to her." + +"My secretary, Miss Lee," Littimer murmured; "an American from Boston, +and evidently a great deal cleverer than I gave her credit for, which +is saying a great deal. Miss Lee, if you know anything, I implore you +to speak." + +"Not here," Chris said, firmly. "Stone walls have ears. I tell you the +Rembrandt was stolen just before Dr. Bell reached the house. Also I tell +you it is imperative that nobody but ourselves must know the fact for the +present. You trust me, Lord Littimer?" + +"I trust you as implicitly as I do anybody." + +Chris smiled at the diplomatic response. She approached the panel of the +wall on which the Rembrandt had been fastened. She indicated the long +steel stays which had been clamped on to the iron frame. "Look at them," +she said. "It was my suggestion that the stays should be attached to the +frame to prevent anything like this robbery. I made the stays secure +myself. And what happened to justify my prudence? Why, the very same +night somebody came here after the picture." + +"Henson!" Littimer cried. "Ah! But he could have come openly." + +"It is not in the nature of the man to do things openly," Chris went on. +"I know more about the man than you imagine, but that you are to keep to +yourself. He comes here in the dead of the night and he gets into the +house through an upstair window. A man of his bulk, if you please! And +he comes here hot-foot and breathless at a time when common prudence +should have kept him in bed. Why? Because he knows that Dr. Bell has the +other Rembrandt and will come to prove it, and because he knows that if +he can steal the Littimer Rembrandt he can precipitate the very impasse +that he has brought about. But he could not steal the picture because it +was fast." + +"You are a very clever young lady," Littimer said, drily. "You will tell +me next that you expected Henson to try this thing on." + +"I did," Chris said, coolly. "I had a telegram to warn me so." + +Littimer smiled. All this mystery and cleverness was after his own heart. +He lighted his cigarette and tendered his case in the friendliest +possible manner to Bell. + +"Go on," he said, "I am deeply interested." + +"I prefer not to go into details," Chris resumed. "All I ask you to do is +to be entirely guided by me when you have heard my story. I have admitted +to you that I knew when Henson was coming, and why am I interested? +Because it happens that Reginald Henson has greatly injured someone I +cared for deeply. Well, I fastened up the picture--he came. He sneaked in +like the thief that he was because his accomplice and tool had failed to +save him the trouble. Lord Littimer, I will not pain you by saying who +Henson's accomplice was." + +Littimer nodded gloomily. + +"Not that I blame that accomplice; he could not help himself. Ah, when +the whole truth comes to be told, what a black business it will be. Well, +Henson came to steal the picture and I caught him in the act. If you had +seen his fat, greasy, crestfallen face! Then he pretended that it was all +done for a jest and as a warning to Lord Littimer. And Lord Littimer, the +most cynical of men, allowed it to pass." + +"I couldn't see what he had to gain," Littimer pleaded. "I don't now, as +a matter of fact." + +"Neither will you for the present," said Chris. "Still, you will be so +good as to assume the same hospitality and courtesy towards Henson as you +extend at present." + +"I daresay I can manage it," said Littimer, cynically. "I used to be a +society man once." + +"Henson did not deceive me for a moment," Chris went on. "He was bound to +have the picture, and, being baffled one way, he tried another. Look +here, Lord Littimer. Let me assume for a moment that Dr. Bell came down +here to steal your picture, get rid of the frame, and palm off your own +engraving for another. Now, in the name of common sense, let me ask you a +single question. Could Dr. Bell have possibly known that the frame of the +Rembrandt was securely fastened to the wall and that I had attached it +quite recently? And could he in the short time at his disposal have +procured the necessary tools to cut away the stays? Again, Dr. Bell can +prove, I suppose, exactly what time he left London to-day. No, we must +look farther for the thief." + +"There is something else also we have to look for," said Dr. Bell. "And +that is the frame. You say it was of iron and consequently heavy. The +thief would discard the frame and roll up the print." + +"That is a brilliant suggestion," said Chris, eagerly. "And if we only +had the frame I could set Lord Littimer's doubts to rest entirely. I +happen to know that the real thief came and went by the cliff under the +terrace. If the frame was thrown into the gorse, there it--" + +"Might stay for ages," Littimer exclaimed. "By Jove, I'm just in the mood +to carry this business a stage or two farther before I go to bed. Bell, +there are two or three cycle lamps in the gun-room. You used to be a +pretty fearless climber. What do you say to a hunt round for an hour or +two whilst the house is quiet?" + +Bell assented eagerly. Chris waited with what patience she could command +till daylight began to show faintly and redly in the east. Then she heard +the sound of voices outside, and Littimer and Bell staggered in carrying +the frame between them. + +"Got it," Littimer exclaimed, with the triumphant exultation of a +schoolboy who has successfully looted a rare bird's-nest. "We found it +half-way down the cliff, hidden behind a patch of samphire. And it +doesn't seem to be any the worse for the adventure. Now, Miss Wiseacre, +seeing that we have the frame, perhaps you will fulfil your promise of +convincing me, once and for all, that yonder Rembrandt cannot possibly +belong to me." + +"I am going to do so," Chris said, quietly. "You told me you had to cut +the margin of your print by an inch or so round to fit that quaint old +frame. So far as I can see, the print before you is quite intact. Now, if +it is too large for the frame--" + +Littimer nodded eagerly. Bell fitted the dingy paper to the back of the +frame and smiled. There was an inch or more to spare all round. Nobody +spoke for a moment. + +"You could make it smaller, but you couldn't make it bigger," Littimer +said. "Bell, when I have sufficiently recovered I'll make a humble and +abject apology to you. And now, wise woman from the West, what is the +next act in the play?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE PUZZLING OF HENSON + + +Chris smiled with the air of one who is perfectly satisfied with her +work. + +"For the present I fancy we have done enough," she said. "I want to go to +bed now, and I want you both to do the same. Also I shall be glad if you +will come down in the morning as if nothing had happened. Tell Reginald +Henson casually that you have been convinced that you have done Dr. Bell +a grave injustice, and give no kind of particulars. And please treat Mr. +Henson in the same fashion as before. There is only one other thing." + +"Name it, and it is yours," Littimer cried. + +"Well, cut the margin off that print, or at any rate turn the margin +down, fit it into the frame, and hang it up as if nothing had happened." + +Littimer looked at Chris with a puzzled expression for a moment, and then +his features relaxed into a satyr-like grin. + +"Capital," he said, "I quite understand what you mean. And I must be +there to see it, eh?--yes, I must be there to see. I would not miss it +for strawberry leaves." + +The thing was done and the picture restored to its place. Bell drew Chris +aside for a moment. + +"Do you rise early in the morning?" he asked, meaningly. + +"Always," Chris replied, demurely. "I find the terrace charming before +breakfast. Good-night." + +Bell was down betimes despite the fact that it had been daylight before +he was in bed. Along the terrace, looking over the cliffs, Chris was +already walking, a great cluster of red and yellow roses in her hand. She +looked as fresh and bright as if she and excitement were strangers. All +the same she seemed to avoid Bell's eyes. + +"Isn't it lovely here?" she exclaimed. "And these roses with the dew +still upon them. Well, Dr. Bell, have you made fresh discoveries?" + +"I have discovered that Henson is going to take his breakfast in bed," +Bell said gravely. "Also that he requires a valet at half-past ten. At +that time I hope to be in the corridor with Lord Littimer and yourself. +Also I have made a further discovery." + +"And what is that, Dr. Bell?" + +"That you and I have met before--once before when I attended you in a +kind of official capacity, and when I behaved in a distinctly +discreditable professional manner. Dr. Walker was present. Dr. Walker +seems to have been singularly short-sighted." + +The roses fell from Chris's hands on to the path. Her face had grown very +pale indeed; there was a frightened, appealing look in her eyes. + +"Dr. Bell," she gasped, "do you suppose that anybody else knows--Henson, +for instance? And I imagined that I had utterly deceived him!" + +Bell smiled meaningly. + +"I don't think you need have the slightest anxiety on that score," he +said. "You see, Henson is comfortably assured that you are dead and +buried. Whereas I know all about it. Fortunately for me, I became mixed +up in this strange business on behalf of my friend, David Steel; +indeed, but for Steel, I should probably have given you away to our +friend Walker." + +"But surely you guessed that--" + +"Not for the moment. You see, it was only a few minutes before that a +flood of interesting light had been let in upon Henson's character by +your sister to me, and my first idea was that Henson was poisoning you +for some purpose of his own. Subsequently Steel told me all about that +side of the story on our way back to Brighton." + +"How did you penetrate my disguise?" + +"My dear young lady, I have not penetrated your disguise. Your disguise +is perfect--so quaint and daringly original--and would deceive even +Henson's eyes. I guessed who you were directly I found that you were +taking a philanthropic interest in our friend. It came to me by a kind of +intuition, the knack that stood me in such good stead in my professional +days. When you said that you had been warned of Henson's coming by +telegram I was certain." + +"Then perhaps you guessed that Enid sent me the telegram?" + +"That was obvious. Also it was obvious that Henson brought Frank +Littimer along." + +"Oh, he did. It was Frank's mission to steal the picture. I confronted +him with a revolver and locked him in one of the bedrooms. It took all my +courage and good resolutions to prevent me from betraying myself to the +poor fellow." + +"Rather cruel of you, wasn't it?" + +"Well, yes. But I wanted to make the exposure as complete as possible. +When the time comes to strip Reginald Henson of his pretentions and flog +him from the family, the more evidence we can pile up the better. But +Frank is not bad; he is merely weak and utterly in the power of that +man. If we can only break the bonds, Frank will be a powerful factor on +our side." + +"I daresay. But how was the Rembrandt stolen? Littimer's, I mean." + +"It was worked through an accomplice," Chris explained. "It had to be +done before you arrived. And there was no better time than night for the +operation. I guessed that when Henson drew the fact from me that I liked +the terrace after dinner. By a bit of good luck I found the accomplice +and himself together in the day; in fact, I forced Reginald's hand so +that he had to introduce me to the man." + +"In which case you would know him again?" + +"Of course. Presently I am going to show you a little more of the comedy. +Well, I was on the terrace pretty late when I heard dear Reginald down +the cliff calling for assistance. He pretended that he had slipped down +the cliff and could not get up again. By the aid of a rope that +fortunately happened to be close at hand I saved our dear friend's life. +I have learnt from one of the gardeners just now that Reginald placed the +rope there himself--a most effective touch, you must admit." + +"Very," Bell said, drily. "But I quite fail to see why--" + +"I am coming to that. Don't you see that if anything happened Reginald +could prove that he was not near the house at the time? But just before +that I saw his accomplice come up the cliff; indeed, he passed quite +close to me on his way to the house. Reginald quite overlooked this fact +in his heed for his own safety. When I had effected my gallant rescue I +heard an owl hoot. Now, there are no owls about here. + +"I guessed what that meant--it was a signal of success. Then I went back +to the corridor and the Rembrandt was gone. The stays had been cut away. +At first I was dreadfully upset, but the more I thought of it the more +sure I was that it was all for the best." + +"But you might have raised an alarm and caught the thief, who--" + +"Who would have been promptly disclaimed by Reginald. Let me tell you, +sir, that I have the thief and the lost Rembrandt in the hollow of my +hands. Before the day is out I shall make good my boast. And there's the +breakfast bell." + +It looked quite natural some time later for the three conspirators to be +lounging about the gallery when Henson emerged from his bedroom. He +appeared bright and smiling, and most of the bandages had been removed +from his throat. All the same he was not pleased to see Bell there; he +gazed uneasily at the doctor and from him to Littimer. + +"You know Bell," the latter said, carelessly. "Fact is, there's been a +great mistake." + +Bell offered him his hand heartily. It cost him a huge effort, but the +slimy scoundrel had to be fought with his own weapons. Henson shook his +head with the air of a man extending a large and generous meed of +forgiveness. He sought in vain to read Bell's eyes, but there was a +steady, almost boyish, smile in them. + +"I indeed rejoice," he said, unctuously. "I indeed +rejoice--rejoice--rejoice!" + +He repeated the last word helplessly; he seemed to have lost all his +backbone, and lapsed into a flabby, jellified mass of quivering white +humanity. His vacant, fishy eyes were fixed upon the Rembrandt in a kind +of dull, sleepy terror. + +"I'm not well," he gasped. "Not so strong as I imagined. I'll--I'll go +and lie down again. Later on I shall want a dogcart to drive me to +Moreton Wells. I--" + +He paused again, glanced at the picture, and passed heavily to his room. +Littimer smiled. + +"Splendid," he said. "It was worth thousands just to see his face." + +"All the same," Chris said, quietly; "all the same, that man is not to +leave for Moreton Wells till I've had a clear hour's start of him. Dr. +Bell will you accompany me?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +CHRIS HAS AN IDEA + + +Lord Littimer polished his rarely used eye-glass carefully and favoured +Chris with a long, admiring stare. At the same time he was wondering why +the girl should have taken such a vivid interest in Reginald Henson and +his doings. For some years past it had been Littimer's whim to hold up +Henson before everybody as his successor, so far as the castle went. He +liked to see Henson's modest smirk and beautiful self-abasement, for in +sooth his lordship had a pretty contempt for the man who hoped to succeed +him. But the will made some time ago by Littimer would have come as a +painful shock to the philanthropist. + +"It is a very pretty tangle as it stands," he said. "Miss Lee, let me +compliment you upon your astuteness in this matter. Only don't tell me +you schemed your way here, and that you are a lady detective. I read a +good many novels, and I don't like them." + +"You may be easy on that score," Chris laughed. "I am not a lady +detective. All the same, I have defeated Mr. Reginald Henson." + +"You think he is at the bottom of the mystery of the other Rembrandt." + +"I am certain of it; unless you like to believe in the truth of his +charming scheme to give you a lesson, as he called it. As a matter of +fact, Mr. Henson discovered the existence of the other print; he +discovered that Dr. Bell possessed it--the rest I leave to your own +astuteness. You saw his face just now?" + +"Oh, yes. It was a fine study in emotions. If you could find the other +picture--" + +"I hope to restore it to you before the day has passed." + +Littimer applauded, gently. He was charmed, he said, with the whole +comedy. The first two acts had been a brilliant success. If the third was +only as good he would regard Miss Lee as his benefactor for ever. It was +not often that anybody intellectually amused him; in fact, he must add +Miss Lee to his collection. + +"Then you must play a part yourself," Chris said, gaily. "I am going into +Moreton Wells, and Dr. Bell accompanies me. Mr. Henson is not to know +that we have gone, and he is not to leave the house for a good hour or so +after our departure. What I want is a fair start and the privilege of +bringing a guest home to dinner." + +"Vague, mysterious, and alluring," Littimer said. "Bring the guest by all +means. I will pledge my diplomacy that you have a long start. Really, I +don't know when I have enjoyed myself so much. You shall have the big +waggonette for your journey." + +"And join it beyond the lodge-gates," Chris said, thoughtfully. "Dr. +Bell, you shall stroll through the park casually; I will follow as +casually later on." + +A little later Henson emerged from his room dressed evidently for a +journey. He looked flabby and worried; there was an expression very like +fear in his eyes. The corridor was deserted as he passed the place where +the Rembrandt hung. He paused before the picture in a hesitating, +fascinated way. His feet seemed to pull up before it involuntarily. + +"What does it mean?" he muttered. "What in the name of fate has happened? +It is impossible that Merritt could have played me a trick like that; he +would never have dared. Besides, he has too much to gain by following my +instructions. I fancy--" + +Henson slipped up to the picture as a sudden idea came to him. If the +picture had not been removed at all the stays would still be intact. And +if they were intact Merritt was likely to have a bad quarter of an hour +later on. It would be proof that-- + +But the stays were not intact. The heads had been shaved off with some +cutting instrument; the half of the stays gleamed like silver in the +morning light. And yet the Rembrandt was there. The more Henson dwelt +upon it the more he was puzzled. He began to wonder whether some deep +trap was being laid for him. + +But, no, he had seen no signs of it. In some way or another Bell had +managed to ingratiate himself with Littimer again, but not necessarily +for long, Henson told himself, with a vicious grin. Nor was Littimer the +kind of man who ever troubled himself to restrain his feelings. If he had +got to the bottom of the whole business he would have had Henson kicked +out of the house without delay. + +But Littimer suspected nothing. His greeting just now showed that Bell +suspected nothing, because he had shaken hands in the heartiest manner +possible. And as for Miss Lee, she was no more than a smart Yankee girl, +and absolutely an outsider. + +Still, it was dreadfully puzzling. And it was not nice to be puzzled at a +time when the arch-conspirator ought to know every move of the game. +Therefore it became necessary to go into Moreton Wells and see Merritt +without delay. As Henson crossed the hall the cheerful voice of Littimer +hailed him. + +"Reginald," he cried, "I want your assistance and advice." + +With a muttered curse Henson entered the library. Littimer was seated +at a table, with a cigarette in his mouth, his brows drawn over a mass +of papers. + +"Sit down and have a cigar," he said. "The fact is I am setting my +affairs in order--I am going to make a fresh will. If you hadn't come +down last night I should probably have sent for you. Now take my +bank-book and check those figures." + +"Shall we be long?" Henson asked, anxiously. + +Littimer tartly hoped that Henson could-spare him an hour. It was not +usual, he said, for a testator to be refused assistance from the chief +benefactor under his will. Henson apologized, with a sickly smile. He had +important business of a philanthropic kind in Moreton Wells, but he had +no doubt that it could wait for an hour. And then for the best part of +the morning he sat fuming politely, whilst Littimer chattered in the most +amiable fashion. Henson had rarely seen him in a better mood. It was +quite obvious that he suspected nothing. Meanwhile Chris and Bell were +bowling along towards Moreton Wells. They sat well back in the roomy +waggonette, so that the servants could not hear them. Chris regarded Bell +with a brilliant smile on her face. + +"Confess," she said, "confess that you are consumed with curiosity." + +"It would be just as well to acknowledge it at once," Bell admitted. "In +the happy old days your sister Enid always said that you were the clever +and audacious one of the family. She said you would do or dare anything." + +"I used to imagine so," Chris said, more quietly. "But the life of the +last few years tried one's nerves terribly. Still, the change has done me +a deal of good--the change and the knowledge that Reginald Henson regards +me as dead. But you want to know how I am going to get the Rembrandt?" + +"That is what is consuming me at present," Bell said. + +"Well, we are going to see the man who has it," Chris explained, coolly. +"I have his address in Moreton Wells at the present moment, and for the +rest he is called the Rev. James Merritt. Between ourselves he is no more +a reverend than you are." + +"And if the gentleman is shy or refuses to see us?" + +"Then he will be arrested on a charge of theft." + +"My dear young lady, before you can get a warrant for that kind of thing +you have to prove the theft, you have to swear an information to the +effect that you believe the property is in the possession of the thief, +and that is not easy." + +"There is nothing easier. I am prepared to swear that cheerfully." + +"That you actually know that the property is in the possession of +the thief?" + +"Certainly I do. I saw him put it in his pocket." + +Bell looked at the speaker with blank surprise. If such was the fact, +then Chris's present statement was exactly opposed to all that she had +said before. She sat opposite to Bell, with a little gleam of mischief in +her lovely eyes. + +"You saw that man steal the Rembrandt?" Bell gasped. + +"Certainly not. But I did see him steal my big diamond star and put it in +his pocket. And I can swear an information on _that_." + +"I see that you have something interesting to tell me," Bell said. + +"Oh, indeed, I have. We will hark back now to the night before last, +when Reginald Henson made his personal attempt to obtain the Rembrandt +and then played the trick upon you that was so very near to being a +brilliant success." + +"It would have been but for you," Bell murmured. + +"Well, really, I am inclined to think so. And perhaps Lord Littimer would +have given you in custody on a second charge of theft. If he had done so +it would have gone hard with you to prove your innocence. But I am +wandering from the point. Henson failed. But he was going to try again. I +watched him carefully yesterday and managed to see his letters and +telegrams. Then I found that he had telegraphed to James Merritt, whose +address in Moreton Wells I carefully noted down. It did not require much +intellect to grasp the fact that this Merritt was to be the accomplice in +the new effort to steal the picture, Mr. Merritt came over and saw his +chief, with whom he had a long conversation in the grounds. I also forced +myself on Mr. Merritt's notice. + +"He was introduced to me as a brand plucked from the burning, a +converted thief who had taken orders of some kind. He is a sorry-looking +scoundrel, and I took particular note of him, especially the horrible +smashed thumb." + +"The what!" Bell exclaimed. "A thumb like a snake's head with a little +pink nail on it?" + +"The same man. So you happen to have met him?" + +"We met on our way here," Bell said, drily. "The rascal sent the dogcart +away from the station so that I should have to walk home, and he attacked +me in the road. But I half-expected something of the kind, and I was +ready for him. And he was the man with the thumb. I should have told you +all this before, but I had forgotten it in watching your fascinating +diplomacy. When the attack was defeated the rascal bolted in the +direction of the cliffs. Of course, he was off to tell Henson of the +failure of the scheme and to go on with the plot for getting the other +picture. If he had stolen my Rembrandt then the other would have +remained. I couldn't have turned up with a cock-and-bull story of having +started with the picture and being robbed of it by a total stranger in +the road ... But I am interrupting you." + +"Well, I marked that thumb carefully. I have already told you that the +thief passed me on his way to the house when he came up the cliff. I was +leaning over the terrace when I saw him emerge into a band of light +caused by the big arc in the castle tower. I forgot that I was in deep +shadow and that he could not possibly see me. I jerked my head back +suddenly, and my diamond star fell out and dropped almost at the feet of +the intruder. Then he saw it, chuckled over it--placed it in his pocket. +I was going to call out, but I didn't. I had a sudden idea, Dr. Bell--I +had an idea that almost amounted to an inspiration." + +Chris paused for a moment and her eyes sparkled. Bell was watching her +with the deepest interest and admiration." + +"I let the man keep it," Chris went on, more slowly, "with an eye to the +future. The man had stolen the thing and I was in a position to prove +it. He would be pretty sure to pawn the star--he probably has done so by +this time, and therefore we have him in our power. We have only to +discover where the diamonds have been 'planted'--is that the correct +expression?--I can swear an information, and the police will +subsequently search the fellow's lodgings. When the search is made the +missing Rembrandt will be found there. Mr. Merritt would hardly dare to +pawn that." + +"Even if he knew its real value, which I doubt," Bell said, thoughtfully. +"Henson would not tell his tool too much. Let me congratulate you upon +your idea, Miss Chris. That diamond star of yours is a powerful factor in +our hands, and you always have the consciousness of knowing that you can +get it back again. Now, what are we going to do next?" + +"Going to call upon Mr. Merritt, of course," Chris said, promptly. "You +forget that I have his address. I am deeply interested in the welfare of +the criminal classes, and you are also an enthusiast. I've looked up the +names of one or two people in the directory who go in for that kind of +thing, and I'm going to get up a bazaar at Littimer Castle for the +benefit of the predatory classes who have turned over a new leaf. I am +particularly anxious for Mr. Merritt to give us an address. Don't you +think that will do?" + +"I should think it would do very well indeed," Bell said. + +The quaint and somewhat exclusive town of Moreton Wells was reached in +due course and the street where the Rev. James Merritt resided located at +length. It was a modest two-storeyed tenement, and the occupier of the +rooms was at home. Chris pushed her way gaily in, followed by Bell, +before the occupant could lay down the foul clay pipe he was smoking and +button the unaccustomed stiff white collar round his throat. Merritt +whipped a tumbler under the table with amazing celerity, but no cunning +of his could remove the smell of gin that hung pungently on the murky +atmosphere. + +Merritt dodged his head back defiantly as if half expecting a blow. His +eyes were strained a little anxiously over Bell's shoulder as if fearful +of a shadow. Bell had seen the type before--Merritt was unconsciously +looking for the police. + +"I am so glad to find you at home," Chris said, sweetly. + +Merritt muttered something that hardly sounded complimentary. It was +quite evident that he was far from returning the compliment. He had +recognised Bell, and was wondering fearfully if the latter was as sure +of his identity. Bell's face betrayed nothing. All the same he was +following Merritt's uneasy eye till it rested on a roll of dirty paper +on the mantelshelf. That roll of paper was the missing Rembrandt, and +he knew it. + +"Won't you offer me a chair?" Chris asked, in the sweetest +possible manner. + +Merritt sulkily emptied a chair of a pile of cheap sporting papers, and +demanded none too politely what business the lady had with him. Chris +proceeded to explain at considerable length. As Merritt listened his +eyes gleamed and a broadening grin spread over his face. He had done a +great deal of that kind of thing, he admitted. Since Henson had taken +him up the police had not been anything like so inquisitive, and his +present pose was fruitful of large predatory gains. The latter fact +Merritt kept to himself. On the whole the prospect appealed to his +imagination. Henson wouldn't like it, but, then, Henson was not in a +position to say too much. + +"I thought perhaps if you came over with us and dined at the castle," +Chris suggested. She spoke slowly and thoughtfully, with her eyes on the +ground. "Say to-night. Will you come?" + +Merritt grinned extensively once more. The idea of his dining at the +castle appealed to his own peculiar sense of humour. He was at his ease, +seeing that Bell failed to recognise him. To dine at the castle, to note +the plate, and get a minute geographical knowledge of the place from +personal observation! ... His mouth watered at the thought. + +"They ought to be more careful yonder," he suggested. "There's plate and +there's pictures." + +"Nothing has ever been stolen from Littimer Castle," Bell said, crisply. +He read the leer in Merritt's eyes as he spoke of pictures. "Nothing +whatever." + +"What, not lately?" Merritt asked. "Didn't I hear tell of a--" + +He paused, conscious of saying too much. Bell shook his head again. An +utterly puzzled expression crept over Mr. Merritt's engaging countenance. +At the present moment an art treasure of price stood in that very room, +and here was a party from the castle utterly innocent of the robbery. +Chris glanced at Bell and smiled. + +"I love the pictures," she said, "especially the prints. That Rembrandt, +'The Crimson Blind,' for instance. I found a fresh light in it this +morning and called Lord Littimer's attention to it before we started. I +should lock that up if it were mine." + +Merritt's eyes fairly bulged as he listened. Had he not half-suspected +some deep "plant" he would have been vastly amused. But then he had got +the very picture these people were speaking about close to hand at the +very moment. + +"Tell you what," he said, suddenly. "I ain't used to swell society ways, +but I'm always ready to sacrifice myself to the poor fellows who ain't +found the straight path like me. And if you gets up your bazaar, I'll do +what I can to 'elp." + +"Then you will dine with us to-night?" Chris asked, eagerly. "Don't say +no, I met a man once with a past like yours at Lady Roslingham's, and he +was so interesting. We will call for you in an hour's time with the +waggonette. Then we can settle half our plans before dinner." + +Merritt was graciously pleased to be agreeable. Moreover, he was utterly +puzzled and absolutely consumed with an overpowering curiosity. It seemed +also to him to be a sheer waste of providence to discard such an offer. +And the plate at Littimer Castle was superb! + +Meanwhile Chris and Bell walked down the street together. "He was puzzled +over the Rembrandt," Chris said. "Seeing that he has our picture--" + +"No doubt about it. The picture was rolled up and stood on the +mantelshelf. I followed Merritt's gaze, knowing perfectly well that it +would rest presently on the picture if it was in the room. At the same +time, our interesting friend, in chuckling over the way he has deceived +us, clean forgot the yellow pawnticket lying on the table." + +"Dr. Bell, do you mean to say that--" + +"That I know where your diamond star was pledged. Indeed I do. Merritt +had probably just turned out his pockets as we entered. The pawnticket +was on the table and related to a diamond aigrette pawned by one James +Merritt--mark the simple cunning of the man--with Messrs. Rutter and Co., +117, High Street. That in itself is an exceedingly valuable discovery, +and one we can afford to keep to ourselves for the present. At the same +time I should very much like to know what Rutter and Co. are like. Let me +go down to the shop and make some simple purchase." + +Rutter and Co. proved to be a very high-class shop indeed, despite the +fact that there was a pawnbroking branch of the business. The place was +quite worthy of Bond Street, the stock was brilliant and substantial, the +assistants quite above provincial class. As Bell was turning over some +sleeve-links, Chris was examining a case of silver and gold +cigarette-cases and the like. She picked up a cigar-case at length and +asked the price. At the mention of fifty guineas she dropped the trifle +with a little _moue_ of surprise. + +"It looks as if it had been used," she said. + +"It is not absolutely new, madam," the assistant admitted, "therefore +the price is low. But the gentleman who sold it to us proved that he had +only had it for a few days. The doctor had ordered him not to smoke in +future, and so--" + +Chris turned away to something else. Bell completed his purchase, and +together they left the shop. Once outside Chris gripped her companion's +arm excitedly. + +"Another great discovery," she said. "Did you see me looking at that +cigar-case--a gun-metal one set with diamonds? You recollect that Ruth +Gates purchased a case like that for that--that foolishness we thought of +in connection with Mr. Steel. The case had a little arrow shaped scratch +with the head of the arrow formed of the biggest diamond. Enid told me +all this the night before I left Longdean Grange. Dr. Bell, I am +absolutely certain that I have had in my hand just now the very case +bought by Ruth from Lockhart's in Brighton!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +A BRILLIANT IDEA + + +Bell was considerably impressed with the importance of Chris's discovery, +though at the same time he was not disposed to regard it in the light of +a coincidence. + +"It's a useful discovery in its way," he said; "but not very remarkable +when you come to think of it. Somebody with an eye to damaging Steel +changed that cigar-case. How the change affected Steel you know as well +as I do. But the cigar-case purchased by Ruth Gates must be somewhere, +and we are as likely to find it near Reginald Henson as anywhere else, +seeing that he is at the bottom of the whole business. That change was +made either by himself or by somebody at his instigation. Once the change +was made he would not bother about the spare cigar-case. His ally +probably came here to see Henson; the latter as likely as not threw him +over, knowing that the fellow would not dare to talk; hence the thing is +turned into money. I am merely speculating, of course, under the +assumption that you are quite sure of your facts." + +"Absolutely," Chris cried, eagerly. "Two long, irregular scratches +leading up in arrow-headed shape to the big diamond in the centre. Ruth +told Enid all about that the very last time they discussed the matter +together." + +"How came Ruth Gates to remember it so clearly?" + +"Well, she did it herself. She was rubbing some specks off the case at +the last moment, and the scratches were made accidentally with the stones +in one of her rings." + +Bell was fain to admit that the discovery was an important one. "We'll +leave it for the present," he said. "In a small place like this so +valuable an article is likely to remain in stock for some time. I'll call +in again to-morrow on the pretence of getting further goods and obtain +all the information there is to be gained as to who sold the case and +what he was like. There is just time for a little lunch before we take up +our reverend friend. Where shall we go?" + +Chris would like to see the Lion. There was a marvellous coffee-room +there with panelled walls and a ceiling by Pugin, and an Ingle-nook +filled with rare Dutch tiles. They had the beautiful old place to +themselves, so that they could talk freely. Chris crumbled her bread and +sipped her soup with an air of deep abstraction. + +"A great idea is forming itself in my mind," she said. + +"What, another one?" Bell smiled. "Is it the air of the place or what? +Really, there is a brilliancy about you that is striking." + +Chris laughed. She was full of the joy of life to-day. + +"It is the freedom," she said. "If you only knew what it is to feel free +after the dull, aching, monotonous misery of the last few years. To be +constantly on the treadmill, to be in the grasp of a pitiless scoundrel. +At first you fight against it passionately, with a longing to be doing +something, and gradually you give way to despair. And now the weight is +off my shoulders, and I am free to act. Fancy the reward of finding +Reginald Henson out!" + +"Reginald Henson is the blight upon your house. In what way?" + +"Ah, I cannot tell you. It is a secret that we never discuss even among +ourselves. But he has the power over us, he has blighted all our lives. +But if I could get hold of a certain thing the power would be broken. +That is what I am after, what I am working for. And it is in connection +with my endeavour that the new idea came to me." + +"Can't you give me some general idea of it?" Bell asked. + +"Well, I want to make Merritt my friend. I want him to imagine that I am +as much of an adventuress as he is an adventurer. I want to let him see +that I could send him to prison--" + +"So you can by telling the police of the loss of your star." + +"And getting Merritt arrested and sent to gaol where I couldn't make use +of him? No, no. The thing is pretty vague in my mind at present. I have +to work it out as one would a story; as David Steel would work it out, +for instance. Ah!" + +Chris clapped her hands rapturously, and a little cry of delight +escaped her. + +"The very thing," she exclaimed. "If I could lay all the facts before Mr. +Steel and get him to plan out all the details! His fertile imagination +would see a way out at once. But he is far away and there is no time to +be lost. Is there no way of getting at him?" + +Chris appealed almost imploringly to her companion. She made a pretty +picture with the old oak engravings behind her. Bell smiled as he helped +himself to asparagus. + +"Why not adopt the same method by which you originally introduced +yourself to the distinguished novelist?" he asked. "Why not use +Littimer's telephone?" + +Chris pushed her plate away impetuously. + +"I am too excited to eat any more," she said. "I am filled with the new +idea. Of course, I could use the telephone to speak to Mr. Steel, and to +Enid as well. If the scheme works out as I anticipate, I shall have to +hold a long conversation with Enid, a dangerous thing so long as Reginald +Henson is about." + +"I'll keep Henson out of the way. The best thing is to wait till +everybody has gone to bed to-night and call Steel up then. You will be +certain to get him after eleven, and there will be no chance of your +being cut off at that hour of the night in consequence of somebody else +wanting the line. The same remark applies to your sister." + +Chris nodded radiantly. + +"Thrice blessed telephone," she said. "I can get in all I want without +committing myself to paper or moving from the spot where my presence is +urgently needed. We will give Mr. Steel a pleasant surprise to-night, and +this time I shall get him into no trouble." + +The luncheon was finished at length, and an intimation sent to Merritt +that his friends were waiting for him at the Lion. As his powerful figure +was seen entering the big Norman porch Henson came down the street +driving a dog-cart at a dangerous rate of speed. + +"Our man is going to have his trouble for his pains," Bell chuckled. "He +has come to interview Merritt. How pleased he will be to see Merritt at +dinner-time." + +Merritt shambled in awkwardly, obviously suppressing a desire to touch +his forelock. There was a sheepish grin on his face, a suppressed triumph +in his eyes. He had been recently shaved and his hair cut, but despite +these improvements, and despite his clerical garb, he was not exactly the +class of man to meet in a dark lane after sunset. + +Chris, however, showed nothing of this in her greeting. Long before +Littimer Castle was reached she had succeeded in putting Merritt quite at +his ease. He talked of himself and his past exploits, he boasted of his +cunning. It was only now and again that he pulled himself up and piously +referred to the new life that he was now leading. Bell was studying him +carefully; he read the other's mind like an open book. When the +waggonette finally pulled up before the castle Littimer strolled up and +stood there regarding Merritt quietly. + +"So this is the gentleman you were going to bring to dinner?" he +said, grimly. "I have seen him before in the company of our dear +Reginald. I also--" + +Chris shot Littimer an imploring glance. Merritt grinned in friendly +fashion. Bell, in his tactful way, piloted the strange guest to the +library before Littimer and Chris had reached the hall. The former +polished his eyeglass and regarded Chris critically. + +"My dear young lady," he said smoothly, "originality is a passion with +me, eccentricity draws me as a magnet; but as yet I have refrained from +sitting down to table with ticket-of-leave men. Your friend has 'convict' +writ large upon his face." + +"He has been in gaol, of course," Chris admitted, cheerfully. + +"Then let me prophesy, and declare that he will be in gaol again. Why +bring him here?" + +"Because it is absolutely necessary," Chris said, boldly. "That man can +help me--help _us_, Lord Littimer. I am not altogether what I seem. There +is a scoundrel in your house compared with whom James Merritt is an +innocent child. That scoundrel has blighted your life and the lives of +your family; he has blighted my life for years. And I am here to expose +him, and I am here to right the wrong and bring back the lost happiness +of us all. I cannot say more, but I implore you to let me have my own way +in this matter." + +"Oh!" Littimer said, darkly, "so you are masquerading here?" + +"I am. I admit it. Turn me out if you like; refuse to be a party to my +scheme. You may think badly of me now, probably you will think worse of +me later on. But I swear to you that I am acting with the best and purest +motives, and in your interest as much as my own." + +"Then you are not entitled even to the name you bear?" + +"No, I admit it freely. Consider, I need not have told you anything. +Things cannot be any worse than they are. Let me try and make them +better. Will you, will you _trust_ me?" + +Chris's voice quivered, there were tears in her eyes. With a sudden +impulse Littimer laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked long and +searchingly into her eyes. + +"Very well," he said, with a gentle sigh. "I will trust you. As a matter +of fact, I have felt that I could trust you from the first. I won't pry +into your schemes, because if they are successful I shall benefit by +them. And if you like to bring a cartload of convicts down here, pray do +so. It will only puzzle the neighbours, and drive them mad with +curiosity, and I love that." + +"And you'll back me up in all I say and do?" Chris asked. + +"Certainly I will. On the whole, I fancy I am going to have a pleasant +evening. I don't think dear Reginald will be pleased to see his friend at +dinner. If any of the spoons are missing I shall hold you responsible." + +Chris went off to her room well pleased with the turn of events. +Brilliant audacity had succeeded where timid policy might have resulted +in dismal failure. And Littimer had refrained from asking any awkward +questions. From the window she could see Bell and Merritt walking up and +down the terrace, the latter talking volubly and worrying at a big cigar +as a dog might nuzzle at a bone. Chris saw Littimer join the other two +presently and fall in with their conversation. His laugh came to the +girl's ear more than once. It was quite evident that the eccentric +nobleman was enjoying the ex-convict's society. But Littimer had never +been fettered by conventional rules. + +The dog-cart came up presently and Henson got out. He had an anxious, +worried look; there was an ugly frown between his brows. He contrived to +be polite as Chris emerged. He wanted to know where Littimer was. + +"On the terrace, I fancy," Chris said, demurely. "I guess he is having a +long chat with that parson friend of yours--the brand plucked from the +burning, you know." + +"Merritt," Henson said, hoarsely. "Do you mean to say that Merritt is +here? And I've been looking for--I mean, I have been into Moreton Wells. +Why did he come?" + +Chris opened her eyes in innocent surprise. + +"Why," she said, "I fetched him. I'm deeply interested in brands of +that kind." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE + + +Henson forced a smile to his face and a hand from his side as he +approached Merritt and the rest. It was not until the two found +themselves alone that the mask was dropped. + +"You infernally insolent scoundrel," Henson said, between his teeth. "How +dare you come here? You've done your work for the present, and the sooner +you go back to your kennel in London the better. If I imagined that you +meant any harm I'd crush you altogether." + +"I didn't come on my own," Merritt whined. "So keep your 'air on. That +young lady came and fetched me--regular gone on me, she is. And there's +to be high jinks 'ere--a bazaar for the benefit of pore criminals as +can't get no work to do. You 'eard what his lordship said. And I'm goin' +to make a speech, like as I used to gull the chaplains. Lor', it's funny, +ain't it?" + +Henson failed to see the humour of the situation. He was uneasy and +suspicious. Moreover, he was puzzled by this American girl, and he hated +to be puzzled. She had social aspirations, of course; she cared nothing +for decayed or reformed criminals, and this silly bazaar was only +designed so that the ambitious girl could find her way into the county +set. Then she would choose a husband, and nothing more would be heard of +Merritt and Co. Henson had a vague notion that all American girls are on +the look-out for English husbands of the titled order. + +"Littimer must be mad," he muttered. "I can't understand Littimer; I +can't understand anything. Which reminds me that I have a crow to pluck +with you. Why didn't you do as I told you last night?" + +"Did," said Merritt, curtly. "Got the picture and took it home with me." + +"You liar! The picture is in the corridor at the present time." + +"Liar yourself! I've got the picture on my mantelshelf in my sitting-room +rolled up as you told me to roll it up and tied with a piece of cotton. +It was your own idea as the thing was to be left about casual-like as +being less calculated to excite suspicion. And there it is at the present +moment, and I'll take my oath to it." + +Henson fairly gasped. He had been inside that said sitting-room not two +hours before, and he had not failed to notice a roll of paper on the +mantelshelf. And obviously Merritt was telling the truth. And equally +obviously the Rembrandt was hanging in the corridor at the present +moment. Henson had solved and evolved many ingenious puzzles in his time, +but this one was utterly beyond him. + +"Some trick of Dr. Bell's, perhaps," Merritt suggested. + +"Bell suspects nothing. He is absolutely friendly to me. He could not +disguise his feelings like that. Upon my word I was never so utterly at +sea before in all my life. And as for Littimer, why, he has just made a +fresh will more in my favour than the old one. But I'll find out. I'll +get to the bottom of this business if it costs me a fortune." + +He frowned moodily at his boots; he turned the thing over in his mind +until his brain was dazed and muddled. The Rembrandt had been stolen, and +yet there was the Rembrandt in its place. Was anything more amazing and +puzzling? And nobody else seemed in the least troubled about it. Henson +was more than puzzled; deep down in his heart he was frightened. + +"I must keep my eyes open," he said. "I must watch night and day. Do you +suppose Miss Lee noticed anything when she called to-day?" + +"Not a bit of it," said Merritt, confidently "She came to see me; she +had no eyes for anybody but your humble servant. Where did she get my +address from? Why, didn't you introduce me to the lady yourself, and +didn't I tell her I was staying at Moreton Wells for a time? I'm goin' +to live in clover for a bit, my pippin. Cigars and champagne, wine and +all the rest of it." + +"I wish you were at the bottom of the sea before you came here," Henson +growled. "You mind and be careful what you're doing with the champagne. +They don't drink by the tumbler in the society you are in now, remember. +Just one or two glasses and no more. If you take too much and let your +tongue run you will find your stay here pretty short." + +Apparently the hint was not lost on Merritt, for dinner found him in a +chastened mood. His natural audacity was depressed by the splendour and +luxury around him; the moral atmosphere held him down. There were so +many knives and forks and glasses on the table, such a deal of food that +was absolutely strange to him. The butler behind made him shiver. +Hitherto in Merritt's investigations into great houses he had fought +particularly shy of butlers and coachmen and upper servants of that +kind. The butler's sniff and his cold suggestion as to hock slightly +raised Merritt's combative spirit. And the champagne was poor, thin +stuff after all. A jorum of gin and water, or a mug of beer, was what +Merritt's soul longed for. + +And what a lot of plate there was on the table and sideboard! Some of it +was gold, too. Merritt's greedy professional eye appraised the collection +at some hundreds of pounds--hundreds of pounds--that is, after the stuff +had been disposed of. In imagination he had already drugged the butler +and was stuffing the plate into his bag. + +Henson said very little. He was too busily engaged in watching his +confederate. He wished from the bottom of his heart now that Chris had +never seen Merritt. She was smiling at him now and apparently hanging on +every word. Henson had seen society ladies doing this kind of thing +before with well-concealed contempt. So long as people liked to play his +game for him he had no objection. But this was quite different. Merrit +had warmed a little under the influence of his fifth glass of champagne, +but his eye looked lovingly and longingly in the direction of a silver +spirit-stand on the sideboard. The dinner came to an end at length, to +Henson's great relief, and presently the whole party wandered out to the +terrace. Bell dropped behind with Chris. + +"Now is your time," he whispered. "Henson dare not lose sight of Merritt +before he goes to bed, and I'll keep the latter out here for a good long +spell. I've muffled the striker of the telephone so that the bell will +make no noise when you get your call back from Brighton, so that you +must be near enough to the instrument to hear the click of the striker. +Make haste." + +Chris dropped back to the library and rapidly fluttered over the leaves +of the "Telephone Directory." She found what she wanted at length and +asked to be put on to Brighton. Then she sat down in an armchair in the +darkness close under the telephone, prepared to wait patiently. She +could just see the men on the terrace, could catch the dull glow red of +their cigars. + +Her patience was not unduly tried. At the end of a quarter of an hour the +striker clicked furiously. Chris reached for the receiver and lay back +comfortably in her chair with the diaphragm to her ear. "Are you there?" +she asked, quietly. "Is that you, Mr. Steel?" To her great relief the +answering voice was Steel's own. He seemed to be a little puzzled as to +who his questioner was. + +"Can't you guess?" Chris replied. "This is not the first time I have had +you called. You have not forgotten 218, Brunswick Square, yet?" + +Chris smiled as she heard Steel's sudden exclamation. + +"So you are my fair friend whom I saw in the dark?" he said. "Yes, I +recognise your voice now. You are Miss Chris--well, I won't mention the +name aloud, because people might ask what a well-regulated corpse meant +by rousing respectable people up at midnight. I hope you are not going to +get me into trouble again." + +"No, but I am going to ask your advice and assistance. I want you to be +so good as to give me the plot of a story after I have told you the +details. And you are to scheme the thing out at once, please, because +delay is dangerous. Dr. Bell--" + +"What's that? Will you tell me where you are speaking from?" + +"I am at present located at Littimer Castle. Yes, Dr. Bell is here. Do +you want him?" + +"I should think so," Steel exclaimed. "Please tell him at once that the +man who was found here half dead--you know the man I mean--got up and +dressed himself in the absence of the nurse and walked out of the +hospital this morning. Since then he has not been seen or heard of. I +have been looking up Bell everywhere. Will you tell him this at once? +I'll go into your matter afterwards. Don't be afraid; I'll tell the +telephone people not to cut us off till I ring. Please go at once." + +The voice was urgent, not to say imperative. Chris dropped the +receiver into its space and crept into the darkness in the direction +of the terrace. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +A LITTLE FICTION + + +Bell seemed to know by intuition that Chris required him, or perhaps he +caught a glimpse of her white dress from the terrace. Anyway, he strolled +leisurely in her direction. + +"Something has happened?" he whispered, as he came up. + +"Well, yes," Chris replied, "though I should like to know how you +guessed that. I had no difficulty in getting Mr. Steel on the +telephone, but he would say nothing directly he heard that you were +here beyond a peremptory request that you were to be told at once that +Van Sneck has gone." + +"Gone!" Bell echoed, blankly. "What do you mean by that?" + +"He has disappeared from the hospital at Brighton to-day. Mr. Steel +thinks they were extra busy, or something of that kind. Anyway, Van Sneck +got up and dressed himself and left the hospital without being observed. +It seems extraordinary to me." + +"And yet quite possible," Bell said, thoughtfully. "Van Sneck had +practically recovered from the flesh wounds; it was the injury to his +head that was the worst part. He resembled an irresponsible lunatic more +than anything else. Steel wants me, of course?" + +"He suggests that you should go down to Brighton without delay." + +"All right, I'll make some excuse to take the first train in the morning. +We've got a fine start of Henson, and that's a good thing. If Van Sneck +comes within his net we shall have a deal of trouble. I had hoped to get +permission to operate on Van Sneck, and relied upon him to solve the +mystery. And now you had better go back to your telephone." + +Chris hurried back again. A whispered word satisfied her that Steel was +still at the other end. + +"Dr. Bell starts as early as possible to-morrow," she said. "If you will +listen carefully I will give you a brief outline of all that has happened +since I have been here." + +Chris proceeded to tell her story succinctly and briefly. From little +sounds and signs she could tell that Steel was greatly interested. The +story of the man with the thumb fascinated him. It appealed to his +professional instincts. + +"And what do you want to do with him?" Steel asked. + +"Well, you see, I have him in my power," Chris explained. "We can get the +other Rembrandt any time we like now, but that is quite a minor +consideration. What I want is for Merritt to know that I can have him +arrested at any time for stealing my star. It's Enid's star, as a matter +of fact; but that is a detail." + +"An important one, surely," Steel's voice came thin and clear. +"Suppose that our dear friend chances to recognise it? ... No, don't +ring off yet." + +"I'm not. Oh, you are speaking to the Exchange people ... Yes, yes; we +shall be a long time yet ... Are you there? Well, Henson has never seen +the star. Enid bought it just before the great trouble came, and +afterwards she never had the heart to wear it." + +"I understand. You want Merritt to know this?" + +"Well, I do and I don't," Chris explained. "I am anxious not to frighten +the man. I want to get him in my power, and I want to prove to him that +it would be to his advantage for him to come over to my side. Suppose +that Enid gave it out that the star had been stolen? And suppose that I +could save him at the critical moment? I shouldn't mind him thinking that +I had stolen the star in the first place. That is why I am asking you as +a novelist to help me." + +"You would have made an excellent novelist yourself," David said, +admiringly. "Give me five minutes.... Are you there? I fancy I have it. +Can't you hear me? That's better. I'll see Miss Gates the first thing in +the morning and get her to go over to Longdean and see your sister.... +Confound it, don't cut us off yet. What does it matter so long as the +messages are paid for? Nobody else wants the line. Well, I may for an +hour more.... Are you there? Very sorry; it's the fault of the Post +Office people. Here is the plot in a nutshell. Your sister has lost a +diamond star. She gives a minute description of it to the police, and +drops a hint to the effect that she believes it was taken away by +mistake--in other words, was stolen--from her in London by a chance +acquaintance called Christabel Lee--" + +"Ah," Chris cried, "how clever you are!" + +"I have long suspected it," the thin voice went on, drily. "The full +description of the star will be printed in the _Police Gazette_, a copy +of which every respectable pawnbroker always gets regularly. I suppose +the people where the star was pawned are respectable?" + +"Highly so. They have quite a Bond Street establishment attached." + +"So much the better. They will see the advertisement, and they will +communicate with the police. The Reverend James Merritt will be +arrested--" + +"I don't quite like that," Chris suggested. + +"Oh, it's necessary. He will be arrested at the castle. Knowing his +antecedents, the police will not stand upon any ceremony with him. You +will be filled with remorse. You have plunged back into a career of crime +again a being who was slowly climbing into the straight path once more. +You take the blame upon yourself--it was at your instigation that Merritt +pawned the star." + +"But, really, Mr. Steel--" + +"Oh, I know. But the end justifies the means. You save Mr. Merritt, there +is a bond of sympathy between you, he will regard you as a great light in +his interesting profession. You saved him because you had appropriated +the star yourself." + +"And go to gaol instead of Mr. Merritt?" + +"Not a bit of it. The star you deemed to be yours. You had one very like +it when you saw Miss Henson, when you were staying in London at the same +hotel. By some means the jewels got mixed. You are confident that an +exchange has been made. Also you are confident that if Miss Henson will +search her jewel-case she will find a valuable star that does not belong +to her. Miss Henson does so, she is distressed beyond measure, she offers +all kinds of apologies. Exit the police. You need not tell Merritt how +you get out of the difficulty, and thus you increase his respect for you. +There, that would make a very ingenious and plausible magazine story. It +should be more convincing in real life." + +"Capital!" Chris murmured. "What an advantage it is to have a novelist to +advise one! Many, many thanks for all your kindness. Good-night!" + +Chris rang off with a certain sense of relief. It was some time later +before she had a chance of conveying to Bell what had happened. He +listened gravely to all that Chris had to say. + +"Just the sort of feather-brained idea that would occur to a novelist," +he said. "For my part, I should prefer to confront Merritt with his +theft, and keep the upper hand of him that way." + +"And he would mistrust me and betray me at the first opportunity. +Besides, in that case, he would know at once that I wanted to get to the +bottom of his connection with Reginald Henson. Mr. Steel's plan may be +bizarre, but it is safe." + +"I never thought of that," Bell admitted. "I begin to imagine that +you are more astute than I gave you credit for, which is saying a +great deal." + +Chris was down early the following morning, only to find Bell at +breakfast with every sign of making an early departure. He was very +sorry, he explained, gravely, to his host and Chris, but his letters gave +him no option, He would come back in a day or two if he might. A moment +later Henson came into the room, ostentatiously studying a Bradshaw. + +"And where are you going?" Littimer asked. "Why do you all abandon me? +Reginald, do you mean to say that you are going to refuse me the light of +your countenance?" + +"Is Dr. Bell going, too?" Henson asked, with just a suggestion of +uneasiness. "I mean--er--" + +"Business," Bell said. "I came here at great personal +inconvenience. And you?" + +"London," Henson replied. "A meeting to-day that I cannot get out of. A +couple of letters by this morning's post have decided me." + +Chris said nothing; she appeared to be quite indifferent until she had a +chance to speak to Bell alone. She looked a little anxious. + +"He has found out about Van Sneck," she said. "Truly he is a marvellous +man! And he had no letters this morning. I opened the post-bag +personally. But I'm glad he's going, because I shall have James Merritt +all to myself." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE FASCINATION OF JAMES MERRITT + + +On the whole Mr. James Merritt, ex-convict and now humanitarian, was +enjoying himself immensely. He did not sleep at the castle, for Lord +Littimer drew the line there, but he contrived to get most of his meals +under that hospitable roof, and spent a deal of time there. It was by no +means the first time he had been "taken up" by the aristocracy since his +conversion, and his shyness was wearing off. Moreover, Henson had given +his henchman strict instructions to keep his eyes open with a view to +getting at the bottom of the Rembrandt mystery. + +Still, there is always a crumpled rose-leaf somewhere, and Merritt had +his. A few days after Henson departed so hurriedly from town the stolen +Rembrandt disappeared from Merritt's rooms. Nobody knew anything about +it; the thing had vanished, leaving no trace of the thief behind. +Perhaps Merritt would have been less easy in Littimer's society had he +known that the missing print was securely locked away in the latter's +strong room. Still, had Merritt been acquainted with the classics, +_carpe diem_ would like as not have been his favourite motto. He +declined to worry over the matter until Henson's return. It was not for +him to know, yet, that Chris had actually gone over to Moreton Wells, +and, during the absence of Merritt's landlady, calmly walked into the +house and taken the picture away. + +"You are going to see some fun presently," she said, coolly, to the +astonished Littimer, as she laid the missing picture before him. "No, I +shall not tell you anything more at present. You shall hear the whole +story when Reginald Henson stands in the pillory before you. You know now +that Henson was at the bottom of the plot to destroy Dr. Bell's +character?" + +"I always felt that our Reginald was a great scoundrel," Littimer +purred over his cigarette. "And if you succeed in exposing him +thoroughly I shall watch the performance with the greatest possible +pleasure. I am not curious, my dear young lady, but I would give +sixpence to know who you are." + +"Keep your sixpence," Chris laughed, "and you'll know all in good time. +All I ask is not to be astonished at anything that happens." + +Littimer averred that he had long since lost the power of astonishment. +There was a brightness and restlessness about Chris to-day that +considerably added to her charms. It was nearly a week now since Bell and +Henson had departed, and in the meantime Chris had heard nothing from +Longdean. Half an hour before a telegram had arrived to the effect that a +gentleman in a blue coat might be expected at Littimer Castle at any +moment. The police were coming, and Merritt was late to-day. If Merritt +failed to turn up the whole situation would be spoilt. It was with a +feeling of unutterable relief that Chris saw him coming up the drive." + +"Come on the terrace," she said. "I have something very serious to say to +you. Mr. Merritt, you have got us both into very serious trouble. Why did +you do it?" + +"Ain't done nothing," Merritt said, doggedly. He repeated the old +formula, "What's up?" + +"Er--it's about my diamond star," said Chris. "I lost it a few days ago. +If I had known what was going to happen I should have put up with my +loss. But I made inquiries through the police without saying a word to +anybody, and now I find the star was pawned in Moreton Wells." + +"Oh, lor," Merritt gasped. "You don't mean to say the police know +that, miss?" + +"Indeed I do. You see, once I allowed matters to go out of my hands I was +powerless. The case now rests entirely with the police. And I am informed +that they may come here and arrest you at any moment. I fear there is no +escape for you--you pawned the thing yourself in your own name. What a +thousand pities you yielded to sudden temptation." + +"But I found it," Merritt whined. "I'll take my oath as I found it under +the terrace. I--I--was rambling along the cliffs one day and I found it. +And I didn't know it was yours. If I had known it was yours, I'd never +have gone and done no such a thing." + +Chris shook her head sadly. + +"And just as you were getting on so nicely," she said. + +"That's it," Merritt whined, brokenly. "Just as I was properly spoofing +everybody as I--I mean just as I was getting used to a better life. But +you can save me, miss; you can say as you were hard up for money and +that, knowing as I knew the ropes, you got me to pawn it for you. Put it +in that way and there's not a policeman in England as can touch me." + +"I had thought of it," Chris said, with a pretty assumption of distress. +"But, but--Mr. Merritt, I have a terrible confession to make. It was not +I who started the police: it was somebody else. You see, the star was not +my property at all. I--I got it in London." + +Mr. Merritt looked up with involuntary admiration. + +"You don't mean to say as you nicked it?" he asked. "Well, well." + +Chris bent her face lower to conceal her agitation, Her shoulders were +heaving, but not with emotion. The warmth of Merritt's admiration had +moved her to silent laughter, and she had made the exact impression that +she had desired. + +"I have telegraphed to the lady, who is more or less of a friend of +mine," she said. "I have urged her to take no further steps in the +matter. I fancy that she is a good and kind girl and that--but a reply +might come at any time." + +There was a reply on the way now, as Chris knew perfectly well. The whole +thing had been carefully arranged and planned to the moment by Steel and +the others. + +"I dare say they'll let you down easy," Merritt said, disconsolately; +"but it'll be hot for me. I've copped it too many times before, you see." + +"Yes, I see," Chris said, thoughtfully. "Mr. Merritt, I have made up my +mind: if I had not--er--borrowed that star, it would not have been lost, +and you would not have found it, and there would have been no trouble. My +conscience would not rest if I allowed you to be dragged back into the +old life again. I am going to save you--I am going to tell the police +that you pawned that star for me at my instigation." + +Merritt was touched even to tears. There was not an atom of chivalry in +the rascal's composition. He had little or no heed for the trouble that +his companion appeared to be piling up for herself, but he was touched to +the depths of his soul. Here was a clever girl, who in her own way +appeared to be a member of his profession, who was prepared to sacrifice +herself to save another. Self-sacrifice is a beautiful and tender thing, +and Merritt had no intention of thwarting it. + +"Do that, and I'm your pal for life," he said, huskily. "And I never went +back on a pal yet. Ask anybody as really knows me. 'Tain't as if you +weren't one of us, neither. I'd give a trifle to know what your little +game is here, eh?" + +Chris smiled meaningly. Merritt's delusion was distinctly to be fostered. + +"You shall help me then, presently," she said in a mysterious whisper. +"Help me and keep your own counsel, and there will be the biggest job you +ever had in your life. Only let you and I get out of this mess, and we +shall see what we shall see presently." + +Merritt looked speechless admiration. He had read of this class of +high-toned criminals in the gutter stories peddled by certain publishers, +but he had never hoped to meet one in the flesh. He was still gazing +open-mouthed at Chris as two men came along the avenue. + +They were both in plain clothes, but they had "policeman" writ large all +over them. + +"Cops, for a million," Merritt gurgled, with a pallid face. "You can tell +'em when you're asleep. And they are after me; they're coming this way. +I'll be all right presently." + +"I hope so," Chris said, with a curling lip. "You look guilty +enough now." + +Merritt explained that it was merely the first emotion, and would pass +off presently. Nor did he boast in vain. He was quite cool as the +officers came up and called him by name. + +"That's me," Merritt said. "What's the trouble?" + +One of the officers explained. He had no warrant, he said, but all the +same he would have to trouble Mr. Merritt to accompany him to Moreton +Wells. A diamond star not yet definitely identified had been handed over +to the police, the same having been pawned by James Merritt. + +"That's quite right," Merritt said, cheerfully. "I pawned it for +this young lady here--Miss Lee. Of course, if it is not her +property, why, then--" + +The officer was palpably taken back. He knew more than he cared to say. +The star had been pledged by Merritt, as he cheerfully admitted, but the +owner of the star had lost the gem in London under suspicious +circumstances in which Miss Lee was mixed up. And at present it was not +the policy of the police to arrest Miss Lee. That would come later. + +"I am afraid that there has been a misapprehension altogether," Chris +said. "Allow me to explain: Mr. Merritt, would you step aside for a +moment? I have to speak of private matters. Thank you. Now, sir, I am +quite prepared to admit that the ornament pledged does not belong to me, +but to Miss Henson, whom I met in London. I took the star by mistake. You +may smile, but I have one very like it. If Miss Henson had searched her +jewels properly she would have found that she had my star--that I had +hers. I heard of the business quite by accident, and telegraphed to Miss +Henson to look searchingly amongst her jewels. She has a large amount, +and might easily have overlooked my star. Here is a boy with a telegram. +Will you take it from him and read it aloud? It is addressed to me, you +will find." + +It was. It was signed "Enid Henson"; it went on to say that the sender +was fearfully sorry for all the trouble she had caused, but that she had +found Miss Lee's star with her jewels. Also she had telegraphed at once +to the police at Moreton Wells to go no farther. + +"Looks like a mistake," the officer muttered. "But if we get that +telegram--" + +"Which has reached the police-station by this time," Chris interrupted. +"Come into the castle and ask the question over the telephone. I suppose +you are connected?" + +The officer said they were; in fact, they had only recently joined the +Exchange. A brief visit to the telephone, and the policeman came back, +with a puzzled air and a little more deference in his manner, with the +information that he was to go back at once, as the case was closed. + +"I've seen some near things in my time, but nothing nearer than this," he +said. "Still, it's all right now. Very sorry to have troubled you, miss." + +The officers departed with the air of men who had to be satisfied, +despite themselves. Merritt came forward with an admiration almost +fawning. He did not know quite how the thing had happened, but Chris had +done the police. Smartness and trickery of that kind were the highest +form of his idolatry. His admiration was nearly beyond words. + +"Well, strike me," he gasped. "Did ever anyone ever see anything like +that? You, as cool as possible, and me with my heart in my mouth all +the time. And there ain't going to be no trouble, no sort of bother +over the ticket?" + +"You hand over that ticket to me," Chris smiled, "and there will be an +end of the matter. And if you try to play me false in any way, why, it +will be a bad day for you. Give me your assistance, and it will be the +best day's work you ever did in your life." + +Merritt's heart was gained. His pride was touched. + +"Me go back on you?" he cried, hoarsely. "After what you've done? Only +say the word, only give old Jim Merritt a call, and it's pitch-and-toss +to manslaughter for those pretty eyes of yours. Good day's work! Aye, for +both of us." + +And Chris thought so too. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +A USEFUL DISCOVERY + + +Waiting with the eagerness of the greyhound in leash, David Steel was +more annoyed and vexed over the disappearance of the wounded Van Sneck +than he cared to admit. He had an uneasy feeling that the unseen foe had +checkmated him again. And he had built up so many hopes upon this +strangely-uninvited guest of his. If that man spoke he could tell the +truth. And both Cross and Bell had declared that he would not die. + +David found Cross in a frame of mind something like his own. It was late +in the afternoon before it transpired that Van Sneck was gone, and, +unfortunately, David did not know where to find Bell just at the moment. +Cross had very little to say. + +"A most unpleasant incident," he remarked. "But these things will happen, +you know. We have been so busy lately, and our vigilance has been +slightly relaxed. Oh, it is impossible to guard against everything, but +he is certain to be found." + +"You don't think," David suggested, "that anybody secretly connected with +the man's past--" + +"No, I don't," Cross snapped; "that would be impossible. The man had +something on his mind, and so far as bodily condition was concerned he +was getting quite strong again. In his dazed state he got up and dressed +himself and went away. He seems to have been seeking for somebody or +something for days. We are certain to have him again before long." + +With which poor consolation David returned home again. He was restless +and desirous of human companionship. He even resented it, as a kind of +affront, that his mother had chosen at this time to go to Hassocks to +stay with an old friend for a couple of days. That Mrs. Steel knew +practically nothing of her son's trouble counted for naught. Therefore it +was with something akin to pleasure that David found Ruth Gates waiting +in the drawing-room for him when he came in from his walk on the +following afternoon. Nothing had been heard of Van Sneck in the meantime, +but thanks to Chris's telephone message late the previous night he had +got in touch with Bell, who was coming south without delay. + +There was a look of shy pleasure in Ruth's eyes and a deep carmine flush +on her cheeks. + +"You don't think that this is very bold of me?" she asked. + +"I am pretty Bohemian in any case," David laughed, as he looked down +fondly into the shy, sweet eyes. "And I'm too overjoyed to see you to +think about anything else. I wish my mother was at home. No, I don't, +because I have you all to myself." + +"David! On an occasion like this you ought to be the pink of propriety. +Do you know, I believe that I have made a great discovery?" + +"Indeed, little girl! And what have you found out?" + +"Well, you must tell me something before my discovery seems valuable. +David, you are a close student of human nature. Is it possible for men of +phenomenal cunning to make careless mistakes? Do the most clever +criminals ever make childish blunders?" + +"My dear child, if they didn't the police would have very little chance. +For instance, I have discovered how those enemies of ours got hold of the +notepaper that lured Van Sneck here. They sent a messenger to Carter's, +in East Street, presumedly knowing that my dies were there, and ordered a +quarter of a ream of paper and envelopes. These were to be sent to an +address in East Grinstead in a hurry. Now, that was very clever and +smart, but here comes the folly. Those people, in the stress of business, +actually forgot to ascertain the cost and pay for the paper, so that it +was down yesterday in my last quarter's bill. Oh, yes, I assure you, the +most brilliant criminals do the most incredibly foolish things." + +Ruth looked relieved. Her pretty features relaxed into a smile. + +"Then I fancy Reginald Henson has done so," she said. "I fancy I have +solved the mystery of the cigar-case--I mean, the mystery of the one +I bought." + +"And which was changed for the one purchased at Walen's, hence these +tears. But Lockharts say that _our_ case was really purchased by an +American." + +"Yes, I know. And I fancy that the manager honestly thought so. But I +think I can explain that." + +It was David's turn to look up eagerly. + +"Do you mean it?" he exclaimed. "It will make a wonderful difference if +you can. That has been one of the most bewildering knots of the whole +puzzle. If we could only trace the numbers of those notes, I suppose +changed at the same time as the cigar-case." + +"Indeed they were not," Ruth cried. "I have ascertained that the case was +changed by Henson, as you and I have already decided. Henson made the +exchange not at the time we thought." + +"Not when you left the package on the table for him to see?" + +"No; at least I can't say. He had the other case then, probably, passed +on to him by Van Sneck. Or perhaps he merely ascertained what I had +purchased. That was sufficient for his purpose. Of course he must have +found out all about our scheme. After I had laid my cigar-case on your +doorstep a man quietly changed it for the other purchased at Walen's. But +this is the alternate theory only. Any way, I am absolutely certain that +you got exactly the same notes that we had placed in the original case." + +"That might be," David said, thoughtfully. "But that does not explain the +fact that Lockhart's sold _your_ case to an American at the Metropole." + +"I fancy I can even explain that, dear. My uncle came down suddenly +to-day from London. He wanted certain papers in a great hurry. Now, those +papers were locked up in a drawer at 219 given over specially to Mr. +Henson. My uncle promptly broke open the drawer and took out the papers. +Besides those documents the drawer contained a package in one of +Lockhart's big linen-lined envelopes--a registered letter envelope, in +fact. My uncle had little time to spare, as he was bound to be back in +London to-night. He suggested that as the back of the drawer was broken +and the envelope presumably contained valuables, I had better take care +of it. Well, I must admit at once that I steamed the envelope open. I +shouldn't have done so if Lockhart's name had not been on the flap. In a +little case inside I found a diamond bracelet, which I have in my pocket, +together with a receipted bill for seventy odd pounds made out to me." + +"To you?" David cried. "Do you mean to say that--" + +"Indeed I do. The receipt was made out to me, and with it was a little +polite note to the effect that Messrs. Lockhart had made the exchange of +the cigar-case for the diamond bracelet, and that they hoped Miss Gates +would find the matter perfectly satisfactory." + +David was too astonished to say anything for the moment. The skein +was too tangled to be thought out all at once. Presently he began to +see his way. + +"Under ordinary circumstances the change seems impossible," he said. +"Especially seeing that the juggling could not have been done without +both the cases--but I had forgotten how easily the cases were changed. I +have it! What is the date of that letter?" + +Ruth slowly unfolded a document she had taken from her purse. + +"The day following what you call your great adventure," she said. "Henson +or somebody took the real case--my case--back to Lockhart's and changed +it in my name. I had previously been admiring this selfsame bracelet, and +they had tried to sell it to me. My dear boy, don't you see this is all +part of the plot to plunge you deeper and deeper into trouble, to force +us all to speak to save you? There are at least fifteen assistants at +Lockhart's. Of course the ultimate sale of the cigar-case to this +American could be proved, seeing that the case had got back into stock +again, and at the same time the incident of the change quite forgotten. +And when you go and ask questions at Lockhart's--as you were pretty sure +to do, as Henson knew--you are told of the sale only to the American. +Depend upon it, that American was Henson himself or somebody in his pay. +David, that man is too cunning, _too_ complex. And some of these days it +is going to prove his fall." + +David nodded thoughtfully. And yet, without something very clever and +intricate in the way of a scheme, Henson could not have placed him in his +present fix. + +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "You and I must go down to +Lockhart's and make a few inquiries. With that diamond bracelet and +letter in your possession you should have no difficulty in refreshing +their memories. Will you have some tea?" + +"I am too excited," Ruth laughed. "I couldn't eat or drink anything just +at present. David, what a lovely house you have." + +"I'm glad to hear that you are going to like it," David said, drily. + +Lockhart's received their customers in the usual courtly style. They were +sorry they had no recollection of the transaction to which madam +referred. The sale of the bracelet was clear, because that was duly and +properly recorded on the books, and as indeed was the sale of the +gun-metal cigar-case to an American gentleman at the Metropole. If madam +said that she had purchased the cigar-case, why--still the polite +assistant was most courteously incredulous. + +The production of the letter made a difference. There was a passing of +confidences from one plate-glass counter to another, and presently +another assistant came forward. He profoundly regretted that there had +been a mistake, but he remembered the incident perfectly. It was the day +before he had departed on his usual monthly visit to the firm's Paris +branch. Madam had certainly purchased the cigar-case; but before the sale +could be posted in the stock ledger madam had sent a gentleman to change +the case for the diamond bracelet previously admired. The speaker had +attended to both the sale and the exchange; in fact, his cab was waiting +for him during the latter incident. + +"I trust there is nothing wrong?" he asked, anxiously. + +"Not in the least," Ruth hastened to reply. "The whole matter is a kind +of comedy that I wanted to solve. It is a family joke, you understand. +And who made the exchange?" + +"Mr. Gates, madam. A tall gentleman, dressed in--" + +"That is quite sufficient, thank you," said Ruth. "I am sorry to trouble +you over so silly a matter." + +The assistant assured madam with an air of painful reproach that nothing +was counted a trouble in that establishment. He bowed his visitors out +and informed them that it was a lovely afternoon, a self-evident axiom +that the most disputatious could not well deny. + +"You see how your inquiries might have been utterly baffled but for this +find of mine," Ruth said, as the two went along North Street. "We shall +find presently that the Metropole American and Reginald Henson are one +and the same person." + +"And you fancy that he made the exchange at Lockhart's?" + +"I feel pretty certain of it," Ruth replied. "And you will be sure later +on to find that he had a hand in the purchase of the other cigar-case +from Walen's. Go to Marley's and get him to make inquiries as to whether +or not Walen's got their case down on approval." + +David proceeded to do so without further delay. Inspector Marley was out, +but David left a message for him. Would he communicate by telephone later +on? Steel had just finished his dinner when Marley rang him up. + +"Are you there? Yes, I have seen Walen. Your suggestion was quite right. +Customer had seen cigar-case exactly like it in Lockhart's, only too +dear. Walen dealt with some manufacturers and got case down. Oh, no, +never saw customer again. That sort of thing happens to shopkeepers every +day. Yes. Walen thinks he would recognise his man again. Nothing more? +Good-night, sir." + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +A DELICATE ERRAND + + +It looked like being a long, dull evening for Steel if he were not going +to the theatre or anything of that kind. He generally read till about +eleven o'clock, after which he sat up for another couple of hours +plotting out the day's task for to-morrow. To-night he could only wander +restlessly about his conservatory, snipping off a dead leaf here and +there and wondering where the whole thing was going to end. + +With a certain sense of relief David heard the front door-bell trill +about eleven o'clock. Somebody was coming to see him, and it didn't +matter much who in Steel's present frame of mind. But he swept into the +study with a feeling of genuine pleasure as Hatherly Bell was announced. + +"My dear fellow, I'm delighted to see you," he cried. "Take the big +armchair. Let me give you a cigar and a whisky and soda and make you +comfortable. That's better." + +"I'm tired out," Bell said. "In London all day, and since six with Cross. +Can you put me up for the night?" + +"My bachelor bedroom is always ready, Bell." + +"Thanks. I don't fancy you need be under any apprehension that anybody +has spirited Van Sneck away. In the first place Henson, who seems to have +discovered what happened, is in a terrible state about it. He wanted very +badly to remain at Littimer, but when he heard that Van Sneck had left +the hospital he came down here; in fact, we travelled together. Of course +he said nothing whatever about Van Sneck, whom he is supposed to know +nothing about, but I could see that he was terribly disturbed. The worst +of it is that Cross was going to get me to operate on Van Sneck; and +Heritage, who seems wonderfully better, was going to assist." + +"Is your unfortunate friend up to that kind of thing now?" David asked. + +"I fancy so. Do you know that Heritage used to have a fairly good +practice near Littimer Castle? Lord Littimer knows him well. I want +Heritage to come into this. I want to get at the reason why Henson has +been so confoundedly good to Heritage. For years he has kept his eye upon +him; for years he has practically provided him with a home at Palmer's. +And when Heritage mentions Henson's name he always does so with a kind of +forced gratitude." + +"You think that Heritage is going to be useful to us?" + +"I fancy so. Mind you, it is only my idea--what I call intuition, for +want of a better word. And what have you been doing lately?" + +David proceeded to explain, giving the events of the afternoon in full +detail. Bell followed the account with the deepest interest. Then he +proceeded to tell his own story. David appeared to be fascinated with the +tale of the man with the thumb-nail. + +"So Miss Chris hopes to hypnotise the man with the thumb," he said. "You +have seen more of her than I have, Bell. Does she strike you as she +strikes me--a girl of wonderfully acute mind allied to a pluck and +audacity absolutely brilliant?" + +"She is that and more," Bell said, warmly. "Now that she is free to act +she has developed wonderfully. Look how cleverly she worked out that +Rembrandt business, how utterly she puzzled Henson, and how she helped me +to get into Littimer's good books again without Henson even guessing at +the reason. And now she has forced the confidence of that rascal Merritt. +She has saved him from a gaol into which she might have thrown him at any +moment, she has convinced him that she is something exceedingly brilliant +in the way of an adventuress, with a great _coup_ ahead. Later on she +will use Merritt, and a fine hard-cutting tool she will find him." + +"Where is Henson at the present moment?" David asked. + +"I left him in London this afternoon," Bell replied. "But I haven't the +slightest doubt in the world that he has made his way to Brighton by this +time. In all probability he has gone to Longdean." + +Bell paused as the telephone bell rang out shrilly. The mere sound of it +thrilled both of them with excitement. And what a useful thing the +telephone had proved! + +"Are you there?" came the quick, small whisper. "Is that you, Mr. Steel? +I am Enid Henson." + +There was a long pause, during which David was listening intently. Bell +could see him growing rigid with the prospect of something keen, alert, +and vigorous. + +"Bell is here with me at this moment," he said. "Just wait a minute +whilst I tell him. Don't go away, please. Under the circumstances it +might be dangerous for me to ring you ... Just a moment. Here's a +pretty mess." + +"Well," Bell said, impatiently, "I'm only a mere man, after all." + +"Henson is at Longdean; he turned up an hour ago, and at the present +moment is having his supper in the library before going to bed. But that +is not the worst part of it. Williams heard the dogs making a great noise +by the gates, and went to see what was wrong. Some poor, demented fellow +had climbed over the wall, and the dogs were holding him up. Fortunately, +he did not seem to be conscious of his danger, and as he stood still the +hounds did him no harm. Williams was going to put the intruder into the +road again when Miss Henson came up. And whom do you suppose the poor, +wandering tramp to be?" + +Bell pitched his cigar into the grate full of flowers and jumped +to his feet. + +"Van Sneck, for a million," he cried. "My head to a cocoanut on it." + +"The same. They managed to get the poor fellow into the house before +Williams brought Henson from the lodge, and he's in the stables now in a +rather excited condition. Now, I quite agree with Miss Henson that Henson +must be kept in ignorance of the fact, also that Van Sneck must be got +away without delay. To inform the hospital authorities would be to spoil +everything and play into Henson's hands. But he must be got away +to-night." + +"Right you are. We'll go and fetch him. _Et apres_?" + +"_Et apres_ he will stay here. He shall stay _here_, and you shall say +that it is dangerous to remove him. Cross shall be told and Marley shall +be told, and the public shall be discreetly kept in ignorance for the +present. I'll go over there at once, as there is no time to be lost. Miss +Henson suggests that I should come, and she tells me that Williams will +wait at the lodge-gates for me. But you are going to stay here." + +"Oh, indeed! And why am I going to stay here?" + +"Because, my dear friend, I can easily manage the business single-handed, +and because you must run no risk of meeting Henson yonder. You are not +now supposed to know where the family are, nor are you supposed to take +the faintest interest in them. Stay here and make yourself comfortable +till I return.... Are you there? I will be at Longdean as soon as +possible and bring Van Sneck here. No, I won't ring off; you had better +do that. I shall be over in less than an hour." + +David hung up the receiver and proceeded to don a short covert coat and a +cap. In the breast-pocket of the coat he placed a revolver. + +"Just as well to be on the safe side," he said. "Though I am not likely +to be troubled with the man with the thumb again. Still, Henson may have +other blackguards; he may even know where Van Sneck is at the present +moment, for all I know to the contrary." + +"I feel rather guilty letting you go alone," Bell said. + +"Not a bit of it," said David, cheerfully. "Smoke your cigar, and if +you need any supper ring for it. You can safely leave matters in my +hands. Van Sneck shall stay here till he is fit, and then you shall +operate upon him. After that he ought to be as clay in the hands of the +potter. So long." + +And David went off gaily enough. He kept to the cliffs for the first part +of the distance, and then struck off across the fields in the direction +of Longdean. The place was perfectly quiet, the village was all in +darkness as he approached the lodge-gates of the Grange. Beyond the drive +and between the thick, sad firs that shielded the house he could see the +crimson lights gleaming here and there. He could catch the rumble and +scratch in the bushes, and ever and again a dog whined. The big gate was +closed as David peeped in searching for his guide. + +"Williams," he whispered; "Williams, where are you?" + +But no reply came. The silence was full of strange, rushing noises, the +rush of blood in David's head. He called again and again, but no reply +came. Then he heard the rush and fret of many feet, the cry of a pack of +hounds, a melancholy cry, with a sombre joy in it. He saw a light +gleaming fitfully in the belt of firs. + +"No help for it," David muttered. "I must chance my luck. I never saw a +dog yet that I was afraid of. Well, here goes." + +He scrambled over the wall and dropped on the moist, clammy earth on the +other side. He fumbled forward a few steps, and then stopped suddenly, +brought up all standing by the weird scene which was being solemnly +enacted under his astonished eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +PRINCE RUPERT'S RING + + +Whilst events were moving rapidly outside, time at Longdean Grange seemed +to stand still. The dust and the desolation were ever there. The gloom +brooded like an evil spirit. And yet it was but the calm before the storm +that was coming to banish the hoary old spectres for good. + +Still, Enid felt the monotony to be as maddening as ever. There were +times when she rebelled passionately against the solitude of the place. +There were moments to her when it seemed that her mind couldn't stand the +strain much longer. + +But she had hope, that blessed legacy to the sanguine and the young. And +there were times when she would creep out and see Ruth Gates, who found +the Rottingdean Road very convenient for cycling just now. And there was +always the anticipation of a telephone message from Chris. Originally the +telephone had been established so that the household could be run without +the intrusion of tradesmen and other strangers. It had seemed a great +anomaly at the time, but now Enid blessed it every moment of the day. And +she was, perhaps, not quite so unhappy as she deemed herself to be. She +had her lover back again now, with his character free from every +imputation. + +The sun straggled in through the dim, dusty panes; the monotonous voice +of Mrs. Henson droned in the drawing-room. It was what Williams called +one of the unhappy lady's "days." Sometimes she was quiet and reasonable, +at other times the dark mood hung heavily upon her. She was pacing up and +down the drawing-room, wringing her hands and whimpering to herself. Enid +had slipped into the grounds for a little fresh air; the house oppressed +her terribly to-day. The trim lawns and blazing flowerbeds were a +pleasant contrast to the misery and disorder of the house. + +Enid passed on into the shadow of the plantation. A little farther on +nearer the wall the dogs seemed to be excited about something. William's +rusty voice could be heard expostulating with some intruder. By him +stood a man who, though fairly well dressed, looked as if he had slept +in his garments for days. There was a dazed, puzzled, absent expression +on his face. + +"You might have been killed," Williams croaked. "If you hadn't stood +still they dogs would have pulled you to pieces. How did you get here?" + +"I've lost it," the stranger muttered. "I've lost it somewhere, and I +shall have no rest till I find it." + +"Well, go and look in the road," Williams suggested, smoothly. +"Nothing ever gets lost here. Just you hop over that wall and try your +luck outside." + +Enid came forward. Evidently the intruder was no stranger to her. +Williams started to explain volubly. But Enid cut him short at once. + +"A most extraordinary thing has happened," she said. "It is amazing +that this man should come here of all places. Williams, this is the man +Van Sneck." + +"What, the chap as was wounded in the hospital, miss?" + +"The same. The man is not in full possession of his senses. And if +Reginald Henson finds him now it is likely to go hard with him. He must +be taken into the house and looked after until I can communicate with +somebody I can trust. Mr. Steel, I think. He must be got back to the +hospital. It is the only place where he is safe." + +Van Sneck seemed to be looking on with the vacant stare of the mindless. +He suffered himself to be led to the house, where he was fed like a +child. It was in vain that Enid plied him with all kinds of questions. +He had lost something--he would have no peace till he had found it. This +was the one burden of his cry. Enid crossed to the window in some +perplexity. The next moment she had something else to occupy her mind. +Reginald Henson was coming up the drive. Just for an instant Enid felt +inclined to despair. + +"Williams," she cried, "Mr. Henson is here. On no account must he see our +unfortunate visitor. He cannot possibly know that Van Sneck is here; the +whole thing is an accident. I am going down into the hall. I shall +contrive to get Mr. Henson into the drawing-room. Without delay you must +smuggle Mr. Van Sneck into your apartments over the stable. You will be +perfectly safe if you go down the back staircase. As soon as the +drawing-room door closes, go." + +Williams nodded. He was essentially a man of action rather than words. +With all the coolness she could summon up Enid descended to the hall. +She gave a little gesture of surprise and disdain as she caught sight +of Henson. + +"So you came down to welcome me?" Enid said, coldly. + +A sudden light of rage lit up Henson's blue eyes. He caught Enid almost +roughly by the shoulders and pushed her into the drawing-room. There was +something coming, she knew. It was a relief a minute or two later to hear +Williams's whistle as he crossed the courtyard. Henson knew nothing of +Van Sneck's presence, nor was he likely to do so now. + +"You are forgetting yourself," Enid said. "How dare you touch me +like that?" + +"By heavens," Henson whispered, vehemently, "when I consider how I have +been fooled by you I wonder that I do not strike the life out of you. +Where is your sister?" + +Enid assumed an air of puzzled surprise. She raised her eyebrows, coldly. +But it needed no very brilliant intelligence to tell her that Henson had +discovered something. + +"I had only one sister," she said, "and she is--" + +"Dead! Rot. No more dead than I am. A nice little scheme you had put up +together with that scribbling ass David Steel. But Steel is going to get +a lesson not to interfere in my affairs, and you are going to get one +also. Where is your sister?" + +Despite his bullying triumph there was something nervous and anxious +about the tone of the question. It was not quite like Henson to let his +adversary see that he had scored a point. But since the affair of the +dogs Henson had not been quite his old self. It was easy to see that he +had found out a great deal, but he had not found out where Chris was yet. + +"I know nothing," said Enid. "I shall answer no questions." + +"Very well. But I shall find out. Accident put me on the trail first. And +I have been to see that man Walker. He never saw your sister after her +'death,' nor did the undertaker. And I might have met my death at the +fangs of that dog you put upon me. What a fool Walker was." + +Enid looked up a little anxiously. Had Walker said anything about a +second opinion? Had he betrayed to Henson the fact that he had been +backed up by Hatherly Bell? Because they had taken a deal of trouble to +conceal the fact that Bell had been in the house. + +"Dr. Walker should have called in another opinion," she said, mockingly. + +"The man was too conceited for that, and you know it," Henson growled; +"and finely you played upon his vanity." + +Enid was satisfied. Walker had evidently said nothing about Bell; and +Henson, though he had just come from Littimer, knew nothing about Chris. + +"You have made a statement," she said, "and in reply I say nothing. You +have chosen to assume that my sister is still alive. Well, it is a free +country, and you are at liberty to think as you please. If we had +anything to gain by the course you suggest--" + +"Anything to gain!" Henson burst out angrily. + +"Everything to gain. One whom I deemed to be dead is free to follow me to +pry into my affairs, to rob me. That was part of Steel's precious scheme, +I presume. If you and your sister and Miss Gates hadn't talked so loudly +that day in the garden I might not--" + +"Have listened," said Enid, coldly. "Ears like a hare and head like a +cat. But you don't know everything, and you never will. You scoundrel, +you creeping, crawling scoundrel! If I only dared to speak. If I cared +less for the honour of this unhappy family--" + +"If you could only get the ring," said Henson, with a malicious +sneer. "But the ring is gone. The ruby ring lies at the bottom of the +North Sea." + +Some passionate, heedless words rose to Enid's lips, but she checked +them. All she could do now was to watch and wait till darkness. Van +Sneck must be got out of the way before anything else was done. She did +not dare to use the telephone yet, though she had made up her mind to +ask Steel to come over and take Van Sneck away. Later on she could send +the message. + +Van Sneck had eaten a fairly good meal, so Williams said, and had fallen +into a heavy sleep. There was nothing for it but to wait and watch. +Dinner came in due course, with Mrs. Henson, ragged and unkempt as usual, +taking no notice of Henson, who watched her furtively during the meal. +Enid escaped to her own room directly afterwards, and Henson followed his +hostess to the drawing-room. + +Once there his manner changed entirely. His lips grew firm, his eyes were +like points of steel. Mrs. Henson was pacing the dusty floor, muttering +and crooning to herself. Henson touched her arm, at the same time holding +some glittering object before her eyes. It was a massive ruby ring with +four black pearls on either side. + +"Look here," he whispered. "Do you recognise it? Have you seen it +before?" + +A pitiful, wailing cry came from Mrs. Henson's lips. She was trembling +from head to foot with a strange agitation. She gazed at the ring as a +thirsty man in a desert might have looked on a draught of cold spring +water. She stretched out her hand, but Henson drew back. + +"I thought you had not forgotten it," he smiled. "It means much to you, +honour, peace, happiness--your son restored to his proper place in the +world. Last time I was here I wanted money, a mere bagatelle to you. Now +I want £10,000." + +"No, no," Mrs. Henson cried. "You will ruin me--£10,000! What do you do +with all the money? You profess to give it all to charity. But I know +better. Much you give away that more may come back from it. But that +money you get from a credulous public. And I could expose you, ah, how I +could expose you, Reginald Henson." + +"Instead of which you will let me have that £10,000." + +"I cannot. You will ruin me. Have you not had enough? Give me the ring." + +Henson smilingly held the gem aloft. Mrs. Henson raised her arm, with the +dust rising in choking clouds around her. Then with an activity +astonishing in one of her years she sprang upon Henson and tore the ring +from his grasp. The thing was so totally unexpected from the usually +gentle lady that Henson could only gasp in astonishment. + +"I have it," Mrs. Henson cried. "I have it, and I am free!" + +Henson sprang towards her. With a quick, fleet step she crossed to the +window and fled out into the night. A raging madness seemed to have come +over her again; she laughed and she cried as she sped on into the bushes, +followed by Henson. In his fear and desperation the latter had quite +forgotten the dogs. He was in the midst of them, they were clustered +round himself and Mrs. Henson, before he was aware of the fact. + +"Give me the ring," he said. "You can't have it yet. Some day I will +restore it to you. Be sensible. If anybody should happen to see you." +Mrs. Henson merely laughed. The dogs were gambolling around her like so +many kittens. They did not seem to heed Henson in the joy of her +presence. He came on again, he made a grab for her dress, but the rotten +fabric parted like a cobweb in his hand. A warning grunt came from one of +the dogs, but Henson gave no heed. + +"Give it me," he hissed; "or I will tear it from you." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +HEARING THE TRUTH + + +David Steel stood contemplating the weird scene with almost doubting +eyes. In his wildest moments he had never imagined anything more dramatic +than this. The candle in its silver sconce that Mrs. Henson had snatched +up before her flight was perilously near her flimsy dress. Henson caught +her once more in a fierce grip. David could stand it no longer. As Henson +came by him his right arm flashed out, there was a dull thud, and Henson, +without having the least idea what had happened, fell to the ground, with +a very hazy idea of his surroundings for a moment or two. + +Equally unconscious that she had a protector handy, Mrs. Henson turned +and fled for the house. A minute later and she was followed by Henson, +still puzzling his racking head to know what had happened. David would +have followed, but the need for caution flashed upon him. If he stood +there perfectly still Henson would never know who his antagonist was. +David stood there waiting. As he glanced round he saw some little object +glittering near to his feet. It was the ruby ring! + +"Be you there, sir?" a rusty voice whispered close by. + +"I am, Williams," David replied; "I have been waiting for some time." + +Williams chuckled, making no kind of apology for his want of punctuality. + +"I've been looking after our man, sir," he said. "That Dutch chap what +Miss Enid said you'd come for. And I saw all that business in the +shrubbery just now. My! if I didn't feel good when you laid out Henson on +the grass. The sound of that smack was as good as ten years' wages for +me. And he's gone off to his room with a basin of vinegar and a ream of +brown paper. Why didn't you break his neck?" + +David suggested that the law took a prejudiced view of that kind of +thing, and that it would be a pity to hang anyone for such a creature as +Reginald Henson. + +"Our man is all right?" he asked. + +"As a trivet," said Williams. "Sleeping like a baby; he is in my own +bed over the stable. I'll show you into the harness-room, where Miss +Enid's waiting for you, sir, and then I'll go and see as Henson don't +come prowling about. Not as he's likely to, considering the clump on +the side of the head you gave him. I take it kind of Providence to let +me see that!" + +Williams hobbled away, chuckling to himself and followed by David. There +was a feeble oil-lamp in the harness-room. Enid was waiting there +anxiously. + +"So you have put Henson out of the way for a time," she said. "He passed +me just now using awful language, and wondering how it had all come +about. Wasn't it a strange thing that Van Sneck should come here?" + +"Not very," David said. "He is evidently looking for his master, +Reginald Henson. I have not the slightest doubt that he has been here +many times before. Williams says he is asleep. Pity to wake him just +yet, don't you think?" + +"Perhaps it is. But I am horribly afraid of our dear friend Reginald, all +the same." + +"Our dear Reginald will not trouble us just yet. He came down as far as +London with Bell. Of course he had heard the news of Van Sneck's flight. +Was he disturbed?" + +"I have never seen him in such a passion before, Mr. Steel. And not only +was he in a passion, but he was horribly afraid about something. And he +has made a discovery." + +"He hasn't found out that your sister--" + +"Is at Littimer Castle? That is really the most consoling part of the +business. He has been at Littimer for a day or two, and he has not the +remotest idea that Christabel Lee is our Chris." + +"A feather in your sister's cap. She has quite captivated Littimer, +Bell says." + +"And she played her part splendidly. Mr. Steel, it is very, very good to +know that Hatherly has cleared himself in the eyes of Lord Littimer at +last. Did Reginald suspect--" + +"Nothing," Steel said. "He is utterly and hopelessly puzzled over the +whole business. And Bell has managed to convince him that he is not +suspected at all. That business over the Rembrandt was really a brilliant +bit of comedy. But what has Henson found out?" + +"That Chris is not dead. He has seen Walker and the undertaker. But he +does not know yet that Dr. Bell was in the house that eventful night, +which is a blessing. As a matter of fact, Reginald has not been quite the +same man since Rollo nearly killed him that exciting evening. His nerves +seem to be greatly shaken." + +"That is because the rascal feels the net closing round him," Steel said. +"It was a fine stroke on your sister's part to win over that fellow +Merritt to her side. I supplied the details per telephone, but the plot +was really Miss Chris's. How on earth should we have managed without the +telephone over this business?" + +"I am at a loss to say," Enid smiled. "But tell me about that plot. I am +quite in the dark as to that side of the matter." + +David proceeded to explain his own and Chris's ingenious scheme for +getting Merritt into their power. Enid followed the story with vast +enjoyment, tempered with the fact that Henson was so near. + +"I should never have thought of that," she said; "but Chris was always so +clever. But tell me, what was Henson doing in the garden just now? +Williams says he was illtreating my aunt, but that seems hardly possible +even for Reginald." + +"It was over a ring that Mrs. Henson had," David explained. "She was +running away with it, and Henson was trying to get it back. You see--" + +"A ring!" Enid gasped. "Did you happen to see it? Oh, if it is only--. +But he would not be so silly as that. A ring is the cause of all the +trouble. _Did_ you see it?" + +"I not only saw it but I have it in my possession," David replied. + +Enid turned up the flaring little lamp with a shaking hand. Quite +unstrung, she held out her fingers for the ring. + +"It is just possible," she said, hoarsely, "that you possess the key of +the situation. If that ring is what I hope it is we can tumble Henson +into the dust to-morrow. We can drive him out of the country, and he will +never, never trouble us again. How did you get it?" + +"Mrs. Henson dropped it and I picked it up." + +"Please let me see it," Enid said, pleadingly. "Let me be put out of +my misery." + +David handed the ring over; Enid regarded it long and searchingly. With a +little sigh of regret she passed it back to David once more. + +"You had better keep it," she said. "At any rate, it is likely to be +valuable evidence for us later on. But it is not the ring I hoped to see. +It is a clever copy, but the black pearls are not so fine, and the +engraving inside is not so worn as it used to be on the original. It is +evidently a copy that Henson has had made to tease my aunt with, to offer +her at some future date in return for the large sums of money that she +gave him. No; the original of that ring is popularly supposed to be at +the bottom of the North Sea. If such had been the case--seeing that +Henson had never handled it before the Great Tragedy came--the original +must be in existence." + +"Why so?" David asked. + +"Because the ring must have been copied from it," Enid said. "It is a +very faithful copy indeed, and could not have been made from mere +directions--take the engraving inside, for instance. The engraving forms +the cipher of the house of Littimer, If Henson has the real ring, if we +can find it, the tragedy goes out of our lives for ever." + +"I should like to hear the story," said Steel. + +Enid paused and lowered the lamp as a step was heard outside. But it was +only Williams. + +"Mr. Henson is in his bedroom still," he said. "I've just taken him the +cigars. He's got a lump on his head as big as a billiard-ball. Thinks he +hit it against a branch. And my lady have locked herself in her room and +refused to see anybody." + +"Go and look at our patient," Enid commanded. + +Williams disappeared, to return presently with the information that Van +Sneck was still fast asleep and lying very peacefully. + +"Looks like waiting till morning, it do," he said. "And now I'll go back +and keep my eye on that 'ere distinguished philanthropist." + +Williams disappeared, and Enid turned up the lamp again. Her face was +pale and resolute. She motioned David towards a chair. + +"I'll tell you the story," she said. "I am going to confide in you the +saddest and strangest tale that ever appealed to an imaginative +novelist." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +ENID SPEAKS + + +"I am going to tell you the story of the great sorrow that has darkened +all our lives, but I shall have to go a long way back to do it," Enid +said. "I go back to the troublous day of Charles, as far back as the +disastrous fight at Naseby. Of course I am speaking more from a Royalist +point of view, for the Littimers were always followers of the Court. + +"Mind you, there is doubtless a deal that is legendary about what I am +going to tell you. But the ring given to my ancestor Rupert Littimer by +Prince Rupert himself is an actuality. + +"Naseby was over, and, so the legend goes, Prince Rupert found himself +desperately situated and in dire peril of capture by Cromwell's +troops, under one Colonel Carfax, a near neighbour of Rupert Littimer; +indeed, the Carfax estates still run parallel with the property round +Littimer Castle. + +"Now, Carfax was hated by all those who were attached to the fortunes of +the King. Seeing that he was of aristocratic birth, it was held that he +had violated his caste and creed by taking sides with the Roundheads. +History has told us that he was right, and that the Cavaliers, +picturesque as they were, were fighting a dubious cause. But I need not +go into that. Carfax was a hard, stern man who spared nobody, and many +were the stories told of his cruelty. + +"He and Rupert Littimer were especially at daggers drawn. I believe that +both of them had been in love with the same woman or something of that +kind. And the fact that she did not marry either made little difference +to the bitterness between them. + +"Well, Carfax was pressing close on Rupert, so close, indeed, that unless +some strategy were adopted the brilliant cavalry leader was in dire +peril. It was there that my ancestor, Rupert Littimer, came forward with +his scheme. He offered to disguise himself and go into the camp of Carfax +and take him prisoner. The idea was to steal into the tent of Carfax and, +by threatening him with his life, compel him to issue certain orders, the +result of which would be that Prince Rupert could get away. + +"'You will never come back again, friend,' the Prince said. + +"Rupert Littimer said he was prepared to run all risk of that. 'And if I +do die you shall tell my wife, sir,' he said. 'And when the child is +born, tell him that his father died as he should have done for his King +and for his country.'" + +"'Oh, there is a child coming?' Rupert asked. + +"Littimer replied that for aught he knew he was a father already. And +then he went his way into the camp of the foe with his curls cut short +and in the guise of a countryman who comes with valuable information. +And, what is more, he schemed his way into Carfax's tent, and at the +point of a dagger compelled him to write a certain order which my +ancestor's servant, who accompanied him, saw carried into effect, and so +the passage for Prince Rupert was made free." + +"The ruse would have succeeded all round but for some little accident +that I need not go into now. Rupert Littimer was laid by the heels, his +disguise was torn off, and he stood face to face with his hereditary foe. +He was told that he had but an hour to live." + +"'If you have any favour to ask, say it,' Carfax said. + +"'I have no favour to ask, properly so-called,' Littimer replied; 'but I +am loth to die without knowing whether or not I have left anybody to +succeed me--anybody who will avenge the crime upon you and yours in the +years to come. Let me go as far as Henson Grange, and I pledge you my +word I will return in the morning!' + +"But Carfax laughed the suggestion to scorn. The Court party were all +liars and perjurers, and their word was not to be taken. + +"'It is as I say,' Rupert Littimer repeated. 'My wife lies ill at Henson +Grange and in sore trouble about me. And I should like to see my child +before I die,' + +"'Then you shall have the chance,' Carfax sneered. 'I will keep you a +close prisoner here for two days, and if at the end of that time nothing +happens, you die. If, on the other hand, a child is born to you, then you +shall go from here a free man.' + +"And so the compact was made. Unfortunately or fortunately, as the case +may be, the story got abroad, and some indiscreet person carried the news +to Dame Littimer. Ill as she was, she insisted upon getting up and going +over to Carfax's camp at once. She had barely reached there before--well, +long ere Rupert Littimer's probation was over, he was the father of a +noble boy. They say that the Roundheads made a cradle for the child out +of a leather breastplate, and carried it in triumph round the camp. And +they held the furious Carfax to his word, and the story spread and spread +until it came to the ears of Prince Rupert. + +"Then he went to see Dame Littimer, and from his own hand he drew what +is known in our family as Prince Rupert's ring. He placed it on Dame +Littimer's hand, there to remain for a year and a day, and when the +year was up it was to be put aside for the bride of the heir of the +house for ever, to be worn by her till a year and a day had elapsed +after her first child was born. And that has been done for all time, my +aunt, Lady Littimer, being the last to wear it. After Frank was born it +was put carefully away for his bride. But the great tragedy came, and +until lately we fancied that the ring was lost to us for ever. There +is, in a few words, the story of Prince Rupert's ring. So far it is +quite common property" + +Enid ceased to speak for a time. But it was evident that she had +more to say. + +"An interesting story," David said. "And a pretty one to put into a book, +especially as it is quite true. But you have lost the ring, you say?" + +"I fancied so till to-night," Enid replied. "Indeed, I hardly knew what +to think. Sometimes I imagined that Reginald Henson had it, at other +times I imagined that it was utterly gone. But the mere fact that Henson +possesses a copy practically convinces me that he has the original. As I +said before, a true copy could not have been made from mere instructions. +And if I could only get the original our troubles are all over." + +"But I don't see how the ring has anything to do with--" + +"With the family dishonour. No, I am coming to that. We arrive at the +time, seven years ago, when my aunt and Lord Littimer and Frank were all +living happily at Littimer Castle. I told you just now that the Carfax +estates adjoin the Littimer property. The family is still extant and +powerful, but the feud between the two houses has never ceased. Of +course, people don't carry on a vendetta these peaceful days, but the +families have not visited for centuries. + +"There was a daughter Claire, whom Frank Littimer got to know by some +means or other. But for the silly family feud nobody would have noticed +or cared, and there would have been an end to the matter, because Frank +has always loved my sister Chris, and we all knew that he would marry her +some of these days. + +"Lord Littimer was furiously angry when he heard that Frank and Claire +had got on speaking terms. He imperiously forbade any further +intercourse, and General Carfax did the same. The consequence was that +these two foolish young people elected to fancy themselves greatly +aggrieved, and so a kind of Romeo and Juliet, Montague and Capulet, +business sprang up. There were secret meetings, meetings entirely +innocent, I believe, and a correspondence which became romantic and +passionate on Claire Carfax's side. The girl had fallen passionately in +love with Frank, whilst he regarded the thing as a mere pastime. He did +not know then, indeed nobody seemed to know till afterwards, that there +was insanity in the poor girl's family, though Hatherly Bell's friend, +Dr. Heritage, who then had a practice near Littimer, warned us as well as +he could. Nobody dreamt how far the thing had gone. + +"Then those letters of Claire's fell into Lord Littimer's hands. He found +them and locked them up in his safe. Frank, furious at being treated like +a boy, swore to break open the safe and get his letters back. He did so. +And in the same safe, and in the same drawer, was Prince Rupert's ring. +When Lord Littimer missed the letters he missed the ring also and a large +sum of money in notes that he had just received from his tenants. Frank +had stolen the ring and the money, or so it seemed. I shall not soon +forget that day. + +"After taking the letters Frank had gone straight to Moreton Wells, and +it looked for a little time as if he had fled. Within an hour of the +discovery of his loss Lord Littimer met Claire Carfax on the cliffs. She +was wearing Prince Rupert's ring. Frank had sent it to her, she said. +Anybody but a man in a furious passion would have seen that the girl was +not responsible for her actions. Littimer told her the true circumstances +of the case. She laughed at him in a queer, vacant way and fled through +the woods. She went down to the beach, where she took a boat and rowed +herself out into the bay. A mile or more from the shore she jumped into +the water, and from that day to this nothing further has been seen of +poor Claire Carfax." + +"Or the ring, either?" David asked. + +"Or the ring either. The same night Lady Littimer started after her boy. +Littimer was going to have Frank prosecuted. Lady Littimer fled to +Longdean Grange, where Frank joined her. Then my uncle turned up, and +there was a scene. It is said that Lord Littimer struck his wife, but +Frank says that she fell against his gesticulating fist. Anyway, it was +the same as a blow, and Lady Littimer dropped on the floor, dragging a +table down with her, flowers and china and all. You have seen that table +in Longdean Granges Since then it has never been touched, the place has +never been swept or dusted or garnished. You have seen my aunt, and you +know what the shock has done for her--the shock and the steady +persecutions of Reginald Henson." + +"Who seems to be at the bottom of the whole trouble," said David. "But do +you think that was the real ring on the poor girl's finger?" + +"I don't. I fancy Henson had a copy made for emergencies. It was he who +sent the copy to Claire, and it was the copy that Littimer saw on her +hand. You see, directly Frank broke open that safe, Henson, who was at +the castle at the time, saw his opportunity--he could easily scheme some +way of making use of it. If that plot against Frank had failed he would +have invented another. And the unexpected suicide of Claire Carfax played +into his hands. Henson has that ring somewhere, and it will be our task +to find it." + +"And when we have done so?" + +"Give it to Lord Littimer and tell him where we found it. And then we +shall be rid of one of the most pestilential rascals the world has ever +seen. When you get back to Brighton I want you to tell this story to +Hatherly Bell." + +"I will," David replied. "What a weird, fascinating story it is! And the +sooner I am back the better I shall be pleased. I wonder if our man is +awake yet. If you will excuse me, I will go up and see. Ah!" + +There was the sound of somebody moving overhead. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +ON THE TRAIL + + +At the same moment Williams came softly in. There was a grin of +satisfaction on his face. + +"The brute is fast asleep," he said. "I've just been in his room. He left +the lamp burning, and there is a lump on the side of his head as big as +an ostrich egg. But he didn't mean to go to sleep; he hasn't taken any of +his clothes off. On the whole, sir, wouldn't it be better for you to wake +our man up and get him away?" + +David was of the same opinion. Van Sneck was lying on the bed looking +vacantly about him. He seemed older and more worn, perhaps, because his +beard and moustache were growing ragged and dirty on his face. He pressed +his hand to his head in a confused kind of way. + +"I tell you I can't find it," he said; "the thing slipped out of my +hand--a small thing like that easily might. What's the good of making a +fuss about a ring not worth £20? Search my pockets if you like. What a +murderous-looking dog you are when you're out of temper!" + +All this in a vague, rambling way, in a slightly foreign accent. David +touched him on the shoulder. + +"Won't you come back with me to Brighton?" he said. + +"Certainly," was the ready response; "you look a good sort of chap. I'll +go anywhere you please. Not that I've got a penny of money left. What a +spree it has been. Who are you?" + +"My name is Steel. I am David Steel, the novelist." + +A peculiarly cunning look came over Van Sneck's face. + +"I got your letter," he said. "And I came. It was after I had had that +row with Henson. Henson is a bigger scoundrel than I am, though you may +not think it." + +"I accept your statement implicitly," David said, drily. + +"Well, he is. And I got your letter. And I called.... And you nearly +killed me. And I dropped it down in the corner of the conservatory." + +"Dropped what?" David asked, sharply. + +"Nothing," said Van Sneck. "What do you mean by talking about dropping +things. I never dropped anything in my life. I make others do that, eh, +eh! But I can't remember anything. It just comes back to me, and then +there is a wheel goes round in my head.... Who are you?" + +David gave up the matter as hopeless. This was emphatically a case +for Bell. Once let him get Van Sneck back to Brighton and Bell could +do the rest. + +"We'd better go," he said to Enid. "We are merely wasting time here." + +"I suppose so," Enid said, thoughtfully. "All the same, I should greatly +like to know what it is that our friend Van Sneck dropped." + +It was a long and tedious journey back to Brighton again, for the patient +seemed to tire easily, and he evinced a marked predilection for sitting +by the roadside and singing. It was very late before David reached his +house. Bell beamed his satisfaction. Van Sneck, with a half-gleam of +recognition of his surroundings, and with a statement that he had been +there before, lapsed into silence. Bell produced a small phial in a +chemist's wrapper and poured the contents into a glass. With a curt +command to drink he passed the glass over to Van Sneck. + +The latter drank the small dose, and Bell carried him more or less to a +ground-floor bedroom behind the dining-room. There he speedily undressed +his patient and got him into bed. Van Sneck was practically fast asleep +before his head had touched the pillow. + +"I went out and got that dose with a view to eventualities," Bell +explained. "I know pretty well what is the matter with Van Sneck, and I +propose to operate upon him, with the help of Heritage. I've put him in +my bed and locked the door. I shall sleep in the big armchair." + +David flung himself into a big deck lounge and lighted a cigarette. + +"My word, that has been a bit of a business," he said. "Pour me out a +little whisky in one of the long glasses and fill it up with soda.... +Oh, that's better. I never felt so thirsty in my life. I got Van Sneck +away without Henson having the slightest suspicion that he was there, +and I had the satisfaction of giving Henson a smashing blow without his +seeing me." + +"Sounds like conjuring," Bell said, behind his cigar. "Explain yourself." + +David went carefully into details. He told the story of Prince Rupert's +ring to a listener who followed him with the most flattering attention. + +"Of course, all this is new to me," Bell said, presently, "though I knew +the family well up to that time. Depend upon it, Enid is right. Henson +has got the ring. But how fortunately everything seems to have turned out +for the scoundrel." + +"If a man likes to be an unscrupulous blackguard he can make use of all +events," David said. "But even Henson is not quite so clever as we take +him to be. He has found out the trick we played upon him over Chris +Henson, but he hasn't the faintest idea that all this time he has been +living under the same roof at Littimer." + +"The girl is a wonderful actress," Bell replied. "I only guessed who she +was. If I hadn't known as much as I do she would have deceived me. But +Henson has shot his bolt. After we have operated upon Van Sneck we shall +be pretty near the truth. It is a great pull to have him in the house." + +"And a nasty thing for Henson--" + +"Who will find out before to-morrow is over. I feel pretty sure that this +house is watched carefully. Any firm of private detectives would do that, +and they need be told nothing either. I know that I was followed when I +went to the chemist's to fetch that dose for our friend yonder. Still, it +is a sign that Henson is getting frightened." + +"Why do you bring Heritage into this matter?" David asked. + +"Well, for a variety of reasons. First of all, Heritage is an old +friend of mine, and I take a great interest in his case. I am going to +give him a chance to recover his lost confidence, and he is a splendid +operator. Besides, I want to know why Henson has gone out of his way to +be so kind to Heritage. And, finally, Heritage was the family doctor of +the Carfax people you just mentioned before he went to practise in +London. Let me once get Heritage round again, and I shall be greatly +disappointed if he does not give us a good deal of valuable information +regarding Reginald Henson." + +"And Cross. What about him?" + +"Oh, Cross will do as I ask him. Without egotism, he knows that the case +is perfectly safe in my hands. And if we care to look after Van Sneck, +why, there will be one the less burden in the hospital. What a funny +business it is! Van Sneck gets nearly done to death under this roof, and +he comes back here to be cured again." + +David yawned sleepily as he rose. + +"Well, I've had enough of it for to-night," he said. "I'm dog-tried, and +I must confess to feeling sick of the Hensons and Littimers, and all +their works." + +"Including their friend, Miss Ruth Gates?" Bell said, slily. "Still, they +have made pretty good use of you, and I expect you will be glad to get +back to your work again. At the same time, you need not trouble your head +for plots for many a day." + +David admitted that the situation had its compensations, and went off to +bed. Bell met him the next day as fresh as if he had had a full night's +rest, and vouchsafed the information that the patient was as well as +possible. He was cold and no longer feverish. + +"In fact, he is ready for the operation at any time," he said. "I shall +get Heritage here to dinner, and we shall operate afterwards with +electric light. It will be a good steadier for Heritage's nerves, and +the electric light is the best light of all for this business. If you +have got a few yards of spare flex from your reading-lamp I'll rig the +thing up without troubling your electrician. I can attach it to your +study lamp." + +"I've got what you want," David said. "Now come in to breakfast." + +There was a pile of letters on the table, and on the top a telegram. It +was a long message, and Bell watched Steel's face curiously. + +"From Littimer Castle," he suggested. "Am I right?" + +"As usual," David cried. "My little scheme over that diamond star has +worked magnificently. Miss Chris tells me that she has--by Jove, Bell, +just listen--she has solved the problem of the cigar-case; she has found +out the whole thing. She wants me to meet her in London to-morrow, when +she will tell me everything." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +LITTIMER'S EYES ARE OPENED + + +Lord Littimer sat on the terrace, shaded from the sun by an awning over +his deck-chair. From his expression he seemed to be at peace with all the +world. His brown, eager face had lost its usually keen, suspicious look; +he smoked a cigarette lazily. Chris sat opposite him looking as little +like a hard-working secretary as possible. + +As a matter of fact, there was nothing for her to do. Littimer had +already tired of his lady secretary idea, and had Chris not +interested and amused him he would have found some means to get rid +of her before now. + +But she did interest and amuse and puzzle him. There was something +charmingly reminiscent about the girl. She was like somebody he had once +known and cared for, but for the life of him he could not think who. And +when curiosity sometimes got the better of good breeding Chris would +baffle him in the most engaging manner. + +"Really, you are an exceedingly clever girl," he said. + +"In fact, we are both exceedingly clever," Chris replied, coolly. "And +yet nobody is ever quite so clever as he imagines himself to be. Do you +ever make bad mistakes, Lord Littimer?" + +"Sometimes," Littimer said, with a touch of cynical humour. "For +instance, I married some years ago. That was bad. Then I had a son, which +was worse." + +"At one time you were fond of your family?" + +"Well, upon my word, you are the only creature I ever met who has had the +audacity to ask me that question. Yes, I was very fond of my wife and my +son, and, God help me, I am fond of them still. I don't know why I talk +to you like this." + +"I do," Chris said, gently. "It is because unconsciously you yearn for +sympathy. And you fancy you are in no way to blame; you imagine that you +acted in the only way consistent with your position and dignity. You +fancied that your son was a vulgar thief. And I am under the impression +that Lady Littimer had money." + +"She had a large fortune," Littimer said, faintly. "Miss Lee, do you know +that I have a great mind to box your ears?" + +Chris laughed unsteadily. She was horribly frightened, though she did not +show it. She had been waiting for days to catch Littimer in this mood. +And she did not feel disposed to go back now. The task must be +accomplished some time. + +"Lady Littimer was very rich," she went on, "and she was devoted to +Frank, your son. Now, if he had wanted a large sum of money very badly, +and had gone to his mother, she would have given it to him without the +slightest hesitation?" + +"What fond mother wouldn't?" + +"I am obliged to you for conceding the point. Your son wanted money. +and he robbed you when he could have had anything for the asking from +his mother." + +"Sounds logical," Littimer said, flippantly. "Who had the money?" + +"The same man who stole Prince Rupert's ring--Reginald Henson." + +Littimer dropped his cigarette and sat upright in his chair. He was keen +and alert enough now. There were traces of agitation on his face. + +"That is a serious accusation," he said. + +"Not more serious than your accusation against your son," Chris retorted. + +"Well, perhaps not," Littimer admitted. "But why do you take up +Frank's cause in this way? Is there any romance budding under my +unconscious eyes?" + +"Now you are talking nonsense," Chris said, with just a touch of colour +in her cheeks. "I say, and I am going to prove when the time comes, that +Reginald Henson was the thief. I am sorry to pain you, but it is +absolutely necessary to go into these matters. When those foolish +letters, written by a foolish girl, fell into your hands, your son vowed +that he would get them back, by force if necessary. He made that rash +speech in hearing of Reginald Henson. Henson probably lurked about until +he saw the robbery committed. Then it occurred to him that he might do a +little robbery on his own account, seeing that your son would get the +credit of it. The safe was open, and so he walked off with your ring and +your money." + +"My dear young lady, this is all mere surmise." + +"So you imagine. At that time Reginald Henson had a kind of home which he +was running at 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton. Lady Littimer had just +relinquished a similar undertaking there. Previously Reginald Henson had +a home at Huddersfield. Mind you, he didn't run either in his own name, +and he kept studiously in the background. But he was desperately hard up +at the time in consequence of his dissipation and extravagance, and the +money he collected for his home went into his own pocket. Then the police +got wind of the matter, and Reginald Henson discreetly disappeared from +Brighton just in time to save himself from arrest for frauds there and at +Huddersfield. A member of the Huddersfield police is in a high position +at Brighton. He has recognised Reginald Henson as the man who was +'wanted' at Huddersfield. I don't know if there will be a prosecution +after all these years, but there you are." + +"You are speaking from authority?" + +"Certainly I am. Reginald Henson, as such, is not known to Inspector +Marley, but I sent the latter a photograph of Henson, and he returned it +this morning with a letter to the effect that it was the man the +Huddersfield police were looking for." + +"What an interesting girl you are," Littimer murmured. "Always so +full of surprises. Our dear Reginald is even a greater rascal than I +took him for." + +"Well, he took your money, and that saved him. He took your ring, a +facsimile of which he had made before for some ingenious purpose. It came +with a vengeance. Then Claire Carfax committed suicide, thanks to your +indiscretion and folly." + +"Go on. Rub it in. Never mind about my feelings." + +"I'm not minding," Chris said, coolly. "Henson saw his game and played it +boldly. I could not have told you all this yesterday, but a letter I had +this morning cleared the ground wonderfully. Henson wanted to cause +family differences, and he succeeded. Previously he got Dr. Bell out of +the way by means of the second Rembrandt. You can't deny there is a +second Rembrandt now, seeing that it is locked up in your safe. And where +do you think Bell found it? Why, at 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton, +where Henson had to leave it seven years ago when the police were so hot +upon his trail. He was fearful lest you and Bell should come together +again, and that is why he came here at night to steal your Rembrandt. And +yet you trusted that man blindly all the time your own son was suffering +on mere suspicions. How blind you have been!" + +"I'm blind still," Littimer said, curtly. "My dear young lady, I admit +that you are making out a pretty strong case; indeed, I might go farther, +and say that you have all my sympathy. But what you say would not be +taken as evidence in a court of law. If you produce that ring, for +instance--but that is at the bottom of the North Sea." + +Chris took a small cardboard box from her pocket, and from thence +produced a ring. It was a ruby ring with black pearls on either side, and +had some inscription inside. + +"Look at that," she said. "It was sent to me to-day by my--by a friend of +mine. It is the ring which Reginald Henson shows to Lady Littimer when he +wants money from her. It was lost by Henson a night or two ago, and it +fell into the hands of someone who is interested, like myself, in the +exposure and disgrace of Reginald Henson." + +Littimer examined the ring carefully. + +"It is a wonderfully good imitation," he said, presently. + +"So I am told," said Chris. "So good that it must have actually been +copied from the original. Now, how could Henson have had a copy made +unless he possessed the original? Will you be good enough to answer me +that question, Lord Littimer?" + +Littimer could do no more than gaze at the ring in his hand for +some time. + +"I could have sworn--indeed, I am ready to swear--that the real ring was +never in anybody's possession but mine from the day that Frank was a year +old till it disappeared. Of course, scores of people had looked at it, +Henson amongst the rest. But how did Claire Carfax--" + +"Easily enough. Henson had a first copy made from a description. I don't +know why; probably we shall never know why. Probably he had it done when +he knew that your son and Miss Carfax had struck up a flirtation. It was +he who forged a letter from Frank to Miss Carfax, enclosing the ring. By +that means he hoped to create mischief which, if it had been nipped in +the bud, could never have been traced to him. As matters turned out he +succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. He had got the real ring, too, +which was likely to prove a very useful thing in case he ever wanted to +make terms. A second and a faithful copy was made--the copy you hold in +your hands--to hold temptingly over Lady Littimer's head when he wanted +large sums of money from her." + +"The scoundrel! He gets the money, of course?" + +"He does. To my certain knowledge he has had nearly £70,000. But the case +is in good hands. You have only to wait a few days longer and the man +will be exposed. Already, as you see, I have wound his accomplice, the +Reverend James Merritt, round my finger. Of course, the idea of getting +up a bazaar has all been nonsense. I am only waiting for a little further +information, and then Merritt will feel the iron hand under the velvet +glove. Unless I am greatly mistaken, Merritt can tell us where Prince +Rupert's ring is. Already Van Sneck is in our grasp." + +"Van Sneck! Is he in England?" + +"He is. Did you read that strange case of a man being found half murdered +in the conservatory of Mr. Steel, the novelist, in Brighton? Well, that +was Van Sneck. But I can't tell you any more at present. You must wait +and be content." + +"Tell me one thing, and I will wait as long as you like. Who are you?" + +Chris shook her head, merrily. A great relief had been taken off her +mind. She had approached a delicate and difficult matter, and she had +succeeded beyond her expectations. That she had shaken the man opposite +her sorely was evident from his face. The hardness had gone from his +eyes, his lips were no longer bitter and cynical. + +"I may have been guilty of a great wrong," he murmured. "All these years +I may have been living under a misapprehension. And you have told me what +I should never have suspected, although I have never had a high opinion +of my dear Reginald. Where is my wife now?" + +"She is still at Longdean Grange. You will notice a great change in her, +a great and sorrowful change. But it is not too late to--" + +Littimer rose and went swiftly towards the house. At any other time the +action would have been rude, but Chris fully understood. She had +touched the man to the bottom of his soul, and he was anxious to hide +his emotion. + +"Poor man," Chris murmured. "His hard cynicism conceals a deal of +suffering. But the suffering is past; we have only to wait patiently for +daylight now." + +Chris rose restlessly in her turn and strolled along the terrace to her +favourite spot looking over the cliffs. There was nobody about; it was +very hot there. The girl removed her glasses and pushed back the banded +hair from her forehead. She had drawn a photograph from her pocket which +she was regarding intently. She was quite heedless of the fact that +somebody was coming along the cliffs towards her. She raised the +photograph to her lips and kissed it tenderly. + +"Poor Frank," she murmured. "Poor fellow, so weak and amiable. And yet +with all your faults--" + +Chris paused, and a little cry escaped her lips. Frank Littimer, looking +very wild and haggard, stood before her. + +"I beg your pardon," he began. "I came to see you because--" + +The words died away. He staggered back, pale as the foam beating on the +rocks below, his hand clutching at his left side as if there was some +mortal pain there. + +"Chris," he murmured. "Chris, Chris, Chris! And they told me--" + +He could say no more, he could only stand there trembling from head to +foot, fearful lest his mocking senses were making sport of him. Surely, +it was some beautiful vision he had come upon. With one unsteady hand he +touched the girl's sleeve; he pressed her warm red cheeks with his +fingers, and with that touch his manhood came back to him. + +"Darling," he whispered, eagerly. "Dearest, what does it mean?" + +Chris stood there, smiling rosily. She had not meant to betray herself; +fate had done that for her, and she was not sorry. It was a cruel trick +they had played upon Frank, but it had been necessary. Chris held out her +hand with a loving little gesture. + +"Are you not going to kiss me, dear?" she asked, sweetly. + +Frank Littimer needed no further invitation. It was quiet and secluded +there, and nobody could possibly see them. With a little sigh Chris felt +her lover's arms about her and his kisses warm on her lips. The clever, +brilliant girl had disappeared; a pretty, timid creature stood in her +place for the time. For the moment Frank Littimer could do no more than +gaze into her eyes with rapture and amazement. There was plenty of time +for explanations. + +"Let us go into the arbour," Frank suggested. "No, I am not going to +release your hand for a moment. If I do you will fly away again. Chris, +dear Chris, why did you serve me so?" + +"It was absolutely necessary," Chris replied. "It was necessary to +deceive Reginald Henson. But it was hard work the other night." + +"You mean when I came here and--" + +"Tried to steal the Rembrandt. Oh, you needn't explain. I know that you +had to come. And we have Henson in our power at last." + +"I am afraid that is too good to be true. But tell me everything from the +beginning. I am as dazed and confused as a tired man roused out of a +sound sleep." + +Chris proceeded to explain from the beginning of all things. It was an +exceedingly interesting and exciting narrative to Frank Littimer, and he +followed it carefully. He would have remained there all day listening to +the music of Chris's voice and looking into her eyes. He had come there +miserable and downcast to ask a question, and behold he had suddenly +found all the joy and sweetness of existence. + +"And so you have accomplished all this?" he said, at length. "What a +glorious adventure it must have been, and how clever you are! So is Mr. +David Steel. Many a time I have tried to break through the shackles, but +Reginald has always been too strong for me." + +"Well, he's shot his bolt, now," Chris smiled. "I have just been opening +your father's eyes." + +Frank laughed as he had not laughed for a long time. + +"Do you mean to say he doesn't know who you are?" he asked. + +"My dear boy, he hasn't the faintest idea. Neither had you the faintest +idea when I made you a prisoner the other night. But he will know soon." + +"God grant that he may," Frank said, fervently. + +He bent over and pressed his lips passionately to those of Chris. When he +looked up again Lord Littimer was standing before the arbour, wearing his +most cynical expression. + +"He does know," he said. "My dear young lady, you need not move. The +expression of sweet confusion on your face is infinitely pleasing. I did +not imagine that one so perfectly self-possessed could look like that. It +gives me quite a nice sense of superiority. And you, sir?" + +The last words were uttered a little sternly. Frank had risen. His face +was pale, his manner resolute and respectful. + +"I came here to ask Miss Lee a question, sir, not knowing, of course, +who she was." + +"And she betrayed herself, eh?" + +"I am sorry if I have done so," Chris said, "but I should not have done +so unless I had been taken by surprise. It was so hot that I had taken +off my glasses and put my hair up. Then Frank came up and surprised me." + +"You have grown an exceedingly pretty girl, Chris," Littimer said, +critically. "Of course, I recognise you now. You are nicer-looking than +Miss Lee." + +Chris put on her glasses and rolled her hair down resolutely. + +"You will be good enough to understand that I am going to continue Miss +Lee for the present," she said. "My task is a long way from being +finished yet. Lord Littimer, you are not going to send Frank away?" + +Littimer looked undecided. + +"I don't know," he said. "Frank, I have heard a great deal to-day to +cause me to think that I might have done you a grave injustice. And yet I +am not sure.... In any case, it would be bad policy for you to remain +here. If the news came to the ears of Reginald Henson it might upset Miss +Machiavelli's plans." + +"That had not occurred to me for the moment," Chris exclaimed. "On the +whole, Frank had better not stay. But I should dearly like to see you two +shake hands." + +Frank Littimer made an involuntary gesture, and then he drew back. + +"I'd--I'd rather not," he said. "At least, not until my character has +been fully vindicated. Heaven knows I have suffered enough for a boyish +indiscretion,'' + +"And you have youth on your side," Littimer said gravely. "Whereas I--" + +"I know, I know. It has been terrible all round. I took those letters +of poor Claire's away because they were sacred property, and for no eye +but mine--" + +"No eye but yours saw them. I was going to send them back again. I +wish I had." + +"Aye, so do I. I took them and destroyed them. But I take Heaven to +witness that I touched nothing else besides. If it was the last word I +ever uttered--what is that fellow doing here in that garb? It is one of +Henson's most disreputable tools." + +Merritt was coming across the terrace. He paused suspiciously as he +caught sight of Frank, but Chris, with a friendly wave of her hand, +encouraged him to come on. + +"It is all part of the game," she said. "I sent for our friend Merritt, +but when I did so I had no idea that Frank would be present. Since you +are here you might just as well stay and hear a little more of the +strange doings of Reginald Henson. The time has come to let Merritt know +that I am not the clever lady burglar he takes me for." + +Merritt came up doggedly. Evidently the presence of Frank Littimer +disturbed him. Chris motioned him to a seat, quite gaily. + +"You are very punctual," she said. "I told you I wanted you to give Lord +Littimer and myself a little advice and assistance. In the first place we +want to know where that gun-metal diamond-mounted cigar-case, at present +for sale in Rutter's window, came from. We want to know how it got there +and who sold it to Rutter's people. Also we want to know why Van Sneck +purchased a similar cigar-case from Walen's, of Brighton." + +Merritt's heavy jaw dropped, his face turned a dull yellow. He looked +round helplessly for some means of escape, and then relinquished the idea +with a sigh. + +"Done," he said. "Clear done. And by a woman, too! A smart woman, I +admit, but a woman all the same. And yet why didn't you--" + +Merritt paused, lost in the contemplation of a problem beyond his +intellectual strength. + +"You have nothing to fear," Chris said, with a smile. "Tell us all +you know and conceal nothing, and you will be free when we have done +with you." + +Merritt wiped his dry lips with the back of his hand. + +"I come peaceable," he said, hoarsely. "And I'm going to tell you all +about it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE TRACK BROADENS + + +There was an uneasy grin on Merrill's face, a suggestion that he did not +altogether trust those around him. Hard experience in the ways of the +wicked had taught him the folly of putting his confidence in anyone. Just +for the moment the impulse to shuffle was upon him. + +"If I say nothing, then I can't do any harm," he remarked, sapiently. +"Best, on the whole, for me to keep my tongue between my teeth." + +"Mr. Henson is a dangerous man to cross," Chris suggested. + +"He is that," Merritt agreed. "You don't know him as I do." + +Chris conceded the point, though she had her own views on that +matter. Lord Littimer had seated himself on the broad stone bench +along the terrace, whence he was watching the scene with the greatest +zest and interest. + +"You imagine Mr. Henson to be a friend of yours?" Chris asked. + +Merritt nodded and grinned. So long as he was useful to Henson he was +fairly safe. + +"Mr. Merritt," Chris asked, suddenly, "have you ever heard of +Reuben Taylor?" + +The effect of the question was electrical. Merritt's square jaw dropped +with a click, there was fear in the furtive eyes that he cast around him. + +"I read about Reuben Taylor in one of our very smart papers lately," +Chris went on. "It appears that Mr. Taylor is a person who nobody seems +to have seen, but who from time to time does a vast service to the +community at large. He is not exactly a philanthropist, for he is well +rewarded for his labours both by the police and his clients. Suppose Mr. +Merritt here had done some wrong." + +"A great effort of imagination," Littimer murmured, gently. + +"Had done something wrong, and an enemy or quondam friend wants to 'put +him away.' I believe that is the correct expression. In that case he does +not go to the police himself, because he is usually of a modest and +retiring disposition. No, he usually puts down a few particulars in the +way of a letter and sends it to Reuben Taylor under cover at a certain +address. Is not that quite correct, Mr. Merritt?" + +"Right," Merritt said, hoarsely. "Some day we shall find out who Taylor +is, and--" + +"Never mind that. Do you know that the night before your friend Mr. +Henson left the Castle he placed in the post-bag a letter addressed to +Mr. Reuben Taylor? In view of what I read recently in the paper alluded +to the name struck me as strange. Now, Mr. Merritt, is it possible that +letter had anything to do with you?" + +Merritt did not appear to hear the question. His eyes were fixed on +space; there was a sanguine clenching of his fists as if they had been +about the throat of a foe. + +"If I had him here," he murmured. "If I only had him here! He's given me +away. After all that I have done for him he's given me away." + +His listeners said nothing; they fully appreciated the situation. +Merritt's presence at the Castle was both dangerous and hazardous +for Henson. + +"If you went away to-day you might be safe?" Chris suggested. + +"Aye, I might," Merritt said, with a cunning grin in his eyes. "If I had +a hundred pounds." + +Chris glanced significantly at Littimer, who nodded and took up +the parable. + +"You shall have the money," he said. "And you shall go as soon as you +have answered Miss Lee's questions." + +Merritt proclaimed himself eager to say anything. But Merritt's +information proved to be a great deal less than she had anticipated. + +"I stole that picture," Merritt confessed. "I was brought down here on +purpose. Henson sent to London and said he had a job for me. It was to +get the picture from Dr. Bell. I didn't ask any questions, but set to +work at once." + +"Did you know what the picture was?" Chris asked. + +"Bless you, yes; it was a Rembrandt engraving. Why, it was I who in the +first place stole the first Rembrandt from his lordship yonder, in +Amsterdam. I got into his lordship's sitting-room by climbing down a +spout, and I took the picture." + +"But the other belonged to Van Sneck," said Chris. + +"It did; and Van Sneck had to leave Amsterdam hurriedly, being wanted +by the police. Henson told me that Van Sneck had a second copy of 'The +Crimson Blind,' and I had to burgle that as well; and I had to get +into Dr. Bell's room and put the second copy in his portmanteau. Why? +Ask somebody wiser than me. It was all some deep game of Henson's, +only you may be pretty sure he didn't tell _me_ what the game was. I +got my money and returned to London, and till pretty recently I saw no +more of Henson." + +"But you came into the game again," said Littimer. + +"Quite lately, your lordship. I went down to Brighton. I was told as Bell +had got hold of the second Rembrandt owing to Henson's carelessness, and +that he was pretty certain to bring it here. He did bring it here, and I +tried to stop him on the way, and he half killed me." + +"Those half measures are so unsatisfactory," Littimer smiled. + +Merritt grinned. He fully appreciated the humour of the remark. + +"That attack and the way it was brought about were suggested by Henson," +he went on. "If it failed, I was to come up to the Castle here without +delay and tell Henson so. I came, and he covered my movements whilst I +pinched the picture. I had been told that the thing was fastened to the +wall, but a pair of steel pliers made no odds to that. I took the picture +home, and two days later it vanished. And that's all I know about it." + +"Lame and impotent conclusion!" said Littimer. + +"Wait a moment," Chris cried. "You found the diamond star which +you pawned--" + +"At your request, miss. Don't go for to say as you've forgotten that." + +"I have forgotten nothing," Chris said, with a smile. "I want to know +about the cigar-case." + +Merritt looked blankly at the speaker. Evidently this was strange +ground to him. + +"I don't know anything about that," he said. "What sort of a cigar-case?" + +"Gun-metal set with diamonds. The same case or a similar one to that +purchased by Van Sneck from Walen's in Brighton. Come, rack your brains a +bit. Did you ever see anything of Van Sneck about the time of his +accident? You know where he is?" + +"Yes. He's in the County Hospital at Brighton, He was found in Mr. +Steel's house nearly dead. It's coming back to me now. A gun-metal +cigar-case set in diamonds. That would be a dull thing with sparkling +stones all over it. Of course! Why, I saw it in Van Sneck's hands the day +he was assaulted. I recollect asking him where he got it from, and he +said that it was a present from Henson. He was going off to meet Henson +then by the corner of Brunswick Square." + +"Did you see Van Sneck again that day?" + +"Later on in the afternoon. We went into the Continental together. Van +Sneck had been drinking." + +"You did not see the cigar-case again?" + +"No. Van Sneck gave me a cigar which he took from the common sort of case +that they give away with seven cigars for a shilling. I asked him if he +had seen Henson, and he said that he had. He seemed pretty full up +against Henson, and said something about the latter having played him a +scurvy trick and he didn't like it, and that he'd be even yet. I didn't +take any notice of that, because it was no new thing for Henson to play +it low down on his pals." + +"Did anything else happen at that interview?" Chris asked, anxiously. +"Think! The most trivial thing to you would perhaps be of the greatest +importance to us." + +Merritt knitted his brows thoughtfully. + +"We had a rambling kind of talk," he said. "It was mostly Van Sneck who +talked. I left him at last because he got sulky over my refusal to take a +letter for him to Kemp Town." + +"Indeed! Do you recollect where that letter was addressed to?" + +"Well, of course I've forgotten the address; but it was to some writing +man--Stone, or Flint, or--" + +"Steel, perhaps?" + +"That's the name! David Steel, Esq. Van Sneck wanted me to take that +letter, saying as it would put a spoke in Reginald Henson's wheel, but I +didn't see it. A boy took the letter at last." + +"Did you see an answer come back?" + +"Yes, some hour or so later. Van Sneck seemed to be greatly pleased with +it. He said he was going to make an evening call late that night that +would cook Henson's goose. And he was what you call gassy about +it: said he had told Henson plump and plain what he was going to do, and + that he was not afraid of Henson or any man breathing." + +Chris asked no further questions for the moment. The track was getting +clearer. She had, of course, heard by this time of the letter presumedly +written by David Steel to the injured man Van Sneck, which had been found +in his pocket by Dr. Cross. The latter had been written most assuredly in +reply to the note Merritt had just alluded to, but certainly not written +by David Steel. Who, then, seeing that it was Steel's private note-paper? +The more Chris thought over this the more she was puzzled. Henson could +have told her, of course, but nobody else. + +Doubtless, Henson had started on his present campaign with a dozen +different schemes. Probably one of them called for a supply of Steel's +note-paper. Somebody unknown had procured the paper, as David Steel had +testimony in the form of his last quarter's account. The lad engaged by +Van Sneck to carry the letter from the Continental to 15, Downend +Terrace, must have been intercepted by Henson or somebody in Henson's pay +and given the forged reply, a reply that actually brought Van Sneck to +Steel's house on the night of the great adventure. Henson had been warned +by the somewhat intoxicated Van Sneck what he was going to do, and he had +prepared accordingly. + +A sudden light came to Chris. Henson had found out part of their scheme. +He knew that David Steel would be probably away from home on the night in +question. In that case, having made certain of this, and having gained a +pretty good knowledge of Steel's household habits, what easier than to +enter Steel's house in his absence, wait for Van Sneck, and murder him +then and there? + +It was not a pretty thought, and Chris recoiled from it. + +"How could Van Sneck have got into Steel's house?" she asked. "I know for +a fact that Mr. Steel was not at home, and that he closed the door +carefully behind him when he left the house that night." + +Merritt grinned at the simplicity of the question. It was not worthy of +the brilliant lady who had so far got the better of him. + +"Latch-keys are very much alike," he said. "Give me three latch-keys, and +I'll open ninety doors out of a hundred. Give me six latch-keys of +various patterns, and I'll guarantee to open the other ten." + +"I had not thought of that," Chris admitted. "Did Van Sneck happen by any +chance to tell you what he and Mr. Henson had been quarrelling about?" + +"He was too excited to tell anything properly. He was jabbering something +about a ring all the time." + +"What sort of a ring?" + +"That I can't tell you, miss. I fancy it was a ring that Van Sneck +had made." + +"Made! Is Van Sneck a working jeweller or anything of that kind?" + +"He's one of the cleverest fellows with his fingers that you ever saw. +Give him a bit of old gold and a few stones and he'll make you a bracelet +that will pass for antique. Half the so-called antiques picked up on the +Continent have been faked by Van Sneck. There was that ring, for +instance, that Henson had, supposed to be the property of some swell he +called Prince Rupert. Why, Van Sneck copied it for him in a couple of +days, till you couldn't tell t'other from which." + +Chris choked the cry that rose to her lips. She glanced at Littimer, who +had dropped his glass, and was regarding Merritt with a kind of frozen, +pallid curiosity. Chris signalled Littimer to speak. She had no words of +her own for the present. + +"How long ago was that?" Littimer asked, hoarsely. + +"About seven years, speaking from memory. There were two copies made--one +from description. The other was much more faithful. Perhaps there were +three copies, but I forget now. Van Sneck raved over the ring; it might +have been a mine of gold for the fuss he made over it." + +Littimer asked no further questions. But from the glance he gave first to +Chris and then to his son the girl could see that he was satisfied. He +knew at last that he had done his son a grave injustice--he knew the +truth. It seemed to Chris that years had slipped suddenly from his +shoulders. His face was still grave and set; his eyes were hard; but the +gleam in them was for the man who had done him this terrible injury. + +"I fancy we are wandering from the subject," Chris said, with +commendable steadiness. "We will leave the matter of the ring out of the +question. Mr. Merritt, I don't propose to tell you too much, but you can +help me a little farther on the way. That cigar-case you saw in Van +Sneck's possession passed to Mr. Henson. By him, or by somebody in his +employ, it was substituted for a precisely similar case intended for a +present to Mr. Steel. The substitution has caused Mr. Steel a great deal +of trouble." + +"Seeing as Van Sneck was found half dead in Mr. Steel's house, and seeing +as he claimed the cigar-case, what could be proved to be Van Sneck's, I'm +not surprised," Merritt grinned. + +"Then you know all about it?" + +"Don't know anything about it," Merritt growled, doggedly. "I guessed +that. When you said as the one case had been substituted for the other, +it don't want a regiment of schoolmasters to see where the pea lies. What +you've got to do now is to find Mr. Steel's case." + +"I have already found it, as I hinted to you. It is at Rutter's, in +Moreton Wells. It was sold to them by the gentleman who had given up +smoking. I want you to go into Moreton Wells with me to-day and see if +you can get at the gentleman's identity." + +Mr. Merritt demurred. It was all very well for Chris, he pointed out in +his picturesque language. She had her little lot of fish to fry, but at +the same time he had to draw his money and be away before the police were +down upon him. If Miss Lee liked to start at once--" + +"I am ready at any moment," Chris said. "In any case you will have +to go to Moreton Wells, and I can give you a little more information +on the way." + +"You had better go along, Frank," Littimer suggested, under his breath. +"I fervently hope now that the day is not far distant when you can return +altogether, but for the present your presence is dangerous. We must give +that rascal Henson no cause for suspicion." + +"You are quite right," Frank replied. "And I'd like to--to shake hands +now, dad." + +Littimer put out his hand, without a word. The cool, cynical man of the +world would have found it difficult to utter a syllable just then. When +he looked up again he was smiling. + +"Go along," he said. "You're a lucky fellow, Frank. That girl's one in +a million." + +A dog-cart driven by Chris brought herself and her companion into +Moreton Wells in an hour, Frank had struck off across country in the +direction of the nearest station. The appearance of himself in More ton +Wells on the front of a dog-cart from the Castle would have caused a +nine days' wonder. + +"Now, what I want to impress upon you is this," said Chris. "Mr. Steel's +cigar-case was stolen and one belonging to Van Sneck substituted for it. +The stolen one was returned to the shop from which it was purchased +almost immediately, so soon, indeed, that the transaction was never +entered on the books. We are pretty certain that Reginald Henson did +that, and we know that he is at the bottom of the mystery. But to prevent +anything happening, and to prevent our getting the case back again, +Henson had to go farther. The case must be beyond our reach. Therefore, I +decline to believe that it was a mere coincidence that took a stranger +into Lockhart's directly after Henson had been there to look at some +gun-metal cigar-cases set in diamonds. The stranger purchased the case, +and asked for it to be sent to the Metropole to 'John Smith.' With the +hundreds of letters and visitors there it would be almost impossible to +trace the case or the man." + +"Lockhart's might help you?" + +"They have as far as they can. The cigar-case was sold to a tall +American. Beyond that it is impossible to go." + +A meaning smile dawned on Merritt's face. + +"They might have taken more notice of the gentleman at Rutter's," he +said, "being a smaller shop. I'm going to admire that case and pretend +it belonged to a friend of mine." + +"I want you to try and buy it for me," Chris said, quietly. + +Rutter's was reached at length, and after some preliminaries the +cigar-case was approached. Merritt took it up, with a well-feigned air of +astonishment. + +"Why, this must have belonged to my old friend, B--," he exclaimed. +"It's not new?" + +"No, sir," the assistant explained. "We purchased it from a gentleman +who stayed for a day or two here at the Lion, a friend of Mr. +Reginald Henson." + +"A tall man?" said Merritt, tentatively. "Long, thin beard and slightly +marked with small-pox? Gave the name of Rawlins?" + +"That's the gentleman, sir. Perhaps you may like to purchase the case?" + +The purchase was made in due course, and together Chris and her queer +companion left the shop. + +"Rawlins is an American swindler of the smartest type," said Merritt. "If +you get him in a corner ask him what he and Henson were doing in America +some two years ago. Rawlins is in this little game for certain. But you +ought to trace him by means of the Lion people. Oh, lor'!" + +Merritt slipped back into an entry as a little, cleanshaven man passed +along the street. His eyes had a dark look of fear in them. + +"They're after me," he said, huskily. "That was one of them. Excuse +me, miss." + +Merritt darted away and flung himself into a passing cab. His face was +dark with passion; the big veins stood out on his forehead like cords. + +"The cur," he snarled--"the mean cur! I'll be even with him yet. If I +can only catch the 4.48 at the Junction I'll be in London before them. +And I'll go down to Brighton, if I have to foot it all the way, and, +once I get there, look to yourself, Reginald Henson. A hundred pounds is +a good sum to go on with. I'll kill that cur--I'll choke the life out of +him. Cabby, if you get to the Junction by a quarter to five I'll give +you a quid." + +"The quid's as good as mine, sir," cabby said, cheerfully. "Get +along, lass." + +Meanwhile Chris had returned thoughtfully to the dog-cart, musing over +the last discovery. She felt quite satisfied with her afternoon's work. +Then a new idea struck her. She crossed over to the post-office and +dispatched a long telegram thus:-- + +"To David Steel, 15, Downend Terrace, Brighton. + +"Go to Walen's and ascertain full description of the tentative customer +who suggested the firm should procure gun-metal cigar-case for him to +look at. Ask if he was a tall man with a thin beard and a face slightly +pock-marked. Then telephone result to me here. Quite safe, as Henson is +away. Great discoveries to tell you.--CHRISTABEL LEE." + +Chris paid for her telegram and then drove thoughtfully homeward. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +WHERE IS RAWLINS? + + +Lord Littimer was greatly interested in all that Chris had to say. The +whole story was confided to him after dinner. Over his coffee on the +terrace he offered many shrewd suggestions. + +"There is one thing wherein you have made a mistake," he said. "And that +is in your idea that Henson changed those cigar-cases after Miss Gates +laid your votive offering on Steel's doorstep." + +"How else could it be done?" Chris said. + +"My dear, the thing is quite obvious. You have already told me that +Henson was quite aware what you were going to do--at least that he knew +you were going to consult Steel. Also he knew that you were going to make +Steel a present, and by a little judicious eavesdropping he contrived to +glean all about the cigar-case. The fellow has already admitted to your +sister that he listened. How long was that before you bought the +cigar-case?" + +"I should say it might have been a week. We had inquiries to make, you +know. In the first instance we never dreamt of offering Mr. Steel money. +I blush to think of that folly." + +"Well, blush a little later on when you have more time. Then Henson had a +week to work out his little scheme. He knows all about the cigar-case; he +knows where it is going to be bought. Then he goes to Lockhart's and +purchases some trifle in the shape of a cigar-case; he has it packed up, +yellow string and all. This is his dummy. By keeping his eyes open he +gets the chance he is waiting for. Ruth Gates hadn't the faintest idea +that he knew anything when she left that case the day she bought it +within reach of Henson. He gets her out of the way for a minute or two, +he unties the parcel, and places the Van Sneck case in it. No, by Jove, +he needn't have bought anything from Lockhart's at all. I only thought of +that to account for the yellow string and the stamped paper that +Lockhart's people use. He first takes one case out of the parcel and +replaces it with another, and there you are. You may depend upon it that +was the way in which it was done." + +The more Chris thought over the matter the more certain she felt that +such was the case. Like most apparently wonderful things, the explanation +was absurdly simple. A conjurer's most marvellous tricks are generally +the easiest. + +"How foolish of us not to have thought of this before," Chris said, +thoughtfully. "At any rate, we know all about it now. And we know who +bought the cigar-case so promptly returned to Lockhart's by Henson. I +should like to see this Rawlins." + +"You have got to find him first," said Littimer. + +"I'm going into Moreton Wells again to-morrow to make inquiries," +said Chris. + +But she was saved the trouble. Once more the ever-blessed telephone stood +her in good stead. She was just on the point of starting for Moreton +Wells when Steel called her up. Chris recognised him with a thrill of +eager pleasure. + +"You need not be afraid," she said. "You can speak quite freely. How is +Van Sneck?" + +"Very queer," David responded. "Bell hoped to have operated upon him +before this, but such a course has not been deemed quite prudent. The day +after to-morrow it will be, I expect. Henson has found out where Van +Sneck is." + +"Indeed. Has he been to see you?" + +"He has been more than once on all kinds of ingenious pretences. But I +didn't call you up to tell you this. We have been making inquiries at +Walen's, Marley and myself. The time has come now to let Marley behind +the scenes a bit." + +"Did Walen's people know anything about the tall American?" + +"Oh, yes. A tall American with a thin beard and a faint suggestion of +small-pox called about a week before the great adventure, and asked to +see some gun-metal diamond-mounted cigar-cases--like the one in +Lockhart's window." + +"Did he really volunteer that remark?" + +"He did, saying also that Lockhart's were too dear. Walen's hadn't got +what he wanted, but they promised to get some cases out of stock, which +meant that they would go to the same wholesale house as Lockhart's and +get some similar cases. As a matter of fact, one of Walen's assistants +was sent round to study the case in Lockhart's window. The cases were +procured on the chance of a sale, but the American never turned up again. +No notice was taken of this, because such things often happen to +shopkeepers." + +"And this was about a week before the night of the great adventure?" + +"Yes. Wait a bit. I have not quite finished yet. Now, once I had +ascertained this, an important fact becomes obvious. The American didn't +want a cigar-case at all." + +"But he subsequently purchased the one returned to Lockhart's shop." + +"That remark does not suggest your usual acumen. The American was +preparing the ground for Van Sneck to purchase with a view to a +subsequent exchange. You have not fully grasped the vileness of this +plot yet. I went to Lockhart's and succeeded in discovering that the +purchaser of the returned case was a tall American, quite of the +pattern I expected. Then I managed to get on to the trail at the +Metropole here. They recollected when I could describe the man; they +also recollected the largeness of his tips. Then I traced my man to the +Lion at Moreton Wells, where he had obviously gone to see Reginald +Henson. From the Lion our friend went to the Royal at Scarsdale Sands, +where he is staying at present." + +"Under the name of John Smith?" + +"I suppose so, seeing that all the inquiries under that name were +successful. If you would like me to come up and interview the man +for you--" + +"I should like you to do nothing of the kind," Chris said. "You are more +useful in Brighton, and I am going to interview Mr. John Smith Rawlins +for myself. Good-bye. Just one moment. For the next few days my address +will be the Royal Hotel, Scarsdale Sands." + +Chris countermanded the dog-cart she had ordered and repaired to the +library, where Littimer was tying some trout-flies behind a cloud of +cigarette smoke. + +"Thought you had gone to Moreton Wells," he said. "Been at the telephone +again? A pretty nice bill I shall have to pay for all those long messages +of yours." + +"Mr. Steel pays this time," Chris said, gaily. "He has just given me some +information that obviates the necessity of going into the town. My dear +uncle, you want a change. You look tired and languid--" + +"Depression of spirits and a disinclination to exercise after food. Also +a morbid craving for seven to eight hours' sleep every night. What's the +little game?" + +"Bracing air," Chris laughed. "Lord Littimer and his secretary, Miss Lee, +are going to spend a few days at Scarsdale Sands, Royal Hotel, to +recuperate after their literary labours." + +"The air here being so poor and enervating," Littimer said, cynically. +"In other words, I suppose you have traced Rawlins to Scarsdale Sands?" + +"How clever you are," said Chris, admiringly. "Walen's American and +Lockhart's American, with the modest pseudonym of John Smith, are what +Mrs. Malaprop would call three single gentlemen rolled into one. We are +going to make the acquaintance of John Smith Rawlins." + +"Oh, indeed, and when do we start, may I ask?" + +Chris responded coolly that she hoped to get away in the course of the +day. With a great show of virtuous resignation Lord Littimer consented. + +"I have always been the jest of fortune," he said, plaintively; "but I +never expected to be dragged all over the place at my time of life by a +girl who is anxious to make me acquainted with the choicest blackguardism +in the kingdom. I leave my happy home, my cook, and my cellar, for at +least a week of hotel living. Well, one can only die once." + +Chris bustled away to make the necessary arrangements. Some few hours +later Lord Littimer was looking out from his luxurious private +sitting-room with the assumption of being a martyr. He and Chris were +dressed for dinner; they were waiting for the bell to summon them to the +dining-room. When they got down at length they found quite a large number +of guests already seated at the many small tables. + +"Your man here?" Littimer asked, languidly. + +Chris indicated two people seated in a window opposite. + +"There!" she whispered. "There he is. And what a pretty girl with him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE + + +Littimer put up his glass and gazed with apparent vacancy in the +direction of the window. He saw a tall man with a grey beard and hair; a +man most immaculately dressed and of distinctly distinguished appearance. +Littimer was fain to admit that he would have taken him for a gentleman +under any circumstances. In manner, style, and speech he left nothing to +be desired. + +"That chap has a fortune in his face and accent," Littimer said. "'Pon my +word, he is a chance acquaintance that one would ask to dinner without +the slightest hesitation. And the girl--" + +"Is his daughter," Chris said. "The likeness is very strong." + +"It is," Littimer admitted. "A singularly pretty, refined girl, with +quite the grand air. It is an air that mere education seldom gives; but +it seems to have done so in yonder case. And how fond they seem to be of +one another! Depend upon it, Chris, whatever that man may be his daughter +knows nothing of it. And yet you tell me that the police--" + +"Well, never mind the police, now. We can get Mr. Steel to tell Marley +all about 'John Smith' if we can't contrive to force his hand without. +But with that pretty girl before my eyes I shouldn't like to do anything +harsh. Up till now I have always pictured the typical educated scoundrel +as a man who was utterly devoid of feelings of any kind." + +Dinner proceeded quietly enough, Chris having eyes for hardly anything +else beyond the couple in the window. She rose presently, with a little +gasp, and hastily lifted a tankard of iced water from the table. The girl +opposite her had turned pale and her dark head had drooped forward. + +"I hope it is not serious," said Chris. "Drink a little of this; +it is iced." + +"And they told me they had no ice in the house," the man Rawlins +muttered. "A little of this, Grace. It is one of her old fainting fits. +Ah, that is better." + +The man Rawlins spoke with the tenderest solicitude. The look of positive +relief on his face as his daughter smiled at him told of a deep devotion +and affection for the girl. Chris, looking on, was wondering vaguely +whether or not she had made a mistake. + +"Lord Littimer obtained our ice," she said. "Pray keep this. Oh, yes, +that is Lord Littimer over there. I am his secretary." + +Littimer strolled across himself and murmured his condolences. A little +time later and the four of them were outside in the verandah taking ices +together. Rawlins might have been, and no doubt was, a finished +scoundrel, but there was no question as to his fascinating manner and his +brilliant qualities as a conversationalist. A man of nerve too, and full +of resources. All the same, Littimer was asking himself and wondering who +the man really was. By birth he must have been born a gentleman, Littimer +did not doubt for a moment. + +But there was one soft spot in the man, and that was his love for his +daughter. For her sake he had been travelling all over the world for +years; for years he had despaired of seeing her live to womanhood. But +she was gradually growing better; indeed, if she had not walked so far +to-day nothing would have happened. All the time that Rawlins was talking +his eyes were resting tenderly on his daughter. The hard, steely look +seemed to have gone out of them altogether. + +Altogether a charming and many-sided rascal, Littimer thought. He +was fond, as he called it, of collecting types of humanity, and here +was a new and fascinating specimen. The two men talked together till +long after dark, and Rawlins never betrayed himself. He might have +been an Ambassador or Cabinet Minister unbending after a long period +of heavy labour. + +Meanwhile Chris had drawn Grace Rawlins apart from the others. The girl +was quiet and self-contained, but evidently a lady. She seemed to have +but few enthusiasms, but one of them was for her father. He was the most +wonderful man in the world, the most kind and considerate. He was very +rich; indeed, it was a good thing, or she would never have been able to +see so much of the world. He had given up nearly the whole of his life to +her, and now she was nearly as strong as other girls. Chris listened in a +dazed, confused kind of way. She had not expected anything like this; and +when had Rawlins found time for those brilliant predatory schemes that +she had heard of? + +"Well, what do you think of them?" Littimer asked, when at length he and +Chris were alone. "I suppose it isn't possible that you and I have made +a mistake?" + +"I'm afraid not," Chris said, half sadly. "But what a strange case +altogether." + +"Passing strange. I'll go bail that that man is born and bred a +gentleman; and, what is more, he is no more of an American than I am. I +kept on forgetting from time to time what he was and taking him for one +of our own class. And, finally, I capped my folly by asking him to bring +his daughter for a drive to-morrow and a lunch on the Gapstone. What do +you think of that?" + +"Splendid," Chris said, coolly. "Nothing could be better. You will be +good enough to exercise all your powers of fascination on Miss Rawlins +to-morrow, and leave her father to me. I thought of a little plan tonight +which I believe will succeed admirably. At first I expected to have to +carry matters with a high hand, but now I am going to get Mr. Rawlins +through his daughter. I shall know all I want to by to-morrow night." + +Littimer smiled at this sanguine expectation. + +"I sincerely hope you will," he said, drily. "But I doubt it very much +indeed. You have one of the cleverest men in Europe to deal with. +Good-night." + +But Chris was in no way cast down. She had carefully planned out her +line of action, and the more she thought over it the more sure of +success she felt. A few hours more and--but she didn't care to dwell too +closely on that. + +It was after luncheon that Chris's opportunity came. Lord Littimer and +Grace Rawlins had gone off to inspect something especially beautiful in +the way of a waterfall, leaving Chris and Rawlins alone. The latter was +talking brilliantly over his cigarette. + +"Is Lord Littimer any relation of yours?" he asked. + +"Well, yes," Chris admitted. "I hope he will be a nearer relation +before long." + +"Oh, you mean to say--may I venture to congratulate--" + +"It isn't quite that," Chris laughed, with a little rising in colour. "I +am not thinking of Lord Littimer, but of his son.... Yes, I see you raise +your eyebrows--probably you are aware of the story, as most people are. +And you are wondering why I am on such friendly terms with Lord Littimer +under the circumstances. And I am wondering why you should call yourself +John Smith." + +The listener coolly flicked the ash from his cigarette. His face was +like a mask. + +"John Smith is a good name," he said. "Can you suggest a better?" + +"If you ask me to do so I can. I should call myself John Rawlins." + +There was just the ghost of a smile on Rawlins's lips. + +"There is a man of that name," he said, slowly, "who attained +considerable notoriety in the States. People said that he was the +_dernière cri_ of refined rascality. He was supposed to be without +feeling of any kind; his villainies were the theme of admiration amongst +financial magnates. There were brokers who piously thanked Providence +because Rawlins had never thought of going on the Stock Exchange, where +he could have robbed and plundered with impunity. And this Rawlins always +baffles the police. If he baffles them a little longer they won't be able +to touch him at all. At present, despite his outward show, he has hardly +a dollar to call his own. But he is on to a great _coup_ now, and, +strange to say, an honest one. Do you know the man, Miss Lee?" + +Chris met the speaker's eyes firmly. + +"I met him last night for the first time," she said. + +"In that case you can hardly be said to know him," Rawlins murmured. "If +you drive him into a corner he will do desperate things. If you tried +that game on with him you would regret it for the rest of your life. Good +heavens, you are like a child playing about amidst a lot of unguarded +machinery. Why do you do it?" + +"That I will tell you presently. Mr. Rawlins, you have a daughter." + +The hard look died out of the listener's eyes. + +"Whom I love better than my life," he said. "There are two John +Rawlins's--the one you know; and, well, the other one. I should be sorry +to show you the other one." + +"For the sake of your daughter I don't want to see the other one." + +"Then why do you pit yourself against me like this?" + +"I don't think you are displaying your usual lucidity," Chris said, +coolly. Her heart was beating fast, but she did not show it. "Just +reflect for a moment. I have found you out. I know pretty well what you +are. I need not have told you anything of this. I need have done no more +than gone to the police and told them where to find you. But I don't want +to do that; I hate to do it after what I saw last night. You have your +child, and she loves you. Could I unmask you before her eyes?" + +"You would kill her," Rawlins said, a little unsteadily; "and you would +kill me, I verily believe. That child is all the world to me. I committed +my first theft so that she could have the change the doctors declared to +be absolutely necessary. I intended to repay the money--the old, old +story. And I was found out by my employers and discharged. Thank +goodness, my wife was dead. Since then I have preyed on society.... But I +need not go into that sordid story. You are not going to betray me?" + +"I said before that I should do nothing of the kind." + +"Then why do you let me know that you have discovered my identity?" + +"Because I want you to help me. I fancy you respect my sex, Mr. Rawlins?" + +"Call me Smith, please. I have always respected your sex. All the +kindness and sympathy of my life have been for women. And I can lay my +hand on my heart and declare that I never yet wronged one of them in +thought or deed. The man who is cruel to women is no man." + +"And yet your friend Reginald Henson is that sort." + +Rawlins smiled again. He began to understand a little of what was passing +in Chris's mind. + +"Would you mind going a little more into details?" he suggested. "So +Henson is that sort. Well, I didn't know, or he had never had my +assistance in his little scheme. Oh, of course, I have known him for +years as a scoundrel. So he oppresses women." + +"He has done so for a long time: he is blighting my life and the life of +my sister and another. And it seems to me that I have that rascal under +my thumb at last. You cannot save him--you can do no more than place +obstacles in my way; but even those I should overcome. And you admit that +I am likely to be dangerous to you." + +"You can kill my daughter. I am in your power to that extent." + +"As if I should," Chris said. "It is only Reginald Henson whom I want to +strike. I want you to answer a few questions; to tell me why you went to +Walen's and induced them to procure a certain cigar-case for you, and why +you subsequently went to Lockhart's at Brighton and bought a precisely +similar one." + +Rawlins looked in surprise at the speaker. A tinge of admiration was on +his face. There was a keenness and audacity after his own heart. + +"Go on," he said, slowly. "Tell me everything openly and freely, and +when you have done so I will give you all the information that lies in +my power." + + + + +CHAPTER L + +RAWLINS IS CANDID + + +"So Reginald Henson bullies women," Rawlins said, after a long pause. +There was a queer smile on his face; he appeared perfectly at his ease. +He did not look in the least like a desperate criminal whom Chris could +have driven out of the country by one word to the police. In his +perfectly-fitting grey suit he seemed more like a lord of ancient acres +than anything else. "It is not a nice thing to bully women." + +"Reginald Henson finds it quite a congenial occupation," Chris +said, bitterly. + +Rawlins pulled thoughtfully at his cigarette. + +"I am to a certain extent in your power," he said. "You have discovered +my identity at a time when I could sacrifice thousands for it not to be +known that I am in England. How you have discovered me matters as little +as how a card-player gets the ace of trumps. And I understand that the +price of your silence is the betrayal of Henson?" + +"That is about what it comes to," said Chris. + +"In the parlance of the lower type of rascal, I am to 'round on my pal'?" + +"If you like to put it in that way, Mr. Smith." + +"I never did such a thing in my life before. And, at the same time, I +don't mind admitting that I was never so sorely tried. At the present +moment I am on the verge of a large fortune, and I am making my grand +_coup_ honestly. Would you deem it exaggeration on my part if I said that +I was exceedingly glad of the fact?" + +"Mr. Smith," Chris said, earnestly, "I have seen how fond you are of your +daughter." + +"That is an exceedingly clever remark of yours, young lady," Rawlins +smiled. "You know that you have found the soft spot in my nature, and you +are going to hammer on it till you reduce me to submission. I am not a +religious man, but my one prayer is that Grace shall never find me out. +When my _coup_ comes off I am going to settle in England and become +intensely respectable." + +"With Reginald Henson for your secretary, I suppose?" + +"No, I am going to drop the past. But to return to our subject. Are you +asking me to betray Henson to the police?" + +"Nothing of the kind," Chris cried, hastily. "I--I would do anything to +avoid a family scandal. All I want is a controlling power over the man." + +"The man who bullies women?" + +"The same. For seven years he has wrecked the lives of five of us--three +women. He has parted husband and wife, he has driven the man I love into +exile. And the poor wife is gradually going hopelessly mad under his +cruelties. And he blackmails us, he extorts large sums of money from us. +If you only knew what we have suffered at the hands of the rascal!" + +Rawlins nodded in sympathy. + +"I did not imagine that," he said. "Of course, I have known for years +that Henson was pretty bad. You may smile, but I have never had any +sympathy with his methods and hypocritical ways, perhaps because I never +did anything of the kind myself. Nobody can say that I ever robbed +anybody who was poor or defenceless or foolish. By heavens, I am a more +honest man than hundreds of London and New York capitalists. It is the +hard rogues amongst us who have always been my mark. But to injure and +wound women and children!" + +"Which means that you are going to help me?" Chris asked, quietly. + +"As far as I can, certainly. Especially as you are going to let Henson +down easily. Now please ask me any questions that you like." + +"This is very good of you," said Chris. "In the first place, did you ever +hear Mr. Henson speak of his relations or friends?" + +"Nobody beyond Lord Littimer. You see, Henson and I were extremely useful +to one another once or twice, but he never trusted me, and I never +trusted him. I never cared for his methods." + +"Did you go to Brighton lately on purpose to help him?" + +"Certainly not. I had business in Brighton for some considerable time, +and my daughter was with me. When she went away to stay with friends for +a short time I moved to the Metropole." + +"Then why did you go to Walen's in Brighton and ask them to show you some +gun-metal cigar-cases like the one in Lockhart's window?" + +"Simply because Henson asked me to. He came to me just before I went to +the Metropole and told me he had a big thing on. He didn't give me the +least idea what it was, nor did I ask him. He suggested the idea of the +cigar-case, and said that I need not go near Walen's again, and I didn't. +I assure you I had no curiosity on the matter. In any case a little thing +like that couldn't hurt me. Some days later Henson came to me again, and +asked me to go to Lockhart's and purchase the cigar-case I had previously +seen. He wanted me to get the case so that I could not be traced. Again I +agreed. I was leaving the Metropole the next day, so the matter was easy. +I called and purchased the cigar-case on approval, I forwarded +dollar-notes in payment from the Metropole, and the next day I left." + +"And you did all that without a single question?" + +"I did. It was only a little consideration for an old confederate." + +"And suppose that confederate had played you false?" + +Two tiny points of flame danced in Rawlins's eyes. + +"Henson would never have dared," he said. "My mind was quite easy on +that score." + +"I understand," Chris murmured. "And you kept the cigar-case?" + +"Yes, I rather liked it. And I could afford a luxury of that kind +just then." + +"Then why did you dispose of it to Rutter's in Moreton Wells? And why +Moreton Wells?" + +Rawlins laughed as he lighted a fresh cigarette. + +"I came to Moreton Wells knowing that Henson was at Littimer Castle," he +explained. "I went there to borrow £200 from Henson. Unfortunately I +found him in great need of money. Somebody who had promised him a large +sum of money had disappointed him." + +Chris smiled. She had heard all about Lady Littimer's adventure with the +ring, and her stubborn refusal to give Henson any further supplies. + +"Presently I can tell you who disappointed Henson," she said. "But fancy +you being short of--" + +"Of ready money; I frequently am. One of your great millionaires told me +lately that he was frequently hard up for a thousand pounds cash. I have +frequently been hard up for five pounds. Hence the fact that I sold the +cigar-case at Moreton Wells." + +"Well, the ground is clear so far," said Chris. "Do you know Van Sneck?" + +"I know Van Sneck very well," Rawlins said, without hesitation. "A +wonderfully clever man." + +"And a great scoundrel, I presume?" + +"Well, on the whole, I should say not. Weak, rather than wicked. Van +Sneck has been a tool and creature of Henson's for years. If he could +only keep away from the drink he might make a fortune. But what has Van +Sneck got to do with it?" + +"A great deal," Chris said, drily. "And now, please, follow carefully +what I am going to say. A little time ago we poor, persecuted women put +our heads together to get free from Reginald Henson. We agreed to ask Mr. +David Steel, the well-known novelist, to show us a way of escape. +Unhappily for us, Henson got to know of it." + +Rawlins was really interested at last. + +"Pardon me," he said, eagerly, "if I ask a question or two before you +proceed. Is Mr. David Steel the gentleman who found a man half murdered +in his house in Brighton?" + +"The same. But don't you know who the injured man was?" + +"You don't mean to say it was Van Sneck?" Rawlins cried. + +Chris nodded gravely. Rawlins looked like a man who was groping about in +a sudden dazzle of blinding light. + +"I begin to understand," he muttered. "The scoundrel!" + +"After that I will resume," Chris said. "You must understand that Mr. +Steel was a stranger to us. We hit upon the idea of interviewing him +anonymously, so to speak, and we were going to give him a gun-metal +cigar-case mounted in diamonds. A friend of mine purchased that +cigar-case at Lockhart's. Mind you, Reginald Henson knew all about this. +The same day Henson's tool, Van Sneck, purchased a similar case from +Walen's--a case really procured for your approval--and later on in the +day the case passed from Van Sneck to Henson, who dexterously changed +the cases." + +"Complex," Rawlins muttered. "But I begin to see what is coming." + +"The cases were changed, and the one from Walen's in due course became +Mr. Steel's. Now note where Henson's diabolical cunning comes in. The +same night Van Sneck is found half murdered in Mr. Steel's house, and in +his pocket is the receipt for the very cigar-case that Mr. Steel claimed +as his own property." + +"Very awkward for Steel," Rawlins said, thoughtfully. + +"Of course it was. And why was it done? So that we should be forced to +come forward and exonerate Mr. Steel from blame. We should have had to +tell the whole story, and then Henson would have learnt what steps we +were taking to get rid of him." + +Rawlins was quiet for some time. Admiration for the scheme was uppermost +in his mind, but there was another thought that caused him to glance +curiously at Chris. + +"And that is all you know?" he asked. + +"Not quite," Chris replied. "I know that on the day of the attempted +murder Van Sneck quarrelled with Reginald Henson, who he said had treated +him badly. Van Sneck had in some way found out that Reginald Henson meant +mischief to Mr. Steel. Also he couldn't get the money he wanted. Probably +he had purchased that cigar-case at Walen's, and Henson could not repay +him for the purchase of it. Then he went off and wrote to Mr. Steel, +asking the latter to see him, as he had threatened Henson he would do." + +"Ah!" Rawlins exclaimed, suddenly. "Are you sure of this?" + +"Certain. I heard it from a man who was with Van Sneck at the time, a man +called Merritt." + +"James Merritt. Really, you have been in choice company, Miss Lee. Your +knowledge of the criminal classes is getting extensive and peculiar." + +"Merritt told me this. And an answer came back." + +"An answer from Mr. Steel?" + +"Purporting to be an answer from Mr. Steel. A very clever forgery, as a +matter of fact. Of course that forgery was Henson's work, because we know +that Henson coolly ordered notepaper in Mr. Steel's name. He forgot to +pay the bill, and that is how the thing came out. Besides, the little wad +of papers on which the forgery was written is in Mr. Steel's hands. Now, +what do you make of that?" + +Rawlins turned the matter over thoughtfully in his mind. + +"Did Henson know that Mr. Steel would be from home that night?" he asked. + +"Of course. He probably also knew where our meeting with Mr. Steel was to +take place." + +"Then the matter is pretty obvious," said Rawlins. "Van Sneck, by some +means or other, gets an inkling of what is going on. He wanted money from +Henson, which he couldn't get, Henson being very short lately, and then +they quarrelled. Van Sneck was fool enough to threaten Henson with what +he was going to do. Van Sneck's note was dispatched by hand and +intercepted by Henson with a reply. By the way, will you be good enough +to give me the gist of the reply?" + +"It was a short letter from Mr. Steel and signed with his initials, and +saying in effect that he was at home every night and would see Van Sneck +about twelve or some time like that. He was merely to knock quietly, as +the household would be in bed, and Mr. Steel would let him in." + +"And Mr. Steel never wrote that letter at all?" + +"No; for the simple reason that he never had Van Sneck's note." + +"Which Henson intercepted, of course. Now, the mere fact of the reply +coming on Mr. Steel's paper is evidence that Henson had plotted some +other or alternative scheme against Mr. Steel. How long before the +cigar-case episode had you decided to consult the novelist?" + +"We began to talk about it nine or ten days before." + +"And Henson got to hear of it. Then a better idea occurred to Henson, and +the first idea which necessitated getting hold of Mr. Steel's notepaper +was abandoned. Subsequently, as you have just told me, the note-paper +came in useful after all. Henson knew that Steel would be out that night. +And, therefore, Van Sneck is deliberately lured to Steel's house to be +murdered there." + +"I see," Chris said, faintly. "This had never occurred to me before. +Murdered, by whom?" + +"By whom? Why, by Reginald Henson, of course." + +Just for a moment Chris felt as if all the world was slipping away +under her feet. + +"But how could he do it?" she asked. + +"Quite easily. And throw all the blame on Mr. Steel. Look at the evidence +he had ready to his hand against the latter. The changed cigar-case would +come near to hang a man. And Van Sneck was in the way. Steel goes out to +meet you or some of your friends. All his household are in bed. As a +novelist he comes and goes as he likes and nobody takes any heed. He goes +and leaves his door on the latch. Any money it is the common latch they +put on thousands of doors. Henson lets himself into the house and coolly +waits Van Sneck's coming. The rest you can imagine." + +Chris had no reply for a moment or two. Rawlins's suggestion had burst +upon her like a bomb. And it was all so dreadfully, horribly probable. +Henson could have done this thing with absolute impunity. It was +impossible to imagine for a moment that David Steel was the criminal. Who +else could it be, then, but Reginald Henson? + +"I'm afraid this has come as a shock to you," Rawlins said, quietly. + +"It has, indeed," said Chris. "And your reasoning is so dreadfully +logical." + +"Well, I may be wrong, after all," Rawlins suggested. + +Chris shook her head doubtfully. She felt absolutely assured that Rawlins +was right. But, then, Henson would hardly have run so terrible a risk for +a little thing like that. He could easily have silenced Van Sneck by a +specious promise or two. There must be another reason for-- + +It came to Chris in a moment. She saw the light quite plainly. + +"Mr. Smith," she said, eagerly, "where did you first meet Henson and +Van Sneck?" + +"We first came together some eight years ago in Amsterdam." + +"Would you mind telling me what your business was?" + +"So far as I can recollect it was connected with some old silver--William +and Mary and Queen Anne cups and _jardinières_. We had made a bit of a +find that we could authenticate, but we wanted a lot of the stuff, +well--faked. You see, Van Sneck was an authority on that kind of thing, +and we employed him to cut marks off small genuine things and attach them +to spurious large ones. On the whole, we made a very successful business +of it for a long time." + +"You found Van Sneck an excellent copyist. Did he ever copy +anything for you?" + +"No. But Henson employed him now and again. Van Sneck could construct a +thing from a mere description. There was a ring he did for Henson--" + +"Was that called Prince Rupert's ring, by any chance?" + +"That was the name of the ring. Why?" + +"We will come to that presently. Did you ever see Prince Rupert's ring?" + +"Well, I did. It was in Amsterdam again, about a year later than the time +I mentioned just now. Henson brought the real ring for Van Sneck to copy. +Van Sneck went into raptures over it. He said he had never seen anything +of the kind so beautiful. He made a copy of the ring, which he handed +back with the original to Henson." + +Chris nodded. This pretty faithful copy of the ring was the one that +Henson had used as a magnet to draw Lady Littimer's money and the same +one that had found its way into Steel's possession. But Chris had another +idea to follow up. + +"You hinted to me just now that Henson was short of money," she said. "Do +you mean to say he is in dire need of some large sum?" + +"That's it," Rawlins replied. "I rather fancy there has been some stir +with the police over some business up at Huddersfield some years ago." + +"A so-called home both there and at Brighton?" + +"That's it. It was the idea that Henson conveyed to me when I saw him at +Moreton Wells. It appears that a certain Inspector Marley, of the +Brighton Police, is the same man who used to have the warrants for the +Huddersfield affair in his hands. Henson felt pretty sure that Marley had +recognised him. He told me that if the worst came to the worst he had +something he could sell to Littimer for a large sum of money." + +"I know," Chris exclaimed. "It is the Prince Rupert's ring." + +"Well, I can't say anything about that. Is this ring a valuable +property?" + +"Not in itself. But the loss of it has caused a dreadful lot of misery +and suffering. Mr. Smith, Reginald Henson had no business with that ring +at all. He stole it and made it appear as if somebody else had done so by +means of conveying the copy to the very last person who should have +possessed it. That sad business broke up a happy home and has made five +people miserable for many years. And whichever way you turn, whichever +way you look, you find the cloven foot of Henson everywhere. Now, what +you have told me just now gives me a new idea. The secret that Henson was +going to sell to Lord Littimer for a large sum was the story of the +missing ring and the restitution of the same." + +"Kind of brazening it out, you mean?" + +"Yes. Lord Littimer would give three times ten thousand pounds to have +that ring again. But at this point Henson has met with a serious check in +his plans. Driven into a corner, he has resolved to make a clean breast +of it to Lord Littimer. He procures the ring from his strong box, and +then he makes a discovery." + +"Which is more than I have. Pray proceed." + +"He discovers that he has not got the real Prince Rupert's ring." + +Rawlins looked up with a slightly puzzled air. + +"Will you kindly tell me what you mean?" he said. + +"It was a forgery. Van Sneck made a copy from a mere description. That +copy served its purpose with a vengeance, and is now at the bottom of the +North Sea. I need not go into details, because it is a family secret, and +does not concern our conversation at all. At that time the _real_ ring +came into Henson's possession, and he wanted a copy to hold over the head +of an unfortunate lady whom he would have ruined before long. You told me +just now that Van Sneck had fallen in love with Prince Rupert's ring and +could hardly bear to part with it. He didn't." + +"No? But how could he retain it?" + +"Quite easily. The copy was quite faithful, but still _it was_ a copy. +But secretly Van Sneck makes a copy that would deceive everybody but an +expert, and this he hands over to--" + +"To Henson as the real ring," Rawlins cried, excitedly. + +Chris smiled, a little pleased at her acumen. + +"Precisely," she said. "I see that you are inclined to be of my opinion." + +"Well, upon my word, I am," Rawlins confessed. "But I don't quite +see why--" + +"Please let me finish," Chris went on, excitedly. "Reginald Henson is +driven back on his last trenches. He has to get the ring for Lord +Littimer. He takes out the ring after all these years, never dreaming +that Van Sneck would dare to play such a trick upon him, and finds out +the forgery. Did you ever see that man when he is really angry?" + +"He is not pretty then," Rawlins said. + +"Pretty! He is murder personified. Kindly try to imagine his feelings +when he discovers he has been deceived. Mind you, this is only a theory +of mine, but I feel certain that it will prove correct. Henson's last +hope is snatched away from him. But he does not go straight to Van Sneck +and accuse him of his duplicity. He knows that Van Sneck stole the ring +for sheer love of the gem, and that he would not dare to part with it. He +assumes that the ring is in Van Sneck's possession. And when Van Sneck +threatened to expose part of the business to Mr. Steel, Henson makes no +attempt to soothe him. Why? Because he sees a cunning way of getting back +the ring. He himself lures Van Sneck to Mr. Steel's house, and there he +almost murders him for the sake of the ring. Of course, he meant to kill +Van Sneck in such a way that the blame could not possibly fall upon him." + +"Can you prove that he knew anything about it?" + +"I can prove that he knew who Van Sneck was at a time when the hospital +people were doing their best to identify the man. And I know how +fearfully uneasy he was when he got to know that some of us were aware +who Van Sneck was. It has been a pretty tangle for a long time, but the +skein is all coming out smoothly at last. And if we could get the ring +which Henson forced by violence from Van Sneck--" + +"Excuse me. He did nothing of the kind." + +Chris looked up eagerly. + +"Oh," she cried, "have you more to tell me, then?" + +"Nothing authentic," Rawlins said; "merely surmise. Van Sneck is going to +recover. If he does it will be hard for Henson, who ought to get away +with his plunder at once. Why doesn't he go and blackmail Lord Littimer +and sell him the ring and clear out of the country? He doesn't do so +because the ring is not yet in his possession." + +"Then you imagine that Van Sneck--" + +"Still has the ring probably in his possession at the present moment. If +you only knew where Van Sneck happened to be." + +Chris rose to her feet with an excited cry. + +"I do know," she exclaimed; "he is in the house where he was half +murdered. And Mr. Steel shall know all this before he sleeps to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +HERITAGE IS WILLING + + +Bell's sanguine expectation that Van Sneck would be ready for an +immediate operation was not quite correct. As the day wore on the man +seemed more feverish and restless, which feverishness was followed by a +certain want of strength. After due deliberation Dr. Cross suggested that +the operation should be postponed for a day or two. + +"The man is out of our hands," he said. "You have identified him, and +you desire that he should remain here. It is pretty irregular +altogether. And I hope I shan't get into trouble over it. Still, in such +capable hands as yours--" + +Bell acknowledged the compliment with a smile. + +"Between Heritage and myself," he said, "we shall pull him through, eh, +Heritage?" + +The other doctor nodded brightly. For some little time he had been +directly under Bell's influence, and that had meant a marvellous change +for the better, he had lost a deal of his hesitating manner, and was +looking forward to the operation with the keenest interest. + +"However, I will put you all right," Bell said. "I fancy the time has +come when we can confide to a certain extent in Marley. And if the police +approve of Van Sneck being here, I don't see that you can say any more." + +Cross was emphatically of the same opinion. Later on, in the course of a +long interview with Marley, Bell and Steel opened the latter's eyes to a +considerable extent. + +"Well, I must congratulate you, sir," he said to Steel. "I'm bound to +confess that things looked pretty black against you at one time. Indeed, +I should have been fully justified in arresting you for the attempted +murder of Van Sneck." + +"But you never deemed me guilty, Marley?" + +"No, I didn't," Marley said, thoughtfully. "I argued in your favour +against my better judgment. I gather even now that there is a great deal +for me to know." + +"And which you are not going to learn," Bell said, drily. "When we have +Van Sneck all right again, and ready to swear to the author of the +mischief, you will have to be satisfied." + +"That would satisfy me, sir. And I'm glad that cigar-case mystery is +settled. You'll let me know how the operation goes on?" + +Steel promised to do so, and the two returned to Downend Terrace +together. They found Heritage a little excited and disturbed. + +"Do you know I have had a visitor?" he exclaimed. + +Bell started slightly. He looked just a little anxious. + +"I'm going to guess it at once," he said. "Reginald Henson has +been here." + +"You are certainly a wonderful fellow," Heritage said, admiringly. +"Nobody else could possibly have guessed that. He came to see me, +of course." + +"Oh, of course," Bell said, drily. "Naturally, he would have no +ulterior motive. Did he happen to know that we had a kind of patient +under the roof?" + +Heritage explained that Henson seemed to know something about it. Also, +by singular coincidence, he had met Van Sneck abroad. He expressed a +desire to see the patient, but Heritage's professional caution had got +the better of his friendship for once. Henson had given way finally, +saying that he hoped to call again later in the day. + +"It's a good thing you were firm," Bell said, grimly. "Otherwise there +would have been no need for an operation on Van Sneck. My dear Heritage, +it's quite time your eyes were opened to the true nature of your friend. +Henson watched Steel and myself out of the house He wanted to see Van +Sneck; he has probably known from the first that the latter was here." + +"Matter of philanthropy, perhaps," Heritage suggested. + +"A matter of murder," Bell said, sternly. "My dear fellow, Van Sneck was +nearly done to death in yonder conservatory, and his would-be assassin +was Reginald Henson." + +"I was never more astounded in my life," gasped Heritage. "I have always +looked upon Henson as the soul of honour and integrity. And he has always +been so kind to me." + +"For his own purposes, no doubt. You say that he found you a home after +your misfortunes came upon you. He came to see you frequently. And yet he +always harped upon that wretched hallucination of yours. Why? Because you +were the Carfax family doctor for a time, and at any moment you might +have given valuable information concerning the suicide of Claire Carfax. +Tell Heritage the story of Prince Rupert's ring, Steel." + +David proceeded to do so at some length. Heritage appeared to be deeply +interested. And gradually many long-forgotten things came back to him. + +"I recollect it all perfectly well," he said. "Miss Carfax and myself +were friends. Like most people with badly balanced intellects, she had +her brilliant moments. Why, she showed me that ring with a great deal of +pride, but she did not tell me its history. She was very strange in her +manner that morning; indeed, I warned her father that she wanted to be +most carefully looked after." + +"Did she say how she got the ring?" Steel asked. + +Heritage did not answer for a moment. + +"Oh, yes," he said, presently, "She said it was a present from a good +boy, and that Reginald Henson had given it her in an envelope. I met +Henson close by, but I didn't mention the ring." + +"And there you have the whole thing in a nutshell!" Bell exclaimed. +"Nothing of this came out at the inquest, because the ring story was +hushed up, and Heritage was not called because he had nothing to do with +the suicide. But Henson probably saw poor Claire Carfax show you the +ring, and he got a bit frightened, and he kept an eye upon you +afterwards. When you broke down he looked after you, and he took precious +good care to keep your hallucination always before your eyes. Whenever he +came to see you he always did that." + +"You are quite right there," Heritage admitted. "He mentioned it this +afternoon when I said I was going to take part in the operation on Van +Sneck. He asked me if I thought it wise to try my nerves so soon again +with the electric light." + +"And I hope you told him he was talking nonsense," Bell said, hastily. +"There, let us change the subject. The mere mention of that man's name +stifles me." + +Morning brought a long letter from Chris Henson to David, giving him in +detail the result of her recent interview with John Rawlins. There was a +postscript to the letter which David showed to Bell with a certain +malicious glee. + +"A nasty one for our friend Henson," he said. "What a sweet surprise it +will be for that picturesque gentleman the next time he goes blackmailing +to Longdean Grange." + +Bell chuckled in his turn. The net was drawing very close about Henson. + +"How is Van Sneck to-day?" David asked. + +"Much better," Bell replied. "I propose to operate to-night. I'm glad to +hear that your mother is going to be away a day or two longer." + +Heritage appeared to be ready and eager for the work before him. A +specially powerful electric light had been rigged up in connection with +the study lamp, and an operating table improvised from the kitchen. More +than once Bell looked eagerly at Heritage, but the latter stood the +scrutiny bravely. Once the operation was successfully through. Heritage +would never suffer from hallucinations again. + +"I fancy everything is ready now," Bell said, at length. "After dinner +to-night and this thing will be done. Then the story will be told--" + +"Mr. Reginald Henson to see you, sir." + +A servant looked in with this information and a card on a tray. There was +a slight commotion outside, the vision of a partially-wrecked bicycle on +the path, and a dusty figure in the hall with his head in his hand. + +"The gentleman has met with an accident, sir," the parlourmaid said. +Henson seemed to be knocked about a great deal. He was riding down the +terrace, he said, when suddenly he ran over a dog, and-- + +"What sort of a dog?" Bell snapped out. "What colour and size?" + +Henson was utterly taken aback by the suddenness of the question. He +gasped and stammered. He could not have told Bell more plainly that the +"accident" was an artistic fake. + +"You must stay here till you feel all right again," David suggested. + +"Stay here for the night," Bell growled, _sotto voce._ "Stay here till +to-morrow morning and hear something from Van Sneck's lips that will +finish his interesting career for some time. Medical treatment be hanged. +A clothes-brush and some soap and water are all the physic that he +requires." + +Presently Henson professed himself to be better. His superficial injuries +he bore with a manly fortitude quite worthy of his high reputation. He +could afford to smile at them. But he feared that there was something +internal of a sufficiently serious nature. Every time he moved he +suffered exquisite agony. He smiled in a faint kind of way. Bell watched +him as a cat watches a mouse. And he could read a deeper purpose behind +that soft, caressing manner. What it was he did not know, but he meant to +find out before the day was passed. + +"Hadn't we better send him to the hospital?" David suggested. + +"What for?" was Bell's brutal response. "There's nothing whatever the +matter with the man." + +"But he has every appearance of great pain." + +"To you, perhaps, but not to me. The man is shamming. He has come here +for some purpose, which will be pretty sure to transpire presently. The +knave never dreams that we are watching him, and he hugs himself with the +delusion that we take his story for gospel. Fancy a man in the state that +he pretends to be in sending his card to you! Let him stay where we can +keep an eye upon the chap. So long as he is under our observation he +can't do any mischief outside." + +There was wisdom in what Bell suggested, and David agreed. Despite his +injuries, Henson made a fair tea, and his dinner, partaken of on the +dining-room sofa, was an excellent one. + +"And now, do not let me detain you, as you have business," he smiled. "I +shall be quite comfortable here if you will place a glass of water by my +side. The pain makes me thirsty. No, you need not have any further +consideration for me." + +He smiled with patient resignation, the smile that he had found so +effective on platforms. He lay back with his eyes half closed. He seemed +to be asleep. + +"I fancy we can leave him now," Bell said, with deep sarcasm. "We need +have no further anxiety. Perfect rest is all that he requires." + +Henson nodded in a sleepy fashion; his eyes were closed now till the +others had left the room. Once he was alone he was alert and +vigorous again. + +"Ten minutes," he muttered, "say, a quarter of an hour. A touch, a spot +of water, and the thing is done. And I can never be found out." + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +PUTTING THE LIGHT OUT + + +Once the trio were in the operating-room Bell gave one rapid glance at +Heritage. But the latter seemed to have forgotten all his fears. There +was an alert air about him; he was quiet and steady. There was something +of the joy of battle in his eyes. + +"Now go and fetch Van Sneck in," Bell said. + +The patient came at length. Everything was ready. Van Sneck murmured +something and looked vaguely about him, like a man suddenly aroused from +a deep sleep. But he obeyed quite willingly when Bell commanded him to +get on the table. A moment or two later and he was gone under the +influence of the ether administered by Bell. + +A case of glittering instruments lay on the table. The strong +electric light was switched on and hung just over the head of the +unconscious patient. + +"You hold the sponge," Bell whispered to David. "There will be very +little blood. I like to have a man with me who has coolness and courage. +Oh, here is the spot. Feel the depression of the skull, Heritage. That is +where the pressure lies, and no larger than a pea." + +Heritage nodded, without reply. He took up the knife, there was a flash +of steel in the brilliant light and a sudden splash of blood. There was a +scrape, scrape that jolted horribly on David's nerves, followed by a +convulsive movement of Van Sneck's body. + +"Beautiful, beautiful," Heritage murmured. "How easily it comes away." + +Bell was watching in deep admiration of the strong hand that was yet +light as thistledown. The big electric light flickered for just a moment, +and Heritage stood upright. + +"Don't be a fool," Bell said, sternly. "It's a mere matter of current." +Heritage muttered that it must be. Nevertheless it had given him quite a +turn. His face was set and pale and his hand shook ever so slightly. The +knife was cutting deep, deeper-- + +A snarling oath broke from Bell's lips as the light flickered again and +popped out suddenly, leaving the whole room in intense darkness. Heritage +cried aloud. David felt a hand guiding his fingers to the patient's head. + +"Press the sponge down there and press hard," Bell whispered. "It's a +matter of life and death. Another minute and Van Sneck would have gone. +Heritage, Heritage, pull yourself together. It was no fault of yours the +light went out--the fault is mine." + +Bell stumbled down the kitchen stairs and returned with a candle. The +electric lights were out all over the ground floor with the exception of +the hall. One of the circuits had given out completely, as sometimes +happens with the electric light. Bell leapt on a table and turned the +hall light out. A second later and he was dragging the long spare flex +from the impromptu operating-room to the swinging cord over the hall +lamp. With a knife he cut the cord loose, he stripped the copper wires +beneath, and rapidly joined one flex to the other. + +"It's amateur work, but I fancy it will do," he muttered. "Anyway, that +rascal is powerless to interfere with the circuit that controls the +hall light." + +Snap went the hall switch--there was a sudden cry from Heritage as the +big lamp over the head of Van Sneck flared up again. Bell raced into the +study and shut the door. + +"A trick," he gasped. "The light was put out. For Heaven's sake, +Heritage, don't get brooding over those fancies of yours _now._ I tell +you the thing was done deliberately. Here, if you are too weak or feeble, +give the knife to _me_." + +The request had a sting in it. With an effort Heritage pulled +himself together. + +"No," he said, firmly, "I'll do it. It was a cruel, dastardly trick to +play upon me, but I quite see now that it _was_ a trick. Only it's going +to make a man of me instead." + +Bell nodded. His eyes were blazing, but he said nothing. He watched +Heritage at work with stern approval. Nothing could have been more +scientific, more skilful. It seemed a long time to David, looking on, but +it was a mere matter of minutes. + +"Finished," Heritage said, with a triumphant thrill. "And successful." + +"And another second would have seen an end of our man," Bell said. "He's +coming round again. Get those bandages on, Heritage. I'll look after the +mess. Give him the drug. I want him to sleep for a good long time." + +"Will he be sensible to-morrow?" David asked. + +"I'll pledge my reputation upon it," Bell said. "Hadn't you better +telephone down to your electrician to come and see to those lights? I see +the fuse in the meter is intact; it is only on the one circuit that they +have gone." + +Van Sneck opened his eyes and stared languidly about him. In a clear, +weak, yet wholly sensible voice he asked where he was, and then lapsed +into slumber. A little later and he lay snug and still in bed. There was +a look of the deepest pleasure in the eyes of Heritage. + +"I've saved him and he's saved me," he said. "But it was touch and go for +both of us when that light failed. But for Bell I fancied that I should +have fainted. And then it came to me that it was some trick, and my nerve +returned." + +"Never to leave you again," Bell said. "It tried you high, and found you +not wanting." + +"Heaven be praised," Heritage murmured. "But how was it done?" + +Bell's face was stern as he took the kitchen candlestick from the table +and went in the direction of the dining-room. + +"Come with me, and I'll explain," he said, curtly. + +The dining-room was in pitchy darkness, for the lights there had been on +the short circuit; indeed, the lights on the ground floor had all failed +with the exception of the hall, which fortunately had been on another +circuit. The fact had saved Van Sneck's life, for if Bell had not +speedily used that one live wire the patient must have perished. + +Henson looked up from his sofa with a start and a smile. + +"I am afraid I must have been asleep," he said, languidly. + +"Liar," Bell thundered. "You have been plotting murder. And but for a +mere accident the plot would have been successful. You have worked out +the whole thing in your mind; you came here on purpose. You came here to +stifle the light at the very moment when we were operating on Van Sneck. +You thought that all the lights on the floor would be on the same +circuit; you have been here before." + +"Are you mad?" Henson gasped. "When have I been here before--" + +"The night that you lured Van Sneck here by a forged letter and left him +for dead." + +Henson gasped, his lips moved, but no words came from them. + +"You have a little knowledge of electricity," Bell went on. "And you saw +your way pretty clear to spoil our operation to-night. You got that idea +from yonder wall-plug, into which goes the plunger of the reading lamp on +the cabinet yonder. At the critical moment all you had to do was to dip +your fingers in water and press the tips of them against the live wire in +the wall-plug. You did so, and immediately the wires fired all over the +circuit and plunged us in darkness. But the hall light remained sound, +and Van Sneck was saved. If it is any consolation to you, he will be as +sensible as any of us to-morrow." + +"Hensen had risen to his feet, pale and trembling, He protested, but it +was all in vain. Bell approached the china wall-plug and pointed to it. + +"Hold the candle down," he said. "There! You can see that the surface is +still wet, there is water in the holes now, and some of it has trickled +down the distemper on the wall. You ought to be shot where you stand, +murderous dog." + +Henson protested, with some dignity. It was all so much Greek to him, he +said. He had been sleeping so quietly that he had not seen the light +fail. Bell cut him short. + +"Get out," he cried. "Go away; you poison the air that honest men +breathe, and you are as fit and well as I am. Why don't you pitch him +into the street, Steel? Why don't you telephone to Marley at the +police-station, and say that the Huddersfield swindler is here? Oh, if +you only knew what an effort it is to keep my hands off him!" + +Henson made for the door with alacrity. A moment later and he was in the +street, dazed, confused, and baffled, and with the conviction strong upon +him that he had failed in his great _coup_. Van Sneck would be sensible +to-morrow--he would speak. And then-- + +But he dared not think of that at present. He wanted all his nerve and +courage now. He had just one last chance, one single opportunity of +making money, and then he must get out of the country without delay. He +almost wished now that he had not been quite so precipitate in the matter +of James Merritt. That humble tool might have been of great advantage to +him at this moment. But Merritt had threatened to be troublesome and must +be got out of the way. But then, the police had not picked Merritt up +yet. Was it possible that Merritt had found out that-- + +But Henson did not care to think of that, either, He would go back to the +quiet lodgings he had taken in Kemp Town for a day or two, he would +change his clothes and walk over to Longdean Grange, and it would go hard +if he failed to get a cheque from the misguided lady there. If he were +quick he could be there by eleven o'clock. + +He passed into his little room. He started back to see a man sleeping in +his armchair. Then the man, disturbed by the noise of the newcomer, +opened his eyes. And those eyes were gleaming with a glow that filled +Henson's heart with horrible dread. It was Merritt who sat opposite him, +and it was Merritt whose eyes told Henson that he knew of the latter's +black treachery. Henson was face to face with death, and he knew it. + +He turned and fled for his life; he scudded along the streets, past the +hospital and up towards the downs, with Merritt after him. The start was +not long, but it was sufficient. Merritt took the wrong turn, and, with a +heart beating fast and hard, Henson climbed upwards. It was a long time +before his courage came back to him. He did not feel really easy in his +mind until he had passed the lodge-gates at Longdean Grange, where he was +fortunate enough, after a call or two, to rouse up Williams. + +The latter came with more alacrity than usual. There was a queer grin on +his face and a suggestion of laughter in his eyes. + +"There seems to be a lot of light about," Henson cried. "Take me up +to the house, and don't let anybody know I am here. Your mistress +gone to bed?" + +"She's in the drawing-room," Williams said, "singing. And Miss Enid's +there. I am sure they will be glad to see you, sir." + +Henson doubted it, but made no reply. There was a chatter of voices in +the drawing-room, a chatter of a lightsomeness that Henson had never +heard before. Well, he would soon settle all that. He passed quietly into +the room, then stood in puzzled fear and amazement. + +"Our dear nephew," said a cool, sarcastic voice. "Come in, sir, come in. +This is quite charming. Well, my sweet philanthropist and most engaging +gentleman, and what may we have the pleasure of doing for you to-night?" + +"Lord Littimer?" Henson gasped. "Lord Littimer _here_?" + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +UNSEALED LIPS + + +Bell gave a gesture of relief as the door closed upon Henson. Heritage +looked like a man who does not quite understand. + +"I haven't quite got the hang of it yet," he said. "Was that done for +my benefit?" + +"Of course it was," Bell replied. "Henson found out that Van Sneck was +here, as he was certain to do sooner or later. He comes here to make +inquiries and finds you; also he comes to spy out the land. Now, without +being much of a gambler, I'm willing to stake a large sum that he +introduced the subject of your old trouble?" + +"He invariably did that," Heritage admitted. + +"Naturally. That was part of the game. And you told him that you had got +over your illness and that you were going to do the operation. And you +told him how. Where were you when the little conversation between Henson +and yourself took place?" + +"He was asked into the dining-room." + +"And then you told him everything. Directly Henson's eyes fell upon that +wall-plug he knew how to act. He made up his mind that the electric light +should fail at a critical moment. Hence the dramatic 'accident' with the +cycle. Once Henson had got into the house the rest was easy. He had only +to wet his fingers and press them hard against the two wires in the +wallplug and out pops the light, in consequence of the fuses blowing out. +I don't know where Henson learnt the trick, but I do know that I was a +fool not to think of it. You see, the hall light being dropped through +from the floor above was on another circuit. If it hadn't been we should +have had our trouble with Van Sneck for nothing." + +"He would have died?" David asked. + +The two doctors nodded significantly. + +"What a poisonous scoundrel he is!" David cried. "Miss Chris Henson does +not hesitate to say that he was more or less instrumental in removing two +people who helped her and her sister to defeat Henson, and now he makes +two attacks on Van Sneck's life. Really, we ought to inform the police +what has happened and have him arrested before he can do any further +mischief. Penal servitude for life would about fit the case." + +Van Sneck was jealously guarded by Heritage and Bell for the next few +hours. He awoke the next morning little the worse for the operation. His +eyes were clear now; the restless, eager look had gone from them. + +"Where am I?" he demanded. "What has happened?" + +Bell explained briefly. As he spoke his anxiety passed away. He saw that +Van Sneck was following quite intelligently and rationally. + +"I remember coming here," the Dutchman said. "I can't recall the rest +just now. I feel like a man who is trying to piece the fragments of a +dream together." + +"You'll have it all right in an hour or two," Bell said, with an +encouraging smile. "Meanwhile your breakfast is ready. Yes, you can smoke +afterwards if you like. And then you shall tell me all about Reginald +Henson. As a matter of fact, we know all about it now." + +"Oh," Van Sneck said, blankly. "You do, eh?" + +"Yes, even to the history of the second Rembrandt, and the reason why +Henson stabbed you and gave you that crack over the head. If you tell me +the truth you are safe; if you don't--why, you stand a chance of joining +Henson in the dock." + +Bell went off, leaving Van Sneck to digest this speech at his leisure. +Van Sneck lay back on his bed, propped up with pillows, and smoked many +cigarettes before he expressed a desire to see Bell again. The latter +came in with Steel; Heritage had gone elsewhere. + +"This gentleman is Mr. Steel?" Van Sneck suggested. + +Bell responded somewhat drily that it was. "But I see you are going to +tell us everything," he went on. "That being so, suppose you begin at the +beginning. When you sold that copy of the 'Crimson Blind' to Lord +Littimer had you the other copy?" + +"Ach, you have got to the bottom of things, it seems," Van Sneck gurgled. + +"Yes, and I have saved your life, foolish as it might seem," Bell +replied. "You came very near to losing it the second attempt last night +at Henson's hands. Henson is done for, played out, burst up. We can +arrest him on half-a-dozen charges when we please. We can have you +arrested any time on a charge of conspiracy over those pictures--" + +"Of which I am innocent; I swear it," Van Sneck said, solemnly. "Those +two Rembrandts--they fell into my hands by what you call a slice of good +luck. I am working hand in glove with Henson at the time, and show him +them. I suggest Lord Littimer as a purchaser. He would, perhaps, buy the +two, which would be a little fortune for me. Then Henson, he says, 'Don't +you be a fool, Van Sneck. Suppress the other; say nothing about it. You +get as much from Littimer for the one as you get for the two, because +Lord Littimer think it unique.'" + +"That idea commended itself to a curio dealer?" Bell suggested, drily. + +"But yes," Van Sneck said, eagerly. "Later on we disclose the other and +get a second big price. And Lord Littimer he buy the first copy for a +long price." + +"After which you discreetly disappear," said Steel. "Did you steal those +pictures?" + +"No," Van Sneck said, indignantly. "They came to me in the way of honest +business--a poor workman who knows nothing of their value, and takes +fifteen marks for them." + +"Honest merchant," David murmured. "Pray go on." + +"I had to go away. Some youthful foolishness over some garnets raked up +after many years. The police came down upon me so suddenly that I got +away with the skin of my teeth. I leave the other Rembrandt, everything, +behind me. I do not know that Henson he give me away so that he can steal +the other Rembrandt." + +"So you have found that out?" said Bell. "Who told you?" + +"I learn that not so long ago. I learn it from a scoundrel called +Merritt, a tool of Henson. He tells me to go to Littimer Castle to +steal the Rembrandt for Henson, because Di. Bell, he find _my_ +Rembrandt. Then I what you call pump Merritt, and he tells me all about +the supposed robbery at Amsterdam and what was found in the portmanteau +of good Dr. Bell yonder. Then I go to Henson and tell him what I find +out, and he laughs. Mind you, that was after I came here from Paris on +business for Henson." + +"About the time you bought that diamond-mounted cigar-case?" David +asked, quietly. + +Van Sneck nodded. He was evidently impressed by the knowledge possessed +by his questioners. + +"That's it," he said. "I buy it because Henson ask me to. Henson say he +make it all right about the Rembrandt, and that if I do as I am told he +give me £500. His money is to come on a certain day, but I pump and I +pump, and I find that there is some game against Mr. Steel, who is a +great novelist." + +"That is very kind of you," David said, modestly. + +"One against Miss Enid Henson," Van Sneck went on. "I met that young lady +once and I liked her; therefore, I say I will be no party to getting her +into trouble. And Henson says I am one big fool, and that he is only +giving Mr. Steel a lesson in the art of minding his own business. So I +ask no further questions, though I am a good bit puzzled. With the last +bank-notes I possess I go to a place called Walen's and buy the +cigar-case that Henson says. I meet him and hand over the case and ask +him for my money. Henson swears that he has no money at all, not even +enough to repay me the price of the cigar-case. He has been disappointed. +And I have been drinking. So I swear I will write and ask Mr. Steel to +see me, and I do so." + +"And you get an answer?" David asked. + +"Sir, I do. You said you would see me the same night. It was a forgery?" + +"It was. Henson had anticipated something like that. I know all about the +forgery, how my notepaper was procured, and when the forgery was written. +But that has very little to do with the story now. Please go on." + +Van Sneck paused before he proceeded. + +"I am not quite sober," he said. "I am hot with what I called my +wrongs. I come here and ring the bell. The hall was in darkness. There +was a light in the conservatory, but none in the study. I quite +believed that it was Mr. Steel who opened the door and motioned me +towards the study. Then the door of the study closed and locked behind +me, and the electric light shot up. When I turned round I found myself +face to face with Henson." + +Van Sneck paused again and shuddered at some hideous recollection. +His eyes were dark and eager; there was a warm moisture like varnish +on his face. + +"Even that discovery did not quite sober me," he went on. "I fancied it +was some joke, or that perhaps I had got into the wrong house. But no, +it was the room of a literary gentleman. I--I expected to see Mr. Steel +come in or to try the door. Henson smiled at me. Such a smile! He asked +me if I had the receipt for the cigar-case about me, and I said it was +in my pocket. Then he smiled again, and something told me my life was +in danger. + +"I was getting pretty sober by that time. It came to me that I had been +lured there; that Henson had got into the house during the absence of the +owner. It was late at night in a quiet house, and nobody had seen me +come. If that man liked to kill me he could do so and walk out of the +house without the faintest chance of discovery. And he was twice my size, +and a man without feeling. I looked round me furtively lor a weapon. + +"He saw my glance and understood it, and smiled again. I was trembling +from head to foot now with a vague, nameless terror. From the very first +I knew that I had not the smallest chance. Henson approached me and laid +his hand on my shoulder. He wanted something, he gave that something a +name. If I passed that something over to him I was free, if not-- + +"Well, gentlemen, I didn't believe him. He had made a discovery that +frightened me. And I had what he wanted in my pocket. If I had handed it +over to him he would not have spared me. As he approached me my foot +slipped and I stumbled into the conservatory. I fell backwards. And then +I recovered myself and defied Henson. + +"'Fool,' he hissed, 'do you want to die?' + +"But I knew that I should die in any case. Even then I could smile to +myself as I thought how I could baffle my foe. Once, twice, three times +he repeated his demands, and each time I was obdurate. I knew that he +would kill me in any case. + +"He came with a snarl of rage; there was a knife in his hand. I hurled +a flower-pot at his head and missed him. The next instant and he had me +by the throat. I felt his knife between my shoulders, then a stunning +blow on the head, and till I woke here to-day I cannot recollect a +single thing." + +Van Sneck paused and wiped his face, wet with the horror of the +recollection. David Steel gave Bell a significant glance, and the +latter nodded. + +"Was the thing that Henson wanted a ring?" Steel asked, quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +WHERE IS THE RING? + + +Van Sneck looked up with some signs of confusion. He had not +expected a question of that kind. There was just the suggestion of +cunning on his face. + +"A ring!" he murmured, vaguely. "A ring! What ring?" + +"Now, look here," David said, sternly. "You are more or less in our +power, you know, but we are not disposed to be hard on you so long as you +are quite candid with us. Henson required something that he believed to +be in your possession; indeed, you have as good as said you had it with +you. Henson lured you into my house to get that more than anything else. +That he would have killed you even after he got it, I firmly believe. But +that is not the point. Now, was not Henson looking for Prince Rupert's +ring that you got from him by means of a trick?" + +Van Sneck dropped his hands helplessly on the bed. + +"Gentlemen," he whined, "you are too much for me. The marvellous +accuracy of your knowledge is absolutely overwhelming. It was the ring +Henson was after." + +"The one you stole from him years ago! But what did you know about it?" + +Van Sneck smiled. + +"There is no living man who knows more about those things than I do," he +said. "It is a passion and a study with me. And some seven years ago, in +Holland, Henson gave me the description of a ring he wanted me to copy. +Henson never told me what the ring was called, but I knew it was the +Prince Rupert ring. I made the copy, and Henson was pleased with it. Some +time later he came to me with the original, and asked for another copy. I +meant to be honest, but my love for those things got the better of me. I +made him two copies: the one good, and the other an exact facsimile of +the Prince Rupert. These I handed over to Henson, and he went away +perfectly satisfied that he had a good copy and the original. I chuckled +to myself, feeling pretty sure that he would never find out." + +"But he did find out?" David said. + +"Only lately. Probably he took it to an expert for valuation or perhaps +for sale. Lately his idea was to offer the ring to Lord Littimer for a +huge sum of money, but when he discovered he had been done he knew that +Lord Littimer would not be so deceived. Also he had a pretty good idea +that I should keep the ring about me. You see, I dared not sell an +historic gem like that. And, as usual, Henson was perfectly right." + +"Then you had the ring in your pocket the night you came here?" asked +Steel, with a commendable effort at coolness. "Did Henson get it?" + +"No, he didn't," Van Sneck chuckled. "Come what might, I had made up my +mind that he should never see that ring again. You see, I was frightened +and confused, and I was not properly sober, and I did something with the +ring, though to save my life I couldn't say what I did. Do you know, Dr. +Bell, I have lost my sense of smell?" + +Steel wriggled impatiently about on his chair. The interruption was +exasperating. Bell, however, seemed to take a different view of the +matter altogether. + +"Quite naturally," he said. "The blow on your head held all your senses +suspended for a time. After the operation I should not have been +surprised to have found you half blind and stone deaf into the bargain. +But one thing is certain--your smell will come back to you. It may remain +in abeyance for a few days, it may return in a few moments." + +"What on earth has this to do with our interview?" David asked. + +"I fancy a great deal," Bell said. "The sense of smell has a great deal +to do with memory. Doesn't the scent of flowers bring back vivid +recollections of things sometimes for years forgotten? Van Sneck was +going to say the air was heavy with the fragrance of some particular +blossom when he was struck down by Henson in your conservatory." + +"Very clever man, Dr. Bell," Van Sneck said, admiringly. "He seems to see +right through your mind and out at the other side. To a great extent I +recollect all that happened that eventful night. And just at the very +last I seem to smell something powerful. That smell came to my nostrils +just like a flash and then had gone again. Gentlemen, if I could have a +good long scent at that flower I tell you what I did with that ring." + +"Sounds rather complex," David said. + +"Not a bit of it," Bell retorted. "Our friend is talking sound common +sense, and our friend is going to rest now late into the afternoon, when +well put him into an armchair with some pillows and let him sit in the +conservatory. Associating with familiar surroundings frequently works +wonders. Van Sneck, you go to sleep." + +Van Sneck closed his eyes obediently. He was somewhat tired with the +interview. But, on the whole, Bell decided that he was doing very well +indeed. And there was very little more to be done for the present. The +two men smoked their cigars peacefully. + +"We have got to the end," Bell said. + +"I fancy so," David murmured, "But we can't save the scandal. I don't see +how Reginald Henson is going to get out of the mess without a +prosecution." + +Any further speculation as to the future of that engaging rascal was cut +short by a pleasant surprise, no other than the unexpected arrival of +Ruth Gates and Chris Henson. The latter was beaming with health and +happiness; she had discarded her disguise, and stood confessed before all +the world like the beautiful creature that she was. + +"What does it all mean?" David asked. "What will Longdean village say?" + +"What does Longdean village know?" Chris retorted. "They are vaguely +aware that somebody was taken away from the house a short time ago to be +buried, but that is all their knowledge. And there is no more need for +disguise, Lord Littimer says. He knows pretty well everything. He has +been very restless and uneasy for the past day or two, and yesterday he +left saying that he had business in London. Early to-day I had a +characteristic telegram from him saying that he was at Longdean, and that +I was necessary to his comfort there. I was to come clothed in my right +mind, and I was to bring Mr. Steel and Dr. Bell along." + +"It can't be managed," said Bell. "We've got Van Sneck here." + +"And I had forgotten all about him," said Chris. "Was the operation +successful?" + +Bell told his budget of good news down to the story of the ring and the +mysterious manner in which it had disappeared again. David had followed +Ruth into the conservatory, where she stood with her dainty head buried +over a rose. + +She looked up with a warm, shy smile on her face. + +"I hope you are satisfied," she said, "you are safe now?" + +"I was never very much alarmed, dearest," Steel said. "If this thing had +never happened I might never have met you. And as soon as this business +is definitely settled I shall come and see your uncle. I am a very +impatient man, Ruth." + +"And you shall see my uncle when you please, dear," she said. "You will +find him quite as charming as you say your mother is. What will she say?" + +"Say? That you are the dearest and sweetest girl in the world, and that I +am a lucky fellow. But you are not going off already?" + +"Indeed, we must. We have a cab at the door. And I am going to brave the +horrors of Longdean Grange and spend the night there. Only, I fancy that +the horrors have gone for ever. I shall be very disappointed if you don't +come to-morrow." + +Behind a friendly palm David bent and kissed the shy lips, with a vow +that he would see Longdean Grange on the morrow. Then Chris caught up +Ruth with a whirl, and they were gone. + +It was after ten that Bell and Steel managed to convey Van Sneck to the +conservatory. The place was filled with brightness and scent and colour +and the afterglow of the sunshine. The artistic eye of the Dutchman +lighted up with genuine pleasure. + +"They say you islanders are crude and cold, and have no sense of the +beautiful," he said. "But there are no houses anywhere to compare with +those of the better-class Englishman. Look at those colours blending--" + +"Hang those colours," said Bell, vigorously. "Steel, there is nothing +like moisture to bring out the full fragrance of flowers. Turn on your +hose and give your plants a good watering." + +"It's the proper time," David laughed. "Turn on the tap for me." + +A cooling stream played on the flowers; plants dropped their heads filled +with the diamond moisture; the whole atmosphere was filled with the odour +of moist earth. Then the air seemed laden with the mingled scent. + +"I can smell the soil," Van Sneck cried. "How good it is to smell +anything again! And I can just catch a suggestion of the perfume of +something familiar. What's that red bloom?" + +He pointed to a creeper growing up the wall. David broke off a spray. + +"That's a kind of Japanese passion flower," he said. "It has a lovely +full-flavoured scent like a mixture of violets and almonds. Smell it." + +Van Sneck placed the wet dripping spray to his nose. Just for an instant +it conveyed nothing to him. Then he half rose with a triumphant cry. + +"Steady there," said Bell. "You mustn't get up, you know. I see you are +excited. Has it come back to you again?" + +"That's the scent," Van Sneck cried. "The air was full of that as I fell +backwards. And Henson stood over me exactly by that cracked tile where +Mr. Steel is now. Give me a moment and I shall be able to tell you +everything ... Oh, yes, the first time I slipped on purpose. I told you I +stumbled. But that was a ruse. And as I fell I took the ring from my +waistcoat-pocket ... Let me have another sniff of that bloom. Yes, I've +got it now quite clear." + +"You know where the ring is?" David asked, eagerly. + +"Well, not quite that. I took it from my pocket and pitched it away from +me ... I saw it fall on to a pot covered with moss, but I can't say which +pot or in which corner. I only know that I threw it over my shoulder, and +that it dropped into the thick moss that lies on the top of all the pots. +I laughed to myself as it fell, and I rejoiced to see that Henson knew +nothing of it." + +"And it is still here?" Bell demanded. + +Van Sneck nodded solemnly. + +"I swear it," he said. "Prince Rupert's ring is in this conservatory." + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +KICKED OUT + + +Reginald Henson had had more than one unpleasant surprise lately, +but none so painful as the sight of Lord Littimer seated in the +Longdean Grange drawing-room with the air of a man who is very much +at home indeed. + +The place was strangely changed, too. There was an air of neatness and +order about the room that Henson had never seen before. The dust and dirt +had absolutely vanished; it might have been the home of any ordinary +wealthy and refined people. And all Lady Littimer's rags and patches had +disappeared. She was dressed in somewhat old-fashioned style, but +handsomely and well. She sat beside Littimer with a smile on her face. +But the cloud seemed to have rolled from her mind; her eyes were clear, +if a little frightened. From the glance that passed between Littimer and +herself it was easy to see that the misunderstanding was no more. + +"You are surprised to see me here?" said Littimer. + +Henson stammered out something and shrank towards, the door. Littimer +ordered him back again. He came with a slinking, dogged air; he avoided +the smiling contempt in Enid's eyes. + +"My presence appears to be superfluous," he said, bitterly. + +"And mine appears to be a surprise," Littimer replied. "Come, are you not +glad to see me, my heir and successor? What has become of the old +fawning, cringing smile? Why, if some of your future constituents could +see you now they might be justified in imagining that you had done +something wrong. Look at yourself." + +Littimer indicated a long gilt mirror on the opposite wall. Henson +glanced at it involuntarily and dropped his eyes. Could that abject, +white-faced sneak be himself? Was that the man whose fine presence and +tender smile had charmed thousands? It seemed impossible. + +"What have I done?" he asked. + +"What have you not done?" Littimer thundered. "In the first place you did +your best to ruin Hatherly Bell's life. You robbed me of a picture to do +so, and your friend Merritt tried to rob me again. But I have both those +pictures now. You did that because you were afraid of Bell--afraid lest +he should see through your base motives. And you succeeded for a time, +for the coast was clear. And then you proceeded to rob me of my son by +one of the most contemptible tricks ever played by one man on another. It +was you who stole the money and the ring; you who brought about all that +sorrow and trouble by means of a forgery. But there are other people on +your track as well as myself. You were at your last gasp. You were coming +to see me to sell that ring for a large sum to take you out of the +country, and then you discovered that you hadn't really got the ring." + +"What--what are you talking about?" Henson asked, feebly. + +"Scoundrel!" Littimer cried. "Innocent and pure to the last. I know all +about Van Sneck and those forgeries of Prince Rupert's ring. And I know +how Van Sneck was nearly done to death in Mr. Steel's house; and I know +why--good heavens! It seems impossible that I could have been deceived +all these years by such a slimy, treacherous scoundrel. And I might have +gone on still but for a woman--" + +"A lady detective," Henson sneered. "Miss Lee." + +Littimer smiled. It was good, after all, to defeat and hoodwink +the rascal. + +"Miss Chris Henson," he said. "It never occurred to you that Miss Chris +and Miss Lee were one and the same person. You never guessed. And she +played with you as if you had been a child. How beautifully she exposed +you over those pictures. Ah, you should have seen your face when you saw +the stolen Rembrandt back again in its place. And after that you were mad +enough to think that I trusted you. My dear, what shall we do with this +pretty fellow?" + +Lady Littimer shook her head doubtfully. It was plain that the presence +of Henson disturbed her. There was just a suggestion of the old madness +in her eyes. + +"Send him away," she said. "Let him go." + +"Send him away by all means," Littimer went on. "But letting him go is +another matter. If we do the police will pick him up on other charges. +There is a certain consolation in knowing that his evil career is likely +to be shortened by some years. But I shall have no mercy. Scotland Yard +shall know everything." + +There was a cold ring in Littimer's voice that told Henson of his +determination to carry out his threat. The other troubles he might +wriggle out of, but this one was terribly real. It was time to try +conciliation. + +"It will be a terrible scandal for the family, my lord," he whined. + +Littimer rose to his feet. A sudden anger flared into his eyes. He was a +smaller man than Henson, but the latter cowed before him. + +"You dog!" he cried. "What greater scandal than that of the past few +years? Does not all the world know that there is, or has been, some heavy +cloud over the family honour? Lord and Lady Littimer have parted, and her +ladyship has gone away. That is only part of what the gossips have said. +And in these domestic differences it is always the woman who suffers. +Everybody always says that the woman has done something wrong. For years +my wife has been under this stigma. If she had chosen to keep before the +world after she left me most people would have ignored her. And you talk +to me of a family scandal!" + +"You will only make bad worse, my lord." + +"No," Littimer cried. "I am going to make bad infinitely better. We come +together again, but we say nothing of the past. And the world sneers and +says the past is ignored for politic considerations. And so the public +is going to know the truth, you dog. The whole facts of the case have +gone to my solicitor, and by this time to-morrow a warrant will be +issued against you. And I shall stand in open court and tell the whole +world my story." + +"In fairness to Lady Littimer," said Enid, speaking for the first time, +"you could do no less." + +"You were always against me," Henson snarled + +"Because I always knew you," said Enid. "And the more I knew of you the +greater was my contempt. And you came here ever on the same +errand--money, money, money. From first to last you have robbed my aunt +of something like £70,000. And always by threats or the promise that you +would some day restore the ring to the family." + +"As to the ring," Henson protested, "I swear--" + +"I suppose a lie more or less makes no difference to an expert like +yourself," Enid went on, with cold contempt. "You took advantage of my +aunt's misfortunes. Ah, she is a different woman since Lord Littimer came +here. But her sorrow has crushed her down, and that forgery of the ring +you dangled before her eyes deceived her." + +"I never showed her the ring," Henson said, brazenly. + +"And you can look me in the face and say that? One night Lady Littimer +snatched it from you and ran into the garden. You followed and struggled +for the ring. And Mr. David Steel, who stood close by, felled you to the +earth with a blow on the side of your head. I wonder he didn't kill you. +I should have done so in his place. And yet it would be a pity to hang +anyone for your death. See here!" + +Enid produced the ring from her pocket. Lord Littimer looked at it +intently. + +"Have you seen this before, my dear?" he asked his wife. + +"Many a time," Lady Littimer said, sadly. "Take it away, it reminds me of +too many bitter memories. Take it out of my sight." + +"An excellent forgery," Littimer murmured. "A forgery calculated +to deceive many experts even. I will compare it with the original +by and by." + +Henson listened with a sinking feeling at his heart. Was it possible, he +wondered, that Lord Littimer had really recovered the original? He had +had hopes of getting it back even now, and making it the basis of terms +of surrender. Lady Littimer snatched the ring from Littimer's grasp and +threw it through the open window into the garden. + +She stood up facing Henson, her head thrown back, her eyes flaming with a +new resolution. It seemed hardly possible to believe that this fine, +handsome woman with the white hair could be the poor demented creature +that the others once had known. + +"Reginald Henson, listen to me," she cried. "For your own purpose you +cruelly and deliberately set out to wreck the happiness of several lives. +For mere money you did this; for sheer love of dissipation you committed +this crime. You nearly deprived me of my reason. I say nothing about the +money, because that is nothing by comparison. But the years that are lost +can never come back to me again. When I think of the past and the past of +my poor, unhappy boy I feel that I have no forgiveness for you. If +you--Oh, go away; don't stay here--go. If I had known you were coming I +should have forbidden you the house. Your mere presence unnerves me. +Littimer, send him away." + +Littimer rose to his feet and rang the bell. + +"You will be good enough to rid me of your hateful presence," he said, +"at once; now go." + +But Henson still stood irresolute. He fidgeted from one foot to the +other. He seemed to have some trouble that he could find no +expression for. + +"I want to go away," he murmured. "I want to leave the country. But at +the present moment I am practically penniless. If you would advance me--" + +Littimer laughed aloud. + +"Upon my word," he said, "your coolness is colossal. I am going to +prosecute you, I am doing my best to bring you into the dock. And you ask +me--_me_, of all men--to find you money so that you can evade justice! +Have you not had enough--are you never satisfied? Williams, will you see +Mr. Henson off the premises?" + +The smiling Williams bowed low. + +"With the greatest possible pleasure, my lord," he said. "Any further +orders, my lord?" + +"And he is not to come here again, you understand." Williams seemed to +understand perfectly. With one backward sullen glance Henson quitted the +room and passed into the night with his companion. Williams was whistling +cheerfully, with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. + +"Is that how you treat a gentleman?" Henson demanded. + +"I ain't a gentleman," Williams said. "Never set up to be. And I ain't a +dirty rascal who has just been kicked out of a nobleman's house. Here, +stop that. Try that game on again and I'll call the dogs. And don't show +me any of your airs, please. I'm only a servant, but I am an honest man." + +Henson stifled his anger as best he could. He was too miserable and +downcast to think of much besides himself at present. Once the +lodge-gates were open, Williams stood aside for him to pass. The +temptation was irresistible. And Henson's back was turned. With a kick of +concentrated contempt and fury Williams shot Henson into the road, where +he landed full on his face. His cup of humiliation was complete. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +WHITE FANGS + + +Henson took his weary way in the direction of Brighton. He had but a few +pounds he could call his own, and not nearly enough to get away from the +country, and at any moment he might be arrested. He was afraid to go back +to his lodgings for fear of Merritt. That Merritt would kill him if he +got the chance he felt certain. And Merritt was one of those dogged, +patient types who can wait any time for the gratification of their +vengeance. + +Merritt was pretty certain to be hanging about for his opportunity. On +the whole the best thing would be to walk straight to the Central +Brighton Station and take the first train in the morning to town. There +he could see Gates--who as yet knew nothing--and from him it would be +possible to borrow a hundred or two, and then get away. And there were +others besides Gates. + +Henson trudged away for a mile or so over the downs. Then he came down +from the summit of the castle he was building with a rude shock to earth +again. A shadow seemed to rise from the ground, a heavy clutch was on his +shoulder, and a hoarse voice was in his ear. + +"Got you!" the voice said. "I knew they'd kick you out yonder, and I +guessed you'd sneak home across the downs. And I've fairly copped you!" + +Henson's knees knocked together. Physically he was a far stronger and +bigger man than Merritt, but he was taken unawares, and his nerves had +been sadly shaken of late. + +Merritt forced him backwards until he lay on the turf with his antagonist +kneeling on his chest. He dared not struggle, he dared not exert himself. +Presently he might get a chance, and if he did it would go hard with +James Merritt. + +"What are you going to do?" he gasped. + +Merritt drew a big, jagged stone towards him with one foot. + +"I'm going to bash your brains out with this," he said, hoarsely. His +eyes were gleaming, and in the dim light his mouth was set like a steel +trap. "I'm going to have a little chat with you first, and then down this +comes on the top of your skull, and it'll smash you like a bloomin' +eggshell. Your time's come, Henson. Say your prayers." + +"I can't," Henson whined. "And what have I done?" + +Merritt rocked heavily on the other's breastbone, almost stifling him. +"Wot?" he said, scoffingly. The pleasing mixture of gin and fog in his +throat rendered him more hideously hoarse than usual. "Not make up a +prayer! And you a regular dab at all that game! Why, I've seen the women +snivellin' like babies when you've been ladlin' it out. Heavens, what a +chap you would be on the patter! How you would kid the chaplain!" + +"Merritt, you're crushing the life out of me." + +Merritt ceased his rocking for a moment, and the laughter died out of his +gleaming eyes. + +"I don't want to be prematoor," he said. "Yes, you'd make a lovely +chaplain's pet, but I can't spare you. I'm going to smash that 'ere wily +brain of yours, so as it won't be useful any more. I'll teach you to put +the narks on to a poor chap like myself." + +"Merritt, I swear to you that I never--" + +"You can swear till you're black in the face, and you can keep on +swearing till you're lily-white again, and then it won't be any good. You +gave me away to Taylor because you were afraid I should do you harm at +Littimer Castle. That Daisy Bell of a girl there told me so." + +Henson groaned. It was not the least part of his humiliation that a mere +girl got the better of him in this way. And what on earth had she known +of Reuben Taylor? But the fact remained that she had known, and that she +had warned Merritt of his danger. It was the one unpardonable crime in +Henson's decalogue, the one thing Merritt could not forgive. + +Henson's time was come. He did not need anyone to tell him that. Unless +something in the nature of a miracle happened, he was a dead man in a few +moments; and life had never seemed quite so sweet as it tasted at the +present time. + +"You gave me away for no reason at all," Merritt went on. "I'm a pretty +bad lot, but I never rounded on a pal yet, and never shall. More than one +of them have served me bad, but I always let them go their own way, and +I've been a good and faithful servant to you--" + +"It was not you," Henson gurgled, "that I wrote that letter about, but--" + +"Chuck it," Merritt said, furiously. "Tell me any more of your lies and +I'll smash your jaw in for you. It _was_ me. I spotted Scotter in Moreton +Wells within a day or two. And Mr. Scotter had come for me. And I got +past Bronson in Brighton by the skin of my teeth. I turned into your +lodgings under his very eyes almost. Before this time to-morrow I shall +be arrested. But I'm going to have my vengeance first." + +The last words came with intense deliberation. There was no mistaking +their significance. Henson deemed it wise to try another tack. + +"I was wrong," he said, humbly. "I am very, very sorry; I lost my nerve +and got frightened, Merritt. But there is time yet. You always make more +money with me than with anybody else. And I'm going abroad presently." + +"Oh, you're going abroad, are you?" Merritt said, slowly. "Going to +travel in a Pullman car and put up at all the Courts of Europe. And I'm +coming as chief secretary to the Grand Panjandrum himself. Sound an +alluring kind of programme." + +"I'll give you a hundred pounds to get away with if you will--" + +"Got a hundred pounds of my own in my pocket at the present moment," was +the unexpected reply. "As you gave me away, consequently I gave you away +to his lordship, and he planked down a hundred canaries like the swell +that he is. So I don't want your company or your money. And I'm going to +finish you right away." + +The big stone was poised over Henson's head. He could see the jagged +part, and in imagination feel it go smashing into his brain. The time for +action had come. He snatched at Merritt's right arm and drew the knotted +fingers down. The next instant and he had bitten Merritt's thumb to the +bone. With a cry of rage and pain the stone was dropped. Henson snatched +it up and fairly lifted Merritt off his chest with a blow under the chin. + +Merritt rolled over on the grass, and Henson was on his feet in an +instant. The great stone went down perilously near to Merritt's head. +Still snarling and frothing from the pain Merritt stumbled to his feet +and dashed a blow blindly at the other. + +In point of size and strength there was only one in it. Had Henson stood +up to his opponent on equal terms there could only have been one issue. +But his nerves were shattered, he was nothing like the man he had been +two months ago. At the first onslaught he turned and fled towards the +town, leaving Merritt standing there in blank amazement. + +"Frightened of me," he muttered. "But this ain't the way it's going +to finish." + +He darted off in hot pursuit; he raced across a rising shoulder of the +hill and cut off Henson's retreat. The latter turned and scurried back in +the direction of Long-dean Grange, with Merritt hot on his heels. He +could not shake the latter off. + +Merritt was plodding doggedly on, pretty sure of his game. He was hard as +nails, whereas good living and a deal of drinking, quite in a gentlemanly +way, had told heavily on Henson. Unless help came unexpectedly Henson was +still in dire peril. There was just a chance that a villager might be +about; but Longdean was more or less a primitive place, and most of the +houses there had been in darkness for hours. + +His foot slipped, he stumbled, and Merritt, with a whoop of triumph, was +nearly upon him. But it was only a stagger, and he was soon going again. +Still, Merritt was close behind him; Henson could almost feel his hot +breath on his neck. And he was breathing heavily and distressfully +himself, whilst he could hear how steadily Merritt's lungs were working. +He could see the lights of Longdean Grange below him; but they seemed a +long way off, whilst that steady pursuit behind had something relentless +and nerve-destroying about it. + +They were pounding through the village now. Henson gave vent to one cry +of distress, but nothing came of it but the mocking echo of his own voice +from a distant belt of trees. Merritt shot out a short, sneering laugh. +He had not expected flagrant cowardice like this. He made a sudden spurt +forward and caught Henson by the tail of his coat. + +With a howl of fear the latter tore himself away, and Merritt reeled +backwards. He came down heavily over a big stone, and at the same moment +Henson trod on a hedge-stake. He grabbed it up and half turned upon his +foe. But the sight of Merritt's grim face was too much for him, and he +turned and resumed his flight once more. + +He yelled again as he reached the lodge-gates, but the only response was +the barking and howling of the dogs in the thick underwood beyond. There +was no help for it. Doubtless the deaf old lodge-keeper had been in bed +hours ago. Even the dogs were preferable to Merritt. Henson scrambled +headlong over the wall and crashed through the thickets beyond. + +Merritt pulled up, panting with his exertion. + +"Gone to cover," he muttered. "I don't fancy I'll follow. The dogs there +might have a weakness for tearing my throat out and Henson will keep, +I'll just hang about here till daylight and wait for my gentleman. And +I'll follow him to the end of the earth." + +Meanwhile Henson blundered on blindly, fully under the impression that +Merritt was still upon his trail. One of the hounds, a puppy three parts +grown, rose and playfully pulled at his coat. It was sheer play, but at +the same time it was a terrible handicap, and in his fear Henson lost all +his horror of the dogs. + +"Loose, you brute," he panted. "Let go, I say. Very well, take that!" + +He paused and brought the heavy stake down full on the dog's muzzle. +There was a snarling scream of pain, and the big pup sprang for his +assailant. An old, grey hound came up and seemed to take in the situation +at a glance. With a deep growl he bounded at Henson and caught him by the +throat. Before the ponderous impact of that fine free spring Henson went +down heavily to the ground. + +"Help!" he gurgled. "Help! help! help!" + +The worrying teeth had been firmly fixed, the ponderous weight pressed +all the breath from Henson's distressed lungs. He gurgled once again, +gave a little shuddering sigh, and the world dwindled to a thick sheet of +blinding darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +HIDE-AND-SEEK + + +Bell's professional enthusiasm got the better of his curiosity for the +moment. It was a nice psychological problem. Already Steel was +impulsively busy in the conservatory pulling the pots down. It was a +regretful thing to have to do, but everything had to be sacrificed, David +shut his teeth grimly and proceeded with his task. + +"What on earth are you doing?" Bell asked, with a smile. + +"Pulling the place to pieces," David responded. "I daresay I shall feel +pretty sick about it later on, but the thing has to be done. Cut those +wires for me, and let those creepers down as tenderly as possible. We +can't get to the little pots until we have moved the big ones." + +Bell coolly declined to do anything of the kind. He surveyed the two +graceful banks of flowers there, the carefully trained creepers trailing +so naturally and yet so artistically from the roof to the ground, and the +sight pleased him. + +"My dear chap," he said, "I am not going to sit here and allow you to +destroy the work of so many hours. There is not the slightest reason to +disturb anything. Unless I am greatly mistaken, Van Sneck will lay his +had upon the ring for us without so much as the sacrifice of a blossom." + +"I don't fancy so," Van Sneck replied. "I can't remember." + +"Well, you are going to," Bell said, cheerfully. "Did you ever hear of +artificial memory?" + +"The sort of thing you get in law courts and political speeches?" David +suggested. "All the same, if you have some patent way of getting at the +facts I shall be only too glad to spare my poor flowers. Their training +has been a labour of love with me." + +Bell smoked on quietly for some time. He toyed with the red blossoms +which had so stimulated Van Sneck's recollection, then tossed a spray +over to Van Sneck and suggested that the latter should put it in his +button-hole. + +"So as to have the fragrance with you all the time," he said. + +Van Sneck obeyed quietly, remarking that the scent was very pungent. The +Dutchman was restless and ill at ease; he seemed to be dissatisfied with +himself--he had the air of a man who has set out with two or three +extremely important matters of business and who has completely forgotten +what one of them is. + +"You needn't distress yourself," David said, kindly. + +"I beg your pardon," Bell said, tartly. "He is to do that very same +thing. Mental exercise never hurts anybody. Van Sneck is going to worry +till he puzzles it out. Will you describe the ring to us?" + +The Dutchman complied at considerable length. He dwelt on the beauty of +the workmanship and the exceeding fineness of the black pearls; he talked +with the freedom and expression of the expert. Bell permitted him to +ramble on about historic rings in general. But all the same he could see +that Van Sneck was far from easy in his mind. Now and then a sudden gleam +came into his eyes: memory played for the fragment of a second on a +certain elusive chord and was gone. + +"Were you smoking the night you came here?" Bell asked, suddenly. + +"Yes," Van Sneck replied, "a cigarette. Henson handed it over to me. I +don't deny that I was terribly frightened, I smoked the cigarette out +of bravado." + +"You went into the conservatory yonder and admired the flowers," +Bell observed. + +Van Sneck looked up with astonishment and admiration. + +"I did," he confessed. "But I don't see how you know that." + +"I guessed it. It takes the brain some little time to get level to the +imagination. And as soon as you came face to face with Henson you knew +what was going to happen. You were a little dazed and frightened, and a +little overcome by liquor into the bargain. But even then, though you +were probably unconscious of it yourself, you were seeking some place to +hide the ring." + +"I rather believe I was," Van Sneck said, thoughtfully. + +"You smoked a cigarette there. Where did you put the end?" + +Van Sneck rose and went into the conservatory. He walked directly to a +large pot of stephanotis in a distant corner and picked the stump of a +gold-tipped cigarette from thence. + +"I dropped it in there," he said. "Strange; if you had asked me that +question two minutes ago I should not have been able to answer it. And +now I distinctly remember pitching it in there and watching it scorch +some of that beautiful lace-like moss. There is a long trail of it +hanging down behind. I recollect how funnily it occurred to me, even in +the midst of my danger, that the trail would look better brought over the +front of the pot. Thus." + +He lifted the long, graceful spiral and brought it forward. Steel nodded, +approvingly. + +"I came very near to dropping the ring in there," Van Sneck explained. "I +had it in my fingers--I took it for the purpose from my waistcoat-pocket. +Then I saw Henson's eye on me and I changed my mind. I wish I had been +more sober." + +Bell was examining a pot a little lower down. A piece had been chipped +off, leaving a sharp, clean, red edge with a tiny tip of hair upon it. + +"You fell here," he exclaimed. "Your head struck the pot. Here is a +fragment of your hair on it. It is human hair beyond a doubt, and the +shade matches to a nicety. After that--" + +A sudden cry broke from the Dutchman. + +"I've got it!" he exclaimed. "You have cleverly led my mind into the +right direction. The only marvel is that I did not think of it before. +You will find the ring in the pot where the tuberose grows. I am quite +certain you will find it amongst the moss at the base." + +David carefully scooped up all the loose moss from the pot and laid it on +the study table. Then he shook the stuff out, and something glittering +lay on the table--a heavy ring of the most exquisite and cunning +workmanship, with a large gem in the centre, flanked by black pearls on +either side. Van Sneck took it in his fingers lovingly. + +"Here you are," he said. "Ach, the beauty! Well, you've got it now, and +do you take care of it lest it falls into my hands again. If I got a +chance I would steal it once more, and yet again, and again. Ah, what +mischief those things cause, to be sure!" + +The speaker hardly knew how much mischief the ring in question had +caused, nor did his companions seek to enlighten him. David wrapped it up +carefully and placed it in his pocket. + +"I'm glad that is settled," he said. "And I'm glad that I didn't have to +injure my flowers. Bell, you really are a most wonderful fellow." + +Bell smiled with the air of a man who is well satisfied with himself. At +this moment a servant came in with a message to the effect that Inspector +Marley desired to see Mr. Steel on important business. + +"Couldn't have come at a better time," David murmured. "Ask Mr. +Marley in here." + +Marley came smilingly, yet mysterious. He evinced no surprise at the +sight of Van Sneck. He was, doubtless, aware of the success of the +operation on the latter. He particularly desired to know where Mr. +Reginald Henson was to be found. + +"This is a queer place to look for him," said Steel. + +"But he was here yesterday," Marley protested. "He had an accident." + +"Bogus," said Steel. "We turned him out of the house. Is he wanted?" + +Marley explained that he was wanted on three different charges; in fact, +the inspector had the warrants in his pocket at the present moment. + +"Well, it's only by good chance that you haven't got one for me," David +laughed. "If you have ten minutes to spare, between Van Sneck and myself +we can clear up the mystery of the diamond-mounted cigar-case for you." + +Marley had the time to spare, and, indeed, he was keen enough to hear the +solution of the mystery. A short explanation from David, followed by a +few pithy, pertinent questions to Van Sneck, and he was perfectly +satisfied. + +"And yet I seemed to have an ideal case against you, Mr. Steel," he said. +"Seems almost a pity to cut a career like Mr. Henson's short, does it +not? Which reminds me that I am wasting time here. Any time you and Van +Sneck happen to be passing the police-station the cigar-case is entirely +at your disposal." + +And Marley bustled off upon the errand that meant so much for Reginald +Henson. He was hardly out of the house before Ruth Gates arrived. She +looked a little distressed; she would not stay for a moment, she +declared. Her machine was outside, and she was riding over to Longdean +without delay. A note had just been sent to her from Chris. + +"My uncle is in Paris," she said. "So I am going over to Longdean for a +few days. Lord Littimer is there, and Frank also. The reconciliation is +complete and absolute. Chris says the house is not the same now, and that +she didn't imagine that it could be so cheerful. Reginald Henson--" + +"My dear child, Henson is not there now." + +"Well, he is. He went there last night, knowing that he was at his last +gasp, with the idea of getting more money from Lady Littimer. To his +great surprise he found Littimer there also. It was anything but a +pleasant interview for Mr. Henson, who was finally turned out of the +house. It is supposed that he came back again, for they found him this +morning in the grounds with one of the dogs upon him. He is most horribly +hurt, and lies at the lodge in a critical condition. I promised Chris +that I would bring a message to you from Lord Littimer. He wants you and +Dr. Bell to come over this afternoon and stay to dinner." + +"We'll come, with pleasure," David said. "I'll go anywhere to have the +chance of a quiet hour with you, Ruth. So far ours has been rather a +prosaic wooing. And, besides, I shall want you to coach me up on my +interview with your uncle. You have no idea how nervous I am. And at the +last he might refuse to accept me for your husband." + +Ruth looked up fondly into her lover's face. + +"As if he could," she said, indignantly. "As if any man could find fault +with you." + +David drew the slender figure to his side and kissed the sweet, shy lips. + +"When you are my wife," he said, "and come to take a closer and tenderer +interest in my welfare--" + +"Could I take a deeper interest than I do now, David?" + +"Well, perhaps not. But you will find that a good many people find fault +with me. You have no idea what the critics say sometimes. They declare +that I am an impostor, a copyist; they say that I am--" + +"Let them say what they like," Ruth laughed. "That is mere jealousy, and +anybody can criticise. To me you are the greatest novelist alive." + +There was only one answer to this, and Ruth broke away, declaring that +she must go at once. + +"But you will come this afternoon?" she said. "And you will make +Lord Littimer like you. Some people say he is queer, but I call him +an old darling." + +"He will like me, he is bound to. I've got something, a present for him, +that will render him my slave for life. _Au revoir_ till the gloaming." + + * * * * * + +The dew was rising from the grass, the silence of the perfect morning was +broken by the uneasy cries of the dogs. From their strange whimpering +Williams felt pretty sure that something was wrong. At most times he +would have called the dogs to him and laid into them with a whip, for +Williams knew no fear, and the hounds respected his firm yet kindly rule. + +But Williams was in an exceptionally good temper this morning. Everything +had turned out as he had hoped for and anticipated, and the literal +kicking-out of Henson the previous evening was still fresh and sweet in +his memory. It would be something to boast of in his declining years. + +"Drat the dogs," he exclaimed. "Now, what's the matter? I had better +go and see. Got a fox in a hole, perhaps! We shall have to tie 'em up +in future." + +Williams darted into the thicket. Then he came full upon Henson, lying on +his back, with his white, unconscious face and staring eyes turned to the +sky, and two great dogs fussing uneasily about him. A big pup close by +had a large swelling on his head. By Henson's side lay the ash stick he +had picked up when pursued by Merritt. + +Williams bent over the stark, still figure and shuddered as he saw how +his clothing was all torn away from the body; saw the deep wounds in +the chest and throat; he could see that Henson still breathed. His +loud shouts for assistance brought Frank Littimer and the lodge-keeper +to the spot. Together they carried the body to the lodge and sent for +the doctor. + +"The case is absolutely hopeless," Walker said, after he had made his +examination. "The poor fellow may linger till the morning, but I doubt +if he will recognise anybody again. Does anybody know how the thing +came about?" + +Nobody but Merritt could have thrown any light upon the mystery, and he +was far away. Williams shook his head as he thought of his parting with +Henson the previous night. + +"I let him out and closed the gate behind him," he said. "He must have +come back for something later on and gone for the dogs. He certainly hit +one of the pups over the head with a stick, and that probably set the +others on to him. Nobody will ever know the rights of the business." + +And nobody ever did, for Henson lingered on through the day and far into +the night. At the house Lord Littimer was entertaining a party at dinner. +Everything had been explained; the ring had been produced and generally +admired. All was peace and happiness. They were all on the terrace in the +darkness when Williams came up from the lodge. + +"Is there any further news?" Lord Littimer asked. + +"Yes, my lord," Williams said, quietly. "Dr. Walker has just come, and +would like to see you at once. Mr. Reginald Henson died ten minutes ago." + +A hush came over the hitherto noisy group. It was some little time before +Lord Littimer returned. He had only to confirm the news. Reginald Henson +was dead; he had escaped justice, after all. + +"Well, I'm not sorry," Lady Littimer said. "It is a rare disgrace +saved to the family. And there have been trouble and sorrow enough and +to spare." + +"But your own good name, my dear?" Lord Littimer said. "And Frank's?" + +"We can live all that down, my dear husband. Frank will be too happy with +Chris to care what gossips say. And Dr. Bell and Enid will be as happy as +the others." + +"And Ruth and myself, too," David said, quietly. "Later on I shall tell +in a book how three sirens got me into a perfect sea of mischief." + +"What shall you call the book?" Littimer asked. + +"What better title could I have," David said, "than _The Crimson Blind_?" + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CRIMSON BLIND *** + +This file should be named 8crbl10.txt or 8crbl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8crbl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8crbl10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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