CHAPTER XXII.
The officers, with their prisoners, had reached the railway track, andwere leisurely walking toward the little station when a commotion in agroup of people on the shingle, a couple of hundred yards ahead,attracted their attention. Smith, who had accompanied the officers,started to investigate. He had proceeded but a short distance when hismovement was accelerated by seeing Mr. Harris and Sam hastening downthe slope toward the little group before mentioned.
Upon arrival at the station, one of the officers, Simms, hurriedforward to ascertain the cause of the trouble, for evidently somethingserious had happened. The two prisoners were thus left, handcuffed, itis true, but under guard of only one officer, whose attention was alsoattracted by the excitement ahead. The officer gave his prisonerslittle attention, for he believed they were perfectly secure, asJack's right wrist was handcuffed to the officer and Rutley was linkedto Jack.
Rutley soon found that he could "slip the bracelet" and, nudging Jack,displayed his free hand. Jack gave him a significant wink, at the sametime gently nodded his head for him to "break." For an instant Rutleywas tempted to strike down the unsuspecting officer, and attempt torelease Jack, but the chance of detection in the act, and invitinginstant pursuit was so great, that he decided to try to escape alone.Silently he stepped apart; farther, then he slipped behind thestation.
A swift, noiseless dash to a culvert, through it and up along a smallravine, soon put him out of sight of the officers. His last view ofthem convinced him that they were still unmindful of his escape.
Arriving at a considerable elevation, to where a clump of brushconcealed him from the view of those below, he paused and took a hastyglance around. The sweep of the slope was too clear and unobstructedfor any possibility of escape to the woods that covered the hill acouple of hundred yards distant, without him being seen. Hisdetermination was daring and instant.
He would enter "Rosemont house," seek a hiding place, secure some sortof disguise, and in the night effect his escape.
Following the depression he soon appeared on a level with the house.Taking advantage of such cover as was afforded by shrubbery andhedges, and cowering close to earth, he quickly traversed the spacethat had separated him from the house. Throwing himself prostrateamong some ivy that grew in thick profusion along the basement of thesouth side as a protection from the Winter rain, he lay thereeffectually concealed and listened with tense nerves for sounds ofpursuit.
The silence was unbroken save for the spasmodic whirr of a lawn moweron a distant part of the grounds. Having recovered his wind, he lookedup. Above him was an open window, but screened. If he could enter bythat window he might gain the loft without discovery, and once therehe felt satisfied that a good hiding place could be found. The frontentrance would be easier, but the risk of being seen crossing thepiazza was too great. He decided to try the window. Arising from hisconcealment, and refreshed by his short rest, enthusiasm boundedthrough his veins.
"I will get away yet," he muttered between his clenched teeth. "I sawthe women following Harris down to the shore and the house must bedeserted by all save the servants, and they are likely in thekitchen."
Another swift glance at the window, and mentally estimating its heightfrom the ground, he felt certain that an entrance through it waspracticable. There was no time to be lost.
The "water table" afforded a footing, and by the aid of an irontrellis erected to support a climbing vine, he reached the window.There an obstacle was encountered. He tried to raise the screen, butit would not budge. In his exasperation he nearly tore his fingernails off trying to raise it from the bottom. Realizing that he wasbecoming excited he at once forced a calmness which he deemed highlyessential, if he was to succeed. Every moment, too, was fraught withdanger of discovery.
Pushing his hand against one side of the screen edgewise in an attemptto loosen it, the thing suddenly fell in. The thick carpet smotheredthe noise. He had unwittingly pressed against the edge that inclosedthe springs, and in so doing released the other edge of the screenfrom the groove. Noiselessly he sprang inside. It was the library. Heturned and cautiously scanned the hillside. No persons were in sight.Then he quietly replaced the screen.
His daring coolness and nerve were now under full control. He stoleout of the room, into the hall, with every sense alert to avoiddiscovery. His goal was the attic. He knew that the only way to reachit was by the service stairs, which he could use from the secondfloor. Before him was the main stairs. Without a moment of hesitationhe leaped up the soft, thick, velvet-covered steps, his footfalls assilent as the tread of a cat.
A door was ajar on his left; he cautiously pushed it open and entered.He saw at once that it was Sam's room. He glanced about, then opened adresser drawer. "Ha, a revolver!" It was the work of a moment toexamine the magazine.
"Empty!" he exclaimed, with disgust, and was about to replace it when,on second thought: "It may do for a bluff." Another hasty look and hepicked up a hunting knife, which he also appropriated. A slight noiseat that moment startled him and caused him to look around alarmed. Heslipped behind a door for concealment. After a moment of tensesuspense, and the quietness continuing unbroken, he stole out of theroom.
So far everything was in his favor. Further along two doors, a fewfeet apart, were open. He had passed one on his way to the atticstair, when, of a sudden, he heard a slight sound, as of a personmoving lightly in the room. He instantly turned aside and passedthrough the second open doorway. Virginia stood before him. She was atthat moment hastening from the room, absorbed in thoughts ofConstance.
With a stifled, painful cry of "Oh!" she shrank from him in a vagueterror. Her face paled and her eyes expanded in manifest fright.Speech deserted her. The power of motion fled and the shawl intendedfor Constance fell from her arm. She appeared paralyzed.
Rutley softly closed the door behind him and locked it and put the keyin his pocket. The dressing room door received the same attention.Then he turned to her. He was surprised to meet her, but observing theterror his presence inspired, he at once determined to force her toaid him to escape. He misjudged her character. For one moment he stoodsilently watching her. All the sharp intensity of his gazeconcentrated on her frightened eyes; then he laughed low andgloatingly--"Ha, ha, ha. The girl that took on cold feet and betrayedher pal! I meant to say 'colleague,'" he corrected, with a sneer ofapology. The smirk of his offensive stare and more offensive wordsirritated. She began to recover from her sudden fright and becameimmediately aware that her present situation required not onlycoolness but the most adroit handling. She accordingly nerved herselffor the encounter.
Again he leered at her, and continued in the same soft, guarded, butsuave voice: "To be caught alone and in a trap with her intendedvictim is one of the dispensations of an inscrutable and justProvidence."
Virginia was regaining her self-possession every moment now. Couragewas surging through her nerves in increasing power. Her eyes commencedto blaze.
"Your effrontery is offensive. Your meaning an enigma!" sheindignantly replied.
"Indeed! Then I'll make it plain," he hissed. "I want you to cover myflight for liberty.
"You see I have escaped," he went on rapidly. "The officers arebaffled--my trail so far is undiscovered."
"You mistake!" she corrected, with surprising coolness and decision."By the dispensation of an inscrutable, but just Providence, theblackguard's trail is blazed--the trap is sprung and you cannotescape!"
Rutley's eyes snapped fire. He saw that a policy of sneering andbullying persuasion to aid him would fail ignominiously. He must useforce. His aspect became black and threatening.
"Damn you!" he hissed. "See here, moments are precious. The game toodesperate. Beware! You must find a place of concealment for me. Theloft has storerooms. Come, and in the darkness of tonight you must aidme to clear from the premises."
"Never!" she resolutely exclaimed, her eyes ablaze with indignation.
"Soft! Not so loud, my fair partner," Rutley cautioned. "Yo
u led meinto this scrape. You must help me out of it."
"Let me pass!" And she motioned for him to stand aside.
He did not move.
"Do you deny me?" she said, sternly.
"Not so fast, my dear. I intend to keep you near me, as a hostage formy escape. No harm shall befall you if you are tractable," he went on."And I again warn you that you must speak guardedly and softly or Ishall be compelled to gag you and bind you and carry you to a place ofconcealment. Oh, I'll see to it that you shall not have thesatisfaction of betraying my hiding place."
"Incarnate monster; dare you imprison me?"
"Only for a few hours, until the dead of night blackens all objectsalike--then I shall go forth, leaving a note to announce your hidingplace. Do you prefer to be hidden in a trunk, or shall it be among theold rummage in the loft?" Though his manner of address was faultlesslypolite, his face was as colorless and impassive as marble, and hisvoice low, calculating and cold.
Virginia paled as she took in the meaning of this purpose, and hervoice quivered with a note of fear, as drawing her slender form erectin semblance of defiance she said: "Would you strike down adefenseless girl?"
"I am troubled with no qualms of conscience when dealing with anenemy, be that enemy man, woman or a scorpion. Come! We have wastedtoo much time already."
He stepped lightly toward her.
Virginia anticipated his move and placed the table between them. Manysmall articles incident to a lady's toilet were on the table. Rutleyperceived that should the table be upset in a scuffle, he could nothope for time to gather up and rearrange the toilet articles, and thenthe spilt powders and perfumes on the carpet would surely indicate astruggle having occurred in the room.
Virginia was also alert to the importance of the table in thesituation. Her fine instinct of the purport of his thoughts quickenedher measure of defense. She grasped the edge of the table with bothher hands. Rutley saw her purpose, drew back and side-stepped.Virginia also side-stepped, but kept close to the table and directlyopposite him. She realized that the danger of her position was verygreat.
In the cabin she had been armed and prepared for an extreme emergency.Now she was without defensive weapons of any kind save her native wit,her courage and the table to which she clung.
Never taking his eyes from her, Rutley stood for a moment, indecisiveand silent. Yet his mind was working furiously.
"A woman stands in my way," he inaudibly muttered with clinched teeth."Time is pressing. I will force her into submission!"
The intense strain on his nerves drew a cold dew of perspiration thatglistened on his brow. Slowly he drew the revolver from his pocket.Slowly he raised it and pointed it at her, then hissed, as he glaredat her: "Remove your hands from the table and assist me to escape."
Virginia again drew herself erect, her eyes sparkling with defianceand her face aglow with courage.
"I know my death would only add one more crime to your record," shesaid, with a faint quiver in her soft voice, and after a slight pause,she went on more steadily: "But you dare not shoot and your threatsare vain."
As he gazed on her slight form drawn erect; those pure, brave,steadfast, blue eyes; those features, delicate and tense with a senseof the danger of her position, she affected him strongly; thrilled himwith an admiration which, with all his virile power and hardenedsenses, he could not mask. "You are daring a desperate man," heresumed. "One who means to halt at no crime to secure his flight toliberty."
The softened expression of his features, softened in spite of himself,led Virginia to think that his words were not meant to be taken tooseriously, and so hope and fear alternated with amazing swiftness onher expressive face, which at last settled into a look of credulityand prompted her to hazard a smile at his threat.
"Beware!" he hissed, struggling to appear fierce. "Do not mistake me!"
"Oh, no; I do not mistake you," she replied, again smiling faintly,"for I know you are too much of a man to redden your hands with thelife of a puny, defenseless girl."
The artless play of her features to entice him from his desperatepurpose was exquisite, and not without temporary success.
"Her witchery is unnerving me," he silently muttered, as he felt hiswill-power was dominant no longer.
As their eyes remained fastened on each other he felt an awe seizehim, and he for the moment forgot his design. He drew back and said,almost submissively: "God, you are brave, and beautiful as brave. Ican't harm you." And he slowly lowered the revolver.
Even then a sudden recovery from his weakness developed a new plan ofattack. Virginia's unerring instinct, however, warned her to mistrusthis flattering declaration. "It's a subterfuge," she thought,"cunningly devised to draw me away from the table." She remainedsilent, but more watchful, if possible, than before.
On abandoning a bullying policy, Rutley had moved step by step towardthe table opposite to Virginia, and finally placed his left hand onit. His assumed admiration was well sustained and his changed line ofpersuasion, though its sincerity she doubted, promised in the endsuccess.
"The wrongs I have done," he continued, "had better not have beendone, I acknowledge, but they are mended. Worse might have been. Ourmeeting in this room was accidental. My presence in this house isknown only to you. Will you aid me to escape?"
"Aid you to escape!" she repeated, in tones that had lost theiragitation, and which now seemed natural and only to carry a note ofindignation. "You, the man who nearly wrecked my brother's home,betrayed his trust and would have robbed him of his life. You, the manwho kidnapped his child, caused his wife to lose her reason, and whosedeath may yet add murder to your other crimes--dare ask me to help youescape?"
"Yes," he slowly replied. And feeling that his hand rested firmly onthe table, he began cautiously to lean forward, meanwhile saying in asoft, insinuating voice: "I dare ask you to help me escape, for Imistake if in a nature where such courage and gentleness exist therebeats a heart irresponsive to the cry of distress.
"I am down, and standing on the threshold of a long term ofimprisonment. Again I appeal to you and offer this weapon as a pledgeof good faith," and he laid the revolver on the table.
The tension on Virginia's nerves relaxed, her voice became steadier,calmer and more natural. "Why did you vilify the character ofConstance, a frail, innocent woman, whose piety and goodness made herincapable of doing you harm by thought, word or deed?"
"Revenge on Thorpe," he replied, "for closing my office."
As the words slowly issued from between his lips, his weight on thetable increased--he felt his control of it was now sure.
Virginia's eyes searched him thoroughly, and aside from the fact thatflattery was distasteful to her, his cold, calculating, unemotionaleyes glittering with a sinister purpose, startled her and confirmedher impression of his insincerity.
To maintain a safe distance, but still clinging to the table, sheinstinctively drew backward, suspicious of some sudden movement, butshe made no effort to secure the revolver. Rutley noticed the changeand coolly pressed forward.
Virginia drew further backward. She saw through his artifice and oncemore began to fear him. The strain on her nerves was becoming severeand her countenance warmed with contending emotions. He had pleadedfor aid to escape and expressed himself as sorry for his misdeeds. Yetshe believed his protestations were not sincere.
Nevertheless, considering how much she was in his power, the greatscandal his testimony in court would create, the complete undoing ofall his wicked schemes, and the possibility of him leading a betterlife, was fast weighing in his favor, besides only brute revenge wouldbe gratified by his long imprisonment, and his punishment, therefore,only an empty satisfaction.
Rutley read her thoughts and a cunning smile played about his mouth.He never really intended to trust his liberty in her keeping, andsince she was the only person with actual knowledge of hiswhereabouts, he did not propose to jeopardize his chance of escape byallowing her freedom. For his own safety, he was bound to conceal
heras well as himself, at least until darkness set in. His humble appealwas but a ruse to gain her sympathy, and his simulated penitence forhis wickedness was an artifice, but it succeeded in touching thetender cords of the girl's heart.
Her vigilance abated. Her hand slipped from the table. Shestraightened up and cast her eyes to the floor, as one often does whenmentally absorbed in weighing the potency of some great question. Themoment he had maneuvered for, and waited for, and watched for, hadarrived.
The spring of a cat upon an unsuspecting mouse could not have beenswifter, more sudden or unerring. The cloven hoof was revealed. Beforeshe had time to even guess at his purpose, his hand was upon hermouth, while his other arm was thrown around her form, binding herarms to her sides. He forced her into a wicker chair that stoodconveniently near and held her down sideways with the aid of his knee.
This method permitted him to withdraw his arm from around her form andto snatch a doily from the table which he quickly wadded and forcedinto her mouth, gagging her effectively. Then his eyes swept the roomfor something that would serve as a cord to bind her.
Rutley--"I could even kiss those red, ripe, cherrylips."]
On the floor, distant a couple of yards, lay the shawl that Virginiahad let fall from her nerveless arm when Rutley entered the room. Hewriggled the chair toward it, and by extending his foot drew the shawlto his grasp.
It was a summer shawl, of generous proportions. The fabric wassilk-wool mixture, of fine network weave, and consequently light andstrong. Twisting it into a rope he bound her arms and limbs, meantimesaying in a low, guarded voice, and with the utmost sauvity andcoolness:
"I'll not be ruder or rougher than is necessary, my beauty. There! Nowyou are secure. I could even kiss those red, ripe cherry lips withoutfear of protest, but I'll not contaminate them by contact with thoseof a blackguard. No, no! Don't thank me for that, honey dear, for I'mcontent to witness your mute appreciation of my motive."
After he had bound her, he drew back a pace or two and criticallysurveyed his work.
"You must pardon me, dear heart, for deeming it prudent to make thatgag a little more secure," and taking a handkerchief from his pockethe bound it over her mouth, knotting the ends at the back of her head."Rest assured, brave little girl," he resumed, in that same low,hissing voice, "I'm not a sneak thief, a burglar or a rake, though Ido aspire to membership in that proud and great American order 'TheHonorable Grafter'."
Having completed gagging her, he stood off a pace and chuckled."There, I think that will do!"
In the silence that followed Rutley was startled to hear a low,cautious voice on the lawn below say: "He is either in the house or upthere in the timber."
"They've tracked me here," Rutley viciously hissed, his manner changedto intense alertness. He grasped the revolver and went on, "While Ihave been dallying with you, precious time was lost, damn you! I'llsee that you don't stand between me and liberty again!"
Virginia was again terrified and helpless at a moment when aid of themost determined and daring character was within call.
Then a second voice said: "The officers do be kapin' a lookout down bethe river, and if he's in the water, sure they'll nab him. D'yeesthink he'd likely be up on the hill top in the brush?"
"I cannot say," replied the first voice, "but it looks to me as thoughhe could not have crossed that open space unseen."
Both of the men had spoken in low and serious tones and wererecognized by the intent listeners in the room above as Sam and Smith.
They were evidently baffled and in a quandary as to the directionRutley had taken after escape from the officer, and approached thehouse to warn the servants of Rutley's escape.
"Maybees," resumed Smith in the same low, cautious voice, "he whint upthe hill be way ave the ravine, over beyant there."
Sam made no reply. He had caught sight of the profile of Virginia'sface. Her eyes, terrified and tensely drawn, were askance and lookingin his direction. The handkerchief over her mouth he first mistook asan evidence of physical suffering. He stepped back a pace, thinking toobtain a better view. He was disappointed.
What he had seen was a reflection of her face in the "dresser mirror,"that by some strange chance had been adjusted at an angle whichdeflected objects downward.
He had aimlessly halted at a point directly in line of the reflectioncast by the mirror over the casement, and upon looking up saw throughthe screened window the reflection.
Those terrified eyes he had seen, suddenly set him in a ferment."Probably--by God!" he muttered under his breath.
"Phwat be yees lookin' at? Sure, I can say nothin'," exclaimed Smith.
"I'll just step in the house and 'phone for a sheriff's posse tosearch the timber, and prevent his escape from the hill. You waitnear-by for me."
Sam had spoken loud as a ruse to deceive Rutley, for he felt morallycertain that the cause of that frightened look in Virginia's eyes wasthe presence of the man he was after.
"Sure, I will that, and kape me eyes on the ravine, too."
As Sam started for the front door, Smith stalked about, with a stickin his hand, warily glancing from side to side and ready to fight onthe instant.
Rutley prepared for a struggle, for he believed that Sam would ramblethrough the house. "Virginia must be concealed, but where?" He couldnot carry her to the attic, for Sam might meet him with her in hisarms. "Ah, the closet!"
Thrusting the revolver in his pocket, he swiftly opened the door. Thenhe placed a chair within for her comfort, and without furtherhesitation gathered her in his arms and carried her to the closet.After seating her on the chair, and while drawing some of Mrs. Harris'skirts about her, he said to her in a low voice: "After I dispose ofthat meddlesome fool, I'll carry you to the loft and doubtless we'llfind room in one of the large trunks stored there to conceal you; andI warn you, on peril of your life, to sit still!"
He then cautiously closed the door.
His next step was to remove the revolver from his pocket and carefullyexamine it. "It's a desperate bluff, but I'll try it."
There were two doors to the room other than the door of the closet;one opened into the hall, the other into a large bathroom and throughto the bedroom beyond. He took the keys from his pocket and unlockedboth doors, which he had fastened on meeting Virginia, and then placedthe large cane arm chair, which he piled with cushions, to the rightside of the table and a few feet from the hall door.
His movements were swift, silent and deliberate. Down behind the backof the chair he crouched and watched both doors with tigerishsteadiness. He had barely taken his position when footsteps were heardin the hall. They passed the door, then returned, halted, and the nextinstant low taps sounded on the door.
Simultaneously the closet door back of Rutley cautiously opened andVirginia stepped forth gagless and free. She had been more frightenedthan hurt or helpless, and had not discovered it until imprisoned inthe closet. Left to herself, she immediately struggled to free herlimbs from bondage. One foot was unexpectedly loosed and then theother. Her hands quickly followed, and the twisted shawl fell to thefloor.
Rutley had depended partly on her fear of him to remain passive, forthe shawl was not long enough to permit her limbs being bound togetherand securely tied with a knot. Having freed her hands, it was the workof a moment to remove the gag from her mouth.
She stood motionless and silent save for the palpitation of her heart,which seemed thunderous in its beat. Rutley had not heard her, hisattention being wholly absorbed by the sounds in the hall, and beingback of him, she had time to quiet her agitation and analyze thesituation.
Again low raps sounded on the door.
"What shall I do?" she inaudibly muttered, "for to aid me Sam willwalk in to his death. Oh, heaven inspire me!"
As the hall door slowly opened, she tried in her agony to shriek awarning, but not a sound escaped her lips. Terror and apprehension hadfor the moment bereft her of voice.
Suddenly, like a divine flash, she remembered Jack Shore's bl
anketdevice in the cabin at Ross Island. She turned half around, silentlystooped and picked up the shawl from the closet floor. She was verynervous and her agitation caused a trifling delay, which to herappeared hours, in untwisting the wrap and spreading it out, suspendedon her two hands before her.
Sam cautiously appeared around the door. He was keenly alert, for hefully expected an encounter with Rutley, being quite satisfied that noother person would dare to gag Virginia, but when in that swift glancehe saw her only in the room, and she with the gag removed andfingering a shawl, his surprise was so great that he forgot hiscaution. He pushed the door open wider and entered the room. His lipsparted to speak.
That instant Rutley said sharply, "Hands up!"
Sam's hands went up, and he looked into the muzzle of a revolver,pointed at him from behind the chair.
Rutley stood up. At almost the same moment Virginia swiftly approachedfrom behind and threw the net over his head, and shrieked, "Help!Help!"
In the furiousness of his rage to throw off the shawl, Rutley's handsbecame entangled in the net, and he shouted, "Oh, hell!"
Sam sprang upon him and wrenched the revolver from his hand. Then, ashe leaped back a couple of paces, said to Rutley: "Hands up! It's myturn now, old chappie!"
Rutley paid no heed to the command and at last cleared from the netwith a snarl.
"He, he, he--a devil is toothless when hell is without fire!" Then witha fiendish leer, drew the knife from his breast pocket. "Damn you!"said he, crouching for a spring on Sam, "you've crossed my path oncetoo often!"
Swiftly Sam looked at the revolver and exclaimed with deep chagrin,"Empty!" He, however, gripped it by the muzzle and prepared for theencounter.
The men slowly circled each other for an opening. Suddenly theyclinched, and in the struggle Sam was fortunate to seize Rutley'sknife hand.
It was then that Virginia again proved her great courage andresourcefulness. Watching her chance, she hooked her left forearmunder Rutley's chin about his throat, and simultaneously pressing herlittle right clenched fist against the small of his back, pulled hishead backward, and screamed, "Help! Help!" [The act is a form ofgarrotte used in asylums and when resolutely applied quickly reducesthe most powerful and refractory subject to submission.]
The suddenness of the attack and from such an unexpected quarter,accompanied by the choking pressure on his throat, caused Rutley toloosen his grip on the knife, which fell to the floor, and heexclaimed with a gurgling sound, "Oh, God!"
Sam instantly locked his arms around his body.
Rutley was powerless. His arms were firmly bound to his sides in agrip of iron. Meantime Smith stalked back and forth looking fortrouble. He had arrived in front of the main entrance when the cry of"Help, help!" broke upon the still air. It proceeded from the secondstory of the house, and he at once recognized it as the voice ofVirginia.
"By hivvins, the girl do be in throuble!" he muttered anxiously. "Aveit do be the blackguard we be lookin' for--sure!" And without furtherhesitation, Smith rushed up the steps and into the house.
Again the cry of "Help!" rang out.
"I'll help ye, darlint, be me soul, I will that. Hould him for wanminnit, and I'll attind to him. Oh, the skulkin' blackguard! 'E do bea bad divil, so 'e do. Just lave him to me, darlint; lave him to me,and I'll settle his nerves wid this bit of fir."
By this time Smith had mounted the stairs, when he was again startledto hear her cry: "Help! Oh, hasten, or blood will be shed!"
"I'm comin', darlint. Hould him wan minnit and I'll attind to him."Upon entering the room, he at once seized Rutley's hands and twistedthem behind his back.
"A bit of stout cord, miss, is what we want to bind the divil."
"Hold him!" and she flew to the linen closet.
"Hould him, is it!" exclaimed Smith, with a laugh. "Sure, miss, yeesnadn't hint that to me at all, at all. Indade, miss, it's a nate bitave wurruk well done, and I do be proud of yees, too, so I do."
Virginia soon entered the room with a stout piece of cord, which shehanded to Sam, saying, "Oh, I'm so thankful for your opportunearrival!"
On seeing Rutley thoroughly secured, and her excitement subsiding,Virginia expressed her gratefulness to Sam and Smith for rescuing herfrom what she believed to be a terrible fate, then snatching up theshawl from the floor, flew down the stairs with a cry of pain on herlips for Constance.
Having at last securely bound Rutley's hands, Sam signalized the eventwith a broad grin.
"There, old chappie! I don't think you will break away a second time."
"Sure, ave 'e do, 'twill be after this bit of Arigin fir's beensplintered on his hid," answered Smith.
Rutley made no reply. He seemed absorbed in thought, and thoughchagrin and disgust on his face betrayed a sense of his plight, noexpression of bitterness escaped him. His dauntless, debonair spiritwas still unbroken.
"I had her bound and shut up in the closet," he muttered to himself.It was an involuntary exclamation in an undertone, and at the momenthe seemed quite oblivious to his position.
"Yees did!" explosively exclaimed Smith. "The likes of yees, a dirty,thavin' blackguard, to bind the young lady and shut her up in acloset! Sure, if I had seen yees do it, there'd be somethin' doin'."And Smith flourished his stick in a threatening manner.
"The sissy is no match for a fool-killer," grinned Sam, as he woundthe cord several additional turns around Rutley's arms and body.
"Outclassed by a slip of a girl," Rutley muttered abstractedly, andenslaved by her witchery; "surely hell hath no cunning to match hergenius for strategems!"
"Indade, the divil's imp is azey mark for the wit ave an Arigin girl,an' be the token ave it, yees'l go back and jine yees mate with thebracelets," said Smith ironically.
"Aunty is coming!" exclaimed Sam in a listening attitude. "We must gethim out of the house at once!"
"March, yees blackguard, march!" promptly ordered Smith, laying hishand roughly on Rutley's arm to urge him along.
"Hands off!" sharply exclaimed the latter, shaking Smith's hand offand regarding him with a haughty stare; then, in a cuttinghigh-pitched voice, he went on: "No liberties, flannel-mouthedcur--scat!"
"He is game," muttered Sam.
The stigma uttered in tones of withering contempt fairly lashed Smithinto a foaming passion. He instantly dropped his stick, tore off hiscoat, spat on his hands, and while squaring off to Rutley, prancedabout, beside himself with rage, and when he at last found speech, hesaid explosively: "Flannel-mouthed cur, is it yees be callin' me?Sure, Oi'll attind to yees blackguard. Och, sure Oi wouldn't strikeyees wid yees hands tied, ye murtherin' villain! Oi mane to be fairwid yees, too, so Oi do, though ye little desarve it, and be the tokenave it, Oi'll sit ye free to recave the batin' that will make yeesrespect my nation!" and in the heat of his rage and quite forgetful ofplace and environment, furiously untied the knot Sam had made tofasten the cord which he wound several times around Rutley's body, andthen giving it a vigorous pull, sent Rutley spinning around like atop.
The thing was done so quick that Sam in his surprise was unable tocheck Smith, and had difficulty in restraining him from untyingRutley's hands also.
"Hold, Smith! Have it out with him some other time, not now or here,"he said, laying his hand on Smith's arm, and then observing Smith withan angry stare, directed at him, Sam grinned and went on mockingly:
"His lordship wants you to keep your hands off."
"'E do, do 'e?" replied Smith, his anger abating, and breaking into ahoarse laugh; "sure, Oi would not touch yees at all, at all except wida pair ave steel nippers." Then he put on his coat, picked up thestick and commenced to poke Rutley toward the door, saying meanwhile,much to Rutley's frowning mortification, but helpless resistance:"March, yees blue-blooded gintleman, with the appetite for apinitintiary risidence. March, yees thavin' ruffian, march!"
Scowling and turning, yet maintaining his always haughty bearing,Rutley passed "off the stage" by the back stairs, accompanied by hisguards, but as Sam
had declared, "game to the last."
In order to avoid creating excitement by appearing within view of thelittle sorrowful group, now near the front of the house, they placedhim in a vine-covered arbor, which was convenient and, leaving Smithto guard him, Sam hurried off to inform the officers of their capture.