CHAPTER XXI
HARCUTT'S INSPIRATION
Wolfenden lost his match upon the last hole; nevertheless it was afinely contested game, and when Mr. Sabin proposed a round on thefollowing day, he accepted without hesitation. He did not like Mr. Sabinany the better--in fact he was beginning to acquire a deliberatedistrust of him. Something of that fear with which other people regardedhim had already communicated itself to Wolfenden. Without having theshadow of a definite suspicion with regard to the man or his character,he was inclined to resent that interest in the state of affairs atDeringham Hall which Mr. Sabin had undoubtedly manifested. At the sametime he was Helene's guardian, and so long as he occupied that positionWolfenden was not inclined to give up his acquaintance.
They parted in the pavilion, Wolfenden lingering for a few minutes, halfhoping that he might receive some sort of invitation to call at Mr.Sabin's temporary abode. Perhaps, under the circumstances, it wasscarcely possible that any such invitation could be given, although hadit been Wolfenden would certainly have accepted it. For he had no ideaof at once relinquishing all hope as regards Helene. He was naturallysanguine, and he was very much in love. There was something mysteriousabout that other engagement of which he had been told. He had an ideathat, but for Mr. Sabin's unexpected appearance, Helene would haveoffered him a larger share of her confidence. He was content to wait forit.
Wolfenden had ridden over from home, and left his horse in the hotelstables. As he passed the hall a familiar figure standing in the opendoorway hailed him. He glanced quickly up, and stopped short. It wasHarcutt who was standing there, in a Norfolk tweed suit and thick boots.
"Of all men in the world!" he exclaimed in blank surprise. "What, in thename of all that's wonderful, are you doing here?"
Harcutt answered with a certain doggedness, almost as though he resentedWolfenden's astonishment.
"I don't know why you should look at me as though I were a ghost," hesaid. "If it comes to that, I might ask you the same question. What areyou doing here?"
"Oh! I'm at home," Wolfenden answered promptly. "I'm down to visit mypeople; it's only a mile or two from here to Deringham Hall."
Harcutt dropped his eyeglass and laughed shortly.
"You are wonderfully filial all of a sudden," he remarked. "Of courseyou had no other reason for coming!"
"None at all," Wolfenden answered firmly. "I came because I was sentfor. It was a complete surprise to me to meet Mr. Sabin here--at leastit would have been if I had not travelled down with his niece. Theircoming was simply a stroke of luck for me."
Harcutt assumed a more amiable expression.
"I am glad to hear it," he said. "I thought that you were stealing amarch on me, and there really was not any necessity, for our interestsdo not clash in the least. It was different between you and poor oldDensham, but he's given it up of his own accord and he sailed for Indiayesterday."
"Poor old chap!" Wolfenden said softly. "He would not tell you, Isuppose, even at the last, what it was that he had heard about--thesepeople?"
"He would not tell me," Harcutt answered; "but he sent a message to you.He wished me to remind you that you had been friends for fifteen years,and he was not likely to deceive you. He was leaving the country, hesaid, because he had certain and definite information concerning thegirl, which made it absolutely hopeless for either you or he to think ofher. His advice to you was to do the same."
"I do not doubt Densham," Wolfenden said slowly; "but I doubt hisinformation. It came from a woman who has been Densham's friend. Then,again, what may seem an insurmountable obstacle to him, may not be so tome. Nothing vague in the shape of warnings will deter me."
"Well," Harcutt said, "I have given you Densham's message and myresponsibility concerning it is ended. As you know, my own interests liein a different direction. Now I want a few minutes' conversation withyou. The hotel rooms are a little too public. Are you in a hurry, or canyou walk up and down the drive with me once or twice?"
"I can spare half an hour very well," Wolfenden said; "but I shouldprefer to do no more walking just yet. Come and sit down here--it isn'tcold."
They chose a seat looking over the sea. Harcutt glanced carefully allaround. There was no possibility of their being overheard, nor indeedwas there any one in sight.
"I am developing fresh instincts," Harcutt said, as he crossed his legsand lit a cigarette. "I am here, I should like you to understand, purelyin a professional capacity--and I want your help."
"But my dear fellow," Wolfenden said; "I don't understand. If, when yousay professionally, you mean as a journalist, why, what on earth in thisplace can there be worth the chronicling? There is scarcely a singleperson known to society in the neighbourhood."
"Mr. Sabin is here!" Harcutt remarked quietly.
Wolfenden looked at him in surprise.
"That might have accounted for your presence here as a privateindividual," he said; "but professionally, how on earth can he interestyou?"
"He interests me professionally very much indeed," Harcutt answered.
Wolfenden was getting puzzled.
"Mr. Sabin interests you professionally?" he repeated slowly. "Then youhave learnt something. Mr. Sabin has an identity other than his own."
"I suspect him to be," Harcutt said slowly, "a most important andinteresting personage. I have learnt a little concerning him. I am hereto learn more; I am convinced that it is worth while."
"Have you learnt anything," Wolfenden asked, "concerning his niece?"
"Absolutely nothing," Harcutt answered decidedly. "I may as well repeatthat my interest is in the man alone. I am not a sentimental person atall. His niece is perhaps the most beautiful woman I have ever seen inmy life, but it is with no thought of her that I have taken up thisinvestigation. Having assured you of that, I want to know if you willhelp me?"
"You must speak a little more plainly," Wolfenden said; "you arealtogether too vague. What help do you want, and for what purpose?"
"Mr. Sabin," Harcutt said; "is engaged in great political schemes. He isin constant and anxious communication with the ambassadors of two greatPowers. He affects secrecy in all his movements, and the name by whichhe is known is without doubt an assumed one. This much I have learntfor certain. My own ideas are too vague yet for me to formulate. Icannot say any more, except that I believe him to be deep in some designwhich is certainly not for the welfare of this country. It is myassurance of this which justifies me in exercising a certain espionageupon his movements--which justifies me also, Wolfenden, in asking foryour assistance."
"My position," Wolfenden remarked, "becomes a little difficult. Whoeverthis man Sabin may be, nothing would induce me to believe ill of hisniece. I could take no part in anything likely to do her harm. You willunderstand this better, Harcutt, when I tell you that, a few hours ago,I asked her to be my wife."
"You asked her--what?"
"To be my wife."
"And she?"
"Refused me!"
Harcutt looked at him for a moment in blank amazement.
"Who refused you--Mr. Sabin or his niece?"
"Both!"
"Did she--did Mr. Sabin know your position, did he understand that youare the future Earl of Deringham?"
"Without a doubt," Wolfenden answered drily; "in fact Mr. Sabin seems tobe pretty well up in my genealogy. He had met my father once, he toldme."
Harcutt, with the natural selfishness of a man engaged upon hisfavourite pursuit, quite forgot to sympathise with his friend. Hethought only of the bearing of this strange happening upon his quest.
"This," he remarked, "disposes once and for all of the suggestion thatthese people are ordinary adventurers."
"If any one," Wolfenden said, "was ever idiotic enough to entertain thepossibility of such a thing. I may add that from the first I have hadalmost to thrust my acquaintance upon them, especially so far as Mr.Sabin is concerned. He has never asked me to call upon them here, or inLondon; and this morning when he found me with his niece he
was quietlybut furiously angry."
"It is never worth while," Harcutt said, "to reject a possibility untilyou have tested and proved it. What you say, however, settles this one.They are not adventurers in any sense of the word. Now, will you answerme a few questions? It may be just as much to your advantage as to mineto go into this matter."
Wolfenden nodded.
"You can ask the questions, at any rate," he said; "I will answer themif I can."
"The young lady--did she refuse you from personal reasons? A man canalways tell, you know. Hadn't you the impression, from her answer, thatit was more the force of circumstances than any objection to you whichprompted her negative? I've put it bluntly, but you know what I mean."
Wolfenden did not answer for nearly a minute. He was gazing steadilyseaward, recalling with a swift effort of his imagination every wordwhich had passed between them--he could even hear her voice, and see herface with the soft, dark eyes so close to his. It was a luxury ofrecollection.
"I will admit," he said, quietly, "that what you suggest has alreadyoccurred to me. If it had not, I should be much more unhappy than I amat this moment. To tell you the honest truth I was not content with heranswer, or rather the manner of it. I should have had some hope ofinducing her to, at any rate, modify it, but for Mr. Sabin's unexpectedappearance. About him, at least, there was no hesitation; he said no,and he meant it."
"That is what I imagined might be the case," Harcutt said thoughtfully."I don't want to have you think that I imagine any disrespect to theyoung lady, but don't you see that either she and Mr. Sabin must standtowards one another in an equivocal position, or else they must be inaltogether a different station of life to their assumed one, when theydismiss the subject of an alliance with you so peremptorily."
Wolfenden flushed up to the temples, and his eyes were lit with fire.
"You may dismiss all idea of the former possibility," he said, withominous quietness. "If you wish me to discuss this matter with youfurther you will be particularly careful to avoid the faintest allusionto it."
"I have never seriously entertained it," Harcutt assented cheerfully;"I, too, believe in the girl. She looks at once too proud and tooinnocent for any association of such thoughts with her. She has thebearing and the manners of a queen. Granted, then, that we dismiss thefirst possibility."
"Absolutely and for ever," Wolfenden said firmly. "I may add that Mr.Sabin met me with a distinct reason for his refusal--he informed me hisniece was already betrothed."
"That may or may not be true," Harcutt said. "It does not affect thequestion which we are considering at present. We must come to theconclusion that these are people of considerable importance. That iswhat I honestly believe. Now what do you suppose brings Mr. Sabin tosuch an out of the way hole as this?"
"The golf, very likely," Wolfenden said. "He is a magnificent player."
Harcutt frowned.
"If I thought so," he said, "I should consider my journey here awasted one. But I can't. He is in the midst of delicate and importantnegotiations--I know as much as that. He would not come down here atsuch a time to play golf. It is an absurd idea!"
"I really don't see how else you can explain it," Wolfenden remarked;"the greatest men have had their hobbies, you know. I need not remindyou of Nero's fiddle, or Drake's bowls."
"Quite unnecessary," Harcutt declared briskly. "Frankly, I don't believein Mr. Sabin's golf. There is somebody or something down here connectedwith his schemes; the golf is a subterfuge. He plays well because hedoes everything well."
"It will tax your ingenuity," Wolfenden said, "to connect his visit herewith anything in the shape of political schemes."
"My ingenuity accepts the task, at any rate," Harcutt said. "I am goingto find out all about it, and you must help me. It will be for both ourinterests."
"I am afraid," Wolfenden answered, "that you are on a wild goose chase.Still I am quite willing to help you if I can."
"Well, to begin then," Harcutt said; "you have been with him some timeto-day. Did he ask you any questions about the locality? Did he show anycuriosity in any of the residents?"
Wolfenden shook his head.
"Absolutely none," he answered. "The only conversation we had, in whichhe showed any interest at all, was concerning my own people. By the bye,that reminds me! I told him of an incident which occurred at DeringhamHall last night, and he was certainly interested and curious. I chancedto look at him at an unexpected moment, and his appearance astonishedme. I have never seen him look so keen about anything before."
"Will you tell me the incident at once, please?" Harcutt begged eagerly."It may contain the very clue for which I am hunting. Anything whichinterests Mr. Sabin interests me."
"There is no secrecy about the matter," Wolfenden said. "I will tell youall about it. You may perhaps have heard that my father has been in verypoor health ever since the great Solent disaster. It unfortunatelyaffected his brain to a certain extent, and he has been the victim ofdelusions ever since. The most serious of these is, that he has beencommissioned by the Government to prepare, upon a gigantic scale, a planand description of our coast defences and navy. He has a secretary andtypist, and works ten hours a day; but from their report and my ownobservations I am afraid the only result is an absolutely unintelligiblechaos. Still, of course, we have to take him seriously, and be thankfulthat it is no worse. Now the incident which I told Mr. Sabin was this.Last night a man called and introduced himself as Dr. Wilmot, the greatmind specialist. He represented that he had been staying in theneighbourhood, and was on friendly terms with the local medico here, Dr.Whitlett. My father's case had been mentioned between them, and he hadbecome much interested in it. He had a theory of his own for theinvestigation of such cases which consisted, briefly of a carefulscrutiny of any work done by the patient. He brought a letter from Dr.Whitlett and said that if we would procure him a sight of my father'smost recent manuscripts he would give us an opinion on the case. Wenever had the slightest suspicion as to the truth of his statements, andI took him with me to the Admiral's study. However, while we were there,and he was rattling through the manuscripts, up comes Dr. Whitlett, thelocal man, in hot haste. The letter was a forgery, and the man animpostor. He escaped through the window, and got clean away. That is thestory just as I told it to Mr. Sabin. What do you make of it?"
Harcutt stood up, and laid his hand upon the other's shoulder.
"Well, I've got my clue, that's all," he declared; "the thing's as plainas sunlight!"
Wolfenden rose also to his feet.
"I must be a fool," he said, "for I certainly can't see it."
Harcutt lowered his tone.
"Look here, Wolfenden," he said, "I have no doubt that you are right,and that your father's work is of no value; but you may be very sure ofone thing--Mr. Sabin does not think so!"
"I don't see what Mr. Sabin has got to do with it," Wolfenden said.
Harcutt laughed.
"Well, I will tell you one thing," he said; "it is the contents of yourfather's study which has brought Mr. Sabin to Deringham!"