CHAPTER XIX. THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY
It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject ofWreste Abbey.
"Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery andso on, hasn't he?" he asked.
"Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there," Dunn answered. "Why?"
"Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly profitable," DeedeDawson said carelessly, for the first time definitely throwing off hismask of law-abiding citizen under which he lived at Bittermeads.
"It would be a risky job," answered Dunn, showing no surprise at thesuggestion. "The stuff's well guarded, and then, that's not what I'mthinking about--it's meeting Rupert Dunsmore, man to man, and no one tocome between us. If that ever happens--"
Deede Dawson nodded reassuringly.
"That'll be all right," he said. "So you shall, I promise you that.But we might as well kill two birds with one stone and clear a bit ofprofit, too. I've got to live, like any one else, and I haven't fivethousand a year of my own, so I get my living out of those who have, andI don't see who has any right to blame me. Mind, if there was any moneyin chess, I should be a millionaire, but there isn't, and if a man canmake a fortune on the Stock Exchange, which takes no more thoughtor skill than auction-bridge, why shouldn't I make a bit when I can?There's the 'D. D.' gambit I've invented, people will be studying andplaying for centuries, but it'll never bring me a penny for all thebrain-work I put into it, and so I've got to protect myself, haven't I?"
"It's what I do with less talk about it," answered Dunn contemptuously."Why, I've guessed all that from the first when you weren't so all-firedkeen on seeing me in gaol, as most of your honest, hard-working lot,who only do their swindling in business-hours, would have been. And I'vekept my eyes open, of course. It wasn't hard to twig you did a bit onthe cross yourself. Well, that's your affair, but one thing I do want toknow--how much does Miss Cayley know?"
For all his efforts he could not keep his anxiety entirely out of hisvoice as he said this, and recognizing that thereby he had perhapsrisked rousing some suspicion in the other's mind, he added:
"And her mother--the young lady and her mother, how much do they know?"
"Oh," answered Deede Dawson, with his false laugh and cold-watchfuleyes. "My wife knows nothing at all, but Ella's the best helper I'veever had. She looks so innocent, she can take in any one, and shenever gives the show away, she acts all the time. A wonderful girl anduseful--you'd hardly believe how useful."
Dunn did not answer. It was only by a supreme effort that he kept hishands from Deede Dawson's throat. He did not believe a word of what theother said, for he knew well the utter falseness of the man. None theless, the accusation troubled him and chilled him to the heart, asthough with the touch of the finger of death.
"You remember that packing-case," Deede Dawson added. "The one youhelped me to get away from here the night you came. Well, she knew whatwas in it, though you would never have thought so, to look at her, wouldyou?"
His cold eyes were very intent and keen as he said this, and Dunnthought to himself that it had been said more to test any possibleknowledge or suspicion of his own than for any other reason. With amanner of only slight interest, he answered carelessly:
"Did she? Why? Wasn't it your stuff? Had it been pinched? But shewas safe enough, the police would never stop a smart young lady in amotor-car, except on very strong evidence."
"Perhaps not," agreed Deede Dawson. "That's one reason why Ella's souseful. But I've been thinking things out, and trying to make them workin together, and I think the first thing to do is for you to drive Allenand Ella over to Wreste Abbey this afternoon, so that they may have agood look around."
"Oh, Miss Cayley and Allen," Dunn muttered.
The new-comer, Allen, had been making himself very much at home atBittermeads since his arrival, though he had not so far troubled toany great extent either Ella in the house or Dunn outside. His idea ofcomfort seemed to be to stay in bed very late, and spend his time whenhe did get up in the breakfast-room in the company of a box of cigarsand a bottle of whisky.
The suggestion that he and Ella should pay a visit together to WresteAbbey was one that greatly surprised Dunn.
"All right," he said. "This afternoon? I'll get the car ready."
"This is the afternoon the Abbey is thrown open to visitors, isn't it?"asked Deede Dawson. "Allen and Ella can get in as tourists, and have agood look round, and you can look round outside and get to know the lieof the land. There won't be long to wait, for Rupert Dunsmore will beback from his little excursion before long, I expect."
He laughed in his mirthless way, and walked off, and Dunn, as he got thecar ready, seemed a good deal preoccupied and a little worried.
"How can he know that Rupert Dunsmore is coming back?" he said tohimself. "Can he have any way of finding out things I don't know about?And if he did, how could he know--that? Most likely it's only a guess tosoothe me down, and he doesn't really know anything at all about it."
After lunch, Allen and Ella appeared together, ready for theirexpedition. Ella looked her best in a big motoring coat and aclose-fitting hat, with a long blue veil. Allen was, for almost thefirst time since his arrival, shaved, washed and tidy.
He looked indeed as respectable as his sinister and forbiddingcountenance would permit, and though Deede Dawson had made him as smartas possible, he had permitted him to gratify his own florid taste inadornment, so that his air of prosperity and wealth had the appearanceof being that of some recently-enriched vulgarian whose association witha motor-car and a well-dressed girl of Ella's type was probably due tothe fact that he had recently purchased them both out of newly-acquiredwealth.
Dunn wore a neat chauffeur's costume, with which, however, his beardedface did not go too well. He felt indeed that their whole turn-out wasfar too conspicuous considering the real nature of their errand, andfar too likely to attract attention, and he wondered if Deede Dawson'ssubtle and calculating mind had not for some private reason desired thatto be so.
"He is keeping well in the background himself," Dunn mused. "He mayreckon that if things go wrong--in case of any pursuit--it's a good moveperhaps in a way, but he may find an unexpected check to his king openedon him."
The drive was a long one, and Ella noticed that though Dunn consultedhis map frequently, he never appeared in any doubt concerning the way.
A little before three they drove into the village that lay round thepark gates of Wreste Abbey.
Motors were not allowed in the park, so Dunn put theirs in the garageof the little hotel, that was already almost full, for visiting day atWreste Abbey generally drew a goodly number of tourists, while Ellaand Allen, in odd companionship, walked up to the Abbey by the famousapproach through the chestnut avenue.
Allen was quiet and surly, and much on his guard, and very uncomfortablein Ella's company, and Ella herself, though for different reasons wasequally silent.
But the beauty of the walk through the chestnut avenue, and of the vistawith the great house at the end, drew from her a quick exclamation ofdelight.
"How beautiful a place this is," she said aloud. "And how peaceful andhow quiet."
"Don't like these quiet places myself," grumbled Allen. "Don't like 'em,don't trust 'em. Give me lots of traffic; when everything's so awfulquiet you've only got to kick your foot against a stone or drop a tool,and likely as not you'll wake the whole blessed place."
"Wake," repeated Ella, noticing the word, and she repeated it withemphasis. "Why do you say 'wake'?"