CHAPTER XXV. THE UNEXPECTED
To the very letter Dunn followed the careful and precise instructionsgiven him by Deede Dawson, for he did not wish to rouse in any waythe slightest suspicion or run the least risk of frightening off thatunknown instigator of these plots who was, it had been promised him, tobe present near Brook Bourne Spring at four that afternoon.
Even the thought of Ella was perhaps less clear and vivid to his mindjust now than was his intense and passionate desire to discover theidentity of the strange and sinister personality against whom he hadmatched himself.
"Very likely it's some madman," he thought to himself. "How in the nameof common sense can he expect to inherit the title and estates quietlyafter such a series of crimes as he seems to contemplate? Does he thinkno one will have any suspicion of him when he comes forward? Even ifhe is successful in getting rid of all of us in this way, how does heexpect to be able to reap his reward? Of course he may think that therewill be no direct evidence if he manages cleverly enough, and that meresuspicion he will be able to disregard and live down in time, but surelyit will be plain enough that 'who benefits is guilty'? The whole thingis mad, fantastic. Why, the mere fact of any one making a claim to thetitle and estates would be almost enough to justify a jury in returninga verdict of guilty."
But though his thoughts ran in this wise all the time he was journeyingto London, and though he repeated them to himself over and over again,none the less there remained an uneasy consciousness in his mind thatperhaps these people had plans more subtle than he knew, and that eventhis difficulty of making their claim without bringing instant suspicionon themselves they had provided for.
It was late in the year now, but the day was warm and very calm andfine. At the London terminus where he alighted he had a strong feelingthat he was watched, and when he took the train back to Delsby he stillhad the idea that he was being kept under observation.
He felt he had been wise in deciding to carry out Deede Dawson'sinstructions so closely, for he was sure that if he had failed to doso in any respect alarm would have been taken at once, and warningtelegrams gone flying on the instant to all concerned. Then thatself-baited trap at Brook Bourne Spring, wherein he hoped to see hisenemy taken, would remain unapproached, and all his work and risk wouldhave gone for nothing.
When he alighted at his destination he was a little before time, and sohe got himself something to eat at a small public-house near the stationbefore starting on his fifteen-mile walk across country. Though he wasnot sure, he did not think any one was observing him now. Most likelyhis movements up to the present had appeared satisfactory, and it hadnot been thought necessary to watch him longer.
But he was careful to do nothing to rouse suspicion if he were stillbeing spied upon, and after he had eaten and had a smoke he started offon his long tramp.
Even yet he was careful, and so long as he was near the village he madea show of avoiding observation as much as possible. Later on, when hehad made certain he was not being followed, he did not trouble so much,though he still kept it in mind that any one he met or passed might wellbe in fact one of Deede Dawson's agents.
He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in othercircumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough. It was alittle curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief preoccupationseemed to shift from his immediate errand and intense eagerness todiscover the identity of his unknown foe, with whom he hoped to standface to face so soon, to a troubled and pressing anxiety about Ella.
Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least realdanger. He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put on watch atBittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy. None the less,his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile he traversed, tillpresently her situation seemed to him the one weak link in his carefulplans.
That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be takenin, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt certainenough. Walter would see to that. Sure was it, too, that the enterpriseDeede Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at the Abbey must resultin their discomfiture and capture. Walter would see to that also. Butconcerning Ella's position doubt would insist on intruding, till at lasthe decided that the very moment the Brook Bourne Spring businesswas satisfactorily finished with he would hurry at his best speed toBittermeads and make sure of her safety.
Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened speed,and looking at his watch he saw that it was two o'clock, and that hewas still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles from hisdestination.
He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by DeedeDawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot where the pathhe had to take branched off from the road he had been following. At thisspot a heavy country lad was sitting on a gate by the wayside, and asDunn approached he clambered heavily down and slouched forward to meethim.
"Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?" he asked.
Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this suddenrecognition in so lonely a spot.
"Yes, I am," he said, after a moment's hesitation. "Why?"
"If you are, there's this as I'm to give you," the lad answered, drawinga note from his pocket.
"Oh, who gave you that?" Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note containedsome final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering if this lad wereone of his agents in disguise, or merely some inhabitant of the districthired for the one purpose of delivering the letter.
But the lad's drawled reply disconcerted him greatly.
"A lady," he said. "A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait hereand give you this. All alone she was, and drove just like a man."
He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it wasaddressed to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella's writing. Heblinked at it in very great surprise, for there was nothing he expectedless, and he did not understand how she knew so well where he would beor how she had managed to get away from Bittermeads uninterfered with byDeede Dawson.
His first impulse was to suspect some new trap, some new and cunningtrap that, perhaps, the unconscious Ella was being used to bait. Takingthe letter from the boy, he said:
"How did you know it was for me?"
"Lady told me," answered the boy grinning. "She said as I was to lookout for a chap answering to the name of Robert Dunn, with his face socovered with hair you couldn't see nothing of it no more'n you can seea sheep's back for wool. 'As soon as I set eye on 'ee,' says I, 'That'shim,' I says, and so 'twas."
He grinned again and slouched away and Dunn stood still, holding theletter in his hand and not opening it at first. It was almost as thoughhe feared to do so, and when at last he tore the envelope open it waswith a hand that trembled a little in spite of all that he could do.For there was something about this strange communication and the meansadopted to deliver it to him that struck him as ominous in the extreme.Some sudden crisis must have arisen, he thought, and it appeared to himthat Ella's knowledge of where to find him implied a knowledge of DeedeDawson's plans that meant she was either his willing and active agentand accomplice, or else she had somehow acquired a knowledge of herstepfather's proceedings that must make her position a thousand timesmore critical and dangerous than before.
He flung the envelope aside and began to read the contents. It openedabruptly, without any form of address, and it was written in a hand thatshowed plain signs of great distress and agitation: "You are in greatdanger. I don't know what. I heard them talking. They spoke as thoughsomething threatened you, something you could not escape. Be careful,very careful. You asked me once if I had ever heard a man with a high,squeaky voice, and I did not answer. It was to a man with a voice likethat I gave the packing-case I took away from here the night you came.Do you remember? He was here all last night, I think. I saw him go veryearly. He is Mr. Walter Dunsmore. I saw him that day at Wreste Abbey,and I knew I had seen him before. This morning I recognized him
. I amsure because he hurt his hand on the packing-case lid, and I saw themark there still. He and my stepfather were talking all night, I thinkI couldn't hear everything. There is a General Dunsmore. Something isto happen to him at three o'clock and then to you later, and they bothlaughed a great deal because they think you will be blamed for whateverhappens to General Dunsmore. He is to be enticed somewhere to meetyou, but you are not to be there till four, too late. I am afraid, moreafraid than ever I have been. What shall I do? I think they are makingplans to do something awful. I don't know what to do. I think mystepfather suspects I know something, he keeps looking, looking, smilingall the time. Please come back and take mother and me away, for I thinkhe means to kill us both."
There was no signature, but written like an afterthought across onecorner of the note were the scribbled words:
"You told me something once, I don't know if you meant it." And then,underneath, was the addition--"He never stops smiling."
Twice over Dunn read this strange, disturbing message, and then a thirdtime, and he made a little gesture of annoyance for it did not seem tohim that the words he read made sense, or else it was that his brain nolonger worked normally, and could not interpret them.
"Oh, but that's absurd," he said aloud.
He looked all around him, surprised to see that the face of thecountry-side had not changed in any way, but was all just as it had beenbefore this letter had been put into his hands.
He began to read a third, but stopped half-way through the firstsentence.
"Then it's Walter all the time," he muttered. "Walter--Walter!"