CHAPTER XXVIII
MORE OF THE BEES
Of the real palpitating horror of the situation only three people roundthe table knew the true inwardness. They were Tchigorsky and Ralph andMrs. May. Geoffrey guessed much, and probably Marion could have said adeal had she cared to. Her face was smiling again, but the uneasy,haunted look never left her eyes. And all through the elaborate,daintily served meal Mrs. May never glanced at the girl once.
And yet, here under the Ravenspur roof, partaking of the familyhospitality, was the evil itself. Ralph smiled to himself grimly as hewondered what his father would say if he knew the truth.
Once or twice as he spoke Mrs. May glanced at him curiously. She washerself now; she might have been an honored guest at that table foryears.
"Your face is oddly familiar to me," she said.
"I regret I cannot say the same," Ralph replied. "I am blind."
"But you have not always been blind?"
"No. But my misfortune dates back for a number of years. It is a matterthat I do not care to discuss with anybody."
But Mrs. May was not to be baffled. She had an odd feeling that this manand herself had met before. The face was the same, and yet not the same.
"Were you ever in Tibet?" she asked.
"I had a brother who once went there," Ralph replied. "I am accountedlike him. It is possible you may have met my brother, madam."
The speech was sullen, delivered with a stupid air that impressed Mrs.May that she had nothing to fear from him. And yet the words had acurious effect on her. Her face changed color and for the first time sheglanced at Marion. The girl was trembling; she was ashy grey to herlips. Tchigorsky, observing, smiled.
"Tibet is a wonderful country," he said, "and Lassa a marvelous city. Ihad some of my strangest experiences there. I and another man, sincedead, penetrated all the secrets of the Holy City. It was only by amiracle that I escaped with my life. But these I will carry to mygrave."
He indicated the scars on his face. Vera was profoundly interested.
"Tell me something of your adventures there," she said.
"Some day, perhaps," Tchigorsky replied. "For the most part they weretoo horrible. I could tell you all about the beasts and birds andinsects. I see you have some bees outside, Miss Vera. Did you ever seeTibet bees?"
"Are they different to ours?" Vera asked.
Tchigorsky glanced up. Mrs. May was regarding him with more than aflattering interest. A slight smile, almost a defiance, parted her lips.Marion was looking down at her plate, crumbling a piece of breadabsently. "Some of them," said Tchigorsky. "Some are black, forinstance. I have a place in Kent where I dabble in that kind of thing. Ihave a few of the bees with me."
Tchigorsky took a small box from his pocket and laid it on the table.Vera inspected the black bees for a moment and then handed them back toTchigorsky.
By accident or design he let the box fall, the lid flew open, andimmediately half a dozen sable objects were buzzing in the air.
A yell of terror broke from Mrs. May, a yell that rang to the roof. Shejumped to her feet only to sink again with the pain of the injured limb.She seemed to have lost all control of herself; she turned andaddressed Tchigorsky in some liquid tongue that conveyed nothing to anyone except that she was denouncing the Russian in a fury of passionateanger.
Geoffrey had risen, too, greatly alarmed. From the head of the table,Ralph Ravenspur coolly demanded to know what it was all about.
"The man is mad," Mrs. May screamed. "He is a dangerous lunatic. Thoseare the black bees of Tibet. They are the most fearsome of insects. Ah!"
One of the droning objects dropped on her hand, and she yelled again.She was a picture of abject and pitiable terror.
"I am doomed, doomed," she moaned. "Killed by a careless madman."
"Is there any danger?" Geoffrey demanded.
Only the life led among so many perils caused the family to wait calmlyfor the next and most dramatic development. Perhaps the way in whichTchigorsky was behaving gave them confidence. If he was a madman, asMrs. May asserted, then the madman was wonderfully calm and placid.
"You are alarming yourself unnecessarily," he said. "See here."
He reached over and took the bee from Mrs. May's arm. The insect hadbecome entangled in her sleeve and was buzzing angrily.
"The little creature is furious," he said. "As a matter of fact, theyare always more or less furious. If there is any danger there is dangernow."
He held the bee lightly in his hand. Then he released it.
"The stings have been removed," he said. "I bred these myself, and Iknow how to treat them. I am sorry to have caused a disturbance."
He spoke with serious, earnest, politeness, but there was a mockinglight in his eyes as he turned upon Mrs. May. Nobody had a thought or aglance for anybody else, and the spectacle of Marion lying back halffainting in her chair passed unnoticed.
"Then they are usually dangerous?" Vera asked.
"My dear young lady, they are dreadful," Tchigorsky explained. "Theyinvade other nests and eat the honey as they might have invaded yourhives. By way of experiment I tried one of these on your hives to-night,and your bees seemed to recognize an enemy at once. They all desertedtheir hives and not one of them has returned. As some amends for what Ihave done I am going to send you two of the finest swarms in England."
Vera shuddered.
"I shall never want to see a bee again," she said.
Once more the eyes of Tchigorsky and Mrs. May met. She knew well thatTchigorsky was talking at her through the rest, and that in his owncharacteristic way he was informing her that the last plot had failed.With a queer smile on her face she proceeded to peel a peach.
"You are so horribly clever," she said, "that I feel half afraid of you.But I don't suppose we shall meet again."
"Not unless you come to Russia," said Tchigorsky, "whither I startto-morrow. But I am leaving my affairs in competent hands."
Again was the suggestion of a threat; again Mrs. May smiled. The smilewas on her face long after the three most interested in the tragedy hadleft the dining hall and gone to the billiard room for a smoke.
"Are you really leaving us?" Geoffrey asked.
"I want Mrs. May to imagine so," said Tchigorsky. "In a day or two herspies will bring her information that I have left England. As a matterof fact, I have succeeded in tapping a vein of information that hasbaffled me for a long time.
"Still, I am not going away and my disguise will be the one you saw mein. If luck goes well I shall be attached to Mrs. May in the characterof a native servant before long. So if you see any suspicious-lookingAsiatic prowling about, don't put a bullet into him, for you may killme by mistake."
Geoffrey smiled and promised.
"That was a rare fright you gave Mrs. May over the bees," he said. "Howdid you manage it?"
Tchigorsky smiled as he lighted a cigarette.
"I stole them from the woman's spare supply," he said. "I have been allover her possessions to-day. I almost suffocated the horrible littlethings and removed their stings. Of course, they won't live many hours.I did it in a spirit of mischief, intending to release them in my lady'sown sitting room. I couldn't resist the temptation to try her nervesto-night."
"You are getting near the truth?" Geoffrey asked.
"Very near it. We want certain evidence to bring the whole gang into thenet, and then we shall strike--if they don't murder us first. But----"
The speaker paused as Vera entered the room.
"Where is Mrs. May?" Geoffrey asked.
"She has gone to her room," Vera explained. "Her foot is so painful thatshe has decided to accept an invitation to spend the night here."
"Good," Tchigorsky muttered. "It could not have been better."