CHAPTER XXXII
MORE FROM THE PAST
Geoffrey looked from one to the other for explanation.
"Won't you tell me what has happened?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, nothing has happened," Ralph replied. "A littletime ago Tchigorsky outlined a bold stroke on the part of the foe. Hesuggested that it was possible, without removing a single bolt or bar,to spirit away one of the family, who would never be heard of again.Tchigorsky was making no prophesy; he was speaking from knowledge. Well,the attempt has been made and it has failed."
"Who was the victim, uncle?"
"Your cousin, Vera. Sit down, my boy; if you go plunging about like thatyou will ruin everything. Did I not tell you that the attempt had beenmade and had failed? Vera is safe for a long time to come."
Geoffrey dropped into his seat again.
"How did you manage it, uncle?" he asked.
Ralph gave the details. He told the story dryly.
"So I not only prevented the dastardly attempt to carry Vera away," heconcluded, "but I baffled the foe altogether. There was not theslightest suspicion that I was on the stairs except by the merestaccident."
"But you say that Marion was with Vera?"
"She was. That nimble wit of hers led her to suspect danger. But Marioncould not have averted the tragedy. A slender girl like her could havedone nothing against a strong and determined foe. If necessary, shewould have been carried off and they would have killed two birds withone stone."
Geoffrey shuddered. He was sick of the whole business. For the momenthe was a prey to utter despair. It seemed hopeless to fight against afoe like this, a foe striking in the dark and almost moving invisibly.
"Some one ought to watch that room," he said.
"It is unnecessary. I am supposed to be sleeping close by. Already thefoe has learned that I slumber with one eye open. Don't be cast down,Geoffrey. Two more of the enemy are on their way to Yorkshire, and whenthey are here the mouth of the net is going to close. I pledge you myword that no further harm shall come to anybody. And Tchigorsky will saythe same."
"On my head be it," Tchigorsky muttered. He twisted a cigarettedexterously with his long fingers.
"There is nothing to fear," he said, "nothing with ordinary vigilance.The danger will come when the time for defence has passed and it is ourturn to attack. Then there will be danger for the three of us here.Shall we go to bed?"
"I could not sleep for a king's ransom," said Geoffrey.
"Then we will chat and smoke awhile," said Tchigorsky. "If you like, Iwill go on with the history of our adventures in Lassa."
Geoffrey assented eagerly. Tchigorsky proceeded in a whirl of cigarettesmoke.
"We knew we were doomed. We could see our fate in those smiling,merciless eyes. That woman had lived among civilized people; she knewWestern life; she had passed in Society almost for an Englishwoman.
"But she was native at heart; all her feelings were with her people. Allthe past could not save us. She meant us to die, and die with the mosthorrible torture under her very own eyes. Her life in India was amasquerade--this was her real existence.
"'You fancy you are the first,' she said. 'Did you ever know a Russiantraveler, Voski by name? He was very like you.'
"I recollected the man. I had met him years before, and had discussedthis very Lassa trip.
"'Yes,' I said, for it was useless to hold up our disguises any longer.'What of him?'
"'He came here,' the princess said. 'He learned some of our secrets.Then it was found out and he had to walk the Black Valley. He died.'
"All this was news to me. So astonished was I that I blurted out thetruth. Only a year before, long after Voski was supposed to be dead, Ihad met him in London. When I mentioned Lassa he changed the subject andrefused to continue the conversation. I fancied that he suspected me ofchaffing him. Now I know that he had been through the horrors of theBlack Valley and--escaped.
"The eyes of the princess blazed when she heard this. She was a wilddevastating fury. It seemed almost impossible to believe that I had seenher in a tea gown at Simla, chattering Society platitudes in a whitesahib's bungalow. And I bitterly regretted betraying myself, because Iknew that, wherever he was, Voski would be hunted down and killed, asthey were seeking to kill me, as they would slay Ralph Ravenspur, onlythey have not recognized him."
"Hence the changed face and the glasses?" Geoffrey asked.
"You have guessed it," said Ralph. "I did not want to be known. I amonly a poor demented idiot, a fool who cumbers the ground."
"I had betrayed Voski without doing any good to myself," Tchigorskyresumed. "If any harm has come to him, I am his murderer. Presently theprincess calmed down, and the old cruel mocking light came back to hereyes. We were speaking English by this time--a language utterly unknownto the awestruck, open-mouthed priests around us.
"'Let us pretend that this is my drawing room in India, and that I amentertaining you at tea,' she said. 'Later you shall know something ofme in my real character. I suppose you recognized the risks that youran?'
"'Perfectly,' I replied. 'We are going to be done to death in barbarousfashion, because we have come here and learned your secrets as yourhusband did.'
"I could afford this shot. I could afford to say anything. We were goingto perish by a death the horror of which is beyond all words, and had Ipulled the nose of the princess, had I strangled her as she sat there,the punishment could have been made no worse.
"'Take care,' she said, 'you are in my power. What do you mean?'
"'I mean that your husband penetrated the secrets of Buddha, and thatyou married him so as to regain those secrets. There were papers and thelike, or he would merely have been assassinated in the ordinary vulgarmanner, and there would have been an end of the business. Your husbandhas got an inkling of this and that is why he has hidden the documentsand refuses to give them up; he would be murdered if he did.'
"'You are a bold man,' the princess said.
"'Not at all,' I replied. 'A man can only die once. Would you say thatthe condemned murderer was rash for attempting to pick the pocket of thegaoler, even for attempting to murder him? What I say and what I domatters nothing. And you know that I am telling the truth.'
"The princess smiled. My friend Ralph here will remember that smile."
"I could see then," Ralph muttered, "and I do remember it."
"'Very well,' the princess replied, 'you are candid and I will be thesame. What you have said about my husband is perfectly true. I did marryhim to recover those papers. And when I accidently let out the truththat I was not outcast of my tribe he saw his danger. He is safe tillthose papers are mine. And then I shall kill him.
"'And yet I love that man--I shall be desolate without him. But myreligion and my people come first. For them I lose my caste, for them Idegrade myself by becoming the wife of a white sahib, for them I shalleventually die. And yet I love my husband. Ay, you cannot command thehuman heart.'
"At this I laughed. The princess joined me.
"'You think I have no heart,' she said, 'but you are mistaken. You shallsee. For the present I have my duty to perform. I do it thus.'
"She rose to her feet and clapped her hands and spoke in terse, vigoroussentences. A minute later we were bound and our disguises slipped fromus. And there for the present you must be content to leave us. To-morrowI shall tell the rest."
Tchigorsky rose and yawned, but Geoffrey would fain have had more.
"The princess," he said; "at least tell me if I know her."
"Of course you do. Princess Zara is the woman who calls herself Mrs.Mona May."