CHAPTER XLVII
TCHIGORSKY FURTHER EXPLAINS
"I don't quite follow it yet," said Geoffrey.
"And yet it is simple," Tchigorsky replied. "Here is a form of electricbattery in the vault connected by tiny wires to every sleeping chamberoccupied by a Ravenspur. In each of these bed-rooms a powder isdeposited somewhere and the wire leads to it. At a certain time, whenyou are all asleep, the current is switched on, the powder destroyedwithout leaving the slightest trace, and in the morning you are all asdead as if you had been placed in a lethal chamber--as a matter of fact,they would have been lethal chambers.
"Almost directly, by means of the chimneys, etc., the rooms would beginto draw a fresh supply of air, and by the time you were discoveredeverything would be normal again. Then the battery would be removed andthe wires withdrawn without even the trouble of entering the rooms tofetch them. Then exit the whole family of Ravenspur, leaving behind agreater mystery than ever. Now do you understand what it all means?"
Geoffrey nodded and shuddered.
"What do you propose to do?" he asked. "Leave the battery where it is,and----"
"Unless I am mistaken, the battery is removed already," said theRussian.
He was correct. Investigation proved that the whole thing had beenspirited away.
"As I expected," Tchigorsky muttered. "Done from the vaults under thesea, doubtless. That woman's servants keep very close to her. It iswonderful how they manage to slip about without being seen. They haveascertained that an accident has happened to their mistress, and theyhave removed signs of the conspiracy. But for the present they cannotremove their mistress."
Tchigorsky chuckled as he spoke.
"You seem pleased over that," said Geoffrey.
"Of course I am, my boy. It enables one to do a little burglary withoutthe chance of being found out. And you are to assist me. But I am notgoing to start on my errand before midnight; so till then I shall stayhere and smoke. At that hour you will please join me."
"I am to accompany you, then?"
"Yes, you are going to be my confederate in crime."
Geoffrey joined the others downstairs. Delight and thankfulness werewritten on every face. Never had Geoffrey found his family so tender andloving.
Usually, Marion had had her feelings under control, but to-night itseemed as if she could not make enough of her cousin. She hung over him,she lingered near him, until Vera laughingly proclaimed that jealousywas rendering her desperate.
"I cannot help it," Marion said half tearfully. "I am so glad. And ifyou only knew--but that does not matter. I am beside myself with joy."
"I suppose that woman upstairs is all right," Ravenspur said coldly.
He was by no means pleased that Mrs. May should have intruded twice inthat way. And each time there had been some accident. With so muchsorrow weighing him down and with the shadow of further disaster everhaunting him, Ravenspur was naturally suspicious.
It seemed absurd, no doubt, but that woman might be taking a handagainst the family fortunes. The last occasion was bad enough, but thiswas many times worse. In the circumstances, as he pointed out, nothingcould exceed the bad taste of this intrusion into a deserted house.
"She may not have known it," Mrs. Gordon said quietly. "Who knows butthat she had discovered some plot against us and had come to warn us?Perhaps the enemy divined her intentions--hence the accident."
"But was it an accident?" Geoffrey asked.
"Something mysterious, like everything that occurs to us," his wifereplied. "At any rate, she is breathing regularly and quietly now, andher skin is moist and cool. Ralph said he had seen something like it inIndia before. He is convinced that she will be all right in the morning.Don't be angry, father."
Rupert Ravenspur constrained himself to smile.
"I will not forget what is due to my position and my hospitality, mydear," he said. "After Geoffrey's miraculous escape, after the heavycloud of sorrow so unexpectedly raised, I cannot feel it in my heart tobe angry with anybody. How did you manage to get away, Geoffrey?"
Geoffrey told his tale again. It was not nice to be compelled to inventfacts in the face of an admiring family; but then the truth could nothave been told without betraying Tchigorsky and blowing all his delicateschemes to the winds. He was not sorry when he had finished.
Marion wiped the tears from her eyes.
"It was Providence," she said. "Nothing more nor less."
"Little doubt of it," Gordon murmured. "Geoff, have you any suspicions?"
"I know who did it, if that is what you mean," Geoffrey said, "and sodoes Marion."
The girl started. Her nerves were in such a pitiable condition that anylittle thing set them vibrating like the strings of a rudely handledharp.
"If I did I should have spoken," she said.
"Then you have not guessed?" Geoffrey smiled. "The masts and the scullswere sawn by a girl in a blue dress and red tam-o'-shanter cap. The girlwho is so like----"
He did not complete the sentence; there was something in Marion'sspeaking eyes that asked him not to do so. Why he could not tell; butthere was nothing to be gained by what was little less than a breach ofconfidence.
"What does it mean, Marion?" Ravenspur asked.
"Geoffrey and I saw such a girl not long before Geoff set out on hiseventful voyage," Marion explained quietly. All the fear had gone out ofher eyes; she met the gaze of the speaker tranquilly. "She passed me asI was painting; I have been close to her once before. But I don'tunderstand why Geoff is so certain that the mysterious visitor tried todrown him."
"I've no proof," Geoffrey replied. "It is merely an instinct."
As a matter of fact, he had plenty of proof. Had he not seen the girlhastening away from his boat? Had he not seen her return after the boathad been beached and mourn over the wreck like some creature sufferingfrom deep remorse?
But of this he could say nothing. To speak of it would be to betray thefact that Tchigorsky was still alive and active in pursuit of the foe.
"That woman can be found," Ravenspur said sternly.
"I doubt it," said Geoffrey. "She has a way of disappearing that isremarkable. You see her one moment and the next she has vanished. But Iam certain that she is at the bottom of the mischief."
And Geoffrey refused to say more. As a matter of fact, nobody seemed tocare to hear anything further. They were worn out with anxiety andexertion. They had had little food that day; the weary hours on thebeach had exhausted them.
"For the present we can rest and be thankful," Ravenspur said as he roseto go. "We can sleep with easy minds to-night."
They moved off after him, all but Geoffrey and Vera. Mrs. Gordon couldstill be heard moving about one of the drawing rooms. Marion had slippedoff unobserved. She hardly felt equal to bidding Geoffrey good-night.The tender smile was still on her face as she crept upstairs.
Then when she reached her room it faded away. She flung herself acrossthe bed and burst into a passionate fit of weeping. And then graduallyshe sobbed herself into a heavy yet uneasy slumber.
"Well, I suppose I must go, too?" Vera said, tired out, yet reluctant toleave her lover. "Tell me what it means, Geoff?"
"Have I not already explained to you, darling?"
"Yes, but I don't believe one word of it," Vera replied. A kiss sufficedto wash the bitterness of the candor away. "I don't believe you werepicked up by a yacht. I don't believe that you were in any danger. Idon't understand it."
"Then we are both in the same state of benighted ignorance," Geoffreysmiled. "You are right not to believe me, dearest, but I had to tell thestory and I had to play a part. It is all in the desperate game we areplaying against our secret foe. For the present I am a puppet in thehands of abler men than myself. What I am doing will go far to set usfree later."
Vera sighed gently. She sidled closer to her lover. Mrs. Gordon wascoming out of the drawing room, a sign that Vera would have to go.
"I feel that I don't want to part with you again," she w
hispered, hereyes looking into his and her arm about him. "I feel as if I had nearlylost you. And if I did lose you, darling, what would become of me?"
Geoffrey kissed the quivering lips tenderly.
"Have no fear, sweetheart," he said; "all is coming right. See how thosepeople have been frustrated over and over again. They have come withschemes worthy of Satan himself and yet they have failed. And it hasbeen so arranged that those failures seem to be the result of vexatiousaccident. But they are not. And they will fail again and again untilthe net is around them and we shall be free. Darling, you are to sleepin peace to-night."
With a last fond embrace Vera slipped from her lover's side. She smiledat him brightly from the doorway and was gone. Geoffrey lighted acigarette that presently dropped from his fingers and his head fellforward.
He started suddenly; the cigarette smelt pungently as it singed thecarpet. Somebody was whispering his name; somebody was calling him fromthe stairs. Then he recognized Ralph's croaking voice.
"Tchigorsky," he muttered sleepily. "I had forgotten that Tchigorskywanted me."