CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A CHANGE IN THE PROGRAM
"I suppose you understand that this is a pretty high-handed sort ofproceeding?" began young Clavering agitatedly, half indignantly. "Eventhe processes of the law have their limits; and to abduct a man andimprison him before there is the ghost of a charge against him----"
There he stopped; his ear caught by a faint metallic click, his eye by alittle gleam of light that spat out through the darkness and made aluminous circle upon the earthen floor of the passage. Cleek hadswitched on his electric torch the better to see his way in carrying hiscaptive to the cell of which he had spoken and was now moving with himtoward it. His interest attracted in yet another direction, Geoffreytwitched round his head and made an effort to see the face of hiscaptor. Pretty nearly everybody in England had, at one time or another,heard of the man, and a not unnatural curiosity to see what he was likeseized upon young Clavering.
His effort to satisfy that curiosity was, however, without fruit, forthe downward-directed torch cast only that one spot of light upon thefloor and left everything else in the depths of utter darkness. Butthat Cleek was aware of this desire upon the part of the young man andof his effort to satisfy it, was very soon made manifest.
"In a minute, my friend--have a little patience," he said serenely. "Ifyou wanted to take me unawares you should have remembered that we mustsoon come to the cell and I shall have to set you down, and you couldthen see all that you wanted to without putting me on my guard. What'sthat? Oh, yes, I am frequently off it--even Argus occasionally shut allhis hundred eyes and went to sleep, remember."
By this time he had travelled the entire length of the passage, and nowstood upon the threshold of the cell toward which he was aiming. He wasno longer careful to keep the light from illuminating the surroundings,however. Indeed, he had merely done that in the first place to preventGeoff from seeing, as they passed, the excavation he had made and theclothing he had dug up. He now flashed the light round and round theplace as if taking stock of everything. He was not, by the way; what hesought was what he had seen in each of the other cells and hoped to findhere as well--the iron ring in the wall and the short length of rustychain attached to it.
The air of antiquity had been perfectly reproduced, and this cell was ascarefully equipped as its mates. He walked toward the ring the instanthe saw it, switched off the light of the torch, swung Geoff down fromhis shoulder, unfastened his ankles and one end of the shackles thatheld his wrists.
"What are you going to do with me now?" demanded young Clavering withsudden hopefulness. "I say--look here--is this thing a joke after all,and are you going to give me my liberty?"
The only response was a sharp click; then Cleek's hands fell away fromhis captive entirely, and under the impression that he was free, youngClavering made an effort to spring up from the ground where he had beenlaid.
A sharp backward jerk and a twinge of the right wrist brought him to arealization that while one end of the handcuffs still encircled thatwrist, the other had been snapped into the ring in the wall, and it was,therefore, impossible for him to move ten inches from the spot where hehad been left.
In the utter darkness he had no means of telling if Cleek had or had notleft the cell; and in a sort of panic, called out to him.
"I say, officer! Have you left me?" he asked; then hearing a sound quiteclose to him, a sound so clearly that of some one moving and breathingthat his question was answered without words, he added nervously: "Whatare you up to now? What are you doing that you have to work about it inthe dark?"
"Merely twisting up a handkerchief into a form of gag," replied Cleek,in a tone which clearly indicated that he was speaking with one end ofthat handkerchief held between his teeth. "It is not a nice thought, theidea of gagging a gentleman as if he were a murderous navvy or a savagedog that needs muzzling. I should much prefer, Mr. Clavering, acceptingyour parole--putting you on your word of honour not to cry out or tomake any effort to attract the attention of anybody who may enter thisruin to-night; and if you will give me that----"
"I'll give you anything rather than undergo any further indignity,"snapped Geoff. "Look here, you know, Mr. Thingamy, this is a beastlycaddish trick altogether, jumping on a man in the dark and giving him nochance to defend himself."
"Unfortunately, the law cannot allow itself to study the niceties ofetiquette, my dear sir," replied Cleek. "It has to go on the principlethat the end justifies the means, and it must always be prepared toaccept risks. I, as one of its representatives, am, as I have told you,quite ready to accept one now; so if you will give me your word ofhonour not to make any outcry, the gag can be dispensed with."
"Very well, then; I do give it."
"Good! And I accept it; so that's the end of that, as the fellow saidwhen he walked off the pier," said Cleek as he ceased twisting up thehandkerchief and returned it to his pocket. "But why not go farther andspare us both an unnecessary amount of trouble and discomfort, Mr.Clavering?"
"I don't know what you mean. Put it a little clearer, please. I'm notgood at guessing things."
"No, you are not; otherwise you might have guessed that when LadyKatharine Fordham denied so emphatically what you knew to be true----But no matter; we'll talk of that some other time."
"No, we won't!" flashed in Geoff hotly. "We'll leave Lady KatharineFordham's name out of this business altogether. Understand that? I don'tcare whether you're a police officer or not, by George! Any man thattries to drag her into this affair will have to thrash me, or I'llthrash him, that's all. You can believe what you jolly well please aboutwhat you overheard. You've got no witness to prove that you did hear it;and as for me--I'll lie like a pickpocket and deny every word if you tryto make capital out of it against her."
Cleek laughed, laughed audibly. But there was a note of gratification,even of admiration, underlying it; and he found himself liking thisloyal, lovable, hot-tempered boy better and better with every passingmoment. But the laughter nettled Geoff, and he was off like a fireworkin a winking.
"Look here! I'll tell you what!" he flung out hotly. "If you'll set mefree from this confounded chain and come outside with me and will take asporting chance--if you thrash me I'll take my medicine and do whateveryou tell me; but if I thrash you, you're to let me go about my business,and to say nothing to anybody about what you happened to hear. Now,then, speak up. Which are you--a man or a mouse?"
"I know which you are, at all events," replied Cleek, with still anotherlaugh. "You have some most original ideas of the workings of the law,it must be admitted, if you think Scotland Yard affairs can be settledin that way."
"You won't come out and stand up to me like a man, then?"
"No, I won't; because if I did I should catch myself wanting to clap youon the back and shake hands with you, and wishing to heaven that I wereyour father. But--wait--stop! You needn't go off like a blessedskyrocket, my lad. There's still a way to do very much what you haveproposed, and that I was about to mention when you tore at me about LadyKatharine. I said, if you remember, that you might go farther thansimply give me your word of honour with regard to the gagging part ofthe matter, and might save us both a lot of trouble and discomfort."
"Yes, I know you did. Well, what of it? What trouble and discomfort canbe saved?"
"A great deal if you are wise as well as loyal, my boy. It couldn't be avery pleasant experience for you to pass the night in a place like this.Nevertheless, it is absolutely imperative that you should not return toyour home to-night, and that your stepmother should have no hint ofwhere you had gone or what had become of you."
"Why?"
"That's my affair, and you will have to pardon me if I keep it tomyself. Now, then, why not make matters easier and pleasanter for youand for me by giving me your word of honour that if I let you go freefrom this place, and promise not to say one word of what I overheardpass between you and Lady Katharine Fordham, you will secretly journeyup to London, stop there the night, and neither by word, nor deed willlet
a hint of your whereabouts or of what has passed between us thisevening get to the ears or the eyes of any one at Clavering Close? Comenow; that's a fair proposition, is it not?"
"I don't know; I can't think what's at the bottom of it. GoodLord!"--with a sudden flash of suspicion "you don't mean that yoususpect that Lady Clavering, my stepmother--and just because I said shewas out on the Common last night? If that's your game---- Look here,she's as pure as ice and as good as gold, my stepmother, and my dear olddad loves her as she deserves to be loved. If you've hatched up somecrazy idea of connecting her with this affair simply because De Louvisanwas an Austrian and she's an Austrian, too----"
"Oho!" interjected Cleek. "So Lady Clavering is an Austrian, eh? I see!I see!"
"No, you don't. And don't you hint one word against her! So if it's partof your crawling spy business to get me to give my parole so that youmay sneak over to Clavering Close and play another of your sneakingabduction tricks on her, just as you have played it on me----"
"Ease your mind upon that subject. I have no intention of going nearClavering Close, nor yet of sending anybody there. Another thing: Ihave not, thus far, unearthed even the ghost of a thing that could besaid to connect Lady Clavering with the crime. Do you want me to tellyou the truth? It is you against whom all suspicions point thestrongest; and I want you to go away to-night simply that I may know ifyou have spoken the truth, or are an accomplished actor and a finishedliar!"
"What's that? Good Lord! how can my disappearing for a night prove ordisprove that?"
"Shall I tell you? Then listen. I meant at first to keep it to myself,but----" His voice dropped off; there was a second of silence, then afaint clicking sound, and a blob of light struck up full upon his face."Look here," he said suddenly, "do you know this man?"
Clavering looked up and saw in the circle of light a face he had neverseen in life before--a hard, cynical face with narrowed eyes and athin-lipped, cruel mouth.
"No," he said, "if that is what you look like. I never saw such a manbefore."
"Nor this one?"
In the circle of light the features of the drawn face writhed curiously,blent, softened, altered--made of themselves yet another mask. And youngClavering, pulling himself together with a start, found himself lookingagain into the living countenance of Monsieur Georges de Lesparre.
"Good heavens above!" he said with a catch in his voice. "Then you werethat man--you? And Mr. Narkom knew all the time?"
"_Oui, m'sieur_--to both questions--_oui_. It shall again be I, _monami_; and I shall remember me last night vair well. And now since_m'sieur_ shall haf so good a recollection of zis party--_voila_! He maytell me what he remembers of this one also."
Then in a flash the face was gone, and another--changed utterly andcompletely--was there.
"Barch!" exclaimed young Clavering, shrinking back from the man asthough he were uncanny. "And you are that man--Philip Barch, AilsaLorne's friend? You are that man, too?"
"Yes, I am that man, too," replied Cleek. "I have made these silentconfessions that you may know--that you may understand before I makeanother and equally candid one. If I had chosen not to let you know thereal identity of Philip Barch, you have seen how easily I could havekept that secret. Now that you know me you will understand how honestlyand straightforwardly I intend to deal with you. You asked me why Iwanted you to disappear for a night, and I have told you that I mayprove to my own satisfaction whether you are what I hope you are, or aremerely a clever actor and an accomplished liar. If what you said aboutyour stepmother's reason for following you out upon the Common lastnight is as true as you would have had Lady Katharine Fordham believe,her interest in you must be an abnormal one; and if it is as great asyou represent--ah, well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Notall the powers on this earth will be able to keep her indoors should yoube mysteriously missing. But if it is not so great, if you have liedabout that as about other things, Lady Clavering will not come out inquest of you herself, but will leave that to her husband and herservants; and I shall know then that you have simply been playing apart--that you have something to hide and some desperate reason forhiding it. Now, then, knowing what threatens, knowing what I am up to,knowing what trap has been set for you, will you give me your parole andgo up to London to-night and face the issue of that act like a man?"