CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
WHEN FOUR AND FOUR MAKE EIGHT
In spite of himself Cleek's nerves gave an absolute jump, but being anadept in the art of dissimulation, he laughed lightly and gave Hamer aquizzical look.
"The Lady in Pink, eh?" he said cheerily. "You know more than yourprayers, I'm afraid, Hamer. Now what in the world made you think he'd becalling on her last night, eh?"
"Well, sir, I can't exactly say what, unless it was a sort of puttingtwo and two together, sir. I'd seen him with her over Kingston way on myday off, only she wasn't dressed in pink then, of course. And lastnight, a deal earlier in the evening, just about the time Lady Katharineand Miss Lorne was starting for Clavering Close it was, sir, I happensto go round back and slip into Mulberry Lane for a pull at my pipe onthe sly--master never letting any of the servants smoke in the grounds,and housekeeper objecting to pipes in the servants' hall--and just as Icomes out, there she was a-standing in the shadow of the trees, and soclose up to the wall that I nigh barged into her, sir."
"Who? The Lady in Pink?"
"Yes, sir. Took her by surprise, coming out in that unexpected manner,and she just had time to throw a pink scarf she was wearing over herface and hurry away, sir, before I could so much as apologize. But quickas she was it didn't prevent me a-seeing of her, sir, and recognizingher as the lady I'd seen Mr. Harry with on my day off, although, as Isay, sir, she was dressed quite different last night. Looked to me asshe was going to some sort of an evening affair: a dance or the theatreor something of that sort; for she didn't have any hat on, and althoughshe was wearing a long black cloak that reached almost to the ground, Icould see when she made such a bolt to get out of sight that it waslined with ermine, and that, under it, she wore a rose-pink eveningfrock that she was holding up to keep from touching the ground."
Cleek did not so much as turn a hair, although beneath his placidexterior something in the nature of a tumult was raging. And why not?For here, undoubtedly, was the pink gauze dress that had left thefragment on the nail head at Gleer Cottage last night; and here, too,was a garment which, being turned inside out, would become in truth anermine cloak!
"Oho! Now I see how you came by the idea that Mr. Harry had gone out tomeet her, Hamer," he said with the utmost serenity. "Quite natural,quite, in the circumstances; only, as it turns out, you were mistaken.Mr. Harry spent the evening with me, and as we had the misfortune tomiss the Pink Lady altogether, we didn't see her at all last night,worse luck. But, I say, that's letting you into something, isn't it?Well, here's half a crown to pay you to forget all about it and to keepyour tongue behind your teeth. Understand?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Much obliged, sir. Won't breathe a word to aliving soul."
"Mind you don't, or you'll spoil sport and--wait! Stop a moment! Gottime to do something for me?"
"Oh, yes, indeed, sir. Plenty of time; no end of it this evening. Mastersays he'll be up best part of the night reading, sir, and won't need meat all to-night; so if it's to go anywhere or to carry any message foryou, sir, I've got hours at my disposal."
"Thanks, but I shan't require any more than a minute or two of yourtime. I'll just scrawl a line on the leaf of my notebook, and--ph, blow!Another fellow's evening clothes! And, besides, when I come to think, itwas in the pocket of the coat that confounded thief carried off. Slipinto the library and get me a sheet of paper and a bit of pencil, willyou? Look sharp!"
"Couldn't do that, sir--couldn't get what you want from the library, Imean. Master's in there reading, sir, and he's locked the door and givenorders that nobody's to disturb him. But if a bit of typewriting paperwill do, sir----"
"Yes, certainly. The very thing. Can you get me a sheet or two?"
"As much as you care to have, sir. It's all in the hall cupboard alongwith the typewriter itself. Master had them taken there when he'dfinished his book and let the typist go. I'll get you some in aninstant, sir."
He hurried away forthwith and was back presently with half a dozensheets of typewriting paper, a bit of pencil and an envelope, whichlatter he had included on the off-chance of its being needed.
Walking a few paces away, Cleek rested the paper against the wall,scribbled a few hasty words, sealed them up in the envelope, and thenhanded it over to Hamer.
"Here, take this thing to Miss Lorne. You'll find her in thedrawing-room," he said, as he threw the remaining sheets which he hademployed as a sort of writing pad upon one of the hall chairs. "You canattend to that litter afterward. Move sharp!"
He turned as he spoke, as if to go upstairs again, but the very instantHamer had disappeared he went fleetly back to the chair, caught up oneof the sheets of paper, folded it carefully, slid it into his pocket,and passing swiftly and soundlessly down the hall, opened the door andwent out again into the night.
Hitherto all had been speculation, theory, guesswork, not irrefutablefacts; hitherto all clues had been mere possibilities, never actualcertainties. Now----
The curious smile travelled up his cheek, slipped down again, and lefthis face as hard and as colourless as a mask of stone. He turned as herounded the angle of the house and glanced back to where the windows ofthe dining-room cut two luminous rectangles in the fragrant,flower-scented darkness; then his eye travelled farther on, and dwelt amoment on the chinks of light that arrowed out from the curtained bay ofthe library.
"Poor old chap! Poor, dear old chap!" he said between shut teeth.
The tightly woven fabric of last night's mystery had started to unravel.In one little corner a flaw had suddenly sprung into existence, andto-night the first loosened thread was in this man's hands.
He set his back to the lighted windows and forged on through thedarkness until the swerving path brought him to the little summerhousewhere, earlier, he had first met Ailsa, and stepping in, threw himselfinto a rustic seat and bent forward with his elbows upon his knees andhis face between his hands: a grim and silent figure in the lonelinessand the darkness.
Five minutes passed--six, seven--and found him still sitting there,still communing with his own thoughts, though it was now nearing teno'clock, and he had told Dollops to be at the wall angle to meet him atnine. But suddenly his attitude changed; his hands dropped, his headjerked upward, as a sleeping cat's does when it hears a gnawing mouse,and he was on his feet, alert, eager, all alive, in a twinkling. Half aminute later Miss Lorne stepped from the grass on to the gravel andfound him waiting for her in the arch of the summerhouse doorway.
"It is you at last, then, is it?" he said, reaching out to her throughthe darkness. "Take my hand and I will guide you if you cannot see theway clearly. I can't risk striking a match."
"It isn't necessary; I know the way quite well," she answered; but shetook his hand all the same. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting; I cameas quickly as I could. Mrs. Raynor had fallen asleep over her novelwhile we were waiting for you and her son to finish your cigars and joinus in the drawing-room, but Hamer coming in with your note awoke her andI could not get away so quickly as I desired."
"Was Mrs. Raynor interested in the note, then? Did she show any desireto hear what it was about?" he questioned eagerly.
"Oh, no. She"--colouring under cover of the darkness--"she merelylaughed, and said that it was no more than she should have expected, butshe kept me talking so long that I nearly lost all patience, and yournote did puzzle me, Mr. Cleek. Why was it so important that you shouldsee me at once without Kathie knowing? Have you discovered anythingfresh?"
"Such strange things indeed have happened, Miss Lorne, since thisevening," he returned quietly, "that I think I shall need your help ingetting to the bottom of them. For one thing, it is now absolutelycertain that the murderer of the Common keeper came into these groundslast night after he had committed the crime, and that when he gaveNarkom and his men the slip the fellow came directly to this placeunseen."
"Mr. Cleek!"
"Sh-h-h! Not so loud, please. And don't shake like that. Steadyyourself, for there is something yet more startlin
g to come. There isnow positive proof, Miss Lorne, that Lady Katharine Fordham did leavethis house last night and go to Gleer Cottage."
"I won't believe it!" she flung out loyally. But she had scarcely morethan said it when his next words cut the ground from beneath her.
"A witness has turned up," he said; "a witness who saw her there andspoke to her."
"A witness? Dear God! Who?"
"Geoffrey Clavering!"
"Geoffrey Clavering? Geoffrey?"
"Yes. He and Lady Katharine had an interview in the ruin this evening,an interview which I overheard without either being aware of mypresence. That is what sent Lady Katharine to bed with a bad headachejust before dinner. Geoffrey Clavering accused her of murdering DeLouvisan and acknowledged that it was he himself who placed the twolighted candles at the feet of the dead man's body."
She made no cry this time, no single sound. He knew that she was beyonddoing so, that she was struck to the very heart, and he made haste tolessen her distress by telling her of Lady Katharine's denial and of thewhole circumstance as it happened. Then he told of his own discovery ofthe buried clothing, his overhearing the interview, the manner in whichthe lovers had parted, and, finally, of his own act in apprehendingyoung Clavering and then accepting his parole and sending him off toLondon for the night.
"Why did you do that?" she questioned feebly, and was not satisfied evenwhen he explained his motive. "I will not even take his word againstKathie's, but I could have told you that he speaks the truth when hesays that his stepmother's interest in him is so great it is very likelythat she did go out on the Common to look for him, and for the reason hegave. If he were her own son she could not think more of him. Sheabsolutely idolizes him. He is not dearer to his father than he is toher; and if he does not return to Clavering Close to-night, be sure shewill have the Common searched from end to end, and will go half out ofher mind when she does not find him."
Cleek took his chin between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed ithard. This was somewhat of a facer, he was obliged to confess.
"You rather take the wind out of my sails," he said reflectively. "Ifthe boy spoke the truth, if the stepmother really does care like that,why that eliminates her from the case altogether, and it isn't worthwhile asking you to take the risk I alluded to in the note."
"What risk?"
"A very considerable one for a young lady in your position, should yoube seen. As I do not even know Lady Clavering by sight, I was going toask you if you would mind prowling about the Common in company with me,that, if the lady put in an appearance, you might be able to identifyher for me. But of course, if it is so very certain that she will joinin the search for the boy, there's no necessity for doing such a thing."
"Pardon me, but I think, Mr. Cleek, there is more reason than ever," shereplied, "if only to ease her mind, you know. You might do that bytelling her that Geoff was unexpectedly called to town and that you wereon the way to the Close to tell them so. I don't in the least mindtaking the risk, as you call it, under those circumstances; it would bea charity to do so, for I know her ladyship, and Sir Philip will worry.Of course they will not think of worrying yet a while; it is much tooearly; and as Geoff came over here to see Kathie they will think he isremaining for the evening. But later, when it is past bedtime, when itis getting on toward twelve o'clock, they will be half out of theirminds with anxiety. Oh, yes; I'll go with you willingly, this minute ifyou like, in such a cause as that."
"How loyal you are! What a woman you are! What a friend!" said Cleekadmiringly. "Shall I tell you something? I have hope that one of thosefriends will be wholly cleared before another day comes; that somethingmay happen to-night which will make Geoff Clavering the happiest of menand you and Lady Katharine almost beside yourselves with joy. No, don'task me what it is just yet a while. I have dreams and fancies and oddnotions like other men sometimes; and I am a great believer in thetheory of Loisette that a likeness of events acting upon a weary brainis apt to produce similar results in certain highly strung natures. Butwill you walk with me as far as the angle of the wall on the other sideof the shrubbery, Miss Lorne? Dollops is waiting there for me. I havesomething of great importance for him to do to-night, and I think youwill be interested in it. Will you come? Thank you! This way then,please, as quietly as you can."
Taking her hand and keeping always on the grass and always in the dark,where the shadows of the trees lay between them and the lighted windowsof the Grange, he led her on to something which even he had not foreseenand never for a moment guessed.
At the angle of the wall he stopped and began to whistle softly"Kathleen Mavourneen." As upon another occasion, before he had completedthe third bar, the wall door gaped open and flashed shut again andDollops was in the dark, tree-crowded enclosure with him. It was arather more excited Dollops than he had expected to find, however, forCleek had no more than just begun to apologize for his lateness when theboy was on him like a pouncing cat and was cutting into his low-spokenwords in a panting sort of whisper:
"For Gawd's sake, gov'ner. Come quick, sir!" he said, as he laid atense, nervous grip on Cleek's arm. "'Nother door in the wall, sir.Higher up where them mulberry trees is thickest. Woman prowlin' round,gov'ner. Been prowlin' round this ten minutes past and been to that doorand tried it three times a'ready. Woman in a pink dress, sir, and a longdark cloak reachin' almost to the ground!"
"Margot!" said Cleek in an exultant whisper. "Margot at last, byGeorge!"
Then, for the second time that night, he received a shock.
"If you mean that French Aparsh 'skirt' we run up against in the time ofthe Red Crawl, gov'ner," interposed Dollops, "you're backin' the wronghorse. It aren't _her_--aren't a bit like her, sir; no fear!"