XIV
FAITH UNFAITHFUL
"It's all perfectly true," said Cazalet calmly. "Those were my movementswhile I was off the ship, except for the five hours and a bit that I wasaway from Charing Cross. I can't dispute a detail of all the rest. Butthey'll have to fill in those five hours unless they want another caseto collapse like the one against Scruton!"
Old Savage had wriggled like a venerable worm, in the experienced talonsof the Bobby's Bugbear; but then Mr. Drinkwater and his discoveries hadcome still worse out of a hotter encounter with the truculent attorney;and Cazalet had described the whole thing as only he could describe agiven episode, down to the ultimate dismissal of the charge againstScruton, with a gusto the more cynical for the deliberately low pitch ofhis voice. It was in the little lodging-house sitting-room at NellGwynne's Cottages; he stood with his back to the crackling fire that hehad just lighted himself, as it were, already at bay; for thefolding-doors were in front of his nose, and his eyes roved incessantlyfrom the landing door on one side to the curtained casement on theother. Yet sometimes he paused to gaze at the friend who had come towarn him of his danger; and there was nothing cynical or grim about himthen.
Blanche had broken her word for perhaps the first time in her life; butit had never before been extorted from her by duress, and it would beaffectation to credit her with much compunction on the point. Her onegreat qualm lay in the possibility of Toye's turning up at any moment;but this she had obviated to some extent by coming straight to thecottages when he left her--presumably to look for Cazalet in London,since she had been careful not to mention his change of address.Cazalet, to her relief, but also a little to her hurt, she had found athis lodgings in the neighborhood, full of the news he had not managed tocommunicate to her. But it was no time for taking anything but his perilto heart. And that they had been discussing, almost as man to man, ifrather as innocent man to innocent man; for even now, or perhaps now inhis presence least of all, Blanche could not bring herself to believeher old friend guilty of a violent crime, however unpremeditated, forwhich another had been allowed to suffer, for however short a time.
And yet, he seemed to make no secret of it; and yet--it did explain hiswhole conduct since landing, as Toye had said.
She could only shut her eyes to what must have happened, even as Cazalethimself had shut his all this wonderful week, that she had forgotten allday in her ingratitude, but would never, in all her days, forget again!
"There won't be another case," she heard herself saying, while herthoughts ran ahead or lagged behind like sheep. "It'll never come out--Iknow it won't."
"Why shouldn't it?" he asked so sharply that she had to account for thewords, to herself as well as to him.
"Nobody knows except Mr. Toye, and he means to keep it to himself."
"Why should he?"
"I don't know. He'll tell you himself."
"Are you sure you don't know? What can he have to tell me? Why should hescreen me, Blanche?"
His eyes and voice were furious with suspicion, but still the voice waslowered.
"He's a jolly good sort, you know," said Blanche, as if the whole affairwas the most ordinary one in the world. But heroics could not havedriven the sense of her remark more forcibly home to Cazalet.
"Oh, he is, is he?"
"I've always found him so."
"So have I, the little I've seen of him. And I don't blame him forgetting on my tracks, mind you; he's a bit of a detective, I was fairgame, and he did warn me in a way. That's why I meant to have theweek--" He stopped and looked away.
"I know. And nothing can undo _that_," she only said; but her voiceswelled with thanksgiving. And Cazalet looked reassured; the hotsuspicion died out of his eyes, but left them gloomily perplexed.
"Still, I can't understand it. I don't believe it, either! I'm in hishands. What have I done to be saved by Toye? He's probably scouringLondon for me--if he isn't watching this window at this minute!"
He went to the curtains as he spoke. Simultaneously Blanche sprang up,to entreat him to fly while he could. That had been her first object incoming to him as she had done, and yet, once with him, she had left itto the last! And now it was too late; he was at the window, chucklingsignificantly to himself; he had opened it, and he was leaning out.
"That you, Toye, down there? Come up and show yourself! I want to seeyou."
He turned in time to dart in front of the folding-doors as Blanchereached them, white and shuddering. The flush of impulsive bravado fledfrom his face at the sight of hers.
"You can't go in there. What's the matter?" he whispered. "Why should_you_ be afraid of Hilton Toye?"
How could she tell him? Before she had found a word, the landing dooropened, and Hilton Toye was in the room, looking at her.
"Keep your voice down," said Cazalet anxiously. "Even if it's all overwith me but the shouting, we needn't start the shouting here!"
He chuckled savagely at his jest; and now Toye stood looking at him.
"I've heard all you've done," continued Cazalet. "I don't blame you abit. If it had been the other way about, I might have given you less runfor your money. I've heard what you've found out about my mysteriousmovements, and you're absolutely right as far as you go. You don't knowwhy I took the train at Naples, and traveled across Europe without ahand-bag. It wasn't quite the put-up job you may think. But, if it makesyou any happier, I may as well tell you that I _was_ at Uplands thatnight, and I _did_ get out through the foundations!"
The insane impetuosity of the man was his master now. He was a livingfire of impulse that had burst into a blaze. His voice was raised inspite of his warning to the others, and the very first sound of Toye'swas to remind him that he was forgetting his own advice. Toye had notlooked a second time at Blanche; nor did he now; but he took in thesilenced Cazalet from head to heel, by inches.
"I always guessed you might be crazy, and I now know it," said HiltonToye. "Still, I judge you're not so crazy as to deny that while you werein that house you struck down Henry Craven, and left him for dead?"
Cazalet stood like a red-hot stone.
"Miss Blanche," said Toye, turning to her rather shyly, "I guess I can'tdo what I said just yet. I haven't breathed a word, not yet, and perhapsI never will, if you'll come away with me now--back to your home--andnever see Henry Craven's murderer again!"
"And who may he be?" cried a voice that brought all three face-about.
The folding-doors had opened, and a fourth figure was standing betweenthe two rooms.