CHAPTER XXXII
For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her toa chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,calling to its dilatory passenger.
"I can not, of course, explain everything to you," he began, in a toneof unusual restraint, "but I do know that for the last two years yourhusband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the minefields around your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland wasa sham. He was most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. Hisfishing excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so.All the places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, havebeen mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, underhis instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh--donot shrink from me if you can help it--was to obtain a copy of his mineprotection scheme of a certain town on the east coast."
"Why should I shrink from you?" she murmured. "This is all toowonderful! What a little beast Henry must think me!" she added, withtruly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
"You and Miss Fairclough," Lessingham went on, "have rather scoffed atmy presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you bothvery ridiculous. Now you understand."
"It makes no difference," Philippa protested tearfully. "You always toldus the truth."
"And I shall continue to do so," Lessingham assured her. "I am not aclever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favouredme the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing fromhim, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which Iwas sent over to procure."
"Of course you had to do it if you could," Philippa sobbed. "I think itwas very clever of you."
He smiled.
"There are others who might look at the matter differently," he said. "Iam going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I musthave your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the timethat your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, wasreally doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listenedto me for one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to loveyou?"
She clutched his hands.
"You are the dearest man in the world," she exclaimed, her lips stillquivering, "but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in lovewith Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I likedyou so much that it was mean of me ever to think of--of what so nearlyhappened."
"So nearly happened!" he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterestself-pity.
Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time alittle more impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with anunreasoning terror.
"You must go!" she implored. "You must go this minute! If they were totake you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths--he has sworn thatif he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!"
"Griffiths has gone to London," he reminded her.
"Yes, but he may be back by this train," she cried, glancing at theclock, "and I have a strange sort of fancy--I have had it all day--thatHenry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,please, for my sake, hurry away!" she begged, the tears streaming fromher eyes. "If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. Itis because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all thistime has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!"
She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost aparoxysm. She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to thedoor. And then she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes becamedistended. Her lips were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
"It is too late!" she faltered hysterically. "I can hear Henry's voice!Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through thepostern gate."
"Your husband will have seen the car," he protested. "And besides, thereis your dressing-bag and your travelling coat."
"I shall tell him everything," she declared wildly. "Nothing mattersexcept that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to JimmyDumble--for God's sake--"
The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closedagain immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding likethe click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them bothaffably.
"Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Notgone yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?"
Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
"Perhaps," he admitted, "a trifle too fine."
Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself intohis arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,were pleading with him.
"Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew--I never dreamed whatyou were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you--you willbe generous."
"That's all right, dear," he promised, stooping down to kiss her."Partly my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down atWhitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. Yousee," he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, "they were always afraidthat my steps might be dogged by spies, if my position were generallyknown."
Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to herhusband. She refused to let him go.
"Henry," she begged, "oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, somuch of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat--toimplore one great favour from you."
Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
"Is it one I can grant?" he asked gravely.
"If you want me ever to be happy again, you will," she sobbed. "ForHelen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape."
Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who hasreached the limits of his endurance.
"You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know," he said, "but I desire nointervention."
Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouthhad not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed moreapparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring ofauthority in his tone.
"Come," he said, "let us understand one another, Philippa, and you hadbetter listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chancesof escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes ofyour time. Philippa," he went on, turning back to her, "you have alwaysposed as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems tome that you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that hewas in the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here,access to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return forcertain favours shown towards your brother."
Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helenhad striven so eagerly to avoid.
"But, Henry," she protested, "his stay here seemed so harmless. Youyourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There isnothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the wholeworld might not know."
"That was never my plea," Lessingham intervened.
"Nor is it the truth," Sir Henry added sternly.
"The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gainaccess by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plansand charts prepared by me."
Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
"He told me this," she faltered. "He told me not half an hour ago."
There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did notturn the key.
"Who is that?" he asked.
"Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir," Mills announced. "Hehas seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in."