The Illustrious Prince

by E. Phillips Oppenheim

  CHAPTER XXVII. A PRISONER

  Dr. Spencer Whiles was sitting in a very comfortable easy chair, smokinga particularly good cigar, with a pile of newspapers by his side. Hisappearance certainly showed no signs of hardship. His linen, and thedetails of his toilet generally, supplied from some mysterious sourceinto which he had not inquired, were much improved. Notwithstandinghis increased comfort, however, he was looking perplexed, even alittle worried, and the cause of it was there in front of him, in theadvertisement sheets of the various newspapers which had been duly laidupon his table.

  The Prince came in quietly and closed the door behind him.

  "Good afternoon, my friend!" he said. "I understood that you wished tosee me."

  The doctor had made up his mind to adopt a firm attitude. Neverthelessthe genial courtesy of the Prince's tone and manner had the same effectupon him as it had upon most people. He half rose to his feet and becameat once apologetic.

  "I hope that I have not disturbed you, Prince," he said. "I thought thatI should like to have a word or two with you concerning something whichI have come across in these journals."

  He tapped them with his forefinger, and the Prince nodded thoughtfully.

  "Your wonderful Press!" he exclaimed. "How much it is responsible for!Well, Dr. Whiles, what have the newspapers to say to you?"

  The doctor handed across a carefully folded journal and pointed to acertain paragraph.

  "Will you kindly read this?" he begged.

  The Prince accepted the sheet and read the paragraph aloud:

  "FIFTY POUNDS REWARD! Disappeared from his home in Long Whatton onWednesday morning last, Herbert Spencer Whiles, Surgeon. The abovereward will be paid to any one giving information which will lead tothe discovery of his present whereabouts. Was last seen in a motorcar, Limousine body, painted dark green, leaving Long Whatton in thedirection of London."

  The Prince laid down the paper, smiling.

  "Well?" he asked. "That seems clear enough. Some one is willing to givefifty pounds to know where you are."

  The doctor tapped the advertisement with his forefinger impressively.

  "Fifty pounds!" he repeated. "There isn't a person in the world to whomthe knowledge of my movements is worth fifty pounds--except--"

  "Except?" the Prince murmured.

  "Except Mr. Inspector Jacks," Dr. Whiles said slowly.

  The Prince seemed scarcely to grasp the situation.

  "Well," he said, "fifty pounds is not a great deal of money. Someunknown person--possibly, as you suggest, Mr. Jacks--is willing to givefifty pounds to discover your whereabouts. I, on the other hand, amgiving a thousand guineas to keep you here as my guest. The odds do notseem even, do they?"

  "Put in that way," Dr. Whiles admitted, "they certainly do not. Butthere is another thing which has come into my mind."

  The Prince smiled and helped himself to one of the very excellentcigarettes which had been provided for the delectation of his visitor.

  "Pray treat me with every confidence, Dr. Whiles," he said. "Tell meexactly what is in your thoughts."

  "Well, then, I will," the doctor answered. "Sitting here with nothingparticular to do, one has plenty of leisure to think. For the firsttime, I have seriously tried to puzzle out what Mr. Inspector Jacksreally wanted with me, why he came down to ask me about the person whomI treated for injuries resulting from a bicycle accident one Wednesdayevening not long ago, why he took me up to London to see if I couldidentify that person in a very different guise. I have tried to put thepieces together and to ask myself what he meant by it all."

  "With so much time upon your hands, Dr. Whiles," the Prince remarked,"you can scarcely fail to have arrived at some reasonable explanation."

  "I don't know whether it is reasonable or not," the doctor answered,"but the obvious explanation is getting on my nerves. There are twothings which I cannot get away from. One is that I cannot for the lifeof me imagine your riding a bicycle twelve or fifteen miles north ofLondon between eleven o'clock and midnight; and the other--"

  "Come, the other?" the Prince remarked encouragingly.

  "The other," the doctor continued, "is the fact that within half a mileof my house runs the main London and North Western line."

  "The London and North Western Railway line," the Prince repeated, "andwhat has that to do with it?"

  "This much," the doctor answered, "that on that very night, about halfan hour before your--shall we call it bicycle accident?--the specialtrain from Liverpool to London passed along that line. You will rememberthe tragic occurrence which took place before she reached London, themurder of the man Hamilton Fynes. If you read the report of the evidenceat the inquest, you will notice the engine driver's declaration thatthe only time on the whole journey when he travelled at less than fortymiles an hour was when passing over the viaduct and before entering thetunnel which is plainly visible from my house."

  "This is very interesting," the Prince remarked, "but it is not new. Wehave known all this before. Perhaps, though, some fresh thing has comeinto your mind connected with these happenings. If so, please do nothesitate. Let me hear it."

  "It is a fresh thing to me," the doctor said,--"fresh, in a sense,though all the time I have had an uneasy feeling at the back of my head.I know now what it was which brought Inspector Jacks to see me. I knownow what it was he had at the back of his head concerning the man whomet with a bicycle accident at this psychological moment."

  "Inspector Jacks is a very shrewd fellow," the Prince said. "I shouldnot be in the least surprised if you were entirely right."

  The doctor moved restlessly in his chair. His eyes remained on hiscompanion's face, as though fascinated.

  "Can't you understand," he said, "that Inspector Jacks is on your track?Rightly or wrongly, he believes that you had something to do with themurder on the train that night."

  The Prince nodded amiably. He seemed in no way discomposed.

  "I feel convinced," he said, "that you are right. I agree with you.I believe that Inspector Jacks has had that idea for some little timenow."

  The doctor gripped the sides of his chair and stared at this man whodiscussed a matter so terrible with calm and perfect ease.

  "Yes, I have felt that more than once," the Prince continued. "Mypresence upon the spot at that precise moment with injuries which had tobe explained somehow or other, was, without doubt, unfortunate."

  The two men sat for several moments without further speech. The doctor'sfeatures seemed to reflect something of the horror which he undoubtedlyfelt. The Prince appeared only a trifle bored.

  "So that is why," the former exclaimed hoarsely, "I have been appointedyour physician in chief!"

  "I had given you the credit, my dear doctor," the Prince said smoothly,"of having arrived at that decision some time ago. To a man of yourperceptions there can scarcely have been any question about it at all.Besides, even Princes, you know, do not give fees of a thousand guineasfor nothing."

  Dr. Whiles rose slowly to his feet.

  "You know the secret of that murder!" he declared.

  "Why ask me?" the Prince answered. "If I tell you that I do, you mayfind conscientious scruples about remaining here. A man is not bound,you know, to give himself away. Make the best of things, and do not tryto see too far."

  The doctor was looking a little shaken.

  "If you were mixed up in that affair," he said, "and if I remain herewhen my evidence is needed, I become an accomplice."

  "Only if you remain here voluntarily," the Prince reminded himcheerfully. "Remember that and be comforted. No effort that you couldmake now would bring you into touch with Mr. Inspector Jacks until I amquite prepared. So you see, my dear doctor, that you have nothing withwhich to reproach yourself. I will not insult you," he continued, "bysuggesting that a reward of fifty pounds could possibly have influencedyour attitude. If you have suffered your mind to dwell upon it for asingle moment, try and remember the relative unimportance of such anamount when compared with a thousa
nd guineas."

  The doctor moved to the window and back again.

  "Supposing," he said, "I decline to remain here? Supposing I say that,believing you now to have a guilty knowledge of this murder, I repudiateour bargain? Supposing I say that I will have nothing more to do withyour thousand guineas,--that I will leave this house?"

  "Then we come to close quarters," the Prince answered, "and you force meto tell you in plain words that, until I am ready for you to leaveit, you are as much a prisoner in this room as though the keys of thestrongest fortress in Europe were turned upon you. I have told you thisbefore. I thought that we perfectly understood one another."

  "I did not understand," the doctor protested. "I knew that there wastrouble, but I did not know that it was this!"

  "The fact of your knowing or not knowing makes no difference," thePrince answered. "You are no longer a free agent. The only question foryou to decide is whether you remain here willingly or whether you willforce me to remind you of our bargain."

  The doctor was sitting down again now. All the time he watched thePrince with a gleam in his eyes, partly of horror, partly of fear. He nolonger doubted but that he was in the presence of a criminal.

  "I am sorry," the Prince continued, "that you have allowed this littlematter to disturb you. I thought that we had arranged it all at our lastinterview. If you did not surmise my reasons for keeping you here, thenI am afraid I gave you credit for more intelligence than you possess.You will excuse me now, I am sure," he added, rising. "I have someletters to send off before I change. By the bye, do you care to give meyour parole? It might, perhaps, lessen the inconvenience to which youare unfortunately subject."

  The doctor shook his head.

  "No," he said, "I will not give my parole!"

  Late that night, he tried the handle of his door and found it open. Thecorridor outside was in thick darkness. He felt his way along by thewall. Suddenly, from behind, a pair of large soft hands gripped him bythe throat. Slowly he was drawn back--almost strangled.

  "Let me go!" he called out, struggling in vain to find a body upon whichhe could gain a grip.

  The grasp only tightened.

  "Back to your rooms!" came a whisper through the darkness.

  The doctor returned. When he staggered into his sitting room, heturned up the electric light. There were red marks upon his throat andperspiration upon his forehead. He opened the door once more and lookedout upon the landing, striking a match and holding it over his head.There was no one in sight, yet all the time he had the uncomfortablefeeling that he was being watched. For the first time in his life hewondered whether a thousand guineas was, after all, such a magnificentfee!

  Almost at the same time the Prince sat back in the shadows of theDuchess of Devenham's box at the Opera and talked quietly to Lady Grace.

  "But tell me, Prince," she begged, "I know that you are glad to go home,but won't you really miss this a little,--the music, the life, all thesethings that make up existence here? Your own country is wonderful, Iknow, but it has not progressed so far, has it?"

  He shook his head.

  "I think," he said, "that the portion of our education which we havemost grievously neglected is the development of our recreations. Butthen you must remember that we are to a certain extent without thatcraving for amusement which makes these things necessary for you others.We are perhaps too serious in my country, Lady Grace. We lack altogetherthat delightful air of irresponsibility with which you Londoners seem tomake your effortless way through life."

  She was a little perplexed.

  "I don't believe," she said, "that in your heart you approve of us atall."

  "Do not say that, Lady Grace," he begged. "It is simply that I havebeen brought up in so different a school. This sort of thing is verywonderful, and I shall surely miss it. Yet nowadays the world is beinglinked together in marvellous fashion. Tokio and London are closer todaythan ever they have been in the world's history."

  "And our people?" she asked. "Do you really think that our people are sofar apart? Between you and me, for instance," she added, meaning toask the question naturally enough, but suddenly losing confidence andlooking away from him,--"between you and me there seems no radicaldifference of race. You might almost be an Englishman--not one of thesemen of fashion, of course, but a statesman or a man of letters, some onewho had taken hold of the serious side of life."

  "You pay me a very delightful compliment," he murmured.

  "Please repay me, then, by being candid," she answered. "Consider fora moment that I am a typical English girl, and tell me whether I am sovery different from the Japanese women of your own class?"

  He hesitated for a moment. The question was not without itsembarrassments.

  "Men," he said, "are very much the same, all the world over. They arelike the coarse grass which grows everywhere. But the flowers, you know,are different in every country."

  Lady Grace sighed. Perhaps she had been a trifle too daring! She waswilling enough, at any rate, to let the subject drift away.

  "Soon the curtain will go up," she said, "and we can talk no longer.I should like to tell you, though, how glad I am--how glad we allare--that you can come to us next week."

  "I can assure you that I am looking forward to it," he answered a littlegravely. "It is my farewell to all of you, you know, and it seems to methat those who will be your father's guests are just those with whom Ihave been on the most intimate terms since I came to England."

  She nodded.

  "Penelope is coming," she said quickly,--"you know that?--Penelope andSir Charles Somerfield."

  "Yes," he answered, "I heard so."

  The curtain went up. The faint murmur of the violins was suddenly caughtup and absorbed in the thunderous music of a march. Lady Grace movednearer to the front. Prince Maiyo remained where he was among theshadows. The music was in his ears, but his eyes were half closed.