Half A Chance

by Frederic Stewart Isham

  CHAPTER XI

  WAYS AND MEANS

  The afternoon of that same day there arrived at the village of Strathornfrom London a discreet-looking little man who, descending at the GoldenLion, was shown to a private sitting-room on the second story. Callingfor a half-pint from the best tap and casually surveying the room, hesettled himself in a chair with an air of nonchalance, which a certaineagerness in his eyes seemed to belie.

  "Any mail or message for me, landlord?" he inquired, giving his name,when that worthy reappeared with the tankard.

  "No, sir."

  "Nor any callers?"

  "None that I've heard of--" A sound of wheels at that momentinterrupted; the landlord went to the window. "Why, it's his lordship,"he remarked. "And such weather to be out in!" as a sudden gust of rainbeat against the pane. "Lord Ronsdale who is staying at StrathornHouse," he explained for the stranger's benefit. "And he's coming in!"

  The host hurried to the door but already a footstep was heard on thestairway and the voice of the nobleman inquiring for the new-comer'sroom.

  "Right up this way! The gentleman is in here, your Lordship," calleddown the landlord. Lord Ronsdale mounted leisurely and entered the room.

  "I didn't expect to have the honor of a call from your lordship," saidthe guest of the Golden Lion, bowing low. "If your lordship hadindicated to me his pleasure--"

  The nobleman whipped a greatcoat from his shoulders and tossed it to thelandlord. "Was coming to the village on another little matter, andthought I might as well drop in and see you," he observed to the guest,"instead of waiting for you to come to Strathorn House. You have thestock-lists and market prices with you?" he queried meaningly. The otheranswered in the affirmative. "Very good, we will consider the matter,and--you may go, landlord."

  But when the innkeeper had taken his departure no further word was saidby the nobleman of securities or values; Lord Ronsdale gazed keenly athis companion. Without, the wind swept drearily down the little windingstreet, and sighed about the broad overhanging eaves.

  "Well," he spoke quickly, "I fancy you have a little something to tellme, Mr. Gillett?"

  "'A little something?'" The latter rubbed his hands. "More than alittle! Your lordship little dreamed, when--"

  "Spare me your observations," broke in the nobleman. "Come at once tothe business on hand." His voice, though low, had a strident pitch;behind it might be fancied strained nerves.

  "As your lordship knows, good fortune or chance favored me at the start;that is, along one line, the line of general investigation. The specialinquiry which your lordship mentioned, just as he was leaving my office,proved for a time most illusive."

  "You mean the object of John Steele's visit to the continent?"

  "Exactly. And the object of that visit solved, I have now a matter ofgreatest importance to communicate, so important it could only beimparted by word of mouth!" The police agent spoke hastily and movednearer.

  "Indeed?" Lord Ronsdale's thin, cold lips raised slightly, but not tosuggest a smile; his eyes met the police agent's. "You have reached aconclusion? One that you sought to reject, perhaps, but that wouldn't bediscarded?"

  Mr. Gillett looked at him earnestly. "You don't mean--it isn't possiblethat you knew all the while--?"

  The white, aristocratic hand of Lord Ronsdale waved. "Let us start atthe beginning."

  "True, your Lordship," Mr. Gillett swallowed. "As your lordship isaware, we were fortunate enough in the beginning to find out through ouragent in Tasmania that John Steele came to that place in a littletrading schooner, the _Laura Deane_, of Portsmouth; that he had beenrescued from a tiny uncharted reef, or isle, on December twenty-first,some three years before. The spot, by longitude and latitude, marks,through an odd coincidence, the place where the _Lord Nelson_ met herfate."

  "A coincidence truly," murmured the nobleman. "But at this stage in yourreasoning you recalled that all on board were embarked in the ships'boats and reached civilization, except possibly--"

  "A few of my charges between decks? True; I remembered that. A bad lotof ugly brutes!" Mr. Gillett paused; Lord Ronsdale raised his head. "Thestory of John Steele's rescue," went on Mr. Gillett, "as told byhimself," significantly, "was well known in Tasmania and not hard tolearn. A man of splendid intellect, a lawyer by profession, he had beenpassenger on a merchant vessel, the _Mary Vernon_, of Baltimore, UnitedStates. This vessel, like the _Lord Nelson_, had come to grief; afterbeing tossed about, a helpless, water-logged wreck, it had finally beenabandoned. All of those in John Steele's boat had perished except him;some had gone mad through thirst and suffering; others had killed theirfellows in a frenzy. Being of superb physique, having been through muchphysical training--" the listener stirred in his chair--"he managed tosurvive, to reach the little isle, where, according to his story, heremained almost a year."

  "A year? Then he set foot in Tasmania about four years after the _LordNelson_ went down," observed the nobleman, a curious glitter in hiseyes. "Four years after," he repeated, accenting the last word.

  "Such were the details gathered in Tasmania," answered the police agent.

  "Go on," said Lord Ronsdale. "You subsequently learned with moredefiniteness the actual circumstances of his rescue?"

  "From the mate of the _Laura Deane_, the schooner that rescued him fromthe isle, and one of her crew whom I managed to locate at Plymouth, as Ihave informed your lordship by letter," answered Mr. Gillett. "These mennow furnish lodgings to seamen, and incidentally shanghai a few of themfor dubious craft! Both of them, the mate and the sailor, recalled theman of fine bearing and education whom they found on the little isle, asort of Greek statue, half-clothed in rags, so to speak, who made hispersonality felt at once on these simple, ignorant fellows!" Mr. Gillettpaused to look at Lord Ronsdale, seemed waiting for the latter to saysomething, but the nobleman only leaned forward and pushed at the coalswith a poker.

  "Which brings to my mind the one point," with emphasis, "that I haven'tbeen able so far to reconcile or to explain. Your lordship, who seems tohave divined a great deal, can, perhaps. A man of fine education andbearing, as I said, yet the other had been--"

  "It is your business, not mine, to explain," interrupted the listener."Tell all you know."

  "At the spring on the little island the seamen filled their water-butts;this kept them several days, mixing labor with skylarking, during whichtime one of them picked up something, a pouch marked with a name."

  "Which was--?"

  Mr. Gillett leaned forward, spoke softly; Lord Ronsdale stared straightahead. "Of course," he said, "of course!"

  "This, I will confess, startled, puzzled me," continued the police agentafter a pause. "What did it mean? I tried to explain it in a dozendifferent ways but none of them seemed exactly to fit. Then it was thatthe line of special investigation helped. John Steele's outing to whichyou directed my attention was passed on the continent. What did he dothere; was it business; was it pleasure took him there? After a gooddeal of pains, we discovered that he visited a certain large building,centrally located. This proved a starting-point; why did he go there? Atthe top was a studio; from the concierge we learned that he had askedfor the artist. From the artist we ascertained that John Steele hadbought a picture; that he had called several times to watch the painterat his work. So far, so good, or bad! For was it likely John Steele hadcome to Paris to buy a bit of canvas, or was his interest in art assumedto cover his real purpose? When he left the studio, did he, without theknowledge of the concierge, call on some one else in the building?

  "This thought led to an inspection of the tenants. They proved of allsorts and kinds; the place was a beehive; hundreds of people entered andleft every day. At this time I happened on an item in a periodical aboutsome remarkable work in a certain line by a high-class medicalspecialist. Here is the paragraph."

  Lord Ronsdale took the slip of paper the other handed him and brieflylooked at it. "You visited this person?"

  "Yes, as his office address was mentioned as being
in the large buildingwe were interested in. But at the moment I had no suspicion that JohnSteele's pilgrimage to Paris could have been for the purpose ofconsulting,--"

  "An eminent specialist in the line of removing birth-marks," glancing atthe slip of paper, "or other disfigurements--"

  "Such as I described to your lordship from the book that day in theoffice," murmured the police agent.

  For some moments both were again silent; only the sounds of the wind andthe rain, mingled with monotonous creakings, broke the stillness.

  "You say this shipwrecked man was like a Greek statue, half clothed inrags. Perhaps then," slowly, "since he was only half-clothed therescuers might have noticed--"

  "I sought them at once," with sudden eagerness, "to verify what yourlordship suggests, and I have their full corroboration; what theevidence of their eyes told them, that the rescued man bore on his armthe exact markings described in my book."

  "A coincidence not easily accounted for." The speaker's tones had arasping sound. "And now--"

  "One question, my Lord. He is discerning--knows that you--"

  "Knows? Yes; he found that out one day in Hyde Park, never mind how;about the same time I, too, learned something."

  "And yet he deliberately comes down here, dares to leave London where atleast his chances are better for--but why? It is unreasonable; I don'tunderstand."

  "Why?" Lord Ronsdale's smile was not agreeable. "When does a man becomeillogical, stray from the path good reasoning should keep him in? Whendoes he accept chances, however desperate?"

  "When?" The police agent's tones expressed vague wonder. "Why,when--there is a woman in the case!" suddenly.

  "A woman, or a girl."

  "Your lordship means--"

  "One who is beautiful enough to enmesh any man's fancy," he spoke as tohimself, "whose golden hair is a web to draw lovers like the fleece ofold; whose eyes like the sunny heavens tempt them to bask in theirlight."

  The words were mocking yet seemed to force themselves from his lips."When you add that she has high position; is as opulent in the world'sgoods as she is rich in personal--" abruptly he paused. "But this isirrelevant," he added almost angrily. "Is there anything else you haveto tell me?"

  "Only one thing, and it may have no bearing on the case; some one whohas not been seen in these parts in years, the red-headed son of thelandlady where the Gerard murder occurred has been back in London,and--Steele's been looking for him. For what purpose, I don't know." Thenobleman moved quickly. "But he hasn't found him--yet; apparently thefellow took alarm, knowing the police agent might want him, and vanishedagain."

  Lord Ronsdale moistened his lips; then got up, walked back and forth. Abrisker gust, without, and the tin symbol of the Golden Lion over theentrance to the inn swung with a harsh rattle almost around the bar thatheld it. The nobleman stopped short; from the dim corner where he stoodhis eyes gleamed with animal brightness.

  "And now?" suggested Mr. Gillett. "Your lordship of course knows whatthis means, if your lordship uses the weapons you have in your hands?The penalty for one transported returning to England is--"

  "I know," interrupted the other. "He has, however, dared to come back,to incur that risk. Any plea he could hope to make," Lord Ronsdale spokewith studied deliberation, "to justify the act, he couldnot--substantiate." The speaker lingered on the word then went on morecrisply. "He stands in the position of a person who has broken one ofthe most exacting laws of the realm and one which has on all occasionsbeen rigorously enforced. He has presumed to trespass in the highestcircles, to mingle with people of rank, our gentry, our ladies--"

  "Then your lordship will--"

  "I have made my plans. And--I intend to act."

  "Where?"

  "Here."

  "But would it not be better to wait until he returns to London, myLord?"

  "And give him more time to--" he broke off. "We act here, at once!"

  Lord Ronsdale again seated himself; his face had regained its hard mask;he motioned the other man to draw his chair closer. "I'll tell you howto proceed."

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