The Crimson Blind

by Fred M. White

  CHAPTER XIV

  BEHIND THE BLIND

  There was a long pause till the sound of the horse's hoofs died away.Bell was waiting for his companion to speak. Her head was partly turnedfrom him, so that he could only watch the dainty beauty of her profile.She stood there cold and still, but he could see that she wasprofoundly agitated.

  "I never thought to see the day when I should trust you again," she said;"I never expected to trust any man again."

  "You will trust me, darling," Bell said, passionately. "If you still carefor me as I care for you. _Do_ you?"

  The question came keen as steel. Enid shivered and hesitated. Bell laid alight hand on her arm.

  "Speak," he said. "I am going to clear myself, I am going to take backmy good name. But if you no longer care for me the rest mattersnothing. Speak."

  "I am not one of those who change, God pity me," Enid murmured.

  Bell drew a long, deep breath. He wanted no assurance beyond that.

  "Then lead the way," he said. "I have come at the right time; I have beenlooking for you everywhere, and I find you in the hour of your deepestsorrow. When I knew your aunt last she was a cheerful, happy woman. Fromwhat I hear now she is suffering, you are all suffering, under someblighting grief."

  "Oh, if you only knew what that sorrow was, Hatherly."

  "Hatherly! How good the old name sounds from your lips. Nobody has evercalled me that since--since we parted. And to think that I should havebeen searching for you all these years, when Miss Ruth Gates could havegiven me the clue at any time. And why have you been playing such strangetricks upon my friend David Steel? Why have you---What is that?"

  Somebody was moving somewhere in the grounds, and a voice shouted forhelp. Enid started forward.

  "It is Williams coming from the stables," she said. "I have so arrangedit that the dogs are holding up my dear cousin, Reginald Henson, who iscalling upon Williams to release him. If Reginald gets back to the housenow we are ruined. Follow me as well as you can."

  Enid disappeared down a narrow, tangled path, leaving Bell to limp alongpainfully in her track. A little way off Henson was yelling lustily forassistance. Williams, who had evidently taken in the situation, wascoming up leisurely, chuckling at the discomfiture of the enemy. Thehounds were whining and baying. From the house came the notes of a lovesong passionately declaimed. A couple of the great dogs came snarling upto Bell and laid their grimy muzzles on his thighs. A cold sensationcrept up and down his spine as he came to a standstill.

  "The brutes!" he muttered. "Margaret Henson must be mad indeed to havethese creatures about the place. Ah! would you? Very well, I'll play thegame fairly, and not move. If I call out I shall spoil the game. If Iremain quiet I shall have a pleasant night of it. Let us hope for thebest and that Enid will understand the situation."

  Meanwhile Enid had come up with Williams. She laid her hand imperiouslyupon his lips.

  "Not a word," she whispered. "Mr. Henson is held up by the dogs. He mustremain where he is till I give you the signal to release him. I know youanswered his call, but you are to go no farther."

  Williams assented willingly enough. Everything that tended to thediscomfort of Reginald Henson filled him with a peculiar anddeep-seated pleasure.

  "Very well, miss," he said, demurely. "And don't you hurry, miss. This isa kind of job that calls for plenty of patience. And I'm really shockingdeaf tonight."

  Williams retreated leisurely in the direction of the stables, but hismalady was not so distressing that he failed to hear a groan and asnarling curse from Henson. Enid fled back along the track, where shefound Bell standing patiently with a dog's muzzle close to either knee.His face was white and shining, otherwise he showed no signs of fear.Enid laid a hand on the head of either dog, and they rolled like greatcats at her feet in the bushes.

  "Now come swiftly," she whispered. "There is no time to be lost."

  They were in the house at last, crossing the dusty floor, with the motesdancing in the lamp-light, deadening their footsteps and muffling theintense silence. Above the stillness rose the song from the drawing-room;from without came the restless murmur of the dogs. Enid entered thedrawing-room, and Bell limped in behind her. The music immediatelyceased. As Enid glanced at her aunt she saw that the far-away look haddied from her eyes, that the sparkle and brightness of reason were there.She had come out of the mist and the shadows for a time at any rate.

  "Dr. Hatherly Bell to see you, aunt," Enid said, in a low tone.

  Margaret Henson shot up from the piano like a statue. There was nowelcome on her face, no surprise there, nothing but deep, unutterablecontempt and loathing.

  "I have been asleep," she said. She passed her hand dreamily over herface. "I have been in a dream for seven long years. Enid brought me backto the music again to-night, and it touched my heart, and now I am awakeagain. Do you recollect the 'Slumber Song,' Hatherly Bell? The last timeI sang it you were present. It was a happy night; the very last happynight in the world to me."

  "I recollect it perfectly well, Lady Littimer," Bell said.

  "Lady Littimer! How strange it is to hear that name again. Seven yearssince then. Here I am called Margaret Henson, and nobody knows. Andnow _you_ have found out. Do you come here to blackmail and rob melike the rest?"

  "I come here entirely on your behalf and my own, my lady."

  "That is what they all say--and then they rob me. You stole theRembrandt."

  The last words came like a shot from a catapult. Enid's face grew colder.Bell drew a long tube of discoloured paper carefully tied round a stickfrom his pocket.

  "I am going to disprove that once and for all," he said. "The Rembrandtis at present in Lord Littimer's collection. There is an account of it into-day's _Telegraph_. It is perfectly familiar to both of you. And, thatbeing the case, what do you think of this?"

  He unrolled the paper before Enid's astonished eyes. Margaret Hensonglanced at it listlessly; she was fast sinking into the old, strangeoblivion again. But Enid was all rapt attention.

  "I would have sworn to that as Lord Littimer's own," she gasped.

  "It is his own," Bell replied. "Stolen from him and a copy placed by somearch-enemy in my portmanteau, it was certain to be found on the frontier.Don't you see that there were two Rembrandts? When the one from myportmanteau was restored to Littimer his own was kept by the thief.Subsequently it would be exposed as a new find, with some story as to itsdiscovery, only, unfortunately for the scoundrel, it came into mypossession."

  "And where did you find it?" Enid asked. "I found it," Bell said, slowly,"in a house called 218, Brunswick Square, Brighton."

  A strange cry came from Enid's lips. She stood swaying before her lover,white as the paper upon which her eyes were eagerly fixed. MargaretHenson was pacing up and down the room, her lips muttering, and raising acloud of pallid dust behind her.

  "I--I am sorry," Enid said, falteringly. "And all these years I havedeemed you guilty. But then the proof was so plain; I could not deny theevidence of my own senses. And Von Gulden came to me saying how deeplydistressed he was, and that he would have prevented the catastrophe if hecould. Well?"

  A servant stood waiting in the doorway with wondering eyes at the sightof a stranger.

  "I'm sorry, miss," she said, "but Miss Christiana is worse; indeed, shequite frightens me. I've taken the liberty of telephoning to Dr. Walker."

  The words seemed to bring consciousness to Margaret Henson.

  "Christiana worse," she said. "Another of them going; it will be a happyrelease from a house of sorrow like this. I will come up, Martin."

  She swept out of the room after the servant. Enid appeared hardly to haveheard. Bell looked at her inquiringly and with some little displeasure.

  "I fancy I have heard you speak of your sister Christiana," he said."Is she ill?"

  "She is at the point of death, I understand; you think that I am callous.Oh, if you only knew! But the light will come to us all in time, Godwilling. Look at this place, look at
the blight of it, and wonder how weendure it. Hatherly, I have made a discovery."

  "We seem to be living in an atmosphere of discoveries. What is it?"

  "I will answer your question by asking another. You have been made thevictim of a vile conspiracy. For seven years your career has beenblighted. And I have lost seven years of my life, too. Have you any ideawho your enemy is?"

  "Not the faintest, but, believe me, I shall find out in time. Andthen---"

  A purple blackness like the lurid light of a storm flashed into his eyes,the lines of his mouth grew rigid. Enid laid a hand tenderly on his arm.

  "Your enemy is the common enemy of us all," she said. "We have wasted theyears, but we are young yet. Your enemy is Reginald Henson."

  "Enid, you speak with conviction. Are you sure of this?"

  "Certain. When I have time I will tell you everything. But not now. Andthat man must never know that you have been near the house to-night, notso much for your sake as for the sake of your friend David Steel. Now Ican see the Providence behind it all. Hatherly, tell me that you forgiveme before the others come back."

  "My darling, I cannot see how you could have acted otherwise."

  Enid turned towards him with a great glad light in her eyes. She saidnothing, for the simple reason that there was nothing to say. HatherlyBell caught her in his strong arms, and she swayed to reach his lips. Inthat delicious moment the world was all forgot.

  But not for long. There was a sudden rush and a tumble of feet on thestairs, there was a strange voice speaking hurriedly, then thedrawing-room door opened and Margaret Henson came in. She was lookingwild and excited and talked incoherently. An obviously professional manfollowed her.

  "My dear madam," he was saying, "I have done all I can. In the last fewdays I have not been able to disguise from myself that there was smallhope for the patient. The exhaustion, the shock to the system, thecongestion, all point to an early collapse."

  "Is my sister so much worse, Dr. Walker?" Enid asked, quietly.

  "She could not be any worse and be alive," the doctor said. "Unless I amgreatly mistaken the gentleman behind you is Mr. Hatherly Bell. I presumehe has been called in to meet me? If so, I am sincerely glad, because Ishall be pleased to have a second opinion. A bad case of"--here followeda long technical name--"one of the worst cases I have ever seen."

  "You can command me, Enid," Bell said. "If I can."

  "No, no," Enid cried. "What am I saying? Please to go upstairswith Martin."

  Bell departed, wonderingly. Enid flew to the door and out into the night.She could hear Henson cursing and shouting, could hear the snarlingclamour of the dogs. At the foot of the drive she paused and called Steelsoftly by name. To her intense relief he came from the shadow.

  "I am here," he cried. "Do you want me?"

  "Yes, yes," Enid panted. "Never more were your services needed. My sisteris dying; my sister must--die. And Hatherly Bell is with her, and--youunderstand?"

  "Yes," said David. A vivid flash of understanding had come to him. "Bellshall do as I tell him. Come along."

  "Hold him up, dear doggies," Enid murmured. "Hold him up and I'll loveboth of you for ever."