*CHAPTER XV*
*THE REAL THING*
They found a carriage to themselves which they entered as the train wasstarting, secure in the knowledge that they would be uninterrupted tillVictoria Station was reached.
"Now tell me your story," Russell suggested.
"I think I am going to tell you more than you expect," Wilfrid smiled."But I will begin at the beginning, from the moment that I enteredFlower's house. I was sent for in a hurry, because the great man hadcut his hand and he was frightened to death, as people of his classalways are. I suppose you know that he has a niece, Miss Galloway,living with him?"
"Yes, I know that," Russell said with a grin. "On the whole, I shouldsay you are a lucky individual. But go on. Don't mind my chaff."
"Well, there was nothing much the matter with his hand, as you mayimagine. I'll come to the registered letter episode presently, but Iwant to tell you first how it was that Flower's accident came about.Miss Galloway was sitting in the conservatory and she distinctly saw aman place his arm through a broken pane of glass and try to unlatch thedoor. She called to her uncle, who gave chase, but the man had vanishedleaving no trace behind him. It was in hurrying after him that Flowerfell and cut himself. He was sitting waiting in the conservatory forme, when Miss Galloway introduced me and told me about the incident thathad startled her so much. She went on to say that the man was fishingfor the latch with a loop of string, whereupon Flower broke in in hiselegant way and declared that the whole thing was a pack of nonsense.By way of proving her theory Miss Galloway picked up the piece of stringwhich had fallen from the man's hand inside the doorway and handed it toher uncle. I suppose you can give a pretty good guess what sort ofstring it was."
Russell smote his hand vigorously on the cushions.
"You don't mean to say it was _the_ string?" he shouted. "The stringwith five knots? That would be too good to be true."
"It is true all the same," Wilfrid went on. "And if you have beenhanging about Castlebridge for the last three or four days you havewasted your opportunities, for during that time an attempt has been madeupon Flower's life, and if I hadn't been at hand he would have been adead man now. And what is more, up till last night the two mysteriousindividuals I told you of, were members of Gordon's company."
"Stop! stop!" Russell cried. "You are going too fast. If you wanted tosurprise me you have more than succeeded."
The train was drawing up to the platform at Victoria before Wilfrid hadfinished his recital. Russell's cheery manner had vanished. His facewas grave and thoughtful. They waited in the carriage till everybodyelse had left the train, then Russell dodged across the platform andhailed the nearest cab.
"I am going as far as my rooms in Bloomsbury," he said. "Then I willget you to don a suit of dress clothes which ought to fit you fairlywell, as we are rather alike in build; with your overcoat on top nobodywill notice anything peculiar. And then we shall go out for an hour ortwo."
"Isn't it rather late for an entertainment?" Wilfrid asked.
"For an ordinary show, yes," Russell proceeded to explain. "But this isa function quite out of the common. It is a supper and fancy dressdance given by the proprietors to celebrate the opening of the NewDominion Theatre. Everybody will be there; in fact, there will be acouple of thousand people at one time or another on the stage, and thehouse will be filled with privileged spectators, of whom you and I willbe two. You will be interested to know that Samuel Flower and MissGalloway are among the invited guests. But all that is by the way. Idon't mind admitting that I am very much disturbed by the informationyou have given me. I knew Flower had made bitter enemies abroad. Iknew vengeance would overtake him sooner or later, but I hoped that histime would not be yet. You see, I am candid. I don't care whether helives or dies, so long as he remains on this planet long enough for meto get my money out of him. So we have every reason to protect Flowerfor the present. I am very glad I met you. I am very glad after allthat you settled in Oldborough. There must be a sort of Providence inthese things, Mercer."
Wilfrid smiled grimly. It was rarely that Russell spoke like this.They drove on in silence till his quarters were reached, and, afterpartaking of a hurried meal, Wilfrid struggled into a dress suit ofMercer's which might have passed for his own. There was nothing to waitfor, and as the night was fine and it was not a far cry to Kingsway, thetwo set out on foot. They soon reached the theatre where a tremendouscrowd had already gathered. A long stream of carriages was filingslowly up to the portico and an equally long stream of well-dressedpeople was pushing into the vestibule. It was a slow process. Wilfridallowed himself to be carried along with the tide until the grandstaircase was reached. It was up this staircase that the guestsproceeded, a temporary entrance being made for the spectators who wereto fill the body of the house. Wilfrid turned to speak to hiscompanion, when he noticed that Russell appeared to be deeply engrossedin one of the pictures on the wall. At the same moment, Wilfrid, to hisdelight, saw that Beatrice Galloway was standing just behind him. Infront of her, pushing on in his dogged fashion, was Samuel Flower.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," Wilfrid whispered.
The girl's face flushed with delight; then as the colour died out ofBeatrice's cheeks Wilfrid noticed that she seemed grave and troubled.There were lines under her eyes, too, which he had never remarkedbefore.
"Are you not well?" he asked.
"Oh, I am well enough," Beatrice said with a touch of despondency in hervoice, "but I am a good deal worried. Do you know it is strange thatwith all our wealth and all our entertaining we seem to have no realfriends."
"I am sure you have one," Wilfrid said reproachfully.
"I had forgotten that one for the moment," Beatrice said with a quickflash of gratitude in her eyes. "I don't know whether I ought toconfide in you or not, but I must tell somebody. Can you contrive to seeme before you leave to-night? I understand that the spectators will notremain after supper. You can manage to be here at midnight? I couldrun downstairs under pretence that I wished to see a friend in thetheatre. I can't think of any better way."
"I will stay here all night if necessary," Wilfrid said resolutely."Let us say just here at midnight."
The pressure of those behind drove them apart so that Beatrice was lostto view round the bend in the staircase. Wilfrid had passed in to thetheatre itself, but Russell lingered.
"Ours are about the only two seats left," he explained, "and they are inone of the front rows in the stalls. I have my own reasons for stayinghere till most of the guests have arrived. A man I know promised me, ifhe could, to get us on to the stage after dancing began. At any rate,it is worth waiting on the off-chance of seeing him. So that was MissGalloway you were talking to, eh? Why wasn't she in fancy dress? I canunderstand Flower coming in ordinary evening attire; I can't imagine hisbeing so frivolous as to get himself up as a courtier or anything ofthat kind."
Wilfrid made no reply for the simple reason that he was not listening.He was too concerned about Beatrice to think of anything else. He wasshocked to see what a change so short a time had brought about in thegirl's appearance. He wondered what she could have to worry her.Therefore it was, that the stream of people in all sorts of grotesqueand fancy dresses passed him as if he were in a dream. They cameflowing along, laughing and chattering, all the favourites that havedone duty over and over again ever since fancy dresses were firstinvented. Some were beautiful, some frankly ugly, and hardly onerealistic. Russell kept up a constant stream of criticisms, to most ofwhich Wilfrid replied more or less vaguely.
"You can't say that about that little man yonder," he said presently."It is funny that he should be made up like an inhabitant of Borneo whenour heads are full of the Malay Peninsula. Whoever dressed him was anartist and understood what he was doing. That is the man I mean, goingup the stairs with the tall lady in yellow."
Russell looked in the direction pointed out by M
ercer. He grabbed anopera-glass which some one had left on the table by his side. He turnedeagerly to Wilfred.
"Made up be hanged," he whispered excitedly. "That man isn't made up atall. He is the real thing, my friend. It seems to me that the plot isthickening."
The Five Knots Page 15