CHAPTER IX
IN WHICH THE CONSUL AND MRS. SCARSDALE EMULATE THE KING OF FRANCE ANDTWENTY THOUSAND OF HIS COMPATRIOTS
Another day was dawning, a day that was destined to be most arduous,eventful, and important in the lives of all those with whom thisnarrative has to deal. Yet, at this hour in the morning, Carrington,sitting shivering on his bedside; Lady Melton, listening in her chamberfor the departing footsteps of the faithful Bright; Aunt Eliza, drinkingan early cup of coffee in preparation for a long day's work; the Consuland Mrs. Scarsdale, journeying to Southampton; Slippery Dick, pouncingon the sometime owner of elephants at a way-side alehouse; Scarsdale,pacing his prison cell; Mrs. Allingford, waiting, 'twixt hope and fear,for news of her husband; and the elephant, shrieking in hisbox-stall--these, one and all, entered regretfully upon this dayfraught with so many complications.
Carrington had decided, as he wended his way home to the hotel after hissomewhat startling encounter with the Consul's unregenerate brother,that he was in no wise bound to report the matter to the authorities.His mission was to extricate Mr. Scarsdale from unjust imprisonment, notto incriminate any one else; and he foresaw that any attempt on his partto interfere, as an avenger of justice, might entail subsequentattendance at the local police court whenever the true culprit fell intothe hands of the law.
When Jack had thus determined on his course of action, he resignedhimself peacefully to slumber, of which he stood much in need; but nosooner, apparently, had his head touched the pillow than he was awakenedby a knocking at his chamber door. In reply to his sleepy inquiries, hewas informed that Mrs. Allingford was up and in the ladies'drawing-room, and would much appreciate it if she could see him as soonas possible.
Carrington replied that he would be happy to wait on her in a fewminutes, as soon as he was dressed, in fact, and cursed himself heartilyfor having been fool enough to be any one's best man. Half-past six! Itwas inhuman to call him up at such a time. He had not had three hours'sleep. He wished himself at Melton Court more than ever. There, atleast, they rose at decent hours.
As he entered the hotel drawing-room, a few minutes later, in a somewhatcalmer frame of mind, due to a bath and a cup of coffee, Mrs. Allingfordrose to meet him, took both his hands in hers, and, holding themtightly, stood for a moment with her upturned eyes looking fixedly intohis. He would never have known her for the happy bride of two short daysago; she seemed more like a widow, years older, and with all the joy ofher youth crushed out by trouble.
"Words cannot express what your coming means to me. It is the kindestthing you've ever done," she said simply; but her tone and manner toldhim of her gratitude and relief.
"It is very little to do," he replied, feeling, all at once, that he hadbeen a brute not to have seen her the night before.
"My husband! Oh, tell me about my husband!" she exclaimed, dropping allrestraint.
"What a child she was, in spite of her wedding-ring!" he thought; but hefelt very sorry for her, and answered gently:
"I blame myself for not telling you sooner. He is safe and well.'
"Thank God!" she murmured.
"And at present at Melton Court, the country place of Lady Melton, Mr.Scarsdale's great-aunt." And then he told her such of her husband'sadventures as he knew.
"When is the first train to Salisbury?" she cried, interrupting therecital.
"I dare say there is an early morning train," he returned; "but I shouldsuggest your waiting for the one at nine-thirty, as then Mr. Scarsdalecan accompany you."
"But he is in prison."
"Yes, I know; but he won't be very long."
"You are sure they will release him?"
"There's not a doubt of it. I have arranged all that."
"Now tell me more about my husband, everything you know. Poor Bob! if hehas suffered as I have, he must indeed be wretched."
Jack was morally sure that the Consul had done nothing of the kind, buthe forbore to say so. Not that he doubted for a moment that Allingfordloved his wife ardently; but he knew him to be a somewhat easy-goingpersonage, who, when he could not have things as he wanted them,resigned himself to making the best of things as they were. From what heknew of Mrs. Scarsdale, moreover, he thought it safe to conclude thatshe had resigned herself to the exigencies of the case, and that both ofthem looked on the whole affair as a practical joke played upon them byFate, of which they could clearly perceive the humorous side. Hetherefore turned the conversation by recounting all he knew, even to theminutest circumstance, of her husband's adventures; and she, in herturn, poured into his ear her tale of woe in Winchester.
"I can't understand," he said, at the conclusion of her narrative, "whyAllingford did not receive the telegram you sent to Basingstokeyesterday."
"As I think I told you," she replied, "that strange person, FaroCharlie, offered to send it for me, and as I had no change I gave him afive-pound note."
"Oh!" said Carrington, "perhaps that solves the mystery. Did your friendbring you back the change?"
"N--o," admitted Mrs. Allingford; "that is, not yet."
"I'm afraid you will never hear from your five-pound note, and thatAllingford never received his telegram from Winchester," commentedCarrington; "but it has disposed of Faro Charlie as a witness, andperhaps that was worth the money."
"Do you really think he meant to take it?" she asked in a shocked tone.
"I'm sure of it," he replied, "and time will prove the correctness ofmy theory." And time did.
They breakfasted together, and, at Carrington's suggestion, all thebaggage was sent to the station, in order that they might have everychance of making the train. Jack's brother joined them about half-pasteight, and the three proceeded to the court, where a few words from thatofficer to the magistrate, with whom he was personally acquainted, weresufficient to bring Scarsdale's case first on the docket.
The landlord of the Lion's Head appeared, a mass of bandages, andgroaning dolefully to excite the sympathy of the court; but he testifiedwithout hesitation that the prisoner, though somewhat resembling RichardAllingford, was not he; and it did not need Carrington's identificationto make Scarsdale a free man. Then there were mutual congratulations,and a hurried drive to the station, where they just succeeded incatching the train; and, almost before he knew it, Jack was standingalone upon the platform, while his two friends were speeding towardsthe goal of all their hopes, _via_ Southampton and Salisbury.
* * * * *
"I suppose," said Mrs. Scarsdale to the Consul, as their train drew outof Salisbury in the first flush of the sunrise on the morning which sawMr. Scarsdale's liberation from durance vile--"I suppose you realisethat you have exiled me from the home of my ancestors."
"How so?" asked the Consul.
"Why, you don't imagine that I shall ever dare to show my face at MeltonCourt again. Just picture to yourself her ladyship and your elephant!She will never forgive us, and will cut poor Harold off with ashilling."
"That won't hurt him much, from all I've heard of her ladyship'sfinances," he replied.
"I think," she resumed, "that I ought to be very angry with you; but Ican't help laughing, it is so absurd. A bull in a china-shop would betame compared with an elephant at Melton Court. What do you think shewill do with the beast?"
"Pasture it on the front lawn to keep away objectionable relatives,"retorted the Consul. "But, seriously speaking, have you any definiteplan of campaign?"
"Certainly not. What do you suppose I carry you round for, if it is notto plan campaigns?"
"Which you generally alter. You will please remember that the visit toMelton Court was entirely owing to you."
"Quite, and I shall probably upset this one; but proceed."
"Well, in the first place, as soon as we reach Southampton I think wehad better have a good breakfast."
"That is no news. You are a man; therefore you eat. Go on."
"Do you object?"
"Not at all. I expected it; I'll even eat with you."
>
"Well said. After this necessary duty, I propose to go to the stationand thoroughly investigate the matter of the arrival and departure ofmy wife and your husband."
"If they were at Basingstoke we should have heard from them beforethis," she said; "and even if they were not, they should havetelegraphed."
"Very probably they did," he replied; "but, as you ought to know, thereis nothing more obliging and more generally dense than an English minorofficial. I dare say that the key to the whole mystery is at this momentreposing, neatly done up in red tape, at the office of that disgustinglittle junction. But here we are at Southampton. Now for breakfast; andthen the American Sherlock Holmes will sift this matter to the bottom."And the Consul, in excellent spirits, assisted her to alight.
Indeed, now that the elephant had been left behind, he felt that,actually as well as metaphorically, a great weight had been lifted fromhis shoulders.
"Evidently," remarked Allingford, as they were finishing a breakfast inone of the cosy principal hotels--"evidently the loss of your husbandhas not included the loss of your appetite."
"Of course it hasn't," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. "Why shouldn't I eat agood breakfast? I have no use for conventions which make one dodisagreeable things just because one happens to feel miserable."
"Do you feel very miserable? I thought you seemed rather cheerful on thewhole," he commented.
"Well, you are not to think anything so unpleasant or personal. I'mutterly wretched; and if you don't believe it I won't eat a mouthful."
"I'm sure," he returned, "that your husband would be much put out if heknew you contemplated doing anything so foolish."
"Do you know," she said, "that I'm beginning to have serious doubts thatI ever had a husband? Do you think he's a myth, and that you and I willhave to go through life together in an endless pursuit of what doesn'texist?"
"Good Lord, I hope not!" he exclaimed.
"That is very uncomplimentary to me," she retorted.
"In the face of that remark," he replied, pushing back his chair, "I amsilent."
"Do you know," said his companion after a moment, as she folded hernapkin, "that the keen sense of humour with which we Americans areendowed saves a large percentage of us from going mad or committingsuicide?"
"Are you thinking of doing either?" he asked anxiously.
"I am thinking," she replied, "that we have had two exceedingly amusingdays, and I am almost sorry they are over."
"Don't you want to find your husband?" he exclaimed.
"Of course I do; but it has been a sort of breathing-space beforesettling down to the seriousness of married life, and that elephantepisode was funny. I think it was worth two days of any husband; don'tyou?"
"I don't know," returned the Consul, somewhat ruefully. "I'd just aslief that Scarsdale had had the beast."
"Oh, I wouldn't!" she cried. "He would have spoiled all the fun. He'dhave done some stupid, rational thing. Donated it to the 'Zoo' inLondon, I should think; wasted the elephant, in fact. It took the spiritof American humour to play your colossal, practical joke. I wonder if ithas arrived at the Court yet. I can fancy it sticking its head, trunkand all, through the great window in Lady Melton's dining-room."
"She called me a consular person," remarked that official stiffly.
"Hence the elephant," laughed his fair companion. "Cause and effect.But, joking apart, there is a pitiful side to our adventure. When Ithink of those two matter-of-fact, serious British things, your betterhalf and my--my husband, and of what a miserable time they have beenhaving, unrelieved by any spark of humour, it almost makes me cry."
"Hold on!" cried Allingford, "You are just as bad as your great-aunt.She calls me a consular person, and you call my wife a British thing! Iwish I had another elephant."
"I beg your pardon, I do really," she replied. "I classed my husband inthe same category. But don't you agree with me that it's sad? I'm sureyour poor wife has cried her eyes out; and as for my husband, I doubt ifhe's eaten anything, and I'm certain he's worn his most unbecomingclothes."
"You are wrong there," interrupted Allingford; "he packed all the worstspecimens, and I rescued them at Salisbury. I tried them on yesterday,and there wasn't a suit I'd have had the face to wear in public."
"There, run along and turn the station upside down; you've talkedenough," she said, laughing, and drove him playfully out of the room.
It was about half-past nine that the Consul meditatively mopped hishead, as he reached the top step of the hotel porch. He was heated byhis exertions, but exceedingly complacent. He had interviewed sixteenporters, five guards, the station agent, three char-women, fourpolicemen, and the barmaid--the latter twice, once on business and onceon pleasure; and he had discovered from the thirtieth individual, andafter twenty-nine failures and a drink, the simple fact that those hesought had gone to Winchester. He did not think he could have faced Mrs.Scarsdale if he had failed. As it was, he returned triumphant, and, ashe approached their private parlour, he mentally pictured in advance thescene which would await him: her radiant smile, her voluble expressionof thanks, their joyful journey to Winchester; in short, success. Hepushed open the door, and this is what really happened: an angry womanwith a flushed, tear-stained face rushed across the room, shoved anewspaper at him, and cried:
"You brute!"
The Consul dropped into the nearest chair. He looked at the infuriatedMrs. Scarsdale, he looked at the crumpled newspaper, he heard the lastecho of that opprobrious monosyllable, and he said:
"Well I'm jiggered!"
Then, recollecting his news, he continued:
"Oh, I forgot. I've found out where they have gone; it's Winchester."
"Is that all you've got to tell me?" she cried. "All, in the face ofthis?" And she again shoved the newspaper towards him. He looked towhere her finger pointed. He was hopelessly bewildered, and wondered ifher native humour had inopportunely failed her and she had gone mad.
"Read!" she commanded.
His wandering eye followed the direction of her finger, and he readslowly, with open mouth, a short account of the arrest and partial trialat Winchester of one Richard Allingford, who claimed to be HaroldScarsdale.
"Tell me," she thundered, "is that my husband?"
"Well," he said, slowly, "I guess it is," and he re-read the lastsentence of the paragraph in the newspaper:
"_The prisoner insisted that he was Harold Scarsdale, and could prove his identity. He was accompanied by a woman who claimed to be Mrs. Robert Allingford, wife of the well-known United States Consul at Christchurch. The prisoner was remanded till this morning._"
"Have you a brother?"
"Yes."
"Has he ever been arrested?"
"Arrested! Why, I've spent most of my time for the past twenty years inbailing him out."
"But why has my husband taken his name?" she demanded.
"That is a matter you'll have to settle with Scarsdale; and if you lookas you do now, I'm real sorry for him," he replied.
"You don't care a bit!" she cried.
"Oh, yes I do; but I want you to see it from its humorous side," heanswered.
At this remark Mrs. Scarsdale burst into a flood of tears, andAllingford gave a sigh of relief, and, strolling to the window, was soonlost in admiration of the view.
Suddenly a voice said, in the sweetness of its accustomed tones:
"Why were you so pleased when I began to cry?" And Mrs. Scarsdale, calmand composed, stood beside him.
"Hard storm is a good thing to clear the atmosphere after athunder-shower," replied the Consul laconically.
"I was real mad with you," she admitted.
"Great Scott! don't you suppose I knew that?" he cried.
They both laughed, and peace was restored.
"Do you really think it is poor Harold?"
"I suppose he doesn't get called St. Hubart when he's in 'quod'?"
"Be sensible and answer my question. Is it my husband or your brotherwho is on trial at
Winchester?"
"I don't know," he replied.
"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
"Go and see."
"When is the next train?"
The Consul pulled out his watch.
"In twelve and a half minutes," he said. "I've paid the hotel bill.Here, hold on! You turn to the left for the elevator!" But Mrs.Scarsdale was half-way downstairs on her way to the station.
An hour later, as the Consul and his fair companion emerged at thestation at Winchester, the first person they saw was Carrington.
"We've been found at last!" cried the Consul, advancing towards Jackwith outstretched hand, exclaiming: "Well, Columbus Carrington, if everI get lost again, I'll telegraph you first thing."
In a minute questions and answers were flying between them. Where hadthey been? Where had they come from? Why was Carrington here? Why hadScarsdale been arrested?
Jack bore up manfully, answering as best he could.
"Perhaps you can tell me the whereabouts of my wife and this lady'shusband?" said the Consul.
"They have been staying here," he replied, "but they have gone."
"Gone!" cried Allingford in blank amazement. "Gone! Where? When?"
"Why, to Salisbury," replied Jack. "I sent them over there early thismorning."
"You did, did you?" spluttered the Consul. "What right had you to sendthem anywhere?"
"Why, to join you at Lady Diana's."
"Join us!" screamed Allingford. "Why, we left Melton Court at half-pastfour this morning, and have been on the road ever since trying to jointhem."
"It seems to be a typical example of cross-purposes," repliedCarrington.
"It's pure cussedness!" said the Consul.
"But I thought my husband was--in prison," chimed in Mrs. Scarsdale;"the paper said so."
"Merely a case of mistaken identity," Jack hastened to assure her. "Ihad him set free in no time. And that reminds me: I ran across yourbrother here last evening, Allingford. It is he who has caused all thetrouble. Frankly, I am almost sorry I did not give him over to thepolice."
"I wish you had," replied the Consul; "I wouldn't have bailed him outtill my honeymoon was over. Where is he now?"
"I'm inclined to believe," replied Carrington, "that he has gone toMelton Court in search of you, in company with a man who talked somenonsense about your having stolen an elephant from him."
Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale both began to laugh.
"I don't see anything funny about that," said Jack.
"Oh, don't you?" returned the Consul. "Well, you would if you knew therest of the story." And in a few brief words he explained about theelephant's arrival and their subsequent flight.
"Heavens, man!" cried Carrington, "you don't seem to realise what youhave let Scarsdale and your wife in for!"
"Great Scott!" exclaimed the Consul, "I never thought of that. Why, Ireckon it's rampaging all over the place by this time, and the old ladymust be in a perfect fury. When's the next train back? We can't getthere too quickly."
"One goes in five minutes," said Jack.
"If I'd ever suspected," gasped Mrs. Scarsdale to Allingford as theyrushed down the platform, "that you were laying such a trap for my poorhusband----"
"I'm sure I didn't do it on purpose," he replied; "but if they happen tomeet the catawampus after she's met the elephant, they'll be in for apretty hot time."
"Your brother was bad enough," she groaned as the train pulled out; "butas for your elephant----! It's worse than being arrested!"
Her Ladyship's Elephant Page 9