by Frank Savile
CHAPTER IX
AYLMER IS EXPLICIT
It seemed to Aylmer that the world into which he woke was one ofstillness, of neutral tints, of intrinsic peace. There was a hint ofsunshine diluted by the green hangings in front of the windows, but nomore than a hint. There was a faint echo of the sound of falling waterfloating in with the light, but merely an echo. There was, in fact, butthe slightest suggestion of life in his surroundings, and that came fromthe silently regular rise and fall of the bosom of the sleeping man whosat at his bedside. Aylmer blinked and stared in mild surprise, for theman was Daoud.
He moved restlessly under the sheets. Where was he? Into what unsoughtrefuge had Fate flung him now?
His movement, slight as it was, aroused the Moor. With a littleself-reproachful exclamation he stood up and leaned over the bed.
"Oh, Sidi!" he cried, "it rejoices my heart to read the light ofunderstanding in your eyes."
Aylmer blinked again bewilderedly.
"Where am I and what do you here?" he asked.
"You are in Villa Eulalia, Sidi, and where should I be but in attendanceon my lord?"
Astonishment lifted Aylmer into a weak attempt to rise. The Moor put ahand upon his shoulder and firmly pressed him back.
"Nay, Sidi," he said respectfully. "The German doctor lord expresslyforbade that you should raise your head from the pillow till he had seenyou again."
Aylmer began to feel as if his wits as well as his body had beenbludgeoned. Circumstances seemed to have leaped freakishly beyond hisrecollection.
"I was brought here when?" he asked.
"Yesterday, Sidi. Your brain was sorely smitten inside your skull, or soI understood the man of medicines. For fifteen hours you have lain asone feigning death, though breathing. Now you have come into the rightof your senses again. This the medicine man also prophesied."
The puzzled frown stayed on Aylmer's brow.
"And you?" he demanded. "And you?"
The Moor answered with a demure shrug of the shoulder.
"Your wounded brain has perchance forgotten, Sidi, that I entered yourbenign service on the morning of the day which saw you defeated by thetreachery of that one whom we sought, you and I. My service has beenconstant ever since."
He met his victim's increasing frown with complacent assurance as hespoke. Surely everything, he seemed to imply, was in order. And as thesituation became clear to Aylmer's growing intelligence, the frownbecame an exasperated smile.
"You have used my helplessness to impose yourself into this house as mybody-servant," said Aylmer. "Oh, Daoud, you are of a deceitfulnessbeyond my unpractised powers of speech."
"Speech beyond the mere limits of necessity was strongly discountenancedby the German doctor lord," said Daoud, hastily. "Has the Sidi anyfurther desires?"
"None, save for information. Speak thou! Give me the plain tale of allhappenings since I fell into that trap upon the road. The man wesought--did he escape?"
The Moor nodded.
"He escaped victoriously, with all his following. He took also thechild, the Sidi Jan, who, so they tell me, is the son of his house. Theytook themselves unmolested into the tangle of the broom, leaving of ourcompany one dead--from the kick of a horse, Sidi--half a dozensenseless, yourself among them, Absalaam grievously wounded in thebosom, though like to recover, and all, save four or five, with bruises,broken limbs, or, at least, frayed and bleeding skin. So they fled, butAli, of the Walad Said, who had been flung away from the hardness of theopen track into the heart of the thicket, had taken no harm and followedthem to the caves."
Aylmer gave a start.
"The caves?" he muttered weakly. "The caves?"
"The Sidi knows them well. The caves of Hercules beyond Spartel, wherethe millstone carvers ply their toil and where the Sidi and otherNazrani ride forth to eat and drink upon occasion when they entertaintheir friends."
Aylmer nodded. The caves of Hercules are the resort of many a picnicparty from Tangier.
"Leaving them there, he hastened back with news. The Sidi Van Arlen,lord of this house, was by then recovered of the stunning which he, too,had suffered, and weak though he was immediately led forth anothercompany to search the caves. And this they did unsuccessfully, Sidi,learning from one of the millstone workers, who had doubted of theintegrity of these sons of dirt before they saw him, and who hadtherefore hidden himself and watched them unseen, that after a rest ofthree or four hours the men, taking with them the child, had passed downto the shore, had there awaited and been taken off by a boat whichdelivered them, so he conceived, to a lateen which he could descry inthe moonlight about three furlongs out. And in that ship they have gonewe know not whither."
Aylmer's fingers clenched and unclenched upon the coverlet. Howthoroughly, how absolutely, they had been bested! But the account wasrolling up. Ultimate defeat? His mind never even considered it. Hemerely put another item in the mental ledger from which Landon's accountwould one day be presented, and paid, in full.
"Let not the Sidi imagine that we have sat inactive while these sons ofunchaste mothers triumph. I myself snatched a hasty hour from yourbedside to enter the town and set certain ones agog for news. The SidiVan Arlen hath telegraphed to Spain; every Guardia Civile along thecoast has knowledge of how a reward of a thousand pesetas may be gained.By favor of the captain of the French warship all other ships of theFrench marine within three hundred miles have been warned to challengeunvouched-for boats. How this is done I am unable to say, but so it is.Watch upon the seas is therefore being kept. Now steam is being raisedupon the white yacht in the bay, that when news comes it may be followedwithout delay. Lastly, a special mission has been sent by favor of theBashaw from town to town along the coast as far as Dar-el-Baida. Thushave we set a wide net. Yet it has holes in it, Sidi, and holes are whatthese jackals are ever quick to seek."
With a sudden movement, Aylmer sat up. A frown and a gesture of commandwarded back Daoud's outstretched hand.
"Art thou my servant?" he cried, and the Moor spread out his palms inalert assent.
"Of a surety, Sidi, but the dispenser of medicines--"
"What have I to do with medicines--I, a strong man with no more than abruised skull? Give me my clothes!"
"But, Sidi--"
"My clothes, or return instantly to the gutter from which my favoryesterday lifted you!"
The Moor gave a fatalistic shrug.
"If Allah has written it that you are to die by the weapon of thine ownobstinacy, oh, Sidi, He has written it. This is thy shirt."
With an accustomedness which spoke of previous practice, he presidedover his master's toilet. He fetched water, honed a razor, shaved Aylmerwith deftness and despatch, produced trousers from a press, handed coatand waistcoat brushed and folded to the last pinnacle of neatness. Itwas as he laced the boots that he looked up inquiringly and put aquestion which had been obviously hanging upon his lips since the momentof his master's rising.
"And what, oh, Sidi, are your intentions now?"
"First, to see my host. Afterwards," he made a vague gesture,"afterwards, my friend, I shall act as is directed by your perpetualgossip--Fate!"
"May Allah direct our councils!" aspired Daoud, piously. "Lean upon me,Sidi! There is no need to overtax thy returning strength!"
But Aylmer leaned upon nothing. Slowly, but walking erect, he pacedacross the wide entrance hall, and then halted, indeterminate.
The hangings across a door opposite him were drawn aside. Claire VanArlen stood confronting him, her lips parted in amazement.
"You!" she protested breathlessly. "You!"
He answered with a little bow.
"Myself," he said quietly. "I must present my excuses for an ...intrusion which it was not within my power to prevent."
She held up her hand in protest.
"When you were wounded in our service!" she cried. "When you were doingyour best for us!"
He shook his head.
"No," he said. "I am working, I shall go on working,
for myself. Ishould like that to be clear."
She half turned away with a little startled motion and the ghost of afrown. Words trembled on her lips and were thrust back. She understood,and would have sought, at any other time, this opportunity to makethings clear indeed, but ... the man was wounded ... serving her andhers. No, for the moment the opportunity must go by.
She held up the cord hangings and pointed into the room behind her.
"At any rate you must not stand, and I am extremely culpable to permityour mutiny against your doctor's orders. Why have you got up?"
He strode slowly after her into the shadowed room. He sat down upon thewicker chair which she indicated. His eyes sought hers, keenly and verydirectly.
"You have no news?" he asked. "Nothing out of Spain, or from the coast?"
Her eyes clouded.
"None, or next to none. The signal station at Spartel saw a lateenworking her sweeps in the distance at dawn. There was a glassy calminshore, but occasional and uncertain breezes out of the shelter of theland. She was making as if for Cadiz, but half an hour later, just asthe haze covered her, a strong wind rose from the northwest and it isdoubtful if she could have beaten up against it. In which case sheprobably stood down the coast."
Her voice was apathetic and a little weary. Her glance avoided his.
He gave a little nod as she finished.
"Yes," he said. "He has taken the first trick--Landon. And I have beenno help to you but a hindrance. It was I who helped him last night--I,with my impulsiveness. There you have a right ... to suspect me."
She made a quick, restless movement.
"Suspect you!" she cried. "You!"
"Yes," he said slowly. "That day in the town, and on the pier, at theTent Club meeting, even--was not that in your mind?"
His voice was not reproachful, merely inquiring.
She flushed.
"The first time I suspected every one," she answered. "The second time Idiscovered, suddenly and unexpectedly, your name."
He nodded.
"And now?" he questioned. "And now?"
"Now?" she repeated. "Have you not given me my proofs?"
"Have I?" His voice was eager. "I can reckon that barrier down then? Thetaint of the name is cleared away? I start with no handicap ofprejudice?"
Again the form of words half bewildered, half exasperated her. Start?Start whither, in what race, to what goal? And were there barriers to bewon, too? Between him and--what?
Her instinct gave her the answer as it had done the day before. But sheshrank from the acknowledgment, even to herself. The thought was toomonstrous. An Aylmer and--and that! The blood rushed to her forehead onthe tide of her resentment. And then as suddenly ebbed. After all, wasit not the name alone which sent that surging throb of repulsion throughher veins? Supposing she had met this man, in ignorance. She startedagain. Had she not so met him, at first? She cudgelled her brains inreflection. How did she regard him that morning at the Tent Club, beforeshe knew? Had he not seemed a personable, even a gallant and courageoussoldier, worthy of a woman's regard? She looked at him suddenly,curiously, with a sort of speculation in her eyes.
And he met the glance quietly, watchfully, and--so she told herself witha recurrent thrill of exasperation--relentlessly as well. It was as ifhe was forcing her to be won from prejudice to impartiality. As if hewilled her into just thinking against herself. A tiny spasm of fearpulsed through her. In a clash of purpose who would win, she or thisman?
She made him a gesture which had about it the sense of appeal.
"One cannot dismiss prejudices; one can fight them," she faltered.
"Ah!"
He sighed, not with weariness, but with a sort of patience, withrestraint. "I think perhaps women do not accept mere justice as a pleaso easily as men," he debated. "So I must not presume on that footing. Ihave still to win my way from ... dislike?"
"No!" she cried sharply. "No! I can be just to what you have done. Whatyou are--that I have yet to learn, have I not?"
He smiled a little bitterly.
"I am an Aylmer. That is the lesson you have got by heart. I ask you tobegin by unlearning."
She caught her breath a little quickly. Then she gave a decided littlenod.
"Very well," she answered. "I--I will forget everything but the factthat you saved the boy once and that you--"
"Will do it again," said Aylmer. "That is a bargain?"
Again she hesitated over the form of words. A bargain? What was her sideof the contract. If he fulfilled the purpose of which he spoke soconfidently, what did it mean, from her point of view? She avoided theissue.
"You will find the child, you will bring him back?" she wondered.
"Of course!" He sat very erect in his chair. He smiled confidently. "Ina fight between a rogue and honest men, the honest men win ultimately,and always. The green bay tree of the unrighteous grows with luxuriancebut withers in time inevitably. I shall follow him till I win."
"And your career?" she asked incredulously. "Your profession?"
He smiled.
"That will be my career--to defeat Landon. Is it a reputable one for agentleman?"
She made a motion of protest.
"But--but that is self-sacrifice, one which we couldn't accept. Whyshould you do this for us?"
He shook his head again.
"No," he said. "I must repeat it, I work for myself. I seek my owninterest, and that, in the first place, is to make you just. I see butthe one way to do it. I have to convince you that I am in earnest, haveI not?"
Again that baffling allusion. In earnest in what? In defeating Landon,in attempting the rescue of the child? Surely he had proved thatalready. And yet how could she counter a point which she could not helpallowing she now understood; how could she do it without the loss ofdignity implied in an explanation? But it was grotesque. He had knownher a bare week. He had met her on four occasions.
She looked up, met his eyes, and dropped her own. A tiny sense of panicovertook her. He sat there, indomitable. Suppose--suppose he ultimatelymade his purpose good. She made herself look at him again. He had, atany rate, good looks to recommend him. And courage and the respect ofhis fellows. But--again a wave of exasperation flowed over her mind. Oh,it was outrageous, unthinkable. An Aylmer--another Aylmer. Unconsciouslyher lips curved in a half sarcastic smile. Why, the very newspapers ofthe world would pile headline upon headline over such a fiasco. Shestiffened with resentment, with a sense of being played with. Her voicewas chill with a note of dignity outraged.
"I think the fact of your proposing to devote time and strength to thepursuit of--of your cousin is a very convincing one, Captain Aylmer,"she answered. "The point is that we have no right to accept so much fromyou."
He smiled joyously.
"I shall always want to be giving, to you. Always, always. Pleaseunderstand that. My service is to you, and so to myself. Try to think ofme in that light, patiently."
And then a sort of desperation seized her. She probed her mind for aform of words which should give him no further loophole to persist inhis veiled menaces, for she could call them no less, one that shouldseize a meaning out of his allusions and crush it with a directnesswhich could not be misunderstood. Her eyes grew hard; she rose to herfeet.
A step sounded in the hall, and the hangings were pushed aside. Herfather stood before them.
He looked at Aylmer with amazed reproach. His face, already haggard withanxiety, took on new lines of concern.
"My dear sir!" he protested. "My dear sir!"
And Aylmer could not resist a smile. It was the form of protest which hehad used at their former meeting to veil--what? Antipathy? And now? Thewords were full of genuine concern. He read no longer dislike in Mr. VanArlen's glance. The elder man's eyes had softened as they reached his.
He warded off further reproaches with a question.
"The news?" he cried eagerly. "The news is what?"
"Good, in so far that we can gauge the direction of their flight. Theyha
ve been seen passing Arzeila; the morning's gale has prevented theirattempt to reach any port of Spain."
"And so--?"
"And so we start in pursuit with my yacht, within the hour."
Aylmer stood up.
"We?" he repeated. "We being--?"
Van Arlen looked mildly astonished.
"My daughter and I."
Aylmer held out his hand with a pleading gesture.
"You can't afford to despise my help," he said. "You must take me, too."
Van Arlen looked at Aylmer and then, questioningly, towards hisdaughter. She met his glance. Here at last was the opportunity to makethings plain with a vengeance. They had but politely to decline.
Aylmer's voice forestalled her.
"To be impartial, that was your promise," he said. "We had not got far,but at least as far as that."
In spite of herself she turned and faced him. He met her glancesteadily, confidently, expectant.
She gave a queer, half-exasperated little laugh.
"I think Captain Aylmer is a man who is easily refused nothing," shesaid, and passed quietly out of the room.