“Don’t look immediately,” he said in a low voice, “but tell me who is that gentleman sitting in the second alcove.” The waiter looked carelessly round.
“That is Mr. Joshua Broad, sir,” he said.
Almost as the waiter spoke, Joshua Broad rose from his seat, walked across the room to where Ray was sitting.
“Good morning, Mr. Bennett. I don’t think we have met before, though we are fellow-members of Heron’s and I’ve seen you a lot of times here. My name is Broad.”
“Won’t you sit down?” Ray had some difficulty in controlling his voice. “Glad to meet you, Mr. Broad. Have you finished your lunch? If not, perhaps you’ll take it with me.”
“No,” he said, “I’ve finished lunch. I eat very little. But if it doesn’t annoy you, I’ll smoke a cigarette.”
Ray offered his case.
“I’m a neighbour of a friend of yours,” said Broad, choosing a cigarette, “Miss Lola Bassano. She has an apartment facing mine in Caverley House—I guess that’s where I’ve seen you most often.”
Now Ray remembered. This was the strange American who lived opposite to Lola, and about whose business he had so often heard Lola and Lew Brady speculate.
“And I think we have a mutual friend in—Captain Gordon,” suggested the other, his keen eyes fixed upon the boy.
“Captain Gordon is not a friend of mine,” said Ray quickly. “I’m not particularly keen on police folk as friends.”
“They can be mighty interesting,” said Broad, “but I can quite understand your feeling in the matter. Have you known Brady long?”
“Lew? No, I can’t say that I have. He’s a very nice fellow,” said Ray unenthusiastically. “He’s not exactly the kind of friend I’d have chosen, but it happens that he is a particularly close friend of a friend of mine.
“Of Miss Bassano,” said Broad. “You used to be at Maitlands?”
“I was there once,” said Ray indifferently, and from his tone one might have imagined that he had merely been a visitor attracted by morbid curiosity to that establishment.
“Queer cuss, old Maitland.”
“I know very little of him,” said Ray.
“A very queer fellow. He’s got a smart secretary, though.”
“You mean Johnson?” Ray smiled. “Poor old Philosopher, he’s lost his job!”
“You don’t say? When did this happen?” Mr. Broad’s voice was urgent, eager.
“The other day—I don’t know when. I met Johnson this morning and he told me. I don’t know how the old boy will get on without Philo.”
“I was wondering the same thing,” said Broad softly. “You surprise me. I wonder he has the nerve, though I don’t think he’s lacking in that quality.”
“The nerve?” said the puzzled Ray. “I don’t think it requires much nerve to fire a secretary.”
A fleeting smile played on the hard face of the American.
“By that I meant that it requires nerve for a man of Maitland’s character to dismiss a man who must share a fair number of his secrets. Not that I should imagine there would be any great confidence between these two. What is Johnson doing?”
“He’s looking for a job, I think,” said Ray. He was getting a little irritated by the persistence of the stranger’s questions. He had a feeling that he was being “pumped.” Possibly Mr. Broad sensed this suspicion, for he dropped his flow of interrogations and switched to the police raid, a prolific source of discussion amongst the members of Heron’s.
Ray looked after him as he walked out a little later and was puzzled. Why was he so keen on knowing all these things? Was he testing him? He was glad to be alone to consider this extraordinary commission which had come to him. The adventure of it, the disguise of it, all were particularly appealing to a romantic young man; and Ray Bennett lacked nothing in the matter of romance. There was a certain delightful suggestion of danger, a hint almost as thrilling of lawlessness, in these instructions. What might be the end of the adventure, he did not trouble to consider. It was well for his peace of mind that he was no seer; for, if he had been, he would have flown that very moment, seeking for some desolate place, some hole in the ground where he could lie and shiver and hide.
XXIV.
WHY MAITLAND CAME
Ella Bennett was cooking the dinner when her father came in, depositing his heavy camera on the floor of the sitting-room, but carrying, as was usual, his grip to the bedroom. She heard the closing of the cupboard door and the turning of the lock, but had long ceased to wonder why he invariably kept his bag locked in that cupboard. He was looking very tired and old; there were deeper lines under his eyes, and the pallor of his cheeks was even more pronounced.
“Did you have a good time, father?” she asked. It was the invariable question, and invariably John Bennett made no other reply than a nod.
“I nearly lost my camera this morning—forgot it,” he said. “It was quite a success—taking the camera away with me—but I must get used to remembering that I have it. I found a stretch of country full of wild fowl, and got some really good pictures. Round about Horsham my opportunities are limited, and I think I shall take the machine with me wherever I go.”
He seated himself in the old chair by the fireplace and was filling his pipe slowly.
“I saw Elk on the platform at King’s Cross,” he said. “I suppose he was looking for somebody.”
“What time did you leave where you were?” she asked.
“Last night,” he replied briefly, but did not volunteer any further information about his movements.
She was in and out of the kitchen, laying the table, and she did not speak to him on the matter which was near her heart, until he had drawn up his chair, and then:
“I had a letter from Ray this morning, father,” she said. It was the first time she had mentioned the boy’s name since that night of horrible memories at Heron’s Club.
“Yes?” he answered, without looking up from his plate.
“He wanted to know if you had his letter.”
“Yes, I had his letter,” said John Bennett, “but I didn’t answer it. If Ray wants to see me, he knows where I am. Did you hear from anybody else?” he asked, with surprising calm.
She had been dreading what might follow the mention of Ray’s name.
“I heard from Mr. Johnson. He has left Maitlands.”
Bennett finished his glass of water and set it down before he replied.
“He had a good job, too. I’m sorry. I suppose he couldn’t get on with the old man.”
Should she tell him? she wondered again. She had been debating the advisability of taking her father into her confidence ever since—
“Father, I’ve met Mr. Maitland,” she said.
“I know. You saw him at his office; you told me.”
“I’ve met him since. You remember the morning I was out, when Captain Gordon came—the morning I went to the wood? I went to see Mr. Maitland.”
He put down his knife and fork and stared at her incredulously.
“But why on earth did you see him at that hour of the morning? Had you made arrangements to meet him?”
She shook her head.
“I hadn’t any idea that I was going to see him,” she said, “but that night I was wakened by somebody throwing a stone at the window. I thought it was Ray, who had come back late. That was his habit; I never told you, but sometimes he was very late indeed, and he used to wake me that way. It was just dawn, and when I looked out, to my astonishment, I saw Mr. Maitland. He asked me to come down in that queerly abrupt way of his, and, thinking it had something to do with Ray, I dressed and went out into the garden, not daring to wake you. ‘We walked up the road to where his car was. It was the queerest interview you could imagine, because he said—nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Well, he asked me if
I’d be his friend. If it had been anybody else but Mr. Maitland, I should have been frightened. But he was so pathetic, so very old, so appealing. He kept saying ‘I’ll tell you something, miss,’ but every time he spoke he looked round with a frightened air. ‘Let’s go where we can’t be seen,’ he said, and begged me to step into the car. Of course I refused, until I discovered that the chauffeur was a woman—a very old woman, his sister. It was a most extraordinary experience. I think she must be nearly seventy, but during the war she learnt to drive a motor-car, and apparently she was wearing one of the chauffeur’s coats, and a more ludicrous sight you could not imagine, once you realized that she was a woman.
“I let him drive me down to the wood, and then: ‘Is it about Ray?’ I asked. But it wasn’t about Ray at all that he wanted to speak. He was so incoherent, so strange, that I really did get nervous. And then, when he had begun to compose himself and had even made a few connected remarks, you came along in Mr. Elk’s car. He was terrified and was shaking from head to foot! He begged me to go away, and almost went on his knees to implore me not to say that I had seen him.”
“Phew!” John Bennett pushed back his chair. “And you learnt nothing?”
She shook her head.
“He came again last night,” she said, “but this time I did not go out, and he refused to come in. He struck me as a man who was expecting to be trapped.”
“Did he give you any idea of what he wanted to say?”
“No, but it was something which was vitally important to him, I think. I couldn’t understand half that he said. He spoke in loud whispers, and I’ve told you how harsh his voice is.”
Bennett relit his pipe, and sat for a while with downcast eyes, revolving the matter in his mind.
“The next time he comes you’d better let me see him,” he said.
“I don’t think so, daddy,” she answered quietly. “If he has anything very important to say, I think I ought to know what it is. I have a feeling that he is asking for help.”
John Bennett looked up.
“A millionaire asking for help? Ella, that sounds queer to me.”
“And it is queer,” she insisted. “He didn’t seem half so terrible as he appeared when I first saw him. There was something tragic about him, something very sad. He will come to-night, and I’ve promised to see him. May I?”
Her father considered.
“Yes, you may see him, provided you do not go outside this garden. I promise that I will not appear, but I shall be on hand. Do you think it is about Ray—that Ray has committed some act of folly that he wants to tell you about?” he asked with a note of anxiety.
“I don’t think so, daddy. Maitland was quite indifferent to Ray or what becomes of him. I’ve been wondering whether I ought to tell somebody.”
“Captain Gordon or Mr. Elk,” suggested her father dryly, and the girl flushed. “You like that young man, Ella? No, I’m not referring to Elk, who is anything but young; I mean Dick Gordon.”
“Yes,” she said after a pause, “I like him very much.”
“I hope you aren’t going to like him too much, darling,” said John Bennett, and their eyes met.
“Why not, daddy?” It almost hurt her to ask.
“Because,”—he seemed at a loss as to how he should proceed— “because it’s not desirable. He occupies a different position from ourselves, but that isn’t the only reason. I don’t want you to have a heartache, and I say this, knowing that, if that heartache comes, I shall be the cause.”
He saw her face change, and then:
“What do you wish me to do?” she asked.
He rose slowly, and, walking to her, put his arm about her shoulder.
“Do whatever you like, Ella,” he said gently. “There is a curse upon me, and you must suffer for my sin. Perhaps he will never know—but I am tired of expecting miracles.”
“Father, what do you mean?” she asked anxiously.
“I don’t know what I mean,” he said as he patted her shoulder. “Things may work out as they do in stories. Perhaps …” He ruminated for a while. “Those pictures I took yesterday may be the making of me, Ella. But I’ve thought that of so many things. Always there seems to be a great possibility opening out, and always I have been disappointed. But I’m getting the knack of this picture taking. The apparatus is working splendidly, and the man who buys them—he has a shop in Wardour Street—told me that the quality of the films is improving with every new ‘shot.’ I took a mother duck on the nest, just as the youngsters were hatching out. I’m not quite sure how the picture will develop, because I had to be at some distance from the nest. As it was, I nearly scared the poor lady when I fixed the camera.”
Very wisely she did not pursue a subject which was painful to her.
That afternoon she saw a strange man standing in the roadway opposite the gate, looking toward the house. He was a gentleman, well dressed, and he was smoking a long cigar. She thought, by his shell glasses, that he might be an American, and when he spoke to her, his New England accent left no doubt. He came toward the gate, hat in hand.
“Am I right in thinking that I’m speaking to Miss Bennett?” he asked, and when she nodded: “My name is Broad. I was just taking a look round, and I seemed to remember that you lived somewhere in the neighbourhood. In fact, I think your brother told me to-day.”
“Are you a friend of Ray?” she asked.
“Why, no,” said Broad with a smile. “I can’t say that I’m a friend of Mr. Bennett; I’m what you might call a club acquaintance.”
He made no attempt to approach her any closer, and apparently he did not expect to be invited into the house on the strength of his acquaintance with Ray Bennett. Presently, with a commonplace remark about the weather (he had caught the English habit perfectly) he moved off, and from the gate she saw him walking up towards the wood road. That long cul-de-sac was a favourite parking place of motorists who came to the neighbourhood, and she was not surprised when, a few minutes later, she saw the car come out. Mr. Broad raised his hat as he passed, and waved a little greeting to some person who was invisible to her. Her curiosity whetted, she opened the gate and walked on to the road. A little way down, a man was sitting on a tree trunk, reading a newspaper and smoking a large-bowled pipe. An hour later, when she came out, he was still there, but this time he was standing: a tall, soldier-like-looking man, who turned his head away when she looked in his direction. A detective, she thought, in dismay.
Her instinct was not at fault: of that she was sure. For some reason or other, Maytree Cottage was under observation. At first she was frightened, then indignant. She had half a mind to go into the village and telephone to Elk, to demand an explanation. Somehow it never occurred to her to be angry with Dick, though he was solely responsible for placing the men who were guarding her day and night.
She went to bed early, setting her alarm for three o’clock. She woke before the bell roused her, and, dressing quickly, went down to make some coffee. As she passed her father’s door, he called her.
“I’m up, if you want me, Ella.”
“Thank you, daddy,” she said gratefully. She was glad to know that he was around. It gave her a feeling of confidence which she had never before possessed in the presence of this old man.
The first light was showing in the sky when she saw the silhouette of Mr. Maitland against the dawn, and heard the soft click of the latch as he opened the garden gate. She had not heard the car nor seen it. This time Maitland had alighted some distance short of the house.
He was, as usual, nervous and for the time being speechless. A heavy overcoat, which had seen its best days, was buttoned up to his neck, and a big cap covered his hairless head.
“That you, miss?” he asked in a husky whisper.
“Yes, Mr. Maitland.”
“You coming along for a little walk? … Got something to tell you … V
ery important, miss.”
“We will walk in the garden,” she said, lowering her voice.
He demurred.
“Suppose anybody sees us, eh? That’d be a fine lookout for me! Just a little way up the road, miss,” he pleaded. “Nobody will hear us.”
“We can go on to the lawn. There are some chairs there.”
“Is everybody asleep? All your servant gels?”
“We have no servant girls,” she smiled.
He shook his head.
“I don’t blame you I hate ‘um. Got six fellows in uniform at my house. They frighten me stiff!”
She led him across the lawn, carrying a cushion, and, settling him in a chair, waited. The beginnings of these interviews had always seemed as promising, but after a while Mr. Maitland had a trick of rambling off at a tangent into depths which she could not plumb.
“You’re a nice gel,” said Maitland huskily. “I thought so the first time I saw you … you wouldn’t do a poor old man any ‘arm, would you, miss?”
“Why, of course not, Mr. Maitland.”
“I know you wouldn’t. I told Matilda you wouldn’t. She says you’re all right … Ever been in the workhouse, miss?
“In the poorhouse?” she said, smiling in spite of herself. “Why, no, I’ve never been in a poorhouse.”
He looked round fearfully from side to side, peering under his white eyebrows at a clump of bushes which might conceal an eavesdropper.
“Ever been in quod?”
She did not recognize the word.
“I have,” he went on. “Quod’s prison, miss. Naturally you wouldn’t understand them words.”
Again he looked round.
“Suppose you was me … It all comes to that question—suppose you was me!”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Mr. Maitland.”
She watched his frightened scrutiny of the grounds, and then he bent over toward her.
“Them fellows will get me,” he said slowly and impressively. “They’ll get me, and Matilda. And I’ve left all my money to a certain person. That’s the joke. That’s the whole joke of it, miss.” He chuckled wheezily. “And then they’ll get him.”
The Fellowship of the Frog Page 19