The Cardinal Moth

by Fred M. White

  *CHAPTER XVIII.*

  *A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE.*

  Lefroy's face, on the whole, was the more composed of the two. It wasnot often, in public at any rate, that Frobisher allowed his passion toget the better of him, but for the moment he was utterly taken aback. Hehad planned his scheme so neatly, the whole cunning skein had reeled offso splendidly that the startling disappointment was all the moremaddening.

  "Nothing like the old brandy," Lefroy sneered. "You will find it asovereign cure."

  But Frobisher was recovering himself slowly. He was not the man to showhis hand for long. The dry, hard smile was on his face now, thepassionate desire to hurt something had passed away. Ignoring Lefroy'sremark, he passed on in the direction of Mrs. Benstein.

  "I have been looking for you everywhere," he said. "One does notusually have to hunt for the sun, but in this case the planet would seemto be a retiring one. Does my house afford such poor attraction thatyou should bore yourself in this lovely spot?"

  "I am not in the least bored," Mrs. Benstein said, with one of her mostbrilliant smiles. "On the contrary, I have been enjoying myselfimmensely. I am merely resting."

  Frobisher said something appropriate. Nobody could do that kind ofthing better when the mood was upon him. At the same time, his deep-seteyes were looking for signs, that might be conspired into somethinguseful. Lefroy contented himself by standing behind and smilingvaguely.

  "Your gems are all I expected them to be," Frobisher went on. "I feltcertain that rubies would suit you to perfection. But you wantsomething, a certain finish. A star or cluster on the forehead tofinish. Don't you agree with me, Count?"

  He flashed a wicked grin at Lefroy, who said nothing. Isa Benstein gaveno sign. She smiled as she arranged the flowers, the Crimson Moth thatseemed to fascinate Lefroy.

  "I thought so at first," she said. "In fact, I was wearing something ofthe kind when I came here. But on mature consideration I decided thatit looked too overpowering. Several of your splendid mirrors confirmedthat impression; consequently, I removed it."

  "It is in a safe place, I trust?" Lefroy said carelessly.

  "Really, I suppose so. Not that it matters, seeing that it is of noparticular value. It was the only sham thing that I had about me. Itis with my fan somewhere."

  Lefroy urged the point no further. It was not policy to say too much.The two men went off together presently, as Isa Benstein was claimed foranother dance.

  "The man who finds that fan will be lucky," the Count said meaningly.

  "The man who finds that fan will find nothing else," Frobisher replied."How on earth it has happened I don't know, but that woman hasdiscovered everything. Did you see her face as we were leaving? I did.She came here in blissful ignorance of the little comedy or tragedy, orwhatever you like to call it; but she has had a warning from somebodysince supper. Lord bless you, she knows all about it. We couldn't askany prying questions without arousing her suspicions, though I am ofopinion that she is quite aware of the way that she has baffled us. Oh,she is a clever woman."

  "Clever as they make them. But she is only a woman, after all, myfriend, and liable to make mistakes like the rest of her sex. She hasgot that stone about her."

  Frobisher's eyes gleamed. He had been thinking much the same thing.Followed by Lefroy, he repaired to the smoking-room and proffered hishospitality. For some time the Count smoked and drank in silence,waiting for a lead from his host. There was bound to be some kind ofexplanation between them, and Lefroy preferred the lead to come from theother.

  "Silence is golden," Frobisher said, with one of his sudden grins.

  "In this case," the other said. "Perhaps you would like to deal thefirst hand. I shall sit tight for the present."

  "I fancy it is my play," Frobisher said thoughtfully. "Fate and theother players push us a long way off our line of policy sometimes. Forinstance, I never imagined that I should be dragged into an offensiveand defensive alliance with you. But for the present it is absolutelynecessary. We must get that precious gew-gew----"

  "Call it the sacred Blue Stone of Ghan and have done with it," Lefroygrowled.

  "Very well, though it is hardly diplomacy. Mrs. Benstein came herewearing the Blue Stone. You found it out quite by accident, and it wasyour game to prevent me from knowing. You tried very hard, but you werea little too much taken by surprise, especially when the Shan wasannounced."

  "That was a very awkward moment for me," Lefroy admitted.

  "It was. Directly you came in here I guessed exactly what had happened.As a matter of fact, I had not the least intention of your coming hereto-night, indeed I didn't know you were coming. As a matter of fact,also, my wife cordially dislikes you, and I suppose she only asked youout of compliment to me."

  "We'll let that pass," Lefroy said. "I was startled when Mrs. Bensteindropped her mask and the Blue Stone stood revealed. Of course, I knewthat the stone was pledged to Benstein, and that Mrs. Benstein having itwas natural enough. The doting old fool had been wheedled out of it forthe evening. But I didn't know that you knew that, and I was mostanxious to keep the information from you. But directly I came face toface with you here, I knew that you had some deep scheme, and that youguessed that I had got wind of it. I have worked that out."

  Frobisher smoked and sipped his brandy with infinite relish.

  "I always like to study a subtle mind, Count," he said. "Will youexplain your meaning?"

  "Certainly, especially as I shall lose nothing by so doing. Why did youget your wife to ask that woman here at all? I knew you had to usesomething like force to bring it about. You did it because you knewwhere the Blue Stone was. You advised Mrs. Benstein as to her dress, yougave her hints on that head. You were quite aware of the extent ofBenstein's senile devotion to his wife. And you calculated that if sheadopted the ruby suggestion she would borrow the Blue Stone."

  "Excellent," Frobisher said cordially. "A capital piece of reasoning.And a very pretty scheme, though I say it myself. It came off, and onlyyour presence prevented my coup. Pray go on."

  "There isn't much more to say. Once Mrs. Benstein was here wearing theBlue Stone, you had no intention of her leaving with the gem in herpossession. I don't mean to say that you would have used brutal forceto get it, but I do mean to say that you would not have hesitated atthat if needs must. Once you had the stone you would have forced thoseconcessions from the Shan."

  "And exposed the forged ones that you deposited with Benstein,"Frobisher said sweetly.

  Lefroy winced, and the glass chattered against his teeth. He had notexpected that stroke, and his dark face indicated the fact for a briefmoment.

  "That is certainly one to you," he said. "Only that is not the pointfor the present. The point is, that your plot has failed, that thewoman who came here to-day wearing the Blue Stone out of pure vanity andwith no kind of _arriere pensee_ whatever, has been warned of herdanger, which she has promptly removed. She knows pretty welleverything--the way she received us showed that. She is an exceedinglyclever woman, and has a shrewd idea how to take care of herself. Has shegot the stone still?"

  Frobisher nodded gravely. Lefroy's point was worthy of consideration.

  "You mean, has she passed it on to somebody else?" he said. "She mighthave done that, but I don't fancy so, and I'll tell you why. She hasseen enough of the world to teach her not to trust anybody. Naturallyenough, she does not want her husband to be ruined, as would be the caseunless the stone was restored to Benstein's safe keeping without delay,and so she would trust to her own shrewdness to get away withoutrobbery. On the whole, she has not parted with the stone."

  A little reflection assured Lefroy of the soundness of this reasoning.The thing resolved itself into a game of hide-and-seek with a fortune atthe end of it with any luck. Up to a certain point these men werecompelled to act together, but the alliance might end at any time.

  "I can't very well abduct M
rs. Benstein till she parts with the gem," hesaid.

  "No, we can't do it, but we might find somebody who could," Frobishersmiled. "There's the Shan's minister and treacherous servant, HamidKhan, for instance. He has scant respect for the laws of this or anyother country, and he knows quite well that his master has parted withthe stone. If we could put our hands upon the amiable Hamid at thismoment----"

  "Nothing is easier. Hamid is watching in Piccadilly at this verymoment."

  "So you have got a little scheme afoot, too," Frobisher laughed. "Uponmy word I need all my wits to enable me to get the better of you, Count.How long has this been going on?"

  "Ever since the stone left the Shan's possession. Ever since then he hasbeen dogged and watched. Let me go and call Hamid in to our discussion.He knows what has happened, for I scribbled a few lines on a sheet ofpaper just now when I left your wife, and handed it to one of thesmaller spies who are loafing outside. The night is hot, and ourabsence will not be noticed. Now slip on our coats and assume to begoing to smoke a cigar in the garden. From thence we reach Piccadillyby the back way, and surprise Hamid in his dreary vigil. Then he comesback with us here. What do you say?"

  Frobisher nodded gleefully; it was an intrigue after his own heart.They passed into the cool air of the garden, and from thence into thenarrow lane at the back of the house. It was very late now, andPiccadilly was growing quiet, so that the few lounging figures therewere easily seen. A slender, brown-faced man in a dust coat and eveningdress came along smoking a cigarette. He did not appear to be in theleast interested in anything only for his restless eyes.

  "I want you," Lefroy said. "There's work to be done, Hamid."

  "Indeed, I am glad to hear that," said the other in a remarkably Englishtone of voice. "I'm getting sick to death of this eternal loafing. ButSir Clement Frobisher and Count Lefroy together! My dear Count, what areyou doing in that galley?"

  "Any galley is good enough when your own has been temporarily wrecked,"Lefroy growled. "But ask no questions for the present and come with us."

  They went back again presently in the smoking-room without havingattracted the least attention, or so at least Sir Clement Frobisherflattered himself. It would never do for the Shan to know of HamidKhan's presence in the house. But there were other watchful eyesbesides those of the Shan of Koordstan. Mrs. Benstein had seen the twomen go into the garden, and she had seen three return. She was notquite quick enough to get sight of the third, but she had a prettyshrewd idea who he was. She waited till she could have a word withAngela.

  "I want you to do something for me, at once," she said. "Sir ClementFrobisher and Count Lefroy are in the private smoking-room with a thirdperson. I want you to open the door and rush in with Sir Clement's nameupon your lips as if you are in a hurry for something. Then you canstammer an apology and close the door behind you. The great thing is toget a quick mental photograph of the third person."

  Angela nodded, she wasted no time in idle questions. In the mostnatural fashion she burst open the door and fluttered into thesmoking-room, calling upon Frobisher as she did so. Then she stammeredan apology and gently closed the door again. The third person had beenseated directly opposite to her so that she had a perfect view of hisface.

  "I see you were perfectly successful," Mrs. Benstein said.

  "Oh, absolutely," Angela replied. "It is a slender man with a deepmahogany face and curly hair, quite a handsome Asiatic, in fact; butwhat struck me more were his eyes, which are a clear light blue. Fancy,blue eyes in a face like that!"

  "Capital," Mrs. Benstein murmured. "It is exactly as I expected. No, Iam not going to say any more for the present, because I don't want tospoil your enjoyment. Now go off and flirt with that handsome youngfraud, called Aben Abdullah, when you have the chance. Only don't gowhere I shall have to hunt for you in case of dire necessity."