CHAPTER XXI
It was a full minute later and in all that minute's length no onehad spoken, no one had made a single sound.
The shock, the shame, of such a confession, telling, as it did, whyhe had attempted to destroy himself, had crumpled the man up, takenall the vitality out of him. He faced round and leaned his bent armagainst the wall of the stable, hid his face in the crook of it, andCleek, pitying him, let him have that minute all to himself. Then:
"Come," he said, very gently, going over to him and patting him onthe shoulder. "Buck up! Buck up! There's nothing in all the worldso deceptive as appearances, Sir Mawson; perhaps, when I've heardthe facts----Well, haven't I told you that I am out for a pair ofexpert jewel thieves, and that that necklace is just the sort ofthing they'd be likely to make play for? How do you know, then, thatthey didn't?"
"I wish I could believe that, I wish I could even hope it," he gaveback miserably. "But you don't know the facts, Mr. Cleek."
"To be sure I don't; and they're what I'm after. Let's have them,please. To begin with, how came the Ladder of Light to be in yourpossession at all?"
"It was brought to me yesterday--for repairing--by the Ranee's own_major domo_. Not a mere _cice_, Mr. Cleek, but the most trusted ofall her henchmen. Three of the narrow gold links which hold thestones together had worn thin and needed strengthening. It was fouro'clock in the afternoon when he arrived, and the Ranee, he said, hadselected our house for the work on the recommendation of royalty.There was several hours' work on the thing--I saw that the instant Iexamined it. But I was appalled by the fearful responsibility ofhaving a jewel of such fabulous value on the premises--with peopleconstantly coming in and going out--and determined, therefore, totake it home and do the repairs myself. I informed the Ranee's_major domo_ of that resolution, and demanded of him a guard of theRanee's own attendants to accompany me on the journey and to keepwatch over my house until he should come in person to receive thenecklace to-day.
"He accorded me this willingly; departed--still retainingpossession of the jewel, for I would not have it left with me atany cost--returned with the guard an hour later, handed me the casecontaining the necklace, and I left for home a few minutes afterfive--and the Hindu guard with me. On arriving----"
"One moment, please," interposed Cleek. "Did you examine the case tosee if the Ladder of Light was still there before you started?"
"Yes, Mr. Cleek. I have no very great faith in Hindus at any time, soyou may be sure I took that precaution the instant the man placedthe case in my hands. The necklace was there. I even went further.Before leaving my place of business I submitted the stones tochemical test to be sure that no substitution had been made. Theywere absolutely genuine; so that there can be no shadow of doubtthat it was the Ladder of Light itself I carried home with me. Onarriving at my residence I stationed the two Hindu guards at thefront gate, entered the house, and was upon the point of goingimmediately to my study to subject the stones to yet another chemicaltest--to make sure that no trickery had been practised upon me by theHindus on the journey--when I was unexpectedly pounced upon in themain hallway by my son, Henry, who was in a greatly excited stateand attempted to renew the subject of our unpleasant interviewof the day before."
Here Sir Mawson's voice grew curiously thick and unsteady. He pauseda moment as if ashamed to go on, then stiffened himself and continued.
"Mr. Cleek," he said, agitatedly, "it is necessary that I should tellyou, at this point, something with regard to those who make up themembers of my household."
"You needn't. I have already heard. Lady Leake is, I believe, yoursecond wife, and you have two sons."
"No--three," he corrected. "Henry, my eldest, who is twenty-four andis the only survivor of the children of my first and most unhappymarriage; Curzon, who is just entering his twenty-first year, andBevis, who has not yet turned seven, and is, of course, still inthe nursery. I may as well admit to you, Mr. Cleek, that my firstmarriage was a failure; that it was none of my own choosing, but wasconsummated in deference to the will and wishes of my parents. Wewere utterly unsuited to each other, my first wife and I, and it is,no doubt, only natural that the son she left me when death deliveredus both from an irksome bondage should reflect in himself someof those points of difference which made our union a mistake.
"Don't misunderstand me, however. He is very dear to me--dear, too,to his stepmother, who loves him as her own, and the one strongfeature in his character is the love he gives her in return. Then,too, he is my first born, my heir, and no man fails to love thatfirst child that ever called him father."
"No man could fail to love this particular one at all events, Mr.Cleek," put in her ladyship. "Wild, reckless, extravagant--yes! Butat heart, the dearest boy!"
"Just so!" interposed Cleek. "But let us get on, please. So this'dearest boy' had an unpleasant interview with you the day beforeyesterday, did he, Sir Mawson? What was it about?"
"The usual thing--money. He is extravagant to the point of insanity.I've paid his debts until my patience is quite worn out, hopingagainst hope that he will reform. At that interview, however, heasked for a thing I would _not_ listen to--L200 to settle agambling debt at his club: to take up an I. O. U. that would gethim blacklisted as a defaulter if it were not met. 'Then getblacklisted!' I said to him, 'if there's no other way to cut you offfrom the worthless lot you associate yourself with. You'll notget one farthing from me to settle any such disgraceful thing as agambling debt, rest assured of that!' Then I walked out of theroom and left him, and that was the last I saw of him until hepounced upon me in the hall yesterday when I was going to mystudy with the case containing the Ranee's necklace.
"That was the subject he wanted to renew. He'd been to town, hesaid, and had had a talk with the man to whom he had given theI. O. U., 'and dad, if you'll only do it just this once--just thisone last _once_!' he was saying when I interrupted him. 'I've notime to listen now, and no inclination. I've important business toattend to,' I said, then waved him aside and went into the study andlocked the door while I attended to the matter of applying the acidtest to the diamonds for the second time.
"Meanwhile, he had gone up to Lady Leake's boudoir to implore her touse her influence with me, and he was still there when, after thestones had again answered to the acid test, I carried the necklace upthere (to leave it in her charge for the brief time it would take meto prepare the tools and materials for the work in hand) and toldher all about it. But I didn't know that at the time, Mr. Cleek, forhe was sitting in a deep, cushioned armchair at the far end of theroom, and the tall back of that chair was turned toward me. Indeed, Ihadn't the faintest suspicion that there was anybody but Lady Leakeand myself in the room until he got up suddenly and said, 'Dad,you aren't too busy to listen now! Won't you let me ask you what Iwas going to do downstairs? Won't you, dad? Please!'
Cleek hears that the fabulous "Ladder of Light" isback in London again.]
Young Mawson overhears his parents discussing theproblem of the jewel. "He is extravagant to the point of insanity,"said Sir Mawson.]
"Of course he had heard what I had said, Mr. Cleek--although I nevergave a thought to that at the time--and as Lady Leake had, womanlike,taken the gorgeous necklace out of the case, held it up to her neckand was then viewing herself in her dressing mirror, it followedthat he also saw. But how could I dream of there being anything inthat to regret, and he a son of mine? It was only--afterward--whenit came back to my memory----Good God! it is too horrible tothink of even now, much less to talk about!"
"Steady, steady, Sir Mawson!" sounded Cleek's soothing voice. "Brakeson! Sidetrack your emotions if you can and stick to the mainline!Well, what followed?"
"I have no very clear recollection, Mr. Cleek, for just then LadyLeake chose to add her entreaties to his, and to ask me if I wouldpermit her to draw her next quarter's pin money in advance andlet her take up the I. O. U. for him. But I was so furious at thethought of his skulking in like a beggar and a cad, and trying to'bleed' her, that I flew i
nto a violent rage, ordered him out ofthe room instantly, and forbade his stepmother to lend or give himone farthing either then or at any time thereafter. 'There will beno gambler's I. O. U.'s taken up for you by anybody in this house,'I flung at him. 'If you are in debt, get out of it in your own wayand as best you can!'
"I think that even then I was conscious of a sense of gratificationat the way he took that ultimatum, Mr. Cleek, for instead of whininglike a whipped cur, he pulled himself up straight and strong,clicked his heels together, and said very quietly, 'All right, sir,I'll take you at your word. Thank you for past favours. Good-bye!'and then walked out of the room. That was the last I have seen orheard of him."
"H'm! Leave the house, did he?"
"Yes--but not then. That was a few minutes before seven. A servantsaw him on the top landing coming out of his own room with somethingwrapped up in a parcel, after that. And another, who was busycleaning up in the lower hall, saw him come down and go out atten minutes past."
"And in the meantime, the Ladder of Light had vanished?"
"Yes. After Henry had left the boudoir I had a few minutes' heatedargument with Lady Leake; then, remembering the work I had in hand,I left the necklace in her charge and hurried away to rig up atemporary workshop. It was about twenty minutes past seven when Ifinished doing that, and went back to Lady Leake's boudoir to get thejewel. I found her in a state of the wildest excitement, flyingabout the room like an insane woman and searching everywhere. Thenecklace was gone! Only for one single minute of time had it beenout of her sight, yet in that minute it had vanished, utterly andcompletely, and there was not a trace of it to be found anywhere."
"H'm! Just so! Case gone, too, Sir Mawson?"
"No! That was still there, lying on her dressing-table, but it wasempty."
"I see. So, then, it could not have been that that was wrapped upin the parcel your son was seen carrying. Anybody in that room afterSir Mawson left you, your ladyship?"
"Not a living soul, Mr. Cleek."
"Could no one have stolen it without your knowledge?"
"That would be impossible. I locked the door the instant Sir Mawsonleft me."
"Ah, then, of course! Another question, please. Sir Mawson has spokenof there being 'one single minute' when the necklace was not directlyunder your eyes. When was that?"
"When I left the room, Mr. Cleek."
"Oho! Then you did leave it, eh?"
"Yes. It was thoughtless of me, of course; but I only ran down tothe foot of the staircase, when I remembered, and ran back in aperfect panic. Still I had locked the door in going out even thenand the key was in my hand. It was still locked when I returned,but in that one single minute the necklace had disappeared. I wasgratifying my woman's vanity by holding it up to my throat andviewing myself in the glass just an instant before, and I rememberperfectly, laying it down on the velvet lining of its open case atthe time I recollected the matter which caused me to leave the room."
"May I ask what that matter was?"
"Yes. A service I had promised to perform for Miss Eastman."
"Miss Eastman? Who is she?"
"My son's fiancee. She and her father are visiting us at present.Curzon met and became engaged to Miss Eastman on the occasion of herlast visit to England, and this time her father is accompanying her."
"Her last _visit?_ Then the lady and her father are not English?"
"Oh, dear, no--Americans. They came over less than a week ago.Pardon? No, I do not at the moment recall the name of the vessel,Mr. Cleek, but whichever one it was it seems to have been a veryill-conditioned affair and gave them a very bad crossing, indeed.That is why I had to render Miss Eastman the service of which Ispoke--the sudden recollection of which caused me to lay down thenecklace and hurry from the room. I had forgotten all about it untilI happened to see the roll of lint on my dressing-table."
"Lint, Lady Leake? What on earth had lint to do with the matter?"
"I had bought it for Miss Eastman when I was in town this morning.She asked me to, as she had used her last clean bandage yesterday.She had a very bad fall on shipboard, Mr. Cleek, and injured her lefthand severely!"
Narkom made a curious sort of gulping sound, whipped out hishandkerchief and began to dab his bald spot, and looked round atCleek out of the tail of his eye. But Cleek neither moved norspoke nor made any sign--merely pushed his lower lip out over hisupper one and stood frowning at the stable door.
And here--just here--a strange and even startling thing occurred.With just one hoarse "Toot-toot!" to give warning of its coming, apublic taxi swung round the curve of the road, jerked itself up toa sudden standstill within a rope's cast of the spot where the fourwere standing, and immediately there rang forth a rollicking, happyyouthful voice crying out, as the owner of it stood up and touched anupright forefinger to his numbered cap, in jolly mimicry of theHanson cabman of other days: "Keb, sir? Keb, mum? Keb! Keb!" andhard on the heels of that flung out a laughing, "Hullo, mater?Hullo, dad? you dear old Thunder Box! I say! 'How does this sortof thing get you?' as Katie Eastman says. Buttons all over me,like a blooming Bobby! What?"
And it needed no more than that to assure Cleek and Mr. Narkomthat in the bright-eyed, bonny-faced, laughing young fellow whojumped down from the driver's seat at this, and stood up straightand strong, and displayed his taxicabman's livery unabashed andunashamed, they were looking upon Sir Mawson Leake's eldest sonand--heir!
"Henry!" The voice was Lady Leake's, and there was pain and surpriseand joy and terror all jumbled up in it curiously, as she ran to him."Henry! Is it really _you?_"
"'Sure thing!'--to quote Katie again. Just took a spin over toshow myself off. Plenty of brass trimmings! What? I thought, dad,you'd like to be sure that I really am done with the clubs at last.Not because they blacklisted me--for they didn't--but because--ohwell, _you_ know. No taxicabmen need apply--that sort of thing.I'll be invited to resign from every blessed one of them to-morrow,and there's not a chap connected with any one of 'em who'd be seentaking a match from me to light his cigarette with after this.All the same, though, I go out of them with a clean slate, andthat's all I cared about. I did get that two hundred after all,pater. Curzon and Katie raised it for me between them--out of theirown private accounts, you know--and as driving a car is the onlything I really do understand, I'm earning the money to pay them backthis way."
"That's the stuff, by Jupiter! That's the stuff!" rapped out Cleek,impulsively. "You ought to have known from the first, Sir Mawson,that they don't make thieves of this sort of material?"
"Thieves? What do you mean by thieves? And who the dickens are you,anyway? I say, dad, who's this johnnie? What's he driving at? Whatdoes he mean by talking about thieves?"
"The necklace--the Ranee's necklace! The Ladder of Light!" bleatedSir Mawson feebly. "It is gone! It is lost! It went when _you_ went.There has been no trace of it since." Then he joined Lady Leake, andplucked at the boy's sleeve, and between them out came the wholemiserable story.
"And you think that I stole it? You dare to think that?" flung outhis son, jerking back from him and brushing aside Lady Leake'ssolicitous hand. "Very well, then, think what you jolly well please!I'm done with the lot of you!"
And after that--the Deluge! Speaking, he turned on his heel andrushed back to his taxi, wrenched open its door, revealing whatnone of them had suspected before, because of the drawn curtains:that the vehicle was occupied--and sang out in a fine fury, "Pull upthe blinds, Curz. Come out, old chap. Come out, Major! Come out,Katie--all of you--at once! There isn't going to be any 'jolly lark,'any 'pleasant surprise,' any 'killing of the fatted calf.' Thisisn't a comedy--it's a tragedy! Hop out lively--the lot of you! I'mdone with my father, and I've got to get back to my place in theranks as fast as I can fly. I'll pay you back, Katie. I'll pay youback, Curz, old chap! Yes, by God! I will if I drive this thing nightand day without sleeping!"
Then came a sudden banging of the taxi's door, a hoot from thehorn as he jumped back to his seat and sounded a warning note, andin
the winking of an eye he was off and away, and there in theroad stood a stout, pleasant-faced old gentleman, a youth with abudding moustache, and a bright-faced, fairylike little lady ofabout eighteen, all three of whom were standing stock still andstaring after the vanishing taxi in the blankest of blank amazement.Of a sudden, however:
"My goodness, popper, I guess Curzon and I have sort of muffed itsomehow!" the little lady said, forlornly.
"I guess you have, honey--I guess you have. Anyhow, something's gonebust, that's a sure thing! Let's go and ask Sir Mawson what it's allabout."
"Yes, let us by all means," put in the younger man. "Come on!"
Mr. Narkom, who heard these things, drew closer to Cleek, looked upat him anxiously, and contrived to whisper an inquiry which fell onlyupon his ally's ears.
"Found out anything, old chap?"
"Yes. From their words it is clear that Sir Mawson has taken nobodyin the house--even his son, Curzon--into his confidence regarding thelost necklace."
"I don't mean that--I'm alluding to the others. Found out anythingabout _them_?"
"Yes, and a very important thing, too: They are _not_ DiamondNick and Dutch Ella. Not in the least like them, neither are theydisguised. Also, Miss Eastman's injury is only a sprained wrist, itappears. You observe she does not even attempt to cover the back ofher hand. I'm afraid, Mr. Narkom, you've been barking up the wrongtree."
Cleek of Scotland Yard: Detective Stories Page 22