"I beg your pardon?"
"I said, 'How perfectly splendid.' Just like one of those books that keep you up all night. The heroine always says 'I can't explain' in me first chapter. She explains in the last, of course, and there's never any real reason why she shouldn't have done so in the beginning - except that it would spoil the story, I can't tell you how pleased I am to be mixed up in a real mystery - I didn't know there were such things. I hope it's got something to do with secret documents of immense importance, and the Balkan express. I dote upon the Balkan express.''
The girl stared at him with wide, suspicious eyes.
"What makes you say the Balkan express?" she asked sharply.
"I hope I haven't been indiscreet," George hastened to put in. "Your uncle travelled by it, perhaps."
"My uncle - " She paused, then began again, "My uncle - "
"Quite so," said George sympathetically. "I've got an uncle myself. Nobody should be held responsible for their uncles. Nature's little throwbacks - that's how I look at it."
The girl began to laugh suddenly. When she spoke, George was aware of the slight foreign inflection in her voice. At first he had taken her to be English.
"What a refreshing and unusual person you are, Mr. - "
"Rowland. George to my friends."
"My name is Elizabeth - "
She stopped abruptly.
"I like the name of Elizabeth," said George, to cover her momentary confusion. "They don't call you Bessie or anything horrible like that I hope?"
She shook her head.
"Well," said George, "now that we know each other, we'd better get down to business. If you'll stand up, Elizabeth, I'll brush down the back of your coat."
She stood up obediently, and George was as good as his word.
"Thank you, Mr. Rowland."
"George. George to my friends, remember. And you can't come into my nice empty carriage, roll under the seat, induce me to tell lies to your uncle, and then refuse to be friends, can you?"
"Thank you, George."
"That's better."
"Do I look quite all right now? asked Elizabeth, trying to see over left shoulder.
"You look - oh! you look - you look all right," said George, curbing himself sternly.
"It was all so sudden, you see," explained the girl.
"It must have been."
"He saw us in the taxi, and then at the station I just bolted in here knowing he was close behind me. Where is this train going to, by the way?"
"Rowland's Castle," said George firmly.
The girl looked puzzled.
"Rowland's Castle?"
"Not at once, of course. Only after a good deal of stopping and slow going. But I confidently expect to be there before midnight. The old South-Western was a very reliable line - slow but sure - and I'm sure the Southern Railway is keeping up the old traditions."
"I don't know that I want to go to Rowland's Castle," said Elizabeth doubtfully.
"You hurt me. It's a delightful spot."
"Have you ever been there?"
"Not exactly. But there are lots of other places you can go to, if you don't fancy Rowland's Castle. There's Woking, and Weybridge, and Wimbledon. The train is sure to stop at one or other of them."
"I see," said the girl. "Yes, I can get out there, and perhaps motor back to London. That would be the best plan, I think."
Even as she spoke, the train began to slow up. Mr. Rowland gazed at her with appealing eyes.
"If I can do anything - "
"No, indeed. You've done a lot already."
There was a pause, then the girl broke out suddenly:
"I - I wish I could explain. I - "
"For heaven's sake, don't do that! It would spoil everything. But look here, isn't there anything that I could do? Carry the secret papers to Vienna - or something of that kind? There always are secret papers. Do give me a chance."
The train had stopped. Elizabeth jumped quickly out onto the platform. She turned and spoke to him through the window.
"Are you in earnest? Would you really do something for us - for me?"
"I'd do anything in the world for you, Elizabeth."
"Even if I could give you no reasons?"
"Rotten things, reasons!"
"Even if it were - dangerous?"
"The more danger, the better."
She hesitated a minute, then seemed to make up her mind.
"Lean out of the window. Look down the platform as though you weren't really looking." Mr. Rowland endeavoured to comply with this somewhat difficult recommendation. "Do you see that man getting in - with a small dark beard - light overcoat? Follow him, see what he does and where he goes."
"Is that all?" asked Mr. Rowland. "What do I - "
She interrupted him.
"Further instructions will be sent to you. Watch him - and guard this." She thrust a small sealed packet into his hand. "Guard it with your life. It's the key to everything."
The train went on. Mr. Rowland remained staring out of the window, watching Elizabeth's tall, graceful figure threading its way down the platform. In his hand he clutched the small sealed packet.
The rest of his journey was both monotonous and uneventful. The train was a slow one. It stopped everywhere. At every station, George's head shot out of the window, in case his quarry should alight. Occasionally he strolled up and down the platform when the wait promised to be a long one, and reassured himself that the man was still there.
The eventual destination of the train was Portsmouth, and it was there that the black-bearded traveller alighted. He made his way to a small second-class hotel where he booked a room. Mr. Rowland also booked a room.
The rooms were in the same corridor, two doors from each other. The arrangement seemed satisfactory to George. He was a complete novice in the art of shadowing, but was anxious to acquit himself well, and justify Elizabeth's trust in him.
At dinner George was given a table not far from that of his quarry. The room was not full, and the majority of the diners George put down as commercial travellers, quiet respectable men who ate their food with appetite. Only one man attracted his special notice, a small man with ginger hair and moustache and a suggestion of horsiness in his apparel. He seemed to be interested in George also, and suggested a drink and a game of billiards when the meal had come to a close. But George had just espied the black-bearded man putting on his hat and overcoat, and declined politely. In another minute he was out in the street, gaining fresh insight into the difficult art of shadowing. The chase was a long and a weary one - and in the end it seemed to lead nowhere. After twisting and turning through the streets of Portsmouth for about four miles, the man returned to the hotel, George hard upon his heels. A faint doubt assailed the latter. Was it possible that the man was aware of his presence? As he debated this point, standing in the hall, the outer door was pushed open, and the little ginger man entered. Evidently he, too, had been out for a stroll.
George was suddenly aware that the beauteous damsel in the office was addressing him.
"Mr. Rowland, isn't it? Two gentlemen have called to see you. Two foreign gentlemen. They are in the little room at the end of the passage."
Somewhat astonished, George sought the room in question. Two men who were sitting there rose to their feet and bowed punctiliously.
"Mr. Rowland? I have no doubt, sir, that you can guess our identity."
George gazed from one to the other of them. The spokesman was the elder of the two, a grey-haired, pompous gentlemen who spoke excellent English. The other was a tall, somewhat pimply young man, with a blond Teutonic cast of countenance which was not rendered more attractive by the fierce scowl which he wore at the present moment.
Somewhat relieved to find that neither of his visitors was the old gentleman he had encountered at Waterloo, George assumed his most debonair manner.
"Pray sit down, gentlemen. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. How about a drink?"
The elder man
held up a protesting hand.
"Thank you, Lord Rowland - not for us. We have but a few brief moments - just time for you to answer a question."
"It's very kind of you to elect me to the peerage," said George. "I'm sorry you won't have a drink. And what s this momentous question?"
"Lord Rowland, you left London in company with a certain lady. You arrived here alone. Where is the lady?"
George rose to his feet.
"I fail to understand the question," he said coldly, speaking as much like the hero of a novel as he could. "I have the honour to wish you good-evening, gentlemen."
"But you do understand it. You understand it perfectly," cried the younger man, breaking out suddenly. "What have you done with Alexa?"
"Be calm, sir," murmured the other. "I beg of you to be calm."
"I can assure you," said George, "that I know no lady of that name. There is some mistake."
The older man was eyeing him keenly.
"That can hardly be," he said dryly. "I took the liberty of examining the hotel register. You entered yourself as Mr. G. Rowland of Rowland's Castle."
George was forced to blush.
"A - a little joke of mine," he explained feebly.
"A somewhat poor subterfuge. Come, let us not beat about the bush. Where is Her Highness?"
"If you mean Elizabeth - "
With a howl of rage the young man flung himself forward again.
"Insolent pig-dog! To speak of her thus."
"I am referring," said the other slowly, "as you very well know, to the Grand Duchess Anastasia Sophia Alexandra Marie Helena Olga Elizabeth of Catonia."
"Oh!" said Mr. Rowland helplessly.
He tried to recall all that he had ever known of Catonia. It was, as far as he remembered, a small Balkan kingdom, and he seemed to remember something about a revolution having occurred there. He rallied himself with an effort.
"Evidently we mean the same person," he said cheerfully, "only I call her Elizabeth."
"You will give me satisfaction for that," snarled the younger man. "We will fight."
"Fight?"
"A duel."
"I never fight duels," said Mr. Rowland firmly.
"Why not?" demanded the other unpleasantly.
"I'm too afraid of getting hurt."
"Aha! Is that so? Then I will at least pull your nose for you."
The young man advanced fiercely. Exactly what happened was difficult to see, but he described a sudden semicircle in the air and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. He picked himself up in a dazed manner. Mr. Rowland was smiling pleasantly.
"As I was saying," he remarked, "I'm always afraid of getting hurt. That's why I thought it well to learn jujitsu."
There was a pause. The two foreigners looked doubtfully at this amiable-looking young man, as though they suddenly realized that some dangerous quality lurked behind the pleasant nonchalance of his manner. The young Teuton was white with passion.
"You will repent this," he hissed.
The older man retained his dignity.
"That is your last word, Lord Rowland? You refuse to tell us Her Highness's whereabouts?"
"I am unaware of them myself."
"You can hardly expect me to believe that."
"I am afraid you are of an unbelieving nature, sir."
The other merely shook his head, and murmuring: "This is not the end; you will hear from us again." The two men took their leave.
George passed his hand over his brow. Events were proceeding at a bewildering rate. He was evidently mixed up in a first-class European scandal.
"It might even mean another war," said George hopefully, as he hunted round to see what had become of the man with the black beard.
To his great relief, he discovered him sitting in a corner of the commercial room. George sat down in another corner. In about three minutes the black-bearded man got up and went up to bed. George followed and saw him go into his room and close the door. George heaved a sigh of relief.
"I need a night's rest," he murmured. "Need it badly."
Then a dire thought struck him. Supposing the black-bearded man had realized that George was on his trail? Supposing that he should slip away during the night while George himself was sleeping the sleep of the just? A few minutes' reflection suggested to Mr. Rowland a way of dealing with this difficulty. He unravelled one of his socks till he got a good length of neutral-coloured wool, then creeping quietly out of his room, he pasted one end of the wool to the farther side of the stranger's door with stamp paper, carrying the wool across it and along to his own room. There he hung the end with a small silver bell - a relic of last night's entertainment. He surveyed these arrangements with a good deal of satisfaction. Should the black-bearded man attempt to leave his room, George would be instantly warned by the ringing of the bell.
This matter disposed of, George lost no time in seeking his couch. The small packet he placed carefully under his pillow. As he did so, he fell into a momentary brown study. His thoughts could have been translated thus:
"Anastasia Sophia Marie Alexandra Olga Elizabeth. Hang it all, I've missed out one. I wonder now - "
He was unable to go to sleep immediately, being tantalized with his failure to grasp the situation. What was it all about? What was the connection between the escaping Grand Duchess, the sealed packet and the black-bearded man? What was the Grand Duchess escaping from? Were the two foreigners aware that the sealed packet was in his possession? What was it likely to contain?
Pondering these matters, with an irritated sense that he was no nearer their solution, Mr. Rowland fell asleep.
He was awakened by the faint jangle of a bell. Not of those men who awake to instant action, it took him just a minute and a half to realize the situation. Then he jumped up, thrust on some slippers, and, opening the door with the utmost caution, slipped out into the corridor. A faint moving patch of shadow at the far end of the passage showed him the direction taken by his quarry. Moving as noiselessly as possible, Mr. Rowland followed the trail. He was just in time to see the black-bearded man disappear into a bathroom. That was puzzling, particularly so as there was a bathroom just opposite his own room. Moving up close to the door, which was ajar, George peered through the crack. The man was on his knees by the side of the bath, doing something to the skirting board immediately behind it. He remained there for about five minutes, then he rose to his feet, and George beat a prudent retreat. Safe in the shadow of his own door, he watched the other pass and regain his own room.
"Good," said George to himself. "The mystery of the bathroom will be investigated tomorrow morning."
He got into bed and slipped his hand under the pillow to assure himself that the precious packet was still there. In another minute, he was scattering the bedclothes in a panic. The packet was gone!
It was a sadly chastened George who sat consuming eggs and bacon the following morning. He had failed Elizabeth. He had allowed the precious packet she had entrusted to his charge to be taken from him, and the "Mystery of the Bathroom" was miserably inadequate. Yes, undoubtedly George had made a mutt of himself.
After breakfast he strolled upstairs again. A chambermaid was standing in the passage looking perplexed.
"Anything wrong, my dear?" said George kindly.
"It's the gentleman here, sir. He asked to be called at half-past eight, and I can't get any answer and the door's locked."
"You don't say so," said George.
An uneasy feeling arose in his own breast. He hurried into his room. Whatever plans he was forming were instantly brushed aside by a most unexpected sight. There on the dressing table was the little packet which had been stolen from him the night before!
George picked it up and examined it. Yes, it was undoubtedly the same. But the seals had been broken. After a minute's hesitation, he unwrapped it. If other people had seen its contents, there was no reason why he should not see them also. Besides, it was possible that the contents had been abstracted. The unwound
paper revealed a small cardboard box, such as jewellers use. George opened it. Inside, nestling on a bed of cotton wool, was a plain gold wedding ring.
He picked it up and examined it. There was no inscription inside - nothing whatever to mark it out from any other wedding ring. George dropped his head into his hands with a groan.
"Lunacy," he murmured. "That's what it is. Stark, staring lunacy. There's no sense anywhere."
Suddenly he remembered the chambermaid's statement, and at the same time he observed that there was a broad parapet outside the window. It was not a feat he would ordinarily have attempted, but he was so aflame with curiosity and anger that he was in the mood to make light of difficulties. He sprang upon the window sill. A few seconds later he was peering in at the window of the room occupied by the black-bearded man. The window was open and the room was empty. A little farther along was a fire escape. It was clear how the quarry had taken his departure.
George jumped in through the window. The missing man's effects were still scattered about. There might be some clue among them to shed light on George's perplexities. He began to hunt about, starting with the contents of a battered kit bag.
It was a sound that arrested his search - a very slight sound, but a sound indubitably in the room. George's glance leapt to the big wardrobe. He sprang up and wrenched open the door. As he did so, a man jumped out from it and went rolling over the floor locked in George's embrace. He was no mean antagonist. All George's special tricks availed very little. They fell apart at length in sheer exhaustion, and for the first time George saw who his adversary was. It was the little man with the ginger moustache!
"Who the devil are you?" demanded George.
For answer the other drew out a card and handed it to him. George read it aloud.
"Detective-Inspector Jarrold, Scotland Yard."
"That's right, sir. And you'd do well to tell me all you know about this business."
"I would, would I?" said George thoughtfully. "Do you know, inspector, I believe you're right. Shall we adjourn to a more cheerful spot?"
In a quiet corner of the bar George unfolded his soul. Inspector Jarrold listened sympathetically.
"Very puzzling, as you say, sir," he remarked when George had finished. "There's a lot as I can't make head or tail of myself, but there's one or two points I can clear up for you. I was here after Mardenberg (your black-bearded friend) and your turning up and watching him the way you did made me suspicious. I couldn't place you. I slipped into your room last night when you were out of it, and it was I who sneaked the little packet from under your pillow. When I opened it and found it wasn't what I was after, I took the first opportunity of returning it to your room."
The Listerdale Mystery and Eleven Other Stories Page 6