by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVII.
NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.
"It seems to me, Hilda, that somehow or other we are wasting our time,"Netta said one morning suddenly, as they were sitting together.
"How do you mean, Netta?"
"Well, you see, we relied a great deal on being able to overhearconversation from a distance; and, except those few words we gathered inthe Park, we have absolutely done nothing that way."
"But how can we do more than we are doing?"
"I don't know; that is what is troubling me. You know, dear, that I amquite content to give up my own work to help you. At first, of course,aunt and I would have stayed here, at any rate for a time, to keep youcompany; but your uncle has been dead now for more than eight months,and time is going on. If I were really helping you I would stop, if itwere five years; but in fact I am not helping you in the way weintended."
"You are helping me, Netta!" Hilda exclaimed with tears in her eyes."How should I have got on through all this sad time if you had not beenhere to comfort and cheer me?"
"Yes, but the necessity for that is over. You have your friends, andthough you don't go out yet, you often go to Lady Moulton's and some ofyour other friends', and they come to see you."
"Yes, and you will never go with me, Netta, nor see them when theycome."
"No, dear; I have nothing in common with them. I do not know the peopleof whom you talk, and should simply sit there uncomfortably, so I preferto be out of it altogether. Then I really miss my work. Ever since youcame to us some eight years ago I have been teaching eight or ten hoursa day. I like the work; it is immensely interesting, and I am happy inseeing my pupils improve."
"And all this means," Hilda said sorrowfully, "you are going to say thatit is time for you to go back."
"No, it does not necessarily mean that--there is an alternative; I musteither be doing something or go back."
"But, as I said before, Netta, what can we do, more than we have done?"
"That is what I have been thinking, Hilda. Anyhow, I mean to try to dosomething before I give it up and go to Germany again."
"I warn you, Netta, that I shall be furious if you do that. I am my ownmistress now, for Mr. Pettigrew will let me do as I like now I amnineteen, and am quite determined that our old plan shall be carriedout, and that you shall start an institution like that of ProfessorMenzel somewhere near London. You have been twelve months away, yourpupils have already taken to other teachers, and there cannot be theleast occasion for your assistance in an institution that is now wellstocked with teachers, while here you could do enormous good. Anyhow,whether you stay or not, I shall, as soon as all this is settled, take alarge house standing in its own grounds, in some healthy place nearLondon, and obtain teachers."
"Well, we need not talk of that just yet," Netta said quietly; "it willbe time enough when I have failed in carrying out my plans."
"But what are your plans?"
"I have not quite settled myself; and when I do I mean to work entirelyin my own way, and shall say nothing about it until I come to you andsay I have succeeded, or I have failed."
Hilda opened her eyes in surprise.
"But why should I be kept in the dark?"
"Because, dear, you might not approve of my plans," Netta repliedcoolly.
"You are not thinking of doing anything foolish, I hope?" Hildaexclaimed.
"If it were foolish it would be excusable where the counsels of wisdomhave failed," Netta laughed; and then more seriously, "Nothing would befoolish if it could possibly lead to the discovery of Walter's hidingplace."
That afternoon, when Hilda drove out with Miss Purcell to make somecalls, Netta rang the bell, and when Tom Roberts came in she said:
"I want to have a long talk with you, Roberts. But mind, what I say isto be kept a perfect secret between ourselves."
"Yes, miss," he said in surprise.
"Now, sit down," she went on; "we can talk more comfortably so. Now,Roberts, there is no doubt that we are not making much headway with oursearch."
"That we are not, Miss Netta," he agreed. "I did think that we hadgained something when we traced him to that house on Pentonville Hill,but it does not seem that anything has come of it, after all."
"Then it is quite time that we took some other steps," she saiddecisively.
"I am ready, miss," he replied eagerly. "You tell me what to do, and Iam game to do it."
"Well, there are two or three things I have in my mind. First of all, Iwant to be able to watch John Simcoe and this Pentonville man when theyare talking together."
"Yes, I understand," he said; "but how is it to be done?"
"That is what I want to find out. Now, in the first place, about thishouse. Which way did the window look of the room where there was alight?"
"That window was at the side of the house, miss; a little way round thecorner. We noticed the light there, but there was another window lookingout on the front. We did not see any light there, as the shutters wereclosed."
"And you say that the curtains of the other window were pulled veryclose?"
"Yes, they crossed each other most of the way down."
"Now, the question in my mind, Roberts, is which would be easier--to cuta slit in the curtain, or to bore a hole in the shutter, or to take abrick out carefully from the side wall and then to deepen the hole untilwe got to the wall-paper, and then make a slight hole there?"
Roberts looked at her with astonishment. "Do you really mean it, miss?"
"Certainly I mean it; it seems to me that our only chance of everfinding Walter is to overhear those men's talk."
"Then, miss, I should say that the simplest way would be to cut a windowpane out."
"Yes; but, you see, it is pretty certain that that curtain will not bedrawn until they come in, and they would notice it at once. If we tookout a pane in the front window the shutter would prevent our seeing orhearing, and the man would be sure to notice the pane was missing as hewalked up from the gate to the house."
"I should say, miss, that the best plan would be for me to manage to getinto the house some time during the day and to hide in that room, underthe table or sofa or somewhere, and listen to them."
She shook her head.
"In the first place, Roberts, you would certainly be murdered if theyfound you there."
"I would take my chance of that, miss; and you may be sure that I wouldtake a brace of the General's pistols with me, and they would not findit such easy work to get rid of me."
"That may be so," Netta said, "but if in the struggle you shot themboth, our last chance of ever hearing of Walter would be gone. Youyourself might be tried for murder, and it would be assumed, of course,that you were a burglar; for the explanation that you had broken intothe house only to hear a conversation would scarcely be believed.Moreover, you must remember that we don't know how often these menmeet. Simcoe has not been there since you tracked him there six monthsago, and the only thing we have since found out is that the man I sawhim with in the park is the man who lives in that house. It would neverdo for you to make an entrance into the house night after night and weekafter week, to run the risk of being detected there, or seized as youentered, or caught by the police as a burglar. No, as far as I can see,the only safe plan is to get out a brick very carefully in the side walland to make a hole behind it through the paper. It might be necessary tomake an entry into the house before this was done, so as to decide whichwas the best spot for an opening. A great deal would depend upon thepaper in the room. If it is a light paper, with only a small amount ofpattern upon it, any hole large enough to see through might be noticed.If it is a dark paper, well covered, a hole might be made without anyfear of its catching the eye. You see, it must be a rather large hole,for, supposing the wall is only nine inches thick, a person standingoutside could not see what was passing inside unless the hole were agood size."
"But I doubt much if you would be able to hear them, Miss Netta."
"No, I don't think that I should
; especially as people talking of thingsof that sort, even if they had no great fear of being overheard, wouldspeak in a low voice. But that would not matter if I could see theirfaces. I should know what they were saying."
Roberts did not think it right to offer any remark on what appeared tohim to be impossible, and he confined himself to saying in a respectfulvoice, "Indeed, Miss Netta."
"I am stone-deaf," she said, "but have learned to read what people aresaying from the movement of their lips."
Although the "Indeed, miss," was as respectful as before, Netta saw thathe did not in the slightest degree believe her.
"Just go to the other end of the room, Roberts, and make some remark toyourself. Move your lips in the same way as if you were talking, but donot make any sound."
Roberts, with military obedience, marched to the other end of the room,placed himself in a corner, and turned round, facing her. His lipsmoved, and, confident that she could not know what he was saying, heexpressed his natural sentiments.
The girl at once repeated the words: "Well, I'm jiggered! This is a rumstart; Miss Netta has gone clean off her head."
Roberts' jaw dropped, and he flushed up to the hair.
"I am sure," he began; but he was stopped by the girl's merry laugh.
"Do not apologize, Roberts; it was natural enough that you should besurprised. Well, you see I can do as I say. We will now go on with ourtalk."
Greatly abashed, Tom Roberts returned to the chair, murmuring to himselfas he sat down, "Well, I'm blowed!" when he was roughly recalled to thenecessity of keeping his mouth shut by her quiet remark, "Never mindabout being blowed at present, Roberts; let us talk over another plan.Who are the keepers of the house in Jermyn Street?"
"It is kept by a man and his wife, miss. He has been a butler, Ibelieve, and his wife was a cook. He waits upon the gentlemen who lodgethere, and she cooks. They have a girl who sweeps and does the bedroomsand the scrubbing and that sort of thing."
"What sort of a girl is she, Roberts?"
"She seems a nice sort of young woman, miss. Andrew has spoken to hermore than I have, because, you see, my get-up aint likely to take muchwith a young girl."
"I suppose she is not very much attached to her place?"
"Lor', no, miss; she told Andrew that she was only six months up fromthe country, and they don't pay her but eight pounds a year, and prettyhard work she has to do for it."
"Well, Roberts, I want to take her place."
"You want----" and Roberts' voice failed him in his astonishment.
"Yes, I want to take her place, Roberts. I should think that if you orAndrew were to tell her that you have a friend up from the country whowants just such a place, and is ready to pay five pounds to get one, shemight be ready to take the offer; especially as you might say that youknew of a lady who is in want of an under-housemaid and you thought thatyou could get her the place."
"As to that, miss, I have no doubt that she would leave to-morrow, ifshe could get five pounds. She told Andrew that she hated London, andshould go down home and take a country place as soon as she had saved upmoney to do so."
"All the better, Roberts; then all she would have to do would be to saythat she had heard of a place near home, and wanted to leave at once.She did not wish to inconvenience them, but that she had a cousin whowas just coming up to London and wanted a place, and that she would jumpat it. She could say that her cousin had not been in service before, butthat she was a thorough good cleaner and hard worker."
"And do you mean that you would go as a servant, Miss Netta? Why, itwould not be right for you to do so."
"Anything would be right that led to the discovery of Walter's hidingplace, Roberts. I have been accustomed to teaching, and I have helped myaunt to look after the house for years, and I do not in the slightestdegree mind playing the part of a servant for a short time, in order totry and get at the bottom of this matter. You think that it can bemanaged?"
"I am sure it can be managed right enough, miss; but what Miss Covingtonwould say, if she knew that I had a hand in bringing it about, I can'tsay."
"Well, you won't be drawn into the matter. I shall say enough to my auntto satisfy her that I am acting for the best, and shall simply, when Igo, leave a note for your mistress, telling her that I have gone to workout an idea that I have had in my mind, and that it would be no use forher to inquire into the matter until she hears of me again."
"What am I to tell Andrew, miss?"
"Simply tell him that a young woman has been engaged to watch Simcoe inhis lodgings. Then tell him the story he has to tell the girl. I shallwant three or four days to get my things ready. I shall have to go to adressmaker's and tell her that I want three or four print gowns for ayoung servant about my own figure, and as soon as they are ready I shallbe ready, too."
"Well, miss, I will do as you tell me, but I would say, quiterespectful, I hope that you will bear in mind, if things goes wrong,that I was dead against it, and that it was only because you said thatit was our only chance of finding Master Walter that I agreed to lend ahand."
"I will certainly bear that in mind," Netta said with a smile. "Talk itover with Andrew to-night; but remember he is only to know that a youngwoman has been engaged to keep a watch on Simcoe."
"He will be glad enough to hear, miss, that someone else is going to dosomething. He says the Colonel is so irritable because he has found outso little that there is no bearing with him."
"The Colonel is trying," Netta laughed. "As you know, he comes here twoor three times a week and puts himself into such rages that, as hestamps up and down the room, I expect to hear a crash and to find thatthe dining-room ceiling has fallen down. He is a thoroughly kind-heartedman, but is a dreadful specimen of what an English gentleman may come toafter he has had the command of an Indian regiment for some years, andbeen accustomed to have his will obeyed in everything. It is very badfor a man."
"It is a good deal worse for his servant, miss," Tom Roberts said, in atone of deep sympathy for his comrade. "I doubt whether I could havestood it myself; but though Andrew expresses his feelings strongsometimes, I know that if you offered him a good place, even inBuckingham Palace, he would not leave the Colonel."
Two days later Netta heard that the girl in Jermyn Street had joyfullyaccepted the offer, and had that morning told her master that she hadheard that she was wanted badly at home, and that a cousin of hers wouldbe up in a day or two, and would, she was sure, be very glad to take herplace. The master agreed to give her a trial, if she looked a clean andtidy girl.
"I shall be clean and tidy, Roberts; and I am sure I shall do noinjustice to her recommendation."
Roberts shook his head. The matter was, to his mind, far too serious tobe joked about, and he almost felt as if he were acting in a treasonablesort of way in aiding to carry out such a project.
On the following Monday Hilda, on coming down to breakfast, found a noteon the table. She opened it in haste, seeing that it was in Netta'shandwriting, and her eyes opened in surprise and almost dismay as sheread:
"MY DARLING HILDA: I told you that I had a plan. Well, I am off to carry it out. It is of no use your asking what it is, or where I am going. You will hear nothing of me until I return to tell you whether I have failed or succeeded. Aunt knows what I am going to do."
Hilda at once ran upstairs to Miss Purcell's room.
"Where has Netta gone?" she exclaimed. "Her letter has given me quite aturn. She says that you know; but I feel sure that it is something veryfoolish and rash."
"I thought that you had a better opinion of Netta's common sense," MissPurcell said placidly, smiling a little at Hilda's excitement. "It isher arrangement, dear, and not mine, and I am certainly not at libertyto give you any information about it. I do not say that I should nothave opposed it in the first instance, had I known of it, but Icertainly cannot say that there is anything foolish in it, and I admitthat it seems to me to offer a better chance of success than any planthat has yet been tr
ied. I don't think there is any occasion for anxietyabout her. Netta has thought over her plans very carefully, and has goneto work in a methodical way; she may fail, but if so I don't think thatit will be her fault."
"But why could she not tell me as well as you?" Hilda asked ratherindignantly.
"Possibly because she did not wish to raise hopes that might not befulfilled; but principally, I own, because she thought you would raiseobjections to it, and she was bent upon having her own way. She hasseconded you well, my dear, all through this business."
"Yes, I know, aunt; she has been most kind in every respect."
"Well, my dear, then don't grudge her having a little plan of her own."
"I don't grudge her a bit," Hilda said impetuously, "and, as you arequite satisfied, I will try to be quite satisfied too. But, you see, ittook me by surprise; and I was so afraid that she might do somethingrash and get into trouble somehow. You know really I am quite afraid ofthis man, and would certainly far rather run a risk myself than let herdo so."
"Of that I have no doubt, Hilda; but I am quite sure that, if the casehad been reversed, you would have undertaken this little plan that shehas hit upon, to endeavor to relieve her of a terrible anxiety, just asshe is doing for you."
"Well, I will be patient, aunt. How long do you think that she will beaway?"
"That is more than I can tell you; but at any rate she has promised towrite me a line at least twice a week, and, should I think it right, Ican recall her."
"That is something, aunt. You cannot guess whether it is likely to be aweek or a month?"
Miss Purcell shook her head.
"It will all depend upon whether she succeeds in hitting upon a clew asto where Walter is. If she finds that she has no chance of so doing shewill return; if, on the other hand, she thinks that there is aprobability that with patience she will succeed, she will continue towatch and wait."
"Miss Netta is not ill, I hope, miss?" Roberts said, when he came in toclear the breakfast things away.
"No she has gone away on a short visit," Hilda replied. Had she beenwatching the old soldier's face, she might have caught a slightcontortion that would have enlightened her as to the fact that he knewmore than she did about the matter; but she had avoided looking at him,lest he should read in her face that she was in ignorance as to Netta'swhereabouts. She would have liked to have asked when she went; whethershe took a box with her, and whether she had gone early that morning orlate the evening before; but she felt that any questions of the sortwould show that she was totally in the dark as to her friend'smovements. In fact Netta had walked out early that morning, having sentoff a box by the carrier on the previous Saturday when Hilda was out;Roberts having himself carried it to the receiving house.
It was four or five days before Dr. Leeds called again.
"Is Miss Purcell out?" he asked carelessly, when some little time hadelapsed without her making her appearance.
"Is that asked innocently, Dr. Leeds?" Hilda said quickly.
The doctor looked at her in genuine surprise.
"Innocently, Miss Covington? I don't think that I quite understand you."
"I see, doctor, that I have been in error. I suspected you of being anaccomplice of Netta's in a little scheme in which she is engaged on herown account." And she then told him about her disappearance, of theletter that she had received, and of the conversation with her aunt.Dr. Leeds was seriously disturbed.
"I need hardly say that this comes as a perfect surprise to me, MissCovington, and I say frankly a very unpleasant one. But the onlysatisfactory feature is that the young lady's aunt does not absolutelydisapprove of the scheme, whatever it is, although it is evident thather approval is by no means a warm one. This is a very serious matter. Ihave the highest opinion of your friend's judgment and sense, but I ownthat I feel extremely uneasy at the thought that she has, so to speak,pitted herself against one of the most unscrupulous villains I have evermet, whose past conduct shows that he would stop at nothing, and who isplaying for a very big stake. It would be as dangerous to interferebetween a tiger and his prey as to endeavor to discover the secret onwhich so much depends."
"I feel that myself, doctor, and I own that I'm exceedingly anxious.Aunt has had two short letters from her. Both are written in pencil, butthe envelope is in ink, and in her usual handwriting. I should think itprobable that she took with her several directed envelopes. The lettersare very short. The first was: 'I am getting on all right, aunt, and amcomfortable. Too early to say whether I am likely to discover anything.Pray do not fidget about me, nor let Hilda do so. There is nothing to beuneasy about.' The second was as nearly as possible in the same words,except that she said, 'You and Hilda must be patient. Rome was not builtin a day, and after so many clever people have failed you cannot expectthat I can succeed all at once.'"
"That is good as far as it goes," the doctor said, "but you see it doesnot go very far. It is not until success is nearly reached that thedanger will really begin. I do not mind saying to you that Miss Purcellis very dear to me. I have not spoken to her on the subject, as I wishedto see how my present partnership was likely to turn out. I am whollydependent upon my profession, and until I felt my ground thoroughly Idetermined to remain silent. You can imagine, therefore, how troubled Iam at your news. Were it not that I have such implicit confidence in herjudgment I should feel it still more; but even as it is, when I thinkhow unscrupulous and how desperate is the man against whom she has,single-handed, entered the lists, I cannot but be alarmed."
"I am very glad at what you have told me, doctor. I had a little hopethat it might be so. It seemed to me impossible that you could be livingfor four months with such a dear girl without being greatly attracted byher. Of course I know nothing of her feelings. The subject is one thathas never been alluded to between us, but I am sure that no girl livingis more fitted than she is to be the wife of a medical man. I would givemuch to have Netta back again, but Miss Purcell is obdurate. She saysthat, knowing as she does what Netta is doing, she does not think thatshe is running any risk--at any rate, none proportionate to theimportance of finding a clew to Walter's hiding place."
"Will you ask her if she will write to her niece and urge her to return,saying how anxious you are about her? Or, if she will not do that,whether she will release her from her promise of secrecy, so that shemay let us know what she is doing?"
"I will go and ask her now; I will bring her down so that you can addyour entreaties to mine, doctor."
But Miss Purcell refused to interfere.
"I consider Netta's scheme to be a possible one," she said, "though I amcertainly doubtful of its success. But she has set her heart upon it,and I will do nothing to balk her. I do not say that I am free fromanxiety myself, but my confidence in Netta's cleverness, and I may sayprudence, is such that I believe that the risk she is running is veryslight. It would be cruel, and I think wrong at the present moment, whenabove all things it is necessary that her brain should be clear, todistress and trouble her by interfering with her actions."
"Perhaps you are right, Miss Purcell," the doctor said thoughtfully."Being totally in the dark in the matter, I am not justified in giving adecisive opinion, but I will admit that it would not conduce either toher comfort or to the success of her undertaking were we to harass herby interfering in any way with her plan, which, I have no doubt, hasbeen thoroughly thought out before she undertook it. No one but a madmanwould shout instructions or warnings to a person performing a dangerousfeat requiring coolness and presence of mind. Such, I take it, is thescheme, whatever it is, in which she is engaged; and as you are the onlyone who knows what that scheme is, I must, however reluctantly, abide byyour decision. When Miss Covington tells you the conversation that wehave had together you will recognize how deeply I am interested in thematter."