The Secret Adversary

  CHAPTER XVIII. THE TELEGRAM

  BAFFLED for the moment, Tommy strolled into the restaurant, and ordereda meal of surpassing excellence. His four days’ imprisonment had taughthim anew to value good food.

  He was in the middle of conveying a particularly choice morsel of Soleà la Jeanette to his mouth, when he caught sight of Julius enteringthe room. Tommy waved a menu cheerfully, and succeeded in attracting theother’s attention. At the sight of Tommy, Julius’s eyes seemed as thoughthey would pop out of his head. He strode across, and pump-handledTommy’s hand with what seemed to the latter quite unnecessary vigour.

  “Holy snakes!” he ejaculated. “Is it really you?”

  “Of course it is. Why shouldn’t it be?”

  “Why shouldn’t it be? Say, man, don’t you know you’ve been given upfor dead? I guess we’d have had a solemn requiem for you in another fewdays.”

  “Who thought I was dead?” demanded Tommy.

  “Tuppence.”

  “She remembered the proverb about the good dying young, I suppose. Theremust be a certain amount of original sin in me to have survived. Whereis Tuppence, by the way?”

  “Isn’t she here?”

  “No, the fellows at the office said she’d just gone out.”

  “Gone shopping, I guess. I dropped her here in the car about an hourago. But, say, can’t you shed that British calm of yours, and get downto it? What on God’s earth have you been doing all this time?”

  “If you’re feeding here,” replied Tommy, “order now. It’s going to be along story.”

  Julius drew up a chair to the opposite side of the table, summoned ahovering waiter, and dictated his wishes. Then he turned to Tommy.

  “Fire ahead. I guess you’ve had some few adventures.”

  “One or two,” replied Tommy modestly, and plunged into his recital.

  Julius listened spellbound. Half the dishes that were placed before himhe forgot to eat. At the end he heaved a long sigh.

  “Bully for you. Reads like a dime novel!”

  “And now for the home front,” said Tommy, stretching out his hand for apeach.

  “We-el,” drawled Julius, “I don’t mind admitting we’ve had someadventures too.”

  He, in his turn, assumed the rôle of narrator. Beginning with hisunsuccessful reconnoitring at Bournemouth, he passed on to his returnto London, the buying of the car, the growing anxieties of Tuppence,the call upon Sir James, and the sensational occurrences of the previousnight.

  “But who killed her?” asked Tommy. “I don’t quite understand.”

  “The doctor kidded himself she took it herself,” replied Julius dryly.

  “And Sir James? What did he think?”

  “Being a legal luminary, he is likewise a human oyster,” replied Julius.“I should say he ‘reserved judgment.’” He went on to detail the eventsof the morning.

  “Lost her memory, eh?” said Tommy with interest. “By Jove, that explainswhy they looked at me so queerly when I spoke of questioning her. Bit ofa slip on my part, that! But it wasn’t the sort of thing a fellow wouldbe likely to guess.”

  “They didn’t give you any sort of hint as to where Jane was?”

  Tommy shook his head regretfully.

  “Not a word. I’m a bit of an ass, as you know. I ought to have got moreout of them somehow.”

  “I guess you’re lucky to be here at all. That bluff of yours was thegoods all right. How you ever came to think of it all so pat beats me toa frazzle!”

  “I was in such a funk I had to think of something,” said Tommy simply.

  There was a moment’s pause, and then Tommy reverted to Mrs. Vandemeyer’sdeath.

  “There’s no doubt it was chloral?”

  “I believe not. At least they call it heart failure induced by anoverdose, or some such claptrap. It’s all right. We don’t want tobe worried with an inquest. But I guess Tuppence and I and even thehighbrow Sir James have all got the same idea.”

  “Mr. Brown?” hazarded Tommy.

  “Sure thing.”

  Tommy nodded.

  “All the same,” he said thoughtfully, “Mr. Brown hasn’t got wings. Idon’t see how he got in and out.”

  “How about some high-class thought transference stunt? Some magneticinfluence that irresistibly impelled Mrs. Vandemeyer to commit suicide?”

  Tommy looked at him with respect.

  “Good, Julius. Distinctly good. Especially the phraseology. But itleaves me cold. I yearn for a real Mr. Brown of flesh and blood. I thinkthe gifted young detectives must get to work, study the entrances andexits, and tap the bumps on their foreheads until the solution of themystery dawns on them. Let’s go round to the scene of the crime. I wishwe could get hold of Tuppence. The _Ritz_ would enjoy the spectacle ofthe glad reunion.”

  Inquiry at the office revealed the fact that Tuppence had not yetreturned.

  “All the same, I guess I’ll have a look round upstairs,” said Julius.“She might be in my sitting-room.” He disappeared.

  Suddenly a diminutive boy spoke at Tommy’s elbow:

  “The young lady--she’s gone away by train, I think, sir,” he murmuredshyly.

  “What?” Tommy wheeled round upon him.

  The small boy became pinker than before.

  “The taxi, sir. I heard her tell the driver Charing Cross and to looksharp.”

  Tommy stared at him, his eyes opening wide in surprise. Emboldened, thesmall boy proceeded. “So I thought, having asked for an A.B.C. and aBradshaw.”

  Tommy interrupted him:

  “When did she ask for an A.B.C. and a Bradshaw?”

  “When I took her the telegram, sir.”

  “A telegram?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “When was that?”

  “About half-past twelve, sir.”

  “Tell me exactly what happened.”

  The small boy drew a long breath.

  “I took up a telegram to No. 891--the lady was there. She opened itand gave a gasp, and then she said, very jolly like: ‘Bring me up aBradshaw, and an A.B.C., and look sharp, Henry.’ My name isn’t Henry,but----”

  “Never mind your name,” said Tommy impatiently. “Go on.”

  “Yes, sir. I brought them, and she told me to wait, and looked upsomething. And then she looks up at the clock, and ‘Hurry up,’ she says.‘Tell them to get me a taxi,’ and she begins a-shoving on of her hat infront of the glass, and she was down in two ticks, almost as quick as Iwas, and I seed her going down the steps and into the taxi, and I heardher call out what I told you.”

  The small boy stopped and replenished his lungs. Tommy continued tostare at him. At that moment Julius rejoined him. He held an open letterin his hand.

  “I say, Hersheimmer”--Tommy turned to him--“Tuppence has gone offsleuthing on her own.”

  “Shucks!”

  “Yes, she has. She went off in a taxi to Charing Cross in the deuce of ahurry after getting a telegram.” His eye fell on the letter in Julius’shand. “Oh; she left a note for you. That’s all right. Where’s she offto?”

  Almost unconsciously, he held out his hand for the letter, butJulius folded it up and placed it in his pocket. He seemed a trifleembarrassed.

  “I guess this is nothing to do with it. It’s about somethingelse--something I asked her that she was to let me know about.”

  “Oh!” Tommy looked puzzled, and seemed waiting for more.

  “See here,” said Julius suddenly, “I’d better put you wise. I asked MissTuppence to marry me this morning.”

  “Oh!” said Tommy mechanically. He felt dazed. Julius’s words weretotally unexpected. For the moment they benumbed his brain.

  “I’d like to tell you,” continued Julius, “that before I suggestedanything of the kind to Miss Tuppence, I made it clear that I didn’twant to butt in in any way between her and you----”

  Tommy roused himself.

  “That’s all right,” he said quickly. “Tuppence and I have been pals foryea
rs. Nothing more.” He lit a cigarette with a hand that shook everso little. “That’s quite all right. Tuppence always said that she waslooking out for----”

  He stopped abruptly, his face crimsoning, but Julius was in no waydiscomposed.

  “Oh, I guess it’ll be the dollars that’ll do the trick. Miss Tuppenceput me wise to that right away. There’s no humbug about her. We ought togee along together very well.”

  Tommy looked at him curiously for a minute, as though he were aboutto speak, then changed his mind and said nothing. Tuppence and Julius!Well, why not? Had she not lamented the fact that she knew no rich men?Had she not openly avowed her intention of marrying for money if sheever had the chance? Her meeting with the young American millionairehad given her the chance--and it was unlikely she would be slow to availherself of it. She was out for money. She had always said so. Why blameher because she had been true to her creed?

  Nevertheless, Tommy did blame her. He was filled with a passionate andutterly illogical resentment. It was all very well to _say_ thingslike that--but a _real_ girl would never marry for money. Tuppence wasutterly cold-blooded and selfish, and he would be delighted if he neversaw her again! And it was a rotten world!

  Julius’s voice broke in on these meditations.

  “Yes, we ought to gee along together very well. I’ve heard that a girlalways refuses you once--a sort of convention.”

  Tommy caught his arm.

  “Refuses? Did you say _refuses?_”

  “Sure thing. Didn’t I tell you that? She just rapped out a ‘no’ withoutany kind of reason to it. The eternal feminine, the Huns call it, I’veheard. But she’ll come round right enough. Likely enough, I hustled hersome----”

  But Tommy interrupted regardless of decorum.

  “What did she say in that note?” he demanded fiercely.

  The obliging Julius handed it to him.

  “There’s no earthly clue in it as to where she’s gone,” he assuredTommy. “But you might as well see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

  The note, in Tuppence’s well-known schoolboy writing, ran as follows:

  “DEAR JULIUS,

  “It’s always better to have things in black and white. I don’t feel Ican be bothered to think of marriage until Tommy is found. Let’s leaveit till then.

  “Yours affectionately,

  “TUPPENCE.”

  Tommy handed it back, his eyes shining. His feelings had undergone asharp reaction. He now felt that Tuppence was all that was noble anddisinterested. Had she not refused Julius without hesitation? True, thenote betokened signs of weakening, but he could excuse that. It readalmost like a bribe to Julius to spur him on in his efforts to findTommy, but he supposed she had not really meant it that way. DarlingTuppence, there was not a girl in the world to touch her! When he sawher----His thoughts were brought up with a sudden jerk.

  “As you say,” he remarked, pulling himself together, “there’s not a hinthere as to what she’s up to. Hi--Henry!”

  The small boy came obediently. Tommy produced five shillings.

  “One thing more. Do you remember what the young lady did with thetelegram?”

  Henry gasped and spoke.

  “She crumpled it up into a ball and threw it into the grate, and made asort of noise like ‘Whoop!’ sir.”

  “Very graphic, Henry,” said Tommy. “Here’s your five shillings. Come on,Julius. We must find that telegram.”

  They hurried upstairs. Tuppence had left the key in her door. The roomwas as she had left it. In the fireplace was a crumpled ball of orangeand white. Tommy disentangled it and smoothed out the telegram.

  “Come at once, Moat House, Ebury, Yorkshire, great developments--TOMMY.”

  They looked at each other in stupefaction. Julius spoke first:

  “You didn’t send it?”

  “Of course not. What does it mean?”

  “I guess it means the worst,” said Julius quietly. “They’ve got her.”

  _“What?”_

  “Sure thing! They signed your name, and she fell into the trap like alamb.”

  “My God! What shall we do?”

  “Get busy, and go after her! Right now! There’s no time to waste. It’salmighty luck that she didn’t take the wire with her. If she had we’dprobably never have traced her. But we’ve got to hustle. Where’s thatBradshaw?”

  The energy of Julius was infectious. Left to himself, Tommy wouldprobably have sat down to think things out for a good half-hour beforehe decided on a plan of action. But with Julius Hersheimmer about,hustling was inevitable.

  After a few muttered imprecations he handed the Bradshaw to Tommy asbeing more conversant with its mysteries. Tommy abandoned it in favourof an A.B.C.

  “Here we are. Ebury, Yorks. From King’s Cross. Or St. Pancras. (Boy musthave made a mistake. It was King’s Cross, not _Charing_ Cross.) 12.50,that’s the train she went by. 2.10, that’s gone. 3.20 is the next--and adamned slow train too.”

  “What about the car?”

  Tommy shook his head.

  “Send it up if you like, but we’d better stick to the train. The greatthing is to keep calm.”

  Julius groaned.

  “That’s so. But it gets my goat to think of that innocent young girl indanger!”

  Tommy nodded abstractedly. He was thinking. In a moment or two, he said:

  “I say, Julius, what do they want her for, anyway?”

  “Eh? I don’t get you?”

  “What I mean is that I don’t think it’s their game to do her any harm,” explained Tommy, puckering his brow with the strain of his mentalprocesses. “She’s a hostage, that’s what she is. She’s in no immediatedanger, because if we tumble on to anything, she’d be damned useful tothem. As long as they’ve got her, they’ve got the whip hand of us. See?”

  “Sure thing,” said Julius thoughtfully. “That’s so.”

  “Besides,” added Tommy, as an afterthought, “I’ve great faith inTuppence.”

  The journey was wearisome, with many stops, and crowded carriages. Theyhad to change twice, once at Doncaster, once at a small junction. Eburywas a deserted station with a solitary porter, to whom Tommy addressedhimself:

  “Can you tell me the way to the Moat House?”

  “The Moat House? It’s a tidy step from here. The big house near the sea,you mean?”

  Tommy assented brazenly. After listening to the porter’s meticulousbut perplexing directions, they prepared to leave the station. It wasbeginning to rain, and they turned up the collars of their coats as theytrudged through the slush of the road. Suddenly Tommy halted.

  “Wait a moment.” He ran back to the station and tackled the porter anew.

  “Look here, do you remember a young lady who arrived by an earliertrain, the 12.50 from London? She’d probably ask you the way to the MoatHouse.”

  He described Tuppence as well as he could, but the porter shook hishead. Several people had arrived by the train in question. He could notcall to mind one young lady in particular. But he was quite certain thatno one had asked him the way to the Moat House.

  Tommy rejoined Julius, and explained. Depression was settling on himlike a leaden weight. He felt convinced that their quest was going tobe unsuccessful. The enemy had over three hours’ start. Three hours wasmore than enough for Mr. Brown. He would not ignore the possibility ofthe telegram having been found.

  The way seemed endless. Once they took the wrong turning and went nearlyhalf a mile out of their direction. It was past seven o’clock when asmall boy told them that “t’ Moat House” was just past the next corner.

  A rusty iron gate swinging dismally on its hinges! An overgrown drivethick with leaves. There was something about the place that struck achill to both their hearts. They went up the deserted drive. The leavesdeadened their footsteps. The daylight was almost gone. It was likewalking in a world of ghosts. Overhead the branches flapped and creakedwith a mournful note. Occasionally a sodden leaf drifted silently down,startling them wi
th its cold touch on their cheek.

  A turn of the drive brought them in sight of the house. That, too,seemed empty and deserted. The shutters were closed, the steps up tothe door overgrown with moss. Was it indeed to this desolate spotthat Tuppence had been decoyed? It seemed hard to believe that a humanfootstep had passed this way for months.

  Julius jerked the rusty bell handle. A jangling peal rang discordantly,echoing through the emptiness within. No one came. They rang again andagain--but there was no sign of life. Then they walked completely roundthe house. Everywhere silence, and shuttered windows. If they couldbelieve the evidence of their eyes the place was empty.

  “Nothing doing,” said Julius.

  They retraced their steps slowly to the gate.

  “There must be a village handy,” continued the young American. “We’dbetter make inquiries there. They’ll know something about the place, andwhether there’s been anyone there lately.”

  “Yes, that’s not a bad idea.”

  Proceeding up the road, they soon came to a little hamlet. On theoutskirts of it, they met a workman swinging his bag of tools, and Tommystopped him with a question.

  “The Moat House? It’s empty. Been empty for years. Mrs. Sweeny’s got thekey if you want to go over it--next to the post office.”

  Tommy thanked him. They soon found the post office, which was also asweet and general fancy shop, and knocked at the door of the cottagenext to it. A clean, wholesome-looking woman opened it. She readilyproduced the key of the Moat House.

  “Though I doubt if it’s the kind of place to suit you, sir. In aterrible state of repair. Ceilings leaking and all. ‘Twould need a lotof money spent on it.”

  “Thanks,” said Tommy cheerily. “I dare say it’ll be a washout, buthouses are scarce nowadays.”

  “That they are,” declared the woman heartily. “My daughter andson-in-law have been looking for a decent cottage for I don’t know howlong. It’s all the war. Upset things terribly, it has. But excuse me,sir, it’ll be too dark for you to see much of the house. Hadn’t youbetter wait until to-morrow?”

  “That’s all right. We’ll have a look around this evening, anyway. We’dhave been here before only we lost our way. What’s the best place tostay at for the night round here?”

  Mrs. Sweeny looked doubtful.

  “There’s the _Yorkshire Arms_, but it’s not much of a place forgentlemen like you.”

  “Oh, it will do very well. Thanks. By the way, you’ve not had a younglady here asking for this key to-day?”

  The woman shook her head.

  “No one’s been over the place for a long time.”

  “Thanks very much.”

  They retraced their steps to the Moat House. As the front door swungback on its hinges, protesting loudly, Julius struck a match andexamined the floor carefully. Then he shook his head.

  “I’d swear no one’s passed this way. Look at the dust. Thick. Not a signof a footmark.”

  They wandered round the deserted house. Everywhere the same tale. Thicklayers of dust apparently undisturbed.

  “This gets me,” said Julius. “I don’t believe Tuppence was ever in thishouse.”

  “She must have been.”

  Julius shook his head without replying.

  “We’ll go over it again to-morrow,” said Tommy. “Perhaps we’ll see morein the daylight.”

  On the morrow they took up the search once more, and were reluctantlyforced to the conclusion that the house had not been invaded for someconsiderable time. They might have left the village altogether but fora fortunate discovery of Tommy’s. As they were retracing their steps tothe gate, he gave a sudden cry, and stooping, picked something up fromamong the leaves, and held it out to Julius. It was a small gold brooch.

  “That’s Tuppence’s!”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. I’ve often seen her wear it.”

  Julius drew a deep breath.

  “I guess that settles it. She came as far as here, anyway. We’ll makethat pub our head-quarters, and raise hell round here until we find her.Somebody _must_ have seen her.”

  Forthwith the campaign began. Tommy and Julius worked separately andtogether, but the result was the same. Nobody answering to Tuppence’sdescription had been seen in the vicinity. They were baffled--but notdiscouraged. Finally they altered their tactics. Tuppence had certainlynot remained long in the neighbourhood of the Moat House. That pointedto her having been overcome and carried away in a car. They renewedinquiries. Had anyone seen a car standing somewhere near the Moat Housethat day? Again they met with no success.

  Julius wired to town for his own car, and they scoured the neighbourhooddaily with unflagging zeal. A grey limousine on which they had set highhopes was traced to Harrogate, and turned out to be the property of ahighly respectable maiden lady!

  Each day saw them set out on a new quest. Julius was like a hound onthe leash. He followed up the slenderest clue. Every car that had passedthrough the village on the fateful day was tracked down. He forced hisway into country properties and submitted the owners of the motors toa searching cross-examination. His apologies were as thorough as hismethods, and seldom failed in disarming the indignation of his victims;but, as day succeeded day, they were no nearer to discovering Tuppence’swhereabouts. So well had the abduction been planned that the girl seemedliterally to have vanished into thin air.

  And another preoccupation was weighing on Tommy’s mind.

  “Do you know how long we’ve been here?” he asked one morning as theysat facing each other at breakfast. “A week! We’re no nearer to findingTuppence, _and next Sunday is the_ 29_th!_”

  “Shucks!” said Julius thoughtfully. “I’d almost forgotten about the29th. I’ve been thinking of nothing but Tuppence.”

  “So have I. At least, I hadn’t forgotten about the 29th, but it didn’tseem to matter a damn in comparison to finding Tuppence. But to-day’sthe 23rd, and time’s getting short. If we’re ever going to get hold ofher at all, we must do it before the 29th--her life won’t be worth anhour’s purchase afterwards. The hostage game will be played out by then.I’m beginning to feel that we’ve made a big mistake in the way we’ve setabout this. We’ve wasted time and we’re no forrader.”

  “I’m with you there. We’ve been a couple of mutts, who’ve bitten off abigger bit than they can chew. I’m going to quit fooling right away!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll tell you. I’m going to do what we ought to have done a week ago.I’m going right back to London to put the case in the hands of yourBritish police. We fancied ourselves as sleuths. Sleuths! It was a pieceof damn-fool foolishness! I’m through! I’ve had enough of it. ScotlandYard for me!”

  “You’re right,” said Tommy slowly. “I wish to God we’d gone there rightaway.”

  “Better late than never. We’ve been like a couple of babes playing ‘Herewe go round the Mulberry Bush.’ Now I’m going right along to ScotlandYard to ask them to take me by the hand and show me the way I should go.I guess the professional always scores over the amateur in the end. Areyou coming along with me?”

  Tommy shook his head.

  “What’s the good? One of us is enough. I might as well stay here andnose round a bit longer. Something _might_ turn up. One never knows.”

  “Sure thing. Well, so long. I’ll be back in a couple of shakes with afew inspectors along. I shall tell them to pick out their brightest andbest.”

  But the course of events was not to follow the plan Julius had laiddown. Later in the day Tommy received a wire:

  “Join me Manchester Midland Hotel. Important news--JULIUS.”

  At 7.30 that night Tommy alighted from a slow cross-country train.Julius was on the platform.

  “Thought you’d come by this train if you weren’t out when my wirearrived.”

  Tommy grasped him by the arm.

  “What is it? Is Tuppence found?”

  Julius shook his head.

  “No. But I
found this waiting in London. Just arrived.”

  He handed the telegraph form to the other. Tommy’s eyes opened as heread:

  “Jane Finn found. Come Manchester Midland Hotel immediately--PEELEDGERTON.”

  Julius took the form back and folded it up.

  “Queer,” he said thoughtfully. “I thought that lawyer chap had quit!”