CHAPTER XIX. JANE FINN
“MY train got in half an hour ago,” explained Julius, as he led the wayout of the station. “I reckoned you’d come by this before I left London,and wired accordingly to Sir James. He’s booked rooms for us, and willbe round to dine at eight.”
“What made you think he’d ceased to take any interest in the case?” asked Tommy curiously.
“What he said,” replied Julius dryly. “The old bird’s as close as anoyster! Like all the darned lot of them, he wasn’t going to commithimself till he was sure he could deliver the goods.”
“I wonder,” said Tommy thoughtfully.
Julius turned on him.
“You wonder what?”
“Whether that was his real reason.”
“Sure. You bet your life it was.”
Tommy shook his head unconvinced.
Sir James arrived punctually at eight o’clock, and Julius introducedTommy. Sir James shook hands with him warmly.
“I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Beresford. I have heardso much about you from Miss Tuppence”--he smiled involuntarily--“that itreally seems as though I already know you quite well.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Tommy with his cheerful grin. He scanned thegreat lawyer eagerly. Like Tuppence, he felt the magnetism of theother’s personality. He was reminded of Mr. Carter. The two men, totallyunlike so far as physical resemblance went, produced a similar effect.Beneath the weary manner of the one and the professional reserve of theother, lay the same quality of mind, keen-edged like a rapier.
In the meantime he was conscious of Sir James’s close scrutiny. When thelawyer dropped his eyes the young man had the feeling that the other hadread him through and through like an open book. He could not but wonderwhat the final judgment was, but there was little chance of learningthat. Sir James took in everything, but gave out only what he chose. Aproof of that occurred almost at once.
Immediately the first greetings were over Julius broke out into a floodof eager questions. How had Sir James managed to track the girl? Why hadhe not let them know that he was still working on the case? And so on.
Sir James stroked his chin and smiled. At last he said:
“Just so, just so. Well, she’s found. And that’s the great thing, isn’tit? Eh! Come now, that’s the great thing?”
“Sure it is. But just how did you strike her trail? Miss Tuppence and Ithought you’d quit for good and all.”
“Ah!” The lawyer shot a lightning glance at him, then resumed operationson his chin. “You thought that, did you? Did you really? H’m, dear me.”
“But I guess I can take it we were wrong,” pursued Julius.
“Well, I don’t know that I should go so far as to say that. But it’scertainly fortunate for all parties that we’ve managed to find the younglady.”
“But where is she?” demanded Julius, his thoughts flying off on anothertack. “I thought you’d be sure to bring her along?”
“That would hardly be possible,” said Sir James gravely.
“Why?”
“Because the young lady was knocked down in a street accident, and hassustained slight injuries to the head. She was taken to the infirmary,and on recovering consciousness gave her name as Jane Finn. When--ah!--Iheard that, I arranged for her to be removed to the house of adoctor--a friend of mine, and wired at once for you. She relapsed intounconsciousness and has not spoken since.”
“She’s not seriously hurt?”
“Oh, a bruise and a cut or two; really, from a medical point of view,absurdly slight injuries to have produced such a condition. Her state isprobably to be attributed to the mental shock consequent on recoveringher memory.”
“It’s come back?” cried Julius excitedly.
Sir James tapped the table rather impatiently.
“Undoubtedly, Mr. Hersheimmer, since she was able to give her real name.I thought you had appreciated that point.”
“And you just happened to be on the spot,” said Tommy. “Seems quite likea fairy tale.”
But Sir James was far too wary to be drawn.
“Coincidences are curious things,” he said dryly.
Nevertheless Tommy was now certain of what he had before only suspected.Sir James’s presence in Manchester was not accidental. Far fromabandoning the case, as Julius supposed, he had by some means of his ownsuccessfully run the missing girl to earth. The only thing that puzzledTommy was the reason for all this secrecy. He concluded that it was afoible of the legal mind.
Julius was speaking.
“After dinner,” he announced, “I shall go right away and see Jane.”
“That will be impossible, I fear,” said Sir James. “It is very unlikelythey would allow her to see visitors at this time of night. I shouldsuggest to-morrow morning about ten o’clock.”
Julius flushed. There was something in Sir James which always stirredhim to antagonism. It was a conflict of two masterful personalities.
“All the same, I reckon I’ll go round there to-night and see if I can’tginger them up to break through their silly rules.”
“It will be quite useless, Mr. Hersheimmer.”
The words came out like the crack of a pistol, and Tommy looked up witha start. Julius was nervous and excited. The hand with which he raisedhis glass to his lips shook slightly, but his eyes held Sir James’sdefiantly. For a moment the hostility between the two seemed likely toburst into flame, but in the end Julius lowered his eyes, defeated.
“For the moment, I reckon you’re the boss.”
“Thank you,” said the other. “We will say ten o’clock then?” Withconsummate ease of manner he turned to Tommy. “I must confess, Mr.Beresford, that it was something of a surprise to me to see you herethis evening. The last I heard of you was that your friends were ingrave anxiety on your behalf. Nothing had been heard of you forsome days, and Miss Tuppence was inclined to think you had got intodifficulties.”
“I had, sir!” Tommy grinned reminiscently. “I was never in a tighterplace in my life.”
Helped out by questions from Sir James, he gave an abbreviated accountof his adventures. The lawyer looked at him with renewed interest as hebrought the tale to a close.
“You got yourself out of a tight place very well,” he said gravely. “Icongratulate you. You displayed a great deal of ingenuity and carriedyour part through well.”
Tommy blushed, his face assuming a prawnlike hue at the praise.
“I couldn’t have got away but for the girl, sir.”
“No.” Sir James smiled a little. “It was lucky for you she happenedto--er--take a fancy to you.” Tommy appeared about to protest, but SirJames went on. “There’s no doubt about her being one of the gang, Isuppose?”
“I’m afraid not, sir. I thought perhaps they were keeping her there byforce, but the way she acted didn’t fit in with that. You see, she wentback to them when she could have got away.”
Sir James nodded thoughtfully.
“What did she say? Something about wanting to be taken to Marguerite?”
“Yes, sir. I suppose she meant Mrs. Vandemeyer.”
“She always signed herself Rita Vandemeyer. All her friends spoke ofher as Rita. Still, I suppose the girl must have been in the habit ofcalling her by her full name. And, at the moment she was crying out toher, Mrs. Vandemeyer was either dead or dying! Curious! There are oneor two points that strike me as being obscure--their sudden changeof attitude towards yourself, for instance. By the way, the house wasraided, of course?”
“Yes, sir, but they’d all cleared out.”
“Naturally,” said Sir James dryly.
“And not a clue left behind.”
“I wonder----” The lawyer tapped the table thoughtfully.
Something in his voice made Tommy look up. Would this man’s eyes haveseen something where theirs had been blind? He spoke impulsively:
“I wish you’d been there, sir, to go over the house!”
“I wish I had,” said Sir Jame
s quietly. He sat for a moment in silence.Then he looked up. “And since then? What have you been doing?”
For a moment, Tommy stared at him. Then it dawned on him that of coursethe lawyer did not know.
“I forgot that you didn’t know about Tuppence,” he said slowly. Thesickening anxiety, forgotten for a while in the excitement of knowingJane Finn was found at last, swept over him again.
The lawyer laid down his knife and fork sharply.
“Has anything happened to Miss Tuppence?” His voice was keen-edged.
“She’s disappeared,” said Julius.
“When?”
“A week ago.”
“How?”
Sir James’s questions fairly shot out. Between them Tommy and Juliusgave the history of the last week and their futile search.
Sir James went at once to the root of the matter.
“A wire signed with your name? They knew enough of you both for that.They weren’t sure of how much you had learnt in that house. Theirkidnapping of Miss Tuppence is the counter-move to your escape. Ifnecessary they could seal your lips with a threat of what might happento her.”
Tommy nodded.
“That’s just what I thought, sir.”
Sir James looked at him keenly. “You had worked that out, had you? Notbad--not at all bad. The curious thing is that they certainly did notknow anything about you when they first held you prisoner. You are surethat you did not in any way disclose your identity?”
Tommy shook his head.
“That’s so,” said Julius with a nod. “Therefore I reckon some one putthem wise--and not earlier than Sunday afternoon.”
“Yes, but who?”
“That almighty omniscient Mr. Brown, of course!”
There was a faint note of derision in the American’s voice which madeSir James look up sharply.
“You don’t believe in Mr. Brown, Mr. Hersheimmer?”
“No, sir, I do not,” returned the young American with emphasis. “Notas such, that is to say. I reckon it out that he’s a figurehead--just abogy name to frighten the children with. The real head of this businessis that Russian chap Kramenin. I guess he’s quite capable of runningrevolutions in three countries at once if he chose! The man Whittingtonis probably the head of the English branch.”
“I disagree with you,” said Sir James shortly. “Mr. Brown exists.” Heturned to Tommy. “Did you happen to notice where that wire was handedin?”
“No, sir, I’m afraid I didn’t.”
“H’m. Got it with you?”
“It’s upstairs, sir, in my kit.”
“I’d like to have a look at it sometime. No hurry. You’ve wasted aweek”--Tommy hung his head--“a day or so more is immaterial. We’ll dealwith Miss Jane Finn first. Afterwards, we’ll set to work to rescue MissTuppence from bondage. I don’t think she’s in any immediate danger. Thatis, so long as they don’t know that we’ve got Jane Finn, and thather memory has returned. We must keep that dark at all costs. Youunderstand?”
The other two assented, and, after making arrangements for meeting onthe morrow, the great lawyer took his leave.
At ten o’clock, the two young men were at the appointed spot. SirJames had joined them on the doorstep. He alone appeared unexcited. Heintroduced them to the doctor.
“Mr. Hersheimmer--Mr. Beresford--Dr. Roylance. How’s the patient?”
“Going on well. Evidently no idea of the flight of time. Asked thismorning how many had been saved from the _Lusitania_. Was it in thepapers yet? That, of course, was only what was to be expected. She seemsto have something on her mind, though.”
“I think we can relieve her anxiety. May we go up?”
“Certainly.”
Tommy’s heart beat sensibly faster as they followed the doctor upstairs.Jane Finn at last! The long-sought, the mysterious, the elusive JaneFinn! How wildly improbable success had seemed! And here in this house,her memory almost miraculously restored, lay the girl who held thefuture of England in her hands. A half groan broke from Tommy’s lips.If only Tuppence could have been at his side to share in the triumphantconclusion of their joint venture! Then he put the thought of Tuppenceresolutely aside. His confidence in Sir James was growing. There wasa man who would unerringly ferret out Tuppence’s whereabouts. In themeantime Jane Finn! And suddenly a dread clutched at his heart. Itseemed too easy.... Suppose they should find her dead ... stricken downby the hand of Mr. Brown?
In another minute he was laughing at these melodramatic fancies. Thedoctor held open the door of a room and they passed in. On the whitebed, bandages round her head, lay the girl. Somehow the whole sceneseemed unreal. It was so exactly what one expected that it gave theeffect of being beautifully staged.
The girl looked from one to the other of them with large wondering eyes.Sir James spoke first.
“Miss Finn,” he said, “this is your cousin, Mr. Julius P. Hersheimmer.”
A faint flush flitted over the girl’s face, as Julius stepped forwardand took her hand.
“How do, Cousin Jane?” he said lightly.
But Tommy caught the tremor in his voice.
“Are you really Uncle Hiram’s son?” she asked wonderingly.
Her voice, with the slight warmth of the Western accent, had an almostthrilling quality. It seemed vaguely familiar to Tommy, but he thrustthe impression aside as impossible.
“Sure thing.”
“We used to read about Uncle Hiram in the papers,” continued the girl,in her low soft tones. “But I never thought I’d meet you one day. Motherfigured it out that Uncle Hiram would never get over being mad withher.”
“The old man was like that,” admitted Julius. “But I guess the newgeneration’s sort of different. Got no use for the family feud business.First thing I thought about, soon as the war was over, was to come alongand hunt you up.”
A shadow passed over the girl’s face.
“They’ve been telling me things--dreadful things--that my memory went,and that there are years I shall never know about--years lost out of mylife.”
“You didn’t realize that yourself?”
The girl’s eyes opened wide.
“Why, no. It seems to me as though it were no time since we were beinghustled into those boats. I can see it all now.” She closed her eyeswith a shudder.
Julius looked across at Sir James, who nodded.
“Don’t worry any. It isn’t worth it. Now, see here, Jane, there’ssomething we want to know about. There was a man aboard that boat withsome mighty important papers on him, and the big guns in this countryhave got a notion that he passed on the goods to you. Is that so?”
The girl hesitated, her glance shifting to the other two. Juliusunderstood.
“Mr. Beresford is commissioned by the British Government to get thosepapers back. Sir James Peel Edgerton is an English Member of Parliament,and might be a big gun in the Cabinet if he liked. It’s owing to himthat we’ve ferreted you out at last. So you can go right ahead and tellus the whole story. Did Danvers give you the papers?”
“Yes. He said they’d have a better chance with me, because they wouldsave the women and children first.”
“Just as we thought,” said Sir James.
“He said they were very important--that they might make all thedifference to the Allies. But, if it’s all so long ago, and the war’sover, what does it matter now?”
“I guess history repeats itself, Jane. First there was a great hueand cry over those papers, then it all died down, and now the wholecaboodle’s started all over again--for rather different reasons. Thenyou can hand them over to us right away?”
“But I can’t.”
“What?”
“I haven’t got them.”
“You--haven’t--got them?” Julius punctuated the words with littlepauses.
“No--I hid them.”
“You _hid_ them?”
“Yes. I got uneasy. People seemed to be watching me. It scaredme--badly.” She put her hand to her head. “It’s almos
t the last thing Iremember before waking up in the hospital....”
“Go on,” said Sir James, in his quiet penetrating tones. “What do youremember?”
She turned to him obediently.
“It was at Holyhead. I came that way--I don’t remember why....”
“That doesn’t matter. Go on.”
“In the confusion on the quay I slipped away. Nobody saw me. I took acar. Told the man to drive me out of the town. I watched when we got onthe open road. No other car was following us. I saw a path at the sideof the road. I told the man to wait.”
She paused, then went on. “The path led to the cliff, and down to thesea between big yellow gorse bushes--they were like golden flames. Ilooked round. There wasn’t a soul in sight. But just level with my headthere was a hole in the rock. It was quite small--I could only just getmy hand in, but it went a long way back. I took the oilskin packet fromround my neck and shoved it right in as far as I could. Then I tore offa bit of gorse--My! but it did prick--and plugged the hole with it sothat you’d never guess there was a crevice of any kind there. Then Imarked the place carefully in my own mind, so that I’d find it again.There was a queer boulder in the path just there--for all the worldlike a dog sitting up begging. Then I went back to the road. The car waswaiting, and I drove back. I just caught the train. I was a bit ashamedof myself for fancying things maybe, but, by and by, I saw the manopposite me wink at a woman who was sitting next to me, and I feltscared again, and was glad the papers were safe. I went out in thecorridor to get a little air. I thought I’d slip into another carriage.But the woman called me back, said I’d dropped something, and when Istooped to look, something seemed to hit me--here.” She placed her handto the back of her head. “I don’t remember anything more until I woke upin the hospital.”
There was a pause.
“Thank you, Miss Finn.” It was Sir James who spoke. “I hope we have nottired you?”
“Oh, that’s all right. My head aches a little, but otherwise I feelfine.”
Julius stepped forward and took her hand again.
“So long, Cousin Jane. I’m going to get busy after those papers, butI’ll be back in two shakes of a dog’s tail, and I’ll tote you up toLondon and give you the time of your young life before we go back to theStates! I mean it--so hurry up and get well.”