CHAPTER XIV
He lived up to the letter of his promise.
In an hour he had said when he walked out, and it was an hour to thevery tick of the minute when he came back.
Mr. Narkom knowing him so well, knowing how, in the final momentsof his _coups_, he was apt to become somewhat spectacular andtheatrical, looked for him to return with a flourish of trumpetsand carry all before him with a whirlwind rush; so that it came inthe nature of a great surprise, when with the calmness of a mancoming in to tea he entered the stable with a large stone bottle inone hand and an hostler's sponge in the other.
"Well, gentlemen, I am here, you see," he said with extreme calmness."And"--indicating the bottle--"have brought something with me todo honour to the event. No, not to drink--it is hardly that sortof stuff. It is Spirit of Wine, Major. I found it over in Farrow'scottage and have brought it with me--as he, poor chap, meant to doin time himself. There are some wonderful things in Tom Farrow'scottage, Major; they will pay for looking into, I assure you.Pardon, Mr. Narkom? A criminal? Oh, no, my friend--a martyr!"
"A martyr?"
"Yes, your ladyship; yes, Major--a martyr. A martyr to his love, amartyr to his fidelity. As square a man and as faithful a traineras ever set foot in a stable-yard--that's Tom Farrow. I take off myhat to him. The world can do with more of his kind."
"But, my dear sir, you said that it was he that spirited away theanimal; that it was he and he alone who was responsible for herdisappearance."
"Quite so--and I say it again. Gently, gently, Major--I'll come toit in a minute. Personally I should like to put it off to the last,it's such a fine thing for a finish, by Jove! But--well it can't bedone under the circumstances. In other words, there is a part ofthis little business this evening which I must ask Lady Mary not tostop to either hear or see; but as she is naturally interested inthe matter of Highland Lassie's disappearance I will take up thatmatter first and ask her to kindly withdraw after the filly hasbeen restored."
"Gad! you've found her, then? You've got her?"
"Yes, Major, I've got her. And as I promised that I would put herbridle into your hand with the animal herself at the other end of it,why--here you are!"
Speaking, he walked across to the box where the brown filly wastethered, unbolted it, unfastened the animal and led her out.
"Here you are, Major," he said, as he tendered him the halter. "Takehold of her, the beauty; and may she carry off the Derby Stakes withflying colours."
"But, good lud, man, what on earth are you talking about? This isChocolate Maid--this is Lady Mary's horse."
"Oh, no, Major, oh, no! Chocolate Maid is in the stable at Farrow'scottage--hidden away and half starved, poor creature, because hecouldn't go back to feed and look after her. This is your bonnyHighland Lassie--dyed to look like the other and to throw possiblehorse nobblers and thieves off the scent. If you doubt it, look here."
He uncorked the bottle, poured some of the Spirit of Wine on thesponge and rubbed the animal's brown flank. The dark colour cameaway, the sorrel hide and the white splotch began to appear, andbefore you could say Jack Robinson, the major and Lady Mary hadtheir arms about the animal's neck and were blubbing like a couple ofchildren.
"Oh, my bully girl! Oh, my spiffing girl! Oh, Mary, isn't itclinking, dear? The Lassie--the Highland Lassie--her own bonny self."
"Yes, her own bonny self, Major," said Cleek "and you'd never havehad a moment's worry over her if that faithful fellow upstairs hadbeen suffered to get back here that night and to tell you about it inthe morning. I've had a little talk with--oh, well, somebody who isin a position to give me information that corroborates my ownlittle 'shots' at the matter (I'll tell you all about that lateron), and so am able to tell you a thing or two that you ought tohave known before this! I don't know whether Lieutenant Chadwick'scoming here and prying about had any wish to do harm to the horse atthe back of it or not. I only know that Farrow thought it had,and he played this little trick to block the game and to throw dustinto the eyes of anybody that attempted to get at her. What he didthen was to dye her so that she might be mistaken for ChocolateMaid, then to take Chocolate Maid over to his own stable and hideher there until the time came to start for Epsom. That's what hewanted the pail of water for, Major--to mix the dye and to applyit. I half suspected it from the beginning, but I became sure of itwhen I found that scrap of paper in the bedding of the box. Itwas still wet--a bit of the label from the dye-bottle which came offin the operation. Between the poor chap's fingers I found stains ofthe dye still remaining. Spirit of Wine would have removed it, butwashing in water wouldn't. Pardon, your ladyship? When did I beginto suspect that Farrow was at the bottom of it? Oh, when first Iheard of the poisoned dog. Nobody ever heard it bark when thepoisoner approached the stables. That, of course, meant that theperson who administered the poison must have been some one with whomit was familiar, and also some one who was already inside theplace, since even the first approaching step of friend or foe wouldhave called forth one solitary bark at least. Farrow didn't do thething by halves, you see. He meant it to look like a genuine case ofhorse stealing to outsiders, and killing the dog gave it just thattouch of actuality which carries conviction. As for the rest--themajor must tell you that in private, your ladyship. The rest of thislittle matter is for men alone."
Lady Mary bowed and passed out into the fast coming dusk; and, inthe stable the major, Cleek and Narkom stood together, waiting untilshe was well beyond earshot.
"Now, Major, we will get down to brass tacks, as our American cousinssay," said Cleek, when that time at length came. "You would like toknow, I suppose, how poor Farrow came by his injuries and from whosehand. Well, you shall. He was coming back from his cottage afterstabling the real Chocolate Maid there when the thing happened;and he received those injuries for rushing to the defence of thewoman he loved, and attempting to thrash the blackguard who hadtaken advantage of her trust and belief in him to spoil her lifeforever. The woman was, of course, Maggie McFarland. The man wasyour charming guest, Captain MacTavish!"
"Good God! MacTavish? MacTavish?"
"Yes, Major--the gallant captain who received such a sudden call torejoin his regiment as soon as he knew that Tom Farrow was likely torecover and to speak. Perhaps you can understand now why Farrow andthe girl no longer seemed to 'hit it off together as formerly.'The gallant captain had come upon the boards. Dazzled by the beautyof him, tricked by the glib tongue of him, deluded into the beliefthat she had actually 'caught a gentleman' and that he really meantto make her his wife and take her away to India with him, when hewent, the silly, innocent, confiding little idiot became his victimand threw over a good man's love for a handful of Dead Sea Fruit."
"Never for one instant had Tom Farrow an idea of this; but thenight before last as he crossed the moor--he knew! In the darknesshe stumbled upon the truth. He heard her crying out to the fellowto do her justice, to keep his word and make her the honest wifehe had promised that she should be, and he heard, too, the man'scharacteristic reply. You can guess what happened, Major, whenyou know Tom Farrow. In ten seconds he was up and at that fellowlike a mad bull.
"The girl, terrified out of her life, screamed and ran away, seeingthe brave captain laying about him with his heavy, silver-headedhunting crop as she fled. She never saw the end of the fight--shenever dared; but in the morning when there was no Tom Farrow to beseen, she went out there on the moor and found him. She would havespoken then had she dared, poor creature, but the man's threat wasan effective one. If she spoke he would do likewise. If she keptsilent she might go away and her disgrace be safely hidden. Whichshe chose, we know."
"The damned hound!"
"Oh, no, Major, oh, no--that's too hard on hounds. The only houndlikething about that interesting gentleman was that he made an attemptto 'get to cover' and to run away. I knew that he would--I knew thatthat was his little dodge when he made that little excuse abouthaving to pack up his effects. He saw how the game was runningand he meant to slip the cabl
e and clear out while he had the chance."
"And you let him do it?--you never spoke a word, but let theblackguard do it? Gad, sir, I'm ashamed of you!"
"You needn't be, Major, on that score at least. Please remember thatI asked for a couple of grooms to be stationed on the moor. I gavethem their orders and then went on to Farrow's cottage alone. If theyhave followed out those orders we shall soon see."
Here he stepped to the door of the stable, put his two forefingersbetween his lips and whistled shrilly. In half a minute more the twogrooms came into the stable, and between them the gallant captain,tousled and rather dirty, and with his beautiful hair and moustacheawry.
"Got him, my lads, I see," said Cleek.
"Yes, sir. Nabbed him sneakin' out the back way like you thought hewould, sir, and bein' as you said it was the major's orders, wecopped him on the jump and have been holdin' of him for furtherorders ever since."
"Well, you can let him go now," said Cleek, serenely. "And just giveyour attention to locking the door and lighting up. Major, Doctor,Mr. Narkom, pray be seated. The dear captain is going to give youall a little entertainment and the performance is about to begin.As good with your fists as you are with a metal-headed hunting crop,Captain?"
"None of your dashed business what I'm good at," replied the captain."Look here, Norcross----"
"You cut that at once!" roared the major. "If you open your head tome, I'll bang it off you, you brute."
"Well, then you, Mr. Policeman----"
"Ready for you in a minute, Captain; don't get impatient," saidCleek, as he laid aside his coat and began to roll up his sleeves."Rome wasn't built in a day--though beauty may be wrecked in aminute. You'll have the time of your life this evening. You arereally too beautiful to live, Captain, and I'm going to come as nearto killing you as I know how without actually completing the job.You see, that poor little Highland lassie hasn't a father or brotherto do this business for her, so she's kindly consented to my takingit on in her behalf. I'm afraid I shall break that lovely noseof yours, my gay gallant--and I don't give a damn if I do! A brutethat spoils a woman's life deserves to go through the world witha mark to record it, and I'm going to put one on you to the best ofmy ability. All seated, gentlemen? Right you are. Now then, Captain,come on. Come on--you _swine_!"
* * * * *
It was twenty minutes later.
Lady Mary Norcross--deep in the obligatory business of dressing fordinner--had just taken up a powder puff and was assiduously dabbingthe back of her neck, when the door behind her opened softly and thevoice of her liege lord travelled across the breadth of the room,saying:
"Mary! May I come in a minute, dear? I just want to get my chequebook out of your writing desk--that's all."
"Yes, certainly. Come in by all means," gave back her ladyship. "I'mquite alone. Springer has finished with me, and oh! Good heavens!Seton! My dear, my _dear_!"
"All right. Don't get frightened. It isn't mine. And it isn't his,either--much of it. We've been having a little 'set to' at thestable, and I got it hugging a policeman."
"Seton!"
"Yes--I know it's awful, but I simply couldn't help it. Demmit it,Mary, don't look so shocked--I'd have _kissed_ the beggar as well,if I thought I could acquire the trick of that heavenly 'jab with theleft' that way. I haven't had such a beautiful time since the dayI was twenty-one, darling; he fights like a blooming _angel_, thatchap."
"What chap? What on earth are you talking about?"
"That man Cleek. Weeping Widows! It was the prettiest job you eversaw. We're sending the beggar over to the hospital--and----Tell youall about it when I get back. Can't stop just now, dear. Bye, bye!"
Then the door closed with a smack, and man and cheque book were ontheir way downstairs.