CHAPTER VII
T. X. came from Downing Street at 11 o'clock one night, and his heartwas filled with joy and gratitude.
He swung his stick to the common danger of the public, but the policemanon point duty at the end of the street, who saw him, recognized andsaluted him, did not think it fit to issue any official warning.
He ran up the stairs to his office, and found Mansus reading the eveningpaper.
"My poor, dumb beast," said T. X. "I am afraid I have kept you waitingfor a very long time, but tomorrow you and I will take a little journeyto Devonshire. It will be good for you, Mansus--where did you get thatridiculous name, by the way!"
"M. or N.," replied Mansus, laconically.
"I repeat that there is the dawn of an intellect in you," said T. X.,offensively.
He became more serious as he took from a pocket inside his waistcoat along blue envelope containing the paper which had cost him so much tosecure.
"Finding the revolver was a master-stroke of yours, Mansus," he said,and he was in earnest as he spoke.
The man coloured with pleasure for the subordinates of T. X. loved him,and a word of praise was almost equal to promotion. It was on the adviceof Mansus that the road from London to Lewes had been carefully coveredand such streams as passed beneath that road had been searched.
The revolver had been found after the third attempt between Gatwick andHorsley. Its identification was made easier by the fact that Vassalaro'sname was engraved on the butt. It was rather an ornate affair and in itsearlier days had been silver plated; the handle was of mother-o'-pearl.
"Obviously the gift of one brigand to another," was T. X.'s comment.
Armed with this, his task would have been fairly easy, but when to thisevidence he added a rough draft of the threatening letter which he hadfound amongst Vassalaro's belongings, and which had evidently been takendown at dictation, since some of the words were misspelt and had beencorrected by another hand, the case was complete.
But what clinched the matter was the finding of a wad of that peculiarchemical paper, a number of sheets of which T. X. had ignited for theinformation of the Chief Commissioner and the Home Secretary by simplyexposing them for a few seconds to the light of an electric lamp.
Instantly it had filled the Home Secretary's office with a pungentand most disagreeable smoke, for which he was heartily cursed by hissuperiors. But it had rounded off the argument.
He looked at his watch.
"I wonder if it is too late to see Mrs. Lexman," he said.
"I don't think any hour would be too late," suggested Mansus.
"You shall come and chaperon me," said his superior.
But a disappointment awaited. Mrs. Lexman was not in and neither theringing at her electric bell nor vigorous applications to the knockerbrought any response. The hall porter of the flats where she livedwas under the impression that Mrs. Lexman had gone out of town. Shefrequently went out on Saturdays and returned on the Monday and, hethought, occasionally on Tuesdays.
It happened that this particular night was a Monday night and T. X.was faced with a dilemma. The night porter, who had only the vaguestinformation on the subject, thought that the day porter might know more,and aroused him from his sleep.
Yes, Mrs. Lexman had gone. She went on the Sunday, an unusual day topay a week-end visit, and she had taken with her two bags. The porterventured the opinion that she was rather excited, but when asked todefine the symptoms relapsed into a chaos of incoherent "you-knows" and"what-I-means."
"I don't like this," said T. X., suddenly. "Does anybody know that wehave made these discoveries?"
"Nobody outside the office," said Mansus, "unless, unless..."
"Unless what?" asked the other, irritably. "Don't be a jimp, Mansus. Getit off your mind. What is it?"
"I am wondering," said Mansus slowly, "if the landlord at Great JamesStreet said anything. He knows we have made a search."
"We can easily find that out," said T. X.
They hailed a taxi and drove to Great James Street. That respectablethoroughfare was wrapped in sleep and it was some time before thelandlord could be aroused. Recognizing T. X. he checked his sarcasm,which he had prepared for a keyless lodger, and led the way into thedrawing room.
"You didn't tell me not to speak about it, Mr. Meredith," he said, in anaggrieved tone, "and as a matter of fact I have spoken to nobody exceptthe gentleman who called the same day."
"What did he want?" asked T. X.
"He said he had only just discovered that Mr. Vassalaro had stayed withme and he wanted to pay whatever rent was due," replied the other.
"What like of man was he?" asked T. X.
The brief description the man gave sent a cold chill to theCommissioner's heart.
"Kara for a ducat!" he said, and swore long and variously.
"Cadogan Square," he ordered.
His ring was answered promptly. Mr. Kara was out of town, had indeedbeen out of town since Saturday. This much the man-servant explainedwith a suspicious eye upon his visitors, remembering that hispredecessor had lost his job from a too confiding friendliness withspurious electric fitters. He did not know when Mr. Kara would return,perhaps it would be a long time and perhaps a short time. He might comeback that night or he might not.
"You are wasting your young life," said T. X. bitterly. "You ought to bea fortune teller."
"This settles the matter," he said, in the cab on the way back. "Findout the first train for Tavistock in the morning and wire the GeorgeHotel to have a car waiting."
"Why not go to-night?" suggested the other. "There is the midnighttrain. It is rather slow, but it will get you there by six or seven inthe morning."
"Too late," he said, "unless you can invent a method of getting fromhere to Paddington in about fifty seconds."
The morning journey to Devonshire was a dispiriting one despite thefineness of the day. T. X. had an uncomfortable sense that somethingdistressing had happened. The run across the moor in the fresh springair revived him a little.
As they spun down to the valley of the Dart, Mansus touched his arm.
"Look at that," he said, and pointed to the blue heavens where, a mileabove their heads, a white-winged aeroplane, looking no larger than avery distant dragon fly, shimmered in the sunlight.
"By Jove!" said T. X. "What an excellent way for a man to escape!"
"It's about the only way," said Mansus.
The significance of the aeroplane was borne in upon T. X. a few minuteslater when he was held up by an armed guard. A glance at his card wasenough to pass him.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
"A prisoner has escaped," said the sentry.
"Escaped--by aeroplane?" asked T. X.
"I don't know anything about aeroplanes, sir. All I know is that one ofthe working party got away."
The car came to the gates of the prison and T. X. sprang out, followedby his assistant. He had no difficulty in finding the Governor, agreatly perturbed man, for an escape is a very serious matter.
The official was inclined to be brusque in his manner, but again themagic card produced a soothing effect.
"I am rather rattled," said the Governor. "One of my men has got away. Isuppose you know that?"
"And I am afraid another of your men is going away, sir," said T. X.,who had a curious reverence for military authority. He produced hispaper and laid it on the governor's table.
"This is an order for the release of John Lexman, convicted undersentence of fifteen years penal servitude."
The Governor looked at it.
"Dated last night," he said, and breathed a long sigh of relief. "Thankthe Lord!--that is the man who escaped!"