CHAPTER X
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
Settling on the Hotel Victoria as our headquarters, we prepared to makethe two days before our sailing as amusing as possible, but I alwayshad before me the nightmare of the little carved casket which I was tocarry with me.
I decided I would take no risks with it. I would go and fetch it frommy solicitors on the afternoon of our departure, on the way to thestation. It was very evident to me that this casket containedsomething of the greatest possible interest to several people,including in particular His Serene Highness, the Duke of Rittersheim.
When, then, Ethel, St. Nivel and I had crowded all the visits totheatres and matinees we could into the intervening two days, we sattaking our last luncheon in England, probably, for some time to come.
"I am so glad we are going by this boat instead of the next," remarkedSt. Nivel, taking a glass of Chartreuse from the attentive waiter whowas on the look out for a parting tip; "a fortnight makes all thedifference in that part of the world; we shall just get there for thetail end of the summer, which they say is glorious. A bit of a change,I am thinking," he added, with a glance out of the window, "to thiskind of diluted pea-soup weather we get here in November."
"Let us see," said Ethel, with a calculating air, "this is the lastweek in November. We arrive there the second week in December, and therainy season does not begin until the middle of January. We shall havea clear month to enjoy ourselves in!"
"Very delightful," I replied; "a delightful voyage under delightfulcircumstances."
I bowed to my cousin Ethel as I raised my liqueur glass to my lips.
She blew away the smoke of the cigarette she took from hers--we were ina private room--and smiled at me.
"You flattering old courtier!" she answered; "you get those airsthrough writing romances. What is more to the purpose, have yousecured those three state cabins on the C deck of the _Oceana_?"
"Well," I answered laconically, "I've paid the money for them at anyrate. Sixty-six pounds the three, over and above first-class fare!"
"And very cheap, too," replied Ethel; "the comfort of sleeping in areal brass bedstead instead of those intolerable bunks is worth threetimes as much!"
I looked at my cigar and said nothing; but for the generosity of theold lady of Monmouth Street, Bath, a bunk would have been my lot,without doubt, in the ordinary way. Though she had laid a heavy burdenupon me, she certainly had a kind consideration for my comfort.
Further conversation was put an end to by the entry of my new man,Brooks, with my travelling coat.
"The motor's at the door, sir," he announced.
I had engaged a special motor-brougham to take me from the hotel to mylawyers in Lincoln's Inn, and from there to the station with theprecious casket in my possession; I had already banked the notes. Iwished to make the journey as rapidly as possible, and Brooks was toaccompany me, my luggage going on under the care of St. Nivel's man.
"Then _au revoir_ until we meet at Euston," I said to my cousins; "mindyou are in good time for the train."
"We shall be all right," answered Ethel. "I wish we were coming withyou. I feel rather anxious about you."
"Don't you worry, Ethel," St. Nivel replied, "he'll be all right. He'snot a child."
I went off and got into the motor, Brooks taking his seat on the box.
We rattled away through the crowded streets in the dim half-fog thatwas enveloping the town, and duly arrived at the dreary-looking officesof the lawyers.
There I did not lose a minute; they had been duly apprised of my comingand I found Watson the managing clerk already waiting for me.
"Here are the two packets, Mr. Anstruther," he said, handing them tome; "they are just as you left them, you see, and the seals are intact."
I examined them and found them quite correct.
"What a fortunate thing," added Watson, as I buttoned my overcoat overthe pocket in which I had stowed the little parcels, "that I saw youpush those two packets into the pigeon-holes, and stopped thatscoundrel from laying his hands on them!"
"Yes, it was a very lucky thing," I replied, "and I am very muchobliged to you for your promptness in gathering my meaning."
"Yes, it was a fortunate escape for you, sir," he added; "when I sawyou go away with those two men, I never felt more miserable in my life.But, of course, we read all about the truth of it next afternoon in theevening paper. One can hardly believe such things possible in thesetimes with our efficient police."
"Ye-es,"--I hesitated, with my mind on the thick necks andwhisky-drinking proclivities of some of the "'tecs" I had known,--"Isuppose we can never rely upon _absolute_ safety in this world."
Then as I spoke a thought struck me; I noticed that the packets wererather bulging out in the pocket in which I had placed them. I had anidea I would change their position. I quickly took them out and placedone in each of my trousers pockets; there was then nothing in myappearance to denote where they were. In the result, it was a verylucky thing I had taken this precaution.
To preserve the secret of their whereabouts, I kept my hand in thebreast of my travelling coat as if I were guarding the precious parcelsthere, and in this way I left the lawyers' office and made for themotor-brougham, the door of which was being held open by my man Brooks.
Just as I was half-way across the pavement, a man selling eveningpapers came rushing by and shouting--
"'Orrible murder! Suicide of the assassin! 'Orrible murder!"
He was running very fast and apparently not looking where he was going,for he knocked roughly against me as he passed, dislodging my hand frommy breast; but Brooks he ran right into, full tilt, with the resultthat my man lost his balance and sprawled on the pavement.
It was then that a very fussy little over-dressed man came bustling upout of the fog, accompanied by a very attractive lady.
"A more disgraceful thing, sir," he said, addressing me, "I have neverseen before. I trust you are not hurt, sir?"
"No, thank you, I'm all right," I answered, half inclined to laugh atBrooks scrambling up from the pavement and brushing himself, for it wasa wet, slimy day and the pavements muddy. The newspaper man haddisappeared.
"Why, I declare," exclaimed the little man, "the scamp has covered youwith mud!"
I looked down; there certainly was a splash of mud on the front of mycoat. I wondered how it had got there. Despite my assertions, thetwo--both the lady and the gentleman--insisted on brushing me, until invery desperation I had to get into the brougham out of their way. Thenthey suddenly made me very polite bows and disappeared.
Brooks mounted the box, and we rattled away to Euston. There was onething which attracted my attention, however, on that short journey.Brooks' ungloved hand was hanging down as he sat on the box, and Inoticed that he kept snapping his fingers as he sat.
"That's a very highly nervous man," I said to myself, "and even thatlittle incident has upset him."
Brooks' nervousness passed out of my mind altogether when we reachedEuston, and I sought in the bustle for my two cousins. I found them atlast standing in front of the reserved coupe which I had taken care tohave secured for us by my man.
When they saw me, a look of surprise and amusement came over theirfaces, and they both laughed heartily.
"What on earth have you been doing, Will?" Ethel cried. "Have you beento a suffragists' meeting on the way?"
Ethel affected to laugh at the suffragists, but in her heart I believeshe would have liked to join them, and perhaps would have done so butfor her brother.
"No," I answered; "what's the matter with me?"
"Look at your coat," replied St. Nivel, pointing to the breast of thatgarment.
I did look, and found that both my travelling coat and the coatunderneath it had been cut completely through the left breast, where mypocket was, with a knife whose edge must have been as keen as that of arazor.
At the first shock I cried, half aloud--
"Good God! The packets have b
een stolen."
Then I recollected my forethought in placing them in my trouserspockets, and I dived my hands into them instinctively. Yes, thank God,they were all right; my two hands closed on their crisp sealed surfaces.
But how had it occurred?
I thought of the man tearing along with the evening papers, theupsetting of Brooks, and the fussy lady and gentleman who had insistedon brushing me down. I saw it all now--a carefully prepared plan!
Then I roared with laughter, much to the astonishment of Ethel and St.Nivel.
"They've had all their trouble for nothing," I gasped, simply stampingwith delight; "the silly fools have got nothing!" But I was wrong;they had got my brand new cigar case given me by Ethel with my initialson it and full of St. Nivel's best Havannahs, placed there by her ownfair hands for the railway journey.