The Professor's Mystery

  CHAPTER X

  AND HOW WE BROUGHT HOME A DIFFICULTY

  It was a matter of seconds. I vaulted over the spare tires into thechauffeur's seat, pulling the throttle open while I felt for my pedals;and as I did so, I heard the door of the limousine slam behind me. Ahasty glance over my shoulder showed me that the back of the car wasclear. I jerked in the reverse and raised my feet; and with a roar and astream of blue smoke, the machine swung backward across the street,while I twisted furiously at the wheel. One of the men caught at me aswe began to move, but the suddenness of our starting helped the push Igave him to throw him off his balance. He sprawled on his back in thegutter, and an instant later I was in my second speed and half-way upthe block. The policeman behind us was firing his revolver; whether atus or our tires or the sky I had no time to guess. And I took the firstcorner with my heart in my mouth and an empty feeling in my stomach,praying that we might get around it right side up. A shadow ran out fromthe curb and sprang for the running-board; but my hands and eyes were sobusy in front of me that I did not know whether we missed him or ran himdown.

  Speed was impossible over the cobbles; our only chance was to take asmany turnings as possible to avoid being headed, and for the next fewminutes we swayed and slid around treacherous corners through a darknessthat was full of shouts and whistlings and gesticulating enemies. Iwondered that every blue-coated figure running blindly up the lane ofour lights did not stop us, and that at every turning we had neitherupset nor skidded into the opposite curb. It was wild work at the best;and considering that I was driving a heavy and unfamiliar car over slimypavements, I can not understand now how we avoided either accident orcapture. But presently the headlights showed a long, dark street, clearof interference. We raced up it at a rate that seemed to loosen everytooth in my head, and numbed my fingers upon the rattling wheel. Thenoise was fairly behind us. After a couple more turns, it had grownfainter; and I slowed to a saner speed, watching the street lamps forknowledge of my whereabouts. Then I became conscious that there was aman beside me in the car.

  He was huddled in a heap on the floor, between the seat and the dash,hanging on desperately, and crowding himself into the least possiblespace as if to keep out of sight. As soon as I could spare a hand, Ibegan to pound him over the head and neck. I was in no mood for halfmeasures. He cowered back on to the running-board, shielding himselfwith an arm and turning up an absurd and ugly face of terror. It was ourhighly respectable chauffeur.

  "Oh, for God's sake, don't, sir!" he croaked, shrinking back out ofreach. "I won't interfere with you nor nothing. I'll get out as soon aswe get fair away. Only I'd ha' been took up sure, sir, and there's mecharacter gone."

  "Get into that seat and keep still," I said, "or you'll have us alltaken up. Get in, I tell you."

  He crawled into the seat, shaking and protesting. There were tears inhis voice, and I think actually in his eyes.

  "Do you know your way out of this?" I demanded.

  "No, sir. I haven't a notion. I'll get out and ask." He was apparentlytoo frightened to know his own mind, but I had made up mine. He wasbetter with us than wandering about the city, telling murder stories.

  "Stay where you are," I snapped, "you'll go home with us, and keep yourhead shut."

  "Oh, I can't think of it, sir. We'll never get home after this. I'll getout here. It's murder and resisting arrest and endangering traffic.They'll have me an accomplice."

  I caught at his collar as he tried to stand up, and jerked him back intothe seat. Before he could make another move, I had shut off and got myright hand on the revolver. I held it across my knees under the wheel,and slipped the holster off it.

  "You're going to sit still and keep quiet," I said, "and you're goingwherever we go. Do you understand?"

  He sat like a graven image after that, with no sound but an occasionalsniff. I slid the revolver between me and the edge of the seat, and wewent on. He might have known that I should never have dared to use it;but either he was too shaken and stupid to put himself in my place, orhe lacked the nerve to try me. All this time we had been workingwestward as fast as the rough going and my divided attention wouldallow. Now and then some one shouted after us. But it was still dark andwe were soon out of sight around a corner, and the few policemen whoconcerned themselves with us at all did not trouble themselves towhistle up a hue and cry. Presently the black bulk of the elevated gaveme my bearings, and I turned north under it, running along the cartracks. The lights and the scattered traffic, and the occasional roaringof a train overhead, seemed curiously homelike and comfortable. I feltas if I were waking out of a nightmare.

  We crossed over to Union Square and hurried carefully throughcivilization. I was afraid of Fifth Avenue; even at this hour, too manyof the guardians of the peace there were provided with better means ofspeed than their own feet; and I did not like the attention we stillseemed to attract, now that we were safe away from our original troubleand running at an ordinary rate. Madison Avenue was decently asleep; andits empty length must have tempted me to unreasonable speed, for the fewpeople we passed stopped to stare, and call after us unmeaningly. Iexpected every moment to meet a mounted policeman, and held myself readyto slow down or take a sudden corner; but none appeared, and I turnedinto the leafy darkness of Central Park with a sigh of relief. I wasmore than a little anxious for the safety of my passengers within.

  I stopped in the deepest shade I could find, and clambered out. Lady'sface was at the door almost before I could open it.

  "Are you all right?" she panted. I could see only her eyes and theoutline of her face like a white shadow.

  "Yes; are you?"

  She laughed nervously. "I'm as well as when we started, and Sheila isbetter. She has come to herself now. Can you find some water? I have aflask here."

  "There are fountains all along these drives. We'll run ahead until wecome to one of them."

  As I spoke, there was a thud behind me, and a quick patter of runningfeet. The excellent Thomas had taken advantage of my forgetfulness tobreak for liberty. He was out of sight almost before I turned; and hehad been thoughtful enough to throw the revolver away as he jumped.

  "I'm a clever idiot," I said ruefully, "your chauffeur has been tryingto desert all along, and now he's done it."

  "But you were driving, yourself. What difference does it make?"

  "I was thinking of what he might say," said I. "But for that matter, Isuppose I have got you into a newspaper scrape anyhow, if nothing worse.Every policeman on the East Side must have our number."

  "I was just going to ask you about that," said Lady, with a queer littlecrow in her voice. "Perhaps we had better carry this outside now." Shefelt about her feet and handed me a muddy strip of metal. "I took thisoff while you were starting the car. And I put out that red lanternthing, too."

  For an instant I forgot Doctor Reid and all the mountain ofimpossibility that lay between us. She had always been more than otherwomen. And now she was that rarest thing of all, a comrade ready in amoment of need. I reached out my hand, as if she had been a man.

  "You're a miracle," I said, "and I'm not half good enough to be yourlieutenant. Good work."

  There was a broken whisper from the darkness within.

  "The water," said Lady, "we're forgetting Sheila."

  I replaced our number, lighted the tail-lamp, and a little farther onfound a drinking fountain and got the water. Mrs. Carucci was able tospeak only a few words of unsteady thanks; but that was enough to makeme fall in love with the crooning voice of her. We pushed on out of townwithout any further adventure; and on the open roads off to thenorthward were free to make the most of our speed.

  The night slowly faded, not as if any light were coming, but as if thedarkness itself were growing faint and weak. The roadside trees werestill mysterious bulks against remoter gloom, but their blackness nowgave a dull hint of green and the yellow glare of our lamps grew washedout and lifeless. The crowing of cocks, reiterated from place to place,sounded fictitious and un
natural. The air chilled a little and here andthere we ran through a momentary blindness of mist, as if a small cloudhad fallen to drift along the surface of the earth. I sat back halfdrowsily, with relaxed nerves; and although I had no desire for sleep,although I never loosened my hands upon the wheel, nor took my eyes fora second from the wavering end of the ribbon of light that unwounditself continually toward me, yet I felt somehow unreal and verypeaceful, without will or memory, like a person in a dream. The carobeyed me without my being conscious of any movement, as if I guided itby my mere volition. Slowly the pallor around me changed from green togray; the air freshened as the stars went out; and the twitter of birdsand the scattered barking of dogs underran the unvarying, inevitabledrumming of the engine. That sound itself dried and hardened in thekeener atmosphere. And in the pleasure of the perfect power under me, Ilet the car out nearly to the limit of its speed, until the sidelongsway of the body warned me that I was driving too fast for the road. Wepassed a milk wagon or two and an occasional early trolley. Then camethe dawn, so swiftly that it was full day of sunlight and shadow beforeI thought to look for color in the east. Somehow it did not seem likemorning, but like coming out of a curtained house into the midst ofafternoon.

  It was part of this same strangeness that I only felt the exhilarationof the present without any thought of trouble that lay before me andbehind. I was a conquering hero, carrying my princess home in triumphout of the castle of the enchanter. I had overcome desperate accidentsand won my spurs; this page of the fairy-tale bore a picture in shiningcolors, and I knew of neither the last page nor the next. It was in thismood that I passed, unheeding, through the gathering familiarity ofnearer landmarks, past the inn and up the winding hill, and drew up atlast before the Tabors' door with some vague fancy that I should hear atrumpet blown. I suppose that I was unconsciously very tired and in partasleep, so that it came upon me with the shock of a violent awakeningwhen the front door swung open and Mr. Tabor hurried out to meet us,followed by Doctor Reid.

  The fairy-tale burst like a bubble, and the actuality of all that thosetwo men stood for in my last few days and all the days to come drownedme in a breath. I got down mechanically to help them. I suppose we musthave spoken a few words while Lady was getting out of the car and Mrs.Carucci was helped down and half-carried into the house between the twomen. But I do not remember. I remember only the three figures in thedoorway, the drooping woman, with their arms about her. Then the doorclosed, and Lady stood alone upon the steps above me. Her eyes werelarger for the shadows under them; but there was no bloom upon her, andI wondered why I had thought her really beautiful.

  "I'll take the car around and leave it," I said. "Good-by."

  "You're a strange man," she muttered; then with her sudden smile,"Aren't you coming in to breakfast? You've had an adventure, and youought to be hungry."

  Her tone jarred. "Never mind that," I said bitterly. "I was to go thismorning, and I'm going. There's still plenty of time for my train. Thesooner it's over with, the better."

  "What do you mean?" she asked.

  "Mean? I mean what you told me--and one thing more, I understand nowwhat you meant yesterday, because I found your marriage notice in an oldpaper."

  "What marriage notice? I don't understand."

  "Yours; on the twenty-sixth of May three years ago, to Doctor Reid.That's all. I beg your pardon."

  The color came back into her face; and under the trouble of her brows Ithought she almost smiled.

  "That was my sister," she said quietly. "My name's Margaret; I thoughtyou knew."