The Professor's Mystery

  CHAPTER VI

  A RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL THEME

  For a moment I did not know which feeling was apparent; surprise, anger,or a new and abominable sensation that combined the sense of personalinjury with an intolerable sense of loss. Then I saw in Bob's face thereflection of my own astonishment, and tried to pull myself together.

  "Brace up, man," he said, pounding me heartily on the shoulder. "Don'tlook as if you saw Hamlet's grandmother. She's neither married nordead--he's only taken her home in a hurry. Good Lord, if I'd known youwere going to be so tragic I'd have broken it as gently as a suckingdove."

  By that time I found words. "I'm all right," I said, "only you made mejump with your ornamental way of putting things. Who is he, anyway, andwhat the devil right has he to come and drag her away like this in themiddle of her visit?"

  "Reid? He's only her brother."

  "Her half-brother, you mean."

  "I suppose so, since the name's different. Anyhow, he's no relation toBluebeard, so you needn't go looking for blood and thunder. I know you.It's just that somebody wasn't well at home, and they wanted her.Nothing at all serious, he said; only if Lady was on the ground shecould be useful. Her mother's heart is a little weak, you know. Isuppose it's that."

  "Look here, Bob," said I. "There's something mysterious about thatfamily; and although it's none of my business, I want to know whateveryou can tell me about them. I want to tell you first what I know, andsee if you can help me clear it up."

  "Nonsense! You never saw a windmill yet without swearing it was a greendragon with yellow eyes and a three-pronged tail. They are not half somysterious as you are with that hush-hush expression on your innocentcountenance. Tabor's an importer, with a flourishing business in red inkand spaghetti and other products of Sunny It'. Mrs. Tabor's a dearlittle soul with nerves and an occasional palpitation. Lady's a pippin,and Reid's a strenuous sawbones that lost half a second once in hisyouth and has been chasing it ever since. You've been reading too muchclassical literature."

  "Have you known them long?"

  "Why, no, not so very. Oh, come in out of the sun and take a sedative.You won't be happy till you've relieved your florid mind."

  I followed him into his den and accepted a cigarette and something coolto drink. Then without more preface I told the tale of my adventure,beginning with my arrival at the Tabors' home.

  "Fine!" was his unfeeling comment, "I shall lie awake nights waiting foryour next instalment of confidences. What are you going to do next?"

  "That's what I'm trying to decide," I growled. "And I wish you'd give mea little serious thought, if you can stand the strain. I likeadventures, but my end of this one is getting rather unmanageable."

  "My dear man, I'm as serious as a caged owl. You've been treatedoutrageously, if that's any comfort to you. Only I fail to see whereyour mystery comes in. Of course, it's just as they said: Mr. Tabor hasheard some absurd slander, or got you mixed up with somebody else; andMrs. Tabor worried herself into a state about it, and they turned youout. It's a shame--or it would be if the thought of you as a desperatecharacter who couldn't be allowed overnight in a decent family were notso ridiculous. I'll write to Tabor myself and tell him that he's got thewrong mule by the wrong leg; or if you prefer, we'll delegate the job toone of your older and wiser friends. That's all there is to it."

  "You're leaving out altogether too much. How about my door being locked?How about the dago sailor at the inn? How about Miss Tabor's warning meoff for all time, and then meeting me here as if she hadn't seen mesince Christmas?"

  Bob smoked and frowned a moment, then brushed the difficulty aside.

  "Accidents, old fellow, accidents. The locked door was a mistake, unlesssomebody thought you were too dangerous a reprobate to leave at large.The guinea was drunk, on your own showing. As for Lady, she has a betterhead than the average, but you can't get me to waste any time figuringout how any woman's mind works. I've been married three years."

  "Well, I'm going to find out what it all means."

  "It doesn't all mean anything. That's where your kaleidoscopicimagination gets to work. There isn't any conceivable connection betweenthese details! and you talk as if they were veiled and awful hints allpointing one way. Your dragons are windmills, I tell you, and yourhelmet's a copper kettle."

  "You'd think differently if you had been there. Besides, I know--" Istopped short. Bob was my friend, and whatever I chose to tell him wasmy own business; but even to him I was not betraying confidences.

  "Bob," I said, "I can't prove it, even to you, but I know that there issomething wrong; and I firmly believe that somehow or other all thesethings work into it. Now, if you can throw any light at all, help meout."

  "I've told you all I know. I'm not exactly an intimate of these people,but I've known them off and on for three or four years, and there simplyisn't anything unusual about them. They're just like every one else,only a little nicer--the last people on earth to act queerly or have acloset skeleton."

  "At any rate, they seem to want to get rid of me," I said. "Well, theycan't do it. If they've got some scandalous idea of me, they're going toapologize; and if they're in trouble, I'm going to make myself useful.I've fallen into an adventure, and I'm going through with it."

  "I'll tell you one thing," said Bob, very solemnly for him, "if there isany family secret, it's nothing against Lady. She's about as good andwhite and honest--but you don't need to be told that."

  "No," said I, "I don't. And perhaps that's the reason."

  I waited where I was for the rest of the week; partly because I wasresolved not to put myself in the wrong afresh by following Miss Tabor'smovements too immediately, and partly to give time for Bob's promisedvindication of my character to take effect. I could not, however,believe that it would, in itself, make any great difference; for themore I considered, the more it seemed to me that I had been right in mysuspicion, and that the whole empty charge had been merely an excuse fordriving me from the house and a device for terminating the acquaintance.I discovered during those few days the truth of the saying that to thinkis the hardest thing in the world; for my attempts to reason out thesituation persistently resolved themselves into adventurous dreams andemotional reminiscences until I suspended judgment in despair and putthe whole matter from my mind. And it was with an eager relief at lastthat I bade good-by to the Ainslies and retraced my journey. Bob hadreceived in the meantime no answer to his letter; but by that time I wasnot to be surprised.

  I took my old room at the inn, got myself into white flannels withleisurely determination, and set forth to call upon Miss Tabor. It wasnot hot, and all the air was clear with that sparkling zest commonenough in autumn but rare in the heat of midsummer; and as I hurriedalong, the beauty of the world flowed over me in a great, joyous wave ofhope and resolution. The little distance between the inn and the Tabors'I covered before I realized it.

  "Is Miss Tabor at home?" I asked the maid at the door.

  She took my card and hesitated. "I'll go and see, sir," she said finally,and ushered me into the big living-room.

  I was all alone; voices came dimly from other parts of the house, andthe room where I sat was cool and pleasant. I found my heart beating alittle faster, and wondered at myself. Presently the maid returned.

  "Miss Tabor is not at home," she said.

  Somehow, I had not expected it, and for a moment I stood looking at herfoolishly as she held open the door. "She is in town, is she not?" Iasked clumsily.

  "I am not sure, sir; she is not at home, sir," the woman repeatedwoodenly.

  I trudged back through the glare of the impossibly brilliant day sickwith disappointment, and wondering if she had really been away. Couldthere be any reason why my card had not been taken to her? Had somegeneral order gone out against me? Then I brought my imagination to asudden halt. I was getting to be a fool. The probability was that themaid had simply spoken the truth; and in any case, the whole matter waseasy of determination. At the inn I wrote a short note t
o Miss Tabor,saying that I was in town for a few days, regretting that I had missedher and asking when I should find a convenient hour to call. Thisdespatched, I found myself in a state of empty hurry with nothing to do;and after supper and a game or so of erratic pool, I set out to walk offan incipient and unreasoning attack of blues.

  By the time I had tramped through a couple of townships and turnedtoward home I was fairly cheerful again. Landmarks had begun to lookunfamiliar in the gathering gloom, and I took my turnings a littleuncertainly; so that it was with a thrill of surprise that I foundmyself on a crossroad that ran alongside the Tabor place. The greathouse was largely dark and peaceful. Windows below glowed dimly throughthe dusk; and above, a single square shone brightly. Two men were comingslowly up the long driveway in front, which paralleled the road on whichI stood; and as they approached the house, it seemed to me that theywere walking not upon the gravel of the drive, but upon the grass besideit. When they reached the steps they turned aside, and skirting thehouse with a more evident avoidance of paths, crossed a stretch of lawnto what appeared to be a stable or garage some distance behind it. Therewas a furtiveness about the whole proceeding that I did not like, and Istood still a moment watching. Presently a match was struck in a roomabove the garage, and the gas flared on. Then, after a little, one ofthe men came out, running quietly across the lawn until he came to astop beside the house and directly before me. The light from the upperwindow fell upon him and he stepped aside into the shade, but not beforeI had plainly seen his face. It was Lady's half-brother, Doctor Reid.

  He seemed excited, or perhaps anxious; for his movements were more jerkythan ever, and he moved restlessly and continually as he waited in theshadow. Once or twice he glanced nervously over his shoulder, and Iinstinctively drew back under the bulk of a big maple beside the road.Then he would move out beyond the edge of the shrubbery where he couldsee the lighted room above the garage, then return to his watching underthe window. Once or twice he whistled softly. There was no answer, andat last I saw his hand go back and a tiny pebble tinkled against theglass. Then I held my breath, my heart hammering in my ears, for LadyTabor had come to the window.

  She softly raised it and leaned out, her face very white in thedarkness.

  "Is that you, Walter?" she called under her breath.

  "Yes," he answered, "I have him in the garage. All clear in there? Hemustn't be seen, you know, mustn't be seen at all."

  She laid her finger on her lips and nodded. Then the window closedsilently and she was gone. Reid turned and ran back to the garage. Whenhe came out again the other man was with him, and they crept past meamong the shrubs, talking softly. The other man was tall, with a breadthof shoulder and thickness of chest that would have done credit to aprofessional strong man; yet his voice came in an absurd treble squeak,with an odd precision of articulation and phrasing.

  "It is very important that we shall go quietly," he was saying.

  "Of course, of course," Reid whispered. Then they passed beyond hearingunder the shadow of the house. Presently I saw them again, silhouettedagainst the gray wall. They were standing close together upon the narrowterrace that ran between the driveway and the side of the house, andReid was fumbling at a pair of French windows. They opened with a faintclick; and motioning the other man before him, he stepped in, closingthe windows after them.

  I walked on, full of an impatient wonder at this new mystery, which,like its predecessors, would neither fit into any reasonable explanationnor suffer itself to be put aside as unmeaning. In front of the house Ipassed a big limousine, drawn up by the roadside, its engine purringsoftly and its lamps boring bright tunnels through the gloom. I knew itfor the Tabors' by the monogram on the panels; and as I went by, Inoticed the chauffeur lying sleepily back in his seat puffing at acigar. Of course it had brought the stranger, and was waiting to takehim back; but on what errand a man could be brought to the house like aguest and sneak in at a window like a thief was a question beyond me tofathom.

  After all, I thought, as I reached my room, what business was it ofmine? By every canon of custom and good taste I should accept my rebukeand drop quietly out of the lives of the Tabors. By staying I wasforcing myself upon them, certainly against the wishes of Doctor Reidand Mr. Tabor, and possibly even against those of Miss Tabor, herself.Nevertheless, I made up my mind perversely. Of course, if Miss Taborwished it, I should go, but unless she told me to go herself and of herown free will, canons of politeness might go hang; rightly or wrongly, Iwould see the thing to a finish.