CHAPTER XVI
THE COMING OF SERGEANT SMITH
Jasper Cole at that moment was trudging through the snow to the littlechalet which May Nuttall had taken on the slope of the mountainoverlooking Chamonix. The sleigh which had brought him up from thestation was at the foot of the rise. May saw him from the veranda, andcoo-ooed a welcome. He stamped the snow from his boots and ran up thesteps of the veranda to meet her.
"This is a very pleasant surprise," she said, giving him both her handsand looking at him approvingly. He had lost much of his pallor, and hisface was tanned and healthy, though a little fine drawn.
"It was rather a mad thing to do, wasn't it?" he confessed ruefully.
"You are such a confirmed bachelor, Jasper, that I believe you hatedoing anything outside your regular routine. Why did you come all theway from Holland to the Haute Savoie?"
He had followed her into the warm and cozy sitting room, and was warminghis chilled fingers by the big log fire which burned on the hearth.
"Can you ask? I came to see you."
"And how are all the experiments going?"
She turned him to another topic in some hurry.
"There have been no experiments since last month; at least not the kindof experiments you mean. The one in which I have been engaged has beenvery successful."
"And what was that?" she asked curiously.
"I will tell you one of these days," he said.
He was staying at the Hotel des Alpes, and hoped to be a week inChamonix. They chatted about the weather, the early snow which hadcovered the valley in a mantle of white, about the tantalizing behaviorof Mont Blanc, which had not been visible since May had arrived, of theearly avalanches, which awakened her with their thunder on the night ofher arrival, of the pleasant road to Argentieres, of the villages by theCol de Balme, which are buried in snow, of the sparkling, ethereal greenof the great glacier--of everything save that which was nearest to theirthoughts and to their hearts.
Jasper broke the ice when he referred to Frank's visit to Geneva.
"How did you know?" she asked, suddenly grave.
"Somebody told me," he said casually.
"Jasper, were you ever at Montreux?" she asked, looking him straight inthe eye.
"I have been to Montreux, or rather to Caux," he said. "That is thevillage on the mountain above, and one has to go through Montreux toreach it. Why did you ask?"
A sudden chill had fallen upon her, which she did not shake off that dayor the next.
They made the usual excursions together, climbed up the wooded slopesof the Butte, and on the third morning after his arrival stood togetherin the clear dawn and watched the first pink rays of the sun strikingthe humped summit of Mont Blanc.
"Isn't it glorious?" she whispered.
He nodded.
The serene beauty of it all, the purity, the majestic aloofness ofmountains at once depressed and exalted her, brought her nearer to thesublimity of ancient truths, cleansed her of petty fears. She turned tohim unexpectedly and asked:
"Jasper, who killed John Minute?"
He made no reply. His wistful eyes were fixed hungrily upon the gloriesof light and shade, of space, of inaccessibility, of purity, ofcoloring, of all that dawn upon Mont Blanc comprehended. When he spokehis voice was lowered to almost a whisper.
"I know that the man who killed John Minute is alive and free," he said.
"Who was he?"
"If you do not know now, you may never know," he said.
There was a silence which lasted for fully five minutes, and the crimsonlight upon the mountain top had paled to lemon yellow.
Then she asked again:
"Are you directly or indirectly guilty?"
He shook his head.
"Neither directly nor indirectly," he said shortly, and the next minuteshe was in his arms.
There had been no word of love between them, no tender passage, noletter which the world could not read. It was a love-making which hadbegun where other love-makings end--in conquest and in surrender. Inthis strange way, beyond all understanding, May Nuttall became engaged,and announced the fact in the briefest of letters to her friends.
A fortnight later the girl arrived in England, and was met at CharingCross by Saul Arthur Mann. She was radiantly happy and bubbling overwith good spirits, a picture of health and beauty.
All this Mr. Mann observed with a sinking heart. He had a duty toperform, and that duty was not a pleasant one. He knew it was useless toreason with the girl. He could offer her no more than half-formedtheories and suspicions, but at least he had one trump card. He debatedin his mind whether he should play this, for here, too, his informationwas of the scantiest description. He carried his account of the girl toFrank Merrill.
"My dear Frank, she is simply infatuated," said the little man indespair. "Oh, if that infernal record of mine was only completed I couldconvince her in a second! There is no single investigation I have everundertaken which has been so disappointing."
"Can nothing be done?" asked Frank, "I cannot believe that it willhappen. Marry Jasper! Great Caesar! After all--"
His voice was hoarse. The hand he raised in protest shook.
Saul Arthur Mann scratched his chin reflectively.
"Suppose you saw her," he suggested, and added a little grimly: "I willsee Mr. Cole at the same time."
Frank hesitated.
"I can understand your reluctance," the little man went on, "but thereis too much at stake to allow your finer feelings to stop you. Thismatter has got to be prevented at all costs. We are fighting for time.In a month, possibly less, we may have the whole of the facts in ourhands."
"Have you found out anything about the girl in Camden Town?" askedFrank.
"She has disappeared completely," replied the other. "Every clew we havehad has led nowhere."
Frank dressed himself with unusual care that afternoon, and, havingpreviously telephoned and secured the girl's permission to call, hepresented himself to the minute. She was, as usual, cordiality itself.
"I was rather hurt at your not calling before, Frank," she said. "Youhave come to congratulate me?"
She looked at him straight in the eyes as she said this.
"You can hardly expect that, May," he said gently, "knowing how much youare to me and how greatly I wanted you. Honestly, I cannot understandit, and I can only suppose that you, whom I love better than anything inthe world--and you mean more to me than any other being--share thesuspicion which surrounds me like a poison cloud."
"Yet if I shared that suspicion," she said calmly, "would I let you seeme? No, Frank, I was a child when--you know. It was only a few monthsago, but I believe--indeed I know--it would have been the greatestmistake I could possibly have made. I should have been a very unhappywoman, for I have loved Jasper all along."
She said this evenly, without any display of emotion or embarrassment.Frank, narrating the interview to Saul Arthur Mann, described thespeech as almost mechanical.
"I hope you are going to take it nicely," she went on, "that we aregoing to be such good friends as we always were, and that even thememory of your poor uncle's death and the ghastly trial which followedand the part that Jasper played will not spoil our friendship."
"But don't you see what it means to me?" he burst forth, and for asecond they looked at one another, and Frank divined her thoughts andwinced.
"I know what you are thinking," he said huskily; "you are thinking ofall the beastly things that were said at the trial, that if I had gainedyou I should have gained all that I tried to gain."
She went red.
"It was horrid of me, wasn't it?" she confessed. "And yet that idea cameto me. One cannot control one's thoughts, Frank, and you must be contentto know that I believe in your innocence. There are some thoughts whichflourish in one's mind like weeds, and which refuse to be uprooted.Don't blame me if I recalled the lawyer's words; it was an involuntary,hateful thought."
He inclined his head.
"There is
another thought which is not involuntary," she went on, "andit is because I want to retain our friendship and I want everything togo on as usual that I am asking you one question. Your twenty-fourthbirthday has come and gone; you told me that your uncle's design was tokeep you unmarried until that day. You are still unmarried, and yourtwenty-fourth birthday has passed. What has happened?"
"Many things have happened," he replied quietly. "My uncle is dead. I ama rich man apart from the accident of his legacy. I could meet you onlevel terms."
"I knew nothing of this," she said quickly.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Didn't Jasper tell you?" he asked.
"No--Jasper told me nothing."
Frank drew a long breath.
"Then I can only say that until the mystery of my uncle's death issolved you cannot know," he said. "I can only repeat what I have alreadytold you."
She offered her hand.
"I believe you, Frank," she said, "and I was wrong even to doubt you inthe smallest degree."
He took her hand and held it.
"May," he said, "what is this strange fascination that Jasper has overyou?"
For the second time in that interview she flushed and pulled her handback.
"There is nothing unusual in the fascination which Jasper exercises,"she smiled, quickly recovering, almost against her will, from the littletwinge of anger she felt. "It is the influence which every woman hasfelt and which you one day will feel."
He laughed bitterly.
"Then nothing will make you change your mind?" he said.
"Nothing in the world," she answered emphatically.
For a moment she was sorry for him, as he stood, both hands resting on achair, his eyes on the ground, a picture of despair, and she crossed tohim and slipped her arm through his.
"Don't take it so badly, Frank," she said softly. "I am a capricious,foolish girl, I know, and I am really not worth a moment's suffering."
He shook himself together, gathered up his hat, his stick, and hisovercoat and offered his hand.
"Good-by," he said, "and good luck!"
In the meantime another interview of a widely different character wastaking place in the little house which Jasper Cole occupied on thePortsmouth Road. Jasper and Saul Arthur Mann had met before, but thiswas the first visit that the investigator had paid to the home of JohnMinute's heir.
Jasper was waiting at the door to greet the little man when he arrived,and had offered him a quiet but warm welcome and led the way to thebeautiful study which was half laboratory, which he had built forhimself since John Minute's death.
"I am coming straight to the point without any beating about the bush,Mr. Cole," said the little man, depositing his bag on the side of hischair and opening it with a jerk. "I will tell you frankly that I amacting on Mr. Merrill's behalf and that I am also acting, as I believe,in the interests of justice."
"Your motives, at any rate, are admirable," said Jasper, pushing backthe papers which littered his big library table, and seating himself onthe edge.
"You are probably aware that you are to some extent under suspicion, Mr.Cole."
"Under your suspicion or the suspicion of the authorities?" asked theother coolly.
"Under mine," said Saul Arthur Mann emphatically. "I cannot speak forthe authorities."
"In what direction does this suspicion run?"
He thrust his hands deep in his trousers pockets, and eyed the otherkeenly.
"My first suspicion is that you are well aware as to who murdered JohnMinute."
Jasper Cole nodded.
"I am perfectly aware that he was murdered by your friend, Mr. Merrill,"he said.
"I suggest," said Saul Arthur Mann calmly, "that you know the murderer,and you know the murderer was _not_ Frank Merrill."
Jasper made no reply, and a faint smile flickered for a second at thecorner of his mouth, but he gave no other sign of his inward feelings.
"And the other point you wish to raise?" he asked.
"The other is a more delicate subject, since it involves a lady," saidthe little man. "You are about to be married to Miss Nuttall."
Jasper Cole nodded.
"You have obtained an extraordinary influence over the lady in this pastfew months."
"I hope so," said the other cheerfully.
"It is an influence which might have been brought about by normalmethods, but it is also one," Saul Arthur leaned over and tapped thetable emphatically with each word, "which might be secured by a veryclever chemist who had found a way of sapping the will of his victim."
"By the administration of drugs?" asked Jasper.
"By the administration of drugs," repeated Saul Arthur Mann.
Jasper Cole smiled.
"I should like to know the drug," he said. "One would make a fortune, tosay nothing of benefiting humanity to an extraordinary degree by itsemployment. For example, I might give you a dose and you would tell meall that you know; I am told that your knowledge is fairly extensive,"he bantered. "Surely you, Mr. Mann, with your remarkable collection ofinformation on all subjects under the sun, do not suggest that such adrug exists?"
"On the contrary," said "The Man Who Knew" in triumph, "it is known andis employed. It was known as long ago as the days of the Borgias. It wasemployed in France in the days of Louis XVI. It has been, to someextent, rediscovered and used in lunatic asylums to quiet dangerouspatients."
He saw the interest deepen in the other's eyes.
"I have never heard of that," said Jasper slowly; "the only drug that isemployed for that purpose is, as far as I know, bromide of potassium."
Mr. Mann produced a slip of paper, and read off a list of names, mostlyof mental institutions in the United States of America and in Germany.
"Oh, that drug!" said Jasper Cole contemptuously. "I know the use towhich that is put. There was an article on the subject in the _BritishMedical Journal_ three months ago. It is a modified kind of 'twilightsleep'--hyocine and morphia. I'm afraid, Mr. Mann," he went on, "youhave come on a fruitless errand, and, speaking as a humble student ofscience, I may suggest without offense that your theories are whollyfantastic."
"Then I will put another suggestion to you, Mr. Cole," said the littleman without resentment, "and to me this constitutes the chief reason whyyou should not marry the lady whose confidence I enjoy and who, I feelsure, will be influenced by my advice."
"And what is that?" asked Jasper.
"It affects your own character, and it is in consequence a veryembarrassing matter for me to discuss," said the little man.
Again the other favored him with that inscrutable smile of his.
"My moral character, I presume, is now being assailed," he saidflippantly. "Please go on; you promise to be interesting."
"You were in Holland a short time ago. Does Miss Nuttall know this?"
Jasper nodded.
"She is well aware of the fact."
"You were in Holland with a lady," accused Mr. Mann slowly. "Is MissNuttall well aware of this fact, too?"
Jasper slipped from the table and stood upright. Through his narrow lidshe looked down upon his accuser.
"Is that all you know?" he asked softly.
"Not all, but one of the things I know," retorted the other. "You wereseen in her company. She was staying in the same hotel with you as 'Mrs.Cole.'"
Jasper nodded.
"You will excuse me if I decline to discuss the matter," he said.
"Suppose I ask Miss Nuttall to discuss it?" challenged the little man.
"You are the master of your own actions," said Jasper Cole quickly, "andI dare say, if you regard it as expedient, you will tell her, but I canpromise you that whether you tell her or not I shall marry MissNuttall."
With this he ushered his visitor to the door, and hardly waited for thecar to drive off before he had shut that door behind him.
Late that night the two friends forgathered and exchanged theirexperiences.
"I am sure there is something
very wrong indeed," said Frankemphatically. "She was not herself. She spoke mechanically, almost asthough she were reciting a lesson. You had the feeling that she wasconnected by wires with somebody who was dictating her every word andaction. It is damnable, Mann. What can we do?"
"We must prevent the marriage," said the little man quietly, "and employevery means that opportunity suggests to that purpose. Make no mistake,"he said emphatically; "Cole will stop at nothing. His attitude was onebig bluff. He knows that I have beaten him. It was only by luck that Ifound out about the woman in Holland. I got my agent to examine thehotel register, and there it was, without any attempt at disguise: 'Mr.and Mrs. Cole, of London.'"
"The thing to do is to see May at once," said Frank, "and put all thefacts before her, though I hate the idea; it seems like sneaking."
"Sneaking!" exploded Saul Arthur Mann. "What nonsense you talk! You aretoo full of scruples, my friend, for this work. I will see herto-morrow."
"I will go with you," said Frank, after a moment's thought. "I have nowish to escape my responsibility in the matter. She will probably hateme for my interference, but I have reached beyond the point where Icare--so long as she can be saved."
It was agreed that they should meet one another at the office in themorning and make their way together.
"Remember this," said Mann, seriously, before they parted, "that if Colefinds the game is up he will stop at nothing."
"Do you think we ought to take precautions?" asked Frank.
"Honestly I do," confessed the other, "I don't think we can get the menfrom the Yard, but there is a very excellent agency which sometimesworks for me, and they can provide a guard for the girl."
"I wish you would get in touch with them," said Frank earnestly. "I amworried sick over this business. She ought never to be left out of theirsight. I will see if I can have a talk to her maid, so that we may knowwhenever she is going out. There ought to be a man on a motor cyclealways waiting about the Savoy to follow her wherever she goes."
They parted at the entrance of the bureau, Saul Arthur Mann returning totelephone the necessary instructions. How necessary they were was provedthat very night.
At nine o'clock May was sitting down to a solitary dinner when atelegram was delivered to her. It was from the chief of the littlemission in which she had been interested, and ran:
Very urgent. Have something of the greatest importance to tell you.
It was signed with the name of the matron of the mission, and, leavingher dinner untouched, May only delayed long enough to change her dressbefore she was speeding in a taxi eastward.
She arrived at the "hall," which was the headquarters of the mission, tofind it in darkness. A man who was evidently a new helper was waiting inthe doorway and addressed her.
"You are Miss Nuttall, aren't you? I thought so. The matron has gonedown to Silvers Rents, and she asked me to go along with you."
The girl dismissed the taxi, and in company with her guide threaded thenarrow tangle of streets between the mission and Silvers Rents. She washalfway along one of the ill-lighted thoroughfares when she noticed thatdrawn up by the side of the road was a big, handsome motor car, and shewondered what had brought this evidence of luxurious living to the meanstreets of Canning Town. She was not left in doubt very long, for as shecame up to the lights and was shielding her eyes from their glare herarms were tightly grasped, a shawl was thrown over her head, and shewas lifted and thrust into the car's interior. A hand gripped herthroat.
"You scream and I will kill you!" hissed a voice in her ear.
At that moment the car started, and the girl, with a scream which wasstrangled in her throat, fell swooning back on the seat.
May recovered consciousness to find the car still rushing forward in thedark and the hand of her captor still resting at her throat.
"You be a sensible girl," said a muffled voice, "and do as you're toldand no harm will come to you."
It was too dark to see his face, and it was evident that even if therewere light the face was so well concealed that she could not recognizethe speaker. Then she remembered that this man, who had acted as herguide, had been careful to keep in the shadow of whatever light therewas while he was conducting her, as he said, to the matron.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"You'll know in time," was the noncommittal answer.
It was a wild night; rain splashed against the windows of the car, andshe could hear the wind howling above the noise of the engines. Theywere evidently going into the country, for now and again, by the lightof the headlamps, she glimpsed hedges and trees which flashed past. Hercaptor suddenly let down one of the windows and leaned out, giving someinstructions to the driver. What they were she guessed, for the lightswere suddenly switched off and the car ran in darkness.
The girl was in a panic for all her bold showing. She knew that thisdesperate man was fearless of consequence, and that, if her death wouldachieve his ends and the ends of his partners, her life was in imminentperil. What were those ends, she wondered. Were these the same men whohad done to death John Minute?
"Who are you?" she asked.
There was a little, chuckling laugh.
"You'll know soon enough."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when there was a terrific crash.The car stopped suddenly and canted over, and the girl was jerkedforward to her knees. Every pane of glass in the car was smashed, and itwas clear, from the angle at which it lay, that irremediable damage hadbeen done. The man scrambled up, kicked open the door, and jumped out.
"Level-crossing gate, sir," said the voice of the chauffeur. "I'vebroken my wrist."
With the disappearance of her captor, the girl had felt for thefastening of the opposite door, and had turned it. To her delight itopened smoothly, and had evidently been unaffected by the jam. Shestepped out to the road, trembling in every limb.
She felt, rather than saw, the level-crossing gate, and knew that at oneside was a swing gate for passengers. She reached this when her abductordiscovered her flight.
"Come back!" he cried hoarsely.
She heard a roar and saw a flashing of lights and fled across the linejust as an express train came flying northward. It missed her by inches,and the force of the wind threw her to the ground. She scrambled up,stumbled across the remaining rails, and, reaching the gate opposite,fled down the dark road She had gained just that much time which thetrain took in passing. She ran blindly along the dark road, slipping andstumbling in the mud, and she heard her pursuer squelching through themud in the rear.
The wind flew her hair awry, the rain beat down upon her face, but shestumbled on. Suddenly she slipped and fell, and as she struggled to herfeet the heavy hand of her pursuer fell upon her shoulder, and shescreamed aloud.
"None of that," said the voice, and his hand covered her mouth.
At that moment a bright light enveloped the two, a light so intensely,dazzlingly white, so unexpected that it hit the girl almost like ablow. It came from somewhere not two yards away, and the man releasedhis hold upon the girl and stared at the light.
"Hello!" said a voice from the darkness. "What's the game?"
She was behind the man, and could not see his face. All that she knewwas that here was help, unexpected, Heaven sent, and she strove torecover her breath and her speech.
"It's all right," growled the man. "She's a lunatic and I'm taking herto the asylum."
Suddenly the light was pushed forward to the man's face, and a heavyhand was laid upon his shoulder.
"You are, are you?" said the other. "Well, I am going to take you to alunatic asylum, Sergeant Smith or Crawley or whatever your name is. Youknow me; my name's Wiseman."
For a moment the man stood as though petrified, and then, with a suddenjerk, he wrenched his hand free and sprang at the policeman with a wildyell of rage, and in a second both men were rolling over in thedarkness. Constable Wiseman was no child, but he had lost his initialadvantage, and by the time he got to his feet an
d had found his electrictorch Crawley had vanished.