Читать книгу Outrageous Fortune - Dora Amy Elles - Страница 4

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“Tom!”

Tom Williams had been staring idly at that blue handsbreadth of sea and thinking that it was just the day for a dip. He hadn’t had a proper swim this year, what with the weather and Nesta’s affairs. That bit of blue water was just about right.

“Tom!”

He turned with a start. Nesta had the door of the car open. She was very much flushed, and her eyes were bright and hard.

“We’re taking him back with us,” she said.

“Then it’s Jimmy?”

Nesta frowned and went on speaking in a hurried, jerky voice.

“Of course it’s Jimmy. We’re taking him back with us, and you’ll have to drive right in, because he’s pretty dicky. They wouldn’t let me take him away, only there’s been a charabanc smash at the cross-roads and the doctor’s just run up to say they’ve got to take in six whether they’ve got room for them or not.”

“What’s the matter with him?” said Tom Williams.

“Crack on the head. Now look here, Tom—I’ve had to fight to get him away. If it hadn’t been for this charabanc business, I wouldn’t have got him. Even as it is, they wouldn’t have let him come if they’d known it was the best part of sixty miles, so I’ve told them we’ve come from Marley.”

“Marley?” said Tom. “Why Marley?”

“Because I remembered the name, and it’s only about eight miles from here—and don’t start asking questions or I shall scream.”

She stepped back from the car, but kept her hand upon it. Tom Williams looked at her curiously. The flush which had covered her face had now drawn together into a brilliant patch high up on either cheek, leaving the rest of the skin white and wet.

“What is it?” he said. “What’s the matter?”

That something was the matter was very certain. Nesta didn’t look like that for nothing. Not for the first time, he felt as if her affairs were a sort of trap in which he was caught and from which he had no hope of ever getting free. If it wasn’t for Nesta’s affairs, he and Min might be as happy as the day was long. Yet for the life of him he couldn’t keep out of Nesta’s affairs. What had been happening to make her look like that? He felt a horrid pang of apprehension, and his voice shook.

“Nesta—what’s the matter?”

Nesta Riddell’s hand tightened on the side of the car. Just for a moment she had felt as if she were going to faint—“And a nice thing that would be!” she said to herself furiously.

“Nesta—”

She straightened up, leaning on the car, and said in a voice that was as low as a whisper but much harder.

“He’s talking about the Van Berg affair.”

Tom Williams felt as if someone had hit him in the face with a wet towel. His jaw dropped, and his eyes bolted.

“What?” he stammered.

Nesta’s colour became the normal colour of an angry woman.

“Be quiet, you fool!”

“The Van Berg—”

“Will you be quiet!”

“But why?” said Tom Williams. “I mean why—I mean—”

Nesta jumped into the car, sat down, and held him by the arm.

“Because he’s out of his head. Now shut your mouth and listen to me, because I’m not going to say it twice! I went in, and I’d hardly got in when the sister was called to the telephone about this charabanc affair! She left me alone with him, and there he was, muttering to himself like she said he’d been doing all along. All they’d been able to make out was ‘Jimmy Riddell’—and we may thank the Lord for that. He kept on saying it, but whilst I was there he said a pack of other things too—and my Lord, what things!”

Tom shifted away from her, moving round so that he could see her face. A chill of foreboding ran up his spine.

“What sort of things?” he said uneasily.

“Damned dangerous things.”

“What sort of things?”

Nesta slipped her arm through his and brought her mouth close to his ear.

“He was talking about the emeralds.”

Tom turned the colour of a tallow candle.

“The—the emeralds?”

“He kept right on about them—how he’d hidden them, and no one else knew where they were. I tell you he kept right on. I’ve got to get him away before anyone tumbles to what he’s talking about.”

Tom leaned back against the side of the car and fixed an alarmed gaze upon his sister’s face. His eyes were of the same shape and colour as Nesta’s; he had the same straight nose and short dark brows, the same line of cheek and chin. But the driving force was lacking. He felt the steel teeth of the trap, and struggled ineffectually.

“Look here, Nesta—”

She mimicked him.

“Look here, Tommy—”

“ ’Tisn’t fair to go bringing me and Min into this. You go off on your own and marry a man we’ve never so much as set eyes on, and then all in a hurry you come along and tell me he’s a crook, and before I know where I am you’ve dragged me into this Van Berg affair, and there’s a man shot and emeralds worth no one knows what missing—and why should I be dragged into it when all I ever get was to lend him my motor-bike? Why, all I saw of him was to hand it over in the dark.”

“Hold your tongue!” said Nesta sharply. “You won’t come to any harm if you do what you’re told. Now look here, Tommy, you’re not to get rattled. It’s not the first little job we’ve done together—is it?”

“I’m going straight now I’m married—I told you I was.”

She patted his arm.

“So you shall. But we’ve got to get Jimmy away from here. Listen! He came to himself yesterday, and he didn’t know a thing—not his name, nor who he is, nor anything. When he’s awake that’s how he is; but when he’s asleep he talks all the time, and the sort of thing he talks about is the sort of thing that’ll land you and me in quod. Now you’ve got it straight—and now you know why I’m not leaving him here to talk. I want my share of those emeralds, and I bet you want yours. You can go straight afterwards as much as you like, but you’ve got to help me now.”

“Nesta.”

She gave his arm a squeeze.

“Buck up, boy! We’ll pull it off. I’ll get you safely back to Min—don’t you worry. Now drive right in—and remember we come from Marley, and all you’ve got to do is to hold that wheel and keep your tongue between your teeth.”