Читать книгу The House of the Schemers - Fred M. White - Страница 10

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Quite suddenly a light had gleamed in the window of the locked room adjoining Lady Altamont's boudoir. It was a brilliant light, and cast two shadows, clear cut as crystal, on the blind. First came the outline of a man smoking a cigarette. He held in his hand a bottle, obviously containing champagne or some other sparkling wine, for he could be seen to cut the wires and expel the cork. It seemed to the girls watching him from below that they could hear the pop of the cork as it left the bottle.

"Are you sure that is the room leading from the boudoir?" Grace asked.

"Absolutely certain," Ailsa replied. "You see these two houses are identically the same. Look at No. 13 and see how the windows are similarly placed. I am positive that in our house the room leading from what corresponds to Lady Altamont's boudoir is a small one giving on to a secondary staircase. It is not a good room. I am quite certain that the apartment was empty when Lady Altamont hurried her mysterious visitor into there. From their conversation I judged that she did not want anybody to know that the man was in the house. The lights were extinguished before he entered the boudoir. I could see nothing, and yet the tones of that man's voice were quite familiar to me. You may take it that my acquaintance with scoundrels is very limited."

"But what makes you feel so sure that the man is a scoundrel, Miss Lefroy?"

"I judged by the tone of their conversation. If I could not see I could at any rate hear all that was going on in the room. I should say that the man was a rascal of the very worst type. And yet he was refusing to complete some act of crime which apparently he had undertaken cheerfully enough some time before. He said that he had had a shock, or seen a vision, or something of that kind. Then the police came and put an end to further conversation. That strange man's repentance seems to have been very fleeting."

It would seem so, Grace Wanless thought, from the shadows on the blind. The man was drinking champagne and smoking a cigarette, his head was thrown back from time to time as if he were enjoying some joke uttered by some unseen companion. There must have been somebody else in the room if the man's gestures meant anything.

"Ah, I thought so," Ailsa exclaimed, a few minutes later. "A woman is there. See how she comes forward. Is not that a fan she carries in her hand? I suppose there is no mystery here, and she is Lady Altamont?"

"That she isn't," Grace said, in an excited whisper. "Lady Altamont is taller and stouter, and she wears no flowers in her hair. Yonder woman has roses on her head, and she carries a fan. What an exquisite fan it is!"

It was an exquisite fan, for the woman had seated herself on the window-ledge with the fan held high above her head. It was a lace fan with two angels in the middle holding up the monogram L.C.P. The exaggerated shadow showed this clearly.

"Not an Englishwoman, I should say," Grace said, with a quickness of perception that excited Ailsa's silent admiration. "There is a strong suggestion of the Spaniard about her. Look at the easy way in which she carries her fan with the fingers outside. Most of us hold the thumb outside. The woman is in evening-dress, too, which points to the fact that she is one of Lady Altamont's guests. I should like to see into that room."

"You can do the next best thing, Miss Wanless," said a slow, cutting voice, so close to the speaker's elbow that she started. "You can enable me to see."

Grace turned round suddenly, and a sigh of relief escaped her. Ailsa could see that there was nothing wrong, so that she, too, felt her courage returning.

The speaker had all the air and manners of a gentleman; he was dressed in a dark reefer suit, he wore a soft hat and a black tie. All the same, he looked quite like one to the manner born.

"I had quite forgotten you, Mr. Burles," Grace said, "though I did catch sight of your face as we entered the garden. Miss Lefroy, this is Mr. Burles, the gentleman whose services Scotland Yard placed at my disposal. Miss Lefroy knows everything, and I should not wonder if we found her a valuable ally, seeing that she lives at No. 13. It appears that there is a secret door between the two houses, but perhaps I had better tell you exactly how I came to make Miss Lefroy's acquaintance."

"If you will," Burles murmured. "I came here to-night to test a little theory of my own. But I hope you have not been doing anything imprudent. Remember that you have a very clever foe to deal with. Still, that discovery of the secret passage may be of immense service to us. I should like to hear your story."

Grace related the story of the evening's adventure in a few words. Then it was Ailsa's turn to speak. It was clear that the two narratives made a great impression on the detective.

"Well, you have had a rare stroke of luck to-night," he said in his gentlemanly voice, "if Miss Lefroy is disposed to be your friend. Thank you very much. Then Miss Lefroy and myself must map out a plan of campaign together. This looks like becoming the most interesting case I ever investigated, and I have had many since I left the navy.

"I was very fond of my profession, the roving, exciting life appealed to me. But unfortunately I could never get over those awful bouts of seasickness. I fought the trouble till it nearly killed me, and then I gave up. I had always been interested in crime and criminals, so my friends got me into Scotland Yard. I found myself quite at home there. But this is rather a curiously personal kind of conversation in a garden at midnight, is it not? Miss Wanless, I mean to get a sight of those people up yonder if you will help me."

"I will do anything you desire," the girl said. "What is the scheme?"

"Well, I am going to help you over the trellis-work into No. 14 garden. It will than appear as if you had simply come out for the sake of fresh air. You can give a loud scream for help, and pretend that you have hurt your ankle. If you scream loud enough I feel quite sure that those people will have the curiosity to raise the blind."

Grace declared that she was ready to do anything that Inspector Burles desired. She was fighting for the reputation of her family, whose honour was at stake. Very carefully Burles helped her over the trellis, and then stood back where he could get the best view of the room next to Lady Altamont's boudoir. He gave the signal.

A piercing scream broke from Grace's lips—a scream repeated two or three times. Surely enough the blind of the upper window was pushed aside and a woman looked out. There was a glimpse of a brilliantly-lighted room beyond, with pictures on the painted walls, evidently a room furnished in a most luxurious style of fashion. It was only for an instant, then a man's hand stole out of the shadow and pushed the woman away.

"A certain amount of success and a certain amount of failure," Burles muttered. "I fancy I should be able to recognise the Lady again; but it is the man that I was most anxious to see. However, it is not too late yet—crouch down, please."

Figures suddenly emerged into the garden next door, men in evening dress with cigars in their hands. A broad band of light streamed from somewhere.

"Miss Wanless," one of the men said. "We were in the smoking-room when you called out. I hope that you have not come to harm."

"It is very good of you," Grace murmured. "I think that I am more frightened than hurt. I came out for a breath of air, and, not knowing the garden. I stumbled down those steps. I thought that I had broken my ankle. Positively I am ashamed of myself."

Burles murmured approval that Miss Wanless was playing her part very well indeed.

She was laughing in a nervous kind of way, as if ashamed of the trouble she was giving. A door closed somewhere, and the broad band of light vanished.

"I suppose there is no more to be done to-night," Ailsa said, half-regretfully. "But there is one thing that I shall have to get you to do for me, Mr. Burles. If I am to help Miss Wanless I must have her address so that I can write to her. If I could see her to-morrow——"

"That is quite easily arranged," Burles interrupted. "I will ask Miss Wanless to meet you in the square gardens to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock. It is very quiet there. But the evening's adventures are not quite over. I am going to see the inside of that room."

Burles spoke in the quiet tones of a man who has not only made up his mind, but sees a way of carrying his determination into effect. He smiled as he saw that Ailsa was looking at him with inquiring eyes.

"Nothing easier," he said. "If the navy did nothing else for me, it taught me the art of climbing. I can get up that waterspout quite easily, and there there is a good broad ledge to the window. The rest is only a matter of knowledge. I have a little preparation in my pocket that softens putty almost instantly. With it I shall loosen a pane in the window and open the catch. See, the light has vanished from the window. You say the stairs only come this way. Would you watch till I come back to see if anybody leaves by the door? I am very loath to so far trouble a lady, but in the circumstances——"

"Do not apologise," Ailsa whimpered. "I am as curious as you are yourself."

The room next to the bedroom was in total darkness now. Ailsa watched breathlessly as Burles pushed his way up the pipe and on to the ledge of the window like a cat. Presently he removed a pane of glass and pulled back the catch. He vanished from sight altogether; there was a glimmer of light in the room as a lantern flashed out. It seemed an interminable time before Burles reappeared again. A little time was lost in replacing the window pane, and then Ailsa held her breath as the inspector slipped gently to the ground.

"I expected you to break your neck," she whispered. "Did you discover anything?"

"The room was empty," Burles panted. "One of the most extraordinary things I ever saw in my life. You saw the pictures on the walls and painted panels. It was no delusion. And that room was bare as to the walls as the back of my hand; there was nothing but long rows of empty bookshelves with leather hangings. I never was more astonished."

"I saw the pictures and the painted panels as clear as possible," Ailsa said.

"Well, they have vanished. Nothing but an empty champagne bottle and a cigarette end to prove that we are not both out of our senses. Did anybody come out by that door?"

"Nobody came out," Ailsa said. "Perhaps they went back the other way by means of Lady Altamont's boudoir. Did you think of that?"

"I did think of that. And the door was locked on the inside. I tried the handle, the key was in the door. The mystery deepens, Miss Lefroy."

"It does indeed," Ailsa said, thoughtfully. "We can do no more at present. And now, if you have no further use for my services, I will wish you good-night."