Читать книгу The Edge of the Sword - Fred M. White - Страница 7

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THE music of the orchestra died away, the house suddenly darkened, and the curtain once more rose. At the same moment a solitary figure came into the upper box and took a seat close to the stage. There was just enough light from the footlights to see the face of the stranger, who appeared to be all alone. As Elsie said, she was very pale, her dark eyes seemed to be frightened and startled, and she was evidently paying little attention to what was going on. She gave Lionel the impression that she was watching for somebody.

"She seems familiar to me," he whispered. "She identifies herself with one of my favourite characters in fiction. Elsie, is she not like the girl I drew in my present story in the Record? The niece of the nobleman, you know."

"That is exactly how she struck me," Elsie whispered in reply. "That is why I have been watching her so closely. Why did she come here? I asked myself. What pleasure can she see in visiting a theatre alone? The same remark might apply to me, but I came to distract my thoughts, and she seems to be plunged in them. But this might or might not be a singular coincidence. Why I telephoned for you was this: A little time ago a man came into the box. He hardly stayed a moment and then he went. I could just see the light shining on his face. It was my brother Dick!"

The last words came in a thrilling whisper. Lionel was clearly startled. He had not expected anything so dramatic as this.

"You are absolutely certain of your discovery?" he asked, eagerly.

"Absolutely. I am as certain as if I had been in the box. It was after that that I thought of the telephone and that you might be found at the office of the Record. Oh! Lionel, you used to care for me at one time."

"I love you now and always, and you know that," Lionel whispered. "If you did not believe that I would do anything for you, you would not have sent for me to-night. Now tell me, what do you want me to do? You have only to command my services."

"You are very good," Elsie whispered, gratefully. "I want you to help me to get to the bottom of this dreadful business. I want you to find out who that woman is, and why Dick came here to see her. Dick pretends to confide in me, he swears that he is innocent, and yet he appears in a mystery like this. In the first place, do you think that you can find out who is the lady in the box?"

Lionel thought that it would be fairly easy. He knew the stage manager, and, indeed, he was acquainted with most of the people about the theatre. He would go off and make inquiries without delay. He came back presently and stepped into the seat by Elsie's side aflame with suppressed excitement.

"Well," Elsie asked, eagerly, "have you done any good?"

"I have, at any rate, made a most important discovery," Lionel whispered. "Your instincts were not far wrong, Elsie. The lady you are interested in is no less a person than Miss Ada Moberley, niece of Lord Manningtree!"

Elsie thrilled; she had not expected anything quite so exciting as this.

"What a strange thing!" she said. "I pictured your character in fiction as being very like her. And now she turns out to be the same being in the flesh. It seems now as if my brain could not grasp it altogether. Is this actually the girl who was in the house with Lord Manningtree? But he may have a great many nieces. And if it was the same girl she could not be here but with her uncle down in Essex."

"Lord Manningtree has been brought to London," Lionel explained. "And this is his favourite niece, the one who lives with him, for the manager told me so. Manningtree very often comes here, and the girl is generally with him. I call her a girl, but I'm told that she is a good deal older than she looks. And if ever I saw a woman who is suffering from some great mental strain, it is Miss Moberley at the present moment. On the whole, it was a very good thing you sent for me to-night, Elsie."

Elsie had no more to say. She was feeling a little faint and giddy, the heated atmosphere of the theatre was too much for her. She whispered something of this to Lionel, and they went out together. Once in the open air Elsie felt better.

"The matter can't rest here," she said. "Lionel, what are you going to do?"

"I am going to wait till Miss Moberley leaves the theatre," Harvey said. "I have a pretty shrewd idea that she will not go back to Cardigan Place, which is Lord Manningtree's London house, direct. When she comes out, I shall put you in a cab and send you home, and then I shall follow the lady."

It was very quiet in the open space in front of the theatre, so that the pair could stand and talk without attracting the notice of passers-by. A long row of cabs and carriages had already drawn up in one of the side streets.

"I want you to take this thing in hand," Elsie said. "I want you to help me to clear my brother's character of the accusation that sooner or later will be brought against him. I feel that he will be implicated in the business. I feel quite certain that when that safe comes to be opened the emeralds will be missing."

"They are missing," Lionel replied. "They told me so at the Record office to-night."

Harvey did not volunteer any further information. He was not disposed to tell Elsie anything about the amazing occurrence of the night before. Whatever might have been the impulse of the thief, the confidence had been more or less sacred. Nor was Lionel disposed to regard the thing as a mere vulgar robbery—something more than a desire for gain had actuated the person who took the stones. And if Elsie had known she would never have kept the secret from her brother.

"You seem very certain of your brother's innocence," he said.

"Oh, I am," Elsie exclaimed. "He has been very wild and foolish in the past, but all that has gone now. And he loves Gladys Manningtree sincerely."

"And yet you infer that he forged a document to get money," Lionel said. "He came very near to wrecking my career. There are a few people now who look the other way when I pass them in the street."

"What do you mean by that?" Elsie asked, with a pale face.

"I am going to tell you; it would have been better had I told you long ago. It is quite natural for you to regard Dick's faults with toleration. But in your own showing he is a gambler and a forger. He has adopted the latter course to clear himself in the eyes of the girl that he loves. But he had no mercy on me when I tried to clear myself in the eyes of the girl that I love. I tried to tell you, but you would not listen to me. When I left the bank I was in position to prove who the thief really was. But that would have killed your mother, who was very fond of me. She was in her last illness then. Before I take up the matter, and try and save your family honour, there is one thing you must promise me. You must demand that Dick tells you the truth, for there will be a great surprise in store for you."

Elsie looked up quickly. Perhaps she read the truth in Lionel's eyes. "Is this true?" she faltered. "Is it possible that my brother could be—Lionel, I could not believe it. You were so silent at the time that I took your silence for guilt."

"I know that," Harvey said, with some suggestion of bitterness in his tone. "You need not remind me of it. I won't say any more at present. Go home, and I will come and see you to-morrow. Perhaps than I may have something of importance to tell you. See, the people are coming out of the theatre, and I don't want to miss the young lady. Let me call you a cab. And don't you worry about me. I shall be all right."

Elsie might have said a great deal, only the words seemed to stick in her throat. All this had come with the force of a terrible surprise to her. She allowed herself to be placed in the cab, with merely a feeble handshake from her companion—Lionel had other and more pressing things to occupy his attention. He loitered on the steps till at length the woman for whom he was waiting emerged. As he had expected, no carriage was waiting for her. She walked alone to the end of the street, and then entered a cab. Lionel could not catch the address, but that did not matter in the least. He had only to call another cab and give his driver careful instructions not to lose sight of the conveyance in front.

It was not a long way they had to go, only as far as Arlington Gardens, where she got out of her cab at the bottom of the street. The houses were small but respectable, and most of them were dark by this time. Lionel followed suit, and, keeping quietly on the other side of the road, waited whilst his quarry approached the end house. He had half expected her to knock at the door, but she did nothing of the kind. She produced a latchkey and let herself into the house in the most natural way.

So far as Lionel could see the house was all in darkness. There was not so much as a glimmer of gas in the hall. Presently the door closed, but no rattle of chain or bolts followed. Evidently the street door had not been fastened. In ordinary circumstances Lionel would have gone home, satisfied with what he had discovered up to now. But, as the street door had not been fastened for the night, it was clear that somebody else was expected and he desired to find out who that somebody was.

Harvey waited there grimly and doggedly. He had to dodge a passing policeman now and then, but that was no very difficult matter. So far as he could see the house opposite was still in total darkness. Presently, in one of the upper windows, the light of a candle was dimly outlined against the blind. Then came two more candles standing on a lower level, so that the three of them formed a singular kind of pyramid. Lionel grinned with satisfaction, for here was evidently a signal of some kind.

He had barely time to jump back before the figure of a man emerged from the porch of a house opposite. Lionel could see now that the house in question was an empty one. So the man had been standing there for some time watching for the signal. Lionel hoped that his own suspicious movements had not been noted by the stranger. But apparently the stranger had not noticed anything, for he sauntered across the road with his hands in his pockets, looking neither to the right nor the left. As if the place belonged to him he ran up the steps of the house and opened the door. The door closed softly, but by no means in a way that suggested any attempt at concealment, and Lionel noticed that the latch was not fastened. Evidently, therefore, the stranger was not going to stay, but was here for the express purpose of keeping an important appointment. Almost immediately the living-room on the ground floor burst into a blaze of light.

"By jove!" Lionel whispered to himself. "Hang me if I don't try it."

He crossed the road and tried the door softly. It yielded to his touch. A minute later and he was standing breathlessly in the thick darkness of the hall.