Chapter EIGHT: The Man Who Wished for Danger (1)

Val Lessing's thirtieth birthday found him strong, handsome, prosperous, and--discontented. This is unfortunately a common combination, but Val acknowledged to himself that if other men in like position had small cause to grumble, he himself had less, for while they ungraciously demanded of fate still more than they had received, his one annoyance was that he had enjoyed so much.

He had never desired to find himself at thirty a director of a prosperous City firm; the thing had come about through a succession of unforeseen events. The death of his father had made it necessary that he should take up business immediately after leaving Oxford; that was blow number one, for he had been promised a tour round the world before settling down to work, and in its place found himself obliged to look forward to yearly fortnights lengthening, as a reward of merit, to a possible three weeks.

Val hated the work, but he set himself to it with characteristic dash and energy. He possessed a bull-dog inability to let go of any scheme once undertaken, which marked him out sharply from the ordinary more or less mechanical employees, and endeared him to the principals of the firm.

The "Chief" singled him out for special service. His salary rose steadily year by year, and on the date on which this history begins, he had been formally presented with a proportion of shares, and advanced to the dignity of a Director in the Company.

"And now," said the Chief in congratulation, "your foot is safely planted on the ladder of fortune. You can count on at least fifteen hundred a year."

Walking towards his home that night Val grudgingly considered those words. As a sane, sensible man, he must of course rejoice that his work had brought him so good a reward, yet there was something in the wording of that sentence which chafed an old sore. _Safe_! That was the sting. A man of thirty years, and--_safe_! Secured from anxiety, lapped round with comforts--nothing to do now but keep steadily along the beaten rut. Eight-fifty Tube in the morning; six o'clock Tube at night; two-thirty Tube on Saturday afternoons, always the same black-coated, tall-hatted figure growing, with the passage of years, a thought heavier, a thought wider, but always sleek, always composed--always _safe_!

Val Lessing reviewed the prospect, and once again, more wildly than ever, his vagrant heart cried out in protest. Oh! it had been a different life to which he had looked forward in the days that were gone--the mad, glad, foolhardy days when all he had asked of fate was a passage through that highway of adventure, where a thrill lay behind every bush, and a danger at every turn.

Danger--danger--the very word brought exhilaration; the ring of it, the thrill of it, the wild, sweet savour which it bore! Oh, to be out on the highway, away from the treadmill of City life; oh, to wake in the morning, to pull aside a flapping canvas, inhale the clean air blowing over great plains, and across frowning ridges of mountains, to step forth on the day's quest, sure of nothing, nothing in all the world, but of danger to overcome!

Val Lessing's home was represented by a bachelor flat, presided over by a respectable middle-aged couple. The mother for whose sake he had resigned himself to a business career had died some years before, but he was still responsible for a young brother and sister, and obliged to make a home for them during holiday seasons. The noisy incursion was not always welcome, all the same the flat became a very dreary place when the lively pair had taken themselves schoolwards once more, and a solitary dinner was a thing to be avoided.

Lessing, as a bachelor, had grown into the habit of taking the evening meal in town, and had discovered a certain very Bohemian restaurant where most excellent cooking was supplied to as odd a looking company as ever assembled within four walls. He found a never-ending interest in watching his fellow diners and pondering over the secrets of their existence. It was at least safe to conclude that they did not share his own ground for complaint! Dinner over, Lessing frequently succumbed to an impulse which drew him towards a large corner house in a square adjoining his flat, wherein a particularly happy family party lived, and loved, and laughed, and extended the most cordial of welcomes to uninvited guests.

Mr Gordon was a business man, who, having accumulated a modest "pile," had promptly retired from the City, and now devoted himself to the performance of good works for the benefit of others, and the collection of old china for the satisfaction of himself. Mrs Gordon was a matron of the plump and complacent order, an excellent manager, who did not know the meaning of fuss, and whose servants invariably stayed with her for years, and then departed, laden with spoils, to espouse a local baker or grocer, and live happily ever afterwards.

Delia, the daughter, was a minx. She was slim and tall, and had crinkly dark eyebrows, and an oval face, and misty grey eyes with a dreamy, faraway expression, and fringed with a double row of preposterously long eyelashes. She looked particularly dreamy and inaccessible when young men came in to call, and they mentally abased themselves before her, gazing with dazzled eyes at the pinnacle on which she stood, in maiden meditation,--exquisitely, wondrously, crystally unconscious of their own rough existence. And all the time there was not a line of their features, not a kink in their neckties, that that minx Delia did not see with the minuteness of a microscope!

Terence, the son, was walking the hospitals, kept a collection of bones in his coat pocket, and looked upon life as a huge jest organised for his special benefit; loyally returning the compliment by playing jests himself on every available opportunity. In holiday time, he was most useful as a companion to the two scholars with whom he was a prime favourite, but in term time Lessing regarded him with mitigated favour. As a conversationalist he preferred the father; as a confidante, the mother; where Delia was concerned he preferred a _tete-a-tete_. Terence was a very good sort, but he was apt to be decidedly _de trop_.

On the evening of the day on which he had been made a director of his company, Lessing took his way to the corner house, and found the amiable quartette disporting themselves after their separate ways in the comfortable sitting-room which was their favourite evening resort. Mr Gordon was reading the latest treatise on Oriental china. Mrs Gordon was knitting mufflers for deep-sea fishermen, and lending an appreciative ear to Delia, who, seated at the grand piano, was singing ballads in a very small but penetratingly sweet voice. It was part of Delia's minxiness that she elected to sing songs intended for masculine lovers, wherein were set forth panegyrics which might most aptly be applied to herself. On this occasion she was declaiming that "My love is like a red, red rose that's newly blown in June. Oh, my love's like a mel-o-dy that's sweetly played in tune"; and so sweet was the air, so sweet the rose-like bloom of her own youth, that her father's eyes strayed continuously from his pages, and rested on her with an admiration reverent in its intensity. "She is too beautiful, too pure for this world"; his eyes seemed to say. "Can it be possible that she is really my own daughter?" The mother's eyes strayed also, but there was no reverence in her gaze. She had been a minx herself.

Terence was reading the latest popular thriller, and from time to time diversifying the entertainment by kicking one of his patent leather pumps into the air, and adroitly fitting his toes into it on its return journey, an accomplishment on which he had wasted golden hours.

They all looked up and smiled a welcome as Val Lessing entered and went round the room greeting each member of the family in turn.

"Good evening, Mrs Gordon. Good evening, sir. Delia, please! Don't let me interrupt."

Delia smiled absently, and crossed the room to a deep chair which was supplied with an admirable foil for white shoulders in the shape of a black satin cushion. She had the air of being only partially aware of Lessing's presence, but in reality she was acutely conscious of everything concerning him, even to a certain air of impatience which was due to the importance of the news which he had to communicate. Delia was in love with Val Lessing, and was uncomfortably aware of the fact. Val was in love with Delia, but remained as yet in comfortable ignorance. Delia had always planned that it should be the other way about. She had pictured herself being wooed with assiduous devotion by a lover who refused to be daunted by a dozen noes. It was ignominious to realise that she was now waiting impatiently for the chance to cry, "Yes, please!"

Val seated himself, nodding carelessly at Terence, who greeted him by a brilliant example of slipper catching, and cried genially:

"Well, old Tomkins, what's the matter with you? You look as if something was sitting pretty heavy on your chest!"

"It is!" said Val, and Delia's heart went a little excursion on its own accord. _Was_ he going to say that he was _engaged_?

"Good news, I hope, eh, Lessing?" cried Mr Gordon, and for the fraction of a second Val hesitated.

"Er--yes. I suppose--that is, of course, it is very good indeed. I've been made a director."

Everybody exclaimed, everybody enthused, everybody congratulated, with the exception of Delia, who asked lazily: "What is a director?" and yawned when she was told. Mr Gordon showed the sympathy of understanding, but after putting many questions, and listening to halfhearted replies, he frowned, and delivered himself of an honest criticism.

"You're not half as pleased as you ought to be, Lessing! A man of your age ought to be thankful to be in such a position. A start of fifteen hundred a year--in such a firm too. Good, safe, solid people. No fear of them going in for speculation and landing you in the bankruptcy court. Humanly speaking you're safe from anxiety for the rest of your life."

"Er--yes. That's just it." Lessing said vaguely, but his friends understood. It was not the first time that he had rebelled in their hearing; not the first time by many that he had sighed for the vagrant's lot.

"He doesn't want to be safe, bless you! That's just what gets him on the raw!" Terence said grinning. "He wants to be a fire-and-thunder swashbuckler, out on the pathless wilds."

"What is a swashbuckler?" asked Delia, and Val laughed, and said:

"The very opposite to a director in a black coat and tall hat, Delia. Think it out for yourself! I only wish I had the chance."

Delia looked thoughtful. She was apportioning fifteen hundred pounds on the upkeep of her future home. She decided on a small flat and a runabout car, and rather thought that the drawing-room should be pink. Mrs Gordon said seriously:

"Dear Val, you must get the better of these foolish ideas! They are spoiling your life. You have so much that other men want, that it seems really wicked to be discontented because you have not--trouble! Oh, my dear boy, it will come soon enough! You ought to be thankful!"

"But it's not trouble, Mrs Gordon! I want trouble no more than any other man. It's danger that fascinates me--adventure--the thrill of the unknown. It was born in me, I suppose. My ancestors were a race of explorers. If I had been able to have a fling in my youth, I might have been able to settle down, but I went straight from Oxford to the City, and a longing that is bottled up doesn't diminish, it goes on growing all the time. When Mr Baron told me the news to-day, I felt--you'll be horrified at my ingratitude!--as if a halter had been slipped round my neck."

Mr Gordon shook his head.

"It's a thousand pities that you could not take that trip! If you'd been my son I'd have packed you off with five pounds in your pocket, to work your own way round the world. You'd have had enough excitement to last you for the rest of your life--and danger into the bargain. You'd be thankful _then_ to settle down to your present life."

"Oh, I'm thankful enough now. It's quite a good life as things go, but just a bit boring."

Terence kicked his slipper once more.

"Well--what price the hospital ball next week? _That_ won't be boring, I give you my word. We're having a party to dinner here, and going on together. If you like to chip in--"

"Terence! Don't be cruel. We really must not add to his boredom!" cried Delia, smiling, but there was an edge in her smile.

Terence grimaced expressively at Lessing, a grimace which said, "Now you've done it! She's got her knife into you for that remark!"

Kindly Mrs Gordon sensed the strain in the atmosphere, and said quickly:

"Do sing something more to us, Delia darling. You had only begun. A few more of those dear old ballads!"

Delia was like her mother, she never made a fuss, so she rose with a slow, graceful gesture, seated herself in her old place, and sang one strain after another with the utmost good humour. The last of all was that delightful ballad entitled "Phillida flouts me," and this she delivered with much energy and verve, throwing aside her languid airs to adopt the very attitude of the damsel of the song.

Lessing loved to hear Delia sing, and to-night he laughed with the rest, at the pretty by-play of tossing head and curling lips, but he was not altogether happy in his mind. He remembered the chill of the girl's voice a few minutes before, as she said: "We mustn't bore him still more!" and he felt uncomfortable as if it were he himself who was being flouted.

As he walked down the quiet streets on his way home, the words repeated themselves in his brain:

"Oh, what a plague is love! I cannot bear it. Alack and well a-day. Phillida flouts me!"

It was the night after the hospital ball, and Lessing was dining at his favourite restaurant, hoping thereby to counteract a fit of unusual depression. He had not enjoyed that ball; it was borne in upon him that Delia had not intended him to enjoy it. She had deliberately filled her programme before the night, and vouchsafed him only one extra, and during the dancing thereof had stopped three times over to inquire if he were _quite_ sure he was not bored! Delia was angry with him. Delia most pronouncedly was disposed to "flout." There was an ache at Lessing's heart which seemed ludicrously out of proportion with the cause.

For the first half of his meal he sat alone at his table, then the seat opposite him was taken by one of the swarthy bearded foreigners with which the place abounded. He was a man of early middle age, with a mop of black hair slightly tinged with grey, overhanging eyebrows, and a general air of poverty and Bohemianism. He ate hungrily, as though such good food did not often come his way, and as he ate his eyes roamed stealthily round the room. Lessing decided that he was in search of a confederate--the man's appearance suggested the word--and that he was puzzled and alarmed by the absence of what he sought. He decided to dally with his own meal so as to see this thing out. Many a time he had longed for an opportunity of adventure. Now it might be at hand. If the two men met, he would leave the restaurant in their wake and track them through the narrow streets! He recalled written scenes concerning open doorways, fights on staircases, and the like, and thrilled with anticipation.

Throughout his meal the Bearded One continued his scrutiny, and Lessing noticed that his glance lingered tentatively on one or two men present as though uncertain of their identity. It was not entirely by appearance, then, that he could distinguish his confederate! There was evidently a sign which would expose one to the other, and then suddenly, with his eyes fixed on a diner at an adjacent table, the Bearded One raised his knife, and with a clean, incisive movement swept the salt from his plate on to the table.

The other diner ate on undisturbed, but an electric shock of excitement tingled through Lessing's veins. More than once before he had observed this deliberate spilling of the salt on the round-topped tables of that restaurant, so often, indeed, that he had made sure in his own mind that it was in the nature of a signal from one member of a fraternity to another. The spilling of the salt--symbol from all ages of disaster, a meet signal indeed for these dark and dangerous men!

With an impulse which crystallised the longings of years, Lessing attracted his companion's attention by a hasty movement, and then, lifting high his knife, swept his own salt on to the cloth so that the white dust scattered and mingled with the dust already spread.

The effect was instantaneous. The swarthy face bent forward to meet his own, the eyes gleamed, the guttural voice breathed a deep, low word:

"_Brother_!"

"_Brother_!" whispered Lessing in return. His pulses were racing, but he held himself resolutely in hand. A false move might spoil all. He must be silent, and let the other man do the talking. He sat in an attitude of attention while the Bearded One crouched over the table, speaking in baited tones. His accent was rather Jewish than foreign, a thick, ugly voice, thickened as though by some physical obstruction.

"I have been waiting. The time is short. I must be hurrying on. There are many places where I must carry the news!" His voice sank to an almost unhearable depth. "_It is for to-night_!"

"To-night!" gasped Lessing in return. His real dismay at the nearness of the unknown happening supplied a genuine note to his exclamation, and it appeared that surprise was expected.

"To-night! To-night! The chief has given the order. It is his way to make all ready, and at the last to give but a few hours' notice. It is safer so. He has a wise head. All is arranged, and to-morrow, by this time to-morrow--" His lips rolled back, the large prominent teeth gleamed in a smile of diabolic delight. "London, the city of the oppressors--what will be left of the great London then? Nothing but a wilderness of fire and ruin!"

Lessing's blood ran cold. An adventurer at heart, he yet had the true Englishman's love of the metropolis. At the thought of danger to London he winced as at a personal wound; in his heart dawned the surprising conviction that he would risk his own life, not once, but a dozen times over, to avert the destruction of that grey old pile.

The destruction of London--mad words! Mad fancy! Was this man a maniac that he spoke of such an impossible feat? Agitated, almost gasping for breath, Lessing heard himself stammer detached words of inquiry:

"When? Where? Where--How do they start--?"

The answer came back in a low hissing whisper:

"The oil tanks on the Thames! Ah-ha, it is a great scheme, a fine scheme. The fuel is lying there, ready to our hands. Three Brothers have volunteered for the bomb throwing. They will die for a great cause. Their names will be remembered as martyrs among us. The burning oil will flare out to the Thames. Think of it! Think of it! A river of flaming oil, joined by other rivers; all the tanks exploded, one by one; the stream of fire flowing along, leaving behind burning shipping, burning banks, spreading ruin to right and left. Think of it, Brother, think of it! Think of the dark stairways and passages, where a man may creep, a man with a torch helping the work, sending the sparks to a fresh home. Who can guard miles of river bank? Who can distinguish one worker from another? Ah, it will be a brave night, a brave night. We have waited, Brother, we have appeared to submit, but now--now--"

His voice grew hoarse with excitement. Lessing pressed his knee gently beneath the table.

"Careful. Be careful. We are observed. Give me my orders!"

The Bearded One drew himself up, and made a pretence of continuing his meal. His voice sank to its old, guttural tones.

"To stay here, and pass round the word. All the Brothers to be on duty, except those watched by the police. Red Fist and Wharbuton to leave by the nine o'clock train from Charing Cross, and cross to Paris. Their departure is to be as public as possible. It would be well if they were given a send-off. If they are out of the way the watch will be relaxed. At all costs they must be found. I go on to other places, you stay here, meet other Brothers, give them all this message. Red Fist and Wharbuton to be found and sent off. All others on duty to-night. Not a moment to waste."

"Right," said Lessing quickly, and the Bearded One rose from his seat. Then followed a moment of tension, for suddenly, as if in default of a parting signal, the beetling brows frowned upon him, and a glance of indecision swept across the face. Lessing sensed the danger, and leaped to avert it. Touching the salt with his fingers, he said meaningly: "We are watched, Brother. We are watched!" and bent his head over his plate.

There was a breathless silence, then the thick voice bade him good night, and he knew that the danger was past. The next moment the swing doors of the restaurant opened and shut. The Bearded One had disappeared.

For an endless five minutes Lessing forced himself to sit still, then he paid his account, put on his hat, and opening the door, stood on the outer step of the restaurant looking anxiously to right and to left. He had purposely left behind his coat, since in the event of finding the Bearded One still hanging about, he could then be able to assert that he was impatiently waiting for the arrival of more Brothers. The night was chill and there were but few pedestrians in the narrow street. Running his eye to right and left he could count a dozen in all, no one of whom bore any resemblance in figure or clothing to his late companion.

A better moment for escape could not be desired, and as if sent by Providence a taxi suddenly came into sight, and the chauffeur held up an inquiring hand. In another second Lessing was seated inside, and had given an address in Mayfair. He did not risk returning for his coat, a telephone message to the manager would possibly secure it from theft, if not the coat must go. This was not a moment for considering coats.

Lessing sat motionless on his seat until the taxi had covered a couple of miles westwards, when he touched the communicating cord and startled the chauffeur by an imperative order:

"Scotland Yard. And as quick as you can go!"

Throughout the years that followed Lessing remembered his interview with the Scotland Yard officials with a smarting indignation. To his excited senses the calmness, the stolidity, the insistent incredulity which greeted his story, were exasperating to the last degree. He discovered to his dismay that the first impression left on his hearers was that he himself was drunk, but the realisation forced him to a composure which won an eventual grudging attention. The officials reiterated that the scheme propounded was impracticable, but a minute description of the Bearded One, together with the signal of the spilling of salt, made an undoubted effect. It was known to the police that such a signal did indeed exist among certain societies, and its usage on the present occasion was of evident weight. Lessing was assured that immediate steps should be taken to ensure the safety of the oil tanks. He had the satisfaction of hearing telephonic messages dispatched to various police centres, giving instructions for largely increased guard. There was nothing more to be done. He had given the alarm; had held to his point until he had succeeded in securing immediate help. Sleep was impossible for him that night, but he would return to his rooms, pass the time with a book and a pipe, until the fateful hour had passed. He passed out into the street, and looked round for the taxi which he had instructed to wait. To his annoyance it was not to be seen, but after a momentary hesitation it occurred to him that there might be some rule forbidding vehicles to remain before the entrance, as in the crowded thoroughfares of the west, and that he might find the man waiting round one of the nearest turnings. He strode on therefore, but without success, till finally he decided to take the nearest cut which should lead him to a Tube station. The cut was represented by a narrow lane, lined on either side with small shops. Lessing walked sharply, looking neither to right nor left. The interview had left him nervously exhausted, and he shivered in the chill night air; he was irritated with the recalcitrant chauffeur, irritated with himself for failing to do the one sensible thing under the circumstances--turn back into the office, and telephone for another car. To walk through the streets in the vicinity of Scotland Yard, a noticeable figure without outer coat or wrapping, was the last thing in the world which he should have done on such an occasion.

But it was too late to turn back. A few more minutes would take him to the Tube station, or better still to a thoroughfare where he could pick up another car.

By this time Lessing had reached the end of the cross-road, at which was situated an eating-house of a rough and unsavoury appearance. As he approached the door it opened, and a group of men streamed into the street, talking together in some eager unintelligible patois, at the sound of which a shiver of impending danger shot through Lessing's veins. Instinctively he averted his head, and quickened his pace, but instinct was a true prophet, it projected the coming event upon his brain, so that he knew what was before him, before the dark, bearded face glared into his, and the thick voice hissed the eloquent word into his ear:

"_Traitor_!"

Lessing did not stop to think. He was one to six, and escape was the necessity of the moment. He took to his heels, ran at full speed until the narrow lane was left behind, and the lights of Trafalgar Square shone around him, when following his first impulse he leaped into a taxi, and told the man to drive to Oxford Circus.

He had behaved like a fool, and like a fool he had been trapped, but the game was not yet up. His identity was unknown, and by avoiding the neighbourhood of the restaurant he could with ease cut himself off from all likelihood of encountering the Brethren. Lessing's blood tingled in his veins, his whole being was flooded with exhilaration. Here was life, here was excitement, here, at long last, within the confines of the grey city itself, was the thrill of pursuit! For they would be after him, following him no doubt in one of the numerous cars blocking the roads, with intent to track him to his lair, but Lessing laughed at the thought with glad youthful confidence. He was not to be caught twice over. He would give them a run--such a run as they had not known for many a long day, but he would slip them in the end!

It was two hours later when Lessing let himself into his rooms, but he entered with the smiling face of the man who wins; and in good truth he had reason to be proud. He had dodged, he had evaded, he had doubled back on his own tracks with an almost incredible celerity. He had left crowded Tube carriages, lost himself in the crowd on the platform, and jumped back into the same carriage, the last passenger to enter before the door was closed. He had changed from taxi to train, from train to taxi, and once, finding himself in a stationary block, had deposited half a crown on the seat of his own car, stepped deftly on to an adjacent "island," and opening the door of an empty growler, hunched himself up on the floor, and remained concealed until it suited his convenience to descend. Oh! he had been swift, he had been cunning; always he had acted on the assumption that the pursuer was at hand; never for one moment had he relaxed guard, or allowed himself to slow down. Now he was tired, dog tired, but with a glorious fatigue. Not for the world would he have foregone one incident of that most thrilling dash!

Lessing slept, and woke to a fine spring morning. He rang for his newspaper, and turned rapidly over the pages. Nothing had happened. The warning had been delivered in time; the grey old city was undisturbed.

But that night when Lessing returned to his chambers he found a letter awaiting him, addressed in an unknown handwriting. He tore it open, and read the few words which it contained:

"Traitor,--The doom which you have delayed, will now fall on your own
head. Do not think to escape. The world itself would not be wide
enough to hide you. At the moment when you least expect it, your call
will come--"

Lessing stood, staring at the written words, and the little room seemed suddenly cold as a cave. He had wished, and his wish had been granted to him. Henceforth, till he died, danger must be his bride!

A man may be brave to the superlative of bravery, yet almost inevitably he will weaken at the consciousness of hidden danger, pursuing him stealthily day after day, week after week, playing with him with ruthless deliberation, as a cat plays with a mouse, setting him free, only to realise that his torture has been in vain, and the day of reckoning is still to come.

For the first few days after his receipt of the fateful letter, Lessing went about his work with a grim, but not altogether unpleasant, excitement. He realised once for all that it was hopeless to try to hide himself from the Brethren, but he determined to sell his life dearly. He carried a policeman's whistle, and a walking-stick with a large and roughly-cut head, which on occasion could be a formidable weapon. The question of a revolver had been dismissed after the shortest hesitation, seeing that Lessing's inexperience with firearms made such a possession rather an extra danger than a protection. He put his affairs in order, and, like every other man under sentence of death, woke to a smarting consciousness of the sweetness of life. Life and-- Delia! Delia of the rose bloom and the misty eyes. Delia, who on occasion could be so maddeningly, tantalisingly alive! Lessing did not realise his own changed looks, and it seemed to him the cruellest contrariety of fate that Delia should show herself at her sweetest and most womanly at this moment when he knew himself separated from her by the most impenetrable of barriers.

A fortnight of incessant, imminent anxiety passed slowly by; then came a night when, taking his way to the corner house after dinner, Lessing experienced his first tangible alarm. The square was empty of pedestrians; he was walking on the farther side, close to the tall shuttered houses, when through the shrubs behind the railing of the centre enclosure, the lamplight showed a glimpse of a white face peering towards him. The next second it had disappeared, but even as he walked he had a conviction that a crouching figure kept pace behind that leafy screen. He hurried his steps, the figure kept pace; he could hear the rustle of the boughs as it passed, leaping across the intervening spaces with swift, ape-like bounds. Presently, when it reached that thick clump of trees, it would leap ahead, crouch, and take aim. Lessing acted on the impulse of the moment. A doctor's plate shone bright on a doorway--he pealed the electric bell, and a moment later stood safe within the entrance hall.

The doctor found his patient wanting in nervous force, prescribed a tonic, and rose to intimate that the interview was over; then, as the patient failed to take the hint, explained that he himself was obliged to go out at once. His opinion of the gravity of the case was increased when the patient first expressed a wish to accompany him on his walk, and then bade him good night at the first corner!

And that night Delia was kinder than ever and the savour of life more alluringly sweet!

During the days that followed Lessing developed a horror of solitude. The old evenings with a pipe and a book became abhorrent, and on the nights when he did not go to the corner house, he either dined in town or invited a friend to share his home repast. It was therefore with real relief that one Saturday morning he received a telegraphic invitation from a leisured friend who diversified a roving existence by flying visits to his country home. The telegram showed the expansiveness of the man of means, and ran as follows:

"Returning to Moat this afternoon. Try to join me for a week-end.
Car will meet four-thirty on chance.--

"Blakeney."

It was impossible to reply, since Blakeney had dispatched his wire
from Crewe, and was presumably already travelling southwards. The
form of the message showed that no answer was expected, but Lessing
had not the shadow of a doubt as to his own acceptance. He was
thankful for the chance of leaving London behind, and spending the
next two days in Blakeney's cheerful society. He sent a boy home to
get his bag, and carry it to the station, and when the hour for
departure approached, followed by a long and devious route, coming on
the platform just in time to jump into a moving carriage. By this
time he retained little hope of avoiding the espionage of the
Brethren, but as his life grew more precious so did his precautions
increase, and his determination to fight to the last. The smoking
carriage contained the usual contingent of comfortable middle-aged
citizens, and the hour's journey passed without incident. It was a
stopping train, and the passengers descended in great numbers at the
nearer suburbs, and in scattered units once the hour's limit had
passed. Lessing counted six men besides himself who descended at
Evershaw, one old, three middle-aged, a young man in seedy brown
overcoat, and a workman carrying a bag of tools. They looked one and
all reassuringly English and commonplace, and Lessing heaved a sigh of
relief. For once he had really escaped the scent! He hurried through
the booking office, to find himself confronted by the collection of
somewhat broken-down looking gigs and pony carts to be seen at most
country stations. There was no sign of Lessing's luxurious car, only
a powerful-looking mud-bespattered taxi, beside which stood a man in
leather gaiters and a driving-coat. He touched his cap as Lessing
approached, saying in an interrogative tone:

"Beg pardon, sir--Mr Lessing?"

"Yes."

"I have instructions to meet you, sir. From the Moat."

"Right," said Lessing, and handed over his bag. He realised at once
that Blakeney had probably wired for his own car to meet him some
distance down the line; and he seated himself in the capacious tonneau
of the taxi with an agreeable rising of spirits. The little station
was gay with spring flowers, and the scent of wallflowers floated
refreshingly on the cool clean breeze. Lessing stretched his tired
limbs, and drew a deep, grateful breath. He was just in the mood for
a spin through country lanes, and for once was tempted to wish that
the Moat was situated at a greater distance from the station. Then in
a moment his mood changed, and a cloud of anxiety descended. Already
the car had made its first movement forward, when the man with the
brown coat sprang to the front, and leaped to the seat beside the
chauffeur. Scrambling, clutching, he righted himself, steadied his
hat on his head, and pressed a tentative touch on a side pocket, and
all the time the driver vouchsafed not one glance, but devoted himself
to his wheel, as quietly as if it were an everyday occurrence to be
boarded at the last moment by an uninvited "fare." There was
something in that stolidity which chilled the blood in Lessing's
veins, for it seemed to infer that the incident was _expected_; that
the man in the brown coat had travelled down from town for no other
purpose than to occupy that special seat.

For the next few minutes Lessing alternated between fear and
composure. In the latter condition he told himself that it was a
usual occurrence for a country driver to give a "lift" to a friend,
and that such an action was tacitly sanctioned by his patrons.
Probably the man in the brown coat was so accustomed to avail himself
of his friend's hospitality, that to both the action had become
automatic. The more Lessing dwelt on this explanation, the more
satisfactory did it appear; it supported him to the end of the
straggling village, and only lost its power when the car failed to
turn up the lane leading to the Moat. He leaned forward, tapped at
the dividing glass, and called through the tube, but neither man moved
the fraction of an inch. He called again, more loudly than before,
and as if answering a signal, the car leaped forward, leaped again,
and with ever-mounting speed dashed down the empty lane.

Then the truth could no longer be disguised. These men were in league
against him; they had laid a trap, and he had walked into it with
credulous ease. The telegram had been a fraud, sent with no other
purpose than to lure him from town, into the solitude of these lonely
lanes. The Brethren's knowledge of Blakeney and his ways seemed at
first an incredible feat, but a moment's consideration went far to
remove the mystery. Blakeney had passed through town only a week
before, and had dined with Lessing at his club. Nothing more easy
than to discover his name from the porter, and to follow up the scent.

At that moment Lessing would have given much for the feel of a
revolver in his coat pocket. Given such a weapon he might have "held
up" the two men on the front seat, and forced them to obey his orders;
as it was, he was powerless as a child. For another ten minutes the
car pursued its headlong rush; the two men sitting silent, immovable,
looking neither to right nor left; the man inside crouched forward in
an attitude of defence. And once again Lessing was conscious of that
tingling in his veins which was rather exhilaration than dread. Pace
to face with danger he had no lack of courage, rather did every
faculty of his being rouse itself to an added fullness of life. The
tangible had no terror, it was the passive waiting which played havoc
with his nerves.

The car was still racing forward, plunging deeper and deeper into the
heart of the country. Lessing studied the road on either side,
searching for landmarks which might be registered for future use. He
had by now concluded that he was being conveyed to some stronghold of
the Brethren where he would meet the fate allotted to him for his
betrayal, and he reflected that it would be days if not weeks before
his disappearance would attract serious attention. By way of
precaution he had burnt Blakeney's telegram as soon as read; while the
boy who carried his bag to the station had departed immediately after
his own arrival and could give no clue as to his destination.
To-night might see the close of his own life, but his friends would
pursue the even tenor of their way without a fear for his welfare.
Even Delia... With the thought of Delia came a knife-like pang; a
determination to strain every nerve and faculty to outwit his enemies.

Another five minutes, and he became aware that the car was slacking
speed, that the men on the front seat were looking ahead, as though on
the watch for an expected signal. Presumably it came, for with
skilful turns of the wheel the chauffeur steered the car down a narrow
lane, and, with a second lurching curve, into a gateway which stood
half-way down its length.

So far the manipulation of the car had borne testimony to the skill of
the chauffeur, but two sharp turnings so quickly succeeding each other
were a severe test, and terminated in a momentary skid over a grassy
bank, during which the car tilted violently to the side.

The swing was severe enough to throw Lessing sideways on the seat, and
before he had time to right himself, the two men had leaped off the
box, the one to the right and the other to the left, and had appeared
simultaneously at either door. There was nothing precisely
threatening in their demeanour, but they had the air of men who knew
their duty, and were prepared to do it. The chauffeur had an
appearance of bull-dog strength, but little sign of intelligence. The
man in the brown coat had a narrow, hatchet-like face, with keen,
alert eyes. The hand which lay on the door of the car was white and
well shaped. One glance at him showed that he was the real master of
the situation. Lessing looked from one to the other with an air of
haughty displeasure.

"May I inquire the explanation of this extraordinary behaviour! I
gave instructions to be driven to the Moat."

"Our instructions were to bring you here. You are expected. I must
ask you to get out, and come up to the house."

It was the man in the brown coat who spoke. He came a step nearer as
he spoke, blocking the doorway; the chauffeur held open the farther
door, his great bulk outlined against the green of the trees. It
seemed to Lessing that for the moment his best policy was to obey,
since, if it came to a fight, he preferred the open to his present
cramped position. He alighted then without demur, and, stood on the
path stretching himself, and looking around with an air of assurement
which he was far from feeling. He saw a garden which even in its
spring freshness looked desolate and neglected, and, some forty yards
from the gate, a low house of grey stone, thickly covered with
creepers, the branches of which had been allowed to drape the windows
so heavily that in many cases the glass was almost entirely concealed.
Lessing looked at it and felt a creeping of the blood. There was
only one word which could fitly describe the appearance of that house,
and it was a word of which he did not care to think. It was a dead
house.

Lessing had been under the impression that while he had been studying
his surroundings he had been standing still, but it now appeared that
unconsciously to himself, and impelled by the movements of the men on
either side, he had been slowly approaching nearer and nearer the open
door of the windowless house. Instantly he halted and put a sharp
inquiry:

"What is this house? Who is it that is `expecting' me, as you say?"

"You will recognise him when you meet," said the man in brown, and
pursing his lips gave a soft, prolonged whistle, repeated three times
over, with a perceptible pause between each. He looked towards the
house meantime, and in imagination Lessing filled the blank space of
the doorway with a dreaded figure, the figure of a man with black hair
turning to grey, a shaggy beard, and large prominent teeth. He had
need of all his courage at that moment, but he made no resistance as
the men by his side steadily guided him forward; for just as a short
time before he had preferred to fight in the open, now he was
possessed with a desire to find himself in a room where he might take
his stand against the wall, and so force his enemies to a frontal
attack.

The three men entered a narrow, absolutely bare hallway, from which an
uncarpeted staircase rose sharply to the left. From the first glance
around, and even more from the dank and mouldy atmosphere, Lessing
divined that the house had long been unoccupied, and that a deed of
violence committed therein might remain undiscovered for an indefinite
period. The conclusion did not help to raise his spirits as he
entered a long narrow room facing the back of the house, his
companions meantime pressing hard on his wake.

The room was as empty as the hall; the man in the brown coat walked
quickly to the nearer of the two windows, gave a searching glance
around, then turned to the chauffeur with a significant shake of the
head. There followed a moment's pause, as though both men were
puzzled by the absence of someone confidently expected. Then the man
with the brown coat turned once more to Lessing.

"I must ask you to wait for us here for a few minutes," he said
courteously. "We will not keep you longer than is necessary. I am
sorry that I cannot offer you a chair. This house is, as you see,
unfurnished."

Lessing did not condescend to reply. He hailed the departure of the
two men as giving him an opportunity to examine his surroundings and
find a possible way of escape. The room was on the ground floor, the
windows were unbarred, surely then it would be easy.

The next moment the blood rushed to his face, as his ears caught the
turn of a rusty key, followed by the drawing of a bolt, and hurrying
across the floor he found that the door leading into the passage had
been doubly secured. The two men were determined to keep him a
prisoner while they waited for the appearance of one who was evidently
their chief; he could hear their footsteps ascending the stairs,
tramping over the bare floors above; once and again the sound of the
long thrice-repeated whistle came to his ears, but to his relief there
came no answer to the signal.

Lessing stood with his ears to the chink of the door listening
intently. Presently he heard the two men descend to the hall, linger
for a minute as if undecided, then pass out of the front door.
Another minute and a new sound broke the stillness; he listened
acutely, and had little difficulty in divining its meaning; the men
were endeavouring to move the car out of the rut, so that at any
moment it might be ready to bear them away.

Instantly Lessing darted to the nearer of the two windows, and looking
out experienced an unwelcome surprise. The house was evidently built
on shelving ground, for though the room in which he stood was level
with the entrance, it was yet raised by a good twenty feet from the
ground at the back. Now twenty feet is not a great depth, but it is
too far for a man to drop without risk of at least spraining an ankle,
and thereby leaving himself helpless in the hands of his enemies,
especially when, as was the case in this instance, the ground is paved
with rough, uneven flags. Lessing drew back in disgust, and darted to
the window on the farther end of the room. Here, if anything, the
drop was greater, but the position was improved, inasmuch as a tangle
of grass took the place of the jagged flags. The window was of the
old-fashioned casement description, and to prise open the rusty latch
was no light task even for strong fingers, but it was done at last,
and Lessing hung forward, listening breathlessly to the sounds from
the front of the house. The car was evidently still refusing to
budge; he could hear the voice of the chauffeur instructing the man in
the brown coat as to his share in the work, and the thud of the engine
as once and again it strained to the task.

Now was his time, while the two men were engaged; while as yet the
third man had not appeared! Lessing hung out of the window, his eyes
sweeping the wall to right and left. He had a strong head, and given
so much as a drain pipe would have no hesitation in essaying the
descent, but the mass of ivy hid everything from view. Lessing
hoisted himself on the window-sill, and creeping first to one side and
then the other, groped among the leaves. He found no pipe, but a
moment's searching discovered what was quite as useful for his
purpose, a central branch of the ivy itself, thick as a man's fist,
strong enough to support a dozen climbers. Lessing gave himself no
time to think, but lowered himself from the sill, grasped the branch
in both hands, and began his descent. It was not as easy as he had
expected, for the branch scalloped along the walls, in a somewhat
disconcerting manner, but given a steady head, and a body in
reasonable training, there were no serious difficulties to encounter,
and a point was soon reached when he could relax his hold, and drop
softly to the ground.

So far all had gone with almost incredible ease, but Lessing was aware
that he was not yet out of the wood. At any moment his escape might
be discovered, and his pursuers would have a double advantage in their
possession of the car and their knowledge of the country itself. It
was the work of a few minutes to dart down the overgrown path, scale
the wall at the end of the garden, and drop upon the grass below, but
the next step was more difficult to decide. Looking around him he
perceived a white roadway curling like a ribbon round a sweep of
meadow land, and realised how easily his escape might be cut off. It
flashed into his mind that his best chance was to lie low until his
pursuers had started on their chase, and even as the thought passed
through his brain, his eye fell on a straggling growth of barberry
against the outer side of the wall he had just scaled. The bushes
were small and by no means thick, so that at first sight they offered
no promise of shelter, but on further examination Lessing discovered
that the ground between them and the wall was hollowed to the depth of
a foot or more, and covered with a mass of tall grasses. Here, then,
was an ideal hiding-place, where he could lie low and know all that
was happening around.

Without a moment's hesitation Lessing laid himself down in the hollow,
pressing back the grasses that he might creep close to the shelter of
the wall, then allowing them to spring back to their original
position. His tweed suit was of a nondescript tint, the shade least
likely to catch the eye, but for greater safety he picked handfuls of
leaves and grass, and scattered them over his clothes, then lying flat
with face hidden on his folded arms, he awaited the discovery of his
escape.

He had time to grow cramped and chill before the sound of loud raised
voices and the heavy tramp of feet over wooden floors warned him that
the search had begun. Almost immediately afterwards someone came
racing down the garden path, circled round once and again, and finally
clambered to the top of the wall, to obtain a view over the outlying
country. Lessing knew by the distinctness of the sound that the
ascent had been made at but a short distance from where he lay, and
the knowledge sent a chill through his blood. It had not occurred to
him that his hiding-place could be viewed from above, and he waited in
the keenest suspense, prepared to take to his feet and make a dash for
it, at the first hint of discovery. But the man on the wall made no
such sign. He breathed in short, gasping breaths, as a man would
breathe under stress of agitation, and between his breaths once and
again he sent out the old whistling summons, then scrambling,
clutching, he fell back into the garden, and again raced to and fro
among the curving paths.