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diff --git a/5972.txt b/5972.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdf4320 --- /dev/null +++ b/5972.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12811 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Fascinating Traitor, by Richard Henry Savage + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Fascinating Traitor + +Author: Richard Henry Savage + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5972] +Posting Date: March 28, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FASCINATING TRAITOR *** + + + + +Produced by Carrie Fellman + + + + + + + +A FASCINATING TRAITOR + +AN ANGLO-INDIAN STORY + +By Col. Richard Henry Savage + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + + BOOK I. OUT OF THE DEAD PAST. + + + I.-A Chance Meeting at Geneva + + II.-An Offensive and Defensive Alliance + + III.-"And at Delhi What Am I to Do?" + + IV.-The Veiled Rosebud of Delhi + + V.-A Diplomatic Tiffin + + + + BOOK II. "A DEVIL FOR LUCK." + + + VI.-The Mysterious Bungalow + + VII.-The Price of Safety + + VIII.-Harry Hardwicke Takes the Gate Neatly! + + IX.-Alan Hawke Plays His Trump Card + + X.-A Captivated Viceroy + + + + BOOK III. PRINCE DJIDDIN'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. + + + XI.-"Do You See This Dagger?" + + XII.-On the Cliffs of Jersey + + XIII.-An Asiatic Lion in Hiding. + + XIV.-The Council at Granville + + XV.-The French Fisher Boat "Hirondelle" + + + + + +BOOK I. OUT OF THE DEAD PAST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. A CHANCE MEETING AT GENEVA. + + +"By Jove! I may as well make an end of the thing right here to-night!" +was the dejected conclusion of a long council of war over which Major +Alan Hawke had presided, with the one straggling comfort of being its +only member. + +All this long September afternoon he had dawdled away in feeding certain +rapacious swans navigating gracefully around Rousseau's Island. He had +consumed several Trichinopoly cigars in the interval, and had moodily +gazed back upon the strange path which had led him to the placid shores +of Lake Leman! The gay promenaders envied the debonnair-looking young +Briton, whose outer man was essentially "good form." Children left the +side of their ox-eyed bonnes to challenge the handsome young stranger +with shy, friendly approaches. + +Bevies of flashing-eyed American girls "took him in" with parthian +glances, and even a widowed Russian princess, hobbling by, easing her +gouty steps with a jeweled cane, gazed back upon the moody Adonis and +sighed for the vanished days, when she possessed both the physical and +mental capacity to wander from the beaten paths of the proprieties. + +But--the world forgetting--the young man lingered long, gazing out upon +the broad expanse of the waters, his eyes resting carelessly upon the +superb panorama of the southern shore. He had wandered far away from the +Grand Hotel National, in the aimlessness of sore mental unrest, and, all +unheeded, the hours passed on, as he threaded the streets of the proud +old Swiss burgher city. He had known its every turn in brighter days, +and, though the year of ninety-one was a brilliant Alpine season, and he +was in the very flower of youth and manly promise, gaunt care walked as +a viewless warder at Alan Hawke's side. + +He had crossed over the Pont de Montblanc to the British Consulate, only +to learn that the very man whom he had come from Monaco to seek, was now +already at Aix la Chapelle, on his way to America, on a long leave. +He had wearily made a tour of the principal hotels and scanned the +registers with no lucky find! Not a single gleam of hope shone out in +all the polyglot inscriptions passing under his eye! And so he had +sadly betaken himself to a safe, retired place, where he could hold the +aforesaid council of war. + +The practical part of the operations of this sole committee of ways +and means, was an exhaustive examination of his depleted pockets. A +few sovereigns and a single crisp twenty-pound Bank of England note +constituted the rear guard of Alan Hawke's vanished "sinews of war." The +young man briefly noted the slender store, with a sigh. + +"Twenty-five pounds--and a little trumpery jewelry--I can't ever get +back to India on that!" He seemed to hear again the rasping voice of the +vulpine caller at Monte Carlo: "Messieurs! Faites vos jeux! Rien ne va +plus! Le jeu est fait!" And, if a dismal failure in Lender had been his +Leipsic, the black week at Monaco had been his long drawn-out Waterloo! +"I was a rank fool to go there," he growled, "and a greater fool to come +over here! I might have got on easily to Malta, and then chanced it from +there to Calcutta!" + +The sun's last lances glittered on the waters gleaming clear as crystal, +with their deep blue tint of reflected sky, and liquid sapphire! The +gardens were becoming deserted as the loungers dropped off homeward one +by one, and still the handsome young fellow sat moodily gazing down into +the rushing waters of the arrowy Rhone, as if he fain would cast the +dark burden of his dreary thoughts far away from him down into those +darkling waters. But thirty-two years of age, Alan Hawke had already +outlived all his wild boyish romances. The thrill with which he had +first set foot upon the land of Clive and Warren Hastings had faded away +long years gone! And, Fate had stranded him at Geneva! + +As he sat, still irresolute as to his future movements, the dying +sunlight gilded the splendid panorama of the whole Mont Blanc group. +Rose and purple, with fading gold and amethystine gleams played softly +upon the far-away giant peak, with its noble bodyguard, the Aiguilles +du Midi, Grandes Jorasses, the Dent du Geant, the sturdy pyramid of +the Mole, and the long far sweep of the Voirons. But he noted not +these splendors of the dying sun god, as he stood there moodily defying +adverse fate, a modern Manfred. "I might with this get on to London--but +what waits me there? Only scorn, callous neglect!" His eye fell upon the +statue of Jean Jacques, lifted up there by the sturdy men who have for +centuries clung to the golden creeds of civil and religious liberty--the +independence of man--and the freedom of the unshackled human soul. +"Poor Rousseau! seer and parasite, fugitive adventurer, the sport of the +great, the eater of bitter bread--the black bread of dependence! I will +not linger here in a long-drawn agony! Here, I will end it forever, and +to-night!" + +There were certain visions of the past which returned to shake even +the iron nerves of Alan Hawke! Face to face now with his half formed +resolution of suicide, the wasted past slowly unrolled itself before +him. + +The brief days of his service in India, an abrupt exit from the service, +long years of wandering in Japan and China, as a gentleman adventurer, +and all the singular phases of a nomadic life in Burmah, Nepaul, +Cashmere, Bhootan, and the Pamirs. + +He smiled in derision at the recollection of a briefly flattering +fortune which had rebaptized him with a shadowy title of uncertain +origin. Thus far, his visiting card, "Major Alan Hawke, Bombay Club" had +been an easily vised passport, but--alas--good only among his own kind! +He was but a free lance of the polished "Detrimentals," and, under this +last adverse stroke of fortune, his poor cockboat was being swamped in +the black waters of adversity. He had staked much upon a little campaign +at the Foreign Office in London. The cold rebuff which he had received +to there had carried him in sheer desperation over to Monaro and +incoming onto Geneva, he had "burned his ships" behind him. Ignorant of +the precise manner in which his clouded reputation had stopped the way +to his advancement in the English Secret Service, he remembered, even +at the last, that a few letters were due to those who still watched his +little flickering light on its way over the trackless sea of life. +For hard-hearted as he was,--benumbed by the blows of fate, his heart +calloused with the snapping of cords and ties which once had closely +bound him--there were yet loosely knit bonds of the past which tinged +with the glow of his dying passions--the unforgotten idols of his +adventurous career! + +He rose and walked mechanically along the Qua du Mont Blanc with the +alert, springy step of the soldier. "Once a Captain, always a Captain" +was in every line of his resolute, martial figure. His well-set-up, +graceful form, his nobly poised head and easy soldierly bearing +contrasted sharply with the lazy shuffle of the prosperous Swiss +denizens and the listless lolling of the sporadic foreign tourists. +Crisp, curling, tawny hair, a sweeping soldierly moustache, with a +resolute chin and gleaming blue eyes accentuated a handsome face burnt +to a dark olive by the fiery Indian sun. An easy insouciance tempered +the habitual military smartness of the man who had known several +different services in the fifteen years of his wasted young manhood. As +he swung into the glare of the hospitable doorway of the Grand Rational, +the obsequious head porter doffed his gold banded cap. + +"Table d'hote serving now, Major!" With the mere social instinct of long +years, Alan Hawke recognized the man's perfunctory politeness, tipped +him a couple of francs, and then, mechanically sauntered to a seat in +the superb salle a manger. "I'll get out of here to-night," he muttered, +and then he bent down his head over the carte du jour and peered at the +wine list, as the chatter of happy voices, the animated faces of lovely +women and the eager hum of social life around, recalled him to that +world from which he contemplated an unceremonious exit. It was in a +deference to old habit, and the "qu en dira't on," that he ordered a +half bottle of excellent Chambertin and then proceeded to dine with all +the scrupulous punctilio of the old happy mess days. + +Something of defiance seemed to steal back into his veins with the +generous warmth of the wine--a touch of the old gallant spirit with +which he had faced a hard world, since the unfortunate incident which +had abruptly terminated his connection with "The Widow's" Service. His +eye swept carelessly over the international detachment seated at the +splendid table. Lively and chattering as they were, it was a human +Sahara to him. He easily recognized the "Ten-Pounder" element of +wandering Britons; poor, anxious-eyed beings grudgingly furloughed from +shop and desk, and now sternly determined to descend at Charing Cross +without breaking into the few reserve sovereigns. Serious-looking +women, clad in many colors, and stolid cockneys, hostile to all foreign +innovation, met his eye. He sighed as he cast his social net and drew up +nothing. + +There was a vacant chair at his left. Very shortly, without turning his +eyes, he was made aware of the proximity of a woman, young, evidently a +continental, from her softly murmured French. + +"Houbigant's Forest Violets," he murmured. "She is at least +semi-civilized!" He was dreaming of the far off lotos land which he +had left, as he felt the rebellious protest of his young blood and +the defiant spirit awaked by the mechanical luxury of the well-ordered +dinner. "These human pawns seem to be all prosperous, if not happy! I'll +have another shy at it! By God! I must get back to India!" The whole +checkered past rushed back over his mind! The fifteen years of his +"wanderjahre"! Scenes which even he dared not recall! Incidents which he +had never dared to own to any European! He but too well knew the origin +of his loosely applied title of Major--a field officer's rank more +honored at the easygoing clubs of Yokahama, Shanghai, and Hong Kong than +on the Army List--a rank best known at the ring-side of Indian sporting +grounds, and only tacitly accepted in the extra-official circles of +Hindustan. For it figured not in the official Army List, either as +active or retired. The whole panorama of the mystic land of the Hindus +was unrolled once more by the memories of fifteen clouded years, He +saw again his far-away theater of varied action, with its huge grim +mountains towering far over the snow line, its arid wastes, its fertile +plains bathed in intense sunshine, its mystic rivers, and its silent, +solemn shrines of the vanished gods. + +Major Alan Hawke silently ran over his slender professional +accomplishments. "I'm not too heavy to ride yet. I've a fair hand at +cards--tough nerves, and even a bit of staying power. Luck may turn my +way yet and there's always the Pamirs! At the worst, the Russians--the +Afghans,--or those fellows up in Sikkim and Hill Tipperah! An +artillerist is always welcome there!" But even in his moral desperation, +he hung his head, for a flush of his boyhood's bright ambitions returned +to shame him. An old song jingled in his memory, "When I first put this +uniform on." He lapsed into a bitter reverie! + +The soldier of fortune was finally aroused from a brown study by the +impassive steward presenting two great dishes. The clatter of some late +convive seating himself also caused him to turn his head. + +"Hello, Anstruther! You are a long way from staff headquarters here!" +quietly said Hawke, as the new arrival gazed at him in a mute surprise. + +Captain the Honorable Anson Anstruther put up his monocle and duly +answered: "I thought that you were still in Calcutta, Hawke." There was +a faint noli me tangere air in the young staff officer's manner, and +yet mere propinquity drew them together in a few minutes. With the +insouciance of men bred in club and at mess, the two soldiers soon +drifted into an easy chat, meeting on safe grounds. They calmly +ignored the surrounding civilians, regardless of the attractions of two +falcon-eyed Chicago beauties, loud of voice and brilliantly overdressed, +who were guiding "Popper" and "Mommer" over the continent. These +resplendent daughters of Columbia already boasted a train consisting +of a French count (of a very old and shadowy regime), a singularly +second-hand looking Italian marquis, a wooden-soldier figured German +baron, and a sad-eyed, distant-looking Russian prince, whose bold Tartar +glances rested hungrily upon both Miss "Phenie" and Miss "Genie" Forbes. + +The Anglo-Indians, however, calmly pursued their dinner and gossip +regardless of the fact that Miss "Phenie" had violently nudged Miss +"Genie," and whispered in a stage aside: "Say, Genie, look at those two +English fellows! They are something like--I bet you that they are +two Lords!" The approval of the gilded Western maidens, whose father +systematically assassinated a thousand porkers per diem, was lost upon +the chance-met acquaintances. "I must get back to India, by hook or +crook," mused Alan Hawke, and therefore, he very delicately played his +wary fish, the sybaritic young swell of the staff. Captain the Honorable +Anson Anstruther's reserve soon melted under the skillful bonhomie of +the astute Alan Hawke. An easy-going patrician of the staff, he was in +the magic circle of the viceroy. The heir to an inevitable fortune, and +already vested with substantially stratified deposits at "Coutts" +and Glyn, Carr and Glyn's, he would have been envied by most luckless +mortals the heavy balances which he always carried at "Grind-lay's," a +fortune for any less fortunate man. + +He was already interested in the remarkably fetching looking young woman +at Alan Hawke's left, being a squire of dames par excellence, while +Major Alan Hawke himself wondered how Anstruther had drifted so far away +from the direct line of travel to London. + +Thawing visibly under the influence of Hawke's gracefully modulated +camaraderie, the susceptible Anstruther was attentively examining his +fair neighbor in silence, while he tried vaguely to recall some story +which he had once heard, quite detrimental to the cosmopolitan Major. + +He gave it up as a bad job! "Hang it!" he thought. "It may have been +some other chap. Very likely!" It was the strange story of a sharp +encounter with the hostile Kookies, in which a couple of English +mountain guns, long before abandoned by a British expeditionary force, +had been served with due professional skill and most desperate dash by +a reckless man, easily recognized as an English refugee artillerist. +The wounded escaped British soldier, who had died after denouncing the +deserting adventurer, had left his parting advice to the Royal Artillery +to burn the fearless renegade, should he ever be captured. It was the +Story of a nameless traitor! + +But, the vague distrust of the curled darling of Fortune soon faded away +under Hawke's measured social leading. A silver wine cooler stood behind +their chairs, and the old yarn of a British officer playing Olivier Pain +became very misty under the subtle influence of the Pommery Sec. Alan +Hawke guarded the expected story of his own wanderings, waiting craftily +until Bacchus and Venus had sufficiently mollified Anstruther. + +He duplicated the champagne, knowing well the warming influence of +"t'other bottle." The Major of a shadowy rank had early learned the +graceful art of effacing himself, and on this occasion, it stood greatly +to his credit. Anstruther was now quite sure that the graceful head of +the beautiful neighbor swayed in an unconscious recognition of his witty +sallies. A true son of Mars--ardent, headlong, and gallant as regarded +le beau sexe--he talked brilliantly and well, aiming his boomerang +remarks at a woman whom he knew to be young and graceful, and whose +beauty he was gayly taking upon trust; an old, old interlude, played +many a time and oft. + +"What is going on here in this beastly slow old town? Nothing much for +to-night, I fancy," said the aid-de-camp, wondering if a promenade au +clair de la lune or a carriage ride to Ferney would be possible! He +already had noted the purity of the French accent of the fair unknown. +No guttural Swiss patois there, but that crisp elegance of tone which +promised him a flirtation en vraie Parisienne. + +"Only Philemon and Baucis, an antique opera, at the Grand Opera House, +and sung by a band of relics of better days, wandering over here!" said +Hawke. + +And then it finally dawned upon the blase young staff officer that he +had met Alan Hawke in certain circles where plunging had chased away the +tedium of Indian club life with the delightful sensations of raking in +other people's money. + +"Better come up to my rooms then, and have a weed and a bit of ecarte!" +slowly said Anstruther. "We may manage a ride afterward!" Alan Hawke +nodded, and a thirsty gleam lit up his crafty eyes. He instinctively +felt for the little card case containing that solitary twenty-pound +note; it was a gentleman's stake after all. And the would-be suicide +silently invoked the fickle goddess Fortuna! + +Captain Anstruther, however, furtively murmured a few words to the +solemn head steward and then leaned back contentedly in his chair. +His ostensible orders for cafe noir and cards, as well as the least +murderous of the obtainable cigars, covered the plan of using a +five-pound note in an adroit personal inquiry. For, the Honorable Anson +Anstruther proposed to ride that very evening, and he did not wish to +bore Major Hawke with his company. He nursed a little scheme of his own. +"Do you make a long stay?" carelessly said the wary Major. + +"I intend to leave to-morrow night," gayly answered the other. "I came +over here on a very strange errand. I've got to see an eminent Gorgon +of respectability, who has a finishing school here for the young person +bien clevee," said Anstruther, eyeing the unknown. + +"Hardly in your line, Anstruther!" laughed Hawke, casting his eyes +around the depleted table, for Miss Phenie and Miss Genie Forbes had +vanished at last, leaving behind them expanding wave circles of sharply +echoing comment. The noisy Teutons had devoured their seven francs +worth, and the fair bird of passage on their left was left alone, +woman-like, dallying with the last sweets and finishing her demi +bouteille with true French deliberation. "It's a case of the wolf and +the sheep-fold!" + +"Not that; not at all!" gayly answered Anstruther. "I have a long leave, +and I only ran over here to oblige His Excellency." He spoke with all +the easy disdain of all underlings born of an Indian official life--the +habitual disregard of the Briton for his inferior surroundings. "By +Jove! you may help me out yourself! You're an old Delhi man!" He gazed +earnestly at Hawke, who started nervously, and then said: + +"You know I've been away for a good bit of the ten years in the far +Orient, but I used to know them all, before I went out of the line." + +"Then you surely know old Hugh Johnstone, the rich, old, retired deputy +commissioner of Oude?" Alan Hawke slowly sipped his champagne, for his +Delhi memories were both risky and uncertain ground. + +"I fail to recall the name, Johnstone--Johnstone," murmured Hawke. + +"Why, everyone knows old Johnstone; he is an old mutiny man. You surely +do! He was Hugh Fraser until he took the name of Johnstone, ten years +or so ago, on a Scotch relative leaving him a handsome Highland estate!" +There was a warning rustle at Hawke's left, as the fair stranger +prepared for her flitting. + +"I was very intimate with Hugh Fraser in my griffin days. But I thought +he had retired and gone back home. He is enormously rich, and an old +bachelor! I know him very well; he was a good friend of mine in the old +days, too!" + +Anstruther leaned toward Hawke, as he signed to the waiter to refill his +hearer's glass. "Well, I can surprise even you! He has turned up with a +beautiful daughter--at Delhi--just about the prettiest girl I ever--" + +"Je demande mills pardons, Madame!" politely cried Major Hawke, as his +fair neighbor's wineglass went shivering down in a crystalline wreck. + +"Pas de quoi, Monsieur," suavely replied the woman whom till now he had +hardly noticed. A moment later the slight damage was repaired, and then +Captain the Honorable Anson Anstruther had his little innings. + +With courtly hospitality he offered the creamy champagne as a +remplacement for the lost vin du pays. + +A charming smile rewarded the gallant youth, while Major Hawke turned +with interest to the renewal of the interrupted narrative. He had caught +a glance of burning intensity from the dark brown eyes of the lady a +la Houbigant, which set every nerve in his body tingling. It was +a challenge to a companionship, and, as he led on the triumphant +Anstruther, he deeply regretted the absence of that most necessary +organ,--an eye in the back of the head. He was dimly aware that his +beautiful neighbor was very leisurely drinking the peace offering of the +susceptible son of Mars. "I will bet hundreds to ha'pennies she speaks +English!" quickly reflected the now aroused Major. + +"You astound me, Anstruther," the Major said. "Not a lawful child! Some +Eurasian legacy--a relic of the old days of the Pagoda Tree! Why, the +old commissioner always was a woman hater, and absolutely hostile to all +social influences!" The Captain was now stealing longing glances at the +willowy figure of the beautiful woman whose glistening dark brown eyes +were turned to him with a languid glance, as Alan Hawke leaned forward. +To prolong the sight of that bewitching half profile, with the fair, low +brows, the velvet cheeks, a Provencale flush tinting them, the parted +lips a dainty challenge speaking, and the rich masses of dark brown hair +nobly crowning her regal outlines, Anstruther yielded to the spell and +babbled on. "The whole thing is a strange melange of official business +and dying gossip!" dreamily said Anstruther with his eyes straying over +the ivory throat, the superbly modeled bust and perfect figure of the +young Venus Victrix. + +He was duly rewarded by a glance of secret intelligence when he leaned +back, dreamily closing his eyes. "You see, they were going to make old +Hugh Fraser or Hugh Johnstone, as he is now called, a baronet for some +secret services to the Crown of an important nature, rendered about the +time when mad Hodson piled up the whole princely succession to the House +of Oude in a trophy of naked corpsess pistoling them with his own hand." +He ordered a third bottle of Pommery, with a wave of his hand, and +proceeded: "Of course, you know, Her Majesty's Government always closely +investigate the social antecedents of the nominee in such cases. The +change of name is all right; it is regularly entered at Herald's College +and all that sort of thing, but the Chief has heard of the sudden +appearance of this beautiful daughter. Now, old Johnstone surely never +looked the way of woman in India! It's true that he went back about +twenty years ago to England on a two years' leave. He has lived the life +of a splendid recluse in his magnificent old bungalow on the Chandnee +Chouk." + +Anstruther paused, fishing for another fugitive smile. He caught it +behind the back of the wary adventurer. + +"I know the old house well," said Hawke with an affected unconcern. +"Men were always entertained royally there, but I never saw a woman of +station in its vast saloons." + +"Now there you are!" cried Anstruther, lightly resuming: "I was sent +up to Delhi to delicately find out about this alleged daughter, for the +Chief does not want to throw Johnstone's baronetcy over. The fact is +before they packed the toothless old King of Oude away to Rangoon to +die with his favorite wife and their one wolf cub out there, Hugh Fraser +skillfully extorted a surrender of a huge private treasure of jewels +from these people while they were hidden away in Humayoon's tomb. +There's one trust deposit yet to be divided between the Government +and this sly old Indo-Scotch-man, and I fancy the empty honor of the +baronetcy is a quid pro quo." Alan Hawke laughed heartily. "It is really +diamond cut diamond, then." + +"Precisely," said Anstruther, as he most calmly waved his hand to the +steward, who silently refilled even the glass of the Venus Anonyma. +A slight inclination of the head and parthian glance number three, +encouraged Anstruther to hasten and conclude, for the moon was sailing +grandly over the lake now. + +Love thrilled in the young man's vacant heart, sounding the chords of +the Harp of Life. He had been in a glittering Indian exile long enough +to be very susceptible. "I spent two weeks up there with the expectant +Sir Hugh Johnstone," lightly rattled on the aid. "I verified the fact +that the young woman is his acknowledged daughter. He has no other +lineal heir to the title, for an old, dry-as-dust, retired Edinburgh +professor, a brother, childless and eccentric, is living near St. +Helier's, in Jersey, in a beautiful Norman chateau farm mansion, where +old Hugh proposed once to end his days. It seems to be all square +enough. I was as delicate as I could be about it, and the matter is +apparently all right. The papers have all gone on, and, in due time, +Hugh Fraser will be Sir Hugh Johnstone!" + +Anstruther quaffed a beaker with guileful ideas of detaining his fair +neighbor, now ruffling her plumage for departure, for only a sporadic +knot of diners here and there lingered at the long table. "The girl +herself?" asked Hawke, with a strange desire to know more. + +"Report has duly magnified her hidden charms," replied Anstruther. "She +is called "The Veiled Rose of Delhi," and no manner of man may lift that +mystic veil. I was treated en prince, but held at arm's length." + +Hawke smiled softly, and said in a low voice, "I hardly see how all this +brings you over here. The Rose blooms by the far-away Jumna." + +"Then know, my friend," laughed Anstruther, "such a rose as the peerless +Nadine Johnstone must have a duenna." He deftly caught an impassioned +glance from the softly shining brown eyes, and hastily went on. "She was +educated right here in this emporium of watches, musical boxes, correct +principles, and scientific research. Mesdames Justine and Euphrosyne +Delande, No. 122 Rue du Rhone, conduct an institute (justly renowned) +where calisthenics, a view of the lake, a little music, a great deal +of bad French, and the Conversations Lexicon, with some surface womanly +graces, may all be had for some two hundred pounds a year. Miss Justine +Delande, a sedately gray-tinted spinster, has been tempted to remain +on guard for a year out in India, having safely conducted this Pearl +of Jeunes Personnes Bien Elevees out to the old Qui Hai. I have been +charged with some few necessary explanations and negotiations, the +delivery of some presents, and, when I have visited this first-class +institute, enjoying all the attractions of the Jardin Anglais and the +Promenade du Lac, I shall flee these tranquil slopes of the Pennine +Alps. Incidentally, the records of Mademoiselle Euphrosyne will confirm +the very natural story of the would-be Sir Hugh, whose vanished wife no +Anglo-Indian has ever seen. She is supposably dead. A last official note +after I have run on to Paris will close up the whole awkward matter. I +will call there tomorrow and then take the early train, as I am on for +a lot of family visits and sporting events before I can settle down to +have my bit of a fling." + +"It's a very strange story," murmured Alan Hawke. "No man ever suspected +Hugh Fraser of family honors." + +"And 'the Rose of Delhi!' will probably marry some lucky fellow out +there, as old Johnstone has lacs and lacs of rupees," said Anstruther, +"for he cannot keep her in his great gardens forever, guarded by the +stony-eyed Swiss spinster, or let her run around as the Turks do their +priceless pet sheep with a silver bell around her neck. There was some +old marital unhappiness, I suppose, for the girl is evidently born in +wedlock, and the story is straight enough." + +"Have you seen her?" eagerly inquired Hawke. + +"Just a few stolen glimpses," hastily replied Anstruther, politely +rising and bowing as the fair unknown suddenly left her seat, in evident +confusion. + +The two men strolled out of the salle a manger together, Major Alan +Hawke critically observing the heightened color and evident elan of his +aristocratic friend. + +"Oh! I say, Hawke," cried Anstruther, "they'll show you up to my rooms +in a few moments. I'll go and see the maitre d'hotel here! The service +is beastly--beastly!" and the youth fled quickly away. + +Major Alan Hawke nodded affably, and slowly mounted the staircase to his +room, wondering if the aid-de-camp was destined by the gods to furnish +forth his purse for the return to India. "He's pretty well set up now, +and he evidently has his eye upon this brown-eyed nixie. Dare I rush my +luck? The boy's a bit stupid at cards." With downcast eyes the anxious +adventurer wandered along the corridor in the dimly-lighted second +story. It was the turning point of his career. + +There was the rapid rustle of silk, the patter of gliding feet, a warm, +trembling hand seized his own, and in the darkness of a window recess he +was aware that he was suddenly made the prize of the fair corsair ci +la Houbigant. "Quick, quick, tell me! Do you go with him?" the strange +enchantress said, in excited tones, using the English tongue as if to +the manner born. + +"Madame! I hardly understand," cautiously said the astounded Major. + +"I want you to help me! You must help me! I must see him! I must +find out all." The sound of a servant's steps arrested her incoherent +remarks. "Wait here!" the excited woman whispered, as she walked back +down the hall. There was a whispered colloquy, and Alan Hawke caught the +gleam of the silver neck chain of the maitre d'hotel. The sound of +an opening door was heard, and, in a few moments the flying Camilla +returned to her hidden prey. + +"Tell me truly," she panted, "what will you do with him? He wishes me to +ride with him; my answer depends on you. You are in trouble; I can see +it in your haggard eyes. Help me now, and--and I will help you!" And +then Alan Hawke spoke truly to the waif of Destiny, whom chance had +thrown in his way. + +"I only wish to play with him for a couple of hours; if luck turns my +way, that will be time enough!" + +"Ah! you would have money! Let him go away in peace! Help me to-morrow, +here, and I will give you money!" + +"What is your own scheme?" the doubting vaurien demanded. + +"I must know all of this Hugh Johnstone, all about this girl," she +whispered, her lips almost touching his cheek. + +"Let me play with him to-night; I am yours as soon as he departs!" +sullenly said Hawke. + +"Then, finish in two hours," the woman said, gathering her draperies to +flee away, "for I will ride with him to-night!" + +"Just a bit unconventional," murmured Alan Hawke. "Who the devil can +this French-English woman be anyway." He realized that some subtle game +depended upon the memories of the past strangely evoked by the artless +Anstruther's babble. As he strolled back to the smoking-room, he saw +the maitre d'hotel slyly deliver a twisted bit of paper to the all too +unconcerned looking young Adonis, and the gleam of a napoleon shone out +in the grave faced Figaro's hand. "Now for our cafe noir, a good pousse +cafe--and--a dash at the painted beauties. I can't play very long," +was Anstruther's salutation, as he complacently twisted his mustache en +hussar. Major Hawke bowed in a silent delight. + +And so it fell out that both wolf and panther--hungry vulpine prowler +and sleek feminine soft-footed enemy--gathered closely, around the +young British Lion, whose easy self-complacency led him into the snare, +hoodwinked by the fair unknown Delilah. + +Alan Hawke strode to the windows of Anstruther's rooms and standing +there, watched the drifting moonbeams mantling on the spectral blue +lake, while his chance-met friend rang for a waiter. There was the +murmur of confidential orders, and then Anson Anstruther with a bright +smile dropped easily into the role of host. The young staff officer was +so elated by the apparently flattering selection of the fair anonyma +that he never considered the idea of possible foul play. It was evident +that Major Hawke had not noticed the little by-play which was the +delightful undercurrent of the table d'hote dinner. There was no time +lost in the preliminaries of the card duel. + +Through curling blue wreaths of aromatic incense, over the brandy-dashed +coffee, the two men sententiously struggled for the smiles of Fortune, +with impassive faces, in a rapid duel of wits as the fleeting moments +sped along. + +The tide of luck was set dead against Anstruther, who strangely seemed +to be now possessed of a merry devil. He made perilous excursions into +the land of brandy and soda, gayly faced his bad fortune, and feverishly +chattered over the well-worn Anglo-Indian gossip adroitly introduced by +the now nerve-steadied Hawke. General Renwick's loss of his faded and +feeble spouse, the far-famed "Poor Thing" of much polite apology for her +socially aristocratic ailments; Vane Tempest's singular elopement with +the beautiful wife of a green subaltern; Harry Chillingly's untoward +end while potting tigers; Count Platen's enormous winnings at Baccarat; +Fitzgerald Law's falling into a peerage; and Mrs. Claire Atterbury, the +wealthy widow's purchase of a handsome boy-husband fresh from Sandhurst. +All this with Jack Blunt's long expected ruin, and a spicy court-martial +or two, furnished a running accompaniment to Anstruther's expensive +"personally conducted tour" into the intricacies of ecarte, led on by +the coolest safety player who ever fleeced a griffin. Truly these were +golden moments. The Major's cool steady eyes were sternly fixed on his +cards. + +The self-imposed sentence of suicide of the afternoon was indefinitely +postponed when Alan Hawke amiably nodded as Anstruther at last +apologized for glancing at his watch. "I've a bit to do to get ready for +to-morrow, and we'll try one more hand and then I'll say good-night." + +"Well, I'll give you your revenge at any time, Anstruther! By the way, +what's your London address?" Hawke was complacently good humored as +he glanced at a visiting card whereon sundry comfortable figures were +roughly totted up. + +"Junior United Service, always," carelessly said Anstruther. "They keep +run of me, for I'm off for the woods as soon as the shooting season +opens. Where will you be this winter?" + +Major Hawke assumed a mysterious air, "That depends upon the Russian and +Chinese game--the Persian and Afghan intrigues! You see, I am awaiting +some ripening affairs in the F. O. I was called back on account of my +familiarity with the Pamirs, and there's a good bit of Blue Book work +that my knowledge of Penj Deh, and the whole Himalayan line has helped +out." The captain was a bit agnostic now. + +"You were---" began Anson Anstruther, timidly, the old vague gossip +returning to haunt him. His ardor was cooling in view of the very neat +sum of his losses in three figures. + +"On Major Montgomerie's escort as a raw boy when I came out," promptly +interrupted Hawke. "I went all over Thibet in '75 with Nana Singh as +a youngster. He was a wonderful chap and besides executing the secret +survey of Thibet, he ran all over Cashmere, Nepaul, Sikkim, and Bhootan, +secretly charged with securing authentic details of the death of Nana +Sahib." The cool assurance of the adventurer disarmed the now serious +Anstruther, for both the sagacious English officer and his disguised +assistant, Nana Singh, were both dead these many years. "Morley's is my +regular address; I keep up no home club memberships now," coolly said +Hawke, as at last they threw the cards down. + +Anstruther picked up his marker card as he glanced at Hawke's ready +money upon the table. There was a ten-pound note folded under the +Major's neat pocket case and a plethoric fold of Bank of England +notes bulged the neat Russia leather. He never knew that only thirteen +one-pound notes made up this brave financial show of his adversary. Alan +Hawke was a past master of keeping up a brave exterior and he blessed +the Cook's Tourists who had that day left these small bills with the +hotel cashier. + +"Now, here you are," hastily said Anstruther. "Do you make the same +total as I do?" The spoiled patrician boy carelessly shoved out sixty +pounds in notes and rummaging over his portmanteau produced a check +book. "There, I think that's right. Check on Grindlay, 11 and 12 +Parliament Street, for four hundred and twenty-eight." Hawke bowed +gravely with the air of a satisfied duelist, and then carelessly swept +the check and notes into his breast pocket. + +"Tell me, what sort of a girl is this Nadine Johnstone," the wanderer +said, by way of a diversion. + +"I can't tell you! Only old General Willoughby has pierced the veil. +Of course, Johnstone could not refuse a visit from the Commander of +Her Majesty's forces. In fact, Harry Hardwicke, of the Engineers, +accompanied Willoughby. The old chief treats Hardwicke as a son since +he bore the body of the dear old fellow's son out of fire in the Khyber +Pass, and won a promotion and the V. C. Harry says the girl is a modern +Noor-Mahal! But, she is as speechless and timid as a startled fawn! Now, +Major, you will excuse me. I have to leave you!" There was a fretful +haste in the passionate boy's manner. The hour was already near +midnight. + +"Shall I not see you to-morrow?" politely resumed Hawke. "You will +not spend your whole morning with the stern damsel in spectacles and +steel-like armor of indurated poplin?" + +"Do you know I'm afraid I shall miss you," earnestly said the aide. +"Hugh Johnstone wishes me to urge Mademoiselle Euphrosyne to allow her +sister to remain in India, in charge of the Rose of Delhi until the old +eccentric returns. Of course, the girl left alone would be an easy prey +to every fortune hunter in India, should anything happen!" There was a +ferocious, wild gleam in Alan Hawke's eyes as the aide grasped his hat +and stick. "I wish to probe the family records and find out what I can +of the 'distaff side of the line,' as Mr. Guy Livingstone would say. I +have some really valuable presents, and I am on honor to the Viceroy in +this, for, of course, a baronetcy must not be given into sullied +hands. Johnstone will probably hermetically seal the girl up till the +Kaisar-I-Hind has spoken officially. Then, if this delicate matter of +the hidden booty of the King of Oude is settled, the old fellow intends +to return to the home place he has bought. I'm told it's the finest old +feudal remnant in the Channel Islands, and magnificently modernized. The +government does not want to press him. You see they can't! The things +went out of the hands of the hostile traitor princes, and Hugh Fraser, +as he was, cajoled them from the custody of the go-betweens. We have +never gone back on the plighted word of a previous Governor-General! The +Queen's word must not be broken. I have a bit of persuading to do, and +some other little matters to settle!" + +"Well, then, Anstruther, we may meet again on the line of the Indus," +said Hawke, with his lofty air. "I have always preferred the secret +service to mere routine campaigning, for, really, the waiting spoils +the fighting! Poor Louis Cavagnari! He confirmed my taste for silent and +outside work! I was sent out from Cabul by him as private messenger just +before that cruel massacre, a faux pas, which I vainly predicted. He +taught me to play ecarte, by the way!" + +"Then he was a good teacher, and you--a devilish apt scholar!" laughed +Anstruther, as he politely held the door open for the man who had coldly +fleeced him. + +Alan Hawke's pulses were now bounding with the thrill of his +unlooked-for harvest! He experienced a certain pride in his marvelous +skill, and, restraining himself, he soberly paced along the corridor. +The excited aid-de-camp stood for a moment with his foot on the stair, +and then slowly descended. "He suspects nothing!" the amatory youth +murmured, as he passed out upon the broad Quai du Leman. + +He walked swiftly along, gayly whistling "Donna e Mobile," with certain +private variations of his own, until he reached the splendid monument +erected to the miserly old Duke of Brunswick, who showered his +scraped-up millions upon an alien city, to spite his own fat-witted +Brunswickers, and so escaped the blood-fleshed talons of the +hungry-Prussian eagle. + +Duke Charles I hovered amiably in the air, over a comfortable carriage +wherein the "other little matters" were most temptingly materialized +in the person of a lovely woman waiting there with burning eyes, her +splendid face veiled in a black Spanish lace scarf. It was the old +fate--"Unlucky at cards, lucky in love!" The staff officer's abrupt +command to "drive everywhere, anywhere," until "further orders," was +implicitly obeyed by the stolid cabby, who set off at once for a +long round of the mild "lions" of fair Geneva, nestling there by the +shimmering lake. + +The click of the horses' feet upon the deserted roadway kept time to the +murmurs of a most coy Delilah, who molded as wax in her slender hands +the ardent military Samson, who was all unmindful of his flowing locks! +And the silent moon shimmered down upon the waste of waters! + +Alan Hawke was seated for an hour alone in his room, enjoying the cigars +offered up by the "Universal Provider," who had yielded up so liberally. +The strong brandy and soda had at last restored his shaken nerves, for +he had played with his life staked upon the outcome! He then grimly +counted up his winnings. "Four-hundred and eighty-eight good pounds! +That will take me back to Delhi in very good shape," he soliloquized. +"I wonder if there is anyway to get at that girl? If I mistake not, she +will have a half a million! The old Commissioner always liked me, too. +By God! If I could only get in between him and this baronetcy I might +creep in on the girl's friendship! But the old curmudgeon keeps her +locked up! Rather risky in India!" He leaned back, enjoying memories of +the women with pulses of flame and hearts of glowing coal whom he had +met in the days when he was "dead square." This strange woman! Who is +she? What does she know? + +He dozed off until the clattering return of the Misses Phemie and Genie +Forbes, of Chicago, aroused him. His broad grin accentuated the easily +overheard strident remark: "Say, Genie, I wish we had had those two +English Lords at our opera supper. They are just jim-dandies, that's +what!" + +"As long as the world is full of such fools, I can afford to live," he +pleasantly remarked, as he turned in. A new campaign was opening to +him. Far away, up the shores of the moon-transfigured lake, a hot-headed +young fool was showering kisses on the hand of a woman, who sweetly +said: "Remember my conditions! Prove yourself my friend, and I will meet +you in Paris! Now, take me home." Samson was shorn of his locks, and the +delighted Alan Hawke found a little note slipped under his door in the +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER II. AN OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE. + + +When the now buoyant Major Alan Hawke was awakened by the golden lances +of morning which shivered gayly upon the Pennine Alps he proceeded to a +most leisurely toilet, having first satisfied himself that his winnings +of the night before were not the baseless fabric of a dream. He smiled +as he fingered the crisp, clean notes, and gazed lovingly upon the +dingy-looking but potent check drawn on the old army bankers. + +"No nonsense about that signature," he cheerfully said. "Anstruther is +no welsher," and, as he rang for his hot water and a morning refresher, +he picked up the little note with an eager curiosity. + +"By Gad! she is a cool one! This is no vulgar darned occasion! I need +all my wits to-day!" He was studying over the brief words when the ready +waiter took his order for a cosy breakfast. He had deliberately moved +out all his lines to an easy comfort, throwing out a line of pickets +against any appearance of social shabbiness. "She said that she had +money," he murmured, as he read the note again. "What the devil does she +want, then, if she has all the money she needs! Perhaps some discarded +mistress! Bah! The old man's heart is as hollow as a sentrybox, and, +besides, he has not been in Europe for nearly twenty years. Ah, I see! +Perhaps a bit of blackmail--some early indiscretion! She did speak about +the girl! Then I must be the silent partner of her future harvest! She +probably needs a man's arm to reach the wary old Baronet in future. My +lady writes in no uncertain tone." + +He carefully folded the note and bestowed it safely with the spoil of +the young patrician. "Of course I must show up," he said as he betook +himself to his tub whence he emerged shapely as an Adonis with the +corded torso of an athlete. The appetizing breakfast put the Major in +excellent humor, and he drew forth his "sailing orders" as he lit his +first cheroot. Seated in a window recess, he watched the hotel frontage, +while he read the imperative lines again. They were explicit enough and +had been dictated en reine. "Meet me at the Musee Rath, in the vestibule +at two o'clock. He leaves here at one-thirty. Keep away from the hotel +and avoid us both. Go up to Ferney and come back on the one o'clock +boat." + +There was a neat carte de visite in the inclosure. + +"Now, I will wager that is not her name," he smiled as he read the +Italian script. + +"I can certainly now afford to throw a day or so away on her. At any +rate, I will let her make the game. I must wait a day or so to send on +the Grindlay check," the wanderer mused, smiling genially upon the head +porter. Major Alan Hawke casually inquired, upon his leisurely descent, +"My friend?" + +"Ah, sir! Paid his bill and left. Luggage already sent to the station +labeled 'Paris.'" Alan Hawke most liberally tipped the functionary. "I +think I will take a run of a few days up to Lausanne or Chillon myself; +the weather is delightful." He strolled over to the local Cook's Agency +and sent his treasure-trove check on to London for collection. + +"I think that I will fight shy of this sleepy burgh," he ruminated, as +the little paddle-wheel steamer sped along toward Ferney, leaving behind +a huge triangular wake carved in the pellucid waters. "It might be +devilish awkward if Anstruther should find me here, hovering around his +fair enslaver. I may need this golden youth again, in the days to come! +He will be out of India for a couple of years, but I will not trust Fate +blindly. What the old Harry can she be up to?" He suddenly burst into a +merry peal of laughter, to the astonishment of the crowd of passengers. + +"Fool that I am! I see it all now! Anstruther cleared out early! The +proprieties of the home of Calvin must be respected! After he has +adroitly pumped the intellectual fountain of the past dry, then a quiet +little breakfast tete et tete will give Madame Louison the time to fool +him to the top of his bent! The sly minx! Evidently she is cast for the +'ingenue' part in this little social drama! And her trump card is to +hide from me what she extracts from our Lovelace by the coy use of those +deuced fetching brown eyes and--other charms too numerous to mention! +But you shall tell me all yet, Miss Sly Boots!" And the Major dreamed +pleasant day dreams. + +Life now seemed so different to the hopeful vaurien, with the physical +and moral backing of the four hundred and odd pounds! "I was a fool--a +damned fool, yesterday," he cheerfully ruminated. "If I only handle +this woman rightly, then I may get the hold I want on this old recluse +Johnstone, congested with the fat pickings of forty-five years. A +close-mouthed old rat is he, and yet it seems that he is vulnerable +after all. If he is playing fast and loose with the government he +will never get his honors before he gives up the sleeping trust of the +forgotten years." + +Major Hawke vainly tried to follow the exuberant Anstruther in his +incursion into the placid temple of Minerva, where that watchful +spinster, Miss Euphrosyne Delande, eyed somewhat icily the handsome. +young "Greek bearing gifts." Professional prudence and the memory of +certain judiciously smothered escapades caused Miss Euphrosyne at first +to retire within her moral breast works and draw up the sally-port +bridge. For even in chilly Geneva, young hearts throb in nature's +flooding lava passions, jealously bodiced in school-girl buckram and +glacial swiss muslin. So it was very cool for a time in the august +cavern of conference where Anson Anstruther, a bright Ithuriel, +struggled with the cautious and covetous Swiss preceptress, and the +swift steamer Chilian was far up the lake before Captain the victorious +Honorable Anson Anstruther, sped away to the morning meeting with the +woman who had seemed to lean down from the moon-lit skies upon her young +Endymion in that starry night by the throbbing lake. + +Major Alan Hawke, proceeding on his voyage, found a certain bitterness +in the distant mental contemplation of Captain Anstruther's employment +of his leisure till train time, not knowing that the young soldier's +sense of duty led him first to dispatch several careful official +dispatches, one to London, and the two others to Calcutta and Delhi, +respectively. When Captain Anstruther finally deposited his mail with +the head porter of the Grand Hotel National he deftly questioned that +functionary. "My friend--Major Hawke?" + +"Gone up the lake for two or three days, sir. Going to Lausanne and +Chillon. Keeps all his luggage here, though. Shall I give him any +message for you?" With a view to artfully veiling his coming meeting +with the beautiful Egeria a la Houbigant, the captain deposited a card +marked "P. P. C." + +"A devilish pleasant fellow and a right stunning hand at ecarte." +Anstruther prudently walked for a couple of squares, and then hailed +a passing voiture, directing him to the very cosiest restaurant in the +snug city of Bonnivard. + +Major Hawke, far away now, entertained a slight resentment toward the +man who had so coolly aspired to les bonnes fortunes, and ignored his +own possible interference with the Lady of the Lake. It was with a grim +satisfaction, however, that he saw on the boat the Misses Phenie and +Genie Forbes, of Chicago, the bright particular stars of the traveling +upper tendom. "Popper" and "Mommer" were deep in certain red-bound +Baedeker's and busied in delving for "historic facts," while the artful +Alan Hawke glided into a fast and familiar flirtation with the two +bright-eyed, sharp-voiced damsels. Both the heiresses were dressed as if +for a reception, with judiciously selected jewelry samples, evidencing +the wondrous success of machine conducted pig demolition. They glittered +in the sun as Fortune's bediamonded favorites. + +And, so, while Madame Berthe Louison and Captain Anstruther lingered au +cabinet particulier, over their Chablis and Ostend oysters, the recouped +gambler extended his store of mental acquirement, by tender converse +with the two sprightly belles of the Windy City. In fact, the whistle +of the steamer was heard long before Alan Hawke could extricate himself +from the clinging tentacles of the audacious beauties. He was somewhat +repaid for his social exertions, however, as he sped back to keep his +tryst at Geneva, by the acquisition of a large steel-engraved business +card inscribed, "Forbes, Haygood & Co., Chicago," loftily tendered him +by "Popper." He smiled at the whispered assurances of the Misses Phenie +and Genie that they "should soon meet again." + +"Bring your friend--that other Lord," cried the departing Miss Genie, +waving a thousand-franc lace fan, as she sagely observed, "Two's +company--three's none. We'll have a jolly lark--us four. Don't forget, +now!" The polite Major laid his hand upon his heart and played the +amiable tiger, although burning inwardly now, in a fierce personal +jealousy of Anstruther as he wandered alone around the cold gray halls +of the museum, and gazed upon the pinched features of the permanently +eclipsed shining lights of the "Bulwark of Civil and Religious Liberty." +There was no charm for him in the bigoted ferocity of Calvin's lean, +dark face, smacking his thin lips over the roasted Servetus. He abhorred +the departed heroes of the golden evolution from Eidegenossen into +Higuerios and later Huguenots. They interested him not, neither did he +love Professor Calame's scratchy pictures, nor the jumbled bric-a-brac +of art and history. None of these charmed him. He waited only for the +gliding step, the clasp of a burning hand, and the flash of the lustrous +dark-brown eyes. It was his own innings now. + +He had referred to his watch for the fiftieth time, when, from a closed +carriage, the object of his mental vituperations gracefully alighted +at last. It was with the very coldest of bows that the irritated man +received the graceful, self-possessed woman, whose lovely face was but +partially hidden by her coquettishly dotted veil. + +"She dresses like a Parisienne, walks like an Andalu-sian, and has +all the seductiveness of a Polish countess!" the quick-witted rascal +thought, as they strolled into the museum, which the departed General +Rath knew not would be the scene of many a hidden love intrigue, when +he endowed it with a benevolent vanity. The two wary strangers strolled +along until they found a retired corner. Madame Louison seated herself, +waving her lace parasol with the impatient gesture of one accustomed to +command. + +Alan Hawke was in no gentle humor, and his cheeks reddened as he +felt the calm scrutiny of the woman's searching glances. He was now +determined to take the whip hand, and to keep it. His accents were +staccato as he said, "Tell me now who you are, and what you wish of +me!" A clock, hung high over them on the dreary, drab walls, ticked away +brusquely, as the angered woman gazed steadily into his face. + +"And so your little windfall of last night has already made you +impudent? If you cannot find another tone at once, I will find another +agent! The man whom you plucked has told me the story of your wonderful +skill at cards!" The sneer cut the renegade like a whip lash, and Alan +Hawke sprang up in anger. Madame Berthe Louison coolly settled herself +down into the red cushions. + +"The way to India is before you, but five hundred pounds is not a +fortune for Major Alan Hawke! Listen! I watched you carefully yesterday, +in your vigil upon Rousseau's Island. Your telltale face betrayed +you. You were left stranded here in Geneva. An accident has brought us +together. You cannot divine my motives. I can fathom yours easily. Tell +me now, of yourself, of your past in India--of your present standing +there. If you are frank, I may contribute to your fortune; if not--our +ways part here!" + +"And, if I warn Anson Anstruther that you are a mere adventuress, if I +notify my old friend Hugh Fraser (soon to be Sir Hugh Johnstone), then +your little game will be spoiled, Madame Louison!" defiantly said Hawke. +The woman leaned back and laughed merrily in his face. + +"You are like all professional lady killers, a mere fool in the hands +of the first woman of wit. I dare you to cross my path! I will then join +Captain the Honorable Anson Anstruther, in Paris, at the Hotel Binda! +I will also see that you are excluded from every club in India! Your +occupation will be gone, my Knight of Ecarte. Anstruther waits for +me." She tossed him a card. "See for yourself. He was kind enough at +breakfast, and, he will help me, if I ask him." + +"And why do you not fly to his arms?" sneered Alan Hawke, who had +quickly resigned the bullying tone of his abordage. + +"Because he is a nice boy and a gentleman," the woman said, with a +cutting emphasis. "Now, let me read you, Monsieur le Major, a lesson +in manners. Never be rough with a woman! That is the road which always +leads on to failure. I wish you a good appetite for your breakfast, +which I have delayed, and for which I beg your pardon!" She rose and +swept along with her Juno strides, and had reached the second Hall of +Antiquities before Alan Hawke overtook her. It had flashed across his +mind that he had for once in his life met a woman who was not afraid of +the future, whatever had been her past. A single malicious letter from +Anstruther would ruin him in India, for there was an ominous cloud, no +bigger than a man's hand, lingering in that hiatus between his old +rank of Lieutenant of Bengal Artillery, and the shadowy tenure of his +self-dubbed Majority. This Aspasia hid none of her methods. She had +boldly captivated the passing Pericles, and, evidently, she was the +desired one. + +"Let me explain," he began, as the woman looked calmly into his face. + +"We are only losing time, Major," Madame Louison remarked, as she sought +a corner. "I see that you have already repented. Do you know any one in +Geneva?" + +"Not one of the seventy-five thousand here," frankly answered Hawke. +"The only man I came here to see, the English Consul, is away on leave." + +"Then I can use you safely," answered the stranger. "Now, I owe you a +breakfast. Will you put me in my carriage? I know the town thoroughly. +Remember that it is only business that brings us together, and yet we +may become better friends." In a half an hour they were seated in an +arbor by the lake, where a homely German restaurant offered good cheer. + +The Lady of the Lake did the honors ceremoniously, and Major Alan +Hawke was permitted a cigar after the lake trout, filet, pears, cheese, +Chambertin, and black coffee had been discussed. He was both conquered +and repentant, and had adroitly atoned for his mauvais debut by a +respectful demeanor, which was not feigned. He answered the running fire +of questions which had led him from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, and +from Chittagong to the Khyber Pass. + +"You are sure that no one in Geneva knows your face?" Berthe Louison +asked at last. + +"I have been here only two days, and it is twenty years since I first +roved over Switzerland on schoolboy leave," was the truthful answer. + +"Then I can use you if you will decide to aid me, after you have heard +me. I know, already, all that young Anstruther knows of the whole +Johnstone matter. I do not intend to meet him at Paris," she demurely +said. "I am absolutely untrammeled in this world. I am free to act as +a woman's moods sway her. I have plenty of money, a fact which lifts me +above the degradation of man's chase, and I indulge in no illusions. +I am a soldier's daughter, and my dead father was the son of one of +Napoleon's heroes of La Grande Armee. My whole life has been most +unconventional; and I am free to dispose of myself, body and soul, and +will, but for one thing." She was pleased with Alan Hawke's mute glance +of inquiry. "Only the business which brought me to Geneva! We are all +the slaves of circumstance! The veriest fools of fortune! I do not blame +you for your surmises! I had vainly sought, for two years, the very +information which I gained last night by chance at a Geneva table +d'hote. It was from Anstruther that I discovered the changed name under +which Hugh Fraser's daughter has been hidden from me for years. For +I owe this all to chance, to Anstruther's susceptibility, and to my +playing the risque part which you saw fit me so well." The woman's eyes +were now flashing ominously. + +"But you led me on--you deceived me!" stammered Alan Hawke. + +"I had nothing to risk!" the resolute beauty replied. "My name is not +Berthe Louison, as you may well imagine! As for the little amourette +de voyage, I will leave the laurels to your handsome young friend and +yourself. I do not play with boys, and, as for you, I should always +guard myself against you! + +"Now, I will be practical! I know Europe; I do not know India! I need +a man brave, cool, and unscrupulous; I need a resolute man to aid me in +the one purpose of my life! I wish to go out to India to face this +Hugh Fraser, to lift up the curtain of the dead past, and I need a +protector--a paid champion--a man who values the only thing which is +concrete power in life; a man who knows the power of money! For, gold is +irresistible!" Her bright face hardened. + +"My duties are, then, not to be of a tender nature," lightly hazarded +Hawke. + +"I can soon judge of your value by your adroitness, and you can make +your own record!" smiled the strange woman waif. "Let me see how +you would do this! I do not care to personally approach Mademoiselle +Euphrosyne Delande, I would have a picture of the woman whom I seek--the +lonely child whom I have hungered for long years to see! I do not care +to expose myself here--" + +"The Preceptress might telegraph out to India and the girl be spirited +away!" broke in Alan Hawke. + +"Very good! Precisely so!" said Berthe Louison, gravely. "I will tell +you now that I have played perfectly fair with Anstruther! I have +enabled him to assure himself of Nadine Johnstone's regular standing +as the legal and only heiress of the would-be Baronet! I do not fear +Anstruther! He is a gallant boy, worthy to wear a sword, and, he does +not work for hire! He tells me that Euphrosyne Delande showed him the +last pictures of the girl which were sent on before Hugh Fraser suddenly +telegraphed to have his child 'personally conducted' on carte blanche +terms out to join him." + +Major Hawke buried his head in his hands and slowly said: "I can do it +easily! We must not be seen together here! Go up to the Hotel Faucon, at +Lausanne, and wait for me there for three days. I have to remain here at +any rate to collect Anstruther's check in London. I have in my favor all +the facts of Anstruther's story. I happen also to have Anstruther's +P. P. C. card. I will bring you the picture you want, or a half dozen +copies. Will you trust to me? I make no professions!" + +"That is right!" sternly said Berthe Louison. "Let our casual +association be one of a mere money interest. We can find each other +out easily. You have no motive to injure me, your own interest now and +always lies the other way. I only wish to have some one at hand when I +am ready to face the embryo Sir Hugh Johnstone!" + +"You are bold!" slowly said Alan Hawke. "If I should denounce you to +Johnstone, himself! If he should be warned--" + +"I hold him and his long cherished dream, the Baronetcy, in my hand," +the brown-eyed beauty frankly cried. "I should not burn my ships in +Europe! Even if I were to be betrayed, the purpose of my life will be +carried out. I should leave here behind me the safest of anchors in +other well-paid agents. Your rash meddling would only ruin your own +money interests and not hurt my plans." + +"Then we are to make an offensive and defensive alliance without trust +or faith in each other?" agnostically remarked Hawke. + +"Just so!" answered Madame Louison. "I can make it to your interest +to serve me well, better than the man whom I wish to face. You know +India--you happen to know Delhi. Your possible adversary is an old +civilian, rich, retired, and unable to rake up trouble for you in +military circles. I will do my work alone, but I shall want your aid, +and I will pay you liberally. I will go up to Lausanne. You will find me +at the Hotel Faucon. Bring up some route maps of India. We will go out +as soon as possible. Do you wish any present money?" + +Alan Hawke reddened as he shook his head. + +"Then, Major Hawke, if you will take the first passing carriage, we will +meet as soon as you have succeeded. Send me a telegram of your coming." +The adventurer's low bow of silent assent terminated the strange +breakfast scene, and at the gate of the vine-clad garden he turned and +saw her seated there alone, with her head bowed in a reverie. + +"Damme if she is made of flesh and blood!" mused the Major, as he drove +back to the Hotel National. That very evening he revenged himself upon +the callous-hearted stranger, by a reckless flirtation with the Misses +Phenie and Genie Forbes, still of Chicago. It was not a matter of +concern to any one but Paterfamilias Forbes that the Major indulged in +a stolen moonlight excursion upon the lake in charge of two extremely +prononcee Daisy Millers. The Major's slumbers, however, were of the +lightest, for the face of the chance-met directress of his immediate +future haunted his uneasy dreams. He was a model of respectable gravity, +however, when he presented himself before Mademoiselle Euphrosyne +Delande, at her Institute, when the bells clanged ten in the morning. +Major Hawke at once impressed the sleek door-opener, Francois, by the +ultra refinement of his demeanor, and the suave elegance of his French. +"Evidently the one necessary Adam in this Garden of undeveloped young +Peris," thought Hawke, as he gazed around the cheerless room, with its +globes, busts of departed sages, topographical maps, and framed samples +of the "Execution" of the jeunes personnes, with brush and pencil. + +"Looks breachy, that fellow--they all have to sneak out to drink, and +for les fetifs plaisirs! He may be made useful. I'll have a shy at him," +mused the Major, now on his mettle. Francois stood there expectant of a +tip, when he announced the regrets of Mademoiselle Delande, that class +duties would detain her for a few moments. + +"Would Monsieur kindly pardon, etc.?" + +"Am I right in inferring that the ladies, are the daughters of the +famous Professor Delande?" the Major hazarded, with a wild guess. Before +the votary of Minerva finally descended, Francois had artfully "yielded +up" much valuable information to the gravely interested visitor. The +attendant was the richer by a five-franc piece when he retired to +vigorously fall upon the Major's hat and brush it in an anticipatory +manner. + +It was but a half an hour later when Alan Hawke had concluded his deftly +worded compliments upon the justly famed Institute, and had subjugated +the still susceptible spinster by his adroitly veiled flatteries. The +easy aplomb with which he introduced the forgotten commission of Captain +Anstruther was aided by the presentation of that gentleman's visiting +card, and the charms of an interesting word sketch of Delhi and its +surroundings. + +The sound of distant girlish voices punctuated the refined murmur of the +ensuing conference, which was an exposition of Mademoiselle Delande's +grand manner! Hawke adroitly soothed the natural uneasiness of the +cunning Swiss spinster as to her sister's comfort, safety, and the +surety of Hugh Johnstone's fabulously liberal money inducement to retain +Miss Justine in his service for a year. The flattered woman fell +easily into Alan Hawke's net, and she freely dilated upon the singular +eccentricities of the Indian magnate as to his daughter's education. + +There was a breaking light now illumining the strange childhood of a +girl, nurtured by proxy, and kept in ignorance of her brilliant future +and vast monetary inheritance. + +"In fact, I have never seen the honored Mr. Hugh Fraser," concluded Miss +Euphrosyne. "Nadine was brought to us a child of three by the wife of +Professor Fraser, since deceased! And, by special arrangement, she was +taken by us, and her whole girlhood has been passed in our charge. We +have never seen her uncle, Professor Fraser, whose duties at Edinburgh +University chained him down. It was her own father's written and +positive direction that no one, whomsoever, should be admitted to +converse with his child. And so Justine and myself have formed her +entirely!" + +Hawke's keen eyes glowed for a moment, in a secret satisfaction. "I have +you, my lady! They wished to keep you away from this young Peri, +formed upon such heroically antique models." Major Hawke gazed upon +the leather-faced visage of the slaty-eyed woman, whose age none might +venture to guess. An artless admiration of the absent Miss Justine's +photographed charms, caused a faint glow to flicker upon the ancient +maiden's cheek. When Alan Hawke drew forth a hideous carbuncle and +Indian filigree bracelet (an old relic of bazaar haunting), the thin +lips of the preceptress parted in a wintry smile. + +With modest urging, he soon overcame the Roman firmness of Mademoiselle +Euphrosyne, and, wonder of wonders, was honored by an invitation to dine +with the austere Genevan maiden. The happy Major was soon triumphant +at all points, and Francois was hastily dispatched to the Photographic +Atelier to order a half dozen copies of the card portrait which +displayed to Alan Hawke the rosebud face of the Veiled Beauty of Delhi. +The adventurer made haste to excuse himself for interrupting the flow of +the Parnassian stream, and walked backward from the presence of the poor +old woman whom he had duped, as if she were a queen. + +It was an easy matter for the Englishman to waylay and intercept the +returning man-at-arms of this castle of cosmopolitan beauty. Francois +had duly availed himself of his lengthened absence, and his thick tongue +and swimming eye spoke of potations of the Kirsch-wasser dear to the +Swiss heart. Major Hawke impressed the servitor with the necessity of +bringing the pictures down to his rooms upon the morrow, and then the +Major judiciously duplicated his five-franc piece. The happy butler +winked with an acute divination of the Major's purpose and went +unsteadily back to the whirlpool of learning. The Major cheerfully went +on his own way to meet Miss Genie Forbes, with whom he had established +a private understanding as to a runaway visit to the Cathedral, to +be followed by an impromptu breakfast. "I can stand the old Gorgon's +dinner," mused the happy adventurer, "after a tete-a-tete with Miss +Genie, and as for Francois, I will also waste a bottle of good Cognac +on him. I think that I will start into this strange partnership with a +better stock of family history than even this remarkably self-possessed +young woman, who seems to be the heiress of some old family vendetta." + +The Major laughed as he heard the mills of the gods grinding out a +golden grist of the future. But lifted up beyond the impulses of his +itching palm the sight of the delicate, girlish face of the Rosebud +of Delhi had caused him to dream the strangest dreams. "Why not?" he +murmured as he wandered back to the hotel and privately indulged in a +petit verre before his rendezvous with Miss Genie, the belle of the +West Side. Major Alan Hawke was in "great form" as he piloted the +bright-eyed, willful Chicago girl through the dim religious light of the +Cathedral. His mocking history of the gay life and racy adventures of +Bonnivard, when posing as the rollicking Prior of St. Victor in the wild +days of his youth, greatly amused the nervous American heiress. + +"I should say that he was a holy terror," laughed Miss Genie, "and I +don't blame the Bishop of Geneva and the Duke of Savoy for making him +do his six years in that dark old hole at Chillon! He was a gay boy, you +bet, and with his three wives and his lively ways, I reckon the Genevans +were blamed sorry they ever let him out. He seems to have been a free +thinker, a free liver, and a free lover!" + +"And yet," mused Alan Hawke, "his writings to-day are the pride of +Genevan scholars; his library was the nucleus of the Geneva University; +his defiant spirit broke the chains of Calvin's narrowness, and his +resistant, spiritual example caught up has made Geneva the home of the +oppressed, the central, radiant point of mental light and liberty +for the world! Geneva since 1536 has harbored the brightest wandering +Spanish, French, English, and Irish youth! Even grim Russia cannot +reclaim from the free city its wayward exiles. France, in her +distress, has found an asylum here for its helpless nobles and expelled +philosophers. I willingly take my hat off to brave little Switzerland, +where Royal Duke, proscribed patriot, mad enthusiast, bold agnostic, +and tired worldling can all find an inviolate asylum under the majestic +shadows of its mountains--by the shores of its dreaming lakes!" Alan +Hawke dropped suddenly from the clouds as the practical Miss Genie led +the way to the breakfast rendezvous, cheerfully demonstrating her own +bold ideas of social freedom by remarking: + +"Say! what's the matter with a little day's run up to Chillon? Phenie +is game for anything! You just get that other English Lord and we will +dodge Popper and Mommer." + +"I am sorry to say that my friend has left suddenly, bound for London," +laughed the Major, gazing admiringly at this pretty feminine Bonnivard. + +"That's awful bad luck!" gloomily remarked Miss Genie. "He was a regular +dandy, and I liked him--but," she said, with a thirsty peck at a glass +of champagne, as they waited for the breakfast, "Phenie will then have +to give that long-legged Italian fellow the tip. The Marquis of Santa +Marina! He's not much, but better than nothing at all. We'll have a +jolly day!" + +Major Hawke was mystified at the daring personal independence of the +sprightly young heiress. She was a social revelation to him, and the +sunny afternoon was not altogether thrown away, for they carelessly +rambled over the proud old town together, doing all the sights. They +visited the stately National Monument, the Jardin Anglais, the Hotel +de Ville, the Arsenal, the Muse'e Foy, the Botanic Gardens, and the +Athende. He gazed upon the fresh face of the rebellious young American +social mutineer with an increasing wonder as they wandered alone on the +Promenade des Bastions, and was simply astounded when he vainly tried +to take advantage of a shady corner in the Musee Ariana to steal a kiss +from the wayward girl's rosy lips. Miss Genie "formed herself into a +hollow square" and calmly, but energetically, repulsed him. + +"See here! Major Hawke!" she coolly said, "get off the perch! I don't +care for any soft sawder! I'm a pretty good fellow in my way, but I know +how to take care of myself!" + +In fact, Major Alan Hawke at last recognized the existence of a species +of womanhood which he had never before met. Miss Genie was frankly +unconventional, and yet she was both hard-headed and hardhearted. When +he carefully dressed himself for the intellectual feast of Mademoiselle +Delande's "refined collation," he dimly became aware that the role +of unpaid bear leader to the Chicago girl simply amounted to being an +unsalaried valet de place! "As for compromising that devil of a girl," +he growled, "she could have given the snake in the Garden of Eden long +odds and beaten him hollow, in subtlety." This view of the impeccability +of the Chicago epidermis was confirmed later when Hawke returned +from the "Institute" at the decorous hour of ten that evening. He was +thoroughly happy, for the sly Francois was ready to meet him at the +door, whispering: + +"I will be at your rooms at ten, and bring you the photographs. I have a +couple of hours of freedom then." + +Mademoiselle Euphrosyne's pale, anemic nature had bloomed out under the +graceful attentions of the gallant officer, and gradually she expanded, +little by little unfolding the desiccated leaves of her tranquil past, +and, yielding, as of old, to the charm of youth and good looks, the +faded spinster told him all. + +"I will sell my precious knowledge, bit by bit, to Madame Berthe," he +ruminated. "Evidently the Louison dares not face this stony-faced +Swiss Medusa. The felices histoires of Francois will fill up my mental +notebook." Major Hawke then sat down at ease in the cafe of the Hotel +National to indite a dispatch of spartan brevity to "Madame Louison" at +the Hotel Faucon, Lausanne. "The Cook's Agency tell me that the London +draft will be paid to-morrow. Francois will deliver me the photographs, +and relate his selected historical excerpts, and then I will be ready +to have a duel of wits with Madame Berthe." So he simply telegraphed to +Lausanne: + +"Successful--arrive to-morrow night." He then dispatched the head porter +with the telegram, and while enjoying his parting brandy and soda, +was suddenly made aware of the near proximity of Mr. Phineas Forbes of +Chicago, who was anxiously drinking cocktail after cocktail in a +moody unrest. The lank Chicago capitalist waved his tufted chin beard +dejectedly as he answered the Briton's casual salutation. "I'm worried +about the girls," he simply said. "They're off on the lake, with the +Marquis de Santa Marina and that French chap, the Count de Roquefort. I +don't more than half like it." The hour was late, and the heavy father +glued his eyes upon the darkened window pane. "Is Madame Forbes with +them?" murmured the Englishman. + +"Oh, Lord, no!" simply said the Illinois capitalist. "The girls are used +to going out alone with their gentlemen friends, but I'm afraid that +these two damned useless foreigners will upset the boat and drown my two +girls. I wouldn't care a rap if they were alone. But these Dago noblemen +are no good--at least that's my experience. I indorsed a draft for one +of them that Mommer and the girls dragged up to the house last year. +Came back marked 'N. G.'--I wish to God the girls wouldn't pick up these +fellows." + +Alan Hawke hazarded the inquiry "Why do you permit it?" + +The Chicago pork jammer thrust his hand in his pockets and whistled +reflectively. "How the deuce can I help it?" he reflectively answered, +"Mother and the girls go in for high society. What'll you have? You can +talk French to this fellow. Now, order up the best in the house," Alan +Hawke laughed and charitably divided the hour of long waiting with +the simple-hearted old father. At half-past twelve, with a rush and +a flutter, the two young falcons sailed into the main hallway and +effusively bade adieu to their limp cavaliers, who slunk away, in +different directions, when they observed the disgruntled parent and the +heartily amused Briton. + +"So they brought you home safely?" calmly remarked Hawke, as he watched +the happy father gathering his chickens unto his wing. + +"We brought them home safe," cutely remarked Miss Phenie. "Those fellows +are heavenly dancers, but they are not worth shucks in a boat. I wish +we had had you out with us. I like Englishmen!" with which frank +declaration Miss Phenie and Miss Genie whisked themselves away to bed, +Miss Genie leaning over the banister to jovially cry out: + +"Don't you go away till we fix up that Chillon trip." Major Hawke and +Phineas Forbes, Esq., drank a last libation to the friendly god Neptune, +the old man huskily remarking: + +"Say, Major, those are two fine girls, and they will have a million +apiece. I want 'em to be sensible and marry Chicago men, but, they both +go in for coronets and all that humbug." The laughing Major extricated +himself from the social tentacles of the honest old boy, mentally +deciding to play off Miss Genie against Mad-ame Berthe Louison. + +"I will give these strange girls 'a day out.' It may reduce the nez +retroussee my mysterious employer." And so he dreamed that night that +he was an assistant presiding genius of the great pig Golgotha, where +Phineas Forbes was the monarch of the meat ax. "Right smart girls, and +you bet they can take care of themselves," was the last encomium of +their self-denying parent which rang in Alan Hawke's ears as he wandered +away into the Land of Nod. + +"They are a queer lot," laughed the happy schemer, as he woke next +day to his closing labors at Geneva. "Now, for my check cashing, then, +Monsieur Francois, a farewell visit to Miss Euphrosyne, and a secret +council with the fair Genie," He merrily breakfasted, and was more than +rewarded for his Mephistophelian entertainment of Francois. The sly +Figaro "parted freely," and when he slunk back to the "Institute" he was +the richer by fifty francs. Major Hawke was the happy possessor of +the coveted photographs, and a private address of Francois, artfully +informing that person that he was going to London, and on his return, +in a few months, desired a cicerone in the hypocritically placid town. +Francois's eyes gleamed in a happy anticipation of more Cognac and many +easily earned francs. "Now, Madame Berthe, I think I have the key of +the enigma! I see a year's assured comfort before me, for I can play the +part of the Saxon troops at Leipzig," the schemer joyously ruminated. + +His farewell to Miss Delande impressed that thrifty dame with the golden +fortunes which had descended upon her sister. "Should you return to +India, Major," she sibillated, "I will give you a confidential letter to +Justine, for I know there is no one more fitted to remain in charge of +sweet Nadine than my dear sister!" The Major blushingly accepted the +honor, and directed the letter to be sent at once to Morley's Hotel, +for, as he mysteriously whispered, + +"The Foreign office may send me back to India--in fact, I may be +telegraphed for at any moment, and your sister will surely find a fast +friend in me." + +"Easily gulled!" laughed Alan Hawke. "I will sweeten' upon Miss Justine; +those thin lips indicate the auri sacra fames. These miserly Swiss +sisters may aid me to approach the veiled Rose Bird." His delight at +fingering the crisp proceeds of Anstruther's check sent him to the Ouchy +steamer in the very happiest of moods, and, his cup was running over +when the birdlike Miss Genie Forbes descended upon him to announce a +meeting on the morrow at Montreux. + +"We can do the castle, and essay the airy railroad at Territet Glion, +have a jolly dinner on the hill, and come home on the last boat! You be +sure to meet Phenie and me." The astounded Major murmured his delight +and surprise. "Oh! Popper will let us go up there. He likes you--he says +that you are a thoroughbred. So, we'll cut the other fellows and come +alone. Say, can't you scare up another fellow like yourself for Phenie?" +Whereat Alan Hawke laughed, and promised to secure an eligible "fellow" +among the migratory Englishmen hovering around Lausanne-Ouchy, and +he pledged a future friendship with the patient Phineas Forbes, who +lingered in the cafe, engulfing cocktails, while "Mother and Phenie were +out shopping." The vivacious Genie had confided to her callous swain +that she had watched him as he lingered on Rousseau's Island. + +"I rather thought that you were sick and distressed, you looked so +peaked like, and I was mighty near speaking to you. I was just bound to +meet you." And upon this frank declaration, Alan Hawke kissed her firm +white hand, agreeing to her plans, and the glow of prosperity shone out +upon his impassive face, as he glided away to meet the strange woman +whom he distrusted. "I hold the trump cards now, my lady!" he cried, as +he watched Miss Genie's handkerchief fluttering on the quay. Major Alan +Hawke wasted no time in his three hours' voyage to Lausanne-Ouchy in +carefully preparing for his interview with Madame Berthe Louison. He +abandoned the idea of trying the "whip hand," remembering how +suddenly he had descended from the "high horse." "Bah! She is about as +sentimental as a rat-tail file. However, she is good for my passage +to India, at any rate, and, the nearer I am to old Johnstone and this +pretty heiress to be, the better my all-round chances are." So, he +contented himself with watching the pictured shores of Lake Leman glide +by, and wondering if he might not turn aside safely to the chase of +the bright-eyed, sharp-featured, Miss Genie Forbes. He had profited by +Phineas Forbes's frank disclosures, and yet the Madame Sans Gene manners +of the heiresses rather frightened him. He was aware from the amatory +failure in the dim old cathedral that Miss Genie was armed cap-a-pie. +"Those American girls, apparently so approachable, are all ready to +stand to arms at a moment's notice." And so, he drifted back in his day +dreams toward the Land of the Pagoda Tree, with Ouchy and Chillon. He +studied the beautiful face of the lonely child from the school-girl +photograph, and decided, in spite of hideous frocks and a lack of +conventional war paint, that she was a rare beauty. + +"Yes! She will do--with the money. All she needs is the art to show +off her points, and that is easily gained. The recruits in Vanity +Fair easily pick up the tricks of society, and old Hugh's money and +prospective elevation will surely draw suitors around like flies +swarming near the honey." The boat gracefully glided in to the port of +Ouchy before Major Hawke's day dream faded away. + +A flattering dream which led him on to a future gilded by Sir Hugh +Johnstone's money. He longed to ruffle it bravely with the best. To +hold up his head once more in official circles, and to smother the ugly +floating memories ef a renegade who had served those English guns under +the fierce Sikkim hill tribes against his one-time fellow soldiers. "I +must have that money, with or without the girl! There must be a way +to it! I will cut through the barriers to get it!" There was a steely +glitter in his blue eyes as he murmured: "Now for the fox's hide! She +shall have her way--for a time! My play comes on later, when the deal is +with me!" + +He sprang lightly ashore, and was chatting with the gold-banded porter +of the Hotel Faucon, when a lovely face, thrilling in its awakened +emotion, met his glance at the window of a carriage. He dispatched +his luggage to the Faucon, and sprang lightly in the carriage when +the omnibuses had departed for the Lausanne plateau. Alan Hawke was +carefully deferential in his greeting and he meekly answered all the +rapid queries of his mysterious employer. + +"You have closed up your own private affairs?" she briskly queried. + +"All is ready for the road in one day more. I have a private social +engagement for to-morrow," he replied. "But I brought you all the +sailing dates and the detailed information you requested." + +"You obtained the pictures safely, then, and with a prudent caution," +anxiously demanded Madame Louison. + +"You shall know all soon. I hope that I have satisfied you!" he said, +handing her a packet, failing to tell her that he had kept two pictures +of the far-away girl for his own private use. They were now near the +plateau where the Hotel Faucon shows its semi-circular front to the +splendid panorama unrolled before its windows. + +An afternoon concert was in progress at the Casino, near the local +museum. "We will stop here for a few moments," said the excited woman. +"You can go on alone, and walk over to the hotel and secure your own +rooms. Then send your card up to me in the usual manner. To-night we +will go out separately and meet for a conference. We can arrange all +our business." The Major bowed submissively, and assisted the lady to +alight. + +Madame Louison dismissed her carriage, and the confederates-to-be +entered the afternoon concert room. A superb orchestra was playing the +finishing bars of the last number on the program, and the audience had +dwindled away to a few knots of demure residents. Following his passive +policy, the adventurer sat silently, stealing oblique glances at +his companion as she nervously unfolded the wrappings of the coveted +pictures. There was a gasp, a low moan, as the woman's head fell back. +Alan Hawke's strong arms were clasped round her, as she leaned back +helplessly in her fauteuil. But a smile of secret triumph was on his +face as he quickly bore the helpless form to an anteroom at once opened +by the frightened ushers. Berthe Louison's face was corpse-like in its +pallor, as she lay there upon a divan, her fingers still clutching the +photograph. + +"There is a physician near by," hazarded a sympathetic woman who had +crowded into the room. The music had stopped with a crash. + +"Summon him at once!" energetically ordered Hawke. "Some brandy--quick!" +he cried, listening to her agonized words, "Valerie! My God! It is +Valerie herself! My poor sister!" In a few moments an elderly man parted +the assembling loiterers. His bustling air of command soon dispelled the +loiterers. A woman attendant was bending over the still senseless woman +as the spectacled medico seized Alan Hawke's arm. "Has your wife ever +had a previous heart attack?" he gravely asked, as he opened his lancet +case. Major Hawke shook his head, and gazed pityingly upon the beautiful +pallid face before him. + +"Can I be of any use to Monsieur?" demanded the chef d'orchestre in +evening grand tenue, his baton still in his hand. + +There was a glance of wondering astonishment as the Englishman faced the +speaker. "Wieniawski--Casimir, you here?" The other dropped his voice as +the physician ripped up the sleeve of the patient's gown. + +"Major Hawke, I thought you were still in Delhi? Your wife--" faltered +the artist, as he listened to a low moan when the lancet blade entered +the ivory arm of the sufferer. Then, with a backward step, he pressed +his hands to his brows. "My God! It is Alixe Delavigne!" he brokenly +said. But Hawke sprang to his side and quickly drew him from the room. + +"Not a word! Not a single word to any one! Where are you stopping? I +will come to you tonight!" the excited man sternly said, his firm hand +still clutching the musician's arm. + +"Here, at the Casino! Come in after ten! I will await you! But where did +you meet her?" the Polish violinist cried, speaking as if in a dream. + +"You shall know all later! I must get her to the hotel!" He returned to +the physician's side, who authoritatively cried, "Now an easy carriage +and to the Faucon, you said?" In half an hour, Berthe Louison was +sleeping, a nurse at her side, while Alan Hawke counted the moments +crawling on till ten o'clock. + + + + +CHAPTER III. AND AT DELHI WHAT AM I TO DO? + + + +Major Alan Hawke was the "observed of all observers," in the cosy +salon of the Grand Hotel Faucon, when the sympathetic hotel manager +interrupted a colloquy between the handsome Briton and the Doctor. +"A mere syncope, my dear sir. Perhaps--even only the result of tight +lacing, or inaction. Perhaps some sudden nerve crisis. These are the +results of the easy luxury of an enervating high-life. All these +social habits are weakening elements. Now, fortunately, your wife has a +singularly strong vital nature. You may safely dismiss all your fears. +Madame will be entirely herself in the morning." + +"Can I be of any service?" demanded the genial host, secretly urged on +by a coterie of curious, womanly sympathizers in silk and muslin. + +"I am the trustee of Madame Louison, in some important business matters, +and not her husband," gravely remarked the Major. "I only came up here +to confer with her upon some matters of moment." Both the listeners +bowed in silence. + +"Then, my dear sir, you can be perfectly reassured," the physician +briskly concluded, tendering his card. "My professional conscience +will not allow me to make even a single future visit, as doctor, to the +charming Madame Louison. Should Madame awake in other than her normal +health and spirits, I should be professionally at fault." + +Major Hawke then led the doctor aside and pressed a five-pound note +upon him. "Madame is of a wonderfully strong constitution. An heiress of +nature's choicest favors," the happy Galen floridly said, as he took his +leave. + +"So she is," grimly assented Hawke. + +The gossipy boniface was already spreading such meager details of the +sudden seizure as he had been able to pick up, and, the words "Polish +noblewoman," "Italian marchesa," "French countess," were tossed +about freely in the light froth of the conversation in the ladies' +drawing-room. + +Meanwhile, Alan Hawke was smoking a meditative cigar alone, while pacing +the old Cantonal high road before the Faucon. "I think I will remain on +picket here," he mused. "This fiddler fellow, Wieniawski, must not meet +her. She must be led on to leave here at once. Constitution, nerve, +aplomb; she has them all. She should have been born a man. What a +soldier! One of nature's mistakes--man's mental organization, woman's +soft, flooding emotions, and beauty's fiery passions." + +"I must pump Casimir. He will be safely nailed to the platform by his +duties, from eight to ten. I will not leave her a moment, however, till +he has the baton in his hand. I will then watch him until ten--meet him +down there, and, if he meets her after we separate for the night, he is +a smarter Pole than I take him for. And now I must go and frighten her +away from here." + +Major Hawke was quick to note all the outer indications of man's varying +fortunes. He had so long buffeted the waves of adversity himself that he +was a past master of the art of measuring the depth of a hidden purse. +He recalled the brilliant Casimir Wieniawski of eight years past--the +curled darling of the hot-hearted ladies of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and +Singapore. In a glance of cursory inspection Alan Hawke had noted the +doubtful gloss of the dress suit; it was the polish of long wear, not +the velvety glow of newness. There was a growing bald spot, scarcely +hidden by the Hyperion Polish curls; there were crows'-feet around the +bold, insolent eyes, and the man's smile was lean and wolfish when the +glittering white teeth flashed through the professional smirk of the +traveling artist. The old, easy assurance was still there, but cognac +had dulled the fires of genius; the tones of the violin trembled, even +under the weakening but still magic fingers, and the splendid sapphire +and diamond cluster ring of old was replaced by a too evident Palais +Royal work of inferior art. + +"Poor devil! It is the downward fluttering of the wearied eagle!" mused +Alan Hawke. "Women, roulette, champagne, and high life--all these +past riches fade away into the gloomy pleasures of restaurant cognac, +dead-shot absinthe, and the vicarious smiles of a broken soubrette or +so! And all the more you can be now dangerous to me, Monsieur Casimir +Wieniawski, for the old maneater forgets none of his tricks, even when +toothless." + +Casimir, the handsome Pole, glib of tongue, the heir to a thousand minor +graces, reckless in outpouring the wine of Life, had truly gone the +downward way with all the abandon of his showy, insincere race. Hawke +well knew the final level of misery awaiting the wandering, broken-down +artist here in a land where really fine music was a mere drug; where +the orchestra was only a cheap lure to enhance the cafe addition. +The "Professor" was but a minor staff officer of the grim Teutonic +Oberkellner of the Brasserie Concert. + +"But how shall I muzzle this Robert Macaire of the bow?" cogitated +Hawke, as he anxiously eyed the two windows of Madame Louison's rooms, +and then sternly gazed at the open front doors of the Hotel Faucon. + +A light broke in upon his brain. "There is the golden lure of the Misses +Phenie and Genie Forbes, of Chicago, U. S. A. Those madcap girls will be +easily gulled. They arrive to-morrow at nine. A few stage asides, as to +the stock romance of every Polish upstart, will do the trick!" + +"Russian brutality, fugitive Prince, Siberian wanderings, romantic +escape, killed the Russian general who burned his chateau; all that sort +of thing will enchant these. This may occupy Casimir and leave me free. +When the devil is idle he catches flies, and under the cover of this +rosy glow of romance I will get away to India, but only after Madame +Alixe Delavigne goes. I can afford to put in ten pounds on Casimir to +loosen his lying tongue. In vino veritas may apply even to a gallant +and distinguished Pole. If I can get the true story of Alixe Delavigne's +life, then I have the key of the Johnstone mystery. Ah! There is now a +duty signal for me!" The Major smartly approached the main entrance of +that cosiest of Swiss family hotels, the Faucon, as the anxious face +of a woman nurse appeared. "Madame veut bien voir Monsieur!" simply +announced the servant. Major Hawke brushed by her with a nod and quickly +mounted the stair. To his utter surprise, on entering Madame Berthe +Louison's apartment, the signs of an approaching departure were but too +evident. A stout Swiss maiden was busied stolidly packing several trunks +in an indiscriminate haste, while the fair invalid herself sat at the +center table poring over an opened Baedeker and the outspread maps +brought on by her "business agent." Hawke's murmured astonishment was +at once cut short by the decisive notes of Berthe Louison's flutelike +voice. + +"We have no time to waste, Major!" she said, with an affected +cheerfulness. "I am all right now. There is an eleven-thirty train for +Constance. I will take that, reach Munich, and get right over to Venice +by the Brenner Pass, and thence go down to Aricona, and Brindisi. +You can return to Geneva, and, by Mont Cenis and Turin you will reach +Brindisi before me. So, I leave to-night; you can go up to Geneva +to-morrow night. No one will possibly suspect our business connection in +this way. I will have time to see you depart for Bombay, before I take +the steamer for Calcutta. I have marked off the sailings. This little +occurrence here to-night has brought us both too much under the eyes of +other people." + +"Bah!" said the astounded Major. "No one knows anything of us here. We +are of no importance." + +"You think so?" mused the woman, as if careless of his presence. "And +yet I have seen a face here, rising out of a past that is long dead and +buried. Now, are you ready to meet me at Brindisi?" + +Alan Hawke blushed even through the sun-browned complexion of the Nepaul +days, as the clear-eyed woman, faintly smiling, discerned his "hedging" +policy. + +"You will not be put to the slightest inconvenience." She opened a +handsome traveling bag. The falcon-eyed Major Hawke observed the gleam +of a pearl handled and silver chased revolver of serviceable make, and +there was also a very wicked-looking Venetian dagger lying on the table, +even then within the lady's reach! "Here is the sum of five hundred +pounds in English notes," said Berthe. "That will neatly take you to +Delhi, and there is fifty more to liquidate my bill, and pay the +medical expenses. I am not desirous that the landlord should know of my +departure. You may bring all my trunks on. I will be waiting for you +at the 'Vittorio Emmanuele' at Brindisi. Please do telegraph to me from +Turin of your arrival." + +Cool globe-trotter as he was, Alan Hawke was speechless. "Shall I not +see you safely on board the Constance train?" he muttered. + +"The nurse will attend to all that; money will do a great deal," the +lady said. "I will send her back from Constance. Please do ring the +bell." The Major was obedient, and he listened in dumb astonishment, as +Madame Louison ordered a very dainty supper for two, with a bottle +of Burgundy and a well-iced flask of Veuve Cliquot. When the door had +closed upon the gaping servant, the lady merrily laughed: + +"Pray take up your sinews of war, Major. I shall consider you as +retained in my service, if I am obeyed." + +Alan Hawke turned and faced the puzzling "employer" with a half defiant +question: "And when shall I know the real nature of my duties?" as he +carefully folded up the welcome bundle of notes, without even looking at +them. + +"Major, you are not an homme d'affaires. Do me the favor to count your +money," laughed the mocking convalescent. "Thank you," continued +the lady as he obeyed her. "Now I will only detain you here till ten +o'clock. Then you must disappear and not know me again until we meet at +the Hotel Vittorio Emmanuele at Brindisi. Should any accident occur, you +are to take the Sepoy for Bombay direct and go on to Delhi. Leave me a +letter at Suez and also one at Aden, care P. and O. Company. I will ask +at each of these places. I will go direct to Calcutta, and will then +meet you at Delhi. Arriving at Delhi, you may telegraph to me care +Grindlay & Co., Calcutta." + +"I wonder if she bled Anstruther," inwardly growled Hawke, as he +recognized the name of that social butterfly's bankers. But the lady +only sweetly continued: "I have some business in Calcutta. You can +write to me at the general postoffice at Allahabad, and leave your Delhi +address there. I shall probably telegraph for you to come down and meet +me there." + +Major Hawke, neatly entering the lady's directions in a silver-clasped +betting book, murmured lazily without lifting his eyes: "You seem to +know a great deal about Hindostan." + +"I have made a careful study of it for years--long years," said the +woman with a telltale flush of color, as the servants entered with the +impromptu feast. + +They were left alone, at an imperious signal, and Madame Louison bade +Hawke regale himself en garcon. The Major paused with suspended pencil, +as he quietly approached the decisive question: "And at Delhi, what am I +to do?" + +"You are to take up your old friendship with Hugh Fraser--this budding +baronet," replied Berthe calmly. She was pouring out a glass of the wine +beloved of women, but her hand trembled as she hastily drank off the +inspiring fluid. "All this is bravo--mere bravo! She's a very smart +woman, and a cool customer!" decided the schemer, who had filled himself +up a long drink. He took up at once the object-lesson. They were simply +to be comrades--and nothing more. + +"I will obey you to the very letter," he said simply, for he was well +aware the woman was keenly watching him. + +"Then that is all. There is nothing more," soberly concluded his +companion. "The letters at Suez and Aden are, of course, to be mere +billets de voyage. The correspondence at Allahabad may cover all of +moment. Can you not give me a safe letter and telegraph address at +Delhi?" + +"Give me your notebook," said Alan Hawke, as he carefully wrote down the +needed information: "Ram Lal Singh, Jewel Merchant, 16 Chandnee Chouk, +Delhi." + +"There's the address of my native banker; and as trusty a Hindu as ever +sold a two-shilling strass imitation for a hundred-pound star sapphire. +But, in his way he is honest--as we all are." And then Alan Hawke boldly +said: "How shall I address you at Allahabad?" + +The flashing brown eyes gleamed a moment with a brighter luster than +pleasure's glow. "You have my visiting card, Major," the woman coldly +said. "I travel with a French passport, always en regie." + +"By God! she has the nerve!" mused Alan Hawke, as he hastily said: "And +now, as we have settled all our little preliminaries, when am I to know +whether you trust me or not?" + +He was pressing his advantage, for her precipitate departure would rob +him of the expected effect of Casimir Wieniawski's disclosures. "If +I find you en ami de famille, at Delhi, so that you can confidentially +approach Sir Hugh Johnstone, the ci-devant Hugh Fraser, your task +will be soon set for you, and your reward easily earned; but under no +circumstances are you to make the slightest attempt to a confidential +acquaintance with this wonderful Nadine. That is my affair." The tone +was almost trifling in its lightness, but Alan Hawke recognized the hand +of iron in the velvet glove. + +"And now, Sir," coquettishly said Madame Berthe Louison, "you have been +a squire of dames in your day. Tell me of social India, for, while +I shall get a good maid out at Calcutta, I must depend upon Munich, +Venice, and Brindisi for my personal outfit. I know the whole United +Kingdom thoroughly. The Englishman and his cold-pulsed blonde mate at +home are well-learned lessons. The Continent, yes, even Russia, I know, +too," she gayly chattered; "but the Orient is as yet a sealed book to +me, and I would be helpless in Father India, without the womanly gear +appropriate to the social habits of your countrywomen." + +"You have lived in England?" briefly demanded Alan Hawke, in some +surprise at her frank admissions. + +"Yes, too long!" sternly answered Madame Louison, who was enjoying a +cigarette, as she signed to the maid to leave them alone. "I detest the +foggy climate," she added, a little late to temper the bitterness of the +remark. + +"I will lull this watchful feminine tiger," the Major secretly decided, +as he began a brilliant sketch of the social life of the strange land of +Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. "I presume, of course, that you do not care to +appear with a fifty-pound Marshall & Snell grove outfit, as if you were +the wife of an Ensign in a marching regiment. I will give you the real +life our women lead out there. You could have secured a splendid London +outfit by a little time spent in making the detour." + +"I wish to appear en Francaise, my true character," smiled Berthe. "I +never could sacrifice my Gaelic taste to the hideous color mixtures +and utilitarian ugliness of the English machine-made toilette. An +Englishwoman can only be trusted with a blue serge, a plain gray +traveling dress, or in the easy safety of black or white. They are not +the 'glass of fashion and the mold of form.' Now, Sir, let me see how +you have profited by your wandering in Beauty's gardens on the Indus and +Ganges?" + +Alan Hawke knew very well at heart what the quickwitted woman would +know. He sketched with grace, the natural features, the climatic +conditions, the bizarre scenery of the million and a half square miles +where the venerable Kaisar-i-Hind rules nearly two hundred millions of +subjugated people. He portrayed all the light splendors of Mohammedan +elegance, the wonders of Delhi and Agra, he sketched the gloomy temple +mysteries of Hinduism, and holy Benares rose up before her eyes beneath +the inspiration of his brilliant fancy. + +The ardent woman listened with glowing eyes, as Hawke proudly referred +to the wonderful sweep of the sword of Clive, which conquered an +unrifled treasure vault of ages, annexed a giant Empire, and set with +Golconda's diamonds the scepter of distant England. The year 1756 was +hailed by the renegade as the epoch when England's rule of the +sea became her one vitalizing policy--her first and last national +necessity--for the Empire of the waves followed the pitiful beginning in +Madras. + +Temples, groves, and mosques peopled with the alien and warring races +were conjured up, the splendid viceregal circle, the pompous headquarter +military, the fast set, staid luxury-loving civilians, and all the +fierce eddies and undercurrents of the graded social life, in which +the cold English heart learns to burn as madly under "dew of the lawn" +muslin as ever Lesbian coryphe'e or Tzigane pleasure lover. + +The burning noons, the sweltering Zones of Death, the cool hills, the +Vanity Fair of Simla, the shaded luxury of bungalow life, and the mad +undercurrent of intrigue, the tragedy element of the Race for Wealth, +the Struggle for Place, and the Chase for Fame. Major Alan Hawke was +gracefully reminiscent, and in describing the social functions, the +habits of those in the swim, the inner core of Indian life under its +canting social and official husk, he brought an amused smile to the +mobile face of his beautiful listener. He did not note the passage of +time. He could now hear the music floating up from the Casino below. +He had answered all her many questions. He described pithily the voyage +out, the social pitfalls, the essence of "good Anglo-Indian form," and +he was astonished at the keenness of the questions with which he was +plied by his employer. + +"You have surely traveled in India," he murmured, when his relation +flagged. + +"So I have, by proxy, and, in imagination," laughed Madame Berthe +Louison, as she demurely held up her jeweled watch. "Ten minutes more, +and then, Sir, I shall give you your ordre de route. For, I must go +quietly. I trust to your experience and good judgment. There is nothing +to say here. There will be no letters. My bankers have their orders. You +must simply pay our bill, and depart quietly via Geneva. May I ask if +you wish any more money? Some personal needs?" + +Major Hawke shook his head. "You may rely on me to meet you, and +to faithfully obey you," he gravely said. There were unspoken words +trembling on his lips, which he fain would have uttered. "By Heavens! +She is a witch!" he murmured, in a repressed excitement, as he walked +quietly down the hallway to keep his tryst with Casimir Wieniawski. For +Berthe Louison had at once divined the cause of his unrest. + +"You think that I should tell you more? Why should I tell you anything? +We are strangers yet, not even friends. You may divine that I trust no +man. I have had my own sad lessons of life-lessons learned in bitterness +and tears. I go out to your burning jungle land, with neither hope to +allure, nor fear to repel. The whole world is the same to me. That I +have a purpose, I admit; and even you may know me better by and bye! +Till then, no professions, no promises, no pledges. I use you for my +own selfish purposes, that is all; and you can frankly study your own +self-interest. We are two clay jars swept along down the Ganges of life. +For a few threads of the dark river's current, we travel on, side by +side! You have frankly taken me at my word! I have taken you at yours! +There is a written order to settle my affairs and remove my luggage. +Of course, should you meet with any accident, telegraph to the Vittorio +Emmanuele, at Brindisi. Money," she said, almost bitterly, "would be +telegraphed; and so, I say"--he listened breathlessly--"au revoir--at +Brindisi!" she concluded, giving him her hand, with a frank smile. + +As Alan Hawke descended the stair, he growled. "A woman without a heart, +and--not without a head!" As he calmly answered the manager's polite +inquiry for Madame's health, the "heartless woman" whom he had left was +lying sobbing in the dark room above--crying, in her anguish, "Valerie! +My poor, dead Valerie! I go to your child!" + +But, none suspected her departure, when the trimly-clad woman glided out +of the entrance of the Hotel Faucon, at eleven o'clock. The maid was in +waiting on the circular place in front with a carriage, and the key +of the apartment lay in a sealed envelope on Alan Hawke's table, which +proves that a few francs are just as potent in Switzerland as the same +number of shillings in London, or dollars in New York. It was a clear +case of "stole away." + +When Major Alan Hawke leaned over the supper table at the Casino, +pledging Madame Frangipanni's bright eyes in very fair cafe champagne, +he nervously started as he heard the wailing whistle and clanging bells +of the through train for Constance. He forgot the faded complexion, +the worn face, the chemically tinted hair and haggard eyes of the +broken-down Austrian blonde concert singer, in the exhilaration of +Berthe Louison's departure. + +For he had not lost Professor Casimir Wieniawski from sight a moment +since the hour of ten, and that "distinguished noble refugee" was now +in a maudlin way, murmuring perfunctory endearments in the ear of the +ex-prima donna, who tenderly gazed upon him in a proprietary manner. +Alan Hawke had judged it well to ply the champagne, and, at the witching +hour of midnight, he critically inspected Casimir's condition. "He +is probably about tipsy enough now to tell all he knows, and, with an +acquired truthfulness. I will, therefore, bring this festive occasion +to a close." Whereat the watchful Lucullus of the feast artfully drew +Madame Frangipanni aside. + +"I have to go on to London, Chere Comtesse," he flatteringly said, "you +must give me Casimir for a couple of hours to-night, to talk over the +old times." + +He lingered a moment, hat in hand, as he chivalrously sent Madame +Frangipanni home in a carriage. The poor old singer's bosom was thrilled +with a sunset glow of departing greatness, as she lingered tearfully +that night over the memories of the halcyon days when the officers of +Francis Joseph's bodyguard had fought for the honors of the carriage +courtesies of the Diva. Eheu fugaces! + +Closeted together, the minor guests having been artfully dispersed, +Major Alan Hawke and his friend recalled the olden glories of +Wieniawski's Indian tour. It was with a jealous hand that Hawke doled +out the cognac, until Casimir abruptly said: "And now, mon ami, tell me +what has linked you to Alixe Delavigne?" Alan Hawke had keenly studied +his man, and found that the limit of the artist's drinking capacity +seemed to be infinity, and so he leaned back and coldly scrutinized the +musician's shabby exterior. "I think that I can risk it now," he mused, +and then, in a crisp, hard voice, he suddenly said: "I don't mind +parting with a twenty-pound note, Casimir, if you will tell me all you +know about that beauty. You need it now--more than I. I am to be the +judge of the value of your story, however. Mark me, I know the main +features, but I also know that you have met her in the old days." The +broken-down artist flushed under the changed relation of guest and paid +tool. + +He uneasily stammered, as he filled a brandy glass, "As a loan--as a +loan!" But Hawke was sternly business-like in his reply. + +"Don't make any pretenses with me. You are hard down on your luck, and +you know it. This is a mere matter of business." He unfolded a bundle +of notes and carelessly tossed two ten-pound notes over to Casimir, who +seized them with trembling fingers. The pitiful sum represented to the +artist two months of his meager salary. Here was absinthe unlimited, +a little roulette, a new frock for Madame Frangipanni, perhaps even a +dress coat for himself. + +"How old do you think Alixe is?" unsteadily began the artist. + +"I should say about twenty-five," gallantly replied the Major. + +"We will premise that she is thirty-three," confidently began the +musician, "or even thirty-five. When I was a young fool at Warsaw, +eighteen years old," he babbled. "I was the local prodigy. My first +essays in public were, of course, concerts, and I was soon the vogue. +And, later, asked as an artistic guest to the chateaux of the nobility +in Poland, Kowno, Vitebsk, Wilna, Minsk, Grodno and Volhynia. I was +a poet in thought, a lover of all womankind in my dreams, and a +conspirator in the inmost chambers of my defiant Polish nature." + +"They made me the cat's-paw of adroit adventurers who were filling their +pockets from wealthy Polish sympathizers in France and America, and +some of them were Russian paid spies. I braved all the risks. I was +the secret means of communication of the highest circles of our cult of +Rebellion. Fool that I was, wandering from province to province, I lived +the life of a mad enthusiast. The proud memories of Poland were mine, +the spirit of her music, arts, and poetry had cast its witchery over +me. Her history, the tragedy of a crownless queen of sorrows, had +transported me into a dreamy idealism. I was soon the confidant of +our seductive mobile Polish beauties. Sinuous, insincere, changeful, +passionate, and burning with the flames of Love and Life, I was, at +once, their idol and their plaything, their hero, and their willing +slave. + +"For then, the spirit of old Poland rang out in my numbers, and I waked +the quivering echoes of woman's heart at will. It was in seventy-three +that I was sent on a special mission to Prince Pierre Troubetskoi's +splendid chateau at Jitomir in Volhynia. The crafty Russians were +watching us even there, and were busied in assembling troops secretly, +at Kiev and Wilna. To another was given the proud place of secret spy +over the higher circles of Wilna, while my duty was to watch Jitomir and +Kiev. Troubetskoi was a bold gallant fellow, an ardent Muscovite, and +had secretly returned from a long sojourn in Paris. He was in close +touch with the Governors of Volhynia, Kiev, and Podolia, and we feared +his sword within, his Parisian connections without. An evil star +brought me into his household as his guest. For nearly a year I was kept +vibrating between the points of danger to us, my personal headquarters +being at the Chateau of Jitomir. And there I lived out my brief +heart-life, for there I met Valerie Troubetskoi. No one seemed to know +where Pierre had found her, but later I learned her story from her own +lips. + +"That is, all of the story of a woman's heart-life which is ever +unveiled to any man! She was beautiful beyond--compare, her wistful +tenderness shining out as the moon, softer than the fierce noonday +glare of the passion-transfigured faces of our Polish beauties. For +they loved, for Love's own sake, and Valerie Troubetskoi offered up +the chalice of her own heart in silent sadness. I never saw so lovely a +being." + +"Did she look like that?" suddenly demanded Hawke, thrusting a +photograph before the haggard eyes of the broken artist. He gasped, and +tears gathered in his lashes. "Valerie, herself, and, as I knew her only +before her fatal illness had marked her down. Did Alixe give you this?" +He clutched at it with his trembling hands. + +"Go on," harshly said Alan Hawke, "the hour is late!" + +The Pole buried his face in his thinned hands, and then brokenly +resumed: "The old story--the only one you know. She was about my own +age; Troubetskoi was nearly always away; perhaps he thought to trap all +my traitorous circle through me, or else he was in the secret service +of the hungry Russian eagle. Valerie roamed silently through the great +halls of Jitomir, saddened and lonely, for their union was childless. +My heart spoke to her own in my music; she knew the prayer of my soul, +though my lips were silent. For I madly adored her. Then, then, I was +a man! My life belonged to Poland, my soul to art, but my heart was a +sealed temple of love, a temple where Valerie, the beloved, the secretly +worshiped, sat alone on her throne. + +"One day a woman, radiant in youth, and reflecting Valerie's own beauty, +was brought to the chateau by Troubetskoi, who had journeyed on to +Vienna. It was Alixe Delavigne, the woman whom I saw last with you. A +month later Valerie called me to her side: 'My poor Casimir,' she said, +as I knelt at her feet, 'I am dying! The struggle will not be a long +one. I know the secret of your boyish heart. Your eyes have spoken and +your music has reached my heart. Your love is written in your songs +without words. When you have forgotten me, there is Alixe; she is alone +upon earth. Let me seal your heart to hers, and even in death I shall +feel that I love you both.' Then," the artist sobbed, "I lost my head. +I told her all in mad, burning words. She raised her eyes to mine, and +softly said: 'I shall see you no more unless Alixe is with us, for I +love Pierre and he loves me. When I am gone, Alixe will be the only one +who knows the secret of my life.' + +"It was two months later--for I would not leave her side, even Pierre +Troubetskoi could not see her passing away, for it was a mysterious +malady--when a sudden alarm brought me to my senses. My secret society +work was done, and yet I lingered there, at the very steps of the +scaffold. Alixe Delavigne burst into my room at midnight. + +"'Hasten!' she cried. 'Even now the Cossacks are surrounding the house!' +She let me out through the secret passage of the old Chateau. A cloak +was thrown over me by the Intendant. He was a Pole--and one true to +the old blood. Alixe pressed a purse upon me. An address in Paris was +whispered. 'I will write! Go! For Valerie's sake, go!' + +"Forty-eight hours later I crossed the Galician frontier at Lemberg +disguised as a Polish peasant. My guardian, the Intendant, turned me +over to our friends in the valley of the Styr. After six months of +wandering, I finally reached Paris in safety. There were sorrowful +letters awaiting me. Valerie was hidden forever in the yawning tombs +of the gloomy old chapel of Jitomir, and Alixe herself wrote of Pierre +Troubetlskoi's generous blinding of the pursuit. I was, however, +prosecuted and hunted. I fled to America, for all our plans of revolt +were miserably wrecked--and by Polish traitors! + +"Two years later, I learned from a fellow refugee that Pierre +Troubetskoi had been killed by accident in a great forest battle. And to +Alixe Delavigne, all the wealth which would have been Valerie's was +left by the lion-hearted man who awoke too late to the early doom of his +beloved. + +"I knew naught of the family history save that the sisters were the +daughters of Colonel Delavigne, a gallant French officer, who was +murdered by the Communists in seventy-one." Alan Hawke was now sternly +eyeing the musician, who abruptly concluded: "I have never met Alixe +Delavigne since. I dare not return to Poland. My own course has been +steadily downward, and, beyond knowing that she still possesses the +splendid domains of Jitomir, we are strangers to each other. Polish +refugees have told me that she has always administered the vast estate +with liberal kindness to all. And now you will tell me of her?" The +tremulous hand of Wieniawski raised a brimming glass of brandy to his +lips. He stared about vacantly when Hawke said: + +"Madame Delavigne left Lausanne this evening on a special mission. Her +life is a sealed book to all, and a mere business interest has drawn +us together." The Englishman went callously on: "There are a couple of +mountainously rich American girls coming down here to-morrow at nine +o'clock to spend the day at Chillon with me. I need a running mate. Will +you then meet me at the Montreux Landing? You can have a day off, and +these young fools are fat pigeons, ardent, and enthusiastic." Hawke saw +the hesitation on the man's face. + +"You can say to Madame Frangipanni that you are with me and that I will +explain later at the dinner." With a glance at his watch, Alan Hawke +rang for the Oberkellner. He was extending his hand in goodnight, when +the refugee cried imploringly, "I must see her once more! Tell me of her +journey!" and Major Hawke deliberately lied to the poor vaurien artist, +the wreck of his better self. "The through train to Paris is her only +address. I presume that Madame Delavigne will spend some time in a +sanitarium after this heart attack, and she has my banker's address. It +is only through them that we meet to arrange some affairs of business. +Whether maid, wife, or widow, I know not, for you know what women +are--sealed books to their enemies, and to their husbands and +lovers--only enigmas! + +"But fail not to meet me. I'll give you a pleasant day. You will find +the two Americans both gushing and susceptible." Then as Major Alan +Hawke stepped lightly away to the sedately closed Hotel Faucon, Casimir +Wieniawski staggered back into the cafe. + +His fit of passionate sorrow was brief, for in a half hour he was the +king of a mad revel, where his meaner sycophants divided Alan Hawke's +bounty. The cool Major strode along happy hearted to his rest, quietly +revolving the plan of campaign. + +"There was then a sealed chapter in Valerie Troubetskoi's life. And the +key of that is in Berthe Louison's keeping. Now, my fair employer, it is +diamond cut diamond. I think that I have done a fair day's work." And +he thanked his lucky stars for the precipitate flight of his mysterious +employer. "She evidently feared the noble Casimir following upon the +trail. Strange--strange pathways! Strange footprints on the sands of +Time! It is a devilish funny world, but, after all, the best that we +have any authentic account of." And so he slept the sleep of the just, +for he was making the woes of others the cornerstones of his newer +fortunes. + +Major Hawke arose with the lark, by a previous arrangement with the +Hotel Bureau. His face was eminently businesslike in its gravity, as he +summoned the porter and dispatched all his luggage to the care of the +Chef du Gare, Geneva. "Business of extreme importance awaiting upon +Madame's complete recovery had caused her to depart to consult an +eminent specialist. Thank you, there will be no letters," said the +Major, as he pocketed both receipted bills. He amused himself while +watching for the morning boat, as the mountain mists, lifting, revealed +the glittering lake, in sending a very carefully sketched letter to +Mademoiselle Euphrosyne Delande, No. 123 Rue du Rhone, Geneva. This +letter was of such moment that it went on to London, to be posted back +duly stamped with good Queen Victoria's likeness. A very careful Major! + +The lofty semi-official tone, in which the writer spoke of a possible +return to India "under the auspices of the Foreign Office," was well +calculated to fill the spinster's bosom with the flattering unction that +a mighty protector had been raised up for the adventurous Justine, now +supposed to be environed with all the glittering snares of society, as +well as enveloped in the mystic jungle. + +A week later, when Euphrosyne Delande laid down the pen and abandoned +her unfinished "Lecture Upon the Influence of the Allobroges, Romans, +Provencal Franks, Burgundians, and Germans Upon the Intellectual +Development of Geneva," she read Alan Hawke's letter with a thrill of +secret pride. + +The smooth adventurer had written: "If I have the future pleasure of +meeting Mademoiselle Justine Delande I only hope to find a resemblance +to her charming and distinguished sister. As my movements are +necessarily secret, pray write only in the utmost confidence to +Mademoiselle Justine. I hope to soon return and enjoy once more the +hospitalities of your intellectual circle." The address given for India +was "Bombay Club." Miss Euphrosyne gazed up at the stony lineaments of +Professor Delande, her marble-browed and flinty-hearted sire, locked in +the cold chill of a steel engraving. He was as neutral as the busts +of Buffon, Cuvier, Laplace, Humboldt, and Pestalozzi, which coldly +furnished forth her sanctum. She thought of the eloquent eyed young +Major and sadly sighed. She proceeded to enshrine him in her withered +heart, and then wrote a crossed letter of many tender underlinings to +her distant sister. And thus the pathway was made very smooth for the +artful wanderer, who had already stepped upon the decks of the Sepoy. + +Major Hawke had dispatched an excellent breakfast before he stepped into +the carriage to be whirled away to Montreux. His bridges were burned +behind him. There was not a vestige of Madame Berthe Louison left to +give the needy Pole a clue. "They are separated, and Anstruther and the +Swiss schoolmistress are harmless. I have only my play to make upon the +lovely Justine, and to retake up my old friendship with Hugh Fraser. +Then I am ready to bit by bit unravel the story of Valerie Delavigne's +child--the Veiled Rose of Delhi." + +"Between a father with a secret to keep, and this strange woman with a +purpose, there is a pretty girl and a vast fortune at issue, besides +the prospective pickings of Madame Berthe Louison." These musings of +the Major led him up to the question of his employer's false name, as he +swept down to the nearby Montreux station. "She evidently had traced the +child to Switzerland, and was upon a still hunt to find out the home of +the growing heiress, and,--for what purpose? Ah! One day after another," +he pleasantly exclaimed, as he saw the artist awaiting him. "Peu apeu +I'oiseau fait son nid." He had already evolved a scheme to permanently +separate Casimir Wieniawski from his own beautiful employer, who was now +dashing along well on her way toward Munich. Alan Hawke was startled +at the distinguished appearance of the musician. An aristocratic pallor +refined his face, he was neatly booted and gloved, the elegant lines of +the Pole's supple figure were displayed in a morning frock coat, and his +chapeau de soie was virginal in its gloss. + +"Some of my own twenty pounds," mused Alan Hawke, as he gayly sprang +out and saluted his dupe. "Ah! There you are. You look to-day the old +Casimir. Let us have a few last words before the boat arrives." + +Hardened as he was, Alan Hawke was surprised at the childlike lightness +of the Pole's manner when they encountered the fresh young beauties who +were already the cynosure of all eyes upon the morning boat. The +storm of emotion had spent itself, and while Alan Hawke squired, the +aggressive Miss Genie, Casimir Wieniawski was bending over the slightly +dreamy and more romantic Miss Phenie! They distributed themselves in +open order, as they strolled along toward the drawbridge of that most +hospitable of old horrors, Chillon Castle. + +It was a day of days, and the artful Hawke laughed as he smoked his +cigar upon a rustic bench in the castle Garden. Miss Genie was at his +side, pouting, petulant, provokingly pretty and duly agnostic as to the +Polish prince. + +A week later, Alan Hawke stood on the deck of the Sepoy, as that +reliable vessel steamed out of Brindisi harbor for Bombay. He was +watching a lace handkerchief, waved by a graceful woman, standing alone +upon the pier. The adventurer drew a silver rupee from his pocket, and +then gayly tossed it into the waves, crying, "Here's for luck!" as he +watched the slender, distant, womanly figure move up the pier. There lay +the Empress of India with steam now curling from her stacks, ready to +follow on to Calcutta. "I have not broken her lines yet," murmured Major +Hawke as he paced the deck, "but I have her pretty well surrounded, +cunning as she is!" and so he complacently ordered his first bottle of +pale ale. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE VEILED ROSEBUD OF DELHI + + + +The October winds were whirling the pine needles down the mountain +defiles in the bracing Alpine autumn, as Alan Hawke sped on past Suez, +gliding on through the stifling furnace heat of the Red Sea, past Mocha, +and dashing along through the Bridge of Tears, to Aden. He left at Suez, +and also at the Eastern Gibraltar of haughty Albion, the brief letters +for his mysterious employer, and he mentally arranged the social gambit +of his reappearance at Delhi in the nine days before the Sepoy steamed +into the island-dotted bay of Bombay. + +Sternly shunning, on his arrival, the local sirens, whose songs of old +fell so sweetly upon his ear, the determined Major sped away at once +for Allahabad. He was on shaking social quagmires at Bombay. There were +sundry little threads of the past still left hanging out in the shape of +stray urban indebtedness, and he now scorned to throw away a single one +of the crisp Bank of England notes showered upon him by Fortune. He was +growing sadly wise. He had lately mused over the old motto, "Lucky at +cards--unlucky in love!" The cool provision of the funds at Lausanne by +Berthe Louison, her separate route to Delhi, her business-like coldness +in their strangely frank relations, all these things proved to him +that he was to be only an intelligent tool; not a trusted friend in the +little drama about to open at the old capital of Oude. + +Alan Hawke had already abandoned the idea of any sentimental advances +upon Alixe Delavigne. "Strange, strange," he murmured; "a woman can +sometimes easily be flattered into a second conjugation of the verb 'To +Love,' but an internal previous evidence of man's unreliability can +do that which no personal sorrow can effect. The key to this woman's +behavior is in the story of her sister's shadowed life. + +"The hiatus from Hugh Fraser to Pierre Troubetskoi covers the tragedy +of Valerie Delavigae's life, the death blow was then struck, and the +central figure is the child. So, with the strangely acquired fortune at +her beck and call, Alixe Delavigne has consecrated herself to that most +illogical of human careers--a woman's silent vengeance! That achieved, +will the furnace fires of her stormy heart be lit by the hand of +passion?" + +He ruminated sagely over these matters as he sped on over the Great +Indian Peninsula Railway. The western Ghauts were now far behind him +and their dark basalt crags. Bombay, Hyderabad, Berar, the Central +Provinces, Central India, and the southern prong of Oude was reached. He +was, however, no whit the wiser when he reached the Ganges and hastily +sought the telegraph station at Allahabad. But he felt like a prince in +the direct line of succession with his net eight hundred pounds still to +the good. His first care was to telegraph to Madame Berthe Louison, +to the care of Grindley, at Calcutta: "Waiting at Allahabad for your +letters, and news of your safe arrival." While rushing past the Vindhia +Mountains he had encountered several of his old Indian acquaintances. +The mere hint of a secret governmental employ of gravity satisfied the +languid curiosity of the qui hais. For a week he lingered in the "City +of God," and daily haunted the post and telegraph offices. + +He had sent on to the Delhi Club a note for the maw of the local +gossips, and also had dispatched a skillfully constructed letter to +the unsuspecting Hugh Johnstone. With a veiled flattery of the old +civilian's wisdom and experience, he referred to his desire to consult +him as to a secret journey in the direction of the Pamirs. The opportune +windfall of Anstruther's ecarte and Berthe Louison's liberal advance +enabled Major Alan Hawke to maintain a dignified and easy port as he +wandered through Allahabad. Strolling by the waters of the Ganges and +Jumna, he invoked anew the blessings of the goddess Fortuna, as he gazed +out upon the majestic heaven descended stream. The daily tide of travel +toward Delhi brought on each day some familiar faces, and yet Alan Hawke +lingered gently, declining their traveling company. "Waiting orders," he +said, with the sad, sweet smile of one enjoying a sinecure. His swelling +outward port thoroughly proved that the days were gone when he was to +be scanned before the morning salutation. Les eaux sout basses, the +impecunious Frenchman mourns, but there was a swelling tide bearing Alan +Hawke onward now. + +A hearty welcoming letter from the ci-devant Hugh Fraser was a good +omen, for rumor of a thousand tongues had already invested the returning +Major with an important secret mission. His epistolary seed planted +in Delhi had brought forth fruit as rapidly as the magic of the Indian +conjuror's mango-tree trick. It was already rumored even in Allahabad +that "Hawke had dropped upon a decidedly good thing." The Major was +busied, however, in analyzing the motives of Alixe Delavigne, in her +change of name, her separate journey, her choice of the Calcutta route, +and the inner nature of her projected enterprise. + +"A woman in her position, easy as to fortune, will stoop to none of the +arts of the blackmailer; she could choose a life of soft luxury, for she +is yet in the bloom of vigorous early womanhood. To her the personality +of Hugh Fraser is surely nothing. There are but two objects of +attack--his proposed social elevation, the nattering title, and the +peace of mind and future of the daughter, this lovely veiled Rose! Love, +a natural love, even for the stranger child, would ward away the blow; +but only an unslaked vengeance would point the shaft! The reproduction +of her sister's face seemed to touch her to her very bosom's core. +There is some fixed purpose in this cold-hearted woman's coming! Not +a lingering annoyance, but some coup de main, a bolt to be launched at +Hugh Johnstone alone!" + +"I do not know how I can break her lines, unless she shows me some weak +point," he mused. "But either her fortune or Johnstone's shall yield me +a heavy passing toll. And, there is always the girl! There, I would have +to meet Berthe Louison as a determined enemy!" In recognizing the fact +that his employer must make the game at last, that she must lead out +and so uncover herself, he saw his own masterly position between the two +prospective foes. + +"I can play them off the one against each other, at the right time, and, +if they fight each other, with the help of Justine Delande, I may even +make a strong running for the girl. I think I now see a way!" He felt +that his wandering days were over. The dark days of carking cares, +of harassing duns, of frequent changes of base, driven onward by the +rolling ball of gossip and innuendo. + +He felt strangely lifted up in the familiar scenes of his years of +wanderings. For he was at home again. Alixe Delavigne, however carefully +watched for her eastern adventure, was socially helpless in a land of +strange alien races, of discordant Babel tongues, of shifting scenes, a +land as unreal as the visions of a summer night. + +But to Alan Hawke all this Indian life was now a second nature. The +scenes of Bombay recalled his once ambitious youth, the days when he +first delightedly gazed upon the wonders of Elephanta, and the gloomy +grottoes of Salcette. From his very landing he had set himself +one cardinal rule of conduct, to absolutely ignore all the lighter +attractions of native and Eurasian beauty, and to let no single word +fall from his lips respecting the sudden occultation of Miss Nadine +Johnstone--this new planet softly swimming in the evening skies of +Delhi. He felt that he was beginning a new career, one in which neither +greed nor passion must betray him. It was the "third call" of Fortune, +and he had wisely decided upon a golden silence. "If I had only met the +favored Justine, instead of that withered Aspasia, Euphrosyne, then, +the girl's heart might have been easily made mine," was the unavailing +regret of the handsome Major. "If I could have come out with them," he +sighed. He well knew the softening effect upon romantic womanhood of a +long sea voyage where the willing winds sway the softer emotions of the +breast, and the trembling woman is defenseless against the perfidious +darts of Cupid. + +"My time will come," he murmured as the train rushed along through the +incense breathing plantations. A richer nature than foggy England was +spread out before him in treacherous Hindostan with its warring tribes, +its dying creeds, its dead languages, its history sweeping far back into +the mists of the unknown. For every problem of the human mind, every +throe of the restless heart of man is worn old and threadbare in +Hindostan, with its very dust compounded of the wind-blown ashes of +dead millions upon millions. Gross vulgar Gold reigns now as King on the +broad savannas where spice plantations and indigo farms vary the cotton, +rice, and sugar fields. Wasted treasures of dead dynasties gleam out +in the ornamentation of the temples abandoned to the prowling beast +of prey. And riches and ruin meet the eye in a strange medley. Dead +greatness and the prosaic present. + +Modern bungalows, where the faltering conqueror watches the tax-ridden +ryots dot the landscape, and an overweighted official system brings its +haughty military, its self-sufficient civilians, its proud womanhood, +to drain the exhausted heart of India. And the ryot groans under many +taskmasters. + +Lingering with a restless heart, in Allahabad, Alan Hawke roused himself +as at a bugle call, when he received a telegram announcing the safe +arrival of the Empress of India at Calcutta. + +"La danse va commencer," he muttered, as he read the brief words of his +employer: "Go on to Delhi, await me there. Telegrams to you there at +private address. Leave letters." The signature "Lausanne" was a new +spur to his well-considered prudence. And, so, the next day, Major Hawke +sedately descended at Delhi. + +There was nothing to distinguish Hawke from any other well-to-do +European, as he stood gazing around the station, in his cool linens, his +pith helmet and floating puggaree. The prudent air of judicious mystery +lately adopted sat easily upon him as his eye roved over the familiar +scenes of old with a silent gleam of recognition, he followed a +confidential attendant who salaamed, murmuring "My master awaits the +sahib whom he delights to love and honor." + +"There is one card I must play at once," murmured Hawke, as the carriage +sped along. "Mademoiselle Justine Delande must be my secret friend! I +wonder if Euphrosyne really swallowed the bait! If she has fallen into +the trap and written to her sister, then--all is well!" + +His eyes roved over the familiar scene of the broad Chandnee Chouk, +sweeping magnificently away from the Lahore gate to the superb palace. +The sun beat down with its old ferocious glare on shop and bazaar. Grave +merchants lolled over their priceless treasures of gold and silver work, +heaped up jewels and bullion-threaded shawls for princely wear. Under +the awnings lingered the familiar polyglot groups, while beggary and +opulence jostled each other on every hand. + +"It's the same old road in life!" murmured Alan Hawke, "whether called +Inderput, Shahjehanabad, or Delhi--the same old game goes on here +forever, here by the sacred Jumna!" + +He was dreaming of the artful part which he had to play in the fierce +modern race for wealth. "They used to fight for it like men in the old +days," he bitterly murmured. "Now, the only gold that I see before me +is to be had by gentlemanly blackmail! Right here--between old Hugh +Johnstone and this flinty-hearted woman avenger--lies my fortune. And I +swear that nothing shall stop me! I will be the prompter of the little +play now ready for a first rehearsal!" His eyes lighted up viciously +as he was swept along past the great marble house, gleaming out in the +shady compound, where the Rosebud of Delhi was hidden. + +"Cursed old curmudgeon! To lock the girl up!" muttered the handsome +young rascal. "Old Ram Lal must do a bit of spying for me!" Hawke could +see on the raised plateau of marble steps all the evidences of the +sumptuous luxury of the haughty Briton, "who toils not, neither does +he spin." But, the dozen pointed arches on each face of the vast palace +house of the budding baronet showed no sign of life. The clustered +marble columns stretched out in a splendid lonely perspective, and +the square inner castellated keep rose up in the glaring sun, but with +closed and shaded windows. Dusky shapes flitted about, busied in the +infinitesimal occupations of Indian servitors, but no graceful woman +form could be seen in the witching gardens where a Rajah might have +fitly held a durbar. + +"I'll warrant the old hunks has Bramah locks and Chubb's burglar proofs +to fence this beauty off!" growled the Major, as he sank back in the +carriage. "I fancy, though, that a liberal dose of Madame Louison's +gold, judiciously administered by me, in her interest, to Justine +Delande, may open the way to the girl's presence! The mother's story +may serve to win the girl's heart. If I can only busy old Hugh and the +Madame in watching each other, then I can handle Justine." + +"Yes," the satisfied schemer concluded, "the old man's game is the +bauble title. Berthe Louison's must be some studied revenge. She is +above all blackmail. I know already half the story of this clouded past. +Madame Alixe Delavigne must yield up the other half, bit by bit. By the +time she arrives, my spies will have posted me. I will have opened my +parallels on the Swiss dragon who guards the lovely Nadine. Now to make +my first play upon the old nabob." + +Major Alan Hawke had studied skillfully out his gambit for an attack +upon Hugh Johnstone's vanity. When he descended at the hospitable doors +of his secret ally, Ram Lal Singh, he plunged into the seclusion of a +luxurious easy toilet making. A dozen letters glanced over, a comforting +hookah, and Alan Hawke had easily "sized up" the situation. For Ram +Lal's first skeleton report had clearly proved to him that the coast +was clear. "Thank Heavens there are as yet no rivals," Hawke murmured. +"Neither confidential friend of the old boy, no dashing Ruy Gomez as +yet in the way." Hawke viewed himself complacently in the mirror. He +was severely just to himself, and he well knew all his own good points. +"Pshaw!" he murmured, "any man not one-eyed can easily play the Prince +Charming to a hooded lady all forlorn, a mere child, a tyro in life's +soft battles of the heart. I must impress this pompous old fool that I +know all the intrigues of his proposed elevation. He will unbosom, and +both trust and fear me. These pampered civilians are as haughty in their +way as the military and be damned to them," mused Hawke, cheerfully +humming his battle song, those words of a vitriolic wit: + +"General Sir Arthur Victorious Jones, Great is vermillion splashed with +gold." + +"This old crab has quietly stolen himself rich, and now forsooth would +tack on a Sir Hugh before his name. Ah! The jewels! I must delicately +hint to him that I am in the inner circle of the cognoscenti." + +And then Alan Hawke cheerfully joined his obese and crafty friend and +host, Ram Lal Singh. For an hour the soft, oily voice of the old jewel +merchant flowed on in a purring monologue. The ease and mastery of the +Conqueror's language showed that the usurer had well studied the +masters of Delhi. Sixty years had given Ram Lal added cunning. A crafty +conspirator of the old days when the mystic "chupatties" were sent out +on their dark errand, the sly jewel merchant had survived the bloody +wreck of the throne of Oude, and from the place of attendant to one of +the slaughtered princes, dropped down softly into the trade of money +lender, secret agent, and broker of the unlawful in many varied ways. + +It was Ram Lal's easy task to purvey luxuries to the imperious Briton, +to hold the extravagant underlings in his usurious clutches, to be at +peace with Hindu, Moslem, Sikh, Pathan, Ghoorka, Persian, and Armenian, +and to blur his easy-going Mohammedanism in a generous participation in +all sins of omission and commission. A many-sided man! + +Alan Hawke heaved a sigh of easy contentment when he had brought the +chronique scandahuse of Delhi down to the day and hour. + +"You say that she is beautiful, this girl?" + +"As the stars on the sea!" nodded Ram Lal. + +"And the Swiss woman?" + +"Never leaves her for a minute. They see no one, for all men say the old +Commissioner will take her home, to Court when he is gazetted!" + +"None of the great people go there?" keenly queried Hawke. + +"Not even the fine ladies," laughed Ram Lal. "The old fellow may have +his own memories of the past. He trusts no one. The girl is only a +bulbul in a golden cage and with no one to sing to." Hawke cut short Ram +Lal's flowery figures. + +"Does the Swiss woman trade with you?" he demanded. + +"Yes, she buys a few simple things--my peddlers take the Veiled Rose +many rich things. The old Sahib is very generous to the child. And the +dragon loves trinkets, too!" Then Alan Hawke's eyes gleamed. + +"She knows your shop here?" + +"Perfectly," replied Ram Lal, "and comes alone--on the master's +business. You know I had many dealings with Sahib Hugh Fraser in the old +days," mused the jeweler. "He always admits my men. I have valued gems +for him for twenty years." + +"Good!" cried the happy Major. "I want to send a man now to her with a +note. I am going to put up at the United Service Club, but I must see +this woman first. I don't like to send a letter, though. If I had any +one to trust--" + +The merchant promptly said: "I will go myself! They are always in the +garden in the afternoon. I can easily see her alone." + +"First rate! Then I will give you a message," answered Hawke. "I must +see her to-morrow early, for old Hugh will surely ask me to tiffin. And, +Ram, you must at once set your best man on to watch all that goes on +there. I have a good fat plum for you now--to set up a neat little house +here for a friend of mine who is coming, and you shall do the whole +thing!" The merchant's dark eyes glistened. "A new officer of rank?" he +queried. + +"It's a lady--a friend of mine--rich, too, and she wants to live on the +quiet! She will stay here for some time!" The oily listener had learned +a vast prudence in the days when he trod the halls of the last King +of Delhi, so he held his peace and wondered at the suddenly enhanced +fortunes of that star of graceful wanderers, Allan Hawke! + +"I'll go over to the club now and get a room! Send all my things over!" +said the Major. "I wish to let Hugh know that I am here. I will give +you the directions about the house to-morrow. Make no mistake with this +message now!" Whereat Alan Hawke repeated a few words which would +awake the slumbering curiosity in the woman-heart of the lonely Justine +Delande! + +"Now, I will return and await your success," concluded Hawke as he read +over a dozen times Madame Berthe Louison's long dispatch, ordering him +to prepare her pied de terre in Delhi. "Gad! Milady means to do the +thing in style," he murmured. "She is a deep one, and she must have a +pot of money!" He lit a cheroot and sauntered away to show up officially +at the club. Major Hawke soon became aware that nothing succeeds like +success. Not only did all the flaneurs of the Chandnee Chouk seize +upon him, but, from passing carriages, bright, roguish eyes merrily +challenged him as the hot-hearted English Mem-Sahibs whirled by. + +Rumor had magnified the importance of Major Alan Hawke's secret service +appointment, and the wanderer was astounded when the highest official of +the Delhi College gravely saluted him. + +"By Gad! I believe that I am really becoming respectable!" laughed the +delighted major. His uncertain past seemed to be fast fading away in the +glow of the skillfully hinted official promotion. "I wonder now if old +Ram Lal has a hold on my canny friend, Hugh Fraser Johnstone--Sir Hugh +to be! Perhaps they are like all the rest of us--rascals of the same +grade, but only in different ways. The old jewel matters! I must look to +this and watch Ram Lal!" The returned Anglo-Indian carelessly nodded +to the group of men gathered in the club's lounging-room as he entered. +Designedly, he loudly demanded to know if his traps had arrived. "Left +all my odds and ends in store," he murmured to a friend, as he called +for a brandy pawnee. "Beastly bore! Must wait orders here for some +time!" + +Skilled at tossing the ball of conversation to and fro, Major Alan +Hawke, while at luncheon, artfully planted seeds here and there, to be +neatly dished up later for that incipient baronet, Hugh Johnstone. And +yet a graceful shade of dignified reserve lent color to his rumored +advancement, and the schemer leaned over the writing table with quite a +foreign-office air as he indited his diplomatic note of arrival to his +destined prey. + +With a grave air he selected his rooms and accommodations to suit his +swelling port, and even the club stewards nodded in recognition of the +tidal wave of Alan Hawke's mended fortunes. + +With due official gravity the man "who had dropped into a good thing," +disappeared, to allow the gilded youth of Delhi to carry the gossip to +mess and bungalow. It was a welcome morsel to these merry crows! + +It was late when the handsome Major returned to find a small pyramid of +notes on his table and many letters in his box. He was in the highest +good humor, for the wary Ram Lal had most diplomatically acquitted his +task of opening a secret communication. + +"Just as I thought," laughed the Major, as he sipped his pale ale in Ram +Lal's spacious room of pleasaunce. "They all protest, woman-like, but +they all come!" + +The watchful Swiss exile's heart fluttered tenderly in the far-off Lotos +land at the arrival of a secret friend of her sage sister. She longed +for the morning to meet her new friend. Alan Hawke's irresistible +attractions had pointed the praises which flowed smoothly over the +double crossed letter which had preceded him! The oily Ram Lal, a +veteran observer of many an intrigue, scented a budding rose of romance +in the Major's adroit coup, and the arrival of the only lady whom Alan +Hawke had ever socially fathered in Delhi. + +"In three days I will be all ready! So you can telegraph to-night," +reported the merchant, when the Major carefully went over all the +details of the proposed temporary establishment of the disguised Alixe +Delaviarne. + +"Very good!" approvingly answered the dignified confidant and patron. +"See here, Ram Lal! You have only to serve me well in these little +private matters, and you shall handle all the coming Mem-Sahib's money +business here! She wants to be quiet. I am to direct all her private +matters! Not a word, however, to old Hugh!" The two men separated, Hawke +with the knowledge that one of Ram's men had already glided into the +swarming household entourage of Hugh Johnstone's stately home, and the +spy was on every movement of the strange interior, which defied the +Delhi beaux. + +"Not a bad day's work," mused Hawke, as he dined in solitary state. The +hospitable bidding of the wealthiest civilian of Delhi to tiffin on the +morrow brought him in touch with Alixe Delavigne's proposed victim once +more. The delighted rascal mused: "I will surely have letters from her +to-morrow, possibly even a telegram of her arrival. When the silly Swiss +woman is the partner of an innocent secret, she is mine to control! Then +the chase for a few lacs of rupees begins!" + +Major Hawke was somewhat startled at the little avalanche of welcoming +cards and notes. "Bravo! this will throw old Hugh off the track a bit +also. The simple duty of piquing local curiosity shall open all hearts, +hearths, and homes to me!" And then, Alan Hawke joyously realized how +easily the light-headed world can be fooled to the top of its bent by +the hollow trick of a bit of mystery play. + +"This falls out rightly," he mused. "I will take up all the threads of +my old society life and Madame Berthe Louison may deign to confide a bit +in me the first half of the story forced from her, then I will guess out +all the missing links of the chain. Once domiciled here, she is +helpless in my hands, for I can either gain her inner secrets, or boldly +checkmate her. And the veiled Rose of Delhi?" + +Alan Hawke dreamed not of the sorrows of the restless heart beating +in that virginal bosom. He paced the veranda of the Club gravely +preoccupied till the midnight hour. Long before that, Justine Delande +had sought her rooms in a feeble flutter of excitement over the harmless +assignation of the morrow. There was a stern old man pacing his splendid +hall alone, with an unhappy heart, that night, for Hugh Johnstone +saw again in the sweet uplifted eyes of his beautiful child the old +unanswered question! + +He stood long gazing out upon the unpitying stars, while above him, +lonely and lovely, Nadine recked not the queenly splendor of her +magnificent apartment. Glittering wealth, splendid train of servants, +the golden future stretching out before her, all this she noted not, +for, even in the gray, colorless life of the pension school at Geneva, +soft-eyed Hope whispered to her of a gentle and gracious mother! +Loved--gone before, but not lost--and, here in the land of gaudy Asiatic +splendors, a strange land of wonderment and fairy riches, she sobbed +alone in her heart anguish: + +"He will not speak! He tells me nothing! A marble palace this, but +never a home!" The timid girl had seen no beloved woman's face upon +the fretwork of the walls of this Aladdin's castle. And, in her own +frightened heart, she remembered the ashen pallor of her father's +face when she had faltered out the burning question of her yearning +heart--the question of long years! The past was still a blank to her, +while on this same night, crafty Alan Hawke in Delhi, and, in far +Calcutta, a woman, pacing her boudoir in sad unrest, were both busied +with the story of the vanished mother whom the Rose of Delhi had never +seen! + +Alixe Delavigne, lonely and resolute, was thinking of her departure +on the morrow, to face the man who had locked his dead past in his own +marble heart, in his grand marble palace. Her busy days at Calcutta had +astounded the senior manager of Grindlay & Co. The old banker marveled +at the strange commissions and imperative orders of his beautiful +business client, but many years had taught him much of the +incomprehensibility of womanhood! Whereupon he marveled in silence, and +bowing with his hand upon his heart, assured the lady of his absolute +discretion, and the unbroken honor of the house. "Some very queer little +life histories go on out here in India!" mused the old banker, as he +handed the lady her special letter to the Delhi agents of the great +house which house which he directed. "As beautiful as a statue, as firm +as a flint! Where have I seen a face like hers?" mused the old man, as +he sought his rest. + +The "beautiful statue" was steadfastly gazing at the picture of the +young Rose of Delhi, in her lonely boudoir. "She shall learn to love +her! To love her--through me! And this man of iron shall yield! He shall +hear my prayer! For, if he does not, then, he shall be struck to the +heart--blow for blow! And Fate shall pass her over! I swear it by that +lonely grave in far away Jitomir!" There were kisses rained upon the +pictured face smiling up at her, the face which had called back to her +the dead past, and then the "beautiful statue" tore aside her gown. She +gazed upon a folded paper which had long lain upon her throbbing heart. +"This shall speak for me--at the last! His pride shall bend! He shall +not break the child's heart! For the mother's sake, I swear it! She +shall love and be loved!" and as she spoke, in far away Delhi sweet +Nadine stirred in her sleep, and smiled, with opening arms, for the +phantom mother she fondly sought seemed to clasp her now to a loving +breast! + +In the Delhi Club there was high wassail below him, while Major Alan +Hawke restlessly paced his spacious rooms above, watching the lonely +white moon sail through the clearest skies on earth. The quid mines had +all observed the patiently haughty air of the returned Major, and even +the chattering club stewards marveled at the sudden efflorescence of +Hawke Sahib's fortunes. + +"Devilish neat-handed fellow, Hawke," growled old Major Bingo Morris, +over his whist cards. "Close-mouthed fellow! Always wonder why he left +the service! Neat rider! Good hand with gun and spear! He ought to be in +our Staff Corps! He knows every inch of the northern frontier!" The old +Major glared around, inviting further comment. + +"Fellow in Bombay tells me he went a cropper about some woman or other, +ten years ago," lisped a rosy young lieutenant who was spreading the +golden revenues of a home brewery over the pitfall-dotted path of a rich +Indian sub. + +"Right you are!" sententiously remarked Verner of the Horse Artillery. +"He went a stunning pace for a while, and at last had to get out. Big +flirtation--wife of commanding officer! Hawke acted very nicely. Said +nothing--sacrificed himself. That's why the women all like him. Very +safe man. But, he's a shy bird now." They dissected his past, guessed at +his present, but could not read his future! + +And then and there, the man who knew it all, told of the mysterious +governmental quest confided to Major Alan Hawke. "You see, he has a sort +of roving commission in mufti, to counteract the ceaseless undermining +of the Russian agents in Persia, Afghanistan and in the Pamirs. We +always bear the service brand too openly. It gives away our own military +agents. Now, Hawke's a fellow like Alikhanoff, that smart Russian +duffer! He can do the Persian, Afghan, or Thibetan to perfection! He has +been on to London. Some morning he will clear out. You'll hear of him +next at Kashgar, or in Bhootan, or perhaps he will work down into China +and report to the Minister there. He is a Secret Intelligence Department +of One, that's all!" + +"That's all very irregular for Her Majesty's Service," growled an +envious agnostic. + +"Bah! Secret Service has no rules, you know," said the man who knew it +all, thrusting his lips deeply into a brandy pawnee. + +And so it was noted that Alan Hawke was a devilish pleasant fellow, a +rising man, and one who had certainly dropped into an extremely good +thing. The tide of Fortune was setting directly in favor of the man +who, pacing the floor upstairs, unavailingly tormented himself with the +subject of the missing jewels. + +"If I could only get a hold on Hugh Johnstone!" mused the adventurer. +"Berthe Louison knows nothing of these old matters. She only seeks to +approach the child. And she will be here to watch me in a day or so. +Ram Lal, the old scoundrel! Does he know? If he did, he would bleed the +would-be Baronet on his own account. But he may not know of the golden +opportunity, and the old wretch always has many irons himself in the +fire. Hugh Fraser was a canny Scot in his youth. Sir Hugh Johnstone is a +horse of another color. If old Johnstone has the jewels, why does he not +yield them up? Perhaps he wants the Baronetcy first, and then his memory +may be strangely refreshed." + +As the wanderer strode up and down the room like a restless wolf, he +returned in his memories to the strange intimacy of Hugh Fraser and Ram +Lal. "I have it!" he cried. "I will kill two birds with one stone. My +pretty 'employer' shall furnish the golden means to loosen old Ram Lal's +tongue. This Swiss woman is fond of gewgaws, he tells me. I will let Ram +Lal 'squeeze' the Madame's household accounts to his heart's content. If +the Swiss woman is susceptible, she can be delicately bribed with +jewels paid for by my haughty employer's money, and my feeding this +'bucksheesh' out to Ram Lal liberally may bring him to talk of the old +days. I must give Hugh Johnstone the idea that I am inside the official +secrets as to the affair of the Baronetcy. Fear will make him bend, if +he is guilty, and I will alarm Ram Lal at the right time. If they have +any old bond of union, the ex-Commissioner may turn to me for help, +and all this will bring me nearer to the still heart-whole woman who is +hidden in that marble prison. I will make my strongest running on the +Swiss woman. Once the bond of friendly secrecy established between us, +she can be fed, bit by bit, for then she dare not break away." + +Ram Lal Singh was the last watcher in Delhi who coveted a glimpse that +night into the dim future. The old schemer sat alone in his favorite +den in rear of the shop. His round, black eyes surveyed complacently his +faithful domestics, sleeping on the floor at the threshold of the doors +of the four rooms opening into the central hall of his shop. A single +clap of his hands, and these faithful retainers were ready to rise, +tulwar in hand, and cut down any intruder. + +The old jewel merchant's eye roved over the medley of priceless +bric-a-brac in the main hall. The spoils of temple and olden palace cast +grotesque, soft, dark shadows on the floor, under the glimmer of the +swinging cresset lamp filled with perfumed nut oil. Seated cross-legged, +and nursing the mouth-piece of his narghileh, Ram Lal pondered long over +the sudden appearance of the rehabilitated Major Hawke, and the coming +of the rich Mem-Sahib who was to be a hidden bird in the luxurious nest +already awaiting its inmate. + +Ram Lal was vaguely uneasy, as he glanced at the pretty pavilion in his +own compound, where languid loveliness awaited his approach. He resigned +himself with a sigh to his lonely schemes. He rose and with his own +hand, poured out a draught of the forbidden strong waters of the +Feringhee. + +Dropping down upon the cushions, he reviewed the whole day's doings. "It +is not for him, for Hawke Sahib, this bungalow of delight is made ready! +And the old Sahib is to know nothing. Can it be a trap for him? I am to +watch the old man for Hawke Sahib. This woman who comes. They say here +he will go soon away, over the sea to the court of the Kaisar-I-Hind. He +is rich, why does he linger? And perhaps not return. + +"All these long years of my watch thrown away! For, never a single one +of the sacred jewels has he shown me! They have never seen the light +since the awful day in Humayoon's Tomb. Has he the jewels? Does he hide +them? Has he buried them? Has he sent them away? If he has them, then he +dies the death of a dog. The jewels of a king to be the spoil of a low +tax-gatherer! The King of Kings. + +"But why does he not go? I have watched him for years. + +"There is some reason! Hawke Sahib shall tell me all! He must tell! +He needs my help!" The old man's slumbers were haunted with the olden +memories of a day of doom, the day when the bodies of the sacred Princes +of Oude lay naked in the glaring sun as they were despoiled after +Hodson's pistol had done its bloody work. "They may have taken them all +from him, these English are greedy spoilers," muttered the crafty old +man, as his head fell upon the silken cushions with a curse. He was a +rebel still, as rank as Tantia Topee. + +In the splendid marble palace of Hugh Johnstone, the startled Justine +Delande was awake long before the dawn, thinking only of the meeting of +the morning, her bosom heaving with its first questionable secret, but +Major Alan Hawke smiled as he leisurely breakfasted later, reading a +telegram just received. "On my way. Will come to private address. Send +servants to Allahabad to join me. Silence and discretion.--Lausanne." + + + + +CHAPTER V. A DIPLOMATIC TIFFIN. + + + +Major Alan Hawke had designedly breakfasted in the stately seclusion of +his rooms, and as he came gravely sauntering into the Club ordinary, was +at once beset by a friendly chorus, as he carelessly glanced over the +morning letters which attested his progress toward the social zenith. +He, however, gazed impatiently at the club-house door, where a neat pair +of ponies awaited him, with servants deftly purveyed by the subtle Ram +Lal. His two body servants were also afrites of the same sly Aladdin. +His swelling port duly impressed his old friends. + +The man "who had dropped into a good thing" gently put aside sundry +hospitable proffers, politely laughed away several tempting bargains +as to horses, carriages, furnished bungalows, and offers of racing +engagements, hunting bouts, and "private" dinners. "Waiting orders, +d'ye see!" he gently murmured. "Not worth while to set up anything!" +And then, with the air of a martyr, he disappeared, the ponies springing +briskly away, leaving all baffled conjecture behind. The curious men who +were left discussing a flying rumor that Major Hawke was authorized to +raise a Regiment of Irregular Horse for a special expeditionary secret +purpose, wrangled with those who maintained that a brilliant local +civil-service vacancy would be theatrically filled by the man who now +bore a brow of mystery. The advent of this prosperous Hawke had made the +great social deeps of Delhi to boil like a pot. His mission was one of +those things no fellow could find out. + +Laughing in his sleeve, the object of all this sudden curiosity made +a number of detours, and adroitly followed a native servant down an +obscure rear street, after dismissing his pony carriage. The equipage +was busied during the earlier hours of the day in leaving the visiting +cards of the returned soldier of fortune in certain quarters well +calculated to attract social notice. + +Threading the spacious gardens in rear of Ram Lal's establishment, the +artful Major entered the jewel merchant's abode without the notice of +the morning gossips of the Chandnee Chouk. "All right, now," he laughed, +as he bade the sly merchant set a private guard to prevent all intrusion +upon their privacy. "I think that I have thrown these fellows off the +track very neatly!" he laughed. "No one knows of your rear entrances at +the club, I am sure!" It suited the luxurious old jewel merchant to hide +the opulence of his secret life, and to veil the graceful lapses of his +private code from the sober austerities of a dignified Mohammedanism. + +"Look alive now, Ram Lal!" said Hawke, briskly, as he handed his +confederate the telegram from Berthe Louison. "You see that the lady +will arrive here tomorrow night! Some one must go down to Allahabad for +her! Are you all ready for her coming?" + +"Perfectly!" smiled Ram Lal. "The Mem-Sahib could give a dinner of +twenty covers in an hour after her arrival! You know that the bungalow +was fitted up for--" he bent his head and whispered to Major Hawke, who +laughed intelligently and viciously. + +"All right, then! Here is the address in Allahabad, where the lady is to +wait for her conductors. She seems not to wish me to come down. I will +be at the bungalow, then, on your arrival! I will give you a letter +for her," said Hawke. Ram Lal's eyes gleamed in anticipation of the fat +pickings of the Mem-Sahib. He pondered a moment over the case. + +"Then, I will go down myself," complacently said Ram Lal, with an eye +to future business. "You can tell her to trust to me in all things. She +shall travel like a queen!" + +"That is better, and so I will telegraph to her, at Allahabad, this +afternoon, that I have sent you to meet her! Have a covered carriage +awaiting her here, and no one must be allowed to follow her to her +hidden nest. It is the making of your fortune with her!" cried Hawke, as +he lit a cheroot. + +"Trust to me, Sahib!" answered the wily jewel merchant, relapsing into +an expectant silence. He already connected the arrival of the beautiful +foreigner with the destiny of the opulent man whom he had revengefully +watched for twenty years. Hugh Fraser Johnstone had heaped up a fortune, +but it was not yet successfully deported to England. + +"And the Swiss woman, when may I see her; this morning?" demanded the +adventurer, as he dropped into a cool, Japanese chair. + +"My man will bring you the news of her coming!" answered the oily old +miscreant. "I told him to watch her, and run on to warn me!" Ram Lal was +a wily old Figaro of much experience. + +"Good! Then go outside and wait for her," coolly commanded the young +man. "When she comes, you can come in and warn me, and I will be ready." +Ram Lal obediently left Hawke without a questioning word, and the busy +brain of the adventurer was soon occupied with weaving the meshes for +the bird nearing the snare. "This woman's help is absolutely necessary +to me now!" he thought, as he contemplated his own handsome person in a +mirror. "If she can only hold her tongue and keep a secret, she may +be the foundation of my fortunes. I think that I can make it worth her +while, but she must never fall under the influence of this she-devil in +petticoats, who comes to-morrow night! And yet, the Louison knows she is +here! A friendship between them must be prevented!" He closed his eyes +dreamily, and studied the problem of the future attentively, revolving +every point of womanly weakness which he had observed in his past +experience. + +He had finally hit upon the right thing. It came to him just as Ram Lal +entered, with his finger on his lip. "She is in there, waiting for you, +and she came alone!" said the crafty merchant. "I can perhaps frighten +her with the idea that Madame Louison wishes to supplant her as lady +bear leader. The future pickings of this young heiress would be then +lost to her! Yes! A woman's natural jealousy will do the trick!" so +sagely mused the young man as he walked out into the hall, where Ram +Lal's treasures were heaped up on every side. There was no one visible +in the shop, but Ram Lal silently pointed with a brown finger, gleaming +with whitest gems, to a closed door. It was the entrance to the room +specially devoted to the superb collection of arms, the regained loot of +Delhi, slyly collected in the days of the mad sacking by the revengeful +English soldiery. A bottle of rum then bought a princely token. + +It had been with a guilty, beating heart that Justine Delande abandoned +her fair, young charge to the morning ministrations of a bevy of +dark-skinned servants. However, the sturdy Genevese waiting-maid who had +accompanied them to India was at hand, when the spinster incoherently +murmured her all too voluble excuses for an early morning visit to the +European shops on the Chandnee Chouk, and then fled away as if fearful +of her own shadow. She was duly thankful that no one had observed her +entrance to the jewel shop, and the refuge of the room, pointed out by +the amiable Ram Lal, at once reassured her. Justine was accorded a brief +breathing spell by the fates as the Major settled his plans. + +It did not seem so very hard, this first fall from maidenly grace, when +Major Alan Hawke, entering the little armory chamber, politely led the +startled woman to a seat, with a graceful self-introduction. + +"I should have recognized you any where, Mademoiselle Justine," deftly +remarked the Major, "by your resemblance to your most charming sister. +You have, I hope, received some private letters from her, with regard to +my visit?" The Swiss gouverriante faltered forth her affirmative answer, +while secretly approving the enthusiastic judgment of her distant sister +upon this most admirable Crichton of English Majors. "Then," said Hawke, +alluringly, "we must be very good friends, you and I, for we are alone +together, among strangers, in this far-away land!" Then he calmly +dropped into an easy discourse, in which Geneva and Sister Euphrosyne +punctuated the graceful flow of his friendly chat. There was nothing +very sinful in the debut of this little intrigue. + +"Let us always speak French!" said Alan Hawke, with a quiet, warning +glance at the closed door. "These same soft-eyed Hindostanees are the +very subtlest serpents of the earth. The only way to do, is never to +trust any of them!" The Major was busied in carefully taking a mental +measurement of Mademoiselle Justine, who, still well on the sunny side +of forty, was really a very comely replica of her severer intellectual +sister. Justine Delande still lingered in that temperate zone of life +where a fair fighting chance of matrimony was still hers. "If a ray of +sunshine ever steals into the flinty bosom of a Swiss woman, there maybe +a gleam or two still left here," mused the Major, most adroitly avoiding +all reference to Justine's rosebud charge, and only essaying to place +her entirely at her ease. + +But, in proportion as he gracefully labored, the frightened governess +began to realize the danger of her situation. + +"I hope that no one will observe us," she said, speaking rapidly and +under her breath. "Mr. Johnstone is so eccentric, so haughty, and so +very peculiar!" Her distress was evident, and the gallant Major at once +hastened to allay her fears. + +"I have already thought of that. My old friend, Ram Lal, has a lovely +garden in rear of his house and there we will be entirely unobserved. +For I have so much that I would say to you." It was with a sigh of +relief that the frightened woman hastily passed through Ram Lal's +spacious snuggery in rear of his jewel mart and was soon ensconced in +a little pagoda, where Major Hawke seated himself at her side and +skillfully took up his soft refrains. + +In half an hour they were thoroughly en bon rapport, for the graceful +Major Hawke adroitly conversed with his laughing eyes frankly beaming +upon the lonely woman. He had drawn a long breath of relief when he ran +over the letter which the delighted Justine frankly submitted to him +for his inspection. The fair Euphrosyne's secret advices justified his +warmest anticipations. He had conquered her heart. + +"I will not delay you longer this morning," he said at last, with an +artful mock confidence. "I am infinitely grateful to you for so kindly +coming to meet me here. And it is only due to you to tell you why I +begged you to come here to-day. The nature of my important official +duties is such that I am not permitted to exhibit my real character to +any one here as yet. I am charged with some very delicate public duties +which may force me to linger here for some time, or perhaps disappear +without notice, only to return in the same mysterious manner. But in me +you have a stanch secret friend always. I have already written to your +charming sister, and I expect to receive from her letters which will be +followed by letters to you from her. And I shall write to-day and tell +her of your goodness to me." Miss Justine Delande's eyes were downcast. +Her agitated bosom was throbbing with an unaccustomed fire, and the +desire to be safely sheltered once more in Hugh Johnstone's marble +palace was now strong upon her. + +Hawke paused, still keeping his pleading eyes fixed upon the +fluttering-hearted woman's face. "Miss Nadine sees absolutely no one!" +murmured the governess, "and, of course, I never leave her. It is a very +exacting and laborious position, this charge which I now fill, and +of course the life is a very lonely one, though Nadine is an angel!" +enthusiastically cried Miss Justine. + +"And so," earnestly said Major Alan Hawke, "I am absolutely prevented +from seeing you, unless you will trust yourself to me, and come here +again." The frightened woman cast a glance at the unfamiliar loveliness +of the secluded garden, with the hidden kiosques, sacred to Ram Lal's +furtive amours. + +"I dare not!" she said, with trembling lips. "I would like to come, +but--" + +"Listen!" said Alan Hawke, softly taking her unresisting hand, "I will +confide in you. I must, even to-day, go to Hugh Johnstone's house. He +has bidden me to a private interview. And he gives a tiffin in my honor. +I have known him in past years. He does not as yet know of my official +position. My duties are secret. My very honor forbids me to divulge +it. I dare not openly acknowledge an acquaintance with you, with your +sister. It rests with you that we meet again, for my sake, for your own +sake, for your sister's sake. I cannot lose you for a mere quibble." + +There was a genuine alarm in Justine Delande's voice as she started up, +crying out, "You come to us to-day?" + +"Precisely!" gravely said Major Hawke, as he tried a long shot. +"Both Captain Anstruther and myself have the gravest secret duties in +connection with Hugh Johnstone's future. He soon may be Sir Hugh, you +know. And I dare not divulge to him my own delicate functions in this +matter. Now you understand me at last," said Hawke, warmly pressing +Justine Delande's hand. "I feel that I must not lose you, because I have +my duty to perform, and I trust my honor to you. All will be well if +you will only favor me with your womanly kindness, and trust to me as +frankly as I to you. We must meet to-day at Hugh Johnstone's as absolute +strangers. We must also remain strangers to all appearances for a time," +he said at last. The Swiss spinster gazed up at him piteously. + +"May I not even tell Nadine?" she faltered. + +"Ah!" carelessly said Alan Hawke, "she is a mere child; I shall probably +never see her. It is you alone that I would trust. Will you not come +here again? I dare not, for your own sake, detain you longer now." The +timid woman glanced hurriedly at her watch. + +"I have been here already too long, and I must go! And there is so much +I would say to you!" She was almost handsome in her blushing confusion. + +"Then you will come again, here? Ram Lal is my old factotum!" the young +Major pleaded. + +"I will come!" the half-subjugated woman whispered under her breath. +"But when?" Her eyes were meekly downcast and her faltering voice +trembled. + +"The day after to-morrow, at the same time," said Alan Hawke, his heart +leaping up in a secret victory, "but no living soul must ever know of +it. I will be here in the pagoda, waiting for you. Ram Lal will wait for +you himself and admit you. Do you promise?" he said, with a glance which +set her pallid cheeks aflame. + +"I promise! I promise! Let me go, now!" gasped the excited woman. With +stately courtesy, the Major then led her back into the jewel merchant's +luxurious lounging-room. + +"Wait here for a single moment!" he whispered as he quickly poured out a +glass of cordial. And, then, returning in a few moments, he clasped upon +the woman's wrist a bracelet of old Indian gold, whose flexible links +glittered with the fire of a row of old Indian mine stones. Justine +Delande sat mute, as if dreaming. + +"Our little secret is now all our own!" he pleasantly murmured. +"Remember! Should we meet at the marble house, you do not know me! +Can you trust yourself? You must--for my sake! This will help you to +remember our first meeting." + +"You may depend upon me, whenever you may wish to call upon me," she +whispered. "I will come!" and then she fled away, with soft, gliding +steps, to regain the safety of her own room before the trying hour of +tiffin. + +Major Alan Hawke closed the door, and laughed softly as he threw himself +into a chair. "They are all the same!" he mused. "Not a bad morning's +work! For she will never tell our little secret! And she will surely +come again! She may be my salvation here! Madame Louison, I now debit +you just thirty pounds!" laughed Major Alan Hawke, as he deftly blew a +kiss in the direction of Allahabad. "You shall pay for this bracelet, +and much more! You shall pay for all! And I'll set this soft-hearted +Swiss woman on to watch you, and you shall pay her well, too! Now, for +my old friend, Hugh Johnstone!" He waited in a most happy frame of mind +till his carriage bore him to the club for an elaborate Anglo-Indian +toilet. + +There was a crowd of eager gossips secretly tracking him who watched him +roll away in state to the marble house. + +"By Jove! I believe that he is the coming man!" said old Captain Verner. +"I wonder if this handsome young beggar is really going in for the +Veiled Rose of Delhi. Just his damned luck!" And then the loungers +left the club window and drank deeply confusion to the would-be wooer's +stratagems. + +All unconscious of their busy curiosity, the gallant Major Alan Hawke +calmly descended at the marble house, with a secret oath now registered +to ignore the very existence of Nadine Johnstone, "The old man is always +harping on his daughter," he mused. "I must throw this old beggar off +his guard thoroughly to-day, once and for all. He must never think that +I, too, am 'harping on his daughter.' + +"But only let me get to the core of this old secret of the jewels, and I +will find a way to frighten the baronet-to-be until he opens his miserly +old heart." And so the wary guest sought his old friend's presence. When +Major Alan Hawke's neat trap drew up before the marble house there +was an officious crowd of Hindu underlings in waiting to welcome the +expected guest. + +Casting his eyes around the wide hall gleaming with its superb trophies +of priceless arms, with a quick glance at the crowd of sable retainers, +Major Hawke realized in all the barren splendors of the first story the +absence of any womanly hand. As he followed the obsequious house butler +into a vast reception room, he murmured: + +"A diplomatic tiffin, I will warrant! The old fox is sly." He wandered +idly about the Commissioner's sanctum, admiring the precious loot of +years, displayed with an artfully artless confusion. On the walls, a +series of beautiful Highland scenes recalled the Land o' Lakes. Pausing +before a sketch of a stern old Scottish keep of the moyen age, Major +Alan Hawke softly sneered: "Oatmeal Castle! The family stronghold of the +old line of the Sandy Johnstone's, nee Fraser." And, picking up the last +number of the Anglo-Indian Times, he then affected a composure which he +was far from feeling. + +"Damn this sly Scotsman! Why does he not show up?" was the chafing +soliloquy of the Major, now anxious to seal his re-entree into Delhi +society with the open friendship of the most powerful European civilian +within the battered walls of the wicked city. He needed all his +nerve now, for Hugh Fraser Johnstone was a past master of the arts of +dissimulation. + +In fact, the mauvais quart d'heure was really due to the innate womanly +weakness of Mademoiselle Justine Delande. This guileless Swiss maiden +had been carried off her feet by the romantic episode of the morning. +Her cool palm still tingled with the meaning pressure of the handsome +Major's hand! She had hastened away to her own apartment, as a wounded +tigress seeks its cave for a last stand! The concealment of the diamond +bracelet was a matter of necessity, and, with a beating heart, she +buried it deep under the poor harvest of paltry Delhi trinkets which she +had already gathered, with a mere magpie acquisitiveness. + +Alan Hawke had builded better than he knew, when he selected this same +bauble. He had been guided by a chance remark of Ram Lal's. "Give her +that," said the crafty old jeweler. "She has priced it a dozen times +since her first coming here." It was the Ultima Thule of personal +decoration to her. The Swiss governess reserved the secret delight of +donning the glittering ornament until she was positive that no tell-tale +spy had observed her innocent assignation with her sister's chivalric +friend. "He must be rich and powerful," she murmured as she fled from +her room to play the safety game of being found with the heiress when +her Prince Charming should arrive. Miss Nadine Johnstone failed not to +observe the unusual color mantling her sedate friend's cheeks. + +"You look as if you had received some good news. Is the mail in?" +queried Miss Johnstone. + +"Not yet. I hastened back, for I forgot to take my watch and was +belated. I fear I am late, even now, for tiffin," demurely replied the +Swiss maiden, dropping for the first time in her life into the baleful +arts of the other daughters of Eve. She had broken the ice of propriety +in which her past life had been congealed and an insidious pleasure now +thrilled her quickened veins, as she felt herself possessed of a secret, +one linking her to an attractive member of the dangerous sex, and a hero +of romance, a very Don Juan in seductive softness. Her knees trembled at +a sudden summons to report to the Master of the marble house, forthwith. + +Her bosom heaved with a vague alarm as she timidly descended the grand +stair, and was conducted to the private snuggery of the Commissioner +adjoining his own apartments. "Does he know aught of the meeting?" she +questioned herself, in the throes of a sudden fright. She was somewhat +reassured as she observed the carriage drawn up in the compound and, by +hazard, caught a glance of Alan Hawke's graceful martial figure, as +he stood regarding her intently from the safe shelter of the darkened +reception-room. Her heart bounded with delight as her Prince Charming +smilingly placed his finger on his lip. + +A sense of manly protection, never felt before, gave her the strength of +ten as she then glided along boldly to face her gray-headed master. For +now she knew that she had a champion at her side, a man professionally +brave, both resolute and charming. Her promise to meet Alan Hawke again +at the jeweler's now took on a roseate hue. + +"I must surely keep my plighted word at all risks," she murmured to +herself. For the sage reflection that she owed a sacred duty to her +sister's friend, now came to comfort her, in her heart of hearts. It was +almost a pious duty which lay before her now. And so she became brave +in the knowledge of the innocent secret shared between herself and the +handsome official visitor. + +To her delight and relief she found it an easy task to face Hugh +Johnstone, after that one reassuring glance. Her stern employer failed +to pierce the muslin fortifications of her guilty bosom and discern the +moral turpitude lurking there. She stole a last anxious glance at her +still plump wrist where the diamond bracelet had softly clasped her +flesh, and then softly sighed in relief as the master calmly said: + +"Miss Justine, I have a gentleman of some distinction to entertain +to-day at tiffin. An official visitor. I would be thankful if you would +do the honors. Will you kindly join us in the reception room in half +an hour, and I will present Major Hawke, my old friend. He has just +returned from England." + +"And Miss Nadine?" meekly demanded the happy woman. The old +Commissioner's brow darkened, as he shortly said: "My daughter will +be served in her rooms, as usual on such formal occasions. These +interlopers are no part of her life. We may soon leave for Europe, and +she is therefore better off to remain a stranger to these merely local +acquaintances. It is very unlikely that we shall ever re-visit India! +Will you see her and say that I purpose driving out with her later?" + +No woman in India was as happy, at that particular moment, as the +Genevese, who merely bowed in silence, and glided softly away, having +escaped the levin-bolt of Hugh Johnstone's wrath, ever ready, lurking +under his bushy, white eyebrows. It was the work of a moment for her to +fulfill her simple task as messenger, and this done, she burned to +hide herself in her own coign of vantage, for certain new-born ideas +of personal decoration were crystallizing in her excited brain. For +the first time in her life, she would be fair to man's views; so as to +justify the partner of her momentous secret in the complimentary remarks +which, even now, made her ears tingle in delight. + +"Do you know aught of this Major Hawke who comes to-day?" wearily, +said the listless girl. "Some one of these red-faced old relics of my +father's early life, I suppose!" The Rose of Delhi was gazing wistfully +out upon the wilderness of beauty in the tangled gardens, sweeping far +out to where the high stone wall shut off the glare and flying dust of +the Chandnee Chouk. + +"Certainly not, Nadine!" softly said the governess. "This is only a +peopled wilderness to me!" Her heart smote her as the girl, with a +sudden lonely sinking of the heart, threw her arms around the neck of +her startled companion. + +"I am so unhappy here--so wretched, this is but a gleaning white stone +prison, Justine! I stifle in this wretched land! Why did my father bring +me here to die by inches?" There was no pretense in her stormy sobs. + +"We are soon going home, Darling!" cried the affrighted Swiss. "Just +now your father told me that we were all to leave India forever, and at +once." And so, gently soothing the unhappy girl, orphaned in her +heart, Justine Delande escaped to the first essay of her life in high +decorative art. "There is some strange mystery of the past in all this! +He has a heart of flint, this old tyrant!" murmured Justine, as with +fingers trembling in haste she completed a toilet, which later caused +even old Hugh Johnstone to growl "By Gad! This Swiss woman's not half +bad looking!" A last pang, caused by the keen secret sorrow of not +daring to wear her diamond bracelet, was effaced by the rising tide +of indignation in Justine Delande's awakened heart. There were strange +emotional currents fitfully thrilling through her usually placid veins +as she stole a last glance at herself in the mirror. "A tyrant to the +daughter. I warrant that in the old days he broke the mother's heart! He +never mentions her! Not a picture is here--nothing--not even a memento, +not a reference to the woman who gave him this lovely child! Her life, +her death, even her resting place, are all wrapped in the selfish and +brutal silence of a selfish tyrant! He should have been only a drill +sergeant to knock about the half-crazed brutes who stagger under a +soldier's pack over these burning plains!" It suddenly occurred to her +that in some mysterious way Major Alan Hawke's coming would contribute +to the rescue of the captive Princess. + +Justine Delande really loved her beautiful charge with all the fond +attachment of a mature woman for the one rose blossoming in her lonely +heart. Their gray passionless lives had run on together since Nadine's +childhood, as brooks quietly mingle, seeking the unknown sea! She now +felt the wine of life stirring within her, and, seizing upon another +justification for her dangerous secret association with Alan Hawke, she +murmured: "I will tell him of all this. He has high influence with +the Home Government. This Captain Anstruther on the Viceroy's staff is +certainly his firm friend. We must leave here and return to dear old +Switzerland. Perhaps the Major himself knows the secret of the family +history!" + +And there was a meaning light in her eyes as she stole back to Nadine's +room when the silver gong sounded, and throwing her arms around the +girl, whispered: "We are going home soon, darling! Be brave and trust to +me! I will find out the story of the past and tell you all, my darling!" +Justine Delande unwound the girl's arms from round her neck, while +honest tears trembled in her eyes. + +The low cry: "My mother! My darling mother! He never even breathes the +name!" had loosened all the tide of repressed feeling long pent up in +Justine Delande's heart. + +"Trust to me! You shall know all, dearest! I am sure that Euphrosyne +knows, and we shall see her soon!" So with an added reason for +their second meeting, Miss Justine descended the grand marble stair, +murmuring: "He shall tell me all he knows; he can search the past here! +He can help me, and he must--for Nadine's sake!" + +And as he bowed low before her in courteous acknowledgment of the +master's presentation, Alan Hawke caught the lambent gleam of the newly +awakened fires in Justine Delande's eyes. "She is another woman," he +mused. With one silent glance of veiled recognition, Alan Hawke returned +to his diplomatic fence with the wary old nabob who sat at the head of +the glittering table. He was in no doubt now as to the second meeting at +Ram Lal Singh's shop, for Justine Delande's eyes promised him more than +even his habitual hardihood would have dared to ask. "What the devil's +up now?" he mused, "Something about the girl, I warrant. I suppose that +the old brute has exiled her here for safety." And then and there, Alan +Hawke swore to reach the side of the Veiled Rose of Delhi, though the +cold gray eyes of the host never caught him off his guard a moment in +the two hours of the pompously drawn-out feast. Both the men were keenly +watching each other now. + +It had been no mere accidental slip of the tongue which guided Alan +Hawke in his greeting of the old ex-Commissioner when Hugh Johnstone +entered the reception-room, a study in gray and white, with only the +three priceless pigeon-blood rubies lending a color to his snowy linen. +"Upon my word, Sir Hugh, you are looking younger than I ever saw you," +said the visitor gracefully advancing. + +"You're a bit premature, are you not, Hawke?" dryly said the civilian, +opening a silver cheroot box, once the property of a Royal Prince of +Oude. Hugh Johnstone motioned his visitor to be seated, and keenly +watched the younger man. + +"I am on the inside of the matter," soberly said Alan Hawke. "It was an +open secret when I left London, and I've heard more since. A brief delay +only,--a matter of a few months--no more." + +"Take a weed! They serve in half an hour!" abruptly said Hugh Johnstone, +as if anxious to change the subject. The old man then strode forward +and closed the door. Then, turning sharply upon his visitor, frankly +demanded, "Now, tell me why you are here?" + +"That depends partly upon your affairs," said Hawke, meeting his +questioner's gaze unflinchingly. "I may have something to say to you +about the Baronetcy, by and bye." He paused to notice the keen old +Scotchman wince under the thrust, "but, in the mean time, I am merely +waiting orders here, and I want you to post me about the condition of +affairs up there." He vaguely indicated with his thumb the far-distant +battlement of the Roof of the World. Hugh Johnstone rang a silver bell, +and muttered a few words in Hindostanee to an attendant. "I must know +more from Calcutta before I can explain just where I stand," said the +renegade soldier, with caution. + +Before the silver tray loaded with ante-prandial beverages was produced, +Hugh Johnstone quietly turned to his guest. "Did you see Anstruther in +London?" he demanded, with a scarcely veiled eagerness. + +"We were together some days," very neatly rejoined the now confident +Major. "In fact, I'm to operate partly under his personal directions. We +are old friends." + +"I wonder when he will return?" dreamily said Johnstone, as if the +subject was growing annoying in its bold directness. + +"I believe that he has a long leave--a furlough of a year," lightly +answered the Major. "In fact, I am to carry on some official matters for +him in his absence, but he is wary and non-committal." + +"What is his English address?" abruptly said Johnstone, as they bowed +formally over their glasses. + +"I do not know," frankly returned Hawke. "I am to send all reports to +headquarters in Calcutta." + +"Are you going down there soon?" asked the old nabob, with a growing +uneasiness. + +"Not unless I am sent for by the Viceroy," quietly said the Major, with +a listless air, gazing around admiringly on the magnificence of the +apartment. + +"I will give you a letter to my nephew, Douglas Fraser, when you do go," +said Johnstone. "He is a fine youngster, and he will have charge of all +my Indian affairs, if I go home. He is in the P. and O. office. I would +like you to know him." + +"I did not know that you had any family connection here," replied the +Major with a start of innocent surprise. + +"Only this boy," hastily replied the incipient baronet, "and my +daughter. She is, however, a mere child--a mere child. I have seen the +leaves of the family tree wither and drop off one by one." The host then +stiffly rose, and formally said, "Let us go in!" + +"You are good for a score of years yet," jovially remarked Major Hawke, +as he gazed at the well-preserved outer man of his uneasy entertainer. +"The harpoon is deeply fixed in the old whale," mused Hawke, as he +followed Hugh Johnstone. "He begins to flounder now." + +Conscious of the mental alarm which Hugh Johnstone could not altogether +conceal, Major Hawke had simply bowed, in his grand manner, when the +host presented his guest to Mademoiselle Delande. "I will let the old +beggar lead out," mused Hawke. "This royal spread is an excuse for any +amount of silence." And the Anglo-Indian renegade gazed admiringly at +the thousand and one adjuncts of a blended English comfort and Indian +luxury. + +"Ever been in Geneva?" suddenly demanded Hugh Johnstone, with a glance +at his two companions. + +"He's an uneasy old devil. He is trying to trap me now," thought Hawke, +who innocently replied: "Long years ago, when I was a mere lad. I'm told +the town has been vastly improved by the Duke of Brunswick's legacy. +I've not seen it in later years." + +"Miss Delande is a Genevese," remarked the host. + +"I congratulate you, Mademoiselle," politely said the Major. "It is a +famous city to date from." + +It was evident that the spinster was held in reverent awe of her +employer, for she guarded a judicious silence, as with a formal bow +she at last left the table at the graciously permitting nod of Hugh +Johnstone. There was a cold and brooding restraint, which had seemed to +cast a chill even over the sultry Indian midday, but Justine's smile +was bright and winning as she faintly acknowledged with a blushing cheek +Major Hawke's gallantry as he sprang up and opened the door for the +retiring lady. "She will come, she will come," gayly throbbed the +Major's happy heart. + +Alan Hawke was now thoroughly on his guard. He had never lifted an +eyebrow at the mention of Miss Johnstone. He had dropped Justine +Delande like a plummet into the lake of forgetfulness, and watched Hugh +Johnstone's listless trifling with the dainties of the superb collation. +The raw-boned old Scotsman leaned heavily back in his chair. + +His bony hands were thin and claw-like, his bushy white beard and +eyebrows gave him a "service" aspect, while his cold blue eye gleamed +out pale and menacing as the Pole star on wintry arctic seas. His broad +chest was sunken, his tall form was bent, and a visible air of dejection +and unrest had replaced the sturdy vigor of his early manhood. He was +sipping a glass of pale ale in silence when Hawke neatly applied the +lance once more. "It must be a great change for you to leave India, +Johnstone, but you need rest, and a general shaking up. You have a good +deal to leave here. I suppose your nephew--" + +"He's a good lad, but a stranger to me, Hawke," broke in the host. "The +fact is, I am as yet undecided. I go home for my daughter's sake; it's +no place for her out here," he sternly said. "You know what Indian life +is?" + +Hawke bowed, and mutely cried, "Peccavi." He had been a part of it. "I'm +waiting for the action of the Government. This Baronetcy. I must talk +with you about it. I might have had the Star of India. You see, it's an +empty honor. And I hate to break away for good, after all. Do you know +anything from Anstruther? He was up here, you know." + +"I have him now!" secretly exulted Hawke, as he said gravely, "You know +what duty is, I cannot speak as yet, but you can depend on me as soon as +my honor will permit--" + +"Yes, yes, I know," said Hugh Johnstone, with a sigh, rising from the +table. "You must make yourself at home here. In fact, I am thinking of +sending my daughter back to Europe. Douglas Fraser can have them well +bestowed; that is, if I have to remain and fight out this Baronetcy +affair, then I could put you up here." Alan Hawke bowed his thanks. + +They had wandered back to the reception-room. With an affected surprise +the Major consulted his watch. "By Jove! I've got a heavy official +mail to prepare, and I'm to dine to-day with Harry Hardwicke, of the +Engineers. General Willoughby wants a private conference with me, and +Hardwicke is the only confidential man he has. He gets his Majority +soon, and Willoughby will lose him on promotion. A fine fellow and a +rising man." + +"See here, Hawke! Come in to-morrow and dine with me at seven. I want to +have a long talk with you," said the uneasy host. + +"You may absolutely depend on me, Sir Hugh," heartily answered the +visitor, with a fine forgetfulness as to the title. When he rode away, +Major Hawke caught sight of a womanly figure at a window above him, +watching his retreat in due state, and there was the flutter of a +handkerchief as his carriage drove around the oval. "I wonder if Ram +Lal knows about the jewels. I must buy him out and out, or make Berthe +Louison do it unconsciously for me," so mused the victorious renegade. +"He is afraid of me! Now to dispatch Ram Lal to Allahabad. I must only +see Berthe Louison, at night, in her own bungalow, for my shy old bird +would take the alarm were we seen together. What the devil is her game? +I know mine, and I swear that I will soon know hers. I have him guessing +now. I must hunt up Hardwicke and call on old Willoughby to keep up the +dumb show. Johnstone may watch me--very likely he will. He is afraid of +some coup de theatre." He drove in a leisurely way back to the Club and +sported the oak after giving Ram Lal his last orders. + +"I think I hear the jingle of gold 'in the near future,' as the Yankees +say; and, Miss Justine, you shall open the way to the veiled Rose of +Delhi for me, while Berthe Louison tortures this old vetch. Place aux +dames! Place aux dames!" he laughed. + + + + +BOOK II. "A DEVIL FOR LUCK." + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE MYSTERIOUS BUNGALOW. + + + +If the fates favored Major Alan Hawke upon this eventful day, for as he +was contentedly awaiting the news of Ram Lal's departure for Allahabad, +the card of Captain Harry Hardwicke, A. D. C., and of the Engineers, was +sent up to him. With a neat bit of Indian art, old Ram Lal had sent the +carriage around to report, as a mute signal of his own departure. It was +a flood tide of good fortune! + +In ten minutes, the Major and his welcome guest were spinning along in +the cool of the evening, toward the deserted ruins of the old city of +Delhi! As they passed through the Lahore gate, Hardwicke's pith helmet +was doffed with a jerk, as a superb carriage passed them, proceeding in +a stately swing. Major Alan Hawke bowed low as he caught the cold eye of +the would-be Sir Hugh Johnstone. + +"Who are the ladies, Hardwicke?" laughed the Major, as he saw the young +officer's face suddenly crimson. "For a man who won the V. C. in your +dashing style, you seem to be a bit beauty-shy!" They were hardly +settled yet for their cozy chat. Hardwicke lit a cheroot to cover his +evident confusion. + +"I know" he slowly answered, "that one of them is Miss or Madame +Delande, old Fraser's house duenna--I will still call him Fraser, you +see--the other is the mystery of Delhi. Popularly supposed to be the old +boy's daughter, and his sole heiress, Miss Nadine," concluded the young +aid-de-camp. "The old curmudgeon keeps her judiciously veiled from +mortal ken. No man but General Willoughby has ever exchanged a word with +her. The dear old boy--his memory does not go back beyond his last B. +and S.--he can't even sketch her beauty in words. And she is as hazy, +even to the Madam-General--our secret commanding officer. There is a +continuous affront to society in this old monomaniac's treatment of that +girl." + +"You would like to storm the Castle Perilous, and awaken the Sleeping +Beauty?" archly said Hawke, as they rolled along under a huge alley of +banyan trees. + +"Not at all," gravely said Hardwicke. "She is only a girl, like other +girls, I presume; but, this old fool is only fit for the old days, +when the kings of Oude flew kites and hunted with the cheetah; or, +half drunken, dozed, lolling away their lives in these marble-screened +zenanas, with the automatic beauties of the seraglio. Our English cannon +have knocked all that nonsense silly. Here is a high-spirited, Christian +English girl, shut up like a slave. It's only the unfairness of the +thing that strikes me." Hawke eyed the blue-eyed, rosy young fellow of +twenty-six with an evident interest. Stalwart and symmetrical in figure, +Hardwicke's frank, manly face glowed in indignation. + +"You've won your spurs quickly out here," said Hawke. "You have not +been long enough in India to case-harden into the cursed egotism of this +hard-hearted land, and remember, age, crawling on, has indurated old +'Fraser-Johnstone.' He was never an amiable character. What do the +ladies of the city say of this strange social situation? I never knew +that the old beast had a daughter till to-day." + +Captain Hardwicke wearily replied: "They all hold aloof, of course, +after some very rough rebuffs, as I believe the old boy will clear out +for good when he gets his baronetcy. It's possible that the girl is +half a foreigner after all," mused Hardwicke. "The duenna is surely a +continental." + +"Yes; but she seems to be a very nice person. I was there to-day at +tiffin," finally said Major Hawke, + +"She had very little to say, and cleared out at once. I did not see Miss +Johnstone." They fell into an easy, rattling chronicle of things past +and present, and before the two hours' ride was over, the astute Major +felt that he had divined General Willoughby's object in sending his pet +aid-de-camp to reconnoitre Hawke's lines and pierce the mystery of his +rumored employment. + +"I suppose that you will come up and duly report to the Chief," rather +uneasily said Captain Hardwicke, as they neared the Club on their +return. Hawke cast a glance at the superb domes of the Jumma Musjid +towering in the thin air above them, as he slowly answered: + +"I am only here on a roving secret commission. I shall call, of course, +and pay my personal respects to His Excellency, the General Commanding. +I am an official will-o'-the-wisp, just now, but my blushing honors +are strictly civil, and, by the way, in expectancy. Where does your +promotion carry you?" + +"Oh, anywhere--everywhere," laughed Hardwicke. "I may be sent home. I'm +entitled to a long leave--there's my wound, you know. I've only stayed +on here to oblige Willoughby." It was easy to see that the frank, +splendid young fellow was but awkwardly filling his role of polite +inquisitor, for they talked shop a couple of hours over a bottle at the +Club, and Hardwicke at last took his leave, no whit the wiser. + +"If he did not post me as to the heiress, at least, old Willoughby gets +no valuable information," laughed the Major, that night. "The boy seems +to be ambitious and heart-whole. Old Johnstone will soon clear out +to the Highlands, I suppose, with this hidden pearl." But Major Hawke +laughed softly when the morning brought to him a personal invitation to +dine "informally" with General Willoughby. "Wants to know, you know," +laughed the Major. "All I have to do is to keep cool and let him drink +himself jolly, and so, answer his own questions." + +"That Hardwicke is an uncommonly fine young fellow." So decided the +Major as he splashed into his morning tub. There was one man, however, +in Delhi who now viewed Hawke's presence with a secret alarm, amounting +to dismay. It was the stern old miserly Scotsman who had paced his floor +half the night in a vain effort to reassure himself. "What does he know? +I must have old Ram Lal watch him," mused Hugh Johnstone. "I was a fool +not to have cleared out from here months ago, before these spies were +set upon me. First, Anstruther; now this fellow, Hawke, and, perhaps, +even Hardwicke. If it were not for the old matter I would go to-morrow, +and let the Baronetcy go hang--or find me in the Highlands. But, I must +make one last attempt to get them out. I must--" and the old man slept +the weary sleep of utter exhaustion. + +Before the nabob awoke, Captain Henry Hardwicke, swinging away on his +morning gallop, had reviewed the strange attitude of Major Hawke. "He is +very intimate with Hugh Johnstone, and he is a man of the world, too. I +will yet see this charming child, when the ban of her prison seclusion +is lifted." He vaguely remembered the one timid and girlish glance of +the beautiful dark eyes, when he had been presented, pro-forma, to the +Veiled Rose upon that one memorable state visit. He then rode out of his +way to gaze at the exterior of the great marble house, and was rewarded +by the sight of a graceful woman walking there under her governess's +escort in the dewy freshness of the early morn. + +He doffed his helmet as Miss Justine paused among the flowers, and then +Miss Nadine Johnstone looked up to see the graceful rider disappear +behind the fringing trees. + +"That was Captain Hardwicke, was it not?" asked the lonely girl. Miss +Justine was busied in dreaming of her meeting of the morrow. + +"Yes, it was," she absently replied. + +"They tell me that he nobly risked his life to save his wounded friend," +dreamily continued Nadine. "He gave back to a father the life of an only +son at the risk of his own. How brave--how noble." And Justine gazed at +her charge in surprise, as the beautiful Nadine bent her head to greet +her sister flowers. + +The resolute Major Hawke, at his cheerful breakfast, was busied with +thoughts of the coming arrival of Hugh Johnstone's secret foe. "I must +have money from her at once to swing Ram Lal's Private Inquiry Bureau +and to mystify these quid nuncs here. For I must entertain the clubmen a +bit. It's as well to begin, also, to pot down a bit of her money for +the future. She shall pay her way, as she goes." And, with a view to the +further cementing of his rising social pyramid, he planned a very neat +little dinner of half a dozen of the most available men whom he had +selected as being "in the swim." "The next thing is to discover what the +devil she really wants of old Johnstone! She must show her hand now, and +then soon call on me for help." + +He gazed at his little memorandum of "pressing engagements." "A pretty +fair book of events. First, old Johnstone's dinner--more of the +boring process--then to welcome my strange employer, and, after that, +Mademoiselle Justine! Later, I'll have my own little innings with +General Willoughby, and, finally play the gracious host while Ram Lal +watches Madame Louison's cat-like play upon her victim. Money I must +have, her money first, to pay the piper," he laughed, which proposed +liberality was destined to doubly bribe the wily old jewel merchant. At +that very moment Ram Lal, securely hidden away in the native compartment +of the train, rushing on from Allahabad toward Delhi, was dreaming of +the long-deferred triumph of a life! + +"If he has them--if they can be traced--they shall be mine if every +diamond gleams red with his heart's blood! Perhaps these two strange +people have brought them. Who knows? They are rich; it may be the +jewels!" And Ram Lal dreamed of a tripartite watch upon the three +principal figures of the opening drama. "The jewels were a king's +ransom. But I shall know all," he softly smiled, for every attendant of +the beautiful recluse now burning to meet her advance spy was a sworn +confederate of Ram Lal in a dark brotherhood whose very name no man +even dared to lisp! And so the long, blazing day wore away, bringing the +hunter and the hunted nearer together. The mysterious bungalow was now +alive with the slaves of luxury, while Alan Hawke secretly inspected +the last finishing touches, for he, alone, was master of the private +entrance once used by a man whose glittering rank had lifted him +presumably above all human weaknesses! + +Major Hawke departed for the Club in a very good humor, after his hour +of inspection of the jewel box bungalow now ready for his fair employer. +It was a perfect cachette d' amour, and its superb gardens, so long +deserted, were now only a tangled jungle of luxuriant loveliness! +The light foot of the beauty for whom this Rosamond's Bower had been +prepared had wandered far away, for a substantial block of marble now +held down the great man, who had in the old days found the welcome of +his hidden Egeria so delicious in this long-deserted bungalow. For +the dead Numa Pompilius slept now with his fathers, in far away Merrie +England, and--as is the wont--the mortuary inscriptions on his tomb +recorded only his virtues. But both his virtues and failings were of +no greater weight now to a forgetful generation, which knew not the +departed Joseph, than the drifted leaves in the garden alleys where the +romance of the old still lingered in ghostly guise! "There were no +birds in last year's nest," but the mysterious bungalow had been hastily +arranged for the lovely successor to the vanished queen of a cobweb +Paradise. The bungalow, itself, was adroitly constructed with a special +reference to seclusion as well as comfort. An Indian Love's Labyrinth. + +"Just the very place!" murmured Alan Hawke, as he hastened away to dress +for the diner de famille, with his timorous secret foe, Hugh Johnstone. +"I wonder if my canny friend, in his humble days as Hugh Fraser, ever +assisted at les petits diners de Trianon here? + +"Probably not, for friend Hugh was ever apter in squeezing the nimble +rupee than in chanting sonnets to his mistress's eyebrow. How the devil +did he ever catch a wife, such as Valerie Delavigne must have been? +Either a case of purchase or starvation, I'll warrant!" + +Ram Lal Singh was growing dubious as to the perfect sweep of his hungry +talons over Madame Louison's future expenditures. He had noted, with +some secret alarm, a grave-faced, sturdy Frenchman, still in the +forties, who was cast in the role of either courier or butler for the +beautiful Mem-Sahib, whose loveliness in extenso he so far only divined +by guess-work. + +In the stranger lady's special car there was also, at her side, a +truculent Parisienne-looking woman of thirty, whose bustling air, +hawk-like visage, and perfect aplomb bespoke the confidential French +maid. "I must tell Hawke Sahib of this at once," mused Ram Lal. "We +must, in some way, get rid of these foreign servants." The man had +a semi-military air, heightened by the sweeping scar--a slash from a +neatly swung saber. This purple facial adornment was Jules Victor's +especial pride. In these days of "ninety" he often recurred to the +stroke which had made his fortune in the dark reign of the Commune. + +As a wild Communard soldier he had risked his life vainly to save the +aged Colonel Delavigne from a furious mob, for the red rosette in the +old officer's buttonhole had cost him his life in an awkward promenade, +and this sent the orphans, Valerie and Alixe Delavigne, adrift upon +the mad maelstrom of Paris incendie. While Ram Lal glowered in his +dissatisfaction, Madame Berthe Louison complacently regarded her two +secret protectors on guard in the special car. For the strange turn of +Fortune's wheel, which had left Alixe Delavigne alone in the world, +and rich enough to effect her special vengeance upon her one enemy, +had given to Jules Victor and his wife Marie a sinecure for life as the +personal attendants of the soi-disant Madame Berthe Louison. + +Marie was but a wild-eyed child of ten when Jules had picked her up in +the flaming streets of Paris, and they had graduated together from the +gutters of Montmartre into the later control of Madame Louison's pretty +little pied a terre in Paris, hard by Auteuil, in that dreamy +little impasse, the Rue de Berlioz. Neither of these attendants were +faint-hearted, for their young hearts had been attuned early to the +wolfish precocity of the Parisian waif. And they had followed their +resolute mistress in her weary quest of the past years. + +Berthe Louison smiled in a comforting sense of security, as she gazed +listlessly out upon the landscape flying by. + +The two servants, modestly voyaging out to Calcutta, on a telegraphic +summons, to embark at Marseilles, had preceded the Empress of India by +ten days. So, neither friendless, nor without untiring devotion, was +the wary woman who had thus secretly armed herself against any "little +mistake" on the part of Major Alan Hawke. Certain private instructions +to the manager of Grindlay & Co., at Calcutta, had caused that +respectable party to open his eyes in wonder. + +"Of course, Madame, our local agent at Delhi will act in your behalf, +with both secrecy and discretion. I have already written him a private +cipher letter in regard to your every wish being fulfilled." + +Such is the potent influence of a letter of credit, practically +approaching the "unlimited." + +"If I could only use Jules in the double capacity of gentleman and +factotum, I would dress him up a la mode and let him approach Hugh +Johnstone," mused the beautiful tourist, but I must be content to use +this cold-hearted adventurer Hawke, for he has at least a surface rank +of gentleman, and, moreover, he knows my enemy! I must keep Jules and +Marie every moment at my side, for some strange things happen in India +by day as well as by night. Sir Hugh may dream of some 'unusually +distressing accident' as a means of safely ridding himself of a long +slumbering specter." + +"Of course, this sly jeweler is Alan Hawke's spy! A few guineas extra, +however, may buy his 'inner consciousness' for me," she mused. And so it +fell out that Ram Lal Singh was destined to drop into the secret +service of both Hawke and the fair invader! And, as yet, neither of his +intending employers could divine the dark purposes of the oily rascal +who had stealthily watched Hugh Fraser for long years to slake the +hungry vengeance of a despoiled traitor to the last King of Oude. + +Major Hawke found the tete a tete dinner with Hugh Johnstone a mere dull +social parade. There was no demure face at the feast slyly regarding +him, for while the two watchful secret foes exchanged old reminiscence +and newer gossip, Justine Delande was cheering the lonely girl, whose +silent mutiny as to her shining prison life now reached almost an open +revolt. It was a grateful relief to the Swiss woman, whose agitated +heart was softly beating the refrain: "To-morrow! to-morrow! I shall see +him again!" She feared a self-betrayal! + +While the governess mused upon the extent of her proposed revelations to +the handsome Major, that rising social star had adroitly exploited his +long tete a tete with Captain Hardwicke to his host, and gracefully +magnified the warmth of General Willoughby's personal welcome. + +"You see, Johnstone," patiently admitted the man who had dropped into a +good thing, "They all want to delve into the secrets of my mission here. +You, of all men," he meaningly said, "cannot blame me for throwing +the dust into their eyes. I detest this intrusion, and so in sheer +self-defense I am going to give a formal dinner to a lot of these +bores, and then cut the whole lot when I've once done the decent thing." +Circling and circling, and yet never daring to approach the subject, +old Hugh Johnstone warily returned to the suspended baronetcy affair, at +last revealing his secret burning anxieties. But when Alan Hawke heard +the train whistles, announcing the arrival of his beautiful employer, he +fled away from the smoking-room in a mock official unrest. + +"I am expecting dispatches from England, and also very important +detailed secret instructions. I've had a warning wire from Calcutta." + +He had broken off the seance brusquely with a design of his own, and +he rejoiced as Hugh Johnstone brokenly said: "Let me see you very soon +again. I must have a plain talk with you." The old nabob was in a close +corner now. There had been a few bitter queries from the half-distracted +girl which showed, even to her stern old father, that his position was +becoming untenable. + +"Damn it! I must either talk or send her away," he growled when left +alone. "I've half a mind to telegraph Douglas Fraser to come here and +convoy this foolish young minx home to Europe. She may grow to be a +silent rebel like her mother." His scowl darkened. "And yet, where to +send her? I ought to go with them. Can I trust the Delandes to find +a safe place to keep her till I come?" He was all unaware that his +daughter Nadine was now a woman like her bolder sisters of society, but +it was true. The chrysalis was nearing the butterfly stage of life and +beating the bars with her wings. + +The secret exultation of Justine Delande in her shadowy hold on Major +Alan Hawke caused her to furtively lead Nadine Johnstone to the head of +the great stairway, when Hawke made his adieux. + +"He is a handsome young officer," timidly whispered the girl, shrinking +back out of sight. "What can he have in common with my father? I thought +he was some old veteran." And the awakened heart of Justine Delande +bounded in delight. She would have joyed to tell Nadine of her own +romantic budding friendship, but a wholesome fear tied her tongue, and +she was only happy when caressing the diamond bracelet that night, which +encircled her arm, while with dry and aching eyes she waited for the +dawn. + +While Hugh Johnstone paced the veranda of his lonely marble palace that +night, a prey to vague fears, and unwilling to face the accusing eyes of +his daughter, Major Alan Hawke, with a sudden astonishment, stood mute +before the splendid woman who received him in the mysterious bungalow. +There was scant ceremony of greeting between them, for Berthe Louison +impatiently grasped his hands. + +"He is here, and the girl, too," she said, with blazing eyes. She stood +robed as a queen before her secret agent. "Where were you? You left me +here to wait in a torment of anxiety." + +"I have just come from his dinner table," quietly said the startled +Major. "They are both here, and well. I am already intimate at the +house, but I have not seen the girl. I feared being followed or I would +have met you at the train." He marveled at her royal beauty. She was +conscious now of the power of wealth, and some hidden fire glowed in her +veins. "What can I do for you? He watches me. I can only come at night." + +"Ah!" the lady sternly said, "we must then play at hide and seek!" + +Ringing a silver bell twice, Madame Louison sank into a chair. Alan +Hawke started up, inquiringly, as Jules and Marie entered the room from +an ante-room, whose door was left ajar. + +"Jules! Marie!" calmly said Madame Louison. "This gentleman is my secret +business agent. He will call here in the evenings very often. He has +pass keys of his own, and you need not announce him. He is the only +person who has the right to be in my house--at all times." The husband +and wife bowed in silence and, at a gesture from their mistress, +departed silently, having mentally photographed the newcomer. + +Gazing in open-eyed astonishment, the surprised Major faltered, "Who are +these people? Why did you do this strange thing?" + +"To assure myself of safety," quietly smiled Berthe Louison. "They are +my personal servants, whom I brought on from Calcutta, and I have reason +to believe that Jules is both alert and courageous. He is a veteran +of the Tonquin war, and that pretty scar was a present from the Black +Flags. They were selected by one who knows the wiles of my desperate +enemy Johnstone." + +"Now, Major Hawke, let us to business" calmly continued Berthe, secretly +enjoying Alan Hawke's dismay. "Tell me your whole story. Only the events +since your arrival here. The rest counts for nothing. We are all on +the ground here and I propose to act quickly. I learned some matters in +Calcutta which have greatly enlightened me." The facile tongue of the +renegade was slow to do the bidding of his unready brain. "Damme! But +she's a cool one!" the ex-officer concluded, as he caught his breath. +But, conscious of her watchful eye, he related all his adventures, with +a judicious reserve as to Justine Delande. The burning eyes of Berthe +Louison were steadily fixed upon the relator's face, and she was coldly +noncommittal when Hawke paused for breath and a mental recapitulation. +The Major now gazed upon her immovable visage. There was neither joy nor +sorrow, neither the flush of anger nor the trembling of rage, awakened +by the businesslike presentment of the social facts. "She is a human +icicle," he mused. "She has some deadly hold on him!" + +"Can you trust this Ram Lal Singh?" the woman demanded in a +business-like tone. Alan Hawke nodded decisively. + +"He knows Hugh Fraser Johnstone well?" queried Berthe. + +"They have been companions in the mixed line or Delhi since the mutiny," +earnestly replied Hawke, slowly concluding: "And Ram Lal has been +Johnstone's broker in selecting his almost unequaled Indian collection. +Ram is a thief, like all Hindus, but he is square to me. I hold him +in my hand. You can trust to him, but only through me!" Berthe Louison +raised her eyes and then fixed a searching glance upon Alan Hawke, as if +she would read his very soul. + +"And, can I trust you?" she said, almost solemnly. + +"You remember our strange compact, Madame," coldly said Alan Hawke. +"Here, face to face with the enemy, I expect to know what is required of +me--and also what my future recompense will be." + +"Ah, I forgot," mused the strange lady of the bungalow. "You have the +right to teach me a lesson, in both manners and business. I forgot how +sharply I had drawn the line, myself. Well, Sir, I will trust to you +without any assurance on your part." She rang the silver bell at her +side, once, and the silent Jules appeared, as attentive as Rastighello +in the boudoir of the Duchess of Ferrara. "My traveling bag, Jules," +said the lady, in a careless tone. There was a silence punctuated only +by Alan Hawke's heavy breathing, until the silent servitor returned, +bowing and departing without a word, as he placed the bag at Madame +Louison's side. With a businesslike air, the lady handed Alan Hawke a +sealed letter, addressed simply: + +HUGH FRASER JOHNSTONE, ESQ., DELHI. + +Near at hand, in the opened bag, the watchful Major saw the revolver and +dagger once more which he had noted, at Lausanne. + +"Let Ram Lal deliver that personally to the would-be Baronet, to-morrow +morning at eight o'clock. He is to say nothing. There will be no reply," +measuredly remarked the strange woman whose life as Alixe Delavigne had +brought to her the legacy of an undying hatred for the man whom she was +about to face. "This will bring Hugh Johnstone to me at once!" + +"That is all?" stammered Alan Hawke, as he received the document, +respectfully standing "at attention." + +"No, not quite all!" laughed Berthe Louison. "Pray continue a career of +judiciously liberal social splendor here, an external 'swelling port' +just suited to a man whose feet are planted upon a financial rock. But +do not overdo it! It might excite Hugh Johnstone's alarm. Here is five +hundred pounds in notes. There will be no accounts between us." + +"And, I am to do nothing else?" cried Hawke, in surprise. "I fear to +have you meet this man alone! He is rich, powerful, and crafty. The +nature of your business, I fear, is that of deadly quarrel. Remember, +this man is at bay. He is unscrupulous. I fear for you!" + +The renegade spoke only the truth. For dark memories of Hugh Fraser's +bitter deeds in days past now thronged upon his brain. + +"Fear not for me." cried Berthe Louison, springing up like a tigress in +defense of her cubs. "Do you know that his life would be the forfeit of +a lifted finger? Do you take me for a blind fool?" she raged. "Do you +know the power of gold? Ah, my friend, there are unseen eyes watching my +pathway here, and may God have mercy upon any one who practices against +me, in secret! Any 'strange happening' to me would be fearfully avenged! +As for this flinty-hearted brute, he would never even reach that +threshold alive, if he dared to threaten! Go! Leave him to me. Come here +to-morrow night. I shall have need of your cool brain and your ready +wit! My only task was to find him and the girl together." + +"And if I am questioned about you? If anything occurs?" persisted Alan +Hawke. + +"Simply ignore my existence; if we meet we are strangers!" gasped +Berthe, who had thrown herself on a divan. "Obey me without questioning +my motive! Each night you will receive orders for the next day, should I +need your secret hand! Go now! I am tired! I must be ready to meet this +man!" + +Alan Hawke had reached the door, but he turned back. "And as to Ram Lal? +What shall I do?" The woman's eyes flashed fire. + +"Leave him also to me! I will handle him! A few rupees--will serve +as his bait. Stay! You say that this Swiss woman, Justine Delande, is +sympathetic, and seems to be a worthy person?" She was scanning his +impassive face with steely glances now. + +"She is younger than her sister Euphrosyne," gravely said Alan Hawke, +"and not without some personal attractions. Her older sister adores her. +Even this old brute, Johnstone, seems to treat her with great respect +and deference." + +"There is the only danger to us! Watch that woman! Mingle freely in the +Johnstone household," said Berthe, wearily, "but never cast your eyes +toward Nadine. Never even hint to this Swiss governess that you have +seen her sister. After they return to Europe it is another thing. +Silence and discretion now. Good night. Come to-morrow night at ten +o'clock; all will be quiet, and you can steal away from the Club in +safety." + +Major Alan Hawke stole away to the hidden entrance like a thief of the +night. He started as he saw the menacing figure of Jules Victor glide +swiftly after him to the secret opening in the wall. The servitor spoke +not a single word, but watched the business agent disappear. "I must +watch this damned Frenchman," he mused, feeling for his packet of notes +and loosening his revolver. "He may be set on by this she devil to watch +Ram Lal." And then Hawke gayly sought the jewel merchant, lingering +an hour in the very room where he was on the morrow to meet the +heart-awakened Justine. Old Ram Lal grinned as he accepted the letter. +He was happy, for he heard the jingling of golden guineas in the near +future. "You have nothing to do with me, Ram Lal," laughed the Major. +"The lady will give you your orders, only you are to tell me all for +both our sakes. I will see you rewarded," and again Ram Lal grinned in +his quiet way. + +When Alan Hawke's head was resting on his pillow he suddenly became +possessed with a strange new fear. "By God! I believe that she has been +here before; she seems to be up to the whole game." + +Alan Hawke's steps hardly died away in the hallway before the beautiful +Nemesis made a careful inspection of her splendid reception-room. The +splendors of its curtained arches, its fretted ceiling, and its frescoed +walls were idly passed over, for the woman only made an exhaustive +survey of its geometrical arrangement. Marie Victor was in waiting at +her side, and the mistress and maid were soon joined by Jules. Throwing +open the door of a little adjoining cabinet, Madame Louison whispered a +few private directions to the ex-Communard. "Do this at once yourself; +none of the blacks are to know. I trust none of them!" imperatively +commanded Berthe. "Marie will receive him. You are to be here at nine +o'clock, and be sure to let no one of these yellow spies observe you. +Now, both of you. Here is the rearrangement of the furniture. This will +be your first task in the morning. You can both use the whole household +for these changes. They are to obey you in all. Let all be ready when +I have breakfasted. Now, Marie, I will try and rest. Jules, inspect and +examine the house; then you can take your post for the night at my door. +Have you exhausted every possibility of any trickery in the sleeping +room?" + +"There's but the one door, Madame. Trust to me. I have sounded every +inch of the walls, and even examined the floor." Jules Victor's romantic +nature thrilled with the possibilities of the little life drama to come. + +Berthe Louison departed to rest upon her arms the night before the +battle. Much marveled the swarming band of Ram Lal's creatures that no +human being was suffered to approach the Lady of the Bungalow but her +two white attendants. Berthe Louison had not reached the idle luxury of +employing a dozen Hindus in infinitesimal labors near her person. For +she fathomed easily Ram Lal's devotion to Major Alan Hawke. + +The presence of keen-eyed Marie Victor's brass camp-bed in My Lady's +sleeping-room was a source of wonder to the velvet-eyed spy who was +Ram Lal's especial "Bureau of Intelligence." "Strange ways has this +Mem-Sahib," murmured the Hindu when he craved to know if the Daughter of +the Sun and Light of the World desired aught. "I will then have two to +watch. The waiting woman has the eye of a tiger." + +A personal verification of the fact that Jules Victor was encamped for +the night, en zouave, on a divan drawn before the only door joining the +boudoir and sleeping-room, caused the sly spy to greatly marvel, for the +scarred face of the French social rebel was ominously truculent, and a +pair of Lefacheux revolvers and a heavy knife lay within the ready reach +of this strange "outside guard." + +In the dim watches of the first night in Delhi, the same barefooted +Hindu spy learned by a visit of furtive inspection, that a night light +steadily burned in the boudoir where Jules was toujours pret. The +sneaking rascal crept away, with a violently beating heart, fearing even +the rustle of his bare feet upon the mosaic floor. + +And all this, and much more, did he deliver with abject humility to +Ram Lal Singh, when that worthy appeared the next day to crave his +mysterious patron's orders. It seemed a tough nut to crack, this +tripartite household arrangement. + +The dawn found Madame Berthe Louison as alertly awake as bird and beast +stirring in the ruined splendors of old Shahjehanabad. Long before the +anxious Justine Delande arose to deck herself furtively for her tryst +with Alan Hawke, Berthe Louison knew that all her orders of the night +before were executed. + +"You are sure that you can see perfectly, Jules?" said the anxious +woman. + +"I command the whole side of the room where you will be seated," replied +the Frenchman, "and the ornaments and carved tracery cover the aperture. +Marie has tested it and I have also done the same, reversing our +positions. Nothing can be seen." + +"Good! Remember! Nine o'clock sees you at your post! You are prepared?" +The woman's voice trembled. + +"Thoroughly!" cried the alert servitor, "Only give me your signal! I +must make no mistake! There's no time to think in such cases!" He bent +his head, while his mistress, in a low voice gave her last orders. Jules +saluted, as if he were the leader of a forlorn hope. + +"And now for the first skirmish!" mused Berthe Louison, as she +personally examined some matters, of more material interest to her, in +the reception-room. + +The rearrangement of the furniture seemed to be satisfactory, and Madame +Berthe Louison composedly busied herself with the arrangement of a +writing case, and a few womanly articles upon the table which she had +chosen as her own peculiar fortification. A few moments were wasted upon +trifling with a well-worn envelope, now carefully hidden in her bosom. +This maneuver passed the time needed for a stately carriage to sweep up +from the opened grand gate of the bungalow to the raised veranda steps. +"There he is!" she grimly said. "Now, for the first blood!" + +A man who was shaking with mingled rage and fear hastily strode across +the broad portico, as Berthe Louison glided away from the curtained +window and confidently resumed her own chosen chair. Her bosom was +heaving, her eye was fixed and stern, and she steadily awaited her foe, +for one last warning whisper had reached her hidden servitor. + +When Marie Victor threw open the double doors of the reception room, on +its threshold stood the towering form of the man whom Alixe Delavigne +had known in other years as Hugh Fraser, the man whose pallid face told +her that he knew at last that he was under the sword of Damocles! Clad +in white linen, his sun helmet in his hand, steadying himself with a +jeweled bamboo crutch-handled stick, the old Anglo-Indian waited until +Berthe Louison's voice rang out, as clear as a silver bell: "Marie! I +am not to be interrupted." she calmly said. "You may wait beyond, in the +ante-room!" + +The woman who had emerged from the dark penumbra of a dead Past, +to torture the embryo Baronet, gazed silently at the stern old man +glowering there. + +Striding up to her, the insolent habit of years was, strong upon him, as +he hoarsely said: "What juggling fiend of hell brings you here?" + +Without a tremor in her voice, the lady of Jitomir replied: + +"I came here to undo the work of years! To teach an orphaned girl to +know that a love which hallows and which blesses, can reach her from the +grave in which your cold brutality buried the only being I ever loved! +She shall know her mother, from my lips, and not wither in the gray hell +of your egoism. I have searched the world over, and found you, at last, +together!" + +"By God! You shall never even see her face, you she-devil!" cried the +infuriated old man, nearing the defiant woman. "You were the go-between +for your worthless sister and that Russian cur, Troubetskoi!" + +"You lie! Hugh Fraser, you lie!" cried Berthe, in a ringing voice. "You +crushed the flower that Fate had drifted within your reach! You turned +her into the streets of London to starve! You robbed her of her child, +all this to feed your own flinty-hearted tyrant vanity! She was divorced +from you by a Royal Russian Decree, before she married the man whose +heart broke when she was laid in the tomb. She rests with the princes of +his line, and her tomb bears the name of wife!" + +The old nabob crept nearer, growling: + +"You shall never see the child's face!" + +Then, Alixe Delavigne sprang up and faced him: "There she is! on my +heart! Just what her mother was, before you sent her to an early grave. +Valerie died hungering for one sight of that child's face!" Throwing +the picture of Nadine Johnstone on the table, the lady of Jitomir said: +"Pierre Troubetskoi left to me the wealth which makes me your equal. I +fear you not! I shall see Nadine to-morrow!" + +"Never!" roared Hugh Johnstone, now beyond all control. "I defy you! +Beware how you approach my threshold!" His eyes were murderous in their +steely blue gleam, and, yet, he met a glance as steady as his own. + +"Listen," said Berthe Louison, sinking back into her chair, "I will tell +you a little story." Hugh Johnstone was now gazing at the photograph, +which trembled in his hand. "Once upon a time a man secreted a vast +deposit of jewels, really the spoil of a deposed king, and, rightly, the +property of the victorious British Government!" The photograph fell to +the floor as the old man sprang up from the chair, into which he had +dropped. "This paper, the receipt for the deposit, once delivered to the +Viceroy of India--and the Baronetcy which is to be your life crown is +lost for ever." The old man's hands knotted themselves in anger. "The +lying story that the deposit was stolen by an underling will bring +you, Hugh Johnstone, to the felon's cell! You shall live to wear the +convict's chain! The Government is partly aware of the facts. It rests +for me to give the Viceroy the receipt for your private deposit. The +private bank vault in Calcutta has hidden your shame for twenty years. +You know the condition of your settlement with the Government. Now, +shall I see my sister's child? I hold your very existence here--in the +hollow of my hand!" The dauntless woman drew forth a yellowed envelope +from her breast. There was a smothered shriek, a crash and a groan, as +Jules Victor, springing from his concealment, hurled the infuriated man +to the floor! + +With a knee on the panting nabob's breast, he hissed: + +"Move, and you are a dead man!" + +"Take the paper, Madame," calmly said the victorious Jules. Then Alixe +Delavigne laughed scornfully. + +"Let the fool arise. The contents are only blank paper. The document +is where I can find it for use. Remain here, Jules," concluded the +triumphant woman, as she replaced the photograph in her bosom. "Take the +envelope--you know it, Hugh Fraser. I stole it the night you drove +the sister I loved from our miserly lodgings in London." The furious +onslaught had failed, and the old nabob was only a cowering, cringing +prisoner at will. He dared not even cry out. + +Hugh Johnstone groaned as his eyes turned from the woman, now laughing +him to scorn, to the stern-faced Frenchman, who was covering the baffled +assailant with the grim Lefacheux revolver. + +"Send this man away. Let us talk, Alixe," muttered the astounded +Johnstone. Then a mocking laugh rang out in the room. + +"I am in no hurry now. I can wait. I like Delhi, and I shall find my way +to Nadine's side, and she shall know the story of a mother's love. One +signal from me, by telegraph, and the document goes to the Viceroy. So, +I fear you not, my would-be strangler! It is for me to make conditions! +Listen! I will send my carriage and my man to your house to-morrow +morning at ten. You will have made up your mind then. I have friends +all around me, here, at Allahabad, and in Calcutta. If you practice any +treachery on me you die the death of a dog, even here, in your robber +nest!" + +"I will come! I will come!" faltered Johnstone. + +"Ah!" smiled the lady. "Jules, show Sir Hugh Johnstone to his carriage." +And then turning her back in disdain, she vanished without a word. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE PRICE OF SAFETY. + + + +When nabob Hugh Johnstone's carriage dashed swiftly down the crowded +Chandnee Chouk, on its return to the marble house, the driver and +footman, as well as the slim syce runners, were alarmed at the old +man's appearance when he was half led, half carried out of his luxurious +vehicle. The staggering sufferer reached his rooms and was surrounded by +a bevy of frightened menials, while the equippage dashed away in search +of old Doctor McMorris, the surgeon par excellence of Delhi. A second +butler had hastily darted away to the Delhi Club with an imperative +summons for Major Alan Hawke, who had, unfortunately, left for the day. + +With a shudder of affright Mademoiselle Justine Delande had slipped into +a booth on the great thoroughfare, only to feel safe when she glided +into Ram Lal Singh's jewel shop, to be swiftly hurried into the rear +reception room by the argus-eyed merchant, who had noted the swiftly +passing carriage. Her womanly conscience was as tender as her heart. + +"Lock the door, Ram Lal!" cried Alan Hawke, "We will be in the pagoda +in the garden. Let no one pass this door, on your life!" When they were +alone, Major Alan Hawke led the trembling woman away to to the hidden +bower, where Ram Lal had hospitably spread a feast of India's choicest +cakes and dainties. + +Only there, in that haven of safety, dared the excited Justine to +falter. "If you knew what I have suffered! He drove almost over me as I +crossed the Chandnee Chouk, and I had a struggle to leave Nadine. There +is the curse of an old family sorrow there. The father and daughter are +arrayed against each other." + +"Forget it all, my dear Justine," murmured Alan Hawke. "Here you are +hidden now and perfectly safe with me. Never mind those people now. Let +us only think of each other. You were simply matchless in your behavior +at the house." + +"Oh, I fear him so! I fear that hard old man!" whispered the timid +woman, as she dropped her eyes before Alan Hawke's ardent glances. He +had noted the growing touch of coquetry in her dress; he measured the +tell-tale quiver of her voice, and he smiled tenderly when she shyly +showed him the diamond bracelet, securely hidden upon her left arm. + +"I put this on to show you that I do trust you," she murmured. "And +I wear it every night. It seems to give me courage." The happy Major +pressed her hand warmly. + +"Let it be a secret sign between us, an omen of brighter days for all +of us. Stand by me and I will stand by you to the last. We will all meet +happily yet by the beautiful shores of Lake Leman!" + +In half an hour, Justine Delande was completely at her ease, for well +the artful renegade knew how to circle around the dangerous subject +nearest his heart--the secret history of Nadine Johnstone's mother. +He had dropped easily into the wooing and confidential intimacy which +lulled Justine Delande into a fool's paradise of happy content. + +She was sinking away and now losing her will and identity in his own, +without one warning qualm of conscience. For Alan Hawke's dearly bought +knowledge of womankind now stood him in great stead. + +"One single familiarity, one questionable liberty, and this cold-pulsed +Heloise would fly forever. She must be left to her day dreams and to +the work of a sweet self-deception," he artfully mused. They were +interrupted but a moment, when Ram Lal Singh glided to the door of the +pagoda. + +"I must now go to the bungalow to see Madame Louison and have her +approve her horses and carriage. She has sent word that she will drive +this afternoon. And," he whispered breathlessly, "Old Johnstone is very +sick. He has sent all over the city to find you, and now his own private +man bids me go there at once. He must have me, if he can't find you." + +Major Hawke mused a moment. "Give me the keys! Put your best man on +guard to watch for any intruders! Go first to the Mem-Sahib! Keep your +mouth shut! Remember about me and--" He pointed to the governess, now +timidly cowering in a shadowy corner. "Let the old devil wait till you +are done with her! Pump the old wretch! Find out what he wants! Say that +I went off for a day's jaunt!" Alan Hawke smiled grimly as he seated +himself tenderly at Justine Delande's side. "Old Hugh did not last long! +They must have had their first skirmish. If he is a coward at heart, she +will rule him with a rod of iron. What is her hold over him? I warrant +that the jade will never tell me. She will fight him to the death in +silence, and try to hoodwink me. We will see, my lady! We will see!" + +"Now, Justine," softly said the renegade, "tell me all of the story +of this strange father and daughter! Ram Lal has reconnoitered! We are +safe! Both Hugh and his daughter are at home!" + +The reassured governess frankly opened her heart to her wary listener. +It was an hour before the recital was finished, and Miss Justine was +gayly chatting over the impromptu breakfast, when the details of these +last stormy days at Delhi were described. "I cannot make it all out. She +is certainly his legitimate daughter. He is crafty, covetous, miserly, +and yet he lives in a scornful splendor here. Both my sister and myself +look forward to learning the whole story through my visit here. Of +course, on our arrival, Nadine and myself wondered not at the gloomy +solitude of the marble house. But the affronts to society, the practical +imprisonment of this girl, this chilling silence as to her mother, have +roused her brave young heart. Not a picture, not a single memento, not +even a jewel, not a tress of hair, not even a passing mention of where +that shadowy mother lies buried!" the Swiss woman sighed. "He is a brute +and tyrant--a man of a stony heart and an iron hand!" + +"You have never been made his confidante?" earnestly asked the Major. + +"Never!" promptly replied Justine. "Beyond a grave courtesy and the curt +answers to our reports, with liberal payment, we know no more now than +when the prattling child of four was brought to us. + +"She has no childish memories of her own. I have overheard all the +unhappy scenes of the last month. There are the tearful prayers of +Nadine, then the old man's harsh threats, and then only his cold +avoidance follows. Strange to say--gentle and warm-hearted, formed +for love, and yearning to know of the dear mother whom she has fondly +pictured in her dreams, Nadine Johnstone has all the courage of a +soldier's daughter, and her fearless bravery of soul is as inflexible +as steel. She returns frankly to the contest, and his only refuge is the +wall of cold silence that he has built up between them!" + +"Has he tried to punish her in any way--to intimidate her?" eagerly +cried the Major. + +"Not yet," answered Justine. "She tells me all, and he knows it. I can +see that his eyes are fixed on me now with a growing hatred. He fears +that I uphold her in this duel of words, of answerless questions. + +"He has threatened her roughly with sending her away to some place, to +'come to her senses,' alone, and--" the frightened woman said, "That +is what I fear--some sudden, rough brutality. He despairs of making her +love him. If she were suddenly removed--and I cast adrift on the world, +alone, here, he would, I suppose, send me back to Switzerland. He can +do no less, but I would lose her forever from my sight. I know that +he hates me, and we have always hoped that he would make us a handsome +present, on her marriage. Euphrosyne and I have been as mothers to her." +There were tears in the woman's anxious eyes now. She was startled as +Hawke bounded to his feet. + +"By God!" he cried, forgetting himself. "That's just his little game! +It must never be! See here, Justine! I have reason to think that you are +right. He may try to spirit her away and separate her forever from you +and Euphrosyne. He would cut off the only two friends who could connect +her with this strange past. Yes, that's his little game! And--" he +slowly concluded, controlling himself, "I have reason to think he may +go about it at once. He is afraid of me, also, about some old official +business. Now, I will watch over your interests. The least this old +miser can do is to give you a neat little home in Geneva, as a final +recompense." + +Justine Delande's eyes sparkled in gratitude. The acute Major had easily +learned from the garrulous Francois that the "Institut Pour les Jeunes +Dames" was an intellectual property only; the fine old mansion belonging +to a rich Genevese banker. Major Alan Hawke was now busied in writing +upon a few leaves torn from his betting book. + +"Listen to me!" he gravely said. "Promise me that you will never let +these papers leave you a moment." + +"I will carry them in my passport case, around my neck," murmured +Justine. "My money in notes, and a few articles." + +"Good!" energetically cried Hawke. "I will write the same to Euphrosyne, +and send it by 'registered post' to-day." + +"Here!" he suddenly cried, "Just pencil a few words to her to say that +you are with me, and that we understand each other; that our interests +are to be one; and that she must keep the faith and help us both, for +both our sakes. I will mail it so that old Johnstone will be powerless +to injure any of us three." He gave her another leaflet from his book, +and detached a golden pencil from his watch chain. + +There was a crimson flush upon her cheek, as she vainly essayed to +write. Her hand trembled, and then with a sob, her head fell upon +her breast; with an infinite art, the triumphant renegade soothed the +excited woman, and, it was only through her happy tears that she saw +him, before her there, duplicating the secret addresses. + +"Now, Justine; my Justine!" softly said Alan Hawke. "Here is a secret +address in Allahabad, and a secret address in London. If this man +decides to send Nadine away, he will do it secretly in some way. There +are several seaports open to leave India. You will be, of course, sent +out of Hindostan with her. It would be just his little game, however, +to separate you at the first foreign port, to pay you off royally, and +then--neither you nor Euphrosyne would ever see Nadine again. There is +something hanging over him that he would hide from her. He fears me, +also, for my official power. Remember, now! No matter whatever happens +you can always find a way to telegraph to me. If I am in India, here +to Allahabad; if in Europe, to London. Now, Euphrosyne will know always +where I am. Telegraph me the whereabouts of Nadine Johnstone, or, where +you are forced to leave her, telegraph the vessel you are on, and her +destination, and, I swear to you, by the God who made me, I will track +her down, and we three shall find a way to reach her later. He would +like to lock her up in a living tomb, if he found it to be to his +interest. A cheap private asylum in Germany, or some low haunt in +France, perhaps hide her away in Italy as a pretended invalid. The man +is mad--simply mad--about this baronetcy, and in some strange way the +girl stands between him and it. Do you promise?" + +"I promise you all!" faltered the excited woman. "Let me go now. Let me +go home, Alan," she murmured, and there were no heart secrets between +them any more, as the blushing woman, still trembling with the audacity +of her own burning emotions, was led safely to the door of the jewel +mart. + +"Be brave, be brave, dear Justine," he whispered. "Old Johnstone has +sent for me. You shall have your home yet; I guarantee it. I shall +be frequently at the house in the next few days. Remember to control +yourself, and to watch the sly game of this old brute. I will stay here +and send off at once our first letter to Euphrosyne. This girl will +have a million pounds. You and your sister must not be robbed of the +recompense of nearly twenty years of tenderness. Cleave to her, heart to +heart, and tell me all. I will make you both rich!" + +"Trust me to the death! I understand all now," whispered Justine, her +breast heaving in a new and strange emotion, flooding her chilly veins +as with a subtle fiery elixir. + +"Then go, but, dear one, be here two days from now at the same time. +Should any accident happen, Ram Lal will then come and bear to you my +message. You can trust him. I will stay here and send this registered +letter from here at once. Then, Hugh Johnstone has three loving +guardians to outwit before he can hide away your beautiful nursling!" + +"For you." he softly whispered, as he slipped a little packet into her +hand, when she stole out of the shop, after Alan Hawke had judiciously +reconnoitered. + +"Dear, simple soul!" contentedly reflected Major Hawke, as he busied +himself with the important letter to the staid Euphrosyne. "She has +given me her heart, in her loving eagerness to defend that child, and +the key to the whole situation. It would be just like this old brute +to spirit the girl away to baffle Madame Berthe Louison. That is, if he +dare not kill or intimidate her. And that I must look to. I think that +I see my way to that girl's side now. God, what a pot of money she will +have!" + +When Alan Hawke had finished his boldly warm letter to Euphrosyne, he +sealed it and sent it to the post by Ram Lal's footman. The world looked +very bright to him as, enjoying a capital cheroot, he studied for a half +hour a wall map of India. "There's a half dozen ways to spirit her +out of the Land of the Pagoda Tree. I must watch and trust to Justine. +To-night I may or may not know what this devil of a Berthe Louison is up +to. Will she try to take the girl away? That would be fatal." + +"Hardly--hardly," he decided, as he mixed a brandy pawnee. He gazed +around at Ram Lal's sanctum, in which the old usurer received the +Europeans whom he fleeced in his nipoy-lending operations. "A pretty +snug joint. Many a hundred pounds have I dropped here." It was neatly +furnished forth with service magazines, London papers, army lists, and +all the accessories of a London money-lender's den. When the receipt +for his registered letter was laid away in his pocket-book, Alan Hawke +calmly ordered his carriage. "I'll take a brush around town and show +them that I am out of all these intrigues," he decided. It was six hours +later when he drew up at the Club, having passed Madame Berthe Louison's +splendid turnout swinging down the Chandnee Chouk. On the box the alert +Jules, in a yager's uniform, sat beside the dusky driver, and, even in +the dusk, he could see the neat French maid seated, facing her mistress. +"By God! She has the nerve of a Field Marshal! She will never hide her +light under a bushel!" he had gasped when Madame Louison, at ten feet +distant, gazed at him impassively through her longue vue, and then +calmly cut him. He was soon besieged by a crowd of gay gossips at the +Club upon dismounting from his trap. + +"Tell us, Hawke, who is the wonderful beauty who has taken the Silver +Bungalow," was the excited chorus. + +"How the devil should I know, when you fellows do not," good-humoredly +cried Alan Hawke, as the Club steward edged his way through the throng. + +"There's a message for you, Major," said the functionary. "Mr. Hugh +Johnstone is quite ill at his house, and has been sending all over for +you." + +"Ah! This is grave news" ostentatiously cried Hawke. "I'll drive over at +once." And then he fled away, leaving the gay loiterers still discussing +the lovely anonyma whose advent was now the one sensation of the hour. +"Who the devil can her friends be?" + +"She plays a bold game," mused the startled Major. + +On her return to the marble house, Justine Delande had been welcomed by +the anxious-eyed apparition of Nadine Johnstone, who burst into her +room in a storm of tears. "I have been so frightened," she cried as she +clasped her returning governess in her trembling grasp. + +"My father has just had a terrible seizure--an attack while riding out +on business. He will see no one but Doctor McMorris, and besides, he +has the old jewel merchant searching all over Delhi for Major Hawke. You +must not leave me a moment, Justine." + +"Is he better?" demanded Justine, with guilty qualms. + +"He is resting now, but he will not be quieted till he sees this strange +man," answered the disconsolate girl. + +"How beautiful she is," mused the Swiss woman, as Nadine Johnstone sat +with parted lips relating the excitements of the morning. The wooing +Indian climate was fast ripening the exquisite loveliness of eighteen. +Her dark eyes gleamed with earnestness, and the rich brown locks crowned +her stately head as with a coronal of golden bronze. The roses on her +cheeks were not yet faded by the insidious climate of burning India, and +a thrilling earnestness accented the music of her voice. + +"What can we do, Nadine?" murmured Justine Delande. + +"Nothing," sighed the motherless girl. "But when this Major Hawke +comes, you must, for my sake, find out all you can. Ah! To leave India +forever!" she sighed. Her marble prison was only a place of sorrow and +lamentation. + +Major Hawke's flying steeds reached the marble house, after a circuit +to Ram Lal's jewel mart. Without leaving his carriage, he called out the +obsequious old Hindu. The dusk of evening favored Ram Lal in his adroit +lying. + +He gave a brief account of Hugh Johnstone's strange morning seizure, +forgetting to divulge to Hawke that the old nabob had already bribed him +heavily to watch the inmate of the Silver Bungalow, and report to him +her every movement. Nor, did the Hindu divulge his secret report to +Madame Berthe Louison, after her ostentatious public carriage promenade. +He further hid the fact that Madame Louison had deftly pressed a hundred +pounds upon him, in return for a daily report of the secret life of the +marble house. But he smiled blandly, when Major Hawke hastily said "Will +he die?" + +"No; he is all right! He was over there with the Mem-Sahib this morning, +and something must have happened." + +"What happened?" imperiously demanded Hawke. + +"I don't know," slowly answered Ram Lal. + +"Don't lie to me, Ram Lal," fiercely said the Major. "I have a +fifty-pound note if you will find out." + +"He is going there to-morrow," slowly said Ram. + +"All right, watch them both. I'll be back here. Wait for me." And then +at a nod the horses sprang away. + +"Fools! Fools all!" glowered Ram Lal, as he straightened up from his low +salaam. "I'll have those stolen jewels yet. Now is the time to gain his +confidence. He is an old man, and weak, and, cowardly." + +When Major Hawke entered the great doors of the marble house, he was +gravely received by Mademoiselle Justine Delande. "He has been asking +every ten minutes for you," she said. "I am to show you at once to his +rooms." + +"Now, what's this? what's all this?" cheerfully cried the Major as he +entered the vast sleeping-room of the Anglo-Indian. Old Johnstone feebly +pointed to the door, and motioned to his attendants to leave the room. +He was worn and gaunt, and his ashen cheeks and sunken eyes told of some +great inward convulsion. He had aged ten years since the pompous tiffin. +"I'm not well, Hawke! Come here! Near to me!" he huskily cried. And +then, the hunter and the hunted gazed mutely into each other's eyes. + +"What's gone wrong?" frankly demanded the Major. The old man scowled in +silence for a moment. + +"I have no one I dare trust but you," he unwillingly said. "You know +something of my position, my future. I want to know if you have ever met +this woman who has taken the Silver Bungalow--a kind of a French woman. +There's her card." Old Johnstone's haggard eyes followed Hawke, as he +silently studied the bit of pasteboard. + +"Madame Berthe Louison," he gravely read. And, then, with a magnificent +audacity, he lied successfully. "Never even heard the name," he +murmured. + +"Fellows at the Club speaking of some such woman today. Pretty woman, I +supppose a declassee." Hawke, lifted his eyebrows. + +"No, a she-devil!" almost shouted old Hugh. "Now, I want you to watch +her and find out who her backers are. She is trying to annoy me. Be +prudent, and I'll make it a year's pay to you." Hawke's greedy eyes +lightened as he bowed. "But never mention my name. Come here as often +as you will. Go now and look up what you can. I'll see you to-morrow, in +the afternoon. Don't scrape acquaintance with her. Just watch her. I'm +going there to-morrow morning myself." + +"You?" said Hawke. + +"Yes," half groaned the old man, turning his face to the wall. "Come +to-morrow afternoon. Spare no money. I'll make it right. Don't linger a +minute now." + +Major Alan Hawke was gayly buoyant as the horses trotted back to Ram Lal +Singh's, where he proposed to await the hour of ten o'clock. "I fancy, +my lady, that you, too, will pay toll, as well as Hugh Johnstone," +he murmured. "You shall pay for all you get, and pay as you go." +He cheerfully dined alone in Ram Lal's little business sanctum, and +listened to the measured disclosures of the Hindu in return for the +fifty-pound note. + +"It's to-morrow's interview that I want to know about," quietly directed +the major, whereat Ram Lal modestly said: + +"I'll find a way to let you know all." + +"That's more than she will, the sly devil," said Hawke, in his heart, as +he leaned back in the consciousness of "duty well done." + +In the Silver Bungalow, Alixe Delavigne sat in her splendid dining-room, +under the ministrations of her Gallic body-guard. Her eyes were very +dreamy as she recalled all the fearful incidents of the annee terrible. +The flight from Paris after their father's death, the escape to England, +the refuge at a Brighton hotel--the sudden projecture of Hugh Fraser +athwart their humble lives. When the returned Indian functionary +abandoned all other pursuits and plainly showed his mad craving to +follow Valerie Delavigne everywhere, then the younger sister had learned +of his rank, of his long leave and wealth and future prospects. The man +was most personable then. He was of a solid rank and a brilliant civil +position, and the penniless daughters of the dead Colonel Delavigne were +now reduced to a few hundred francs. The hand of Misery was upon them, +poor and friendless. Alixe, with a shudder, recalled the two years of +silence, since the ardent Pierre Troubetskoi had whispered to beautiful +Valerie Delavigne in Paris: "I go to Russia, but I will soon return and +you must wait for me!" + +Day by day, when the skies grew darker, Valerie Delavigne had gazed +with a haunting sorrow in her eyes, at her helpless sister. Some strange +possessing desire had urged Hugh Fraser on to woo and win the helpless +French beauty, whom an adverse fate had stranded in England. The mute +sacrifice of the wedding was followed by the two years of Valerie's +loveless marriage. It was an existence for the two sisters, bought by +the sacrifice of one and Troubetskoi never had written! + +Sitting alone, waiting for the morrow, to face Hugh Fraser once more, +Alixe Delavigne recalled, with a vow of vengeance, that sad past, the +slow breaking of the butterfly, the revelation of all Hugh Fraser's +cold-hearted tyranny, the sway of his demoniac jealousy--jealous, even, +of a sister's innocent love. And that last miserable scene, on the eve +of their projected voyage to India, when the maddened tyrant discovered +Pierre Troubetskoi's long-belated letter, returned once more to madden +her. Fraser had simply raged in a demoniac passion. + +For the mistake of a life was at last revealed when that one letter +came! The letter addressed to the wife as Valerie Delavigne, which had +followed them slowly upon their travels, and, by a devil's decree, had +fallen, by a spy-servant's trick, into Hugh Fraser's hands. It mattered +not that the coming lover was even yet ignorant of the miserable +marriage. The envelope, with its address, was missing, when the long +pages of burning tenderness were read by the infuriated husband. "I have +been buried a year in the snows of Siberia," wrote Pierre, "upon the +secret service of the Czar. I was ill of a fever for long months upon my +return, and now I am coming to take you to my heart, never to be parted +any more." The address of his banker in Paris, all the plans for +their voyage to Russia, even the tender messages to the sister of his +love--all these were the last goad to a maddened man, whose raging +invective and brutal violence drove a weeping woman out into the +cheerless night. He deemed her the Russian's cherished mistress. With a +shudder Alixe Delavigne recalled the white face of the discarded mother, +whose babe slumbered in peace, while the half-demented woman fled away +to the shelter of the house of an old French nurse. + +The morrow, when Hugh Fraser bade her also leave his house forever, was +pictured again in her mind, and the insolent gift of the hundred-pound +note, with the words, "Go and find your sister! Never darken my door +again!" She had taken that money and used it to save her sister's life. + +The darkened sick-chamber, the flight across the channel, and the rugged +path which led Valerie, at last, to die in peace in Pierre Troubetskoi's +arms--all this returned to the resolute avenger of a sister who had +died, dreaming of the little childish face hidden from her forever, "He +shall pay the price of his safety to the uttermost farthing, to the last +little humiliation," she cried, starting up as Alan Hawke stood before +her, for the hour of ten had stolen upon her. "Nadine shall love her +mother, and that love shall bridge the silent gulf of Death!" + +"You have been agitated?" he gently said, for there were tell-tale tears +upon her lashes. "Tell me, is it victory or defeat?" + +"I shall see my sister's child, to-morrow," the Lady of Jitomir bravely +said. "And he--the man of the iron heart--shall conduct me to his house +in honor." There was that shining on her transfigured face which made +Alan Hawke murmur: + +"There is a great love here--greater than the hate which demands an eye +for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." + +He waited, abashed and silent, for his strange employer's orders of the +day. + +"Is there anything I can do for you to-morrow?" said Alan Hawke. "Do +you find your arrangements convenient for you here in every way?" The +respectful tone of his manner touched Berthe Louison's heart. He was +beginning to win his way to her regard by judiciously effacing himself. + +"I am entirely at home, thanks to your thoughtful provision," she +smiled. "There is nothing to-night. Have you seen Johnstone?" Her dark +eyes were steadfastly fixed upon him now. + +"Yes; he sent for me. He is very much agitated and, I should say, he is +almost at your mercy. But beware of an apparent surrender on his part. +He is--capable of anything!" + +"I know it. I am on my guard," slowly replied Berthe Louison. She saw +that Alan Hawke had spoken the truth to her--even with some mental +reservations. "To-morrow morning will determine my public relations with +Hugh Johnstone. Come to me to-morrow night, and do not be surprised if +we meet as guests at Hugh Johnstone's table. You must only meet me as a +stranger. I may leave here for a few days, and then I will place you in +charge of my interests in my absence." + +The Major gravely replied: + +"You may depend upon me wherever you may wish to call upon me." + +"Strange mutability of womanhood," he mused a half hour later as he +left the lady's side. "There is a woman whom I should not care to +face tomorrow morning if I were in Hugh Johnstone's shoes." It was the +renegade's last verdict as he slept the sleep of the prosperous. The +Willoughby dinner and his own feast now occupied his attention, for his +mysterious employer had bade him to eat, drink, and be merry. + +At ten o'clock the next day the "gilded youth" of the Delhi Club all +knew that Hugh Johnstone had betaken himself to the Silver Bungalow, in +the carriage of the woman whose beauty was now an accepted fact. Hugely +delighted, these ungodly youth winked in merry surmises as to the +relationship between the budding Baronet and the hidden Venus. Even bets +as to discreetly "distant relationship," or a forthcoming crop of late +orange blossoms were the order of the day. But silent among the merry +throng, the handsome Major, making his due call of ceremony upon General +Willoughby, denied all knowledge of the designs of either of the high +contracting parties. + +In due state, escorted by the alert Jules Victor, Hugh Johnstone entered +the Silver Bungalow, to find his Cassandra silently awaiting him. There +was no memory of the happenings of the day before in her unconstrained +greeting. The door of the strategic cabinet was ajar, but the tottering +visitor had no fears of an ambush. For Madame Alixe Delavigne calmly +said: "Jules, you may remain within call, in the hall." + +The old nabob's heart leaped up in a welcome relief at this command. His +wrinkled face was of the hue of yellowed ivory, and his cold blue eyes +were weak and watery, as he heavily lurched into a chair facing his +hostess. Courage and craft had not failed him, for already Douglas +Fraser was speeding on to Delhi from Calcutta, the sole occupant of +a special train. In the long vigil of the night, Hugh Johnstone had +evolved a plan to ward off the blow of the sword of Fate! But watchfully +silent he awaited his enemy's conversational attack. + +"Damn her! I will outwit her yet!" he silently swore. + +"Before you give me your answer, Hugh Fraser," said the calm-voiced +woman, "I wish to tell you again what, in your mad jealousy, you would +not believe. I swear to you that Pierre Troubetskoi's letter, written to +my dead sister, was written in ignorance of her marriage with you. The +frightful scenes of the carnage of Paris had tossed us to and fro, and +the careless destruction of the envelope, addressed to my sister under +her maiden name, prevented me from proving her innocence as a wife. +Pierre Troubetskoi had long known my father, who had been an attache in +Russia. He was Valerie's knightly suitor. And he fell into the estates +which now burden me with wealth, while absent upon the Czar's secret +affairs. My gallant old father was sacrificed to the frenzy of the time; +his soldier's face betrayed him, his rosette of the Legion doomed him, +Troubetskoi's letter to our father demanding Valerie's hand was returned +to the writer, through the Russian Legation, a year later, after the +reorganization of the Paris Post-office. I do not ask you to believe +this, but by the God of Heaven, it is my warrant for forcing myself to +the side of my dead sister's child. She shall yet have every acre and +every rouble that Pierre Troubetskoi would have given to this child +whom you hide. My sister died with her empty arms stretched to Heaven, +imploring God for her child. And now, what terms will you make with me. +In the one case, an armed peace; in the other, 'war to the knife!'" + +"What would you have?" he stubbornly muttered. "You seek my ruin." + +"I do not!" solemnly answered Berthe Louison. "God has blasted your life +in denying you the love of your own child. You rule her by fear. You, in +your selfish passion, once reached out your strong hand and crushed this +girl's mother, a poor, fragile flower, in her girlhood. Valerie believed +Pierre to be dead or false when she timidly crossed the threshold of +the wedded home which you made a prison for her! You only care for +this bubble Baronetcy and for your heaped-up hoards. The tribute of +the shrieking ryot! Now, here are my terms: I will go down with you to +Calcutta, and deliver over to you there the receipt for the deposit of +jewels which holds back your coveted honor. You may do with them as you +will! A visit to the Viceroy will at once clear the path. Tell any story +you will of their recovery. An underling's unfaithfulness or the loss of +the paper. You may remove them and surrender them as you will. Perhaps a +fanciful discovery of their hiding-place here, their surrender by Hindu +thieves, frightened at last; any of these conventional lies will clear +your official record of the olden stain. Long years ago I would have +treated with you, but I wanted to find the child. You hid her away from +me. I found you out by chance in your changed name and new official +residence." + +"And your terms?" demanded Johnstone. He saw, with lightning cunning, a +pathway leading him out of his troubles. The vigil of the night before +had borne its fruit already. + +"That I have free access to your house and home. That I shall be the +honored guest at your table. That I shall be left in no dubious social +standing here. That I may see your daughter, learn to know her, and you +may prudently arrange the story I am to tell her later. As Madame Berthe +Louison, a tourist of wealth, an art dilettante, a French woman of rank +and position, your social guaranty will keep the pack of human wolves +away from my retreat here. I have my papers to prove all this." + +"When must this be? Before I receive the jewels? Before my title to the +baronetcy is perfected? What guaranty have I?" he replied. + +"My honor alone! I pledge you now that I will not make myself known to +Nadine until you have received the jewels and the Crown has obtained its +long sequestered property. We are to come back here together. The +future relations can be decided upon when I have satisfied my natural +affection; when your innocently besmirched record has been righted." +Hugh Johnstone's silvered head was bowed for a long interval in his +trembling hands. "You will not betray me to the authorities, when all is +done? Your lips shall be sealed as to the past?" Alixe Delavigne bowed +in silence. "Then I accept your terms upon one condition only: That +until we return from Calcutta, you will only see Nadine in my presence +or in that of Mademoiselle Delande, her governess. It is only fair. When +you have restored to me the jewels, you can then concert with me upon a +plan to enlighten Nadine, with no scandal to me, no heart-break to her. +The slightest gossip as to a family skeleton reaching the Viceroy or the +home authorities would lead to my public disgrace." + +Alixe Delavigne paced the room in silence for a few moments, while Hugh +Johnstone's eyes were fixed upon the opened cabinet whence Jules Victor +had so fiercely sprung forth as a champion. + +"Be it so!" sternly replied Alixe Delavigne. "And may God confound and +punish the one who breaks the pact." + +"When do you wish to come? When can you go to Calcutta? I would like +to hasten matters," demanded the old nabob, with his eyes averted. The +beautiful woman paused, and after a moment replied: + +"To-morrow, come here and bring me to your house to dine. This afternoon +you may call here and drive me over Delhi in your carriage. This will +set a public seal upon our acquaintance. My maid can accompany us. This +done, I will go to Calcutta with my two European servants, as you wish. +You can take the train on either the preceding or the following day. It +will avoid both spies and gossip." + +"I will go before you and await you!" eagerly said Hugh Johnstone, +rising. "I will ask another person to dine with us to-morrow, and this +evening I will prepare my daughter for the dinner, so that your coming +will be no surprise to her. Shall I bring my carriage here at four +to-day?" + +"I will await you," gravely said Alixe Delavigne, as she bowed in answer +to her guest's formal signal of departure. + +An hour later Jules Victor reported to his mistress: "We drove to the +telegraph office, where I awaited the gentleman for some time, and then +we repaired to his home." + +There was a disgruntled man whose curses upon his kinsman's changing +moods were both loud and deep when Douglas Fraser received a telegram +that night at Allahabad. "Is the old man crazy?" he demanded, as he +read the words: "Wait at Allahabad for me. Keep shady. With you in three +days. Telegraph your address." The canny young Scot thought of a coming +legacy and obeyed the head of his clan. + +Madame Berthe Louison, as Delhi was destined to know her, lingered long +over her afternoon driving toilet. There was a recurring fear which made +her tremble. "Would Hugh Johnstone divulge the facts as to the jewels +to the Viceroy, and so gain his free rehabilitation-and then defy her? +No-no! He never would dare!" she answered. "My agents are even now +watching that bank. The bank would never give up the sealed packages +contents unknown, save on surrender of the carefully drawn receipts." +And then Berthe remembered her own secret work at Calcutta. The +Grindlays knew of the surreptitious attempts made by the plausible Hugh +Fraser to withdraw the deposit long before the baronetcy episode. And +Berthe laughed, in memory of her capture of the receipts in the old days +at Brighton, while looking for the stolen letter. + +Long before that rising star of fashion, Major Alan Hawke, returned from +General Willoughby's delightful dinner upon the day of Hugh Johnstone's +crafty surrender, he knew that Hugh Johnstone had astounded Delhi by a +personal exploitation of the Lady of the Silver Bungalow. + +"By Gad! Hawke!" roared old Brigadier Willoughby, with his mouth full of +chutney, "Johnstone is going the pace! First he produces a daughter, a +hidden treasure, and now this wonderfully beautiful French countess." + +"I suppose, General," lightly said the Major, "the old nabob will marry +and retire to Europe on his coming baronetcy." + +"Likely enough!" sputtered Willoughby. "You lucky young dog. I suppose +you are in the secret?" + +But neither that night, nor two days later, at Major Hawke's superb +dinner at the Delhi Club, did the jeunesse doree of the old capital +extract an admission from that mysterious "secret service" man, Major +Alan Hawke. "You cannot deny, Hawke, that you dined at the marble house +with the beauty whom we are all toasting," said a rallying roisterer. +"And--with the Veiled Rose of Delhi!" said another, still more eagerly. + +"It is true, gentlemen" gravely said Major Hawke, "that I was invited to +dinner at the marble house, but Madame Louison is a stranger to me, +and I believe a tourist of some rank. It was merely a formal affair. +I believe that she brought letters from Paris to Hugh Johnstone." Late +that night Alan Hawke laughed, as he pocketed his winnings at baccarat. +"Three hundred pounds to the good! I'm a devil for luck!" And he sat +down in his room to think over all the events of a day which had half +turned his head. Warned by Justine Delande that Madame Louison was +bidden to dine with Hugh Johnstone, Alan Hawke closely interrogated her. +She evidently knew and suspected nothing. "Ah! Berthe plays a lone hand +against the world," he smiled. + +His mysterious employer had merely bidden him be ready to meet her +there, without surprise. There was as yet no lightning move up on the +chess board, and in vain he studied her resolute, smiling face. "All I +can tell you," murmured Justine to her handsome Mentor, in the seclusion +of Ram Lal's back room, "is that this Madame Berthe Louison comes to +spend the day in looking over Hugh Johnstone's art treasures. Nadine and +I are to meet her, with the master. Do you know aught of her?" + +"Nothing, dear Justine," unhesitatingly lied Alan Hawke. "Watch her and +tell me all." + +"I will," smilingly replied the Swiss. "I have a strange fear that Hugh +Johnstone has known her before, that he intends to marry her, and then +to send us two, Nadine and I, away to a quiet life in Europe." Whereupon +Alan Hawke laughed loud and long. + +"She is only a bird of passage, some wealthy globe wanderer, perhaps +even a sly adventuress. No, old Johnstone will not tempt Fortune." + +"He has been so unusually amiable," agnostically said Justine. "Of +course he could hide such a design easily from Nadine, who knows nothing +of love." + +"She will learn! She will learn--in due time," laughed Hawke. "There is +but one thing possible. This whole pretended visit may be a sham--she +may even be the belle amie of this old curmudgeon." + +"I will watch all three of them! You shall know all!" murmured Justine, +as she stole away, not without the kisses of her secret knight burning +upon her lips. + +"What a consummate actress!" mused Alan Hawke, when, for the first time, +since Nadine Johnstone's arrival, a formal dinner party enlivened the +dull monotony of the marble house. The round table, set for five, gave +Hugh Johnstone the strategic advantage of separating his secret enemy +from his blushing daughter. Hawke demurely paid his devoirs to Madame +Justine Delande, with a finely studied inattention to either the guest +of the evening or the beautiful girl who only murmured a few words when +presented to her father's only visitor. "I wonder if Justine, poor soul, +will see the resemblance?" It had been a triumph of art, Madame Berthe +Louison's magnificent dinner toilette, those rich robes which effaced +the opening-rose beauty of the slim girl in the simplicity of her rare +Indian lawn frock. Rich color and flowers and diamonds heightened the +splendid loveliness of the woman who "looked like a queen in a play that +night." + +Alas, for Justine Delande, she was so busied with her mute telegraphy to +Alan Hawke that she never saw the startling family likeness of the two +women so eagerly watched by Hugh Johnstone. But the keen-eyed Alan Hawke +saw the girl's fascinated gaze. He noted her virginal bosom heaving in +a new and strange emotion. He marked the tender challenge of her dreamy +eyes as Berthe Louison's loving soul spoke out to the radiant young +beauty only held away from her heart by the stern old skeleton at the +feast. + +The long-drawn-out splendors of the feast were over, and the ladies had, +at last, retired. Hawke observed the stony glare with which Johnstone +whispered a few words of command to Justine Delande, when the two men +sought the smoking-room. + +The door was hardly closed upon them when the coffee and cigars were +served, when Johnstone, striding forward, locked the door. + +"See here, Hawke!" abruptly said the host "I want you to serve me +to-night, and to stand by me while this she-devil is in Delhi. I've +got to run down to Calcutta on business for a few days. She will not be +here. She has some business of her own down there, also. First, find +out for me, for God's sake, all about her. How she came here; where +she hides in Europe; who her friends are. When you are able to, you can +follow her over the world. I'll foot the bill, as the Yankees say. + +"Now, to-night, I wish you to take your leave conventionally. Get away +at once, and go immediately and telegraph to Anstruther in London. No, +don't deny you are intimate with him. I know it. Telegraph him that I am +in a position, now, to trace out and restore those missing jewels. The +secret of their hiding is mine at last. Here's a hundred pounds. Don't +spare your words. Within a month they will be in the hands of the +Viceroy. I have to play a part to get them--a dangerous part. I pledge +my whole estate to back this. But I must have my Baronetcy so that I +can leave India, for I fear the vengeance of the devils who robbed the +captured Princes of Oude. + +"Once in England, I am safe. I'll not leave till I get the Baronetcy, +and the jewels will not be delivered up until I get it. I am closely +watched here." + +Hawke's eyes burned fiercely. "And if I was to take the train and tell +the Viceroy this?" he boldly said. + +"Then I would say that you had lied--that is all." + +"What do I get?" coolly demanded Hawke. + +"Five thousand pounds the day that I get my Baronetcy," quietly replied +Johnstone. + +"I'll not do it," hotly cried Hawke. "You might say I lied," he sneered. +"I want it now!" + +The two men glared at each other in a mutual distrust. Hugh Johnstone +pondered a moment, and said deliberately: + +"I'll give you five accepted drafts for a thousand pounds each, when +I return from Calcutta, on Glyn, Carr & Glyn, my London bankers, dated +thirty days apart. That will make you sure of your money, and me, sure +of my Baronetcy. Will you act?" Hawke knocked the ash off his Havana +lightly. + +"Yes, if you give me a thousand pounds cash bonus now! I am deliberately +misleading Anstruther to help you. And I risk my own place to do it." + +"All right," said Johnstone as he left the room, and in a few moments +returned with a check-book. "There's your thousand pounds. Now listen. +Not a word to old General Willoughby. He is a meddlesome old sot. I +shall slip away quietly. To deceive the Delhi scandal-mongers you must +call here every day in my absence. Mademoiselle Delande will receive +you. My daughter, of course, sees no one in my absence. And you can +inform Delhi secretly, guardedly, that Madame Berthe Louison is an art +enthusiast, a Frenchwoman of rank and fortune, and one who, in her short +stay, only studies the wonders of old Oude. I don't want this damned +pack of local lady-killers--the lobster-backs--to get after her. Do you +understand? I'll have further use for you. I may retire to Europe. You +can trust the Swiss woman. I will give her my orders." + +"All right! I will go and telegraph as soon as I can make my adieux. +When do you start for Calcutta?" Hawke asked warily. + +"The moment you get Anstruther's reply," decisively replied Johnstone. +"I'll be away for a couple of weeks in all!" Hawke turned paler than +his wont, but he mused in silence and cheerfully finished his coffee +and cognac. In half an hour, he left an aching void in Justine Delande's +bosom, but some subtle magnetism had so drawn Berthe Louison and the +heart-stirred Justine together that Hugh Johnstone was happy, when, with +courtly gallantry, he escorted the beauty, who had set Delhi all agog, +to her garden-bowered nest. + +"Have I kept my compact?" said Berthe, as they stood once more in her +"tiger's den." + +"You have, madame!" said Hugh Johnstone. "I have been considering all. +I will leave secretly for Calcutta in two or three days. You had better +follow me in a week. I have some private business there. I will ask +my friend, Major Hawke, to show you the environs. You can trust him. +Telegraph me to Grindlay's Bank, Calcutta, of your arrival. I will meet +you. Our business transacted, we can return together on the same train. +All will then be safe." His own secret preparations were all made. + +"I agree to all," said Berthe. "And, as to Nadine?" + +Johnstone turned with blazing eyes, "You are to see her each day, at her +own home, in the presence of Justine Delande. She will have my orders. +Remember our compact! All your future association with her depends on +your prudence. I will not be betrayed or openly disgraced!" His face was +as black as a murderer caught in the act. + +"I remember!" said the beauty of the Bungalow. + +"To mystify the fools here, if I will bring my daughter and take you for +a drive, each day at four, till I go," said Johnstone. "And, then, +I'll have Hawke show you the city." He bowed, and at once disappeared, +leaving his enemy laughing. But he grinned. + +"If she knew that I go to meet Douglas Fraser, my lady would pass an +uneasy night! I hold the trump cards now!" + +Major Alan Hawke smiled grimly the next day, when he presented to Hugh +Johnstone a neatly got up cipher, answering dispatch in code words which +had cost Ram Lal just half of the bribe which Hawke gave him for the sly +Hindu telegraph clerk. + +"Ah! Anstruther was prompt!" said the neatly tricked nabob, when Hawke +translated: + +"Intelligence gratifying. Name approved and on list. Appointment sure!" +Three days later, Delhi missed Hugh Johnstone from the afternoon drives, +which showed Madame Louison and Nadine to an eager bevy of Madame +Grundys. But the envied of all men was Major Alan Hawke, escorting +Madame Louison for a week over the storied plains of the Jumna. + +When Madame Berthe Louison and her two body servants took the Calcutta +train, local society jumped to its sage conclusion. + +"Old Hugh will lead the beautiful Countess to the altar, while Major +Alan Hawke will bear off the Rosebud of Delhi, and so become the +richest son-in-law in India." But the handsome Alan Hawke, each morning +lingering with Justine Delande in the grounds of the marble house, +never saw the face of Nadine Johnstone. The beautiful girl breathlessly +awaited her new-made friend's return. But stern old Hugh Johnstone, at +Calcutta, laughed as he thought of his own secret coup de main. + +"Wait! Wait till I return!" he gloated. "She is powerless now!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. HARRY HARDWICKE TAKES THE GATE NEATLY. + + + +In the few days succeeding Hugh Johnstone's still unsuspected departure, +the dull fires of a growing jealousy burned and smouldered in Captain +Harry Hardwicke's agitated heart. The old nabob had neatly slipped away +in the night, on a special engine, and the Captain heard all the growing +tattle of Delhi, as to the social activity at the marble house. The +open hospitable board of General Willoughby rang with the very wildest +rumors. Alan Hawke seemed to be the "Prince Charming" of the hidden +festivities. + +Hardwicke, on the eve of his Majority, now darkly moped in his rooms, +undecided to apply for a long home leave, unwilling to leave Delhi, and +even afraid to ask his general for any positive favor as to a future +station. Club and mess bandied the freest tattle as to old Hugh +Johnstone's lovely "importation." Men eyed the prosperous Major Alan +Hawke on his rising pathway with a growing envy. There was a smart +coterie who now firmly believed that the Major's only "secret business" +was to marry the Rose of Delhi, and then, departing on an extended +honeymoon, leave the "Diamond Nabob," as the ci-devant Hugh Fraser was +called, free to proclaim Madame Berthe Louison, queen of the marble +house, and sharer of his expected dignity, the crown of his life, the +long-coveted Baronetcy. When old Major Verner growled: + +"That's the scheme, Hardwicke! My Lady of France makes the condition +that the young heiress shall be settled first. Gad! What a lucky dog +Hawke is!" Then, Harry Hardwicke suddenly discovered that he loved the +moonlight beauty of his dreams--the fair veiled Rose of Delhi. Hawke +rose up as a darkly menacing cloud on his future. + +His morning rides were now but keen inspections of the Commissioner's +garden, and, lingering on the Chandnee Chouk, he knew, by experiments, +conducted with a beating heart, just where Justine Delande was wont +to wander in the lonely labyrinth, with her lovely young charge. A low +double gate, a break in the high stone wall, often gave him glimpses +of the two women in their morning rambles and, with a softened feeling, +born of her own secret passion for Hawke, Justine Delande watched a +fluttering handkerchief often answer Captain Hardwicke's morning salute. + +"Tell me, Justine," said Nadine, the morning after Hugh Johnstone had +stolen away, "Why does my father not ask Major Hardwicke to visit us? He +is to be promoted for his superb gallantry, he is so brave--so noble! He +certainly has as many claims to honor as this--this Major Hawke--whom my +father has made his confidant. I don't know why, but I don't like that +man!" + +"What do you know of Major Hardwicke, as you call him?" cried Justine in +wonder at Miss Nadine's growing interest. + +"Ah!" the agitated girl cried with blushing cheeks, "Mrs. Willoughby +told me how he dragged his wounded friend out of a storm of Afghan +balls, and gave her back the child of her heart. It was General +Willoughby who got him his Victoria Cross. And, she says that he is +a hero, he is so gentle and manly--so gifted--a man destined to be a +commanding general yet." The guilty Swiss woman dared not raise her eyes +to watch the fleeting blushes on Nadine's cheeks. + +"It is time, high time we leave India," she mused, and then, the thought +of separation from Alan Hawke chilled her blood. "Let us go in," she +said. "The grass is damp yet." Captain Hardwicke's argus eyes, love +inspired, were now daily fixed on the marble house. He scoured Delhi and +amassed a pyramid of detached fragmentary gossip in all his alarm, but +one star of hope cheered him. Though Major Hawke was known as the only +cavalier of Madame Louison, save the old nabob, now supposed to be ill +at home; though Hawke drove out for a week with the lovely countess--to +the great surprise of the local society, the handsome renegade had never +once been seen in public with Miss Nadine Johnstone. Stranger still, the +star-eyed Madame Berthe Louison had never accompanied the young heiress +in the regular afternoon parade en voiture. "There's a mystery +here," mused the lover. "Old Hugh and the Major appear daily with the +Frenchwoman, but Nadine Johnstone has never been seen alone with anyone +save her father, or this Swiss duenna. Hawke is making slow progress +there, if any." Meeting old Simpson, the nabob's butler, Captain +Hardwicke tipped him with a five-pound note. The old retired soldier +grinned and opened his confidence. + +"The Major! Bless your stars!" gabbled Simpson, "She's a straightaway +angel, and not for the likes of him! Major Hawke has a dark spot or two +in his record--away back!" grumbled Simpson, "No, Captain! Major Hawke +has never set eyes on her for a single moment, but the one night of that +dinner. By the way, it is the only one we ever gave!" The butler swelled +up proudly. + +"That night she never lifted her eyes, nor spoke even a word to him. He +comes to see the Guv'nor on business, an' mighty private business it is. +They're locked up together often." + +"And, this marrying? The stories are now told everywhere?" queried +Hardwicke, blushing, but desperately remembering that "all is fair in +love and war." He, an incipient Major, a V. C.--"pumping" an old private +soldier. + +"Rank rot!" frankly said the butler, "They're all strangers. The French +countess is only sight-seeing here and buying out old Ram Lal's shop. +The old thief! She brought letters to the Guv'nor! That's all! He's no +special fancy to her, and he set Major Hawke on just to do the amiable. +The Guv'nor's far too old to beau the lady around. Marry?--not him! And +Miss Nadine's just as silent as a flower in one of them gold vases. All +she does is to look pretty and keep still, poor lamb. Her music, her +books, her flowers, her birds. And as to Major Hawke and this Madame +Louison--I've the Guv'nor's own orders they are never to see Miss +Nadine. That is, Hawke not at all, and the lady only when Miss Delande +is present! Them's my solid orders, and the old Guv'nor put my eye +out with a ten-pound note--the first I ever got from him. No, Captain! +You've done the handsome by me, and I give you the straight tip--wasn't +I in the old Eighth Hussars with your father when we charged the rebel +camp at Lucknow? I've got a tulwar yet that I cut out of the hand of a +'pandy' who was hacking away at Colonel Hardwicke." + +"How did you get it, Simpson?" cried the young Captain. + +"I got arm and all! Took it off with a right cut! You may know, Cap'n, +that we ground our sabers in those old days! No, sir! Miss Nadine's for +none of them people, and Hawke is only in the house for business. He's a +deep one--is that same Hawke," concluded Simpson, pocketing his note. + +Captain Hardwicke began to see the light dawning. "Alan Hawke has then +some secret business scheme with the old money grubber that's all," +mused the young engineer officer, happy at heart. "I'll fight a bit shy +of him. His scheme may take the girl in. So, old Johnstone's away a few +days. Perhaps settling his affairs before his departure. I think," the +lover mused, "I will follow them to Europe, if they go, and, if they +stay, Willoughby will ask for my retention, and, after all, 'faint heart +never won fair lady.' Hawke is not an open suitor. If the old man should +ever marry this French beauty, I may find the pathway open to Nadine +Johnstone's side!" + +So, with a "fighting chance," Captain Hardwicke determined that Miss +Nadine should know his heart before long, and have also a chance to know +her own mind. "The fact is, the old boy has lived the life of a recluse, +that's all, but I'll find a way to pierce the shell of his moroseness. +There's one comfort," he smiled, "No other fellow is making any +running." + +In these swiftly gliding days of absence, Ram Lal Singh and the watchful +Major Alan Hawke conferred at length over narghileh and glass. A sullen +discontent had settled down on Hawke's brow when Berthe Louison publicly +departed upon her business trip with not even a fragmentary confidence. + +"Wait for my return, and only watch the marble house," said the Madame. +"Do not be foolish enough to attempt to call on Miss Nadine. I heard +Johnstone tell the Swiss woman not to allow you to follow up any social +acquaintance with his daughter. 'I want Nadine to remain a girl as yet,' +growled the old brute. Now, the Swiss woman may be able to give you some +information." + +"I'll do what I can," carelessly replied Alan Hawke, but his eyes +gleamed when she said: + +"Do not sulk in your tent. On my return I shall have need of you. You +can prepare to go into action then." + +"Where shall I address you at Calcutta?" demanded Hawke. "Something +might happen." + +"Ah," smiled Berthe Louison. "Nothing will happen. Not a line, not +a telegram; send nothing, come what will! I return here soon, and, +besides, Old Johnstone might watch and intercept it. Remember, we do not +know each other. It would be a fatal mistake to write." And so she went +quietly on her way. The house was locked, the Indian servants having the +Madame's orders to admit no one, on any pretense. "Damn her!" growled +Alan Hawke, when the door was shut in his face. "She feared I would +give her away to Johnstone. No address! Not a line or a telegram! Only +wait--only wait!" + +Ram Lal infuriated him later with the news that nothing could be learned +from the baffled spies of the household in the Silver Bungalow as to the +first or second interwiew of Johnstone and the resolute Alixe Delavigne. +"Money will not do it! Not a lac of rupees. The Frenchman and woman +never leave her day or night. He is on guard with weapons and a night +light at her door, and the maid sleeps in the room. + +"And she has other secret helpers!" groaned the baffled Ram Lal. "She is +writing and receiving letters all the time. And yet none of these +come or go by the post. She does not trust you, Major," said the jewel +merchant, with a cruel gleam of his dark eyes. "I believe that she +is some old love of Sahib Johnstone. They have deep dealings. She has +bought a great store of jewels and trinkets from me." + +"Hell and fury! I've been duped!" cried Hawke. "I see it. That damned +Frenchman takes and brings the letters! But who is her local go-between? +Perhaps the French Consul at Calcutta, or some banker here! I can't buy +them all. She only needs me in case of a violent rupture with Johnstone. +Damn her stony-hearted impertinence!" + +And he mentally resolved to sell her out and out to the liberal old +nabob. "He might then give his daughter to me for peace and safety. But +I've got to do the trick before he finds out the falsity of Anstruther's +so-called telegram. And, first, I must have something to sell. She is +the devil's own for sly nerve, is my lady." + +"She is too smart for us, as yet," soothingly said Ram Lal. "But wait; +wait till they return! Pay me well and I will find out all that goes on. +I can always get into the marble house at night. At any time, I may spy +on old Johnstone and get the secret there. I have a couple of men of my +own in his house. They know where to leave a door, a window, an opened +sash for me. And at the Silver Bungalow, I can go in and out secretly by +day and night. She would not know. You would not wish anything to happen +to her?" The old jewel merchant's voice was darkly suggestive. + +"No! Devil take her!" cried Hawke. "What I want to know is hidden in her +crafty head and stony heart. Death would bury it forever. Nothing must +happen either to her or to him. It would spoil the whole game. Don't you +see, Ram Lal, there's money in this for you and me just as long as we +keep them all here under our hands. If they separate--even if one goes +to Europe--you can watch one and I the other. You can always frighten +money out of old Johnstone if we tell each other all, and I can follow +that woman over Europe and dog her till she is driven crazy. She will +fear me just as long as old Hugh Johnstone is alive, for I could +sell her out to him. No one else cares. They must both live to be +our bankers. Now tell me, why did either or both of them go to +Calcutta--what for?" Ram Lal figuratively washed his hands in invisible +water. + +"Running water, passing silently, leaves no story behind, Sahib," he +said, simply. "We have not caught our eels yet. But they are both coming +back into our eel pot." And as the days dragged on Alan Hawke beguiled +the time with the most energetic inroads into Justine Delande's heart. + +"Some one must break the line of the enemy," darkly mused Alan Hawke, as +in the unrestrained intimacy of their long, morning rides, he influenced +the Swiss woman's heart, love-tortured, to a greater passionate +surrender. + +"It maybe all in all to me, in my secret career, your future fidelity," +he pleaded. '"It will be all in all to you, and to your sister. There +will be your home, the friendship of an enormously rich woman! The girl +will have a million pounds! And you and I, Justine, shall not be cast +off, as one throws away an old sandal." The cowering woman clung closer +daily to the man who now molded her will to his own. + +The absence of Johnstone and Madame Louison seemed confirmation of the +rumors of coming bridals. + +"They will come back, as man and wife!" growled old Verner, to Captain +Hardwicke, "and then, look out for a second bridal! Hawke and the +heiress!" But Harry Hardwicke only smiled and bided his time. His daily +morning ride led him to the double gateway, to at least nearby the +isolation of the lovely Rose who was filling his heart with all beauty +and brightness. + +Major Alan Hawke had withdrawn himself into a stately solitude at the +Club. His evenings were spent with Ram Lal, and his mornings with the +deluded Justine, who dared not now write to the calm-faced preceptress +in Geneva how far the tide of love had swept her on. In the long +afternoons, Major Hawke was apparently busied with the "dispatches" +which duly mystified the Club quid mines, as they were ostentatiously +displayed in the letter-box. No one but Ram Lal knew of the abstraction +from the mail, and destruction of these carefully sealed envelopes of +blank paper. But the thieving mail clerk in their secret pay, laughed as +he consigned them later to the flames. + +The astute Major was not aware that he was being daily watched by secret +agents representing both the absent ones whom he desired to dupe. But a +daily letter was dispatched by a local banker to a well-known Calcutta +firm, which reached Madame Louison, and old Hugh Johnstone, busied at +his lawyers, or sitting alone at night with Douglas Fraser in Calcutta, +smiled grimly, when he, too, received his data as to Hawke's progress. +A growing coldness which had cut off Hardwicke's friendship seemed to +interest Hugh Johnstone. "I suppose that old Willonghby thinks Hawke is +spying upon him. Just as well!" + +There had been a lightning activity in the old man's movements before +Madame Louison arrived in Calcutta. He was fighting for his future peace +and his coveted honors. The lawyer with whom he spent his first day was +astounded at the peculiar nature of the last will and testament which +the old nabob ordered him to draft at once. "The steamer, Lord Roberts, +goes to-morrow, and I wish a duplicate to be deposited here in the bank, +under your care, as I shall write to my senior executor regarding it." + +The nabob's remark, "Make your fees what you will. I give you carte +blanche!" had silenced the remonstrances which rose to the lawyer's +lips. "I know what I am doing, Hodgkinson," said Hugh Johnstone. "Blood +is thicker than water! I can trust nothing else. These two men as +executors will exactly carry out my wishes. In naming a guardian by +will, for my daughter, I do not forget that she is yet a child at +eighteen, and, at twenty-one, she may be the destined prey of many a +fortune hunter! As for my directions and restrictions, I know my own +mind!" + +When Hugh Johnstone, Esq., of Delhi and Calcutta, had seen the fleet +steamer, Lord Roberts, sail away for London, bearing a carefully +registered document addressed to "Professor Andrew Fraser, St. Agnes +Road, St. Heliers, Jersey, Channel Islands, England," he could not +remember a detail forgotten in the voluminous letters of positive orders +now also on their way to his distant brother. He smiled grimly as he +entered the P. and O. office, and, after a private interview with the +manager, called his nephew, Douglas Fraser, away to a private luncheon. +They had first visited the one bank, which Johnstone trusted, and there +deposited a sealed document to the order of "Douglas Fraser, executor." +The young man had been alarmed at his stern old uncle's curtness, on the +return trip from Allahabad, his strange manner and his grim silence. But +he was simply astounded when his nabob relative quietly said: + +"I have obtained a six months' leave of absence for you! Let no one know +of your movements. Leave your rooms and baggage just as they are. I will +now move in there, and put one of my servants in charge while you are +gone. I have made my will and named your father as my executor and the +guardian of my daughter, and you are to succeed, in case of his death! +There will be a small fortune for you both in the fees, and neither of +you are forgotten in the will! I have drawn two thousand pounds in notes +for you, and here is a bank draft on London for three thousand more!" +The young man was sitting in open-mouthed wonder, when the nabob sharply +said: "Now! Have your wits about you! I bear all the expenses here, +and your office pay goes on. You will be promoted on your return. The +manager of the P. and O. is my lifelong friend." + +"What am I to do?" gasped the young man, fearing his uncle was losing +his wits. + +"You are to disappear from Calcutta to-night. Go without a word to a +living soul! You are neither to write to a soul in India, nor open your +mouth to a human being, in transit. You are to go by Madras, take +the first steamer to Brindisi, and then hurry by rail to Paris and +Granville, and to St. Heliers. You will find your detailed orders +there with your father. Then stay there, await my orders from here, not +leaving your father's side, a moment. Now, I tell you again, your future +fortunes depend upon your exact obedience! I will give you my private +wishes after we have had luncheon. The only thing that you will have in +writing is an address to which I wish you to cable each day after you +land at Brindisi, until you turn over your business to your father. You +may cable also from Aden and Port Said." + +The luncheon was "a short horse and soon curried." For a half an hour +Hugh Johnstone earnestly whispered to his nephew, whose face was grave +and ashen. At last the old man concluded, "Here is a letter to use at +Delhi. There will be a telegram already in the hands of the two parties +intended. + +"'Remember! You are to go, but once, from here to your lodgings. Then +simply disappear! Take nothing but a mackintosh, an umbrella, and your +traveling bag. Buy at Madras what you want. Here's a couple of hundred +pounds. You will find the engine at the station now in waiting for you. +The whole line is open for you. Do your Delhi work at night. The train +will be made up for you the very moment you arrive at Delhi. I give you +just one day to connect with the Rangoon at Madras. You are not for one +single moment to lose your charge from sight till on the steamer. From +Brindisi, the directions I have given cover all. Here is an envelope for +the Swiss woman which will make her your friend. Now go, Douglas! This +is the foundation of your fortune. If you succeed, you will have all +I leave behind in India. In case of any trouble in India, telegraph +instantly to this address, and I will join you at once. Memorize this +address, and destroy it then! Telegraph to me from Delhi, but only when +you start. And, when you sail from Madras, only the name of the steamer. +The trainmen will do the rest. They have their orders already. Is there +anything else?" + +The young man pulled himself together. "It's like the Arabian Nights!" + +"Go ahead, now, and show yourself a man!" cried Hugh Johnstone, almost +in anguish. "I do not wish to see you again until you have earned your +fortune! One last word: You are to make no explanations whatever!" + +The young envoy grasped his kinsman's hands, crying: "You may count on +me in life and death! I'll do your bidding." + +Old Johnstone drank a bottle of pale ale and composedly smoked a +cheroot, after he had watched the stalwart, rosy young Briton stride +away on his strange journey. A robust, frank-faced, fine young fellow +of twenty-six, with the fair brow and clear blue eyes of the "north +countree," was manly Douglas Fraser. + +Toiling resolutely to rise, step by step, in the service of the +Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company, he had never dreamed of the +sudden favor of his rich kinsman, and yet, loyal as the good Sir James +Douglas, he silently took up his quest. + +"I can't understand the old gentleman." he mused as he hurried a half +an hour later into the station, through prudently selected by-streets. +"There may be some old official entanglement hanging over him yet. Some +reason why he would quit India quietly, or perhaps some one who owes him +a grudge. At any rate I'll do my duty to him like a man--to him and to +the others--like a gentleman." + +Hugh Johnstone measuredly betook his way to Douglas Fraser's lodgings. + +Before the old man was settled on Douglas's cozy wicker lounge, the +pilot engine was tearing away with the young voyager, who had simply +stepped out of his own life to make a sudden fortune. + +"Now, damn you, Alixe Delavigne," hoarsely muttered the old man, when +alone, "I will see you to-morrow! You shall rule me until I get these +two coffers out of the bank, and until our home-coming at Delhi. Then, +you jade," he growled, "Ram Lal shall do the business for you, even if +it costs me ten thousand pounds!" which proves that an old tiger may be +toothless and yet have left to him strong claws to drag his prey down. +"Money will do anything in India or anywhere else!" the old nabob +growled, forgetting that even all the yellow gold of the Rand or the +gleaming diamonds of the Transvaal will not avail to fill the burned-out +lamp of life! + +The prolonged absence of the embryo Sir Hugh Johnstone was a matter of +public comment in Delhi, while the knowing ones winked significantly at +the almost triumphal departure of Madame Berthe Louison, whose special +car and ample retinue made her a modern European Queen of Sheba. "Tell +you what, fellows," said "Rattler" Murray, otherwise known as "Red +Eric, of the Eighth Lancers," "the old Commissioner will return superbly +'improved and illustrated' with her, a new edition of the standard old +work. You see, there's a French Consul-General at Calcutta, and then +and there the matrimonial obsequies will be performed. But I'll give him +just a year's life," and the gay lieutenant struck an attitude, quoting +the menacing jargon in "Hamlet": + +"In second husband, let me be accurst; None wed the second, but who +killed the first." + +"What infernal rot you do gabble, Murray!" suddenly cried Alan Hawke, +dropping a double barrier of the newest Times, as he prepared to +leave the clubroom in disgust. "Hugh Johnstone was only called down to +Calcutta on some important financial business some days ago, and he went +there simply to rearrange some of his large investments. Madame Louison +is only a stranger here, a tourist traveling incognito, and connected +with some of the best noble families of France." With great dignity +Major Hawke stalked away to his rooms, leaving the club for a long drive +in disgust. + +By the next evening Madame Berthe Louison had been discovered to be a +noble relative of the Comte de Chambord, "traveling incognito," and then +the clacking tongues of gossip rose up in a shrill chorus of greater +intensity. Immense investments of the Orleans fortunes in Indian +properties to be managed by Major Alan Hawke were discovered to be the +object of her Indian tour, with wise old Hugh Johnstone as an infallible +financial adviser. But Alan Hawke smiled his superior smile and said +nothing. + +All this and more soon reached the ears of Capt. Harry Hardwicke, whose +fever of gnawing curiosity and romantically born love was now strong +upon him. A second conference with his old friend Simpson enlightened +the engineer officer upon many things, as yet "seen in a glass darkly." +He began to fear that Alan Hawke was growing dangerous as the secret +juggler in the strange social situation at the marble house. With +the vise-like memory of an old soldier, Simpson had retained various +anecdotes not entirely to the credit of the self-promoted Major +Alan Hawke, and had partly supplied the hiatus between the sudden +disappearance of the desperate lieutenant, a rake gambler and +profligate, and the return of the prosperous and debonnaire Major +en retraite. "Don't let him work too long around Miss Nadine, Major +Hardwicke," said the wary Simpson. "Sly and quiet as he seems, he's +surely here for no good. I know him of old. He's forgotten me, though." + +That night, the night when Berthe Louison, in her special car was +nearing Calcutta, at last, Captain Hardwicke was haunted in his dreams +by the sweet apparition of Nadine Johnstone, and her lovely arms were +stretched appealingly to him. It was the early dawn when he awoke, and +sprang blithely from his couch. "If that graceful shade crosses my +path to-day, I'll speak to it in the flesh--though a dozen Hawkes and a +hundred crusty fathers forbid," he gayly cried, for his entrancing dream +had given him a strangely prophetic courage. + +In the ambrosial freshness of the morning, a long gallop upon his pet +charger, "Garibaldi," restored the equilibrium of the young officer's +nerves. He had neatly taken the strong-limbed cross-country horse over a +dozen of the old walls out by the Kootab Minar, and with the reins lying +loosely on Garibaldi's neck, he rode back to the live city by the side +of its two dead progenitors. + +The bustle and hum of awaking Delhi interested him not, for a fond +unrest led him down to the great walled inclosure of the marble house. + +"Shall I see her to-day? Will she be in the garden?" he murmured in his +loving day-dream. + +The springy feet of the charger dropped noiselessly on the lonely +avenue and already the double carriage gate was in sight. An instinct +of martial coquetry caused Harry Hardwicke to gather up his reins and +straighten lightly into the military position of eyes right. He was +watching the gate of Paradise, a Paradise as yet forbidden to him. + +Yes. There was the gleam of white robes shining out across the friendly +gate. + +Standing under a huge spreading camphor tree, a graceful form was there, +clear cut against the dark foliage, and seeming to float upon the tender +green of the dewy grass. A nymph--a goddess, shyly standing there, was +shading her eyes with one slender hand and gazing down the path toward +the golden East which was bringing to the Lady of his dreams, a flood of +golden sunlight and her secret adorer, the man whose lonely young heart +had throned her as its queen. Hardwicke raised his head quickly as a +wild shriek sounded out upon the still morning air. + +The lover with one agonized glance saw the outspread arms of Justine +Delande, and heard again a voice which had thrilled his soul in loving +memory. It appealed for aid. Nadine was shrieking for help. + +With one glance, the young soldier gathered his noble steed. There +was but twenty yards for the rally and the raise, but the game old +"Garibaldi" dropped as lightly on the other side of the closed carriage +gate as any "blue ribbon" of the Galway "Blazers." + +There was a moment, but one fleeting moment, given to the lover to see +the danger menacing the woman whom he loved. His heart was icy, but +his hand was quick. There, a few feet only from the horribly fascinated +girl, a cobra di capdlo rising and swaying in angry undulations. +The huge snake was angrily hissing with a huge distended puffed hood +swelling menacingly over the dirty brown body. "Standfast!" yelled +Hardwicke in agony. + +There was a gleam of steel, the rush of a charger's feet, and as man and +horse swept by the fainting girl--the swing of a saber, and the heavy +trampling of iron-clad hoofs! Only Justine Delande saw the flashing +saber cleaving the air again and again, as Hardwicke gracefully +leaned to his saddle bow, in the right and left cut on the ground. And +Garibaldi's beating hoofs soon completed the work of the circling sword. + +And then as the Swiss woman broke her trance and turned to run toward +the house, the young horseman leaped lightly to the ground. "Go on, go +on!" he cried. "The other snake is not far off!" When Simpson and the +frightened domestics rushed out to the veranda in a panic, they only +saw before them a graceful youth with his strong arms burdened with the +senseless form of the woman he loved--the woman whose life he had saved! + +And, dangling from his right wrist, by the leather sword-knot, hung +the saber which Colonel Hardwicke had swung in the mad onslaught on the +mutineers' camp at Lucknow. + +"Here, Simpson! Send for Doctor McMorris!" cried Hardwicke, as a dozen +willing hands sprang to aid him. "Bring brandy, ammonia, and oil!" There +was a bamboo settee on the veranda. It received the precious burden +which the soldier had held against his heart. "Carry her to her rooms! +Gently, now!" commanded the captain. Seizing Justine by the arm, he +said: "I think that I arrived in time. Go! Go! You will find me waiting +for you here! Examine her at once! The hot iron and artery ligatures +alone will save her if she was bitten!" His brow was knotted in agony. + +"You came between them!" gasped Justine. "The thing never reached her +side!" + +"God be thanked! Go! Go!" cried Hardwicke. "I have my work to do here!" +A black servant had already led the dancing Garibaldi out to the +open safety of the graveled carriage drive. "Look to my horse!" cried +Hardwicke. "See that he is not bitten!" and then he slowly walked over +to where a dozen menials, with heavy clubs, had beaten the writhing +cobra into a shapeless mass. + +"Come away, all of you!" cried the captain, in Hindustanee. "Run, some +of you, and get the snake catcher!" Doctor McMorris, arriving on the +gallop, had reported the absolute safety of the frightened girl, +when Harry Hardwicke, leaning on his sheathed sword, watched a slim, +glittering-eyed Hindu, followed by a boy bearing an earthen pot, who had +noiselessly reconnoitered the vicinity of the great tree. The boy most +keenly watched all the movements of his white-robed master, who, drawing +a little fife from his red cummerbund sash, began to play a shrill, +weird tune. A frightened household coterie watched from a safe distance +the thirty-foot circle of herbage around the shade of the giant tree +trunk. A shudder crept over the watchers as a huge brown head, with two +white circles on the back of the neck, rose slowly out of the grass, and +two red-hot gleaming eyes blazed out, as an immense cobra swelled out +its fearfully disgusting hood, and, rising halfway, bloated out its +loathsome head, swaying to and fro, to the strange music. "There's the +mate!" quietly whispered Hardwicke to Simpson. The snake now showed its +greasy belly, like dirty stained marble, and the lithe boy, circling +behind it, warily essayed to drop the red earthen pot over its head. +But one of the excited servants, stealing up, had released a little +mongoose, which now bravely darted upon its deadly enemy. + +Seven times did the active little animal dart upon the huge reptile, in +a confusedly vicious series of attacks and close in a deadly conflict, +and, when, at last, the snake charmer walked disgustedly away, the +little ferret's sharp teeth were transfixed in the throat of its dead +enemy. + +A handful of silver to the snake catcher and his boy sent them away +delighted, while the wounded mongoose, having greedily sucked the blood +of the dead cobra, wandered away in triumph, creeping on its belly into +the rank grass in search of the life-saving herb which it alone can +find, to cure the venom-inflamed wounds of the deadly "naja." The +silent duel was over, and the bodies of the dreadful vipers were hastily +buried. + +"I shall call this afternoon, at five, to ask Miss Johnstone if she +has entirely recovered," gravely said Captain Hardwicke to Mademoiselle +Justine Delande, when the still excited Swiss woman poured forth her +congratulations to the young hero of this morning's episode. Hardwicke +was standing with his gloved hand grasping the mettlesome "Garibaldi's" +bridle. Justine Delande threw her arms around the neck of the noble +horse and kissed his sleek brown cheek. Then she whispered a few words +to Captain Hardwicke, which made that young warrior's heart leap up in a +wild joy. + +He laughed lightly as he said: "Keep this quiet. Pray do not allow Miss +Johnstone to walk any more in the dewy grass. These deadly reptiles +affect moisture, and, strange to say, they love the vicinity of human +habitations. As for 'Garibaldi,' good old fellow, I'll bring him this +afternoon, but I'll not take him again over the gate. It was a pretty +stiff jump for the old boy." When Simpson escorted the happy Captain to +the opened carriage gate, he threw up his wrinkled hand in salute. + +"You're your father's own son, Captain, and God bless you and good luck +to you and the young mistress." + +There was no answer as Harry spurred the charger down the road, but +Simpson pocketed a sovereign, with the sage prophecy that things were at +last, going the right way. + +The watchful Hugh Johnstone was already in waiting, on this very +morning, at the East Indian station in Calcutta, with a sumptuous +carriage; for a telegram had warned him that the woman whom he dreaded, +and had secretly doomed, was fast approaching. His heart was resolutely +set upon the master stroke of his life, for a private audience with the +Viceroy of India had been graciously granted him at two o'clock. "I am +saved--if nothing goes wrong," he murmured, as the Delhi train trundled +into the station. + +A steely glare lit up his eyes as he advanced with raised sun helmet to +meet the Lady of the Silver Bungalow. + +In the train were one or two of the curious Delhi quid nuncs, who +smiled and exchanged glances as the embryo Sir Hugh led the lady to the +carriage. + +On the box Jules Victor sat bolt upright clasping a traveling bag, while +Marie gazed at the swarming streets of Calcutta from her mistress's +side. "She is on the defensive. I'll show her a trick," old Hugh +murmured, as he noted the servants' presence. + +A few murmured words exchanged between the secret foes caused Hugh +Johnstone to sternly cry, "To Grindlay and Company's Bank." + +The dark goddess Kali, patron demon of Kali Ghatta, was hovering above +them in the pestilential air as the carriage swiftly rolled along the +superb streets of the metropolis born of Governor Charnock's settlement +in sixteen eighty-six. The gift of an Emperor of Delhi to the ambitious +English, Fort William had grown to be an octopus of modern splendor. +Down the circular road, past the splendid Government House, they +silently sped through the "City of Palaces." Berthe Louison never noted +the varied delights of the Maiden Esplanade, nor, even with a glance +honored Wellesley and Ochterlony, raised up there in marble effigy. +Her face was as fixed as bronze, while Hugh Johnstone, right and left, +saluted his countless friends. + +Men of the Bengal Asiatic, the Bethune, the Dai-housie, plumed generals, +native princelings, gay aides-de-camp, grave judges, and university +Dons eagerly bowed to the richest civilian in Bengal--the homage of +triumphant wealth. + +Stared at from club windows, Johnstone, with proudly erect head, nodded +to fashion's fools, crowding there all eager to catch a glimpse of the +lovely Lady Johnstone in posse. + +For these last days of waiting had been only a mental torture to the +nabob assailed by rallying gossipers. He was now counting grimly the +moments till a telegram from Delhi should seal his safety for life. And +then, his dark and silent revenge! + +At Grindlay's Bank, Madame Louison quietly descended, leaning on the arm +of Hugh Johnstone. There was hurrying to and fro on their appearance, +and in ten minutes a second carriage received the disguised Alixe +Delavigne, while the Manager of Grindlay's escorted her, under the eyes +of her two guardians. The Golden Calf was the reigning god, even in +these later days. + +With a dignified pace, the carriage of Hugh Johnstone led the way to +the Bank of Bengal, where a private room soon hid the three principal +parties from the gaze of the multi-colored throng of clerks and +accountants. A conference of the gravest nature ensued, as both the Bank +Managers jealously watched each other. + +Hugh Johnstone was as pale as a man wrestling with the dark angel when +Madame Louison produced a faded document and a receipt of extended legal +verbiage. The Manager of Grindlay's gazed, in mute surprise, when the +highest dignitary of the Bengal Bank at last entered the room, followed +by two porters bearing two brass-bound mahogany boxes of antique +manufacture. Hugh Fraser Johnstone's stony face was carelessly +impassive. + +"Pray examine these seals!" the newcomer said, "and, remember, Mr. +Johnstone, that we exact your absolute release for the long-continued +responsibility. Here is a memorandum of the storage and charges. You +must sign, also, as Hugh Fraser--now Hugh Fraser Johnstone." + +Old Hugh Johnstone's voice never trembled, as he said, after a minute +inspection: + +"I will give you a cheque." Then, dashing off his signature upon the +receipt tendered by Madame Louison, he calmly said: "These things +are only of a trifling value--some long-treasured trinkets of my dead +wife's. May I be left alone for a moment?" + +The three silent witnesses retired into an adjoining room. In five +minutes, Hugh Johnstone called the Bank Governor to his side. "There is +your receipt, duly signed, and your cheque to balance, Mr. Governor. We +are now both relieved of a tiresome controversy. Will you please bring +in the others?" + +With a pleasant smile, the flush of a great happiness upon his face, +Hugh Fraser Johnstone remarked: "I desire to state publicly that Madame +Louison and my self have, in this little transaction, closed all our +affairs. I have given to her a quit-claim release of all and every +demand whatsoever." With kindly eyes, Berthe Louison listened to a few +murmured words from Hugh Johnstone. Bowing her stately head, she swept +from the room upon the arm of the polite manager of Grindlay's. + +"Home," said the genial banker, as he deferentially questioned the Lady +of the Silver Bungalow. "Do you honor us with a long visit?" he eagerly +asked. + +"I return to-morrow evening, on the same train with the soon-to-be +Sir Hugh. I only came here to attend to some business at the French +Consulate and to adjust this trifling matter." Hugh Johnstone writhed +in rage, as he saw the cool way in which Berthe Louison fortified her +safety lines. + +Before they were in the shelter of the banker's superb mansion, Hugh +Johnstone was double locked within the walls of Douglas Fraser's +apartment. + +"I have two hours to work in" he gasped, after a nervous examination +of the contents of the cases which had been placed at his feet in his +carriage. "And, then, for the Viceroy! But first to the steamer and the +Insurance Office!'" + +Not a human being in Calcutta ever knew the contents of the small steel +strongbox which occupied the place of honor in the treasure room of the +Empress of India on her speeding down the Hooghly. But a Director of +the Anglo-Indian Assurance Company opened his eyes widely when Hugh +Johnstone, his fellow director, cheerfully paid the marine insurance +fees on a policy of fifty thousand pounds sterling. "I am sending some +of my securities home, Mainwaring," the great financier said. "I intend +to remove my property, bit by bit, to London. I do not dare to trust +them on one ship." The director sighed in a hopeless envy of his +millionaire friend. + +Hugh Johnstone's Calcutta agent was also solemnly stirred up when his +principal gave him some private directions as to the custody of his +private papers and a substantial Gladstone bag, consigned to the +recesses of the steel vaults. "I go back with these papers to Delhi +to-morrow night. Give me the keys of my private compartment till then. +In a few months I may be called to London. Douglas Fraser will have my +power of attorney." + +With a sunny gleam in his face, Hugh Johnstone then alertly sprang +into his carriage, when he had finished his careful toilet, to meet the +Viceroy of India. The two brass-bound mahogany cases were left standing +carelessly open upon his table in Douglas Fraser's rooms, neatly packed +with an assortment of toilet articles and all the multitudinous personal +medical stores of a refined Anglo-Indian "in the sere and yellow." + +"Five pounds worth!" laughed Hugh Johnstone, as he closed the door. +"Now, in one hour, my Lady Disdain, I can say 'Checkmate.' Ram Lal shall +attend to you later--behind all your bolts and bars. He will find a way +to reach you." + +It was a matter of profound speculation to the gilded youth of the +Government House what strangely sudden friendship had blossomed to bring +the august representative of the great Victoria, Kaisar-I-Hind, and +Queen of England, as far as the middle of the audience room, in close +colloquy with, and manifesting an almost affectionate leave-taking of, +the silver-haired millionaire of Delhi. + +But that night the most confidential General "at disposal" received from +the Viceroy some secret orders which caused the experienced soldier's +eyes to open widely. + +"Remember! The personal interests of the Crown are involved here!" said +the Viceroy. "Any mistake might cost me my Sovereign's confidence and +you your commission, perhaps a Star of India!" he laughed, with an +affected lightness. + +In far-away Delhi, as the sun faded away into the soft summer twilight, +Harry Hardwicke was sitting at the side of Nadine Johnstone, while her +stern father secretly exulted in distant Calcutta. He had already mailed +by registered post a set of duplicated receipts and insurance policies +for his last shipment addressed to "Professor Andrew Fraser" and his +mind was centered upon some peculiarly pleasurable coming events to take +place in the Marble House. But the dreamy-eyed girl watching the man who +had so gallantly saved her life, thought only of a love which had stolen +into her heart to wake all its slumbering chords to life, and to loosen +the sweet music of her singing soul! They were alone, save for the bent +figure of Justine Delande at a distant window, and the spirit of Love +breathed upon them silently drew them heart to heart. + +Here now, before the divinity so fondly worshiped, Harry Hardwicke lost +his soldier's ready voice. "Say no more! You need rest, Miss Nadine! +I shall only call to-morrow to assure myself of your perfect recovery. +When your father returns I shall do myself the honor to ask his formal +permission to visit you later." There was a sigh and a sob as Nadine +Johnstone took her silent lover's hands and pressed them in her own, +bursting into happy tears. + +"I owe you my life--my father shall speak, but in my own heart I shall +treasure your splendid bravery forever!" Her tall young knight stooped +over the little hands, kissed them, and was turning to go, when the +maiden slipped off a sparkling ring. "Wear this always for my sake; I +can say no more till we meet again!" And, bending low, Captain Hardwicke +stepped backward, as from a queen's presence, leaving her there, weak, +loving, and trembling in a strange delight. + +As he rode slowly homeward in the evening's glow, he passed Major Alan +Hawke dashing away to the railway station in a carriage. Traveling +luggage told the story of a sudden jaunt. A wave of the hand and the +secret-service man was gone. Hawke growled: "Damned young jackanapes, +I'll fool you, too; but what does old Johnstone want?" He was reading a +telegram just received: "Come to meet me at Allahabad. Have brought the +drafts. Want you for a few days down here." + +At ten o'clock next morning, Simpson, his voice all broken, his old eyes +filled with tears, dashed into Captain Hardwicke's office. "Dead?" +cried the young soldier, springing up in a sudden horror. "No. Gone over +night--both the women--God knows where, but they left secretly, by the +Master's orders!" And then Hardwicke sank back into his chair with +a groan. But, at Allahabad, Major Alan Hawke was raving alone in a +helpless rage. There was no Johnstone there, and Ram Lal Singh had +telegraphed him: "The daughter and governess went away in the night by +the railroad--special train. A man from Calcutta took them away." + +"You shall pay for this, you old hound!" he yelled, "Yes, with your +heart's blood.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. ALAN HAWKE PLAYS HIS TRUMP CARD. + + + +When the Calcutta train rolled into Allahabad, two days after Harry +Hardwicke's crushing surprise, Major Alan Hawke, the very pink of +Anglo-Indian elegance, awaited the dismounting of the returning +voyagers. He had passed a whole sleepless night in revolving the various +methods to play oft each of his wary employers against each other, and +had decided to let Fate make the game. + +"The devil of it is, I'm not supposed to know anything of the flitting!" +he mused, after digesting Ram Lal Singh's carefully worded telegrams. +All the light in his shadowy mental eclipse was the positive information +that a special train had been made up for Bombay at the station, "on +government secret service." + +"The old man is preparing to fight, now," he decided. "His 'wooden +horse' is within Berthe Loiuson's camp. If she is not wary, she may +never leave India, Johnstone can be very ugly. But what must I do? Shall +I warn Berthe, now? If I do, she will both doubt me and make a scene. +Old Johnstone will then know at once that I have betrayed him." An +hour's cogitation led Alan Hawke to decide to let the "high contracting +parties" fight it out themselves at Delhi. + +"I'll secretly join the winner and then bleed them both. I must be +unconscious of all. Johnstone's money I want first, then, Berthe must +pay me well for my aid." With an exquisite nosegay of flowers, he +awaited the slow descent of the social magnates. A second telegram from +Johnstone had warned him that the wanderers were on the same train. "He +is a cool devil!" mused Hawke. + +Radiant in beauty, pleasantly smiling, and watched by her French +bodyguard, Madame Louison swept into the grand cafe room upon the arm of +Hugh Johnstone, who deftly exchanged a silent glance of warning with +the artful Major. The first intimation of Johnstone's craft was the fact +that Alan Hawke found he could not manage to see Madame Louison alone, +even for a single moment. There was a veiled surprise in her beautiful +brown eyes, when the nabob led Hawke a few tables away for a conference +in full view of the beauty, who was surrounded with a cloud of +obsequious attendants. "As we have but one hour, Madame, pray at +once, order a repast for us all. I must have a few words with Hawke." +Johnstone was as smiling as a summer sea. + +"We were delayed a day by my own private business," genially cried the +nabob. "What's new in Delhi?" + +It was the crowning lie of Hawke's splendidly mendacious career when +he carelessly said, "Nothing. I supposed, of course, that you had grave +need of me here." + +"So I have," earnestly replied Johnstone, as the station master bustled +up, scraping and bowing, with a bundle of letters and several telegrams. +"Just look over these five drafts on Glyn, Carr & Glyn's, while I look +at the letters," whispered Johnstone, handing Hawke an official looking +envelope. Even while the adventurer carefully scanned the bills of +exchange, he saw a gleam of devilish triumph in the old man's eyes as he +opened the telegrams, and with affected carelessness shoved his letters +in his pocket. "See here, Hawke! You can even earn a neat 'further +donation' if you will play your part rightly. General Abercromby, as +personally representing the Viceroy, arrives here to-morrow night to +adjust my accounts finally. He will be a week or so at Delhi. I want +you to represent me and receive him here. I've telegraphed back to +Abercromby that you will bring him up in a special car. He does not want +old Willoughby to think he is nosing around Delhi. Now, do the +handsome thing. Abercromby knows you. Here is a pocket-book. Lose a few +fifty-pound notes to the old boy on the train. Amuse him, mind you, and +set him up well! The car will be well stocked. I leave my two men here +to wait on you and him. That's all. I want to go off 'in a blaze of +glory,' as the Yankees would say. I will meet you at Delhi. Abercromby +comes to my house. Can I depend on you? And, not a single word about +the Baronetcy. The Viceroy has graciously sent a special dispatch to +England." + +"All right. Let us join the Madame," said Hawke, with an uneasy feeling +of a coming tropical storm, "I'm glad to be out of it," mused Hawke. "If +Abercromby stays a week, both parties will defer hostilities until he +goes. If that soft-hearted Swiss fool only telegraphs! By God, I would +have liked to have had one final tete-a-tete. She can make my fortune +yet." + +The flying minutes glided easily away, with Hugh Johnstone's old-time +gallantry artfully separating the two secret conspirators against his +peace. Alan Hawke lunched gayly, with but one lurking regret--a futile +sorrow that he had not bent Justine Delande to his will. There was no +dark pledge between them, no secret bond of a man's perfidious victory, +no soft surrender, the seal of a woman's dishonor. + +"Will she telegraph?" the adventurer asked himself with a beating heart +and a burning brain. "If so, then I hold them both in my hands, and +the game is mine." When the train drew out, the Major watched the +disappearing forms of the mortal enemies in a secret wonder. "Have they +made it up? Will they marry after all?" he growled, and yet he laughed +the idea to scorn. "And yet fear, as well as love, has tied the nuptial +knot before," he mused. + +A new proof of Johnstone's craft was afforded him after he had, in a +leisurely way, verified the regularity of his windfall in good London +exchange, signed by the millionaire upon his home bankers, and duly +stamped. A mental flash of lightning showed him how he was "sewed up," +for Johnstone's all too polite servants shadowed him, alternately, +in his every movement. He even dared not visit the secret telegraph +address. "Old scoundrel!" raged Alan Hawke. "I will only get the first +news after the fair and probably in a storm from Berthe. The denouement +may occur with me languishing here in Capua. Suppose that this she-devil +would bolt? Where would I land then?" He was most sadly rattled. + +In the Delhi train, Hugh Johnstone busied with his late London papers, +slyly smiled as he studied a route map and railway time table. He +had received a single telegraphed word, dated Madras, and wisely +left unsigned, but that one word was the keynote of his coveted +victory--"Arrived." + +"Ah! my lady," he mused, casting his eyes in the direction of Madame +Louison's cozy private compartment. "To-morrow at Delhi, if Douglas +Fraser is true to his trust, there will be the message which tells of a +'bark upon the sea,' which bears away forever all the brightness of +your life--away from you, yes, forever! And Hawke, this smart cad, is +powerless now, and both of them are outwitted. The Baronetcy is safe the +very moment that Abercromby's work is done. I've paid Hawke now, and +he has been very naturally brought down here, out of the way. Madame! +Madame! Now to settle accounts with you the very moment that Abercromby +has reported back from Calcutta. I think I will just have a good +old-fashioned talk with Ram Lal Singh. I need his evidence to hoodwink +this old cask of grog, Abercromby. I must blow off' his vanity in great +style." + +While Berthe Louison slept, while old Hugh Johnstone plotted, while Ram +Lal Singh fumed at Delhi, and Harry Hardwicke "mourned the hopes that +left him," Major Alan Hawke retired to the Nirvana of a long afternoon +siesta. There was a little departing detachment on this golden afternoon +at Madras--two frightened women, now gladly seeking the shelter of their +cabins, as the fleet steamer Coomassie Castle turned her prow toward +Palk Strait. The terrible ordeal of "passing the surf" had appalled +them, and the exhausted Nadine Johnstone at last fell asleep with her +arms clasped around her sad-hearted governess. A hundred times had they +read over together the old nabob's telegram: "Going home from Calcutta +to settle the Baronetcy appointment. Will meet you in Europe." Nadine's +letter from her stern father bade her implicitly trust to her new-found +kinsman, Douglas Fraser. The old nabob's judiciously private letter had +filled Justine Delande's sad heart with one twilight glow of happiness. +A comforting cheque for one thousand pounds was contained therein. + +The words: "Your salary and expenses will be paid by me in Europe. This +is only a little present. Another may await you and your sister, if +you fulfill your trust, that no man, not even Douglas Fraser, meets my +daughter alone until you give her back to me. He is but my traveling +agent. Nadine is in your hands alone. I have so written to her." With +a breaking heart Justine Delande kissed her beloved gage d'amour, the +diamond bracelet, murmuring: "Alan! Alan! To part without even a word!" +She lay with tear-stained eyes, watching the low shores of Madras fade +away, and listened to the sleeping girl's murmur: "Harry! Harry! I owe +you my life!" Even the maid mourned a dashing Sergeant-Major! With a +desperate courage, trying to fan the spark of love, which had slowly +crept into her lonely heart, Justine Delande had timidly bribed a +stewardess, going on shore for some last commissions, to telegraph to +the secret address at Allahabad the words: "Madras steamer Coomassie +Castle, Brindisi." + +The signature, "Your Justine," brought a grim smile to Alan Hawke's +face, the next night, when on the arrival of General Abercromby, he +stationed Hugh Johnstone's secret spies on duty with the redoubtable +Calcutta warrior. "By God! She is both game and true!" cried Hawke. +"Here is my fortune, and Justine shall share my spoils yet!" As the +special train rolled out into the starlit night the old nabob, in a +paroxysm of delight, read in the marble house words telegraphed by the +happy-hearted Douglas Fraser, now taking up his endless deck tramp +on the Brindisi bound steamer. The young Scotsman, ignorant of all +intrigue, was relieved to know that he had laid the firm foundation of +his future fortunes. His last shore duty was done when he had wired to +his urgent relative in Delhi the glad tidings: "All right. Coomassie +Castle. Orders strictly obeyed." + +Even the astute Alan Hawke failed, after many days of futile private +research, to trace the route of the train which had pulled out of Delhi +in the dead of night, beat the record to Allahabad, and then, turning +off apparently for Bombay, had curved, on a loop, to the Madras line, +and surpassed all speed records on the Indian Peninsula. Even when he +telegraphed to Ram Lal's friends at Madras, he could obtain no definite +trace, the railway officials were silent, and the travelers had sought +no hotel in Madras. Hugh Johnstone's well applied money had smothered +all inquiry. Even the driver and stokers of the special train never knew +who so generously presented them with a ten pound note apiece. "Some +secret service racket," they laughed over their ale. Not a tremor of +a single muscle betrayed Major Alan Hawke when he delivered over his +official charge, Major General Abercromby, to Hugh Johnstone in the +golden glow of Delhi's morning. "I've kept your interests in view," he +whispered. "The old boy's just two hundred pounds richer. And, you may +be sure, he wanted for nothing. I know all his damned old tiger and +mutiny stories by heart. I'm going up to the Club for a good long sleep. +My compliments to the ladies," lightly said Alan Hawke, as he gracefully +declined Hugh Johnstone's invitation to breakfast. Then Johnstone bore +off his purple prize, set in red and gold. + +The wide ripple of excitement caused by General Abercromby's reported +arrival had crowded the railway station. Hugh Johnstone chuckled, +"Evidently Hawke knows nothing," as the two old friends drove away +in splendid state. But Major Hawke, an hour later, at his Club, was +suddenly interrupted in a cozy breakfast by the most unceremonious +entrance of Major Harry Hardwicke, whose promotion was at last gazetted. +"Hello! I see you're a Major now. Lucky devil! What can I do for you, +Hardwicke?" cried Alan Hawke, eyeing the haggard and worn-looking young +officer with a strange dawning suspicion of the truth. "Did he know, +too, of the Hegira?" + +Major Hardwicke threw himself down in a chair, curtly saying: "You +can tell me who effectuated this lightning disappearance act of Madame +Delande and young Miss Johnstone." + +"You speak in riddles to me, Hardwicke," coolly said the wary Major. +"I've just come in from Allahabad with General Abercromby, who is here +to settle old Johnstone's accounts. I know nothing of what you refer to. +I expected to meet both the ladies at dinner to-day." + +"Then I will not uselessly take up your time, Major Hawke," gloomily +rejoined Hardwicke, as he picked up his sword, and, with a cold formal +bow, quitted the room. + +"I must watch this young fool," growled Alan Hawke. "Thank my lucky +stars, the woman is far away! But, he's well connected, has a brilliant +record, and is a V. C. now for Berthe Louison and the fireworks! But, +first, old Ram Lal! They bowled the old boy out! I suppose that he has +already told Alixe Delavigne that she has been outwitted. I hold the +trump cards now! No single word without its golden price! I must not +make one false step! As to the club men, I only join in the general +wonder." He made a careful and very studied toilet and sauntered out of +the club en flaneur, and then stealthily betook himself to the pagoda +in Ram Lal's garden, where his innocent dupe had so often waited for him +with a softly beating heart. + +"I'm glad the girl is gone," mused Alan Hawke. "If she were here, the +chorus hymning Hardwicke's perfections might set her young heart on +fire." He was, as yet, ignorant of the tender bond of gratitude fast +ripening into Love. For, Love, that strange plant, rooted in the human +heart, thrives in absence, and, watered by the tears of sorrow and +adversity, fills the longing and faithful heart, in days of absence, +with its flowers of rarest fragrance and blossoms of unfading beauty. +Nadine Johnstone, speeding on over sapphire seas, had already conquered +the tender secret of the simple Justine Delande's heart; and in her own +loving day-dreams: + +"Aye she loot the tears down fa' for Jock o' Hazeldean!" + +"I must see him again! I must see him!" she fondly pledged her waiting +heart. With the serpent cunning of a loving maiden, she brooded like a +dove with tender eyes, and so in her heart of hearts, determined to +draw forth from her stalwart cousin, Douglas Fraser, the secret of their +future destination. And the honest fellow became even as wax in +her hands; while the gloomy Hardwicke, in far-away Delhi, eyed the +parchment-faced Hugh Johnstone in mute wonder, at the long official +reception in the Marble House. "Will he not vouchsafe to me even one +word of thanks?" thought the young man, in an increasing wonder. + +But, Ram Lal Singh, when Major Alan Hawke drew him into the sanctum +behind the shop, showed a dark face, seamed with lines of care. "There +will be some terrible happening!" muttered the smooth old Mohammedan. + +He had good gift of the world's gear, and now preferred the role of fox +to lion. "She knows nothing as yet. I waited till I could see you. I +dared not to tell her. She only fancies that this official visit of the +General-Sahib from Calcutta will, of course, take up all their time at +the marble house. But she begs me to watch them all, and she has given +me some little presents--money presents." Hawke winced, but in silence. +His employer trusted him not. Here was proof positive. + +"How in the devil's name did they get away without you knowing of it?" +demanded Hawke. "If you are lying to me, Ram Lal, we may lose both our +pickings from this fat pagoda tree. You see old Johnstone may slip away +after the girl. He may leave here with Abercromby." + +The jewel merchant's eyes gleamed with a smoldering fire. "Johnstone +Sahib will not leave Delhi. It is in the stars! He has too much here +to leave. There are many old ties which bind. No, he will not go like +a thief in the night." Hawke was surprised at the old rascal's evident +emotion. + +"Then tell me what you think about the disappearance of these women," +said Hawke, watching him keenly. + +"I have seen all my friends in the station, even the mail clerks, +telegraph men, and all," began Ram Lal. "A train 'on government +service'--a special--came in that night from Allahabad at ten o'clock. +Then two small trains were kept in waiting for some hours; one left for +Simla before daylight, and the other drew out for Allahabad. There was a +crowd of ladies, officers' ladies, and some children and servants in +the waiting-room. They like to travel at night in the cool shade. No +one knew them. Now, at Allahabad, the east-bound train could branch off +either for Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay." + +"So you know not which way these women fled?" The old merchant seemed +absolutely at sea. As Hawke shook his head the story was soon finished. + +"My men at the marble house tell me that a strange young man arrived at +ten o'clock. He was admitted by Simpson, the private man of Johnstone +Sahib. The Swiss woman talked with him alone a half hour in the library, +and then Johnstone's daughter came down there, but only for a few +moments. My men watched him writing and reading papers in the library; +then they all went away." + +"That is all. I slipped into the house when Simpson went away next day. +He often goes out to drink secretly, and he has a pretty Eurasian friend +or two, besides, down in the quarter." Ram Lal winked significantly. "I +went all over the upper part of the house myself. The women's rooms were +left just as if they had gone out for a drive along the Jumna. If they +took anything it was only a few hand parcels. Now you know all that I +know. No one ever saw the strange man before. And these people are gone +for good, that is all. Go now to the Mem-Sahib at the Silver Bungalow. I +fear her. But tell me what I must say to her." The old man was evidently +in a mortal fear. "There is that French devil--that old soldier. He is +a fighting devil, that one, and the woman a tiger. The lady herself is a +tiger of tigers!" + +"Say nothing, Ram Lal," soothingly said Hawke. "Leave it all to me. I +see it. Old Johnstone has sent the girl to the hills to keep her away +from the young fellows who will crowd the house, while this General +Abercromby is here. There'll be drink and cards, and God knows what +else." + +"I know," grinned Ram Lal. "I knew old Johnstone in the old days, a +man-eater, a woman-killer, a cold-hearted devil, too! What does he do +with this General?" The jewel merchant's eyes blazed. + +"Oh! Buying his new title with some official humbug or another. I don't +know. Perhaps he is really settling his accounts," laughed Hawke. + +"I have a little account of my own to settle with him! I will see him at +once! He, too, may slip away and follow his girl to the hills," quietly +said Ram Lal. "I know his past. He is never to be trusted--not for a +moment--as long as he is alive!" Alan Hawke stared in wonder at Ram Lal, +who humbly salaamed, when he closed: + +"See the woman over there--come back, and tell me what I must do or say. +You and I are comrades," the jewel seller leeringly said, "and we must +lie together! All the world are liars-and half of the world lives by +lying." with which sage remark the old curio seller betook himself to +his narghileh. + +In a half an hour, Major Alan Hawke was wandering through the garden of +the Silver Bungalow with Alixe Delavigne at his side. Behind them, at a +discreet distance, sauntered Jules Victor, his dark eyes most intently +fixed upon the promenaders. Madame Delavigne was pleased to be +cheerfully buoyant. She had silently listened to Hawke's recital of +the probable causes of General Abercromby's visit. "I could see that +Johnstone evidently wished to occupy us both at Allahabad. Your conduct +was discretion itself! Have you seen him yet? Or the ladies?" She eyed +her listener keenly. + +"No, Madame," frankly said Hawke. "There is all manner of official +junketing on here now. I am not, of course, to be officially included, +as I am not on the staff of either the visiting or commanding general. I +must wait until I am invited--if I am!" he hesitatingly said. "You know +that my rank is--to say the least--shadowy!" The lady passed over this +semi-confession in silence. + +"It is not like Johnstone to let Nadine meet all the gay coterie which +will fill the great halls," mused Madame Delavigne. "I suppose that the +dear child will have a week of 'marble prison' in her rooms, with only +the governess. I think I shall let General Abercrornby leave before I +call. What do you advise? Johnstone has always ignored the ladies of +Delhi!" + +"I really am powerless to counsel you," said Major Hawke gravely, "as I +am outside of the circle. I would watch this man keenly. He bears you no +good will. And now--what shall I do? Did your business at Calcutta bring +me the summons to action?" There was no undue eagerness in his voice. He +was gliding into a safe position for the future eclaircissement. + +"Not yet. But it will come! It will come--as soon as this General goes. +For I now will demand the right to drop Berthe Louison, and to be my own +self. To be Alixe Delavigne to one bright, loving human soul only, in +this land of arid solitudes, of peopled wastes. The land of the worn, +scarred human nature, which, blind, creedless, and hopeless, staggers +along under the burden of misery under the menace of the British +bayonet." + +"When do you leave it?" quietly asked the cautious Major. + +"When my work is done!" the resolute woman replied. "I am here for peace +or war! We have only crossed swords! I do not trust this man a moment! +He is capable of any foul deed! Now, you must keenly watch the clubs, +the social life. Find out all you can! Come to me here every night at +ten. If I suddenly need you, then I will send Ram Lal!" + +"By day or night I am ready!" gravely said Major Hawke. "I do not like +to intrude upon you," he hesitatingly said. + +"You will win your spurs yet in my service!" said Alixe. "The real +struggle is to come yet. I am only knocking at the door of Nadine's +heart. And the old nabob is but half conquered." + +Major Hawke, with a bow, retired and wended his way to the Club, where +he spent an hour in preparing a careful letter to Euphrosyne Delande. +It was a careful document, intended to prudently open communication with +Justine through the Halls of Learning on the Rue du Rhone, Geneva, but +a little sealed inclosure to Justine was the grain of gold in all the +complimentary chaff. "Her own heart, poor girl, will tell her what to +do," said Hawke, as he departed and registered the letter himself. + +The passing cortege of General Abercromby, returning the visit of the +local chief, excited Hawke's attention. He caught a glimpse of the +silver-haired millionaire whom two widely different natures had +denounced that day as "being capable of anything." + +"And so old Ram Lal has it 'in for him,' too! What can he mean?" + +With a sudden impulse Major Hawke drove back and made a formal call upon +the ladies at the Marble House. He was astounded when old Simpson, with +a grudging welcome, openly announced that the ladies were permanently +not at home. "Gone to the hills for a month or two," curtly replied +the veteran servant, and then, on a silver tray, the butler decorously +handed to Major Alan Hawke a sealed letter. "I was to seek you out at +the Club, sir, as this letter is important. I take the liberty to give +it to you now. It was the master's orders: 'That I give it into your own +hands!'" + +Major Alan Hawke's face darkened as he read the curt lines penned by +Hugh Johnstone himself. With a smothered curse he thrust the letter in +his pocket. "Both of them are trying to keep me in the dark, I'll let +Madame Berthe Louison run her own head into the trap. Then, when she +pays, I will talk, but not till then." The careful lines stated that for +a week the writer would be greatly engrossed with private matters, and +at home to no one. "I will send for you as soon as I am able to see you, +upon some new business matters." + +The last clause was significant enough. "He prepared this to give me +a social knockout!" coolly said the renegade. "All right! But wait! +By Gad! I fancy I'll take a cool revenge in joining Ram Lal and Berthe +Louison. Suppose that the old duffer were put out of the way? Could I +then count on Justine, and my wary employer? There is a storm brewing, +and breakers ahead. I must soon get my 'retaining fee' from the lady of +the Silver Bungalow or I may lose it forever! And I will let her uncover +the empty bird's nest herself! She must not suspect me!" And yet the +curt letter of the old civilian wounded him to the quick. "What does +this jugglery mean? He ought to fear me, by this time, just a little! He +intends to crush Berthe Louison by some foul blow, and then will he +dare to begin on me? I will double forces with Ram Lal. That's my only +alliance!" The Major's soul was up in arms. + +When the splendid reception at General Willoughby's was over, Hugh +Johnstone cautiously approached Major Hardwicke. "I am just told that +General Abercromby will remain and dine 'en famille' with his old +brother in arms. Will you drive with me to my house? I have something of +a private nature to say to you. I can give you a seat in my carriage." +Major Hardwicke bowed and, obtaining his conge, sat in expectant waiting +until the two men were comfortably seated in Johnstone's snuggery in the +deserted mansion. They talked indifferently over Abercromby's arrival +till Simpson announced dinner. + +"I would like you to dine with me, Major Hardwicke," said the old +Commissioner, "for I have something now to say to you." He rang a silver +bell, and, whispering to Simpson, faced his young visitor, who had bowed +in acceptance. The butler returned in a few moments with a superb Indian +saber, sheathed in gold, and shimmering with splendid jewels. He stood, +mute, as Johnstone gravely said: "I learned from Simpson, on my return +from Calcutta, of your prompt gallantry in aiding my daughter in her +hour of peril." He continued, "Simpson alone, was left to tell me, as +I have sent the child away to the hills for a couple of months. For +reasons of my own, I do not care to have a motherless girl exposed to +the indiscriminate hubbub of merely official society. The young lady +will probably not remain in India. I therefore sent them all away before +this official visit, which would have forced a child, almost yet a +school girl, out into the glare of this local junketing," he said with +feeling. + +"Take this saber, Major. It was given up by Mir-zah Shah, a Warrior +Prince, in old days, so the legend goes. It is the sword of a king's +son. It will recall your own saber play so neatly conceived, and, as a +personal reminder, wear this for me! It is a rare diamond, which I have +treasured for many years. And its old Hindustanee name was 'Bringer of +Prosperity.'" Hardwicke bowed, and murmured his thanks. + +The nabob slipped a superb ring from his finger, and then, as if he +had relieved his mind forever of a painful duty, dismissed the subject, +almost feverishly entertaining his solitary guest at the splendid feast +which had been prepared for General Abercromby. It was late when the +strangely assorted convives separated. "I will now send Simpson home +with you, in my carriage," solicitously remarked Johnstone, as the hour +grew late. "There is a prince's ransom on that sword--and, you did not +bring your noble charger! You must treat him well for my sake--for my +daughter's sake!" + +"Will Miss Johnstone return soon?" said the heart-hungry lover, catching +at this last straw. + +"It is undetermined! I may send them home in a few months. But, if I +have any little influence left, 'at Headquarters,' that shall always be +exerted for you. I am always glad to meet you, your father's son, for +Colonel Hardwicke was a true soldier of the olden days--brave, loyal, +and beyond reproach." + +The lover's beating heart was smothered in this flowing honey. "Ah! I +must trust to Simpson!" he mused. "The old man is a sly one!" + +Politely bowed out by the stern, lonely old man, Major Hardwicke +departed, his conversational guns spiked with the deft compliments, as +the mighty clatter of the returning General filled the courtyard of the +Marble House. + +In the soft, wooing stillness of the night, Simpson, at the young +Major's side, found time to whisper: "Never let the Guv'nor see us +together! He's a sly one! There's a honey-baited trap in this! The +girl's been spirited off to Europe! I only know that--but, as yet, no +more." + +"What do you mean? Is he lying to me?" gasped Hardwicke, with a sinking +heart. + +"Rightly said!" huskily whispered Simpson. "Seek for her--London +ways--I'll find it out soon where she is, and I'm just scholar enough to +write! Give me your own safe London address! I heard ye would soon take +yer long leave. Bless her sweet soul! I'll tell ye now! She whispered to +me: 'Tell him--tell Major Hardwicke--he'll hear from me himself, even if +I was at the very end of the earth! and give him this!'" The frightened +servant thrust a little packet into the officer's hand. "It was the only +chance she had." + +"That Swiss woman watched her every moment, and the man--the one the +father sent from Calcutta. There was a telegram to her. I gave it to her +myself! Major, my oath--they're on the blue water, now! I'll watch and +come to you! Don't leave Delhi till I post you!" + +"You're a brave fellow, Simpson. Keep this all quiet," softly said Major +Hardwicke. "I'll follow your advice, and I'll not leave here till I know +more from you. I'll follow her to Japan, but I'll see her again." + +"That's the talk, Major!" cried the happy old soldier, who felt +something crisp in his hand now. "Distrust old Hugh! He'll lie to ye and +trap ye! Watch him! He's capable of anything." The carriage then stopped +with a crash and Hardwicke sprang out lightly. "Make no sign! Trust to +me! I'll come to ye!" was Simpson's last word. + +Before Simpson had discovered in the marble house the pleasing figures +on a ten-pound note, Harry Hardwicke, striding up and down his room, in +all the ecstasy of a happy lover, had kissed a hundred times a little +silver card case--a mere school girl's poor treasure, but priceless +now--for within it was a hastily severed tress of gold-brown hair, tied +with a bit of blue ribbon. A scrap of paper in penciled words brought to +him "Confirmation stronger than Holy Writ." "I will write or telegraph +when not watched. Do not forget. --Nadine." + +The words of the old servitor returned to the soldier in a grim warning. +"He is capable of anything." + +"So am I," cried Harry as his heart leaped up. "I will find her were +she at the North Pole. He cannot hide her from me. Love laughs at +locksmiths!" + +If the would-be Sir Hugh Johnstone had heard the three verdicts of +the hostile critics of his being "capable of anything," he might have +laughed in defiance, but after several friendly "night caps" with the +slightly jovial General Abercromby, it might have seriously disturbed +the host to know what hidden suspicions the Viceroy's envoy had brought +back from a very secret conference with that acute old local commander, +Willoughby. + +"It sounds all very well, Abercromby, my old friend," said Willoughby, +"but Johnstone, or old Fraser, as we call him, is a hitman shark! +Without a list or some general details, he will surely rob the crown of +one-half the jewels, you may be sure. His cock and bull story of their +recovery is too pellucid. It's Hobson's choice, though. That or nothing. +He, of course, slyly claims to have only lately made this bungling +accidental recovery. If the return is a really valuable one, then all +you can officially do is to accept it. But be wary! I can give you some +friendly aid here, when you get all the returned treasure. I'll give +you a captain's guard here. Bring all here at once. We, you, and I, will +seal it up, and I'll have old Ram Lal Singh secretly come here and value +them. He's the best judge of gems in India, and he was once an official +in the Royal Treasure Chamber of the old King of Oude. Less than fifty +thousand pounds worth as a return would be a transparent humbug, and +besides you can delay your signature for a day or so, till you and I, +after listing the gems, see this old expert and have him examine them in +our presence. No one need know of it but you and I, and His excellency, +the Viceroy. As for Hugh Johnstone, he is simply capable of anything. I +told the Viceroy's aid, Anstruther, so. And I'll be damned glad to get +Johnstone out of my bailiwick, that I will." + +With which vigorous "flea in the ear," General Willoughby dismissed his +startled comrade to the society of his crafty old host. And, that night, +strange dreams of unrest haunted the "modern Major General" in the +marble house, while singularly gloomy misgivings weighed down the +brave-hearted Berthe Louison, now heart-hungry for a sight of the doubly +beloved child of the dead lady of Jitomir. She woke in the hot and +clammy night to cry "No, no! He would never dare to! She is here! I +shall go boldly and demand to see her to-morrow!" Her womanly intuition +told her the lines were broken. + +And so, robed in fashion's shining armor, Alixe Delavigne counted the +moments, until at four o'clock of the next afternoon her carriage waited +in the bower-decked oval of the marble house. A gloomy frown settled +upon her face, as the impassive Hugh Johnstone approached her carriage, +sun helmet in hand. She scented treachery now! There were a dozen +brilliant young officers longingly gazing at this sweet apparition in +the gloomy gardens. Even General Abercromby strutted out and displayed +himself in the foreground, as Johnstone leaned over and gravely +whispered to the pale-faced beauty: + +"My daughter has been sent away from the city for her health! Her +absence is indefinite. I will see you when General Abercromby leaves +here in a week, and explain all. No, not before. It is impossible." + +With a sudden motion of her hand to Jules, Alixe Delavigne leaned back, +half fainting, upon her cushions. Her agitated heart was now beating in +a wild tumult of rage and baffled hatred! "Home!" she cried, and then, +as the marble house was lost to view, she harshly cried: "To Ram Lal's +first! To the jewel store!" + +There was a brooding death in her eyes when she sternly said to the +merchant: "Send him to me at once! Send Hawke! Go! Waste not a moment!" + +And then she swore an oath of vengeance, which would have made Hugh +Fraser Johnstone shudder, as he sat drinking champagne cup with his +guest. "One for you, my lady!" he had laughed, grimly, as the woman +whom he had tricked drove swiftly away. And the grim fates laughed too, +spinning at a shortening life web. + +Major Alan Hawke was interrupted in his cosy nest at the Club by the +hasty advent of Ram Lal. The old jeweler had for once abandoned all his +Oriental calm, and he trembled as he muttered. "She demands you at once. +I brought my own carriage. Go to her quickly. There will be a great +monsoon of quarrel now. But her face looks as if she was stricken to +the death, and something will come of all this. You must watch like the +crouching cheetah!" + +"What has happened?" anxiously cried Hawke. + +"She has just found out the women are gone! She went up to the marble +house this afternoon, and saw the old Sahib Johnstone. He did not even +bid her to leave her carriage. One of my men ran over at once and told +me. She drove to the shop on her way homeward and sent me here." The +black Son of Plutus scuttled away, as if in a mortal fear. "I do not +dare to face her--in her angry mood," was Ram's last word. He was only +accustomed to baby-faced Hindu women of the "langorous lily" type, who +hung on his every word--the mute slaves of his jaded passions. "This one +is a tigress!" he sighed, as he fled from the Club. + +"Ah! My lady is a bit rattled," mused Hawke as the carriage sped along. +"Now is the time to catch her off her guard." And so he made himself +sleek and patient, with the surface varnish of his "society manner," +when Jules Victor, with semi-hostile eyes, ushered him into the presence +of Alixe Delavigne, still in her robes of "visitation splendor." + +"What is this devil's work done in my absence? This spiriting away of +Nadine!" cried Alixe, grasping Hawke's wrist with a nervous clasp, which +made the strong man wince. "This juggling in my absence?" Her eyes were +sternly fixed on him in dawning suspicions. + +"Madame," calmly said Alan Hawke, "if you had trusted to me, this would +not have happened. But you have chosen to make an enigma of yourself, +from the first. I am not tired of your moods, but I am of your cold +disdain, your contemptuous slighting of my useful mental powers. You +left me with no orders. I warned you that he was capable of anything. +See how he has treated me," he continued, with a well-dissembled +indignation. "He called me away to Allahabad to be bear-leader to +Abercromby, and the brute has just shown me the door, to-day, openly +saying that his daughter has gone to the Hills. I believe that he +lies! I know that he does! If you had deigned to trust me, I would +have followed on her track to hell itself, but you chose to play the +woman--the catlike toying with men! Damn him! I owe him one now! If +he had openly entertained me in this brilliant visit, I might have +re-entered the staff service--in a week. And, you threw all my +experience away in not trusting to me." + +Alixe Delavigne looked up, with one piercing glance, as she sealed a +note. "Go openly to him--to Johnstone! Bring him back at once with you! +He dare not disobey this! I will denounce him, now, to-day! to both the +generals, and go to the Viceroy myself! I care not what excuse he makes! +BRING HIM!" + +"And so I cut the last tie that binds me to a future reinstatement for +you, a callous employer, and am left adrift without an anchor out for +the future! You know that this man is a director of the Bank of Bengal! +A multi-millionaire! He will chase me from India! I might trace the +girl to her hiding-place for you! She has surely been sent home by sea!" +Alixe Delavigne was gliding up and down the room as noiselessly as a +serpent. She abruptly stopped her march. + +"I will find her in Europe! What do you require to follow my orders for +three months? To wait here and then to take the road or to join me +in Europe! I pay all expenses and incidentals. What will make you +reasonably sure against fate--in advance?" + +Alan Hawke dropped his eyes. Gentleman once, he was ashamed of the +sordid implied threat of abandonment. + +"Five thousand pounds!" he whispered. The stony-faced woman dashed off a +check. + +"Bring that man to me at once!" she cried, "and then go down to +Grindlay's agency here, and get your money! Go openly!" + +"Shall I come back with him?" demanded Hawke. + +"No, bring him here, and then excuse yourself." + +Alixe Delavigne watched the carriage dash away. Hawke was on his mettle +at last, and he brutally enjoyed the little tableau, when Hugh Fraser +Johnstone impatiently tore open "Madame Berthe Louison's" note. Hawke +observed significantly that he had been shown into a small room, suited +to semi-menial interviews. The additional slight maddened him. The clash +of glasses and shouts of a gay crowd of military convives rose up in a +merry chorus within. Across that banquet hall's draped doors the thin, +invisible barrier of "Coventry" shut out the bold social renegade. +"She'll have to wait, Hawke!" roughly said Hugh Johnstone, moving toward +the door. + +"By God! she shall not wait a minute, you damned old moneybags!" cried +the ruined soldier, who had long forfeited his caste--his cherished +rank. "You treated her like a brute to-day! She is a lady, and you can't +play fast and loose with her! You insulted me by closing your damned +door and sending me your offensive letter. Go to her now! If you do not, +I'll send my seconds to you, and if you don't fight, by Heaven, I'll +horsewhip you like a drunken pandy!" and the fearless renegade barred +the door. + +"Don't be a fool, Hawke," faltered Johnstone. "She has taken the whole +thing the wrong way. I'll join you in a moment. I've got these men on my +hands. What did she tell you?" + +"Nothing!" harshly cried Hawke, "and I wash my hands of you and her. +Settle your intrigues as you will!" + +Not a word was spoken, as Alan Hawke gravely opened the door to Madame +Berthe Louison's reception room. Hugh Johnstone's yellow face paled as +the Major breaking the silence, coldly said: "Madame! I have broken a +friendship of fifteen years to-day! Please do consider me a stranger to +you both after today!" And then he walked firmly out of the house with a +warning glance to Jules Victor, lingering in the long hall. + +The quick Frenchman saw in Hawke's gesture the secret sign of a hidden +friend, and he threw up his hand in a Parisian gesture of gratitude and +comprehension, and failed not to report to his mistress, who saw Hawke's +fine method with a secret delight. + +Hawke drove to Grindlay's agency, where, in a private room, he promptly +cashed his check. + +"I'll take it in Bank of England notes!" he quietly said as the clerk +lifted inquiring eyes. "I am going to transact some business for the +lady." + +"Now, I can defy Fate!" he exulted, when he was safe out of the bank. +"She will trust me now, and old Johnstone will fear me. A case of vice +versa!" And, as he drove to the Club, he murmured, "I will never leave +this fight now! Damme! I'll just go in and get the girl! Just to spite +the old coward!" + +Within the dreaming shades of the gardens hiding the Silver Bungalow, +there was no sign of clamor. The beautiful little jewel-box of a mansion +was apparently deserted, but a duel to the death was going on within the +great white parlor where Hugh Johnstone stood raging at bay. He leaped +up in a mad outburst of passion, when Alixe Delavigne cuttingly broke +the silence. The old nabob knew that the desperate woman in her reckless +mood feared nothing.-- + +"You have lied to me! You have tricked me! You have sent that girl +away to Europe to hide her forever from me! I kept my pact, and, +you deliberately lied!" She stood before him like an avenging fury, +quivering in a passion which appalled him. But secure in his skillfuly +executed maneuver, he reached for his hat and stick. + +"I defy you! I have no answer to your abuse! Draw off your fighting cur, +Major Hawke, or I'll grind you and him in the dust!" The old man was +frantic under the insult. He moved toward the door. + +"Stop! You go to your ruin!" cried the irate woman. "Will you give me +full access to your daughter?" + +"Never! My Lady! Go and lord it over your whipped hounds in Poland--hide +in your estates the price of the double shame of two most accommodating +Frenchwomen!" + +"By the God who made me" she hissed, "I will bar your Baronetcy forever! +I will find out that girl, and she shall learn to love me and despise +your hated name and memory! It is open war now! and,--mark you--liar and +hound, these two generals, the Viceroy, and, all India shall soon know +what I know!" Then, with a clang of her silver bell, she called Jules +Victor to her side. "Jules," she said, "If this person ever crosses the +threshold of my door again, shoot him like the dog he is!" + +And then the black-browed Frenchman, holding open the door, hissed +"ALLEZ!" as Hugh Johnstone saw for the last time the marble face of the +woman who had doomed him to shame. + +"Go and send Ram Lal to me at once!" sternly said Berthe Louison. "Then +to Major Hawke. Tell him that I want him to dine with me, and I shall +need him all the evening. Order my carriage for five o'clock!" + +Alan Hawke had played his best trump card, and played it well, for the +woman who had doubted him, gloried in his courage and hardihood. "I +can trust him now!" she murmured when she drove to the Delhi agency +of Grindlays and, two hours later, astounded the local manager by the +executive rapidity of her varied business actions. + +"What's in the wind?" murmured the bank manager. "A sudden flitting!" +He had been ordered to detail two of his best men to accompany Madame +Louison to Calcutta, in a special car leaving at midnight. "Telegraph +to your head office in Calcutta of my arrival. Major Alan Hawke will +represent me here, under written orders to be left with your Calcutta +manager. Send this on in cipher." She handed him a long dispatch to his +chief. + +Madame Berthe Louison was seen in Delhi, in public, for the last time, +as she gazed steadily at the brilliant throng on the lawns of the marble +house. A fete Champetre had brought "all of Delhi" together, and the +conspicuous absence of "the French Countess" was the reigning sensation. +The tall, bent form of Hugh Fraser Johnstone was prominent reigning as +host, under a great marquee. Neither of the great generals were there, +however, for Simpson had drawn Major Hardwicke aside to whisper: "A +captain's guard came here to-day and took an enormous treasure in +precious stones up to Willoughby's Headquarters!" and the two commanders +were even then busied in listing the recovered loot, with a dozen +yellow-faced Hindus and several confidential staff officers. "It's the +last act, Captain darlin'," said Simpson. "Old Hugh has given me secret +orders to get ready to go on to London. He only takes his personal +articles. Young Douglas Fraser will come here and manage the Indian +estates." + +"Who's he?" eagerly cried Hardwicke. + +"The fellow who carried the women away--the old man's only nephew." + +"Ah! now I see!" heavily breathed Hardwicke. "I will take the previous +boat, and wait for the old man at Brindisi! Post me! I'll keep mum!" + +"Depend on me for my life itself," said Simpson; "but be prudent! I +don't want to lose my life pension. He's been a good master to me. We've +grown old together!" sighed the gray-headed soldier. + +The frightened Ram Lal Singh was driven around Delhi this eventful day +like a hunted rat. Suddenly summoned to General Willoughby's private +rooms, escorted by a sergeant, who never left him a moment, the old +Mohammedan was ushered into the presence of the two generals, who +pounced upon him and showed him a great, assorted treasure in diamonds, +pearls, pigeon rubies, sapphires, and emeralds of great size and +richness. They were all duly weighed and listed, and duplicate official +invoices lay signed upon the table. + +"You were Mirzah Shah's Royal Treasure Keeper? Tell me. Are all his +jewels here? The treasure that disappeared at Humayoon's Tomb before +Hodson slew the princes in the melee?" + +Ram Lal saw the frowns of men who had blown better men than himself +from the guns in the old days, and he had a vivid memory of those same +hideous scenes. + +"They are about half here in weight and number; about a quarter of the +value. There is a hundred thousand pounds worth missing!" said the +jewel dealer, gazing on the totals of numbers and weights. "The historic +diamonds, the matchless pearls, the never-equaled rubies--all the +choicest have been abstracted, and by a skillful hand!" + +"Go, then!" cried Willoughby. "Seal this in your breast! Speak to no one +or you'll die in jail, wearing irons! Here!" A hundred-pound note was +thrust into his hand, and he was whirled away to his shop. + +"Ah! The gray devil! he has stolen and hidden the best! I will watch him +like a ghoul of Bowanee, and they shall be mine! He would turn tail +now and steal away!" Ram Lal laughed an oily laugh, and going to an old +cabinet, took out a heavy kreese. "The poisoned dagger of Mirzah Shah!" +he smiled. "After many years!" It was Hugh Johnstone himself who sought +Ram Lal in his pagoda that afternoon, and, after making some heavy +purchases, finally drew out a list of jewels. + +"I wish you to certify, Ram Lal," he cautiously said, "that these +are all the jewels of Mirzah Shah, that you handled as 'Keeper of the +Prince's Treasure,' before the Meerut mutineers rushed down upon us." +Slowly peering over the paper, the crafty Ram Lal said: + +"You forget, Sahib, that I was sent away to Lucknow and Cawnpore, by +Mirzah Shah, with letters to Nana Sahib and Tantia Topee. I was shut out +of Delhi till after the British were camped on the Windmill Ridge, and +for months I never saw the royal jewels! Every moon the list was made +anew. The mollahs and moonshees and treasurers took jewels for the +Zenana every moon, and for the gifts of the princes. I could not testify +to this!" The old man was on his guard. + +"I will pay you well, Ram Lal. It is my last little matter to settle +with the authorities! Then my accounts are closed forever! As Treasurer +you could do this!" Old Hugh Fraser Johnstone was ignorant of the veiled +scrutiny of his stewardship. + +Ram Lal raised his head, at last, with something like defiance. "The +better half is gone--the rarest--the richest! True, the princes may have +divided them, they may have bribed their mutineer officers with some, +but, a true list may be in the hands of these Crown officers here. They +captured all the Palace papers. Now, I did not open them at Humayoon's +Tomb. You know," he faltered, "how they passed through your hands!" + +Hugh Johnstone, for the last time tried to threaten and bully. "I will +have you punished. I paid you well--you must lie for me! We both lied +then." + +"Then the curse of Allah be upon the liar who lies now," solemnly said +Ram Lal Singh. "I will not sign! I have the savings of years to guard. +You will go away and the Crown will come upon me for the missing gems. +I was absent five months from the Palace when you were in Brigadier +Wilson's Camp! I will offer my head to these generals, but I will not +sign! The Kaisar-I-Hind is just, and I will tell all!" With an oath of +smothered rage, Hugh Johnstone strode away. + +"I must try and make a royal present to Willoughby's wife,--a timely +one--and lose a half a lac of rupees to Abercromby. They may find a +way to pass the matter over." He dared not press Ram Lal to a public +exposition of all the wanderings of Mirzah Shah's jewels. "If I had not +told them that fairy tale, I might hedge; but it's too late now. I will +go down to Calcutta, see the Viceroy, and then clear out for good. And +I must placate Alan Hawke. I was a fool to ignore him. But, to make an +enemy of him, on account of that damned woman, would be ruin. He chums +with Ram Lal. He might cable to Anstruther." + +In fact Alan Hawke's bold social revolt had imposed on Johnstone. "He +might help to cover all up if I induced Abercromby to get him back on +the staff once more. I was a fool to slight him." Hugh Fraser Johnstone +was dimly conscious that his own line of battle was wavering, and that +his flanks were unguarded--his rear unprotected. "I will only trust my +homeward pathway to Simpson, and my health is a good excuse for clearing +out for good. I can easily locate on the Continent--in Belgium, or +Switzerland--and out of reach of any little trouble to come. They've no +proof. This fellow has no list, thank Heaven. I'll slip down to Ceylon +and catch the first boat there to Suez. Then ho for Geneva!" + +But Ram Lal Singh's slight defenses fell instantly before the golden +battering-ram of Madame Berthe Louison's direct onslaught. "I was busied +in the bazaars, buying jewels," he expostulated, when Jules Victor led +him into Madame Louison's boudoir. Even then Major Hawke was curiously +noting the dismantled condition of the reception-room, where Johnstone +had at last thrown off the mask. + +"I leave Major Hawke here to close all my business, Ram Lal," she said. +"I go to Calcutta. I may be gone for some months. But I have watched you +and him. You are close friends--very close friends. Now, remember that +I pay him and I pay you. I wish you to give me--to sell me--the list of +the jewels which Johnstone took away from you and hid, when he was Hugh +Fraser." The old scoundrel began to protest. Berthe Louison rang her +silver bell. "Jules!" she said, "I wish you to go to General Willoughby +with this letter, and tell him to send a guard here to arrest a thief +who has government jewels." + +Ram Lal was on the floor at her feet, groveling, before she grimly +smiled, as he held out a paper, quickly extracted from his red sash. +"That will do, Jules." The Frenchman stood without the door. "You will +not run away. You are far too rich, Ram Lal. And you will be watched +every moment. Sign and seal the list, and date it to-day." The old +craven begged hard for mercy. "Here is a hundred pounds. Hawke will pay +you four hundred more when I am safely on the sea, but only then! He +will close all my bills. Remember, I shall come back again. And," she +whispered a word, "he will watch you closely." The jeweler sealed the +document, and scribbled his certificate. "Not one word of my business, +not even to Hawke, on your life," she said. "I shall come again! And +General Willoughby will throw you in prison on a word from me." + +Major Alan Hawke was astounded, after an hour's yielding to the social +charm of Madame Alixe Delavigne, when the happy woman led him away from +the dinner table. "Now for a half-hour's business chat," she gayly said. +"No, no notes. We shall next meet at No. 9 Rue Berlioz, Paris. You will +receive my sealed directions from Grindlay's agent here, with funds to +settle my affairs. I go to-night to Calcutta, and thence to Europe. Obey +my orders. You will get them, sealed, from the agent here. You can +come on, by Bombay, when I cable to you. I will cable direct here to +Grindlay's. They'll not lose sight of you," she smiled. + +"And my relations with old Hugh?" he gasped in surprise. + +"Just watch him and follow him on to Europe. Neither you nor he can do +me any harm, but your reward for your manly stand to-day will reach you +in Paris. I knew of it." + +"Shall I not see you to the train?" Hawke stammered. + +"Ah!" she smiled, extending her hand warmly, "I have a double guard and +my servants. I will be met at Calcutta, and I go on my way safely now to +work a slow vengeance!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. A CAPTIVATED VICEROY. + + + +There were several "late parties" in sumptuous Delhi, on the evening +when Madame Berthe Louison drove quietly to the railway station at two +o'clock. A little knot of tired officials were still on duty, and when +some forerunner had given a private signal, a single car, drawn by a +powerful locomotive, glided out of the darkness. + +In a few moments a dozen trunks and a score of bags and bundles were +tossed aboard the baggage van. Five persons stepped nimbly aboard, and +then with no warning signal, the Lady of the Silver Bungalow was borne +out into the darkness, racing on toward Calcutta with the swiftness of +the wind. + +Jules Victor, vigorous and alert, after several cups of cafe noir, well +dashed with cognac, disposed his two Lefacheux revolvers in readiness, +and then betook himself to a nap. His bright-eyed wife was in the +compartment with her beautiful mistress, and ready to sound a shrill +Gallic alarm at any moment. She gravely eyed the two escorting officials +of the bank. Marie said in her heart that "all men were liars," and she +believed most of them to be voleurs, in addition. Jules, when the little +train was whirling along a-metals a score of miles away from Delhi, +relaxed his Zouave vigilance, and bade a long adieu to Delhi, in a +vigorous grunt. "Va bene! Sacree Canaille!" + +There was silence at the railway station when the head agent wearily +said, "I suppose the Bank is moving a lot of notes back to Calcutta! +They are a rum slick lot, these money changers!" When all was left in +darkness, save where a blinking red and white line signal still showed, +Ram Lal Singh crept away from the line of the rails. The rich jewel +vender clutched in his bosom the handle of Mirzah Shah's poisoned +dagger, the deadly dagger of a merciless prince. + +He had long pondered over the sudden demand made upon him by the Lady of +the Silver Bungalow. And he greatly desired to re-adjust his relations +with Hugh Johnstone and Major Alan Hawke. The daily usefulness of "Lying +as a Fine Art" was never before so apparent to Ram Lal. He slunk away on +foot to his own bit of a zenana. + +"I must try to deceive them both! Fool that I was not to see it before! +These two Generals are her friends, of old! The secret protector of the +wonderful moon-eyed beauty here is General Willoughby, and the other +General will secretly help her down at Calcutta. She came up here, +secretly, to see her old lover Willoughby, and that is why she would be +able to have a guard arrest me. For she said just what they said about +the prison. Willoughby goes down often to Calcutta! Ah! Yes! They are +all the same, these English! Fools! Not to lock their women up, when +they have once bought them, with a secret price! And now, Hawke must +never know of this paper I gave her. She would find out, and then have +the General punish me. Now I know why she went not to the great English +Mem-Sahibs here! And these two great General Sahibs have had her spy +upon this old man, Hugh Fraser--the man who would steal away with the +Queen's jewels. They would have them. By Bowanee! I will have them +first! For I can hide them where they never will find them! I will trade +them off to the Princes, who know the old jewels of Oude. They will +give me double weight, treble value." Ram Lal crept into his hidden +love nest, his skinny hand clutching the golden shaft of Mirzah Shah's +dagger. "I might surrender them later and get an enormous reward from +the Crown," he mused. + +At the Delhi Club, Major Alan Hawke, in a strange unrest, paced his +floor half the night. "I stand now nearly eleven thousand pounds to +the good, with outlying counties to hear from, as the Yankees say." He +smiled, "that is, if the old fox does not stop these drafts. If he does, +I'll stop him!" he swore. And yet, he was troubled at heart. "I know +Alixe Delavigne will call me back and pay me well. How did she find out +about my bold bluff to Johnstone? Some servant may have overheard, and +she is a deep one. She may even have her own spies there!" + +"Justine, I can count on you to help me later. But, how to treat old +Hugh?" His dreams of an army reinstatement came back to worry him. "I +might go to Abercromby and warn him about Johnstone. Damn it! I've +no proof as yet! Berthe Louison will fire the great gun herself." The +renegade fell asleep, torturing himself about the needless breach with +Johnstone. "All violence is a mistake!" he muttered, half asleep. "The +angry old man will keep me away from the girl forever, and the old brute +is going to Europe. I have spoiled one game in taking one trick too +roughly." + +Another "late party" was at Major Hardwicke's quarters, where the loyal +Simpson related to the lover all the gossip of Johnstone and General +Abercromby, over their brandy pawnee and cheroots. Simpson was the eager +servitor of the young engineer, whom he loved. + +General Willoughby had a little fit of "work" which seized upon him, and +so he toiled till late at night, sending some cipher dispatches to the +Viceroy. "I may make a point in this, perhaps a C. B.," said the old +veteran, who was sharper when drunk than sober. "I'll put a pin in +Johnstone's game, and get ahead of Abercromby." This last old warrior +had secretly vowed to force Hugh Fraser Johnstone to present him to the +"little party in the Silver Bungalow." The Calcutta general was a Knight +of Venus, as well as a Son of Mars, and had guarded memories of +some wild episodes of his own there in the halcyon days of the great +chieftain who had builded it. A gay young staff officer whispered: + +"Alan Hawke is the only one who really has the 'open sesame.' He knows +that 'little party.' Didn't you see Johnstone hurry her away? The old +nabob, too, is sly." + +"Ah!" mused the General. "I'll make Johnstone have Hawke here to +breakfast. Devilish clever fellow--and he'll take me there!" Alas! for +these rosy anticipations. The "little party" was already at Allahabad +before the gouty general awoke from his love dream. + +And, last of all the "late parties" on this eventful night was Hugh +Fraser Johnstone's little solitary council of war. He had, with a +prescience of coming trouble, detailed two of his own keenest personal +servants to watch the Silver Bungalow, from daylight, relieving each +other, and never losing sight a moment of the hidden tiger's den. "I'll +find out who goes and comes there! By God! I will!" he raged. After a +long cogitation, he evolved a "way out" of his quarrel with Hawke. "Damn +the fellow! I must not drive him over into the enemy's camp. I'll have +him here--to breakfast, to-morrow. The jewels are safely out of the +way now. For a few pounds he will watch this she-devil, and that yellow +thief, Ram Lal, for me. My only danger is in their coming together. +I'll get a note to him early." Seizing his chit-book, he dashed off in +a frankly apologetic way a few lines. "There! That'll do! Not too much!" +He read his lines with a final approval. + +"Dear Hawke: I've been worried to death with a lot of people thrust on +me. Mere figure-heads. You must excuse an old friend--an old man--and +Madame Louison is like all women--only a bundle of nerves. Come over to +the house to-day at noon and breakfast with Abercromby and myself alone. +I'll send you back to Calcutta with him on a little run. I appreciate +your manliness in keeping out of my little misunderstanding with the +Madame. By the way, a few words from Abercromby to the Viceroy would +put you back on the Army Staff, where you rightly belong. Let bygones be +bygones, and you can make your play on the General, It's the one chance +of a life. Come and see me. J." + +"There! He will never show that!" mused Hugh Johnstone. "It touches his +one little raw spot!" And calling a boy the old Commissioner dispatched +the note, carefully sealed, to the Club. The last one to seek his rest +in the marble house, old Johnstone was strangely shaken by the events of +the day. + +Berthe Louison's threats, Ram Lal's stubborn refusal, and the useless +quarrel with Hawke had unmanned him. He drank a strong glass of grog and +then sought his room. "All things settle themselves at last! This thing +will blow over! I wish to God that she was out of the way! I could then +handle the rest!" For in his heart he feared the defiant woman. + +There were two men equally surprised when gunfire brought the "day's +doings" on again in lazy, luxurious Delhi. Over his morning coffee, +Major Alan Hawke thankfully cried: "I am a very devil for luck! This old +skinflint is opening his bosom and handing me a knife. By God! I'll have +my pound of flesh!" He leaped from his couch as blithe as a midshipman +receiving his first love letter from a fullgrown dame. There was great +joy in the house of Hawke. + +But when Simpson entered his master's room he was followed by a +wild-eyed returning emissary, who waited till the old soldier had left +the room. Hugh Johnstone suddenly lost all interest in the breakfast +tray, the letters and his morning toilet, when the Hindu fearfully said: +"They are all gone--the Mem-Sahib, the two foreign devils, and all their +belongings!" + +Johnstone was on his feet with a single bound. "Gone! What do you tell +me, you fool?" He was shaking the slim-boned native as if he were a man +of straw. + +"They went to the railroad at two o'clock at night, the coachman told +me. We only began our watch by your orders at daybreak. She had been +then gone four hours." Johnstone foamed in an impotent rage. + +"Who is left in the house?" he roared. + +"Nobody, Sahib." tersely said the Hindu. + +"Get out and send me Simpson!" the old man sternly said. "Go back and +watch that house till I have you relieved. Tell me everyone who goes in +or out!" + +And then the horrible fear that Willoughby or Abercromby had deceived +him, began to dawn upon his excited mind. "Simpson," he cried, "there's +a good fellow! Take the first trap and get over to Major Hawke. Tell him +that I must see him here, at once, on the most important business. He +must come. Then get to Ram Lal, and bring him yourself to your own room. +Let me know, privately, when he is there. Never mind my dressing. Send +me a couple of the others. Is the General awake?" + +"Just coming down for his ride! Horses ordered in half an hour!" + +Simpson fled away, muttering, "Hardwicke must know of this!" + +Hugh Johnstone fancied that he was dreaming when he met his official +guest, refreshed and jovial, but still under the spell of Venus. + +"See here, Hugh!" said the gallant Abercromby. "I want you to present +me to that stunning woman over there, at the Silver Bungalow, you know. +They tell me she's the Queen of Delhi. You old rascal, I'm bound to know +her! Can't we have a little breakfast there, under the rose?" A last +desperate expedient occurred to Johnstone. His baronetcy was in danger +now. + +"There's but one man in Delhi can bring you within the fairy circle. +That's Hawke--a devilish good officer too, by the way! Ought to be back +on the 'Temporary Staff,' at least! He comes here to breakfast! I'll +turn you over to him. He manages all the lady's private affairs. He is +your man." + +General Abercromby turned a stony eye upon his host. "Does Willoughby go +there?" he huskily whispered. + +"Never crossed the line! Hawke is far too shy. You see, Willoughby has +not recognized Major Hawke's rank and past services!" + +"Ah!" said the jealous warrior. "If Hawke is the man you say he is, I +can get the Viceroy to give him a local rank, in two weeks! Send him +down with me to Calcutta!" and the gay old would-be lover jingled away +on his morning ride. + +"This may be my one anchor of safety!" gasped the wondering Johnstone, +as Alan Hawke came dashing into the grounds. In half an hour, the +broken entente cordiale was restored, and Johnstone had slipped away and +questioned the wary Ram Lal. + +"All I know is that the lady hired the house temporarily from me, I am +agent for Runjeet Hoy, who owns it now. She went without a word, and +gave me three hundred pounds yesternight, for her rent and supplies. I +asked the Mem-Sahib no questions. She went away all by herself, in the +middle of the night." + +"Ah! You know nothing more?" sharply queried Johnstone. + +"Of course not! I thought you, or Hawke Sahib, or General Wilhoughby, +was a secret friend." Slyly said Ram Lal. + +"She owes you nothing? You do not expect her to return?" the nabob +cried. + +"I think she has gone to Calcutta! She came from there." + +"Come to-night, privately, Ram Lal. I'll show you how to get in. Just +tap at my bedroom window three times. Come secretly, at eleven o'clock, +and find out all you can. Wait in the garden till the house is dark. +I'll pay you well," continued Johnstone, leading the old jeweler to his +bedroom. "I will leave this one window unfastened. So you can come in! +The room will be dark!" + +"The Sahib shall be obeyed!" said Ram Lal, salaaming to the ground, and +he was happy at heart as he glided out of the garden. A ferocious smile +of coming triumph gleamed in his dark face. "I have him now! He will +never slip away in the night! But I must please him, and lie to him!" It +was the chance for which he had vainly waited there many years, and Ram +Lal prayed to great Bowaaee to aid him. + +"Hawke!" said Johnstone, when his astounded listener heard all of +Johnstone's proposed infamy. "I have telegraphed to Allahabad and +Calcutta. This strange woman has gone down there. Now, I want you to +fall in with Abercromby. He will go down in a few days. Bring them +together in any way you can. The General and the beauty. No fool like +an old fool!" he grinned. "Watch them and post me! Abercromby is already +well disposed to you. Make a play on him. He will get you a temporary +rank from the Viceroy. + +"Your matchless knowledge of the Himalayas and the whole northern +frontier will earn you a regular rank. Coddle Anstruther, too, and cling +to the Vice-roy! I'll back you with any money you need. It's the one +chance of a life!" + +"And what am I to do for you, Johnstone?" quietly said the delighted +Hawke. + +"Just stand by me about this baronetcy, and bamboozle this damned +foolish woman, while I slip quietly away to Europe! She is mercurial +and vain. Abercromby will get her into the fast Calcutta set, after one +necessary appearance at the Viceroy's! She is, after all, only a woman. +You can catch them with a feather, if you can catch them at all! Once +properly launched by Abercromby, you are a made man for life! He will +not dare to 'go back on you!' as our Yankee cousins have it. The Viceroy +will do anything for him!" + +"By God! Johnstone! I'm your man! Count on me in life and death!" warmly +cried Hawke. The two men clasped hands. + +There was a clatter and a jingle. The old warrior was on his return. +"Here he comes now! Fall in with his humor, and success to you at +Calcutta," whispered Johnstone. There was the very jolliest breakfast +imaginable at the marble house that day, and that same afternoon Major. +Alan Hawke rode all over Delhi as volunteer aide to General Abercromby. + +Two nights later General Abercromby whispered to Hugh Johnstone, at a +Grand Ball at Willoughby's Headquarters: "I've just had a telegram from +the Viceroy to return at once. Your matter is now all right. I leave the +property with Willoughby here. I'll go down in the morning, if you'll +fix me up." And then, Johnstone signing to Major Alan Hawke, who had +been the cynosure of all eyes, as he gracefully led Madame la Generale +Willoughby through a lanciers, took the favorite of fortune aside. + +"Make your adieux! Get out of here! Settle all your little affairs! Send +all your traps over to my house! General Abercromby wants to slip away +quietly in the morning! No one is to know! And you go with him, at his +urgent request." + +And that very evening at Calcutta, Alixe Delavigne would have laughed +in triumph to know of Hugh Johnstone's strange eagerness to dispatch +his amorous guest. For the lady--in the safe haven of the great banker's +home--had just returned from a captivated Viceroy, who had instantly +recalled Abercromby by a dispatch to be "obeyed forthwith." + +"You, Madame, have laid me under an obligation which I can never +forget," said the graceful statesman. The list of Ram Lal was in his +hands now! And so Hugh Johnstone was highly pleased, and Madame +Berthe Louison, still in her masquerade, was happy, and the watchful +Commanding-General Willoughby was more than pleased; and the now doubly +hopeful Major Alan Hawke rejoiced, while General Abercromby knew that +the "little party" was waiting him in Calcutta. But most of all pleased +was Ram Lal Singh, clutching in his dreams at the dagger of Mirzah Shah, +lying there by his bedside. "He will be left alone, and he knows my +signal--his own device--THREE TAPS AT HIS WINDOW! In Delhi there only +lingered, sad and lonely, Major Harry Hardwicke, whose sighs were echoed +back from afar by a starry-eyed girl watching the sandy shores of the +Suez Canal. + +"I dare not telegraph to him till we reach Brindisi," mused the loving +girl. "After that our path will be plain, and Justine MUST help me! Then +he can follow me--if he loves me!" She faltered, hiding her blushing +face. The only comforter of the lonely Hardwicke was "Rattler Murray." +Red Eric, of the Eighth Lancers, had just fallen into a pot of money. + +"Take your long leave, my boy!" he cried. "I've been nine long years +a Lieutenant! I'll have my troop before my leave is out! And there's +a loving lass awaiting me! One I love--one who loves me--one you must +know, for you must be the 'best man'!" + +"Wait, only wait a couple of weeks, Eric!" said the Major, whose eyes +were now turned daily to Simpson. "Then I'll put in my own application, +and we'll go home together." + +This bright hope was duly pledged in many a loving cup. + +General Abercromby was far away on the road to Calcutta when +Major-General Willoughby sent, posthaste, for Major Harry Hardwicke of +the Corps of Engineers. The puzzled Commanding General was racking his +brains to find out if his old friend Abercromby had committed any fatal +error during his somewhat bacchanalian visit on "special duty." + +"I'm glad he is gone" mused the stout-hearted, thick-headed old +Commander, as he read, over and over, the Viceroy's cipher dispatch to +the departed General. + +"Do nothing further! Turn over all property, on invoice, to General +Willoughby, and report here forthwith. Hold no communication with +Johnstone, and guard an absolute silence. Report in person, instantly on +your arrival." + +"Something has surely gone wrong!" at last decided Willoughby. "Old Hugh +Fraser Johnstone may have been too much for him. Strange, the Viceroy +says nothing of him!" And then he read a second dispatch, with the +Viceroy's orders to himself. "Notify Major Harry Hardwicke, Royal +Engineers, to report in person, to the Viceroy for special duty, +prepared to go in a week to England on duty. Absolute secrecy required. +His leave application will be approved for any period, to take effect on +his completion of duties assigned, in London. Special cipher orders will +be sent to him this A.M. Deliver them and furnish him the code No. 2. +No copies to be retained. Furnish Major Hardwicke with a captain and +ten picked men to escort the property received by General Abercromby to +Calcutta. Invoices to you to be signed by him. Property to be sent +down in sealed pay-chests, with your seal and Major Hardwicke's. Report +compliance, and telegraph in cipher No. 2 Hardwicke's departure for +Calcutta. Special transportation has been ordered." + +"There, my boy, you have your orders!" an hour later said General +Willoughby when Major Hardwicke reported. "I am glad to have the +whole thing off my hands. Here is the double-ciphered code. You are to +translate for yourself, and, remember, then destroy your translation. +Remember, also, one single whisper of your destination, and you are +a ruined man! Evidently the Viceroy is bent on trapping old Hugh +Johnstone. Damn him, for a sneaking civilian! I never trusted him!" And +the old General rolled away for his family tiffin. "I'll see you when +you have translated the private orders. Thank God, the Viceroy keeps me +out of this dirty muddle! You see, I have no power over Johnstone--he +is a blasted civilian." Two hours later, the grateful old General found +Hardwicke pacing up and down impatiently. "I ought only to tell Murray," +he murmured, "if I could! He is going home to be married, and I am to +stand up with him." + +"Just the thing!" gayly cried Willoughby. "Murray's captaincy is in the +Gazette of to-day's mail. I will order him down with you, in command +of the guard, and, at Calcutta, the Viceroy will release you from your +promise, so as to let him know that you can meet him in London. His +Excellency evidently wants to hoodwink all the gossips here, and, above +all, to blind old Johnstone. Now, Harry, I feel like a brute to let you +go without a poor send-off, but, by Heaven, the whole Willoughby clan +will follow you in London, and pay off a part of our debt for that +'run-under fire' with my wounded boy. Name anything you want. Do you +want any help to watch Johnstone?" The old General was eager. + +"Ah! I fear that I must attend to him, alone!" sadly said Major +Hardwicke, whose heart was racked, for a fair, dear face now afar must +soon be clouded with sorrow and those dear eyes weep a father's shame. + +"Call, day and night, for anything you want!" heartily said the loyal +old father of the rescued officer. "The day before you go you must dine +with us, alone, and Harriet will give you her last greeting." + +As the day wore away, there was a jovial rapprochement in the special +car where General Abercromby and Major Hawke were gayly extolling Madame +Berthe Louison's perfections. "Mind you, General, I am no squire of +dames," said the Major. "You must make your own running." + +"Ah! my boy, you have earned your temporary rank as a Major of Staff, +when you've introduced me. I flatter myself that I know women!" cried +Abercromby as they cracked t'other bottle of Johnstone's champagne. + +"Take me to her, and then, I'll take you to the Viceroy. I guarantee +your rank!" + +"It's a bargain!" cried the delighted Hawke. While Abercromby dreamed +of the lovely lady of the Silver Bungalow, Major Alan Hawke leisurely +examined a sheaf of letters from Europe which had been thrust in his +pocket by Ram Lal at parting. + +"Victory!" he cried, as he read a tender letter from Euphrosyne Delande, +in which she promised her absolute compliance with his every wish. +"Justine has written to me herself," was the underscored hint that the +three might join fortunes. "It's about time for that Madras boat to +get to Brindisi," mused Hawke, as they ran into Allahabad, "There may be +telegrams here now." And, while General Abercromby jovially feasted, +Hawke ran over to his secret haunt to which he had ordered Ram Lal to +send any telegrams, for one day only, and then, the rest would be safe +with Ram's secret agent in Calcutta. "My God! This is my fortune! Bravo, +Justine!" cried Hawke, "True and quickwitted. I now hold Berthe Louison +in my hand." + +He read the words--"Andrew Fraser, St. Agnes' Road, St. Heliers, +Jersey." The dispatch was headed Brindisi, and signed "Justine." "A +man might do worse than marry a woman as true and keen as that," smiled +Hawke. "I am a devil for luck!" And then he gayly drank Justine's +health, in silence, when he joined the amorous Abercromby at the table. + +But the "devil for luck" did not know of a little scene at Brindisi, +where the blushing Nadine Johnstone hid her face in her friend's bosom. +"It is my life, my very existence, Justine!" she pleaded. "I will never +forget you; we are both women, and my heart will break if you refuse!" +And thus Justine Delande had learned at last of Nadine's easy victory +over the frank-hearted cousin's prudence. + +"What's the wrong--to tell her?" he had mused, under the spell of the +loving eyes. "We go straight through, and I am in charge till my father +takes her out of my hands! Poor girl, it will be a grim enough life with +him. Not a man will ever set eyes on her face without old Hugh's written +order!" And it was thus that Justine was enabled to warn her own lover +when she had slipped away and cabled by her mistress's orders to the +young Lochinvar at Delhi: + +"Captain Harry Hardwicke, Royal Engineers, Delhi: Letters for you at +Andrew Fraser's, St Agnes Road, St. Heliers, Jersey. Come." + +The Swiss woman shuddered as she boldly signed Nadine! And this same +dispatch when received by the young officer, now busied with the +Viceroy's mandate, brought the sunlight of Love back into his darkened +soul! The minutes seemed to lengthen into hours until the special train +was ready. At the risk of his military future, the Major gave to the +faithful Simpson his London Club address. "If anything happens here, +you must go to General Willoughby. Tell him what you want me to know. +He will send it on, and give you a five-pound note. Remember! Simpson, +you'll die in my service if you stand true!" + +"That I will, for your brave father's sake, and for the young lady's +bright eyes! Bless her dear, sunny face! Tell her that I will work for +her in life and death!" And when, in a few days the lengthened absence +of Major Harry Hardwicke and Red Eric Murray was noted, the groups only +conjectured a little junket to some near-by station, or a long shikaree +trip. But Simpson and General Willoughby knew better. Simpson was a +"lord" in these days, in the quarter, for Hardwicke had not left Delhi +with a closed hand. + +And old Hugh Johnstone, greatly relieved at heart, was now busied in +secretly arranging for his own flitting. "I'll run down to Calcutta, see +the Viceroy, give Abercromby a splendid dinner, and then slip off home, +on the quiet, via Ceylon. I'll send Douglas back when I get to Jersey, +and then I can put those jewels where no human being can ever trace +them! Once that brother Andrew has my full orders as to Nadine, I will +bar this she-devil forever from her side! On the excuse of a leisurely +contemplated tour, I can have the rich Jew brokers of Amsterdam and +Frankfort, with their agents in Cairo and Constantinople, divide up the +jewels among the foreign crown-heads. I am then safe! safe! No human +hand can ever touch me now," he gloated. + +There was a clattering of aides-de-camp and great official bustle at +the Government House in Calcutta when General Abercromby reported to +the great statesman Viceroy, dwelling in the vast palace, builded by the +Marquis of Wellesley. + +General Abercromby, marveling at the abruptness of the Viceroy, was +relieved to know that his "secret service" had been transferred to Major +Hardwicke under the orders of Major-General Willoughby. His mind was +intently occupied with the promised introduction to Madame Berthe +Louison--"that little party"--and so he failed not to refer to the +future value to the crown of Alan Hawke's services. + +"He is here with me, Your Excellency!" respectfully said Abercromby, who +had already posted off his leporello to call in due form at the banker's +mansion, where the disguised Alixe Delavigne had taken refuge. "Send him +to me at once, General. I need him! I will give him the local staff rank +of Major and immediate employment. Willoughby has also written to me +especially about his wonderful knowledge of our northern lines. Stay! +Bring him yourself, to-morrow, at ten o'clock." + +"Splendid! Splendid!" cried the love-lorn General, rubbing his hands, +as he hastened away in his carriage to meet Alan Hawke! "I am ready for +him, if he is ready for me! I wish she were at some one of the great +hotels instead of being buried in the silver-gray respectability of the +Manager's family circle. But--but--I will take her to the Viceroy. +The bird shall then learn to test its wings. I will bring her out as a +social star!" + +Major Alan Hawke, with a beating heart, recounted to Madame Berthe +Louison all the occurrences in Delhi, when they were left alone in the +great banker's vast parlors. "She is a puzzle, this strange woman!" +mused Hawke, for a serene and stately triumph shone in her splendid +eyes. + +Berthe Louison listened to all! "You will get your staff appointment," +she smiled, "and I will help you! Bring your friend General Abercromby +to see me here to-morrow evening! I will be amiable to him, for your +sake, and for the sake of my future interests!" + +The grateful young man, now on the threshold of reinstatement, in a +sudden impulse cried, "I can, now, give you Nadine Johnstone's hiding +place! You can trust to me and I will prove it, now! It is--" + +"With Andrew Fraser, retired Professor of Edinburgh University, +historian and philologist, ethnologist, etc.; St. Agnes Road, St. +Heliers, Jersey," laughingly rejoined Berthe Louison. + +"You are a--witch, woman! A wonder!" cried the astounded adventurer. + +"Ah! You see that I have trusted you!" she smiled. "Now, do as I bid +you, and you will rise in the service! Remember! You are to do just what +I say! The bank here, or in Delhi, will give you always my directions. +Remember! I shall not lose sight of you for a moment, though near or +far! And money and promotion will reward your good faith! Go now! my +friend," she kindly said, extending her hand. "Bring the General, here, +tomorrow evening, at eight! I will be busied till then! There is nothing +for you to do now!" + +The astonished schemer was in a maze as he dashed away to the Calcutta +Club to meet General Abercromby. "She is a very devil and a mistress of +the Black Art!" he mused. "I will stand by her," he admiringly cried, +"as long as it pays me." It was the honest tribute of a grateful +scoundrel's heart! + +While the happy Abercromby dallied with Major Hawke over a claret cup, +an official messenger sought him out, at the Club. "There, my boy! You +see that I am a man of my word!" cried the would-be lover. Alan Hawke's +lip trembled as he tore open an envelope directed to him and marked: "On +Her Majesty's Service." The first in many years. The walls spun around +before his eyes when he read his provisional appointment, with an order +to report forthwith, to the Chief of Staff, for private instructions. +"Ah! I congratulate you, my boy!" heartily cried the happy General. "You +are a very devil for luck! One toast to the Viceroy! I'll meet you here +to-night!" + +The happiest man in India sped away to his newly opened gate of Paradise +Regained, while afar in the sweltering September sun, the gleam of +rifles and red coats told of an armed escort on the train, bearing Major +Hardwicke and Captain Eric Murray, on to Calcutta, with the swiftness +of the wind. Neither of the officers for a moment quitted their +compartment, and two chosen sergeants, revolver in hand, watched +certain sealed packages lying beside them all there in plain view. Major +Hardwicke's soul was now in his quest! + +There was a gleam of romance in the great Viceroy's morning duties, +while Major Hawke had hastened to the Chief of Staff's office. + +Madame Berthe Louison, escorted by her guardian, the bank manager, had +placed upon the Viceroy's table a little document which he studied with +great care. "You are sure that there is no mistake?" the statesman said, +gravely interrogating the banker. "I will guarantee it, Your Excellency, +with its face value, fifty thousand pounds." answered the financier. It +was the memorandum of a policy of assurance for a sealed package, on +the steamer Lord Roberts, sent by Hugh Fraser Johnstone to Prof. Andrew +Fraser, St. Agnes Road, St. Heliers, Jersey and now half way to England. + +"I will act, Madame, at once!" said the holder of a scepter by proxy. +"You are to guard this secret, both, upon your honor. Send the dispatch, +as you have proposed. My official action is to follow this up. I will +let the game go on in silence just a little longer. And now--" the +Viceroy led the lady aside, whispering a few private words, which left +her a proud and happy woman. "My special aid will call at your residence +as soon as it is dark. The consular officials at Aden, Suez, Port Said, +and Brindisi will all have orders regarding you. I am ashamed that the +prudence needed in the official side of this affair prevents me socially +honoring you as I would. The French Consul-General has given to me his +official guaranty for you, which," he smiled, "was not needed. We shall +meet again, and your conduct will not be forgotten." + +Alixe Delavigne bowed with the grace of a queen and never lifted her +eyes until her sober mentor had brought her to the shelter of his home. +Before they were seated at tiffin the wires bore away this dispatch, +which astounded its recipient: + +"CAP. ANSON ANSTRUTHER, JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB, + +LONDON. + +Meet me at Morley's Hotel, London. Will telegraph you from Brindisi. +Official dispatches to you explain. + +BERTHE LOUISON." + +When the stars lit up the broad Hooghly that night, a swift Peninsular +and Oriental Liner drew away down the river, with a smart steam-launch +towing at her companionway. The woman who said adieu to the Viceroy's +aid and her grave-faced banker in her splendid rooms had read the brief +words of Captain Anstruther, telling her that the electric Ariel was +true to his trust. "All right. Both dispatches received. Welcome. +Anstruther." The official staterooms were a bower of floral beauty, and +the gallant aid murmured: "I hope that nothing has been forgotten. The +whole ship is at your disposal. The Commander has the Viceroy's personal +orders. And, I was to give you the letter and this package!" When the +banker had exchanged the last words of counsel and advice, he said: +"Trust me! I know Hawke of old! We will let him go up the ladder of life +a little, while the other fellow comes down!" + +When the little steam-launch was a black blur on the blue waters, then +Alixe Delavigne, standing alone at the rail, smiled as she saw the lean, +straggling shores sweep by. "I fear that General Abercromby will deem +me discourteous! But time, tide, and the P. and O. steamers wait for no +elderly beau, however fascinating!" + +It is a matter of local history in Calcutta that General Abercromby's +remark: "Hawke! we have been a pair of damned fools! We are outwitted!" +found its way at last into the clubs, and the attack of jaundice, +followed up by a severe gout, which "laid out" the sighing lover for +long months, proves, as of old, that stern Mars cannot cope with +the bright and all-compelling Venus! But Major Alan Hawke, of the +Provisional Staff, hearkened wisely to the banker's words: "Don't +be fool enough to think that you can trifle with Madame Louison's +interests. The noble Viceroy has placed you on duty, at her own personal +request, to give you a last chance to regain all the promise of your +youth. One word from her, and--and you will be suspended or, dropped! +You will get your military orders from the Viceroy and her wishes from +me." + +Alan Hawke was paralyzed with astonishment the next day, when the +Viceroy ordered him to proceed at once to Delhi, to report to General +Willoughby, and to hasten to London, via Bombay, on completion of his +secret service at Delhi." + +"I am a devil for luck!" muttered Hawke. "But even the tide of Fortune +can drive along too fast!" He had lost his head, and forgotten all +his pigmy plans. A stronger hand than his own was secretly guiding his +onward path, upward to the old status of the "British officer!" "What +the devil do they want of me in London?" he mused. + +And, chuckling over how easily he had made the lovesick Abercromby +help him into his "military seat" once more, Alan Hawke betook himself +forthwith to Delhi, to report to General Willoughby for instant service. +When he descended at Allahabad, his undress uniform of a major of the +Staff Corps brought down on him a storm of congratulations from old +friends gathered there. "Sly old boy you were!" the service men laughed, +over their glasses, while wetting his new uniform. "A man must not tell +all he knows!" patiently replied Major Hawke, with the sad, sweet smile +of a man who had dropped into a good thing. + +As he rolled along toward Delhi, he seriously cogitated "playing fair" +in his new capacity. "Perhaps it will pay!" he mused. "But I will even +up with that old hog, Johnstone!" He dared not contemplate now any +substantial treason to Madame Alixe Delavigne. "She is a witch woman! +She seems to have an untold backing! The Bankers, even, the Viceroy, and +the French Consul-General, too. She could crush me! I must serve My Lady +Disdain, and I will fight and die in her army!" Arriving at Delhi, Major +Alan Hawke's first visit was to Ram Lal Singh, as he prepared to "report +forthwith," in "full rig," to the local Commander. There was a strange +preoccupation in the old jeweler which baffled Hawke. Ram Lal only +humbly begged to have all his lengthened accounts with Madame Berthe +Louison arranged, and Alan Hawke, with a few words, calmed the +Mussulman's fears. + +"I'll have it all attended to, to-morrow, when I look it over," said +the Major, hastening away to the Club. "Ram has been at the hashish, or +bhang, or the betel nut, or some of his recondite dissipations--perhaps +he has enjoyed an opium bout in the Zenana," mused the new appointee, as +he gayly "begged off" from a cloud of eager congratulations by +promising to "blow off" the whole Delhi Club. "Business first, pleasure +afterwards" said the resplendent Major Hawke, as he clattered away, a +handsome son of Mars, to report to General Willoughby. + +Major Hawke was secretly delighted with his cordial reception. "Come to +me to-morrow at ten, Major," said the Commander, "I will have your first +instructions, but remember absolute secrecy. This is a very grave affair +to both of us--your coming employment." + +"The tide of life is bearing me on, with a devilish rapidity, with +favoring gales," the Major reflected. But beyond the clouds veiling the +future he saw no farther shore. + +In the dim watches of the night for a week past, Simpson, secretly +busied with preparing Hugh Johnstone's flitting, was perplexed at the +sound of shuffling feet and whispered voices in the master's rooms +opening into the splendid gardens. "Who the devil has he there? Some +woman!" mused the old veteran servant. Simpson had his own little +"private life" to wind up, and so he was charitably inclined. It was +his custom when all was still to slip away "to the quarter" where some +lingering cords were now slowly snapping one by one. The old servant +noted with surprise a dark form gliding on his trail in several of these +goings and comings. Being of a practical nature, the man who had faced +the mad rebels at Lucknow only belted on a heavy Adams revolver, and +concluded at last that some others of the household were busied +in secret dissipation or nocturnal lovemaking. "No one man has a +controlling patent on being a fool," mused Simpson. "Black and white, +we're all of a muchness." And as he knew they might now leave at any +moment he sped away to his last delightful nights in Delhi. + +On the night when Alan Hawke returned from Calcutta, the inky blackness +of an approaching storm wrapped dreaming Delhi in an impenetrable +mantle. Under the huge camphor tree where the cobra had risen in its +horrid menace before the frightened girl, a dark figure waited till a +man glided to his side. His head was bent as the spy reported "Simpson +is gone to the quarter. Two of our men have followed him, and, if +he returns, he will be stopped on the way." The only answer was an +outstretched arm, and the whispered words, "Go, then, and watch." + +"It is the very night--the night of all nights!" muttered the watcher +under the tree, and then, stealing forward, he tapped three times at the +window where Hugh Johnstone stood with his heart beating high in all +the pride of a coming triumph ready to open to the man who was settling +his private affairs. + +"No one shall know that I have stolen away," he mused. "Forever and in +the night." + +A light foot pressed the floor as the expected one glided over the low +window sill. There was a night lamp burning dimly in a shaded corner. +"Put out the light. I must tell you something. We are both watched and +spied on!" whispered a well-known voice. + +As Hugh Johnstone turned from the corner, in the darkness, there was a +gurgling cry--a half-smothered groan--as Mirzah Shah's poisoned dagger +was driven to the hilt between his shoulders. His accounts were settled, +at last! + +An hour later, a dark form crept through the gardens toward the gate +where Harry Hardwicke had rode in to the rescue. There was a silent +struggle as two men wrestled in the darkness, and one fled away into the +shadows of the night. It was the chance meeting of a spy and a murderer. + +And then Major Alan Hawke stooped and picked up a heavy dagger lying at +his feet. "I have the beggar's knife," he growled. And, with a sudden +intention, he vanished toward the Club, for the knife of Mirzah Shah was +reeking, and Hugh Johnstone had gone out on his darkened path alone. He +had left Delhi--forever. + + + + +BOOK III. PRINCE DJIDDIN'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. + + + +CHAPTER XI. "DO YOU SEE THIS DAGGER?" + + + +Morning in Delhi! The fiery sun leaped up, gilding once more the far +Himalayas and lighting the bloodstained plains of Oude. The golden +shafts twinkled on the huge colonnade, the vast ruined arch, the +crumbling walls, and the huge castled oval of Humayoon's tomb. In the +dark night, the monsoon winds wailed over the wreck of Hindu, Pathan, +and Mogul magnificence. The dark demons of Bowanee rejoiced at a new +sacrifice to the gloomy goddess; and the straggling jungle was alive +again. + +In the vacant caverns, whence the sons of Mohammed Bahadur were +once dragged forth to die by daring Hodson's smoking pistols, their +slaughtered shades grinned over the ghastly vengeance of the barren +years. + +The huge dome of the mosque hung in air over the vacant palaces of the +great Moguls, and the far windmill ridge, and the bastioned walls of +Delhi were bathed in golden light, while Alan Hawke slept the sleep +of exhaustion. And while Ram Lal Singh, secure in his zenana, calmly +greeted the cool morning hour with a smiling face and a happy heart, in +the lonely marble house, stern old Hugh Fraser Johnstone slept the sleep +that knows no waking. + +The Chandnee Chouk awoke to its busy daily chatter, and old +Shahjehanabad sought its pleasures languidly again, or bowed its +shoulders once more under the yoke of toil. + +The faithful sought the Jumna Musjid for morning prayer, and the +nonchalant British officials began to straggle into the vacant Hall of +the Peacock Throne. + +Far away, the Kootab Minar, rising three hundred feet in air, bore +its mute witness to the splendor of the vanished rulers of Delhi, the +peerless Ghori swordsmen of Khorassan. But, even as the soldiers of the +old Pathan fort had marched out into the shadowless night of death to +join Ghori and Baber and Nadir Shah, so the spirit of the lonely old +miser nabob had sought the echoless shore. + +When Simpson had unavailingly endeavored to awaken his master, the +locked doors were burst in at last by the anxious servants, and they +found only the tenantless shell of the mighty millionaire, as cold and +rigid as the iron pillar which veils to-day its mystery of a forgotten +past, when the jackals howl in the ruins of old Delhi. + +Then rose up a wild outcry, and the sound of hurrying feet. The alert +old veteran servitor, with instinctive military obedience, dispatched +two messengers, on the run, to notify General Willoughby and Major Alan +Hawke. And then, with quick wit, he forbade the gaping crowd to touch +even a single article. + +Not even the stiffened body, as it lay prone upon its face, was +disturbed. Simpson stood there, pistol in hand, on guard until properly +relieved, and as silent as a crouching rifleman on picket. The whole +room bore the evidence of a thorough ransacking, and the disordered +clothing of the nabob proved, too, that the body had been rifled. The +mysterious nocturnal visits returned to Simpson's mind. "Could it have +been some once-wronged woman?" he mused while waiting for his "military +superiors." For the simple old soldier scorned all civilian control. +His keen eye had caught the strange facts of the fastened windows, the +disappearance of the two mahogany boxes, and the startling absence of +the key of the chamber door. + +"Whoever did this job knew what they came for and when to come!" mused +Simpson. He gazed at the window sill. There was the mark of damp earth +still upon it. "Just as I fancied!" growled Simp-son. "They came in at +the window, and when their work was done, left by the door. There was +more than one murderer in this job!" And, then, certain old stories of +a mysterious Eurasian beauty returned to cloud the old man's judgment. +"Was it robbery, or vengeance?" he grumbled. "The black gang are +in this, but their secrets are safe forever! They are a close +corporation--these devils!" + +With certain ideas of an endangered life pension, and a sudden yearning +for the absent Hardwicke's counsel, stern old Simpson awaited the coming +of his betters. And, the ghastly news of Johnstone's "taking-off" flew +over Delhi to furnish a nine days' wonder. + +There was a great crowd gathered around the garden walls of the Marble +House, as an officer of the guard galloped up with a platoon of cavalry. +"The General will be here himself, soon! What's all this terrible +happening?" said the young officer, as he took post beside Simpson. "You +have done well!" the soldier said, on a brief report. "Let nothing be +touched. My guard will prevent any one leaving the grounds!" There was a +sullen apathy as regarded the unloved old egoist. + +Major Alan Hawke sprang to his feet, hastily, as the excited Club +Steward, forgetting all his decorum, banged loudly upon the staff +officer's bedroom door. The young man was still in the dress of night, +as the Steward excitedly exclaimed: "Here's a fearful deed! Hugh +Johnstone has been murdered in his bed, and--they've sent for you!" + +Alan Hawke was staggered. "Get me a horse, at once! I must report to the +General! When, where, how? Tell me all! Send off a man for the horse!" +And, as Hawke hastily donned his uniform, he heard the Hindu servant's +story. + +"Be off! Tell Simpson I go first to the General, and, then, I will come +over to the house!" + +As Major Hawke strode through the clubroom, a half-dozen half-dressed +clubmen seized upon him. He waved off their inquiries, as an orderly +dashed up to the door. + +"General Willoughby's compliments, Sir. You are to report to him +instantly at the Marble House! You can take my horse, Major! I'll bring +yours on." And so, lightly leaping into the saddle, the Major galloped +away, with an approving nod. "There'll be a devil of a racket over this +thing!" he reflected, as he dashed along. And he chuckled with glee at +his prudence in hiding away the dagger which he had picked up in the +garden. For, a moonlight-eyed Eurasian girl, hidden in a little cottage, +was the only human being in Delhi who knew of the hasty visit her secret +lover had made in the night. The jeweled dagger of Mirzah Shah was now +securely locked in a little chest where Alan Hawke kept a few articles +hidden away in the humble home of the passive plaything of his idle +hours. As he caught sight of the Marble House, with its gathered crowds, +he saw the gleam of musket barrels, as a company of foot were picketing +the vast garden inclosure, and forcing back the excited crowd. + +A non-commissioned officer swung open the heavy gates which would only +turn on their hinges once more for Hugh Johnstone going out on his last +journey. "The General awaits you, Major," said the sergeant, touching +his cap. "He has already asked for you." And as Hawke rode up to the +front door he was suddenly reminded of his imperiled interests. "The +drafts! They may be stopped now! By God! I must see Ram Lal! I need him +now and he needs me." + +With an unruffled professional calm, however, Major Hawke reported to +the visibly disturbed General commanding. + +With a single warning gesture of silence, General Willoughby drew the +Major aside. "I shall put you in entire charge here. I have seen all +the civil authorities. This is your affair. It touches your mission. The +Viceroy has been telegraphed, and you are to guard the whole property +here till we have his pleasure. Now come with me and let us question +Simpson. The rest are merely a lot of apes." + +And so Major Alan Hawke had ample time to arrange his private plan +of campaign as he guarded a respectful silence during Simpson's long +relation, for his thoughts were now far away with Berthe Louison, and +the lovely orphan, whose only confidante was his tender-hearted dupe +Justine Delande. But the acute adventurer's mind returned to fix itself +upon Ram Lal Singh, now blandly smiling in his jewel shop, where the +morning gossips babbled over Johnstone Sahib's tragic death. "I must +telegraph to Euphrosyne," thought the Major, "and to 9 Rue Berlioz, +Paris, for my will-o-the-wisp employer. But, Mr. Ram Lal Singh, you +shall pay me for what ruin Mirzah Shah's dagger has wrought!" + +The mantle of silence had fallen forever over the last night's rencontre +in the garden. With dreaming eyes Hawke mused: "It would never do to +tell any part of that story. What business had I there?" And, without +a tremor, he stood by the General's side as they gazed on the dead +millionaire's body still lying on the floor. + +"I will now send for the civil authorities, and you, Major Hawke, will +represent me in the investigation. Your military future hangs on this. +Remember, now, that the Viceroy looks to you alone! I will return here +after tiffin. I will have some personal instructions for you." And Alan +Hawke now saw the farther shore of his voyage of life gleaming out as +General Willoughby left him to confer with the arriving magistrates and +civil police. "I shall marry you, my veiled Rose of Delhi, and be master +here yet, in this Marble House, and, by God, I'll die a general, too!" +he swore, with which pleasing prophecy Major Alan Hawke calmly took up +the varied secret duties which joined a Viceroy's secret orders to the +will of the General commanding. + +"I am a devil for luck!" he mused as he gazed down on the old man's +shrunken and withered dead face. "I will do the honors alone for you, +my departed friend," he sneered, "for I am the master here now." The +absence of all articles of value, the disappearance of Johnstone's +three superb ruby shirt-studs, and his magnificent single diamond +cuff-buttons, told of the greed of the robbers, presumably familiar with +his personal ornaments, while the terrific stab in the back showed that +the heavy knife had been driven through the back up to its very hilt. + +"We must find the dagger!" pompously said the civil magistrate. +"Major Hawke, will you give orders to have the whole house and grounds +searched?" And with a faint smile the Major politely rose and set all +his myrmidons in motion. + +Even then the telegraph was clicking away a message to Johnstone's +lawyer and bankers in Calcutta, and to his young relative, Douglas +Fraser, of the great P. and O. steamship service. Before night the +crafty Calcutta lawyer had notified Professor Andrew Fraser, in the +far-away island of Jersey, and before Major Hawke himself received the +Viceroy's orders, through General Willoughby, Mademoiselle Euphrosyne +Delande, of Geneva, and the household at No. 9 Rue Berlioz, Paris, both +knew that the defiant old nabob had sailed the dark sea without a shore. + +Most of all surprised was Captain Anson Anstruther in London, who +pondered long at the United Service Club over an official message from +the Viceroy, telling him of the startling murder. The young gallant's +heart beat in a strange agitation as he examined the previous dispatches +of both Berthe Louison and the Viceroy. + +"She had no hand in it, thank God!" mused the young aide-de-camp. +"Perhaps he was paid off for some of his old Shylock transactions--some +local intrigue, or the jealous lover of some Eurasian beauty, dragged to +his lair, has finished all, and revenged the accumulated brutalities of +thirty years." + +There was a loud outcry of horror and surprise sweeping on now from the +social circles of Delhi to the clubs of Lucknow, Cawnpore, Allahabad, +Benares, and Patna to Calcutta. + +In a day or two, men from Lahore to Hyderabad, from Bombay to Nagpore +and Madras, and in all the clubs from Calcutta to Simla, had paused over +their brandy pawnee to murmur, "Well! The poor old beggar is gone, and +now he'll never get his Baronetcy! Some of the niggers did the trick +neatly for him at last. They must have got a jolly lot of loot!" + +In which general verdict the glittering-eyed Ram Lal, hidden in his +zenana, did not share. For, when he had rifled and destroyed the two +mahogany boxes he summed all up his pickings with baffled rage. "A +couple of thousand pounds of notes, a few scattered jewels, the sly old +dog has spirited away his vast stealings! My work was all in vain, save +the vengeance!" And the oily Ram Lal, in the zenana, drew a willing +beauty of Cashmere to his bosom, and hid his face from the chatterers of +street and shop. He was safe from all prying eyes in the Harem. + +But, while the triumphant English Mem-Sahibs, of Delhi, shuddered at the +bloody details of old Hugh Johnstone's taking off, they found abundant +reason to point a moral and adorn a tale. + +While the anxious Viceroy was busied at Calcutta, and General Willoughby +and Hawke were engrossed with the pompous funeral preparations at Delhi, +the ladies of the whole station unanimously condemned the departed. For +a cold and brutal foe of womanhood had died unhonored in their midst, +and none were left to mourn. + +With much pretentious wagging of shapely heads, and much mysterious +innuendo, they spoke lightly of the departed one, and failed not to +mentally unroof the Silver Bungalow. The baffled ladies scented a social +mystery! + +Wild rumors of splendid orgies, strange tales of a wronged woman's +vengeance, lurid romances of the flight of the French Countess with a +younger lover, after despoiling her aged admirer; all these things were +"put in commission" and vigorously circulated. + +The principal party interested in these slanders, was, however, now +calmly gliding on toward Aden, while the dead millionaire was alike +oblivious to the lovely daughter whom he had crushed as a bruised +flower, the haughty woman who had defied him in his wrath, and the +administration of the million sterling which was the golden monument +over his yawning grave! The silk-petticoat Council of Notables in Delhi +decided by a tidal-wave of womanly intuition, that the gallant and +debonnair Major Alan Hawke would marry "the lovely and accomplished +heiress," and so the white-bosomed beauties of the capital of Oude +turned again lazily to their respective sins of omission and commission, +and to the glitter of their respective booths in Vanity Fair! + +The club gossips waited in vain for the reappearance of Major Alan +Hawke, whose entire personal effects were bundled hastily away to the +marble house, where the adventurer now ruled pro tempore. It was late +in the night when Major Hawke had achieved all the preparations for the +funeral of the murdered man, upon the following day. Simpson and a squad +of non-commissioned officers watched where the flickering lights gleamed +down upon the dead nabob. + +Making his last rounds for the night, Major Hawke, with a soldier's +cynical calmness, enjoyed a cheroot upon the veranda, as he bade his +captain of the guard take charge until his return. The Major had most +carefully examined the five bills of exchange which now occupied his +attention, and his mind was now busied with the dead man's golden store. +He now contemplated a visit to a man whose conscience bothered him not, +but whose bosom quaked in fear when Hawke's letter, sent by a messenger, +bade Ram Lal await him at midnight. + +"Does he know?" gasped Ram Lal, with chattering teeth, and yet he dared +not fly. + +An early evening interview with General Willoughby had disclosed to the +Major the inconvenient fact that the dead nabob had left a carefully +drawn will, whereof Andrew Fraser, of St. Heliers, Jersey, and Douglas +Fraser, of Calcutta, were executors. "There is a duplicate will here in +the Bengal Bank," so telegraphed the solicitor, "and I have now notified +both the executors. I presume that Mr. Douglas Fraser will return here +at once, as he is absent in Europe on leave. It may be a week or more +until he receives the sad intelligence." + +Alan Hawke softly smiled at those touching words, "Sad intelligence." +It was only the perfunctory regret of the shark-like lawyer, and the +secretly rejoicing heirs. "This is not a case where the one who goes is +happier than the one that's left behind," mused Hawke. "I must settle +matters rapidly with Ram Lal, for if the will leaves the property to +Nadine, she must be mine at all costs! + +"Shall I not send a well-armed man with you, Major?" asked the Captain. +"It is very late!" + +"Thanks, Jordan," lightly said the Major. "I've a good revolver and my +service sword--a priceless old wootz steel tulwar. I'm good for a dozen +Pandies! I'm used to Thug--and Dacoit, to bandit and ruffian. I have a +little private business to attend to, and I'll come home in a trap!" + +By a strange chance, Major Alan Hawke, the distinguished favorite of +fortune, slunk along in byway and shadow till he reached the cottage, +where a lovely woman, flower wreathed, with child-like face and timid, +mournful eyes, anxiously awaited him. "I'll be back in two or three +hours," he carelessly said, as he tossed her a roll of rupees. Then, +with a long, slender package hidden in his bosom, he stole out after a +long circuit and entered Ram Lal's compound by the rear entrance, always +at his use. + +"It is just as well not to make any little mistake just now," mused +Hawke, as with cat-like tread he sped through the old jeweler's garden. +And the "prevention of mistakes" consisted in the heavy Adams revolver +which he carried slung around his neck and shoulder by a heavy cord, in +the handy Russian fashion. + +His left hand steadied the peculiar parcel which he had so carefully +hidden. An amused smile flitted over his face when old Ram Lal opened +the door of the snuggery, where Justine had first listened to a lover's +sighs. "Poor girl! I wish she were here to-night!" tenderly mused the +sentimental rascal, as he waved away Ram Lal's bidding to a splendid +little supper. + +"I came here to talk business, Ram, to-night" sternly said Hawke, who +had inwardly decided not to taste food or drink with the past master +of villainy. "He might give me a gentle push into the Styx," acutely +reflected the Major. "Sit down right there where I can see you," said +Hawke, his hand firmly grasping the revolver, as he indicated a corner +of the table, after satisfying himself that the shop door was locked. He +then quickly locked the garden door and pocketed both the keys. + +"What do you want of me?" murmured Ram Lal, who had noted the +semi-hostile tone, and who clearly saw the butt of the revolver. + +"I want to talk to you of this Johnstone matter," said the soldier, +ignoring all other reference to the "dear departed." This coolness +unsettled the wily jeweler, who trembled as Hawke laid a long red +pocketbook down on the table before him. + +The wily scoundrel shivered when the Major, with his left hand, pushed +over to him five sets of Bills of Exchange for a thousand pounds each. +Ram Lal's eyes dropped under the brave villain's steady gaze, and he +slowly read the first paper. He well knew the drawer's writing: + +DELHI, August 15, 1890. + +L 1,000. + +Thirty days after sight of this first of exchange (second and third +unpaid), pay to the order of Alan Hawke one thousand pounds sterling, +value received. + +HUGH FRASER JOHNSTONE. + +To Messrs. Glyn, Carr and Glyn, London. + +"What do you wish me to do, Sahib?" tremblingly faltered the old usurer, +as he carefully noted the fifteen papers. A sinking at the heart told +him that he was in the power of the one man in India whom he knew to be +as merciless as himself, for a kindred spirit had fled when the drawer +of the Bills of Exchange died alone in the dark, his bubbling shriek +stopped by his heart's blood. The Major sternly said in an icy voice, as +he fixed his eyes full on his victim: + +"I wish you to indorse, every one of those papers. I wish you to make +each one of them read five thousand pounds. You have done that trick +very neatly before, and to put the additional Crown duty stamps upon +them." Ram Lal had started up, but he sank back appalled as he looked +down the barrel of Hawke's revolver. + +"Keep silence or I'll put a ball through your shoulder, and then drag +you up to General Willoughby. He will hang you in chains if I say the +word." Alan Hawke was tiger-like now in his rapacity. + +"I will leave the first set with you, and you will now give me your +check on the Oriental Bank for five thousand pounds. The other drafts +you will have all ready for me to-morrow and bring them to me at the +Marble House." + +The jeweler groaned and swayed to and fro upon his seat in a mute agony. +"I cannot do it. I have not the money," he babbled. + +"You old lying wretch. You have screwed a quarter of a million pounds +out of Christian, Hindu, and Mohammedan here," mercilessly said the +torturer. + +"I will not! I cannot! I dare not!" cried Ram Lal, dropping on the floor +and trying to bow his head at Hawke's feet. + +"Get up! You old beast!" commanded Hawke. "By God! I'll shoot and +disable you now and then arrest you! Tell me! Do you know that dagger?" +With a quick motion, still covering the cowering wretch with his pistol, +Hawke drew out the package from his bosom, clumsily tearing off a silk +neck scarf-wrapper with his left hand. He laid down on the table the +blood-incrusted dagger of Mirzah Shah. The golden haft, the jeweled +fretwork and the broad blade were all covered with the life tide of the +great man whom no one mourned in Delhi. + +"Mercy! Mercy!" hoarsely whispered Ram Lal, with his hands clasped, as +in prayer. + +"I know whose it is!" pitilessly continued the tormentor. "You dropped +it, you fool, when you ran against me in the garden in your mad haste to +get away! One single rebellious word and I will march you to the nearest +guard post! Now, will you do what I wish?" + +"Anything, anything, Sahib!" begged the cowering wretch. "Put it away, +put it away!" + +"Now, quick!" said the Major. "First, give me the check! Then indorse +all these drafts right here in my presence. I will negotiate the others +myself. You can send on the first one through your bankers. Your name +on all of them will make them go without question." The alert adventurer +watched Ram's trembling fingers achieve the work. "Do not dare to leave +your own inclosure till you come directly to me to-morrow, when you +have altered all those drafts to read five thousand pounds each. I have +charge of the estate of the man whom you butchered like a dog. I have +a guard of two companies of soldiers, and you will be arrested as a +murderer if you attempt to leave, save to come directly to me with these +papers." + +Alan Hawke lit a cigar and then took a refreshing draught from a pocket +flask. + +"Now open your strong box and show me your jewels! I want some of them!" +The sobbing wretch at his feet demurred until the cold nozzle of the +pistol was pressed against his forehead. "I will make the English +bankers pay the other four bills; but, you brute, did you think that +I would let you off with a poor five thousand pounds? Harken! I go to +England in a week! Then you are safe forever! Bring out all your jewels! +You got fifty thousand pounds from the old man! I know it!" + +Begging and beseeching in vain, Ram Lal crawled to his great iron strong +box studded over with huge knobs, and, after a half an hour's critical +selection, Alan Hawke had concealed on his person four little bags, +in which he had made the shivering wretch place the choicest of his +treasures. + +"Call up your man now. Do not stir for an instant from my side! If the +drafts are not with me before sundown to-morrow, you will be hung in +chains, and the ravens will finish what the hangman leaves! Remember--my +boy! The rail and telegraph will cut off any little tricks of yours! +And," he laughed, "you will not run away; you have too much here to +leave. It would be a fat haul for the Crown authorities. I will keep +my eye on you, near or far. I will be with you always. We have our own +little secret, now!" + +"I will obey--only save me! Save me, Hawke Sahib. I will do all upon +my head, I will!" pleaded Ram Lal, whose vast fortune was indeed at the +mercy of the law. + +"Call up your servants. Get out the carriage. Go back to your women. +Make merry. You are perfectly safe, but only if you obey me!" was the +last mandate of the triumphant bravo. When he stepped out of the house, +attended by the frightened murderer, Alan Hawke whispered from the +carriage: "Your house is under a close watch--even now. Remember--I give +you till sundown, and if you fail, I will come with the guard! I shall +seal up the dagger and leave it here with a message to the General +Willoughby Sahib to be given to him, at once, by one who knows you! So, +I can trust you. Nothing must happen to your dear friend, you know!" he +smilingly said in adieu, as Ram Lal groaned in anguish. + +Alan Hawke had closely examined the vehicle, and he sat with his drawn +revolver ready as he drove down the still lit-up Chandnee Chouk. In a +storm of remorse and agony, the plundered jeweler was now doubly locked +up in his room. "I must do this devil's bidding!" he murmured. "Bowanee! +Bowanee! You have betrayed your servant!" was his cry as he sought the +safety of the Zenana. + +Major Hawke tasted all the sweets of a great secret triumph as he cast +up his accounts. "The five thousand pounds frightened from this +old wretch, Ram Lal, really squares me with the estate of the 'dear +departed.' The jewels are worth twice as much more, and, with Ram Lal's +indorsement all the other drafts on Glyn's bank are as good as gold. +There is twenty thousand clear profit. I will send them on now for +acceptance, openly, through the Credit Lyonnaise when I get to Paris. +For Berthe Louison will give me, also, a good character. Old Ram's +indorsements make them perfectly good anywhere. I had better hide the +details of this windfall, out here. And, now, thank Heaven, I am 'fixed +for life,' and I can go in boldly and play the Prince Charming to Miss +Moneybags, the fair Nadine." He tossed a double rupee to the driver, +as the sentry swung the gate, but, hastily called him back as Captain +Jordan said, hastening from the house: + +"Orders are waiting for you now, with the General. Let me give you a +trusty Sergeant. Drive right up there, Major. The General sent word that +he awaits you." And so the Major sped away to his chief. + +No human being in Delhi ever knew the purport of the orders which +General Willoughby handed to Major Hawke, on this eventful evening, but +much marveled all Delhi that the favorite of fortune was absent from the +funeral of the late Hugh Fraser Johnstone, Esq., of Delhi and Calcutta. +He had vanished, with no P.P.C. calls, and a hundred-pound note tossed +to the poor little Eurasian girl in the cottage was her whole fortune in +life now. + +But a grave-faced civilian public official, with Major Williamson, of +the Viceroy's general staff (a late arrival from Calcutta), ruled over +the marble house in place of Major Alan Hawke "absent upon special +duty." Only Ram Lal knew of the real destination of the lucky man, +who was only free from care when he had sailed from Bombay direct for +Brindisi, on the fleet steamer Ramchunder. + +"I am safe now," laughed Alan Hawke, who rejoiced in the easy tour of +duty before him. "To repair to London and to report to Captain Anson +Anstruther, A.D.C., for special duty." Such were the Viceroy's secret +orders. It was General Willoughby who had absolutely invoked secrecy. +"Wear a plain military undress, and you must avoid most men, and all +women. Keep your mouth shut and you may find your provisional rank +confirmed." + +To Berthe Louison's secret agents, the Grindlay Bank at Delhi, Major +Hawke had delivered a sealed envelope. "Use this only at your sorest +need. I will see Madame Louison probably before she has any orders for +me, as to her private affairs." When the envelope was opened the words +"Major Alan Hawke, Hotel Faucon, Lausanne, Switzerland," gave the only +address which the adventurer dared to leave. And it was that which the +cowering Ram Lal Singh copied when he brought to Alan Hawke the four +sets of altered Bills of Exchange, and the Bank of England notes for the +check of five thousand pounds. + +Major Hawke surveyed the skillfully raised Bills of Exchange and +carefully examined them in a dark room with a light, and also before the +glaring sun rays. "A splendid job, Ram Lal," he gayly said. "You must +have given them a coat of size and then moistened and ironed them." The +old rascal gloomily accepted the professional compliment. "I observe +that you have labored to protect your own indorsement," sportively +remarked the Major. + +"And now you will return to me my jewels?" timidly demanded Ram Lal. + +"Do you wish me to send the dagger of Mirzah Shah to General Willoughby? +It is deposited here, with a sealed letter," coldly sneered Hawke. +"Should anything happen to me or, to these drafts, it would be sent to +the General, and you would hang. No, I will keep the jewels." + +And then Major Hawke thrust the shivering wretch out, having liberally +paid to him, through Grindlay, the balance due by Berthe Louison. + +"I swear that I did not get a single jewel from--from him. He has hidden +them," pleaded Ram Lal. + +"Ah! I must look to this" mused Hawke, when Ram Lal had been frightened +away with a last stern injunction: + +"Obey my slightest wishes or you will hang! I will have you watched till +I return! There are eyes upon your path that never close in sleep!" Ram +Lal shuddered in silence. + +Delhi soon forgot the man whom the great stone now covered in the +English cemetery, and only General Willoughby and the easy-going civil +authorities knew of the cablegram: "Coming on with full power from +Senior Executor.--Douglas Fraser, Junior Executor." The cablegram was +dated from Milan, for two keen Scottish brains were now busied with +plans to save and care for the worldly gear so suddenly abandoned to +their care by Hugh Johnstone. Though Delhi was swept as with a besom, +no trace of the cowardly assassins was ever found, and only old Simpson, +waiting, in final charge as household major domo for Douglas Fraser's +arrival, could enlighten the perturbed commanding General with certain +vague suspicions. But Ram Lal slept now in a growing security. + +"It is clear that the master was watched in his secret preparations for +the voyage home," said Simpson, "and some outsiders, with the help of +some traitor among the blacks, paid off an old score. I could tell of +many an old enemy which he gained in these twenty years." sadly said +Simpson. "I feel they only mussed up the room to give an appearance of +robbery. The mahogany boxes were merely part of master's old wedding +outfit in London, and I know that they were only filled with toilet +articles and little medical stores. They only lugged them off to make a +show." + +And General Willoughby, following up Simpson's clues, easily discovered +a shady side of Johnstone's past life, not compatible with the pompous +panegyrics of the Indian press, the resolutions of a dozen clubs +and societies, the minutes of the Bank of Bengal, and other mortuary +literature of a complimentary nature. It was some old curse come down +upon the defenseless man in his old age! And so no one ever sought for +the solution of the mystery in the deep dejection of Ram Lal Singh, who +vainly mourned for his lost jewels and money. Fear tied his hands, and +his tongue was palsied by guilt. He vindictively, however, raised his +customary "rate of usance," and swore in his own hardened heart that the +needy borrowers of Delhi should recoup him fully before a year. The one +Star gleaming in the dark night of financial blackness was the vengeance +upon the man who had tricked and despoiled a fellow-robber thirty years +before. + +Major Hawke on his homeward way counted up a goodly store of twelve +thousand pounds in money, jewels of nearly the same value, and the +skillfully raised and properly indorsed drafts on London for twenty +thousand more. "If I can only get these passed by the executors I am a +made man for life," mused the Major as the Ramchunder sped over the blue +Arabian sea. "If I discover the secret of the stolen jewels, they must +yield, to save both family honor and money; if I don't, then, Ram Lal +must save his life and protect the drafts. I will negotiate them with +the Credit Lyonnais, in Paris, and force Berthe to help me. No one shall +rob me now," somewhat illogically mused the brilliant adventurer, proud +of his life-work. + +At Calcutta, the noble Viceroy had already given to Major Harry +Hardwicke and Capt. Eric Murray his orders for their performance of a +delicate duty. + +"You will find Captain Anstruther to be my personal as well as official +representative in London, and Her Majesty's service demands prudence in +this grave affair. So but one set of confidential cipher dispatches +have been sent on, and Captain Anstruther will have charge of the whole +delicate affair. Should either of you meet Major Alan Hawke in London, +or out of India, your commissions will depend on guarding an absolute +silence as to the whole Johnstone affair. You are trusted, and not +watched, gentlemen," said the great noble, "and he is watched, and not +trusted. Now, I have done all I can for you, as this duty takes you home +and brings you back at the expense of her Majesty's government. You will +not fail to communicate with me from Aden, Suez, and Port Said, as well +as Brindisi, and to report if Madame Louison has received at each place +her telegrams and proceeded on her journey in safety. Her Majesty's +consuls will, in each place, aid you in every way. Should I decide to +drop or quash the whole affair, my young kinsman, Anstruther, represents +me, personally as well as officially." + +And so the gay young bridegroom-to-be sailed from Calcutta +light-hearted, while Harry Hardwicke counted each day's reckoning as +bringing him, by leaps and bounds, nearer to the dark-eyed girl now left +alone in the world. "There shall nothing come between us now, my darling +one!" was the young Major's fond vow confided to the evening star, +glowing in its trembling silver radiance over the spicy Indian Ocean. + +Alixe Delavigne was still "Madame Berthe Louison" to the glittering +circle of passengers who envied her the state in which she traveled, the +slavish obeisance of the ship's officers, and the deft ministrations +of those admirable servants, Jules Victor and Marie. "A great personage +incognito," was the general verdict, and so the luckless swains hovering +around fell off one by one, as the beautiful woman seemed to be always +wrapped in an unbroken reverie. There was an anxious gleam in the lady's +eyes, for she felt that she was going home to the sternest battle of her +life, and she brooded now only upon the trials of the future. She never +knew how near the dark angel's wing had swooped over her own defenseless +head. + +For the gray head now lying low had been secretly busied with plans for +a huge bribe to Ram Lal which should buy him to the doing of a dark deed +without a name. Only Berthe's determined attack on the granting of the +baronetcy in London, and her own "lightning disappearance" had saved +her from Ram Lal's cupidity. Master of the secrets of a dozen Eastern +poisons, the artful confederate of her dark retinue in the silver +bungalow, Ram Lal would have gladly worked Hugh Johnstone's will for his +red gold. But the fierce quarrel and the precipitate flight of Berthe +Louison had balked Johnstone, who fell by the very hand of the sly +wretch whom he had designed to buy, as the murderer of another. The +engineer hoist by his own petard. But, steadfastly looking to Valerie's +child alone, she knew not the dangers which she had escaped. + +"I was afraid they would kill you, Madame. Thank God, we are now safe at +sea!" said Jules Victor. + +"Who?" cried the startled woman. + +"Why, that old wretch; he had money, and his spies were all around you," +said Jules. + +"Yes! Thank God! We are safe now!" mused Berthe Louison, and she bade a +long adieu to the strange scenes of her pilgrimage. "I shall never +see India again!" she reflected, when she passed, in a mental review, +Calcutta, holy Benares, smoky Patna, brisk Allahabad, Cawnpore, where +the white-winged angel broods over the innocent dead, heroic Lucknow, +and crime-haunted Delhi--all these rose up in a weird panorama of the +mind. Strange tales of wild adventure told by Alan Hawke returned to her +now--the mysteries of Thibet, the weird ferocity of Bhotan, the quaint +tales of the polyandrous Todas, and the strange story of Vijaynagar, the +desecrated city whose streets are peopled but ten days in the year! A +lotos land where crime broods, where the cobra hides under the painted +blossoms of Death! + +Glittering palaces of Agra, gloomy caves of Elephanta, the light and +lovely Mohammedan architecture, the dark haunts of Kali and Bowanee, +the thronged Ghats of the sacred rivers, the color medleys of the vast +cities, all these busied her as she passed her days alone in study over +the secretly gathered up collection of polychrome views which had taken +her from the Neilgherries to Cape Comorin. Her dreams of all her subtle +plans to counteract all of Johnstone's schemes, her tender intrigues to +silently entrap Nadine Johnstone's girlish heart, her carefully plotted +line of future action, all of these things vanished in a moment, at +Aden, when a government launch steamed out, and an officer of the vessel +led up Her Majesty's Consul to address the mysterious lady passenger. + +There was a rush of volunteers when the woman, always brave in sorrow +and ever fate defying, fainted away in a deathly trance as her eyes +eagerly scanned the brief dispatch of the Viceroy. They were underway +again when she realized the fearful decrees of a merciless fate! She +read with a shudder, the lines again and again, whispering: "Can it be?" + +"Hugh Johnstone murdered by persons--unknown at Delhi? Hasten on to +London. Anstruther will have full details. Please acknowledge!" + +And it was half an hour before the beautiful Nemesis who had clouded +Hugh Johnstone's life had penned her simple answer. Only at night, on +the voyage afterward, did she ever leave her splendid staterooms, +and when Brindisi was reached she vanished with her loyal servants so +quickly that even the veriest fortune hunter could not follow on her +trail. "Some terrible row--some sad family happening," was the general +smoking-room verdict! But, with a heart strangely yearning to the +orphaned child, Berthe Louison hastened, without stopping, by Venice to +lovely Munich and on to gay Paris. "She shall be mine now--mine to love, +to cherish, my poor darling!" vowed the woman whose eyes shown out in an +infinite pity! The cup of vengeance was dashed away from her lips for, +behind the arras, the waiting headsman of Fate had struck in the night +and laid low the man who would have compassed her death! + +Madame Alixe Delavigne was only a gracious memory to the sympathetic men +passengers who hastened on to London via Mont Cenis, but the chattering +gossips of the Rue Berlioz noted, with an eager Gallic curiosity, the +return of the mysterious occupant of No. 9. Jules Victor and his wife +were seen, however, for only one day, busied about their usual household +avocations, and then the returning travelers vanished once more to +baffle the chatterers. "Diantre! Comme ils sont des voyageurs!" cried +the coachman who took the wanderers to the Gare St. Lazare. There +was need of haste now, for Madame Louison had received three foreign +dispatches, besides a letter from Captain Anstruther, now waiting +impatiently at London, and chafing over his unsuccessful queries +at Morley's Hotel. The gallant Captain's letter was pregnant with +governmental mysteries, and yet the beautiful woman sighed as she +saw the vein of personal interest but too clearly evident in the long +communication. A single glance at her tell-tale mirror reassured her, +and she blushed, as she murmured: + +"He believes me younger than I am!" But her brow was grave as she +revolved the situation. "There will be a long struggle, a fight of love +against craft and and greed! Who will win?" The fact that the Government +Secret Service had already traced the delivery of the heavily insured +shipment, "ex. Str. Lord Roberts," to Professor Andrew Fraser, was +a first victory for the enemy! "If the old nabob wrote directly via +Brindisi to his brother, then the acute old Scotch Professor may be +on his guard now! And--the will?--the will? What does it provide for +Nadine's future? If he had already taken the alarm-then I may have yet +to fight my way to my darling's side! The black curtain of the past +shall never be lifted by my hand unless--unless Andrew Fraser forces +me to strike hard at his dead brother's paper card house of honorable +deeds!" + +As Madame Louison watched the rich moonlight silvering the broken +wake of the channel steamer, she pondered over the telegrams. "Major +Hardwicke and Alan Hawke are both en route to London, charged with +different missions. And I am to beware of Hawke. They have only sent him +away, perhaps, to veil the official game of the Indian authorities. And +Alan Hawke truthfully warns me of his coming by private dispatch. Is he +trying to regain his lost status? Douglas Fraser, the second executor, +on his way back to India. He has passed Brindisi already. Ah! The +sorrows for the dead are quickly assuaged when the 'property interests' +furnish a fat picking to solicitors and the holders of dead men's gear. + +"Nadine is only eighteen--she has three years to remain under legal +tutelage. Perhaps Andrew Fraser may have been already coached upon his +course by his unrelenting kinsman. And there is a fortune waiting for +father and son in the perquisites." Madame Louison fell asleep in a vain +quandary as to the precise age when men ceased to value wealth and to +sell their souls for gold. That question was still undecided when the +steamer Sparrow Hawk sped into Dover harbor. + +The beautiful wanderer was now clearly resolved as to her future +treatment of Alan Hawke. "My foe dead, the theater of war is transferred +to Great Britain. He is not necessary to my own campaign, but, in +watching him, I may be able to shield Nadine from his crafty plots. If +he should try to secretly make friends with the Frasers, and to return +to India, to aid the nephew, he might assist in robbing Valerie's child +of this mountain of miserably gotten wealth. + +"Thank God, I can make her rich. But Captain Anstruther will know the +Viceroy's whole mind, and I can trust to him." But her cheeks were rosy +red and her dancing dark eyes dropped in a sudden confusion, as the +handsome aid-de-camp leaped aboard the steamer at Dover Pier. + +"I did not expect you!" she murmured. + +"I knew, of course, from your dispatch when you would arrive, and so +I came down to further the Viceroy's business!" the soldier said in a +sudden confusion. In an hour, the two who had met in such strange manner +at Geneva were seated alone in a first-class compartment, and were +merrily whirling on to Lud's town. Captain Anstruther's ten shillings to +the guard secured them from annoying intrusion. In another compartment, +Jules and Marie Victor sagely exchanged their lightning glances of +Parisian acuteness. + +"C'est un homme magnifique!" murmured Marie, and Jules gravely nodded, +"Peut-etre, notre maitresse l'a connu longtemps. II est tres tendre!" +The staff-officer "furthered the Viceroy's business" by clasping both +of Alixe Delavigne's prettily-gloved hands. Her bosom heaved in a soft +alarm, but she repulsed him not. + +"Why did you deceive me at Geneva?" he eagerly demanded, with a +trembling voice. And Alixe Delavigne's eyes were downcast and dreamy, as +she whispered: + +"Because I was only a poor pilgrim of Love--a lonely woman, heart hungry +for the tidings of the girl whom you have brought back to me!" The young +officer gazed out of the window, and in his heart, he already pardoned +her. + +"To those who love much, much shall be forgiven!" he reflected, with a +compassion growing momentarily, for he saw the shadow of tears in the +beautiful dark brown eyes. And he forbore to question her as he gazed at +her glowing face. + +With a sudden lifting of her stately head, the woman sitting there, her +heart throbbing in a strange unrest, laid her hand lightly upon his arm. + +"Listen to the strange story of a woman's life!" she said slowly. "I +promised His Excellency, the Viceroy, that you should know why I left +the defensive lines of my sex at Geneva! For he has trusted to me, and +I wish you to know--to know that--" and the sentence was never finished, +for Captain Anstruther bent over her trembling hands. + +"I know that you are what I would have you ever be!" he simply said. +And, with softly shining eyes, she told the soldier of her strange life +path. + +It was strange that they had neared London before the whole story was +concluded, and their voices had sunk into softened whispers. "You may +rely upon me to the death! You may depend upon me whenever you may +wish to call upon me!" he said, as the train rolled into Charing Cross +station. "Major Hardwicke, of the Engineers, will be my chosen ally, and +I alone am to trace out this mystery of the vanished jewels. You shall +conquer! I will aid you! Amor omnia vincit! You are the only heart in +the world now throbbing for that sweet girl." + +But when they drove to Morley's Hotel, far away on the sea, Harry +Hardwicke's heart was beating fondly in all a lover's expectancy for the +same friendless Rose of Delhi, and the debonnair Alan Hawke, in sight of +Brindisi, mused in his deck-pacings: "I will placate Euphrosyne Delande. +Justine, too, shall do my bidding, and my employer shall give me the key +to this girl's heart. For I will marry Nadme Johnstone! I am a devil for +luck." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. ON THE CLIFFS OF JERSEY. + + + +Captain Anson Anstruther, A. D. C., was the very happiest of men three +days later, when he watched Madame Alixe Delavigne gracefully presiding +over a pretty tea table, a la russe, in the quaint old mansion, bowered +in a garden sloping down to the Thames, where Miss Mildred Anstruther, a +venerable maiden aunt, had her "local habitation and, a name!" A lonely +woman of colossal wealth and blue blood, high in rank, and decidedly of +riper years. + +"By Jove! Dear old Aunt Mildred is a tower of strength to me, just now," +reflected the gallant Captain, when, as the soft shadows deepened +on lawn and river, he lingered tenderly there in explanation of his +official business. It was hardly "official" that Anson Anstruther had +fallen into the habit of furtively addressing the now unveiled Madame +Berthe Louison, as "Alixe", but it was even so. Acquaintance can ripen +as rapidly on the Thames as by the Arno, given a certain impetus. And +the Pilgrim of Love, though still Madame Berthe Louison in France, was +Alixe Delavigne in the retreat chosen by the Viceroy. + +"Pazienza! Pazienza!" smiled the young soldier, as the impassioned Alixe +eagerly demanded to be allowed to approach the orphaned Nadine, at +St. Heliers. "You have been so noble, so untiring, do not ruin all by +precipitancy now! You see I am already secretly watching over her. I now +represent the whole interests of Her Majesty's Service! And you--only +your own loving heart! I must first meet Major Alan Hawke, and send him +away to be busied on some apparently important duty, which will keep +him away from old Andrew Fraser. We know the old professor's cunning +character. Miser and pedant, he is but a shriveled parchment edition +of his heartless, dead brother. We must not alarm him. We have already +traced the insured packet to his hands. Now, he properly has the custody +of the dead nabob's will. He may soon have to bring the girl on to +London, for the legal formalities of proving it. We do not wish him to +send the stolen jewels away in a sudden fright, and so hide them from us +forever. If he qualifies duly as executor, and then files the will, then +the estate is responsible, through him. + +"We will soon know who controls your niece for the three years of her +long minority. Hawke must be got out of the way. I will hoodwink him, +and every British Consul in the continental towns which he visits will +secretly watch him for me. Besides, Major Hardwicke and Murray will +be here very soon, to aid me, and to watch Hawke. I wish Alan Hawke +to blunder around, hunting for Major Hardwicke, and so give me an +opportunity to do my duty secretly, and to aid you in your own labor +of love. In the mean time--you must be content to rest tranquilly here; +cultivate my dear old aunt, and I will come to you daily so that your +quiet life in this 'moated grange' will be brightened up a bit. You +see," thoughtfully said Anstruther, "whoever sent old Johnstone to his +grave, he had previously spirited the heiress away--all his plans for +the future were perfectly matured with all the craft of a man well +versed in intrigue for forty years. His bitter hatred of you did not die +with him. You may be assured that he has laid out a plan, both in his +private letters and in the will to fence you forever out of this girl's +life. So your work must be done in secret. If I can ever effectively +help you, I must work on Andrew Fraser and not needlessly alarm both his +greed and fear. As soon as it is safe, you shall take up your post near +to her; but Hawke must come and go first. He must find no sign of +your presence here." There was cogency in the sentimental soldier's +reasoning. + +"He will surely come to my Paris home at No. 9 Rue Berlioz. He knows +that address!" murmured Alixe Delavigne, her eyes dropping in a sudden +confusion, as a flame of jealousy lit up the young soldier's fiery +glances. For Anson Anstruther had posted there on his first voyage from +Geneva to find the bird flown. + +"Then you may keep Marie, your maid, here," slowly replied Anstruther, +"and send Jules over to Paris. Alan Hawke will surely seek for you +there. Let Jules inform him that you have gone to Jitomir to attend to +your Russian interests." + +Alixe Delavigne bowed her head in a mute assent. Day by day the proud +self-reliant woman was yielding to the imperious will of the young +soldier. It was a soft, self-deception that reassured her on the very +evening when he left her. + +But there was one now weaving his webs at Lausanne whose fertile +brain was busied with sly schemes of his own. Alan Hawke always first +considered "his duty to himself" and so the acute Major decided to spy +out the land before he precipitately appeared at London, or dared to +risk himself at St. Agnes Road, St. Heliers. + +"It is just as well to know all that Justine can tell me before I see +this young dandy Anstruther, and to find out what Euphrosyne knows +before I interrogate her sister," he murmured; "I must make no mistake +with the Viceroy's kinsman!" + +With much prevision he had telegraphed the date of his probable arrival +in London to Captain Anstruther from Munich, adding that convenient +fairy tale, "Delayed by illness" and he had also left this telegram +behind, so as to be sent on to allow him four days leeway near Geneva. + +The signature bore also an injunction to answer to Hotel Binda, Paris. +"This is no little card game," muttered Hawke. "It is for rank, wealth, +and the hand of Miss Million, the rose of Delhi." + +Alan Hawke was practically received with open arms by the +fluttering-hearted Euphrosyne, who nobly resigned herself to Justine's +victory over Alan Hawke's heart. For the younger sister's letters had +filled the elder's mind with rosy dreams of enhanced family prosperity. + +"Only this telegram. That is all!" murmured the preceptress, as she +handed the Major a dispatch dated at St. Heliers, stating, "Arrived, +well, news of Mr. Johnstone's assassination just received. Will write!" + +"This is all I know of this strange homecoming, as yet!" summed up the +child of Minerva. + +Hawke softly delved into Mademoiselle Euphrosyne's inner consciousness +until he knew all the corners of the simple woman's heart. + +"I am quite sure that she speaks the simple truth!" he decided, after +he had informed the Swiss woman of his address, "Hotel Binda, Paris." +"I must go on there by the night train," he at once resolved. "Here is +a juncture where all our various interests are deeply involved. You +and Justine may lose the well-earned reward of years. I must be near +Justine, now, to protect you both. I fear this old mummy Fraser! If he +controls the fortune, then he and his hopeful son will probably steal +half of it. Thats a fair allowance for an ordinary executor! It is all +for one, and, one for all, now! Write under seal to Justine that I am +near--only do not mention names!" With an affected tenderness, Hawke +kissed the pallid lips of the daughter of Minerva, and slipped away to +Lausanne, whence he took the midnight train for Paris. + +"I might look around and dispose of my jewels in Paris," he thought as +he neared that "gay and festive city." But his serious business with +the Credit Lyonnais as to the negotiation of the four "raised" bills +of exchange, and his desire to at once come to terms with Madame Berthe +Louison, caused him to postpone the vending of the jewels so neatly +extorted from Ram Lal. + +"I have lots of ready money now--too much, even, for safety in travel, +and the jewels will keep." With a strange anxious craving to see his +fair employer he drove directly to No. 9 Rue Berlioz on his arrival in +Paris. The impassive face of Jules Victor met his gaze at the door. + +"Madame, suddenly summoned to Poland, had begged Monsieur le Major to +address her by letter, as telegrams were most unreliable in Russian +Poland. Monsieur would, however, surely find letters at his London +address, and it was true that Madame had not expected Monsieur's arrival +for a fortnight." + +"I don't believe a damned word of this fellow's yarn. There is some +sly juggling here!" ejaculated the Major as he drove back to the Hotel +Binda. His brow was black as he descended, and it grew blacker still +when he read a telegram from Euphrosyne Delande. He studied over the +unwelcome news while he made a careful business toilet to visit the +Credit Lyonnais. And a white rage shone out upon his handsome face as he +learned that Justine was useless to him now. "Discharged without even a +reward! Thrust out like a beggar without a word of warning." "Justine on +her way home. Passed through Paris last night. Can you not return?" +The signature "Euphrosyne" was a guaranty of the unwelcome truth. Major +Hawke swore a deep and bitter oath as he penned a telegram to the Swiss +preceptress: "Coming to-night. Arrive to-morrow at ten o'clock. Keep +all secret." And he boldly signed the name "Alan Hawke" to that and to a +message to Captain Anson Anstruther: "Delayed four days here by private +business." + +He raged as he hastily soliloquized: "I will at once present these +drafts regularly through the Credit Lyonnais. I will go and get the +whole story from Justine. I will pay off that tiger cat, Madame Louison, +for her sneaking away. She fancies she has done with me now! Ah! By God! +She thinks so? Wait! And this old Scotch saw-file! I'll break him up! If +I can only trace those stolen jewels to him, I'll have them or send +the old miser off in irons to a life transportation! I begin to see the +whole game at last! And I swear that I'll get to the girl if I have to +carry her off!" + +He went down to the Credit Lyonnais in an elegant "mufti" garb, and +depositing a thousand pounds sterling to his credit, left the four +drafts for five thousand pounds each for collection, carelessly +referring to Messrs. Grindlay & Co., of Delhi, London, and many other +places, and mentioning the name of that eminent private native banker, +money-lender, and jeweler, the well-known Ram Lal Singh. "He shall back +his indorsement!" laughed Alan Hawke. + +With a lordly insouciance, Major Alan Hawke then strolled out of the +great bank and deliberately arranged his line of future action while he +was taking his ease at his inn. + +"First, to pick up all the threads of this queer intrigue through +Justine. I must go back to her at Geneva. Then, to be sure that Berthe +Louison is not repeating her cunning Delhi tricks with the dead man's +brother. She might frighten him. Then, armed at all points, I must +hasten on to report to Anstruther. I must have him give me a short leave +as soon as I can get it, but before I open my siege trenches I must +develop all the enemy's strength. What the devil is Berthe Louison up to +now?" + +In the night train, speeding back to Geneva, Major Hawke remembered +some old desperate associates of an enforced "social eclipse" at +Granville-sur-Mer. "With a half a dozen resolute fellows I might hang +around Jersey and, perhaps, force my way into the stronghold. It depends +on where the mansion is located. If the jewels are there, I will either +have them or else bend the old man to my will by threatened disclosures. +But I must first fool Anstruther and my pretty employer. If Justine had +only remained at Jersey I might have easily won my way to the girl's +side. And yet she will be under a long three years guardianship." Some +busy devil at his side whispered: "She would be helpless if she were +carried off." And as the enraged schemer finished the last of a dozen +cigars and took a pull at his pocket flask, he disposed himself to +sleep, grumbling. + +"They have upset all the chessmen. Old Fraser and the Louison, too, are +playing at cross purposes--evidently. They have, however, spoiled my +little game. I will spoil theirs!" He grinned as he decided "I will do +a bit of the Romeo act with Justine, and come back by Granville to +Boulogne. If the old gang is to be found there, I may get one of them +to spy the whole thing out. All these Jersey people are half French in +their birth and ways. I can sneak some fellow in from Granville. There +might be a chance. I'll get to the old fellow, or the girl, or the +jewels--by God! I will! For I hold the trump cards." + +And yet his flattering hopes of gaining a permanent rank returned to +affright him in planning such a bold deed. "Ah! I must get some trusty +fellow--perhaps, in London," he muttered as his head dropped, and the +train bore him on to the halls of learning, where poor Justine was now +weeping on her sister's bosom, and unveiling all the secrets of a hungry +heart to the sympathetic Euphrosyne. + +But, saddest of all the coterie who had trodden the tessellated floors +of the marble house at Delhi, was a lonely girl sobbing herself to +sleep, that very night, in a gray castellated mansion house perched upon +a sunny cliff of Jersey. + +The fair gardens and splendid halls of the luxurious home seemed but +the limits of a cheerless prison to the broken-hearted girl who had +been astounded when her one friend, Douglas Fraser, the companion of a +thirty-five days' journey, left her without a word. Nadine Johnstone had +opened her heart, shyly, to her manly young kinsman, Douglas Fraser. +And yet she guarded, as only a maiden's heart can, the secret of the +blossoming love for Hardwicke--the man who had saved her life. She asked +her hungry heart if he would follow on her way, led by the appeal of her +shining eyes. + +Worn, harassed, and wearied out by travel, she had sought a refuge in +Justine Delande's clinging arms, on the night of their arrival from +Boulogne, for the path from India had been but a series of shadow-dance +glimpses of strange scenes. The ashen face of the tottering old pedant +had offered her no welcome to a happy home. + +"How hideously like my father, this old bookworm," murmured the +frightened girl in a strange repulsion, as she fled away to her room. It +was a grateful relief when the servant maid announced that the travelers +would be served in their rooms. + +"The Master lives entirely alone," the girl said shortly. Late that +first night the lonely girl sat gazing at the windows rattling under +the flying wrack, while Douglas Fraser and his father communed below her +until the midnight hour. Suddenly Justine Delande was summoned to join +them "on urgent business," and the heiress of a million sat with clasped +hands, murmuring: + +"Will he ever find me out here? This is only a cheerless prison. I am, +forever, lost to the world." There was that in Justine Delande's face on +her return which startled the heart-sick wanderer. + +"Ask me nothing--nothing to-night. Only sleep, my darling," murmured the +devoted Swiss. The shadows deepened over Nadine Johnstone as she fell +asleep dreaming of her mother, the gentle vision, and, the absent lover +of her girlish heart. + +Sunny gleams came with the dawn, and Nadine was already wandering in the +beautiful gardens of "The Banker's Folly," as the home perched on the +hill was termed. It was there that Douglas Fraser suddenly came upon +her, walking with the white-faced Justine. Both women could see that +he bore tidings of grave import, and another shadow settled on Nadine's +heart, as she clasped Justine's hand. + +Her cousin's face was grave as he said, in a broken voice: "I +must hasten away instantly to catch the boat, and I have to return +immediately to India. There's no time for a word. My father will tell +you all! It is a matter of life and death to our whole family interests. +May God keep you, Nadine!" the young man kindly said, as he bent and +kissed her hand. "I have tried to make your long journey bearable!" And +then, a wrinkled face at a window appeared to end the coming disclosure, +for Douglas was softening. A harsh voice rose up in a half shriek: + +"Douglas! Douglas!" and the young man turned back, without another word, +springing away, over the graveled walks. Nadine's face grew ashen white, +as the presage of coming disaster chilled her heart. + +Without a word, Justine Delande led the startled girl into the house. +"You are to see your uncle at once! After our breakfast! And I will be +with you." faltered Justine, with an averted face. + +The orphaned girl was now dimly conscious of some impending blow. She +had been frightened at the solemnity of Douglas Fraser's hasty farewell, +and, while Justine Delande affected to touch the breakfast spread +in their rooms by the Swiss lady's maid, now gloomy in an attack of +heimweh, Nadine saw a four-wheeler rattle away over the lawn, while +old Andrew Fraser grimly watched it until the gates clanged behind the +departing Anglo-Indian. Over the low wall, on the road, Douglas Fraser +caught a last glimpse of the graceful girl standing there. He sadly +waved an adieu, and Nadine Johnstone was left with but one friend in +the world, save the silent Swiss governess. Though the two women were +sumptuously lodged "in fair upper chambers," opening east and south, +with their maid near at hand, the gloomy chill of the silent household +had already penetrated the lonely girl's heart. No single sign of the +warmer amenities. Only books, books, dusty books, by the thousand, piled +helter-skelter in every available nook and cranny. + +The servants were slouching and sullen, and they moved about their +duties with gloomy brows. Even the gardener and his two stout boys +struck sadly away with mattock and spade as if digging graves. No chirp +of bird, no baying of a friendly dog, no burst of childish merriment +broke the droning silence. And this was the home to which a father had +doomed his only child. + +When the frightened maid tapped at the door to summon her mistress, her +feeble rapping sounded like a hammer falling sadly on the hollow coffin +lid. The girl stammered, "The master would like to see you both in the +library." And with a sinking heart Nadine Fraser Johnstone descended the +stair. + +She had only cast a frightened glimpse at the yellowed, bony face, +the cavernous eye sockets, the bushy eyebrows, beneath which a cold +intellectual gleam still feebly flickered. Andrew Fraser had bent his +tall form over her, and peering down at her had whispered after their +few words of greeting: + +"Did ye gain aught in knowledge of Thibet in your Indian life? My life +work lies there, and Hugh has sorely disappointed me. He was to send me +books and maps and papers for my 'History of Thibet and the Wanderings +of the Ten Tribes.'" With a confused negation the girl had fled away +to the cheerless shelter of the great rooms whose drab and gray +arrangements bespoke the Reformatory or a Refuge for the Friendless. + +And the stern old scholar waited for the fluttering bird whom adverse +Fate had driven into his dismal lair with all the pompous severity of a +guardian and trustee. + +Seated at a long desk littered with a multitude of papers, Professor +Andrew Fraser coldly bowed the two women to convenient seats. The +parvenu banker who had fled away after a bankruptcy due to the erection +and embellishment of "The Folly," had approved a semi-medieval plan of +construction which suggested a Norman stronghold or a Corsican mansion +arranged for a stubborn defense. Books, globes, maps, and papers +littered the floors, and were piled nearby in convenient heaps with +tell-tale flying signals of copious note taking. It was a bristling +Redoubt of Learning. + +But on this sunny morning the retired Professor of Edinburg University +held sundry letters, dispatches, and legal papers clutched in his +claw-like hands. His eye rested upon Justine Delande, in a semi-hostile +glare, as he slowly said: + +"I've sent for ye, as in the place of your father's daughter, ye must +know of the changes that come to us, with the chances of Life and the +sair ways o' the world." He was nervously fumbling with a selection of +the papers and he paused and coughed ominously. "There has come to us +news which has posted my son Douglas hastily back to India, to do your +father's last bidding." + +Nadine Johnstone's trembling hand clutched Justine Delande's still +rounded arm. + +"Her father the double of this grim ogre?" There was horror in her +conjecture, but no pang of affection at the easily divined disclosure. +"The news came to us suddenly, yesterday, and Douglas and I are left now +to screen ye from the robbers and cormorants of the world! Ye're one of +the richest women in Britain now--Hugh Fraser's daughter--for yere guid +father is no more! A sudden death--a sudden death! and his will leaves +you to me as a legal charge, for yere body and yere estate, till ye come +o' the legal age. T'hafs the next three years!" + +With a single glance of stern deprecation, Andrew Fraser saw the girl +totter and her head fall upon the bosom of the woman who had "sorrowed +of her sorrows" in all the years of the lonely colorless infancy, +childhood, and budding womanhood! The old bookworm clung to the papers +as if that "documentary evidence" was an absolute guaranty, and he +held it ready to proffer in support of his theorem. His toughened +heart-strings were silent at natural affection's touch, and only twanged +to the never-dying greed for gold--useless gold! + +In an unmoved wonder, the senile scholar listened to the broken sobs +of the child of Valerie Delavigne. He was astounded at her financial +carelessness, when she moaned: + +"Let me go away! Let me go!" and then she cried, "What care I for all +this money--this useless wealth. He is gone! I am now alone in the +world! And--and, now I never will know the story of the past!" There was +a stony gleam on the old Scotchman's face as the girl sobbed, "Mother! +Mother! Lost to me forever, now." The cunning old Scotchman's face +darkened at the mention of that long-forbidden name. The woman who had +deserted the rich nabob. + +With uneasy, tottering steps the old scholar paced the room, watching +the two women in a grim silence, until Justine Delande, with a woman's +questioning eyes, pointed to the rooms above. + +"Before ye go, and I'll now give ye these whole papers and documents, I +would say that my dead brother Hugh has here in his will laid out yere +whole life for the three years of the minority. He has put on me the +thankless labor and care of watching over yere worldly gear, and of +keeping ye safely to the lines of prudence and of a just economy. And +my duty to my dead brother, I will do just as his own words and hand and +seal lay it down! To-morrow I will have much to say to you. If ye will +come back to me here, Madame Delande, when my ward goes to her own room, +I'll see ye at once on a brief matter o' business. And now I'll wait +till ye take her away!" It was a half hour before Justine Delande +descended to the rooms where the old egoist chafed at the loss of time +stolen from the maundering researches on Thibet and the Ten Tribes. + +"Woman! woman! I sent up for ye twice!" he barked, as the half-defiant +Swiss governess at length joined him. + +"I know my duty to my dear child, Nadine!" said the stout-hearted +governess, with a crimsoning cheek. The old man opened a check-book, and +sternly said: + +"Sit ye there! I'll arrange yere business in a few minutes! And, then, +ye can find other duties, and know them as ye care to. I'll have none of +yere hoity-toity airs here!" Regardless of the look of horror stealing +over the face of Justine, the old man coldly proceeded as if receding +from the pulpit. "My late brother, Hugh Fraser Johnstone, of Delhi and +Calcutta, has sent me his own last instructions and orders. I have here +the last receipt for the stipend which ye have been allowed--and, I'm +duly following his orders, when I give ye this check for the six months +that has yet too to run. + +"And-look ye here! A twenty-pound note to take ye back to Geneva! When +ye sign this receipt for the stipend, ye are free to leave my house at +once. There's some letters and a couple of telegrams for ye! Bring me +the maid, now, and I'll pay her in the same way; and, moreover, I will +give her ten pounds to take her home. Then, ye'll both remember ye +are not to sleep another night here! I'll give ye the whole day to say +good-bye and to make up yere boxes. There will be two four-wheelers here +after yere dinner, and ye'll find the Royal Victoria Hotel suited to ye +both, at St. Heliers. If ye choose to go, the morning boat takes ye to +Granville. Bring the maid here now! Do you linger, woman? I'll be obeyed +and forthwith!" + +With flashing eyes, Justine Delande sprang up, facing the flinty-hearted +old Scotsman. "I will never abandon Nadine here! She will die in your +cheerless prison!" she cried. But the old pedant glowered pitilessly at +the startled woman, who cried: "To turn me away like a dog--after these +many years!" And her sobs woke the echoes of the vaulted room. + +"Hearken, my leddy!" barked old Fraser, "One more word, and I'll have +the gardener put ye off the premises! The girl ye speak of is young and +strong. She'll have just what the Court gives her, and what her father +laid out for her, and I'll work my will, and I'll do his will. Ye're +speaking to no fule, here now! Take yere money and yere letters, and +bring me the maid, or I'll bundle ye both in a jiffey into the Queen's +highway. I'll have none but my own servants here--now!" + +Then Justine Delande, without another word, stepped forward, and, +seizing the pen, signed her receipt for wages due, in silence. She +defiantly gathered up her withheld letters and papers. She returned in +a few moments with the maid, whose ox-like eyes glowed in the sudden joy +of a return to Switzerland. For the ranz des vaches was now ringing in +the stout peasant girl's ears. "There, that's all, now!" rasped the old +man, when the maid had gathered up her dole. "The butler will go down to +town with ye and see ye safe, and he will leave word at the bank to pay +yere checks. I keep no siller here. It's a lonely house." And the dead +tyrant worked his will through the living one, as his stony heart had +laid out the future. + +Justine Delande faced the old miser pedant as she indignantly cried: +"God protect and keep the poor orphan who has drifted out of one hell on +earth into another! Your dead brother robbed her of a mother's love, and +you--you old vampire--you would bury her alive! She shall know yet her +dead mother's love, and--her brutal father's shame!" + +Before the excited woman could select another period of flowing +invective from her thronging emotions, the gaunt old scholar had pushed +her out into the hall and slid a bolt upon his door, with a vicious +click. There were certain qualms of fear already unsettling his +triumphant calmness. + +While Justine Delande, with flaming cheeks, sprang up the stair, and +barricaded herself with the sobbing heiress, the old man, his eyes +gleaming with all the conscious pride of tyranny, seated himself and +indited a note directed to + +PROFESSOR ALARIC HOBBS, (of Waukesha University, U. S. A.), ROYAL +VICTORIA HOTEL, ST. HELIERS, JERSEY. + +He had already dismissed from his mind the sorrows of the orphaned +niece--he cared not for the spirited onslaught of the Swiss woman--and +he rejoiced in his heart at the fact of Douglas Fraser's departure to +gather up the loose ends of his dead brother's great fortune. "It's a +vixenish baggage--this Swiss teacher! Hugh was right to bid me cut those +cords at once and forever between them! The girl shall have discipline, +and, that baggage, her mother, is well out of the world! I'll work +Hugh's will! She shall come under!" With a secret glee he ran over a +schedule of chapter headings upon Thibet, Tibet, Tubet--the land of +Bod--Bodyul or Alassa. He was drifting back into the dreamland of the +pedant, but a few hours deserted. + +"This Yankee fellow has a keen wit! His ideas on the Ten Tribes are +wonderful! His life has been a study of the Mongolians, the Tartars, +and the history of the American Indians! I will be a bit decent to the +fellow, and I'll get at the meat of his knowledge! He's young and a +great chatterer, maybe, but a help to me. Body o' me! But to get there +myself--to Thibet. + +"Ah!" sighed the old misanthrope, "I'm too old now! And Hugh has failed +me! Nothing from him. This sair blow cuts off the last hope! And no +educated men of Thibet ever travel! Blindness--blindness everywhere!" +he babbled on, while above him, two women, in an agonized leave-taking, +were silently sobbing in each other's arms, while the happy Swiss +servant made her boxes. Nadine Johnstone's utter wretchedness gave her +no sense of a loss by the hand of Death. For a father's love she had +never known, and her mother--a mystery! + +The two women cowering together above the old pedant's den with +sorrowing hearts communed while Justine Delande directed the packing +of her slender belongings. There was a new spirit of revolt stirring in +Nadine Johnstone's breast, and her face glowed with the resentment of an +outraged heart. When all was ready for Justine's flitting, the heiress +of a million pounds finished a little memorandum, which she calmly +explained to the Swiss preceptress. The sense of her future rights +stirred her like a bugle blast, and with clear eyes, she looked beyond +the three years toward Freedom. + +"It rests with you, Justine, as to whether I am left friendless for +three years of a gloomy captivity. First you are to telegraph to Major +Harry Hardwicke, Royal Engineers, Delhi, and if you receive no reply, +then telegraph to General Willoughby for the Major's address. When at +Granville, and, not before, send this letter to Major Hardwicke at the +'Junior United Service Club, London'." The beautiful girl was blushing +rosy red as the sympathetic Swiss folded her to her breast. "Then, when +you get to Paris, go to No. 9 Rue Berlioz, and leave this letter there +for Madame Berthe Louison. Go yourself. Trust no one. When you have +conferred with dear Euphrosyne, you can send all your letters to Madame +Louison at Paris under cover. She will find out a safe way to get +them to me--even if she has to send her man, Jules, over here. He is +quick-witted, and he will find a way to reach me." + +There was a dawning wonder in Justine's eyes. + +"Who is this strange Madame Louison? Can you trust her?" + +"Ah! Justine!" murmured Nadine, "She is only one who loves me, for +love's own sake, but I know I can trust her. She knows something of my +mother's past life--something that I do not know. This old tyrant +will now try to cut me off from all the outside world. He has had some +strange power given to him by the father who was only my father in name. + +"I will obey you. I swear it!" cried Justine. "And old Simpson will +probably be coming on soon. He loves you. He will serve you." + +"Yes," joyously exclaimed Nadine, with a glowing face. "And he adores +Major Hardwicke, whose father saved his life at Lucknow. There is one +dawning hope. You are not to write one word till you hear from me. I +know that Madame Louison will manage to send Jules to me in some safe +disguise," she proudly cried, "and remember--I shall not be always a +poor prisoner with her hands tied. The day of my deliverance comes. When +I am twenty-one, I can reward both you and Euphrosyne. She shall have a +home to live in ease. And you,--you shall go out into the world with me, +and aid me to find my mother. Even in the tomb I shall find her. I +shall know of her love. For I shall see her loving face, even only in a +picture. The face that has blessed me in my dreams." + +Justine Delande saw a future reward awaiting the two faithful guardians +of the childhood of Miss Million. With a sudden impulse, she cried: +"There is one to aid even nearer to us now than Major Hardwicke. For I +have a telegram from Euphrosyne, that Major Hawke is at Geneva." + +Nadine Johnstone rose and seized both of Justine's hands: "Promise +me now, by my dead mother's grave, that you will never tell that man +anything of our secret compact of to-day! I fear him! I disliked him +from the first! He had strange dealings with the dead." The girl's face +was stern. "If I am approached by him in any way, I will cease every +communication with you forever! I will have no aid of Alan Hawke." + +And when the parting hour came, Justine Delande was amazed at the cold +dignity with which Nadine Johnstone faced the grim old uncle. It was +only at the gate of the "Banker's Folly," that the heiress for the last +time kissed her friend in adieu. "Fear not for me. I have learned the +lesson of Life. Remember!" she whispered. "Keep the faith! Guard my +trusts!" and then, Justine sobbed: "Loyal a la mort!" + +The evening shades were darkening the sculptured shores of Rozel Bay, +where clumsy luggers lay far below, high and dry on the beach, behind +the great masonry pier. Skiffs and fishing-boats lined the shores, and +the soft breeze moved the foliage of the luxuriant garden. The white +stars were peeping out and twinkling in the gray and lonely sea, as +Nadine shivered and walked firmly back to the portico, where the old +recluse awaited her. + +With a stiff motion of perfunctory courtesy, he motioned the heiress +into the frosty-looking drawing-room, now lit up with spectral gleams of +wax candles. For he would treat his ward with a frozen dignity. + +Andrew Fraser coughed in a hollow warning and wasted no words in his +first bulletin of "General Orders." "I have here a certified copy of +your late father's will," he said, "for your perusal. You will see all +the conditions of life which he has wisely laid down for you. I have +telegraphed on to London for his solicitor to send a representative +here, and the original testament will be duly filed at Doctors' Commons, +at once. I shall at once provide you with suitable women attendants. +I have already engaged a proper housekeeper, to whom you can state all +your wishes. With regard to money matters and your correspondence, you +must consult me! For the present, you will readily see that I deem it +imprudent for you to leave these spacious and splendid grounds! But, +ye'll find ways to busy yourself. Women always do!" + +The old pedant marveled at the young woman's composure, for she simply +bowed and awaited a termination of the interview. Slightly disconcerted, +he abruptly demanded: "Have you anything to say?" + +"Only this, Andrew Fraser," coldly replied the heiress. "Your sending +away the only woman whom I know in the world has marked you as a tyrant +and a jailer." Her spirit was as unyielding as his own, and he winced. + +"Ye'll find I had your father's warrant. I'll go on to the end and obey +him! There are to be no old associations kept up, and when ye come to +your own ye can do all ye will! I'll go my way in my duty and do it +as it seems right!" When he finished he was alone, for the daughter of +Valerie Delavigne had passed him with a glance of unutterable contempt. + +There was fire in the eye of the rebellious girl, and the elastic +firmness of youth in her tread, but above stairs, in her own lonely +rooms, her courage faded away quickly. But she wrapped her sorrows in +her own proud young heart and turned her eyes to the far East. "Will he +come?" she murmured. + +When the clumsy island serving girl had trimmed the fire and drawn the +heavy curtains, Nadine Johnstone locked her doors. She sat spellbound, +with a wildly beating heart, until she had read the last of the sixteen +provisions of her father's vindictive will. Though the whole fortune +was left absolutely to her, with the exception of twenty-five +thousand pounds each to Andrew Fraser and his son, she was tied up by +restrictions so infamously brutal, that her three years of minority +stretched out before her as a death in life. Five hundred pounds a year +of pin money were allowed to her until her majority, "to be expended +with the approval of her guardian." + +In an agony of lonely sorrow she threw herself, dressed, upon her bed +and sobbed herself into forgetfulness, her last cry for help mingling +the names of Berthe Louison and Harry Hardwicke. "Will Justine be true +to her oath?" she faltered, as she drifted into the blessed release of +dreamland. + +As the night wore on, Justine Delande, tossing on her bed in the Royal +Victoria Hotel, waited for the dawn, to sail for Granville. She had +telegraphed in curt words her dismissal, and she burned to reach Geneva, +for to her the sight of Alan Hawke's face was the one oasis in her +desert of sorrow. + +Long after Nadine Johnstone had closed her tired eyelids, stern old +Andrew Fraser cowered below, glowering over his library fire, clad in +a huge plaid dressing gown. His greedy eyes watched the dancing flames, +and he rubbed the thin palms in triumph, while he sipped his nightly +glass of Highland whisky grog. It had been a famous secret campaign for +the surviving brother. + +"If all goes on well; all goes well!" he crooned. "There's Douglas, gone +for good! The boy is young and soft-like. He might fall into this pert +minx's hands as young Douglas with Queen Mary of old. And, thank God, +he knows nothing of the packet of jewels! Not a soul knows in the wide +world! Why should I not save them for myself and turn them into gold? +Yes, save them for myself. For the boy? But he never must know! Ah! I +must hide them well! This stubborn girl knows nothing! That is right! +Janet Fairbarn will be here in two days, and I'll have another man to +keep watch; yes, and a good dog, too! For the gallants must never cross +my wall!" + +"He! He! She'll no fule with Janet Fairbarn," he gloated, "and the will +gives me every power. I must find a place of safety for the jewels," he +mused. "I'm glad that I burned Hughie's letter, as he told me. There's +nothing now to show for them. The bank would not be safe. Never must +they go out of my hands. And, I can write a sealed letter for Douglas, +to be opened by him alone, if I should be called away. I can put it in +the bank, and take a receipt and send the boy the receipt. But, no +human being must know that I have them." He tottered away to his sleep +murmuring, "But safer still, to turn them into yellow gold. There's a +deal of them. I must find out in time how to dispose of them, but never +till the lass above is gone and my accounts all discharged." And the +old miser, who had already robbed his dead brother, slept softly in love +with his own exceeding cunning. + +Of all the loungers on the wind-swept wharf at Granville-sur-Mer next +day, decidedly the most natty was Jules Victor, who was now awaiting the +return of the little St. Helier's packet, to engage a special cabin +for himself, with all a Gaul's horror of the stormy passage. He sprang +forward, in a genuine surprise, as Mademoiselle Justine Delande, aided +by the stout Swiss maid, tottered over the gangplank. "Madame is ill, a +la bonne heure! Let me conduct you to the Hotel Croix d'Or, where Madame +Louison is even now awaiting the Paris train." The ex-zouave was a +miracle of politeness and, he proudly conducted Justine to a waiting +fiacre, having deftly reserved himself the choice of staterooms. With +the skill of his artful kind, Jules hastened upstairs at the Hotel Croix +d'Or, to announce to his mistress the lucky find of a windy afternoon on +Granville quay. + +That night, when Justine Delande reached Paris, she was assured in her +heart that her own future fortunes were safe, and that her sister would +surely be the recipient of Nadine Johnstone's future bounty. For Madame +Berthe Louison, ever armed against possible treachery, announced her own +instant departure for Poland. "But, I leave Jules in charge in Paris, +and he will find the way to deliver your letters to your young friend." + +When Justine Delande was safely escorted to the train by the smiling +Madame Berthe Louison, she proceeded to register a packet for London, +addressed to "Major Harry Hardwicke." + +That young officer's heart was light, three days later, when he received +the letter of Nadine which Madame Louison had cajoled easily from the +Swiss woman. And the happy Major's heart was no lighter than Nadine's +for the watchful Janet Fairbarn, now on duty, with her selected +subordinates, wondered to see the pale-faced girl laugh merrily as she +chatted over the garden wall with a strolling French peddler. "I may +trade at the gate, may I not, Miss Janet," said Nadine, "or is that +one of the crimes?" But Jules Victor had brought her a new life. She +whispered, "He will come!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. AN ASIATIC LION IN HIDING. + + + +Madame Alixe Delavigne sat alone in her snug apartment of the Hotel +Croix d'Or, at Granville-sur-Mer, four days after Justine Delande had +been driven forth from the Banker's Folly! The perusal of a long letter +from Jules Victor was interrupted by the arrival of a telegram from that +rising young soldier, Captain Anson Anstruther. It needed but a single +glance to call the resolute woman to action. + +Smartly ringing the bell, she ordered the maid, her bill, and a voiture +to convey her to the Boulogne station. "So, Hardwicke and Captain Murray +are safely in London! Major Hawke is at Geneva, and I am to hide +at Rosebank Villa until he has reported and been sent away on his +continental tour of the great jewel dealers!" + +With flying fingers the lady soon penned a letter addressed to "Monsieur +Alois Vautier, Marchand-en-petit, Hotel Bellevue, St. Aubin, Jersey." +"He can telegraph to me at Richmond, and one of us will soon be on +the ground to aid him! Now, 'the longest way round is the nearest +way home!'" laughed the ci-devant Madame Louison, as she departed for +Boulogne, an hour later, having carefully mailed her letter personally, +and sent a brief telegram to the active Jules Victor. + +The ex-Zouave had easily made the rounds of the pretty islet of Jersey, +in his capacity of merchant of small wares, long before Alixe Delavigne, +braving the stormy channel, had proceeded from Folkestone directly to +Richmond, and hidden herself in the leafy bowers of Rosebank Villa. +Smiling, gay and debonnair with all the women servants, he had a pinch +of snuff, a cigar of fair quality, or a pipe full of tabac for coachman +and groom, supplemented with many a petit verre from his capacious +flask. His Gallic gallantry, with the gift of a trinket or ribbon, made +him welcome with simple milk-maid or pert house "slavey," and the dapper +little Frenchman was already an established favorite in the wine-room of +the Hotel Bellevue. + +His greatest triumph, however, was the secret demonstration of the +cheapness of Jersey prices to the London sewing woman and smart lady's +maid, now chafing under Janet Fairbarn's iron rule at the "Banker's +Folly." "Nom de pipe! But I have to make shameful rabaissements de +prix," muttered Jules, as he adroitly worked upon the susceptibilities +of the two new maid servants. While one or the other of these women +always accompanied Miss Nadine Johnstone in her daily wanderings through +the splendid gardens of the Folly, the merry voice of Jules Victor was +often heard by them singing on his way down the road. The gift of a +famous brule gueule had propitiated the simple Jersey gardener, whose +stout boy rejoiced in a new leather jacket, almost a gift, and the +second man, Andrew Fraser's reinforcement, a famous drinker, was soon +a nightly companion of "Alois Vautier" at the one little "public," down +under the scarped hill at Rizel Bay. + +Andrew Fraser, closeted with the London lawyer, had almost forgotten the +existence of Nadine Johnstone. + +A formal interview as to the filing of her father's will, a mere mute +exhibition of perfunctory courtesy, released Nadine to her own devices, +while Professor Andrew Fraser returned to his afternoon studies with +that famous young Yankee savant, Professor Alaric Hobbs, of Waukesha +University. + +The beautiful captive was now happy in dissembling her contentment, for, +though the sharp-featured Scotch housekeeper, Janet Fairbarn, keenly +watched all her outgoings, sending always one of the women as an +"outside guard," the heiress had learned some of woman's secret arts +quickly. The peddler, Alois Vautier, brought to her letters and messages +which made her lonely heart light, even in her stately semi-durance. And +the epistles of Major Harry Hardwicke left her with a heart trembling in +delight after their perusal. + +And so it fell out that four days after Alixe Delavigne had returned to +Rosebank Villa, that a packet of important letters was smuggled past the +droning Professor's picket line, one of which caused Nadine Johnstone to +hide her tell-tale blushes in her room. + +"To-morrow I will come by, to deliver some little purchases of the +maids! Have your answers all ready. I will be here at ten, at the garden +gate!" Long after the Yankee Professor had left the "Folly" for St. +Heliers that night, the lonely girl bent her beautiful head over the +pages, destined to safely reach her lover's eyes in fair London town. +And to Berthe Louison, she now poured out her loving heart, for she knew +that her protecting friends would soon be near her. + +"We are waiting, watching, and planning," wrote Alixe Delavigne. "Be +cheerful--silent--watchful! I must be near you, I must see you, face to +face, to tell you all the story of the past! I will then tell you, my +own darling child, of the mother whom you have never known. But, first, +Major Hardwicke must open a way to your side! Beware of the schemes of +Alan Hawke! He will be here to-morrow, and he may steal over to Jersey, +though his duty takes him for a month to the Continent! You will surely +see Major Hardwicke before you see me for Andrew Fraser might take alarm +at a sight of my face and so hide you away from us all!" + +Miss Mildred Anstruther was a delicate symphony in gray, as she +gracefully presided the next evening over the dinner table at which +Alixe Delavigne, Captain Anstruther, Major Hardwicke, and Captain +Murray merrily discussed the sudden hastening of Captain Eric Murray's +nuptials. Hardwicke's duty as "best man" was now the only bar to the +beginning of a campaign destined to foil Andrew Fraser's Loch Leven +tactics of imprisoning his niece and ward. + +"You will have but a brief honeymoon, Eric!" laughed Hardwicke. + +"You have promised to stand by me, Harry," replied his friend. "See me +married to-morrow, then a week's honeymoon at Jersey is all that I ask! +I can bestow my wife there with a dear friend, who has the prettiest old +Norman chateau-maison on the island, and after that be near you there at +Rozel Bay to work up the final discomfiture of this old vampire. I +only claim the attendance of the whole party at my wedding, then I will +disappear and spy out the ground for you long before you are ready to +astonish the dreamy old bookworm. I have made my own plans, and Flossie +has agreed to our runaway trip 'in the interests of the service'! She +is a soldier's daughter, remember!" Miss Mildred, wreathed in her soft +laces, shimmering in her gray poplin, and bending her stately head in +salutation, extended a delicate hand, loaded down with quaint old Indian +rings, to each, when the coffee was served. + +"I will leave you now to the hatching of your famous conspiracy for the +invasion of the Island of Jersey." The old gentlewoman passed smilingly +through the door where the three knightly soldiers stood bowing low, and +then the four conspirators sat down to arrange the dramatis persona of a +little society play in "High Life," in which Professor Andrew Fraser was +destined to be the central figure, and act without "lines" or rehearsal. + +The "leading lady" was at the present moment dreaming of a golden future +in her own rooms at the "Banker's Folly." Nadine Johnstone had been +allowed to make her apartments as bright and cheery as her buoyant +nature suggested. + +For Andrew Fraser, after much discussion with Janet Fairbarn, had +convoyed the heiress to St. Heliers for a day. The resources of all the +local furnishers were taxed by the young prisoner's taste, and, the old +executor, unbending a little, grimly vaunted his "dangerous liberality." +"I'll be bail for the expenditure of five hundred pounds, as an extra +allowance," he said. "Now make yourself snug here, for ye'll bide here +the whole three years! As to the bookmen, music, and libraries, I'll +give ye a free hand. + +"The yearly allowance of yere lamented father will cover all yere +dealings with mantua-makers and milliners. That is yere own affair--all +that sort of womanly gear. We will make one day of it, and if ye are +lacking aught, then Miss Janet can bring ye to town, or the dealers can +come." It was, thus self-deluded, that Andrew Fraser noted the coming +cheerfulness of his defiant young charge. He fancied he had provided +every wish of her lonely heart. But the trailing lines of smoke of +the daily Southampton packets only spoke to Nadine of a growing +correspondence with Major Harry Hardwicke, Royal Engineers. She waited +now for Simpson's arrival for news of the Delhi mystery--the death of +the unloving parent, who had been only her jailer. + +At Rosebank Villa, Major Hardwicke was busied with Captain Murray, while +Anstruther drew Alixe Delavigne aside. "Listen to all Murray proposes, +and agree to it. You may be astonished at our plans, but between you and +I, alone, lies the deeper secret. My secret orders from the Viceroy +are for your ear alone. Your life-quest to reach Nadine's side can +only be taken up after Murray and Hardwicke have finished their little +masquerade at the 'Banker's Folly.' Let this secret be ours, alone! Do +you promise me, Alixe? I will aid you, heart, life, and soul!" And, +with her eyes softly shining in a growing tenderness, Alixe Delavigne +murmured: "I trust you in all things! It shall be as you wish." + +Captain Anstruther then led the way to the library, and closing the +doors with the minute attention of a true conspirator, cried: "Murray, +we will hear from you first!" Seated, with her lips parted in an +expectant smile, Alixe Delavigne listened in amazement as "Red Eric" +proceeded. + +"I got the little idea from Frank Halton, of the Globe. You may +know that he was out at the Khyber Pass seven years ago, as the war +correspondent of the Telegraph, and he ran over Cabul at the time of the +Penj-Deh incident. He has prepared a series of varied skits and personal +items covering the visit incognito of Prince Djiddin, a Thibetan noble +of ancient and shadowy lineage. This 'Asiatic Lion' will be duly kept +in the shadows of a mysterious seclusion in the Four Kingdoms until we +introduce him to a small section of the British public. + +"The Globe, the Indian Mail, the Mirror, the Colonial Gazette, and other +periodicals will darkly hint at his itinerary, and he will be paraded +judiciously, and no vulgar eye must ever rest upon him. These items will +be widely copied. A graceful, social phantom, a Veiled, mysterious young +potentate is Prince Djiddin!" "The humbug will be easily discovered!" +said Anstruther, still at sea. + +"Not if you flung your protecting mantle over him!" cried Murray. "We +will shield him by a protecting Moonshee, who alone speaks his august +master's language, a tongue not to be easily translated; in fact, +perfectly proof against all prying outsiders. The one way to hoodwink +old Fraser is to humbug him about the great work on Thibet. That is the +one soft spot in the hide of this old alligator. We have gone carefully +over the reports of your secret agent at St. Heliers. Make us square +with him, Captain, let him have your orders to aid us, and he can get us +first hooked on to this Yankee Professor Alaric Hobbs! We will jolly him +a bit, and so, get an interview with old Fraser, and then fool the old +chap to the top of his bent. We will supply him with theories enough to +set every bee in his bonnet buzzing. Your man is already 'solid' +with Professor Alaric Hobbs, who is a quaint genius, and withal, a +hard-headed Yankee, but full of cranks and 'isms.'" + +Anson Anstruther exchanged doubtful glances with Alixe Delavigne, who +was still very agnostic. "The real object is to spy out the interior +of Fraser's household without alarming him, and to locate his hidden +treasure, and, moreover, to open a safe, personal communication with +Nadine Johnstone. Letters and messages finally go astray. And, at the +very first sign of danger, old Andrew would clear out to the Continent, +shut up the girl, get rid of that insured package, and cut all future +communications! In the long three years, the girl might die, be +estranged from you, or perhaps fall into the hands of some foreign +fortune hunter. Human nature--woman nature--is a mutable quantity. But +once we are in communication we can provide for future correspondence in +any event. + +"And you, Anstruther, would be defeated in recovering the hidden +property of the Crown. Moreover, these two Frasers are the only +heirs-at-law. + +"Who knows what might not be done for a million, when a beggarly fifty +pounds will buy a death certificate in many a little continental town?" +They were all gravely silent as Murray soberly clinched his argument. +"It is idle not to believe that old Hugh Fraser Johnstone laid out his +brother's whole future course! He certainly has trusted him with his +stealings, the lost crown jewels! He trusts his child's whole future to +the care of these two cold Scotsmen, and gives the heiress over to old +Andrew, to keep her safe from Madame," Murray bowed, "his only living +enemy, and from all the other relatives of his long-hated dead wife. +From your own disclosures and Madame's own words, we must all fear +that her first appearance would be the signal for the spiriting away of +Nadine until the minority is at an end. And it might invite some secret +crime. She bears the hated face of her dead mother, you say!" + +"True," murmured Anstruther. "My solicitor tells me, too, that a +guardianship by will is the very strongest tying-up of a rich young +ward. We can follow on later, perhaps, if this opening could be +made, but where have we a 'Prince Djiddin,' and where, the wonderful +'Moonshee?'" + +"There is Prince Djiddin," laughed Captain Murray, pointing to Major +Harry Hardwicke, "and here is the Moonshee," he tapped his own broad +breast. + +"I fail to understand you," slowly replied Anstruther, now blankly +gazing at the two men in a growing wonderment. + +"Nothing easier," briskly answered Murray. "I go quietly over to Jersey +and spend a honeymoon week with Flossie. She is soldier enough to +know that my little masquerade means full 'duty pay and traveling +allowances.' I will hide her safely with my Jersey friends, and while +Frank Halton works his secret Literary Bureau, I will steal over to +Southampton and bring 'Prince Djiddin' over to St. Heliers. I will see +that he naturally falls in with Prof. Alaric Hobbs, and then, 'fond +of seclusion,' I will embower my 'Asiatic Lion' not a league from the +'Banker's Folly.' I will be near my Flossie, and I propose to bring +'Prince Djiddin' soon face to face with the heiress. + +"As the Prince speaks not a word of English, even old Fraser will be +disarmed. Neither Hobbs, Alaric of that ilk, nor Fraser have ever been +in India, and we can easily fool them. Neither of us have ever been +in Jersey, and fortunately our figures, age, and complexions aid the +makeup. I can do the Moonshee. It was my 'star' cast in many a garrison +theatrical show. Remember, none of them have ever seen Hardwicke or +myself--only Miss Nadine will know us." + +"But," faltered Alixe Delavigne, "Captain Murray makes no provision +for me. Must I be hidden here always?" Her voice was trembling with the +surging love of her longing heart. + +"Ah! dear Madame!" replied Murray. "Place aux dames. You can be later +quietly escorted to St. Heliers. Old bookworm Fraser does not leave the +'Folly' once in six months. You shall, on to-morrow, arrange with Mrs. +Flossie Murray to share 'those days of absence' with her, while I am +playing the 'Moonshee' to 'Prince Djiddin's' leading part. With your own +sly man-of-all-work, then how easy for the acute Jules Victor to +lead you into the extensive grounds, where you may often meet Nadine +Johnstone when all is safe. He has the friendly entree, and can hoodwink +the attendants of the garden, while your own ingenuity will enable +you to have stolen interviews in the splendid rambles of the 'Banker's +Folly.' Old Andrew never quits his study, and all we have to do is to +watch Miss Janet Fairbarn. Jules Victor can guard against a surprise by +her." + +"It is an ingenious plan, but, a dangerous one," mused Anstruther. + +"Not so," boldly replied Murray. "Remember that old Fraser is crazy on +his bookwork. Hobbs is his only male visitor. He has not a relative, +a friend--no one to watch on the outside while we hold the old chap at +bay. Miss Janet watches in the house." Anstruther had been carefully +studying the two men's faces. "'Prince Djiddin' will be all right, with +a little makeup, using walnut juice and a proper costume. His Indian +brown is quite the thing. But you, my boy, must be an Eurasian, the son +of a high English official and a native woman of rank. You were carried +away to Thibet by your beautiful Cashmere mother when she was abandoned. +The usual sad story will go. She, driven out by her family, refuges +finally in Hlassa, and your English was, of course, learned before +the death of your father, when you were eighteen. Your usefulness as +interpreter caused you to attach yourself to 'Prince Djiddin's' noble +family. + +"Yes," said Hardwicke. "A couple of days spent in the British Museum, +and with your fertile imagination, Eric, you will be enabled to describe +the mysterious, lonely city on the Dzangstu, and even the gilded temples +of Mount Botala. You can easily book up all about the Dalai Lama. Make a +voyage a la Tom Moore to Cashmere!" + +"Right you are!" laughed Eric Murray. "Frank Halton stole into the town +of Hlassa and he now offers to me his sketchbooks and private notebooks. +Foreigners from the south have occasionally been allowed to go into +Thibet since the Nepauese were driven out, but only very rarely. I will +have all the rig and quaint outlandish gear that Halton brought away. So +you see we are the 'Ever Victorious Army.' Yes. Prince Djiddin will be +a go." And the others were fain to agree in the plausibility of the +scheme. + +It was midnight when the quartette separated to meet at the quiet +wedding of the morrow. Alixe Delavigne had finally approved the plan, +when Anson Anstruther drew her away to confer upon the risk. "You see," +he pleaded, "Murray will never even speak to Miss Johnstone. All that +pleasing task is left to Prince Djiddin, who can and will, of course, +choose any unguarded moment. Captain Murray will hold old Fraser +personally in limbo, while you and Prince Djiddin can meet the pretty +captive in alternation. At any danger signal, the Prince and Moonshee +can quit Jersey at once." Then the lightning thought came to the lady: +"She already loves him! It must be so! He is the only young officer who +was ever allowed to enter the Marble House in that long year of golden +bondage. It shall be so! I can trust to him for her sake, if he loves +her for Love's own sake. I can remain near Nadine then, even if they +have to disappear, for Jules will keep the pathway open." And yet, +shamefaced in her own growing tenderness for her mentor, Anstruther, she +took these wise counsels away to hide them in her own happy heart. "It +will make us then, Captain Murray," she said, as she extended her hand +in good night, "a little circle of five, gathered around this motherless +and fatherless girl to save her from the secret schemes of tyrant and +fortune hunter." + +"Precisely so, Madame," laughed Murray, "when I have sworn in my +beautiful recruit to-morrow. Then we will be five in very truth." There +was a flying early morning visit to Hunt and Roskell's on the morrow, +which greatly astonished Captain Anstruther, who had escorted Madame +Alixe Delavigne down on her way to the pretty chapel at Kew, where +Captain Murray duly "swore in his beautiful recruit," with bell, book, +and candle. The parure of diamonds which the lady of Jitomir gave to +Mrs. Flossie Murray caused even the eyes of "The Moonshee" to open in +wonder at the little campaign breakfast of the leaders of this Crusade +of Love. "Only suited to the wife of Prince Djiddin's High Chamberlain," +laughed Alixe Delavigne, as the happy Captain departed on his honeymoon +tour, escaping showers of rice, to "move upon the enemy's works in +Jersey." + +"Thank God that I have got that sharp-eyed Hawke safely out of town," +cried Captain Anstruther to his beautiful confidante, as they escorted +Miss Mildred back to beautiful Rosebank. The "lass o' Richmond Hill" was +no fairer than the happy woman who had seen Major Hardwicke depart for +a long conference with that all powerful sprite of the magic pen, Frank +Halton, who was now busied in launching his creation, Prince Djiddin. +"A single word at the 'F. O.' will legalize our useful myth, 'Prince +Djiddin,' and I hope that Hardwicke and Murray will succeed. They can +surely lose nothing by the attempt. I am known to be the Viceroy's +aide-de-camp 'on leave,' a near kinsman, and I am sure that old Fraser +would take alarm at the first visit or written communication from me. +Once startled, he would soon be off to hide the jewels on the Continent, +and then only laugh at our efforts. Of course he will swear that the +insured packet only contained family papers or some of the estate's +securities. Yes! Alan Hawke is the only man whom I fear now as to the +safety of either the girl or the jewels. He seems to have had many old +dealings with Hugh Johnstone, too!" They were silent as they threaded +the beautiful Surrey garden lanes of the old burgh of Sheen. Loved by +the bluff Harrys of the English throne, its beauties sung by poet and +deputed by artist, the charming declivities of Richmond gained a new +name from Henry VII, and its bosky shades once saw a kingly Edward, a +Henry, and a mighty Elizabeth drop the scepter of Great Britain from the +palsied hand of Death. Its little parish church to-day hides the ashes +of the pensive pastoral poet Thomson, and the bones of the great actor +Kean. But, Anstruther's active mind was only dwelling in the present, as +Miss Mildred nodded in the carriage. He saw again the simple wedding +of the morning, and heard once more those touching words "I, Eric, take +thee, Florence." Then his eyes sought the face of Alixe Delavigne in a +burning glance, which caused that lady to seek her own bower in Rosebank +villa, and hide her blushes from "Him Who Would Not Be Denied." Miss +Mildred smiled and nodded behind her fan, for she heard the Bells of the +Future sounding afar off. + +The graceful woman escorted Captain Anstruther to the river's edge that +night, when he departed to a conference of moment with Hardwicke and +Halton. She fled back, like the swift Camilla, to her own nest, as the +Captain went forth upon the river. Only the listening flowers heard her +startled answer when Anstruther had found a voice to tell the Pilgrim +of Love his own story in a soldier's frank way. "Wait, Anson! Wait, till +you know me better, till our quest is done; wait till the roses bloom +here once more," she had whispered. + +"And if I do wait, Alixe--if I ask you again?" Anstruther cried as he +kissed her slender hand. + +"Then you shall have my answer," she faltered, but her eyes shone like +stars as she lightly fled away. + +Captain Anson Anstruther had reckoned without his host when he rejoiced +over Alan Hawke's departure. As the aide-de-camp sped down the darkened +river, he still saw Alixe Delavigne's eyes gleaming down on him in every +tender twinkling star, but the wily agent whom he had dispatched to the +Continent four days before, was near him yet, and comfortably dining in +a little snug public in the Tower Hamlets, on this very night. He was +looking for tools suited to a dark game which busied his reckless heart. + +Major Alan Hawke (temporary rank) had passed two days at Geneva in a +serious conference with the sorrowing sisters Delande. His meeting with +the softhearted Justine had brought the color back to the poor woman's +face, and she shyly held up the diamond bracelet to his view, murmuring, +"I have thought of you and kissed it every night and morning, for your +sake, Alan!" + +With a glance of veiled tenderness, the acute schemer took his fair dupe +out upon the lake, while Euphrosyne directed the slow grinding of the +mills of the gods. "I must lose no time," Hawke pleaded, "as I have to +report for duty in London." And so, he gleaned the story of the hegira +and the situation at the Banker's Folly. He heard all, and yet felt that +there was a gap in the story. Justine was true to her plighted word. + +He instinctively felt that Justine was holding back something of moment, +and yet in his heart he felt that the price of that disclosure would +be his formal betrothal to the loving Justine. But he dared not vow to +marry, and the Swiss woman was loyally true to her oath. He remained +"their loving brother" as yet, and when two days later, Alan Hawke +departed for London direct, he mused vainly over the tangled problem +until he reported to Captain Anson Anstruther. "If this greenhorn girl +has any designs of her own she has not told them yet to Justine. I must +get a man to help me to work my scheme, or go over to Jersey myself," +he at last decided. He was secretly happy at Captain Anstruther's prompt +injunctions to make ready for a tour of two months upon the Continent. +"I shall have all your detailed instructions prepared tomorrow, Major +Hawke," said the young aide-de-camp. "Meet me, therefore, at the Junior +United Service at ten o'clock; you can take a couple of days to look +over London, and then proceed at once to the delicate duty which I will +give to you. And, remember, the Viceroy's orders are that you are to +report to me alone, and also to preserve an absolute secrecy. Your +future rank will depend upon your discretion." Major Alan Hawke was not +as cheerful, however, when he opened his private mail at Morley's Hotel, +as when he had bade adieu to Captain Anstruther. A formal communication +from the Credit Lyonnais informed him that Monsieur le Professeur Andrew +Fraser had formally forbidden Messrs. Glyn, Carr & Glyn to pay the four +bills of exchange, acting in his capacity of executor of a will duly +filed at Doctor's Commons, and that the four drafts must be proved as +debts against the estate, and so paid later, in due process of law +on proof of the claim. The refusal was due to the death of the drawer +before presentment. + +"Damn it! I must play a fine game now!" he glowered. "Anstruther I must +obey in all! Once back in India with rank, however, I can force old Ram +Lal to pay these drafts. He dare not resist--there's the rope for him! + +"And I must find a fellow to spy out the situation in Jersey. I +certainly dare not linger here!" He be-took himself to an old haunt in +Tower Hamlets, where the first stars of the "swell mob" were wont to +linger, a haunt where he had once taken refuge in his changeling days, +years before. + +A glance at a man seated enjoying a good cigar at a table caused his +heart to leap up in joy. "Jack Blunt--of all men! By God! this is luck!" +he cried. When the happy Alan Hawke tapped the smoker smartly on the +shoulder he first laid a finger on his own lip and then hastily said: +"Get a private room, Jack, I want you at once. I've a special bit of +business in your line." Major Alan Hawke, Temporary Rank, unattached, +hastily bade the boni-face serve the best supper available for two. +"Mind you, no poison in the wine!" he sharply said. + +"We've the best vintages of London Docks," grinned the happy host, as he +sped away and left the two scoundrels alone. + +"What are you doing now, Jack?" queried Hawke. + +"Nothing," sullenly replied the middle-aged star of the swell mob. "My +eyes! you are in great form," he admiringly commented. + +"Can you leave town for a week or so, on a little job for me?" briskly +continued the Major. + +"Ready money?" said "Gentleman Jack" Blunt, stroking out a pair of +glossy side whiskers. + +"Yes, cash in plenty on hand, and lots more in sight," imperatively +replied the Major. + +"Do I work with you, or alone?" asked Blunt. + +"It's a little private investigation," replied Hawke, "and as I have to +leave town to-night, and spend a couple of months on the Continent, you +are the very man. I am afraid to appear in the thing myself, as I am +well known to the other parties, and so I fear being followed over +the Channel. I'm back again in the army." Jack's eyes grew larger in a +trice. + +"Here comes the grub," gayly said Blunt. "You can trust the wine here. +The crib is square, too. Now, my boy, fire away. We are alone, and +no listeners here." Before Jack Blunt had put away a pint of best +"beeswing" sherry, he was aware of all Alan Hawke's intentions. His keen +brain was working all its "cylinders." + +"Give me just five minutes to think it over, Governor," said the +sparkling-eyed, dark-faced, swell cracksman. "I know Jersey like a +book. I worked the 'summer racket' there once. The excursion boats, the +farmers' races, the Casino balls, the Military games, and the whole lay. +I think I can cook up a plan. You don't show up just yet. I am to do the +'downy cove.'" + +"Not till I can double on my track, and you have piped the whole +situation off," said Hawke. "The game is a queer one. I may want to come +over later and show up and make a little society play on the girl. I +may, however, join you and help you secretly, or I may have to stay away +altogether. But I must act at once. There's money in it. If you have to +make the running yourself, you can get your own help." + +"And, you have the real stuff?" agnostically demanded Jack Blunt. + +"What do you want for a starter as your pay for the report to be sent +to me at the Hotel Faucon, Lausanne, Switzerland?" Hawke was eager and +disposed to be liberal. + +"Oh! A hundred sovs for the job, as you lay it out--and fifty for my +little incidentals," laughed Jack Blunt. "Of course, if it goes on to +anything serious, you'll have to put away the real 'boodle,' where +I have something to run with, if I have to cut it. I might run up a +dangerous plant!" + +"Bah!" decisively said Hawke. "Only an old fool to dodge, who is +over seventy--a dotard--and a foolish girl of eighteen--a simple +boarding-school miss!" + +"Yes, but she has a million, you say. There's always some one to love +a girl with that money! Love comes in by the door, and the window, too, +you know!" + +"She has never been five minutes alone with a man in her life!" cried +Hawke. "You are safe--dead sure safe!" Blunt's roving black eyes rested +on Hawke's eager face as he laughed. + +"And you want to marry her, to keep others from her, or run her off at +the worst, you say? That's your little game." + +"I will have either the girl, or those jewels! By God! I will! I've got +money to work with, plenty of it--not here," cautiously said Hawke, "but +there's your hundred and fifty. Do you stand in?" + +"To the death--if you do the handsome thing, my boy!" said the handsome +ruffian, pocketing the notes. "When do I start?" + +"Take the midnight train to Southampton, and go at work at once. I fear +they may send some damned spies over there! Now, what's your plan?" +Major Hawke watched his old pal in a brown study. + +Jack Blunt had smoked half his cigar, when he brought his white hand +down with a whack. "I have it! A combination of gentleman artist and +literary gent! 'The Mansion Homes of Jersey,' to illustrate a volume for +the use of tourists--London and Southwestern Railway's enterprise. I'll +sneak in and do the grand. You want a correct sketch and map of house +and grounds, and the whole lay out?" Artist Blunt was delightfully +interested in his Jersey tour now. + +"Yes!" cried Alan Hawke, his eyes growing wolfish, and he leaned over +to his companion and whispered for a few moments. "That's the trick, +Governor," nodded Jack Blunt, "You work on the double event. And--I get +my money--play or pay?" + +"Yes. Put up in good notes--only you are not to bungle!" + +"Do you think I would fool around with a 'previous conviction' against +me? The next is a lifer, and I've got to use the knife or a barker, if +I run up against trouble, for I'll never wear the Queen's jewelry again! +I've sworn it!" The man's eyes were gleaming now like burning coals, +"I'll do the grand, and then, take off my beard and change my garb! I +look twenty years older in a stubble chin. I can watch them from the +public at Rozel Pier. I used to do a neat little bit of cognac, silk, +and cigar smuggling. I know every crag of Corbiere Rocks, every shady +joint in St. Heliers, every nook of St. Aubin's Bay. Oh! I'm fly to the +whole game!" + +"Could you not get a good boat's crew there?" anxiously demanded Major +Hawke. + +"Ah! My boy! I am 'king high' with a set of daring fishermen, who can +smell out every rock from Dover to Land's End; and, from Calais to +Brest, in the blackest night of the channel, if it pays." + +"Then, Jack, your fortune is made, if you stand in. We'll pull it +off, in one way or the other. You've got an easy job for a man of your +ability. I'll meet you at Granville! Now, get over to St. Heliers, and +work the whole trick in your own way! Send me your secret address in +Jersey at once to Hotel Faucon, Lausanne, and run over to the French +coast at Granville and find a safe nest there for us. There we are +within seventeen miles of each other, with two mails a day, and the +telegraph. It's a wonderful plant, so it is." + +"Yes, Governor! And old Etienne Garcia, at the 'Cor d'Abondance' in +Granville, is the very slyest rogue in France. When you find a Crapaud +who is dead to rights, he is always an out and outer. I'll square you +with my old pal, Etienne, who slyly makes 'floaters' and then gets the +government cash reward for towing them in. He has always a half dozen +pretty girls hanging around there, and many a good looking stranger has +ended his 'tour' by a sudden drop through the flow of the drinking room +over the wharf where Etienne keeps his 'boats to let.'" + +"How does he do it?" mused Alan Hawke. "It's a risky game in France." + +Jack Blunt laughed. + +"A few puffs of smoke in a cognac glass, and the subject is knocked out +for an hour after drinking from the nicotine-filmed crystal, bless you," +laughed Blunt, "there's never a mark on Etienne's victims. He is too +fine for that, only cases of plain, simple, 'accidental drowning.' + +"You may as well address me as 'Joseph Smith, Jersey Arms, Rozel Pier, +Jersey.' I am solid with Mrs. Floyd, the landlady there," said the +scoundrel mobsman, anxious to spend some of his cash. + +"All right, then, Jack! Go ahead!" cheerfully cried Major Hawke. "Don't +overgo my instructions a single hair! I'll either join you in the grand +stroke, or else meet you at Granville and there tell you what to do. +Remember that I'll settle all your Jersey bills, and I will send a post +order for ten pounds extra to you at the 'Jersey Arms,' to give you a +local standing with the postman. + +"That you can spend on the underlings around the Banker's Folly, but +beware of an old body servant named Simpson--an old red-coat who may +turn up any day now from India! He was Johnstone's own man, and he hates +me, at heart, I know! Now, if you can do the 'artist act,' you must find +out where the old man keeps his stuff! I don't know yet whether we want +him first or the girl; or to crack the whole crib! If we ever do, then, +Simpson must get the--" Hawke grimly smiled, as he drew his hand across +his throat! "I must be off!" he hastily said as he noted the time. + +On his way over to Folkestone, Major Alan Hawke mused over his great +coup, as he lay at ease, wrapped up in a traveling rug, and now +resplendent in a fur-trimmed top coat, befrogged and laced, which +indicated the officer en retraite. + +"I will first do up Holland, Belgium, and Denmark, and take a little +preliminary look around Paris," mused the Major, studying a list of the +missing jewels which Captain Anstruther had artfully arranged. Sundry +deductions and additions, with an admirable disorder in the items +(judiciously divided and reclassified) served to guard against any old +confidences exchanged between Ram Lal and his secret friend Hawke. The +real list in the original was now in the private pocket-book of the +Viceroy. + +"Each of our Consuls at the cities you are to visit has this list," said +Anstruther to the Major, "and you can vary your travel as you choose, +but visit all these jewel marts, and report to the local Consuls. If +they have further orders for you, you will get them there, at first +hands. Should you find that any of the jewels have been offered for +sale, simply report the facts to the local Consul, and write under seal +to me at the Junior United Service, then go on and examine further at +once! You are to take no steps whatever to recover them, or to alarm +the thieves! All your expenses and your pay will be advanced by me!" The +acute schemer decided not to risk any suspicions by marketing his own +jewels. "They might bounce me for the murder," fearfully mused the +Major. "I could show no honest title through Ram Lal. They might arrest +him, and I need him to pay the protested drafts--later, when I go back +on the Viceroy's staff!" He smiled and wove his webs like a spider in +his den. + +On his arrival in Paris, from a run to the Low Countries, a week later, +Major Alan Hawke betook himself at once to No. 9 Rue Berlioz. And there +Marie Victor greeted him, handing him a letter which was dated from +Jitomir, Volhynia. "How is your mistress?" he affably demanded. + +"She is well, and will remain for several months longer in Russia!" +politely answered Marie, bowing him out. + +"By God, then, she has given up the chase! I see it all!" mused Hawke, +as he pored over the letter on his way to the Hotel Binda. "The trump +card she wished to play was to blast the old fellow's hopes of a +baronetcy. Death has struck down her prey, and, she will now wait till +the girl is free! She is too sly to face old Fraser; his brother has +warned him. But she says she will need me in the winter, on her return." + +The deceived scoundrel laughed. "The coast is left clear for me now! +I'll telegraph to Joseph Smith, run on to Geneva, deposit my own +jewels there, in the agency of the Credit Lyonnais, and then return the +notifications of protest of the Bills of Exchange to Ram Lal. + +"I wonder if I can steal those jewels, get my Major's rank as a reward +from the Viceroy, and marry the girl? It would be the luck of a life!" +he dreamed. + +Two days later, on the terraces of Lausanne, he laughed over Jack +Blunt's cheeky campaign. + +"The 'artist dodge' worked to a charm," wrote Jack. "I used the Kodak, +and I have a dozen good views of the house, and as many more of the +grounds. My chapter on the 'Artistic Homes of Jersey,' will be a +full one! I soon jollied a couple of the London maid servants into my +confidence. By the way, send me, at once, another 'tenner' for expense, +and some money for my own regular bills. I can make great play on the +two frolicsome maids. They are up for a lark. The shy bird keeps her +rooms; and there really seems to be no young man around. Devilish +strange! A room is being got ready for the old body servant who is now +on his way from India. He might fall over Rozel cliff some night, when +half seas over! That's a natural ending for him! Maps, sketches, and all +will be ready for you at the place we agreed. It's all lying ready to +our hand, and ten minutes of a dark night is all I want. The old chap +is always mooning alone in his study, till the midnight hours, over his +books, and he has the whole ground floor to himself. The men are in the +gardener's house, ten rods away, and all the women sleep upstairs. +He sees no one but a half crazy Yankee professor, who drops in of a +morning. But, the shy bird keeps in her cage, and lives in great state, +upstairs. More when you send the money." + +On his way to say adieu to Justine, before departing to Vienna, Alan +Hawke smiled grimly. "I can strike now, when I will, and as I will! But, +first to race around a little, and then, having fulfilled my mission, to +get a couple of weeks' furlough, to go about my own affairs. The coast +is clear. Jack Blunt's plan is right. Simpson must be first put out of +the way. He would fight like a rat on general principles." + +At Rosebank Villa, Madame Alixe Delavigne was nightly busied now in +official conferences with Major Harry Hardwicke, who had lingered in +the concealment of Anstruther's home. The Captain found abundant time +to prosecute his "official business" with his lovely aid in the secret +service. And he had learned all of Alixe Delavigne's lessons now, +save to acquire the patience to wait. But a growing album of newspaper +clippings was daily augmented by Frank Hatton's artfully disseminated +items regarding "Prince Djiddin of Thibet," the first visitor of rank +from that land of shadows. The warring journals who wrangled over +the rich young visitor's "stern retirement" from all public intrusion +referred to the political coup de main to be looked for in "the near +future." From various parts of the United Kingdom, the mysterious +princely visitor's trail was daily telegraphed, and a hearty laugh +from all three of the conspirators of Rosebank Villa greeted the final +article in the St. Heliers Messenger, stating that a learned Moonshee +or Pundit, "the only Asiatic attendant of Prince Djiddin of Thibet" was +arranging for a brief visit of a descendant of the Dalai-Lamas. + +Anstruther and Hardwicke laughed merrily at Frank Halton's last graceful +touches. "A romantic gratitude to a retired British officer, who had +once befriended the Prince's august father, was the one impelling cause +of a visit, in which the strictest retirement would be guarded by +the dweller on the Roof of the World," etc., etc. So read out Madame +Delavigne, closing with the remark that the "Moonshee had already +visited the Royal Victoria Hotel at St. Heliers to arrange for the +coming of his friend, and to the regret of the authorities, the Prince +would decline all the hospitality due to his exalted rank." + +"Captain Murray must be even now at work," anxiously said the fair +reader. + +"We will hear at once," said Anstruther. "Prince Djiddin, you must now +materialize! For Murray's letter tells me that he is already in full +communication with Jules Victor at the Hotel Bellevue. So the 'Moonshee' +has one faithful friend near at hand. If there is any shadowing of +either of you, Jules Victor is an invincible avant garde. He knows the +faces of all the dramatis personae. You see, Douglas Fraser is gone to +India and old Andrew has never seen any of our 'star actors.' We are +absolutely safe!" + +"It seems that fortune favors us," tremblingly said Alixe Delavigne. +"This prying and curious Yankee, Professor Hobbs, also seems to have +fallen at once into the trap! Captain Murray's description of his +'interview,' at the Royal Victoria, with Alaric Hobbs, is a crystallized +work of humorous art!" + +"Of course the Yankee savant will write columns to the Waukesha Clarion, +describing this Asiatic lion, Prince Djiddin, and exploit him in the +States as an 'original discovery' of his own. His eagerness to arrange +an interview between the Prince and Professor Fraser is most ludicrously +fortunate for us," said Captain Anstruther. + +The entrance of the butler with a telegram disturbed "Prince Djiddin" +and his lovely confidential staff officer. "An answer, please, Captain," +formally continued the household factotum. + +"Hurrah!" cried Hardwicke, when the little conclave gathered around the +red light. "Simpson has arrived, and now Nadine and I have some one whom +we can both trust!" The further information that the "Moonshee" would +arrive forthwith to conduct "Prince Djiddin" to the safe haven where +that fascinating bride, Mrs. Flossie Murray, awaited her beloved +truant, was a call to prompt action. "I am ready! I shall drop the Royal +Engineers and live up to my 'blue china' as a Prince!" cried Hardwicke. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE COUNCIL AT GRANVILLE. + + + +When Major Alan Hawke returned, three weeks later, to the Hotel Grand +National, at Geneva, he was sorely wearied and dispirited. A round of +inspection of all the principal jewel marts of the continent had been +only a fruitless, solitary tourist promenade. And the ominous silence of +Captain Anson Anstruther, A. D. C., boded no good to the military +future of the adventurer. "Damn me, if I don't think that I have been +hoodwinked!" growled Major Hawke, on his re-turn from Moscow and St. +Petersburg, whither he had been ordered, as a last resort, to see the +Court jewelers. + +From Warsaw, he wrote to the Hotel Faucon, at Lausanne, to send all +his letters to meet him at Berlin, where Jack Blunt had given him the +address of the safest "fence" in all Kaiser Wilhelm's broad domain. He +had his own jewels valued there in Russia, but dared not sell them. + +With a sudden inspiration, born of a growing fear for the stability of +his house of cards, so flimsy in construction, he ran down to Jitomir, +and the half-crazed adventurer only lingered an hour with the Intendant +of Madame Alixe Delavigne's grand old domain. He found the bird flown. +Had he been duped? A permission to view the old chateau was courteously +accorded, and then Alan Hawke soon realized that he was betrayed. For +the fact that Madame was still absent, "traveling around the world," and +had not visited her Volhynian estate for a year, proved to him now that +he had been doubly tricked. "Ah! By God! I have it!" he cried, as he set +his teeth in a white rage. "That fool, Anstruther, is bewitched by her +Polish wiles, the mongrel inheritance of La Grande Armee's visit to +Russia!" Straight as the crow flies, Alan Hawke then pressed on to +Lemberg, and hastened to Berlin, having sent on his last official report +to Captain Anstruther, at London. In Berlin, a letter from Jack Blunt +decided his whole career. There was news of moment, which set his hot +blood boiling in his veins. + +"Simpson, the old body servant, has arrived from India," wrote the +disguised ex-convict. "And he's mighty thick with your shy bird, too. +There is some strange game going on here, which I can't make out. The +cute Yankee professor is furious, for old Fraser has temporarily given +him the 'dead cut.' The American is totally neglected, for the old idiot +spends half his time, now, shut up in his study with a visiting nigger +prince from India, and the yellow fellow's half-breed interpreter. I +send you a dozen cuttings from the papers. The Prince, however, seems +to be all O. K. He never even notices the shy bird. He probably buys his +women at home. How could he, for he does not speak a single damned word +of English. But I've caught sight of this Moonshee fellow trying to do +the polite to the heiress. Old Simpson keenly watches the whole goings +on, and I've tried to pull him on! No go! But he sneaks off himself, +gets roaring full, down at Rozel Pier, with a little French peddler +fellow, that he has picked up. And, I don't like this French chap's +looks. Too fly, and far too free with his money. There's no one else +who has, as yet, showed up here. Not a woman, no other human being but +a London lawyer. And I'm told now the guardian and niece are soon going +over to London to deposit all the papers that Simpson brought home and +to do 'a turn' at Doctor's Commons. Now's your very time--the dark of +the moon. Better cut your job and come over to me at Granville; and why +can we not turn the place up-while they are away? To do that, we must do +Simpson 'for fair,' and I now know his nightly trail. Send money, plenty +of it, and come on. I am 'on the beachcomber's lay,' now, down at +the Jersey Arms, Rozel Pier. Write or telegraph me a line, and I'll +instantly meet you at Granville, at the Cor d'Abondance." + +A loving letter from Justine Delande inclosed a notice of a registered +letter waiting at the Agence du Credit Lyonnais, Geneva. It is marked +"Tres Important," she wrote, and then added: "I have received a +letter from Nadine, who says that her guardian is now half crazy with +excitement over the finishing of his 'History of Thibet, and Memoir Upon +the Lost Ten Tribes,' for he has an Indian visitor of princely rank, and +he even proposes to take this Prince Djiddin and his 'Moonshee' into the +house, so as to shut the world out from the wonderful disclosures of the +only visitor of rank who ever left Thibet." + +Alan Hawke's brow was gloomy when he read the last letter, which was +a brief note from Captain Anstruther, informing him that his final +instructions would be forwarded "in a week." The ominous silence of +"Madame Berthe Louison," the living lie of her pretended visit to +Russia, the trick of the letters sent on from Jitomir to his Parisian +address, now only confirmed his jealous rage. + +"They are living in a fool's paradise together, this dapper aide and the +wily woman, hiding in England! One has betrayed me, and the other will +now coldly abandon me! I'll soon raise a hornets' nest about their +ears!" So, with a simple telegraphed word "coming," dispatched to +"Joseph Smith," he sped on to Geneva from his "Leipsic defeat" at +Berlin, but only to meet a ghastly "Waterloo" at the Grand Hotel +National. He had ordered the letters from the Hotel Faucon to be sent on +there to Miss Justine, and when he had freed himself from her clasping +arms he read a curt official note from the Viceroy's aid-de-camp which +left him livid in a paroxysm of fury. On his way from the station he had +only stopped long enough at the Agence du Credit Lyonnais to receive an +official-looking document. "My accounts, I presume," he had muttered, +thrusting them in his pocket. But, when he had read Captain Anstruther's +formal note, he tore open the letter of the great French Banking +Company. The two letters curtly illustrated the old saw, that "it never +rains, but it pours!" With a fluttering heart poor Justine Delande +watched her undeclared lover's blackening face. + +"Hell and furies!" he cried, "the whole world is leagued against me. +I've got to go back to India now, Justine, and go alone. Luck is dead +against me now." And the whitening face of the woman who hung on his +every glance made the infuriated man even more reckless. "Damn them, +I'll grind them all to powder!" he growled. For the tide was on the +turn, and it was dead water again at Geneva, the tide fast receding, +and the man who was "a devil for luck" was soon left on the rocks of a +silent despair. + +Alan Hawke's eyes gleamed out with a murderous sheen as he scanned both +letters carefully. "It is his work--the low dog--and he shall die. +Wait till Jack Blunt and I get a hack at him," he mused, with a sudden +conviction that he dared not now show himself at St. Heliers, nor openly +approach the Banker's Folly. "I stand to lose all and win nothing. I +must work in the dark. I cannot dare to brave this Anstruther. They +would simply drive me from India. But, Simpson and Ram Lal shall pay! +And, Berthe Louison--Ah! By God! I will strike her to the heart now! I +see the way!" + +The official words of Captain Anstruther were few but crushing in there +stern brevity. And Alan Hawke's heart sank as he read them over again. +"By the orders of His Excellency, the Viceroy, I have the honor to +inform you that he has withdrawn your temporary rank, and all powers +heretofore delegated to you will cease on the receipt of this letter, +which please acknowledge. On reporting to me in London in person, you +will receive the payment of all your accounts with your back pay +and transportation back to Calcutta, the place of your temporary +appointment. All the Consuls in continental Europe have now been +notified of the cessation of your powers, and you will therefore, in +no way act in the future in regard to the confidential business once in +your hands. The inquiry has been finally abandoned by the order of the +Indian Government. + +"Please do report as soon as possible, and deliver over all papers +and vouchers now remaining in your hands. With assurance of my +consideration, Yours, + +"ANSON ANSTRUTHER, Captain and A. D. C." + +"Official, + +"Confidential." + +The letter of the Credit Lyonnais was even more menacing in its tone. +The Direction Centrale referred to a formal letter of the solicitors of +the estate of Hugh Fraser Johnstone, deceased, totally repudiating +the four unaccepted drafts of five thousand pounds sterling each, and +legally notifying the Direction of an intended suit to recover from the +payee and the in-dorser, the first draft for five thousand pounds paid +before Executor Andrew Fraser had filed his objections with Messrs. +Glyn, Carr & Glyn. "The arrival from India of the papers of the +deceased, and the testimony of his body servant Simpson, as well as +the Calcutta Banker and solicitors, proves that no such considerable +withdrawals as twenty-five thousand pounds were ever contemplated by +the deceased, who had sent the most minute business instructions to his +agent and later executor." + +"I shall have to throw this all back on Ram Lal." mused Alan Hawke, who +hastily bade Justine an adieu, until he could conjure up an explanation +for the Geneva agents of the Credit Lyonnais. The closing words of the +Paris Derection were semi-hostile. "Be pleased. Monsieur, to call at +once upon our Geneva branch and explain these imputations. We are forced +to withhold your present deposits to cover any reclamation and legal +expenses, and we therefore beg you to discontinue the drawing of any +drafts upon us until the solicitors of Messrs. Glyn, Carr & Glyn and the +Executor notify us of the settlement of this distressing imputation upon +the regularity of our actions as your business agents." + +"That leaves me only the jewels, and about a thousand pounds ready cash +on hand, and that is due from Anstruther," gloomily decided Alan Hawke, +when he was safely locked in his rooms at the National. + +"Tricked by this double-faced devil Louison-Delavigne, thrown out of my +future rank, held for the five thousand pounds already advanced, and, +with eleven thousand embargoed in that Paris pawnbroker shop of a Credit +Lyonnais, I've but one course left to me now." + +He took counsel of the brandy bottle, and then, ignoring all else, he +sent off a careful letter to Joseph Smith. "I'll jolly poor Justine a +bit, so as to leave one faithful friend to watch and get all my letters +here. Jack can raise money on the jewels now for us both. I must tell +these fellows of the French Bank here that I go to London to see my own +lawyers. I'll go over, settle with Anstruther, and then just quietly +disappear. The next blow shall come out of the blackness of night, and +I'll strike them all at once!" + +In the evening, Major Alan Hawke drove with Justine Delande to the +restaurant garden, where, long months before, he had first learned the +daring hardihood of his fair employer--the acute woman who had fooled +him at every turn. His heart was saddened with all the fresh hopes which +had failed him. He had frankly told Euphrosyne Delande that a return +journey to India, and a long and bitter struggle now lay between him and +the rank and competence which he would need to make her loving sister +his wife. + +Three hours later Justine Delande's arms clung desparingly around the +handsome outcast, as he was leaving her to be escorted home by the +adroit Francois, already in waiting without the restaurant with a closed +carriage. The presage of sorrow weighed upon her loving heart. + +"Alan, My God, I can not let you go. You are the one brightness of my +life. My heart of hearts. My very soul," sobbed the wretched woman. "I +have fears for you. They will kill you in that far land, these powerful +enemies. That mysterious devil woman who bends all to her will will ruin +you." And then, really touched at heart, the desperate trickster drew +off his finger a superb diamond, the nonpareil, the choicest stone +of Ram Lal's unwilling tribute. "Wear this always, and think of me, +Justine," he said. "You are the only woman who ever loved me, and, if I +succeed, I swear you shall share my better fortunes--if not, then--" he +crushed her to his breast and ran out of the room, before she could +drag him back. "Go in, Francois, quickly to Miss Justine," cried Hawke, +thrusting a hundred-franc note in the butler's open hand. The rattle of +departing wheels was heard as Francois supported the half-fainting woman +to her carriage. + +"Now for London," growled Major Hawke as the train dashed down the Rhone +valley. "I've got a clear alibi here. All my letters sent to Justine +will be forwarded to the Delhi Club. One day in London, then to +Granville, and Jack Blunt. They will only get Justine's story if they +shadow me, and if I can only hit it off right, at Calcutta. Yes! there +is the king luck of all. To give the whole thing away to the baffled +Viceroy. Then denounce Ram Lal to him as the early confederate and later +assassin of Hugh Fraser Johnstone! These jewels that I have 'innocently +received' will connect old Ram Lal with Hugh Fraser's betrayed trust. I +will hold the murder business back at first. + +"Ram Lal or his estate will be finally forced to cash my drafts. It +is clear that Johnstone and Ram Lal have either divided or hidden the +jewels. Yes! By God! I have it. If I can wring them out of the old +professor, or find them, I will then hide them away and secretly report +the whole affair to the Viceroy, in my chosen colors as a friend of the +Crown, and they'll give me a huge reward; my permanent army rank will +soon follow. So, if Justine only holds to my alibi, by God! I will +marry her, for she would be a badge of respectability. I'll take no more +chances after this--not another single chance! I've got money enough to +satisfy Jack Blunt. He shall secretly sell the jewels for me--a small +lot, here and there, a few at a time." + +"There is just one frightful risk to run," he muttered, as he reached +out for his brandy flask. "Ram Lal might go in to save his twenty-five +thousand pounds, for the Johnstone estate will never pay these disputed +claims which I cannot prove in law. Good in honor, but bad in law! And +if he should denounce me privately to the Viceroy, as the real murderer +of Hugh Fraser? He is there on the ground. I did not denounce him. I did +not produce the dagger. I dare not to explain why I concealed the crime. +An accessory! He might seek to turn Queen's evidence, and even try to +hang me. He is rich, sly, smart. By God! they may even now be shadowing +me. Once on English soil, I am at Anstruther's mercy." He was still +white-faced and unmanned as he took the Boulogne boat the next evening. +"I must face Anstruther, get my money, and then telegraph to Justine my +departure for India from London. I'll wire the poor woman from here now. +A few loving words will cheer her. Her true heart is the only jewel I +have that I have not stolen. Poor girl! she will miss me sorely!" And +the handsome blackguard sighed over the ruin he had wrought--an honest +woman's shattered peace of mind. It weighed heavily upon him now. + +For there came back to him now strange shadowy glimpses of his own +stormy past! Dashing on, to face unknown dangers, the dauntless +adventurer, with a softened heart, recalled the days when he could gaze, +without a secret shudder, upon the battle-torn colors of the regiment +from which he had been chased by that suddenly discovered sin, once so +sweet! + +He "looked along life's columned years, to see its riven fane--just +where it fell." And, sadly alone in life now, his heart gnawed with a +growing remorse, he saw in the mirror of memory, once more, the bright +faced boy who had "filled the cup, to toast his flag and land." Alan +Hawke, in all the bright promise of his youth, the darling of women, the +envy of men! + +Under the swiftly gliding current of his tortuous past, he plainly saw +now the fanged reefs which had wrecked him! With a smothered groan, he +recalled all that he had lost, and this bitter introspection brought +up to him, among his deeds of passion, the one needless cruelty of his +reckless life! "Poor Justine! There is such a thing as woman's love +after all!" he sighed, for he knew that the steadfast woman had poured +out the wine of her life all in vain. "She loves me!" he cried! + +Woman, born to be man's sport and plaything, is doomed to be the +unconscious avenger of her sex in every tragedy of the heart! The +treason of some callous lover is repaid with vengeance meted out to +some defenseless man who comes all unguarded "into the arid desert +of Phryne's life, where all is parched and hot." And, Alan Hawke, the +innocent Lancelot, had suffered for some recreant's past crime! + +Among the visions of the burning Lotos Land, the bright phantasmagoria +of his unstained youth, there came back now to Alan Hawke all the +glories of his first Durbar, the unforgotten day when he had fallen +under the spell of the woman whose fatal touch had withered the "very +rose and expectancy" of his brilliant promise. His mind strayed backward +through all the misty years to that gorgeous scene of Oriental pomp. He +closed his eyes and pictured again the brilliant pageant. + +The huge masses of serried troops, the lines of stately elephants, the +castled background of the temples of Aurungzebe. The blare of trumpets +smote once more upon his ear, and hordes of jewel-decked Asiatics swept +along before the pompous military representatives of the Empress, who +wears the Crown of the Seas. + +There was a quickening of "Love's extinguished embers" as he lived over +again the moment, when "side by side, with England's pride," he rode +with his sword lowered in knightly salute before the clustered banners +of the Imperial military throne. And the hour of his fate sounded when +the eyes of a woman rested upon him in a mute appeal! Their glances told +him all. + +For, then and there, the young officer had seen the wonderful beauty +of the woman who had lured him on and then, in after days, sold his +unstained soul to shame! A fair-faced Lilith, her glowing beauty +enshrined in all the borrowed splendor of majesty, a woman of gleaming +golden hair, a later, all too willing, Guenevere! The soft subtle +invitation of her eyes of sapphire blue had called him to her side, in +that unspoken pact which needs no words! He was her slave from the first +moment! With a last pang of his quivering heart, Hawke recalled the sly +skill of the faithless wife who had drawn the young officer into her +net, for the passing amusement of her idle hours! Too late he knew all +the artful craft of his being bidden to the Grand Ball, of the +"veiled interest" which had "detailed him, for special duty," of the +self-protecting maneuvers which had placed him on the staff of the faded +valetudinarian general who had given his spotless name to the woman +whose lava heart glowed under a snowy bosom. It was the wreck of a soul! + +And then, with a gasp, he recalled his mad fever to win every honor +under her glowing eyes. The forgotten deeds of desperate valor--all +useless now, and stained forever with the bar sinister of his treason. +He shuddered at the unforgotten delights of the hour when they had met +in her seraglio bower of shaded luxury, and "the fairest of Laocoons" +had answered his passionate whisper, "Stoop down and seem to kiss me ere +I die," with the faltered words: "Alan, you are all the world to me!" + +Fondly blind, he had drifted along in a Fool's Paradise, at her bidding, +until the crash came! He never knew the military Sir Modred, who had +betrayed the open secret, but his blood boiled when he recalled the +cruel abandonment to the rage of a jealous and awakened spouse! + +All in vain had been his manly sacrifice to save the woman whom he had +loved more than life. He had cast away every protection for himself. +Duped and tricked, he had remained mute before the storm of abuse heaped +on him by the General, and his papers sent in, at a momentary summons, +had carried him in dishonor out of the band of laureled soldier knights, +to dream no more "the dream that martial music weaves!" And the smiling +woman Judas tricked him to the very last! + +How hollow her faith, how lying the mute pleading of her eyes, he knew +now, for had he not paused at the door for one despairing glance of +farewell, to hear her murmur to her placated lord: "After all your +goodness to him, to dare to offer me insult! You have punished him +rightly, but, he is a fascinating traitor, after all!" Deprived of his +sword, shunned by his associates, and lingering near her in hopes of +the last interview pledged him by her lying eyes, he had only been +undeceived when he vainly tried to reach her carriage for a last +farewell on a star-lit lonely drive. + +The cold cutting accent of her voice smote him as the edge of a sword. +"Drive on, Johnson!" she sharply cried. "These vagabond people must +face the General himself." Then came the insane self-sacrifice of his +reckless downfall, but he had spared her to the very last. + +He bowed his head in his hands, and a storm of agony swept over him +as he recalled the word "traitor," branded upon his brow as a badge of +shame, and again he wandered along that devious path which had led him +year by year downward. Too bitterly self-accusing to palliate his past, +he only knew that in all the long years of social pariahhood he had +learned to despise all men and to trust no woman! For had not Friendship +been a lie to him, Love only a hollow cheat, and woman's vows of +deathless loyalty but writ in sand to be washed out by the next wave of +passion? + +And yet, stained with crime, there was one breath of truth which swept +over his soul as fresh as the voice of the "pines of Ramoth Hill!" +His eyes were misty and his breath choked in a sorrowing gasp of manly +remorse, as the winsome face of the true-hearted Justine rose up before +him in this hour of lonely agony! Her devotion had touched the wayworn +wanderer, and, pure and unselfish, her love had been the one bright star +of all these darkened years! + +"By Jove! She is a royal soul! If I could only save her the shock of the +awakening," he murmured. His heart beat generously in a thrill of pride +recalling Justine's steadfast devotion to the motherless girl whom he +had sought to entangle. "Far above rubies!" he cried, and the memory +of the fond woman who was watching for him at Lausanne, swept over his +stormy soul to bring unbidden tears to eyes which had never flinched +before the red flash of the grim cannon. + +"There are still good women in the world!" he muttered, "and, God bless +you, you have taught me this, Justine!" Drawing her picture from his +bosom, he gazed fondly at the face of the gentle-hearted daughter of the +Alps. A vain and passionate regret racked his bosom--the last struggle +of his wavering soul! "Shall I turn back?" he doubtfully cried. And then +in the rush of his onward course, a dull hopeless feeling came over him. +"Kismet!" he cried. "It is too late now. If they had only trusted me! If +they had told me all and given my fighting soul a chance to redeem the +lost promise once written on my brow. I have played a man's part before! +I might, perhaps, have won this girl's gratitude and earned Justine's +love to be a shield and a buckler to me. But--" his head, overweaned +with care, drooped down, and in the company of strange visions and and +dreams of ominous import, the hunted soldier of fortune forgot alike the +echoing voice of his better angel, and lost from view, the shadowy +faces of both the woman who had lured him to a living death, and the +tender-hearted one whose heart was glowing at Lausanne in all the fervor +of her unrequited devotion. Over Alan Hawke, sleeping there, as he +was swiftly borne away, hovered, in sad regret, his good angel, with +sorrowing eyes, for the stern, self-accusing man had not sought, in the +last hours of this sorrow, even the poor consolation that his life had +been wrecked to feed the fires of vanity burning in the jaded heart +of the beautiful Faustine, whose cold desertion had sold his youth to +shame! + +Twenty-four hours later Major Alan Hawke was again a stormy petrel on +Life's trackless ocean. The cold politeness of Captain Anson Anstruther +at the brief interview at the Junior United Service Club in London at +once decided the wanderer to make for India as soon as his "pressing +engagements" would allow. There was no seeming menace, however, in +Anstruther's wearied air of perfunctory courtesy. + +"The whole affair being officially dropped, Major Hawke," said +Anstruther, "I only ask for your personal receipt for my individual +check. You will observe that this eleven hundred pounds is not in any +way government funds. And, on behalf of the Viceroy himself, I thank +you for your energy shown in the inquiry, which is now permanently +abandoned." To Major Hawke's murmured request, Anstruther replied: + +"Certainly! Drive around to Grindlay's in Parliament Street with me and +they will at once give you notes or their own circular check for this +money." In ten minutes, when Hawke had lightly announced his intention +to return to India, the Captain observed: "I may not meet you for some +years. If the Viceroy returns to England, my promotion will probably +carry me with his Embassy to Paris as Major and Military Attache." And +then they parted as mere casual acquaintances. + +"Damn his cool impertinence," mused Alan Hawke, as he caught a passing +cab, after telegraphing his greetings and intended departure to Justine +Delande. + +"Write one letter to Hotel Binda, Paris, then all to the P. & O. Agency, +Brindisi; after that, to Delhi," were the lying words which reached +the Swiss woman, whose loving breast was now given over to a tumult of +sighs. + +Major Hawke was not free from secret apprehensions until he landed at +Calais, upon the next morning. "Now for a last 'throw off' at Paris!" +he exclaimed. "Damn England! I hope I shall never see it again!" he +growled, unmindful of the pitiless Fates ever spinning the mysterious +web of Destiny. "I'll first show up at Berthe Louison's, at No. 9 Rue +Berlioz. They shall have my next address given to them as Delhi. The +real Major Hawke dives under the troubled sea of Life at Paris, only to +emerge at Calcutta! Ram Lal is like all his kind, a coward at heart! +He has not denounced me, for, if he had, Captain Anstruther would have +nabbed me in England. He acts by the Viceroy's private cabled orders. +No! The coast is all clear for my dash at the enemy's works!" + +Before the morning dawned on the sea-girt coast of La Manche, Marie +Victor had duly telegraphed Major Hawke's impending departure for +India to the beautiful recluse who now cheered the lonely bride of "the +Moonshee," at the old Norman chateau, embowered in its splendid gardens, +within a league of the Banker's Folly. + +Alan Hawke, closely shaven, and masquerading in a French +commis-voyageur's modest garb, was seated at ease in Etienne Garcin's +death-trap at the Cor d'Abundance, in foggy Granville. His darkened +locks and nondescript garb thoroughly effaced the "officer and +gentleman." One of the old French villain's wickedest and prettiest +woman decoys was coquettishly serving Hawke's breakfast as he read the +burning words of Justine Delande's message from the heart. The last +greeting, tear-blotted, and promptly sent to the Hotel Binda. + +"It's a wild day, a wild-looking place, and a wild enough sea," grumbled +Major Hawke, gazing out of the grimy window at the rolling green surges +breaking, white-capped, far out beyond the new pier, where the black +cannon were drenched and crusted with the salty flying scud. Far away, +a little side-wheel steamer was laboring along over the strait from +the blue island of Jersey, rising and dipping half out of sight, with a +trail of intermittent puffs of dense black smoke. + +"There is the enemy's stronghold, and now for Jack Blunt's plan of +campaign! I wonder if he'll come over to-day, or to-morrow? He must have +had my telegram last night!" Alan Hawke amused himself with the bold, +black-eyed French girl's vicious stories of olden deeds done there +in Etienne Garcin's gloomy spider's den. He even laughed when +the red-bodiced she-devil laughingly pointed down at the loosened +floor-planks in the back room, underneath which mantrap the swish of the +throbbing waves could be heard. + +Then the sheeted, cold driving rain hid the promontory, with its +heavy, lumpy-looking fort, the old gray granite parish church, and the +clustered ships of the harbor, now dashing about and tugging wildly at +their doubled moorings, soon to be left high and dry on the soft ooze +when the thirty-foot tide receded. "There's where we find our best +customers," laughed the French wanton, as Alan Hawke drew her to his +knee, and they laughed merrily over the golden harvest of the sea, the +price of the recovered dead. Through the narrow stone fanged streets +lumbered along the heavy French hooded carts, driven by squatty men in +oil skins and sou'westers, and laden down with the spoils of the whale, +cod, and oyster fisheries. Stout women in huge blue aprons, with baskets +on their rounded arms, gossiped at the protecting corners, while the +shouts of Landlord Etienne Garcin's drunken band of sea wolves now began +to ring out in the smoky salle a boire. + +It was two o'clock when the burly form of Etienne Garcin was propelled +unceremoniously into Alan Hawke's room. A grin of satisfaction spread +over the bullet-headed old ruffian's face, and his round gray pig eyes +twinkled, as he noted the already established entente cordiale between +Jack Blunt's pal and the wanton spy who was the absent Jack's own +especial pet. But, Alan Hawke was temporarily blind to the universally +offered charms of the soubrette as he read Joseph Smith's careful +report. + +"That's the talk!" joyously cried Hawke. His heart bounded in a fierce +thrill. "By God! Simpson shall be 'done up' in short order. The drunken +old dog. He cut off the payment of my drafts with his blabbing tongue! + +"Yes, over the cliffs he goes, and we will make sure of +him--forever--before he takes his last tumble! Jack! Jack! You are a +hero!" he mused, as the triumphant words of Jack Blunt's great discovery +were read again and again. And then, he carefully burned the letter, +before the astonished eyes of the tempting companion of his waiting +hours. "These fools of employers!" cheerfully muttered Alan Hawke. "They +always think that 'Servant's Hall' has no eyes. That the maid in her cap +and apron has not the same burning passions as idle Madame in her silks +and laces. That the man has not his own easy-going vices just as alive +and masterful as the base appetites of the swell master." + +While Alan Hawke thus exulted at Granville, there was gloom and jealousy +in the heart of Prof. Alaric Hobbs, of Waukesha University, Wisconsin, +U. S. A. + +A tall, lank, bespectacled "Westerner," nearly thirty-five years of age, +the blue-eyed country boy had dragged himself up from the obscurity of +a frontier American farm into the higher life. Uncouth, awkward, and +yet resolute and untiring, he had justified his first instructor's +prediction: + +"He has the head of a horse, and will make his mark!" Newspaper +trainboy, chainman, assistant on Government frontier surveys, and +frontier scout, he early saved his money so as to complete a sporadic +university curriculum. A trip to Liberia, a dash down into Mexico, and a +desert jaunt in Australia, had not satisfied his craving for adventure. +With the results of two years of professional lectures, he was now +imbibing continental experiences, and plotting a bicycle "scientific +tour of the world." Hard-headed, fearless, devoted, and sincere, he was +a mad theorist in all his mental processes, and had tried, proved, +and rejected free love, anarchy, Christian science, and a dozen other +feverish fads, which for a time jangled his mental bells out of tune. +A cranky tracing of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel down to the genial +scalpers of the American plains had thrown him across the renowned +Professor Andrew Fraser, who had, on his part, located these same +long mourned Hebrews in Thibet, ignoring the fact that they are really +dispersed in the United States of America as "eaters of other men's +hard-made 'honey'" in the "drygoods," clothing, and "shent per shent" +line. For, a glance at the signs on Broadway will prove to any one that +the "lost" have been found in Gotham. + +Smoking his corncob pipe the Professor paced his rooms at the Royal +Victoria, and mentally consigned Prince Djiddin and his indefatigable +Moonshee to Eblis, the Inferno, Sheol, or some other ardent corner of +Limbo. "How long will these two yellow fellows keep poor old Fraser +enchanted?" mused the disgruntled American, mindful of his hotel bill +running on. "The old man is crazy after the two Thibetans, and I can't +see his game. He does not wish me to publish my own volume first. That +is why he has given me the 'marble heart,' and taken them into his +house. Their wing of the Banker's Folly is now an Eastern idolaters' +temple. If I could only hook on to the 'Moonshee,' I might make a +'scoop'--a clean scoop--on old Fraser. God! how my book would sell if I +could only get it out first. And yet I dare not offend this old scholar, +Andrew Fraser. He must be true to me. He has read to me all the original +manuscript of his own half-finished work. He must trust to me, and he +has promised to give me a resume of their disclosures also after they +leave. The Thibetan Prince will only be here two weeks longer." + +"Then old Fraser will take me to his heart again." Alaric Hobbs +reflected on his vain attempt to try the Tunguse, Chinook, Zuni, Apache, +Sioux, and Esquimaux dialects on the handsome Prince Djiddin, whose +Oriental magnificence was even now the despairing admiration of the two +pretty housemaids. + +"My august master cannot speak to any one but the great scholar whom he +came here to see. He soon returns to his retirement in his palace in the +Karakorum Mountains. And he never will emerge thence!" solemnly said +the Moonshee, adding in a whisper: "He may, by the grace of Buddha, be +re-incarnated as the Dalai-Lama. He springs from the loins of kings. I +dare not break in upon his awful silence." The Moonshee's significant +gesture of drawing a hand across his own brown throat had silenced the +pushing American professor. + +"By hokey!" he groaned, "it is hard to have to play second fiddle to +this purblind old Scotchman." Alaric Hobbs had been a reporter upon that +dainty sheet, The New York Whorl, in one of his "emergent" periods, and +so he writhed in agony at being left at the post. "I must be content +to tap old Fraser when he comes back from London with that embarrassing +lump of beauty, his millionaire niece. She would make a fitting spouse +for this Prince Djiddin, for she never speaks a word--at least to me. +And this swell Prince, who comes 'only one in a box,' gets the same +'frozen hand.' Funny girl, that. But I must yield to old Fraser's +moods." Alaric Hobbs then descended to the tap-room and instructed the +pretty barmaid in the manufacture of his own favorite "cocktail," an +American drink of surpassing fierceness and "innate power," which had +once caused "Bald-headed Wolf," a Kiowa chieftain, to slay his favorite +squaw, scalp a peace commissioner, and chase a fat army paymaster till +he died of fright in his ambulance, after Alaric Hobbes had incautiously +left a bottle of this "red-eye" mixture with his aboriginal host on +one of the "exploring tours." A powerful disturbing agent, the American +cocktail! + +But for all Miss Nadine Johnstone's seeming aversion to men, and in +spite of Prince Djiddin's inability to utter a word of any jargon save +ninety-five degree Thibetan, "far above proof," on this very morning +while the "Moonshee" was transcribing under the watchful eyes of the +excited Andrew Fraser the disclosures of the evening before, the young +millionairess was "getting on" very well in exhibiting the glories of +the tropical garden to the august tourist from the lacustrine Himalayas. + +Jules Victor adroitly busied the maid whom Janet Fairbarn had dispatched +to "play propriety," and the other London girl had quietly stolen away +to her own last rendezvous with her mysterious London lover, "Mr. Joseph +Smith," otherwise "Jack Blunt, Esq., of the Swell Mob of the Thames." + +The whispers of the stately young Prince brought crimson blushes to the +face of the glowing girl, whose answering murmurs were as low as the +siren voice of Swinburne's "small serpents, with soft, stretching +throats." They had a double secret to keep now. A momentous, a dangerous +one; for in the depths of the Tropical Gardens of Rozel, the passionate +hearted Alixe Delavigne was hidden, waiting this very morning to clasp +again the beautiful orphan to a bosom throbbing in wildest love. Prince +Djiddin, always on his guard, artfully turned back and busied the maid, +when she was released from Jules Victor's vociferous bar-gaining, with +a half-hour's choosing her "fairing," out of the lively peddler's pretty +stock. The woman's vanity made her an easy victim. The "descendant of +Thibetan Kings" could not, of course, speak intelligibly, but the yellow +sovereigns which he carried were the magic talisman which opened at once +the pretty maid servant's softened heart. + +It was a long half hour before the happy Nadine Johnstone returned to +join the kinsman of the Maharajah of Cashmere. Her eyes were gleaming +in a tender, dawning lovelight, her lips still thrilling with Alixe +Delavigne's warm kisses. In her heart, there still rang out her +mysterious visitor's last words: "Wait, darling! My own darling! Before +another month the secret Government agent will have officially visited +Andrew Fraser. We are all ready to act with crushing power when the +happy moment safely arrives. And you shall then hear all the story +of the past on my breast. You shall know how near you have been to +my loving heart in all these weary years. The story of your own dear +mother's life shall be my wedding present to you. Yet, a few days more +of watchful patience," softly sighed Alixe. + +"For we must not let Andrew Fraser wake for a moment from his frenzy of +Thibetan study until we can force from him the permission which we will +demand to visit you, and to free you from his control." + +Prince Djiddin paced solemnly back toward the Banker's Folly, leaving +the overjoyed maid to bundle up all her many gifts. A grateful wink to +Jules Victor from the Prince rewarded the disguised valet, as he gayly +sped away to meet his mistress, and to obtain her orders for the next +day. This artful game of mingled Literature and Love had so far been +safely played, but Jules Victor had secretly warned Nadine Johnstone +against any confidences with her pretty London sewing woman. "She has +found a sweetheart here. He is a curious looking fellow, he has money +and is liberal, and, so, what you tell her she will surely tell her +sweetheart. Trust to no one but the other maid, who is devoted to me," +proudly said the dapper little Frenchman. Nearing the mansion, on this +eventful morning, Prince Djiddin, at a hidden bend of a leafy path, +whispered to his fair conductress, "For God's sake, darling Nadine, do +not betray yourself! Those sweetly shining eyes are tell-tale stars! +Your heart happiness will struggle for expression. Go to your rooms at +once. Pour out your happy heart in song, lift up your voice. But, watch +over your very heart-throbs! Only a single fortnight more, darling, +and we will clip the claws of this old Scottish lion who has you in his +clutches! + +"Anstruther will soon make his coup de main, for Hawke has at last gone +back to India, and we will have a deadly grasp soon on the frightened +Andrew Fraser. He must either give up his legal tyranny and yield you to +us, or else face a future which would appall even a braver man. I dare +not to tell you our secret yet. Only the Viceroy and Anstruther know it. +And, now, darling, above all, be sure not to betray yourself, in London. +Remember that Anstruther will have you secretly watched, from this gate +to the very moment when you return to it! Any false play of old Fraser +would lead to his detention by the authorities, and you would be freed +at once by the law!" + +In the three weeks of their long masquerade, neither Prince Djiddin, +his scribe and interpreter, or else the two, as studious visitors, never +left Andrew Fraser alone a single moment! The old scholar was thrilled +at heart with Eric Murray's solemn rehearsing of Frank Halton's valuable +notebooks and ingenious theories. He eagerly enforced Prince Djiddin's +request that no curious strangers should be allowed to force themselves +on him, no matter of what lofty rank. Prince Djiddin was wrapped in the +veil of a solemn personal seclusion. + +And to this end Simpson, now the butler of the "Banker's Folly," was +especially assigned to wait upon the austere "Prince Djiddin" as his +"body servant." Only one visit of state was exchanged between "Prince +Djiddin" and General Wragge, Her Majesty's Commander of the Channel +Islands. The "Moonshee," with a sober dignity, had interpreted for the +British Commander of the Manche, and in due state, a return visite de +ceremonie to General Wagge's mansion and headquarters strangely found +Captain Anson Anstruther, A.D.C. of the Viceroy of India, a pilgrim to +St. Heliers, to arrange secretly for "Prince Djiddin's" safe conduct and +return to Thibet. The curious society crowd and St. Heliers's beautiful +women envied Captain Anstruther his three hours conference with the +"Asiatic lion." + +By day, in the vaulted library, Andrew Fraser pored over the weird +stories of Runjeet Singh, of Aurung zebe, of King Dharma, and the +Cashmerian priest who came with Buddha's first message to Thibet! The +story of the marvelous royal babe found floating in the Ganges, in a +copper box, a century before Christ, the tales of the "Konchogsum," the +"Buddha jewel," the "doctrine jewel," and the "priesthood jewel" fed the +burning fever of old Fraser's senile mind. He now felt that he lived but +only in the past. At night, he labored alone till the wee sma' hours, +depositing his precious manuscript in a secret hiding-place, where he +now scarcely glanced at the "insured packet," which had been such a +dangerous legacy of his dead brother. He had forgotten all his daily +life and even his fears for the future in the fierce exultation of +concealing his strangely gotten Thibetan lore from his rival, Alaric +Hobbs. + +"A remarkable mind," growled old Fraser, "but a Yankee--and so +untrustworthy." At last, unwillingly, with a quaking heart, lest Prince +Djiddin should decamp in his absence, he obeyed an imperative legal +summons and proceeded to London with Nadine Johnstone, leaving his house +under the charge of that sphinx-eyed Scottish spinster, Janet Fairbarn. + +To the "Moonshee," and to the rubicund veteran Simpson, the departing +Andrew Fraser said solemnly, "The Prince is to be the master here until +my return." With a joyous heart the London sewing girl embarked as Miss +Johnstone's one personal attendant, forgetful of her devoted lover, +Joseph Smith, who had temporarily disappeared, gone over to France "on +business." For she was herself going back to the dear delights of her +beloved London, and her liberal lover had already given her his address +at the Cor d'Abondance. + +"You must telegraph to me, Mattie, where you are staying, and when you +leave London to return. I may run over to Southampton and come back on +the same boat with you. Write to me, my own girl, every day, and here's +a five-pound note to buy your stamps with." On his sacred promise of +honor to write to her himself every day, and to let no black Gallic eyes +eclipse her "orbs of English blue," Mattie Jones allowed her lover an +extra liberal allowance of good-bye kisses. + +While Professor Andrew Fraser, Miss Nadine Johnstone, and the lovelorn +Mattie Jones, were escorted to London by a head clerk of the estate's +solicitors, Prince Djiddin and the "Moonshee" unbent their brows +and rested from the nervous strain of the three weeks of continued +deception. + +While the happy "Moonshee" escaped to his own fair bride, Prince +Djiddin, under Simpson's guidance, examined minutely the superb modern +castle, and even microscopically examined all the beautiful surroundings +of Rozel Head. "It may come in handy some day," mused Major Hardwicke, +"especially if we have to aid Nadine Johnstone to escape." The +pseudo-Prince was glad to often steal out alone to the headland +overlooking Rozel Pier, and there watch the French luggers beating to +seaward sailing like fierce cormorants along the wild coast of St. Malo. +He was glad to fill his lungs with the fresh, crisp, salt air, and to +commune in safety at length with the faithful Simpson. + +Securely hid in an angle of the cliff, they talked over all the mystery +of Hugh Fraser's bloody "taking off," and of the dreary three years of +Death in Life left before Nadine. + +"As for the old master, he was an out and out hard 'un," stolidly said +Simpson. "Who killed him, nobody knows and nobody cares. I've always +suspicioned that there Ram Lal and yer fancy friend, this Major Alan +Hawke." + +Hardwicke started in a sudden alarm. "Why so?" he demanded. + +"I believe that they tried to blackmail him about some of his old +Eurasian love affairs, or else some official secret they had spied out. +You see the niggers in the marble house were all Ram Lal's friends, and +any one of them could have left the murderers alone to do their work and +then let 'em out of the house. I believe that Hawke did the job, and Ram +Lal got away with some of the missing crown jewels. I'll tell you, Major +Harry, General Willoughby and the magistrates had me under fire there +for many a day." + +"See here, Simpson," said Major Hardwicke, "a man who would murder the +father, would rob the daughter! I'll give you a thousand pounds if you +instantly notify me, if Hawke ever is found creeping around here. There +may be some ugly old family secrets, you know." + +"I'm your man! Pay or no pay!" cried Simpson. "Only they think of giving +me a three months' leave on pay to visit my people." + +"Don't go! Don't go! till I tell you!" cried the Major. + +"I am glad this fellow Hawke, whom you say has been dropped, is now on +his way back to India," said Simpson. + +"Yes, but he might show up here devilish strangely," mused Hardwicke. +"He is just the fellow for a dirty fluke. Watch over Nadine, Simpson," +cried Hardwicke, "for I've sworn to make her my wife, within three +months, uncle or no uncle!" + +"I will," growled Simpson. "I've an old grudge to settle with the Major, +and I'll tell you some day," said the veteran. "Let us go in. There are +some curious people here. I'll tell you all when I'm your own man, and +the young mistress is Mrs. Major Hardwicke!" + +On this very evening, as the gray mists hid the Jersey outline from the +windows of Etienne Garcin's den, Jack Blunt and Major Alan Hawke were +seated in the Major's bedroom in the cabaret. They were cheerfully +discussing two steaming "grogs," but there was doubt and a shifty lack +of thorough confidence between the two scoundrels as yet. + +"So you think the boat will do?" flatly demanded Jack Blunt, offering +some exceptional cigars. + +"Just the thing," carefully replied the Major. "And your terms for a two +weeks charter?" + +"Twenty-five hundred francs for the boat and outfit--the same sum for +the gang, cash down. Two weeks, with the privilege of renewal for two +more-at the same rate," doggedly said Blunt. "Now, you've got to make +up your mind soon, Hawke," said Jack Blunt roughly. "I've told you the +whole lay, and so far, have given you the worth of your money. If you +can't 'come up,' then I'm going to run a lugger load of brandy and +'baccy over to the Irish coast. She's a sixty tonner and by God! fit +to cross the Atlantic! Old Garcin, too, is getting impatient. Our being +here, stops his 'regular business,'" gloomily said Blunt. + +Hawke's impassive face angered Jack Blunt as he continued: "And you say +that I can trust Garcin's brother Andre down at Isle Dial." + +"Yes. Even if we had to stow one or both of these fools away down +there." + +"I am sure that Angelique and I could hide them away for a year or else +safely forever there," cried Jack Blunt, in a hoarse whisper. "It's only +a matter of money and damme if I believe you've got any! If you fool +us, you'll never get out of here alive!" Major Hawke only smiled, and +dropped his hands lightly on the butts of two heavy bull-dog revolvers +ready there in his velveteen trousers' pockets. + +"Jack! Don't be an ass!" he said. "I play this game to win. Do you think +that I would bring my ready money into this murder pen? Now, tell me +what you will take in cash, to tell me where the old miser has hidden +the stuff I want? And how much will you take to do the job? I want to +know when they return, and I want your help and the aid of the gang. You +are to crack the crib--alone--while they are away, and then we, perhaps, +may meet them, on their way home. The lugger lying off in that cove to +the north of Rozel Head, below the old martello tower." + +"Have you been over there?" amazedly cried Blunt. + +"Oh! I know every inch of the place of old," laughed Hawke, still with +his hands on his revolvers. + +"Well, Major," said Jack, pouring out a cognac, "I'll take, first, five +hundred pounds cash for the information. Another five hundred for the +job, with a quarter of what we get. And this second sum you can put up +with Etienne Garcin. You can pay him now the two hundred for the men +and the boat, out of that, and give me the rest of the odd change later. +We'll never lose sight of each other after we start. For the Hirondelle +will not leave me in the lurch. I've sworn never to wear the widow's +jewelry again." Jack Blunt's eyes were devilish in their glare. + +"So, it's five hundred pounds down now, and I can order the expedition +on, after the payment. You'll give me on the instant all the news from +Mattie Jones of the intended return, for I propose to have some fun with +the Professor." + +"Honor bright," said Jack forcibly. "For we will all hang or 'go to +quod' together, if there's a break once that we begin. We had better +start when I get her next letter, for Mattie is to write me to the +Jersey Arms and then telegraph there, too, from Southampton. I'll have +one of the crew pipe them off from the pier home to the Tolly, and a +half dozen of the boys will be in hiding, ready for work. So you can +work your scheme as you will." + +"It's a go, then. Come on, now, and get your money," said Hawke, as +he led the way to the nearest fiacre. In ten minutes, Alan Hawke +disappeared into the railway waiting-room, and returned after a visit to +the luggage store-room. Jack Blunt was astonished at his pal's evident +distrust. "Here you are, Jack," the Major cordially cried, as they +sought the rear room of the neat cafe opposite the gare. "Now, count +over your five hundred pounds. I'll give Garcin the other sum in your +presence. Then, I suppose that I am safe," he coldly smiled. "Tell me +now where has old Fraser hidden the stuff." + +"In his study on the first floor, in a secret hiding place. The girl +Mattie has watched the old fellow through the keyhole. I know just where +to easily break in on the ground floor. These damned Hindus are far away +in the other wing, so there's only Simpson to hinder. Now, I'll have a +couple of the boys pipe him off at the Jersey Arms. Old Janet Fairbarn's +strait-laced ways make him sneak out late at night for his toddy. When +he is 'well loaded' and tired with climbing up the cliff, they will +follow him and fix him, for good. One of the boys will come along with +me, to my hiding place, and be 'outside fence' while the two others +will watch the road and the gardener's quarters. The three men are two +hundred yards away, in the porter's lodge. The old Scotch woman +sleeps like a post. Then I make my way when I've done, at once to the +Hirondelle, alone and hide my plant. The men relieved can rally on your +party at the old martello tower, and so we will be ready to sail when +your part of the job is done. Two on board, three with me, nine with +you, will be plenty! My work is a quiet job! I can do the whole trick in +five minutes! Yours, I leave for yourself. I know just where to lay my +hand." + +"But, should any trouble occur?" said Alan Ha wke, "any outcry, any +pursuit?" + +"Then I will bury the stuff on the shore, saunter back openly to the +Jersey Arms, and just stay there as friend Joseph Smith, till I can get +over to Granville by the steamer. The Hirondelle will not be seen by any +one; there are fifty luggers always hovering around. She will first land +us all in Bouley Bay in the morning, or drop half the men off at St. +Catherine's Bay in the early afternoon. They all know every inch of +the ground." In half an hour the chums in villainy dined gayly with +"Angelique," and a running mate, rejoicing in the cognomen of "Petite +Diable Jaune." The next day, a secret meeting with a confidential Jewish +money-lender, enabled Major Alan Hawke to safely market the half of the +jewels which he had extorted from Ram Lal Singh. In a waist belt, he +wore a thousand pounds of Banque of France notes neatly concealed. Jack +Blunt and Garcia had earned an extra bonus of a hundred pounds each in +the jewel sale, and Alan Hawke laughed, as he laid away four thousand +pounds in his safely deposited luggage, in the railway office. "I can +trust to the French Republic--one and indivisible," he said, as he sent +a loving letter to Justine Delande, and then mailed her the receipt +for his valuable package, with his last wishes, "in case of accident." +"These fellows might kill me for this, if they knew of it!" he growled. + +Three days later, the stanch Hirondelle was beating up and down +Granville Bay, while Alan Hawke awaited the letter of the faithful +Mattie Jones. He had furnished the twenty-pound note which made that +natty damsel doubly anxious to meet her faithful lover "Joseph Smith," +to whom she now dispatched the news of the immediate return of the +anxious Professor. Fraser was burning to take up the gathering of +Thibetan pearls of hidden knowledge, while the artful and restless +Professor Alaric Hobbs was stealthily waiting Prince Djiddin's +departure, but kept busied with some personal tidal and magnetic +observations on Rozel Head. In the deserted second floor of an old +martello tower, he had made a lair for his evening star and planetory +researches, and the ingenious Yankee concealed a rope ladder in the +clinging ivy which enabled him to cut off all intrusion on his eyrie. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE FRENCH FISHER BOAT, "HIRONDELLE." + + + +It was four o'clock of a wild November afternoon when Major Alan +Hawke, cowering in a hooded Irish frieze ulster, crawled deeper into a +cave-like recess in the little path leading from the Jersey Arms up to +Rozel Head. The blinding rain was thrown in wild gusts by the howling +winds, now lashing the green channel to a roughened foam. A sudden and +terrific storm was coming on. + +Half an hour before the disguised adventurer could see the ominous +double storm signals flying in warning on the scattered coast guard +stations, a signal of danger sent on from the Corbieres Lighthouse. But +now not a single sail was to be seen, and huge banks of heavy blackening +mists were rolling over the stormy channel. Not a stray sail was in +sight! + +"Where in hell is Jack?" raged the excited conspirator, swallowing half +the contents of his brandy flask. As he returned it, the butts of his +two revolvers and the handle of a huge couteau de chasse were plainly +visible. "The fiends seem to be let loose to-day," he growled. "It would +be the night of all nights! Ha!" The discharged officer noted two men in +sou'westers and oilskins now toiling up the path. And his heart leaped +up in a wild joy. + +In another moment, he half dragged his drenched companions into the +weather-worn cave. "What news?" he hoarsely demanded of Blunt, as he +extended his flask. + +"The best of all news," cheerily replied the mobs-man. "Here is Antoine. +He raced down from St. Heliers, in a covered fly, and has brought the +very latest news from Fort Regent. The Stella has lost the tide, cannot +enter, and has, therefore, turned south, running down the channel. +She can not dare to enter St. Heliers now till between ten and eleven +to-night. Of course, she will not put back to Southampton, in the teeth +of this southwest gale, the very heaviest known for twenty years. She +has signaled the 'Corbieres,' and they have telegraphed over to the +office at the pier. There's Mattie Jones's telegram. The three we want +are on board, sure enough. And, thank God! the Hirondelle is riding safe +and easy around the point. It's the one night of a million for my job +and for yours." + +"What's your final plan? We must get out of here soon," growled Hawke, +shaking off the pouring rain like a burly water dog. "I have my two +men already watching the little gardener's hut in the Tropical Gardens, +where I hid my cracksman's outfit. Old Simpson is boozing away down at +the Jersey Arms. I heard him tell pretty Ann, the barmaid, that he would +have to be home by midnight, for the 'old man' would surely arrive in +the morning. Now, will you stay here with this man, and 'do up' old +Simpson? Mind you, there must be no stab or bullet wound. The 'life +preserver,' and, then over with him! They will only think that rum and +the fall did the business. + +"I will make straight for the Hirondelle when I am done, and send a man +to report to you at the old martello tower, where your gang are to meet +you. This man can get over to the boat now and warn them to show up, +carefully, one by one, and hide around there till dark. Not in the tower +itself, for some of the coast-guard roundsmen might take shelter there +and pitch into them for smugglers. I'll stay here till he comes back. If +old Simpson should come along too early, why, you and I could hide him +away here till it is dark enough to throw him over. And you'll surely +catch old Fraser and the two women on the road between eleven and two. +It will take over an hour to drive from the pier in this weather. + +"All right!" sternly said Hawke. "Send your man right away. I will tell +them what to do later, when I meet them. Let him send the boatswain and +two men to meet us here, and wait and hide with the others around the +tower. I will hunt in the bushes till I run on them. Stay! He can come +back here to me with the three!" + +It was already dark when the four men returned to where Alan Hawke lay +perdu with his murderous mate. Not a light was now to be seen but the +one glimmer below in the "Public," on the Rozel pier. And the very last +words had been spoken between "Gentleman Jack Blunt" and his crafty +employer. "Now, remember," said Jack, "Antoine here goes down with +orders to come up the cliff ahead of old Simpson. You'll surely be +warned of his approach. You can give the boatswain his orders; there'll +be three to one. Your man leads you to your men at the tower. And I am +to crack that crib and make for the Hirondelle! + +"If chased, the boat runs out to sea, and you are both only honest, +French fishermen storm-driven ashore in search of supplies!" + +"That's it, Jack! You are to wait for me, if the house is not alarmed. +I'll bring some 'passengers,' perhaps, on board. If I fail, you are just +to run for Granville. We will all meet at Etienne's. I've got money to +take care of all my men. You are to make no miss. I can wait and try +again if I am disappointed. I'll take no chances. With your success, +I can hold the old miser down, and your two thousand pounds is safe; +besides, the swag is your security. You see, he will never dare to make +any public outcry, for he secretly fears the Government! We take only +the safest chances. He may stay down there all night at St. Heliers, and +your lucky chance will never come again. Go ahead, and do not fail!" + +The two men grasped hands in an excited clinch. "Do up Simpson for a +dead man, and no mistake!" hoarsely whispered Jack Blunt. + +"I'll fix the old blanc-bec," growled the boatswain, as the spy slid +down the hill toward Rozel Pier. + +"Take my flask, Jack!" said Alan Hawke. + +"I don't drink on duty!" simply replied Blunt. "I shall get at work by +eleven, and you'll hear from me by midnight! Then, look out only for +yourself! The boat is mine, if there's any alarm. I'll send her back +soon to Rozel Pier, if I have to run out to sea, and you are to be only +honest fishermen. How long shall I wait in the cove for you?" + +"Sail at three o'clock, if I'm not on board! Remember the hail, 'Saint +Malo, Ahoy!'" + +"This is dead square, for life and death!" cried Blunt. + +"Dead square," echoed the renegade officer. Darkness now doubled its +black folds, and the roar of the surf boomed sullenly upon the rocky +Rozel beach. Crouching in their cave, the two French thugs eagerly +watched the winding path below, and gathered a resentful vulpine +ferocity in their hearts. With knife in one hand, and the heavy +lead-weighted blackjacks in readiness, they cowered upon the path, +waiting for the old soldier, whose thickened eyes were still sullenly +gazing at the dingy clock in the Jersey Arms. He hated to leave the +pretty, white-armed Ann. + +Ten o'clock! The red-coated soldiery of Fort Regent and Elizabeth +Castle, the guardians of Mont Orgueil, were all wrapped in slumber, save +the poor, shivering sentinels. Ten o'clock! The drenched tide waiters +at St. Heliers pier anathematized the still distant Stella, whose lights +now blinked feebly, laboring far out at sea. "An hour yet to wait!" +growled the bedraggled customs officers. Ten o'clock! The good burghers +of St. Heliers had given up their whist, and taken their last drop of +"hot and hot." In St. Aubin's Bay, from Corbin's Light, from mansion in +town, and cot among the Druidical rocks, anxious eyes now gazed out on +the wild sea, where Andrew Fraser tried to calm the terrified Nadine +Johnstone. + +Mattie Jones was lying senseless, a helpless mass of cowering humanity, +while the anxious captain and pilot vigorously swore, as became hardy +British seamen. The "Chief" had piped up "that the engines would be out +of her," if they shipped another sea like the last. Prayer in the cabin, +curses on the deck, fear in the hold, and misery everywhere; the stout +Stella struggled shoreward, toward her dangerous landing at the pier, +whose sheer sixty feet of masonry wall was now lashed by the wild waves. +Black waters rose and fell in great surges. The shivering coastguards +in the line of garrisoned martello towers, vowed that no such night had +ever been seen since the "Great Storm." + +Prince Djiddin had also given up all hope of the return of the faithful +Moonshee whose plea of "business," had led him away to the society of +his brave and beautiful bride. There was but one more day of "home life" +before resuming the hoodwinking of the mentally excited historian of +Thibet. "It's a fearful night on the Channel," thought Major Hardwicke +as he waited in vain for Simpson's return to act as valet de chambre. + +"God help all at sea! It's a fearful night," Prince Djiddin murmured +as he closed his eyes, little reckoning that the beautiful girl whom he +loved more than life was tempest-tossed off the Corbieres, while poor +Mattie Jones literally "sickened on the heaving wave." + +The great house was lone and still, and for the first time Prince +Djiddin reflected upon the exposed situation of the old miser's home. +"Poor old chap," he muttered, as he closed his eyes. "Somebody might +come in and throttle him some night! No one would be here to stop it. +I must speak to Simpson, yes, speak to Simpson--that is, if he is ever +sober enough to listen. Poor old soldier! He will have his drink!" + +There was a singular improvised bivouac going on in the ruined martello +tower where Professor Alaric Hobbs had set up his instruments to take +some interesting observations upon an occultation of Venus. + +A coast-guard station at Bouley Bay and St. Catherine's Head rendered +the further occupancy of the old martello tower at Rozel Head +unnecessary, and only a few rats and bats now resented Alaric Hobbs' +sequestration of the second story. He meditated a comparative memoir +upon the "Tides of Fundy Bay, and the Channel Islands," with a treatise +upon "Contracted Ocean Surface Currents." Astronomer, hydrographer, +geologist, and all-round savant, his lank form was already familiar to +the Channel Islanders. And, like the wind, he veered around "where he +listed." + +"Great Jupiter aid us!" cried the son of Minerva, "Venus is unpropitious +to-night. All my trouble is vain." For when the black storm broke upon +the little channel islet, Alaric Hobbs saw no way of a comfortable +return to the Royal Victoria at St. Heliers. "I might leave all here +and claim old Fraser's hospitality for a night. No one can get up to the +second story," mused Hobbes, who now regretted having ordered the fly to +come for him only at day-break. "Here is a wild night of inky darkness. +The star occults only at three A.M. This hurricane ruins all. And old +man Fraser may not have returned from London." So with a basket of +luncheon, a roll of blankets, and a bottle of cocktails, the volunteer +astronomer reluctantly sought the dryest corner of the second floor +of the old tower for a night's camp. A square trapdoor hole whence the +moldering ladder had fallen away, was in the middle of the old barrack +room floor over the four embrasured gun room below. "I'll just draw +up my ladder, have a pipe, and take a nap. It may clear off. If so the +observation goes, and then the highest tide of the year, I can get the +register in the morning." + +He had brought down his light instrument from the battlemented parapet +for safety, and now, pulling up his rope ladder, he coiled it on the +floor. "I can drop down below if I wish to if the rain should drive me +out of here," he cried as he curled up like a sleeping coyote. + +Below him the heavy door of the tower swung on its massive hinges, +banging and creaking mournfully when a swirling gust set it swinging. +The man who had slept out on the Lolo trail and bivouacked alone in the +canyon of the Colorado, laughed the howling storm to scorn. "Better than +being out in a blizzard in the Bad Lands!" he gayly cried, as he dozed +away, having finished a good meal and lowered the level of the "Lone +Wolf" cocktails. From sheer frontier habit, he laid his heavy revolver +near at hand, and his old-time hunting knife. "You see, you don't +know what emergencies may arise," often sagely observed Alaric Hobbes. +"Thrice is he armed that hath two six shooters and a knife!" + +When half-past ten rang out from the old French hall clock at the +Banker's Folly, Janet Fairbarn, a gray ghastly figure, made her last +timid rounds of the lower part of the mansion. Her maids were all snugly +nested for the night. Simpson, the erring one, she believed to be in +close attendance upon that foreign heathen, Prince Djiddin, in their +second-story wing. Miss Nadine and her maid had locked their apartments +on departure, the Professor's study was the only room open and vacant, +and so with a last timid glance at the darkened halls and great salons +of the main floor, the Scotch spinster retired to her rooms adjoining +the Master's study and bedrooms on the ground floor. + +Minded to "read a chapter" and to "compose herself for the night," the +housekeeper sat late rocking alone in her rooms, while the hollow tick +of the hall clock sounded doubly lonely in the cheerless night. The +modern castle's walls were proof against the wildest rain and even the +blows of a catapult, and so the dashing storm never even stirred the +heavy leaded diamonded panes. "Thanks be to God, auld Andrew never +ventured to cross on this raging sea! He'll no be here the morrow, +neither. I must send down for telegrams in the morning," she mused when +she had finally laid her spectacles across her Bible. + +It was nearing eleven o'clock when the two half-drowned thugs hiding on +Rozel Head were roused by their returning mate stumbling wildly into +the muddy cavern in the cliff. They sprang up as he muttered, "On vient, +tout pres d'ici! Soyous tous prets!" A bottle extended was half drained +by the two ruffians, who then eagerly loosened their black jaws with a +mad desire to revenge their cheerless vigil. + +"Lei has," whispered the spy, pointing to a black object creeping +unsteadily up the steep path--Simpson, dreaming still of pretty +Ann's rounded white arms! It was indeed Simpson, with unsteady +steps, breasting the hill. A fear of Andrew Fraser's arrival led the +half-fuddled old veteran to hasten homeward now. "I can say the telegram +was late," he chuckled. "They never will know." And then feeling for his +pocket-flask, filled by handsome Ann, "as a last night-cap," he turned +into the little cavern, where the school-boys, on a Saturday outing, +often played "pirates," for his breath was gone and his eyes were +drenched with salt scud. + +Then, a half smothered cry arose, as the three waiting thugs leaped +upon their prey. Simpson was taken off his guard! His muscles were all +relaxed by drink. He fell prone as the heavy black jacks descended upon +his head, muffled in the hood of his "dreadnaught." + +"Ah! V'la un affaire bien fini! Allons! Jettez-le!" growled the grim +boatswain, dropping his loaded club, as all three spurned the prostrate +body, and then, with a heavy lurch, it bounded off the sodden bank +plunging downward, over the cliff. + +For a moment, there was no sound! Then skirting the furze bushes of the +headland, the three assassins dragged their stiffened limbs along in the +darkness, hastening to where the stout Hirondelle rocked easily in the +dead water of the one protected cove to the north of Rozel Point. + +They were all safely stowed away in the forecastle before half an +hour, and, with grunts of satisfaction, examined the largess of their +mysterious employer, "C'est un gaillard--un vrai coq d'Anglais!" growled +the boatswain, as his chums produced another bottle, and the three +doffed their drenched clothing. Then cognac drowned their scruples +against murder--for the price was in their pockets. + +It was half past eleven o'clock when gaunt old Andrew Fraser led his +half-fainting ward ashore from the Stella, at St. Heliers pier. But +one covered carriage had remained on the storm-beaten pier, braving the +rigors of this terrible night. "Never mind the luggage, man," shouted +the Professor to the driver. "Here's ten pounds to drive us over to +Rozel, to my home! And, I'll bait yere horses, put ye up, and give ye +a tip to open yere eyes." The hardy islander whipped up his horses, +and soon cautiously climbed the hill of St. Saviours, crawling along +carefully over the wind-swept mows toward St. Martin's Church. The +exhausted maid was fast asleep. Nadine Johnstone herself lay in a +semi-trance, while the fretful old scholar consulted his watch by the +blinking carriage lights, and then wildly urged the driver on. It was +long after midnight when they reached St. Martin's Church, with three +miles yet to go. A dreary and a dismal ride! + +And all was silent, in the Banker's Folly where the old hall clock +loudly rang out twelve, rousing Mistress Janet Fairbarn from her first +beauty sleep. She started in terror as an unfamiliar sound broke upon +the haunting stillness of the night. The hollow sound of a smothered +cough in the Master's study, a man's deep-toned cough, unmistakably +masculine, aroused the spinster whose whole life had been haunted by +phantom burglars. + +For the first time since her coming to the Folly, her loneliness +appalled her. "My God! There is the plate! The master away, and no +one near." Her nerves were thrilling with nature's indefinable protest +against the dangers of the creeping enemy of the night. A sudden ray of +hope lit up her heart. "Had the Professor returned?" He had the keys. +It would be his way. Yes, there was the sign of his presence. And, +so, timorously moving on tip-toe, she crept down the hall in her white +robes, and barefooted. Yes, he had returned, for she had left the +study door open. It was closed now. There was a pencil of light shining +through the keyhole, and, yet, silently she stood at the door, and +listened. There was the sound of muffled blows within. A panic seized +upon her. "Thieves, thieves--at last!" + +Scarcely daring to breathe, she fled, ghostlike, up the stair, and in +a wild paroxysm of fear dashed into the room at the angle of the hall, +where "Prince Djiddin" lay extended upon his couch of Oriental shawls +and cushions. He was restless, and still dreaming, open-eyed, of his +absent love. + +The young man leaped to his feet as the frantic woman, with affrighted +gestures, besought his aid and protection, pointing down to the +stairway. Hardwicke's ready nerve failed him not. + +Grasping a heavy revolver from under the pillow, a mechanical +arrangement, a memory of his Indian life in the midst of untrusted +subordinates, the officer seized in his left hand the Sikh tulwar, +which was his own "property saber" of Thibetan royalty. Its naked, +wedge-shaped blade was as keen as that of a razor. + +Pointing to the key, he mutely signed to the woman to lock herself in. +Then down the stair he crept, ready to face any unseen enemy. The light +streamed out from Janet Fairbarn's open door. "Perhaps it was only old +Simpson, drunk, or trying to gain a surreptitious entrance," he mused. +But the woman had pointed to the light and the keyhole of the door. +"Some one is in the old man's study!" Yes! There was the little +tell-tale pencil of light flickering on the darkened wall opposite. And +Hardwicke scented danger. "Was it Alan Hawke?" + +Light-footed as the panther, the young soldier crept to the heavy oaken +door. A moment in his crouching position showed to him a man, with his +back toward him, raising one of the great red tiles of the study floor. +Yes! There was only a moment of suspense, for the tile was slid aside, +and a package was then eagerly clutched. With one mighty leap, the Major +bounded to the man's side as the door swung open. The cold steel +muzzle pressed the ruffian's temple as Hardwicke's hand closed upon +the burglar's throat. There lay the sealed canvas package, covered +with official Indian seals. In an instant, the Major's knee was on the +scoundrel's breast. + +"One single sound, and I blow your brains out!" hissed the disguised +Englishman. And, astounded at the apparition of a stalwart Hindu +warrior, Jack Blunt's teeth chattered with fear. Dragging the +half-throttled wretch to his feet, Hardwicke tore off the sash of his +Indian sleeping robe and bound the villain's arms behind him. Picking up +his saber, he then cut the bell cord and lashed the fellow's legs to a +chair. Then, giving the canvas package a closer glance of inspection, +Hardwicke pressed the edge of his tulwar to Jack Blunt's throat, when +he had closed the window, half raised, and shut the shutter so neatly +forced with a jimmy. "What's in that package?" he said, with a sudden +divination of Alan Hawke's overmastering influence. + +"A lot of valuable jewels," the sneaking ruffian answered. "If you'll +turn me loose, I'll now save what's dearer to you than all this diamond +stuff that I was sent for. I've watched you here for three weeks. You're +after the girl. By God! Hawkes got her now!" + +"Do you speak the truth?" said Hardwicke. "If you deceive me, I'll +butcher you! Speak quickly! You've got just one chance to save +transportation for life now!" + +The coward thief muttered: "The old man is on his way back from St. +Heliers, and Hawke's got a dozen French fellows to run the girl off and +perhaps 'do up' the old man. But he wanted this same stuff. He's a downy +cove!" + +While Jack Blunt worked upon the lover's fears, "Prince Djiddin's" +hands, on an exploring tour, drew out a knife and two revolvers from the +captured burglar's wideawake coat. He picked up the bulky bundle which +the thief had dropped, and saw the bank seals of Calcutta and the +insurance labels thereon. "I'll give you a show. Keep silent!" cried +Hardwicke as he cut the cords on the fellow's legs. Then grasping him +by the neck, he dragged him bodily to the door of the "Moonshee's" room, +where he thrust him in. Then he locked the door, and knocking on his +own, induced the frightened Janet Fairbarn to open at last. The poor +woman screamed as "Prince Djiddin" calmly said: "Go and rouse up the +girls. Send one of them to bring the gardener and his two men over here. +I've got the thief locked up." + +"My God! who are you?" screamed the affrighted Scotswoman, as the Prince +dropped into English. + +"I'm an English officer, madam. Don't be a fool. Rouse these people. +There's been one crime already committed, and there may be another. +There's no one else in the house. Get the three men over here at once to +me. I'll stand guard over this thief." Then as Janet Fairbarn fled away +shrieking and yelling, Harry Hardwicke locked the recovered package in +his own trunk, which stood in his room. Bounding across the hall, he +then dragged his captive over the way and thrust him in a helpless heap +into a chair. Before Hardwicke was dressed, he had extorted the secret +of the rendezvous at the old Martello tower. + +"Now, sir, no one has seen you yet," said Hardwicke. "If you guide me +there and save her, you shall cut stick. If you betray me, then, by God, +you shall die on the spot." A groan of acquiescence sealed the bargain, +as the three gardeners, armed with bili-hooks and pruning-knives, now +burst into the room. "One of you stay here with the women. Light up the +whole house now. Let no one leave it till I return. Now, you two, each +take a pistol. Get your lanterns, at once, and a good club each. Come +back instantly here." + +The procession was descending the stair, when there was heard a vigorous +knocking on the front door. As it opened, the excited "Moonshee" +leaped into the hallway. "What's up?" he cried, forgetting his assumed +character. "I came over, for I had a telegram that the Stella was in +with old Fraser and Nadine. The General sent a special messenger to me." + +"Run up and get my saber and your own pistol and join me! There's foul +play here! The house is all right! Come on, for God's sake!" shouted +Harry Hardwicke. He led his captive by the trebled bell cord passed with +double hitches around the burglar's pinioned arms, and the Moonshee +now leaped back--ready to take a man's part--for he easily divined the +treachery. + +Out into the wild night they hurried, leaving behind them the barricaded +"Banker's Folly," now gleaming with lights. "Where in hell is Simpson?" +demanded Eric Murray, as he struggled along clutching the gleaming +tulwar tightly in his hand. + +"Drunk at Rozel Pier, I suppose!" bitterly answered Hardwicke. "Come +here and just prick this fellow up into a trot!" + +As they hastened on, Prince Djiddin succeeded at last in convincing the +two gardeners that he was not a ghost, but a reincarnated Englishman who +had been larking disguised as a Hindu Prince. "What's the devilish game, +anyway?" puffed out Captain Murray, still in the dark, as they struggled +on in the darkness along the road. + +"Hawke has tried to kidnap Nadine!" hastily cried Hardwicke. + +"My God! what's that?" They soon came up to an overturned carriage. The +traces had been cut, and the horses and driver were not visible. The +gardener's lantern showed to them only the insensible form of the maid, +Mattie Jones, who lay moaning in a sheer exhaustion of terror. "How far +is it to the tower?" almost yelled Hardwicke, his heart frozen with a +new terror. "They have murdered her, my poor darling!" + +"The tower is now about three hundred yards away!" said the gardener, as +Hardwicke sternly dragged his reluctant prisoner along. + +"On, on!" he cried. "We may even now be too late!" They were only a +hundred yards from the tower, when the sound of rapid pistol shots was +heard, wafted down the wind, and a confused sound of cries on the cliff +was wafted to them, as a dozen twinkling lantern lights appeared on the +brow of the bluff. + +"It's a rescue party!" joyously cried Murray. "Hurry! hurry on to the +tower!" + +With cheering cries, the pursuers neared the old Martello tower, and +a clump of dark forms vanished quickly into the shrubbery as the three +lanterns were flashed full upon the door. Eric Murray, sword in hand, +was the first man at the entrance, as a desperate assailant leaped from +the narrow door and sprang upon him, pistol in hand. There was the +snap of a clicking lock and then the sound of a hollow groan, for the +robber's pistol had missed fire, and Captain Murray ran the wretch +through the body with the razor-bladed tulwar! + +There was a silence broken only by the trampling of approaching feet, as +Red Eric flashed the light in the face of his fallen foe, for the storm +had spent its fury and the stars were gleaming out at last. + +"By God! It's Hawke, himself!" he shrieked. "Alan Hawke, a midnight +robber!" But, Harry Hardwicke, with the two men at his back, had dashed +on into the gun-room of the old tower, leaving Murray with his prostrate +foe--empty, not a sign of any human presence. + +With one wild cry Hardwicke turned to the door, "Nadine! Nadine!" he +yelled, and his voice sounded unearthly in the night winds. + +And then, from over their heads, a cheery hail replied, "All right, +on deck! The lady is safe up here with me. I am Professor Hobbs, the +American. Who are you?" + +"Friends! friends!" cried Hardwicke. "The house was attacked! Where is +the Professor?" + +"I reckon they have carried him off!" the nasal voice of the American +answered. "If they've killed him it's a great loss to science, you bet! +I'm coming down." And while the gun-room was soon filled with a motley +crowd from Rozel Pier, Professor Alaric Hobbs long legs dropped dangling +down his rope ladder. He gazed, open-mouthed, at the anglicized Prince +Djiddin. + +"Who are you--friends, also?" now demanded the astonished "Prince +Djiddin" of the rescuers. + +"We are friends of Simpson!" cried the nearest. "The smugglers +bludgeoned him and then threw him off the cliff, but the banks were soft +and wet, and his heavy coat saved him. He sent us up here to the rescue, +for he crawled half a mile on his hands and knees. We've found the old +Professor tied to a tree over there in the bushes. They are bringing him +here. Simpson is at the 'Jersey Arms,' all safe." + +"See here, stranger!" demanded the American, still standing amazed, +pistol in hand, "I winged a couple of these damned robbers; they tried +their best to get the girl away from me. I'm a pretty good shot. Now, +are you a prince or a fraud? I suspicioned you from the first! If you +are a fraud, then the History of Thibet is all damned rot! I suppose +that you were just 'girl hunting.' The girl's yere sweetheart. I see it +all now. Hoodwinked the old man! Who's this fellow that you've got tied +up there, anyway? One of the Johnny-Bull-Jesse-James gang?" + +"Why! It's Joe Smith, our friend!" chimed out a dozen friendly voices. +Then Harry Hardwicke stepped up to the shivering wretch who stood gazing +on Alan Hawke, now propped up on a doubled-up coat, and rapidly bleeding +to death. "I'll keep your secret, and save you yet, if you will disclose +the whole, and keep mum!" Jack Blunt nodded, and hung his head in shame. + +But, on his knees beside the dying man, Eric Murray bent down his head +to listen to the final adieu of the dying wanderer, whose luck had +turned at last. "Justine Delande is to have all! The drafts, and my +money, at Granville. Murray, I'll tell you everything now. Ram Lal Singh +murdered old Hugh Johnstone to get the jewels that Johnstone stole. The +same ones that this old scoundrel, Fraser, here, is hiding." The red +foam gathered thickly on Hawke's trembling lips. "Tell Major Hardwicke +all! He's a good fellow! The knife that Ram Lal killed old Fraser with +is in my own trunk at Granville, stored in Railroad Bureau. He got in +through the window. I was in the garden, and caught him coming out. I +was watching old Johnstone, for fear he would give me the slip. I didn't +tell--I wanted to come over here and get the jewels myself. Hang old Ram +Lal! He's a cowardly murderer! Telegraph to the Viceroy to arrest the +jewel seller; he will break down and confess at once. Make him pay poor +Justine Delande all my drafts--Johnstone gave him that money for me to +keep me silent about the stolen crown jewels. Now--now, all grows dark! +Lift me up high--higher!" he gasped. "I played a hard game, but the luck +turned--turned at last! That woman, Berthe Louison was too much--too +much for me! Poor Justine! Tell her--tell her--" His voice grew fainter +and fainter. + +"Do you know this man, Hawke?" whispered Hardwicke, forcing Jack Blunt's +face down to the dying renegade's glance. + +"Never--saw him--before!" gasped Alan Hawke. "Poor Justine, tell her--" +and with a sighing gasp, his jaw dropped, and at their feet, the fool of +fortune lay dead, with a last lie on his lips. + +"By God! He was dead game!" muttered Jack Blunt, kneeling there, by the +stiffening form of the wreck of a once brilliant Queen's officer. He +dared not lift his craven eyes! + +"He had the making of a gallant soldier in him!" cried Hardwicke, as he +turned to the American, and motioned to the rope ladder. "We must not +let Miss Johnstone see the body. Some of you run and get a ladder or +some other means to aid her descent. And rouse up the nearest farm +people. Get a carriage and bring the old Professor and maid here!" + +While a dozen volunteers darted away to bring a conveyance, the rest +hastily covered Hawke's body with their coats. The gun-room was now lit +up, and in five minutes the waylaid carriage was drawn by hand to the +door of the lonely tower. Within it lay the bruised and exhausted +old scholar, bareheaded and ghastly, in the light of the flickering +lanterns, while pretty Mattie Jones, with a shriek of terror, ran to the +side of her sweetheart, his arms still bound with Prince Djiddin's sash. +Jack Blunt's "swell mob" assurance stood him in good stead. + +"It's all a mistake, my girl," bluntly said the mobs-man, feeling safe +now that Alan Hawke's lips were sealed in death. While the old Professor +was revived with copious draughts of "usquebaugh," Jack Blunt saw the +flash below him, on the darkened seas, of a red light above a white one. +And he heaved a great sigh of relief, + +"There goes the Hirondelle now, driving along out to sea with the whole +gang," he murmured. "Now, by God, I am safe if this yellow masquerader +only plays the man!" There was a hubbub of cackling voices, as on the +night when the geese saved Rome! Above them, on the barrack room floor +of the Martello tower, Harry Hardwicke was already holding Nadine +Johnstone's drooping head upon his breast, while the lanky American +gazed at the strange picture before him. The girl's arms were clasped +around her lover's neck. "Do not leave me--not a moment!" she moaned. +Alaric Hobbs, with quick forethought, tossed his blankets down below, +with a significant gesture. + +"Darling! You will be mine for life, now!" cried the happy soldier, as +he covered her shivering form with his coat. Alaric Hobbs had promptly +descended and hastened the necessary preparations for departure. "Damn +the explanations. Let's get the whole party out of this!" he said to +Captain Murray, and then rejoined Hardwicke. + +"Tell me all, quickly!" said Hardwicke. "I am a Queen's officer and +shall telegraph to the Home Guards and send for General Wragge. I must +report this by cable to the Indian Government. There is justice yet to +be done!" + +"I was taking some private star observations here," whispered Hobbs, +bending down at Hardwicke's warning signal. "Storm bound, I waited for +the return of my wagon at dawn. I was aroused from sleep by the sounds +of a struggle below. + +"Some one had dragged this young woman screaming and wailing into the +tower below. She soon fainted. I heard the followers tell the leader of +the gang that the coachman had just cut the traces and decamped with the +horses. He then bade them gather all the gang waiting in hiding so as to +carry her down to some boat below, and then closing the door, he stood +on guard outside. They were, however, baffled. Some of the scoundrels +had taken the alarm and fled, seeing the lights of the other party +moving up from the pier. Then the desperate leader tried to lead a party +to steal a horse from the nearest farmhouse. They were busied in their +quarreling. I dropped my ladder down, and while they wrangled, cried +softly to the imprisoned woman to mount the ladder. She knew my voice +at once, as I had been a visitor at her uncle's house. With my help, she +got up into the barrack room, and, you bet, I quickly pulled up my +rope ladder. In ten minutes more, the door was opened. The trick was +discovered. They tried a pyramid of men to reach the nine feet. But I +waited till they were all good and blown with their exertions and then, +shot a couple of them! You'll find those fellows lingering somewhere in +the bushes. I had stowed the girl safely away in the middle of the pier, +over the doorway, between two pillars. She was game enough. I let them +just shoot away a bit. I kept my powder and lead to kill. I've even now +four cartridges left. + +"But when you came on the ground, the whole coward gang skedaddled at +once, and the brave chap you killed got his dose for good, for he stood +his ground like a man! The girl didn't bother me. She fainted in good +shape when the close fighting began. I was a dead winner from position. +I could have stood them off for hours!" + +"You are a hero!" warmly cried Harry Hardwicke. + +"Let's all get out of this!" replied Alaric, modestly. + +The American offered Hardwicke his cocktail bottle. "Let's get her down. +I hear carriage wheels now. Would you just tell me your real name, +now, the name you use when you are not doing your 'character' song and +dance." The young officer smiled at the American's rough address. + +"Major Harry Hardwicke, Royal Engineers, and, this lady's future +husband," confidently remarked Prince Djiddin. + +"Oh, yes," grinned Alaric Hobbs, "the last part I'll take for +gospel truth. Well, Major, I'm glad to know you." And he then, very +practically, aided the descent of Miss Nadine Johnstone, for a dozen +stout arms now held up the ponderous old ladder which had been purposely +dislodged by the Coast Guardsmen. Alaric Hobbs surveyed his battle +ground. + +"If they had only dared to use lights, I might have had a harder fight," +chuckled Alaric Hobbs, as he descended the very last one. "Major," said +he huskily, "I've got my things corraled up there, and the instruments, +and so on. Leave me a couple of men, and get your own people back now +to the Folly. I'll 'hold the fort' here, till you bring the proper +authorities. Our man won't run away now. He is 'permanently fixed' for a +long repose from 'further anxieties.'" + +But fiercely bristling up, old Andrew Fraser now loudly demanded to be +allowed the ordering of all. "This is an outrage," he babbled. "You are +a cheat, a fraud, an impostor, in league with the robbers." So, fiercely +addressing Major Hardwicke, he tried to drag away Miss Nadine Johnstone, +at whose feet the stout Mattie Jones was blubbering and wailing. + +"Captain Murray," sternly cried Major Hardwicke, "take Miss Nadine and +her maid to the Folly. Leave the two gardeners on guard. Return here +as soon as you can, for the Professor and myself. I will come over with +him. Have a horse at once saddled and bring a man to take my dispatches +to General Wragge and for London. Bring me some writing materials. This +must be reported at once." + +"Go now, dearest Nadine," her lover implored. "I will join you at once. +Trust to me, all in all. I will never leave you again," and then and +there, before her astounded guardian, Nadine Johnstone threw her ams +around her lover in a fond embrace. "You will come?" + +"At once," cried the Major, as he cried out hastily, "Drive on!" + +Old Andrew Fraser writhed in vain in Hardwicke's grasp. "Be quiet, you +damned old fool!" pithily said Alaric Hobbs. "They saved your life for +you!" + +"You shall never darken my doors," raged Andrew Fraser. + +"I will go there to-night, and at once remove my property," coldly +answered Hardwicke. "After that I care not to visit you, save to lead +your niece to the altar. But I will have a reckoning with you! Don't +fear!" + +"You shall never marry her," the old pedant cried. "You shall answer to +me for this whole dastardly outrage." + +"All right," coolly said Hardwicke. "It's man to man, now. I will marry +your niece within a month, and, with your written permission!" And +not another single word would the disgusted Hardwicke utter--while old +Fraser clung to Alaric Hobbs, whining in his wrath. In an hour, a motley +cortege slowly left the door of the martello tower. Murray and Hardwicke +walking, armed, beside the carriage, where Mr. Jack Blunt, still bound, +was the sullen companion of the half-crazed Professor Fraser. + +To the demands of "Joseph Smith's" friends Hardwicke replied: "He will +undoubtedly be released tomorrow by the proper authorities if there is a +mistake." + +A smart groom was already half-way to St. Heliers, galloping on with +a sealed letter to General Wragge, the commander of the Channel Island +forces. "That will bring Anstruther over at once. He must act now!" said +Hardwicke. "In two days Ram Lal will be in irons at Delhi, and I think +that we will prepare a crushing little surprise for this defiant old +fool and miser, Professor Andrew Fraser." And Red Eric Murray now +inwardly rejoiced to see the end of all his masquerading as the +Moonshee. He received a parting salute, also. "You are no gentleman, a +vile swindler, sir," raved old Andrew, as Captain Murray allowed him to +descend and enter his own door. The "History of Thibet" fraud rankled in +old Fraser's mind. + +But the "ex-Moonshee" only smiled and politely bowed, while "Prince +Djiddin" sternly marched with his prisoner, Jack Blunt, upstairs +and then locked the doors of his apartments. It was an "imperium in +imperio." + +In the hall, he had turned and faced Andrew Fraser only to say: "I shall +await here, sir, the orders of the civil and military authorities; yes, +here, in my own room. The very moment that they take charge, I shall, +however, leave your roof. But not until then! And for your future +safety, I warn you to moderate your ignorant abuse." + +There was no sleep in the house until the gray dawn at last straggled +through the mists of night. And the sound of outcry and excited alarm +long continued, for Professor Andrew Fraser and Janet Fairbarn were +excitedly wailing over the easily detected work of the burglar, in the +old pedant's study. The aged Scotsman ran up and down the hall, tearing +his hair and bemoaning his lost manuscripts and papers. For, he dared +not announce the loss of the stolen crown jewels! + +The family coachman had already departed for Rozel Pier, to bring home +the wounded Simpson, while a doctor, summoned by the messenger from St. +Heliers, was led by Janet Fairbarn to the apartments of the heiress. +Murray and Hardwicke rejoiced in secret over the recovery of the key to +the whole deadlock--from Delhi to London! The game was now won! + +At ten o'clock, a staff officer of General Wragge joined Major Hardwicke +and Captain Murray in their room, while one of the terrible army of +twelve policemen of an island populated with "three thousand cooks" +watched over the "Banker's Folly," and another garrisoned the old +martello tower, where Alan Hawke lay alone in the grim majesty of death. +The fox-eyed American professor "invited himself" to breakfast with +Professor Andrew Fraser and cheered the broken old man. + +"Never mind, we will finish up the 'History of Thibet' together," he +cried, "when these two swashbucklers are gone, and the house will be +much quieter when the girl is married off and out of the way." But +old Andrew Fraser refused to be comforted. He sternly forbade all +communication with his ward and bitterly bewailed a further personal +loss, which he dared not explain! + +"There was a suspicious French fishing-boat lately seen knocking around +Rozel," acutely said Alaric Hobbs. "We also found the bloody trail where +they dragged their wounded away down to the beach. And so they are off +on the sea, with your valuable plunder. No one knows the dead scoundrel +up there." + +"But we will finish the Thibet history, if I have to go out there myself +and get the honest information." Whereat old Fraser feebly smiled +and opened his heart to Alaric Hobbs at once. When a bustling country +magistrate arrived to potter around, Andrew Fraser was astounded to see +the General's aid-de-camp lead out the man whom the two officers had +guarded, and send him off to St. Heliers under a military guard. + +"Hold this man only as a suspicious person. There may be some mistake. +They say he is known at Rozel Pier as an honest man," said the aide. +"The real robbers seem to have escaped in the boat. The dying robber did +not seem to know this person, who has undoubtedly borne a good character +for a month past at the Jersey Arms as a lodger." It was true, and even +the befuddled Simpson, on his questioning, only could falter that he had +been attacked by three unknown footpads. He failed to make any charge +against the mute Jack Blunt. "This man is a proper, decent fellow +enough," kindly testified the old soldier. + +In vain Andrew Fraser raved to the Magistrate, demanding that Major +Hardwicke and Captain Murray should explain their past conduct. "I +am directed by General Wragge to say that he will visit you, himself, +officially, to-morrow, Professor Fraser, and he will have an important +governmental communication for you. Until then, I desire these two +gentlemen to be allowed to remain in your house. They will remove all +their luggage this evening." And then, old Fraser, with a presage of +coming trouble, shivered in a sullen silence. Conscience smote him, +sorely. + +"The lost jewels!" In fact, a handsomely appointed carriage and a +van, in the afternoon, removed all of the effects of the two pseudo +"orientals," who, half an hour after the carriage had arrived, appeared +in their respective undress uniforms of the Royal Engineers and the +Eighth Lancers, to the dismay of old Fraser--now affrighted at his +dangerous position. There was gloom in the house now, for Miss Nadine +Johnstone flatly refused to even see her guardian a single moment! And +Simpson, alone, sat in conclave with Major Hardwicke, who had learned +privately of the secret removal of Alan Hawke's body to St. Heliers. +Messengers, in uniform, coming and going rapidly, were hourly admitted +to Major Hardwicke's presence, and already a pale-faced woman was on +her way from Geneva to rejoin Madame Alixe Delavigne, at the old chateau +mansion where Captain Murray only awaited the arrival of Anstruther +now ready to open his siege batteries on the man who had covered up +his brother's crime. There was not a word to be gleaned from the +authorities, and St. Heliers was simply convulsed in a useless fever +of curiosity. Even Frank Hatton, representing the London press, was +muzzled. Not a soul was, as yet, permitted to approach the old martello +tower, where Alan Hawke had faced the Moonshee, "man to man." A squad of +coast guardsmen sternly picketed the vicinity of Rozel Head. And a great +smuggling raid was the only accepted explanation to the public. + +Captain Murray had duly reported the completion of all the Major's +carefully matured preparations, and fled away to await the arrival of +Justine Delande and Captain Anson Anstruther. + +It was a sunny morning, two days later, when Major Hardwicke descended +at Simpson's summons, dressed in his full uniform, to the great library, +where several grave-faced visitors were now awaiting a formal interview +with the agitated Professor Andrew Fraser. The young Major's face was +simply radiant, for Mattie Jones had just given him a letter and a +nosegay, sent by the young heiress, who had already read a dozen times +her lover's smuggled love missive of this fateful morning. + +"To-day will decide all. And you will be to-morrow as free as any bird +of the air. Then, darling, it will be only you and I, all in all to each +other forever more! I will send for you. Wait for me. Our hold on Andrew +Fraser is the deadly grip of the criminal law. He must yield." + +"The flowers are from Miss Nadine's breast; she sent them to you, with +her dearest love," cried Mattie, who rejoiced in the private assurance +that her own liberal-minded sweetheart was soon to be discharged +'for lack of evidence.' Captain Eric Murray had obtained a complete +deposition, which the magistrate representing the Parliament of Jersey +had accepted as State's evidence, under the special orders of the Home +Office. + +In Andrew Fraser's study, the sallow face of Professor Alaric Hobbs was +seen bending over many documents and papers. He was not only busied as +a volunteer lawyer for Fraser, but was now the commentator and +collaborator of that famous interrupted work, "The History of Thibet." +"Say! Go light now on the old man!" prayerfully whispered Alaric Hobbs, +drawing Major Hardwicke into the study. "Captain Murray is a devilish +good fellow. He is going to make this great traveler, Frank Hatton, +my friend. And you'll both be benefactors to 'Science,' if you drop +masquerading and post me honestly on Thibet. You are a dead winner in +the little social game here. You get the girl--that's all you want. +She's a nice girl, too! I'll make the old boy come down and be +reasonable. I helped you out, you know. You owe me a good turn, you do." + +"All right, Professor Hobbs. I believe I do owe you my wife to be. They +would have carried her off or injured her in some way," said the now +anxious Hardwicke. + +"You bet your sweet life they would!" said the strange Western savant, +more forcibly than elegantly. "They would have had the ransom of a +prince, or else they would have chucked her in the channel! That was +their game!" + +In the library, General Wragge, Captain Anstruther and Captain Murray +faced Professor Andrew Fraser, whose face was as set as a stone sphinx. +His feeble heart was thumping, for the stolen jewels were not his to +return now. He cursed the day he had lied about them. + +The old General gravely said: "Professor Fraser, I desire to say that +Captain Anson Anstruther represents both her Majesty's Government and +His Excellency, the Viceroy of India. There is a magistrate waiting in +the house even now, and I recommend you to seriously consider the words +of the Captain. If you are officially brought to face your past refusal +to his just demands, I fear that you will be left, Sir, in a very +pitiable position. I will now retire until you have conferred with the +representative of the Indian Government. Remember! Once in the hands of +the authorities, your person and estate will suffer grievously if you +have conspired against the Crown." + +Andrew Fraser's eyes were downcast as Captain Anstruther, with a last +glance at his friend, then locked the door. "Now, Sir, I repeat to you +for the last time the official demand which I made in London upon you as +executor of the late Hugh Fraser Johnstone, to surrender certain jewels +wrongfully withheld, a list of which I have furnished you, as the +property of Her Majesty's Indian Government, and which stolen property I +now demand on this list." + +There was a long pause. "I cannot! They are not in my possession! I know +nothing whatever of them," faintly replied the startled old miser. + +"I warn you that I have a search warrant, particularly describing the +articles stolen and the place of their concealment, and a magistrate now +awaits my slightest word," said the aid-de-camp sternly. + +"Do with me as you will. You will not find them! I know nothing about +them," faltered the desperate old man. He was safe against arrest, he +hoped. + +"Then, I will serve the warrant," remarked the Captain, as Andrew +Fraser's head fell upon his breast. A fortune lost, and now, shame and +perhaps prison awaited him. + +"One moment," politely said Major Hardwicke. "Do not serve the warrant. +I will surrender the Crown's property, which I have discovered under the +floor of this man's study, where he feloniously hid them after denying +their possession." + +"Thief and deceiver!" shrieked Andrew Fraser. "You lied your way into my +house! You have now conspired against my dead brother's estate!" He was +shaking as with a palsy in his impotent rage. "And you would rob me!" + +"You hardened old scoundrel! I will give you now just half an hour," +sternly said Major Hardwicke, "to consider the propriety of resigning +instantly your executorship of your brother's estate in favor of your +son, Douglas Fraser. He is honest! You are unfit to control your ward! +You can also first file your written consent to the immediate marriage +of your ward, Nadine Fraser Johnstone, to myself, and apply to have your +accounts passed and approved upon your discharge as guardian upon her +marriage. This alone will save you from a felon's cell. She shall be +free. Douglas Fraser may be made the sole trustee of her estate until +the age of twenty-one. On these two conditions alone will I consent to +veil the shame of your brother and spare you, for we have traced the +stolen jewels, step by step, with the list, the insurance, and the +delivery by Hugh Johnstone to you. If you wish to stand your trial for +complicity in the theft and concealing stolen goods, you may. General +Willoughby, General Abercromby, and the Viceroy of India have watched +these jewels on their way. And I came here only to recover them, and to +free that white slave, your poor niece!" + +There was the sound of broken wailing sobs, and the three officers left +their detected wrong-doer alone. Out on the lawn, the young soldiers +joined General Wragge, who now looked impatiently at his watch. It was +but a quarter of an hour when old Andrew Fraser tottered to the front +door. "What must I do? I care not for myself!" he cried plucking at +Major Hardwicke's sleeve. "Only save Douglas, my boy, this public +shame!" + +"It rests all in your hands, Sir," gravely answered the lover. "Shall I +call Miss Johnstone down now to have you express your consent and sign +these papers in the presence of the General?" Major Hardwicke saw his +enemy weakening, even as a child. + +"Yes, yes, anything, only get her away out of my sight--out of my life!" +groaned the broken old miser, whose sin had found him out. "But, you'll +keep all this from Douglas--the story of a father's disgrace? I did it +all for Hugh!" + +"The family honor is mine, now, Sir! I will save your niece all +suffering!" stiffly replied the Major, as he boldly mounted the stair. +Captain Anstruther led Andrew Fraser aside. "I had the papers drawn up +at once so that you would not be humiliated in public by your +obstinacy, and General Wragge will now witness them. He has offered the +hospitalities of his family to your niece until she is made a wife." + +"I am ready," tremblingly said Professor Fraser, and in haste a singular +group soon gathered in the library. A notary and the magistrate entered +with due professional decorum. + +And then, Captain Anstruther, addressing the executor, in the presence +of the gray-bearded old General, repeated the words of voluntary +resignation and surrender of all rights as guardian over Nadine +Johnstone, first taking his written consent to the marriage. There was +not a word spoken as the trembling old scholar hastily signed the papers +presented to him. Then he turned to the sweet woman clinging to Major +Hardwicke's arm. "I'll be thankful to ye if ye leave my home to me in +peace, as soon as ye can! Janet Fairbarn will be my representative!" +With a last glance of cold aversion at Hardwicke, he bowed to the +Commander of the forces, and then tottered across the hall to his study, +when the tall form of Alaric Hobbs hovered at the door. + +"My dear child," kindly said the old veteran General, lifting her +trembling hand to his lips, and bowing reverently, "Let me be, this day, +your father, as you are soon to be born into the service. Here, Major +Hardwicke, I give her to you to keep against the whole world, if the +lady so consents." Nadine's answer was an April smile, when her lover +clasped her hand, and then she hid her blushes on Hardwicke's breast. + +"Take me away forever from this horrible prison-house," she whispered. + +"Mrs. Wragge's carriage will be here at four for you, and we will have a +little dinner en famille at seven, Miss Nadine, for you," said the happy +General, as he jingled away, his dangling sword, jingling medals, and +waving white plume, making a gallant show. It was truly "an official +capture." + +"Now," whispered Captain Murray to Hardwicke, "I will clear out with +Anstruther, and at once deliver over the unlucky jewels to him to be +sealed up and deposited with General Wragge until the Viceroy's orders +are received. I've a cablegram that Ram Lal has been arrested. + +"And I fancy Miss Nadine will be astonished at seeing two new faces +at the dinner table. Let Simpson and the maid at once pack all her +belongings, for we can not trust her with this old wreck of humanity. +He is half crazed already. I will cable and write to Douglas Fraser that +'ill health' forces the old gentleman to at once give up his trust. Now, +I belong, in future, only to Mrs. Eric Murray, of the Eighth Hussars. I +throw up my job as an all-round Figaro!" + +"Stay a moment," said Major Hardwicke to Captain Anson Anstruther, +when Nadine had fled away to prepare for her flitting from the unloved +granite fortress. + +"When do you go over to London, Anstruther?" said Major Hardwicke, for +he now nourished a scheme of "social employment" for the brilliant staff +officers. He was short only a groomsman. + +"Not till after I am married," remarked the relative of the great +Viceroy. "I have done my duty to Her Majesty," he laughed, "and now, I +am going to do my duty to myself!" Whereat Harry Hardwicke was suddenly +aware that Cupid carries a double-barreled gun, sometimes. In her own +apartment, Nadine Johnstone listened to Janet Fairbarn's sobbing plaint, +as the heart-happy Mattie Jones flew around the rooms making her young +mistress's boxes. Nadine was still in an entrancing dream of freedom, +life, and love, and the cunning Scotswoman's plaint was all unheeded. +Major Hardwicke was announced, "upon urgent business." + +"I cannot tell you yet, darling, just how we vanquished the old +ogre," said he. "Be brave, and remember that a feast of long-deferred +love-tidings awaits you to-night. I have already sent away all my own +luggage. A horse and a well-mounted orderly will be here at four, and +so I shall not lose you from sight even a moment until you are safe +in General Wragge's home at Edgemere. Let the maid return alone here +to-morrow and remove all your effects we may overlook. I will dispatch +the luggage and ride after your carriage." + +"The proprieties, you know," he laughed, as he vanished, after stealing +a kiss. + +"The master's in a woeful way," mourned Janet. "To think of your +father's only bairn leaving her ain house so! The master's half daft +with his troubles, for they've scattered and lost the bit bookie--the +work of years! + +"Though there's the braw American scholar, tho', to aid him now. +He hates you, my poor bairn, for your poor dead mother's sake! It's +afearfu' hard heart these Frasers carried. I know them of old!" + +"Do you mean to tell me that the 'Banker's Folly' is really my own +house?" said Nadine, her cheek flushing crimson at the insult to the +memory of her beloved dream mother. + +"In truth, it's yer very ain, my leddy. Old Hugh bought it for his last +home," whimpered the housekeeper. + +"Then you may tell Andrew Fraser," the spirited girl cried, "that I will +never cross the threshold again, where I have been kept under a +jailer's lock under my own roof tree! Let him write his wishes to +Douglas--Douglas is a gentleman. I will keep silent for the sake of the +man who was a kindly brother to me on my voyage. But to Andrew Fraser, +I am dead for evermore! My life of the future has no place for a +half-crazed tyrant--the man who tried to bruise the broken heart of an +orphan of his own blood. We are strangers forevermore. And I will leave +old Simpson here as my agent to keep the possession of this place in my +name. I will write Douglas, so that his old father may live out his days +here in peace!" + +With a stately tread, the lonely girl descended the stair, when Major +Harry Hardwicke tapped at her door, gently saying: "The carriage waits +below. And--some one waits there to cheer you on your way onward to +Life and Love! Remember, I follow on at once." Nadine Johnstone sprang +lightly into the carriage. With a gentle art, the soldier turned away +his head and quickly cried, "Drive on!" when the door closed. The +orderly at a sign followed the closed vehicle. It was a sweet surprise. +Love's coup de main! + +Nadine Johnstone never turned her head toward the dark martello tower, +for a woman's arms were now clasped around her, and loving lips pressed +her own. "Free at last, my own darling! Free!" cried Alixe Delavigne, as +she strained her gentle captive to her bosom. "My own poor darling! Now, +we shall never be parted! My darling! My Valerie's own image!" + +"And, my mother?" faltered the lovely girl, the sunrise of hope flooding +her cheek with affection's glow of dawn. "My sister--your mother--looks +down from Heaven upon us, joined after many years!" sobbed Alixe. A +softer pillow never had maiden's head than Alixe Delavigne's throbbing +bosom. + +"Did you not feel in your heart that love led me to your side, my +darling? That I crossed the wide world to find you, and to fight my way +to your heart?" murmured Alixe. + +"Ah! Justine always said there was a marvelous resemblance!" faltered +Nadine. "She must be sent for now! At once! Poor Justine!" + +"She waits for you, even now, at Edgemere! I must save you, now, from +hearing the story of strangers!" said Alixe, taking the girl's trembling +hands. "Major Hardwicke telegraphed to her at Geneva, in your name, to +come on here at once. For, while we have sunshine mantling around us, +she, alone, must follow Alan Hawke's body to an unknown grave." + +"Is he--that terrible man--indeed dead?" gasped Nadine. + +"You passed his body that night when they led you from the tower," +gravely said Alixe. "He fell, fighting as a criminal, by the hand of +Captain Murray, who struck only to save your liberty, and his own life. +The civil authorities will not unveil the dark past of a man who once +wore the Queen's uniform in honor. General Wragge and the authorities +have softened the blow to Justine Delande, whom he would have made his +dupe. You must only know this, darling, from me--from me, alone! And +so, to shield poor, faithful Justine, we will all leave Jersey at once. +Strange irony of fate. The Viceroy has cabled that Ram Lal Singh has +paid over twenty thousand pounds, to be held for Justine Delande, to +whom Alan Hawke left all his dearly bought bribes; and also the money he +left hidden at Granville--jewels and notes to the value of ten thousand +pounds more. The wages of sin, even death, was all he gained, and, +strangely, through him, Justine will be shielded from penury; for she +bears a broken heart. All that she knows is of his sudden death. + +"And now, darling, for I must tell you, the assassin of your father +has saved his miserable life by a full confession made to General +Willoughby. None but myself must ever tell you that your father's +memory, your uncle's liberty were all involved in a tangled story +of olden greed, intrigue, shame, and crime. Let the dead past rest +unchallenged. The seal of the tomb will be unbroken. And it is your +mother's tender love that will gild your bridal. Let me be your sister +forever. None but you and I must know the history until others have a +right to it." + +"Has--has Harry told you of our coming marriage?" faltered Nadine, +hiding her head in her kinswoman's breast. There were fleeting blushes +as rosy as the Alpenglow now tinging her pale cheek. Nadine Johnstone +saw her new-found sister now glowing in a woman's gentle triumph. She +had a secret of her own! + +It was Alixe's turn to beg a fond heart's throbbing sympathy when she +whispered, "General Wragge advises and the Viceroy insists that we +leave the island at once. Captain Anstruther must soon report to His +Excellency the Viceroy at Calcutta, for his promotion to a Majority +takes him back to his kinsman's suite. The Earl has been honored with +the control of Her Majesty's Embassy at Paris. And so," the words came +slowly in trembling whispers, "both Anson and Harry have applied for +'special licenses,' and there will be two marriages at Edgemere, instead +of one. Anson gave you to me, through a strange romance, and he demands +to be my loving jailer! + +"In three days we can all leave for London. Justine Delande has finished +her solemn duty even now, with General Wragge as sole escort. It was the +only way to hoodwink useless public gossip." + +"And will we be then so soon separated?" cried Nadine, clinging to her +kinswoman, in a tremble of yearning love. "For you must go out with your +husband to India. You must tell me of my mother, her life, her home, and +I must see where she lies." + +"Ah, my darling," said Alixe, "we will all go on to my home--your home, +at Jitomir, my castle in Volhynia. Your own yet to be. There, Anson +and I will leave you and Major Hardwicke for your honeymoon. There, my +dearest child, where your own mother's sweet face still looks down from +the walls. Where the Russian violets and Volhynian forget-me-nots bloom +around her tomb, where you will see her name carved in the memorials of +a princely line as 'Valerie, Princess Troubetskoi.' There, I will tell +you the whole story." + +An April rain of loving tears silenced the girl's voice, as she looked +out of the carriage window, and saw Major Hardwicke riding after them. +"Tell me no more, now, Darling Alixe," murmured Nadine, "I must have +peace--even in this moment of happiness!" Her thoughts went back to the +day when Harry Hardwicke had ridden "Garibaldi" straight to the rescue, +in her moment of deadly peril, and his saber had fended off the huge +cobra. And so, they journeyed on silently-linked in love, dreaming +tender dreams. + +In the western skies, the sun was sinking over the purpled sea, as they +drove down to Edgemere, and the glow of the dying day lingered upon the +beautiful hills of Jersey. For the wild storm was quieted and the sea +shone as a sapphire zone. Golden gleams lit up stern old Mount Orgueil +and gray Fort Regent, and tenderly tinted the rugged outlines of the +moss-grown Elizabeth Castle. All nature dreamed in the peaceful, even +fall. On the sea, white sails were flitting afar, and the swift steamers +passed grandly on toward their distant havens. There was a group +gathered in the splendid gardens of Edgemere as General Wragge gallantly +advanced. + +The silver-haired veteran graciously surrendered his command, as he +aided his guests to alight. "This is to be 'Bride's Hall,' and not a +'place of arms'! You are now joint commanders, and so make the best use +of your three days liberty! I give up my sword!" + +That night, while Nadine Johnstone sat in a heart exchange of confidence +with Justine Delande and the fair woman--no longer Berthe Louison--while +Flossie Murray was playing hostess with Mrs. Wragge, General Wragge, +Major Hardwicke, Captain Anstruther, and the now full-fledged Benedict, +Eric Murray, gave some pithy parting counsels to Jack Blunt, "Gentleman +Jack," of the London Swell Mob. "Only a mere fluke, and, our desire to +save a family needless pain, protects you," said Hardwicke. "These five +hundred pounds will enable you to reach America. I venture to advise you +to avoid landing on English soil hereafter! You certainly owe something +to your plucky, dead comrade, who generously lied, even in death, to +save you from transportation!" With a sullen brow, Jack Blunt departed +the next morning on the Granville steamer, and, only when in the safe +hiding of Etienne Garcin's Cor d'Abondance did he dare to breathe +freely. There were two sorely wounded lodgers already lying there, who +cursed the unerring aim of the vivacious and eccentric Alaric Hobbs +of Waukesha. They had told the landlord their tales over cognac +and absinthe, and Jack Blunt vainly tried to comfort the sloe-eyed +Angelique, who mourned for the unreturning visitor who had sprung over +the easily-stormed battlements of her mobile heart. "Il etait bien beau, +cet homme la! Il m'aimait beaucoup! Je le regretterai toujours! C'etait +un vrai gaillard!" + +Which heartfelt tribute from a nameless wanton served for epitaph to the +man lying in an unmarked grave in the soldiers plot at Fort Regent. With +gnashing of teeth did Garcin and Jack Blunt discover that H. R. M.'s +Consul had officially aided Justine Delande to remove the valuable +deposits of the dead adventurer. + +"The whole thing was a dead plant on us. Luck turned against him at +last!" growled Blunt, as they counted up the cost of the bootless cruise +of the Hirondelle. And only Justine Delande's bitter tears flowed in +silence to lament the bold adventurer who had lost the game of life! + +It was at Rosebank that the three brides were assembled for a sweet +review after the quiet double marriage at Edgemere, which caused General +Wragge's rugged face to wreathe in honest smiles of delight. + +And there was no rice left in the General's military supplies, "when the +bridal parties drove away in great state to the Stella." + +A curious congratulatory visit from Professor Alaric Hobbs led to the +extending of an invitation by Captain Anstruther for the lanky American +scientist to visit him in India. + +"We owe you a debt of gratitude," laughed Anstruther, "for you helped +Hardwicke to his wife. She helped me to mine, and I will see that the +Indian Government gives you an official safe conduct to Thibet, where +you can see the real line of the Dalai-lamas, and I'll furnish you a +veritable 'Moonshee' free of charge. You shall be the very 'Moses' of +Yankee investigators! You deserve it!" + +"Now you talk horse sense," said the alert Yankee. "I'm going out to +'square things' with old Andrew Fraser's son. Don't ever kick a man when +he's down! The old boy has had a very 'rough deal.' That 'fake' about +Thibet nearly broke him up. And I've a commission from the Buggin's +Literary Syndicate, of Chicago, to 'write up India.' I shall take a hack +at Egypt on my way home, and perhaps ride over to Persia, then get into +Merv and Tashkend, and come back by Astrakhan into 'darkest' Russia, and +return home. I shall also write some spicy letters to the Chicago Howler +and the New York Whorl. I tell you, Cap," said Alaric Hobbes, slapping +Anstruther familiarly on the back, "you three military men have +certainly fitted yourselves out with tiptop wives! I am going to make +a pretty good money haul myself on this trip. I'll look you up later in +Calcutta. Would like to see the Viceroy. He was a 'brick' when he was +Governor-General of Canada. So I'll get young Douglas Fraser fixed +up all in good trim, and when I get home and have published my books, +settle down and marry a little woman I've had my eye on for some time. I +will go in for a family life, you bet!" + +"Look out that you don't lose her," laughed Hardwicke. + +"I will not get left, you bet!" cried Hobbes. "Now, I'm going to vamoose +the ranch. I think that I may have killed one or two of that gang, and I +don't fancy the 'monotonous regularity' and 'salubrious hygiene' of your +English prisons." + +And so, "his feet were beautiful on the mountains," as he went out on +his queer life pathway. + +After the week of quiet at Rosebank, Captain Eric Murray was hugely +delighted to receive his orders to take charge of all Anstruther's +confidential work, in England, until the Viceroy should be pleased to +otherwise direct. "I think that a garrison life here, with Miss Mildred +as commander, will just suit you and Madame Flossie?" laughed the kindly +conspiring aide-de-camp, anxious to be away on his road to Jitomir, +"personally conducted" by the brilliant Alixe. + +The Horse Guards were "pleased to intimate" that Major Harry Hardwicke, +Royal Engineers, should be allowed "such length of leave" as he chose to +apply for, and a secret compliment upon his "gift to the Crown" of the +recovered property was supplemented by a request to name any future +station "agreeable at present" to the young Benedict. And the solicitors +had now deftly arranged the complete machinery of the care of the great +estate, until the orphan claimed her own. + +While Jules Victor and Marie prepared Madame Anstruther for her state +visit of triumph to Volhynia, Hardwicke and Anstruther soon closed up +all their reports to Calcutta. With due cordiality, the unsuspicious +Douglas Fraser had wired his congratulations to his gentle cousin; and +General Willoughby, and His Excellency, the Viceroy, were also heard +from, in the same way. It was the gallant General Abercromby who spread +the news of Anstruther's marriage in the club. "Ah!" he enthusiastically +cried, "A monstrous fine woman--came near marrying her myself!" which +was a gigantic "whopper!" + +Justine Delande accompanied the happy quartet to Paris, and there, being +joined by her sister, the faithful Swiss sisters remained as guests +of Madame Berthe Louison, awaiting the return of the wanderers from +Jitomir. The Murrays gayly escorted the quartet of lovers to Paris, and, +the laughing face of the gallant "Moonshee" was the very last the four +lovers saw, as the Berlin train left the "Gare St. Lazare." + +Mr. Frank Halton, in his capacity of "journalist in general," had neatly +stifled all comment upon the strange events in Jersey, with the aid of +the stern General Wragge and the startled civil authorities. "I think +that I had better present you with all the property costumes of Prince +Djiddin and the 'Moonshee,'" laughed Halton. "We accept on the sole +condition that you will make us a visit at Jitomir, and experience a +Russian welcome," cried the Anstruthers in chorus. "The Russian bear has +a gentle hug, when his fur is stroked the right way!" + +Justine and Euphrosyne Delande drove back happy-hearted to No. 9 Rue +Berlioz, for the beautiful brides had claimed them both as future +colonists of Volhynia, when the mill of Minerva ceased to grind to their +turning. + +"We have agreed to own Jitomir in common, as we have both 'joined the +army,'" laughed the kinswomen. "There is a permanent home for you both, +already awaiting you, and a welcome which time will not wear out. For +Jitomir shall be, now and in the future, a temple of Life and Love, the +headquarters of a happy clan." + +And, so, linked in love, the kinswomen voyaged to the far domain where +a mother had sobbed away her life, hungering for a sight of her child's +face. The men, grave with the secrets of the troubled past, wondered +over the strange meeting at Geneva which had undone all of Hugh Fraser's +secretly plotted wiles. "We must never cast a shadow upon Douglas +Fraser," they mused. "Let the dead past bury its dead, and all sin, +shame, and sorrow be forgotten. For this once, the innocent do not +suffer for the guilty." + +There was only left behind them a broken old man, wandering +disconsolately around the halls of the Banker's Folly and vainly turning +the leaves of his unfinished "History of Thibet." + +Janet Fairbarn, tenderly nursing the now childish old pedant, vainly +soothed him, and fanned his flickering lamp of life in the silent +wastes of the Banker's Folly. But the half-crazed scholar refused to be +comforted and called in his mental despair ever for "the Moonshee." + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Fascinating Traitor, by Richard Henry Savage + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FASCINATING TRAITOR *** + +***** This file should be named 5972.txt or 5972.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/7/5972/ + +Produced by Carrie Fellman + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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