Books: Jeanne Of The Marshes
E >>
E. Phillips Oppenheim >> Jeanne Of The Marshes
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17
"We can't get out this way, then?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"No, we should want a rope ladder," he said, "and a boat. Have you
seen enough?"
"More than enough," Jeanne answered. "Let us get back."
* * *
Jeanne sank into a garden seat a few minutes later with a little
exclamation of relief.
"Never," she declared, "have I appreciated fresh air so much. I
think, Mr. De la Borne, that smuggling, though it was a very
romantic profession, must have had its unpleasant side."
Cecil nodded.
"There were more air-holes in those days," he said, "but our
ancestors were a tougher race than we. Coarse brutes, most of them,
I imagine," he added, lighting a cigarette. "Drank beer for
breakfast, and smoked clay pipes before meals. Fancy if one had
their constitutions and our tastes!"
"The two would scarcely go together," Jeanne remarked. "But after
all I should think that absinthe and cigarettes are more
destructive. I am dying for some tea. Let us go in and find the
others."
Tea was set out in the hall, but only Engleton was there. Forrest
and the Princess were walking slowly up and down the avenue.
"I imagine," the latter was saying drily, "that we are fairly free
from eavesdroppers here. Now tell me what it is that you have to
say, Nigel."
"I am bothered about Engleton," Forrest said. "I didn't like his
insisting upon cutting last night. What do you think he meant by
it?"
The Princess shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing at all," she answered. "He may have thought that we were
lucky together, and of course he knows that you are the best player.
There is no reason why he should be willing to play with Cecil de la
Borne, when by cutting with you he would be more likely to win."
"You think that that is all?" Forrest asked.
"I think so," the Princess answered. "What had you in your mind?"
"I wondered," Forrest said thoughtfully, "whether he had heard any
of the gossip at the club."
The Princess frowned impatiently.
"For Heaven's sake, don't be imaginative, Nigel!" she declared. "If
you give way like this you will lose your nerve in no time."
"Very well," Forrest said. "Let us take it for granted, then, that
he did it only because he preferred to play with me to playing
against me. What is to become of our little scheme if we cut as we
did last night all the time?"
The Princess smiled.
"You ought to be able to manage that," she said carelessly. "You are
so good at card tricks that you should be able to get an ace when
you want it. I always cut third from the end, as you know."
"That's all very well," Forrest answered, "but we can't go on
cutting two aces all the time. I ran it pretty fine last night, when
for the second time I gave you a three or a four, and drew a two
myself. But he seems to have the devil's own luck. They cut under
us, as you know."
The Princess looked up toward the house. She had seen Jeanne and
Cecil appear.
"Those people are back from their underground pilgrimage," she
remarked. "Have you anything definite to suggest? If not, we had
better go in."
"There is only one way, Ena," Forrest said, "in which we could
improve matters."
"And what is that?" she asked quickly.
"Don't you think we could get our host in?"
The Princess was silent for several moments.
"It is a little dangerous, I am afraid," she said.
"I don't see why," Forrest answered. "If he were once in he'd have
to hold his tongue, and you can do just what you like with him. He
seems to me to be just one of those pulpy sort of persons whom you
could persuade into a thing before he had had time to think about
it."
"I will drop him a hint if you like," the Princess said
thoughtfully, "and see how he takes it. Are you sure that the game
is worth the candle?"
"Absolutely," Forrest answered eagerly. "I saw Engleton drop two
thousand playing baccarat one night, and he never turned a hair. I
wasn't playing, worse luck."
"If I can get Cecil alone before dinner," the Princess said, "I will
sound him. I think we had better go back now. We are a little old
for romantic wanderings, and the wind is beginning to disarrange my
hair."
"See what you can do with him, then," Forrest said, as they retraced
their steps. "I'll call in and hear if you've anything to tell me on
my way down for dinner."
The Princess nodded. They entered the hall, and Cecil at once drew
an easy-chair to the tea-table.
"My good people," the Princess declared, "I am famished. Your sea
air, Cecil, is the most wonderful thing in the world. For years I
have not known what it was like to be hungry. Hot cakes, please!
And, Jeanne, please make my tea. Jeanne knows just how I like it.
Tell us about the smuggler's cave, Jeanne. Was it really so
wonderful?"
Jeanne laughed.
"It was very, very weird and very smelly," she said. "I think that
you were wise to turn back."
CHAPTER IX
Andrew came face to face with his brother in the village street on
the next morning. He looked at him for a moment in surprise.
"What have you been doing?" he asked, drily. "Sitting up all night?"
Cecil nodded dejectedly.
"Pretty well," he admitted. "We played bridge till nearly five
o'clock."
"You lost, I suppose?" Andrew asked.
"Yes, I lost!" Cecil admitted.
"Your party," Andrew said, "does not seem to me to be an unqualified
success."
"It is not," Cecil admitted. "Miss Le Mesurier has been quite
unapproachable the last few days. She's just civil to me and no
more. She isn't even half as decent as she was in town. I wish I
hadn't asked them here. It's cost a lot more money than we can
afford, and done no good that I can see."
Andrew looked away seaward for a moment. Was it his fancy, or was
there indeed a slim white figure coming across the marshes from the
Hall?
"Cecil," he said, "are you quite sure that your guests are worth the
trouble you have taken to entertain them? I refer more particularly
to the two men."
"They go everywhere," Cecil answered. "Lord Ronald is a bit of a
wastrel, of course, and I am not very keen on Forrest, but we were
all together when I gave the invitation, and I couldn't leave them
out."
Andrew nodded.
"Well," he said, "I should be careful how I played cards with
Forrest if I were you."
Cecil's face grew even a shade paler.
"You do not think," he muttered, "that he would do anything that
wasn't straight?"
"On the contrary," Andrew answered, "I have reason to believe that
he would. Isn't that one of your guests coming? You had better go
and meet her."
Andrew passed on his way, and Cecil walked towards Jeanne. All the
time, though, she was looking over his shoulder to where Andrew's
tall figure was disappearing.
"What a nuisance!" she pouted. "I wanted to see Mr. Andrew, and
directly I came in sight he hurried away."
"Can I give him any message?" Cecil asked with faint irony. "He will
no doubt be up with the fish later in the day."
She turned her back on him.
"I am going back to the house," she said. "I did not come out here
to walk with you."
"Considering that I am your host," he began--
"You lose your claim to consideration on that score when you remind
me of it," she answered. "Really the only man who has not bored me
for weeks is Mr. Andrew. You others are all the same. You say the
same things, and you are always paving the way toward the same end.
I am tired of it. Stop!"
She turned suddenly round.
"I quite forgot," she said. "I must go into the village after all. I
am going to send a telegram."
They retraced their steps in silence. As they entered the telegraph-
office Andrew was just leaving, and the postmistress was wishing him
a respectful farewell. He touched his hat as the two entered, and
stepped on one side. Jeanne, however, held out her hand.
"Mr. Andrew," she said, "I am so glad to see you. I want to go out
again in that great punt of yours. Please, when can you take me?"
"I am afraid," Andrew answered, "that I am rather busy just now. I--
"
He stopped short, for something in her face perplexed him. It was
impossible for her, of course, to feel disappointment to that
extent, and yet she had all the appearance of a child about to cry.
He felt suddenly awkward and ill at ease.
"Of course," he said, "if you really care about it, I should be very
pleased to take you any morning toward the end of the week."
"To-morrow morning, please," she begged.
He glanced towards his brother, who shrugged his shoulders.
"If Miss Le Mesurier is really inclined to go, Andrew," the latter
said, "I am sure that you will take good care of her. Perhaps some
of us will come, too."
She nodded her farewells to Andrew, and turned back with her host
toward the Hall. Cecil looked at her a little curiously. It was
certain that she seemed in better spirits than a short time ago.
What a creature of caprices!
"Will you tell me, Mr. De la Borne," she asked, "why the
postmistress called Mr. Andrew 'sir' if he is only a fisherman?"
"Habit, I suppose," Cecil answered carelessly. "They call every one
sir and ma'am."
"I am not so sure that it was habit," she said thoughtfully. "I
think that Mr. Andrew is not quite what he represents himself to be.
No one who had not education and experience of nice people could
behave quite as he does. Of course, he is rough and brusque at
times, I know, but then many men are like that."
Cecil did not reply. A grey mist was sweeping in from the sea, and
Jeanne shivered a little as they turned into the avenue.
"I wonder," she said pensively, "why we came here. My mother as a
rule hates to go far from civilization, and I am sure Lord Ronald is
miserable."
"I think one reason why your mother brought you here," Cecil said
slowly, "is because she wanted to give me a chance."
She picked up her skirts and ran, ran so lightly and swiftly that
Cecil, who was taken by surprise, had no chance of catching her.
From the hall door she looked back at him, panting behind.
"Too many cigarettes," she laughed. "You are out of training. If you
do not mind you will be like Lord Ronald, an old young man, and I
would never let any one say the sort of things you were going to say
who couldn't catch me when I ran away."
She went laughing up the stairs, and Cecil de la Borne turned into
his study. The Princess was playing patience, and the two men were
in easy-chairs.
"At last!" the Princess remarked, throwing down her cards. "My dear
Cecil, do you realize that you have kept us waiting nearly an hour?"
"I thought, perhaps," he answered, "that you had had enough bridge."
"Absurd!" the Princess declared. "What else is there to do? Come and
cut, and pray that you do not draw me for a partner. My luck is dead
out--at patience, anyhow."
"Mine," Cecil remarked, with a hard little laugh, "seems to be out
all round. Touch the bell, will you, Forrest. I must have a brandy
and soda before I start this beastly game again."
The Princess raised her eyebrows.
"I trust," she said, "that my charming ward has not been unkind?"
"Your charming ward," Cecil answered, "has as many whims and fancies
as an elf. She yawns when I talk to her, and looks longingly after
one of my villagers. Hang the fellow!"
"A very superior villager," the Princess remarked, "if you mean Mr.
Andrew."
Forrest looked up, and fixed his cold intent eyes upon his host.
"I suppose," he said, "you are sure that this man Andrew is really
what he professes to be, and not a masquerader?"
"I have known him," Cecil answered, "since I was old enough to
remember anybody. He has lived here all his life, and only been away
three or four times."
They played until the dressing-bell rang. Then Cecil de la Borne
rose from his seat with a peevish exclamation.
"My luck seems dead out," he said.
The Princess raised her eyebrows.
"Possibly, my dear boy," she said, "but you must admit that you also
played abominably. Your last declaration of hearts was indefensible,
and why you led a diamond and discarded the spade in Lord Ronald's
'no trump' hand, Heaven only knows!"
"I still think that I was right," Cecil declared, a little sullenly.
The Princess said nothing, but turned toward the door.
"Any one dining to-night, Mr. Host?" she said.
"No one," he answered. "To tell you the truth there is no one to ask
within a dozen miles, and you particularly asked not to be bothered
with meeting yokels."
"Quite right," the Princess answered, "only I am getting a little
bored, and if you had any yokels of the Mr. Andrew sort, with just a
little more polish, they might be entertaining. You three men are
getting deadly dull."
"Princess!" Lord Ronald declared reproachfully. "How can you say
that? You never give any one a chance to see you until the
afternoon, and then we generally start bridge. One cannot be
brilliantly entertaining while one is playing cards."
The Princess yawned.
"I never argue," she said. "I only state facts. I am getting a
little bored. Some one must be very amusing at dinner-time or I
shall have a headache."
She swept up to her room.
"I suppose we'd better go and change," Cecil remarked, leading the
way out into the hall.
Forrest, who was at the window, screwed his eyeglass in and leaned
forward. A faint smile had parted the corner of his lips, and he
beckoned to Cecil, who came over at once to his side. On the top of
the sand-dyke two figures were walking slowly side by side. Jeanne,
with the wind blowing her skirts about her small shapely figure, was
looking up all the time at the man who walked by her side, and who,
against the empty background of sea and sky, seemed of a stature
almost gigantic.
"Quite an idyll!" Forrest remarked with a little sneer.
Cecil bit his lip, and turned away without a word.
CHAPTER X
"I don't think," Engleton said slowly, "that I care about playing
any more--just now."
The Princess yawned as she leaned back in her chair. Both Forrest
and De la Borne, who had left his place to turn up one of the lamps,
glanced stealthily round at the speaker.
"I am not keen about it myself," Forrest said smoothly. "After all,
though, it's only three o'clock."
Cecil's fingers shook, so that his tinkering with the lamp failed,
and the room was left almost in darkness. Forrest, glad of an excuse
to leave his place, went to the great north window and pulled up the
blind. A faint stream of grey light stole into the room. The
Princess shrieked, and covered her face with her hands.
"For Heaven's sake, Nigel," she cried, "pull that blind down! I do
not care for these Rembrandtesque effects. Tobacco ash and cards and
my complexion do not look at their best in such a crude light."
Forrest obeyed, and the room for a moment was in darkness. There was
a somewhat curious silence. The Princess was breathing softly but
quickly. When at last the lamp burned up again, every one glanced
furtively toward the young man who was leaning back in his chair
with his eyes fixed absently upon the table.
"Well, what is it to be?" Forrest asked, reseating himself. "One
more rubber or bed?"
"I've lost a good deal more than I care to," Cecil remarked in a
somewhat unnatural tone, "but I say another brandy and soda, and one
more rubber. There are some sandwiches behind you, Engleton."
"Thank you," Engleton answered without looking up. "I am not
hungry."
The Princess took up a fresh pack of cards, and let them fall idly
through her fingers. Then she took a cigarette from the gold case
which hung from her chatelaine, and lit it.
"One more rubber, then," she said. "After that we will go to bed."
The others came toward the table, and the Princess threw down the
cards. They all three cut. Engleton, however, did not move.
"I think," he said, "that you did not quite understand me. I said
that I did not care to play any more."
"Three against one," the Princess remarked lightly.
"Why not play cut-throat, then?" Engleton remarked. "It would be an
excellent arrangement."
"Why so?" Forrest asked.
"Because you could rob one another," Engleton said. "It would be
interesting to watch."
A few seconds intense silence followed Engleton's words. It was the
Princess who spoke first. Her tone was composed but chilly. She
looked toward Engleton with steady eyes.
"My dear Lord Ronald," she said, "is this a joke? I am afraid my
sense of humour grows a little dull at this hour of the morning."
"It was not meant for a joke," Engleton said. "My words were spoken
in earnest."
The Princess, without any absolute movement, seemed suddenly to
become more erect. One forgot her rouge, her blackened eyebrows, her
powdered cheeks. It was the great lady who looked at Engleton.
"Are we to take this, Lord Ronald," she asked, "as a serious
accusation?"
"You can take it for what it is, madam," Engleton answered--"the
truth."
Cecil de la Borne rose to his feet and leaned across the table. His
cheeks were as pale as death. His voice was shaking.
"I am your host, Engleton," he said, "and I demand an explanation of
what you have said. Your accusation is absurd. You must be drunk or
out of your senses."
"I am neither drunk nor out of my senses," Engleton answered, "nor
am I such an utter fool as to be so easily deceived. The fact that
you, as my partner, played like an idiot, made rotten declarations,
and revoked when one rubber was nearly won, I pass over. That may or
may not have been your miserable idea of the game. Apart from that,
however, I regret to have discovered that you, Forrest, and you,
madam," he added, addressing the Princess, "have made use throughout
the last seven rubbers of a code with your fingers, both for the
declarations and for the leads. My suspicions were aroused, I must
confess, by accident. It was remarkably easy, however, to verify
them. Look here!"
Engleton touched his forehead.
"Hearts!" he said.
He touched his lip.
"Diamonds!" he added.
He passed his fingers across his eyebrows.
"Clubs!" he remarked.
He beat with his fourth finger softly upon the table.
"Spades!"
Major Forrest rose to his feet.
"Lord Ronald," he said, "I am exceedingly sorry that owing to my
introduction you have become a guest in this house. As for your
ridiculous accusation, I deny it."
"And I," the Princess murmured.
"Naturally," Engleton answered smoothly. "I really do not see what
else you could do. I regret very much to have been the unfortunate
means of breaking up such a pleasant little house-party. I am going
to my room now to change my clothes, and I will trespass upon your
hospitality, Mr. De la Borne, only so far as to beg you to let me
have a cart, or something of the sort, to drive me into Wells, as
soon as your people come on the scene."
Engleton rose to his feet, and with a stiff little bow, walked
toward the door. He, too, seemed somehow during the last few minutes
to have shown signs of a greater virility than was at any time
manifest in his boyish, somewhat unintelligent, face. He carried
himself with a new dignity, and he spoke with the decision of an
older man. For a moment they watched him go. Then Forrest, obeying a
lightning-like glance from the Princess, crossed the room swiftly
and stood with his back to the door.
"Engleton," he said, "this is absurd. We can afford to ignore your
mad behaviour and your discourtesy, but before you leave this room
we must come to an understanding."
Lord Ronald stood with his hands behind his back.
"I had imagined," he said, "that an understanding was exactly what
we had come to. My words were plain enough, were they not? I am
leaving this house because I have found myself in the company of
sharks and card-sharpers."
Forrest's eyes narrowed. A quick little breath passed between his
teeth. He took a step forward toward the young man, as though about
to strike him.
Engleton, however, remained unmoved.
"You are going to carry away a story like this?" he said hoarsely.
"I shall tell my friends," Engleton answered, "just as much or as
little as I choose of my visit here. Since, however, you are
curious, I may say that should I find you at any future time in any
respectable house, it will be my duty to inform any one of my
friends who are present of the character of their fellow-guest. Will
you be so good as to stand away from that door?"
"No!" Forrest answered.
Engleton turned toward Cecil.
"Mr. De la Borne," he said, "may I appeal to you, as it is your
house, to allow me egress from it?"
Cecil came hesitatingly up to the two. The Princess, with a sweep of
her skirts, followed him.
"Major Forrest is right," she declared. "We cannot have this madman
go back to London to spread about slanderous tales. Major Forrest
will stand away from that door, Lord Ronald, as soon as you pass
your word that what has happened to-night will remain a secret."
Engleton laughed contemptuously.
"Not I," he answered. "Exactly what I said to Major Forrest, I
repeat, madam, to you, and to you, sir, my host. I shall give my
friends the benefit of my experience whenever it seems to me
advisable."
Forrest locked the door, and put the key into his pocket.
"We shall hope, Lord Ronald," he said quietly, "to induce you to
change your mind."
CHAPTER XI
"Every one down for luncheon!" Jeanne declared. "What energy! Where
is Lord Ronald, by the by?" she added, looking around the room. "He
promised to take me out sailing this morning. I wonder if I missed
him on the marshes."
The Princess yawned, and glanced at the clock.
"By this time," she remarked, "Lord Ronald is probably in London. He
had a telegram or something in the middle of the night, and went
away early this morning."
Jeanne looked at them in surprise.
"How queer!" she remarked. "I was down before nine o'clock. Had he
left then?"
"Long before then, I believe," Forrest answered. "He is very likely
coming back in a day or two."
Jeanne nodded indifferently. The intelligence, after all, was of
little importance to her.
"Has the luncheon gong gone?" she asked. "I have been out since ten
o'clock, and I am starving."
Cecil led the way across the hall into the dining-room.
"Come along," he said. "I wish we all had such healthy appetites."
She glanced at him, and then at the others.
"Well," she said, "you certainly look as though you had been up very
late last night. What is the matter with you all?"
"We were very foolish," Major Forrest said softly. "We sat up a
great deal too late, and I am afraid that we all smoked too many
cigarettes. You see it was our last night, for without Engleton our
bridge is over."
"We must try," Cecil said, "and find some other form of
entertainment for you. Would you like to sail again this afternoon,
Princess?"
"I believe," she answered, "that I should like it if I may have
plenty of cushions and a soft place for my head, so that if I feel
like it I can go to sleep. Really, these late nights are dreadful. I
am almost glad that Lord Ronald has gone. At least there will be no
excuse for us to sit up until daylight." "To-night," Major Forrest
remarked, "let us all be primitive. We will go to bed at eleven
o'clock, and get up in the morning and walk with Miss Le Mesurier
upon the marshes. What do you find upon the sands, I wonder," he
added, turning a little suddenly toward the girl, "to bring such a
colour to your cheeks, and to keep you away from us for so many
hours?"
Jeanne looked at him for a moment without change of features.
"It would not be easy," she said, "for me to tell you, for I find
things there which you could not appreciate or understand."
"You find them alone?" Major Forrest asked smiling.
She turned her left shoulder upon him and addressed her host.
"Major Forrest is very impertinent," she said. "I think that I will
not talk with him any more. Tell me, Mr. De la Borne, do you really
mean that we can go sailing this afternoon?"
"If you will," he answered. "I have sent down to the village to tell
them to bring the boat up to our harbourage."
She nodded.
"I shall love it," she declared. "It will be such a good thing for
you three, too, because it will make you all sleepy, and then you
will be able to go to bed and not worry about your bridge. When is
Lord Ronald coming back?"
"He was not quite sure," the Princess remarked. "It depends upon the
urgency of his business which summoned him away."
"How odd," Jeanne remarked, "to think of Lord Ronald as having any
business at all. I cannot understand even now why I did not hear the
car go. My room is just over the entrance to the courtyard."
"It is a proof," Major Forrest remarked, "that you sleep as soundly
as you deserve."
"I am not so sure about that," Jeanne said. "Last night, for
instance, it seemed to me that I heard all manner of strange
sounds."
Cecil de la Borne looked up quickly.
"Sounds?" he repeated. "Do you mean noises in the house?"
She nodded.
"Yes, and voices! Once I thought that you must be all quarrelling,
and then I thought that I heard some one fall down. After that there
was nothing but the opening and shutting of doors."
"And after that," the Princess remarked smiling, "you probably went
to sleep."
"Exactly," Jeanne admitted. "I went to sleep listening for
footsteps. I think it was very rude of Ronald to go away without
saying good-bye to me."
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17