Books: Number Seventeen
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Louis Tracy >> Number Seventeen
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"Both the plan and the description are admirable."
"The plan sounds all right. As for the description I have been looking
up a selection of posters, and those seven words apply to every
half-mile strip of beach in the island. When it comes to a real
show-down, your poster artists have got our real estate men skinned a
mile. How much did you promise the taxi-man?"
"Half a sovereign."
"Two-fifty. Gee! That's the nearest thing to New York I've struck yet.
And the railway tickets-- first-class, of course?"
"Yes."
The cab stopped. Theydon sprang out and raced to the telegraph office,
where, as he anticipated, there was a slight delay. Handyside awaited
him at the correct barrier, and together they walked down a long
platform, Theydon peering into every carriage, though convinced that
Evelyn Forbes would not travel other than first class. Thus, not being
a detective, but only a very anxious and perplexed young man, he had
eyes only for such ladies as were already seated in the train, and
failed to note the immediate interest his appearance aroused in a man
who occupied a window seat, and who was watching unobtrusively every
one who passed. Oddly enough, after the first wondering glance, this
observer was more closely taken up with Handyside. It was as though he
said to himself:
"Theydon I know, but who in the world is his companion, and why are
they traveling by an Eastbourne express-- today of all days?"
The train was well filled; there were only a few seconds to spare when
Theydon came across Evelyn Forbes in a compartment which held two
other passengers-- a lady and a gentleman.
Recognition was mutual, and Theydon flattered himself that he betrayed
just the right amount of pleasurable astonishment.
"Miss Forbes!" he cried, raising his hat. "Well, of all the unexpected
meetings! Don't say you are going to Eastbourne!"
"But I am," she said, and, though she smiled, her eyes were heavy with
unshed tears. She was deeply attached to her mother, and the thought
that the loved one was too ill even to communicate with her by
telephone was distressing beyond measure.
"Just imagine that!" went on Theydon, determined to rush his fences
and travel with her unless openly forbidden. "I'm taking an American
friend there for the afternoon. May we come in your carriage? Is there
room for two?"
Now, although Evelyn Forbes had been attracted to Theydon during their
vivacious conversation overnight, she would vastly have preferred the
comparative solitude of a journey with strangers.
Still, she could hardly refuse such a request, and common sense told
her that a pleasant chat with a man who could talk as well as Theydon
offered a better means of whiling away two and a half hours than
brooding over the nature and extent of her mother's unknown illness.
"There's plenty of room," she said.
Without further ado, Theydon entered and Handyside followed. The
compartment held six seats, while a door led to a side corridor
running the length of the coach. The two remaining occupants were
worthy Britons who neither invited nor received any special attention.
Mr. Handyside was introduced, and promptly said the right thing.
"I guess I knew what I was doing when I forced Mr. Theydon to take me
out of London today," he said, with a smile which left the girl in no
doubt as to the nature of the implied compliment.
"But it is hardly an hour since I spoke to my father at Mr. Theydon's
flat," she said. "Were you there, too, Mr. Handyside?"
"No, in the next block. That was the nearest I got to Mr. Theydon
before we met and took a cab for Victoria."
Theydon was pleased with his ally. No diplomat, trained during long
years to conceal material facts, could have headed the girl off more
deftly, while every word was literally true.
"Ah!" she said, glancing meaningly at Theydon, "we are all the sport
of fortune, then. How strange! Of course, Mr. Theydon, you don't know
why I am here. I have had a telegram from my mother, or one sent in
her name. She has been taken ill suddenly."
"That is bad news," was the sympathetic answer. "If the message has
not come direct from Mrs. Forbes may it not be rather exaggerated in
tone? Some people can never write telegrams. The knowledge that each
word costs a halfpenny weighs on them like a nightmare."
As he hoped and anticipated, she produced the message itself from her
handbag.
"This is what it says," she said, and read: "'Mrs. Forbes ill and
unable communicate by telephone. Come at once. Manager Royal
Devonshire Hotel.'" Then she added, with a suspicious break in her
voice: "That sounds serious enough, in all conscience."
"Is it addressed to you personally?" said Theydon, racking his wits
for some means of lessening the girl's foreboding without tickling the
ears of the other people in the compartment by suggesting that she
might have been brought from her home by some cruel ruse of her
father's enemies.
"Yes."
"But isn't that somewhat singular in itself? One would imagine that
such a significant message would have been sent to your father."
"Why?"
"Well, men are better fitted to withstand these shocks, for one thing.
It was heartless, or, to say the least, thoughtless, to give you such
news with the brutal frankness of a telegram."
"I cannot understand it at all. Mother wrote this morning telling me
that she was going to Beachy Head this afternoon with a picnic party,"
"I am convinced," said Theydon gravely, "that some one has blundered.
It may be the act of some stupid foreigner. I shall not be content
now, Miss Forbes, until I have gone with you to the Royal Devonshire,
and learnt what the extent of the trouble really is. Then, if Mrs.
Forbes needs your presence, perhaps you will allow me to telephone to
your father, as he will be greatly disturbed when he returns home and
learns the cause of your journey."
"But I can't think of allowing you two to break up your afternoon on
my account. I'm sure, when we reach Eastbourne, I shall see an array
of golf clubs among your luggage."
"No," smiled Theydon. "My friend here refuses to play until he has
seen something of the country. He knows that the golfer's vision is
bounded by the nearest bunker."
Handyside took the cue.
"That's the exact position, Miss Forbes," he said. "I was warned by
the horrible experience of a friend of mine. He left Newark, N. J., on
a sightseeing tour of Europe, but unfortunately took his clubs with
him. Now, if you ask him what he thought of Westminster Abbey or the
Wye Valley he tells you he hadn't time to look 'em up, but that the
fifth hole at Sandwich is a corker, while the thirteenth at St.
Andrews has been known to restore the faculty of speech to a dumb man.
You see, some poor mute had either to express his feelings or bust."
Evidently Miss Evelyn Forbes would not be allowed to mope during the
run to Eastbourne.
As between Theydon and herself, the situation was curiously mixed. On
the one hand, Theydon had now a remarkably close insight into the
peril which threatened Forbes and each member of his family; the girl,
on the other, knew well that her father was bound up in some way with
the tragedy at No. 17 Innesmore Mansions.
Nevertheless, an open discussion was out of the question, and the two
accepted cheerfully the limitations imposed by circumstances, so that
the strangers in the compartment little suspected what grave issues
lay behind an apparently casual meeting between a pretty girl and two
men that summer's afternoon in the Eastbourne express.
The American played his part admirably. When not passing some
caustically humorous comment on British ways and manners he was being
even more critical of his fellow-countrymen.
As he himself put it, he guessed New York society was mighty like
London society with the head cut off, and proved his contention with
many wise saws and modern instances.
Thus the journey south passed pleasantly enough. When they alighted
the girl reverted to the topic uppermost in her mind.
"You gentlemen will have to look after your luggage," she said. "I'm
sure you will forgive me if I hurry to the hotel. If you come there,
Mr. Theydon, I'll take care that I see you at once. It is exceedingly
kind of you to bother with my affairs."
But Theydon had a scheme ready, having foreseen this very difficulty.
"Mr. Handyside will attend to everything," he said glibly. "Please let
me come with you. I shan't have a moment's peace until assured that
Mrs. Forbes is suffering from little more than a slight
indisposition."
Evelyn looked puzzled, but was willing to agree to anything so long as
she reached her mother quickly. Handyside, too, made matters easy by
lifting his hat and walking off in the direction of the luggage van.
"Well," she said, "I really don't care what happens if only I lose no
time."
Suiting the action to the word, she hurried toward the exit, and was
murmuring something that sounded like an apology for her seeming
brusqueness as they passed the ticket collector. Here a momentary
difficulty arose. Theydon had forgotten to ask Handyside for his
ticket. The girl, of course, had her own ticket, but her companion was
not allowed to pass the barrier. He began an explanation to which a
busy official paid no heed. In desperation, he produced a sovereign,
and his card.
"Here," be said, "you can hold this as a guarantee that my ticket will
be given up. This lady has been called to the bedside of her mother,
who is said to be dangerously ill, and I simply must be allowed to
take her to the Royal Devonshire Hotel."
Luckily, the railwayman had the wit to see. that this earnest-eyed
passenger was speaking the truth.
"That's all right, sir," he said. "We have to be very particular about
tickets, you know."
Evelyn Forbes was a few yards in advance, and impatiently awaiting her
escort, when a gentleman approached and spoke to her.
"Miss Forbes, I believe," he said, raising his hat.
"Yes," she answered breathlessly, because the man's garb suggested,
before he uttered another syllable, that be was a doctor. He had a
curiously foreign aspect, and spoke with a pronounced lisp.
"I am assistant to Dr. Sinnett," he said, "and he has sent me to take
you to the hotel. This is his car. Will you come, quick?"
He pointed to a smart limousine drawn up near the exit, and, in his
eagerness to be polite, almost pushed the girl toward the open door.
Insensibly, she resisted, and turned to explain matters to Theydon,
who had just placated the Cerberus at the gate, and was running alter
her.
"Mr. Theydon--" she began.
"There ith no time to wathe, I athure you," said Dr. Sinnett's
assistant imperatively. At that instant Theydon came up. His temper
was ruffled, and he did not scrutinize the doctor's appearance as
closely as might be looked for in one who was actually on his guard
against foul play.
"What is it now?" he asked.
"This gentleman has been sent by Dr. Sinnett to take me to the hotel,"
said Evelyn. "Now, Mr. Theydon, perhaps it will be better that you
wait for Mr. Handyside and come on at your leisure."
"I'm a stiff-necked person," said Theydon, trying to smile
unconcernedly. "I've made up my mind to see you safely to your
destination, and I refuse to leave you on any account. I am sure the
doctor will let me sit beside the chauffeur."
Then, for the first time, he glanced at the newcomer, and was almost
stupefied to discover that the man, despite his faultless professional
attire, was a Chinaman. Moreover, this Chinaman bore a livid scar down
the left side of his face, and his eyes were set horizontally, a sure
sign of Manchu descent, because all Southern Chinese have the oblique
Mongolian eye. Though prepared for treachery of some kind, the very
simplicity of this scheme almost disconcerted him, and he blurted out
the first words that rose to his lips.
"Is your name Wong Li Fu?"
Half unconsciously, a hand dropped to the pocket containing the
revolver. For answer, he was struck a violent blow in the throat and
sent sprawling. The attack was so sudden that he was nearly unprepared
for it-- nearly, not quite, because a flicker of baffled spite in the
dark eyes gave him the ghost of a warning.
It was fortunate that he saved himself by a slight backward flinching,
since he learnt subsequently that his assailant was a master of jiu
jitsu, and that vicious blow was intended to paralyze the nerves which
cluster around the cricoid cartilage. Had he received the punch in its
full force he would at least have been disabled for the remainder of
the day, while there was some chance of the injury proving fatal.
The Chinaman instantly seized the terrified girl in an irresistible
grip, and was about to thrust her into the automobile when a big,
burly man flung himself into the fray and collared the desperado by
neck and arm.
"Stop that!" he said authoritatively. "Let go that young lady or I'll
shake the life out of you!"
By this time Theydon was on his feet again, and rushing to the
assistance of Chief Inspector Winter, who seemed to have miraculously
dropped from the skies at the right moment. The Chinaman, seeing that
he was in imminent danger of capture, released Evelyn, wrenched
himself free by another jiu jitsu trick, swung the girl into Winter's
arms, thus impeding him, and leaped into the car, which made off with
a rapidity that showed how thoroughly the chauffeur was in league with
his principal.
Naturally, the people coming out from the station, reinforced by the
mob of semi-loafers always in evidence in such localities, gathered in
scores around Evelyn Forbes and her two protectors. Such an
extraordinary scuffle was bound to attract a crowd; few had seen the
commencement of the fray, because nothing could be more usual and
commonplace in a fashionable place like Eastbourne than the sight of a
frock-coated and top-hatted gentleman handing a well-dressed lady into
a motor car.
The first general intimation of something bizarre and sensational was
provided by Theydon's fall. After that, events traveled rapidly, and
the majority of the onlookers imagined that it was Winter who had
knocked Theydon off his balance, while the rush made by the latter to
intercept Wong Li Fu was actually stopped by a well-intentioned
railway porter.
Worst of all, Theydon was quite unable to speak. He indulged in
valiant pantomime, and Winter fully understood that the Chinaman's
escape should be prevented at all hazards. But the chief inspector
accepted the inevitable.
The limousine was equipped with a powerful engine, and the only
vehicles available for pursuit were some ancient horse-drawn cabs. He
noted the number on the identification plate, and that was the limit
of his resources for the moment.
Moreover, Evelyn Forbes, finding herself clutched tightly by a tall,
stout man whom she had never seen before, was rather more indignant
than hurt.
Disengaging herself from the detective's hands, she looked to Theydon
for an explanation.
"Has everybody suddenly gone mad?" she said vehemently. "What is the
meaning of this? Did you know who that man was? And why did he try to
force me into the car?"
Theydon, slowly regaining his breath, stammered brokenly that he would
make things clear in a minute or so. Then he gasped to Winter:
"That is Wong Li Fu-- the man wanted-- at No. 17!"
"We'll get him all right," was the grimly curt answer. "Meanwhile, are
you and Miss Forbes going to the hotel?"
Hardly less surprising than Winter's appearance on the scene was his
seeming knowledge of the purpose of their journey.
"We must get out of this," he went on, gazing around wrathfully at the
ring of curious faces. "Here, you!" he cried, singling out a policeman
who was forcing a passage through the crowd, "clear away this mob and
get us a cab!"
The policeman seemed inclined to resent the masterful directions, but
a word whispered in his ear when he reached Winter acted like magic,
and he soon had the gapers scattered.
A cab was called, and Evelyn Forbes was already inside when Theydon
remembered the American. He looked around, but could see nothing of
him.
"Where is-- Mr. Handyside?" he said, still finding a good deal of
difficulty in articulating his words.
"Is that the man who came with you from London?" inquired Winter.
"Yes. He's-- an American."
"Well, he may have been scared, and made a bee-line for the States. He
is not anywhere in sight."
"O, please, Mr. Theydon, do let us go to the hotel," pleaded Evelyn.
She was pale, and yielding to reaction after the excitement of the
fracas.
Unwillingly, since he was certain now that there was absolutely no
ground for the girl's alarm on her mother's account-- at any rate, so
far as illness was concerned-- Theydon entered the cab, and Winter
followed.
"The first thing to do," said the chief inspector, when they were en
route, "is to assure this young lady, whom I take to be Miss Forbes,
that she has probably been brought to Eastbourne by a lying telegram,
and that her mother is quite well in health. Secondly, why should Wong
Li Fu be described as the man wanted in the Innesmore Mansions
inquiry; and, thirdly, how does Mr. Handyside come into the picture?"
"I can't-- talk-- just yet," wheezed Theydon hoarsely. "In a few
minutes-- I'll-- tell you everything."
Evelyn had not realized earlier that her self-appointed champion had
been seriously hurt. She was deeply concerned, and wanted to take him
straight to the nearest doctor.
But he smiled and essayed to calm her fears by whispering that he
would soon be fully recovered. It was pleasant to know that he had
succeeded in rescuing her from some indefinable though none the less
deadly peril, yet the insistent question in his subconscious mind was
not connected with Evelyn's escape, or the flight of her assailant, or
the mysterious presence of the chief inspector, but with the vanishing
of Mr. Handyside.
What had become of him? It was the maddest of fantasies to imagine
that he could be bound up in some way with the Young Manchus. Yet why
did he fail to turn up at the station?
Theydon could not even guess at a plausible explanation. He leaned
back in the cab and closed his eyes. Really, there were times in life
when it would be a relief to faint!
CHAPTER X
CAPTURES ON BOTH SIDES
Though Theydon was in first-rate athletic trim, that blow on the
throat had nearly stunned him. The effort to rise promptly and bear a
hand in the imminent capture of one whom he regarded as something akin
to a homicidal maniac had imposed a further strain on his resources,
and it was possible that he did actually lose his senses during a
couple of seconds.
In all likelihood, too, he changed color slightly, because the next
thing he was aware of was the note of alarm in Evelyn's voice when she
cried excitedly:
"Mr. Theydon is really very ill. I'm sure we ought to try and revive
him."
At that he reopened his eyes and looked at her whimsically. Nature, in
fact, had put forth a supreme effort; from that moment he recovered
rapidly.
Winter took a calmly professional view of the younger man's collapse.
"There's nothing to worry about, Miss Forbes," he assured the agitated
girl. "Our friend has just escaped being knocked insensible, if not
killed. He was hardly prepared for such a vicious attack, I fancy.
Most certainly that scoundrel took me by surprise, or he would not
have slipped through my fingers like an eel. Next time, either Mr.
Theydon or I may be trusted to balance matters."
Theydon grinned and nodded. He signaled with his eyes that Winter was
to make Evelyn Forbes understand that she had just escaped being the
victim of an extraordinary outrage. Muddled as his thoughts were, he
grasped the essential fact that Scotland Yard was better posted in the
secret history of the Innesmore Mansions crime than he had given the
department credit for before the dramatic meeting with Furneaux that
morning.
And, indeed, the chief inspector lost no time in justifying that
belief.
"You must have imagined that the world had suddenly turned
topsy-turvy," he said, smiling at the mystified and distraught Evelyn,
as though the whirl of events outside the station were part and parcel
of the humdrum routine of life. "When Mr. Theydon regains his speech
he will tell us how he came to suspect that an attempt would be made
to kidnap you today. In my own case, intervention was the outcome of
sheer and simple logical deduction. You see, I represent the Criminal
Investigation Department-- or Scotland Yard, as it is familiarly
described-- and I have reason to believe that your father is, and has
been for some time, the object of unpleasant attentions by a political
society in China, whose members are nothing more nor less than
criminal fanatics. Probably this is the first you have heard of the
matter, Miss Forbes. Your father would wish, no doubt, to keep any
such disquieting knowledge from you and your mother. But the policy of
concealment must cease now. Today's daring attack is a warning. Other
efforts may be forthcoming. If you are to be protected efficiently the
police must have your loyal cooperation. I admit candidly that I
myself, with all my experience, was taken off my guard a few minutes
ago. If Mr. Theydon had not delayed that Chinaman-- whose name he has
got hold of from Mr. Forbes, I expect-- I don't think I could have
reached you in time."
"Is that the meaning of the little ivory skull which my father
received at breakfast this morning?" said Evelyn, breathlessly.
Winter's eyes twinkled. No question could have thrown a more vivid
light into the somber depths of a crime which promised to transcend in
interest and importance any similar occurrence in Great Britain during
the previous decade.
"Doubtless," he said. "Of course, I have not yet seen Mr. Forbes, but
we have a mine of information here," and he laid a friendly hand on
Theydon's arm. "So far as I am concerned, I have had your house
unobtrusively watched-- for the protection of the inmates, I hope you
understand-- and I arranged also that anything unusual in the shape of
telegrams or telephonic messages"-- here he glanced amusedly at
Theydon-- "should be communicated to the Yard. I heard, therefore, of
Mrs. Forbes's sudden illness almost as soon as you did, and traveled
with you to Eastbourne, intending to reach the hotel at the same time
as you, and ascertain whether or not your mother was really ill. I saw
you on the platform at Victoria and guessed your identity. But, in my
profession, we never take anything for granted, so I left that matter
until I could interview the hotel manager. And here we are. I advise
you not to say a word about Mrs. Forbes being ill. If, as I firmly
believe, you find that she is in the best of health, you can explain
your sudden visit by saying that Mr. Theydon and I have something of
importance to communicate, which will be perfectly accurate, as I mean
to urge strongly that we all return to London by the next train."
The cab stopped. To show that "Richard was himself again" Theydon,
nearest the door, opened it, got out, and helped Evelyn to alight.
Reassured on his account, the girl smiled, and a wave of color leaped
to her cheeks. Any one happening to watch their arrival would put them
down as ordinary visitors. Evelyn Forbes was just a charming young
woman, plainly but expensively dressed; Theydon an attentive cavalier,
and Winter a prosperous city man, probably with a taste for coursing
and pheasant shooting.
Subtly observant, indeed, would be the theorist who gathered from
their demeanor that they had just emerged practically unscathed from a
situation rife with the elements of tragedy.
Nevertheless, Winter kept a sharp eye on Theydon after Evelyn Forbes
had run up the steps of the hotel, and was relieved at seeing that he
could walk without assistance.
"Keep nothing back," he said under his breath as they followed the
girl with sedater pace. "These women must be frightened into complete
obedience. Did Furneaux get hold of Forbes?"
Theydon nodded.
"That's right. Don't talk. I can pretty well guess what took place.
But, look here. Who's Handyside-- a mere acquaintance?"
Another nod.
"You just contrived to pick him up, and used him as an excuse for
coming to Eastbourne? I see. That removes a troublesome pawn off the
chessboard."
"But it doesn't," wheezed Theydon. "He ought to be here. Can't make
out-- what has become of him."
"He will turn up-- an American, isn't he? I thought so. The
indications were slight but certain-- features, walk, figure. You can
buy clothes, but the genuine citizen of God's own country is as
distinct a type as a Highlander-- all wool and a yard wide."
Inside the hotel they came on Evelyn Forbes talking to the manager.
She hailed them at once.
"Mother has gone to Beachy Head," she cried. "She and her friends are
expected home about six o'clock. Shall we have some tea? There is no
use in following her. She will be starting back before we could get
there."
"Mrs. Forbes is quite well, I hope?" put in Winter, casually.
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