stationed outside the grounds to watch the only road by which Denby
could escape. When Taylor was satisfied they were doing what they could,
he came back into the big hall where the frightened group was awaiting
him.
“We’ll get your friend yet,” he observed disagreeably to Mrs.
Harrington. “It’s bright moonlight, and my men’ll nab him.”
“But he’s not my friend,” she objected; “I had no idea he was that kind
of a person.”
“When I find a man like that a guest in a house like this,” Taylor
retorted, “I think I’m justified in calling him your friend. You’ll have
time to think what to say later when you’re called as a witness.”
“I want to beg your pardon, Mr. Taylor,” said Michael anxiously. The
idea of being cross-examined and made a fool of by a bullying counsel
horrified him. He’d be a jest forever more at Meadow Brook and Piping
Rock. The Harringtons casually to pick up a smuggler and make him free
of their exclusive home! Never had he needed a drink to steady his
nerves as he did now!
“Well, I certainly think there is an apology due me,” Taylor sneered. He
was not one to forget an affront and Harrington had alluded to his
criminal type in a way that rankled yet.
“But how could we know?” asked Mrs. Harrington; “he seemed perfectly all
right, although I did say he might be a murderer.”
“That’ll come out in court,” Taylor reminded her disagreeably. “If it
hadn’t been that my men were here to swear to me, I’d have spent the
night in one of your little one-horse jails, and he’d have got away.
When I do get him he’ll remember Daniel Taylor till the day he dies.”
Monty, overhearing these direful threats from behind a door, and happy
because of his friend’s escape, walked boldly in.
“Did you get the burglar?” he demanded airily.
“There wasn’t any burglar,” Alice told him.
“It was your old friend Denby that caused all the trouble,” Michael
informed him, “the old friend you introduced into my house. I tell you,
Monty--”
“Don’t explain,” Taylor commanded. “Now,” he snapped to Monty, “have
you seen Steven Denby in the last ten minutes?”
Monty found with glee that so far from being nervous he was enjoying the
scene. He only regretted that his moustache was not long enough to
permit him to curl it to a fierce and martial angle. He was glad that
Nora had crept into the room and was watching him.
“Isn’t he in bed?” he demanded, yawning.
“You know he isn’t in bed,” Taylor answered. “Maybe you’re his pal--in
on this job with him. Come here.”
Monty wished to refuse, but Taylor had a compelling manner, so he
advanced with an insolent slowness.
Alice Harrington flew to his defence. “That’s too absurd!” she cried.
“We’ve known Mr. Vaughan since he was a child.”
“Who is this person?” Monty demanded superciliously.
“Never mind who I am,” Taylor said gruffly, and started to search him.
“Don’t hurt him,” Nora cried, rushing to her fiancé’s side.
“It’s all right, Nora,” Monty said; submitting quietly. “He thinks he’s
doing his duty. When you’re through with me,” he said to Taylor, “I’ll
take you to my room. You’d probably like to go through that, too.”
“Here, that’ll be enough from you,” Taylor said frowning. “You aren’t
smart enough to be Denby’s pal. Clear out--get back to the nursery.”
Nora cast a glance of vivid hatred at him, but Taylor turned his back on
her.
“Do you want us any longer?” Michael asked.
“No,” he was told. “You can go and leave me with this girl,” pointing to
Ethel, who had not said a word. “I want a little talk with her.”
“Please keep her out of it,” Michael asked him. “I’m sure she’s
absolutely innocent in the matter.”
Taylor looked at him, exasperated. “See here,” he cried, “you’ve put
enough obstacles in my way to-night as it is! Do you want to put any
more?”
“It’s all right,” Ethel Cartwright said quickly; “there’s just some
misunderstanding. Please go!”
“All right, then,” her host answered. “Come, Alice, I need a drink
badly.”
“My dear,” she said affectionately, “under the circumstances you may
have an all-night license.”
He had turned to go when Lambart approached him. “I beg your pardon,
sir, but can I have a word with you?”
“What is it?” Michael demanded anxiously. The news evidently affected
him, and Taylor looked suspicious. “What’s this mean?” the
deputy-surveyor asked.
“A long distance from my partner,” the agitated Harrington returned. “I
stand to lose nearly a million dollars if something isn’t done. Excuse
me, Alice--I’ll use the upstairs ’phone.” He hurried upstairs.
“Well,” said Monty to Taylor--Nora was hanging on his arm and he felt he
would never again be afraid--“do you want me any longer?”
“I thought I sent you back to play,” Taylor snarled.
Ostentatiously Monty turned his back and walked leisurely to a door.
“You are perfectly splendid,” Nora exclaimed with ecstasy in her voice.
“I’d no idea you were so brave.”
“Oh, you can never tell,” Monty returned modestly.
Alice joined them in retreat. “Michael’s thirst is catching,” she
asserted. “I’m for some champagne, children, are you?”
“Sure,” said Monty. “What’s a quart amongst three?”
Taylor watched them depart, sneeringly. He hated the idle rich with the
intensity of a man who has longed to be of them and knows he cannot. The
look he flung at Miss Cartwright was not pleasant.
“What did you mean by telling them upstairs that you had never seen me
before?” he cried vindictively.
“You said under no circumstances was I to mention your name.”
He looked a trifle disconcerted at this simple explanation. He was in a
mood for punishment, and rebuke.
“Yes,” he admitted, “but--”
“You said it was imperative your identity should not be disclosed,” the
girl reminded him.
“I suppose that’s true in a way,” he conceded; “but when you saw me
wanting to prove who I was, why didn’t you help?”
“I was afraid to do anything but follow your instructions,” she said
earnestly. “I remembered that you swore you’d put my sister in prison if
I even said I’d ever seen you before.”
“Well, then, we won’t say any more about it,” he returned ungraciously.
“How did you find Denby had the necklace?”
“I got into his room and caught him,” she explained. “He had it in his
hand.”
“Yes, yes!” he cried impatiently; “go on.”
“And when the lights went out and there was a shot, I screamed, and
naturally I couldn’t see what happened in the dark. I thought you had
killed him and I was frightened.”
Taylor frowned. He did not like to remember that directly the flash of
his gun had disclosed his position Denby had sprung on him like an arrow
and knocked him down. Denby had scored two knock-downs in one night, and
none had ever done that before. There was a swelling on his jaw and
three teeth were loosened. Denby should pay for that, he swore.
While he was thinking these vengeful thoughts, Duncan hurried in through
the French windows.
“Say, Chief,” he shouted, “Denby didn’t leave the house. He’s up in his
room now.”
“How do you know?” Taylor cried eagerly.
“Gibbs climbed up on the roof of the pagoda; he can see the room from
there and Denby’s in it now.”
“Now we’ve got him sure,” his chief cried gleefully.
“And Harrington’s with him,” Duncan added excitedly.
“What!” Taylor ejaculated, stopping short on his way to the stairs. The
two men talking together spelled collusion to him, and opened up
complications to which he had hardly given a thought.
“Gibbs said they were talking together,” his subordinate continued.
“I was right at first,” Taylor exclaimed; “I thought that might be the
game, but he fooled me so that I would have sworn he was innocent.
Denby’s smuggling the necklace through for Harrington. Jim, this is a
big job, get out there to make sure he don’t escape by the balcony. Have
your gun handy,” he warned; “I’ve got mine.” He looked over to Ethel,
whose face betrayed the anguish which she was enduring. “And I’ll get
the drop on him this time.”
“No, no,” she cried, “you mustn’t!”
“You knew all the time he was back in his room and you’ve been trying to
fool me--you’re stuck on him.”
“No, no, you’re wrong,” she said desperately.
“Am I?” he retorted; “then I’ll give you the chance to prove it. Send
for Denby and ask him what he did with the necklace, and where it is
now. Tell him I suspect you, and that he’s got to tell you the truth,
but you won’t turn him over to me. Talk as if you two were alone, but
I’ll be there behind that screen listening.” He took out his revolver
and pointed to it meaningly. “If you tip him off or give him the
slightest warning or signal, I’ll arrest you both, anyway. Wrong, am I?”
he sneered. “We’ll see; and if you try to fool me again, you and your
sister will have plenty of time to think it over in Auburn. Now send for
him.”
There was a big screen of tapestry in one corner of the hall near the
stairs. Behind this he had little difficulty in hiding himself.
The girl watched him in terror. It seemed she must either offer the man
she loved bound and helpless to his enemies, or else by warning him and
aiding him in escape, see him shot before her eyes. There seemed here no
way out with Taylor watching her every look and movement from his
hiding-place.
She stretched out her tremulous hand to grasp the table for support and
clutched instead the silver cigarette-box, the same she had offered
earlier to Denby. Her deep dejection was banished for she saw here a
chance to defeat her enemy by a ruse of which he could not know.
Watching her, Taylor saw her returning courage, and congratulated her.
She knew, he thought, that her only chance was to play the square game
with him now.
“Well,” he called from his concealment, “why don’t you send for him?”
“I’m going to!” she answered, walking to the bell and then coming back
to the table. “You’ll see you’ve been all wrong about me.”
“I guess not,” he snarled, adjusting the screen so as better to be able
to see her from between its folds. He noticed that Lambart passing close
to him as he answered the bell had no suspicion of his presence.
“Mr. Denby’s in his room,” she told the man, “please say I’m alone here
and wish to speak to him at once.”
“Yes, madam,” Lambart said, and a few seconds later could be heard
knocking at a distant door.
“I can see you perfectly,” Taylor warned her. “When Denby comes in, stay
right where you are and don’t move, or else I’ll--” He stopped short
when Lambart descended the staircase.
“Mr. Denby will be with you immediately,” the butler said, and left the
hall.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Denby came eagerly down the stairs, looking about him with no especial
care. He had learned that the special service men assumed him to have
made good his escape and were contenting themselves with surrounding the
gardens.
“What’s happened?” he asked, coming quickly toward her. “Is everything
all right now? Where is--”
Ethel interrupted him. “Will you have a cigarette, Dick?” she asked,
pushing the silver box to him.
He took it calmly enough but instantly realized her warning. His alert
gaze swept about the room and dwelt no longer on the screen than any
other of its furnishing, but he knew where his enemy was hidden.
“Thanks,” he said simply, and lighted it with a hand that was steady.
“Now we are alone,” she said, “and those men imagine you are not here,
and I admit you’ve beaten me, please tell me the truth about that
necklace. What have you done with it?”
“Are you still persisting in that strange delusion?” he asked calmly. “I
never had a necklace, Miss Cartwright.”
“But I know you did,” she persisted, “I saw it.”
“Ah, you thought you did,” he corrected. “We went all over that in my
room and I imagined I had persuaded you. Why do you want to know this?”
“The agent of the secret service has been here,” she told him, “and he
suspects that I am defending you and won’t believe what I say. If you’ll
tell me the truth, I’ll get him to let you go.”
“Then the secret service agent is just as wrong as you,” he remarked. “I
have no necklace. Because I knock down a man who breaks into my room at
night and escape rather than be shot, am I supposed on that account to
carry these fabulous necklaces about with me? I don’t care even to
prolong this conversation, Miss Cartwright.”
At this point Lambart entered, and coming toward him, delivered a small
package.
“Pardon me, sir,” the butler began, “but Mr Vaughan asked me to take
this to your room.”
“What is it?” Denby asked, and a slight movement behind the screen
betokened the curiosity of the man hidden there.
“Mr. Vaughan didn’t say, sir,” Lambart returned. “He only said it was
very important for you to get it immediately.” Lambart bowed and
retired.
“I wonder what on earth Monty can be sending me at this time of the
night,” said Denby, balancing the thing as though to judge its contents
from the weight. “It must be important, so forgive me if I see what it
is.”
He tore the envelope open carelessly, and out of it dropped the
necklace. Quickly he stooped down and picked it up, putting it in his
left-hand coat-pocket.
The girl could not refrain from giving a cry as he did so. “Oh,” she
exclaimed, “we’re done for now.”
There was a crash behind them as the screen clattered to the floor and
Daniel Taylor stepped over it, levelled gun in hand.
“Hands up, Denby,” he commanded, and then blew his police whistle.
He looked sourly at the trembling girl by the table. “I don’t know how
you tipped him off, but you two are damned smart, aren’t you? But I’ve
got you both now, so it’s just as well it happened as it did.”
Gibbs and Duncan burst in, their anxious faces breaking into smiles of
joy. The Chief’s temper if his plans miscarried was a fixed quantity and
an unpleasant one. They had been consoling themselves outside, and
Duncan had been wishing he had Gibbs’ outside job. Now everything would
be well and they would each be able to boast in his home circle of
to-night’s exploit.
“You’re both under arrest,” Taylor said, addressing his captives.
“Boys,” he commanded his satellites cordially, “take her into one of
those side rooms and keep her there till I call. They can talk without
speaking, these two. I’ll question ’em separately.”
For the second time within an hour he searched Denby. From the
right-hand pocket of his dinner jacket he took an automatic pistol. From
the left he drew out the string of pearls.
“It’s a pippin, all right,” Taylor muttered, his eyes gloating over the
treasure. “How much did you pay the girl?”
“Not a cent,” his prisoner asserted. “Nothing. You’re all wrong there.”
“Then why did she tip you off just now?”
“She didn’t tip me off,” Denby told him. “She didn’t say a word, as you
yourself must have heard.”
“Can it! can it!” Taylor retorted impatiently. “I saw the result all
right, but I couldn’t get on to the cause. What did she do it for?”
Denby shrugged his shoulders and smiled a little. It was the first time
he had come off his high horse.
“Maybe,” he hinted, “she didn’t want to see me go to prison.”
“Oh, you pulled the soft stuff, eh?” Taylor said. “Well, she tried to
double-cross me and that don’t pay, Denby. She’ll find that out, all
right.”
Denby assumed a certain confidential air. “Look here, Taylor,” he said,
“so long as she did the decent thing by me, I’d like to see her out of
this. You’ve got me, and you’ve got the pearls--Why not let her go?”
Taylor shook his head. He did not signalize his triumphs by the freeing
of captives or the giving of rewards. “I guess not,” he returned with
his sourest look. “You’ve both given me a lot of unnecessary trouble,
and I think a little trip down south ought to fix you two comfortably.
What do you say to five years in Atlanta? Fine winter climate they say.”
“Then I guess we are up against it;” Denby sighed.
“You are, son,” Taylor assured him; “right up against it.”
“Take it out on me,” the other implored; “ease up on her. It isn’t as if
she were a grafter, either. Why, I offered her twenty thousand dollars
to square it.”
“Tried to bribe a Government official, eh?” Taylor observed. “That don’t
make it any better for you.”
“Oh, you can’t prove it against me,” Denby returned easily.
“Twenty thousand dollars,” Taylor muttered; “twenty thousand dollars! So
you _were_ trying to smuggle it in for the Harringtons, then?”
“I hate bringing names in,” said Denby, looking at him shrewdly.
“Well, they’ll have to come out in court anyway,” the other reminded
him, and then reverted to the money. “Twenty thousand dollars!” he
repeated. “It seems to mean a whole lot to you--or somebody--to get this
through, eh?”
“It does,” Denby returned, “and it’s a big lot of money; but I’d rather
pay that than sample your winter climate down south--see?” He looked at
him still with that air of confidence as though he expected Taylor to
comprehend his motives.
“Say, what are you trying to do?” Taylor said sharply; “bribe me?”
“What an imagination you have!” Denby said in astonishment. “Why, you
couldn’t be bribed, Mr. Taylor!”
“You bet your life I couldn’t,” the deputy-surveyor returned.
Denby sighed. “What a pity I didn’t meet a business man instead of
_you_.”
Taylor’s sharp eyes looked at the speaker steadily.
“You couldn’t square it even with a business man for twenty thousand
dollars.”
Denby met his shrewd gaze without lowering his eyes.
“If I’d met the right kind of business man,” he declared, “I shouldn’t
have offered twenty thousand dollars,” he said meaningly; “I’d have
offered him all I’ve got--and that’s thirty thousand dollars.”
A slow smile chased Taylor’s intent expression away. “You would?” he
said.
“I would,” Denby answered steadily.
“A business man,” Taylor returned, “wouldn’t believe you had that much
unless he saw it with his own eyes.”
“I should prove it,” Denby answered. And with his first and second
finger he probed behind his collar and produced three new
ten-thousand-dollar bills.
“Beauties, aren’t they?” he asked of the staring Taylor.
The official seemed hypnotized by them. “I didn’t know they made ’em
that big,” he said reverently.
When Denby next spoke, his tone was brisker. “Look here, Taylor, I
haven’t been in Paris for two years.”
There was understanding in Taylor’s face now. “You haven’t?” he
returned.
“And in case of a come-back, I’ve witnesses to prove an alibi.”
“You have?” Taylor responded, his smile broadening.
“How much does the Government pay you?” Denby questioned.
Taylor’s eyes were still on the bills. “Three thousand a year,” he
answered.
Denby inspected the crisp bills interestedly. “Ten years’ salary!” he
commented. “You couldn’t save all this honestly in your lifetime.”
Denby raised his eyes and the two men looked at one another and a
bargain was as certainly made as though documents had been drawn up
attesting it.
Taylor’s manner altered instantly. He removed his hat and became a
genial, not to say jocular, soul.
“Too bad,” he said sympathetically, “a mistake like that happening.”
“It is a bit inconvenient,” Denby allowed.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you,” the deputy-surveyor assured him, “but
you’re all right, Mr. Denby. I figured from the first that you might be
a business man, and that’s why you slipped through so easily.”
“You’re a pretty smart man, Mr. Taylor,” Denby admitted, “and I think
these belong to you.” He held out the money.
“Yes, I think they do,” Taylor said eagerly, reaching out for the bills.
“Wait a minute!” Denby cried, holding the money back. “How do I know you
won’t take it and then double-cross me?”
“I’ll give you my word for it,” Taylor assured him fervently.
“That security isn’t good enough,” Denby remarked slowly. “We haven’t
done business together before, and those two men of yours--are they in
on it?”
“Not on your life,” Taylor laughed. “I haven’t split with anybody for
five years. This is a one man job, Mr. Denby.”
“That may be,” the other protested, “but they saw you pinch me!”
“I’ll tell them it was all a mistake and I’ve got to call it off. I know
the kind of help I want when I’m tackling a one man job.”
“Do you think you can get away with it?” Denby asked doubtfully.
“I always have,” Taylor said simply. “There’s no need for you to get
scared.”
Denby still seemed perturbed. “I’ve been hearing a lot about this R.
J.,” he told the official. “I don’t like what I’ve heard either. Is he
suspicious about you by any chance?”
“What do you know about R. J.?” Taylor asked quickly.
“Some friends of mine--business men--in London, tipped me off about him.
They said he’s been investigating the bribery rumors in the Customs.”
“Don’t you worry about him, my boy,” Taylor said with a reassuring air,
“I’m the guy on this job.”
“That’s all well enough,” Denby said, “but I don’t want to give up
thirty thousand and then get pinched as well. I’ve got to think about
myself.”
Taylor leaned across eagerly. “Say, if that R. J. has scared you into
thinking he’ll ball things up, I don’t mind admitting--in strict
confidence--who he is.”
“So you know?” Denby retorted. “Who is he? I want to be on my guard.”
“Well, he isn’t a thousand miles from here.”
“What!” Denby cried in astonishment.
Taylor tapped himself upon the chest with an air of importance. “Get
me?”
“Well, that’s funny,” Denby laughed.
“What’s funny?” Taylor retorted.
“Why, R. J. is supposed to be death on grafters and you’re one
yourself.”
“I’m a business man,” Taylor said with a wink. “I’m not a grafter--I
should worry about the Government.”
“Well I guess I’ll take a chance,” Denby said, after a momentary pause.
“That’s the idea,” Taylor cried cheerfully.
“Provided,” Denby added, “you let me have a few words with your men.
They’ve got to understand I’m innocent, and I want to see how they take
it. You see, I don’t know them as well as you do. They’ve got to back
you up in squaring me with the Harringtons. You’ve put me in all wrong
here, remember.”
“Why sure,” Taylor agreed generously, “talk your head off to ’em.”
“And you’ll leave the girl out of it?”
“I’ll do more than that,” Taylor told him with a grin; “I’ll leave her
to you.”
Denby heaved a sigh of relief. “Now we understand one another,” he said.
“Here’s your money, Taylor.”
“Much obliged,” Taylor responded. He handed the other the pearls. “I’ve
no evidence,” he declared in high good humor, “that you ever had any
necklace. Have a cigar, Mr. Denby?”
[Illustration: “NOW WE UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER,” HE SAID. “HERE’S YOUR
MONEY.” _Page 288_.]
“Thanks,” the younger man returned; “I’ll smoke it later it you don’t
mind. Now call ’em in.”
“Certainly,” Taylor said briskly. “And say, I’m glad to have met you,
Mr. Denby; and next time you’re landing in New York and I can be of use,
let me know.” He leered. “I might be of considerable use, understand?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Taylor walked briskly across the hall and threw open the door of the
room in which his subordinates were guarding their prisoner. “Duncan,”
he called, “and Gibbs, come here.”
When they had come in with Ethel Cartwright, he turned to them
impressively. “Boys,” he declared, “it was all a mistake.”
“What!” cried his men.
“Thank God!” the girl cried softly.
“Our dope was phoney. We were tipped off wrong by someone, out of
mischief or malice--I’ll have to look into that--and we’re all in wrong.
It was a case of mistaken identity, but Mr. Denby’s been very nice about
it, very nice, indeed. Let the lady go, Jim.”
“I asked Mr. Taylor to send for you,” Denby explained, “because I
thought it was due you, and I didn’t want any come-back. I want you all
to understand the facts, if you don’t mind waiting, Miss Cartwright.”
“Of course I’ll wait,” she said brightly. What had happened to change
things she could not guess, but she was confident the man she loved had
some magic to save them both.
“Listen to him, boys,” Taylor counselled. “You see, he’s a bit anxious
to straighten things out, so tell him all you know. Fire ahead, Mr.
Denby.”
Denby addressed himself to James Duncan. “You got a tip from Harlow that
a Steven Denby had bought a necklace at Cartier’s?”
“Yes, sir,” Duncan agreed.
Denby now turned to Gibbs who assumed a character of importance.
“Then you got a wireless that this Denby had sailed with Mrs. Michael
Harrington and Mr. Montague Vaughan, which threw suspicion on the lady
as a possible smuggler?”
“That’s right, too,” Gibbs conceded, contentedly.
“And yet,” Denby remarked with inquiry in his tone, “you let Denby slip
through the Customs to-day, didn’t you?”
Taylor’s satisfied expression had faded partially. “You see,” he
explained, “we didn’t have any absolute evidence to arrest him on.”