FORCEFUL TACTICS
Though a prey to that most burthensome of cares--the uneasy
consciousness of an impalpable yet ever-threatening evil--Theydon was
not blind to the humorous element in the present situation. Mrs. Paxton,
of course, did not know who the little man accompanying the Chinamen
was.
She had seen her brother stalk the motor car and its presumed occupants
in the most approved melodramatic fashion, and could not help noticing
his complete discomfiture. Naturally she imagined he had encountered a
pair of perfectly harmless citizens of the Middle Kingdom, and, being
one of those happy beings more readily swayed to laughter than to tears,
rallied him upon an apparent blunder.
"Never before have I discovered a neurotic streak in you, Frank," she
said, after she had obtained a couple of letters for Miss Beale, and
they were en route again. "Come now, confess. If Evelyn Forbes--or, let
me see, is it Phyllis or Doris? No, Evelyn. If Evelyn Forbes, then, did
not happen to be a remarkably pretty girl, would you really attach such
terrific importance to the mad goings-on of a set of Chinese fanatics? I
doubt it."
The cab was threading its way through the traffic of St. James Street
and Piccadilly on a busy afternoon in the season, and Theydon had much
to tell her before they arrived at Fortescue Square, but he sat by her
side in silence for a little while.
"Frank," said his sister, at last, "it is not like you to seek refuge in
silence. I'm sorry if my chaff annoyed you. Don't forget that you know
everything about this mysterious business, and I know very little."
Her sympathetic voice roused him from the stupor which had benumbed his
senses.
"I allowed imagination to run away with me, Sis," he said gently. "It
was thoughtless on my part. Please forgive me. I suppose those two
Chinamen are unofficially connected with the Embassy. At any rate, the
man with them, the little man in a blue serge suit and straw hat, is
Furneaux of Scotland Yard, a pocket marvel among detectives, the sort of
criminal-hunter you read about in Gaboriau, but can scarcely accept as
existing in real life."
From that instant he bent his wits to the task of acquainting Mrs.
Paxton with the history of the preceding three days. He was aware of the
irrepressible trembling which shook her slender frame when he spoke of
the ivory skull found in Edith Lester's underbodice, and the replica of
the same grewsome token sent to Forbes, so suppressed all mention of his
own experiences on returning to Innesmore Mansions overnight.
Furneaux had asked him for the bit of ivory that morning, and,
incidentally, had produced the others from his pocket. The detective
gave no reason for his eagerness to possess these trophies, but seemed
to invest them with great importance. While keeping up a constant flow
of talk with his sister, Theydon tried to puzzle out the detective's
motive for carrying such sinister messengers of death around London.
Try as he might, he could arrive at no plausible explanation, but he did
not make the error of attributing Furneaux's action to mere impulse.
Those men of the Yard had a solid foundation for every step they took.
Even the visit to Smith's Hotel, and subsequent departure in the gray
car, meant a definite stride onward in the fight against Wong Li Fu. Of
that he was assured.
At 11 Fortescue Square there were no outward signs of recent disturbance
beyond the presence of a sharp-eyed policeman at each corner of the row
of houses of which Mr. Forbes's residence formed one of the center pair.
Theydon expected to see a shattered window in the drawing-room on the
first floor, where, presumably, Mrs. Forbes was standing when the shot
was fired, but each pane in three large windows was intact, and the
windows were closed.
Then he reflected--as, indeed, proved to be the case--that on such a
fine day the window would probably be open. Two windows on the second
floor and one in the cloakroom near the front door were raised a few
inches, but drawn curtains screened from observation any watchful eye
which might be stationed behind them. As a matter of fact, armed
detectives were hidden there, and they had been given specific orders to
shoot without warning any one of Chinese appearance whose behavior was
suspicious, while three men were in readiness in the hall to rush out
into the square and make an arrest under similar circumstances.
In that fashionable quarter, at that hour, automobiles of every type
were passing constantly. At the very next door a well-appointed carriage
and pair was in readiness to take an elderly lady for a drive in the
park. As yet, none of the other residents in the square had the remotest
notion that No. 11 was in a state of siege. The position of affairs, if
it were not so desperate, was almost amusing!
Mrs. Paxton and Theydon were admitted without any delay, and Forbes
himself hurried downstairs to greet them. He was pale, but quite
composed. All the nervous uncertainty of the previous day had vanished.
He was armed and willing for the fray. If, as was by no means unlikely,
Wong Li Fu staked everything on a gambler's throw and led his cohort in
a daylight raid on the house, the Manchu leader would meet with a very
warm reception.
Forbes was surprised to find that a lady had come with Theydon, but
expressed his pleasure at the visit, which, he said, was just the thing
his wife and Evelyn needed.
"Yes," he went on cheerfully, noting the astonishment caused by his
words, "Mrs. Forbes is not seriously injured. The bullet lacerated the
top of her left shoulder, and the wound is painful but superficial. She
positively refuses to remain in bed, so our doctor humored her, provided
she promises not to pass the time looking through the drawing-room
window!"
Mrs. Paxton, to whose senses the presence of armed detectives and
constables in uniform was even more eloquent than her brother's words,
glanced about the spacious entrance hall with wide-eyed amazement. Once
she and her brother were recognized as friends of the family, the men on
duty gave them no heed.
Outside were the familiar sounds of London traffic; within were
preparations for conflict. The police carried revolvers openly in
leather cases strapped to their belts. On a table near the library door
were several automatic pistols ready to be snatched up in an emergency.
An alert detective, revolver in hand, was peering through the curtains
of the cloakroom; this sentry, in particular, would alarm the garrison
if, as Winter had definitely warned his assistants, an attempt were ever
made to enter the house by main force.
"I think I must be dreaming," she said, trying bravely to lessen the
gravity of the statement by smiling at its inherent absurdity. "Am I in
London, or have I been whisked by magic to one of those outposts of
civilization where men and women of European race are often compelled to
band together for protection against savages? One reads of such things
comfortably while dawdling over breakfast, and one wonders idly why
people go to such places. But that something of the sort could happen in
London--why, it is simply fantastic!"
"It is unpleasantly real, for all that, Mrs. Paxton," said Forbes,
leading the way up the stairs. "What else can we do? If the authorities
surrounded the house with a cordon of soldiers London would be in an
uproar. We want to avoid that, at all costs. I have been in
communication with the Home Office, and am advised that, if we decide to
put up with the inconvenience, it is better, and actually less risky, to
hold out here than seek safety by flight. I understand that Scotland
Yard is not losing an unnecessary minute, but there are obvious
difficulties in the way of decisive action. It is considered worse than
useless to effect isolated arrests, as these tend only to put the other
members of the gang on their guard. The chief inspector tells me that he
had some hope of being able to make a big haul tonight. The principal
drawback is the language bar. Chinese interpreters are few and far
between in London, and those who do exist--in the East End, for
instance--have long since lost any useful acquaintance with events in
their own country. This is a political matter, you understand, and must
be fought out on political lines. Strange as it may sound in your ears,
the cause of Chinese freedom is at issue in this very house. If Wong Li
Fu could secure a list of names now locked in a bureau in my library the
Constitutional party in China would perish forthwith for want of
leaders. But he won't get it. Thanks to your brother, Mrs. Paxton, his
deadliest attack failed yesterday. For today's accident we have
ourselves to blame. We did not even suspect that his malignity would
take the form of shooting the first person who chanced to look out of a
window."
He had halted at the top of the broad staircase while making that
stirring declaration of war.
"Pardon my outspokenness," he said, sinking his voice to a lower tone.
"I don't want to frighten my wife on my own account. She believes now
that the police are hunting these scoundrels in every hole and corner of
London. In a sense, that is true, but we never know the moment some
extraordinary action may be taken, so we remain constantly on the _qui
vive_."
He heard the telephone ring beneath, and turned quickly.
"I may be wanted," he said. "I'll join you presently. There is my wife's
boudoir," and he pointed to a door. "Take Mrs. Paxton in, Theydon. Mrs.
Forbes and Evelyn will be glad of your company."
Theydon knocked, and heard Evelyn's voice bidding him enter. Mrs. Forbes
was lying on a couch, and her daughter had evidently been seated near
her, reading a newspaper.
"I've brought my sister to see you," he explained. "I've been relating
such heroic things about you that she simply refused to go home without
ocular proof of your existence."
Mrs. Forbes would have risen, but was restrained by the girl's emphatic
cry:
"Mother, why won't you behave like an obedient invalid?"
Thus coerced, "Mother" did behave.
"They insist on treating me as a casualty," she cried cheerfully. "What
is your sister's name, Mr. Theydon?"
"Mollie," he said thoughtlessly, for he had just touched Evelyn Forbes's
hand, and the mere contact gave him an electrical shock.
The women laughed, and Mrs. Paxton blushed.
"Mollie Paxton, at any rate," she said, realizing at once that her
brother had completely lost all self-possession at sight of his
divinity. "Now, as you are going to stay here, Frank, you shall give me
the full measure of the few minutes I can spare, so go and talk over
your adventures with Mr. Forbes while I gossip with the prisoners."
Theydon saw that his tactful sister had struck the right note. She might
be trusted to make herself eminently agreeable. Her bright, smiling
manner had already created a good impression, and a lively chat with one
who had not passed through the vicissitudes which beset the Forbes
family would be an excellent tonic.
"Before I efface myself, may I be allowed to congratulate Mrs. Forbes on
her escape?" he said, halting at the door.
"Yes, you may," replied the older lady. "And, just to show that I am
convalescent, kindly tell Tomlinson that I am coming down to luncheon,
and that Mrs. Paxton will join us."
Forbes was leaving the telephone when Theydon regained the hall and
explained that he had been dismissed from the feminine conclave
upstairs. The millionaire closed the door and motioned his companion to
a chair.
"How long will it be before London wakes up to the knowledge of what is
going on in its midst?" he said. "Is there anything in the newspapers? I
have had no time to read. I passed a rather sleepless night, so did not
rise until a late hour. Then Helen was fired at. I need hardly tell you
that my time has been fully occupied since."
Theydon gave a resume of the paragraph which had appeared in at least
one of the morning journals, and admitted that some inkling of the truth
was bound to gain publicity during the next few hours.
"I cannot understand why it is the reporters are not here by the score
already," he went on. "Some passer-by must have seen or heard the
shooting. A pistol cannot be fired in a quiet square like this without
attracting general attention."
"That is the extraordinary part of it," said Forbes, smiling grimly.
"People heard the noise, of course, but came to the conclusion that a
cylinder in the car had back-fired. That was the view taken by two
policemen on duty within a few yards of the house. A detective stationed
in the cloakroom actually saw the man raising the weapon. He, of course,
was under no delusion as to what had happened, and ran out instantly,
but the car was then traveling at a fast pace, and was out of sight
before the nearest constable could even endeavor to stop it. Anyhow,
what was the man to do? We cannot expect that he would whip out a
revolver, if he carries one, and blaze away indiscriminately at car and
occupants if the chauffeur refused to pull up. Really, Theydon, Wong Li
Fu has perplexed the authorities more than any desperado known to this
generation. He is aware that his hostage has escaped from Croydon, so he
calmly drives past my house, knowing full well that it is efficiently
guarded, and fires a pot shot at the first person seen through one of
the windows. The man whom I have spoken to over the telephone shares
that opinion. He is one of the legal advisers of the Home Office. Just
to show the baffling nature of the problem, he says that it will be
absolutely impossible, on the evidence available at present, to frame a
charge against any Chinaman other than Wong Li Fu. Yet we know that he
has at least four or five, and probably three times as many,
accomplices."
"Have the police yet obtained any real clew as to the whereabouts of the
gang's headquarters? They must have some sort of meeting place. They
must eat and sleep somewhere."
"That big detective, Winter, came here this morning. He seemed to be
very confident, though I think I gave him the worst shock he has
received for many a year when I informed him that within an hour after
he had left the house Mrs. Forbes had been shot at, and narrowly escaped
a fatal wound. It was he who asked me to invite you to come here. I'm
exceedingly sorry that our acquaintance, begun so happily, should
involve you in personal risk--"
"As for that," broke in Theydon, "I would not change places with any man
in England at this moment."
He feared instantly that he might have said too much, and added with a
laugh:
"Don't forget, Mr. Forbes, that I write books, some of them--the most
popular ones, I am afraid--being of a sensational type. When this
tornado has died down, and Wong Li Fu is carefully hanged, and you and
your family are recuperating in Sutherlandshire, I shall resume work
with a new inspiration. Never again shall I say to myself, 'Oh, that is
too far-fetched,' or fear that I am straining my readers' credulity
beyond bounds. If a small gang of Chinamen and Japanese can hold up
London, bamboozle the best men in Scotland Yard, and keep a man of your
position a prisoner in his own house, I need have no fear of adopting
any situation my fertile brain can evolve, because four days ago I would
have scoffed at the things which have actually happened as quite
impossible and therefore unbelievable."
"Japanese, you say? Why do you mention Japanese?"
"The American, Mr. Handyside, tells me the skulls are of Japanese
workmanship. He argues also that the wrestling tricks of which Winter
and I, and Mrs. Forbes in lesser degree, have had some experience, are
Japanese. More than that, a Jap was arrested outside my place early this
morning."
"Mr. Winter said something about it, but he spoke only of Chinamen."
"I have Furneaux's authority for the statement that the prisoner is a
Jap, and belongs to a society calling itself the 'Sons of Nippon.'"
"But confound it, I have no quarrel with Japan. If anything, I am one of
her best friends."
"I must get Handyside to propound one of his favorite theories. He says
that a powerful and growing party among our allies in the Far East means
to keep China in a condition of anarchy until Japan is prepared,
financially and in armament, to take a commanding share in the ultimate
settlement. But, at best, the few Japanese adventurers in league with
Wong Li Fu hardly count. Once he is laid by the heels this feud will
evaporate into thin air."
"If it doesn't, I must ask the Government to provide safe quarters for
my family in the Tower," muttered Forbes, rising and pacing the room in
the same thoughtful, care-laden way as he had paced it when Theydon
first told him of Edith Lester's end.
"You said Wong Li Fu knew that Mrs. Forbes had been rescued from her
bonds last night," went on Theydon. "I suppose Winter told you that. Was
he only assuming the fact, or have there been developments at Croydon?"
"A motor car drove up to the gate openly at ten o'clock this morning. A
police sergeant, jumping to the conclusion that one of his own chiefs or
a representative of Scotland Yard was paying the place a visit,
incautiously showed himself in the doorway, whereupon the car raced
away. It was an unfortunate and, perhaps, costly blunder, but the man is
hardly to be blamed. The very audacity of the gang is their best
safeguard."
A luncheon gong clanged in the hall. Both men started, and then laughed.
"You see," cried Forbes. "These rascals have got us on the jump. I don't
know how long my servants will stand the racket. They are most loyal,
and Tomlinson vows that not a syllable has been breathed outside by any
of our domestics. But the women's nerves are on edge. A scullery maid
dropped a decanter a little while since, and the crash drew
bloodcurdling shrieks from the kitchen. Come, let us eat, drink, and be
merry, for tomorrow we die. The quotation is not a felicitous one.
Indeed, it is distinctly ominous, but it seems to meet the conditions."
He threw open the door, and saw the three ladies descending the stairs.
"Helena," he cried sternly, "the doctor said you were not to stir out of
your room."
"My dear, the doctor is a mere man, and fancies that a woman is not
fitted for warfare. He is quite mistaken. When aroused we can be
terrible."
Mrs. Forbes, whose face was paler and eyes seemingly bigger and more
luminous than usual, was leaning on Evelyn's arm. She was dressed in a
blue tulle costume which lent a fragile air to an already slender form,
but she smiled so unaffectedly that even the policeman grinned.
"You certainly look ferocious," said her husband, yielding instantly, as
she well knew would happen.
"I believe you are all jealous," she vowed. "I am the only one who has
really been in the forefront of the battle. No. I forgot you, Mr.
Theydon. Didn't that horrid man knock you down?"
"Yes," said Theydon, moistening his lips with his tongue. There was such
a peculiar rasp in his voice that it evoked a general laugh.
Obviously the guests meant to avoid serious topics during the meal.
Evelyn Forbes chimed in with a reminiscence of her schooldays in
Brussels, and soon the talk was general, ranging from the year's Academy
to the Ladies' Gold Championship.
Mrs. Paxton, an excellent mimic, was amusing them with imitations of the
voice and manner of a certain well-known lady golfer, when she was
interrupted by three sharp, irregular cracks which seemed to come from
the dining-room windows. Simultaneously a picture frame on the opposite
wall was split and a Worcester vase on a sideboard was smashed to atoms.
Theydon, owing to his position at the table, was the first to notice
three small, starred holes in the plate glass of the windows.
"Don't stand up!" he said, instantly. "Some one is shooting at the
house. Crouch on the floor, for Heaven's sake!"
That urgent appeal was emphasized by a fourth bullet, which, taking a
lower flight, barely missed Forbes, upset a Venetian glass flower vase
on the table, and buried itself in the lower half of the sideboard.
Forbes, heedless of the possible consequences to himself, sprang to his
wife's assistance, and, interposing his body as a shield between her and
the windows, led her to an angle of the wall where she would be safe.
The younger women, after a momentary hesitation, dropped to the floor
and crawled to the same refuge. Theydon ran out. The front door was
open.
The police had heard the shooting, the sound of which had been deadened
to those in the dining room by the breaking glass and china. But within
a few minutes a useless pursuit was abandoned. The fusillade had come
from a car which halted close to the garden railings on the far side of
the square. Though the trees were nearly in full leaf, and dense
shrubberies seemed to shut off every house from any such method of
attack, investigation proved that it was possible to estimate accurately
the position of the dining-room windows in No. 11.
When Theydon returned he found Forbes and the ladies gathered in the
hall.
"Another narrow escape on both sides," he said coolly. "Two policemen
were just too late to interfere. Of course, they did not anticipate a
move in that quarter."
"Have the--er--enemy made off in a car?" said Mrs. Forbes.
"Yes. A constable in a taxi is trying to follow them."
"Well, then, let us finish our luncheon. I had hardly touched my
cutlet."
"By Jove, Helena, that doctor of ours was decidedly in error," cried her
husband. "You're right. If we're besieged we must carry ourselves
according to the code. Mrs. Paxton, I hope it won't disturb you if a
shell bursts before coffee is served!"
Theydon glanced through a window before resuming his seat.
"That volley has done things!" he announced. "London is stirring at
last. There's a crowd in front of the house, and a short, fat man is
explaining the procedure. Prepare now to receive the press in
battalions."