When, by slow degrees, I became aware of things about me, I found
myself in total darkness, save that, straight before my eyes, some few
feet away, showed a thin, narrow line of light.
Next second, a flood of the most horrible recollections surged through
my brain. I dare not move a muscle, fearing that the reptile was
lurking near my face. My senses seemed dulled and dazed, yet my
recollections were quite clear. Every detail of those moments of awful
terror stood out clear and fearsome in my mind.
Slowly, so slow, indeed, as to be imperceptible, I managed to turn my
head aside, and glance at the small table. But it was in darkness. I
could distinguish nothing. To my surprise, I discovered, however, that
though I still remained in that position, my legs higher than my head,
yet the arms of the chair had unclasped, and my bonds had been freed!
What had happened?
In fear of bringing the watchful reptile upon me, I moved slightly.
But there was no movement from that table in the darkness.
I waited, dreading lest I should be suddenly attacked. Then,
summoning courage, I suddenly sprang out of the chair on the side
opposite the table, and dashed across to where showed that narrow
streak of light.
I saw that it came through the lower crevice of the heavy wooden
shutters. With frantic haste my hands slid over them. I found an iron
bar, and, this unlatched, I threw them back, and let in the broad
light of day.
For a moment my eyes were dazzled by the sunlight.
Then, on looking behind me, I saw that upon the table the candle had
burned itself to its socket, while on the floor, near by, lay the
small black reptile stretched out motionless.
I feared at first to approach it. To its tail the cord was still
attached, but it had been severed. I crept towards it, and, bending
down, realized with great relief that it was dead.
The leathern collar which had secured my head had been loosened and
the mechanism of the chair reversed, allowing me my freedom. I looked
around the room in wonder. There stood the littered card-table and the
empty glasses of the previous night, while the air was still heavy
with the odour of stale cigars.
Making quite certain that the reptile was dead, I turned my attention
to the chair, and noted how cleverly the devilish mechanism had been
hidden. It could, as I had suspected, be worked from without. The
victim, once seated there, had no chance whatever of escape.
In the light of day, the room--that fatal apartment wherein more than
one innocent man had, no doubt, met with a horrible end--looked very
shabby and dingy. The furniture was cheap and tawdry, and the carpet
very dirty.
There, upon the card-table, stood the ink, while the pen used by
Reckitt lay upon the floor. My wallet lay open near by. I took it up
quickly to glance through its contents. As far as I could discover,
nothing had been taken except the cheque I had written out, believing
I was to assist Jack Marlowe.
Eagerly I glanced at my watch, and found it was already a quarter past
ten.
The scoundrels had, no doubt, already been to the bank, cashed my
cheque, and were by this time clear away!
Remembering Sylvia, I drew my revolver, which still remained in my
hip-pocket, and, finding the door unlocked, went forth to search for
her. The fact that the door was now unlocked showed that some one had
entered there during my unconsciousness, and released me. From the
appearance of the snake, it seemed to have been killed by a sharp blow
across its back.
Some one had rescued me just in the nick of time.
I entered the front room on the same floor, the room whence those
woman's screams had emanated. It was a big bare drawing-room,
furnished in the ugly Early Victorian style, musty-smelling and
moth-eaten. The dirty holland blinds fitted badly and had holes in
them; therefore sufficient light was admitted to afford me a good view
of the large apartment.
There was nothing unusual there, save upon a small work-table lay some
embroidery work, where apparently it had been put down. An open novel
lay near, while close by was a big bowl filled with yellow roses. Yet
the apartment seemed to have been long closed and neglected, while the
atmosphere had a musty odour which was not dispelled by the sweet
perfume of the flowers.
Had Sylvia been in this room when she had shrieked?
I saw something upon the floor, and picked it up. It proved to be a
narrow band of turquoise-blue velvet, the ornament from a woman's
hair. Did it belong to her?
In vain I looked around for a candle--for evidences of the same
mediæval torture to which I had been submitted, but there were none.
In fear and trepidation I entered yet another room on the same floor,
but it was dusty and neglected--a kind of sitting-room, or perhaps
boudoir, for there was an old-fashioned high-backed piano in it. Yet
there was no sign that anybody had entered there for weeks--perhaps
for months. In the sunlight, I saw that there were cobwebs everywhere.
Surely it was a very strange house. It struck me that its owner had
perhaps died years ago, and since then it had remained untenanted.
Everywhere the style of furniture was that of sixty years ago, and
thick dust was covering all.
On entering the previous night I had not noticed this, but now, in the
broad light of day, the place looked very different. I saw, to my
surprise, that the windows had not been cleaned for years, and that
cobwebs hung everywhere.
Revolver in hand, I searched the place to the basement, but there was
no evidence of occupation. The doors of the kitchens had not,
apparently, been opened for years!
Upstairs, the bedrooms were old-fashioned, with heavy hangings, grey
with dust, and half hidden by festoons of cobwebs. In not a single
room was a bed that had been slept in. Indeed, I question if any one
had ascended to the second floor for several years!
As I stood in one of the rooms, gazing round in wonder, and half
suffocated by the dust my footsteps had disturbed, it suddenly
occurred to me that the pair of assassins, believing that I had died,
would, no doubt, return and dispose of my body. To me it seemed
certain that this was not the first occasion that they had played the
dastardly and brutal game. Yes, I felt positive they would return.
I searched the place to find a telephone, but there was none. The
bogus message sent to me had been sent from elsewhere.
The only trace of Sylvia I could find was that piece of velvet
ribbon, the embroidery which had so hastily been flung down, and the
bowl of fresh roses.
Why had she been there? The book and the embroidery showed that she
had waited. For what? That bowl of roses had been placed there to make
the room look fresh, for some attempt had been made to clean the
apartment, just as it had been made in the room wherein I had suffered
such torture.
Why had Sylvia uttered those screams of horror? I recollected those
words of hers. I recognized her voice. I would, indeed, have
recognized it among the voices of a thousand women.
I returned to the drawing-room, and gazed around it in wonder. If, as
it seemed, Reckitt and Forbes had taken unlawful possession of an
untenanted house, then it was probable they would not return to get
rid of my remains. The whole affair was incomprehensible. It seemed
evident that Sylvia had not fallen a victim to the vengeance of the
pair, as I had feared, but that perhaps I had owed my life to her.
Could it be that she had learned of my peril, released me, killed the
venomous reptile, and escaped?
Suddenly, as my eyes wandered about the dingy old room, I caught sight
of something shining. A golden bangle of curious Indian design was
lying upon the mantelshelf. I took it up, and in a moment recognized
it as one I had seen upon her wrist one evening while she sat at
dinner at Gardone.
I replaced it, stood for a moment deep in thought, and then, with
sudden resolve, returned to the chamber of horror, obtained my hat,
and, descending the stairs, went forth into Porchester Terrace.
I had to walk as far as Bayswater Road before I could find a taxi. The
sun was now shining brightly, and there were many people about in the
streets. Finding a cab at last, I told the man to drive with all speed
to my bank in Oxford Street.
It was just eleven when I went up to the counter to one of the paying
cashiers I knew, and asked him breathlessly if a cheque of mine had
been paid to a person named Reckitt. He saw by my manner that I was in
hot haste.
"I've cashed it not a moment ago, Mr. Biddulph," was his reply. "Why,
you must have passed the man as you came in! He's only this moment
gone out."
Without a word I dashed back to the swing-doors, and there, sure
enough, only a few yards away, I caught sight of Forbes, in a smart
grey flannel suit, entering a taxi. I shouted, but the taxi man did
not hear me. He was facing westward, and ere I could attract his
attention he was slowly moving in the direction of the Marble Arch.
The quick eyes of Forbes had, however, detected me, and, leaning out,
he said something to his driver. Quickly I re-entered my cab, and told
my man to turn and follow, pointing out the taxi in front. Mine was
open, while that in which the assassin sat was closed.
In his pocket the scoundrel carried over a thousand pounds of my
money.
My first impulse was to stop and inform a police-constable, but if I
did so I saw that he must escape. I shouted to my driver to try and
see the number of the cab, but there was a lot of traffic, and he was
unable to see it clearly.
I suppose I must have cut a sorry figure, dishevelled as I was by my
night's weird experience, and covered with the dust of that untenanted
house. What the bank-clerk must have thought, I know not.
It was an exciting chase. For a moment we were held up by the police
at Regent Circus, for there was much traffic, but only for a brief
space; then we tore after the receding cab at a pace which made many
passers-by stare. The cab in which Forbes was, being closed, the
driver did not see us, but I knew that the assassin was watching us
from the tiny window in the back, and was giving his driver
instructions through the front window.
My man had entered fully into the spirit of the chase.
"That fellow in yonder taxi has just stolen a thousand pounds!" I told
him.
"All right, sir," replied my driver, as he bent over his wheel; "we
shall catch him presently, never fear. I'm keeping my eye upon him all
right."
There were many taxis coming into the line of traffic from Bond Street
and from the other main thoroughfares crossing Oxford Street--red
taxis, just like the one in which Forbes was escaping. Yet we both
kept our eyes fixed upon that particular one, the driver of which
presently bent sideways, and shot back a glance at us.
Then he put on speed, and with marvellous dexterity threaded in and
out of the motor-buses and carts in front of him. I was compelled to
admire his driving. I could only suppose that Forbes had offered him
something handsome if he got safely away.
At the Marble Arch he suddenly turned down Park Lane, where the
traffic was less, and there gaining upon us, he turned into one of the
smaller streets, through Upper Grosvenor Street, winding in and out
the intricate thoroughfares which lay between Grosvenor Square and
Regent Street. Across Hanover Square and along Hanover Street we sped,
until, passing out on to the opposite side of Regent Street, the
driver, evidently believing that he had outwitted us, slowed down, and
then pulled up suddenly before a shop.
Ere the fugitive could escape, indeed ere the door could be opened, we
had pulled up a few yards away, and I dashed out and up to the door of
the cab, my revolver gripped in my hand.
My driver had descended also, and gained the other side of the cab
almost as soon as I had.