IN WHICH THE PIRATE APPEARS IN A FROLICSOME HUMOUR
THE fainting fit which terminated my conversation with Evie alarmed me
tremendously, and as soon as I could summon assistance I sent for a
doctor. She came round before the medical man arrived, but I did not
revert to the topic which had agitated her. Indeed, she appeared
listless and disinclined to say a word on any subject. Colonel Maitland
was less worried than myself, but even he was anxious until after the
doctor had seen her and assured him that his daughter was merely
suffering from over excitement, and that a sedative and a good night's
rest would probably restore her completely.
I was not so sure that such would be the case, and when she had retired
I thought it well to take the Colonel into his study and give him as
full an account as I could of all that had led up to the fainting fit.
He listened to my story with attention, and when I had done, though I
could plainly see that he thought his daughter's fears were due to her
own morbid fancy, yet he agreed with me that it would be well that she
should have a change of scene at the earliest possible moment.
After arriving at this decision I determined to at once seek out
Mannering, and demand from him some explanation of his conduct, for I
could not conceive that Evie's story was entirely the outcome of her
imagination. It was a delicate subject to discuss, yet I did not
hesitate. I was in no humour to mince matters. My anger, though I had
kept it well under control hitherto, only needed the slightest fanning
to bring it to a white heat, and I longed whole-heartedly that Mannering
would afford me some excuse for giving physical expression to my
feelings.
I walked up to his front door, and knocked in a manner to denote with
sufficient distinctiveness that the mood of the knocker was the
imperative. I could see by the lights within that the inmates of the
house had not retired to rest, but I had to repeat my summons before
there was any response. Then I heard footsteps within, and the door
opening an inch or two, a voice inquired who was there.
"Is Mr. Mannering in?" I demanded.
"Mr. Sutgrove, is it?" replied the voice, and upon my answering in the
affirmative, the door was thrown open, and I saw the two maidservants
standing in the hall.
"I beg your pardon, sir," said the parlourmaid. "We didn't expect any
one at this time of night."
"That's all right," I answered. "Can I see Mr. Mannering?"
"He's gone away for a day or two, sir," said the girl.
"That's very sudden, isn't it?" I asked. "I saw him this afternoon."
"Yes, sir. He said nothing about it to us until after dinner. Then he
packed his handbag and went away on his motor."
"It's a confounded nuisance," I remarked. "I wanted to see him on
important business. Did he say where he was going?"
"He said Cromer, sir, but he did not leave any address." Then, after a
momentary hesitation, she added, "Is--is anything wrong?"
I looked at her keenly. She dropped her eyes, and I could see there was
something on her mind.
"What makes you ask?" I enquired.
"I--I don't know," she replied, with obvious embarrassment.
"There must be something or you would not have asked," I said
encouragingly. "Come--out with it."
She still hesitated, but the housemaid was bolder. "I'll tell the
gentleman if you don't, Sarah," she declared. "It's like this, sir," she
rattled out volubly: "the master, Mr. Mannering that is, has been so
queer in his ways lately that Sarah and me 'as been quite scared. Not
that he 'asn't been quite the gentleman. He always was that, wasn't he,
Sarah? But he's been that restless and bound up in himself
lately--walking up and down in his room and talking to himself. He
always was one to shut himself up in that nasty old coach-house with his
experiments and things, but he was quiet, and we never took no account
of it. But lately he's been different."
"How?" I asked.
"Well, instead of going to bed like a Christian he's up all hours of the
night. It ain't only that. He slips out as if he didn't want us to see
him, and when we've known he hasn't been at home we've found he's taken
the trouble to tumble the bed to make it appear as how he slept in it."
"Pooh!" I remarked. "If that's all, my servants would probably say the
same about me. You need not be alarmed about such trifles."
"But it's not all," said Sarah, taking up the story. "The nights he goes
out are just the nights the Pirate makes his appearance."
"Those are just the nights I am away from home," I said.
"But you have the detective gentleman with you," argued the girl, "and
when you come back I warrant you do not bring diamond studs back with
you that don't belong to you."
"What!" I cried. "What!"
"It's truth, sir," said the housemaid. "A week ago, just after he came
back from Paris, I was sweeping the floor of his bedroom, when I sweeps
up a diamond stud. Now, I knew he never had such a thing----"
"I suppose you know exactly what jewellery he has?" I interrupted,
laughing.
"He always was a very careless gentleman until the last month, before
which he left his things lying about all over the place, but then he had
a safe put in his bedroom, and he never so much as left the key lying
about. However, I mentions the stud to Sarah, and we talks it over and
puts two and two together, and Sarah thinks that if he doesn't ask what
has become of it, it might be as well as if we told the detective
gentleman about it."
"Quite right," I remarked. "You might let me look at the stud, though."
After a little pressing the girls fetched the trinket, and I perceived
that it very closely resembled the stud Winter had worn on the night of
our first encounter with the Pirate. I said nothing about this
supposition to the maids, but bidding them to be careful not to mention
the matter to any one until they had seen Forrest, whom I promised
should call upon them, I left the house.
Though disappointed in my original intention of forcing an explanation
from Mannering, I was by no means ill pleased with the result of my
visit to his house. My suspicions as to his identity with the Pirate had
become considerably stronger, and once that identity was established I
fancied I should have little difficulty in preventing any further
annoyance at his hands.
Yet when I came to think calmly upon the subject I could not fail to see
how frail was the foundation upon which my suspicions were built up. The
fancies of a girl, the suspicions of a couple of gossiping servants, and
the discovery of a stud, which might or might not prove to be the one
which had been stolen from Winter. I longed for Forrest to return, for I
felt utterly incapable of resting, and as he had not put in an
appearance by midnight, I got out my car and went into St. Albans to
meet him. At the police station there was no news of him to be obtained,
but I did learn that the Pirate had been seen, his presence having been
reported from the vicinity of Bedford.
Knowing that it would be impossible for me to sleep until I had seen
Forrest; knowing, too, how unlikely it was that he would now return to
St. Albans before morning, I thought I might at least have one shot on
my own account of bringing off the capture I so ardently desired. So, in
case of an untoward accident happening, I scribbled a note to the
detective, telling him briefly what I had heard from the servants, and
my intentions; and making sure that my revolver was in working order, I
bade my friends at the police-station good night, and departed.
I knew it would be useless to take the direct road to Bedford if I
wished to meet the Pirate, and, as he had been reported going east, I
took the route through Hertford, trusting that I might be able to cut
him off upon his return. I gleaned nothing concerning him at either
Hertford or Ware, and was so doubtful of proceeding further in that
direction that I left it to the arbitrament of a coin to determine
whether I should go on by a road with which I was unacquainted to
Cambridge through Bishop's Stortford, or take a route I knew through
Royston. The choice fell upon the Stortford road, and later I was glad
I had taken it, for about a mile to the south of Stortford I discovered
that I was upon the right track.
I was bowling along at about fifteen miles an hour when I came upon two
horses grazing at the road-side. They galloped off at my approach, and,
a few seconds later, I came upon a specimen of the Pirate's handiwork,
which at first sight was irresistibly ludicrous. A brougham was drawn up
at the side of the road, and, bound to the wheels, were a coachman and a
footman, clad in gorgeous liveries. The coachman was fat and florid, the
footman a particularly fine specimen of flunkeydom, and their faces, as
the light of my lamps fell upon them--they could not speak, for they
were both gagged as well as bound--were so convulsed with terror, that I
could see they did not look upon me as a friend. As I dismounted from my
car to go to their assistance, I heard a dismal wail from the roof of
the vehicle and, looking up, I perceived a portly old lady perched upon
the uncomfortable eminence.
I made an attempt to explain that my intentions were purely pacific, but
as I could elicit nothing from the old lady but appeals to spare her
life, I turned my attention to the two men, and speedily released them
from their bonds. By the time they were loose they had realized that I
was a friend; but it was some time before I managed to obtain from them
an account of how they got into such a mess. Even when their powers of
speech had returned they were unable to give a lucid account of the
affair.
Of course it was the work of the Pirate. They had been returning with
their mistress--the old lady on the roof of the brougham--from some
local coming-of-age festivities, when they had met the rascal. He had
bound the servants, set the horses free, and, after robbing the old lady
of all the jewellery she wore, he had compelled her to climb to the
position where I discovered her, threatening to return and kill her if
she moved from her position for an hour. It needed much persuasion
before she ventured to descend from her perch; but with the assistance
of the coachman, I managed to get her inside the brougham, and further
assisting in securing the two horses, I left them.
This incident delayed me for nearly half an hour, and it was a good deal
past one before I again set out on my quest. The brougham had been
stopped just near a bye-road, and as the footman had assured me that the
Pirate had taken this path when he departed, I thought I would follow. I
could see for myself that a motor-car had passed that way, for the
thunderstorm of the previous day had left the roads heavy in places, and
the marks of his tyres were plainly visible.
I had followed the road for about a couple of miles further when I came
once more upon some of the Pirate's victims. These, too, were returning
from the same function at which the old lady had been a guest, when they
fell into the clutches of the Pirate. In this case my assistance was not
required, for the two young ladies of the party had recovered
sufficiently from their fright to have already set at liberty their male
companion and the coachman. They told me of their experiences, and
after I had heard them, I thought that Forrest's idea that the Pirate
was a madman more likely than I had done previously.
When stopped by the Pirate, the husband of one of the ladies had shown
fight until he had been felled by a blow from the butt end of a
revolver. The coachman had discreetly made no resistance. Then, after
securing the jewels the women wore, the Pirate had displayed a freakish
humour quite new to his character. He had insisted upon the two women
dancing for his amusement in the road, threatening to shoot the husband
if they did not comply with his request. They assured me that he had sat
chuckling with laughter, and urging them on with all sorts of wild
threats, until they fell from exhaustion. They were splashed with mud
from head to foot, and their dainty frocks presented a sorry sight. In
addition they told me that they could barely stand, for their feet were
cut to pieces, since, at the first steps of the weird dance, their
slippers had stuck in the mud, and they were given no opportunity to
stop and recover them.
I did not wait to hear more than the barest outline of the story, for I
learned that he had left them not more than ten minutes before my
arrival on the scene, and with the heavy roads, I thought there was at
least a chance of some lucky accident bringing me face to face with my
quarry.