At that moment there was a visitor in the bar down-stairs. He was an
elderly man, with shaggy eyebrows and a wizened face; a diminutive
creature with a tousled head of black and gray. It was Gubblum
Oglethorpe. The mountain peddler had traveled south to buy chamois
leather, and had packed a great quantity of it into a bundle, like a
panier, which he carried over one arm.
Since the wedding at Newlands, three days ago, Gubblum's lively
intelligence had run a good deal on his recollection of the man
resembling Paul Ritson, whom he had once seen in Hendon. He had always
meant to settle for himself that knotty question. So here, on his first
visit to London, he intended to put up at the very inn about which the
mystery gathered.
"How's ta rubbun on?" he said, by way of salute on entering. When Mrs.
Drayton had gone upstairs she had left the pot-boy in charge of the bar.
He was a loutish lad of sixteen, and his name was Jabez.
Jabez slowly lifted his eyes from the pewters he was washing, and a
broad smile crossed his face. Evidently the new-comer was a countryman.
"Cold neet, eh? Sharp as a step-mother's breath," said Gubblum, throwing
down the panier and drawing up to the fire.
The smile on the face of Jabez broadened perceptibly, and he began to
chuckle.
"What's ta snertan at, eh?" said Gubblum. "I say it's hot weather varra.
Hasta owt agenn it?"
Jabez laughed outright. Clearly the countryman must be crazy.
"What's yon daft thingamy aboot?" thought Gubblum. Then aloud, "Ay, my
lad, gie us a laal sup o' summat."
Jabez found his risible faculties sorely disturbed by this manner of
speech. But he proceeded to fill a pewter. The pot-boy's movements
resembled those of a tortoise in celerity.
"He's a stirran lad, yon," thought Gubblum. "He's swaddering like a duck
in a puddle."
"Can I sleep here to-neet?" he asked, when Jabez had brought him his
beer.
Then the sapient smile on the pot-boy's face ripened into speech.
"I ain't answering for the sleeping," said Jabez, "but happen you may
have a bed--he, he, he! I'll ask the missis--he, he, haw!"
"The missis? Hasta never a master, then?" said Gubblum.
Now, Jabez had been warned, with many portentous threats, that in the
event of any one asking for the master he was to be as mute as the
grave. So in answer to the peddler's question he merely shook his wise
head and looked grave and astonishingly innocent.
"No? And how lang hasta been here?"
"Three years come Easter," said Jabez.
"And how lang dusta say 'at missis has been here?"
"Missis? I heard father say as Mistress Drayton has kep' the Hawk and
Heron this five-and-twenty year."
"Five-and-twenty! Then I reckon that master would be no'but a laal wee
barn when she coomt first," said Gubblum.
"Happen he were," said Jabez. Then, recovering the caution so
unexpectedly disturbed, Jabez protested afresh that he had no master.
"It's slow wark suppen buttermilk wi' a pitchfork," thought Gubblum, and
he proceeded to employ a spoon.
"Sista, my lad, wadsta like me to lend thee a shilling?"
Jabez grinned, and closed his fat fist on the coin thrust into his palm.
"I once knew a man as were the varra spitten picter of your master,"
said Gubblum. "In fact, his varra sel', upsett'n and doon thross'n. I
thowt it were hissel', that's the fact. But when I tackled him he
threept me down, and I was that vexed I could have bitten the side out
of a butter-bowl."
"But I ain't got no master," protested Jabez.
"I were riding by on my laal pony that day, but now I'm going shankum
naggum," continued Gubblum, unmindful of the pot-boy's mighty innocent
look. "'A canny morning to you, Master Paul,' I shouted, and on I went."
"Then you know his name?" said Jabez, opening wide his drowsy eyes.
"'Master Paul's half his time frae home,' says the chap on t'road.
'Coorse he is,' I says: 'it's me for knowing that,' Ah, I mind it same
as it were yesterday. I looked back, and there he was standing at the
door, and he just snitit his nose wi' his finger and thoom. Ey, he did,
for sure."
Jabez found his conscience abnormally active at that moment. "But I
ain't got none," he protested afresh.
"None what?"
"No master."
"That's a lie, my lad, for I see he's been putten a swine ring on yer
snout to keep ye frae rooting up the ground."
After this Gubblum sat a good half-hour in silence. Mrs. Drayton came
down-stairs and arranged that Gubblum should sleep that night in the
house. His bedroom was to be a little room at the back, entered from the
vicinity of the ladder that led to the attics.
Gubblum got up, said he was tired, and asked to be shown to his room.
Jabez lighted a candle, and they went off together.
"Whereiver does that lead to?" said Gubblum, pointing to the ladder near
his bedroom door.
"I dunno," said Jabez, moodily. He had been ruminating on Gubblum's
observation about the swine ring.
"He's as sour as vargis," thought Gubblum.
There was the creak of a footstep overhead.
"Who sleeps in the pigeon loft?" Gubblum asked, tipping his finger
upward.
"I dunno," repeated Jabez.
"His dander's up," thought Gubblum.
Just then the landlady in the bar heard the sound of wheels on the road,
and the next moment a carriage drew up at the open door.
"I say there, lend a hand here, quick!" shouted the driver.
Mrs. Drayton hobbled up. The flyman was leaning through the door of the
fly, helping some one to alight.
"Take a' arm, missy; there, that's the size of it. Now, sir, down,
gently."
The person assisted was a man. The light from the bar fell on his face,
and the landlady saw him clearly. It was Paul Ritson. He was flushed,
and his eyes were bloodshot. Behind him was Mercy Fisher, with recent
tears on her cheeks.
"Oh, he's ill, Mrs. Drayton," said Mercy.
Paul freed one of his arms from the grasp of the girl, waved with a
gesture of deprecation, smiled a jaunty smile, and said:
"No, no, no; let me walk; I'm well--I'm well."
With this he made for the house, but before he had taken a second step
he staggered and fell against the door-jamb.
"Deary me, deary me, the poor gentleman's taken badly," said Mrs.
Drayton, fussing about.
Paul Ritson laughed a little, lifted his red eyes, and said:
"Well, well! But it's nothing. Just dizzy, that's all. And
thirsty--very--give me a drink, good woman."
"Bring that there bench up, missy, and we'll put him astride it," said
the driver. "Right; that's the time o' day. Now, sir, down."
"Deary me, deary me, drink this, my good gentleman. It'll do you a mort
o' good. It's brandy."
"Water--bring me water," said Paul Ritson, feebly; "I'm parched."
"How hot his forehead is," said Mercy.
"And no light 'un to lift, neither," said the driver. "Does he live
here, missis?"
Mrs. Drayton brought a glass of water. Paul drained it to the last drop.
"No, sir; I mean yes, driver," said the landlady, confusedly.
"He warn't so bad getting in," the driver observed.
"Oh, dear, oh, dear! where is Mr. Christian--Parson Christian?" said
Mercy, whose distracted eyes wandered around.
"The gentleman's come, sir; he's upstairs, sir," said the landlady, and,
muttering to herself, Mrs. Drayton hobbled away.
Paul Ritson's head had fallen on his breast. His hat was off, and his
hair tumbled over his face. The strong man sat coiled up on the bench.
Then he shook himself and threw up his head, as if trying to cast off
the weight of stupor that sat on him.
"Well, well! who'd have thought of this? Water--more water!" he mumbled
in a thick voice.
Mercy stood before him with a glass in her hand.
"Is it good for him, I wonder?" she said. "Oh, where is Mr. Christian?"
Paul Ritson saw the glass, clutched at it with both hands, then smiled a
poor, weak smile, as if to atone for his violence, and drank every drop.
"Well, well!--so hot--and dizzy--and cold!" he muttered, incoherently.
Then he relapsed into silence. After a moment, the driver, who was
supporting him at the back, looked over at his face. The eyes were
closed, and the lips were hanging.
"He's gone off unconscious," said the flyman. "Ain't ye got a bed
handy?"
At that moment Mrs. Drayton came hastily down-stairs, in a fever of
agitation.
"You've got to get him up to his room," she said, between gusts of
breath.
"That's a job for two men, ain't it, missis?" said the driver.
Mercy had loosened Paul's collar, and with a nervous hand she was
bathing his burning forehead.
"Oh, tell Mr. Christian," she said; "say he has fainted."
Mrs. Drayton hobbled back. In another instant there was a man's step
descending the stairs. Hugh Ritson entered the bar. He looked down at
the unconscious man and felt his pulse. "When did this happen?" he
asked, turning to Mercy.
"He said he was feeling ill when I met him; then he was worse in the
train, and when we reached Hendon he was too dizzy to stand," said
Mercy.
"His young woman, ain't it?" said the flyman, aside, to Hugh.
Hugh nodded his head slightly. Then, turning toward Mrs. Drayton, with a
significant glance, "Your poor son is going to be ill," he said.
The landlady glanced back with a puzzled expression, and began in a
blundering whimper, "The poor gentleman--"
"The old lady's son?" said the flyman, tipping his finger in the
direction of the landlady.
"Paul Drayton," said Hugh.
Mercy saw and heard all. The tears suddenly dried in her eyes, which
opened wide in amazement. She said nothing.
Hugh caught the altered look in her face.
"Mrs. Drayton," he said, "didn't you say you had something urgent for
Mercy to do? Let her set about it at once. Now, driver, lend a
hand--upstairs; it's only a step."
They lifted Paul Ritson between them, and were carrying him out of the
bar.
"Where's the boy?" asked Hugh. "Don't let him get in the way. Boys are
more hindrance than help," he added, in an explanatory tone.
They had reached the foot of the stair. "Now, my man, easy--heavy, eh?
rather."
They went up. Mercy stood in the middle of the floor with a tearless and
whitening face.
Half a minute later Hugh Ritson and the flyman had returned to the bar.
The phantom of a smile lurked about the flyman's mouth. Hugh Ritson's
face was ashen, and his lips quivered.
The boxes and portmanteaus which Paul and Greta had left in the bar
three nights ago still lay in one corner. Hugh pointed them out to the
driver. "Put them on top of the cab," he said. The flyman proceeded to
do so.
When the man was outside the door, Hugh Ritson turned to Mrs. Drayton.
The landlady was fussing about, twitching her apron between nervous
fingers. "Mrs. Drayton," said Hugh, "you will go in this fly to the
Convent of St. Margaret, Westminster. There you will ask for Mrs.
Ritson, the lady who was here on Friday night. You will tell her that
you have her luggage with you, and that she is to go with you to St.
Pancras Station to meet her husband, and return to Cumberland by the
midnight train. You understand?"
"I can't say as I do, sir, asking pardon, sir. If so be as the lady axes
why her husband didn't come for her hisself--what then?"
"Then say what is true--nothing more, Mrs. Drayton."
"And happen what may that be, sir?"
"That her husband is ill--but mind--not seriously."
"Oh, well, I can speak to that, sir, being as I saw the poor gentleman."
Mrs. Drayton was putting on her bonnet and shawl. The flyman had fixed
the luggage on top of the cab, and was standing in the bar, whip in
hand.
"A glass for the driver," said Hugh. Mrs. Drayton moved toward the
counter. "No, you get into the cab, Mrs. Drayton; Mercy will serve."
Mercy went behind the counter and served the liquor in an absent manner.
"It's now ten-thirty," said Hugh, looking at his watch. "You will drive
first to the convent, Westminster, and from there to St. Pancras, to
catch the train at twelve."
Saying this, he walked to the door and put his head through the window
of the cab. The landlady was settling herself in her seat. "Mrs.
Drayton," he whispered, "you must not utter a syllable about your son
when you see the lady. Mind that. You understand?"
"Well, sir, I can't say--being as I saw the gentleman--wherever's Paul?"
"Hush!"
The driver came out. He leaped to his seat. In another moment the cab
rattled away.
Hugh Ritson walked back into the house. The boy Jabez had come
down-stairs. "When do you close the house?" Hugh asked.
"Eleven o'clock, sir," said Jabez.
"No one here--you might almost as well close now. No matter--go behind
the bar, my lad. Mercy, your eyes are more inflamed than ever; get away
to bed immediately."
Mercy's eyes were not more red than their expression was one of
bewilderment. She moved off mechanically. When she reached the foot of
the stairs she turned and tried to speak. The words would not come. At
length she said, in a strange voice: "You did not tell me the truth."
"Mercy!"
"Where's Parson Christian?" said Mercy, and her voice grew stern.
"You must not use that tone to me. Come, get away to bed, little one."
Her eyes dropped before his. She turned away. He watched her up the
stairs. So sure of hand was he that not even at that moment did he doubt
his hold of her. But Mercy did not go to bed. She turned in at the open
door of Drayton's room. The room was dark; only a fitful ray of bleared
moonlight fell crosswise on the floor; but she could see that the
unconscious figure of Paul Ritson lay stretched upon the bed.
"And I have led you here with a lie!" she thought. Then her head swam
and fell on to the counterpane. Some minutes passed in silence. She was
aroused by footsteps in the passage outside. They were coming toward
this room. The door, which stood ajar, was pushed open. There was no
time for Mercy to escape, so she crept back into the darkness of a
narrow space between the foot of the bed and the wall.
Two men entered. Mercy realized their presence in the dark room rather
by the sense of touch than by the sense of hearing or sight. They walked
lightly, the darkness hid them, but the air seemed heavy with their hot
breath. One of them approached the bedside; Mercy felt the bed quiver.
The man leaned over it, and there was a pause. Only the scarcely
perceptible breathing of the insensible man fell on the silence.
"He's safe enough still," said a voice that thrilled her through and
through. "Now for it--there's no time to lose!"
The girl crouched down and held her breath.
"Damme if I ain't wishing myself well out of it!" muttered another
voice.
Mercy knew both men. They were Hugh Ritson and Paul Drayton.
Hugh closed the door. "What simpleton says fortune favors the brave?"
he said, in a low, derisive tone. "Here is fortune at the feet of a man
like you!"
Drayton growled, and Mercy heard the oath that came from beneath his
breath. "I'm wanting to be out of this, and I ain't ashamed for you to
know it."
Hugh Ritson's light laugh came from the bedside. He was still standing
by Paul Ritson's head. "If the lord mayor came for you in his carriage,
with a guard of flunkies, you would leave this house in less safety," he
said. Then he added, impatiently: "Come, waste no words; strip off that
tell-tale coat."
With this he leaned over the bed, and there was a creak of the spring
mattress.
"What's that?" said Drayton, in an affrighted tone.
"For God's sake, be a man!" said Hugh, bitterly.
"D'ye call this a man's work?" muttered Drayton.
The light laugh once more. "Perhaps not so manly as robbing the dead and
dying," said Hugh Ritson, and his voice was deep and cold.
Mercy heard another muttered oath. Dear God! what was about to be done?
Could she escape? The door was closed. Still, if she could but reach it,
she might open it and fly away.
At that instant, Hugh Ritson, as if apprehending her thought, said,
"Wait," and then stepped back to the door and drew the snap bolt. Mercy
leaned against the wall, and heard the beating of her heart. In the
darkness she knew that Paul Drayton had thrown off his coat. "A good
riddance!" he muttered, and the heavy garment fell with a thud.
Hugh Ritson had returned to the bed-head. "Give me a hand," he said;
"raise him gently--there, I'll hold him up--now draw off his
coat--quietly, one arm at a time. Is it free? Then, lift--away."
Another heavy garment fell with a thud.
"What's the fence got in his other pockets, eh?"
"Come, lend your hand again--draw off the boots--they're Cumberland
make, and yours are cockney style--quick!"
Drayton stepped to the bottom of the bed and fumbled at the feet of the
insensible man. He was then within a yard of the spot where the girl
stood. She could feel his proximity, and the alcoholic fumes of his
breath rose to her nostrils. She was dizzy, and thought she must have
fallen. She stretched out one hand to save herself, and it fell on to
the bed-rail. It was within a foot of Drayton's arm.
"Take off his stockings--they're homespun--while I remove the cravat.
The pin was a present; it has his name engraved on the plate behind."
The slant of the moonlight had died off the floor, and all was dark.
Drayton's craven fears seemed to leave him. He laughed and crowed. "How
quiet the fence is--very obliging, I'm sure--just fainted in the nick of
time. Will it last?"
"Quick! strip off your own clothes and put them where these have come
from. The coat with the torn lapel--where is it? Make no mistake about
that."
"I'll pound it, no!" Drayton laughed a short, hoarse laugh.
There was some shuffling in the darkness. Then a pause.
"Hush!"
Mercy knew that Hugh Ritson had grasped the arm of Drayton, and that
both held their breath. At that moment the moonlight returned, and the
bleared shaft that had once crossed the floor now crossed the bed. The
light fell on the face of the prostrate man. His eyes were open.
"Water--water!" said Paul Ritson, very feebly.
Hugh Ritson stepped out of the moonlight and went behind his brother.
Then Mercy saw a hand before Paul's face, putting a spirit flask to his
mouth.
When the hand was raised the face twitched slightly, the eyes closed
with a convulsive tremor, and the half-lifted head fell back on to the
pillow.
"He'll be quieter than ever now," said Hugh Ritson, softly. Mercy
thought she must have screamed, but the instinct of self-preservation
kept her still. She stirred not a limb. Her head rested against the
wall, her eyes peered into the darkness, her parched tongue and parted
lips burned like fire.
"Quick! put his clothes on to your own back, and let us be gone."
Drayton drew on the garments and laughed hoarsely. "And a good fit,
too--same make of a man to a T--ex--act--ly!"
The window and the door stood face to face; the bed was on the left of
the door, with the head at the door-end. The narrow alcove in which the
girl stood was to the left of the window, and in front of the window
there was a dressing-table. Drayton stepped up to this table to fix the
cravat by the glass. The faint moonlight that fell on his grinning face
was reflected dimly into the mirror.
At that moment Mercy's sickening eyes turned toward the bed. There, in
repose that was like death itself, lay the upturned face of Paul Ritson.
Two faces cast by nature in the same mold--one white and serene and
peaceful, the other bloated, red, smirking, distorted by passion, with
cruel eyes and smoking lips.
"The very thing--the very thing--damme if his own mother wouldn't take
me for her son!"
Hugh Ritson stepped to Drayton's side. When he spoke his voice was like
a cold blast of wind.
"Now listen: From this moment at which you change your coat for his you
cease to be Paul Drayton, and become Paul Ritson."
"Didn't you say I was to be Paul Lowther?"
"That will come later."
"As I say, it won't go into my nob."
"No matter; say nothing to yourself but this, 'I am to pretend to be
Paul Ritson.'"
"Well, now for it!"
"Ready?" asked Hugh. He returned to the bed-head.
"Ready."
"Then give a hand here. We must put him up into your garret. When the
police come for him he must seem to be in hiding and in drink. You
understand?"
A low, hoarse laugh was the only answer.
Then they lifted the unconscious man from the bed, opened the door, and
carried him into the passage.
Mercy recovered her stunned senses. When the men were gone she crept out
on tiptoe and tripped down the passage to her own room. At the door she
reeled and fell heavily. Then, in a vague state of consciousness, she
heard these words passed over her--"Carry her back into her room and
lock her in." At the same instant she felt herself being lifted in a
strong man's arms.