HEFFEROM IS OPTIMISTIC
Ruby Sinclair leaned forward and touched her companion's back as they
flew through the village of Rakney. "Look," said she. "You see that
cottage we are just passing? That is where I have lived for the last
four years."
Hefferom followed her outstretched finger. He saw the little grove of
bare trees, and the marshland stretching out beyond to the bare sea.
"Winter and summer?" he asked.
"Winter and summer."
He nodded. "About time you went fortune-hunting!" he said.
No other word passed between them until they reached the railway
station. They descended from the car, and watched it almost immediately
swing round and disappear.
"So this is the end of our little excursion to Rakney," Ruby remarked.
"Yes!" Hefferom answered. "Aren't you satisfied?"
"Why should I be?" she asked. "What have we gained?"
Hefferom drew a long breath. "Ah, I forgot!" he said. "You don't
understand."
He drew her into the refreshment room. She declined to drink, but she
sat in a corner while he disposed of several whiskies and sodas. At
first he would say nothing, and she waited. Presently he began.
"You think," he said, "that I was a coward, because when Deane bundled
us off in his car and told the man to drive us to the nearest railway
station, I did not protest. You think that I should have made a scene
there? It wasn't worth while. Deane's coming gave the whole game away.
Don't you really understand?"
"Not a word," she answered.
"Listen, then. Stirling Deane is the man who is supposed to be the owner
of the Little Anna Gold-Mine, which was really your Uncle Sinclair's."
She looked at him with gleaming eyes. "Say that again," she said. "I
don't quite understand."
"The deed which is missing from your Uncle Sinclair's effects," Hefferom
said slowly, "is the title-deed to the Little Anna Gold-Mine. That mine
was illegally taken possession of by Stirling Deane. He sold it to the
company, of which he is now president, at an enormous price. He is the
man with whom your Uncle Sinclair came to England to treat. Sinclair was
murdered. By whom? By Rowan. Who was at the back of Rowan? Whose tool
was he? We know! Chance this afternoon made everything clear to us.
Can't you see that Rowan killed your uncle and stole that deed to save
Stirling Deane from ruin,--at his bidding, as his accomplice?"
"It takes my breath away," the girl murmured. "Now I think of it, of
course, it is Deane's cottage they are in. He was there himself only a
few weeks ago. It was through him that we heard of my uncle's murder."
"The whole thing's as simple as A B C," Hefferom declared. "Can't you
see that Deane has given himself into our hands? Of course Rowan stole
the deed! Of course Deane has it! He will have to pay for our silence!
By God, he will have to pay!"
The girl looked up from her seat on the leathern couch, looked at her
companion long and critically. "Do you think we can hold our own against
a man like Stirling Deane?"
"It depends upon the cards, and they are in our hands. We must go back
to London. We must wait till he is at his office. Then I will see him.
You can leave the thing in my hands now. I shall know how to approach
him. He cannot deny his friendship with the Rowans. They are occupying,
even at this moment, his own cottage. Very likely I shall be able to
discover other things connecting him with them. The newspapers you
showed me spoke of great influence which was brought to bear on the
granting of the reprieve. We may find that Stirling Deane was at the
back of that. Anyhow, he is connected closely enough with them. I am
here, ready to swear that when Sinclair left Africa he left with the
original title-deed of the Little Anna Gold-Mine in his pocket. I think
that the friendship between his murderer and Stirling Deane, who sold
that mine for close upon a million pounds, is a thing that will need a
little explanation."
"And in the meantime," said the girl bitterly, "we are starving."
"Not quite," he answered. "We have thirty-eight shillings. That will
take us back to London, and find us rooms somewhere for the night. We
must scrape along somehow until I can get to Deane's offices."
"You are not forgetting," the girl remarked, "that the thirty-eight
shillings you are speaking of is my property?"
"We are partners," Hefferom declared. "You shall carry the purse if you
will, but there is no object in it."
"You seem to do most of the spending," she reminded him. "If you think
that we can afford it," she added, glancing at his empty glasses, "I
should like a cup of tea."
He ordered it at once, and sat down by her side. "Look here," he said,
"I don't see what you want to be so blooming stand-off for. Times are a
bit rough with us just now, but, you mark my word, we shall pull through
all right. This man Deane is in the hollow of our hands. He has been
Rowan's accomplice. No one who knows the facts could possibly doubt it.
A word from us would ruin him."
The girl sighed. She had drawn a little away from the man. "Do you
believe, then," she asked, "that Mr. Deane has the deed?"
"Either that, or it is destroyed," answered Hefferom. "But don't bother
about that. Whether the deed is still existing or not, we know enough to
make it worth his while to buy us, even though it costs him half his
fortune."
"In the meantime," the girl said, "please get the tickets. The train
will be in, in a few minutes."
"Come with me," he said suspiciously. "Remember, we're partners."
"Oh! we are partners right enough," she answered, rising and following
him out of the place. "You needn't be afraid that I am going to let you
go. Just now you are all that stands between me and a return to Rakney."
On the way up to town he began to build castles. He was optimistic,
sanguine in the extreme. The girl listened almost stolidly. Her
companion had begun to depress her. He was badly dressed, his linen was
soiled, his imitation jewelry was hideous. He sat opposite her in the
train, and there were things in his face from which she shrank. She was
more than thankful that they were not alone.
"Are you tired, or what?" he asked at last, a little sullenly. "Surely I
made it all plain enough? You don't doubt that there's money in this for
us?"
"There should be," she admitted slowly. "And yet--"
"And yet what?"
"I have seen Mr. Deane before," she said hesitatingly. "I have talked
with him once or twice. Somehow or other, when I think that it may come
to be a struggle between you and him--"
He interrupted her with a brazen laugh. "You think I won't be able to
stand up against him! Well, you shall see. There's a good deal in
holding the cards, you know."
"You haven't the deed," she reminded him.
"I don't want it," he answered. "I am not afraid of Stirling Deane. I
have known him a good many years, and he knows me. We are up against one
another now, and you may fancy his chances; but I tell you my back's
against the wall, and his isn't. He's there fighting in the open. I've
got him, I tell you,--got him!"
She half closed her eyes. This was not the way in which she had hoped to
come into her fortune. In her heart, she could not believe a word he
said. Deane was a strong man; Hefferom, she was already beginning to
discover, was nothing but a bully and a craven. If it came to a duel
between the two, she found it easier to believe that Hefferom would be
worsted.
At King's Cross Station they separated. Hefferom, a little sulkily,
accepted his dismissal, and parted with half of the money which he had.
"You can go where you choose," she said. "You can come back to Mrs.
Towsley's, if you like, but I tell you frankly that except while we are
on business I think it better that we should stay apart."
"I can't see why," he muttered.
"For one thing," she said, "we might be taken for adventurers. I do not
know much about the law, but it seems to me you won't be very far out of
its clutches when your negotiations with Mr. Deane begin."
"I can take care of myself," he answered gruffly. "Can I see you back to
the old lady's, anyhow?"
"No!" she answered. "I would rather go alone."
"Come and have one drink in the refreshment room, just to wish ourselves
luck," he begged.
She went in with him and drank a cup of coffee. He had two liqueurs, and
would have had more, but she dragged him sharply away.
"Remember," she said, "that I have nothing more I can raise money on.
These few shillings are all we have. If Mr. Deane does not return for
several days, we must leave."
"Deane will come back," he said, with a defiant laugh. "I let him have
things his own way to-day, but he knows just where he is. Mark my words,
he will be at the office to-morrow morning, and he will be there
expecting to see me."