A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE
Littimer put up his glass and gazed with apparent vacancy in the
direction of the window. He saw a tall man with a grey beard and hair; a
man most immaculately dressed and of distinctly distinguished appearance.
Littimer was fain to admit that he would have taken him for a gentleman
under any circumstances. In manner, style, and speech he left nothing to
be desired.
"That chap has a fortune in his face and accent," Littimer said. "'Pon my
word, he is a chance acquaintance that one would ask to dinner without
the slightest hesitation. And the girl--"
"Is his daughter," Chris said. "The likeness is very strong."
"It is," Littimer admitted. "A singularly pretty, refined girl, with
quite the grand air. It is an air that mere education seldom gives; but
it seems to have done so in yonder case. And how fond they seem to be of
one another! Depend upon it, Chris, whatever that man may be his daughter
knows nothing of it. And yet you tell me that the police--"
"Well, never mind the police, now. We can get Mr. Steel to tell Marley
all about 'John Smith' if we can't contrive to force his hand without.
But with that pretty girl before my eyes I shouldn't like to do anything
harsh. Up till now I have always pictured the typical educated scoundrel
as a man who was utterly devoid of feelings of any kind."
Dinner proceeded quietly enough, Chris having eyes for hardly anything
else beyond the couple in the window. She rose presently, with a little
gasp, and hastily lifted a tankard of iced water from the table. The girl
opposite her had turned pale and her dark head had drooped forward.
"I hope it is not serious," said Chris. "Drink a little of this;
it is iced."
"And they told me they had no ice in the house," the man Rawlins
muttered. "A little of this, Grace. It is one of her old fainting fits.
Ah, that is better."
The man Rawlins spoke with the tenderest solicitude. The look of positive
relief on his face as his daughter smiled at him told of a deep devotion
and affection for the girl. Chris, looking on, was wondering vaguely
whether or not she had made a mistake.
"Lord Littimer obtained our ice," she said. "Pray keep this. Oh, yes,
that is Lord Littimer over there. I am his secretary."
Littimer strolled across himself and murmured his condolences. A little
time later and the four of them were outside in the verandah taking ices
together. Rawlins might have been, and no doubt was, a finished
scoundrel, but there was no question as to his fascinating manner and his
brilliant qualities as a conversationalist. A man of nerve too, and full
of resources. All the same, Littimer was asking himself and wondering who
the man really was. By birth he must have been born a gentleman, Littimer
did not doubt for a moment.
But there was one soft spot in the man, and that was his love for his
daughter. For her sake he had been travelling all over the world for
years; for years he had despaired of seeing her live to womanhood. But
she was gradually growing better; indeed, if she had not walked so far
to-day nothing would have happened. All the time that Rawlins was talking
his eyes were resting tenderly on his daughter. The hard, steely look
seemed to have gone out of them altogether.
Altogether a charming and many-sided rascal, Littimer thought. He
was fond, as he called it, of collecting types of humanity, and here
was a new and fascinating specimen. The two men talked together till
long after dark, and Rawlins never betrayed himself. He might have
been an Ambassador or Cabinet Minister unbending after a long period
of heavy labour.
Meanwhile Chris had drawn Grace Rawlins apart from the others. The girl
was quiet and self-contained, but evidently a lady. She seemed to have
but few enthusiasms, but one of them was for her father. He was the most
wonderful man in the world, the most kind and considerate. He was very
rich; indeed, it was a good thing, or she would never have been able to
see so much of the world. He had given up nearly the whole of his life to
her, and now she was nearly as strong as other girls. Chris listened in a
dazed, confused kind of way. She had not expected anything like this; and
when had Rawlins found time for those brilliant predatory schemes that
she had heard of?
"Well, what do you think of them?" Littimer asked, when at length he and
Chris were alone. "I suppose it isn't possible that you and I have made
a mistake?"
"I'm afraid not," Chris said, half sadly. "But what a strange case
altogether."
"Passing strange. I'll go bail that that man is born and bred a
gentleman; and, what is more, he is no more of an American than I am. I
kept on forgetting from time to time what he was and taking him for one
of our own class. And, finally, I capped my folly by asking him to bring
his daughter for a drive to-morrow and a lunch on the Gapstone. What do
you think of that?"
"Splendid," Chris said, coolly. "Nothing could be better. You will be
good enough to exercise all your powers of fascination on Miss Rawlins
to-morrow, and leave her father to me. I thought of a little plan tonight
which I believe will succeed admirably. At first I expected to have to
carry matters with a high hand, but now I am going to get Mr. Rawlins
through his daughter. I shall know all I want to by to-morrow night."
Littimer smiled at this sanguine expectation.
"I sincerely hope you will," he said, drily. "But I doubt it very much
indeed. You have one of the cleverest men in Europe to deal with.
Good-night."
But Chris was in no way cast down. She had carefully planned out her
line of action, and the more she thought over it the more sure of
success she felt. A few hours more and--but she didn't care to dwell too
closely on that.
It was after luncheon that Chris's opportunity came. Lord Littimer and
Grace Rawlins had gone off to inspect something especially beautiful in
the way of a waterfall, leaving Chris and Rawlins alone. The latter was
talking brilliantly over his cigarette.
"Is Lord Littimer any relation of yours?" he asked.
"Well, yes," Chris admitted. "I hope he will be a nearer relation
before long."
"Oh, you mean to say--may I venture to congratulate--"
"It isn't quite that," Chris laughed, with a little rising in colour. "I
am not thinking of Lord Littimer, but of his son.... Yes, I see you raise
your eyebrows--probably you are aware of the story, as most people are.
And you are wondering why I am on such friendly terms with Lord Littimer
under the circumstances. And I am wondering why you should call yourself
John Smith."
The listener coolly flicked the ash from his cigarette. His face was
like a mask.
"John Smith is a good name," he said. "Can you suggest a better?"
"If you ask me to do so I can. I should call myself John Rawlins."
There was just the ghost of a smile on Rawlins's lips.
"There is a man of that name," he said, slowly, "who attained
considerable notoriety in the States. People said that he was the
_dernière cri_ of refined rascality. He was supposed to be without
feeling of any kind; his villainies were the theme of admiration amongst
financial magnates. There were brokers who piously thanked Providence
because Rawlins had never thought of going on the Stock Exchange, where
he could have robbed and plundered with impunity. And this Rawlins always
baffles the police. If he baffles them a little longer they won't be able
to touch him at all. At present, despite his outward show, he has hardly
a dollar to call his own. But he is on to a great _coup_ now, and,
strange to say, an honest one. Do you know the man, Miss Lee?"
Chris met the speaker's eyes firmly.
"I met him last night for the first time," she said.
"In that case you can hardly be said to know him," Rawlins murmured. "If
you drive him into a corner he will do desperate things. If you tried
that game on with him you would regret it for the rest of your life. Good
heavens, you are like a child playing about amidst a lot of unguarded
machinery. Why do you do it?"
"That I will tell you presently. Mr. Rawlins, you have a daughter."
The hard look died out of the listener's eyes.
"Whom I love better than my life," he said. "There are two John
Rawlins's--the one you know; and, well, the other one. I should be sorry
to show you the other one."
"For the sake of your daughter I don't want to see the other one."
"Then why do you pit yourself against me like this?"
"I don't think you are displaying your usual lucidity," Chris said,
coolly. Her heart was beating fast, but she did not show it. "Just
reflect for a moment. I have found you out. I know pretty well what you
are. I need not have told you anything of this. I need have done no more
than gone to the police and told them where to find you. But I don't want
to do that; I hate to do it after what I saw last night. You have your
child, and she loves you. Could I unmask you before her eyes?"
"You would kill her," Rawlins said, a little unsteadily; "and you would
kill me, I verily believe. That child is all the world to me. I committed
my first theft so that she could have the change the doctors declared to
be absolutely necessary. I intended to repay the money--the old, old
story. And I was found out by my employers and discharged. Thank
goodness, my wife was dead. Since then I have preyed on society.... But I
need not go into that sordid story. You are not going to betray me?"
"I said before that I should do nothing of the kind."
"Then why do you let me know that you have discovered my identity?"
"Because I want you to help me. I fancy you respect my sex, Mr. Rawlins?"
"Call me Smith, please. I have always respected your sex. All the
kindness and sympathy of my life have been for women. And I can lay my
hand on my heart and declare that I never yet wronged one of them in
thought or deed. The man who is cruel to women is no man."
"And yet your friend Reginald Henson is that sort."
Rawlins smiled again. He began to understand a little of what was passing
in Chris's mind.
"Would you mind going a little more into details?" he suggested. "So
Henson is that sort. Well, I didn't know, or he had never had my
assistance in his little scheme. Oh, of course, I have known him for
years as a scoundrel. So he oppresses women."
"He has done so for a long time: he is blighting my life and the life of
my sister and another. And it seems to me that I have that rascal under
my thumb at last. You cannot save him--you can do no more than place
obstacles in my way; but even those I should overcome. And you admit that
I am likely to be dangerous to you."
"You can kill my daughter. I am in your power to that extent."
"As if I should," Chris said. "It is only Reginald Henson whom I want to
strike. I want you to answer a few questions; to tell me why you went to
Walen's and induced them to procure a certain cigar-case for you, and why
you subsequently went to Lockhart's at Brighton and bought a precisely
similar one."
Rawlins looked in surprise at the speaker. A tinge of admiration was on
his face. There was a keenness and audacity after his own heart.
"Go on," he said, slowly. "Tell me everything openly and freely, and
when you have done so I will give you all the information that lies in
my power."