By a great effort of will I remained exactly as I was. I had to
decide what to do, and I had to decide in a hurry, but it was
obviously one of those situations in which one could not afford to
make the least mistake. If I called out, the answer, for all I knew,
might take the shape of a Mills bomb. On the other hand, if I kept
silent, how could I discover the identity of my visitor?
_Tap, tap, tap._
Once again came the mysterious summons--this time more imperative
than before.
As the last knock died away, an idea flashed into my mind. Rising to
my feet, I moved stealthily across the hall, and, creeping up the
staircase like a cat, I turned into my own bedroom, which looked out
on the front of the house. The window was still open, and, advancing
towards it with infinite care, I was just preparing to make a
cautious reconnaissance when I suddenly heard a shuffling movement
down below. I paused, and, almost at the same second the loud
jangling peal of the front door bell echoed up from the kitchen.
Somehow or other, the sound acted on me like a tonic. Without
hesitating any longer, I thrust my head out over the sill, and there,
right underneath me, I saw the ragged, curly-haired figure of my
little friend, Jimmy.
"Hullo, James," I called out, "what are you doing here?"
He took a step back, and looked up.
"I gotter letter for you guv'nor--a letter from the young laidy."
"The devil you have!" I exclaimed eagerly. "You hang on there, my
son. I'll be with you in half a tick."
Thrusting the revolver into my pocket, I hurried downstairs again,
and with feverish haste unchained and opened the front door. Jimmy
wiped his boots noisily on the mat, and with a cheerful grin advanced
into the hall.
"I seed the light through the shutters," he explained, "and I guessed
you was inside. That's why I knocked at the winder."
"Quite right, Jimmy," I said. "Where's the note?"
He dived into his pocket, and produced a crumpled and dirty-looking
envelope, which he handed to me.
"When did you get this?" I demanded, refastening the door.
"On'y just now, guv'nor. It was give me by the old Frenchwoman wot
lives at 'The Laurels.'"
I crossed to the lamp, and, tearing open the flap, pulled out the
enclosure. It consisted of half a sheet of notepaper closely covered
in Christine's small writing.
"DEAREST,--I am giving this note to Marie, who has promised to
deliver it to Jimmy. I believe she is to be trusted, but I dare
not say more for fear that it should fall into the wrong hands.
At the present moment I am a prisoner in my own bedroom. I
expect to be free again, with Marie's help, at half-past eight
this evening. If all goes well I shall come across to the island
immediately. Will you be on the landing-stage at twenty minutes
to nine? Come straight down across the garden and through the
iron gate, _but on no account leave the house a moment before
it's necessary_. I will explain everything when I see you. With
all my love,
"CHRISTINE."
I read it through to the end, and then turned back to Jimmy, who was
still standing where I had left him.
"Did the old woman say anything when she gave you this note?" I asked.
"On'y as I was to let 'er know whether you'd got it," was the answer.
"She's going to wait for me at the corner o' Butcher's Lane."
"Well, you can tell her it will be all right," I said, thrusting the
letter into my pocket. "I suppose you haven't heard whether Mr. de
Roda is back at the house--the young lady's uncle, you know?"
Jimmy nodded. "'E's there all right. 'E come up in a motor-boat
about mid-day. She's lying out in the tideway round the point."
"How do you know it was Mr. de Roda?" I asked.
"Why, George Ellis, the boatman, seed 'im and Craill rowin' ashore.
I 'eard George tellin' my dad. She's a fine boat, too, guv'nor--the
old _Seagull_, wot used to belong to Captain Stainer of 'Arwich.
George reckons 'e must 'ave bought 'er while 'e was away."
"Big enough to go to sea in?" I asked.
He nodded his head. "That's a fact," he answered in the usual Essex
idiom. "The Capt'n run across to France in 'er once, and George says
she done the trip in a reg'lar treat."