COMPLICATIONS AND COMPLEXITIES
The Cheyne Court affair, as it was to be called afterward in the days of
its publicity, had faded in Cleek's mind, but he was to be reminded of
it very speedily. Within three weeks of that memorable drive through the
moonlit lanes of Hampton he entered the sacred precincts of Mr. Maverick
Narkom's room to find him in deep conversation with a fair-haired,
slightly built young man in whom he immediately recognized no less a
person than Sir Edgar Brenton himself.
In a second of time Cleek had altered his identity so suddenly and
completely that, thick-headed, dull-witted George Headland stood where a
moment before Cleek had been. Mr. Narkom was quick enough to note the
change, and introduced him accordingly. There was an undercurrent of
excitement visible in his tones that Cleek was constantly aware of.
"This is Mr. George Headland, Sir Edgar, one of our sharpest men. I
don't mind telling you, he'll soon get to the bottom of your little
affair." He turned to Cleek and motioned with his hand in the young
man's direction. "This is Sir Edgar Brenton. He's come from Hampton
where there seems to be some mysterious goings on at a place---- What
did you say its name was, Sir Edgar?"
"Cheyne Court, Mr. Narkom, the Honourable Miss Marion Cheyne's place and
the home of my fiancée Lady Margaret Cheyne. I tell you," he added
excitedly, "she is in danger, and I mean to rescue her from the clutches
of that old harridan before another day is over."
Mr. Narkom set the tips of his fingers together and nodded blandly.
"So you shall, Sir Edgar," he assented, as he turned to smooth some
papers on his desk.
"Oho!" said Cleek to himself. "So there is that element in the case,
eh?" Then he bowed to Sir Edgar. "P'raps you'll be good enough to tell
me the facts, sir," he said, looking stolidly across the table.
Sir Edgar restrained himself with evident effort.
"They are only too few, Mr. Headland," he said irritably. "Lady Margaret
has just returned from a convent school in Paris. In fact, she came back
just three weeks ago to-morrow. I met her more than a year ago when my
mother and I--we are neighbours, by the way--were staying in Paris, and
we became engaged. I had no idea that Peggy, Lady Margaret I mean, was
to return to England till I heard through my servant. For Miss Cheyne
dislikes me intensely and----"
"Any reason for that, sir?" queried Mr. Headland with an air of bland
politeness.
"Well, to a certain extent, yes," was the grudging reply. "My father, I
believe, was engaged to her at one time, but finding her temper
intolerable, made his escape, and Miss Cheyne has hated my mother and
myself in consequence. When she heard from Peggy that we had met, and
fallen in love with each other, she was furious, and kept my dear girl
almost imprisoned in that confounded convent. It was impossible for us
to hold any communication directly, but when I heard she was expected
back, like an ass I rushed over to Cheyne Court, to beg permission to
meet her at the station. This was refused. Indeed, the old wretch went
so far as to threaten me with a revolver, and I believe she would have
attacked me, too, had I not snatched it from her, and beat a retreat."
"And what time did you say that was?" put in Cleek with ill-concealed
interest.
An innocent remark enough, but one Sir Edgar seemed to resent strongly.
"What the devil's that to do with you, I should like to know?" he
demanded fiercely. "How dare you try to badger me with foolish
questions! As a matter of fact, it was quite early in the day. Somewhere
near lunch time, if you must know."
A little smile creased Cleek's face, but his tones were quite smooth as
he said, "I see, sir; and you didn't go back?"
Again Sir Edgar flushed and frowned.
"No, I did not, sir," he retorted savagely. "I was at a dinner-party.
And I haven't come here to be cross-examined by a common policeman. I
want to know how I can get my fiancée out of that house."
Here Mr. Narkom flung himself into the breach.
"Has she come of age?" he asked quickly, and thereby voiced the thought
that was passing in Cleek's own mind.
"Legally, no, and that is just the difficulty. By Lord Cheyne's will she
takes possession of her property on her eighteenth birthday though she
can only marry with the consent of Miss Cheyne. Now yesterday was her
birthday, and by a sheer piece of good luck here in London I came across
Lady Margaret herself and without Miss Cheyne. When she told me that
they had come up to fetch all the family jewels and to remove them to
Cheyne Court, you can imagine my feelings."
"Good Heavens," blurted out Cleek, involuntarily startled by this
announcement. "Do you mean to tell me two helpless women have risked
burdening themselves with such priceless jewels down in a lonely place
like Cheyne Court? Why, every sneak thief in Europe could attack it----"
He broke off sharply, for Sir Edgar was looking at him in a startled way
that made Cleek mentally kick himself for having been momentarily thrown
off his guard and betraying his own knowledge of the place in question.
"Surely someone could have prevented it!" he concluded weakly.
"No, that is just what they could not do," responded Sir Edgar. "I saw
the family lawyer but he told me that Peggy has the right to do what she
likes with her own fortune, the only thing Lord Cheyne had to leave her,
but I certainly agree with Mr. Shallcott that it was at that old
harridan of an aunt's instigation."
"What made him think that?" Cleek asked.
Sir Edgar frowned.
"Mr. Shallcott couldn't define it," he responded, "only he felt that if
he had seen her alone he could have persuaded her to have left them or
at least the bulk of them in safety. Especially the very valuable
pendant----"
"Not the Purple Emperor!" blurted out Cleek. Once more he betrayed more
knowledge than he had meant to in the beginning.
To his surprise it seemed as if the young man's face became almost gray
with fear. "You know of that stone, Mr. Headland?" Cleek scratched his
ear.
"Heard of it, sir? Lor, bless yer, we policemen have to pass a regular
examination in all the famous jewels of history and that stone is
amongst them," he lied glibly. "And if there are thieves who know the
'Emperor' is loose, so to speak, the quicker your young lady and it part
company, the better for her, I say."
"Yes, that's it. She is in danger, that's why I came to the Yard. She
shrieked out to me, just as I broke the glass in the window."
"What's that?" rapped out Cleek. "Broke the glass of the window, you
say? Whose window and why did you break it?"
"Because she was afraid. Because she wanted me to run away with her and
keep her safe from those devils in Cheyne Court!"
Cleek's eyes shot a look of sympathy.
"Suppose you tell us all about it, Sir Edgar," he said in a kindly tone,
"then we'll be able to get to the bottom of it all the sooner."
"I ran from one side of the house to the other," Sir Edgar went on. "But
every door and window seemed to be bolted and barred. At last I smashed
in the dining-room door with a spade I found outside and rushed through
the house, but it was absolutely empty!"
"Empty!" chimed in Mr. Narkom, excitedly, while Cleek sucked in his
breath.
"Absolutely empty!" said Sir Edgar; "as regards human beings, that is. I
tell you, man, I went nearly mad with the horror of it, and the fear for
my darling girl! There was not a sign, no trap-doors or panels, nothing,
and I simply had to give up in the dark, and now I want your help! By
Heaven they shall suffer if a hair of that angel's head is so much as
touched--the devils. I don't care if Miss Cheyne is killed, she deserves
it, but Peggy----"
He broke down, turning his haggard face in his hands and his shoulders
shook spasmodically.
A brief moment and Sir Edgar pulled himself together with a jerk.
"Sorry," he gulped, apologetically, "made an ass of myself, but you
can't think what a night I've spent----"
"That's all right, sir," said Mr. Headland with an air of the proper
respect due from him. "But I don't think as there's anything to be done
till me and my mates come down and have a peep at the place. That's
about it, don't you think so, sir?" He turned to Mr. Narkom, who,
though puzzled by Cleek's strange aloofness, still knew his methods too
well to do anything else but agree with him.
"Certainly, Headland," he returned. "We'll go down to Hampton as quickly
as you like."
"I think it would be best for the young gentleman to get back to Hampton
first, and we'll come down and look round casual like," said Mr. George
Headland in an off-hand manner. "Ten chances to one but wot the young
lady's tied up in one of the upper rooms, don't you know."
"Now I never thought of that!" threw in Sir Edgar quickly. "Yes, you're
right. I will get back and leave it in your hands."
"And you may safely do so," said Mr. Narkom, shaking the young man's
hand sympathetically as he took his departure.
"What do you think about it, Cleek?" he cried excitedly, when the door
had closed.
"Think? I think a good many things, my dear fellow," retorted that
gentleman serenely, "and one of them is, why didn't Sir Edgar break the
dining-room door down at once before he made that fruitless rush around
the house. He might have known that the doors would be locked at evening
time."
"I never thought of that!" said Mr. Narkom. "Still, I don't see what
that has to do with it. You are not insinuating that the man would harm
his own sweetheart? Where is the incentive?"
"The Purple Emperor might be, or its value," was the reply. "Mind, I am
not saying it is so, but I would like to know the young gentleman's
financial status. Secondly, I would like to know why he has made no
effort to see the girl this past fortnight since she has been back.
Don't forget I met him that night, when a murder was committed at Cheyne
Court. For I still hold that that woman was dead when I found her in the
ballroom and the young gentleman's story about a revolver which he
snatched away from her in the afternoon is all tommy-rot. The weapon was
lying by her side when I saw her, and I'll take my oath there was a
revolver in his own pocket when I lurched up against him in the lane.
No, my friend, there are one or two points about Sir Edgar Brenton's
tale that I should like to see cleared up satisfactorily, and I think
I'll betake myself down to the Hampton Arms where you can join me."
Speaking, he gave a little friendly nod to Mr. Narkom, writhed his
features into their semblance of the stolid policeman once more, and
strode from the room.
Once outside the portals of Scotland Yard, Cleek looked keenly around at
the casual people who invariably appear to haunt the precincts of the
law. There was the usual street loafer and errand boy, but
half-concealed by an abutting arch there stood the figure of a man,
evidently on the watch for someone. Cleek, with his usual caution,
slouched past, then crossed so as to get a better view.
For a second Cleek paused, then switching on his heel, turned and walked
back, past the watcher once more, and into Scotland Yard. That the man
outside was waiting for someone to come out was obvious, but for whom?
Cleek gave vent to a little laugh. "A dollar to a ducat but whom he
waits for is Lieutenant Deland," he said to himself, "and he shall have
his wish."
He dashed lightly up the stairs again to Mr. Narkom's room and locked
the door behind him.
"You never mean to let him see you!" said the Superintendent blankly
when Cleek had related his story.
"That's just what I do mean. Give me time to make the change. That man
saw Lieutenant Deland go in, and he shall see Lieutenant Deland come
out. You can follow with the limousine if you like."
A minute later he sallied forth, and the little one-sided smile looped
up his face as he saw the watcher detach himself from the shadowing wall
and follow in his wake, unconscious, however, that he, too, was being
shadowed in his turn by Mr. Narkom in the car. It was not until they
emerged upon the open embankment that Cleek turned to see his pursuer.
To his supreme astonishment, the man had disappeared!
Cleek laughed to himself as he strode onward toward Mr. Narkom and the
limousine which had slowed down some distance ahead. There was certainly
something up, but what that something might be he was not so sure.
"Mr. Narkom," he said, as he threw open the door of the car and climbed
in beside the Superintendent, "the plot thickens. That man was the
butler at Cheyne Court."