The Slave of Silence

by Fred M. White

  CHAPTER XXIX

  The cab with Mary Sartoris inside jolted along behind the other one, andpresently Mary was greatly relieved to find that her horse was going thefaster of the two. She bitterly blamed herself now for her folly in notwaiting to see Beatrice, and still more so for trusting so important aletter in the hands of a mere servant.

  But it was idle to repine over the thing now. The mischief had been doneand the great thing was to repair it as soon as possible. As Mary's mindemerged from the haze in which it had been enveloped for the last fewdays, she began to see things more clearly. Now she realised that shehad no settled plan of action when she set out to see Beatrice. Shewould have had to tell her everything or nothing had they met, and shecould not have done this without making certain disclosures about herbrother. She saw now that it would have been far better to havedestroyed the letter and said nothing about it.

  But then Mary could not tell a deliberate lie of that kind, and CarlSartoris would have been pretty sure to have asked the question. He waspleased to regard his sister more or less in the light of a fool, but hedid not trust her any the more for that.

  Mary lay back in the cab and resigned herself to the inevitable. It wasgood to feel that she was leaving the others behind now, and her spiritsrose accordingly. If she could only get to Wandsworth before theprecious pair, she would be all right, provided always that Beatrice hadnot been in front of her. But as most of the trains were usually latethere was more than a chance of success in this direction. The girl wasnearing her destination now. She lifted the shutter on the top of thecab and asked if the other cab was at any distance. There was a queersort of a grin on the cabman's face, as he answered.

  "About five hundred yards, miss," he said. "Something seems to have gonewrong with them. So far as I can see the cab has lost a tire."

  The other cab had stopped, and something like an altercation was goingon between the fare and the driver.

  Mary had not far to go now, and she decided that it would be safer towalk the rest of the distance. There was a little crowd gathering behindher and a policeman's helmet in the centre of it. Truly fortune wasplaying on her side now.

  It was not very far to the house; there it stood dark and silent, withno light showing in the garden in front. Mary felt pretty sure that shewas in time. Then the front door of the house opened, there was a sightof the hall in a blaze of light, and in the foreground the figure of awoman standing on the doorstep.

  Mary gave a groan and staggered back with her hand to her head.

  "What a piece of cruel misfortune," she exclaimed passionately. "Anotherminute and I should have been in time. Why did I not drive up to thehouse? My over-caution has spoilt it all. I am sure that was BeatriceRichford."

  The door of the house closed and the figure of the woman disappearedinside. Mary had had all her trouble for nothing. Not only was Beatricemore or less of a prisoner there, but those thieves were pressing onbehind. What was the best thing to be done now, with Beatrice exposed tothe double danger? Mary racked her weary brains in vain. And in a fewminutes at the outside the others would be here. It seemed impossible todo anything to save Beatrice from this two-edged peril. Mary started asshe caught sight of a figure coming up the front garden. It was astealthy figure and the man evidently did not want to be seen. As hecaught sight of Mary he stopped. It was too dark to distinguish anythingbut his outline.

  "Beatrice," the man said in a tone of deep relief. "Thank God, I havecome in time."

  Mary did not know whether to be pleased or alarmed. Evidently this manwas some friend of Beatrice who had obtained an inkling of her dangerand had come to save her. On the whole it seemed to Mary that she had anally here.

  "I am afraid you are mistaken," she whispered. "I am not BeatriceRichford. But I am doing my best for the young lady all the same. Sheis----"

  "Don't say that she is in the house?" the man said in a muffled tone.

  "Alas, that I can say nothing else," Mary replied. "I was just too late.Mrs. Richford had just entered the doorway as I came up. If you willtell me your name----"

  "Perhaps I had better," the stranger said after a minute's hesitation."I am Mark Ventmore; perhaps you have heard of me."

  Mary gave a little sigh of relief. She knew all about Mark Ventmore.Here indeed was a man who would be ready to help her. She drew a littlenearer to him.

  "And I am Mary Sartoris," she said. "If you have heard of me----"

  "Oh, yes, you are the sister of that--I mean Carl Sartoris is yourbrother. But surely you are altogether innocent of the--the strangethings that----"

  "I am innocent of everything," said Mary passionately. "I have wasted mylife clinging to a man in the faint hope of bringing him back to truthand honour again. I am beginning to see now that I am having my troublefor my pains, Mr. Ventmore. Suffice it for the present to say that Mrs.Richford stands in great peril."

  "Oh, I know that," Ventmore said hoarsely. "I got that information fromBentwood, the scoundrel! At the instigation of Inspector Field, who haspretty well posted me on recent doings, I have been following thatrascal pretty well all day. We won't say anything about Berrington, whoI understand is more or less of a prisoner in your brother's house,because Berrington is the kind of man who can take care of himself. ButBeatrice is in peril--Bentwood told me that. The fellow's brains are ina state of muddle so I could not get the truth from him. It wassomething about a case of diamonds."

  "Yes, yes," Mary said. "The diamonds that Mr. Richford gave his wife fora wedding present. Mr. Richford has got himself into severe trouble."

  "Richford is a disgraced and ruined man. The police are after him."

  "So I gathered. He is now in the disguise of an elderly clergyman, andat present he is----"

  "Hiding in that house at Edward Street," Mark cried. "I saw him withBentwood. But what has he to do with those diamonds?"

  "Everything. I overheard the plot laid," Mary proceeded to explain. "Mr.Richford went to his wife and demanded the diamonds. He wanted to raisemoney so that he could go away in comfort and luxury. He told his wifeexactly how he was situated. She refused to comply with the request onthe ground that the stones belonged to Mr. Richford's creditors. Thenunhappily, Mrs. Richford withdrew the diamonds from the custody of thehotel officials, being afraid that there would be a bother over them orsomething of that kind. Richford watched her do it. Then he met twoaccomplices who recently passed as General Gastang and Countess de laMoray, and the plot was laid. Mrs. Richford was to come here."

  "But in the name of fortune, why was she to come here?" Mark asked.

  "Perhaps I had better be a little more candid with you," Mary sighed."There is a scheme on foot between my brother and some of the gang togain possession of certain papers that belonged to Sir Charles Darryll.There are keys, too, which Mrs. Richford is known to possess. I don'tquite know what the scheme is."

  "Anyway I can give a pretty good guess," Mark said. "My father has beenvery ill and he sent for me. We have not been very good friends, myfather and I, because I turned my back on the city for the sake of art.But all that is past now, and we have become reunited. My father seemsto know a great deal about Sir Charles's affairs--something about a rubymine or something of that kind. Anyway, I'm to get my information fromMr. Fleming, who is my father's solicitor. But I am afraid that I aminterrupting you."

  "There is not much more to tell," Mary went on. "Colonel Berrington wasinduced to write a letter to Mrs. Richford asking her to come here andsee my brother."

  "Berrington must have been mad to think of such a thing!"

  "No, he did it at my instigation. I managed to communicate with him andassure him that no harm should come of it. No harm would have come of itif I had only kept my head and done the right thing. But the factremains that Mrs. Richford is in there; she has those diamonds in herpocket and the thieves are on the track. It seems to me----"

  Mary did not finish the sentence, for Mark held out a hand and pulledher behind a bush, just in time, as two other pe
ople came up the path.There was no occasion to tell either of the watchers that here were thepeople of whom they were talking. The man Reggie and the woman Cora werestanding on the doorstep whispering together. It was quite a still nightand the other two behind the bushes could hear every word that was said.

  "So far, so good," the man was saying. "We've got here and we are prettysure that our bird is securely caged, but what next?"

  "Wait our chance," the woman said with a certain fierce indrawing of herbreath. "We can appear to have come here by accident, for instructions,anything. So long as Sartoris does not know about those stones we aresafe. When we get them----"

  "When we get them, Richford can whistle for his share of the money," theman said coolly. "By this time to-morrow we shall be in possession ofmore money than we have ever had before. I don't like this presentbusiness, it's far too dangerous. Unless we go so far as to murder thatfellow Berrington and get him out of the way----"

  "Don't," the woman said with a shudder. "I hate that kind of work.Anything clever or cunning, anything requiring audacity, I can do with.But violence!"

  She shuddered again, and the man laughed softly as if greatly pleasedwith some idea of his.

  "There is going to be no more violence or anything else," he said. "Thisgame has got far too dangerous. We'll change those stones into money andthen we'll quietly vanish and leave our good friend Sartoris to his owndevices. What do you say to that?"

  "Amen, with all my heart," the girl said. "The sooner the better. Butdon't forget that we have not yet settled on a plan of action."

  "Leave it to chance," the man replied. "We have all the knowledge thatis necessary to the success of our scheme, and the girl knows nothing.She will not stay very long, it is getting late already. Suppose wepretend that we have a cab waiting to take us back to town, and supposethat we offer to give her a lift. Then that scent of yours----" Thewoman called Cora laughed and clapped her hands gleefully. It was anidea after her own heart. She patted her companion affectionately on theshoulder.

  "Come along, then," she said. "Open the door with your latchkey. It'sgetting cold and I am longing for something to eat. This kind of thingmakes me hungry."

  The door opened and then closed again softly, and the conspirators hadvanished. With a gesture of anger Mark strode towards the house, Maryfollowing.

  "What on earth are you going to do?" she said anxiously. "Will you spoileverything by your impatience? If you only realized the dangers that liehidden yonder!"

  Mark paused abruptly and bit his lip. The trouble was not over yet.