Jeanne of the Marshes

by E. Phillips Oppenheim

  CHAPTER XV

  For the fourth time the bell rang. The two men had now retraced theirsteps. Cecil, who had been standing in the hall within a few feet ofthe closed door, started away as though he had received some sort ofshock. Forrest, who was lurking back in the shadows, cursed him for atimid fool.

  "Open the door, man," he whispered. "Don't stand fumbling there.Remember you are angry at being disturbed. Send them away, whoever theyare. Look sharp! They are going to ring again. Can't you hear thatbeastly bell-wire quivering?"

  Cecil set his teeth, turned the huge key, and pulled back the heavydoor. He gave a little gasp of astonishment. It was a woman who stoodthere. He held out his electric torch and stepped back with a sharpexclamation.

  "Kate!" he cried. "What on earth are you doing here at this hour? Whatdo you mean by ringing the bell like that?"

  The girl stepped into the hall.

  "Close the door," she said. "The wind will blow the pictures off thewalls, and I can scarcely hear you speak."

  Cecil obeyed at once.

  "Light a lamp," she said. "It is not fair that you should have all thelight. I want to see your face too."

  "But Kate," Cecil interrupted, "why did you come like this? Why did younot--"

  She interrupted.

  "Never mind," she answered sternly. "Perhaps I did not come to see youat all. Light the lamp. There is something I have to say to you."

  Forrest stepped forward from the obscurity and struck a match. The girlshowed no signs of fear at his coming. As the lamp grew brighter shelooked at him steadfastly.

  "So this is the reason we are waked up in the middle of the night,"Forrest remarked, with a smile which somehow or other seemed to loseits suggestiveness. "A little affair of this sort, eh, Mr. Cecil? Whydon't you teach the young lady a simpler way of summoning you than bythat infernal bell?"

  Still Kate did not reply. She was standing with her back to the oaktable in the centre of the hall, and the men, who were both watchingher covertly, were conscious of a certain significance in her attitude.Her black hair was tossed all over her face; from its tangled web hereyes seemed to gleam with a steady inimical gaze. Her dress of dark redstuff was splashed in places with the salt water, and her feet weresoaking. With her left hand she clasped the table; her right seemedhidden in the folds of her skirt.

  "What do you want, Kate?" Cecil asked at last. "What do you mean bycoming here like this? If you want to see me you know how, withoutarousing the whole household at this time of night."

  "You are not fool enough," Kate said calmly, "to imagine that I cameto-night to listen to your lies. I came to know whom it is that you arekeeping hidden away in the smugglers' room."

  Neither man answered. They looked at one another, and Cecil's face grewonce more as pale as death.

  "What do you mean?" he exclaimed. "What rubbish is this you aretalking, Kate?" he added, in a sharper tone. "There is no one therethat I know of."

  "You lie," she answered calmly. "You lie, as you always do whenever itanswers your purpose. Only an hour ago I lay upon the turf in theplantation there, and I heard a man moaning down in the store-room. Nowtell me the truth, Cecil de la Borne. I do not wish to bring any harmupon you, although God knows you deserve it, but if you do not bring methe man whom you have down there, and set him free before my eyes atonce, I'll bring half the village up to the mound there and dig himout."

  Forrest stepped forward. His manner was suave and his tone was smooth,but there was a dangerous glitter in his eyes.

  "This is rather absurd, Cecil," he said. "I do not know whom this younglady is, but I feel sure that she will listen to reason. There is noone down in the smugglers' store-room. If she heard anything, it wasprobably the rabbits."

  "Lies!" Kate answered calmly. "You are another of the breed; I can seeit in your face. I would not trust the word of either of you."

  Forrest shrugged his shoulders. He glanced towards Cecil with a slightuplifting of the eyebrows.

  "Your friend, my dear Cecil," he remarked, "is like most of her sex, atrifle unreasonable. However, since she says that she will believe noevidence save the evidence of her eyes, show her the smugglers' room.It would be a quaint excursion to take at this time of night, but Iwill go with you for the sake of the proprieties," he added, with alittle laugh.

  Cecil looked at him for a moment steadily, and then turned away. Therewas fear now upon his face, a new fear. What was this thing whichForrest could propose?

  "She can come if she insists," he said slowly, "but the place has notbeen opened for a long time. The air is bad. It really is not fit forany human being."

  The girl faced them both without shrinking.

  "Perhaps you think that I should be afraid," she answered. "Perhaps youthink that when I am there it would be very easy to dispose of me, sothat I shall ask no more inconvenient questions. Never mind. I am notafraid. I will go with you."

  Cecil shrugged his shoulders as he led the way across the hall.

  "There is nothing to fear," he said, "except the bad air and the ghostsof smugglers, if you are superstitious enough to fear them. Only, whenyou are perfectly satisfied, and you are convinced that your errandhere has been fruitless, perhaps I may have something to say."

  The girl's lips parted. Curiously enough there was a note almost ofreal merriment in the laugh which followed.

  "I am not very brave, my dear Cecil," she said, "but I am not afraid ofyou. I think that one does not fear the things that one understands toowell, and you I do understand too well, much too well."

  They reached the empty gun-room. Cecil threw open the hidden door.

  "Will you go first or last?" he said to the girl. "Choose your ownplace."

  The girl laughed.

  "The door seemed to open easily," she remarked, "considering that ithas not been used for so long."

  "Never mind about that," Cecil said sharply. "Are you coming with us?"

  "I am coming," Kate answered composedly, "and I will walk last."

  "As you please," Cecil answered. "Come, Forrest, you may as well seethis thing through with me."

  As they stumbled along the narrow way, Cecil whispered in Forrest's ear.

  "What are we going to do with her?"

  "God knows!" Forrest answered. "Do you suppose that any one knows whereshe is? Who is she?"

  "One of the village girls," Cecil answered, "an old sweetheart of mine.They are strange people, and have few friends. I doubt whether any oneknows that she is out to-night."

  Forrest passed on.

  "If we are going to put our necks into the halter," he muttered, "alittle extra trouble won't hurt us."

  They paused before the door. The girl was looking at the padlock.

  "A new padlock, I see," she remarked. "Listen!"

  They all listened, and now there was no doubt about it. From inside theroom they could hear the sound of a man, half singing, half moaning.

  "Are those rabbits?" the girl asked, leaning forward, so that her eyesseemed to gleam like live coal through the darkness. "Cecil, you arebeing made a fool of by this man. I don't wish you any harm. Do theright thing now, and I'll stick by you. Let this man free, whoever heis. Don't listen to what he tells you," she added, pointing towardForrest.

  Cecil hesitated. Forrest, who was watching him closely, could not tellwhether that hesitation was genuine or only a feint.

  "It was only a joke, this, Kate," he muttered. "It was a joke which wehave carried a little too far. Yes, you shall help me if you will. Ihave had enough of it. Go inside and see for yourself who is there."

  Cecil threw open the door and Kate stepped boldly inside. Forrestentered last and remained near the threshold. Engleton started to hisfeet when he saw a third person.

  "We have brought you a visitor," Forrest cried out. "You havecomplained of being lonely. You will not be lonely any longer."

  Kate turned toward him.

  "What do you mean?" she said. "We are going to leave here together,that man and mysel
f, within the next few minutes."

  "You lie!" Forrest answered fiercely. "You have thrust yourself into amatter which does not concern you, and you are going to take theconsequences."

  "And what might they be?" Kate asked slowly.

  "They rest with him," Forrest answered, pointing toward Engleton."There is a man there who was our friend until a few days ago. He daredto accuse us of cheating at cards, and if we let him go he will ruin usboth. We are doing what any reasonable men must do. We are seeking topreserve ourselves. We have kept him here a prisoner, but he could havegained his freedom on any day by simply promising to hold his peace. Hehas declined, and the time has come when we can leave him no more.To-night, if he is obstinate, we are going to throw him into the sea."

  "And what about me?" Kate asked.

  "You are going with him," Forrest answered. "If he is obstinate foolenough to chuck your life away and his, he must do it. Only he hadbetter remember this," he added, looking across at Engleton, "it willmean two lives now, and not one."

  Engleton rose to his feet slowly.

  "Who is she?" he asked, pointing to the girl.

  "I am Kate Caynsard, one of the village people here," she answered. "Iheard you working to-night from outside. You heard me shout back?"

  He nodded.

  "Yes!" he said. "I know."

  "I will tell the truth," the girl continued. "I was fool enough once tocome here to meet that man"--she pointed to De la Borne--"that is allover. But one night I was restless, and I came wandering through theplantation here. It was then I saw from the other end that the placehad been altered, and it struck me to listen there where the air-shaftis. I heard voices, and the next day they were all talking about thedisappearance of Lord Ronald Engleton. You, I suppose," she added, "areLord Ronald."

  "I believe I was," he answered, with a little catch in his throat. "Godknows who I am now! I give it up, De la Borne. If you are going to sendthe girl after me, I give it up. I'll sign anything you like. Only letme out of the d--d place!"

  A flash of triumph lit up Forrest's face, but it lasted only for asecond. Kate had suddenly turned upon them, and was standing with herback to the wall. The hand which had been hidden in the folds of herdress so long, was suddenly outstretched. There was a roar which rangthrough the place like the rattle of artillery, the smell of gunpowder,and a little cloud of smoke. Through it they could see her face; herlips parted in a smile, the wild disorder of her hair, her sea-stainedgown, her splendid pose, all seemed to make her the central figure ofthe little tableau.

  "I have five more barrels," she said. "I fired that one to let you knowthat I was in earnest. Now if you do not let us go free, and withoutconditions, it will be you who will stay here instead of us, only youwill stay here for ever!"