Charles Rex

by Ethel M. Dell

  CHAPTER II

  THE VILLAIN SCORES

  "Now, sir!" said Saltash, and turned. His tone was brief; the smile hadgone from his face. He came to Jake with a certain haughtiness, and stoodbefore him.

  Jake squared his shoulders. "So--you've married her!" he said.

  "I have." There was a note of challenge in the curt rejoinder. Saltash'sbrows were drawn.

  "I should like to see--proof of that," Jake said, after a moment.

  "The devil you would!" Again the hot gleam shone in the odd eyes. Saltashstood for a second in the attitude of a man on the verge of violence.Then, contemptuously, he relaxed.

  He lounged back against the mantel-piece and smoked his cigarette. "Thedevil you would, Jake!" he said again, in a tone so different that thewords might have been uttered in another language. "And why--if one bepermitted to ask?"

  "I think you know why," Jake said.

  "Oh, do I? You virtuous people are always the first to suspect evil."Saltash spoke with deliberate cynicism. "And suppose the marriage is notgenuine--as you so politely hint--what then, my worthy Jake? What then?"

  Jake faced him unwaveringly. "If not," he said, "she goes back with me."

  Saltash's eyes suddenly flashed to his, but he did not alter hisposition. "Sure of that?" he asked casually.

  "Sure!" said Jake.

  "And if I refuse to part with her? If she refuses to go?"

  "Either way," said Jake immovably.

  "And why?" Saltash straightened suddenly. "Tell me why! What in hell hasit got to do with you?"

  "This," said Jake. "Just the fact that she's a girl needing protectionand that I--can give it."

  "Are you so sure of that?" gibed Saltash. "I think you forget, don't you,that I was her first protector? No one--not even Bunny--could have gotnear her without my consent."

  "She was your find right enough," Jake admitted. "I always knewthat--knew from the first you'd faked up a lie about her. But I hoped--Ieven believed--that you were doing it for her sake--not your own."

  "Well?" flung Saltash. "And if I was?"

  "And if you were," said Jake, "it was a thing worth doing--worth stickingto. Bunny is a respectable citizen. He'd have married her--made herhappy."

  Saltash's mouth twisted. "Bunny had his chance--missed it," he said."He'll know better next time. I'm not troubling about Bunny. He didn'tdeserve to win."

  "And so you decided to play him a damn trick and cut him out?" said Jake.

  Saltash snapped his fingers. "I did my best for him, but I couldn't pushhim through against his will. Why didn't he come after her when he foundshe had gone? Didn't he know where to look?"

  "Just because he knew," said Jake.

  Saltash moved abruptly. "Damnation! You shall have what you've come for.If seeing is believing--then you shall believe--that even CharlesBurchester can protect a girl at a pinch from the snares of thevirtuous!" He pulled an envelope from an inner pocket, and flung it witha passionate gesture upon the table in front of Jake.

  Jake's eyes, red-brown and steady, marked the action and contemplated himthereafter for several silent seconds. Then, at length, very slowly."Maybe--after all--I don't need to see, my lord," he said. "Maybe--I'vemade a mistake."

  He spoke with the utmost quietness, but his manner had undergone achange. It held a hint of deference. He made no move to touch theenvelope upon the table.

  Saltash's brows went up. "Satisfied?" he questioned curtly.

  "On that point, yes." Jake continued to look at him with a close andsearching regard.

  "Not on all points?" Saltash flicked the ash from his cigarette with amovement of exasperation.

  Jake turned and slowly walked to the window. There fell a silence betweenthem. He stood staring down upon the scene that Toby had gazed upon alittle earlier, but he saw nothing of it. The hardness had gone out ofhis face, and a deep compassion had taken its place.

  Saltash continued to smoke for several restless seconds. Finally, hedropped the end of his cigarette into a tray and spoke.

  "Anything more I can do for you?"

  Jake wheeled in his massive way, and came back. "Say!" he said slowly."I'm kind of sorry for that little girl."

  Saltash made an abrupt movement that passed unexplained. "Well?" he said.

  Jake faced him squarely. "If I'd been at home," he said, "this wouldnever have happened. Or if it had happened--if it had happened--" Hepaused.

  "You'd have made a point of coming to the wedding?" suggested Saltash.

  Jake passed the suggestion by. "I'd have known how to deal with it,anyway. Now, it seems, it's too late."

  Saltash took up the envelope from the table, and returned it to hispocket. "I believe you'd have been better pleased if I hadn't marriedher," he observed.

  Jake shook his head. "I'd be better pleased--maybe--if I knew for certainwhat you did it for."

  "My good Jake. I don't go in for aims and motives," protested Saltash."Call it a marriage of convenience if you feel that way! It's all thesame to me."

  Jake's brows contracted. "I'd give a good deal not to call it that," hesaid.

  Saltash laughed. "Call it what you like--a whim--a fancy--the craze ofthe moment! You needn't waste any sentiment over it. I'm sorry aboutBunny, but, if he hadn't been an ass, it wouldn't have happened. Youcan't blame me for that anyhow. You did the same thing yourself."

  "I!" The red-brown eyes suddenly shone. "I don't follow you," said Jakedeliberately.

  "You married your wife to deliver her from--a fate you deemedunsuitable." Saltash's teeth showed for a moment in answer to the gleamin Jake's eyes. "You did it in an almighty hurry too."

  "But--damn it--she needed protection!" Jake said. "And--at least--I lovedher!"

  Saltash bowed. "Hence your motive was an entirely selfish one. Mywife--_au contraire_--is quite unhampered by a husband's devotion. I havenever made love to her--yet. I have only--protected her."

  He paused, and suddenly the old monkey-like look of mischief flashed backinto his face.

  "I lay claim to the higher virtue, Jake," he said. "Heaven alone knowshow long it will last. I've never scored over you before, but on thisoccasion--" He stopped with a careless wave of the hand.

  "Yes," Jake said. "On this occasion--you've got me beat. But--I didn'tfight for my own sake, nor yet for the off chance of downing you, which Iown would have given me considerable pleasure once. It was for thechild's sake." An unwonted note of entreaty suddenly sounded in hisvoice. "I don't know what your game is, my lord; but she's yours now--tomake--or break. For God's sake--be decent to her--if you can!"

  "If I can!" Saltash clapped a sudden hand upon Jake's shoulder, butthough the action was obviously a kindly one, it held restraint as well."Do you think I don't know how to make a woman happy, Jake? Think Ihaven't studied the subject hard enough? Think I'm a fool at the game?"

  Jake looked him straight in the face. "No. I don't think you a fool, mylord," he said. "But I reckon there's one or two things that even you mayhave to learn. You've never yet made any woman permanently happy. There'sonly one way of doing that. Bunny would have done it--and won out too.But you--I'm not so sure of you."

  "Oh, Bunny would have won out, would he?" Saltash's hand closed like atrap upon Jake's shoulder. There was a challenging quality in his smile.

  Jake nodded. "Yes. Bunny's got the real stuff in him. Bunny would haveput her happiness before his own always. He would have given her the lovethat lasts. It's the only thing worth having, after all."

  "Well?" The challenge became more marked upon the swarthy face. The smilehad vanished. "And you think I am incapable of that?"

  "I haven't said so," Jake said sombrely.

  "But it's up to me to prove it?" There was a certain insistence inSaltash's tone, albeit a mocking spirit looked out of his eyes.

  Jake faced it unwaveringly for several seconds. Then: "Yes. I reckon itis up to you," he said, and turned deliberately away. "I'm going now."

  "All right." Saltash's hand fell. "I gi
ve you credit for one thing,Jake," he said. "You haven't offered to take her off my hands. For thatpiece of forbearance I congratulate you. Do you want to see her beforeyou go?"

  "Not specially," said Jake.

  Saltash's eyes followed him with a look half-malicious, half-curious."Nor to send her a message?" he questioned.

  "No." Jake's tone was brief.

  "You're not wanting to offer her a safe harbour when her presentanchorage fails her?" jested Saltash.

  Jake turned at the door as one goaded. "When that happens," he said verydeliberately. "I guess she'll be past any help from me, poor kid!"

  Saltash's black brows descended. He scowled hideously for a moment. Then,"I congratulate you again," he said coolly. "You are just beginning tosee things--as they are."

  Jake made a brief sound that might have indicated contempt and opened thedoor. He went out with finality, and Saltash listened to the tread of hisretreating feet with a grin of sheer cynical triumph.

  "So," he said lightly, "the villain scores at last!"

  But as he turned towards the other room, the cynicism passed from hisface. He stood for a moment or two motionless at the door; then brokeinto a careless whistle and opened it.