The Castle Of The Shadows

by Walter Walden

  CHAPTER VI

  THE END OF THE WORLD

  They stayed a week in Cairo, and at the end of that time the Countess deMattos had accepted an invitation to go yachting; not for a day, but fora vague period of "dawdling," as Virginia evasively expressed it. Thebeautiful Portuguese woman had hesitated at first, and confided to theAmerican girl that, on account of the delay in receiving an expected sumof money, she did not quite see how she could get away in time. ButVirginia had begged the Countess not to let such a small difficultytrouble her for a moment. She really must accept a loan to tide over thelittle annoyance; it would indeed be too hard to lose the pleasure of hercompanionship for the sake of a few paltry dollars, so that would be nofavour at all, or rather, the favour would be the other way round.

  The "few paltry dollars" necessary turned out to be three thousand; butif they had been three times three thousand Virginia would have lent themjust as cheerfully without the prospect of, or even wish for, theirreturn. With the money obtained from Virginia's practically unlimitedletter of credit in her pocket, and a hint delicately expressed that morewould be at her service whenever she wished, "as it was such a nuisancehaving to keep in touch with one's bankers and people like that on a longyachting trip when nothing was less settled than one's plans," theCountess thought herself very well off.

  "Are you in a hurry to be anywhere in particular during the next fewweeks?" asked the girl of her new friend. "No? How nice! Then let usthrow all the responsibility of planning things upon the men. What funnever to know where we are going, but to be surprised always when wearrive anywhere."

  And the Countess de Mattos agreed. She would have agreed with almostanything that Virginia said that day. If the American girl believed thatProvidence had directed her to cross the path of this beautiful woman,the beautiful woman was equally sure that the god of luck had put thisinfatuated young heiress in her way.

  Roger would hardly have consented to the carrying out of Virginia's plan,which he called "kidnapping," had George Trent not joined his argumentsto his sister's.

  "It does seem a mad idea," he admitted, "but if the woman isn't LianeDevereux, no harm will be done, except that she'll be taken a longerjourney than she expects. If she is--ah! I know what you think, old chap,without your lifting your eyebrows up to your hair; but, by Jove!Virgie's got an instinct that's like the needle of a compass. When shesays 'north,' I'd bet my bottom dollar it _was_ north, that's all. If Idon't object to Virgie's associating with the Countess, you needn't--yet,anyhow. She isn't the kind of girl to be hurt by that sort of thing, and,besides, she'll have the dickens of a tantrum if we try to thwart her nowshe's set her heart on this trick. She'd be equal to slipping anchor withthe Countess on board and leaving us in the lurch. Let's see the littlegirl through on her own lines, and if the snap doesn't come off, shecan't blame _us_. Anyway, it's rougher on me than on you, for Virgie'sput me up to do the agreeable to the Countess and keep her from gettingrestless before we attempt to spring our mine. A while ago I wouldn'thave asked anything better than flirting all day with such a woman, whois as pretty and as fascinating as they're made, but I'm not in the moodfor it now, somehow. Still, we're playing for big stakes--you for yours,Roger, I for mine."

  This was the only reference he made to his interest in MadeleineDalahaide; but Roger guessed what was in his mind.

  Lady Gardiner floundered deeper than ever into the quicksands of mysterywhen she heard that the Countess de Mattos was to be one of the party forthe rest of the voyage--wherever it was to take them. What could beVirginia's object in picking up this woman? Was it really true that shehad taken the violent and sudden fancy to her that she feigned to feel,or did that pretense cloak a hidden motive? Kate had no clue, unless thefact that Virginia had asked her never to mention Madeleine Dalahaide orthe Chateau de la Roche before the Countess could be called a motive. Shewould have disobeyed Virginia, by way of a curiosity-satisfyingexperiment, if she had not feared that the result might be disastrous andthat she would be found out.

  At least she would in a gentle, tactful way have suggested objections tothe Countess de Mattos's presence on the yacht, had she not been certainthat Virginia would have frankly advised her to stay behind if she didnot like the arrangements for the rest of the trip. Much as she lovedCairo in the height of its gay season, much as she hated the sea at allseasons, nevertheless she was doggedly determined to see this adventureto the end (bitter though it might be), not only to earn her thousandpounds, but to know the secret which actually kept her waking andwondering at night.

  It really was the strangest thing that Virginia should want thisadventuress on the yacht, Kate indignantly remarked to Mrs.Maitland-Fox. The girl had refused to take a maid because there wouldnot be room, yet now she dragged this creature on board to flirt withGeorge Trent and perhaps inveigle him into a marriage under theimpression that he was as rich as he was handsome.

  But with Virginia herself, after the first few moments of surprise, LadyGardiner had been circumspect. She had not even dared to ask the questionburning on her lips--whether the Countess would have the lockedstateroom, or what arrangement would be made for her accommodation?Obliged to wait for this information until the hour of going on boardagain, once the Countess de Mattos's presence was to be expected withouthope of change, Kate began to be impatient to start.

  The party, counting quiet, keen-eyed little Dr. Grayle, was now increasedto six, an equal number of men and women, for the Countess had readilygiven up her maid. They all travelled to Alexandria together one morning,and, boarding the yacht, Kate eagerly watched for the new guest to betaken to her stateroom. Would the locked door be opened? No; Virginialed her past that mysterious, closed door, to the cabin formerly occupiedby George Trent, and Kate saw that the young man's belongings, justbrought back from Cairo, had been set down inside the stateroom oncesacred to the doctor alone. In this there were two berths, and evidentlyGeorge and the medical man would "chum" together for the rest of thevoyage. The discovery did not add to Lady Gardiner's love for thePortuguese woman, for, half forgetting her uneasiness concerningMadeleine Dalahaide, she was now jealous of the new beauty, and it wasgall and wormwood to Kate that George Trent, lost to her, should bemaking gallant sacrifices of his personal comfort for another woman.

  She had written to the Marchese Loria on the first night of their arrivalin Cairo, before the acquaintance with the Countess had begun, and, asshe could learn nothing of the future programme for the voyage, it hadnot seemed worth while to write again. As for the invitation to thePortuguese woman, Kate did not see that it could be of personal interestto Loria, and she never wrote unless she had something to say which wasof importance to him; therefore the Italian remained in ignorance thatthe Countess de Mattos was a member of the little party on the _BellaCuba_.

  So far as the trip had gone, there was nothing to excite his anxiety savethat the girl he coveted for her beauty and her money was going fartherand farther from him. But one day a telegram came for him to the CapMartin Hotel, where he still remained. It was dated from Port Said."Bound for Australia," were the three words the message contained; andthey were words of heavy import to Loria.

  Australia! There was no reason why Virginia Beverly should not visitAustralia. He had heard her say that she would not be satisfied until shehad seen all the world. But if she had thought of going to Australiabefore she left Mentone, she had carefully refrained from saying so. Itwas more the fact that she had concealed such an intention than that shewas now carrying it out, which seemed ominous to Loria. Sydney was thenearest place of departure for New Caledonia. In a Messageries mail boatit took ten days to reach Noumea from Sydney; it would perhaps takelonger in a yacht like the _Bella Cuba_. And the sensible question to askwould be, Was it likely that a bright, erratic, butterfly being likebeautiful Virginia Beverly would go so far simply for the pleasure ofseeing the prison which contained a stranger, a convicted assassin forwhom she had conceived a girlishly romantic interest?

  It was not as if she c
ould hope to meet and talk with Maxime Dalahaidehimself, have the pleasure of carrying him messages from his sister, orperhaps even bring Madeleine to him (for the Chateau de la Roche wasempty now, in the hands of workmen, and no one, not even Loria, had beenable to learn where Mademoiselle Dalahaide and her aunt had gone). TheItalian was not unlearned in such lore of the far-away French prison-landas could be obtained, and he had read that, though strangers were allowedto land at Noumea, and a few had been enabled through influence topenetrate inside the prison walls, all personal intercourse with theconvicts was strictly interdicted. Since the one almost miraculousescape, over thirty years ago, of Henri Rochefort and Humbert, watch andward had been more strictly kept than ever; besides, they had escapedfrom Ducos, on the Isle of Pines, which in those days had been sacred topolitical prisoners, and discipline there had been, even then, laxcompared to that of the Ile Nou, the very heart of prison-land, whereMaxime Dalahaide was dragging out the weary years of his lost life.

  Yet what if Virginia should have formed the extraordinary resolve ofgoing to Noumea? What was it to him--Loria--since she could accomplishnothing there? Suppose, even, that among other miserable convicts she sawMaxime--pallid, thin, sullen and hopeless, his good looks and hisbrilliant audacity crushed and gone--would not the romantic feeling shehad conceived for him be instantly turned into horror and disgust? Whensuch a chill had withered a girl's fancy for a man, there could be nofuture blossoming, and her heart might be caught in the rebound. Once,Loria had thought that Virginia had been on the point of caring for him.Perhaps when they met she would turn to him again, remorseful for thepain she had caused, grateful for his unwavering loyalty; and, tellinghimself these things, he was almost persuaded that it would do him moregood than harm if Virginia did go to Noumea. But he was never whollypersuaded. A strange fear knocked at his heart, a fear that had no name.He never quite saw its face. Like a haunting ghost, it was always behindhim, and he could hear the swish of its garments, the stealthy sound ofits footfalls; but when he turned upon it the thing was gone, leavingonly the impression of a black shadow with a veiled face inexpressiblyawful.

  Loria could not sleep by night, and by day he was restless. He began todread an illness, and was constantly troubled with headache, which gavehim an excuse for believing that the vague, nervous apprehension hesuffered was largely the result of physical causes.

  What else, indeed, could it be? He had absolutely nothing to fear. Ofthis he was still continually reminding himself, when another telegramcame from Lady Gardiner, dated Sydney. "Leaving here to-morrow," shesaid. "Destination unknown."

  * * * * *

  The _Bella Cuba_ was ten days out from Sydney Heads. Her passengers roseearly, for in the morning it was good to be alive. Virginia, fresh fromher cold, salt bath, came on deck, and saw the Countess de Mattos there,with George Trent. Far away lay a strip of land, turning slowly fromviolet to emerald as the yacht steamed nearer. Virginia saw it andflushed. She knew what it must be, and quickly she glanced at George,with an eager question in her eyes.

  It was tacitly understood that the task of informing the Countess deMattos what her destination was to be must be left to Virginia; shecoveted it, while the two men did not. Still, the Portuguese might haveguessed, on seeing that strip of violet; or George might inadvertentlyhave given her a clue, and she would be on her guard.

  But George's blue eyes met his sister's; and with the faintest shake ofhis head he contrived to convey to her the intelligence that the secretstill remained a secret.

  Virginia's heart was beating fast as she joined her brother and theCountess, and her hand was not quite steady as she offered herfield-glass to the beautiful Portuguese, who had long ago begged the twoladies on board to call her "Manuela."

  "What a large island!" exclaimed the Countess. "And we seem to be makingfor it. What can it be? Mr. Trent says perhaps it is a mirage. But Ithink that is his joke. He likes teasing."

  "I think," replied Virginia calmly, though her eyes were on the face ofManuela, "that we must be coming in sight of New Caledonia."

  As she gave this answer, Roger Broom came up the companionway, and heardthe last words, which rang out, distinctly. Instantly he knew that themoment for which Virginia had been waiting was at hand, and he, too,watched the Countess.

  She had taken Virginia's field-glass, and was gazing through it at thefar-off land which with each moment seemed to grow more distinct. Onlythe delicate, aquiline profile could be seen by the eager eyes thatlooked for a sign of weakness. She did not speak at first, but a visibleshiver ran through her body. The field-glass came down rather suddenly,and her fingers gripped it tightly as they rested on the rail. But shedid not turn her face, and continued gazing landward as at last sheechoed the words, "New Caledonia!"

  "Is not that a prison for the French _forcats_?" she slowly asked.

  Tacitly, the two men left the answer to Virginia. "Yes," said the girl."Noumea is a penal settlement. They say it is very interesting to see. Wethought that we might stop for a day or two in the harbour there."

  This time the Countess turned. "Oh, but that would be terrible!" sheexclaimed. "We--they might rob and murder us, these convicts. You did notsay that we were coming to Noumea."

  "It was to be one of our surprises," replied Virginia. "I thought thatyou would like it."

  "No, no!" ejaculated Manuela. "I do not like it at all. I have a horrorof such places and such people. This is a pleasure trip, is it not? Thereis no pleasure in visiting a prison-land. Dear Virginia, dear Mr. Trentand Sir Roger, do let us turn our faces another way and go somewhereelse."

  Virginia had not lost a single changing shade of expression on theCountess de Mattos's darkly beautiful face; but if she had beenquestioned, she would have had to confess that she was disappointed inthe great effect toward which she had so long been working up. She hadhalf expected to see this wicked woman who, in some deadly and mysteriousway, had plotted to destroy Maxime Dalahaide, turn livid under the brownstain which she (Virginia) suspected, gasp, totter, and perhaps fallfainting when she heard those fatal names--"New Caledonia, Noumea." ButManuela gave none of these evidences of distress. If she paled, the duskystain in whose existence Virginia so tenaciously believed hid the signof her emotion. It allowed a deep flush to be seen; even Virginia couldnot deny that, but pallor was difficult to trace where complexion andeven lips were tinted brown and red; and the slight quivering of thebody, the dropping of the hand with the field-glass, were not so markedthat they might not be due to an ordinary, disagreeable surprise.

  "I'm sorry you feel so about the place," said Virginia. "That's the worstof planning surprises, isn't it? One can't always be sure of bringing offa success. Now, I'm afraid we must make the best of it, for as wearranged to come here, our stores won't last long enough to avoid NewCaledonia and go farther. We must buy butter and milk and vegetables, andchickens and lots of things, to say nothing of coaling. But you needn'tsee anything of the prison and the prisoners unless you like. The harbouris said to be glorious, and you can stop on board and read novels, whilethe rest of us do our sight-seeing, which won't take us very long."

  "Sight-seeing in a prison!" exclaimed the Countess. "You English andAmericans are strange. We Latins, we never give ourselves pain that canbe avoided. There is enough that is unpleasant in life without that. Ugh!I would rather do without butter and milk than buy it of convicts, whomay poison us in sheer spite because we are more fortunate than they.Could we not turn round, and get back to Sydney without starving?"

  "No, it couldn't be managed," said Virginia.

  Manuela turned pleading eyes upon Roger and George. They were men; theyknew more about such things than women; besides she could usually makemen do what she wished. But for once she found creatures of the oppositesex who were not to be melted by her pleading. They agreed with Virginiathat it was impossible now to avoid New Caledonia.

  "And how long shall we stay?" plaintively inquired the Countess, when shehad been obliged to r
esign herself to the inevitable, which, to hercredit, she did with a very pretty grace. "Shall we leave again to-night,with our poisoned food?"

  "Wait till you have seen the rocks in the harbour," answered George. "Ifthey're as bad as the book says, they must be something to see. Anyhow,it's only possible to get in or out between sunrise and sunset. I'mafraid, Countess, you'll have to put up with it till to-morrow."

  "Oh!" Manuela sighed a long sigh. She asked no more questions, she madeno more protests. She turned her back upon New Caledonia, and appeared todismiss the land of lost souls from her mind.

  "Well," said Roger, when he and Virginia had walked away, leaving theCountess and George Trent to the flirtation which was so embittering thedaily life of Lady Gardiner. "Well, was I right or wrong about thiswoman?"

  "Wrong," firmly answered Virginia.

  "You say that still, after the way she took your _grand coup_? But thisis only because you hate giving up, beaten."

  "I'm not beaten yet," the girl returned doggedly. "I hoped for somethingdifferent--yes, I admit that. But her game means as much to her as oursdoes to us. She's playing it for all it's worth. If she weren't such awretch, I should have admired her pluck. How she held her ground! Takenby surprise as she was, almost her first thought was whether we hadpurposely caught her in this trap, or whether she had only an avengingfate to thank for such a terrible and startling coincidence. I saw that,at least, in her eyes and her face, Roger, though I didn't see all I hadbeen looking for. Think what she must have been feeling! She helped tosend an innocent man who had loved and trusted her into this exile, worsethan death. She thought herself free from him forever, because he was atthe other end of the world, dead-alive, in the grave where she buriedhim. Suddenly she finds herself looking at that grave, unable to escape.At any moment it may open, and the dead appear to accuse her. What asituation!"

  "What an imagination!" exclaimed Roger. "Dear child, you have let itcarry you away as far from the truth as you've carried this woman fromher home--this woman whom you've so audaciously kidnapped."

  "Wait," said Virginia, her voice trembling. "I haven't done with her.This is only the first turn of the thumbscrew. She doesn't dream yet ofthe ordeal she'll have to go through."

  "May have to go through," quietly amended Roger Broom.

  "You mean--oh, Roger, don't you think we'll succeed in what we've comefor so far, so very far?"

  Virginia, with tears sparkling in uplifted eyes, was irresistible.

  "I hope it, dear," the man who loved and wanted her said, gravely. "Inever thought it, you know. But the way hasn't seemed far to me, becauseI have been with you and the time will not have been wasted for me if wefail, because it has kept me by your side. I shall think, 'I have donewhat I could, and it has pleased Virginia.'"

  "It has made Virginia grateful for all her life long," said the girlsoftly, "and whatever happens she will never forget. You have done somuch already! Disapproving my plan, still you loyally did all you couldto forward it. You used your influence to get us the one chance here,without which we could hope to do nothing. You wrote to the FrenchAmbassador in London, the English Ambassador in France, and finally, whenour interests were so twisted up in masses of official red-tape that itseemed they could never get disentangled, you ran on to Paris yourself tocall on the Minister of the Colonies. If it had not been for the permityou got from him, we might as well have given up coming here, for all theprison doors would have been shut to us. Now, through him, and throughyou, they will be open, and our first step is clear. All this made mefeel hopeful, when we were far away; I felt sure that we should succeed.But now that we have come these thousands of miles in our poor littleboat; now that we have arrived at the end of the world and our real workis still before us, my heart suddenly sinks down--down. I'mfrightened--I'm almost ill: and your words and your face are so grave,Roger! Your very tenderness and kindness make it worse, for somehow, it'sas if you thought there might be a good-bye. It makes me realize that,after all, the greatest danger is to be run by you and George. You haveboth come for my sake; and--you are going to risk your lives."

  "Risk your lives!" repeated a voice; and turning quickly, Virginia andher cousin saw Lady Gardiner, who had lately developed a rather stealthyway of creeping noiselessly behind her friends.

  Virginia's mood was not one to promote presence of mind. She wasspeechless; but Roger stepped in to the breach.

  "We were talking of a swim that George and I propose to have in thesepleasant waters," he remarked. "There are supposed to be a good manysharks about, and Virginia is advising prudence."

  "Oh!" breathed Lady Gardiner. "She is quite right. We will all join ourpersuasions to hers. But the Countess tells me this island is actuallyNew Caledonia, the French penal settlement. Isn't that where your friendMiss Dalahaide's brother is imprisoned?"

  "I believe so," said Virginia.

  "How exciting! And how well you've kept the secret of this expedition! Isthere any chance of our coming across the interesting murderer?"

  "Don't call him that!" Virginia cried hotly. "How do you suppose that itwould be possible for us to come across him? Do tourists who go toPortland 'come across' prisoners who have been convicted ofmurder--whether innocent or not? Noumea isn't the only port we havevisited. It is on our way. We shall stop a day or two, and then--we shallgo on somewhere else."

  "Quite so," drily returned Lady Gardiner.

  It was noon when they slowly steamed into the beautiful harbour ofNoumea, and before them lay the crime-cursed land, fair with the fatalfairness of deadly nightshade.

  There, for nearly five years, Maxime Dalahaide had not lived, butexisted. To give him back to life, she had come thousands of miles andspent more than twenty thousand pounds. What would they find that he hadbecome, if those precious documents which Roger had obtained proved aspotent as they hoped? Would his brain and heart have been strong enoughto bear the hopeless agony, the shame, the hideous associations of thoseyears which to him must have seemed a century of despair; or would hehave fallen under the burden?

  Virginia shivered as if with cold, as she fancied a hard, official voiceannouncing that Number So-and-So was dead.