The Hunchback of Westminster

by William Le Queux

opinionright about the Jesuits of England."

  "One question," I interrupted earnestly as the priest held out his handin farewell to us. "Don't be annoyed, please, if I ask it. I admit itmay sound horribly rude, but, indeed, I don't mean it to be so in thatway at all. Why are you Jesuits so heartily disliked, not only inEngland, but in Italy, in Spain, in France, in Germany, and also inSouth America?"

  The priest turned and looked at me with a frank and sincere expression.

  "Excuse me," he said, "but do you ask that question as a man without anysectarian bias, as one with a genuine desire for information, and tolearn only the truth?"

  "Indeed I do," I returned, and I gazed at him straight in the face.

  "Well, I will answer it, then," he responded, "and I will answer it inthe way which we Jesuits answer it when we fall to talking about thehostility we read about but really seldom encounter. The point admitsof two solutions, and of two solutions alone. One, either we are bad,mischievous people, who deserve expulsion and hatred; or, two, Godreally did answer that early prayer of our founder, St Ignatius ofLoyola, that we should be a persecuted and misunderstood Order as longas time should last, so that we should be always kept united, resolute,and efficient. Now of those two replies you can take your choice. Eachone is sufficient in itself--each will give you an excellent and athoroughly adequate reason--and in both Christian and heathen will findtheir points of view meet with equal consideration and tolerance!" Andwith a grave bow to me and a hand that made the sign of the cross overCasteno he turned away and left our cell.

  For some minutes afterwards we neither of us uttered a word. Both satand looked at each other, and I am sure I don't know who was the morepuzzled or confounded.

  "That rules the Jesuits out," I said at length, kicking the bedsteadviciously with my foot.

  "Quite," said Casteno. "Unfortunately, it also limits our possibilitiesof assistance." Then after a pause he added: "I wonder if Miss Napierwill hear of the hole we are in!"

  "Why?" I queried fiercely, flushing rosy crimson, for deep in my heart,alas! all my thoughts were still of her.

  "Oh! nothing," he answered.

  "That's rubbish," I interposed rudely. "You meant something. What wasit?"

  "Only this: Miss Napier is the kind of champion we want just now," saidCasteno humbly. "You see, we can't get about for ourselves. We'recornered. We need somebody with brain and charm to approach people inhigh places!"

  "What about Cooper-Nassington," I said sternly. "You sent me to him.You relied on him. Look at the result!"

  "You forget, though, that he may be in prison like ourselves! Remember,Naylor had a warrant to search St Bruno's. Well, as likely as not, hehad orders to take up some of the leaders of the Order too. Indeed, ata pinch, they might have arrested the lot of them."

  That was quite possible. I saw it immediately the Spaniard had spoken,and I did not attempt to controvert it.

  "We shall have to wait, that's all," said Casteno at length, withsomething uncommonly like a groan.

  And wait we did--but certainly not as long as we expected--for just whenten o'clock was about to strike we caught the sounds of a loud scufflingin the corridor, a burst of jovial laughter, and the next second thedoor of our cell was flung violently open, and two peopleliterally raced into our prison--no other than Doris herself andCooper-Nassington.

  "Joy! joy!" cried the burly legislator, waving a pile of documents andnewspapers. "Lord Cyril has suddenly resigned from the Government, andmy old friend the Marquis of Penarth has taken his place; more thanthat, I've put the whole matter of the sacred lake before the marquis,and not only have I got an order from the Home Office for the immediaterelease of both of you, but I've arranged such terms that England willwin--win at every point."

  And, laughing and crying with excitement, Doris sprang to my arms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

  AT THE PRESENT MOMENT.

  Overjoyed at this news, the four of us swept out of the police station.Even the inspectors and sergeants seemed to catch some of ourenthusiasm, or was it the sight of Mr Cooper-Nassington and of theorder from the Home Secretary that brought about so miraculous a changein their manner towards us? At all events, they led us quite in triumphout into Bow Street, and from thence, at a word from the Member ofParliament, we took our way to the Hotel Cecil, where, in a private roomwhere a delightful supper had been spread, we found Colonel Napierawaiting us, apparently none the worse in temper or appearance for hisbewildering experiences on the racecourse at Worcester.

  Then, as we discussed the meal, with many a merry jest and many a toastin the best champagne the hotel could produce, all the news poured aboutus like an avalanche.

  "First," said Cooper-Nassington, who by unanimous request had taken thehead of the table, with Doris and I on his right hand and Casteno on hisleft and the colonel to the front of him, "you are both, no doubt,literally dying to know how Lord Cyril came to tumble from his pinnacleas Foreign Secretary in a day as it were. Well, don't trouble to lookat the papers. They are full of lies, as usual. They pretend it isfailing health, that the strain of European complications has been toomuch for him, that he's threatened with softening of the brain; but allthat is really nonsense. I got at the great man myself, and I _made_him resign!" And, swelling with pride and importance, the Member ofParliament rose and gazed delightedly upon us.

  "You actually did!" we cried in a breath; but he waved our dissentaside.

  "Yes; I contrived it all," he went on. "As a matter of fact, I did itby bluff, sheer bluff; but I knew my man, and I knew where to hit him.He had tried to crush us, and I recognised that the time had come when,if we didn't wish to be totally exterminated, we must fall upon him anddemolish him."

  And we both nodded, recalling that cruel letter of his to Jose.

  The Member of Parliament paused for a moment theatrically, and then wenton in a more grave and earnest tone. At the bottom we could see he wasreally profoundly touched by the turn events had taken and by our owngood fortune, but, British like, he sought to hide it by a jocularityand levity he was very far, indeed, from feeling.

  "I got a private interview with him at the Foreign Office thisafternoon," he said, "just after he had announced to a delighted Houseall about the wonderful discovery he had made of documents that provedthat the sacred lake belonged to England, and that a mission would bedespatched forthwith to take possession of it. This he did on thestrength of the forged manuscripts which Naylor found in the safe whenhe searched St Bruno's from top to bottom. `Cuthbertson,' I began veryfirmly, `you've been fooled, fooled completely. Those are not thedocuments you want at all. They are forgeries, as your experts willrapidly discover; forgeries made by the hunchback's good-for-nothingsecond son.' He stormed and he raved, and he sent for old Peter Zoucheand his son Paul, who, of course, had to admit the truth of what I said,and then he lost nerve completely, begged my pardon, and tried to cometo terms with me. `Let me have the real things,' he pleaded, `and I'llrelease your friends. I'll give you a share of the credit of thediscovery, and at the first opportunity I have I'll find you a snugplace in the Government.'

  "Now," proceeded the Member of Parliament, "tempting as those termswere, I refused them. For one thing, I knew my man, and I knew he wasbut a pinchbeck, unstable, untruthful kind of genius. For another, Irealised that, as Foreign Secretary, he was a terrible danger toEngland, so I stuck to the line I had marked out for myself, without anythought or hope of my own advancement. `You've got to resign,' Ireturned--`nothing else will satisfy me or save you from the ridicule Ihave arranged to pour upon you. I have prepared a careful account ofthe whole business as we know it from the inside, ay, even of the wayyou must have helped Fotheringay to send those sham nurses, andto-morrow I shall telegraph it to every newspaper of importance. I willswear an affidavit of its truth, and join the opposition, and between uswe will contrive to literally _laugh_ you out of power.' A terriblescene, of course, followed. He grew abusive, he tried mor
e bribes, hethreatened to have me flung into prison like yourselves--there wasn't,in fact, a trick or a dodge which a man in his powerful position couldresort to that he didn't in turn practise on me.

  "Luckily, I am pretty obstinate," he went on, "and I won, hands down.Straight away he got two or three doctor friends together, and theycooked up a certificate about the state of his health; he rushed off toBuckingham Palace and handed over his resignation to the king, who,fortunately, happened to be in town; and, after various audiences, thePremier about an hour ago appointed the Marquis of Penarth in his place.In the Cabinet it is pretty well known how I managed it, but nobodyregrets