by Robert Reed
at any rate he could not have been very interested, for he did not turn
up until to-day . He has just sent a note to tell me that he is staying
at the George, and I have written to ask him to come up to dinner
to-night .”
She made a little face .
“He’s a detective or something, isn’t he?” she asked .
“More than a detective .”
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Sir Ralph was rather inclined to be irritable if you did not rise to
his values . It was better to over-estimate them than to under-estimate
them in any case .
“Surely you have read the papers?” he went on, with his best
magisterial air . “You couldn’t very well escape his name nowadays .
He is the man whom the English Government brought over as a sort
of consultant, to deal with this terrible outbreak of crime .”
“I’ve heard something about it,” said his wife, carelessly . “The
‘Black Hand’ or the ‘Red Hand’—I forget exactly what colour it is .”
Sir Ralph frowned .
“You must not treat these matters frivolously, Vera,” he said,
coldly . “I’ve had reason to speak to you before on similar occasions .
The ‘Red Hand’ is a very mysterious organization, which is striking
at the very heart of our domestic security . Any man, and I may add
any woman, should be extremely grateful to those who, by their
gifts of divination, are endeavouring to shield the innocent victims
of a band of organized criminals .”
Vera hated her husband when he made speeches to her . She knew
more about the “Red Hand” and its workings than she was prepared
to discuss with Sir Ralph .
It was a pose of hers, as it was a pose of certain members of
her class, to profess a profound ignorance upon matters which were
engaging the attention of newspaper readers . The pose of ignorance
is a popular one with members of the leisured classes; popular, be-
cause it suggests their superiority to the influences which surround
them; because it signalizes their independence of chronicled facts,
and because, too, it is the easiest of all poses to assume and to sus-
tain .Vera had caught the trick and found it a profitable one. It lent
her an overpowering naivete, which had a paralysing effect upon
the better-informed but socially inferior members of the commu-
nity, and it precluded one being bored by a long recital of the news
which one had read in the morning papers in a more concise or a
more accurate form . Her interest in the great Italian detective for the
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moment was a conventionally domestic one, for she rose from the
music-stool .
“I shall have to tell Parker to set another place,” she said .
“If he accepts,” interjected Marjorie .
Vera raised her eyebrows with a little smile .
“Don’t be absurd, Marjorie, of course he will accept .”
“What do we call him—Inspector or Sergeant or something?”
she asked of Sir Ralph .
The spirit of revolt was stirring within her, and she permitted
herself a facetiousness of attitude which ordinarily she would not
have expressed . And this, despite the subconscious desire to soothe
him into a complaisant mood .
She never for one moment imagined that he would advance her
the money she required, but he might let her have a portion of it if
she could only invent a story sufficiently plausible. The truth was
out of the question . She smiled to herself at the thought . She was
an imaginative woman but not sufficiently so to picture Sir Ralph in
that moment of confession . She needed the money as she had never
needed money before . It was not for herself—her own wants were
few and her tastes simple . She might, perhaps, induce her husband
to let her have a hundred if she could invent a good reason—and it
would have to be a superlatively good reason to induce Sir Ralph to
part with his money .
Somehow the old weariness of it all, the old distaste for the life
she was living, came over her, and induced her to treat the subject in
a manner in which she knew her husband would heartily disapprove .
“You will call him Doctor Tillizini,’ said Sir Ralph sternly . “He
is a professor of anthropology in the Florentine School of Medicine .
He is a gentleman, Vera, and I shall expect you to treat him as such .”
Marjorie, who had been an interested spectator of the passage
between husband and wife, had discreetly withdrawn to her book
and her chair by the window . As Sir Ralph turned to go, she rose .
“I say, what fun,” she said . “Is he really coming, Uncle?”
Sir Ralph nodded .
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“I hope so . I can do no more than invite him, but he is such a busy
man that he may probably have to go back to town . At any rate, I
am certain,” he said, a little pompously, “that he will approve most
heartily of my treatment of that rascal to-day . I think it is monstrous
the way Hilary George went on…”
He was still sore over his treatment by his whilom friend, and
he launched forth into a sea of explanation and justification, and,
incidentally, gave the girl a fairly garbled version of the scene which
had occurred outside the Session House—a scene in which he had
played, by his account, a dignified and proper part, and in which
Hilary had lost his temper to a distressing degree .
The fire of Sir Ralph’s eloquence burnt itself down to glowerings
and splutterings of incoherent disapproval .
“Hilary George,” he said, “will regret this .” He spoke in the satis-
fied tone of one who had made special arrangements with Provi-
dence to that end .
Marjorie was following her uncle from the room, when a glance
from Vera brought her back . The older woman waited until the door
had closed behind her husband .
“Marjorie,” she said, in the mild and honeyed tone which the girl
recognized as her “At Home” voice, “I want you to do something
for me .”
“With pleasure, dear,” said the girl warmly .
Lady Morte-Mannery fingered the little silver ornaments on one
of the tables which abounded in the drawing-room, and placed them
as though they were pawns in a new game she was playing . She
seemed to be concentrating her attention upon this pastime as she
spoke .
“I want you to do something very special for me,” she repeated .
“Of course, I know I can trust you about that money, and now I want
to ask you to help me with a little ruse . This man who is coming
to-day,” she said, “this Italian person, is really not the kind of man
I want to meet . I hate detectives and all those crude, melodramatic
individuals . They talk about crime and things, and besides,” she
hesitated, “I can trust you, can’t I?”
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She looked up sharply .
“Yes,” said the girl gravely, wondering what was coming .
“Well, you know, dear,” said Vera slowly, and still playing her
mysterious game with the comfit boxes and Dutch silver, “I’m a
member of a club. It’s a ladies’ club; you won’t find it in Whit-
taker because we do not care to advertise our existence, although of
course we are registered . Well, we had rather a bother there, two or
three months ago . We—we . Why should I deceive you?” she said in
a burst of confidence, and with her rare smile. “We were raided! You
see, dear, we played rather heavily. We did not confine ourselves to
the prosaic game of Bridge . Some woman—I forget her name—in-
troduced baccarat, and we had a little wheel too; you know .”
She shrugged her shoulders .
“It was awfully fascinating, and one lost and won quite a consid-
erable sum . And then there was a bother, and the police came in one
night quite unexpectedly . Your dear Uncle Ralph was in town for the
May Meetings, and I had quite a lot of time on my hands .
“It was very fortunate I escaped any serious consequences of my
rashness . I gave a false name, and was brought up the next morning
at Bow Street with the rest of the women—you remember, the case
created quite a sensation—and I was bound over in a false name .
Nobody recognized me and nobody but you is any the wiser .”
She stopped again, and shot a swift, side-long glance at the girl .
“Oh, you needn’t be shocked,” she said, the acid in her tone as-
serting itself . “It wasn’t so very dreadful, only this Tillizini man was
in court that day, and I think he may have recognized me .”
“How awkward!” said Marjorie . “Really, Vera, I’m not a bit
shocked, and it’s not for me, any way, to sit in judgment on your
actions . What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to help me when I tell Sir Ralph that I am too ill to
entertain this person . I’ll go straight away to bed, and I want you,
like an angel, to do the honours .”
“Why, with pleasure,” said Marjorie, with a little smile .
“Anyway,” said Vera, a little hardly, “Ralph won’t bully you before
visitors, nor will he refer pointedly to your needless extravagance in
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potatoes . Ralph is rather a fanatic on the question of potatoes,” she
said . “There is a standard by which he judges all phases of domestic
economy .”
Marjorie was filled with an infinite pity for the girl. She was not
more than seven or eight years older than herself, still young enough
to find joy in the colour and movement of life.
“I will do anything I can,” she said . For the second time that day
she laid her hand upon the other’s shoulder .
“Don’t paw me, dear,” said Vera, with sudden asperity, and the
warm, generous heart of the girl was chilled . Vera saw this, and tried
to make amends .
“Please don’t bother about me, dear,” she said, in a softer tone . “I
am rather jagged; too jagged, indeed, to meet this—”
At that point the door of the drawing-room was opened, and Wil-
liam, the butler, came in importantly . He stood by the open door .
“Professor Tillizini,” he announced .
CHAPTER III
A HUNTER OF MEN
It seemed to Marjorie that Vera shrank back at the name .
The girl waited for her to go forward and greet the newcomer, but
as she made no move Marjorie realized that she was called upon,
even now, to perform the duties of hostess .
The man in the doorway was tall; he looked taller, perhaps, be-
cause of his slimness . He was clad from head to foot in black, and
the big flowing tie at his neck was of the same sober hue. He carried
in his hand a black soft felt hat, from which the butler had made
several ineffectual attempts to detach him .
His face was long and thin, sallow and lined; his eyes were big and
grey, and steady . They were terribly alive and expressive, Marjorie
thought . They gave the impression that the whole process of life was
comprehended in their depths . His hair was black and was brushed
smoothly behind his ears . He was neither handsome nor ugly . His
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face was an unusual one, attractive, because of its very character and
strength . The mouth was big and sensitive; the ungloved hands were
long and white, and as delicate as a surgeon’s .
He gave a quick glance from one to the other .
“I am so sorry to intrude upon you,” he said . There was no trace
of any foreign accent in his voice. “I expected to find Sir Ralph. He
is out—yes?”
He had a quick, alert method of talking . He was eager to the point
of anticipating the reply . Before the girl could answer he had gone
on .“He has kindly asked me to dine to-night . I am so sorry I cannot .
I must be back in London in an hour or two . There are one or two
interviews of importance which I have arranged .”
His smile was a dazzling one; it lit up the whole of his face, and
changed him from a somewhat morose, funereal figure, to a new and
radiant being .
Marjorie noticed that he was almost handsome in his amusement .
The smile came and went like a gleam of sunshine seen through a
rift of storm-cloud .
“You are Miss Marjorie Meagh,” he said, “and you, madam,”
with a little bow, “are Lady Morte-Mannery .” His head twisted for a
moment inquiringly . That, and the bow, were the only little signs he
gave of his continental origin .
Vera forced a smile to her face . She came forward, a little embar-
rassed . She had hoped to escape without an introduction and to have
developed a convenient headache to keep out of his way .
“I saw you in court,” said Tillizini, quickly . “It was an interesting
case, was it not? That poor man!”
He threw out his arms with a gesture of pity .
“I do not know why you sympathize with him,” said Vera .
“Seven years!” Tillizini shook his head . “It is a long time, Mad-
am, for a man—innocent .”
Again the little shrug . The tall man paced the room nervously .
“You have heard his story . He said that he came to this house to
meet an individual who would give him a packet .”
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“But surely you do not believe that?” said the other, with amused
contempt .
“Yes, I believe that,” said Tillizini, calmly and gravely . “Why
should I not? The man’s every attitude, every word, spoke eloquent-
ly to me, of his sincerity .”
“Do you believe, then, in this mysterious Italian?” said Vera .
“Oh, Vera, don’t you remember?” Marjorie broke in suddenly,
and with some excitement, “there was an Italian in the town . We saw
him the day before the robbery . Don’t you remember?” she asked
again . “A very short man, with a long Inverness cape which reached
to his heels . We passed him in the car on the Breckley road, and I
remarked to you that he was either an Italian or a Spaniard because
of the peculiar way he was holding his cigarette .”
“Ah, yes!”
It was Tillizini, tremendously vital, all a-quiver like some deli-
cately strung zither whose strings had been set vibrating by a musi-
cian’s hand .
“He was short and stout, and was dressed in black,” said the girl .
“A moustache—no?” said Tillizini .
The girl shook her head .
“He was clean-shaven .”
“You were going the same direction—yes?”
Again the girl nodded, with a smile at the man’s eager question .
“And did he turn his face towards you or from you? From you?”
Again the girl nodded .
“He did not want you to see his face?” Tillizini himself shook his
head in answer .
“What rubbish, Marjorie!” broke in Vera, petulantly . “I don’t
remember anything of the sort . There are always organ-grinders
with monkeys and things of that sort coming through the village, or
ice-cream people who come down from Chatham . You are letting
your imagination run away with you .” Marjorie was amazed . She
remembered now the incident most distinctly . She had spoken of it
to Vera in the evening, at dinner . It was amazing that she herself had
forgotten it until this moment .
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“But you must remember,” she said .
“I don’t remember,” answered the other shortly . “Besides, you
are very wrong to give Mr . Tillizini a false clue . There can be no
doubt that this man, Mansingham, burgled the house for no other
reason than to steal Sir Ralph’s collection .”
“Instigated by the Italian,” said Tillizini . “Oh, you English peo-
ple,” he said, with a despairing shrug, “I am desolated when I speak
with you . You have such a fear of melodrama . You are so insistent
upon the fact that the obvious must be the only possible explana-
tion!”
He shook his head again in humorous resignation . From any oth-
er man the outburst might have sounded as a piece of unpardonable
impertinence . But Tillizini had the extraordinary gift of creating an
atmosphere of old-established friendship . Even Vera, frankly an-
tagonistic, had a vague sense of having discussed this matter before
in identical terms with the man who spoke so disparagingly of her
compatriots .
He looked at his watch .
“I must see Sir Ralph before I go back. Where shall I find him?”
