Shannon introduced Miles to Groves and his party, and Miss Palmer immediately started talking to the American about her Besil, as she pronounced his name in her affected way. Miles listened politely, occasionally getting a word in himself, and at last he leant back towards Groves, who was behind him, and said, in a tone of admiration.
‘Say, Besil, I guess you’re some fellow. I’m real glad to make your acquaintance!’
Proceedings threatened to become dislocated for a moment. Joan stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth to prevent herself from laughing. Helen Rainer actually did laugh, while Hugh grinned. Groves smiled as though he was not quite sure what to make of the American, but an angry frown appeared on Miss Palmer’s brow. The other two merely looked surprised. Miles glanced round with an expression of such bland innocence that presently normality was restored. But Miss Palmer felt impelled to say something to protect her fiancé’s dignity.
‘Mr Groves is not usually called by his Christian name,’ she stated.
‘Is that so?’ asked Miles in a puzzled tone. ‘What’s it for then?’
‘I mean to say that only his great friends, and of course myself, call him by it.’
‘That’s a pity! Besil is a nice name.’
Groves gave one of his hoarse laughs.
‘Miss Palmer is rather foolish at times!’ he said.
She gave him a look that should have quietened him, but Groves prided himself on his reputation for hearty good fellowship.
‘We’ll have something worth drinking,’ he said loudly. ‘Boy!’
A bearer was immediately forthcoming, and was given an order for champagne. As soon as it was brought, Groves insisted upon the occupants of both tables being served, and would take no refusals. Then raising his glass:
‘Here’s prosperity!’ he said, in a voice which carried halfway across the room.
Thereafter Miss Palmer was unable to control the conversation, and she became petulantly quiet in consequence.
An extraordinary thing about dance suppers in Lahore is that the piéce de resistance, as Hugh described it, is invariably sausages and mashed potatoes. Miles regarded his plate with amusement.
‘I guess the little fellows have lost their way,’ he said.
Mrs Christopher, who did the catering at most functions, and on special occasions appeared herself, happened to be passing at the time. She was a large ample lady of stately aspect who moved with all the dignity of one of Nelson’s three-deckers.
‘Is there anything else you would prefer?’ she asked in a deep voice.
Miles looked up at her pleasantly.
‘Not on your life, Ma,’ he replied. ‘I’m tickled to death, and give the little fellows a hearty greeting.’
With slow and solemn steps she passed on.
‘Gee!’ said the irrepressible American. ‘I’ve met my affinity, Hugh. When Oscar J. settles down, if ever, it would gladden his heart to see Ma seated at the other end of his connubial table.’
Mr Rainer came up towards the end of supper, and asked Joan for the dance she had promised him. She smilingly went off with him followed by Miles with Miss Rainer, whom he kept in a state of amusement the whole time they were dancing. Hugh once more offered himself to Miss Palmer. This time, a little to his surprise, he was accepted, for he thought that he had offended her and she was not the sort to forgive easily. However, he soon knew the reason for her acceptance; she kept up a running commentary on the American all through the dance, some of her remarks being more than a little barbed. He decided not to argue with her, as the best means of quieting her, and she became more and more annoyed when she saw the little effect her words had upon him, while his unruffled smile made her want to box his ears. At last the dance was over, and she refused an encore.
‘Take me to Besil, please!’ she said peremptorily.
When the Deputy Commissioner brought Joan back, he bowed her into her chair, then turned to Hugh:
‘Perhaps you can spare a few minutes now, for our little chat, Shannon,’ he said.
They found their way out of the ballroom into the bar, and presently settled themselves in a quiet corner. Mr Rainer ordered drinks and not a word was spoken until the bearer had placed them on a small table before them, then:
‘Of course I cannot say much here,’ began the Deputy Commissioner in a low voice, ‘but I wanted to tell you that Sir Reginald Scott has received a private despatch from the India Office informing him of certain things, and enclosing a letter from Sir Leonard Wallace—’
Hugh nodded.
‘In that letter,’ went on Rainer, ‘Sir Leonard informs His Excellency of your secret activities out here. I was immediately sent for and, under the pledge of secrecy, told of the fact. The Governor of course is highly intrigued, and desires me to take you to him tomorrow evening at six o’clock. You will make that time convenient?’
‘I am at His Excellency’s service at any time,’ replied Hugh.
‘Good! I must say,’ he smiled, ‘that I am surprised myself. I had no idea that you were anything but the professor you appear to be. I know Sir Leonard Wallace well, and we in India are under a great debt of obligation to him. But I thought that he had entirely cleansed this country of spies a year or two ago, and yet from what the Governor let drop, I should imagine that your activities are connected with the same thing?’
Hugh smiled.
‘When I tell you what we have discovered,’ he said, ‘I rather fancy you will be amazed.’
‘You raise my curiosity, Shannon! But you said “we”. Have you an assistant with you?’
‘Cousins, my valet, is in reality a member of my department.’
The Deputy Commissioner whistled.
‘Indeed!’ he murmured. ‘I have heard about him. In fact,’ he smiled, ‘one or two people have made rather caustic remarks, in my hearing, about what they described as the absurdity of a man in your position having an English manservant with you.’
‘I expected that,’ laughed Hugh. ‘I have also another assistant,’ he went on, ‘one who attached himself to Cousins and me quite voluntarily. We met him on the boat and it turned out that he and Cousins are warm friends.’
‘Does he know much about – things?’ asked Rainer.
‘He knows all. In fact, he was instrumental in finding out a great deal.’
The other frowned slightly.
‘Is it not rather injudicious to take into your confidence a man not in your service?’ he asked thoughtfully.
‘Not in the least,’ smiled Hugh, then added in a whisper. ‘It is Miles!’
‘Miles!’ exclaimed the man known to everybody as the D.C. ‘Not the American?’
‘Yes! He is a member of the United States’ Secret Service, and is in this business with us on behalf of his own country!’
‘Great Scot! You amaze me! Why nobody on earth would imagine Miles to be anything but a harmless and wealthy wanderer.’
‘All the better,’ said Shannon. ‘As a matter of fact he is remarkably astute. I owe all I know to him and Cousins. The job would have been too big for me alone!’
‘Then the position is serious?’ Rainer asked eagerly.
‘It is very serious. I will tell you this much now: there is the greatest plot brewing against Great Britain that probably the world has ever seen.’
‘Good heavens!’
‘By the way, sir, we must not go to Government House together tomorrow!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I am watched!’
Rainer started.
‘Who is watching you?’ he asked.
‘Spies of the other party! I can hardly make a move without its being known. Tomorrow you must go alone. I will shake off my shadowers somehow and come along in my little car.’
‘Then your real position is known?’
‘To these people, unfortunately, yes. I daresay that I am even being watched tonight.’
The Deputy Commissioner sighed.
‘You live a very dange
rous life,’ he said.
‘It has its compensations,’ said Hugh; ‘and I would not change it for any other. I was at the Foreign Office for some time, but I found things too dull for me there. It was chiefly through the help of Major Brien that I was transferred to the Intelligence Department.’
Rainer smiled.
‘Major Brien is another man for whom I have a great admiration,’ he said. ‘He was out here with Sir Leonard. By the way,’ he asked, ‘does Miss Shannon know of your connection with the Secret Service, and the real reason for your presence in India?’
‘She knows everything,’ replied Hugh.
‘Ah!’ said the Deputy Commissioner. ‘I can see that she is as reliable as she is beautiful!’
‘She is the best sister in the world,’ said Hugh, with a totally uncalled-for emphasis.
Rainer nodded understandingly.
At that moment Novar and Rahtz entered the room. They came across to Rainer and Shannon and greeted them rather loudly. Hugh caught a swift glance of suspicion exchanged between them.
‘The Professor and the Deputy Commissioner,’ laughed Novar. ‘A strange combination surely!’
‘Not so strange as it may look,’ smiled Rainer. ‘Captain Shannon and I come from the same little bit of England, and I knew his parents very well indeed.’
Hugh chuckled inwardly at his companion’s quick wit.
‘Ah!’ said Rahtz. ‘The combination is explained. We must drink to further combinations.’
Shannon wondered what he meant, but accepted the drink he ordered.
When the four had the glasses of whisky and soda in their hands, Rahtz held his high.
‘I’ll give you a toast suggested by this happy meeting of our respected D.C. and Shannon. The world is small; may it grow smaller!’
The toast was drunk laughingly, but there was a warning gleam in Novar’s eyes as he looked at his companion.
For some minutes the four stood talking, then Hugh excused himself, and went off to find his sister. A dance was in progress when he entered the ballroom, and for a few minutes he stood watching the efforts of the various couples to do the Charleston. Presently he espied Joan and Miles near the centre of the room, and stood lost in admiration. The Charleston is not a pretty dance, but when done by experts it can be made quite artistic. Joan was a glorious dancer, and every movement she executed was full of grace, but what surprised Hugh was the discovery that Miles was such a graceful performer. He watched them enraptured. They made the dance almost a poem. And others were watching them too, for gradually the other dancers stopped to look on until at last Joan and Miles were alone. Then there broke out a great spontaneous burst of hand-clapping from all parts of the vast room.
Joan looked round, realised the situation, and suddenly stopped dancing; and, with her face as red as fire, ran to her chair, followed by the American. From everywhere came demands for an encore, and prolonged clapping, but to all requests Joan turned a deaf ear, until Hugh made his way to her side, and added his entreaties to those of the rest. Then, now pale when before she had been crimson, she walked out with Miles to the centre of the floor; the band struck up, and she and the American gave an exhibition of the Charleston that Lahore had never seen before, nor dreamt of seeing. As they went on she forgot the crowd watching and danced exquisitely. Joan and her partner became famous, and their dance was talked of for long afterwards. At last it was finished and amidst thunderous applause she walked back to her seat a little unsteadily, followed by her grinning companion who took it all apparently in the most composed fashion.
‘Oh, Hugh,’ said Joan with embarrassment, ‘it was awful!’
‘I guess we’ll have to go on the halls after this, Miss Joan,’ said Miles.
‘I don’t believe you minded a bit.’ She looked reproachfully at him.
‘I didn’t,’ he confessed. ‘I enjoyed every minute of it.’
‘If only Cousins were here,’ sighed Hugh, ‘what a chance he would have had for one of his quotations!’
‘Poor old Jerry!’ said Miles. ‘He gets all the work, and none of the fun.’
‘I’m not so sure about that,’ put in Joan. ‘I think he has quite a good time with his friends at the Railway Institute. Only the other day he told me that he danced quite a lot there!’
‘I guess Jerry didn’t put it like that,’ said the American.
She laughed.
‘No. As a matter of fact he said that he occasionally twiggled a terpsichorean toe!’
There was a lull in the proceedings while the band took a much needed rest. Close to their corner Miss Palmer, Groves and their friends were seated, and near by some of the old dowagers, who spent their time in scandal-mongering.
Miss Palmer leant across to Joan.
‘You danced beautifully,’ she said. ‘I did admire it so. I suppose you have done it professionally, haven’t you?’
‘Of course not!’ replied Joan indignantly.
Then Miles clutched Hugh’s arm.
‘It’s come!’ he said tensely. ‘Get a tight hold on yourself, boy!’
Hugh looked up in astonishment, and his heart missed a beat; he felt a premonition of coming evil. Right across the middle of the floor, in all the glory of a mauve evening-gown, the cynosure of all eyes, and looking insolently from side to side, came Olive Gregson, and she was making straight for their table. Joan went as pale as death, while Miles swore under his breath.
The newcomer stopped, and there was a smile of contemptuous amusement on her face. Hugh rose clumsily to his feet.
‘Good evening!’ he said, and swallowed hard.
‘Good evening!’ replied Miss Gregson mockingly, and her voice was raised, so that all in the neighbourhood could hear. ‘I am glad to see you are enjoying yourself so much, Hugh Shannon!’
‘Thanks!’ he stammered awkwardly.
‘Please don’t thank me! It is hard to think that you who stand there are the man who has wrecked my life!’
‘Wrecked your life! What do you mean?’
‘Oh, don’t pretend because all these people are around you!’
‘If you have anything to say let us go somewhere else,’ he said desperately.
‘No!’ She raised her head high. ‘I prefer to say what I have to say – here!’
He shrugged his shoulders, and sat down. Miles stepped forward and took her by the arm. She pulled herself away.
‘Miss Olive,’ said the American coaxingly, ‘whatever you are sore about can be put right elsewhere. Have a little consideration.’
She looked coldly at him.
‘You, I know, are in league with that cad there, or else you would not interfere!’
‘But—’
‘Be quiet!’ she almost shouted, then went on hurriedly to Hugh. ‘You made love to me on board ship, you made me love you and promised to marry me. Then when you had tired of me you threw me over like any old rag. I went back to Bangalore heartbroken, but—’
‘Stop!’ cried Joan in a voice of agony.
‘I will not stop! Your brother has ruined me, and I have come to him for reparation. I loved him – I trusted him, and—and he took advantage of me. I went back to Bangalore and tried to forget him. But when I found what had happened I came here as fast as I could. He must – must marry me to save me from disgrace!’
She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Miss Palmer rose from her seat, and with a look of the deepest contempt walked away followed by her companions, the two men grinning cynically. Then by ones and twos the rest of their neighbours rose and departed, first casting looks of scorn at Hugh. Joan had sunk over the table, and with her head pillowed in her arms was crying as though her heart would break. Miles caught Miss Gregson by the shoulders.
‘You she-cat,’ he ground out, and nobody would have recognised the calm, easy-going American now. ‘You all-fired liar! You’ll take back every word that you have spoken before I have done with you!’
She dragged herself away from him.
/> ‘Don’t dare to speak to me like that!’ she cried. ‘I am going back to the Royal Hotel, and tomorrow I expect Hugh Shannon to make all arrangements for the wedding.’
And turning she walked out of the room, and disappeared. Miles laid his arm on Hugh’s shoulder.
‘Say, Hugh,’ he said, ‘I’m sorry! I expected something; but hell – nothing like this!’
‘Let us go home!’ said Hugh miserably.
At that moment the band struck up, prompted by some kindly spirit, and under cover of the dancing Hugh and Miles escorted Joan, who was still crying bitterly, to the ladies’ retiring room. Then the two men with grim, set faces sought their own coats and hats. There were one or two acquaintances of Hugh’s in the cloakroom, and they drew aside with shrugs which were more eloquent than words. Miles was about to remonstrate with them, but Hugh caught his arm.
‘It’s no use, old chap!’ he said. ‘Come along!’
They drove home in grim silence.
In the early hours of the same morning, Miss Gregson was seated in the comfortable drawing room of Novar’s bungalow, puffing a cigarette. Rahtz and Hudson were lolling in large armchairs with whiskies and sodas by their sides and cigars in their mouths, while Novar was leaning against the mantelpiece similarly equipped. He was speaking.
‘The moment was admirably chosen,’ he said, with deep satisfaction, ‘and everything went off much better than I anticipated. I congratulate you on your admirable stage-management, Hudson, and you, Miss Gregson, on your perfect acting of a most difficult part.’
‘It was pretty nerve-racking I assure you,’ said the girl. ‘I felt rather awful standing there with all those people around, and saying what I did.’
‘Well, it’s done now, and you have had the satisfaction of ruining Shannon,’ put in Rahtz, lazily flicking his cigar ash on to the carpet. ‘I shall see that the whole facts are placed before the Principal of his College today, and he will be compelled to resign. Such a thing as this would never be tolerated by the Muslim community. After that he will find Lahore an impossible place for him. Yes; you have done well – very well indeed!’
‘I can’t help feeling rather guilty,’ said Olive. ‘It was awfully mean, wasn’t it?’
Devil's Cocktail (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Page 16
