Half an hour later we were at Government House waiting in his Excellency"s study for an interview. The music of the orchestra in the ball-room came faintly in to us, and when Lord Amberley entered the room he seemed surprised, as well he might be, to see us. But as soon as he had heard what we had to tell him his expression changed. "Mr.
Wetherell, this is a very terrible charge you bring against my guest. Do you think it can possibly be true?"
"I sadly fear so," said Mr. Wetherell. "But perhaps Mr. Hatteras will tell you the story as he told it to me."
I did so, and, when I had finished, the Governor went to the door and called a servant.
"Find Lord Beckenham, Johnson, at once, and ask him to be so good as to come to me here. Stay--on second thoughts I"ll go and look for him myself."
He went off, leaving us alone again to listen to the ticking of the clock upon the mantelpiece, and to wonder what was going to happen next.
Five minutes went by and then ten, but still he did not return. When he did so it was with a still more serious countenance.
"You are evidently right, gentlemen. Neither the spurious marquis, nor his tutor, Mr. Baxter, can be found anywhere. I have discovered, too, that all their valuables and light luggage have been smuggled out of the house to-night without the knowledge of my servants. This is a terrible business. But I have given instructions, and the police will be communicated with at once. Now we must do our best to find the real Beckenham."
"Lord Amberley," said Wetherell, in a choking voice, "do you think one of your servants could tell my daughter to come to me at once? I am not feeling very well."
The Governor hesitated a moment, and then said--
"I am sorry to say, Mr. Wetherell, your daughter left the House an hour ago. A message was brought to her that you had been suddenly taken ill and needed her. She went off at once."
Wetherell"s anxiety was piteous to see.
"My G.o.d!" he cried in despair. "If that is so, I am ruined. This is Nikola"s revenge."
Then he uttered a curious little sigh, moved a step forward, and fell in a dead faint upon the floor.
CHAPTER II
ON THE TRAIL
As soon as Wetherell was able to speak again he said as feebly as an old man of ninety, "Take me home, Mr. Hatteras, take me home, and let us think out together what is best to be done to rescue my poor child."
The Governor rose to his feet and gave him his arm.
"I think you"re right, Mr. Wetherell," he said. "It is of course just probable that you will find your daughter at her home when you arrive.
G.o.d grant she may be! But in case she is not I will communicate all I know to the Police Commissioner on his arrival, and send him and his officers on to you. We must lose no time if we wish to catch these scoundrels." Then turning to me, he continued: "Mr. Hatteras, it is owing to your promptness that we are able to take such early steps. I shall depend upon your further a.s.sistance in this matter."
"You may do so with perfect confidence," I answered. "If you knew all you would understand that I am more anxious perhaps than any one to discover the whereabouts of the young lady and my unfortunate friend."
Next moment we were being whirled down the drive at a pace which at any other time I should have thought dangerous. Throughout the journey we sat almost silent, wrapped in our anxieties and forebodings; hoping almost against hope that when we arrived at Potts Point we should find Phyllis awaiting us there. At last we turned into the grounds, and on reaching the house I sprang out and rang the bell, then I went down to help my companion to alight. The butler opened the door and descended the steps to take the rugs. Wetherell stopped him almost angrily, crying:
"Where is your mistress? Has she come home?"
The expression of surprise on the man"s face told me, before he had time to utter a word, that our hopes were not to be realized. "Miss Phyllis, sir?" the man said. "Why, she"s at the ball."
Wetherell turned from him with a deep sigh, and taking my arm went heavily up the steps into the hall.
"Come to my study, Mr. Hatteras," he said, "and let me confer with you.
For G.o.d"s sake don"t desert me in my hour of need!"
"You need have no fear of that," I answered. "If it is bad for you, think what it is for me." And then we went upstairs together.
Reaching his study, Mr. Wetherell led the way in and sat down. I went across to the hearthrug and stood before him. "Now," I said, "we must think this out from the very beginning, and to do that properly we must consider every detail. Have you any objection to answering my questions?"
"Ask any questions you like," he replied, "and I will answer them."
"In the first place, then, how soon after his arrival in the colony did your daughter get to know that sham Beckenham?"
"Three days," he answered.
"At a dance, dinner party, picnic, or what?"
"At none of these things. The young man, it appears, had seen my daughter in the street, and having been struck with her beauty asked one of the aides-de-camp at Government House, with whom we are on intimate terms, to bring him to call. At the time, I remember, I thought it a particularly friendly action on his part."
"I don"t doubt it," I answered. "Well that, I think, should tell us one thing."
"And what is that?"
"That his instructions were to get to know your daughter without delay."
"But what could his reason have been?"
"Ah, that I cannot tell you just yet. Now you must pardon what I am going to say: do you think he was serious in his intentions regarding Phyllis--I mean your daughter?"
"Perfectly, as far as I could tell. His desire, he said, was, if she would have him, to be allowed to marry her on his twenty-first birthday, which would be next week, and in proof of permission he showed me a cablegram from his father."
"A forgery, I don"t doubt. Well, then, the only construction I can put upon it is that the arrival of the real Beckenham in Sydney must have frightened him, thus compelling the gang to resort to other means of obtaining possession of her at once. Now our next business must be to find out how that dastardly act was accomplished. May I ring the bell and have up the coachman who drove your daughter to the ball?"
"By all means. Please act in every way in this matter as if this house were your own."
I rang the bell, and when the butler appeared to answer it Mr. Wetherell instructed him to find the man I wanted and send him up. The servant left the room again, and for five minutes we awaited his reappearance in silence. When he did come back he said, "Thompson has not come home yet, sir."
"Not come home yet! Why, it"s nearly eleven o"clock! Send him in directly he arrives. Hark! What bell is that?"
"Front door, sir."
"Go down and answer it then, and if it should be the Commissioner of Police show him up here at once."
As it turned out it was not the Commissioner of Police, but an Inspector.
"Good-evening," said Mr. Wetherell. "You have come from Government House, I presume?"
"Exactly so, sir," replied the Inspector. "His Excellency gave us some particulars and then sent us on."
"You know the nature of the case?"