"Yes? Made him what?"
"Started him thinking. Anyhow, he"s--he"s been finding out things, and--I don"t know that he hasn"t found out. You take care of him!"
"My dear Mabel, in what sense am I to take care of him? I"m inclined to think that I should rather like to have a talk with your friend Mr.
Dale."
"You"ll do no good by that."
"Shan"t I? We"ll see. Where is he to be found--in the booking office at Victoria Station?"
"One week he goes early and comes back about six; the next he has his dinner first and doesn"t come back till after one--this is his late week. He hasn"t had his breakfast yet; he"s still up in his room."
"Is that so? I"m afraid I can"t stop to talk to him just now, but I certainly will take the first chance which offers."
"Don"t you say anything to him to make him nasty!"
A feminine voice was heard calling the young lady"s name.
"There"s mother calling. She"ll give me a talking to! Mind, to-morrow at noon; and there"s the address upon that piece of paper."
"My dear Mabel, I"m making arrangements which will permit of my placing the whole of to-morrow at your service. I promise that you shall have something like a wedding day."
When the lady had gone the gentleman poured himself out a cup of coffee with the air of one who was in the enjoyment of an excellent joke. He propped Miss Carmichael"s letter up against the coffee-pot and read it through again. The second reading seemed to add to his sense of enjoyment.
"Rob a bank? Quite as heinous crimes have been committed for the sake of a woman. I"ve always had a kind of fancy that you"re the type of girl for whom it would be worth one"s while to do such things. If I were to ask you to start upon that little trip at which you hint, I wonder what you"d say--if you knew. Hullo! what"s this?"
He was staring at a sheet of paper which he had taken out of one of the three or four envelopes which were lying on the table. On it were a couple of typewritten lines:
"If you take a friend"s advice you will get clean away while you have still a chance."
He regarded the words as if in doubt as to whether they were intended to convey to him an esoteric meaning.
"No signature, no address, no date; the first anonymous communication I ever have been favoured with. Postmark on the envelope, Kew, dispatched from there last night at eight o"clock, which doesn"t convey much intelligence to me. So far as I"m aware I have no acquaintance who resides at Kew; and I suppose an anonymous correspondent, if he had his head screwed on, is scarcely likely to reside in the district from which he sends his letter. It"s very good of a friend to make a friendly suggestion, but quite what he means I do not know; nor have I the very dimmest notion who the friend may be.
Come in!"
Someone had tapped at the door. In response to his invitation a young man entered of about his own age; not tall, but st.u.r.dily built, with close-cut black hair, small dark eyes, and a somewhat voluminous moustache. There was that in his manner which hinted that he was in a state of some excitement; that, indeed, he was an excitable young man.
He came right up to the table, with a billyc.o.c.k hat in one hand and a bamboo cane in the other. He looked at Elmore with what were scarcely friendly eyes. When he spoke it was in what evidently were lowered tones and with a curious, staccato utterance, as if he wished to throw his words into the other"s face.
"You"ll have to excuse my coming in like this, but I"m going out, and I want to speak to you before I do go."
"That"s very good of you. I believe you are Mr. Dale."
"My name is Dale--George Dale, as you very well know."
"Pray sit down, Mr. Dale. I don"t remember to have had the pleasure of being introduced to you before."
"Thanking you all the same, I won"t sit down, and as to being introduced to you, I never have been. It"s only for your sake I"m speaking to you now. I want to ask you a question to begin with."
"Ask it, Mr. Dale."
"What are your intentions as regards Miss Joyce?"
"Really, Mr. Dale, I don"t know if you are joking in putting such a question. If you aren"t I certainly don"t know what you mean."
Rodney smiled at his visitor pleasantly; but the smile, instead of affording Mr. Dale gratification, not only caused his scowl to deepen, but induced him to use language of unexpected vigour.
"You"re a liar! That"s what you are--a liar! You"re a liar, because you know quite well what I mean. I"m not afraid of you. You"re a bigger man than I am, but I can use the gloves. You wouldn"t knock me out so easy as you think. I"d mark you first! But I haven"t come here to fight you."
"That, at least, is gratifying intelligence, Mr. Dale."
"Oh, you can sneer--you"re one of the sneering sort; but sneers won"t do you any good. You take my tip and get as far away from this as you can--out of England, if you can!--between now and this time to-morrow!"
Rodney regarded his visitor with an air of placid amus.e.m.e.nt, which certainly did not seem to have a soothing effect.
"Mr. Dale, am I indebted to you for this?"
He held out the sheet of paper on which were the two typewritten lines. Mr. Dale eyed it askance.
"What"s that? Where did you get it from?"
"It came by this morning"s post--from you?"
"That I"ll swear it never did; what"s more, I don"t know who it does come from. That looks as if there were more than one in it. I"ll commit myself to nothing. I"ve got myself to think of as well as you; but, although this didn"t come from me, and I don"t know anything at all about it, you do what it says here--get clean away while you have still a chance."
Without another word, or giving Rodney a chance to utter one, Mr. Dale bolted from, rather than left, the room; within ten seconds of his going the slamming of the front door announced that he had left the house. For some seconds Elmore sat still; then, getting up from his chair, began to fill a pipe with tobacco. Miss Joyce put her head into the room, noiselessly, unexpectedly, as she seemed to have a trick of doing.
"Was that Mr. Dale? I thought it might be you. Has he been in here?"
"He has. You come in and take away the breakfast things; I"ve had all I want to eat."
Coming in, she began to do as he had said, talking, as she put the things together, in a half whisper which recalled Mr. Dale"s staccato undertones. It seemed to be a house of whispers.
"What did he say to you?"
"He came to offer me a tip."
"A tip?"
"He said that if I took his tip I shouldn"t stand upon the order of my going, but go at once, and go as far as possible between now and to-morrow."
She put both hands to her left side, as if unconscious that she had a plate in one and a teaspoon in the other.
"Rodney! Then--then--what are you going to do?"
"Nothing."