"I did my part of the job, as you call it, O"Dowd, and nothing more."
"Will you both swear on your sacred honour that ye haven"t the jewels in your possession?"
"Unhesitatingly," said Barnes.
"I swear, Mr. O"Dowd."
"Then," said he, "I have no time to waste here. I am looking for a tin box. I beg your pardon for disturbing you."
"Oh, Mr. O"Dowd, I shall never forget all that you have--"
"Whist, now! There is one thing I must insist on your forgetting completely: all that has happened in the last five minutes. I shall put no obstacles in your way. You may go with my blessings. The only favour I ask in return is that you never mention having seen me to-night."
"We can do that with a perfectly clear conscience," said Barnes. "You are absolutely invisible."
"What I am doing now, Mr. Barnes," said O"Dowd seriously, "would be my death sentence if it ever became known."
"It shall never be known through me, O"Dowd. I"d like to shake your hand, old man."
"G.o.d bless you, Mr. O"Dowd," said the girl in a low, small voice, singularly suggestive of tears. "Some day I may be in a position to--"
"Don"t say it! You"ll spoil everything if you let me think you are in my debt. Bedad, don"t be so sure I sha"n"t see you again, and soon. You are not out of the woods yet."
"Tell me how to find Hart"s Tavern, old man. I"ll--"
"No, I"m dashed if I do. I leave you to your own devices. You ought to be grateful to me for not stopping you entirely, without asking me to give you a helping hand. Good-bye, and G.o.d bless you. I"m praying that ye get away safely, Miss Cameron. So long, Barnes. If you were a crow and wanted to roost on that big tree in front of Hart"s Tavern, I dare say you"d take the shortest way there by flying as straight as a bullet from the mouth of this pit, following your extremely good-looking nose."
They heard him rattle off among the loose stones and into the brush. A long time afterward, when the sounds had ceased, Barnes said, from the bottom of a full heart:
"I shall always feel something warm stirring within me when I think of that man."
"He is a gallant gentleman," said she simply.
They did not wait for the break of day. Taking O"Dowd"s hint, Barnes directed his steps straight out from the mouth of the quarry and pressed confidently onward. Their progress was swifter than before and less cautious. The thought had come to him that the men from Green Fancy would rush to the outer edges of the Curtis land and seek to intercept, rather than to overtake, the fugitive. In answer to a question she informed him that there were no fewer than twenty-five men on the place, all of them shrewd, resolute and formidable.
"The women, who are they, and what part do they play in this enterprise?" he inquired, during a short pause for rest.
"Mrs. Collier is the widow of a spy executed in France at the beginning of the war. She is an American and was married to a--to a foreigner.
The Van d.y.k.es are very rich Americans,--at least she has a great deal of money. Her husband was in the diplomatic service some years ago but was dismissed. There was a huge gambling scandal and he was involved.
His wife is determined to force her way into court circles in Europe.
She has money, she is clever and unprincipled, and--I am convinced that she is paying in advance for future favours and position at a certain court. She--"
"In other words, she is financing the game up at Green Fancy."
"I suppose so. She has millions, I am told. Mr. De Soto is a Spaniard, born and reared in England. All of them are known in my country."
"I can"t understand a decent chap like O"Dowd being mixed up in a rotten--"
"Ah, but you do not understand. He is a soldier of fortune, an adventurer. His heart is better than his reputation. It is the love of intrigue, the joy of turmoil that commands him. He has been mixed up, as you say, in any number of secret enterprises, both good and bad. His sister"s children are the owners of Green Fancy. I know her well. It was through Mr. O"Dowd that I came to Green Fancy. Too late he realised that it was a mistake. He was deceived. He has known me for years and he would not have exposed me to----But come! As he has said, we are not yet out of the woods."
"I cannot, for the life of me, see why they took chances on inviting me to the house, Miss Cameron. They must have known that--"
"It was a desperate chance but it was carefully considered, you may be sure. They are clever, all of them. They were afraid of you. It was necessary to deal openly, boldly, with you if your suspicions were to be removed."
"But they must have known that you would appeal to me."
She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke it was with great intensity. "Mr. Barnes, I had your life in my hands all the time you were at Green Fancy. It was I who took the desperate chance. I shudder now when I think of what might have happened. Before you were asked to the house, I was coolly informed that you would not leave it alive if I so much as breathed a word to you concerning my unhappy plight. The first word of an appeal to you would have been the signal for--for your death. That is what they held over me. They made it very clear to me that nothing was to be gained by an appeal to you. You would die, and I would be no better off than before. It was I who took the chance. When I spoke to you on the couch that night, I--oh, don"t you see? Don"t you see that I wantonly, cruelly, selfishly risked YOUR life,--not my own,--when I--"
"There, there, now!" he cried, consolingly, as she put her hands to her face and gave way to sobs. "Don"t let THAT worry you. I am here and alive, and so are you, and--for Heaven"s sake don"t do that! I--I simply go all to pieces when I hear a woman crying. I--"
"Forgive me," she murmured. "I didn"t mean to be so silly."
"It helps, to cry sometimes," he said lamely.
The first faint signs of day were struggling out of the night when they stole across the road above Hart"s Tavern and made their way through the stable-yard to the rear of the house. His one thought was to get her safely inside the Tavern. There he could defy the legions of Green Fancy, and from there he could notify her real friends, deliver her into their keeping,--and then regret the loss of her!
The door was locked. He delivered a series of resounding kicks upon its stout face. Revolver in hand, he faced about and waited for the a.s.sault of the men who, he was sure, would come plunging around the corner of the building in response to the racket. He was confident that the approach to the Tavern was watched by desperate men from Green Fancy, and that an encounter with them was inevitable. But there was no attack. Save for his repeated pounding on the door, there was no sign of life about the place.
At last there were sounds from within. A key grated in the lock and a bolt was shot. The door flew open. Mr. Clarence Dillingford appeared in the opening, partially dressed, his hair sadly tumbled, his eyes blinking in the light of the lantern he held aloft.
"Well, what the--" Then his gaze alighted on the lady. "My G.o.d," he gulped, and instantly put all of his body except the head and one arm behind the door.
Barnes crowded past him with his faltering charge, and slammed the door. Moreover, he quickly shot the bolt.
"For the love of--" began the embarra.s.sed Dillingford. "What the dev--I say, can"t you see that I"m not dressed? What the--"
"Give me that lantern," said Barnes, and s.n.a.t.c.hed the article out of the unresisting hand. "Show me the way to Miss Thackeray"s room, Dillingford. No time for explanations. This lady is a friend of mine."
"Well, for the love of--"
"I will take you to Miss Thackeray"s room," said Barnes, leading her swiftly through the narrow pa.s.sage. "She will make you comfortable for the--that is until I am able to secure a room for you. Come on, Dillingford."
"My G.o.d, Barnes, have you been in an automobile smash-up? You--"
"Don"t wake the house! Where is her room?"
"You know just as well as I do. All right,--all right! Don"t bite me!
I"m coming."
Miss Thackeray was awake. She had heard the pounding. Through the closed door she asked what on earth was the matter.
"I have a friend here,--a lady. Will you dress as quickly as possible and take her in with you for a little while?" He spoke as softly as possible.
There was no immediate response from the inside. Then Miss Thackeray observed, quite coldly: "I think I"d like to hear the lady"s voice, if you don"t mind. I recognise yours perfectly, Mr. Barnes, but I am not in the habit of opening my--"
"Mr. Barnes speaks the truth," said Miss Cameron. "But pray do not disturb--"
"I guess I don"t need to dress," said Miss Thackeray, and opened her door. "Come in, please. I don"t know who you are or what you"ve been up to, but there are times when women ought to stand together. And what"s more, I sha"n"t ask any questions."