Mr. Prohack had to make an effort in order to maintain his self-control, for the mumblings of the fat lady were producing in him the most singular and the most disturbing sensations.
"If there"s any tea left in the pot," said he, "I think I"ll have it."
"_And_ welcome, sir," replied the fat lady. "But there"s only one cup.
But I have but hardly drunk out of it, sir."
Mr. Prohack first of all went to the door, transferred the key from the outside to the inside, and locked the door. Then he drank the dregs of the tea out of the sole cup; and seeing a packet of Mr. Brool"s Gold Flake cigarettes on the mahogany sideboard, he ventured to help himself to one.
"Yes, sir," resumed the fat lady. "I nearly swounded, and I couldn"t feel happy no more until I"d made a clean breast of it all to Milcher.
And I was setting off for Milcher when it struck me all of a heap as I"d promised the young lady with the turned-up nose as I wouldn"t say nothing about the keys to n.o.body. It was very awkward for me, sir, me being converted and anxious to do right, and not knowing which was right and which was wrong. But a promise is a promise whether you"re converted or not--that I do hold. Anyhow I says to myself I must see Milcher and tell him the clock hadn"t struck eleven, and I prayed as hard as I could for heavenly guidance, and I was just coming down the Square on my way to Milcher"s when who should I see get out of a taxi and run into this house but that young lady and her young man. I said in my haste that was an answer to prayer, sir, but I"m not so sure now as I wasn"t presuming too much. I could see there was something sw.a.n.ky a-going on here and I said to myself, "That young lady"s gone in. She"ll come out again; she"s one of the gues"s, she is," I said, "and him too, and I"ll wait till she does come out and then I"ll catch her and have it out with her even if it means policemen." And the area-gate being unfastened, I slipped down the area-steps, sir, with my eye on the front-door. And that was what did me. I had to sit down on the stone steps, sir, because of my varicose veins and then one of the servants comes in _from_ the street, sir, and I more like dropped down the area-steps, sir, than walked, sir, and hid between two dustbins, and when the coast was clear I went up again and found gate locked and nothing doing. And it"s as true as I"m standing here--sitting, I should say."
Mr. Prohack paused, collecting himself, determined to keep his nerve through everything. Then he said:
"When did the mysterious young lady borrow the keys from you?"
"Last night, sir, I mean the night before last."
"And where are the keys now?"
"Milcher"s got "em, sir. I lay he"s up in the tower by this time, a-worrying over that clock. It"ll be in the papers--you see if it isn"t, sir."
"And he"s got no idea that you ever lent the keys?"
"That he has not, sir. And the question is: must I tell him?"
"What exactly are the relations between you and Mr. Milcher?"
"Well, sir, he"s a bit dotty about me, as you might say. And he"s going to marry me. So he says, and I believe him."
And Mr. Prohack reflected, impressed by the wonder of existence:
"This woman too has charm for somebody, who looks on her as the most appetising morsel on earth."
"Now," he said aloud, "you are good enough to ask my opinion whether you ought to tell Mr. Milcher. My advice to you is: Don"t. I applaud your conversion. But as you say, a promise is a promise--even if it"s a naughty promise. You did wrong to promise. You will suffer for that, and don"t think your conversion will save you from suffering, because it won"t. Don"t run away with the idea that conversion is a patent-medicine. It isn"t. It"s rather a queer thing, very handy in some ways and very awkward in others, and you must use it with commonsense or you"ll get both yourself and other people into trouble. As for the clock, it"s stopping striking is only a coincidence, obviously. Abandon the word "Bolshevik." It"s a very overworked word, and wants a long repose. If the clock had been stopped from striking by your young friends it would have stopped the evening before last, when they went up the tower. And don"t imagine there"s any snub-nosed young lady living here. There isn"t. She must have left while you were down among the dustbins, Mrs. Milcher--that is to be. She paid you something for your trouble, quite possibly. If so, give the money to the poor. That will be the best way to be converted."
"So I will, sir."
"Yes. And now you must go." He unlocked the door and opened it. "Quick.
Quietly. Into the area, and up the area-steps. And stop a moment. Don"t you be seen in the Square for at least a year. A big robbery was committed in this very house last night. You"ll see it in to-day"s papers. My butler connected your presence in the area--and quite justifiably connected it--with the robbery. Without knowing it you"ve been in the most dreadful danger. I"m saving you. If you don"t use your conversion with discretion it may land you in prison. Take my advice, and be silent first and converted afterwards. Good morning. Tut-tut!" He stopped the outflow of her alarmed grat.i.tude. "Didn"t I advise you to be silent? Creep, Mrs. Milcher. Creep!"
V
"Well, what have you said to her? What does she say? What have you done with her?" questioned Eve excitedly, who had almost finished dressing when Mr. Prohack, gorgeously, but by no means without misgivings, entered her bedroom.
"I"ve talked to her very seriously and let her go," answered Mr.
Prohack.
Eve sat down as if stabbed on the chair in front of her dressing-table, and stared at Mr. Prohack.
"You"ve let her go!" cried she, with an outraged gasp, implying that she had always suspected that she was married to a nincomp.o.o.p, but not to such a nincomp.o.o.p. "Where"s she gone to?"
"I don"t know."
"What"s her name? Who is she?"
"I don"t know that either. I only know that she"s engaged to be married, and that a certain sacristan is madly but I hope honourably in love with her, and that she"s had nothing whatever to do with the disappearance of your necklace."
"I suppose she told you so herself!" said Eve, with an irony that might have shrivelled up a husband less philosophic.
"She did not. She didn"t say a word about the necklace. But she did make a full confession. She"s mixed up in the clock-striking business."
"The what business?"
"The striking of the church-clock. You know it"s stopped striking since last night, under the wise dispensation of heaven."
As he made this perfectly simple announcement, Mr. Prohack observed a sudden change in his wife"s countenance. Her brow puckered: a sad, protesting, worried look came into her eyes.
"Please don"t begin on the clock again, my poor Arthur! You ought to forget it. You know how bad it is for you to dwell on it. It gets on your nerves and you start imagining all sorts of things, until, of course, there"s no chance of you sleeping. If you keep on like this you"ll make me feel a perfect criminal for taking the house. You don"t suspect it, but I"ve several times wished we never had taken it--I"ve been so upset about your nervous condition."
"I was merely saying," Mr. Prohack insisted, "that our fat visitor, who apparently has enormous seductive power over sacristans, had noticed about the clock just as I had, and she thought--"
Eve interrupted him by approaching swiftly and putting her hands on his shoulders, as he had put his hands on her shoulders a little while earlier, and gazing with supplication at him.
"Please, please!" she besought him. "To oblige me. Do drop the church-clock. I know what it means for you."
Mr. Prohack turned away, broke into uproarious and somewhat hysterical laughter, and left the bedroom, having perceived to his amazement that she thought the church-clock was undermining his sanity.
Going to his study, he rang the bell there, and Brool, with features pale and drawn, obeyed the summons. The fact that his sanity was suspect, however absurdly, somehow caused Mr. Prohack to a.s.sume a pontifical manner of unusual dignity.
"Is Miss Warburton up yet?"
"No, sir. One of the servants knocked at her door some little time ago, but received no answer."
"She must be wakened, and I"ll write a note that must be given to her immediately."
Mr. Prohack wrote: "Please dress at once and come to my study. I want to see you about the church-clock. A.P." Then he waited, alternately feeling the radiator and warming his legs at the newly-lit wood fire. He was staggered by the incredible turn of events, and he had a sensation that nothing was or ever would be secure in the structure of his environment.
"Well, I"m hanged! Well, I"m hanged!" he kept saying to himself, and indeed several times a.s.serted that an even more serious fate had befallen him.
"Here I am!" Mimi exclaimed brazenly, entering the room.
The statement was not exaggerated. She emphatically was there, aspiring nose and all--in full evening dress, the costume of the night before.
"Have you slept in your clothes?" Mr. Prohack demanded.
Her manner altered at his formidable tone.
"No, sir," she replied meekly. "But I"ve nothing else here. I shall put a cloak on and drive off in a taxi to change for the day. May I sit down?"