"Six forty-five," said T. Tembarom. "I"ll order the carriage. I might go up myself."
The door closed.
Tembarom was looking cheerful enough when he went into his bedroom. He had become used to its size and had learned to feel that it was a good sort of place. It had the hall bedroom at Mrs. Bowse"s boarding-house "beaten to a frazzle." There was about everything in it that any man could hatch up an idea he"d like to have. He had slept luxuriously on the splendid carved bed through long nights, he had lain awake and thought out things on it, he had lain and watched the fire-light flickering on the ceiling, as he thought about Ann and made plans, and "fixed up" the Harlem flat which could be run on fifteen per. He had picked out the pieces of furniture from the Sunday Earth advertis.e.m.e.nt sheet, and had set them in their places. He always saw the six-dollar mahogany-stained table set for supper, with Ann at one end and himself at the other. He had grown actually fond of the old room because of the silence and comfort of it, which tended to give reality to his dreams. Pearson, who had ceased to look anxious, and who had acquired fresh accomplishments in the form of an entirely new set of duties, was waiting, and handed him a telegram.
"This just arrived, sir," he explained. "James brought it here because he thought you had come up, and I didn"t send it down because I heard you on the stairs."
"That"s right. Thank you, Pearson," his master said.
He tore the yellow envelop, and read the message. In a moment Pearson knew it was not an ordinary message, and therefore remained more than ordinarily impa.s.sive of expression. He did not even ask of himself what it might convey.
Mr. Temple Barholm stood still a few seconds, with the look of a man who must think and think rapidly.
"What is the next train to London, Pearson?" he asked.
"There is one at twelve thirty-six, sir," he answered. "It"s the last till six in the morning. You have to change at Crowley."
"You"re always ready, Pearson," returned Mr. Temple Barholm. "I want to get that train."
Pearson was always ready. Before the last word was quite spoken he had turned and opened the bedroom door.
"I"ll order the dog-cart; that"s quickest, sir," he said. He was out of the room and in again almost immediately. Then he was at the wardrobe and taking out what Mr. Temple Barholm called his "grip," but what Pearson knew as a Gladstone bag. It was always kept ready packed for unexpected emergencies of travel.
Mr. Temple Barholm sat at the table and drew pen and paper toward him.
He looked excited; he looked more troubled than Pearson had seen him look before.
"The wire"s from Sir Ormsby Galloway, Pearson," he said.
"It"s about Mr. Strangeways. He"s done what I used to be always watching out against: he"s disappeared."
"Disappeared, sir!" cried Pearson, and almost dropped the Gladstone bag. "I beg pardon, sir. I know there"s no time to lose." He steadied the bag and went on with his task without even turning round.
His master was in some difficulty. He began to write, and after dashing off a few words, stopped, and tore them up.
"No," he muttered, "that won"t do. There"s no time to explain." Then he began again, but tore up his next lines also.
"That says too much and not enough. It"d frighten the life out of her."
He wrote again, and ended by folding the sheet and putting it into an envelop.
"This is a message for Miss Alicia," he said to Pearson. "Give it to her in the morning. I don"t want her to worry because I had to go in a hurry. Tell her everything"s going to be all right; but you needn"t mention that anything"s happened to Mr. Strangeways."
"Yes, sir," answered Pearson.
Mr. Temple Barholm was already moving about the room, doing odd things for himself rapidly, and he went on speaking.
"I want you and Rose to know," he said, "that whatever happens, you are both fixed all right--both of you. I"ve seen to that."
"Thank you, sir," Pearson faltered, made uneasy by something new in his tone. "You said whatever happened, sir--"
"Whatever old thing happens," his master took him up.
"Not to you, sir. Oh, I hope, sir, that nothing--"
Mr. Temple Barholm put a cheerful hand on his shoulder.
"Nothing"s going to happen that"ll hurt any one. Things may change, that"s all. You and Rose are all right, Miss Alicia"s all right, I"m all right. Come along. Got to catch that train.""
In this manner he took his departure.
Miss Alicia had from necessity acquired the habit of early rising at Rowcroft vicarage, and as the next morning was bright, she was clipping roses on a terrace before breakfast when Pearson brought her the note.
"Mr. Temple Barholm received a telegram from London last night, ma"am," he explained, "and he was obliged to take the midnight train.
He hadn"t time to do any more than leave a few lines for you, but he asked me to tell you that nothing disturbing had occurred. He specially mentioned that everything was all right."
"But how very sudden!" exclaimed Miss Alicia, opening her note and beginning to read it. Plainly it had been written hurriedly indeed. It read as though he had been in such haste that he hadn"t had time to be clear.
Dear little Miss Alicia:
I"ve got to light out of here as quick as I can make it. I can"t even stop to tell you why. There"s just one thing-- don"t get rattled, Miss Alicia. Whatever any one says or does, just don"t let yourself get rattled.
Yours affectionately,
T. TEMBAROM.
"Pearson," Miss Alicia exclaimed, again looking up, "are you sure everything is all right?"
"That was what he said, ma"am. `All right," ma"am."
"Thank you, Pearson. I am glad to hear it."
She walked to and fro in the sunshine, reading the note and rereading it.
"Of course if he said it was all right, it was all right," she murmured. "It is only the phrasing that makes me slightly nervous. Why should he ask me not to get rattled?" The term was by this time as familiar to her as any in Dr. Johnson"s dictionary. "Of course he knows I do get rattled much too easily; but why should I be in danger of getting rattled now if nothing has happened?" She gave a very small start as she remembered something. "Could it be that Captain Palliser- - But how could he? Though I do not like Captain Palliser."
Captain Palliser, her distaste for whom at the moment quite agitated her, was this morning an early riser also, and as she turned in her walk she found him coming toward her.
"I find I am obliged to take an early train to London this morning,"
he said, after their exchange of greetings. "It is quite unexpected. I spoke to Mr. Temple Barholm about it last night."