"Now, where have I heard that name before? It seems, somehow, to be very familiar to me."
"Perhaps you"ve heard the story of his abduction by the Beautiful White Devil," said Ebbington, who saw that I was about to speak and was anxious to forestall me.
"No, I guess not," answered Alie. "I reckon I was thinking of Klener W. Vesey, of Wall Street, who operates considerable in pork. But tell me, who is this Beautiful White Devil one hears so much about, anyway?"
There was a pause, but I held my peace and let Ebbington"s tongue run riot with him.
"Ah! there you have me at a disadvantage," he began, pluming himself for the big speech I could see was imminent. "Some say she"s a European lady of t.i.tle gone mad on Captain Marryat and Clarke Russell.
Others aver that she"s not a woman at all, but a man disguised in woman"s clothes. But the real truth, I"m inclined to fancy, is that she"s the daughter of a drunken old desperado, once an English naval man, who for years made himself a terror in these seas."
When I heard him thus commit himself, I looked across at Alie, half expecting that she would lose control of herself and annihilate him upon the spot. But save a little twitching round the corners of her mouth, she allowed no sign of the wrath that I knew was raging within her breast to escape her. In a voice as steady as when she had inquired the way to Whampoa"s Garden that morning, she continued her questions.
"I"m really quite interested. And pray what has this, what do you call her, Beautiful White Devil, done to carry on the family reputation?"
Again Ebbington saw his chance, and, like the born yarn-spinner he was, took immediate advantage of it.
"What has she not done would be the best thing to ask. She has abducted the Sultan of Surabaya, the Rajah of Tavoy, Vesey of Hong Kong, and half a dozen Chinese mandarins at least. She has robbed the _Vectis Queen_, the _Ooloomoo_--and that with the Governor of Hong Kong on board; stopped the _Oodnadatta_ only three months ago in the Ly-ee-moon Pa.s.s, when she went through the bullion-room to the extent of over a million and a half, almost under the cruisers" noses."
"But what mission does she accomplish with this vast wealth when she has acc.u.mulated it, do you think, Mr. Ebbington?" said the quiet voice of Mrs. Beecher from the depths of her chair. "Does she do no good with it at all?"
"Good!" that wretched being replied, quite unconscious of the trouble he was heaping up for himself. "Why, she never did a ha"porth of good in her life. No, I"ll tell you what she _does_ do with it. It is well known that she has a rendezvous somewhere in the Pacific, a tropical island, they say, where scenes are enacted between her cruises that would raise blushes on the cheeks of an Egyptian mummy."
"You are evidently very much prejudiced against her," I answered hotly. "Now _I_ have heard some very different stories. And with all due respect to you, Mr. Ebbington----"
But fortunately at this juncture my presence of mind returned to me, and, a servant approaching to take our empty coffee cups, I was able to seize the opportunity and bring my riotous tongue to a halt. When the boy had gone, Alie turned the conversation into another channel, and after that all was plain sailing once more. To add to our enjoyment, about ten o"clock another servant came to inform Mr.
Ebbington that a gentleman desired to see him in the smoking-room, and accordingly, bidding us good-night, he went off to interview him. Mrs.
Beecher then made an excuse and retired to her room, leaving us alone together.
"Alie," I said reproachfully, "if anything had happened just now you would have had only yourself to blame for it. That man"s insolent lying was more than I could stand. In another moment, if that servant had not come in, I believe I should have lost all control of myself, and, ten chances to one, have ruined everything. Why did you do it?"
"Because I wanted to find out how he was in the habit of talking about me. That was why."
"But do you think he was really in earnest? May it not have been only a mask to prevent anyone from suspecting that he is your agent in this place?"
"No. He meant it. Of that there can be no doubt. The man, I can see, for some inscrutable reason hates the real _me_ with his whole heart and soul, and the treachery he is preparing now is to be his revenge.
Couldn"t you hear the change, the grating, in his voice when my name occurred? Ah, Mr. Ebbington, my clever man, you will find that it is a very foolish policy on your part to quarrel with me."
"When do you mean to make the attempt to capture him?"
"On Friday evening; that is the day after to-morrow. The new admiral will be here on Sat.u.r.day morning at latest, and I must antic.i.p.ate him, for I have learned that Ebbington received a note from the authorities this morning, definitely fixing the hour for the interview at eleven o"clock. He need make no arrangements, however, for he won"t be there!"
"It will be an awful moment for him when he realises who you are. I would not be in his shoes for all the gold of India."
"You would never have acted as he has done," she answered softly, turning her head away.
This was the opportunity for finding out what she intended concerning myself, so I drew a little closer to her.
"Alie," I said, "the time has now come for me to ask you when you wish to say "good-bye" to me. I have done my professional work for you, and on Friday I shall have a.s.sisted you to the very best of my ability in the matter of this wretched fellow. What am I to do then? Am I to say farewell to you here, or what?"
Her voice had almost a falter in it as she replied:
"Oh, no! we will not say "good-bye" here. Cannot you return with me? I have been counting so much on that." Here she paused for a moment.
"But no! Perhaps I ought not to ask you--you have your work in life, and, seeing what you have already done for us, I should be the last to keep you from the path of duty."
"If you wish me to come back with you, Alie," I answered quickly, "I will come with a glad heart. I have no duty to consider, and as I have given up my practice, I have no patients to give me any concern.
But how shall I get back to England later on?"
"I will arrange that you shall be sent down to Torres Straits, and you can go home via Australia, if that will suit you. Never fear, I will attend to that part of it when it becomes necessary."
"Then I will go with you."
"I thank you. Good-night!"
I bade her good-night, and she left me to go to her room. As, however, I was in no humour for sleeping myself, I stayed in the verandah, looking down the quaint lamp-lit street, along which only an occasional belated foot pa.s.senger, a Sikh policeman or two, and a few tired rickshaw coolies wended their way. I was thinking of the strangeness of my position. When I came to work it out, and to review the whole chain of events dispa.s.sionately, it seemed almost incredible. I could hardly believe that George De Normanville the staid medical man, and George De Normanville the lover of the Beautiful White Devil, and a.s.sistant in a scheme for abducting one of Singapore"s most prominent citizens, were one and the same person.
However, I was thoroughly content; Alie loved me, and I wanted nothing more.
Next morning, after breakfast, I discovered that Miss Sanderson and her companion were setting off for a day"s pleasuring, and that Mr.
Ebbington was to be their sole conductor and escort. It was noticeable that he had donned a new suit of clothes in honour of the occasion, and I saw that he wore a sprig of j.a.ponica in his b.u.t.tonhole. From his expression I concluded that he was very well satisfied with himself, but whether he would have been quite so confident had he known who his fair friends really were was quite another matter, and one upon which I could only conjecture.
They returned in time for tiffin, and during the meal Ebbington confided to me the fact that the heiress had been most gracious to him. From what he said I gathered that, unless somebody else interfered and spoiled sport, he felt pretty confident of ultimately securing her.
"Take care your friend the Beautiful White Devil, or whatever you call her, doesn"t get jealous," I said with a laugh, wishing to get him on to delicate ground in order to see how quickly he would wriggle off it again.
"Don"t mention them in the same breath, for goodness" sake," he answered. "Miss Sanderson and that woman----Why, man alive, they"re not to be compared!"
"Ah!" I thought to myself, "if you only knew, my friend, if you only knew!"
"Don"t you wish you were in my place?" he said with a smile, as he rose to go.
"No; if you wish me to be candid," I answered, "I cannot say that I do."
He thereupon left me and went out into the verandah. We spent the afternoon with the ladies in the garden, and at their request remained to take tea with them. During this _al fresco_ meal, which was presided over by Miss Sanderson herself, my companion stated that it was his desire to arrange something a little out of the common for the ladies" amus.e.m.e.nt.
"What shall it be?" he asked, with the magnificence of an Oriental potentate to whom all things are possible. "A picnic? But that is not much fun here. A dance? But it"s too hot for that. What would you like?"
Alie seemed to reflect for a few moments, and then she said, with an appearance of animation:
"Do you really want to give us a treat, Mr. Ebbington? Then I reckon the nicest thing you can possibly do, on these hot nights, would be to take us for a trip on the water. I know Mrs. Beecher thinks so too.
Now, you just get us a launch and trot us round. I guess that"ll be real delightful."
She clapped her hands and appeared to be so pleased with the idea that, whatever he may himself have thought of it, there was nothing for Ebbington to do but to a.s.sent.
"We"ll take some supper," she continued, as if a new idea had struck her, "and you gentlemen shall bring your cigars, and we"ll spend a delightful evening. I"m fonder of the sea than you can think. But I do just wish you could see New York Harbour. You should see Newport, too, where my papa"s got a cottage. It"s real fine."
After dinner that evening Ebbington reported that he had engaged a steam launch, and also that he had ordered the supper. Thereupon, to encourage him, Miss Sanderson professed herself to be looking forward to the trip more than she had ever done to anything else in her life.
Accordingly next evening, immediately after dinner, we saw that our charges were carefully wrapped up, chartered rickshaws, and set off for the harbour. It was a lovely night, with a young moon just showing like a silver sickle above the roofs. We were all in the highest spirits, although, I must confess, my own were not unmixed with a slight dash of nervousness as to what the upshot of our excursion would be.