His eyes flamed. I think fury would have conquered prudence, and he would have sprung then, to choke my life out, perhaps. But he hadn"t locked the door. At that instant it swung open, and a whirlwind burst in. The whirlwind was a man. And the man was James Courtenaye.
I did not tell Sir Jim that my spirit had forgotten itself so utterly as to call him. It was quite unnecessary, as matters turned out, to "give myself away" to this extent. For, you see, it was not my call that brought him. It was Roger"s.
As Shelagh Leigh was my best friend, so was, and is, Jim Courtenaye Roger Fane"s. All the first part of Roger"s life tragedy was known to my "forty-fourth cousin four times removed." For years Roger had given him all his confidence. The ex-cowboy had even advised him in his love affair with Shelagh, to "go on full steam ahead, and never mind breakers"--(alias Pollens). This being the case, it had seemed to Roger unfair not to trust his chum to the uttermost end. He had not intended to mention me as his accomplice; but evidently cowboys" wits are as quick as their la.s.soes. Jim guessed at my part in the business, thinking, maybe--that only the sly s.e.x could hit upon such a Way Out.
Anyhow, he was far from shocked; in fact, deigned to approve of me for the first time, and hearing how I had planned to restore the stolen heirlooms, roared with laughter.
Roger, conscience-stricken because my secret had leaked out with his, wished to atone by telling me that his friend had scented the whole truth. Jim Courtenaye, however, urged him against this course. He reckoned the Barlow twins more formidable than Roger and I had thought them, and insisted that he should be a partner in our game of Bluff.
Only, he wished to be a silent partner till the right time came to speak. Or that was the way he put it. His real reason, as he boldly confessed afterward, was that, if I knew he was "in it," I"d be sure to make a "silly fuss"!
It was arranged between him and Roger that he should motor from Courtenaye Coombe to Dudworth Cove, put up his car at the small hotel, and inconspicuously approach the Barlows" farm on foot. In some quiet spot which he would guarantee to find, he was to "lurk" and await developments. If help were wanted, he would be there to give it. If not, he would peacefully remove himself, and I need never know that he had been near the place.
All the details of this minor plot were well mapped out, and the only one that failed (not being mapped out) was a tyre of his Rolls-Royce which stepped on a nail as long as Jael"s. Wishing to do the trick alone, Jim had taken no chauffeur; and he wasn"t as expert at pumping up tyres as at breaking in bronchos. He was twenty minutes past scheduled time, in consequence, and arrived at the spot appointed just as Bob Barlow had bashed Roger Fane smartly on the head from behind.
Naturally this incident kept his attention engaged for some moments. He had to overpower the Barlow twin, who was on the alert, and not to be taken by surprise. The Australian was still in good fighting trim, and gave Sir James some trouble before he was reduced to powerlessness. Then a glance had to be given Roger, to make sure he had not got a knock-out blow. Altogether, Hank Barlow had five minutes" grace indoors with me, before--the whirlwind. If it had been _six_ minutes----But then, it wasn"t! So why waste thrills upon a horror which had not time to materialize? And oh, how I _did_ enjoy seeing those twins trussed up like a pair of monstrous fowls on the kitchen floor! It had been clever of Sir Jim to place a coil of rope in Roger"s car in case of emergencies. But when I said this, to show my appreciation, he replied drily that a cattleman"s first thought is rope! "That"s what you are accustomed to call me, I believe," he added. "A cattleman."
"I shall never call you it again," I quite meekly a.s.sured him.
"You won"t? What will you call me, then?"
"Cousin--if you like," I said.
"That"ll do--for the present," he granted.
"Or "friend," if it pleases you better?" I suggested.
"Both are pretty good to go on with."
So between us there was a truce--and no more Pembertons or even Smiths: which is why "Smith" never revealed what _he_ thought about what Sir Jim thought of me. And I would not try to guess--would you? But it was only to screen Roger, and not to content me, that Sir James Courtenaye allowed my original plan to be carried out: the heirlooms to be mysteriously returned by night to the Abbey, and the Barlow tribe to vanish into s.p.a.ce, otherwise Australia. He admitted this bluntly. And I retorted that, if he hadn"t saved my life, I should say that such friendship wasn"t worth much. But there it was! He _had_ saved it. And things being as they were, Shelagh told Roger that I couldn"t reasonably object if Jim were asked to be best man at the wedding, though I was to be "best woman."
She was right. I couldn"t. And it was a lovely wedding. I lightened my mourning for it to white and lavender--just for the day. Mrs. Carstairs said I owed this to the bride and bridegroom--also to myself, as Brightener, to say nothing of Sir Jim.
BOOK II
THE HOUSE WITH THE TWISTED CHIMNEY
CHAPTER I
THE Sh.e.l.l-SHOCK MAN
"Do you want to be a Life Preserver as well as a Brightener, Elizabeth, my child?" asked Mrs. Carstairs.
"Depends on whose life," I replied, making a lovely blue smoke ring before I spoke and another when I"d finished.
I hoped to shock Mrs. Carstairs, in order to see what the nicest old lady on earth would look like when scandalized. But I was disappointed.
She was not scandalized. She asked for a cigarette, and took it; my last.
"The latest style in my country is to make your smoke ring loop the loop, and do it through the nose," she informed me, calmly. "I can"t do it myself--yet. But Terry Burns can."
"Who"s Terry Burns?" I asked.
"The man whose life ought to be preserved."
"It certainly ought," said I, "if he can make smoke rings loop the loop through his nose. Oh, you know what I _mean_!"
"He hardly takes enough interest in things to do even that, nowadays,"
sighed Mrs. Carstairs.
"Good heavens! what"s the matter with the man--senile decay?" I flung at her. "Terry isn"t at all a decayed name."
"And Terry isn"t a decayed man. He"s about twenty-six, if you choose to call that senile. He"s almost _too_ good-looking. He"s not physically ill. And he"s got plenty of money. All the same, he"s likely to die quite soon, I should say."
"Can"t anything be done?" I inquired, really moved.
"I don"t know. It"s a legacy from sh.e.l.l shock. You know what _that_ is.
He"s come to stay with us at Haslemere, poor boy, because my husband was once in love with his mother--at the same time I was worshipping his father. Terry was with us before--here in London in 1915--on leave soon after he volunteered. Afterward, when America came in, he transferred.
But even in 1915 he wasn"t exactly _radiating_ happiness (disappointment in love or something), but he was just boyishly cynical then, nothing worse; and _the_ most splendid specimen of a young man!--his father over again; Henry says, his _mother_! Either way, I was looking forward to nursing him at Haslemere and seeing him improve every day. But, my _dear_, I can do _nothing_! He has got so on my nerves that I _had_ to make an excuse to run up to town or I should simply have--_slumped_. The sight of me slumping would have been terribly bad for the poor child"s health. It might have finished him."
"So you want to exchange my nerves for yours," I said. "You want me to nurse your protege till _I_ slump. Is that it?"
"It wouldn"t come to that with you," argued the ancient darling. "You could bring back his interest in life; I know you could. You"d think of something. Remember what you did for Roger Fane!"
As a matter of fact, I had done a good deal more for Roger Fane than dear old Caroline knew or would ever know. But if Roger owed anything to me, I owed him, and all he had paid me in grat.i.tude and banknotes, to Mrs. Carstairs.
"I shall never forget Roger Fane, and I hope he won"t me," I said.
"Shelagh won"t let him! But _he_ hadn"t lost interest in life. He just wanted life to give him Shelagh Leigh. She happened to be my best pal; and her people were sn.o.bs, so I could help him. But this Terry Burns of yours--what can I do for him?"
"Take him on and see," pleaded the old lady.
"Do you wish him to fall in love with me?" I suggested.
"He wouldn"t if I did. He told me the other day that he"d loved only one woman in his life, and he should never care for another. Besides, I mustn"t conceal from you, this would be an unsalaried job."
"Oh, indeed!" said I, slightly piqued. "I don"t want his old love! Or his old money, either! But--well--I might just go and have a look at him, if you"d care to take me to Haslemere with you. No harm in seeing what can be done--if anything. I suppose, as you and Mr. Carstairs between you were in love with all his ancestors, and he resembles them, he must be worth saving--apart from the loops. Is he English or American or _what_?"
"American on one side and What on the other," replied the old lady.
"That is, his father, whom I was in love with, was American. The mother, whom Henry adored, was French. All that"s quite a romance. But it"s ancient history. And it"s the present we"re interested in. Of course I"d care to take you to Haslemere. But I have a better plan. I"ve persuaded Terry to consult the nerve specialist, Sir Humphrey Hale. He"s comparatively easy to persuade, because he"d rather yield a point than bother to argue. That"s how I got my excuse to run up to town: to explain the case to Sir Humphrey, and have my flat made ready for Terence to live in, while he"s being treated."
"Oh, that"s it," I said, and thought for a minute.