then better known as--let me see, was it "Glow-worms"? no--something like it, "Glamour!" They were found in your late rooms, and one needn"t be an expert to recognise that peculiar fist of yours. Are you satisfied?"
Vincent had not expected this, having fancied that his loose papers had all been destroyed, as he had certainly intended them to be on leaving England. He was silent for some seconds, then he said: "You must get those papers for me: they are mine."
"But, my dear fellow," argued Caffyn, "what earthly use can they be to _you_?"
"What business is that of yours?" retorted Vincent. "I want them--I mean to have them."
"You won"t do any good by taking that tone with _me_, you know. Just listen to reason: if you produce these papers yourself, you"ll only be laughed at for your pains. You must let some one else manage the business for you. You can"t smash Ashburn alone--you can"t indeed!"
"And who told you," said Vincent, "that I want to smash Ashburn?"
"For Heaven"s sake don"t _you_ turn hypocrite!" drawled Caffyn. "You can speak out now--if you"ve got anything inside you but sawdust, of _course_ you want to smash Ashburn! I saw your game long ago."
"Did you?" said Vincent, who began to have the greatest difficulty in keeping his temper. "And what was my game?"
"Why," explained Caffyn, "you knew well enough that if you set up a claim like that on your mere word, you wouldn"t find many to believe you, and you didn"t feel up to such a fight as you would have before you; so you"ve very prudently been lying low till you could get Master Mark off his guard, or till something turned up to help you. Now"s your time. _I"ll_ help you!"
"Then, once more, get me those papers," said Vincent.
"To think," observed Caffyn, with pity, "that the man who could write "Illusion" should be so dense. Don"t I tell you you must keep in the background? You leave it all to me. There"s a literary fellow I know who"s on lots of journals that like nothing better than taking up cases like yours, when they"re satisfied there"s something in them. I can manage all that for you, and in a few days look out for an article that will do Ashburn"s business for him. You needn"t be afraid of his fighting--he"ll never have the nerve to bring a libel action! But you can"t work this yourself; in your hands all that evidence is waste paper--it"s the date and manner of its discovery which must be proved to make it of any value--and that"s where _I_ come in. I need scarcely tell you perhaps that I don"t propose to mix myself up in all this, unless there is some better understanding between us in the future."
"You had better be quite plain," said Vincent. "What is your proposal?"
"There has been a little unpleasantness about a letter which little Dolly Langton and I accidentally----"
"I know the facts, thank you," interrupted Vincent.
"That makes it easier," continued the other, unabashed, "though you"ve probably been told the highly coloured version."
"I"ve been told that you bullied that poor child into burning a letter of mine which you hadn"t the courage to suppress for yourself," said Vincent.
"Ah, that _is_ the highly coloured version," said Caffyn, "but for the purposes of the present case we"ll a.s.sume it to be correct, if you like. Well, we can"t possibly work together if you won"t make up your mind to let bygones be bygones: you understand."
"I think I do," said Vincent. "Provided I forget that a letter of mine was intercepted and destroyed, unread, by a cowardly, cold-blooded trick, which if it was not actually a felony came very near it--provided I forget all that and treat you as an intimate friend of mine, I shall have your support?"
"Coa.r.s.ely put," said Caffyn, "but you seem to have got hold of the main point."
"And if I decline," said Vincent, "what then?"
"Why, then," returned Caffyn, placidly, "I"m afraid that my friend in whose custody the papers are, and who really is as casual a person as I ever met, may mislay those doc.u.ments or go off somewhere without leaving his address--which would make things awkward."
Vincent could stand no more; the anger he had suppressed for some time broke out at last.
"If you dare to make me an offer like that in any other place than a friend"s house, if you even try to speak to me when we next meet, you will be unpleasantly surprised at your reception! Do you think any help you could give me would be worth the disgrace of having you for a friend? If I am asked my opinion of you, I shall give it, and it will not be one you would care to quote. As for the papers, tell your friend (you will not have to go very far to find him)--tell him he may do what he pleases with them, mislay them, suppress them, burn them, if he likes--perhaps he will be doing me a greater service than he imagines!"
He was afraid that he might have betrayed his real feelings in the matter; but Caffyn was too much a man of the world to believe him: he only thought that the other either had independent means of proving his claim when he chose, or felt convinced that it would be proved for him without the necessity of committing himself to any alliance or compromise. He could not help admiring such strategy even while it disappointed him.
"You"re devilish deep, after all," he said slowly: "a little overdone that last bit, perhaps, but no matter--I can read between the lines.
And now, as I am due for this first dance, and they seem to be striking up down there, I"ll ask you to excuse me. One word--if you want me to play your little game, don"t interfere with mine--you know what I mean!"
Vincent made no answer, and Caffyn went down to the music-room again, where about a dozen couples were already dancing. It was a small and quite informal affair, but one or two people had come in from other houses, and the room was filled, without the hopeless crush which it would have contained on an ordinary occasion.
He avoided Gilda, whose eyes, however, were following him watchfully, and made his way to where Mabel was sitting looking on at the dancing; for she had declined to take a more active part, and was intending to make her escape as soon as Mark should come to rescue her.
"I"ll try one more chance," he thought, "and if that fails----"
Vincent had satisfied himself as he pa.s.sed through the room after Caffyn had left him that Mark was not there. He went through a network of rooms, and out on the staircase, looking for him. Mark had had much to endure in the way of enthusiastic comments on his own work, and the delight he was supposed to feel at his wife"s rendering of his heroine, while Mrs. Featherstone had driven him almost frantic by her persistent appeals, confidences, and suggestions with regard to the performance. He had chosen a moment when her attention was distracted to slip out un.o.bserved. He knew he must return soon, but his nerves would bear no more just then, and, wandering aimlessly from room to room, he came to one in which some light refreshments had been placed for those engaged in the rehearsal, and he filled a small tumbler of champagne from a half-empty bottle he found there, and drank it, hoping it would give him courage to go back and play his part to the end. As he put down the gla.s.s Vincent came in.
"I was looking for you," the latter began hurriedly, when he had satisfied himself that they were not likely to be overheard. "I have seen Caffyn!"
"Well?" said Mark, listlessly.
"It is worse than I thought," was the answer; "he has got hold of some papers--Heaven knows how, but he can prove his case. He half threatened to destroy them, but if I know him he won"t; he will use them to keep his hold over you--we must get the start of him!"
"Yes," agreed Mark, "I can disappoint him there, at all events. I"ll go to Fladgate to-morrow, and tell him everything--it"s all I can do now, and the sooner it is over the better!"
"You must do nothing without me!" said Vincent.
Despair made Mark obstinate. "I wish to G.o.d I had spoken out last Easter! You stopped me then--you shall not stop me this time! I"ll keep that book no longer, whatever the consequences may be."
"Listen to me," said Vincent. "I will take back the book--I see no other course now; but I claim the right to tell the story myself, and in my own way. You will not be madman enough to contradict me?"
Mark laughed bitterly. "If you can tell that story so as to make it look any better, or any worse, than it is, _I_ won"t contradict you,"
he said: "that is a safe promise!"
"Remember it, then," said Vincent. "I will tell you more when I have thought things out a little. In the meantime, the less we see of that scoundrel the better. Can"t you take Mabel home now?"
"Yes," said Mark, "we will go home, and--and you will come to-morrow?"
"To-morrow," said Vincent. "Tell her nothing till you have seen me!"
They were returning to the music-room when Mrs. Featherstone pa.s.sed.
"Have you seen Mr. Caffyn?" she asked Mark. "I want to talk to him about the alterations in the fourth act."
"He went to sit out one of the dances with Mabel, Gilda said, but I sent her to look for them, and she hasn"t come back yet. I think they must have gone through the Gold Room, and out on the balcony--it"s cooler there."
When she had pa.s.sed on out of hearing, Mark turned to Vincent. "Did you hear that?" he said. "Mabel is out there ... with _him_--we are saved the trouble of telling her anything now ... that devil means to tell her himself! I can"t stay here!"
"Tell me where you are going--for G.o.d"s sake don"t do anything rash!"
cried Vincent. "You may be wrong!" He caught him by the arm as he spoke.
"Let me go!" said Mark, wrenching himself free.
Vincent would have accompanied him, but the excitement had turned him suddenly faint and dizzy, and he found himself obliged to remain where he was, until the attack pa.s.sed and left him able to move and think once more.