Sir Polworth and his wife and daughter returned to London as early as possible, for the spirits of all the guests had fallen in consequence of Mrs. Bainbridge"s loss.
And now a curious thing happened.
That evening Charlie, knowing himself under suspicion of stealing the jewels, had an intuition that it would be better if Peggy did not visit him at Bennett Street. Therefore at about half-past five, when darkness had fallen, he went along to Mount Street, and there watched outside Sir Polworth"s house.
After a little while an empty taxi which had evidently been summoned by telephone, stopped at the door, and Peggy, very plainly dressed, got into it and drove away. Another taxi happened to be near, therefore her lover, unable to shout and stop her, got into it and followed her.
They went along Piccadilly, and pa.s.sing Arlington Street, which led into Bennett Street, continued away to the Strand and across the City eastward, until Otley was seized with curiosity as to the girl"s destination.
Past Aldgate went the taxi and down Commercial Road East, that broad long thoroughfare that leads to the East India Docks. At Limehouse Church the taxi stopped, and Peggy alighted and paid the man.
Almost immediately a young man, the cut of whose overcoat and the angle of whose hat at once marked him as a Spaniard, approached her.
Otley, full of wonder, had alighted from his taxi at some distance away and was eagerly watching.
Peggy and the stranger exchanged a few words, whereupon he started off along a narrow and rather ill-lit road called Three Colt Street, past Limehouse Causeway. Suddenly it occurred to the young man that they were in the center of London"s Chinatown! He recollected the escaping Chinaman from Lord Teesdale"s house! But why was Peggy there? Surely she was not a drug-taker! The very thought caused him to shudder.
Silently he followed the pair before him, and saw them turn into a narrow by-street and halt at a small house. Her conductor knocked on the door four times. And then repeated the summons.
The door opened slowly and they entered. Then, when the door was closed again, Peggy"s lover crept along and listened at the shutter outside.
Why was she there? He stood bewildered. She had promised to call upon him at his rooms, and yet she was there in that low-cla.s.s house--a veritable den it seemed!
The window was closely shuttered, as were all in that mysterious silent thoroughfare--one into which the police would hardly venture to penetrate alone.
The young man listened, his ears strained to catch any sound.
Suddenly he heard Peggy shriek. He listened breathlessly. Yes, it was her voice raised distinctly.
"You!" he heard her cry. "You! You are Tai-K"an! My father has told me of you!"
"Ye-es, my lil ladee--you are lil ladee of the Engleesh mandarin!" he heard the reply--the reply of a Chinaman. "I now take my vengeance for my own child as I have each year promised. Give me the pretty jewels.
You wanted to sell them, eh? But you will give them to me! I watched you take them from the table while they were all at the party. Your father never thought that Tai-K"an followed you on your country journey, eh?"
Otley heard the words faintly through the shutters and stood rooted to the spot.
Peggy was the thief? She had wanted to sell them and had been entrapped. In an instant he realized her position.
He heard her voice raised first in faint protest, and then she implored the Chinaman to release her.
"Ah, no!" cried the cruel triumphant Oriental. "Tai-K"an warned your father that he would have his revenge. His daughter was to him as much as you are to your own father the mandarin," and he laughed that short, grating laugh of the Chinaman, which caused Otley to clench his fists.
For a few seconds he hesitated as to how he should act. Then, quick as his feet could carry him, he dashed back into the Commercial Road, where he enlisted the aid of a constable.
Together they hurried back to the house after the young man had made a brief statement that a white girl had been entrapped.
At first they were denied admittance, but when the constable demanded that the door should be opened, the bars were drawn and they entered the wretched den.
Peggy was naturally terrified until she heard her lover"s voice, and a few seconds later the pair were locked once more in each other"s arms, but the gems of Abdul Hamid were nowhere to be found. Indeed, neither Peggy nor Charlie dared mention the stolen jewels, so the Chinaman kept them.
"Do you wish to charge this c.h.i.n.k?" asked the constable of the girl.
"If so, I"ll take him along to the station at once."
But at Charlie"s suggestion she would prefer no charge, and after profuse thanks to the policeman, they found a taxi and drove back at once to Bennett Street.
On the way Peggy sobbed as she confessed to the theft; how, in desperation, she had stolen those wonderful jewels from Mrs.
Bainbridge"s room in the hope of raising sufficient money to pay Charlie"s defalcations, and how she had two days later received a mysterious letter asking her if she happened to have any discarded jewelry that she wished to dispose of secretly. If she had, an appointment could be made at Limehouse Church. It was, she thought, an opportunity. So she took the jewels to sell to them. But to her amazement and horror she had found herself in the hands of the revengeful Chinaman who had a, possibly just, grievance against her father.
Rayne, taking the magnificent jewels and running them through his hands, said:
"The c.h.i.n.k is a friend of ours, and we"ve had our eye upon these stones for a very long time, but rather than the young fellow and the girl shall be ruined I am sending them back to Mrs. Bainbridge"s anonymously by to-night"s post. Sir Polworth Urquhart will think they have come from Tai-K"an. See, Hargreave? I"ve typed out a letter. Just pack them up and address them to her. I can"t bear to take them now I know the truth--poor girl!"
And he handed the gems over to me, together with a small wooden box.
That evening I registered the box from the post office at Darlington, and three days later Charles Otley, who had managed to clear himself of all suspicion, received an anonymous gift of four thousand five hundred pounds which had been placed to his credit at the bank.
And none of the actors in that strange drama suspect the hand of the clever, unscrupulous, but sometimes generous, Squire of Overstow.
CHAPTER XV
OTHER PEOPLE"S MONEY
"Mr. Hargreave, father is sending you upon a very strange mission,"
Lola told me in confidence one dull morning, after we had had breakfast at the Midland Hotel, in Manchester, where we three were staying about a fortnight after Rayne"s generosity in returning the famous jewels of the dead Sultan.
"What kind of mission?" I inquired with curiosity, as we sat together in the lounge prior to going out to idle at the shop windows.
"I don"t know its object at all," was her reply. "But from what I"ve gathered it is something most important. I--I do hope you will take care of yourself--won"t you?" she asked appealingly.
"Why, of course," I laughed. "I generally manage to take care of myself. I"d do better, however, if--well, if I were not a.s.sociated with Duperre and the rest," I added bitterly.
The pretty girl was silent for a few moments. Then she said:
"Of course you won"t breathe a word of what I"ve said, will you?"
"Certainly not, Lola," was my reply. "Whatever you tell me never pa.s.ses my lips."
"I know--I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave," she exclaimed. "Well, in this matter there are several mysterious circ.u.mstances. I believe it is something political my father wants to work--some business which concerns something in the Near East. That"s all I know. You will, in due course, hear all about it. And now let"s go along to Deansgate. I want to buy something."
In consequence we strolled along together, Rayne having gone out an hour before to keep an appointment--with whom he carefully concealed from me.
That same night Rayne disclosed to me the mission which he desired me to carry out. He was a man of a hundred moods and as many schemes.
One fact which delighted me was that in the present suggestion there seemed no criminal intent. And for that reason I quite willingly left London for the Near East three days later.