"And so you decided to decide after I had gone? I see! Well, all I can say is I have been very judiciously handled."
"You are frightfully good-natured!" she declared, apparently in all sincerity.
I had given up debating my virtues by this time.
"It"s this sea air," I said modestly, and enjoyed the delicious sensation of trying to see her smile in the dark, and imagining how sweet she would look if it were lighter.
Going over each incident together as we hurried down the island that night, I was glad to find, however, one part of my conduct which events had thoroughly justified. If on that first night I had not instantly a.s.sumed the role of a fellow Hun, I a.s.suredly should not have been walking with Jean Rendall now. Undoubtedly I had kept my enemy thinking up till that unfortunate Sunday afternoon when I had made my fatal blunder of trying to enlist the gabbling Jock as an ally, or I should have been dead long before then.
"You guessed right," I said. "That was when I gave myself away--only it was not to any one behind a wall! And do you know I believe the fellow actually tried me with the proper answer for the sheep riddle, only I could make nothing out of it. Was I an idiot, or would any one have done the same?"
"Any one!" she said with conviction. "And don"t you think I was right now about the reason why he stopped firing next day?"
"I begin to think you were. He was cunning enough to see that it wasn"t worth while running any risks, when he could probably get a sitting shot next time. And he would have got me if you hadn"t arrested me. Heavens!
To think of that man single-handed defying the British Navy and the British Police and actually making it impossible for any pursuer he considered dangerous to remain alive in this island! Bolton went, poor chap, and I would have gone but for you."
Perhaps I pressed her arm a little. Anyhow, she answered nothing for a moment, and then in a low voice said,
"Poor Bolton! Oh, you"ve no idea how frightened I got that morning when I heard the news!"
I knew it was not for herself she was frightened, and my heart beat quicker.
"I wonder how it happened," she went on. "I"ve often wondered since!"
"If I may venture to guess too," I said, "I should say that Bolton was undoubtedly on the right track. He had found that Jock was not one of the family and had got suspicious of his movements, but one may safely take it Jock was watching him like a cat watching a mouse--very likely he managed to overhear Bolton making enquiries, and he deliberately laid a scent for him that took him to the cliffs."
"That sounds very likely," said she. "And then he took Bolton"s pocket book and made those entries."
"That pocket book is rather a sore subject!" I said.
I heard a little gurgle of laughter, but then she did not know how sore the subject was. My scene with the unfortunate doctor was hardly my happiest recollection of Ransay.
And so we went on trotting and walking and talking, and all the time I was realising more and more vividly that if this could only be made the first of ten thousand evenings with her, I should be the luckiest man in the world. Also I was realising that for some reason she seemed to think I had done something rather heroic in returning to the place where I had nearly been scythed and shot, and tackling the unknown enemy single-handed; especially after she happened to discover I had been wounded. It made me feel--well, a little abashed and dreadfully afraid of being found out when she knew me better, but extraordinarily happy for the moment.
But for one sobering fact I should have told her everything I felt and hoped before that walk was over. The beard of Thomas Sylvester Hobhouse still wagged between us. Till I had got rid of that black hirsute horror I was not going to risk my chances of happiness. It was pitch dark, I admit, but then in certain delicate situations, well, if I were a girl I should strongly object, especially if I knew it were dyed and didn"t know if the dye would run.
And so we sent up the reinforcements, and then I saw her home, and hurried back myself with a dancing heart to meet the others.
XIX
OUR MORNING CALL
John Whiteclett and the three prisoners went aboard at once, but the doctor and I easily persuaded my uncle to spend the night with us. He was very stiff, poor old boy, after his exertions, and went early to bed, but I had a busy night of it. With the aid of the doctor"s razors and the doctor"s medical skill I finally got rid of the beard and the dye about 2 a.m. and went to sleep a clean-shaved blonde once more.
During breakfast next morning, I noticed more than once my uncle"s eyes fixed on me in a very significant way, and Dr. Rendall seemed to notice it too, for when breakfast was over he tactfully left us to ourselves.
"H"m, you have lost no time in making yourself look like a Christian again, I notice," my uncle began.
"I lost no time in beginning, sir, but I a.s.sure you it was a devilish stiff conversion."
"And what was your hurry, Roger?"
"Anxiety to do you credit, Uncle Francis."
"You are becoming a dutiful nephew d.a.m.ned suddenly," observed Sir Francis.
"It has come on during this lonely life," I explained.
"In that case what shall we do with ourselves this morning? Revisit the scene of last night"s affair, eh?"
"I thought a walk in the other direction might give you a better idea of this interesting island," I suggested.
"Is there anything to see in the other direction?" he enquired, still with the same gravity, but with an eye that inadvertently twinkled every now and then.
"I thought of presenting you to the proprietor of the island, sir."
My uncle looked at me fixedly for a moment and then abruptly enquired:
"Do you mean to marry her, Roger?"
"That"s entirely for her to say, Uncle Francis."
"Well, you"ll be deuced lucky if she says "yes"! By the way, what are you going to marry on?"
This was a somewhat delicate question but I thought it best to be candid.
"The advertised reward," I replied.
"For what, may I ask?"
"For catching the spy."
"Oh, _you_ claim that!"
"No, she does."
My uncle smiled beneficently.
"That"s all right, old fellow," said he, "and I"ll intimate as much to her father. Come on! Now you"ve shaved, what are you waiting for?"
"Your blessing, sir; but I"m ready now."
The very weather was encouraging, for the wind had fallen considerably, and it was just cold enough to make us step out over the frozen road in bursting spirits. My uncle literally whistled several times, and once he remarked _a propos_ of nothing:
"I"ve always admired that type myself!"