"But to come to the point of the story, Jack, the toy village had a boy doll!" She laughed again. "He was an Englishman--and the first person to come to my rescue on the night of the smash-up. He was staying at the Noah"s Ark inn; and after that first night I--he--we--Oh, Jack, haven"t you any imagination?" Her voice sounded petulant and sharp. The man who is indifferent to the recital of an old love affair implies the worst kind of listener. "I believe you aren"t interested," she added, in another and more reproachful tone.
He leaned forward. "You"re wrong there," he said, slowly. "I"m deeply interested."
She glanced at him again. His tone rea.s.sured her, but his words left her uncertain; Chilcote was rarely emphatic. With a touch of hesitation she went on with her tale:
"As I told you, he was the first to find us--to find me, I should say, for my stupid maid was having hysterics farther up the line, and Ko Ko was lost. I remember the first thing I did was to send him in search of Ko Ko--"
Notwithstanding his position, Loder found occasion to smile. "Did he succeed?" he said, dryly.
"Succeed? Oh yes, he succeeded." She also smiled involuntarily. "Poor Ko Ko was stowed away under the luggage-van; and after quite a lot of trouble he pulled him out. When it was all done the dog was quite unhurt and livelier than ever, but the Englishman had his finger almost bitten through. Ko Ko was a dear, but his teeth and his temper were both very sharp!" She laughed once more in soft amus.e.m.e.nt.
Loder was silent for a second, then he too laughed--Chilcote"s short, sarcastic laugh. "And you tied up the wound, I suppose?"
She glanced up, half displeased. "We were both staying at the little inn," she said, as though no further explanation could be needed. Then again her manner changed. She moved imperceptibly nearer and touched his right hand. His left, which was farther away from her, was well in the shadow of the cushions.
"Jack," she said, caressingly, "it isn"t to tell you this stupid old story that I"ve brought you here; it"s really to tell you a sort of sequel." She stroked his hand gently once or twice. "As I say, I met this man and we--we had an affair. You understand? Then we quarrelled--quarrelled quite badly--and I came away. I"ve remembered him rather longer than I remember most people--he was one of those dogged individuals who stick in one"s mind. But he has stayed in mine for another reason--" Again she looked up. "He has stayed because you helped to keep him there. You know how I have sometimes put my hands over your mouth and told you that your eyes reminded me of some one else? Well, that some one else was my Englishman. But you mustn"t be jealous; he was a horrid, obstinate person, and you--well, you know what I think of you--" She pressed his hand. "But to come to the end of the story, I never saw this man since that long-ago time, until--until the night of Blanche"s party!" She spoke slowly, to give full effect to her words; then she waited for his surprise.
But the result was not what she expected. He said nothing; and, with an abrupt movement, he drew his hand from between hers.
"Aren"t you surprised?" she asked at last, with a delicate note of reproof.
He started slightly, as if recalled to the necessity of the moment.
"Surprised?" he said. "Why should I be surprised? One person more or less at a big party isn"t astonishing. Besides, you expect a man to turn up sooner or later in his own country. Why should I be surprised?"
She lay back luxuriously. "Because, my dear boy," she said, softly, "it"s a mystery! It"s one of those fascinating mysteries that come once in a lifetime."
Loder made no movement. "You must explain," he said, very quietly.
Lillian smiled. "That"s just what I want to do. When I was in my tent on the night of Blanche"s party, a man came to be gazed for. He came just like anybody else, and laid his hands upon the table. He had strong, thin hands like--well, rather like yours But he wore two rings on the third finger of his left hand--a heavy signet-ring and a plain gold one."
Loder moved his hand imperceptibly till the cushion covered it.
Lillian"s words caused him no surprise, scarcely even any trepidation.
He felt now that he had expected them, even waited for them, all along.
"I asked him to, take off his rings," she went on, "and just for a second he hesitated--I could feel him hesitate; then he seemed to make up his mind, for he drew them off. He drew them off, Jack, and guess what I saw! Do guess!"
For the first time Loder involuntarily drew back into his corner of the couch. "I never guess," he said, brusquely.
"Then I"ll tell you. His hands were the hands of my Englishman! The rings covered the scar made by Ko Ko"s teeth. I knew it instantly--the second my eyes rested on it. It was the same scar that I had bound up dozens of times--that I had seen healed before I left Santasalare."
"And you? What did you do?" Loder felt it singularly difficult and unpleasant to speak.
"Ah, that"s the point. That"s where I was stupid and made my mistake. I should have spoken to him on the moment, but I didn"t. You know how one sometimes hesitates. Afterwards it was too late."
"But you saw him afterwards--in the rooms?" Loder spoke unwillingly.
"No, I didn"t--that"s the other point. I didn"t see him in the rooms, and I haven"t seen him since. Directly he was gone, I left the tent--I pretended to be hungry and bored; but, though I went through every room, he was nowhere to be found. Once--" she hesitated and laughed again--"once I thought I had found him, but it was only you--you, as you stood in that door-way with your mouth and chin hidden by Leonard Kaine"s head. Wasn"t it a quaint mistake?"
There was an uncertain pause. Then Loder, feeling the need of speech, broke the silence suddenly. "Where do I come in?" he asked abruptly.
"What am I wanted for?"
"To help to throw light on the mystery! I"ve seen Blanche"s list of people, and there wasn"t a man I couldn"t place--no outsider ever squeezes through Blanche"s door. I have questioned Bobby Blessington, but he can"t remember who came to the tent last. And Bobby was supposed to have kept count!" She spoke in deep scorn; but almost immediately the scorn faded and she smiled again. "Now that I"ve explain ed, Jack," she added, "what do you suggest?"
Then for the first time Loder knew what his presence in the room really meant; and at best the knowledge was disconcerting. It is not every day that a man is called upon to unearth himself.
"Suggest?" he repeated, blankly.
"Yes. I"d rather have your idea of the affair than anybody else"s. You are so dear and sarcastic and keen that you can"t help getting straight at the middle of a fact."
When Lillian wanted anything she could be very sweet. She suddenly dropped her half-petulant tone; she suddenly ceased to be a spoiled child. With a perfectly graceful movement she drew quite close to Loder and slid gently to her knees.
This is an att.i.tude that few women can safely a.s.sume; it requires all the attributes of youth, suppleness, and a certain buoyant ease. But Lillian never acted without justification, and as she leaned towards Loder her face lifted, her slight figure and pale hair softened by the firelight, she made a picture that it would have been difficult to criticise.
But the person who should have appreciated it stared steadily beyond it to the fire. His mind was absorbed by one question--the question of how he might reasonably leave the house before discovery became a.s.sured.
Lillian, attentively watchful of him, saw the uneasy look, and her own face fell. But, as she looked, an inspiration came to her--a remembrance of many interviews with Chilcote smoothed and facilitated by the timely use of tobacco.
"Jack," she said, softly, "before you say another word I insist on your lighting a cigarette." She leaned forward. resting against his knee.
At her words Loder"s eyes left the fire. His attention was suddenly needed for a new and more imminent difficulty. "Thanks!" he said, quickly. "I have no wish to smoke."
"It isn"t a matter of what you wish but of what I say." She smiled. She knew that Chilcote with a cigarette between his lips was infinitely more tractable than Chilcote sitting idle, and she had no intention of ignoring the knowledge.
But Loder caught at her words. "Before you ordered me to smoke," he said, "you told me to give you some advice. Your first command must have prior claim." He grasped unhesitatingly at the less risky theme.
She looked up at him. "You"re always nicer when you smoke," she persisted, caressingly. "Light a cigarette--and give me one."
Loder"s mouth became set. "No," he said, "we"ll stick to this advice business. It interests me."
"Yes--afterwards."
"No, now. You want to find out why this Englishman from Italy was at your sister"s party, and why he disappeared?"
There are times when a malignant obstinacy seems to affect certain people. The only answer Lillian made was to pa.s.s her hand over Loder"s waistcoat, and, feeling his cigarette-case, to draw it from the pocket.
He affected not to see it. "Do you think he recognized you in that tent?" he insisted, desperately.
She held out the case. "Here are your cigarettes. You know we"re always more social when we smoke."
In the short interval while she looked up into his face several ideas pa.s.sed through Loder"s mind. He thought of standing up suddenly and so regaining his advantage; he wondered quickly whether one hand could possibly suffice for the taking out and lighting of two cigarettes. Then all need for speculation was pushed suddenly aside.
Lillian, looking into his face, saw his fresh look of disturbance, and from long experience again changed her tactics. Laying the cigarette-case on the couch, she put one hand on his shoulder, the other on his left arm. Hundreds of times this caressing touch had quieted Chilcote.
"Dear old boy!" she said, soothingly, her hand moving slowly down his arm.
In a flash of understanding the consequences of this position came to him. Action was imperative, at whatever risk. With an abrupt gesture he rose.
The movement was awkward. He got to his feet precipitately; Lillian drew back, surprised and startled, catching involuntarily at his left hand to steady her position.