Levi bent and placed his hand tenderly upon his master"s shoulder.
But Statham shook him off, and, straightening himself, staggered to his feet and paced the room in a frenzy of despair.
Charlie recollected his agitation after the unexpected discovery of Jean Adam lounging outside the park railings. This repet.i.tion of his apprehension showed him to be in terror of exposure and denunciation.
Maud, so slim, sweet-faced, and innocent, had defied him. She held him, the man whose power in every European capital was recognised and feared, in the hollow of her hand.
Why? Ay, to that question there was no answer. They had witnessed the scene, but they had caught no sound of one single word.
At last Levi succeeded in calming his master. He mixed him another brandy and soda and handed it to him. The old man seized it with unsteady hand, and tossed it off at a single gulp.
Then he walked slowly from the room, followed by Levi.
An instant later the old servant turned the switch, and the room, and with it the neglected conservatory, were plunged in darkness.
The two intruders listened. Voices sounded, and then died away. A moment later they heard a thud, and knew that the old man had pa.s.sed beyond the white-enamelled door and had closed it behind him.
For another few minutes they remained in silence, then Max whispered:
"What shall we do?"
"We must get out of here," answered his friend promptly. "We"re caught like a rat in a trap. To open either of the doors leading into the house is impossible. We must try and make our exit by the back," and, groping his way, he moved to the door, which opened on to a small, paved backyard.
But it had been secured. Levi, indeed, kept it always locked, and the key was not there.
"To break this open will create a noise, and arouse somebody," Max remarked.
"Well, we must get out at all hazards. We can"t stay here till morning and court discovery," Rolfe argued. "If we only had a little light we might see what we"re doing. By Jove! You"ve got a pocket-lamp, Max.
Where is it?"
"Is it safe yet to show a light?" Barclay asked dubiously. "It may be seen from outside, you know!"
"It can"t. There"s a blank wall opposite."
"But will not the reflection be seen by Levi from below?" asked Max.
Rolfe saw that, after all, there was some danger of detection, and admitted it.
"Then let"s wait a bit," his companion whispered. "By patience we may be able to escape without detection. Don"t let us act indiscreetly."
So the pair, leaning against one of the stands of dead flowers, waited in silence, their ears strained to catch every sound. The moments seemed hours, until at last, all being quiet, Max, at his friend"s suggestion pressed the electric b.u.t.ton of the little hand-lamp and showed a light upon the door.
It was half of gla.s.s, with strong lock and double bolts. To escape meant to break away a hole large enough for a man"s body to pa.s.s. Max suggested that they might find the key hanging somewhere upon a nail, as conservatory keys are often kept, in that manner. But though they searched the whole place, treading lightly as they went, they were unable to discover it.
"Levi keeps it upon his bunch, I expect," Charlie remarked. "I"ve never seen this door open in my life."
"That"s why the flowers are all dead, perhaps," Max remarked grimly with a low laugh.
"Flowers! Old Sam declared that they were no use to him, therefore he forbade Levi to give them any water, and they all died. The old man isn"t fond of flowers. Says they"re only useful at weddings and funerals."
"There won"t be many at his obsequies!" laughed Max beneath his breath, as he made another examination of the door.
Both agreed that to open it was impossible, while to break out the gla.s.s was far too risky a proceeding, for some of it must fall upon the paving outside.
Rain had begun to fall, pattering heavily upon the gla.s.s roof above; and as they were both searching about blindly for some other mode of egress Max suddenly exclaimed:
"Why, look here!" and pointed to a portion of the gla.s.s side of the conservatory which had opened outwardly upon a hinge, but which had been securely screwed up.
"Excellent!" cried Charlie, realising that an exit lay there, and, quickly drawing from his pocket a serviceable-looking screwdriver, set to work upon the screws.
They were long, and hard to withdraw, but ten minutes later all six of them were taken out, and, pushing back the movable frame upon its hinges, they found themselves outside in the narrow backyard.
Once free, Max turned his face upwards to the dark windows of the first floor of the mysterious mansion, saying: "We must get up there, Charlie, somehow or other. I"m not going from this place until I"ve learnt its secret."
"No," responded his friend. "Neither am I."
CHAPTER FORTY NINE.
WHAT LAY BEHIND THE DOOR.
Above the dome-shaped roof of the conservatory was a row of four long dark windows, and still above them two further storeys. On the second storey in the centre of the house was a high window covered with wire network, evidently a staircase window of stained gla.s.s.
The whole place was in darkness, as were the houses on either side, while at rear of them rose a blank wall, the back of one of the houses in Park Street. The only light showing was in the bas.e.m.e.nt--a faint glimmer behind the green holland blinds, which showed the presence of Levi in the lower regions.
"He sleeps in the front," remarked Charlie. "I expect, however, he keeps this on all night."
"Where does old Sam sleep?"
"That I don"t know. We"ll have to discover."
The windows above the conservatory were their objective, but to ascend there was full of peril, for, even though they could climb up, one false step and they would come crashing through the gla.s.s roof. This would mean both serious personal injury as well as instant discovery.
In the whispered consultation that followed, both recognised the danger, but both were equally determined to risk it. They had plenty of time.
The night was still young, therefore there was no need for haste.
They made careful examination as far as they could in the very faint light. Max was afraid to flash his electric lamp too often lest the attention of any neighbour might be attracted and an alarm of "burglars"
given. Neither knew whether a servant might not be looking out upon the night. The house they desired to enter had earned a reputation as a house of mystery, therefore it was more than likely that some watchful eye of a curious neighbour, master or servant, was kept upon the rear of the premises.
At last, Max, who was the more athletic and nimble of the two, decided that the only way by which to reach the roof of the conservatory was by the spouting at the side. The ascent was a difficult one, but he resolved to attempt it.
Taking a small coil of thin but very strong rope which Charlie produced from the capacious pocket of the shooting-jacket he wore for that purpose, he mounted upon his friend"s shoulders, and then climbed slowly up, with an agility which surprised his friend.
Once upon the roof he made fast the rope to one of the iron stays of the spouting, and let it down to Charlie, who a few moments later swarmed up it and stood on the edge of the gla.s.s roof beside his companion.
Their position there was one of greatest peril. They stood together upon the narrow edging of lead by which the gla.s.s roof was joined to the wall of the house. They moved slowly and gingerly, for it was quite uncertain whether it would bear their weight. Besides, there was nothing to grasp by which to relieve their weight, for above them rose the wall sheer to the ledges of the row of windows, too high for them to reach.
A step in the wrong direction, and down they must come with a crash into the neglected conservatory.