CABLEGRAM WlNKELRIED, VIENNA.
Not later than Friday.
CHAUVENET.
Claiborne read and re-read these eight words; then he spoke bluntly to Oscar.
"Where did you get this?"
"From the hat of the sheep-stealer up yonder."
"Who is he and where did he get it?"
"I don"t know, sir. He was of Servia, and they are an ugly race--yes?"
"What were you going to do with the paper?"
Oscar grinned.
"If I could read it--yes; I might know; but if Austria is in the paper, then it is mischief; and maybe it would be murder; who knows?"
Claiborne looked frowningly from the paper to Oscar"s tranquil eyes.
"d.i.c.k!" called Shirley from the hall, and she appeared in the doorway, drawing on her gloves; but paused at seeing Oscar.
"Shirley, I caught this man in the sheepfold. Did you ever see him before?"
"I think not, d.i.c.k."
"It was he that brought your horse home."
"To be sure it is! I hadn"t recognized him. Thank you very much;" and she smiled at Oscar.
d.i.c.k frowned fiercely and referred again to the paper.
"Where is Monsieur Chauvenet--have you any idea?"
"If he isn"t at the hotel or in Washington, I"m sure I don"t know. If we are going to the dance--"
"Plague the dance! I heard a shot in the sheep pasture a bit ago and ran out to find this fellow in a row with another man, who got away."
"I heard the shot and the dogs from my window. You seem to have been in a fuss, too, from the looks of your clothes;" and Shirley sat down and smoothed her gloves with provoking coolness.
d.i.c.k sent Oscar to the far end of the library with a gesture, and held up the message for Shirley to read.
"Don"t touch it!" he exclaimed; and when she nodded her head in sign that she had read it, he said, speaking earnestly and rapidly:
"I suppose I have no right to hold this message; I must send the man to the hotel telegraph office with it. But where is Chauvenet? What is his business in the valley? And what is the link between Vienna and these hills?"
"Don"t you know what _you_ are doing here?" she asked, and he flushed.
"I know what, but not _why_!" he blurted irritably; "but that"s enough!"
"You know that Baron von Marhof wants to find Mr. John Armitage; but you don"t know why."
"I have my orders and I"m going to find him, if it takes ten years."
Shirley nodded and clasped her fingers together. Her elbows resting on the high arms of her chair caused her cloak to flow sweepingly away from her shoulders. At the end of the room, with his back to the portieres, stood Oscar, immovable. Claiborne reexamined the message, and extended it again to Shirley.
"There"s no doubt of that being Chauvenet"s writing, is there?"
"I think not, d.i.c.k. I have had notes from him now and then in that hand.
He has taken pains to write this with unusual distinctness."
The color brightened in her cheeks suddenly as she looked toward Oscar.
The curtains behind him swayed, but so did the curtain back of her. A May-time languor had crept into the heart of April, and all the windows were open. The blurred murmurs of insects stole into the house. Oscar, half-forgotten by his captor, heard a sound in the window behind him and a hand touched him through the curtain.
Claiborne crumpled the paper impatiently.
"Shirley, you are against me! I believe you have seen Armitage here, and I want you to tell me what you know of him. It is not like you to shield a scamp of an adventurer--an unknown, questionable character. He has followed you to this valley and will involve you in his affairs without the slightest compunction, if he can. It"s most infamous, outrageous, and when I find him I"m going to thrash him within an inch of his life before I turn him over to Marhof!"
Shirley laughed for the first time in their interview, and rose and placed her hands on her brother"s shoulders.
"Do it, d.i.c.k! He"s undoubtedly a wicked, a terribly wicked and dangerous character."
"I tell you I"ll find him," he said tensely, putting up his hands to hers, where they rested on his shoulders. She laughed and kissed him, and when her hands fell to her side the message was in her gloved fingers.
"I"ll help you, d.i.c.k," she said, b.u.t.toning her glove.
"That"s like you, Shirley."
"If you want to find Mr. Armitage--"
"Of course I want to find him--" His voice rose to a roar.
"Then turn around; Mr. Armitage is just behind you!"
"Yes; I needed my man for other business," said Armitage, folding his arms, "and as you were very much occupied I made free with the rear veranda and changed places with him."
Claiborne walked slowly toward him, the anger glowing in his face.
"You are worse than I thought--eavesdropper, housebreaker!"
"Yes; I am both those things, Captain Claiborne. But I am also in a great hurry. What do you want with me?"
"You are a rogue, an impostor--"
"We will grant that," said Armitage quietly. "Where is your warrant for my arrest?"
"That will be forthcoming fast enough! I want you to understand that I have a personal grievance against you."