Merriton laughed, and at the sound, "Toinette, who had sat perfectly still during the discussion of the mystery, gave a little cry of alarm and covered her ears with her hands.
"I beg of you," she broke out excitedly, "please, please do not talk about it! The whole affair frightens me! Uncle will laugh I know, but-I am terrified of those little flames, Sir Nigel, more terrified than I can say! If you speak of them any more, I must go-really! Please, please don"t dream of trying to find out what they are, Sir Nigel! It-it would upset me very much indeed if you attempted so foolish a thing!"
Merriton"s first sensation at hearing this was pleasure that he was capable of upsetting her over his own personal welfare. Then the something sinister about the whole story, which seemed to affect every one with whom he came into touch, swept over him. A number of otherwise rational human beings scared out of their wits over some mysterious flames on the edge of the Fens at night time, seemed, in the face of this glorious summer"s afternoon, to be little short of ridiculous. He tried to throw the idea off but could not. "Toinette"s pale face kept coming before him; the sudden dropping of her spoon struck an unpleasant chord in his memory. Brellier"s att.i.tude merely added fuel to the fire and soon they rose to go, Merriton following them to the door.
"Don"t forget, then, Miss Brellier, that you are booked to me for a ride on Thursday," he said, laughingly.
She nodded to him and gave his hand a little squeeze at parting.
"I shall not forget, Sir Nigel. But-you will promise me," her voice dropped a tone or two, "you will promise me that you will not try and find out what those-those flames are, won"t you? I could not sleep if you did." And they were gone.
Merriton stood awhile in silence, his brows puckered and his mouth stern. First Borkins, and then Brellier, and now-her! All of them begging him almost upon their knees to forego a perfectly harmless little quest of discovery. There seemed to his mind something almost fishy about it all. What then were these "Frozen Flames"? What secret did they hide? And what malignant power dwelt behind the screen of their mystery?
CHAPTER IV
AN EVIL GENIUS
Thus, despite the bad beginning at Merriton Towers the weeks that followed were filled with happiness for Merriton. His acquaintance with "Toinette flourished and that charming young woman grew to mean more and more to the man who had led such a lonely life.
And so one day wove itself into another with the joy of sunlight over both their lives. He took to going regularly to Withersby Hall, and became an expected guest, dropping in at all hours to wile away an hour or two in "Toinette"s company, or else to have a quiet game of billiards with Brellier, or a cigar in company with both of them, in the garden, while the sun was still up. He never mentioned the flames to them again. But he never investigated them either. He had promised "Toinette that, though he often watched them from his bedroom window, at night, watched them and wondered, and thought a good deal about Borkins and how he had lied to him about his uncle"s disappearance upon that first night. Between Borkins and himself there grew up a spirit of distrust which he regretted yet did nothing to counteract. In fact it is to be feared that he did his best at times to irritate the staid old man who had been in the family so long. Borkins did amuse him, and he couldn"t help leading him on. Borkins, noting this att.i.tude, drew himself into himself and his face became mask-like in its impa.s.sivity.
But if Borkins became a stone image whenever Merriton was about, his effusiveness was over-powering at such times as Mr. Brellier paid a visit to the Towers. He followed both Brellier and his niece wherever they went like a shadow. Jokingly one day, Merriton had made the remark: "Borkins might be your factotum rather than mine, Mr. Brellier; indeed I"ve no doubt he would be, if the traditions of the house had not so long lain in his hands." He was rewarded for this remark by a sudden tightening of Brellier"s lips, and then by an equally sudden smile. They were very good friends these days-Brellier and Merriton, and got on very excellently together.
And then, as the days wore themselves away and turned into months, Merriton woke up to the fact that he could wait no longer before putting his luck to the test so far as "Toinette was concerned. He had already confided his secret to Brellier, who laughed and patted him on the back and told him that he had known of it a long time and wished him luck. It wasn"t long after this he was telling Brellier the good news that "Toinette had accepted, and the two of them came to tell him of their happiness.
"So?" Mr. Brellier said quietly. "Well, I am very, very glad. You have taken your time, mes enfants, in settling this greatest of all questions, but perhaps you have been wise.... I am very happy for you, my "Toinette, for I feel that your future is in the keeping of a good and true man. There are all too few in the world, believe me!...
""Toinette, a friend awaits you in the drawing-room. Someone, I fear me, who will be none too pleased to hear this news, but that"s as may be. Dacre Wynne is there, "Toinette."
At the name a chill came over Merriton.
Dacre Wynne! And here! Impossible, and yet the name was too uncommon for it to be a different person from the man who always seemed somehow to turn up wherever he, Merriton, might chance to be. Sort of a fateful affinity. Good friends and all that, but somehow the things he always wanted, Dacre Wynne had invariably come by just beforehand. There was much more than friendly rivalry in their acquaintanceship. And once, as mere youngsters of seventeen and eighteen, there had been a girl, his girl, until Dacre came and took her with that masterful way of his. There was something brutally over-powering about Dacre, hard as granite, forceful, magnetic. To Nigel"s young, clean, wholesome mind, little given to morbid imaginings as it was, it had almost seemed as if their two spirits were in some stifling stranglehold together, wrapt about and intertwined by a hand operating by means of some unknown medium. And now to find him here in his hour of happiness. Was this close, uncomfortable companionship of the spirit to be forced on him again? If Wynne were present he felt he would be powerless to avoid it.
"Do you know Dacre Wynne?" he asked, his voice betraying an emotion that was almost fear.
"Toinette Brellier glanced at her uncle, hesitated, and then murmured: "Yes-I-do. I didn"t know you did, Nigel. He never spoke of you. I-he-you see he wants me, too, Nigel, and I am almost afraid to tell him-about us. But I-I have to see him. Shall I tell him?"
"Of course. Poor chap, I am sorry for him. Yes, I know him, "Toinette. But I cannot say we are friends. You see, I-Oh, well, it doesn"t matter."
But how much Dacre Wynne was to matter to him, and to "Toinette, and to the public, and to far away Scotland Yard, and to the man of mystery, Hamilton Cleek, not they-nor any one else-could possibly tell.
They went into the long, cool drawing room together, and came upon Dacre Wynne, clad in riding things, and looking, just as Nigel remembered he always looked, very bronzed and big and handsome in a heavy way. His back was toward them and his eyes were upon a photo of "Toinette that stood on a carved secretaire. He wheeled at the sound of their footsteps and came forward, his face lighting with pleasure, his hand outstretched. Then he saw Merriton behind "Toinette"s tiny figure, and for a moment some of the pleasure went out of his eyes.
"h.e.l.lo," he said. "However did you get to this part of the world? You always turn up like a bad penny.... What a time you"ve been "Toinette!"
Merriton greeted him pleasantly, and "Toinette"s radiant eyes smiled up into his bronzed face.
"Have I?" she said, with a little embarra.s.sed laugh. "Well, I have been out riding-with Nigel."
"Oh, Nigel lives round here, does he?" said Wynne, with a sarcastic laugh. "Like it, old man?"
"Oh, I like it well enough," retorted Merriton. "At any rate I"ll be obliged to get used to it. I"ve said good-bye to India for keeps, Wynne. I"m settled here for good."
Wynne swung upon his heel at the tone of Merriton"s voice, and his eyes narrowed. He stood almost a head taller than Nigel-who was by no means short-and was big and broad and heavy-chested. Merriton always felt at a disadvantage.
"So? You are going to settle down to it altogether, then?" said Wynne, with an odd note in his deep, booming voice. "Toinette sent a quick, rather scared look into her lover"s face. He smiled back as though to rea.s.sure her.
"Yes," he said, a trifle defiantly. "You see, Wynne, I"ve come into a place near here. I"m-I"m hoping to get married soon. "Toinette and I, you know. She"s done me the honour to promise to be my wife. Congratulate me, won"t you?"
It was like a blow full in the face to the other man. For a moment all the colour drained out of his bronzed cheeks and he went as white as death.
"I-I-certainly congratulate you, with all my heart," he said, speaking in a strange, husky voice. "Believe me, you"re a luckier chap, Merriton, than you know. Quite the luckiest chap in the world."
He took out his handkerchief suddenly and blew his nose, and then wiped his forehead, which, Merriton noted, was damp with perspiration. Then he felt in his pockets and produced a cigarette.
"I may smoke, "Toinette? Thanks. I"ve had a long ride, and a hard one.... And so you two are going to get married, are you?"
"Toinette"s face, too, was rather pale. She smiled nervously, and instinctively her hand crept out and touched Merriton"s sleeve. She could feel him stiffen suddenly, and saw how proudly he threw back his head.
"Yes," said "Toinette. "We"re going to be married, Dacre. And I am-oh, so happy! I know you cannot help being pleased-with that. And uncle, too. He seems delighted."
Wynne measured her with his eyes for a moment. Then he looked quickly away.
"Well, Merriton, you"ve got your own back for little Rosie Deverill, haven"t you? Remember how heart-broken you were at sixteen, when she turned her rather wayward affections to me? Now-the tables have turned. Well, I wish you luck. Think I"ll be getting along. I"ve a good deal of work to do this evening, and I"ll be shipping for Cairo, I hope, next week. That"s what I came to see you about "Toinette, but I"m afraid I am a little-late."
"Cairo, Mr. Wynne?" Brellier had entered the room and his voice held a note of surprise. "We shall miss you-"
"Oh, you"ll get on all right without me, my friend," returned Wynne with a grim smile, and a look that included all three of them in its mock amus.e.m.e.nt. "I"m not quite so much wanted as I thought. Well, Nigel, I suppose you"ll be giving a dinner, the proper "stag" party, before you become a Benedict. Sorry I can"t be here to join in the revels."
He put out his hand, Nigel took it, and wrung it with a heartiness and friendship that he had never before felt; but after all he had conquered! It was he Antoinette was going to marry. His heart was br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with pity for the man.
"Look here," he said. "Come and dine with me at the Towers before you go, Wynne, old man. We"ll have a real bachelor party as you say. All the other chaps and you, just to give you a sort of send off. What about Tuesday? I won"t have you say no."
For a moment a look of friendship came into Wynne"s eyes. He gazed into Merriton"s, and then returned the hand-grasp frankly. It was almost as though he understood this mute apology of Nigel"s, and took it at its proper value.
"Thanks, old boy. Very decent of you, I"m sure. Yes, I"d like to have a peep at the other chaps before I sail. Just for old times" sake. I"ve nothing special doing Tuesday that I can"t put off. And so-I"ll come. So long."
"Good-bye," said Merriton, rather relieved at Wynne"s att.i.tude-and yet, in spite of himself, distrusting it.
"Good-bye, "Toinette.... It"s really good-bye this time. And I wish you all the happiness you deserve."
"Thank you."
He looked into her eyes a moment, and then with a sudden sigh turned quickly away and went out of the room. Brellier strode after him and wrung his hand while the two that were left clung to each other in silence. It was as though an unseen, sinister presence had suddenly gone from the room. The tension was lifted, and they could breathe naturally again.
Standing together they heard the front door slam.
CHAPTER V