"Why shouldn"t I leave the room?"
It was an instant or two before Draycott, looking steadily at him, answered question with question.
"Do you require me to tell you?"
There was something in the quietly uttered words which made Dodwell wince as if they had p.r.i.c.ked him. He seemed in doubt how to treat the challenge which they conveyed; that they did convey a challenge was plain; his reply, when it came, was both sullen and undignified.
"If I want to go I shall go, and you shan"t stop me."
Draycott"s rejoinder was so curt as to be contemptuous.
"You know better than that."
"Why should I know better? I have taught you one lesson already. Shall I teach you another? I"ll be hanged if I"ll stay in a room in which you are."
"Dodwell!"
The sharp utterance of his name conveyed both a command and a threat, as the other seemed to perceive. He had made a half-movement towards the door, and had already stretched out his hand to open it--the tone in which Draycott p.r.o.nounced his name seemed all at once to check him.
"Are you speaking to me," he demanded with what was almost a snarl, "or to a dog? Hang your impudence! Do you suppose I"m going to allow you to dictate to me whether I am to go or stay?"
Ignoring the speaker, Noel Draycott turned to the others.
"Will you men be so good as to see that Captain Dodwell doesn"t leave the room until I"ve given the explanation which I am going to give? I am not very fit at present; in fact, it"s against the doctor"s orders that I"m here at all; but, as matters were going, I felt I had to come.
If I were fit, I shouldn"t trouble you; I should make it my own particular business to see that Captain Dodwell didn"t leave the room until I"d finished; as it is, I"m afraid I must."
Clifford voiced the general feeling by the question which he put.
"Why do you want to go, Dodwell--what"s up?"
Anthony Dodwell made an unsuccessful effort to treat the speaker with the air of insolence which they knew so well.
"Really, Mr. Clifford, I have yet to learn that I am to be called to account for my goings and comings by you."
"All the same, there"s no reason why you shouldn"t answer my question.
Here"s Noel come back out of the grave, as it were. It"s pretty plain that he"s been in the wars, and you know well enough what a pother there"s been; especially when he asks you, why can"t you stop and hear whatever he has to say?"
"Because I"d sooner go. If that doesn"t appear to be a sufficient reason, I"m sorry."
"One moment, Captain Dodwell, if you please."
The interpolation came from Major Reith. Dodwell already had the door partly open.
"Well, major, what can I do for you--with your one moment?"
"To begin with, you can shut that door."
Striding forward with unexpected rapidity, the major, wresting the door from his grasp, shut it sharply.
"Reith! Do you imagine that I am going to take my orders, in such a manner, from you?"
"Only the other day you were throwing out some very uncomfortable hints about Draycott here; I"m not going to recur to them now, but you know very well what they were, but here is Draycott to answer for himself.
In view of those hints which you threw out, I"m going to make it my business to see that you stay and hear what his answer is."
Confronted by the major, Anthony Dodwell drew himself up; there had been something hang-dog in his att.i.tude just now. "By force?" he asked.
"Yes, if necessary, by force. You were one of those who resorted to force on an occasion which it is not necessary for me to recall to your memory, and in this very room. I may tell you that there is something in your att.i.tude which makes me wonder if, in this business, you have not been guilty of conduct which is not altogether to your credit. If I am wrong, the fault is yours; I can conceive of no creditable reason why it should be necessary to resort to force to compel you to listen, in the very remarkable circ.u.mstances, to what Noel Draycott has to say."
"I may tell you, Dodwell, that I quite agree with Reith."
This remark came from Payne; it was more than echoed by Jackie Tickell.
Mr. Tickell went bursting towards the pair at the door, still with his cue in his hand; he trailed it after him as if unconscious that he still had it.
"Considering how you"ve been throwing out hints about my taking advantage of Draycott"s absence to doubt if Syd Beaton cheated as you say he did, it seems jolly rummy now Draycott has turned up to give me the dressing-down which only half an hour ago you seemed to think I needed, that instead of calling on him to do it, you want to what looks like take to your heels and run."
Dodwell looked at him very much as a bad-tempered big dog is apt to regard a courageous little one.
"If you"re not very careful I shall whip you, Jackie Tickell; I don"t intend to stand more than a certain amount of impertinence, even from an a.s.s."
Instead of showing signs of trepidation, the little man seemed to grow more heated.
"We"ll see what you will or won"t do when we"ve heard what Draycott has to say. Until he has said it, you"ll do nothing; you won"t even run away. Draycott, do you remember that poker business? I"ve been thinking a lot about it since; I"d have had a jaw with you about it if you"d been here----"
Noel Draycott cut him short.
"That"s all right, Tickell, you can have all the jaw with me you like a little later on, if you want to talk to me at all after what I am going to say; but in the meanwhile, if you don"t mind, I"d rather get off my chest what"s on it, in my own way."
Major Reith was standing with his back to the door. In front of him on one side was Anthony Dodwell, on the other Jackie Tickell.
"Hullo!" he suddenly exclaimed, "there"s someone outside who wants to come in; who"s there?"
The door had been opened by someone without sufficiently far to come into contact with his broad back, which acted as an effectual buffer.
As he moved it was open wide enough to admit one of the orderlies of the evening, Private Henry Barnes.
"Well, Barnes," inquired the major, "what is it you want?"
"If you please, sir--a lady."
Holding the door open at its widest the orderly ushered in--Miss Forster.
CHAPTER XXIX
The Visitor Remains