The man went down before the apparently savage onslaught. Moreno rushed down the stairs.
"After him," yelled the Chief. "Don"t let that man escape."
Three of the waiting men clattered down the stairs after the flying Moreno. They returned a few moments later, crestfallen. They explained that he had flown like the wind, that they had lost him in the darkness.
The Chief swore roundly, and cursed them. "Dolts, idiots!" he cried fiercely. "You have let him slip through your fingers. I believe he is the most dangerous man of the lot."
He was certainly playing his part splendidly. It had, of course, all been rehea.r.s.ed. The man on whom Moreno had sprung had fallen down of his own accord. The men who had been dispatched to pursue him had lost him on purpose.
Farquhar met him at the door of the shabby house and piloted him to the cab in which Guy Rossett and Isobel were seated.
"Here is the third pa.s.senger," he said. Moreno got in and looked triumphantly at the two. "Well, what do you think of the English Secret Service?" he cried in exultant tones. "Mr Rossett is saved, I have escaped without suspicion, and my good friend the Chief of Police will make a splendid haul upstairs. He played up splendidly. Well, I think, after to-night the anarchist movement will have a big set-back in Spain."
The cab drove along. Isobel was deposited at the G.o.dwins". Rossett was put down at his own flat. Moreno was conveyed to the residence of the Chief of Police, where he was to pa.s.s the night.
A telegram was awaiting Guy. It was from his sister Mary.
"I was summoned to Aunt Henrietta this morning. She had pa.s.sed away before I arrived."
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
The next morning Guy Rossett and Farquhar were admitted to a private audience of the King. A gracious message had been transmitted to Moreno through the agency of the Chief of Police. It would not have been very politic on the part of that enterprising young man to show himself at the Palace.
His Majesty thanked them both warmly for their services, and was very interested in the details which they gave him of that eventful evening.
"I know England well, and love it," he said. "As long as she breeds such sons as you, she will always remain the first of great nations.
Last night"s work was good. My poor country will have a more peaceful time now that we have laid these bloodthirsty scoundrels by the heels."
Moreno"s overpowering impulse was to get back to England as quickly as possible. But there was a certain duty to perform first. He must pay his promised visit to Violet Hargrave.
He called about eleven o"clock. He found her looking pale and languid from the effects of the powerful mixture he had given her.
"Pulling round?" he inquired as they shook hands. "I can see you are, but you won"t be quite yourself for a few hours. Well, tell me what happened. I arrived late at the meeting, and simply heard from Contraras that Alvedero had reported you were indisposed. But I learned no details, and, of course, did not press for any. Did they fetch a doctor to you? If so, what is his verdict?"
A faint smile spread over her pale face.
"He has only left a few minutes ago. He came to the conclusion that I dosed myself with drugs. I allowed him to believe that I did. Of course, I have never drugged in my life."
"A very clever man, an ornament to his profession," remarked Moreno drily. "Still, how the devil should he guess, being totally ignorant of the circ.u.mstances? And the symptoms were precisely those which would have been produced by a long course of drugging."
Mrs Hargrave laid her hand upon his arm, and spoke in a serious voice.
"What of last night? There is nothing in the papers this morning. I have sent out for half a dozen. Tell me what happened."
"The brotherhood has been defeated again." He rehea.r.s.ed the scene for her benefit, and came to the concluding portion.
"Just as they were about to remove Rossett, I distinctly heard a low whistle, that was repeated a few seconds later. I just pulled aside the curtain, and saw that the house was surrounded. I had hardly put the blind back when the door was burst open and the police swarmed in. They cut Rossett loose and took him downstairs. They covered us with revolvers, and made us take off our masks. The Chief who was with them recognised Contraras, Zorrilta, and Alvedero. Myself and Somoza he did not recognise."
"Ah!" Violet Hargrave drew a long breath. "You were the only one who escaped, then? How did you manage it?"
"By a miracle. I always keep my head in a crisis. As soon as I heard them rushing up the stairs, I drew near to the door, hoping to escape in the confusion. It was, of course, a thousand to one chance. While all the attention was being concentrated on Contraras and the others--of course the Chief didn"t expect to bag such a big game--I drew my knife, plunged it into the breast of the man guarding the door--I fear I killed him, poor fellow--flew down the stairs, knocked over another chap, and dodged through them."
Violet Hargrave surveyed him critically. "I am afraid you haven"t a very high opinion of my intelligence. That is the story you will tell to Lucue, Maceda, and Jaques when we meet again in London. It does not impose upon me. You have escaped right enough, but you escaped with the connivance of the police."
Moreno bit his lip; he had presumed a little too much upon feminine incredulity.
"At any rate, you are not in their clutches," he said quietly. "I saved you. Don"t forget that."
She reached out her hand. "Please forgive me. I am very grateful for what you have done. Of course, if I had gone there you could not have saved me. I should have been taken with the others. You could save Guy Rossett and yourself, even your clever brain could not have taken in a third. I repeat, I am very grateful."
Moreno retained her hand in his. Secretive as he was by nature, he felt that the time for dissimulation was past.
"When we get to London--I am leaving to-night, and the sooner we make tracks the better--we will respect each other"s secrets. I have still in my possession the photographed copy of that doc.u.ment which you sold to Guy Rossett."
She drew away her hand from his with an indignant gesture.
"Oh, you think I am utterly, irretrievably base!" she cried bitterly.
"You think I would betray you, after what you have done for me, saved me from death or a life-long imprisonment." She broke into wild sobbing.
He put his arm round her, and drew her gently towards him, till her crying ceased.
"My poor little Violet," he whispered gently. "Let us speak together quite frankly. You are, on your own showing, an adventuress, with, I believe, some very womanly instincts. Well, I am not quite sure that I am very much better. You sold the Cause for money. I sold it for money, too, plus conviction. I wonder if we could turn over a new leaf, lead a new life together?"
"If I could find somebody who really cared for me," cried the pretty little blonde woman, still tearful. "Jaques loves me, I am sure, but just with the love of a father."
"Well, I care for you," said Moreno, and this time he spoke without any reservation.
Violet lifted her face to his, and their lips met. Then she shivered.
"But how can we escape from this horrible brotherhood? Lucue and Jaques are left. They will exact their pound of flesh. They will snare us into equally dangerous enterprises."
Moreno snapped his fingers. "Bah! If I have outwitted Contraras and the others, I will soon settle Lucue"s hash. As to poor old Jaques, it won"t take long to convince him that he is more safely employed in earning a hundred per cent, on his capital than in trying to blow up respectable people who have certainly never injured him. The fate of the others will frighten him."
Violet drew herself from his protecting arm, and dried her eyes.
"I think, dear, I can really turn into a good woman," she said plaintively. "You see, I have never had a proper chance. When I married Jack, and I was genuinely fond of him, I thought I had met a gentleman. Can you guess what he really was?"
"A card-sharper?" suggested Moreno, with his uncanny facility of guessing conundrums.
Mrs Hargrave nodded her blonde head.
"You have hit it. A week after we were married he told me all about himself. We were to take an expensive flat in Mount Street, and he would bring people there. He spent three weeks in teaching me an elaborate system of signalling. As a rule, we played together, but he had another couple of confederates to ward off suspicion."
"Did you tell Jaques of this?"
"No, I was too ashamed. Jaques is, of course, a rogue in his own way, but not that way. He was opposed to the marriage at first, and I was keen on it. I made out that Jack was a man of good family, and well-off. I believed all he told me at the start. I didn"t want to own that I had been taken in."
"I quite understand," replied Moreno. "By the way, of course you didn"t know that poor old Contraras is dead."