"Slyme," he said, "I don't think you need go any further in that direction. Faversham is scarcely the man to deal with in the way you suggest. Still you can keep them in mind. One never knows what may happen."
Polonius Slyme was evidently puzzled. He looked cautiously, suspiciously, at the face of the other, as if trying to understand him.
"I have tried to do your lordship's will," he ventured.
"Yes, and on the whole I'm satisfied with what you've done. Yes, what is it?"
"If your lordship would deign to trust me," he said.
"Trust you? In what way?"
"If you would tell me what is in your mind, I could serve you better," he asserted, with a nervous laugh."All the time I have been acting in the dark. I don't understand your lordship."
The Count smiled as though he were pleased.
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"I am very bold, I know, and doubtless I am not worthy to have the confidence of one so great and so wise as your lordship. But I have tried to be worthy, I have worked night and day for you—not for the wages, liberal though they are, but solely for the purpose of being useful to you. And I could, I am sure, be more useful if I knew your mind, if I knew exactly what you wanted. I am sure of this: if I knew your purposes in relation to Faversham, if I knew what you wanted to do with him, I could serve you better."
The Count looked at Slyme steadily for some seconds.
"I allow no man to understand my mind, my purposes," the Count answered.
"Certainly, your lordship," assented the little man meekly; "only your lordship doubtless sees that—that I am handicapped. I don't think I'm a fool," he added; "I am as faithful as a dog, and as secret as the grave."
"You want to know more than that," replied Romanoff harshly.
Polonius Slyme was silent.
"You want to know who I am," continued the Count. "You have been puzzled because I, who am known as a Russian, should interest myself in this man Faversham, and up to now you, in spite of the fact that you've hunted like a ferret, have found out nothing. More than that, you cannot think why I fastened on you to help me, and, cunning little vermin that you are, you stopped at nothing to discover it."
"But only in your interest," assented the little man eagerly; "only because I wanted to deserve the honour you have bestowed upon me."
"I am disposed to be communicative," went on the Count; "disposed to make something of a confidante of you. Of my secret mind, you, nor no man, shall know anything, but I will let you know something."
Polonius Slyme drew nearer his master and listened like a fox. "Yes, your lordship," he whispered.
"Look here, Polonius, you have just told me that you are a man of brains: suppose that you wanted to get a strong man in your power, to make him your slave, body and soul, what would you do? Suppose also that you had great, but still limited power, that your knowledge was wide, but with marked boundaries, how would you set to work?"
"Every man has his weaknesses," replied Polonius. "I should discover them, fasten upon them, and make my plans accordingly."
"Yes, that's right. Now we'll suppose that Faversham is the man, what would you regard as his weaknesses?"
"Pride, ambition, a love, almost amounting to a passion, for power," answered the little man quickly. "That would mean a longing for wealth, a craving for fame."
"And conscience?" queried the Count.
"He has a conscience," replied the little man; "a conscience which may be called healthily normal."
"Just so. Now I'll tell you something. I've placed wealth in his way, and he has rejected it for conscience sake. I've tempted him with power and fame, almost unlimited power and fame, and although he's seen the bait, he has not risen to it."
Polonius was silent for some time. Evidently he was thinking deeply; evidently, too, he saw something of what lay behind the Count's words, for he nodded his head sagely, and into his cunning eyes came a look of understanding.
"Of course you do not care to tell me why you want to make him your slave, body and soul?" he whispered.
"No!" the Count almost snarled. "No man may know that."
"You ask what I would do next?"
"Yes, I ask that."
"No man is invulnerable," said the little man, as though he were talking to himself. "No man ever was, no man ever will be. Every man has his price, and if one can pay it——"
"There is no question of price," said the Counteagerly; "nothing need stand in the way, any price can be paid."
"I see, I see," and the little man's foxy eyes flashed. "You want to work the man's moral downfall," he added. "You want to make him a slave to your will—notto make him a saint?"
The Count was silent.
"If I wanted to make such a man a slave to my will, and I had such means as you suggest, I should find a woman to help me. A woman beautiful, fascinating, unscrupulous. I would instruct her to be an angel of light. I would make her be the medium whereby he could obtain all that such as he desires, and I would make him believe that in getting her he would find the greatest and best gift in life, a gift whereby all that was highest and best in this life, and in the life to come, could be got. At the same time she must be awoman, a woman that should appeal to his desires, and make his pulses throb at the thought of possessing her."
For some time they spoke eagerly together, the Count raising point after point, which the little man was not slow to answer.
"Polonius, did I not know otherwise, I should say you were the devil," laughed Romanoff.
"I know you are," replied the little man in great glee.
"What do you mean?" and there was a kind of fear in the Russian's voice.
"Only that your cleverness is beyond that of ordinary mankind. You have thought of all this long before you asked me."
"Have I? Perhaps I have; but I wanted your opinion."
"The difficulty is to find the woman."
"In two minutes she will be here. Go into the next room and watch, and listen. After she has gone, you shall tell me what you think of her."
A minute later the door opened, and Olga Petrovic entered the room.
"Good evening, Countess. Thank you for coming so promptly. Be seated, won't you?"
Olga Petrovic looked at the Count eagerly, and accepted the chair he indicated. She looked older than when she left Dick Faversham after the interview I have described, and there were indications on her face that she had suffered anxious thoughts, and perhaps keen disappointment. But she was a strikingly beautiful woman still. Tall, magnificently proportioned; and almost regal in her carriage. She was fast approaching thirty, but to a casual observer she appeared only two- or three-and-twenty. She had the air of a grand lady, too, proud and haughty, but a woman still. A woman in a million, somewhat captivating, seductive; a woman to turn the head of any ordinary man, and make him her slave. One felt instinctively that she could play on a man's heart and senses as a skilful musician plays on an instrument.
But not a good woman. She had a world of experience in her eyes. She suggested mystery, mystery which would appear to the unwary as Romance. Because of this she could impress youth and inexperience by her loveliness, she could appear as an angel of light.
She was magnificently dressed, too. Every detail of her glorious figure was set off to the full by hercostumier, and her attire spoke of wealth, even while this fact was not ostentatious or even intended. In short, hercostumierwas an artist who knew her business.
Evidently, if ever she had been in danger by appearingin public, that danger was over. There was no suggestion of fear or apprehension in her demeanour.
"Why do you wish to see me?" she asked abruptly.
"I am quite aware," said Romanoff, without taking any apparent notice of her question, "that I took a liberty in asking you to come here. I should have asked you when it would have been convenient for you to graciously receive me at your flat. For this I must crave your pardon."
There was something mocking in his voice, a subtle insinuation of power which the woman was not slow to see.
"You asked me to come here because you wanted me, and because you knew I should come," she replied. "You knew, too, that I could not afford to disobey you."
"We will let that drop," replied the Count suavely. "I count myself honoured by your visit. How could it be otherwise?" and he cast an admiring glance towards her.
The woman watched him closely. It seemed as though, in spite of their acquaintance, she did not understand him.
"You see," went on Romanoff, "our Bolshevism is a thing of the past. The proletariat of England will have none of it. A few malcontents may have a hankering after it; but as a class the people of England see through it. They see what it has done for Russia, and they know that under a Bolshevist régime all liberty, all safety, all prosperity would be gone for ever."
The woman nodded.
"Besides," went on the Count, "you are in a far more becoming position as the Countess Petrovic, with estates in Russia and elsewhere, than as Olga, the high priestess of a wild and irresponsible set of fanatics."
"You have changed your views about those same fanatics," responded the woman rather sullenly.
"Have I? Who knows?" was the Count's smiling and enigmatical reply. "But I did think they might have served my purpose."
"What purpose?"
"Dear lady, even to you I cannot disclose that. Besides, what does it matter?"
"Because I would like to know. Because—because——" There she broke off suddenly.
"Because through it the man Faversham crossed your path, eh?" and the smile did not leave his face.
"You knew that Bolshevism would fail in England," cried the woman. "You knew that the whole genius of the race was against it. Why then did you try to drag—Faversham into it? Why did you tell me to dazzle him with its possibilities, to get him involved in it to such a degree that he would be compromised?"
"Ah, why?"
"But he would have none of it," retorted the woman. "He saw through it all, saw that it was an impossible dream, because in reality it was, and is, a wild delusion and a nightmare."
"Perhaps that was your fault," replied Romanoff. "Perhaps your powers of fascination were not as great as I thought. Anyhow——"
"Have you seen him lately?" she interrupted. "You know where he is? What he is doing?"
Her voice vibrated with eagerness; she looked towards Romanoff with a flash of pleading in her great lustrous eyes.
"Don't you read the newspapers?"
"Not the English. Why should I? What is there in them for me? Of course I get the Polish and the Russian news."
"If you read the English newspapers you would have no need to ask where he is," replied Romanoff.
"Why, has he become famous?"
As if in answer to her question there was a knock at the door, and a servant entered bringing three London evening papers.
"There," said the Count, pointing to some bold headlines—"there is the answer to your question."
"Great Labour Victory in Eastroyd," she read. "Triumphant Return of Mr. Richard Faversham."
Her eyes were riveted on the paper, and almost unheeding the Count's presence she read an article devoted to the election. Especially was her attention drawn to the Career of the Successful Candidate.
"Although Mr. Faversham, because of his deep sympathy with the aims of the working classes, has been returned to Parliament by them," she read, "he is not a typical Labour Member. As the son of a scholar, and the product of one of our best public schools, he has naturally been associated with a class different from that which has just given him its confidence. Years ago he was regarded as the heir of one of our great commercial magnates, and for some time was in possession of a great country house. His association with the middle classes, however, has not lessened his passionate interest in the welfare of the poor, and although he has of late become less advanced in his views, there can be no doubt that he will be a strong tower to the party with which he has identified himself."
"He will be in London to-morrow," remarked Romanoff, when presently the woman lifted her head.
"In London? To-morrow!"
The Count noted the eagerness with which she spoke.
"Yes," he said; "to-morrow."
"And he will be a great man?"
"Not necessarily so," answered Romanoff. "He will be a Labour Member at four hundred pounds a year. He will have to be obedient to the orders of his party."
"He never will! He is not a man of that sort!"
Her voice was almost passionate. Evidently her interest in him was deep.
"Won't he? We shall see. But he will find it hard to live in London on four hundred pounds a year. London is not a cheap city in these days. You see he has all the instincts of his class."
"Will he be one of the working men? Will he live as they live? Will he be of their order?" asked Olga.
"You seem greatly interested, Countess."
"Naturally. I—I——"
"Yes, I remember your last interview."
The woman's eyes flashed with anger. She suggested the "woman scorned."
"You made love to him, didn't you, Countess? And he—he politely declined your advances?" Romanoff laughed as he spoke.
The woman started to her feet. "Did you get me here to taunt me with that?" she cried. "Besides, did I not obey your bidding? Was it not at your command that I——"
"Yes, but not against your will, Countess. You had what our French neighbours call thegrand passionfor Faversham, eh?"
"Why do you taunt me with that?"
"Because the game is not played out. I do not break my promise, and I promised you that he should be yours—yours. Well, the time has come when my promise may be fulfilled."
"What do you mean?"
"Countess, are you still in love with Faversham?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I think I hate him. Tell me, why have you brought me here to-day?"
"To give you your opportunity. To tell you how, if you still love Faversham, you can win him; and how, if you hate him, you can have your revenge. Surely, Olga Petrovic, you are not the kind of woman who sits down meekly to a snub. To offer your love to a man, and then accept a cold rebuff. I thought I knew you better."
Deeply as his words wounded her, she did not forget her caution.
"What interest have you in him?" she asked. "I have never been able to understand you."
"No, I am not easily understood, and I do not make my motives public property. But Faversham will in future live in London. He, although he is a Labour Member, will have but little sympathy, little in common with his confrères. He will be lonely; he will long for the society of women, especially for those who are educated, fascinating, beautiful. Olga, are you the woman to be beaten? Listen, he with his tastes, will need money. You can give it to him. He will be lonely; he will need companionship. You have a beautiful flat in Mayfair, and you can be as fascinating as an angel."
She listened to every word he said, but her mind might be far away.
"Why do I care for him?" she cried passionately."What is he to me? A middle-class Englishman, with an Englishman's tastes and desires, an Englishman with the morality of his class. Just a plain, stupid, uninteresting bourgeois, a specimen of the self-satisfied Puritan."
"You found him vastly interesting though."
"Yes, but why should I? Why do I care what becomes of him? He is nothing to me."
"He can be something to you though, Countess; you are a beautiful, fascinating woman. You can appeal to every man's weaknesses, no matter what they are. With time and opportunity no man can resist you. Say the word, and I will give you these opportunities."
"You mean——?"
"That I want him to be yours. You want him, and I owe you at least this."
"You have some other purpose."
"And if I have, what then? He will be yours, body and soul. Tell me, are you still in love with him?"
The woman walked to the window, and looked out on the tide of human traffic in Piccadilly. For some time she seemed to be lost in thought, then she burst out passionately.
"I am angry whenever I think of him. He was as cold as an icicle; I was like a woman pleading with a stone. Something seemed to stand between us—something—I don't know what."
"What, you?" and there was a taunt in the Count's voice. "You, Olga Petrovic, said to be the most beautiful, the most dangerous woman in Europe, you whom no man has been able to resist, but who have fascinated them as serpents fascinate birds? Are you going to be beaten by this middle-class Englishman, this Labour Member of Parliament with £400 a year? Will you have him boast that Countess Olga Petrovic threw herself at him, and that he declined her without thanks?"
"Has he boasted that?" she cried hoarsely.
"What do you think?" laughed the Count. "Is he not that kind of man?"
"No," the word came from her involuntarily. "Only——"
"Only he is much in favour with the ladies at Eastroyd. I have just been told that."
"I hate him!" she said, and her voice was hoarse.
"I wonder?" queried the Count mockingly.
"Do you know, have you found out who his visitors were that day, that morning when I saw him last?"
"An old man and a chit of a girl."
"Yes, I know that; I saw them as I left the room. The man might have been a poet, an artist, and the girl was an unformed, commonplace miss. But he did not regard them as commonplace. His eyes burnt with a new light as he read their cards. I saw it. I believe I should have had him but for that. I had conquered him; he was ready to fall at my feet; but when he read their names, I knew I had lost. Who were they?"
"I have not discovered. They could have been only casual acquaintances. I have had him watched ever since he left London that day, and he has never seen them since. Of course he may be in love with her. It may be that he prefers an English wayside flower to such a tropical plant as yourself. That he would rather have youth and innocence than a woman twenty-eight years of age, who—who has had a past."
"He never shall! Never!"
Her eyes flashed dangerously. She had evidently decided on her course.
"You may have to play a bold, daring game," insinuated the Count.
"I will play any game. I'll not be beaten."
"You love him still—you who never loved any man for more than a month! And Faversham——"
"You must find out where he lives, you must let me know."
"And then?"
"You may leave everything to me."
"Mind, Olga, you may have to appear an Angel of Light in order to win him. In fact I think that will have to be your plan. He has all the old-fashioned morality of the middle-classes."
"We shall see!" cried the woman triumphantly.
"I may trust you then?"
"Tell me why you wish this? Suppose I—I love him really, suppose I am willing to become his slave? Suppose I want to settle down to—to quiet domestic happiness, to loving motherhood? Suppose I want to be good—and to pray?"
The Count's eyes burnt red with anger as she spoke, while his features were contorted as if with pain.
"Stop that," he almost snarled. "I know you, Olga Petrovic, I know too much about you. Besides, the Bolshevists have taken your estates, and—but why argue? You love luxury, don't you? Love beautiful dresses, love your life of ease, love what money can buy, money that you can't get without me?"
"You must tell me all I need to know," she answered with sullen submissiveness.
"Yes."
"Then I will go."
"And you will not fail?"
"No, I will not fail."
She left the room without another word, while Romanoff returned to his chair, and sat for some time immovable. His face was like a mask. His deep impenetrable eyes were fixed on vacancy.
"Yes, Polonius, you can come in. I can see that you are almost tired of watching me. But my face tells you nothing, my little man."
Polonius Slyme slinked into the room like a whipped cur.
"Look here, little man," went on the Count, "I pay you to watch others, not me. The moment you begin to spy on me, that moment you cease to be my servant. Do you understand?"
"But, indeed, your lordship——"
"Do not try to deny. I know everything. I forgive you for this once; but never again. Obey me blindly, unquestioningly, and all will be well with you, but try to spy upon me, to discover anything about me, and the lost souls in hell may pity you. Ah, I see yow understand."
"Forgive me, my lord. I will obey you like a slave."
"What do you think of her?"
"She is magnificent, glorious! She can turn any man's brain. She is a Circe, a Sybil, a Venus—no man with blood in his veins can resist her!"
"That is your opinion, eh?"
"I never saw such a creature before. And—and she has no conscience!"
The Count laughed. "Now, Slyme, I have some more work for you."
"To watch her!" he cried eagerly, rubbing his hands.
"No, not yet. That may be necessary some time, but not now. I have other work for you."
"Yes, my lord."
"To-morrow morning you will go to Surrey. I will give you all particulars about the trains and the stations presently. You will go to a place known as Wendover Park. Near one of the lodge gates of this house is a pretty cottage. It was occupied, and probably still is, by a man called Hugh Stanmore and his granddaughter. You must find out whether he is still there, and learn all you can about them. Report all to me. You understand?"
"Perfectly, your Highness," replied Polonius, whose terminology in relation to the Count was uncertain.
"You will report to me."
"Yes, certainly, my lord, everything."
"Very well, now go."
The night came on, and the room grew dark, but Count Romanoff did not switch on the light. He sat alone in the dark thinking, thinking.
"I have him now," he muttered presently. "Master, you shall have Richard Faversham's soul."
Dick Faversham was on his way to London. He was going there as the Member for Eastroyd, and he was somewhat excited. He was excited for several reasons. Naturally he was elated at being a Member of Parliament, and he looked forward with pleasant anticipation to his political life in the Metropolis, and to his experiences in the House of Commons. But that was not all. This was his first visit to London since he had experienced those strange happenings which we described some time ago. As the train rushed on through the night he became oblivious to the presence of his fellow-passengers in the recollection of the events which were a mystery to him then, even as they were a mystery now.
Especially did his mind revert to that wonderful experience in Staple Inn. He had heard a voice although he saw nothing, and that voice had meant a great deal to him. More than once he had wondered if he had done right in being silent about what had taken place afterwards. Ought he not to have gone to the police and told them what he had heard? But he had not been able to make up his mind to do this. Somehow everything had been associated with what had come to him in Staple Inn, and of that he could not speak. It would be sacrilege to do so. Besides, it might not have been necessary. From the fact that the traitors had left the house so suddenly, he concluded that the police were cognizant of their existence.
But his eyes had been opened. That was why, when Olga Petrovic visited him, he was unresponsive. And yet he was not sure.
Should he ever see this beautiful woman again, he wondered?
He was afraid of her even while he longed to see her. Even then he recalled the tones of her voice, and the look in her eyes as she had pleaded with him. He had felt himself yielding to her pleading, all the barriers of his being seemed to be breaking down before the power of her glorious womanhood.
Then there was the coming of Hugh Stanmore and his granddaughter. They were the last persons he had expected to see, and yet the sight of their names seemed to break the spell which Olga Petrovic had cast over him.
There seemed no reason why they should come, and their interview, considering the circumstances under which he had seen them last was of a very prosy nature. Hugh Stanmore had happened to meet with a man who was a Government official, and who had told him of one Richard Faversham who was one of a deputation to his department, and who had pleaded passionately for certain things which the working-classes desired. This led to his learning the name of his hotel, and to the visit which had followed.
Hugh Stanmore had scarcely referred to his life at Wendover, and seemed to be in ignorance of Tony Riggleton's whereabouts. Dick wondered at this after the interview, and reproached himself with not asking many questions. At the time, however, he seemed to be indifferent.
To Beatrice he spoke only a few words. She appeared to be shy and diffident. If the truth must be told, she seemed ill at ease, and not at all pleased that her grandfather had brought her there. She was far less a child than when he had seen her at Wendover, and he had reflected that she was neither so interesting nor so good-looking as she had been two or three years before. Still, he was glad to see her, and he remembered the pleasant smile she had given him when she had left the room. His conversation with Hugh Stanmore had been almost entirely about his life at Eastroyd, and the conditions which obtained there.
He realised, too, that a subtle change had come overhis opinions on his return to Eastroyd. Not that he had less interest in the class whose cause he had espoused; but he knew that he had been led to take larger views.
That was why some discontent had been felt among his most ardent supporters. Even those who had worked hardest for him during the election felt it incumbent upon them to raise a note of warning as they accompanied him to the station that night.
"It's all very well, Dick, lad," said one advanced Socialist, "but we mun make a bold front. I don't hold with Bolshevism, or owt of that sort; but the Capitalist is the enemy of the working man, and we mun put those money-bags in their right place."
It was a cold, dark, wintry morning when he arrived in London. The station and the streets were almost empty, the vehicles were few, and he felt cold and lonely. He had made no arrangements for his stay in the Metropolis, but he felt sure that the manager of the hotel where he had previously made his home would find him temporary accommodation. As it was impossible to get a taxi, he left his luggage at the station, and determined to walk. He knew the way well, and as the distance was only about a mile, he started with comparative cheerfulness.
As I have said, the streets were well-nigh deserted, and not a single soul passed him as he made his way up Euston Road. Nevertheless he had the feeling that he was being followed. More than once he looked around, but could see no one. Several times, too, he felt sure he heard following footsteps, but when he stopped there was silence.
When he turned at St. Pancras Church he looked up and down the street, but nothing suspicious met his gaze. A milkman's cart, a drayman's waggon, and that was all. The street lamps threw a sickly light on the cold wet road, and the houses were dark. London looked asleep.
For some time after he had passed St. Pancras Church he heard nothing; but, as he neared Woburn Square, he again heard footsteps. It seemed to him, too, that he was surrounded by dark influences. Something sinister and evil seemed to be surrounding him. He was notafraid, and his nerves were steady, but his brain was filled with strange fancies.
Almost unconsciously his mind reverted to Count Romanoff. He had seen him only once since he had left Wendover Park, and the man was still an enigma to him. He had a thousand times reflected on the strange happening in the library there, but although he felt he had been saved from something terrible, he had not definitely associated the Count with anything supernatural. For Dick was not cast in a superstitious mould.
The footsteps drew nearer, and again he looked around. Was it a fact, or was it fancy that he saw a dark form which hurriedly passed from his sight?
He was aware a few seconds later that he was walking more rapidly, and that something like fear was in his heart.
"Listen."
He heard the word plainly, and stopped. All was silent here. He saw that he was in one of the several squares which exist in the neighbourhood, but he was not sure which. He did not think it was Woburn Square, but it might be Taviton Square. He was not intimately acquainted with that part of London.
"Yes, what is it? Who are you?"
He spoke aloud, spoke almost unconsciously, but there were no answering words. He was the only person there. He moved to a lamp and looked at his watch; he had a vague idea that he wanted to know the time. The watch pointed to half-past one. Evidently he had forgotten to wind it, for he knew his train was due to arrive something after three, and that it was late.
He was about to start again when he thought he heard the words:
"Go to Wendover."
But there was nothing distinct. No voice reached him, and no one was in sight. At that moment the wind wailed across the open space, and moaned as it passed through the leafless branches of the trees. The wind seemed to formulate the same words.
"Go to Wendover."
"Of course it's all fancy," he reflected. "I expectmy nerves are playing me tricks. I never knew I had any nerves; but I've been through an exciting time. I've been making speeches, meeting committees, and replying to deputations for the last fortnight, and I expect I'm about done up. After all, fighting an election is no make-believe."
A shiver passed through him. To say the least of it, even although it might be pure fancy, there was something uncanny about it all, and he could not help reflecting on his past experience.
He did not move, but stood like one spellbound, listening to the wind as it soughed its way through the shrubs and trees which grew in the centre of the Square.
"Who are you?" he asked again. "What do you want?"
He was sure there was a voice this time. It rose above the wailing wind, but he could see no one.
"You are in danger—great danger!"
"What danger? Who are you?"
"'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'"
He recognised the words. They were spoken by One Whose Name he always held in reverence, spoken to His disciples in a far back age, before the knowledge of science and critical investigation had emerged from its swaddling clothes. But they were spoken in a woman's voice, spoken in almost wailing accents.
His whole being was filled with a great awe. The voice, the words coming to him, at such a time and in such a way, filled him with a great wonder, solemnised him to the centre of his being.
"If it were not a woman's voice, I might think it was He Himself who spoke," he said in a hoarse whisper.
Then he thought of the footsteps, thought of the ominous, sinister influences which had surrounded him a few minutes before.
"Lord, Lord Jesus Christ, help me!"
He said the words involuntarily. They had passed his lips before he knew he had spoken.
Was there any answer to his prayer? He only knew that he did not feel any fear, that a great peace came intohis heart. He felt as he had never felt before, that God was a great reality. Perhaps that was why he was no longer lonely. There in the heart of the greatest city of the world, there in the darkness of a winter night, he was filled with a kind of consciousness that God was, that God cared, that he was not an orphan for whom no one cared, but a child of the Universal Father.
He looked up and saw the clouds swept across the sky. Here and there was a break through which a star shone. Eyes of heaven, they seemed to him. Yes, the spirit world was very near to him. Perhaps, perhaps—who knew?—there were messengers of the Unseen all around him.
"Earth is crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God."
"Earth is crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God."
Where had he heard those words? Ah yes, was it not Elizabeth Barrett Browning who wrote them, wrote them while in Italy, where she sojourned with her husband, the greatest poet of his time?
Again he looked around him, but nothing could be seen by his natural eyes. The houses, the trees, the gardens all lay wrapped in the gloom of the cold and darkness of that wintry morning, there in the heart of London. All the same it seemed that something had been born within him, something which he could not define, and again he seemed to hear, as he had heard years before, the glorious words which turned to naught the ribald and trifling scepticism of men:
"The Eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms."
The sublimity of the message appealed to him. Surely no greater words were ever spoken. They peopled the dark wintry heavens with angels, they made everything possible.
"Lord, tell me what to do."
The prayer came naturally to his lips. It seemed to him that there was nothing else for him to say. But there were no answering words. All was silent, save for the soughing of the wind across the square. And yet I am wrong. He did hear words; they might be born ofhis own consciousness, and have no objective reality whatever, but again the wind seemed to speak to him.
"Go to Wendover."
Why should he go to Wendover? He had no right to be there, and from the rumours that he had heard, Tony Riggleton had turned the old house into a scene of drunken and sensual orgies. But in answer to his question the wailing wind seemed to reiterate, as if in a kind of dreary monotony, the same words, "Go to Wendover, go to Wendover."
Then suddenly everything became mundane.
"Good-night, or good morning rather."
It was a policeman who spoke, and who looked rather suspiciously at the lonely looking young man.
"Good morning," replied Dick; "it's not long to daylight is it?"
"Another hour or two yet. Lost your way?"
"I've come from King's Cross. I travelled by the midnight train, and there were no conveyances to be got."
"Ah, petrol's a bit scarce yet; but I hear we shall have more soon. Anywhere you want to get?"
"Yes, I'm going to Jones' Hotel."
"That's close to the British Museum; and only a few minutes away. I suppose your room's booked all right. The hotels are very crowded in London just now."
"That'll be all right. Good morning, and thank you!"
"That's all right, sir. Go to the end of the square, turn to the right, then take the second street to the left and you are there."
A few minutes later Dick was at the hotel. The night porter knew him well, and showed him into the smoke-room, where there was a good fire, and comfortable arm-chairs.
"You'll be all right here till breakfast, sir, won't you? After that you can see the manager."
Five minutes later Dick was asleep.
A few hours later he met some of his political confrères, two of whom begged him to lodge with them.
It was not much of a place they assured him, but thebest their money would run to. "Four hundred a year's very little in London, and that you'll find out before long," one of them assured him.
"Every penny has to be looked after, and by living two or three together we can do things cheaper."
After seeing their lodgings, however, Dick determined to look around for himself. He did not relish the idea of sharing apartments with others. He wanted privacy, and he felt, although, like himself, these men were "Labour Members," that he had little in common with them.
"I thought of trying to get a small, cheap flat," he said.
"Not to be thought of with our pay," was the laughing response. "Of course you being a bachelor may have saved up a bit, or it may be that you think you'll be able to make a few pounds by journalism."
"Some do it, don't they?" he asked.
"They all want to do it, that's why there's so little chance. But I hear you are a bit of a swell, been to a public school and all that kind of thing, so you may have friends at court. Done anything that way?"
Dick shook his head. "Never," he replied; "but no one knows what he can do till he tries."
After considerable difficulty Dick happened upon a service flat which, although it cost more than he had calculated upon, was so convenient, and appealed to him so strongly, that he took it there and then.
Indeed he felt a pleasant sense of proprietorship, as he sat alone in his new home that night. The room was very small, but it was cosy. A cheerful fire burnt in the grate, and the reading-lamp threw a grateful light upon the paper he held in his hand.
"I must get a writing-desk and some book-cases, and I shall be as right as rain," he reflected. "This is princely as a sitting-room, and although the bedroom is only a box, it's quite big enough for me."
He closed his eyes with lazy contentment, and then began to dream of his future. Yes, ambition was still strong within him, and the longing to make a material, yes, an international, reputation was never so insistentas now. He wondered if he could do it, wondered whether being a Labour Member would ever lead to anything.
"A voting machine at four hundred a year."
He started up as though something had strung him. He remembered who had said those words to him, remembered how they had wounded him at the time they were spoken. Was that all he was after his hopes and dreams? He had been a big man at Eastroyd. People had stopped in the streets to point him out; but in London he was nobody.
"A voting machine at four hundred a year!"
Yes, but he would be more. He had proved that he had brains, and that he could appeal to the multitude. He had his feet on the ladder now, and——
His mind suddenly switched off. He was no longer in his newly acquired flat, he was walking from King's Cross to Jones' Hotel, he was passing through a lonely square.
"Go to Wendover."
How the words haunted him. Every time the wind blew he had heard them, and——
He started to his feet. "Well, why not? I have nothing to do to-morrow, and I can get there in a couple of hours."
The next morning he eagerly made his way to Victoria Station.
"Good mornin', sir."
The porter touched his cap and looked at Dick curiously.
"Good morning, Wheelright. You are here still?"
"Yes, sir. They took the other chap, and left no one in his place, so to speak. So me and the stationmaster have had to do everything. I was sort of superannuated, so to speak, when you was 'ere, so I had to take on my old job when Ritter went. However, I'd 'ear that he'll soon be back."
"Yes, the boys are coming home now."
"And a good job, too. Not but what me and the stationmaster have carried on, so to speak, and I'm as good a man as ever I was."
Dick remembered old Wheelright well. He did odd jobs at the station during his short stay at Wendover Park, and was known among the people in the neighbourhood as "Old So-to-speak." He was also noted as an inveterate gossip.
"Comin' down to live 'ere again, so to speak?" he queried, looking at Dick curiously.
"No," replied Dick. "Just paying a short visit. I shall be returning by the 4.20 at the latest."
Wheelright shuffled on at Dick's side. He was much tempted to ask him further questions, but seemed afraid.
"You don't know where—where Squire Riggleton is, I suppose, sir?
"Why do you ask that?"
"I was wondering, that's all. There's been a good deal of talk about him, so to speak. Some say he was took for the army just the same as if he hadn't sixpence.I have heard he was took prisoner by the Germans, too. But some peoplewilltalk. Have you heard 'bout his being killed, sir?"
"No, I never heard that."
"Ah." He looked at Dick questioningly, and then ventured further. "He didn't do hisself much credit as a squire," he added.
"Indeed."
"No, there was nice carryings on, so I've heard. But then some people will talk. However, there's no doubt that Mrs. Lawson, who had her two daughters as servants there in your day, took them both away. It was no place for respectable Christians to live, she said."
Dick made no reply. He had just come by train, and was the only passenger who alighted. Old Wheelright immediately recognised him. He did not feel altogether at ease in listening to him while he discussed his cousin, but was so interested that he let him go on talking. The truth was that Dick did not know why he was there, except that he had obeyed the command he had heard when walking from King's Cross. As he stood there that day he was not sure whether he had heard a voice or whether it was only an impression. But the words haunted him, and he felt he could do no other than obey. Now he was here, however, he did not know where to go, or what to do. He felt sensitive about going to the house which he had thought was his, and asking for admission. The action would call up too many painful memories. And yet he did not like going back without once again seeing the home that had meant so much to him.
"You know that people have talked a lot aboutyou, sir?"
"I dare say."
"And everybody was sorry when you left. It was all so funny. Young Riggleton he came to the Hare and Hounds, and told the landlord all about it."
"Indeed."
"Yes. I did hear that the London lawyers called him over the coals for talking so much, so to speak. But some people will talk. However, as I'd say, 'twasn'tthe lawyer's business. If Riggleton liked to talk, that's his business. Still I s'pose he had a drop of drink in him, or p'r'aps he mightn't a' done it. He told the landlord that he'd offered you a good job if you'd stay, but as the landlord said, 'How could you expect a gentleman like Mr. Faversham to stay as a servant where he'd been master?' I suppose he did make the offer, sir?"
"Is the same housekeeper at Wendover?" asked Dick, not noticing Wheelright's questions.
"Oh yes, bless you, sir, yes. I've been told she gave notice to leave like the other servants; but Riggleton went away instead. He said he couldn't stand living in a cemetery. That's what he called Wendover, sir. He came back a few times, but only for a day or two. From what I hear he hasn't showed his face there for years. All the same, it's kept in good repair. I suppose the London lawyer do see to that."
The old man went on retailing the gossip of the neighbourhood, but beyond what I have recorded he said little that interested Dick. After all, why should he care about stories concerning Anthony Riggleton, or pay attention to the scandalous tales which had been afloat? He had no doubt but that Mr. Bidlake would have given him all information about his cousin, if he had called and asked him; but he had not gone.
He made his way along the country lanes, scarcely seeing a single soul. He was angry with himself for coming, and yet he knew that he had not been able to help himself. He was there because he had been drawn there by an irresistible impulse, or because he was under the power of something, or someone whom he dared not disobey.
The day was dark and cloudy, and the air was dank and cold. The trees were leafless, not a flower appeared, and the whole countryside, which had once appeared to him so glorious, now seemed grim and depressing.
"Of course, I'm a fool," he muttered savagely, but still he trudged along until he came to the lodge gates. How proud he had been when he had first seen them! How his heart had thrilled at the thought that all he sawwas his own, his very own! But now he had no right there. He might have been the veriest stranger.
He had carefully avoided the entrance near which old Hugh Stanmore lived. He did not want the old man to know of his visit.
He was altogether unnoticed by the people who lived in the lodge, and a few seconds later was hurrying up the drive. Yes, in spite of the winter, in spite of the leafless trees, the place was very beautiful. The noble avenue under which he was walking was very imposing, the rhododendron, and a dozen other kinds of shrubs relieved the wintry aspect. Besides, the woods were so restful, the fine park lands were the finest he had ever seen.
And he had thought they were all his. He for a short time had been master of everything!
Suddenly the house burst on his view, and with a cry, almost like a cry of pain, he stood still, and looked long and yearningly. No wonder he had loved it. It was all a country home should be.
And it might have been his! If he had obeyed Romanoff; but no; even then he felt thankful that he had not yielded to the man who tempted him.
For a moment he thought of turning back. It would be too painful to go and ask for permission to go in. But he did not turn back. As if urged on by some unseen power he made his way towards the entrance.
He had an eerie feeling in his heart as he approached the steps. He called to mind his first visit there, when he had asked the lawyer if he saw anything. For a moment he fancied he saw the outline of a shadowy form as he saw it then. But there was nothing. The grey stone walls, half hidden by ivy, stood before him as they stood then, but that wondrous face, with pitiful pleading eyes, was not to be seen.
He felt half disappointed at this. He could understand nothing, but he had a feeling that it was the form of someone who loved him, someone sent to protect him.
At first he had fought the idea. He had told himself that he was too matter-of-fact, that he had too much common sense to think of an optical illusion as something supernatural; but as event after event took placehe could not help being possessed by the thought that he was under the guardianship of something, someone who watched over him, helped him. He never spoke about it to anyone; it was too sacred for discussion.
But there was nothing. He heard no voice, saw no form, and a feeling like disappointment crept into his heart. Dick Faversham was not a morbid fellow, and he had a feeling of dislike for anything like occultism. As for spiritualism, in the ordinary sense of the word, it made no appeal to him. But this was different. Somehow he had a kind of consciousness that the spirit world was all around him, and that the Almighty Beneficence used the inhabitants of that spirit world to help His children.
No, there was nothing. His visit had been purposeless and vain, and he would find his way back to the station. Then suddenly the door opened, and the old housekeeper appeared.
"It is, itisMr. Faversham!"
But he did not speak. A weight seemed on his lips.
"Come in, sir, come in."
Before he realised what had taken place he stood in the entrance hall, and the door closed behind him.
"Are you come for good?"
The housekeeper's voice was tremulous with excitement, and her eyes were eagerly fastened on his face.
Dick shook his head. "No, I'm only here for a few minutes."
"But he's dead."
"Who's dead?"
"That man. The man Riggleton. Haven't you heard about it?"
"No, I've not heard."
"But there were rumours, and I thought you'd come to tell me they were true. Oh, I am sorry, so sorry. I should love to have you here as master again. It was such a joy to serve you. And that man, he nearly drove me mad. He brought bad people here. He filled the house with a lot of low men and women. And there were such goings on. I stood it as long as I could, and then I told him I must leave the house at once.So did several of the servants. He begged me to stop, he offered to double my wages, but I told him I must go, that I was a respectable woman, and had served only gentry who knew how to behave themselves. Then he said he would leave himself, and he persuaded me to stay on. Didn't you hear, sir?"
"No, I did not hear. I went away to the North of England."
"Oh, there were such stories. I suppose he threw away a fortune in London."
"Is he there now?" asked Dick.
"I don't know. I asked Mr. Bidlake, but he would tell me nothing. The last I heard was that he was forced into the army, and was killed."
"How long was that ago?"
"Several months now."
"And you've heard nothing since?"
"No, sir; nothing."
"Well, I will go now."
"But you'll stay for lunch? I'm not stinted in any way, and Mr. Bidlake sends me a liberal allowance for the expenses of the house. I can easily manage lunch, sir, and it would be such a joy to me."
"You are very kind, and I appreciate it very much; but I really couldn't—after what took place. I'll go to the Hare and Hounds and have some bread and cheese."
"Couldn't you, sir? I'm so sorry, and it's a long way to Lord Huntingford's."
"Yes, of course, that's out of the question."
"But you must have lunch somewhere, and you couldn't go to the Hare and Hounds."
"Oh yes, I could. I dare say Blacketter would give me some bread and cheese. That will be all I shall need."
The housekeeper began to rub her eyes. "It's just awful," she sobbed. "To think that you who were master here, and whom we all liked so much, should have to go to a place like that. But I know. Mr. Stanmore is at home; he'll be glad to welcome you there."
"Mr. Stanmore is at home, is he?"
"Yes, sir. He called here yesterday, and MissBeatrice is at home too. They were both here. Mr. Stanmore brought Sir George Weston over to see the house."
"Sir George Weston?" and Dick felt a strange sinking at his heart as he heard the words. "I don't seem to remember the name."
"He's from the west, sir, from Devonshire, I think. It has been said that he came to see Miss Beatrice," and the housekeeper smiled significantly.
"You mean——"
"I don't know anything, sir; it may be only servants' gossip. He's said to be a very rich man, and has been serving in Egypt. Some say that he came to discuss something about Egypt with Mr. Stanmore; but it was noticed that he was very attentive to Miss Beatrice."
"He's been staying at the cottage, then?"
"For nearly a week, sir."
"Is he there now?"
"I don't know, sir. All I know is that he was here with them yesterday. Mr. Stanmore brought a letter from Mr. Bidlake authorising me to show them over the house."
"Is Sir George a young man? You said he was in the army, didn't you?" Dick could not understand why his heart was so heavy.
"About thirty, I should think, sir. Yes, I believe he had a high command in our Egyptian army. He's a great scholar too, and Mr. Stanmore said that this house was the finest specimen of an Elizabethan house that he knew of. A very pleasant gentleman too. It's not my business, but he'd be a good match for Miss Beatrice, wouldn't he? Of course Mr. Stanmore belongs to a very good family, but I suppose he's very poor, and Miss Beatrice has hardly a chance of meeting anyone. You remember her, sir, don't you? She was little more than a child when you were here, but she's a very beautiful young lady now."
The housekeeper was fairly launched now, and was prepared to discuss the Stanmores at length, but Dick hurried away. He would have loved to have gone over the house, but he dared not; besides, in a way he couldnot understand, he longed to get into the open air, longed to be alone.
"I hope, oh, I do hope that something'll happen," said the housekeeper as he left the house; but what she did not tell him.
A little later Dick found himself on the drive leading to Hugh Stanmore's cottage. He had not intended to take this road, but when he realised that he was in it, he did not turn back. Rather he hurried on with almost feverish footsteps.
Sir George Weston had been spending a week at the cottage, had he? Why? Was it because he was an Egyptologist, and interested in Hugh Stanmore's previous researches, or was he there because of Beatrice, as the servants' gossip said? It was nothing to him, but he had an overwhelming desire to know. Was Beatrice Stanmore a beautiful girl? She had not appealed to him in this light when her grandfather brought her to see him months before; but girls often blossomed into beauty suddenly. Still, wasn't it strange that Weston should stay at the cottage a week?
Of course he would not call. He was simply taking the longer road to the station. Yes, he could plainly see the house through the trees, and——
"Is that Mr. Faversham? Well, this is a surprise; but Iamglad to see you."
It was old Hugh Stanmore who spoke, while Dick in a strangely nervous way took the proffered hand.
"Come to look at your old house, eh? I see you've come from that direction."
"Yes, I have been—talking with my old housekeeper," he stammered.
"And you've never been here before since—you left?"
Dick shook his head.
"Well, well, life's a strange business, isn't it? But come in, my dear fellow. You're just in time for lunch."
Dick began to make excuses, but the other refused to listen, and they entered the cottage together.
"I'm afraid I couldn't presume upon your kindness so far."
"Kindness! Nonsense. Of course you must. Besides, I see that you are a Member of Parliament, and a Labour Member too. I must talk with you about it. Lunch will be on the table in five minutes."
"You are sure I shouldn't be bothering you?" He had an overwhelming desire to stay.
"Bother! What bother can there be? I'm only too delighted to see you. Come in."
They entered the cottage together.
"Oh, by the way," went on Hugh Stanmore, as they entered a cosy sitting-room, "let me introduce you to Sir George Weston."
A strikingly handsome man of about thirty rose from an arm-chair and held out his hand. He was in mufti; but it was impossible to mistake him for anything but a soldier. Head erect, shoulders squared, and a military bearing proclaimed him to be what he was.
"Glad to see you, Mr. Faversham," said Sir George heartily "I suppose you've come down to see——" He stopped abruptly. He felt he had made afaux pas.
"It's all right," said Dick with a laugh. He felt perfectly at ease now. "Yes, I came to see the old place which years ago I thought was mine. You've heard all about it, I've no doubt?"
"Jolly hard luck," sympathised Sir George. "But anyhow you——"
"Ah, here's Beatrice," broke in Hugh Stanmore. "Beatrice, my dear, here's an old friend dropped in to lunch with us. You remember Mr. Faversham, don't you?"
The eyes of the two met, and then as their hands met Dick's friendly feeling towards Sir George Weston left him. He could not tell why.