W. Holt-White

“ The mere thought of it quickened Westerham's blood, and the quickening of his blood livened his brain still more, so that he watched, almost cat-like, the glance of Melun's eyes as they followed the placing of the Lady Kathleen's picture in his pocket.
For a couple of minutes nothing was said. Each man knew instinctively that he must move to the attack, but realised that a mistake at the opening of the game might possibly spell disaster.
It was the baronet who broke the silence—it is always the man who has least to fear that recovers first. ”

“ The captain drew a little breath of relief, not the less sincere because he was conscious that the nozzle of the revolver was withdrawn from his temple.
He heard the door of the state-room close softly; then the pleasant voice spoke again, though with a slightly harder ring in its tones.
“Stand up, Captain Melun,” said the voice, “and be seated. I have a good deal to say, and it is not my habit to talk to any man when I find him on his knees.”
Captain Melun rose a little unsteadily and faced about, to find the most disconcerting eyes of Sir Paul Westerham bent full upon him. ”

“ Melun's face blazed with passion. He drew back a pace, and then struck Westerham heavily across the mouth.
On his part Westerham did not hesitate for a moment. He lifted both his fettered hands and brought his steel-bound wrists down with a crash on Melun's head; and the captain went sprawling to the floor.
“Look you here,” cried Westerham to the dumbfounded ruffians who stood watching the scene as though they were chained to their chairs. “Look you here; I will deal with men, but not with curs such as this.” ”

“ Making a bow that was half a mock, Madame smiled—not altogether a pleasant smile.
“Les affaires sont les affaires,” said Madame. “Let us be strictly businesslike. Allow me to put the matter as I think you should have put it had you been entirely plain. Do you”—her face grew a little hard again—“blackmail the blackmailer?”
“To be perfectly honest,” said Westerham, “I do.”
Madame nodded her head up and down several times as though she completely understood.
“Now the first of my discoveries,” Westerham continued, “was that Melun had some sort of hold over the Prime Minister, Lord Penshurst.” ”

“ Mme. Estelle turned and looked at him quickly, and her eyes were startled; the brilliant colour had left her face.
“What do you mean?” she cried. “You are Sir Paul, aren't you?”
“Madam,” said Westerham, almost gently, “I'm sorry if I startled you. Those who run great risks always imagine that the greatest object of every other person is to accomplish their downfall. I assure you that no such motive prompted me in making the bargain I have made with Melun.” ”

“ Melun seated himself at its head, beckoning to Westerham to seat himself at his right hand.
Still smiling, Westerham looked with his oddly disconcerting gaze along the row of faces before him. Melun, he reflected, must have searched London to have found such an exhibition of evil passions.
The men did not look at him; they looked at Melun, warily and anxiously.
“In times past,” said Melun, shortly, “you have found it just as well to trust to me. The shares of any spoils we have won have always been fairly adjusted.” ”

“ A hundred thousand pounds is a good deal of money, and your gang cannot be so large that you will not be able to afford a sufficient sum to render them your servants.”
“Exactly,” said Captain Melun.
“Ah!” exclaimed Westerham. “Then you acknowledge what I say to be true?”
“Sir Paul,” answered Melun, “you may take my word at what you judge it is worth, but none the less I, for my part, am prepared to take the word of a gentleman. Do you give me your word of honour that the offer—I take it such is meant—is in all sincerity?” ”

“ Lord Penshurst glanced at him sharply. “Good Heavens!” he cried, “you don't mean to tell me that you think Melun would dare to send me a bomb or something of that sort?”
“One never knows,” said Westerham, thoughtfully. “I think we had better send for Rookley.”
Rookley came and surveyed the mysterious package with a suspicious gaze. He picked it up gently, and then almost smiled as he laid it down again.
“I don't think you need fear its containing anything in the nature of an explosive,” he said; “certainly not an infernal machine. It is much too light.” ”

“ I am told that as part of the bargain you are to be permitted to marry Lady Kathleen.”
Melun jumped out of his chair.
“It's a lie!” he shouted, “and I'll take my oath that that rattle-brained fool Westerham is responsible for your stupid fancies.”
“But are they fancies?” urged Madame.
“Fancies! Of course they are fancies. What good do you think it would do me to be tied to a girl like that? Surely half a million should content any man. I wish to be free to pursue my life with you. The sooner indeed I am free from all this business the better. ”

“ Westerham took a deep breath and laughed almost gaily. “I shall be charmed,” he said.
He paused a little and then continued: “No man, except one with such a reputation as yours,” he said, “would dream of regarding Lady Kathleen Carfax as a possible wife unless he were so equipped with all the arts of blackmail that he had some reason to hope for his success.”
By this time Captain Melun had got back his composure.
“You seem,” he said casually, “to endow Lord Penshurst with an exceedingly poor character.”
“Not exactly,” said Westerham. “I endow you with an exceedingly dangerous one.” ”

“ Up to the present I have found Sir Paul Westerham a most truthful man, and I don't see why he should be telling me falsehoods now.”
“You don't see why?” echoed Melun, with splendidly simulated scorn; “you don't see why? Of course you don't, because you are blind! Blind! You are blind with suspicion and distrust, and he, for his own ends, is simply playing on your fears. He wants to upset you, to put me out of court with you. ”

“ In half an hour I will be in Downing Street and expose the whole thing. Yes, by Heavens! And if Lord Penshurst won't move in the matter himself, then I will see to it that you are prosecuted.”
“No, you won't,” said Melun. “The question really involved is a matter of many men's lives, and one man's life, even yours, will not stand in the way of this secret being kept.”
“Lord Penshurst is no murderer, even though you may be,” cried Westerham, indignantly. ”

“ He said no word, indeed, until they were back in the hotel. The captain was beyond protesting; he appeared dazed and cowed by the swiftness with which Westerham had wrested his authority from him and practically fought his way out of Limehouse.
In the little sitting-room, Westerham with great precision poured out a couple of whisky-and-sodas and handed Melun a cigar.
“You will not understand me the better by sulking or skulking,” he said. “I would suggest to you that even if you are not one you had better try to be a man.” ”

“ A quick indrawing of Melun's breath told Westerham that he was hitting him hard.
All the pleasantness in Westerham's face vanished again, and he looked at the captain with narrowed eyes.
“I realise that in offering you such a sum,” he said, “it will, of course, cost you something to earn it. A man who speculates must spend his own money to gain other people's. A criminal—you must forgive the word, but it is necessary—who seeks to make a great coup at the expense of others must put up a certain amount of money to bring it off. ”

“ Melun paused for a few minutes, and watched with satisfaction intelligence dawn on the stupid, brutal faces before him, which stared first at himself in amazement, and then gloomily and savagely at Westerham.
Westerham, however, to their further astonishment, was laughing quietly, his teeth bared in quite an amused and pleasant smile.
“Now, gentlemen,” Melun continued, “it is one of our unbreakable rules that all traitors must die. Therefore, anyone who is likely to betray us must die also. ”

“ Lady Kathleen looked at him appealingly and doubtfully, then she rose to her feet.
“I must not. I do not know who you are, or even what your name is, and although you seem to be Melun's friend, I feel that I might trust you; but, oh! if you were persecuted as we are persecuted you would trust no man.”
Westerham was about to persuade her further, but at this moment her father came quickly through the doorway.
“Kathleen!” he cried.
The girl started up and caught her father's arm. The old man turned quickly towards Westerham; his face was ablaze with passion. ”

“ The faint colour in Melun's face became fainter still. Westerham knew he was pursuing the right trail.
“Now with such men as yourself—mind, I am not speaking so much from knowledge as from an intuition as to what I should do myself were I placed in similar circumstances—it is probable that you have sufficient intelligence, not only to rob your victims, but to rob your friends.
“Another piece of life's philosophy that roughing it has taught me is that the robber is always poor. I come, therefore, to the natural deduction that you are hard up.” ”

“ It was with these things in his mind—a mind active and of great intelligence, a mind moreover sharpened by adversity—that he looked stonily at Captain Melun.
It had almost become second nature for Westerham to draw a gun upon a man whom he had caught apparently intent on theft. Swiftly, however, it came to him that a man in Melun's position was not likely to be engaged in theft. There sprang into his brain the notion that Melun was simply searching through his belongings with the idea of blackmail.
It almost made Westerham laugh to think that any man should attempt to blackmail him. ”

“ The part which I play is entirely innocent; on the other hand, it is impossible for me to make the faintest revelation concerning it.”
“But this is not the end of it,” cried Rookley. “By no means the end of it. Look at the threat on the luggage label. ‘The girl may be the next.’ Now, what does that mean? Who is the girl?”
Westerham's ruddy face grew a little pale.
“The girl,” he said, “is the lady it is my business to shelter and protect. By holding silent I can at least secure her life; if I breathe one word I can well believe that her fate may be the same as that of the man within.” ”

“ Then above the hubbub there came a loud knocking, and turning in the direction of the sound they saw Melun, smiling and pleasant-looking as ever, pounding on the floor with his stick, while the negro stood behind him, grinning over his shoulder.
Instantly silence fell again.
“Now, then,” called Melun, coolly, “be quiet, all of you. Be quiet at once. We have been betrayed, and the man who has betrayed us is there!”
For some seconds the men looked from Westerham to Melun, and then from Melun to Westerham. ”

“ The broken old man lay on the bed, his face buried in the pillows, so entirely wrapped up in his grief that he scarcely heeded the hand which Westerham placed on his shoulder.
But presently Westerham persuaded him to look up, and then drawing a chair to the bedside, he sat down.
“I want you to forget, Lord Penshurst,” he said, “what you saw just now. It is unnecessary to remember it. It is a horrible thing, but the man who did such an awful deed shall suffer for it.”
He looked away with a set face, which boded no good for Melun when he found him. ”

“ Had Westerham caught the eye of Kathleen as the two motor cars passed each other at the corner of Whitehall Kathleen herself would have been spared much suffering and several men would not have gone to their account. But a meeting at that moment would have so changed the whole course of events that far greater trouble would have befallen, and the whole earth might have become involved in a disaster which would have grown, without question, into Armageddon. ”

“ Even Westerham's roystering had not been ill-spent. His knowledge of the world, which, after all, means a certain cognisance of the evil that men do, had taught him that Captain Melun was not a man to perpetrate a common theft.
Long years spent in a land peopled practically by Ishmaelites had taught him deep distrust of the stranger—particularly distrust of the stranger who would be friendly. ”

“ A good many people disappear in London, and I fancied for a little while I might become one of the lost ones, but, heavens! it is amazing to think that I should ever have felt the least disquiet. You and your precious friends are cowards, every one of you.
“However, we will leave that subject now and proceed to another which is of more importance and interest to me.”
Draining his whisky-and-soda, Westerham leaned back in his chair and smoked thoughtfully for a few minutes, keeping his gaze on the pale and cowering Melun. ”

“ Melun thrust the negro aside and brushed into the room.
“You fool!” he said to Westerham, shortly, “this is enough to bring the whole crowd about your ears.”
Westerham laughed. He had known what in Western parlance is called a “rough house” before, and was prepared for all emergencies. As usual, too, when he found himself in an emergency, he was cool and smiling to the point of insolence.
“You forget,” he said to Melun, “that there is a window in this room, and beyond the window is the street. You forget, too, that one good man is worth all that crowd you seem so much afraid of. ”

“ Rookley, and he reflected that if the mills of Scotland Yard, like the mills of God, ground exceedingly slowly, they ground uncommonly fine.
It may be an easy thing to detect that one is shadowed by a large man with large boots. But, none the less, it is sufficiently disconcerting to find that the large boots follow one's footsteps persistently and doggedly. Scotland Yard wears down a man by sheer weight.
Westerham knew, too, that he had so aroused the interest of the authorities that they would do their best to watch his every movement. ”

“ Westerham thrust his head out of the carriage as it was driving away and said sharply to Melun, “I shall expect you to-morrow at noon.”
For quite a while they drove north in silence. It was not, indeed, until they were passing through Regent Street that Mme. Estelle turned to Westerham and spoke the first word.
“Forgive my being so blunt,” she said, “but I think you are playing an exceedingly dangerous game.”
“What it is possible for a woman to do is possible for me to do,” said Westerham. ”

“ The girl leapt to her feet and looked at him with wild eyes. “If you do know,” she cried, [Pg 87] “you are as great a fiend as Melun to persecute me in this way, and if you do not know—then Heaven forbid that you ever should.
“I cannot tell you because if I did I should be a murderess.”
“A murderess!” Westerham drew a step back in horror.
“A murderess of whom?”
“Don't ask,” cried Kathleen; “I should be a murderess of not one, but many. As it is I can at least be silent, and if needs be make the sacrifice.” ”

“ He paused and watched Lady Kathleen closely. She appeared utterly unstrung, and clasped her head tightly with both hands.
“I can hardly understand what it all means,” she said at last in a dull voice.
“It simply means this,” urged Westerham, quietly, “that I am an honest man and a gentleman; and if you could only tell me what it is of which you and your father are so much afraid, I feel perfectly certain that with the hold I have over Melun I could free you from your trouble.” ”

“ After that there was no demonstration of any kind. With almost feverish haste the women began plucking the jewels from their hair and from their bosoms, from their wrists and from their necks. Trembling, they handed them to the men standing in a row before them.
One by one bracelets and necklets and tiaras were tossed on to the floor at Melun's feet until there slowly grew a glittering pile of jewels.
And then it became obvious that Melun had provided against every contingency and had counted on complete success. ”