Arthur W. Marchmont

“ Imagine a formal introduction to Miralda! ‘Mademoiselle Dominguez. Mr. Donnington,’ and those eyes of hers wide with astonishment, and her lips struggling to suppress her laughter! I really think I must let him do it, just to see her face at the moment. Anyway, I shall see her to-morrow night. Ye gods! It’s over four months since I fell before her beauty as intuitively as a pagan falls before the shrine of the little tin god he worships. I hope no one has got in the way meanwhile; if there is any one—well, I’ll do my best to give him a bad time. I’m not here for my health, as the Yanks say ”

“ I did not give the information which led to that raid in the Rua Catania, but—I know who did.”
I got right home with that thrust, and as he glared at me, that old perplexed, speculative fear of me came creeping back into his eyes. He tried to fight it back by encouraging his rage. “Are you going to force me to kick you out, you spy?” he cried fiercely.
“A spy is an object of contempt, quite kickable, of course; but Dr. Barosa would probably regard a traitor as infinitely more despicable.” ”

“ The unfeeling words and the tone in which they were uttered, stung me like the knots of a whip lash. I gave my arm to the viscontesse and took her below and installed her comfortably on a sofa in the saloon.
“Miralda loves a rough sea, Mr. Donnington,” she said, as she pointed to the wraps for me to take on deck. “Don’t stay with me; I am going to take an old woman’s privilege and have a nap.” ”

“ Inez smiled derisively in triumph. “That is how an Englishman keeps his word,” she sneered.
“I have kept my word just as an Englishman would, madame.”
But Miralda was both perplexed and troubled. “Do you really mean you wrote such a letter, Mr. Donnington?” she asked.
“It is a fact that I wrote a letter addressed to M. Volheno and couched in those identical terms. Under the circumstances it was the best course for me to adopt.”
Miralda caught her breath and winced as if I had struck her.
“Circumstances,” echoed Inez, with a fine scorn. ”

“ SAMPAYO IS UNEASY ALTHOUGH Sampayo had obviously made up his mind to ascertain at once whether I knew anything about those black doings of his in South Africa, I had not the slightest intention of satisfying him.
There were many things I had to clear up before I dealt with him; and, as matters stood, it suited me much better that Miralda should be betrothed to him than to any one else.
Sampayo was a big brute, much bigger than I, and had once possessed great strength; but during his years of comfort and wealth, fat had taken the place of a good deal of his muscle. ”

“ It is hateful to see a man cry, but the feeling I had for him was rather pity than contempt. His tears told me so much. He was the merest tool in Sampayo’s hands, and his weak nature was as clay for the stronger man’s moulding. Miralda’s words flashed across my mind—that behind her betrothal to Sampayo was a “story of shame and crime.” ”

“ I drew out my weapon.
“You will not shoot them, Mr. Donnington?” exclaimed my companion under her breath.
“Doesn’t this man Barosa know your voice?” I whispered.
“Of course.”
“Then he isn’t there,” I said grimly.
I raised my voice and called loudly: “Don’t you dare to enter. I’ll shoot the first man that tries to.” Then to my companion: “You’d better crouch down in the corner here. There’ll be trouble the instant they are inside.”
But she had no lack of pluck and shook her head disdainfully. “You must not fire. If you shoot one of these men you will not be safe for an hour in the city.” ”

“ A single swift up-lift of the deeply fringed lids told me that the unexpected shot had pierced the armour-plate of her defence; and when she looked up after a pause all the assumption of surprise had disappeared.
“You have only yourself to blame, Mr. Donnington,” she said, tone and manner both very earnest. She had as many moods as an actress has costumes and was able to change them much more quickly.
“And that means—what, if you please?”
“I am genuinely sorry for you. I knew from the first that your object here was Miralda; and you will remember that I warned you. ”

“ The others released their hold of the woman, and as I stepped in front of her, they fell away in healthy fear of my levelled weapon.
They were the reverse of formidable antagonists; rascals from the gutter apparently; venomous enough in looks, but undersized, feeble specimens; ready to attack an unarmed man or a defenceless woman, but utterly cowed by the sight of the business end of my revolver.
They slunk back toward the door, rage, baulked malice and fear on their ugly dirty faces.
“A spy! A spy!” exclaimed the brute who had the stick; and at the word they felt for their knives. ”

“ There is a place for such a woman as you in the world and good work waiting to be done by you. You promise to come to me?”
She could not speak. The tears, which no persecution, nor the horrors of the past night, nor even the almost certain prospect of the lash itself had been able to draw from her, were standing thick in her eyes as I left her and hurried to my rooms.
I decided to go to Volheno as soon as I had changed into some decent clothes, and secure a pardon for Miralda in return for a full statement of what I knew, and then obtain his assistance in searching for her. ”

“ Inez saw and rejoiced at my discomfiture, but retribution was at hand for her. When we sat down to luncheon the sea was as smooth as the table-cloth, but when we reached the deck again the weather had changed and a heavy bank of clouds to the south threatened a capful of wind. And even this served to show Miralda in a new light.
She heard me tell the skipper to return. “Is it going to be rough? I hope so. I love a rough sea. Don’t go back yet.”
Inez and Vasco protested vigorously. ”

“ There was Vasco. I could not see at once what to do in regard to him. But Miralda and I could discuss his future with the viscontesse. Probably the best thing would be for him to throw up his commission and join us. He had been a fool and must pay for his folly.
There was also Barosa. If Sampayo had spoken the truth about his love for Miralda, he would be mad with Inez for letting her go. It was all for the best, therefore, that he was not in the house. I might have found much more difficulty in getting Miralda away.
Yet he could not have prevented me. The weapon I held was too strong. ”

“ I took the things in silence and returned to Miralda.
She stood by the bulwarks her eyes intent on the troubled waters; a stray lock or two of her hair had been freed by the breeze, and her face was radiant with delight. She revelled in the scene. A veritable incarnation of vigorous youth and bewitching beauty.
She turned as I reached her side. “Isn’t it glorious, Mr. Donnington? I suppose I may stay on deck? I shan’t be in the way?”
“The whole yacht is yours to be where you will, of course,” I replied.
“You always say such pleasant things. ”

“ One may as well laugh while one can. If my laugh offends you, I beg your pardon for it, but I am laughing at my own conversion. An hour or two back I was ridiculing the idea of there being anything to bother about in the condition of the Lisbon streets. Since then I have been attacked by the police, nearly torn to pieces by the mob, had to bolt from the troops, and now you thank me for having saved your life and in the same breath take me for a spy. ”

“ I had nearly finished the cigarette when the man returned with a superior officer whose look of chagrin told me that the raid had been unsuccessful and that Barosa and the rest had escaped.
“Now what is your story?” he asked brusquely.
As he had the look of a man who would not stand any nonsense, I dropped my air of indifference. “I am an Englishman, Donnington is my name. I quite understand that my presence here requires explanation and that of course I am entirely in your hands.” ”

“ Barosa, must be in my hands within an hour.”
“And Major Sampayo?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I care for nothing but Miralda’s welfare in this.”
“You are a generous enemy, Mr. Donnington. There will be no difficulty in doing all you ask. May I—may I thank you?” and she held out her hand. “I have not forgotten that you saved my life, and only regret that I have been powerless to help you with Miralda until you have forced me. I hope you will bear me no malice.” ”

“ The Daily Telegraph says:—“An exciting romance of the ‘cloak and rapier.’ The fun is fast and furious; plot and counterplot, ambushes and fightings, imprisonment and escapes follow each other with a rapidity that holds the reader with a taste for adventure in a state of more or less breathless excitement to the close. Mr. Marchmont has a spirited manner in describing adventure, allowing no pause in the doings for overdescription either of his characters or their surroundings.” ”

“ So I threw myself into a chair and laughed. “You are right. I am not armed. But the weapon I have is stronger than a revolver. I had my suspicions roused about the Rampallo, and I got on board her in time to hear all your discussion on the news which M. Dagara sent you.”
“Ah, as a spy!” he sneered.
“Yes; as a spy, if you like. As a result, Captain Gompez and his companions carried me off instead of the king; and this morning my men from the Stella came aboard and I returned here.” ”

“ To frighten such a weakling was easy work; and Sampayo had at once engineered matters so that the money had to be instantly forthcoming. Scared out of his wits, Vasco had admitted his act, and the scoundrel, in the guise of friendship, had offered to find the sum on condition that Vasco gave him a written confession. ”

“ He gave a sigh of impatience. “Of course it is, I know that well enough.”
“You were speaking of the reason for Mr. Donnington’s visit,” Miralda reminded him demurely; and as she turned to him her eyes swept impassively across my face. As if a stranger’s presence in Lisbon were a legitimate reason for the polite assumption of curiosity.
“It is in a way Government business; Mr. Donnington”—he got the name right this time and smiled—“is seeking some concessions in our East African colony and he needs my influence.” ”

“ It is impossible, impossible.”
“I don’t understand that word when I am in such earnest as now. Sampayo has left Lisbon. I have driven him away. I will sweep every other obstacle out of our path. Miralda?” ”

“ MIRALDA’S CONFIDENCE AS the door closed behind Dagara I returned to my seat. M. Volheno was obviously annoyed by the incident, but I observed that it was rather the fact of the secretary’s negligence than the consequences of it which had ruffled his temper.
“You would scarcely believe, judging by this, the trouble I have taken to train that young man. Since his marriage there has been some difference in him; but he is usually as dependable as a machine, and does his work with precision, speed and silence.” ”

“ However, her long excited tirade gave me time to think things out; and when at last she ended with an appeal to me to write what Barosa required, I had decided how to reply.
“You ask me to have these men set at liberty, contesse; but if I were to do so, what object would be gained, as everything has been discovered?”
“They are our friends and we must save them. Their ruin will not help you.”
“Miralda is my friend, and I must save her.”
“But you will not help her by destroying them.”
“Why is Miralda kept a prisoner here?”
“She is not a prisoner, Mr. Donnington.” ”

“ I returned her look and framed my answer carefully. “I have been very careful to let every one know that—every one else.”
She bit her lips and frowned, the concern in her eyes deepened, and with a half-suppressed sigh she turned away and began to fan herself slowly again. I think she understood my meaning, but before she could reply Miralda came up on Major Sampayo’s arm. As she saw them approaching, the viscontesse started and glanced quickly and nervously at me with a look I could not read. ”

“ The shock of learning that I knew Sampayo was in the background, his fear of what I knew, followed by my earnest offer of friendship, confidence and help, coming at a moment when he was shaken by a night of dissipation, had unmanned him.
With an excuse that I had to speak to Bryant, I left him alone for a few minutes, and when I returned he was staring out of the window smoking.
“You’ll think me an awful fool and baby, Mr. Donnington,” he said nervously and shamefacedly.
“No. Any man might break down under the load you are carrying.” ”

“ It was a long time before I could get a word in, and then I brought them back to the real point. “Sampayo told me that after my interview with him he begged you to get rid of me by doing what I wanted—freeing Miralda from all this trouble. But you refused and tried to get rid of me in another way—by inciting Henriques to murder me.”
“It is a lie, a lie. It is all lies,” he exclaimed furiously.
“Well then, why have you kept Miralda in the toils? If Sampayo lied, what is the truth?”
That roused Inez again, and another altercation followed, fiercer even and more prolonged than the first. ”

“ Instead of going straight to Miralda, therefore, I drove down to the quay and sent off a message by a boatman to Burroughs, my second in command on the Stella, to come to my rooms with a couple of the crew.
Jack Burroughs was just the man for such a purpose—a ’Varsity man of good birth but very small means, with the roving instinct strongly developed, he had been half over the globe in search of adventure; and having a love of the sea, had jumped at my suggestion that he should come with me, partly as companion and partly to qualify himself to take command of the Stella later on. ”

“ He made a little gesture of protest and sat thinking. “Do you say that you had no such information about the house in the Rua Catania?” he asked after the pause.
“What I know and what I don’t know concerns no one but myself, sir,” I replied firmly. “I decline to answer your question.”
He shrugged his shoulders significantly. “This may be more serious than I thought. You will see that. I think, perhaps, I had better send for M. Volheno.”
“You can send for the Dictator himself if you like. It makes no sort of difference to me.” ”

“ I have been Barosa’s slave for months, curse him.”
There was no mistaking the bitter sincerity of this.
“You will do no good with the letter you want. It is more probable that you will find that he fled from the city the moment he knew this thing had failed and took Mademoiselle Dominguez with him. But if he is still there, and still hopes to provoke a revolution, your only means of dealing with him will be through the Contesse Inglesia. Rouse her jealousy, and you may succeed. ”