CHAPTER IX
AN UNEXPECTED DISMISSAL
The shades had been drawn closely to exclude the sun, and, for a moment after he first crossed the threshold of the library, West was unable to distinguish any occupant. He heard Sexton silently close the door behind him, but it was not until she moved slightly that he was able to perceive her presence directly across from where he stood. Her voice broke the silence.
"You will find a seat next to the window, Captain," she said quietly. "It was very good of you to come."
"The pleasure was mine," he replied. "Only I am blinded coming in here from the bright sunshine without."
"I have had a touch of headache—nervous, no doubt, from the visit this morning—and so ordered Sexton to draw the shades. Your eyes will soon accustom themselves to the lack of light. I see you quite well."
"Oh, I am all right now," and he sank into the vacant chair, facing her, expectantly. "You wished to speak with me, the servant said."
"Yes," she leaned back against the couch on which she rested, with face now clearly revealed, one hand nervously twirling a fan. "Although it is not easy for me to transform into words exactly what I mean. This is a very strange situation in which we find ourselves, Captain West."
"I have felt so," he admitted, surprised at this beginning. "Yet I must confess, I am now becoming quite reconciled."
She sat up suddenly, with eyes searching his face.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Perhaps I ought not to say," he answered boldly. "Yet circumstances seemingly justify frankness between us. I mean that I feel far more deeply interested in the final outcome of this affair today than I did yesterday—it means more to me."
"Indeed! Why?"
"Largely, I imagine, because I am privileged to know you much better.
That naturally makes a difference."
"Does it indeed? You imply then an increased interest in myself as an individual brings with it a greater desire to serve me?"
"Assuredly, yes."
"Then you render my task doubly hard," she said soberly, yet with a certain hardness in the tone. "I had not suspected any personal side whatever. You were a total stranger to me, Captain West, and I employed you in this matter merely in a business way, as—as—a detective. Surely you understood this clearly?"
"In a measure that is quite true," feeling the sharp sting of her words. "Yet the comparison is hardly fair, is it? I am not a detective in the sense with which you employ the term. No question of pay even has been discussed between us. The appeal to my services was from an entirely different stand-point. More, you even investigated rather carefully my social and financial standing before taking me into your confidence, or admitting me to your home. Is this not true?"
"Undoubtedly. I had reason to wish assurance in these matters. I had to present you to my friends."
"Yet this very knowledge of my social position placed me on a totally different plane from that of a detective picked up at some agency. You knew I was not serving you for pay."
"Did I?"
"I should hope you did," his voice hardening slightly.
"But for what other end did you volunteer your services?"
"Perhaps that is not so easily explained. It was a spirit of adventure which first led me to answer your advertisement, I presume. At least, I can give it no other name. Then, when we met, you appealed to me personally; I felt a desire to further our acquaintance and—well, your story aroused my interest."
"Is that all?"
"It might have been had not you chosen methods of procedure which led me to other thoughts."
She laughed.
"Oh, I see! All this has happened because I introduced you to the others as my fiancé. Why, that is positively funny. Didn't you know that was only a part of the game being played?"
"Yes," he said, ignoring the humour of it, and feeling oddly sober, "I understood, and was playing, the same as you. Only both of us, I think, forget an important fact."
"What, please?"
"That we were young, socially on a level, and that you were an exceedingly charming young woman."
She laughed again, yet this time with more restraint.
"That is quite ridiculous, Captain West. Surely, you are not actually making love to me?"
"No, I am not. I am merely facing the situation very frankly. It would be useless for me to claim lack of interest in you. From our very first meeting, you have appealed to me strongly—more so than any other woman of my acquaintance. Then, perhaps, the peculiarity of our relationship, with the trust you seemed to impose in me, tended to deepen that interest. I confess I began to care for you—as a woman."
"Really you are quite flattering. I never dreamed I possessed such marvellous powers." She remained silent a moment, her eyes shaded by their long lashes; then uplifted them again to his face. "This makes it all the more necessary that I now speak plainly," she went on at length. "That I should explain to you it has all been a mistake. That was why I asked you to come here now."
"All a mistake! Not the trouble you were in surely?"
"Yes. I must have dreamed most of it, I think. I have just had a long confidential talk with Percival Coolidge, and we understand each other perfectly. Everything has been explained. So there is no necessity for our pretending any longer."
West rose to his feet, comprehending her full meaning, yet unwilling to yield his position without further explanation.
"Your words are certainly plain enough," he said slowly, "yet I trust I may be pardoned if I ask a question or so."
"Is it necessary?"
"Perhaps not, but I feel my curiosity is justified. You told me a rather remarkable story and requested my aid in the solving of a strange mystery. Now you abruptly dismiss me from that service. Do you mean the mystery is already solved without my further assistance?"
"I am convinced there was no mystery; that it was only imagination,
Captain West. My calling you was a mistake."
"Percival Coolidge assures you of this?"
"Positively; we have discussed it from every angle, and all that appeared mysterious has been made clear."
"There is no one else impersonating you?"
"No."
"The checks at the bank; the strange person using your name; all these were myths?"
She laughed.
"Of course. I really believed all I said to you at the time, but everything has been explained since, and I realize how very foolish I have been. Uncle Percival has been very nice about it. He simply didn't understand before how worried I was."
"No doubt. You sent for me then merely to say I was dismissed?"
"Yes."
"And you told Coolidge, of course, how I came to be here?"
"Yes."
"And the others? What will they think?"
"Why, that can make no difference. They can be told that you were suddenly called away. Let them suppose we had a quarrel, and that our engagement is broken," and she laughed again, evidently vastly amused at the idea.
"But you, personally?" he insisted.
She sobered instantly, also rising, and facing him.
"Captain West, let us be sensible. I invited you here for a certain purpose. You were employed as much as any of my other servants. Is that a sufficient answer?"
"It certainly is. I will depart at once."
"Thank you. The limousine will be at the door. You will return to the
Club, I presume?"
"Temporarily, until other arrangements are made."
He bowed and left her standing there in the shadows, the expression of her face veiled, but there seemed no response, no softening in the rigid attitude of her figure. She did not care; was only interested in his immediate departure. The change had occurred with such abruptness, West was unable as yet to realize its full significance, but, with no attempt to combat her decision, left the room, closing the door behind him. In that moment his mood changed. The dismissal had been so curt, his pride rose in rebellion. Finding Sexton in the front hall, he addressed him crisply.
"My bag will be ready in ten minutes."
"Yes, sir; you are going away, sir?"
"Immediately. A call to return to the city at once."
"I am very sorry, sir," he said respectfully, yet in a tone of such earnestness, as to cause West to glance toward him sharply. For an instant it was upon the lips of the younger man to ask a question, but Sexton turned away, and it remained unasked. Promptly at the time mentioned came the servant's soft rap on the door.
"I came for the bag, sir."
West handed it over with a glance at the rather expressionless face.
"You said you regretted to see me leave, Sexton," he remarked jovially.
"I presume you meant nothing in particular by that remark?"
"Oh, no, sir," standing motionless, bag in hand. "Only you have been very kind, sir, and—and—of course, it is none of my business, but I hope there is no quarrel, sir?"
"Quarrel! With Miss Natalie, you mean? Why should you suspect that?"
"I—I spoke, sir, very thoughtlessly, sir," he stammered. "You will pardon me, sir."
"Yes, but you must have had a reason, Sexton?"
"Only that she has seemed very much out of humour, sir, since her trip to town," he explained rather lamely. "I have never known her to be so hard to please, sir. I'm sure something is wrong, but that is no reason why I should say what I did, sir."