CHAPTER XXIX
[SOME PASSAGES OF ARMS]
Mr Stacey held out both hands to her in the effusive fashion which, when he chose, he could manage very well.
"My dear Miss Arnott, I think I'm unexpected." He was; so unexpected that, in the first flush of her surprise, the girl was oblivious of his outstretched hands. He went on, ignoring her confusion. "But I trust I am not unwelcome because I happen to come unheralded." Looking about him he noticed Mrs Sutherland. "But you are not alone. I hope that our unannounced entrance has not been an intrusion. May I ask you to make me known to your"--something caused him not to use the word which was already on the tip of his tongue--"to this lady."
"This is Mrs Darcy Sutherland."
"Mrs Darcy Sutherland?" In spite of his mellifluous tones there was something in the way in which he repeated the name which hardly suggested a compliment. "And what might Mrs Darcy Sutherland want with you?"
Mrs Sutherland took it upon herself to answer.
"Well, I never! the impudence of that! Who are you, pray? and what business is it of yours?"
The lawyer was blandness itself.
"I beg your pardon. Were you speaking to me?"
"Yes, I was speaking to you, and you know I was." She turned to Miss Arnott. "I think, my dear, it would be better if you were to ask these two gentlemen to leave us alone together till you and I have finished our little business."
"Business?" At the sound of the word Mr Stacey pricked up his ears. He addressed Miss Arnott. "As in all matters of business I have the honour to represent you, don't you think that, perhaps, you had better leave me to deal with this--lady in a matter of business?"
The lady referred to resented the suggestion hotly.
"What next, I wonder? You'll do nothing of the kind, my dear, not if I know it you won't. And as I'm in rather a hurry, perhaps you'll go and do what you said you would."
Mr Stacey put to Miss Arnott a question.
"What was it you said that you would do for this lady?"
Again the lady showed signs of heat.
"I never saw the equal of you for meddling. Don't you go poking your nose into other people's affairs, or you'll be sorry. If you take my advice, my dear, you won't tell him a single thing. I sha'n't, if you won't, you may trust me for that. You'll keep your own business to yourself, especially when it's business of such a very particular kind--interfering old party!"
"If you take my advice, Miss Arnott, and I think you have reason to know that in general my advice is to be trusted, you will tell me in the fewest, and also in the plainest, possible words what this person wants with you. It is evidently something of which she is ashamed, or she would not be so anxious for concealment."
"Don't you call me a person, because I won't have it; and don't you interfere in what's my business, because I won't have that either." The indignant Mrs Darcy Sutherland rose to her feet. "Now, look here, and don't let there be any mistake about it, I'm not going to have this impudent old man humbugging about with me, so don't let anyone think it. So you'll please to understand, Miss Arnott, that if you're going to get what you promised to get, you'd better be quick about it, because I've had about as much as I care to put up with. I'm not going to let any man trample on me, I don't care who he is, especially when I don't know him from Adam."
"Surely there can be no objection to my putting a simple question. What is it you promised to get for this--lady about which she betrays so much anxiety?"
Miss Arnott replied.
"If you don't mind, I'd rather not have any bother. I've had some trouble already."
"I know you have; it is because of that that we are here. Believe me, my dear young lady, you will be quite safe if you trust yourself in my hands."
"I don't want to have any more trouble, so, as it wasn't a sum which was of much consequence to me, I was just going to get some money which Mrs Sutherland wanted when you came in."
"Money?"
"Yes, money!--money she owes me!--so now you know!"
"Do you owe this--lady money?"
"Well, it isn't exactly that I owe it, but money is owing to her, I believe."
"How much?"
"A thousand pounds."
"A thousand pounds! Is it possible that you were thinking of giving this woman a thousand pounds?"
At this point Mrs Darcy Sutherland thought proper to give her passion reins, with results which were hardly becoming.
"Look here, don't you call me a woman, you white-headed old rooster, as if I wasn't a lady! I'm as much a lady as she is, and a good deal more. The next time you give me any more of your sauce, I'll smack your face; I've done it to better men than you before to-day, so don't you say that I didn't warn you!" She turned to Miss Arnott. "As for you--how much longer are you going to be tommy-rotting about? Are you going to give me that thousand pounds, or aren't you? You know what the consequences will be if you don't! Don't you think, in spite of his smooth tongue, that he can save you from them, because he can't, as you shall very soon see. Now, am I going to have that money or not?"
Mr Gilbert, asserting himself for the first time, interfered.
"Stacey, I should like to say a few words to Mrs Darcy Sutherland. Mrs Darcy Sutherland, I believe my name is not unknown to you--Ernest Gilbert."
"Ernest Gilbert?" The woman changed countenance. "Not the Ernest Gilbert?"
"Yes, the Ernest Gilbert. And I see you are the Mrs Darcy Sutherland; thank you very much. I have been favoured with instructions to proceed against a gang of long firm swindlers, the ringleader of whom is a man who calls himself Darcy Sutherland. There's a warrant out for his arrest, but for the moment he's slipped through our fingers. There has been some talk as to whether your name should be included in that warrant; at present, it isn't. When you leave here I'll have you followed. The probability is that you'll make for the man you call your husband. If you do so, we'll have him; if you don't, we'll have you--see?"
On hearing this the woman flung all remnants of decency from her.
"That's the time of day, is it? You think you've got me, do you? Fancy you've only got to snap your fingers and I'm done for? That's where you're wrong, as I'll soon show you. If I'm in a bit of a hole, what about her? Who do you think she is? What do you think she's been doing? I'll tell you if you don't know, and then we shall know where we are!--and she'll know too!--by----! she will!"
Mr Ernest Gilbert glanced round towards Mr Stacey.
"Take Miss Arnott out of the room."
Inside thirty seconds Mr Stacey had whisked the girl out of the room and vanished with her. Mrs Darcy Sutherland, realising the trick which was being played, rushed to the door. But Mr Gilbert was there first; with the key turned, he stood with his back to the door and faced her.
"You get away from in front of that door! What do you mean by turning that key? You open that door and let me out this instant!"
The lawyer's reply did not breathe the spirit of conciliation.
"I'll see you hung first."
"Don't you speak to me like that! Who do you think you're talking to?"
"To you. Now, you foul-mouthed judy, I'm going to take off the gloves to deal with you. I've not had the dregs of the criminal population pass through my hands all these years without knowing how to deal with a woman of your type, as I'm going to show you. What were you going to say to Miss Arnott?--out with it!"
"Never mind what I was going to say to Miss Arnott; I'm going to say nothing to you; don't you think it! Who do you think you're trying to bounce?"
"You're going to say exactly what you would have said if that young lady had remained in the room, or when you do go it will be in the charge of a policeman."
"Oh, shall I? We'll see! Don't you make any mistake!"
"Don't you."
"You must think I'm a simple-minded innocent, to come trying to play your confidence tricks off on me. What do you want me to think I'll be in the charge of a policemen for, I'd like to know?"
"Blackmail."
"Blackmail! What do you mean?"
"You know perfectly well what I mean. You have just been trying to blackmail that girl to the tune of a thousand pounds. No offence more severely punished. I'll have you jugged on one charge, and the blackguard you call your husband on another."
"I wasn't trying to do anything of the sort; don't fancy you can bluff me! I was only telling the truth."
"Makes it worse. Suppose you believed her to have committed murder, and said you'd out with what you knew if she didn't give you a thousand pounds--that would be blackmail in its most heinous form; you'd get a lifer as sure as you're alive. My time's valuable. Which is it going to be--the policeman or what you call the truth?"
"If I do tell you what use will you make of it?"
"No questions answered. Which is it going to be?"
"If I tell you, will you let me go right straight off? No shadowing or anything of that kind?"
"The only promise I'll make is that I won't let you go if you don't. Out with it!"
"You're very hard on a girl! I don't know what I've done to you!"
"No snivelling; put away that evil-smelling rag; I'm going to have that policeman."
He was standing by the bell.
"Don't! I'll tell you!"
"Then tell!"
"I don't know what it is you want me to tell you--I really don't!"
"I want you to tell me what's the pull you've got, or think you've got, over Miss Arnott."
"It's about that chap who was killed in the woods here."
"What about him?"
"He was her husband."
"How do you know?"
"I ought to. He was an old friend of mine, and I was her bridesmaid when she married him."
"Why did she keep him dark?"
"Well, he got into a bit of trouble."
"Go on! out with it all! and don't you stammer!"
"I'm not stammering, and I'm going on as fast as ever I can! I never saw anyone like you. He got into prison, that's what he did, and of course she wasn't proud of it. He only came out the morning of the day he came down here; my husband and me lent him the money to come with, and we want our money back again--we can't afford to lose it."
"I see. His object in coming was blackmail--like yours. Is that all the pull?"
"All! I should think it's enough, considering. But, as it happens, it isn't all."
"What else is there?"
"Why, she killed him."
"How do you know?"
"It stands to reason. Why didn't she let out he was her husband and that she knew all about him? Isn't it plain enough why? Because they met in the woods, and had a bit of a quarrel, and she knifed him, that's why. And she'll swing for it in spite of all her money. And it's because she knows it that she was so willing to give me that thousand pounds. What do you think?"
"You evil-speaking, black-hearted cat! Now I'll have that policeman, and for what you've said to me you shall have a lifer!"
He moved towards the bell.
"Don't! you promised you'd let me go!"
"I promised nothing of the kind, you---! I tell you what I will do. I'll unlock that door and let you through it. You shall have six hours' start, and then I'll have a warrant out for you, and if I catch you I promise I'll do my best to get you penal servitude for life. As we've a shrewd idea of your husband's whereabouts, if you take my advice you'll keep away from him. Now, out you go!"
Unlocking the door he threw it open.
"Six hours mind, honest!"
"Six hours, by my watch. After that, if I can catch you I will, you can bet on it. Take yourself outside this house before I change my mind. You'd better!"
Apparently Mrs Darcy Sutherland was of his opinion; she was out of the house with a swiftness which did credit to her agility. Almost as soon as she had gone Mr Stacey appeared in the doorway of the room she had just quitted.