Abbershaw glanced round involuntarily, and saw what Gideon and his companions must have done some minutes before – Albert Campion’s pleasant, vacuous face, pale and curiously in earnest in the faint light, as he peered at them from behind the gleaming barrel of a heavy Webley.
‘Shove the girls in their room. Give Miss Oliphant the little pistol, and then come with me,’ he murmured to Abbershaw, as the strange procession set off up the stairs.
‘Steady,’ he went on in a louder voice to the two men in front of him. ‘No fancy work. Any noise either of you makes will be voluntary suicide for the good of the cause. It’ll mean one man less to tie up, anyway. I’m taking them up to my room,’ he murmured to Abbershaw. ‘Follow me there. They’re slippery beggars and two guns are better than one.’
Abbershaw handed Gideon’s little revolver to Meggie, which she took eagerly.
‘We’ll be all right,’ she whispered. ‘Go on after him. They’re terrible people.’
‘For God’s sake wait here till we come, then,’ he whispered back. She nodded, and for a moment her steady brown eyes met his.
‘We will, old dear. Don’t worry about us. We’re all right.’
She disappeared into the room with Jeanne and Anne Edgeware, and Abbershaw hurried after Campion considerably reassured. Meggie was a wonderful girl.
He reached Campion just in time to get the bedroom door open and to assist him to get the two into the room. ‘Now,’ said Campion, ‘it’s getting infernally dark, so we’ll have to work fast. Abbershaw, will you keep watch over these two gentlemen. I’m afraid you may have to fire at the one on the right, he’s swearing so horribly – while I attend to Mr Gideon’s immediate needs. That worthy enthusiast, Chris Kennedy, has pinched all my straps, and though I hate to behave as no guest should, I’m afraid there’s no help for it. The Black Dudley linen will have to go.’
As he spoke he stripped the clothes from the great four-poster bed, and began to tear the heavy linen sheets into wide strips. ‘If you could persuade Mr Gideon to stand with his back against the post of this bed,’ he remarked at length, ‘I think something might be done for him. Hands still up, please.’