beatrice and wilfrid looked at flower in astonishment. he did not seem to heed until his dull eyes met theirs and saw the question which neither cared to ask.
"a sharp, sudden pain," he gasped, "a pain in my head. i expect i have been working too hard. it has gone now. perhaps it isn't worth taking any notice of. i am told that neuralgia sometimes is almost more than one can bear. so this is the piece of string the fellow was using, beatrice? i am afraid i can't disbelieve you any longer. i am sure that there is no string like this in the house. in fact, i never saw anything like it before. what do you make of it, dr. mercer?"
flower was speaking hurriedly. he had assumed an amiability foreign to his nature. he spoke like a man trying to undo a bad impression.
"it is curious, but i have seen something similar," mercer said. "it was a piece of silken string of the same length, knotted exactly like this, and the incident happened in the malay archipelago. the ship on which i was doctor——"
"oh, you've been a ship's doctor," flower said swiftly.
mercer bit his lip with vexation. the slip was an awkward one, but after that exclamation flower showed no disposition to carry the query farther, and wilfrid began to breathe more freely. he went on composedly enough.
"the ship was laid up for several weeks for repairs. not caring to be idle i went up country on an exploring expedition, and very rough work it was. as you may be aware, the malays are both treacherous and cruel, but so long as one treated them fairly, i had nothing to grumble about. i cured one or two of them from slight illnesses and they were grateful. but there was one man there, his name does not matter, who was hated and feared by them all. i fancy he was an orchid collector. anyhow, he had a retinue of servants armed with modern weapons, and he led the natives a terrible life. i purposely avoided him because i did not like him or his methods. one day i had a note from a servant asking me to come and see him as he was at the point of death. when i reached the man's quarters i found that all his staff had deserted him, taking everything they could lay hands on. the man lay on his bed dead, and with the most horrible expression of pain on his face i have ever seen. i could find no cause of death, i could find no trace of illness even. and by what mysterious means he was destroyed i have not the slightest notion. all i know is this—round his forehead and the back of his head was a tightly twisted piece of silken string with five knots in it, which might be the very counterpart of the fragment you hold in your hand."
"and that is all you have to tell us?" flower asked. he had recovered himself, except that his eyes were strangely dilated. "it seems a pity to leave a story in that interesting stage. is there no sequel?"
"as far as i know, none," wilfrid admitted. "still, it is rather startling that i should come upon an echo from the past like this. but i am wasting your time, mr. flower. if you would like me to come and see you tomorrow——"
but flower did not seem to be listening. apparently he was debating some project in his mind.
"no," he said in his quick, sharp way. "i should like you to come again this evening. we have some friends coming in after dinner, and if you don't mind dropping in informally in the character of a doctor and guest i shall be greatly obliged. besides it may do you good."
wilfrid was not blind to the material side of the suggestion, but did not accept the invitation too readily. he would look in about half-past nine. he had said nothing as to meeting beatrice before. neither did she allude to the topic, for which he was grateful. beatrice led the way to the door.
"i am not to be disturbed, mind," flower called out. "i am going into the library for a couple of hours and i want you to send james cotter to me, beatrice. i can see no one till dinner-time."
flower strode away to the library, where he transacted most of his business when out of town, and a few moments later there entered a small, smiling figure in black, humble of face, and with a quick, nervous habit of rubbing his hands one over the other as if he were washing them. this was james cotter, flower's confidant and secretary, and the one man in the world who was supposed to know everything of the inner life of the wealthy ship-owner.
"come in, cotter. sit down and lock the door."
"you have some bad news, sir," cotter said gravely.
"bad news! that is a mild way of putting it. come, my friend, you and i have been through some strange adventures together, and i daresay they are as fresh in your memory as they are in mine. do you recollect what happened ten years ago in borneo?"
cotter groaned. "for heaven's sake, don't speak about it, but thank god that business is past and done with. we shall never hear any more of them."
flower paced thoughtfully up and down the room.
"i thought so," he said. "i hoped so. it seemed to me that the precautions i had taken placed us absolutely outside the zone of danger. as the years have passed away, and you have grown more and more careless until one were inclined to laugh at your own fears, to wake up, as i did an hour ago, to the knowledge that the danger is not only threatening, but actually here——"
"here!" cotter cried, his voice rising almost to a scream. "you don't mean it, sir. you are joking. you are playing with your old servant. the mere thought of it brings my heart into my mouth and sets me trembling."
by way of reply flower proceeded to explain the strange occurrence in the conservatory. when he had finished he laid the piece of silken thread upon the table. its effect upon cotter was extraordinary. he tore frantically at his scanty grey hair. then he laid his head upon the table and burst into a flood of senile tears.
"what is the good of going on like that?" flower said irritably. "there is work to be done and no time to be lost. i know you are bold enough in the ordinary course of things, and can face danger when you see it. the peculiar horror of this thing is its absolute invisibility. but we shall have to grapple with it. we shall have to fight it out alone. but, first of all, there is something to be done which admits of no delay. i sent into oldborough for a doctor, and who should turn up but that very man mercer, who nearly succeeded in bringing a hornet's nest about our ears over that affair of the guelder rose. i should never have remembered the fellow if he had not foolishly let out that he was a ship's doctor, and naturally i kept my information to myself.
"you know what i want done? that man is poor and struggling. he has to be crushed. find out all about him. find out what he owes and where he owes it. then you can come to me and i will tell you how to act. no half measures, mind. mercer is to be driven out of the country, and he is not to return."
cotter grinned approvingly. this was a commission after his own heart. but from time to time his eyes wandered to that innocent looking piece of string upon the table, and his face glistened with a greasy perspiration.
"and about that, sir?" he asked with a shudder.
"that will have to keep for the moment. i want you to go to the post-office and fetch the letters. i am expecting something very important from our agents in borneo, and you will probably find a registered letter from them. it relates to that matter of chutney & co. it will be written in a cypher which you understand as well as i do. you had better open it and read it, in case there may be urgent reasons for cabling a reply at once. as soon as this business is done with and out of the way, cotter, the better i shall be pleased. it is a bit dangerous even for us. of course, we can trust slater, who does everything himself and always uses the cypher which i defy even scotland yard to unravel. still, as i said before, the work is dangerous, and i will never take on a scheme like that again. you had better use one of the cars as far as the post-office to save time."
"i shall be glad to," cotter muttered. "i should never dare to walk down to the village in the dark after seeing this infernal piece of string. the mere sight of it makes me shiver."
cotter muttered himself out of the room and flower was left to his own thoughts. he sat for half an hour or more till the door opened and cotter staggered into the room. he held in a shaking hand an envelope marked with the blue lines which usually accompany registered letters. "look at it," he mumbled. "that came straight from borneo, written by slater himself, sealed with his own private seal, and every line of it in cypher. i should be prepared to swear that no one but slater had touched it. and then when i come to open the envelope, what do i find inside? why, this! this! this!"
with quivering fingers cotter drew the letter from the envelope and unfolded the doubled-up page. from the middle of it dropped a smooth silken object which fell upon the table. it was another mysterious five-knotted string.
