for pure discomfort there are few things in the world that can compete with the final rehearsals of an amateur theatrical performance at a country house. every day the atmosphere becomes more and more heavily charged with restlessness and irritability. the producer of the piece, especially if he is also the author of it, develops a sort of intermittent insanity. he plucks at his mustache, if he has one; at his hair, if he has not. he mutters to himself. he gives vent to occasional despairing cries. the soothing suavity which marked his demeanor in the earlier rehearsals disappears. he no longer says with a winning smile: "splendid, old man; splendid. couldn't be better. but i think we'll take that over just once more, if you don't mind. you missed out a few rather good lines, and you forgot to give miss robinson her cue for upsetting the flowerpot." instead, he rolls his eyes and snaps out: "once more, please. this'll never do. at this rate we might just as well cut out the show altogether. for heaven's sake, brown, do try and remember your lines. it's no good having the best part in the piece if you go and forget everything you've got to say. what's that? all right on the night? no, it won't be all right on the night. and another thing. you must remember to say, 'how calm and peaceful the morning is', or how on earth do you think miss robinson is going to know when to upset that flowerpot? now, then, once more; and do pull yourself together this time." after which the scene is sulkily resumed by the now thoroughly irritated actors; and conversation, when the parties concerned meet subsequently, is cold and strained.
matters had reached this stage at the abbey. everybody was thoroughly tired of the piece, and, but for the thought of the disappointment which—presumably—would rack the neighboring nobility and gentry if it were not to be produced, would have resigned without a twinge of regret. people who had schemed to get the best and longest parts were wishing now that they had been content with first footman or giles, a villager.
"i'll never run an amateur show again as long as i live," confided
charteris to jimmy, almost tearfully the night before the production.
"it's not good enough. most of them aren't word-perfect yet. and we've
just had the dress rehearsal!"
"it'll be all right on——"
"oh, don't say it'll be all right on the night."
"i wasn't going to," said jimmy. "i was going to say it'll be all right after the night. people will soon forget how badly the thing went."
"you're a nice, comforting sort of man, aren't you?" said charteris.
"why worry?" said jimmy. "if you go on like this, it'll be westminster
abbey for you in your prime. you'll be getting brain fever."
jimmy himself was feeling particularly cheerful. he was deriving a keen amusement at present from the manoeuvres of mr. samuel galer, of new york. this lynx-eyed man, having been instructed by mr. mceachern to watch jimmy, was doing so with a pertinacity which would have made a man with the snowiest of consciences suspicious. if jimmy went to the billiard room after dinner, mr. galer was there to keep him company. if, during the course of the day, he had occasion to fetch a handkerchief or a cigarette case from his bedroom, he was sure, on emerging, to stumble upon mr. galer in the corridor. the employees of wragge's detective agency, ltd., believed in earning their salaries. occasionally, after these encounters, jimmy would come upon sir thomas blunt's valet, the other man in whom spike's trained eye had discerned the distinguishing trait of the detective. he was usually somewhere round the corner at these moments, and, when collided with, apologized with great politeness. it tickled jimmy to think that both these giant brains should be so greatly exercised on his account.
spennie, meanwhile, had been doing quite an unprecedented amount of thinking. quite an intellectual pallor had begun to appear on his normally pink cheeks. he had discovered the profound truth that it is one thing to talk about paying one's debts, another actually to do it, and that this is more particularly the case when we owe twenty pounds and possess but six pounds seven shillings and fourpence. spennie was acutely conscious of the fact that, if he could not follow up his words to wesson with actual coin, the result would be something of an anticlimax. somehow or other he would have to get the money—and at once. the difficulty was that no one seemed at all inclined to lend it to him.
there is a good deal to be said against stealing as a habit; but it cannot he denied that, in certain circumstances, it offers an admirable solution of a difficulty, and if the penalties were not so exceedingly unpleasant, it is probable that it would become far more fashionable than it is.
spennie's mind did not turn immediately to this outlet from his embarrassment. he had never stolen before, and it did not occur to him directly to do so now. there is a conservative strain in all of us. but gradually, as it was borne in upon him that it was the only course possible, unless he applied to his stepfather—a task for which his courage was not sufficient—he found himself contemplating the possibility of having to secure the money by unlawful means. by lunch time, on the morning of the day fixed for the theatricals, he had decided definitely to do so. by dinner time he had fixed upon the object of his attentions.
with a vague idea of keeping the thing in the family, he had resolved to make his raid upon sir thomas blunt. somehow it did not seem so bad robbing one's relatives.
a man's first crime is, as a rule, a shockingly amateurish affair. now and then, it is true, we find beginners forging with the accuracy of old hands or breaking into houses with the finish of experts. but these are isolated cases. the average tyro lacks generalship altogether. spennie may be cited as a typical novice. it did not strike him that inquiries might be instituted by sir thomas, when he found his money gone, and that wesson, finding a man whom he knew to be impecunious suddenly in possession of twenty pounds, might have suspicions. his mind was entirely filled with the thought of getting the money. there was no room in it for any other reflection.
his plan was simple. sir thomas, he knew, always carried a good deal of money with him. it was unlikely that he kept this on his person in the evening. a man to whom the set of his clothes is as important as it was to sir thomas, does not carry a pocket-book full of banknotes when he is dressed for dinner. he would leave it somewhere, reasoned spennie. where, he asked himself. the answer was easy. in his dressing room. spennie's plan of campaign was complete.
the theatricals began at half-past eight. the audience had been hustled into their seats, happier than is usual in such circumstances from the rumor that the proceedings were to terminate with an informal dance. the abbey was singularly well constructed for such a purpose. there was plenty of room, and a sufficiency of retreat for those who sat out, in addition to a conservatory large enough to have married off half the couples in the county. the audience was in an excellent humor, and the monologue, the first item of the programme, was received with a warmth which gave charteris, whom rehearsals had turned into a pessimist, a faint hope that the main item on the programme might not be the complete failure it had promised to be.
spennie's idea had been to get through his burglarious specialty during the monologue, when his absence would not be noticed. it might be that if he disappeared later in the evening people would wonder what had become of him.
he lurked apart till the last of the audience had taken their seats.
as he was passing through the hall, a hand fell on his shoulder.
conscience makes cowards of us all. spennie bit his tongue and leaped
three inches into the air.
"hello, charteris!" he said gaspingly.
"spennie, my boyhood's only friend," said charteris, "where are you off to?"
"what—what do you mean? i was just going upstairs."
"then don't. you're wanted. our prompter can't be found. i want you to take his place till he blows in. come along."
the official prompter arrived at the end of the monologue with the remark that he had been having a bit of a smoke in the garden and his watch had gone wrong. leaving him to discuss the point with charteris, spennie slipped quietly away, and flitted up the stairs toward sir thomas' dressing room. at the door, he stopped and listened. there was no sound. the house might have been deserted. he opened the door, and switched on the electric light.
fortune was with him. on the dressing table, together with a bunch of keys and some small change, lay a brown leather pocketbook. evidently sir thomas did not share lady blunt's impression that the world was waiting for a chance to rob him as soon as his back was turned.
spennie opened the pocketbook, and counted the contents. there were two ten-pound notes, and four of five pounds.
he took a specimen of each variety, replaced the pocketbook, and crept out of the door.
then he walked rapidly down the corridor to his own room.
just as he reached it, he received a shock only less severe than the former one from the fact that this time no hand was placed on his shoulder.
"spennie!" cried a voice.
he turned, to see molly. she wore the costume of the stage milkmaid. coming out of her room after dressing for her part, she had been in time to see spennie emerge through sir thomas' door with a look on his face furtive enough to have made any jury bring in a verdict of guilty on any count without further evidence. she did not know what he had been doing; but she was very certain that it was something which he ought to have left undone.
"er—hullo, molly!" said spennie bonelessly.
"what were you doing in uncle thomas' room, spennie?"
"nothing. i was just looking round."
"just looking round?"
"that's all."
molly was puzzled.
"why did you look like that when you came out?"
"like what?"
"so guilty."
"guilty! what are you talking about?"
molly suddenly saw light.
"spennie," she said, "what were you putting in your pocket as you came out?"
"putting in my pocket!" said spennie, rallying with the desperation of one fighting a lost cause. "what do you mean?"
"you were putting something."
another denial was hovering on spennie's lips, when, in a flash, he saw what he had not seen before, the cloud of suspicion which must hang over him when the loss of the notes was discovered. sir thomas would remember that he had tried to borrow money from him. wesson would wonder how he had become possessed of twenty pounds. and molly had actually seen him coming out of the room, putting something in his pocket.
he threw himself at the mercy of the court.
"it's like this, molly," he said. and, having prefaced his narrative with the sound remark that he had been a fool, he gave her a summary of recent events.
"i see," said molly. "and you must pay him at once?"
"by the end of the week. we had—we had a bit of a row."
"what about?"
"oh, nothing," said spennie. "anyhow, i told him i'd pay him by
saturday, and i don't want to have to climb down."
"of course not. jimmy shall lend you the money."
"who? jimmy pitt?"
"yes."
"but, i say, look here, molly. i mean, i've been to him, already. he lent me a fiver. he might kick if i tried to touch him again so soon."
"i'll ask him for it."
"but, look here, molly——"
"jimmy and i are engaged, spennie."
"what! not really? i say, i'm frightfully pleased. he's one of the best. i'm fearfully glad. why, that's absolutely topping. it'll be all right. i'll sweat to pay him back. i'll save out of my allowance. i can easily do it if i cut out a few things and don't go about so much. you're a frightfully good sort, molly. i say, will you ask him to-night? i want to pay wesson first thing to-morrow morning."
"very well. you'd better give me those notes, spennie. i'll put them back."
the amateur cracksman handed over his loot, and retired toward the stairs. molly could hear him going down them three at a time, in a whirl of relief and good resolutions. she went to sir thomas' room, and replaced the notes. having done this, she could not resist the temptation to examine herself in the glass for a few moments. then she turned away, switched off the light, and was just about to leave the room when a soft footstep in the passage outside came to her ears.
she shrank back. she felt a curiously guilty sensation, as if she had been in the room with criminal rather than benevolent intentions. her motives in being where she was were excellent—but she would wait till this person had passed before coming out into the passage.
then it came to her with a shock that the person was not going to pass. the footsteps halted outside the door.
there was a curtain at her side, behind which hung certain suits of
sir thomas'. she stepped noiselessly behind this.
the footsteps passed on into the room.
