in the study colin rose to his feet, a prey to distress and wrath. kitty’s message fluttered in his hand.
“i had better take the midnight train,” he said, striving for control.
“to what end?” risk gently asked, while hilda, who looked worn-out, took a step forward as if to speak.
“to compel that blackguard corrie—”
“please sit down again, hayward,” risk said, enforcing his words with a mild pressure. “as far as we can see it at the moment, corrie had no direct hand in the outrage—”
“he has got the post office authorities to act—”
“the post office people had nothing to do with it. pull yourself together, man! i’m going to give you a shock. . . you tell him, hilda.”
“mr. hayward,” she said, pityingly, “the person who took kitty away was merely p. 230masquerading as a detective. he had nothing to do with the police or the post office. my brother learned that much within a few minutes after my giving him the alarm. . . . but don’t let this crush you. we want your help, you know.” hilda had a way of striking the right note.
colin got a grip on himself. “symington, of course,” he said, steadying his voice.
“oh, of course!” she assented bitterly. “and i went out and left her alone!”
“at the same time,” said risk, “symington did not move from his hotel after eight o’clock last night, and he went north by the mail train at five this morning. that does not prove his innocence; on the other hand, it does not help to prove the other thing.”
“you have set the police to work?” said colin sharply. at that moment he hated risk. why on earth had not the man held up symington the moment he doubted the latter’s right to the zeniths? why had he insisted on making a “game” of it all? . . . but the feeling passed. he knew too well that risk had been as sincerely anxious to shield kitty from anything sordid and ugly as he had been eager to serve her material interests.
“no,” said risk mildly. “i have no p. 231supercilious feelings about the methods of our police, but for miss carstairs’ own sake we want publicity less than ever now. i have eight men at work, who will do all that scotland yard could do—and i am not resting much myself.”
colin thought for a moment. “knowing what we do,” he said, “we don’t need to look far for a motive on symington’s part. the zeniths alone—”
“kitty will never give in,” cried hilda. “he’ll never force her to marry him.”
“good god!” groaned colin, “to think of her being in that scoundrel’s power!”
risk laid a hand on his shoulder. “blame me, if you must, hayward,” he said quietly, “but don’t give way to despair.” after a slight pause he added: “give me four days.”
“you have a clue?”
“not quite—only the means, i hope, of obtaining one. but don’t ask me questions. my plan may be unnecessary after all. we may perhaps find the way without it.”
“but, mr. risk, can’t you put your plan into operation at once?”
“it requires some developing. . . . for heaven’s sake, hayward,” exclaimed risk, with unwonted warmth, “try to believe that i’d give p. 232all i have if i could get the poor girl out of that cad’s clutches without an hour’s delay!”
“you will trust my brother, won’t you?” said hilda softly, and next moment colin was silently wringing risk’s hand. somehow, he could not doubt this man.
“and what can i do?” he asked presently.
“though it may seem out of place, i want you now to tell me the results of your journey. also let me have the films you exposed. by the way,” risk went on, “west has got a week’s leave, and is going to spend a few days in the neighbourhood of dunford. he’s unknown there, and another flying visit from you might seem more than odd to some people—besides, i want you here. only, i’d like you to see west before he starts by the midnight train—you may be able to give him some hints about the district, and so on. therefore, we’ll get on with our talk, and you can be over at euston soon after 11.30. he expects you. he would have come here, but he had an appointment with the manager of the planet theatre—”
“you see,” put in hilda, “we are so sure of having kitty with us again, almost immediately, that the play is going forward as if nothing had happened.”
p. 233it is to be feared that colin did not find much comfort in the remark, but at least it reminded him once more that a cool head was then of greater value to kitty’s cause than all the warm hearts in the world.
though he could not have stated why, he was feeling a little less cheerless when he left aberdare mansions for the meeting with west. he was noting in his mind certain suggestions which he thought might be of use to his friend, and absentmindedly looking out for a taxi-cab, when one appeared and came to the pavement in response to his signal.
“euston,” he said and got in.
but as he was about to draw to the door, a hand was laid on it and a voice requested the driver to “hold on.”
“excuse me,” continued the voice, which belonged to a shabby, genteel, sharp-featured young man, “but i think you are mr. colin hayward.” an uncleanly hand presented an envelope.
“what’s this?” muttered colin, then seized it with a start. it was the covering of a note he had sent kitty a week ago. “where did you get this?” he demanded.
“through a barred window,” was the answer. p. 234“the lady told me what you were like, and where i’d be likely to find you—this isn’t the first place i’ve tried—and she gave me a sovereign, and she said you would be sure to give me another, sir.” an unclean palm slid forward hopefully.
“but look here,” cried colin, his heart thumping, “there’s no message written here! have you lost—”
“the lady said she had nothing to write with, but she said you would surely understand and come quick.”
colin drew a long breath. “where is—the barred window?”
“gimme the sovereign, please, and i’ll show you. it’s not far.”
“i’ll give you five sovereigns when you’ve shown me!” said colin. “tell the man where to go and get inside.”
he had not forgotten about west, and risk was still in his mind, but they suddenly ceased to matter.
“how far?” he inquired, as the cab started.
“about ten minutes from here.”
“what sort of place is it?”
“respectable—oh, quite respectable, but not the sort of place a gentleman like you would fancy to live in, sir. first time i was ever there, p. 235too. just taking a stroll, wondering where i was going to get my next meal, when i heard a female cry from an area, and looking down i saw a hand moving at a window, a few inches open, behind bars—”
“that’ll do. look here, i may require your help.”
“welcome, sir—when i’ve touched that fiver.”
“take it now.” a bank-note rustled.
“you’re a real gentleman! thank ’ee, sir!”
before long the cab left familiar thoroughfares, and began a journey through a succession of more or less mean streets. in reply to colin’s questions his companion named some of them, without, however, making colin much the wiser. but what mattered it whither he was going so long as it was to kitty? his heart was wild with anticipation; his hand trembled on the crushed envelope that she had so lately touched. he had no fear of not being able to rescue her. if necessary he would request police assistance, but he did not expect to have to go that length. people who abducted girls, or took temporary charge of them, were not the sort to wait for the police. colin, too, had a fairly heavy stick which sharp had put into his hand as he left the flat. certainly he was not afraid. he looked at his watch. p. 236why, he might not only rescue kitty, but manage to catch west at euston also! as for symington and corrie. . . . the shabby-genteel young man began to talk earnestly.
the cab stopped at a corner. the guide got out and walked slowly down a narrow pavement, in front of houses that still wore an air of respectability, dingy indeed, and decaying, but not to be wholly suppressed. the long street was indifferently lighted and void of traffic.
colin paid the driver and followed. by arrangement he did not overtake his guide, but watched him for a signal.
they were half-way down the street when the leader threw out his left arm. colin marked the position; and on reaching it found a gateless space in the railing leading to a steep and narrow flight of steps. he paused for a moment, noted the second low window on his right, which showed a very faint glimmer behind its bars and blind, looked again to make sure that his guide had halted within call, as agreed, and with a wave of his hand, and grasping his stick, began cautiously to descend into the darkness. a moment later he was tapping discreetly on the window, and then—
he was seized from behind, thrown backwards p. 237and downwards, into, as it seemed, an atmosphere of chloroform. the last distinct sounds he heard were the pants of a motor and a strange voice saying, “hurry up, there’s the car.”
* * * * *
at five minutes before midnight anthony west rushed from the train to a telephone box and rang up risk.
“colin hasn’t turned up,” he said, without preamble.
for the first time miss risk heard her brother swear. but he did it without losing his calmness.
“then you must go on, anthony, and carry out the programme as well as you can,” he replied. “you must use your own discretion a little more; that’s all. don’t lose your train. accidents will happen. good luck to you.”
he hung up the receiver, and turned to his sister, his face expressing grave concern.
“hayward has not arrived at euston. of course, he may have met with an accident—but now i could almost bet that symington did not really go north this morning—or rather, he turned back before he had gone far. i ought to have given the beggar credit for more cunning.”
hilda considered before she asked: “but why p. 238in the world should symington want to harm him?”
“there may be several reasons. perhaps i ought to tell you where hayward disappeared that night you and miss carstairs were dining here. he went to symington’s hotel, and gave the rascal a sound thrashing—”
“oh, splendid!”
“yes, but indiscreet.” he sighed. “i don’t like it. cad as he is, i could almost trust symington not to maltreat the girl, but. . . .” he returned to the telephone and rang up a police station on the route that a cab would naturally take to euston.
“but he would never dare,” began hilda, and stopped short, remembering symington’s face as she had seen it that night in the train. cruel—that was the word—the face of a man who would inflict torture to gain his end.
risk had hit on the truth, symington had not gone far north that morning. as a matter of fact he had left the train at rugby, entered a powerful motor-car, and came south again—not to the kingsway grand hotel, but to a rather dilapidated mansion situated at 336 lester road, richmond.
* * * * *
p. 239at dunford on the following evening, john corrie found among the letters from the south one for himself. for the second time he gazed at a single pencilled word—“arrested”—and shuddered ’twixt terror and hope. the man’s nerves seemed to be in rags, for he paled, started violently, and dropped the letter when the door of the post office opened.
but it was only a tourist who entered. corrie’s whole being bounded up in relief—only to drop sickeningly at the stranger’s first words—
“i wish to see miss kitty carstairs.”
