it was plainly evident that bates believed in his ability to solve the problem. anstruther had quite thrown the mask off by this time, and stood glaring vindictively at the inspector. it was absolutely maddening to a man of his ability to be caught in a sorry trap like this. one of the strongest points in anstruther's schemes was the fact that hitherto he had always been on the side of the police. he had been regarded as one of them, so to speak, so that many of his ingenious plots had been guided solely by the action of the authorities. it had never once occurred to him that he might have been an object of suspicion at scotland yard.
"you might just as well take it quietly," bates said. "we know the whole thing from start to finish. it will go a great deal easier with you if you give us all the information that lies in your power and save us trouble."
"that is the usual course, i believe," anstruther sneered. "but you have a different man to deal with in me. i am quite at a loss to understand what you are doing here at all."
bates shrugged his shoulders, and walked in the direction of the door. he had no difficulty in seeing that anstruther had made up his mind to see this thing through to the bitter end. therefore, it was quite useless to try and get him to see matters in a reasonable light. anstruther stood there, white, silent, and furious, whilst all the time the amazing music was going on in the study.
mysterious as the whole thing appeared to be, there was almost an element of farce in it. here was the very man who relied upon his devotion to his violin to save him in the hour of danger, actually listening, so to speak, to his own performance. he had little doubt what bates meant to do, for the latter was already half-way down the stairs on his way to the study. with a sudden impulse anstruther followed. he passed bates with a rapid stride, and, standing with his back to the study door, defied the inspector to enter.
"you do not seem to understand," bates said. "the warrant i have for your arrest gives me the right of searching the whole house. if you persist in this absurd conduct, i shall have to call my men in and remove you by force."
the two men faced one another, both angry and excited, and ready to fly at one another's throats. and yet the whole time their ears were filled with the beautiful melody of the music, as it floated from the room behind.
"what are we going to do?" claire asked. she was standing with jack at the top of the staircase. "is it not time that we declared ourselves?"
jack whispered to claire to remain where she was a moment, and slipped out of the house into the garden unperceived. it had suddenly occurred to him that perhaps the window leading from the study to the garden was unfastened. he recollected that this was the means by which anstruther left and returned to the house. it would have been imprudent on the latter's part to use the front door, and there was not much risk in leaving the study window unlatched.
it was just as jack had expected. the long french window gave to his touch, and a moment later he was in the room. as it happened on the previous occasion, he could see not the faintest trace of any mechanism by means of which the melody was conveyed from the great metropolitan hotel to panton square. and yet the whole room was flooded with it; rising and falling in triumphant strains, as if mocking the intellect of a man who had brought this wonderful result about. but there was no time to speculate on that, no time for close investigation. on the other side of the door the voices of anstruther and bates were rising to a still more angry pitch, and claire's tones of expostulation came to jack's ears. as he crossed the room he could see that the key was in the door. he flung it open, and anstruther came staggering backward into the room, closely followed by the detective.
"you can see that the game is up," the latter said coolly. "why not make a clean breast of it? i shall find out how this is done, if i have to pull down the house to do it."
anstruther smiled in a scornful kind of way, and flung himself doggedly into a seat. he bade bates do his worst, and prophesied that the police would suffer for this indignity. but bates was not listening. he was pacing rapidly round the room with his ear to the wall, as if scenting out some clue to the mystery. a moment later, and there came into the room the form of serena.
one glance at her sufficed to show that she was not the serena whom jack had known so long. the demure, downcast eyes were no longer seeking the floor as of old; there was no shrinking and timidity on the part of the woman now. she was changed almost beyond recognition. she walked with a firm, elastic tread, her shoulders were thrown back, and her head uplifted fearlessly. from under his heavy brows anstruther glanced at her suspiciously.
"go away," he commanded hoarsely. "how dare you force yourself in here like this! go, woman."
but the tones of command had evidently lost their power. there was no shrinking on serena's part. she advanced into the middle of the room as if the place belonged to her.
"no, no," she cried in tones as clear and ringing as anstruther's own. "your power has gone forever. for three long patient years i have waited for this moment. god only knows what my life has been, and what a hell your cruelty has created for me. but the cord is broken now. only to-night i have learned the truth. i have been your good and faithful servant; i have stooped to do your hateful work; i have been the ally of criminals--of your creature redgrave, amongst others; and all because i thought you held my life in the hollow of your hand."
"tell them the story of your boy," anstruther sneered.
"i will tell them the truth," serena cried. "you said you could hang me if you liked. you pretended that in my delirium i had taken the life of my darling child. you were shielding a murderess, as i thought. but it was a black and cruel lie. give me back my wasted years, you coward; give me back my sleepless nights and dreary days. but, thank god, that time has passed. my boy is alive--alive! he is safe in the house at present!"
anstruther started as if some loathsome insect had stung him, then dropped sullenly back in his seat again. bates turned to serena and called her attention to the music.
"you seem to be in a communicative mood to-night," he said. "you need not fear any one for the future--redgrave, or anybody else. i understand this last scoundrel is safe in the hands of the new york police, who were wanting him badly. perhaps you can tell us the meaning of this extraordinary concert we are listening to. if you will be so good----"
serena made no reply in words, but crossed to the side of the room opposite the door, and tugged at a volume which was the centre of a set of some classical dictionary. the volume came away quite easily in her hand, bringing other dummy books with it; and then the interested spectators saw that the books in question were no more than painted gauze. in the orifice disclosed by the stripping away of the sham, there appeared to be something that resembled a mouth of a great silver trumpet. this was partly plugged with a set of sensitive metal plates, which were evidently intended to act as a diaphragm for the record of musical expression.
"there you have the whole thing in a nutshell," serena said, speaking quite naturally and quietly. "it is very ingenious, and yet, at the same time, it is not entirely original. it is an adaptation of the theatre-phone, in connection with a somewhat modified form of telephone. the recording instrument is situated in my husband's in the great metropolitan hotel, and he has only to start his performance there, and the music sounds here quite as distinctly as if he were actually playing in this apartment. it seems exceedingly simple, now that you know how it is done."
it did seem simple, indeed, after listening to serena's explanation. bates turned to anstruther, and asked him if he had anything to say; but the latter shook his head doggedly. he felt quite sure that the game was up, though he had no intention whatever of giving himself away. and yet, despite his danger, he was still the connoisseur enjoying the beautiful music made by padini's violin. but to claire, who had crept into the room unobserved, the whole thing was horrible and unnatural. such lovely music as padini was playing now was but a sorry accompaniment to all this vulgar crime and intrigue. the girl shuddered, and placed her hands over her ears as if to shut out the liquid melody.
"oh, i wish it would stop," she said . "i do wish it would stop."
as if in answer to this prayer, the long, wailing notes died away, and the music fainted into nothingness. at the same time, bates approached the mouth of the trumpet, and blew shrilly on his police whistle. there was a pause just for an instant, and then, to jack's surprise, came the voice of rigby clear and distinct.
"is that you, inspector bates?" he asked. "we have just finished at this end. i am afraid there will be no more music to-night, as two of your detectives have most inhospitably insisted upon breaking up our concert, and escorting signor padini to shannon street police station. shall i come round there, or will you come round here? do you get my voice quite clearly?"
bates replied grimly that he did. there was no occasion whatever to trouble rigby any further to-night. then the inspector turned to anstruther, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"i think there is no reason to carry this farce any farther," he said. "you will be good enough to consider yourself my prisoner. would you like to walk to bow street, or shall i call a cab?"
anstruther intimated that it was all the same to him. he knew perfectly well now that the whole thing was exploded. there was something bitter in the reflection that he had been found out at last and laid by the heels over so paltry a business as the bogus burglary at the city and provincial bank.
"i think i'll walk," he said. "no, you need not call any of your men, and you need have no fear of personal violence."
"all right," bates said. "though i am still suffering from the shaking up you gave me last night. come along."
"i must apologize for all this trouble," anstruther said, turning to claire, and speaking in quite his natural manner. "i must leave you to manage as best you can for the present. i dare say you will be able to manage with serena."
he turned curtly on his heel, and walked to the door. of jack he took no notice whatever. a moment later the front door closed sullenly, and anstruther was gone.
"the house smells all the sweeter for his absence," jack said. "my dearest girl, you can see now what a narrow escape you have had. i only hope, for your sake, that the fellow has not been tampering with your fortune. you must not stay here after to-morrow. the place will be simply besieged by newspaper reporters and interviewers. i must find some house for you----"
"you need not trouble about that, mr. masefield," serena said. "there is one house where both of us will be welcomed with open arms. need i say that i am alluding to lady barmouth's?"
jack gave a sigh of relief; for the moment he had quite forgotten lady barmouth. at any rate, for to-night claire and serena could stay where they were, and they could go to lady barmouth's in the morning. then jack remembered all that serena had gone through, and warmly congratulated her upon the recovery of her boy. "it means all the world to me," serena cried. "it fell out exactly as miss helmsley said it would. when that man called to see mr. anstruther again, i told him who i was, and he took me to my child at once. the stranger had been very kind to the lad. he knew nothing of the rascality and villainy behind it all, and he was only too glad to see mother and son united."
"and padini?" jack suggested. "you must not forget----"
"i want to forget everything about him," serena cried. "i shall be glad, really glad, to know that that man is outside the power of doing mischief for the next three years. do not ask me anything else--do not ask me, for instance, why i was playing the deaf-mute that night at carrington's rooms. i don't know. i was a mere slave and tool in anstruther's hands, and had to do exactly as he told me. it was only by the merest accident that i discovered how the trick of the music was done, and that i should have had to have kept to myself if my dear boy had not been so marvelously restored to me. perhaps at some future time, i may be disposed to tell you more. for the present, all i want to do is to sleep. i am longing for that one night's sweet repose which has been so cruelly denied to me the last few years."
jack said no more. he left the house presently with the intention of seeing rigby at once, and then of calling on lady barmouth the first thing in the morning, and making such arrangements as would conduce to the comfort of claire and serena.
