next morning after breakfast i wheeled over to crom, bringing in my bicycle bag the revolver and ammunition for marjory. i could not but feel alarmed for her safety as i rode through the wood which surrounded the house. it would need a regiment to guard one from a stray assassin. for myself i did not have any concern; but the conviction grew and grew on me to the point of agony that harm which i should be powerless to prevent might happen here to marjory. when i was inside the house the feeling was easier. here, the place was to all intents and purposes fortified, for nothing short of cannon or dynamite could make any impression on it.
marjory received my present very graciously; i could see from the way that she handled the weapon that she had little to learn of its use. i suppose the thought must have crossed her that i might think it strange to find her so familiar with a lethal weapon, for she turned to me and said with that smoothness of tone which marks the end rather than the beginning of a speech:
“dad always wished me to know how to use a gun. i don’t believe he was ever without one himself, even in his bed, from the time he was a small boy. he used to say ‘it never does any one any harm to be ready to get the drop first, in case of a scrap!’ i have a little beauty in my dressing-case that he got made for me. i am doubly armed now.”
[194]
i stayed to lunch, but went away immediately after as i was anxious to find if adams had sent me any message. before going, i asked marjory to be especially careful not to be out alone in the woods round the house, for a few days at any rate. she demurred at first; but finally agreed—‘to please you’ as she put it—not to go out at all till i had come again. i told her that as i was coming to breakfast the next morning if i might, it was not a very long time of imprisonment.
when i asked for telegrams at the post-office, which was in the hotel, i was told that a gentleman was waiting to see me in the coffee room. i went in at once and found sam adams reading an old newspaper. he started up when he saw me and straightway began:
“i hurried over to tell you that we have had further news. nothing very definite to-day; but the washington people hope to have a lot of detail by to-morrow night. so be ready, old chap!” i thanked him, but even in the act of doing so it struck me that he had taken a deal of trouble to come over when he could have sent me a wire. i did not say so, however; doubts of an act of this kind can always wait.
sam had tea with me, and then we smoked a cigar outside on the little terrace before the hotel. there were some fishermen and workmen, as usual sitting on or leaning against the wall across the road, and three men who were lounging about, evidently trippers waiting for their tea to be served. when we came out and had passed them, the little group went into the coffee room. they were, all three, keen-looking, alert men, and i had a passing wonder what they were doing in cruden as they had no golf bags with them. sam did not remain long but caught the six-ten train back to aberdeen.
i cannot say that my night was an easy one. whilst i lay awake i imagined new forms of danger to marjory;[195] and when i fell asleep i dreamt them. i was up early, and after a sharp ride on my bicycle came to crom in time for breakfast.
as we had a long forenoon, marjory took me over the house. it was all of some interest, as it represented the life and needs of life in the later days of queen elizabeth in a part of the country where wars and feuds had to be prepared for. the castle was arranged for siege, even to the water supply; there was a well of immense depth situated in a deep dungeon under the angle of the castle which they called the keep. they did not, however, ordinarily depend on this, as there was otherwise an excellent water supply. in the dungeon were chains and manacles and some implements of torture, all covered with the rust of centuries. we hoped that they had not been used. marjory consoled herself with the thought that they had been placed there at the time of the building as part of the necessary furnishing of a medi?val castle. one room, the library, was of great interest. it had not been built for the purpose, for there was no provision of light; but it must have been adapted to this use not long after the place was built. the woodwork of carved oak was early seventeenth century. i did not have time to look over the books, and there was no catalogue; but from the few which i glanced at i could see that whoever had gathered the library must have been a scholar and an enthusiast.
in the course of our survey of the castle, marjory showed me the parts which were barred up and the rooms which were locked. that such a thing should be in a house in which she lived was a never-ending source of curiosity. there was a dozen times as much room as she could possibly want; but here was something unknown and forbidden. she being a woman, it became a tree of knowledge and a bluebeard’s chamber in one. she was[196] so eager about it that i asked if she could not get permission from the agent to go through the shut rooms and places so as to satisfy herself. she replied that she had already done so, the very day after she had arrived, and had had an answer that the permission could not be given without the consent of the owner; but that as he was shortly expected in scotland her request would be forwarded to him and his reply when received would be at once communicated to her. whilst we were talking of the subject a telegram to mrs. jack came from the agent, saying that the owner had arrived and was happy to give permission required and that further he would be obliged if the tenant would graciously accord him permission to go some day soon through the house which he had not seen for many years. a telegram was at once sent in mrs. jack’s name, thanking him for the permission and saying that the owner would be most welcome to go through the house when he pleased.
as i was anxious to hear if there was any news from adams i said good-bye at the door, and rode back on my bicycle. i had asked marjory to renew her promise of not going out alone for another day, and she had acceded; ‘only to please you,’ she said this time.
i found a wire from adams sent at six o’clock:
“important news. come here at once.” i might catch the train if i hurried, so jumped on my bicycle and got to the station just in time.
i found adams in his room at the palace hotel, walking up and down like a caged panther. when i came in he rushed over to me and said eagerly as he handed me a sheet of note paper:
“read that; it is a translation of our cipher telegram. i thought you would never come!” i took it with a sinking heart; any news that was so pressing could not be good, and bad must affect marjory somehow. i read[197] the document over twice before i fully understood its meaning. it ran as follows:
“secret service believe that drake plot is to kidnap and ransom. real plotters are understood to be gang who stole stewart’s body. are using certain spanish and other foreigners as catspaw. heads of plot now in europe, spain, england, holland. expect more details. use all precautions.”
“what do you think of that?” said adams when i had taken my eyes off the paper.
“i hardly know yet. what do you make of it? you have thought of it longer than i have.”
“just what i have thought all along. the matter is serious, very serious! in one way that wire is something of a relief. if that kidnapping gang are behind it, it doesn’t mean political vengeance, but only boodle; so that the fear of any sudden attack on her life is not so imminent. the gang will take what care they can to keep from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. but then, the political desperadoes who would enter on such a matter are a hard crowd; if they are in power, or at any rate in numerical force, they may not be easy to keep back. indeed, it is possible that they too may have their own game to play, and may be using the blackmailers for their own purpose. i tell you, old man, we are in a very tight place, and must go to work pretty warily. the whole thing swings so easily to one side or the other, that any false move on the part of any of us may give the push to the side we would least care should win. by the way, i take it that you are of the same mind still regarding miss drake’s wishes.”
“now and always! but as you can guess i am anxious to know all i can that can help me to guard her.” somewhat to my astonishment he answered heartily:
“all right, old chap, of course i will tell you; but i[198] will depend on your letting me know of anything you are free to tell which might serve me in my work.”
“certainly! i say,” i added, “you don’t mind my not having worked with you about finding her address.”
“not a bit! i have to find it in my own way; that is all!” there was a sort of satisfaction, if not of triumph, in his tone which set me thinking.
“then you know it already?” i said.
“not yet; but i hope to before the night is over.”
“have you a clue?” he laughed.
“clue? a hundred. why, man, none of us were born yesterday. there isn’t a thing on god’s earth that mayn’t be a clue now and again if it is properly used. you are a clue yourself if it comes to that.” in a flash i saw it all. adams had come to cruden to point me out to his detectives. these were the keen-looking men who were at cruden when he was. of course they had followed me, and marjory’s secret was no secret now. i said nothing for a little while; for at the first i was angry that adams should have used me against my will. then two feelings strove for mastery; one of anxiety lest my unconscious betrayal of her secret might hurt me in marjory’s eyes, the other relief that now she was in a measure protected by the resources of her great country. i was easier in my mind concerning her safety when i thought of those keen, alert men looking after her. then again i thought that adams had done nothing which i could find fault with. i should doubtless have done the same myself had occasion arisen. i was chagrined, however, to think that it had all been so childishly simple. i had not even contemplated such a contingency. if i couldn’t plot and hide my tracks better than that, i should be but a poor ally for marjory in the struggle which she had voluntarily undertaken against her unknown foes.
[199]
before i left adams, i told him that i would come back on the to-morrow evening. i went to bed early in the palace hotel, as i wanted to catch the first train back to cruden.
