She Fell Among Thieves Read online

  Before seeking Virginia, I went to look at the Rolls.

  As I made my way to the garage, I considered again the nature of Vanity Fair. Yesterday she had done me honour: last night she had sought my life – in the vilest of ways. And yet I was sure that she liked me… Some would have found her mad. But she was not mad. She was as level-headed as Mansel himself. She was not even inconsistent. Her will of iron was her god, and she was its prophetess. To her will all things were subject: the faintest attempt to thwart it had to be crushed. These things were not out of reason. What was out of reason was that I still liked her.

  I entered a mighty coach-house and walked to the Rolls.

  ‘She’ll be ready tonight, sir,’ said Mansel. ‘I expect your servant told you there’s nothing wrong.’

  ‘All that labour for nothing,’ said I.

  ‘It had to be done, sir,’ said Mansel. ‘There’s your wing. I’m afraid it won’t look very smart.’

  ‘They’ve been very quick,’ said I.

  ‘They have indeed, sir,’ said Mansel. ‘But they want to keep our custom, and that’s why they did it at once.’

  I turned to see Virginia.

  ‘And what,’ said she, ‘are you doing this afternoon?’

  ‘What you suggest?’ said I.

  ‘Have you seen St Albert de Moulin?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘Well, you must see that. It’s a city – not quite as big as Jezreel. Let Gaston drive us over. It’s only forty miles off.’

  ‘With pleasure,’ said I. ‘And this morning you’ll show me the lanterns that came from Prague.’

  ‘I’ll show you them now. One moment. Can we have the coupé, Wright, at a quarter to three?’

  ‘Certainly, miss,’ said Mansel. ‘Will you take a man in the dickey?’

  ‘No, thanks. We’ll take her alone.’

  ‘Very good, miss.’

  As we left the coach-house –

  ‘I do like that man,’ said Virginia. ‘I hope mother keeps him on.’

  The lanterns hung in a suite on the second floor. To reach this, we had to go by the rooms in which Gaston was lodged. As we were passing these, I heard a girl’s agonised cry.

  ‘Let me go, sir, I beg and pray you. Oh, let me go.’

  There was only one thing to be done.

  ‘You go on,’ I said. ‘I’ll join you.’

  Virginia inclined her head and held on her way.

  I opened de Rachel’s door…

  The fellow had a girl by the wrists – a housemaid, a nice-looking girl. She was straining away from her captor, whose face was wreathed in a grin.

  When he saw me, he let her go, and she made her escape.

  I shut the door behind her and turned to see the gallant more white in the face than red.

  He was swallowing violently.

  ‘What then?’ he said thickly, and breathed very hard through the nose.

  ‘This,’ said I. ‘Virginia heard what was happening, and now I’m going to ask her what she wants done. If she wants you kicked, I’ll kick you until you pray for death. If she wants your head knocked off, I’m not too bad with my fists and I’ll do what I can. If she asks me not to thrash you, I’ll let you go. But I shouldn’t do this again, because next time I shan’t leave the decision to her.’

  With that, I turned and left him, with a hand to his throat.

  Virginia was not to be seen, but right at the end of the hall a door which had been shut was standing ajar…

  As I pushed it open, I saw her at one of the windows regarding the sunlit fields.

  At once I passed to her side.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I’ve taken no action, of course. Is there anything you would like done?’

  She shook her head. Then, without looking round, she put out a hand.

  I took it naturally.

  ‘I’m sorry, Virginia.’

  Her fingers closed upon mine.

  ‘When will your car be ready?’

  ‘This evening,’ said I.

  ‘Then go tomorrow morning. Let nothing stop you, Richard. Just go – and forget Jezreel.’

  I felt very kindly towards her. She did not know that I knew the risk she was running in giving me such advice.

  Appearances, however, had to be preserved.

  ‘I’m not afraid,’ I said. ‘Besides, he won’t try to get back – in your mother’s house.’

  Virginia shivered.

  Then –

  ‘I want you to go for my sake. If you stay, you’ll make me unhappy. I mayn’t be in love with Gaston; but, at least, at the moment, I care for nobody else.’

  What the false suggestion cost her I cannot tell. But this I do know – few girls would have gone so far to save a comparative stranger from possible harm. Virginia had pledged her jewels, in order to force my hand.

  She had, of course, succeeded. I had to go now. Not that it mattered, because I had meant to be gone. What did matter was that now I could not come back.

  As I put her hand up to my lips, I wondered what Mansel would say…

  Virginia caught her breath – she knew how to act. Then she whipped away her fingers.

  ‘And now for the lanterns,’ she said.

  These were most exquisite things. Each of their seven faces presented a lovely window, glazed with Bohemian glass. The windows were made to open, and each of them had four panes: and each of the panes was presenting some fable of Aesop’s, the detail of which was so fine as to trouble the naked eye.

  They had been made, said Virginia, as a wedding gift to some monarch whose name I forget: and now they served to illumine a seldom-used salon belonging to Vanity Fair. Lest the light they shed was too poor, standing between the windows was a sedan chair. This I had marked and admired the day before. The brocade of its cushions…

  In spite of myself I started.

  The roof of the chair was open, but the blinds of the chair were drawn.

  As we turned to leave the salon, I know that Virginia was speaking, but I do not know what she said.

  To be honest, my brain was recoiling, as a man recoils from a snake.

  ‘Ask Virginia to show you those lanterns.’

  The truth was clear, if startling.

  Though Virginia herself did not know it, she and I had just kept an appointment with Vanity Fair.

  I confess that from that time on I counted the hours. I had had enough of Jezreel. For me, the house was haunted, and that by something more dreadful than any ghost. The place was cursed with the spirit of Vanity Fair.

  We are so well accustomed to the safety of modern times that treachery is no longer a household word, and I almost despair of presenting the horrid condition of mind to which I had now been reduced. It was not, I think, bodily fear: it was not the dread of exposure: it was the guilty feeling of one who, by his own act, has witnessed some hideous office not meant to be seen, who knows he is being sought by the officers whom he observed. This on suspicion alone, for Vanity Fair had no proof. As a spy, I deserved no less. But she was using treachery as though it were not an essence, but something which is sold by the quart.

  I reported the business to Mansel within the hour. My hasty note concluded, I firmly believe that all these sedan-chairs are nothing but posts of observation, to be used as required.

  After what had occurred that morning I had, of course, assumed that Virginia’s expedition would not take place. De Rachel had insulted Virginia by insulting a decent maid who was paid to sweep, but not garnish, the rooms which his presence fouled: and I had insulted de Rachel by denying his right to bestow his fragrant favours as he saw fit. At luncheon, however, to my surprise and disgust, the arrangement was gaily confirmed by Vanity Fair, and at three o’clock precisely our most uncongenial muster struggled into the coupé and took to the roads.

  I shall never forget that drive.

  I can only suppose that de Rachel’s skin was of the nature of buckram, for his air was as high and as jaunty as though he had in his
pocket the patent of chivalry. That he fancied himself as a driver was very clear, and I think the display which he gave was meant as well to awe Virginia as to diminish me and to demonstrate to us both that his skill and dash and daring were idiosyncrasies. Be that as it may, he so much abused the car that I could hardly sit still, while the risks which he took were so shocking that again and again I was frightened out of my life. Mercifully the roads were open, and the traffic which we encountered was very slight, but as we approached St Albert, he preferred to run over a dog to slackening speed. A more wanton piece of cruelty I never saw, and I was not surprised when Virginia, who knew her swain and, while we were some way off, had begged the dog’s life, immediately burst into tears. This very natural distress appeared to afford de Rachel matter for mirth and he made the incident into a parable by which was exposed the folly of such as made bold to oppose his strength of will.

  Although I was ripe for murder, for Virginia’s sake I said nothing – until we were out of the car.

  Then I took de Rachel aside.

  ‘Either I drive back,’ I said, ‘or you travel alone. Don’t argue the point, but tell me which you prefer.’

  The man looked me up and down.

  ‘And if I refuse,’ he said.

  ‘Then I shall decide,’ said I, and, with that, I rejoined Virginia, who showed me the little town.

  When we returned to the coupé, de Rachel was asprawl in the dickey, pretending to be asleep…

  I am glad to record that some ten miles from Jezreel we ran into a thunderstorm. Of malice prepense, I instantly put down my foot. …When we arrived at the castle, Gaston de Rachel’s condition suggested that he was newly risen from the bed of some stream.

  As he descended stiffly –

  ‘It serves you right,’ said Virginia, ‘for killing that dog.’

  I had expected that Bell would hand me my orders when I went upstairs to dress, but he told me instead that I should find a note in the Rolls: ‘beneath the cushion, sir: but you’re not to touch it until you’re twenty miles off.’

  ‘All right,’ said I. ‘Tell Captain Mansel I’ll leave about half-past ten.’

  ‘Very good, sir,’ said Bell. He hesitated. ‘And if you please, I’m to spend the night here in your room.’

  ‘Oho,’ said I. ‘So he thinks…’

  ‘He didn’t say, sir,’ said Bell. ‘But no one won’t be surprised, sir – not after last night.’

  ‘That’s true,’ said I. ‘All right. We’ll watch by turns: and if anyone comes, we’ll plug him before he can think.’

  ‘Every time, sir,’ said Bell, warmly.

  But I knew in my heart there was no danger, because Mansel had given no order. My faithful servant was taking his name in vain.

  Half-an-hour later, perhaps, my hostess sat back in her stall. ‘You’re determined to leave us,’ she said. ‘Hasn’t Gaston contrived to induce you to alter your mind?’

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ said I, unsteadily.

  Vanity Fair shrugged her shoulders.

  ‘He’ll miss you terribly,’ she said. ‘Won’t you, Gaston?’

  De Rachel was understood to say that he would.

  ‘You don’t seem very sure about it.’

  ‘I shall be desolated,’ mouthed Gaston.

  ‘I had a feeling you would,’ said Vanity Fair. ‘Still you ought to have learned quite a lot in forty-eight hours. Did you make the most of your drive?’

  ‘I enjoyed it very much,’ said Gaston, with bulging eyes.

  Vanity Fair turned to me.

  ‘And you?’

  ‘It was delightful,’ said I, shakily. ‘The scenery–’

  ‘Yes. I wasn’t thinking of the scenery,’ said Vanity Fair. ‘Never mind. Candle’s arriving on Friday – I’ve just had a wire. The portrait-painter, you know. I want him to paint Virginia.’

  ‘They’ll do each other credit,’ said I. ‘He’s awfully good.’

  ‘So I’m told. If he does her well, I’m going to have him do Gaston and Father Below. The two together, you know – a conversational piece.’

  ‘I do not want to be painted,’ said Gaston violently.

  ‘That I can well believe. But I think you’ll appeal to Candle. There’s something about your smile that won’t go into words. There’s a note of interrogation about it which is curiously repulsive. And Father Below is pure Flemish.’

  ‘I say I do not want to be painted.’

  ‘I know. I heard you just now. If you say it again, I’ll point the obvious and have you done in a kilt.’

  We all broke down at that, and decency went to the winds. Virginia was simply convulsed. For the fiftieth time I wondered what manner of match this was.

  Vanity Fair was speaking.

  ‘Where shall you go, Mr Chandos?’

  ‘To Biarritz, I think. There may be some letters there. And so into Spain.’

  Vanity Fair nodded.

  ‘Send me a line,’ she said. ‘And a postcard of Burgos Cathedral. I was married there, but I haven’t seen it for years.’

  ‘Of course,’ said I.

  Father Below looked up.

  ‘May I ask your servant,’ he said, ‘to buy me some boots?’

  ‘Ask me,’ said I.

  ‘You’re very kind,’ said the priest. ‘Years ago I purchased some boots in Spain. I never knew such comfort. They had elastic sides.’

  ‘I won’t forget,’ I said, laughing.

  The priest blinked across the table.

  ‘I’m sorry you’re going,’ he said irrelevantly.

  ‘So are we all,’ cried Virginia.

  ‘Why?’ said Vanity Fair.

  ‘Madam,’ said Father Below, ‘he’s an honest face.’

  I felt very much ashamed.

  ‘His face is his fortune,’ said Vanity Fair.

  ‘And ours,’ said Acorn, suddenly.

  ‘Speech!’ shrieked Virginia. ‘Richard, you’ve got right off.’

  ‘Stay and be painted,’ said her mother. ‘Conversational piece with Virginia. And what did you think of the lanterns that came from Prague?’

  Her smile was dazzling: her gaze seemed to pierce my brain.

  ‘I shall never forget them,’ said I.

  ‘I think you’re rather like them.’

  ‘Like the lanterns?’ said I.

  ‘Yes,’ said Vanity Fair. Her eyes were like dancing flames. ‘They’re so very easy to see through, and yet, when one looks, one can hardly believe one’s eyes.’

  There was a moment’s silence.

  Then Gaston sniggered.

  Quick as a flash, the whip was laid to his back.

  ‘Have I said anything vulgar?’ said Vanity Fair.

  By noon the next day Lally was peeping below me and Jezreel was twenty miles off. The Col de Fer lay between us… For all that, I berthed the Rolls at a point from which I could see the road back for more than a mile. Such precaution seemed fantastic: but then you never knew – with Vanity Fair.

  I left the car and lighted a cigarette. As I threw the match into a runnel, Bell handed me Mansel’s note.

  The position is most obscure, but I think that the death of Julie offers a definite line.

  Julie was undoubtedly murdered.

  Jezreel was Julie’s first place.

  I believe that she was engaged – to be put to death.

  If I am right, she must have given offence by something she did at her home, the little village of Carlos, forty miles off, by road.

  Her offence must have been the grave one of knowing too much.

  I want you to try to find out what Julie knew.

  Get a map and see the relation which Carlos bears to Jezreel. Reconnoitre the vicinity of Carlos and follow all paths till you strike the one you saw leading out of the Jezreel valley.

  Note.

  It is vital that we should be in communication. Let Bell get in touch with Carson, who is in touch with me.

  Note.

  Your visit has been invaluable. Fo
r one thing only, Candle’s an acquaintance of mine. Had I not learned that he was coming, I might have walked into his arms.

  Without a word, I handed the sheet to Bell.

  Then I strolled down the road and started to lay my plans.

  My orders were clear. I meant to carry them out with the utmost dispatch. I felt like some prisoner enlarged – that has left his fellow behind in the gloom of the jail. It made me much more than uneasy to think of Mansel alone within the verge of Jezreel.

  That night I lay at Bayonne, and at two o’clock the next day Bell set me down at a point three miles from Carlos, where the road was shadowed by beeches and borne by an old stone bridge.

  When he had gone about –

  ‘Tomorrow night,’ said I, ‘between twelve and one. If I’m not here, I’ll be here the night after that. If we simply have to write, that crevice there will serve as a letter-box. And now you get off to Anise. And mind you take it easy tomorrow and let the Rolls care for herself.’

  ‘Very good, sir,’ said Bell, slowly. And then, ‘You will watch out, sir? I – I know you don’t care any more, but there’s others that value your life.’

  ‘I promise,’ I said.

  ‘Good luck, sir,’ said Bell, and held his hand to his hat.

  Then he let the Rolls steal forward…

  A moment later she rounded a bend in the road and passed out of my sight.

  The weather seemed set fair, and I was travelling light. My clothes were more easy than handsome, and a little haversack was all the luggage I had. And in that there was food for two days.

  Once again I looked at my map. Then I set off up the road, towards the village I sought.

  I was in the heart of the mountains, very close to the borders of Spain. The road which the Rolls had been using was little more than a shelf. The country was very lonely, yet showed on every side the traces of man’s acceptance of Nature’s gifts. A patch of scythe-mown meadow sloped to a belt of forest no axe had touched: sheep, like toys, clung to a strip of pasture neighboured by angry crags: a tumbling rill had been switched to water a field that hung like an apron over this shapely spur, and there was a piled-stone wall, with a barn thrusting up beside it, to house the hay. There were several such barns hereabouts, all standing alone and remote and often perched upon heights to which no waggon could ever have made its way: it was clear that what hay they kept was carried by hand.