Part 41 (2/2)
”So here you are, the whole nest of you together, eh?” he exclaimed.
”Good! Very good indeed! Prince Shan, the poisoner! Dorminster, enjoying your brief triumph, eh? And you, Naida Karetsky, traitress to your country--deceiver--”
”That will do, Immelan,” Nigel interrupted sharply. ”We are all here.
What do you want with us?”
”That comes,” Immelan replied. ”Soon you shall all know why I have come!
Let me speak to my friend Shan for a moment. I carry your poison in my veins, but there is a chance--just a chance,” he added slowly, with a horrible smile upon his lips, ”that you may go first, after all.”
Nigel made a stealthy but rapid movement forward, drawing Naida gently out of the way. Immelan was too quick, however. He swung around, showing the revolver which he had been concealing behind him, and moved to one side until his back was against one of the pillars. By this time, most of the other occupants of the ballroom had either rushed screaming away altogether, or were hiding, peering out in fascinated horror from the different recesses. The chief maitre d'hotel bravely held his ground and came to within a few paces of Immelan.
”We can't have any brawling here,” he said. ”Put that revolver away.”
Immelan took no notice of the intervener, except that for a single moment the muzzle yawned in the latter's face. The maitre d'hotel was a brave man, but he had a wife and family, and after all, it was not his affair. There were other men there to look after the ladies. He hurried off to call for the police. Almost as he went, Prince Shan stepped into the foreground. His voice was calm and expressionless. His eyes, in which there shone no shadow of fear, were steadily fixed upon Immelan.
He spoke without flurry.
”So you carry your own weapons to-night, Immelan,” he said. ”That at least is more like a man. You seem to have a grievance against every one. Start with me. What is it?”
There were some of them who wondered why, at this juncture when he so clearly dominated his a.s.sailant, Prince Shan, whose courage was superb and whose _sang froid_ absolutely unshaken did not throw himself upon this intruder and take his chance of bringing the matter to an end at the moment when the man's nerve was undoubtedly shaken. Then they looked towards the entrance, and they understood. Creeping towards the little gathering came Li Wen and another of the Prince's suite, a younger and even more active man. The two came on tiptoe, crouching and moving warily, with the gleam of the tiger in their anxious eyes. Maggie caught a warning glance from Nigel and looked away.
”You are my murderer!” Immelan cried hoa.r.s.ely. ”It is through you I suffer these pains! I am dying of your accursed poison!”
”If that were true,” Prince Shan replied, with the air of one willing to discuss the subject impartially, ”might I remind you of Sen Lu, who died in my box at the Albert Hall? For whom was that dagger thrust meant, Immelan? Not for the man whom you had bought to betray me, the only one of my suite who has ever been tempted with gold. That dagger thrust was meant for me, and the a.s.sa.s.sin was one of your creatures. So even if your words were true, Immelan, and the poison which you imagine to be in your body were planted there by me, are we less than quits?”
Immelan's lie was unconvincing.
”I know nothing of Sen Lu's death,” he declared. ”I employ no a.s.sa.s.sins.
When there is killing to be done, I can do it myself. I am here to-night for that purpose. You have deserted me at the last moment, Prince Shan--played me and my country false for the sake of the English woman whom you think to carry back with you to China. And you,” he added, turning with a sudden furious glance at Naida, ”you have deceived the man who trusted you, the man who sent you here for one purpose, and one purpose only. You have done your best to ruin my scheme. Not only that, but you have given the love which was mine--mine, I say--to another--an Englishman! I hate you all! That is why I, a dying man, have crawled here to reap my little harvest of vengeance.--You, Naida--you shall be first--”
Naida was suddenly swung on one side, and the shot which rang out pa.s.sed through Nigel's coat sleeve, grazing his wrist,--the only shot that was fired. Prince Shan, watching for his moment, as his two attendants threw themselves upon the madman from behind, himself sprang forward, knocked Immelan's right hand up with a terrible blow, and sent the revolver cras.h.i.+ng to the ground. It was a matter of a few seconds. Immelan, when he felt himself seized, scarcely struggled. The courage of his madness seemed to pa.s.s, the venom died out of his face, he shook like a man in an ague. Prince Shan kicked the revolver on one side and looked scornfully down upon him, now a nerveless wreck.
”Immelan,” he said, ”it is a pity that you did not wait until to-morrow morning. You would then have known the truth. You are no more poisoned than I am. If you had been in China--well, who knows? In England there is so much prejudice against the taking of a worthless life that as a guest I subscribed to it and mixed a little orris-root tooth powder with your vermouth.”
The man's eyes suddenly opened. He was feverishly, frantically anxious.
”Tell me that again,” he shrieked. ”You mean it? Swear that you mean it.”
Prince Shan's gesture as he turned away was one of supreme contempt.
”A Shan,” he said, ”never needs to repeat.”
There was the bustle of arriving police, the story of a revolver which had gone off by accident, a very puzzling contretemps expounded for their benefit. The situation, and the partic.i.p.ants in it, seemed to dissolve with such facility that it was hard for any one to understand what had actually happened. Prince Shan, with Maggie on his arm, was talking to the leader of the orchestra, who had suddenly reappeared. The former turned to his companion.
”It is not my custom to dance,” he said, ”but the waltz that they were beginning to play seemed to me to have a little of the lure of our own music. Will you do me the honour?”
They moved away to the music. Chalmers stood and watched them, with one hand in his pocket and the other on Nigel's shoulder. He turned to Naida, who was on the other side.
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