Part 48 (1/2)
”He may be a dead man to-morrow, if he hears that Luke--Luke, who was the apple of his eye, who is the heir to his name and t.i.tle, is being dragged in open court before a police-magistrate, charged with an abominable crime.”
”But the doctor, I understand, has forbidden him to see any one.”
”I think that the matter has pa.s.sed the bounds of a doctor's orders.
I would go and force my way into his presence without the slightest scruple. I know that any news that he may glean about Luke, within the next few days, will be far more fatal to him, than the few questions which I want to ask him to-night.”
”That may be, my dear,” rejoined Sir Thomas dryly, ”but this does not apply to me. Old Rad is a very old friend of mine, but if I went with you on this errand to-night, I should be going not as a friend, but in an official capacity, and as such I cannot do it without the doctor's permission.”
”Very well then,” she said quietly, ”we'll ask Doctor Newington's permission.”
For a little while yet Sir Thomas Ryder seemed to hesitate. Clearly the girl's arguments, her simple conviction, and her latent energy had made a marked impression upon him. He was no longer the sceptical hide-bound official: the man, the gentleman, was tearing away at the fetters of red tape. All the old instincts of chivalry, which at times might be dormant in the heart of an English gentleman--but which are always there nevertheless, hidden away by the mantle of convention--had been aroused by Louisa's att.i.tude toward the man she loved, and also by the remembrance of Luke's bearing throughout this miserable business.
After all what the girl asked was not so very difficult of execution.
There are undoubtedly cases where the usual conventional formulas of etiquette must give way to serious exigencies. And there was unanswerable logic in Louisa's arguments: at any time in the near future that old Rad--either through his own obstinacy, or the stupidity or ill-will of a servant--got hold of a newspaper, the suddenness of the blow which he would receive by learning the terrible news without due preparation, would inevitably prove fatal to him. Sir Thomas Ryder prided himself on being a diplomatist of the first water: he did believe that he could so put the necessary questions to Lord Radclyffe, with regard to Luke, that the old man would not suspect the truth for a moment. The latter had, of course, known of the murder before he had been stricken with illness; he had at the time answered the questions put to him by the police officer, without seeming to be greatly shocked at the awful occurrence; and it was not likely that he would be greatly upset at a professional visit from an old friend, who at the same time had the unravelling of the murder mystery at heart.
All these thoughts mirrored themselves on Sir Thomas's wrinkled face.
He was taking no trouble to conceal them from Louisa. Soon she saw that she had won her first victory, for her uncle now said with sudden determination:
”Well, my dear! you have certainly got on the right side of me. Your aunt always said you had a very persuasive way with you. I'll tell you what we will do. It is now a quarter to ten--late enough, by Jingo!
We'll get into one of those confounded taxis, and drive to Doctor Newington's. I'll see him. You shall stay in the cab; and if I can get his permission, we'll go and have a talk with old Rad--or rather I'll talk first and you shall pretend that our joint visit is only a coincidence. As a matter of fact he knew all about the murder before he got ill, and he won't think it at all unnatural that I have obtained special medical permission to question him myself on the subject. Then you must work in your questions about Luke as best you can afterward. Is that agreed now?”
”Indeed it is, Uncle Ryder,” said Louisa, as she rose from her chair, with a deep sigh of infinite contentment. ”Thank you,” she added gently, and placed her neatly gloved hand upon his arm.
With a kind, fatherly gesture, he gave that little hand an encouraging pat. Then he rang the bell.
”A taxi--quickly!” he said to his man. ”My fur coat and my hat. I am going out.”
Louisa had gained her first victory. She had put forward neither violence nor pa.s.sion in support of her arguments. Yet she had conquered because she believed.
A few moments later she and Sir Thomas Ryder were on their way to Doctor Newington's in Hertford Street.
CHAPTER x.x.xVII
IT IS ONE HUMAN LIFE AGAINST THE OTHER
Once more Louisa was sitting in the dark corner of a cab, seeing London by night, as the motor flew past lighted thoroughfares, dark, narrow streets, stately mansions and mean houses. The same endless monotony of bricks and mortar, of pillars and railings; the same endless monotony of every-day life whilst some hearts were breaking and others suffered misery to which cruel, elusive death refused its supreme solace.
She waited in the cab whilst Sir Thomas Ryder went in to see the doctor. Fortunately the latter was at home, and able to see Sir Thomas.
At first he was obdurate. Nothing that the high officer of police could say would move his medical dictum. Lord Radclyffe was too ill to see any one. He was hardly conscious. His brain was working very feebly. He had not spoken for two days, for speech was difficult.
”If,” said Doctor Newington in his habitual pompous manner, ”he had the least inkling now, that that favourite nephew of his was guilty of this awful murder, why, my dear sir, I wouldn't answer for the consequences. I believe the feeble bit of life in him would go out like a candle that's been blown upon.”
”Who talks,” retorted Sir Thomas somewhat impatiently, and a.s.suming a manner at least as pompous as that of the fas.h.i.+onable physician, ”of letting Lord Radclyffe know anything about his nephew's position. I don't. I have no such intention. But de Mountford's plight is a very serious one. There are one or two points about his former life that Lord Radclyffe could elucidate if he will. I want your permission to ask him two or three questions. Hang it all, man, de Mountford's life is in danger! I don't think you have the right to oppose me in this.