Part 26 (1/2)

'Not in, eh?' said the Viscount. 'Well, I think I'll step in and take a look.'

'But he's not in, my lord!' insisted the porter, holding the door. 'He went out yesterday in his chaise, and is not back yet.'

'Don't believe him, Pel,' counselled Sir Roland in the rear.

'But sir, indeed my lord is not in! There is another - well, a person, sir, asking for him besides yourself.'

Captain Heron set his sound shoulder to the door, and thrust it back.

'That's mighty interesting,' he said. 'We will step upstairs to be quite sure that his lords.h.i.+p has not come in unbeknown. In with you, Pel!'

The porter found himself driven firmly backwards, and raised a shout for help. A burly individual in a frieze greatcoat and a dirty neck-cloth, who was sitting on a chair in the narrow hall, looked on grinning but offered no a.s.sistance. The butler came puffing up the stairs, but paused when he saw the company. He bowed to the Viscount, and said severely: 'His lords.h.i.+p is from home, my lord.'

'Perhaps you didn't look under the bed,' said the Viscount.

A hoa.r.s.e laugh from the man in the frieze coat greeted this sally. 'Ah, you've hit it, your honour. He's a peevy cull, and so I allus said.'

'Eh?' said Sir Roland, regarding him through his eye-gla.s.s.

'Who's this fellow Pel?'

'How the devil should I know?' demanded the Viscount.

'Now you stay where you are, what-ever-your-name is. I'm going up to have a little talk with his lords.h.i.+p.'

The butler placed himself at the foot of the stairs. 'Sir, his lords.h.i.+p is not in the house!' He saw the Viscount draw the pistol from his pocket, and gasped: 'My lord!'

'Stand out of my way, or you might get hurt,' said the Viscount.

The butler retreated. 'I a.s.sure your lords.h.i.+p - I - I don't understand, my lord! My master is gone into the country!'

The Viscount gave a snort, and ran up the stairs. He came back in a very few moments. 'True enough. He's not there.'

'Loped off!' e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the burly man. 'd.a.m.n my blood if I ever deal with a flash cull again!' With which cryptic remark he drove his fist into his hat, and sat glowering.

The Viscount looked at him with interest. 'What do you want with him, hey? Who are you?'

'That's my business,' retorted the burly man. 'Twenty rum guineas, that's what I wants, and that's what I'll get if I stays here till tomorrow.'

Captain Heron spoke, addressing himself to the butler. 'Our business with his lords.h.i.+p is urgent - can you inform us of his direction?'

'His lords.h.i.+p,' said the butler stiffly, 'left no word, sir.

Indeed, I wish that I were aware of his destination, for this - this person, sir, insists upon staying until his return, though I have warned him I shall send for a constable.'

'You don't dare send for no harman,' said the burly man scornfully. 'I knows what I know, ah, and I knows who'll sleep in Rumbo if I splits.'

Sir Roland, who had been listening intently to this speech, shook his head. 'Y'know, I don't follow what he says at all,' he remarked. 'Rumbo? Never heard of the place.'

'The likes of you calls it Newgate,' explained the burly man.

'I calls it Rumbo. See?'

The Viscount looked at him frowningly. 'I've a notion I've met you before,' he said. 'I don't know your face, but damme, I do know your voice!'

'Might have been masked,' suggested Sir Roland helpfully.

'Lord, Pom, don't be such a- Wait a bit, though! Masked?'

The Viscount slapped his leg. 'That's given it to me! Blister it, you're the rogue who tried to hold me up on Shooter's Hill once!'

The burly man, who had changed colour, slid towards the door, muttering: 'No, I never did so! It's a lie!'

'Lord, I don't bear you any malice,' said the Viscount cheerfully. 'You got nothing from me.'

'A highwayman, is he?' said Sir Roland with interest.

Devilish queer company Lethbridge keeps! Devilish queer!'

'H'm!' remarked Captain Heron, surveying the burly man with scant approval. 'I can guess what your business is with his lords.h.i.+p, my man.'

'Can you?' said Sir Roland. 'Well, what is it?'

'Use your wits,' said Captain Heron unkindly. 'I should like very much to give him up to the Watch, but I suppose we can't.' He turned to the butler. 'I want you to cast your mind back. The night before last a brooch was lost in this house. Do you recall finding it?'

The butler seemed pleased to be able to answer at least one question. 'No, sir, I don't. There wasn't a brooch found in this house. His lords.h.i.+p asked me particularly whether it had been picked up, just after that gentleman called yesterday.' He nodded towards Sir Roland.

'What's that?' e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Viscount. 'Did you say after he called?'

'I did, my lord. His lords.h.i.+p sent for me not more than a minute or so after the gentleman had left the house.'

Captain Heron grasped the Viscount's arm restrainingly.

'Thank you,' he said. 'Come, Pelham, there's no more to be done here.'

He drew the unwilling Viscount towards the door, which the porter opened with alacrity.

The three conspirators descended the steps, and set off slowly towards Piccadilly.

'Dropped it in the street,' said Sir Roland. 'Said so all along.'

'It begins to look like it,' agreed Captain Heron. 'Yet Horry is certain the brooch was lost in that house. I imagine the butler was speaking the truth. Could anyone else have found the brooch?'

The Viscount stopped short. 'Drelincourt!' he said. 'By the lord Harry, that little viper, that toad, that-'

'Are you talking about that Macaroni cousin of Rule's?'