Part 17 (1/2)
”Now, where have I heard that name before? It seems, somehow, to be very familiar to me.”
”Perhaps you've heard the story of his abduction by the Beautiful White Devil,” said Ebbington, who saw that I was about to speak and was anxious to forestall me.
”No, I guess not,” answered Alie. ”I reckon I was thinking of Klener W. Vesey, of Wall Street, who operates considerable in pork. But tell me, who is this Beautiful White Devil one hears so much about, anyway?”
There was a pause, but I held my peace and let Ebbington's tongue run riot with him.
”Ah! there you have me at a disadvantage,” he began, pluming himself for the big speech I could see was imminent. ”Some say she's a European lady of t.i.tle gone mad on Captain Marryat and Clarke Russell.
Others aver that she's not a woman at all, but a man disguised in woman's clothes. But the real truth, I'm inclined to fancy, is that she's the daughter of a drunken old desperado, once an English naval man, who for years made himself a terror in these seas.”
When I heard him thus commit himself, I looked across at Alie, half expecting that she would lose control of herself and annihilate him upon the spot. But save a little twitching round the corners of her mouth, she allowed no sign of the wrath that I knew was raging within her breast to escape her. In a voice as steady as when she had inquired the way to Whampoa's Garden that morning, she continued her questions.
”I'm really quite interested. And pray what has this, what do you call her, Beautiful White Devil, done to carry on the family reputation?”
Again Ebbington saw his chance, and, like the born yarn-spinner he was, took immediate advantage of it.
”What has she not done would be the best thing to ask. She has abducted the Sultan of Surabaya, the Rajah of Tavoy, Vesey of Hong Kong, and half a dozen Chinese mandarins at least. She has robbed the _Vectis Queen_, the _Ooloomoo_--and that with the Governor of Hong Kong on board; stopped the _Oodnadatta_ only three months ago in the Ly-ee-moon Pa.s.s, when she went through the bullion-room to the extent of over a million and a half, almost under the cruisers' noses.”
”But what mission does she accomplish with this vast wealth when she has acc.u.mulated it, do you think, Mr. Ebbington?” said the quiet voice of Mrs. Beecher from the depths of her chair. ”Does she do no good with it at all?”
”Good!” that wretched being replied, quite unconscious of the trouble he was heaping up for himself. ”Why, she never did a ha'porth of good in her life. No, I'll tell you what she _does_ do with it. It is well known that she has a rendezvous somewhere in the Pacific, a tropical island, they say, where scenes are enacted between her cruises that would raise blushes on the cheeks of an Egyptian mummy.”
”You are evidently very much prejudiced against her,” I answered hotly. ”Now _I_ have heard some very different stories. And with all due respect to you, Mr. Ebbington----”
But fortunately at this juncture my presence of mind returned to me, and, a servant approaching to take our empty coffee cups, I was able to seize the opportunity and bring my riotous tongue to a halt. When the boy had gone, Alie turned the conversation into another channel, and after that all was plain sailing once more. To add to our enjoyment, about ten o'clock another servant came to inform Mr.
Ebbington that a gentleman desired to see him in the smoking-room, and accordingly, bidding us good-night, he went off to interview him. Mrs.
Beecher then made an excuse and retired to her room, leaving us alone together.
”Alie,” I said reproachfully, ”if anything had happened just now you would have had only yourself to blame for it. That man's insolent lying was more than I could stand. In another moment, if that servant had not come in, I believe I should have lost all control of myself, and, ten chances to one, have ruined everything. Why did you do it?”
”Because I wanted to find out how he was in the habit of talking about me. That was why.”
”But do you think he was really in earnest? May it not have been only a mask to prevent anyone from suspecting that he is your agent in this place?”
”No. He meant it. Of that there can be no doubt. The man, I can see, for some inscrutable reason hates the real _me_ with his whole heart and soul, and the treachery he is preparing now is to be his revenge.
Couldn't you hear the change, the grating, in his voice when my name occurred? Ah, Mr. Ebbington, my clever man, you will find that it is a very foolish policy on your part to quarrel with me.”
”When do you mean to make the attempt to capture him?”
”On Friday evening; that is the day after to-morrow. The new admiral will be here on Sat.u.r.day morning at latest, and I must antic.i.p.ate him, for I have learned that Ebbington received a note from the authorities this morning, definitely fixing the hour for the interview at eleven o'clock. He need make no arrangements, however, for he won't be there!”
”It will be an awful moment for him when he realises who you are. I would not be in his shoes for all the gold of India.”
”You would never have acted as he has done,” she answered softly, turning her head away.
This was the opportunity for finding out what she intended concerning myself, so I drew a little closer to her.
”Alie,” I said, ”the time has now come for me to ask you when you wish to say 'good-bye' to me. I have done my professional work for you, and on Friday I shall have a.s.sisted you to the very best of my ability in the matter of this wretched fellow. What am I to do then? Am I to say farewell to you here, or what?”
Her voice had almost a falter in it as she replied: