Part 47 (1/2)

Ruxton was disguised in a suit of clothes that left nothing to be desired. Mrs. Clark, the landlady, could have possessed no doubts as to his calling. She knew the type of mechanic too well. Von Hertzwohl was still arrayed in his work-soiled suit, which his intellectual features denied as the yellow lamp-rays fell upon them. Ruxton's outward seeming was calm, but inwardly his active thoughts were teeming. The opportunity which otherwise must have been made had been afforded him without his personal effort. He knew that the crisis in all his plans had arrived. It was for him to turn the course of affairs in his own favor, or accept almost certain defeat. So he waited, coordinating every mental force he could make available.

It was a serious, almost pathetic pair of eyes which were at last raised from the letter, which was in Vita's handwriting. There was something almost like dismay in their wide depths as they encountered the steady gaze of Ruxton's. It was a moment of grave embarra.s.sment--but only for Von Hertzwohl. He felt like a man hunted before the gaze of the younger man's dark eyes.

But Ruxton had no desire to discompose him. His mind was clear, his course marked out. He saw with perfect understanding the only road by which he could achieve his end. The night when, in the midst of all his doubts and difficulties, he had suddenly caught a glimpse of daylight, he had realized that Vita's father sat under pledge to his daughter.

The nature of that pledge was difficult to appraise definitely, but it was obviously directed towards secrecy to which he must not be admitted. His hope lay in admitting its inviolability.

”I want you to listen to me, Prince, for some moments,” he began at once. ”I have one or two things to put before you, simply and straightforwardly. In doing so I want you to realize my motive. I have told you, her father, of my love for Vita. That love burns as deeply in my soul for her now as it has done ever since I first met her. I want you to know that I am fighting for that love now, that I shall continue to fight for it so long as I have the power. Nothing will deter me; nothing our enemies can do, nothing Vita can say, short of a direct dismissal. This is my motive, simple and honest. I have not come here to ask you the contents of your letter from her. I do not want to know them. I have not come here to press you in any direction which your honor, your loyalty to your daughter denies. I have come here to tell you the things I know, and the things I believe, without exaggeration, and to obtain your consent to a small favor, which, in common fairness, you cannot deny me.”

The embarra.s.sment in the deep, s.h.i.+ning eyes beneath the s.h.a.ggy grey brows was growing. To Ruxton they were almost a child's eyes, so simple and earnest, and so full of unconcealed trouble.

”It is an ominous prelude,” the Pole replied, with a poor attempt at a smile.

”But not so ominous as the _denouement_ which, I fear, is likely to come when you attempt to leave these sh.o.r.es.”

Ruxton's retort came with a quiet emphasis and directness which completely took the other aback.

”I do not see---- Is that a threat, Mr. Farlow?” All the childlike trouble had vanished from the man's luminous eyes. They were s.h.i.+ning with a definite challenge which revealed the ready spirit of the man, which Vita always told of.

Ruxton smiled.

”Not from me, sir.”

”Then from whom?” The words were incisive.

”From your--our enemies across the water.”

All the fire had departed out of Von Hertzwohl's eyes; only was there interest in them.

”Tell me,” he said simply.

Ruxton drew a deep breath.

”There is so little--and yet, to me, so much to tell. I cannot force my line of argument upon you, because it is less argument than conviction.

I can only tell you those things which I know, and a.s.sure you of my conviction.”

The Prince inclined his head in a non-committal manner.

”This is the second letter you have had from Vita, in her handwriting, and addressed from her home. These letters have come through my father, just as you have received them. I am prepared to believe Vita has written them, but she has not written them from Redwithy. That I can swear to. Vita has not been near Redwithy since the day of your arrival here.”

”And that is--true?”

There was a slight change in the Prince's manner, but it was an undefinable change.

”I will stake my honor upon it. Now,” Ruxton went on after a fractional pause, ”let us leave that. It could be explained--if for some inscrutable reason she wished to avoid me. Let me point something else.

When I came up here to meet you on your arrival I left Vita, who had promised ardently to be my wife, waiting, in a fever of apprehension, for a message from me of your safe arrival. That message was promptly sent, and it reached Redwithy. But before it arrived Vita had left her home with her maid, Francella, in a strange motorcar, for a destination unnamed. And yet in a perfect fever of anxiety she had been awaiting that message. One moment,” as the old man, with eyes wide with astonishment, was about to break in. ”When I arrived at Redwithy that message was lying amongst a pile of correspondence, all of which had been secretly opened and re-sealed. Would Vita have arranged for that even if she wished to avoid me? Would she not simply have written me a note of dismissal? It is the commonest of common sense.” He paused, with brows raised questioningly. ”Now come these letters to you, sir,”

he went on a moment later. ”I do not know their contents; I do not wish to know them. But they prove she is aware of your safe arrival. And I judge they are urging you to leave the country, since you expressed no idea of doing so till you received the first letter. Now, sir, one last word and I have told you all I know and all I believe. Either those letters are forgeries or they are written by Vita under pressure. Vita is aware you are here at Dorby. Therefore she has been told, for I do not believe she has seen my message. She has communicated with you by the only means either she or any one else could think of--through my father. She does not know where you are, so she cannot be forced to betray you. But she can be forced to decoy you, or you can be decoyed in her name. Prince, a trick is being played--a clever trick; and my conviction of it is all the greater, since I would stake my life on Vita's loyalty to you--and to me.”

The Prince remained silent for some moments. Ruxton had risen from his protesting chair and moved across the room. He refrained from even glancing in the old man's direction. He wanted him to have time. He wanted to exercise no moral influence by appearing to await urgently his reply.

He had outlined the plain facts without studied effect. The whole purpose of his visit was still to be achieved.