Part 23 (2/2)

She smiled and the bargain was settled without a word from her. You've heard of men being wrapped about little fingers, haven't you? Well, there you are. We returned to the corridor. She closed the door softly, a mockery in view of the clatter I had made in s.h.i.+fting the bed and its impediments.

”We can't be too careful,” she said in a whisper. She might have spoken through a megaphone and still been quite safe. We were tramping up the stairs. ”Don't you think your guests will consider you rather inhospitable if you stay away from them all morning?”

I stopped short. ”By Jove, now that you remind me of it, I promised to take them all out for a spin in the motor boat before luncheon.

Hazzard has had his boat sent down.”

She looked positively unhappy. ”Oh, how I should love to get out for a spin on the river! I wonder if I'll ever be free to enjoy the things I like most of--”

”Listen!” I whispered suddenly, grasping her arm. ”Did you hear footsteps in the--s.h.!.+”

Some one was walking over the stone floor in the lower hall, brisk strides that rang out quite clearly as they drew nearer.

”It is--it is Mr. Pless,” she whispered in a panic. ”I recognise his tread. As if I could ever forget it! Oh, how I hate him! He--”

”Don't stop here to tell me about it,” I cut in sharply. ”Make haste!

Get up to your rooms and lock yourself in. I'll--I'll stop him. How the deuce did he get into this side of the--”

”Through the dungeons. There is a pa.s.sage,” she, whispered, and then she was gone, flying noiselessly up the narrow stairway.

a.s.suming a nonchalance I certainly did not feel, I descended the stairs.

We met in the broad hallway below. Mr. Pless approached slowly, evidently having checked his speed on hearing my footsteps on the stairs.

”h.e.l.lo,” I said agreeably. ”How did you get in?”

He surveyed me coolly. ”I know the castle from top to bottom, Mr.

Smart. To be perfectly frank with you, I tried the secret panel in your study but found the opposite door blocked. You have no objection, I trust, to my looking over the castle? It is like home to me.”

My plan was to detain him in conversation until she had time to secrete herself on the upper floor. Somehow I antic.i.p.ated the banging of a door, and it came a moment later--not loud but very convicting, just the same. He glanced at me curiously.

”Then how _did_ you get in?” I repeated, cringing perceptibly in response to the slam of the distant door.

”By the same means, I daresay, that you employ,” said he.

For a moment I was confounded. Then my wits came to the rescue.

”I see. Through the dungeon. You _do_ know the castle well, Mr. Pless.”

”It is a cobwebby, unlovely pa.s.sage,” said he, brus.h.i.+ng the dirt and cobwebs from his trousers. My own appearance was conspicuously immaculate, but I brushed in unison, just the same.

”Grewsome,” said I.

He was regarding me with a curious smile in his eyes, a pleasantly bantering smile that had but one meaning. Casting an eye upwards, he allowed his smile to spread.

”Perhaps you'd rather I didn't disturb Mrs.-- Mrs.--”

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