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Show j I he Secret Adversary j til By AGATHA CHRISTIE ' X (Copyright Dodd, Head & Company) 4 t-lAAAAA....... ........ CHAPTER XV Continued. 19 Together they descended the stairs, and passed out to the waiting car. The Russian was shaking with rane. The hotel servants surrounded them. A cry hovered on his lips, but at the last minute his nerve failed him. The American was a man of his word. When they reached the car, Julius breathed a sigh of relief. The danger-one danger-one was passed. Fear had successfully success-fully hypnotized the man by his side. "Get in," he ordered. "George !" The chauffeur turned his head. "I want to go to Gatehouse In Kent. Know the road at all?" "Yes, sir ; It will be about an houi and a halfs run." "Make it an hour. I'm In a hurry." "I'll do my best, sir." The car shot forward through the traffic. Julius ensconced himself comfortably comfort-ably by the side cf his victim. He kept his hand in the pocket of his coat, but his manner was urbane to the last degree. Slowing down, the chauffeur called over his shoulder that they were Just coming into Gatehouse. Julius bade the Russian direct them. His plan was to drive straight up to the house. There 'Kramenin was to ask for the two girls. Julius explained to him that Little Willie would not be tolerant tol-erant of failure. Kramenin, by this time, was as putty In the other's hands. The car swept up the drive, and stopped before the porch. The chauffeur chauf-feur looked round for orders. "Turn the car first, George. Then ring the bell, and get back to your place. Keep the engine going, and be ready to scoot like h 1 when I give the word." "Very good, sir." The front door was opened by the butler. Kramenin felt the muzzle of the revolver against his ribs. "Now," hissed Julius. "And be careful." The Russian beckoned. His lips were white, and his voice was not very steady. "It Is I Kramenin ! Bring down the girl at once! There is no time to lose!" Whittington had come down the steps. He uttered an exclamation of astonishment at seeing the other. "We have been betrayed ! Plans must be abandoned. We must save our own skins. The girl ! And at once ! It's our only chance." Whittington hesitated, but for hardly hard-ly a moment. 1 "You have orders from him?" "Naturally ! Should I be here otherwise? oth-erwise? Hurry! There is no time to be lost. The other little fool had better come too." Whittington turned and ran back Into the house. The agonizing minutes min-utes went by. Then two figures hastily has-tily huddled in cloaks appeared on the steps and were hustled into the car. The smaller of the two was inclined to resist and Whittington shoved her In unceremoniously. Julius leaned forward, and in doing so the light from the open door lit up his face. Another man on the steps behind Whittington gave a startled exclamation. exclama-tion. Concealment was at an end. "Get a move on, George," shouted Julius. The chauffeur slipped In his clutch, and with a bound the car started. The man on the steps uttered an oath. His hand went into his pocket. There was a flash and a report. The bullet just missed the taller girl by an Inch. "Get down, Jane," cried Julius. "Flat on the bottom of the car. Are you all right, Tuppence?" "Of course I am. Where's Tommy? What made them let us go?" demanded demand-ed Tuppence. "I reckon Monsieur Kramenin here asked them so prettily they Just couldn't refuse!" This was too much for the Russian. He burst out vehemently: "Curse you curse you ! They know now that I betrayed them. My life won't be safe for an hour in this country." "That's so," assented Julius. "I'd alvise you to make tracks for Russia right away." "Let me go, then," cried the other. "I have done what you asked." "Sure thing. Pull "P. George. The gentlemnn's not making the return trip. If I ever come to Russia, Monsieur Mon-sieur Kramenin, I shall expect a rousing rous-ing welcome, and " But before Julius had finished his speech, and before the car had finally halted, the Russian had swung himself him-self out and disappeared into Vjf night. "Annette and I didn t know what was going to happen to us," said Tuppence. "Old Whittington hurried us off. We thought it was lambs to the slaughter." "Annette," said Julius. "Is that what you call her?" His mind seemed to be trying to adjust itself to a new idea. "It's her name," said Tuppence, openinsr, her eyes very wide. '. "Shucks!" retorted Julius. "She mav think it's ner name, because her I rnemorv's sron. kid. But it's the one real and original Jane Finn we've got here." "What ?" cried Tuppence. But she was Interrupted. With an angry spurt, a bullet embedded itself in the upholstery of the car Just behind be-hind her head. ' "Down with you." cried Julius. "It's an ambush. Push her a bit, George." The car fairly leapt forward. Three more shots rang out, but went happily hap-pily wide. Julius raised his hand to his cheek. "You are hurt?" said Annette quickly. "Only a scratch." The girl sprang to her feet. "Let me out! Let me out, I say! Stop the car. It is me they are after. I'm the one they want. ,You shall not lose your lives because of me. Let me go." She was fumbling with the fastenings of the door. Julius took her by both arms, and looked at her. She had spoken with no trace of foreign accent. "Sit down, kid," he said gently. "I guess there's nothing wrong with your memory. Been fooling them ail the time, eh?" The girl looked at him, nodded, and then suddenly burst into tears. Julius patted her on the shoulder. "There, there just you sit tight. We're not going to let you quit." Through her sobs the girl said indistinctly in-distinctly : "You're from home. I can tell by your voice. It makes me homesick.'' "Sure I'm from home. I'm your cousin Julius Hersheimmer. I came over to Europe on purpose to find you and a pretty dance you've led me." The car slackened speed. George spoke over his shoulder: "Cross-roads here, sir. I'm not sure of the way." The car slowed down till It hardly moved. As it did so a figure climbed suddenly over the back, and plunged head first into the midst of them. "Sorry," said Tommy, extricating himself. "Was in the bushes by the drive. Hung on behind. Couldn't let you know before at the pace you were going. It was all I could do to hang on. Now then, you girls, get out ! There's a station just up that road. Train due in three minutes. You'll catch It if you hurry." "What the devil are you driving at?" demanded Julius. "Do you think you can fool them by leaving the car?" "You and I aren't going to leave the car. ' Only the girls." Tommy turned to Tuppence. "Get out at once, Tuppence. Take her with you, and do just as I say. Take the train to London. Go straight to Sir James Peel Edgerton. Mr. Carter lives out of town, but you'll be safe with him." "Darn you !" cried Julius. "You're mad. Jane, you stay where you are." With a sudden swift movement, Tommy Tom-my snatched the revolver from Julius' hand, and leveled It at him. "Now will you believe I'm in earnest? ear-nest? Get out, bpth of you, and do as I say or I'll shoot!" Tuppence sprang out, dragging the unwilling Jane after her. "Come on, It's all right. If Tommy's Tom-my's sure he's sure. Be quick. We'll miss the train." They started running. Julius' pent-up rage burst forth. "What the h 1 " Tommy Interrupted him. "Dry up! I want a few words with you, Mr. Julius Hersheimmer." CHAPTER XVI Jane's Story. Her arm through Jane's, dragging her along, Tuppence reached the station. sta-tion. They arrived on the platform just as the train came to a standstill. Tuppence opened the door of an empty first-class compartment, and the two girls sank down breathless on the padded pad-ded seats. If they once reached Sir James Peel Edgerton In safety, all would be well. But would they reach him? Would not the silent forces of Mr. Brown already al-ready be assembling against them? Tuppence mapped out her plan of campaign. cam-paign. As the train at length drew slowly Into Charing Cross, Jane Finn sat up with a start. "Have we arrived? I Dever thought we should !" "Oh, I thought we'd get to London all right. If there's going to be any fun, now is when it will begin. Quick, get out. We'll nip Into a taxi." In another minute they were stepping step-ping into a taxi. "King's Cross," directed Tuppence. Then she gave a jump. A man looked in at the window, just as they started. She was almost certain It was the same man who had got into the carriage next to them. She had a horrible feeling of being slowly hemmed in on every side. x "You see." she explained to Jane, "If thev think we're going to Sir James, tills will put them off the scent. Now they'll Imagine we're going to Mr. Carter. His country place is north of London somewhere." Crossing Holbnrn there was a block, and the taxi was held up. This was what Tuppence had been waiting for. "Quick," she whispered. "Open the right-hand door!" The two girls stepped out into the traffic. Two minutes later they were seated in another taxi and were retracing retrac-ing their steps, this time direct to Carlton House terrace. "There," said Tuppence, with great satisfaction, "this ought to do them. I can't help thinking that I'm really rather clever ! What's this thing swerving Oh !" There was a grinding noise and a bump. Another taxi had collided with them. In a flash Tuppence was out on the pavement. A policeman was approaching. approach-ing. Before he arrived Tuppence had handed the driver five shillings, and she and Jane had merged themselves in the crowd. "It's only a step or two now," said Tuppence breathlessly. Hand-in-hand, the two girls hurried along. "It may be my fancy," said Tuppence Tup-pence suddenly, "but I feel as though there was some one behind us." Tuppence and' Jane took to their heels. The house they sought was some way down. Footsteps echoed behind be-hind them. Their breath was coming In choking gasps as they reached Sir James' door. Tuppence seized the bell and Jane the knocker. A man reached the foot of the steps. For a moment he hesitated, and as he did so the door opened. They fell into the hall together. Sir James came forward for-ward from the library door. "Hullo ! What's this?" He stepped forward, and put his arm round Jane as she swayed uncertainly. uncertain-ly. He half carried her Into the library, li-brary, and laid her on the leather couch. From a tantalus on the table he poured out a few drops of brandy, and forced her to drink them. With a sigh she sat up, her eyes still wild and frightened. "It's all right. Don't be afraid, my child. You're quite safe." Her breath came more normally, and the color was returning to her cheeks. Sir James looked at Tuppence quizzically. quiz-zically. "Am I right in thinking that the joint venture has ended in success, and that this" he turned to the girl on 1 he couch "is Miss Jane Finn?" Jane sat up. "Yes," she said quietly, "I'm Jane Finn. I have a lot to tell you." "When you are stronger " "No now !" In a low voice Jane began her story. "I came over on the Lusitania to take up a post in Paris. When the ship was torpedoed, a man came up to me. He asked me If I was a patriotic patri-otic American, and told me he was carrying papers which were just life or death to the Allies. He asked me to take charge of them. I was to watch for an advertisement In the Times. If It didn't appear, I was to take them to the American ambassador. ambassa-dor. "Most of what followed seems like a nightmare still. I see it in my dreams sometimes. . . . I'll hurry over that part. Mr. Danvers had told me to watch out. He might have been shadowed from New York, but he didn't think so. At first I had no suspicions, sus-picions, but on the boat to Holyhead I began to get uneasy. There was one 'Oman who had been very keen to look after me, and chum up with me generally a Mrs. Vandemeyer. I remembered re-membered that she'd been quite near me on the Lusitania when Mr. Danvers Dan-vers gave me the packet, and before that she'd tried to talk to him once or twice. I began to get scared, but I didn't quite see what to do. "One thing I'd done already as a precaution ripped open the oilskin packet and substituted blank paper, and then sewn It up again. So, If anyone did manage to rob me of It, it wouldn't matter. "What to do with the real thing worried wor-ried me no end. Finally I opened it out flat there were only two sheets and laid it between two of the advertisement ad-vertisement pages of a magazine. I stuck the two pages together round the edge with some gum off an envelope. enve-lope. I tarried the magazine carelessly stuffed into the pocket of my ulster. "At Holyhead I found myself in a carriage with Mrs. Vandemeyer after all. I consoled myself with the thought that there were other people In the carriage there was quite a nice-looking man and his wife sitting just opposite. oppo-site. So I felt almost happy about it until just outside London. I had leaned back and closed my eyes. I guess they thought I was asleep, but my eyes weren't quite shut, and suddenly sud-denly I saw the nice-looking man get something out of his bag and hand it to Mrs. Vandemeyer, and as he did so he winked. . . . "I can't tell you how that wink sort of froze me through and through. My only thought was to get out In the corridor cor-ridor as quick as ever I could. I got up, trying to look natural and easy. Perhaps they saw something I don't knew but suddenly Mrs. Vandemeyer said 'Now,' and flung something over my nose and mouth as I tried to scream. At the same moment I felt a terrific blow on the back of my head. ..." She shuddered. Blr Jamei murmured something sympathetically. In a minute min-ute she resumed: "1 don't know how long It was before be-fore I came back to consciousness. 1 felt very ill and sick. I was lying on a dirty bed. There was a screen round it, but I could hear two people talking talk-ing In the room. Mrs. Vandemeyer was one of them. 1 tried to listen, but at first I couldn't take much in. When at last I did begin to grasp what was going on I was just terrified ! I wonder won-der I didn't scream right out there and then. "They hadn't found the papers. They'd got the oilskin packet with the blanks, and they were just mad ! They didn't know whether I'd changed the papers, or whether Danvers had been carrying a dummy message, while the real one was sent another way. They spoke of she closed her eyes "torturing "tor-turing me to find out! "I began thiuking madly. What could I do? I knew I wouldn't be able to stand up against torture very long. Suddenly something put the thought of loss of memory into my head. The subject sub-ject had always interested me, and I'd read an awful lot about it. I had the whole thing at my finger-tips. If only I could succeed in carrying the bluff through, It might save me. I said a prayer, and drew a long breath. Then I opened my eyes and started babbling in French ! "Mrs. Vandemeyer came round the screen at once. Her face was so wicked I nearly died, but I smiled up at her doubtfully, and asked her In B'rench where I was. "It puzzled her, I could see. She called the man she had been talking to. He stood by the screen with his face in shadow. He spoke to me in French. He asked me my name. I said I didn't know that I couldn't remember re-member anything at all. "Suddenly he caught my wrist, and began twisting it. The pain was awful. I screanied. He went on. I screamed and screamed, but I managed to shriek out things in French. I don't know how long I could have gone on, but luckily I fainted. The last thing I heard was his voice saying: 'That's not bluff! Anyway, a kid of her age wouldn't know enough.' "When I came to, Mrs. Vandemeyer was sweet as honey to me. She'd had her orders, I guess. "By and by she went out of the room altogether. I was suspicious still, and lay quite quiet for some time. In the end, however, I got up and walked round the room, examining-It. I thought that even if anyone was watching me from somewhere, it would seem natural enough under the circumstances. circum-stances. It was a squalid, dirty place. There were no windows, which seemed queer. I guessed the door would be locked, but I didn't try it. There were some battered old pictures on the wails, representing scenes from Faust." Jane's two listeners gave a simultaneous simul-taneous "Ah !" The girl nodded. "Yes It was the place In Soho where Mr. Beresford was Imprisoned. Of course, at the time I didn't even know if I was in London. One thing was worrying me dreadfully, but my heart gave a great throb of relief when I saw my ulster lying carelessly over the back of the chair. And the magazine was still rolled up In the pocket ! j "I lay down on the bed again, and by and by Mrs. Vandemeyer brought me some supper. "That was an awful night. I'd made my plan whilst I was waiting for her. The papers were safe so far, but I couldn't take the risk of leaving them there any longer. They might throw that magazine away any minute. I lay awake waiting until I judged It must be about two o'clock In the morning. Then I got up as softly as I could, and felt in the dark along the left-hand wall. Very gently, I unhooked un-hooked one of the pictures from Its nail Marguerite with her casket of jewels. I crept over to my coat and took out the magazine, and an odd envelope or two that I had shoved In. Then I went to the washstand, and damped the brown paper at the back of the picture all round. Presently I was able to pull It away. I had already torn out the two stuck- together pages from the magazine and now I slipped them with their precious inclosure between the picture and its brown paper backing. A little gum from the envelopes helped me to stick the latter up again. No one would dream the picture had ever been tampered with. I rehung It on the wall, put the magazine back In my coat pocket, and crept back to bed- "They watched me constantly for weeks. Sometimes they'd ask me questions by the hour 1 guess there was nothing they didn't know about the third degree! but somehow I managed to hold my own. The strain of It was awful, though ... I felt that the horrors In store for me would be too awful once they knew I'd been only shamming. "It ended In my being sent to a sanatorium at Bournemouth. I couldn't make up my mind at first whether It was a shnm affair or genuine. genu-ine. I think I almost hypnotized my-se'f. my-se'f. "One night I was whisked off to London nt a moment's notice. They took me back to the house in Soho. "They sent me in to wait on Mr. Beresford. (Of co'irso I didn't know his name thtn.) I v.-rs suspicious I thought it was another trap. But he looked so honest. I could hardly believe it. However, I was careful in all I said, for I knew we could he overheard. There's a small hole, higk up In the wall. (TO EE rONTTNfKD.) |