Dead Man's Love Part 13

"I'll give you all I have in my pockets if you'll turn back now, and forget you've ever seen me," I said, releasing him.

He grinned at me. "I've got sich a 'orrible good memory," he said.

"Besides, I couldn't fergit that face under any circs."

"What do you think you'll get?" I demanded again.

"I'll put it plain, guv'nor," he said, standing in the road before me, and looking at me with his head on one side. "I've bin out o' luck a long time; even my pals don't seem to cotton to me some'ow. Nah, you've got friends--real tip-toppers, I'll be bound--wot spells it in quids w'ere I spells it in brown 'uns. Also likewise you don't want it blowed about that you ain't wot you seem, an' that your proper place fer the next few years is Pent'ouse, to say nothink of awkward enquiries about somebody else wot was buried by mistake. In case there's any questions asked, you want a pal wot'll s'welp 'is never that 'e don't know any more abaht yer than the King on 'is golding throne. An' that's me--that's George Rabbit!"

"I don't want your help," I said.

"But you've got to 'ave it, all the same," he remarked cheerfully.

So it happened that I had to go on again, with this ragged retainer trailing behind. In that order we came to the gate leading into the grounds, and I went in, still puzzled to know what to do with the man.

By this time I realised that, however much the doctor might resent his appearance, it was vitally necessary that for his own sake, as well as for mine, Bardolph Just should a.s.sist me in silencing that too free tongue which wagged in the head of George Rabbit. While I was debating what to do with the man, he settled that question for himself.

"It's a nice warm night, guv'nor; if you could give me some place w'ere I could jist lay meself dahn, an' do a snooze, I should be as comfy as comfy. Only if I could git summink to eat, an' a drop o' drink fust, I should be 'appier still."

"You'd better wait here while I go to the house," I replied. "I'll bring you out something to eat, and I'll show you where to sleep."

I left him standing under the trees, and, greatly perturbed in mind, made my way to the house. I had seen a light in the doctor's study, and I now made straight for it, for this was a matter in which I must have advice. Without troubling to knock at the door, I opened it and walked straight in.

At first I thought the room was empty, and I was withdrawing again when I heard voices at the further end of it. The voices proceeded from behind the screen which hid that part of the room which was the surgery, and it was evident that whoever was there, believing that they had the place to themselves, were at no pains to mask their voices.

The first voice I heard was one which I recognised easily as that of the woman Martha Leach. She was evidently greatly excited, and labouring under strong emotion.

"G.o.d help me! why have I clung to you all these years--for you to make a mock of me now, and to try to fling me aside? What has my life been that I should stand calmly by and be slighted, and treated like the dirt under your feet?"

It was the doctor's voice that broke in, sharply and angrily. "You've remained with me because it suited your purpose to do so," he said.

"Years ago I befriended you--you know under what circ.u.mstances. You know how I imperilled my position to do it; you know that, but for me, you would have stood in a criminal dock----"

"I know--I know!" she cried. "And after that my life was given to you. I became as something that did not exist for myself, but for another. And now--now all that is forgotten."

"It was forgotten years ago, and will never be remembered now," he said.

"If you are not content with your position here, the remedy lies in your own hands: you can leave the house, and start somewhere again for yourself."

"You know I can't do that," she said, in a lower tone. "Only you might be fair to me; you might let me understand that even if I am nothing, this girl is less. Why should you degrade me before her?"

"Because you were growing insolent," he said. "Leave Miss Matchwick's name out of the question."

"You tried to kill her," said the woman, sinking her voice yet more. "I saw that; I know why you opened those doors last night."

There was a long pause, and then I heard the doctor give a quick laugh.

"Well, doesn't that satisfy you?" he asked.

She seemed to laugh in response. "But you won't have the courage again,"

she taunted him.

"Won't I?" I heard him move as though he took a step towards her. "I shall. And next time it will be something more subtle than any such bungling business of an accident at night. I gave a certificate once, in the case of a certain Martha Leach, concerning the death----"

"Don't speak of that!" she exclaimed.

"And I can give one in the case of the death of a certain Debora----What's that?"

I had been so startled that I had stumbled back against the door, closing it noisily. I had the sense now to open it quickly, and apparently to march into the room, cheerily whistling. As I did so the doctor came quickly round the screen and confronted me.

"Hullo!" I exclaimed. "Forgive my bursting in like that; I wanted to see you."

He drew a breath of relief, and smiled in a ghastly fas.h.i.+on; he seemed strangely shaken. "You did startle me rather," he said. "What's the matter?"

Now I knew that the woman Leach was still behind the screen, and that she must hear every word that I might have to say, and Bardolph Just knew that also. Yet we must play the game of pretences in such a fas.h.i.+on as to make each believe that we were certain we were the only two persons in the room. More than that, having had a sample of the woman's curiosity that morning, I was in no mood to talk about myself, or of that fellow jail-bird I had met, within her hearing. Yet I could not suggest talking with the doctor elsewhere, because that must at once show him that I knew we had a listener. There was nothing for it but to speak as vaguely as possible, and to try and get him away from that room.

"I've had an adventure to-night, and I rather want to tell you about it," I said. "I've met a man, by the merest accident, whom I know."

He glanced quickly at the screen, and then looked again at me. "Won't your news keep till the morning?" he asked.

"Well, hardly," I replied, with a laugh. "The friend of whom I speak is here now."

"Here?" The doctor looked puzzled.

"Yes," I said. "You see, it happens that he was with me in a certain place of which you know, and he is rather anxious to renew an acquaintance so auspiciously begun."

The doctor whistled softly, and once more glanced at the screen. "We'll go downstairs and talk about this," he said. "This room is intolerably hot."

He opened the door for me to pa.s.s out, and as I preceded him murmured an excuse that he had forgotten something, and went quickly back. I went downstairs, and in a moment or two he joined me in the dining-room. I could scarcely refrain from smiling at my secret knowledge of what had taken place in the other room, even though I was agitated by dreadful fears concerning Debora. I had gleaned but a dim notion of what the pair had been talking about, but it had been enough to show me that Bardolph Just had by no means repented of his purpose. I shuddered at the connection of Debora's name with death. Moreover, guessing something of the character of the woman Leach, and adding to that the remembrance of what she had said to me that morning, I saw that matters were indeed desperate. And, to add to my perplexities, there was the man George Rabbit, waiting all this time under the trees for my reappearance.

"Now, what has happened?" asked the doctor sharply.

"I met a man to-night, by the greatest ill-fortune, who worked in the same gang with me in Penthouse prison," I answered him. "A mean dog, who intends to trade on the knowledge, and to get what he can out of me. I tried to shake him off, but he stuck to me like wax."

"What have you done with him?" he asked.

"I left him in the grounds; I promised to take food and drink to him," I said.

He paced about the room for a moment or two, with his arms folded, and his chin in the hollow of one hand. "I don't like the look of things at all; it seems almost as if a net were closing in about us," he said at last. "Harvey Scoffold was bad enough; now comes someone who, according to your description, is scarcely likely to prove as reasonable even as Scoffold might be. This dog scents money, I take it?"

"He scents everything that means easy living, and no work, and safety,"

I answered.

"Bring him in here; perhaps I may be able to deal with him better than you," said the doctor suddenly. "We'll feed him, and we'll see what he has to say for himself. That's the ticket; bring him in here."

I went out at once into the grounds, and was relieved to see George Rabbit slouch out from the shadows of the trees, and come towards me.

"Bin a bloomin' long time, you 'ave," he growled resentfully.

"Don't be impudent," I said sharply. "Come into the house, and I'll give you a meal."

He drew back and shook his head. "Not me," he replied. "I ain't goin' to run into no traps. 'Ow do I know who's inside, or wot's goin' to 'appen to me? I'm safe 'ere, an' 'ere I'll stop."

"What's to harm you?" I asked him. "You've nothing to fear; you've worked out your time, and are a free man. If anyone has to be afraid of what's going to happen, I think I'm the man."