Count Bunker Part 41

In about an hour's time the door was cautiously unlocked, and a tray, containing some breakfast, laid upon the floor; but at the same time he was permitted to see that a cordon of grooms and keepers guarded against his flight. He showed a wonderful appet.i.te, all circ.u.mstances considered, smoked a couple of cigars, and at last decided upon getting up and donning his evening clothes. Thereafter nothing occurred, beyond the arrival of a luncheon tray, till the afternoon was well advanced; by which time even his good spirits had become a trifle damped, and his apprehensions considerably increased.

At last his prison door was again thrown open, this time by Sir Justin himself.

"Come in, my dear," he said in a grave voice; and with a downcast eye and scarlet cheek the fair Julia met her guest again.

Her father closed the door, and they seated themselves before their prisoner, who, after a profound obeisance to the lady, faced them from the edge of his bed with an air of more composure than he felt.

"I await your explanation, Sir Justin," he began, striking at once the note which seemed to him (so far as he could guess) most likely to be characteristic of an innocent and much-injured man.

"You shall have it," said Sir Justin grimly. "Julia, you asked this person to my house under the impression that he was the nephew of that particularly obnoxious fanatic, Count Herbrand Bunker, and still engaged upon furthering his relative's philanthropic and other visionary schemes."

"But isn't he----" began Julia with startled eyes.

"I am Count Bunker," said our hero firmly.

"The nephew in question?" inquired Sir Justin.

"Certainly, sir."

Again Sir Justin turned to his daughter.

"I have already told you what I think of your conduct under any circ.u.mstances. What your feelings will be I can only surmise when I inform you that I have detained this adventurer here until I had time to despatch a wire and receive an answer from Scotland Yard."

Both Count and Julia started.

"What, sir!" exclaimed Bunker.

Quite unmoved by his protest, his captor continued, this time addressing him--

"My memory, fortunately, is unusually excellent, and when you told me this morning who you were related to, I recalled at once something I had heard of your past career. It is now confirmed by the reply I received to my telegram."

"And what, Sir Justin, does Scotland Yard have to say about me?"

"Julia," said her parent, "this unhappy young man did indeed profess for some time a regard for his uncle's teachings, and even, I believe, advocated them in writing. In this way he obtained the disposal of considerable funds contributed by unsuspicious persons for ostensibly philanthropic purposes. About two years ago these funds and Count Bunker simultaneously disappeared, and your estimable guest was last heard of under an a.s.sumed name in the republic of Uruguay."

Uncomfortable as his predicament was, this picture of himself as the fraudulent philanthropist was too much for Bunker's sense of humor, and to the extreme astonishment of his visitors he went off into a fit of laughter so hearty and prolonged that it was some time before he recovered his gravity.

"My dear friends," he exclaimed at last, "I am not that Bunker at all!

In fact I was only created a few weeks ago. Bring me back my clothes, and in return I'll tell you a deuced sight funnier story even than that."

Sir Justin rose and led his daughter to the door.

"You will have an opportunity to-morrow," he replied stiffly. "In the meantime I shall leave you to the enjoyment of the joke."

"But, my dear sir----"

Sir Justin turned his back, and the door closed upon him again.

Count Bunker's position was now less supportable than ever.

"Escape I must," he thought.

And hardly had he breathed the word when a gleam of his old luck seemed to return. He was standing by the window, and presently he observed a groom ride up on a bicycle, dismount, and push it through an outhouse door. Then the man strolled off, and he said to himself, with an uprising of his spirits--

"There's my steed--if I could once get to it!"

Then again he thought the situation over, and gradually the prospect of a midnight ride on a bicycle over a road he had only once traversed, clad in his emblazoned socks and blue-lapelled coat, appeared rather less entertaining than another night's confinement. So he lit his last cigar, threw himself on the bed, and resigned himself to the consolations of an innocent heart and a practical philosophy.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

The clearness of the Count's conscience may be gauged when it is narrated that no sooner had he dismissed the stump of his cigar toward the grate than he dropped into a peaceful doze and remained placidly unconscious of his perils for the s.p.a.ce of an hour or more. He was then awakened by the sound of a key being gently turned, and his opening eyes rested upon a charming vision of Julia Wallingford framed in the outline of the door.

"Hus.h.!.+" she whispered; "I--I have brought a note for you!"

Smoothing his hair as he met her, the Count thanked her with an air of considerable feeling, and took from her hand a twisted slip of paper.

"It was brought by a messenger--a man in a kilt, who came in a motor car. I didn't know whether father would let you have it, so I brought it up myself."

"Is the messenger waiting?"

"No; he went straight off again."

Unrolling the sc.r.a.p he read this brief message scrawled in pencil and evidently in dire haste--

"All is lost! I am prisoner! Go straightway to London for help from my Emba.s.sy.

"R. VON B."

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed aloud.

"Is it bad news?" asked Julia, with a solicitude that instantly suggested possibilities to his fertile brain.

"Horribly!" he said. "It tells of a calamity that has befallen a very dear friend of mine! Oh, Rudolph, Rudolph! And I a helpless prisoner!"

As he antic.i.p.ated, this outburst of emotion was not without its effect.

"I am so sorry!" she said. "I--I don't believe, Count Bunker, you are as guilty as father says!"

"I swear to you I am not!"

"Can I--help you?"

He thought swiftly.