The Crimson Blind

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"He was introduced to me as a brand plucked from the burning, a
converted thief who had taken orders of some kind. He is a sorry-looking
scoundrel, and I took particular note of him, especially the horrible
smashed thumb."

"The what!" Bell exclaimed. "A thumb like a snake's head with a little
pink nail on it?"

"The same man. So you happen to have met him?"

"We met on our way here," Bell said, drily. "The rascal sent the dogcart
away from the station so that I should have to walk home, and he attacked
me in the road. But I half-expected something of the kind, and I was
ready for him. And he was the man with the thumb. I should have told you
all this before, but I had forgotten it in watching your fascinating
diplomacy. When the attack was defeated the rascal bolted in the
direction of the cliffs. Of course, he was off to tell Henson of the
failure of the scheme and to go on with the plot for getting the other
picture. If he had stolen my Rembrandt then the other would have
remained. I couldn't have turned up with a cock-and-bull story of having
started with the picture and being robbed of it by a total stranger in
the road ... But I am interrupting you."

"Well, I marked that thumb carefully. I have already told you that the
thief passed me on his way to the house when he came up the cliff. I was
leaning over the terrace when I saw him emerge into a band of light
caused by the big arc in the castle tower. I forgot that I was in deep
shadow and that he could not possibly see me. I jerked my head back
suddenly, and my diamond star fell out and dropped almost at the feet of
the intruder. Then he saw it, chuckled over it--placed it in his pocket.
I was going to call out, but I didn't. I had a sudden idea, Dr. Bell--I
had an idea that almost amounted to an inspiration."

Chris paused for a moment and her eyes sparkled. Bell was watching her
with the deepest interest and admiration."

"I let the man keep it," Chris went on, more slowly, "with an eye to the
future. The man had stolen the thing and I was in a position to prove
it. He would be pretty sure to pawn the star--he probably has done so by
this time, and therefore we have him in our power. We have only to
discover where the diamonds have been 'planted'--is that the correct
expression?--I can swear an information, and the police will
subsequently search the fellow's lodgings. When the search is made the
missing Rembrandt will be found there. Mr. Merritt would hardly dare to
pawn that."

"Even if he knew its real value, which I doubt," Bell said, thoughtfully.
"Henson would not tell his tool too much. Let me congratulate you upon
your idea, Miss Chris. That diamond star of yours is a powerful factor in
our hands, and you always have the consciousness of knowing that you can
get it back again. Now, what are we going to do next?"

"Going to call upon Mr. Merritt, of course," Chris said, promptly. "You
forget that I have his address. I am deeply interested in the welfare of
the criminal classes, and you are also an enthusiast. I've looked up the
names of one or two people in the directory who go in for that kind of
thing, and I'm going to get up a bazaar at Littimer Castle for the
benefit of the predatory classes who have turned over a new leaf. I am
particularly anxious for Mr. Merritt to give us an address. Don't you
think that will do?"

"I should think it would do very well indeed," Bell said.

The quaint and somewhat exclusive town of Moreton Wells was reached in
due course and the street where the Rev. James Merritt resided located at
length. It was a modest two-storeyed tenement, and the occupier of the
rooms was at home. Chris pushed her way gaily in, followed by Bell,
before the occupant could lay down the foul clay pipe he was smoking and
button the unaccustomed stiff white collar round his throat. Merritt
whipped a tumbler under the table with amazing celerity, but no cunning
of his could remove the smell of gin that hung pungently on the murky
atmosphere.

Merritt dodged his head back defiantly as if half expecting a blow. His
eyes were strained a little anxiously over Bell's shoulder as if fearful
of a shadow. Bell had seen the type before--Merritt was unconsciously
looking for the police.

"I am so glad to find you at home," Chris said, sweetly.

Merritt muttered something that hardly sounded complimentary. It was
quite evident that he was far from returning the compliment. He had
recognised Bell, and was wondering fearfully if the latter was as sure
of his identity. Bell's face betrayed nothing. All the same he was
following Merritt's uneasy eye till it rested on a roll of dirty paper
on the mantelshelf. That roll of paper was the missing Rembrandt, and
he knew it.

"Won't you offer me a chair?" Chris asked, in the sweetest
possible manner.

Merritt sulkily emptied a chair of a pile of cheap sporting papers, and
demanded none too politely what business the lady had with him. Chris
proceeded to explain at considerable length. As Merritt listened his
eyes gleamed and a broadening grin spread over his face. He had done a
great deal of that kind of thing, he admitted. Since Henson had taken
him up the police had not been anything like so inquisitive, and his
present pose was fruitful of large predatory gains. The latter fact
Merritt kept to himself. On the whole the prospect appealed to his
imagination. Henson wouldn't like it, but, then, Henson was not in a
position to say too much.

"I thought perhaps if you came over with us and dined at the castle,"
Chris suggested. She spoke slowly and thoughtfully, with her eyes on the
ground. "Say to-night. Will you come?"

Merritt grinned extensively once more. The idea of his dining at the
castle appealed to his own peculiar sense of humour. He was at his ease,
seeing that Bell failed to recognise him. To dine at the castle, to note
the plate, and get a minute geographical knowledge of the place from
personal observation! ... His mouth watered at the thought.

"They ought to be more careful yonder," he suggested. "There's plate and
there's pictures."

"Nothing has ever been stolen from Littimer Castle," Bell said, crisply.
He read the leer in Merritt's eyes as he spoke of pictures. "Nothing
whatever."

"What, not lately?" Merritt asked. "Didn't I hear tell of a--"

He paused, conscious of saying too much. Bell shook his head again. An
utterly puzzled expression crept over Mr. Merritt's engaging countenance.
At the present moment an art treasure of price stood in that very room,
and here was a party from the castle utterly innocent of the robbery.
Chris glanced at Bell and smiled.

"I love the pictures," she said, "especially the prints. That Rembrandt,
'The Crimson Blind,' for instance. I found a fresh light in it this
morning and called Lord Littimer's attention to it before we started. I
should lock that up if it were mine."

Merritt's eyes fairly bulged as he listened. Had he not half-suspected
some deep "plant" he would have been vastly amused. But then he had got
the very picture these people were speaking about close to hand at the
very moment.

"Tell you what," he said, suddenly. "I ain't used to swell society ways,
but I'm always ready to sacrifice myself to the poor fellows who ain't
found the straight path like me. And if you gets up your bazaar, I'll do
what I can to 'elp."

"Then you will dine with us to-night?" Chris asked, eagerly. "Don't say
no, I met a man once with a past like yours at Lady Roslingham's, and he
was so interesting. We will call for you in an hour's time with the
waggonette. Then we can settle half our plans before dinner."

Merritt was graciously pleased to be agreeable. Moreover, he was utterly
puzzled and absolutely consumed with an overpowering curiosity. It seemed
also to him to be a sheer waste of providence to discard such an offer.
And the plate at Littimer Castle was superb!

Meanwhile Chris and Bell walked down the street together. "He was puzzled
over the Rembrandt," Chris said. "Seeing that he has our picture--"

"No doubt about it. The picture was rolled up and stood on the
mantelshelf. I followed Merritt's gaze, knowing perfectly well that it
would rest presently on the picture if it was in the room. At the same
time, our interesting friend, in chuckling over the way he has deceived
us, clean forgot the yellow pawnticket lying on the table."

"Dr. Bell, do you mean to say that--"

"That I know where your diamond star was pledged. Indeed I do. Merritt
had probably just turned out his pockets as we entered. The pawnticket
was on the table and related to a diamond aigrette pawned by one James
Merritt--mark the simple cunning of the man--with Messrs. Rutter and Co.,
117, High Street. That in itself is an exceedingly valuable discovery,
and one we can afford to keep to ourselves for the present. At the same
time I should very much like to know what Rutter and Co. are like. Let me
go down to the shop and make some simple purchase."

Rutter and Co. proved to be a very high-class shop indeed, despite the
fact that there was a pawnbroking branch of the business. The place was
quite worthy of Bond Street, the stock was brilliant and substantial, the
assistants quite above provincial class. As Bell was turning over some
sleeve-links, Chris was examining a case of silver and gold
cigarette-cases and the like. She picked up a cigar-case at length and
asked the price. At the mention of fifty guineas she dropped the trifle
with a little _moue_ of surprise.

"It looks as if it had been used," she said.

"It is not absolutely new, madam," the assistant admitted, "therefore
the price is low. But the gentleman who sold it to us proved that he had
only had it for a few days. The doctor had ordered him not to smoke in
future, and so--"

Chris turned away to something else. Bell completed his purchase, and
together they left the shop. Once outside Chris gripped her companion's
arm excitedly.

"Another great discovery," she said. "Did you see me looking at that
cigar-case--a gun-metal one set with diamonds? You recollect that Ruth
Gates purchased a case like that for that--that foolishness we thought of
in connection with Mr. Steel. The case had a little arrow shaped scratch
with the head of the arrow formed of the biggest diamond. Enid told me
all this the night before I left Longdean Grange. Dr. Bell, I am
absolutely certain that I have had in my hand just now the very case
bought by Ruth from Lockhart's in Brighton!"

CHAPTER XXXVI

A BRILLIANT IDEA

Bell was considerably impressed with the importance of Chris's discovery,
though at the same time he was not disposed to regard it in the light of
a coincidence.

"It's a useful discovery in its way," he said; "but not very remarkable
when you come to think of it. Somebody with an eye to damaging Steel
changed that cigar-case. How the change affected Steel you know as well
as I do. But the cigar-case purchased by Ruth Gates must be somewhere,
and we are as likely to find it near Reginald Henson as anywhere else,
seeing that he is at the bottom of the whole business. That change was
made either by himself or by somebody at his instigation. Once the change
was made he would not bother about the spare cigar-case. His ally
probably came here to see Henson; the latter as likely as not threw him
over, knowing that the fellow would not dare to talk; hence the thing is
turned into money. I am merely speculating, of course, under the
assumption that you are quite sure of your facts."

"Absolutely," Chris cried, eagerly. "Two long, irregular scratches
leading up in arrow-headed shape to the big diamond in the centre. Ruth
told Enid all about that the very last time they discussed the matter
together."

"How came Ruth Gates to remember it so clearly?"

"Well, she did it herself. She was rubbing some specks off the case at
the last moment, and the scratches were made accidentally with the stones
in one of her rings."

Bell was fain to admit that the discovery was an important one. "We'll
leave it for the present," he said. "In a small place like this so
valuable an article is likely to remain in stock for some time. I'll call
in again to-morrow on the pretence of getting further goods and obtain
all the information there is to be gained as to who sold the case and
what he was like. There is just time for a little lunch before we take up
our reverend friend. Where shall we go?"

Chris would like to see the Lion. There was a marvellous coffee-room
there with panelled walls and a ceiling by Pugin, and an Ingle-nook
filled with rare Dutch tiles. They had the beautiful old place to
themselves, so that they could talk freely. Chris crumbled her bread and
sipped her soup with an air of deep abstraction.

"A great idea is forming itself in my mind," she said.

"What, another one?" Bell smiled. "Is it the air of the place or what?
Really, there is a brilliancy about you that is striking."

Chris laughed. She was full of the joy of life to-day.

"It is the freedom," she said. "If you only knew what it is to feel free
after the dull, aching, monotonous misery of the last few years. To be
constantly on the treadmill, to be in the grasp of a pitiless scoundrel.
At first you fight against it passionately, with a longing to be doing
something, and gradually you give way to despair. And now the weight is
off my shoulders, and I am free to act. Fancy the reward of finding
Reginald Henson out!"

"Reginald Henson is the blight upon your house. In what way?"

"Ah, I cannot tell you. It is a secret that we never discuss even among
ourselves. But he has the power over us, he has blighted all our lives.
But if I could get hold of a certain thing the power would be broken.
That is what I am after, what I am working for. And it is in connection
with my endeavour that the new idea came to me."

"Can't you give me some general idea of it?" Bell asked.

"Well, I want to make Merritt my friend. I want him to imagine that I am
as much of an adventuress as he is an adventurer. I want to let him see
that I could send him to prison--"

"So you can by telling the police of the loss of your star."

"And getting Merritt arrested and sent to gaol where I couldn't make use
of him? No, no. The thing is pretty vague in my mind at present. I have
to work it out as one would a story; as David Steel would work it out,
for instance. Ah!"

Chris clapped her hands rapturously, and a little cry of delight
escaped her.

"The very thing," she exclaimed. "If I could lay all the facts before Mr.
Steel and get him to plan out all the details! His fertile imagination
would see a way out at once. But he is far away and there is no time to
be lost. Is there no way of getting at him?"

Chris appealed almost imploringly to her companion. She made a pretty
picture with the old oak engravings behind her. Bell smiled as he helped
himself to asparagus.

"Why not adopt the same method by which you originally introduced
yourself to the distinguished novelist?" he asked. "Why not use
Littimer's telephone?"

Chris pushed her plate away impetuously.

"I am too excited to eat any more," she said. "I am filled with the new
idea. Of course, I could use the telephone to speak to Mr. Steel, and to
Enid as well. If the scheme works out as I anticipate, I shall have to
hold a long conversation with Enid, a dangerous thing so long as Reginald
Henson is about."

"I'll keep Henson out of the way. The best thing is to wait till
everybody has gone to bed to-night and call Steel up then. You will be
certain to get him after eleven, and there will be no chance of your
being cut off at that hour of the night in consequence of somebody else
wanting the line. The same remark applies to your sister."

Chris nodded radiantly.

"Thrice blessed telephone," she said. "I can get in all I want without
committing myself to paper or moving from the spot where my presence is
urgently needed. We will give Mr. Steel a pleasant surprise to-night, and
this time I shall get him into no trouble."

The luncheon was finished at length, and an intimation sent to Merritt
that his friends were waiting for him at the Lion. As his powerful figure
was seen entering the big Norman porch Henson came down the street
driving a dog-cart at a dangerous rate of speed.

"Our man is going to have his trouble for his pains," Bell chuckled. "He
has come to interview Merritt. How pleased he will be to see Merritt at
dinner-time."

Merritt shambled in awkwardly, obviously suppressing a desire to touch
his forelock. There was a sheepish grin on his face, a suppressed triumph
in his eyes. He had been recently shaved and his hair cut, but despite
these improvements, and despite his clerical garb, he was not exactly the
class of man to meet in a dark lane after sunset.

Chris, however, showed nothing of this in her greeting. Long before
Littimer Castle was reached she had succeeded in putting Merritt quite at
his ease. He talked of himself and his past exploits, he boasted of his
cunning. It was only now and again that he pulled himself up and piously
referred to the new life that he was now leading. Bell was studying him
carefully; he read the other's mind like an open book. When the
waggonette finally pulled up before the castle Littimer strolled up and
stood there regarding Merritt quietly.

"So this is the gentleman you were going to bring to dinner?" he
said, grimly. "I have seen him before in the company of our dear
Reginald. I also--"

Chris shot Littimer an imploring glance. Merritt grinned in friendly
fashion. Bell, in his tactful way, piloted the strange guest to the
library before Littimer and Chris had reached the hall. The former
polished his eyeglass and regarded Chris critically.

"My dear young lady," he said smoothly, "originality is a passion with
me, eccentricity draws me as a magnet; but as yet I have refrained from
sitting down to table with ticket-of-leave men. Your friend has 'convict'
writ large upon his face."

"He has been in gaol, of course," Chris admitted, cheerfully.

"Then let me prophesy, and declare that he will be in gaol again. Why
bring him here?"

"Because it is absolutely necessary," Chris said, boldly. "That man can
help me--help _us_, Lord Littimer. I am not altogether what I seem. There
is a scoundrel in your house compared with whom James Merritt is an
innocent child. That scoundrel has blighted your life and the lives of
your family; he has blighted my life for years. And I am here to expose
him, and I am here to right the wrong and bring back the lost happiness
of us all. I cannot say more, but I implore you to let me have my own way
in this matter."

"Oh!" Littimer said, darkly, "so you are masquerading here?"

"I am. I admit it. Turn me out if you like; refuse to be a party to my
scheme. You may think badly of me now, probably you will think worse of
me later on. But I swear to you that I am acting with the best and purest
motives, and in your interest as much as my own."

"Then you are not entitled even to the name you bear?"

"No, I admit it freely. Consider, I need not have told you anything.
Things cannot be any worse than they are. Let me try and make them
better. Will you, will you _trust_ me?"

Chris's voice quivered, there were tears in her eyes. With a sudden
impulse Littimer laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked long and
searchingly into her eyes.

"Very well," he said, with a gentle sigh. "I will trust you. As a matter
of fact, I have felt that I could trust you from the first. I won't pry
into your schemes, because if they are successful I shall benefit by
them. And if you like to bring a cartload of convicts down here, pray do
so. It will only puzzle the neighbours, and drive them mad with
curiosity, and I love that."

"And you'll back me up in all I say and do?" Chris asked.

"Certainly I will. On the whole, I fancy I am going to have a pleasant
evening. I don't think dear Reginald will be pleased to see his friend at
dinner. If any of the spoons are missing I shall hold you responsible."

Chris went off to her room well pleased with the turn of events.
Brilliant audacity had succeeded where timid policy might have resulted
in dismal failure. And Littimer had refrained from asking any awkward
questions. From the window she could see Bell and Merritt walking up and
down the terrace, the latter talking volubly and worrying at a big cigar
as a dog might nuzzle at a bone. Chris saw Littimer join the other two
presently and fall in with their conversation. His laugh came to the
girl's ear more than once. It was quite evident that the eccentric
nobleman was enjoying the ex-convict's society. But Littimer had never
been fettered by conventional rules.

The dog-cart came up presently and Henson got out. He had an anxious,
worried look; there was an ugly frown between his brows. He contrived to
be polite as Chris emerged. He wanted to know where Littimer was.

"On the terrace, I fancy," Chris said, demurely. "I guess he is having a
long chat with that parson friend of yours--the brand plucked from the
burning, you know."

"Merritt," Henson said, hoarsely. "Do you mean to say that Merritt is
here? And I've been looking for--I mean, I have been into Moreton Wells.
Why did he come?"

Chris opened her eyes in innocent surprise.

"Why," she said, "I fetched him. I'm deeply interested in brands of
that kind."

CHAPTER XXXVII

ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE

Henson forced a smile to his face and a hand from his side as he
approached Merritt and the rest. It was not until the two found
themselves alone that the mask was dropped.

"You infernally insolent scoundrel," Henson said, between his teeth. "How
dare you come here? You've done your work for the present, and the sooner
you go back to your kennel in London the better. If I imagined that you
meant any harm I'd crush you altogether."

"I didn't come on my own," Merritt whined. "So keep your 'air on. That
young lady came and fetched me--regular gone on me, she is. And there's
to be high jinks 'ere--a bazaar for the benefit of pore criminals as
can't get no work to do. You 'eard what his lordship said. And I'm goin'
to make a speech, like as I used to gull the chaplains. Lor', it's funny,
ain't it?"

Henson failed to see the humour of the situation. He was uneasy and
suspicious. Moreover, he was puzzled by this American girl, and he hated
to be puzzled. She had social aspirations, of course; she cared nothing
for decayed or reformed criminals, and this silly bazaar was only
designed so that the ambitious girl could find her way into the county
set. Then she would choose a husband, and nothing more would be heard of
Merritt and Co. Henson had a vague notion that all American girls are on
the look-out for English husbands of the titled order.

"Littimer must be mad," he muttered. "I can't understand Littimer; I
can't understand anything. Which reminds me that I have a crow to pluck
with you. Why didn't you do as I told you last night?"

"Did," said Merritt, curtly. "Got the picture and took it home with me."

"You liar! The picture is in the corridor at the present time."

"Liar yourself! I've got the picture on my mantelshelf in my sitting-room
rolled up as you told me to roll it up and tied with a piece of cotton.
It was your own idea as the thing was to be left about casual-like as
being less calculated to excite suspicion. And there it is at the present
moment, and I'll take my oath to it."

Henson fairly gasped. He had been inside that said sitting-room not two
hours before, and he had not failed to notice a roll of paper on the
mantelshelf. And obviously Merritt was telling the truth. And equally
obviously the Rembrandt was hanging in the corridor at the present
moment. Henson had solved and evolved many ingenious puzzles in his time,
but this one was utterly beyond him.

"Some trick of Dr. Bell's, perhaps," Merritt suggested.

"Bell suspects nothing. He is absolutely friendly to me. He could not
disguise his feelings like that. Upon my word I was never so utterly at
sea before in all my life. And as for Littimer, why, he has just made a
fresh will more in my favour than the old one. But I'll find out. I'll
get to the bottom of this business if it costs me a fortune."

He frowned moodily at his boots; he turned the thing over in his mind
until his brain was dazed and muddled. The Rembrandt had been stolen, and
yet there was the Rembrandt in its place. Was anything more amazing and
puzzling? And nobody else seemed in the least troubled about it. Henson
was more than puzzled; deep down in his heart he was frightened.

"I must keep my eyes open," he said. "I must watch night and day. Do you
suppose Miss Lee noticed anything when she called to-day?"

"Not a bit of it," said Merritt, confidently "She came to see me; she
had no eyes for anybody but your humble servant. Where did she get my
address from? Why, didn't you introduce me to the lady yourself, and
didn't I tell her I was staying at Moreton Wells for a time? I'm goin'
to live in clover for a bit, my pippin. Cigars and champagne, wine and
all the rest of it."

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