The Mask: A Story of Love and Adventure
he was back home. How long she had waited for this day, and, even now
it had come, the void did not seem filled. There still seemed
something wanting. What it was, she did not know, yet it was there.
In the dining-room she ran into Ray, who had her arms filled with
magnificent American beauty roses.
"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Helen enthusiastically. "Where did you get
those flowers?"
The young girl laughed. "They're a present from me and Wilbur--in
honor of Kenneth's arrival. Where is he?"
"Upstairs--he's going to lie down until dinner is ready. Poor
soul--he's almost dead with fatigue."
"Has he got the diamonds?"
Helen gasped. She hadn't thought of that. In all the excitement the
real object of her husband's trip to South Africa had quite escaped her
mind.
"I don't know," she said quickly. "I haven't asked him. We've hardly
exchanged a dozen words. He'll tell us later. Was nothing said about
them at the Customs? Didn't he declare them?"
"No--I thought it was strange. That's why I asked you if he had them.
Possibly he left them to be cut in Amsterdam."
Helen grew thoughtful.
"I don't know. He'll tell us later."
Ray filled the vases with the flowers, while Helen busied herself at
the buffet, getting out all the pretty silverware with which the dinner
table was to be decorated. The young girl hummed lightly as she
decorated the room with the fragrant blossoms.
"Isn't it lovely that Kenneth is back?" she exclaimed.
"Yes, indeed."
"I hardly knew him at first in those spectacles."
"I'm not surprised at that."
"If it hadn't been for that white patch of hair I don't think we could
have picked him out of the crowd. There was an awful crush there."
There was a pause, and then Helen asked:
"How do you think he looks?"
"About the same," replied the girl carelessly. "He doesn't seem in as
good spirits as when he went away. He is very quiet. He hardly spoke
a word to us on the way home. Possibly he has some business anxiety on
his mind."
"Did he ask about me?"
"Yes--you were his first question."
"Did you tell him about Dorothy?"
"That she was not so well? Yes."
"What did he say? Was he worried?"
"Not particularly. I think men are more sensible in those matters than
we women. He knows baby is well taken care of." Changing the subject,
the young girl went on: "I hope everybody will be jolly to-night. I've
made up my mind to have a good time."
Helen sighed.
"I'm feeling a little uneasy about Dorothy. I got a letter this
morning from Aunt Carrie, saying she was not feeling so well. The
doctor was going to see her to-day, and, if she got worse, they said
they'd telegraph."
Ray looked at her sister in consternation.
"What would you do then?"
"I would have to go at once to Philadelphia."
"And Kenneth just come home--oh, Helen!"
"I couldn't help it. Kenneth couldn't go. Somebody must go. The
child could not be left alone. Who should go better than its mother?"
Ray made a gesture of protest.
"Well, don't let's imagine the worst. Dorothy won't get worse.
To-morrow you'll get a reassuring letter, and your worries will be
over."
"I hope so," smiled Helen.
Leaving the task of sorting the knives and forks Ray came over to where
Helen was standing. The young girl pointed to all the vases filled
with the crimson roses.
"How do you like that?" she exclaimed.
"Beautiful!"
There was a brief silence, both women being preoccupied by their
thoughts, when Ray, in her usual vivacious, impulsive way, burst out:
"Sis, I have something to tell you."
Helen looked up quickly.
"Something to tell me--something good?"
"I'm so happy! I'm engaged at last."
"To Wilbur, of course?"
"Yes."
Helen gave an exclamation of joy.
"Oh, I'm so glad. When did it happen? Tell me all about it--quick."
"He proposed to-day, and I said yes. We're to be married in two
months."
The next moment the two women were in each other's arms.
"I'm so glad--so glad," murmured Helen. "I hope you'll both be very,
very happy."
"We certainly shall if we are like you and Kenneth. Wilbur says that
your example is the one thing that decided him to make the plunge."
Helen smiled.
"You'll have one advantage I don't enjoy. Your husband, being a
lawyer, won't be taking trips to South Africa all the time."
"Oh, I don't know," laughed the girl; "it's sometimes nice to lose
sight of each other for a time. The lovemaking is all the more furious
when your husband gets back."
"Yes--unless he happens to meet some other charmer on his travels."
"Oh, nonsense, Helen--men don't really have such adventures. That only
happens in novels."
"I hope so," murmured her sister.
"Oh, by the bye," exclaimed Ray, "who do you suppose we saw on the
dock?"
"Who?"
"That horrid creature--Signor Keralio."
Helen looked up in surprise.
"Keralio? What was he doing there? Did he speak to you?"
"No--he seemed to avoid us. Once I got lost for a moment in the crush,
and, as I turned, I thought I saw him talking earnestly to Kenneth and
Francois. Of course I must have been mistaken, for, when I finally
rejoined them, both denied having seen him!"
"Keralio!" murmured Helen. "How strange! That man seems to pursue us
like some evil genius. No matter where we go, he follows like a
shadow. Oh, I forgot all about Francois. Where is he?"
"Downstairs."
Helen touched a bell.
"Why do you need him?"
"Kenneth wants him. I forgot all about it. All his things need
putting away. The litter upstairs is simply terrible."
"There won't be much time for unpacking," objected Ray. "It's
half-past five already. We'll soon have to think of dressing for
dinner."
Suddenly the door opened and Francois appeared. He entered quietly,
stealthily, and, advancing to where his mistress was, stood in silence,
awaiting her orders.
"Your master wants you upstairs, Francois."
The man bowed.
"_Bien_, madame!"
"Tell Mr. Traynor not to keep you too long, because there's a lot of
work to be done downstairs before dinner."
"_Bien_, madame."
The man lingered in the room, arranging the chairs, and fussing about
the table, until he began to make Helen nervous. Peremptorily she said:
"You had better go, Francois; monsieur is waiting for you."
The valet bowed obsequiously, and left the room, shutting the door
carefully. Instead of proceeding immediately upstairs, he stopped for
a moment behind the closed door and listened intently. But, unable to
overhear the two women, who were conversing in an undertone, he hurried
upstairs toward his employer's bedroom. Arrived on the landing, he
went straight to the room, and, without stopping for the formality of
knocking, he turned the handle and went in.
CHAPTER XIII
Instead of finding his master resting from his fatigue, as Mrs. Traynor
had said, Francois discovered the new arrival very much awake. He was
sitting in front of Helen's bureau, eagerly perusing a bundle of
private letters tied with blue ribbon, which he had taken from a
drawer. As the door opened, he jumped up quickly, as if detected
committing a dishonorable action; but, when he saw who it was, his face
relaxed and he gave a grim nod of recognition.
"Lock the door!" he said in a whisper. "It won't do to have anyone
come in here now."
The valet turned the key, and, dropping entirely the obsequious manner
of the paid menial, threw himself carelessly into a chair. Taking from
his pocket a richly chased silver cigarette box, loot from former
houses where he had been employed, he struck a match on the highly
polished Circassian walnut chair, and proceeded to enjoy a smoke.
His companion looked at him anxiously.
"Well?" he demanded hoarsely. "Is it all right? What do they say?
Does anyone suspect?"
The Frenchman gracefully emitted from between his thin lips a thick
cloud of blue smoke, and broke into a laugh that, under the
circumstances, sounded strangely hollow and sinister.
"Suspect?" he chuckled. "Why should they suspect? Are you not ze same
man who went away--ze same build, ze same face, ze same voice, ze same
in every particular--except one. Zat you have not--_non_--you have not
ze education, ze fine manners, ze _savoir faire_ of monsieur." With
that expressive shrug of the shoulder, so characteristic of his nation,
he added: "_Mais que voulez vous_? We must do ze best we can."
His listener struck the brass bed-post savagely with his heavy fist.
With a burst of profanity he broke out:
"Yes, damn him! He had all the advantages. I had none. But it's my
turn now. I want all that's coming to me."
"Hush!" exclaimed the valet, raising his finger warningly. "Zey may
hear. Everything will be all right. We must be very careful. You
must not talk. You must avoid people. Let them think you sick, or
strange, or crazy, anything you like. But keep away from zem, or else
they soon discover that 'Handsome Jack,' ze penniless adventurer, is
quite a different person from ze accomplished and wealthy Monsieur
Kenneth Traynor."
"We can't expect to keep the game up long," interrupted the big fellow
moodily.
"We won't have to," replied his companion calmly. "Just enough time to
squeeze ze orange dry--that's all----"
Handsome looked up quickly. Savagely he retorted:
"Of which juice you and Keralio want a goodly share, don't you?"
The valet's greenish eyes flashed.
"Of course I do, and, what's more, I mean to get it." Changing his
free, careless tone to one tense with significance and menace he went
on: "Don't be a fool, Monsieur Handsome. Who put you up to this snap,
but me? Who knows what you did to monsieur out there on ze _veldt_,
better than me? Dead men tell no tales, but live ones do. Don't
forget that! If you want to keep clear of ze electric chair, you'll
keep your mouth shut, and play fair."
The gambler listened, his mouth twitching nervously, his eyes glowing
with sullen hatred.
"What do you and Keralio want? I gave you the diamonds--what more do
you expect?"
The valet laughed scoffingly.
"You gave him ze diamonds. Why? You were d----d glad to be rid of
zem. We can't do anything with zem now. We may have to wait months or
years before we can venture to cut zem up and dispose of zem. _Non_,
monsieur! If zey appeared on ze market now, ze news would be flashed
_immediatement_ to every corner of ze globe, and your career and mine
would come to a quick end. _Voila_!"
"Don't forget Keralio!" said Handsome, with a sneer.
"_Eh, bien_? Has he not earned it, Signor Keralio? Is it not because
of his courage and daring that you are here--ze master in this house?
Who but Keralio would have had ze nerve to carry ze thing through?"
Handsome shrugged his shoulders. Cynically he said:
"Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that Keralio is safe under cover,
while here I am, disporting myself in the limelight, with every eye
turned on me. I guess I prefer Keralio's job to mine----"
The valet's eyes flashed vindictively as he retorted:
"Could your puny brain have conceived this scheme which will make us
all rich? Keralio outlined ze whole plan to me directly he heard of
your existence. On our reaching Cape Town, after finding you starving
on ze _veldt_, I cabled him ze news. A few hours later he told me
exactly what to do. He knew you would do it. How, I do not know. He
is no ordinary man, Keralio. When I first saw you out zere, unkempt,
in rags, starving, I could have dropped dead from surprise. It never
occurred to me that you might be useful. But Keralio knew. He knows
everything. He also knew that you would accept his leadership, that
you would quickly get rid of monsieur, and secure ze diamonds. Was it