The Seven Dials mystery
"Oh, you know what I mean. Of course he wasn't really an ass. Tons of
brains and always swotting at things. But deadly serious. No sense of
humour."
"Ah!" said Superintendent Battle. "That's a pity. Gentlemen who have no
sense of humour get to taking themselves too seriously--and that leads
to mischief."
"I can't imagine Pongo getting into mischief," said Jimmy. "He's done
extremely well for himself so far--dug himself in with old Coote and
looks like being a permanency in the job."
"Superintendent Battle," said Bundle.
"Yes, Lady Eileen?"
"Don't you think it very odd that Sir Oswald didn't say what he was
doing wandering about in the garden in the middle of the night?"
"Ah!" said Battle. "Sir Oswald's a great man--and a great man always
knows better than to explain unless an explanation is demanded. To rush
into explanations and excuses is always a sign of weakness. Sir Oswald
knows that as well as I do. He's not going to come in explaining and
apologizing--not he. He just stalks in and hauls _me_ over the coals.
He's a big man, Sir Oswald."
Such a warm admiration sounded in the Superintendent's tones that
Bundle pursued the subject no further.
"And now," said Superintendent Battle, looking round with a slight
twinkle in his eye, "now that we're together and friendly like--I
_should_ like to hear just how Miss Wade happened to arrive on the
scene so pat."
"She ought to be ashamed of herself," said Jimmy. "Hoodwinking us all
as she did."
"Why should I be kept out of it all?" cried Loraine passionately. "I
never meant to be--no, not the very first day in your rooms when you
both explained how the best thing for me to do was to stay quietly at
home and keep out of danger. I didn't say anything, but I made up my
mind then."
"I half suspected it," said Bundle. "You were so surprisingly meek
about it. I might have known you were up to something."
"I thought you were remarkably sensible," said Jimmy Thesiger.
"You would, Jimmy dear," said Loraine. "It was easy enough to deceive
you."
"Thank you for these kind words," said Jimmy. "Go on, and don't mind
me."
"When you rang up and said there might be danger, I was more determined
than ever," went on Loraine. "I went to Harrods and I bought a pistol.
Here it is."
She produced the dainty weapon, and Superintendent Battle took it from
her and examined it.
"Quite a deadly little toy, Miss Wade," he said. "Have you had
much--er--practise with it?"
"None at all," said Loraine. "But I thought if I took it with me--well,
that it would give me a comforting feeling."
"Quite so," said Battle gravely.
"My idea was to come over here and see what was going on. I left the
car in the road and climbed through the hedge and came up to the
terrace. I was just looking about me when--plop--something fell right
at my feet. I picked it up and then looked to see where it could have
come from. And then I saw the man climbing down the ivy and I ran."
"Just so," said Battle. "Now, Miss Wade, can you describe that man at
all?"
The girl shook her head.
"It was too dark to see much. I think he was a big man--but that's
about all."
"And now you, Mr. Thesiger." Battle turned to him. "You struggled with
the man--can you tell me anything about him?"
"He was a pretty hefty individual--that's all I can say. He gave a few
hoarse whispers--that's when I had him by the throat. He said, 'Lemme
go, guvnor,' something like that."
"An uneducated man, then?"
"Yes, I suppose he was. He spoke like one."
"I still don't quite understand about the packet," said Loraine. "Why
should he throw it down as he did? Was it because it hampered him
climbing?"
"No," said Battle. "I've got an entirely different theory about that.
That packet, Miss Wade, was deliberately thrown down to you--or so I
believe."
"To _me_?"
"Shall we say--to the person the thief thought you were."
"This is getting very involved," said Jimmy.
"Mr. Thesiger, when you came into this room, did you switch on the
light at all?"
"Yes."
"And there was no one in the room?"
"No one at all."
"But previously you thought you heard someone moving about down here?"
"Yes."
"And then, after trying the window, you switched off the light again
and locked the door?"
Jimmy nodded.
Superintendent Battle looked slowly round him. His glance was arrested
by a big screen of Spanish leather which stood near one of the
bookcases.
Brusquely he strode across the room and looked behind it.
He uttered a sharp ejaculation, which brought the three young people
quickly to his side.
Huddled on the floor, in a dead faint, lay the Countess Radzky.
CHAPTER XXII
THE COUNTESS RADZKY'S STORY
The Countess's return to consciousness was very different from that of
Jimmy Thesiger. It was more prolonged and infinitely more artistic.
Artistic was Bundle's word. She had been zealous in her
ministrations--largely consisting of the application of cold water--and
the Countess had instantly responded, passing a white, bewildered hand
across her brow and murmuring faintly.
It was at this point that Bill, at last relieved from his duties
with telephone and doctors, had come bustling into the room and had
instantly proceeded to make (in Bundle's opinion) a most regrettable
idiot of himself.
He had hung over the Countess with a concerned and anxious face and had
addressed a series of singularly idiotic remarks to her:
"I say, Countess. It's all right. It's really all right. Don't try
to talk. It's bad for you. Just lie still. You'll be all right in a
minute. It'll all come back to you. Don't say anything till you're
quite all right. Take your time. Just lie still and close your eyes.
You'll remember everything in a minute. Have another sip of water.
Have some brandy. That's the stuff. Don't you think, Bundle, that some
brandy...?"
"For God's sake, Bill, leave her alone," said Bundle crossly. "She'll
be all right."
And with an expert hand she flipped a good deal of cold water on to the
exquisite make-up of the Countess's face.
The Countess flinched and sat up. She looked considerably more wide
awake.
"Ah!" she murmured. "I am here. Yes, I am here."
"Take your time," said Bill. "Don't talk till you feel quite all right
again."
The Countess drew the folds of a very transparent négligé closer around
her.
"It is coming back to me," she murmured. "Yes, it is coming back."
She looked at the little crowd grouped around her. Perhaps something in
the attentive faces struck her as unsympathetic. In any case she smiled
deliberately up at the one face which clearly displayed a very opposite
emotion.
"Ah, my big Englishman," she said very softly, "do not distress
yourself. All is well with me."
"Oh! I say, but are you sure?" demanded Bill anxiously.
"Quite sure." She smiled at him reassuringly. "We Hungarians, we have
nerves of steel."
A look of intense relief passed over Bill's face. A fatuous look
settled down there instead--a look which made Bundle earnestly long to
kick him.
"Have some water," she said coldly.
The Countess refused water. Jimmy, kindlier to beauty in distress,
suggested a cocktail. The Countess reacted favourably to this
suggestion. When she had swallowed it, she looked round once more, this
time with a livelier eye.
"Tell me, what has happened?" she demanded briskly.
"We were hoping you might be able to tell us that," said Superintendent
Battle.
The Countess looked at him sharply. She seemed to become aware of the
big, quiet man for the first time.
"I went to your room," said Bundle. "The bed hadn't been slept in and
you weren't there."
She paused--looking accusingly at the Countess. The latter closed her
eyes and nodded her head slowly.
"Yes, yes, I remember it all now. Oh, it was horrible!" She shuddered.
"Do you want me to tell you?"
Superintendent Battle said, "If you please" at the same moment that
Bill said, "Not if you don't feel up to it."
The Countess looked from one to the other, but the quiet, masterful eye
of Superintendent Battle won the game.
"I could not sleep," began the Countess. "The house--it oppressed me. I
was all, as you say, on wires, the cat on the hot bricks. I knew that
in the state I was in it was useless to think of going to bed. I walked
about my room. I read. But the books placed there did not interest
me greatly. I thought I would come down here and find something more
absorbing."
"Very natural," said Bill.
"Very often done, I believe," said Battle.
"So as soon as the idea occurred to me, I left my room and came down.
The house was very still--"
"Excuse me," interrupted the Superintendent, "but can you give me an
idea of the time when this occurred?"
"I never know the time," said the Countess superbly, and swept on with
her story.
"The house was very quiet. One could even hear the little mouse run, if
there had been one. I come down the stairs--very quietly--"
"Very quietly?"
"Naturally, I do not want to disturb the household," said the Countess
reproachfully. "I come in here. I go into this corner and I search the
shelves for a suitable book."
"Having, of course, switched on the light?"
"No, I did not switch on the light. I had, you see, my little electric
torch with me. With that, I scanned the shelves."
"Ah!" said the Superintendent.
"Suddenly," continued the Countess dramatically, "I hear something. A
stealthy sound. A muffled footstep. I switch out my torch and listen.
The footsteps draw nearer--stealthy, horrible footsteps. I shrink
behind the screen. In another minute the door opens and the light is
switched on. The man--the burglar is in the room."
"Yes, but I say--" began Mr. Thesiger.
A large-sized foot pressed his, and realizing that Superintendent
Battle was giving him a hint, Jimmy shut up.
"I nearly died of fear," continued the Countess. "I tried not to
breathe. The man waited for a minute, listening. Then, still with that
horrible, stealthy tread--"
Again Jimmy opened his mouth in protest, and again shut it.
"--he crossed to the window and peered out. He remained there for a
minute or two, then he recrossed the room and turned out the lights
again, locking the door. I am terrified. He is in the room, moving
stealthily about in the dark. Ah, it is horrible. Suppose he should
come upon me in the dark! In another minute I hear him again by the
window. Then silence. I hope that perhaps he may have gone out that
way. As the minutes pass and I hear no further sound, I am almost sure
that he has done so. Indeed I am in the very act of switching on my
torch and investigating when--_prestissimo!_--it all begins."
"Yes?"
"Ah! But it was terrible--never--never shall I forget it! Two men
trying to murder each other. Oh, it was horrible! They reeled about
the room, and furniture crashed in every direction. I thought, too,
that I heard a woman scream--but that was not in the room. It was
outside somewhere. The criminal had a hoarse voice. He croaked rather
than spoke. He kept saying, 'Lemme go--lemme go.' The other man was a
gentleman. He had a cultured, English voice."
Jimmy looked gratified.
"He swore--mostly," continued the Countess.
"Clearly a gentleman," said Superintendent Battle.
"And then," continued the Countess, "a flash and a shot. The bullet hit
the bookcase beside me. I--I suppose I must have fainted."
She looked up at Bill. He took her hand and patted it.
"You poor dear," he said. "How rotten for you."
"Silly idiot," thought Bundle.
Superintendent Battle had moved on swift, noiseless feet over to the
bookcase a little to the right of the screen. He bent down, searching.
Presently he stooped and picked something up.