Miles arrived at the Northern India Hotel, and told the tonga wallah to wait. He marched straight into the dilapidated little office, where he found Cousins and a friend of the latter’s – a police sergeant named Spink – awaiting him.
‘I’m glad you’ve arrived,’ he said.
‘We’ve been here for some time, sir,’ replied Cousins, playing up to his character of valet before the policeman.
‘Then I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,’ said Miles cheerfully.
The assistant manager, a small, lean Goanese, who had been watching them curiously, here interposed a remark.
‘I should theenk, sare,’ he said, ‘that Mees Gregson is in breakfast room at thees time. Shall I go and tell her you waiting?’
‘No thanks!’ replied the American. ‘I’ll find her myself. Where is the breakfast room?’
It was pointed out to him, and he was about to cross the compound, when Spink followed him outside, and touched him on the arm.
‘Don’t bring me into this business if you can possibly help it, Mr Miles!’ he said.
‘Don’t you worry!’ was the reply. ‘I don’t think there will be any need for such a drastic step, and I guess, even if there is, we won’t get so far as the police court.’
He smiled, and continued on his way. He did not want Miss Gregson to see him and take alarm, and for that reason had not permitted the under-manager to announce him. He approached the door of the breakfast room cautiously and looked in. There was a sprinkling of guests seated therein, but no sign of Miss Gregson. He called the head waiter, and inquired if she had had breakfast. It took the man some time to understand, but at last his face brightened and, by means of signs rather than words, he indicated that the lady was taking breakfast in her room that morning. Miles wandered back to the office.
‘What is the number of Miss Gregson’s room?’ he asked.
‘Seventeen, sare!’ replied the clerk.
‘You boys had better come right along!’ said the American. ‘We’ll wait on the veranda outside room seventeen until she is ready to see us. Gee!’ he went on, as the three of them walked round the compound towards Miss Gregson’s apartment. ‘I guess she’ll be some surprised to see us!’
There were several cane chairs on the veranda outside the block of rooms of which seventeen was the centre, and drawing one close to the door, Miles calmly sat down and lit a cigarette. Presently a bearer crossed to the room from the kitchens with a dish of something in his hands. The American intercepted him.
‘Say, bearer,’ he asked, ‘is Miss sahib in bed?’
The waiter indicated that she was, and disappeared within.
‘I guess we’ve got a long wait,’ said Miles.
‘That bearer will probably tell her we are waiting,’ said Cousins, ‘and describe you, sir.’
‘Yes; darn it! Therefore it’ll be best if I send in my card right now. Is there another way out, do you think?’ he asked Spink.
‘Bound to be, sir, through the bathroom, but that wouldn’t help her much. I know this place. There is a high brick wall behind the block, and only a narrow passage. If she makes her way along that, in either direction, she’s bound to emerge into our view.’
‘Good!’
At that moment the waiter returned and Miles gave him a card, which he told him – through the medium of Spink, who acted as interpreter – to give to Miss Gregson, and inform her that he would wait until she was ready to receive him.
Olive had been sitting up in bed quietly enjoying her breakfast. Her trip to Lahore had cost her nothing, she had had a very ample revenge for the way Hugh Shannon had turned her down on board ship, and, in addition, she had received a thousand rupees. The world appeared a very bright place to her that morning, and now all she had to do was to get up casually, bath and dress, and catch the train for beautiful Bangalore. A nuisance that journey, of course, but it was quite worth it considering everything. She stretched herself luxuriously as the waiter entered with the second course. Then came rather a jarring note to her enjoyment.
‘There is a sahib waiting to see you, Miss sahib,’ announced the bearer, as he laid down the dish on the bedside table.
She stopped stretching, and stared at him.
‘A sahib!’ she exclaimed. ‘Who?’
‘He did not tell me. He asked if you were in bed. There are two other sahibs with him I think.’
For a moment a dreadful fear entered Olive’s mind. Three men! Perhaps Shannon, Miles and the valet! Then she assured herself that it could not be – they would think she was at the Royal, not here. It must be Novar, Rahtz and Hudson, although none of them had come to the hotel before – Hudson in fact had dropped her outside the gates when he had brought her from Novar’s bungalow, as though he had no intention of being seen on the hotel premises with her.
‘What is the sahib, who spoke to you, like?’ she asked in rather a shaky voice.
‘He is tall, I think, although of that I could not be certain, as he was sitting and he wears glasses!’
She went pale. The description certainly fitted Miles.
‘I cannot see anyone,’ she said nervously. ‘I – I’m not dressed.’
The bearer inclined his head, and went out. Presently he was back, and handed her a card.
‘The sahib says he will wait until you are ready to see him,’ he told her.
She took the piece of pasteboard in trembling fingers. One glance was sufficient. She dropped it on the bed, a half-stifled groan issuing from her lips.
‘Tell the sahib,’ she said, ‘that I will see him in an hour.’
By that time, she thought, she would be able to get away from the hotel. He would be sure not to wait. She had lost all interest in her breakfast now, her appetite had completely deserted her, and as soon as the waiter had left the room, she jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom bent on making a hasty toilet, and getting away as soon as possible. How on earth, she wondered, had they found out where she was!
Miles received the message with a smile, and getting up he winked at the others, and led the way through the hotel gates and across the road to where a group of shady trees enabled them to conceal themselves and watch the door of Miss Gregson’s room.
‘I guess we shan’t have to wait half an hour after all,’ said the American. ‘She’ll be out of that room, and make for the station in a remarkably short space of time.’
Cousins laughed, and Spink grinned.
‘This business is quite interesting,’ said the latter. ‘I only hope that it won’t go wrong, and put me in the soup.’
‘There’s no danger of that,’ said Cousins. ‘Once Mr Miles talks to her, she’ll come to earth – voila tout!’
‘I reckon that as soon as she’s dressed,’ said the American, ‘she’ll hop over to the office and pay her bill to save time, come back, grab her bag and beat it.’
He proved to be a true prophet. In less than a quarter of an hour Miss Gregson came from her rooms cautiously, glanced anxiously about, then made for the office.
‘Now, boys,’ said Miles. ‘This is where I get busy. I’m going to wait in her room. If you’ll just saunter up after she has returned, Spink, so that I can show her your uniform if necessary, everything will be bully.’
Without waiting for a reply he walked rapidly back into the hotel compound, and coolly entered number seventeen. Almost every bedroom in the Northern India Hotel has a tiny anteroom leading into it. These apartments can hardly be described as sitting rooms as they are too small, and only contain a couple of chairs and a table. Miles found himself in Miss Gregson’s, and selecting a chair, sat down and placed his topee on the floor beside him.
In the meanwhile Olive had entered the office and demanded her bill, explaining that she was in a hurry to get away. The under-manager, who also acted as cashier, leisurely turned over the books, and carefully selecting a pen, started to make out the account as though he knew not the meaning of the word ‘hurry’. Miss Gregson watched him, her irritability mounting every minute.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ she exclaimed impatiently, and vulgarly, ‘buck up!’
He looked at her in surprise, then smiled in a manner that irritated her the more.
‘Did you see your friends, Mees?’ he asked. ‘They was so anxious to see you that they came here first at soon after half past seven!’
She bit her lip.
‘Yes, I – I saw them,’ she said untruthfully.
‘I know the poleece sergeant werry well!’ he said, and bent once more to his task.
She gasped. Police sergeant! What had he come for! Olive Gregson began to wish that she had never left Bangalore. Presently the little Goanese rose, and handed her the bill with a bow. She paid it mechanically, took the receipt and change, and hurried back to her rooms. She pulled aside the curtain and entered. The next moment she reeled against the door-post.
A familiar figure rose from a chair and bowed to her courteously.
‘Good morning, Miss Olive,’ said Miles.
For a moment she could not speak, then:
‘Didn’t you get my message?’ she demanded.
‘I sure did, but it occurred to me that the bearer had made a mistake, and I guess I was right!’
‘How dare you enter a lady’s rooms without permission?’
He looked round with a puzzled air.
‘Gee!’ he said apologetically. ‘I thought these rooms were yours.’
She went crimson.
‘Have you come here to insult me?’ she asked angrily.
‘Not on your life! I came to have a little talk.’ He pushed a chair forward. ‘Sit down, and let us be comfortable about it.’
‘No!’
He shrugged his shoulders.
‘Just as you like, of course, Miss Olive.’
‘What do you want with me?’
‘Well, that’s a mighty strange question. Last night you demanded, before a whole host of folks, that Captain Shannon should make arrangements to marry you. I reckon that as I am his friend, and the obvious best man, it is naturally my duty to make those arrangements.’
She stared at him in amazement.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
‘I just can’t see why you ask a question like that!’
‘Do you mean to say that he is prepared to marry me?’
‘Well, wasn’t that your ultimatum?’ He smiled.
She did not like that smile; it sent a cold shiver down her back. For a moment she hesitated, then:
‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said.
He looked at her reproachfully.
‘A woman can’t make the statements you did before a crowd, demand restitution from a man who has wronged her, and then change her mind.’
‘Well, I have!’ she said defiantly.
‘Why?’
‘That’s my business!’
‘I guess I’ve made it mine!’ He still spoke in the same careless voice, but there was a subtle difference in the tone. He leant towards her. ‘Perhaps it’s because you told a whole heap of lies last night?’ he suggested.
She stamped her foot.
‘I suppose you think you’re funny,’ she said. ‘Well, I don’t, and the sooner you clear out the better I’ll be pleased.’
‘I’ll clear out, Miss Olive, when you have decided to take back publicly all you said last night.’
She laughed in a shrill voice.
‘You’ll wait here a long time!’ she said.
‘No; I don’t think so.’
He moved a little closer to her, and she shrank back.
‘Don’t you dare touch me!’ she cried.
‘I’ve no intention of touching you,’ he said. ‘I came here hoping to fix this little matter without any trouble, but I guess I’ve got to talk almighty plainly. You did an unforgivable thing last night. You tried to ruin the character of a man who has never done you any harm; you hurt his sister grievously, and she’s a girl whose shoes you aren’t fit to black. I told you what you were last night and I repeat it again. Now you’ll just come right along with me to the Club and tell the Secretary the whole darn truth.’
She shook with rage.
‘How dare you speak to me like this,’ she almost shouted. ‘You’re nothing but a brute and a bully, and I’m not afraid of you!’
A gleam came into his eyes, which in spite of her anger frightened her.
‘Your opinion of me doesn’t hurt me any. I’ve said what you’re going to do, and you’re going to do it, or else—’
‘Or else what?’
‘I have means which will persuade you!’
There was a tense silence for a minute or two. Then she shrugged her shoulders; and walked towards the bedroom. He barred the way.
‘No, you don’t!’ he said.
‘Will you let me pass!’ she demanded furiously. ‘I have a train to catch, and I want to get my things.’
‘It’s almighty strange that you have a train to catch, when you were supposed to be waiting for Shannon to make arrangements to marry you!’
‘I told you that I have changed my mind!’
‘You mean to say that you came here fully intending to make him marry you?’
‘Yes!’
‘That’s why you told him you were staying at a hotel which you have never visited, I suppose?’ he said sarcastically.
‘I – I intended to change to the Royal today!’
‘Golly!’ he ejaculated. ‘You’re a mighty fine liar!’
She glared at him fiercely.
‘Let me pass!’ she said.
He made no movement.
‘I suppose you’ll say next that you are in reality in the condition you said you were before those people,’ he went on inexorably, ‘and that Shannon has really ruined you?’
‘You utter brute!’ she stormed.
‘Not a bit!’ he replied calmly. ‘I only want to be sure. Are you?’
For answer she slapped his face.
‘Now perhaps you’ll let me go!’ she shouted.
‘Not a chance in Hades,’ he said. ‘But I guess it’s time this little affair was brought to a close. God knows why you did this thing. Of course there was somebody behind you who paid you well, but that doesn’t interest me.’
She looked startled and drew back.
‘What – what do you mean?’ she stammered. ‘Hugh Shannon treated me badly, and I meant to have my own back – that’s all!’
‘You know darn well that is not all,’ he said, ‘and you also know that Hugh Shannon did not treat you badly. But I’m getting mighty sick of all this tongue music. I ask you once again – Are you coming with me to the Secretary of the Club to tell him the truth?’
‘I am not!’ she replied defiantly.
‘Then I’ve got to be a little unpleasant!’
He strode to the door, and lifted the curtain. She watched, a look of fear in her eyes. Just outside a European policeman was standing. He stepped forward.
‘Do you want me, sir?’ he asked.
‘Not for a moment or two, I guess,’ he answered, then dropped the curtain and looked at her.
She had gone as pale as death, and stood where she was, trembling. Then her nerve broke down, she ran to him and clutched his arm.
‘What is he there for?’ she cried. ‘What does he want?’
‘He wants you!’
‘But they can’t arrest me for – for what I said!’
‘Of course that depends upon Shannon. He certainly can bring an action for slander. But this policeman is here for a much more serious reason!’
‘But I’ve done nothing – nothing!’
He pushed her into a chair, and stood looking down sternly at her.
‘You trumped up a beastly, underhanded, false charge against Shannon, and I guess I can fight you with the same weapons you used against him.’
She was nervously biting her handkerchief, and tearing it to pieces in her agitation.
‘It’s almighty easy to frame a charge, if one wants to. I’ll tell you what is in store for you, Miss Gregson, if you don’t do what I wish. You will be arrested for passing dud notes!’
‘What?’ she gasped.
‘There have been a whole crowd of spurious notes put into circulation during the last four days, which coincides with the time you have been in Lahore. That policeman outside is waiting to search you and your belongings and arrest you!’
She was terror-stricken.
‘But I haven’t passed the notes! You know I haven’t!’ she almost sobbed.
‘That remains to be seen. You have a considerable amount of money in your possession, which you will have to account for, and when you are searched there will be found several bad notes.’
She started from her chair, and in her frenzy she clutched the lapels of his jacket and strove to shake him.
‘You’re doing this to ruin me – you know I have not brought bad notes into Lahore. You’re—Oh, you’re a devil!’ she ended and sank back into the chair sobbing.
‘Say, Miss Gregson!’ said the American gently. ‘I don’t want to hurt you any, but I want justice done to Shannon. If you will come with me to the Club and confess everything, why, I’ll send that policeman about his business, and tell him you’re not the person he wants.’
She cried bitterly, and Miles watched her with a pained expression on his face. At length she looked up.
‘I’ll – I’ll do anything you wish!’ she sobbed.
‘I only want you to tell the truth!’ he said, an immense relief in his voice.
He dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief.
‘Gee!’ he murmured to himself. ‘Some job!’
He went to the door, hesitated, then came back to her.
‘If I send the cop away,’ he said, ‘can I rely upon you to go through with what I’ve asked you to do? If I can’t I’ll take him with us.’
She turned to him a face full of misery, her cheeks wet with crying, and her eyes in a hopeless mess with the mixture of tears and black cosmétique.
‘Please, please send him away!’ she implored.
He nodded and going outside spoke to the two men.
‘I guess everything’s all right,’ he said. ‘There’s no necessity for you to stay, Spink.’
The policeman sighed with relief.
‘I’m glad to hear that, sir,’ he said. ‘I didn’t like the job, though I wanted to help in clearing up the matter.’ He shook his head with disgust. ‘It was a scandalous business,’ he went on. ‘What a woman!’
He shook hands with Cousins, saluted Miles and turned away.
‘Jerry,’ said the American, ‘call a taxi, will you? There’s a rank somewhere handy.’
With a nod Cousins went off to do his bidding, and Miles returned to Miss Gregson. He found her still sitting in the chair, the picture of dejection.
‘Say, Miss Olive,’ he said kindly, ‘I’m sorry to have been so darned hard, but I guess it couldn’t be helped. Just run along and wash away the sorrow from your face. I’ve got a taxi coming right along!’
Without a word she went.