speak.
“I found you almost by accident. Lost my way. How far is it to the station?”
“What station?”
This was rather a poser, but:
“The nearest, of course,” I replied.
“Mile and a half, straight along the lane from my door.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at my watch. “What time does the next train leave?”
“Where for?”
“London.”
“Six-eleven.”
I lingered over my drink and knocking out my pipe began to refill it. The unmoving stare of those wicked little eyes was vaguely disconcerting, and as I stood there stuffing tobacco into the hot bowl, a possible explanation occurred to me: perhaps Pallant mistook me for a revenue officer!
“Is the fishing good about here?” I asked.
“No.”
“You don’t cater for fishermen then?”
“I don’t.”
Then with a final penetrating stare he turned, swept the rush curtain aside and went out. I heard his curiously light retreating footsteps.
As I had paid for my drink he evidently took it for granted that I should depart now, and clearly was not interested in the possibility that I might order another. However, I sat for a while on a stool,lighted my pipe and finished my whisky and soda at leisure. A moment later no doubt I should have left, but a slight, a very slight movement beyond the curtain drew my glance in that direction.
Through the strings of rushes, almost, invisible, except that dim light from the bar shone upon her eyes, I saw a girl watching me. Nor was it humanly possible to mistake those eyes!
The formidable Jim Pallant was forgotten—everything was forgotten. Raising a flap in one end of the counter I stepped into the bar, crossed it and just as she turned to run along a narrow passage beyond, threw my arms around Ardatha!
“Let me go!” She struggled violently. “Let me go! I warned you, and you are mad—mad, to come here. For God’s sake if you value your life, or mine, let me go!”
But I pulled her through the curtain into the dingy bar and held her firmly.
“Ardatha!” I spoke in a guarded, low voice. “God knows why you can’t see what it means to be mixed up with these people, but
I
can, and I can’t bear it. Listen! You have nothing, nothing in the world to fear. Come away! My friend who is in charge of the case will absolutely guarantee your safety. But please, please, come away with me now!”
She wore a silk pullover, riding breeches and the muddy boots which I remembered. Her slender body writhed in my grasp with all the agility of a captured eel.
One swift upward glance she gave me, a glance I was to remember many, many times, waking and sleeping. Then with a sudden unexpected movement she buried her wicked little teeth in my hand!
Pained and startled I momentarily released her. The reed curtain crackled as she turned and ran. I heard her pattering footsteps on an uncarpeted stair.
Clenching my fist I stood there undetermined what to do—until, realising that an uncommonly dangerous man for whom I might not prove to be a match was somewhere in the house, for once I chose discretion.
I was crossing to the barroom door when, heralded only by a crash of the curtain and a dull thud, Pallant vaulted
over
the counter behind me, twisted my right arm into the small of my back and locked the other in a hold which I knew myself powerless to break!
“I know your sort!” he growled in my ear. “Anyone that tries games with my guests goes the same way!”
“Don’t be a fool!” I cried angrily as he hustled me out of the building. “I have met her before—”
“Well—she don’t want to meet you again, and she ain’t likely to!”
Down the three worn steps he ran me, and across the misty courtyard to the gate. He was heavier and undoubtedly more powerful than I, and ignominiously I was rushed into the lane.
“I’ve broke a man’s neck for less,” Pallant remarked.
I said nothing. The tone was very menacing.
“For two pins,” he continued, “I’d chuck you in the river.”
However, the
“I found you almost by accident. Lost my way. How far is it to the station?”
“What station?”
This was rather a poser, but:
“The nearest, of course,” I replied.
“Mile and a half, straight along the lane from my door.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at my watch. “What time does the next train leave?”
“Where for?”
“London.”
“Six-eleven.”
I lingered over my drink and knocking out my pipe began to refill it. The unmoving stare of those wicked little eyes was vaguely disconcerting, and as I stood there stuffing tobacco into the hot bowl, a possible explanation occurred to me: perhaps Pallant mistook me for a revenue officer!
“Is the fishing good about here?” I asked.
“No.”
“You don’t cater for fishermen then?”
“I don’t.”
Then with a final penetrating stare he turned, swept the rush curtain aside and went out. I heard his curiously light retreating footsteps.
As I had paid for my drink he evidently took it for granted that I should depart now, and clearly was not interested in the possibility that I might order another. However, I sat for a while on a stool,lighted my pipe and finished my whisky and soda at leisure. A moment later no doubt I should have left, but a slight, a very slight movement beyond the curtain drew my glance in that direction.
Through the strings of rushes, almost, invisible, except that dim light from the bar shone upon her eyes, I saw a girl watching me. Nor was it humanly possible to mistake those eyes!
The formidable Jim Pallant was forgotten—everything was forgotten. Raising a flap in one end of the counter I stepped into the bar, crossed it and just as she turned to run along a narrow passage beyond, threw my arms around Ardatha!
“Let me go!” She struggled violently. “Let me go! I warned you, and you are mad—mad, to come here. For God’s sake if you value your life, or mine, let me go!”
But I pulled her through the curtain into the dingy bar and held her firmly.
“Ardatha!” I spoke in a guarded, low voice. “God knows why you can’t see what it means to be mixed up with these people, but
I
can, and I can’t bear it. Listen! You have nothing, nothing in the world to fear. Come away! My friend who is in charge of the case will absolutely guarantee your safety. But please, please, come away with me now!”
She wore a silk pullover, riding breeches and the muddy boots which I remembered. Her slender body writhed in my grasp with all the agility of a captured eel.
One swift upward glance she gave me, a glance I was to remember many, many times, waking and sleeping. Then with a sudden unexpected movement she buried her wicked little teeth in my hand!
Pained and startled I momentarily released her. The reed curtain crackled as she turned and ran. I heard her pattering footsteps on an uncarpeted stair.
Clenching my fist I stood there undetermined what to do—until, realising that an uncommonly dangerous man for whom I might not prove to be a match was somewhere in the house, for once I chose discretion.
I was crossing to the barroom door when, heralded only by a crash of the curtain and a dull thud, Pallant vaulted
over
the counter behind me, twisted my right arm into the small of my back and locked the other in a hold which I knew myself powerless to break!
“I know your sort!” he growled in my ear. “Anyone that tries games with my guests goes the same way!”
“Don’t be a fool!” I cried angrily as he hustled me out of the building. “I have met her before—”
“Well—she don’t want to meet you again, and she ain’t likely to!”
Down the three worn steps he ran me, and across the misty courtyard to the gate. He was heavier and undoubtedly more powerful than I, and ignominiously I was rushed into the lane.
“I’ve broke a man’s neck for less,” Pallant remarked.
I said nothing. The tone was very menacing.
“For two pins,” he continued, “I’d chuck you in the river.”
However, the
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