The Vanished MessengerOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Vanished Messenger
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
Hamel shook his head.
“Within a few yards of here,” she went on. “He is in the boat-house,
the place where Miles told you he kept a model of his invention. They
brought him here the night before they put his clothes on Ryan and sent
him off disguised as Mr. Dunster, in the car to Yarmouth.”
Hamel started up, but she clutched at his arm and pulled him back. “No,”
she cried, “you can’t break in! There are double doors and a wonderful
lock. The boat-house is yours; the building is yours. In the morning you
must demand the keys--if he does not come to-night!”
“And how are we to know,” Hamel asked, “if he comes to-night?”
“Go outside,” she whispered. “Look towards St. David’s Hall and tell me
how many lights you can see.”
He drew back the bolt, unlatched the door, and stepped out into the
darkness. The wind and the driving rain beat against his face. A cloud
of spray enveloped and soaked him. Like lamps hung in the sky, the
lights of St. David’s Hall shone out through the black gulf. He counted
them carefully; then he stepped back.
“There are seven,” he told her, closing the door with an effort.
She counted upon her fingers.
“I must come and see,” she muttered. “I must be sure. Help me.”
He lifted her to her feet, and they staggered out together.
“Look!” she went on, gripping his arm. “You see that row of lights? If
anything happens, if Mr. Fentolin leaves the Hall to-night to come down
here, a light will appear on the left in the far corner. We must watch
for that light. We must watch--”
The words, whispered hoarsely into his ear, suddenly died away. Even
as they stood there, far away from the other lights, another one shone
suddenly out in the spot towards which she had pointed, and continued
to burn steadily. He felt the woman who was clinging to his arm become
suddenly a dead weight.
“She was right!” Mrs. Fentolin moaned. “He is coming down to-night! He
is preparing to leave now; perhaps he has already started! What shall we
do? What shall we do?”
Hamel was conscious of a gathering sense of excitement. He, too, looked
at the signal which was flashing out its message towards them. Then
he gripped his companion’s arm and almost carried her back into the
sitting-room.
“Look here,” he said firmly, “you can do nothing further. You have
done your part and done it well. Stay where you are and wait. The rest
belongs to me.”
“But what can you do?” she demanded, her voice shaking with fear.
“Meekins will come with him, and Doctor Sarson, unless he is here
already. What can you do against them? Meekins can break any ordinary
man’s back, and Mr. Fentolin will have a revolver.”
Hamel threw another log on to the fire and drew her chair closer to it.
“Never mind about,” he declared cheerfully. “Mr. Fentolin is too clever
to attempt violence, except as a last resource. He knows that I have
friends in London who would need some explanation of my disappearance.
Stay here and wait.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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