When the Devil Drives

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 193, 14 August 1909, Page 16

When the Devil Drives

By FLORENCE WARDEN. (Author of "A Beggar on Horseback," "Love and Lordship,'' "The House on the Marsh," Etc., Etc. CHAPTER VIII. It was in ;, quiet by-street that the ariv.-l had t.ikwi place, and there was ii., one n.-ar enough to see what bad l_;l 111icm il, liiev was petrified, stunned. For a BiniiM-nl he Mood quite still, w'nen he had heard tli- nature of the crime of whirl, he was accused, and had given hi- inulllod, - ilm:i-sive answer. ■|-|ii s was tie I'iinuiX iildeeil, and he wondered, now thnt it had corno, that it had been -delayed so -ion-. In every fa.c that he had met of late he had rend suspicion and veiled disinclination to lave anything more to do ■with him. From Clundine's own lips be had heard enough t» convince him of the seriousness of his peril. Only 'he members of -he pang at the tint had been cordial, and this fo r the very good reason that they, beins, as Prey felt sure, at tV bottom of the murder, knew very well T.iat he himself hail had nothing to do with it. But then who had done it? This was the question which came uppermost in his mind as lie stood under the watchful eye of the plain clothes detective who had effected his arrest, nnd asked himself, in dumb horror, whether be was really a doomed man. He had resented hotly the doubts of Claudine and those of his uncle, and he had been restive under the cold looks of his friend- and acquaintances. But he. had not doubted for a moment that he ultimately would be able to prove his innocence up to tlie hilt. Even now he would not admit that it was impossible, or even insuperably difficult. Hut certainly the fact that the evidence against him was considered strong enough to •warrant his arrest had put a different complexion upon tlie matter; anil it was with hi* heart full of the keenest horror, the most sombre forebodings, that he etond for a moment with his hand on some house-railings, considering his position and trying to steady his nerves. Exceptionally sensitive and gentle by nature, though not without the power to nerve himself to a great resolution in case of need, Grey was more overwhelmed hy this blow than a coarser and more self-assertive man would have ibeen. lie did not ask any questions; he did not protest or deny, nor become indignant. Very pale, very quiet, be heard the man's portentous words, and yielded, nt one to the injunction to "Come along." During thi> Jew moments which bad lelapsed between the arrest and the detective's injunction to go forward, a taxi-cab bad come into the street. Grey did not notice it. and did not even see It. He seemed to be blind, dazed, incapable nf more than the automatic placing of one fnot before the other. He did not hear the cub come up behind them, as he and the detective walked along the pavement at the smart pace set by the officer. lie did not hear it slop, or -en the driver jump down from the box, or the door of the cab fly onen. These thing*, however, distracted the attention of the detective, and suddenly, as if from the sky, there reached Grey a deliverer and a champion, unexpected, unlioped-for, and not altogether welcome. In the space of a second, Grey, taken aback, startled and confined by the rapidity of the attack, saw- the detective lying on tlie ground at the mercy of the driver of the taxi-cah, while he himself was seized nnd dragged into the vthiclc by a hand, the very touch of which lie recognised, although its owner was so swathed up and disguised in teh meshes of a long veil of brown gauze that neither he nor anyone else could hr.ye distinguished under it the features of Miss Scarcliffe. Whether the detective was stunned or not <irey could not tell; he himself iwas spirited away too quickly for him. to have more than the haziest notion of the way in which the thing was done. But iv a very few seconds he found ■himself insMe the taxi-cab, the door of ■which closed without noise; the driver ■was on the box again, toari.ig down the deserted street at a pace well over the speed limit, and without so much as a shout, or a cry from behind to interfere with their successful escape. Grey felt sick and cold. Although at the first moment of his rescue he had experienced a sense of satisfaction, in epite of the personality of his rescuers, the revulsion of feeing had come already, and ho felt even more shocked at his escape than he had done at his capture. Meanwhile Hiss Scarcliffe sat silent in _er corner of the cab, leaning back with a sort of satisfied air, as if inviting him t)o speak first. But he had no inclination to do so. lie was debating howto make his escape, and feeling keenly that his r>wcue at tlie hands of such very dubious persons, would tell against him even more than anything which could previously have been brought up ns evidence.

It seemed to him as if this daring escapade on the part of Miss Scarcliffe and 'one of her confederates had lieen performed on purpose to entrap him into the meshes of a net more perilous than that from which he had been rescued. And, knowing that while she would certainly make a merit of having come to his assistance, she hail just as certainly brought about his ar Test, (irey was by no means in the mood for that gratitude which the lady had apparently expected.

■'Well.-* slip said at last, in her most Bcductive tones. '-Haven't you anything to say to mc fur what I've done? I've got some pluck. I know, but still, rescue from the hands of the police is a risky business, and 1 expect to be prettily thanked, please."

This woman certainly had a great aptitude for effectual disguise. Just as it had taken him a long time to come to the conclusion that the boy was really she, so it would have required considerable reflection to be sure that this slip of a woman, plainly dressed in a long, tight-fitting, black coat, black gloves thai made her hands look absurdly small, nnd close-fitting, "brown nurse's feonnet, and vi j'.iminous brown gauze 7e!l, was really the same creature as the imposing figure in huge hat and superb furs, who had seemed to fill his fcn.'lesr, sitting-rooun on uhe previous OV-ning.

"Since you caused my arrest. I am afraid I can feel no gratitude to you for trying to undo your own work."

Kirn was silent fur a moment and then the turned to him quickly.

"Come,'' she said in a crinxing voice, "you mustn't bear malice. It wasn't mv doing at all, in 'he first place. J admit I was enraged at the preposterous accusations you brought against mc vestcroay, and that I complained bitterly to

my father of your ingratitude. But I said nothing about arrest or anything of that sort. It was some of my friends, nnd my father's, to whom he spoke about you'and the way you had treated mc, who took up the matter hotly, said you wire—well, all sorts of things that I'd rather not repeat to you, and who at once give information against you and caused your arrest." "And which of them was it," asked Grey i-ardonienlly, "who ventured into the lion's den? I should have thought some of them would have preferred to give the police-station a wide berth. Miss Scarcliffe shrugged her shoulders. "Well, they've escaped arrest anyhow," she said cuttingly. "And in the teeth of exposing themselves to that j peril." Grey turned upon her furiously. "Why have you said nothing about this to mc beforef he asked, in an angry tone. "You never expressed the slightest suspicion of my having beeD concerned in my c'ousin't death." "Why, no. I hope I've been taught to be moi c courteous than you are\" draw-l-ed she quietly. "I shouid lie very sorry to burst, out into a tirade against one of my friends, accusing him of all sorts of crimes, as you thought nothing of doing to mc." "Let mc remind you that there's just this difference between us," said Grey. "That while 1 know by tlie evidence of my own eyes that you' take part in the enterprises of your friends, and that you must share the blame with them, you, on the other band, know very well that what I am accused of was not done by mc, hut by one of your own accomplices." "Accomplices! That's a strange word to use to mc, Mr Galverton." He made an impatient movement. "Surely we needn't practice any more hypocrisy now!" he said drily. "And pray, which of my accomplices was it who murdered your cousin?" sht asked pertly. Grey frowned. That was the very question he had been asking himself. Clever as he no doubt they all were in disguising themselves, he had gone over in his mind all those members of the gang whom he had seen, without satisfying himself on this point. Certainly, neither the burly .Sir Gregory Densmore, nor the somewhat thick-set Major Scarcliffe. nor yet the tall and very thin Lord Harry Brailsford, , could have disguised himself, by merely putting on Grey's overcoat, to the extent of being taken for Grey himself. Could Miss Scarcliffe herself have achieved this feat? He doubted it. And, besides, guilty as he knew her to be of theft and violence, he shrank even now from supposing that she could possess either the muscular force or the depravity, to kill a man outright by blows from a weapon used like a sledge-ham-mer! , "I don't know anything about it," he said shortly. "Ahl That's more like the truth! You don't know, so you invent. Because you have for some occult reason decided that your only real friends are a gang of sharpers or swindlers, you are ready to father upon them all the crimes of the calendar! A reasonable attitude truly!" Grey was silent. "Come," she said presently, dropping again into her softer accents, and putting her head on one side in a wheedling way, while she raised a corner of her veil arid let him see the strange dark eyes shining out from underneath it, "let us be friends, Grey. You want friends, my poor boy, indeed. Get rid of these silly ideas that we are mysterious murderers and thieves nnd the rest of it, and thank your, stars like a sensible fellow that you have some one to stand by you and to help you just when you need help." "I don't need help, thank you," he said shortly. "Oh. yes, you do. You don't know bow your face changed, the look of relief it wore, when you found yourself dragged into the cab, nnd driving away comfortably beside mc! You may think you weren't glad, but, oh, Grey. I know better." He flushed guiltily. "It's true, 1 dare say/ he admitted, stiffly, "thnt at the first moment I did look glad, and feel glad, too. at getting away from the man. It takes time to enjoy being in custody, and it's my first experience of it." "And it will be your last if you put yourself in my hands," she said'quickly. He drew back instinctively. But she laughed and gave him a sharp rap on the arm. "Oh, don't behave as if you thought mc a dangerous siren, a mysterious spirit of evil, when you know ' very well I'm only a staunch friend nnd a good fellow," she said with playful mockery. "I tell you there's nothing left for you but to throw in your lot with us. to 'trust yourself with the friends who have proved true, nnd who have stood by you when all your old acquaintances have dropped away from you or looked shy." Grey was greatly startled by these words, which proved a much more intimate acquaintance with his affairs than he had supposed it possible for her to have. And again there came over him a terrible sense that ho was being shadowed by these people, and that he was involve'i in meshes from which there was no e-sca pe. Ho turned to her suddenly, accusingly. "How was it that you happened to be in the neighbourhood when I was arrested?" he asked sharply. "Well, I knew by what they said last night at the flat that you would be taken I his morning, so 1 came up expressly ti do what I could for you. Why won't you believe, Grey, that I am really your friend, that you can trust mc, confide in mc, he guided by mc?" Grey Jauglied shortly. "Tlie proofs you have so far given of your friendship are rather equivocal, don't you think so?" he said. "First you knock mc down and half stun

"Oh, that silly story! You don't really believe it, you know, Grey I" He went on without noticing her interpolation. '•Then you cause your accomplices to have mc arrested on suspicion of a crime with which you know perfectly well 1 had nothing to do. If that is friendship it is not the sort I care about." "l.'rey, Grey, you will be sorry some Jay for being so unkind," she said," softly. "1 must tell you the truth. I have made them all very angry by taking your part as I have done. They wanted mc to whistle you off, but I couldn't. In spite of your hardness, your brutality—for what you did last night was brutal, Grey." And her right hand went instinctively up to her liair. "I like you, I always have liked you. and if "you only treat mc well and fairly 1 always shall." Her voice was soft, hor eyes were winning, but Grey was unmoved. He felt like a spider struggling in a web. He turned to her. "Thank you," said he. "Then wili you. in proof of your friendship, let mc get out here?" "What are you going to do?"

"To give myself up again to the police," said he, firmly. "Then you'll be hanged, Grey," said Miss Scarcliffe, quietly. (To be continued dally.)