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The Lighted Way by E. Phillips Oppenheim

E >> E. Phillips Oppenheim >> The Lighted Way




"Hullo, Isaac!" he exclaimed. "You are just in time to save Ruth
from being left all alone."

The newcomer came to a standstill. He looked the speaker over from
head to foot with an expression of growing disgust, and he spat upon
the floor.

"What livery's that?" he demanded.

Arnold laughed good-naturedly.

"Come, Isaac," he protested, "I don't often inflict it upon you, do
I? It's something that belongs to the world on the other side, you
know. We all of us have to look over the fence now and then. I have
to cross the borderland to-night for an hour or so."

Isaac threw open the door by which he had entered.

"Get out of here," he ordered. "If you were one of us, I'd call you
a traitor for wearing the rags. As it is, I say that no one is
welcomed under my roof who looks as you look now. Why, d--n it, I
believe you're a gentleman!"

Arnold laughed softly.

"My dear Isaac," he retorted, "I am as I was born and made. You
can't blame me for that, can you? Besides,--"

He broke off suddenly. A little murmur from the girl behind
reminded him of her presence. He passed on to the door.

"Good night, Isaac," he said. "Look after Ruth. She's lonely
to-night."

"I'll look after her," was the grim reply. "As for you, get you
gone. There was one of your sort came to the meeting of Jameson's
moulders this afternoon. He had a question to ask and I answered
him. He wanted to know wherein wealth was a sin, and I told him."

Arnold Chetwode was young and his sense of humor triumphant. He
turned on the threshold and looked into the shadowy room, dimly lit
with its cheap lamp. He kissed his hands to Ruth.

"My dear Isaac," he declared, lightly, "you are talking like an ass.
I have two shillings and a penny ha'penny in my pocket, which has to
last me till Saturday, and I earn my twenty-eight shillings a week
in old Weatherley's counting-house as honestly as you earn your wage
by thundering from Labor platforms and articles in the _Clarion_. My
clothes are part of the livery of civilization. The journalist who
reports a Lord Mayor's dinner has to wear them. Some day, when
you've got your seat in Parliament, you'll wear them yourself. Good
night!"

He paused before closing the door. Ruth's kiss came wafted to him
from the shadows where her great eyes were burning like stars. Her
uncle had turned his back upon him. The word he muttered sounded
like a malediction, but Arnold Chetwode went down the stone steps
blithely. It was an untrodden land, this, into which he was to pass.




CHAPTER III

ARNOLD SCENTS MYSTERY


From the first, nothing about that evening was as Arnold had
expected. He took the tube to Hampstead station, and, the night
being dry, he walked to Pelham Lodge without detriment to his
carefully polished patent shoes. The neighborhood was entirely
strange to him and he was surprised to find that the house which was
pointed out to him by a policeman was situated in grounds of not
inconsiderable extent, and approached by a short drive. Directly he
rang the bell he was admitted not by a flamboyant parlormaid but by
a quiet, sad-faced butler in plain, dark livery, who might have been
major-domo to a duke. The house was even larger than he had
expected, and was handsomely furnished in an extremely subdued
style. It was dimly, almost insufficiently lit, and there was a
faint but not unpleasant odor in the drawing-room which reminded him
of incense. The room itself almost took his breath away. It was
entirely French. The hangings, carpet and upholstery were all of a
subdued rose color and white. Arnold, who was, for a young man,
exceedingly susceptible to impressions, looked around him with an
air almost of wonder. It was fortunate, perhaps, that the room was
empty.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weatherley will be downstairs in one moment, sir,"
the man announced. "Mr. Weatherley was a little late home from the
city."

Arnold nodded and stood upon the hearthrug, looking around him. He
was quite content to spend a few moments alone, to admire the
drooping clusters of roses, the elegance with which every article of
furniture and appointment of the room seemed to fit into its place.
Somehow or other, too, nothing appeared new. Everything seemed
subdued by time into its proper tone. He began to wonder what sort
of woman the presiding genius over such perfection could be. Then,
with a quaint transition of thought, he remembered the little
counting-house in Tooley Street, the smell of cheeses, and Mr.
Weatherley's half-nervous invitation. His lips twitched and he began
to smile. These things seemed to belong to a world so far away.

Presently he heard footsteps outside and voices. The door was opened
but the person outside did not immediately enter. Apparently she had
turned round to listen to the man who was still some distance
behind. Arnold recognized his employer's voice.

"I am sorry that you are displeased, my dear Fenella, but I assure
you that I did the best I could. It is true that the young man is in
my office, but I am convinced that you will find him presentable."

A peal of the softest and most musical laughter that Arnold had
ever heard in his life effectually stopped Mr. Weatherley's
protestations. Yet, for all its softness and for all its music,
there was a different note underneath, something a little bitter,
unutterably scornful.

"My dear Samuel, it is true, without doubt, that you did your best.
I do not blame you at all. It was I who was foolish to leave such a
matter in your hands. It was not likely that among your
acquaintances there was one whom I would have cared to welcome to my
house. But that you should have gone to your employees--that,
indeed, is funny! You do amuse me very much. Come."

The door was pushed fully open now and a woman entered, at the sight
of whom Arnold forgot all his feelings of mingled annoyance and
amusement. She was of little over the medium height, exceedingly
slim--a slimness which was accentuated by the fashion of the gown
she wore. Her face was absolutely devoid of color, but her features
were almost cameo-like in their sensitive perfection. Her eyes were
large and soft and brown, her hair a Titian red, worn low and
without ornament. Her dress was of pale blue satin, which somehow
had the effect of being made in a single piece, without seam or
joining. Her neck and throat, exquisitely white, were bare except
for a single necklace of pearls which reached almost to her knees.
The look in Arnold's face, as she came slowly into the room, was one
of frank and boyish admiration. The woman came towards him with a
soft smile about her lips, but she was evidently puzzled. It was Mr.
Weatherley who spoke. There was something almost triumphant in his
manner.

"This is Mr. Chetwode, dear, of whom I was speaking to you," he
said. "Glad to see you, Chetwode," he added, with ponderous
condescension.

The woman laughed softly as she held out her hand.

"Are you going to pretend that you were deaf, to forgive me and be
friends, Mr. Chetwode?" she asked, looking up at him. "One foggy
day my husband took me to Tooley Street, and I did not believe that
anything good could come out of the yellow fog and the mud and the
smells. It was my ignorance. You heard, but you do not mind? I am
sure that you do not mind?"

"Not a bit in the world," Arnold answered, still holding the hand
which she seemed to have forgotten to draw away, and smiling down
into her upturned face. "I was awfully sorry to overhear but you see
I couldn't very well help it, could I?"

"Of course you could not help it," she replied. "I am so glad that
you came and I hope that we can make it pleasant for you. I will try
and send you in to dinner with some one very charming."

She laughed at him understandingly as his lips parted and closed
again without speech. Then she turned away to welcome some other
guests, who were at that moment announced. Arnold stood in the
background for a few minutes. Presently she came back to him.

"Do you know any one here?" she asked.

"No one," he answered.

She dropped her voice almost to a whisper. Arnold bent his head and
listened with a curious pleasure to her little stream of words.

"It is a strange mixture of people whom you see here," she said, "a
mixture, perhaps, of the most prosaic and the most romantic. The
Count Sabatini, whom you see talking to my husband, is my brother.
He is a person who lives in the flood of adventures. He has taken
part in five wars, he has been tried more than once for political
offenses. He has been banished from what is really our native
country, Portugal, with a price set upon his head. He has an estate
upon which nothing grows, and a castle with holes in the roof in
which no one could dwell. Yet he lives--oh, yes, he lives!"

Arnold looked across at the man of whom she was speaking--gaunt and
olive-skinned, with deep-set eyes and worn face. He had still some
share of his sister's good looks and he held himself as a man of his
race should.

"I think I should like your brother," Arnold declared. "Will he talk
about his campaigns?"

"Perhaps," she murmured, "although there is one about which you
would not care to hear. He fought with the Boers, but we will not
speak of that. Mr. and Mrs. Horsman there I shall say nothing about.
Imagine for yourself where they belong."

"They are your husband's friends," he decided, unhesitatingly.

"You are a young man of great perceptions," she replied. "I am going
to like you, I am sure. Come, there is Mr. Starling standing by the
door. What do you think of him?"

Arnold glanced across the room. Mr. Starling was apparently a
middle-aged man--clean-shaven, with pale cheeks and somewhat narrow
eyes.

"An American, without a doubt," Arnold remarked.

"Quite right. Now the lady in the gray satin with the wonderful
coiffure--she has looked at you already more than once. Her name is
Lady Blennington, and she is always trying to discover new young
men."

Arnold glanced at her deliberately and back again at his hostess.

"There is nothing for me to say about her," he declared.

"You are wonderful," she murmured. "That is so exactly what one
feels about Lady Blennington. Then there is Lady Templeton--that
fluffy little thing behind my husband. She looks rather as though
she had come out of a toy shop, does she not?"

"She looks nice," Arnold admitted. "I knew--"

She glanced up at him and waited. Arnold, however, had stopped
short.

"You have not yet told me," he said, "the name of the man who stands
alone near the door--the one with the little piece of red ribbon in
his coat?"

It seemed to him that, for some reason, the presence of that
particular person affected her. He was a plump little man, sleek and
well-dressed, with black hair, very large pearl studs, black
moustache and imperial. Mrs. Weatherley stood quite still for a
moment. Perhaps, he thought, she was listening to the conversation
around them.

"The man's name is Rosario," she replied. "He is a financier and a
man of fashion. Another time you must tell me what you think of him,
but I warn you that it will not be so easy as with those others, for
he is also a man of schemes. I am sorry, but I must send you in now
with Mrs. Horsman, who is much too amiable to be anything else but
dull. You shall come with me and I will introduce you."

Dinner was announced almost at that moment. Arnold, keen to enjoy,
with all the love of new places and the enthusiasm of youth in his
veins, found every moment of the meal delightful. They took their
places at a round table with shaded lights artistically arranged, so
that they seemed to be seated before a little oasis of flowers and
perfumes in the midst of a land of shadows. He found his companion
pleasant and sympathetic. She had a son about his age who was going
soon into the city and about whom she talked incessantly. On his
left, Lady Blennington made frank attempts to engage him in
conversation whenever an opportunity arose. Arnold felt his spirits
rise with every moment. He laughed and talked the whole of the time,
devoting himself with very little intermission to one or the other
of his two neighbors. Mr. Weatherley, who was exceedingly
uncomfortable and found it difficult even to remember his few staple
openings, looked across the table more than once in absolute wonder
that this young man who, earning a wage of twenty-eight shillings a
week, and occupying almost the bottom stool in his office, could yet
be entirely and completely at his ease in this exalted company. More
than once Arnold caught his hostess's eye, and each time he felt,
for some unknown reason, a little thrill of pleasure at the faint
relaxing of her lips, the glance of sympathy which shone across the
roses. Life was a good place, he thought to himself, for these few
hours, at any rate. And then, as he leaned back in his place for a
moment, Ruth's words seemed suddenly traced with a finger of fire
upon the dim wall. To-night was to be a night of mysteries. To-night
the great adventure was to be born. He glanced around the table.
There was, indeed, an air of mystery about some of these guests,
something curiously aloof, something which it was impossible to put
into words. The man Starling, for instance, seemed queerly placed
here. Count Sabatini was another of the guests who seemed somehow to
be outside the little circle. For minutes together he sat sometimes
in grim silence. About him, too, there was always a curious air of
detachment. Rosario was making the small conversation with his
neighbor which the occasion seemed to demand, but he, too, appeared
to talk as one who had more weighty matters troubling his brain. It
was a fancy of Arnold's, perhaps, but it was a fancy of which he
could not rid himself. He glanced towards his employer and a curious
feeling of sympathy stirred him. The man was unhappy and ill at
ease. He had lost his air of slight pomposity, the air with which he
entered his offices in the morning, strutted about the warehouse,
went out to lunch with a customer, and which he somehow seemed to
lose as the time came for returning to his home. Once or twice he
glanced towards his wife, half nervously, half admiringly. Once she
nodded back to him, but it was the nod of one who gathers up her
skirts as she throws alms to a beggar. Then Arnold realized that his
little fit of thoughtfulness had made a material difference to the
hum of conversation. He remembered his duty and leaned over toward
Lady Blennington.

"You promised to tell me more about some of these people," he
reminded her. "I am driven to make guesses all the time. Why does
Mr. Starling look so much like an unwilling and impatient guest? And
where is the castle of the Count Sabatini which has no roof?"

Lady Blennington sighed.

"This table is much too small for us to indulge in scandal," she
replied. "It really is such a pity. One so seldom meets any one
worth talking to who doesn't know everything there is that shouldn't
be known about everybody. About Count Sabatini, for instance, I
could tell you some most amusing things."

"His castle, perhaps, is in the air?" Arnold inquired.

"By no means," Lady Blennington assured him.

"On the contrary, it is very much upon the rocks. Some little island
near Minorca, I believe. They say that Mr. Weatherley was wrecked
there and Sabatini locked him up in a dungeon and refused to let him
go until he promised to marry his sister."

"There are a good many men in the world, I should think," Arnold
murmured, "who would like to be locked up on similar conditions."

She looked at him with a queer little smile.

"I suppose it is inevitable," she declared. "You will have to go
through it, too. She certainly is one of the loveliest women I ever
saw. I suppose you are already convinced that she is entirely
adorable?"

"She has been very kind to me," Arnold replied.

"She would be," Lady Blennington remarked, dryly. "Look at her
husband. The poor man ought to have known better than to have
married her, of course, but do you think that he looks even
reasonably happy?"

Arnold was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable. He was conscious
of a strong desire not to discuss his hostess. Yet his curiosity was
immense. He asked one question.

"Tell me," he said, "if she came from this little island in the
Mediterranean, why does she speak English so perfectly?"

"She was educated in England," Lady Blennington told him.
"Afterwards, her brother took her to South America. She had some
small fortune, I believe, but when she came back they were
penniless. They were really living as small market gardeners when
Mr. Weatherley found them."

"You don't like her," he remarked. "I wonder why?"

Lady Blennington shook her head.

"One never knows," she replied. "I admire her, if that is anything."

"But you do not like her," he persisted.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"I am afraid it is true," she agreed.

"You admit that and yet you are willing to be her guest?"

She smiled at him approvingly.

"If there is one masculine quality which I do appreciate," she said,
"it is directness. I come because I love bridge and because I love
my fellow-creatures and because my own friends are none too
numerous. With the exception of those worthy friends of our host and
his wife who are seated upon your right--Mr. and Mrs. Horsman, I
believe they are called--we are all of the same ilk. Mr. Starling no
one knows anything about; Count Sabatini's record is something
awful."

"But there is Rosario," Arnold protested.

"Rosario goes into all the odd corners of the world," she replied.
"Sometimes the corners are respectable and sometimes they are not.
It really doesn't matter so far as he is concerned. Supposing, in
return for all this information, you tell me something about
yourself?"

"There isn't anything to tell," Arnold assured her. "I was asked
here to fill up. I am an employee of Mr. Weatherley's."

She turned in her chair to look at him. Her surprise was obvious.

"Do you mean that you are his secretary, or something of that
sort?" she demanded.

"I am a clerk in his office," Arnold told her.

She was evidently puzzled, but she asked him no more questions. At
that moment Mrs. Weatherley rose from her place. As she passed
Arnold she paused for a moment.

"You are all coming in five minutes," she said. "Before we play
bridge, come straight to me. I have something to say to you."

He bowed and resumed his seat, from which he had risen quickly at
her coming. Mr. Weatherley motioned to him to move up to his side.
His face now was a little flushed, but his nervousness had not
disappeared. He was certainly not the same man whom one met at
Tooley Street.

"Glad to see you've made friends with the wife, Chetwode," he said.
"She seems to have taken quite a fancy to you."

"Mrs. Weatherley has been very kind," Arnold answered.

"Enjoying yourself, I hope?" Mr. Weatherley asked.

"Very much indeed," Arnold declared. "It has been quite a treat for
me."

Sabatini and Starling were talking earnestly together at the other
side of the table. Rosario, bringing his wine down, came and sat at
his host's other side.

"Beautiful vintage, this, Mr. Weatherley," he said. "Excellent
condition, too."

Mr. Weatherley, obviously pleased, pursued the subject. In a way, it
was almost pathetic to see his pleasure in being addressed by one of
his own guests. Arnold drew a little away and looked across the
banks of roses. There was something fascinating to him in the
unheard conversation of Sabatini and Starling, on the opposite side
of the table. Everything they said was in an undertone and the
inexpressive faces of the two men gave no indication as to the
nature of their conversation. Yet the sense of something mysterious
in this house and among these guests was growing all the time with
Arnold.




CHAPTER IV

THE FACE AT THE WINDOW


Mr. Weatherley laid his hand upon his young companion's arm as they
crossed the hall on their way from the dining-room.

"We are going to play bridge in the music-room," he announced.
"Things are different, nowadays, than when I was a boy. The men and
the women, too, have to smoke cigarettes all the time while they
play cards. A bad habit, Chetwode! A very bad habit indeed! I've
nothing to say against a good Havana cigar in the dining-room or the
smoking-room, but this constant cigarette smoking sickens me. I
can't bear the smell of the things. Here we are. I don't know what
table my wife has put you at, I'm sure. She arranges all these
things herself."

Several guests who had arrived during the last few minutes were
already playing at various tables. Mrs. Weatherley was moving about,
directing the proceedings. She came across to them as soon as they
entered, and, laying her hand upon Arnold's arm, drew him on one
side. There was a smile still upon her lips but trouble in her eyes.
She looked over her shoulder a little nervously and Arnold half
unconsciously followed the direction of her gaze. Rosario was
standing apart from the others, talking earnestly with Starling.

"I want you to stay with me, if you please," she said. "I am not
sure where you will play, but there is no hurry. I myself shall not
sit down at present. There are others to arrive."

Her brother, who had been talking languidly to Lady Blennington,
came slowly up to them.

"You, Andrea, will wait for the baccarat, of course?" she said. "I
know that this sort of bridge does not amuse you."

He answered her with a little shrug of the shoulders and, leaning
towards her, spoke a few words in some tongue which Arnold did not
at once recognize. She looked again over her shoulder at Rosario and
her face clouded. She replied in the same tongue. Arnold would have
moved away, but she detained him.

"You must not mind," she said softly, "that my brother and I talk
sometimes in our native language. You do not, by chance, know
Portuguese, Mr. Chetwode?"

"Not a word," he replied.

"I am going to leave all these people to amuse themselves," she
continued, dropping her voice slightly. "I want you to come with me
for a moment, Mr. Chetwode. You must take care that you do not slip.
These wooden floors are almost dangerous. I did give a dance here
once," she continued, as they made their way across the room,
talking a little vaguely and with an obvious effort. "I did not
enjoy it at all. To me the style of dancing in this country seems
ungraceful. Look behind, Mr. Chetwode. Tell me, is Mr. Rosario
following us?"

Arnold glanced over his shoulder. Rosario was still standing in the
same place, but he was watching them intently.

"He is looking after us, but he has not moved," Arnold announced.

"It is better for him that he stays there," Mrs. Weatherley said
softly. "Please come."

At the further end of the apartment there was a bend to the left.
Mrs. Weatherley led the way around the corner into a small recess,
out of sight of the remainder of the people. Here she paused and,
holding up her finger, looked around. Her head was thrown back, the
trouble still gleamed in her eyes. She listened intently to the hum
of voices, as though trying to distinguish those she knew.
Satisfied, apparently, that their disappearance had not occasioned
any comment, she moved forward again, motioned Arnold to open a
door, and led him down a long passage to the front of the house.
Here she opened the door of an apartment on the left-hand side of
the hall, and almost pushed him in. She closed the door quickly
behind them. Then she held up her finger.

"Listen!" she said.

They could hear nothing save the distant murmur of voices in the
music-room. The room which they had entered was in complete
darkness, through which the ivory pallor of her arms and face, and
the soft fire of her eyes, seemed to be the only things visible. She
was standing quite close to him. He could hear her breathing, he
could almost fancy that he heard her heart beat. A strand of hair
even touched his cheek as she moved.

"I do not wish to turn the light up for a moment," she whispered.
"You do not mind?"

"I mind nothing," Arnold answered, bewildered. "Are you afraid of
anything? Is there anything I can do?"

A sense of excitement was stirring him.

"Just do as I ask, that is all," she murmured. "I want to look
outside a moment. Just do as I ask and keep quiet."

She stole from him to the window and, moving the curtain a few
inches, knelt down, peering out. She remained there motionless for a
full minute. Then she rose to her feet and came back. His eyes were
becoming more accustomed to the gloom now and he could see the
outline of her figure as she moved towards him.

"Take my place there," she whispered. "Look down the drive. Tell me
whether you can see any one watching the house?"

He went down on his knees at the place she indicated and peered
through the parted curtain. For a few seconds he could see nothing;
then, as his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, he discerned two
motionless figures standing on the left-hand side of the drive,
partly concealed by a tall laurel bush.

"I believe," he declared hoarsely, "that there are two men standing
there."

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