The Dust of Conflict Part 54

Harding into making a bad bargain. Besides, if I had a finger in it, is it more than any one would have expected?"

"I don't quite understand."

"No?" and Nettie smiled incredulously. "Well, you picked me up one night when I might have gone out over the rail on the 'Aurania.'"

"I don't think you could have managed it had you tried."

Nettie stood silent a moment, and then a little flush crept into her face, as she glanced down at the diamonds on her white wrists, and her long trailing dress. It was, Appleby fancied, of as costly fabric as the looms in Europe could produce.

"Well," she said with a curious little sparkle in her eyes, "there was another night I met you when I wasn't got up like this, and you were dressed in rags. Still, I knew that I could trust you. Do you believe that I should have been here, with everything that a woman could wish for, now, if I had not had that confidence?"

Appleby turned his eyes away, for certain fancies which had once or twice troubled him became certainties, and he recognized that the regard the girl had for him alone warranted the almost daring speech.

"I really don't remember very much about the night in question," he said. "n.o.body in my place could. I was wounded slightly and almost dazed, you see."

Nettie smiled curiously. "That is, of course, just what one would have expected from you."

Appleby showed a faint trace of embarra.s.sment. "I have been waiting most of the night to ask you a question," he said. "What did you say to Tony Palliser and Miss Wayne about me in England?"

"You will never find out-unless she tells you."

"That is most unlikely."

Nettie smiled in a curious fas.h.i.+on, and then looked him in the eyes.

"Well," she said reflectively, "I don't quite know. You have already got more than you ever expected, Mr. Appleby. Anyway, it is getting late, and you will excuse me now."

She moved away, and then, turning, stood smiling at him a moment by the door.

"Can't you tell me what you mean?" said Appleby, moving towards her with a little flush of color in his cheeks.

"You are going to England on Sat.u.r.day," said Nettie, and slipped out of the door.

x.x.xIV - THE RIGHT MAN

IT was on the Sat.u.r.day morning the "Cunarder's" pa.s.sengers disembarked at Liverpool, and within an hour of the time the answer to the telegrams he despatched came to hand Appleby had started for Darsley. It was, however, late in the afternoon when he arrived there, and proceeded straight to Craythorne's office. The clerk's manner made it evident that he was expected, but he was a trifle astonished to find two other men beside the lawyer waiting him when he was shown into a lighted room.

Craythorne closed a little sliding window before he shook hands with him, and then turned to the others.

"This is Colonel Melton, appointed joint trustee with me by the will Anthony Palliser made the night he left for Cuba," he said. "I think you have met Mr. Earle. He came here with the sanction of Colonel Melton, and Esmond Palliser, on behalf of Miss Wayne, in case anything you have to tell us concerns her. He will, of course, withdraw if you wish it, though both he and Colonel Melton have long been confidential friends of the Palliser family."

Appleby greeted the two men, and then sat down with a little gleam in his eyes when Craythorne pointed to a chair.

"I should like to tell you that I left my business in New York and came here against my partner's wishes because I felt it was a duty I owed Miss Wayne and my late comrade's relatives," he said. "That was my only motive, and it seems to me desirable that you should realize it."

"You apparently do not know that you are a legatee under Anthony Palliser's will," said Craythorne.

"I was not even aware that he had made one, though he told me that he had made over Dane Cop to me."

Colonel Melton looked at Earle, and Craythorne, who took a doc.u.ment from a drawer, pa.s.sed it to Appleby.

"Then you will be astonished to hear that the personal estate scheduled here was bequeathed to you?"

"I certainly am. I am also not sure that Tony had exactly the right to leave this property to me. Traditionally, and, I think, ethically, it belongs to the estate, and should revert to Esmond Palliser."

Colonel Melton appeared a trifle astonished, but Craythorne smiled dryly. "That is also Esmond Palliser's opinion, and he informed me that he intends to act upon it."

"He is, of course, at liberty"; and Appleby showed a trace of impatience. "His intentions do not, however, in the least concern me.

Now, gentlemen, I have come here to tell you of my comrade's death, and I have another appointment to keep this evening."

Melton glanced at Craythorne, who nodded. "We will ask you to be as explicit as you can," he said.

Appleby spoke for rather more than ten minutes, and when he came to the a.s.sault upon Santa Marta it was evident that Colonel Melton was listening with eager interest. He turned to Appleby abruptly with a trace of embarra.s.sment.

"I knew your father, Mr. Appleby," he said. "In fact, I once offended G.o.dfrey Palliser by expressing my opinion of the fas.h.i.+on in which he treated him, and now I can only hope you will excuse the att.i.tude I thought necessary when you came in. You did a thing not many drilled troops would have accomplished. A frontal attack in daylight, with a coverless strip to cross! They would have swept you out of existence with shrapnel."

"They hadn't any"; and Appleby laughed.

"Still, they had two quick-firers, and your attack was directed at one narrow entrance," said Melton. "Now-"

Craythorne raised his hand. "I fancy it would be advisable to discuss these points later on," he said. "What we are immediately concerned with is the proof of Anthony Palliser's death."

"Precisely!" said Earle.

Melton flashed an angry glance at the lawyer, and Appleby's face became a trifle grim.

"I have here the depositions of two men who saw him buried attested by a Spanish notary, and am willing to make another now before a commissioner for oaths," he said. "My partner in New York will also testify to Tony's connection with the Sin Verguenza."

"And Miss Wayne, that he told her he was leaving for Cuba to find Mr.

Appleby, if Craythorne is unwilling," said Melton.

Craythorne smiled and opened the little window. "Ask Mr. Gordon, the notary, to come here at once," he said.

"May we ask your partner's name?" said Earle.

"Cyrus P. Harding, New York," said Appleby.

Earle appeared astonished, and almost disconcerted. "I think that fact is sufficiently convincing," he said. "I am sure you will understand that it was necessary for us to proceed circ.u.mspectly, Mr. Appleby."

Again Craythorne smiled curiously. "I think Mr. Appleby understands the obligation placed on a trustee. In that respect alone our att.i.tude was necessary."

Appleby flushed a trifle. "Still," he said, "I am glad you sent for a notary."

"Well," said Craythorne. "Dane Cop was not bequeathed to you in the event of his death by Anthony Palliser, but made over to you before he left for Cuba. It is yours absolutely, but in regard to the legacy it will be necessary to prove the will, and Esmond Palliser requested me to inform you that he purposed to contest your claim. I should suggest that you instruct a lawyer to confer with me."