The Maids of Paradise Part 22

Ah, the cat was out now. Buckhurst did not move, but I saw the muscles of his face relax, and he drew a deep, noiseless breath.

"Well," he said, coolly, "you may keep those diamonds, for one thing."

Presently I said, "And for the next thing?"

"You are high-priced, Mr. Scarlett," he observed.

"Oh, very," I said, with that offensive, swaggering menace in my voice which is peculiar to the weak criminal the world over.

So I a.s.serted myself and scowled at him and told him I was no fool and taunted him with my importance to his schemes and said I was not born yesterday, and that if Paris was to be divided I knew what part I wanted and meant to stand no nonsense from him or anybody.

All of which justified the opinion he had already formed of me, and justified something else, too--his faith in his own eloquence, logic, and powers of persuasion. Not that I meant to make his mistake and undervalue him; he was an intelligent, capable, remarkable criminal--with the one failing--an overconfident contempt of _all_ men.

"There is one thing I want to ask you," said I. "Why do you desire to go to Paradise?"

He did not answer me at once, and I studied his pa.s.sionless profile as he gazed out of the window.

"Well," he said, slowly, "I shall not tell you."

"Why not?" I demanded.

"--But I'll say this," he continued. "I want you to come to Paradise with me and that fool of a woman. I want you to report to your government that you are watching the house in Paradise, and that you are hoping to catch me there."

"How can I do that?" I asked. "As soon as the government catches the Countess de Va.s.sart she will be sent across the frontier."

"Not if you inform your government that you desire to use her and the others as a bait to draw me to Paradise."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" I asked, thoughtfully.

"Yes," said Buckhurst, "that's it."

"And you do not desire to inform me why you are going to stay in Paradise?"

"Don't you think you'll be clever enough to find out?" he asked, with a sneer.

I did think so; more than that, I let him see that I thought so, and he was contented with my conceit.

"One thing more," I said, bl.u.s.tering a little, "I want to know whether you mean any harm to that innocent girl?"

"Who? The Countess? What do you mean? Harm her? Do you think I waste my thoughts on that little fool? She is not a factor in anything--except that just now I'm using her and mean to use her house in Paradise."

"Haven't you stripped her of every cent she has?" I asked. "What do you want of her now?" And I added something about respect due to women.

"Oh yes, of course," he said, with a vague glance at the street below. "You need not worry; n.o.body's going to hurt her--" He suddenly s.h.i.+fted his eyes to me. "You haven't taken a fancy to her, have you?" he asked, in faint disgust.

I saw that he thought me weak enough for any sentiment, even a n.o.ble one.

"If you think it pays," he muttered, "marry her and beat her, for all I care; but don't play loose with me, my friend; as a plain matter of business it won't pay you."

"Is that a threat?" I asked, in the bullying tone of a born coward.

"No, not a threat, a plain matter of profit and loss, a simple business proposition. For, suppose you betray me--and, by a miracle, live to boast of it? What is your reward? A colonelcy in the Military Police with a few thousand francs salary, and, in your old age, a pension which might permit you to eat meat twice a week. Against that, balance what I offer--free play in a helpless city, and no one to hinder you from salting away as many millions as you can carry off!"

Presently I said, weakly, "And what, once more, is the service you ask of me?"

"I ask you to notify the government that you are watching Paradise, that you do not arrest the Countess and Dr. Delmont because you desire to use them as a bait to catch me."

"Is that all?"

"That is all. We will start for Paris together; I shall leave you before we get there. But I'll see you later in Paradise."

"You refuse to tell me why you wish to stay at the house in Paradise?"

"Yes,... I refuse. And, by-the-way, the Countess is to think that I have presented myself in Paris and that the government has pardoned me."

"You are willing to believe that I will not have you arrested?"

"I don't ask you to promise. If you are fool enough to try it--try it! But I'm not going to give you the chance in Paris--only in Paradise."

"You don't require my word of honor?"

"Word of--what? Well--no;... it's a form I can dispense with."

"But how can you protect yourself?"

"If all the protection I had was a 'word of honor,' I'd be in a different business, my friend."

"And you are willing to risk me, and you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself?"

"I think so," he said, quietly.

"Trusting to my common-sense as a business man not to be fool enough to cut my own throat by cutting yours?" I persisted.

"Exactly, and trusting to a few other circ.u.mstances, the details of which I beg permission to keep to myself," he said, with a faint sneer.

He rose and walked to the window; at the same moment I heard the sound of wheels below.

"I believe that is our carriage," he said. "Are you ready to start, Mr. Scarlett?"

"Now?" I exclaimed.

"Why not? I'm not in the habit of dawdling over anything. Come, sir, there is nothing very serious the matter with you, is there?"

I said nothing; he knew, of course, the exact state of the wound I had received, that the superficial injury was of no account, that the shock had left me sound as a silver franc though a trifle weak in the hips and knees.

"Is the Countess de Va.s.sart to go with us?" I asked, trying to find a reason for these events which were succeeding one another too quickly to suit me.

He gave me an absent-minded nod; a moment later the Countess entered.

She had mended her black crepe gown where I tore it when I hung in the shadow of death under the battlements of La Trappe. She wore black gloves, a trifle shabby, and carried a worn satchel in her hands.