The Broken Thread Part 16

Raife winced, but his was not the nature to give in easily. In spite of his own personal knowledge of the doctor, and of Gilda, he loved the girl dearly, and love is blind--sometimes to the point of madness.

Herrion continued: "I a.s.sure you, in confidence, that Doctor Malsano and Miss Tempest are liable to arrest at any moment. When I was in Nice, a short while ago, they had a plan for stealing the Baroness von Sa.s.sniltz's jewels. She was staying at the Hotel Royal, and so were they. In addition, this Apache-looking fellow, who fell in the river last night, was in their service for the purpose. He was employed as a messenger, and I had him removed. I had other work on and could not stay to protect the baroness's jewels. I did my best in the circ.u.mstances. The doctor caught sight of me in the hotel, and he, and his niece, disappeared at once."

This was circ.u.mstantial enough, and, but for the obstinate strain in all young lovers, would have carried conviction. Raife remained obdurate, almost defiant, but the skilled observation of the famous detective noticed that he was wavering. With great dignity and deliberation he added: "Sir Raife Remington, in your own interests, I beg of you to abandon this mad alliance. It is suicidal."

Raife rose from his chair and walked slowly around the room. He mixed himself a whisky and soda, and drank the contents at a gulp. He crossed the room to Herrion, and, extending his hand, said:

"Herrion, you are right. I thank you heartily for your most disinterested action. I will abandon the whole accursed crew. They have blighted my life."

The strong, stern, little man, relentless in the conviction of crime, unwavering in the performance of his duty, had saved a man's name--a family name. A whimsical smile spread over his countenance as he left the room.

Two days later Gilda Tempest received a letter from Raife. It was brief, and to the point. It stated that it was his duty not to be a.s.sociated with a man whom he was convinced was an unscrupulous criminal. He expressed regrets and bade farewell.

Gilda's wonderful, beautiful, and yet inscrutable face did not tell how much she suffered. Doctor Malsano was furious, and showed growing signs of weakness by allowing his pa.s.sion to get beyond control.

A few days after the foregoing events, Raife Remington, accompanied by Colonel Langton, was on his way to Egypt. Colonel Langton was a big-game shooter, and a club friend of some years standing. Their intention was to make for Khartoum and thence up the Blue Nile.

"The Nile-guarded city, the desert-bound city, The city of Gordon's doom.

The womanless city, cradleless city, The city of men--Khartoum."

This was to be the goal of Raife Remington who had emerged from a great crisis, the crisis of a dangerous pa.s.sion for a woman. A pa.s.sion for a beautiful woman--but a woman whose very presence seemed to herald trouble. The big game was to be found beyond Meshrael Zerak, and he was to forget the loss of his love, with the companions.h.i.+p of his friend, Colonel Langton, among the mysterious and unfathomable Arabs of the desert.

Some men are destined, by nature, to live in an atmosphere of altered plans or broken hopes. Raife Remington's inheritance had, so far, been attended by both. Raife got to Khartoum, but he did not reach Meshrael Zerak; there were other plans for him. When he and Colonel Langton arrived at Khartoum, there remained much to be done before it was possible to get together the entire outfit necessary to a big-game shooting expedition. Colonel Langton's experience was essential to this part of the work, and Raife took the opportunity of seeing what there is of the fantastic life of the desert city of Khartoum. In the daytime the city slumbers, and when the stars or moon rise, there is life.

There are cafes in Khartoum, as well as poultry-farms, in this late land of the Mahdi and incredible horrors. Raife selected a seat at a cafe from which point of vantage to observe the pa.s.sers-by on the broad plank walk. He called for a bottle of Greek wine, an impossible concoction, less for his consumption than as a pa.s.sport or ticket for the use of the table and chair, and the enjoyment of the vantage point of observation.

There were many other tables at which men sat, for be it remembered that Khartoum is "The womanless city, the cradleless city. The city of men."

They were men of many nations, from Greece, Sicily, Roumania, and nomadic Semitics from no one knows where. The British conquerors govern there, as in so much of the east and south, not by weight of numbers, but by the inherited knowledge that he is pre-eminently the sahib, the acknowledged ruler in such quarters.

There was not much of comfort in the cafe of Raife's choice. The Greek wine was bad, the food he called for was worse. A couple of arc lights shed a flickering brilliance which revealed myriad insects of all sizes and shapes, and possessed of malignity in varying degree. They fell in shoals all over the place and created a sense of nausea. In spite of all this, overhead was the deep-blue vault of the unfathomable skies flecked by a million stars. The stolid, sulky silence of the dusky Arabs, in every variety of costumes, which include the turban, the tarboosh, loose, flapping drawers, and the coa.r.s.e woven jibba, added to a melancholy sense. If it were possible to supplement Raife's dejection, that was achieved by the snuffling dogs who sought garbage under chair and table, and a certain smell which belongs to much of the East.

Raife tired of the cafe, the plank walk, and his neighbours. He rose from the table, paid his _addition_ and sauntered away. He was pa.s.sing a narrow, evil-smelling street of the native quarter when he heard blows and cries. Raife, being unfamiliar with Oriental methods, sought a reason for the disturbance, imagining that a good row would cause a diversion and relieve the monotony of the last few hours. He proceeded down the street and discovered that there was a woman in Khartoum, and she was being beaten by a big, dusky Nubian. The woman seemed to look appealingly at Raife, and he, with all the proper, but, in the circ.u.mstances, unwise impulse of a normal man of the West, sailed in and hit that Nubian many blows with his useful fists. He should then have beaten a hasty retreat, but he did not. The result of this later indiscretion was that he received from somebody, from somewhere, a stab in the shoulder, which taught him some of the wisdom necessary in the Orient. He found his way back to his hotel, and the regimental surgeon, being sent for, treated the wound, which, though not very serious, would take a long time to heal in a place like Khartoum.

When Colonel Langton returned from purchasing water-bags, sacks, girths for camels, and many of the articles necessary for a well-equipped caravan, he discovered Raife bound up in bandages, and the regimental surgeon putting on the finis.h.i.+ng touches to a very neat job of surgery.

Having learnt the cause of things, the Colonel swore, in a characteristic fas.h.i.+on, at the prospect of his plans for big-game shooting being at least altered, if not indefinitely postponed.

The news of the occurrence spread, and a few of the officers called on Raife to learn about it. The story having been repeated several times, headed by Colonel Langton, the regimental surgeon and each visitor, in turn, talked interminable lectures on the folly of Raife's action.

Raife's pride, as well as his shoulder, was sorely hurt. He felt he had made an a.s.s of himself, and that these fellows, with their experience, were inwardly laughing at him. He cursed the fact that, for the second time, a woman had landed him in trouble.

His days at Khartoum were very miserable. His wound would not heal and he saw that he would be a drag on the expedition if he started. He decided to return to Cairo, and try and patch himself up there.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE MYSTERIOUS STAB IN THE DARK.

A few weeks after Raife's unfortunate interference in a Nubian's domestic affairs at Khartoum, he was reclining amid soft cus.h.i.+ons on the piazza of Shepheard's Hotel at Cairo.

There may be no women in Khartoum--at least, there was one, who, being in trouble herself, made trouble for Raife--but there are women at Cairo. Just what the attraction is, no one really knows. It is hot and dusty. There are flies, mosquitoes, and plenty of other irritating little things in Cairo. But Shepheard's Hotel is generally full of visitors, and there is a predominance of gaily and richly-dressed women.

They come from all countries and speak many languages. The language that one hears more than any is that of the United States of America.

Americans do not, individually, stay longer, but there are more of them, therefore the supply is greater. Further, the American woman is a good talker; that is, she talks quickly and talks quite a good deal. There are several of them who talk very well.

Exclusiveness used to be the prerogative of the English to a greater extent than most other countries. As the English are becoming less exclusive, so American women are cultivating the habit. The new generation of American women have cultivated, almost inherited, a score or more of little habits, mannerisms--perhaps affectations, which are quite charming to the impressionable young English person. There is a certain _gaucherie_ about the English which, in turn, retains a charm for the American woman. They would openly hate one another if it were not for these peculiarities, which make the one interesting to the other.

The limelight of publicity has always been turned on to the American boy and girl from infancy. For that reason they have never suffered from shyness. Until recently there has been an excess of privacy in the lives of the English of most ages. That has been altered, and now there are English girls who can rock a chair level with any girl from Kentucky to California.

Of course, the voice question had almost as much vogue as the colour question. That, in turn, has been altered. There are as many soft contraltos, or, at least, mezzo-sopranos coming from the United States as from England nowadays. Altogether, there is less need for antagonism and more need for good fellows.h.i.+p between the United States and Great Britain, than at any period since "The Great Misunderstanding" of a hundred years ago. This helps to explain the circ.u.mstances of the very rapid friends.h.i.+p that had sprung up between Sir Raife Remington, Bart., of Aldborough Park, and Miss Hilda Muirhead, the daughter of Reginald Pomeroy Muirhead, Esq., President of the Fifth State Bank of Illinois, U.S.A.

In writing of Americans it has ever been customary to allude to their wealth, of which many people possess an exaggerated estimate. The successful American is, frequently, very generous, and it is from that freedom and generosity that the exaggerated notion springs.

Mr Reginald Pomeroy Muirhead was not a very wealthy man, but he was a prosperous man, and a generous man, a fine and courtly type of the American banker.

His daughter, Hilda, who had formed such a rapid friends.h.i.+p with Raife Remington, on the piazza--the balcony--in the drawing-room--on the staircase--in the foyer--or any of those places where friends.h.i.+ps are made abroad, calls for more description.

Hilda Muirhead was not more than twenty. In some respects she had the knowledge and experience of a woman of thirty. In other respects she was a simple _ingenue_, with the attractive grace of a gazelle-like child. The latter was her natural mood and att.i.tude. The former had been acquired and thrust upon her by the bitterness of cruel experience at an immature period of her life.

She had a gift of talk, and the charm of her conversation won for her the attention which invariably ended in admiration. Many girls, of any nationality, do not realise the value of natural and intellectual conversation. Her father had seen to it that Hilda did. Hilda's mother died in her infancy, leaving Hilda an only child of a devoted and gentle parent.

Hilda's appearance was striking in the extreme, and if she had been of the "abounding" type who flaunt themselves for admiration, she would have, in an obsolete vernacular, "swept the board." Her restraint and lack of self-consciousness were an addition to her charm.

Her hair was a glory to behold. Few had seen the full extent of that glory of her womanhood. Her old n.i.g.g.e.r "mammy" was almost the only one who had seen it in its full maturity. Her face had an indefinable irregularity of contour, and showed the southern blood in her veins.

Her eyes were only large when she opened them under some strong emotion.

They were not of that pertinacious, staring type, that are aggressively anxious to attract on all occasions. Her eyes were grey, and constructed for the purpose of normal sight and restrained emotion--but they were beautiful eyes.

The form of her lips had not been moulded into beauty by an a.s.sumed pout, nor were they distorted by youthful grimace. They were just wholesome lips, that helped her to talk, and laugh and sing. The rest of her face was in perfect harmony. It was not cla.s.sical on the lines of a Grecian statue, nor an Italian Madonna. It was a modern, fascinating, yet dignified face.

A broken arm or a bandaged wound invariably attract attention and sympathy, especially from women. Raife's bandaged shoulder, which necessitated that the right sleeve should remain empty, attracted the attention of the women at Shepheard's Hotel. His Apollo-like appearance added to the effect when he arrived. In addition to the side glances in his direction, as he reclined on a long wicker chair, shaded from the hot sun which streamed from above, he had to endure the bold stares of the more brazen-faced. At this time, Raife had suffered from two women, and he was, for the present, at least, a woman-hater. He, therefore, refused to notice any of the glances that he received, whatever their nature might be. The balcony piazza and foyer of an hotel are very like the deck of an ocean steamer, and it is not possible for an invalid to resist the advances of those who wish to be polite and render aid.

Raife and Hilda Muirhead met in such a manner. The foyer was almost deserted, and Raife dropped his book just out of reach. Hilda Muirhead and her father were pa.s.sing. Hilda darted forward and restored the book to Raife, who thanked her.

Mr Muirhead remarked: "I hope your injury is not serious, sir?"

To which Raife replied: "Oh, no. It is just a slight dagger wound."

Hilda exclaimed, involuntarily: "A dagger!" Even in Egypt men are not frequently suffering from dagger wounds, and the word has a shudder in its sound.

Mr Muirhead said, smilingly: "There is generally romance surrounding a dagger wound, sir. If it would not bore or distress you, perhaps, some time later, you might feel inclined to tell us as much as you care."

Raife thought to himself: "Oh, hang these people. Why don't they go away? She's a charming girl, though."

As he thought, Mr Muirhead, with a prompt.i.tude characteristic of Americans, produced his card, and, proffering it, said: "Here is my card, sir. I am a very humble American citizen. My daughter and I occupy the suite on the first floor, facing north. I shall take it as a compliment, if you should have a dull few minutes to spare, that you should honour us with a visit. We shall be here, or hereabouts, for a week or two."

Even in Cairo the warmth of the old gentleman's invitation appeared rather sudden to Raife. However, he had not been in the United States, and had met few Americans. He certainly had not met one who combined so much courtliness of manner and dignity as Mr Reginald Pomeroy Muirhead, of the Fifth State Bank of Illinois, and father of a charming daughter with a musical voice.

Raife forgot he was a woman-hater. He replied, "I'm sorry I haven't got a card with me, and, if I had, I couldn't get at it with this confounded shoulder. My name is Remington, sir, and I'm an Englishman. I will try to avail myself of your very kind invitation."

As they departed, Raife, for the first time, saw those lips that helped Hilda Muirhead "to talk and laugh, and to sing." He also encountered her eyes that were for the purpose "of normal sight and restrained emotion." On this occasion it was a sympathetic emotion.

When they had gone out into the hot sun for one of those expeditions on donkeys, that are such an attraction to visitors to Egypt, Raife contemplated. In the end he had determined that he would not accept Mr Muirhead's invitation to visit them in his suite. He hated the sound of the word "suite," anyhow.

It is dull work for a strong young man to recline in a wicker chair, to smoke and to read all day in a hotel, whether it be in Cairo or elsewhere. To refuse the advances of a hundred eyes of every hue, and to maintain a stoical indifference to every one around, because one has suffered at the hands of two women was a brave endeavour. Raife confined himself to his own rooms and dined in solitary state for three days. At the end of that time his desire for companions.h.i.+p of some kind was uncontrollable.