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that!
”
That
was a dull banging at the door below. There were shouts, oaths, and then a sound of
firing. Sir Eustace paled.
“What’s that?”
“Race—and his people. You didn’t know, did you, Sir Eustace, that Anne had an
arrangement with me by which we should know whether communications from one to the
other were genuine? Telegrams were to be signed ‘Andy,’ letters were to have the word
‘and’ crossed out somewhere in them. Anne knew that your telegram was a fake. She came
here of her own free will, walked deliberately into the snare, in the hope that she might
catch you in your own trap. Before leaving Kimberley she wired both to me and to Race.
Mrs. Blair has been in communication with us ever since. I received the letter written at
your dictation, which was just what I expected. I had already discussed the probabilities of
a secret passage leading out of the curioshop with Race, and he had discovered the place
where the exit was situated.”
There was a screaming, tearing sound, and a heavy explosion which shook the room.
“They’re shelling this part of the town. I must get you out of here, Anne.”
A bright light flared up. The house opposite was on fire. Sir Eustace had risen and was
pacing up and down. Harry kept him covered with the revolver.
“So you see, Sir Eustace, the game is up. It was you yourself who very kindly provided
us with the clue of your whereabouts. Race’s men were watching the exit of the secret
passage. In spite of the precautions you took, they were successful in following me here.”
Sir Eustace turned suddenly.
“Very clever. Very creditable. But I’ve still a word to say. If I’ve lost the trick, so have
you. You’ll never be able to bring the murder of Nadina home to me. I was in Marlow on
that day, that’s all you’ve got against me. No one can prove that I even knew the woman. But
you knew her, you had a motive for killing her—and your record’s against you. You’re a
thief, remember, a thief. There’s one thing you don’t know, perhaps.
I’ve got the diamonds
.
And here goes—”
With an incredibly swift movement, he stooped, swung up his arm and threw. There was
a tinkle of breaking glass, as the object went through the window and disappeared into the
blazing mass opposite.
“There goes your only hope of establishing your innocence over the Kimberley affair.
And now we’ll talk. I’ll drive a bargain with you. You’ve got me cornered. Race will find
all he needs in this house. There’s a chance for me if I can get away. I’m done for if I stay,
but so are you, young man! There’s a skylight in the next room. A couple of minutes’ start
and I shall be all right. I’ve got one or two little arrangements all ready made. You let me
out of the way, and give me a start—and I leave you a signed confession that I killed
Nadina.”
“
Yes,
Harry,” I cried. “Yes, yes, yes!”
He turned a stern face on me.
“No, Anne, a thousand times, no. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I do. It solves everything.”
“I’d never be able to look Race in the face again. I’ll take my chance, but I’m damned if
I’ll let this slippery old fox get away. It’s no good, Anne. I won’t do it.”
Sir Eustace chuckled. He accepted defeat without the least emotion.
“Well, well,” he remarked. “You seem to have met your master, Anne. But I can assure
you both that moral rectitude does not always pay.”
There was a crash of rending wood, and footsteps surged up the stairs. Harry drew back
the bolt. Colonel Race was the first to enter the room. His face lit at the sight of us.
“You’re safe, Anne. I was afraid—” He turned to Sir Eustace. “I’ve been after you for a
long time, Pedler—and at last I’ve got you.”
“Everybody seems to have gone completely mad,” declared Sir Eustace airily. “These
young people have been threatening me with revolvers and accusing me of the most
shocking things. I don’t know what it’s all about.”
“Don’t you? It means that I’ve found the ‘Colonel.’ It means that on January 8th last you
were not at Cannes, but at Marlow. It means that when your tool, Madame Nadina, turned
against you, you planned to do away with her—and at last we shall be able to bring the
crime home to you.”
“Indeed? And from whom did you get all this interesting information? From the man who
is even now being looked for by the police? His evidence will be very valuable.”
“We have other evidence. There is someone else who knew that Nadina was going to
meet you at the Mill House.”
Sir Eustace looked surprised. Colonel Race made a gesture with his hand. Arthur Minks
alias
the Rev. Edward Chichester
alias
Miss Pettigrew stepped forward. He was pale and
nervous, but he spoke clearly enough:
“I saw Nadina in Paris the night before she went over to England. I was posing at the time
as a Russian Count. She told me of her purpose. I warned her, knowing what kind of man
she had to deal with, but she did not take my advice. There was a wireless message on the
table. I read it. Afterwards I thought I would have a try for the diamonds myself. In
Johannesburg Mr. Rayburn accosted me. He persuaded me to come over to his side.”
Sir Eustace looked at him. He said nothing, but Minks seemed visibly to wilt.
“Rats always leave a sinking ship,” observed Sir Eustace. “I don’t care for rats. Sooner
or later, I destroy vermin.”
“There’s just one thing I’d like to tell you, Sir Eustace,” I remarked. “That tin you threw
out of the window didn’t contain the diamonds. It had common pebbles in it. The diamonds
are in a perfectly safe place. As a matter of fact they’re in the big giraffe’s stomach. Suzanne
hollowed it out, put the diamonds in with cotton wool, so that they wouldn’t rattle, and
plugged it up again.”
Sir Eustace looked at me for some time. His reply was characteristic:
“I always did hate that blinking giraffe,” he said. “It must have been instinct.”
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