The Laughing Mill and Other Stories Part 21

"'Yes,' said I, shamed by her resolution. 'Let him come.'

"She mounted the little ridge, and stood with her graceful figure silhouetted against the blue heavens. I, below, turned up the cuffs of my sleeves and b.u.t.toned my coat across my chest.

"'Slurk!' called she, in a clear penetrating tone, 'bring the basket here, if you please. We mean to take our luncheon on this side.'

"She remained standing there, with her back towards me. From my lower position I could not see whether Slurk were answering her summons with alacrity or not; but since it would be his last opportunity of obeying her orders, I was content to let him take his time. By-and-by he appeared, with the basket on his arm; he descended the ledge, and Kate followed him, with her eyes on me.

"'Set it down there, near the edge of this pit; not quite so near, please. Now take hold of him!'

"The last words were spoken in a sharp, ringing tone; and at the same moment the girl drew a long knife from beneath the overskirt of her dress, and stood with it in her hand. Surprised at her action, I hesitated half an instant; in that half-instant Slurk had thrown himself towards me and grasped me round the body with his long powerful arms.

Almost simultaneously with his attack, I felt myself borne down by a heavy weight from behind, and my arms pinioned. The struggle for a minute or two was tremendous, but I felt that I was overpowered. A hand was pressing hard against my windpipe. Kate stood there with her knife, a new and strange expression on her face; but she did not stir.

"At length a panting voice close to my ear--a voice which I knew well, and which, heard now, so amazed me that I almost ceased to resist--said:

"'I've got him safe here, Captain; have you got his legs?'

"A grunt from Slurk intimated that he had.

"'Now then, Kittie,' continued Mr. Birchmore; 'be quick there, will you?'

"Kate came towards me with her knife. At that sight I uttered a yell of animal rage, and made one more desperate effort to be free.

"'Hold him tight, can't you?' said Kate, in a voice that I scarcely recognised as hers; 'I don't want to hurt him.'

"They mastered me; and then, with a rapidity and deftness that showed the practised professional, Kate made a circular cut through the breast of my coat and drew out the diamonds.

"'That's all right,' remarked Birchmore. 'Now the rope!'

"She went to the basket, and took from it a coil of fine rope. The two men threw me upon my face, and bound my arms and my feet securely. I made little resistance, but submitted in sullen silence.

"'Don't forget his revolver,' said Birchmore, when this was done; and turning me over, they took the weapon from my pocket.

"'How do you feel now, young gentleman?' inquired the fellow, addressing me with a smile. 'This is the result of plotting to throw unfortunate valets into deep pits, and of flirting with strange young women. I warned you, you remember, to keep out of our way; but idle curiosity has been your ruin. Kittie, put on the diamonds; he says they become you!'

"Slurk grinned at this sally, but the girl said moodily: 'Don't bother the boy, Jack; he behaved like a gentleman all through; he'd make a great deal better husband than you do! Heigho!'

"'Well, Captain,' continued Birchmore, addressing Slurk in English, 'what are your orders? Shall we lower away now, and be off? It's nearly half-past one, and we've a good distance to go before three.'

"'Listen to me, Mr. Gainsborough,' said Slurk, also speaking in English, though with a foreign accent; 'we've got what we wanted out of you, and we don't want to do you any more harm than is necessary. But we must have time to get safe away, and to do that we must allow twenty-four hours. We shall leave you at the bottom of this pit, with some provisions; and I shall loosen your arms enough so that you can feed yourself. After we are safe, I shall write to your friends at the farmhouse, who are very honest persons I believe, and they will come here and get you out. That is the best we can do for you. Now then, Jack!'

"They loosed the cord a little round my arms; then, taking it by the slack end, they lowered me into that dark chasm until I rested at the bottom. Then I saw Kate's face above the edge, between me and the sky, with something wrapped up in paper in her hand.

"'Here's some sandwiches for you, my poor boy,' said she. 'I'm sorry to say good-bye to you in this way, really! But I don't suppose you'd have me now, even if Jack weren't my husband already. Well, good-bye. Don't flirt too much with that silly little Christina when you get out. There are the sandwiches.'

"She let them fall beside me, nodded, and was gone. I lay on my back, with nothing to look at but the narrow strip of blue sky overhead. It was quite cool where I lay, on a bed of sand and rubbish; and it was still as death. I was buried alive to all intents and purposes, and the chance of my ever being disinterred rested upon a basis of probability so narrow, that I judged it wisest not to hope. I lay there, gazing up at the sky, and thinking over my adventure; beginning at the beginning, with my meeting with Birchmore at the hotel, and tracing the progress of the conspiracy step by step to its conclusion here. It was very ingenious, and very well carried through. It had taught me a lesson that I was likely to profit by, if I ever got out.

"I don't know how long I lay there; probably but a short time. All at once another face intervened between me and the sky. It was not Kate's this time; it was a very different one--Christina's.

"After peering anxiously downward for several moments, she asked:

"'Is Herr Gainsborough there?'

"'Yes.'

"'The Herr is not badly hurt?'

"'Not a bit, Christina!'

"'Gott sei Dank!' she exclaimed, heartily; and adding: 'it is all well; you will be helped out immediately,' she vanished.

"Soon other faces appeared, with beards and helmets--the faces of the 'Polizei.' In a few minutes, by the aid of ropes and stout arms, I was drawn up once more to the light of day, blinking like an awkward bat.

"Before me stood nearly a dozen persons: a squad of police-officers, with their swords and carbines; Herr Rudolph and Christina; and three prisoners--a woman and two men, whose faces were unpleasantly familiar to me.

"Some little official ceremony of identification, and so forth, having been gone through with, we all started for our various places of destination. The trial took place not long afterwards in Dresden; the prisoners were all convicted, and sentenced to----I don't care to remember what. They were a dangerous gang of thieves, whom the police of several countries had long been vainly endeavouring to capture. But meanwhile, I went back to spend the night at the farmhouse of Herr Rudolph. I need not say that I scarcely had the courage to look him and his daughter in the face. Herr Rudolph was a most excellent and blameless person; and as for Christina----! I knew not in what terms to begin my apologies to her.

"It appeared that my little friend Heinrich, in Paris, had had his suspicions of the man calling himself Birchmore from the first, and, in writing to his father and sister, had mentioned as much. When, therefore, the Birchmore party unexpectedly turned up at the farmhouse, along with the owner of the diamonds, a good deal of perturbation was created. Afraid openly to warn me, in the absence of direct evidence, Christina had done what she could indirectly to excite suspicions in my mind. Failing in this, the girl had actually gone down to Schandau, on the evening of my interview with Kate in my chamber, and laid her information at the police bureau. The next morning she met the officers by appointment at some distance from the house, and they followed us to Kohlstein. After seeing the whole party of us to the top of the Stein (Birchmore followed a few minutes after myself and the others), they formed a cordon at the foot of the path, and one of their number went up to reconnoitre. Peeping over the edge of the plateau, he saw Birchmore just making his attack, and immediately signalled to those below to approach. Thus it happened that the thieves, as they were making off with their plunder, found themselves confronted by an impa.s.sable cordon of six loaded carbines. Resistance was out of the question, and they surrendered at discretion.

"'And what can I do, Christina,' I said, 'to show you how much I thank you? Of course I don't speak of cancelling the obligation--that nothing could do; but I should like to leave you something to--to remind you that you saved my life and my diamonds. Would you wear a diamond ring for me, or a pair of earrings?'

"'No, many thanks, Herr Gainsborough,' replied the little maiden, gravely. 'You owe me nothing; and as for diamonds, I shall never like them, since I have seen them the cause of so much trouble and danger.'

"'But unless you let me do something, Christina, I must think you refuse to forgive me for my inexcusable impertinence and stupidity.'

"She looked down at her bare feet, and smoothed her ap.r.o.n. 'Well, lieber Herr, I would not like to have you think that, truly; I do forgive you with all my heart; and just before you go away to-morrow--just when you are ready to start--perhaps, if you please, I will ask you for something.'

"'You shall have it, whatever it is!' I answered.

"So, the next day, when the droschkey was at the door, and my trunk packed and put on the box, I left Herr Rudolph conversing with the driver, and went back into the house to find Christina. She was standing in a shadowy corner of the kitchen, so absorbed in scouring plates that she did not appear to notice me until I spoke.

"'I am come to say good-bye, and to claim your promise, Christina.'

"She put down her plate, and blushed, with downcast eyes.

"'Herr Gainsborough will not be offended? it is something I have no right to ask--only--it will show I am not unforgiving--and--it would be better for me than the diamonds.'

"'What is it, dear Christina?'

"She looked up in my face, shyly and yet frankly, and said:

"'Kiss me!'"

IX.

This (as nearly as I can recollect it) is the story told me by my friend Tom Gainsborough, as we sat over a decanter of claret after one of his inimitable little dinners. When it was over I gave a grunt, and flung the but-end of my cigar into the grate.

"There's one thing I don't understand about this story," I then remarked; "and it has misled me all along. Your description of that creature, Kate--her eyes and eyebrows, complexion, hands, and nationality--all persuaded me it was the present Mrs. Gainsborough.

Yet it appears she was nothing of the sort!"