Sweet Danger (24 page)

‘Damned well,' said Guffy, who was still not quite approving. ‘I suppose if they took us in they deceived those blighters on the heath.'

‘Oh, I think so. I told Lugg to see they did the thing properly. I imagine they called in at the pub, asked the way to the house, dropped a few elephantine hints about the young gents who were wanted for a motoring offence, and finally came down here and carried off their prize in triumph. Once they got outside Sweethearting they'll pick up Lugg and the Charter, and Eager-Wright will take the car and go on. Farquharson will wait at that pub on the river for further developments. Rather smart organization, don't you think? When, if ever, I come into my kingdom I'm thinking of making it into one of these new-fangled republics with myself as dictator.'

‘You talk about the importance of the next few hours,'
said Guffy. ‘Are we to take it that something really sensational is about to happen some time this evening?'

‘Well, yes, it'll be sensational enough if it comes off. Oh, yes, quite definitely.'

‘We must put Dr Galley off, then,' said Mary quickly.

‘Oh no, please don't do that.' Campion turned to her gravely. ‘That little jaunt is tremendously important. And that brings me to the subject of Dr Galley. He presents a rather interesting problem. While I know for a fact that he's not definitely in league with our over-attentive friends, I observe that he's up to something very queer, although what it is I can't for the life of me imagine. When I first heard of his invitation I felt that it was the most awkward thing that could possibly have happened, but now I'm not so sure. Those good souls who are taking such tremendous interest in your movements just now will be taken completely off their guard if you all dutifully go out to tea, as it were, at this stage of the proceedings. All I dare tell you at the moment – and I've got to implore you to put your trust in little Albert – is that during your visit to old Galley you will receive the signal. You can't miss it. It will force itself upon you. Then follow Amanda back here as hard as you can and leave the rest to her.

‘I'm sorry to be so mysterious,' he went on unhappily, ‘but you must see how touchy the whole thing is. If all goes well to-night we shall have the third and last proof, the most important one, the Metternich receipt. The other two are important, but without this third trophy I'm afraid any suit would fail at the International Court at The Hague. Now you see just where we stand.'

He was looking at them appealingly, and they responded.

‘Rely on us,' said Aunt Hatt with unexpected vigour. ‘I'm glad we're going to Dr Galley's,' she continued, displaying once again her vein of practicalness, which never
seemed to desert her, no matter how fantastic the situation became. ‘His story interested me. He might really have those proofs of Mary Fitton's marriage.'

‘I thought that,' said Campion, who appeared to know everything. ‘I heard the story from Amanda last night, and it seemed to me that it might be very likely. There's something odd going on there, though, something I don't understand at all.'

Amanda looked startled and hastily diverted the conversation.

‘You say we've got
two
proofs,' she said. ‘We know about the Charter, but where's the Crown?'

‘The Crown!' said Mr Campion, aghast. ‘I forgot it.' He rose to his feet, and dived into the dining-room where their captive lay.

It was some minutes before he returned, and then he came back triumphant, something shining in the palm of his outstretched hand. They pressed round him, and Aunt Hatt emitted a squeak of astonishment.

‘My garnet necklace!'

Mr Campion peered at her quizzically through his spectacles.

‘They're not garnets,' he said. ‘They're very old square-cut rubies.'

‘Rubies? Why, it might be valuable.'

Mr Campion grinned. ‘It is. This exhibit, ladies and gentlemen, is the Crown of Averna.'

He held the necklet up so that they could all see it. It consisted of a roughly made chain of early red gold, worked to resemble a daisy-chain, and at uneven intervals three rustred-stones were set between the links. Three large white agates completed the circle, and a latter-day jeweller had inserted a very modern fastener, so that the round now appeared nothing more than a fashionable choker necklace of a somewhat unusual design.

‘There you are,' said Campion. ‘Three drops of blood
from a royal wound, three dull stars like the pigeon's egg, held and knit together by a flowery chain.'

‘But it belonged to my mother,' said Aunt Hatt in astonishment. ‘It was given to her by my father and it was always kept, I remember, in a walnut bureau which stood in the parlour, since it wasn't fashionable to wear such ornate jewellery in those days. I remember that bureau quite well. It was inlaid, you see, with a little diamond-shaped panel in the writing flap. When you pressed the diamond at the bottom it came up and opened in two halves to show a tiny secret drawer behind.'

She stopped abruptly before the expressions on their faces.

‘The diamond!' ejaculated Guffy. ‘“The diamond must be rent in twain Before he wear his crown again.” That bureau must have been part of the household furniture that went to America with Guy Huntingforest.'

‘But how did you know? And how did they guess? Why wasn't it stolen before, when they searched the house?'

Not unnaturally Aunt Hatt was still finding the story difficult to believe.

‘If we take those questions backwards, the clever gentleman will endeavour to explain,' said Campion. ‘In the first place, it wasn't stolen when they searched the house because it wasn't here then, and even if it had been no one knew quite what they were looking for.

‘Then for the second question. They guessed, I imagine, because in the last two days the man in authority has seen fit to appoint men of brains on this business. That's what makes it so awkward for this evening's performance. The gentleman in the next room is quite an eminent professional thief in his own line. He seems to have been told exactly what to look for. The thugs who descended on you last Thursday were hunting for something more obvious, I imagine, something they could take away in a hatbox.'

‘How did
you
guess?' demanded Mary.

Mr Campion glanced down at the chain in his hand.

‘Last night,' he said, ‘a rather pathetic figure, clutching her weeds about her, paused outside the lighted window where the family sat at their evening meal – just like you see on the pictures. If I had time I could bring tears to your eyes on this theme. However, when I was peeking in my eyes fell naturally upon Miss Huntingforest, and there she sat smiling and serene with the Crown of Averna round her neck. Stifling my hysterical shrieks of delight and astonishment, I went back into the darkness and decided that, as I didn't want to give myself away, the Crown was probably as safe there as anywhere.'

‘But I don't see how you could have guessed from just seeing it,' said Amanda.

‘Oh, we master minds, we jump at things like that,' said Mr Campion solemnly. ‘Of course, it seemed incredible at first, but I couldn't get the description out of my head. However, it was not until I noticed something else that I was absolutely certain.'

‘Something else? What was that?'

‘Well,' said the young man slowly, ‘the quotation from the manuscript goes on, you know: “And when a Pontisbright do wear it, none shall see it but by the stars.” Last night Miss Huntingforest was sitting between Hal and Mary, and what I noticed was this.'

He beckoned Hal towards him, and when the boy stepped forward obediently Campion placed the circlet upon his head. The effect was extraordinary, and somehow miraculously convincing. The flaming Pontisbright hair swallowed up the red gold, and the dull sheen of the strangely coloured rubies, so that all of the Crown that was visible were the three agates, the ‘three dull stars like the pigeon's egg,' creamy clear above the boy's wide forehead.

‘
IF YOU, AMANDA,
will only think of me as Hannibal,' said Mr Campion, tucking his threadbare skirt round his ankles as he sat huddled up on the stairs, ‘or Julius Caesar, or even that other great organizer, Policewoman Webb, the Lime-house Fairy-Godmother, you will see that my system for this evening is neat, snappy, quite the thing and well worth following.'

They were alone in the hall. The others had already set out for Dr Galley's house, and only Amanda had lingered behind for final instructions. Now she stood leaning against the wall, her face pale with excitement and her eyes wide and questioning.

‘It's all ready,' she said. ‘We've got the boat down to the join in the river. It's completely hidden. The trees meet in a tunnel there. Hal's going to get the others aboard, and I shall let down the shuts. The river is very high, so it'll come down with a rush and we ought to make good speed. I've had it all out with Hal, and he knows exactly what to do. I'd like to go over it again just to see I haven't made a mistake. When we get to Sweethearting we take the car that will be waiting at “The George” and we go round the back way to Great Keepsake, where we wait for Scatty and Lugg, who will come by the fens.'

Mr Campion nodded. ‘I'm very proud of that bit,' he said. ‘If your friends on the heath miss you they'll take it for granted that you've made for London. It won't occur to them to look further inland. However, if it should be necessary
to go further afield leave it to Guffy. He knows West Suffolk very well. Anyway, most of it belongs to his father.'

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. ‘We shall be all right,' she said valiantly. ‘Don't bother about us. What I want to know is what's going to happen to you? You'll never do it all alone without me. Why not leave the escape to Hal, and let me stay behind to give you a hand?'

Mr Campion's pale eyes met hers gravely. ‘Sorry, old lady,' he said. ‘Can't be done. Put it down to a natural desire on my part to hog all the glory.'

‘I do,' said Amanda coldly. ‘And I think you've bitten off more than you can chew. I'm the technician, remember, and I don't think you've got any idea the sort of noise this . . .'

‘Signal,' said Mr Campion quickly.

‘Signal,' agreed Amanda, ‘is going to make. They'll hear it in Ipswich. You'll have the whole hive down on you like a sandstorm.'

‘So I shall,' he agreed cheerfully. ‘But I've provided for that. The boy's got brains. I've always thought that it was only spite that kept me from getting into the sixth form.'

‘What have you provided?' demanded Amanda ruthlessly.

Campion sighed. ‘I was going to take you into partnership as soon as you were over school age,' he said, ‘but I'm hanged if I shall now. You're much too nosey. You ought to look on me with reverence. You ought to see me as the hand of fate, a deity moving in a mysterious way.'

‘What have you provided?' persisted Amanda.

Campion shrugged his shoulders. ‘At precisely ten minutes to seven o'clock,' he said, ‘the two officials who arrested Mr Farquharson this morning will obligingly bring him back, and the outside world will assume that they have discovered that he wasn't the man they wanted after all. They will bring him back here, exciting a certain amount of comment but, I trust, no alarm. As soon as they get here they will remove their uniforms, the inspector will take our
Morris, the policeman will remain at the wheel of the hired car he's driving, and Farquharson will take the Lagonda. The moment the signal is given they will shoot out of the lane. Farquharson and the inspector will take the heath road round the camp, driving at great speed. They will dash past the “Gauntlett” and on to the road which skirts Galley's side of the wood. Meanwhile, the bobby – you'd like him, by the way, drives at Brooklands quite a lot – will take the lower road on the other side of the wood. They will circle the enclosed area as often and as noisily as is possible in the time, and the moment the signal ceases, will drive off ostentatiously down the three different roads which lead out of this charming village. Behind them, I hope and trust, will dash our enemies, leaving little Albert time to take the hat round and clear off with the collection. It should also cover your departure, or flight out of Egypt, or whatever you like to call it.'

‘It's good,' said Amanda after a pause. She nodded. ‘Very hot.'

‘That's what I thought,' he agreed modestly. ‘Now you see the kind of man I am.'

‘I'm conceited, too,' said Amanda. ‘But I wish you luck. I'll go now. You can think of me as Moses, leading my relations out of the wilderness. By the way, have you noticed Guffy and Mary? I think it must be because she's led such a secluded life and has been starved for companionship of her own age, don't you?'

‘Without any modicum of disrespect for my old friend, Mr Randall,' said Mr Campion judicially, ‘perhaps so. Er – life's very beautiful, isn't it?'

‘Speaking as a soul not yet mated, nerts,' said Amanda.

Campion rose to his feet. ‘I'm going to get out of these clothes and sneak into the wood and bide my time. You run along. Don't forget. Hold them there until the signal at all costs.'

She did not turn away, but stood there hesitating, and at
the expression on her face he came over and stood looking down at her.

‘Look here,' he said gravely, ‘what's the matter with this visit to Galley? You've been so tremendously against it all along, and now I believe you're funking it.'

She shook her head defiantly, and a gleam of the old defiance showed in her brown eyes.

‘I'm not really afraid of anything,' she said, but he knew the words were sheer bravado and he continued to look down at her, for the first time a trace of anxiety appearing in his eyes.