The Talisman Ring

The Beau was in the act of raising a pinch of snuff to his nostrils, but he paused and looked across at his cousin with a slight frown. “Certainly not,” he answered.

“Oh, you need not be afraid to tell me if you have heard from him,” said Sir Tristram. “I wish the boy no harm. But if the rumour should be true, after all, you would be wise to get him out of the country again.”

The Beau did not say anything for several moments, nor did he inhale his snuff. His eyes remained fixed on Shield’s face. He shut his snuffbox again, and at last replied: “Perhaps. Yes, perhaps. But I do not anticipate that I shall hear from him.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “I am amazed that such a rumour should have arisen—quite amazed. It had not reached my ears. In fact, my errand to you had nothing to do with poor Ludovic, wherever he may be.”

“I am happy to hear you say so. What is your errand to me?”

“Oh, quite a trifling one, my dear fellow! It is merely that I find myself obliged to go to London on a matter of stern necessity tomorrow—my new coat, you know: it sags across the shoulders: the most lamentable business!—and it occurred to me that you might wish to charge me with a commission.”

“Why, that is very good of you, Basil, but I believe I need not trouble you. I expect to leave this place almost any day now.”

“Oh?” The Beau regarded him thoughtfully. “I infer then that Eustacie is also leaving this place?”

Sir Tristram replied curtly: “I believe so. Shall you be in London for many days? Do you mean to return here?”

“Why, yes, I think so. I shall remain in town for a night only, I trust. I have given the servants leave to absent themselves for no longer. Ah, and that reminds me, Tristram! I wish you will desire that fellow—now, what is the name of Sylvester’s carpenter? Oh, Johnson!—yes, I wish you will desire him to call at the Dower House some time. My man tells me the bolt is off one of the library windows. He might attend to it, perhaps.”

“Certainly,” said Shield impassively. But when his cousin presently went away, he looked after him with a faint smile on his lips, and said: “How very clumsy, to be sure!”

Ludovic, however, when the encounter was described to him on the following morning, exclaimed, with characteristic impetuosity: “Then tonight is our opportunity! We have gammoned the Beau!”

“He seems to have been equally fortunate,” said Shield dryly.

Ludovic cocked an intelligent eyebrow. “Now what might you mean by that?” he inquired.

“Not quite equally,” said Miss Thane, with a smile.

“No,” admitted Shield. “He did underrate me a trifle.”

Ludovic perched on the edge of the table, swinging one leg. “Oh, so you think it’s a trap, do you? Nonsense! Why should you? He can never have had more than a suspicion of my being here, and you may depend upon it we have convinced him that he was mistaken.”

“I do not depend upon anything of the kind,” replied Shield. “In fact, I am astonished at the crudity of this trap. Consider a moment, Ludovic! He has told me that he will be in London tonight, that he has given his servants leave of absence, and that the bolt is off one of the library windows. If you are fool enough to swallow that, at least give me credit for having more common sense!”

“Oh well!” said Ludovic airily. “One must take a risk now and again, after all. Basil daren’t lay a trap for me in his own house. Damn it, man, he can’t take me prisoner and hand me over to the Law! It wouldn’t look well at all.”

“Certainly not,” answered Sir Tristram. “I have no fear of Basil himself coming into the open, but you are forgetting that he has a very able deputy in the shape of that valet of his. If his servants were to catch you in the Dower House, and hand you over to the Law as a common thief, you would be identified, and beyond any man’s help, while Basil was still discreetly in London. He would dispose of you without incurring the least censure from anyone.”

“Well, they may try and take me prisoner if they like,” said Ludovic. “It’ll go hard with them if they do.”

Miss Thane regarded him in some amusement. “Yes, Ludovic, but it will make everything very awkward if you are to leave a trail of corpses in your wake,” she pointed out. “I cannot help feeling that Sir Tristram is right. He is one of those disagreeable people who nearly always are.”

Ludovic thrust out his chin a little. “I’m going to take a look in that priest’s hole if I die for it!” he said.

“If you go, you’ll go alone, Ludovic,” said Sir Tristram.

Ludovic’s eyes flashed. “Ratting, eh? I’ll get Clem in your stead.”

“You may take it from me that Clem won’t go with you on this venture,” replied Sir Tristram.

“Oh, you’ve been working on him, have you? Damn you, Tristram, I must find the ring!”

“You won’t do it that way. It’s to run your head into a noose. You’ve a better hope than this slender chance of finding the ring in a priest’s hole.”

“What is it?” Ludovic said impatiently.