DEAR OLD GEORGE:

I have succeeded in inducing Alie and Mrs. Barker to prolong their visit to me until Sat.u.r.day. On Wednesday evening we hope to witness the new play at Drury Lane. Alie, you know, has never seen a spectacular melodrama. We shall of course want a gentleman to escort us. Would you care for the position, or must we look elsewhere? On that occasion we dine at 6.30, and, unless I hear from you to the contrary, I shall lay a place for you.

In haste.

Your affectionate sister, JANET.

Need it be said that I accepted? or that on Wednesday evening I was proud of my charges as they took their seats in the box Janet had been at some pains to secure?

The house was packed from pit to gallery, and I noticed that more than one gla.s.s was levelled at the beautiful girl who took her place at Janet's side in the front of the box. Alie herself, however, seemed quite unconscious of the admiration she excited, and throughout the piece kept her eyes fixed upon the stage with never failing earnestness. What the play was I have not the very vaguest recollection.

In the middle of the first act I noticed that three gentlemen entered the box opposite us, and from the vociferous nature of their applause, gathered that they had evidently been dining, not wisely, but too well. After a while their gla.s.ses were so continually brought to bear on our box that I began to feel myself, foolishly enough, becoming excessively annoyed. The face of one of them struck me as familiar, and during the next interval, seeing that they had left their box, I made an excuse and went out to endeavour to discover who he was and where I had seen his face before. For a little while I was unsuccessful in my search, then, just as the next act was commencing, I turned a corner and almost ran into their arms. The man whose face I had been puzzling about was furthest from me, but I knew him instantly. _It was Barkmansworth!_ My heart seemed to stand still with terror, and when I recovered my wits he was gone.

What was I to do? I dared not tell Alie before my sister and Mrs.

Barker, and yet I knew, if Barkmansworth had recognised her, not an instant must be lost in getting her out of harm's way. For a moment I stood in the vestibule feeling more sick and giddy than I have ever felt before or since, and all the time trying vainly to think how to act. Then, when I took my seat again and saw that the occupants of the box opposite had left, I resolved to put off all consideration of the matter for that evening and to call and tell Alie first thing in the morning. Oh, that little bit of indecision! How fatal were its consequences!

When I had conveyed my fair charges home I made a severe headache an excuse, and bidding them good-night, set off on foot for my own abode.

But my brain was too full of anxiety to entertain any idea of bed, so, turning off from the direct route, I wandered down to the Green Park and on to the Embankment, thence through Lincoln's Inn Fields to Oxford Street, and so round to Cavendish Square. By the time I let myself into my house it was nearly three o'clock and a beautiful morning. Pa.s.sing along the hall, I went into my consulting room and lit the gas. A letter lay upon the table, addressed in my sister's handwriting, and marked "Immediate." With a sickening fear in my heart, I tore it open and read:

DEAR GEORGE:

Come to me at once, without an instant's delay. Alie has been arrested.

Your frantic sister, JANET.

The blow had fallen! My little shirking of an unpleasant duty had ruined the woman I loved. Oh, how bitterly I reproached myself for my delay in reporting my discovery. But if I had hesitated then, I did not do so now. A second or two later I had let myself out again and was off, as fast as I could go, on my way back to South Kensington.

CHAPTER XIII.

REMANDED.

Never shall I forget the misery of that walk back from Cavendish Square to South Kensington; I seemed to be tramping for ever, and all the time the words "Alie has been arrested!" "Alie has been arrested!"

were singing and drumming in my ears with relentless reiteration. When I reached the house the sun was above the roof tops and I was wearied almost to the point of dropping. I rang the bell, and the peal had not died away before poor, heavy-eyed Janet had opened the door to me.

Without a word she led me into her morning-room, the room where I had first told her of my love for Alie, and, having made me sit down, would not let me speak until I had partaken of some refreshment. I filled my gla.s.s, but pushed my plate away from me; I could drink, but I was far too miserable to eat.

"Janet," I cried, "for Heaven's sake tell me, as quickly as you can, all that has happened!"

"My poor George," she said; "as I told you in my note, Alie has been arrested. You had not left the house more than a quarter of an hour before two men called and asked to be allowed to see me on most important business. They were shown in here and, when we were alone, requested permission to see Alie. I went to fetch her and brought her down with me. Then one of the men advanced towards her with a paper in his hand and said 'Alie Dunbar, in the Queen's name I arrest you on a charge of piracy upon the High Seas.' Oh! it was horrible, and I can see it all now!"

"And what did my poor girl say?"

"Nothing! She was just as calm and collected as she always is. She simply took the paper from the man's hand and looked at it, after which she said: 'There must be some mistake; however, you are only doing your duty, I suppose. Where do you wish to take me?' 'To Scotland Yard first, madam,' the man said, 'then on to Bow Street.'

Hearing that, Alie turned to me, and putting her arms round my neck, said: 'You will soften this blow as much as you can for George, won't you, Janet?' and then announced that as soon as she had changed her dress, and procured her hat and cloak, she would be ready to accompany them. These changes in her costume she was permitted to make, and, when they were accomplished, we set off, but not before I had written that note to you. We expected you would follow us at once, and be able to arrange the matter of bail."

"I did not get your letter until after three o'clock. I was in such a strange state of mind last night that I went for a long walk after leaving you. Janet, it is all my fault. Did you notice those men in the box opposite us at Drury Lane? If so, you may have observed that they continually stared at Alie through their gla.s.ses?"

"I _did_ notice them, and very ill-bred fellows I thought them. I think Alie must have thought so too! But what have they to do with this matter?"

"Why, the man at the back of the box was none other than the person mentioned in that last newspaper paragraph about the Beautiful White Devil. He was the man, Barkmansworth, in fact, whom the Beautiful White Devil took from the mail boat and flogged in mid-ocean."

"But what has this to do with Alie?"

"Why, simply that,--no there can be no shirking it now, it must come out, and I know it is perfectly safe for me to tell you,--simply, Janet, because Alie _is_ the Beautiful White Devil."

"Oh, George, my dear old brother; is this terrible thing true?"

"Perfectly true, Janet!"

"And you, of all men, were going to marry the Beautiful White Devil?"

"Don't say 'were,' say 'are'! Janet, it is only half-past five now. An hour and a half must elapse before I can do any good at the police station. If you will listen I will tell you the story of Alie's singular life, and how I became mixed up with her. Then, remembering what you have seen of her yourself, you will be able to judge what sort of woman the Beautiful White Devil really is!"

Thereupon I set to work and told her all my adventures. I described Alie's father's treatment by his government; his setting up a kingdom for himself in the Pacific; the events which followed his death and Alie's accession to the throne; the feud between herself and the Eastern Governments; her acts of justice and retribution; the outbreak of small-pox in her settlement, and her sending for me; what I saw on the island, and how I first came to love her. It was a long story, and by the time I had finished it was nearly seven o'clock. Then I looked at Janet, and found big tears standing in her eyes.

"What do you think of the Beautiful White Devil now?" I asked.

"I think that, come what may, George, we must save her."

"Of course we must, and now I'm going off to see her. May I give her any message from you?"

"Give her my fondest love, and tell her that, come what may, she shall be saved."

"It will cheer her to know that, in spite of what has happened, you believe in her. Good-bye!"

"Good-bye, my poor George."

I left the house, and hurrying down to Gloucester Road, took the underground train for the Temple, walking thence to Bow Street. On entering the police station I asked to see the officer in charge. To this grim official I stated the nature of my business, and begged to be permitted an interview with his prisoner. This he granted with a very civil grace; the jailer was accordingly called and I was led down a long corridor.

"Seeing that she is a lady," that official said, as he unlocked a door on the right, "we have given her a somewhat better room than we usually allow our prisoners. I have orders to permit you a quarter of an hour together."

He opened the door and I went in. With a little cry of joy, Alie, who had been sitting on a sofa at the further end, sprang to her feet and ran towards me, crying as she did so:

"Oh, George, dear, I knew you would come to me as soon as you could."

I took her in my arms and kissed her again and again; her dear eyes were flooded with tears when I released her, but she brushed them away and tried to look brave for my sake. Then I led her back to the sofa and sat down beside her.

"Alie," I said softly, "this is all my fault. I saw Barkmansworth at Drury Lane last night and ought to have warned you. I intended to have done so this morning, but it was too late."

"Hush!" she answered, "you must not blame yourself. I, too, recognised him last night and should have spoken to you about it to-day. It is too late _now_, as you say."

"Can nothing be done, Alie?"

"I cannot say yet. I have been too much upset since my arrival here to think. But you must find me a lawyer at once, George, who will defend me at the preliminary examination, and if it looks as if the case will go against me you must find some means by which I can escape."

"Escape? Alie, you do not realise how impossible that is."