CHAPTER XV
WANTED BY WARNER
“Tired Nature’s sweet restorer” had not been indulgent to the visitors at Wedwell Hall, the reason perhaps being that they were conscious of having upset the quiet routine of the Doves by having shaken their faith in Falcon, but they did not do so designedly to cause mischief, but rather to expose an outrageous impostor.
The aeronaut was the first to make his appearance the next morning, before the squire or Miss Dove were astir, and the lady’s maid, Lucy, took this opportunity of saying a few words to Harry Goodall, her former employer. Amongst other things, she told him that Miss Dove and Miss Chain were fairly well, and that they had been talking about him and saying many sweet things about him; but the aeronaut passed the matter by and asked if there was any news of the runaway rascals.
“Lor’, sir, haven’t you heard that the men who attacked the cook are supposed to be burglars, and have taken to flight?”
“No, I had not. Tell me about it. But I want to hear first of all about the Crystal Palace photograph. How came you to bring that forward, Lucy?”
“Well, sir, I gave it to Miss Chain for a good motive. I wanted to endear my mistress to you and to Miss Chain, if the truth must be told; but don’t you mind what the doctor says, Mr Goodall.”
“I cannot be indifferent to his remarks, Lucy, for he may be in some way mixed up with Mr Falcon.”
“Not he, sir. I should say that the squire had been taken in by Mr Falcon in one way and the doctor in another without their knowing it.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Lucy, and in return for it I must tell you, as I have already hinted to Tom, that I shall very soon make known here who we are.”
“I am glad to hear you say so, sir.”
“Talking about burglars, Lucy, I thought I heard someone moving about just now.”
“It is your friend, sir, coming down,” said the girl, as she looked towards the stairs.
“Come in, captain; I am getting the early news,” whispered his friend Harry, whilst Lucy left the room.
“And how is the wound?” asked the mariner.
“It is healing like a dog’s!”
“By Jove! You would have been done for if the balloon had not been hauled down just at the right moment.”
“Yes, I’ve no doubt my life was attempted, but the sudden dip saved me. Had we remained stationary a second longer, I don’t suppose I should have been talking to you now.”
“Well, look here, Harry, now that we are alone, I wish to know whether we had not better declare ourselves before I leave, as you are clearly on the best of terms with Miss Dove, and more so, I should say, than if you had introduced yourself to the squire and his daughter as a merchant’s clerk, according to your uncle’s programme?”
“And my father’s, too, Link; don’t forget that.”
“Quite so.”
“The truth is, captain, we’ve no time this morning to concoct any definite plan of campaign, as we appear to all intents and purposes to be the agents of destiny, and I propose that we act and speak simply according to circumstances as they turn up. I agree, however, that we ought to make known our names--perhaps something may occur to enable us to do so with good grace--so now we had better inquire what is the latest report by Warner and the gamekeeper; we must also see to the balloon and Trigger.”
“I am at your service, Harry, and by-the-bye, I hope that you don’t disapprove of my attentions to Miss Chain?”
“That entirely depends, Link, upon four words--‘Do you mean it?’”
“I do, old friend, most certainly.”
“Come along, then, for we’ve a lot to unearth and unravel.”
It seemed that Trigger and Bennet had ascertained that a tall and a short man had been seen to leave the plantation and go up the lane towards the Hall when Miss Dove was in the balloon car, soon after the rifle was fired most likely--afterwards the smaller man was seen to call at Doctor Peter’s house while he was absent in the park. This information was obtained after the local policeman and Warner had failed to find anyone escaping in the direction of Newhaven; but the fugitives might have gone off in a northerly direction, although Warner thought that they would without doubt make off in a southerly direction, with the intention of leaving the country by the mail steamer--that is, if they did not escape through the air, for they both answered to the description of two men who had been trying to fly from Haywards Heath.
Meanwhile Tom Trigger had not been idle in looking to the safety of the balloon, which had been made snug by attaching heavy weights to the netting, which he procured from the gasworks, and additional pipes had been placed on the ground in case a supply of fresh gas was needed. The assistant had also taken other precautionary measures, in the event of a strong wind springing up, and he suggested the advisability of his going up to the Crystal Palace to bring down all the bags and other tackle for holding down the balloon. At the same time he would try to find out from the Sydenham police authorities what Warner was to do, and how long he could stay, as he was trying to be on the track of the fugitives, though he promised to be back to confer with the squire after he had organised a sharp lookout down Newhaven way, where he would not leave a stone unturned in co-operating with the local police.
The squire was in the park much earlier than was his wont, and he was accompanied by his daughter and Miss Chain, who was better in health, though she appeared to be very quiet and thoughtful.
Doctor Peters was about this time entering the lower gate of the park, and he went up to those who were grouped near the balloon and congratulated his patient on being out so early, and as breakfast time was drawing near, and the postman was observed on his way to the Hall, it gave him a good excuse to accompany the party back, and to look at the aeronaut’s head. When the examination was over, and a favourable report given, the squire, who had a local morning newspaper in his hand, said,--
“You had better sit down with us, Peters, for I have just caught sight of an article about the balloon descent at Wedwell Park. This is what they say:--
“‘An ascent of an apparently scientific character was made a few days since from Sydenham by an amateur aeronaut, whose name has not transpired, accompanied by an officer in the mercantile marine and a young lady, about whom a great deal of interest had centered, in consequence of her having been defrauded, as it is alleged, by a swindling financier, not unknown, too, at a certain Hall in Sussex, and in other parts of the country. It is also rumoured that the young lady, as well as the amateur aeronaut, had been shadowed and annoyed for some time by the same financier in the neighbourhood of the Crystal Palace.
“‘The aeronauts were at one time in Essex, but owing to a strong upper current of a north-easterly kind, they were driven towards the south coast, when they dropped on the estate of a highly-respected Sussex squire, where the balloon, to please the latter, made some captive ascents. Then a strange thing happened, for on the occasion of the last ascent, when the squire’s daughter was in the car, a rifle was discharged at the amateur aeronaut, the missile passing through his hat and wounding him on the head. The squire’s medical attendant pronounced the wound not dangerous, but the question of motive suggested itself, and there is reason to conclude that the attack was made by none other than a flighty financier, assisted probably by a confederate. Colour is given to this supposition, as this “gentleman” did not keep his appointment of dining with the squire.
“‘The last information we had was to the effect that the fugitive financier and his servant were wanted.’
“I am truly glad that the report stops there,” exclaimed the squire.
“And that no names are mentioned,” added Miss Dove.
“Nor the precise locality,” said Miss Chain.
“Still,” cried the squire, “Falcon hasn’t a leg to stand upon; and now, doctor, you are at liberty to say what you like, but mind what you do say, in case you have to eat your own words.”
“What I have to say is this,” replied the doctor, still unconvinced, “You have favoured us, squire, with a most libellous paragraph, for which the reporter, whoever he may be, deserves to be prosecuted, as the statements are built on hearsay, and traduces a man whom we regarded, until the balloonists presented themselves, as a friend; and how do we know but what the balloonist’s financier is as different from Falcon as chalk is to cheese?”
“What? After a sight of his photos and his shadows at the Crystal Palace, besides personal evidence of an uncontrovertible character?” asked the squire, somewhat irritated.
“Doctor Peters!” exclaimed Miss Dove, “I really haven’t patience with you! In the face of such evidence as we have had, it is folly to persist in bolstering up an untenable position.”
“And I will take leave,” said the squire, “in support of my daughter’s spirited remarks, to put one question to you.”
“Well, let me hear it, squire.”
“Did you send a telegram to Falcon, at Sydenham, after the balloon came down here?”
“I did, Squire Dove, believing that he was straight and true to you, to your daughter and to me.”
“Then you have been the victim of an impostor, and why not own to it?”
“I am not going to do that at present, squire, for how do I know but what Falcon may walk in and scatter like chaff before the wind all the unfair conclusions that have been arrived at in his absence?”
“Falcon will never appear here again,” said Miss Dove. “However, there is a knock at the door.”
“Come in,” cried the squire. “Oh, it is the pilot. How now, Trigger?”
“The policeman and Warner have returned, squire.”
“Tell them to come in and make their report,” said the squire, and turning to the men as they entered, he asked, “Have the suspected men been seen or captured, officer?”
“Not at present, your worship. They have been seen, and may have gone north, while we took the Newhaven route.”
“You naturally inferred that they were leaving the country by the Dieppe steamboat. I think that you, Warner, have been in this neighbourhood before?”
“I have, your worship, but the last time I came down I was with Mr Falcon and Croft, in the same train with them from Sydenham.”
“But where had you seen them previously?”
“I have seen them at the Crystal Palace more than once, your worship. I had to lock up Croft for trespass, and his master I found at a doctor’s house near here in a skeleton cupboard.”
“What do I hear? You are surely romancing, Warner?”
“No, squire, he is not,” cried Doctor Peters. “I admit that last ludicrous allegation to be true, for Mr Falcon, after he was shot by a poacher, as he said, came to consult me as to the injury he received in his back, at the same time this man, Warner, if he really is a detective, did obtain admission to my consulting-room, and as the cupboard was not occupied by the skeleton, Falcon stepped in there instead of going into the next room.”
This statement caused general laughter.
“How very odd, doctor; but you cannot gainsay that Warner was certainly a detective on that occasion, and a very expert one too. Ha! ha!”
“I think, squire,” said the doctor, “if the poacher who shot at Mr Falcon could be produced he would throw a different complexion on the affair.”
“He stands in your worship’s presence!” said Warner.
“Indeed! Who is he?” said his worship.
“Come forward, Trigger,” cried Warner, with a covert smile.
“I am no poacher, your worship,” replied Tom, as he stood forward, “though I confess to having shot at, and having hit, a man in the Essex marshes who wilfully fired the gas in my employer’s balloon. And I assert that that man was Mr Falcon, who at the time was disguised with spectacles, false beard, sandy wig and reversible coat.”
“How do you know, Trigger, that he was Mr Falcon?” asked his worship.
“He was the same person who had annoyed my master and Miss Chain at the Crystal Palace, and the same who did _not_ attempt to rescue the lady from the lake, but left that honour for my guv’nor to perform.”
“Any further evidence?” asked the magistrate.
“Only as to the photo in your dining-room, your worship, besides the one I gave to Lucy. They are both faithful likenesses of the man I shot at and hit in the back.”
At this critical moment, when the doctor seemed somewhat confounded and rose as if he could bear it no longer, two young women, Lucy and the doctor’s servant, Maria, were disputing as to who ought to catch the squire’s eye to have the first say after Tom Trigger had done.
“Come forward, Lucy,” cried the squire, who had noticed the altercation. “What is it you wish to say?”
“If you please, squire, I only wish to say that my Tom is no poacher, and as to the photo that the doctor turned his nose up at, I can swear that it was taken on the banks of the Crystal Palace lake, and is a faithful portrait of Mr Falcon, who made no attempt to rescue Miss Dove.”
“And please, squire,” said Maria, “may I speak?”
“Certainly; and what have you to say?”
“I ought to have said so before, your worship, Doctor Peters is wanted immediately by a lady who is very bad.”
“Hurry off, doctor,” said the squire.
After the doctor’s exit, Maria asked, when she saw that her master had left, whether she could state something that took place at their house during his absence in the park looking at the balloon. It had been preying on her mind, but she did not like to make it known, because she thought the doctor would not believe it, and would blame her.
“As your master has just left, Maria, I would reserve what you have to state until he is present, and then speak out fearlessly if it is anything that would concern him or any of us here assembled.”
“I don’t know whether it would amount to much, your worship, but I will follow your advice--though people will talk about those who are suspected.”
“Don’t you talk about them, Maria.”
“I don’t know, your worship, whether they are one and the same party.”
“To whom are you now alluding?”
“To these air-flying robbers, squire, who are said to have come from--”
“Stop, my good girl, and pray confine yourself to what can be proved. Don’t go beyond that. Certainly I have heard with regret that two insane Dutchmen are supposed to be at large with evil intents.”
“They do seem to have method in their madness, your worship.”
“You may think so, Maria, but your master and others may hold quite different Views. Here, however, we must stop, and not at present enlarge our borders.”