Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Five

Lord Judham, Virginia, and Bundo sat in the library after dinner. It was Tuesday night, and it had been about thirty hours since Anthony's astonishingly sudden departure. For Bundo had repeated at least the seventh time what Anthony had said at the corner of Hyde Park. "I will find a way to come back by myself." Virginia thought about it, and repeated that sentence.From the looks of it, it seemed he hadn't expected to stay outside for so long.Moreover, he left all his clothes here. "Didn't he tell you where he was going?" "No." Virginia said, looking ahead. "He didn't say anything to me."

Then, the room is silent for about a minute or two.In the end, it was the Marquis of Judhan who broke the silence first. "In general," he said, "it is better to keep a hotel than to manage a country house." "what do you mean--?" "The small notice hanging in the hotel room: If you want to check out, please inform the front desk before twelve o'clock." Virginia smiled. "Maybe," he went on. "It's too old-fashioned and too much for me to say that. I know it's the way to go in and out of the house these days without restraint. It's like staying in a hotel--total freedom of movement, and at the end of the day, you don't even pay your bills." !"

"You are a complaining old man," said Bundo. "What do you want now that you have Virginia and me?" "Nothing, nothing." The Marquis of Judhan said quickly to reassure them, "It's not for this, the most important thing is the principle of this kind of thing. This phenomenon makes people feel uneasy. I am willing to admit that the past twenty-four years Hours was almost an ideal life. Tranquility—absolute tranquility. No thieves came in, no other brutal crimes, no police bothering, not a single American guest. What I'm complaining about is that I'd be happier if I felt really safe.What's happening now is -- I keep thinking, 'They're going to have one of them show up soon. 'Thinking of it this way, everything is over. "

"Well, no one has shown up now," said Bundo. "We all felt terribly alone—a sense of being ignored, really. It was also strange that Fish was gone. Didn't he say he was going there?" "Not a word was said, and the last time I saw him was yesterday afternoon, walking up and down the rose garden, smoking one of those foul-smelling cigars he used to smoke. Then he seemed to be in the field disappeared." "Someone must have kidnapped him." Bunduo thought about it. "I expect that in a day or two, we will have people from the Metropolitan Police Detective Department coming to the lake to salvage the bodies." Her father said darkly. "It's what I deserve. At my age, I should have gone abroad to play quietly, take good care of my body, and don't let people be dragged into George Lomax's dangerous plan. I..." His words gave Zhuo Dulwich interrupted.

"Oh!" Marquis Judham said displeasedly, "what's the matter?" "Monseigneur, the French policeman is here, and he asks if you can spare him some time to receive him." "Didn't I tell you?" said the Marquis of Judham, "I knew that the good times would not last long. There is no doubt that they have found Fish's body. He bent over and sank under the water of the goldfish pond." Zhuo Dewei respectfully turned his words to the current question. "May I say you want to receive him, Monseigneur?" "Okay, okay, let him come here."

Zhuo Dewei left, and after a minute or two, he came back, and he reported in a gloomy tone: "Mr Lemon." The Frenchman walked in briskly and quickly, and the manner of his walk revealed more clearly than his countenance that he was very excited about something. "Good night, Lemon," said Lord Judham. "Have a glass of wine, will you?" "Thank you, no need." He bowed deeply to the female relatives very cautiously. "I've finally made progress. As things stand, I feel I should let you know what I've discovered—this is the most important discovery I've made in the past twenty-four hours."

"I've long felt that something important must have happened," said Lord Judham. "My lord, yesterday afternoon one of the guests at the house left strangely. I must confess that I was puzzled from the first. Here comes a man brought from the wilderness, who was in South Africa two months ago. .Where was he before that?" Virginia gasped, and for a moment the Frenchman's eyes rested on her suspiciously.Then he went on. "Before that - where was he? No one knew. He was exactly the kind of guy I was looking for - bold, bold, never quiet, a guy who would do anything. I shot shot after shot Several telegrams, but I got no news of his past. Ten years ago he was in Canada, yes, but, since then—a period of silence. So my doubts increased, and later One day I picked up a piece of paper he had recently found that had an address on it—the address of a Denver residence. Then I dropped the piece of paper on the ground as if it had fallen by accident. So, I looked on and saw this Boris - that Mrs. Hezoslav, he picked it up and showed it to his master, and I was sure from the beginning that this Boris was a spy for the Comrade Red Hands. We know The Red Hands are colluding with King Victor to accomplish this task. If Boris recognized Antony Cade as his master, wouldn't he do what he did—change it , surrender to him? If not, why would he follow an unknown stranger? This is very suspicious, I tell you, very suspicious.

"However, my doubts were almost cleared. For Anthony Cade at once showed me the scrap, and asked me if I had lost it. As I have said, my doubts were almost cleared--but, Not completely eliminated, and in this case, maybe he's innocent, or maybe he's very, very smart. Of course, I deny that the note was mine. I also deny that I dropped it. But, at the same time, I sent someone to investigate. I just got the news today. That house in Denver was suddenly abandoned. But until yesterday afternoon, there was a group of foreigners living in the house. King Keto's stronghold. Now note the significance of these facts: Mr. Cade left out of here unexpectedly yesterday afternoon, and since he dropped that note, he must have known the end was over. He got to Denver, and the gang immediately dispersed I have. What the next step is, I don't know. One thing we can be sure of is that Mr. Cade will not be coming back here. But, since I know King Victor well, I can say with certainty, He won't try to steal that jewel anymore, he won't let it go. That's when I catch him!"

Virginia stood up suddenly, and she came to the fireplace, and said in a voice as cold as steel: "I think, Mr. Lemon, you've missed something," she said. "Mr. Cade is not the only one who suddenly disappeared yesterday and whose whereabouts are suspicious." "You mean—ma'am?" "What you just said could have been applied to another man. What do you think of Mr. Fish!" "Oh, Mr. Fish!" "Yes, Mr. Fish. Didn't you tell us the night before that King Victor had recently come to England from America? Mr. Hirham came to England from America too. Yes, he brought a very prestigious letter." But a man like King Victor, that's an easy thing. He's really not what he pretends to be, the Marquess of Judham once remarked about it. If he The purpose of coming here is to see the first edition of rare prints, but he always only listens to other people's discussions on the issue of rare prints, and never speaks. There are also several suspicious facts that are not good for him. Murder There was a light in his window the night it happened. Next, take that night in the council chamber. When I met him in the porch, he was fully dressed. He probably put the note Dropped into the ground, you didn't actually see Mr. Cade do it, Mr. Cade may have gone to Denver. If he went, it was just for the investigation, he may have been kidnapped there, I think Fei Mr. Hee is more suspicious than Mr. Cade."

The Frenchman said in a severe voice: "From your point of view, ma'am, maybe yes, I don't argue with you about that. I also agree that Mr. Fish is not what he seems to be. " "So, how?" "But that's all right. Mrs. Bai, you must understand that Mr. Fish belongs to Mr. Penkerton." "What?" Lord Judham asked loudly. "Yes, Lord Judham. He has come here to follow King Victor, and the Inspector of Battle and I have known about it for some time." Virginia sat down slowly again without saying a word.The set of ideas she had carefully figured out had already been shattered by a few words from him.

"Do you understand?" Lemon went on. "We already know that King Victor will come to Chimney House at the end, and that's the only place we can catch him." Virginia looked up, a strange light came into her eyes, and suddenly she laughed. "You haven't caught him yet," she said. Lemon looked at her curiously. "Not yet, ma'am. But, I will." "It's said he's famous for taking people out, isn't he?" The Frenchman looked bleak. "This time, it's different." He burst out the words through his teeth. "He's a very handsome fellow," said Lord Judham. "Pretty. But really—oh, Virginia, you said he was your friend, didn't you?" "So," said Virginia triumphantly, "I thought Mr. Lemon must be wrong." So, she looked at the French detective firmly, but he didn't seem to be embarrassed at all. "You'll find out then, ma'am," he said. "Do you think he was the one who killed Prince Michael?" she asked immediately. "of course." But Virginia shook her head. "Oh, no," she said. "Oh, no! That's what I absolutely believe. Anthony Cade didn't kill Prince Michael." Lemon watched her attentively. "Perhaps you are right, ma'am," he said slowly. "It's possible, that's all. Maybe it's that Hezoslav lady—Boris. He has done more than he was ordered to do. Prince Michael may have done him a bad job before, and the man wants revenge .” "He looks like a vicious man," said Marquis Judham sympathetically. "I think the handmaidens cried out as he passed in the aisle." "Well," Lemon said. "I must go now. My lord, I just thought you ought to know what is really going on." "You're very considerate, really," said Lord Judham. "You really don't want a glass of wine? Well, then, good night!" "I hate that man. He has a neat little black beard and glasses, and he looks serious." As soon as he walked out and closed the door behind him, Bando said. "I hope Anthony will clear up his wrongdoing and give him a good sarcasm to drive him into a rage! What do you think, Virginia?" "I don't know," Virginia said. "I'm tired, I'm going upstairs to bed." "That's a good idea," said Lord Judham. "It's already half past eleven." As Virginia walked through the wide hall, she caught a glimpse of the broad back of a man who seemed familiar, and the man was carefully going out through the side door. "Inspector-General!" she called to him eagerly. It turned out that it was indeed the Chief Inspector, and he withdrew reluctantly. "Mrs. River, what's the matter?" "Mr. Lemon has been here. He said—tell me, is it true that Mr. Fish is an American spy? Is it really true?" "right." "Did you always know that?" The Inspector nodded again. Virginia turned and walked towards the stairs. "Oh!" she said. "Thank you." Before this, she absolutely did not believe this was true. So what now? —— Back in her room, she sat down in front of the mirror and carefully considered this issue.She recalled that every word Anthony had said to her had taken on a new meaning. Is this the "buy" he mentioned? It was the "buy" he had already given up on.But, later—— An unusual sound disturbed her brooding calm.Startled, she looked up.It was past one o'clock on her little gold watch, and she had sat thinking for nearly two hours. The sound was repeated, when suddenly someone knocked on the windowpane. Virginia went to the window and opened it.Just as she was looking out, she saw a tall figure bending down to pick up a handful of sand in the passage downstairs. For an instant, Virginia's heart beat faster.Then she recognized the powerful, well-built silhouette of Boris, the Hezoslav lady. "Oh!" she whispered. "What's up?" At that moment, she didn't think that it was so late that Boris threw sand and dirt on her window, which was very strange. "What's the matter?" she repeated impatiently. "I came from my master," whispered Boris.Although his voice was low, he could still hear it clearly. "He sent me to fetch you." What he said was true. "Send you to invite me?" "Yes. He wants me to take you to him. There is a note. I will throw it." Virginia took a step back.Then, a note weighed down with pebbles was falling at her feet.She opened it and took a look: My dear friend (thus Antony)--I am in danger, but I intend to fight my way out.Can you trust me, come here? Virginia stood there for a full two minutes, motionless, reading those short sentences over and over again. She raised her head and looked back at the perfectly furnished luxurious bedroom, as if seeing it with new eyes. Then she leaned over and looked out the window again. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked. "The detectives are on the other side of the building, outside the Chamber. Go downstairs and come out by the side door. I'll be there. I have a car, parked in the street, waiting." Virginia nodded, and she quickly changed into a light yellow woolen sweater and a light yellow fur hat. Then, smiling, she wrote a note, addressed to Bundo, and pinned it to a pin-cushion. She went downstairs quietly, and unlatched the side door, hesitated only a moment, and then went out with a bold head held high, just as her ancestors had been in crusade.