"You are a dear," gushed Lena. "Oh, I do hope he is gone!" After all, it
was a relief that Dick should not know.
"One favor I must ask, my dear Mrs. Percival," Mr. Early went on
hesitatingly. "If, by any chance, Dick should ever come to know of this,
will you assure him that I supposed his signature to be genuine? I
wouldn't have him suspect that I--that I was a party--or at least that I
knew that you wrote it for him. For really, little woman, it wasn't
strictly honest, you know."
"I'm afraid it wasn't," Lena confessed with charming blushes. "But I
didn't think. I don't know much about such things, you know."
"Of course you don't. No nice woman does," said Mr. Early comfortingly.
"And now let us forget it."
"Here come the officers," said Lena.
"It ain't no use," said the captain disgustedly. "He's given us the
slip, somehow. And we'd watched the house and made sure we'd nab him."
"What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Early.
"Take his kit, and set guards and send telegraph descriptions of him in
all directions. 'Taint likely he can get clean away. He'll be a marked
man wherever he goes."
"If there is anything I can do to help you," said Mr. Early
grandiloquently, "you can command me, though you may imagine that it is
very offensive to me to be mixed up in this kind of affair."
"Well, rather," said the officer dryly. Then, seeing the flush rising on
Mr. Early's face, he went on with the patronage of the majesty of the
law: "You needn't fear that you'll suffer any personal inconvenience.
We've had you under surveillance for a long time--ever since we began to
suspect your nigger friend; and we know you are all right." But the
assurance seemed to add to Mr. Early's discomfiture. "Looks as if it was
going to blow up a storm. A dark night would be a good thing for him and
a nuisance to us. But we'll catch him sure."
They were gone, and Lena lingered a moment, fastening her dearly-bought
bauble around her neck and gathering her books, while a maid came
scudding from the house to bundle rugs and cushions away in face of the
thunder-heads looming in the southwest. A sudden sibilant sound brought
Lena to attention.
"Mrs. Percival!" she heard. "Look up."
Among the branches over her head the leaves were drawn so closely
together that only a few faint glimmers of white showed, and the
brilliant eyes that glared down at her were the most conspicuous things
she saw.
"Listen and reply not," he said. "You will bring a dark and large
great-coat, and other dark garments that you can find, and leave them
here with swiftness and secrecy. I command you. If you do not obey, I
will make it the worse for you."