Hurricane Island Page 3

  CHAPTER III

  MADEMOISELLE TREBIZOND

  Pye had interpreted his employer's face correctly, and Lane had notboasted unduly. On Wednesday evening I received a letter appointing meto the position of doctor, and at the same time informing me of myremuneration. This was well enough, as it chanced; though not on tooliberal a scale, it was yet sufficient to meet my wants, and mentally Icast myself adrift from Wapping with a psalm of thankfulness. The _SeaQueen_ was to sail on Friday, and so I had little time left; yet by alucky chance I was enabled to dispose of my practice "on the nail," touse a convenient colloquialism, and, with that adventitious sum ofmoney, equipped and fortified myself for my voyage. I paid twopreliminary visits to the yacht, but found no one of importance onboard, and it was not until the actual afternoon of our departure thatI made the acquaintance of any more of my shipmates.

  We warped out of the docks, and dropped down the river unexpectedly,the captain on his bridge at intervals, and the pilot all the time, andat ten o'clock we reached Gravesend, where we anchored in the stream.It was blowing hard of a cold night, and the wind was peppered withsleet; a depressing proem to our unknown voyage. We swung at anchorthere until Mr. Morland came aboard with his friends, and we left onthe turn of the tide about midnight. I did not see Mr. Morland arrive,as I was busy in the forecastle with a man who had met with a trivialaccident. It was Lane who informed me that the "butterflies were come"and we might spread our wings. Lane I had encountered for a few minutesin the afternoon, when he smilingly saluted me.

  "Well, what price me?" and hurried off ere I could answer him or thankhim, as this form of salutation seemed to require. But he had moreleisure at supper, to which he invited me in his cabin.

  "We chaps have the benefit of a pleasure yacht, doctor," said he,winking, "and you bet I'm not purser for nothing. Blame me if I supwith that crew until they shake down a bit. Barraclough's all right,and a gentleman, but I can't stand Legrand or Holgate."

  "I've met Mr. Holgate, and thought him intelligent," I ventured.

  Lane emitted scorn. "Intelligent! He's a bladder of peas, and thinkshimself a monarch. Precious little swank about him, if he can help it.He's fly enough there. Well, a tot won't hurt us now. I can tell youI've been hustled." He had recourse to a decanter of whisky. "This isthe real stuff. I took care of that. Legrand can do on two-bob vitriolfor all I care. He don't know the difference. Well, the boss's aboardand his crowd, and we're off, and here's fortune, doctor."

  The toast was irreproachable, and I put down my glass and reverted tohis phrase. "His crowd?"

  "Yes, his sister and the other lady--rippers both. I saw them when theycame aboard at Hamburg."

  "And now can you tell me where we're going?" I asked.

  "I don't know," said Lane carelessly. "I hope we're running out of thisbeastly weather--that's all."

  "I merely engaged for twelve months," I put in.

  "Same here, and that's good enough," said Lane. "I'll ask the old manto-morrow if his prickles don't stand up too thick. Here she goes,doctor."

  When I left the purser I turned in, for the night was shrewd anddiscomfortable enough to bar romantic thoughts on leaving the Englishcoast. Besides, we were bound down channel, and should keep companywith our native cliffs the whole of the next day. It would be time towave a farewell when we passed the Lizard.

  The quarters in the _Sea Queen_ were roomy. I was berthed aft with theother officers, and Mr. Morland's rooms and the cabins of the twoladies were on the upper deck, ample in appearance from the outside,and no doubt furnished luxuriously. The guests had the run of a finesaloon also, on the lower deck, as well as a music-gallery which ranround it, and there was a boudoir, as I heard, attached to the ladies'compartments, as well as a private room to Mr. Morland's. Breakfast wasmainly interesting as introducing me practically for the first time tomy companions. We were then abreast of the Isle of Wight, and werekeeping well away towards France. The chief officer I now, to myastonishment, discovered to be a man of title. Sir John Barraclough wasa tall, loose-limbed, good-looking man of thirty something, with a blueeye, and a casual manner. He nodded at me amiably and continued histalk with Legrand, the second officer, who was dark and high-coloured,with a restless expression of face. Lane threw a jocular greetingacross the table to me, and I shook hands cordially with Holgate, whomI now saw for the first time since I had come aboard. PresentlyBarraclough turned to me.

  "Glad to see you, doctor," he said in an indifferent manner. "Hope it'sgoin' to be a fine cruise."

  I had just echoed his wish formally when the captain made hisappearance from the deck. Captain Day was a most fastidious-lookingman, with a brown Vandyke beard and a flow of good manners. Seeing meand Holgate there as the only strangers, he singled us out at once withquite the right degree of friendliness.

  "Glad to make your acquaintance, Dr. Phillimore. This your firstvoyage? I hope we'll make a happy family."

  But having thus condescended briefly, he relapsed into silence andshortly afterwards left us.

  "There's too much condemned R.N.R. about the old man," confided Lane aswe went on deck, "but he's all right."

  It was on deck that I met with my surprise, for the first person myeyes fell on was no other than Pye, the little lawyer's clerk.

  "I never expected to see you here," I told him.

  "Well, you see, I did expect to see you," he replied in hisself-satisfied little way. "I'm here to represent Mr. Morland for thetime being."

  "Oh," said I, "then you can tell us all where we are bound for, for noone seems to know."

  He considered a little. "I shall be able to tell you shortly, I have nodoubt," he said at last. "At present Mr. Morland alone knows. Perhapseven he doesn't," he added with his smile.

  "I don't like that little buffer," declared Lane grumpily as we walkedon. "He is too fussy and by-your-leave-please for me. Made me get outall my books yesterday, as if I were an office-boy."

  "He feels responsible, I suppose," I ventured.

  "Well, who's responsible if I'm not?" demanded the purser hotly. "I'vebeen at sea fifteen years, and this brat hasn't so much as been sick inthe _Marguerite_, I'll lay. Let him look after his own books. I'm allright."

  It was quite manifest that Lane was decided in his likes and dislikes,as his unreasonable objection to the second officer had alreadydiscovered to me. The passengers were not visible during the morning,but in the afternoon I received a message calling me to Mr. Morland'scabin. I found him seated before a bureau with a docket of papersbefore him, and he was civil and abrupt.

  "Is there anything you can recommend for sea-sickness, Dr. Phillimore?"he asked bluntly.

  I told him of several remedies which had been tried, and mentionedcocaine as probably the best, adding that I had little faith in any ofthem. He thought a moment.

  "Prepare me some cocaine," he said, and with a bow intimated that hehad done with me.

  It was civil as I have said, but it was also abrupt. He had the air ofa martinet and the expression of a schoolmaster who set his pupil atask. But I made up the doses forthwith and let him have them.

  Later I saw two figures walking upon the hurricane promenade, one ofwhich I easily made out as Mr. Morland, and the other was a womanheavily cloaked in fur. A strong breeze was beating up channel, and asthey stood and faced it the woman put her hand to her hat. But for themost part they walked to and fro, sometimes in conversation, but oftenin silence. Once, at eight bells, I noticed, from my point ofobservation, the woman stop, lean across the railing, and point towardsthe coast of France, which was fast fading into the gathering mists.She seemed to speak, her face turned level with her shoulders towardsthe man. He put out a hand and snapped his fingers, and they presentlyresumed their promenade. The sun had gone down, and darkness wassettling on us; the _Sea Queen_ ploughed steadily westward, her lightsspringing out one by one, and the figures on the hurricane deck werepresently merged in shadow. As I leaned over the stern, reflecting, andcontemplating now the dull wash of the
water about the screw, I wasconscious of some one's approach.

  "Well, doctor," said the cheerful voice of Pye, "have you had a goodlook at our passengers?"

  "Mr. Pye," said I, pleasantly enough, "I am a man of moods. And I havelived long in silence and routine as no doubt you yourself also. I findoccupation even in my own thoughts."

  "You are well equipped for the sea," he rejoined. "I'm not sure aboutmyself. You see, I'm a Londoner, and I shall miss those peopled spaces.Here there's nothing but----" he waved his hand.

  "At all events. I see you're a respectable sailor," I said, "which,apparently, others are not." His silence seemed to inquire of me. "Igave Mr. Morland a prescription for sea-sickness this afternoon."

  "That would be for one of the ladies," he made answer; "he is evidentlyfirm on his legs, and--and his companion. I suppose I may tell you thathis companion is his sister," he said after a pause.

  "Well, yes," I replied drily, for his precautions jarred on me. "For Isuppose we shall discover the mystery in the course of the next twelvemonths."

  "Mystery!" he repeated musingly. "I suppose I am by training somewhatcircumspect. It's difficult to get out of it. But there's no mystery.Mr. and Miss Morland have brought a friend with them."

  "If there's no mystery," I said, "the friend?"

  "I have not heard her name," he replied, "or at least, if I have, Ihave forgotten. It is a friend of Miss Morland's. I believe she is aFrench lady."

  The dusk had enclosed us, but through it I perceived some one hurriedlyapproaching. "Is it the doctor?" said the steward's voice, and Ianswered in the affirmative.

  "You're wanted at once, sir. Mr. Morland has sent for you."

  I moved off quickly, and had got half-way down the deck when a womancame forward noiselessly through the gloom.

  "Dr. Phillimore," she said, "I want you to see to Mlle. Chateray atonce. She is very ill."

  I entered the state rooms without further question, hurried down thehandsome corridor, and under Miss Morland's guidance found the cabin.Certain constitutions are peculiarly affected by the sea, and it iseven undertaking a risk for some people to travel on that element.Clearly it was, as Pye hinted, for the French lady that my prescriptionhad been required. Outside the cabin in the corridor I encountered Mr.Morland, who exhibited a troubled face unusual to one of such apparentequanimity. But he said nothing, only looked at his sister and turnedaway.

  Inside I found a blue chamber, roomy and well lighted by electricity,an elegant broad bed affixed to the one wall, and upon it, stretched inthe most wonderful _deshabille_, my patient. Mlle. Chateray was ofmiddle height, of a pleasant fulness, and dark of feature. She hadlarge eyes that, as I entered, were roaming in a restless way about theroom, and her voice was lifted sharply abusive of her maid, a mildFrenchwoman who stood by her.

  "She is in a state of collapse, Dr. Phillimore," said my guide's voicein my ear.

  I knew better than that. It was hysteria, or I had never seen hysteria,and the _mal-de-mer_ had been merely provocative. I took her handwithout ceremony, and, wheeling on me her lustrous eyes, she broke outin torrential French.

  She would die if she remained there. They were beasts to keep herthere. Why was she not put ashore at Havre? Havre was a port, as everyone knew, and there were ports not only in England. I had a kind faceand would do as she bade me.... Very well, then, let her be put ashore.She began to tear at her elaborate dressing-gown, and I was afraid ofone of those outbreaks which are known as _crises des nerfs._ I tookher hands firmly.

  "You shall be put ashore as you wish," I said, "and in the meantime,while the yacht is going about, you will drink what I give you. It willcomfort you."

  She gazed into my eyes, ceasing to struggle, and then said morequietly: "Yes--yes, give it me quick."

  It was a case for bromide, and I turned away at once to go to mysurgery.

  "You will lie exactly as you are, mademoiselle," I said peremptorily,"until I return."

  I left the cabin and descended, and I think I was not gone more thanten minutes. When Mlle. Chateray had taken the draught, I turned to hermaid: "She will be quieter now," I said. "Let me know if anythingfurther develops," and I moved towards the door. Miss Morland stood inmy way.

  For the first time I observed her. Her cloak had fallen from her,leaving her fine figure in the full illumination of the light. Her headwas set well back above the eloquent lines of a strong throat and thesquare shoulders underneath. The lace over her bosom stirred with herbreathing, and to my fancy at the moment she was as a statue into whichlife was flowing suddenly. I saw this before I met her gaze, and thecalm beauty of that confirmed my fancy. She moved then and opened thedoor for me.

  "You have promised she shall be landed?" she said in a low voice.

  "Madam, I would promise anything in such a case," I answered.

  A faint smile passed over her face, for we were now outside the cabinand in the ladies' boudoir.

  "You can promise relief, then, I understand?" she queried.

  "She will probably be all right to-night, though I cannot say thehysteria will not recur," I replied.

  An expression flitted over her face, but whether it was of pity orannoyance I could not have said.

  "My brother will not put the yacht about," she said.

  "I'm not going to ask him," I rejoined.

  "I thank you, doctor," said she simply, "and so will he."

  "It is my business," I responded indifferently.

  She had spoken with distance, even coldly, and with the air ofcondescension. There was no necessity to thank me at all, and certainlynot in that way.

  Bidding her good evening, I went down again, and as I went a problemwhich had vaguely bothered me during my administrations recurred, nowmore insistently. There was something familiar in Mlle. Chateray'sface. What was it?

  I spent some time in the surgery, and later joined the officers atdinner. Captain Day wore a short dinner-jacket like my own, but theothers had made no attempt to dress. Perhaps that was the reason whythe captain devoted his attention to me. His voice was that of acultivated man, and he seemed to converse on the same level ofcultivation. He made a figure apart from the rest of the company, towhich little Pye was now joined, and as I looked down and across thetable (from which only Holgate was absent on duty) their marvellousunlikeness to him struck me. Even Sir John Barraclough and Lane seemedby comparison more or less of a piece, though the first officer ignoredthe purser quite markedly. Captain Day, I discovered, had some taste inletters, and as that also had been my consolation in my exile inWapping, I think we drew nearer on a common hobby. I visited my patientabout nine o'clock, and found her sleeping. As she lay asleep, I wasagain haunted by the likeness to some one I had seen before; but I wasunable to trace it to its source nor did I trouble my head in thematter, since resemblances are so frequently accidental and baffling.

  Pye had invited me to his room earlier in the day, and I went straightto him from the deck cabin. To find Holgate there was not unpleasing,as it seemed in a way to recall what I almost began to consider oldtimes--the time that was in the "Three Tuns." Pye mixed the toddy, andwe smoked more or less at our ease. I spoke of my patient, in answer toa question, as one suffering from sea-sickness.

  "What's she like?" inquired Holgate.

  "I should say handsome," I rejoined. "I understood from Mr. Pye thatshe is French."

  "I think I heard so," said Pye, "but you could tell."

  "Well, she spoke French," I said with a smile.

  Pye's smile seemed to commend my reticence, but Holgate, ignoring theobvious retort on me, pursued a different subject.

  "Upon my soul, I envy people like those millionaires. Here am I workinglike a navvy for a bare living, never been able to marry; Pye probablyin the same case; and you, doctor?"

  "No; I'm a bachelor," I answered.

  "Well, take us three--no doubt in our different walks every bit ascapable as Mr. Morland on his Wall Street, or wherever it is. It isn'ta righteous distribution o
f this world's goods."

  "It is odd," said I, speaking my thoughts, "how you came to take upthis life."

  "The sort of blunder," said Holgate, "that is made in three cases outof four. I hankered after it in my teens, and once out of them it wastoo late. Who is going to adapt a youth of twenty-one, without capital,to a commercial life, or a legal life, or a medical life? There is nochanging the dice. When the hands are dealt you must abide by them."

  "Yes, we are all waifs," said I sententiously, not being greatlyinterested in the argument.

  "When I came back from my last voyage," pursued Holgate, "I was inParis for a bit, and went into the Comedie one night, and----"

  I never heard the rest of Holgate's reminiscence, for the wordregarding the theatre suddenly sent a message to my memory and lightedit up instantaneously. I said aloud, and with some excitement,

  "Trebizond!"

  Holgate ceased talking, and Pye removed his cigarette hastily.

  "What, may we venture to ask, is Trebizond?" he said presently.

  I smiled foolishly. "Oh, it is only that I have made a discovery," Isaid, "a small discovery."

  Again there was silence.

  "Perhaps we are worthy to hear it," suggested Holgate equably.

  Pye still held his cigarette between his fingers and looked at me outof his gold-rimmed glasses.

  "Oh, nothing much," said I, and glanced at my watch. "I'm sorry, I mustsee my patient safe for the night. I'll look in again."

  I left them and went upstairs, knocking on the boudoir door. MissMorland opened it.

  "Mlle. Chateray is still sleeping," she said formally.

  "I will leave a dose with her maid," I replied, "so that if it benecessary it may be given in the night."

  "You will, of course, be in attendance if required," she said coldly.

  I bowed.

  "I am paid for it, madam," I answered, though I must confess to ahostile feeling within my heart.

  "I think, then, that is all," she said, and I took my dismissal at thehands of the arrogant beauty with an internal conflict of anger andadmiration.

  I did not return to Pye, but went to my own cabin in an irritablecondition. It ought not to have mattered to me that the sister of amillionaire, my employer, should treat me more or less as a lackey; butit did. I threw myself on my bunk and took down a book at random frommy little shelf. Out of its pages tumbled an evening news-sheet which Inow remembered to have bought of a screaming boy as I hurried into thedock gates on the previous afternoon. I had not had time to look at itin my various preoccupations, but, after all, it was the last news ofmy native land I should have for some time, and so I opened it andbegan the perusal.

  It was one of those half-penny journals which seem to combine themaximum of vulgarity with a minimum of news. But I passed over theblatant racing items and murder trials with less than my customarydistaste, and was rambling leisurely through the columns when I wasarrested by a paragraph and sat up briskly. It was the tail thatinterested me.

  "... It is stated that Prince Frederic is in London. The name of thelady who has so infatuated him is Mlle. Yvonne Trebizond, thewell-known prima donna."

  I had recalled the name Trebizond during Holgate's talk, and it seemedstrange now that this second discovery should fall so coincidently. Theface of Mlle. Chateray had taken me back, by a sudden gust of memory,to certain pleasant days in Paris before I was banished to the EastEnd. I had frequented the theatres and the concert-rooms, and Iremembered the vivacious singer, a true _comedienne_, with her pack oftricks and her remarkable individuality. Mlle. Chateray, then, was noother than Yvonne Trebizond, and----

  I looked down at the paper and read another sentence, which, ere thatillumination, had had no significance, but now was pregnant with it.

  "The prince has the full support and sympathy of his sister, PrincessAlix."

  I rose abruptly. I can keep my own counsel as well as a lawyer's clerk,but I saw no reason in the world for it now. I had left my glassuntouched and my cigar unlit in Pye's cabin. I went back forthwith tofinish both.

  The pair were still seated as if expecting me.

  "Patient all right, doctor?" inquired Holgate.

  I nodded. "Mr. Pye," I said, "I find my discovery has amplified itself.When I was here it was of small dimensions. Now it has grown to theproportions of a--well, a balloon," I ended.

  Both men gazed at me steadily.

  "Out with it, man," urged the third officer.

  "I have your permission?" I asked the lawyer's clerk, smiling.

  "When you have told me what it is, I will tell you," said he, gravelyjocose.

  I put the paper in Holgate's hands, and pointed to the paragraph. Heread it slowly aloud and then looked up.

  "Well?" he asked.

  "I am going to tell you something which you know," I said, addressingPye. "The lady in the deck cabin is Mlle. Trebizond."

  Holgate started. "Good Heavens!" he exclaimed, but Pye was quitesilent, only keeping his eyes on me.

  "I recognized her, but couldn't name her," I went on. "Now it has comeback to me."

  "Which means, of course," said Pye unemotionally, "that Mr. Morlandis----"

  "The Prince," said Holgate with a heavy breath.

  Pye resumed his cigarette. "With all these sensations, my dearHolgate," he remarked, "I have forgotten my duty. Perhaps you will helpyourself."

  Holgate did so. "Good Heavens!" he said again, and then, "I suppose, ifyou're right, that we carry Caesar and his fortunes. He has got off withthe lady and the plunder."

  "The plunder!" I echoed.

  He indicated the paragraph, and I read now another sentence which I hadoverlooked.

  "The prince has expressed his intention, according to rumour, ofmarrying as he chooses, and as he inherits more than a million poundsfrom his mother, he is in a position to snap his fingers at theEmpress. In that case, no doubt, he would follow precedent, and takerank as an ordinary subject."

  I looked up at Holgate.

  "We carry Caesar and his fortune," he said with a smiling emphasis onthe singular, and then he waved his arm melodramatically. "And to thinkwe are all paupers!" and grinned at me.

  "It is inequitable," said I lightly; "it's an unjust distribution ofthis world's goods," echoing therein his own remark earlier in theevening.

  Pye sat still, with an inexpressive face. His admirable silence,however, now ceased.

  "So we shall have this gossip all over the ship to-morrow."

  "No," said I curtly, for the suggestion annoyed me. "It is nothing tome. I told you because you knew. And I told Mr. Holgate----" I paused.

  "Because I'm your chum," said the third officer.

  I did not contradict him. I had spoken really out of the excitement ofmy discovery. Certainly I had not spoken because Holgate was my chum.