The Secret Adversary (Tommy & Tuppence 1)

“Very graphic, Henry,” said Tommy. “Here’s your five shillings. Come on,Julius. We must find that telegram.”

They hurried upstairs. Tuppence had left the key in her door. The roomwas as she had left it. In the fireplace was a crumpled ball of orangeand white. Tommy disentangled it and smoothed out the telegram.

“Come at once, Moat House, Ebury, Yorkshire, great developments--TOMMY.”

They looked at each other in stupefaction. Julius spoke first:

“You didn’t send it?”

“Of course not. What does it mean?”

“I guess it means the worst,” said Julius quietly. “They’ve got her.”

_“What?”_

“Sure thing! They signed your name, and she fell into the trap like alamb.”

“My God! What shall we do?”

“Get busy, and go after her! Right now! There’s no time to waste. It’salmighty luck that she didn’t take the wire with her. If she had we’dprobably never have traced her. But we’ve got to hustle. Where’s thatBradshaw?”

The energy of Julius was infectious. Left to himself, Tommy wouldprobably have sat down to think things out for a good half-hour beforehe decided on a plan of action. But with Julius Hersheimmer about,hustling was inevitable.

After a few muttered imprecations he handed the Bradshaw to Tommy asbeing more conversant with its mysteries. Tommy abandoned it in favourof an A.B.C.

“Here we are. Ebury, Yorks. From King’s Cross. Or St. Pancras. (Boy musthave made a mistake. It was King’s Cross, not _Charing_ Cross.) 12.50,that’s the train she went by. 2.10, that’s gone. 3.20 is the next--and adamned slow train too.”

“What about the car?”

Tommy shook his head.

“Send it up if you like, but we’d better stick to the train. The greatthing is to keep calm.”

Julius groaned.

“That’s so. But it gets my goat to think of that innocent young girl indanger!”

Tommy nodded abstractedly. He was thinking. In a moment or two, he said:

“I say, Julius, what do they want her for, anyway?”

“Eh? I don’t get you?”

“What I mean is that I don’t think it’s their game to do her any harm,” explained Tommy, puckering his brow with the strain of his mentalprocesses. “She’s a hostage, that’s what she is. She’s in no immediatedanger, because if we tumble on to anything, she’d be damned useful tothem. As long as they’ve got her, they’ve got the whip hand of us. See?”

“Sure thing,” said Julius thoughtfully. “That’s so.”

“Besides,” added Tommy, as an afterthought, “I’ve great faith inTuppence.”

The journey was wearisome, with many stops, and crowded carriages. Theyhad to change twice, once at Doncaster, once at a small junction. Eburywas a deserted station with a solitary porter, to whom Tommy addressedhimself:

“Can you tell me the way to the Moat House?”

“The Moat House? It’s a tidy step from here. The big house near the sea,you mean?”

Tommy assented brazenly. After listening to the porter’s meticulousbut perplexing directions, they prepared to leave the station. It wasbeginning to rain, and they turned up the collars of their coats as theytrudged through the slush of the road. Suddenly Tommy halted.

“Wait a moment.” He ran back to the station and tackled the porter anew.

“Look here, do you remember a young lady who arrived by an earliertrain, the 12.50 from London? She’d probably ask you the way to the MoatHouse.”

He described Tuppence as well as he could, but the porter shook hishead. Several people had arrived by the train in question. He could notcall to mind one young lady in particular. But he was quite certain thatno one had asked him the way to the Moat House.

Tommy rejoined Julius, and explained. Depression was settling on himlike a leaden weight. He felt convinced that their quest was going tobe unsuccessful. The enemy had over three hours’ start. Three hours wasmore than enough for Mr. Brown. He would not ignore the possibility ofthe telegram having been found.

The way seemed endless. Once they took the wrong turning and went nearlyhalf a mile out of their direction. It was past seven o’clock when asmall boy told them that “t’ Moat House” was just past the next corner.

A rusty iron gate swinging dismally on its hinges! An overgrown drivethick with leaves. There was something about the place that struck achill to both their hearts. They went up the deserted drive. The leavesdeadened their footsteps. The daylight was almost gone. It was likewalking in a world of ghosts. Overhead the branches flapped and creakedwith a mournful note. Occasionally a sodden leaf drifted silently down,startling them wi

th its cold touch on their cheek.

A turn of the drive brought them in sight of the house. That, too,seemed empty and deserted. The shutters were closed, the steps up tothe door overgrown with moss. Was it indeed to this desolate spotthat Tuppence had been decoyed? It seemed hard to believe that a humanfootstep had passed this way for months.

Julius jerked the rusty bell handle. A jangling peal rang discordantly,echoing through the emptiness within. No one came. They rang again andagain--but there was no sign of life. Then they walked completely roundthe house. Everywhere silence, and shuttered windows. If they couldbelieve the evidence of their eyes the place was empty.

“Nothing doing,” said Julius.

They retraced their steps slowly to the gate.

“There must be a village handy,” continued the young American. “We’dbetter make inquiries there. They’ll know something about the place, andwhether there’s been anyone there lately.”

“Yes, that’s not a bad idea.”

Proceeding up the road, they soon came to a little hamlet. On theoutskirts of it, they met a workman swinging his bag of tools, and Tommystopped him with a question.

“The Moat House? It’s empty. Been empty for years. Mrs. Sweeny’s got thekey if you want to go over it--next to the post office.”

Tommy thanked him. They soon found the post office, which was also asweet and general fancy shop, and knocked at the door of the cottagenext to it. A clean, wholesome-looking woman opened it. She readilyproduced the key of the Moat House.

“Though I doubt if it’s the kind of place to suit you, sir. In aterrible state of repair. Ceilings leaking and all. ‘Twould need a lotof money spent on it.”

“Thanks,” said Tommy cheerily. “I dare say it’ll be a washout, buthouses are scarce nowadays.”

“That they are,” declared the woman heartily. “My daughter andson-in-law have been looking for a decent cottage for I don’t know howlong. It’s all the war. Upset things terribly, it has. But excuse me,sir, it’ll be too dark for you to see much of the house. Hadn’t youbetter wait until to-morrow?”

“That’s all right. We’ll have a look around this evening, anyway. We’dhave been here before only we lost our way. What’s the best place tostay at for the night round here?”

Mrs. Sweeny looked doubtful.

“There’s the _Yorkshire Arms_, but it’s not much of a place forgentlemen like you.”

“Oh, it will do very well. Thanks. By the way, you’ve not had a younglady here asking for this key to-day?”

The woman shook her head.

“No one’s been over the place for a long time.”

“Thanks very much.”

They retraced their steps to the Moat House. As the front door swungback on its hinges, protesting loudly, Julius struck a match andexamined the floor carefully. Then he shook his head.

“I’d swear no one’s passed this way. Look at the dust. Thick. Not a signof a footmark.”

They wandered round the deserted house. Everywhere the same tale. Thicklayers of dust apparently undisturbed.

“This gets me,” said Julius. “I don’t believe Tuppence was ever in thishouse.”

“She must have been.”

Julius shook his head without replying.

“We’ll go over it again to-morrow,” said Tommy. “Perhaps we’ll see morein the daylight.”

On the morrow they took up the search once more, and were reluctantlyforced to the conclusion that the house had not been invaded for someconsiderable time. They might have left the village altogether but fora fortunate discovery of Tommy’s. As they were retracing their steps tothe gate, he gave a sudden cry, and stooping, picked something up fromamong the leaves, and held it out to Julius. It was a small gold brooch.

“That’s Tuppence’s!”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I’ve often seen her wear it.”

Julius drew a deep breath.

“I guess that settles it. She came as far as here, anyway. We’ll makethat pub our head-quarters, and raise hell round here until we find her.Somebody _must_ have seen her.”

Forthwith the campaign began. Tommy and Julius worked separately andtogether, but the result was the same. Nobody answering to Tuppence’sdescription had been seen in the vicinity. They were baffled--but notdiscouraged. Finally they altered their tactics. Tuppence had certainlynot remained long in the neighbourhood of the Moat House. That pointedto her having been overcome and carried away in a car. They renewedinquiries. Had anyone seen a car standing somewhere near the Moat Housethat day? Again they met with no success.

Julius wired to town for his own car, and they scoured the neighbourhooddaily with unflagging zeal. A grey limousine on which they had set highhopes was traced to Harrogate, and turned out to be the property of ahighly respectable maiden lady!

Each day saw them set out on a new quest. Julius was like a hound onthe leash. He followed up the slenderest clue. Every car that had passedthrough the village on the fateful day was tracked down. He forced hisway into country properties and submitted the owners of the motors toa searching cross-examination. His apologies were as thorough as hismethods, and seldom failed in disarming the indignation of his victims;but, as day succeeded day, they were no nearer to discovering Tuppence’swhereabouts. So well had the abduction been planned that the girl seemedliterally to have vanished into thin air.

And another preoccupation was weighing on Tommy’s mind.

“Do you know how long we’ve been here?” he asked one morning as theysat facing each other at breakfast. “A week! We’re no nearer to findingTuppence, _and next Sunday is the_ 29_th!_”

“Shucks!” said Julius thoughtfully. “I’d almost forgotten about the29th. I’ve been thinking of nothing but Tuppence.”

“So have I. At least, I hadn’t forgotten about the 29th, but it didn’tseem to matter a damn in comparison to finding Tuppence. But to-day’sthe 23rd, and time’s getting short. If we’re ever going to get hold ofher at all, we must do it before the 29th--her life won’t be worth anhour’s purchase afterwards. The hostage game will be played out by then.I’m beginning to feel that we’ve made a big mistake in the way we’ve setabout this. We’ve wasted time and we’re no forrader.”

“I’m with you there. We’ve been a couple of mutts, who’ve bitten off abigger bit than they can chew. I’m going to quit fooling right away!”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you. I’m going to do what we ought to have done a week ago.I’m going right back to London to put the case in the hands of yourBritish police. We fancied ourselves as sleuths. Sleuths! It was a pieceof damn-fool foolishness! I’m through! I’ve had enough of it. ScotlandYard for me!”

“You’re right,” said Tommy slowly. “I wish to God we’d gone there rightaway.”

“Better late than never. We’ve been like a couple of babes playing ‘Herewe go round the Mulberry Bush.’ Now I’m going right along to ScotlandYard to ask them to take me by the hand and show me the way I should go.I guess the professional always scores over the amateur in the end. Areyou coming along with me?”

Tommy shook his head.

“What’s the good? One of us is enough. I might as well stay here andnose round a bit longer. Something _might_ turn up. One never knows.”

“Sure thing. Well, so long. I’ll be back in a couple of shakes with afew inspectors along. I shall tell them to pick out their brightest andbest.”

But the course of events was not to follow the plan Julius had laiddown. Later in the day Tommy received a wire:

“Join me Manchester Midland Hotel. Important news--JULIUS.”

At 7.30 that night Tommy alighted from a slow cross-country train.Julius was on the platform.

“Thought you’d come by this train if you weren’t out when my wirearrived.”

Tommy grasped him by the arm.

“What is it? Is Tuppence found?”

Julius shook his head.

“No. But I

found this waiting in London. Just arrived.”

He handed the telegraph form to the other. Tommy’s eyes opened as heread:

“Jane Finn found. Come Manchester Midland Hotel immediately--PEELEDGERTON.”

Julius took the form back and folded it up.

“Queer,” he said thoughtfully. “I thought that lawyer chap had quit!”