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<h5>FACE To FACE.</h5> Maunders recognised his peril in a moment and immediately turned to retreat. But Vernon was too quick for him and leaped between him and the door. When it was closed and Vernon had his back against it Maunders glanced desperately at the one window of the room. Here Colonel Towton, now on his feet, barred his way, so there was nothing for it but to surrender to a strength he could not fight against. With extraordinary self-control the scamp pulled himself together and demanded in a surly tone what his captors meant by behaving towards him in this way. "Sit down," said Vernon without deigning to reply directly; "you have to explain matters before you leave this room." "I have nothing to explain," muttered Maunders doggedly, but nevertheless judged it wise to obey. "You had better take care what you are about." "I'll take care of myself and of you also," replied Vernon composedly. "I ask you, Colonel Towton, if this is the way for one gentleman to treat another?" demanded the trapped rogue. "Two gentlemen," corrected the Colonel coldly, "who are dealing with a confounded scoundrel." "I'll make you pay for those words," threatened Maunders, biting his lips. "I don't recognise your right to demand satisfaction as I only deal with gentlemen. Mr. Vernon and myself have run you to earth, and----" "How did you find out that I was here?" interrupted Maunders curiously. "We did not expect to find you here," said Vernon, still with his back to the door and keeping a watchful eye on his former friend. "We came down on other business, connected with Mr. Hest." "With Hest?" Maunders appeared perturbed. "What do you know about him?" asked Towton sharply, and noticing the change of expression. "I know nothing, save that he is stopping here." "And how do you come to be in this house?" "That's my business," retorted Maunders doggedly. "Your business is our business," interposed Vernon quietly. "I fail to see that." "You fail to see a good many things; but don't be afraid, I shall make everything clear to you in good time." "Are you here as my old school friend?" said Maunders, whining sentimentally, "or as Nemo, the detective?" "You will soon learn. But of one thing you may be certain, that I am no friend of yours. Can you wonder at it, seeing what I discovered yesterday?" "I can explain everything." "Good! Colonel Towton and I await your explanation." Maunders again cast a look at door and window and again saw that there was no hope of escape. "What do you wish to know?" was his sullen request. "In the first place, how you come to be here." "That's easy. I started on Saturday to go down to Yorkshire, as I told you how I intended to go. But news came that my aunt was ill and wished to see me at once. I turned back at the station and went to Hampstead. Then I met Hest at the bazaar yesterday----" "Does he know that you are Diabella?" interrupted Vernon quickly. "No, he doesn't. I met him before I went into the tent to do business. He asked me why I had not gone to Yorkshire, and when I explained he asked me down here. I came last night and remained the night. It's all fair, square, and above-board with me." "That's a lie," said Vernon impulsively, "and Hest told me another one at the bazaar. He could not have seen you between the time I parted from him and came to you when you were masquerading as Diabella, yet he told me that he had received a letter from his sister saying you were in Yorkshire. And you didn't come down here, I take it, to talk Shakespeare and musical glasses. There is something between you and this man Hest, and between you and Professor Gail, no doubt." Maunders rose suddenly and spoke with great earnestness. "I assure you that Gail knows nothing more than that Hest asked me to stay as his guest. He will be here soon, and I beg of you to say nothing to him of what you have discovered. I shall explain everything to your satisfaction before you leave this house." "On that condition," said Vernon, making a sign that Towton should be silent, "we will say nothing to the Professor. I believe I hear footsteps, so no doubt he is coming." Vernon moved away from the door. "If you try to escape, Maunders, I'll break your leg with a bullet," and he pulled out a neat revolver which he kept concealed in his hip pocket. "Rather melodramatic," sneered Maunders with a shrug; "However, you need not be afraid. I'll sit here quietly enough." "You have more cause to be afraid than I have. Hush! Here is the Professor coming," and as he spoke the door opened to admit the old actor. "Mr. Maunders has just come in to keep us company while we wait for Mr. Hest," said Vernon in an easy tone. "Yes," said Maunders, who by this time had recovered his composure. "We are old friends and have much to talk about, so don't let us keep you from your afternoon sleep, Professor." "If you will not think me lacking in courtesy," said Gail in his stately manner, "I shall certainly retire. The brain," he tapped his forehead, "needs rest, and I have invariably found that sleep, as Shakespeare says, 'knits up the ravelled sleeve of care.' Wil you have any refreshment, gentlemen?" "No, thank you," replied Vernon politely; "but it is growing dark, so perhaps you will order lights." "Yonder lamp is ready for use," said the Professor, pointing to the corner near the fireplace, "and certainly it is growing unusually dark, although it is scarcely five o'clock. A fog is descending on the verdant earth." He went to the window and looked out. "Yes, a dense fog. Have you noted, Mr. Maunders, how rapidly these autumnal fogs descend on London?" "Yes. But I should have thought that you were too far away to have them here," replied Maunders in an easy conversational tone, which did great credit to his powers of self-control. "No, sir; no. The fuliginous haze does not spare even our rural suburb, if I may so term it." He swept aside the curtain with a tragic gesture. "Mark how the cloudy mists, darkened with smoke, swallow up house after house and road after road; mark how a brown pall is drawn over the fair green looks of earth and how the----" "One would have to be in a balloon to see all that," said Maunders rudely. "I hope you won't mind, Professor, but I have private business to discuss with my friends here. If Mr. Hest comes in, please tell him I shall see him in his bedroom as soon as my friends go." "Do nothing of the sort, Professor," snapped the Colonel. "I have come here to see Mr. Hest, and he must meet me in this room." But the speech of Maunders had offended the touchy old actor. "I have nothing to do with these things," he said, stalking towards the door, "and, in the good old English fashion, my guests are at liberty to act as they please. Mr. Hest need be told nothing, and when he returns he will certainly enter this room, as is his custom." "But----" began Maunders, only to be cut short by the indignant Professor. "You are not my guest, sir, but the guest of Mr. Hest," he said in his deepest tones, "and you have told me to leave my own room. These manners are suited to the Hyperboreans of the Far North." "I wish to explain----" "Explain nothing, sir," cried Gail in the ponderous manner of Dr. Samuel Johnson. "You may have a front like Mars to threaten and command, but I am no menial to be so hectored." He swept an imaginary mantle over his left shoulder and mouthed blank verse: "We must not stint Our necessary actions in the fear To cope malicious censurers." "Therefore," ended Mr. Gail, returning to prose, "I shall retire to my couch, and so good-day to one and all." When he had made his exit, for it could scarcely be said that he took his departure in a conventional manner, Maunders gave vent to a weak, tittering laugh, doubtless to cloak the real nervousness he felt. "The old fool," he observed with his characteristic shrug. "Let us hope you will not prove to be a young one by withholding from us the truth of this shady business you have been engaged in," said Colonel Towton in a caustic manner, for his sympathies were with the retired actor. "Thank you, I don't wish to receive any compliments," sneered Maunders, "and, for heaven's sake, let us get this business over at once. I have more to do than to explain my private affairs to interlopers." Vernon laughed as he saw that under his air of bravado Maunders was intensely anxious about his position. "That cock won't fight," he said coolly. "You must be aware that you are in a very dangerous position." "I am aware of nothing of the sort. I can justify myself----" "Do so, as regards your masquerading." "Is it a crime to earn an honest livelihood?" "Honest!" said Towton with scorn, "but let that pass." "Fortune-telling is as honest as your detective business," said Maunders insolently to Vernon. "I am Diabella. Why should I deny it?" "You can't, or you would. But to dress up as a woman----" "I didn't," denied Maunders with a scowl. "I simply wore those Egyptian robes over my ordinary clothes and the waxen mask to conceal my face. Also, all that rotten paraphernalia seems to be necessary to the business." "I daresay, to deceive people," said Vernon drily. "Why did you act in this way, may I ask?" "Because I couldn't get my mother to allow me sufficient money to live on." "I thought that Mrs. Bedge was your aunt?" put in the Colonel quickly. "So she is, but I am likewise her adopted son. She kept me short, and I had to earn my money somehow. For three years I have masqueraded as Diabella, and, although I don't want it known, I don't mind if you do tell, as no one can say a word against me." "I can," said Towton grimly. "You employed your servant to strangle me." Maunders shook his head violently. "I did nothing of the sort. Hokar----" "Is that the native's name?" interposed Vernon suddenly. "Yes. I had two native servants. Hokar and Bahadur, and they are both devoted to me. When you, Colonel, tried to pull off my mask naturally Hokar intervened to prevent your doing so. In the same way, Vernon, he punished you for using violence towards me. And I prevented the faithful fellow from strangling you both, so you have your lives to thank me for." "Why didn't you prevent him from strangling Dimsdale?" asked Towton. "I swear that Hokar had nothing to do with that murder, nor had I." "Of course, you would say that for your own safety," said Vernon contemptuously; "but how was it that you became possessed of Dimsdale's secret?" Maunders hesitated. "I am not bound to answer that," he said defiantly. "If you don't answer me you will answer Drench," threatened Vernon firmly. "Drench? You would not dare to bring him into this matter?" "Why not? Dimsdale was blackmailed on account of a certain secret, and, because he would not pay, perished by violence. You know this secret, so the inference is that you----" "That I ordered him to be strangled?" finished Maunders calmly. "How can that be when Hokar was never near Dimsdale's bungalow in his life, and certainly, as I was with Miss Hest nearly all the evening, I could not have committed the murder myself." "That remains to be proved," rejoined Vernon, suppressing what Miss Hest had told him of the young man's movements on the fatal night. "And even presuming you are innocent of the actual crime, and that Hokar was not near the house, The Spider, who came to blackmail, must have learned from you the secret which he threatened to disclose." Maunders was silent for a moment. "You can't prove that I knew about this secret," he said doggedly. "Colonel Towton can swear that he heard it from Diabella, and I can prove that you are the fortune-teller. These facts only admit of one interpretation, Maunders. Either you are an accomplice of The Spider or you are The Spider himself." "It's a lie, it's an infernal lie," cried Maunders greatly agitated. "It's the truth, and you know it. Your face reveals the truth." "How can you tell that when we are nearly in darkness with this fog?" asked Maunders between his teeth. "I can see well enough, and the darkness is easily remedied. Colonel, will you please light the lamp while I keep an eye on our friend here." Maunders cursed his former schoolfellow ardently, while Towton quietly lighted the tall lamp which stood in the corner. The light soon glowed through a rosy shade, adorned in a tawdry manner with artificial flowers, and Vernon stepped up to Maunders. The scamp met his scrutiny unflinchingly, and displayed a courage worthy of a better cause. He was pale with apprehension, for he well knew, in spite of his bravado, that he was in a tight place. But the crimson hue of the light filtering through the shade threw a delicate glow on his finely-cut face. Facing the two gentlemen, who knew him past all denial to be a scoundrel, he looked as handsome a lad as ever stepped in shoe-leather. It seemed a terrible pity that so fair an outside should mask such internal evil. Something of this sort occurred to Vernon as he stepped back with a sigh. "I wish you were as decent a fellow as you look," he said in a regretful voice. "In heaven's name, Maunders, why can't you be an honest man? You have a handsome face, a fine figure, you have had the best education England can afford, and you hold a good position in the social world. Finally, your aunt, Mrs. Bedge, who adopted you as her son, loves you dearly, and if you have not sufficient self-respect to keep straight for your own sake you might behave like an honest gentleman for hers." Maunders might have been moved by this discourse, or he might not. At all events, he showed little signs of feeling on his classic face. "It's all very well your talking," he said sullenly and looking down, a trifle ashamed, if indeed he could be said to display any emotion, "but I have been brought up to live like a prince. I have the tastes of a duke and the income of a pauper, so I must gratify my fancies somehow. I am no more proud of having had to take to fortune-telling for my bread and butter than you are in setting up as a private detective. Neither business is respectable, but the law can say nothing to you or me." "Nothing to me, certainly," Vernon assured him coldly, "since I am, and always have been, on the side of justice. Your fortune-telling may be innocent enough in the main, since you prefer wringing money from silly people instead of taking up a good business. But it's your connection with The Spider that is dangerous to you." "I am not The Spider, and I have no connection with the beast." "In that case how comes it that The Spider offers to place Lady Corsoon in possession of her niece's fortune on condition that she permits _you_ to marry Miss Corsoon?" The Colonel uttered an ejaculation of mingled wrath and horror, and Maunders grew a shade paler. "Is that true?" Towton demanded with a look of loathing at Maunders and then an inquiring glance at Vernon. "Perfectly true," was the response. "I did not intend to say anything to you, Colonel, since the affair is a private one of Lady Corsoon's. But it seems necessary to be frank even at the risk of exposing a lady's secrets, much as I hate to do so. Lady Corsoon received an offer from The Spider to return certain jewels which she pawned to pay her bridge losses, and which he obtained possession of by means of forged pawntickets, on condition that she should pay one thousand pounds. Afterwards another letter was received saying that he would take ten thousand pounds--a single year's income of Miss Dimsdale's--and would place Lady Corsoon in possession of the fortune. She was to pay the money and consent to the marriage of our friend here with Miss Corsoon. How do you explain this interest which The Spider takes in you, Maunders, if you don't know him?" The culprit moistened his dry lips and replied with insolent boldness: "I wrote that letter to Lady Corsoon myself--that is, the second letter. I know nothing about the first." "Then you are The Spider?" cried Towton fiercely. "No. Don't run your head against a wall," retorted Maunders coolly, and fighting for every inch of the disputed ground. "Lady Corsoon told me about the first letter and the threat. I advised her to consult Vernon in his character of Nemo, and did him a good turn." "And yourself a better," said Vernon scornfully. "You hoped that Lady Corsoon on learning my employment would forbid me to think of her daughter." "Yes, I did. However, I sent her to you to do business. Then I thought as she was committed so far with The Spider that there would be no harm in my trying to get her on my side so that I might marry Lucy. I knew that Ida was not entitled to the fortune, as there was no will and she was not old Dimsdale's daughter. I knew also that Lady Corsoon was kept short by her husband and would like to have her own money, if only to pay The Spider and recover the jewels so as to hide her fault from Sir Julius. For this reason I wrote the letter asking that Lady Corsoon should aid me to marry her daughter." "And you asked for ten thousand pounds also," said Towton wrathfully. "Only one year's income of the Dimsdale investments," retorted Maunders with great coolness; "a man must have some money for his honeymoon." "And when Lady Corsoon died you guessed that your wife--which she never will be, you can rest assured--would inherit the whole Dimsdale fortune?" "Quite so. I thought of everything. I suppose Lady Corsoon showed you the second letter as well as the first in your character of Nemo?" "You are correct," replied Vernon with great composure, "and I noted that the second letter, like the first, was signed with the ideograph of The Spider." "Naturally, it would be," said Maunders with a shrug. "I easily had an india-rubber stamp made. The thing, if done, had to be well done." "You are a blackguard," said Colonel Towton, much disgusted. "And may I ask," requested Vernon with irony, "how many other people you have blackmailed by using this stamp?" "None; nor did I blackmail Lady Corsoon. I simply made a suggestion." "On the threat of telling her husband about her gambling and sale of the family jewels." "The Spider used that argument first," said Maunders sullenly; "I simply endorsed it." "I heartily believe that you are the scoundrel himself," snapped Towton. "I swear I am not. Why, even my mother was blackmailed--my adopted mother, that is--on the plea that she is my _real_ mother. Would I have done such a thing as that? "You would do anything to gain your own ends," said Vernon coldly, "always provided your villainy was not discovered." Maunders grew furiously scarlet. "At least I would have spared my aunt. Mrs. Bedge would give me her last sixpence in my character as her adopted son. There was no need for me to attempt blackmail." "Perhaps there was not. But all this does not explain how you came to communicate the secret of Dimsdale to The Spider." "I didn't communicate it, and how he managed to learn it I can't say." "How did you become possessed of it?" asked Towton very directly. "I shan't tell you. And I'm not going to be ragged any longer. If I'd guessed for one moment that you were in this house I would not have put in an appearance." "I can well believe that," said Vernon coolly. "It's not that I'm afraid," Maunders hastily assured him. "As Diabella I have done nothing to which the law can take exception. The assaults on you and the Colonel were brought about by your own damned meddling and by the fidelity of Hokar. But I have given up playing Diabella----" "Because you feared lest we should have you arrested," said Towton shrewdly. "No. Had I been afraid I should never have appeared at the bazaar." "Oh, yes, you would. You pretended to leave London so as to provide an _alibi_ in case of danger," said Vernon quietly, "and you did not think that Colonel Towton would be at the bazaar. Seeing me didn't matter, as you did not know that Towton and myself were working together. And when I think of the infernal rubbish you told me----" "It was your own fault," said Maunders sulkily, "and I've had enough of this so, I'm off." He moved towards the door, but Towton sprang forward and caught his arm. "If you leave this room you will be handed over to the police," he declared. "He will be handed over in any case," said Vernon decisively. Maunders turned ghastly pale and his knees shook. He was beginning to lose the courage which had carried him so far successfully. "Vernon, you would not disgrace your old friend," he pleaded piteously. "You are no friend of mine," was the stern reply, "and your sole chance of escape from arrest is to reveal how you learned this secret of Dimsdale's." "If I tell it will you let me leave this house free?" "No, I shan't. I intend to keep an eye on you until this mystery of The Spider is cleared up. You are his jackal." "I am not; I know nothing. I refuse to speak." "Colonel, go out and fetch a policeman." "No! No! No! No!" almost shrieked the wretched man, and flung himself on his knees. "Arthur, don't, don't. I swear I am innocent. I know nothing of Dimsdale's murder." "Stand up, you cur, and speak out," said Vernon, more enraged by this exhibition of weakness than he had been by the man's insolence. "How did you learn this secret of Dimsdale's? Is it true or a lie?" "It is true. It is true. I swear it is true. Oh, don't call in the police." Maunders still grovelled and clung to the knees of Vernon with such force that the young man could not get away. Outside, the fog had rolled right up to the single window of the apartment, and the livid look of the atmosphere suited the situation much better than did the calm, rosy light of the lamp. Near the door knelt Maunders, weeping piteously and begging that the police might not be called in. Vernon stood silent, but Towton gave vent to an oath at the unmanly demeanour of the detected scoundrel. "Who told you the secret?" he demanded fiercely. "I insist upon knowing, and if you don't tell I'll call in the police myself. A cur such as you are should be under lock and key." "Come, Maunders," said Vernon sternly, "who told you?" "Miss Jewin. She knew Dimsdale in India and Burmah," snuffled the kneeling man, desperately afraid. "Who is Miss Jewin?" "Hest's housekeeper at Gerby----" "What!" Both men uttered the ejaculation simultaneously and looked at one another. Then ensued a silence, while the fog closed in thicker and darker, and only the weeping of Maunders could be heard. Suddenly from the hall came the sound of the door opening, and then a firm footstep. Maunders gave a wild cry and clung vehemently to Vernon's legs. "It's Hest! It's Hest! He'll kill me for telling." "Then Hest is The----" "Yes! Yes! He's The Spider and----" The door was flung open as the footsteps paused, and Francis Hest, wrapped in a heavy overcoat, stood on the threshold smiling. Maunders beat the ground with his hands and crawled to the newcomer's feet. "I couldn't help it; I couldn't help it. I had to tell you were----" "The Spider," cried Vernon, whipping out his revolver. "I arrest you in----" He got no further. At the words of Maunders the villain's face had changed with the rapidity of lightning from smiles to desperate anger. He cast a furious look on his accomplice then suddenly lowered his head so as to get under the line of fire. The next moment Vernon felt Hest charge him head downward in the stomach. The revolver shot harmlessly to the roof, while the young man, taken by surprise, was dashed against the Colonel. Both men fell in a confused heap. "Follow! Follow, you devil!" cried Hest kicking Maunders, still on his knees, and then he rushed out of the door. Maunders leaped up to race for his liberty and closed the door behind him. When the Colonel and Vernon got on their feet again they rushed into the hall to find it empty. The front door had crashed to with a noise like thunder, and they heard it being locked on the outside, to the accompaniment of a triumphal laugh. "We've lost them," cried Vernon, tugging vainly at the door. "They'll get away easily in the fog." <h4>CHAPTER XVI.</h4> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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