A Duel Part 42

"Mrs. Lamb, I will have nothing to do with you of any sort or kind; after the monstrous fas.h.i.+on in which you have behaved it is the sheerest absurdity to suppose that we can have any communication with you except through a properly accredited representative."

"So I've behaved in a monstrous fas.h.i.+on, have I? I'll teach you to talk to me like that."

She began the lesson then and there. Gripping him by both shoulders she shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. He was a slightly built man, not physically strong; had he been a rat he could scarcely have seemed more helpless in her hands. When, presumably, she was of opinion that the first lesson had lasted long enough, she honoured him with a few remarks.

"You take from me everything on which you can lay your claws; you strip me of every s.h.i.+lling I possess; and then, when I ask for some of it back, you insult me. You--dirty--thief!" Here there was another bout of shaking. "There are men doing penal servitude who aren't half such mean, sneaking scamps as you are--and plenty of them."

She flung him from her against the wall, leaving him to struggle for breath as best he might. Lady d.y.k.es, in an armchair, was developing what promised to be a very fine attack of hysterics.

She was beginning to make as much noise as Mrs. Lamb herself.

Mr. McTavish, who, judging from his appearance, had been in imminent peril of a stroke of apoplexy, seemed all at once to regain his power of speech.

"Upon my word, you're--you're--you're the most dangerous woman I ever heard of!"

"And you're the most dangerous thief! Perhaps before I've done with you you'll find that thieving's almost as dangerous to yourself as to those on whom you practise."

There came a smart rapping on one of the doors, and a voice from without.

"Shall we send for a policeman, sir?"

"By all means!--at once! Let him break down the door if he can't get in any other way! This--this woman's--positively dangerous."

"You're right there; I am--you've made me dangerous. And don't you think that a policeman, or ten policemen, will keep me from being even with you if I once get started; not all the policemen in London couldn't do it!"

Mr. Luker, seemingly under the impression that his client was going a little too far, even for her, ventured on an interposition.

"Pardon me, Mrs. Lamb, but, if you will allow me to say so, I think this matter can be settled on a perfectly peaceful basis.

If these gentlemen are disposed to be reasonable, and I feel sure they are, everything can be arranged without unpleasantness of any sort or kind. The point is----"

Mrs. Lamb took the words out of his mouth, subst.i.tuting, that is, words of her own.

"The point is, that, among other things, you've robbed me of ten thousand Hardwood Company's shares."

"It's an infamous falsehood! We've done nothing of the kind!"

"Haven't you? I know you have, and so do you; but you're one of those brazen-faced old sinners who would go to the gallows with a lie on your lips. Those shares are worth fifty thousand pounds, and more; but as you've robbed me of every penny I have in the world, and left me with nothing but starvation staring me in the face----"

"It's--it's incredible how any one should dare to say such things!--incredible!"

"So there's nothing left for me but to try to come to terms with the robbers, and that's what I have come for. If you'll give me a cheque for forty thousand pounds--now!--this minute!--you may keep the other ten, and much good may it do you. So just you move yourself. Sit down at that table and write me a cheque for forty thousand pounds."

"Forty thousand pounds! Do you suppose----"

"I suppose nothing. You do as I tell you, or you'll be sorry."

Again Mr. Luker ventured on an interposition.

"If, once more, you will excuse me, Mrs. Lamb, if you will permit me I will point out to Mr. McTavish how much more than moderate you are disposed to be in your demands. I have Mrs.

Lamb's permission to inform you, Mr. McTavish, that she is in absolute want of ready cash; that she is practically in a state of dest.i.tution; and that therefore she is willing to waive her lawful claims to such an extent that she is prepared to accept the sum of five-and-twenty thousand pounds; a fair proportion to be paid at once, and the balance on a given date; and to give you in exchange a discharge in full for all her claims against you respecting the Hardwood Company's shares."

Mrs. Lamb's manner, as she acquiesced in her solicitor's modification of her terms, was not precisely gracious.

"If I take twenty-five thousand pounds that will be going halves. If I am to be robbed I suppose I may as well be properly robbed; but I'll have at least ten thousand pounds in cash. So, now, Mr. McTavish, without any more fuss, perhaps you'll let me have a cheque for that ten thousand."

"Ten thousand pounds! I'll not give you a cheque for tenpence."

"You're two men, and I'm only a woman, but you'll find that I'm much more than a match for the pair of you; and if you're not careful I'll thrash you both till within an inch of your lives; I'll leave marks on you which you'll carry to your graves. As for you, you bloated old whisky barrel, I've only got to give you one or two smart ones in the proper place, and you'll be in your grave before you think. So if you want to keep on living, you'll make no more bones about handing me that cheque."

"This--this is worse than highway robbery! In my own office you--you positively threaten----"

"Threaten! I'll do more than threaten! Quick! Are you going to fork up or am I to break every bone in your body?"

"I--I--I will not be bullied----"

"Bullied! I'll show you!" She s.n.a.t.c.hed up a stout malacca cane which stood by Mr. McTavish's table, and which was that gentleman's property. "To start with, I'll splinter this over your bodies, then I'll smash everything else in the place, and you into the bargain. Now is it going to be the coin or----"

The hand holding the stick went up into the air, the gesture rounding off the sentence with sufficient significance.

"You wicked woman! how dare you threaten me with my own stick?

Help! Where is that policeman?"

"Policeman! Do you think I care for a policeman? Not that much!"

Down came the stick with a swis.h.i.+ng sound through the air. As it descended Mr. Luker caught the lady by the wrist.

"Mrs. Lamb, I do implore you to pause a moment for consideration. I reiterate my conviction that if you will only exercise a little patience this matter can be settled amicably and without violence."

"Luker, if you don't want to let yourself in for a little handling on your own account you'll let go of my wrist."

"On the contrary, Mr. Luker, I beg you will keep a tight hold--the woman must be stark mad."

"Mad!" With a sudden twist Mrs. Lamb wrenched herself loose from Mr. Luker, and that same moment there was a smart rapping at the door, and an authoritative voice was heard without.

"I'm a police constable. What's going on in there? Open this door at once."

"Break it open, constable, break it open. I'm Mr. McTavish, and I authorise you. We're--we're in actual danger of our lives."

There must have been some one on the other side who knew how to deal with a locked door, for in a surprisingly short s.p.a.ce of time it was open. A constable was revealed, supported by a considerable body of clerks, of all ages, in the background. The representative of law and order advanced into the room.

"What's taking place in here?"

"I'm Mr. McTavish, officer, the senior partner in this firm.

This--this woman has been endeavouring to extract money by means of threats. I must request you to eject her from these premises at once."

"Do you charge her?"

"Not at this moment, though, no doubt, later proceedings will be taken which will bring home to her a sense of her misconduct. At present all I want you to do is to turn her out."

"And this woman also?"