Witness to the Deed Part 61

"Course you are, sir, and so are we," said Jem huskily. "Don't 'pologise. Don't make a bit o' diffrens to us. We're paid all the same."

"Of course," cried Guest, keeping up the position of leader, for Stratton stood gazing down into the bath like one in a dream. "There, sergeant, we are very much obliged, and it's all right; so your man had better screw down the bath lid again."

"But it isn't all right, sir," said the sergeant testily, and he gave his ear a scratch. "I don't like giving up just for a check."

Guest s.h.i.+vered.

"I've got as far as here, and I put it to you; the gentleman ought to have been in that thing, and he isn't."

"That's plain enough," said Guest hurriedly.

"Then where is he?"

"In the country, I suppose, collecting."

"That's your opinion, sir. P'r'aps your friend'll speak. What do you say, sir?"

"Nothing," said Stratton, with an effort.

"There is nothing to say," said Guest sharply.

"Queer for this place to have all been screwed up--both, the door and the bath."

"Oh, no; I see why," said Guest quickly. "Bad smells, perhaps, from the waste pipe--sewer gas."

"Don't smell like bad gas," said Jem, sniffing about and ending by dipping a finger in the bath, and holding it to his nose, after which he gave a peculiar grunt.

"Well?"

"Sperrits."

"Nonsense, man!" cried Guest. "What! That?"

"That's sperrits, sure enough, sir," said the man, dipping his finger in the bath again. "Open that there lantern, pardner."

The sergeant obeyed, and his companion thrust in his finger, for it to be enveloped directly with a bluish flame.

"Mind what you're doing," said the sergeant hastily, "or we shall have the whole place a-fire."

"All right, pardner. Sperrits it is, and, I should say, come in them cans."

He gave one of the great tins a tap with his toe, and it sent forth a dull, metallic sound.

"Very likely," said Guest. "Our friend is a naturalist, and uses spirits to preserve things in."

"Look ye here," said the workman oracularly, and he worked one hand about as he spoke. "I don't purfess to know no more than what's my trade, which is locks and odd jobs o' that sort. My pardner here'll tell you, gents, that I'll face anything from a tup'ny padlock up to a strong room or a patent safe; but I've got a thought here as may be a bright 'un, or only a bit of a man's nat'ral fog. You want to find this gent, don't you?"

"Yes," said Guest; and the tone of that "yes" suggested plainly enough, "no."

"What have you got in that wooden head of yours now, Jem?" growled the sergeant.

"Wait a minute, my lad, and you'll hear."

"There's no occasion for us to stop here," said Guest hurriedly.

"On'y a minute, sir, and then I'll screw down the lid. What I wanted to say, gents, is: haven't we found the party, after all?"

"What!" cried Guest. "Where?"

"Here, sir. I don't understand sperrits--beer's my line; but what I say is: mayn't the gent be in there, after all, in slooshun--melted away in the sperrits, like a lump o' sugar in a man's tea?"

"No, he mayn't," said the sergeant, closing the lid with a bang. "Don't you take no notice of him, gentlemen; he's handled screws till he's a reg'lar screw himself."

"But what I say is--"

"Hold your row, and don't make a fool of yourself, mate. Get your work done, and then go home and try experiments with a pint o' paraffin and a rat."

The man uttered a growl, and attacked the bath lid angrily, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it down as the light was held for him, and then going with the others into the sitting room, where he soon restored the old door to its former state, there being no sign, when he had finished, of its having been touched.

Then, after a glance round, with Brettison's portrait still seeming to watch them intently, the outer door was closed, and the little party returned to Stratton's chambers, where certain coins were pa.s.sed from hand to hand, evidently to the great satisfaction of the two men, for Jem began to chuckle and shake his head.

"Well," said the sergeant; "what now?"

"I was thinking, pardner, about baths."

"Yes, yes," said Guest hurriedly; "but that will do."

"Yes, sir, I'm going; but there's your gents as goes and breaks the ice in the Serpentine, and them as goes to be cooked in a hoven, and shampooed; and you pull your strings and has it in showers, and your hot waters and cold waters; but this gent seems to have liked his stronger than anyone I ever knowed afore. I say, pardner, that's having your lotion, and no sham."

"Pooh!" said the sergeant.

"Look here," said Guest quickly, and he slipped another sovereign into the sergeant's hand, "this has all been a foolish mistake. I was too hasty."

"Only did your duty, sir," replied the man. "It was quite right, and I'm glad, for all concerned, that it was a mistake."

"You understand, then; we don't want it to be talked about in the inn, or--or--anywhere, in fact."

"Don't you be afraid about that, sir," said the man quietly. "I don't wonder at you. It did look suspicious, but that's all right, sir.

Good-night, gentlemen both."

"But your man?"

"Close as a nut, sir; aren't you, Jem?"

"Rather," said that personage, with a growl. "Night, sir."

He slipped out, and the sergeant followed. As Guest was closing the door upon him, he whispered: