pounds will look just as good in the morning to the lady as it did over night.
There’s nothing to worry over. She won’t speak without the cash anyway, you
bet!”
There was certainly a good deal of common sense in this, and Tuppence felt
a little comforted.
“What you say is true,” said Sir James meditatively. “I must confess,
however, that I cannot help wishing we had not interrupted at the minute we did.
Still, it cannot be helped, it is only a matter of waiting until the morning.”
He looked across at the inert figure on the bed. Mrs. Vandemeyer lay
perfectly passive with closed eyes. He shook his head.
“Well,” said Tuppence, with an attempt at cheerfulness, “we must wait until
the morning, that’s all. But I don’t think we ought to leave the flat.”
“What about leaving that bright boy of yours on guard?”
“Albert? And suppose she came round again and hooked it. Albert couldn’t
stop her.”
“I guess she won’t want to make tracks away from the dollars.”
“She might. She seemed very frightened of ‘Mr. Brown.’ ”
“What? Real plumb scared of him?”
“Yes. She looked round and said even walls had ears.”
“Maybe she meant a dictaphone,” said Julius with interest.
“Miss Tuppence is right,” said Sir James quietly. “We must not leave the
flat–if only for Mrs. Vandemeyer’s sake.”
Julius stared at him.
“You think he’d get after her? Between now and to-morrow morning. How
could he know, even?”
“You forget your own suggestion of a dictaphone,” said Sir James dryly. “We
have a very formidable adversary. I believe, if we exercise all due care, that
there is a very good chance of his being delivered into our hands. But we must
neglect no precaution. We have an important witness, but she must be
safeguarded. I would suggest that Miss Tuppence should go to bed, and that you
and I, Mr. Hersheimmer, should share the vigil.”
Tuppence was about to protest, but happening to glance at the bed she saw
Mrs. Vandemeyer, her eyes half-open, with such an expression of mingled fear and
malevolence on her face that it quite froze the words on her lips.
For a moment she wondered whether the faint and the heart attack had been a
gigantic sham, but remembering the deadly pallor she could hardly credit the
supposition. As she looked the expression disappeared as by magic, and Mrs.
Vandemeyer lay inert and motionless as before. For a moment the girl fancied she
must have dreamt it. But she determined nevertheless to be on the alert.
“Well,” said Julius, “I guess we’d better make a move out of here any way.”
The others fell in with his suggestion. Sir James again felt Mrs.
Vandemeyer’s pulse.
“Perfectly satisfactory,” he said in a low voice to Tuppence. “She’ll be
absolutely all right after a night’s rest.”
The girl hesitated a moment by the bed. The intensity of the expression
she had surprised had impressed her powerfully. Mrs. Vandemeyer lifted her lids.
She seemed to be struggling to speak. Tuppence bent over her.
“Don’t–leave—-” she seemed unable to proceed, murmuring something that
sounded like “sleepy.” Then she tried again.
Tuppence bent lower still. It was only a breath.
“Mr.–Brown—-” The voice stopped.
But the half-closed eyes seemed still to send an agonized message.
Moved by a sudden impulse, the girl said quickly:
“I shan’t leave the flat. I shall sit up all night.”
A flash of relief showed before the lids descended once more. Apparently
Mrs. Vandemeyer slept. But her words had awakened a new uneasiness in Tuppence.
What had she meant by that low murmur: “Mr. Brown?” Tuppence caught herself
nervously looking over her shoulder. The big wardrobe loomed up in a sinister
fashion before her eyes. Plenty of room for a man to hide in that….
Half-ashamed of herself, Tuppence pulled it open and looked inside. No one–of
course! She stooped down and looked under the bed. There was no other possible
hiding-place.
Tuppence gave her familiar shake of the shoulders. It was absurd, this
giving way to nerves! Slowly she went out of the room. Julius and Sir James
were talking in a low voice. Sir James turned to her.