Bones in London - Edgar Wallace [76]
There was a silence.
“Indeed?” said Bones a little huskily, and he knew instinctively what that delicate matter was.
“It is about Marguerite,” said Mr Hyane.
Bones inclined his head.
“You see, we have been great pals all our lives,” went on Jackson Hyane, pulling steadily at the cigarette – “in fact, sweethearts.”
His keen eyes never left the other’s face, and he read all he wanted to know.
“I am tremendously fond of Marguerite,” he went on, “and I think I am not flattering myself when I say that Marguerite is tremendously fond of me. I haven’t been especially fortunate, and I have never had the money which would enable me to offer Marguerite the kind of life which a girl so delicately nurtured should have.”
“Very admirable,” said Bones, and his voice came to his own ears as the voice of a stranger.
“A few days ago,” Mr Hyane went on, “I was offered a tea plantation for fourteen thousand pounds. The prospects were so splendid that I went to a financier who is a friend of mine, and he undertook to provide the money, on which, of course, I agreed to pay an interest. The whole future, which had been so black, suddenly became as bright as day. I came to Marguerite, as you saw, with the news of my good luck, and asked her if she would be my wife.”
Bones said nothing; his face was a mask.
“And now I come to my difficulty, Mr Tibbetts,” said Hyane. “This afternoon Marguerite and I played upon you a little deception which I hope you will forgive.”
“Certainly, certainly,” mumbled Bones, and gripped the arms of his chair the tighter.
“When I took Marguerite to lunch today,” said Hyane, “it was to be – married.”
“Married!” repeated Bones dully, and Mr Hyane nodded.
“Yes, we were married at half-past one o’clock today at the Marylebone Registry Office, and I was hoping that Marguerite would be able to tell you her good news herself. Perhaps” – he smiled – “it isn’t as good news to her as it is to me. But this afternoon a most tragic thing happened.”
He threw away his cigarette, rose, and paced the room with agitated strides. He had practised those very strides all that morning, for he left nothing to chance.
“At three o’clock this afternoon I called upon my financier friend, and discovered that, owing to heavy losses which he had incurred on the Stock Exchange, he was unable to keep his promise. I feel terrible, Mr Tibbetts! I feel that I have induced Marguerite to marry me under false pretences. I had hoped tomorrow morning to have gone to the agents of the estate and placed in their hands the cheque for fourteen thousand pounds, and to have left by the next mail boat for India.”
He sank into the chair, his head upon his hands, and Bones watched him curiously.
Presently, and after an effort, Bones found his voice.
“Does your – your – wife know?” he asked.
Jackson shook his head.
“No,” he groaned, “that’s the terrible thing about it. She hasn’t the slightest idea. What shall I tell her? What shall I tell her?”
“It’s pretty rotten, old – Mr Hyane.” Bones found his voice after a while. “Deuced rotten for the young miss – for Mrs – for her.”
He did not move from his chair, nor relax his stiff expression. He was hurt beyond his own understanding, frantically anxious to end the interview, but at a loss to find an excuse until his eyes fell upon the clock over the mantelpiece.
“Come back at ten – no, half-past ten, young Mr…awfully busy now…see you at half-past ten, eh?”
Mr Hyane made a graceful exit, and left Bones alone with the shattered fragments of great romance.
So that was why she had gone off in such a hurry, and she had not dared to tell him. But why not? He was nothing to her…he would never see her again! The thought made him cold. Never again! Never again! He tried to summon that business fortitude of his, of which he was so proud. He wanted some support, some moral support in this moment of acute anguish. Incidentally he wanted to cry, but didn’t.
She ought to have given him a week’s notice, he told himself fiercely, then laughed hysterically at the thought. He considered the matter from all its aspects