The Adventures of Jimmie Dale [169]
in the face of the malignant, devilish cunning arrayed against him, that once before he had experienced, that night. He had thought to forestall them--and he had been forestalled himself! This could only have been done--they had had no interest in him before then--while they held him at the Crime Club, while he was spending that two hours in the car! Was that why they had taken so long in coming? Was that why the car had stopped that time--that those with him might be told that the work here had been completed, and he need no longer be kept away? He edged away from the window, and, as cautiously as he had come, retraced his steps across the cellar and up the stairs--and then, the possibility of being heard from without gone, he broke into a run. There was no need to wonder long what those wires meant. They could mean only one of two things--and the Crime Club would have little concern in his electric light! THEY HAD TAPPED HIS TELEPHONE. The mains, he knew, ran into the cellar from the underground service in the street. He was racing like a madman now. How long ago, how many hours ago, had they done that! Great Scott, SHE was to have telephoned! Had she done so? Was the game, all, everything, she herself, at their mercy already? If she had telephoned, Jason would have left a message on his desk--he would look there first--afterward he would waken Jason. He gained the door of his den on the first landing, a room that ran the entire length of one side of the house from front to rear, burst in, switched on the light---and stood stock-still in amazement. "Jason!" he cried out. The old butler, fully dressed, rubbing and blinking his eyes at the light, and with a startled cry, rose up from the depths of a lounging chair. "Jason!" exclaimed Jimmie Dale again. "I beg pardon, sir, Master Jim," stammered the man. "I--I must have fallen asleep, sir." "Jason, what are you doing here?" Jimmie Dale demanded sharply. "Well, sir," said Jason, still fumbling for his words, "it--it was the telephone, sir." "The--TELEPHONE!" "Yes, sir. A woman, begging your pardon, Master Jim, a lady, sir, has been telephoning every hour or so, and she--" "YES!" Jimmie Dale had jumped across the room and had caught the other fiercely by the shoulder. "Yes--yes! What did she say? QUICK, man!" "Good Lord, Master Jim!" faltered Jason. "I--she--" "Jason," said Jimmie Dale, suddenly as cold as ice, "what did she say? Think, man! Every word!" "She didn't say anything, Master Jim. Nothing at all, sir--except to keep asking each time if she could speak to you." "Nothing else, Jason?" "No, sir." "You are SURE?" "I'm sure, Master Jim. Not another thing but that, sir, just as I've told you." "Thank God!" said Jimmie Dale, in a low voice. "Yes, sir," said Jason mechanically. "How long ago was it since she telephoned last?" asked Jimmie Dale quickly. "Well, sir, I couldn't rightly say. You see, as I said, Master Jim, I must have gone to sleep, but--" They were staring tensely into each other's face. The telephone on the desk was ringing vibrantly, clamourously, through the stillness of the room. Jason, white, frightened, bewildered, touched his lips with the tip of his tongue. "That'll be her again, sir," he said hoarsely. "Wait!" said Jimmie Dale tersely. He was trying to think, to think faster than he had ever thought before. He could not tell Jason to say that he had not yet come in-- THEY knew he was in, it would be but showing his hand to that "some one" who would be listening now on the wire. He dared not speak to her, or, above all, allow her to expose herself by a single inadvertent word. He dared not speak to her--and she was here now, calling him! He could not speak to her--and it was life and death almost that she should know what had happened; life and death almost for both of them that he should know all and everything she could tell him. True, it would take but a minute to run to the cellar and cut those wires, while Jason held her on the pretence of calling him, Jimmie Dale, to the 'phone; only a minute to cut those wires--