The Adventures of Jimmie Dale [173]
gravely. "Well, sir," admitted Jason, in concern; "a bit done up, sir, perhaps. A little pale, sir; though I'm sure--" "I'm glad to hear it," said Jimmie Dale, sitting up in bed. "The worse I look, the better!" "I--I beg pardon, sir?" stammered Jason. "Jason," said Jimmie Dale, gravely again, "you have had reason to know that on several occasions my life has been threatened. It is threatened now. You know from last night that this house is now watched. You may, or you may not have surmised--that our telephone wires have been tapped." "Tapped, sir!"--Jason's face had gone a little gray. "Yes; a party line, so to speak," said Jimmie Dale grimly. "Do you understand? You must be careful to say no more, no less than exactly what I tell you to say. Now go and telephone! Ask the doctor to come over and see me this morning. Simply say that I am not feeling well; but that, apart from being apparently in a very nervous condition, you do not know what is the matter." "Yes, sir--good Lord, sir!" gasped Jason--and left the room to carry out his orders. An hour later, Doctor Merlin had been and gone--and had left two prescriptions; one written, the other verbal. With the written one, Benson, in his chauffeur's livery, was dispatched to the drug store; the verbal one was precisely what Jimmie Dale had expected from the fussy old family physician: "Two or three days of quiet in the house James; and if you need me again, let me know." "Now, Jason," said Jimmie Dale, when the old man had returned from ushering Doctor Merlin from the house, "our friends out there will be anxious to learn the verdict. I was to dine with the Ross- Hendersons to-morrow night, was I not?" "Yes, sir; I think so, sir." "Make sure!" said Jimmie Dale. "Look in my engagement book there on the table." Jason looked. "Yes, sir, that's right," he announced. "Very good," said Jimmie Dale softly. "Now go and telephone again, Jason. Present my regrets and excuses to the Ross-Hendersons, and say that under the doctor's orders I am confined to the house for the next few days--and, Jason!" "Yes, sir?" "When Benson returns with the medicine let him bring it here himself--and I shall want you as well." Jimmie Dale propped himself up a little wearily on the pillows, as Jason went out of the room. After all, his condition was not entirely feigned. He was, as a matter of fact, pretty well played out, both mentally and physically. Certainly, that he should require a doctor and be confined to the house could not arouse suspicion even in the minds of those alert, aristocratic thugs of the Crime Club, prone as they would be to suspect anything--a man who had been knocked unconscious in an automobile smash the night before, had been in a fight, had been subjected to a terrific mental shock, to say nothing of the infernal drug that had been administered to him, might well be expected to be indisposed the next morning, and for several mornings following that! It might, indeed, even cause them to relax their vigilance for the time being-- though he dared build nothing on that. Well, he had only to coach Benson and Jason in the parts they were to play, and the balance of the morning and all the afternoon was his in which to rest. He reached over to the table, picked up a pencil and paper, and began to jot down memoranda. He had just tossed the pencil back on the table as the two men entered. Jason, at a sign, closed the door quietly. Jimmie Dale looked at Benson half musingly, half whimsically, for a moment before he spoke. "Benson," he said, "the back seat of the large touring car is hinged and lifts up, once the cushion is removed, doesn't it?" "Yes, sir," Benson answered promptly. "And there's space enough for, say, a man inside, isn't there?" "Why, yes, sir; I suppose so--at a squeeze"--Benson stared blankly. "Quite so!" said Jimmie Dale calmly. "Now, another matter, Benson: I believe some chauffeurs have a habit, when occasion lends itself, of taking, shall we say, their 'best girl' out riding in their masters' machines?" "SOME might," Benson replied, a little stiffly.