Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [81]
with bargains or with the police, they will discover where it is and send four strong men in a car to get it.' We were cut short at this point by a thunderous knocking at the front door. 'Police!' said Finn. I thought it was more likely to be Sammy's strong men. We looked at each other. Mars growled, his fur rising. The knocking was repeated. 'We'll let on not to be in,' said Finn in a whisper. Mars let out a couple of deafening barks. 'That's given that away!' said Dave. 'Let's go and look at them through the glass of the door,' I said, 'and see how many there are.' I was ready to fight for Mars, unless of course it should turn out to be the police. We walked softly out into the hall. The stained glass of Dave's front door gave us a jagged image of what lay beyond it. There seemed to be only one person there. 'The rest are in wait on the steps,' said Finn. 'Oh, damn this!' I said, and opened the door. 'Two wires for Donaghue,' said a telegraph boy. I took them, and he disappeared down the stairs. Finn and Dave were laughing, but I shivered with apprehension as I tore open the first telegram. At that moment everything was alarming. I read it through several times. Then I walked back into the sitting-room. What it said was: Come Paris Hotel Prince de Cleves at once by air for important talk stop all expenses paid stop thirty pounds immediate outlay under separate cover Madge. 'What is it?' said Finn and Dave, following me. I gave it to them to read. The other wire was the order for the thirty pounds. We all sat down. 'What will this be for?' asked Dave. 'I haven't got the remotest notion,' I said. What in the world could Madge be up to now? It was all curiously unreal. Except for the thirty pounds. That was real; like the next morning object which proves that it wasn't all a dream. What was Madge doing in Paris? A fever of curiosity was already raging in my blood. In an instant I had run over a dozen possibilities without finding one that was plausible. 'I shall go, of course,' I said thoughtfully to the other two. Madge's wire was from every point of view a very welcome development. It wasn't that I was exactly bored with my blackmail scheme; but it had turned out to be rather disappointing and its final stages were likely to be frustrating and mechanical. Perhaps indeed the best thing would be to abandon it altogether. I need small persuading to go to Paris at any time; least of all now, when Anna was there. Or rather Anna might be there. But no, she must be there, I felt, so charged with her presence was the image of that city which now rose up before me; and already in my mind I was walking with Anna along the Champs-Elysees, while the warm breeze of an eternal Parisian spring blew into our faces like drifting flowers the promises of a coming felicity. 'And you would leave us to hold up the baby?' Dave was incoherent with indignation. 'You commit stealing and blackmail and when all is confusion you go of to Paris and leave here your stolen property to be found by the police, no?' 'All expenses paid,' said Finn. 'Look,' I said, 'I won't stay long, only half a day if need be. I'll just see what Madge wants. If trouble breaks out here you can cable me and I'll be back in a few hours.' Dave calmed down a little. 'Can you not wait?' he said. 'It sounds so urgent,' I told him, 'and there may be money in it.' The all expenses paid aspect had suggested this to me very strongly. This made Dave more thoughtful. 'All right,' he said, after a little more discussion, 'you may as well earn your bail. But first we must decide what letter to write, and second, you must leave us much money to feed the animal and in case there is a crisis.' 'There's no difficulty about money,' I told him, nursing a secure feeling about Sammy's cheque. Then a dreadful thought spun me round like a bullet in the shoulder. Of course, as soon as Sammy had heard who it was that had kidnapped Mars he would have stopped the cheque. I leapt out of my chair. 'What is it now?' said Dave. 'You are getting on my nerves.' How far would Sammy's sporting instincts extend?