The Cruise of the Jasper B. Page 17

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE MAN IN THE BLUE PAJAMAS

  The rain had ceased almost as Miss Pringle was removed to the cabin.The storm had passed. Low down on the edges of the world there werestill a few dark clouds, there was still an occasional glimmer oflightning; but overhead the mists were fleecy, light and broken. A fewstars were visible here and there.

  And then in a moment more a full moon rose high and serene above theworld. The May moon is often very brilliant in these latitudes, assailors who are familiar with the coasts of Long Island can testify.This moon was unusually brilliant, even for the season of the year andthe quarter of the globe. It lighted up earth and sky so that it was(in the familiar phrase) almost possible to read by it. Only a fewmoments had elapsed since the rout of Logan Black's ruffians, but inthe vicinity of this remarkable island such sudden meteorologicalchanges are anything but rare, geographers and travelers know.

  Lady Agatha had gone into the cabin to resuscitate Miss Pringle and, asshe said, "have it out with her." Cleggett, gazing from the decktowards Morris's, in the strong moonlight, wondered when the attackwould be renewed. He thought, on the whole, that it was improbablethat Loge would return to the assault while this brightness continued.

  Suddenly three figures appeared within his range of vision. They wererunning. But running slowly, painfully, lamely. In the lead were thetwo men whom he had first seen hazed up and down the bank of the canalby Wilton Barnstable, and whom he had seen the second time chained inthe great detective's boat.

  They were shackled wrist to wrist now. To the left leg of one of themwas attached a heavy ball. A similar ball was attached to the right legof the other. They had picked these balls up and were struggling alongunder their weight at a gait which was more like a staggering walk thana trot.

  They were pursued by the man whom Cleggett had seen attempt to escapefrom Morris's. This man still wore his suit of baby blue pajamas.

  He wore nothing else. He was stiff. He moved as if the ground hurthis bare feet.

  He especially favored, as Cleggett noticed, the foot on which there wasa bunion. He was lame. He crept rather than ran. But he seemedbitterly intent upon reaching the two men in irons who labored alongtwenty or thirty feet ahead of him. And they, on their part, castingnow and then backward glances over their shoulders at their pursuer.

  Cleggett divined that the men in irons had escaped from the AnnabelLee, and that the man in the baby blue pajamas was loose from Morris's.But why the man in the pajamas pursued and the others fled he could notguess.

  They passed within fifty yards of the Jasper B. But the men in ironswere so intent upon their own troubles, and the pursuer was so keen onvengeance, that none of them noticed the vessel. As they limped along,splashing through the pools the rain had left, the pursuer wouldoccasionally pause to fling stones and sticks and even cakes of mud atthe fugitives, who were whimpering as they tottered forward.

  The man in the baby blue pajamas was cursing in a high-pitched, nasal,querulous voice. Cleggett noticed with astonishment that asingle-barreled eyeglass was screwed into one of his eyes. Occasionallyit dropped to the ground, and he would stop and fumble for it and wipeit on his wet sleeve and replace it. Had it not been for these stopshe would have overtaken the men in irons.

  "Clement!" Lady Agatha laid her hand upon his arm. "Miss Pringle wantsto see you in the cabin."

  "Well--imposter!" laughed Cleggett. "Is she able to talk to you yet?And what on earth did she mean by her plum preserves?"

  "That is what she wants to tell, evidently," said Lady Agatha. And shewent aft with him.

  Miss Pringle, who had been rubbed dry by Lady Agatha, and was nowdressed in some articles of that lady's clothing, which were much toolarge for her, sat on the edge of the bed in Lady Agatha's stateroomand awaited them. Her appearance was scarcely conventional, and sheseemed to feel it; nevertheless, she had a duty to perform, and herinnate propriety still triumphed over her situation and habiliments.

  "Mr. Cleggett," she said, pointing to the box which contained theevidence against Logan Black, which was exactly similar to the box ofReginald Maltravers, and which had been placed in this inner room forsafe-keeping, "what does that box contain?"

  Cleggett was startled. He and Lady Agatha exchanged glances.

  "What do you think it contains?" he asked.

  "That box," she said, "was shipped to me from Flatbush, and was claimedin my name--in the name of Genevieve Pringle--at the freight depot atNewark, New Jersey, by this lady here. Deny it if you can!"

  "I do deny it, Miss Pringle," said Lady Agatha, accompanying her wordswith a winsome smile. But Miss Pringle was not to be won over soeasily as all that; she met the smile with a look of steadyreprobation. And then she turned to Cleggett again.

  "Mr. Cleggett," she said, "my birthday occurred a few days ago. Itwas--I have nothing to conceal, Mr. Cleggett--it was my forty-ninthbirthday. Every year, for many years past, a niece of mine who livesin Flatbush sends me on my birthday a box of plum preserves.

  "These preserves have for me, Mr. Cleggett, a value that they would notpossess for anyone else; a value far above their intrinsic or, as onemight say, culinary value. They have a sentimental value as well. Iwas born in Flatbush, and lived there, during my youth, on my father'sestate. The city has since grown around the old place, which my niecenow owns, but the plum trees stand as they have stood for more thanfifty years. It was beneath these plum trees...."

  Miss Pringle suddenly broke off; her face twitched; she felt for ahandkerchief, and found none; she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

  In another person this action might have appeared somewhat careless,but Miss Pringle, by the force of her character, managed to invest itwith propriety and dignity; looking at her, one felt that to wipe one'seyes on one's sleeve was quite proper when done by the proper person.

  "I will conceal nothing, Mr. Cleggett. It was under these plum treesthat I once received an offer of marriage from a worthy young man. Itwas from one of these plum trees that he later fell, injuring himselfso that he died. You can understand what these plum trees mean to me,perhaps?"

  Lady Agatha impulsively sat down beside the elder woman and put her armabout her. But Miss Pringle stiffly moved away. After a moment shecontinued:

  "The preserved plums, as I have said, are sent me every year on mybirthday. This year, when I received from my niece a notification thatthey had been shipped, I called for the box personally at the freightoffice.

  "What was my astonishment to learn that the box had been claimed in myname, not a quarter of an hour before, and taken away.

  "I obtained a description of the person who had represented herself asMiss Genevieve Pringle, and of the vehicle in which she had carried offmy box. And I followed her. The paltriness of the theft revolted me,Mr. Cleggett, and I determined to bring this person to justice.

  "The fugitive, with my plum preserves in her possession, had left,goodness knows, a broad enough trail. I found but little difficulty infollowing in my family carriage. In fact, Mr. Cleggett, I discoveredthe very chauffeur who had deposited her here with the box. Inquiriesin Fairport gave me your name as the owner of this lighter."

  "Lighter!" interrupted Cleggett. "The Jasper B., madam, is not alighter."

  "I beg your pardon," said Miss Pringle. "But what sort of vessel is itthen?"

  "The Jasper B.," said Cleggett, with a touch of asperity, "is aschooner, madam."

  "I intended no offense, Mr. Cleggett. I am quite willing tobelieve that the vessel is a schooner, since you say that it is. I amnot informed concerning nautical affairs. But, to conclude--Idiscovered from the chauffeur that this lady, calling herself LadyAgatha Fairhaven, had been deposited here, with my box. I learnedyesterday, after inquiries in Fairport, that you were the owner of thisvessel. The real estate person from whom you purchased it assured methat you were financially responsible. I came to expose this imposterand to recover my box. On my way hither I was c
aught in the storm.The runaway occurred, and you know the rest."

  Miss Pringle, during this recital, had not deigned to favor Lady Agathawith a look. Lady Agatha, on her part, after the rebuff which she hadreceived, had sat in smiling silence.

  "Miss Pringle," she said, pleasantly but seriously, when the otherwoman had finished, "first I must convince you that this box does notcontain your plum preserves, and then I will tell you my story."

  With Cleggett's assistance Lady Agatha removed the cover from theoblong box, and showed her its contents.

  "That explains nothing," said Miss Pringle, dryly. "Of course youwould remove the plum preserves to a place of safety."

  "Miss Pringle," said Lady Agatha, "I will tell you everything. I DIDclaim a box in your name at the railway goods station in Newark--and ifthere had been nothing in it but plum preserves, how happy I should be!I beg of you, Miss Pringle, to give me your attention."

  And Lady Agatha began to relate to Miss Pringle the same story whichshe had told to Cleggett. At the first word indicative of the fact theLady Agatha had suffered for the cause of votes for women, a changetook place in the expression of Miss Pringle's countenance. Cleggettthought she was about to speak. But she did not. Nevertheless,although she listened intently, some of her rigidity had gone. WhenLady Agatha had finished Miss Pringle said:

  "I suppose that you can prove that you are really Lady AgathaFairhaven?"

  For answer Lady Agatha went to one of her trunks and opened it. Shedrew therefrom a letter, and passed it over without a word.

  As Miss Pringle read it, her face lighted up. She did not lose herprimness, but her suspicion seemed altogether to depart.

  "A letter from Emmeline Pankhurst!" she said, in a hushed voice,handling the missive as if it were a sacred relic. "Can you everforgive me?"

  "There is nothing to forgive," beamed Lady Agatha. "I am willing toadmit, now that you understand me, that the thing looked a bitsuspicious, on the face of it."

  "You have suffered for the cause," said Miss Pringle. "I have sufferedfor it, too!" And, with a certain shyness, she patted Lady Agatha onthe arm. But the next moment she said:

  "But what IS in the box you brought here then, Lady Agatha? Two boxeswere shipped to Newark, addressed to me. Which one did you get? Whatis really in the one you have been carrying around? My plum preserves,or----"

  She shuddered and left the sentence unfinished.

  "Let us open it," said Cleggett.

  "No! No!" cried Lady Agatha. "Clement, no! I could not bear to have itopened."

  Miss Pringle rose. It was evident that a bit of her earlier suspicionhad returned.

  "After all," said Miss Pringle, indicating the letter again, "how do Iknow that----"

  "That it is not a forgery?" said Lady Agatha. "I see." She mused amoment, and then said, with a sigh, "Well, then, let us open the box!"

  "I think it best, Agatha," said Cleggett. "I shall have it broughtdown."

  But even as he turned upon his heel to go on deck and give the order,Dr. Farnsworth and the Rev. Simeon Calthrop ran excitedly down thecabin companionway.

  "The box of Reginald Maltravers," cried the Doctor, who was inCleggett's confidence, "is gone!"