The Talisman Ring Read online

  ‘Do you know,’ said Miss Thane, with an air of candour, ‘I believe you are wise. You are not cut out for matrimony. Your faith in females was shattered by an unfortunate affair in your youth; your eyes were opened to the defects of the female character; you are –’

  Sir Tristram looked thunderous. ‘Who told you this?’ he snapped.

  ‘Why, you did!’

  ‘I?’ he repeated.

  ‘Most certainly.’

  ‘You are mistaken. I am ready to allow that there may be many excellent women in the world. I do not know by what sign you knew that there had been an affair in my past about which I do not care to think. I can assure you that it has not prejudiced me against your sex.’

  Miss Thane listened to this with her usual placidity, and, far from showing discomfiture, merely said: ‘It seems to me very inexplicable that you can have met your cousin with so open a mind and yet failed to fall instantly in love with her.’

  He gave a short laugh. ‘There is no fear of my falling in love, ma’am. I learned my lesson early in life, but believe me, I have not forgotten it!’

  ‘How melancholy it is to reflect that so few people have the good sense to profit by their experience as you have done!’ said Miss Thane soulfully. ‘I wonder if we should warn your cousins of the disillusionment in store for them?’

  ‘I do not think it will be necessary, Miss Thane. Moreover, there is no immediate likelihood of their being married. Ludovic’s affairs seem to me to be in as bad a way as they well might be.’

  She became serious at once. ‘Do you think them hopeless?’

  ‘No, not hopeless,’ he replied. ‘But we have no certainty of the talisman ring being in Basil Lavenham’s possession, and to be frank with you, I don’t place much dependence upon its being in the priest’s hole, even if he has got it. Assuming that he has, I think he would remove it from a hiding-place known to Ludovic the instant he suspected his presence in the neighbourhood.’

  ‘But does he suspect his presence?’

  ‘There is no saying what the Beau suspects, Miss Thane. Don’t allow Ludovic to convince you that we have to deal with a fool! He is no such thing, I assure you.’

  ‘You need not tell me that: I have met him. Will you think me fanciful if I say that I have a strong feeling that he is truly at the bottom of all Ludovic’s troubles?’

  ‘No, I think it myself. The difficulty will be to prove it.’

  ‘If you cannot find the ring what is to be done?’

  She saw his mouth harden. He had evidently considered this question, for he replied at once: ‘If the worst comes to the worst, the truth will have to be got out of him by other methods.’

  Miss Thane, looking at Sir Tristram’s powerful frame, and observing the grimness in his face, could not help feeling sorry for the Beau if the worst should come to the worst. She replied lightly: ‘Would – er – other methods answer, do you suppose?’

  ‘Probably,’ said Sir Tristram. ‘He has very little physical courage. But until we have more to go upon than conjecture, we need not consider that.’

  She sat thinking for a few moments, and presently said: ‘In one way it might not be so bad a thing if he did suspect Ludovic’s presence here. If he suspected it he must, I imagine, realize that you have been convinced of Ludovic’s innocence. I have frequently observed that when people are a little alarmed they are apt to behave with less than common sense. Your cousin has been so secure until now that it has been easy to act with coolness and presence of mind.’

  ‘Very true,’ he conceded. ‘I have thought of that, but the risks outweigh the advantages. If it were not for one circumstance I should seriously consider removing Ludovic from this country.’

  ‘He seems very determined. I don’t think that he would consent to go,’ said Miss Thane.

  ‘I shouldn’t ask his consent,’ replied Shield.

  ‘Dear me, you seem to be in a very ruthless mood!’ she remarked. ‘What makes you hesitate to kidnap poor Ludovic?’

  ‘His marksmanship,’ he answered. ‘A man would have to be in desperate straits before he engaged in a shooting-match with Ludovic. The Beau won’t risk it.’

  ‘Well,’ said Miss Thane, getting up from her chair, ‘I am far from wishing you to ship Ludovic out of the country (besides, it’s my belief he would come back), but I’ve a notion we are going to see some stirring adventures before we leave this place.’

  ‘It’s very possible,’ he agreed. ‘Are you afraid?’

  She raised her eyes to his face. There was a hint of amusement in them. ‘My dear sir, can you not see that I am positively trembling with fright?’ she said.

  He smiled. ‘I beg your pardon. But to have a finger in a pie of Ludovic’s making is enough to cause the bravest to quail! What I chiefly dread is his taking it into his head to break into the Dower House without waiting for word from me. Do you think you can prevent him?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Sarah candidly. ‘But I can at least get word to you if he becomes unmanageable.’

  For the time being, however, even Ludovic himself was forced to admit that his strength was not sufficiently recovered to permit of his riding five miles to the Dower House. He had lost a good deal of blood, and had been feverish for long enough to make him tiresomely weak upon first getting up out of his sick-bed. He was not one to submit patiently to being an invalid, not did it seem to be possible to impress him with a sense of the dangerous nature of his situation. Once he was possessed of his clothes, nothing short of turning the key on him could keep him in his room. He strolled about the inn in the most careless way imaginable, his left arm disposed in a sling and Sylvester’s great ruby on his finger. When begged to conceal this too well-known ring somewhere about his person, or to give it back to Tristram for safe-keeping, he said No, he had a fancy to wear Sylvester’s ruby. Twice he nearly walked into the arms of local visitors to the Red Lion, who had come in for a tankard of ale and a chat over the coffee-room fire, and only Miss Thane’s timely intervention prevented him sallying forth into the yard with Sir Hugh to win his bet with a little marksmanship. Miss Thane, accustomed to handling the male, did not attempt to dissuade him from shooting. She merely suggested that if he wished to fire a noisy pistol the cellar would be the best place for such a pastime. Ludovic was just about to argue the point when Sir Hugh providentially pooh-poohed his sister’s suggestion, on the score that no one could be expected to culp a wafer in the wretched light afforded by a branch of candles. This was quite enough to make Ludovic instantly engage to win his wager under these or any other conditions, and down they both went, with Clem in attendance. There being no wafers available a playing-card had to suffice. When Ludovic tossed the ace of hearts to Clem, and said carelessly: ‘Hold it for me, Clem!’ Sir Hugh was shocked almost out of his sleepy placidity, and indeed went so far as to adjure the tapster not to be fool enough to obey. Clem, who, besides possessing boundless faith in Ludovic, would never have dreamed of disobeying his orders, merely grinned at this piece of advice, and held up the card by one corner. Ludovic, lounging on a barrel, inspected the priming of his pistol, requested Thane to move the candles a little to one side, levelled the pistol, and fired. The card fluttered to the ground. Clem, grinning more than ever, picked it up and showed it to Sir Hugh with the pip blown clean out of it.

  This feat seemed to call for celebration, and Miss Thane, descending into the cellar in search of them some time later, found that they had broached a keg of Nantes brandy, and had no immediate intention of returning to upper ground. Invigorated by the brandy, Sir Hugh was seized by a desire to emulate Ludovic’s skill – but without Clem’s assistance. His efforts, unattended by success, brought Nye down to put a stop to a sport which was not only riddling the walls of the cellar, but creating enough noise to lead anyone above-stairs to suppose that the inn was being besieged.