BACK AT BITTERMEADS
When, riding fast, Rupert Dunsmore came in sight of Bittermeads he experienced a feeling of extreme relief.Though what he had feared he did not quite know, for he did not see that any alarm could have reached here yet or any hint come to Deede Dawson of the failure of all his plotting.
Even if Walter had had the idea of returning to give his accomplice warning, he could not have come by the road on his bicycle as quickly as Rupert had ridden across country.And that Walter would spend either time or thought on Deede Dawson did not appear in any way probable.
To Rupert, therefore, it seemed certain that Deede Dawson could know nothing as yet.But all the same it was an immense relief to see the house again and to know that in a few moments he would be there.
He tied up the mare to a convenient tree, and with eyes that were quick and alert and every nerve and muscle ready for all emergencies, he drew near the house.
All was still and quiet, no smoke came from the chimneys, there was no sign of life or movement anywhere.For a moment he hesitated and then made his way round to the back, hoping to find Mrs.
Barker there and perhaps obtain from her information as to the whereabouts of Deede Dawson and of Ella and her mother.
For it seemed to him it would be his best plan to get the two women quietly out of the way if he could possibly do so before making any attempt to deal with Deede Dawson or letting him know of his return.
For the mere fact that he was back again so soon would show at once that something had gone seriously wrong, and once Deede Dawson knew that, he would be, Rupert well realized, in a very desperate and reckless mood and ripe for committing any mischief that he could.
Cautiously Rupert opened the back door and found himself in the stone-paved passage that ran between the kitchen and the scullery and pantry.Everything seemed very quiet and still, and there was no sign of Mrs.Barker nor any appearance that she had been that morning busy about her usual tasks.The kitchen fire was not lighted, a pile of unwashed crockery stood on the table, there had apparently been no attempt to prepare any meals.
Frowning uneasily, for all this did not seem to him of good omen, Rupert Went quickly on to the living rooms.
They were unoccupied and did not seem to have been much used that day; and in the small breakfast-room Deede Dawson had been accustomed to consider his special apartment, his favourite little travelling chessboard stood on the table with pieces in position on it.
There was a letter, too, he had begun but not finished, to the editor of a chess-column in some paper, apparently to the effect that a certain problem "cooked," and that by such and such a move "the mate for the first player that appeared certain was unexpectedly and instantly transferred in this dramatic manner into a mate for his opponent."The words seemed somehow oddly appropriate to Rupert, and he smiled grimly as he read them and then all at once his expression changed and his whole attitude became one of intense watchfulness and readiness.
For his quick eye had noted that the ink on the nib of the pen that this letter had been written with, was not yet dry.
Then Deede Dawson must have been here a moment or two ago and must have gone in a hurry.That could only mean he was aware of Rupert's return and was warned and suspicious.It is perhaps characteristic of Rupert's passionate and eager temperament that only now did it occur to him that he was quite unarmed and that without a weapon of any kind he was matching himself against as reckless and as formidable a criminal as had ever lived.
For want of anything better he picked up the heavy glass inkpot standing on the table, emptied the contents in a puddle on the floor, and held the inkpot itself ready in his hand.
He listened intently, but heard no sound - no sound at all in the whole house, and this increased his apprehensions, for he knew well that Deede Dawson was a man always the most dangerous when most silent.
It was possible of course that he had fled, but not likely.He would not go, Rupert thought, till he had made his preparations and not without a last effort to take revenge on those who had defeated him and in this dramatic way turned the mate he had expected to secure into a win for his opponent."Still Rupert listened intently, straining his ears to catch the least sound to hint to him where his enemy was, for he knew that if he failed to discover him his first intimation of his proximity might well come in the shape of the white-hot sting of a bullet, rending flesh and bone.
