A Fascinating Traitor

C >> Col. Richard Henry Savage >> A Fascinating Traitor

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Captain Murray had duly reported the completion of all the Major's
carefully matured preparations, and fled away to await the arrival
of Justine Delande and Captain Anson Anstruther.

It was a sunny morning, two days later, when Major Hardwicke
descended at Simpson's summons, dressed in his full uniform, to the
great library, where several grave-faced visitors were now awaiting
a formal interview with the agitated Professor Andrew Fraser. The
young Major's face was simply radiant, for Mattie Jones had just
given him a letter and a nosegay, sent by the young heiress, who
had already read a dozen times her lover's smuggled love missive
of this fateful morning.

"To-day will decide all. And you will be to-morrow as free as any
bird of the air. Then, darling, it will be only you and I, all in
all to each other forever more! I will send for you. Wait for me.
Our hold on Andrew Fraser is the deadly grip of the criminal law.
He must yield."

"The flowers are from Miss Nadine's breast; she sent them
to you, with her dearest love," cried Mattie, who rejoiced in the
private assurance that her own liberal-minded sweetheart was soon
to be discharged 'for lack of evidence.' Captain Eric Murray had
obtained a complete deposition, which the magistrate representing
the Parliament of Jersey had accepted as State's evidence, under
the special orders of the Home Office.

In Andrew Fraser's study, the sallow face of Professor Alaric Hobbs
was seen bending over many documents and papers. He was not only
busied as a volunteer lawyer for Fraser, but was now the commentator
and collaborator of that famous interrupted work, "The History of
Thibet." "Say! Go light now on the old man!" prayerfully whispered
Alaric Hobbs, drawing Major Hardwicke into the study. "Captain
Murray is a devilish good fellow. He is going to make this great
traveler, Frank Hatton, my friend. And you'll both be benefactors
to 'Science,' if you drop masquerading and post me honestly on
Thibet. You are a dead winner in the little social game here. You
get the girl--that's all you want. She's a nice girl, too! I'll
make the old boy come down and be reasonable. I helped you out,
you know. You owe me a good turn, you do."

"All right, Professor Hobbs. I believe I do owe you my wife to be.
They would have carried her off or injured her in some way," said
the now anxious Hardwicke.

"You bet your sweet life they would!" said the strange Western savant,
more forcibly than elegantly. "They would have had the ransom of
a prince, or else they would have chucked her in the channel! That
was their game!"

In the library, General Wragge, Captain Anstruther and Captain
Murray faced Professor Andrew Fraser, whose face was as set as a
stone sphinx. His feeble heart was thumping, for the stolen jewels
were not his to return now. He cursed the day he had lied about
them.

The old General gravely said: "Professor Fraser, I desire to say that
Captain Anson Anstruther represents both her Majesty's Government
and His Excellency, the Viceroy of India. There is a magistrate
waiting in the house even now, and I recommend you to seriously
consider the words of the Captain. If you are officially brought to
face your past refusal to his just demands, I fear that you will
be left, Sir, in a very pitiable position. I will now retire until
you have conferred with the representative of the Indian Government.
Remember! Once in the hands of the authorities, your person and
estate will suffer grievously if you have conspired against the
Crown."

Andrew Fraser's eyes were downcast as Captain Anstruther, with
a last glance at his friend, then locked the door. "Now, Sir, I
repeat to you for the last time the official demand which I made
in London upon you as executor of the late Hugh Fraser Johnstone,
to surrender certain jewels wrongfully withheld, a list of which
I have furnished you, as the property of Her Majesty's Indian
Government, and which stolen property I now demand on this list."

There was a long pause. "I cannot! They are not in my possession!
I know nothing whatever of them," faintly replied the startled old
miser.

"I warn you that I have a search warrant, particularly describing
the articles stolen and the place of their concealment, and
a magistrate now awaits my slightest word," said the aid-de-camp
sternly.

"Do with me as you will. You will not find them! I know nothing
about them," faltered the desperate old man. He was safe against
arrest, he hoped.

"Then, I will serve the warrant," remarked the Captain, as Andrew
Fraser's head fell upon his breast. A fortune lost, and now, shame
and perhaps prison awaited him.

"One moment," politely said Major Hardwicke. "Do not serve
the warrant. I will surrender the Crown's property, which I have
discovered under the floor of this man's study, where he feloniously
hid them after denying their possession."

"Thief and deceiver!" shrieked Andrew Fraser. "You lied your way
into my house! You have now conspired against my dead brother's
estate!" He was shaking as with a palsy in his impotent rage. "And
you would rob me!"

"You hardened old scoundrel! I will give you now just half an
hour," sternly said Major Hardwicke, "to consider the propriety of
resigning instantly your executorship of your brother's estate in
favor of your son, Douglas Fraser. He is honest! You are unfit to
control your ward! You can also first file your written consent to
the immediate marriage of your ward, Nadine Fraser Johnstone, to
myself, and apply to have your accounts passed and approved upon
your discharge as guardian upon her marriage. This alone will save
you from a felon's cell. She shall be free. Douglas Fraser may be
made the sole trustee of her estate until the age of twenty-one.
On these two conditions alone will I consent to veil the shame of
your brother and spare you, for we have traced the stolen jewels,
step by step, with the list, the insurance, and the delivery by Hugh
Johnstone to you. If you wish to stand your trial for complicity in
the theft and concealing stolen goods, you may. General Willoughby,
General Abercromby, and the Viceroy of India have watched these
jewels on their way. And I came here only to recover them, and to
free that white slave, your poor niece!"

There was the sound of broken wailing sobs, and the three officers
left their detected wrong-doer alone. Out on the lawn, the young
soldiers joined General Wragge, who now looked impatiently at
his watch. It was but a quarter of an hour when old Andrew Fraser
tottered to the front door. "What must I do? I care not for myself!"
he cried plucking at Major Hardwicke's sleeve. "Only save Douglas,
my boy, this public shame!"

"It rests all in your hands, Sir," gravely answered the lover.
"Shall I call Miss Johnstone down now to have you express your
consent and sign these papers in the presence of the General?"
Major Hardwicke saw his enemy weakening, even as a child.

"Yes, yes, anything, only get her away out of my sight--out of my
life!" groaned the broken old miser, whose sin had found him out.
"But, you'll keep all this from Douglas--the story of a father's
disgrace? I did it all for Hugh!"

"The family honor is mine, now, Sir! I will save your niece all
suffering!" stiffly replied the Major, as he boldly mounted the
stair. Captain Anstruther led Andrew Fraser aside. "I had the papers
drawn up at once so that you would not be humiliated in public by
your obstinacy, and General Wragge will now witness them. He has
offered the hospitalities of his family to your niece until she is
made a wife."

"I am ready," tremblingly said Professor Fraser, and in haste
a singular group soon gathered in the library. A notary and the
magistrate entered with due professional decorum.

And then, Captain Anstruther, addressing the executor, in the
presence of the gray-bearded old General, repeated the words of
voluntary resignation and surrender of all rights as guardian over
Nadine Johnstone, first taking his written consent to the marriage.
There was not a word spoken as the trembling old scholar hastily
signed the papers presented to him. Then he turned to the sweet
woman clinging to Major Hardwicke's arm. "I'll be thankful to ye if
ye leave my home to me in peace, as soon as ye can! Janet Fairbarn
will be my representative!" With a last glance of cold aversion
at Hardwicke, he bowed to the Commander of the forces, and then
tottered across the hall to his study, when the tall form of Alaric
Hobbs hovered at the door.

"My dear child," kindly said the old veteran General, lifting her
trembling hand to his lips, and bowing reverently, "Let me be,
this day, your father, as you are soon to be born into the service.
Here, Major Hardwicke, I give her to you to keep against the whole
world, if the lady so consents." Nadine's answer was an April smile,
when her lover clasped her hand, and then she hid her blushes on
Hardwicke's breast.

"Take me away forever from this horrible prison-house," she whispered.

"Mrs. Wragge's carriage will be here at four for you, and we will
have a little dinner en famille at seven, Miss Nadine, for you,"
said the happy General, as he jingled away, his dangling sword,
jingling medals, and waving white plume, making a gallant show. It
was truly "an official capture."

"Now," whispered Captain Murray to Hardwicke, "I will clear out with
Anstruther, and at once deliver over the unlucky jewels to him to
be sealed up and deposited with General Wragge until the Viceroy's
orders are received. I've a cablegram that Ram Lal has been arrested.

"And I fancy Miss Nadine will be astonished at seeing two new faces
at the dinner table. Let Simpson and the maid at once pack all her
belongings, for we can not trust her with this old wreck of humanity.
He is half crazed already. I will cable and write to Douglas Fraser
that 'ill health' forces the old gentleman to at once give up his
trust. Now, I belong, in future, only to Mrs. Eric Murray, of the
Eighth Hussars. I throw up my job as an all-round Figaro!"

"Stay a moment," said Major Hardwicke to Captain Anson Anstruther,
when Nadine had fled away to prepare for her flitting from the
unloved granite fortress.

"When do you go over to London, Anstruther?" said Major Hardwicke,
for he now nourished a scheme of "social employment" for the
brilliant staff officers. He was short only a groomsman.

"Not till after I am married," remarked the relative of the great
Viceroy. "I have done my duty to Her Majesty," he laughed, "and
now, I am going to do my duty to myself!" Whereat Harry Hardwicke
was suddenly aware that Cupid carries a double-barreled gun,
sometimes. In her own apartment, Nadine Johnstone listened to
Janet Fairbarn's sobbing plaint, as the heart-happy Mattie Jones
flew around the rooms making her young mistress's boxes. Nadine
was still in an entrancing dream of freedom, life, and love, and
the cunning Scotswoman's plaint was all unheeded. Major Hardwicke
was announced, "upon urgent business."

"I cannot tell you yet, darling, just how we vanquished the old
ogre," said he. "Be brave, and remember that a feast of long-deferred
love-tidings awaits you to-night. I have already sent away all my
own luggage. A horse and a well-mounted orderly will be here at
four, and so I shall not lose you from sight even a moment until
you are safe in General Wragge's home at Edgemere. Let the maid
return alone here to-morrow and remove all your effects we may
overlook. I will dispatch the luggage and ride after your carriage."

"The proprieties, you know," he laughed, as he vanished, after
stealing a kiss.

"The master's in a woeful way," mourned Janet. "To think of your
father's only bairn leaving her ain house so! The master's half
daft with his troubles, for they've scattered and lost the bit
bookie--the work of years!

"Though there's the braw American scholar, tho', to aid him now.
He hates you, my poor bairn, for your poor dead mother's sake! It's
afearfu' hard heart these Frasers carried. I know them of old!"

"Do you mean to tell me that the 'Banker's Folly' is really my own
house?" said Nadine, her cheek flushing crimson at the insult to
the memory of her beloved dream mother.

"In truth, it's yer very ain, my leddy. Old Hugh bought it for his
last home," whimpered the housekeeper.

"Then you may tell Andrew Fraser," the spirited girl cried, "that
I will never cross the threshold again, where I have been kept under
a jailer's lock under my own roof tree! Let him write his wishes
to Douglas--Douglas is a gentleman. I will keep silent for the
sake of the man who was a kindly brother to me on my voyage. But
to Andrew Fraser, I am dead for evermore! My life of the future
has no place for a half-crazed tyrant--the man who tried to bruise
the broken heart of an orphan of his own blood. We are strangers
forevermore. And I will leave old Simpson here as my agent to keep
the possession of this place in my name. I will write Douglas, so
that his old father may live out his days here in peace!"

With a stately tread, the lonely girl descended the stair, when Major
Harry Hardwicke tapped at her door, gently saying: "The carriage
waits below. And--some one waits there to cheer you on your way
onward to Life and Love! Remember, I follow on at once." Nadine
Johnstone sprang lightly into the carriage. With a gentle art, the
soldier turned away his head and quickly cried, "Drive on!" when
the door closed. The orderly at a sign followed the closed vehicle.
It was a sweet surprise. Love's coup de main!

Nadine Johnstone never turned her head toward the dark martello
tower, for a woman's arms were now clasped around her, and loving
lips pressed her own. "Free at last, my own darling! Free!" cried
Alixe Delavigne, as she strained her gentle captive to her bosom.
"My own poor darling! Now, we shall never be parted! My darling!
My Valerie's own image!"

"And, my mother?" faltered the lovely girl, the sunrise of hope
flooding her cheek with affection's glow of dawn. "My sister--your
mother--looks down from Heaven upon us, joined after many years!"
sobbed Alixe. A softer pillow never had maiden's head than Alixe
Delavigne's throbbing bosom.

"Did you not feel in your heart that love led me to your side, my
darling? That I crossed the wide world to find you, and to fight
my way to your heart?" murmured Alixe.

"Ah! Justine always said there was a marvelous resemblance!" faltered
Nadine. "She must be sent for now! At once! Poor Justine!"

"She waits for you, even now, at Edgemere! I must save you, now,
from hearing the story of strangers!" said Alixe, taking the girl's
trembling hands. "Major Hardwicke telegraphed to her at Geneva,
in your name, to come on here at once. For, while we have sunshine
mantling around us, she, alone, must follow Alan Hawke's body to
an unknown grave."

"Is he--that terrible man--indeed dead?" gasped Nadine.

"You passed his body that night when they led you from the tower,"
gravely said Alixe. "He fell, fighting as a criminal, by the hand
of Captain Murray, who struck only to save your liberty, and his
own life. The civil authorities will not unveil the dark past of
a man who once wore the Queen's uniform in honor. General Wragge
and the authorities have softened the blow to Justine Delande, whom
he would have made his dupe. You must only know this, darling, from
me--from me, alone! And so, to shield poor, faithful Justine, we
will all leave Jersey at once. Strange irony of fate. The Viceroy
has cabled that Ram Lal Singh has paid over twenty thousand pounds, to
be held for Justine Delande, to whom Alan Hawke left all his dearly
bought bribes; and also the money he left hidden at Granville--jewels
and notes to the value of ten thousand pounds more. The wages of
sin, even death, was all he gained, and, strangely, through him,
Justine will be shielded from penury; for she bears a broken heart.
All that she knows is of his sudden death.

"And now, darling, for I must tell you, the assassin of your father
has saved his miserable life by a full confession made to General
Willoughby. None but myself must ever tell you that your father's
memory, your uncle's liberty were all involved in a tangled story
of olden greed, intrigue, shame, and crime. Let the dead past rest
unchallenged. The seal of the tomb will be unbroken. And it is your
mother's tender love that will gild your bridal. Let me be your
sister forever. None but you and I must know the history until
others have a right to it."

"Has--has Harry told you of our coming marriage?" faltered Nadine,
hiding her head in her kinswoman's breast. There were fleeting
blushes as rosy as the Alpenglow now tinging her pale cheek. Nadine
Johnstone saw her new-found sister now glowing in a woman's gentle
triumph. She had a secret of her own!

It was Alixe's turn to beg a fond heart's throbbing sympathy when
she whispered, "General Wragge advises and the Viceroy insists that
we leave the island at once. Captain Anstruther must soon report
to His Excellency the Viceroy at Calcutta, for his promotion to a
Majority takes him back to his kinsman's suite. The Earl has been
honored with the control of Her Majesty's Embassy at Paris. And
so," the words came slowly in trembling whispers, "both Anson and
Harry have applied for 'special licenses,' and there will be two
marriages at Edgemere, instead of one. Anson gave you to me, through
a strange romance, and he demands to be my loving jailer!

"In three days we can all leave for London. Justine Delande has
finished her solemn duty even now, with General Wragge as sole
escort. It was the only way to hoodwink useless public gossip."

"And will we be then so soon separated?" cried Nadine, clinging
to her kinswoman, in a tremble of yearning love. "For you must go
out with your husband to India. You must tell me of my mother, her
life, her home, and I must see where she lies."

"Ah, my darling," said Alixe, "we will all go on to my home--your
home, at Jitomir, my castle in Volhynia. Your own yet to be. There,
Anson and I will leave you and Major Hardwicke for your honeymoon.
There, my dearest child, where your own mother's sweet face still
looks down from the walls. Where the Russian violets and Volhynian
forget-me-nots bloom around her tomb, where you will see her name
carved in the memorials of a princely line as 'Valerie, Princess
Troubetskoi.' There, I will tell you the whole story."

An April rain of loving tears silenced the girl's voice, as she
looked out of the carriage window, and saw Major Hardwicke riding
after them. "Tell me no more, now, Darling Alixe," murmured Nadine,
"I must have peace--even in this moment of happiness!" Her thoughts
went back to the day when Harry Hardwicke had ridden "Garibaldi"
straight to the rescue, in her moment of deadly peril, and his
saber had fended off the huge cobra. And so, they journeyed on
silently-linked in love, dreaming tender dreams.

In the western skies, the sun was sinking over the purpled sea, as
they drove down to Edgemere, and the glow of the dying day lingered
upon the beautiful hills of Jersey. For the wild storm was quieted
and the sea shone as a sapphire zone. Golden gleams lit up stern
old Mount Orgueil and gray Fort Regent, and tenderly tinted the
rugged outlines of the moss-grown Elizabeth Castle. All nature
dreamed in the peaceful, even fall. On the sea, white sails were
flitting afar, and the swift steamers passed grandly on toward
their distant havens. There was a group gathered in the splendid
gardens of Edgemere as General Wragge gallantly advanced,

The silver-haired veteran graciously surrendered his command, as
he aided his guests to alight. "This is to be 'Bride's Hall,' and
not a 'place of arms'! You are now joint commanders, and so make
the best use of your three days liberty! I give up my sword!"

That night, while Nadine Johnstone sat in a heart exchange
of confidence with Justine Delande and the fair woman--no longer
Berthe Louison--while Flossie Murray was playing hostess with Mrs.
Wragge, General Wragge, Major Hardwicke, Captain Anstruther, and
the now full-fledged Benedict, Eric Murray, gave some pithy parting
counsels to Jack Blunt, "Gentleman Jack," of the London Swell
Mob. "Only a mere fluke, and, our desire to save a family needless
pain, protects you," said Hardwicke. "These five hundred pounds
will enable you to reach America. I venture to advise you to avoid
landing on English soil hereafter! You certainly owe something
to your plucky, dead comrade, who generously lied, even in death,
to save you from transportation!" With a sullen brow, Jack Blunt
departed the next morning on the Granville steamer, and, only when
in the safe hiding of Etienne Garcin's Cor d'Abondance did he dare
to breathe freely. There were two sorely wounded lodgers already
lying there, who cursed the unerring aim of the vivacious and
eccentric Alaric Hobbs of Waukesha. They had told the landlord
their tales over cognac and absinthe, and Jack Blunt vainly tried
to comfort the sloe-eyed Angelique, who mourned for the unreturning
visitor who had sprung over the easily-stormed battlements of
her mobile heart. "Il etait bien beau, cet homme la! Il m'aimait
beaucoup! Je le regretterai toujours! C'etait un vrai gaillard!"

Which heartfelt tribute from a nameless wanton served for epitaph
to the man lying in an unmarked grave in the soldiers plot at Fort
Regent. With gnashing of teeth did Garcin and Jack Blunt discover
that H. R. M.'s Consul had officially aided Justine Delande to
remove the valuable deposits of the dead adventurer.

"The whole thing was a dead plant on us. Luck turned against him at
last!" growled Blunt, as they counted up the cost of the bootless
cruise of the Hirondelle. And only Justine Delande's bitter tears
flowed in silence to lament the bold adventurer who had lost the
game of life!

It was at Rosebank that the three brides were assembled for a sweet
review after the quiet double marriage at Edgemere, which caused
General Wragge's rugged face to wreathe in honest smiles of delight.

And there was no rice left in the General's military supplies,
"when the bridal parties drove away in great state to the Stella."

A curious congratulatory visit from Professor Alaric Hobbs led to
the extending of an invitation by Captain Anstruther for the lanky
American scientist to visit him in India.

"We owe you a debt of gratitude," laughed Anstruther, "for you helped
Hardwicke to his wife. She helped me to mine, and I will see that
the Indian Government gives you an official safe conduct to Thibet,
where you can see the real line of the Dalai-lamas, and I'll furnish
you a veritable 'Moonshee' free of charge. You shall be the very
'Moses' of Yankee investigators! You deserve it!"

"Now you talk horse sense," said the alert Yankee. "I'm going out
to 'square things' with old Andrew Fraser's son. Don't ever kick a
man when he's down! The old boy has had a very 'rough deal.' That
'fake' about Thibet nearly broke him up. And I've a commission from
the Buggin's Literary Syndicate, of Chicago, to 'write up India.'
I shall take a hack at Egypt on my way home, and perhaps ride over
to Persia, then get into Merv and Tashkend, and come back by Astrakhan
into 'darkest' Russia, and return home. I shall also write some
spicy letters to the Chicago Howler and the New York Whorl. I tell
you, Cap," said Alaric Hobbes, slapping Anstruther familiarly on
the back, "you three military men have certainly fitted yourselves
out with tiptop wives! I am going to make a pretty good money haul
myself on this trip. I'll look you up later in Calcutta. Would like
to see the Viceroy. He was a 'brick' when he was Governor-General
of Canada. So I'll get young Douglas Fraser fixed up all in good
trim, and when I get home and have published my books, settle down
and marry a little woman I've had my eye on for some time. I will
go in for a family life, you bet!"

"Look out that you don't lose her," laughed Hardwicke.

"I will not get left, you bet!" cried Hobbes. "Now, I'm going to
vamoose the ranch. I think that I may have killed one or two of that
gang, and I don't fancy the 'monotonous regularity' and 'salubrious
hygiene' of your English prisons."

And so, "his feet were beautiful on the mountains," as he went out
on his queer life pathway.

After the week of quiet at Rosebank, Captain Eric Murray was hugely
delighted to receive his orders to take charge of all Anstruther's
confidential work, in England, until the Viceroy should be pleased
to otherwise direct. "I think that a garrison life here, with
Miss Mildred as commander, will just suit you and Madame Flossie?"
laughed the kindly conspiring aide-de-camp, anxious to be away on
his road to Jitomir, "personally conducted" by the brilliant Alixe.

The Horse Guards were "pleased to intimate" that Major Harry Hardwicke,
Royal Engineers, should be allowed "such length of leave" as he
chose to apply for, and a secret compliment upon his "gift to the
Crown" of the recovered property was supplemented by a request to
name any future station "agreeable at present" to the young Benedict.
And the solicitors had now deftly arranged the complete machinery
of the care of the great estate, until the orphan claimed her own.

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