71 Love Comes West Page 15

  Unexpectedly he laughed.

  “You amuse me, Miss Worth,” he said. “At the same time you must be aware that my rivals would give a very great deal of money to get their hands on the plans of my new engine.”

  “You must make sure that they don’t do so.”

  “I have beaten them before and I will do so again!” Mr. Garson asserted. “But there is no use bolting the door after the horse has been stolen! This house must be better guarded and that is an order!”

  “I promise you that Danny and I will both be very careful when we take Columbus out at night to shut the door and lock it when we come in.”

  “That is what I expect,” Mr. Garson said briefly.

  As if the subject was exhausted and he had no more to say about it, he handed her a letter that had arrived that morning from the Sheik.

  “What is he asking for now?” he enquired abruptly.

  *

  It was late in the afternoon when Roberta, who was just finishing writing a long letter to the Sheik, realised that she could hear Danny’s voice in the next room.

  He had been told very firmly not to disturb Mr. Garson or try to see him unless he was sent for and for the moment she felt that she must be mistaken.

  Then apprehensively, in case the child was being a nuisance, she rose to her feet and walked into the study.

  To her surprise Danny was sitting on Mr. Garson’s knee and they were both poring over the plans for the engine that were spread out on the desk.

  They were so absorbed in what they were doing that they did not notice she was there and, after a moment, she withdrew silently leaving the door ajar.

  She could hear Danny asking what seemed to her to be extremely intelligent questions and Mr. Garson answering them patiently and slowly.

  ‘I suppose what he really needs is a family of his own,’ she thought. ‘What a pity he has no son to inherit his vast empire and at the same time work with him on new projects like the fast engine.’

  Danny talked about it so much that she sometimes felt she could build the engine herself and certainly could draw it with a great deal of accuracy.

  Mechanics, she told herself, fascinated all men, except, of course, Adam and yet in his own way he was just as dedicated as Mr. Garson was.

  She gave a deep sigh, thinking that women were very much at a disadvantage when it came to a man planning his career and being determined to succeed.

  When she thought about Adam, it seemed a century since she had seen him and her whole being yearned for him so deeply that she felt it was impossible to stay away from him.

  One day she was sure, she would be able to bear it no longer and would have to go back, even if just to ask him if he still loved her.

  ‘I love him! I love him!’ she thought despairingly.

  Now the tears in her eyes blurred her vision so that she could no longer see the letter she had written in Arabic.

  Later that night when she should have been asleep because she was so tired, she lay in the darkness thinking of Adam, feeling as if his arms were around her, his lips on hers.

  It was impossible to forget the rapture and ecstasy he had given her when he had kissed her first on the veranda and then the night when they had lain on the sofa together and she had felt as if it was impossible to go on refusing him.

  ‘Why did I not let him do what he wanted?’ she asked herself.

  She had the feeling that it was only a question of time before she would go back to him and say that she would do anything he wished as long as they could be together.

  “But it would be wrong – wrong!” she cried out in the dark.

  Yet how could anything so wonderful, so perfect, so radiant with light, be wrong?

  She did not want to answer that question, but tossed and turned in her bed, telling herself that unless she went to sleep she would never be able to do all the work Mr. Garson expected of her tomorrow.

  Then she heard Columbus growling.

  It was the low growl he made when he was angry and, as he was normally such a very quiet dog, she thought it strange.

  Then, as the growling continued, she lit a candle, climbed out of bed and crossed the room to where there was a communicating door into the smaller room that adjoined hers where Danny was sleeping.

  She opened the door very quietly, but, as she did so, Columbus rushed out almost knocking her down to stand at the other door in her bedroom that led into the outside passage.

  Now he was growling again deep in his throat and had even begun to scratch with his front paws as if he would make a hole in the floor.

  “What is it, Columbus?” Roberta asked.

  She spoke in a low voice so as not to disturb Danny.

  Then she thought that the dog must want to go out, although this was not his usual way of asking.

  She picked up a light lawn wrap that lay over a chair and put it over her nightgown, then opened the door in order to take Columbus out into the garden.

  There was no need for her to carry a light, for on Mr. Garson’s instructions there were always one or two gas-lamps left burning in the passages.

  This was so that the nightwatchman who patrolled the house every hour could see without having to carry a lantern with him.

  Actually the nightwatchman, whose name was Sam, was very old and Roberta had the suspicion that he often fell asleep in the comfortable chair that was provided for him in the hall and omitted to make his rounds.

  Because everybody liked old Sam, nobody would give him away to Mr. Garson.

  Before his Master went to bed and again first thing in the morning, he was always to be seen looking alert and moving punctiliously round the house, inspecting the locks on the windows and on the doors.

  Columbus, instead of waiting for her as Roberta had expected him to do, rushed away down the passage that led to the centre of the house and to Mr. Garson’s study.

  “Columbus!” Roberta called in a low voice, but he paid no attention.

  There was nothing else she could do but hurry after him, fearing that if he woke or disturbed Mr. Garson he would be very angry.

  Then, as she called him again, he stopped and came back to her and she caught hold of his collar saying,

  “What are you doing?”

  To her surprise he was still growling in his throat and now a sudden thought struck her.

  Suppose Columbus was actually aware of intruders in the house?

  If there were, she was sure that this was the way he would behave, but she was still nervous that he was just being a nuisance.

  She therefore put her hand over his nose as she had seen Danny do when he was hiding him in Blue River and urged,

  “Quiet, Columbus! Be quiet!”

  The dog seemed to understand and crouched down as he had done when he had crept beneath the bushes to hide from the Minister.

  At the same time he pulled her forward and she realised that it was in the direction of Mr. Garson’s study.

  Then just before they reached it, she saw a light under the door and knew that Columbus was right, there was somebody there!

  She stood still and listened and, although they were very faint, she could hear movements inside.

  Because the light flickered beneath the door, she knew that the intruder had not lit the gas lamps as Mr. Garson would have done if he had come to his study in the night.

  Roberta then realised that she must warn Sam and, pulling a reluctant Columbus with her, she started to run along the passage that led to the hall.

  It was a long one and so dark except for one gas lamp at the far end of it that suddenly, when she least expected it, she bumped into somebody and realised that it was a man.

  She gave a stifled scream of terror.

  Then she realised that instead of growling or even barking at the man, Columbus was jumping up and down in wild excitement.

  Then she felt the man’s arms tighten around her and heard his voice say,

  “My darling, my sweet, what are you
doing here?”

  She thought that she must be dreaming and it could not be true, but it was Adam who spoke, Adam who was holding her, and Columbus had recognised him.

  Then, as she felt as if her whole world was lit with a thousand stars, she remembered Adam saying,

  “I will lie, cheat, steal and even risk my life to go on painting!”

  She knew then why he was there and in a voice that was vibrant with horror, she cried,

  “No! No! Adam! You cannot do this! It is – dangerous and you will be – caught! I know the man you are helping is – inside the room and I must tell Sam to sound the alarm!”

  For a moment Adam’s arms seemed to slacken a little as if he could hardly believe what he was hearing and he wanted to look at her.

  She spread out her hand on his chest and said,

  “Go away – please go away! You cannot take them and I have to – warn everybody.”

  “Warn everybody about what?” Adam asked.

  “You know – what I am talking about!”

  “I have not the slightest idea,” he replied. “I only know that I have found you. How could you have left me? How could you do anything so utterly damnable as to sneak away and not tell me where I could find you?”

  He would have pulled her close against him again, but Roberta tried to resist him.

  “Are you telling me that you are not here to – steal the – plans of the – engine?” she asked.

  “Of course not!” he replied. “I am not interested in any damned engine, only in you!”

  “Then there is a burglar in the study!” she said. “Oh, Adam, you must help me to prevent him stealing the plans. It would break Mr. Garson’s heart and Danny’s!”

  Adam took his arms from her.

  “Go and alert Sam,” he said, “and leave this to me!”

  “It may be dangerous – ” Roberta started to say, but he had already run away from her, hurrying towards the study.

  As if she felt that she must obey him, she ran as swiftly as she could to the end of the passage.

  As she reached the hall, she saw Sam coming down from the first floor, which he must have been inspecting while the burglar had broken in on the ground floor.

  She rushed towards him.

  Only as she did so, did she realise that Columbus had not followed her but had gone with Adam.

  Breathless from running so quickly, she gasped at Sam,

  “Quick – quick – sound the alarm! There’s a – burglar in Mr. Garson’s study – stealing the plans of the – engine!”

  Sam looked at her as if he could hardly believe what he heard.

  Then, as if he was suddenly aware of what he must do, he hurried across the hall to where on the wall was a siren that was worked by hand.

  He started to turn it and a strange eerie scream came from it, which was echoed by amplifiers on the other floors and in the kitchens on the North side of the building.

  Roberta did not wait, but began to run back the way she had come.

  Now she was desperately afraid that Adam, having tackled the burglar single-handed, might have been injured.

  Burglars she knew carried pistols and to go for one unarmed was, she thought, a risk that only somebody like Adam would be courageous enough to attempt.

  ‘Oh, God, don’t let him be hurt – please God!’ she prayed.

  Then, as she reached the study, she saw that the door was open and Mr. Garson in his dressing gown was entering in just ahead of her.

  Even as he did so a small figure came rushing down the passage that led to their bedrooms.

  She reached out to catch hold of Danny, but he eluded her and slipped into the study before she could prevent it.

  “What’s happening? Is there a burglar?” she heard him ask.

  Then, as she went through the door after him, because she was so frightened for Adam, she felt as if everything was swimming in front of her eyes and for a moment it was impossible to see anything.

  Then, lying on the floor in front of the large safe, which the burglar must have opened, was the body of a man and Adam was kneeling beside him, tying up his legs with a rope from the curtains.

  Columbus, growling ferociously in his throat, was standing over the man who had obviously been knocked unconscious as his eyes were closed.

  The handkerchief he had used to cover his face had been pulled away and Roberta could see that he was a big swarthy man with rough features and she reckoned that he must be very strong.

  It hardly seemed possible that Adam had somehow disarmed him, but there was a pistol lying on the floor that must have fallen from the man’s hand before he could fire it.

  For a moment it was just a picture in front of her eyes and apart from the siren still wailing in the distance there was silence until Danny cried,

  “He was stealing the plans and Uncle Adam stopped him!”

  Then, as Adam looked round to smile at the small boy, he started to say,

  “Yes, I have stopped him – ”

  Then he saw who was standing beside Danny.

  Adam looked at Mr. Garson and, having finished knotting the rope round the unconscious burglar, he rose to his feet.

  Still speaking to Danny, he said,

  “Columbus was there first and he went for his throat!”

  “That was very brave of Columbus.”

  When he had entered the room, Danny had slipped his hand into Mr. Garson’s and, now pulling at it to attract his attention, he said,

  “Columbus helped to save the plans! I told you he was a good guard dog!”

  Mr. Garson did not speak.

  But Roberta thought that his fingers tightened over the boy’s as he stood looking at Adam. Then he asked in what she thought was rather a strange voice,

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I have come back, Father,” Adam replied. “I have decided after all to accept your offer to work on the railroad.”

  “Why?”

  The monosyllable somehow seemed to ring out.

  To Roberta’s surprise Adam walked towards her and put his arm around her shoulders.

  “This is the answer to that question,” he said. “I can just keep myself as an artist, as I told you I could, but I cannot keep a wife. So I am back to where I started. I am now willing to accept your offer of a partnership.”

  Roberta could hardly believe what she was hearing.

  Then Adam was looking down into her eyes, his arm had tightened around her and she felt as if the moonlight was seeping through her as it had the first time he had kissed her and the stars were enveloping them both.

  For the moment they had both forgotten that there was anybody else in the room until Mr. Garson said briefly,

  “I am afraid, Adam, you are too late!”

  The way he spoke made Adam turn his head towards him.

  “Too late, Father? But why?”

  “I have filled your place,” Mr. Garson said, “and my new partner is more interested in engines than you have ever been.”

  For a moment Roberta felt that Adam had been turned to stone.

  Then Mr. Garson said with a faint twist to his lips,

  “I had intended if you ever came back to introduce you to Danny, but it appears you know him already!”

  It was now Adam’s turn to laugh and he exclaimed,

  “I don’t believe it! I just don’t believe it! It cannot be true!”

  “It is true,” Mr. Garson replied. “I may have to wait for him to grow a little bigger, but he is just the type of intelligent young man I want to work with and who really cares whether the wheels go round fast or slow, which you never did.”

  Adam was still laughing, but there was also a somewhat apprehensive look in his eyes.

  Then Mr. Garson continued,

  “And if you are intending to take Roberta away from me, it is something I shall oppose with every means in my power!”

  “I am going to marry her,” Adam said quietly.

  “In which ca
se, as I find her indispensable, you will have to do your painting here! After all, there is enough room.”

  “Do you mean that, Father? Do you really mean it?”

  “I have no intention of losing you again.”

  Then in a soft voice that Roberta had never heard him use before he added,

  “I missed you, son.”

  Still with his arm around Roberta, Adam took a step forward and held out his hand to his father.

  In order to shake it, Mr. Garson released Danny, who then ran across the room to Columbus.

  Roberta, however, had eyes only for Adam.

  She heard him say in a tone that she knew was both grateful and relieved,

  “Thank you, Father, and I am glad to be back.”

  For one second Roberta thought that there was a hint of moisture in Mr. Garson’s eyes. Then, as if he was ashamed of being sentimental, he dropped Adam’s hand and said sharply,

  “Where the devil is everybody? That siren is making enough noise to wake the dead!”

  In fact the whole household was there, but, as Mr. Garson had been standing just inside the door blocking the entrance, they had not been able to pass through it.

  Now they came trooping in, the menservants picking up the burglar and carrying him away, while Danny was asking anxiously if the plans were still inside the safe.

  As Mr. Garson looked in it to reassure him, Adam pulled Roberta across the room to the window out of the way of everybody else.

  He drew back the curtains and outside she could see that the stars were just beginning to fade from the sky and there was the first golden glow of dawn.

  “Have you missed me?”

  He spoke in a very low voice, but she heard him.

  “Terribly!”

  “I was nearly off my head, frantic, searching everywhere to find out where you could have gone.”

  “I thought I was – doing the – best thing for – you.”

  “I suppose it has worked out for the best because I learnt that I could not live without you and I was prepared to give up painting so that we could be married and be together.”

  “I would never have allowed you to do that!”

  “You would not have been able to stop me!”

  He looked down at her and she thought that the expression in his eyes was the most moving thing she had ever seen.