CHAPTER CLXIII
[Chapter 181]
THE NIGHT ALARM —A SCENE OF CONFUSION. —MR. BLUE SUSPECTED.
It is midnight, and the landlord of the hotel suddenly springs out of bed
on to the floor as if he had been galvanised, carrying with him all the
bed-clothes and leaving his wife shivering.
"Good gracious! what was that?" he cried.
And well he might, for the repose of the whole house was broken in upon
by two loud shrieks, such as had never before sounded within those walls, and
then all was still as the grave.
"Murder! murder!" shouted the landlady, "somebody has stolen all the
bed-clothes."
"Bother the bed-clothes" cried the landlord, as he hurried on his apparel
by the dim light of a night lamp that was burning on the dressing table.
"There's something wrong in the house, or else I have had one of the strangest
dreams that ever anybody had, and one of the most likely reality too. Did you
hear them?"
"Oh, those horrid screams!"
"It's not a dream then, for two people don't dream the same thing at the
same moment of time that's quite clear. Hark—hark! what's that, what a
banging of doors to be sure. Who's there? Who's there? Wait a bit."
The landlord lifted the night bolt of his bed room, and then there dashed
into the room in only one garment, which fluttered in the breeze, no other
than the young man who had come with the ladies. He made but one spring into
the landlord's bed, crying, —
"Oh! take care of me. Oh, save me! There's thieves or something and I
shall be hurt. Oh, save me, save me, I can't fight, I never did, spare my
life, oh, spare my life."
"Oh, the wretch!" shrieked the landlady, and the landlord, justly enough
enraged at that intrusion, seized upon the intruder and shot him out of the
room vi et armis, and that with such force too that he rolled all the way
down the stairs, upsetting Sam who was rushing up with a lantern, it having
been his turn to sit up all night, as one of the establishment always did, in
case of fire or anything happening which might make it necessary to arouse the
inmates of the house.
The landlord, however, had completed enough of his toilette to enable him
to make a decent appearance; so out he sallied, having lit a candle, and the
first person he met upon the landing was Mr. Blue, fully dressed and with a
pistol in his hand.
"Good God, sir," cried the landlord, "what is it all about, what has
happened sir?"
"I cannot tell you, and am as anxious as you can be to know. This way,
this way. It was the young lady who screamed. For God's sake, lend me a
light!"
The landlord resigned his light mechanically, and he saw to his surprise,
that there was a black patch now over one of Mr. Blue's eyes, and he thought
his face was painted. At all events, he was so much disguised that it was
only by his voice that the landlord knew him.
Before however, they either of them got across the corridor to the door
of the young lady's room, Mr. and Mrs. Lake half-dressed, made their
appearance, both eagerly inquiring what was the matter.
"I don't know," said the landlord, "I only heard a scream."
"Which came from the apartment of that young lady," said Mr. Blue.
"What young lady?" said Mr. Lake sharply. "It's rather odd that you, a
stranger, should know so precisely which was the apartment of that young lady.
Mrs. Lake go in and see if anything be the matter with Annetta; I hope to
Heaven, nothing is amiss with her."
Mr. Lake looked suspiciously at Mr. Blue, and so did the landlord, for
when Mr. Blue had spoken in the presence of the Lakes, his voice was
completely altered, so that the landlord no longer could have recognized him
by it, and he was more puzzled than ever.
"Oh! come in, come in, Mr. Lake," cried Mrs. Lake, appearing at the door
of Annetta's room, "she is dead."
"Dead!" cried Mr. Blue with a shout, "Oh! no, no, no!"
He dashed past Mr. Lake, the landlord, and Mrs. Lake, and was in the room
in a moment. They went after him as soon as they had recovered sufficiently
from their surprise to do so, and they saw him with his hands clasped, and
bending over the form of the beautiful young girl as she lay in bed.
"No, no, no," he said, "she is not dead. She has fainted. God knows
what the cause may be, but she is not dead. Thank Heaven!"
He turned from the bedside, and without saying another word to the
parties present, he walked away to his own room, and left them staring at each
other in surprise. The young lady now opened her eyes, and looked wildly
about her for a few moments, and then she spoke quickly,
"Oh, help! help! help! away, away. Oh, horror—horror—horror!"
"Annetta, my dear Annetta," said Mrs. Lake, "what is this? Pray, sir,
retire," to the landlord. "My dear Annetta, what has alarmed you? My dear,
go away, Mr. Lake. I will let you know all about it. It's a mystery to me at
present. Go away, I'll be back soon."
Mr. Lake left the room, and in the corridor he found the landlord, who
was looking as bewildered as any mortal man could well look, for he could make
neither head nor tail of the whole affair.
"Landlord," said Mr. Lake, "who is that party who behaved so strangely
just now[?"]
"His name is Blue, sir."
"Blue—Blue. An odd name, and an odd man. Where can I have seen him
before. Just as he cried out, and went into the room, I thought there was a
something in his voice that came familiarily to my ears, and yet I don't know
him; I suspect landlord, that he has had more to do with this midnight
disturbance than he would care to own."
"Well, sir, I don't know," said the landlord, whose interest it was not
to disoblige, or throw suspicion upon any of his guests. "It really ain't
very likely, sir. I should say the young lady has had a bad dream, sir, and
that's almost all that can be said about it."
"It may be so."
"You may depend that's what it will turn out to be, sir."
"I hope so, I hope so. These things are not at all pleasant, and if
anything of the kind should happen again we should have to quit directly, you
know, but I can say nothing now about it until I have heard from Mrs. Lake
what account Annetta gives of the affair. That alone must guide us in the
whole business. In the morning we will talk about it, sir."
There was a great deal of austerity in the manner of Mr. Lake; indeed he
might well enough be excused for not being over pleased at what had taken
place, and as for Mr. Blue there certainly was sufficient in his behaviour to
induce a large amount of suspicion, that he was in some way connected with the
affair. Moreover the efforts he evidently made in the way of disguise were
extremely suspicious in themselves. He evidently had a something to conceal,
and when the landlord was now left alone in the corridor, he was strongly
induced to make one of his first acts in the morning a notice to Mr. Blue,
that he would much prefer his room to his company at the London Hotel.
And then it all of a sudden came into the landlord's head, how poor Mr.
Black must have beeen distressed at what had taken place; for Sam had
told him what Mr. Black had said about wishing to sleep quietly, so that he
felt quite a pang at the idea of so civil a gentleman having been so awfully
disturbed, as he must have been, and he had no doubt but that in the morning
he would go away.
"I wonder if he is awake?" thought the landlord; "if I could but make
some sort of apology to him to-night, and soothe him, all might be well. I'll
first go and listen at his door; it may be that he really wants something, and
if so perhaps it would look attentive to knock and see him; I think I will.
It's quite out of the question that he should have slept in the middle of all
this riot."
He approached Mr. Black's door, and listened[.]
All was still as the very grave.
"What a horrid thing it would be if the shock, in his weak state, has
been the death of him!" thought the landlord, and the very idea made him quake
again.
After a few moments passed in this state of painful thought, he found
that it would be quite out of the question for him to go to his own room
again, without ascertaining how Mr. Black was, and accordingly he knocked at
the door, first gently and then louder, and then louder still, but received no
answer.
"Oh, this won't do, I must get in somehow," thought the landlord.
He tried the handle, and found in a moment that the door was not fast; a
light was burning on the side of the table which was close to the bed, and
there lay Mr. Black fast asleep, and looking so calm and serene, although he
was an ugly man, that the landlord was truly astonished to see him.
"Well," he said, "that's what I call sound sleeping, at all events. It's
a mercy however." Oh lor! he' going to awake."
Mr. Black opened his eyes, and looked up.
"I beg your pardon, sir," said the landlord, "I earnestly beg your
pardon, but as there had been a litle noise in the house I came to see,
first, if you had been disturbed, an then if you wanted anything, sir."
"No, no, thank you. Has there been a noise, do you say."
"A—a little, sir."
"Well, I was fast asleep and did not hear it. However, I do sleep so
sound that I think a cannon going off at my ear would hardly awaken me. I am
much obliged however for your attention, landlord."
"Can't I get you anything, sir?"
"Nothing until the morning, thank you."
"Thank you sir, good night sir, good night." —"Well," said the
landlord, as, finding all quiet, he took his way now back to his own room,
"well, he is a gentleman, every inch of him, that he is. How very mild and
polite. —He hasn'nt been disturbed, well that's a comfort."
—
