"Of course!" responded Violet readily; "how stupid of me! It was my mother's wedding ring. I found it in an old desk and wore it to keep it safe. That was really how I found out that I could not bear the feel of one and I soon gave it up."
"What did I say?" claimed Darragh genially. "I thought that we should be right."
"This is really much interesting," said Kato. "I very greatly like your system, Mr. Carrados."
"Oh, it's scarcely a system," deprecated Max good-naturedly; "it's almost second nature with me now. I don't have to consider, say, 'Where is the window?' if I want it. I know with certainty that the window lies over here." He had not yet taken the chair provided, and suiting the action to the word he now took a few steps towards the wall where the windows were. "Am I not right?" And to assure himself he stretched out a hand and encountered the heavy curtains.
"Yes, yes," admitted Violet hurriedly, "but, oh, please do be careful, Mr. Carrados. They are most awfully particular about the light here since the last raid. We go in fear and trembling lest a glimmer should escape."
Carrados smiled and nodded and withdrew from the dangerous area. He faced the room again.
"Then there is the electric light – heat at a certain height of course."
"True," assented Kato, "but why electric light?"
"Because no other is noiseless and entirely without smell; think – gas, oil, candles, all betray their composition yards away. Then" – indicating the fireplace – "I suppose you can only smell soot in damp weather? The mantelpiece" – touching it – "inlaid marble. The wallpaper" – brushing his hand over its surface – "arrangement of pansies on a crisscross background"; lifting one finger to his lips – color scheme largely green and gold."
Possibly Mr. Hulse thought that his friend had demonstrated his qualities quite enough. Possibly – at any rate he now created a diversion:
"Engraving of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, suspended two feet seven inches from the ceiling on a brassheaded nail supplied by a one-legged ironmonger whose Aunt Jane-"
All contributed a sufficiently appreciative laugh – Carrados' not the least hearty – except Kato, whose Asiatic dignity was proof against the form of jesting.
"You see what contempt familiarity breeds, Miss Darragh," remarked the blind man. "I look to you, Mr. Kuromi, to avenge me by putting Hulse in a variety of undignified attitudes on the floor."
"Oh, I shan't mind that if at the same time you put me up to a trick or two," said Hulse, turning to the Japanese.
"You wish?"
"Indeed I do. I've seen the use of it. It's good; it's scientific. When I was crossing, one of the passengers held up a bully twice his weight in the neatest way possible. It looked quite simple, something like this, if I may?" Kato nodded his grave assent and submitted himself to Mr. Hulse's vigorous grasp. "'Now,' said the man I'm speaking of, 'struggle and your right arm's broken.' But I expect you know the grip?"
"Oh, yes," replied Kato, veiling his private amusement, "and therefore foolish to struggle. Expert does not struggle, gives way." He appeared to do so, to be falling helplessly in fact, but the assailant found himself compelled to follow, and the next moment he was lying on his back with Kato politely extending a hand to assist him up again.
"I must remember that," said Hulse thoughtfully. "Let me see, it goes – do you mind putting me wise on that again, Mr. Kuromi? The motion picture just one iota slower this time, please."
For the next ten or twenty minutes the demonstration went on in admirable good humor, and could Max Carrados have seen he would certainly have witnessed his revenge. At the end of the lesson both men were warm and dusty – so dusty that Miss Darragh felt called upon to apologize laughingly for the condition of the rug. But if clothes were dusty, hands were positively dirty – there was no other word for it.
"No, really, the poor mat can't be so awful as that," declared the girl. "Wherever have you been, Mr. Kuromi? and, oh, Mr. Hulse you are just as bad."
"I do not know," declared Kato, regarding his grimy fingers seriously. "Nowhere of myself. Yes, I think it must be your London atmosphere among the rug after all."
"At all events you can't – Oh, Hugh, take them to the bathroom, will you? And I'll try to entertain Mr. Carrados meanwhile – only he will entertain me instead, I know."
It was well and simply done throughout – nothing forced, and the sequence of development quite natural. Indeed, it was not until Hulse saw Kuromi take, off his coat in the bathroom that he even thought of what he carried. "Well, Carrados," he afterwards pleaded to his friend, "now could I wash my hands before those fellows like a guy who isn't used to washing? It isn't natural. It isn't human." So for those few minutes the two coats hung side by side, and Darragh kindly brushed them. When Hulse put on his own again his hand instinctively felt for the hidden packet; his fingers reassured themselves among the familiar objects of his pockets, and his mind was perfectly at ease.
"You old scoundrel, Max," he said, when he returned to the drawing room. "You told Kuromi to wipe the floor with me and by crumbs, he did! Have a cigarette all the same."
Miss Darragh laughed pleasantly and took the opportunity to move away to learn from her accomplices if all had gone well. Carrados was on the, point of passing over the proffered olive branch when he changed his mind. He leaned forward and with slow deliberation chose a cigarette from the American's case. Exactly when the first subtle monition of treachery reached him, by what sense it was conveyed – Hulse never learned, for there were experiences among the finer perceptions that the blind man did not willingly discuss. Not by voice or outward manner in that arresting moment did he betray an inkling of his suspicion, yet by some responsive telephony Hulse at once, though scarcely conscious of it then, grew uneasy and alert.
"Thanks; I'll take a light from yours," remarked Carrados, ignoring the lit match, and he rose to avail himself. His back was towards the others, who still had a word of instruction to exchange. With cool precision he handled the cloth on Hulse's outstretched arm, critically touched the pocket he was already familiar with, and then deliberately drew the lapel to his face.
"You wore some violets?" he said beneath his breath.
"Yes," replied Hulse, "but I- Miss Darragh-"
"But there never have been any here! By heavens, Hulse, we're in it! You had your coat off just now?"
"Yes, for a minute."
"Quietly. Keep your cigarette going. You'll have to leave this to me. Back me up – discreetly – whatever I do."
"Can't we challenge it and insist-"
"Not in this world. They have at least one other man downstairs-in Cairo, a Turk by the way, before I was blind, of course. Not up to Mr. Kuromi, I expect-"
"Cool again?" asked Miss Darragh sociably. It was her approach that had sent Carrados off into irrelevancies. "Was the experience up to anticipation?"
"Yes, I think I may say it was," admitted Hulse guardedly. "There is certainly a lot to learn here. I expect you've seen it all before?"
"Oh, no. It is a great honor to get Mr. Kuromi to 'show it off,' as he quaintly calls it."
"Yes, I should say so," replied the disillusioned young man with deadly simplicity. "I quite feel that."
"J. B. H. is getting strung up," thought Carrados. "He may say something unfortunate presently." So he deftly insinuated himself into the conversation and for a few minutes the commonplaces of the topic were rigidly maintained.
"Care for a hand at auction?" suggested Darragh, joining the group. He had no desire to keep his guests a minute longer than he need, but at the same time it was his line to behave quite naturally until they left. "Oh, but I forgot – Mr. Carrados-"