Part 19

Under the searching brilliance Adrian and Crow put _Messenger_ up in the wind, and she lay-to--wet, ragged, battered, shaken, most disreputable, with her drenched mainsail, her flapping storm-jib no bigger than a towel, while the poor little dinghy reeled alongside drunkenly, the water washing over her floor boards.

Before her crew had recovered from this visitation a splendid boat, as long as _Messenger_, if not longer, swept up alongside with a precision that never even touched the fenders of the yawl, which Adrian had rushed to throw out. He said to his mother afterwards, in a perfect passion of admiration, "The bo'sun just hooked on--no fuss--no bother--and _Messenger_ jumping like a mad-horse."

The boy in charge was perhaps a year older than Christobel. His fair face was beaming with satisfaction. He was enjoying himself to the full! With engaging courtesy he put the two girls in the stern sheets and held a short parley with Adrian, who refused to leave the yawl.

"You see, sir, I'm responsible--she's Sir Marmaduke Shard's _Messenger_, and he----"

"Your brother sent me to fetch you off, and two of our men will take over the yawl," explained the boy.

"My _brother_!"

"Mr. Romilly, yes. We are destroyer _Spite_, and the men will see the yawl safe into Bell Bay; they are instructed."

Orders flew, while Christobel gasped out "_Malcolm_" in a choked voice as Adrian came down beside her.

"There's any amount of grub on board," said Adrian hurriedly, "cocoa and coffee. Please tell your men to----"

"Thanks very much, sir; they'll enjoy themselves." Mr. Rodney Vane passed on the information, and the big galley swept away, along the ladder of light, towards the waiting destroyer.

"I suppose," ventured Christobel, recovering speech, "that Bell Bay is close by."

"Not so very close, Miss Romilly," answered Mr. Vane. "You see, you're in the Bristol Channel. We saw your lights, of course, and couldn't make you out, as you weren't a fishing-boat, and were--ahem--flying the White Ensign."

Adrian became crimson.

"That was a rag, sir," he explained hastily. "You see, my sister and I went off at a moment's notice on a funny sort of mission; we didn't think anyone would see--we ran it up for a rag--and forgot it."

Mr. Vane noticed my "sister" in the singular. He wondered about the tall girl with a golden pigtail, but of course made no remark.

Malcolm, in all the state of authority and gold lace, received them at the gangway.

"Hullo, Crow, this is awfully decent. Hullo, Pam----"

There was a moment's pause as he and the tall girl with arrogant eyes looked at each other.

"Come along down to my cabin," he said. "I expect you want to rest."

At the earliest possible moment Adrian and Crow explained the meaning of this eccentricity on their parts, also all they knew, so far, about the strange girl they had rescued in place of Pamela.

"Poor little Pam," said Malcolm. "That reminds me, I've got three days leave due, and I'm coming along to look up the Bell House. How's Mum?"

"She'll be all right when we get back," answered Crow sagely; "just this moment I expect she's not over bright."

In course of time the white yawl lay on her moorings in Bell Bay, none the worse for this wild adventure.

In the same course of time the galley put in against the rocks--which were used as a quay--under the charge of Mr. Hedderwick, the bo'sun, while the wanderers carried Mr. Vane and Malcolm off to the Bell House to see Mrs. Romilly. That was in the morning early; no one had been in bed, or wished to go; everybody was pale and shadowy about the eyes, and poor Mrs. Romilly had to meet her two recovered children alone first, before she could see Mr. Vane, and admire the wonders of the galley. The sight of Malcolm was the finest tonic of all.

Miss Lasarge was there. She had been there all night with Mrs. Romilly, and during that time had told her the story of the Countess--all she knew--no one knew everything but Sir Marmaduke.

White-faced Pam was hugged by Crow and even by Adrian. All was understood--all was forgiven.

Hughie went down to the cove to take the pattern of the galley and make friends with Mr. Hedderwick; when that resplendent person asked him if he was coming in Our Service, Hughie answered: "Of course, sir," and won Mr. Hedderwick's heart once and for all.

That evening, very late, Sir Marmaduke arrived from London. A wire, sent from Salterne very early in the morning of despair, brought him away on the instant. He came first to the Bell House, and talked to Mrs. Romilly and Miss Anne.

It was not his profession, or his nature, to cast aside reserve and tell secrets. Besides, it was Government business, and he was only an agent. However, the ladies understood that Pamela's double was a German, not only of good birth, but actually related to the Hohenzollern family. Her father was a brave soldier, and a gentleman, and had met his death early in the battle of the Marne.

He died in a British hospital, as it happened the one in which Miss Lesarge and Major Fraser were working. In this way they saw at least one German gentleman, and for that reason were ready to befriend his child when the need arose.

Her mother was very much a Prussian, and supposed to be in hiding owing to the revolution--she was not a popular lady. The girl had been at school in England, because her father wished it, then the War came. She was shifted from one German family to another. When trouble and internment came she was moved. Being a young person of importance, she became a perfect white elephant to the powers that be, and was finally handed over to the wardship of Sir Marmaduke Shard, who thought that he had solved the riddle when he sent her to Woodrising in the charge of Lady Shard's old servant.

It was manifestly impossible to let her go about or to let her identity be known; the country people would have been furious. Until she could be sent back to her own people, she must be put in some quiet place.

The result of Sir Marmaduke's clever plan has been told in this story. He took the Countess and Mrs. Chipman away with him next day. Woodrising knew them no more, and Mrs. Trewby became less bilious, but no one was told what happened to the Countess, even Lady Shard never knew, and as for Auntie A., she had forgotten about the matter. Charles had a fit, and when he recovered she had a plan for making hens all lay their eggs at the same hour every day, being of course an immense saving of labour for everyone. Mrs. Ensor had "no opinion" of it; she was extra busy, as Reuben was just beginning to walk again on his mended ankle.

When this strange hurricane cloud passed, it left the sky of the Bell House family blue and clear again. Peace came back, and the days were the same as before that stormy petrel disturbed life.

Pamela returned joyously to the study of Girl Guide rules, but admitted that it is perhaps as well to be careful about the nature and extent of your "good turns".

She often wondered about the "Countess", and would immensely have liked to know her eight names, and what the double "A" stood for. She never did. Mollie Shard knew nothing; she heard the story from the Romillys when she came down, and the only time she ever saw the Countess was that morning, very early, when she mistook her for Pamela.

So that is the story of Pam and the Countess, from first to last, with its grief, misunderstanding, and danger. Whether anything more will ever be known, or whether Pam will ever meet her "double" again, of course no one can say. For the present, the story has ended happily.