"Oh, all right," exclaimed Dunn."I suppose you know and you may be right.""I am," Deede Dawson assured him."Listen carefully now, there mustn't be any blunders.You are to make an early start tomorrow.
I don't want you to take the car for fear of its being seen and identified.You must take the train to London and then another train back immediately to Delsby.From Delsby you'll have an eighteen-mile walk through lonely country where you aren't likely to meet any one, and must try not to.The less you are seen the better.You know that for yourself, and for your own sake you'll be careful.You'll have no time to spare, but you will be able to get to the place I told you of by four all right - no earlier, no later.You must arrange to be there at four exactly.You may spoil all if you are too early.Almost as soon as you get there, Rupert Dunsmore will arrive.You must do the rest for yourself, and then you must strike straight across country for here.You can look up your routes on the map.There will be less risk of attracting attention if you come and go by different ways.You ought to be here again some time in the small hours.I'll let you in, and you'll have cleared your own score with Rupert Dunsmore and earned more money than you ever have had in all your life before.
Now, can I depend on you?"
"Yes - yes," answered Dunn, over whom there had come a new and strange sense of unreality as he stood and listened to cold-blooded murder being thus calmly, coolly planned, as though it were some afternoon's pleasure trip that was being arranged, so that he hardly knew whether he did, in fact, hear this smooth, low, unceasing voice that from the darkness at his side laid down such a bloody road for his feet to travel.
"Oh, yes, you can depend on me," he said."But can I depend on you, when you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that place?"It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his voice was very low and soft and confident as he said:
"Yes, you can - absolutely.You see, I know his plans.""Oh, do you?" Dunn said as though satisfied."Oh, well then, it's no wonder you're so sure.""No wonder at all," agreed Deede Dawson."There's just one other thing I can tell you.Some one else will be there, too, at Brook Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood.""Who's that?" asked Dunn sharply.
"The man," said Deede Dawson, "who is behind all this - the man you and I are working for - the man who's going to pay us, even better than he thinks.""He - he will be there?" repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath.
"Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did,"Deede Dawson told him."Most likely he'll be disguised - a mask, perhaps; I don't know.Anyhow, he'll be there.Watching.I'm not suggesting you would do such a thing as never go near the place, loaf around a bit, then come back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of the way for good, draw your pay and vanish, and leave us to find out he was as lively and troublesome as ever.I don't think you would do that, because you sounded as if you meant what you said when you told me he was your worst enemy.But it's just as well to be sure, and so we mean to have a witness; and as it's what you might call a delicate matter, that witness will most likely be our employer himself.So you had better do the job thoroughly if you want your pay.""I see you take your precautions," remarked Dunn."Well, that's all right, I don't mind.""You understand exactly what you've got to do?" Deede Dawson asked.
Dunn nodded.
"What about Allen?" he asked."Does he take any part in this show?""He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early the same night, during the dinner-hour most likely," answered Deede Dawson carelessly."We can get in at one of the long gallery windows quite easily, Allen says.He kept his eyes open that day you all went there.It may be helpful to give the police two problems to work on at once; and besides, big as this thing is, there's a shortage of ready money at present.But our little affair at Wreste Abbey will have nothing to do with you.You mind what you've got to do, and don't trouble about anything else.See?""I see," answered Dunn slowly."And if you can arrange for Rupert Dunsmore to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the rest.""You needn't be uneasy about that," Deede Dawson said, and laughed.
"You see, I know his plans," he repeated, and laughed again; and still laughing that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and walked back towards the house.
Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he muttered:
"Yes, but I wonder if you do."
