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Between Feliks and the house, about fifty yards from the portico, was a big old chestnut tree. Feliks walked toward it across the lawn. The policeman seemed to be looking more or less in Feliks’s direction, but he did not see him. Feliks did not care: if he sees me, he thought, I’ll shoot him dead. It doesn’t matter now. No one could stop the fire. Everyone will have to leave the house. Any minute now, any minute now, I’ll kill them both.
He came up behind the tree and leaned against it, with the shotgun in his hands.
Now he could see flames at the opposite end of the house, in the dining room windows.
He thought: What are they doing in there?
Walden ran along the corridor to the bachelor wing and knocked on the door of the Blue Room, where Thomson was sleeping. He went in.
“What is it?” Thomson’s voice said from the bed.
Walden turned on the light. “Feliks is in the house.”
“Good God!” Thomson got out of bed. “How?”
“Charlotte let him in,” Walden said bitterly.
Thomson was hastily putting on trousers and a jacket. “Do we know where?”
“In the nursery. Have you got your revolver?”
“No, but I’ve got three men with Orlov, remember? I’ll peel two of them off and then take Feliks.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“I’d rather-”
“Don’t argue!” Walden shouted. “I want to see him die.”
Thomson gave a queer, sympathetic look, then ran out of the room. Walden followed.
They went along the corridor to Aleks’s room. The bodyguard outside the door stood up and saluted Thomson. Thomson said: “It’s Barrett, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who’s inside?”
“Bishop and Anderson, sir.”
“Get them to open up.”
Barrett tapped on the door.
Immediately a voice said: “Password?”
“Mississippi,” said Barrett.
The door opened. “What’s on, Charlie? Oh, it’s you, sir.”
Thomson said: “How is Orlov?”
“Sleeping like a baby, sir.”
Walden thought: Let’s get on with it!
Thomson said: “Feliks is in the house. Barrett and Anderson, come with me and his lordship. Bishop, stay inside the room. Check that your pistols are loaded, please, all of you.”
Walden led the way along the bachelor wing and up the back stairs to the nursery suite. His heart was pounding, and he felt the curious mixture of fear and eagerness which had always come over him when he got a big lion in the sights of his rifle.
He pointed at the nursery door.
Thomson whispered: “Is there electric light in that room?”
“Yes,” Walden replied.
“Where’s the switch?”
“Left-hand side of the door, at shoulder height.”
Barrett and Anderson drew their pistols.
Walden and Thomson stood on either side of the door, out of the line of fire.
Barrett threw open the door, Anderson dashed in and stepped to one side, and Barrett threw the light switch.
Nothing happened.
Walden looked into the room.
Anderson and Barrett were checking the school room and the bedrom. A moment later Barrett said: “No one here, sir.”
The nursery was bare and bright with light. There was a bowl of dirty water on the floor, and next to it a crumpled towel.
Walden pointed to the closet door. “Through there is a little attic.”
Barrett opened the closet door. They all tensed. Barrett went through with his gun in his hand.
He came back a moment later. “He was there.”
Thomson scratched his head.
Walden said: “We must search the house.”
Thomson said: “I wish we had more men.”
“We’ll start with the west wing,” Walden said. “Come on.”
They followed him out of the nursery and along the corridor to the staircase. As they went down the stairs Walden smelled smoke. “What’s that?” he said.
Thomson sniffed.
Walden looked at Barrett and Anderson: neither of them was smoking.
The smell became more powerful, and now Walden could hear a noise like wind in the trees.
Suddenly he was filled with fear. “My house is on fire!” he shouted. He raced down the stairs.
The hall was full of smoke.
Walden ran across the hall and pushed open the door of the drawing room. Heat hit him like a blow and he staggered back. The room was an inferno. He despaired: it could never be put out. He looked along to the west wing, and saw that the library was afire too. He turned. Thomson was right behind him. Walden shouted: “My house is burning down!”
Thomson took his arm and pulled him back to the staircase. Anderson and Barrett stood there. Walden found he could breathe and hear more easily in the center of the hall. Thomson was very cool and collected. He began to give orders.
“Anderson, go and wake up those two bobbies outside. Send one to find a garden hose and a tap. Send the other ru
Walden ran up the stairs and into Lydia’s room. She was sitting on the chaise longue in her nightdress, and her eyes were red with weeping. “The house is on fire,” Walden said breathlessly. “Go out quickly on to the front lawn. I’ll get Charlotte.” Then he thought of something: the di
He raced down the stairs again, thinking: Why didn’t I think of this before? In the hall was a long silk rope which would ring bells all over the house to warn guests and servants that a meal was about to be served. Walden pulled on the rope, and heard faintly the response of the bells from various parts of the house. He noticed a garden hose trailing through the hall. Was somebody fighting the fire already? He could not think who. He kept on pulling the rope.
Feliks watched anxiously. The blaze was spreading too quickly. Already large areas of the second floor were burning-he could see the glow in the windows. He thought: Come out, you fools. What were they doing? He did not want to burn everyone in the house-he wanted them to come out. The policeman in the portico seemed to be asleep. I’ll give the alarm myself, Feliks thought desperately; I don’t want the wrong people to die-
Suddenly the policeman looked around. His pipe fell out of his mouth. He dashed into the porch and began to hammer on the door. At last! thought Feliks. Now raise the alarm, you fool! The policeman ran around to a window and broke it.
Just then the door opened and someone rushed out in a cloud of smoke. It’s happening, Feliks thought. He hefted the shotgun and peered through the darkness. He could not see the face of the newcomer. The man shouted something, and the policeman ran off. I’ve got to be able to see their faces, Feliks thought; but if I go too close I’ll be seen too soon. The newcomer rushed back into the house before Feliks could recognize him. I’ll have to get nearer, Feliks thought, and take the chance. He moved across the lawn. Within the house, bells began to ring.
Now they will come, thought Feliks.
Lydia ran along the smoke-filled corridor. How could this happen so quickly? In her room she had smelled nothing, but now there were flames flickering underneath the doors of the bedrooms she passed. The whole house must be blazing. The air was too hot to breathe. She reached Charlotte’s room and turned the handle of the door. Of course, it was locked. She turned the key. She tried again to open the door. It would not move. She turned the handle and threw her weight against the door. Something was wrong, the door was jammed, Lydia began to scream and scream-
“Mama!” Charlotte’s voice came from within the room.