“But…”
“They could not have known that you have an influential family. Forgive me … but I did see you when you were travelling in your family carriage. I was at the Green Man. I noticed you.” He gave me a warm smile. “I saw the deference which was given to your parents. These people usually go for friendless girls.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“They would have drugged you. When you awoke you might have found yourself on a ship going out of the country. These people are devilish … quite unscrupulous. They care for nothing but profit.”
“But this is terrible.”
“I see you are still shocked by the experience and find it difficult to believe me. But I assure you that something like this must have been planned. I thank God I was in Bond Street today. I saw you, recognized you and … forgive me … I did follow you. I think I must have been trying to find some pretext for speaking to you. I saw the girl approach you. I was suspicious because a moment or so before I had seen her darting through the crowds and as she could not so suddenly have lost her sight, I wondered what was afoot. I followed at some distance. I was turning the corner into Grant Street when I saw you enter that house. I was astounded. I sensed something sinister was going on. I am only sorry I hesitated so long. However, at length I decided to ring the bell and force my way in if necessary. You know the rest.”
“Oh, thank you,” I said faintly.
“It shall be my pleasure to restore you to your family. A charming family if I may say so. I did see you once in Albemarle Street. It was as though our paths were destined to cross. I was meant to save you from … whatever those people were planning for you.”
I shivered. “It was miraculous.”
“I think so, too.”
“I had no idea that things like that went on or that such places existed.”
“Of course you did not. I blame myself for hesitating those few minutes. I stood there asking myself what right I had to interfere. I could not understand why you should go into such a place. Then I threw discretion to the winds and rang the bell and demanded entrance. The man who answered it asked my business and I said I wanted to see the young lady who had just come in. He told me to get out. Then I heard voices coming from the room. He tried to detain me but I flung him aside for I was convinced then that you were being held against your will. I had heard that these people had strange ways of conducting their business. Well, that is the story. How glad I am that I happened to be on the spot.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“It was very little really.”
“You did not know what you might have found in that place … how desperate they were. They are criminals. I think it was very brave of you to come after me.”
“Thank you.”
“My parents will want to thank you.”
“I was rewarded enough when I was able to bring you to safety.” We had come to Albemarle Street and I insisted that he come in and meet my parents.
My father was not at home but my mother had returned. Her astonishment was great when she saw the stranger, and when she heard what had happened she was horrified.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Mr.—er—”
“Peter Lansdon. I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”
“You must come in. You must have some wine. Oh, Jessica, how could you! I have told you repeatedly that you should not go out alone.”
“Oh, Mother, I am no longer a child.”
“But not able to take care of yourself it seems. As for you, sir, we owe you our deepest thanks for rescuing our daughter and bringing her home to us. No protestations please. It was a brave thing to do. What is the address of that place—Nineteen Grant Street. My husband will have this looked into without delay. It is one thing to run these houses for people to go to of their own free will but when they start taking innocent young girls off the street, that is going to be looked into. Do tell us how you knew my daughter was there.”
Peter Lansdon told her what he had told me.
“Insatiable curiosity, I have to admit. I saw you at the Green Man and remembered you. Then I happened to be in Bond Street this morning and recognized your daughter.”
“Thank God you were!”
“I thought there was something suspicious about the blind girl.”
“I was telling Mr. Lansdon how observant he is,” I said.
My mother nodded.
“So … I have to admit, I followed at a distance. I saw your daughter go into the house.”
“And you knew what sort of place it was?”
“I have heard mention of it. I believe at one of the clubs. I could not understand why your daughter should have been taken there by this girl… whose blindness seemed to have come on rather suddenly. Acting on impulse, I went in.”
“You must dine with us tonight,” said my mother. “That is if you are free.”
“I shall be delighted.”
He left us after half an hour.
“What a charming man!” said my mother.
When my father came in and heard what had happened he was first of all astounded and then so angry that I thought he was going to have an apoplectic fit.
He turned on me. “How could you have been so foolish! You don’t seem to have any notion of what can go on in a big city. The idea of going into a strange house …”
“The girl was blind … so I thought. She seemed so pathetic.”
“Pathetic indeed! And you were an idiot.”
I accepted his scorn meekly, feeling it was deserved and now that the ordeal was over I was beginning to feel rather excited. The tall man in the brown beaver hat had taken on a personality and it was a very interesting one. He was coming to dinner and I was sure that acquaintance with him could be stimulating.
My father said to my mother, “Keep the girl in. You never know what folly she’ll be capable of. And, remember, Jessica. You are not to go out alone in any circumstances. Have I made that clear?”
“You have.”
“Then give me your promise.”
I did.
My father went out soon after that. He was bent on making enquiries about number nineteen Grant Street.
To my mother I had to repeat over and over again what had happened: how the blind girl had approached me, what had been said in the house. She kept saying: “Thank God for that young man. I must say he was charming … so self effacing. He really seemed as though he did not think he had done anything very wonderful. To go into a house like that… Goodness knows what might have happened to him. And for the sake of a stranger too … someone to whom he had not even spoken. I think he is wonderfully brave and gallant too. I am so glad he is coming to dinner.”
My father came back some hours later. He had made enquiries about the house in Grant Street. It had been a brothel run by a woman calling herself Madame Delarge who was said to be French. There was no one there at the time. The place was about to be sold. Madame Delarge had what she called a reputable establishment in Piccadilly. She entertained gentleman callers it was true, but there was no enforcement of girls. Everyone came willingly. She had left the house in Grant Street and it had been vacated by her staff a week before. She could not imagine who the people were who had lured a young girl to the place. It was nothing whatever to do with her. She could only believe someone was playing some sort of joke.
More enquiries were made and it seemed that Madame Delarge was speaking the truth.
It was very mysterious, said my mother; and my father was baffled.
“A watch will be kept on the place,” he said.
The adventure seemed to have become more curious than ever.
Peter Lansdon dined with us that evening.
My father’s discoveries about the house in Grant Street had made him even more grateful towards my rescuer. He thought it was very odd that the house had been used by people unknown to Madame Delarge. He thought there was something very suspicious and sinister about the whole matter. He believed that there were organizations which abducted young women and took them out of the country to serve in houses of ill fame in foreign places and the thought that this could have happened to his own daughter roused his anger to such heights that my mother was afraid for him. He was having further investigations made.