Sound of the Trumpet (19 page)

Lisle, as she made her way to the door, felt greatly saddened that she had not known to send flowers at least. She bowed and smiled to those members who greeted her shyly. She wished she knew them well enough to speak about John Sargent and ask if he had been at the mission lately, though of course she did not.

But when she reached the door there stood one of the men who had seemed to follow her several times lately. He came up to her as she started to step into the street.

“I have a message for you from your chauffeur,” said the man in a low tone. “Something has gone wrong with your car and he sent me to escort you home. If you will step this way, I have a car here.”

Lisle gave a startled look, recognized the shifty eyes, the crafty, cringing attitude. He was the same man whom she had seen before. She was sure he was. Her instinct warned her to beware.

“Oh,” she said, backing away into the hall again, “thank you! That won’t be necessary. I have friends here. I would rather go with them.” She turned around and went back to stand among the group around the teacher.

Mr. Evans was standing with his open Bible, explaining some point in the lesson he had just given that had not quite been understood by some of his listeners. Lisle stood with the rest and listened, her frightened heart quieting as she heard the trustful words the leader was speaking. Eagerly, her mind reached out to grasp the help this man could give her spirit.

Then suddenly, as he was speaking, the teacher looked right at her, as if they two were the only ones in the room, as if he was talking just for her benefit. There was a pleasant smile on his lips, as though the words he was saying meant a great deal to him. “You know,” he said, “the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long. That makes a refuge surer, safer, than any earth can give, doesn’t it?” And he smiled again, as if the message was all her own.

Lisle smiled shyly back, with new wonder in her eyes.

“Do you mean,” she said, “that one can so live that he can be
sure
he is beloved of the Lord, so that no matter what perils loom, he need not be afraid?”

A light came into the teacher’s eyes that reminded her of the light she had seen in John Sargent’s eyes once.

“It is not a matter of one’s
living
,” he said. “We do not merit His love by the way we live. It is a matter of so trusting that you
know
beyond the shadow of a doubt that whatever happens will be what He allows, and that all will be well for you, whatever it is, because you are His beloved. His beloved because He died for you. Because He bought you with His blood, and nothing can come except He allows it. If some things come that we would not choose if we were trying to run our own lives, we can know that He sees that it is going to bring us more quickly to the place where we shall be like His Son. That is what He wants for us, you know, that we may be ‘conformed’ from ourselves ‘into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.’ And no matter what it is, if it does that for us, it is worth it, isn’t it? For that is the ultimate that we should desire, to be what He wants us to be.”

“Oh!” breathed Lisle softly, a new wonder and a new enlightenment growing in her eyes. “Then we don’t need to be afraid for anything?”

“Not if you are consciously walking with Him. He will do the taking care. Our care is that we are being guided utterly by Him. Living so the soul is alive constantly to His guidance. He will not lead us into the wrong way.”

“I see,” said Lisle thoughtfully. She smiled suddenly into the face of a tired-looking woman beside her who looked as if she wished it were true but wasn’t quite certain. Lisle had almost forgotten the immediate trouble for which she had come forward, perhaps to ask help, she wasn’t sure. For now she had begun to feel that there was help all about her, over her continually.

“The beloved of the Lord,” she said softly to herself. “To think I may claim that!”

Presently the little company began to break up and to walk slowly toward the door, and Lisle walked with them, all at once remembering the man outside who had frightened her. Should she ask someone to go with her to the bus? Did any of them go that way? She wasn’t sure, and she wouldn’t like to make them go out of their way. In her heart she prayed, “Dear Father, show me now what to do. Give me safekeeping home, please.”

She looked up and saw the teacher hurrying. He was going to meet a train, she heard him say. She could not ask him to look out for her and make him miss the train he wanted to meet.

Then her eyes lifted toward the door. Perhaps her would-be escort was gone by this time, and she could walk out and go home by herself. Not by herself, but with her heavenly Father. Would He help her?

And suddenly she saw, just entering the door, her good old chauffeur. Oh joy, the Lord had sent Joseph to take her home!

Lisle walked radiantly to meet him, for she saw behind his faithful homely face the glory of the Lord who had sent him.

“Oh, Joseph! You
have come!
”

“Yes, Miss Lisle. I have come right away just as quick as I could. I telephoned a garage and had them look after the car, and I called Mark to bring the little service car, and it’s outside here now, waiting. You won’t mind riding home in the service car once, will you? It was the best I could do under the circumstances. I’ve left the big car for repairs.”

The little old car that was used for the house errands and the servants stood just outside the mission close to the curb, and she could see Mark’s stubby form sitting behind the wheel. Nowhere could she see the man who had so frightened her.

Thankfully, she climbed into the backseat of the service car, and it was not until they were started on their way home that she thought to ask Joseph about the man.

“Who was that you sent after me, Joseph?” she asked breathlessly. “Was he someone you know?”

“Sent after you, Miss Lisle? I don’t understand,” said the puzzled Joseph, turning to look back at her from his seat beside Mark. “I didn’t send anybody after you.”

“Why, the man who came to tell me the car had broken down. He said you had sent him to take me home.”

“No, Miss Lisle. I sent no one. I wouldn’t do a thing like that. Your mama would not stand for my doing that, and in these times I would not dare, either. Send a stranger after my young lady? No,
never
!”

“Well, then, who was he? And how did he know that our car was disabled? What happened to the car, anyway? Did someone run into you?”

“No, no one run into me. Just the car run over something, some broken glass maybe. Anyway,
something
sharp, and the tires picked it up. And the fourth has some of the small spikes still sticking in the tire. The garage people are investigating. They are bringing it to the attention of the authorities. It was intentional. I don’t know if it was meant for us. I thought maybe a accident. But now since you say a man came after you, I think maybe no accident. There are a great many things going on in the world today since this war started. Definitely, Miss Lisle, we must arrange that you do not go places alone. I think somebody plans to do you harm. For money perhaps. Might be. I must report to your papa. So I came quick. I am glad you did not go with that man. I know nothing about him. I did not see any man at all. It was a lonely place in the street where the car stopped—the shops all shut for the night. I am sure it must have been no accident. But don’t you worry. I’ll take care of you, Miss Lisle. Mark and I’ll watch over you!”

“Thank you, Joseph! I’m not worrying! I am quite sure the Lord sent you for me tonight. I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid of that man. I had seen him watching me before, or at least he seemed like the same one, and I was silly and frightened. But when I saw you come in the door, you looked just like an angel from heaven, Joseph!”

“Well, Miss, I sure am obliged to you for the compliment.”

“But you see, Joseph, that was a prayer meeting and Bible class I had been attending, and I had been praying that God would show me what to do and take care of me on the way home. And then He sent you.”

“Well, Miss Lisle, I sure am much ‘bliged to God for letting me be the one to come.” Joseph’s tone was awed and reverent. He had never heard his little lady talk of religious matters before, and it filled him with a great wonder. He felt that it was really so, since his little lady thought it was, and he felt that he must walk softly the rest of the way, at least while the war lasted, for somehow the next world seemed terribly near to this one in these days. And if there was glory and angels about, there must be devils and deviltry about also. He hadn’t been able to enlist in the great war, because of his age and his devotion to his dear “family” the Kingsleys, but he began to suspect that perhaps there were ways of serving in this war under a greater General, even as he might have had if he had gone out to fight as a private somewhere. A firmer look came about his homely mouth and chin, and a gentleness about his eyes. Joseph wanted to be a true soldier somewhere and to serve to the best of his humble ability.

Elsewhere that evening John Sargent, returning from his midnight shift at the shipyard, looked up to see Kurt Entry falling into step beside him.

It had been several weeks since he had seen or even thought of this man, and John wondered what was coming now. He had sometimes been sorry that he had not pursued the subject a little more subtly and therefore been able to discover more to report to the authorities, for the more he heard of sabotage, the more he felt that he had almost uncovered something that might have proved pretty important to the country. Therefore he looked up alertly.

“Well, so it’s you again!” he said calmly. “What’s doing now? Another fake job?”

“No fake about it,” swaggered Entry. “It’s real, all right. I’ve come to give you another chance. It’s something really good, so you better do something about it this time, for this is the last chance you’ll get.”

“Oh, is that so?” drawled John mockingly. “It seems to me I’ve heard something like that before.”

“None of your lip,” said Entry, “or I’m quitting. I know another man would jump at this chance you’re getting and no mistake. I’d have folded him into it quick enough, only the boss is hit hard by you and wants you to take the job. He feels you’ll do a better job than anybody else, so I had to give you one last try. But the time has come, and you better say yes at once, or the other man gets the chance, and he’s all eager for it. Besides, there’s a little matter of a lady involved, and a good deed you can do, so that might make a difference to you.”

“A lady?” said John with a laugh. “Not me! I don’t have anything to do with ladies. I haven’t time.”

“Oh,
yeah
?” returned Entry with a sneer. “How about that little lady you took home from the blackout that night? Know her, don’t you? A dame named Kingsley? Well, she’s the gal I mean. She’s in real trouble now, and as far as I’ve been informed, you are the only man who can help her out. Now, does that make any difference? She’s been kidnapped, and her folks don’t know where she’s at. It’ll probably all come out in the papers in a day or two. Her parents are sort of laying low now to give the kidnappers a chance to get the ransom, perhaps. I don’t know much about that part of it. But they tell me if you would come forward and take this job I was offering you, and carry this thing through, you could get her released tonight, that is, providing you tied yourself up to the job so you couldn’t wriggle out of it afterward. How about now?”

John had given the man a quick look when he began this new phase of the plot and then dropped his eyes and feigned indifference. But suddenly into the silence that followed Kurt’s last statement there came an ear-piercing whistle that rent the air about them and seemed to proceed from the opposite corner and to echo far and wide. Entry started and looked sharply at his companion to see how it had affected him, but John was looking around casually as if to see where the sound came from.

“What’s that?” asked Entry huskily, and there seemed to be almost a note of fear in his voice. “We better beat it. You take the right road and I’ll hide over there in that lumberyard. We can meet after they’ve gone, over there by the closed gate to the yard. Do you think that was the police?”

Now, John Sargent had an accomplishment which dated back to his early childhood. He could imitate perfectly a police whistle, and make it sound from any direction he chose. Moreover his officer-friend was aware of this gift he had, and more than once when John was a young boy in school, he had grinned at the lad when a whistle of his had stopped some rash driver from going through a light. John had talked over this matter of the offered job with his policeman-friend, and they had agreed that if John should give that whistle again, the police would answer it by coming at all speed, and if there was a man with him they would understand that he was one to keep an eye on.

So now, in the not-far distance, they could hear the snappy roar of a police car heading their way, and John grinned affably.

“No need for you to get excited, is there?” he asked Entry lazily. “If you haven’t done anything out of the way, they can’t hurt you. What’s this, you say? Somebody kidnapped? You sure? Where is she now? Oh, you aren’t ready to tell yet. I see. And they think I know her? You say her name is Kingsley? Seems as though I might have heard of her, maybe met her once, but nobody would ever associate her name with mine. I’m not in her class at all. Why should they pick me out to come to her rescue?”

“Why you see, they
want
you, and if you’ll agree to carry out this job in the right way and put yourself under contract to do it, they’ll put you on to how to set her free. Give you an advantage with her all righty, too, to her family, and her papa’ll be so everlasting grateful he won’t even think of that class-business you was talking about. You’ll be right in the swim, and everybody happy, see?”

W
hile Entry had talked, a police car had turned the corner and suddenly gone silent, rolling so quietly to their side that he had a feeling it had gone down another street. Then suddenly there was a voice. “Is this your man, kid?”