"Yes, sir," answered one of the detectives, seizing him by the wrist just as the other two left the room in pursuit of John Darche. "And one of them has got you."
"Got me!" roared the old man. "Hands off, there! What do you mean? Damn you, sir, let me go!"
"Oh, well," replied the officer calmly, "if you are going to take on like that, you may just as well know that your son was tried and convicted for forgery to-day. Not that I believe that you had anything to do with it, but he is a precious rascal all the same, and has escaped from your house--"
"I! Forgery? The man is mad! John, where are you? Brett! Vanbrugh! Help me, gentlemen!"
He appealed to Brett, and then to Vanbrugh who, indeed, was doing his best to draw the officer away.
"No, no," answered the latter firmly. "I've got one of them--it's all in the family."
Though Marion's dress was still smouldering and Brett was on his knees trying to extinguish the last spark with his own hands, she forgot her own danger, and almost tearing herself away from Brett she clasped the policeman's hand trying to drag it from Simon Darche's shoulder.
"Oh, sir," she cried in tearful entreaty, "pray let him go! He is innocent--he is ill! He will not think of escaping. Don't you see that we have kept it all from him?"
"Kept it all from me?" asked the old gentleman fiercely turning upon her. "What do you mean? Where is John? Where is John? I say!"
"In handcuffs by this time I guess," said the detective calmly.
"But I insist upon knowing what all this means," continued old Darche, growing more and more excited, while the veins of his temples swelled to bursting. "Forgery! Trial! Conviction! John escaping! Am I dreaming? Are not you three directors of the other road? Good God, young man, speak!" He seized Brett by the collar in his excitement.
"Pray be calm, sir, pray be calm," answered the young man, trying to loosen the policeman's sturdy grasp.
By a tremendous effort, such as madmen make in supreme moments, the old man broke loose, and seizing Marion by the wrist dragged her half across the room while he spoke. "Tell me this thing is all a lie!" he cried, again and again.
"The lady knows the truth well enough, sir," said the policeman, coming up behind him. "She caught fire just right."