The Law of the Green Man: Part Twenty

Despite the shot, the bullet did not kill Sir Harold Rait, only creasing him, and rendering him quite unconscious. The Green Man laughed, shaking his head.

"No, Sir Harold," he chuckled, "you will not get your wish. You will not indict the law of the Green Man."

Two large manservants for Mainstone entered and carried the man's unconscious body out. Lady Sylvia watched, her mouth open.

"What's wrong?" the Angel of death spoke, her voice friendly and familiar.

"Who are you...?" Lady Sylvia asked.

"You mean you don't know, Sylv?" the Angel of Death removed her mask.

"Lynette?" Lady Sylvia started violently.

"But, natch!" The blonde laughed happily. "Who else could act as the Green Man's inquisitor?"

"You have a point," Lady Sylvia sighed. "So there wasn't any danger, then?"

"Oh, there's always danger," Ms. Madison assured her colleague. "That's what makes this life so fun."

"How'd you find out all this stuff?" Lady Sylvia asked anxiously.

"Quite easily," Ms. Madison chuckled. "You see, there was a microphone and a camera in the case. I worked as hard as I could to identify the man you met, and I got lucky in time."

"And if you hadn't."

"Listen, Sylv..." Ms. Madison sighed, "I always get lucky."

The Law of the Green Man: Part Nineteen

It was insane, Lady Sylvia told herself, as she stood in the Great Hall at Mainstone. The Green Man stood in her home, staid and implaccable. And next to him, on the dais, the mysterious figure of the Angel of Death. She had changed and wore a dark dress with a mask and hooded cape. Below them stood Sir Harold Rait, his head bowed. Lady Sylvia stood by Sir Harold's side, playing the part of a guard.

"Sir Harold Rait," the Green Man spoke, "you have sought to abbrogate the law of the Green Man. You have failed." His voice echoed around the massive hall. "there is a penalty to be paid."

"You have submitted yourself to this court," the cloaked girl added. "Now we shall render our verdict."

Lady Sylvia looked up to the massive roof. There she noticed a plaster figure carrying a scythe and wearing wings. Pretty and shapely, this was a copy of a baroque statue of the Angel of Death. And looked a little like the terrifying figure alongside the Green Man.

"Because I tried to frame you, you're going to kill me?" Sir Harold laughed harshly.

"Yes." The Green Man drew his gun.

The manner of the man changed abruptly, suddenly, he became a cringing coward, clinging to Lady Sylvia.

"Please!" he begged, "don't kill me!"

The Green Man's gun spoke.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Eighteen

"Sir Harold Rait," the Green Man spoke softly, "you have made a very serious allegation. You have accused me of visiting vengeance upon the innocent, and not the wicked."

"That's right," Sir Harold laughed. "I framed Sir Harold so that you killed him. He was perfectly innocent."

"He was far from innocent." The Green Man's tone was grim. "Sir Harold Rait was the Leech, and when he knew that the Green Man was on his trail, he hired you, Sir Harold Rait, Baronet, for his last crime. He knew he had to die, so he decided to take down the avenger of evil. I discovered this as you spoke to the Angel of Death. My records indicated two Sir Harold Raits, the dead man and yourself, the son of an aristocrat who lived in Kenya, a man who became a mercenary, a gun for hire. You are a wicked and unscrupulous man, Sir Harold, and the Leech knew that he could count on you to play the part you were to play - even if you died in the attempt."

Sir Harold Rait stumbled back, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"You can't know..." he breathed.

"I can, and I do," the Green Man laughed. "Yes, Sir Harold Rait, the Green Man has found you out. You thought you could judge the Green Man, but the Green Man has judged you!"

He gestured to Lady Sylvia.

"Take him to Mainstone," he told her.

The lAw of the Green Man: Part Seventeen

Sir Harold Rait laughed wickedly, as the import of his words sank in. Lady Sylvia felt very worried and alone, but there was no obvious reaction for the woman who called herself 'the Angel of Death.'

"Well?" Sir Harold asked mockingly, "what will happen to the Green Man?"

"That," the Angel of Death turned to the still-shocked Lady Sylvia, "depends on the Green Man's defence."

Lady Sylvia stumbled over her words, as she recounted the story of how Sir Harold Rait, industrialist, had ended up shot dead in his own study, while his files were burned. As she spoke, the young aristocrat was only too aware of how lame the story sounded, as though she was making excuses for the Green Man. She was not surprised when Sir Harold laughed.

"Is that the best you can do?" he demanded mockingly, "I expected more from the Green Man's assistant."

Lady Sylvia looked towards the ground, feeling wretched. She had failed the Green Man, and that meant that he would shortly face punishment, and that for having fallen into a trap.

"You expected exactly what you got, Sir Harold."

A new voice broke in, and everyone turned to the old castle gate. There, waiting, his green coat blowing in the wind, was the Green Man.

"I call my first witness," Lady Sylvia spoke with greater confidence. "The Green Man!"

The Law of the Green Man: Part Sixteen

The figure was female, but that was about all Lady Sylvia could make out. She wore a long cloak and hat, all of her face covered save for her eyes, which burned with a frightening fire. The woman laughed, pointing a wicked little derringer at Sir Harold Rait.

"I," she announced, "am the Angel of Death. I have the power to deal vengeance upon the Green Man, if he truly has overstepped the boundaries."

"You will not do justice!" Sir Harold laughed mockingly. "You are one of the Green Man's agents."

"There will be a trial," the Angel of Death spoke in chilling tones. "And if the Green Man is found guilty of having slain an innocent man without doing a proper investigation, then he will pay for it. Lady Sylvia, you will act as defence counsel for the Green Man. Leech, do you agree to act as Prosecutor?"

"Readily," the Leech laughed. "When I learned that that Green Man was on my tail, I decided to set up a man who I knew shared my name. I already knew the late Sir Harold, so I made sure to act on everything that came to me through him, using a paid agent to plant the incriminating papers in that safe. The clincher was when I invited the wife of one of my victims to Sir Harold's house, suspecting that the Green Man would take that as proof positive. And it worked!" the Leech laughed. "I used the Green Man as an assassin!"

"Then how could that destroy the Green Man?" Lady Sylvia flushed angrily. "You deliberately framed a man."

"But there was still doubt," Sir Harold laughed.

"The Way Sir Harold behaved towards me," Lady Sylvia bridled, "his reaction.... He didn't deny it."

"He couldn't," the Leech laughed. "Sir Harold was an unpleasant lech, who slept around. I told him exactly what to do, and that if he didn't follow my orders, then he would be destroyed, and that publicly. He could let the Green Man kill him, or have his reputation destroyed. Sir Harold had enough honour to choose the latter course."

Which, Lady Sylvia reflected, meant that what had happened there had been very, very bad. A man who had done many bad things had done something noble, and that meant that the Green Man had done something very ignoble.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Fifteen

Lady Sylvia, dressed in a 'sort of casual' cowgirl outfit, made her way over the ancient bridge that led to the stump of the massive keep of Mainstone Old Castle (some Victorian owner of the house had flirted with calling the house a 'Castle', but the name hadn't stuck). Her heart beat the faster as she approached the ancient keep, the case of money bumping against her leg. She saw no-one, and wondered why.

"Lady Sylvia Vaughan!" a voice rang out across the Castle bailey. "Do you have the money?"

"Do I look like I'd be carrying this case if I wasn't?" Lady Sylvia demanded.

"You have a point, Lady Sylvia," the voice laughed. "Leave the money and go."

"No." Lady Sylvia was firm. "I want a receipt."

"A receipt?" the voice sounded incredulous.

"But of course," Lady Sylvia was adamant. "I might be able to claim a tax-exemption for it."

"You are stalling," the voice growled. "But the Green Man cannot intervene."

"Why?" Lady Sylvia shook her head.

"Because," a figure stepped from the castle ruins, "I am the Leech." The person looked nothing like the deceased Sir Harold. "Sir Harold Rait, Baronet, of Casely Park. The Green Man slew an innocent man, a man I framed. He must submit himself to his own law. Or you will both pay me blackmail for the rest of your lives. And if I die, the details go to the Police."

Lady Sylvia gasped, stumbling back.

"And who," the Leech laughed, "will deal that vengeance?"

"I will!" both Lady Sylvia and Sir Harold gasped at the sight of the new speaker.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Fourteen

Lady Sylvia walked briskly back from her meeting with the Green Man, her heart and head racing. She wanted to know who the mysterious voice on the 'phone had been - and whether the Green Man would have to give himself up. She hoped not. Having only been with the Green Man since January, she rather wanted the adventure to continue.

But the Green Man had been right. If he transgressed his own law, what other option was there?

She hid the bag and hurried up to the library, there to lose herself in a book until the dread hour arrived. She wanted the Green Man to appear, or a call to come trough reporting that she would not have to go, so when the 'phone rang, she snatched it up eagerly.

"Mainstone," she spoke in a business-like manner.

"Lady Sylvia again," the voice from the previous night spoke. "This is the Leech. I've changed my mind. You will come to the Castle at once. I have other business to attend to."

She tried to call the Green Man, but his line was engaged. There was nothing for Lady Sylvia to do but walk briskly down to the Castle ruins, carrying the case. And that, she reflected as she walked, was the worst of being blackmailed.

The Law of the Greem Man: Part Thirteen

As soon as she had breakfasted, Lady Sylvia ran down to the mere, not caring about the mud that spattered the hem of her dress. She had to see the Green Man, had to be reassured personally.

The mere, at some distance from Mainstone, was not, as some had termed it, a lake. It was far too messy, for one thing, with tall pine trees marking the bleak west edge of the water. It was by these that the Green Man stood, waiting for her

"Hullo," she spoke breathlessly. "Sir Harold..."

"Apparently called you from beyond the grave," the Green Man smiled. "I got your call. And," he indicated a case by his side. "I've got your money."

"What do we do?" Lady Sylvia asked eagerly.

"You behave exactly as this person expects you to." The Green Man spoke sternly. "We want nothing that will make this man suspicious."

"And if it is Sir Harold, back from the dead?" Lady Sylvia looked worried.

"Then he gets to go straight back there," The Green Man replied, drawing a small gun from under his coat. "No-one can escape the vengeance of the Green Man."

Lady Sylvia nodded soberly.

"But if Sir Harold is still alive, then..."

"We shall face that when we have to," the Green Man told her. "But if my crusade against crime has led to the death of an innocent person, then I must pay the same price I would have exacted. I shall have to face the law of the Green Man myself."

The Law of the Green Man: Part Twelve

As morning gilded the skies over Mainstone, Lady Sylvia was already awake. She had been so for hours, thinking over the 'phone call. She had seen Sir Harold dead, seen his life's blood staining the carpet of his house - how could he be alive?

But she had heard his voice. More, he had described all the events of the day before in detail. As soon as she could be sure of not waking anyone, she dialled the number of the Green Man.

"This is the Green Man," she heard the familliar sound.

"This is Lady Sylvia," the young aristocrat spoke urgently. "I was called last night by someone claiming to be Sir Harold Rait - and he knew everything, even who I was."

"And what else?" the Green Man pressed his young assistant. "What else did he say?"

"How do you know he said something else?" Lady Sylvia enquired.

"Sir Harold Rait was a blackmailer," the Green Man explained. "He wouldn't just give you a social call. What did he demand?"

"Seventy thousand pounds," Lady Sylvia replied primly. "Or he tells the police everything. It's to be delivered to the old castle tower at midnight tonight."

"Do as he says," the Green Man spoke urgently. "I will supply the money, all you need to do is deliver it. Meet me by the mere after breakfast."

Lady Sylvia thanked the Green Man, before descending to the breakfast room, her mind at ease.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Eleven

It had all been so quick and so brutal. Lady Sylvia spent all the time on the train from Thorpe Station thinking about the crumpled body of Sir Harold Rait on the carpet of his library. In the the house he had stolen. She left the train at Diss, taking a cab back to Mainstone, the house she shared with her brother, Lord Ambrose Vaughan. A rambling house of many periods, subject to a vain attempt to impose an architectural unity by a Victorian make-over.

She took a long stroll in the garden, trying to restore a little peace to her troubled soul. Sir Harold had been killed in cold blood, executed, rather than slain in a terrible conflict. And that disturbed Lady Sylvia. It was a pity that her brother was absent, or he could have reassured her.

She ate her supper in silence, disturbing the cheerful maidservant who brought her food to her. The same girl helped to put the young brunette to bed, drawing her bath and laying out her night-things.

Despite her best efforts, Lady Sylvia found it very hard to get to sleep. Accordingly, when the 'phone rang after midnight, she sprang out of bed and ran down the stairs.


"Mainstone!" she announced breathlessly, snatching up the receiver.

"My dear Lady Sylvia!" The person on the 'phone laughed threateningly, "how nice to hear from you."

"Who are you?" Lady Sylvia's breath caught in her throat.

"You mean you don't know?" the voice laughed some more. "The assistant of the Green Man - his accomplice in murder? Why, I am the Leech. I am Sir Harold Rait - the man you murdered!"

The Law of the Green Man: Part Ten

Sir Harold gazed, open-mouthed at the threatening figure who stepped forward from the french windows.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I am the Green Man," came the threatening reply. "The punishment of the wicked and the doom of evildoers. And I do not need to ask who you are, Sir Harold Rait, alias the Leech. You have bled good men, brought them to the end of themselves. This house, your wealth, all are stained with the blood of others."

"And you can cleanse it?" the businessman scoffed. "How?"

"By your blood." The Green Man was unyielding. "Even today, after you were warned, you tried to blackmail a girl you lusted after.

"You wouldn't kill me with her as a witness, though," Sir Harold smiled unpleasantly.
"Actually," Lady Sylvia pointed out, "he would. You see, I work for him. I happen to be his agent."

Sir Harold Rait turned white. Lady Sylvia had to laugh at his discomfort.

"But enough," the Green Man raised his gun. "Your sins have found you out, Sir Harold. And when the Police find you, they will find your safe burned out. And they will know that the Green Man has visited vengeance upon you."

The gun spoke only once. But that was enough, Sir Harold slumped to the floor, a neat bullet hole in his chest.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Nine

Lady Sylvia changed into the riding kit that she had adopted as her fighting costume. Walking swiftly towards the hall, the young aristocrat made her way up the drive, her boots crunching on the gravel.

Striding up to the front door, Lady Sylvia pressed the bell with confidence. From his tone, it was clear that Sir Harold was expecting a frightened, trembling child. Well, he would find just the opposite. This was Lady Sylvia Vaughan he was tangling with - the Green Man's agent.

A butler opened the door, looking at Lady Sylvia with some surprise. She only smiled back innocently.

"You probably know who I am," she told him. "Sir Harold expects me."

"Lady Sylvia," the butler nodded, ushering her into the hall.

She followed the butler across the great marble hall, and into the library which the Green Man had burgled the night before. Sir Harold was there, smiling.

"It's nice to see such a prompt response, Lady Sylvia," Sir Harold took a step towards her. "Especially from someone who was so cold last night."

"You were a swine," Lady Sylvia replied bravely.
"Maybe I am," he shot back, "but you are going to give yourself to me. Because if you disobey me, then your brother will be destroyed."

"How?" she demanded.

"Because I know about that bribe he paid to get that contract," Sir Harold smiled wickedly. "And the girl who he had committed to the asylum."

Much to Sir Harold's surprise, Lady Sylvia began to laugh, her musical laugh began to echo around the halls, as her head tilted back, trim shoulders shaking.

"What?" the blackmailer demanded.

"You're a fool!" she stold him. "You see, that story was a plant. If you go public with it, Lord Ambrose will sue you for all you're worth!"

"A brave statement, Lady Sylvia," Sir Harold shook his head, a wicked smile on his sensual face. "But I just don't believe you. Why should that story have been given to me."

"Because, Sir Harold, I needed to find out if you were the Leech. And now I know for sure."

Sir Harold turned very slowly, the colour draining from his face. There, by the curtains, was the sinister figure of the Green Man.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Eight

Lady Sylvia slept deliciously late. When she awoke, the young aristocrat could hear the healthy bustle of the village, housewives shopping, carts on the road outside the inn, birdsong, and ducks on the mere. She picked up a book from her bedside and leafed through it, reluctant to leave the safety and warmth of her bed.

If there was any justice in the world, she reflected, then the Green Man would have bumped off the ghastly Sir Harold. But there was more to this campaign than that.

Lady Sylvia rose slowly, stretching as she swung her legs off the mattress. She felt deliciously lazy, as she lay down again for a moment. Another day of being just a lazy aristocrat, riding, golfing or another way in which she might be able to keep an eye on Sir Harold. Maybe, she reflected, he'd shoot himself.

She had just put on her slippers when the 'phone rang. Jumping out of bed, Lady Sylvia crossed the room in a couple of bounds.

"Hullo," she spoke swiftly, "Lady Sylvia Vaughan."

"Good morning, Lady Sylvia."

Much to the brunette's surprise, the voice was not that of the Green Man. It was the civillised, sensual voice of Sir Harold Rait.

"Oh!" Lady Sylvia could not keep herself from emitting a little squeak of shock.

"Yes," Sir Harold laughed. "I want you to come here. I have a little secret to share with you."

The Law of the Green Man: Part Seven

The Green Man smiled beneath his mask, unflinching at the sight of the weapon. Another person had caught up with the Leech!

"If you seek the Leech," the Green Man told the lady, "he is not here. I am the Green Man. I live to bring punishment upon the wicked, to make them suffer, as they have made others suffer."

"How do I know?" the woman demanded.

"Go out of this room and look for Sir Harold Rait," the Green Man told her. "This is his house, and he is the Leech. Now, who are you?"

"Lady Flemming," she told him. "This house was my husband's until the Leech broke him. He died three days ago, releasing me from any restraint. I came here to kill him."

"That's funny," the Green Man chuckled. "You see, I mean to kill him as well."

"Green Man!" Lady Sylvia shot through the door, looking concerned, "Sir Harold just tried to kiss me! I'm not staying here a moment longer!"

"Just distract him for a moment, my dear," the Green Man nodded. "And then hit him. I'm just about to leave."

"Great!" Lady Sylvia sighed, "so I still need to let the big brute maul me!" She stopped suddenly, starting. "And who's the armed lady?"

"Lady Flemming," the Green Man told her, "she came here to kill Sir Harold."

"Don't bother," Lady Sylvia told her, "you'd only get hurt - or caught. Let us do it. We won't."

And, with that, Lady Sylvia breezed out of the room. Lady Flemming looked at the door, open-mouthed.

"Was that Roger Vaughan's daughter?" she asked.

"Yes," the Green Man told her, drawing a card from his jacket. "Now, we have to depart."

....

By the time the party ended, Sir Harold Rait's face hurt where Lady Sylvia had slapped him. He sank down into the seat behind his desk, looking at the strewn papers.

Then he saw it. The open safe, and the card on his table. The words caused the colour to drain from his face. He no longer thought the threats were a joke.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Six

The Green Man found the open door easily, and slipped inside, his feet making no sound on the carpeted floor. His objective was Sir Harold's private study, and thatnks to an article about the house in Country Life, the Green Man knew exactly where to find it. An ancient room, lined with books, it spoke of a far deeper learning than Sir Harold Rait had ever possessed, being left ove from the family who had held it before they had been broken by the incessant demands of the Leech.

Locating the safe was almost as easy, the long shelf full of large nineteenth-century German theology had to be the place, for no-one would ever look at those books again.

The Green Man was unsurpised by the safe. It was large and electronically locked, the sort that paranoid men buy. It was also quite easily unlocked. Not long after she had taken the job of Secretary to the Green Man, Ms. Madison had devised a computer programme that could unlock a safe in a matter of seconds. The mighty door swung open, revealing a great many files. The Grren Man extracted one, and began to read.

There was more than enough there to convince the Green Man that he had not targeted an innocent man. The file was on a stockbroker, who apparently kept a misstress. All the sordid details were there, including photographs. The Green Man could not suppress a snort of disgust.

"Ashamed of your work at last!"

A voice behind the Green Man caused his eyes to widen. There, an outraged expression on her face, was a woman. And she held a pistol in her right hand.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Five

The uniformed flunkey greeted Lady Sylvia with a deep bow. The young aristocrat smiled, walking into the hall of the old manor house. The man announced 'Lady Sylvia Vaughan!"

Lady Sylvia was greeted by the tall, patrician figure of Sir Harold Rait. She curtseyed, presenting him her hand. This he kissed slowly, looking up into the eyes of the brunette.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Sylvia," he greeted her. "My house is truly graced by your presence."

"Flattery," she told the industrialist, will get you just about anywhere." She tried to add a slight simper to ber voice. "What's the party in aid of, Sir Harold?"

"Another record year for Rait Industries," he told her. "To what do I owe your presence?"

"A holiday," she told him. "I happened to be in the area and heard about the party. Have you ever heard of my missing a party in the area?"

"There you have me," the industrialist smiled gently. "Now, you'll have to excuse me, but I have to get back to the Ambassador."

And that was fine by her. As swiftly as she could, Lady Sylvia slipped out of the hall, into a deserted corridor. Opening the nearest door, she crept to the French Windows and unlocked them.

Her task done, the Green Man's newest agent slipped from the room. Now it was time for the Green Man to work.

The Law of the Green Man: Part Four

The Green Man smiled at the 'phone. In the tower room that was his secret headquarters, he could see pictures of both Lady Sylvia and Ms. Madison. The amazing technology of the control room allowed him to converse with his secretary and agent, although the former was in Bermuda.

"Sir Harold Rait," the Green Man continued, "fits what I know about the Leech: that he is wealthy and has profited from blackmail by more than simply bleeding his victims. We also know that I planted a story on Sir Harold."

"What more do we need to know, then?" Lady Sylvia asked. "This swine tried to blackmail my brother..."

"The Leech could simply be close to Sir Harold," Ms. Madison explained. "We don't know whether Sir Harold told someone at his club - after all, he learned the information from a planted person at the club. We don't want to harm an innocent man any more than we have to."

"That sounds a little bit ruthless," Lady Sylvia pointed out.

"It is," Ms. Madison shot back. "But the Leech is one of the most evil men we know of. He has to be destroyed. That is why you will be attending a reception at Sir Harold's house tonight."

"Last time I went to a party for the Green Man," the aristocrat sighed, "I got biffed on the bean."

"But this time," the Green Man reassured her, "you will attend. No more. All you have to do is create a distraction. I will do the rest."