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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Golden Face
+       A Great 'Crook' Romance
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009 [EBook #27705]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN FACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE GOLDEN FACE
+
+ _A GREAT "CROOK" ROMANCE_
+
+ BY
+
+ WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+ AUTHOR OF "MADEMOISELLE OF MONTE CARLO,"
+ "THE STRETTON STREET AFFAIR"
+
+ NEW YORK
+
+ THE MACAULAY COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
+
+ THE MACAULAY COMPANY
+
+ _Printed in the United States of America_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: I slipped the pendant into Lady Lydbrook's soft hand
+as she stood in _déshabille_ at the half-opened door of her bedroom.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                          PAGE
+
+    I PRIVATE AND PERSONAL                          1
+
+   II ROOM NUMBER 88                               16
+
+  III THE MAN WITH THE HUMP                        30
+
+   IV THE FOUR FALSE FINGERS                       43
+
+    V CONCERNS MR. BLUMENFELD                      59
+
+   VI AT THREE-EIGHTEEN A.M.                       73
+
+  VII LITTLE LADY LYDBROOK                         87
+
+ VIII THE CAT'S TOOTH                              99
+
+   IX LOLA IS AGAIN SUSPICIOUS                    113
+
+    X THE PAINTED ENVELOPE                        127
+
+   XI THE GENTLEMAN FROM ROME                     140
+
+  XII THE SILVER SPIDER                           151
+
+ XIII ABDUL HAMID'S JEWELS                        170
+
+  XIV THE VENGEANCE OF TAI-K'AN                   186
+
+   XV OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY                        201
+
+  XVI THE MAN WHO WAS SHY                         215
+
+ XVII THE SIGN OF NINETY-NINE                     232
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLDEN FACE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PRIVATE AND PERSONAL
+
+
+In order to ease my conscience and, further, to disclose certain
+facts which for the past year or two have, I know, greatly puzzled
+readers of our daily newspapers, I have decided to here reveal some
+very curious and, perhaps, sensational circumstances.
+
+In fact, after much perplexity and long consideration, I have
+resolved, without seeking grace or favor, to make a clean breast of
+all that happened to me, and to leave the reader to judge of my
+actions, and either to condemn or to condone my offenses.
+
+I will begin at the beginning.
+
+It has been said that service in the Army has upset the average man's
+chances of prosperity in civil life. That, I regret, is quite true.
+
+When I, George Hargreave, came out of the Army after the Armistice, I
+found myself, like many hundreds of other ex-officers, completely at a
+loose end, without a shilling in the world over and above the gratuity
+of between two and three hundred pounds to which my period of
+commissioned service entitled me.
+
+Grown accustomed during the war, however, to fending for myself and
+overcoming difficulties and problems of one sort and another, I at
+once set to work to look about for any kind of employment for which I
+fancied I might be fitted. After answering many advertisements to no
+purpose, I one day happened upon one in _The Times_ which rather
+stirred my curiosity.
+
+It stated that a gentleman of good position, who had occasion to
+travel in many parts of the world, would like to hear from a young man
+with considerable experience in motor driving. The applicant should
+not be over thirty, and it was essential that he should be a gentleman
+and well educated, with a knowledge of foreign languages if possible;
+also that he should be thoroughly trustworthy and possessed of
+initiative. The salary would be a very liberal one.
+
+Application was to be made by letter only to a certain box at the
+office of _The Times_.
+
+I wrote at once, and received some days later a reply signed "_per
+pro_ Rudolph Rayne," asking me to call to see the advertiser, who said
+he would be awaiting me at a certain small hôtel-de-luxe in the West
+End at three o'clock on the following afternoon.
+
+I arrived at the highly aristocratic hotel at five minutes to three,
+and was conducted to a private sitting-room by a page who, on ushering
+me in, indicated a good-looking, middle-aged man seated near the
+window, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar.
+
+The gentleman looked up as I approached, then put down his paper,
+rose, and extended his hand.
+
+"Mr. George Hargreave?" he inquired in a pleasant voice.
+
+"Yes. Mr. Rudolph Rayne, I presume?"
+
+He bowed, and pointed to a chair close to his own. Then he sat down
+again, and I followed his example.
+
+"I have received hundreds of replies to my advertisement," was his
+first remark, "and the reason why your application is one of the few I
+have answered is that I liked the frank way in which you expressed
+yourself. Can you sing?"
+
+"Sing?" I exclaimed, startled at the unexpected question.
+
+"Sing," he repeated.
+
+"Well, yes, I do sing occasionally," I said. "That is to say, I used
+to at the sing-songs in France at sergeants' messes, and so on. But
+perhaps you mightn't consider it singing if you heard me," I ended
+lightly.
+
+"Very good, very good," he observed absent-mindedly. "And you can
+drive a Rolls?"
+
+"I can drive a Rolls and several other cars as well," I answered. "I
+was a driver in the R. A. S. C. early in the war."
+
+Suddenly he focused his gaze upon me, and his keen, penetrating gray
+eyes seemed to pierce into my soul and read my inmost thoughts. For
+perhaps half a minute he remained looking at me like that, then
+suddenly he said shortly:
+
+"You are engaged, Mr. Hargreave. Your salary will be six hundred
+pounds a year, paid monthly in advance, in addition to your living and
+incidental expenses. I leave for Yorkshire by the midday train from
+King's Cross to-morrow, and you will come with me. Good afternoon, Mr.
+Hargreave. By the way, you might take this suit-case with you, and
+bring it to the station to-morrow," and he pointed to a small
+suit-case of brown leather on the floor beside his chair.
+
+The whole interview had not lasted three minutes and I went
+away obsessed by a feeling of astonishment. Mr. Rayne had not
+cross-questioned me, as I naturally had expected him to do, nor had
+he asked for my credentials. In addition he had fixed my salary at
+six hundred pounds, without even inquiring what wages I wanted.
+
+Obviously a character, an oddity, I said to myself as I passed out of
+the hotel.
+
+Had I suspected then that Mr. Rudolph Rayne was the sort of "oddity" I
+later found him to be, I should have refused to accept the situation
+even had he offered me two thousand a year.
+
+Though, during the interview, my attention had been more or less
+concentrated on Mr. Rayne, I had not been so deeply engrossed as to
+fail to notice an exceptionally beautiful, dark-eyed girl, who had
+entered while we had been speaking and who was seated on a settee a
+little way off. She, too, had stared very hard at me.
+
+Mr. Rayne was accompanied on that journey to Yorkshire by the pretty
+dark-eyed girl who was his daughter Lola, and by his valet, a very
+silent, stiff-necked, morose individual, whose personality did not
+attract me. He seemed, however, to be an exceptionally efficient
+person, so far as his duties were concerned, and on our arrival at the
+little wayside station about twelve miles beyond Thirsk, where we had
+changed trains, he proceeded to take charge of the luggage, all but
+the suit-case which I still carried.
+
+Outside the little station a magnificent Rolls limousine, colored a
+dull gray, awaited us, and when the luggage had all been put on it,
+Mr. Rayne surprised me by asking me to take the wheel then and there.
+
+"My chauffeur left last week, but Paul will show you the road," he
+said, as the valet seated himself beside me. "Overstow is about ten
+miles off."
+
+I don't know why it was, but that girl's dark eyes seemed to haunt me.
+She was just behind me with her father, and twice when I had occasion
+to look round to ask Mr. Rayne some question or other, I found her
+gaze fixed on mine, which, foolishly I will admit, disconcerted me.
+
+Mr. Rayne himself addressed me only once of his own accord during the
+drive, and that was to ask me again if I sang.
+
+"Why the dickens does he want to know if I sing?" was my mental
+comment when I had replied that I sang a little, without reminding him
+that he had put the same question to me on the previous day. For an
+instant the thought flashed across me that perhaps my new employer had
+some kink in his brain to do with singing; and yet, I reflected, that
+seemed hardly likely to be the case with a man who in all other
+respects appeared to be so exceptionally sane.
+
+I was still cogitating this, when the car sped round a wide curve in
+the road and beyond big lodge gates a large imposing mansion of modern
+architecture came suddenly into view about half a mile away, partly
+concealed by beautiful woods sloping down to it from both sides of the
+valley. Slackening speed as we came near the lodge, I was about to
+stop to let Paul alight to open the gates, beyond which stretched the
+long winding avenue of tall trees, when a man came running out of the
+lodge and made haste to throw the gates open.
+
+My first surprise on our arrival at Overstow Hall--and I was to have
+many more surprises before I had been long in Mr. Rayne's service--was
+at finding that though my employer had quite a large staff of
+servants, there was not a woman amongst them! Several guests were
+staying in the house, including a middle-aged lady, called Madame,
+whose position I could not exactly place, though she appeared to be in
+charge of the establishment, in charge also of Lola.
+
+Towards ten o'clock next morning the footman came to tell me that Mr.
+Rayne wanted to see me at once in the library.
+
+"He's in one of his queer moods this morning," the young man said, "so
+you had better be careful. His letters have upset him, I think."
+
+I thanked the lad for his hint, but on my way to the library, a room I
+had not yet been in, I missed my bearings, entered a room under the
+impression that it might be the library, and had hardly done so when
+the sound of men's voices in a room adjoining came to me--the door
+between the rooms stood partly open.
+
+"Are you certain, Rudolph," one of the men was saying, "that this new
+chauffeur of yours is the man for the job?"
+
+"Have I ever made a mistake in summing up a man?" I heard Rayne
+answer. "I always trust my judgment when choosing a new hand."
+
+Where, before, had I heard the first speaker's voice? I knew that
+voice quite well, yet, try as I would, I could not for the life of me
+place it.
+
+"Yes," the first speaker replied; "but, remember, in this case we are
+running an enormous risk. If the least hitch should occur----"
+
+They lowered their voices until their talk became inaudible, and
+presently I heard one of them go out of the room. After waiting a
+minute longer I left the room and went along the short passage, which
+I now knew must lead to the room where I had heard them talking.
+
+Rayne was alone, standing on the hearthrug with his back to the big,
+open firegrate.
+
+"Did you send for me, sir?" I inquired.
+
+"I did, Hargreave," he replied in a friendly tone. "I sent for you
+because I want you to go to Paris to-night. You will take with you the
+suit-case you still have in your possession, and as you will go by a
+trading steamer from Newcastle, the voyage will take you some days.
+The suit-case contains valuable documents, so you must on no account
+let it out of your sight, even for a minute, from the time you leave
+here until you hand it over personally to the gentleman I am sending
+you to--Monsieur Duperré. He is staying at the Hôtel Ombrone, that
+very smart and exclusive place in the Rue de Rivoli. He will give you
+a receipt, which you will bring back to me here at once, coming then
+by the ordinary route. You won't go by train to-day to Newcastle; you
+will drive yourself there in the Fiat. Paul will go with you and drive
+the car back."
+
+He went on to give me one or two minor instructions, and then ended:
+"That's all, Hargreave."
+
+I was walking back along the passage when Rayne's pretty daughter Lola
+came out of the room I had first entered. She must have come out
+expressly to meet me, because when close to me she stopped abruptly,
+glanced to right and left, and then asked me quickly in an undertone:
+
+"Is my father sending you on any journey, Mr. Hargreave?"
+
+Again her wonderful dark eyes became fixed upon mine, as they had done
+on the previous day during the drive from the railway station.
+
+"Don't try to deceive me," she said earnestly. "You will find it far
+better to confide in me."
+
+The words so astonished me that for the moment I could not reply.
+Then, all at once, a strange feeling of curiosity came over me. Why
+all this secrecy about the suit-case? I mentally asked myself. And
+what an odd idea to send me to Paris by that long roundabout sea
+route! What could be the reason?
+
+"I am not deceiving you, Miss Rayne," I said.
+
+She only smiled and turned abruptly away.
+
+Then, for the first time, I found myself wondering what could be these
+precious documents Rayne had told me the suit-case contained? That the
+suit-case was locked, I knew! He had not unlocked it since he had
+placed it in my charge in London two days before.
+
+My employer gave me some money, and I started two hours later in the
+Fiat. As I sped along the broad road from Thirsk south towards York,
+with Paul beside me silent as ever, I could not get thoughts of Lola
+out of my mind.
+
+Once more I saw her gazing up at me with that peculiar, anxious
+expression I had noticed when we had met in the passage, and I
+regretted that I had not prolonged our conversation then, and tried to
+find out what distressed her.
+
+Several times I spoke to Paul, but he answered only in monosyllables.
+
+We reached Newcastle in plenty of time, for the boat was not due to
+sail before early next morning, and I felt relieved at being at last
+rid of my uncongenial companion.
+
+I had an evening paper in my pocket, and, to while away the time, I
+lay in my narrow berth and began to read. Presently my glance rested
+upon a paragraph which stated that two days before a dressing-case
+belonging to Lady Norah Kendrew disappeared in the most extraordinary
+manner from the hotel in London where she was staying. Exactly what
+happened had been related to the enterprising reporter by Lady Norah
+herself.
+
+"My dressing-case containing all my jewelry was locked and on a table
+near my bed," she said. "I went out of the room soon after half-past
+ten this morning, my maid, who has been with me eight years, remaining
+in the room adjoining to put some of my things away--the door between
+the rooms remained ajar, she says. Whether or not the jewel-case was
+still there when she herself went out to lunch at about one o'clock
+she cannot say, as she did not go into my bedroom again. She shut the
+door behind her when she went out of the sitting-room into the
+corridor, and locked it. I first missed the jewel-case when I returned
+to my room at about a quarter past three in the afternoon. The
+contents are worth twenty thousand pounds. It seems hardly possible
+that anybody could have entered the bedroom unheard while my maid was
+in the sitting-room with the door between the two rooms ajar, so my
+belief is that it must have been stolen between the time she went to
+lunch and the time I returned. I am offering a big reward for the
+return of the jewel-case with its contents intact."
+
+The paragraph interested me because of the hotel where the robbery--if
+robbery it was--had taken place, and the fact that I had happened to
+be in that hotel on the very day of the robbery!
+
+"Ah, well," I remember saying to myself, "if women will be so careless
+as to leave valuable property like that unguarded they must expect to
+take the consequences."
+
+Then my thoughts wandered from the newspaper, and I found myself
+wondering what Lady Norah Kendrew might be like--if she were young or
+old, plain or pretty, married or unmarried. And I suppose naturally
+that train of thought brought Lola once more into my imagination. I
+had, remember, to all intents, hardly seen her, and she had spoken to
+me only twice. Yet her personality literally obsessed me. That I was
+foolish to let it I fully realized. But how many of us can completely
+master our moods, our impulses and our emotions on all occasions?
+
+The weather at sea remained fine, yet I found that long, slow voyage
+most tedious. I had nothing to do but read, for I could not disregard
+Mr. Rayne's strict instructions that I must on no account let the
+suit-case out of my sight, and in consequence I could not leave my
+cabin.
+
+I remember looking down at the suit-case protruding from under the
+berth and thinking it curious that documents should weigh so heavy.
+There must be a great many of them, I reflected, but even so....
+
+I bent down and pulled the suit-case right out and lifted it.
+
+Indeed it was heavy--very heavy!
+
+Then I began to think of something else.
+
+I had the cabin to myself, which was pleasant, and I spent most of the
+day stretched out in my bunk. Oh, how I longed every hour for the
+terribly boring voyage to come to an end!
+
+It was a lovely morning when at last we steamed into the estuary of
+the Seine, and I shall never forget how beautiful the river and its
+banks looked as I peered out through my port-hole and we crept up
+towards Rouen. My meals had all been served in my cabin during the
+voyage, as I could not well have taken the suit-case with me into the
+saloon.
+
+Now I felt like a prisoner about to be released.
+
+Mr. Rayne had told me to stop at the post-office in Rouen on my way
+from the boat to Paris, as I might, he said, find a letter or a
+telegram awaiting me. I had managed to pass the suit-case through the
+Customs, and now my heart beat faster as a letter was handed to me,
+for I recognized Lola's handwriting; I had seen it only once
+before--that was on a letter she had asked me to post for her.
+
+I hurriedly tore open the envelope, and this was what I read:
+
+"Private. I have suspicion that the suit-case you have you should get
+rid of at once. Destroy this!"
+
+Undated and unsigned, the letter bore no address. At once thoughts and
+conjectures of all sorts came crowding into my mind. Could it be that
+the suit-case contained stolen jewelry and not documents?
+
+Instantly I guessed why Rayne had sent me to Paris with it by that
+roundabout route. He must either himself be the thief, I concluded, or
+an accomplice in the theft, and by placing the stolen property in my
+charge and smuggling it out of England by a circuitous route....
+
+One reflection led quickly to another. Paul, the valet, no doubt knew
+about his master's private life--possibly was in his confidence. And
+if Rayne had committed the robbery he must be a professional crook. In
+which case, should the whereabouts of the stolen property be
+discovered, I should be arrested as an accessory to the crime! Clearly
+I had no time to lose if I wanted to safeguard myself. Even now the
+police, with their wonderful acumen, might be on my track!
+
+I reached Paris at last, and as my taxi swung round from the Place
+Jeanne d'Arc into the Rue de Rivoli I began to feel extremely nervous.
+
+In reply to my inquiry at the bureau of the smart Hôtel Ombrone I was
+told that I could be given a bed. Monsieur Duperré? Ah, monsieur had
+just gone out, but would be back soon, most likely.
+
+I had been given the key of my room, and was about to enter the lift,
+when I noticed seated on a settee in the vestibule a well-dressed
+woman whose face seemed familiar. And then in a flash I recognized the
+lady who had been at Overstow Hall on the day I had arrived there!
+
+She did not recognize me, or I concluded she did not, and naturally it
+was no business of mine to make any sign of recognition.
+
+I had been in my room, I suppose, about two hours when the telephone
+bell rang.
+
+"That Mr. Hargreave? The bureau speaking. Monsieur Duperré has come in
+and is coming up to you now."
+
+A minute later somebody knocked, and I called "Come in!" Then, to my
+amazement, who should enter but my old company commander in France in
+the early days of the war--Captain Vincent Deinhard, who later in the
+war had been court-martialed for misappropriating canteen funds and
+been subsequently cashiered! Altogether his Army record had been an
+exceedingly bad one.
+
+Instantly I remembered the voice. It was Deinhard I had heard in
+conversation with Rayne at Overstow Hall!
+
+He stood stock-still, staring at me.
+
+"Why, Hargreave!" he exclaimed at last. "What in the world are you
+doing here?"
+
+"I am Mr. Rayne's chauffeur and general servant now, captain," I
+replied. "Mr. Rayne told me to inquire on my arrival here for Monsieur
+Duperré and hand him that suit-case," and I pointed to it.
+
+He glanced quickly at the door, to make sure that it was shut, then,
+looking at me oddly, he said in a low voice:
+
+"I am Duperré, Hargreave. You must forget that my name was ever
+anything else--I got myself into trouble in the Army, you
+remember--and you must forget that too--and that we have ever met
+before. So you are his new chauffeur, eh?" he went on, now talking
+naturally. "It never occurred to me that 'Hargreave,' the new
+chauffeur, would turn out to be the Hargreave who served under me
+for two years!" and he laughed dryly.
+
+Then, without a word, he went over to the suit-case and picked it up.
+
+"Come along to my room," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ROOM NUMBER 88
+
+
+I accompanied him along the corridor to a private sitting-room at the
+end, numbered 88, and adjoining which was a bedroom. There he placed
+the suit-case upon the table, and taking a piece of paper scribbled a
+receipt.
+
+"Better post that on to Rayne at once," he suggested. "My wife will be
+here in a moment. We'll have lunch later on."
+
+All that had already happened had so astonished me that I was only
+slightly surprised at finding a few moments later that the lady I had
+seen at Overstow Hall, and again a couple of hours before in the
+vestibule of the hotel, was Duperré's wife. He must, I think, have
+told her that we had met before, for she seemed in no way astonished
+at Mr. Rayne's chauffeur being presented to her.
+
+I found her a pleasant woman, well-read, well-educated and widely
+travelled. She was, too, an excellent conversationalist. And yet, all
+the time we were talking, I could not help thinking of Lola, and
+wondering why Duperré's wife should be in such evidence at Overstow
+Hall, indeed, apparently in authority there, also why Lola seemed to
+be so afraid of her.
+
+Half an hour later I posted the receipt to Rayne, and later we all
+three lunched together in the restaurant. We took our coffee upstairs
+in the private room, when Duperré said, _ŕ propos_ of nothing,
+suddenly looking across at his wife:
+
+"Hargreave may be of great use to us, Hylda." Then, addressing me
+again, he said, lowering his voice and glancing at the door:
+
+"In becoming associated with 'The Golden Face,' Hargreave, you are
+more fortunate than you may think. He's a man who can, and who will,
+if he likes, help you enormously in all sorts of ways--you will find
+that you are more to him than a mere chauffeur. In fact, we can both
+help you, that is, if you fall in with our plans. Our only stipulation
+will be that you do what we tell you--_without asking any questions_.
+You understand--eh?"
+
+"I suppose," I said, smiling, "that by 'The Golden Face' you mean Mr.
+Rayne?"
+
+"Yes. He's called 'Golden Face' by his intimates. I forgot you didn't
+know. He got the nick-name through going to the Bal des Quatre Arts,
+here in Paris, wearing a half-mask made of beaten gold."
+
+By that time I had become convinced that both Rayne and Duperré were
+men with whom I should have to deal with the utmost circumspection.
+
+The only person I had met since I had engaged myself to Rayne in whom
+I could, I felt, place implicit confidence, was Lola.
+
+When we had finished our coffee, Duperré excused himself, saying that
+he had some letters to write, and suggested that his wife should
+accompany me for a taxi drive in the Bois. This struck us both as a
+pleasant manner in which to spend the afternoon, therefore Madame
+retired to her room, reappearing a few moments later wearing a smart
+cloak and a wonderful black hat adorned with three large handsome
+feathers.
+
+She proved herself a very amusing companion as we drove out to
+Armenonville, where we sat out upon the lawn, she sipping her _sirop_
+while I smoked a cigarette. She knew Paris well, it seemed, and was
+communicative over everything--except concerning Rudolph Rayne.
+
+When I put some questions to her regarding my new employer, she simply
+replied:
+
+"We never discuss him, Mr. Hargreave. It is one of his rules that
+those who are his friends, as we are, preserve the strictest silence.
+What we discover from time to time we keep entirely to ourselves, and
+we even go to the length of disclaiming acquaintanceship with him when
+it becomes necessary. So it is best not to be inquisitive. If he
+discovers that you have been making inquiries he will be greatly
+annoyed."
+
+"I quite understand, Madame," I replied with a meaning smile. That she
+was closely connected with the deep-laid schemes of Rudolph Rayne was
+more than ever apparent. But why, I wondered, was Lola so palpably
+beneath her influence?
+
+My companion was about thirty-eight, though she looked younger, with
+handsome, well-cut features, and possessing the _chic_ of a woman who
+had traveled much and who knew how to wear her clothes. There was,
+however, nothing of the adventuress about her. On the contrary, she
+had the appearance of moving in a very select set. She was English
+without a doubt, but she spoke perfect French.
+
+I mentioned Lola, but she said:
+
+"Remember what I have just told you about undue inquisitiveness, Mr.
+Hargreave! You will find out all you want to know in due course. So
+possess yourself in patience and act always with foresight as well as
+with discretion."
+
+I chanced to raise my eyes at that moment, when I noticed that a
+well-dressed, black-mustached Frenchman, who wore white spats, while
+passing along the terrace of the fine _al fresco_ restaurant had
+halted a second to peer into Madame's face, no doubt struck by her
+handsome features. She noticed it also but turned her head, and spoke
+to me of something else. A woman knows instinctively when she is being
+admired.
+
+The position in which I now found myself, employed by a man who was
+undoubtedly a crook of no mean order, caused me considerable
+trepidation. When I had assumed the responsibility of that
+innocent-looking suit-case I never dreamt that it contained Lady
+Norah Kendrew's stolen jewels, as it did, otherwise I would certainly
+never have attempted to pass it through the Customs at Rouen. But why
+and how, I wondered, had Lola's suspicions been aroused? Why had she
+warned me?
+
+Rayne had probably sent messengers with stolen property to France by
+that route before, knowing that, contrary to the shrewd examination at
+Calais, the officers of certain trading ships and the _douaniers_ were
+on friendly terms.
+
+When again I raised my eyes furtively to the Frenchman in the white
+spats I was relieved to find that he had disappeared. My fears that he
+might be an agent of the Sűreté were groundless. The afternoon was
+delightful as we sat beneath the trees, but Madame suddenly
+recollected an engagement she had with her dressmaker at five o'clock,
+so we reëntered our taxi and drove back to the Porte Maillot and
+thence direct to the hotel.
+
+We found the door of the sitting-room locked, but as Madame turned the
+handle Duperré's voice was heard inquiring who was there.
+
+"Open the door, Vincent," urged his wife.
+
+"All right! Wait a moment," was the reply.
+
+We heard the quick rustling of paper, and after a lapse of perhaps a
+minute he unlocked the door for us to enter.
+
+"Well? Had a nice time--eh?" he asked, turning to me as he reclosed
+the door and again locked it.
+
+I replied in the affirmative, noticing that on the table was something
+covered with a newspaper.
+
+"I've been busy," he said with a grin, and lifting the paper disclosed
+a quantity of bracelets, rings, pendants and other ornaments from
+which the gems had been removed. During our absence he had been
+occupied in removing the stolen jewels from their settings.
+
+"Yes," I laughed. "You seem to have been very busy, Vincent!"
+
+Beside the bent and broken articles of gold lay a little pile of
+glittering gems, none of them very large, but all of first quality.
+
+"Lady Norah wouldn't like to see her treasures in such a condition,
+would she?" laughed Duperré. "We shall get rid of them to old
+Heydenryck, who is arriving presently."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A Dutch dealer who lives here in Paris. He's always open to buy good
+stuff, but he won't look at any stones that are set. Rayne's idea was
+to sell them, just as they were, to a dealer named Steffensen, who
+buys stuff here and smuggles it over to New York and San Francisco,
+where it is not likely to be traced. But I find that Steffensen is
+away in America at the moment, so I've approached the Dutchman.
+Heydenryck is a sly old dog. Unlike Steffensen, he buys unset stones
+because they are difficult to identify."
+
+I bent and examined the glittering little pile of diamonds, rubies,
+emeralds and sapphires which had been stolen from the hotel in London.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," said Duperré. "I want you to help us to get
+rid of this," and he pointed to the broken jewelry.
+
+"How?" I asked dismayed, for I confess that I feared the discovery. To
+be thus intimately associated with a band of expert crooks was a new
+experience.
+
+"Quite easily," he replied. "I'll show you." Then turning to his wife,
+he said: "Just bring Lu Chang in, will you, Hylda?"
+
+Madame passed into the next room and returned with a small Pekinese in
+her arms.
+
+"Lu Chang is quite quiet and harmless," laughed Duperré as his wife
+handed the dog to me.
+
+As my hands came in contact with the animal's fur I realized that it
+was dead--and stuffed!
+
+Duperré laughed heartily as he watched my face. I confess that I was
+mystified.
+
+He took the dog, which had probably been purchased from a naturalist
+only that day, and ripping open the pelt behind the forelegs he
+quickly drew out the stuffing. Then into the cavity he hurriedly
+thrust the broken rings and pendants.
+
+I watched him with curiosity. It seemed such an unusual proceeding.
+But I recollected that I was dealing with strange associates--people
+whom I afterwards found to be perhaps the most ingenious crooks in
+Europe.
+
+"Poor Lu Chang," exclaimed my old company commander with a laugh. "If
+you drown him he won't feel it!"
+
+Duperré watched the expression of surprise upon my face as he packed
+the whole of the broken jewelry into the dog.
+
+"Now what I want you to do, Hargreave," he said, "is to drown Lu Chang
+in the Seine. Lots of people in Paris, who are not lovers of dogs, are
+flinging them into the river because of the new excessive tax upon
+domestic pets. You will just toss Lu Chang over the Pont Neuf. The
+police can't interfere, even though they see you. You will only have
+put the dog out of the world rather than pay the double tax."
+
+He watched my natural hesitation.
+
+"Isn't he a little dear!" exclaimed Madame, stroking the dog's fur.
+"Poor Lu Chang! He won't float with the gold inside him!"
+
+"No," laughed Duperré. "He'll go plumb to the bottom!"
+
+It was on the tip of my tongue to excuse myself, but I remembered that
+I was in the service of Rudolph Rayne, the country squire of Overstow,
+and paid handsomely. And, after all, it was no great risk to fling the
+stuffed dog into the river.
+
+I am a lover of dogs, and had the animal been alive nothing would
+have induced me to carry out his suggestion.
+
+But as it had been dead long ago, for I saw some signs of moth in the
+fur, and as I was in Paris at the bidding of my employer, I consented,
+and carrying the little Peke beneath my arm I walked along the Quai du
+Louvre to the old bridge which, in two parts, spans the river. Just
+before I gained the Rue Dauphine, on the other side, I paused and
+looked down into the water. An agent of police was regulating the
+traffic on my left, and he being in controversy with the driver of a
+motor-lorry, I took my opportunity and dropped the dog with its secret
+into the water.
+
+Two boys had watched me, so I waited a moment, then turning upon my
+heel, I retraced my steps back to the Hôtel Ombrone, having been
+absent about twenty minutes.
+
+As I entered Room 88, three Frenchmen, who had ascended in the lift,
+followed me in.
+
+Madame was writing a letter, while Duperré was in the act of lighting
+a cigarette. We started in surprise, for next instant we all three
+found ourselves under arrest; the well-dressed strangers being
+officers of the Sűreté. One of them was the man in the white spats who
+had been attracted by Madame in the Bois.
+
+"Arrest!" gasped Duperré.
+
+As he did so, an undersized, rather shabbily-dressed man of sixty or
+so put his head into the door inquisitively, and realizing that
+something unpleasant was occurring, quickly withdrew and disappeared.
+I saw that he exchanged with Duperré a glance of recognition combined
+with apprehension, and concluded that it was the man Heydenryck, the
+dealer in stolen gems.
+
+Meanwhile the elder of the three detectives told us that they had
+reason to believe that jewelry stolen from a London hotel was in our
+possession, and that the place would be searched.
+
+"Messieurs, you are quite at liberty to search," laughed Duperré,
+treating the affair as a joke. "Here are my keys!"
+
+At once they began to rummage every hole and corner in the room as
+well as the luggage of both Duperré and his wife. The brown suit-case
+which was in the wardrobe in the bedroom attracted their attention,
+but when unlocked was found to contain only a few modern novels.
+
+At this they drew back in chagrin and disappointment. I knew that the
+broken gold was safely at the bottom of the Seine, but where were the
+gems?
+
+It was all very well for Duperré to bluff, but they would, I felt
+convinced, eventually be found. The police, not content with searching
+the personal belongings of my friend, took up the floor-boards, and
+even stripped some paper from the wall and carefully examined every
+article of furniture. Afterwards they went to my room at the end of
+the corridor and thoroughly searched it.
+
+At last the inspector, still mystified, ordered two taxis to be
+called, as it was his intention to take us at once before the
+examining magistrate.
+
+"Madame had better put on her hat at once," he added, bristling with
+authority.
+
+Thus ordered, she reluctantly obeyed and put on her big feathered hat
+before the glass. Then a few moments later we were conducted
+downstairs and away to the Prefecture of Police.
+
+After all being thoroughly searched, Madame being examined by a prison
+wardress, we were ushered into the dull official room of Monsieur
+Rodin, the well-known examining magistrate, who for a full hour plied
+us with questions. Duperré and his wife preserved an outward dignity
+that amazed me. They complained bitterly of being accused without
+foundation, while on my part I answered the police official that I had
+quite accidentally come across my old superior officer.
+
+Time after time Monsieur Rodin referred to the papers before him,
+evidently much puzzled. It seemed that Madame had been recognized in
+the Bois by the impressionable Frenchman who I had believed, had been
+attracted by her handsome face.
+
+That information had been sent by Scotland Yard to Paris regarding the
+stolen jewels was apparent. Yet the fact that the locked suit-case
+only contained books and that nothing had been found in our
+possession--thanks to the forethought of Duperré--the police now found
+themselves in a quandary. The man in the white spats whom we had seen
+in the Bois identified Madame as Marie Richaud, a Frenchwoman who had
+lived in Philadelphia for several years, and who had been implicated
+two years before in the great frauds on the Bordeaux branch of the
+Société Générale.
+
+Madame airily denied any knowledge of it. She had only arrived in
+Paris with her husband from Rome a few days before, she declared. And
+surely enough the visas upon their passports showed that was so, even
+though I had seen her at Overstow!
+
+How I withstood that hour I know not. In the end, however, Monsieur
+Rodin ceased his questions and we were put into the cells till the
+next morning.
+
+Imagine the sleepless night I spent! I hated myself for falling into
+the trap which Rayne, the crafty organizer of the gang, had so
+cleverly laid for me. Yet was I not in the hands of the police?
+
+But the main question in my mind was the whereabouts of that little
+pile of gems.
+
+Next day we were taken publicly before another magistrate and defended
+by a clever lawyer whom Duperré had engaged. It was found that not a
+tittle of evidence could be brought against us, and, even though the
+magistrate expressed his strong suspicions, we were at last released.
+
+As we walked out into the sunlight of the boulevard, Duperré glanced
+at his watch, and exclaimed:
+
+"I wonder if we shall be in time to catch the train? I must telephone
+to Heydenryck at once."
+
+Five minutes later he was in a public telephone-box speaking to the
+receiver of stolen goods.
+
+Then, without returning to the Hôtel Ombrone, we took a taxi direct to
+the Gare de Lyon.
+
+As Duperré took three first-class tickets to Fontainebleau, the
+undersized, grave-faced old man whom I had seen at the moment of our
+arrest followed him, and also took a ticket to the same destination.
+We entered an empty compartment where, just before the train moved
+off, the old man joined us.
+
+He posed as a perfect stranger, but as soon as the train had left the
+platform my companion introduced him to me.
+
+"I called last night and saw what had happened. Surely you have all
+three had a narrow escape!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," said Duperré. "It was fortunate that Hylda recognized the
+_sous-inspecteur_ Bossant in the Bois. She put me on my guard. I knew
+we should be arrested, so I took precautions to get rid of the gold
+and conceal the stones."
+
+"But where are they?" I asked eagerly, as the train ran through the
+first station out of Paris. "They are still hidden in the hotel, I
+suppose. We've all been searched!"
+
+Madame laughed merrily, and removing her hat, unceremoniously tore out
+the three great feathers, the large quills of which she held up to the
+light before my eyes.
+
+I then saw to my amazement that, though hardly distinguishable, all
+three of the hollow quills were filled with gems, the smaller being
+put in first.
+
+At the detective's own suggestion she had put on her hat when
+arrested, and she had worn it during the time she had been searched,
+during the examination by the magistrate, and during her trial!
+
+Duperré was certainly nothing if not ingenious and his _sang-froid_
+had saved us all from terms of imprisonment.
+
+Madame replaced the valuable feathers in her hat, and when we arrived
+at Fontainebleau we drove at once to the Hôtel de France, opposite the
+palace, where we took an excellent _déjeuner_ in a private room.
+
+And before we left, Duperré had disposed of Lady Norah's jewels at a
+very respectable figure, which the sly old receiver paid over in
+thousand-franc notes.
+
+I marveled at my companion's ingenuity, whereupon he laughed airily,
+replying:
+
+"When 'The Golden Face' arranges a _coup_ it never fails to come
+off--I assure you. The police have to be up very early to get the
+better of him. His one injunction to all of us is that we shall be
+ready at all times to show clean hands--as we have to-day! But let's
+get away, Hargreave--back to London, I think, don't you?"
+
+The whole adventure mystified and bewildered me. It was a mystery
+which, however, before long, was to be increased a hundredfold. Alas!
+that I should sit here and put down my guilt upon paper!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE MAN WITH THE HUMP
+
+
+One morning I called at Rayne's luxurious chambers in Half Moon
+Street, when he expressed himself most delighted at the result of our
+visit to Paris.
+
+"I want you to-morrow morning to drive Lola and Madame up to
+Overstow," he said. "Better start early. Call for them at the hotel at
+nine o'clock. The roads are good, so you'll have a pleasant journey.
+I'll get home by train at the end of the week."
+
+At this I was very pleased, for Lola with her great dark eyes always
+sat beside me. She could drive quite well, and was full of good humor
+and a charming little gossip. Hence I looked forward to a very
+pleasant run. The more I saw of the master-crook's daughter the more
+attracted I became by her. Indeed, though she seemed to regard me with
+some suspicion--why, I don't know--we had already become excellent
+friends.
+
+The month of September passed.
+
+We had all spent a delightful time at Overstow. Rayne had given two
+big shoots at which several well-known Yorkshire landowners had been
+present, while I had taken a gun, and Lola, Madame and several other
+ladies had walked with us. Lola and I were frequently together, and I
+often accompanied her on long walks through the autumn-tinted woods.
+
+Madame's husband had only spent a week with us, for he had, I
+understood, been called to Switzerland on "business"--the nature of
+which I could easily guess.
+
+At the end of the month we were back in London again.
+
+One evening I had dined at the Carlton with Lola, her father and
+Madame, and the two ladies having gone off to the theater, he took me
+round to the set of luxurious chambers he occupied in Half Moon
+Street.
+
+When we were alone together with our cigars, he suddenly said:
+
+"I want you to go out for a run to-night--to Bristol."
+
+"To Bristol! To-night?" I echoed.
+
+"Yes. I want you to take the new 'A. C.' and get to the Clifton
+Suspension Bridge by two o'clock to-morrow morning. There, in the
+center of the bridge, you will await a stranger--an elderly hunchback
+whose name is Morley Tarrant. He'll give you, as _bonâ fides_, the
+word 'Mask.' When you meet him act upon his instructions. He is to be
+trusted."
+
+The tryst seemed full of suspicion, and I certainly did not like it.
+The evening was bright and clear, and the run in the fast two-seater
+would be enjoyable. But to meet a man who would give a password
+savored too much of crookdom.
+
+He quickly saw my hesitation, and added:
+
+"Now, Hargreave, I ought not to conceal from you the fact that there
+may be a trap. If so, you must evade it and escape at all costs. I
+have enemies, you know--pretty fierce ones."
+
+Again, for the hundredth time, I debated within myself whether I dare
+cast myself adrift from the round-faced, prosperous-looking
+cosmopolitan who sat before me so full of good humor and so fearless.
+
+I had been cleverly inveigled into accepting the situation he had
+offered me, but I had never dreamed that by accepting, I was throwing
+in my lot with the most marvelously organized gang of evil-doers that
+that world had ever known.
+
+Other similar gangs blundered at one time or another and left
+loopholes through which the police were able to attack them and break
+them up. But Rudolph Rayne had flung his octopus-like tentacles so far
+afield that he had actually attached to him--by fear of blackmail--an
+eminent Counsel who appeared for the defense of any member of the
+circle who happened to make a slip. That well-known member of the Bar
+I will call Mr. Henry Moyser, a lawyer whose fame was of world-wide
+repute, and who was employed for the defense in most of the really
+great criminal trials.
+
+I sat astounded when, by a side-wind, I was told that Mr. Moyser would
+defend me if I were unlucky enough to be arrested. Certainly his very
+name was sufficient to secure an acquittal.
+
+The journey from Pall Mall to Clifton had been a long and rather
+tiring one, and as I sat in the swift two-seater half-way across the
+high suspension bridge, I smoked reflectively as I gazed away along
+the river where deep below shone a few twinkling lights. Across at
+Clifton I could see the row of street lamps, while above the stars
+were shining in the sharp frosty air, and in the distance I could hear
+the roar of an express train.
+
+The bell of Clifton parish church struck the half-hour, but nobody was
+in sight, and there were no sounds of footsteps in the frosty air.
+Though so near the busy city of Bristol, yet high up on that long
+bridge, that triumph of engineering of our yesterday, all was quiet
+with scarce a sound save the shrill cry of a night-bird.
+
+If it were not that I loved Lola I would gladly have resigned the
+position which had already become hateful to me. Somehow I felt
+vaguely that perhaps I might one day render her a service. I might
+even extricate her from the dangerous circumstances in which she was
+living in all innocence of the actual conspiracies in which her father
+was engaged. Who could know?
+
+As far as I could gather, Lola was much puzzled at certain secret
+meetings held at Overstow. Her father's friends of both sexes were
+shrouded in mystery, and she was, I knew, seeking to penetrate it and
+learn the truth.
+
+I had already satisfied myself that the gang was a most dangerous and
+unscrupulous one, and that Rayne and his friends would hesitate at
+nothing so long as they carried out the plans which they laid with
+such innate cunning in order to effect great and astounding
+_coups_--the clever thefts and swindles that from time to time had
+held the world aghast.
+
+I suppose I must have waited nearly half an hour when suddenly there
+fell upon my ear uneven footsteps hurrying along towards the car, and
+in the light of the street lamp I distinguished, hurrying towards me,
+a short, elderly man, somewhat deformed, with a distinct hump on his
+back.
+
+"You're Mr. Hargreave, aren't you?" he inquired breathlessly, with a
+distinct Scottish accent. "I'm Tarrant! I'm so sorry I'm late, but
+Rudolph will understand. I'll explain it to him."
+
+And he was about to mount into the seat beside me.
+
+I put out my arm, and peering into the man's face, asked:
+
+"Is there nothing else, eh?"
+
+"Nothing," he replied. "Why? You are here to meet me. Rudolph sent you
+down from London."
+
+I was awaiting the prearranged word that would show the hunchback's
+_bonâ fides_.
+
+I gave him another opportunity of giving the password, but he seemed
+ignorant of it.
+
+Next second, my suspicions being aroused, I sprang down, and crying:
+
+"Look here, old fellow! I fancy you've made a mistake!" I struck him
+familiarly upon the back.
+
+His hump was _soft_! In that instant I detected him as an impostor--a
+Scotland Yard detective--without a doubt!
+
+Fortunately for me my brain acts quickly. But it was not so quick as
+his. He gave a shrill whistle, and in a flash from nowhere three of
+his colleagues appeared. They ran around the car to hold it up.
+
+For a few seconds I found myself in serious jeopardy.
+
+I sprang into the driver's seat, switched on the self-starter, and
+just as one of the detectives tried to mount beside me, I threw down
+among my assailants a little dark brown bomb the shape of an egg, with
+which Rayne had provided me in case of emergency.
+
+It exploded with a low fizz and its fumes took them aback, allowing me
+to shoot away over the bridge and down into Bristol, much wiser than
+when I had arrived.
+
+The arrangement of that password in itself showed how cleverly Rudolph
+Rayne was foresighted in all his plans. He always left a loophole for
+escape. Surely he was a past-master in the art of criminality, for his
+fertile brain evolved schemes and exit channels which nobody ever
+dreamed of.
+
+The squire of Overstow, who was regarded by the wealthy county people
+of Yorkshire as perfectly honest in all his dealings, and unduly rich
+withal, attracted to his table some of the most exclusive hunting set,
+people with titles, as well as the _parvenus_ "impossibles" who had
+bought huge places with the money made out of the war. The "County"
+never dreamed of the mysterious source of Rudolph Rayne's unlimited
+income.
+
+After traveling through a number of deserted streets in Bristol, I at
+last found myself upon a high road with a signpost which told me that
+I was on my way to Wells, that picturesque little city at the foot of
+the Mendip Hills. So, fearing lest I might be followed, I went "all
+out" through Axbridge and Cheddar, until at last I came to the fine
+old cathedral at Wells, which I knew quite familiarly. Near it was the
+Swan Hotel, at which, after some difficulty, I aroused the "boots,"
+secured a room, and placed the car in the garage.
+
+It was then nearly half-past three in the morning, and my only object
+in taking a room was to inform Rayne by telephone of my narrow escape.
+Rayne was remaining the night at Half Moon Street, while Lola and
+Madame Duperré were at the Carlton. We had all come up from Overstow a
+couple of days before, and two secret meetings had been held at Half
+Moon Street.
+
+Of the nature of the plot in progress I was in entire ignorance. They
+never let me completely into their plans; indeed, I only knew their
+true import when they were actually accomplished.
+
+The half-awake "boots" at the Swan indicated the telephone, and a
+quarter of an hour later I was speaking to Rayne in his bedroom in
+London. Very guardedly I explained how nearly I had been trapped,
+whereupon I heard him chuckle.
+
+"A very good lesson for you, Hargreave!" he replied. "Our friends are
+apparently on the watch, so get back to London as soon as you can.
+You'll be here at breakfast-time. Leave the car at Lloyd's and come
+along to me. Good luck to you!" he added, and then switched off.
+
+The Lloyd's garage he mentioned was in Bloomsbury, a place kept for
+the accommodation of motor-thieves. Many a car which disappeared
+quickly found its way there, and in a few hours the engine numbers
+were removed and fresh ones substituted, while the bodies were
+repainted and false number-plates attached.
+
+As I put down the telephone receiver, it suddenly occurred to me that
+already the Bristol police might have telephoned a description of the
+car along the various roads leading out of the city. Therefore it
+would be too risky to remain there. Hence, as though in sudden
+decision, I paid the "boots" for my bed, and five minutes later was
+again on the road speeding towards London.
+
+I chose the road to Salisbury, and after "blinding" for half an hour,
+I stopped and put on the false number-plates and license with which
+Rayne always provided me.
+
+It was as well that I did so, for in the gray morning as I went
+through Salisbury a police-sergeant and a constable hailed me just as
+I turned into St. John Street, near the White Hart, calling upon me to
+stop. I could see by their attitude that they were awaiting me,
+therefore pretending not to hear I quickened my pace and, knowing the
+road, soon left the place behind me.
+
+Again, in a village some ten miles farther on, a constable shouted to
+me as I continued my wild flight, hence it seemed apparent that a
+cordon had been formed around me, and I now feared that to enter
+Winchester would be to run right into the arms of the police.
+
+The only way to save myself was to abandon the car and get back to
+London by rail. As I contemplated this I was already passing beside
+the high embankment of the South Western Railway, where half a mile
+farther on I found a little wayside station. Therefore I turned the
+car into a small wood, and destroying my genuine license and hiding
+the genuine number-plate, I took the next train to Winchester, and
+thence by express to Waterloo after a very wild and adventurous night.
+That I had been within an ace of capture was palpable. But why?
+
+I was in the service of the man who controlled that vast criminal
+organization which the police of Europe were ever trying to break up.
+But why should I be sent to meet the mysterious hunchback Tarrant on
+Clifton Bridge?
+
+"There seemed to have been a little flaw in our plans, Hargreave,"
+said the alert, good-looking man as I sat with him in his cosy
+chambers in Half Moon Street that morning. "The police evidently got
+wind of the fact that old Morley was meeting you, and Benton tried to
+impersonate him. I know Benton. He's always up against me. He might
+have succeeded had he made the hump on his back a hard one, eh?" he
+laughed, as though rather amused than otherwise.
+
+"But he didn't know the password," I remarked in triumph.
+
+"No! It was fortunate for you that I had arranged it with old Morley,"
+said the man with the master-mind. "One must be ever wary when one
+treads crooked paths, you know. The slightest slip--and the end comes!
+But, at any rate, last night's adventure has sharpened your wits."
+
+"And it has cost us the 'A. C.'!" I remarked.
+
+"Bah! What's a motor-car more or less when one is working a big
+thing!" he exclaimed. "Never let ideas of economy stand in your way,
+or you'll never make a fortune. In order to make money you must always
+spend money."
+
+I often recollected that adage of his in later days, when the pace
+grew even hotter.
+
+Rayne paused for a few minutes. Then he said:
+
+"I've already heard from old Morley on the telephone half an hour ago.
+He was on the bridge and watched the fun. Then he discreetly withdrew
+and went back to his hotel in Clifton. He declares that you acted
+splendidly."
+
+"I'm much gratified by his testimonial," I said.
+
+"I've arranged that he shall meet you to-night here in London--outside
+the Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. Go to Lloyd's and get a car. At
+half-past seven it will be dark. Drive up, go into the bar and have a
+drink. You'll find him there and recognize him by his deformity.
+Outside he will mention the password and you will drive him where he
+directs. That's all!"
+
+And the man who had, on engaging me, so particularly wanted to know if
+I could sing, and had never asked me to do so, dismissed me quite
+abruptly, as was his habit. His quick alertness, keen shrewdness and
+sharp suspicion caused him to speak abruptly--almost churlishly--to
+those about him. I, however, now understood him. Yet I wondered what
+evil work was in progress.
+
+He had often pitted his wits against the most famous detective
+inspector, the great Benton, who had achieved so much notoriety in the
+Enfield poisoning case, the Sunbury mystery in which the body of a
+young girl shop-assistant had been found headless in the Thames, the
+great Maresfield drug drama of Limehouse and Mayfair, and the
+disappearance of the Honorable Edna Newcomen from her mother's house
+in Grosvenor Gardens. Superintendent Arthur Benton was perhaps the
+most wideawake hunter of criminals in the United Kingdom. As chief of
+his own particular branch at Scotland Yard he performed wonderful
+services, and his record was unique. Yet, hampered as he was by
+official red-tape and those regulations which prevented his men from
+taking a third-class railway ticket when following a thief, unless
+they waited for weeks for the return of the expenditure from official
+sources, he was no match for the squire of Overstow, who had a big
+bank balance, who moved in society, official, political and otherwise,
+and who actually entertained certain high officials at his table.
+
+From a man in the Department of the Public Prosecutor at Whitehall,
+Rayne often learnt much of the inner workings of Scotland Yard and of
+secret inquiries, for a civil servant at a well-laid sumptuous table
+is frequently prone to indiscretion.
+
+Arthur Benton was a well-meaning and very straight-dealing public
+servant with a splendid record as a detector of crime, but against
+money and such influence he could not cope. Indeed, more than once
+Rayne declared to me that he intended evil against Benton.
+
+"Yet I rather like him," he had said when we were discussing him one
+day. "After all, he's a real good sportsman!"
+
+So according to Rayne's orders I met the hunchback Tarrant at the
+Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. I had taken another car from Lloyd's
+garage--a Fiat landaulette, stolen, no doubt--and in it, at the old
+man's directions, I drove out to Maldon, in Essex, where at a small
+house outside the town I found, to my surprise, Rayne already awaiting
+us.
+
+What, I wondered, was in progress?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE FOUR FALSE FINGERS
+
+
+The house outside Maldon proved to be a newly built, detached,
+eight-roomed villa in a lonely spot on the high road to Witham. As I
+idled about it, I smelt a curious odor of melting rubber. Apparently
+the place had been taken furnished, but with what object I could not
+guess. Tarrant was a queer, rather insignificant-looking old fellow
+with a shock of white hair and a scraggy white beard.
+
+Both he and Rayne were closeted together in the little dining-room for
+nearly two hours, while I sat in the adjoining room. I could hear them
+conversing in low tones, and the smell of rubber warmed by heat became
+more pungent. What game was being carried on? Something very secret
+without a doubt. I thought I heard the sound of a third man's voice.
+Indeed, there might be a third person present, for I had not been
+admitted to the room.
+
+At last, leaving Rayne there, I drove the old man on to Witham, where
+I left him at his own request at a point near the wireless telegraph
+station, and turning, went back to the thieves' garage and there left
+the car.
+
+I did not see Rudolph Rayne again for several days, but according to
+instructions I received from Madame Duperré, I went by train up to
+Yorkshire and awaited their arrival.
+
+From Duperré, who arrived three days after I had got to Overstow, I
+gathered that Rayne had suddenly been called away to the Continent on
+one of his swift visits, "on a little matter of business," added
+Vincent with a meaning grin.
+
+We were smoking together in the great old library, when I told him of
+my narrow escape on Clifton Bridge.
+
+"Yes," he said. "Benton is always trying to get at us. It was sly of
+him to impersonate old Morley. I wonder how he got to know that you
+were meeting him? Someone must have betrayed Rayne. I have a suspicion
+who it may be. If he has, then woe betide him! Rudolph never forgives
+an enemy or a blunderer."
+
+I tried to get from Duperré the reason why the hunchback had met Rayne
+in such secrecy, but he would divulge nothing.
+
+Next day his wife and Lola returned, and that same evening as I sat
+with the latter in the chintz-covered drawing-room--for though I had
+been engaged as chauffeur I was now treated as one of the family--I
+had a delightful chat with her.
+
+That she was sorely puzzled at her father's rapid journeys to and fro
+across Europe without any apparent reason, of the strange assortment
+of his friends and the secrecy in which he so often met them, I had
+long ago observed.
+
+The truth was that I had fallen deeply in love with the sweet dainty
+girl whose father was the most audacious and cunning crook the modern
+world had produced. I believed, on account of the small confidence we
+had exchanged, that Lola, on her part, did not regard me with actual
+disfavor.
+
+"When will your father be back, do you think?" I asked her as she
+lounged upon a settee with a big orange silk cushion behind her. She
+looked very sweet. She wore a pretty but very simple dance-frock of
+flame-colored ninon, in which I had seen her at the Carlton on the
+night when I set out to meet the man Tarrant and was so nearly caught.
+
+I had given her a cigarette, and we were smoking together
+cosily--Duperré and his wife being somewhere in the great old house. I
+think Duperré was, after all, a sportsman, even though he was a
+practiced crook, for on that night he and his wife allowed me to be
+alone with Lola.
+
+"Do you know a friend of your father, an old man named Tarrant?" I
+asked her suddenly.
+
+"Tarrant--Morley Tarrant?" she asked. "Oh! yes. He's such a funny old
+fellow. Three years ago he often used to visit us when we lived in
+Biarritz, but I haven't seen him since."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"He was the manager of the branch of the Crédit Foncier. He is
+French, though he bears an English name."
+
+"French! But he speaks English!" I remarked.
+
+"Of course. His mother was English. He was once employed by Morgan's
+in Paris, I believe, but I haven't seen him lately. Father said one
+day at table that the old fellow had overstepped the mark and owing to
+some defalcations had gone to prison. I was sorry. What do you know of
+him?"
+
+"Nothing," I replied. "I've heard of him."
+
+She looked me very straight in the face from beneath her long dark
+lashes.
+
+"Ah! you won't tell me what you know," she said mysteriously.
+
+"Neither will you, Lola!" Then, after a pause, I added: "I want to
+know whether he is your father's friend--or his enemy."
+
+"His friend, no doubt."
+
+"Why should your father have as friend a man who robs a bank, eh?" I
+asked very earnestly.
+
+"Ah! That I don't know!" replied the girl as she bent towards me
+earnestly. "I--I'm always so puzzled. Ever since my dear mother died,
+just after I came back from Roedene, I have wondered--and always
+wondered. I can discover nothing--absolutely nothing! Father is so
+secret, and neither Madame nor he will tell me anything. They only say
+that their business is no affair of mine. My father has business, no
+doubt, Mr. Hargreave. From his business he derives his income. But I
+cannot see why he should so constantly meet men and women in all
+sorts of social positions and give them orders, as it were. I am not
+blind, neither am I deaf."
+
+"You have listened in secret, eh?" I asked.
+
+"I confess that I have." Then, after a slight pause, she went on: "And
+I have overheard some very strange conversations. My father seems to
+direct the good fortunes of certain of his friends, while at the same
+time he plots against his enemies. But I suppose, after all, it is
+business."
+
+Business! Little did the girl dream of the real occupation of her
+unscrupulous father, or the desperate characters of his friends, both
+male and female.
+
+Truly, she was very sweet and charming, and I hated to think that in
+her innocence she existed in that fevered world of plotting and
+desperate crime.
+
+We walked along the broad terrace in the twilight. Beyond spread the
+wide park to a dark belt of trees, Sherman's Copse, it was called, a
+delightfully shady place in summer where we had often strolled
+together.
+
+As we chatted, I reflected. So old Morley Tarrant was a gaol-bird!
+Hence it was but natural that Rudolph Rayne, who preserved such a high
+degree of respectability, would hesitate to meet him providing he knew
+that the police were watching. He certainly knew that, hence the
+secrecy of their appointment.
+
+As we walked Madame suddenly emerged from the French windows of the
+drawing-room and joined us.
+
+"I've just had a wire from Rudolph," she said. "He's leaving
+Copenhagen to-night and will be back to-morrow night. I'd no idea that
+he had been over in Denmark. But there! he is such a bird of passage
+that one never knows where he may be to-morrow." And she laughed.
+
+Later we all four sat down to dinner, a decorous meal, well-cooked and
+well-served. But the character of the household was shown by the fact
+that none of the servants--discreetly chosen, of course, and in
+themselves members of the criminal organization--betrayed the least
+surprise that I, who acted as chauffeur, should be admitted to that
+curious family circle.
+
+Rayne returned next night, tired and travel-worn, and I met him at
+Thirsk station.
+
+"We go up to Edinburgh to-morrow. I shall want you to drive me," he
+said as he sat at my side in the Rolls. "Lola will go also."
+
+His last words delighted me, and next day at noon we all three set
+forth on our journey north. It rained all day and the run was the
+reverse of pleasant, nevertheless, we arrived at the Caledonian Hotel
+quite safely, and were soon installed in one of the cosy private
+suites.
+
+Father and daughter breakfasted in their sitting-room, while I had my
+meal alone in the coffee-room.
+
+When later I went up for orders Rayne dismissed me abruptly, saying
+that he would not require me till after lunch.
+
+Half an hour afterwards, while idling along Princes Street, I came
+across Lola, who was looking in one of the shop windows.
+
+"Father has sent me out as he wants to talk business with Mr. Hugh
+Martyn, a rich American we met at the Grand, in Rome, last year.
+Father has come up here specially to meet him."
+
+What fresh crooked business could there be in progress? That Rayne had
+paid flying visits to Copenhagen and Edinburgh in such a short space
+of time was in itself highly suspicious.
+
+After luncheon, on entering Rayne's sitting-room, I found him busily
+fashioning from a sheet of thin cardboard a small square box which he
+was fitting over a large glass paper-weight, a cube about four inches
+square which was wrapped in tissue-paper, the corner of which happened
+to be torn and so revealed the glass.
+
+"I'm sending this away as a present," he explained. "I bought it over
+in Princes Street this morning." And he continued with his scissors to
+make the box to fit it. "I shall not want you any more to-day
+Hargreave," he went on. "We'll get back home to-morrow, starting at
+ten."
+
+And, as was his habit, he dismissed me abruptly.
+
+Four days later I was summoned to the library, where in breeches and
+gaiters he was standing astride upon the hearthrug.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," he said, "I want you to take the next train up
+to London and carry that little leather bag with you," and he
+indicated a small bag standing upon the writing-table. "On arrival go
+at once down to Maldon and call at half-past nine o'clock to-morrow
+night at that house to which you took old Mr. Tarrant. You recollect
+it--The Limes, on the Witham road. Morley will be expecting you."
+
+"Very well," I replied. "Is there any message?"
+
+"None. Just deliver it to him. But to nobody else, remember," he
+ordered.
+
+So according to his instructions I duly arrived at the remote house at
+the hour arranged, and delivered the bag to the old man, who welcomed
+me and gave me a whisky-and-soda, which I found very acceptable after
+my long tramp from Maldon station. Tarrant was not alone, for I
+distinctly heard a man's voice calling him just before he opened the
+door to me.
+
+Recollecting that the old fellow had been in gaol, I was full of
+curiosity as to what was intended. I certainly never believed it to be
+so highly ingenious and dastardly as it eventually proved to be.
+
+About a month passed uneventfully, save that I spent many delightful
+hours in Lola's company. Her father had purchased another two-seater
+car--a "sports model" Vauxhall--and on several occasions I took him
+for runs in it about Yorkshire. Naturally he knew little about cars
+himself, but relied upon my knowledge and judgment. In addition to the
+Rolls and the Vauxhall I also had an "Indian" motor-cycle for my own
+personal use, and found it very useful in going on certain rapid
+missions to York and elsewhere. But the abandonment of the
+"A.C."--which had, by the way, been regarded as a mystery by the
+Press--hurt me considerably.
+
+Duperré had been absent from Overstow ever since the day we had left
+for Edinburgh, but as the bright autumn days passed I found myself
+more and more in love with the dainty girl whose father was a
+master-criminal.
+
+Nevertheless, I felt that Duperré's wife kept eager watch upon both of
+us. Perhaps she feared that I might tell Lola some of my adventures.
+As for Rayne, he was often out shooting over neighboring estates, for
+he was a good shot and highly popular in the neighborhood, while at
+Overstow itself there was some excellent sport to which now and then
+he would invite his local friends.
+
+Rayne possessed a marvelous personality. When at home he was the
+typical country gentleman, a good judge of a horse and in his "pink" a
+straight rider to hounds. None who met him would have ever dreamed
+that he was the shrewd, crafty cosmopolitan whose evil machinations
+and devilish ingenuity made themselves felt in all the capitals of
+Europe, and whose word was law to certain dangerous characters who
+would not hesitate to take human life if it were really necessary to
+evade arrest.
+
+His outstanding cleverness, however, was that he never revealed his
+own identity to those who actually carried out his devilish schemes.
+The circle of cosmopolitan malefactors who were his cat's-paws only
+knew Monsieur and Madame Duperré--under other names--but of Rudolph
+Rayne's very existence they were nearly all ignorant. Money was, I
+learnt, freely paid for various "jobs" by agents engaged by the man I
+had once known as Captain Deinhard, or else by certain receivers of
+stolen goods in London and on the Continent, who were forewarned that
+jewels, bonds or stolen bank-notes would reach them in secret, and
+that payment must be made and no questions asked.
+
+Late one evening Duperré returned unexpectedly in a hired car from
+Thirsk. We had finished dinner, and I chanced to be with Rayne in the
+library, yet longing to get to the old-fashioned drawing-room with its
+sweet odor of potpourri, where Lola was, I knew, sitting immersed in
+the latest novel.
+
+"Hallo, Vincent! Why, I thought you were still in Aix-les-Bains!"
+cried Rayne, much surprised, and yet a trifle excited, which was quite
+unusual for him.
+
+"There's a nasty little hitch!" replied the other, still in his heavy
+traveling coat. Then, turning to me, he said: "Hargreave, old chap,
+will you leave for a moment or two? I want to speak to Rudolph."
+
+"Of course," I said. I was by that time used to those confidential
+conversations, and I walked along the corridor and joined Lola.
+
+"I'm very troubled, Mr. Hargreave," the girl suddenly exclaimed in a
+low, timid voice after we had been chatting a short time. "I overheard
+father whispering something to Madame Duperré to-day."
+
+"Whispering something!" I echoed. "What was that?"
+
+"Something about Mr. Martyn, that American gentleman he met in
+Edinburgh," she replied. "Father was chuckling to himself, saying that
+he had taken good precautions to prevent him proving an alibi. Father
+seemed filled with the fiercest anger against him. I'm sure he's an
+awfully nice man, though we hardly know him. What can it mean?"
+
+An alibi? I reflected. I replied that it was as mysterious to me as to
+her. Like herself I lived in a clouded atmosphere of rapidly changing
+circumstances, mysterious plots and unknown evil deeds--truly a world
+of fear and bewilderment.
+
+Some days later I had driven up to London in the Rolls with Duperré,
+leaving Rayne and Lola at home, Duperré's wife being away somewhere on
+a visit. We took up our quarters at Rayne's chambers, and next day
+idled about London together. Just before we went out to dinner Martyn
+called, and after taking a drink Duperré went out with him, remarking
+to me that he would be in soon after eleven. Hence I went to the
+theater, and on returning at midnight awaited him.
+
+I sat reading by the fire and dozed till just past two o'clock, when
+he returned dressed in unfamiliar clothes: a rough suit of tweeds in
+which he presented the appearance of a respectable artisan. His left
+hand was bound roughly with a colored handkerchief, and he appeared
+very exhausted. Before speaking he poured himself out a liqueur glass
+of neat brandy which he swallowed at a single gulp.
+
+"I've had a rather nasty accident, George," he said. "I've cut my hand
+pretty badly. Only not a soul must know about it--you understand?"
+
+I nodded, and then at his request I assisted him to wash the wound and
+rebandage it.
+
+"What's been the matter?" I asked with curiosity.
+
+"Nothing very much," was his hard reply. "You'll probably know all
+about it to-morrow. The papers will be full of it. But mind and keep
+your mouth shut very tightly."
+
+And with that he drew from his pockets a pair of thin surgical rubber
+gloves, both of which were blood-stained, and hurriedly threw them
+into the fire.
+
+On the following evening about six o'clock I was alone in Rayne's
+chambers when the evening newspaper was, as usual, pushed through the
+letter-box. I rose, and taking it up glanced casually at the front
+page, when I was confronted by a startling report.
+
+It appeared that just after midnight on the previous night the
+watchman on duty at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, in Lombard Street,
+had been murderously attacked by some unknown person who apparently
+battered his head with an iron bar, and left him unconscious and so
+seriously injured that he was now in Guy's Hospital without hope of
+recovery. The bank robbers had apparently used a most up-to-date
+oxyacetylene plant for cutting steel, and from the strong-room in the
+basement--believed to be impregnable and which could only be opened
+by a time-clock, and, moreover, could be flooded at will--they had cut
+out the door as butter could be cut with a hot knife. From the safe
+they had abstracted negotiable bonds with English, French and Italian
+notes to the value of over eighty thousand pounds, with which the
+thieves had got clear away.
+
+The bank robbery was the greatest sensation of the moment. The thieves
+had cleverly effected an entrance by one of them having secreted
+himself in a safe in the bank when it had closed. In the morning at
+nine o'clock when the first clerk, a lady accountant, had arrived, she
+could get no entrance, so she waited till one of her male colleagues
+arrived. Then they called a constable, and after half an hour the
+sensational fact of the unconscious watchman and the rifled
+strong-room became revealed.
+
+The newspaper report concluded with the following sentences:
+
+"It is evident that one of the thieves cut his hand badly, for we
+understand that the detectives of the City police have found
+blood-stained finger-prints of four distinct fingers upon the door and
+in other parts of the strong-room. These, of course, have already been
+photographed, and in due course will be investigated by that
+department of Scotland Yard which deals with the finger-prints of
+known criminals."
+
+With the knowledge of the injury to Duperré's hand I felt confident
+that the great _coup_ was due to him. And I was not mistaken.
+
+The bank thieves had got clear away, it was true, but they had left
+those tell-tale finger-prints behind! As everyone knows, the ridges
+and whorls upon the hands of no two men are alike, therefore it seemed
+clear that Scotland Yard, now aroused, would very quickly--owing to
+its marvelous classification of the finger-prints of every criminal
+who has passed through the hands of the police during the past quarter
+of a century--fix upon the person who had laid his hands upon the
+steel safe door.
+
+An hour after I had read the report in the paper, Duperré rang me up.
+
+"I'm going to Overstow by the nine-thirty from King's Cross to-night,"
+he said. "If you can join me, do. The air is better in Yorkshire than
+in London, don't you think so, old chap?"
+
+"Right-oh!" I replied. "I'll travel up with you."
+
+We met, and early next morning we were back at Overstow. Yet I managed
+to suppress any untoward curiosity.
+
+It was only when about a week later I read in the paper of the result
+of the discovery of Scotland Yard finger-print department and of a
+consequent arrest that I sat aghast.
+
+A notorious jewel-thief named Hersleton, alias Hugh Martyn, an
+American, had been arrested at a hotel at Brighton, and had been
+charged at Bow Street with the murderous attack upon the night
+watchman at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, his finger-prints, taken
+some years before, coinciding exactly with those left at the bank. He
+had violently protested his innocence, but had been committed for
+trial.
+
+At the Old Bailey six weeks later, the night watchman having
+fortunately recovered from his injuries, Hugh Martyn was brought
+before Mr. Justice Harland, and though very ably defended by his
+counsel, he was quite unable to account for his movements on the night
+in question.
+
+"I was never there!" the prisoner shrieked across the court to the
+judge as I sat in the public gallery watching the scene. "I know
+nothing of the affair--nothing whatever. I am innocent."
+
+"It is undeniable that the prisoner's finger-prints were left there,"
+remarked the eminent counsel for the Treasury, rising very calmly. "We
+have them here before us--enlarged photographs which the jury have
+just seen. Gentlemen of the jury, I put it to you that the prisoner is
+the man who assisted in this dastardly crime!"
+
+The jury, after a short retirement, found Hugh Martyn guilty, and the
+judge, after hearing his previous convictions, sentenced him to
+fifteen years' penal servitude.
+
+But Mr. Justice Harland has never known, until perhaps he may read
+these lines, that by the ingenious machinations of the super-criminal
+Rudolph Rayne, Hugh Martyn, who was one of his associates who had
+quarrelled with him over his share of a bank robbery in Madrid, and
+had tried to betray me to Benton on Clifton Bridge, had been the
+victim of a most dastardly treachery, though he was quite unaware of
+it and believed Rayne to be his friend.
+
+Only many months later I learned, by piecing together certain facts,
+that old Morley Tarrant was an expert photographer and maker of
+printer's "blocks." Slowly it became plain that Rayne, having been
+betrayed by the astute American crook, had met him in Edinburgh and
+with devilish malice aforethought, had contrived to get him to handle
+the glass cube which served as a paper-weight, and which I had quite
+innocently conveyed to the old hunchback, who had succeeded in taking
+the finger-prints and by photography transferring them upon the
+surgical rubber glove, thin as paper--really a false skin--which
+Duperré had worn over his hands when he and his associates made an
+attack upon the bank.
+
+By that means Martyn's finger-prints were left upon the safe door.
+
+Duperré had previously taken out Martyn, whom one of his friends, a
+woman, had drugged, so that he lay in that furnished house near Maldon
+for two days unconscious. Hence he was unable to give any accurate
+account of his movements on the night in question, or prove an alibi,
+and was, in consequence, convicted.
+
+Rayne, the man with the abnormal criminal brain, had, by that
+ingenious _coup_, not only contrived to spirit away to the Continent a
+sum of eighty thousand pounds in negotiable securities, but had also
+sent to a long term of penal servitude the man who had attempted to
+betray him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CONCERNS MR. BLUMENFELD
+
+
+The pleasant high road between Leamington and Coventry runs straight
+over the hills to Kenilworth, but a few miles farther on there are
+cross-roads, the right leading into Stoneleigh and the left to Kirby
+Corner and over Westwood Heath into a crooked maze of by-roads by
+which one can reach Berkswell or Barston.
+
+It was over that left-hand road that I was driving Rayne and Lola in
+the Rolls in the grey twilight of a wintry evening. We had driven from
+London, and both Rayne and the girl I so admired were cramped and
+tired.
+
+"Look!" shouted Lola suddenly as we took a turn in the road. "There's
+the lodge! On the left there. That's Bradbourne Hall!"
+
+"Yes, that's it, Hargreave!" said Rudolph, and a few moments later I
+turned the car through the high wrought-iron gates which stood open
+for us, and we sped up the long avenue of leafless trees which led to
+the fine country mansion at which we were to be guests.
+
+Bradbourne Hall was a great old-world Georgian house, half covered
+with ivy, and the appearance of the grave, white-haired butler who
+opened the door showed it to be the residence of a man of wealth and
+discernment.
+
+That Edward Blumenfeld, its owner, was fabulously wealthy everyone in
+the City of London knew, for his name was one to conjure with in high
+finance, and though the dingy offices of Blumenfeld and Hannan in Old
+Broad Street were the reverse of imposing, yet the financial influence
+of the great house often made itself felt upon the Bourses of Paris,
+Brussels and Rome.
+
+I met the millionaire at dinner two hours later, a tall, loose-built,
+sallow-faced man of rather brusque manners and decidedly cosmopolitan,
+both in gesture and in speech. With him was his wife, a pleasant woman
+of about fifty-five who seemed extremely affable to Lola. Mr.
+Blumenfeld's sister, a Mrs. Perceval, was also present.
+
+It appeared that a year before Rayne had met old Mr. Blumenfeld and
+his wife in an hotel at Varenna, on the Lake of Como, and a casual
+acquaintance had ripened into friendship and culminated in the
+invitation to spend a few days at Bradbourne. Hence our journey.
+
+As we sat gossiping over our port after the ladies had left the table,
+I began to wonder why the grey-eyed master-crook, whom not a soul
+suspected, was so eager to ingratiate himself with Edward Blumenfeld.
+The motive was, however, not far to seek. Most men who are personal
+friends of millionaires manage to extract some little point of
+knowledge which, if used in the right way and with discretion, will
+often result in considerable financial gain. Indeed, I have often
+thought that around a millionaire there is spread a halo of prosperity
+which invests all those who enter it and brings to them good fortune.
+
+It was evident that the great financier regarded Rudolph Rayne as his
+friend, for he promised to pay us a visit at Overstow in return.
+
+"Remember what Mr. Blumenfeld has promised us, George!" said Rayne as
+he turned to me merrily. "Make a note of it!" And the breezy,
+easy-going man who at the moment was directing all sorts of crooked
+business in many cities on the Continent sipped his glass of port with
+the air of a connoisseur, as indeed he was.
+
+That night, after I had gone to my room, Rayne suddenly entered and
+began to speak to me in a loud tone concerning some letters he wished
+to write early in the morning. Then, lowering his voice suddenly to a
+whisper, he added: "I want you to be very nice to Mrs. Blumenfeld,
+Hargreave. Unfortunately Lola seems to have taken a violent dislike to
+her. Why, I don't know. So do your best to remedy what may result in a
+_contretemps_."
+
+Then again he spoke in his usual voice, and wishing me good night left
+the room.
+
+After he had gone I, full of wonder and apprehension, paced up and
+down the fine old paneled chamber--for I had been placed in a wing in
+the older part of the house which was evidently Jacobean. As an
+unwilling assistant of that super-crook whose agents were at work in
+the various cities of Europe carrying out the amazingly ingenious
+plans which, with Vincent Duperré, he so carefully formulated in that
+great old-world library of his at Overstow, I was constantly in peril,
+for I felt by some inexplicable intuition that the police must, one
+day or other, obtain sufficient evidence to arrest all of us, Lola
+included.
+
+I recollect that Superintendent Arthur Benton of Scotland Yard was
+ever active in his inquiries concerning the great gang which Rayne
+controlled.
+
+Had it not been that I was now passionately in love with Lola--though
+I dared not declare it openly--I should have left my queer appointment
+long ago. As a matter of fact, I remained because I believed, vainly
+perhaps, that I might one day be able to shield Lola from becoming
+their accomplice--and thus culpable.
+
+According to Rayne's instructions I next day made myself as affable as
+possible to Mrs. Blumenfeld, but later in the afternoon I had an
+opportunity of chatting with Lola alone. She wanted to go to a shop in
+Warwick, and asked me to take her there in the car, which I did. The
+driver's seat was inside the car, hence, when alone, she always sat
+beside me.
+
+"What do you think of Mrs. Blumenfeld?" I asked her as we sped along
+through the rain.
+
+"Oh! Well, I don't like her--that's all," was her reply, as she
+smiled.
+
+"I think she's quite nice," I said. "She was most charming to me this
+morning."
+
+"And she is also charming to me. But she seems so horribly
+inquisitive, and asks me so many questions about my father--questions
+I can't answer."
+
+"Why not?" I asked, turning to her and for a second taking my eyes off
+the road.
+
+"Well--you know, Mr. Hargreave--you surely know," the girl hesitated.
+"Why are we on this visit? My father has some sinister plans--without
+a doubt."
+
+"How sinister plans?" I asked, in pretence of ignorance.
+
+"You well know," she answered. "I am not blind, even if Duperré and
+his wife think I am. They forget that there is such a thing as
+illustrated papers."
+
+"I don't follow," I said.
+
+"Well, in the _Daily Graphic_ three days ago I saw the portrait of a
+man named Lawrence, well-known as a jewel thief, who was sentenced to
+ten years' penal servitude at the Old Bailey. I recognized him as Mr.
+Moody, one of my father's friends who often came to see us at
+Overstow--a man you also know. Why has my father thieves for his
+friends, unless he is in some way connected with them?"
+
+"Moody sentenced!" I gasped. "Why, he was one of Duperré's most
+intimate friends. I've met them together often," I remarked, and then
+the conversation dropped, and we sat silent for a full quarter of an
+hour.
+
+"I'm longing to get back to Overstow, Mr. Hargreave," the girl went on
+presently. "I feel that ere long Mrs. Blumenfeld, who is a very clever
+and astute woman, will discover something about us, and then----"
+
+"And if she does, it will upset your father's plans--whatever they
+are!"
+
+"But Mr. Blumenfeld, as a great financier, has agents in all the
+capitals, and they might inquire and discover more about us than would
+be pleasant," she said apprehensively. "I wonder why we are visiting
+these people?" she added.
+
+I did not reply. I was constantly puzzled and bewildered by the
+actions and movements of Rayne and his questionable friends.
+
+That evening after dinner, while old Blumenfeld played billiards with
+his guest, I marked. They played three closely contested games, for
+both were good players; until at eleven o'clock we all three went to
+the great drawing-room to bid the ladies good night. With our host I
+returned to the billiard-room, leaving Rayne to follow. Mr. Blumenfeld
+poured me out a whisky-and-soda and took a glass of port himself. Then
+a few minutes later he suggested, that as Rayne had not returned, he
+and I should have a final game before retiring.
+
+He had made about twenty-five when of a sudden he leaned heavily
+against the table, his face blanched, and placing his hand to his
+heart, exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! I have such a pain here! I--I----"
+
+And before I could run round to his assistance he had collapsed
+heavily upon the floor.
+
+In an instant I was at his side, but saw that he was already
+unconscious.
+
+I flew to the door and down the corridor, when luckily I encountered
+Rayne, who was at that moment returning to us.
+
+In breathless haste I told him what had occurred.
+
+"Good heavens!" he gasped. "Don't alarm the ladies. Find the butler
+and get him to telephone for the doctor in secret. I'll run in and
+look after him in the meantime," he said, and hurried to the
+billiard-room.
+
+I was not long in finding the butler, and quickly we went to the
+library and spoke to the doctor, who lived about five miles away. He
+was already in bed, but would, he said, motor over immediately.
+
+On our return to the billiard-room we found, to our relief, that Mr.
+Blumenfeld had recovered consciousness. He was still lying upon the
+floor, Rayne having forced some brandy between his lips.
+
+"He's getting right again!" Rayne exclaimed to the white-haired old
+servant, and together we lifted our host on to the sofa.
+
+He recovered quite rapidly, and presently he whispered weakly:
+
+"I suppose it's my heart! A doctor in Rome three years ago said it was
+rather weak."
+
+"I'm glad you're better, my dear fellow," said Rayne. "I was much
+worried about you. You were playing with Hargreave, and he alarmed
+me."
+
+"I'm cold," our host said. "Will you shut that window."
+
+For the first time I noticed the window, which had certainly been
+closed when we were playing, was open about a foot. Besides, Mr.
+Blumenfeld's glass of port, of which he had drunk only half, was now
+empty, two facts which, however, at the time conveyed nothing to me.
+
+In due course the doctor, an elderly country practitioner, arrived in
+hot haste, and grave concern, but as soon as he saw his patient he
+realized that it had been only a fainting fit and was nothing serious.
+Indeed, within an hour Blumenfeld was laughing with us as though
+nothing had occurred.
+
+But what had really occurred, I wondered? That window had been opened,
+apparently to admit fresh air to revive an unconscious man. But surely
+our host had not drained his port glass after his sudden seizure!
+
+The incident was, at Blumenfeld's request, hidden from the ladies, and
+next day he was quite his old self again.
+
+About noon I strolled with Rayne out along the wide terrace which ran
+in front of the house overlooking the great park, whereupon he said:
+
+"We'll leave here to-morrow, Hargreave. Duperré is at Overstow. Write
+to him this afternoon and tell him to send me a wire recalling me
+immediately upon urgent business."
+
+"We've finished here, eh?" I asked meaningly.
+
+"Yes," he grinned, "and the sooner we're out of this place the
+better."
+
+So I sent Vincent a note, telling him to wire Rayne at once on receipt
+of it.
+
+The urgent message recalling Rudolph Rayne to Yorkshire arrived about
+half-past ten next morning, just as we were going out shooting.
+Blumenfeld was much disappointed, but his guest pleaded that he had
+some very important business to transact with his agent who was over
+from New York and desired to meet him at once. Therefore to Lola's
+complete satisfaction the trunks were packed and put into the car, and
+immediately after luncheon we set forth to Overstow.
+
+On our way back I racked my brain to discern the nature of the latest
+plot, but could see nothing tangible. Mr. Blumenfeld had been taken
+suddenly ill while playing billiards with me, and Rayne, when
+summoned, had done his best to resuscitate him. Yet Rayne's manner was
+triumphant and he was in most excellent spirits.
+
+We arrived back at Overstow Hall just before midnight, and he and
+Duperré held a long conversation before retiring. Of its nature I
+could gather nothing. As for Lola, she retired at once very cramped
+and tired.
+
+The whole of the following morning Duperré and Rayne were closeted
+together, while afterwards I drove Duperré into York, where from the
+telegraph office in the railway station he sent several cryptic
+messages abroad, of course posing to the telegraph clerk as a passing
+railway passenger. Rayne never sent important telegrams from the
+village post-office at Overstow, or even from Thirsk. They were all
+dispatched from places where, even if inquiry were made, the sender
+could not be traced.
+
+"What's in the wind?" I asked Duperré as he sat by my side on our
+drive back to Overstow.
+
+"Something, my dear George," he answered, smiling mysteriously. "At
+present I can't tell you. In due course you'll know--something big.
+Whenever Rudolph superintends in person it is always big. He never
+touches minor matters. He devises and arranges them as a general plans
+a battle, but he never superintends himself--only in the real big
+things. Even then he never acts himself."
+
+With that I was compelled to be satisfied. That night we all had quite
+a pleasant evening over bridge in the drawing-room, until just about
+ten o'clock Rayne was called to the telephone. When he rejoined us I
+noticed that his countenance was a trifle pale. He looked worried and
+ill at ease. He sat down beside Madame Duperré, and after pensively
+lighting one of his expensive cigars, he bent and whispered something
+to her.
+
+By what he said the woman became greatly agitated, and a few moments
+later rose and left the room.
+
+The household at Overstow was certainly a strange and incongruous one,
+consisting as it did of persons who seemed all in league with each
+other, the master-criminal whose shrewd, steel-grey eyes were so
+uncanny, and his accomplices and underlings who all profited and grew
+fat upon the great _coups_ planned by Rayne's amazing mind. The squire
+of Overstow mesmerized his fellows and fascinated his victims of both
+sexes. His personality was clear-cut and outstanding. Men and women
+who met him for the first time felt that in conversation he held them
+by some curious, indescribable influence--held them as long as he
+cared, until by his will they were released from a strange thraldom
+that was both weird and astounding.
+
+Whatever message Rayne had received it was evidently of paramount
+importance, for when Madame Duperré had left the room and Lola had
+retired, he turned to me and with a queer look in his eyes, exclaimed:
+
+"I expect you'll have to be making some rather rapid journeys soon,
+George. Better be up early to-morrow. Good night." And then dismissing
+me, he asked Duperré to go with him to the smoking-room.
+
+"I've heard from Tracy," I overheard him say as I followed them along
+the softly carpeted corridor. "We're up against that infernal Benton
+again because of old Moody's blunder. I never expected he'd be caught,
+of all men. Benton is now looking for Moody's guiding hand."
+
+"Well, I hope he won't get very far," Duperré replied.
+
+"We must make certain that he doesn't, Vincent, or it will go
+badly--very badly--with us! That's what I want to discuss with you."
+
+Of the result of the consultation I, of course, remained in ignorance,
+but next morning Rayne sent for me and said he had decided to meet his
+friend Tracy at the Unicorn Hotel at Ripon.
+
+"I telephoned him to the Station Hotel at York during the night," he
+added. "He'll have a lady with him. I want you to drive me over to
+Ripon and drive the lady back here."
+
+So an hour later we set out across country and arrived in Ripon in
+time for lunch.
+
+Gerald Tracy I had met before, a big, stout, round-faced man of
+prosperous appearance, bald-headed and loud of speech. That he was a
+crook I had no doubt, but what his actual _métier_ was I could not
+discover. He met us on the threshold of the old-fashioned hotel in
+that old-fashioned Yorkshire town, and with him was a well-dressed
+young woman, Italian or Spanish, I saw at a glance.
+
+When Tracy introduced her to Rayne she was apparently much impressed,
+replying in very fair English. Her name, I learnt, was Signorina
+Lacava, and she was Italian.
+
+We all lunched together but no business was discussed. Rayne expressed
+a hope that the signorina's journey from Milan had been a pleasant
+one.
+
+"Quite," the handsome black-eyed girl replied. "I stayed one day in
+Paris."
+
+"The signorina has made a conquest in Milan," laughed Tracy. "Farini,
+the commissario of police, has fallen in love with her!"
+
+Rayne smiled, and turning to her, said:
+
+"I congratulate you, signorina. Your friendship may one day stand you
+in very good stead."
+
+That the young woman was someone of great importance in the criminal
+combine was apparent from the fact that she had been actually
+introduced to its secret head.
+
+It struck me as curious when, after leaving Tracy and Rayne together,
+I was driving the signorina across the moors to Overstow, that while
+he hesitated to allow Tracy to go there, yet it was safe for the young
+Italian woman.
+
+I knew that Benton was still making eager inquiries, and I also knew
+that Rayne was full of gravest apprehensions. Rudolph Rayne was
+playing a double game!
+
+On arrival back home, Duperré's wife received our visitor. Lola had
+gone to Newcastle to visit an old schoolfellow, and Duperré was away
+in York so his wife informed me.
+
+Three uneventful days passed, but neither Rayne nor Lola returned. On
+the third evening I was called to the telephone, and Rayne spoke to me
+from his rooms in London.
+
+"I can't get back just yet, George," he said. "You'll receive a
+registered letter from me to-morrow. Act upon it and use your own
+discretion."
+
+I promised him I would and then he rang off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AT THREE-EIGHTEEN A.M.
+
+
+The letter brought to my bedside next morning contained some curious
+instructions, namely, to take the car on the following Saturday to
+Flamborough Head, arriving at a spot he named about a quarter of a
+mile from the lighthouse, where I would be accosted by a Dutch sailor,
+who would ask me if I were Mr. Skelton. I was not to fear treachery,
+but to reply in the affirmative and drive him through the night to an
+address he gave me in Providence Court, a turning off Dean Street,
+Soho.
+
+That address was sufficient for me! I had once before, at Rayne's
+orders, driven a stranger to Dean Street and conducted him to that
+house. It was no doubt a harbor of refuge for foreign criminals in
+London, but was kept by an apparently respectable Italian who carried
+on a small grocery shop in Old Compton Street.
+
+As I was ordered, I duly arrived on that wild spot on the Yorkshire
+coast. It blew half a gale, the wind howling about the car as I sat
+with only the red rearlight on, waiting in patience.
+
+Very soon a short, thick-set man with decidedly evil face and
+seafaring aspect, emerged from the shadows and asked in broken English
+whether I was Mr. Skelton. I replied that I was and bade him jump in,
+and then, switching on the big headlights, turned the car in the
+direction of London.
+
+From what I had seen of the stranger I certainly was not prepossessed.
+His clothes were rough and half soaked by the rain that had been
+falling, while it became apparent as we talked that he had landed
+surreptitiously from a Dutch fishing-boat early that morning and had
+not dared to show himself. Hence he was half famished. I happened to
+have a vacuum flask and some sandwiches, and these I divided with him.
+
+A long silence fell between us as with difficulty in keeping myself
+awake I drove over the two hundred odd miles of wet roads which
+separated us from London, and just before nine o'clock next morning I
+left the car in Wardour Street and walked with the stranger to the
+frowsy house in Providence Court, where to my great surprise Gerald
+Tracy opened the door. He laughed at my astonishment, but with a
+gesture indicative of silence, he merely said:
+
+"Hallo, Hargreave! Back all right, eh?"
+
+Then he admitted the Dutchman and closed the door.
+
+Tracy was evidently there to hold consultation with the stranger whose
+entrance into England was unknown. He would certainly never risk a
+long stay in that house, for the stout, bald-headed man had, I knew,
+no wish to come face to face with Benton or any other officer of the
+C.I.D.
+
+Certainly something sinister and important was intended.
+
+On calling at Half Moon Street, after having breakfasted, I found
+Duperré there.
+
+"Rayne wants you to go down to the Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone and
+garage the car there," he said. "He and I are running a risk in a
+couple of night's time--the risk whether Benton identifies us. We both
+have tickets for the annual dinner of the staff of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, which is to be held in the Elgin Rooms."
+
+"And are you actually going?" I asked, much surprised.
+
+"Yes. And our places are close to Benton's! He'll never dream that the
+men he is hunting for everywhere are sitting exactly opposite him as
+guests of one of his superiors."
+
+Boldness was one of Rudolph Rayne's characteristics. He was fearless
+in all his clever and ingenious conspiracies, though his cunning was
+unequaled.
+
+As I drove down to Folkestone I ruminated, as I so often did. No doubt
+some devilish plot was underlying the acceptance of the high police
+official's invitation to the staff dinner.
+
+Its nature became revealed a few days later when, on opening my
+newspaper one morning, being still at Folkestone waiting in patience,
+I read a paragraph which aroused within me considerable interest.
+
+It was to the effect that Superintendent Arthur Benton, the well-known
+Scotland Yard officer, had, after the annual dinner a few nights
+before, been suddenly taken ill on his way home to Hampstead, and was
+at the moment lying in a very critical condition suffering from some
+mysterious form of ptomaine poisoning, his life being despaired of.
+
+I was quite unaware until long afterwards of the deeply laid attempt
+upon Benton's life, how the mysterious Dutchman was really a waiter
+much wanted by the French police for a poisoning affair in Marseilles,
+and that he had been able, by means best known to Rayne, to obtain
+temporary employment at the Elgin Rooms on the night of the banquet.
+It was he who had served the table at which had sat the unsuspicious
+detective superintendent.
+
+The latter fortunately did not succumb, but he was incapacitated from
+duty for over twelve months, during which period the inquiries
+regarding the unknown head of the criminal band were dropped, much to
+the relief of Rayne and Duperré.
+
+All this, however, was, I saw, preliminary and in preparation for some
+great _coup_.
+
+I suppose I had been kicking my heels about Folkestone for perhaps ten
+days when, without warning, Rayne and Lola arrived with Tracy and a
+quantity of luggage. No doubt the mysterious Dutchman had returned to
+the Continent by the fishing-boat in which he had come over to act at
+Rayne's orders.
+
+"We are going to the Continent by the morning service the day after
+to-morrow, George," Rayne told me. "Tracy leaves to-night. Lola will
+go with us as far as Paris, where Duperré will meet us, and we go
+south together."
+
+And he produced a batch of tickets, among which I saw coupons for
+reserved compartments in the _wagon-lit_.
+
+Afterwards he gave some peculiar instructions to Tracy.
+
+"You'll recollect the map I showed you," he said. "Crčches is two
+miles south of Mâcon. At about two kilomčtres towards Lyons there is a
+short bridge over a ravine. That's the spot. The train passes there at
+three-eighteen in the morning."
+
+"I follow you exactly," replied his stout, bald-headed accomplice. And
+I was left wondering what was intended.
+
+That evening Tracy left us and crossed to Boulogne, while two days
+later we went on board the morning cross-Channel steamer, where, to my
+surprise, we met Mr. and Mrs. Blumenfeld.
+
+The encounter was a most unexpected and pleasant one. The great
+financier and his wife were on their way to the Riviera, and we were
+going as far as Cannes.
+
+"I had no idea that you were going south!" laughed Rayne happily as
+Lola, warmly dressed in furs, stood on deck chatting with Mrs.
+Blumenfeld and watching the boat casting off from the quay. "It will
+be most delightful to travel together," he went on. "Lola stays in
+Paris and we go on to the Riviera. I suppose you've got your sleeping
+berths from Paris to-night?"
+
+"Yes," replied the financier, and then on comparing the numbers on the
+coupons the old man discovered that by a coincidence his berth
+adjoined the one which had been taken for myself.
+
+We travelled merrily across to Boulogne, the weather being unusually
+fine, and took our _déjeuner_ together in the _wagon-restaurant_ on
+the way to Paris. With old Blumenfeld was his faithful valet who
+looked especially after two battered old leather kitbags, a fact
+which, I noticed, did not escape Rudolph's watchful eye.
+
+Arrived at the Gare du Nord, Lola was met by an elderly Englishwoman
+whom I recollected as having been a guest at Overstow, and after
+hurried farewells drove away in a car, while we took taxis across to
+the big hotel at the Gare de Lyon. There we dined, and at half-past
+eight joined the Marseilles express upon which was a single
+_wagon-lit_.
+
+Just as I was about to enter it, Rayne took me by the arm, and walking
+along the platform out of hearing, whispered:
+
+"Vincent is here. Don't recognize him. Be alert at three o'clock. I
+may want you!"
+
+"For what?"
+
+"Wait! We've something big in progress, George. Don't ask any
+questions," he said in that blustering impelling manner which he
+assumed when he was really serious.
+
+Several times in the corridor I met the financier and his wife with
+their bony-faced valet, and, of course, I made myself polite and
+engaging to Mrs. Blumenfeld.
+
+While the express roared through its first stage to Moret, I chatted
+with Rudolph and Blumenfeld after the latter's wife had retired, and
+as we sat in the dim light of the corridor of the sleeping-car smoking
+cigarettes, all seemed absolutely normal.
+
+Suddenly from the end compartment of the car Duperré came forth. As a
+perfect stranger he apologized in French as he passed us and walked to
+the little compartment at the end of the car where he ordered a drink
+from the conductor.
+
+Hence old Mr. Blumenfeld was in ignorance that Vincent had any
+knowledge of us, or that Signorina Lacava, who was another of the
+passengers, was our friend. Yet the thin-faced valet who had brought
+up my early cup of tea when we had stayed at Bradbourne continually
+hovered about his master.
+
+Later, as the express was tearing on at increased speed, Mr.
+Blumenfeld retired to his compartment, with his wife sleeping in the
+adjoining one, and within half an hour Rayne beckoned me into his
+compartment at the farther end, where we were joined by Duperré.
+
+"I want you to be out in the corridor at three o'clock," Rayne said to
+me. "Open the window and sit by it as though you want fresh air. The
+conductor won't trouble you as he'll be put to sleep. After the train
+leaves Mâcon, Vincent will pass you something. You will watch for
+three white lights set in a row beside the railway line. Tracy will be
+down there in waiting. When you see the three lights throw out what
+Vincent gives to you. Understand?"
+
+I now saw the plot. They had knowledge that old Blumenfeld was
+travelling with a quantity of negotiable securities which he intended
+to hand to his agent at Marseilles on his way to Cannes, and they
+meant to relieve him of them!
+
+"I shall be fast asleep," Rayne went on, and turning to Duperré, he
+said: "Here's the old fellow's master-key. It opens everything."
+
+"By Jove!" whispered Vincent. "That was a clever ruse of yours to
+contrive the old man to faint and then take an impression of the key
+upon his chain."
+
+"It was the only way to get possession of it," Rayne declared with an
+evil grin. "But both of you know how to act, so I'll soon retire."
+
+And a few moments later I went out leaving both men together. The
+train roared into a long tunnel and then out again across many high
+embankments and over bridges. Rain was falling in torrents and lashed
+the windows as we sped due south on our way to Dijon. At last I knew
+the cause and motive of the old financier's fainting fit. The reason
+of our visit to Bradbourne had been in order to obtain an impression
+of the old fellow's little master-key which opened all his luggage,
+his dispatch-boxes, and even the great safes at the office in Old
+Broad Street.
+
+I hated the part I was forced to play, yet there certainly was an
+element of danger in it, and in that I delighted. Therefore I
+partially undressed, turned in, and read the newspaper, anxiously
+waiting for the hour of three and wondering in what manner Duperré
+intended to rob the victim. I hoped that no violence would be used.
+
+The minutes crept on slowly as, time after time, I glanced at my
+watch. In the compartment next to mine the millionaire was sleeping,
+all unconscious of the insidious plot. The brown-uniformed conductor
+was asleep--no doubt he had taken a drink with Duperré. Besides, the
+corridor at each end of the sleeping-saloon was closed and locked.
+
+At last, at five minutes to three, I very cautiously opened my door
+and stepped into the empty corridor. The train was again in a tunnel,
+the noise deafening and the atmosphere stifling. As soon as we were
+out in the open I noiselessly lowered the window and found that we
+were passing through a mountainous country, for every moment we passed
+over some rushing torrent or through some narrow ravine.
+
+It was already three o'clock when my nostrils were greeted with a
+pungent sickly odor of attar of roses, which seemed to be wafted along
+the corridor. It emanated, I imagined, from one of the compartments
+occupied by lady travellers.
+
+Of a sudden we ran into the big station at Mâcon, where there was a
+wait of about five minutes--for the wheels to be tested. Nobody left
+or entered. All was quite still after the roaring and rocking of the
+express.
+
+As we waited the odor of roses became much more pronounced, yet I sat
+at my post by the open window as though wanting fresh air, for the big
+sleeping-car was very stuffy, the heating apparatus being on. At last
+we moved out again, and I breathlessly waited for Duperré to hand me
+something to toss out to Tracy who was ready with the three signal
+lights beside the line.
+
+The train gathered speed quickly. We had travelled two hundred and
+seventy miles and now had only a little farther to go. With my eye
+upon the side of the track, I sat scarce daring to breathe.
+
+The ravine! We were crossing it! I glanced along the corridor. Nobody
+came in sight.
+
+Next instant I saw three white lights arranged in a row. But we
+flashed past them!
+
+For some reason, why, I knew not, the plot had failed!
+
+I dared not go to the compartment of either of my companions, so after
+sitting up a further half-hour I crept back to my sleeping-berth
+feeling very drowsy, and turning in, slept heavily.
+
+I was awakened by a loud hammering upon my door, and an excited voice
+outside calling:
+
+"Mr. Hargreave! Mr. Hargreave!"
+
+I opened it in astonishment to find the gray-headed old millionaire in
+his pajamas.
+
+"I've been robbed!" he gasped. "I can't wake the conductor. He's been
+drugged, I believe! What number is Mr. Rayne's compartment?"
+
+"Number four," I answered. "But what has been taken?" I asked.
+
+"Bonds that I was taking to my agent in Marseilles--over sixty
+thousand pounds' worth! My kitbag has been opened and the dispatch-box
+has been opened also while I've been asleep. The thief has evidently
+had the conductor's key or he couldn't have got into my compartment!
+The bonds must be still in the possession of one of the passengers,"
+he added. "Our last stop was at Mâcon and I was awake then."
+
+Together we woke up Rayne, who at once busied himself in great alarm.
+
+"Possibly the bonds have been thrown from the train to an accomplice,"
+he suggested, exchanging glances with me.
+
+"No. I'm sure they are still here--in the car. When next we stop I
+will prevent anyone leaving, and have all the passengers searched. The
+one thing that puzzles me is how the thief got to work without waking
+me, as I always place a little electric alarm on my bag when
+travelling with securities--and secondly, how did he manage to open
+both the bag and the dispatch-box it contained?"
+
+"Well," said Rayne. "Don't let us raise any alarm, but just wait till
+we get to Lyons. Then we'll see that nobody alights before we call
+the police." Then, turning to me, he said: "You'll keep one door,
+Hargreave, and I'll keep the other, while Mr. Blumenfeld gives
+information."
+
+Thus we waited. But I was sorely puzzled as to the whereabouts of the
+stolen bonds. If Duperré had taken them, how had he got rid of them?
+That he had done so was quite plain by Rayne's open attitude.
+
+Presently, in the dawn, we ran slowly into Lyons, whereupon, with
+Rayne, I mounted guard, allowing no one to leave. Two men wanted to
+descend to obtain some _café au lait_, as is customary, and were
+surprised when prevented.
+
+The commissary of police, with several plain-clothes officers, were
+quickly upon the spot, and to them Mr. Blumenfeld related his
+story--declaring that while lying awake he smelt a very strong odor of
+roses which caused him to become drowsy, and he slept. On awakening he
+saw that his dispatch-box had been rifled.
+
+When the millionaire explained who he was and the extent of his loss,
+the commissary was at once upon the alert, and ordered every passenger
+to be closely searched. In consequence, everyone was turned out and
+searched, a woman searching the female passengers, Signorina Lacava
+waxing highly indignant. Rayne, Duperré and myself were also very
+closely searched, while every nook and cranny of the compartments and
+baggage were rummaged during the transit of the train from Lyons down
+to Marseilles. The missing bonds could not be discovered, nor did any
+suspicion attach to anyone.
+
+I confess myself entirely puzzled as to what had actually occurred.
+The well-arranged plan to drop them from the train beyond Dijon had
+failed, I knew, because old Mr. Blumenfeld was still awake; but what
+alternative plan had been put into action?
+
+It was only when we arrived in Marseilles that the bewildered
+conductor, a most reliable servant of the _wagon-lit_ company,
+recovered from his lethargy and could not in the least account for his
+long heavy sleep. He had, it appeared, smelt the same pleasant perfume
+of roses as Mr. Blumenfeld. At Marseilles there was still more
+excitement and inquiry, but at last we moved off to Toulon and along
+the beautiful Côte d'Azur, with its grey-green olives and glimpses of
+sapphire sea.
+
+We were passing along by the seashore, when I ventured to slip into
+Duperré's compartment, old Blumenfeld and his wife being then in the
+luncheon-car adjoining.
+
+I inquired in a whisper what had happened.
+
+For answer he crossed to one of the windows and drew down the brown
+cloth blind used at night, when upon the inside I saw, to my
+astonishment, some bonds spread out and pinned to the fabric!
+
+He touched the spring, the blind rolled up and they disappeared
+within.
+
+Each of the four blinds in his compartment contained their valuable
+documents which, in due course, he removed and placed in his pockets
+before he stepped out upon the platform at Hyčres. He was, of course,
+an entire stranger to Rudolph and me, and we continued our journey
+with the victimized millionaire to Cannes, where we were compelled to
+remain for a week lest our abrupt return should excite anybody's
+suspicion. Meanwhile, of course, Duperré was already back in London
+with the spoils.
+
+In the whole affair Rayne, whose master-brain was responsible for the
+ingenious _coup_, remained with clean hands and ready at any moment to
+prove his own innocence.
+
+The original plan of tossing out the sixty thousand pounds' worth of
+bonds to Tracy, who was waiting with his three warning lights, failed
+because of old Blumenfeld's sleeplessness, but it was substituted by a
+far more secretive yet simple plan--one never even dreamed of by the
+astute police attached to the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway.
+It being daylight at Lyons, the blinds were up!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LITTLE LADY LYDBROOK
+
+
+From the very first I felt that, owing to my passionate love for Lola,
+I was treading upon very thin ice.
+
+As the cat's-paw of her father I was being drawn into such subtle
+devilish schemes that I felt to draw back must only bring upon my head
+the vengeance, through fear, of a man who was so entirely unscrupulous
+and so elusive that the police could never trace him.
+
+Why a few weeks later I had been sent to Biarritz with Vincent was an
+enigma I failed to solve. At any rate, at Rayne's suggestion, we had
+gone there and had stayed under assumed names at the Hôtel du Palais,
+that handsome place standing high upon the rocks with such charming
+views of the rocky headland of St. Martin and the dozen grey-green
+islets.
+
+We both lived expensively and enjoyed ourselves at the Casino and
+elsewhere, but the object of our visit was quite obscure. I knew,
+however, that Duperré was prospecting new ground, but in what
+direction I failed to discover. One day we returned to London quite
+suddenly, but he refused to disclose anything concerning the object
+of our visit, which, after all, had been for me quite an enjoyable
+holiday.
+
+About a week after our return Rayne called me into the morning-room.
+The keen grey-eyed middle-aged man was smoking a cigar and with him
+was Madame, whose cleverness as a crook was only equalled by that of
+her husband.
+
+"Well, Hargreave!" exclaimed Rayne. "I hope you had a nice time at
+Biarritz, eh? Well, I want you to go on a further little holiday down
+to Eastbourne. Drive the Rolls down to the Grand Hotel there and stay
+as a gentleman of leisure."
+
+"I'm always that nowadays," I laughed.
+
+"Stay there under the name of George Cottingham," he went on, "and
+spend rather freely, so as to give yourself a good appearance. You
+understand?"
+
+"No, I don't understand," I said. "At least, I don't understand what
+game is to be played."
+
+"You needn't, George," was his short reply. "You are paid not to
+understand, and to keep your mouth shut. So please recollect that. Now
+at the hotel," he went on, "there is staying Lady Lydbrook, wife of
+the great Sheffield ironmaster. I want you to scrape up acquaintance
+with her."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For reasons best known to myself," he snapped. "It's nice weather
+just now, and you ought to enjoy yourself at Eastbourne. It's a smart
+place for an English resort, and there's lots going on there. They
+will think you such a nice sociable young man. Besides, you will
+spend money and make pretense of being rich. And let me give you a
+valuable tip. On the first evening you arrive at the hotel call the
+valet, give him a pound note and tell him to go out and buy a pound
+bottle of eau-de-Cologne to put in your bath. There's nothing that
+gets round an hotel so quickly as wanton extravagance like that. The
+guests hear of it through the servants, and everyone is impressed by
+your wealth."
+
+I laughed. Only a man with such a brain as Rudolph Rayne could have
+thought of such a ruse to inspire confidence.
+
+Two days later I arrived at the smart south coast hotel. Though not
+the season, Eastbourne was filled by quite a fashionable crowd. The
+Grand, situated at the far end of the town towards Beachy Head, is the
+resort of wealthy Londoners. I arrived alone in the showy Rolls just
+before luncheon, when many of the visitors were seated in the cane
+chairs outside or on the glass-covered veranda.
+
+I noticed, too, that the Rolls was well scrutinized, as well as
+myself. Under my assumed name, I took one of the most expensive rooms,
+and later, in the big dining-room, the waiter pointed out to me Lady
+Lydbrook, a young, blue-eyed, fluffy-haired little lady who,
+exquisitely dressed, was seated in a corner with another young woman
+about her own age.
+
+They were chatting merrily, quite unconscious of the fact that I was
+watching them.
+
+Her companion was dark and exceedingly well dressed. I learnt from the
+waiter that Sir Owen Lydbrook was not with his wife, and that the name
+of her companion was Miss Elsie Wallis.
+
+"I fancy she's on the stage, sir," the man added confidently. "Only I
+don't know her stage name. They've been 'ere nearly a month. Sir Owen
+is in Paris, I think. They say 'e's a lot older than 'er."
+
+I realized in the cockney waiter a man who might be useful, hence I
+gave him a substantial tip when I signed the bill for my meal.
+
+Why Rayne had ordered me to contrive to make the acquaintance of the
+fluffy-haired little woman was a problem that was beyond me, save that
+I knew full well the motive was, without doubt, an evil one.
+
+It goaded me to frenzy to think that Lola should eventually be called
+upon in all her innocence to become, like myself, an unwilling agent
+in the carrying out of Rayne's subtle and insidious plots.
+
+I was his paid servant, hence against my will I was forced to obey. My
+ever-present hope was to be able one day to extricate Lola from that
+atmosphere of criminality and mystery in which she lived, that
+environment of stealthy plotting and malice aforethought.
+
+On the evening of my arrival there happened to be a dance in the
+hotel, and watching, I saw Lady Lydbrook enter the ballroom. She
+looked very charming in a dance frock of bright orange, with a wreath
+of silver leaves in her hair. Her gown was certainly the most _chic_
+of any in the room, and she wore a beautiful rope of pearls.
+
+Presently I summoned courage, and bowing, invited her to dance with
+me. She smiled with dignity and accepted. Hence we were soon
+acquaintances, for she danced beautifully, and I am told that I dance
+fairly well. After the fox-trot we sat down and chatted. I told her
+that I had only arrived that day.
+
+"I saw you," she said. "What a topping car you have! Ours is a Rolls
+but an old pattern. I'm always pressing my husband to get rid of it
+and buy a new model. But he won't. Business men are all the same. They
+tot up figures and weigh the cost of everything," and she laughed
+lightly, showing a set of pearly teeth. "They weigh up everything one
+eats and wears. I hope you're not a business man?"
+
+"No. I'm not," I replied with a smile. "If I were I might be a bit
+richer than I am."
+
+"Money! Bah!" she exclaimed as she waved the big ostrich feather that
+served her as fan. "It's all very well in its way, but some men get
+stifled with their money-bags, just as Owen is. Their wealth is so
+great that its very heaviness presses out all their good qualities and
+only leaves avarice behind."
+
+"But to have great wealth at one's command must be a source of great
+joy. Look how much good one could do!" I said philosophically.
+
+"Good! Yes," she laughed. "The rich man can be philanthropic--if he is
+not a business man, Mr. Cottingham. The latter--if he tries to do good
+to his fellow-creatures--is dubbed a fool in his business circles and
+invariably comes to grief. At least that is what Owen tells me. He's
+double my age, and he ought to know," added the charming little woman.
+
+I admitted that there was much truth in what she had said. Indeed, we
+had already grown to be such good friends that, at her invitation, the
+night being clear and moonlit, we strolled out of the hotel and along
+the promenade, half-way to the pier, and back.
+
+Her companion, Miss Wallis, I had seen in the ballroom dancing with an
+elderly man who had "the City" stamped all over him. We chatted upon
+many subjects as we strolled in the balmy moonlit night.
+
+"I expect my husband back in a day or two. He has been to Warsaw upon
+some financial business for the Government. When we leave here we go
+to Trouville for a week or so, and in the autumn I believe we go to
+America. My husband goes over each year."
+
+Then I learned from her that they had a town house in Curzon Street, a
+country place in Berkshire, and a villa at Cannes. They had, it
+appeared, only recently been married.
+
+"We generally manage to get to Cannes each winter for a month or two.
+I love the Riviera," she said. "Do you know it?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I've been there once or twice."
+
+"The Villa Jaumont is out on the road to Nice, on the left. Perhaps if
+you happen to be there this winter you will call. I shall be most
+delighted to see you."
+
+When presently we were back in the hotel and I had gone to my room, I
+realized that I had made rather good progress. I had ingratiated
+myself with her, and she had grown very confidential, inasmuch as I
+was already able to judge that she rather despised her elderly and
+parsimonious husband, and that she preferred to lead her own
+untrammelled life.
+
+But what was the real object of my mission?
+
+A few days later I received a scribbled note signed "Rudolph" to say
+that a friend of his, an Italian named Giulio Ansaldi, was arriving at
+the hotel and would meet me in strictest secrecy. I was to leave my
+bedroom door unlocked at midnight, when he would enter unannounced.
+Enclosed was half one of Duperré's visiting-cards torn across in a
+jagged manner.
+
+"Your visitor will present to you the missing half of the enclosed
+card as credential," he wrote. "If the two pieces fit, then trust him
+implicitly and act according to his instructions which he will convey
+from me."
+
+I turned over the portion of the torn visiting-card, wondering what
+fresh instructions I was to receive in such strict secrecy.
+
+I thought of Lola and wondered whether she had returned home from a
+visit she was paying in Devonshire, and whether, by her watchfulness,
+she had gained any inkling of the nature of this latest plot.
+
+Little Lady Lydbrook had now become my constant companion. Her friend,
+Elsie Wallis, had apparently become on friendly terms with a tall,
+slim, dark-haired young man who often took her out in his car, while
+on several occasions Lady Lydbrook had accepted my invitation for an
+afternoon run and tea somewhere. The one fact that I did not like was
+that a quiet, middle-aged man seemed always to be watching our
+movements, for whether we chatted together in the lounge, went out
+motoring, walking on the promenade, or dancing, he always appeared
+somewhere in the vicinity. But on the day I received Rayne's note he
+had paid his bill and left the hotel, a fact by which my mind was much
+relieved.
+
+That day I motored my pretty little friend over to Brighton, where we
+lunched at the Métropole and arrived back for tea. Her husband, she
+said, had that morning telegraphed to her from Hamburg regretting that
+he could not rejoin her at present as he was on his way to Italy.
+
+"I suppose all our plans are upset again!" she remarked with a pretty
+pout, as she sat at my side while we went carefully through the
+old-world town of Lewes. She had become just a little inquisitive
+about myself. It seemed that she enjoyed her dances with me. Indeed,
+she admitted it, but I could discern that she was a good deal puzzled
+as to my means of livelihood. I had to be very circumspect, yet for
+the life of me I could not imagine why I had been ordered to carry on
+what was, after all, a mild flirtation with a very pretty young
+married lady.
+
+I could see that the other visitors at the hotel were whispering, and
+more especially had I incurred the displeasure of a Mrs. Glenbury, an
+elderly lady of distinctly out-of-date views, who with pathetic effort
+tried to ape youth.
+
+Late in the evening after our return from Brighton, I took a long
+stroll alone along the lower promenade, close to the beach, which at
+night is very ill-lit, being below the level of the well-illuminated
+roadway. I suppose I had walked for quite a couple of miles when, on
+my return, I discerned in front of me two figures, a man and a woman.
+A ray of light from the roadway above shone on them as they passed,
+and I noticed that while the woman wore an ordinary dark cloth coat,
+the man was in tweeds and a golf cap.
+
+An altercation had arisen between them.
+
+"All right," he cried. "You won't live here very much longer--I'll see
+to that! You've tried to do me down, and very nearly succeeded. And
+now you refuse to give me even a fiver!"
+
+Those words aroused my curiosity. I held back; for my feet fell
+noiselessly because of my rubber heels. I strained my ears to catch
+their further conversation.
+
+"I've never refused you, Arthur!" replied the woman's voice.
+
+I held my breath. The voice was Lady Lydbrook's. I could recognize it
+anywhere!
+
+I watched. The young man's attitude was certainly threatening.
+
+"I don't intend now that you'll get off lightly. You'll have to pay me
+not a fiver but fifty pounds to-night. So go back to the hotel and
+bring me out a cheque. I'll wait at the Wish Tower. But mind it isn't
+a dud one. If it is, then, by gad! I'll tell them right away. And
+won't the fur fly then, eh?"
+
+He spoke in a refined voice, though his appearance was that of a
+loafer.
+
+His companion was evidently in fear. She tried to argue, to cajole,
+and to appear defiant, but all was useless. He only laughed
+triumphantly at her as they walked along the deserted promenade in the
+direction of the hotel.
+
+Suddenly they halted. I held back at once. They conversed in lower
+tones--intense words that I could not catch. But it seemed to me that
+the frail little woman who was so often my companion was cowed and
+terrified. Why? What did she fear?
+
+She left him, while he drew back into the shadow. I waited also in the
+shadow for nearly ten minutes, then I passed on, ascended some steps
+and reëntered the hotel. In the lounge I sank into a seat in a hidden
+corner and lit a cigarette. Presently I heard the swish of a woman's
+skirt behind me, and rising, peered out. It was Lady Lydbrook on her
+way out. She was carrying the cheque to the mysterious stranger!
+
+Alone in my room that night I threw myself into a chair and pondered
+deeply. I had learned that Lady Lydbrook was under the influence of
+that ill-dressed man who spoke so well, and whom I at first took to be
+an undergraduate or perhaps a hospital student.
+
+It was a point to report to Rayne. Somehow I felt a rising antagonism
+towards the young man who had successfully extracted fifty pounds from
+my dainty little companion who was so passionately fond of jewels and
+who frequently wore some exquisite rings and pendants. What hold could
+the fellow have upon her?
+
+Next morning she appeared bright and radiant at breakfast--which, of
+course, she took with her rather retiring friend Elsie Wallis--and I
+smiled across at her. She was, after all, a bright up-to-date little
+married woman possessed of great wealth and influence, her whole life
+being devoted to self-enjoyment at the expense of her elderly and
+despised husband. She was a typical girl of society who had married an
+old man for his money and afterwards sought younger male society. We
+have them to-day in hundreds on every side.
+
+After breakfast we went together along the sea-front where the band
+was playing. The weather was glorious and Eastbourne looked at its
+best.
+
+I now regarded her as a mystery after what I had witnessed on the
+previous night.
+
+"I'm horribly bored here!" she declared to me, as in her white summer
+gown she strolled by my side towards the town. "Owen is not coming, so
+I think I shall soon get away somewhere."
+
+"What about your friend Elsie?" I asked, wondering whether her
+decision had any connection with the unwelcome arrival of that
+mysterious young man in tweeds.
+
+"Oh, she's going back to London to-day--so I shall be horribly
+lonely," she replied.
+
+I recollected her nervousness and apprehension before she had paid the
+man who had undoubtedly blackmailed her, and became more than ever
+puzzled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CAT'S TOOTH
+
+
+That night I went to my room at about ten minutes before midnight, and
+waited for the appearance of my secret visitor.
+
+Just as midnight struck the handle of the door slowly turned and a
+well-dressed, dark-mustached man of about thirty-five entered silently
+and bowed.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave?" he asked with a foreign accent. "Or is it
+Cottingham?"
+
+"Which you please," I replied in a low voice, laughing.
+
+"I have this to hand to you," he said as he produced the portion of
+the visiting-card which I found fitted exactly to that which I had
+received from Rayne.
+
+"Well?" I asked, inviting him to a chair and afterwards turning the
+key in the door. "What message have you for me?" Then I noticed for
+the first time that he bore in his hand a small brown leather
+attaché-case.
+
+"I know you well by name, Mr. Hargreave," he said. "You are one of us,
+I know. Therefore 'The Golden Face' sends you a message."
+
+"Have you seen him?" I asked.
+
+"No," was his reply. "Though we have been in association for several
+years, I always receive messages through Vincent Duperré."
+
+I knew that only too well. Rudolph Rayne took the most elaborate
+precautions to preserve a clean pair of hands himself, no matter what
+dirty work he planned to be carried out by others.
+
+"Duperré saw me in London yesterday, gave me that piece of card, and
+told me to come here and explain matters," the Italian went on in a
+low voice. "You see this case. I am to hand it to you," and as he took
+it, he touched the bottom, which I saw was hinged and fell inwards in
+two pieces, both of which sprang back again into their places by means
+of strong springs. My small collar-box stood upon the dressing-table.
+
+"You see how it works," he said, and placing the attaché-case over the
+collar-box, he snatched it up and the collar-box had disappeared
+inside! It was an old invention of thieves and possessed no
+originality. I wondered that Rayne's friends employed such a
+contrivance, which, of course, was useful when it became necessary
+that valuable objects should disappear.
+
+"Well, and what of it?" I asked, as, opening the case, he took out my
+collar-box and replaced it upon the table.
+
+"I am told that you are on very friendly terms with Lady Lydbrook. Our
+friend old Hesketh has been here and watched your progress--a
+grey-mustached man with a slight limp. I dare say you may have noticed
+him."
+
+I recollected the silent watcher who I had feared might be a
+detective, and who had recently left the hotel. So Rayne had set
+secret watch upon my movements--a fact which irritated me.
+
+"Yes. I know Sir Owen's wife," I said. "Why?"
+
+"Possibly you don't know that she has in a small dark-green morocco
+case a rope of pearls worth twenty thousand, as well as some other
+magnificent jewels. Haven't you seen her wearing her pearls?"
+
+"I have," I said, "but I put them down as artificial ones."
+
+"No--every one of them is real! They were a present to her from her
+husband on her marriage," said the foreigner, his dark eyes glowing as
+he spoke. "We want them," he whispered eagerly. "And as you know her,
+you'll have to get them."
+
+"I shall do no such thing!" I protested quickly. "I may be employed by
+Mr. Rayne, but I'm not paid to commit a theft."
+
+My visitor looked me very straight in the face with his searching
+eyes, and after a moment's pause, asked:
+
+"Is that really your decision? Am I to report that to Duperré--that
+you refuse?"
+
+"If you want to steal the woman's pearls why don't you do it
+yourself?" I suggested.
+
+"Because I am not her friend. You have called at her room for her,
+Hesketh has reported. You would not be suspected, being her friend,"
+he added with sly persuasiveness.
+
+"No. Tell them I refuse!" I cried, furious that such a proposition
+should be put to me.
+
+The foreigner, in whom I now recognized a polished international
+crook, shrugged his shoulders and elevated his eyebrows. Then he
+asked:
+
+"Will you not reconsider your decision, Signor Hargreave? I fear this
+refusal will mean a great deal to you. When 'The Golden Face' becomes
+hostile he always manages to put those who disobey him into the hands
+of the police. And I have knowledge that he intends you to act in this
+case as he directs, or--well, I fear that some unpleasantness will
+arise for you!"
+
+"What do you threaten?" I demanded angrily. "I don't know who you
+are--and I don't care! One fact is plain, that you, like myself, are
+an agent of the man of abnormal brain known as 'The Golden Face,' but
+I tell you I refuse to become a jewel-thief."
+
+"Very well, if that is your irrevocable decision I will return
+to-morrow and report," he answered in very good English, though he was
+typically Italian. "But I warn you that mischief is meant if you do
+not obey. Duperré told me so. Like myself you are paid to act as
+directed and to keep a silent tongue. Only six months ago Jean Durand,
+in Paris, refused to obey a demand, and to-day he is in the convict
+prison in Toulon serving a sentence of seven years. He attempted to
+reveal facts concerning 'The Golden Face,' but the judge at the Seine
+Assizes ridiculed the idea of our head director living respected and
+unsuspected in England. You may believe yourself safe and able to
+adopt a defiant attitude, but I, for one, can tell you that such a
+policy can only bring upon you dire misfortune. Once one becomes a
+servant of 'The Golden Face' one remains so always, extremely well
+paid and highly prosperous providing one is alert and shrewd, but
+ruined and imprisoned if one either makes a slip or grows defiant. I
+hope you will understand me, signor. I have been given a master-key to
+the hotel. It will open Lady Lydbrook's door. Here it is."
+
+"But I really cannot accede to this!" I declared. "Though I have
+fallen into a clever trap and have assisted in certain schemes, yet I
+have never acted as the actual thief."
+
+"'The Golden Face,' whose marvelous activity and influence we must
+all admire, has decided that you must do so in this case," he said
+inexorably.
+
+I craved time to consider the matter, and after some further
+conversation told him I would meet him near the bandstand on the
+sea-front at noon next day, for we did not want to be associated in
+the hotel.
+
+That night I slept but little, for I realized that if I refused I must
+assuredly be cast into the melting-pot as one who might, in return,
+give Rayne away. I thought of Lola with whom I was so madly in love,
+and whom I intended to eventually rescue from the criminal atmosphere
+in which, though innocent, she was compelled to live.
+
+I hated to take such a downward step, though the innocent-looking
+little attaché-case with the steel grips and spring bottom was there
+by my bedside ready for use. I was torn between the path of honesty
+from which, alas! I had been slowly slipping ever since I had made
+that accursed compact with Rudolph Rayne, and my love for Lola, who
+had, I knew, every confidence in me, while at the same time she was
+growing highly suspicious of her father.
+
+The reader will readily realize my feelings that night. I had taken a
+false step, and to withdraw would mean arrest, conviction and
+imprisonment, notwithstanding any disclosures I might make. Rudolph
+Rayne remained always with clean hands, the rich country gentleman and
+personal friend of certain Justices of the Peace, officials, and
+others, with whom he played golf and invited to his shooting parties
+on the Yorkshire moors which he rented with money stolen in divers
+ways and in various cities.
+
+So, to cut a long story short, I met the mysterious Italian crook next
+day--and I fell, for I took the master-key and agreed to attempt the
+theft of Lady Lydbrook's pearls!
+
+I now saw through Rayne's devilish plot. I was to be used still
+further as his cat's-paw, and he had planned that because of my
+friendship with the pretty young woman, at his orders I was to steal
+her property.
+
+I felt myself alone and in a cleft stick. That afternoon, as I sat at
+tea in the lounge with the woman whose jewels I was ordered to steal,
+I was torn by a thousand emotions, yet I pretended to be my usual
+self, and at my invitation she went out for a motor run between tea
+and dinner.
+
+Though I laughed at my foolishness, I somehow suspected that she now
+viewed me with distinct misgiving. It now became necessary for me to
+prospect for the little morocco case in which I knew she kept her
+pearls. Therefore I at last summoned courage, and one evening, just
+before half-past seven, while she was dressing for dinner, I knocked
+and made excuse to ask her if she would go to the theater with me.
+
+"Do come in," she cried, for she was already dressed in a bright
+sapphire-colored gown which greatly heightened her beauty. As she
+admitted me, I saw the little jewel-case standing upon a tiny
+side-table near the window. She was not wearing her beautiful rope of
+pearls, therefore they were, without a doubt, safe in the case.
+
+She thanked me and accepted, so I quickly went downstairs and told the
+hall porter to telephone for two stalls.
+
+That night, on arrival back at the hotel, it occurred to me that if
+the little jewel-case had been left where it was my chance had now
+arrived. I was being forced against my will to become a thief. Rayne,
+the man who held me in his grip, had driven me to it and had placed
+the means at my disposal. To refuse would mean arrest and the loss of
+Lola.
+
+We sat down in the lounge and I called for drinks--she was thirsty and
+would like a lemon squash, she said. Before the waiter brought them, I
+made leisurely excuse to go to the bureau to see if there were any
+letters. Instead, I rushed up to my own room, obtained the "trick"
+attaché-case, and carrying it along to Lady Lydbrook's room,
+stealthily opened the door with the master-key which Ansaldi had given
+me.
+
+All was dark within. I switched on the light, when, before me, upon
+the little table, I saw the small green jewel-box.
+
+In an instant I placed the attaché-case over it and next second it had
+disappeared.
+
+But as I did so, I heard a movement behind me, and, on turning, to my
+breathless horror saw, standing before me, the pretty, fair-haired
+young woman whom I had robbed!
+
+"Well, Mr. Cottingham--or whatever your name is," she exclaimed in a
+hard, altered voice as, closing the door behind her, she advanced to
+me with a fierce light in her eyes. "And what are you doing here,
+pray?"
+
+Then, glancing at the table and noticing her jewel-case missing, she
+added:
+
+"I see! You have scraped acquaintance with me in order to steal my
+jewels. You have them in that case in your hand!"
+
+I stammered something. What it was I have no recollection. I only know
+that my words infuriated her, and she dashed out into the corridor to
+raise the alarm, leaving me in possession of the trick bag with the
+jewel-case inside.
+
+I dashed after her, seizing her roughly by the waist as she ran down
+the corridor.
+
+"Listen!" I whispered fiercely into her ear. "Listen one moment. You
+surely won't give me away? Listen to what I have to tell you.
+Do--I--implore you," I said. "I am no thief! I will tell you
+everything--and ask your advice. No harm has been done. Your pearls
+are here."
+
+"Yes," she said, turning back upon me. "But you--the man I liked and
+trusted--are a common thief!"
+
+"I admit it," I said hoarsely as I dragged her back to her room, her
+dress being torn in the struggle. "I have been forced against my will
+into robbing you, as I will explain."
+
+Back in her bedroom she assumed a very serious attitude. She invited
+me to sit down, after I had handed back her jewel-case, and then, also
+seating herself in an arm-chair, she said in determination:
+
+"Now look here, George Hargreave ... you see, I know your real name. I
+know your game. By a word I can have you arrested, while, on the other
+hand, my silence would give you your liberty."
+
+"You will remain silent, Lady Lydbrook--I beg of you! I know that I
+have committed an unpardonable crime for which there is no excuse." I
+thought of that strange midnight scene I had witnessed and it was on
+the tip of my tongue to mention it. But would it further infuriate
+her? So I refrained from alluding to it.
+
+Her attitude towards me had completely altered. She was hard-mouthed
+and indignant, which, after all, was but natural.
+
+"My whole future is in your hands," I added.
+
+She still hesitated. A word from her and not only would I be arrested,
+but Rayne would probably be exposed and arrested also. She seemed, I
+feared, to be aware of the whole organization, hence she was one of
+the last persons who should have been marked down as a victim. Rayne
+had evidently committed a fatal error.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "I am open to remain silent, and the matter
+shall never be mentioned between us--but on one condition."
+
+"And what is that?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"I am in want of someone to help me. Will you do so?"
+
+"I will do anything to serve you if you give me my liberty," I said,
+much ashamed.
+
+"Very well, then. Listen," she said in a hard, strained voice. "If you
+resolve, in return for my silence, to assist me, you will be compelled
+to act at my orders without seeking for any motive, but in blind
+obedience."
+
+"I quite understand," I replied. "I agree."
+
+No doubt she desired me to act against her enemy--the young fellow who
+had extracted fifty pounds from her by threat.
+
+"You must say nothing to a soul but meet me in secret in Paris. Stay
+at the Hôtel Continental where I shall stay on the night of the
+twenty-fourth. That is next Wednesday. At ten o'clock I shall be on
+the terrace of the Café Vachette in the Boulevard St. Michel. Remember
+the day and hour, and meet me there. Then I will tell you what service
+I require of you. I shall leave here to-morrow, and I suppose you will
+leave also." And she opened her jewel-case to reassure herself that
+her pearls and other ornaments were safe.
+
+So she forgave me, shook my hand, and I went out of the room with the
+cold perspiration still upon me.
+
+I made no report of my failure to Rayne, but on the following
+Wednesday night, after taking a room at the Continental, in Paris, an
+hotel which I knew well, I crossed the Seine at about half-past nine,
+and at ten o'clock sauntered up the boulevard to the popular, and
+rather Bohemian, Café Vachette, where at a little table in the corner,
+set well back from the pavement, I found her seated alone. She was
+wearing the same dark cloth coat in which I had seen her when she met
+the mysterious stranger at night at Eastbourne.
+
+"Well? So you've kept the appointment, Mr. Cottingham!" she laughed
+cheerily as I sank into a chair beside her. "You'll order a drink and
+pay for mine, eh?" she laughed.
+
+Then when I had swallowed my liqueur, she suggested that we should
+stroll down the boulevard and talk.
+
+This we did. The proposition which she made without much preliminary
+held me aghast.
+
+"Though I like you very much, Mr. Cottingham," she said as we
+conversed in low voices, "I cannot conceal from myself that you are a
+thief. Well, now to be perfectly frank, I want a thief's help--and I
+know that, as we are friends, you will assist me. You know my
+inordinate love of jewels. Indeed, I wouldn't have married Owen if he
+had not given me my pearls. And you know the other ornaments I
+have--which I might very well never have seen again, eh?"
+
+"I know," I said.
+
+"Well, now, at the Continental there is at the present moment staying
+a Madame Rodanet, the widow of the millionaire chocolate manufacturer.
+She possesses among her jewels the famous Dent du Chat--the Cat's
+Tooth Ruby. It is called so because it is a perfect stone and
+curiously pointed, the only one of its kind in the world. I want it,
+and you must get it for me--as the price of my silence regarding the
+affair at Eastbourne."
+
+I held my breath.
+
+Her suggestion appalled me. I was to commit a second theft as the
+price of the first! The pretty wife of the great Sheffield ironmaster
+was a thief herself at heart! Truly, the situation was a strange and
+bewildering one.
+
+I protested, and pointed out the risk and difficulties, but she met
+all my arguments with remarkable cleverness.
+
+"I know Madame," she said. "I will make your path smooth for you, and
+I myself will spirit the jewel out of France so that no possible
+suspicion can attach to you," was her reply. "Will you leave it all to
+me?"
+
+We walked on down the well-lit boulevard, my brain a-whirl, until at
+last, pressed hard by her, I consented to act as she directed.
+
+I found, in the course of the next three days, that Lady Lydbrook's
+whole life was centered upon the possession of jewels of great value,
+and I was amazed to discover how very cleverly she plotted the coup
+which I was to carry out.
+
+One evening, after dinner, she introduced me casually to the rich
+widow, an ugly overdressed old woman who was wearing as a pendant the
+famous Dent du Chat. It was, to say the least, a wonderful gem. But I
+passed as a person of no importance.
+
+Next night with Lady Lydbrook's help I was, however, able to get into
+the old woman's bedroom and carry out my contract for the preservation
+of silence concerning the affair at Eastbourne.
+
+I shall always recollect the moment when I slipped the pendant into
+Lady Lydbrook's soft hand as she stood in _déshabille_ at the
+half-opened door of her bedroom and her quick whispered words:
+
+"I shall be away by the first train. Stay here to-morrow and cross to
+London the next day. _Au revoir!_ Let us meet again soon!" And she
+gripped my hand warmly in hers and closed her door noiselessly.
+
+Ah! A week later I learned how, by Rayne's devilish cunning, I had
+been tricked. When I knew the truth, I bit my lips to the blood.
+
+The widow Rodanet had, it appeared, been staying at the Palais, in
+Biarritz, when Duperré and I had been there. She had been marked down
+by Rayne as a victim, for the Dent du Chat was a stone of enormous
+value.
+
+The planned robbery had, however, gone wrong and we had been compelled
+to return to London. Then Rayne had conceived the sinister idea of
+sending me to Lady Lydbrook--who was not Sir Owen's wife at all but
+one of his agents like myself, and whose real name was Betty
+Tressider--a girl-thief whose chief possession was a rope of imitation
+pearls.
+
+I, alas! dropped into the trap, whereupon she, on her part, compelled
+me to steal old Madame Rodanet's wonderful ruby; and thus, though I
+confess it to my shame, I became an actual thief and one of Rudolph
+Rayne's active agents. What happened to me further I will now tell
+you.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LOLA IS AGAIN SUSPICIOUS
+
+
+The devilish cunning of Rudolph Rayne was indeed well illustrated by
+the clever trap which he had set for me by the instrumentality of that
+pretty woman-thief, Betty Tressider, who called herself Lady Lydbrook.
+
+I now realized by Rayne's overbearing attitude that he had, by a ruse,
+succeeded in his object in compelling me to become an active
+accomplice of the gang.
+
+When back again once more in Yorkshire, I was delighted to find that
+Lola had returned from her visit to Devonshire. She was just as sweet
+and charming as ever, but just a trifle too inquisitive regarding my
+visits to Eastbourne and Paris. I was much ashamed of the theft I had
+been forced to commit in order to preserve secrecy regarding my first
+downfall, hence rather awkwardly, I fear, I evaded all her questions.
+
+Nevertheless, we were a great deal in each other's company, and had
+many confidential chats. I loved her, yet somehow I could not be frank
+and open. How could I without revealing the secret of her father?
+
+One spring afternoon we had been playing tennis and were sitting
+together in the pretty arbor at the end of the well-kept lawn, both
+smoking cigarettes after a strenuous game, when suddenly she turned to
+me, saying:
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Hargreave, I don't like the look of things at all!
+Mr. Duperré is not playing a straight game--of that I'm sure!"
+
+"Oh--why?" I asked with affected ignorance.
+
+"I have again overheard something. Yesterday I was just going into the
+morning-room, the door of which stood ajar, when I heard father
+warning Duperré of something--I couldn't quite catch what it was. Only
+he said that he didn't approve of such drastic measures, and that 'the
+old man might lose his life.' To that Duperré replied: 'And if he did,
+nobody would be any wiser.' What can it mean?"
+
+"I fear I am just as ignorant as yourself," I replied, looking the
+arch-crook's pretty daughter full in the face.
+
+"Well," she said, "I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave. I have only
+you in whom I can confide."
+
+"Yes," I assured her, bending across to her. "You can trust me
+implicitly. I, too, am just as puzzled as yourself."
+
+"I know they have some business schemes together, Madame has often
+told me so," went on the girl. "But while I was away at Keswick I
+purposely got into conversation with an old gentleman named Lloyd at
+Madame's suggestion, as she told me our acquaintanceship would be
+useful to some business scheme of Vincent's. It appears that he wanted
+to become acquainted with Mr. Lloyd."
+
+"And you acted upon her suggestion?" I asked, horrified that she was
+becoming the decoy of that circle of super-crooks.
+
+"Yes, though it was against my will," was her reply. "I contrived to
+allow him to have an opportunity to chat with me, and I afterwards
+introduced Madame as my companion."
+
+"And what followed?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Oh, he was very often with us, and took us for rides in his car all
+through the Lakes. The hotel was full of smart people, and I think
+they envied us."
+
+I was silent for a moment.
+
+"Have you any idea who Mr. Lloyd may be?" I asked.
+
+"No, except that Madame told me that he is immensely rich. A few days
+later father came over to Keswick and stayed a few days and met him.
+But the whole affair was most mysterious. I can't make it out,"
+declared the girl. "Mr. Duperré never met him after all."
+
+"We must remain patient and watch," I urged.
+
+This we did, and very soon there came a strange development of that
+carefully planned introduction.
+
+One day, on entering Rayne's study, I found him in conversation with a
+tall, dark, fashionably dressed foreign woman--Spanish, I believed her
+to be. As I went in unexpectedly she seemed to have risen and assumed
+a fierce defiant attitude, while he, seated at his writing-table, was
+smoking one of his favorite expensive cigars and contemplating her
+with amusement.
+
+"My dear Madame," he said, laughing, "pray sit down and let us discuss
+the matter coolly. I do not wish you to act in any way to jeopardize
+yourself. I have made certain plans; it is for you and your friends to
+carry them out. And I know how clever is your friend Louis Larroca. So
+there is no need for apprehension. Besides, if you trust me, as you
+have done hitherto, you will find the whole affair works quite
+easily--and without the least risk to yourselves."
+
+Next second he realized that I had entered, and turning to me, said
+quite quietly:
+
+"I'm engaged just now, Hargreave."
+
+So I was forced to withdraw, full of wonder as to the nature of the
+latest conspiracy.
+
+I found that a hired car from a garage at Thirsk was awaiting the
+lady, who, I learned from the young footman, had given her name as
+Madame Martoz.
+
+A quarter of an hour later she drove away without, so far as I could
+discern, having seen either Duperré or his wife.
+
+Next day Rayne, whom I drove into York in the new two-seater Vauxhall,
+told me as we went along that he was having a small house-party on the
+following Thursday.
+
+"Just a few personal friends," he added.
+
+I smiled within myself, for I knew the character of the personal
+friends of "The Golden Face."
+
+Yet to my surprise, when Thursday came I found assembled half a dozen
+perfectly honest and respectable men and their wives, and in some
+cases their daughters. One was a London barrister, another a
+well-known member of Parliament, a third a rich Leeds manufacturer,
+while the others were more or less well known, and certainly all of
+the highest respectability. When Rayne gave a house-party he always
+did the thing well, and the days passed in a round of well-ordered
+enjoyment, motoring, golf, tennis and visits to neighbors to the full
+delight of everyone. In the evening there were dancing and billiards,
+Duperré being the life and soul of the smart party.
+
+On the fourth day, about twelve o'clock, Lola, who had made friends
+with Enid Claverton, the barrister's daughter, who was about the same
+age as herself, came to me in the garage, and said:
+
+"Mr. Lloyd, whom we met at Keswick, has just arrived. He's come on a
+visit. Father told me nothing about it. Did he tell you?"
+
+"Not a word," I replied, wondering why the person in question had been
+enticed into the spider's parlor. No doubt the highly respectable
+house-party had been invited to form a suitable setting for some
+secret villainy.
+
+I met the new guest just before luncheon and found him a
+white-bearded, bald-headed, fresh-complexioned and rather dapper
+little man, whose merry eyes and easy-going manner marked him as a
+_bon vivant_ and something after Rayne's own style.
+
+He greeted me when in the big hall with its long armorial windows, its
+old family portraits, and the many trophies of the chase that had been
+secured by the noble family who were previous owners of the Hall.
+Rayne introduced me as his secretary.
+
+I looked into the smartly dressed old fellow's blue eyes and wondered
+what foul plot against him had emanated from the abnormal brain of the
+arch-criminal who was his host. I smiled when I reflected on the
+horror of those guests did they but know who Rudolph Rayne really was.
+But in their ignorance they enjoyed his unbounded hospitality and
+voted him a real good sort--as outwardly he was.
+
+My time was occupied mostly in driving the Rolls, but when at home I
+watched narrowly yet was utterly unable to discern why the friendship
+of Mr. Gordon Lloyd, whose profession or status I failed to discover,
+had been so cleverly secured and carefully cultivated until he had now
+become a welcome guest under Rayne's roof.
+
+There was a sinister design somewhere, but in what direction? Rudolph
+Rayne never lifted a finger or smiled upon a stranger without some
+evil intent by which to enrich himself. Usurers in the City have
+always been clever people backed by capital, but this super-crook had,
+I learned, risen in a few years from a small bookmaker in Balham to
+control the biggest combine of Thiefdom ever known in the annals of
+our time.
+
+One day I drove Mr. Lloyd with Lola and a Mrs. Charlesworth, one of
+the guests, into Ripon to see the cathedral. We had inspected the fine
+transepts, the choir and the famous Saxon crypt--of which there is
+only one other in England--and had gone to the old Unicorn to tea.
+
+We had sat down when, chancing to glance around, I saw, to my
+surprise, seated in a corner alone, the handsome Madame Martoz, who
+had had that confidential interview with Lola's father some days
+before. Our recognition was mutual, I saw, for she lowered her dark
+eyes and busied herself with the teapot before her. Yet I noticed that
+with covert glances she was still regarding us with some curiosity.
+
+Ten minutes later a tall, swarthy-faced man with well-trimmed black
+mustache, a typical Spaniard, lounged in and sat at her table, while
+she gave him tea. Mr. Lloyd, Lola and Mrs. Charlesworth were busily
+chatting, but I noted that the Spanish woman whispered some words to
+her companion which caused him to glance in our direction. Afterwards
+they both rose and went out.
+
+Later, when we had finished our tea, I went to the office in order to
+pay--for on such excursions I always paid on Rayne's behalf--and when
+doing so, I asked casually:
+
+"Have you a Spanish gentleman staying here--a Mr. Larroca?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the rather stout, pleasant bookkeeper. "We have a
+Mr. Bellido, a Spanish gentleman. He's just gone out with Madame
+Calleja, who is also Spanish, though they both speak English well."
+
+I thanked her and rejoined my party. At least I had ascertained the
+names under which they were known, for Larroca was no doubt the real
+name of Bellido.
+
+What mischief was intended? It was evident that we had been purposely
+sent by Rayne to that hotel in Ripon in order that Madame and her
+accomplice should see us, so that we could be identified again.
+Certainly it was unnecessary for them to see Lola, Mrs. Charlesworth
+or myself. We had, I felt convinced, made that excursion in order that
+old Mr. Lloyd should be seen and known to the mysterious pair.
+
+Two days afterwards our guests dispersed, but Mr. Lloyd, pressed by
+Madame Duperré, remained behind.
+
+To me he seemed one of those wealthy, rather faddy men whom one
+encounters sometimes in the best hotels, men who move up and down the
+country aimlessly during the spring and summer and in winter go abroad
+for a few months; men with piles of well-battered and be-labelled
+baggage whose home is always in hotels and whose chief object in life
+is to dress in the fashion of the younger generation, to be seen
+everywhere, to give cosy little luncheon and dinner-parties, and be
+the "fairy" uncle of any pretty girl they may come across.
+
+We have lots of such in England to-day. Ask the _chef-de-réception_ of
+any of our smartest hotels, and they will reel off the names of half a
+dozen or so elderly bachelors, widowers or wife-quarrelers with huge
+incomes who prefer to pass along the line of least resistance in
+domesticity--the private suite in an up-to-date hotel.
+
+Mr. Gordon Lloyd was one of such, and it seemed that Rudolph Rayne,
+who now treated me with the greatest intimacy because he saw that he
+had drawn me so completely into his net, had become his dearest
+friend.
+
+On the night when the last guest had departed I sat with the pair over
+the port, after Lola and Madame had left the dinner-table.
+
+"Really," said the merry old gentleman with his glass of '74 poised in
+his hand, "I don't know whether I shall go back to Colwyn Bay again
+this winter--or go abroad. I've no ties, and I'm getting fed up. I
+haven't been abroad since the war."
+
+"Go abroad, my dear fellow," said Rayne. "The change would certainly
+do you good--go somewhere in the south. The Riviera is played out. Why
+not go to Sicily?"
+
+"I've been there," replied old Mr. Lloyd as he sipped his glass of
+fine wine.
+
+"Then why not try Italy? Glorious bright weather all through our foggy
+season--Rome or Florence, for instance?"
+
+"No, I hate Italy."
+
+"Spain, then? Good hotels in Madrid and Barcelona. In Madrid there is
+a small circle of English society, good opera, and lots of interesting
+places to visit by motor," Rayne suggested, for, as a rapid traveler
+all over Europe, he knew every Continental city of importance.
+
+The old man was rather struck by the latter suggestion.
+
+"I certainly am rather tired of Bournemouth and Colwyn Bay and Hove in
+winter," he admitted. "I've never been to Madrid."
+
+"Then go, my dear fellow. Go by all means. The journey is quite easy.
+Just the train by day to Paris, and then by sleeping-car on the Sud
+Express right through to Madrid."
+
+"Yes. But it's an awful trouble," replied the rich old man.
+
+"No trouble at all!" laughed Rayne as he pulled at his cigar. "I don't
+like to see you in this rut of hotels. It's bad for you! It only leads
+to drinks in the bar till late and bad headaches in the morning. You
+must buck up and get out of it."
+
+"Well, I'll see," replied the old fellow, and then we all three rose
+and rejoined the ladies.
+
+Oh, what a farce the whole thing was! I longed--I yearned to yell my
+disclosures against the man who like an octopus had now placed his
+tentacles around me. But I saw that it was futile to kick against the
+pricks. I had only to wait and to watch.
+
+For a whole week things proceeded in good, well-ordered regularity.
+Mr. Lloyd was our guest and everyone made themselves pleasant towards
+him. Lola, with whom I had frequent chats in secret, had somehow
+become disarmed. She no longer suspected her father of any sinister
+intent, the reason being that he had taken the old man as his dearest
+and most intimate confidant.
+
+One night after I had beaten old Mr. Lloyd at billiards and he had
+gone to bed, I passed by the door of the library and saw a streak of
+light beneath the door.
+
+Therefore, believing that the electric light had been inadvertently
+left on, I opened the door, when I had a great surprise.
+
+Rayne was seated in an arm-chair chatting with Madame Martoz, while on
+a settee near the window sat Madame Duperré.
+
+All three started up as I entered, but a word of apology instantly
+rose to my lips, and Rayne said: "That's all right, Hargreave. Indeed,
+I wanted to talk to you. Look here," he went on, "I want you to go to
+Madrid after old Mr. Lloyd goes there, as no doubt he will. You'll
+stay at the Ritz in the Plaza de Canovas, and ask no questions. I'll
+send you instructions--or perhaps Duperré may be with you."
+
+"When?" I asked in surprise, as it appeared that the rich old
+gentleman had, after all, arranged to go to Spain.
+
+"In ten days or so. When I tell you. Till then, don't worry, my dear
+boy. When I make plans you know that you have only to act."
+
+"To the detriment of our unsuspecting guest, eh?" I remarked in a low
+bitter voice.
+
+"That is not polite, George," he said sharply. "You are our paid
+servant, and such a remark does not befit you."
+
+"Whether it does or not, Mr. Rayne, I repeat it," I said defiantly. "I
+am not blind to your subtle machinations by which I have become your
+accomplice."
+
+He laughed triumphantly in my face.
+
+"You are paid--and well paid for it all. Why should you resent? Are
+you an idiot?"
+
+"I certainly refuse to be your tool!" I cried furiously.
+
+"You have thrown in your lot with me as one who ventures constantly in
+big things just as any man who operates on the Stock Exchange. It is
+good sport. You, George, are a sportsman, as I am. And from one sport
+we both derive a good deal of fun."
+
+"And the victim of our fun, as you term it, is to be old Mr. Lloyd!" I
+remarked, looking him straight in his face.
+
+But he only laughed, and said:
+
+"Don't be a fool. You are a most excellent fellow, Hargreave, except
+when you get these little fits of squeamishness."
+
+It was on the tip of my tongue to roundly refuse to have anything
+further to do with him and leave the house, but I knew, alas! that now
+I had stolen the famous ruby in Paris he would have no compunction in
+giving me over to the police.
+
+And if I, in turn, gave information against him, what could I really
+prove? Practically nothing! Rayne was always clever enough to preserve
+himself from any possibility of suspicion. It was that fact which
+marked him as the most amazing and ingenious crook.
+
+So I was forced to remain silent, and a few minutes later left the
+room.
+
+On the following Friday Mr. Lloyd left us. Rayne bade him a regretful
+farewell, after making him promise to return to us for a fortnight
+when he got back from Spain.
+
+"Probably my secretary, Hargreave, will have to go to Madrid upon
+business for me. I have some interest in a tramway company at
+Salamanca. So you may possibly meet."
+
+"I hope we do, Mr. Hargreave," said the old gentleman, turning to me
+warmly. "I shall certainly take your advice and try Madrid for a few
+weeks."
+
+"Yes, do. You'll like it, I'm sure," his host assured him, and then we
+drove away.
+
+"When are you going to Spain?" Mr. Lloyd asked me as he sat at my side
+on our way to Thirsk station.
+
+"I really don't know," was my evasive reply. "Mr. Rayne has not yet
+fixed the date."
+
+"Well, here's my address," he said, handing me a card with his name
+and "Reform Club" on it. "I wish you'd write me when your journey is
+fixed and perhaps we might travel together. I'd be most delighted to
+have you as my companion on the journey."
+
+I took the card, thanked him, and promised that I would let him know
+the date of my departure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE PAINTED ENVELOPE
+
+
+On my return I told Rayne of the old man's invitation, whereat he
+rubbed his hands in warm approval.
+
+"Excellent!" he cried. "You must travel with him and keep an eye upon
+him--just to see that nobody--well, that nobody molests the poor old
+fellow," he laughed grimly.
+
+I saw his meaning, but I was in no way anxious to become the traveling
+companion of a man who had, without doubt, been marked down as the
+next victim.
+
+A fact that aroused my curiosity was that all the time Mr. Lloyd had
+been with us Duperré had been absent--in Brussels, I believe. His
+identity was evidently being concealed with some distinctly malicious
+purpose.
+
+I waited with curiosity. Next day Lola, who with her woman's intuition
+had scented that something sinister was intended, expressed surprise
+to me that Mr. Lloyd was going to Spain.
+
+We were walking together across the park beyond the lower gardens on
+our way to the village.
+
+"Mr. Lloyd told me that he was going to Spain at father's suggestion,"
+she said. "It seems to me rather strange that I should have been the
+means of bringing father and him together. I can't understand the
+reason of it all," she added, evidently much puzzled.
+
+"Perhaps your father has some idea of transacting some lucrative
+business with him. Remember, he has a lot of financial interests in
+Spain."
+
+"Ah! yes," replied the girl. "Of course. I never thought of that!
+Father has been to Madrid several times of late."
+
+I feared to tell her what I suspected of the secret visit of that
+handsome Spanish woman, or of how we had been observed at the Unicorn
+at Ripon.
+
+On that same day Duperré returned. He had been abroad, for when I met
+him at the station I noticed that his luggage bore fresh labels of the
+Palace Hotel, at Brussels, and some railway destinations. At ten
+o'clock that night, after Lola had retired to bed, I was called to
+consult with Rayne and Duperré, who were smoking together in the
+billiard-room. Duperré had evidently related to him the result of his
+mysterious journeyings, and Rayne seemed in an unusually good humor.
+
+"Sit down, George, and listen," he said. "We have a little piece of
+important business to transact--something that will bring in big
+money. Duperré will explain."
+
+Vincent turned, and looking at me through the haze of his
+cigarette-smoke, said:
+
+"There's not much to explain, George. You have only to act on Rayne's
+instructions. The matter does not concern you as, after all, you're
+only a pawn in this merry little game which will do no harm to
+anyone----"
+
+"Only to old Lloyd," I interrupted.
+
+"To his pocket, perhaps," Duperré laughed.
+
+"Frankly, you mean to rob him, as you have so many others."
+
+Duperré frowned darkly, and exchanged angry glances with Rayne.
+
+"I think that remark is entirely uncalled for," Rayne said
+resentfully. "You have thrown in your lot with us, as I have told you
+before, and with your eyes wide open have become one of my trusted
+assistants. As such you will receive my instructions--and act upon
+them without question. That is your position. And now," he added,
+turning to Duperré, "please explain."
+
+Duperré laid down his cigarette-end in the tray, and said:
+
+"Well, look here, George. What you must do is this. You will write to
+old Lloyd at the Reform Club to-morrow and tell him that you are
+leaving for Madrid on Tuesday week upon important business for our
+friend Rayne. You will suggest that he goes to the Ritz while you go
+to the Hôtel de la Paix in the Puerta del Sol, as being less
+expensive. You, as Rayne's secretary, cannot afford to stay at the
+Ritz, you understand?"
+
+"Then there is a specific reason why we should not stay at the same
+hotel, eh?" I asked.
+
+Duperré hesitated, and then nodded.
+
+"I may come out to Spain and join you in a few days after your
+arrival. At present I don't exactly know."
+
+So, though full of resentment, I was compelled to the inevitable. Next
+day I wrote to the Reform Club, and in reply received a letter
+appointing to meet me at Charing Cross Station on the following
+Tuesday week.
+
+Lola became even more inquisitive next day. Whether her father had
+inadvertently dropped a word in her presence I know not, but she had
+somehow become aware that I had received orders to travel with Mr.
+Lloyd to Spain.
+
+What was intended? The "business" upon which I was being sent to Spain
+was some _coup_ which Rayne's ever-active brain had carefully
+conceived. He had used his daughter's bright and winning manners in
+order to become friendly with the wealthy and somewhat mysterious old
+man whom I was to conduct to Spain.
+
+Naturally I was evasive as usually. I loved her, it was true. She was
+all the world to me. And my love was, I believed, reciprocated, but
+how could I admit my shameful compact with her father? I was now a
+thief, having been drawn into that insidious plot which I described
+in the previous chapter of my reminiscences as a servant to the King
+of Crookdom.
+
+So we walked pleasantly along to the white-headed old village
+clockmaker, who was grandson of a well-known man who had fashioned the
+little grandmother clocks which to-day are so rare--the pet
+timekeepers of our bewigged ancestors. The name of the old fellow's
+grandfather was on the list of famous makers of clocks in the days of
+George the Third, which you can find in any book upon old clocks.
+
+On our walk back to the Hall we chatted merrily.
+
+"I rather envy you your run out to Madrid," Lola laughed. "I wish I
+could go to Spain."
+
+She was wearing a canary-colored jersey, stout boots, and carried a
+hefty ash stick, for she was essentially an out-of-door girl, though
+at night she could put on a short and flimsy dance frock and look the
+perfection of charm.
+
+I took no notice of her remark, but purposely turned the conversation,
+and as we strolled back together we discussed a dance which was to be
+given two nights later by her friends the Fishers at Atherton Towers,
+about five miles distant.
+
+On the morning appointed I met old Mr. Lloyd, who, to my surprise, had
+with him his niece, Miss Sylvia Andrews, a smart and pretty
+dark-haired girl of about twenty-five.
+
+"At the last moment Sylvia wanted to come with me to see Spain," the
+old gentleman explained as we sat in the boat-train speeding towards
+Dover. "I managed yesterday to get an extra sleeping-berth in the Sud
+Express."
+
+"I hope you will like Madrid, Miss Andrews," I said gallantly. "You
+will find life there very bright and gay--quite an experience."
+
+"I'm greatly looking forward to it," she said. "I've read all about
+it, and though I've been in France and in Italy quite a lot, I've
+never been in Spain, though I've always longed to see it."
+
+"I propose we break our journey at San Sebastian," said Mr. Lloyd. "I
+want to see the place, and the Casino which is making such a bid
+against the counter-attraction of Monte Carlo. What do you say?"
+
+"I'm quite agreeable," I replied. "A couple of days' delay makes no
+difference to me. As long as I am in Madrid on the sixteenth it will
+be all right. I have to attend a directors' meeting on behalf of Mr.
+Rayne on that day."
+
+"Good! uncle," cried the girl. "Then we'll break our journey at San
+Sebastian, eh?"
+
+And so it was arranged.
+
+Two days later we stepped from the dusty sleeping-car in which we had
+traveled from Paris, and soon found ourselves driving around a wide
+bay with calm sapphire sea and golden sands--the far-famed La Concha.
+
+We remained for two days at that luxurious hotel the Continental, on
+the Paseo, and visited all the sights, including the Casino, where we
+thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Old Mr. Lloyd was an amusing companion,
+as I well knew, a man who seemed never tired notwithstanding his
+advanced age, while his niece was a particularly jolly girl who
+enjoyed every moment of her life.
+
+Then we proceeded by the night express to Madrid.
+
+Mr. Lloyd insisted that I should stay with them at the Ritz, but,
+compelled to obey Rayne's instructions, I was forced to excuse myself
+on the plea that two of Rayne's co-directors were to stay at the Hôtel
+de la Paix, and Rayne had wished me to stay with them for certain
+business reasons.
+
+With this explanation the old gentleman was satisfied, so when at last
+we arrived in the Spanish capital I saw them safely to the Ritz, then
+went on alone to the Puerta del Sol.
+
+That night we dined together, and afterwards we went to the opera at
+the Teatro Real. Next day we met again, and on several days that
+followed. I took them to see the sights of the capital, the sights
+which everyone visits, the Armeria, the Academy, the Naval Museum, the
+street life of the Plaza Mayor and the Calle de Toledo, the afternoon
+promenades in the Retiro Park and the Paseo de Fernan Nuńez.
+
+In all they evinced the greatest interest. To both uncle and niece it
+presented fresh scenes such as neither had before seen, and I realized
+that old Mr. Lloyd had become brighter and far more cheerful than
+when with us at Overstow.
+
+I had been at the Hôtel de la Paix for about ten days, when on
+returning late one night from visiting with Miss Andrews the
+celebrated Verbena de la Paloma--the famous fair held in the Calle de
+la Paloma--I found, to my surprise, Duperré awaiting me.
+
+I explained the situation, but when I mentioned the presence of old
+Lloyd's niece his countenance instantly fell.
+
+"Why in the name of Fate did the old fool bring her here?" he
+exclaimed. "I thought he would come alone!"
+
+"She's quite a nice girl," I remarked. "Full of high spirits and
+vitality."
+
+But Duperré only grunted, and I saw by the expression of his face that
+he was far from pleased that the old man was not alone.
+
+"I don't want to be introduced yet," he said. "At present, though we
+can meet here in the hotel, we must be strangers outside."
+
+"And what is the game?" I demanded boldly, for we were together in my
+bedroom overlooking the great square and the door was locked.
+
+"Nothing that concerns you, Hargreave," was his hard reply. "I know
+you're foolishly squeamish about some things. Well, in this affair
+just act as Rudolph orders and don't trouble about the consequences."
+
+I realized that some evil was intended. Yet it was prevented by the
+presence there of Sylvia Andrews. What could it be?
+
+Next day I met uncle and niece as usual, and we went for a motor ride
+together out to Aranjuez, where we saw the Palacio Real, and then on
+to Toledo where we visited the wonderful cathedral and the great
+Elcazar. I did not get back to the hotel till past ten o'clock that
+night, but I found Duperré anxious and perturbed. Why, I failed to
+understand, except that he seemed filled with annoyance that his plans
+had somehow gone awry.
+
+Two days later when I called at the Ritz with the intention of
+accompanying Mr. Lloyd and his niece over the mountains to Valladolid,
+I found them both greatly excited.
+
+"Sylvia had a telegram an hour ago recalling her to London as her
+mother is ill, and I am going with her. I cannot allow her to travel
+alone. We leave by the express at six o'clock this evening," Mr. Lloyd
+said. "I am so very sorry to depart so suddenly, Mr. Hargreave. We
+were both enjoying our visit so much," he added apologetically.
+
+This surprised me until I returned to my hotel to luncheon, when
+Duperré, meeting me eagerly in the hall, asked:
+
+"Well, is the girl going?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "How do you know?"
+
+He smiled meaningly, and I felt that in all probability the telegram
+recalling the girl had been sent at his instigation, as indeed I
+afterwards knew it had been. So cleverly had matters been arranged by
+the crooks that Mrs. Andrews was actually very unwell.
+
+"Yes, she's off to-night--and the old man also," I said, glad that he
+was to get out of the mysterious danger that undoubtedly threatened
+him.
+
+"What!" cried my companion, staggered. "Is the old fellow actually
+leaving also? At what time?"
+
+"By the six o'clock train--the express to Irun," I replied.
+
+He was thoughtful for a moment. Then he said abruptly in a thick
+voice:
+
+"I don't want any lunch. I want to think. Come up to my room when
+you've had your meal," and then, turning on his heel, he ascended in
+the lift.
+
+On going to his room after luncheon I found him standing by the
+window, with his hands in his pockets, looking blankly out upon the
+great square below.
+
+Close by, upon the writing-table, was a small medicine phial and a
+camel-hair brush, together with several pieces of paper. It struck me
+that he had painted one of the pieces with some of the colorless
+liquid, for, having dried, it was now crinkled in the center.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," he said. "I want you to telephone to the girl
+Andrews and ask her to meet you this afternoon at four, say in the
+ladies' café in the Café Suzio, so that you can have tea together.
+When you've done that come back here."
+
+I obeyed, in wonder at what was intended. Then when I returned, he
+said:
+
+"Sit down and write a note to the old man, asking him to let you have
+his address so that you can collect any letters from the Ritz for him
+and forward them. He'll think it awfully kind of you. And enclose an
+envelope addressed to yourself; it will save him trouble."
+
+This I did, taking paper and envelope from the rack in front of me. I
+was about to address the envelope to myself, when he said:
+
+"That's too large, have this one! It will fit in the other envelope,"
+and he took from the rack one of a smaller size which I used according
+to his suggestion.
+
+"Now," he said, "you go and take the girl out and I'll see that this
+letter is delivered--and that you get an answer."
+
+I met Sylvia, and we had quite a jolly tea together. Then, at five
+o'clock, I left her at the door of the Ritz, saying that I had sent a
+letter to her uncle asking for his address, and that knowing he would
+be very busy preparing to leave I would not come in.
+
+On entering the Hôtel de la Paix the concierge handed me two letters,
+one from old Mr. Lloyd in reply to my note and the other that had been
+left for me by Duperré.
+
+"I have already left Madrid," he wrote briefly. "Whatever you hear,
+you know nothing, remember. Wait another week and then come home."
+
+I was not long in hearing something, for within a quarter of an hour
+Sylvia rang me up asking me to come round at once to the Ritz.
+
+In trepidation I took a taxi there and found old Mr. Lloyd in a state
+of unconsciousness, with a doctor at his side, Sylvia having found him
+lying on the floor of the sitting-room. The doctor told her that the
+old gentleman had apparently been seized by a stroke, but that he was
+very slowly recovering.
+
+Sylvia, however, pointed out that his dispatch-box had been broken
+open and rifled. What had been taken she had no idea.
+
+Inquiries made of the hotel staff proved that just after his niece had
+gone out a boy had arrived with a note requiring an answer, and had
+been shown up to Mr. Lloyd's room. The old gentleman wrote the answer,
+and the boy left with it. To whom the answer was addressed was not
+known.
+
+The only person seen in the corridor afterwards was a guest who
+occupied a room close by, a Spaniard named Larroca.
+
+I recollected the name. It was the man I had seen at the Unicorn at
+Ripon!
+
+I made discreet inquiries, and discovered that Madame Martoz was
+living in the hotel.
+
+The truth was plain. I longed to denounce them, but in fear I held my
+secret.
+
+Old Mr. Lloyd hovered between life and death for a week, when at last
+he recovered, but to this day he cannot account for the mysterious
+seizure. I, however, know that it was due to a certain secret
+colorless liquid with which the gum upon the envelope I had addressed
+to myself had been painted over by Duperré. The old gentleman had
+licked it, and within five minutes he had fallen unconscious.
+
+When he was sufficiently well to be shown his dispatch-box he grew
+frantic.
+
+In it had been his cheque-book containing four signed cheques, as it
+was his habit to send weekly cheques to the woman who acted as
+housekeeper at his flat at Hove, which, by the way, he very seldom
+visited.
+
+By some means Rayne had got to know of this, and by that clever ruse
+his accomplice got possession of the cheques, and ere the old man
+could wire to London to stop payment, all four had been cashed for
+large amounts without question.
+
+Rayne and his friends netted nearly ten thousand pounds, but to this
+day old Mr. Lloyd entertains no suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GENTLEMAN FROM ROME
+
+
+I knew that my love for Lola was increasing, yet I did not know
+whether my affection was really reciprocated.
+
+We were close friends, but that was all. I was seated with her in the
+pretty morning-room one day about a fortnight after my return from
+Madrid, when the footman entered with a card.
+
+"Mr. Rayne is not in, sir. Will you see the gentleman?"
+
+"_Cav. Enrico Graniani--Roma_," was the name upon the card.
+
+"He's a stranger, sir. I've never seen him before," the servant added.
+
+"I wonder who he is?" asked Lola, looking over my shoulder at the
+card. "Father doesn't somehow like strangers, does he?"
+
+"No," I said. "But I'll see him. Show him into the library."
+
+When a few moments later I entered the room I found a tall, elegant,
+well-dressed Italian who, addressing me in very fair English, said:
+
+"I understand, signore, that Mr. Rayne is not in. I have come from
+Italy to see him, and I bring an introduction from a mutual friend.
+You are his secretary, I believe?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, and took the note which he handed me.
+
+"I will give it to Mr. Rayne when he returns to-morrow," I promised
+him. "Where shall he write to in order to make an appointment?"
+
+"I am at the Majestic Hotel at Harrogate," he answered. "I will await
+a letter--I thank you very much," and he departed.
+
+Next afternoon when I gave Rayne the letter of introduction he became
+at once eager and somewhat excited.
+
+"Ring up the Majestic," he said. "See if you can get hold of the
+Cavaliere, and tell him I will see him at any hour he likes
+to-morrow."
+
+I could see that after reading the letter brought by the Italian, he
+was most eager to learn something further.
+
+After two attempts I succeeded in speaking with the Cavaliere
+Graniani, and fixed an appointment for him to call on the following
+morning at half-past eleven.
+
+What actually occurred during the interview I do not know.
+
+Across the table at luncheon, Rayne suddenly asked me:
+
+"You know Italy well--don't you, Hargreave?"
+
+"I lived in the Val d'Arno for several years before the war," I
+replied. "My people rented a villa there."
+
+Then, turning to Lola, he asked:
+
+"Would you like to go for a trip to Italy with Madame and Hargreave?"
+
+"Oh! It would be delightful, dad!" she cried. "Can we go? When?"
+
+"Quite soon," he replied. "I want Hargreave to go on a mission for
+me--and you can both go with him. It would be a change for you all."
+
+"Delightful!" exclaimed the well-preserved Madame Duperré. "Won't it
+be fun, Lola?"
+
+"Ripping!" agreed the girl, turning her sparkling eyes to mine, while
+I myself expressed the greatest satisfaction at returning to the
+country I had learned to love so well.
+
+That afternoon, as I sat with Rayne in the smoking-room, he explained
+to me the reason he wished me to go to Italy--to make certain secret
+inquiries, it seemed. But the motive he did not reveal.
+
+At his orders I took a piece of paper upon which I made certain notes
+of names and places, of suspicions and facts which he wished me to
+ascertain and prove--curious and apparently mysterious facts.
+
+"Lola and Madame will go with you in order to allay any suspicions,"
+he added. "I place this matter entirely in your hands to act as you
+think fit."
+
+A week later, with Lola and Madame, I left Charing Cross and duly
+arrived in the old marble-built city of Pisa, with its Leaning Tower
+and its magnificent cathedral, and while my companions stayed at the
+Hôtel Victoria I went up the picturesque Valley of the Arno on the
+first stage of my quest.
+
+At last, having climbed the steep hill among the olives and vines
+which leads from the station of Signa--that ancient little town of the
+long-ago Guelfs--I came to the old Convent of San Domenico, a row of
+big sun-blanched buildings with a church and crumbling tower set upon
+the conical hill which overlooked the red roofs of Florence deep
+below.
+
+The ancient bell of the monastery clanged out the hour of evening
+prayer, as it had done for centuries, sounding loud and far through
+the dry, clear evening atmosphere.
+
+Five minutes after ringing the clanging bell at the monastery door and
+being inspected by a brother through the small iron grill, I found
+myself with Fra Pacifico in his scrupulously clean narrow cell, with
+its truckle bed and its praying stool set before the crucifix, but on
+hearing hurried footsteps in the stone corridor outside I rose, and my
+strange friend exclaimed in Italian:
+
+"No, Signor Hargreave! Remain seated. I am excused from attendance in
+the chapel. I had to meet you."
+
+The narrow little cubicle was bare and whitewashed. Fra Pacifico, of
+the Capuchin Order, with his shaven head, his brown habit tied around
+the waist with a hempen rope, and his well-worn sandals, had long
+been my friend. Of his past I could never ascertain anything. He had
+called humbly upon my father when we first went to live at old-world
+Signa, years before, and he had asked his charity for the poor down in
+the Val d'Arno.
+
+"You will always have beggars around you, signore," I remembered he
+said. "We up at the monastery keep open house for the needy--soup,
+bread, and other things--to all who come from eight to ten o'clock in
+the morning. If you grant us alms we will see that those who beg of
+you never go empty away. Send them to us."
+
+My father saw instantly an easy way out of the great beggar problem,
+hence he promised him a fixed subscription each month, which Fra
+Pacifico regularly collected.
+
+So though I had returned to live in London and afterwards played my
+part in the war, we had still been friends.
+
+On my arrival at Pisa I had made an appointment to see him, and as we
+now sat together in his narrow cell, I questioned him whether, by mere
+chance, he had ever heard of a certain lady named Yolanda Romanelli.
+It was quite a chance shot of mine, but I knew that he came from the
+same district as the lady.
+
+He was evasive. He had heard of her, he admitted, but would go no
+further.
+
+His attitude concerning the lady I had mentioned filled me with
+curiosity.
+
+In his coarse brown habit and hood he had always been a mystery to me.
+He was about forty-five years of age. He knew English, and spoke it as
+well as he did French, for, though a monk, he was a classical scholar
+and a keen student of modern science.
+
+"Now, Fra Pacifico," I said, as I reseated myself. "I know you are
+cognizant of something concerning this lady, Yolanda Romanelli. What
+is it? Tell me."
+
+Thus pressed, he rather reluctantly told me a strange story.
+
+"Well!" I exclaimed at last when he had finished. "It is all really
+incredible. Are you quite certain of it?"
+
+"Signor Hargreave, what I have told you is what I really believe to be
+true. That woman is in a high position, I know. She married the
+Marchese, but I am convinced that she is an adventuress--and more. She
+is a wicked woman! God forgive me for telling you this."
+
+"But are you quite certain?" I repeated.
+
+"Signore, I have told you what I know," he answered gravely, tapping
+his great horn snuff-box and taking a pinch, tobacco being forbidden
+him by the rules of his Order. "I have told you what I know--and also
+what I suspect. You can make whatever use of the knowledge you like.
+Yolanda Romanelli is a handsome woman--as you will see for yourself if
+you meet her," he added in a strange reflective voice.
+
+"That means going down to Naples," I remarked.
+
+"Yes, go there. Be watchful, and you will discover something in
+progress which will interest you. But be careful. As an enemy she is
+dangerous."
+
+"But her husband, the Marquis? Does he know nothing?"
+
+Fra Pacifico hitched up the rope around his waist and made an
+impetuous gesture.
+
+"Poor fellow! He suspects nothing!"
+
+"Well, Pacifico," I said, "do be frank with me. How do you know all
+this?"
+
+"No," he replied. "There are certain things I cannot tell you--things
+which occurred in the past--before I took my vow and entered this
+place. I was once of your own world, Signor Hargreave. Now I am not.
+It is all of the past," he added in a hard, determined voice.
+
+"You have been in London. I feel sure of it, Pacifico," I said, for by
+his conversation he had often betrayed knowledge of England, and more
+especially of London.
+
+"Ah! I do not deny it," laughed the broad-faced, easy-going man, now
+again seated in his rush-bottomed chair. "I know your hotels in
+London--the Savoy, the Carlton, the Ritz, and the Berkeley. I've
+lunched and dined and supped at them all. I've shopped in Bond Street,
+and I've lost money at Ascot. Oh, yes!" he laughed. "I know your
+wonderful London! And now I have nothing in the world--not a soldo of
+my own. I am simply a Brother--and I am content," he said, with a
+strange look of peace and resignation.
+
+We who live outside the high monastery walls can never understand the
+delightful, old-world peace that reigns within--that big family of
+whom the father is the fat Priore, always indulgent and kind to his
+grown-up children, yet so very severe upon any broken rule.
+
+Fra Pacifico had that evening told me something which had placed me
+very much upon the alert. I had not been mistaken when I suspected
+that he might know something of the woman Yolanda Romanelli--the woman
+whom Rayne had sent me to inquire about--and I felt that I had done
+well to first inquire of my old friend. He had hinted certain things
+concerning the Marchesa, the gay leader of society in Rome, whose name
+was in the _Tribuna_ almost daily, and whose husband possessed a fine
+old palazzo in the Corso, as well as an official residence in Naples,
+where, in addition to being one of the most popular men in Italy, he
+was Admiral of the Port.
+
+"May I be forgiven for uttering those ill-words," exclaimed the monk,
+as though speaking to himself. "We are taught to forgive our enemies.
+But I cannot forgive her!"
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"She has desecrated the house of God," he replied in a low tense
+voice.
+
+Two hours later I was back with Lola and Madame Duperré at the Hôtel
+Victoria at Pisa.
+
+Coming from the lips of any other than those of Fra Pacifico I should
+have suspected that the Marchesa Romanelli had once done him some evil
+turn. Yet when a man renounces the world and enters the cloisters, he
+puts aside all jealousies and thought of injury, and lives a life of
+devotion and of strictest piety. Fra Pacifico was a man I much
+admired, and whose word I accepted without query.
+
+Next day Lola was inquisitive as to my visit to the monastery, but I
+was compelled to keep my own counsel, and that evening we all three
+took the night express to Rome, arriving at the Grand at nine o'clock
+after a dusty and sleepless journey, for the _wagons-lit_ which run
+over the Maremma marshes roll and rock until sleep becomes quite
+impossible.
+
+With the Eternal City Lola was delighted, though it was out of the
+season and the deserted streets were like furnaces. Still, I was able
+to drive her out to see some of the antiquities which I had myself
+visited half a dozen times before.
+
+My notes included the name of a man named Enrico Prati, who lived
+humbly in the Via d'Aranico, and one evening, two days after our
+arrival, I called upon him. Lola had been anxious that I should stay
+for a small dance in the hotel, but I had been compelled to plead
+business, for, as a matter of fact, I had become filled with curiosity
+regarding the mission of inquiry upon which I had been sent.
+
+Prati kept a wine-shop, an obscure place which did not inspire
+confidence. He was a beetle-browed fellow, short, with deep-set
+furtive eyes, and he struck me as being a thief--or perhaps a receiver
+of stolen property. The atmosphere of the place seemed mysterious and
+forbidding.
+
+I told him that I had come from "The Golden Face." At mention of the
+name he started and instantly became obsequious. By that I knew that
+he had some connection with the gang.
+
+Then I demanded of him what he knew of the mysterious Marchesa
+Romanelli, adding that I had come from England to obtain the
+information which "The Golden Face" knew he could furnish.
+
+I saw that I was dealing with a clever thief who carried on his
+criminal activities under the guise of a dealer of wines.
+
+"Yes, signore," he said. "I know the Marchesa. She is a leader of
+smart society, both here and in Naples. During the war she spent a
+large sum of money in establishing her fine hospital out at Porta
+Milvio. She was foremost in arranging charity concerts, bazaars, and
+other things in aid of those blinded at the war. Could such a wealthy
+patriotic woman, whose husband is one of Italy's most famous admirals,
+possibly be anything other than honest and upright?"
+
+His reply took me aback, until his sinister face broadened into a
+smile. Then I said:
+
+"I admit that. But you know more than you have told me, Signor Prati,"
+and then added: "Because the woman has risen to such high favor and
+her actions have always shown her to be intensely charitable, there
+is no reason why she should not be wearing a mask--eh?"
+
+He only laughed, and, shrugging his shoulders, replied:
+
+"Go to Naples and seek for yourself. The suspicions of 'The Golden
+Face' are well-grounded, I assure you."
+
+So, unconvinced, I returned to the Grand Hotel full of wonder. I was
+not satisfied, so I determined to take Prati's advice and see for
+myself what manner of woman was this Marchesa. Fortunately, although
+it was out of the season, she was in Naples. Having two old friends
+there I went south with my companions two days later, and we installed
+ourselves at the Palace Hotel with its wonderful views across the bay.
+I had little difficulty in obtaining an introduction to the woman whom
+I sought. It took place one evening at the house of one of my friends,
+who was now a Deputy.
+
+When she heard my name, I noticed that she started slightly, but I
+bowed over her hand in pretense of ignorance.
+
+She expressed gratification at meeting me, and soon we were chatting
+pleasantly. She was a handsome woman of about forty-five, dark-haired
+and beautifully gowned. With her was her daughter Flavia, a pretty,
+dark-eyed girl of twenty or so, bright, vivacious, and very _chic_.
+The latter spoke English excellently, and told me that she had been at
+school for years at Cheltenham.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SILVER SPIDER
+
+
+That night, after a chat with Lola, I sat in my room at the palace and
+could not help recollecting how strangely the Marchesa had started
+when my name had been uttered.
+
+Did she know of my connection with "The Golden Face"? If she did, then
+she might naturally suspect me and hold me at arm's length. Yet if she
+feared me, why should she have asked me, as well as Lola and Madame,
+to call at the Palazzo Romanelli?
+
+I had thanked her, and accepted.
+
+Therefore on Tuesday night, with Lola and Madame both smartly dressed,
+I went to the huge, old fifteenth-century palace, grim and prison-like
+because of its heavily barred windows of the days when every palazzo
+was a fortress, and within found it the acme of luxury and refinement,
+its great salons filled with priceless pictures and ancient statuary,
+and magnificent furniture of the Renaissance.
+
+About thirty people were present, most of them the élite of Naples
+society, all the ladies being exquisitely dressed. My hostess
+expressed delight as I bowed and raised her hand to my lips, in
+Italian fashion, and then I introduced my two companions. A few
+moments after I found myself chatting with the pretty Flavia, who, to
+my annoyance, seemed to be very inquisitive concerning my movements.
+
+As I stood gossiping with her, my eyes fell upon a little Florentine
+table of polished black marble inlaid with colored stones forming a
+basket of fruit, a marvel of Renaissance art, and upon it there stood
+a silver model of a gigantic tarantula, or spider, the body being
+about seven inches long by five broad, with eight long curved legs,
+most perfectly copied from nature.
+
+Flavia noticed that I had seen it.
+
+"That's our Silver Spider!" she laughed. "It's the ancient mascot of
+the Romanelli."
+
+I walked over and examined it, but without, of course, taking it in my
+hand. Then I remarked upon its beautiful workmanship, and we turned
+away.
+
+It was a gay informal assembly. Among the men there were several naval
+and military attachés from the Embassies, as well as one or two
+Deputies with their wives. Once or twice I had brief chats with the
+Marchesa, who, of course, was the center of her guests. One man, tall,
+with deep-set eyes and a well-trimmed black beard, seemed to pay her
+particular attention, and on discreet inquiry as to who he was, I
+discovered him to be the well-known banker, Pietro Zuccari, who
+represented Orvieto in the Chamber.
+
+Now the reason of our visit to the Marchesa's was to see what manner
+of company she kept, but I detected nothing suspicious in any person
+in that chattering assembly. Yet I could not put away from myself what
+Fra Pacifico had told me in the silence of the cloisters of San
+Domenico.
+
+Again I looked upon the handsome face of that gay society woman and
+wondered what secret could be hidden behind that happy, laughing
+countenance.
+
+After leaving the Palazzo Romanelli that night I resolved to "fade
+out" and watch.
+
+Now Admiral the Marquis Romanelli, who was in charge of the important
+port of Naples, had, during the late war, returned to his position as
+a high naval officer, and with all his patriotism as the head of a
+noble Roman house, had done his level best against the enemy until the
+proclamation of peace.
+
+Wherever one went one heard loud praises of "Torquato," as he was
+affectionately called by his Christian name by the populace.
+
+After due consideration I decided that we should move from Naples to
+the pretty little town of Salerno at the other end of the blue bay,
+and there at the Hôtel d'Angleterre, facing the sapphire sea, I spent
+several delightful days with the girl I so passionately loved.
+
+"I cannot see the reason for all this inquiry, Mr. Hargreave," she
+said one evening, as we were walking by the moonlit sea after we had
+dined and Madame had retired. "Why should father wish you to watch the
+Marchesa so narrowly? How can she concern him? They are strangers."
+
+I was silent for a few seconds.
+
+"Your father's business is a confidential one, no doubt. He has his
+own views, and I am, after all, his secretary and servant."
+
+"I--I often wish you were not," the girl blurted forth.
+
+"Why?" I asked in surprise.
+
+"Oh! I don't really know. Sometimes I feel so horribly apprehensive.
+Madame is always so discreet and so mysterious. She will never tell me
+anything; and you--you, Mr. Hargreave, you are the same," she declared
+petulantly.
+
+"I cannot, I regret, disclose to you facts of which I am ignorant," I
+protested. "I am just as much in the dark concerning the actual object
+of our mission here as you are."
+
+"Do you think Madame knows anything of your mission here?" asked the
+girl.
+
+"I don't expect so. Your father is a very close and secretive man
+concerning his own business."
+
+"Ah! a mysterious business!" she exclaimed in a strange meaning voice.
+"Sometimes, Mr. Hargreave--sometimes I feel that it is not altogether
+an honest business."
+
+"Many brilliant pieces of business savor of dishonesty," I remarked.
+"The successful business man cannot always, in these days of
+double-dealing chicanery and cut prices, act squarely, otherwise he is
+quickly left behind by his more shrewd competitors."
+
+And then I thought it wise to turn the subject of our conversation.
+
+Salerno is only thirty miles from Naples, therefore I often traveled
+to the latter place--indeed, almost daily.
+
+In Italian they have an old saying, "_A chi veglia tutto si rivela_"
+("To him who remains watchful everything becomes revealed"). That had
+long been my motto. With Lola and Madame Duperré I was in Italy in
+order to learn what I could concerning the woman whom Fra Pacifico had
+so bitterly denounced.
+
+One warm afternoon when, without being seen, I was watching the
+Marchesa's pretty daughter Flavia who had strolled into the town, I
+saw her meet, close to the Café Ferrari, that tall, black-bearded,
+middle-aged banker Pietro Zuccari, whom I had seen at their palazzo.
+They walked as far as the Piazza San Ferdinando and entered the
+Gambrinus, where they sat at a little table eating ices, while he
+talked to her very confidentially. As I idled outside in a shabby suit
+and battered straw hat which I had bought, I saw this great Italian
+banker gesticulating and whispering into her ear.
+
+The girl's attitude was that of a person absorbing all his arguments
+in order to repeat them, for she nodded slowly from time to time,
+though she uttered but few words; indeed, only now and then did she
+ask any question.
+
+I could, of course, hear nothing. But what I was able to observe
+aroused my curiosity, for the meeting between the girl and the
+middle-aged banker was palpably a clandestine one.
+
+On emerging, they parted, he walking in the direction of the railway
+station, while the girl strolled homeward. Was she carrying a message
+to her mother from the famous financier?
+
+The excitement he had betrayed interested me. I noticed that he had
+once clenched his fist and brought it down heavily before her as they
+sat together.
+
+For a whole month we remained at Salerno, and a delightful month it
+proved, for I had long chats and walks with Lola, and we became even
+greater and more intimate friends. Madame Duperré noticed it but said
+nothing.
+
+I went each day to slouch and idle in Naples, to sit before cafés and
+eat my frugal meal at one or other of the osterie which abound in the
+city, or to take my _apératif_ at the _liquoristi_, Canevera's,
+Attila's, or the others'.
+
+I confess that I was mystified why I should have been sent to watch
+that woman.
+
+So clever, so well-thought-out and so insidious were all Rayne's
+methods to obtain information of the intentions and movements of
+certain people of wealth, that I knew from experience that there was
+some cleverly concealed scheme afoot which could only be carried out
+after certain accurate details had been obtained.
+
+I was torn between two intentions, either to reappear suddenly as a
+passing traveler and call at the Palazzo Romanelli, or still to lie
+low.
+
+Many times I discussed it with Lola and Madame.
+
+"Zuccari is always with the Marchesa," I said one morning as we sat
+together at _déjeuner_ at Salerno. "I can't quite make things out. I
+have been watching intently, yet I can discover nothing. He sent a
+message to her by Flavia the other day--an urgent and defiant message,
+I believe. I hear also that the Admiral goes to Rome to-night," I
+added. "He has been suddenly called to the Ministry of Marine."
+
+"Then you will follow, of course? We will remain here to keep an eye
+upon the Marchesa," said Madame.
+
+"You do not suspect the Admiral?" I asked.
+
+"Not at all," she said. "It is the woman we have to watch."
+
+"And also the pretty daughter?" I suggested.
+
+With that she agreed. We were, however, faced by a strangely complex
+problem. Here was a woman--one of the most popular in all
+Italy--denounced by the humble monk of San Domenico as a dangerous
+adventuress. And yet she was the strongest supporter of the popular
+Pietro Zuccari--the wealthy man by whose efforts the finances of Italy
+had been reëstablished after the war.
+
+After a long conference it was arranged that Madame and Lola should go
+to Rome and there watch the Admiral's movements, while I remained in
+Naples ever on the alert.
+
+Sometimes I became obsessed by the feeling that I was off the track.
+Once or twice I had received "_ferma in posta_"--confidential letters
+from Rudolph Rayne and also from Duperré. To these I replied to an
+unsuspicious address--a library in Knightsbridge.
+
+By reason, however, of keeping observation upon the Palazzo Romanelli
+I gained considerable knowledge concerning those who came and went. I
+knew, for instance, that the pretty Flavia was in the habit of meeting
+in strictest secrecy a good-looking young lieutenant of artillery
+named Rinaldo Ricci. Indeed, they met almost daily. It struck me as
+more than curious that on the day after the Admiral had left hurriedly
+for Rome Zuccari should arrive from Bari, and having taken a room at
+the Excelsior Hotel, dine at the palazzo.
+
+My vigil that night was a long one. I managed to creep up through the
+grounds and peer through the wooden shutters into the fine,
+well-furnished _salon_ of the palazzo. It was unoccupied, but upon a
+table on the opposite side of the room stood the Silver Spider, the
+strange but exquisite mascot of the Romanelli. No doubt some legend
+was attached to it, just as there are legends to many family
+heirlooms.
+
+That night I made a further discovery, namely, that when Zuccari left
+he returned to his hotel, where Flavia's secret lover had a long chat
+with him.
+
+Next day a strange thing happened. While watching the Marchesa I saw
+her, about eleven o'clock in the morning, walking alone in the Corso
+Vittorio when she accidentally encountered the banker Zuccari. They
+passed each other as total strangers!
+
+Why? There was some deep motive in that pretended ignorance of each
+other's identity. Could it be because they feared they were being
+watched? And yet was not Zuccari a frequent visitor at the Palazzo
+Romanelli, for it was there I had first met him? In any case, it was
+curious that Zuccari and young Rinaldo Ricci should be friends
+apparently unknown to either the Marchesa or to Flavia.
+
+In order to probe the mystery I decided that it would be necessary to
+learn more of Zuccari's movements. Therefore, having watched him call
+at the Palazzo Romanelli, I waited for him to leave, and at ten
+o'clock that same night he suddenly departed from Naples for the
+north. I traveled by the same train. Arrived at Rome, the banker
+remained at the buffet about half an hour, when he joined the express
+train for Milan, and all through the day and the night I traveled,
+wondering what might be his destination.
+
+On arrival at Milan, I kept observation upon him. From the chief
+telegraph office he dispatched a telegram and then drove to the Hôtel
+Cavour, where he engaged a room. At once I telegraphed to Madame to
+bring Lola and join me at the Hôtel de Milan. They arrived next day
+and I told them of my movements.
+
+Three days later Zuccari left the Cavour and traveled to the frontier,
+little dreaming that he was being so closely followed. Madame and Lola
+went by the same train, but having discovered that he had bought a
+ticket for Zurich, I left by the train that followed.
+
+On arrival at Zurich, I was not long in rejoining my companions, for
+we had a rendezvous at the Savoy, when I learnt that Zuccari was
+staying at the Dolder Hotel, up on the Zurichberg above the Lake.
+
+"A man named Hauser is calling upon him this evening," Madame told me.
+"We must watch."
+
+This we did. More respectably dressed than when in Naples, I was
+smoking my after-dinner cigar in the handsome hall of the Dolder Hotel
+when a tall, well-set-up man, whose fair hair and square jaw stamped
+him as German-Swiss, inquired of the hall porter for Signor Zuccari,
+and was at once shown up to the banker's private sitting-room, where
+they remained together for nearly an hour.
+
+As I sat waiting impatiently below, I wondered what was happening.
+
+I had already reported our movements to Rayne, who had, in a telegram,
+expressed great surprise that the Deputy should have left Italy and
+gone to Zurich--of all places.
+
+Zuccari, on descending the stairs with his friend Hauser, confronted
+me face to face, but it was apparent that he did not recognize me.
+Hence I took courage and, later on, engaging a room, moved to the same
+hotel. Next morning I saw the banker meet the man Hauser a second
+time, and together they took a long walk on the outskirts of the town
+above the Lake.
+
+From the concierge I extracted certain valuable information in
+exchange for the hundred-franc note I slipped into his hands. It
+seemed that the banker Zuccari frequently visited that hotel, and on
+every occasion the man Hauser came to Zurich to see him.
+
+"They are conducting some crooked business--that is my belief,
+m'sieur!" the uniformed man told me in confidence.
+
+"Why do you suspect that?" I asked quickly.
+
+"Well," he said confidentially, "Isler, the commissary of police, who
+is now at Berne, once pointed him out to me and said he was a friend,
+and believed to be one of the accomplices, of Ferdinando Morosini, the
+notorious jewel-thief who was caught in Milan six months ago and sent
+to fifteen years at Gorgona."
+
+At the mention of jewel theft I at once pricked up my ears.
+
+"Then Hauser may be a receiver of stolen jewels, eh?" I whispered.
+
+"I would not like to say that, m'sieur, but depend upon it he is a
+person to be gravely suspected. What business he has with the banker I
+cannot imagine."
+
+I knew Morosini by repute. I had heard Rayne mention him, and no doubt
+he was a member of the gang who had blundered and fallen into the
+hands of the police. Was it in connection with this incident that I
+had been sent to Italy to make inquiries?
+
+I told Madame when alone what I had discovered, whereat she smiled.
+
+"I expect you have discovered the truth," she said. "We must let
+Rudolph know at once."
+
+To telegraph was impossible, therefore I sat down and wrote a long
+letter, and then I waited inactive but anxious for a reply.
+
+It came at last. He expressed himself fully satisfied, but urged me to
+continue my investigations regarding the handsome wife of the
+Marchese.
+
+"Be careful how you act," he added. "If they suspected you of prying
+something disagreeable might happen to you."
+
+I was not surprised at his warning, for I knew the character of some
+of the international crooks who were Rayne's "friends."
+
+But surely the banker Zuccari could not be a crook? If he were, then
+he was a master-criminal like Rayne himself. If so, what was the
+motive of his close association with the Marchesa Romanelli? I had
+noticed when at the palazzo that he seemed infatuated with her, yet
+she no doubt little dreamed of his active association with such a
+person as Hauser.
+
+It seemed quite plain that whatever the truth the Admiral had no
+suspicion of his wife.
+
+Zuccari and Hauser still remained in Zurich, so, though I had arranged
+with Madame and Lola to return with them to Naples, I sent them back
+alone and remained to watch.
+
+On the night of their departure I was tired and must have slept
+soundly after a heavy day, when I was suddenly awakened by a strong
+light flashed into my face, and at the same instant I saw a hand
+holding a silken cord which had been slowly slipped beneath my ear as
+I lay upon the pillow.
+
+For a second I held my breath, but next moment I realized that I was
+being attacked, and that the cord being already round my neck with a
+slip-knot, those sinewy hands I had seen in the flash of light
+intended to strangle me.
+
+My only chance was to keep cool. So I grunted in pretense of being
+only half-awake, and turning very slightly to my side, my hand slowly
+reached against my pillow. At any second the cord might be drawn tight
+when all chance of giving the alarm would be swept away from me. Yet
+my assailant was deliberate, apparently in order to make quite certain
+that the cord around my neck should effect its fatal purpose.
+
+Of a sudden I grasped what I had against my pillow--a small rubber
+ball--and suddenly shooting out my hand in his direction, squeezed it.
+
+A yell of excruciating pain rang through the hotel, and he sprang
+back, releasing his hold upon the cord.
+
+Then next moment, when I switched on the light, I found the man Hauser
+dancing about my room, his face covered with his hands--blinded, and
+his countenance burnt by the dose of sulphuric acid I had, in
+self-defense, squirted full into it.
+
+For defense against secret attack the rubber ball filled with acid
+Rayne always compelled me to carry, as being far preferable to
+revolver, knife or sword-cane. It is easily carried, easily concealed
+in the palm of the hand, makes no noise, and if used suddenly is
+entirely efficacious.
+
+My assailant, blinded, shrieking with pain, and his face forever
+scarred, quickly disappeared to make what excuse he might. Later I
+found that he had previously tampered with the brass bolt of my door
+by removing the screws of the socket, enlarging the holes and
+embedding the screws in soft putty so that on turning the handle and
+pressing the door the socket gave way and fell noiselessly upon the
+carpet!
+
+This attempt upon me at once proved that I was on the right scent, and
+according to Rayne's instructions I that day followed Madame and Lola
+back to Salerno.
+
+On changing trains at the Central Station at Rome I bought a
+newspaper, and the first heading that met my eyes was one which told
+of a mysterious robbery of the wonderful pearls of the Princess di
+Acquanero.
+
+With avidity I read that the young Princess, as noted for her beauty
+as for her jewels, the only daughter of the millionaire Italian
+shipowner Andrea Ottone, of Genoa, who had married the Prince a year
+ago, had been robbed of her famous string of pearls under most
+mysterious circumstances.
+
+Two days before she had been staying at the great Castello di
+Antigniano, near Bari, where her uncle, the Baron Bertolini, had been
+entertaining a party of friends. On dressing for dinner she found that
+her jewel-case had been rifled and the pearls, worth twenty thousand
+pounds sterling, were missing!
+
+"The police have a theory that the guilty person was introduced into
+the castello by one of the many servants," the report went on. "The
+thief, whoever it was, must, however, have had great difficulty in
+reaching the Princess' room, as the Baron, knowing that his lady
+guests bring valuable jewelry, always sets a watch upon the only
+staircase by which the ladies' rooms can be approached."
+
+With the paper in my hand the train slowly drew out of Rome on its way
+south. My mind was filled with suspicion. I was wondering vaguely
+whether the Marchesa Romanelli had been among the guests, for I
+recollected those words of Fra Pacifico that "the woman had committed
+sacrilege in the House of God."
+
+Could it be possible that he knew the Marchesa to be a thief who had
+stolen some valuable church plate from one or other of the ancient
+churches in Italy? If so, then, though the wife of the Admiral, she
+was also a thief.
+
+On arrival at Salerno I took Madame aside, and telling her of my
+adventure with the man Hauser, I showed her the newspaper and declared
+my suspicions.
+
+"It may be so," she said. "If she is so friendly with this banker
+whose past is quite obscure, it may be her hand which takes the stuff
+and passes it on to Zuccari, who in turn sells it to Hauser."
+
+With that theory I agreed.
+
+On the following day I took train into Naples, and that afternoon I
+called upon the Marchesa.
+
+Fortunately I found her alone, and when I was shown into her _salon_ I
+thought she looked rather wan and pale, but she greeted me affably and
+expressed delight that I should call before returning to England.
+
+As we chatted she let drop, as I expected she would, the fact that she
+had been staying at the Castello di Antigniano.
+
+"You've seen in the papers, I suppose, all about the pearls of the
+Princess di Acquanero?" she went on. "A most mysterious affair!"
+
+I looked the pretty woman straight in the face, and replied:
+
+"Not so very mysterious, Marchesa."
+
+"Why not?" she asked, opening her big, black eyes widely.
+
+"Not so mysterious if I may be permitted to look inside that ornament
+over there--the heirloom of the Romanelli--the Silver Spider," I said
+calmly.
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried resentfully. "I don't understand you."
+
+I smiled.
+
+"Then let me be a little more explicit," I said. "Have you heard of a
+man named Hauser? Well, he made an attempt upon my life. Hence I am
+here this afternoon to see you. May I lift the body of the Silver
+Spider and look inside?"
+
+"Certainly not!" she cried, facing me boldly.
+
+"Then you fear me--eh?"
+
+"I do not fear you. I don't know you!" she cried.
+
+I laughed, and said:
+
+"Then if not, why may I not be permitted to look inside your husband's
+family heirloom?"
+
+She was silent for a moment. My question nonplussed her. I was, I
+confess, bitter because of the deliberate attempt to kill me.
+
+"I will not allow any stranger to tamper with our Silver Spider!" she
+cried resentfully.
+
+"Very well. Then I shall take my own course, and I shall inform your
+husband that you stole the Princess's pearls, that your banker friend
+acts as intermediary in your clever thefts, and that Hauser disposes
+of the jewels in Amsterdam."
+
+"I--I----" she gasped.
+
+"I know everything," I said, while she looked around bewildered. "I
+know that you are playing a crooked game even with those who played
+straight with you before your marriage to the Marchese. He is in
+ignorance of your past. But I know it. Listen!" and I paused and
+looked straight into her eyes.
+
+"You were a widow with a young daughter before you married the
+Marchese. That was nine years ago. To him you passed yourself off as
+the widow of an Italian advocate named Terroni, of Perugia; but you
+were not. You are Austrian. Your name is Frieda Hoheisel, and you were
+an adventuress and a thief! You married a certain man who is to-day
+in a monastery at Signa in the Val d'Arno, and though you pose as the
+loving wife of one of Italy's premier admirals, you are a noted
+jewel-thief, and commit these robberies in order to supply your bogus
+banker friend Zuccari with funds. Now," I added, "I will take the
+Princess's necklace from the Silver Spider and you will, in my
+presence, pack it up and address it to her. I will post it."
+
+"Never! I risked too much to get it!" she cried, her face aflame.
+
+"Very well. Then within an hour your husband and the police will know
+the truth. Remember, I have been suspected of making inquiries by your
+friends and have very nearly lost my life in consequence."
+
+"But--oh! I can't----"
+
+"You shall, woman!" I thundered. "You shall give back those stolen
+pearls!"
+
+And crossing to the table whereon stood the Silver Spider, I opened
+it, and there within reposed the pearls in a place that nobody would
+suspect.
+
+I stood over her while she packed them into a common cardboard box and
+addressed them to the Princess in Rome. At first she demurred about
+her handwriting, but I insisted. I intended her to take the risk--just
+as I had taken a risk.
+
+And, further, I compelled her to order her car, and we drove to the
+General Post Office in Naples, where I saw that she registered the
+valuable packet.
+
+The anonymous return of the pearls was a nine days' wonder throughout
+Italy; but the Marchesa never knew how I had obtained my information,
+and never dreamed that I had come to her upon a mission of inquiry
+from the one person in all the world whom she feared, the man in whose
+clutches she had been for years--the mysterious "Golden Face."
+
+When, with Lola and Madame, I returned home a week later and explained
+the whole of my adventures, Rayne sat for a few moments silent. Then,
+as I looked, I saw vengeance written upon his face.
+
+"I suspected that she was playing me false, and selling stuff in
+secret through that fellow Zuccari! She is carrying on the business by
+herself. I now have proof of it--and I shall take my own steps! You
+will see!"
+
+He did--and a month later the Marchesa Romanelli was arrested and sent
+to prison for the theft of a pair of diamond earrings belonging to a
+fellow-guest staying at one of the great palaces of Florence.
+
+It was a scandal that Italy is not likely to easily forget.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ABDUL HAMID'S JEWELS
+
+
+Rudolph Rayne, though the ruler of aristocratic Crookdom, was
+sometimes most sympathetic and generous towards lovers.
+
+The following well illustrates his strange abnormal personality and
+complex nature:
+
+One night I chanced to enter his bedroom at Half Moon Street, when I
+found him looking critically through a quantity of the most
+magnificent sparkling gems my eyes had ever seen. Some were set as
+pendants, brooches, and earrings, while others--great rubies and
+emeralds of immense value--were uncut.
+
+As I entered he put his hands over them in distinct annoyance. Then, a
+few seconds later, removed them, saying with a queer laugh:
+
+"A nice little lot this, eh? One of the very finest collections I've
+seen."
+
+On the table lay a pair of jewelers' tweezers and a magnifying glass,
+therefore it was apparent that, as a connoisseur of gems, he had been
+estimating their value.
+
+"By Jove!" I exclaimed. "They certainly are magnificent! Whose are
+they?"
+
+"They once belonged to the dead Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey," he
+replied; "but at present they belong to me!" He laughed grimly.
+
+Inwardly I wondered by what means the priceless gems had fallen into
+his hands. He read my thoughts at once, for he said:
+
+"You are curious, of course, as to how I became possessed of them.
+Naturally. Well, Hargreave, it's a very funny story and concerns a
+real good fellow and, incidentally, a very pretty girl. Take a cigar,
+sit down, and I'll tell you frankly all about it--only, of course, not
+a word of the facts will ever pass your lips--not to Lola, or to
+anybody else. Your lips are sealed."
+
+"I promise," I said, selecting one of his choice cigars and lighting
+it, my curiosity aroused.
+
+"Then listen," he said, "and I'll tell you the whole facts, as far as
+I've been able to gather them."
+
+What he recounted was certainly romantic, though a little involved,
+for he was not a very good _raconteur_. However, in setting down this
+curious story--a story which shows that he was not altogether bad, and
+was a sportsman after all--I have rearranged his words in narrative
+form, so that readers of these curious adventures may fully
+understand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How horribly glum you are to-night, dear! What's the matter? Are you
+sad that we should meet here--in Paris?" asked a pretty girl.
+
+"Glum!" echoed the smooth-haired young man in the perfectly fitting
+dinner-jacket and black tie. "I really didn't know that I looked
+glum," and then, straightening himself, he looked across the _table ŕ
+deux_ in the gay Restaurant Volnay at the handsome, dark-haired,
+exquisitely dressed girl who sat before him with her elbows on the
+table.
+
+"Yes, you really are jolly glum, my dear Old Thing. You looked a
+moment ago as serious as though you were going to a funeral," declared
+the girl. "The war is over, you are prospering immensely--so what on
+earth causes you to worry?"
+
+"I'm not worrying, dearest, I assure you," he replied with a forced
+smile, but her keen woman's intuition told her that her lover was not
+himself, and that his mind was full of some very keen anxiety.
+
+Charles Otley had taken her to a most amusing play at the
+Palais-Royal, a comedy which had kept the house in roars of laughter
+all the evening, and now, as they sat at supper, she saw that his
+spirits had fallen to a very low ebb. This puzzled her greatly.
+
+Peggy Urquhart, daughter of Sir Polworth Urquhart, of the Colonial
+Service, who until the Armistice had held a high official appointment
+at Hong Kong, was one of the smartest and prettiest young women in
+London Society. She was twenty-two, a thorough-going out-of-door girl
+who looked slightly older than she really was. Her father had retired
+as soon as war was over, and they had come to England. By reason of
+her mother being the daughter of the Earl of Carringford, she had
+soon found herself a popular figure in a mad, go-ahead post-war set.
+
+She had known Charlie Otley soon after she had left Roedene--long
+before they had gone out to Hong Kong--and now they were back they
+were lovers in secret.
+
+Charlie, who had been a motor engineer before he "joined up" in the
+war and got his D.S.O. and his rank as captain, had done splendidly.
+On being demobilized he had returned to his old profession, taking the
+managership of a very well-known Bond Street firm.
+
+The directors, finding in Otley a man who knew his business, whose
+persuasive powers induced many persons to purchase cars, and whose
+fearless tests at Brooklands were paragraphed in the daily newspapers,
+treated him most generously and left everything, even many of their
+financial affairs, in his hands.
+
+Lady Urquhart was, however, an ambitious woman. She inherited all the
+exclusiveness of the Carringfords, and she was actively scheming to
+marry Peggy to Cis Eastwood, the heir to the estates of old Lord
+Drumone. It was the old story of the ambitious mother. Peggy knew
+this, and, smiling within herself, had pledged her love to Charlie.
+Hence, with the latitude allowed to a girl nowadays, she went about a
+good deal with him in London--to the Embassy, the Grafton, the
+Diplomats, and several of the smartest dance-clubs, of which both were
+members.
+
+Though Otley was often at her house in Mount Street, and frequently
+met Lord Drumone's fair-haired and rather effeminate son there,
+Peggy's mother never dreamed they were in love. Both were extremely
+careful to conceal it, and in their efforts they had been successful.
+
+The orchestra was at the moment playing that plaintive Hungarian gypsy
+air, Bela's _Valse Banffy_, that sweet, weird song of the Tziganes
+which one hears everywhere along the Danube from Vienna to Belgrade.
+
+"Look here, Charlie," said the girl, much perturbed at what she had
+recognized in his handsome countenance. "Tell me, Old Thing, what's
+the matter?"
+
+"Matter--why, nothing!" he replied, laughing. "I was only thinking."
+And he looked around upon the smart crowd of Parisians who were
+laughing and chatting.
+
+"Of what?"
+
+He hesitated for a second. In that hesitation the girl who loved him
+so fondly, and who preferred him to old Drumone's son and a title,
+realized that he had some heavy weight upon his mind, and quickly she
+resolved to learn it, and try to bear the burden with him.
+
+Since her return from China, with all its Asiatic mysteries, its
+amusements, and its quaint Eastern life, she had had what she declared
+to be a "topping" time in London. Her beauty was remarked everywhere
+and her sweet charm of manner appealed to all. Her mother, who had
+returned from her exile in the Far East, went everywhere, while her
+father, a hard, austere Colonial official who had browsed upon
+reports, and regarded all natives of any nationality or culture as
+mere "blacks," was one of those men who had never been able to
+assimilate his own views with those of the nation to which he had been
+sent as British representative. He was a hide-bound official, a man
+who despised any colored race, and treated all natives with stern and
+unrelenting hand. Indeed, the Colonial Office had discovered him to be
+a square peg in a round hole, and at Whitehall they were relieved when
+he went into honorable retirement.
+
+"Do tell me what's the matter, dear," whispered the girl across the
+table, hoping that the pair seated near them did not know English.
+
+"The matter! Why, nothing," again laughed the handsome young man.
+"Have a liqueur," and he ordered two from the waiter. "I can't think
+what you've got into your head to-night regarding me, Peggy. I was
+only reflecting for a few seconds--on some business."
+
+"Grave business--it seems."
+
+"Not at all. But we men who have to earn our living by business have
+to think overnight what we are to do on the morrow," he said airily,
+as he handed his cigarette-case to her and then lit the one she took.
+
+"But Charlie--I'm certain there's something--something you are
+concealing from me."
+
+"I conceal nothing from you, dearest," he answered, looking across the
+little table straight into her fine dark eyes. Then again he bent
+towards her and whispered very seriously: "Do you really love me,
+Peggy?"
+
+In his glance was a tense eager expression, yet upon his face was
+written a mystery she could not fathom.
+
+"Why do you ask, dear?" she said. "Have I not told you so a hundred
+times. What I have said, I mean."
+
+"You really mean--you really mean that you love me--eh?" he whispered
+in deep earnestness as he still bent to her over the table, his eyes
+fixed on hers. And he drew a long breath.
+
+"Yes," she answered. "But why do you ask the question in that tone?
+How tragic you seem!"
+
+"Because," and he sighed, "because your answer lifts a great weight
+from my mind." Then, after a pause, he added: "Yet--yet, I wonder----"
+
+"Wonder what?"
+
+"Nothing," he answered. "I was only wondering."
+
+"But you really are tantalizing to-night, my dear boy," she said. "I
+don't understand you at all."
+
+"Ah! you will before long. Let's go out into the lounge," he
+suggested. "It's growing late."
+
+So, having drained their two glasses of triple sec, they passed out
+into the big palm-lounge, which is so popular with the Parisians after
+the play.
+
+Peggy and her parents had come to Paris in mid-December to do some
+shopping. Before she had been exiled to China, Lady Urquhart's habit
+was to go to Paris twice each year to buy her hats and gowns, for she
+was always elegantly dressed, and she took care that her daughter
+should dress equally well.
+
+Indeed, the gown worn by Peggy that night was one of Worth's latest
+creations, and her cloak was an expensive one of the newest _mode_.
+They were staying at the Continental when Charlie, who had some
+business in Paris on behalf of his firm, had run over for three days
+really to meet in secret the girl he loved. That night Peggy had
+excused herself to her mother, saying that she was going out to
+Neuilly to dine with an old schoolfellow--a little matter she had
+arranged with the latter--but instead, she had met Charlie at
+Voisin's, and they had been to the theater together.
+
+Peggy, amid the exuberant atmosphere of Paris with its lights,
+movement and gaiety--the old Paris just as it was before the
+war--naturally expected her lover to be gay and irresponsible as she
+herself felt. Instead, he seemed gloomy and apprehensive. Therefore
+the girl was disappointed. She thought a good deal, but said little.
+
+Though the distance between the Volnay and the Rue de Rivoli was not
+great, Charlie ordered a taxi, and on the way she sat locked in his
+strong arms, her lips smothered with his hot, passionate kisses, until
+they parted.
+
+Little did she dream, however, the bitterness in her lover's heart.
+
+Next morning at eleven o'clock, as Peggy was coming up the Avenue de
+l'Opéra, she passed the Brasserie de la Paix, that popular café on the
+left-hand side of the broad thoroughfare, the place where the Parisian
+gets such exquisite dishes at fair prices. Charlie was seated in the
+window, as they had arranged, and on seeing her, he dashed out and
+joined her.
+
+"Well?" she asked. "How are you to-day? Not so awfully gloomy, I
+hope."
+
+"Not at all, dearest," he laughed, for his old nonchalance had
+returned to him. "I've been full of business since nine o'clock. I
+have an appointment out at La Muette at two, and I'll have to get back
+to London to-night."
+
+"To-night!" she echoed disappointedly. "We don't return till next
+Tuesday."
+
+"I have to be back to see my people about some cars that can't be
+delivered for another six weeks. There's a beastly hitch about
+delivery."
+
+"Well," said the girl, as they walked side by side in the cold, bright
+morning. The winter mornings are always bright and clearer in Paris
+than in London. "Well, I have some news for you, dear."
+
+"What news?" he asked.
+
+"Lady Teesdale has asked us up to Hawstead, her place in Yorkshire. In
+her letter to mother this morning she mentions that she is also asking
+you."
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Yes. And, of course, you'll accept. Won't it be ripping? The
+Teesdales have a lovely old place--oak-paneled, ghost-haunted, and all
+that sort of thing. We've been there twice. The Teesdales'
+shooting-parties are famed for their fun and merriment."
+
+"I know Lady Teesdale," Otley said. "But I wonder why she has asked
+me?"
+
+"Don't wonder, dear boy--but accept and come. We'll have a real jolly
+time."
+
+And then they turned into the Boulevard des Italiens and idled before
+some of the shops.
+
+At noon she was compelled to leave him and return to her mother. He
+put her into a taxi outside the Grand Hotel, and then they parted.
+
+Before doing so, the girl said:
+
+"What about next Wednesday? Shall we meet?"
+
+"Yes," he replied.
+
+"Very well," she exclaimed. "Wednesday at six--eh? I'll come up to
+your rooms. We can talk there. I don't like to see you so worried,
+dear. There's something you're concealing from me, I'm sure of it."
+
+Then he bent over her hand in a fashion more courtly than the
+"Cheerio!" of to-day, and standing on the curb watched the taxi speed
+down the Rue de la Paix.
+
+"Ah!" he murmured aloud, drawing a deep sigh. "Ah! If she only
+knew!--_if she only knew!_"
+
+He strode along the boulevard caring nothing where his footsteps led
+him. The gay, elegant, careless crowd of Paris passed, but he had no
+eyes for it all.
+
+"Shall I tell her?" he went on aloud to himself. "Or shall I fade out,
+and let her learn the worst after I'm gone? Yet would not that be a
+coward's action? And I'm no coward. I went through the war--that hell
+at Vimy, and I did my best for King and Country. Now, when love
+happens and all that life means to a man is just within my grasp, I
+have to retire to ignominy or death. I prefer the latter."
+
+Next morning he stepped from the train at Victoria and drove to his
+rooms in Bennett Street, St. James's. He was still obsessed by those
+same thoughts which had prevented him from sleeping for the past week.
+His man, Sanford, who had been his batman in France, met him with a
+cheery smile, and after a bath and a shave he went round to his
+business in Bond Street.
+
+He was of good birth and had graduated at Brasenose. His father had
+been a well-known official at the Foreign Office in the days of King
+Edward and had died after a short retirement. In his life Charlie had
+done his best, and had distinguished himself not only in his Army
+career, but in that of the world of motoring, where his name was as
+well known as any of the fearless drivers at Brooklands.
+
+Otley was, indeed, a real good fellow, whose personality dominated
+those with whom he did business, and the many cars, from Fords to
+Rolls, which he sold for the profit of his directors paid tribute to
+his easy-going merriment and his slim, well-set-up appearance. Those
+who met him in that showroom in Bond Street never dreamed of the alert
+leather-coated and helmeted figure who tore round the rough track at
+Brooklands testing cars, and so often rising up that steep cemented
+slope, the test of great speed.
+
+At six o'clock on the Wednesday evening he stood in his cosy room in
+Bennett Street awaiting Peggy. At last there was a ring at the outer
+door, and Sanford showed her in.
+
+She entered merrily, bringing with her a whiff of the latest Paris
+perfume, and grasping his hand, cried:
+
+"Well, are you feeling any happier?"
+
+"Happier!" he echoed. "Why, of course!"
+
+"And have you had Lady Teesdale's letter?"
+
+"Yes. And I've accepted."
+
+"Good. We'll have a real good time. But the worst of it is Cis has
+been asked too!"
+
+"I suppose your mother engineered that?"
+
+"I don't think so. You see, he's Lady Teesdale's nephew. And it's a
+big family party. Old Mr. Bainbridge, the steel king of Sheffield, and
+his wife are to be there. She is a fat, rather coarse woman who has
+wonderful jewels. They say that old Bainbridge gave eighty thousand
+pounds for a unique string of stones, emeralds, diamonds, rubies and
+sapphires which belonged to the old Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, and
+which were sold in Paris six months ago."
+
+"Yes. I've always heard that the old fellow has money to burn. Wish I
+had!"
+
+"So do I, Charlie. But, after all, money isn't everything. What shall
+we do to-night?"
+
+"Let's dance later on--shall we?" he suggested, and she consented
+readily.
+
+They sat by the fire together for half an hour chatting, while she
+told him of her doings in Paris after he had left. Then she rose and
+made an inspection of his bachelor room, examining his photographs, as
+was her habit. Ten years ago a girl would hesitate to go to a
+bachelor's room, but not so to-day when women can venture wherever men
+can go.
+
+On that same afternoon Sir Polworth Urquhart, returning home to Mount
+Street at six o'clock, found among his letters on the study table a
+thin one which bore a Hong Kong stamp. The superscription was, he saw,
+in a native hand. He hated the sly Chinese and all their ways.
+
+On tearing it open he found within a slip of rice-paper on which some
+Chinese characters had been traced. He looked at them for a few
+seconds and then translated them aloud to himself:
+
+"Tai-K'an has not forgotten the great English mandarin!"
+
+"Curse Tai-K'an!" growled Sir Polworth under his breath. "After ten
+years I thought he had forgotten. But those Orientals are slim folk. I
+hope his memory is a pleasant one," he added grimly as he rose and
+placed the envelope and the paper in the fire.
+
+"A very curious message," he reflected as he passed back to his
+writing-table. "It's a threat--because of that last sign. I remember
+seeing that sign before and being told that it was the sign of
+vengeance of the Tchan-Yan, the secret society of the Yellow Riband.
+But, bah! what need I care? I'm not in China now--thank Heaven!"
+
+As he seated himself to answer his correspondence, however, a curious
+drama rose before his eyes. One day, ten years ago, while acting as
+Deputy-Governor, he had had before him a criminal case in which a
+young Chinese girl was alleged to have caused her lover's death by
+poison. The girl was the daughter of a small merchant named Tai-K'an,
+who sold all his possessions in order to pay for the girl's defense.
+
+The case was a flimsy one from the start, but in the native court
+where it was heard there was much bribery by the friends of the dead
+lover. Notwithstanding the fact that Tai-K'an devoted the whole of his
+possessions to his daughter's defense, and that strong proof of guilt
+fell upon a young Chinaman who was jealous of the dead man, the poor
+girl was convicted of murder.
+
+Sir Polworth remembered all the circumstances well. At the time he did
+not believe in the girl's guilt, but the court had decided it so,
+therefore why should he worry his official mind over the affairs of
+mere natives? The day came--he recollected it well--when the sentence
+of death was put before him for confirmation. Tai-K'an himself, a
+youngish man, came to his house to beg the clemency of the great
+British mandarin. With him was his wife and the brother of the
+murdered man. All three begged upon their knees that the girl should
+be released because she was innocent. But he only shook his head, and
+with callous heartlessness signed the death-sentence and ordered them
+to be shown out.
+
+The girl's father then drew himself up and, with the fire of hatred in
+his slant black eyes, exclaimed in very good English:
+
+"You have sent my daughter to her death though she is innocent! You
+have a daughter, Sir Polworth Urquhart. The vengeance of Tai-K'an will
+fall upon her. Remember my words! May the Great Męng place his curse
+upon you and yours for ever!" And the trio left the Deputy-Governor's
+room.
+
+That was nearly ten years ago.
+
+He paced the room, for his reflections even now were uneasy ones. He
+remembered how the facts were placed before the Colonial Office and
+how the sentence of death was commuted to one of imprisonment. For
+five years she remained in jail, until the real assassin committed
+suicide after writing a confession.
+
+Yet like all Chinese, Tai-K'an evidently nursed his grievance, and
+time had not dulled the bitterness of his hatred.
+
+But the offensive Chinaman was in Hong Kong--therefore what mattered,
+Sir Polworth thought. So he seated himself and wrote his letters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE VENGEANCE OF TAI-K'AN
+
+
+At that moment Lola, who was shopping in London, entered and her
+father cut off quickly.
+
+The girl glanced at me and smiled. Then she asked some question
+regarding the purchase of some cutlery, and on her father replying she
+left the flat.
+
+After she had gone, he resumed the narrative, which was certainly of
+deep interest, as you will see.
+
+He went on:
+
+In the first week in January, a gay house-party assembled at Hawstead
+Park, Lord Teesdale's fine old Elizabethan seat a few miles from
+Malton, not very far from Overstow. The shooting-parties at Hawstead
+were well known for their happy enjoyment. They were talked about in
+the drawing-rooms of Yorkshire and clubs in town each year, for Lady
+Teesdale was one of the most popular of hostesses and delighted in
+surrounding herself with young people.
+
+So it was that Charlie Otley, on his arrival, met Peggy in the big
+paneled hall, and by her side stood young Eastwood, the fair-haired
+effeminate son of Lord Drumone. The party assembled at tea consisted
+of some twenty guests, most of them young. After dinner that night
+there was, of course, dancing upon the fine polished floor.
+
+Before Lady Urquhart, Otley was compelled to exercise a good deal of
+caution, allowing young Eastwood to dance attendance upon Peggy while
+he, in turn, spent a good deal of time with Maud Bainbridge, the
+rather angular daughter of the steel magnate. Towards Mrs. Bainbridge
+and his hostess Charlie was most attentive, but all the time he was
+watching Peggy with the elegant young idler to whom Lady Urquhart
+hoped to marry her.
+
+Now and then Peggy would glance across the room meaningly, but he
+never once asked her to dance, so determined was he that her mother
+should not suspect the true state of affairs. His position, however,
+was not a very pleasant one, therefore part of the time he spent in
+the great old smoking-room with his host, Sir Polworth, and several
+other guests, some of them being women, for nowadays the ladies of a
+country house-party invariably invade the room which formerly was
+sacred to the men.
+
+When the dance had ended and the guests were about to retire, Otley
+managed to whisper a word to the girl he loved. He made an appointment
+to meet her at a secluded spot in the park near the lodge on the
+following morning at eleven.
+
+She kept the appointment, and when they met she stood for a few
+moments clasped in her lover's arms.
+
+"I had such awful difficulty to get away from Cecil," she said,
+laughing. She looked a sweet attractive figure in her short tweed
+skirt, strong country shoes and furs. "He wanted to go for a walk with
+me. So I slipped out and left him guessing."
+
+Her companion remained silent.
+
+A few moments later they turned along a path which led to a stile, and
+thence through a thick wood of leafless oaks and beeches. Along the
+winding path carpeted with dead leaves they strolled hand-in-hand,
+until suddenly Otley halted, and in a thick hoarse voice quite unusual
+to him, said:
+
+"Peggy. I--I have something to say to you. I--I have to go back to
+London."
+
+"To London--why?" gasped the girl in dismay.
+
+"Because--well, because I can't bear to be here with the glaring truth
+ever before me--that I----"
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked, laying her hand upon his arm.
+
+"I mean, dearest," he said in a low, hard voice, "I mean that we can
+never marry. There is a barrier between us--a barrier of disgrace!"
+
+"Of disgrace!" she gasped. "Oh! do explain, dear."
+
+"The explanation is quite simple," he replied in a tone of despair.
+"You asked me in Paris what worried me. Well, Peggy, I'll confess to
+you," he went on, lowering his voice, his eyes downcast. "I am not
+worthy your love, and I here renounce it, for--for I am a thief!"
+
+"A thief!" she echoed. "How?"
+
+"I've been hard up of late, and at the motor show I sold three cars,
+for which I have not accounted to the firm. The books will be audited
+next week and my defalcations discovered. I have no means of repaying
+the four thousand five hundred pounds, and therefore I shall be
+arrested and sent to prison as a common thief. That's briefly the
+position!"
+
+The girl was speechless at such staggering revelations. Charlie--a
+thief! It seemed incredible.
+
+"But have you no means whatever of raising the money?" she asked at
+last, her face pale, while the gloved hand that lay upon his arm
+trembled.
+
+"None. I've tried all my friends, but money is so difficult to raise
+nowadays. No, Peggy," he added with suppressed emotion, "let me go my
+own way--and try to forget me. Now that I am in disgrace it is only
+right that I should make a clean breast of it to you, and then you
+alone will understand why I have made excuse to Lady Teesdale and
+left."
+
+"Oh, you mustn't do that, dear," she urged. "Stay over the week-end!
+Something will turn up. Do please me by staying."
+
+"I feel that I really can't," he answered. "I'm an outsider to have
+thus brought unhappiness on you, but it is my fault. I am alone to
+blame. You must have your freedom and forget me. I took the money to
+pay a debt of honor, thinking that I could repay it by borrowing
+elsewhere. But I find I can't, therefore I must face the music next
+week. Even if I ran away I should soon be found and arrested."
+
+"Poor boy!" sighed the girl, stroking his cheek tenderly, while in her
+eyes showed the light of unshed tears. "Don't worry. Stay here with
+me--at least till Monday."
+
+But he shook his head sadly.
+
+"I couldn't bear it, my darling," he answered in a low voice. "How can
+I possibly enjoy dancing and fun when I know that in a few days I
+shall go to prison in disgrace. My firm are not the kind of people to
+let me off."
+
+"Four thousand five hundred!" the girl repeated as though to herself.
+
+"Yes. And I haven't the slightest prospect of getting it anywhere. If
+I could only borrow it I could sail along into smooth waters again.
+But that is quite out of the question."
+
+Peggy remained silent for a few moments. Then, of a sudden, she looked
+straight into her lover's eyes, and taking his hand in hers said:
+
+"Poor dear! What can I do to help you?"
+
+"Nothing," was his low reply. "Only--only forget me. That's all. You
+can't marry a man who's been to prison."
+
+Again a silence fell between them, while the dead leaves whirled along
+the path.
+
+"But you will stay here over the week-end, won't you, dear?" she
+urged. "I ask you to do so. Do not refuse me--will you?"
+
+He tried to excuse himself. But she clung to him and kissed him,
+declaring that at least they might spend the week-end together before
+he left to face the worst.
+
+Her lover endeavored to point out the impossibility of their marriage,
+but she remained inexorable.
+
+"I still love you, Charlie--even though you are in such dire straits.
+And I do not intend that you shall go back to London to brood over
+your misfortune. Keep a stout heart, dear, and something may turn up
+after all," she added, as they turned and went slowly back over the
+rustling leaves towards the park.
+
+He now realized that she loved him with a strong and fervent
+affection, even though he had confessed to her his offense. And that
+knowledge caused his burden of apprehension the harder to bear.
+
+That night there were, after the day's shooting, merry junketings at
+Hawstead, and Charles Otley bore himself bravely though his heart was
+heavy. Ever and anon when Peggy had opportunity she whispered cheering
+words to him, words that encouraged him, though none of the gay party
+dreamed that they were chatting and dancing with a man who would in a
+few days stand in a criminal dock.
+
+Next day was Sunday. The whole house-party attended the village church
+in the morning, and in the afternoon the guests split up and went for
+walks.
+
+Soon after dinner Otley, whose seat had been between the steel
+magnate's wife and her daughter, went outside on the veranda alone. He
+was in no mood for bridge and preferred a breath of air outside. As
+he let himself out by one of the French windows of the small
+drawing-room in the farther wing of the house, a dark figure brushed
+past him swiftly, and next second had vaulted over the ironwork of the
+veranda and was lost in the dark bushes beyond.
+
+As the stranger had paused to leap from the veranda, a ray of light
+from the window had caught his countenance. It was only for one brief
+second, yet Charlie had felt convinced that the countenance was that
+of a Chinaman. Besides the stealthy cat-like movement of the man was
+that of an Oriental. Yet what could a Chinaman be doing about that
+house?
+
+He was half inclined to tell his host, yet on reflecting, he thought
+the probability was that it was some stranger who, attracted by the
+music and laughter within, had been trying to get a glimpse of the gay
+party.
+
+That night, as the auction bridge proceeded, Otley withdrew from it
+and went to his room, where he sat down and wrote two notes--one to
+Peggy and the other to his hostess. In the latter he apologized that
+he had been suddenly recalled to London on some very urgent business,
+and that he would leave Malton by the first train in the morning.
+
+The note to Peggy he placed in his pocket, and returning to the room
+where they were now dancing, found her in a flimsy cream gown,
+sleeveless and cut low--a dress that suited her to perfection--dancing
+with apparent merriment with young Eastwood, though he knew that her
+heart was sad. But her face was flushed by excitement, and she was
+entering thoroughly into the country-house gayety. Presently, however,
+he was able to slip the note into her hand and whisper a good-by.
+
+"I shall be in London on Tuesday and will call at Bennett Street in
+the evening. We will then talk it all over, dear. Don't despair--for
+my sake--don't despair!" she said.
+
+And compelled to slip back to the ballroom, she crushed the note into
+her corsage.
+
+Early next morning a car took Charlie to the station, and soon after
+luncheon he reëntered his rooms. The day was Monday, wet and dreary.
+All hope had left him, for his defalcations must be discovered and the
+directors would, without a doubt, prosecute him. Hence he went about
+London interested in nothing and obsessed by the terrible disgrace
+which must inevitably befall him.
+
+On the evening of his sudden departure from Hawstead, at about
+half-past six, the house-party was thrown into a state of great
+concern by the amazing announcement that Mrs. Bainbridge had lost her
+jewels--the unique string of precious stones which had once belonged
+to the late Sultan Abdul Hamid! Mrs. Bainbridge's maid discovered the
+loss when her mistress went to dress for dinner.
+
+She declared that on the previous evening she had placed them out upon
+a little polished table set against the heavy red-plush curtains and
+close to the dressing-table. She believed that her mistress had worn
+them upon her corsage on the Sunday night, and that on retiring she
+had locked them in her jewel-box. On the contrary, Mrs. Bainbridge did
+not wear them, a fact to which everyone testified. The millionaire's
+wife had left the Sultan's famous jewels upon the little polished
+table when she descended for dinner on Sunday night, and naturally
+concluded that her maid--who had been with her over twelve
+years--would see them and place them in safety.
+
+Suspicion instantly fell upon Charles Otley. Old Mr. Bainbridge was,
+of course, furious, whereupon Lord Teesdale took it upon himself to go
+at once to London to see Otley.
+
+This he did, and when that afternoon Sanford showed his lordship
+unexpectedly into the room, the young man stood aghast at the news.
+
+"Tell me, Otley--if you know nothing of this affair--why, then, did
+you leave Hawstead so suddenly?" he demanded.
+
+"Because I had business here in town," was his reply. Instantly across
+his mind flashed the recollection of the incident of the fleeting
+figure which he believed to be that of an Oriental. He related to his
+late host the exact facts. But Lord Teesdale listened quite
+unimpressed. As a matter of fact, he felt, in his own mind, that the
+young fellow was the thief.
+
+The story of the Chinaman was far too fantastic for his old-fashioned
+mind. He had heard of the Chinese, the opium traffic and suchlike
+things, and he saw in Otley's statement a distinct attempt to mislead
+him.
+
+The police were not called in because Mr. Bainbridge did not desire to
+bring the Teesdales' house-party into the newspapers, and, moreover,
+both he and his wife were confident that young Otley was the thief.
+
+Peggy hearing her lover denounced so openly, was naturally full of
+indignation, though she hardly dared show it.
+
+Sir Polworth and his wife and daughter returned to London as early as
+possible, for the spirits of all the guests had fallen in consequence
+of Mrs. Bainbridge's loss.
+
+And now a curious thing happened.
+
+That evening Charlie, knowing himself under suspicion of stealing the
+jewels, had an intuition that it would be better if Peggy did not
+visit him at Bennett Street. Therefore at about half-past five, when
+darkness had fallen, he went along to Mount Street, and there watched
+outside Sir Polworth's house.
+
+After a little while an empty taxi which had evidently been summoned
+by telephone, stopped at the door, and Peggy, very plainly dressed,
+got into it and drove away. Another taxi happened to be near,
+therefore her lover, unable to shout and stop her, got into it and
+followed her.
+
+They went along Piccadilly, and passing Arlington Street, which led
+into Bennett Street, continued away to the Strand and across the City
+eastward, until Otley was seized with curiosity as to the girl's
+destination.
+
+Past Aldgate went the taxi and down Commercial Road East, that broad
+long thoroughfare that leads to the East India Docks. At Limehouse
+Church the taxi stopped, and Peggy alighted and paid the man.
+
+Almost immediately a young man, the cut of whose overcoat and the
+angle of whose hat at once marked him as a Spaniard, approached her.
+Otley, full of wonder, had alighted from his taxi at some distance
+away and was eagerly watching.
+
+Peggy and the stranger exchanged a few words, whereupon he started off
+along a narrow and rather ill-lit road called Three Colt Street, past
+Limehouse Causeway. Suddenly it occurred to the young man that they
+were in the center of London's Chinatown! He recollected the escaping
+Chinaman from Lord Teesdale's house! But why was Peggy there? Surely
+she was not a drug-taker! The very thought caused him to shudder.
+
+Silently he followed the pair before him, and saw them turn into a
+narrow by-street and halt at a small house. Her conductor knocked on
+the door four times. And then repeated the summons.
+
+The door opened slowly and they entered. Then, when the door was
+closed again, Peggy's lover crept along and listened at the shutter
+outside.
+
+Why was she there? He stood bewildered. She had promised to call upon
+him at his rooms, and yet she was there in that low-class house--a
+veritable den it seemed!
+
+The window was closely shuttered, as were all in that mysterious
+silent thoroughfare--one into which the police would hardly venture to
+penetrate alone.
+
+The young man listened, his ears strained to catch any sound.
+
+Suddenly he heard Peggy shriek. He listened breathlessly. Yes, it was
+her voice raised distinctly.
+
+"You!" he heard her cry. "You! You are Tai-K'an! My father has told me
+of you!"
+
+"Ye-es, my lil ladee--you are lil ladee of the Engleesh mandarin!" he
+heard the reply--the reply of a Chinaman. "I now take my vengeance for
+my own child as I have each year promised. Give me the pretty jewels.
+You wanted to sell them, eh? But you will give them to me! I watched
+you take them from the table while they were all at the party. Your
+father never thought that Tai-K'an followed you on your country
+journey, eh?"
+
+Otley heard the words faintly through the shutters and stood rooted to
+the spot.
+
+Peggy was the thief? She had wanted to sell them and had been
+entrapped. In an instant he realized her position.
+
+He heard her voice raised first in faint protest, and then she
+implored the Chinaman to release her.
+
+"Ah, no!" cried the cruel triumphant Oriental. "Tai-K'an warned your
+father that he would have his revenge. His daughter was to him as much
+as you are to your own father the mandarin," and he laughed that
+short, grating laugh of the Chinaman, which caused Otley to clench his
+fists.
+
+For a few seconds he hesitated as to how he should act. Then, quick as
+his feet could carry him, he dashed back into the Commercial Road,
+where he enlisted the aid of a constable.
+
+Together they hurried back to the house after the young man had made a
+brief statement that a white girl had been entrapped.
+
+At first they were denied admittance, but when the constable demanded
+that the door should be opened, the bars were drawn and they entered
+the wretched den.
+
+Peggy was naturally terrified until she heard her lover's voice, and a
+few seconds later the pair were locked once more in each other's arms,
+but the gems of Abdul Hamid were nowhere to be found. Indeed, neither
+Peggy nor Charlie dared mention the stolen jewels, so the Chinaman
+kept them.
+
+"Do you wish to charge this Chink?" asked the constable of the girl.
+"If so, I'll take him along to the station at once."
+
+But at Charlie's suggestion she would prefer no charge, and after
+profuse thanks to the policeman, they found a taxi and drove back at
+once to Bennett Street.
+
+On the way Peggy sobbed as she confessed to the theft; how, in
+desperation, she had stolen those wonderful jewels from Mrs.
+Bainbridge's room in the hope of raising sufficient money to pay
+Charlie's defalcations, and how she had two days later received a
+mysterious letter asking her if she happened to have any discarded
+jewelry that she wished to dispose of secretly. If she had, an
+appointment could be made at Limehouse Church. It was, she thought, an
+opportunity. So she took the jewels to sell to them. But to her
+amazement and horror she had found herself in the hands of the
+revengeful Chinaman who had a, possibly just, grievance against her
+father.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rayne, taking the magnificent jewels and running them through his
+hands, said:
+
+"The Chink is a friend of ours, and we've had our eye upon these
+stones for a very long time, but rather than the young fellow and the
+girl shall be ruined I am sending them back to Mrs. Bainbridge's
+anonymously by to-night's post. Sir Polworth Urquhart will think they
+have come from Tai-K'an. See, Hargreave? I've typed out a letter. Just
+pack them up and address them to her. I can't bear to take them now I
+know the truth--poor girl!"
+
+And he handed the gems over to me, together with a small wooden box.
+
+That evening I registered the box from the post office at Darlington,
+and three days later Charles Otley, who had managed to clear himself
+of all suspicion, received an anonymous gift of four thousand five
+hundred pounds which had been placed to his credit at the bank.
+
+And none of the actors in that strange drama suspect the hand of the
+clever, unscrupulous, but sometimes generous, Squire of Overstow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
+
+
+"Mr. Hargreave, father is sending you upon a very strange mission,"
+Lola told me in confidence one dull morning, after we had had
+breakfast at the Midland Hotel, in Manchester, where we three were
+staying about a fortnight after Rayne's generosity in returning the
+famous jewels of the dead Sultan.
+
+"What kind of mission?" I inquired with curiosity, as we sat together
+in the lounge prior to going out to idle at the shop windows.
+
+"I don't know its object at all," was her reply. "But from what I've
+gathered it is something most important. I--I do hope you will take
+care of yourself--won't you?" she asked appealingly.
+
+"Why, of course," I laughed. "I generally manage to take care of
+myself. I'd do better, however, if--well, if I were not associated
+with Duperré and the rest," I added bitterly.
+
+The pretty girl was silent for a few moments. Then she said:
+
+"Of course you won't breathe a word of what I've said, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not, Lola," was my reply. "Whatever you tell me never
+passes my lips."
+
+"I know--I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave," she exclaimed. "Well,
+in this matter there are several mysterious circumstances. I believe
+it is something political my father wants to work--some business which
+concerns something in the Near East. That's all I know. You will, in
+due course, hear all about it. And now let's go along to Deansgate. I
+want to buy something."
+
+In consequence we strolled along together, Rayne having gone out an
+hour before to keep an appointment--with whom he carefully concealed
+from me.
+
+That same night Rayne disclosed to me the mission which he desired me
+to carry out. He was a man of a hundred moods and as many schemes.
+
+One fact which delighted me was that in the present suggestion there
+seemed no criminal intent. And for that reason I quite willingly left
+London for the Near East three days later.
+
+My destination was Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and the journey by
+the Orient Express across Europe was a long and tedious one.
+
+I was much occupied with the piece of scheming which I had undertaken
+to carry out in Sofia. My patriotism had led me to attempt a very
+difficult task--one which would require delicate tact and a good deal
+of courage and resource, but which would, if successful, Rayne had
+said, mean that a loan of three millions would be raised in London,
+and that British influence would become paramount in that go-ahead
+country, which ere long must be the power of the Balkans.
+
+The tentacles of the great criminal octopus which Rayne controlled
+were indeed far-spread. In this he was making a bid for fortune,
+without a doubt.
+
+To the majority of people, the Balkan States are, even to-day, _terra
+incognita_. The popular idea is that they are wild, inaccessible
+countries, inhabited by brigands. That is not so. True, there are
+brigands, even now after the war, in the Balkans, but Belgrade, the
+Serbian capital, is as civilized as Berlin, and the main boulevard of
+Sofia, whither I was bound, is at night almost a replica of the
+Boulevard des Italiens.
+
+I knew, however, that there were others in Sofia upon the same errand
+as myself, emissaries of other Governments and other financial houses.
+Therefore in those three long, never-ending days and nights which the
+journey occupied, my mind was constantly filled with the thoughts of
+the best and most judicious course to pursue in order to attain my
+object.
+
+The run East was uneventful, save for one fact--at the Staatsbahnhof,
+at Vienna, just before our train left for Budapest, a queer, fussy
+little old man in brown entered and was given the compartment next to
+mine.
+
+His nationality I could not determine. He spoke in a deep guttural
+voice with the fair-bearded conductor of the train, but by his
+clothes--which were rather dandified for so old a man--I did not
+believe him to be a native of the Fatherland.
+
+I heard him rumbling about with his bags in the next compartment,
+apparently settling himself, when of a sudden, my quick ear caught an
+imprecation which he uttered to himself in English.
+
+A few hours later, at dinner in the _wagon-restaurant_, I found him
+placed at the same little table opposite me, and naturally we began to
+chat. He spoke in French, perfect French it was, but refused to speak
+English, though, of course, he could had he wished.
+
+"Ah! _non_," he laughed. "I cannot. Excuse me. My pronunciation is so
+faulty. Your English is so ve-ry deefecult!"
+
+And so we talked in French, and I found the queer old fellow was on
+his way to Sofia. He seemed slightly deformed, his face was distinctly
+ugly, broad, clean-shaven, with a pair of black, piercing eyes that
+gave him a most striking appearance. His grey hair was long, his nose
+aquiline, his teeth protruding and yellow; and he was a grumbler of
+the most pronounced type. He growled at the food, at the service, at
+the draughts, at the light in the restaurant, at the staleness of the
+bread we had brought with us from Paris, and at the butter, which he
+declared to be only Danish margarine.
+
+His complaints were amusing. At first the _maître d'hôtel_ bustled
+about to do the bidding of the newcomer, but very quickly summed him
+up, and only grinned knowingly when called to listen to his biting
+sarcasm of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lit and all its
+works.
+
+Next day, at Semlin, where our passports were examined, the passport
+officer took off his hat to him, bowed low and _viséd_ his passport
+without question, saying, as he handed back the document to its owner:
+
+"Bon voyage, Highness."
+
+I stared at the pair. My fussy friend with the big head must therefore
+be either a prince or a grand duke!
+
+As I sat opposite him at dinner that night, he was discussing with me
+the harmful writings of some newly discovered Swiss author who was
+posing as a cheap philosopher, and denouncing them as dangerous to the
+community. He leaned his elbow upon the narrow table and supported his
+clean-shaven chin upon his fingers, displaying to me--most certainly
+by accident--the palm of his thin right hand.
+
+What I discovered there caused me a great deal of surprise. In its
+center was a dark, livid mark, as though it had been branded there by
+a hot iron, the plain and distinct imprint of a pet dog's pad!
+
+It fascinated me. There was some hidden meaning in that mark, I felt
+convinced. It was just as though a small dog had stepped in blood with
+one of its forepaws and trodden upon his hand.
+
+Whether he noticed that I had detected it or not, I cannot say, but he
+moved his hand quickly, and ever after kept it closed.
+
+His name, he told me, was Konstantinos Vassos, and he lived in Athens.
+But I took that information _cum grano_, for I instinctively knew him
+to be a prince traveling incognito. Before the passport officer at
+Semlin, every one must pass before entering Serbia.
+
+But if actually a prince, why did he carry a passport?
+
+There is no good hotel at Sofia. The best is called the Grand Hôtel de
+Bulgarie, kept by a pleasant old lady, and in this we found ourselves
+next night installed. He, of course, gave his name as Vassos, and to
+all intents and purposes was more of a stranger in the Bulgarian
+capital than I myself was, for I had been there previously once just
+before the war.
+
+Now Rayne had given me a letter of introduction to a certain Nicolas
+Titeroff, who contrived rather mysteriously to get me elected to the
+smart diplomats' club--the Union--during my stay.
+
+The days passed. From the first morning of my arrival I found myself
+at once in the vortex of gayety; invitations poured in upon me--thanks
+to the black-bearded Titeroff--cards for dances here and there and
+receptions and dinners, while I spent each afternoon with Titeroff and
+a wandering Englishman named Mayhew, who told me he was an ex-colonel
+in the British Army.
+
+All the while, I must confess, I was working my cards carefully.
+Thanks to the mysterious Titeroff I had received an introduction to
+Nicholas Petkoff, the grave, grey-haired Minister of Finance, who had
+early in life lost his right arm at the battle of the Shipka
+Pass--and he was inclined to admit my proposals. A French syndicate
+had approached him, but Petkoff would have none of them.
+
+The mission entrusted to me by Rayne was one which, if I could obtain
+the Government Concession which I asked, would mean the formation of a
+great company and a matter of millions. And it seemed to me that my
+black-bearded friend Titeroff, and Mayhew, were both pulling the
+strings cleverly for me in the right direction. Often I considered
+whether they were both crooks and members of the gang organized by
+Rayne. I could not determine.
+
+One night at the weekly dance at the Military Club--a function at
+which the smart set of Sofia always attend, and at which the Ministers
+of State themselves with their women-folk put in an appearance--I had
+been waltzing with the Minister Petkoff's daughter, a pretty,
+dark-haired girl in blue, whom I had met at Titeroff's house--when
+presently the Turkish attaché, a pale-faced young man in a fez,
+introduced me to a tall, very handsome, sweet-faced girl in a black
+evening gown.
+
+Mademoiselle Balesco was her name, and I found her inexpressibly
+charming. She spoke French perfectly, and English quite well. She had
+been at school in England, she said--at Scarborough. Her home was at
+Galatz, in Roumania.
+
+We had several dances, and afterwards I took her down to supper. Then
+we had a couple of fox-trots, and I conducted her out to the car that
+was awaiting her and bowing, watched her drive off, alone.
+
+But while doing so, there came along the pavement, out of the shadow,
+the short, ugly figure of the old Greek, Vassos, with his coat collar
+turned up, evidently passing without noticing me.
+
+A few days later when in the evening I was chatting with Mayhew at the
+hotel, he said:
+
+"What have you been up to, Hargreave? Look here! This letter was left
+upon me, with a note, asking me to give it to you in secret. Looks
+like a woman's hand! Mind what you're about in this place, old chap.
+There are some nasty pitfalls, you know!"
+
+With a bachelor's curiosity he was eager to know who was my fair
+correspondent. But I refused to satisfy him.
+
+Suffice it to say that that same night I went alone to a house on the
+outskirts of Sofia, and there met, at her urgent request, Marie
+Balesco. After apologizing for thus approaching me and throwing all
+the _convenances_ to the wind, she seemed to be highly interested in
+my welfare, and very inquisitive concerning the reasons that had
+brought me to Bulgaria.
+
+Like most women of to-day, she smoked, and offered me her
+cigarette-case. I took one--a delicious one it was, but rather
+strong--so strong, indeed, that a strange drowsiness suddenly overcame
+me. Before I could fight against it, the small, well-furnished room
+seemed to whirl about me, and I must have fallen unconscious. Indeed,
+I knew no more until, on awakening, I found myself back in my bed at
+the Hôtel de Bulgarie.
+
+I gazed at the morning sunshine upon the wall, and tried to recollect
+what had occurred.
+
+My hand seemed strangely painful. Raising it from the sheets, I looked
+at it.
+
+Upon my right palm, branded as by a hot iron, was the sign of the
+dog's pad!
+
+Horrified, I stared at it! It was the same mark I had seen upon the
+hand of old Vassos! What could be its significance?
+
+In a few days the burn healed, leaving a dark red scar, the distinct
+imprint of a dog's foot. From Mayhew I tried, by cautious questions,
+to obtain some information concerning the fair-faced girl who had
+played such a trick upon me. But he only knew her slightly. He amazed
+me by saying that she had been staying with a certain Madame Sovoff,
+who was something of a mystery, but had left Sofia.
+
+Vassos, who was still at the hotel, annoyed me on account of his
+extreme politeness, and the manner in which he appeared to spy upon my
+movements.
+
+I came across him everywhere. Inquiries concerning the reason of the
+ugly Greek's presence in Bulgaria met with a negative result. One
+thing seemed certain, he was not, as I believed, a prince incognito.
+
+How I longed to go to him, show him the mark upon my hand, and demand
+an explanation. But my curiosity was aroused, therefore I patiently
+awaited developments, my revolver always ready in my pocket in case
+of foul play.
+
+The mysterious action of the pretty girl from Galatz also puzzled me.
+
+At last the Cabinet, after much political jugglery, being deposed, the
+Council were in complete accord with Petkoff regarding my proposals.
+All had been done in secret from the party in opposition, and one day
+I had lunched with His Excellency the Minister of Finance at his house
+in the suburbs of the city.
+
+Nevertheless, I was obsessed by the strange mark which had been so
+mysteriously placed upon my hand--the same mark as that borne by the
+mysterious Vassos.
+
+"You may send a cipher dispatch to London if you like, Mr. Hargreave,"
+said the Minister Petkoff, as we sat over our cigars. "The documents
+will be all signed at the Cabinet meeting at noon to-morrow. In
+exchange for this loan raised in London, all the contracts for the new
+quick-firing guns and ammunition go to your group of London
+financiers."
+
+Such was the welcome news His Excellency imparted to me, and you may
+imagine that I lost no time in writing out a well-concealed message to
+Rayne, and sending it by the manservant to the telegraph office.
+
+For a long time I sat with His Excellency, and then he rose, inviting
+me to walk with him in the Boris Gardens, as was his habit every
+afternoon, before going down to the sitting of the Sobranje, or
+Parliament.
+
+On our way we passed Vassos, who raised his hat politely to me.
+
+"Who's that man?" inquired the Minister quickly, and I told him all I
+knew concerning the old fellow.
+
+He grunted.
+
+In the pretty public garden we were strolling together in the sundown,
+chatting upon the European unrest after the war, the new loan, and
+other matters, when, of a sudden, a black-mustached man in a dark grey
+overcoat and a round fur cap sprang from the bushes at a lonely spot,
+and, raising a big service revolver, fired point-blank at His
+Excellency.
+
+I felt for my own weapon. Alas! it was not there! _I had forgotten
+it!_
+
+The assassin, seeing the Minister reel and fall, turned his weapon
+upon me. Thereupon in an instant I threw up my hands, crying that I
+was unarmed, and an Englishman.
+
+As I did so, he started back as though terrified, and with a spring he
+disappeared again into the bushes.
+
+All had happened in a few brief instants, for ere I could realize that
+a tragedy had actually occurred, I found the unfortunate Minister
+lying lifeless at my feet. My friend had been shot through the heart!
+It was a repetition of the assassination of the Minister Stambuloff.
+
+Readers of the newspapers will recollect the tragic affair which is,
+no doubt, still fresh in their minds.
+
+I told the Chief of Police of Sofia of my strange experience, and
+showed him the mark upon my palm. Though detectives searched high and
+low for the Greek, for Madame Sovoff, and for the fascinating
+mademoiselle, none of them was ever found.
+
+The assassin was, nevertheless, arrested a week later, while trying to
+cross the frontier into Serbia. I, of course, lost by an ace Rayne's
+great financial _coup_, but before execution the prisoner made a
+confession which revealed the existence of a terrible and widespread
+conspiracy, fostered by Turkey, to remove certain members of the
+Cabinet who were in favor of British protection and assistance.
+
+Quite unconsciously I had, it seemed, become an especial favorite of
+the silent, watchful old Konstantinos Vassos. Fearing lest I, in my
+innocence, should fall a victim with His Excellency--being so often
+his companion--he had, with the assistance of the pretty Marie
+Balesco, contrived to impress upon my palm the secret sign of the
+conspirators.
+
+To this fact I certainly owe my life, for the assassin--a stranger to
+Sofia, who had been drawn by lot--would, no doubt, have shot me dead,
+had he not seen the secret sign upon my raised hand.
+
+When I returned to Overstow and related my strange adventure, Rayne
+was furious that just at the very moment when the deal by which he was
+to reap such a huge profit was complete, our friend the Minister
+should have been assassinated.
+
+Lola was in the room when I described all that had occurred, listening
+breathlessly to my narrative.
+
+I showed them both the strange mark upon my palm, a brand which I
+suppose I shall bear to my dying day.
+
+"Then you really owe your life to that girl Balesco, Mr. Hargreave?"
+she said, raising her fine dark eyes to mine.
+
+"I certainly do," I replied.
+
+Her father grunted, and after congratulating me upon my escape, said:
+
+"You had nothing to complain about regarding Titeroff, and the
+assistance he and Mayhew gave you--eh?"
+
+"Nothing. Without them I could never have acted. Indeed, I could never
+have approached the Minister Petkoff."
+
+"Yes," he remarked reflectively. "They're both wily birds. Titeroff
+feathered his nest well when he was in Constantinople, and Mayhew is
+there because of a little bit of serious trouble in Genoa a couple of
+years ago. Of course you never mentioned my name--eh?"
+
+"I only mentioned you as Mr. Goodwin--as you told me," I replied.
+
+He smiled.
+
+"They remembered me, of course?"
+
+"Yes, when I delivered your note of introduction to Titeroff, he at
+once made me welcome, and seemed much surprised that I was acquainted
+with his friend, Mr. Goodwin."
+
+It was now evident, as I had suspected, that the two men who were so
+eager to serve me were international crooks, and members of the great
+gang which Rayne controlled.
+
+"Just describe the man Vassos as fully as you can," urged Rayne.
+
+In consequence I went into a minute description of the fussy old
+Greek, to which Rayne listened most interestedly.
+
+"Yes," he said at last. "But tell me one thing. Did you notice if he
+had any deformity?"
+
+"Well--he walked with a distinct limp."
+
+"And his hand?"
+
+"The little finger on his left hand was deformed," I replied. "I now
+remember it."
+
+"Ah!" he cried in instant anger. "As I thought! It was old
+Boukaris--the sly old devil. How, I wonder, did he know that I had
+sent you to Sofia? He, no doubt, saved you by putting that mark on
+your hand, Hargreave; but the brutes have been one too many for me,
+and have done me down!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MAN WHO WAS SHY
+
+
+Some two months after that curious experience in Sofia, we were guests
+of some friends of Rayne's called Baynes, who lived at Enderby Manor,
+a few miles out of Winchester.
+
+The reason of our visit was somewhat obscure, yet as far as I could
+gather it had no connection with "business." So Rayne, Lola, and
+myself spent a very pleasant four days with one of the most charming
+families I think I have ever met.
+
+Enderby was a beautiful old place lying back in a great park and
+surrounded by woods, half-way between Winchester and Romsey, and
+George Baynes, who had made a fortune in South America, and whose wife
+was a Brazilian lady, was a splendid host.
+
+One bright afternoon Rayne had gone off somewhere with Mr. Baynes, so
+I found Lola and we both went for a stroll in the beautiful woods.
+
+For a long time we chatted merrily, when, of a sudden--I don't exactly
+know how it happened--but I took her hand, and, looking straight into
+her eyes, I declared my passion for her.
+
+I must have taken her unawares, for she drew back with a strange,
+half-frightened expression. Her breath came and went in quick gasps,
+and when she found her tongue, she replied:
+
+"No, George. It is impossible--quite impossible!"
+
+"Why?" I demanded quickly. "I love you, Lola. Can you never
+reciprocate my affection?"
+
+She shook her head sadly, but still allowing me to hold her soft
+little hand.
+
+"You must not speak of love," she whispered. "You are an honest man
+who has been entrapped and compelled to act dishonestly as you do. I
+know it all, alas! I--I know----" and she burst into tears. "I have
+discovered," she sobbed, "that my father is a thief!"
+
+"We cannot help that, Lola," I said, in deep sympathy at her distress.
+
+"No. Unfortunately we can't," she replied faintly, in a voice full of
+emotion. "But it would be fatal to us both if we loved each other.
+Surely, George, you can see that!"
+
+"I don't see it, dearest," I exclaimed, bending and kissing her fondly
+on the cheek for the first time. We had halted in the forest path, and
+now I held her in my arms, though she resisted slightly. "I love you,
+darling!" I cried. "_I love you!_"
+
+"No! No!" she protested. "You must not--you cannot love me. I am only
+the daughter of a man who, at any moment, might be arrested--a man for
+whom the police are ever in search, but cannot find."
+
+"I know all that; but you, dearest, are not a thief!" I urged, for I
+loved her with all the strength of my being--with all my soul.
+
+She trembled and sobbed, but did not reply. Her tearful face was
+hidden upon my shoulder.
+
+"Do you care for me in the least?" I whispered to her. "Tell me, dear,
+do."
+
+She was silent.
+
+I repeated my question, until at last she raised her face to mine,
+and, though she did not speak, I knew with joy that her answer was in
+the affirmative. And then I poured out my secret to her, how ever
+since I had first seen her I had loved her to distraction; and how the
+knowledge that she reciprocated my affection had rendered me the
+happiest man in the world.
+
+For a long time we remained locked in each other's arms. How long I
+cannot tell.
+
+Suddenly, when she had dried her tears, she seemed full of
+apprehension concerning my welfare.
+
+"Oh! do be careful of yourself, George!" she cried. "I am always so
+anxious about you when you are away. Father sends you on those strange
+and highly dangerous missions because he trusts you, and you, alas!
+are compelled to do his bidding. But do take care. You know well what
+the slightest blunder would mean--and you would never clear yourself,
+you know!"
+
+I promised I would take great care always, and again we moved along.
+It was not, however, until dusk that we returned to the Manor.
+
+I could not help wondering how Lola had discovered her father's true
+character and the nature of his secret "business," but on the whole I
+felt it was just as well that she knew, for she herself would exercise
+great care. And then I thought in ecstasy, "She is mine--_mine_!"
+
+Just before midnight, soon after I had retired, the door of my room
+opened, and I found Rayne in his pajamas.
+
+He placed his finger upon his lips with a gesture of silence. Then,
+closing the door noiselessly, he drew me to the opposite side of the
+room, and, showing me a photograph, said:
+
+"Look at this well, George. You'd recognize him, wouldn't you?"
+
+It was a cabinet photograph of a good-looking gentlemanly,
+clean-shaven man of about twenty-five.
+
+"Note his tiepin--a single moonstone!" added Rayne.
+
+"Yes," I said, as I gazed at the photograph.
+
+"Well, to-day is Monday," he said. "Next Thursday night I want you to
+take Madame from London in the Rolls. Go out on the Portsmouth Road by
+way of Kingston and Ditton, through Cobham, and on to Ripley. There,
+about twenty miles from London, you will find on the left-hand side an
+old-fashioned hotel called the Talbot. Stop there at half-past nine,
+and, leaving Madame in the car, go in and have a drink. Edward Houston
+will be awaiting you. Madame is just now at the Carlton. You will
+pick her up at half-past eight."
+
+"And Lola?" I asked, wondering if his daughter was to play any part in
+this new piece of trickery, whatever it might be.
+
+"She is going to Scarborough on Thursday afternoon," was her father's
+reply.
+
+"And when I meet this Mr. Houston," I asked, "what then?"
+
+"You will not meet openly. When you've had your drink and he has seen
+you, you will drive a little way along the road and there await him.
+He does not wish to be seen with you. He's rather shy, you see!" and
+the pleasant-faced man who controlled the most dangerous criminal gang
+in Europe smiled sardonically. "He has his instructions, and you will
+follow them. Take a suit-case with you, for you may be away a few
+days, or longer."
+
+I wondered what devilry he had now planned. I tried to obtain from him
+some further details, but his replies were sharp and firm.
+
+"Act just as I've told you, Hargreave. And please don't be so
+infernally inquisitive." Then, wishing me good night, he turned and
+left my room.
+
+I longed there and then to defy him and refuse to obey, yet I dared
+not, knowing full well the fate that would await me if I resisted.
+Moreover, I had Lola to consider, and if I defied her father he most
+certainly would not allow his daughter to marry me.
+
+Next morning we left Enderby by train and returned to Overstow in the
+late afternoon.
+
+Duperré had gone up to Glasgow upon some mysterious business--crooked
+without a doubt--so that night, after dining together, Rayne and I
+played a game of billiards. While we were smoking in the library prior
+to turning in, the footman tapped at the door and entered with a note.
+
+Rayne tore it open, and as he read it, I noticed that his countenance
+fell. A second later I saw that he was extremely annoyed.
+
+He rose from his chair and for a few moments hesitated. Then, in a
+rather thick voice, said:
+
+"Show him in." After the servant had gone he turned to me, and in a
+changed voice said: "Remain here, George. But never breathe a word of
+what you hear to a living soul! Remember that!"
+
+In a few moment a well-dressed, narrow-faced, bald-headed, rather
+cadaverous man was shown in. He clicked his heels together and bowed
+with foreign politeness and with a smile upon his sinister
+countenance.
+
+"I have the honor to meet Signor Rayne?" he asked, with a distinctly
+Italian accent.
+
+"That is my name," replied Rudolph inquiringly.
+
+"Good! Then you will recognize me, and my name upon my letter in which
+I have asked for this private interview."
+
+"No. I certainly do not," he said. "I have no knowledge of ever
+meeting you before!"
+
+"Ah!" laughed the stranger. "The signore's memory is evidently at
+fault. I--I hesitate to refresh it--before this gentleman," and he
+glanced at me.
+
+"Oh! you need not mind. Mr. Hargreave is my secretary, and knows all
+my confidential affairs," said Rayne, assuming an air of _bonhomie_,
+though I knew he was greatly perturbed by his visitor.
+
+"Then may I be permitted to remind you of our meeting at the Bristol
+Café, in Copenhagen, on that July night two years ago, and what
+happened to Henri Gérard, the Marseilles shipowner, later that same
+night? True, we never spoke together, for you posed as a stranger to
+my friends. But you were pointed out to me. You surely cannot ignore
+it?"
+
+"I have never been to Copenhagen in my life," protested Rayne. "What
+do you suggest?"
+
+"The truth; one that you know well, signore, notwithstanding your
+denials. You are the man known as 'The Golden Face,'" declared the
+stranger bitterly, pointing his finger at him. "You neither forget me
+nor my name, Luigi Gori, for you have much cause to remember it--you
+and your friend Stevenson, otherwise Duperré."
+
+Rayne turned furiously upon his visitor, and said:
+
+"I am in no mood to discuss anything with you. So get out! You wished
+to see me privately, and I have granted you this interview. I don't
+know your name or your business, nor do I want to know them! You seem
+to be trying to claim acquaintance with me, and----"
+
+"Pardon me, but I do so, Signor Rayne," laughed the dark-eyed man. "It
+has taken me two years to trace you, and at last I find you here! I
+came at this hour because I thought I would find you apart from your
+honorable family."
+
+"What rubbish are you talking?" demanded Rayne.
+
+"Rubbish!" echoed the stranger. "I am talking no rubbish. I am simply
+reminding you of a very serious and secret matter, namely, the
+mysterious end of Monsieur Gérard, of the Château du Sierroz in the
+Jura, and of the Avenue des Champs Elysées. The Sűreté, in combination
+with the Danish detective service, are still trying to clear up the
+affair. You and I can do it," he said; and, after a pause, he looked
+Rayne straight in the face, and asked: "Shall we? It rests with you!"
+
+Rayne frowned darkly. Never before had I witnessed such an evil look
+upon the face of any man. I knew that his brain was working swiftly,
+and I also saw that our visitor was most unwelcome--evidently an
+accomplice who had managed by some unaccountable means to penetrate
+the veil of secrecy in which the super-crook had always so
+successfully enveloped his identity.
+
+"Well," he laughed. "You really are a most dramatic person, Signor
+Gori, or whatever your name may be. I really don't understand you,
+unless you are attempting to blackmail me. And if you are, then I'll
+get my servant to show you the door."
+
+The stranger smiled meaningly, and asked quite quietly:
+
+"Is it not to your advantage, Signor Rayne, to talk this little matter
+over in a friendly spirit? I offer you the opportunity. If you refuse
+it----" And he shrugged his shoulders meaningly, without concluding
+his sentence.
+
+Rayne was silent for a few seconds. Then he said in quite a changed
+and genial tone:
+
+"I am much mystified at your visit, Signor Gori, for I certainly have
+no knowledge of you. But the hour is late. If you are staying in the
+neighborhood could you call again at noon to-morrow, when we will go
+further into this tangled affair? We seem to be at cross-purposes
+to-night."
+
+"As you wish," replied the visitor, bowing with exquisite politeness.
+"I am staying at the Fleece Hotel, at Thirsk, and I have motored out
+here. To-morrow at noon I will call upon you." And then he added in a
+hard, relentless tone: "And then I trust your memory will be
+refreshed. Signori, I wish you both _buona sera_."
+
+"Stay! I quite forgot! I shall not be here to-morrow," Rayne replied
+quickly. "I have to be out some part of the day, and also I expect
+visitors."
+
+"Then the day after?" suggested the visitor politely, to which Rayne
+sullenly replied:
+
+"Yes. The day after to-morrow, at six o'clock in the evening. I will
+be here to see you, if you still persist in pestering me. But I warn
+you, Signor Gori, that it is quite useless."
+
+The Italian smiled, bowed, and again wishing us good night, crossed
+the room as Rayne pressed the electric button for the servant.
+
+I realized that a big cloud of trouble had unexpectedly descended upon
+Overstow. When he had gone Rayne broke out into a furious series of
+imprecations and vows of vengeance upon some person whom he did not
+name, but whom he suspected of having made a _faux pas_.
+
+Suddenly, however, he bade me good night in his usual manner, as
+though nothing had occurred to disturb him. He was a man of abnormal
+intellect, defiant, fearless, and with a brain which, had it been put
+to proper usage, would undoubtedly have made him a world-famous
+Englishman. After all, the brains of great criminals, properly
+cultivated and directed, are the same brains as those possessed by our
+great leaders, whether political, commercial, or social.
+
+That night I scarcely closed my eyes in sleep. The Damoclean sword had
+apparently fallen upon the Squire of Overstow. And I recollected his
+daughter's warning.
+
+Next morning, directly after breakfast, which he ate with relish, and
+seemed quite his normal self, I drove with him at his orders over to
+Heathcote Hall, about five miles away, where lived Sir Johnson
+Burnham, one of the old Yorkshire aristocracy, who was also chairman
+of quarter sessions.
+
+I waited at the wheel while he called. I knew that the baronet was not
+at home, as a week before Lola had told me that he had gone to San
+Remo. Nevertheless, Rayne went inside, and was there quite half an
+hour. I was puzzled at his absence, but the reason seemed plain when
+the butler, bowing him out, exclaimed:
+
+"I am so sorry, Mr. Rayne, but the telephone people are, I fear, very
+slack in these days. It takes so long to get a number."
+
+So Rayne had gone to Heathcote in order to telephone to somebody in
+great urgency--somebody he dare not speak with from Overstow.
+
+As we drove back again, Rayne said:
+
+"Of course, George, you will never breathe a word of this--well, this
+little _contretemps_--or of its result. When I'm up against the wall I
+always hit hard. That's the only way. I'm not going to be
+blackmailed!"
+
+"The affair does not concern me," I replied. "What I hear in your
+presence I never repeat."
+
+"I'm glad you appreciate your position," he answered. "I'm a good
+employer to those who trust me, but an infernally bad one to those who
+doubt, who blunder, or who betray me, as you have probably learned,"
+he said in a hard voice, as we swung into the handsome lodge gates of
+Overstow.
+
+Just before luncheon Rayne was called to the telephone. I was in the
+room at the time. He apparently recognized the voice, and scribbled
+something upon the pad before him.
+
+"Will you repeat that?" he asked. "I want to be quite clear."
+
+Then he listened again very intently.
+
+"Right! I'll be with you at ten to-night," he replied, and then hung
+up the receiver.
+
+"I must go to London," he said, turning to me. "You'll drive me into
+York, and I can catch the four-thirty up. You stay here and meet that
+Italian chap to-morrow at six, and tell him that I'm up at Half Moon
+Street. Give him my address, and ask him to see me there. After you've
+seen him, start in the car for London and carry out the instructions I
+gave you on Monday."
+
+Then he went to his room, changed his clothes, and came down to lunch
+in very bright spirits. It seemed that by the Italian's visit he was
+now not in the least perturbed.
+
+I drove him with Lola to York, where he went to London and Lola to
+Scarborough. Afterwards I dined at the Station Hotel alone, and
+returned to Overstow, which seemed chill and lonely. The local doctor
+happily looked in during the evening, and I played him a game at
+billiards.
+
+In impatient curiosity I waited until next day, when, punctually at
+six o'clock, Signor Gori was shown into a little room adjoining the
+great hall, and there I joined him in the capacity of a busy man's
+secretary.
+
+"I much regret, Signor Gori," I said, after we had bowed, "but Mr.
+Rayne was called to London quite unexpectedly upon some very urgent
+business. He presents his apologies and asks whether you can manage to
+meet him in London when it is convenient to you. Will you telephone to
+him?" And I gave him the address of Rayne's rooms.
+
+"His apologies!" echoed the Italian, with a very marked accent and a
+gesture of ridicule. "The apologies of 'The Golden Face'! Ah! my dear
+friend, you are his secretary; you are not the principal in this very
+serious affair."
+
+"Serious. How?" I asked in pretense of ignorance, and hoping thereby
+to learn something.
+
+"_Madonna Santa!_ You do not know--you do not realize the depths of
+that man's villainy! I do! I am the one person who has penetrated the
+veil of secrecy beneath which he has so long remained hidden. Quérot,
+of the Paris Sűreté, and Tetani, of the Public Security of Italy, are
+my friends. I can now go to them, as I shall."
+
+"My dear sir!" I exclaimed. "The matter is no affair of mine! I am
+simply a paid secretary to do Mr. Rayne's correspondence, and
+sometimes to drive his car. There my engagement ends."
+
+"Then be very careful! Be warned by me!" the Italian cried, gazing at
+me very seriously. "This man, your employer, is the leader of the most
+wonderfully organized gang of criminals in Europe. I happen to know."
+
+"How?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me strangely, and his manner changed. His dark eyes
+seemed to search mine, and then next instant he smiled mysteriously.
+
+"I will tell you the truth," he said. "The reason I know is because I
+have unwittingly--owing to a little lapse from the path of
+honesty--been made one of the tools of this man whose marvelous brain
+controls the actions of dozens of the most unscrupulous and dangerous
+thieves on the Continent. My suspicions were aroused by something a
+woman told me in Paris, and for many months I have been unceasing in
+my inquiries. I have at last discovered the well-concealed chief who
+gives his orders like a general in the field, and those orders are
+obeyed to the letter without question, and always to the profit of
+those who execute them. And here," he added, gazing around, "I am in
+the fine house of the man of mystery for whom the police are ever
+seeking--'The Golden Face'!"
+
+"What you have said certainly surprises me," I replied. "Surely there
+must be some mistake. Mr. Rayne is not the leader of a criminal gang.
+He is simply a country landowner here."
+
+"Under that guise he poses unsuspected by the police," laughed my
+visitor. "You can rest assured that I have made every inquiry and that
+now I know."
+
+"And what are your intentions?" I asked. "Surely you will go and see
+him in London?"
+
+The truth was out, and I saw that the Italian meant mischief.
+
+"Perhaps I shall go to the police at once," he said. "Perhaps I shall
+go to London. I shall consider. He made an appointment and he has
+broken his promise. He fears me! That is quite plain. But, signore, I
+am here in England to bring him to justice, if only for one very
+serious crime--a crime that a woman witness I have can prove!"
+
+"This is all very distressing to me, especially as Mr. Rayne has a
+daughter, a young lady who is entirely ignorant of her father's source
+of income," I said.
+
+"Ignorant!" he echoed. "Ah! my dear signore, do not think the
+Signorina Lola is ignorant! I have waited and watched. I know more
+than you or Signor Rayne ever suspect. The girl may affect ignorance,
+but she knows, and I can prove it!"
+
+His words caused me to start. I certainly did not like the man's
+attitude, for whatever I said, or whatever pretense I made, he refused
+to be appeased. All I could do in the circumstances was to express
+regret that Mr. Rayne had been compelled to go to London, and to again
+ask him to call at Half Moon Street.
+
+His allegations against Lola incensed me. I tried to obtain from him
+further details of his allegations, but he remained mysterious and
+triumphant. So in that spirit he left me, and departed in the car he
+had hired from Thirsk.
+
+After a hurried dinner I got out the Rolls, filled up the tank, and
+set out on the long journey to London. As hour after hour I swept
+along the great North Road, my big headlights glaring before me, I
+felt more than ever apprehensive.
+
+Could it be that the bald-headed man had actually discovered the
+leading spirit of the great gang of which I could only suppose he had
+been an unimportant member? If so, then for my own safety I ought to
+warn Rayne of his peril. Yet it was all hateful to me. I had been
+inveigled into that untenable position which I held, and now escape
+was impossible. I felt, however, in honor bound to protect Lola, even
+though that Italian crook had made those airy allegations against her.
+
+I drove on through the night against a pelting rain that fell between
+Grantham and Stamford, but at the Wansford cross-roads it cleared up,
+and gradually the gray dawn showed.
+
+It was half-past eight when I drove into the garage off the Tottenham
+Court Road, and I took a taxi to the Great Central Hotel, where I had
+a wash and a sleep till noon.
+
+Then I went round to Half Moon Street, but found that Rayne was at the
+Automobile Club. I found him there just as he was going in to lunch
+with two ladies whom I had never before seen.
+
+My presence seemed to alarm him, for with excuse he left the ladies
+and took me out into the big hall.
+
+There I told him of Gori's visit and of his threats.
+
+He laughed.
+
+"I only hope he will come and see me, George," he said. "But somehow,
+I don't think he will! You know now what to do. Madame is alone at the
+Carlton and ready to accompany you. I'm sorry I can't give you lunch,
+George, but I have two guests. I shall be anxious to know how you get
+on. Telephone to me in confidence after you've been to Ripley, won't
+you? Good-by."
+
+And he passed across the hall and rejoined his two smartly dressed
+guests, crooks, like himself, I supposed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE SIGN OF NINETY-NINE
+
+
+At half-past eight I called for Duperré's wife at the hotel, and she
+came down wearing a plain, dark-brown motor coat with a small,
+close-fitting cap to match. She was, indeed, unusually dowdy in
+appearance.
+
+"Well, George," she exclaimed, as she sat behind me in the car and I
+drove down Pall Mall, "we're going out on a little adventure, I
+understand. Do you know where we're going?"
+
+"Down to Ripley, on the Portsmouth Road," I replied. "I have to meet a
+man named Houston at the Talbot Hotel. That's all I know," I answered.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I know Houston. We must be careful to-night--very
+careful."
+
+We went through the crooked roads of Kingston and out through Surbiton
+towards Ditton, when, after a long silence, she exclaimed as she bent
+towards me:
+
+"Tell me, George, have you ever heard the name of Gori, and if so, in
+what connection? I ask this in confidence between ourselves, as the
+outcome may mean much to both of us."
+
+"I don't quite understand you, Madame," was my polite reply. "I only
+wish your husband had asked that question."
+
+"Look here," she said in a low, tense voice, "you love Lola! I know
+you do. Then will you, for her sake, reply to me openly and frankly?
+Have you in these past few days met a bald-headed Italian named Luigi
+Gori? And in what circumstances?"
+
+I remained silent for some minutes. Then I said:
+
+"I have met a man named Gori. He called upon Rudolph."
+
+"When?" she gasped.
+
+"He called on Monday night."
+
+Madame Duperré held her breath for a few moments. She seemed to be
+calculating.
+
+"I recognize certain grave probabilities in Gori's visit," she said,
+and then lapsed again into silence.
+
+Presently I pulled up before the big old seventeenth-century
+posting-house in the long, quiet village of Ripley, once noted in the
+late Victorian craze of the "push-bike" as being the Mecca of the
+daring cyclist who ran out of London and back.
+
+The great gateway through which the mail coaches for Portsmouth used
+to rumble was dark and cavernous, but on the right I saw a small door,
+and opening it found myself in a very low-ceiled but cosy bar, in
+which burned a great log fire with shining pewters above it. The
+Talbot is nothing if not a link with the days of the highwaymen of
+Weybridge Heath. Few inns in England are so unspoiled by modern
+improvements as the Talbot, at Ripley.
+
+In the rather dim light of that low-pitched, well-warmed inn parlor,
+with its wide, inviting chimney-corner, I saw four men. One of them,
+facing the firelight, I recognized from the photographs Rayne had
+shown me--the man with the moonstone in his tie.
+
+I ordered my drink loudly, and looked him full in the face. Then, when
+a few moments later I had drunk it, I wished the barman good night and
+went out. Reëntering the car, I drove out of the village towards
+Guildford, and there waited expectantly. In ten minutes he came out of
+the darkness.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave?" he asked, and, after replying, I invited him inside
+the car, whereupon he at once recognized Madame in the half-light. It
+was plain that they were known to each other.
+
+"I expected Vincent would be with you. Where is he?" asked the man
+named Houston.
+
+"He's away. I don't know exactly where he is," Madame replied. "But
+what game are we going to play to-night?"
+
+"A very merry one. It may be amusing, it may be tragic," was the man's
+reply. "We're picking up May Cranston at Horsley Station presently."
+
+"May Cranston!" echoed Madame, astounded. "I thought she went to
+America after that affair in Dinard!"
+
+"So she did, but she's back again. May is a pretty shrewd girl, you
+know."
+
+"I'm well aware of that. But why are we meeting her?"
+
+"She'll probably tell you," was the fellow's reply, and, at his
+direction, I turned the car into a narrow side road which ran for
+miles through woods and coppices until at last, after passing through
+two small villages, we came to a wayside station dimly lit by oil
+lamps.
+
+There we waited for about a quarter of an hour, when the slow train
+from Waterloo ran in, and from a first-class carriage there stepped a
+tall, well-dressed girl wearing a rich fur coat and small hat. She was
+evidently expecting the car to meet her, for she walked straight up to
+it and entered, being greeted by Madame and Houston, who were inside.
+
+I followed the newcomer and got into the driver's seat, whereupon
+Madame introduced me.
+
+The moment she opened her lips I knew she was American, and also from
+her speech and expressions I knew that she was a crook who moved in
+good society.
+
+"We'll drive through Merrow and over to Hindhead," Houston said. "We'd
+better avoid the High Street of Guildford, for the police might
+possibly spot the car. So we'll go by the side roads. I was over there
+three days ago on a motor-bike, so I'll pilot you."
+
+And then he turned to gossip merrily with the good-looking American
+girl, who seemed most enthusiastic concerning our mysterious
+adventure.
+
+"To-night ought to bring us a clear twenty thousand pounds," he said.
+
+"More, my dear Teddy," the girl replied. "But since I saw you in
+Chicago four months ago I've had a very narrow squeak. I was nearly
+pinched by old Shenstone from New York. Dicky Diamond gave me the tip,
+and I cleared out from my hotel just in time. Had to leave all my
+trunks and eight thousand dollars' worth of jewelry behind me. And now
+I dare not claim them, for the police have seized them. Somebody gave
+me away, but I don't know who. Wouldn't I like to know--just! You bet
+I'd get even on them!"
+
+"A good job you were warned," said Madame. "Dicky was over here last
+June. I spent the evening with him at Prince's."
+
+"He's over here now. Waiting for me in Liverpool. I've got my passage
+booked back for to-morrow night, so if the hue and cry is raised I
+shall have left. I'm in the passengers' list as Mrs. George C.
+Meredith, wife of the well-known Chicago stock-broker. See my ring!"
+she laughed, holding up her hand in the semi-darkness. "Ain't it a
+real fine one? And you are my mother, Madame! See?"
+
+"But where are we going?" asked Duperré's wife.
+
+"Going to make an unexpected call upon old Bethmeyer," she replied.
+
+"Bethmeyer!" I exclaimed. "What, old Sir Joseph Bethmeyer, the
+millionaire whom they call the mystery man of Europe, the man who is
+said to have a finger in every financial pie all over Europe?"
+
+"Yes, I guess it's the same man," replied our sprightly companion. "He
+lives at Frenbury Park, a splendid place between Hindhead and
+Farnham."
+
+What, I wondered, could they possibly want with Sir Joseph Bethmeyer,
+the man who had, it was said, been behind the ex-Emperor Carl in his
+endeavor to regain the throne of the Hapsburgs, and who was declared
+to be immensely wealthy, though the source of his great riches could
+never be discovered. I knew him from the photographs so frequently in
+the papers, a stout, full-bearded, Teutonic-looking man, who claimed
+Swedish nationality, and who frequently gave large sums to charity,
+apparently in order to propitiate the British Government, who were
+more than suspicious of his oft-repeated good intentions.
+
+At Houston's suggestion we stopped at a small hotel in Godalming, and
+there had supper, for it was yet early, and the American girl had
+dropped a hint that we should not go near Frenbury till past midnight.
+As we sat at table in a private room, I saw that she was exceedingly
+handsome, with a pair of coal-black eyes and a shrewd, alert
+expression, but her American accent was not always pronounced. Indeed,
+when she liked, she could conceal it altogether.
+
+She wore a fine diamond bracelet, her only ornament. Yet during our
+meal Houston whispered something to her, whereupon she half drew from
+beneath her fur coat something that glinted in the light, and I saw
+it was a very serviceable-looking revolver.
+
+A few moments later we heard a car pull up, and a heavy-booted man
+entered the hall of the hotel. The door of our room opened, and a
+thick-set, clean-shaven man of about forty glanced in inquisitively,
+almost instantly shutting the door again.
+
+Next second May Cranston sprang to her feet with blanched face and
+terrified eyes.
+
+"That's Hedley!--old Bethmeyer's secretary! If he's recognized me,
+then the game is up," she whispered hoarsely.
+
+"But did he?" queried Houston, who sat next to her. "I don't think he
+noticed anybody. He simply saw that this was a private party and
+withdrew. He's evidently gone to the bar."
+
+"He's on his way to Frenbury from London, no doubt," said the girl.
+
+"Don't go farther if you think there's any risk," Madame urged.
+
+"But it must be done, and to-night!" the girl said. "Remember I leave
+Liverpool to-morrow evening if there's trouble, and you--my
+mother--have got to see me off!"
+
+"I'll go into the bar and watch him," I volunteered, and rising, I
+went to a kind of pigeon-hole which gave access to the bar, and
+through which I could see into the room beyond. The man whom Miss
+Cranston had recognized as Hedley was smoking a cigarette and calmly
+drinking a whisky-and-soda. Afterwards I walked to the door and saw
+that the car was turned towards London, a reassuring fact which I
+reported to my companions.
+
+"Then he's going away from Frenbury, and won't be at home to-night!"
+cried the American girl gleefully.
+
+When he had gone we drove nearly to Petersfield, and it was
+considerably past midnight when, on our return, we descended that long
+hill which leads from Hindhead. Then, after turning off the main road
+for some time, we came to a narrow lane which led into a dark wood,
+where Houston suddenly stopped me and ordered me to switch out the
+lights.
+
+Scarcely had I done this when two men emerged mysteriously from the
+shadow, and one of them, addressing Houston, said:
+
+"You're pretty punctual, Teddy! Sam isn't here yet. He's walking from
+Haslemere."
+
+"No! he's here all right!" exclaimed a voice clearly in the darkness,
+as a third man came forward.
+
+"May is in the car," Houston explained. "Is everything ready?"
+
+"Yes; when you get along here fifty yards more you can see the house.
+The old fellow sleeps in the first-floor room on the corner. The light
+has just been switched off, so he's gone to bed all right."
+
+Meanwhile the American girl had stepped from the car, and, greeting
+them all as "boys," listened to what was said.
+
+"Let's hope the old boy will sleep comfortably, eh?" she laughed
+gayly. "If he doesn't it will be the worse for him! His wife is in
+Paris, or she might prove a bit of trouble to us."
+
+"I know the ground exactly," remarked one of the three men. "I wasn't
+in service here as footman for six weeks for nothing," he added with a
+laugh.
+
+"Well, come on," said Houston, who seemed to be the leader of the
+adventures. "Let's get to work," and, picking up a bag which one of
+the men had put down, he pressed into my hand a short, circular
+electric torch, saying:
+
+"Be careful not to press the button, because when the light is
+switched on the shot is fired! Only you might require it. One never
+knows! Come on."
+
+May Cranston walked noiselessly with us, while in front the three men
+stalked quietly, speaking only in low whispers. Soon we came to a path
+which led into a great park, which we skirted, keeping still in the
+shadow of the trees, for the moon, though nearly gone, still shed some
+unwelcome light. The silence was only broken by our footsteps on the
+leaves. Silhouetted against the sky was the magnificent old
+castle-like mansion with many turrets in which dwelt the world's
+mystery man of finance.
+
+At last we approached quite close to the house, and, crossing the
+broad terrace, we halted at the direction of our guide who had acted
+as footman there.
+
+Before us was a row of long French windows. One of these the man
+known as Sam attacked in a methodical way with a short steel jimmy,
+and in a few moments he had noiselessly opened it, and while somebody
+showed a torch, we all entered what was, I found, a long and luxurious
+drawing-room.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave! You remain here!" said the girl Cranston, who now
+assumed the leadership. "If occasion arises don't hesitate to use your
+torch. All you have to do is to keep this way of retreat open. Leave
+all the rest to us."
+
+Then, still guided by the ex-footman, she disappeared with the four
+men.
+
+What was intended I could not guess. We had broken into one of the
+most magnificent houses in England, and no doubt an extensive burglary
+had been planned.
+
+I waited in the big, dark room for nearly twenty minutes, when
+suddenly I heard heavy, stumbling footsteps returning, and became
+conscious that the men, aided by the woman, were carrying with them a
+heavy human form. It was enveloped in black cloth and trussed up
+firmly with stout rope.
+
+"Say, are you all right, Mr. Hargreave?" inquired the American
+girl-crook.
+
+I replied in the affirmative, whereupon she whispered: "Good! Come
+right along. It's worked beautifully. The old boy started up to see me
+at his bedside, and put on his dressing-gown to talk to me. Oh! it was
+real fun! He dared only speak in a whisper for fear the servants
+overheard. I told him I was thirsty, and he took me into his study.
+We had drinks, and I put him quietly to sleep with a couple of drops
+of the soothing syrup. When he comes to himself he'll have the shock
+of his life. Six months ago in Philadelphia--when I wanted some
+money--he defied me. Now it will cost the old skinflint a very big sum
+if he wants to see the light of day again! If he won't pay up, well,
+we are none the worse off, are we?"
+
+A quarter of an hour later they had placed the unconscious form of Sir
+Joseph in the car, and, bidding farewell to the three stalwart men,
+who were, no doubt, professional thieves from London, we started back
+swiftly through Farnham and Aldershot, thence by way of Reading and
+along the Bath Road to a lonely house somewhere outside Hounslow,
+where the American girl stopped me.
+
+There the unconscious man was carried in, and while the others
+remained in the house--which I think had been taken furnished and
+specially for the purpose--I was ordered to return to London alone,
+which I did, most thankful to end that exciting night's adventure.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On my return to the garage off the Tottenham Court Road at half-past
+three in the morning, the man on duty told me that a man's voice had
+inquired for me about nine o'clock.
+
+"He seemed very anxious indeed to find you. But he told me to give you
+a number--number ninety-nine! Sounds like a doctor, eh, sir?"
+remarked the man.
+
+I stood aghast at the message.
+
+"Are you sure that was the number?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. I wrote it down here. He gave a Mayfair telephone number,"
+and he showed me the note he had made.
+
+It was a message from Rayne! That number was the one agreed upon by
+all of us as a signal that some extreme danger had occurred, and it
+became necessary for us all to keep apart and disperse.
+
+I got into the car and drove out of the garage again, not knowing how
+to act. In Oxford Street, at that hour silent and deserted, I drew up,
+and, taking a piece of paper from my notebook, I wrote down the
+figures "99," and, placing it in a small envelope which I fortunately
+found in my wallet, I addressed it to Madame Duperré, and left it with
+the night porter at the Carlton, urging him to give it to her
+immediately on her return.
+
+Then I drove to the Strand telegraph office, and thence dispatched a
+well-guarded message to Lola at Scarborough, telling her to meet me
+without fail at the Station Hotel at Hull that afternoon and bring her
+passport with her.
+
+This she did, and when we met I told her of her father's unwelcome
+visitor, the man Gori, and that he feared the police. Both of us
+decided to pose as runaway lovers and leave the country, which we
+did, I having succeeded in obtaining two berths upon a Wilson steamer
+crossing to Bergen.
+
+It was not until a week later that we read in the English newspapers
+the sensation caused by the arrest of Mr. Rudolph Rayne of Overstow
+Hall, Yorkshire, upon an extradition warrant applied for by the Danish
+Government. The prisoner had been brought up at Bow Street, and, after
+certain mysterious evidence had been given, he had been remanded.
+
+In due course Rayne was conveyed to Copenhagen, where he was tried for
+complicity in a great bank fraud on the Danish National Bank, and sent
+to twenty years' penal servitude. Hence to the British public Rayne's
+actual activities were never revealed.
+
+I can only suppose that my warning to Madame had its effect, and that
+she, her husband and all her friends took flight.
+
+Whether they obtained the money they sought as ransom for old Sir
+Joseph Bethmeyer I know not. Probably they did, for nothing appeared
+in the papers concerning his disappearance.
+
+Eventually I succeeded in getting Lola safely to her aunt in Paris,
+where, though her father's downfall is still a great blow to her, she
+is living in peace under another name, while I have found honest
+employment in the office of a French shipping company in Bordeaux.
+
+Lola is my fiancée, and we are to be married next June. One subject,
+however, we have mutually agreed never to mention, namely, the evil
+machinations and ingenious activities of her father, the man who had,
+for some mysterious reason of his own, ascertained that I could sing,
+and who, in overconfidence at his own cunning, was at last
+unmasked--"The Golden Face."
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters' errors;
+otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's
+words and intent.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Golden Face
+       A Great 'Crook' Romance
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009 [EBook #27705]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN FACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="centerbox bbox">
+
+<h1>THE GOLDEN FACE</h1>
+
+<h2><i>A GREAT &#8220;CROOK&#8221; ROMANCE</i></h2>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM LE QUEUX</h2>
+
+<p class="center">AUTHOR OF &#8220;MADEMOISELLE OF MONTE CARLO,&#8221;<br />
+&#8220;THE STRETTON STREET AFFAIR&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="biggap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h4>NEW YORK</h4>
+
+<h3>THE MACAULAY COMPANY</h3></div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1922, by</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">THE MACAULAY COMPANY</p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 323px;">
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="323" height="500" alt="Lady Lydbrook" title="" />
+<span class="caption">I slipped the pendant into Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s soft hand as
+she stood in <i>d&eacute;shabille</i> at the half-opened door of her bedroom.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">CHAPTER</td>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Private and Personal</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#THE_GOLDEN_FACE">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Room Number</span> 88</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">16</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Man with the Hump</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">30</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Four False Fingers</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">43</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Concerns Mr. Blumenfeld</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">59</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">At Three-Eighteen a.m.</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">73</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Little Lady Lydbrook</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">87</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Cat&#8217;s Tooth</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">99</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lola is Again Suspicious</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">113</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Painted Envelope</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">127</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Gentleman from Rome</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">140</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Silver Spider</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">151</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIII</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Abdul Hamid&#8217;s Jewels</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">170</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIV</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Vengeance of Tai-K&#8217;an</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">186</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XV</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Other People&#8217;s Money</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">201</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVI</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Man who was Shy</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">215</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVII</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sign of Ninety-nine</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">232</a></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_GOLDEN_FACE" id="THE_GOLDEN_FACE"></a>THE GOLDEN FACE</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>PRIVATE AND PERSONAL</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">n</span> order to ease my conscience and, further, to disclose certain facts
+which for the past year or two have, I know, greatly puzzled readers
+of our daily newspapers, I have decided to here reveal some very
+curious and, perhaps, sensational circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, after much perplexity and long consideration, I have
+resolved, without seeking grace or favor, to make a clean breast of
+all that happened to me, and to leave the reader to judge of my
+actions, and either to condemn or to condone my offenses.</p>
+
+<p>I will begin at the beginning.</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that service in the Army has upset the average man&#8217;s
+chances of prosperity in civil life. That, I regret, is quite true.</p>
+
+<p>When I, George Hargreave, came out of the Army after the Armistice, I
+found myself, like many hundreds of other ex-officers, completely at a
+loose end, without a shilling in the world over and above the gratuity
+of between two and three hundred pounds to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>which my period of
+commissioned service entitled me.</p>
+
+<p>Grown accustomed during the war, however, to fending for myself and
+overcoming difficulties and problems of one sort and another, I at
+once set to work to look about for any kind of employment for which I
+fancied I might be fitted. After answering many advertisements to no
+purpose, I one day happened upon one in <i>The Times</i> which rather
+stirred my curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>It stated that a gentleman of good position, who had occasion to
+travel in many parts of the world, would like to hear from a young man
+with considerable experience in motor driving. The applicant should
+not be over thirty, and it was essential that he should be a gentleman
+and well educated, with a knowledge of foreign languages if possible;
+also that he should be thoroughly trustworthy and possessed of
+initiative. The salary would be a very liberal one.</p>
+
+<p>Application was to be made by letter only to a certain box at the
+office of <i>The Times</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote at once, and received some days later a reply signed &#8220;<i>per
+pro</i> Rudolph Rayne,&#8221; asking me to call to see the advertiser, who said
+he would be awaiting me at a certain small h&ocirc;tel-de-luxe in the West
+End at three o&#8217;clock on the following afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>I arrived at the highly aristocratic hotel at five minutes to three,
+and was conducted to a private sitting-room by a page who, on ushering
+me in, indicated <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>a good-looking, middle-aged man seated near the
+window, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman looked up as I approached, then put down his paper,
+rose, and extended his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. George Hargreave?&#8221; he inquired in a pleasant voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Mr. Rudolph Rayne, I presume?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He bowed, and pointed to a chair close to his own. Then he sat down
+again, and I followed his example.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have received hundreds of replies to my advertisement,&#8221; was his
+first remark, &#8220;and the reason why your application is one of the few I
+have answered is that I liked the frank way in which you expressed
+yourself. Can you sing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sing?&#8221; I exclaimed, startled at the unexpected question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sing,&#8221; he repeated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, yes, I do sing occasionally,&#8221; I said. &#8220;That is to say, I used
+to at the sing-songs in France at sergeants&#8217; messes, and so on. But
+perhaps you mightn&#8217;t consider it singing if you heard me,&#8221; I ended
+lightly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very good, very good,&#8221; he observed absent-mindedly. &#8220;And you can
+drive a Rolls?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can drive a Rolls and several other cars as well,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I
+was a driver in the R. A. S. C. early in the war.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he focused his gaze upon me, and his keen, penetrating gray
+eyes seemed to pierce into my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>soul and read my inmost thoughts. For
+perhaps half a minute he remained looking at me like that, then
+suddenly he said shortly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are engaged, Mr. Hargreave. Your salary will be six hundred
+pounds a year, paid monthly in advance, in addition to your living and
+incidental expenses. I leave for Yorkshire by the midday train from
+King&#8217;s Cross to-morrow, and you will come with me. Good afternoon, Mr.
+Hargreave. By the way, you might take this suit-case with you, and
+bring it to the station to-morrow,&#8221; and he pointed to a small
+suit-case of brown leather on the floor beside his chair.</p>
+
+<p>The whole interview had not lasted three minutes and I went away
+obsessed by a feeling of astonishment. Mr. Rayne had not
+cross-questioned me, as I naturally had expected him to do, nor had he
+asked for my credentials. In addition he had fixed my salary at six
+hundred pounds, without even inquiring what wages I wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Obviously a character, an oddity, I said to myself as I passed out of
+the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Had I suspected then that Mr. Rudolph Rayne was the sort of &#8220;oddity&#8221; I
+later found him to be, I should have refused to accept the situation
+even had he offered me two thousand a year.</p>
+
+<p>Though, during the interview, my attention had been more or less
+concentrated on Mr. Rayne, I had not been so deeply engrossed as to
+fail to notice an exceptionally beautiful, dark-eyed girl, who had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>entered while we had been speaking and who was seated on a settee a
+little way off. She, too, had stared very hard at me.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rayne was accompanied on that journey to Yorkshire by the pretty
+dark-eyed girl who was his daughter Lola, and by his valet, a very
+silent, stiff-necked, morose individual, whose personality did not
+attract me. He seemed, however, to be an exceptionally efficient
+person, so far as his duties were concerned, and on our arrival at the
+little wayside station about twelve miles beyond Thirsk, where we had
+changed trains, he proceeded to take charge of the luggage, all but
+the suit-case which I still carried.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the little station a magnificent Rolls limousine, colored a
+dull gray, awaited us, and when the luggage had all been put on it,
+Mr. Rayne surprised me by asking me to take the wheel then and there.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My chauffeur left last week, but Paul will show you the road,&#8221; he
+said, as the valet seated himself beside me. &#8220;Overstow is about ten
+miles off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I don&#8217;t know why it was, but that girl&#8217;s dark eyes seemed to haunt me.
+She was just behind me with her father, and twice when I had occasion
+to look round to ask Mr. Rayne some question or other, I found her
+gaze fixed on mine, which, foolishly I will admit, disconcerted me.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rayne himself addressed me only once of his own accord during the
+drive, and that was to ask me again if I sang.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Why the dickens does he want to know if I sing?&#8221; was my mental
+comment when I had replied that I sang a little, without reminding him
+that he had put the same question to me on the previous day. For an
+instant the thought flashed across me that perhaps my new employer had
+some kink in his brain to do with singing; and yet, I reflected, that
+seemed hardly likely to be the case with a man who in all other
+respects appeared to be so exceptionally sane.</p>
+
+<p>I was still cogitating this, when the car sped round a wide curve in
+the road and beyond big lodge gates a large imposing mansion of modern
+architecture came suddenly into view about half a mile away, partly
+concealed by beautiful woods sloping down to it from both sides of the
+valley. Slackening speed as we came near the lodge, I was about to
+stop to let Paul alight to open the gates, beyond which stretched the
+long winding avenue of tall trees, when a man came running out of the
+lodge and made haste to throw the gates open.</p>
+
+<p>My first surprise on our arrival at Overstow Hall&mdash;and I was to have
+many more surprises before I had been long in Mr. Rayne&#8217;s service&mdash;was
+at finding that though my employer had quite a large staff of
+servants, there was not a woman amongst them! Several guests were
+staying in the house, including a middle-aged lady, called Madame,
+whose position I could not exactly place, though she appeared to be in
+charge of the establishment, in charge also of Lola.</p>
+
+<p>Towards ten o&#8217;clock next morning the footman <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>came to tell me that Mr.
+Rayne wanted to see me at once in the library.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s in one of his queer moods this morning,&#8221; the young man said, &#8220;so
+you had better be careful. His letters have upset him, I think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I thanked the lad for his hint, but on my way to the library, a room I
+had not yet been in, I missed my bearings, entered a room under the
+impression that it might be the library, and had hardly done so when
+the sound of men&#8217;s voices in a room adjoining came to me&mdash;the door
+between the rooms stood partly open.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you certain, Rudolph,&#8221; one of the men was saying, &#8220;that this new
+chauffeur of yours is the man for the job?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have I ever made a mistake in summing up a man?&#8221; I heard Rayne
+answer. &#8220;I always trust my judgment when choosing a new hand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Where, before, had I heard the first speaker&#8217;s voice? I knew that
+voice quite well, yet, try as I would, I could not for the life of me
+place it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; the first speaker replied; &#8220;but, remember, in this case we are
+running an enormous risk. If the least hitch should occur&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They lowered their voices until their talk became inaudible, and
+presently I heard one of them go out of the room. After waiting a
+minute longer I left the room and went along the short passage, which
+I now knew must lead to the room where I had heard them talking.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p><p>Rayne was alone, standing on the hearthrug with his back to the big,
+open firegrate.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you send for me, sir?&#8221; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did, Hargreave,&#8221; he replied in a friendly tone. &#8220;I sent for you
+because I want you to go to Paris to-night. You will take with you the
+suit-case you still have in your possession, and as you will go by a
+trading steamer from Newcastle, the voyage will take you some days.
+The suit-case contains valuable documents, so you must on no account
+let it out of your sight, even for a minute, from the time you leave
+here until you hand it over personally to the gentleman I am sending
+you to&mdash;Monsieur Duperr&eacute;. He is staying at the H&ocirc;tel Ombrone, that
+very smart and exclusive place in the Rue de Rivoli. He will give you
+a receipt, which you will bring back to me here at once, coming then
+by the ordinary route. You won&#8217;t go by train to-day to Newcastle; you
+will drive yourself there in the Fiat. Paul will go with you and drive
+the car back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He went on to give me one or two minor instructions, and then ended:
+&#8220;That&#8217;s all, Hargreave.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was walking back along the passage when Rayne&#8217;s pretty daughter Lola
+came out of the room I had first entered. She must have come out
+expressly to meet me, because when close to me she stopped abruptly,
+glanced to right and left, and then asked me quickly in an undertone:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is my father sending you on any journey, Mr. Hargreave?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>Again her wonderful dark eyes became fixed upon mine, as they had done
+on the previous day during the drive from the railway station.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t try to deceive me,&#8221; she said earnestly. &#8220;You will find it far
+better to confide in me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The words so astonished me that for the moment I could not reply.
+Then, all at once, a strange feeling of curiosity came over me. Why
+all this secrecy about the suit-case? I mentally asked myself. And
+what an odd idea to send me to Paris by that long roundabout sea
+route! What could be the reason?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am not deceiving you, Miss Rayne,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>She only smiled and turned abruptly away.</p>
+
+<p>Then, for the first time, I found myself wondering what could be these
+precious documents Rayne had told me the suit-case contained? That the
+suit-case was locked, I knew! He had not unlocked it since he had
+placed it in my charge in London two days before.</p>
+
+<p>My employer gave me some money, and I started two hours later in the
+Fiat. As I sped along the broad road from Thirsk south towards York,
+with Paul beside me silent as ever, I could not get thoughts of Lola
+out of my mind.</p>
+
+<p>Once more I saw her gazing up at me with that peculiar, anxious
+expression I had noticed when we had met in the passage, and I
+regretted that I had not prolonged our conversation then, and tried to
+find out what distressed her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p>Several times I spoke to Paul, but he answered only in monosyllables.</p>
+
+<p>We reached Newcastle in plenty of time, for the boat was not due to
+sail before early next morning, and I felt relieved at being at last
+rid of my uncongenial companion.</p>
+
+<p>I had an evening paper in my pocket, and, to while away the time, I
+lay in my narrow berth and began to read. Presently my glance rested
+upon a paragraph which stated that two days before a dressing-case
+belonging to Lady Norah Kendrew disappeared in the most extraordinary
+manner from the hotel in London where she was staying. Exactly what
+happened had been related to the enterprising reporter by Lady Norah
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My dressing-case containing all my jewelry was locked and on a table
+near my bed,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I went out of the room soon after half-past
+ten this morning, my maid, who has been with me eight years, remaining
+in the room adjoining to put some of my things away&mdash;the door between
+the rooms remained ajar, she says. Whether or not the jewel-case was
+still there when she herself went out to lunch at about one o&#8217;clock
+she cannot say, as she did not go into my bedroom again. She shut the
+door behind her when she went out of the sitting-room into the
+corridor, and locked it. I first missed the jewel-case when I returned
+to my room at about a quarter past three in the afternoon. The
+contents are worth twenty thousand pounds. It seems hardly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>possible
+that anybody could have entered the bedroom unheard while my maid was
+in the sitting-room with the door between the two rooms ajar, so my
+belief is that it must have been stolen between the time she went to
+lunch and the time I returned. I am offering a big reward for the
+return of the jewel-case with its contents intact.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The paragraph interested me because of the hotel where the robbery&mdash;if
+robbery it was&mdash;had taken place, and the fact that I had happened to
+be in that hotel on the very day of the robbery!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, well,&#8221; I remember saying to myself, &#8220;if women will be so careless
+as to leave valuable property like that unguarded they must expect to
+take the consequences.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then my thoughts wandered from the newspaper, and I found myself
+wondering what Lady Norah Kendrew might be like&mdash;if she were young or
+old, plain or pretty, married or unmarried. And I suppose naturally
+that train of thought brought Lola once more into my imagination. I
+had, remember, to all intents, hardly seen her, and she had spoken to
+me only twice. Yet her personality literally obsessed me. That I was
+foolish to let it I fully realized. But how many of us can completely
+master our moods, our impulses and our emotions on all occasions?</p>
+
+<p>The weather at sea remained fine, yet I found that long, slow voyage
+most tedious. I had nothing to do but read, for I could not disregard
+Mr. Rayne&#8217;s strict instructions that I must on no account let the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>suit-case out of my sight, and in consequence I could not leave my
+cabin.</p>
+
+<p>I remember looking down at the suit-case protruding from under the
+berth and thinking it curious that documents should weigh so heavy.
+There must be a great many of them, I reflected, but even so....</p>
+
+<p>I bent down and pulled the suit-case right out and lifted it.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed it was heavy&mdash;very heavy!</p>
+
+<p>Then I began to think of something else.</p>
+
+<p>I had the cabin to myself, which was pleasant, and I spent most of the
+day stretched out in my bunk. Oh, how I longed every hour for the
+terribly boring voyage to come to an end!</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely morning when at last we steamed into the estuary of
+the Seine, and I shall never forget how beautiful the river and its
+banks looked as I peered out through my port-hole and we crept up
+towards Rouen. My meals had all been served in my cabin during the
+voyage, as I could not well have taken the suit-case with me into the
+saloon.</p>
+
+<p>Now I felt like a prisoner about to be released.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rayne had told me to stop at the post-office in Rouen on my way
+from the boat to Paris, as I might, he said, find a letter or a
+telegram awaiting me. I had managed to pass the suit-case through the
+Customs, and now my heart beat faster as a letter was handed to me,
+for I recognized Lola&#8217;s handwriting; I had seen it only once
+before&mdash;that was on a letter she had asked me to post for her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>I hurriedly tore open the envelope, and this was what I read:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Private. I have suspicion that the suit-case you have you should get
+rid of at once. Destroy this!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Undated and unsigned, the letter bore no address. At once thoughts and
+conjectures of all sorts came crowding into my mind. Could it be that
+the suit-case contained stolen jewelry and not documents?</p>
+
+<p>Instantly I guessed why Rayne had sent me to Paris with it by that
+roundabout route. He must either himself be the thief, I concluded, or
+an accomplice in the theft, and by placing the stolen property in my
+charge and smuggling it out of England by a circuitous route....</p>
+
+<p>One reflection led quickly to another. Paul, the valet, no doubt knew
+about his master&#8217;s private life&mdash;possibly was in his confidence. And
+if Rayne had committed the robbery he must be a professional crook. In
+which case, should the whereabouts of the stolen property be
+discovered, I should be arrested as an accessory to the crime! Clearly
+I had no time to lose if I wanted to safeguard myself. Even now the
+police, with their wonderful acumen, might be on my track!</p>
+
+<p>I reached Paris at last, and as my taxi swung round from the Place
+Jeanne d&#8217;Arc into the Rue de Rivoli I began to feel extremely nervous.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to my inquiry at the bureau of the smart H&ocirc;tel Ombrone I was
+told that I could be given a bed. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>Monsieur Duperr&eacute;? Ah, monsieur had
+just gone out, but would be back soon, most likely.</p>
+
+<p>I had been given the key of my room, and was about to enter the lift,
+when I noticed seated on a settee in the vestibule a well-dressed
+woman whose face seemed familiar. And then in a flash I recognized the
+lady who had been at Overstow Hall on the day I had arrived there!</p>
+
+<p>She did not recognize me, or I concluded she did not, and naturally it
+was no business of mine to make any sign of recognition.</p>
+
+<p>I had been in my room, I suppose, about two hours when the telephone
+bell rang.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That Mr. Hargreave? The bureau speaking. Monsieur Duperr&eacute; has come in
+and is coming up to you now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A minute later somebody knocked, and I called &#8220;Come in!&#8221; Then, to my
+amazement, who should enter but my old company commander in France in
+the early days of the war&mdash;Captain Vincent Deinhard, who later in the
+war had been court-martialed for misappropriating canteen funds and
+been subsequently cashiered! Altogether his Army record had been an
+exceedingly bad one.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly I remembered the voice. It was Deinhard I had heard in
+conversation with Rayne at Overstow Hall!</p>
+
+<p>He stood stock-still, staring at me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Hargreave!&#8221; he exclaimed at last. &#8220;What in the world are you
+doing here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I am Mr. Rayne&#8217;s chauffeur and general servant now, captain,&#8221; I
+replied. &#8220;Mr. Rayne told me to inquire on my arrival here for Monsieur
+Duperr&eacute; and hand him that suit-case,&#8221; and I pointed to it.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced quickly at the door, to make sure that it was shut, then,
+looking at me oddly, he said in a low voice:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am Duperr&eacute;, Hargreave. You must forget that my name was ever
+anything else&mdash;I got myself into trouble in the Army, you
+remember&mdash;and you must forget that too&mdash;and that we have ever met
+before. So you are his new chauffeur, eh?&#8221; he went on, now talking
+naturally. &#8220;It never occurred to me that &#8216;Hargreave,&#8217; the new
+chauffeur, would turn out to be the Hargreave who served under me for
+two years!&#8221; and he laughed dryly.</p>
+
+<p>Then, without a word, he went over to the suit-case and picked it up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come along to my room,&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>ROOM NUMBER 88</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> accompanied him along the corridor to a private sitting-room at the
+end, numbered 88, and adjoining which was a bedroom. There he placed
+the suit-case upon the table, and taking a piece of paper scribbled a
+receipt.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Better post that on to Rayne at once,&#8221; he suggested. &#8220;My wife will be
+here in a moment. We&#8217;ll have lunch later on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>All that had already happened had so astonished me that I was only
+slightly surprised at finding a few moments later that the lady I had
+seen at Overstow Hall, and again a couple of hours before in the
+vestibule of the hotel, was Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife. He must, I think, have
+told her that we had met before, for she seemed in no way astonished
+at Mr. Rayne&#8217;s chauffeur being presented to her.</p>
+
+<p>I found her a pleasant woman, well-read, well-educated and widely
+travelled. She was, too, an excellent conversationalist. And yet, all
+the time we were talking, I could not help thinking of Lola, and
+wondering why Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife should be in such evidence at Overstow
+Hall, indeed, apparently in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>authority there, also why Lola seemed to
+be so afraid of her.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later I posted the receipt to Rayne, and later we all
+three lunched together in the restaurant. We took our coffee upstairs
+in the private room, when Duperr&eacute; said, <i>&agrave; propos</i> of nothing,
+suddenly looking across at his wife:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hargreave may be of great use to us, Hylda.&#8221; Then, addressing me
+again, he said, lowering his voice and glancing at the door:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In becoming associated with &#8216;The Golden Face,&#8217; Hargreave, you are more
+fortunate than you may think. He&#8217;s a man who can, and who will, if he
+likes, help you enormously in all sorts of ways&mdash;you will find that
+you are more to him than a mere chauffeur. In fact, we can both help
+you, that is, if you fall in with our plans. Our only stipulation will
+be that you do what we tell you&mdash;<i>without asking any questions</i>. You
+understand&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose,&#8221; I said, smiling, &#8220;that by &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217; you mean Mr.
+Rayne?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. He&#8217;s called &#8216;Golden Face&#8217; by his intimates. I forgot you didn&#8217;t
+know. He got the nick-name through going to the Bal des Quatre Arts,
+here in Paris, wearing a half-mask made of beaten gold.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By that time I had become convinced that both Rayne and Duperr&eacute; were
+men with whom I should have to deal with the utmost circumspection.</p>
+
+<p>The only person I had met since I had engaged <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>myself to Rayne in whom
+I could, I felt, place implicit confidence, was Lola.</p>
+
+<p>When we had finished our coffee, Duperr&eacute; excused himself, saying that
+he had some letters to write, and suggested that his wife should
+accompany me for a taxi drive in the Bois. This struck us both as a
+pleasant manner in which to spend the afternoon, therefore Madame
+retired to her room, reappearing a few moments later wearing a smart
+cloak and a wonderful black hat adorned with three large handsome
+feathers.</p>
+
+<p>She proved herself a very amusing companion as we drove out to
+Armenonville, where we sat out upon the lawn, she sipping her <i>sirop</i>
+while I smoked a cigarette. She knew Paris well, it seemed, and was
+communicative over everything&mdash;except concerning Rudolph Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>When I put some questions to her regarding my new employer, she simply
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We never discuss him, Mr. Hargreave. It is one of his rules that
+those who are his friends, as we are, preserve the strictest silence.
+What we discover from time to time we keep entirely to ourselves, and
+we even go to the length of disclaiming acquaintanceship with him when
+it becomes necessary. So it is best not to be inquisitive. If he
+discovers that you have been making inquiries he will be greatly
+annoyed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I quite understand, Madame,&#8221; I replied with a meaning smile. That she
+was closely connected with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>the deep-laid schemes of Rudolph Rayne was
+more than ever apparent. But why, I wondered, was Lola so palpably
+beneath her influence?</p>
+
+<p>My companion was about thirty-eight, though she looked younger, with
+handsome, well-cut features, and possessing the <i>chic</i> of a woman who
+had traveled much and who knew how to wear her clothes. There was,
+however, nothing of the adventuress about her. On the contrary, she
+had the appearance of moving in a very select set. She was English
+without a doubt, but she spoke perfect French.</p>
+
+<p>I mentioned Lola, but she said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Remember what I have just told you about undue inquisitiveness, Mr.
+Hargreave! You will find out all you want to know in due course. So
+possess yourself in patience and act always with foresight as well as
+with discretion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I chanced to raise my eyes at that moment, when I noticed that a
+well-dressed, black-mustached Frenchman, who wore white spats, while
+passing along the terrace of the fine <i>al fresco</i> restaurant had
+halted a second to peer into Madame&#8217;s face, no doubt struck by her
+handsome features. She noticed it also but turned her head, and spoke
+to me of something else. A woman knows instinctively when she is being
+admired.</p>
+
+<p>The position in which I now found myself, employed by a man who was
+undoubtedly a crook of no mean order, caused me considerable
+trepidation. When I had assumed the responsibility of that
+innocent-looking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>suit-case I never dreamt that it contained Lady
+Norah Kendrew&#8217;s stolen jewels, as it did, otherwise I would certainly
+never have attempted to pass it through the Customs at Rouen. But why
+and how, I wondered, had Lola&#8217;s suspicions been aroused? Why had she
+warned me?</p>
+
+<p>Rayne had probably sent messengers with stolen property to France by
+that route before, knowing that, contrary to the shrewd examination at
+Calais, the officers of certain trading ships and the <i>douaniers</i> were
+on friendly terms.</p>
+
+<p>When again I raised my eyes furtively to the Frenchman in the white
+spats I was relieved to find that he had disappeared. My fears that he
+might be an agent of the S&ucirc;ret&eacute; were groundless. The afternoon was
+delightful as we sat beneath the trees, but Madame suddenly
+recollected an engagement she had with her dressmaker at five o&#8217;clock,
+so we re&euml;ntered our taxi and drove back to the Porte Maillot and
+thence direct to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>We found the door of the sitting-room locked, but as Madame turned the
+handle Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s voice was heard inquiring who was there.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Open the door, Vincent,&#8221; urged his wife.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right! Wait a moment,&#8221; was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>We heard the quick rustling of paper, and after a lapse of perhaps a
+minute he unlocked the door for us to enter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well? Had a nice time&mdash;eh?&#8221; he asked, turning <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>to me as he reclosed
+the door and again locked it.</p>
+
+<p>I replied in the affirmative, noticing that on the table was something
+covered with a newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been busy,&#8221; he said with a grin, and lifting the paper disclosed
+a quantity of bracelets, rings, pendants and other ornaments from
+which the gems had been removed. During our absence he had been
+occupied in removing the stolen jewels from their settings.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I laughed. &#8220;You seem to have been very busy, Vincent!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beside the bent and broken articles of gold lay a little pile of
+glittering gems, none of them very large, but all of first quality.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lady Norah wouldn&#8217;t like to see her treasures in such a condition,
+would she?&#8221; laughed Duperr&eacute;. &#8220;We shall get rid of them to old
+Heydenryck, who is arriving presently.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A Dutch dealer who lives here in Paris. He&#8217;s always open to buy good
+stuff, but he won&#8217;t look at any stones that are set. Rayne&#8217;s idea was
+to sell them, just as they were, to a dealer named Steffensen, who
+buys stuff here and smuggles it over to New York and San Francisco,
+where it is not likely to be traced. But I find that Steffensen is
+away in America at the moment, so I&#8217;ve approached the Dutchman.
+Heydenryck is a sly old dog. Unlike Steffensen, he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>buys unset stones
+because they are difficult to identify.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I bent and examined the glittering little pile of diamonds, rubies,
+emeralds and sapphires which had been stolen from the hotel in London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Hargreave,&#8221; said Duperr&eacute;. &#8220;I want you to help us to get
+rid of this,&#8221; and he pointed to the broken jewelry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221; I asked dismayed, for I confess that I feared the discovery. To
+be thus intimately associated with a band of expert crooks was a new
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite easily,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ll show you.&#8221; Then turning to his wife,
+he said: &#8220;Just bring Lu Chang in, will you, Hylda?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Madame passed into the next room and returned with a small Pekinese in
+her arms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lu Chang is quite quiet and harmless,&#8221; laughed Duperr&eacute; as his wife
+handed the dog to me.</p>
+
+<p>As my hands came in contact with the animal&#8217;s fur I realized that it
+was dead&mdash;and stuffed!</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; laughed heartily as he watched my face. I confess that I was
+mystified.</p>
+
+<p>He took the dog, which had probably been purchased from a naturalist
+only that day, and ripping open the pelt behind the forelegs he
+quickly drew out the stuffing. Then into the cavity he hurriedly
+thrust the broken rings and pendants.</p>
+
+<p>I watched him with curiosity. It seemed such an unusual proceeding.
+But I recollected that I was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>dealing with strange associates&mdash;people
+whom I afterwards found to be perhaps the most ingenious crooks in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor Lu Chang,&#8221; exclaimed my old company commander with a laugh. &#8220;If
+you drown him he won&#8217;t feel it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; watched the expression of surprise upon my face as he packed
+the whole of the broken jewelry into the dog.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now what I want you to do, Hargreave,&#8221; he said, &#8220;is to drown Lu Chang
+in the Seine. Lots of people in Paris, who are not lovers of dogs, are
+flinging them into the river because of the new excessive tax upon
+domestic pets. You will just toss Lu Chang over the Pont Neuf. The
+police can&#8217;t interfere, even though they see you. You will only have
+put the dog out of the world rather than pay the double tax.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He watched my natural hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t he a little dear!&#8221; exclaimed Madame, stroking the dog&#8217;s fur.
+&#8220;Poor Lu Chang! He won&#8217;t float with the gold inside him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; laughed Duperr&eacute;. &#8220;He&#8217;ll go plumb to the bottom!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was on the tip of my tongue to excuse myself, but I remembered that
+I was in the service of Rudolph Rayne, the country squire of Overstow,
+and paid handsomely. And, after all, it was no great risk to fling the
+stuffed dog into the river.</p>
+
+<p>I am a lover of dogs, and had the animal been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>alive nothing would
+have induced me to carry out his suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>But as it had been dead long ago, for I saw some signs of moth in the
+fur, and as I was in Paris at the bidding of my employer, I consented,
+and carrying the little Peke beneath my arm I walked along the Quai du
+Louvre to the old bridge which, in two parts, spans the river. Just
+before I gained the Rue Dauphine, on the other side, I paused and
+looked down into the water. An agent of police was regulating the
+traffic on my left, and he being in controversy with the driver of a
+motor-lorry, I took my opportunity and dropped the dog with its secret
+into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Two boys had watched me, so I waited a moment, then turning upon my
+heel, I retraced my steps back to the H&ocirc;tel Ombrone, having been
+absent about twenty minutes.</p>
+
+<p>As I entered Room 88, three Frenchmen, who had ascended in the lift,
+followed me in.</p>
+
+<p>Madame was writing a letter, while Duperr&eacute; was in the act of lighting
+a cigarette. We started in surprise, for next instant we all three
+found ourselves under arrest; the well-dressed strangers being
+officers of the S&ucirc;ret&eacute;. One of them was the man in the white spats who
+had been attracted by Madame in the Bois.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Arrest!&#8221; gasped Duperr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>As he did so, an undersized, rather shabbily-dressed man of sixty or
+so put his head into the door <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>inquisitively, and realizing that
+something unpleasant was occurring, quickly withdrew and disappeared.
+I saw that he exchanged with Duperr&eacute; a glance of recognition combined
+with apprehension, and concluded that it was the man Heydenryck, the
+dealer in stolen gems.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the elder of the three detectives told us that they had
+reason to believe that jewelry stolen from a London hotel was in our
+possession, and that the place would be searched.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Messieurs, you are quite at liberty to search,&#8221; laughed Duperr&eacute;,
+treating the affair as a joke. &#8220;Here are my keys!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At once they began to rummage every hole and corner in the room as
+well as the luggage of both Duperr&eacute; and his wife. The brown suit-case
+which was in the wardrobe in the bedroom attracted their attention,
+but when unlocked was found to contain only a few modern novels.</p>
+
+<p>At this they drew back in chagrin and disappointment. I knew that the
+broken gold was safely at the bottom of the Seine, but where were the
+gems?</p>
+
+<p>It was all very well for Duperr&eacute; to bluff, but they would, I felt
+convinced, eventually be found. The police, not content with searching
+the personal belongings of my friend, took up the floor-boards, and
+even stripped some paper from the wall and carefully examined every
+article of furniture. Afterwards they went to my room at the end of
+the corridor and thoroughly searched it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>At last the inspector, still mystified, ordered two taxis to be
+called, as it was his intention to take us at once before the
+examining magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Madame had better put on her hat at once,&#8221; he added, bristling with
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ordered, she reluctantly obeyed and put on her big feathered hat
+before the glass. Then a few moments later we were conducted
+downstairs and away to the Prefecture of Police.</p>
+
+<p>After all being thoroughly searched, Madame being examined by a prison
+wardress, we were ushered into the dull official room of Monsieur
+Rodin, the well-known examining magistrate, who for a full hour plied
+us with questions. Duperr&eacute; and his wife preserved an outward dignity
+that amazed me. They complained bitterly of being accused without
+foundation, while on my part I answered the police official that I had
+quite accidentally come across my old superior officer.</p>
+
+<p>Time after time Monsieur Rodin referred to the papers before him,
+evidently much puzzled. It seemed that Madame had been recognized in
+the Bois by the impressionable Frenchman who I had believed, had been
+attracted by her handsome face.</p>
+
+<p>That information had been sent by Scotland Yard to Paris regarding the
+stolen jewels was apparent. Yet the fact that the locked suit-case
+only contained books and that nothing had been found in our
+possession&mdash;thanks to the forethought of Duperr&eacute;&mdash;the police now found
+themselves in a quandary. The man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>in the white spats whom we had seen
+in the Bois identified Madame as Marie Richaud, a Frenchwoman who had
+lived in Philadelphia for several years, and who had been implicated
+two years before in the great frauds on the Bordeaux branch of the
+Soci&eacute;t&eacute; G&eacute;n&eacute;rale.</p>
+
+<p>Madame airily denied any knowledge of it. She had only arrived in
+Paris with her husband from Rome a few days before, she declared. And
+surely enough the visas upon their passports showed that was so, even
+though I had seen her at Overstow!</p>
+
+<p>How I withstood that hour I know not. In the end, however, Monsieur
+Rodin ceased his questions and we were put into the cells till the
+next morning.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine the sleepless night I spent! I hated myself for falling into
+the trap which Rayne, the crafty organizer of the gang, had so
+cleverly laid for me. Yet was I not in the hands of the police?</p>
+
+<p>But the main question in my mind was the whereabouts of that little
+pile of gems.</p>
+
+<p>Next day we were taken publicly before another magistrate and defended
+by a clever lawyer whom Duperr&eacute; had engaged. It was found that not a
+tittle of evidence could be brought against us, and, even though the
+magistrate expressed his strong suspicions, we were at last released.</p>
+
+<p>As we walked out into the sunlight of the boulevard, Duperr&eacute; glanced
+at his watch, and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder if we shall be in time to catch the train? I must telephone
+to Heydenryck at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><p>Five minutes later he was in a public telephone-box speaking to the
+receiver of stolen goods.</p>
+
+<p>Then, without returning to the H&ocirc;tel Ombrone, we took a taxi direct to
+the Gare de Lyon.</p>
+
+<p>As Duperr&eacute; took three first-class tickets to Fontainebleau, the
+undersized, grave-faced old man whom I had seen at the moment of our
+arrest followed him, and also took a ticket to the same destination.
+We entered an empty compartment where, just before the train moved
+off, the old man joined us.</p>
+
+<p>He posed as a perfect stranger, but as soon as the train had left the
+platform my companion introduced him to me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I called last night and saw what had happened. Surely you have all
+three had a narrow escape!&#8221; he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said Duperr&eacute;. &#8220;It was fortunate that Hylda recognized the
+<i>sous-inspecteur</i> Bossant in the Bois. She put me on my guard. I knew
+we should be arrested, so I took precautions to get rid of the gold
+and conceal the stones.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But where are they?&#8221; I asked eagerly, as the train ran through the
+first station out of Paris. &#8220;They are still hidden in the hotel, I
+suppose. We&#8217;ve all been searched!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Madame laughed merrily, and removing her hat, unceremoniously tore out
+the three great feathers, the large quills of which she held up to the
+light before my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I then saw to my amazement that, though hardly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>distinguishable, all
+three of the hollow quills were filled with gems, the smaller being
+put in first.</p>
+
+<p>At the detective&#8217;s own suggestion she had put on her hat when
+arrested, and she had worn it during the time she had been searched,
+during the examination by the magistrate, and during her trial!</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; was certainly nothing if not ingenious and his <i>sang-froid</i>
+had saved us all from terms of imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>Madame replaced the valuable feathers in her hat, and when we arrived
+at Fontainebleau we drove at once to the H&ocirc;tel de France, opposite the
+palace, where we took an excellent <i>d&eacute;jeuner</i> in a private room.</p>
+
+<p>And before we left, Duperr&eacute; had disposed of Lady Norah&#8217;s jewels at a
+very respectable figure, which the sly old receiver paid over in
+thousand-franc notes.</p>
+
+<p>I marveled at my companion&#8217;s ingenuity, whereupon he laughed airily,
+replying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217; arranges a <i>coup</i> it never fails to come off&mdash;I
+assure you. The police have to be up very early to get the better of
+him. His one injunction to all of us is that we shall be ready at all
+times to show clean hands&mdash;as we have to-day! But let&#8217;s get away,
+Hargreave&mdash;back to London, I think, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The whole adventure mystified and bewildered me. It was a mystery
+which, however, before long, was to be increased a hundredfold. Alas!
+that I should sit here and put down my guilt upon paper!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MAN WITH THE HUMP</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ne</span> morning I called at Rayne&#8217;s luxurious chambers in Half Moon
+Street, when he expressed himself most delighted at the result of our
+visit to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want you to-morrow morning to drive Lola and Madame up to
+Overstow,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Better start early. Call for them at the hotel at
+nine o&#8217;clock. The roads are good, so you&#8217;ll have a pleasant journey.
+I&#8217;ll get home by train at the end of the week.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At this I was very pleased, for Lola with her great dark eyes always
+sat beside me. She could drive quite well, and was full of good humor
+and a charming little gossip. Hence I looked forward to a very
+pleasant run. The more I saw of the master-crook&#8217;s daughter the more
+attracted I became by her. Indeed, though she seemed to regard me with
+some suspicion&mdash;why, I don&#8217;t know&mdash;we had already become excellent
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>The month of September passed.</p>
+
+<p>We had all spent a delightful time at Overstow. Rayne had given two
+big shoots at which several well-known Yorkshire landowners had been
+present, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>while I had taken a gun, and Lola, Madame and several other
+ladies had walked with us. Lola and I were frequently together, and I
+often accompanied her on long walks through the autumn-tinted woods.</p>
+
+<p>Madame&#8217;s husband had only spent a week with us, for he had, I
+understood, been called to Switzerland on &#8220;business&#8221;&mdash;the nature of
+which I could easily guess.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the month we were back in London again.</p>
+
+<p>One evening I had dined at the Carlton with Lola, her father and
+Madame, and the two ladies having gone off to the theater, he took me
+round to the set of luxurious chambers he occupied in Half Moon
+Street.</p>
+
+<p>When we were alone together with our cigars, he suddenly said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want you to go out for a run to-night&mdash;to Bristol.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To Bristol! To-night?&#8221; I echoed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I want you to take the new &#8216;A. C.&#8217; and get to the Clifton
+Suspension Bridge by two o&#8217;clock to-morrow morning. There, in the
+center of the bridge, you will await a stranger&mdash;an elderly hunchback
+whose name is Morley Tarrant. He&#8217;ll give you, as <i>bon&acirc; fides</i>, the
+word &#8216;Mask.&#8217; When you meet him act upon his instructions. He is to be
+trusted.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The tryst seemed full of suspicion, and I certainly did not like it.
+The evening was bright and clear, and the run in the fast two-seater
+would be enjoyable. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>But to meet a man who would give a password
+savored too much of crookdom.</p>
+
+<p>He quickly saw my hesitation, and added:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, Hargreave, I ought not to conceal from you the fact that there
+may be a trap. If so, you must evade it and escape at all costs. I
+have enemies, you know&mdash;pretty fierce ones.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again, for the hundredth time, I debated within myself whether I dare
+cast myself adrift from the round-faced, prosperous-looking
+cosmopolitan who sat before me so full of good humor and so fearless.</p>
+
+<p>I had been cleverly inveigled into accepting the situation he had
+offered me, but I had never dreamed that by accepting, I was throwing
+in my lot with the most marvelously organized gang of evil-doers that
+that world had ever known.</p>
+
+<p>Other similar gangs blundered at one time or another and left
+loopholes through which the police were able to attack them and break
+them up. But Rudolph Rayne had flung his octopus-like tentacles so far
+afield that he had actually attached to him&mdash;by fear of blackmail&mdash;an
+eminent Counsel who appeared for the defense of any member of the
+circle who happened to make a slip. That well-known member of the Bar
+I will call Mr. Henry Moyser, a lawyer whose fame was of world-wide
+repute, and who was employed for the defense in most of the really
+great criminal trials.</p>
+
+<p>I sat astounded when, by a side-wind, I was told that Mr. Moyser would
+defend me if I were unlucky <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>enough to be arrested. Certainly his very
+name was sufficient to secure an acquittal.</p>
+
+<p>The journey from Pall Mall to Clifton had been a long and rather
+tiring one, and as I sat in the swift two-seater half-way across the
+high suspension bridge, I smoked reflectively as I gazed away along
+the river where deep below shone a few twinkling lights. Across at
+Clifton I could see the row of street lamps, while above the stars
+were shining in the sharp frosty air, and in the distance I could hear
+the roar of an express train.</p>
+
+<p>The bell of Clifton parish church struck the half-hour, but nobody was
+in sight, and there were no sounds of footsteps in the frosty air.
+Though so near the busy city of Bristol, yet high up on that long
+bridge, that triumph of engineering of our yesterday, all was quiet
+with scarce a sound save the shrill cry of a night-bird.</p>
+
+<p>If it were not that I loved Lola I would gladly have resigned the
+position which had already become hateful to me. Somehow I felt
+vaguely that perhaps I might one day render her a service. I might
+even extricate her from the dangerous circumstances in which she was
+living in all innocence of the actual conspiracies in which her father
+was engaged. Who could know?</p>
+
+<p>As far as I could gather, Lola was much puzzled at certain secret
+meetings held at Overstow. Her father&#8217;s friends of both sexes were
+shrouded in mystery, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>and she was, I knew, seeking to penetrate it and
+learn the truth.</p>
+
+<p>I had already satisfied myself that the gang was a most dangerous and
+unscrupulous one, and that Rayne and his friends would hesitate at
+nothing so long as they carried out the plans which they laid with
+such innate cunning in order to effect great and astounding
+<i>coups</i>&mdash;the clever thefts and swindles that from time to time had
+held the world aghast.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose I must have waited nearly half an hour when suddenly there
+fell upon my ear uneven footsteps hurrying along towards the car, and
+in the light of the street lamp I distinguished, hurrying towards me,
+a short, elderly man, somewhat deformed, with a distinct hump on his
+back.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re Mr. Hargreave, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221; he inquired breathlessly, with a
+distinct Scottish accent. &#8220;I&#8217;m Tarrant! I&#8217;m so sorry I&#8217;m late, but
+Rudolph will understand. I&#8217;ll explain it to him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And he was about to mount into the seat beside me.</p>
+
+<p>I put out my arm, and peering into the man&#8217;s face, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is there nothing else, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Why? You are here to meet me. Rudolph sent you
+down from London.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was awaiting the prearranged word that would show the hunchback&#8217;s
+<i>bon&acirc; fides</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I gave him another opportunity of giving the password, but he seemed
+ignorant of it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>Next second, my suspicions being aroused, I sprang down, and crying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, old fellow! I fancy you&#8217;ve made a mistake!&#8221; I struck him
+familiarly upon the back.</p>
+
+<p>His hump was <i>soft</i>! In that instant I detected him as an impostor&mdash;a
+Scotland Yard detective&mdash;without a doubt!</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for me my brain acts quickly. But it was not so quick as
+his. He gave a shrill whistle, and in a flash from nowhere three of
+his colleagues appeared. They ran around the car to hold it up.</p>
+
+<p>For a few seconds I found myself in serious jeopardy.</p>
+
+<p>I sprang into the driver&#8217;s seat, switched on the self-starter, and
+just as one of the detectives tried to mount beside me, I threw down
+among my assailants a little dark brown bomb the shape of an egg, with
+which Rayne had provided me in case of emergency.</p>
+
+<p>It exploded with a low fizz and its fumes took them aback, allowing me
+to shoot away over the bridge and down into Bristol, much wiser than
+when I had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangement of that password in itself showed how cleverly Rudolph
+Rayne was foresighted in all his plans. He always left a loophole for
+escape. Surely he was a past-master in the art of criminality, for his
+fertile brain evolved schemes and exit channels which nobody ever
+dreamed of.</p>
+
+<p>The squire of Overstow, who was regarded by the wealthy county people
+of Yorkshire as perfectly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>honest in all his dealings, and unduly rich
+withal, attracted to his table some of the most exclusive hunting set,
+people with titles, as well as the <i>parvenus</i> &#8220;impossibles&#8221; who had
+bought huge places with the money made out of the war. The &#8220;County&#8221;
+never dreamed of the mysterious source of Rudolph Rayne&#8217;s unlimited
+income.</p>
+
+<p>After traveling through a number of deserted streets in Bristol, I at
+last found myself upon a high road with a signpost which told me that
+I was on my way to Wells, that picturesque little city at the foot of
+the Mendip Hills. So, fearing lest I might be followed, I went &#8220;all
+out&#8221; through Axbridge and Cheddar, until at last I came to the fine
+old cathedral at Wells, which I knew quite familiarly. Near it was the
+Swan Hotel, at which, after some difficulty, I aroused the &#8220;boots,&#8221;
+secured a room, and placed the car in the garage.</p>
+
+<p>It was then nearly half-past three in the morning, and my only object
+in taking a room was to inform Rayne by telephone of my narrow escape.
+Rayne was remaining the night at Half Moon Street, while Lola and
+Madame Duperr&eacute; were at the Carlton. We had all come up from Overstow a
+couple of days before, and two secret meetings had been held at Half
+Moon Street.</p>
+
+<p>Of the nature of the plot in progress I was in entire ignorance. They
+never let me completely into their plans; indeed, I only knew their
+true import when they were actually accomplished.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>The half-awake &#8220;boots&#8221; at the Swan indicated the telephone, and a
+quarter of an hour later I was speaking to Rayne in his bedroom in
+London. Very guardedly I explained how nearly I had been trapped,
+whereupon I heard him chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very good lesson for you, Hargreave!&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Our friends are
+apparently on the watch, so get back to London as soon as you can.
+You&#8217;ll be here at breakfast-time. Leave the car at Lloyd&#8217;s and come
+along to me. Good luck to you!&#8221; he added, and then switched off.</p>
+
+<p>The Lloyd&#8217;s garage he mentioned was in Bloomsbury, a place kept for
+the accommodation of motor-thieves. Many a car which disappeared
+quickly found its way there, and in a few hours the engine numbers
+were removed and fresh ones substituted, while the bodies were
+repainted and false number-plates attached.</p>
+
+<p>As I put down the telephone receiver, it suddenly occurred to me that
+already the Bristol police might have telephoned a description of the
+car along the various roads leading out of the city. Therefore it
+would be too risky to remain there. Hence, as though in sudden
+decision, I paid the &#8220;boots&#8221; for my bed, and five minutes later was
+again on the road speeding towards London.</p>
+
+<p>I chose the road to Salisbury, and after &#8220;blinding&#8221; for half an hour,
+I stopped and put on the false number-plates and license with which
+Rayne always provided me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>It was as well that I did so, for in the gray morning as I went
+through Salisbury a police-sergeant and a constable hailed me just as
+I turned into St. John Street, near the White Hart, calling upon me to
+stop. I could see by their attitude that they were awaiting me,
+therefore pretending not to hear I quickened my pace and, knowing the
+road, soon left the place behind me.</p>
+
+<p>Again, in a village some ten miles farther on, a constable shouted to
+me as I continued my wild flight, hence it seemed apparent that a
+cordon had been formed around me, and I now feared that to enter
+Winchester would be to run right into the arms of the police.</p>
+
+<p>The only way to save myself was to abandon the car and get back to
+London by rail. As I contemplated this I was already passing beside
+the high embankment of the South Western Railway, where half a mile
+farther on I found a little wayside station. Therefore I turned the
+car into a small wood, and destroying my genuine license and hiding
+the genuine number-plate, I took the next train to Winchester, and
+thence by express to Waterloo after a very wild and adventurous night.
+That I had been within an ace of capture was palpable. But why?</p>
+
+<p>I was in the service of the man who controlled that vast criminal
+organization which the police of Europe were ever trying to break up.
+But why should I be sent to meet the mysterious hunchback Tarrant on
+Clifton Bridge?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;There seemed to have been a little flaw in our plans, Hargreave,&#8221;
+said the alert, good-looking man as I sat with him in his cosy
+chambers in Half Moon Street that morning. &#8220;The police evidently got
+wind of the fact that old Morley was meeting you, and Benton tried to
+impersonate him. I know Benton. He&#8217;s always up against me. He might
+have succeeded had he made the hump on his back a hard one, eh?&#8221; he
+laughed, as though rather amused than otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But he didn&#8217;t know the password,&#8221; I remarked in triumph.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! It was fortunate for you that I had arranged it with old Morley,&#8221;
+said the man with the master-mind. &#8220;One must be ever wary when one
+treads crooked paths, you know. The slightest slip&mdash;and the end comes!
+But, at any rate, last night&#8217;s adventure has sharpened your wits.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And it has cost us the &#8216;A. C.&#8217;!&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bah! What&#8217;s a motor-car more or less when one is working a big
+thing!&#8221; he exclaimed. &#8220;Never let ideas of economy stand in your way,
+or you&#8217;ll never make a fortune. In order to make money you must always
+spend money.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I often recollected that adage of his in later days, when the pace
+grew even hotter.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne paused for a few minutes. Then he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve already heard from old Morley on the telephone half an hour ago.
+He was on the bridge and watched the fun. Then he discreetly withdrew
+and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>went back to his hotel in Clifton. He declares that you acted
+splendidly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m much gratified by his testimonial,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve arranged that he shall meet you to-night here in London&mdash;outside
+the Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. Go to Lloyd&#8217;s and get a car. At
+half-past seven it will be dark. Drive up, go into the bar and have a
+drink. You&#8217;ll find him there and recognize him by his deformity.
+Outside he will mention the password and you will drive him where he
+directs. That&#8217;s all!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And the man who had, on engaging me, so particularly wanted to know if
+I could sing, and had never asked me to do so, dismissed me quite
+abruptly, as was his habit. His quick alertness, keen shrewdness and
+sharp suspicion caused him to speak abruptly&mdash;almost churlishly&mdash;to
+those about him. I, however, now understood him. Yet I wondered what
+evil work was in progress.</p>
+
+<p>He had often pitted his wits against the most famous detective
+inspector, the great Benton, who had achieved so much notoriety in the
+Enfield poisoning case, the Sunbury mystery in which the body of a
+young girl shop-assistant had been found headless in the Thames, the
+great Maresfield drug drama of Limehouse and Mayfair, and the
+disappearance of the Honorable Edna Newcomen from her mother&#8217;s house
+in Grosvenor Gardens. Superintendent Arthur Benton was perhaps the
+most wideawake hunter of criminals in the United Kingdom. As chief of
+his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>own particular branch at Scotland Yard he performed wonderful
+services, and his record was unique. Yet, hampered as he was by
+official red-tape and those regulations which prevented his men from
+taking a third-class railway ticket when following a thief, unless
+they waited for weeks for the return of the expenditure from official
+sources, he was no match for the squire of Overstow, who had a big
+bank balance, who moved in society, official, political and otherwise,
+and who actually entertained certain high officials at his table.</p>
+
+<p>From a man in the Department of the Public Prosecutor at Whitehall,
+Rayne often learnt much of the inner workings of Scotland Yard and of
+secret inquiries, for a civil servant at a well-laid sumptuous table
+is frequently prone to indiscretion.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur Benton was a well-meaning and very straight-dealing public
+servant with a splendid record as a detector of crime, but against
+money and such influence he could not cope. Indeed, more than once
+Rayne declared to me that he intended evil against Benton.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yet I rather like him,&#8221; he had said when we were discussing him one
+day. &#8220;After all, he&#8217;s a real good sportsman!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So according to Rayne&#8217;s orders I met the hunchback Tarrant at the
+Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. I had taken another car from Lloyd&#8217;s
+garage&mdash;a Fiat landaulette, stolen, no doubt&mdash;and in it, at the old
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>man&#8217;s directions, I drove out to Maldon, in Essex, where at a small
+house outside the town I found, to my surprise, Rayne already awaiting
+us.</p>
+
+<p>What, I wondered, was in progress?</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FOUR FALSE FINGERS</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> house outside Maldon proved to be a newly built, detached,
+eight-roomed villa in a lonely spot on the high road to Witham. As I
+idled about it, I smelt a curious odor of melting rubber. Apparently
+the place had been taken furnished, but with what object I could not
+guess. Tarrant was a queer, rather insignificant-looking old fellow
+with a shock of white hair and a scraggy white beard.</p>
+
+<p>Both he and Rayne were closeted together in the little dining-room for
+nearly two hours, while I sat in the adjoining room. I could hear them
+conversing in low tones, and the smell of rubber warmed by heat became
+more pungent. What game was being carried on? Something very secret
+without a doubt. I thought I heard the sound of a third man&#8217;s voice.
+Indeed, there might be a third person present, for I had not been
+admitted to the room.</p>
+
+<p>At last, leaving Rayne there, I drove the old man on to Witham, where
+I left him at his own request at a point near the wireless telegraph
+station, and turning, went back to the thieves&#8217; garage and there left
+the car.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>I did not see Rudolph Rayne again for several days, but according to
+instructions I received from Madame Duperr&eacute;, I went by train up to
+Yorkshire and awaited their arrival.</p>
+
+<p>From Duperr&eacute;, who arrived three days after I had got to Overstow, I
+gathered that Rayne had suddenly been called away to the Continent on
+one of his swift visits, &#8220;on a little matter of business,&#8221; added
+Vincent with a meaning grin.</p>
+
+<p>We were smoking together in the great old library, when I told him of
+my narrow escape on Clifton Bridge.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Benton is always trying to get at us. It was sly of
+him to impersonate old Morley. I wonder how he got to know that you
+were meeting him? Someone must have betrayed Rayne. I have a suspicion
+who it may be. If he has, then woe betide him! Rudolph never forgives
+an enemy or a blunderer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I tried to get from Duperr&eacute; the reason why the hunchback had met Rayne
+in such secrecy, but he would divulge nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Next day his wife and Lola returned, and that same evening as I sat
+with the latter in the chintz-covered drawing-room&mdash;for though I had
+been engaged as chauffeur I was now treated as one of the family&mdash;I
+had a delightful chat with her.</p>
+
+<p>That she was sorely puzzled at her father&#8217;s rapid journeys to and fro
+across Europe without any apparent reason, of the strange assortment
+of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>friends and the secrecy in which he so often met them, I had
+long ago observed.</p>
+
+<p>The truth was that I had fallen deeply in love with the sweet dainty
+girl whose father was the most audacious and cunning crook the modern
+world had produced. I believed, on account of the small confidence we
+had exchanged, that Lola, on her part, did not regard me with actual
+disfavor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When will your father be back, do you think?&#8221; I asked her as she
+lounged upon a settee with a big orange silk cushion behind her. She
+looked very sweet. She wore a pretty but very simple dance-frock of
+flame-colored ninon, in which I had seen her at the Carlton on the
+night when I set out to meet the man Tarrant and was so nearly caught.</p>
+
+<p>I had given her a cigarette, and we were smoking together
+cosily&mdash;Duperr&eacute; and his wife being somewhere in the great old house. I
+think Duperr&eacute; was, after all, a sportsman, even though he was a
+practiced crook, for on that night he and his wife allowed me to be
+alone with Lola.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know a friend of your father, an old man named Tarrant?&#8221; I
+asked her suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tarrant&mdash;Morley Tarrant?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;Oh! yes. He&#8217;s such a funny old
+fellow. Three years ago he often used to visit us when we lived in
+Biarritz, but I haven&#8217;t seen him since.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He was the manager of the branch of the Cr&eacute;dit <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Foncier. He is
+French, though he bears an English name.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;French! But he speaks English!&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course. His mother was English. He was once employed by Morgan&#8217;s
+in Paris, I believe, but I haven&#8217;t seen him lately. Father said one
+day at table that the old fellow had overstepped the mark and owing to
+some defalcations had gone to prison. I was sorry. What do you know of
+him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ve heard of him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She looked me very straight in the face from beneath her long dark
+lashes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! you won&#8217;t tell me what you know,&#8221; she said mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Neither will you, Lola!&#8221; Then, after a pause, I added: &#8220;I want to
+know whether he is your father&#8217;s friend&mdash;or his enemy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;His friend, no doubt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why should your father have as friend a man who robs a bank, eh?&#8221; I
+asked very earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! That I don&#8217;t know!&#8221; replied the girl as she bent towards me
+earnestly. &#8220;I&mdash;I&#8217;m always so puzzled. Ever since my dear mother died,
+just after I came back from Roedene, I have wondered&mdash;and always
+wondered. I can discover nothing&mdash;absolutely nothing! Father is so
+secret, and neither Madame nor he will tell me anything. They only say
+that their business is no affair of mine. My father has business, no
+doubt, Mr. Hargreave. From his business he derives his income. But I
+cannot see <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>why he should so constantly meet men and women in all
+sorts of social positions and give them orders, as it were. I am not
+blind, neither am I deaf.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have listened in secret, eh?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I confess that I have.&#8221; Then, after a slight pause, she went on: &#8220;And
+I have overheard some very strange conversations. My father seems to
+direct the good fortunes of certain of his friends, while at the same
+time he plots against his enemies. But I suppose, after all, it is
+business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Business! Little did the girl dream of the real occupation of her
+unscrupulous father, or the desperate characters of his friends, both
+male and female.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, she was very sweet and charming, and I hated to think that in
+her innocence she existed in that fevered world of plotting and
+desperate crime.</p>
+
+<p>We walked along the broad terrace in the twilight. Beyond spread the
+wide park to a dark belt of trees, Sherman&#8217;s Copse, it was called, a
+delightfully shady place in summer where we had often strolled
+together.</p>
+
+<p>As we chatted, I reflected. So old Morley Tarrant was a gaol-bird!
+Hence it was but natural that Rudolph Rayne, who preserved such a high
+degree of respectability, would hesitate to meet him providing he knew
+that the police were watching. He certainly knew that, hence the
+secrecy of their appointment.</p>
+
+<p>As we walked Madame suddenly emerged from the French windows of the
+drawing-room and joined us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve just had a wire from Rudolph,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He&#8217;s leaving
+Copenhagen to-night and will be back to-morrow night. I&#8217;d no idea that
+he had been over in Denmark. But there! he is such a bird of passage
+that one never knows where he may be to-morrow.&#8221; And she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Later we all four sat down to dinner, a decorous meal, well-cooked and
+well-served. But the character of the household was shown by the fact
+that none of the servants&mdash;discreetly chosen, of course, and in
+themselves members of the criminal organization&mdash;betrayed the least
+surprise that I, who acted as chauffeur, should be admitted to that
+curious family circle.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne returned next night, tired and travel-worn, and I met him at
+Thirsk station.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We go up to Edinburgh to-morrow. I shall want you to drive me,&#8221; he
+said as he sat at my side in the Rolls. &#8220;Lola will go also.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His last words delighted me, and next day at noon we all three set
+forth on our journey north. It rained all day and the run was the
+reverse of pleasant, nevertheless, we arrived at the Caledonian Hotel
+quite safely, and were soon installed in one of the cosy private
+suites.</p>
+
+<p>Father and daughter breakfasted in their sitting-room, while I had my
+meal alone in the coffee-room.</p>
+
+<p>When later I went up for orders Rayne dismissed me abruptly, saying
+that he would not require me till after lunch.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour afterwards, while idling along <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Princes Street, I came
+across Lola, who was looking in one of the shop windows.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Father has sent me out as he wants to talk business with Mr. Hugh
+Martyn, a rich American we met at the Grand, in Rome, last year.
+Father has come up here specially to meet him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>What fresh crooked business could there be in progress? That Rayne had
+paid flying visits to Copenhagen and Edinburgh in such a short space
+of time was in itself highly suspicious.</p>
+
+<p>After luncheon, on entering Rayne&#8217;s sitting-room, I found him busily
+fashioning from a sheet of thin cardboard a small square box which he
+was fitting over a large glass paper-weight, a cube about four inches
+square which was wrapped in tissue-paper, the corner of which happened
+to be torn and so revealed the glass.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sending this away as a present,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I bought it over
+in Princes Street this morning.&#8221; And he continued with his scissors to
+make the box to fit it. &#8220;I shall not want you any more to-day
+Hargreave,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;We&#8217;ll get back home to-morrow, starting at
+ten.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And, as was his habit, he dismissed me abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>Four days later I was summoned to the library, where in breeches and
+gaiters he was standing astride upon the hearthrug.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Hargreave,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I want you to take the next train up
+to London and carry that little leather bag with you,&#8221; and he
+indicated a small bag <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>standing upon the writing-table. &#8220;On arrival go
+at once down to Maldon and call at half-past nine o&#8217;clock to-morrow
+night at that house to which you took old Mr. Tarrant. You recollect
+it&mdash;The Limes, on the Witham road. Morley will be expecting you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;Is there any message?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None. Just deliver it to him. But to nobody else, remember,&#8221; he
+ordered.</p>
+
+<p>So according to his instructions I duly arrived at the remote house at
+the hour arranged, and delivered the bag to the old man, who welcomed
+me and gave me a whisky-and-soda, which I found very acceptable after
+my long tramp from Maldon station. Tarrant was not alone, for I
+distinctly heard a man&#8217;s voice calling him just before he opened the
+door to me.</p>
+
+<p>Recollecting that the old fellow had been in gaol, I was full of
+curiosity as to what was intended. I certainly never believed it to be
+so highly ingenious and dastardly as it eventually proved to be.</p>
+
+<p>About a month passed uneventfully, save that I spent many delightful
+hours in Lola&#8217;s company. Her father had purchased another two-seater
+car&mdash;a &#8220;sports model&#8221; Vauxhall&mdash;and on several occasions I took him
+for runs in it about Yorkshire. Naturally he knew little about cars
+himself, but relied upon my knowledge and judgment. In addition to the
+Rolls and the Vauxhall I also had an &#8220;Indian&#8221; motor-cycle for my own
+personal use, and found it very useful in going on certain rapid
+missions to York and elsewhere. But the abandonment of the
+&#8220;A.C.&#8221;&mdash;which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>had, by the way, been regarded as a mystery by the
+Press&mdash;hurt me considerably.</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; had been absent from Overstow ever since the day we had left
+for Edinburgh, but as the bright autumn days passed I found myself
+more and more in love with the dainty girl whose father was a
+master-criminal.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I felt that Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife kept eager watch upon both of
+us. Perhaps she feared that I might tell Lola some of my adventures.
+As for Rayne, he was often out shooting over neighboring estates, for
+he was a good shot and highly popular in the neighborhood, while at
+Overstow itself there was some excellent sport to which now and then
+he would invite his local friends.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne possessed a marvelous personality. When at home he was the
+typical country gentleman, a good judge of a horse and in his &#8220;pink&#8221; a
+straight rider to hounds. None who met him would have ever dreamed
+that he was the shrewd, crafty cosmopolitan whose evil machinations
+and devilish ingenuity made themselves felt in all the capitals of
+Europe, and whose word was law to certain dangerous characters who
+would not hesitate to take human life if it were really necessary to
+evade arrest.</p>
+
+<p>His outstanding cleverness, however, was that he never revealed his
+own identity to those who actually carried out his devilish schemes.
+The circle of cosmopolitan malefactors who were his cat&#8217;s-paws only
+knew Monsieur and Madame Duperr&eacute;&mdash;under other <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>names&mdash;but of Rudolph
+Rayne&#8217;s very existence they were nearly all ignorant. Money was, I
+learnt, freely paid for various &#8220;jobs&#8221; by agents engaged by the man I
+had once known as Captain Deinhard, or else by certain receivers of
+stolen goods in London and on the Continent, who were forewarned that
+jewels, bonds or stolen bank-notes would reach them in secret, and
+that payment must be made and no questions asked.</p>
+
+<p>Late one evening Duperr&eacute; returned unexpectedly in a hired car from
+Thirsk. We had finished dinner, and I chanced to be with Rayne in the
+library, yet longing to get to the old-fashioned drawing-room with its
+sweet odor of potpourri, where Lola was, I knew, sitting immersed in
+the latest novel.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, Vincent! Why, I thought you were still in Aix-les-Bains!&#8221;
+cried Rayne, much surprised, and yet a trifle excited, which was quite
+unusual for him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a nasty little hitch!&#8221; replied the other, still in his heavy
+traveling coat. Then, turning to me, he said: &#8220;Hargreave, old chap,
+will you leave for a moment or two? I want to speak to Rudolph.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; I said. I was by that time used to those confidential
+conversations, and I walked along the corridor and joined Lola.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very troubled, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; the girl suddenly exclaimed in a
+low, timid voice after we had been chatting a short time. &#8220;I overheard
+father whispering something to Madame Duperr&eacute; to-day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Whispering something!&#8221; I echoed. &#8220;What was that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Something about Mr. Martyn, that American gentleman he met in
+Edinburgh,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;Father was chuckling to himself, saying that
+he had taken good precautions to prevent him proving an alibi. Father
+seemed filled with the fiercest anger against him. I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;s an
+awfully nice man, though we hardly know him. What can it mean?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An alibi? I reflected. I replied that it was as mysterious to me as to
+her. Like herself I lived in a clouded atmosphere of rapidly changing
+circumstances, mysterious plots and unknown evil deeds&mdash;truly a world
+of fear and bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>Some days later I had driven up to London in the Rolls with Duperr&eacute;,
+leaving Rayne and Lola at home, Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife being away somewhere on
+a visit. We took up our quarters at Rayne&#8217;s chambers, and next day
+idled about London together. Just before we went out to dinner Martyn
+called, and after taking a drink Duperr&eacute; went out with him, remarking
+to me that he would be in soon after eleven. Hence I went to the
+theater, and on returning at midnight awaited him.</p>
+
+<p>I sat reading by the fire and dozed till just past two o&#8217;clock, when
+he returned dressed in unfamiliar clothes: a rough suit of tweeds in
+which he presented the appearance of a respectable artisan. His left
+hand was bound roughly with a colored handkerchief, and he appeared
+very exhausted. Before speaking he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>poured himself out a liqueur glass
+of neat brandy which he swallowed at a single gulp.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had a rather nasty accident, George,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve cut my hand
+pretty badly. Only not a soul must know about it&mdash;you understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I nodded, and then at his request I assisted him to wash the wound and
+rebandage it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s been the matter?&#8221; I asked with curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing very much,&#8221; was his hard reply. &#8220;You&#8217;ll probably know all
+about it to-morrow. The papers will be full of it. But mind and keep
+your mouth shut very tightly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And with that he drew from his pockets a pair of thin surgical rubber
+gloves, both of which were blood-stained, and hurriedly threw them
+into the fire.</p>
+
+<p>On the following evening about six o&#8217;clock I was alone in Rayne&#8217;s
+chambers when the evening newspaper was, as usual, pushed through the
+letter-box. I rose, and taking it up glanced casually at the front
+page, when I was confronted by a startling report.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that just after midnight on the previous night the
+watchman on duty at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, in Lombard Street,
+had been murderously attacked by some unknown person who apparently
+battered his head with an iron bar, and left him unconscious and so
+seriously injured that he was now in Guy&#8217;s Hospital without hope of
+recovery. The bank robbers had apparently used a most up-to-date
+oxyacetylene plant for cutting steel, and from the strong-room in the
+basement&mdash;believed to be impregnable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>and which could only be opened
+by a time-clock, and, moreover, could be flooded at will&mdash;they had cut
+out the door as butter could be cut with a hot knife. From the safe
+they had abstracted negotiable bonds with English, French and Italian
+notes to the value of over eighty thousand pounds, with which the
+thieves had got clear away.</p>
+
+<p>The bank robbery was the greatest sensation of the moment. The thieves
+had cleverly effected an entrance by one of them having secreted
+himself in a safe in the bank when it had closed. In the morning at
+nine o&#8217;clock when the first clerk, a lady accountant, had arrived, she
+could get no entrance, so she waited till one of her male colleagues
+arrived. Then they called a constable, and after half an hour the
+sensational fact of the unconscious watchman and the rifled
+strong-room became revealed.</p>
+
+<p>The newspaper report concluded with the following sentences:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is evident that one of the thieves cut his hand badly, for we
+understand that the detectives of the City police have found
+blood-stained finger-prints of four distinct fingers upon the door and
+in other parts of the strong-room. These, of course, have already been
+photographed, and in due course will be investigated by that
+department of Scotland Yard which deals with the finger-prints of
+known criminals.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the knowledge of the injury to Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s hand I felt confident
+that the great <i>coup</i> was due to him. And I was not mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>The bank thieves had got clear away, it was true, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>but they had left
+those tell-tale finger-prints behind! As everyone knows, the ridges
+and whorls upon the hands of no two men are alike, therefore it seemed
+clear that Scotland Yard, now aroused, would very quickly&mdash;owing to
+its marvelous classification of the finger-prints of every criminal
+who has passed through the hands of the police during the past quarter
+of a century&mdash;fix upon the person who had laid his hands upon the
+steel safe door.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after I had read the report in the paper, Duperr&eacute; rang me up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to Overstow by the nine-thirty from King&#8217;s Cross to-night,&#8221;
+he said. &#8220;If you can join me, do. The air is better in Yorkshire than
+in London, don&#8217;t you think so, old chap?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Right-oh!&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ll travel up with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We met, and early next morning we were back at Overstow. Yet I managed
+to suppress any untoward curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>It was only when about a week later I read in the paper of the result
+of the discovery of Scotland Yard finger-print department and of a
+consequent arrest that I sat aghast.</p>
+
+<p>A notorious jewel-thief named Hersleton, alias Hugh Martyn, an
+American, had been arrested at a hotel at Brighton, and had been
+charged at Bow Street with the murderous attack upon the night
+watchman at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, his finger-prints, taken
+some years before, coinciding exactly with those left at the bank. He
+had violently <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>protested his innocence, but had been committed for
+trial.</p>
+
+<p>At the Old Bailey six weeks later, the night watchman having
+fortunately recovered from his injuries, Hugh Martyn was brought
+before Mr. Justice Harland, and though very ably defended by his
+counsel, he was quite unable to account for his movements on the night
+in question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was never there!&#8221; the prisoner shrieked across the court to the
+judge as I sat in the public gallery watching the scene. &#8220;I know
+nothing of the affair&mdash;nothing whatever. I am innocent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is undeniable that the prisoner&#8217;s finger-prints were left there,&#8221;
+remarked the eminent counsel for the Treasury, rising very calmly. &#8220;We
+have them here before us&mdash;enlarged photographs which the jury have
+just seen. Gentlemen of the jury, I put it to you that the prisoner is
+the man who assisted in this dastardly crime!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The jury, after a short retirement, found Hugh Martyn guilty, and the
+judge, after hearing his previous convictions, sentenced him to
+fifteen years&#8217; penal servitude.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Justice Harland has never known, until perhaps he may read
+these lines, that by the ingenious machinations of the super-criminal
+Rudolph Rayne, Hugh Martyn, who was one of his associates who had
+quarrelled with him over his share of a bank robbery in Madrid, and
+had tried to betray me to Benton on Clifton Bridge, had been the
+victim of a most dastardly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>treachery, though he was quite unaware of
+it and believed Rayne to be his friend.</p>
+
+<p>Only many months later I learned, by piecing together certain facts,
+that old Morley Tarrant was an expert photographer and maker of
+printer&#8217;s &#8220;blocks.&#8221; Slowly it became plain that Rayne, having been
+betrayed by the astute American crook, had met him in Edinburgh and
+with devilish malice aforethought, had contrived to get him to handle
+the glass cube which served as a paper-weight, and which I had quite
+innocently conveyed to the old hunchback, who had succeeded in taking
+the finger-prints and by photography transferring them upon the
+surgical rubber glove, thin as paper&mdash;really a false skin&mdash;which
+Duperr&eacute; had worn over his hands when he and his associates made an
+attack upon the bank.</p>
+
+<p>By that means Martyn&#8217;s finger-prints were left upon the safe door.</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; had previously taken out Martyn, whom one of his friends, a
+woman, had drugged, so that he lay in that furnished house near Maldon
+for two days unconscious. Hence he was unable to give any accurate
+account of his movements on the night in question, or prove an alibi,
+and was, in consequence, convicted.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne, the man with the abnormal criminal brain, had, by that
+ingenious <i>coup</i>, not only contrived to spirit away to the Continent a
+sum of eighty thousand pounds in negotiable securities, but had also
+sent to a long term of penal servitude the man who had attempted to
+betray him.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>CONCERNS MR. BLUMENFELD</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> pleasant high road between Leamington and Coventry runs straight
+over the hills to Kenilworth, but a few miles farther on there are
+cross-roads, the right leading into Stoneleigh and the left to Kirby
+Corner and over Westwood Heath into a crooked maze of by-roads by
+which one can reach Berkswell or Barston.</p>
+
+<p>It was over that left-hand road that I was driving Rayne and Lola in
+the Rolls in the grey twilight of a wintry evening. We had driven from
+London, and both Rayne and the girl I so admired were cramped and
+tired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; shouted Lola suddenly as we took a turn in the road. &#8220;There&#8217;s
+the lodge! On the left there. That&#8217;s Bradbourne Hall!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s it, Hargreave!&#8221; said Rudolph, and a few moments later I
+turned the car through the high wrought-iron gates which stood open
+for us, and we sped up the long avenue of leafless trees which led to
+the fine country mansion at which we were to be guests.</p>
+
+<p>Bradbourne Hall was a great old-world Georgian <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>house, half covered
+with ivy, and the appearance of the grave, white-haired butler who
+opened the door showed it to be the residence of a man of wealth and
+discernment.</p>
+
+<p>That Edward Blumenfeld, its owner, was fabulously wealthy everyone in
+the City of London knew, for his name was one to conjure with in high
+finance, and though the dingy offices of Blumenfeld and Hannan in Old
+Broad Street were the reverse of imposing, yet the financial influence
+of the great house often made itself felt upon the Bourses of Paris,
+Brussels and Rome.</p>
+
+<p>I met the millionaire at dinner two hours later, a tall, loose-built,
+sallow-faced man of rather brusque manners and decidedly cosmopolitan,
+both in gesture and in speech. With him was his wife, a pleasant woman
+of about fifty-five who seemed extremely affable to Lola. Mr.
+Blumenfeld&#8217;s sister, a Mrs. Perceval, was also present.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that a year before Rayne had met old Mr. Blumenfeld and
+his wife in an hotel at Varenna, on the Lake of Como, and a casual
+acquaintance had ripened into friendship and culminated in the
+invitation to spend a few days at Bradbourne. Hence our journey.</p>
+
+<p>As we sat gossiping over our port after the ladies had left the table,
+I began to wonder why the grey-eyed master-crook, whom not a soul
+suspected, was so eager to ingratiate himself with Edward Blumenfeld.
+The motive was, however, not far to seek. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Most men who are personal
+friends of millionaires manage to extract some little point of
+knowledge which, if used in the right way and with discretion, will
+often result in considerable financial gain. Indeed, I have often
+thought that around a millionaire there is spread a halo of prosperity
+which invests all those who enter it and brings to them good fortune.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that the great financier regarded Rudolph Rayne as his
+friend, for he promised to pay us a visit at Overstow in return.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Remember what Mr. Blumenfeld has promised us, George!&#8221; said Rayne as
+he turned to me merrily. &#8220;Make a note of it!&#8221; And the breezy,
+easy-going man who at the moment was directing all sorts of crooked
+business in many cities on the Continent sipped his glass of port with
+the air of a connoisseur, as indeed he was.</p>
+
+<p>That night, after I had gone to my room, Rayne suddenly entered and
+began to speak to me in a loud tone concerning some letters he wished
+to write early in the morning. Then, lowering his voice suddenly to a
+whisper, he added: &#8220;I want you to be very nice to Mrs. Blumenfeld,
+Hargreave. Unfortunately Lola seems to have taken a violent dislike to
+her. Why, I don&#8217;t know. So do your best to remedy what may result in a
+<i>contretemps</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then again he spoke in his usual voice, and wishing me good night left
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>After he had gone I, full of wonder and apprehension, paced up and
+down the fine old paneled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>chamber&mdash;for I had been placed in a wing in
+the older part of the house which was evidently Jacobean. As an
+unwilling assistant of that super-crook whose agents were at work in
+the various cities of Europe carrying out the amazingly ingenious
+plans which, with Vincent Duperr&eacute;, he so carefully formulated in that
+great old-world library of his at Overstow, I was constantly in peril,
+for I felt by some inexplicable intuition that the police must, one
+day or other, obtain sufficient evidence to arrest all of us, Lola
+included.</p>
+
+<p>I recollect that Superintendent Arthur Benton of Scotland Yard was
+ever active in his inquiries concerning the great gang which Rayne
+controlled.</p>
+
+<p>Had it not been that I was now passionately in love with Lola&mdash;though
+I dared not declare it openly&mdash;I should have left my queer appointment
+long ago. As a matter of fact, I remained because I believed, vainly
+perhaps, that I might one day be able to shield Lola from becoming
+their accomplice&mdash;and thus culpable.</p>
+
+<p>According to Rayne&#8217;s instructions I next day made myself as affable as
+possible to Mrs. Blumenfeld, but later in the afternoon I had an
+opportunity of chatting with Lola alone. She wanted to go to a shop in
+Warwick, and asked me to take her there in the car, which I did. The
+driver&#8217;s seat was inside the car, hence, when alone, she always sat
+beside me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you think of Mrs. Blumenfeld?&#8221; I asked her as we sped along
+through the rain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Oh! Well, I don&#8217;t like her&mdash;that&#8217;s all,&#8221; was her reply, as she
+smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think she&#8217;s quite nice,&#8221; I said. &#8220;She was most charming to me this
+morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And she is also charming to me. But she seems so horribly
+inquisitive, and asks me so many questions about my father&mdash;questions
+I can&#8217;t answer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221; I asked, turning to her and for a second taking my eyes off
+the road.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&mdash;you know, Mr. Hargreave&mdash;you surely know,&#8221; the girl hesitated.
+&#8220;Why are we on this visit? My father has some sinister plans&mdash;without
+a doubt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How sinister plans?&#8221; I asked, in pretence of ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You well know,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;I am not blind, even if Duperr&eacute; and
+his wife think I am. They forget that there is such a thing as
+illustrated papers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t follow,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, in the <i>Daily Graphic</i> three days ago I saw the portrait of a
+man named Lawrence, well-known as a jewel thief, who was sentenced to
+ten years&#8217; penal servitude at the Old Bailey. I recognized him as Mr.
+Moody, one of my father&#8217;s friends who often came to see us at
+Overstow&mdash;a man you also know. Why has my father thieves for his
+friends, unless he is in some way connected with them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Moody sentenced!&#8221; I gasped. &#8220;Why, he was one of Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s most
+intimate friends. I&#8217;ve met them together often,&#8221; I remarked, and then
+the conversation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>dropped, and we sat silent for a full quarter of an
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m longing to get back to Overstow, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; the girl went on
+presently. &#8220;I feel that ere long Mrs. Blumenfeld, who is a very clever
+and astute woman, will discover something about us, and then&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And if she does, it will upset your father&#8217;s plans&mdash;whatever they
+are!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Mr. Blumenfeld, as a great financier, has agents in all the
+capitals, and they might inquire and discover more about us than would
+be pleasant,&#8221; she said apprehensively. &#8220;I wonder why we are visiting
+these people?&#8221; she added.</p>
+
+<p>I did not reply. I was constantly puzzled and bewildered by the
+actions and movements of Rayne and his questionable friends.</p>
+
+<p>That evening after dinner, while old Blumenfeld played billiards with
+his guest, I marked. They played three closely contested games, for
+both were good players; until at eleven o&#8217;clock we all three went to
+the great drawing-room to bid the ladies good night. With our host I
+returned to the billiard-room, leaving Rayne to follow. Mr. Blumenfeld
+poured me out a whisky-and-soda and took a glass of port himself. Then
+a few minutes later he suggested, that as Rayne had not returned, he
+and I should have a final game before retiring.</p>
+
+<p>He had made about twenty-five when of a sudden <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>he leaned heavily
+against the table, his face blanched, and placing his hand to his
+heart, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! I have such a pain here! I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And before I could run round to his assistance he had collapsed
+heavily upon the floor.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I was at his side, but saw that he was already
+unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>I flew to the door and down the corridor, when luckily I encountered
+Rayne, who was at that moment returning to us.</p>
+
+<p>In breathless haste I told him what had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good heavens!&#8221; he gasped. &#8220;Don&#8217;t alarm the ladies. Find the butler
+and get him to telephone for the doctor in secret. I&#8217;ll run in and
+look after him in the meantime,&#8221; he said, and hurried to the
+billiard-room.</p>
+
+<p>I was not long in finding the butler, and quickly we went to the
+library and spoke to the doctor, who lived about five miles away. He
+was already in bed, but would, he said, motor over immediately.</p>
+
+<p>On our return to the billiard-room we found, to our relief, that Mr.
+Blumenfeld had recovered consciousness. He was still lying upon the
+floor, Rayne having forced some brandy between his lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s getting right again!&#8221; Rayne exclaimed to the white-haired old
+servant, and together we lifted our host on to the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>He recovered quite rapidly, and presently he whispered weakly:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I suppose it&#8217;s my heart! A doctor in Rome three years ago said it was
+rather weak.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad you&#8217;re better, my dear fellow,&#8221; said Rayne. &#8220;I was much
+worried about you. You were playing with Hargreave, and he alarmed
+me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m cold,&#8221; our host said. &#8220;Will you shut that window.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For the first time I noticed the window, which had certainly been
+closed when we were playing, was open about a foot. Besides, Mr.
+Blumenfeld&#8217;s glass of port, of which he had drunk only half, was now
+empty, two facts which, however, at the time conveyed nothing to me.</p>
+
+<p>In due course the doctor, an elderly country practitioner, arrived in
+hot haste, and grave concern, but as soon as he saw his patient he
+realized that it had been only a fainting fit and was nothing serious.
+Indeed, within an hour Blumenfeld was laughing with us as though
+nothing had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>But what had really occurred, I wondered? That window had been opened,
+apparently to admit fresh air to revive an unconscious man. But surely
+our host had not drained his port glass after his sudden seizure!</p>
+
+<p>The incident was, at Blumenfeld&#8217;s request, hidden from the ladies, and
+next day he was quite his old self again.</p>
+
+<p>About noon I strolled with Rayne out along the wide terrace which ran
+in front of the house overlooking the great park, whereupon he said:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll leave here to-morrow, Hargreave. Duperr&eacute; is at Overstow. Write
+to him this afternoon and tell him to send me a wire recalling me
+immediately upon urgent business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve finished here, eh?&#8221; I asked meaningly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he grinned, &#8220;and the sooner we&#8217;re out of this place the
+better.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So I sent Vincent a note, telling him to wire Rayne at once on receipt
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>The urgent message recalling Rudolph Rayne to Yorkshire arrived about
+half-past ten next morning, just as we were going out shooting.
+Blumenfeld was much disappointed, but his guest pleaded that he had
+some very important business to transact with his agent who was over
+from New York and desired to meet him at once. Therefore to Lola&#8217;s
+complete satisfaction the trunks were packed and put into the car, and
+immediately after luncheon we set forth to Overstow.</p>
+
+<p>On our way back I racked my brain to discern the nature of the latest
+plot, but could see nothing tangible. Mr. Blumenfeld had been taken
+suddenly ill while playing billiards with me, and Rayne, when
+summoned, had done his best to resuscitate him. Yet Rayne&#8217;s manner was
+triumphant and he was in most excellent spirits.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived back at Overstow Hall just before midnight, and he and
+Duperr&eacute; held a long conversation before retiring. Of its nature I
+could gather nothing. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>As for Lola, she retired at once very cramped
+and tired.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of the following morning Duperr&eacute; and Rayne were closeted
+together, while afterwards I drove Duperr&eacute; into York, where from the
+telegraph office in the railway station he sent several cryptic
+messages abroad, of course posing to the telegraph clerk as a passing
+railway passenger. Rayne never sent important telegrams from the
+village post-office at Overstow, or even from Thirsk. They were all
+dispatched from places where, even if inquiry were made, the sender
+could not be traced.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s in the wind?&#8221; I asked Duperr&eacute; as he sat by my side on our
+drive back to Overstow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Something, my dear George,&#8221; he answered, smiling mysteriously. &#8220;At
+present I can&#8217;t tell you. In due course you&#8217;ll know&mdash;something big.
+Whenever Rudolph superintends in person it is always big. He never
+touches minor matters. He devises and arranges them as a general plans
+a battle, but he never superintends himself&mdash;only in the real big
+things. Even then he never acts himself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that I was compelled to be satisfied. That night we all had quite
+a pleasant evening over bridge in the drawing-room, until just about
+ten o&#8217;clock Rayne was called to the telephone. When he rejoined us I
+noticed that his countenance was a trifle pale. He looked worried and
+ill at ease. He sat down beside Madame Duperr&eacute;, and after pensively
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>lighting one of his expensive cigars, he bent and whispered something
+to her.</p>
+
+<p>By what he said the woman became greatly agitated, and a few moments
+later rose and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>The household at Overstow was certainly a strange and incongruous one,
+consisting as it did of persons who seemed all in league with each
+other, the master-criminal whose shrewd, steel-grey eyes were so
+uncanny, and his accomplices and underlings who all profited and grew
+fat upon the great <i>coups</i> planned by Rayne&#8217;s amazing mind. The squire
+of Overstow mesmerized his fellows and fascinated his victims of both
+sexes. His personality was clear-cut and outstanding. Men and women
+who met him for the first time felt that in conversation he held them
+by some curious, indescribable influence&mdash;held them as long as he
+cared, until by his will they were released from a strange thraldom
+that was both weird and astounding.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever message Rayne had received it was evidently of paramount
+importance, for when Madame Duperr&eacute; had left the room and Lola had
+retired, he turned to me and with a queer look in his eyes, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect you&#8217;ll have to be making some rather rapid journeys soon,
+George. Better be up early to-morrow. Good night.&#8221; And then dismissing
+me, he asked Duperr&eacute; to go with him to the smoking-room.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard from Tracy,&#8221; I overheard him say as I followed them along
+the softly carpeted corridor. &#8220;We&#8217;re up against that infernal Benton
+again because of old Moody&#8217;s blunder. I never expected he&#8217;d be caught,
+of all men. Benton is now looking for Moody&#8217;s guiding hand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I hope he won&#8217;t get very far,&#8221; Duperr&eacute; replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We must make certain that he doesn&#8217;t, Vincent, or it will go
+badly&mdash;very badly&mdash;with us! That&#8217;s what I want to discuss with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of the result of the consultation I, of course, remained in ignorance,
+but next morning Rayne sent for me and said he had decided to meet his
+friend Tracy at the Unicorn Hotel at Ripon.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I telephoned him to the Station Hotel at York during the night,&#8221; he
+added. &#8220;He&#8217;ll have a lady with him. I want you to drive me over to
+Ripon and drive the lady back here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So an hour later we set out across country and arrived in Ripon in
+time for lunch.</p>
+
+<p>Gerald Tracy I had met before, a big, stout, round-faced man of
+prosperous appearance, bald-headed and loud of speech. That he was a
+crook I had no doubt, but what his actual <i>m&eacute;tier</i> was I could not
+discover. He met us on the threshold of the old-fashioned hotel in
+that old-fashioned Yorkshire town, and with him was a well-dressed
+young woman, Italian or Spanish, I saw at a glance.</p>
+
+<p>When Tracy introduced her to Rayne she was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>apparently much impressed,
+replying in very fair English. Her name, I learnt, was Signorina
+Lacava, and she was Italian.</p>
+
+<p>We all lunched together but no business was discussed. Rayne expressed
+a hope that the signorina&#8217;s journey from Milan had been a pleasant
+one.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite,&#8221; the handsome black-eyed girl replied. &#8220;I stayed one day in
+Paris.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The signorina has made a conquest in Milan,&#8221; laughed Tracy. &#8220;Farini,
+the commissario of police, has fallen in love with her!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Rayne smiled, and turning to her, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I congratulate you, signorina. Your friendship may one day stand you
+in very good stead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That the young woman was someone of great importance in the criminal
+combine was apparent from the fact that she had been actually
+introduced to its secret head.</p>
+
+<p>It struck me as curious when, after leaving Tracy and Rayne together,
+I was driving the signorina across the moors to Overstow, that while
+he hesitated to allow Tracy to go there, yet it was safe for the young
+Italian woman.</p>
+
+<p>I knew that Benton was still making eager inquiries, and I also knew
+that Rayne was full of gravest apprehensions. Rudolph Rayne was
+playing a double game!</p>
+
+<p>On arrival back home, Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife received our visitor. Lola had
+gone to Newcastle to visit an old <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>schoolfellow, and Duperr&eacute; was away
+in York so his wife informed me.</p>
+
+<p>Three uneventful days passed, but neither Rayne nor Lola returned. On
+the third evening I was called to the telephone, and Rayne spoke to me
+from his rooms in London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t get back just yet, George,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You&#8217;ll receive a
+registered letter from me to-morrow. Act upon it and use your own
+discretion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I promised him I would and then he rang off.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>AT THREE-EIGHTEEN A.M.</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> letter brought to my bedside next morning contained some curious
+instructions, namely, to take the car on the following Saturday to
+Flamborough Head, arriving at a spot he named about a quarter of a
+mile from the lighthouse, where I would be accosted by a Dutch sailor,
+who would ask me if I were Mr. Skelton. I was not to fear treachery,
+but to reply in the affirmative and drive him through the night to an
+address he gave me in Providence Court, a turning off Dean Street,
+Soho.</p>
+
+<p>That address was sufficient for me! I had once before, at Rayne&#8217;s
+orders, driven a stranger to Dean Street and conducted him to that
+house. It was no doubt a harbor of refuge for foreign criminals in
+London, but was kept by an apparently respectable Italian who carried
+on a small grocery shop in Old Compton Street.</p>
+
+<p>As I was ordered, I duly arrived on that wild spot on the Yorkshire
+coast. It blew half a gale, the wind howling about the car as I sat
+with only the red rearlight on, waiting in patience.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon a short, thick-set man with decidedly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>evil face and
+seafaring aspect, emerged from the shadows and asked in broken English
+whether I was Mr. Skelton. I replied that I was and bade him jump in,
+and then, switching on the big headlights, turned the car in the
+direction of London.</p>
+
+<p>From what I had seen of the stranger I certainly was not prepossessed.
+His clothes were rough and half soaked by the rain that had been
+falling, while it became apparent as we talked that he had landed
+surreptitiously from a Dutch fishing-boat early that morning and had
+not dared to show himself. Hence he was half famished. I happened to
+have a vacuum flask and some sandwiches, and these I divided with him.</p>
+
+<p>A long silence fell between us as with difficulty in keeping myself
+awake I drove over the two hundred odd miles of wet roads which
+separated us from London, and just before nine o&#8217;clock next morning I
+left the car in Wardour Street and walked with the stranger to the
+frowsy house in Providence Court, where to my great surprise Gerald
+Tracy opened the door. He laughed at my astonishment, but with a
+gesture indicative of silence, he merely said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, Hargreave! Back all right, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he admitted the Dutchman and closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>Tracy was evidently there to hold consultation with the stranger whose
+entrance into England was unknown. He would certainly never risk a
+long stay in that house, for the stout, bald-headed man had, I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>knew,
+no wish to come face to face with Benton or any other officer of the
+C.I.D.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly something sinister and important was intended.</p>
+
+<p>On calling at Half Moon Street, after having breakfasted, I found
+Duperr&eacute; there.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Rayne wants you to go down to the Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone and
+garage the car there,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He and I are running a risk in a
+couple of night&#8217;s time&mdash;the risk whether Benton identifies us. We both
+have tickets for the annual dinner of the staff of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, which is to be held in the Elgin Rooms.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And are you actually going?&#8221; I asked, much surprised.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And our places are close to Benton&#8217;s! He&#8217;ll never dream that the
+men he is hunting for everywhere are sitting exactly opposite him as
+guests of one of his superiors.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Boldness was one of Rudolph Rayne&#8217;s characteristics. He was fearless
+in all his clever and ingenious conspiracies, though his cunning was
+unequaled.</p>
+
+<p>As I drove down to Folkestone I ruminated, as I so often did. No doubt
+some devilish plot was underlying the acceptance of the high police
+official&#8217;s invitation to the staff dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Its nature became revealed a few days later when, on opening my
+newspaper one morning, being still at Folkestone waiting in patience,
+I read a paragraph which aroused within me considerable interest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p><p>It was to the effect that Superintendent Arthur Benton, the well-known
+Scotland Yard officer, had, after the annual dinner a few nights
+before, been suddenly taken ill on his way home to Hampstead, and was
+at the moment lying in a very critical condition suffering from some
+mysterious form of ptomaine poisoning, his life being despaired of.</p>
+
+<p>I was quite unaware until long afterwards of the deeply laid attempt
+upon Benton&#8217;s life, how the mysterious Dutchman was really a waiter
+much wanted by the French police for a poisoning affair in Marseilles,
+and that he had been able, by means best known to Rayne, to obtain
+temporary employment at the Elgin Rooms on the night of the banquet.
+It was he who had served the table at which had sat the unsuspicious
+detective superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>The latter fortunately did not succumb, but he was incapacitated from
+duty for over twelve months, during which period the inquiries
+regarding the unknown head of the criminal band were dropped, much to
+the relief of Rayne and Duperr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>All this, however, was, I saw, preliminary and in preparation for some
+great <i>coup</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose I had been kicking my heels about Folkestone for perhaps ten
+days when, without warning, Rayne and Lola arrived with Tracy and a
+quantity of luggage. No doubt the mysterious Dutchman had returned to
+the Continent by the fishing-boat in which he had come over to act at
+Rayne&#8217;s orders.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We are going to the Continent by the morning <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>service the day after
+to-morrow, George,&#8221; Rayne told me. &#8220;Tracy leaves to-night. Lola will
+go with us as far as Paris, where Duperr&eacute; will meet us, and we go
+south together.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And he produced a batch of tickets, among which I saw coupons for
+reserved compartments in the <i>wagon-lit</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards he gave some peculiar instructions to Tracy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll recollect the map I showed you,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Cr&egrave;ches is two
+miles south of M&acirc;con. At about two kilom&egrave;tres towards Lyons there is a
+short bridge over a ravine. That&#8217;s the spot. The train passes there at
+three-eighteen in the morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I follow you exactly,&#8221; replied his stout, bald-headed accomplice. And
+I was left wondering what was intended.</p>
+
+<p>That evening Tracy left us and crossed to Boulogne, while two days
+later we went on board the morning cross-Channel steamer, where, to my
+surprise, we met Mr. and Mrs. Blumenfeld.</p>
+
+<p>The encounter was a most unexpected and pleasant one. The great
+financier and his wife were on their way to the Riviera, and we were
+going as far as Cannes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had no idea that you were going south!&#8221; laughed Rayne happily as
+Lola, warmly dressed in furs, stood on deck chatting with Mrs.
+Blumenfeld and watching the boat casting off from the quay. &#8220;It will
+be most delightful to travel together,&#8221; he went on. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>&#8220;Lola stays in
+Paris and we go on to the Riviera. I suppose you&#8217;ve got your sleeping
+berths from Paris to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied the financier, and then on comparing the numbers on the
+coupons the old man discovered that by a coincidence his berth
+adjoined the one which had been taken for myself.</p>
+
+<p>We travelled merrily across to Boulogne, the weather being unusually
+fine, and took our <i>d&eacute;jeuner</i> together in the <i>wagon-restaurant</i> on
+the way to Paris. With old Blumenfeld was his faithful valet who
+looked especially after two battered old leather kitbags, a fact
+which, I noticed, did not escape Rudolph&#8217;s watchful eye.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the Gare du Nord, Lola was met by an elderly Englishwoman
+whom I recollected as having been a guest at Overstow, and after
+hurried farewells drove away in a car, while we took taxis across to
+the big hotel at the Gare de Lyon. There we dined, and at half-past
+eight joined the Marseilles express upon which was a single
+<i>wagon-lit</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Just as I was about to enter it, Rayne took me by the arm, and walking
+along the platform out of hearing, whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Vincent is here. Don&#8217;t recognize him. Be alert at three o&#8217;clock. I
+may want you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait! We&#8217;ve something big in progress, George. Don&#8217;t ask any
+questions,&#8221; he said in that blustering <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>impelling manner which he
+assumed when he was really serious.</p>
+
+<p>Several times in the corridor I met the financier and his wife with
+their bony-faced valet, and, of course, I made myself polite and
+engaging to Mrs. Blumenfeld.</p>
+
+<p>While the express roared through its first stage to Moret, I chatted
+with Rudolph and Blumenfeld after the latter&#8217;s wife had retired, and
+as we sat in the dim light of the corridor of the sleeping-car smoking
+cigarettes, all seemed absolutely normal.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly from the end compartment of the car Duperr&eacute; came forth. As a
+perfect stranger he apologized in French as he passed us and walked to
+the little compartment at the end of the car where he ordered a drink
+from the conductor.</p>
+
+<p>Hence old Mr. Blumenfeld was in ignorance that Vincent had any
+knowledge of us, or that Signorina Lacava, who was another of the
+passengers, was our friend. Yet the thin-faced valet who had brought
+up my early cup of tea when we had stayed at Bradbourne continually
+hovered about his master.</p>
+
+<p>Later, as the express was tearing on at increased speed, Mr.
+Blumenfeld retired to his compartment, with his wife sleeping in the
+adjoining one, and within half an hour Rayne beckoned me into his
+compartment at the farther end, where we were joined by Duperr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want you to be out in the corridor at three o&#8217;clock,&#8221; Rayne said to
+me. &#8220;Open the window and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>sit by it as though you want fresh air. The
+conductor won&#8217;t trouble you as he&#8217;ll be put to sleep. After the train
+leaves M&acirc;con, Vincent will pass you something. You will watch for
+three white lights set in a row beside the railway line. Tracy will be
+down there in waiting. When you see the three lights throw out what
+Vincent gives to you. Understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I now saw the plot. They had knowledge that old Blumenfeld was
+travelling with a quantity of negotiable securities which he intended
+to hand to his agent at Marseilles on his way to Cannes, and they
+meant to relieve him of them!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall be fast asleep,&#8221; Rayne went on, and turning to Duperr&eacute;, he
+said: &#8220;Here&#8217;s the old fellow&#8217;s master-key. It opens everything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; whispered Vincent. &#8220;That was a clever ruse of yours to
+contrive the old man to faint and then take an impression of the key
+upon his chain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was the only way to get possession of it,&#8221; Rayne declared with an
+evil grin. &#8220;But both of you know how to act, so I&#8217;ll soon retire.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And a few moments later I went out leaving both men together. The
+train roared into a long tunnel and then out again across many high
+embankments and over bridges. Rain was falling in torrents and lashed
+the windows as we sped due south on our way to Dijon. At last I knew
+the cause and motive of the old financier&#8217;s fainting fit. The reason
+of our visit to Bradbourne had been in order to obtain an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>impression
+of the old fellow&#8217;s little master-key which opened all his luggage,
+his dispatch-boxes, and even the great safes at the office in Old
+Broad Street.</p>
+
+<p>I hated the part I was forced to play, yet there certainly was an
+element of danger in it, and in that I delighted. Therefore I
+partially undressed, turned in, and read the newspaper, anxiously
+waiting for the hour of three and wondering in what manner Duperr&eacute;
+intended to rob the victim. I hoped that no violence would be used.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes crept on slowly as, time after time, I glanced at my
+watch. In the compartment next to mine the millionaire was sleeping,
+all unconscious of the insidious plot. The brown-uniformed conductor
+was asleep&mdash;no doubt he had taken a drink with Duperr&eacute;. Besides, the
+corridor at each end of the sleeping-saloon was closed and locked.</p>
+
+<p>At last, at five minutes to three, I very cautiously opened my door
+and stepped into the empty corridor. The train was again in a tunnel,
+the noise deafening and the atmosphere stifling. As soon as we were
+out in the open I noiselessly lowered the window and found that we
+were passing through a mountainous country, for every moment we passed
+over some rushing torrent or through some narrow ravine.</p>
+
+<p>It was already three o&#8217;clock when my nostrils were greeted with a
+pungent sickly odor of attar of roses, which seemed to be wafted along
+the corridor. It emanated, I imagined, from one of the compartments
+occupied by lady travellers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p><p>Of a sudden we ran into the big station at M&acirc;con, where there was a
+wait of about five minutes&mdash;for the wheels to be tested. Nobody left
+or entered. All was quite still after the roaring and rocking of the
+express.</p>
+
+<p>As we waited the odor of roses became much more pronounced, yet I sat
+at my post by the open window as though wanting fresh air, for the big
+sleeping-car was very stuffy, the heating apparatus being on. At last
+we moved out again, and I breathlessly waited for Duperr&eacute; to hand me
+something to toss out to Tracy who was ready with the three signal
+lights beside the line.</p>
+
+<p>The train gathered speed quickly. We had travelled two hundred and
+seventy miles and now had only a little farther to go. With my eye
+upon the side of the track, I sat scarce daring to breathe.</p>
+
+<p>The ravine! We were crossing it! I glanced along the corridor. Nobody
+came in sight.</p>
+
+<p>Next instant I saw three white lights arranged in a row. But we
+flashed past them!</p>
+
+<p>For some reason, why, I knew not, the plot had failed!</p>
+
+<p>I dared not go to the compartment of either of my companions, so after
+sitting up a further half-hour I crept back to my sleeping-berth
+feeling very drowsy, and turning in, slept heavily.</p>
+
+<p>I was awakened by a loud hammering upon my door, and an excited voice
+outside calling:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hargreave! Mr. Hargreave!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>I opened it in astonishment to find the gray-headed old millionaire in
+his pajamas.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been robbed!&#8221; he gasped. &#8220;I can&#8217;t wake the conductor. He&#8217;s been
+drugged, I believe! What number is Mr. Rayne&#8217;s compartment?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Number four,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;But what has been taken?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bonds that I was taking to my agent in Marseilles&mdash;over sixty
+thousand pounds&#8217; worth! My kitbag has been opened and the dispatch-box
+has been opened also while I&#8217;ve been asleep. The thief has evidently
+had the conductor&#8217;s key or he couldn&#8217;t have got into my compartment!
+The bonds must be still in the possession of one of the passengers,&#8221;
+he added. &#8220;Our last stop was at M&acirc;con and I was awake then.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Together we woke up Rayne, who at once busied himself in great alarm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Possibly the bonds have been thrown from the train to an accomplice,&#8221;
+he suggested, exchanging glances with me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. I&#8217;m sure they are still here&mdash;in the car. When next we stop I
+will prevent anyone leaving, and have all the passengers searched. The
+one thing that puzzles me is how the thief got to work without waking
+me, as I always place a little electric alarm on my bag when
+travelling with securities&mdash;and secondly, how did he manage to open
+both the bag and the dispatch-box it contained?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said Rayne. &#8220;Don&#8217;t let us raise any alarm, but just wait till
+we get to Lyons. Then we&#8217;ll <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>see that nobody alights before we call
+the police.&#8221; Then, turning to me, he said: &#8220;You&#8217;ll keep one door,
+Hargreave, and I&#8217;ll keep the other, while Mr. Blumenfeld gives
+information.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thus we waited. But I was sorely puzzled as to the whereabouts of the
+stolen bonds. If Duperr&eacute; had taken them, how had he got rid of them?
+That he had done so was quite plain by Rayne&#8217;s open attitude.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, in the dawn, we ran slowly into Lyons, whereupon, with
+Rayne, I mounted guard, allowing no one to leave. Two men wanted to
+descend to obtain some <i>caf&eacute; au lait</i>, as is customary, and were
+surprised when prevented.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary of police, with several plain-clothes officers, were
+quickly upon the spot, and to them Mr. Blumenfeld related his
+story&mdash;declaring that while lying awake he smelt a very strong odor of
+roses which caused him to become drowsy, and he slept. On awakening he
+saw that his dispatch-box had been rifled.</p>
+
+<p>When the millionaire explained who he was and the extent of his loss,
+the commissary was at once upon the alert, and ordered every passenger
+to be closely searched. In consequence, everyone was turned out and
+searched, a woman searching the female passengers, Signorina Lacava
+waxing highly indignant. Rayne, Duperr&eacute; and myself were also very
+closely searched, while every nook and cranny of the compartments and
+baggage were rummaged during the transit of the train from Lyons down
+to Marseilles. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>The missing bonds could not be discovered, nor did any
+suspicion attach to anyone.</p>
+
+<p>I confess myself entirely puzzled as to what had actually occurred.
+The well-arranged plan to drop them from the train beyond Dijon had
+failed, I knew, because old Mr. Blumenfeld was still awake; but what
+alternative plan had been put into action?</p>
+
+<p>It was only when we arrived in Marseilles that the bewildered
+conductor, a most reliable servant of the <i>wagon-lit</i> company,
+recovered from his lethargy and could not in the least account for his
+long heavy sleep. He had, it appeared, smelt the same pleasant perfume
+of roses as Mr. Blumenfeld. At Marseilles there was still more
+excitement and inquiry, but at last we moved off to Toulon and along
+the beautiful C&ocirc;te d&#8217;Azur, with its grey-green olives and glimpses of
+sapphire sea.</p>
+
+<p>We were passing along by the seashore, when I ventured to slip into
+Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s compartment, old Blumenfeld and his wife being then in the
+luncheon-car adjoining.</p>
+
+<p>I inquired in a whisper what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>For answer he crossed to one of the windows and drew down the brown
+cloth blind used at night, when upon the inside I saw, to my
+astonishment, some bonds spread out and pinned to the fabric!</p>
+
+<p>He touched the spring, the blind rolled up and they disappeared
+within.</p>
+
+<p>Each of the four blinds in his compartment contained their valuable
+documents which, in due course, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>he removed and placed in his pockets
+before he stepped out upon the platform at Hy&egrave;res. He was, of course,
+an entire stranger to Rudolph and me, and we continued our journey
+with the victimized millionaire to Cannes, where we were compelled to
+remain for a week lest our abrupt return should excite anybody&#8217;s
+suspicion. Meanwhile, of course, Duperr&eacute; was already back in London
+with the spoils.</p>
+
+<p>In the whole affair Rayne, whose master-brain was responsible for the
+ingenious <i>coup</i>, remained with clean hands and ready at any moment to
+prove his own innocence.</p>
+
+<p>The original plan of tossing out the sixty thousand pounds&#8217; worth of
+bonds to Tracy, who was waiting with his three warning lights, failed
+because of old Blumenfeld&#8217;s sleeplessness, but it was substituted by a
+far more secretive yet simple plan&mdash;one never even dreamed of by the
+astute police attached to the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway.
+It being daylight at Lyons, the blinds were up!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>LITTLE LADY LYDBROOK</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">F</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">rom</span> the very first I felt that, owing to my passionate love for Lola,
+I was treading upon very thin ice.</p>
+
+<p>As the cat&#8217;s-paw of her father I was being drawn into such subtle
+devilish schemes that I felt to draw back must only bring upon my head
+the vengeance, through fear, of a man who was so entirely unscrupulous
+and so elusive that the police could never trace him.</p>
+
+<p>Why a few weeks later I had been sent to Biarritz with Vincent was an
+enigma I failed to solve. At any rate, at Rayne&#8217;s suggestion, we had
+gone there and had stayed under assumed names at the H&ocirc;tel du Palais,
+that handsome place standing high upon the rocks with such charming
+views of the rocky headland of St. Martin and the dozen grey-green
+islets.</p>
+
+<p>We both lived expensively and enjoyed ourselves at the Casino and
+elsewhere, but the object of our visit was quite obscure. I knew,
+however, that Duperr&eacute; was prospecting new ground, but in what
+direction I failed to discover. One day we returned to London quite
+suddenly, but he refused to disclose <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>anything concerning the object
+of our visit, which, after all, had been for me quite an enjoyable
+holiday.</p>
+
+<p>About a week after our return Rayne called me into the morning-room.
+The keen grey-eyed middle-aged man was smoking a cigar and with him
+was Madame, whose cleverness as a crook was only equalled by that of
+her husband.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Hargreave!&#8221; exclaimed Rayne. &#8220;I hope you had a nice time at
+Biarritz, eh? Well, I want you to go on a further little holiday down
+to Eastbourne. Drive the Rolls down to the Grand Hotel there and stay
+as a gentleman of leisure.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m always that nowadays,&#8221; I laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Stay there under the name of George Cottingham,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;and
+spend rather freely, so as to give yourself a good appearance. You
+understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I don&#8217;t understand,&#8221; I said. &#8220;At least, I don&#8217;t understand what
+game is to be played.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t, George,&#8221; was his short reply. &#8220;You are paid not to
+understand, and to keep your mouth shut. So please recollect that. Now
+at the hotel,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;there is staying Lady Lydbrook, wife of
+the great Sheffield ironmaster. I want you to scrape up acquaintance
+with her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For reasons best known to myself,&#8221; he snapped. &#8220;It&#8217;s nice weather
+just now, and you ought to enjoy yourself at Eastbourne. It&#8217;s a smart
+place for an English resort, and there&#8217;s lots going on there. They
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>will think you such a nice sociable young man. Besides, you will
+spend money and make pretense of being rich. And let me give you a
+valuable tip. On the first evening you arrive at the hotel call the
+valet, give him a pound note and tell him to go out and buy a pound
+bottle of eau-de-Cologne to put in your bath. There&#8217;s nothing that
+gets round an hotel so quickly as wanton extravagance like that. The
+guests hear of it through the servants, and everyone is impressed by
+your wealth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I laughed. Only a man with such a brain as Rudolph Rayne could have
+thought of such a ruse to inspire confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later I arrived at the smart south coast hotel. Though not
+the season, Eastbourne was filled by quite a fashionable crowd. The
+Grand, situated at the far end of the town towards Beachy Head, is the
+resort of wealthy Londoners. I arrived alone in the showy Rolls just
+before luncheon, when many of the visitors were seated in the cane
+chairs outside or on the glass-covered veranda.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed, too, that the Rolls was well scrutinized, as well as
+myself. Under my assumed name, I took one of the most expensive rooms,
+and later, in the big dining-room, the waiter pointed out to me Lady
+Lydbrook, a young, blue-eyed, fluffy-haired little lady who,
+exquisitely dressed, was seated in a corner with another young woman
+about her own age.</p>
+
+<p>They were chatting merrily, quite unconscious of the fact that I was
+watching them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>Her companion was dark and exceedingly well dressed. I learnt from the
+waiter that Sir Owen Lydbrook was not with his wife, and that the name
+of her companion was Miss Elsie Wallis.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I fancy she&#8217;s on the stage, sir,&#8221; the man added confidently. &#8220;Only I
+don&#8217;t know her stage name. They&#8217;ve been &#8217;ere nearly a month. Sir Owen
+is in Paris, I think. They say &#8217;e&#8217;s a lot older than &#8217;er.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I realized in the cockney waiter a man who might be useful, hence I
+gave him a substantial tip when I signed the bill for my meal.</p>
+
+<p>Why Rayne had ordered me to contrive to make the acquaintance of the
+fluffy-haired little woman was a problem that was beyond me, save that
+I knew full well the motive was, without doubt, an evil one.</p>
+
+<p>It goaded me to frenzy to think that Lola should eventually be called
+upon in all her innocence to become, like myself, an unwilling agent
+in the carrying out of Rayne&#8217;s subtle and insidious plots.</p>
+
+<p>I was his paid servant, hence against my will I was forced to obey. My
+ever-present hope was to be able one day to extricate Lola from that
+atmosphere of criminality and mystery in which she lived, that
+environment of stealthy plotting and malice aforethought.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of my arrival there happened to be a dance in the
+hotel, and watching, I saw Lady Lydbrook enter the ballroom. She
+looked very charming in a dance frock of bright orange, with a wreath
+of silver leaves in her hair. Her gown was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>certainly the most <i>chic</i>
+of any in the room, and she wore a beautiful rope of pearls.</p>
+
+<p>Presently I summoned courage, and bowing, invited her to dance with
+me. She smiled with dignity and accepted. Hence we were soon
+acquaintances, for she danced beautifully, and I am told that I dance
+fairly well. After the fox-trot we sat down and chatted. I told her
+that I had only arrived that day.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;What a topping car you have! Ours is a Rolls
+but an old pattern. I&#8217;m always pressing my husband to get rid of it
+and buy a new model. But he won&#8217;t. Business men are all the same. They
+tot up figures and weigh the cost of everything,&#8221; and she laughed
+lightly, showing a set of pearly teeth. &#8220;They weigh up everything one
+eats and wears. I hope you&#8217;re not a business man?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. I&#8217;m not,&#8221; I replied with a smile. &#8220;If I were I might be a bit
+richer than I am.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Money! Bah!&#8221; she exclaimed as she waved the big ostrich feather that
+served her as fan. &#8220;It&#8217;s all very well in its way, but some men get
+stifled with their money-bags, just as Owen is. Their wealth is so
+great that its very heaviness presses out all their good qualities and
+only leaves avarice behind.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But to have great wealth at one&#8217;s command must be a source of great
+joy. Look how much good one could do!&#8221; I said philosophically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good! Yes,&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;The rich man can be philanthropic&mdash;if he is
+not a business man, Mr. Cottingham. The latter&mdash;if he tries to do good
+to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>his fellow-creatures&mdash;is dubbed a fool in his business circles and
+invariably comes to grief. At least that is what Owen tells me. He&#8217;s
+double my age, and he ought to know,&#8221; added the charming little woman.</p>
+
+<p>I admitted that there was much truth in what she had said. Indeed, we
+had already grown to be such good friends that, at her invitation, the
+night being clear and moonlit, we strolled out of the hotel and along
+the promenade, half-way to the pier, and back.</p>
+
+<p>Her companion, Miss Wallis, I had seen in the ballroom dancing with an
+elderly man who had &#8220;the City&#8221; stamped all over him. We chatted upon
+many subjects as we strolled in the balmy moonlit night.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect my husband back in a day or two. He has been to Warsaw upon
+some financial business for the Government. When we leave here we go
+to Trouville for a week or so, and in the autumn I believe we go to
+America. My husband goes over each year.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then I learned from her that they had a town house in Curzon Street, a
+country place in Berkshire, and a villa at Cannes. They had, it
+appeared, only recently been married.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We generally manage to get to Cannes each winter for a month or two.
+I love the Riviera,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Do you know it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been there once or twice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Villa Jaumont is out on the road to Nice, on the left. Perhaps if
+you happen to be there this <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>winter you will call. I shall be most
+delighted to see you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When presently we were back in the hotel and I had gone to my room, I
+realized that I had made rather good progress. I had ingratiated
+myself with her, and she had grown very confidential, inasmuch as I
+was already able to judge that she rather despised her elderly and
+parsimonious husband, and that she preferred to lead her own
+untrammelled life.</p>
+
+<p>But what was the real object of my mission?</p>
+
+<p>A few days later I received a scribbled note signed &#8220;Rudolph&#8221; to say
+that a friend of his, an Italian named Giulio Ansaldi, was arriving at
+the hotel and would meet me in strictest secrecy. I was to leave my
+bedroom door unlocked at midnight, when he would enter unannounced.
+Enclosed was half one of Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s visiting-cards torn across in a
+jagged manner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your visitor will present to you the missing half of the enclosed
+card as credential,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;If the two pieces fit, then trust him
+implicitly and act according to his instructions which he will convey
+from me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I turned over the portion of the torn visiting-card, wondering what
+fresh instructions I was to receive in such strict secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>I thought of Lola and wondered whether she had returned home from a
+visit she was paying in Devonshire, and whether, by her watchfulness,
+she had gained any inkling of the nature of this latest plot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>Little Lady Lydbrook had now become my constant companion. Her friend,
+Elsie Wallis, had apparently become on friendly terms with a tall,
+slim, dark-haired young man who often took her out in his car, while
+on several occasions Lady Lydbrook had accepted my invitation for an
+afternoon run and tea somewhere. The one fact that I did not like was
+that a quiet, middle-aged man seemed always to be watching our
+movements, for whether we chatted together in the lounge, went out
+motoring, walking on the promenade, or dancing, he always appeared
+somewhere in the vicinity. But on the day I received Rayne&#8217;s note he
+had paid his bill and left the hotel, a fact by which my mind was much
+relieved.</p>
+
+<p>That day I motored my pretty little friend over to Brighton, where we
+lunched at the M&eacute;tropole and arrived back for tea. Her husband, she
+said, had that morning telegraphed to her from Hamburg regretting that
+he could not rejoin her at present as he was on his way to Italy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose all our plans are upset again!&#8221; she remarked with a pretty
+pout, as she sat at my side while we went carefully through the
+old-world town of Lewes. She had become just a little inquisitive
+about myself. It seemed that she enjoyed her dances with me. Indeed,
+she admitted it, but I could discern that she was a good deal puzzled
+as to my means of livelihood. I had to be very circumspect, yet for
+the life of me I could not imagine why I had been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>ordered to carry on
+what was, after all, a mild flirtation with a very pretty young
+married lady.</p>
+
+<p>I could see that the other visitors at the hotel were whispering, and
+more especially had I incurred the displeasure of a Mrs. Glenbury, an
+elderly lady of distinctly out-of-date views, who with pathetic effort
+tried to ape youth.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the evening after our return from Brighton, I took a long
+stroll alone along the lower promenade, close to the beach, which at
+night is very ill-lit, being below the level of the well-illuminated
+roadway. I suppose I had walked for quite a couple of miles when, on
+my return, I discerned in front of me two figures, a man and a woman.
+A ray of light from the roadway above shone on them as they passed,
+and I noticed that while the woman wore an ordinary dark cloth coat,
+the man was in tweeds and a golf cap.</p>
+
+<p>An altercation had arisen between them.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; he cried. &#8220;You won&#8217;t live here very much longer&mdash;I&#8217;ll see
+to that! You&#8217;ve tried to do me down, and very nearly succeeded. And
+now you refuse to give me even a fiver!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Those words aroused my curiosity. I held back; for my feet fell
+noiselessly because of my rubber heels. I strained my ears to catch
+their further conversation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never refused you, Arthur!&#8221; replied the woman&#8217;s voice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p><p>I held my breath. The voice was Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s. I could recognize it
+anywhere!</p>
+
+<p>I watched. The young man&#8217;s attitude was certainly threatening.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t intend now that you&#8217;ll get off lightly. You&#8217;ll have to pay me
+not a fiver but fifty pounds to-night. So go back to the hotel and
+bring me out a cheque. I&#8217;ll wait at the Wish Tower. But mind it isn&#8217;t
+a dud one. If it is, then, by gad! I&#8217;ll tell them right away. And
+won&#8217;t the fur fly then, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He spoke in a refined voice, though his appearance was that of a
+loafer.</p>
+
+<p>His companion was evidently in fear. She tried to argue, to cajole,
+and to appear defiant, but all was useless. He only laughed
+triumphantly at her as they walked along the deserted promenade in the
+direction of the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly they halted. I held back at once. They conversed in lower
+tones&mdash;intense words that I could not catch. But it seemed to me that
+the frail little woman who was so often my companion was cowed and
+terrified. Why? What did she fear?</p>
+
+<p>She left him, while he drew back into the shadow. I waited also in the
+shadow for nearly ten minutes, then I passed on, ascended some steps
+and re&euml;ntered the hotel. In the lounge I sank into a seat in a hidden
+corner and lit a cigarette. Presently I heard the swish of a woman&#8217;s
+skirt behind me, and rising, peered out. It was Lady Lydbrook on her
+way out. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>She was carrying the cheque to the mysterious stranger!</p>
+
+<p>Alone in my room that night I threw myself into a chair and pondered
+deeply. I had learned that Lady Lydbrook was under the influence of
+that ill-dressed man who spoke so well, and whom I at first took to be
+an undergraduate or perhaps a hospital student.</p>
+
+<p>It was a point to report to Rayne. Somehow I felt a rising antagonism
+towards the young man who had successfully extracted fifty pounds from
+my dainty little companion who was so passionately fond of jewels and
+who frequently wore some exquisite rings and pendants. What hold could
+the fellow have upon her?</p>
+
+<p>Next morning she appeared bright and radiant at breakfast&mdash;which, of
+course, she took with her rather retiring friend Elsie Wallis&mdash;and I
+smiled across at her. She was, after all, a bright up-to-date little
+married woman possessed of great wealth and influence, her whole life
+being devoted to self-enjoyment at the expense of her elderly and
+despised husband. She was a typical girl of society who had married an
+old man for his money and afterwards sought younger male society. We
+have them to-day in hundreds on every side.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast we went together along the sea-front where the band
+was playing. The weather was glorious and Eastbourne looked at its
+best.</p>
+
+<p>I now regarded her as a mystery after what I had witnessed on the
+previous night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m horribly bored here!&#8221; she declared to me, as in her white summer
+gown she strolled by my side towards the town. &#8220;Owen is not coming, so
+I think I shall soon get away somewhere.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What about your friend Elsie?&#8221; I asked, wondering whether her
+decision had any connection with the unwelcome arrival of that
+mysterious young man in tweeds.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she&#8217;s going back to London to-day&mdash;so I shall be horribly
+lonely,&#8221; she replied.</p>
+
+<p>I recollected her nervousness and apprehension before she had paid the
+man who had undoubtedly blackmailed her, and became more than ever
+puzzled.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CAT&#8217;S TOOTH</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hat</span> night I went to my room at about ten minutes before midnight, and
+waited for the appearance of my secret visitor.</p>
+
+<p>Just as midnight struck the handle of the door slowly turned and a
+well-dressed, dark-mustached man of about thirty-five entered silently
+and bowed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hargreave?&#8221; he asked with a foreign accent. &#8220;Or is it
+Cottingham?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Which you please,&#8221; I replied in a low voice, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have this to hand to you,&#8221; he said as he produced the portion of
+the visiting-card which I found fitted exactly to that which I had
+received from Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I asked, inviting him to a chair and afterwards turning the
+key in the door. &#8220;What message have you for me?&#8221; Then I noticed for
+the first time that he bore in his hand a small brown leather
+attach&eacute;-case.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know you well by name, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You are one of us,
+I know. Therefore &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217; sends you a message.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Have you seen him?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; was his reply. &#8220;Though we have been in association for several
+years, I always receive messages through Vincent Duperr&eacute;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I knew that only too well. Rudolph Rayne took the most elaborate
+precautions to preserve a clean pair of hands himself, no matter what
+dirty work he planned to be carried out by others.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Duperr&eacute; saw me in London yesterday, gave me that piece of card, and
+told me to come here and explain matters,&#8221; the Italian went on in a
+low voice. &#8220;You see this case. I am to hand it to you,&#8221; and as he took
+it, he touched the bottom, which I saw was hinged and fell inwards in
+two pieces, both of which sprang back again into their places by means
+of strong springs. My small collar-box stood upon the dressing-table.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You see how it works,&#8221; he said, and placing the attach&eacute;-case over the
+collar-box, he snatched it up and the collar-box had disappeared
+inside! It was an old invention of thieves and possessed no
+originality. I wondered that Rayne&#8217;s friends employed such a
+contrivance, which, of course, was useful when it became necessary
+that valuable objects should disappear.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, and what of it?&#8221; I asked, as, opening the case, he took out my
+collar-box and replaced it upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am told that you are on very friendly terms with Lady Lydbrook. Our
+friend old Hesketh has <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>been here and watched your progress&mdash;a
+grey-mustached man with a slight limp. I dare say you may have noticed
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I recollected the silent watcher who I had feared might be a
+detective, and who had recently left the hotel. So Rayne had set
+secret watch upon my movements&mdash;a fact which irritated me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I know Sir Owen&#8217;s wife,&#8221; I said. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Possibly you don&#8217;t know that she has in a small dark-green morocco
+case a rope of pearls worth twenty thousand, as well as some other
+magnificent jewels. Haven&#8217;t you seen her wearing her pearls?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have,&#8221; I said, &#8220;but I put them down as artificial ones.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No&mdash;every one of them is real! They were a present to her from her
+husband on her marriage,&#8221; said the foreigner, his dark eyes glowing as
+he spoke. &#8220;We want them,&#8221; he whispered eagerly. &#8220;And as you know her,
+you&#8217;ll have to get them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall do no such thing!&#8221; I protested quickly. &#8220;I may be employed by
+Mr. Rayne, but I&#8217;m not paid to commit a theft.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My visitor looked me very straight in the face with his searching
+eyes, and after a moment&#8217;s pause, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that really your decision? Am I to report that to Duperr&eacute;&mdash;that
+you refuse?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you want to steal the woman&#8217;s pearls why don&#8217;t you do it
+yourself?&#8221; I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because I am not her friend. You have called at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>her room for her,
+Hesketh has reported. You would not be suspected, being her friend,&#8221;
+he added with sly persuasiveness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Tell them I refuse!&#8221; I cried, furious that such a proposition
+should be put to me.</p>
+
+<p>The foreigner, in whom I now recognized a polished international
+crook, shrugged his shoulders and elevated his eyebrows. Then he
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you not reconsider your decision, Signor Hargreave? I fear this
+refusal will mean a great deal to you. When &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217; becomes
+hostile he always manages to put those who disobey him into the hands
+of the police. And I have knowledge that he intends you to act in this
+case as he directs, or&mdash;well, I fear that some unpleasantness will
+arise for you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you threaten?&#8221; I demanded angrily. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know who you
+are&mdash;and I don&#8217;t care! One fact is plain, that you, like myself, are
+an agent of the man of abnormal brain known as &#8216;The Golden Face,&#8217; but I
+tell you I refuse to become a jewel-thief.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, if that is your irrevocable decision I will return
+to-morrow and report,&#8221; he answered in very good English, though he was
+typically Italian. &#8220;But I warn you that mischief is meant if you do
+not obey. Duperr&eacute; told me so. Like myself you are paid to act as
+directed and to keep a silent tongue. Only six months ago Jean Durand,
+in Paris, refused to obey a demand, and to-day he is in the convict
+prison in Toulon serving a sentence of seven years. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>He attempted to
+reveal facts concerning &#8216;The Golden Face,&#8217; but the judge at the Seine
+Assizes ridiculed the idea of our head director living respected and
+unsuspected in England. You may believe yourself safe and able to
+adopt a defiant attitude, but I, for one, can tell you that such a
+policy can only bring upon you dire misfortune. Once one becomes a
+servant of &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217; one remains so always, extremely well paid
+and highly prosperous providing one is alert and shrewd, but ruined
+and imprisoned if one either makes a slip or grows defiant. I hope you
+will understand me, signor. I have been given a master-key to the
+hotel. It will open Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s door. Here it is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I really cannot accede to this!&#8221; I declared. &#8220;Though I have
+fallen into a clever trap and have assisted in certain schemes, yet I
+have never acted as the actual thief.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;The Golden Face,&#8217; whose marvelous activity and influence we must all
+admire, has decided that you must do so in this case,&#8221; he said
+inexorably.</p>
+
+<p>I craved time to consider the matter, and after some further
+conversation told him I would meet him near the bandstand on the
+sea-front at noon next day, for we did not want to be associated in
+the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>That night I slept but little, for I realized that if I refused I must
+assuredly be cast into the melting-pot as one who might, in return,
+give Rayne away. I thought of Lola with whom I was so madly in love,
+and whom I intended to eventually rescue from the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>criminal atmosphere
+in which, though innocent, she was compelled to live.</p>
+
+<p>I hated to take such a downward step, though the innocent-looking
+little attach&eacute;-case with the steel grips and spring bottom was there
+by my bedside ready for use. I was torn between the path of honesty
+from which, alas! I had been slowly slipping ever since I had made
+that accursed compact with Rudolph Rayne, and my love for Lola, who
+had, I knew, every confidence in me, while at the same time she was
+growing highly suspicious of her father.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will readily realize my feelings that night. I had taken a
+false step, and to withdraw would mean arrest, conviction and
+imprisonment, notwithstanding any disclosures I might make. Rudolph
+Rayne remained always with clean hands, the rich country gentleman and
+personal friend of certain Justices of the Peace, officials, and
+others, with whom he played golf and invited to his shooting parties
+on the Yorkshire moors which he rented with money stolen in divers
+ways and in various cities.</p>
+
+<p>So, to cut a long story short, I met the mysterious Italian crook next
+day&mdash;and I fell, for I took the master-key and agreed to attempt the
+theft of Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s pearls!</p>
+
+<p>I now saw through Rayne&#8217;s devilish plot. I was to be used still
+further as his cat&#8217;s-paw, and he had planned that because of my
+friendship with the pretty young woman, at his orders I was to steal
+her property.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><p>I felt myself alone and in a cleft stick. That afternoon, as I sat at
+tea in the lounge with the woman whose jewels I was ordered to steal,
+I was torn by a thousand emotions, yet I pretended to be my usual
+self, and at my invitation she went out for a motor run between tea
+and dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Though I laughed at my foolishness, I somehow suspected that she now
+viewed me with distinct misgiving. It now became necessary for me to
+prospect for the little morocco case in which I knew she kept her
+pearls. Therefore I at last summoned courage, and one evening, just
+before half-past seven, while she was dressing for dinner, I knocked
+and made excuse to ask her if she would go to the theater with me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do come in,&#8221; she cried, for she was already dressed in a bright
+sapphire-colored gown which greatly heightened her beauty. As she
+admitted me, I saw the little jewel-case standing upon a tiny
+side-table near the window. She was not wearing her beautiful rope of
+pearls, therefore they were, without a doubt, safe in the case.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked me and accepted, so I quickly went downstairs and told the
+hall porter to telephone for two stalls.</p>
+
+<p>That night, on arrival back at the hotel, it occurred to me that if
+the little jewel-case had been left where it was my chance had now
+arrived. I was being forced against my will to become a thief. Rayne,
+the man who held me in his grip, had driven me to it and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>had placed
+the means at my disposal. To refuse would mean arrest and the loss of
+Lola.</p>
+
+<p>We sat down in the lounge and I called for drinks&mdash;she was thirsty and
+would like a lemon squash, she said. Before the waiter brought them, I
+made leisurely excuse to go to the bureau to see if there were any
+letters. Instead, I rushed up to my own room, obtained the &#8220;trick&#8221;
+attach&eacute;-case, and carrying it along to Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s room,
+stealthily opened the door with the master-key which Ansaldi had given
+me.</p>
+
+<p>All was dark within. I switched on the light, when, before me, upon
+the little table, I saw the small green jewel-box.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I placed the attach&eacute;-case over it and next second it had
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>But as I did so, I heard a movement behind me, and, on turning, to my
+breathless horror saw, standing before me, the pretty, fair-haired
+young woman whom I had robbed!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Mr. Cottingham&mdash;or whatever your name is,&#8221; she exclaimed in a
+hard, altered voice as, closing the door behind her, she advanced to
+me with a fierce light in her eyes. &#8220;And what are you doing here,
+pray?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, glancing at the table and noticing her jewel-case missing, she
+added:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see! You have scraped acquaintance with me in order to steal my
+jewels. You have them in that case in your hand!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>I stammered something. What it was I have no recollection. I only know
+that my words infuriated her, and she dashed out into the corridor to
+raise the alarm, leaving me in possession of the trick bag with the
+jewel-case inside.</p>
+
+<p>I dashed after her, seizing her roughly by the waist as she ran down
+the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen!&#8221; I whispered fiercely into her ear. &#8220;Listen one moment. You
+surely won&#8217;t give me away? Listen to what I have to tell you.
+Do&mdash;I&mdash;implore you,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I am no thief! I will tell you
+everything&mdash;and ask your advice. No harm has been done. Your pearls
+are here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she said, turning back upon me. &#8220;But you&mdash;the man I liked and
+trusted&mdash;are a common thief!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I admit it,&#8221; I said hoarsely as I dragged her back to her room, her
+dress being torn in the struggle. &#8220;I have been forced against my will
+into robbing you, as I will explain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Back in her bedroom she assumed a very serious attitude. She invited
+me to sit down, after I had handed back her jewel-case, and then, also
+seating herself in an arm-chair, she said in determination:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now look here, George Hargreave ... you see, I know your real name. I
+know your game. By a word I can have you arrested, while, on the other
+hand, my silence would give you your liberty.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will remain silent, Lady Lydbrook&mdash;I beg of you! I know that I
+have committed an unpardonable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>crime for which there is no excuse.&#8221; I
+thought of that strange midnight scene I had witnessed and it was on
+the tip of my tongue to mention it. But would it further infuriate
+her? So I refrained from alluding to it.</p>
+
+<p>Her attitude towards me had completely altered. She was hard-mouthed
+and indignant, which, after all, was but natural.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My whole future is in your hands,&#8221; I added.</p>
+
+<p>She still hesitated. A word from her and not only would I be arrested,
+but Rayne would probably be exposed and arrested also. She seemed, I
+feared, to be aware of the whole organization, hence she was one of
+the last persons who should have been marked down as a victim. Rayne
+had evidently committed a fatal error.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she said at last, &#8220;I am open to remain silent, and the matter
+shall never be mentioned between us&mdash;but on one condition.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what is that?&#8221; I asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am in want of someone to help me. Will you do so?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will do anything to serve you if you give me my liberty,&#8221; I said,
+much ashamed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then. Listen,&#8221; she said in a hard, strained voice. &#8220;If you
+resolve, in return for my silence, to assist me, you will be compelled
+to act at my orders without seeking for any motive, but in blind
+obedience.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I quite understand,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I agree.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>No doubt she desired me to act against her enemy&mdash;the young fellow who
+had extracted fifty pounds from her by threat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You must say nothing to a soul but meet me in secret in Paris. Stay
+at the H&ocirc;tel Continental where I shall stay on the night of the
+twenty-fourth. That is next Wednesday. At ten o&#8217;clock I shall be on
+the terrace of the Caf&eacute; Vachette in the Boulevard St. Michel. Remember
+the day and hour, and meet me there. Then I will tell you what service
+I require of you. I shall leave here to-morrow, and I suppose you will
+leave also.&#8221; And she opened her jewel-case to reassure herself that
+her pearls and other ornaments were safe.</p>
+
+<p>So she forgave me, shook my hand, and I went out of the room with the
+cold perspiration still upon me.</p>
+
+<p>I made no report of my failure to Rayne, but on the following
+Wednesday night, after taking a room at the Continental, in Paris, an
+hotel which I knew well, I crossed the Seine at about half-past nine,
+and at ten o&#8217;clock sauntered up the boulevard to the popular, and
+rather Bohemian, Caf&eacute; Vachette, where at a little table in the corner,
+set well back from the pavement, I found her seated alone. She was
+wearing the same dark cloth coat in which I had seen her when she met
+the mysterious stranger at night at Eastbourne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well? So you&#8217;ve kept the appointment, Mr. Cottingham!&#8221; she laughed
+cheerily as I sank into a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>chair beside her. &#8220;You&#8217;ll order a drink and
+pay for mine, eh?&#8221; she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Then when I had swallowed my liqueur, she suggested that we should
+stroll down the boulevard and talk.</p>
+
+<p>This we did. The proposition which she made without much preliminary
+held me aghast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Though I like you very much, Mr. Cottingham,&#8221; she said as we
+conversed in low voices, &#8220;I cannot conceal from myself that you are a
+thief. Well, now to be perfectly frank, I want a thief&#8217;s help&mdash;and I
+know that, as we are friends, you will assist me. You know my
+inordinate love of jewels. Indeed, I wouldn&#8217;t have married Owen if he
+had not given me my pearls. And you know the other ornaments I
+have&mdash;which I might very well never have seen again, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, now, at the Continental there is at the present moment staying
+a Madame Rodanet, the widow of the millionaire chocolate manufacturer.
+She possesses among her jewels the famous Dent du Chat&mdash;the Cat&#8217;s
+Tooth Ruby. It is called so because it is a perfect stone and
+curiously pointed, the only one of its kind in the world. I want it,
+and you must get it for me&mdash;as the price of my silence regarding the
+affair at Eastbourne.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I held my breath.</p>
+
+<p>Her suggestion appalled me. I was to commit a second theft as the
+price of the first! The pretty wife <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>of the great Sheffield ironmaster
+was a thief herself at heart! Truly, the situation was a strange and
+bewildering one.</p>
+
+<p>I protested, and pointed out the risk and difficulties, but she met
+all my arguments with remarkable cleverness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know Madame,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I will make your path smooth for you, and
+I myself will spirit the jewel out of France so that no possible
+suspicion can attach to you,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;Will you leave it all to
+me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We walked on down the well-lit boulevard, my brain a-whirl, until at
+last, pressed hard by her, I consented to act as she directed.</p>
+
+<p>I found, in the course of the next three days, that Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s
+whole life was centered upon the possession of jewels of great value,
+and I was amazed to discover how very cleverly she plotted the coup
+which I was to carry out.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, after dinner, she introduced me casually to the rich
+widow, an ugly overdressed old woman who was wearing as a pendant the
+famous Dent du Chat. It was, to say the least, a wonderful gem. But I
+passed as a person of no importance.</p>
+
+<p>Next night with Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s help I was, however, able to get into
+the old woman&#8217;s bedroom and carry out my contract for the preservation
+of silence concerning the affair at Eastbourne.</p>
+
+<p>I shall always recollect the moment when I slipped the pendant into
+Lady Lydbrook&#8217;s soft hand as she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>stood in <i>d&eacute;shabille</i> at the
+half-opened door of her bedroom and her quick whispered words:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall be away by the first train. Stay here to-morrow and cross to
+London the next day. <i>Au revoir!</i> Let us meet again soon!&#8221; And she
+gripped my hand warmly in hers and closed her door noiselessly.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! A week later I learned how, by Rayne&#8217;s devilish cunning, I had
+been tricked. When I knew the truth, I bit my lips to the blood.</p>
+
+<p>The widow Rodanet had, it appeared, been staying at the Palais, in
+Biarritz, when Duperr&eacute; and I had been there. She had been marked down
+by Rayne as a victim, for the Dent du Chat was a stone of enormous
+value.</p>
+
+<p>The planned robbery had, however, gone wrong and we had been compelled
+to return to London. Then Rayne had conceived the sinister idea of
+sending me to Lady Lydbrook&mdash;who was not Sir Owen&#8217;s wife at all but
+one of his agents like myself, and whose real name was Betty
+Tressider&mdash;a girl-thief whose chief possession was a rope of imitation
+pearls.</p>
+
+<p>I, alas! dropped into the trap, whereupon she, on her part, compelled
+me to steal old Madame Rodanet&#8217;s wonderful ruby; and thus, though I
+confess it to my shame, I became an actual thief and one of Rudolph
+Rayne&#8217;s active agents. What happened to me further I will now tell
+you.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>LOLA IS AGAIN SUSPICIOUS</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> devilish cunning of Rudolph Rayne was indeed well illustrated by
+the clever trap which he had set for me by the instrumentality of that
+pretty woman-thief, Betty Tressider, who called herself Lady Lydbrook.</p>
+
+<p>I now realized by Rayne&#8217;s overbearing attitude that he had, by a ruse,
+succeeded in his object in compelling me to become an active
+accomplice of the gang.</p>
+
+<p>When back again once more in Yorkshire, I was delighted to find that
+Lola had returned from her visit to Devonshire. She was just as sweet
+and charming as ever, but just a trifle too inquisitive regarding my
+visits to Eastbourne and Paris. I was much ashamed of the theft I had
+been forced to commit in order to preserve secrecy regarding my first
+downfall, hence rather awkwardly, I fear, I evaded all her questions.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, we were a great deal in each other&#8217;s company, and had
+many confidential chats. I loved her, yet somehow I could not be frank
+and open. How could I without revealing the secret of her father?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p><p>One spring afternoon we had been playing tennis and were sitting
+together in the pretty arbor at the end of the well-kept lawn, both
+smoking cigarettes after a strenuous game, when suddenly she turned to
+me, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know, Mr. Hargreave, I don&#8217;t like the look of things at all!
+Mr. Duperr&eacute; is not playing a straight game&mdash;of that I&#8217;m sure!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh&mdash;why?&#8221; I asked with affected ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have again overheard something. Yesterday I was just going into the
+morning-room, the door of which stood ajar, when I heard father
+warning Duperr&eacute; of something&mdash;I couldn&#8217;t quite catch what it was. Only
+he said that he didn&#8217;t approve of such drastic measures, and that &#8216;the
+old man might lose his life.&#8217; To that Duperr&eacute; replied: &#8216;And if he did,
+nobody would be any wiser.&#8217; What can it mean?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I fear I am just as ignorant as yourself,&#8221; I replied, looking the
+arch-crook&#8217;s pretty daughter full in the face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she said, &#8220;I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave. I have only
+you in whom I can confide.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I assured her, bending across to her. &#8220;You can trust me
+implicitly. I, too, am just as puzzled as yourself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know they have some business schemes together, Madame has often
+told me so,&#8221; went on the girl. &#8220;But while I was away at Keswick I
+purposely got into conversation with an old gentleman named Lloyd at
+Madame&#8217;s suggestion, as she told me our <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>acquaintanceship would be
+useful to some business scheme of Vincent&#8217;s. It appears that he wanted
+to become acquainted with Mr. Lloyd.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you acted upon her suggestion?&#8221; I asked, horrified that she was
+becoming the decoy of that circle of super-crooks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, though it was against my will,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;I contrived to
+allow him to have an opportunity to chat with me, and I afterwards
+introduced Madame as my companion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what followed?&#8221; I asked eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, he was very often with us, and took us for rides in his car all
+through the Lakes. The hotel was full of smart people, and I think
+they envied us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was silent for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you any idea who Mr. Lloyd may be?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, except that Madame told me that he is immensely rich. A few days
+later father came over to Keswick and stayed a few days and met him.
+But the whole affair was most mysterious. I can&#8217;t make it out,&#8221;
+declared the girl. &#8220;Mr. Duperr&eacute; never met him after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We must remain patient and watch,&#8221; I urged.</p>
+
+<p>This we did, and very soon there came a strange development of that
+carefully planned introduction.</p>
+
+<p>One day, on entering Rayne&#8217;s study, I found him in conversation with a
+tall, dark, fashionably dressed foreign woman&mdash;Spanish, I believed her
+to be. As I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>went in unexpectedly she seemed to have risen and assumed
+a fierce defiant attitude, while he, seated at his writing-table, was
+smoking one of his favorite expensive cigars and contemplating her
+with amusement.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My dear Madame,&#8221; he said, laughing, &#8220;pray sit down and let us discuss
+the matter coolly. I do not wish you to act in any way to jeopardize
+yourself. I have made certain plans; it is for you and your friends to
+carry them out. And I know how clever is your friend Louis Larroca. So
+there is no need for apprehension. Besides, if you trust me, as you
+have done hitherto, you will find the whole affair works quite
+easily&mdash;and without the least risk to yourselves.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next second he realized that I had entered, and turning to me, said
+quite quietly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m engaged just now, Hargreave.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So I was forced to withdraw, full of wonder as to the nature of the
+latest conspiracy.</p>
+
+<p>I found that a hired car from a garage at Thirsk was awaiting the
+lady, who, I learned from the young footman, had given her name as
+Madame Martoz.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour later she drove away without, so far as I could
+discern, having seen either Duperr&eacute; or his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Rayne, whom I drove into York in the new two-seater Vauxhall,
+told me as we went along that he was having a small house-party on the
+following Thursday.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Just a few personal friends,&#8221; he added.</p>
+
+<p>I smiled within myself, for I knew the character of the personal
+friends of &#8220;The Golden Face.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yet to my surprise, when Thursday came I found assembled half a dozen
+perfectly honest and respectable men and their wives, and in some
+cases their daughters. One was a London barrister, another a
+well-known member of Parliament, a third a rich Leeds manufacturer,
+while the others were more or less well known, and certainly all of
+the highest respectability. When Rayne gave a house-party he always
+did the thing well, and the days passed in a round of well-ordered
+enjoyment, motoring, golf, tennis and visits to neighbors to the full
+delight of everyone. In the evening there were dancing and billiards,
+Duperr&eacute; being the life and soul of the smart party.</p>
+
+<p>On the fourth day, about twelve o&#8217;clock, Lola, who had made friends
+with Enid Claverton, the barrister&#8217;s daughter, who was about the same
+age as herself, came to me in the garage, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Lloyd, whom we met at Keswick, has just arrived. He&#8217;s come on a
+visit. Father told me nothing about it. Did he tell you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not a word,&#8221; I replied, wondering why the person in question had been
+enticed into the spider&#8217;s parlor. No doubt the highly respectable
+house-party had been invited to form a suitable setting for some
+secret villainy.</p>
+
+<p>I met the new guest just before luncheon and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>found him a
+white-bearded, bald-headed, fresh-complexioned and rather dapper
+little man, whose merry eyes and easy-going manner marked him as a
+<i>bon vivant</i> and something after Rayne&#8217;s own style.</p>
+
+<p>He greeted me when in the big hall with its long armorial windows, its
+old family portraits, and the many trophies of the chase that had been
+secured by the noble family who were previous owners of the Hall.
+Rayne introduced me as his secretary.</p>
+
+<p>I looked into the smartly dressed old fellow&#8217;s blue eyes and wondered
+what foul plot against him had emanated from the abnormal brain of the
+arch-criminal who was his host. I smiled when I reflected on the
+horror of those guests did they but know who Rudolph Rayne really was.
+But in their ignorance they enjoyed his unbounded hospitality and
+voted him a real good sort&mdash;as outwardly he was.</p>
+
+<p>My time was occupied mostly in driving the Rolls, but when at home I
+watched narrowly yet was utterly unable to discern why the friendship
+of Mr. Gordon Lloyd, whose profession or status I failed to discover,
+had been so cleverly secured and carefully cultivated until he had now
+become a welcome guest under Rayne&#8217;s roof.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sinister design somewhere, but in what direction? Rudolph
+Rayne never lifted a finger or smiled upon a stranger without some
+evil intent by which to enrich himself. Usurers in the City have
+always been clever people backed by capital, but this super-crook had,
+I learned, risen in a few years from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>a small bookmaker in Balham to
+control the biggest combine of Thiefdom ever known in the annals of
+our time.</p>
+
+<p>One day I drove Mr. Lloyd with Lola and a Mrs. Charlesworth, one of
+the guests, into Ripon to see the cathedral. We had inspected the fine
+transepts, the choir and the famous Saxon crypt&mdash;of which there is
+only one other in England&mdash;and had gone to the old Unicorn to tea.</p>
+
+<p>We had sat down when, chancing to glance around, I saw, to my
+surprise, seated in a corner alone, the handsome Madame Martoz, who
+had had that confidential interview with Lola&#8217;s father some days
+before. Our recognition was mutual, I saw, for she lowered her dark
+eyes and busied herself with the teapot before her. Yet I noticed that
+with covert glances she was still regarding us with some curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later a tall, swarthy-faced man with well-trimmed black
+mustache, a typical Spaniard, lounged in and sat at her table, while
+she gave him tea. Mr. Lloyd, Lola and Mrs. Charlesworth were busily
+chatting, but I noted that the Spanish woman whispered some words to
+her companion which caused him to glance in our direction. Afterwards
+they both rose and went out.</p>
+
+<p>Later, when we had finished our tea, I went to the office in order to
+pay&mdash;for on such excursions I always paid on Rayne&#8217;s behalf&mdash;and when
+doing so, I asked casually:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Have you a Spanish gentleman staying here&mdash;a Mr. Larroca?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir,&#8221; replied the rather stout, pleasant bookkeeper. &#8220;We have a
+Mr. Bellido, a Spanish gentleman. He&#8217;s just gone out with Madame
+Calleja, who is also Spanish, though they both speak English well.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I thanked her and rejoined my party. At least I had ascertained the
+names under which they were known, for Larroca was no doubt the real
+name of Bellido.</p>
+
+<p>What mischief was intended? It was evident that we had been purposely
+sent by Rayne to that hotel in Ripon in order that Madame and her
+accomplice should see us, so that we could be identified again.
+Certainly it was unnecessary for them to see Lola, Mrs. Charlesworth
+or myself. We had, I felt convinced, made that excursion in order that
+old Mr. Lloyd should be seen and known to the mysterious pair.</p>
+
+<p>Two days afterwards our guests dispersed, but Mr. Lloyd, pressed by
+Madame Duperr&eacute;, remained behind.</p>
+
+<p>To me he seemed one of those wealthy, rather faddy men whom one
+encounters sometimes in the best hotels, men who move up and down the
+country aimlessly during the spring and summer and in winter go abroad
+for a few months; men with piles of well-battered and be-labelled
+baggage whose home is always in hotels and whose chief object in life
+is to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>dress in the fashion of the younger generation, to be seen
+everywhere, to give cosy little luncheon and dinner-parties, and be
+the &#8220;fairy&#8221; uncle of any pretty girl they may come across.</p>
+
+<p>We have lots of such in England to-day. Ask the <i>chef-de-r&eacute;ception</i> of
+any of our smartest hotels, and they will reel off the names of half a
+dozen or so elderly bachelors, widowers or wife-quarrelers with huge
+incomes who prefer to pass along the line of least resistance in
+domesticity&mdash;the private suite in an up-to-date hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gordon Lloyd was one of such, and it seemed that Rudolph Rayne,
+who now treated me with the greatest intimacy because he saw that he
+had drawn me so completely into his net, had become his dearest
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>On the night when the last guest had departed I sat with the pair over
+the port, after Lola and Madame had left the dinner-table.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Really,&#8221; said the merry old gentleman with his glass of &#8217;74 poised in
+his hand, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know whether I shall go back to Colwyn Bay again
+this winter&mdash;or go abroad. I&#8217;ve no ties, and I&#8217;m getting fed up. I
+haven&#8217;t been abroad since the war.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go abroad, my dear fellow,&#8221; said Rayne. &#8220;The change would certainly
+do you good&mdash;go somewhere in the south. The Riviera is played out. Why
+not go to Sicily?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been there,&#8221; replied old Mr. Lloyd as he sipped his glass of
+fine wine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Then why not try Italy? Glorious bright weather all through our foggy
+season&mdash;Rome or Florence, for instance?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I hate Italy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Spain, then? Good hotels in Madrid and Barcelona. In Madrid there is
+a small circle of English society, good opera, and lots of interesting
+places to visit by motor,&#8221; Rayne suggested, for, as a rapid traveler
+all over Europe, he knew every Continental city of importance.</p>
+
+<p>The old man was rather struck by the latter suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly am rather tired of Bournemouth and Colwyn Bay and Hove in
+winter,&#8221; he admitted. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never been to Madrid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then go, my dear fellow. Go by all means. The journey is quite easy.
+Just the train by day to Paris, and then by sleeping-car on the Sud
+Express right through to Madrid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. But it&#8217;s an awful trouble,&#8221; replied the rich old man.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No trouble at all!&#8221; laughed Rayne as he pulled at his cigar. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+like to see you in this rut of hotels. It&#8217;s bad for you! It only leads
+to drinks in the bar till late and bad headaches in the morning. You
+must buck up and get out of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;ll see,&#8221; replied the old fellow, and then we all three rose
+and rejoined the ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what a farce the whole thing was! I longed&mdash;I yearned to yell my
+disclosures against the man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>who like an octopus had now placed his
+tentacles around me. But I saw that it was futile to kick against the
+pricks. I had only to wait and to watch.</p>
+
+<p>For a whole week things proceeded in good, well-ordered regularity.
+Mr. Lloyd was our guest and everyone made themselves pleasant towards
+him. Lola, with whom I had frequent chats in secret, had somehow
+become disarmed. She no longer suspected her father of any sinister
+intent, the reason being that he had taken the old man as his dearest
+and most intimate confidant.</p>
+
+<p>One night after I had beaten old Mr. Lloyd at billiards and he had
+gone to bed, I passed by the door of the library and saw a streak of
+light beneath the door.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, believing that the electric light had been inadvertently
+left on, I opened the door, when I had a great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne was seated in an arm-chair chatting with Madame Martoz, while on
+a settee near the window sat Madame Duperr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>All three started up as I entered, but a word of apology instantly
+rose to my lips, and Rayne said: &#8220;That&#8217;s all right, Hargreave. Indeed,
+I wanted to talk to you. Look here,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;I want you to go to
+Madrid after old Mr. Lloyd goes there, as no doubt he will. You&#8217;ll
+stay at the Ritz in the Plaza de Canovas, and ask no questions. I&#8217;ll
+send you instructions&mdash;or perhaps Duperr&eacute; may be with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When?&#8221; I asked in surprise, as it appeared that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>the rich old
+gentleman had, after all, arranged to go to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In ten days or so. When I tell you. Till then, don&#8217;t worry, my dear
+boy. When I make plans you know that you have only to act.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To the detriment of our unsuspecting guest, eh?&#8221; I remarked in a low
+bitter voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is not polite, George,&#8221; he said sharply. &#8220;You are our paid
+servant, and such a remark does not befit you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whether it does or not, Mr. Rayne, I repeat it,&#8221; I said defiantly. &#8220;I
+am not blind to your subtle machinations by which I have become your
+accomplice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He laughed triumphantly in my face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are paid&mdash;and well paid for it all. Why should you resent? Are
+you an idiot?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly refuse to be your tool!&#8221; I cried furiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have thrown in your lot with me as one who ventures constantly in
+big things just as any man who operates on the Stock Exchange. It is
+good sport. You, George, are a sportsman, as I am. And from one sport
+we both derive a good deal of fun.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the victim of our fun, as you term it, is to be old Mr. Lloyd!&#8221; I
+remarked, looking him straight in his face.</p>
+
+<p>But he only laughed, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be a fool. You are a most excellent fellow, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>Hargreave, except
+when you get these little fits of squeamishness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was on the tip of my tongue to roundly refuse to have anything
+further to do with him and leave the house, but I knew, alas! that now
+I had stolen the famous ruby in Paris he would have no compunction in
+giving me over to the police.</p>
+
+<p>And if I, in turn, gave information against him, what could I really
+prove? Practically nothing! Rayne was always clever enough to preserve
+himself from any possibility of suspicion. It was that fact which
+marked him as the most amazing and ingenious crook.</p>
+
+<p>So I was forced to remain silent, and a few minutes later left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>On the following Friday Mr. Lloyd left us. Rayne bade him a regretful
+farewell, after making him promise to return to us for a fortnight
+when he got back from Spain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Probably my secretary, Hargreave, will have to go to Madrid upon
+business for me. I have some interest in a tramway company at
+Salamanca. So you may possibly meet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope we do, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; said the old gentleman, turning to me
+warmly. &#8220;I shall certainly take your advice and try Madrid for a few
+weeks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, do. You&#8217;ll like it, I&#8217;m sure,&#8221; his host assured him, and then we
+drove away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When are you going to Spain?&#8221; Mr. Lloyd asked me as he sat at my side
+on our way to Thirsk station.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I really don&#8217;t know,&#8221; was my evasive reply. &#8220;Mr. Rayne has not yet
+fixed the date.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, here&#8217;s my address,&#8221; he said, handing me a card with his name
+and &#8220;Reform Club&#8221; on it. &#8220;I wish you&#8217;d write me when your journey is
+fixed and perhaps we might travel together. I&#8217;d be most delighted to
+have you as my companion on the journey.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I took the card, thanked him, and promised that I would let him know
+the date of my departure.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PAINTED ENVELOPE</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">n</span> my return I told Rayne of the old man&#8217;s invitation, whereat he
+rubbed his hands in warm approval.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excellent!&#8221; he cried. &#8220;You must travel with him and keep an eye upon
+him&mdash;just to see that nobody&mdash;well, that nobody molests the poor old
+fellow,&#8221; he laughed grimly.</p>
+
+<p>I saw his meaning, but I was in no way anxious to become the traveling
+companion of a man who had, without doubt, been marked down as the
+next victim.</p>
+
+<p>A fact that aroused my curiosity was that all the time Mr. Lloyd had
+been with us Duperr&eacute; had been absent&mdash;in Brussels, I believe. His
+identity was evidently being concealed with some distinctly malicious
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>I waited with curiosity. Next day Lola, who with her woman&#8217;s intuition
+had scented that something sinister was intended, expressed surprise
+to me that Mr. Lloyd was going to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>We were walking together across the park beyond the lower gardens on
+our way to the village.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Mr. Lloyd told me that he was going to Spain at father&#8217;s suggestion,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;It seems to me rather strange that I should have been the
+means of bringing father and him together. I can&#8217;t understand the
+reason of it all,&#8221; she added, evidently much puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps your father has some idea of transacting some lucrative
+business with him. Remember, he has a lot of financial interests in
+Spain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! yes,&#8221; replied the girl. &#8220;Of course. I never thought of that!
+Father has been to Madrid several times of late.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I feared to tell her what I suspected of the secret visit of that
+handsome Spanish woman, or of how we had been observed at the Unicorn
+at Ripon.</p>
+
+<p>On that same day Duperr&eacute; returned. He had been abroad, for when I met
+him at the station I noticed that his luggage bore fresh labels of the
+Palace Hotel, at Brussels, and some railway destinations. At ten
+o&#8217;clock that night, after Lola had retired to bed, I was called to
+consult with Rayne and Duperr&eacute;, who were smoking together in the
+billiard-room. Duperr&eacute; had evidently related to him the result of his
+mysterious journeyings, and Rayne seemed in an unusually good humor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sit down, George, and listen,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have a little piece of
+important business to transact&mdash;something that will bring in big
+money. Duperr&eacute; will explain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p>Vincent turned, and looking at me through the haze of his
+cigarette-smoke, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s not much to explain, George. You have only to act on Rayne&#8217;s
+instructions. The matter does not concern you as, after all, you&#8217;re
+only a pawn in this merry little game which will do no harm to
+anyone&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only to old Lloyd,&#8221; I interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To his pocket, perhaps,&#8221; Duperr&eacute; laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Frankly, you mean to rob him, as you have so many others.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; frowned darkly, and exchanged angry glances with Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think that remark is entirely uncalled for,&#8221; Rayne said
+resentfully. &#8220;You have thrown in your lot with us, as I have told you
+before, and with your eyes wide open have become one of my trusted
+assistants. As such you will receive my instructions&mdash;and act upon
+them without question. That is your position. And now,&#8221; he added,
+turning to Duperr&eacute;, &#8220;please explain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; laid down his cigarette-end in the tray, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, look here, George. What you must do is this. You will write to
+old Lloyd at the Reform Club to-morrow and tell him that you are
+leaving for Madrid on Tuesday week upon important business for our
+friend Rayne. You will suggest that he goes to the Ritz while you go
+to the H&ocirc;tel de la Paix in the Puerta del Sol, as being less
+expensive. You, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>as Rayne&#8217;s secretary, cannot afford to stay at the
+Ritz, you understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then there is a specific reason why we should not stay at the same
+hotel, eh?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; hesitated, and then nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I may come out to Spain and join you in a few days after your
+arrival. At present I don&#8217;t exactly know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So, though full of resentment, I was compelled to the inevitable. Next
+day I wrote to the Reform Club, and in reply received a letter
+appointing to meet me at Charing Cross Station on the following
+Tuesday week.</p>
+
+<p>Lola became even more inquisitive next day. Whether her father had
+inadvertently dropped a word in her presence I know not, but she had
+somehow become aware that I had received orders to travel with Mr.
+Lloyd to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>What was intended? The &#8220;business&#8221; upon which I was being sent to Spain
+was some <i>coup</i> which Rayne&#8217;s ever-active brain had carefully
+conceived. He had used his daughter&#8217;s bright and winning manners in
+order to become friendly with the wealthy and somewhat mysterious old
+man whom I was to conduct to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally I was evasive as usually. I loved her, it was true. She was
+all the world to me. And my love was, I believed, reciprocated, but
+how could I admit my shameful compact with her father? I was now a
+thief, having been drawn into that insidious <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>plot which I described
+in the previous chapter of my reminiscences as a servant to the King
+of Crookdom.</p>
+
+<p>So we walked pleasantly along to the white-headed old village
+clockmaker, who was grandson of a well-known man who had fashioned the
+little grandmother clocks which to-day are so rare&mdash;the pet
+timekeepers of our bewigged ancestors. The name of the old fellow&#8217;s
+grandfather was on the list of famous makers of clocks in the days of
+George the Third, which you can find in any book upon old clocks.</p>
+
+<p>On our walk back to the Hall we chatted merrily.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I rather envy you your run out to Madrid,&#8221; Lola laughed. &#8220;I wish I
+could go to Spain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was wearing a canary-colored jersey, stout boots, and carried a
+hefty ash stick, for she was essentially an out-of-door girl, though
+at night she could put on a short and flimsy dance frock and look the
+perfection of charm.</p>
+
+<p>I took no notice of her remark, but purposely turned the conversation,
+and as we strolled back together we discussed a dance which was to be
+given two nights later by her friends the Fishers at Atherton Towers,
+about five miles distant.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning appointed I met old Mr. Lloyd, who, to my surprise, had
+with him his niece, Miss Sylvia Andrews, a smart and pretty
+dark-haired girl of about twenty-five.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At the last moment Sylvia wanted to come with me to see Spain,&#8221; the
+old gentleman explained as we <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>sat in the boat-train speeding towards
+Dover. &#8220;I managed yesterday to get an extra sleeping-berth in the Sud
+Express.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope you will like Madrid, Miss Andrews,&#8221; I said gallantly. &#8220;You
+will find life there very bright and gay&mdash;quite an experience.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m greatly looking forward to it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve read all about
+it, and though I&#8217;ve been in France and in Italy quite a lot, I&#8217;ve
+never been in Spain, though I&#8217;ve always longed to see it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I propose we break our journey at San Sebastian,&#8221; said Mr. Lloyd. &#8220;I
+want to see the place, and the Casino which is making such a bid
+against the counter-attraction of Monte Carlo. What do you say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m quite agreeable,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;A couple of days&#8217; delay makes no
+difference to me. As long as I am in Madrid on the sixteenth it will
+be all right. I have to attend a directors&#8217; meeting on behalf of Mr.
+Rayne on that day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good! uncle,&#8221; cried the girl. &#8220;Then we&#8217;ll break our journey at San
+Sebastian, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And so it was arranged.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later we stepped from the dusty sleeping-car in which we had
+traveled from Paris, and soon found ourselves driving around a wide
+bay with calm sapphire sea and golden sands&mdash;the far-famed La Concha.</p>
+
+<p>We remained for two days at that luxurious hotel the Continental, on
+the Paseo, and visited all the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>sights, including the Casino, where we
+thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Old Mr. Lloyd was an amusing companion,
+as I well knew, a man who seemed never tired notwithstanding his
+advanced age, while his niece was a particularly jolly girl who
+enjoyed every moment of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Then we proceeded by the night express to Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lloyd insisted that I should stay with them at the Ritz, but,
+compelled to obey Rayne&#8217;s instructions, I was forced to excuse myself
+on the plea that two of Rayne&#8217;s co-directors were to stay at the H&ocirc;tel
+de la Paix, and Rayne had wished me to stay with them for certain
+business reasons.</p>
+
+<p>With this explanation the old gentleman was satisfied, so when at last
+we arrived in the Spanish capital I saw them safely to the Ritz, then
+went on alone to the Puerta del Sol.</p>
+
+<p>That night we dined together, and afterwards we went to the opera at
+the Teatro Real. Next day we met again, and on several days that
+followed. I took them to see the sights of the capital, the sights
+which everyone visits, the Armeria, the Academy, the Naval Museum, the
+street life of the Plaza Mayor and the Calle de Toledo, the afternoon
+promenades in the Retiro Park and the Paseo de Fernan Nu&ntilde;ez.</p>
+
+<p>In all they evinced the greatest interest. To both uncle and niece it
+presented fresh scenes such as neither had before seen, and I realized
+that old Mr. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>Lloyd had become brighter and far more cheerful than
+when with us at Overstow.</p>
+
+<p>I had been at the H&ocirc;tel de la Paix for about ten days, when on
+returning late one night from visiting with Miss Andrews the
+celebrated Verbena de la Paloma&mdash;the famous fair held in the Calle de
+la Paloma&mdash;I found, to my surprise, Duperr&eacute; awaiting me.</p>
+
+<p>I explained the situation, but when I mentioned the presence of old
+Lloyd&#8217;s niece his countenance instantly fell.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why in the name of Fate did the old fool bring her here?&#8221; he
+exclaimed. &#8220;I thought he would come alone!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s quite a nice girl,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;Full of high spirits and
+vitality.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But Duperr&eacute; only grunted, and I saw by the expression of his face that
+he was far from pleased that the old man was not alone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to be introduced yet,&#8221; he said. &#8220;At present, though we
+can meet here in the hotel, we must be strangers outside.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what is the game?&#8221; I demanded boldly, for we were together in my
+bedroom overlooking the great square and the door was locked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing that concerns you, Hargreave,&#8221; was his hard reply. &#8220;I know
+you&#8217;re foolishly squeamish about some things. Well, in this affair
+just act as Rudolph orders and don&#8217;t trouble about the consequences.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p><p>I realized that some evil was intended. Yet it was prevented by the
+presence there of Sylvia Andrews. What could it be?</p>
+
+<p>Next day I met uncle and niece as usual, and we went for a motor ride
+together out to Aranjuez, where we saw the Palacio Real, and then on
+to Toledo where we visited the wonderful cathedral and the great
+Elcazar. I did not get back to the hotel till past ten o&#8217;clock that
+night, but I found Duperr&eacute; anxious and perturbed. Why, I failed to
+understand, except that he seemed filled with annoyance that his plans
+had somehow gone awry.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later when I called at the Ritz with the intention of
+accompanying Mr. Lloyd and his niece over the mountains to Valladolid,
+I found them both greatly excited.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sylvia had a telegram an hour ago recalling her to London as her
+mother is ill, and I am going with her. I cannot allow her to travel
+alone. We leave by the express at six o&#8217;clock this evening,&#8221; Mr. Lloyd
+said. &#8220;I am so very sorry to depart so suddenly, Mr. Hargreave. We
+were both enjoying our visit so much,&#8221; he added apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>This surprised me until I returned to my hotel to luncheon, when
+Duperr&eacute;, meeting me eagerly in the hall, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, is the girl going?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I said. &#8220;How do you know?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He smiled meaningly, and I felt that in all probability the telegram
+recalling the girl had been sent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>at his instigation, as indeed I
+afterwards knew it had been. So cleverly had matters been arranged by
+the crooks that Mrs. Andrews was actually very unwell.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she&#8217;s off to-night&mdash;and the old man also,&#8221; I said, glad that he
+was to get out of the mysterious danger that undoubtedly threatened
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221; cried my companion, staggered. &#8220;Is the old fellow actually
+leaving also? At what time?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By the six o&#8217;clock train&mdash;the express to Irun,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>He was thoughtful for a moment. Then he said abruptly in a thick
+voice:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want any lunch. I want to think. Come up to my room when
+you&#8217;ve had your meal,&#8221; and then, turning on his heel, he ascended in
+the lift.</p>
+
+<p>On going to his room after luncheon I found him standing by the
+window, with his hands in his pockets, looking blankly out upon the
+great square below.</p>
+
+<p>Close by, upon the writing-table, was a small medicine phial and a
+camel-hair brush, together with several pieces of paper. It struck me
+that he had painted one of the pieces with some of the colorless
+liquid, for, having dried, it was now crinkled in the center.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Hargreave,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want you to telephone to the girl
+Andrews and ask her to meet you this afternoon at four, say in the
+ladies&#8217; caf&eacute; in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>the Caf&eacute; Suzio, so that you can have tea together.
+When you&#8217;ve done that come back here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I obeyed, in wonder at what was intended. Then when I returned, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sit down and write a note to the old man, asking him to let you have
+his address so that you can collect any letters from the Ritz for him
+and forward them. He&#8217;ll think it awfully kind of you. And enclose an
+envelope addressed to yourself; it will save him trouble.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This I did, taking paper and envelope from the rack in front of me. I
+was about to address the envelope to myself, when he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s too large, have this one! It will fit in the other envelope,&#8221;
+and he took from the rack one of a smaller size which I used according
+to his suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now,&#8221; he said, &#8220;you go and take the girl out and I&#8217;ll see that this
+letter is delivered&mdash;and that you get an answer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I met Sylvia, and we had quite a jolly tea together. Then, at five
+o&#8217;clock, I left her at the door of the Ritz, saying that I had sent a
+letter to her uncle asking for his address, and that knowing he would
+be very busy preparing to leave I would not come in.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the H&ocirc;tel de la Paix the concierge handed me two letters,
+one from old Mr. Lloyd in reply to my note and the other that had been
+left for me by Duperr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have already left Madrid,&#8221; he wrote briefly. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>&#8220;Whatever you hear,
+you know nothing, remember. Wait another week and then come home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was not long in hearing something, for within a quarter of an hour
+Sylvia rang me up asking me to come round at once to the Ritz.</p>
+
+<p>In trepidation I took a taxi there and found old Mr. Lloyd in a state
+of unconsciousness, with a doctor at his side, Sylvia having found him
+lying on the floor of the sitting-room. The doctor told her that the
+old gentleman had apparently been seized by a stroke, but that he was
+very slowly recovering.</p>
+
+<p>Sylvia, however, pointed out that his dispatch-box had been broken
+open and rifled. What had been taken she had no idea.</p>
+
+<p>Inquiries made of the hotel staff proved that just after his niece had
+gone out a boy had arrived with a note requiring an answer, and had
+been shown up to Mr. Lloyd&#8217;s room. The old gentleman wrote the answer,
+and the boy left with it. To whom the answer was addressed was not
+known.</p>
+
+<p>The only person seen in the corridor afterwards was a guest who
+occupied a room close by, a Spaniard named Larroca.</p>
+
+<p>I recollected the name. It was the man I had seen at the Unicorn at
+Ripon!</p>
+
+<p>I made discreet inquiries, and discovered that Madame Martoz was
+living in the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>The truth was plain. I longed to denounce them, but in fear I held my
+secret.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p><p>Old Mr. Lloyd hovered between life and death for a week, when at last
+he recovered, but to this day he cannot account for the mysterious
+seizure. I, however, know that it was due to a certain secret
+colorless liquid with which the gum upon the envelope I had addressed
+to myself had been painted over by Duperr&eacute;. The old gentleman had
+licked it, and within five minutes he had fallen unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>When he was sufficiently well to be shown his dispatch-box he grew
+frantic.</p>
+
+<p>In it had been his cheque-book containing four signed cheques, as it
+was his habit to send weekly cheques to the woman who acted as
+housekeeper at his flat at Hove, which, by the way, he very seldom
+visited.</p>
+
+<p>By some means Rayne had got to know of this, and by that clever ruse
+his accomplice got possession of the cheques, and ere the old man
+could wire to London to stop payment, all four had been cashed for
+large amounts without question.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne and his friends netted nearly ten thousand pounds, but to this
+day old Mr. Lloyd entertains no suspicion.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GENTLEMAN FROM ROME</h3>
+
+<p><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> knew that my love for Lola was increasing, yet I did not know
+whether my affection was really reciprocated.</p>
+
+<p>We were close friends, but that was all. I was seated with her in the
+pretty morning-room one day about a fortnight after my return from
+Madrid, when the footman entered with a card.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Rayne is not in, sir. Will you see the gentleman?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;<i>Cav. Enrico Graniani&mdash;Roma</i>,&#8221; was the name upon the card.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a stranger, sir. I&#8217;ve never seen him before,&#8221; the servant added.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder who he is?&#8221; asked Lola, looking over my shoulder at the
+card. &#8220;Father doesn&#8217;t somehow like strangers, does he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I said. &#8220;But I&#8217;ll see him. Show him into the library.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When a few moments later I entered the room I found a tall, elegant,
+well-dressed Italian who, addressing me in very fair English, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I understand, signore, that Mr. Rayne is not in. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>I have come from
+Italy to see him, and I bring an introduction from a mutual friend.
+You are his secretary, I believe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I replied in the affirmative, and took the note which he handed me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will give it to Mr. Rayne when he returns to-morrow,&#8221; I promised
+him. &#8220;Where shall he write to in order to make an appointment?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am at the Majestic Hotel at Harrogate,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I will await
+a letter&mdash;I thank you very much,&#8221; and he departed.</p>
+
+<p>Next afternoon when I gave Rayne the letter of introduction he became
+at once eager and somewhat excited.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ring up the Majestic,&#8221; he said. &#8220;See if you can get hold of the
+Cavaliere, and tell him I will see him at any hour he likes
+to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I could see that after reading the letter brought by the Italian, he
+was most eager to learn something further.</p>
+
+<p>After two attempts I succeeded in speaking with the Cavaliere
+Graniani, and fixed an appointment for him to call on the following
+morning at half-past eleven.</p>
+
+<p>What actually occurred during the interview I do not know.</p>
+
+<p>Across the table at luncheon, Rayne suddenly asked me:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You know Italy well&mdash;don&#8217;t you, Hargreave?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I lived in the Val d&#8217;Arno for several years before <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>the war,&#8221; I
+replied. &#8220;My people rented a villa there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning to Lola, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Would you like to go for a trip to Italy with Madame and Hargreave?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! It would be delightful, dad!&#8221; she cried. &#8220;Can we go? When?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite soon,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;I want Hargreave to go on a mission for
+me&mdash;and you can both go with him. It would be a change for you all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Delightful!&#8221; exclaimed the well-preserved Madame Duperr&eacute;. &#8220;Won&#8217;t it
+be fun, Lola?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ripping!&#8221; agreed the girl, turning her sparkling eyes to mine, while
+I myself expressed the greatest satisfaction at returning to the
+country I had learned to love so well.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon, as I sat with Rayne in the smoking-room, he explained
+to me the reason he wished me to go to Italy&mdash;to make certain secret
+inquiries, it seemed. But the motive he did not reveal.</p>
+
+<p>At his orders I took a piece of paper upon which I made certain notes
+of names and places, of suspicions and facts which he wished me to
+ascertain and prove&mdash;curious and apparently mysterious facts.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lola and Madame will go with you in order to allay any suspicions,&#8221;
+he added. &#8220;I place this matter entirely in your hands to act as you
+think fit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A week later, with Lola and Madame, I left Charing Cross and duly
+arrived in the old marble-built city of Pisa, with its Leaning Tower
+and its <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>magnificent cathedral, and while my companions stayed at the
+H&ocirc;tel Victoria I went up the picturesque Valley of the Arno on the
+first stage of my quest.</p>
+
+<p>At last, having climbed the steep hill among the olives and vines
+which leads from the station of Signa&mdash;that ancient little town of the
+long-ago Guelfs&mdash;I came to the old Convent of San Domenico, a row of
+big sun-blanched buildings with a church and crumbling tower set upon
+the conical hill which overlooked the red roofs of Florence deep
+below.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient bell of the monastery clanged out the hour of evening
+prayer, as it had done for centuries, sounding loud and far through
+the dry, clear evening atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes after ringing the clanging bell at the monastery door and
+being inspected by a brother through the small iron grill, I found
+myself with Fra Pacifico in his scrupulously clean narrow cell, with
+its truckle bed and its praying stool set before the crucifix, but on
+hearing hurried footsteps in the stone corridor outside I rose, and my
+strange friend exclaimed in Italian:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Signor Hargreave! Remain seated. I am excused from attendance in
+the chapel. I had to meet you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The narrow little cubicle was bare and whitewashed. Fra Pacifico, of
+the Capuchin Order, with his shaven head, his brown habit tied around
+the waist with a hempen rope, and his well-worn sandals, had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>long
+been my friend. Of his past I could never ascertain anything. He had
+called humbly upon my father when we first went to live at old-world
+Signa, years before, and he had asked his charity for the poor down in
+the Val d&#8217;Arno.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will always have beggars around you, signore,&#8221; I remembered he
+said. &#8220;We up at the monastery keep open house for the needy&mdash;soup,
+bread, and other things&mdash;to all who come from eight to ten o&#8217;clock in
+the morning. If you grant us alms we will see that those who beg of
+you never go empty away. Send them to us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father saw instantly an easy way out of the great beggar problem,
+hence he promised him a fixed subscription each month, which Fra
+Pacifico regularly collected.</p>
+
+<p>So though I had returned to live in London and afterwards played my
+part in the war, we had still been friends.</p>
+
+<p>On my arrival at Pisa I had made an appointment to see him, and as we
+now sat together in his narrow cell, I questioned him whether, by mere
+chance, he had ever heard of a certain lady named Yolanda Romanelli.
+It was quite a chance shot of mine, but I knew that he came from the
+same district as the lady.</p>
+
+<p>He was evasive. He had heard of her, he admitted, but would go no
+further.</p>
+
+<p>His attitude concerning the lady I had mentioned filled me with
+curiosity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>In his coarse brown habit and hood he had always been a mystery to me.
+He was about forty-five years of age. He knew English, and spoke it as
+well as he did French, for, though a monk, he was a classical scholar
+and a keen student of modern science.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, Fra Pacifico,&#8221; I said, as I reseated myself. &#8220;I know you are
+cognizant of something concerning this lady, Yolanda Romanelli. What
+is it? Tell me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thus pressed, he rather reluctantly told me a strange story.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well!&#8221; I exclaimed at last when he had finished. &#8220;It is all really
+incredible. Are you quite certain of it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Signor Hargreave, what I have told you is what I really believe to be
+true. That woman is in a high position, I know. She married the
+Marchese, but I am convinced that she is an adventuress&mdash;and more. She
+is a wicked woman! God forgive me for telling you this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But are you quite certain?&#8221; I repeated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Signore, I have told you what I know,&#8221; he answered gravely, tapping
+his great horn snuff-box and taking a pinch, tobacco being forbidden
+him by the rules of his Order. &#8220;I have told you what I know&mdash;and also
+what I suspect. You can make whatever use of the knowledge you like.
+Yolanda Romanelli is a handsome woman&mdash;as you will see for yourself if
+you meet her,&#8221; he added in a strange reflective voice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;That means going down to Naples,&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, go there. Be watchful, and you will discover something in
+progress which will interest you. But be careful. As an enemy she is
+dangerous.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But her husband, the Marquis? Does he know nothing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Fra Pacifico hitched up the rope around his waist and made an
+impetuous gesture.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor fellow! He suspects nothing!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Pacifico,&#8221; I said, &#8220;do be frank with me. How do you know all
+this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;There are certain things I cannot tell you&mdash;things
+which occurred in the past&mdash;before I took my vow and entered this
+place. I was once of your own world, Signor Hargreave. Now I am not.
+It is all of the past,&#8221; he added in a hard, determined voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have been in London. I feel sure of it, Pacifico,&#8221; I said, for by
+his conversation he had often betrayed knowledge of England, and more
+especially of London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I do not deny it,&#8221; laughed the broad-faced, easy-going man, now
+again seated in his rush-bottomed chair. &#8220;I know your hotels in
+London&mdash;the Savoy, the Carlton, the Ritz, and the Berkeley. I&#8217;ve
+lunched and dined and supped at them all. I&#8217;ve shopped in Bond Street,
+and I&#8217;ve lost money at Ascot. Oh, yes!&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;I know your
+wonderful London! And now I have nothing in the world&mdash;not a soldo of
+my own. I am simply a Brother&mdash;and I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>am content,&#8221; he said, with a
+strange look of peace and resignation.</p>
+
+<p>We who live outside the high monastery walls can never understand the
+delightful, old-world peace that reigns within&mdash;that big family of
+whom the father is the fat Priore, always indulgent and kind to his
+grown-up children, yet so very severe upon any broken rule.</p>
+
+<p>Fra Pacifico had that evening told me something which had placed me
+very much upon the alert. I had not been mistaken when I suspected
+that he might know something of the woman Yolanda Romanelli&mdash;the woman
+whom Rayne had sent me to inquire about&mdash;and I felt that I had done
+well to first inquire of my old friend. He had hinted certain things
+concerning the Marchesa, the gay leader of society in Rome, whose name
+was in the <i>Tribuna</i> almost daily, and whose husband possessed a fine
+old palazzo in the Corso, as well as an official residence in Naples,
+where, in addition to being one of the most popular men in Italy, he
+was Admiral of the Port.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I be forgiven for uttering those ill-words,&#8221; exclaimed the monk,
+as though speaking to himself. &#8220;We are taught to forgive our enemies.
+But I cannot forgive her!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has desecrated the house of God,&#8221; he replied in a low tense
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later I was back with Lola and Madame Duperr&eacute; at the H&ocirc;tel
+Victoria at Pisa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>Coming from the lips of any other than those of Fra Pacifico I should
+have suspected that the Marchesa Romanelli had once done him some evil
+turn. Yet when a man renounces the world and enters the cloisters, he
+puts aside all jealousies and thought of injury, and lives a life of
+devotion and of strictest piety. Fra Pacifico was a man I much
+admired, and whose word I accepted without query.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Lola was inquisitive as to my visit to the monastery, but I
+was compelled to keep my own counsel, and that evening we all three
+took the night express to Rome, arriving at the Grand at nine o&#8217;clock
+after a dusty and sleepless journey, for the <i>wagons-lit</i> which run
+over the Maremma marshes roll and rock until sleep becomes quite
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>With the Eternal City Lola was delighted, though it was out of the
+season and the deserted streets were like furnaces. Still, I was able
+to drive her out to see some of the antiquities which I had myself
+visited half a dozen times before.</p>
+
+<p>My notes included the name of a man named Enrico Prati, who lived
+humbly in the Via d&#8217;Aranico, and one evening, two days after our
+arrival, I called upon him. Lola had been anxious that I should stay
+for a small dance in the hotel, but I had been compelled to plead
+business, for, as a matter of fact, I had become filled with curiosity
+regarding the mission of inquiry upon which I had been sent.</p>
+
+<p>Prati kept a wine-shop, an obscure place which did not inspire
+confidence. He was a beetle-browed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>fellow, short, with deep-set
+furtive eyes, and he struck me as being a thief&mdash;or perhaps a receiver
+of stolen property. The atmosphere of the place seemed mysterious and
+forbidding.</p>
+
+<p>I told him that I had come from &#8220;The Golden Face.&#8221; At mention of the
+name he started and instantly became obsequious. By that I knew that
+he had some connection with the gang.</p>
+
+<p>Then I demanded of him what he knew of the mysterious Marchesa
+Romanelli, adding that I had come from England to obtain the
+information which &#8220;The Golden Face&#8221; knew he could furnish.</p>
+
+<p>I saw that I was dealing with a clever thief who carried on his
+criminal activities under the guise of a dealer of wines.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, signore,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I know the Marchesa. She is a leader of
+smart society, both here and in Naples. During the war she spent a
+large sum of money in establishing her fine hospital out at Porta
+Milvio. She was foremost in arranging charity concerts, bazaars, and
+other things in aid of those blinded at the war. Could such a wealthy
+patriotic woman, whose husband is one of Italy&#8217;s most famous admirals,
+possibly be anything other than honest and upright?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His reply took me aback, until his sinister face broadened into a
+smile. Then I said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I admit that. But you know more than you have told me, Signor Prati,&#8221;
+and then added: &#8220;Because the woman has risen to such high favor and
+her actions have always shown her to be intensely <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>charitable, there
+is no reason why she should not be wearing a mask&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He only laughed, and, shrugging his shoulders, replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go to Naples and seek for yourself. The suspicions of &#8216;The Golden
+Face&#8217; are well-grounded, I assure you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So, unconvinced, I returned to the Grand Hotel full of wonder. I was
+not satisfied, so I determined to take Prati&#8217;s advice and see for
+myself what manner of woman was this Marchesa. Fortunately, although
+it was out of the season, she was in Naples. Having two old friends
+there I went south with my companions two days later, and we installed
+ourselves at the Palace Hotel with its wonderful views across the bay.
+I had little difficulty in obtaining an introduction to the woman whom
+I sought. It took place one evening at the house of one of my friends,
+who was now a Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>When she heard my name, I noticed that she started slightly, but I
+bowed over her hand in pretense of ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>She expressed gratification at meeting me, and soon we were chatting
+pleasantly. She was a handsome woman of about forty-five, dark-haired
+and beautifully gowned. With her was her daughter Flavia, a pretty,
+dark-eyed girl of twenty or so, bright, vivacious, and very <i>chic</i>.
+The latter spoke English excellently, and told me that she had been at
+school for years at Cheltenham.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SILVER SPIDER</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hat</span> night, after a chat with Lola, I sat in my room at the palace and
+could not help recollecting how strangely the Marchesa had started
+when my name had been uttered.</p>
+
+<p>Did she know of my connection with &#8220;The Golden Face&#8221;? If she did, then
+she might naturally suspect me and hold me at arm&#8217;s length. Yet if she
+feared me, why should she have asked me, as well as Lola and Madame,
+to call at the Palazzo Romanelli?</p>
+
+<p>I had thanked her, and accepted.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore on Tuesday night, with Lola and Madame both smartly dressed,
+I went to the huge, old fifteenth-century palace, grim and prison-like
+because of its heavily barred windows of the days when every palazzo
+was a fortress, and within found it the acme of luxury and refinement,
+its great salons filled with priceless pictures and ancient statuary,
+and magnificent furniture of the Renaissance.</p>
+
+<p>About thirty people were present, most of them the &eacute;lite of Naples
+society, all the ladies being exquisitely dressed. My hostess
+expressed delight as I bowed and raised her hand to my lips, in
+Italian fashion, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>then I introduced my two companions. A few
+moments after I found myself chatting with the pretty Flavia, who, to
+my annoyance, seemed to be very inquisitive concerning my movements.</p>
+
+<p>As I stood gossiping with her, my eyes fell upon a little Florentine
+table of polished black marble inlaid with colored stones forming a
+basket of fruit, a marvel of Renaissance art, and upon it there stood
+a silver model of a gigantic tarantula, or spider, the body being
+about seven inches long by five broad, with eight long curved legs,
+most perfectly copied from nature.</p>
+
+<p>Flavia noticed that I had seen it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s our Silver Spider!&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;It&#8217;s the ancient mascot of
+the Romanelli.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I walked over and examined it, but without, of course, taking it in my
+hand. Then I remarked upon its beautiful workmanship, and we turned
+away.</p>
+
+<p>It was a gay informal assembly. Among the men there were several naval
+and military attach&eacute;s from the Embassies, as well as one or two
+Deputies with their wives. Once or twice I had brief chats with the
+Marchesa, who, of course, was the center of her guests. One man, tall,
+with deep-set eyes and a well-trimmed black beard, seemed to pay her
+particular attention, and on discreet inquiry as to who he was, I
+discovered him to be the well-known banker, Pietro Zuccari, who
+represented Orvieto in the Chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Now the reason of our visit to the Marchesa&#8217;s was to see what manner
+of company she kept, but I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>detected nothing suspicious in any person
+in that chattering assembly. Yet I could not put away from myself what
+Fra Pacifico had told me in the silence of the cloisters of San
+Domenico.</p>
+
+<p>Again I looked upon the handsome face of that gay society woman and
+wondered what secret could be hidden behind that happy, laughing
+countenance.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the Palazzo Romanelli that night I resolved to &#8220;fade
+out&#8221; and watch.</p>
+
+<p>Now Admiral the Marquis Romanelli, who was in charge of the important
+port of Naples, had, during the late war, returned to his position as
+a high naval officer, and with all his patriotism as the head of a
+noble Roman house, had done his level best against the enemy until the
+proclamation of peace.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever one went one heard loud praises of &#8220;Torquato,&#8221; as he was
+affectionately called by his Christian name by the populace.</p>
+
+<p>After due consideration I decided that we should move from Naples to
+the pretty little town of Salerno at the other end of the blue bay,
+and there at the H&ocirc;tel d&#8217;Angleterre, facing the sapphire sea, I spent
+several delightful days with the girl I so passionately loved.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I cannot see the reason for all this inquiry, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; she
+said one evening, as we were walking by the moonlit sea after we had
+dined and Madame had retired. &#8220;Why should father wish you to watch the
+Marchesa so narrowly? How can she concern him? They are strangers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was silent for a few seconds.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Your father&#8217;s business is a confidential one, no doubt. He has his
+own views, and I am, after all, his secretary and servant.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&mdash;I often wish you were not,&#8221; the girl blurted forth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! I don&#8217;t really know. Sometimes I feel so horribly apprehensive.
+Madame is always so discreet and so mysterious. She will never tell me
+anything; and you&mdash;you, Mr. Hargreave, you are the same,&#8221; she declared
+petulantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I cannot, I regret, disclose to you facts of which I am ignorant,&#8221; I
+protested. &#8220;I am just as much in the dark concerning the actual object
+of our mission here as you are.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think Madame knows anything of your mission here?&#8221; asked the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t expect so. Your father is a very close and secretive man
+concerning his own business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! a mysterious business!&#8221; she exclaimed in a strange meaning voice.
+&#8220;Sometimes, Mr. Hargreave&mdash;sometimes I feel that it is not altogether
+an honest business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Many brilliant pieces of business savor of dishonesty,&#8221; I remarked.
+&#8220;The successful business man cannot always, in these days of
+double-dealing chicanery and cut prices, act squarely, otherwise he is
+quickly left behind by his more shrewd competitors.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then I thought it wise to turn the subject of our conversation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>Salerno is only thirty miles from Naples, therefore I often traveled
+to the latter place&mdash;indeed, almost daily.</p>
+
+<p>In Italian they have an old saying, &#8220;<i>A chi veglia tutto si rivela</i>&#8221;
+(&#8220;To him who remains watchful everything becomes revealed&#8221;). That had
+long been my motto. With Lola and Madame Duperr&eacute; I was in Italy in
+order to learn what I could concerning the woman whom Fra Pacifico had
+so bitterly denounced.</p>
+
+<p>One warm afternoon when, without being seen, I was watching the
+Marchesa&#8217;s pretty daughter Flavia who had strolled into the town, I
+saw her meet, close to the Caf&eacute; Ferrari, that tall, black-bearded,
+middle-aged banker Pietro Zuccari, whom I had seen at their palazzo.
+They walked as far as the Piazza San Ferdinando and entered the
+Gambrinus, where they sat at a little table eating ices, while he
+talked to her very confidentially. As I idled outside in a shabby suit
+and battered straw hat which I had bought, I saw this great Italian
+banker gesticulating and whispering into her ear.</p>
+
+<p>The girl&#8217;s attitude was that of a person absorbing all his arguments
+in order to repeat them, for she nodded slowly from time to time,
+though she uttered but few words; indeed, only now and then did she
+ask any question.</p>
+
+<p>I could, of course, hear nothing. But what I was able to observe
+aroused my curiosity, for the meeting between the girl and the
+middle-aged banker was palpably a clandestine one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>On emerging, they parted, he walking in the direction of the railway
+station, while the girl strolled homeward. Was she carrying a message
+to her mother from the famous financier?</p>
+
+<p>The excitement he had betrayed interested me. I noticed that he had
+once clenched his fist and brought it down heavily before her as they
+sat together.</p>
+
+<p>For a whole month we remained at Salerno, and a delightful month it
+proved, for I had long chats and walks with Lola, and we became even
+greater and more intimate friends. Madame Duperr&eacute; noticed it but said
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>I went each day to slouch and idle in Naples, to sit before caf&eacute;s and
+eat my frugal meal at one or other of the osterie which abound in the
+city, or to take my <i>ap&eacute;ratif</i> at the <i>liquoristi</i>, Canevera&#8217;s,
+Attila&#8217;s, or the others&#8217;.</p>
+
+<p>I confess that I was mystified why I should have been sent to watch
+that woman.</p>
+
+<p>So clever, so well-thought-out and so insidious were all Rayne&#8217;s
+methods to obtain information of the intentions and movements of
+certain people of wealth, that I knew from experience that there was
+some cleverly concealed scheme afoot which could only be carried out
+after certain accurate details had been obtained.</p>
+
+<p>I was torn between two intentions, either to reappear suddenly as a
+passing traveler and call at the Palazzo Romanelli, or still to lie
+low.</p>
+
+<p>Many times I discussed it with Lola and Madame.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Zuccari is always with the Marchesa,&#8221; I said one morning as we sat
+together at <i>d&eacute;jeuner</i> at Salerno. &#8220;I can&#8217;t quite make things out. I
+have been watching intently, yet I can discover nothing. He sent a
+message to her by Flavia the other day&mdash;an urgent and defiant message,
+I believe. I hear also that the Admiral goes to Rome to-night,&#8221; I
+added. &#8220;He has been suddenly called to the Ministry of Marine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you will follow, of course? We will remain here to keep an eye
+upon the Marchesa,&#8221; said Madame.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You do not suspect the Admiral?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is the woman we have to watch.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And also the pretty daughter?&#8221; I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>With that she agreed. We were, however, faced by a strangely complex
+problem. Here was a woman&mdash;one of the most popular in all
+Italy&mdash;denounced by the humble monk of San Domenico as a dangerous
+adventuress. And yet she was the strongest supporter of the popular
+Pietro Zuccari&mdash;the wealthy man by whose efforts the finances of Italy
+had been re&euml;stablished after the war.</p>
+
+<p>After a long conference it was arranged that Madame and Lola should go
+to Rome and there watch the Admiral&#8217;s movements, while I remained in
+Naples ever on the alert.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes I became obsessed by the feeling that I was off the track.
+Once or twice I had received &#8220;<i>ferma in posta</i>&#8221;&mdash;confidential letters
+from Rudolph <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Rayne and also from Duperr&eacute;. To these I replied to an
+unsuspicious address&mdash;a library in Knightsbridge.</p>
+
+<p>By reason, however, of keeping observation upon the Palazzo Romanelli
+I gained considerable knowledge concerning those who came and went. I
+knew, for instance, that the pretty Flavia was in the habit of meeting
+in strictest secrecy a good-looking young lieutenant of artillery
+named Rinaldo Ricci. Indeed, they met almost daily. It struck me as
+more than curious that on the day after the Admiral had left hurriedly
+for Rome Zuccari should arrive from Bari, and having taken a room at
+the Excelsior Hotel, dine at the palazzo.</p>
+
+<p>My vigil that night was a long one. I managed to creep up through the
+grounds and peer through the wooden shutters into the fine,
+well-furnished <i>salon</i> of the palazzo. It was unoccupied, but upon a
+table on the opposite side of the room stood the Silver Spider, the
+strange but exquisite mascot of the Romanelli. No doubt some legend
+was attached to it, just as there are legends to many family
+heirlooms.</p>
+
+<p>That night I made a further discovery, namely, that when Zuccari left
+he returned to his hotel, where Flavia&#8217;s secret lover had a long chat
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>Next day a strange thing happened. While watching the Marchesa I saw
+her, about eleven o&#8217;clock in the morning, walking alone in the Corso
+Vittorio when she accidentally encountered the banker Zuccari. They
+passed each other as total strangers!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><p>Why? There was some deep motive in that pretended ignorance of each
+other&#8217;s identity. Could it be because they feared they were being
+watched? And yet was not Zuccari a frequent visitor at the Palazzo
+Romanelli, for it was there I had first met him? In any case, it was
+curious that Zuccari and young Rinaldo Ricci should be friends
+apparently unknown to either the Marchesa or to Flavia.</p>
+
+<p>In order to probe the mystery I decided that it would be necessary to
+learn more of Zuccari&#8217;s movements. Therefore, having watched him call
+at the Palazzo Romanelli, I waited for him to leave, and at ten
+o&#8217;clock that same night he suddenly departed from Naples for the
+north. I traveled by the same train. Arrived at Rome, the banker
+remained at the buffet about half an hour, when he joined the express
+train for Milan, and all through the day and the night I traveled,
+wondering what might be his destination.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Milan, I kept observation upon him. From the chief
+telegraph office he dispatched a telegram and then drove to the H&ocirc;tel
+Cavour, where he engaged a room. At once I telegraphed to Madame to
+bring Lola and join me at the H&ocirc;tel de Milan. They arrived next day
+and I told them of my movements.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later Zuccari left the Cavour and traveled to the frontier,
+little dreaming that he was being so closely followed. Madame and Lola
+went by the same train, but having discovered that he had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>bought a
+ticket for Zurich, I left by the train that followed.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Zurich, I was not long in rejoining my companions, for
+we had a rendezvous at the Savoy, when I learnt that Zuccari was
+staying at the Dolder Hotel, up on the Zurichberg above the Lake.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A man named Hauser is calling upon him this evening,&#8221; Madame told me.
+&#8220;We must watch.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This we did. More respectably dressed than when in Naples, I was
+smoking my after-dinner cigar in the handsome hall of the Dolder Hotel
+when a tall, well-set-up man, whose fair hair and square jaw stamped
+him as German-Swiss, inquired of the hall porter for Signor Zuccari,
+and was at once shown up to the banker&#8217;s private sitting-room, where
+they remained together for nearly an hour.</p>
+
+<p>As I sat waiting impatiently below, I wondered what was happening.</p>
+
+<p>I had already reported our movements to Rayne, who had, in a telegram,
+expressed great surprise that the Deputy should have left Italy and
+gone to Zurich&mdash;of all places.</p>
+
+<p>Zuccari, on descending the stairs with his friend Hauser, confronted
+me face to face, but it was apparent that he did not recognize me.
+Hence I took courage and, later on, engaging a room, moved to the same
+hotel. Next morning I saw the banker meet the man Hauser a second
+time, and together they took a long walk on the outskirts of the town
+above the Lake.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>From the concierge I extracted certain valuable information in
+exchange for the hundred-franc note I slipped into his hands. It
+seemed that the banker Zuccari frequently visited that hotel, and on
+every occasion the man Hauser came to Zurich to see him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are conducting some crooked business&mdash;that is my belief,
+m&#8217;sieur!&#8221; the uniformed man told me in confidence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why do you suspect that?&#8221; I asked quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he said confidentially, &#8220;Isler, the commissary of police, who
+is now at Berne, once pointed him out to me and said he was a friend,
+and believed to be one of the accomplices, of Ferdinando Morosini, the
+notorious jewel-thief who was caught in Milan six months ago and sent
+to fifteen years&#8217; at Gorgona.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At the mention of jewel theft I at once pricked up my ears.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then Hauser may be a receiver of stolen jewels, eh?&#8221; I whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I would not like to say that, m&#8217;sieur, but depend upon it he is a
+person to be gravely suspected. What business he has with the banker I
+cannot imagine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I knew Morosini by repute. I had heard Rayne mention him, and no doubt
+he was a member of the gang who had blundered and fallen into the
+hands of the police. Was it in connection with this incident that I
+had been sent to Italy to make inquiries?</p>
+
+<p>I told Madame when alone what I had discovered, whereat she smiled.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I expect you have discovered the truth,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We must let
+Rudolph know at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>To telegraph was impossible, therefore I sat down and wrote a long
+letter, and then I waited inactive but anxious for a reply.</p>
+
+<p>It came at last. He expressed himself fully satisfied, but urged me to
+continue my investigations regarding the handsome wife of the
+Marchese.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Be careful how you act,&#8221; he added. &#8220;If they suspected you of prying
+something disagreeable might happen to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was not surprised at his warning, for I knew the character of some
+of the international crooks who were Rayne&#8217;s &#8220;friends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But surely the banker Zuccari could not be a crook? If he were, then
+he was a master-criminal like Rayne himself. If so, what was the
+motive of his close association with the Marchesa Romanelli? I had
+noticed when at the palazzo that he seemed infatuated with her, yet
+she no doubt little dreamed of his active association with such a
+person as Hauser.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed quite plain that whatever the truth the Admiral had no
+suspicion of his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Zuccari and Hauser still remained in Zurich, so, though I had arranged
+with Madame and Lola to return with them to Naples, I sent them back
+alone and remained to watch.</p>
+
+<p>On the night of their departure I was tired and must have slept
+soundly after a heavy day, when I was suddenly awakened by a strong
+light flashed into <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>my face, and at the same instant I saw a hand
+holding a silken cord which had been slowly slipped beneath my ear as
+I lay upon the pillow.</p>
+
+<p>For a second I held my breath, but next moment I realized that I was
+being attacked, and that the cord being already round my neck with a
+slip-knot, those sinewy hands I had seen in the flash of light
+intended to strangle me.</p>
+
+<p>My only chance was to keep cool. So I grunted in pretense of being
+only half-awake, and turning very slightly to my side, my hand slowly
+reached against my pillow. At any second the cord might be drawn tight
+when all chance of giving the alarm would be swept away from me. Yet
+my assailant was deliberate, apparently in order to make quite certain
+that the cord around my neck should effect its fatal purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Of a sudden I grasped what I had against my pillow&mdash;a small rubber
+ball&mdash;and suddenly shooting out my hand in his direction, squeezed it.</p>
+
+<p>A yell of excruciating pain rang through the hotel, and he sprang
+back, releasing his hold upon the cord.</p>
+
+<p>Then next moment, when I switched on the light, I found the man Hauser
+dancing about my room, his face covered with his hands&mdash;blinded, and
+his countenance burnt by the dose of sulphuric acid I had, in
+self-defense, squirted full into it.</p>
+
+<p>For defense against secret attack the rubber ball filled with acid
+Rayne always compelled me to carry, as being far preferable to
+revolver, knife or sword-cane.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> It is easily carried, easily concealed
+in the palm of the hand, makes no noise, and if used suddenly is
+entirely efficacious.</p>
+
+<p>My assailant, blinded, shrieking with pain, and his face forever
+scarred, quickly disappeared to make what excuse he might. Later I
+found that he had previously tampered with the brass bolt of my door
+by removing the screws of the socket, enlarging the holes and
+embedding the screws in soft putty so that on turning the handle and
+pressing the door the socket gave way and fell noiselessly upon the
+carpet!</p>
+
+<p>This attempt upon me at once proved that I was on the right scent, and
+according to Rayne&#8217;s instructions I that day followed Madame and Lola
+back to Salerno.</p>
+
+<p>On changing trains at the Central Station at Rome I bought a
+newspaper, and the first heading that met my eyes was one which told
+of a mysterious robbery of the wonderful pearls of the Princess di
+Acquanero.</p>
+
+<p>With avidity I read that the young Princess, as noted for her beauty
+as for her jewels, the only daughter of the millionaire Italian
+shipowner Andrea Ottone, of Genoa, who had married the Prince a year
+ago, had been robbed of her famous string of pearls under most
+mysterious circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Two days before she had been staying at the great Castello di
+Antigniano, near Bari, where her uncle, the Baron Bertolini, had been
+entertaining a party of friends. On dressing for dinner she found that
+her jewel-case had been rifled and the pearls, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>worth twenty thousand
+pounds sterling, were missing!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The police have a theory that the guilty person was introduced into
+the castello by one of the many servants,&#8221; the report went on. &#8220;The
+thief, whoever it was, must, however, have had great difficulty in
+reaching the Princess&#8217; room, as the Baron, knowing that his lady
+guests bring valuable jewelry, always sets a watch upon the only
+staircase by which the ladies&#8217; rooms can be approached.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the paper in my hand the train slowly drew out of Rome on its way
+south. My mind was filled with suspicion. I was wondering vaguely
+whether the Marchesa Romanelli had been among the guests, for I
+recollected those words of Fra Pacifico that &#8220;the woman had committed
+sacrilege in the House of God.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Could it be possible that he knew the Marchesa to be a thief who had
+stolen some valuable church plate from one or other of the ancient
+churches in Italy? If so, then, though the wife of the Admiral, she
+was also a thief.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Salerno I took Madame aside, and telling her of my
+adventure with the man Hauser, I showed her the newspaper and declared
+my suspicions.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It may be so,&#8221; she said. &#8220;If she is so friendly with this banker
+whose past is quite obscure, it may be her hand which takes the stuff
+and passes it on to Zuccari, who in turn sells it to Hauser.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that theory I agreed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p><p>On the following day I took train into Naples, and that afternoon I
+called upon the Marchesa.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately I found her alone, and when I was shown into her <i>salon</i> I
+thought she looked rather wan and pale, but she greeted me affably and
+expressed delight that I should call before returning to England.</p>
+
+<p>As we chatted she let drop, as I expected she would, the fact that she
+had been staying at the Castello di Antigniano.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve seen in the papers, I suppose, all about the pearls of the
+Princess di Acquanero?&#8221; she went on. &#8220;A most mysterious affair!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I looked the pretty woman straight in the face, and replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not so very mysterious, Marchesa.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221; she asked, opening her big, black eyes widely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not so mysterious if I may be permitted to look inside that ornament
+over there&mdash;the heirloom of the Romanelli&mdash;the Silver Spider,&#8221; I said
+calmly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean?&#8221; she cried resentfully. &#8220;I don&#8217;t understand you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then let me be a little more explicit,&#8221; I said. &#8220;Have you heard of a
+man named Hauser? Well, he made an attempt upon my life. Hence I am
+here this afternoon to see you. May I lift the body of the Silver
+Spider and look inside?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not!&#8221; she cried, facing me boldly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Then you fear me&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do not fear you. I don&#8217;t know you!&#8221; she cried.</p>
+
+<p>I laughed, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then if not, why may I not be permitted to look inside your husband&#8217;s
+family heirloom?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was silent for a moment. My question nonplussed her. I was, I
+confess, bitter because of the deliberate attempt to kill me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will not allow any stranger to tamper with our Silver Spider!&#8221; she
+cried resentfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well. Then I shall take my own course, and I shall inform your
+husband that you stole the Princess&#8217;s pearls, that your banker friend
+acts as intermediary in your clever thefts, and that Hauser disposes
+of the jewels in Amsterdam.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know everything,&#8221; I said, while she looked around bewildered. &#8220;I
+know that you are playing a crooked game even with those who played
+straight with you before your marriage to the Marchese. He is in
+ignorance of your past. But I know it. Listen!&#8221; and I paused and
+looked straight into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were a widow with a young daughter before you married the
+Marchese. That was nine years ago. To him you passed yourself off as
+the widow of an Italian advocate named Terroni, of Perugia; but you
+were not. You are Austrian. Your name is Frieda Hoheisel, and you were
+an adventuress and a thief! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>You married a certain man who is to-day
+in a monastery at Signa in the Val d&#8217;Arno, and though you pose as the
+loving wife of one of Italy&#8217;s premier admirals, you are a noted
+jewel-thief, and commit these robberies in order to supply your bogus
+banker friend Zuccari with funds. Now,&#8221; I added, &#8220;I will take the
+Princess&#8217;s necklace from the Silver Spider and you will, in my
+presence, pack it up and address it to her. I will post it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never! I risked too much to get it!&#8221; she cried, her face aflame.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well. Then within an hour your husband and the police will know
+the truth. Remember, I have been suspected of making inquiries by your
+friends and have very nearly lost my life in consequence.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But&mdash;oh! I can&#8217;t&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You shall, woman!&#8221; I thundered. &#8220;You shall give back those stolen
+pearls!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And crossing to the table whereon stood the Silver Spider, I opened
+it, and there within reposed the pearls in a place that nobody would
+suspect.</p>
+
+<p>I stood over her while she packed them into a common cardboard box and
+addressed them to the Princess in Rome. At first she demurred about
+her handwriting, but I insisted. I intended her to take the risk&mdash;just
+as I had taken a risk.</p>
+
+<p>And, further, I compelled her to order her car, and we drove to the
+General Post Office in Naples, where I saw that she registered the
+valuable packet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><p>The anonymous return of the pearls was a nine days&#8217; wonder throughout
+Italy; but the Marchesa never knew how I had obtained my information,
+and never dreamed that I had come to her upon a mission of inquiry
+from the one person in all the world whom she feared, the man in whose
+clutches she had been for years&mdash;the mysterious &#8220;Golden Face.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When, with Lola and Madame, I returned home a week later and explained
+the whole of my adventures, Rayne sat for a few moments silent. Then,
+as I looked, I saw vengeance written upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suspected that she was playing me false, and selling stuff in
+secret through that fellow Zuccari! She is carrying on the business by
+herself. I now have proof of it&mdash;and I shall take my own steps! You
+will see!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He did&mdash;and a month later the Marchesa Romanelli was arrested and sent
+to prison for the theft of a pair of diamond earrings belonging to a
+fellow-guest staying at one of the great palaces of Florence.</p>
+
+<p>It was a scandal that Italy is not likely to easily forget.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>ABDUL HAMID&#8217;S JEWELS</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">R</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">udolph</span> Rayne, though the ruler of aristocratic Crookdom, was
+sometimes most sympathetic and generous towards lovers.</p>
+
+<p>The following well illustrates his strange abnormal personality and
+complex nature:</p>
+
+<p>One night I chanced to enter his bedroom at Half Moon Street, when I
+found him looking critically through a quantity of the most
+magnificent sparkling gems my eyes had ever seen. Some were set as
+pendants, brooches, and earrings, while others&mdash;great rubies and
+emeralds of immense value&mdash;were uncut.</p>
+
+<p>As I entered he put his hands over them in distinct annoyance. Then, a
+few seconds later, removed them, saying with a queer laugh:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A nice little lot this, eh? One of the very finest collections I&#8217;ve
+seen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>On the table lay a pair of jewelers&#8217; tweezers and a magnifying glass,
+therefore it was apparent that, as a connoisseur of gems, he had been
+estimating their value.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;They certainly are magnificent! Whose are
+they?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;They once belonged to the dead Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey,&#8221; he
+replied; &#8220;but at present they belong to me!&#8221; He laughed grimly.</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly I wondered by what means the priceless gems had fallen into
+his hands. He read my thoughts at once, for he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are curious, of course, as to how I became possessed of them.
+Naturally. Well, Hargreave, it&#8217;s a very funny story and concerns a
+real good fellow and, incidentally, a very pretty girl. Take a cigar,
+sit down, and I&#8217;ll tell you frankly all about it&mdash;only, of course, not
+a word of the facts will ever pass your lips&mdash;not to Lola, or to
+anybody else. Your lips are sealed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I promise,&#8221; I said, selecting one of his choice cigars and lighting
+it, my curiosity aroused.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then listen,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and I&#8217;ll tell you the whole facts, as far as
+I&#8217;ve been able to gather them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>What he recounted was certainly romantic, though a little involved,
+for he was not a very good <i>raconteur</i>. However, in setting down this
+curious story&mdash;a story which shows that he was not altogether bad, and
+was a sportsman after all&mdash;I have rearranged his words in narrative
+form, so that readers of these curious adventures may fully
+understand.</p>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+
+<p>&#8220;How horribly glum you are to-night, dear! What&#8217;s the matter? Are you
+sad that we should meet here&mdash;in Paris?&#8221; asked a pretty girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Glum!&#8221; echoed the smooth-haired young man in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>the perfectly fitting
+dinner-jacket and black tie. &#8220;I really didn&#8217;t know that I looked
+glum,&#8221; and then, straightening himself, he looked across the <i>table &agrave;
+deux</i> in the gay Restaurant Volnay at the handsome, dark-haired,
+exquisitely dressed girl who sat before him with her elbows on the
+table.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you really are jolly glum, my dear Old Thing. You looked a
+moment ago as serious as though you were going to a funeral,&#8221; declared
+the girl. &#8220;The war is over, you are prospering immensely&mdash;so what on
+earth causes you to worry?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not worrying, dearest, I assure you,&#8221; he replied with a forced
+smile, but her keen woman&#8217;s intuition told her that her lover was not
+himself, and that his mind was full of some very keen anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Otley had taken her to a most amusing play at the
+Palais-Royal, a comedy which had kept the house in roars of laughter
+all the evening, and now, as they sat at supper, she saw that his
+spirits had fallen to a very low ebb. This puzzled her greatly.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy Urquhart, daughter of Sir Polworth Urquhart, of the Colonial
+Service, who until the Armistice had held a high official appointment
+at Hong Kong, was one of the smartest and prettiest young women in
+London Society. She was twenty-two, a thorough-going out-of-door girl
+who looked slightly older than she really was. Her father had retired
+as soon as war was over, and they had come to England. By reason of
+her mother being the daughter of the Earl <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>of Carringford, she had
+soon found herself a popular figure in a mad, go-ahead post-war set.</p>
+
+<p>She had known Charlie Otley soon after she had left Roedene&mdash;long
+before they had gone out to Hong Kong&mdash;and now they were back they
+were lovers in secret.</p>
+
+<p>Charlie, who had been a motor engineer before he &#8220;joined up&#8221; in the
+war and got his D.S.O. and his rank as captain, had done splendidly.
+On being demobilized he had returned to his old profession, taking the
+managership of a very well-known Bond Street firm.</p>
+
+<p>The directors, finding in Otley a man who knew his business, whose
+persuasive powers induced many persons to purchase cars, and whose
+fearless tests at Brooklands were paragraphed in the daily newspapers,
+treated him most generously and left everything, even many of their
+financial affairs, in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Urquhart was, however, an ambitious woman. She inherited all the
+exclusiveness of the Carringfords, and she was actively scheming to
+marry Peggy to Cis Eastwood, the heir to the estates of old Lord
+Drumone. It was the old story of the ambitious mother. Peggy knew
+this, and, smiling within herself, had pledged her love to Charlie.
+Hence, with the latitude allowed to a girl nowadays, she went about a
+good deal with him in London&mdash;to the Embassy, the Grafton, the
+Diplomats, and several of the smartest dance-clubs, of which both were
+members.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>Though Otley was often at her house in Mount Street, and frequently
+met Lord Drumone&#8217;s fair-haired and rather effeminate son there,
+Peggy&#8217;s mother never dreamed they were in love. Both were extremely
+careful to conceal it, and in their efforts they had been successful.</p>
+
+<p>The orchestra was at the moment playing that plaintive Hungarian gypsy
+air, Bela&#8217;s <i>Valse Banffy</i>, that sweet, weird song of the Tziganes
+which one hears everywhere along the Danube from Vienna to Belgrade.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Charlie,&#8221; said the girl, much perturbed at what she had
+recognized in his handsome countenance. &#8220;Tell me, Old Thing, what&#8217;s
+the matter?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Matter&mdash;why, nothing!&#8221; he replied, laughing. &#8220;I was only thinking.&#8221;
+And he looked around upon the smart crowd of Parisians who were
+laughing and chatting.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated for a second. In that hesitation the girl who loved him
+so fondly, and who preferred him to old Drumone&#8217;s son and a title,
+realized that he had some heavy weight upon his mind, and quickly she
+resolved to learn it, and try to bear the burden with him.</p>
+
+<p>Since her return from China, with all its Asiatic mysteries, its
+amusements, and its quaint Eastern life, she had had what she declared
+to be a &#8220;topping&#8221; time in London. Her beauty was remarked everywhere
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>and her sweet charm of manner appealed to all. Her mother, who had
+returned from her exile in the Far East, went everywhere, while her
+father, a hard, austere Colonial official who had browsed upon
+reports, and regarded all natives of any nationality or culture as
+mere &#8220;blacks,&#8221; was one of those men who had never been able to
+assimilate his own views with those of the nation to which he had been
+sent as British representative. He was a hide-bound official, a man
+who despised any colored race, and treated all natives with stern and
+unrelenting hand. Indeed, the Colonial Office had discovered him to be
+a square peg in a round hole, and at Whitehall they were relieved when
+he went into honorable retirement.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do tell me what&#8217;s the matter, dear,&#8221; whispered the girl across the
+table, hoping that the pair seated near them did not know English.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The matter! Why, nothing,&#8221; again laughed the handsome young man.
+&#8220;Have a liqueur,&#8221; and he ordered two from the waiter. &#8220;I can&#8217;t think
+what you&#8217;ve got into your head to-night regarding me, Peggy. I was
+only reflecting for a few seconds&mdash;on some business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Grave business&mdash;it seems.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all. But we men who have to earn our living by business have
+to think overnight what we are to do on the morrow,&#8221; he said airily,
+as he handed his cigarette-case to her and then lit the one she took.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Charlie&mdash;I&#8217;m certain there&#8217;s something&mdash;something you are
+concealing from me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I conceal nothing from you, dearest,&#8221; he answered, looking across the
+little table straight into her fine dark eyes. Then again he bent
+towards her and whispered very seriously: &#8220;Do you really love me,
+Peggy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In his glance was a tense eager expression, yet upon his face was
+written a mystery she could not fathom.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why do you ask, dear?&#8221; she said. &#8220;Have I not told you so a hundred
+times. What I have said, I mean.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You really mean&mdash;you really mean that you love me&mdash;eh?&#8221; he whispered
+in deep earnestness as he still bent to her over the table, his eyes
+fixed on hers. And he drew a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;But why do you ask the question in that tone?
+How tragic you seem!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because,&#8221; and he sighed, &#8220;because your answer lifts a great weight
+from my mind.&#8221; Then, after a pause, he added: &#8220;Yet&mdash;yet, I wonder&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wonder what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I was only wondering.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you really are tantalizing to-night, my dear boy,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I
+don&#8217;t understand you at all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! you will before long. Let&#8217;s go out into the lounge,&#8221; he
+suggested. &#8220;It&#8217;s growing late.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So, having drained their two glasses of triple sec, they passed out
+into the big palm-lounge, which is so popular with the Parisians after
+the play.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy and her parents had come to Paris in mid-December <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>to do some
+shopping. Before she had been exiled to China, Lady Urquhart&#8217;s habit
+was to go to Paris twice each year to buy her hats and gowns, for she
+was always elegantly dressed, and she took care that her daughter
+should dress equally well.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the gown worn by Peggy that night was one of Worth&#8217;s latest
+creations, and her cloak was an expensive one of the newest <i>mode</i>.
+They were staying at the Continental when Charlie, who had some
+business in Paris on behalf of his firm, had run over for three days
+really to meet in secret the girl he loved. That night Peggy had
+excused herself to her mother, saying that she was going out to
+Neuilly to dine with an old schoolfellow&mdash;a little matter she had
+arranged with the latter&mdash;but instead, she had met Charlie at
+Voisin&#8217;s, and they had been to the theater together.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy, amid the exuberant atmosphere of Paris with its lights,
+movement and gaiety&mdash;the old Paris just as it was before the
+war&mdash;naturally expected her lover to be gay and irresponsible as she
+herself felt. Instead, he seemed gloomy and apprehensive. Therefore
+the girl was disappointed. She thought a good deal, but said little.</p>
+
+<p>Though the distance between the Volnay and the Rue de Rivoli was not
+great, Charlie ordered a taxi, and on the way she sat locked in his
+strong arms, her lips smothered with his hot, passionate kisses, until
+they parted.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>Little did she dream, however, the bitterness in her lover&#8217;s heart.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning at eleven o&#8217;clock, as Peggy was coming up the Avenue de
+l&#8217;Op&eacute;ra, she passed the Brasserie de la Paix, that popular caf&eacute; on the
+left-hand side of the broad thoroughfare, the place where the Parisian
+gets such exquisite dishes at fair prices. Charlie was seated in the
+window, as they had arranged, and on seeing her, he dashed out and
+joined her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;How are you to-day? Not so awfully gloomy, I
+hope.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all, dearest,&#8221; he laughed, for his old nonchalance had
+returned to him. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been full of business since nine o&#8217;clock. I
+have an appointment out at La Muette at two, and I&#8217;ll have to get back
+to London to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To-night!&#8221; she echoed disappointedly. &#8220;We don&#8217;t return till next
+Tuesday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have to be back to see my people about some cars that can&#8217;t be
+delivered for another six weeks. There&#8217;s a beastly hitch about
+delivery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said the girl, as they walked side by side in the cold, bright
+morning. The winter mornings are always bright and clearer in Paris
+than in London. &#8220;Well, I have some news for you, dear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What news?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lady Teesdale has asked us up to Hawstead, her place in Yorkshire. In
+her letter to mother this morning she mentions that she is also asking
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And, of course, you&#8217;ll accept. Won&#8217;t it be ripping? The
+Teesdales have a lovely old place&mdash;oak-paneled, ghost-haunted, and all
+that sort of thing. We&#8217;ve been there twice. The Teesdales&#8217;
+shooting-parties are famed for their fun and merriment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know Lady Teesdale,&#8221; Otley said. &#8220;But I wonder why she has asked
+me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t wonder, dear boy&mdash;but accept and come. We&#8217;ll have a real jolly
+time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then they turned into the Boulevard des Italiens and idled before
+some of the shops.</p>
+
+<p>At noon she was compelled to leave him and return to her mother. He
+put her into a taxi outside the Grand Hotel, and then they parted.</p>
+
+<p>Before doing so, the girl said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What about next Wednesday? Shall we meet?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;Wednesday at six&mdash;eh? I&#8217;ll come up to
+your rooms. We can talk there. I don&#8217;t like to see you so worried,
+dear. There&#8217;s something you&#8217;re concealing from me, I&#8217;m sure of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he bent over her hand in a fashion more courtly than the
+&#8220;Cheerio!&#8221; of to-day, and standing on the curb watched the taxi speed
+down the Rue de la Paix.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; he murmured aloud, drawing a deep sigh. &#8220;Ah! If she only
+knew!&mdash;<i>if she only knew!</i>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p><p>He strode along the boulevard caring nothing where his footsteps led
+him. The gay, elegant, careless crowd of Paris passed, but he had no
+eyes for it all.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shall I tell her?&#8221; he went on aloud to himself. &#8220;Or shall I fade out,
+and let her learn the worst after I&#8217;m gone? Yet would not that be a
+coward&#8217;s action? And I&#8217;m no coward. I went through the war&mdash;that hell
+at Vimy, and I did my best for King and Country. Now, when love
+happens and all that life means to a man is just within my grasp, I
+have to retire to ignominy or death. I prefer the latter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next morning he stepped from the train at Victoria and drove to his
+rooms in Bennett Street, St. James&#8217;s. He was still obsessed by those
+same thoughts which had prevented him from sleeping for the past week.
+His man, Sanford, who had been his batman in France, met him with a
+cheery smile, and after a bath and a shave he went round to his
+business in Bond Street.</p>
+
+<p>He was of good birth and had graduated at Brasenose. His father had
+been a well-known official at the Foreign Office in the days of King
+Edward and had died after a short retirement. In his life Charlie had
+done his best, and had distinguished himself not only in his Army
+career, but in that of the world of motoring, where his name was as
+well known as any of the fearless drivers at Brooklands.</p>
+
+<p>Otley was, indeed, a real good fellow, whose personality dominated
+those with whom he did business, and the many cars, from Fords to
+Rolls, which he sold for the profit of his directors paid tribute to
+his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>easy-going merriment and his slim, well-set-up appearance. Those
+who met him in that showroom in Bond Street never dreamed of the alert
+leather-coated and helmeted figure who tore round the rough track at
+Brooklands testing cars, and so often rising up that steep cemented
+slope, the test of great speed.</p>
+
+<p>At six o&#8217;clock on the Wednesday evening he stood in his cosy room in
+Bennett Street awaiting Peggy. At last there was a ring at the outer
+door, and Sanford showed her in.</p>
+
+<p>She entered merrily, bringing with her a whiff of the latest Paris
+perfume, and grasping his hand, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, are you feeling any happier?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Happier!&#8221; he echoed. &#8220;Why, of course!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And have you had Lady Teesdale&#8217;s letter?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And I&#8217;ve accepted.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good. We&#8217;ll have a real good time. But the worst of it is Cis has
+been asked too!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose your mother engineered that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think so. You see, he&#8217;s Lady Teesdale&#8217;s nephew. And it&#8217;s a
+big family party. Old Mr. Bainbridge, the steel king of Sheffield, and
+his wife are to be there. She is a fat, rather coarse woman who has
+wonderful jewels. They say that old Bainbridge gave eighty thousand
+pounds for a unique string of stones, emeralds, diamonds, rubies and
+sapphires which belonged to the old Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, and
+which were sold in Paris six months ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Yes. I&#8217;ve always heard that the old fellow has money to burn. Wish I
+had!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So do I, Charlie. But, after all, money isn&#8217;t everything. What shall
+we do to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s dance later on&mdash;shall we?&#8221; he suggested, and she consented
+readily.</p>
+
+<p>They sat by the fire together for half an hour chatting, while she
+told him of her doings in Paris after he had left. Then she rose and
+made an inspection of his bachelor room, examining his photographs, as
+was her habit. Ten years ago a girl would hesitate to go to a
+bachelor&#8217;s room, but not so to-day when women can venture wherever men
+can go.</p>
+
+<p>On that same afternoon Sir Polworth Urquhart, returning home to Mount
+Street at six o&#8217;clock, found among his letters on the study table a
+thin one which bore a Hong Kong stamp. The superscription was, he saw,
+in a native hand. He hated the sly Chinese and all their ways.</p>
+
+<p>On tearing it open he found within a slip of rice-paper on which some
+Chinese characters had been traced. He looked at them for a few
+seconds and then translated them aloud to himself:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tai-K&#8217;an has not forgotten the great English mandarin!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Curse Tai-K&#8217;an!&#8221; growled Sir Polworth under his breath. &#8220;After ten
+years I thought he had forgotten. But those Orientals are slim folk. I
+hope his memory is a pleasant one,&#8221; he added grimly as he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>rose and
+placed the envelope and the paper in the fire.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very curious message,&#8221; he reflected as he passed back to his
+writing-table. &#8220;It&#8217;s a threat&mdash;because of that last sign. I remember
+seeing that sign before and being told that it was the sign of
+vengeance of the Tchan-Yan, the secret society of the Yellow Riband.
+But, bah! what need I care? I&#8217;m not in China now&mdash;thank Heaven!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he seated himself to answer his correspondence, however, a curious
+drama rose before his eyes. One day, ten years ago, while acting as
+Deputy-Governor, he had had before him a criminal case in which a
+young Chinese girl was alleged to have caused her lover&#8217;s death by
+poison. The girl was the daughter of a small merchant named Tai-K&#8217;an,
+who sold all his possessions in order to pay for the girl&#8217;s defense.</p>
+
+<p>The case was a flimsy one from the start, but in the native court
+where it was heard there was much bribery by the friends of the dead
+lover. Notwithstanding the fact that Tai-K&#8217;an devoted the whole of his
+possessions to his daughter&#8217;s defense, and that strong proof of guilt
+fell upon a young Chinaman who was jealous of the dead man, the poor
+girl was convicted of murder.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Polworth remembered all the circumstances well. At the time he did
+not believe in the girl&#8217;s guilt, but the court had decided it so,
+therefore why should he worry his official mind over the affairs of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>mere natives? The day came&mdash;he recollected it well&mdash;when the sentence
+of death was put before him for confirmation. Tai-K&#8217;an himself, a
+youngish man, came to his house to beg the clemency of the great
+British mandarin. With him was his wife and the brother of the
+murdered man. All three begged upon their knees that the girl should
+be released because she was innocent. But he only shook his head, and
+with callous heartlessness signed the death-sentence and ordered them
+to be shown out.</p>
+
+<p>The girl&#8217;s father then drew himself up and, with the fire of hatred in
+his slant black eyes, exclaimed in very good English:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have sent my daughter to her death though she is innocent! You
+have a daughter, Sir Polworth Urquhart. The vengeance of Tai-K&#8217;an will
+fall upon her. Remember my words! May the Great M&ecirc;ng place his curse
+upon you and yours for ever!&#8221; And the trio left the Deputy-Governor&#8217;s
+room.</p>
+
+<p>That was nearly ten years ago.</p>
+
+<p>He paced the room, for his reflections even now were uneasy ones. He
+remembered how the facts were placed before the Colonial Office and
+how the sentence of death was commuted to one of imprisonment. For
+five years she remained in jail, until the real assassin committed
+suicide after writing a confession.</p>
+
+<p>Yet like all Chinese, Tai-K&#8217;an evidently nursed his grievance, and
+time had not dulled the bitterness of his hatred.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><p>But the offensive Chinaman was in Hong Kong&mdash;therefore what mattered,
+Sir Polworth thought. So he seated himself and wrote his letters.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VENGEANCE OF TAI-K&#8217;AN</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">t</span> that moment Lola, who was shopping in London, entered and her
+father cut off quickly.</p>
+
+<p>The girl glanced at me and smiled. Then she asked some question
+regarding the purchase of some cutlery, and on her father replying she
+left the flat.</p>
+
+<p>After she had gone, he resumed the narrative, which was certainly of
+deep interest, as you will see.</p>
+
+<p>He went on:</p>
+
+<p>In the first week in January, a gay house-party assembled at Hawstead
+Park, Lord Teesdale&#8217;s fine old Elizabethan seat a few miles from
+Malton, not very far from Overstow. The shooting-parties at Hawstead
+were well known for their happy enjoyment. They were talked about in
+the drawing-rooms of Yorkshire and clubs in town each year, for Lady
+Teesdale was one of the most popular of hostesses and delighted in
+surrounding herself with young people.</p>
+
+<p>So it was that Charlie Otley, on his arrival, met Peggy in the big
+paneled hall, and by her side stood young Eastwood, the fair-haired
+effeminate son of Lord Drumone. The party assembled at tea consisted
+of some twenty guests, most of them young. After <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>dinner that night
+there was, of course, dancing upon the fine polished floor.</p>
+
+<p>Before Lady Urquhart, Otley was compelled to exercise a good deal of
+caution, allowing young Eastwood to dance attendance upon Peggy while
+he, in turn, spent a good deal of time with Maud Bainbridge, the
+rather angular daughter of the steel magnate. Towards Mrs. Bainbridge
+and his hostess Charlie was most attentive, but all the time he was
+watching Peggy with the elegant young idler to whom Lady Urquhart
+hoped to marry her.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then Peggy would glance across the room meaningly, but he
+never once asked her to dance, so determined was he that her mother
+should not suspect the true state of affairs. His position, however,
+was not a very pleasant one, therefore part of the time he spent in
+the great old smoking-room with his host, Sir Polworth, and several
+other guests, some of them being women, for nowadays the ladies of a
+country house-party invariably invade the room which formerly was
+sacred to the men.</p>
+
+<p>When the dance had ended and the guests were about to retire, Otley
+managed to whisper a word to the girl he loved. He made an appointment
+to meet her at a secluded spot in the park near the lodge on the
+following morning at eleven.</p>
+
+<p>She kept the appointment, and when they met she stood for a few
+moments clasped in her lover&#8217;s arms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had such awful difficulty to get away from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>Cecil,&#8221; she said,
+laughing. She looked a sweet attractive figure in her short tweed
+skirt, strong country shoes and furs. &#8220;He wanted to go for a walk with
+me. So I slipped out and left him guessing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her companion remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later they turned along a path which led to a stile, and
+thence through a thick wood of leafless oaks and beeches. Along the
+winding path carpeted with dead leaves they strolled hand-in-hand,
+until suddenly Otley halted, and in a thick hoarse voice quite unusual
+to him, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Peggy. I&mdash;I have something to say to you. I&mdash;I have to go back to
+London.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To London&mdash;why?&#8221; gasped the girl in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because&mdash;well, because I can&#8217;t bear to be here with the glaring truth
+ever before me&mdash;that I&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean?&#8221; she asked, laying her hand upon his arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I mean, dearest,&#8221; he said in a low, hard voice, &#8220;I mean that we can
+never marry. There is a barrier between us&mdash;a barrier of disgrace!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of disgrace!&#8221; she gasped. &#8220;Oh! do explain, dear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The explanation is quite simple,&#8221; he replied in a tone of despair.
+&#8220;You asked me in Paris what worried me. Well, Peggy, I&#8217;ll confess to
+you,&#8221; he went on, lowering his voice, his eyes downcast. &#8220;I am not
+worthy your love, and I here renounce it, for&mdash;for I am a thief!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A thief!&#8221; she echoed. &#8220;How?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been hard up of late, and at the motor show I sold three cars,
+for which I have not accounted to the firm. The books will be audited
+next week and my defalcations discovered. I have no means of repaying
+the four thousand five hundred pounds, and therefore I shall be
+arrested and sent to prison as a common thief. That&#8217;s briefly the
+position!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl was speechless at such staggering revelations. Charlie&mdash;a
+thief! It seemed incredible.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But have you no means whatever of raising the money?&#8221; she asked at
+last, her face pale, while the gloved hand that lay upon his arm
+trembled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None. I&#8217;ve tried all my friends, but money is so difficult to raise
+nowadays. No, Peggy,&#8221; he added with suppressed emotion, &#8220;let me go my
+own way&mdash;and try to forget me. Now that I am in disgrace it is only
+right that I should make a clean breast of it to you, and then you
+alone will understand why I have made excuse to Lady Teesdale and
+left.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you mustn&#8217;t do that, dear,&#8221; she urged. &#8220;Stay over the week-end!
+Something will turn up. Do please me by staying.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel that I really can&#8217;t,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I&#8217;m an outsider to have
+thus brought unhappiness on you, but it is my fault. I am alone to
+blame. You must have your freedom and forget me. I took the money to
+pay a debt of honor, thinking that I could repay it by borrowing
+elsewhere. But I find I can&#8217;t, therefore I must face the music next
+week. Even if I ran away I should soon be found and arrested.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Poor boy!&#8221; sighed the girl, stroking his cheek tenderly, while in her
+eyes showed the light of unshed tears. &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry. Stay here with
+me&mdash;at least till Monday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But he shook his head sadly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t bear it, my darling,&#8221; he answered in a low voice. &#8220;How can
+I possibly enjoy dancing and fun when I know that in a few days I
+shall go to prison in disgrace. My firm are not the kind of people to
+let me off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Four thousand five hundred!&#8221; the girl repeated as though to herself.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And I haven&#8217;t the slightest prospect of getting it anywhere. If
+I could only borrow it I could sail along into smooth waters again.
+But that is quite out of the question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Peggy remained silent for a few moments. Then, of a sudden, she looked
+straight into her lover&#8217;s eyes, and taking his hand in hers said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor dear! What can I do to help you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; was his low reply. &#8220;Only&mdash;only forget me. That&#8217;s all. You
+can&#8217;t marry a man who&#8217;s been to prison.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again a silence fell between them, while the dead leaves whirled along
+the path.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you will stay here over the week-end, won&#8217;t you, dear?&#8221; she
+urged. &#8220;I ask you to do so. Do not refuse me&mdash;will you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He tried to excuse himself. But she clung to him and kissed him,
+declaring that at least they might <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>spend the week-end together before
+he left to face the worst.</p>
+
+<p>Her lover endeavored to point out the impossibility of their marriage,
+but she remained inexorable.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I still love you, Charlie&mdash;even though you are in such dire straits.
+And I do not intend that you shall go back to London to brood over
+your misfortune. Keep a stout heart, dear, and something may turn up
+after all,&#8221; she added, as they turned and went slowly back over the
+rustling leaves towards the park.</p>
+
+<p>He now realized that she loved him with a strong and fervent
+affection, even though he had confessed to her his offense. And that
+knowledge caused his burden of apprehension the harder to bear.</p>
+
+<p>That night there were, after the day&#8217;s shooting, merry junketings at
+Hawstead, and Charles Otley bore himself bravely though his heart was
+heavy. Ever and anon when Peggy had opportunity she whispered cheering
+words to him, words that encouraged him, though none of the gay party
+dreamed that they were chatting and dancing with a man who would in a
+few days stand in a criminal dock.</p>
+
+<p>Next day was Sunday. The whole house-party attended the village church
+in the morning, and in the afternoon the guests split up and went for
+walks.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after dinner Otley, whose seat had been between the steel
+magnate&#8217;s wife and her daughter, went outside on the veranda alone. He
+was in no mood for bridge and preferred a breath of air outside. As
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>he let himself out by one of the French windows of the small
+drawing-room in the farther wing of the house, a dark figure brushed
+past him swiftly, and next second had vaulted over the ironwork of the
+veranda and was lost in the dark bushes beyond.</p>
+
+<p>As the stranger had paused to leap from the veranda, a ray of light
+from the window had caught his countenance. It was only for one brief
+second, yet Charlie had felt convinced that the countenance was that
+of a Chinaman. Besides the stealthy cat-like movement of the man was
+that of an Oriental. Yet what could a Chinaman be doing about that
+house?</p>
+
+<p>He was half inclined to tell his host, yet on reflecting, he thought
+the probability was that it was some stranger who, attracted by the
+music and laughter within, had been trying to get a glimpse of the gay
+party.</p>
+
+<p>That night, as the auction bridge proceeded, Otley withdrew from it
+and went to his room, where he sat down and wrote two notes&mdash;one to
+Peggy and the other to his hostess. In the latter he apologized that
+he had been suddenly recalled to London on some very urgent business,
+and that he would leave Malton by the first train in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>The note to Peggy he placed in his pocket, and returning to the room
+where they were now dancing, found her in a flimsy cream gown,
+sleeveless and cut low&mdash;a dress that suited her to perfection&mdash;dancing
+with apparent merriment with young Eastwood, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>though he knew that her
+heart was sad. But her face was flushed by excitement, and she was
+entering thoroughly into the country-house gayety. Presently, however,
+he was able to slip the note into her hand and whisper a good-by.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall be in London on Tuesday and will call at Bennett Street in
+the evening. We will then talk it all over, dear. Don&#8217;t despair&mdash;for
+my sake&mdash;don&#8217;t despair!&#8221; she said.</p>
+
+<p>And compelled to slip back to the ballroom, she crushed the note into
+her corsage.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning a car took Charlie to the station, and soon after
+luncheon he re&euml;ntered his rooms. The day was Monday, wet and dreary.
+All hope had left him, for his defalcations must be discovered and the
+directors would, without a doubt, prosecute him. Hence he went about
+London interested in nothing and obsessed by the terrible disgrace
+which must inevitably befall him.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of his sudden departure from Hawstead, at about
+half-past six, the house-party was thrown into a state of great
+concern by the amazing announcement that Mrs. Bainbridge had lost her
+jewels&mdash;the unique string of precious stones which had once belonged
+to the late Sultan Abdul Hamid! Mrs. Bainbridge&#8217;s maid discovered the
+loss when her mistress went to dress for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>She declared that on the previous evening she had placed them out upon
+a little polished table set against the heavy red-plush curtains and
+close to the dressing-table. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>She believed that her mistress had worn
+them upon her corsage on the Sunday night, and that on retiring she
+had locked them in her jewel-box. On the contrary, Mrs. Bainbridge did
+not wear them, a fact to which everyone testified. The millionaire&#8217;s
+wife had left the Sultan&#8217;s famous jewels upon the little polished
+table when she descended for dinner on Sunday night, and naturally
+concluded that her maid&mdash;who had been with her over twelve
+years&mdash;would see them and place them in safety.</p>
+
+<p>Suspicion instantly fell upon Charles Otley. Old Mr. Bainbridge was,
+of course, furious, whereupon Lord Teesdale took it upon himself to go
+at once to London to see Otley.</p>
+
+<p>This he did, and when that afternoon Sanford showed his lordship
+unexpectedly into the room, the young man stood aghast at the news.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tell me, Otley&mdash;if you know nothing of this affair&mdash;why, then, did
+you leave Hawstead so suddenly?&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because I had business here in town,&#8221; was his reply. Instantly across
+his mind flashed the recollection of the incident of the fleeting
+figure which he believed to be that of an Oriental. He related to his
+late host the exact facts. But Lord Teesdale listened quite
+unimpressed. As a matter of fact, he felt, in his own mind, that the
+young fellow was the thief.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Chinaman was far too fantastic for his old-fashioned
+mind. He had heard of the Chinese, the opium traffic and suchlike
+things, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>he saw in Otley&#8217;s statement a distinct attempt to mislead
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The police were not called in because Mr. Bainbridge did not desire to
+bring the Teesdales&#8217; house-party into the newspapers, and, moreover,
+both he and his wife were confident that young Otley was the thief.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy hearing her lover denounced so openly, was naturally full of
+indignation, though she hardly dared show it.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Polworth and his wife and daughter returned to London as early as
+possible, for the spirits of all the guests had fallen in consequence
+of Mrs. Bainbridge&#8217;s loss.</p>
+
+<p>And now a curious thing happened.</p>
+
+<p>That evening Charlie, knowing himself under suspicion of stealing the
+jewels, had an intuition that it would be better if Peggy did not
+visit him at Bennett Street. Therefore at about half-past five, when
+darkness had fallen, he went along to Mount Street, and there watched
+outside Sir Polworth&#8217;s house.</p>
+
+<p>After a little while an empty taxi which had evidently been summoned
+by telephone, stopped at the door, and Peggy, very plainly dressed,
+got into it and drove away. Another taxi happened to be near,
+therefore her lover, unable to shout and stop her, got into it and
+followed her.</p>
+
+<p>They went along Piccadilly, and passing Arlington Street, which led
+into Bennett Street, continued away to the Strand and across the City
+eastward, until <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>Otley was seized with curiosity as to the girl&#8217;s
+destination.</p>
+
+<p>Past Aldgate went the taxi and down Commercial Road East, that broad
+long thoroughfare that leads to the East India Docks. At Limehouse
+Church the taxi stopped, and Peggy alighted and paid the man.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately a young man, the cut of whose overcoat and the
+angle of whose hat at once marked him as a Spaniard, approached her.
+Otley, full of wonder, had alighted from his taxi at some distance
+away and was eagerly watching.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy and the stranger exchanged a few words, whereupon he started off
+along a narrow and rather ill-lit road called Three Colt Street, past
+Limehouse Causeway. Suddenly it occurred to the young man that they
+were in the center of London&#8217;s Chinatown! He recollected the escaping
+Chinaman from Lord Teesdale&#8217;s house! But why was Peggy there? Surely
+she was not a drug-taker! The very thought caused him to shudder.</p>
+
+<p>Silently he followed the pair before him, and saw them turn into a
+narrow by-street and halt at a small house. Her conductor knocked on
+the door four times. And then repeated the summons.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened slowly and they entered. Then, when the door was
+closed again, Peggy&#8217;s lover crept along and listened at the shutter
+outside.</p>
+
+<p>Why was she there? He stood bewildered. She had promised to call upon
+him at his rooms, and yet <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>she was there in that low-class house&mdash;a
+veritable den it seemed!</p>
+
+<p>The window was closely shuttered, as were all in that mysterious
+silent thoroughfare&mdash;one into which the police would hardly venture to
+penetrate alone.</p>
+
+<p>The young man listened, his ears strained to catch any sound.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he heard Peggy shriek. He listened breathlessly. Yes, it was
+her voice raised distinctly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You!&#8221; he heard her cry. &#8220;You! You are Tai-K&#8217;an! My father has told me
+of you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ye-es, my lil ladee&mdash;you are lil ladee of the Engleesh mandarin!&#8221; he
+heard the reply&mdash;the reply of a Chinaman. &#8220;I now take my vengeance for
+my own child as I have each year promised. Give me the pretty jewels.
+You wanted to sell them, eh? But you will give them to me! I watched
+you take them from the table while they were all at the party. Your
+father never thought that Tai-K&#8217;an followed you on your country
+journey, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Otley heard the words faintly through the shutters and stood rooted to
+the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was the thief? She had wanted to sell them and had been
+entrapped. In an instant he realized her position.</p>
+
+<p>He heard her voice raised first in faint protest, and then she
+implored the Chinaman to release her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, no!&#8221; cried the cruel triumphant Oriental. &#8220;Tai-K&#8217;an warned your
+father that he would have his revenge. His daughter was to him as much
+as you <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>are to your own father the mandarin,&#8221; and he laughed that
+short, grating laugh of the Chinaman, which caused Otley to clench his
+fists.</p>
+
+<p>For a few seconds he hesitated as to how he should act. Then, quick as
+his feet could carry him, he dashed back into the Commercial Road,
+where he enlisted the aid of a constable.</p>
+
+<p>Together they hurried back to the house after the young man had made a
+brief statement that a white girl had been entrapped.</p>
+
+<p>At first they were denied admittance, but when the constable demanded
+that the door should be opened, the bars were drawn and they entered
+the wretched den.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was naturally terrified until she heard her lover&#8217;s voice, and a
+few seconds later the pair were locked once more in each other&#8217;s arms,
+but the gems of Abdul Hamid were nowhere to be found. Indeed, neither
+Peggy nor Charlie dared mention the stolen jewels, so the Chinaman
+kept them.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you wish to charge this Chink?&#8221; asked the constable of the girl.
+&#8220;If so, I&#8217;ll take him along to the station at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But at Charlie&#8217;s suggestion she would prefer no charge, and after
+profuse thanks to the policeman, they found a taxi and drove back at
+once to Bennett Street.</p>
+
+<p>On the way Peggy sobbed as she confessed to the theft; how, in
+desperation, she had stolen those wonderful <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>jewels from Mrs.
+Bainbridge&#8217;s room in the hope of raising sufficient money to pay
+Charlie&#8217;s defalcations, and how she had two days later received a
+mysterious letter asking her if she happened to have any discarded
+jewelry that she wished to dispose of secretly. If she had, an
+appointment could be made at Limehouse Church. It was, she thought, an
+opportunity. So she took the jewels to sell to them. But to her
+amazement and horror she had found herself in the hands of the
+revengeful Chinaman who had a, possibly just, grievance against her
+father.</p>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+
+<p>Rayne, taking the magnificent jewels and running them through his
+hands, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Chink is a friend of ours, and we&#8217;ve had our eye upon these
+stones for a very long time, but rather than the young fellow and the
+girl shall be ruined I am sending them back to Mrs. Bainbridge&#8217;s
+anonymously by to-night&#8217;s post. Sir Polworth Urquhart will think they
+have come from Tai-K&#8217;an. See, Hargreave? I&#8217;ve typed out a letter. Just
+pack them up and address them to her. I can&#8217;t bear to take them now I
+know the truth&mdash;poor girl!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And he handed the gems over to me, together with a small wooden box.</p>
+
+<p>That evening I registered the box from the post office at Darlington,
+and three days later Charles Otley, who had managed to clear himself
+of all suspicion, received an anonymous gift of four thousand <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>five
+hundred pounds which had been placed to his credit at the bank.</p>
+
+<p>And none of the actors in that strange drama suspect the hand of the
+clever, unscrupulous, but sometimes generous, Squire of Overstow.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>OTHER PEOPLE&#8217;S MONEY</h3>
+
+<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">&#8220;</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span>r. Hargreave, father is sending you upon a very strange mission,&#8221;
+Lola told me in confidence one dull morning, after we had had
+breakfast at the Midland Hotel, in Manchester, where we three were
+staying about a fortnight after Rayne&#8217;s generosity in returning the
+famous jewels of the dead Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What kind of mission?&#8221; I inquired with curiosity, as we sat together
+in the lounge prior to going out to idle at the shop windows.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know its object at all,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;But from what I&#8217;ve
+gathered it is something most important. I&mdash;I do hope you will take
+care of yourself&mdash;won&#8217;t you?&#8221; she asked appealingly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, of course,&#8221; I laughed. &#8220;I generally manage to take care of
+myself. I&#8217;d do better, however, if&mdash;well, if I were not associated
+with Duperr&eacute; and the rest,&#8221; I added bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>The pretty girl was silent for a few moments. Then she said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course you won&#8217;t breathe a word of what I&#8217;ve said, will you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Certainly not, Lola,&#8221; was my reply. &#8220;Whatever you tell me never
+passes my lips.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know&mdash;I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;Well,
+in this matter there are several mysterious circumstances. I believe
+it is something political my father wants to work&mdash;some business which
+concerns something in the Near East. That&#8217;s all I know. You will, in
+due course, hear all about it. And now let&#8217;s go along to Deansgate. I
+want to buy something.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In consequence we strolled along together, Rayne having gone out an
+hour before to keep an appointment&mdash;with whom he carefully concealed
+from me.</p>
+
+<p>That same night Rayne disclosed to me the mission which he desired me
+to carry out. He was a man of a hundred moods and as many schemes.</p>
+
+<p>One fact which delighted me was that in the present suggestion there
+seemed no criminal intent. And for that reason I quite willingly left
+London for the Near East three days later.</p>
+
+<p>My destination was Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and the journey by
+the Orient Express across Europe was a long and tedious one.</p>
+
+<p>I was much occupied with the piece of scheming which I had undertaken
+to carry out in Sofia. My patriotism had led me to attempt a very
+difficult task&mdash;one which would require delicate tact and a good deal
+of courage and resource, but which would, if successful, Rayne had
+said, mean that a loan of three millions would be raised in London,
+and that British <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>influence would become paramount in that go-ahead
+country, which ere long must be the power of the Balkans.</p>
+
+<p>The tentacles of the great criminal octopus which Rayne controlled
+were indeed far-spread. In this he was making a bid for fortune,
+without a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>To the majority of people, the Balkan States are, even to-day, <i>terra
+incognita</i>. The popular idea is that they are wild, inaccessible
+countries, inhabited by brigands. That is not so. True, there are
+brigands, even now after the war, in the Balkans, but Belgrade, the
+Serbian capital, is as civilized as Berlin, and the main boulevard of
+Sofia, whither I was bound, is at night almost a replica of the
+Boulevard des Italiens.</p>
+
+<p>I knew, however, that there were others in Sofia upon the same errand
+as myself, emissaries of other Governments and other financial houses.
+Therefore in those three long, never-ending days and nights which the
+journey occupied, my mind was constantly filled with the thoughts of
+the best and most judicious course to pursue in order to attain my
+object.</p>
+
+<p>The run East was uneventful, save for one fact&mdash;at the Staatsbahnhof,
+at Vienna, just before our train left for Budapest, a queer, fussy
+little old man in brown entered and was given the compartment next to
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>His nationality I could not determine. He spoke in a deep guttural
+voice with the fair-bearded conductor of the train, but by his
+clothes&mdash;which were <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>rather dandified for so old a man&mdash;I did not
+believe him to be a native of the Fatherland.</p>
+
+<p>I heard him rumbling about with his bags in the next compartment,
+apparently settling himself, when of a sudden, my quick ear caught an
+imprecation which he uttered to himself in English.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours later, at dinner in the <i>wagon-restaurant</i>, I found him
+placed at the same little table opposite me, and naturally we began to
+chat. He spoke in French, perfect French it was, but refused to speak
+English, though, of course, he could had he wished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! <i>non</i>,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;I cannot. Excuse me. My pronunciation is so
+faulty. Your English is so ve-ry deefecult!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And so we talked in French, and I found the queer old fellow was on
+his way to Sofia. He seemed slightly deformed, his face was distinctly
+ugly, broad, clean-shaven, with a pair of black, piercing eyes that
+gave him a most striking appearance. His grey hair was long, his nose
+aquiline, his teeth protruding and yellow; and he was a grumbler of
+the most pronounced type. He growled at the food, at the service, at
+the draughts, at the light in the restaurant, at the staleness of the
+bread we had brought with us from Paris, and at the butter, which he
+declared to be only Danish margarine.</p>
+
+<p>His complaints were amusing. At first the <i>ma&icirc;tre d&#8217;h&ocirc;tel</i> bustled
+about to do the bidding of the newcomer, but very quickly summed him
+up, and only <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>grinned knowingly when called to listen to his biting
+sarcasm of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lit and all its
+works.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, at Semlin, where our passports were examined, the passport
+officer took off his hat to him, bowed low and <i>vis&eacute;d</i> his passport
+without question, saying, as he handed back the document to its owner:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bon voyage, Highness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I stared at the pair. My fussy friend with the big head must therefore
+be either a prince or a grand duke!</p>
+
+<p>As I sat opposite him at dinner that night, he was discussing with me
+the harmful writings of some newly discovered Swiss author who was
+posing as a cheap philosopher, and denouncing them as dangerous to the
+community. He leaned his elbow upon the narrow table and supported his
+clean-shaven chin upon his fingers, displaying to me&mdash;most certainly
+by accident&mdash;the palm of his thin right hand.</p>
+
+<p>What I discovered there caused me a great deal of surprise. In its
+center was a dark, livid mark, as though it had been branded there by
+a hot iron, the plain and distinct imprint of a pet dog&#8217;s pad!</p>
+
+<p>It fascinated me. There was some hidden meaning in that mark, I felt
+convinced. It was just as though a small dog had stepped in blood with
+one of its forepaws and trodden upon his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Whether he noticed that I had detected it or not, I cannot say, but he
+moved his hand quickly, and ever after kept it closed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p><p>His name, he told me, was Konstantinos Vassos, and he lived in Athens.
+But I took that information <i>cum grano</i>, for I instinctively knew him
+to be a prince traveling incognito. Before the passport officer at
+Semlin, every one must pass before entering Serbia.</p>
+
+<p>But if actually a prince, why did he carry a passport?</p>
+
+<p>There is no good hotel at Sofia. The best is called the Grand H&ocirc;tel de
+Bulgarie, kept by a pleasant old lady, and in this we found ourselves
+next night installed. He, of course, gave his name as Vassos, and to
+all intents and purposes was more of a stranger in the Bulgarian
+capital than I myself was, for I had been there previously once just
+before the war.</p>
+
+<p>Now Rayne had given me a letter of introduction to a certain Nicolas
+Titeroff, who contrived rather mysteriously to get me elected to the
+smart diplomats&#8217; club&mdash;the Union&mdash;during my stay.</p>
+
+<p>The days passed. From the first morning of my arrival I found myself
+at once in the vortex of gayety; invitations poured in upon me&mdash;thanks
+to the black-bearded Titeroff&mdash;cards for dances here and there and
+receptions and dinners, while I spent each afternoon with Titeroff and
+a wandering Englishman named Mayhew, who told me he was an ex-colonel
+in the British Army.</p>
+
+<p>All the while, I must confess, I was working my cards carefully.
+Thanks to the mysterious Titeroff I had received an introduction to
+Nicholas Petkoff, the grave, grey-haired Minister of Finance, who had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>early in life lost his right arm at the battle of the Shipka
+Pass&mdash;and he was inclined to admit my proposals. A French syndicate
+had approached him, but Petkoff would have none of them.</p>
+
+<p>The mission entrusted to me by Rayne was one which, if I could obtain
+the Government Concession which I asked, would mean the formation of a
+great company and a matter of millions. And it seemed to me that my
+black-bearded friend Titeroff, and Mayhew, were both pulling the
+strings cleverly for me in the right direction. Often I considered
+whether they were both crooks and members of the gang organized by
+Rayne. I could not determine.</p>
+
+<p>One night at the weekly dance at the Military Club&mdash;a function at
+which the smart set of Sofia always attend, and at which the Ministers
+of State themselves with their women-folk put in an appearance&mdash;I had
+been waltzing with the Minister Petkoff&#8217;s daughter, a pretty,
+dark-haired girl in blue, whom I had met at Titeroff&#8217;s house&mdash;when
+presently the Turkish attach&eacute;, a pale-faced young man in a fez,
+introduced me to a tall, very handsome, sweet-faced girl in a black
+evening gown.</p>
+
+<p>Mademoiselle Balesco was her name, and I found her inexpressibly
+charming. She spoke French perfectly, and English quite well. She had
+been at school in England, she said&mdash;at Scarborough. Her home was at
+Galatz, in Roumania.</p>
+
+<p>We had several dances, and afterwards I took her down to supper. Then
+we had a couple of fox-trots, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>and I conducted her out to the car that
+was awaiting her and bowing, watched her drive off, alone.</p>
+
+<p>But while doing so, there came along the pavement, out of the shadow,
+the short, ugly figure of the old Greek, Vassos, with his coat collar
+turned up, evidently passing without noticing me.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later when in the evening I was chatting with Mayhew at the
+hotel, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What have you been up to, Hargreave? Look here! This letter was left
+upon me, with a note, asking me to give it to you in secret. Looks
+like a woman&#8217;s hand! Mind what you&#8217;re about in this place, old chap.
+There are some nasty pitfalls, you know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With a bachelor&#8217;s curiosity he was eager to know who was my fair
+correspondent. But I refused to satisfy him.</p>
+
+<p>Suffice it to say that that same night I went alone to a house on the
+outskirts of Sofia, and there met, at her urgent request, Marie
+Balesco. After apologizing for thus approaching me and throwing all
+the <i>convenances</i> to the wind, she seemed to be highly interested in
+my welfare, and very inquisitive concerning the reasons that had
+brought me to Bulgaria.</p>
+
+<p>Like most women of to-day, she smoked, and offered me her
+cigarette-case. I took one&mdash;a delicious one it was, but rather
+strong&mdash;so strong, indeed, that a strange drowsiness suddenly overcame
+me. Before I could fight against it, the small, well-furnished room
+seemed to whirl about me, and I must have fallen unconscious. Indeed,
+I knew no more until, on awakening, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>I found myself back in my bed at
+the H&ocirc;tel de Bulgarie.</p>
+
+<p>I gazed at the morning sunshine upon the wall, and tried to recollect
+what had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>My hand seemed strangely painful. Raising it from the sheets, I looked
+at it.</p>
+
+<p>Upon my right palm, branded as by a hot iron, was the sign of the
+dog&#8217;s pad!</p>
+
+<p>Horrified, I stared at it! It was the same mark I had seen upon the
+hand of old Vassos! What could be its significance?</p>
+
+<p>In a few days the burn healed, leaving a dark red scar, the distinct
+imprint of a dog&#8217;s foot. From Mayhew I tried, by cautious questions,
+to obtain some information concerning the fair-faced girl who had
+played such a trick upon me. But he only knew her slightly. He amazed
+me by saying that she had been staying with a certain Madame Sovoff,
+who was something of a mystery, but had left Sofia.</p>
+
+<p>Vassos, who was still at the hotel, annoyed me on account of his
+extreme politeness, and the manner in which he appeared to spy upon my
+movements.</p>
+
+<p>I came across him everywhere. Inquiries concerning the reason of the
+ugly Greek&#8217;s presence in Bulgaria met with a negative result. One
+thing seemed certain, he was not, as I believed, a prince incognito.</p>
+
+<p>How I longed to go to him, show him the mark upon my hand, and demand
+an explanation. But my curiosity was aroused, therefore I patiently
+awaited <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>developments, my revolver always ready in my pocket in case
+of foul play.</p>
+
+<p>The mysterious action of the pretty girl from Galatz also puzzled me.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Cabinet, after much political jugglery, being deposed, the
+Council were in complete accord with Petkoff regarding my proposals.
+All had been done in secret from the party in opposition, and one day
+I had lunched with His Excellency the Minister of Finance at his house
+in the suburbs of the city.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I was obsessed by the strange mark which had been so
+mysteriously placed upon my hand&mdash;the same mark as that borne by the
+mysterious Vassos.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You may send a cipher dispatch to London if you like, Mr. Hargreave,&#8221;
+said the Minister Petkoff, as we sat over our cigars. &#8220;The documents
+will be all signed at the Cabinet meeting at noon to-morrow. In
+exchange for this loan raised in London, all the contracts for the new
+quick-firing guns and ammunition go to your group of London
+financiers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Such was the welcome news His Excellency imparted to me, and you may
+imagine that I lost no time in writing out a well-concealed message to
+Rayne, and sending it by the manservant to the telegraph office.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time I sat with His Excellency, and then he rose, inviting
+me to walk with him in the Boris Gardens, as was his habit every
+afternoon, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>before going down to the sitting of the Sobranje, or
+Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>On our way we passed Vassos, who raised his hat politely to me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s that man?&#8221; inquired the Minister quickly, and I told him all I
+knew concerning the old fellow.</p>
+
+<p>He grunted.</p>
+
+<p>In the pretty public garden we were strolling together in the sundown,
+chatting upon the European unrest after the war, the new loan, and
+other matters, when, of a sudden, a black-mustached man in a dark grey
+overcoat and a round fur cap sprang from the bushes at a lonely spot,
+and, raising a big service revolver, fired point-blank at His
+Excellency.</p>
+
+<p>I felt for my own weapon. Alas! it was not there! <i>I had forgotten
+it!</i></p>
+
+<p>The assassin, seeing the Minister reel and fall, turned his weapon
+upon me. Thereupon in an instant I threw up my hands, crying that I
+was unarmed, and an Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>As I did so, he started back as though terrified, and with a spring he
+disappeared again into the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>All had happened in a few brief instants, for ere I could realize that
+a tragedy had actually occurred, I found the unfortunate Minister
+lying lifeless at my feet. My friend had been shot through the heart!
+It was a repetition of the assassination of the Minister Stambuloff.</p>
+
+<p>Readers of the newspapers will recollect the tragic <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>affair which is,
+no doubt, still fresh in their minds.</p>
+
+<p>I told the Chief of Police of Sofia of my strange experience, and
+showed him the mark upon my palm. Though detectives searched high and
+low for the Greek, for Madame Sovoff, and for the fascinating
+mademoiselle, none of them was ever found.</p>
+
+<p>The assassin was, nevertheless, arrested a week later, while trying to
+cross the frontier into Serbia. I, of course, lost by an ace Rayne&#8217;s
+great financial <i>coup</i>, but before execution the prisoner made a
+confession which revealed the existence of a terrible and widespread
+conspiracy, fostered by Turkey, to remove certain members of the
+Cabinet who were in favor of British protection and assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Quite unconsciously I had, it seemed, become an especial favorite of
+the silent, watchful old Konstantinos Vassos. Fearing lest I, in my
+innocence, should fall a victim with His Excellency&mdash;being so often
+his companion&mdash;he had, with the assistance of the pretty Marie
+Balesco, contrived to impress upon my palm the secret sign of the
+conspirators.</p>
+
+<p>To this fact I certainly owe my life, for the assassin&mdash;a stranger to
+Sofia, who had been drawn by lot&mdash;would, no doubt, have shot me dead,
+had he not seen the secret sign upon my raised hand.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned to Overstow and related my strange adventure, Rayne
+was furious that just at the very moment when the deal by which he was
+to reap such a huge profit was complete, our friend the Minister
+should have been assassinated.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>Lola was in the room when I described all that had occurred, listening
+breathlessly to my narrative.</p>
+
+<p>I showed them both the strange mark upon my palm, a brand which I
+suppose I shall bear to my dying day.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you really owe your life to that girl Balesco, Mr. Hargreave?&#8221;
+she said, raising her fine dark eyes to mine.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly do,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>Her father grunted, and after congratulating me upon my escape, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You had nothing to complain about regarding Titeroff, and the
+assistance he and Mayhew gave you&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing. Without them I could never have acted. Indeed, I could never
+have approached the Minister Petkoff.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he remarked reflectively. &#8220;They&#8217;re both wily birds. Titeroff
+feathered his nest well when he was in Constantinople, and Mayhew is
+there because of a little bit of serious trouble in Genoa a couple of
+years ago. Of course you never mentioned my name&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only mentioned you as Mr. Goodwin&mdash;as you told me,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They remembered me, of course?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, when I delivered your note of introduction to Titeroff, he at
+once made me welcome, and seemed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>much surprised that I was acquainted
+with his friend, Mr. Goodwin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was now evident, as I had suspected, that the two men who were so
+eager to serve me were international crooks, and members of the great
+gang which Rayne controlled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just describe the man Vassos as fully as you can,&#8221; urged Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence I went into a minute description of the fussy old
+Greek, to which Rayne listened most interestedly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he said at last. &#8220;But tell me one thing. Did you notice if he
+had any deformity?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&mdash;he walked with a distinct limp.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And his hand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The little finger on his left hand was deformed,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I now
+remember it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; he cried in instant anger. &#8220;As I thought! It was old
+Boukaris&mdash;the sly old devil. How, I wonder, did he know that I had
+sent you to Sofia? He, no doubt, saved you by putting that mark on
+your hand, Hargreave; but the brutes have been one too many for me,
+and have done me down!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MAN WHO WAS SHY</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">S</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ome</span> two months after that curious experience in Sofia, we were guests
+of some friends of Rayne&#8217;s called Baynes, who lived at Enderby Manor,
+a few miles out of Winchester.</p>
+
+<p>The reason of our visit was somewhat obscure, yet as far as I could
+gather it had no connection with &#8220;business.&#8221; So Rayne, Lola, and
+myself spent a very pleasant four days with one of the most charming
+families I think I have ever met.</p>
+
+<p>Enderby was a beautiful old place lying back in a great park and
+surrounded by woods, half-way between Winchester and Romsey, and
+George Baynes, who had made a fortune in South America, and whose wife
+was a Brazilian lady, was a splendid host.</p>
+
+<p>One bright afternoon Rayne had gone off somewhere with Mr. Baynes, so
+I found Lola and we both went for a stroll in the beautiful woods.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time we chatted merrily, when, of a sudden&mdash;I don&#8217;t exactly
+know how it happened&mdash;but I took her hand, and, looking straight into
+her eyes, I declared my passion for her.</p>
+
+<p>I must have taken her unawares, for she drew <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>back with a strange,
+half-frightened expression. Her breath came and went in quick gasps,
+and when she found her tongue, she replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, George. It is impossible&mdash;quite impossible!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I demanded quickly. &#8220;I love you, Lola. Can you never
+reciprocate my affection?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head sadly, but still allowing me to hold her soft
+little hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You must not speak of love,&#8221; she whispered. &#8220;You are an honest man
+who has been entrapped and compelled to act dishonestly as you do. I
+know it all, alas! I&mdash;I know&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; and she burst into tears. &#8220;I have
+discovered,&#8221; she sobbed, &#8220;that my father is a thief!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We cannot help that, Lola,&#8221; I said, in deep sympathy at her distress.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Unfortunately we can&#8217;t,&#8221; she replied faintly, in a voice full of
+emotion. &#8220;But it would be fatal to us both if we loved each other.
+Surely, George, you can see that!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see it, dearest,&#8221; I exclaimed, bending and kissing her fondly
+on the cheek for the first time. We had halted in the forest path, and
+now I held her in my arms, though she resisted slightly. &#8220;I love you,
+darling!&#8221; I cried. &#8220;<i>I love you!</i>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! No!&#8221; she protested. &#8220;You must not&mdash;you cannot love me. I am only
+the daughter of a man who, at any moment, might be arrested&mdash;a man for
+whom the police are ever in search, but cannot find.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know all that; but you, dearest, are not a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>thief!&#8221; I urged, for I
+loved her with all the strength of my being&mdash;with all my soul.</p>
+
+<p>She trembled and sobbed, but did not reply. Her tearful face was
+hidden upon my shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you care for me in the least?&#8221; I whispered to her. &#8220;Tell me, dear,
+do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was silent.</p>
+
+<p>I repeated my question, until at last she raised her face to mine,
+and, though she did not speak, I knew with joy that her answer was in
+the affirmative. And then I poured out my secret to her, how ever
+since I had first seen her I had loved her to distraction; and how the
+knowledge that she reciprocated my affection had rendered me the
+happiest man in the world.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time we remained locked in each other&#8217;s arms. How long I
+cannot tell.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, when she had dried her tears, she seemed full of
+apprehension concerning my welfare.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! do be careful of yourself, George!&#8221; she cried. &#8220;I am always so
+anxious about you when you are away. Father sends you on those strange
+and highly dangerous missions because he trusts you, and you, alas!
+are compelled to do his bidding. But do take care. You know well what
+the slightest blunder would mean&mdash;and you would never clear yourself,
+you know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I promised I would take great care always, and again we moved along.
+It was not, however, until dusk that we returned to the Manor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>I could not help wondering how Lola had discovered her father&#8217;s true
+character and the nature of his secret &#8220;business,&#8221; but on the whole I
+felt it was just as well that she knew, for she herself would exercise
+great care. And then I thought in ecstasy, &#8220;She is mine&mdash;<i>mine</i>!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Just before midnight, soon after I had retired, the door of my room
+opened, and I found Rayne in his pajamas.</p>
+
+<p>He placed his finger upon his lips with a gesture of silence. Then,
+closing the door noiselessly, he drew me to the opposite side of the
+room, and, showing me a photograph, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look at this well, George. You&#8217;d recognize him, wouldn&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a cabinet photograph of a good-looking gentlemanly,
+clean-shaven man of about twenty-five.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Note his tiepin&mdash;a single moonstone!&#8221; added Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I said, as I gazed at the photograph.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, to-day is Monday,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Next Thursday night I want you to
+take Madame from London in the Rolls. Go out on the Portsmouth Road by
+way of Kingston and Ditton, through Cobham, and on to Ripley. There,
+about twenty miles from London, you will find on the left-hand side an
+old-fashioned hotel called the Talbot. Stop there at half-past nine,
+and, leaving Madame in the car, go in and have a drink. Edward Houston
+will be awaiting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>you. Madame is just now at the Carlton. You will
+pick her up at half-past eight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And Lola?&#8221; I asked, wondering if his daughter was to play any part in
+this new piece of trickery, whatever it might be.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She is going to Scarborough on Thursday afternoon,&#8221; was her father&#8217;s
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And when I meet this Mr. Houston,&#8221; I asked, &#8220;what then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will not meet openly. When you&#8217;ve had your drink and he has seen
+you, you will drive a little way along the road and there await him.
+He does not wish to be seen with you. He&#8217;s rather shy, you see!&#8221; and
+the pleasant-faced man who controlled the most dangerous criminal gang
+in Europe smiled sardonically. &#8220;He has his instructions, and you will
+follow them. Take a suit-case with you, for you may be away a few
+days, or longer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I wondered what devilry he had now planned. I tried to obtain from him
+some further details, but his replies were sharp and firm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Act just as I&#8217;ve told you, Hargreave. And please don&#8217;t be so
+infernally inquisitive.&#8221; Then, wishing me good night, he turned and
+left my room.</p>
+
+<p>I longed there and then to defy him and refuse to obey, yet I dared
+not, knowing full well the fate that would await me if I resisted.
+Moreover, I had Lola to consider, and if I defied her father he most
+certainly would not allow his daughter to marry me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>Next morning we left Enderby by train and returned to Overstow in the
+late afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Duperr&eacute; had gone up to Glasgow upon some mysterious business&mdash;crooked
+without a doubt&mdash;so that night, after dining together, Rayne and I
+played a game of billiards. While we were smoking in the library prior
+to turning in, the footman tapped at the door and entered with a note.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne tore it open, and as he read it, I noticed that his countenance
+fell. A second later I saw that he was extremely annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>He rose from his chair and for a few moments hesitated. Then, in a
+rather thick voice, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Show him in.&#8221; After the servant had gone he turned to me, and in a
+changed voice said: &#8220;Remain here, George. But never breathe a word of
+what you hear to a living soul! Remember that!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In a few moment a well-dressed, narrow-faced, bald-headed, rather
+cadaverous man was shown in. He clicked his heels together and bowed
+with foreign politeness and with a smile upon his sinister
+countenance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have the honor to meet Signor Rayne?&#8221; he asked, with a distinctly
+Italian accent.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is my name,&#8221; replied Rudolph inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good! Then you will recognize me, and my name upon my letter in which
+I have asked for this private interview.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. I certainly do not,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I have no knowledge of ever
+meeting you before!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; laughed the stranger. &#8220;The signore&#8217;s memory is evidently at
+fault. I&mdash;I hesitate to refresh it&mdash;before this gentleman,&#8221; and he
+glanced at me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! you need not mind. Mr. Hargreave is my secretary, and knows all
+my confidential affairs,&#8221; said Rayne, assuming an air of <i>bonhomie</i>,
+though I knew he was greatly perturbed by his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then may I be permitted to remind you of our meeting at the Bristol
+Caf&eacute;, in Copenhagen, on that July night two years ago, and what
+happened to Henri G&eacute;rard, the Marseilles shipowner, later that same
+night? True, we never spoke together, for you posed as a stranger to
+my friends. But you were pointed out to me. You surely cannot ignore
+it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have never been to Copenhagen in my life,&#8221; protested Rayne. &#8220;What
+do you suggest?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The truth; one that you know well, signore, notwithstanding your
+denials. You are the man known as &#8216;The Golden Face,&#8217;&#8221; declared the
+stranger bitterly, pointing his finger at him. &#8220;You neither forget me
+nor my name, Luigi Gori, for you have much cause to remember it&mdash;you
+and your friend Stevenson, otherwise Duperr&eacute;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Rayne turned furiously upon his visitor, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am in no mood to discuss anything with you. So get out! You wished
+to see me privately, and I have granted you this interview. I don&#8217;t
+know your name or your business, nor do I want to know them! You seem
+to be trying to claim acquaintance with me, and&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Pardon me, but I do so, Signor Rayne,&#8221; laughed the dark-eyed man. &#8220;It
+has taken me two years to trace you, and at last I find you here! I
+came at this hour because I thought I would find you apart from your
+honorable family.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What rubbish are you talking?&#8221; demanded Rayne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Rubbish!&#8221; echoed the stranger. &#8220;I am talking no rubbish. I am simply
+reminding you of a very serious and secret matter, namely, the
+mysterious end of Monsieur G&eacute;rard, of the Ch&acirc;teau du Sierroz in the
+Jura, and of the Avenue des Champs Elys&eacute;es. The S&ucirc;ret&eacute;, in combination
+with the Danish detective service, are still trying to clear up the
+affair. You and I can do it,&#8221; he said; and, after a pause, he looked
+Rayne straight in the face, and asked: &#8220;Shall we? It rests with you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Rayne frowned darkly. Never before had I witnessed such an evil look
+upon the face of any man. I knew that his brain was working swiftly,
+and I also saw that our visitor was most unwelcome&mdash;evidently an
+accomplice who had managed by some unaccountable means to penetrate
+the veil of secrecy in which the super-crook had always so
+successfully enveloped his identity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;You really are a most dramatic person, Signor
+Gori, or whatever your name may be. I really don&#8217;t understand you,
+unless you are attempting to blackmail me. And if you are, then I&#8217;ll
+get my servant to show you the door.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p><p>The stranger smiled meaningly, and asked quite quietly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is it not to your advantage, Signor Rayne, to talk this little matter
+over in a friendly spirit? I offer you the opportunity. If you refuse
+it&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; And he shrugged his shoulders meaningly, without concluding
+his sentence.</p>
+
+<p>Rayne was silent for a few seconds. Then he said in quite a changed
+and genial tone:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am much mystified at your visit, Signor Gori, for I certainly have
+no knowledge of you. But the hour is late. If you are staying in the
+neighborhood could you call again at noon to-morrow, when we will go
+further into this tangled affair? We seem to be at cross-purposes
+to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As you wish,&#8221; replied the visitor, bowing with exquisite politeness.
+&#8220;I am staying at the Fleece Hotel, at Thirsk, and I have motored out
+here. To-morrow at noon I will call upon you.&#8221; And then he added in a
+hard, relentless tone: &#8220;And then I trust your memory will be
+refreshed. Signori, I wish you both <i>buona sera</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Stay! I quite forgot! I shall not be here to-morrow,&#8221; Rayne replied
+quickly. &#8220;I have to be out some part of the day, and also I expect
+visitors.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then the day after?&#8221; suggested the visitor politely, to which Rayne
+sullenly replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. The day after to-morrow, at six o&#8217;clock in the evening. I will
+be here to see you, if you still <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>persist in pestering me. But I warn
+you, Signor Gori, that it is quite useless.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Italian smiled, bowed, and again wishing us good night, crossed
+the room as Rayne pressed the electric button for the servant.</p>
+
+<p>I realized that a big cloud of trouble had unexpectedly descended upon
+Overstow. When he had gone Rayne broke out into a furious series of
+imprecations and vows of vengeance upon some person whom he did not
+name, but whom he suspected of having made a <i>faux pas</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, however, he bade me good night in his usual manner, as
+though nothing had occurred to disturb him. He was a man of abnormal
+intellect, defiant, fearless, and with a brain which, had it been put
+to proper usage, would undoubtedly have made him a world-famous
+Englishman. After all, the brains of great criminals, properly
+cultivated and directed, are the same brains as those possessed by our
+great leaders, whether political, commercial, or social.</p>
+
+<p>That night I scarcely closed my eyes in sleep. The Damoclean sword had
+apparently fallen upon the Squire of Overstow. And I recollected his
+daughter&#8217;s warning.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, directly after breakfast, which he ate with relish, and
+seemed quite his normal self, I drove with him at his orders over to
+Heathcote Hall, about five miles away, where lived Sir Johnson
+Burnham, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>one of the old Yorkshire aristocracy, who was also chairman
+of quarter sessions.</p>
+
+<p>I waited at the wheel while he called. I knew that the baronet was not
+at home, as a week before Lola had told me that he had gone to San
+Remo. Nevertheless, Rayne went inside, and was there quite half an
+hour. I was puzzled at his absence, but the reason seemed plain when
+the butler, bowing him out, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am so sorry, Mr. Rayne, but the telephone people are, I fear, very
+slack in these days. It takes so long to get a number.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So Rayne had gone to Heathcote in order to telephone to somebody in
+great urgency&mdash;somebody he dare not speak with from Overstow.</p>
+
+<p>As we drove back again, Rayne said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course, George, you will never breathe a word of this&mdash;well, this
+little <i>contretemps</i>&mdash;or of its result. When I&#8217;m up against the wall I
+always hit hard. That&#8217;s the only way. I&#8217;m not going to be
+blackmailed!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The affair does not concern me,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;What I hear in your
+presence I never repeat.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad you appreciate your position,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I&#8217;m a good
+employer to those who trust me, but an infernally bad one to those who
+doubt, who blunder, or who betray me, as you have probably learned,&#8221;
+he said in a hard voice, as we swung into the handsome lodge gates of
+Overstow.</p>
+
+<p>Just before luncheon Rayne was called to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>telephone. I was in the
+room at the time. He apparently recognized the voice, and scribbled
+something upon the pad before him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you repeat that?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;I want to be quite clear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he listened again very intently.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Right! I&#8217;ll be with you at ten to-night,&#8221; he replied, and then hung
+up the receiver.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must go to London,&#8221; he said, turning to me. &#8220;You&#8217;ll drive me into
+York, and I can catch the four-thirty up. You stay here and meet that
+Italian chap to-morrow at six, and tell him that I&#8217;m up at Half Moon
+Street. Give him my address, and ask him to see me there. After you&#8217;ve
+seen him, start in the car for London and carry out the instructions I
+gave you on Monday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he went to his room, changed his clothes, and came down to lunch
+in very bright spirits. It seemed that by the Italian&#8217;s visit he was
+now not in the least perturbed.</p>
+
+<p>I drove him with Lola to York, where he went to London and Lola to
+Scarborough. Afterwards I dined at the Station Hotel alone, and
+returned to Overstow, which seemed chill and lonely. The local doctor
+happily looked in during the evening, and I played him a game at
+billiards.</p>
+
+<p>In impatient curiosity I waited until next day, when, punctually at
+six o&#8217;clock, Signor Gori was shown into a little room adjoining the
+great hall, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>there I joined him in the capacity of a busy man&#8217;s
+secretary.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I much regret, Signor Gori,&#8221; I said, after we had bowed, &#8220;but Mr.
+Rayne was called to London quite unexpectedly upon some very urgent
+business. He presents his apologies and asks whether you can manage to
+meet him in London when it is convenient to you. Will you telephone to
+him?&#8221; And I gave him the address of Rayne&#8217;s rooms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;His apologies!&#8221; echoed the Italian, with a very marked accent and a
+gesture of ridicule. &#8220;The apologies of &#8216;The Golden Face&#8217;! Ah! my dear
+friend, you are his secretary; you are not the principal in this very
+serious affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Serious. How?&#8221; I asked in pretense of ignorance, and hoping thereby
+to learn something.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;<i>Madonna Santa!</i> You do not know&mdash;you do not realize the depths of
+that man&#8217;s villainy! I do! I am the one person who has penetrated the
+veil of secrecy beneath which he has so long remained hidden. Qu&eacute;rot,
+of the Paris S&ucirc;ret&eacute;, and Tetani, of the Public Security of Italy, are
+my friends. I can now go to them, as I shall.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My dear sir!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;The matter is no affair of mine! I am
+simply a paid secretary to do Mr. Rayne&#8217;s correspondence, and
+sometimes to drive his car. There my engagement ends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then be very careful! Be warned by me!&#8221; the Italian cried, gazing at
+me very seriously. &#8220;This man, your employer, is the leader of the most
+won<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>derfully organized gang of criminals in Europe. I happen to know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me strangely, and his manner changed. His dark eyes
+seemed to search mine, and then next instant he smiled mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will tell you the truth,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The reason I know is because I
+have unwittingly&mdash;owing to a little lapse from the path of
+honesty&mdash;been made one of the tools of this man whose marvelous brain
+controls the actions of dozens of the most unscrupulous and dangerous
+thieves on the Continent. My suspicions were aroused by something a
+woman told me in Paris, and for many months I have been unceasing in
+my inquiries. I have at last discovered the well-concealed chief who
+gives his orders like a general in the field, and those orders are
+obeyed to the letter without question, and always to the profit of
+those who execute them. And here,&#8221; he added, gazing around, &#8220;I am in
+the fine house of the man of mystery for whom the police are ever
+seeking&mdash;&#8216;The Golden Face&#8217;!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What you have said certainly surprises me,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;Surely there
+must be some mistake. Mr. Rayne is not the leader of a criminal gang.
+He is simply a country landowner here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Under that guise he poses unsuspected by the police,&#8221; laughed my
+visitor. &#8220;You can rest assured that I have made every inquiry and that
+now I know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;And what are your intentions?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;Surely you will go and see
+him in London?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The truth was out, and I saw that the Italian meant mischief.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps I shall go to the police at once,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Perhaps I shall
+go to London. I shall consider. He made an appointment and he has
+broken his promise. He fears me! That is quite plain. But, signore, I
+am here in England to bring him to justice, if only for one very
+serious crime&mdash;a crime that a woman witness I have can prove!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is all very distressing to me, especially as Mr. Rayne has a
+daughter, a young lady who is entirely ignorant of her father&#8217;s source
+of income,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ignorant!&#8221; he echoed. &#8220;Ah! my dear signore, do not think the
+Signorina Lola is ignorant! I have waited and watched. I know more
+than you or Signor Rayne ever suspect. The girl may affect ignorance,
+but she knows, and I can prove it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His words caused me to start. I certainly did not like the man&#8217;s
+attitude, for whatever I said, or whatever pretense I made, he refused
+to be appeased. All I could do in the circumstances was to express
+regret that Mr. Rayne had been compelled to go to London, and to again
+ask him to call at Half Moon Street.</p>
+
+<p>His allegations against Lola incensed me. I tried to obtain from him
+further details of his allegations, but he remained mysterious and
+triumphant. So in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>that spirit he left me, and departed in the car he
+had hired from Thirsk.</p>
+
+<p>After a hurried dinner I got out the Rolls, filled up the tank, and
+set out on the long journey to London. As hour after hour I swept
+along the great North Road, my big headlights glaring before me, I
+felt more than ever apprehensive.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be that the bald-headed man had actually discovered the
+leading spirit of the great gang of which I could only suppose he had
+been an unimportant member? If so, then for my own safety I ought to
+warn Rayne of his peril. Yet it was all hateful to me. I had been
+inveigled into that untenable position which I held, and now escape
+was impossible. I felt, however, in honor bound to protect Lola, even
+though that Italian crook had made those airy allegations against her.</p>
+
+<p>I drove on through the night against a pelting rain that fell between
+Grantham and Stamford, but at the Wansford cross-roads it cleared up,
+and gradually the gray dawn showed.</p>
+
+<p>It was half-past eight when I drove into the garage off the Tottenham
+Court Road, and I took a taxi to the Great Central Hotel, where I had
+a wash and a sleep till noon.</p>
+
+<p>Then I went round to Half Moon Street, but found that Rayne was at the
+Automobile Club. I found him there just as he was going in to lunch
+with two ladies whom I had never before seen.</p>
+
+<p>My presence seemed to alarm him, for with ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>cuse he left the ladies
+and took me out into the big hall.</p>
+
+<p>There I told him of Gori&#8217;s visit and of his threats.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only hope he will come and see me, George,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But somehow,
+I don&#8217;t think he will! You know now what to do. Madame is alone at the
+Carlton and ready to accompany you. I&#8217;m sorry I can&#8217;t give you lunch,
+George, but I have two guests. I shall be anxious to know how you get
+on. Telephone to me in confidence after you&#8217;ve been to Ripley, won&#8217;t
+you? Good-by.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And he passed across the hall and rejoined his two smartly dressed
+guests, crooks, like himself, I supposed.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SIGN OF NINETY-NINE</h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">t</span> half-past eight I called for Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife at the hotel, and she
+came down wearing a plain, dark-brown motor coat with a small,
+close-fitting cap to match. She was, indeed, unusually dowdy in
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, George,&#8221; she exclaimed, as she sat behind me in the car and I
+drove down Pall Mall, &#8220;we&#8217;re going out on a little adventure, I
+understand. Do you know where we&#8217;re going?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Down to Ripley, on the Portsmouth Road,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I have to meet a
+man named Houston at the Talbot Hotel. That&#8217;s all I know,&#8221; I answered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I know Houston. We must be careful to-night&mdash;very
+careful.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We went through the crooked roads of Kingston and out through Surbiton
+towards Ditton, when, after a long silence, she exclaimed as she bent
+towards me:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tell me, George, have you ever heard the name of Gori, and if so, in
+what connection? I ask this in confidence between ourselves, as the
+outcome may mean much to both of us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t quite understand you, Madame,&#8221; was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>my polite reply. &#8220;I only
+wish your husband had asked that question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here,&#8221; she said in a low, tense voice, &#8220;you love Lola! I know
+you do. Then will you, for her sake, reply to me openly and frankly?
+Have you in these past few days met a bald-headed Italian named Luigi
+Gori? And in what circumstances?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I remained silent for some minutes. Then I said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have met a man named Gori. He called upon Rudolph.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When?&#8221; she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He called on Monday night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Madame Duperr&eacute; held her breath for a few moments. She seemed to be
+calculating.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I recognize certain grave probabilities in Gori&#8217;s visit,&#8221; she said,
+and then lapsed again into silence.</p>
+
+<p>Presently I pulled up before the big old seventeenth-century
+posting-house in the long, quiet village of Ripley, once noted in the
+late Victorian craze of the &#8220;push-bike&#8221; as being the Mecca of the
+daring cyclist who ran out of London and back.</p>
+
+<p>The great gateway through which the mail coaches for Portsmouth used
+to rumble was dark and cavernous, but on the right I saw a small door,
+and opening it found myself in a very low-ceiled but cosy bar, in
+which burned a great log fire with shining pewters above it. The
+Talbot is nothing if not a link with the days of the highwaymen of
+Weybridge Heath. Few inns in England are so unspoiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> by modern
+improvements as the Talbot, at Ripley.</p>
+
+<p>In the rather dim light of that low-pitched, well-warmed inn parlor,
+with its wide, inviting chimney-corner, I saw four men. One of them,
+facing the firelight, I recognized from the photographs Rayne had
+shown me&mdash;the man with the moonstone in his tie.</p>
+
+<p>I ordered my drink loudly, and looked him full in the face. Then, when
+a few moments later I had drunk it, I wished the barman good night and
+went out. Re&euml;ntering the car, I drove out of the village towards
+Guildford, and there waited expectantly. In ten minutes he came out of
+the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hargreave?&#8221; he asked, and, after replying, I invited him inside
+the car, whereupon he at once recognized Madame in the half-light. It
+was plain that they were known to each other.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expected Vincent would be with you. Where is he?&#8221; asked the man
+named Houston.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s away. I don&#8217;t know exactly where he is,&#8221; Madame replied. &#8220;But
+what game are we going to play to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very merry one. It may be amusing, it may be tragic,&#8221; was the man&#8217;s
+reply. &#8220;We&#8217;re picking up May Cranston at Horsley Station presently.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May Cranston!&#8221; echoed Madame, astounded. &#8220;I thought she went to
+America after that affair in Dinard!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So she did, but she&#8217;s back again. May is a pretty shrewd girl, you
+know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m well aware of that. But why are we meeting her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;ll probably tell you,&#8221; was the fellow&#8217;s reply, and, at his
+direction, I turned the car into a narrow side road which ran for
+miles through woods and coppices until at last, after passing through
+two small villages, we came to a wayside station dimly lit by oil
+lamps.</p>
+
+<p>There we waited for about a quarter of an hour, when the slow train
+from Waterloo ran in, and from a first-class carriage there stepped a
+tall, well-dressed girl wearing a rich fur coat and small hat. She was
+evidently expecting the car to meet her, for she walked straight up to
+it and entered, being greeted by Madame and Houston, who were inside.</p>
+
+<p>I followed the newcomer and got into the driver&#8217;s seat, whereupon
+Madame introduced me.</p>
+
+<p>The moment she opened her lips I knew she was American, and also from
+her speech and expressions I knew that she was a crook who moved in
+good society.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll drive through Merrow and over to Hindhead,&#8221; Houston said. &#8220;We&#8217;d
+better avoid the High Street of Guildford, for the police might
+possibly spot the car. So we&#8217;ll go by the side roads. I was over there
+three days ago on a motor-bike, so I&#8217;ll pilot you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then he turned to gossip merrily with the good-looking American
+girl, who seemed most enthusiastic concerning our mysterious
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;To-night ought to bring us a clear twenty thousand pounds,&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;More, my dear Teddy,&#8221; the girl replied. &#8220;But since I saw you in
+Chicago four months ago I&#8217;ve had a very narrow squeak. I was nearly
+pinched by old Shenstone from New York. Dicky Diamond gave me the tip,
+and I cleared out from my hotel just in time. Had to leave all my
+trunks and eight thousand dollars&#8217; worth of jewelry behind me. And now
+I dare not claim them, for the police have seized them. Somebody gave
+me away, but I don&#8217;t know who. Wouldn&#8217;t I like to know&mdash;just! You bet
+I&#8217;d get even on them!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A good job you were warned,&#8221; said Madame. &#8220;Dicky was over here last
+June. I spent the evening with him at Prince&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s over here now. Waiting for me in Liverpool. I&#8217;ve got my passage
+booked back for to-morrow night, so if the hue and cry is raised I
+shall have left. I&#8217;m in the passengers&#8217; list as Mrs. George C.
+Meredith, wife of the well-known Chicago stock-broker. See my ring!&#8221;
+she laughed, holding up her hand in the semi-darkness. &#8220;Ain&#8217;t it a
+real fine one? And you are my mother, Madame! See?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But where are we going?&#8221; asked Duperr&eacute;&#8217;s wife.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Going to make an unexpected call upon old Bethmeyer,&#8221; she replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bethmeyer!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;What, old Sir Joseph Bethmeyer, the
+millionaire whom they call the mystery <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>man of Europe, the man who is
+said to have a finger in every financial pie all over Europe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I guess it&#8217;s the same man,&#8221; replied our sprightly companion. &#8220;He
+lives at Frenbury Park, a splendid place between Hindhead and
+Farnham.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>What, I wondered, could they possibly want with Sir Joseph Bethmeyer,
+the man who had, it was said, been behind the ex-Emperor Carl in his
+endeavor to regain the throne of the Hapsburgs, and who was declared
+to be immensely wealthy, though the source of his great riches could
+never be discovered. I knew him from the photographs so frequently in
+the papers, a stout, full-bearded, Teutonic-looking man, who claimed
+Swedish nationality, and who frequently gave large sums to charity,
+apparently in order to propitiate the British Government, who were
+more than suspicious of his oft-repeated good intentions.</p>
+
+<p>At Houston&#8217;s suggestion we stopped at a small hotel in Godalming, and
+there had supper, for it was yet early, and the American girl had
+dropped a hint that we should not go near Frenbury till past midnight.
+As we sat at table in a private room, I saw that she was exceedingly
+handsome, with a pair of coal-black eyes and a shrewd, alert
+expression, but her American accent was not always pronounced. Indeed,
+when she liked, she could conceal it altogether.</p>
+
+<p>She wore a fine diamond bracelet, her only ornament. Yet during our
+meal Houston whispered something to her, whereupon she half drew from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>beneath her fur coat something that glinted in the light, and I saw
+it was a very serviceable-looking revolver.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later we heard a car pull up, and a heavy-booted man
+entered the hall of the hotel. The door of our room opened, and a
+thick-set, clean-shaven man of about forty glanced in inquisitively,
+almost instantly shutting the door again.</p>
+
+<p>Next second May Cranston sprang to her feet with blanched face and
+terrified eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Hedley!&mdash;old Bethmeyer&#8217;s secretary! If he&#8217;s recognized me,
+then the game is up,&#8221; she whispered hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But did he?&#8221; queried Houston, who sat next to her. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think he
+noticed anybody. He simply saw that this was a private party and
+withdrew. He&#8217;s evidently gone to the bar.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s on his way to Frenbury from London, no doubt,&#8221; said the girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t go farther if you think there&#8217;s any risk,&#8221; Madame urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But it must be done, and to-night!&#8221; the girl said. &#8220;Remember I leave
+Liverpool to-morrow evening if there&#8217;s trouble, and you&mdash;my
+mother&mdash;have got to see me off!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go into the bar and watch him,&#8221; I volunteered, and rising, I
+went to a kind of pigeon-hole which gave access to the bar, and
+through which I could see into the room beyond. The man whom Miss
+Cranston had recognized as Hedley was smoking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> a cigarette and calmly
+drinking a whisky-and-soda. Afterwards I walked to the door and saw
+that the car was turned towards London, a reassuring fact which I
+reported to my companions.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then he&#8217;s going away from Frenbury, and won&#8217;t be at home to-night!&#8221;
+cried the American girl gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone we drove nearly to Petersfield, and it was
+considerably past midnight when, on our return, we descended that long
+hill which leads from Hindhead. Then, after turning off the main road
+for some time, we came to a narrow lane which led into a dark wood,
+where Houston suddenly stopped me and ordered me to switch out the
+lights.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had I done this when two men emerged mysteriously from the
+shadow, and one of them, addressing Houston, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re pretty punctual, Teddy! Sam isn&#8217;t here yet. He&#8217;s walking from
+Haslemere.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! he&#8217;s here all right!&#8221; exclaimed a voice clearly in the darkness,
+as a third man came forward.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May is in the car,&#8221; Houston explained. &#8220;Is everything ready?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes; when you get along here fifty yards more you can see the house.
+The old fellow sleeps in the first-floor room on the corner. The light
+has just been switched off, so he&#8217;s gone to bed all right.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the American girl had stepped from the car, and, greeting
+them all as &#8220;boys,&#8221; listened to what was said.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s hope the old boy will sleep comfortably, eh?&#8221; she laughed
+gayly. &#8220;If he doesn&#8217;t it will be the worse for him! His wife is in
+Paris, or she might prove a bit of trouble to us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know the ground exactly,&#8221; remarked one of the three men. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t
+in service here as footman for six weeks for nothing,&#8221; he added with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, come on,&#8221; said Houston, who seemed to be the leader of the
+adventures. &#8220;Let&#8217;s get to work,&#8221; and, picking up a bag which one of
+the men had put down, he pressed into my hand a short, circular
+electric torch, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Be careful not to press the button, because when the light is
+switched on the shot is fired! Only you might require it. One never
+knows! Come on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>May Cranston walked noiselessly with us, while in front the three men
+stalked quietly, speaking only in low whispers. Soon we came to a path
+which led into a great park, which we skirted, keeping still in the
+shadow of the trees, for the moon, though nearly gone, still shed some
+unwelcome light. The silence was only broken by our footsteps on the
+leaves. Silhouetted against the sky was the magnificent old
+castle-like mansion with many turrets in which dwelt the world&#8217;s
+mystery man of finance.</p>
+
+<p>At last we approached quite close to the house, and, crossing the
+broad terrace, we halted at the direction of our guide who had acted
+as footman there.</p>
+
+<p>Before us was a row of long French windows. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>One of these the man
+known as Sam attacked in a methodical way with a short steel jimmy,
+and in a few moments he had noiselessly opened it, and while somebody
+showed a torch, we all entered what was, I found, a long and luxurious
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hargreave! You remain here!&#8221; said the girl Cranston, who now
+assumed the leadership. &#8220;If occasion arises don&#8217;t hesitate to use your
+torch. All you have to do is to keep this way of retreat open. Leave
+all the rest to us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, still guided by the ex-footman, she disappeared with the four
+men.</p>
+
+<p>What was intended I could not guess. We had broken into one of the
+most magnificent houses in England, and no doubt an extensive burglary
+had been planned.</p>
+
+<p>I waited in the big, dark room for nearly twenty minutes, when
+suddenly I heard heavy, stumbling footsteps returning, and became
+conscious that the men, aided by the woman, were carrying with them a
+heavy human form. It was enveloped in black cloth and trussed up
+firmly with stout rope.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Say, are you all right, Mr. Hargreave?&#8221; inquired the American
+girl-crook.</p>
+
+<p>I replied in the affirmative, whereupon she whispered: &#8220;Good! Come
+right along. It&#8217;s worked beautifully. The old boy started up to see me
+at his bedside, and put on his dressing-gown to talk to me. Oh! it was
+real fun! He dared only speak in a whisper for fear the servants
+overheard. I told <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>him I was thirsty, and he took me into his study.
+We had drinks, and I put him quietly to sleep with a couple of drops
+of the soothing syrup. When he comes to himself he&#8217;ll have the shock
+of his life. Six months ago in Philadelphia&mdash;when I wanted some
+money&mdash;he defied me. Now it will cost the old skinflint a very big sum
+if he wants to see the light of day again! If he won&#8217;t pay up, well,
+we are none the worse off, are we?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour later they had placed the unconscious form of Sir
+Joseph in the car, and, bidding farewell to the three stalwart men,
+who were, no doubt, professional thieves from London, we started back
+swiftly through Farnham and Aldershot, thence by way of Reading and
+along the Bath Road to a lonely house somewhere outside Hounslow,
+where the American girl stopped me.</p>
+
+<p>There the unconscious man was carried in, and while the others
+remained in the house&mdash;which I think had been taken furnished and
+specially for the purpose&mdash;I was ordered to return to London alone,
+which I did, most thankful to end that exciting night&#8217;s adventure.</p>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+
+<p>On my return to the garage off the Tottenham Court Road at half-past
+three in the morning, the man on duty told me that a man&#8217;s voice had
+inquired for me about nine o&#8217;clock.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He seemed very anxious indeed to find you. But he told me to give you
+a number&mdash;number ninety-nine! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>Sounds like a doctor, eh, sir?&#8221;
+remarked the man.</p>
+
+<p>I stood aghast at the message.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you sure that was the number?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I wrote it down here. He gave a Mayfair telephone number,&#8221;
+and he showed me the note he had made.</p>
+
+<p>It was a message from Rayne! That number was the one agreed upon by
+all of us as a signal that some extreme danger had occurred, and it
+became necessary for us all to keep apart and disperse.</p>
+
+<p>I got into the car and drove out of the garage again, not knowing how
+to act. In Oxford Street, at that hour silent and deserted, I drew up,
+and, taking a piece of paper from my notebook, I wrote down the
+figures &#8220;99,&#8221; and, placing it in a small envelope which I fortunately
+found in my wallet, I addressed it to Madame Duperr&eacute;, and left it with
+the night porter at the Carlton, urging him to give it to her
+immediately on her return.</p>
+
+<p>Then I drove to the Strand telegraph office, and thence dispatched a
+well-guarded message to Lola at Scarborough, telling her to meet me
+without fail at the Station Hotel at Hull that afternoon and bring her
+passport with her.</p>
+
+<p>This she did, and when we met I told her of her father&#8217;s unwelcome
+visitor, the man Gori, and that he feared the police. Both of us
+decided to pose as runaway lovers and leave the country, which we
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>did, I having succeeded in obtaining two berths upon a Wilson steamer
+crossing to Bergen.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until a week later that we read in the English newspapers
+the sensation caused by the arrest of Mr. Rudolph Rayne of Overstow
+Hall, Yorkshire, upon an extradition warrant applied for by the Danish
+Government. The prisoner had been brought up at Bow Street, and, after
+certain mysterious evidence had been given, he had been remanded.</p>
+
+<p>In due course Rayne was conveyed to Copenhagen, where he was tried for
+complicity in a great bank fraud on the Danish National Bank, and sent
+to twenty years&#8217; penal servitude. Hence to the British public Rayne&#8217;s
+actual activities were never revealed.</p>
+
+<p>I can only suppose that my warning to Madame had its effect, and that
+she, her husband and all her friends took flight.</p>
+
+<p>Whether they obtained the money they sought as ransom for old Sir
+Joseph Bethmeyer I know not. Probably they did, for nothing appeared
+in the papers concerning his disappearance.</p>
+
+<p>Eventually I succeeded in getting Lola safely to her aunt in Paris,
+where, though her father&#8217;s downfall is still a great blow to her, she
+is living in peace under another name, while I have found honest
+employment in the office of a French shipping company in Bordeaux.</p>
+
+<p>Lola is my fianc&eacute;e, and we are to be married next June. One subject,
+however, we have mutually <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>agreed never to mention, namely, the evil
+machinations and ingenious activities of her father, the man who had,
+for some mysterious reason of his own, ascertained that I could sing,
+and who, in overconfidence at his own cunning, was at last
+unmasked&mdash;&#8220;The Golden Face.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2><span class="smcap">Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</span></h2>
+
+<p>Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters&#8217; errors;
+otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author&#8217;s
+words and intent.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux
+
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Face, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Golden Face
+       A Great 'Crook' Romance
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009 [EBook #27705]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN FACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE GOLDEN FACE
+
+ _A GREAT "CROOK" ROMANCE_
+
+ BY
+
+ WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+ AUTHOR OF "MADEMOISELLE OF MONTE CARLO,"
+ "THE STRETTON STREET AFFAIR"
+
+ NEW YORK
+
+ THE MACAULAY COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
+
+ THE MACAULAY COMPANY
+
+ _Printed in the United States of America_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: I slipped the pendant into Lady Lydbrook's soft hand
+as she stood in _deshabille_ at the half-opened door of her bedroom.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                          PAGE
+
+    I PRIVATE AND PERSONAL                          1
+
+   II ROOM NUMBER 88                               16
+
+  III THE MAN WITH THE HUMP                        30
+
+   IV THE FOUR FALSE FINGERS                       43
+
+    V CONCERNS MR. BLUMENFELD                      59
+
+   VI AT THREE-EIGHTEEN A.M.                       73
+
+  VII LITTLE LADY LYDBROOK                         87
+
+ VIII THE CAT'S TOOTH                              99
+
+   IX LOLA IS AGAIN SUSPICIOUS                    113
+
+    X THE PAINTED ENVELOPE                        127
+
+   XI THE GENTLEMAN FROM ROME                     140
+
+  XII THE SILVER SPIDER                           151
+
+ XIII ABDUL HAMID'S JEWELS                        170
+
+  XIV THE VENGEANCE OF TAI-K'AN                   186
+
+   XV OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY                        201
+
+  XVI THE MAN WHO WAS SHY                         215
+
+ XVII THE SIGN OF NINETY-NINE                     232
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLDEN FACE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PRIVATE AND PERSONAL
+
+
+In order to ease my conscience and, further, to disclose certain
+facts which for the past year or two have, I know, greatly puzzled
+readers of our daily newspapers, I have decided to here reveal some
+very curious and, perhaps, sensational circumstances.
+
+In fact, after much perplexity and long consideration, I have
+resolved, without seeking grace or favor, to make a clean breast of
+all that happened to me, and to leave the reader to judge of my
+actions, and either to condemn or to condone my offenses.
+
+I will begin at the beginning.
+
+It has been said that service in the Army has upset the average man's
+chances of prosperity in civil life. That, I regret, is quite true.
+
+When I, George Hargreave, came out of the Army after the Armistice, I
+found myself, like many hundreds of other ex-officers, completely at a
+loose end, without a shilling in the world over and above the gratuity
+of between two and three hundred pounds to which my period of
+commissioned service entitled me.
+
+Grown accustomed during the war, however, to fending for myself and
+overcoming difficulties and problems of one sort and another, I at
+once set to work to look about for any kind of employment for which I
+fancied I might be fitted. After answering many advertisements to no
+purpose, I one day happened upon one in _The Times_ which rather
+stirred my curiosity.
+
+It stated that a gentleman of good position, who had occasion to
+travel in many parts of the world, would like to hear from a young man
+with considerable experience in motor driving. The applicant should
+not be over thirty, and it was essential that he should be a gentleman
+and well educated, with a knowledge of foreign languages if possible;
+also that he should be thoroughly trustworthy and possessed of
+initiative. The salary would be a very liberal one.
+
+Application was to be made by letter only to a certain box at the
+office of _The Times_.
+
+I wrote at once, and received some days later a reply signed "_per
+pro_ Rudolph Rayne," asking me to call to see the advertiser, who said
+he would be awaiting me at a certain small hotel-de-luxe in the West
+End at three o'clock on the following afternoon.
+
+I arrived at the highly aristocratic hotel at five minutes to three,
+and was conducted to a private sitting-room by a page who, on ushering
+me in, indicated a good-looking, middle-aged man seated near the
+window, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar.
+
+The gentleman looked up as I approached, then put down his paper,
+rose, and extended his hand.
+
+"Mr. George Hargreave?" he inquired in a pleasant voice.
+
+"Yes. Mr. Rudolph Rayne, I presume?"
+
+He bowed, and pointed to a chair close to his own. Then he sat down
+again, and I followed his example.
+
+"I have received hundreds of replies to my advertisement," was his
+first remark, "and the reason why your application is one of the few I
+have answered is that I liked the frank way in which you expressed
+yourself. Can you sing?"
+
+"Sing?" I exclaimed, startled at the unexpected question.
+
+"Sing," he repeated.
+
+"Well, yes, I do sing occasionally," I said. "That is to say, I used
+to at the sing-songs in France at sergeants' messes, and so on. But
+perhaps you mightn't consider it singing if you heard me," I ended
+lightly.
+
+"Very good, very good," he observed absent-mindedly. "And you can
+drive a Rolls?"
+
+"I can drive a Rolls and several other cars as well," I answered. "I
+was a driver in the R. A. S. C. early in the war."
+
+Suddenly he focused his gaze upon me, and his keen, penetrating gray
+eyes seemed to pierce into my soul and read my inmost thoughts. For
+perhaps half a minute he remained looking at me like that, then
+suddenly he said shortly:
+
+"You are engaged, Mr. Hargreave. Your salary will be six hundred
+pounds a year, paid monthly in advance, in addition to your living and
+incidental expenses. I leave for Yorkshire by the midday train from
+King's Cross to-morrow, and you will come with me. Good afternoon, Mr.
+Hargreave. By the way, you might take this suit-case with you, and
+bring it to the station to-morrow," and he pointed to a small
+suit-case of brown leather on the floor beside his chair.
+
+The whole interview had not lasted three minutes and I went
+away obsessed by a feeling of astonishment. Mr. Rayne had not
+cross-questioned me, as I naturally had expected him to do, nor had
+he asked for my credentials. In addition he had fixed my salary at
+six hundred pounds, without even inquiring what wages I wanted.
+
+Obviously a character, an oddity, I said to myself as I passed out of
+the hotel.
+
+Had I suspected then that Mr. Rudolph Rayne was the sort of "oddity" I
+later found him to be, I should have refused to accept the situation
+even had he offered me two thousand a year.
+
+Though, during the interview, my attention had been more or less
+concentrated on Mr. Rayne, I had not been so deeply engrossed as to
+fail to notice an exceptionally beautiful, dark-eyed girl, who had
+entered while we had been speaking and who was seated on a settee a
+little way off. She, too, had stared very hard at me.
+
+Mr. Rayne was accompanied on that journey to Yorkshire by the pretty
+dark-eyed girl who was his daughter Lola, and by his valet, a very
+silent, stiff-necked, morose individual, whose personality did not
+attract me. He seemed, however, to be an exceptionally efficient
+person, so far as his duties were concerned, and on our arrival at the
+little wayside station about twelve miles beyond Thirsk, where we had
+changed trains, he proceeded to take charge of the luggage, all but
+the suit-case which I still carried.
+
+Outside the little station a magnificent Rolls limousine, colored a
+dull gray, awaited us, and when the luggage had all been put on it,
+Mr. Rayne surprised me by asking me to take the wheel then and there.
+
+"My chauffeur left last week, but Paul will show you the road," he
+said, as the valet seated himself beside me. "Overstow is about ten
+miles off."
+
+I don't know why it was, but that girl's dark eyes seemed to haunt me.
+She was just behind me with her father, and twice when I had occasion
+to look round to ask Mr. Rayne some question or other, I found her
+gaze fixed on mine, which, foolishly I will admit, disconcerted me.
+
+Mr. Rayne himself addressed me only once of his own accord during the
+drive, and that was to ask me again if I sang.
+
+"Why the dickens does he want to know if I sing?" was my mental
+comment when I had replied that I sang a little, without reminding him
+that he had put the same question to me on the previous day. For an
+instant the thought flashed across me that perhaps my new employer had
+some kink in his brain to do with singing; and yet, I reflected, that
+seemed hardly likely to be the case with a man who in all other
+respects appeared to be so exceptionally sane.
+
+I was still cogitating this, when the car sped round a wide curve in
+the road and beyond big lodge gates a large imposing mansion of modern
+architecture came suddenly into view about half a mile away, partly
+concealed by beautiful woods sloping down to it from both sides of the
+valley. Slackening speed as we came near the lodge, I was about to
+stop to let Paul alight to open the gates, beyond which stretched the
+long winding avenue of tall trees, when a man came running out of the
+lodge and made haste to throw the gates open.
+
+My first surprise on our arrival at Overstow Hall--and I was to have
+many more surprises before I had been long in Mr. Rayne's service--was
+at finding that though my employer had quite a large staff of
+servants, there was not a woman amongst them! Several guests were
+staying in the house, including a middle-aged lady, called Madame,
+whose position I could not exactly place, though she appeared to be in
+charge of the establishment, in charge also of Lola.
+
+Towards ten o'clock next morning the footman came to tell me that Mr.
+Rayne wanted to see me at once in the library.
+
+"He's in one of his queer moods this morning," the young man said, "so
+you had better be careful. His letters have upset him, I think."
+
+I thanked the lad for his hint, but on my way to the library, a room I
+had not yet been in, I missed my bearings, entered a room under the
+impression that it might be the library, and had hardly done so when
+the sound of men's voices in a room adjoining came to me--the door
+between the rooms stood partly open.
+
+"Are you certain, Rudolph," one of the men was saying, "that this new
+chauffeur of yours is the man for the job?"
+
+"Have I ever made a mistake in summing up a man?" I heard Rayne
+answer. "I always trust my judgment when choosing a new hand."
+
+Where, before, had I heard the first speaker's voice? I knew that
+voice quite well, yet, try as I would, I could not for the life of me
+place it.
+
+"Yes," the first speaker replied; "but, remember, in this case we are
+running an enormous risk. If the least hitch should occur----"
+
+They lowered their voices until their talk became inaudible, and
+presently I heard one of them go out of the room. After waiting a
+minute longer I left the room and went along the short passage, which
+I now knew must lead to the room where I had heard them talking.
+
+Rayne was alone, standing on the hearthrug with his back to the big,
+open firegrate.
+
+"Did you send for me, sir?" I inquired.
+
+"I did, Hargreave," he replied in a friendly tone. "I sent for you
+because I want you to go to Paris to-night. You will take with you the
+suit-case you still have in your possession, and as you will go by a
+trading steamer from Newcastle, the voyage will take you some days.
+The suit-case contains valuable documents, so you must on no account
+let it out of your sight, even for a minute, from the time you leave
+here until you hand it over personally to the gentleman I am sending
+you to--Monsieur Duperre. He is staying at the Hotel Ombrone, that
+very smart and exclusive place in the Rue de Rivoli. He will give you
+a receipt, which you will bring back to me here at once, coming then
+by the ordinary route. You won't go by train to-day to Newcastle; you
+will drive yourself there in the Fiat. Paul will go with you and drive
+the car back."
+
+He went on to give me one or two minor instructions, and then ended:
+"That's all, Hargreave."
+
+I was walking back along the passage when Rayne's pretty daughter Lola
+came out of the room I had first entered. She must have come out
+expressly to meet me, because when close to me she stopped abruptly,
+glanced to right and left, and then asked me quickly in an undertone:
+
+"Is my father sending you on any journey, Mr. Hargreave?"
+
+Again her wonderful dark eyes became fixed upon mine, as they had done
+on the previous day during the drive from the railway station.
+
+"Don't try to deceive me," she said earnestly. "You will find it far
+better to confide in me."
+
+The words so astonished me that for the moment I could not reply.
+Then, all at once, a strange feeling of curiosity came over me. Why
+all this secrecy about the suit-case? I mentally asked myself. And
+what an odd idea to send me to Paris by that long roundabout sea
+route! What could be the reason?
+
+"I am not deceiving you, Miss Rayne," I said.
+
+She only smiled and turned abruptly away.
+
+Then, for the first time, I found myself wondering what could be these
+precious documents Rayne had told me the suit-case contained? That the
+suit-case was locked, I knew! He had not unlocked it since he had
+placed it in my charge in London two days before.
+
+My employer gave me some money, and I started two hours later in the
+Fiat. As I sped along the broad road from Thirsk south towards York,
+with Paul beside me silent as ever, I could not get thoughts of Lola
+out of my mind.
+
+Once more I saw her gazing up at me with that peculiar, anxious
+expression I had noticed when we had met in the passage, and I
+regretted that I had not prolonged our conversation then, and tried to
+find out what distressed her.
+
+Several times I spoke to Paul, but he answered only in monosyllables.
+
+We reached Newcastle in plenty of time, for the boat was not due to
+sail before early next morning, and I felt relieved at being at last
+rid of my uncongenial companion.
+
+I had an evening paper in my pocket, and, to while away the time, I
+lay in my narrow berth and began to read. Presently my glance rested
+upon a paragraph which stated that two days before a dressing-case
+belonging to Lady Norah Kendrew disappeared in the most extraordinary
+manner from the hotel in London where she was staying. Exactly what
+happened had been related to the enterprising reporter by Lady Norah
+herself.
+
+"My dressing-case containing all my jewelry was locked and on a table
+near my bed," she said. "I went out of the room soon after half-past
+ten this morning, my maid, who has been with me eight years, remaining
+in the room adjoining to put some of my things away--the door between
+the rooms remained ajar, she says. Whether or not the jewel-case was
+still there when she herself went out to lunch at about one o'clock
+she cannot say, as she did not go into my bedroom again. She shut the
+door behind her when she went out of the sitting-room into the
+corridor, and locked it. I first missed the jewel-case when I returned
+to my room at about a quarter past three in the afternoon. The
+contents are worth twenty thousand pounds. It seems hardly possible
+that anybody could have entered the bedroom unheard while my maid was
+in the sitting-room with the door between the two rooms ajar, so my
+belief is that it must have been stolen between the time she went to
+lunch and the time I returned. I am offering a big reward for the
+return of the jewel-case with its contents intact."
+
+The paragraph interested me because of the hotel where the robbery--if
+robbery it was--had taken place, and the fact that I had happened to
+be in that hotel on the very day of the robbery!
+
+"Ah, well," I remember saying to myself, "if women will be so careless
+as to leave valuable property like that unguarded they must expect to
+take the consequences."
+
+Then my thoughts wandered from the newspaper, and I found myself
+wondering what Lady Norah Kendrew might be like--if she were young or
+old, plain or pretty, married or unmarried. And I suppose naturally
+that train of thought brought Lola once more into my imagination. I
+had, remember, to all intents, hardly seen her, and she had spoken to
+me only twice. Yet her personality literally obsessed me. That I was
+foolish to let it I fully realized. But how many of us can completely
+master our moods, our impulses and our emotions on all occasions?
+
+The weather at sea remained fine, yet I found that long, slow voyage
+most tedious. I had nothing to do but read, for I could not disregard
+Mr. Rayne's strict instructions that I must on no account let the
+suit-case out of my sight, and in consequence I could not leave my
+cabin.
+
+I remember looking down at the suit-case protruding from under the
+berth and thinking it curious that documents should weigh so heavy.
+There must be a great many of them, I reflected, but even so....
+
+I bent down and pulled the suit-case right out and lifted it.
+
+Indeed it was heavy--very heavy!
+
+Then I began to think of something else.
+
+I had the cabin to myself, which was pleasant, and I spent most of the
+day stretched out in my bunk. Oh, how I longed every hour for the
+terribly boring voyage to come to an end!
+
+It was a lovely morning when at last we steamed into the estuary of
+the Seine, and I shall never forget how beautiful the river and its
+banks looked as I peered out through my port-hole and we crept up
+towards Rouen. My meals had all been served in my cabin during the
+voyage, as I could not well have taken the suit-case with me into the
+saloon.
+
+Now I felt like a prisoner about to be released.
+
+Mr. Rayne had told me to stop at the post-office in Rouen on my way
+from the boat to Paris, as I might, he said, find a letter or a
+telegram awaiting me. I had managed to pass the suit-case through the
+Customs, and now my heart beat faster as a letter was handed to me,
+for I recognized Lola's handwriting; I had seen it only once
+before--that was on a letter she had asked me to post for her.
+
+I hurriedly tore open the envelope, and this was what I read:
+
+"Private. I have suspicion that the suit-case you have you should get
+rid of at once. Destroy this!"
+
+Undated and unsigned, the letter bore no address. At once thoughts and
+conjectures of all sorts came crowding into my mind. Could it be that
+the suit-case contained stolen jewelry and not documents?
+
+Instantly I guessed why Rayne had sent me to Paris with it by that
+roundabout route. He must either himself be the thief, I concluded, or
+an accomplice in the theft, and by placing the stolen property in my
+charge and smuggling it out of England by a circuitous route....
+
+One reflection led quickly to another. Paul, the valet, no doubt knew
+about his master's private life--possibly was in his confidence. And
+if Rayne had committed the robbery he must be a professional crook. In
+which case, should the whereabouts of the stolen property be
+discovered, I should be arrested as an accessory to the crime! Clearly
+I had no time to lose if I wanted to safeguard myself. Even now the
+police, with their wonderful acumen, might be on my track!
+
+I reached Paris at last, and as my taxi swung round from the Place
+Jeanne d'Arc into the Rue de Rivoli I began to feel extremely nervous.
+
+In reply to my inquiry at the bureau of the smart Hotel Ombrone I was
+told that I could be given a bed. Monsieur Duperre? Ah, monsieur had
+just gone out, but would be back soon, most likely.
+
+I had been given the key of my room, and was about to enter the lift,
+when I noticed seated on a settee in the vestibule a well-dressed
+woman whose face seemed familiar. And then in a flash I recognized the
+lady who had been at Overstow Hall on the day I had arrived there!
+
+She did not recognize me, or I concluded she did not, and naturally it
+was no business of mine to make any sign of recognition.
+
+I had been in my room, I suppose, about two hours when the telephone
+bell rang.
+
+"That Mr. Hargreave? The bureau speaking. Monsieur Duperre has come in
+and is coming up to you now."
+
+A minute later somebody knocked, and I called "Come in!" Then, to my
+amazement, who should enter but my old company commander in France in
+the early days of the war--Captain Vincent Deinhard, who later in the
+war had been court-martialed for misappropriating canteen funds and
+been subsequently cashiered! Altogether his Army record had been an
+exceedingly bad one.
+
+Instantly I remembered the voice. It was Deinhard I had heard in
+conversation with Rayne at Overstow Hall!
+
+He stood stock-still, staring at me.
+
+"Why, Hargreave!" he exclaimed at last. "What in the world are you
+doing here?"
+
+"I am Mr. Rayne's chauffeur and general servant now, captain," I
+replied. "Mr. Rayne told me to inquire on my arrival here for Monsieur
+Duperre and hand him that suit-case," and I pointed to it.
+
+He glanced quickly at the door, to make sure that it was shut, then,
+looking at me oddly, he said in a low voice:
+
+"I am Duperre, Hargreave. You must forget that my name was ever
+anything else--I got myself into trouble in the Army, you
+remember--and you must forget that too--and that we have ever met
+before. So you are his new chauffeur, eh?" he went on, now talking
+naturally. "It never occurred to me that 'Hargreave,' the new
+chauffeur, would turn out to be the Hargreave who served under me
+for two years!" and he laughed dryly.
+
+Then, without a word, he went over to the suit-case and picked it up.
+
+"Come along to my room," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ROOM NUMBER 88
+
+
+I accompanied him along the corridor to a private sitting-room at the
+end, numbered 88, and adjoining which was a bedroom. There he placed
+the suit-case upon the table, and taking a piece of paper scribbled a
+receipt.
+
+"Better post that on to Rayne at once," he suggested. "My wife will be
+here in a moment. We'll have lunch later on."
+
+All that had already happened had so astonished me that I was only
+slightly surprised at finding a few moments later that the lady I had
+seen at Overstow Hall, and again a couple of hours before in the
+vestibule of the hotel, was Duperre's wife. He must, I think, have
+told her that we had met before, for she seemed in no way astonished
+at Mr. Rayne's chauffeur being presented to her.
+
+I found her a pleasant woman, well-read, well-educated and widely
+travelled. She was, too, an excellent conversationalist. And yet, all
+the time we were talking, I could not help thinking of Lola, and
+wondering why Duperre's wife should be in such evidence at Overstow
+Hall, indeed, apparently in authority there, also why Lola seemed to
+be so afraid of her.
+
+Half an hour later I posted the receipt to Rayne, and later we all
+three lunched together in the restaurant. We took our coffee upstairs
+in the private room, when Duperre said, _a propos_ of nothing,
+suddenly looking across at his wife:
+
+"Hargreave may be of great use to us, Hylda." Then, addressing me
+again, he said, lowering his voice and glancing at the door:
+
+"In becoming associated with 'The Golden Face,' Hargreave, you are
+more fortunate than you may think. He's a man who can, and who will,
+if he likes, help you enormously in all sorts of ways--you will find
+that you are more to him than a mere chauffeur. In fact, we can both
+help you, that is, if you fall in with our plans. Our only stipulation
+will be that you do what we tell you--_without asking any questions_.
+You understand--eh?"
+
+"I suppose," I said, smiling, "that by 'The Golden Face' you mean Mr.
+Rayne?"
+
+"Yes. He's called 'Golden Face' by his intimates. I forgot you didn't
+know. He got the nick-name through going to the Bal des Quatre Arts,
+here in Paris, wearing a half-mask made of beaten gold."
+
+By that time I had become convinced that both Rayne and Duperre were
+men with whom I should have to deal with the utmost circumspection.
+
+The only person I had met since I had engaged myself to Rayne in whom
+I could, I felt, place implicit confidence, was Lola.
+
+When we had finished our coffee, Duperre excused himself, saying that
+he had some letters to write, and suggested that his wife should
+accompany me for a taxi drive in the Bois. This struck us both as a
+pleasant manner in which to spend the afternoon, therefore Madame
+retired to her room, reappearing a few moments later wearing a smart
+cloak and a wonderful black hat adorned with three large handsome
+feathers.
+
+She proved herself a very amusing companion as we drove out to
+Armenonville, where we sat out upon the lawn, she sipping her _sirop_
+while I smoked a cigarette. She knew Paris well, it seemed, and was
+communicative over everything--except concerning Rudolph Rayne.
+
+When I put some questions to her regarding my new employer, she simply
+replied:
+
+"We never discuss him, Mr. Hargreave. It is one of his rules that
+those who are his friends, as we are, preserve the strictest silence.
+What we discover from time to time we keep entirely to ourselves, and
+we even go to the length of disclaiming acquaintanceship with him when
+it becomes necessary. So it is best not to be inquisitive. If he
+discovers that you have been making inquiries he will be greatly
+annoyed."
+
+"I quite understand, Madame," I replied with a meaning smile. That she
+was closely connected with the deep-laid schemes of Rudolph Rayne was
+more than ever apparent. But why, I wondered, was Lola so palpably
+beneath her influence?
+
+My companion was about thirty-eight, though she looked younger, with
+handsome, well-cut features, and possessing the _chic_ of a woman who
+had traveled much and who knew how to wear her clothes. There was,
+however, nothing of the adventuress about her. On the contrary, she
+had the appearance of moving in a very select set. She was English
+without a doubt, but she spoke perfect French.
+
+I mentioned Lola, but she said:
+
+"Remember what I have just told you about undue inquisitiveness, Mr.
+Hargreave! You will find out all you want to know in due course. So
+possess yourself in patience and act always with foresight as well as
+with discretion."
+
+I chanced to raise my eyes at that moment, when I noticed that a
+well-dressed, black-mustached Frenchman, who wore white spats, while
+passing along the terrace of the fine _al fresco_ restaurant had
+halted a second to peer into Madame's face, no doubt struck by her
+handsome features. She noticed it also but turned her head, and spoke
+to me of something else. A woman knows instinctively when she is being
+admired.
+
+The position in which I now found myself, employed by a man who was
+undoubtedly a crook of no mean order, caused me considerable
+trepidation. When I had assumed the responsibility of that
+innocent-looking suit-case I never dreamt that it contained Lady
+Norah Kendrew's stolen jewels, as it did, otherwise I would certainly
+never have attempted to pass it through the Customs at Rouen. But why
+and how, I wondered, had Lola's suspicions been aroused? Why had she
+warned me?
+
+Rayne had probably sent messengers with stolen property to France by
+that route before, knowing that, contrary to the shrewd examination at
+Calais, the officers of certain trading ships and the _douaniers_ were
+on friendly terms.
+
+When again I raised my eyes furtively to the Frenchman in the white
+spats I was relieved to find that he had disappeared. My fears that he
+might be an agent of the Surete were groundless. The afternoon was
+delightful as we sat beneath the trees, but Madame suddenly
+recollected an engagement she had with her dressmaker at five o'clock,
+so we reentered our taxi and drove back to the Porte Maillot and
+thence direct to the hotel.
+
+We found the door of the sitting-room locked, but as Madame turned the
+handle Duperre's voice was heard inquiring who was there.
+
+"Open the door, Vincent," urged his wife.
+
+"All right! Wait a moment," was the reply.
+
+We heard the quick rustling of paper, and after a lapse of perhaps a
+minute he unlocked the door for us to enter.
+
+"Well? Had a nice time--eh?" he asked, turning to me as he reclosed
+the door and again locked it.
+
+I replied in the affirmative, noticing that on the table was something
+covered with a newspaper.
+
+"I've been busy," he said with a grin, and lifting the paper disclosed
+a quantity of bracelets, rings, pendants and other ornaments from
+which the gems had been removed. During our absence he had been
+occupied in removing the stolen jewels from their settings.
+
+"Yes," I laughed. "You seem to have been very busy, Vincent!"
+
+Beside the bent and broken articles of gold lay a little pile of
+glittering gems, none of them very large, but all of first quality.
+
+"Lady Norah wouldn't like to see her treasures in such a condition,
+would she?" laughed Duperre. "We shall get rid of them to old
+Heydenryck, who is arriving presently."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A Dutch dealer who lives here in Paris. He's always open to buy good
+stuff, but he won't look at any stones that are set. Rayne's idea was
+to sell them, just as they were, to a dealer named Steffensen, who
+buys stuff here and smuggles it over to New York and San Francisco,
+where it is not likely to be traced. But I find that Steffensen is
+away in America at the moment, so I've approached the Dutchman.
+Heydenryck is a sly old dog. Unlike Steffensen, he buys unset stones
+because they are difficult to identify."
+
+I bent and examined the glittering little pile of diamonds, rubies,
+emeralds and sapphires which had been stolen from the hotel in London.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," said Duperre. "I want you to help us to get
+rid of this," and he pointed to the broken jewelry.
+
+"How?" I asked dismayed, for I confess that I feared the discovery. To
+be thus intimately associated with a band of expert crooks was a new
+experience.
+
+"Quite easily," he replied. "I'll show you." Then turning to his wife,
+he said: "Just bring Lu Chang in, will you, Hylda?"
+
+Madame passed into the next room and returned with a small Pekinese in
+her arms.
+
+"Lu Chang is quite quiet and harmless," laughed Duperre as his wife
+handed the dog to me.
+
+As my hands came in contact with the animal's fur I realized that it
+was dead--and stuffed!
+
+Duperre laughed heartily as he watched my face. I confess that I was
+mystified.
+
+He took the dog, which had probably been purchased from a naturalist
+only that day, and ripping open the pelt behind the forelegs he
+quickly drew out the stuffing. Then into the cavity he hurriedly
+thrust the broken rings and pendants.
+
+I watched him with curiosity. It seemed such an unusual proceeding.
+But I recollected that I was dealing with strange associates--people
+whom I afterwards found to be perhaps the most ingenious crooks in
+Europe.
+
+"Poor Lu Chang," exclaimed my old company commander with a laugh. "If
+you drown him he won't feel it!"
+
+Duperre watched the expression of surprise upon my face as he packed
+the whole of the broken jewelry into the dog.
+
+"Now what I want you to do, Hargreave," he said, "is to drown Lu Chang
+in the Seine. Lots of people in Paris, who are not lovers of dogs, are
+flinging them into the river because of the new excessive tax upon
+domestic pets. You will just toss Lu Chang over the Pont Neuf. The
+police can't interfere, even though they see you. You will only have
+put the dog out of the world rather than pay the double tax."
+
+He watched my natural hesitation.
+
+"Isn't he a little dear!" exclaimed Madame, stroking the dog's fur.
+"Poor Lu Chang! He won't float with the gold inside him!"
+
+"No," laughed Duperre. "He'll go plumb to the bottom!"
+
+It was on the tip of my tongue to excuse myself, but I remembered that
+I was in the service of Rudolph Rayne, the country squire of Overstow,
+and paid handsomely. And, after all, it was no great risk to fling the
+stuffed dog into the river.
+
+I am a lover of dogs, and had the animal been alive nothing would
+have induced me to carry out his suggestion.
+
+But as it had been dead long ago, for I saw some signs of moth in the
+fur, and as I was in Paris at the bidding of my employer, I consented,
+and carrying the little Peke beneath my arm I walked along the Quai du
+Louvre to the old bridge which, in two parts, spans the river. Just
+before I gained the Rue Dauphine, on the other side, I paused and
+looked down into the water. An agent of police was regulating the
+traffic on my left, and he being in controversy with the driver of a
+motor-lorry, I took my opportunity and dropped the dog with its secret
+into the water.
+
+Two boys had watched me, so I waited a moment, then turning upon my
+heel, I retraced my steps back to the Hotel Ombrone, having been
+absent about twenty minutes.
+
+As I entered Room 88, three Frenchmen, who had ascended in the lift,
+followed me in.
+
+Madame was writing a letter, while Duperre was in the act of lighting
+a cigarette. We started in surprise, for next instant we all three
+found ourselves under arrest; the well-dressed strangers being
+officers of the Surete. One of them was the man in the white spats who
+had been attracted by Madame in the Bois.
+
+"Arrest!" gasped Duperre.
+
+As he did so, an undersized, rather shabbily-dressed man of sixty or
+so put his head into the door inquisitively, and realizing that
+something unpleasant was occurring, quickly withdrew and disappeared.
+I saw that he exchanged with Duperre a glance of recognition combined
+with apprehension, and concluded that it was the man Heydenryck, the
+dealer in stolen gems.
+
+Meanwhile the elder of the three detectives told us that they had
+reason to believe that jewelry stolen from a London hotel was in our
+possession, and that the place would be searched.
+
+"Messieurs, you are quite at liberty to search," laughed Duperre,
+treating the affair as a joke. "Here are my keys!"
+
+At once they began to rummage every hole and corner in the room as
+well as the luggage of both Duperre and his wife. The brown suit-case
+which was in the wardrobe in the bedroom attracted their attention,
+but when unlocked was found to contain only a few modern novels.
+
+At this they drew back in chagrin and disappointment. I knew that the
+broken gold was safely at the bottom of the Seine, but where were the
+gems?
+
+It was all very well for Duperre to bluff, but they would, I felt
+convinced, eventually be found. The police, not content with searching
+the personal belongings of my friend, took up the floor-boards, and
+even stripped some paper from the wall and carefully examined every
+article of furniture. Afterwards they went to my room at the end of
+the corridor and thoroughly searched it.
+
+At last the inspector, still mystified, ordered two taxis to be
+called, as it was his intention to take us at once before the
+examining magistrate.
+
+"Madame had better put on her hat at once," he added, bristling with
+authority.
+
+Thus ordered, she reluctantly obeyed and put on her big feathered hat
+before the glass. Then a few moments later we were conducted
+downstairs and away to the Prefecture of Police.
+
+After all being thoroughly searched, Madame being examined by a prison
+wardress, we were ushered into the dull official room of Monsieur
+Rodin, the well-known examining magistrate, who for a full hour plied
+us with questions. Duperre and his wife preserved an outward dignity
+that amazed me. They complained bitterly of being accused without
+foundation, while on my part I answered the police official that I had
+quite accidentally come across my old superior officer.
+
+Time after time Monsieur Rodin referred to the papers before him,
+evidently much puzzled. It seemed that Madame had been recognized in
+the Bois by the impressionable Frenchman who I had believed, had been
+attracted by her handsome face.
+
+That information had been sent by Scotland Yard to Paris regarding the
+stolen jewels was apparent. Yet the fact that the locked suit-case
+only contained books and that nothing had been found in our
+possession--thanks to the forethought of Duperre--the police now found
+themselves in a quandary. The man in the white spats whom we had seen
+in the Bois identified Madame as Marie Richaud, a Frenchwoman who had
+lived in Philadelphia for several years, and who had been implicated
+two years before in the great frauds on the Bordeaux branch of the
+Societe Generale.
+
+Madame airily denied any knowledge of it. She had only arrived in
+Paris with her husband from Rome a few days before, she declared. And
+surely enough the visas upon their passports showed that was so, even
+though I had seen her at Overstow!
+
+How I withstood that hour I know not. In the end, however, Monsieur
+Rodin ceased his questions and we were put into the cells till the
+next morning.
+
+Imagine the sleepless night I spent! I hated myself for falling into
+the trap which Rayne, the crafty organizer of the gang, had so
+cleverly laid for me. Yet was I not in the hands of the police?
+
+But the main question in my mind was the whereabouts of that little
+pile of gems.
+
+Next day we were taken publicly before another magistrate and defended
+by a clever lawyer whom Duperre had engaged. It was found that not a
+tittle of evidence could be brought against us, and, even though the
+magistrate expressed his strong suspicions, we were at last released.
+
+As we walked out into the sunlight of the boulevard, Duperre glanced
+at his watch, and exclaimed:
+
+"I wonder if we shall be in time to catch the train? I must telephone
+to Heydenryck at once."
+
+Five minutes later he was in a public telephone-box speaking to the
+receiver of stolen goods.
+
+Then, without returning to the Hotel Ombrone, we took a taxi direct to
+the Gare de Lyon.
+
+As Duperre took three first-class tickets to Fontainebleau, the
+undersized, grave-faced old man whom I had seen at the moment of our
+arrest followed him, and also took a ticket to the same destination.
+We entered an empty compartment where, just before the train moved
+off, the old man joined us.
+
+He posed as a perfect stranger, but as soon as the train had left the
+platform my companion introduced him to me.
+
+"I called last night and saw what had happened. Surely you have all
+three had a narrow escape!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," said Duperre. "It was fortunate that Hylda recognized the
+_sous-inspecteur_ Bossant in the Bois. She put me on my guard. I knew
+we should be arrested, so I took precautions to get rid of the gold
+and conceal the stones."
+
+"But where are they?" I asked eagerly, as the train ran through the
+first station out of Paris. "They are still hidden in the hotel, I
+suppose. We've all been searched!"
+
+Madame laughed merrily, and removing her hat, unceremoniously tore out
+the three great feathers, the large quills of which she held up to the
+light before my eyes.
+
+I then saw to my amazement that, though hardly distinguishable, all
+three of the hollow quills were filled with gems, the smaller being
+put in first.
+
+At the detective's own suggestion she had put on her hat when
+arrested, and she had worn it during the time she had been searched,
+during the examination by the magistrate, and during her trial!
+
+Duperre was certainly nothing if not ingenious and his _sang-froid_
+had saved us all from terms of imprisonment.
+
+Madame replaced the valuable feathers in her hat, and when we arrived
+at Fontainebleau we drove at once to the Hotel de France, opposite the
+palace, where we took an excellent _dejeuner_ in a private room.
+
+And before we left, Duperre had disposed of Lady Norah's jewels at a
+very respectable figure, which the sly old receiver paid over in
+thousand-franc notes.
+
+I marveled at my companion's ingenuity, whereupon he laughed airily,
+replying:
+
+"When 'The Golden Face' arranges a _coup_ it never fails to come
+off--I assure you. The police have to be up very early to get the
+better of him. His one injunction to all of us is that we shall be
+ready at all times to show clean hands--as we have to-day! But let's
+get away, Hargreave--back to London, I think, don't you?"
+
+The whole adventure mystified and bewildered me. It was a mystery
+which, however, before long, was to be increased a hundredfold. Alas!
+that I should sit here and put down my guilt upon paper!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE MAN WITH THE HUMP
+
+
+One morning I called at Rayne's luxurious chambers in Half Moon
+Street, when he expressed himself most delighted at the result of our
+visit to Paris.
+
+"I want you to-morrow morning to drive Lola and Madame up to
+Overstow," he said. "Better start early. Call for them at the hotel at
+nine o'clock. The roads are good, so you'll have a pleasant journey.
+I'll get home by train at the end of the week."
+
+At this I was very pleased, for Lola with her great dark eyes always
+sat beside me. She could drive quite well, and was full of good humor
+and a charming little gossip. Hence I looked forward to a very
+pleasant run. The more I saw of the master-crook's daughter the more
+attracted I became by her. Indeed, though she seemed to regard me with
+some suspicion--why, I don't know--we had already become excellent
+friends.
+
+The month of September passed.
+
+We had all spent a delightful time at Overstow. Rayne had given two
+big shoots at which several well-known Yorkshire landowners had been
+present, while I had taken a gun, and Lola, Madame and several other
+ladies had walked with us. Lola and I were frequently together, and I
+often accompanied her on long walks through the autumn-tinted woods.
+
+Madame's husband had only spent a week with us, for he had, I
+understood, been called to Switzerland on "business"--the nature of
+which I could easily guess.
+
+At the end of the month we were back in London again.
+
+One evening I had dined at the Carlton with Lola, her father and
+Madame, and the two ladies having gone off to the theater, he took me
+round to the set of luxurious chambers he occupied in Half Moon
+Street.
+
+When we were alone together with our cigars, he suddenly said:
+
+"I want you to go out for a run to-night--to Bristol."
+
+"To Bristol! To-night?" I echoed.
+
+"Yes. I want you to take the new 'A. C.' and get to the Clifton
+Suspension Bridge by two o'clock to-morrow morning. There, in the
+center of the bridge, you will await a stranger--an elderly hunchback
+whose name is Morley Tarrant. He'll give you, as _bona fides_, the
+word 'Mask.' When you meet him act upon his instructions. He is to be
+trusted."
+
+The tryst seemed full of suspicion, and I certainly did not like it.
+The evening was bright and clear, and the run in the fast two-seater
+would be enjoyable. But to meet a man who would give a password
+savored too much of crookdom.
+
+He quickly saw my hesitation, and added:
+
+"Now, Hargreave, I ought not to conceal from you the fact that there
+may be a trap. If so, you must evade it and escape at all costs. I
+have enemies, you know--pretty fierce ones."
+
+Again, for the hundredth time, I debated within myself whether I dare
+cast myself adrift from the round-faced, prosperous-looking
+cosmopolitan who sat before me so full of good humor and so fearless.
+
+I had been cleverly inveigled into accepting the situation he had
+offered me, but I had never dreamed that by accepting, I was throwing
+in my lot with the most marvelously organized gang of evil-doers that
+that world had ever known.
+
+Other similar gangs blundered at one time or another and left
+loopholes through which the police were able to attack them and break
+them up. But Rudolph Rayne had flung his octopus-like tentacles so far
+afield that he had actually attached to him--by fear of blackmail--an
+eminent Counsel who appeared for the defense of any member of the
+circle who happened to make a slip. That well-known member of the Bar
+I will call Mr. Henry Moyser, a lawyer whose fame was of world-wide
+repute, and who was employed for the defense in most of the really
+great criminal trials.
+
+I sat astounded when, by a side-wind, I was told that Mr. Moyser would
+defend me if I were unlucky enough to be arrested. Certainly his very
+name was sufficient to secure an acquittal.
+
+The journey from Pall Mall to Clifton had been a long and rather
+tiring one, and as I sat in the swift two-seater half-way across the
+high suspension bridge, I smoked reflectively as I gazed away along
+the river where deep below shone a few twinkling lights. Across at
+Clifton I could see the row of street lamps, while above the stars
+were shining in the sharp frosty air, and in the distance I could hear
+the roar of an express train.
+
+The bell of Clifton parish church struck the half-hour, but nobody was
+in sight, and there were no sounds of footsteps in the frosty air.
+Though so near the busy city of Bristol, yet high up on that long
+bridge, that triumph of engineering of our yesterday, all was quiet
+with scarce a sound save the shrill cry of a night-bird.
+
+If it were not that I loved Lola I would gladly have resigned the
+position which had already become hateful to me. Somehow I felt
+vaguely that perhaps I might one day render her a service. I might
+even extricate her from the dangerous circumstances in which she was
+living in all innocence of the actual conspiracies in which her father
+was engaged. Who could know?
+
+As far as I could gather, Lola was much puzzled at certain secret
+meetings held at Overstow. Her father's friends of both sexes were
+shrouded in mystery, and she was, I knew, seeking to penetrate it and
+learn the truth.
+
+I had already satisfied myself that the gang was a most dangerous and
+unscrupulous one, and that Rayne and his friends would hesitate at
+nothing so long as they carried out the plans which they laid with
+such innate cunning in order to effect great and astounding
+_coups_--the clever thefts and swindles that from time to time had
+held the world aghast.
+
+I suppose I must have waited nearly half an hour when suddenly there
+fell upon my ear uneven footsteps hurrying along towards the car, and
+in the light of the street lamp I distinguished, hurrying towards me,
+a short, elderly man, somewhat deformed, with a distinct hump on his
+back.
+
+"You're Mr. Hargreave, aren't you?" he inquired breathlessly, with a
+distinct Scottish accent. "I'm Tarrant! I'm so sorry I'm late, but
+Rudolph will understand. I'll explain it to him."
+
+And he was about to mount into the seat beside me.
+
+I put out my arm, and peering into the man's face, asked:
+
+"Is there nothing else, eh?"
+
+"Nothing," he replied. "Why? You are here to meet me. Rudolph sent you
+down from London."
+
+I was awaiting the prearranged word that would show the hunchback's
+_bona fides_.
+
+I gave him another opportunity of giving the password, but he seemed
+ignorant of it.
+
+Next second, my suspicions being aroused, I sprang down, and crying:
+
+"Look here, old fellow! I fancy you've made a mistake!" I struck him
+familiarly upon the back.
+
+His hump was _soft_! In that instant I detected him as an impostor--a
+Scotland Yard detective--without a doubt!
+
+Fortunately for me my brain acts quickly. But it was not so quick as
+his. He gave a shrill whistle, and in a flash from nowhere three of
+his colleagues appeared. They ran around the car to hold it up.
+
+For a few seconds I found myself in serious jeopardy.
+
+I sprang into the driver's seat, switched on the self-starter, and
+just as one of the detectives tried to mount beside me, I threw down
+among my assailants a little dark brown bomb the shape of an egg, with
+which Rayne had provided me in case of emergency.
+
+It exploded with a low fizz and its fumes took them aback, allowing me
+to shoot away over the bridge and down into Bristol, much wiser than
+when I had arrived.
+
+The arrangement of that password in itself showed how cleverly Rudolph
+Rayne was foresighted in all his plans. He always left a loophole for
+escape. Surely he was a past-master in the art of criminality, for his
+fertile brain evolved schemes and exit channels which nobody ever
+dreamed of.
+
+The squire of Overstow, who was regarded by the wealthy county people
+of Yorkshire as perfectly honest in all his dealings, and unduly rich
+withal, attracted to his table some of the most exclusive hunting set,
+people with titles, as well as the _parvenus_ "impossibles" who had
+bought huge places with the money made out of the war. The "County"
+never dreamed of the mysterious source of Rudolph Rayne's unlimited
+income.
+
+After traveling through a number of deserted streets in Bristol, I at
+last found myself upon a high road with a signpost which told me that
+I was on my way to Wells, that picturesque little city at the foot of
+the Mendip Hills. So, fearing lest I might be followed, I went "all
+out" through Axbridge and Cheddar, until at last I came to the fine
+old cathedral at Wells, which I knew quite familiarly. Near it was the
+Swan Hotel, at which, after some difficulty, I aroused the "boots,"
+secured a room, and placed the car in the garage.
+
+It was then nearly half-past three in the morning, and my only object
+in taking a room was to inform Rayne by telephone of my narrow escape.
+Rayne was remaining the night at Half Moon Street, while Lola and
+Madame Duperre were at the Carlton. We had all come up from Overstow a
+couple of days before, and two secret meetings had been held at Half
+Moon Street.
+
+Of the nature of the plot in progress I was in entire ignorance. They
+never let me completely into their plans; indeed, I only knew their
+true import when they were actually accomplished.
+
+The half-awake "boots" at the Swan indicated the telephone, and a
+quarter of an hour later I was speaking to Rayne in his bedroom in
+London. Very guardedly I explained how nearly I had been trapped,
+whereupon I heard him chuckle.
+
+"A very good lesson for you, Hargreave!" he replied. "Our friends are
+apparently on the watch, so get back to London as soon as you can.
+You'll be here at breakfast-time. Leave the car at Lloyd's and come
+along to me. Good luck to you!" he added, and then switched off.
+
+The Lloyd's garage he mentioned was in Bloomsbury, a place kept for
+the accommodation of motor-thieves. Many a car which disappeared
+quickly found its way there, and in a few hours the engine numbers
+were removed and fresh ones substituted, while the bodies were
+repainted and false number-plates attached.
+
+As I put down the telephone receiver, it suddenly occurred to me that
+already the Bristol police might have telephoned a description of the
+car along the various roads leading out of the city. Therefore it
+would be too risky to remain there. Hence, as though in sudden
+decision, I paid the "boots" for my bed, and five minutes later was
+again on the road speeding towards London.
+
+I chose the road to Salisbury, and after "blinding" for half an hour,
+I stopped and put on the false number-plates and license with which
+Rayne always provided me.
+
+It was as well that I did so, for in the gray morning as I went
+through Salisbury a police-sergeant and a constable hailed me just as
+I turned into St. John Street, near the White Hart, calling upon me to
+stop. I could see by their attitude that they were awaiting me,
+therefore pretending not to hear I quickened my pace and, knowing the
+road, soon left the place behind me.
+
+Again, in a village some ten miles farther on, a constable shouted to
+me as I continued my wild flight, hence it seemed apparent that a
+cordon had been formed around me, and I now feared that to enter
+Winchester would be to run right into the arms of the police.
+
+The only way to save myself was to abandon the car and get back to
+London by rail. As I contemplated this I was already passing beside
+the high embankment of the South Western Railway, where half a mile
+farther on I found a little wayside station. Therefore I turned the
+car into a small wood, and destroying my genuine license and hiding
+the genuine number-plate, I took the next train to Winchester, and
+thence by express to Waterloo after a very wild and adventurous night.
+That I had been within an ace of capture was palpable. But why?
+
+I was in the service of the man who controlled that vast criminal
+organization which the police of Europe were ever trying to break up.
+But why should I be sent to meet the mysterious hunchback Tarrant on
+Clifton Bridge?
+
+"There seemed to have been a little flaw in our plans, Hargreave,"
+said the alert, good-looking man as I sat with him in his cosy
+chambers in Half Moon Street that morning. "The police evidently got
+wind of the fact that old Morley was meeting you, and Benton tried to
+impersonate him. I know Benton. He's always up against me. He might
+have succeeded had he made the hump on his back a hard one, eh?" he
+laughed, as though rather amused than otherwise.
+
+"But he didn't know the password," I remarked in triumph.
+
+"No! It was fortunate for you that I had arranged it with old Morley,"
+said the man with the master-mind. "One must be ever wary when one
+treads crooked paths, you know. The slightest slip--and the end comes!
+But, at any rate, last night's adventure has sharpened your wits."
+
+"And it has cost us the 'A. C.'!" I remarked.
+
+"Bah! What's a motor-car more or less when one is working a big
+thing!" he exclaimed. "Never let ideas of economy stand in your way,
+or you'll never make a fortune. In order to make money you must always
+spend money."
+
+I often recollected that adage of his in later days, when the pace
+grew even hotter.
+
+Rayne paused for a few minutes. Then he said:
+
+"I've already heard from old Morley on the telephone half an hour ago.
+He was on the bridge and watched the fun. Then he discreetly withdrew
+and went back to his hotel in Clifton. He declares that you acted
+splendidly."
+
+"I'm much gratified by his testimonial," I said.
+
+"I've arranged that he shall meet you to-night here in London--outside
+the Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. Go to Lloyd's and get a car. At
+half-past seven it will be dark. Drive up, go into the bar and have a
+drink. You'll find him there and recognize him by his deformity.
+Outside he will mention the password and you will drive him where he
+directs. That's all!"
+
+And the man who had, on engaging me, so particularly wanted to know if
+I could sing, and had never asked me to do so, dismissed me quite
+abruptly, as was his habit. His quick alertness, keen shrewdness and
+sharp suspicion caused him to speak abruptly--almost churlishly--to
+those about him. I, however, now understood him. Yet I wondered what
+evil work was in progress.
+
+He had often pitted his wits against the most famous detective
+inspector, the great Benton, who had achieved so much notoriety in the
+Enfield poisoning case, the Sunbury mystery in which the body of a
+young girl shop-assistant had been found headless in the Thames, the
+great Maresfield drug drama of Limehouse and Mayfair, and the
+disappearance of the Honorable Edna Newcomen from her mother's house
+in Grosvenor Gardens. Superintendent Arthur Benton was perhaps the
+most wideawake hunter of criminals in the United Kingdom. As chief of
+his own particular branch at Scotland Yard he performed wonderful
+services, and his record was unique. Yet, hampered as he was by
+official red-tape and those regulations which prevented his men from
+taking a third-class railway ticket when following a thief, unless
+they waited for weeks for the return of the expenditure from official
+sources, he was no match for the squire of Overstow, who had a big
+bank balance, who moved in society, official, political and otherwise,
+and who actually entertained certain high officials at his table.
+
+From a man in the Department of the Public Prosecutor at Whitehall,
+Rayne often learnt much of the inner workings of Scotland Yard and of
+secret inquiries, for a civil servant at a well-laid sumptuous table
+is frequently prone to indiscretion.
+
+Arthur Benton was a well-meaning and very straight-dealing public
+servant with a splendid record as a detector of crime, but against
+money and such influence he could not cope. Indeed, more than once
+Rayne declared to me that he intended evil against Benton.
+
+"Yet I rather like him," he had said when we were discussing him one
+day. "After all, he's a real good sportsman!"
+
+So according to Rayne's orders I met the hunchback Tarrant at the
+Three Nuns Hotel at Aldgate. I had taken another car from Lloyd's
+garage--a Fiat landaulette, stolen, no doubt--and in it, at the old
+man's directions, I drove out to Maldon, in Essex, where at a small
+house outside the town I found, to my surprise, Rayne already awaiting
+us.
+
+What, I wondered, was in progress?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE FOUR FALSE FINGERS
+
+
+The house outside Maldon proved to be a newly built, detached,
+eight-roomed villa in a lonely spot on the high road to Witham. As I
+idled about it, I smelt a curious odor of melting rubber. Apparently
+the place had been taken furnished, but with what object I could not
+guess. Tarrant was a queer, rather insignificant-looking old fellow
+with a shock of white hair and a scraggy white beard.
+
+Both he and Rayne were closeted together in the little dining-room for
+nearly two hours, while I sat in the adjoining room. I could hear them
+conversing in low tones, and the smell of rubber warmed by heat became
+more pungent. What game was being carried on? Something very secret
+without a doubt. I thought I heard the sound of a third man's voice.
+Indeed, there might be a third person present, for I had not been
+admitted to the room.
+
+At last, leaving Rayne there, I drove the old man on to Witham, where
+I left him at his own request at a point near the wireless telegraph
+station, and turning, went back to the thieves' garage and there left
+the car.
+
+I did not see Rudolph Rayne again for several days, but according to
+instructions I received from Madame Duperre, I went by train up to
+Yorkshire and awaited their arrival.
+
+From Duperre, who arrived three days after I had got to Overstow, I
+gathered that Rayne had suddenly been called away to the Continent on
+one of his swift visits, "on a little matter of business," added
+Vincent with a meaning grin.
+
+We were smoking together in the great old library, when I told him of
+my narrow escape on Clifton Bridge.
+
+"Yes," he said. "Benton is always trying to get at us. It was sly of
+him to impersonate old Morley. I wonder how he got to know that you
+were meeting him? Someone must have betrayed Rayne. I have a suspicion
+who it may be. If he has, then woe betide him! Rudolph never forgives
+an enemy or a blunderer."
+
+I tried to get from Duperre the reason why the hunchback had met Rayne
+in such secrecy, but he would divulge nothing.
+
+Next day his wife and Lola returned, and that same evening as I sat
+with the latter in the chintz-covered drawing-room--for though I had
+been engaged as chauffeur I was now treated as one of the family--I
+had a delightful chat with her.
+
+That she was sorely puzzled at her father's rapid journeys to and fro
+across Europe without any apparent reason, of the strange assortment
+of his friends and the secrecy in which he so often met them, I had
+long ago observed.
+
+The truth was that I had fallen deeply in love with the sweet dainty
+girl whose father was the most audacious and cunning crook the modern
+world had produced. I believed, on account of the small confidence we
+had exchanged, that Lola, on her part, did not regard me with actual
+disfavor.
+
+"When will your father be back, do you think?" I asked her as she
+lounged upon a settee with a big orange silk cushion behind her. She
+looked very sweet. She wore a pretty but very simple dance-frock of
+flame-colored ninon, in which I had seen her at the Carlton on the
+night when I set out to meet the man Tarrant and was so nearly caught.
+
+I had given her a cigarette, and we were smoking together
+cosily--Duperre and his wife being somewhere in the great old house. I
+think Duperre was, after all, a sportsman, even though he was a
+practiced crook, for on that night he and his wife allowed me to be
+alone with Lola.
+
+"Do you know a friend of your father, an old man named Tarrant?" I
+asked her suddenly.
+
+"Tarrant--Morley Tarrant?" she asked. "Oh! yes. He's such a funny old
+fellow. Three years ago he often used to visit us when we lived in
+Biarritz, but I haven't seen him since."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"He was the manager of the branch of the Credit Foncier. He is
+French, though he bears an English name."
+
+"French! But he speaks English!" I remarked.
+
+"Of course. His mother was English. He was once employed by Morgan's
+in Paris, I believe, but I haven't seen him lately. Father said one
+day at table that the old fellow had overstepped the mark and owing to
+some defalcations had gone to prison. I was sorry. What do you know of
+him?"
+
+"Nothing," I replied. "I've heard of him."
+
+She looked me very straight in the face from beneath her long dark
+lashes.
+
+"Ah! you won't tell me what you know," she said mysteriously.
+
+"Neither will you, Lola!" Then, after a pause, I added: "I want to
+know whether he is your father's friend--or his enemy."
+
+"His friend, no doubt."
+
+"Why should your father have as friend a man who robs a bank, eh?" I
+asked very earnestly.
+
+"Ah! That I don't know!" replied the girl as she bent towards me
+earnestly. "I--I'm always so puzzled. Ever since my dear mother died,
+just after I came back from Roedene, I have wondered--and always
+wondered. I can discover nothing--absolutely nothing! Father is so
+secret, and neither Madame nor he will tell me anything. They only say
+that their business is no affair of mine. My father has business, no
+doubt, Mr. Hargreave. From his business he derives his income. But I
+cannot see why he should so constantly meet men and women in all
+sorts of social positions and give them orders, as it were. I am not
+blind, neither am I deaf."
+
+"You have listened in secret, eh?" I asked.
+
+"I confess that I have." Then, after a slight pause, she went on: "And
+I have overheard some very strange conversations. My father seems to
+direct the good fortunes of certain of his friends, while at the same
+time he plots against his enemies. But I suppose, after all, it is
+business."
+
+Business! Little did the girl dream of the real occupation of her
+unscrupulous father, or the desperate characters of his friends, both
+male and female.
+
+Truly, she was very sweet and charming, and I hated to think that in
+her innocence she existed in that fevered world of plotting and
+desperate crime.
+
+We walked along the broad terrace in the twilight. Beyond spread the
+wide park to a dark belt of trees, Sherman's Copse, it was called, a
+delightfully shady place in summer where we had often strolled
+together.
+
+As we chatted, I reflected. So old Morley Tarrant was a gaol-bird!
+Hence it was but natural that Rudolph Rayne, who preserved such a high
+degree of respectability, would hesitate to meet him providing he knew
+that the police were watching. He certainly knew that, hence the
+secrecy of their appointment.
+
+As we walked Madame suddenly emerged from the French windows of the
+drawing-room and joined us.
+
+"I've just had a wire from Rudolph," she said. "He's leaving
+Copenhagen to-night and will be back to-morrow night. I'd no idea that
+he had been over in Denmark. But there! he is such a bird of passage
+that one never knows where he may be to-morrow." And she laughed.
+
+Later we all four sat down to dinner, a decorous meal, well-cooked and
+well-served. But the character of the household was shown by the fact
+that none of the servants--discreetly chosen, of course, and in
+themselves members of the criminal organization--betrayed the least
+surprise that I, who acted as chauffeur, should be admitted to that
+curious family circle.
+
+Rayne returned next night, tired and travel-worn, and I met him at
+Thirsk station.
+
+"We go up to Edinburgh to-morrow. I shall want you to drive me," he
+said as he sat at my side in the Rolls. "Lola will go also."
+
+His last words delighted me, and next day at noon we all three set
+forth on our journey north. It rained all day and the run was the
+reverse of pleasant, nevertheless, we arrived at the Caledonian Hotel
+quite safely, and were soon installed in one of the cosy private
+suites.
+
+Father and daughter breakfasted in their sitting-room, while I had my
+meal alone in the coffee-room.
+
+When later I went up for orders Rayne dismissed me abruptly, saying
+that he would not require me till after lunch.
+
+Half an hour afterwards, while idling along Princes Street, I came
+across Lola, who was looking in one of the shop windows.
+
+"Father has sent me out as he wants to talk business with Mr. Hugh
+Martyn, a rich American we met at the Grand, in Rome, last year.
+Father has come up here specially to meet him."
+
+What fresh crooked business could there be in progress? That Rayne had
+paid flying visits to Copenhagen and Edinburgh in such a short space
+of time was in itself highly suspicious.
+
+After luncheon, on entering Rayne's sitting-room, I found him busily
+fashioning from a sheet of thin cardboard a small square box which he
+was fitting over a large glass paper-weight, a cube about four inches
+square which was wrapped in tissue-paper, the corner of which happened
+to be torn and so revealed the glass.
+
+"I'm sending this away as a present," he explained. "I bought it over
+in Princes Street this morning." And he continued with his scissors to
+make the box to fit it. "I shall not want you any more to-day
+Hargreave," he went on. "We'll get back home to-morrow, starting at
+ten."
+
+And, as was his habit, he dismissed me abruptly.
+
+Four days later I was summoned to the library, where in breeches and
+gaiters he was standing astride upon the hearthrug.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," he said, "I want you to take the next train up
+to London and carry that little leather bag with you," and he
+indicated a small bag standing upon the writing-table. "On arrival go
+at once down to Maldon and call at half-past nine o'clock to-morrow
+night at that house to which you took old Mr. Tarrant. You recollect
+it--The Limes, on the Witham road. Morley will be expecting you."
+
+"Very well," I replied. "Is there any message?"
+
+"None. Just deliver it to him. But to nobody else, remember," he
+ordered.
+
+So according to his instructions I duly arrived at the remote house at
+the hour arranged, and delivered the bag to the old man, who welcomed
+me and gave me a whisky-and-soda, which I found very acceptable after
+my long tramp from Maldon station. Tarrant was not alone, for I
+distinctly heard a man's voice calling him just before he opened the
+door to me.
+
+Recollecting that the old fellow had been in gaol, I was full of
+curiosity as to what was intended. I certainly never believed it to be
+so highly ingenious and dastardly as it eventually proved to be.
+
+About a month passed uneventfully, save that I spent many delightful
+hours in Lola's company. Her father had purchased another two-seater
+car--a "sports model" Vauxhall--and on several occasions I took him
+for runs in it about Yorkshire. Naturally he knew little about cars
+himself, but relied upon my knowledge and judgment. In addition to the
+Rolls and the Vauxhall I also had an "Indian" motor-cycle for my own
+personal use, and found it very useful in going on certain rapid
+missions to York and elsewhere. But the abandonment of the
+"A.C."--which had, by the way, been regarded as a mystery by the
+Press--hurt me considerably.
+
+Duperre had been absent from Overstow ever since the day we had left
+for Edinburgh, but as the bright autumn days passed I found myself
+more and more in love with the dainty girl whose father was a
+master-criminal.
+
+Nevertheless, I felt that Duperre's wife kept eager watch upon both of
+us. Perhaps she feared that I might tell Lola some of my adventures.
+As for Rayne, he was often out shooting over neighboring estates, for
+he was a good shot and highly popular in the neighborhood, while at
+Overstow itself there was some excellent sport to which now and then
+he would invite his local friends.
+
+Rayne possessed a marvelous personality. When at home he was the
+typical country gentleman, a good judge of a horse and in his "pink" a
+straight rider to hounds. None who met him would have ever dreamed
+that he was the shrewd, crafty cosmopolitan whose evil machinations
+and devilish ingenuity made themselves felt in all the capitals of
+Europe, and whose word was law to certain dangerous characters who
+would not hesitate to take human life if it were really necessary to
+evade arrest.
+
+His outstanding cleverness, however, was that he never revealed his
+own identity to those who actually carried out his devilish schemes.
+The circle of cosmopolitan malefactors who were his cat's-paws only
+knew Monsieur and Madame Duperre--under other names--but of Rudolph
+Rayne's very existence they were nearly all ignorant. Money was, I
+learnt, freely paid for various "jobs" by agents engaged by the man I
+had once known as Captain Deinhard, or else by certain receivers of
+stolen goods in London and on the Continent, who were forewarned that
+jewels, bonds or stolen bank-notes would reach them in secret, and
+that payment must be made and no questions asked.
+
+Late one evening Duperre returned unexpectedly in a hired car from
+Thirsk. We had finished dinner, and I chanced to be with Rayne in the
+library, yet longing to get to the old-fashioned drawing-room with its
+sweet odor of potpourri, where Lola was, I knew, sitting immersed in
+the latest novel.
+
+"Hallo, Vincent! Why, I thought you were still in Aix-les-Bains!"
+cried Rayne, much surprised, and yet a trifle excited, which was quite
+unusual for him.
+
+"There's a nasty little hitch!" replied the other, still in his heavy
+traveling coat. Then, turning to me, he said: "Hargreave, old chap,
+will you leave for a moment or two? I want to speak to Rudolph."
+
+"Of course," I said. I was by that time used to those confidential
+conversations, and I walked along the corridor and joined Lola.
+
+"I'm very troubled, Mr. Hargreave," the girl suddenly exclaimed in a
+low, timid voice after we had been chatting a short time. "I overheard
+father whispering something to Madame Duperre to-day."
+
+"Whispering something!" I echoed. "What was that?"
+
+"Something about Mr. Martyn, that American gentleman he met in
+Edinburgh," she replied. "Father was chuckling to himself, saying that
+he had taken good precautions to prevent him proving an alibi. Father
+seemed filled with the fiercest anger against him. I'm sure he's an
+awfully nice man, though we hardly know him. What can it mean?"
+
+An alibi? I reflected. I replied that it was as mysterious to me as to
+her. Like herself I lived in a clouded atmosphere of rapidly changing
+circumstances, mysterious plots and unknown evil deeds--truly a world
+of fear and bewilderment.
+
+Some days later I had driven up to London in the Rolls with Duperre,
+leaving Rayne and Lola at home, Duperre's wife being away somewhere on
+a visit. We took up our quarters at Rayne's chambers, and next day
+idled about London together. Just before we went out to dinner Martyn
+called, and after taking a drink Duperre went out with him, remarking
+to me that he would be in soon after eleven. Hence I went to the
+theater, and on returning at midnight awaited him.
+
+I sat reading by the fire and dozed till just past two o'clock, when
+he returned dressed in unfamiliar clothes: a rough suit of tweeds in
+which he presented the appearance of a respectable artisan. His left
+hand was bound roughly with a colored handkerchief, and he appeared
+very exhausted. Before speaking he poured himself out a liqueur glass
+of neat brandy which he swallowed at a single gulp.
+
+"I've had a rather nasty accident, George," he said. "I've cut my hand
+pretty badly. Only not a soul must know about it--you understand?"
+
+I nodded, and then at his request I assisted him to wash the wound and
+rebandage it.
+
+"What's been the matter?" I asked with curiosity.
+
+"Nothing very much," was his hard reply. "You'll probably know all
+about it to-morrow. The papers will be full of it. But mind and keep
+your mouth shut very tightly."
+
+And with that he drew from his pockets a pair of thin surgical rubber
+gloves, both of which were blood-stained, and hurriedly threw them
+into the fire.
+
+On the following evening about six o'clock I was alone in Rayne's
+chambers when the evening newspaper was, as usual, pushed through the
+letter-box. I rose, and taking it up glanced casually at the front
+page, when I was confronted by a startling report.
+
+It appeared that just after midnight on the previous night the
+watchman on duty at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, in Lombard Street,
+had been murderously attacked by some unknown person who apparently
+battered his head with an iron bar, and left him unconscious and so
+seriously injured that he was now in Guy's Hospital without hope of
+recovery. The bank robbers had apparently used a most up-to-date
+oxyacetylene plant for cutting steel, and from the strong-room in the
+basement--believed to be impregnable and which could only be opened
+by a time-clock, and, moreover, could be flooded at will--they had cut
+out the door as butter could be cut with a hot knife. From the safe
+they had abstracted negotiable bonds with English, French and Italian
+notes to the value of over eighty thousand pounds, with which the
+thieves had got clear away.
+
+The bank robbery was the greatest sensation of the moment. The thieves
+had cleverly effected an entrance by one of them having secreted
+himself in a safe in the bank when it had closed. In the morning at
+nine o'clock when the first clerk, a lady accountant, had arrived, she
+could get no entrance, so she waited till one of her male colleagues
+arrived. Then they called a constable, and after half an hour the
+sensational fact of the unconscious watchman and the rifled
+strong-room became revealed.
+
+The newspaper report concluded with the following sentences:
+
+"It is evident that one of the thieves cut his hand badly, for we
+understand that the detectives of the City police have found
+blood-stained finger-prints of four distinct fingers upon the door and
+in other parts of the strong-room. These, of course, have already been
+photographed, and in due course will be investigated by that
+department of Scotland Yard which deals with the finger-prints of
+known criminals."
+
+With the knowledge of the injury to Duperre's hand I felt confident
+that the great _coup_ was due to him. And I was not mistaken.
+
+The bank thieves had got clear away, it was true, but they had left
+those tell-tale finger-prints behind! As everyone knows, the ridges
+and whorls upon the hands of no two men are alike, therefore it seemed
+clear that Scotland Yard, now aroused, would very quickly--owing to
+its marvelous classification of the finger-prints of every criminal
+who has passed through the hands of the police during the past quarter
+of a century--fix upon the person who had laid his hands upon the
+steel safe door.
+
+An hour after I had read the report in the paper, Duperre rang me up.
+
+"I'm going to Overstow by the nine-thirty from King's Cross to-night,"
+he said. "If you can join me, do. The air is better in Yorkshire than
+in London, don't you think so, old chap?"
+
+"Right-oh!" I replied. "I'll travel up with you."
+
+We met, and early next morning we were back at Overstow. Yet I managed
+to suppress any untoward curiosity.
+
+It was only when about a week later I read in the paper of the result
+of the discovery of Scotland Yard finger-print department and of a
+consequent arrest that I sat aghast.
+
+A notorious jewel-thief named Hersleton, alias Hugh Martyn, an
+American, had been arrested at a hotel at Brighton, and had been
+charged at Bow Street with the murderous attack upon the night
+watchman at the Chartered Bank of Liberia, his finger-prints, taken
+some years before, coinciding exactly with those left at the bank. He
+had violently protested his innocence, but had been committed for
+trial.
+
+At the Old Bailey six weeks later, the night watchman having
+fortunately recovered from his injuries, Hugh Martyn was brought
+before Mr. Justice Harland, and though very ably defended by his
+counsel, he was quite unable to account for his movements on the night
+in question.
+
+"I was never there!" the prisoner shrieked across the court to the
+judge as I sat in the public gallery watching the scene. "I know
+nothing of the affair--nothing whatever. I am innocent."
+
+"It is undeniable that the prisoner's finger-prints were left there,"
+remarked the eminent counsel for the Treasury, rising very calmly. "We
+have them here before us--enlarged photographs which the jury have
+just seen. Gentlemen of the jury, I put it to you that the prisoner is
+the man who assisted in this dastardly crime!"
+
+The jury, after a short retirement, found Hugh Martyn guilty, and the
+judge, after hearing his previous convictions, sentenced him to
+fifteen years' penal servitude.
+
+But Mr. Justice Harland has never known, until perhaps he may read
+these lines, that by the ingenious machinations of the super-criminal
+Rudolph Rayne, Hugh Martyn, who was one of his associates who had
+quarrelled with him over his share of a bank robbery in Madrid, and
+had tried to betray me to Benton on Clifton Bridge, had been the
+victim of a most dastardly treachery, though he was quite unaware of
+it and believed Rayne to be his friend.
+
+Only many months later I learned, by piecing together certain facts,
+that old Morley Tarrant was an expert photographer and maker of
+printer's "blocks." Slowly it became plain that Rayne, having been
+betrayed by the astute American crook, had met him in Edinburgh and
+with devilish malice aforethought, had contrived to get him to handle
+the glass cube which served as a paper-weight, and which I had quite
+innocently conveyed to the old hunchback, who had succeeded in taking
+the finger-prints and by photography transferring them upon the
+surgical rubber glove, thin as paper--really a false skin--which
+Duperre had worn over his hands when he and his associates made an
+attack upon the bank.
+
+By that means Martyn's finger-prints were left upon the safe door.
+
+Duperre had previously taken out Martyn, whom one of his friends, a
+woman, had drugged, so that he lay in that furnished house near Maldon
+for two days unconscious. Hence he was unable to give any accurate
+account of his movements on the night in question, or prove an alibi,
+and was, in consequence, convicted.
+
+Rayne, the man with the abnormal criminal brain, had, by that
+ingenious _coup_, not only contrived to spirit away to the Continent a
+sum of eighty thousand pounds in negotiable securities, but had also
+sent to a long term of penal servitude the man who had attempted to
+betray him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CONCERNS MR. BLUMENFELD
+
+
+The pleasant high road between Leamington and Coventry runs straight
+over the hills to Kenilworth, but a few miles farther on there are
+cross-roads, the right leading into Stoneleigh and the left to Kirby
+Corner and over Westwood Heath into a crooked maze of by-roads by
+which one can reach Berkswell or Barston.
+
+It was over that left-hand road that I was driving Rayne and Lola in
+the Rolls in the grey twilight of a wintry evening. We had driven from
+London, and both Rayne and the girl I so admired were cramped and
+tired.
+
+"Look!" shouted Lola suddenly as we took a turn in the road. "There's
+the lodge! On the left there. That's Bradbourne Hall!"
+
+"Yes, that's it, Hargreave!" said Rudolph, and a few moments later I
+turned the car through the high wrought-iron gates which stood open
+for us, and we sped up the long avenue of leafless trees which led to
+the fine country mansion at which we were to be guests.
+
+Bradbourne Hall was a great old-world Georgian house, half covered
+with ivy, and the appearance of the grave, white-haired butler who
+opened the door showed it to be the residence of a man of wealth and
+discernment.
+
+That Edward Blumenfeld, its owner, was fabulously wealthy everyone in
+the City of London knew, for his name was one to conjure with in high
+finance, and though the dingy offices of Blumenfeld and Hannan in Old
+Broad Street were the reverse of imposing, yet the financial influence
+of the great house often made itself felt upon the Bourses of Paris,
+Brussels and Rome.
+
+I met the millionaire at dinner two hours later, a tall, loose-built,
+sallow-faced man of rather brusque manners and decidedly cosmopolitan,
+both in gesture and in speech. With him was his wife, a pleasant woman
+of about fifty-five who seemed extremely affable to Lola. Mr.
+Blumenfeld's sister, a Mrs. Perceval, was also present.
+
+It appeared that a year before Rayne had met old Mr. Blumenfeld and
+his wife in an hotel at Varenna, on the Lake of Como, and a casual
+acquaintance had ripened into friendship and culminated in the
+invitation to spend a few days at Bradbourne. Hence our journey.
+
+As we sat gossiping over our port after the ladies had left the table,
+I began to wonder why the grey-eyed master-crook, whom not a soul
+suspected, was so eager to ingratiate himself with Edward Blumenfeld.
+The motive was, however, not far to seek. Most men who are personal
+friends of millionaires manage to extract some little point of
+knowledge which, if used in the right way and with discretion, will
+often result in considerable financial gain. Indeed, I have often
+thought that around a millionaire there is spread a halo of prosperity
+which invests all those who enter it and brings to them good fortune.
+
+It was evident that the great financier regarded Rudolph Rayne as his
+friend, for he promised to pay us a visit at Overstow in return.
+
+"Remember what Mr. Blumenfeld has promised us, George!" said Rayne as
+he turned to me merrily. "Make a note of it!" And the breezy,
+easy-going man who at the moment was directing all sorts of crooked
+business in many cities on the Continent sipped his glass of port with
+the air of a connoisseur, as indeed he was.
+
+That night, after I had gone to my room, Rayne suddenly entered and
+began to speak to me in a loud tone concerning some letters he wished
+to write early in the morning. Then, lowering his voice suddenly to a
+whisper, he added: "I want you to be very nice to Mrs. Blumenfeld,
+Hargreave. Unfortunately Lola seems to have taken a violent dislike to
+her. Why, I don't know. So do your best to remedy what may result in a
+_contretemps_."
+
+Then again he spoke in his usual voice, and wishing me good night left
+the room.
+
+After he had gone I, full of wonder and apprehension, paced up and
+down the fine old paneled chamber--for I had been placed in a wing in
+the older part of the house which was evidently Jacobean. As an
+unwilling assistant of that super-crook whose agents were at work in
+the various cities of Europe carrying out the amazingly ingenious
+plans which, with Vincent Duperre, he so carefully formulated in that
+great old-world library of his at Overstow, I was constantly in peril,
+for I felt by some inexplicable intuition that the police must, one
+day or other, obtain sufficient evidence to arrest all of us, Lola
+included.
+
+I recollect that Superintendent Arthur Benton of Scotland Yard was
+ever active in his inquiries concerning the great gang which Rayne
+controlled.
+
+Had it not been that I was now passionately in love with Lola--though
+I dared not declare it openly--I should have left my queer appointment
+long ago. As a matter of fact, I remained because I believed, vainly
+perhaps, that I might one day be able to shield Lola from becoming
+their accomplice--and thus culpable.
+
+According to Rayne's instructions I next day made myself as affable as
+possible to Mrs. Blumenfeld, but later in the afternoon I had an
+opportunity of chatting with Lola alone. She wanted to go to a shop in
+Warwick, and asked me to take her there in the car, which I did. The
+driver's seat was inside the car, hence, when alone, she always sat
+beside me.
+
+"What do you think of Mrs. Blumenfeld?" I asked her as we sped along
+through the rain.
+
+"Oh! Well, I don't like her--that's all," was her reply, as she
+smiled.
+
+"I think she's quite nice," I said. "She was most charming to me this
+morning."
+
+"And she is also charming to me. But she seems so horribly
+inquisitive, and asks me so many questions about my father--questions
+I can't answer."
+
+"Why not?" I asked, turning to her and for a second taking my eyes off
+the road.
+
+"Well--you know, Mr. Hargreave--you surely know," the girl hesitated.
+"Why are we on this visit? My father has some sinister plans--without
+a doubt."
+
+"How sinister plans?" I asked, in pretence of ignorance.
+
+"You well know," she answered. "I am not blind, even if Duperre and
+his wife think I am. They forget that there is such a thing as
+illustrated papers."
+
+"I don't follow," I said.
+
+"Well, in the _Daily Graphic_ three days ago I saw the portrait of a
+man named Lawrence, well-known as a jewel thief, who was sentenced to
+ten years' penal servitude at the Old Bailey. I recognized him as Mr.
+Moody, one of my father's friends who often came to see us at
+Overstow--a man you also know. Why has my father thieves for his
+friends, unless he is in some way connected with them?"
+
+"Moody sentenced!" I gasped. "Why, he was one of Duperre's most
+intimate friends. I've met them together often," I remarked, and then
+the conversation dropped, and we sat silent for a full quarter of an
+hour.
+
+"I'm longing to get back to Overstow, Mr. Hargreave," the girl went on
+presently. "I feel that ere long Mrs. Blumenfeld, who is a very clever
+and astute woman, will discover something about us, and then----"
+
+"And if she does, it will upset your father's plans--whatever they
+are!"
+
+"But Mr. Blumenfeld, as a great financier, has agents in all the
+capitals, and they might inquire and discover more about us than would
+be pleasant," she said apprehensively. "I wonder why we are visiting
+these people?" she added.
+
+I did not reply. I was constantly puzzled and bewildered by the
+actions and movements of Rayne and his questionable friends.
+
+That evening after dinner, while old Blumenfeld played billiards with
+his guest, I marked. They played three closely contested games, for
+both were good players; until at eleven o'clock we all three went to
+the great drawing-room to bid the ladies good night. With our host I
+returned to the billiard-room, leaving Rayne to follow. Mr. Blumenfeld
+poured me out a whisky-and-soda and took a glass of port himself. Then
+a few minutes later he suggested, that as Rayne had not returned, he
+and I should have a final game before retiring.
+
+He had made about twenty-five when of a sudden he leaned heavily
+against the table, his face blanched, and placing his hand to his
+heart, exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! I have such a pain here! I--I----"
+
+And before I could run round to his assistance he had collapsed
+heavily upon the floor.
+
+In an instant I was at his side, but saw that he was already
+unconscious.
+
+I flew to the door and down the corridor, when luckily I encountered
+Rayne, who was at that moment returning to us.
+
+In breathless haste I told him what had occurred.
+
+"Good heavens!" he gasped. "Don't alarm the ladies. Find the butler
+and get him to telephone for the doctor in secret. I'll run in and
+look after him in the meantime," he said, and hurried to the
+billiard-room.
+
+I was not long in finding the butler, and quickly we went to the
+library and spoke to the doctor, who lived about five miles away. He
+was already in bed, but would, he said, motor over immediately.
+
+On our return to the billiard-room we found, to our relief, that Mr.
+Blumenfeld had recovered consciousness. He was still lying upon the
+floor, Rayne having forced some brandy between his lips.
+
+"He's getting right again!" Rayne exclaimed to the white-haired old
+servant, and together we lifted our host on to the sofa.
+
+He recovered quite rapidly, and presently he whispered weakly:
+
+"I suppose it's my heart! A doctor in Rome three years ago said it was
+rather weak."
+
+"I'm glad you're better, my dear fellow," said Rayne. "I was much
+worried about you. You were playing with Hargreave, and he alarmed
+me."
+
+"I'm cold," our host said. "Will you shut that window."
+
+For the first time I noticed the window, which had certainly been
+closed when we were playing, was open about a foot. Besides, Mr.
+Blumenfeld's glass of port, of which he had drunk only half, was now
+empty, two facts which, however, at the time conveyed nothing to me.
+
+In due course the doctor, an elderly country practitioner, arrived in
+hot haste, and grave concern, but as soon as he saw his patient he
+realized that it had been only a fainting fit and was nothing serious.
+Indeed, within an hour Blumenfeld was laughing with us as though
+nothing had occurred.
+
+But what had really occurred, I wondered? That window had been opened,
+apparently to admit fresh air to revive an unconscious man. But surely
+our host had not drained his port glass after his sudden seizure!
+
+The incident was, at Blumenfeld's request, hidden from the ladies, and
+next day he was quite his old self again.
+
+About noon I strolled with Rayne out along the wide terrace which ran
+in front of the house overlooking the great park, whereupon he said:
+
+"We'll leave here to-morrow, Hargreave. Duperre is at Overstow. Write
+to him this afternoon and tell him to send me a wire recalling me
+immediately upon urgent business."
+
+"We've finished here, eh?" I asked meaningly.
+
+"Yes," he grinned, "and the sooner we're out of this place the
+better."
+
+So I sent Vincent a note, telling him to wire Rayne at once on receipt
+of it.
+
+The urgent message recalling Rudolph Rayne to Yorkshire arrived about
+half-past ten next morning, just as we were going out shooting.
+Blumenfeld was much disappointed, but his guest pleaded that he had
+some very important business to transact with his agent who was over
+from New York and desired to meet him at once. Therefore to Lola's
+complete satisfaction the trunks were packed and put into the car, and
+immediately after luncheon we set forth to Overstow.
+
+On our way back I racked my brain to discern the nature of the latest
+plot, but could see nothing tangible. Mr. Blumenfeld had been taken
+suddenly ill while playing billiards with me, and Rayne, when
+summoned, had done his best to resuscitate him. Yet Rayne's manner was
+triumphant and he was in most excellent spirits.
+
+We arrived back at Overstow Hall just before midnight, and he and
+Duperre held a long conversation before retiring. Of its nature I
+could gather nothing. As for Lola, she retired at once very cramped
+and tired.
+
+The whole of the following morning Duperre and Rayne were closeted
+together, while afterwards I drove Duperre into York, where from the
+telegraph office in the railway station he sent several cryptic
+messages abroad, of course posing to the telegraph clerk as a passing
+railway passenger. Rayne never sent important telegrams from the
+village post-office at Overstow, or even from Thirsk. They were all
+dispatched from places where, even if inquiry were made, the sender
+could not be traced.
+
+"What's in the wind?" I asked Duperre as he sat by my side on our
+drive back to Overstow.
+
+"Something, my dear George," he answered, smiling mysteriously. "At
+present I can't tell you. In due course you'll know--something big.
+Whenever Rudolph superintends in person it is always big. He never
+touches minor matters. He devises and arranges them as a general plans
+a battle, but he never superintends himself--only in the real big
+things. Even then he never acts himself."
+
+With that I was compelled to be satisfied. That night we all had quite
+a pleasant evening over bridge in the drawing-room, until just about
+ten o'clock Rayne was called to the telephone. When he rejoined us I
+noticed that his countenance was a trifle pale. He looked worried and
+ill at ease. He sat down beside Madame Duperre, and after pensively
+lighting one of his expensive cigars, he bent and whispered something
+to her.
+
+By what he said the woman became greatly agitated, and a few moments
+later rose and left the room.
+
+The household at Overstow was certainly a strange and incongruous one,
+consisting as it did of persons who seemed all in league with each
+other, the master-criminal whose shrewd, steel-grey eyes were so
+uncanny, and his accomplices and underlings who all profited and grew
+fat upon the great _coups_ planned by Rayne's amazing mind. The squire
+of Overstow mesmerized his fellows and fascinated his victims of both
+sexes. His personality was clear-cut and outstanding. Men and women
+who met him for the first time felt that in conversation he held them
+by some curious, indescribable influence--held them as long as he
+cared, until by his will they were released from a strange thraldom
+that was both weird and astounding.
+
+Whatever message Rayne had received it was evidently of paramount
+importance, for when Madame Duperre had left the room and Lola had
+retired, he turned to me and with a queer look in his eyes, exclaimed:
+
+"I expect you'll have to be making some rather rapid journeys soon,
+George. Better be up early to-morrow. Good night." And then dismissing
+me, he asked Duperre to go with him to the smoking-room.
+
+"I've heard from Tracy," I overheard him say as I followed them along
+the softly carpeted corridor. "We're up against that infernal Benton
+again because of old Moody's blunder. I never expected he'd be caught,
+of all men. Benton is now looking for Moody's guiding hand."
+
+"Well, I hope he won't get very far," Duperre replied.
+
+"We must make certain that he doesn't, Vincent, or it will go
+badly--very badly--with us! That's what I want to discuss with you."
+
+Of the result of the consultation I, of course, remained in ignorance,
+but next morning Rayne sent for me and said he had decided to meet his
+friend Tracy at the Unicorn Hotel at Ripon.
+
+"I telephoned him to the Station Hotel at York during the night," he
+added. "He'll have a lady with him. I want you to drive me over to
+Ripon and drive the lady back here."
+
+So an hour later we set out across country and arrived in Ripon in
+time for lunch.
+
+Gerald Tracy I had met before, a big, stout, round-faced man of
+prosperous appearance, bald-headed and loud of speech. That he was a
+crook I had no doubt, but what his actual _metier_ was I could not
+discover. He met us on the threshold of the old-fashioned hotel in
+that old-fashioned Yorkshire town, and with him was a well-dressed
+young woman, Italian or Spanish, I saw at a glance.
+
+When Tracy introduced her to Rayne she was apparently much impressed,
+replying in very fair English. Her name, I learnt, was Signorina
+Lacava, and she was Italian.
+
+We all lunched together but no business was discussed. Rayne expressed
+a hope that the signorina's journey from Milan had been a pleasant
+one.
+
+"Quite," the handsome black-eyed girl replied. "I stayed one day in
+Paris."
+
+"The signorina has made a conquest in Milan," laughed Tracy. "Farini,
+the commissario of police, has fallen in love with her!"
+
+Rayne smiled, and turning to her, said:
+
+"I congratulate you, signorina. Your friendship may one day stand you
+in very good stead."
+
+That the young woman was someone of great importance in the criminal
+combine was apparent from the fact that she had been actually
+introduced to its secret head.
+
+It struck me as curious when, after leaving Tracy and Rayne together,
+I was driving the signorina across the moors to Overstow, that while
+he hesitated to allow Tracy to go there, yet it was safe for the young
+Italian woman.
+
+I knew that Benton was still making eager inquiries, and I also knew
+that Rayne was full of gravest apprehensions. Rudolph Rayne was
+playing a double game!
+
+On arrival back home, Duperre's wife received our visitor. Lola had
+gone to Newcastle to visit an old schoolfellow, and Duperre was away
+in York so his wife informed me.
+
+Three uneventful days passed, but neither Rayne nor Lola returned. On
+the third evening I was called to the telephone, and Rayne spoke to me
+from his rooms in London.
+
+"I can't get back just yet, George," he said. "You'll receive a
+registered letter from me to-morrow. Act upon it and use your own
+discretion."
+
+I promised him I would and then he rang off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AT THREE-EIGHTEEN A.M.
+
+
+The letter brought to my bedside next morning contained some curious
+instructions, namely, to take the car on the following Saturday to
+Flamborough Head, arriving at a spot he named about a quarter of a
+mile from the lighthouse, where I would be accosted by a Dutch sailor,
+who would ask me if I were Mr. Skelton. I was not to fear treachery,
+but to reply in the affirmative and drive him through the night to an
+address he gave me in Providence Court, a turning off Dean Street,
+Soho.
+
+That address was sufficient for me! I had once before, at Rayne's
+orders, driven a stranger to Dean Street and conducted him to that
+house. It was no doubt a harbor of refuge for foreign criminals in
+London, but was kept by an apparently respectable Italian who carried
+on a small grocery shop in Old Compton Street.
+
+As I was ordered, I duly arrived on that wild spot on the Yorkshire
+coast. It blew half a gale, the wind howling about the car as I sat
+with only the red rearlight on, waiting in patience.
+
+Very soon a short, thick-set man with decidedly evil face and
+seafaring aspect, emerged from the shadows and asked in broken English
+whether I was Mr. Skelton. I replied that I was and bade him jump in,
+and then, switching on the big headlights, turned the car in the
+direction of London.
+
+From what I had seen of the stranger I certainly was not prepossessed.
+His clothes were rough and half soaked by the rain that had been
+falling, while it became apparent as we talked that he had landed
+surreptitiously from a Dutch fishing-boat early that morning and had
+not dared to show himself. Hence he was half famished. I happened to
+have a vacuum flask and some sandwiches, and these I divided with him.
+
+A long silence fell between us as with difficulty in keeping myself
+awake I drove over the two hundred odd miles of wet roads which
+separated us from London, and just before nine o'clock next morning I
+left the car in Wardour Street and walked with the stranger to the
+frowsy house in Providence Court, where to my great surprise Gerald
+Tracy opened the door. He laughed at my astonishment, but with a
+gesture indicative of silence, he merely said:
+
+"Hallo, Hargreave! Back all right, eh?"
+
+Then he admitted the Dutchman and closed the door.
+
+Tracy was evidently there to hold consultation with the stranger whose
+entrance into England was unknown. He would certainly never risk a
+long stay in that house, for the stout, bald-headed man had, I knew,
+no wish to come face to face with Benton or any other officer of the
+C.I.D.
+
+Certainly something sinister and important was intended.
+
+On calling at Half Moon Street, after having breakfasted, I found
+Duperre there.
+
+"Rayne wants you to go down to the Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone and
+garage the car there," he said. "He and I are running a risk in a
+couple of night's time--the risk whether Benton identifies us. We both
+have tickets for the annual dinner of the staff of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, which is to be held in the Elgin Rooms."
+
+"And are you actually going?" I asked, much surprised.
+
+"Yes. And our places are close to Benton's! He'll never dream that the
+men he is hunting for everywhere are sitting exactly opposite him as
+guests of one of his superiors."
+
+Boldness was one of Rudolph Rayne's characteristics. He was fearless
+in all his clever and ingenious conspiracies, though his cunning was
+unequaled.
+
+As I drove down to Folkestone I ruminated, as I so often did. No doubt
+some devilish plot was underlying the acceptance of the high police
+official's invitation to the staff dinner.
+
+Its nature became revealed a few days later when, on opening my
+newspaper one morning, being still at Folkestone waiting in patience,
+I read a paragraph which aroused within me considerable interest.
+
+It was to the effect that Superintendent Arthur Benton, the well-known
+Scotland Yard officer, had, after the annual dinner a few nights
+before, been suddenly taken ill on his way home to Hampstead, and was
+at the moment lying in a very critical condition suffering from some
+mysterious form of ptomaine poisoning, his life being despaired of.
+
+I was quite unaware until long afterwards of the deeply laid attempt
+upon Benton's life, how the mysterious Dutchman was really a waiter
+much wanted by the French police for a poisoning affair in Marseilles,
+and that he had been able, by means best known to Rayne, to obtain
+temporary employment at the Elgin Rooms on the night of the banquet.
+It was he who had served the table at which had sat the unsuspicious
+detective superintendent.
+
+The latter fortunately did not succumb, but he was incapacitated from
+duty for over twelve months, during which period the inquiries
+regarding the unknown head of the criminal band were dropped, much to
+the relief of Rayne and Duperre.
+
+All this, however, was, I saw, preliminary and in preparation for some
+great _coup_.
+
+I suppose I had been kicking my heels about Folkestone for perhaps ten
+days when, without warning, Rayne and Lola arrived with Tracy and a
+quantity of luggage. No doubt the mysterious Dutchman had returned to
+the Continent by the fishing-boat in which he had come over to act at
+Rayne's orders.
+
+"We are going to the Continent by the morning service the day after
+to-morrow, George," Rayne told me. "Tracy leaves to-night. Lola will
+go with us as far as Paris, where Duperre will meet us, and we go
+south together."
+
+And he produced a batch of tickets, among which I saw coupons for
+reserved compartments in the _wagon-lit_.
+
+Afterwards he gave some peculiar instructions to Tracy.
+
+"You'll recollect the map I showed you," he said. "Creches is two
+miles south of Macon. At about two kilometres towards Lyons there is a
+short bridge over a ravine. That's the spot. The train passes there at
+three-eighteen in the morning."
+
+"I follow you exactly," replied his stout, bald-headed accomplice. And
+I was left wondering what was intended.
+
+That evening Tracy left us and crossed to Boulogne, while two days
+later we went on board the morning cross-Channel steamer, where, to my
+surprise, we met Mr. and Mrs. Blumenfeld.
+
+The encounter was a most unexpected and pleasant one. The great
+financier and his wife were on their way to the Riviera, and we were
+going as far as Cannes.
+
+"I had no idea that you were going south!" laughed Rayne happily as
+Lola, warmly dressed in furs, stood on deck chatting with Mrs.
+Blumenfeld and watching the boat casting off from the quay. "It will
+be most delightful to travel together," he went on. "Lola stays in
+Paris and we go on to the Riviera. I suppose you've got your sleeping
+berths from Paris to-night?"
+
+"Yes," replied the financier, and then on comparing the numbers on the
+coupons the old man discovered that by a coincidence his berth
+adjoined the one which had been taken for myself.
+
+We travelled merrily across to Boulogne, the weather being unusually
+fine, and took our _dejeuner_ together in the _wagon-restaurant_ on
+the way to Paris. With old Blumenfeld was his faithful valet who
+looked especially after two battered old leather kitbags, a fact
+which, I noticed, did not escape Rudolph's watchful eye.
+
+Arrived at the Gare du Nord, Lola was met by an elderly Englishwoman
+whom I recollected as having been a guest at Overstow, and after
+hurried farewells drove away in a car, while we took taxis across to
+the big hotel at the Gare de Lyon. There we dined, and at half-past
+eight joined the Marseilles express upon which was a single
+_wagon-lit_.
+
+Just as I was about to enter it, Rayne took me by the arm, and walking
+along the platform out of hearing, whispered:
+
+"Vincent is here. Don't recognize him. Be alert at three o'clock. I
+may want you!"
+
+"For what?"
+
+"Wait! We've something big in progress, George. Don't ask any
+questions," he said in that blustering impelling manner which he
+assumed when he was really serious.
+
+Several times in the corridor I met the financier and his wife with
+their bony-faced valet, and, of course, I made myself polite and
+engaging to Mrs. Blumenfeld.
+
+While the express roared through its first stage to Moret, I chatted
+with Rudolph and Blumenfeld after the latter's wife had retired, and
+as we sat in the dim light of the corridor of the sleeping-car smoking
+cigarettes, all seemed absolutely normal.
+
+Suddenly from the end compartment of the car Duperre came forth. As a
+perfect stranger he apologized in French as he passed us and walked to
+the little compartment at the end of the car where he ordered a drink
+from the conductor.
+
+Hence old Mr. Blumenfeld was in ignorance that Vincent had any
+knowledge of us, or that Signorina Lacava, who was another of the
+passengers, was our friend. Yet the thin-faced valet who had brought
+up my early cup of tea when we had stayed at Bradbourne continually
+hovered about his master.
+
+Later, as the express was tearing on at increased speed, Mr.
+Blumenfeld retired to his compartment, with his wife sleeping in the
+adjoining one, and within half an hour Rayne beckoned me into his
+compartment at the farther end, where we were joined by Duperre.
+
+"I want you to be out in the corridor at three o'clock," Rayne said to
+me. "Open the window and sit by it as though you want fresh air. The
+conductor won't trouble you as he'll be put to sleep. After the train
+leaves Macon, Vincent will pass you something. You will watch for
+three white lights set in a row beside the railway line. Tracy will be
+down there in waiting. When you see the three lights throw out what
+Vincent gives to you. Understand?"
+
+I now saw the plot. They had knowledge that old Blumenfeld was
+travelling with a quantity of negotiable securities which he intended
+to hand to his agent at Marseilles on his way to Cannes, and they
+meant to relieve him of them!
+
+"I shall be fast asleep," Rayne went on, and turning to Duperre, he
+said: "Here's the old fellow's master-key. It opens everything."
+
+"By Jove!" whispered Vincent. "That was a clever ruse of yours to
+contrive the old man to faint and then take an impression of the key
+upon his chain."
+
+"It was the only way to get possession of it," Rayne declared with an
+evil grin. "But both of you know how to act, so I'll soon retire."
+
+And a few moments later I went out leaving both men together. The
+train roared into a long tunnel and then out again across many high
+embankments and over bridges. Rain was falling in torrents and lashed
+the windows as we sped due south on our way to Dijon. At last I knew
+the cause and motive of the old financier's fainting fit. The reason
+of our visit to Bradbourne had been in order to obtain an impression
+of the old fellow's little master-key which opened all his luggage,
+his dispatch-boxes, and even the great safes at the office in Old
+Broad Street.
+
+I hated the part I was forced to play, yet there certainly was an
+element of danger in it, and in that I delighted. Therefore I
+partially undressed, turned in, and read the newspaper, anxiously
+waiting for the hour of three and wondering in what manner Duperre
+intended to rob the victim. I hoped that no violence would be used.
+
+The minutes crept on slowly as, time after time, I glanced at my
+watch. In the compartment next to mine the millionaire was sleeping,
+all unconscious of the insidious plot. The brown-uniformed conductor
+was asleep--no doubt he had taken a drink with Duperre. Besides, the
+corridor at each end of the sleeping-saloon was closed and locked.
+
+At last, at five minutes to three, I very cautiously opened my door
+and stepped into the empty corridor. The train was again in a tunnel,
+the noise deafening and the atmosphere stifling. As soon as we were
+out in the open I noiselessly lowered the window and found that we
+were passing through a mountainous country, for every moment we passed
+over some rushing torrent or through some narrow ravine.
+
+It was already three o'clock when my nostrils were greeted with a
+pungent sickly odor of attar of roses, which seemed to be wafted along
+the corridor. It emanated, I imagined, from one of the compartments
+occupied by lady travellers.
+
+Of a sudden we ran into the big station at Macon, where there was a
+wait of about five minutes--for the wheels to be tested. Nobody left
+or entered. All was quite still after the roaring and rocking of the
+express.
+
+As we waited the odor of roses became much more pronounced, yet I sat
+at my post by the open window as though wanting fresh air, for the big
+sleeping-car was very stuffy, the heating apparatus being on. At last
+we moved out again, and I breathlessly waited for Duperre to hand me
+something to toss out to Tracy who was ready with the three signal
+lights beside the line.
+
+The train gathered speed quickly. We had travelled two hundred and
+seventy miles and now had only a little farther to go. With my eye
+upon the side of the track, I sat scarce daring to breathe.
+
+The ravine! We were crossing it! I glanced along the corridor. Nobody
+came in sight.
+
+Next instant I saw three white lights arranged in a row. But we
+flashed past them!
+
+For some reason, why, I knew not, the plot had failed!
+
+I dared not go to the compartment of either of my companions, so after
+sitting up a further half-hour I crept back to my sleeping-berth
+feeling very drowsy, and turning in, slept heavily.
+
+I was awakened by a loud hammering upon my door, and an excited voice
+outside calling:
+
+"Mr. Hargreave! Mr. Hargreave!"
+
+I opened it in astonishment to find the gray-headed old millionaire in
+his pajamas.
+
+"I've been robbed!" he gasped. "I can't wake the conductor. He's been
+drugged, I believe! What number is Mr. Rayne's compartment?"
+
+"Number four," I answered. "But what has been taken?" I asked.
+
+"Bonds that I was taking to my agent in Marseilles--over sixty
+thousand pounds' worth! My kitbag has been opened and the dispatch-box
+has been opened also while I've been asleep. The thief has evidently
+had the conductor's key or he couldn't have got into my compartment!
+The bonds must be still in the possession of one of the passengers,"
+he added. "Our last stop was at Macon and I was awake then."
+
+Together we woke up Rayne, who at once busied himself in great alarm.
+
+"Possibly the bonds have been thrown from the train to an accomplice,"
+he suggested, exchanging glances with me.
+
+"No. I'm sure they are still here--in the car. When next we stop I
+will prevent anyone leaving, and have all the passengers searched. The
+one thing that puzzles me is how the thief got to work without waking
+me, as I always place a little electric alarm on my bag when
+travelling with securities--and secondly, how did he manage to open
+both the bag and the dispatch-box it contained?"
+
+"Well," said Rayne. "Don't let us raise any alarm, but just wait till
+we get to Lyons. Then we'll see that nobody alights before we call
+the police." Then, turning to me, he said: "You'll keep one door,
+Hargreave, and I'll keep the other, while Mr. Blumenfeld gives
+information."
+
+Thus we waited. But I was sorely puzzled as to the whereabouts of the
+stolen bonds. If Duperre had taken them, how had he got rid of them?
+That he had done so was quite plain by Rayne's open attitude.
+
+Presently, in the dawn, we ran slowly into Lyons, whereupon, with
+Rayne, I mounted guard, allowing no one to leave. Two men wanted to
+descend to obtain some _cafe au lait_, as is customary, and were
+surprised when prevented.
+
+The commissary of police, with several plain-clothes officers, were
+quickly upon the spot, and to them Mr. Blumenfeld related his
+story--declaring that while lying awake he smelt a very strong odor of
+roses which caused him to become drowsy, and he slept. On awakening he
+saw that his dispatch-box had been rifled.
+
+When the millionaire explained who he was and the extent of his loss,
+the commissary was at once upon the alert, and ordered every passenger
+to be closely searched. In consequence, everyone was turned out and
+searched, a woman searching the female passengers, Signorina Lacava
+waxing highly indignant. Rayne, Duperre and myself were also very
+closely searched, while every nook and cranny of the compartments and
+baggage were rummaged during the transit of the train from Lyons down
+to Marseilles. The missing bonds could not be discovered, nor did any
+suspicion attach to anyone.
+
+I confess myself entirely puzzled as to what had actually occurred.
+The well-arranged plan to drop them from the train beyond Dijon had
+failed, I knew, because old Mr. Blumenfeld was still awake; but what
+alternative plan had been put into action?
+
+It was only when we arrived in Marseilles that the bewildered
+conductor, a most reliable servant of the _wagon-lit_ company,
+recovered from his lethargy and could not in the least account for his
+long heavy sleep. He had, it appeared, smelt the same pleasant perfume
+of roses as Mr. Blumenfeld. At Marseilles there was still more
+excitement and inquiry, but at last we moved off to Toulon and along
+the beautiful Cote d'Azur, with its grey-green olives and glimpses of
+sapphire sea.
+
+We were passing along by the seashore, when I ventured to slip into
+Duperre's compartment, old Blumenfeld and his wife being then in the
+luncheon-car adjoining.
+
+I inquired in a whisper what had happened.
+
+For answer he crossed to one of the windows and drew down the brown
+cloth blind used at night, when upon the inside I saw, to my
+astonishment, some bonds spread out and pinned to the fabric!
+
+He touched the spring, the blind rolled up and they disappeared
+within.
+
+Each of the four blinds in his compartment contained their valuable
+documents which, in due course, he removed and placed in his pockets
+before he stepped out upon the platform at Hyeres. He was, of course,
+an entire stranger to Rudolph and me, and we continued our journey
+with the victimized millionaire to Cannes, where we were compelled to
+remain for a week lest our abrupt return should excite anybody's
+suspicion. Meanwhile, of course, Duperre was already back in London
+with the spoils.
+
+In the whole affair Rayne, whose master-brain was responsible for the
+ingenious _coup_, remained with clean hands and ready at any moment to
+prove his own innocence.
+
+The original plan of tossing out the sixty thousand pounds' worth of
+bonds to Tracy, who was waiting with his three warning lights, failed
+because of old Blumenfeld's sleeplessness, but it was substituted by a
+far more secretive yet simple plan--one never even dreamed of by the
+astute police attached to the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway.
+It being daylight at Lyons, the blinds were up!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LITTLE LADY LYDBROOK
+
+
+From the very first I felt that, owing to my passionate love for Lola,
+I was treading upon very thin ice.
+
+As the cat's-paw of her father I was being drawn into such subtle
+devilish schemes that I felt to draw back must only bring upon my head
+the vengeance, through fear, of a man who was so entirely unscrupulous
+and so elusive that the police could never trace him.
+
+Why a few weeks later I had been sent to Biarritz with Vincent was an
+enigma I failed to solve. At any rate, at Rayne's suggestion, we had
+gone there and had stayed under assumed names at the Hotel du Palais,
+that handsome place standing high upon the rocks with such charming
+views of the rocky headland of St. Martin and the dozen grey-green
+islets.
+
+We both lived expensively and enjoyed ourselves at the Casino and
+elsewhere, but the object of our visit was quite obscure. I knew,
+however, that Duperre was prospecting new ground, but in what
+direction I failed to discover. One day we returned to London quite
+suddenly, but he refused to disclose anything concerning the object
+of our visit, which, after all, had been for me quite an enjoyable
+holiday.
+
+About a week after our return Rayne called me into the morning-room.
+The keen grey-eyed middle-aged man was smoking a cigar and with him
+was Madame, whose cleverness as a crook was only equalled by that of
+her husband.
+
+"Well, Hargreave!" exclaimed Rayne. "I hope you had a nice time at
+Biarritz, eh? Well, I want you to go on a further little holiday down
+to Eastbourne. Drive the Rolls down to the Grand Hotel there and stay
+as a gentleman of leisure."
+
+"I'm always that nowadays," I laughed.
+
+"Stay there under the name of George Cottingham," he went on, "and
+spend rather freely, so as to give yourself a good appearance. You
+understand?"
+
+"No, I don't understand," I said. "At least, I don't understand what
+game is to be played."
+
+"You needn't, George," was his short reply. "You are paid not to
+understand, and to keep your mouth shut. So please recollect that. Now
+at the hotel," he went on, "there is staying Lady Lydbrook, wife of
+the great Sheffield ironmaster. I want you to scrape up acquaintance
+with her."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For reasons best known to myself," he snapped. "It's nice weather
+just now, and you ought to enjoy yourself at Eastbourne. It's a smart
+place for an English resort, and there's lots going on there. They
+will think you such a nice sociable young man. Besides, you will
+spend money and make pretense of being rich. And let me give you a
+valuable tip. On the first evening you arrive at the hotel call the
+valet, give him a pound note and tell him to go out and buy a pound
+bottle of eau-de-Cologne to put in your bath. There's nothing that
+gets round an hotel so quickly as wanton extravagance like that. The
+guests hear of it through the servants, and everyone is impressed by
+your wealth."
+
+I laughed. Only a man with such a brain as Rudolph Rayne could have
+thought of such a ruse to inspire confidence.
+
+Two days later I arrived at the smart south coast hotel. Though not
+the season, Eastbourne was filled by quite a fashionable crowd. The
+Grand, situated at the far end of the town towards Beachy Head, is the
+resort of wealthy Londoners. I arrived alone in the showy Rolls just
+before luncheon, when many of the visitors were seated in the cane
+chairs outside or on the glass-covered veranda.
+
+I noticed, too, that the Rolls was well scrutinized, as well as
+myself. Under my assumed name, I took one of the most expensive rooms,
+and later, in the big dining-room, the waiter pointed out to me Lady
+Lydbrook, a young, blue-eyed, fluffy-haired little lady who,
+exquisitely dressed, was seated in a corner with another young woman
+about her own age.
+
+They were chatting merrily, quite unconscious of the fact that I was
+watching them.
+
+Her companion was dark and exceedingly well dressed. I learnt from the
+waiter that Sir Owen Lydbrook was not with his wife, and that the name
+of her companion was Miss Elsie Wallis.
+
+"I fancy she's on the stage, sir," the man added confidently. "Only I
+don't know her stage name. They've been 'ere nearly a month. Sir Owen
+is in Paris, I think. They say 'e's a lot older than 'er."
+
+I realized in the cockney waiter a man who might be useful, hence I
+gave him a substantial tip when I signed the bill for my meal.
+
+Why Rayne had ordered me to contrive to make the acquaintance of the
+fluffy-haired little woman was a problem that was beyond me, save that
+I knew full well the motive was, without doubt, an evil one.
+
+It goaded me to frenzy to think that Lola should eventually be called
+upon in all her innocence to become, like myself, an unwilling agent
+in the carrying out of Rayne's subtle and insidious plots.
+
+I was his paid servant, hence against my will I was forced to obey. My
+ever-present hope was to be able one day to extricate Lola from that
+atmosphere of criminality and mystery in which she lived, that
+environment of stealthy plotting and malice aforethought.
+
+On the evening of my arrival there happened to be a dance in the
+hotel, and watching, I saw Lady Lydbrook enter the ballroom. She
+looked very charming in a dance frock of bright orange, with a wreath
+of silver leaves in her hair. Her gown was certainly the most _chic_
+of any in the room, and she wore a beautiful rope of pearls.
+
+Presently I summoned courage, and bowing, invited her to dance with
+me. She smiled with dignity and accepted. Hence we were soon
+acquaintances, for she danced beautifully, and I am told that I dance
+fairly well. After the fox-trot we sat down and chatted. I told her
+that I had only arrived that day.
+
+"I saw you," she said. "What a topping car you have! Ours is a Rolls
+but an old pattern. I'm always pressing my husband to get rid of it
+and buy a new model. But he won't. Business men are all the same. They
+tot up figures and weigh the cost of everything," and she laughed
+lightly, showing a set of pearly teeth. "They weigh up everything one
+eats and wears. I hope you're not a business man?"
+
+"No. I'm not," I replied with a smile. "If I were I might be a bit
+richer than I am."
+
+"Money! Bah!" she exclaimed as she waved the big ostrich feather that
+served her as fan. "It's all very well in its way, but some men get
+stifled with their money-bags, just as Owen is. Their wealth is so
+great that its very heaviness presses out all their good qualities and
+only leaves avarice behind."
+
+"But to have great wealth at one's command must be a source of great
+joy. Look how much good one could do!" I said philosophically.
+
+"Good! Yes," she laughed. "The rich man can be philanthropic--if he is
+not a business man, Mr. Cottingham. The latter--if he tries to do good
+to his fellow-creatures--is dubbed a fool in his business circles and
+invariably comes to grief. At least that is what Owen tells me. He's
+double my age, and he ought to know," added the charming little woman.
+
+I admitted that there was much truth in what she had said. Indeed, we
+had already grown to be such good friends that, at her invitation, the
+night being clear and moonlit, we strolled out of the hotel and along
+the promenade, half-way to the pier, and back.
+
+Her companion, Miss Wallis, I had seen in the ballroom dancing with an
+elderly man who had "the City" stamped all over him. We chatted upon
+many subjects as we strolled in the balmy moonlit night.
+
+"I expect my husband back in a day or two. He has been to Warsaw upon
+some financial business for the Government. When we leave here we go
+to Trouville for a week or so, and in the autumn I believe we go to
+America. My husband goes over each year."
+
+Then I learned from her that they had a town house in Curzon Street, a
+country place in Berkshire, and a villa at Cannes. They had, it
+appeared, only recently been married.
+
+"We generally manage to get to Cannes each winter for a month or two.
+I love the Riviera," she said. "Do you know it?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I've been there once or twice."
+
+"The Villa Jaumont is out on the road to Nice, on the left. Perhaps if
+you happen to be there this winter you will call. I shall be most
+delighted to see you."
+
+When presently we were back in the hotel and I had gone to my room, I
+realized that I had made rather good progress. I had ingratiated
+myself with her, and she had grown very confidential, inasmuch as I
+was already able to judge that she rather despised her elderly and
+parsimonious husband, and that she preferred to lead her own
+untrammelled life.
+
+But what was the real object of my mission?
+
+A few days later I received a scribbled note signed "Rudolph" to say
+that a friend of his, an Italian named Giulio Ansaldi, was arriving at
+the hotel and would meet me in strictest secrecy. I was to leave my
+bedroom door unlocked at midnight, when he would enter unannounced.
+Enclosed was half one of Duperre's visiting-cards torn across in a
+jagged manner.
+
+"Your visitor will present to you the missing half of the enclosed
+card as credential," he wrote. "If the two pieces fit, then trust him
+implicitly and act according to his instructions which he will convey
+from me."
+
+I turned over the portion of the torn visiting-card, wondering what
+fresh instructions I was to receive in such strict secrecy.
+
+I thought of Lola and wondered whether she had returned home from a
+visit she was paying in Devonshire, and whether, by her watchfulness,
+she had gained any inkling of the nature of this latest plot.
+
+Little Lady Lydbrook had now become my constant companion. Her friend,
+Elsie Wallis, had apparently become on friendly terms with a tall,
+slim, dark-haired young man who often took her out in his car, while
+on several occasions Lady Lydbrook had accepted my invitation for an
+afternoon run and tea somewhere. The one fact that I did not like was
+that a quiet, middle-aged man seemed always to be watching our
+movements, for whether we chatted together in the lounge, went out
+motoring, walking on the promenade, or dancing, he always appeared
+somewhere in the vicinity. But on the day I received Rayne's note he
+had paid his bill and left the hotel, a fact by which my mind was much
+relieved.
+
+That day I motored my pretty little friend over to Brighton, where we
+lunched at the Metropole and arrived back for tea. Her husband, she
+said, had that morning telegraphed to her from Hamburg regretting that
+he could not rejoin her at present as he was on his way to Italy.
+
+"I suppose all our plans are upset again!" she remarked with a pretty
+pout, as she sat at my side while we went carefully through the
+old-world town of Lewes. She had become just a little inquisitive
+about myself. It seemed that she enjoyed her dances with me. Indeed,
+she admitted it, but I could discern that she was a good deal puzzled
+as to my means of livelihood. I had to be very circumspect, yet for
+the life of me I could not imagine why I had been ordered to carry on
+what was, after all, a mild flirtation with a very pretty young
+married lady.
+
+I could see that the other visitors at the hotel were whispering, and
+more especially had I incurred the displeasure of a Mrs. Glenbury, an
+elderly lady of distinctly out-of-date views, who with pathetic effort
+tried to ape youth.
+
+Late in the evening after our return from Brighton, I took a long
+stroll alone along the lower promenade, close to the beach, which at
+night is very ill-lit, being below the level of the well-illuminated
+roadway. I suppose I had walked for quite a couple of miles when, on
+my return, I discerned in front of me two figures, a man and a woman.
+A ray of light from the roadway above shone on them as they passed,
+and I noticed that while the woman wore an ordinary dark cloth coat,
+the man was in tweeds and a golf cap.
+
+An altercation had arisen between them.
+
+"All right," he cried. "You won't live here very much longer--I'll see
+to that! You've tried to do me down, and very nearly succeeded. And
+now you refuse to give me even a fiver!"
+
+Those words aroused my curiosity. I held back; for my feet fell
+noiselessly because of my rubber heels. I strained my ears to catch
+their further conversation.
+
+"I've never refused you, Arthur!" replied the woman's voice.
+
+I held my breath. The voice was Lady Lydbrook's. I could recognize it
+anywhere!
+
+I watched. The young man's attitude was certainly threatening.
+
+"I don't intend now that you'll get off lightly. You'll have to pay me
+not a fiver but fifty pounds to-night. So go back to the hotel and
+bring me out a cheque. I'll wait at the Wish Tower. But mind it isn't
+a dud one. If it is, then, by gad! I'll tell them right away. And
+won't the fur fly then, eh?"
+
+He spoke in a refined voice, though his appearance was that of a
+loafer.
+
+His companion was evidently in fear. She tried to argue, to cajole,
+and to appear defiant, but all was useless. He only laughed
+triumphantly at her as they walked along the deserted promenade in the
+direction of the hotel.
+
+Suddenly they halted. I held back at once. They conversed in lower
+tones--intense words that I could not catch. But it seemed to me that
+the frail little woman who was so often my companion was cowed and
+terrified. Why? What did she fear?
+
+She left him, while he drew back into the shadow. I waited also in the
+shadow for nearly ten minutes, then I passed on, ascended some steps
+and reentered the hotel. In the lounge I sank into a seat in a hidden
+corner and lit a cigarette. Presently I heard the swish of a woman's
+skirt behind me, and rising, peered out. It was Lady Lydbrook on her
+way out. She was carrying the cheque to the mysterious stranger!
+
+Alone in my room that night I threw myself into a chair and pondered
+deeply. I had learned that Lady Lydbrook was under the influence of
+that ill-dressed man who spoke so well, and whom I at first took to be
+an undergraduate or perhaps a hospital student.
+
+It was a point to report to Rayne. Somehow I felt a rising antagonism
+towards the young man who had successfully extracted fifty pounds from
+my dainty little companion who was so passionately fond of jewels and
+who frequently wore some exquisite rings and pendants. What hold could
+the fellow have upon her?
+
+Next morning she appeared bright and radiant at breakfast--which, of
+course, she took with her rather retiring friend Elsie Wallis--and I
+smiled across at her. She was, after all, a bright up-to-date little
+married woman possessed of great wealth and influence, her whole life
+being devoted to self-enjoyment at the expense of her elderly and
+despised husband. She was a typical girl of society who had married an
+old man for his money and afterwards sought younger male society. We
+have them to-day in hundreds on every side.
+
+After breakfast we went together along the sea-front where the band
+was playing. The weather was glorious and Eastbourne looked at its
+best.
+
+I now regarded her as a mystery after what I had witnessed on the
+previous night.
+
+"I'm horribly bored here!" she declared to me, as in her white summer
+gown she strolled by my side towards the town. "Owen is not coming, so
+I think I shall soon get away somewhere."
+
+"What about your friend Elsie?" I asked, wondering whether her
+decision had any connection with the unwelcome arrival of that
+mysterious young man in tweeds.
+
+"Oh, she's going back to London to-day--so I shall be horribly
+lonely," she replied.
+
+I recollected her nervousness and apprehension before she had paid the
+man who had undoubtedly blackmailed her, and became more than ever
+puzzled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CAT'S TOOTH
+
+
+That night I went to my room at about ten minutes before midnight, and
+waited for the appearance of my secret visitor.
+
+Just as midnight struck the handle of the door slowly turned and a
+well-dressed, dark-mustached man of about thirty-five entered silently
+and bowed.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave?" he asked with a foreign accent. "Or is it
+Cottingham?"
+
+"Which you please," I replied in a low voice, laughing.
+
+"I have this to hand to you," he said as he produced the portion of
+the visiting-card which I found fitted exactly to that which I had
+received from Rayne.
+
+"Well?" I asked, inviting him to a chair and afterwards turning the
+key in the door. "What message have you for me?" Then I noticed for
+the first time that he bore in his hand a small brown leather
+attache-case.
+
+"I know you well by name, Mr. Hargreave," he said. "You are one of us,
+I know. Therefore 'The Golden Face' sends you a message."
+
+"Have you seen him?" I asked.
+
+"No," was his reply. "Though we have been in association for several
+years, I always receive messages through Vincent Duperre."
+
+I knew that only too well. Rudolph Rayne took the most elaborate
+precautions to preserve a clean pair of hands himself, no matter what
+dirty work he planned to be carried out by others.
+
+"Duperre saw me in London yesterday, gave me that piece of card, and
+told me to come here and explain matters," the Italian went on in a
+low voice. "You see this case. I am to hand it to you," and as he took
+it, he touched the bottom, which I saw was hinged and fell inwards in
+two pieces, both of which sprang back again into their places by means
+of strong springs. My small collar-box stood upon the dressing-table.
+
+"You see how it works," he said, and placing the attache-case over the
+collar-box, he snatched it up and the collar-box had disappeared
+inside! It was an old invention of thieves and possessed no
+originality. I wondered that Rayne's friends employed such a
+contrivance, which, of course, was useful when it became necessary
+that valuable objects should disappear.
+
+"Well, and what of it?" I asked, as, opening the case, he took out my
+collar-box and replaced it upon the table.
+
+"I am told that you are on very friendly terms with Lady Lydbrook. Our
+friend old Hesketh has been here and watched your progress--a
+grey-mustached man with a slight limp. I dare say you may have noticed
+him."
+
+I recollected the silent watcher who I had feared might be a
+detective, and who had recently left the hotel. So Rayne had set
+secret watch upon my movements--a fact which irritated me.
+
+"Yes. I know Sir Owen's wife," I said. "Why?"
+
+"Possibly you don't know that she has in a small dark-green morocco
+case a rope of pearls worth twenty thousand, as well as some other
+magnificent jewels. Haven't you seen her wearing her pearls?"
+
+"I have," I said, "but I put them down as artificial ones."
+
+"No--every one of them is real! They were a present to her from her
+husband on her marriage," said the foreigner, his dark eyes glowing as
+he spoke. "We want them," he whispered eagerly. "And as you know her,
+you'll have to get them."
+
+"I shall do no such thing!" I protested quickly. "I may be employed by
+Mr. Rayne, but I'm not paid to commit a theft."
+
+My visitor looked me very straight in the face with his searching
+eyes, and after a moment's pause, asked:
+
+"Is that really your decision? Am I to report that to Duperre--that
+you refuse?"
+
+"If you want to steal the woman's pearls why don't you do it
+yourself?" I suggested.
+
+"Because I am not her friend. You have called at her room for her,
+Hesketh has reported. You would not be suspected, being her friend,"
+he added with sly persuasiveness.
+
+"No. Tell them I refuse!" I cried, furious that such a proposition
+should be put to me.
+
+The foreigner, in whom I now recognized a polished international
+crook, shrugged his shoulders and elevated his eyebrows. Then he
+asked:
+
+"Will you not reconsider your decision, Signor Hargreave? I fear this
+refusal will mean a great deal to you. When 'The Golden Face' becomes
+hostile he always manages to put those who disobey him into the hands
+of the police. And I have knowledge that he intends you to act in this
+case as he directs, or--well, I fear that some unpleasantness will
+arise for you!"
+
+"What do you threaten?" I demanded angrily. "I don't know who you
+are--and I don't care! One fact is plain, that you, like myself, are
+an agent of the man of abnormal brain known as 'The Golden Face,' but
+I tell you I refuse to become a jewel-thief."
+
+"Very well, if that is your irrevocable decision I will return
+to-morrow and report," he answered in very good English, though he was
+typically Italian. "But I warn you that mischief is meant if you do
+not obey. Duperre told me so. Like myself you are paid to act as
+directed and to keep a silent tongue. Only six months ago Jean Durand,
+in Paris, refused to obey a demand, and to-day he is in the convict
+prison in Toulon serving a sentence of seven years. He attempted to
+reveal facts concerning 'The Golden Face,' but the judge at the Seine
+Assizes ridiculed the idea of our head director living respected and
+unsuspected in England. You may believe yourself safe and able to
+adopt a defiant attitude, but I, for one, can tell you that such a
+policy can only bring upon you dire misfortune. Once one becomes a
+servant of 'The Golden Face' one remains so always, extremely well
+paid and highly prosperous providing one is alert and shrewd, but
+ruined and imprisoned if one either makes a slip or grows defiant. I
+hope you will understand me, signor. I have been given a master-key to
+the hotel. It will open Lady Lydbrook's door. Here it is."
+
+"But I really cannot accede to this!" I declared. "Though I have
+fallen into a clever trap and have assisted in certain schemes, yet I
+have never acted as the actual thief."
+
+"'The Golden Face,' whose marvelous activity and influence we must
+all admire, has decided that you must do so in this case," he said
+inexorably.
+
+I craved time to consider the matter, and after some further
+conversation told him I would meet him near the bandstand on the
+sea-front at noon next day, for we did not want to be associated in
+the hotel.
+
+That night I slept but little, for I realized that if I refused I must
+assuredly be cast into the melting-pot as one who might, in return,
+give Rayne away. I thought of Lola with whom I was so madly in love,
+and whom I intended to eventually rescue from the criminal atmosphere
+in which, though innocent, she was compelled to live.
+
+I hated to take such a downward step, though the innocent-looking
+little attache-case with the steel grips and spring bottom was there
+by my bedside ready for use. I was torn between the path of honesty
+from which, alas! I had been slowly slipping ever since I had made
+that accursed compact with Rudolph Rayne, and my love for Lola, who
+had, I knew, every confidence in me, while at the same time she was
+growing highly suspicious of her father.
+
+The reader will readily realize my feelings that night. I had taken a
+false step, and to withdraw would mean arrest, conviction and
+imprisonment, notwithstanding any disclosures I might make. Rudolph
+Rayne remained always with clean hands, the rich country gentleman and
+personal friend of certain Justices of the Peace, officials, and
+others, with whom he played golf and invited to his shooting parties
+on the Yorkshire moors which he rented with money stolen in divers
+ways and in various cities.
+
+So, to cut a long story short, I met the mysterious Italian crook next
+day--and I fell, for I took the master-key and agreed to attempt the
+theft of Lady Lydbrook's pearls!
+
+I now saw through Rayne's devilish plot. I was to be used still
+further as his cat's-paw, and he had planned that because of my
+friendship with the pretty young woman, at his orders I was to steal
+her property.
+
+I felt myself alone and in a cleft stick. That afternoon, as I sat at
+tea in the lounge with the woman whose jewels I was ordered to steal,
+I was torn by a thousand emotions, yet I pretended to be my usual
+self, and at my invitation she went out for a motor run between tea
+and dinner.
+
+Though I laughed at my foolishness, I somehow suspected that she now
+viewed me with distinct misgiving. It now became necessary for me to
+prospect for the little morocco case in which I knew she kept her
+pearls. Therefore I at last summoned courage, and one evening, just
+before half-past seven, while she was dressing for dinner, I knocked
+and made excuse to ask her if she would go to the theater with me.
+
+"Do come in," she cried, for she was already dressed in a bright
+sapphire-colored gown which greatly heightened her beauty. As she
+admitted me, I saw the little jewel-case standing upon a tiny
+side-table near the window. She was not wearing her beautiful rope of
+pearls, therefore they were, without a doubt, safe in the case.
+
+She thanked me and accepted, so I quickly went downstairs and told the
+hall porter to telephone for two stalls.
+
+That night, on arrival back at the hotel, it occurred to me that if
+the little jewel-case had been left where it was my chance had now
+arrived. I was being forced against my will to become a thief. Rayne,
+the man who held me in his grip, had driven me to it and had placed
+the means at my disposal. To refuse would mean arrest and the loss of
+Lola.
+
+We sat down in the lounge and I called for drinks--she was thirsty and
+would like a lemon squash, she said. Before the waiter brought them, I
+made leisurely excuse to go to the bureau to see if there were any
+letters. Instead, I rushed up to my own room, obtained the "trick"
+attache-case, and carrying it along to Lady Lydbrook's room,
+stealthily opened the door with the master-key which Ansaldi had given
+me.
+
+All was dark within. I switched on the light, when, before me, upon
+the little table, I saw the small green jewel-box.
+
+In an instant I placed the attache-case over it and next second it had
+disappeared.
+
+But as I did so, I heard a movement behind me, and, on turning, to my
+breathless horror saw, standing before me, the pretty, fair-haired
+young woman whom I had robbed!
+
+"Well, Mr. Cottingham--or whatever your name is," she exclaimed in a
+hard, altered voice as, closing the door behind her, she advanced to
+me with a fierce light in her eyes. "And what are you doing here,
+pray?"
+
+Then, glancing at the table and noticing her jewel-case missing, she
+added:
+
+"I see! You have scraped acquaintance with me in order to steal my
+jewels. You have them in that case in your hand!"
+
+I stammered something. What it was I have no recollection. I only know
+that my words infuriated her, and she dashed out into the corridor to
+raise the alarm, leaving me in possession of the trick bag with the
+jewel-case inside.
+
+I dashed after her, seizing her roughly by the waist as she ran down
+the corridor.
+
+"Listen!" I whispered fiercely into her ear. "Listen one moment. You
+surely won't give me away? Listen to what I have to tell you.
+Do--I--implore you," I said. "I am no thief! I will tell you
+everything--and ask your advice. No harm has been done. Your pearls
+are here."
+
+"Yes," she said, turning back upon me. "But you--the man I liked and
+trusted--are a common thief!"
+
+"I admit it," I said hoarsely as I dragged her back to her room, her
+dress being torn in the struggle. "I have been forced against my will
+into robbing you, as I will explain."
+
+Back in her bedroom she assumed a very serious attitude. She invited
+me to sit down, after I had handed back her jewel-case, and then, also
+seating herself in an arm-chair, she said in determination:
+
+"Now look here, George Hargreave ... you see, I know your real name. I
+know your game. By a word I can have you arrested, while, on the other
+hand, my silence would give you your liberty."
+
+"You will remain silent, Lady Lydbrook--I beg of you! I know that I
+have committed an unpardonable crime for which there is no excuse." I
+thought of that strange midnight scene I had witnessed and it was on
+the tip of my tongue to mention it. But would it further infuriate
+her? So I refrained from alluding to it.
+
+Her attitude towards me had completely altered. She was hard-mouthed
+and indignant, which, after all, was but natural.
+
+"My whole future is in your hands," I added.
+
+She still hesitated. A word from her and not only would I be arrested,
+but Rayne would probably be exposed and arrested also. She seemed, I
+feared, to be aware of the whole organization, hence she was one of
+the last persons who should have been marked down as a victim. Rayne
+had evidently committed a fatal error.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "I am open to remain silent, and the matter
+shall never be mentioned between us--but on one condition."
+
+"And what is that?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"I am in want of someone to help me. Will you do so?"
+
+"I will do anything to serve you if you give me my liberty," I said,
+much ashamed.
+
+"Very well, then. Listen," she said in a hard, strained voice. "If you
+resolve, in return for my silence, to assist me, you will be compelled
+to act at my orders without seeking for any motive, but in blind
+obedience."
+
+"I quite understand," I replied. "I agree."
+
+No doubt she desired me to act against her enemy--the young fellow who
+had extracted fifty pounds from her by threat.
+
+"You must say nothing to a soul but meet me in secret in Paris. Stay
+at the Hotel Continental where I shall stay on the night of the
+twenty-fourth. That is next Wednesday. At ten o'clock I shall be on
+the terrace of the Cafe Vachette in the Boulevard St. Michel. Remember
+the day and hour, and meet me there. Then I will tell you what service
+I require of you. I shall leave here to-morrow, and I suppose you will
+leave also." And she opened her jewel-case to reassure herself that
+her pearls and other ornaments were safe.
+
+So she forgave me, shook my hand, and I went out of the room with the
+cold perspiration still upon me.
+
+I made no report of my failure to Rayne, but on the following
+Wednesday night, after taking a room at the Continental, in Paris, an
+hotel which I knew well, I crossed the Seine at about half-past nine,
+and at ten o'clock sauntered up the boulevard to the popular, and
+rather Bohemian, Cafe Vachette, where at a little table in the corner,
+set well back from the pavement, I found her seated alone. She was
+wearing the same dark cloth coat in which I had seen her when she met
+the mysterious stranger at night at Eastbourne.
+
+"Well? So you've kept the appointment, Mr. Cottingham!" she laughed
+cheerily as I sank into a chair beside her. "You'll order a drink and
+pay for mine, eh?" she laughed.
+
+Then when I had swallowed my liqueur, she suggested that we should
+stroll down the boulevard and talk.
+
+This we did. The proposition which she made without much preliminary
+held me aghast.
+
+"Though I like you very much, Mr. Cottingham," she said as we
+conversed in low voices, "I cannot conceal from myself that you are a
+thief. Well, now to be perfectly frank, I want a thief's help--and I
+know that, as we are friends, you will assist me. You know my
+inordinate love of jewels. Indeed, I wouldn't have married Owen if he
+had not given me my pearls. And you know the other ornaments I
+have--which I might very well never have seen again, eh?"
+
+"I know," I said.
+
+"Well, now, at the Continental there is at the present moment staying
+a Madame Rodanet, the widow of the millionaire chocolate manufacturer.
+She possesses among her jewels the famous Dent du Chat--the Cat's
+Tooth Ruby. It is called so because it is a perfect stone and
+curiously pointed, the only one of its kind in the world. I want it,
+and you must get it for me--as the price of my silence regarding the
+affair at Eastbourne."
+
+I held my breath.
+
+Her suggestion appalled me. I was to commit a second theft as the
+price of the first! The pretty wife of the great Sheffield ironmaster
+was a thief herself at heart! Truly, the situation was a strange and
+bewildering one.
+
+I protested, and pointed out the risk and difficulties, but she met
+all my arguments with remarkable cleverness.
+
+"I know Madame," she said. "I will make your path smooth for you, and
+I myself will spirit the jewel out of France so that no possible
+suspicion can attach to you," was her reply. "Will you leave it all to
+me?"
+
+We walked on down the well-lit boulevard, my brain a-whirl, until at
+last, pressed hard by her, I consented to act as she directed.
+
+I found, in the course of the next three days, that Lady Lydbrook's
+whole life was centered upon the possession of jewels of great value,
+and I was amazed to discover how very cleverly she plotted the coup
+which I was to carry out.
+
+One evening, after dinner, she introduced me casually to the rich
+widow, an ugly overdressed old woman who was wearing as a pendant the
+famous Dent du Chat. It was, to say the least, a wonderful gem. But I
+passed as a person of no importance.
+
+Next night with Lady Lydbrook's help I was, however, able to get into
+the old woman's bedroom and carry out my contract for the preservation
+of silence concerning the affair at Eastbourne.
+
+I shall always recollect the moment when I slipped the pendant into
+Lady Lydbrook's soft hand as she stood in _deshabille_ at the
+half-opened door of her bedroom and her quick whispered words:
+
+"I shall be away by the first train. Stay here to-morrow and cross to
+London the next day. _Au revoir!_ Let us meet again soon!" And she
+gripped my hand warmly in hers and closed her door noiselessly.
+
+Ah! A week later I learned how, by Rayne's devilish cunning, I had
+been tricked. When I knew the truth, I bit my lips to the blood.
+
+The widow Rodanet had, it appeared, been staying at the Palais, in
+Biarritz, when Duperre and I had been there. She had been marked down
+by Rayne as a victim, for the Dent du Chat was a stone of enormous
+value.
+
+The planned robbery had, however, gone wrong and we had been compelled
+to return to London. Then Rayne had conceived the sinister idea of
+sending me to Lady Lydbrook--who was not Sir Owen's wife at all but
+one of his agents like myself, and whose real name was Betty
+Tressider--a girl-thief whose chief possession was a rope of imitation
+pearls.
+
+I, alas! dropped into the trap, whereupon she, on her part, compelled
+me to steal old Madame Rodanet's wonderful ruby; and thus, though I
+confess it to my shame, I became an actual thief and one of Rudolph
+Rayne's active agents. What happened to me further I will now tell
+you.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LOLA IS AGAIN SUSPICIOUS
+
+
+The devilish cunning of Rudolph Rayne was indeed well illustrated by
+the clever trap which he had set for me by the instrumentality of that
+pretty woman-thief, Betty Tressider, who called herself Lady Lydbrook.
+
+I now realized by Rayne's overbearing attitude that he had, by a ruse,
+succeeded in his object in compelling me to become an active
+accomplice of the gang.
+
+When back again once more in Yorkshire, I was delighted to find that
+Lola had returned from her visit to Devonshire. She was just as sweet
+and charming as ever, but just a trifle too inquisitive regarding my
+visits to Eastbourne and Paris. I was much ashamed of the theft I had
+been forced to commit in order to preserve secrecy regarding my first
+downfall, hence rather awkwardly, I fear, I evaded all her questions.
+
+Nevertheless, we were a great deal in each other's company, and had
+many confidential chats. I loved her, yet somehow I could not be frank
+and open. How could I without revealing the secret of her father?
+
+One spring afternoon we had been playing tennis and were sitting
+together in the pretty arbor at the end of the well-kept lawn, both
+smoking cigarettes after a strenuous game, when suddenly she turned to
+me, saying:
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Hargreave, I don't like the look of things at all!
+Mr. Duperre is not playing a straight game--of that I'm sure!"
+
+"Oh--why?" I asked with affected ignorance.
+
+"I have again overheard something. Yesterday I was just going into the
+morning-room, the door of which stood ajar, when I heard father
+warning Duperre of something--I couldn't quite catch what it was. Only
+he said that he didn't approve of such drastic measures, and that 'the
+old man might lose his life.' To that Duperre replied: 'And if he did,
+nobody would be any wiser.' What can it mean?"
+
+"I fear I am just as ignorant as yourself," I replied, looking the
+arch-crook's pretty daughter full in the face.
+
+"Well," she said, "I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave. I have only
+you in whom I can confide."
+
+"Yes," I assured her, bending across to her. "You can trust me
+implicitly. I, too, am just as puzzled as yourself."
+
+"I know they have some business schemes together, Madame has often
+told me so," went on the girl. "But while I was away at Keswick I
+purposely got into conversation with an old gentleman named Lloyd at
+Madame's suggestion, as she told me our acquaintanceship would be
+useful to some business scheme of Vincent's. It appears that he wanted
+to become acquainted with Mr. Lloyd."
+
+"And you acted upon her suggestion?" I asked, horrified that she was
+becoming the decoy of that circle of super-crooks.
+
+"Yes, though it was against my will," was her reply. "I contrived to
+allow him to have an opportunity to chat with me, and I afterwards
+introduced Madame as my companion."
+
+"And what followed?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Oh, he was very often with us, and took us for rides in his car all
+through the Lakes. The hotel was full of smart people, and I think
+they envied us."
+
+I was silent for a moment.
+
+"Have you any idea who Mr. Lloyd may be?" I asked.
+
+"No, except that Madame told me that he is immensely rich. A few days
+later father came over to Keswick and stayed a few days and met him.
+But the whole affair was most mysterious. I can't make it out,"
+declared the girl. "Mr. Duperre never met him after all."
+
+"We must remain patient and watch," I urged.
+
+This we did, and very soon there came a strange development of that
+carefully planned introduction.
+
+One day, on entering Rayne's study, I found him in conversation with a
+tall, dark, fashionably dressed foreign woman--Spanish, I believed her
+to be. As I went in unexpectedly she seemed to have risen and assumed
+a fierce defiant attitude, while he, seated at his writing-table, was
+smoking one of his favorite expensive cigars and contemplating her
+with amusement.
+
+"My dear Madame," he said, laughing, "pray sit down and let us discuss
+the matter coolly. I do not wish you to act in any way to jeopardize
+yourself. I have made certain plans; it is for you and your friends to
+carry them out. And I know how clever is your friend Louis Larroca. So
+there is no need for apprehension. Besides, if you trust me, as you
+have done hitherto, you will find the whole affair works quite
+easily--and without the least risk to yourselves."
+
+Next second he realized that I had entered, and turning to me, said
+quite quietly:
+
+"I'm engaged just now, Hargreave."
+
+So I was forced to withdraw, full of wonder as to the nature of the
+latest conspiracy.
+
+I found that a hired car from a garage at Thirsk was awaiting the
+lady, who, I learned from the young footman, had given her name as
+Madame Martoz.
+
+A quarter of an hour later she drove away without, so far as I could
+discern, having seen either Duperre or his wife.
+
+Next day Rayne, whom I drove into York in the new two-seater Vauxhall,
+told me as we went along that he was having a small house-party on the
+following Thursday.
+
+"Just a few personal friends," he added.
+
+I smiled within myself, for I knew the character of the personal
+friends of "The Golden Face."
+
+Yet to my surprise, when Thursday came I found assembled half a dozen
+perfectly honest and respectable men and their wives, and in some
+cases their daughters. One was a London barrister, another a
+well-known member of Parliament, a third a rich Leeds manufacturer,
+while the others were more or less well known, and certainly all of
+the highest respectability. When Rayne gave a house-party he always
+did the thing well, and the days passed in a round of well-ordered
+enjoyment, motoring, golf, tennis and visits to neighbors to the full
+delight of everyone. In the evening there were dancing and billiards,
+Duperre being the life and soul of the smart party.
+
+On the fourth day, about twelve o'clock, Lola, who had made friends
+with Enid Claverton, the barrister's daughter, who was about the same
+age as herself, came to me in the garage, and said:
+
+"Mr. Lloyd, whom we met at Keswick, has just arrived. He's come on a
+visit. Father told me nothing about it. Did he tell you?"
+
+"Not a word," I replied, wondering why the person in question had been
+enticed into the spider's parlor. No doubt the highly respectable
+house-party had been invited to form a suitable setting for some
+secret villainy.
+
+I met the new guest just before luncheon and found him a
+white-bearded, bald-headed, fresh-complexioned and rather dapper
+little man, whose merry eyes and easy-going manner marked him as a
+_bon vivant_ and something after Rayne's own style.
+
+He greeted me when in the big hall with its long armorial windows, its
+old family portraits, and the many trophies of the chase that had been
+secured by the noble family who were previous owners of the Hall.
+Rayne introduced me as his secretary.
+
+I looked into the smartly dressed old fellow's blue eyes and wondered
+what foul plot against him had emanated from the abnormal brain of the
+arch-criminal who was his host. I smiled when I reflected on the
+horror of those guests did they but know who Rudolph Rayne really was.
+But in their ignorance they enjoyed his unbounded hospitality and
+voted him a real good sort--as outwardly he was.
+
+My time was occupied mostly in driving the Rolls, but when at home I
+watched narrowly yet was utterly unable to discern why the friendship
+of Mr. Gordon Lloyd, whose profession or status I failed to discover,
+had been so cleverly secured and carefully cultivated until he had now
+become a welcome guest under Rayne's roof.
+
+There was a sinister design somewhere, but in what direction? Rudolph
+Rayne never lifted a finger or smiled upon a stranger without some
+evil intent by which to enrich himself. Usurers in the City have
+always been clever people backed by capital, but this super-crook had,
+I learned, risen in a few years from a small bookmaker in Balham to
+control the biggest combine of Thiefdom ever known in the annals of
+our time.
+
+One day I drove Mr. Lloyd with Lola and a Mrs. Charlesworth, one of
+the guests, into Ripon to see the cathedral. We had inspected the fine
+transepts, the choir and the famous Saxon crypt--of which there is
+only one other in England--and had gone to the old Unicorn to tea.
+
+We had sat down when, chancing to glance around, I saw, to my
+surprise, seated in a corner alone, the handsome Madame Martoz, who
+had had that confidential interview with Lola's father some days
+before. Our recognition was mutual, I saw, for she lowered her dark
+eyes and busied herself with the teapot before her. Yet I noticed that
+with covert glances she was still regarding us with some curiosity.
+
+Ten minutes later a tall, swarthy-faced man with well-trimmed black
+mustache, a typical Spaniard, lounged in and sat at her table, while
+she gave him tea. Mr. Lloyd, Lola and Mrs. Charlesworth were busily
+chatting, but I noted that the Spanish woman whispered some words to
+her companion which caused him to glance in our direction. Afterwards
+they both rose and went out.
+
+Later, when we had finished our tea, I went to the office in order to
+pay--for on such excursions I always paid on Rayne's behalf--and when
+doing so, I asked casually:
+
+"Have you a Spanish gentleman staying here--a Mr. Larroca?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the rather stout, pleasant bookkeeper. "We have a
+Mr. Bellido, a Spanish gentleman. He's just gone out with Madame
+Calleja, who is also Spanish, though they both speak English well."
+
+I thanked her and rejoined my party. At least I had ascertained the
+names under which they were known, for Larroca was no doubt the real
+name of Bellido.
+
+What mischief was intended? It was evident that we had been purposely
+sent by Rayne to that hotel in Ripon in order that Madame and her
+accomplice should see us, so that we could be identified again.
+Certainly it was unnecessary for them to see Lola, Mrs. Charlesworth
+or myself. We had, I felt convinced, made that excursion in order that
+old Mr. Lloyd should be seen and known to the mysterious pair.
+
+Two days afterwards our guests dispersed, but Mr. Lloyd, pressed by
+Madame Duperre, remained behind.
+
+To me he seemed one of those wealthy, rather faddy men whom one
+encounters sometimes in the best hotels, men who move up and down the
+country aimlessly during the spring and summer and in winter go abroad
+for a few months; men with piles of well-battered and be-labelled
+baggage whose home is always in hotels and whose chief object in life
+is to dress in the fashion of the younger generation, to be seen
+everywhere, to give cosy little luncheon and dinner-parties, and be
+the "fairy" uncle of any pretty girl they may come across.
+
+We have lots of such in England to-day. Ask the _chef-de-reception_ of
+any of our smartest hotels, and they will reel off the names of half a
+dozen or so elderly bachelors, widowers or wife-quarrelers with huge
+incomes who prefer to pass along the line of least resistance in
+domesticity--the private suite in an up-to-date hotel.
+
+Mr. Gordon Lloyd was one of such, and it seemed that Rudolph Rayne,
+who now treated me with the greatest intimacy because he saw that he
+had drawn me so completely into his net, had become his dearest
+friend.
+
+On the night when the last guest had departed I sat with the pair over
+the port, after Lola and Madame had left the dinner-table.
+
+"Really," said the merry old gentleman with his glass of '74 poised in
+his hand, "I don't know whether I shall go back to Colwyn Bay again
+this winter--or go abroad. I've no ties, and I'm getting fed up. I
+haven't been abroad since the war."
+
+"Go abroad, my dear fellow," said Rayne. "The change would certainly
+do you good--go somewhere in the south. The Riviera is played out. Why
+not go to Sicily?"
+
+"I've been there," replied old Mr. Lloyd as he sipped his glass of
+fine wine.
+
+"Then why not try Italy? Glorious bright weather all through our foggy
+season--Rome or Florence, for instance?"
+
+"No, I hate Italy."
+
+"Spain, then? Good hotels in Madrid and Barcelona. In Madrid there is
+a small circle of English society, good opera, and lots of interesting
+places to visit by motor," Rayne suggested, for, as a rapid traveler
+all over Europe, he knew every Continental city of importance.
+
+The old man was rather struck by the latter suggestion.
+
+"I certainly am rather tired of Bournemouth and Colwyn Bay and Hove in
+winter," he admitted. "I've never been to Madrid."
+
+"Then go, my dear fellow. Go by all means. The journey is quite easy.
+Just the train by day to Paris, and then by sleeping-car on the Sud
+Express right through to Madrid."
+
+"Yes. But it's an awful trouble," replied the rich old man.
+
+"No trouble at all!" laughed Rayne as he pulled at his cigar. "I don't
+like to see you in this rut of hotels. It's bad for you! It only leads
+to drinks in the bar till late and bad headaches in the morning. You
+must buck up and get out of it."
+
+"Well, I'll see," replied the old fellow, and then we all three rose
+and rejoined the ladies.
+
+Oh, what a farce the whole thing was! I longed--I yearned to yell my
+disclosures against the man who like an octopus had now placed his
+tentacles around me. But I saw that it was futile to kick against the
+pricks. I had only to wait and to watch.
+
+For a whole week things proceeded in good, well-ordered regularity.
+Mr. Lloyd was our guest and everyone made themselves pleasant towards
+him. Lola, with whom I had frequent chats in secret, had somehow
+become disarmed. She no longer suspected her father of any sinister
+intent, the reason being that he had taken the old man as his dearest
+and most intimate confidant.
+
+One night after I had beaten old Mr. Lloyd at billiards and he had
+gone to bed, I passed by the door of the library and saw a streak of
+light beneath the door.
+
+Therefore, believing that the electric light had been inadvertently
+left on, I opened the door, when I had a great surprise.
+
+Rayne was seated in an arm-chair chatting with Madame Martoz, while on
+a settee near the window sat Madame Duperre.
+
+All three started up as I entered, but a word of apology instantly
+rose to my lips, and Rayne said: "That's all right, Hargreave. Indeed,
+I wanted to talk to you. Look here," he went on, "I want you to go to
+Madrid after old Mr. Lloyd goes there, as no doubt he will. You'll
+stay at the Ritz in the Plaza de Canovas, and ask no questions. I'll
+send you instructions--or perhaps Duperre may be with you."
+
+"When?" I asked in surprise, as it appeared that the rich old
+gentleman had, after all, arranged to go to Spain.
+
+"In ten days or so. When I tell you. Till then, don't worry, my dear
+boy. When I make plans you know that you have only to act."
+
+"To the detriment of our unsuspecting guest, eh?" I remarked in a low
+bitter voice.
+
+"That is not polite, George," he said sharply. "You are our paid
+servant, and such a remark does not befit you."
+
+"Whether it does or not, Mr. Rayne, I repeat it," I said defiantly. "I
+am not blind to your subtle machinations by which I have become your
+accomplice."
+
+He laughed triumphantly in my face.
+
+"You are paid--and well paid for it all. Why should you resent? Are
+you an idiot?"
+
+"I certainly refuse to be your tool!" I cried furiously.
+
+"You have thrown in your lot with me as one who ventures constantly in
+big things just as any man who operates on the Stock Exchange. It is
+good sport. You, George, are a sportsman, as I am. And from one sport
+we both derive a good deal of fun."
+
+"And the victim of our fun, as you term it, is to be old Mr. Lloyd!" I
+remarked, looking him straight in his face.
+
+But he only laughed, and said:
+
+"Don't be a fool. You are a most excellent fellow, Hargreave, except
+when you get these little fits of squeamishness."
+
+It was on the tip of my tongue to roundly refuse to have anything
+further to do with him and leave the house, but I knew, alas! that now
+I had stolen the famous ruby in Paris he would have no compunction in
+giving me over to the police.
+
+And if I, in turn, gave information against him, what could I really
+prove? Practically nothing! Rayne was always clever enough to preserve
+himself from any possibility of suspicion. It was that fact which
+marked him as the most amazing and ingenious crook.
+
+So I was forced to remain silent, and a few minutes later left the
+room.
+
+On the following Friday Mr. Lloyd left us. Rayne bade him a regretful
+farewell, after making him promise to return to us for a fortnight
+when he got back from Spain.
+
+"Probably my secretary, Hargreave, will have to go to Madrid upon
+business for me. I have some interest in a tramway company at
+Salamanca. So you may possibly meet."
+
+"I hope we do, Mr. Hargreave," said the old gentleman, turning to me
+warmly. "I shall certainly take your advice and try Madrid for a few
+weeks."
+
+"Yes, do. You'll like it, I'm sure," his host assured him, and then we
+drove away.
+
+"When are you going to Spain?" Mr. Lloyd asked me as he sat at my side
+on our way to Thirsk station.
+
+"I really don't know," was my evasive reply. "Mr. Rayne has not yet
+fixed the date."
+
+"Well, here's my address," he said, handing me a card with his name
+and "Reform Club" on it. "I wish you'd write me when your journey is
+fixed and perhaps we might travel together. I'd be most delighted to
+have you as my companion on the journey."
+
+I took the card, thanked him, and promised that I would let him know
+the date of my departure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE PAINTED ENVELOPE
+
+
+On my return I told Rayne of the old man's invitation, whereat he
+rubbed his hands in warm approval.
+
+"Excellent!" he cried. "You must travel with him and keep an eye upon
+him--just to see that nobody--well, that nobody molests the poor old
+fellow," he laughed grimly.
+
+I saw his meaning, but I was in no way anxious to become the traveling
+companion of a man who had, without doubt, been marked down as the
+next victim.
+
+A fact that aroused my curiosity was that all the time Mr. Lloyd had
+been with us Duperre had been absent--in Brussels, I believe. His
+identity was evidently being concealed with some distinctly malicious
+purpose.
+
+I waited with curiosity. Next day Lola, who with her woman's intuition
+had scented that something sinister was intended, expressed surprise
+to me that Mr. Lloyd was going to Spain.
+
+We were walking together across the park beyond the lower gardens on
+our way to the village.
+
+"Mr. Lloyd told me that he was going to Spain at father's suggestion,"
+she said. "It seems to me rather strange that I should have been the
+means of bringing father and him together. I can't understand the
+reason of it all," she added, evidently much puzzled.
+
+"Perhaps your father has some idea of transacting some lucrative
+business with him. Remember, he has a lot of financial interests in
+Spain."
+
+"Ah! yes," replied the girl. "Of course. I never thought of that!
+Father has been to Madrid several times of late."
+
+I feared to tell her what I suspected of the secret visit of that
+handsome Spanish woman, or of how we had been observed at the Unicorn
+at Ripon.
+
+On that same day Duperre returned. He had been abroad, for when I met
+him at the station I noticed that his luggage bore fresh labels of the
+Palace Hotel, at Brussels, and some railway destinations. At ten
+o'clock that night, after Lola had retired to bed, I was called to
+consult with Rayne and Duperre, who were smoking together in the
+billiard-room. Duperre had evidently related to him the result of his
+mysterious journeyings, and Rayne seemed in an unusually good humor.
+
+"Sit down, George, and listen," he said. "We have a little piece of
+important business to transact--something that will bring in big
+money. Duperre will explain."
+
+Vincent turned, and looking at me through the haze of his
+cigarette-smoke, said:
+
+"There's not much to explain, George. You have only to act on Rayne's
+instructions. The matter does not concern you as, after all, you're
+only a pawn in this merry little game which will do no harm to
+anyone----"
+
+"Only to old Lloyd," I interrupted.
+
+"To his pocket, perhaps," Duperre laughed.
+
+"Frankly, you mean to rob him, as you have so many others."
+
+Duperre frowned darkly, and exchanged angry glances with Rayne.
+
+"I think that remark is entirely uncalled for," Rayne said
+resentfully. "You have thrown in your lot with us, as I have told you
+before, and with your eyes wide open have become one of my trusted
+assistants. As such you will receive my instructions--and act upon
+them without question. That is your position. And now," he added,
+turning to Duperre, "please explain."
+
+Duperre laid down his cigarette-end in the tray, and said:
+
+"Well, look here, George. What you must do is this. You will write to
+old Lloyd at the Reform Club to-morrow and tell him that you are
+leaving for Madrid on Tuesday week upon important business for our
+friend Rayne. You will suggest that he goes to the Ritz while you go
+to the Hotel de la Paix in the Puerta del Sol, as being less
+expensive. You, as Rayne's secretary, cannot afford to stay at the
+Ritz, you understand?"
+
+"Then there is a specific reason why we should not stay at the same
+hotel, eh?" I asked.
+
+Duperre hesitated, and then nodded.
+
+"I may come out to Spain and join you in a few days after your
+arrival. At present I don't exactly know."
+
+So, though full of resentment, I was compelled to the inevitable. Next
+day I wrote to the Reform Club, and in reply received a letter
+appointing to meet me at Charing Cross Station on the following
+Tuesday week.
+
+Lola became even more inquisitive next day. Whether her father had
+inadvertently dropped a word in her presence I know not, but she had
+somehow become aware that I had received orders to travel with Mr.
+Lloyd to Spain.
+
+What was intended? The "business" upon which I was being sent to Spain
+was some _coup_ which Rayne's ever-active brain had carefully
+conceived. He had used his daughter's bright and winning manners in
+order to become friendly with the wealthy and somewhat mysterious old
+man whom I was to conduct to Spain.
+
+Naturally I was evasive as usually. I loved her, it was true. She was
+all the world to me. And my love was, I believed, reciprocated, but
+how could I admit my shameful compact with her father? I was now a
+thief, having been drawn into that insidious plot which I described
+in the previous chapter of my reminiscences as a servant to the King
+of Crookdom.
+
+So we walked pleasantly along to the white-headed old village
+clockmaker, who was grandson of a well-known man who had fashioned the
+little grandmother clocks which to-day are so rare--the pet
+timekeepers of our bewigged ancestors. The name of the old fellow's
+grandfather was on the list of famous makers of clocks in the days of
+George the Third, which you can find in any book upon old clocks.
+
+On our walk back to the Hall we chatted merrily.
+
+"I rather envy you your run out to Madrid," Lola laughed. "I wish I
+could go to Spain."
+
+She was wearing a canary-colored jersey, stout boots, and carried a
+hefty ash stick, for she was essentially an out-of-door girl, though
+at night she could put on a short and flimsy dance frock and look the
+perfection of charm.
+
+I took no notice of her remark, but purposely turned the conversation,
+and as we strolled back together we discussed a dance which was to be
+given two nights later by her friends the Fishers at Atherton Towers,
+about five miles distant.
+
+On the morning appointed I met old Mr. Lloyd, who, to my surprise, had
+with him his niece, Miss Sylvia Andrews, a smart and pretty
+dark-haired girl of about twenty-five.
+
+"At the last moment Sylvia wanted to come with me to see Spain," the
+old gentleman explained as we sat in the boat-train speeding towards
+Dover. "I managed yesterday to get an extra sleeping-berth in the Sud
+Express."
+
+"I hope you will like Madrid, Miss Andrews," I said gallantly. "You
+will find life there very bright and gay--quite an experience."
+
+"I'm greatly looking forward to it," she said. "I've read all about
+it, and though I've been in France and in Italy quite a lot, I've
+never been in Spain, though I've always longed to see it."
+
+"I propose we break our journey at San Sebastian," said Mr. Lloyd. "I
+want to see the place, and the Casino which is making such a bid
+against the counter-attraction of Monte Carlo. What do you say?"
+
+"I'm quite agreeable," I replied. "A couple of days' delay makes no
+difference to me. As long as I am in Madrid on the sixteenth it will
+be all right. I have to attend a directors' meeting on behalf of Mr.
+Rayne on that day."
+
+"Good! uncle," cried the girl. "Then we'll break our journey at San
+Sebastian, eh?"
+
+And so it was arranged.
+
+Two days later we stepped from the dusty sleeping-car in which we had
+traveled from Paris, and soon found ourselves driving around a wide
+bay with calm sapphire sea and golden sands--the far-famed La Concha.
+
+We remained for two days at that luxurious hotel the Continental, on
+the Paseo, and visited all the sights, including the Casino, where we
+thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Old Mr. Lloyd was an amusing companion,
+as I well knew, a man who seemed never tired notwithstanding his
+advanced age, while his niece was a particularly jolly girl who
+enjoyed every moment of her life.
+
+Then we proceeded by the night express to Madrid.
+
+Mr. Lloyd insisted that I should stay with them at the Ritz, but,
+compelled to obey Rayne's instructions, I was forced to excuse myself
+on the plea that two of Rayne's co-directors were to stay at the Hotel
+de la Paix, and Rayne had wished me to stay with them for certain
+business reasons.
+
+With this explanation the old gentleman was satisfied, so when at last
+we arrived in the Spanish capital I saw them safely to the Ritz, then
+went on alone to the Puerta del Sol.
+
+That night we dined together, and afterwards we went to the opera at
+the Teatro Real. Next day we met again, and on several days that
+followed. I took them to see the sights of the capital, the sights
+which everyone visits, the Armeria, the Academy, the Naval Museum, the
+street life of the Plaza Mayor and the Calle de Toledo, the afternoon
+promenades in the Retiro Park and the Paseo de Fernan Nunez.
+
+In all they evinced the greatest interest. To both uncle and niece it
+presented fresh scenes such as neither had before seen, and I realized
+that old Mr. Lloyd had become brighter and far more cheerful than
+when with us at Overstow.
+
+I had been at the Hotel de la Paix for about ten days, when on
+returning late one night from visiting with Miss Andrews the
+celebrated Verbena de la Paloma--the famous fair held in the Calle de
+la Paloma--I found, to my surprise, Duperre awaiting me.
+
+I explained the situation, but when I mentioned the presence of old
+Lloyd's niece his countenance instantly fell.
+
+"Why in the name of Fate did the old fool bring her here?" he
+exclaimed. "I thought he would come alone!"
+
+"She's quite a nice girl," I remarked. "Full of high spirits and
+vitality."
+
+But Duperre only grunted, and I saw by the expression of his face that
+he was far from pleased that the old man was not alone.
+
+"I don't want to be introduced yet," he said. "At present, though we
+can meet here in the hotel, we must be strangers outside."
+
+"And what is the game?" I demanded boldly, for we were together in my
+bedroom overlooking the great square and the door was locked.
+
+"Nothing that concerns you, Hargreave," was his hard reply. "I know
+you're foolishly squeamish about some things. Well, in this affair
+just act as Rudolph orders and don't trouble about the consequences."
+
+I realized that some evil was intended. Yet it was prevented by the
+presence there of Sylvia Andrews. What could it be?
+
+Next day I met uncle and niece as usual, and we went for a motor ride
+together out to Aranjuez, where we saw the Palacio Real, and then on
+to Toledo where we visited the wonderful cathedral and the great
+Elcazar. I did not get back to the hotel till past ten o'clock that
+night, but I found Duperre anxious and perturbed. Why, I failed to
+understand, except that he seemed filled with annoyance that his plans
+had somehow gone awry.
+
+Two days later when I called at the Ritz with the intention of
+accompanying Mr. Lloyd and his niece over the mountains to Valladolid,
+I found them both greatly excited.
+
+"Sylvia had a telegram an hour ago recalling her to London as her
+mother is ill, and I am going with her. I cannot allow her to travel
+alone. We leave by the express at six o'clock this evening," Mr. Lloyd
+said. "I am so very sorry to depart so suddenly, Mr. Hargreave. We
+were both enjoying our visit so much," he added apologetically.
+
+This surprised me until I returned to my hotel to luncheon, when
+Duperre, meeting me eagerly in the hall, asked:
+
+"Well, is the girl going?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "How do you know?"
+
+He smiled meaningly, and I felt that in all probability the telegram
+recalling the girl had been sent at his instigation, as indeed I
+afterwards knew it had been. So cleverly had matters been arranged by
+the crooks that Mrs. Andrews was actually very unwell.
+
+"Yes, she's off to-night--and the old man also," I said, glad that he
+was to get out of the mysterious danger that undoubtedly threatened
+him.
+
+"What!" cried my companion, staggered. "Is the old fellow actually
+leaving also? At what time?"
+
+"By the six o'clock train--the express to Irun," I replied.
+
+He was thoughtful for a moment. Then he said abruptly in a thick
+voice:
+
+"I don't want any lunch. I want to think. Come up to my room when
+you've had your meal," and then, turning on his heel, he ascended in
+the lift.
+
+On going to his room after luncheon I found him standing by the
+window, with his hands in his pockets, looking blankly out upon the
+great square below.
+
+Close by, upon the writing-table, was a small medicine phial and a
+camel-hair brush, together with several pieces of paper. It struck me
+that he had painted one of the pieces with some of the colorless
+liquid, for, having dried, it was now crinkled in the center.
+
+"Look here, Hargreave," he said. "I want you to telephone to the girl
+Andrews and ask her to meet you this afternoon at four, say in the
+ladies' cafe in the Cafe Suzio, so that you can have tea together.
+When you've done that come back here."
+
+I obeyed, in wonder at what was intended. Then when I returned, he
+said:
+
+"Sit down and write a note to the old man, asking him to let you have
+his address so that you can collect any letters from the Ritz for him
+and forward them. He'll think it awfully kind of you. And enclose an
+envelope addressed to yourself; it will save him trouble."
+
+This I did, taking paper and envelope from the rack in front of me. I
+was about to address the envelope to myself, when he said:
+
+"That's too large, have this one! It will fit in the other envelope,"
+and he took from the rack one of a smaller size which I used according
+to his suggestion.
+
+"Now," he said, "you go and take the girl out and I'll see that this
+letter is delivered--and that you get an answer."
+
+I met Sylvia, and we had quite a jolly tea together. Then, at five
+o'clock, I left her at the door of the Ritz, saying that I had sent a
+letter to her uncle asking for his address, and that knowing he would
+be very busy preparing to leave I would not come in.
+
+On entering the Hotel de la Paix the concierge handed me two letters,
+one from old Mr. Lloyd in reply to my note and the other that had been
+left for me by Duperre.
+
+"I have already left Madrid," he wrote briefly. "Whatever you hear,
+you know nothing, remember. Wait another week and then come home."
+
+I was not long in hearing something, for within a quarter of an hour
+Sylvia rang me up asking me to come round at once to the Ritz.
+
+In trepidation I took a taxi there and found old Mr. Lloyd in a state
+of unconsciousness, with a doctor at his side, Sylvia having found him
+lying on the floor of the sitting-room. The doctor told her that the
+old gentleman had apparently been seized by a stroke, but that he was
+very slowly recovering.
+
+Sylvia, however, pointed out that his dispatch-box had been broken
+open and rifled. What had been taken she had no idea.
+
+Inquiries made of the hotel staff proved that just after his niece had
+gone out a boy had arrived with a note requiring an answer, and had
+been shown up to Mr. Lloyd's room. The old gentleman wrote the answer,
+and the boy left with it. To whom the answer was addressed was not
+known.
+
+The only person seen in the corridor afterwards was a guest who
+occupied a room close by, a Spaniard named Larroca.
+
+I recollected the name. It was the man I had seen at the Unicorn at
+Ripon!
+
+I made discreet inquiries, and discovered that Madame Martoz was
+living in the hotel.
+
+The truth was plain. I longed to denounce them, but in fear I held my
+secret.
+
+Old Mr. Lloyd hovered between life and death for a week, when at last
+he recovered, but to this day he cannot account for the mysterious
+seizure. I, however, know that it was due to a certain secret
+colorless liquid with which the gum upon the envelope I had addressed
+to myself had been painted over by Duperre. The old gentleman had
+licked it, and within five minutes he had fallen unconscious.
+
+When he was sufficiently well to be shown his dispatch-box he grew
+frantic.
+
+In it had been his cheque-book containing four signed cheques, as it
+was his habit to send weekly cheques to the woman who acted as
+housekeeper at his flat at Hove, which, by the way, he very seldom
+visited.
+
+By some means Rayne had got to know of this, and by that clever ruse
+his accomplice got possession of the cheques, and ere the old man
+could wire to London to stop payment, all four had been cashed for
+large amounts without question.
+
+Rayne and his friends netted nearly ten thousand pounds, but to this
+day old Mr. Lloyd entertains no suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GENTLEMAN FROM ROME
+
+
+I knew that my love for Lola was increasing, yet I did not know
+whether my affection was really reciprocated.
+
+We were close friends, but that was all. I was seated with her in the
+pretty morning-room one day about a fortnight after my return from
+Madrid, when the footman entered with a card.
+
+"Mr. Rayne is not in, sir. Will you see the gentleman?"
+
+"_Cav. Enrico Graniani--Roma_," was the name upon the card.
+
+"He's a stranger, sir. I've never seen him before," the servant added.
+
+"I wonder who he is?" asked Lola, looking over my shoulder at the
+card. "Father doesn't somehow like strangers, does he?"
+
+"No," I said. "But I'll see him. Show him into the library."
+
+When a few moments later I entered the room I found a tall, elegant,
+well-dressed Italian who, addressing me in very fair English, said:
+
+"I understand, signore, that Mr. Rayne is not in. I have come from
+Italy to see him, and I bring an introduction from a mutual friend.
+You are his secretary, I believe?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, and took the note which he handed me.
+
+"I will give it to Mr. Rayne when he returns to-morrow," I promised
+him. "Where shall he write to in order to make an appointment?"
+
+"I am at the Majestic Hotel at Harrogate," he answered. "I will await
+a letter--I thank you very much," and he departed.
+
+Next afternoon when I gave Rayne the letter of introduction he became
+at once eager and somewhat excited.
+
+"Ring up the Majestic," he said. "See if you can get hold of the
+Cavaliere, and tell him I will see him at any hour he likes
+to-morrow."
+
+I could see that after reading the letter brought by the Italian, he
+was most eager to learn something further.
+
+After two attempts I succeeded in speaking with the Cavaliere
+Graniani, and fixed an appointment for him to call on the following
+morning at half-past eleven.
+
+What actually occurred during the interview I do not know.
+
+Across the table at luncheon, Rayne suddenly asked me:
+
+"You know Italy well--don't you, Hargreave?"
+
+"I lived in the Val d'Arno for several years before the war," I
+replied. "My people rented a villa there."
+
+Then, turning to Lola, he asked:
+
+"Would you like to go for a trip to Italy with Madame and Hargreave?"
+
+"Oh! It would be delightful, dad!" she cried. "Can we go? When?"
+
+"Quite soon," he replied. "I want Hargreave to go on a mission for
+me--and you can both go with him. It would be a change for you all."
+
+"Delightful!" exclaimed the well-preserved Madame Duperre. "Won't it
+be fun, Lola?"
+
+"Ripping!" agreed the girl, turning her sparkling eyes to mine, while
+I myself expressed the greatest satisfaction at returning to the
+country I had learned to love so well.
+
+That afternoon, as I sat with Rayne in the smoking-room, he explained
+to me the reason he wished me to go to Italy--to make certain secret
+inquiries, it seemed. But the motive he did not reveal.
+
+At his orders I took a piece of paper upon which I made certain notes
+of names and places, of suspicions and facts which he wished me to
+ascertain and prove--curious and apparently mysterious facts.
+
+"Lola and Madame will go with you in order to allay any suspicions,"
+he added. "I place this matter entirely in your hands to act as you
+think fit."
+
+A week later, with Lola and Madame, I left Charing Cross and duly
+arrived in the old marble-built city of Pisa, with its Leaning Tower
+and its magnificent cathedral, and while my companions stayed at the
+Hotel Victoria I went up the picturesque Valley of the Arno on the
+first stage of my quest.
+
+At last, having climbed the steep hill among the olives and vines
+which leads from the station of Signa--that ancient little town of the
+long-ago Guelfs--I came to the old Convent of San Domenico, a row of
+big sun-blanched buildings with a church and crumbling tower set upon
+the conical hill which overlooked the red roofs of Florence deep
+below.
+
+The ancient bell of the monastery clanged out the hour of evening
+prayer, as it had done for centuries, sounding loud and far through
+the dry, clear evening atmosphere.
+
+Five minutes after ringing the clanging bell at the monastery door and
+being inspected by a brother through the small iron grill, I found
+myself with Fra Pacifico in his scrupulously clean narrow cell, with
+its truckle bed and its praying stool set before the crucifix, but on
+hearing hurried footsteps in the stone corridor outside I rose, and my
+strange friend exclaimed in Italian:
+
+"No, Signor Hargreave! Remain seated. I am excused from attendance in
+the chapel. I had to meet you."
+
+The narrow little cubicle was bare and whitewashed. Fra Pacifico, of
+the Capuchin Order, with his shaven head, his brown habit tied around
+the waist with a hempen rope, and his well-worn sandals, had long
+been my friend. Of his past I could never ascertain anything. He had
+called humbly upon my father when we first went to live at old-world
+Signa, years before, and he had asked his charity for the poor down in
+the Val d'Arno.
+
+"You will always have beggars around you, signore," I remembered he
+said. "We up at the monastery keep open house for the needy--soup,
+bread, and other things--to all who come from eight to ten o'clock in
+the morning. If you grant us alms we will see that those who beg of
+you never go empty away. Send them to us."
+
+My father saw instantly an easy way out of the great beggar problem,
+hence he promised him a fixed subscription each month, which Fra
+Pacifico regularly collected.
+
+So though I had returned to live in London and afterwards played my
+part in the war, we had still been friends.
+
+On my arrival at Pisa I had made an appointment to see him, and as we
+now sat together in his narrow cell, I questioned him whether, by mere
+chance, he had ever heard of a certain lady named Yolanda Romanelli.
+It was quite a chance shot of mine, but I knew that he came from the
+same district as the lady.
+
+He was evasive. He had heard of her, he admitted, but would go no
+further.
+
+His attitude concerning the lady I had mentioned filled me with
+curiosity.
+
+In his coarse brown habit and hood he had always been a mystery to me.
+He was about forty-five years of age. He knew English, and spoke it as
+well as he did French, for, though a monk, he was a classical scholar
+and a keen student of modern science.
+
+"Now, Fra Pacifico," I said, as I reseated myself. "I know you are
+cognizant of something concerning this lady, Yolanda Romanelli. What
+is it? Tell me."
+
+Thus pressed, he rather reluctantly told me a strange story.
+
+"Well!" I exclaimed at last when he had finished. "It is all really
+incredible. Are you quite certain of it?"
+
+"Signor Hargreave, what I have told you is what I really believe to be
+true. That woman is in a high position, I know. She married the
+Marchese, but I am convinced that she is an adventuress--and more. She
+is a wicked woman! God forgive me for telling you this."
+
+"But are you quite certain?" I repeated.
+
+"Signore, I have told you what I know," he answered gravely, tapping
+his great horn snuff-box and taking a pinch, tobacco being forbidden
+him by the rules of his Order. "I have told you what I know--and also
+what I suspect. You can make whatever use of the knowledge you like.
+Yolanda Romanelli is a handsome woman--as you will see for yourself if
+you meet her," he added in a strange reflective voice.
+
+"That means going down to Naples," I remarked.
+
+"Yes, go there. Be watchful, and you will discover something in
+progress which will interest you. But be careful. As an enemy she is
+dangerous."
+
+"But her husband, the Marquis? Does he know nothing?"
+
+Fra Pacifico hitched up the rope around his waist and made an
+impetuous gesture.
+
+"Poor fellow! He suspects nothing!"
+
+"Well, Pacifico," I said, "do be frank with me. How do you know all
+this?"
+
+"No," he replied. "There are certain things I cannot tell you--things
+which occurred in the past--before I took my vow and entered this
+place. I was once of your own world, Signor Hargreave. Now I am not.
+It is all of the past," he added in a hard, determined voice.
+
+"You have been in London. I feel sure of it, Pacifico," I said, for by
+his conversation he had often betrayed knowledge of England, and more
+especially of London.
+
+"Ah! I do not deny it," laughed the broad-faced, easy-going man, now
+again seated in his rush-bottomed chair. "I know your hotels in
+London--the Savoy, the Carlton, the Ritz, and the Berkeley. I've
+lunched and dined and supped at them all. I've shopped in Bond Street,
+and I've lost money at Ascot. Oh, yes!" he laughed. "I know your
+wonderful London! And now I have nothing in the world--not a soldo of
+my own. I am simply a Brother--and I am content," he said, with a
+strange look of peace and resignation.
+
+We who live outside the high monastery walls can never understand the
+delightful, old-world peace that reigns within--that big family of
+whom the father is the fat Priore, always indulgent and kind to his
+grown-up children, yet so very severe upon any broken rule.
+
+Fra Pacifico had that evening told me something which had placed me
+very much upon the alert. I had not been mistaken when I suspected
+that he might know something of the woman Yolanda Romanelli--the woman
+whom Rayne had sent me to inquire about--and I felt that I had done
+well to first inquire of my old friend. He had hinted certain things
+concerning the Marchesa, the gay leader of society in Rome, whose name
+was in the _Tribuna_ almost daily, and whose husband possessed a fine
+old palazzo in the Corso, as well as an official residence in Naples,
+where, in addition to being one of the most popular men in Italy, he
+was Admiral of the Port.
+
+"May I be forgiven for uttering those ill-words," exclaimed the monk,
+as though speaking to himself. "We are taught to forgive our enemies.
+But I cannot forgive her!"
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"She has desecrated the house of God," he replied in a low tense
+voice.
+
+Two hours later I was back with Lola and Madame Duperre at the Hotel
+Victoria at Pisa.
+
+Coming from the lips of any other than those of Fra Pacifico I should
+have suspected that the Marchesa Romanelli had once done him some evil
+turn. Yet when a man renounces the world and enters the cloisters, he
+puts aside all jealousies and thought of injury, and lives a life of
+devotion and of strictest piety. Fra Pacifico was a man I much
+admired, and whose word I accepted without query.
+
+Next day Lola was inquisitive as to my visit to the monastery, but I
+was compelled to keep my own counsel, and that evening we all three
+took the night express to Rome, arriving at the Grand at nine o'clock
+after a dusty and sleepless journey, for the _wagons-lit_ which run
+over the Maremma marshes roll and rock until sleep becomes quite
+impossible.
+
+With the Eternal City Lola was delighted, though it was out of the
+season and the deserted streets were like furnaces. Still, I was able
+to drive her out to see some of the antiquities which I had myself
+visited half a dozen times before.
+
+My notes included the name of a man named Enrico Prati, who lived
+humbly in the Via d'Aranico, and one evening, two days after our
+arrival, I called upon him. Lola had been anxious that I should stay
+for a small dance in the hotel, but I had been compelled to plead
+business, for, as a matter of fact, I had become filled with curiosity
+regarding the mission of inquiry upon which I had been sent.
+
+Prati kept a wine-shop, an obscure place which did not inspire
+confidence. He was a beetle-browed fellow, short, with deep-set
+furtive eyes, and he struck me as being a thief--or perhaps a receiver
+of stolen property. The atmosphere of the place seemed mysterious and
+forbidding.
+
+I told him that I had come from "The Golden Face." At mention of the
+name he started and instantly became obsequious. By that I knew that
+he had some connection with the gang.
+
+Then I demanded of him what he knew of the mysterious Marchesa
+Romanelli, adding that I had come from England to obtain the
+information which "The Golden Face" knew he could furnish.
+
+I saw that I was dealing with a clever thief who carried on his
+criminal activities under the guise of a dealer of wines.
+
+"Yes, signore," he said. "I know the Marchesa. She is a leader of
+smart society, both here and in Naples. During the war she spent a
+large sum of money in establishing her fine hospital out at Porta
+Milvio. She was foremost in arranging charity concerts, bazaars, and
+other things in aid of those blinded at the war. Could such a wealthy
+patriotic woman, whose husband is one of Italy's most famous admirals,
+possibly be anything other than honest and upright?"
+
+His reply took me aback, until his sinister face broadened into a
+smile. Then I said:
+
+"I admit that. But you know more than you have told me, Signor Prati,"
+and then added: "Because the woman has risen to such high favor and
+her actions have always shown her to be intensely charitable, there
+is no reason why she should not be wearing a mask--eh?"
+
+He only laughed, and, shrugging his shoulders, replied:
+
+"Go to Naples and seek for yourself. The suspicions of 'The Golden
+Face' are well-grounded, I assure you."
+
+So, unconvinced, I returned to the Grand Hotel full of wonder. I was
+not satisfied, so I determined to take Prati's advice and see for
+myself what manner of woman was this Marchesa. Fortunately, although
+it was out of the season, she was in Naples. Having two old friends
+there I went south with my companions two days later, and we installed
+ourselves at the Palace Hotel with its wonderful views across the bay.
+I had little difficulty in obtaining an introduction to the woman whom
+I sought. It took place one evening at the house of one of my friends,
+who was now a Deputy.
+
+When she heard my name, I noticed that she started slightly, but I
+bowed over her hand in pretense of ignorance.
+
+She expressed gratification at meeting me, and soon we were chatting
+pleasantly. She was a handsome woman of about forty-five, dark-haired
+and beautifully gowned. With her was her daughter Flavia, a pretty,
+dark-eyed girl of twenty or so, bright, vivacious, and very _chic_.
+The latter spoke English excellently, and told me that she had been at
+school for years at Cheltenham.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SILVER SPIDER
+
+
+That night, after a chat with Lola, I sat in my room at the palace and
+could not help recollecting how strangely the Marchesa had started
+when my name had been uttered.
+
+Did she know of my connection with "The Golden Face"? If she did, then
+she might naturally suspect me and hold me at arm's length. Yet if she
+feared me, why should she have asked me, as well as Lola and Madame,
+to call at the Palazzo Romanelli?
+
+I had thanked her, and accepted.
+
+Therefore on Tuesday night, with Lola and Madame both smartly dressed,
+I went to the huge, old fifteenth-century palace, grim and prison-like
+because of its heavily barred windows of the days when every palazzo
+was a fortress, and within found it the acme of luxury and refinement,
+its great salons filled with priceless pictures and ancient statuary,
+and magnificent furniture of the Renaissance.
+
+About thirty people were present, most of them the elite of Naples
+society, all the ladies being exquisitely dressed. My hostess
+expressed delight as I bowed and raised her hand to my lips, in
+Italian fashion, and then I introduced my two companions. A few
+moments after I found myself chatting with the pretty Flavia, who, to
+my annoyance, seemed to be very inquisitive concerning my movements.
+
+As I stood gossiping with her, my eyes fell upon a little Florentine
+table of polished black marble inlaid with colored stones forming a
+basket of fruit, a marvel of Renaissance art, and upon it there stood
+a silver model of a gigantic tarantula, or spider, the body being
+about seven inches long by five broad, with eight long curved legs,
+most perfectly copied from nature.
+
+Flavia noticed that I had seen it.
+
+"That's our Silver Spider!" she laughed. "It's the ancient mascot of
+the Romanelli."
+
+I walked over and examined it, but without, of course, taking it in my
+hand. Then I remarked upon its beautiful workmanship, and we turned
+away.
+
+It was a gay informal assembly. Among the men there were several naval
+and military attaches from the Embassies, as well as one or two
+Deputies with their wives. Once or twice I had brief chats with the
+Marchesa, who, of course, was the center of her guests. One man, tall,
+with deep-set eyes and a well-trimmed black beard, seemed to pay her
+particular attention, and on discreet inquiry as to who he was, I
+discovered him to be the well-known banker, Pietro Zuccari, who
+represented Orvieto in the Chamber.
+
+Now the reason of our visit to the Marchesa's was to see what manner
+of company she kept, but I detected nothing suspicious in any person
+in that chattering assembly. Yet I could not put away from myself what
+Fra Pacifico had told me in the silence of the cloisters of San
+Domenico.
+
+Again I looked upon the handsome face of that gay society woman and
+wondered what secret could be hidden behind that happy, laughing
+countenance.
+
+After leaving the Palazzo Romanelli that night I resolved to "fade
+out" and watch.
+
+Now Admiral the Marquis Romanelli, who was in charge of the important
+port of Naples, had, during the late war, returned to his position as
+a high naval officer, and with all his patriotism as the head of a
+noble Roman house, had done his level best against the enemy until the
+proclamation of peace.
+
+Wherever one went one heard loud praises of "Torquato," as he was
+affectionately called by his Christian name by the populace.
+
+After due consideration I decided that we should move from Naples to
+the pretty little town of Salerno at the other end of the blue bay,
+and there at the Hotel d'Angleterre, facing the sapphire sea, I spent
+several delightful days with the girl I so passionately loved.
+
+"I cannot see the reason for all this inquiry, Mr. Hargreave," she
+said one evening, as we were walking by the moonlit sea after we had
+dined and Madame had retired. "Why should father wish you to watch the
+Marchesa so narrowly? How can she concern him? They are strangers."
+
+I was silent for a few seconds.
+
+"Your father's business is a confidential one, no doubt. He has his
+own views, and I am, after all, his secretary and servant."
+
+"I--I often wish you were not," the girl blurted forth.
+
+"Why?" I asked in surprise.
+
+"Oh! I don't really know. Sometimes I feel so horribly apprehensive.
+Madame is always so discreet and so mysterious. She will never tell me
+anything; and you--you, Mr. Hargreave, you are the same," she declared
+petulantly.
+
+"I cannot, I regret, disclose to you facts of which I am ignorant," I
+protested. "I am just as much in the dark concerning the actual object
+of our mission here as you are."
+
+"Do you think Madame knows anything of your mission here?" asked the
+girl.
+
+"I don't expect so. Your father is a very close and secretive man
+concerning his own business."
+
+"Ah! a mysterious business!" she exclaimed in a strange meaning voice.
+"Sometimes, Mr. Hargreave--sometimes I feel that it is not altogether
+an honest business."
+
+"Many brilliant pieces of business savor of dishonesty," I remarked.
+"The successful business man cannot always, in these days of
+double-dealing chicanery and cut prices, act squarely, otherwise he is
+quickly left behind by his more shrewd competitors."
+
+And then I thought it wise to turn the subject of our conversation.
+
+Salerno is only thirty miles from Naples, therefore I often traveled
+to the latter place--indeed, almost daily.
+
+In Italian they have an old saying, "_A chi veglia tutto si rivela_"
+("To him who remains watchful everything becomes revealed"). That had
+long been my motto. With Lola and Madame Duperre I was in Italy in
+order to learn what I could concerning the woman whom Fra Pacifico had
+so bitterly denounced.
+
+One warm afternoon when, without being seen, I was watching the
+Marchesa's pretty daughter Flavia who had strolled into the town, I
+saw her meet, close to the Cafe Ferrari, that tall, black-bearded,
+middle-aged banker Pietro Zuccari, whom I had seen at their palazzo.
+They walked as far as the Piazza San Ferdinando and entered the
+Gambrinus, where they sat at a little table eating ices, while he
+talked to her very confidentially. As I idled outside in a shabby suit
+and battered straw hat which I had bought, I saw this great Italian
+banker gesticulating and whispering into her ear.
+
+The girl's attitude was that of a person absorbing all his arguments
+in order to repeat them, for she nodded slowly from time to time,
+though she uttered but few words; indeed, only now and then did she
+ask any question.
+
+I could, of course, hear nothing. But what I was able to observe
+aroused my curiosity, for the meeting between the girl and the
+middle-aged banker was palpably a clandestine one.
+
+On emerging, they parted, he walking in the direction of the railway
+station, while the girl strolled homeward. Was she carrying a message
+to her mother from the famous financier?
+
+The excitement he had betrayed interested me. I noticed that he had
+once clenched his fist and brought it down heavily before her as they
+sat together.
+
+For a whole month we remained at Salerno, and a delightful month it
+proved, for I had long chats and walks with Lola, and we became even
+greater and more intimate friends. Madame Duperre noticed it but said
+nothing.
+
+I went each day to slouch and idle in Naples, to sit before cafes and
+eat my frugal meal at one or other of the osterie which abound in the
+city, or to take my _aperatif_ at the _liquoristi_, Canevera's,
+Attila's, or the others'.
+
+I confess that I was mystified why I should have been sent to watch
+that woman.
+
+So clever, so well-thought-out and so insidious were all Rayne's
+methods to obtain information of the intentions and movements of
+certain people of wealth, that I knew from experience that there was
+some cleverly concealed scheme afoot which could only be carried out
+after certain accurate details had been obtained.
+
+I was torn between two intentions, either to reappear suddenly as a
+passing traveler and call at the Palazzo Romanelli, or still to lie
+low.
+
+Many times I discussed it with Lola and Madame.
+
+"Zuccari is always with the Marchesa," I said one morning as we sat
+together at _dejeuner_ at Salerno. "I can't quite make things out. I
+have been watching intently, yet I can discover nothing. He sent a
+message to her by Flavia the other day--an urgent and defiant message,
+I believe. I hear also that the Admiral goes to Rome to-night," I
+added. "He has been suddenly called to the Ministry of Marine."
+
+"Then you will follow, of course? We will remain here to keep an eye
+upon the Marchesa," said Madame.
+
+"You do not suspect the Admiral?" I asked.
+
+"Not at all," she said. "It is the woman we have to watch."
+
+"And also the pretty daughter?" I suggested.
+
+With that she agreed. We were, however, faced by a strangely complex
+problem. Here was a woman--one of the most popular in all
+Italy--denounced by the humble monk of San Domenico as a dangerous
+adventuress. And yet she was the strongest supporter of the popular
+Pietro Zuccari--the wealthy man by whose efforts the finances of Italy
+had been reestablished after the war.
+
+After a long conference it was arranged that Madame and Lola should go
+to Rome and there watch the Admiral's movements, while I remained in
+Naples ever on the alert.
+
+Sometimes I became obsessed by the feeling that I was off the track.
+Once or twice I had received "_ferma in posta_"--confidential letters
+from Rudolph Rayne and also from Duperre. To these I replied to an
+unsuspicious address--a library in Knightsbridge.
+
+By reason, however, of keeping observation upon the Palazzo Romanelli
+I gained considerable knowledge concerning those who came and went. I
+knew, for instance, that the pretty Flavia was in the habit of meeting
+in strictest secrecy a good-looking young lieutenant of artillery
+named Rinaldo Ricci. Indeed, they met almost daily. It struck me as
+more than curious that on the day after the Admiral had left hurriedly
+for Rome Zuccari should arrive from Bari, and having taken a room at
+the Excelsior Hotel, dine at the palazzo.
+
+My vigil that night was a long one. I managed to creep up through the
+grounds and peer through the wooden shutters into the fine,
+well-furnished _salon_ of the palazzo. It was unoccupied, but upon a
+table on the opposite side of the room stood the Silver Spider, the
+strange but exquisite mascot of the Romanelli. No doubt some legend
+was attached to it, just as there are legends to many family
+heirlooms.
+
+That night I made a further discovery, namely, that when Zuccari left
+he returned to his hotel, where Flavia's secret lover had a long chat
+with him.
+
+Next day a strange thing happened. While watching the Marchesa I saw
+her, about eleven o'clock in the morning, walking alone in the Corso
+Vittorio when she accidentally encountered the banker Zuccari. They
+passed each other as total strangers!
+
+Why? There was some deep motive in that pretended ignorance of each
+other's identity. Could it be because they feared they were being
+watched? And yet was not Zuccari a frequent visitor at the Palazzo
+Romanelli, for it was there I had first met him? In any case, it was
+curious that Zuccari and young Rinaldo Ricci should be friends
+apparently unknown to either the Marchesa or to Flavia.
+
+In order to probe the mystery I decided that it would be necessary to
+learn more of Zuccari's movements. Therefore, having watched him call
+at the Palazzo Romanelli, I waited for him to leave, and at ten
+o'clock that same night he suddenly departed from Naples for the
+north. I traveled by the same train. Arrived at Rome, the banker
+remained at the buffet about half an hour, when he joined the express
+train for Milan, and all through the day and the night I traveled,
+wondering what might be his destination.
+
+On arrival at Milan, I kept observation upon him. From the chief
+telegraph office he dispatched a telegram and then drove to the Hotel
+Cavour, where he engaged a room. At once I telegraphed to Madame to
+bring Lola and join me at the Hotel de Milan. They arrived next day
+and I told them of my movements.
+
+Three days later Zuccari left the Cavour and traveled to the frontier,
+little dreaming that he was being so closely followed. Madame and Lola
+went by the same train, but having discovered that he had bought a
+ticket for Zurich, I left by the train that followed.
+
+On arrival at Zurich, I was not long in rejoining my companions, for
+we had a rendezvous at the Savoy, when I learnt that Zuccari was
+staying at the Dolder Hotel, up on the Zurichberg above the Lake.
+
+"A man named Hauser is calling upon him this evening," Madame told me.
+"We must watch."
+
+This we did. More respectably dressed than when in Naples, I was
+smoking my after-dinner cigar in the handsome hall of the Dolder Hotel
+when a tall, well-set-up man, whose fair hair and square jaw stamped
+him as German-Swiss, inquired of the hall porter for Signor Zuccari,
+and was at once shown up to the banker's private sitting-room, where
+they remained together for nearly an hour.
+
+As I sat waiting impatiently below, I wondered what was happening.
+
+I had already reported our movements to Rayne, who had, in a telegram,
+expressed great surprise that the Deputy should have left Italy and
+gone to Zurich--of all places.
+
+Zuccari, on descending the stairs with his friend Hauser, confronted
+me face to face, but it was apparent that he did not recognize me.
+Hence I took courage and, later on, engaging a room, moved to the same
+hotel. Next morning I saw the banker meet the man Hauser a second
+time, and together they took a long walk on the outskirts of the town
+above the Lake.
+
+From the concierge I extracted certain valuable information in
+exchange for the hundred-franc note I slipped into his hands. It
+seemed that the banker Zuccari frequently visited that hotel, and on
+every occasion the man Hauser came to Zurich to see him.
+
+"They are conducting some crooked business--that is my belief,
+m'sieur!" the uniformed man told me in confidence.
+
+"Why do you suspect that?" I asked quickly.
+
+"Well," he said confidentially, "Isler, the commissary of police, who
+is now at Berne, once pointed him out to me and said he was a friend,
+and believed to be one of the accomplices, of Ferdinando Morosini, the
+notorious jewel-thief who was caught in Milan six months ago and sent
+to fifteen years at Gorgona."
+
+At the mention of jewel theft I at once pricked up my ears.
+
+"Then Hauser may be a receiver of stolen jewels, eh?" I whispered.
+
+"I would not like to say that, m'sieur, but depend upon it he is a
+person to be gravely suspected. What business he has with the banker I
+cannot imagine."
+
+I knew Morosini by repute. I had heard Rayne mention him, and no doubt
+he was a member of the gang who had blundered and fallen into the
+hands of the police. Was it in connection with this incident that I
+had been sent to Italy to make inquiries?
+
+I told Madame when alone what I had discovered, whereat she smiled.
+
+"I expect you have discovered the truth," she said. "We must let
+Rudolph know at once."
+
+To telegraph was impossible, therefore I sat down and wrote a long
+letter, and then I waited inactive but anxious for a reply.
+
+It came at last. He expressed himself fully satisfied, but urged me to
+continue my investigations regarding the handsome wife of the
+Marchese.
+
+"Be careful how you act," he added. "If they suspected you of prying
+something disagreeable might happen to you."
+
+I was not surprised at his warning, for I knew the character of some
+of the international crooks who were Rayne's "friends."
+
+But surely the banker Zuccari could not be a crook? If he were, then
+he was a master-criminal like Rayne himself. If so, what was the
+motive of his close association with the Marchesa Romanelli? I had
+noticed when at the palazzo that he seemed infatuated with her, yet
+she no doubt little dreamed of his active association with such a
+person as Hauser.
+
+It seemed quite plain that whatever the truth the Admiral had no
+suspicion of his wife.
+
+Zuccari and Hauser still remained in Zurich, so, though I had arranged
+with Madame and Lola to return with them to Naples, I sent them back
+alone and remained to watch.
+
+On the night of their departure I was tired and must have slept
+soundly after a heavy day, when I was suddenly awakened by a strong
+light flashed into my face, and at the same instant I saw a hand
+holding a silken cord which had been slowly slipped beneath my ear as
+I lay upon the pillow.
+
+For a second I held my breath, but next moment I realized that I was
+being attacked, and that the cord being already round my neck with a
+slip-knot, those sinewy hands I had seen in the flash of light
+intended to strangle me.
+
+My only chance was to keep cool. So I grunted in pretense of being
+only half-awake, and turning very slightly to my side, my hand slowly
+reached against my pillow. At any second the cord might be drawn tight
+when all chance of giving the alarm would be swept away from me. Yet
+my assailant was deliberate, apparently in order to make quite certain
+that the cord around my neck should effect its fatal purpose.
+
+Of a sudden I grasped what I had against my pillow--a small rubber
+ball--and suddenly shooting out my hand in his direction, squeezed it.
+
+A yell of excruciating pain rang through the hotel, and he sprang
+back, releasing his hold upon the cord.
+
+Then next moment, when I switched on the light, I found the man Hauser
+dancing about my room, his face covered with his hands--blinded, and
+his countenance burnt by the dose of sulphuric acid I had, in
+self-defense, squirted full into it.
+
+For defense against secret attack the rubber ball filled with acid
+Rayne always compelled me to carry, as being far preferable to
+revolver, knife or sword-cane. It is easily carried, easily concealed
+in the palm of the hand, makes no noise, and if used suddenly is
+entirely efficacious.
+
+My assailant, blinded, shrieking with pain, and his face forever
+scarred, quickly disappeared to make what excuse he might. Later I
+found that he had previously tampered with the brass bolt of my door
+by removing the screws of the socket, enlarging the holes and
+embedding the screws in soft putty so that on turning the handle and
+pressing the door the socket gave way and fell noiselessly upon the
+carpet!
+
+This attempt upon me at once proved that I was on the right scent, and
+according to Rayne's instructions I that day followed Madame and Lola
+back to Salerno.
+
+On changing trains at the Central Station at Rome I bought a
+newspaper, and the first heading that met my eyes was one which told
+of a mysterious robbery of the wonderful pearls of the Princess di
+Acquanero.
+
+With avidity I read that the young Princess, as noted for her beauty
+as for her jewels, the only daughter of the millionaire Italian
+shipowner Andrea Ottone, of Genoa, who had married the Prince a year
+ago, had been robbed of her famous string of pearls under most
+mysterious circumstances.
+
+Two days before she had been staying at the great Castello di
+Antigniano, near Bari, where her uncle, the Baron Bertolini, had been
+entertaining a party of friends. On dressing for dinner she found that
+her jewel-case had been rifled and the pearls, worth twenty thousand
+pounds sterling, were missing!
+
+"The police have a theory that the guilty person was introduced into
+the castello by one of the many servants," the report went on. "The
+thief, whoever it was, must, however, have had great difficulty in
+reaching the Princess' room, as the Baron, knowing that his lady
+guests bring valuable jewelry, always sets a watch upon the only
+staircase by which the ladies' rooms can be approached."
+
+With the paper in my hand the train slowly drew out of Rome on its way
+south. My mind was filled with suspicion. I was wondering vaguely
+whether the Marchesa Romanelli had been among the guests, for I
+recollected those words of Fra Pacifico that "the woman had committed
+sacrilege in the House of God."
+
+Could it be possible that he knew the Marchesa to be a thief who had
+stolen some valuable church plate from one or other of the ancient
+churches in Italy? If so, then, though the wife of the Admiral, she
+was also a thief.
+
+On arrival at Salerno I took Madame aside, and telling her of my
+adventure with the man Hauser, I showed her the newspaper and declared
+my suspicions.
+
+"It may be so," she said. "If she is so friendly with this banker
+whose past is quite obscure, it may be her hand which takes the stuff
+and passes it on to Zuccari, who in turn sells it to Hauser."
+
+With that theory I agreed.
+
+On the following day I took train into Naples, and that afternoon I
+called upon the Marchesa.
+
+Fortunately I found her alone, and when I was shown into her _salon_ I
+thought she looked rather wan and pale, but she greeted me affably and
+expressed delight that I should call before returning to England.
+
+As we chatted she let drop, as I expected she would, the fact that she
+had been staying at the Castello di Antigniano.
+
+"You've seen in the papers, I suppose, all about the pearls of the
+Princess di Acquanero?" she went on. "A most mysterious affair!"
+
+I looked the pretty woman straight in the face, and replied:
+
+"Not so very mysterious, Marchesa."
+
+"Why not?" she asked, opening her big, black eyes widely.
+
+"Not so mysterious if I may be permitted to look inside that ornament
+over there--the heirloom of the Romanelli--the Silver Spider," I said
+calmly.
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried resentfully. "I don't understand you."
+
+I smiled.
+
+"Then let me be a little more explicit," I said. "Have you heard of a
+man named Hauser? Well, he made an attempt upon my life. Hence I am
+here this afternoon to see you. May I lift the body of the Silver
+Spider and look inside?"
+
+"Certainly not!" she cried, facing me boldly.
+
+"Then you fear me--eh?"
+
+"I do not fear you. I don't know you!" she cried.
+
+I laughed, and said:
+
+"Then if not, why may I not be permitted to look inside your husband's
+family heirloom?"
+
+She was silent for a moment. My question nonplussed her. I was, I
+confess, bitter because of the deliberate attempt to kill me.
+
+"I will not allow any stranger to tamper with our Silver Spider!" she
+cried resentfully.
+
+"Very well. Then I shall take my own course, and I shall inform your
+husband that you stole the Princess's pearls, that your banker friend
+acts as intermediary in your clever thefts, and that Hauser disposes
+of the jewels in Amsterdam."
+
+"I--I----" she gasped.
+
+"I know everything," I said, while she looked around bewildered. "I
+know that you are playing a crooked game even with those who played
+straight with you before your marriage to the Marchese. He is in
+ignorance of your past. But I know it. Listen!" and I paused and
+looked straight into her eyes.
+
+"You were a widow with a young daughter before you married the
+Marchese. That was nine years ago. To him you passed yourself off as
+the widow of an Italian advocate named Terroni, of Perugia; but you
+were not. You are Austrian. Your name is Frieda Hoheisel, and you were
+an adventuress and a thief! You married a certain man who is to-day
+in a monastery at Signa in the Val d'Arno, and though you pose as the
+loving wife of one of Italy's premier admirals, you are a noted
+jewel-thief, and commit these robberies in order to supply your bogus
+banker friend Zuccari with funds. Now," I added, "I will take the
+Princess's necklace from the Silver Spider and you will, in my
+presence, pack it up and address it to her. I will post it."
+
+"Never! I risked too much to get it!" she cried, her face aflame.
+
+"Very well. Then within an hour your husband and the police will know
+the truth. Remember, I have been suspected of making inquiries by your
+friends and have very nearly lost my life in consequence."
+
+"But--oh! I can't----"
+
+"You shall, woman!" I thundered. "You shall give back those stolen
+pearls!"
+
+And crossing to the table whereon stood the Silver Spider, I opened
+it, and there within reposed the pearls in a place that nobody would
+suspect.
+
+I stood over her while she packed them into a common cardboard box and
+addressed them to the Princess in Rome. At first she demurred about
+her handwriting, but I insisted. I intended her to take the risk--just
+as I had taken a risk.
+
+And, further, I compelled her to order her car, and we drove to the
+General Post Office in Naples, where I saw that she registered the
+valuable packet.
+
+The anonymous return of the pearls was a nine days' wonder throughout
+Italy; but the Marchesa never knew how I had obtained my information,
+and never dreamed that I had come to her upon a mission of inquiry
+from the one person in all the world whom she feared, the man in whose
+clutches she had been for years--the mysterious "Golden Face."
+
+When, with Lola and Madame, I returned home a week later and explained
+the whole of my adventures, Rayne sat for a few moments silent. Then,
+as I looked, I saw vengeance written upon his face.
+
+"I suspected that she was playing me false, and selling stuff in
+secret through that fellow Zuccari! She is carrying on the business by
+herself. I now have proof of it--and I shall take my own steps! You
+will see!"
+
+He did--and a month later the Marchesa Romanelli was arrested and sent
+to prison for the theft of a pair of diamond earrings belonging to a
+fellow-guest staying at one of the great palaces of Florence.
+
+It was a scandal that Italy is not likely to easily forget.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ABDUL HAMID'S JEWELS
+
+
+Rudolph Rayne, though the ruler of aristocratic Crookdom, was
+sometimes most sympathetic and generous towards lovers.
+
+The following well illustrates his strange abnormal personality and
+complex nature:
+
+One night I chanced to enter his bedroom at Half Moon Street, when I
+found him looking critically through a quantity of the most
+magnificent sparkling gems my eyes had ever seen. Some were set as
+pendants, brooches, and earrings, while others--great rubies and
+emeralds of immense value--were uncut.
+
+As I entered he put his hands over them in distinct annoyance. Then, a
+few seconds later, removed them, saying with a queer laugh:
+
+"A nice little lot this, eh? One of the very finest collections I've
+seen."
+
+On the table lay a pair of jewelers' tweezers and a magnifying glass,
+therefore it was apparent that, as a connoisseur of gems, he had been
+estimating their value.
+
+"By Jove!" I exclaimed. "They certainly are magnificent! Whose are
+they?"
+
+"They once belonged to the dead Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey," he
+replied; "but at present they belong to me!" He laughed grimly.
+
+Inwardly I wondered by what means the priceless gems had fallen into
+his hands. He read my thoughts at once, for he said:
+
+"You are curious, of course, as to how I became possessed of them.
+Naturally. Well, Hargreave, it's a very funny story and concerns a
+real good fellow and, incidentally, a very pretty girl. Take a cigar,
+sit down, and I'll tell you frankly all about it--only, of course, not
+a word of the facts will ever pass your lips--not to Lola, or to
+anybody else. Your lips are sealed."
+
+"I promise," I said, selecting one of his choice cigars and lighting
+it, my curiosity aroused.
+
+"Then listen," he said, "and I'll tell you the whole facts, as far as
+I've been able to gather them."
+
+What he recounted was certainly romantic, though a little involved,
+for he was not a very good _raconteur_. However, in setting down this
+curious story--a story which shows that he was not altogether bad, and
+was a sportsman after all--I have rearranged his words in narrative
+form, so that readers of these curious adventures may fully
+understand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How horribly glum you are to-night, dear! What's the matter? Are you
+sad that we should meet here--in Paris?" asked a pretty girl.
+
+"Glum!" echoed the smooth-haired young man in the perfectly fitting
+dinner-jacket and black tie. "I really didn't know that I looked
+glum," and then, straightening himself, he looked across the _table a
+deux_ in the gay Restaurant Volnay at the handsome, dark-haired,
+exquisitely dressed girl who sat before him with her elbows on the
+table.
+
+"Yes, you really are jolly glum, my dear Old Thing. You looked a
+moment ago as serious as though you were going to a funeral," declared
+the girl. "The war is over, you are prospering immensely--so what on
+earth causes you to worry?"
+
+"I'm not worrying, dearest, I assure you," he replied with a forced
+smile, but her keen woman's intuition told her that her lover was not
+himself, and that his mind was full of some very keen anxiety.
+
+Charles Otley had taken her to a most amusing play at the
+Palais-Royal, a comedy which had kept the house in roars of laughter
+all the evening, and now, as they sat at supper, she saw that his
+spirits had fallen to a very low ebb. This puzzled her greatly.
+
+Peggy Urquhart, daughter of Sir Polworth Urquhart, of the Colonial
+Service, who until the Armistice had held a high official appointment
+at Hong Kong, was one of the smartest and prettiest young women in
+London Society. She was twenty-two, a thorough-going out-of-door girl
+who looked slightly older than she really was. Her father had retired
+as soon as war was over, and they had come to England. By reason of
+her mother being the daughter of the Earl of Carringford, she had
+soon found herself a popular figure in a mad, go-ahead post-war set.
+
+She had known Charlie Otley soon after she had left Roedene--long
+before they had gone out to Hong Kong--and now they were back they
+were lovers in secret.
+
+Charlie, who had been a motor engineer before he "joined up" in the
+war and got his D.S.O. and his rank as captain, had done splendidly.
+On being demobilized he had returned to his old profession, taking the
+managership of a very well-known Bond Street firm.
+
+The directors, finding in Otley a man who knew his business, whose
+persuasive powers induced many persons to purchase cars, and whose
+fearless tests at Brooklands were paragraphed in the daily newspapers,
+treated him most generously and left everything, even many of their
+financial affairs, in his hands.
+
+Lady Urquhart was, however, an ambitious woman. She inherited all the
+exclusiveness of the Carringfords, and she was actively scheming to
+marry Peggy to Cis Eastwood, the heir to the estates of old Lord
+Drumone. It was the old story of the ambitious mother. Peggy knew
+this, and, smiling within herself, had pledged her love to Charlie.
+Hence, with the latitude allowed to a girl nowadays, she went about a
+good deal with him in London--to the Embassy, the Grafton, the
+Diplomats, and several of the smartest dance-clubs, of which both were
+members.
+
+Though Otley was often at her house in Mount Street, and frequently
+met Lord Drumone's fair-haired and rather effeminate son there,
+Peggy's mother never dreamed they were in love. Both were extremely
+careful to conceal it, and in their efforts they had been successful.
+
+The orchestra was at the moment playing that plaintive Hungarian gypsy
+air, Bela's _Valse Banffy_, that sweet, weird song of the Tziganes
+which one hears everywhere along the Danube from Vienna to Belgrade.
+
+"Look here, Charlie," said the girl, much perturbed at what she had
+recognized in his handsome countenance. "Tell me, Old Thing, what's
+the matter?"
+
+"Matter--why, nothing!" he replied, laughing. "I was only thinking."
+And he looked around upon the smart crowd of Parisians who were
+laughing and chatting.
+
+"Of what?"
+
+He hesitated for a second. In that hesitation the girl who loved him
+so fondly, and who preferred him to old Drumone's son and a title,
+realized that he had some heavy weight upon his mind, and quickly she
+resolved to learn it, and try to bear the burden with him.
+
+Since her return from China, with all its Asiatic mysteries, its
+amusements, and its quaint Eastern life, she had had what she declared
+to be a "topping" time in London. Her beauty was remarked everywhere
+and her sweet charm of manner appealed to all. Her mother, who had
+returned from her exile in the Far East, went everywhere, while her
+father, a hard, austere Colonial official who had browsed upon
+reports, and regarded all natives of any nationality or culture as
+mere "blacks," was one of those men who had never been able to
+assimilate his own views with those of the nation to which he had been
+sent as British representative. He was a hide-bound official, a man
+who despised any colored race, and treated all natives with stern and
+unrelenting hand. Indeed, the Colonial Office had discovered him to be
+a square peg in a round hole, and at Whitehall they were relieved when
+he went into honorable retirement.
+
+"Do tell me what's the matter, dear," whispered the girl across the
+table, hoping that the pair seated near them did not know English.
+
+"The matter! Why, nothing," again laughed the handsome young man.
+"Have a liqueur," and he ordered two from the waiter. "I can't think
+what you've got into your head to-night regarding me, Peggy. I was
+only reflecting for a few seconds--on some business."
+
+"Grave business--it seems."
+
+"Not at all. But we men who have to earn our living by business have
+to think overnight what we are to do on the morrow," he said airily,
+as he handed his cigarette-case to her and then lit the one she took.
+
+"But Charlie--I'm certain there's something--something you are
+concealing from me."
+
+"I conceal nothing from you, dearest," he answered, looking across the
+little table straight into her fine dark eyes. Then again he bent
+towards her and whispered very seriously: "Do you really love me,
+Peggy?"
+
+In his glance was a tense eager expression, yet upon his face was
+written a mystery she could not fathom.
+
+"Why do you ask, dear?" she said. "Have I not told you so a hundred
+times. What I have said, I mean."
+
+"You really mean--you really mean that you love me--eh?" he whispered
+in deep earnestness as he still bent to her over the table, his eyes
+fixed on hers. And he drew a long breath.
+
+"Yes," she answered. "But why do you ask the question in that tone?
+How tragic you seem!"
+
+"Because," and he sighed, "because your answer lifts a great weight
+from my mind." Then, after a pause, he added: "Yet--yet, I wonder----"
+
+"Wonder what?"
+
+"Nothing," he answered. "I was only wondering."
+
+"But you really are tantalizing to-night, my dear boy," she said. "I
+don't understand you at all."
+
+"Ah! you will before long. Let's go out into the lounge," he
+suggested. "It's growing late."
+
+So, having drained their two glasses of triple sec, they passed out
+into the big palm-lounge, which is so popular with the Parisians after
+the play.
+
+Peggy and her parents had come to Paris in mid-December to do some
+shopping. Before she had been exiled to China, Lady Urquhart's habit
+was to go to Paris twice each year to buy her hats and gowns, for she
+was always elegantly dressed, and she took care that her daughter
+should dress equally well.
+
+Indeed, the gown worn by Peggy that night was one of Worth's latest
+creations, and her cloak was an expensive one of the newest _mode_.
+They were staying at the Continental when Charlie, who had some
+business in Paris on behalf of his firm, had run over for three days
+really to meet in secret the girl he loved. That night Peggy had
+excused herself to her mother, saying that she was going out to
+Neuilly to dine with an old schoolfellow--a little matter she had
+arranged with the latter--but instead, she had met Charlie at
+Voisin's, and they had been to the theater together.
+
+Peggy, amid the exuberant atmosphere of Paris with its lights,
+movement and gaiety--the old Paris just as it was before the
+war--naturally expected her lover to be gay and irresponsible as she
+herself felt. Instead, he seemed gloomy and apprehensive. Therefore
+the girl was disappointed. She thought a good deal, but said little.
+
+Though the distance between the Volnay and the Rue de Rivoli was not
+great, Charlie ordered a taxi, and on the way she sat locked in his
+strong arms, her lips smothered with his hot, passionate kisses, until
+they parted.
+
+Little did she dream, however, the bitterness in her lover's heart.
+
+Next morning at eleven o'clock, as Peggy was coming up the Avenue de
+l'Opera, she passed the Brasserie de la Paix, that popular cafe on the
+left-hand side of the broad thoroughfare, the place where the Parisian
+gets such exquisite dishes at fair prices. Charlie was seated in the
+window, as they had arranged, and on seeing her, he dashed out and
+joined her.
+
+"Well?" she asked. "How are you to-day? Not so awfully gloomy, I
+hope."
+
+"Not at all, dearest," he laughed, for his old nonchalance had
+returned to him. "I've been full of business since nine o'clock. I
+have an appointment out at La Muette at two, and I'll have to get back
+to London to-night."
+
+"To-night!" she echoed disappointedly. "We don't return till next
+Tuesday."
+
+"I have to be back to see my people about some cars that can't be
+delivered for another six weeks. There's a beastly hitch about
+delivery."
+
+"Well," said the girl, as they walked side by side in the cold, bright
+morning. The winter mornings are always bright and clearer in Paris
+than in London. "Well, I have some news for you, dear."
+
+"What news?" he asked.
+
+"Lady Teesdale has asked us up to Hawstead, her place in Yorkshire. In
+her letter to mother this morning she mentions that she is also asking
+you."
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Yes. And, of course, you'll accept. Won't it be ripping? The
+Teesdales have a lovely old place--oak-paneled, ghost-haunted, and all
+that sort of thing. We've been there twice. The Teesdales'
+shooting-parties are famed for their fun and merriment."
+
+"I know Lady Teesdale," Otley said. "But I wonder why she has asked
+me?"
+
+"Don't wonder, dear boy--but accept and come. We'll have a real jolly
+time."
+
+And then they turned into the Boulevard des Italiens and idled before
+some of the shops.
+
+At noon she was compelled to leave him and return to her mother. He
+put her into a taxi outside the Grand Hotel, and then they parted.
+
+Before doing so, the girl said:
+
+"What about next Wednesday? Shall we meet?"
+
+"Yes," he replied.
+
+"Very well," she exclaimed. "Wednesday at six--eh? I'll come up to
+your rooms. We can talk there. I don't like to see you so worried,
+dear. There's something you're concealing from me, I'm sure of it."
+
+Then he bent over her hand in a fashion more courtly than the
+"Cheerio!" of to-day, and standing on the curb watched the taxi speed
+down the Rue de la Paix.
+
+"Ah!" he murmured aloud, drawing a deep sigh. "Ah! If she only
+knew!--_if she only knew!_"
+
+He strode along the boulevard caring nothing where his footsteps led
+him. The gay, elegant, careless crowd of Paris passed, but he had no
+eyes for it all.
+
+"Shall I tell her?" he went on aloud to himself. "Or shall I fade out,
+and let her learn the worst after I'm gone? Yet would not that be a
+coward's action? And I'm no coward. I went through the war--that hell
+at Vimy, and I did my best for King and Country. Now, when love
+happens and all that life means to a man is just within my grasp, I
+have to retire to ignominy or death. I prefer the latter."
+
+Next morning he stepped from the train at Victoria and drove to his
+rooms in Bennett Street, St. James's. He was still obsessed by those
+same thoughts which had prevented him from sleeping for the past week.
+His man, Sanford, who had been his batman in France, met him with a
+cheery smile, and after a bath and a shave he went round to his
+business in Bond Street.
+
+He was of good birth and had graduated at Brasenose. His father had
+been a well-known official at the Foreign Office in the days of King
+Edward and had died after a short retirement. In his life Charlie had
+done his best, and had distinguished himself not only in his Army
+career, but in that of the world of motoring, where his name was as
+well known as any of the fearless drivers at Brooklands.
+
+Otley was, indeed, a real good fellow, whose personality dominated
+those with whom he did business, and the many cars, from Fords to
+Rolls, which he sold for the profit of his directors paid tribute to
+his easy-going merriment and his slim, well-set-up appearance. Those
+who met him in that showroom in Bond Street never dreamed of the alert
+leather-coated and helmeted figure who tore round the rough track at
+Brooklands testing cars, and so often rising up that steep cemented
+slope, the test of great speed.
+
+At six o'clock on the Wednesday evening he stood in his cosy room in
+Bennett Street awaiting Peggy. At last there was a ring at the outer
+door, and Sanford showed her in.
+
+She entered merrily, bringing with her a whiff of the latest Paris
+perfume, and grasping his hand, cried:
+
+"Well, are you feeling any happier?"
+
+"Happier!" he echoed. "Why, of course!"
+
+"And have you had Lady Teesdale's letter?"
+
+"Yes. And I've accepted."
+
+"Good. We'll have a real good time. But the worst of it is Cis has
+been asked too!"
+
+"I suppose your mother engineered that?"
+
+"I don't think so. You see, he's Lady Teesdale's nephew. And it's a
+big family party. Old Mr. Bainbridge, the steel king of Sheffield, and
+his wife are to be there. She is a fat, rather coarse woman who has
+wonderful jewels. They say that old Bainbridge gave eighty thousand
+pounds for a unique string of stones, emeralds, diamonds, rubies and
+sapphires which belonged to the old Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, and
+which were sold in Paris six months ago."
+
+"Yes. I've always heard that the old fellow has money to burn. Wish I
+had!"
+
+"So do I, Charlie. But, after all, money isn't everything. What shall
+we do to-night?"
+
+"Let's dance later on--shall we?" he suggested, and she consented
+readily.
+
+They sat by the fire together for half an hour chatting, while she
+told him of her doings in Paris after he had left. Then she rose and
+made an inspection of his bachelor room, examining his photographs, as
+was her habit. Ten years ago a girl would hesitate to go to a
+bachelor's room, but not so to-day when women can venture wherever men
+can go.
+
+On that same afternoon Sir Polworth Urquhart, returning home to Mount
+Street at six o'clock, found among his letters on the study table a
+thin one which bore a Hong Kong stamp. The superscription was, he saw,
+in a native hand. He hated the sly Chinese and all their ways.
+
+On tearing it open he found within a slip of rice-paper on which some
+Chinese characters had been traced. He looked at them for a few
+seconds and then translated them aloud to himself:
+
+"Tai-K'an has not forgotten the great English mandarin!"
+
+"Curse Tai-K'an!" growled Sir Polworth under his breath. "After ten
+years I thought he had forgotten. But those Orientals are slim folk. I
+hope his memory is a pleasant one," he added grimly as he rose and
+placed the envelope and the paper in the fire.
+
+"A very curious message," he reflected as he passed back to his
+writing-table. "It's a threat--because of that last sign. I remember
+seeing that sign before and being told that it was the sign of
+vengeance of the Tchan-Yan, the secret society of the Yellow Riband.
+But, bah! what need I care? I'm not in China now--thank Heaven!"
+
+As he seated himself to answer his correspondence, however, a curious
+drama rose before his eyes. One day, ten years ago, while acting as
+Deputy-Governor, he had had before him a criminal case in which a
+young Chinese girl was alleged to have caused her lover's death by
+poison. The girl was the daughter of a small merchant named Tai-K'an,
+who sold all his possessions in order to pay for the girl's defense.
+
+The case was a flimsy one from the start, but in the native court
+where it was heard there was much bribery by the friends of the dead
+lover. Notwithstanding the fact that Tai-K'an devoted the whole of his
+possessions to his daughter's defense, and that strong proof of guilt
+fell upon a young Chinaman who was jealous of the dead man, the poor
+girl was convicted of murder.
+
+Sir Polworth remembered all the circumstances well. At the time he did
+not believe in the girl's guilt, but the court had decided it so,
+therefore why should he worry his official mind over the affairs of
+mere natives? The day came--he recollected it well--when the sentence
+of death was put before him for confirmation. Tai-K'an himself, a
+youngish man, came to his house to beg the clemency of the great
+British mandarin. With him was his wife and the brother of the
+murdered man. All three begged upon their knees that the girl should
+be released because she was innocent. But he only shook his head, and
+with callous heartlessness signed the death-sentence and ordered them
+to be shown out.
+
+The girl's father then drew himself up and, with the fire of hatred in
+his slant black eyes, exclaimed in very good English:
+
+"You have sent my daughter to her death though she is innocent! You
+have a daughter, Sir Polworth Urquhart. The vengeance of Tai-K'an will
+fall upon her. Remember my words! May the Great Meng place his curse
+upon you and yours for ever!" And the trio left the Deputy-Governor's
+room.
+
+That was nearly ten years ago.
+
+He paced the room, for his reflections even now were uneasy ones. He
+remembered how the facts were placed before the Colonial Office and
+how the sentence of death was commuted to one of imprisonment. For
+five years she remained in jail, until the real assassin committed
+suicide after writing a confession.
+
+Yet like all Chinese, Tai-K'an evidently nursed his grievance, and
+time had not dulled the bitterness of his hatred.
+
+But the offensive Chinaman was in Hong Kong--therefore what mattered,
+Sir Polworth thought. So he seated himself and wrote his letters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE VENGEANCE OF TAI-K'AN
+
+
+At that moment Lola, who was shopping in London, entered and her
+father cut off quickly.
+
+The girl glanced at me and smiled. Then she asked some question
+regarding the purchase of some cutlery, and on her father replying she
+left the flat.
+
+After she had gone, he resumed the narrative, which was certainly of
+deep interest, as you will see.
+
+He went on:
+
+In the first week in January, a gay house-party assembled at Hawstead
+Park, Lord Teesdale's fine old Elizabethan seat a few miles from
+Malton, not very far from Overstow. The shooting-parties at Hawstead
+were well known for their happy enjoyment. They were talked about in
+the drawing-rooms of Yorkshire and clubs in town each year, for Lady
+Teesdale was one of the most popular of hostesses and delighted in
+surrounding herself with young people.
+
+So it was that Charlie Otley, on his arrival, met Peggy in the big
+paneled hall, and by her side stood young Eastwood, the fair-haired
+effeminate son of Lord Drumone. The party assembled at tea consisted
+of some twenty guests, most of them young. After dinner that night
+there was, of course, dancing upon the fine polished floor.
+
+Before Lady Urquhart, Otley was compelled to exercise a good deal of
+caution, allowing young Eastwood to dance attendance upon Peggy while
+he, in turn, spent a good deal of time with Maud Bainbridge, the
+rather angular daughter of the steel magnate. Towards Mrs. Bainbridge
+and his hostess Charlie was most attentive, but all the time he was
+watching Peggy with the elegant young idler to whom Lady Urquhart
+hoped to marry her.
+
+Now and then Peggy would glance across the room meaningly, but he
+never once asked her to dance, so determined was he that her mother
+should not suspect the true state of affairs. His position, however,
+was not a very pleasant one, therefore part of the time he spent in
+the great old smoking-room with his host, Sir Polworth, and several
+other guests, some of them being women, for nowadays the ladies of a
+country house-party invariably invade the room which formerly was
+sacred to the men.
+
+When the dance had ended and the guests were about to retire, Otley
+managed to whisper a word to the girl he loved. He made an appointment
+to meet her at a secluded spot in the park near the lodge on the
+following morning at eleven.
+
+She kept the appointment, and when they met she stood for a few
+moments clasped in her lover's arms.
+
+"I had such awful difficulty to get away from Cecil," she said,
+laughing. She looked a sweet attractive figure in her short tweed
+skirt, strong country shoes and furs. "He wanted to go for a walk with
+me. So I slipped out and left him guessing."
+
+Her companion remained silent.
+
+A few moments later they turned along a path which led to a stile, and
+thence through a thick wood of leafless oaks and beeches. Along the
+winding path carpeted with dead leaves they strolled hand-in-hand,
+until suddenly Otley halted, and in a thick hoarse voice quite unusual
+to him, said:
+
+"Peggy. I--I have something to say to you. I--I have to go back to
+London."
+
+"To London--why?" gasped the girl in dismay.
+
+"Because--well, because I can't bear to be here with the glaring truth
+ever before me--that I----"
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked, laying her hand upon his arm.
+
+"I mean, dearest," he said in a low, hard voice, "I mean that we can
+never marry. There is a barrier between us--a barrier of disgrace!"
+
+"Of disgrace!" she gasped. "Oh! do explain, dear."
+
+"The explanation is quite simple," he replied in a tone of despair.
+"You asked me in Paris what worried me. Well, Peggy, I'll confess to
+you," he went on, lowering his voice, his eyes downcast. "I am not
+worthy your love, and I here renounce it, for--for I am a thief!"
+
+"A thief!" she echoed. "How?"
+
+"I've been hard up of late, and at the motor show I sold three cars,
+for which I have not accounted to the firm. The books will be audited
+next week and my defalcations discovered. I have no means of repaying
+the four thousand five hundred pounds, and therefore I shall be
+arrested and sent to prison as a common thief. That's briefly the
+position!"
+
+The girl was speechless at such staggering revelations. Charlie--a
+thief! It seemed incredible.
+
+"But have you no means whatever of raising the money?" she asked at
+last, her face pale, while the gloved hand that lay upon his arm
+trembled.
+
+"None. I've tried all my friends, but money is so difficult to raise
+nowadays. No, Peggy," he added with suppressed emotion, "let me go my
+own way--and try to forget me. Now that I am in disgrace it is only
+right that I should make a clean breast of it to you, and then you
+alone will understand why I have made excuse to Lady Teesdale and
+left."
+
+"Oh, you mustn't do that, dear," she urged. "Stay over the week-end!
+Something will turn up. Do please me by staying."
+
+"I feel that I really can't," he answered. "I'm an outsider to have
+thus brought unhappiness on you, but it is my fault. I am alone to
+blame. You must have your freedom and forget me. I took the money to
+pay a debt of honor, thinking that I could repay it by borrowing
+elsewhere. But I find I can't, therefore I must face the music next
+week. Even if I ran away I should soon be found and arrested."
+
+"Poor boy!" sighed the girl, stroking his cheek tenderly, while in her
+eyes showed the light of unshed tears. "Don't worry. Stay here with
+me--at least till Monday."
+
+But he shook his head sadly.
+
+"I couldn't bear it, my darling," he answered in a low voice. "How can
+I possibly enjoy dancing and fun when I know that in a few days I
+shall go to prison in disgrace. My firm are not the kind of people to
+let me off."
+
+"Four thousand five hundred!" the girl repeated as though to herself.
+
+"Yes. And I haven't the slightest prospect of getting it anywhere. If
+I could only borrow it I could sail along into smooth waters again.
+But that is quite out of the question."
+
+Peggy remained silent for a few moments. Then, of a sudden, she looked
+straight into her lover's eyes, and taking his hand in hers said:
+
+"Poor dear! What can I do to help you?"
+
+"Nothing," was his low reply. "Only--only forget me. That's all. You
+can't marry a man who's been to prison."
+
+Again a silence fell between them, while the dead leaves whirled along
+the path.
+
+"But you will stay here over the week-end, won't you, dear?" she
+urged. "I ask you to do so. Do not refuse me--will you?"
+
+He tried to excuse himself. But she clung to him and kissed him,
+declaring that at least they might spend the week-end together before
+he left to face the worst.
+
+Her lover endeavored to point out the impossibility of their marriage,
+but she remained inexorable.
+
+"I still love you, Charlie--even though you are in such dire straits.
+And I do not intend that you shall go back to London to brood over
+your misfortune. Keep a stout heart, dear, and something may turn up
+after all," she added, as they turned and went slowly back over the
+rustling leaves towards the park.
+
+He now realized that she loved him with a strong and fervent
+affection, even though he had confessed to her his offense. And that
+knowledge caused his burden of apprehension the harder to bear.
+
+That night there were, after the day's shooting, merry junketings at
+Hawstead, and Charles Otley bore himself bravely though his heart was
+heavy. Ever and anon when Peggy had opportunity she whispered cheering
+words to him, words that encouraged him, though none of the gay party
+dreamed that they were chatting and dancing with a man who would in a
+few days stand in a criminal dock.
+
+Next day was Sunday. The whole house-party attended the village church
+in the morning, and in the afternoon the guests split up and went for
+walks.
+
+Soon after dinner Otley, whose seat had been between the steel
+magnate's wife and her daughter, went outside on the veranda alone. He
+was in no mood for bridge and preferred a breath of air outside. As
+he let himself out by one of the French windows of the small
+drawing-room in the farther wing of the house, a dark figure brushed
+past him swiftly, and next second had vaulted over the ironwork of the
+veranda and was lost in the dark bushes beyond.
+
+As the stranger had paused to leap from the veranda, a ray of light
+from the window had caught his countenance. It was only for one brief
+second, yet Charlie had felt convinced that the countenance was that
+of a Chinaman. Besides the stealthy cat-like movement of the man was
+that of an Oriental. Yet what could a Chinaman be doing about that
+house?
+
+He was half inclined to tell his host, yet on reflecting, he thought
+the probability was that it was some stranger who, attracted by the
+music and laughter within, had been trying to get a glimpse of the gay
+party.
+
+That night, as the auction bridge proceeded, Otley withdrew from it
+and went to his room, where he sat down and wrote two notes--one to
+Peggy and the other to his hostess. In the latter he apologized that
+he had been suddenly recalled to London on some very urgent business,
+and that he would leave Malton by the first train in the morning.
+
+The note to Peggy he placed in his pocket, and returning to the room
+where they were now dancing, found her in a flimsy cream gown,
+sleeveless and cut low--a dress that suited her to perfection--dancing
+with apparent merriment with young Eastwood, though he knew that her
+heart was sad. But her face was flushed by excitement, and she was
+entering thoroughly into the country-house gayety. Presently, however,
+he was able to slip the note into her hand and whisper a good-by.
+
+"I shall be in London on Tuesday and will call at Bennett Street in
+the evening. We will then talk it all over, dear. Don't despair--for
+my sake--don't despair!" she said.
+
+And compelled to slip back to the ballroom, she crushed the note into
+her corsage.
+
+Early next morning a car took Charlie to the station, and soon after
+luncheon he reentered his rooms. The day was Monday, wet and dreary.
+All hope had left him, for his defalcations must be discovered and the
+directors would, without a doubt, prosecute him. Hence he went about
+London interested in nothing and obsessed by the terrible disgrace
+which must inevitably befall him.
+
+On the evening of his sudden departure from Hawstead, at about
+half-past six, the house-party was thrown into a state of great
+concern by the amazing announcement that Mrs. Bainbridge had lost her
+jewels--the unique string of precious stones which had once belonged
+to the late Sultan Abdul Hamid! Mrs. Bainbridge's maid discovered the
+loss when her mistress went to dress for dinner.
+
+She declared that on the previous evening she had placed them out upon
+a little polished table set against the heavy red-plush curtains and
+close to the dressing-table. She believed that her mistress had worn
+them upon her corsage on the Sunday night, and that on retiring she
+had locked them in her jewel-box. On the contrary, Mrs. Bainbridge did
+not wear them, a fact to which everyone testified. The millionaire's
+wife had left the Sultan's famous jewels upon the little polished
+table when she descended for dinner on Sunday night, and naturally
+concluded that her maid--who had been with her over twelve
+years--would see them and place them in safety.
+
+Suspicion instantly fell upon Charles Otley. Old Mr. Bainbridge was,
+of course, furious, whereupon Lord Teesdale took it upon himself to go
+at once to London to see Otley.
+
+This he did, and when that afternoon Sanford showed his lordship
+unexpectedly into the room, the young man stood aghast at the news.
+
+"Tell me, Otley--if you know nothing of this affair--why, then, did
+you leave Hawstead so suddenly?" he demanded.
+
+"Because I had business here in town," was his reply. Instantly across
+his mind flashed the recollection of the incident of the fleeting
+figure which he believed to be that of an Oriental. He related to his
+late host the exact facts. But Lord Teesdale listened quite
+unimpressed. As a matter of fact, he felt, in his own mind, that the
+young fellow was the thief.
+
+The story of the Chinaman was far too fantastic for his old-fashioned
+mind. He had heard of the Chinese, the opium traffic and suchlike
+things, and he saw in Otley's statement a distinct attempt to mislead
+him.
+
+The police were not called in because Mr. Bainbridge did not desire to
+bring the Teesdales' house-party into the newspapers, and, moreover,
+both he and his wife were confident that young Otley was the thief.
+
+Peggy hearing her lover denounced so openly, was naturally full of
+indignation, though she hardly dared show it.
+
+Sir Polworth and his wife and daughter returned to London as early as
+possible, for the spirits of all the guests had fallen in consequence
+of Mrs. Bainbridge's loss.
+
+And now a curious thing happened.
+
+That evening Charlie, knowing himself under suspicion of stealing the
+jewels, had an intuition that it would be better if Peggy did not
+visit him at Bennett Street. Therefore at about half-past five, when
+darkness had fallen, he went along to Mount Street, and there watched
+outside Sir Polworth's house.
+
+After a little while an empty taxi which had evidently been summoned
+by telephone, stopped at the door, and Peggy, very plainly dressed,
+got into it and drove away. Another taxi happened to be near,
+therefore her lover, unable to shout and stop her, got into it and
+followed her.
+
+They went along Piccadilly, and passing Arlington Street, which led
+into Bennett Street, continued away to the Strand and across the City
+eastward, until Otley was seized with curiosity as to the girl's
+destination.
+
+Past Aldgate went the taxi and down Commercial Road East, that broad
+long thoroughfare that leads to the East India Docks. At Limehouse
+Church the taxi stopped, and Peggy alighted and paid the man.
+
+Almost immediately a young man, the cut of whose overcoat and the
+angle of whose hat at once marked him as a Spaniard, approached her.
+Otley, full of wonder, had alighted from his taxi at some distance
+away and was eagerly watching.
+
+Peggy and the stranger exchanged a few words, whereupon he started off
+along a narrow and rather ill-lit road called Three Colt Street, past
+Limehouse Causeway. Suddenly it occurred to the young man that they
+were in the center of London's Chinatown! He recollected the escaping
+Chinaman from Lord Teesdale's house! But why was Peggy there? Surely
+she was not a drug-taker! The very thought caused him to shudder.
+
+Silently he followed the pair before him, and saw them turn into a
+narrow by-street and halt at a small house. Her conductor knocked on
+the door four times. And then repeated the summons.
+
+The door opened slowly and they entered. Then, when the door was
+closed again, Peggy's lover crept along and listened at the shutter
+outside.
+
+Why was she there? He stood bewildered. She had promised to call upon
+him at his rooms, and yet she was there in that low-class house--a
+veritable den it seemed!
+
+The window was closely shuttered, as were all in that mysterious
+silent thoroughfare--one into which the police would hardly venture to
+penetrate alone.
+
+The young man listened, his ears strained to catch any sound.
+
+Suddenly he heard Peggy shriek. He listened breathlessly. Yes, it was
+her voice raised distinctly.
+
+"You!" he heard her cry. "You! You are Tai-K'an! My father has told me
+of you!"
+
+"Ye-es, my lil ladee--you are lil ladee of the Engleesh mandarin!" he
+heard the reply--the reply of a Chinaman. "I now take my vengeance for
+my own child as I have each year promised. Give me the pretty jewels.
+You wanted to sell them, eh? But you will give them to me! I watched
+you take them from the table while they were all at the party. Your
+father never thought that Tai-K'an followed you on your country
+journey, eh?"
+
+Otley heard the words faintly through the shutters and stood rooted to
+the spot.
+
+Peggy was the thief? She had wanted to sell them and had been
+entrapped. In an instant he realized her position.
+
+He heard her voice raised first in faint protest, and then she
+implored the Chinaman to release her.
+
+"Ah, no!" cried the cruel triumphant Oriental. "Tai-K'an warned your
+father that he would have his revenge. His daughter was to him as much
+as you are to your own father the mandarin," and he laughed that
+short, grating laugh of the Chinaman, which caused Otley to clench his
+fists.
+
+For a few seconds he hesitated as to how he should act. Then, quick as
+his feet could carry him, he dashed back into the Commercial Road,
+where he enlisted the aid of a constable.
+
+Together they hurried back to the house after the young man had made a
+brief statement that a white girl had been entrapped.
+
+At first they were denied admittance, but when the constable demanded
+that the door should be opened, the bars were drawn and they entered
+the wretched den.
+
+Peggy was naturally terrified until she heard her lover's voice, and a
+few seconds later the pair were locked once more in each other's arms,
+but the gems of Abdul Hamid were nowhere to be found. Indeed, neither
+Peggy nor Charlie dared mention the stolen jewels, so the Chinaman
+kept them.
+
+"Do you wish to charge this Chink?" asked the constable of the girl.
+"If so, I'll take him along to the station at once."
+
+But at Charlie's suggestion she would prefer no charge, and after
+profuse thanks to the policeman, they found a taxi and drove back at
+once to Bennett Street.
+
+On the way Peggy sobbed as she confessed to the theft; how, in
+desperation, she had stolen those wonderful jewels from Mrs.
+Bainbridge's room in the hope of raising sufficient money to pay
+Charlie's defalcations, and how she had two days later received a
+mysterious letter asking her if she happened to have any discarded
+jewelry that she wished to dispose of secretly. If she had, an
+appointment could be made at Limehouse Church. It was, she thought, an
+opportunity. So she took the jewels to sell to them. But to her
+amazement and horror she had found herself in the hands of the
+revengeful Chinaman who had a, possibly just, grievance against her
+father.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rayne, taking the magnificent jewels and running them through his
+hands, said:
+
+"The Chink is a friend of ours, and we've had our eye upon these
+stones for a very long time, but rather than the young fellow and the
+girl shall be ruined I am sending them back to Mrs. Bainbridge's
+anonymously by to-night's post. Sir Polworth Urquhart will think they
+have come from Tai-K'an. See, Hargreave? I've typed out a letter. Just
+pack them up and address them to her. I can't bear to take them now I
+know the truth--poor girl!"
+
+And he handed the gems over to me, together with a small wooden box.
+
+That evening I registered the box from the post office at Darlington,
+and three days later Charles Otley, who had managed to clear himself
+of all suspicion, received an anonymous gift of four thousand five
+hundred pounds which had been placed to his credit at the bank.
+
+And none of the actors in that strange drama suspect the hand of the
+clever, unscrupulous, but sometimes generous, Squire of Overstow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
+
+
+"Mr. Hargreave, father is sending you upon a very strange mission,"
+Lola told me in confidence one dull morning, after we had had
+breakfast at the Midland Hotel, in Manchester, where we three were
+staying about a fortnight after Rayne's generosity in returning the
+famous jewels of the dead Sultan.
+
+"What kind of mission?" I inquired with curiosity, as we sat together
+in the lounge prior to going out to idle at the shop windows.
+
+"I don't know its object at all," was her reply. "But from what I've
+gathered it is something most important. I--I do hope you will take
+care of yourself--won't you?" she asked appealingly.
+
+"Why, of course," I laughed. "I generally manage to take care of
+myself. I'd do better, however, if--well, if I were not associated
+with Duperre and the rest," I added bitterly.
+
+The pretty girl was silent for a few moments. Then she said:
+
+"Of course you won't breathe a word of what I've said, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not, Lola," was my reply. "Whatever you tell me never
+passes my lips."
+
+"I know--I know I can trust you, Mr. Hargreave," she exclaimed. "Well,
+in this matter there are several mysterious circumstances. I believe
+it is something political my father wants to work--some business which
+concerns something in the Near East. That's all I know. You will, in
+due course, hear all about it. And now let's go along to Deansgate. I
+want to buy something."
+
+In consequence we strolled along together, Rayne having gone out an
+hour before to keep an appointment--with whom he carefully concealed
+from me.
+
+That same night Rayne disclosed to me the mission which he desired me
+to carry out. He was a man of a hundred moods and as many schemes.
+
+One fact which delighted me was that in the present suggestion there
+seemed no criminal intent. And for that reason I quite willingly left
+London for the Near East three days later.
+
+My destination was Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and the journey by
+the Orient Express across Europe was a long and tedious one.
+
+I was much occupied with the piece of scheming which I had undertaken
+to carry out in Sofia. My patriotism had led me to attempt a very
+difficult task--one which would require delicate tact and a good deal
+of courage and resource, but which would, if successful, Rayne had
+said, mean that a loan of three millions would be raised in London,
+and that British influence would become paramount in that go-ahead
+country, which ere long must be the power of the Balkans.
+
+The tentacles of the great criminal octopus which Rayne controlled
+were indeed far-spread. In this he was making a bid for fortune,
+without a doubt.
+
+To the majority of people, the Balkan States are, even to-day, _terra
+incognita_. The popular idea is that they are wild, inaccessible
+countries, inhabited by brigands. That is not so. True, there are
+brigands, even now after the war, in the Balkans, but Belgrade, the
+Serbian capital, is as civilized as Berlin, and the main boulevard of
+Sofia, whither I was bound, is at night almost a replica of the
+Boulevard des Italiens.
+
+I knew, however, that there were others in Sofia upon the same errand
+as myself, emissaries of other Governments and other financial houses.
+Therefore in those three long, never-ending days and nights which the
+journey occupied, my mind was constantly filled with the thoughts of
+the best and most judicious course to pursue in order to attain my
+object.
+
+The run East was uneventful, save for one fact--at the Staatsbahnhof,
+at Vienna, just before our train left for Budapest, a queer, fussy
+little old man in brown entered and was given the compartment next to
+mine.
+
+His nationality I could not determine. He spoke in a deep guttural
+voice with the fair-bearded conductor of the train, but by his
+clothes--which were rather dandified for so old a man--I did not
+believe him to be a native of the Fatherland.
+
+I heard him rumbling about with his bags in the next compartment,
+apparently settling himself, when of a sudden, my quick ear caught an
+imprecation which he uttered to himself in English.
+
+A few hours later, at dinner in the _wagon-restaurant_, I found him
+placed at the same little table opposite me, and naturally we began to
+chat. He spoke in French, perfect French it was, but refused to speak
+English, though, of course, he could had he wished.
+
+"Ah! _non_," he laughed. "I cannot. Excuse me. My pronunciation is so
+faulty. Your English is so ve-ry deefecult!"
+
+And so we talked in French, and I found the queer old fellow was on
+his way to Sofia. He seemed slightly deformed, his face was distinctly
+ugly, broad, clean-shaven, with a pair of black, piercing eyes that
+gave him a most striking appearance. His grey hair was long, his nose
+aquiline, his teeth protruding and yellow; and he was a grumbler of
+the most pronounced type. He growled at the food, at the service, at
+the draughts, at the light in the restaurant, at the staleness of the
+bread we had brought with us from Paris, and at the butter, which he
+declared to be only Danish margarine.
+
+His complaints were amusing. At first the _maitre d'hotel_ bustled
+about to do the bidding of the newcomer, but very quickly summed him
+up, and only grinned knowingly when called to listen to his biting
+sarcasm of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lit and all its
+works.
+
+Next day, at Semlin, where our passports were examined, the passport
+officer took off his hat to him, bowed low and _vised_ his passport
+without question, saying, as he handed back the document to its owner:
+
+"Bon voyage, Highness."
+
+I stared at the pair. My fussy friend with the big head must therefore
+be either a prince or a grand duke!
+
+As I sat opposite him at dinner that night, he was discussing with me
+the harmful writings of some newly discovered Swiss author who was
+posing as a cheap philosopher, and denouncing them as dangerous to the
+community. He leaned his elbow upon the narrow table and supported his
+clean-shaven chin upon his fingers, displaying to me--most certainly
+by accident--the palm of his thin right hand.
+
+What I discovered there caused me a great deal of surprise. In its
+center was a dark, livid mark, as though it had been branded there by
+a hot iron, the plain and distinct imprint of a pet dog's pad!
+
+It fascinated me. There was some hidden meaning in that mark, I felt
+convinced. It was just as though a small dog had stepped in blood with
+one of its forepaws and trodden upon his hand.
+
+Whether he noticed that I had detected it or not, I cannot say, but he
+moved his hand quickly, and ever after kept it closed.
+
+His name, he told me, was Konstantinos Vassos, and he lived in Athens.
+But I took that information _cum grano_, for I instinctively knew him
+to be a prince traveling incognito. Before the passport officer at
+Semlin, every one must pass before entering Serbia.
+
+But if actually a prince, why did he carry a passport?
+
+There is no good hotel at Sofia. The best is called the Grand Hotel de
+Bulgarie, kept by a pleasant old lady, and in this we found ourselves
+next night installed. He, of course, gave his name as Vassos, and to
+all intents and purposes was more of a stranger in the Bulgarian
+capital than I myself was, for I had been there previously once just
+before the war.
+
+Now Rayne had given me a letter of introduction to a certain Nicolas
+Titeroff, who contrived rather mysteriously to get me elected to the
+smart diplomats' club--the Union--during my stay.
+
+The days passed. From the first morning of my arrival I found myself
+at once in the vortex of gayety; invitations poured in upon me--thanks
+to the black-bearded Titeroff--cards for dances here and there and
+receptions and dinners, while I spent each afternoon with Titeroff and
+a wandering Englishman named Mayhew, who told me he was an ex-colonel
+in the British Army.
+
+All the while, I must confess, I was working my cards carefully.
+Thanks to the mysterious Titeroff I had received an introduction to
+Nicholas Petkoff, the grave, grey-haired Minister of Finance, who had
+early in life lost his right arm at the battle of the Shipka
+Pass--and he was inclined to admit my proposals. A French syndicate
+had approached him, but Petkoff would have none of them.
+
+The mission entrusted to me by Rayne was one which, if I could obtain
+the Government Concession which I asked, would mean the formation of a
+great company and a matter of millions. And it seemed to me that my
+black-bearded friend Titeroff, and Mayhew, were both pulling the
+strings cleverly for me in the right direction. Often I considered
+whether they were both crooks and members of the gang organized by
+Rayne. I could not determine.
+
+One night at the weekly dance at the Military Club--a function at
+which the smart set of Sofia always attend, and at which the Ministers
+of State themselves with their women-folk put in an appearance--I had
+been waltzing with the Minister Petkoff's daughter, a pretty,
+dark-haired girl in blue, whom I had met at Titeroff's house--when
+presently the Turkish attache, a pale-faced young man in a fez,
+introduced me to a tall, very handsome, sweet-faced girl in a black
+evening gown.
+
+Mademoiselle Balesco was her name, and I found her inexpressibly
+charming. She spoke French perfectly, and English quite well. She had
+been at school in England, she said--at Scarborough. Her home was at
+Galatz, in Roumania.
+
+We had several dances, and afterwards I took her down to supper. Then
+we had a couple of fox-trots, and I conducted her out to the car that
+was awaiting her and bowing, watched her drive off, alone.
+
+But while doing so, there came along the pavement, out of the shadow,
+the short, ugly figure of the old Greek, Vassos, with his coat collar
+turned up, evidently passing without noticing me.
+
+A few days later when in the evening I was chatting with Mayhew at the
+hotel, he said:
+
+"What have you been up to, Hargreave? Look here! This letter was left
+upon me, with a note, asking me to give it to you in secret. Looks
+like a woman's hand! Mind what you're about in this place, old chap.
+There are some nasty pitfalls, you know!"
+
+With a bachelor's curiosity he was eager to know who was my fair
+correspondent. But I refused to satisfy him.
+
+Suffice it to say that that same night I went alone to a house on the
+outskirts of Sofia, and there met, at her urgent request, Marie
+Balesco. After apologizing for thus approaching me and throwing all
+the _convenances_ to the wind, she seemed to be highly interested in
+my welfare, and very inquisitive concerning the reasons that had
+brought me to Bulgaria.
+
+Like most women of to-day, she smoked, and offered me her
+cigarette-case. I took one--a delicious one it was, but rather
+strong--so strong, indeed, that a strange drowsiness suddenly overcame
+me. Before I could fight against it, the small, well-furnished room
+seemed to whirl about me, and I must have fallen unconscious. Indeed,
+I knew no more until, on awakening, I found myself back in my bed at
+the Hotel de Bulgarie.
+
+I gazed at the morning sunshine upon the wall, and tried to recollect
+what had occurred.
+
+My hand seemed strangely painful. Raising it from the sheets, I looked
+at it.
+
+Upon my right palm, branded as by a hot iron, was the sign of the
+dog's pad!
+
+Horrified, I stared at it! It was the same mark I had seen upon the
+hand of old Vassos! What could be its significance?
+
+In a few days the burn healed, leaving a dark red scar, the distinct
+imprint of a dog's foot. From Mayhew I tried, by cautious questions,
+to obtain some information concerning the fair-faced girl who had
+played such a trick upon me. But he only knew her slightly. He amazed
+me by saying that she had been staying with a certain Madame Sovoff,
+who was something of a mystery, but had left Sofia.
+
+Vassos, who was still at the hotel, annoyed me on account of his
+extreme politeness, and the manner in which he appeared to spy upon my
+movements.
+
+I came across him everywhere. Inquiries concerning the reason of the
+ugly Greek's presence in Bulgaria met with a negative result. One
+thing seemed certain, he was not, as I believed, a prince incognito.
+
+How I longed to go to him, show him the mark upon my hand, and demand
+an explanation. But my curiosity was aroused, therefore I patiently
+awaited developments, my revolver always ready in my pocket in case
+of foul play.
+
+The mysterious action of the pretty girl from Galatz also puzzled me.
+
+At last the Cabinet, after much political jugglery, being deposed, the
+Council were in complete accord with Petkoff regarding my proposals.
+All had been done in secret from the party in opposition, and one day
+I had lunched with His Excellency the Minister of Finance at his house
+in the suburbs of the city.
+
+Nevertheless, I was obsessed by the strange mark which had been so
+mysteriously placed upon my hand--the same mark as that borne by the
+mysterious Vassos.
+
+"You may send a cipher dispatch to London if you like, Mr. Hargreave,"
+said the Minister Petkoff, as we sat over our cigars. "The documents
+will be all signed at the Cabinet meeting at noon to-morrow. In
+exchange for this loan raised in London, all the contracts for the new
+quick-firing guns and ammunition go to your group of London
+financiers."
+
+Such was the welcome news His Excellency imparted to me, and you may
+imagine that I lost no time in writing out a well-concealed message to
+Rayne, and sending it by the manservant to the telegraph office.
+
+For a long time I sat with His Excellency, and then he rose, inviting
+me to walk with him in the Boris Gardens, as was his habit every
+afternoon, before going down to the sitting of the Sobranje, or
+Parliament.
+
+On our way we passed Vassos, who raised his hat politely to me.
+
+"Who's that man?" inquired the Minister quickly, and I told him all I
+knew concerning the old fellow.
+
+He grunted.
+
+In the pretty public garden we were strolling together in the sundown,
+chatting upon the European unrest after the war, the new loan, and
+other matters, when, of a sudden, a black-mustached man in a dark grey
+overcoat and a round fur cap sprang from the bushes at a lonely spot,
+and, raising a big service revolver, fired point-blank at His
+Excellency.
+
+I felt for my own weapon. Alas! it was not there! _I had forgotten
+it!_
+
+The assassin, seeing the Minister reel and fall, turned his weapon
+upon me. Thereupon in an instant I threw up my hands, crying that I
+was unarmed, and an Englishman.
+
+As I did so, he started back as though terrified, and with a spring he
+disappeared again into the bushes.
+
+All had happened in a few brief instants, for ere I could realize that
+a tragedy had actually occurred, I found the unfortunate Minister
+lying lifeless at my feet. My friend had been shot through the heart!
+It was a repetition of the assassination of the Minister Stambuloff.
+
+Readers of the newspapers will recollect the tragic affair which is,
+no doubt, still fresh in their minds.
+
+I told the Chief of Police of Sofia of my strange experience, and
+showed him the mark upon my palm. Though detectives searched high and
+low for the Greek, for Madame Sovoff, and for the fascinating
+mademoiselle, none of them was ever found.
+
+The assassin was, nevertheless, arrested a week later, while trying to
+cross the frontier into Serbia. I, of course, lost by an ace Rayne's
+great financial _coup_, but before execution the prisoner made a
+confession which revealed the existence of a terrible and widespread
+conspiracy, fostered by Turkey, to remove certain members of the
+Cabinet who were in favor of British protection and assistance.
+
+Quite unconsciously I had, it seemed, become an especial favorite of
+the silent, watchful old Konstantinos Vassos. Fearing lest I, in my
+innocence, should fall a victim with His Excellency--being so often
+his companion--he had, with the assistance of the pretty Marie
+Balesco, contrived to impress upon my palm the secret sign of the
+conspirators.
+
+To this fact I certainly owe my life, for the assassin--a stranger to
+Sofia, who had been drawn by lot--would, no doubt, have shot me dead,
+had he not seen the secret sign upon my raised hand.
+
+When I returned to Overstow and related my strange adventure, Rayne
+was furious that just at the very moment when the deal by which he was
+to reap such a huge profit was complete, our friend the Minister
+should have been assassinated.
+
+Lola was in the room when I described all that had occurred, listening
+breathlessly to my narrative.
+
+I showed them both the strange mark upon my palm, a brand which I
+suppose I shall bear to my dying day.
+
+"Then you really owe your life to that girl Balesco, Mr. Hargreave?"
+she said, raising her fine dark eyes to mine.
+
+"I certainly do," I replied.
+
+Her father grunted, and after congratulating me upon my escape, said:
+
+"You had nothing to complain about regarding Titeroff, and the
+assistance he and Mayhew gave you--eh?"
+
+"Nothing. Without them I could never have acted. Indeed, I could never
+have approached the Minister Petkoff."
+
+"Yes," he remarked reflectively. "They're both wily birds. Titeroff
+feathered his nest well when he was in Constantinople, and Mayhew is
+there because of a little bit of serious trouble in Genoa a couple of
+years ago. Of course you never mentioned my name--eh?"
+
+"I only mentioned you as Mr. Goodwin--as you told me," I replied.
+
+He smiled.
+
+"They remembered me, of course?"
+
+"Yes, when I delivered your note of introduction to Titeroff, he at
+once made me welcome, and seemed much surprised that I was acquainted
+with his friend, Mr. Goodwin."
+
+It was now evident, as I had suspected, that the two men who were so
+eager to serve me were international crooks, and members of the great
+gang which Rayne controlled.
+
+"Just describe the man Vassos as fully as you can," urged Rayne.
+
+In consequence I went into a minute description of the fussy old
+Greek, to which Rayne listened most interestedly.
+
+"Yes," he said at last. "But tell me one thing. Did you notice if he
+had any deformity?"
+
+"Well--he walked with a distinct limp."
+
+"And his hand?"
+
+"The little finger on his left hand was deformed," I replied. "I now
+remember it."
+
+"Ah!" he cried in instant anger. "As I thought! It was old
+Boukaris--the sly old devil. How, I wonder, did he know that I had
+sent you to Sofia? He, no doubt, saved you by putting that mark on
+your hand, Hargreave; but the brutes have been one too many for me,
+and have done me down!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MAN WHO WAS SHY
+
+
+Some two months after that curious experience in Sofia, we were guests
+of some friends of Rayne's called Baynes, who lived at Enderby Manor,
+a few miles out of Winchester.
+
+The reason of our visit was somewhat obscure, yet as far as I could
+gather it had no connection with "business." So Rayne, Lola, and
+myself spent a very pleasant four days with one of the most charming
+families I think I have ever met.
+
+Enderby was a beautiful old place lying back in a great park and
+surrounded by woods, half-way between Winchester and Romsey, and
+George Baynes, who had made a fortune in South America, and whose wife
+was a Brazilian lady, was a splendid host.
+
+One bright afternoon Rayne had gone off somewhere with Mr. Baynes, so
+I found Lola and we both went for a stroll in the beautiful woods.
+
+For a long time we chatted merrily, when, of a sudden--I don't exactly
+know how it happened--but I took her hand, and, looking straight into
+her eyes, I declared my passion for her.
+
+I must have taken her unawares, for she drew back with a strange,
+half-frightened expression. Her breath came and went in quick gasps,
+and when she found her tongue, she replied:
+
+"No, George. It is impossible--quite impossible!"
+
+"Why?" I demanded quickly. "I love you, Lola. Can you never
+reciprocate my affection?"
+
+She shook her head sadly, but still allowing me to hold her soft
+little hand.
+
+"You must not speak of love," she whispered. "You are an honest man
+who has been entrapped and compelled to act dishonestly as you do. I
+know it all, alas! I--I know----" and she burst into tears. "I have
+discovered," she sobbed, "that my father is a thief!"
+
+"We cannot help that, Lola," I said, in deep sympathy at her distress.
+
+"No. Unfortunately we can't," she replied faintly, in a voice full of
+emotion. "But it would be fatal to us both if we loved each other.
+Surely, George, you can see that!"
+
+"I don't see it, dearest," I exclaimed, bending and kissing her fondly
+on the cheek for the first time. We had halted in the forest path, and
+now I held her in my arms, though she resisted slightly. "I love you,
+darling!" I cried. "_I love you!_"
+
+"No! No!" she protested. "You must not--you cannot love me. I am only
+the daughter of a man who, at any moment, might be arrested--a man for
+whom the police are ever in search, but cannot find."
+
+"I know all that; but you, dearest, are not a thief!" I urged, for I
+loved her with all the strength of my being--with all my soul.
+
+She trembled and sobbed, but did not reply. Her tearful face was
+hidden upon my shoulder.
+
+"Do you care for me in the least?" I whispered to her. "Tell me, dear,
+do."
+
+She was silent.
+
+I repeated my question, until at last she raised her face to mine,
+and, though she did not speak, I knew with joy that her answer was in
+the affirmative. And then I poured out my secret to her, how ever
+since I had first seen her I had loved her to distraction; and how the
+knowledge that she reciprocated my affection had rendered me the
+happiest man in the world.
+
+For a long time we remained locked in each other's arms. How long I
+cannot tell.
+
+Suddenly, when she had dried her tears, she seemed full of
+apprehension concerning my welfare.
+
+"Oh! do be careful of yourself, George!" she cried. "I am always so
+anxious about you when you are away. Father sends you on those strange
+and highly dangerous missions because he trusts you, and you, alas!
+are compelled to do his bidding. But do take care. You know well what
+the slightest blunder would mean--and you would never clear yourself,
+you know!"
+
+I promised I would take great care always, and again we moved along.
+It was not, however, until dusk that we returned to the Manor.
+
+I could not help wondering how Lola had discovered her father's true
+character and the nature of his secret "business," but on the whole I
+felt it was just as well that she knew, for she herself would exercise
+great care. And then I thought in ecstasy, "She is mine--_mine_!"
+
+Just before midnight, soon after I had retired, the door of my room
+opened, and I found Rayne in his pajamas.
+
+He placed his finger upon his lips with a gesture of silence. Then,
+closing the door noiselessly, he drew me to the opposite side of the
+room, and, showing me a photograph, said:
+
+"Look at this well, George. You'd recognize him, wouldn't you?"
+
+It was a cabinet photograph of a good-looking gentlemanly,
+clean-shaven man of about twenty-five.
+
+"Note his tiepin--a single moonstone!" added Rayne.
+
+"Yes," I said, as I gazed at the photograph.
+
+"Well, to-day is Monday," he said. "Next Thursday night I want you to
+take Madame from London in the Rolls. Go out on the Portsmouth Road by
+way of Kingston and Ditton, through Cobham, and on to Ripley. There,
+about twenty miles from London, you will find on the left-hand side an
+old-fashioned hotel called the Talbot. Stop there at half-past nine,
+and, leaving Madame in the car, go in and have a drink. Edward Houston
+will be awaiting you. Madame is just now at the Carlton. You will
+pick her up at half-past eight."
+
+"And Lola?" I asked, wondering if his daughter was to play any part in
+this new piece of trickery, whatever it might be.
+
+"She is going to Scarborough on Thursday afternoon," was her father's
+reply.
+
+"And when I meet this Mr. Houston," I asked, "what then?"
+
+"You will not meet openly. When you've had your drink and he has seen
+you, you will drive a little way along the road and there await him.
+He does not wish to be seen with you. He's rather shy, you see!" and
+the pleasant-faced man who controlled the most dangerous criminal gang
+in Europe smiled sardonically. "He has his instructions, and you will
+follow them. Take a suit-case with you, for you may be away a few
+days, or longer."
+
+I wondered what devilry he had now planned. I tried to obtain from him
+some further details, but his replies were sharp and firm.
+
+"Act just as I've told you, Hargreave. And please don't be so
+infernally inquisitive." Then, wishing me good night, he turned and
+left my room.
+
+I longed there and then to defy him and refuse to obey, yet I dared
+not, knowing full well the fate that would await me if I resisted.
+Moreover, I had Lola to consider, and if I defied her father he most
+certainly would not allow his daughter to marry me.
+
+Next morning we left Enderby by train and returned to Overstow in the
+late afternoon.
+
+Duperre had gone up to Glasgow upon some mysterious business--crooked
+without a doubt--so that night, after dining together, Rayne and I
+played a game of billiards. While we were smoking in the library prior
+to turning in, the footman tapped at the door and entered with a note.
+
+Rayne tore it open, and as he read it, I noticed that his countenance
+fell. A second later I saw that he was extremely annoyed.
+
+He rose from his chair and for a few moments hesitated. Then, in a
+rather thick voice, said:
+
+"Show him in." After the servant had gone he turned to me, and in a
+changed voice said: "Remain here, George. But never breathe a word of
+what you hear to a living soul! Remember that!"
+
+In a few moment a well-dressed, narrow-faced, bald-headed, rather
+cadaverous man was shown in. He clicked his heels together and bowed
+with foreign politeness and with a smile upon his sinister
+countenance.
+
+"I have the honor to meet Signor Rayne?" he asked, with a distinctly
+Italian accent.
+
+"That is my name," replied Rudolph inquiringly.
+
+"Good! Then you will recognize me, and my name upon my letter in which
+I have asked for this private interview."
+
+"No. I certainly do not," he said. "I have no knowledge of ever
+meeting you before!"
+
+"Ah!" laughed the stranger. "The signore's memory is evidently at
+fault. I--I hesitate to refresh it--before this gentleman," and he
+glanced at me.
+
+"Oh! you need not mind. Mr. Hargreave is my secretary, and knows all
+my confidential affairs," said Rayne, assuming an air of _bonhomie_,
+though I knew he was greatly perturbed by his visitor.
+
+"Then may I be permitted to remind you of our meeting at the Bristol
+Cafe, in Copenhagen, on that July night two years ago, and what
+happened to Henri Gerard, the Marseilles shipowner, later that same
+night? True, we never spoke together, for you posed as a stranger to
+my friends. But you were pointed out to me. You surely cannot ignore
+it?"
+
+"I have never been to Copenhagen in my life," protested Rayne. "What
+do you suggest?"
+
+"The truth; one that you know well, signore, notwithstanding your
+denials. You are the man known as 'The Golden Face,'" declared the
+stranger bitterly, pointing his finger at him. "You neither forget me
+nor my name, Luigi Gori, for you have much cause to remember it--you
+and your friend Stevenson, otherwise Duperre."
+
+Rayne turned furiously upon his visitor, and said:
+
+"I am in no mood to discuss anything with you. So get out! You wished
+to see me privately, and I have granted you this interview. I don't
+know your name or your business, nor do I want to know them! You seem
+to be trying to claim acquaintance with me, and----"
+
+"Pardon me, but I do so, Signor Rayne," laughed the dark-eyed man. "It
+has taken me two years to trace you, and at last I find you here! I
+came at this hour because I thought I would find you apart from your
+honorable family."
+
+"What rubbish are you talking?" demanded Rayne.
+
+"Rubbish!" echoed the stranger. "I am talking no rubbish. I am simply
+reminding you of a very serious and secret matter, namely, the
+mysterious end of Monsieur Gerard, of the Chateau du Sierroz in the
+Jura, and of the Avenue des Champs Elysees. The Surete, in combination
+with the Danish detective service, are still trying to clear up the
+affair. You and I can do it," he said; and, after a pause, he looked
+Rayne straight in the face, and asked: "Shall we? It rests with you!"
+
+Rayne frowned darkly. Never before had I witnessed such an evil look
+upon the face of any man. I knew that his brain was working swiftly,
+and I also saw that our visitor was most unwelcome--evidently an
+accomplice who had managed by some unaccountable means to penetrate
+the veil of secrecy in which the super-crook had always so
+successfully enveloped his identity.
+
+"Well," he laughed. "You really are a most dramatic person, Signor
+Gori, or whatever your name may be. I really don't understand you,
+unless you are attempting to blackmail me. And if you are, then I'll
+get my servant to show you the door."
+
+The stranger smiled meaningly, and asked quite quietly:
+
+"Is it not to your advantage, Signor Rayne, to talk this little matter
+over in a friendly spirit? I offer you the opportunity. If you refuse
+it----" And he shrugged his shoulders meaningly, without concluding
+his sentence.
+
+Rayne was silent for a few seconds. Then he said in quite a changed
+and genial tone:
+
+"I am much mystified at your visit, Signor Gori, for I certainly have
+no knowledge of you. But the hour is late. If you are staying in the
+neighborhood could you call again at noon to-morrow, when we will go
+further into this tangled affair? We seem to be at cross-purposes
+to-night."
+
+"As you wish," replied the visitor, bowing with exquisite politeness.
+"I am staying at the Fleece Hotel, at Thirsk, and I have motored out
+here. To-morrow at noon I will call upon you." And then he added in a
+hard, relentless tone: "And then I trust your memory will be
+refreshed. Signori, I wish you both _buona sera_."
+
+"Stay! I quite forgot! I shall not be here to-morrow," Rayne replied
+quickly. "I have to be out some part of the day, and also I expect
+visitors."
+
+"Then the day after?" suggested the visitor politely, to which Rayne
+sullenly replied:
+
+"Yes. The day after to-morrow, at six o'clock in the evening. I will
+be here to see you, if you still persist in pestering me. But I warn
+you, Signor Gori, that it is quite useless."
+
+The Italian smiled, bowed, and again wishing us good night, crossed
+the room as Rayne pressed the electric button for the servant.
+
+I realized that a big cloud of trouble had unexpectedly descended upon
+Overstow. When he had gone Rayne broke out into a furious series of
+imprecations and vows of vengeance upon some person whom he did not
+name, but whom he suspected of having made a _faux pas_.
+
+Suddenly, however, he bade me good night in his usual manner, as
+though nothing had occurred to disturb him. He was a man of abnormal
+intellect, defiant, fearless, and with a brain which, had it been put
+to proper usage, would undoubtedly have made him a world-famous
+Englishman. After all, the brains of great criminals, properly
+cultivated and directed, are the same brains as those possessed by our
+great leaders, whether political, commercial, or social.
+
+That night I scarcely closed my eyes in sleep. The Damoclean sword had
+apparently fallen upon the Squire of Overstow. And I recollected his
+daughter's warning.
+
+Next morning, directly after breakfast, which he ate with relish, and
+seemed quite his normal self, I drove with him at his orders over to
+Heathcote Hall, about five miles away, where lived Sir Johnson
+Burnham, one of the old Yorkshire aristocracy, who was also chairman
+of quarter sessions.
+
+I waited at the wheel while he called. I knew that the baronet was not
+at home, as a week before Lola had told me that he had gone to San
+Remo. Nevertheless, Rayne went inside, and was there quite half an
+hour. I was puzzled at his absence, but the reason seemed plain when
+the butler, bowing him out, exclaimed:
+
+"I am so sorry, Mr. Rayne, but the telephone people are, I fear, very
+slack in these days. It takes so long to get a number."
+
+So Rayne had gone to Heathcote in order to telephone to somebody in
+great urgency--somebody he dare not speak with from Overstow.
+
+As we drove back again, Rayne said:
+
+"Of course, George, you will never breathe a word of this--well, this
+little _contretemps_--or of its result. When I'm up against the wall I
+always hit hard. That's the only way. I'm not going to be
+blackmailed!"
+
+"The affair does not concern me," I replied. "What I hear in your
+presence I never repeat."
+
+"I'm glad you appreciate your position," he answered. "I'm a good
+employer to those who trust me, but an infernally bad one to those who
+doubt, who blunder, or who betray me, as you have probably learned,"
+he said in a hard voice, as we swung into the handsome lodge gates of
+Overstow.
+
+Just before luncheon Rayne was called to the telephone. I was in the
+room at the time. He apparently recognized the voice, and scribbled
+something upon the pad before him.
+
+"Will you repeat that?" he asked. "I want to be quite clear."
+
+Then he listened again very intently.
+
+"Right! I'll be with you at ten to-night," he replied, and then hung
+up the receiver.
+
+"I must go to London," he said, turning to me. "You'll drive me into
+York, and I can catch the four-thirty up. You stay here and meet that
+Italian chap to-morrow at six, and tell him that I'm up at Half Moon
+Street. Give him my address, and ask him to see me there. After you've
+seen him, start in the car for London and carry out the instructions I
+gave you on Monday."
+
+Then he went to his room, changed his clothes, and came down to lunch
+in very bright spirits. It seemed that by the Italian's visit he was
+now not in the least perturbed.
+
+I drove him with Lola to York, where he went to London and Lola to
+Scarborough. Afterwards I dined at the Station Hotel alone, and
+returned to Overstow, which seemed chill and lonely. The local doctor
+happily looked in during the evening, and I played him a game at
+billiards.
+
+In impatient curiosity I waited until next day, when, punctually at
+six o'clock, Signor Gori was shown into a little room adjoining the
+great hall, and there I joined him in the capacity of a busy man's
+secretary.
+
+"I much regret, Signor Gori," I said, after we had bowed, "but Mr.
+Rayne was called to London quite unexpectedly upon some very urgent
+business. He presents his apologies and asks whether you can manage to
+meet him in London when it is convenient to you. Will you telephone to
+him?" And I gave him the address of Rayne's rooms.
+
+"His apologies!" echoed the Italian, with a very marked accent and a
+gesture of ridicule. "The apologies of 'The Golden Face'! Ah! my dear
+friend, you are his secretary; you are not the principal in this very
+serious affair."
+
+"Serious. How?" I asked in pretense of ignorance, and hoping thereby
+to learn something.
+
+"_Madonna Santa!_ You do not know--you do not realize the depths of
+that man's villainy! I do! I am the one person who has penetrated the
+veil of secrecy beneath which he has so long remained hidden. Querot,
+of the Paris Surete, and Tetani, of the Public Security of Italy, are
+my friends. I can now go to them, as I shall."
+
+"My dear sir!" I exclaimed. "The matter is no affair of mine! I am
+simply a paid secretary to do Mr. Rayne's correspondence, and
+sometimes to drive his car. There my engagement ends."
+
+"Then be very careful! Be warned by me!" the Italian cried, gazing at
+me very seriously. "This man, your employer, is the leader of the most
+wonderfully organized gang of criminals in Europe. I happen to know."
+
+"How?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me strangely, and his manner changed. His dark eyes
+seemed to search mine, and then next instant he smiled mysteriously.
+
+"I will tell you the truth," he said. "The reason I know is because I
+have unwittingly--owing to a little lapse from the path of
+honesty--been made one of the tools of this man whose marvelous brain
+controls the actions of dozens of the most unscrupulous and dangerous
+thieves on the Continent. My suspicions were aroused by something a
+woman told me in Paris, and for many months I have been unceasing in
+my inquiries. I have at last discovered the well-concealed chief who
+gives his orders like a general in the field, and those orders are
+obeyed to the letter without question, and always to the profit of
+those who execute them. And here," he added, gazing around, "I am in
+the fine house of the man of mystery for whom the police are ever
+seeking--'The Golden Face'!"
+
+"What you have said certainly surprises me," I replied. "Surely there
+must be some mistake. Mr. Rayne is not the leader of a criminal gang.
+He is simply a country landowner here."
+
+"Under that guise he poses unsuspected by the police," laughed my
+visitor. "You can rest assured that I have made every inquiry and that
+now I know."
+
+"And what are your intentions?" I asked. "Surely you will go and see
+him in London?"
+
+The truth was out, and I saw that the Italian meant mischief.
+
+"Perhaps I shall go to the police at once," he said. "Perhaps I shall
+go to London. I shall consider. He made an appointment and he has
+broken his promise. He fears me! That is quite plain. But, signore, I
+am here in England to bring him to justice, if only for one very
+serious crime--a crime that a woman witness I have can prove!"
+
+"This is all very distressing to me, especially as Mr. Rayne has a
+daughter, a young lady who is entirely ignorant of her father's source
+of income," I said.
+
+"Ignorant!" he echoed. "Ah! my dear signore, do not think the
+Signorina Lola is ignorant! I have waited and watched. I know more
+than you or Signor Rayne ever suspect. The girl may affect ignorance,
+but she knows, and I can prove it!"
+
+His words caused me to start. I certainly did not like the man's
+attitude, for whatever I said, or whatever pretense I made, he refused
+to be appeased. All I could do in the circumstances was to express
+regret that Mr. Rayne had been compelled to go to London, and to again
+ask him to call at Half Moon Street.
+
+His allegations against Lola incensed me. I tried to obtain from him
+further details of his allegations, but he remained mysterious and
+triumphant. So in that spirit he left me, and departed in the car he
+had hired from Thirsk.
+
+After a hurried dinner I got out the Rolls, filled up the tank, and
+set out on the long journey to London. As hour after hour I swept
+along the great North Road, my big headlights glaring before me, I
+felt more than ever apprehensive.
+
+Could it be that the bald-headed man had actually discovered the
+leading spirit of the great gang of which I could only suppose he had
+been an unimportant member? If so, then for my own safety I ought to
+warn Rayne of his peril. Yet it was all hateful to me. I had been
+inveigled into that untenable position which I held, and now escape
+was impossible. I felt, however, in honor bound to protect Lola, even
+though that Italian crook had made those airy allegations against her.
+
+I drove on through the night against a pelting rain that fell between
+Grantham and Stamford, but at the Wansford cross-roads it cleared up,
+and gradually the gray dawn showed.
+
+It was half-past eight when I drove into the garage off the Tottenham
+Court Road, and I took a taxi to the Great Central Hotel, where I had
+a wash and a sleep till noon.
+
+Then I went round to Half Moon Street, but found that Rayne was at the
+Automobile Club. I found him there just as he was going in to lunch
+with two ladies whom I had never before seen.
+
+My presence seemed to alarm him, for with excuse he left the ladies
+and took me out into the big hall.
+
+There I told him of Gori's visit and of his threats.
+
+He laughed.
+
+"I only hope he will come and see me, George," he said. "But somehow,
+I don't think he will! You know now what to do. Madame is alone at the
+Carlton and ready to accompany you. I'm sorry I can't give you lunch,
+George, but I have two guests. I shall be anxious to know how you get
+on. Telephone to me in confidence after you've been to Ripley, won't
+you? Good-by."
+
+And he passed across the hall and rejoined his two smartly dressed
+guests, crooks, like himself, I supposed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE SIGN OF NINETY-NINE
+
+
+At half-past eight I called for Duperre's wife at the hotel, and she
+came down wearing a plain, dark-brown motor coat with a small,
+close-fitting cap to match. She was, indeed, unusually dowdy in
+appearance.
+
+"Well, George," she exclaimed, as she sat behind me in the car and I
+drove down Pall Mall, "we're going out on a little adventure, I
+understand. Do you know where we're going?"
+
+"Down to Ripley, on the Portsmouth Road," I replied. "I have to meet a
+man named Houston at the Talbot Hotel. That's all I know," I answered.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I know Houston. We must be careful to-night--very
+careful."
+
+We went through the crooked roads of Kingston and out through Surbiton
+towards Ditton, when, after a long silence, she exclaimed as she bent
+towards me:
+
+"Tell me, George, have you ever heard the name of Gori, and if so, in
+what connection? I ask this in confidence between ourselves, as the
+outcome may mean much to both of us."
+
+"I don't quite understand you, Madame," was my polite reply. "I only
+wish your husband had asked that question."
+
+"Look here," she said in a low, tense voice, "you love Lola! I know
+you do. Then will you, for her sake, reply to me openly and frankly?
+Have you in these past few days met a bald-headed Italian named Luigi
+Gori? And in what circumstances?"
+
+I remained silent for some minutes. Then I said:
+
+"I have met a man named Gori. He called upon Rudolph."
+
+"When?" she gasped.
+
+"He called on Monday night."
+
+Madame Duperre held her breath for a few moments. She seemed to be
+calculating.
+
+"I recognize certain grave probabilities in Gori's visit," she said,
+and then lapsed again into silence.
+
+Presently I pulled up before the big old seventeenth-century
+posting-house in the long, quiet village of Ripley, once noted in the
+late Victorian craze of the "push-bike" as being the Mecca of the
+daring cyclist who ran out of London and back.
+
+The great gateway through which the mail coaches for Portsmouth used
+to rumble was dark and cavernous, but on the right I saw a small door,
+and opening it found myself in a very low-ceiled but cosy bar, in
+which burned a great log fire with shining pewters above it. The
+Talbot is nothing if not a link with the days of the highwaymen of
+Weybridge Heath. Few inns in England are so unspoiled by modern
+improvements as the Talbot, at Ripley.
+
+In the rather dim light of that low-pitched, well-warmed inn parlor,
+with its wide, inviting chimney-corner, I saw four men. One of them,
+facing the firelight, I recognized from the photographs Rayne had
+shown me--the man with the moonstone in his tie.
+
+I ordered my drink loudly, and looked him full in the face. Then, when
+a few moments later I had drunk it, I wished the barman good night and
+went out. Reentering the car, I drove out of the village towards
+Guildford, and there waited expectantly. In ten minutes he came out of
+the darkness.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave?" he asked, and, after replying, I invited him inside
+the car, whereupon he at once recognized Madame in the half-light. It
+was plain that they were known to each other.
+
+"I expected Vincent would be with you. Where is he?" asked the man
+named Houston.
+
+"He's away. I don't know exactly where he is," Madame replied. "But
+what game are we going to play to-night?"
+
+"A very merry one. It may be amusing, it may be tragic," was the man's
+reply. "We're picking up May Cranston at Horsley Station presently."
+
+"May Cranston!" echoed Madame, astounded. "I thought she went to
+America after that affair in Dinard!"
+
+"So she did, but she's back again. May is a pretty shrewd girl, you
+know."
+
+"I'm well aware of that. But why are we meeting her?"
+
+"She'll probably tell you," was the fellow's reply, and, at his
+direction, I turned the car into a narrow side road which ran for
+miles through woods and coppices until at last, after passing through
+two small villages, we came to a wayside station dimly lit by oil
+lamps.
+
+There we waited for about a quarter of an hour, when the slow train
+from Waterloo ran in, and from a first-class carriage there stepped a
+tall, well-dressed girl wearing a rich fur coat and small hat. She was
+evidently expecting the car to meet her, for she walked straight up to
+it and entered, being greeted by Madame and Houston, who were inside.
+
+I followed the newcomer and got into the driver's seat, whereupon
+Madame introduced me.
+
+The moment she opened her lips I knew she was American, and also from
+her speech and expressions I knew that she was a crook who moved in
+good society.
+
+"We'll drive through Merrow and over to Hindhead," Houston said. "We'd
+better avoid the High Street of Guildford, for the police might
+possibly spot the car. So we'll go by the side roads. I was over there
+three days ago on a motor-bike, so I'll pilot you."
+
+And then he turned to gossip merrily with the good-looking American
+girl, who seemed most enthusiastic concerning our mysterious
+adventure.
+
+"To-night ought to bring us a clear twenty thousand pounds," he said.
+
+"More, my dear Teddy," the girl replied. "But since I saw you in
+Chicago four months ago I've had a very narrow squeak. I was nearly
+pinched by old Shenstone from New York. Dicky Diamond gave me the tip,
+and I cleared out from my hotel just in time. Had to leave all my
+trunks and eight thousand dollars' worth of jewelry behind me. And now
+I dare not claim them, for the police have seized them. Somebody gave
+me away, but I don't know who. Wouldn't I like to know--just! You bet
+I'd get even on them!"
+
+"A good job you were warned," said Madame. "Dicky was over here last
+June. I spent the evening with him at Prince's."
+
+"He's over here now. Waiting for me in Liverpool. I've got my passage
+booked back for to-morrow night, so if the hue and cry is raised I
+shall have left. I'm in the passengers' list as Mrs. George C.
+Meredith, wife of the well-known Chicago stock-broker. See my ring!"
+she laughed, holding up her hand in the semi-darkness. "Ain't it a
+real fine one? And you are my mother, Madame! See?"
+
+"But where are we going?" asked Duperre's wife.
+
+"Going to make an unexpected call upon old Bethmeyer," she replied.
+
+"Bethmeyer!" I exclaimed. "What, old Sir Joseph Bethmeyer, the
+millionaire whom they call the mystery man of Europe, the man who is
+said to have a finger in every financial pie all over Europe?"
+
+"Yes, I guess it's the same man," replied our sprightly companion. "He
+lives at Frenbury Park, a splendid place between Hindhead and
+Farnham."
+
+What, I wondered, could they possibly want with Sir Joseph Bethmeyer,
+the man who had, it was said, been behind the ex-Emperor Carl in his
+endeavor to regain the throne of the Hapsburgs, and who was declared
+to be immensely wealthy, though the source of his great riches could
+never be discovered. I knew him from the photographs so frequently in
+the papers, a stout, full-bearded, Teutonic-looking man, who claimed
+Swedish nationality, and who frequently gave large sums to charity,
+apparently in order to propitiate the British Government, who were
+more than suspicious of his oft-repeated good intentions.
+
+At Houston's suggestion we stopped at a small hotel in Godalming, and
+there had supper, for it was yet early, and the American girl had
+dropped a hint that we should not go near Frenbury till past midnight.
+As we sat at table in a private room, I saw that she was exceedingly
+handsome, with a pair of coal-black eyes and a shrewd, alert
+expression, but her American accent was not always pronounced. Indeed,
+when she liked, she could conceal it altogether.
+
+She wore a fine diamond bracelet, her only ornament. Yet during our
+meal Houston whispered something to her, whereupon she half drew from
+beneath her fur coat something that glinted in the light, and I saw
+it was a very serviceable-looking revolver.
+
+A few moments later we heard a car pull up, and a heavy-booted man
+entered the hall of the hotel. The door of our room opened, and a
+thick-set, clean-shaven man of about forty glanced in inquisitively,
+almost instantly shutting the door again.
+
+Next second May Cranston sprang to her feet with blanched face and
+terrified eyes.
+
+"That's Hedley!--old Bethmeyer's secretary! If he's recognized me,
+then the game is up," she whispered hoarsely.
+
+"But did he?" queried Houston, who sat next to her. "I don't think he
+noticed anybody. He simply saw that this was a private party and
+withdrew. He's evidently gone to the bar."
+
+"He's on his way to Frenbury from London, no doubt," said the girl.
+
+"Don't go farther if you think there's any risk," Madame urged.
+
+"But it must be done, and to-night!" the girl said. "Remember I leave
+Liverpool to-morrow evening if there's trouble, and you--my
+mother--have got to see me off!"
+
+"I'll go into the bar and watch him," I volunteered, and rising, I
+went to a kind of pigeon-hole which gave access to the bar, and
+through which I could see into the room beyond. The man whom Miss
+Cranston had recognized as Hedley was smoking a cigarette and calmly
+drinking a whisky-and-soda. Afterwards I walked to the door and saw
+that the car was turned towards London, a reassuring fact which I
+reported to my companions.
+
+"Then he's going away from Frenbury, and won't be at home to-night!"
+cried the American girl gleefully.
+
+When he had gone we drove nearly to Petersfield, and it was
+considerably past midnight when, on our return, we descended that long
+hill which leads from Hindhead. Then, after turning off the main road
+for some time, we came to a narrow lane which led into a dark wood,
+where Houston suddenly stopped me and ordered me to switch out the
+lights.
+
+Scarcely had I done this when two men emerged mysteriously from the
+shadow, and one of them, addressing Houston, said:
+
+"You're pretty punctual, Teddy! Sam isn't here yet. He's walking from
+Haslemere."
+
+"No! he's here all right!" exclaimed a voice clearly in the darkness,
+as a third man came forward.
+
+"May is in the car," Houston explained. "Is everything ready?"
+
+"Yes; when you get along here fifty yards more you can see the house.
+The old fellow sleeps in the first-floor room on the corner. The light
+has just been switched off, so he's gone to bed all right."
+
+Meanwhile the American girl had stepped from the car, and, greeting
+them all as "boys," listened to what was said.
+
+"Let's hope the old boy will sleep comfortably, eh?" she laughed
+gayly. "If he doesn't it will be the worse for him! His wife is in
+Paris, or she might prove a bit of trouble to us."
+
+"I know the ground exactly," remarked one of the three men. "I wasn't
+in service here as footman for six weeks for nothing," he added with a
+laugh.
+
+"Well, come on," said Houston, who seemed to be the leader of the
+adventures. "Let's get to work," and, picking up a bag which one of
+the men had put down, he pressed into my hand a short, circular
+electric torch, saying:
+
+"Be careful not to press the button, because when the light is
+switched on the shot is fired! Only you might require it. One never
+knows! Come on."
+
+May Cranston walked noiselessly with us, while in front the three men
+stalked quietly, speaking only in low whispers. Soon we came to a path
+which led into a great park, which we skirted, keeping still in the
+shadow of the trees, for the moon, though nearly gone, still shed some
+unwelcome light. The silence was only broken by our footsteps on the
+leaves. Silhouetted against the sky was the magnificent old
+castle-like mansion with many turrets in which dwelt the world's
+mystery man of finance.
+
+At last we approached quite close to the house, and, crossing the
+broad terrace, we halted at the direction of our guide who had acted
+as footman there.
+
+Before us was a row of long French windows. One of these the man
+known as Sam attacked in a methodical way with a short steel jimmy,
+and in a few moments he had noiselessly opened it, and while somebody
+showed a torch, we all entered what was, I found, a long and luxurious
+drawing-room.
+
+"Mr. Hargreave! You remain here!" said the girl Cranston, who now
+assumed the leadership. "If occasion arises don't hesitate to use your
+torch. All you have to do is to keep this way of retreat open. Leave
+all the rest to us."
+
+Then, still guided by the ex-footman, she disappeared with the four
+men.
+
+What was intended I could not guess. We had broken into one of the
+most magnificent houses in England, and no doubt an extensive burglary
+had been planned.
+
+I waited in the big, dark room for nearly twenty minutes, when
+suddenly I heard heavy, stumbling footsteps returning, and became
+conscious that the men, aided by the woman, were carrying with them a
+heavy human form. It was enveloped in black cloth and trussed up
+firmly with stout rope.
+
+"Say, are you all right, Mr. Hargreave?" inquired the American
+girl-crook.
+
+I replied in the affirmative, whereupon she whispered: "Good! Come
+right along. It's worked beautifully. The old boy started up to see me
+at his bedside, and put on his dressing-gown to talk to me. Oh! it was
+real fun! He dared only speak in a whisper for fear the servants
+overheard. I told him I was thirsty, and he took me into his study.
+We had drinks, and I put him quietly to sleep with a couple of drops
+of the soothing syrup. When he comes to himself he'll have the shock
+of his life. Six months ago in Philadelphia--when I wanted some
+money--he defied me. Now it will cost the old skinflint a very big sum
+if he wants to see the light of day again! If he won't pay up, well,
+we are none the worse off, are we?"
+
+A quarter of an hour later they had placed the unconscious form of Sir
+Joseph in the car, and, bidding farewell to the three stalwart men,
+who were, no doubt, professional thieves from London, we started back
+swiftly through Farnham and Aldershot, thence by way of Reading and
+along the Bath Road to a lonely house somewhere outside Hounslow,
+where the American girl stopped me.
+
+There the unconscious man was carried in, and while the others
+remained in the house--which I think had been taken furnished and
+specially for the purpose--I was ordered to return to London alone,
+which I did, most thankful to end that exciting night's adventure.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On my return to the garage off the Tottenham Court Road at half-past
+three in the morning, the man on duty told me that a man's voice had
+inquired for me about nine o'clock.
+
+"He seemed very anxious indeed to find you. But he told me to give you
+a number--number ninety-nine! Sounds like a doctor, eh, sir?"
+remarked the man.
+
+I stood aghast at the message.
+
+"Are you sure that was the number?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. I wrote it down here. He gave a Mayfair telephone number,"
+and he showed me the note he had made.
+
+It was a message from Rayne! That number was the one agreed upon by
+all of us as a signal that some extreme danger had occurred, and it
+became necessary for us all to keep apart and disperse.
+
+I got into the car and drove out of the garage again, not knowing how
+to act. In Oxford Street, at that hour silent and deserted, I drew up,
+and, taking a piece of paper from my notebook, I wrote down the
+figures "99," and, placing it in a small envelope which I fortunately
+found in my wallet, I addressed it to Madame Duperre, and left it with
+the night porter at the Carlton, urging him to give it to her
+immediately on her return.
+
+Then I drove to the Strand telegraph office, and thence dispatched a
+well-guarded message to Lola at Scarborough, telling her to meet me
+without fail at the Station Hotel at Hull that afternoon and bring her
+passport with her.
+
+This she did, and when we met I told her of her father's unwelcome
+visitor, the man Gori, and that he feared the police. Both of us
+decided to pose as runaway lovers and leave the country, which we
+did, I having succeeded in obtaining two berths upon a Wilson steamer
+crossing to Bergen.
+
+It was not until a week later that we read in the English newspapers
+the sensation caused by the arrest of Mr. Rudolph Rayne of Overstow
+Hall, Yorkshire, upon an extradition warrant applied for by the Danish
+Government. The prisoner had been brought up at Bow Street, and, after
+certain mysterious evidence had been given, he had been remanded.
+
+In due course Rayne was conveyed to Copenhagen, where he was tried for
+complicity in a great bank fraud on the Danish National Bank, and sent
+to twenty years' penal servitude. Hence to the British public Rayne's
+actual activities were never revealed.
+
+I can only suppose that my warning to Madame had its effect, and that
+she, her husband and all her friends took flight.
+
+Whether they obtained the money they sought as ransom for old Sir
+Joseph Bethmeyer I know not. Probably they did, for nothing appeared
+in the papers concerning his disappearance.
+
+Eventually I succeeded in getting Lola safely to her aunt in Paris,
+where, though her father's downfall is still a great blow to her, she
+is living in peace under another name, while I have found honest
+employment in the office of a French shipping company in Bordeaux.
+
+Lola is my fiancee, and we are to be married next June. One subject,
+however, we have mutually agreed never to mention, namely, the evil
+machinations and ingenious activities of her father, the man who had,
+for some mysterious reason of his own, ascertained that I could sing,
+and who, in overconfidence at his own cunning, was at last
+unmasked--"The Golden Face."
+
+
+
+
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