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diff --git a/40434-0.txt b/40434-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85d3c70 --- /dev/null +++ b/40434-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10090 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40434 *** + +THE PLACE OF DRAGONS + +A MYSTERY + +By +WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +Author of "In White Raiment," "If Sinners Entice Thee," +"The Room of Secrets," etc. + +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED +LONDON AND MELBOURNE + + +MADE IN ENGLAND + +Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + I PRESENTS A PROBLEM 5 + + II IS MAINLY ASTONISHING 12 + + III SHOWS LIGHT FROM THE MIST 22 + + IV OPENS SEVERAL QUESTIONS 30 + + V IN WHICH THE SHADOW FALLS 38 + + VI MYSTERY INEXPLICABLE 44 + + VII TELLS OF TWO MEN 52 + + VIII REMAINS AN ENIGMA 60 + + IX DESCRIBES A NIGHT VIGIL 67 + + X CONTAINS A CLUE 73 + + XI THE AFFAIR OF THE SEVENTEENTH 81 + + XII LOLA 87 + + XIII RELATES A STRANGE STORY 95 + + XIV WHEREIN CONFESSION IS MADE 103 + + XV CONFIRMS CERTAIN SUSPICIONS 110 + + XVI WHERE TWO C'S MEET 118 + + XVII REVEALS ANOTHER PLOT 125 + + XVIII DONE IN THE NIGHT 131 + + XIX RECORDS FURTHER FACTS 139 + + XX ANOTHER DISCOVERY IS MADE 145 + + XXI EXPLAINS LOLA'S FEARS 152 + + XXII THE ROAD OF RICHES 160 + + XXIII FOLLOWS THE ELUSIVE JULES 166 + + XXIV MAKES A STARTLING DISCLOSURE 173 + + XXV IS MORE MYSTERIOUS 181 + + XXVI HOT-FOOT ACROSS EUROPE 188 + + XXVII OPENS A DEATH-TRAP 196 + +XXVIII DESCRIBES A CHASE 204 + + XXIX THE HOUSE IN HAMPSTEAD 212 + + XXX NARRATES A STARTLING AFFAIR 219 + + XXXI "SHEEP OF THY PASTURE" 227 + + XXXII THE TENTS OF UNGODLINESS 235 + +XXXIII DISCLOSES A STRANGE TRUTH 241 + + XXXIV CONCERNS TO-DAY 250 + + + + +THE PLACE OF DRAGONS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PRESENTS A PROBLEM + + +"Curious affair, isn't it?" + +"Very." + +"Now, you're a bit of a mystery-monger, Vidal. What's your theory--eh?" + +"I haven't one," I replied with a smile. + +"I knew the old boy quite well by sight. Didn't you?" asked my friend, +Major Keppell, as we stood gossiping together in the doorway of the +_Hôtel de Paris_, high up on the cliff opposite the pier at Cromer. + +"Perfectly. His habit was to go down the slope yonder, to the pier each +morning at ten, and to remain there till eleven," I said. "I used to +watch him every morning. He went as regularly as the clock, wet or +fine." + +"A bit eccentric, I thought," remarked the Major, standing astride in +his rough golfing clothes, and puffing at his briar pipe. "Quite a +character for a novel--eh?" and he laughed. "You'll do a book about this +strange affair--what?" + +I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, as I replied: "Not very likely, I +think. Yet the circumstances are, to say the least, extremely curious." + +"They are, from all I hear," said my friend. Then, glancing at his +wristlet watch, he exclaimed: "By Jove!--nearly seven! I must get in and +dress for dinner. See you later." + +With this he passed through the swing-doors of the hotel, leaving me +standing upon the short sweep of gravel gazing out upon the summer sea, +golden in the glorious June sunset. + +The Major had spoken the truth. A discovery had been made in Cromer that +morning which possessed many remarkable features, and to me, an +investigator of crime, it presented an extremely interesting +problem--one such as I, Herbert Vidal, had never before heard of. + +Briefly related, the facts were as follows. Early in February--four +months before--there had arrived in Cromer a queer, wizened, little old +man named Vernon Gregory. He was accompanied by his nephew, a rather +dandified, overdressed young fellow of twenty-three, named Edward Craig. + +Strangers are very few in Cromer in winter, and therefore Mrs. Dean, +landlady of Beacon House, on the West Cliff, a few doors west of the +_Hôtel de Paris_, where the asphalted footpath runs along the top of the +cliff, was very glad to let the new-comers the first-floor front +sitting-room with two bedrooms above. + +In winter and spring, Cromer, high and bleak, and swept by the wild, +howling winds from the grey North Sea, its beach white with the spume of +storm, is practically deserted. The hotels, with the exception of the +_Paris_, are closed, the boarding-houses are mostly shut, and the +landladies who let apartments wait weeks and weeks in vain for the +arrival of a chance visitor. In August, however, the place overflows +with visitors, all of the best class, and for six weeks each year Cromer +becomes one of the gayest little towns on the breezy East Coast. + +So, all through the spring, with its grey, wet days, when the spindrift +swept in a haze across the promenade, old Mr. Gregory was a familiar +figure taking his daily walk, no matter how inclement the weather. + +In appearance he was unusual, and seedy. His bony face was long, thin, +and grey; a countenance that was broad at the brow and narrowed to a +pointed chin. He had a longish white beard, yet his deep-set eyes with +their big bushy brows were so dark and piercing that the fire of youth +seemed still to burn within them. He was of medium height, rather +round-shouldered, and walked with a decided limp, aided by a stout ash +stick. Invariably he wore an old, dark grey, mackintosh cape, very +greasy at the collar; black trousers, old and baggy; boots very down at +heel; and on his mass of long white hair a broad-brimmed felt hat, which +gave him the appearance of a musician, or an artist. + +Sometimes, on rare occasions, his well-dressed nephew walked with +him--but very seldom were they together. + +Craig was a tall, well-set-up young fellow, who generally wore a drab +golf-suit, smoked cigarettes eternally, and frequently played billiards +at the _Red Lion_. He was also a golfer and well known on the links for +the excellence of his play. + +Between uncle and nephew there was nothing in common. Craig had dropped +a hint that he was down there with his relative "just to look after the +old boy." He undoubtedly preferred London life, and it was stated that a +few years before he had succeeded to a large estate somewhere on the +Welsh border. + +The residents of Cromer are as inquisitive as those of most small towns. +Therefore, it was not very long after the arrival of this curious +couple, that everybody knew that old Mr. Gregory was concealing the fact +that he was head of the famous Sheffield armour-plate making firm, +Messrs. Gregory and Thorpe, though he now took but little part in the +active work of the world-famed house that rolled plates for Britain's +mighty "Dreadnoughts." + +Cromer, on learning his identity, at once regarded old Gregory's queer +figure with due reverence. His parsimonious ways, the clockwork +regularity with which he took his morning walk, bought his daily paper +at Munday's Library, and took his afternoon stroll up past the +coast-guard station, or towards the links, or along the Overstrand or +Sheringham roads, were looked upon as the eccentricities of an immensely +wealthy man. + +In rich men the public tolerate idiosyncrasies, that in poorer persons +are declared to betoken either lunacy, or that vague excuse for the +contravention of the conventionalities known as "the artistic +temperament." Many men have actually earned reputations, and even +popularity, by the sheer force of cultivated eccentricities. With +professional men eccentricity is one of the pegs on which their astute +press-agents can always hang a paragraph. + +In the case of Mr. Vernon Gregory, as he limped by, the good +shop-keeping public of Cromer looked after him with benevolent glances. +He was the great steel magnate who ate frugally, who grumbled loudly at +Mrs. Dean if his weekly bill exceeded that of the City clerk and his +wife who had occupied the same rooms for a fortnight in the previous +July. He was pointed at with admiration as the man of millions who eked +out every scuttleful of coal as though it were gold. + +Undoubtedly Mr. Gregory was a person of many eccentricities. From his +secretary in Sheffield he daily received a bulky package of +correspondence, and this, each morning, was attended to by his nephew. +Yet the old man always made a point of posting all the letters with his +own hand, putting them into the box at the post-office opposite the +church. + +Sometimes, but only at rare intervals--because, as he declared, "it was +so very costly"--Mr. Gregory hired an open motor-car from Miller's +garage. On such occasions, Craig, who was a practised motorist, would +drive, and the pair would go on long day excursions towards Yarmouth, or +Hunstanton, or inland to Holt or Norwich. At such times the old man +would don many wraps, and a big blue muffler, and wear an unsightly pair +of goggles. + +Again, the old fellow preferred to do much of his shopping himself, and +it was no uncommon sight to see him in the street carrying home +two-pennyworth of cream in a little jug. Hence the good people of Cromer +grew to regard their out-of-season visitor as a harmless, but +philanthropic old buffer, for his hand was in his pocket for every local +charity. His amusements were as frugal as his housekeeping. During the +spring his only recreation was a visit to the cinema at the Town Hall +twice a week. When, however, the orchestral concerts commenced on the +pier, he became a constant attendant at them. + +So small is Cromer, with its narrow streets near the sea, that in the +off-season strangers are constantly running into each other. Hence, I +frequently met old Gregory, and on such occasions we chatted about the +weather, or upon local topics. His voice was strangely high-pitched, +thin, but not unmusical. Indeed, he was a great lover of music, as was +afterwards shown by his constant attendance at the pier concerts. + +His nephew, Craig, was what the people of Cromer, in vulgar parlance, +dubbed a "nut." He was always immaculately dressed, wore loud socks, +seemed to possess a dozen styles of hats, and was never seen without +perfectly clean wash-leather gloves. He laughed loudly, talked loudly, +displayed money freely and put on patronizing airs which filled those +who met him with an instinctive dislike. + +I first made his acquaintance in April in the cosy bar of the _Albion_, +where, after a long walk one morning, I went to quench my thirst. Craig +was laughing with the barmaid and gingerly lighting a cigarette. Having +passed me by many times, he now addressed a casual remark to me, to +which I politely responded, and we got into conversation. But, somehow, +his speech jarred upon me, and, like his personal appearance, struck an +unpleasant note, for his white shoes and pale blue socks, his light +green Tyrolese hat, and his suit of check tweeds distinctly marked him +as being more of a cad than a gentleman. + +I remarked that I had walked to Overstrand, whereupon he asked-- + +"Did you chance to meet my uncle? He's gone out that way, somewhere." + +I replied in the negative. + +"Wonderful old boy, you know," he went on. "Walks me clean right out! +But oh! such a dreadful old bore! Always talking about what he did in +the seventies, and how much better life was then than now. I don't +believe it. Do you?" + +"I hardly know," was my reply. "I wasn't old enough then to appreciate +life." + +"Neither was I," he responded. "But really, these eccentric old people +ought all to be put in an asylum. You don't know what I have to put up +with. I tell you, it's a terrible self-sacrifice to be down in this +confounded hole, instead of being on the Riviera in decent sunny +weather, and in decent society." + +"Your uncle is always extremely pleasant to me when I meet him," I said. + +"Ah, yes, but you don't know him, my dear sir," said his nephew. "He's +the very Old Nick himself sometimes, and his eccentricities border upon +insanity. Why, only last night, before he went to bed, he put on his +bed-gown, cut two wings out of brown paper, pinned them on his back, and +fancied himself the Archangel Gabriel. Last week he didn't speak to me +for two days because I bought a box of sardines. He declares they are +luxuries and he can't afford them--he, with an income of forty thousand +a year!" + +"Rich men are often rather niggardly," I remarked. + +"Oh, yes. But with Uncle Vernon it's become a craze. He shivers with +cold at night but won't have a fire in his bedroom because, he says, +coals are so dear." + +I confess I did not like this young fellow. Why should he reveal all his +private grievances to me, a perfect stranger? + +"Why did your uncle come to Cromer?" I asked. "This place is hardly a +winter resort, except for a few golfers." + +"Oh, because when he was in Egypt last winter, some fool of a woman he +met at the _Savoy_ in Cairo, told him that Cromer was so horribly +healthy in the winter, and that if he spent six months each year in this +God-forgotten place, he'd live to be a hundred. Bad luck to her and her +words! I've had to come here with the old boy, and am their victim." +Then he added warmly: "My dear sir, just put yourself in my place. I've +nobody to talk to except the provincial Norfolk tradespeople, who think +they can play a good game at billiards. I've got the absolute hump, I +tell you frankly!" + +Well, afterwards I met the loud-socked young man more frequently, but +somehow I had taken a violent and unaccountable dislike to him. Why, I +cannot tell, except perhaps that he had disgusted me by the way he +unbosomed himself to a stranger and aired his grievances against his +eccentric uncle. + +To descend that asphalted slope which led, on the face of the cliff, +from the roadway in front of the _Hôtel de Paris_, away to the +Promenade, old Gregory had to pass beneath my window. Hence I saw him +several times daily, and noted how the brown-bloused fishermen who +lounged there hour after hour, gazing idly seaward, leaning upon the +railings and gossiping, respectfully touched their caps to the limping, +eccentric old gentleman who in his slouch hat and cape looked more like +a poet than a steel magnate, and who so regularly took the fresh, +bracing air on that breezy promenade. + +On that morning--the morning of the twelfth of June--a startling rumour +had spread through the town. It at once reached me through Charles, the +head-waiter of the hotel, who told me the whole place was agog. The +strange story was that old Mr. Gregory had at three o'clock that morning +been found by a coast-guard lying near a seat on the top of the east +cliff at a point near the links, from which a delightful view could be +obtained westward over the town towards Rimton and Sheringham. + +The coast-guard had at once summoned a doctor by telephone, and on +arrival the medical man had pronounced the mysterious old gentleman +dead, and, moreover, that he had been dead several hours. + +More than that, nobody knew, except that the dead man's nephew could not +be found. + +That fact in itself was certainly extraordinary, but it was not half so +curious, or startling, as certain other features of the amazing affair, +which were now being carefully withheld from the public by the +police--facts, which when viewed as a whole, formed one of the most +inexplicable criminal problems ever presented for solution. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IS MAINLY ASTONISHING + + +In virtue of the facts that I was well known in Cromer, on friendly +terms with the local superintendent of police, and what was more to the +purpose, known to be a close friend of the Chief Constable at +Norwich--also that I was a recognized writer of some authority upon +problems of crime--Inspector Treeton, of the Norfolk Constabulary, +greeted me affably when, after a very hasty breakfast, I called at the +police station. + +Treeton was a thin, grey-haired man, usually very quiet and thoughtful +in manner, but this staggering affair had quite upset his normal +coolness. + +"I expect the detectives over from Norwich in half an hour," he said, +with a distinct trace of excitement in his tones, as we stood in his +bare little office discussing the morning's discovery. "You being such a +close friend of the Chief Constable, I don't suppose there'll be any +objection whatever to your being present during our investigations." + +All the same, his tone was somewhat dubious as he added cautiously, "You +won't, of course, give anything to the Press?" + +"Certainly not," I replied. "You can rely upon my discretion. This isn't +the first mystery I have assisted the police to investigate. This sort +of thing is, so to speak, part of my profession." + +"Yes," said Treeton, still with some hesitation, "so I understand, Mr. +Vidal. But our people are terribly particular, as you know, about +admitting unofficial persons into police work. No offence. But we are +bound to be very careful." + +"If you like, I'll 'phone to the Chief Constable," I suggested. + +"No, sir. No need for that," he said hastily. "When the plain-clothes +men arrive, I don't think any difficulty will be made as to your +accompanying them." Then he added, as if to give the conversation a +turn, "It's a very queer business, very. But I mustn't talk about it at +present. No doubt you'll soon see for yourself what a strange affair it +is." + +"What is the curious feature, then?" I inquired anxiously. + +"No," said Treeton, with a deprecatory gesture. "No. Mr. Vidal. Don't +ask me. You must wait till the officers come from Norwich. They'll have +a surprise, I can assure you they will. That's all I can say. I've taken +care to have everything kept as it was found so as not to interfere with +any clues, finger-prints, or things of that sort." + +"Ah," I said. "Then you suspect foul play, eh?" + +Treeton flushed slightly, as if annoyed with himself at having let slip +the words that prompted my query. + +Then he said slowly: "Well, at present we can't tell. But there's +certainly something very mysterious about the whole business." + +"Where is the body?" + +"They've put it in the life-boat house." + +"And that young fellow, Craig? I hear he's missing." + +The Inspector looked at me with a strange expression on his face. + +"Ah," he said briefly, "that isn't the only remarkable feature of this +affair by any manner of means." Then impatiently: "I wish they'd come. I +'phoned to Norwich at six o'clock this morning, and now it's nearly ten. +They might have come over in a car, instead of waiting for the train." + +"Yes," I responded. "That is how so many inquiries are bungled. Red tape +and delay. In the meantime a criminal often gets away hours ahead of the +sleuths of the law and eventually may escape altogether. I've known a +dozen cases where, because of the delay in making expert investigation, +the culprit has never been caught." + +As I spoke the telephone bell tinkled and Treeton answered the call. The +Superintendent at Holt was asking for information, but my companion +could give him but very little. + +"I am watching the railway-station, sir," said Treeton over the 'phone, +"and I've sent word to all the fishermen in my district not to take out +any strangers. I've also warned all the garages to let me know if any +stranger hires a car. The party we fancy may be wanted won't be able to +get away if he's still in the district." + +"Which is not very likely," I murmured in a low voice so that my words +should not be heard over the wire. + +When the conversation over the phone was ended, I sat chatting with +Treeton, until, some twenty minutes later, three men, bearing +unmistakably the cut of police-officers in plain clothes, entered the +station. + +Two of them were tall, dark-haired young fellows, dressed in neat +navy-blue serge and wearing bowler hats. The third man, Inspector +Frayne, as I learnt afterwards, was in dark grey, with a soft grey felt +hat with the brim turned down in front. + +"Well Treeton," said the Inspector briskly, "what's all the fuss about +down here?" + +"A case--a very funny case. That's all," replied the local inspector. "I +told you over the 'phone all I know about it." + +Then followed a brief, low-pitched conversation between the two +officers. I saw Frayne look over at me inquisitively, and caught a few +snatches of Treeton's words to him. "Great personal friend of the Chief +Constable.... Yes, quite all right.... Writes about crime.... No, no, +nothing to do with newspapers ... amateur, of course ... decent sort." + +I gathered from this that there was going to be no difficulty about my +joining the party of police investigators. I was right. In a few moments +Treeton brought Inspector Frayne over to me and we were introduced. +Then, after a few friendly words, we started for the scene of the +startling discovery of the morning. + +We slipped out of the station in pairs, so as to avoid attracting +attention, which might have led to our being followed and hampered in +our movements by a crowd of idle and curious inhabitants. + +Proceeding by way of the path which wound round the back of the high-up +coast-guard station and so up over the cliff, we soon came to the seat +where the body of old Mr. Gregory had been found. + +The seat, a green-painted one with a curved back, that had more than +once afforded me a comfortable resting-place, was the first out of the +town towards the links. It was situate a little way from the footpath +amid the rough grass of the cliff-top. Around it the herbage never grew +on account of the constant tread from the feet of many daily visitors, +so that clear about it was a small patch of bare sand. + +On the right, upon the next point of the cliff, was another similar +seat, while on the left the path leading back to the town was railed +off because it was dangerous to approach too near the crumbling edge. + +At the seat stood a very tall, thin, fair-haired young constable who +had, since the discovery of old Gregory's body, remained on duty at the +spot to prevent any one approaching it. This was done by Treeton's +orders, who hoped, and very logically, that if the sand about the seat +was not disturbed some tell-tale mark or footprint might be found by the +detectives that would give a clue to the person or persons who had +visited the seat with old Gregory in the early hours of that fatal +morning. + +Near the constable were two men with cameras, and at a little distance a +small knot of curious idlers, all that remained of the many inquisitive +folks who were at first attracted to the spot, but who, finding nothing +to satisfy their curiosity, had soon returned to the town. + +The morning was bright and calm, the sunlight reflected from a glassy +sea, upon the surface of which were a dozen or so fishing-boats lifting +their crab-pots, for the crabs of Cromer are far-famed amongst epicures +for their excellencies. It was a peaceful, happy scene, that none could +have suspected was the setting of a ghastly tragedy. + +On arrival, Inspector Frayne, tall, grey-haired, with aquiline, +clean-shaven face, assumed an attitude of ubiquitous importance that +amused me. + +"The body was found lying face downwards six feet beyond the south end +of the seat," Treeton explained. "You see this mark in the grass?" + +Looking, we all saw distinctly the impression that marked the spot where +the unfortunate man had lain. + +"No doubt," said the detective inspector, "the old gentleman was sitting +on the seat when he was attacked from behind by somebody who sneaked +quietly across the footpath, and he fell sideways from the seat. Have +you looked for footprints?" + +"There are a number of them, as you see," was Treeton's reply. "Nothing +has been disturbed. I left all to you." + +Gazing around, I saw that there were many prints of soles and heels in +the soft sand about the seat. Many people had evidently sat there on the +previous day. In the sand, too, some one had traced with a stick, in +sprawly capitals, the word "Alice." + +Frayne and his two provincial assistants bent and closely examined the +prints in question. + +"Women's mostly, I should say," remarked the detective inspector after a +pause. "That's plain from the French heels, flat golf-shoe soles, and +narrow rubber-pads, that have left their marks behind them. Better take +some casts of these, Phelps," he said, addressing the elder of his +subordinates. + +"Forgive me for making a remark," I ventured. "I'm not a detective, but +it strikes me that if anybody did creep across the grass from the path, +as the Inspector rightly suggested, to attack the old man, he, or she, +may have left some prints in the rear there. In the front here the +footprints we have been examining are obviously those of people who had +been sitting upon the seat long prior to the arrival of the victim." + +"I quite agree, Mr. Vidal," exclaimed Treeton, and at this I thought the +expert from Norwich seemed somewhat annoyed. "Yes," continued the local +inspector, "it's quite possible, as Mr. Frayne said, that somebody did +creep across the grass behind the old man. But unfortunately, there have +been dozens of people over that very same spot this morning." + +"Hopeless then!" grunted Frayne. "Why on earth, Treeton, did you let +them swarm over there?" he queried testily. "Their doing so has rendered +our inquiry a hundred per cent. more difficult. In all such cases the +public ought to be rigorously kept from the immediate neighbourhood of +the crime." + +"At least we can make a search," I suggested. + +"My dear Mr. Vidal, what is the use if half Cromer has been up here +prying about?" asked the detective impatiently. "No, those feminine +footprints in front of the seat are much more likely to help us. There's +bound to be a woman in such a case as this. My motto in regard to crime +mysteries is, first find the woman, and the rest is easy. In every great +problem the 'eternal feminine,' as you writers put it, is ever present. +She is in this one somewhere, you may depend upon it." + +I did not answer him, judging that he merely emitted these sentiments in +order to impress his listening subordinates with a due sense of his +superior knowledge. But the search went on. + +From the footpath across the grass to the seat was about thirty feet, +and over the whole area all of us made diligent investigation. In one of +the patches where the sand was bare of herbage I found the print of a +woman's shoe--a smart little shoe--size 3, I judged it to be. The sole +was well shaped and pointed, the heel was of the latest fashionable +model--rather American than French. + +I at once pointed it out to Frayne, but though he had so strongly +expressed the opinion that there was a woman in the case, he dismissed +it with a glance. + +"Some woman came here yesterday evening with her sweetheart, I suppose," +he said with a laugh. + +But to me that footprint was distinctly instructive, for among the many +impressed on the sand before the seat, I had not detected one that bore +any resemblance to it. The owner of that American shoe had walked from +the path to the back of the seat, but had certainly not sat down there. + +I carefully marked the spot, and telling an old fisherman of my +acquaintance, who stood by, to allow no one to obliterate it, continued +my investigations. + +Three feet behind the seat, in the midst of the trodden grass, I came +upon two hairpins lying close together. Picking them up, I found they +were rather thick, crinkled in the middle, and both of the same pale +bronze shade. + +Was it possible there had been a struggle there--a struggle with the +woman who wore those American shoes--who was, moreover, a fair woman, if +those pins had fallen from her hair in the encounter? + +I showed the hairpins to Frayne who was busy taking a measurement of the +distance from the seat to where the body had been found. + +To my surprise, he seemed impatient and annoyed. + +"My dear Mr. Vidal," he exclaimed, "you novelists are, I fear, far too +imaginative. I dare say there are hundreds of hairpins about here in the +grass if we choose to search for them. This seat is a popular resort for +visitors by day and a trysting place for lovers after sundown. In the +vicinity of any such seat you will always find hairpins, cigarette ends, +wrappings from chocolates, and tinfoil. Look around you and see." + +"But these pins have not been here more than a day," I expostulated. +"They are bright and were lying lightly on the grass. Besides, are we +not looking for a woman?" + +"I'll admit that they may perhaps have belonged to somebody who was here +last evening," he said. "But I can assure you they are no good to us." +With this he turned away with rather a contemptuous smile. + +I began to suspect that I had in some way antagonized Frayne, who at +that moment seemed more intent upon working up formal evidence to give +before the coroner, rather than in pushing forward the investigation of +the crime, and so finding a clue to the culprit. + +I could see that he regarded the minute investigations I was making with +undisguised and contemptuous amusement. Of course, he was polite to me, +for was I not the friend of the Chief Constable? But, all the same, I +was an amateur investigator, therefore, in his eyes, a blunderer. He, of +course, did not know at how many investigations of crime I had assisted +in Paris, in Brussels, and in Rome--investigations conducted by the +greatest detectives in Europe. + +It was not to be expected that an officer of the Norfolk Constabulary, +more used to petty larceny than to murder, would be so alert or so +thorough in his methods as an officer from Scotland Yard, or of the +_Sûreté_ in Paris. + +Arguing thus, I felt that I could cheerfully disregard the covert sneers +and glances of my companions; and plunged with renewed interest into the +work I had undertaken. + +In the sand before the seat, I saw two long, wide marks which told me +that old Mr. Gregory must have slipped from his position in a totally +helpless condition. That being so, how was it that his body was found +several feet away? + +Had it been dragged to that spot in the grass? Or, had he crawled there +in his death agony? + +In the little knot of people who had gathered I noticed a young +fisherman in his brown blouse--a tall youth, with fair curly hair, whom +I knew well and could trust. Calling him over, I despatched him to the +town for a couple of pounds of plaster of Paris, a bucket, some water, +and a trowel. + +Then I went on methodically with my investigations. + +Presently the coast-guard, George Simmonds, a middle-aged, dark-haired +man, who was a well-known figure in Cromer, came up and was introduced +to Frayne as the man who, returning from duty as night patrol along the +cliffs, early that morning, had discovered the body. + +I stood by listening as he described the incident to the detective +inspector. + +"You see, sir," he said saluting, "I'd been along the cuffs to +Trimingham, and was on my way back about a quarter past three, when I +noticed a man lying yonder on the grass. It was a fine morning, quite +light, and at first I thought it was a tramp, for they often sleep on +the cliffs in the warm weather. But on going nearer I saw, to my +surprise, that the man was old Mr. Gregory. I thought he was asleep, and +bent down and shook him, his face being downwards on the grass and his +arms stretched out. He didn't wake up, so I turned him over, and the +colour of his face fair startled me. I opened his coat, put my hand on +his heart, and found he was quite dead. I then ran along to our station +and told Mr. Day, the Chief Officer, and he sent me off sharp to the +police." + +"You saw nobody about?" Frayne asked sharply. "Nobody passed you?" + +"I didn't see a soul all the way from Trimingham." + +"Constable Baxter was along there somewhere keeping a point," remarked +Treeton. "Didn't you meet him?" + +"Going out I met him, just beyond Overstrand, at about one o'clock, and +wished him good morning," was the coast-guard's reply. + +"But where is Craig, the young nephew of the dead man?" I asked Treeton. +"Surely he may know something! He must have missed his uncle, who, +apparently, was out all night." + +"Ah! That's just the mystery, Mr. Vidal," replied the Inspector. "Let us +go down to the life-boat house," he added, addressing the detective. + +As they were moving away, and I was about to follow, the tall +fisher-youth arrived with the plaster of Paris and a pail of water. + +Promising to be with them quickly, I remained behind, mixed the plaster +into a paste and within a few minutes had secured casts of the imprint +of the woman's American shoe, and those of several other footmarks, +which, with his superior knowledge, the expert from Norwich had +considered beneath his notice. + +Then, placing my casts carefully in the empty pail, I sent them along to +the _Hôtel de Paris_ by the same fisher-youth. Afterwards, I walked +along the path, passed behind the lawn of the coast-guard station, where +the White Ensign was flying on the flagstaff, and then descending, at +last entered the life-boat house, where the officers and three doctors +had assembled. + +One of the doctors, named Sladen, a grey-headed practitioner who had +been many years in Cromer, recognized me as I entered. + +"Hulloa, Mr. Vidal! This is a very curious case, isn't it? Interests +you, of course. All mysteries do, no doubt. But this case is astounding. +In making our examination, do you know we've discovered a most amazing +fact?" and he pointed to the plank whereon lay the body, covered with +one of the brown sails from the life-boat. + +"No. What?" I asked eagerly. + +"Well--though we all at first, naturally, took the body to be that of +old Vernon Gregory, it isn't his at all!" + +"Not Gregory's?" I gasped. + +"No. He has white hair and a beard, and he is wearing old Gregory's cape +and hat, but it certainly is not Gregory's body." + +"Who, then, is the dead man?" I gasped. + +"His nephew, Edward Craig!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHOWS LIGHTS FROM THE MIST + + +"But Edward Craig is a young man--while Gregory must be nearly seventy!" +I exclaimed, staring at Dr. Sladen in blank amazement. + +"Exactly. I attended Mr. Gregory a month ago for influenza. But I tell +you the body lying yonder is that of young Craig!" declared my friend. +Then he added: "There is something very extraordinary about the whole +affair, for Craig was made up to exactly resemble his uncle." + +"And because of it was apparently done to death, eh?" + +"That is certainly my theory." + +"Amazing," I exclaimed. "This increases the mystery very considerably." +Then, gazing around, I saw that the two doctors, who had assisted Sladen +in his examination, were talking aside eagerly with the detective, while +Mr. Day, a short thick-set man, with his white-covered cap removed in +the presence of the dead, had joined the party. + +Cromer is a "war-station," and Mr. Day was a well-known figure in the +place, a fine active type of the British sailor, who had seen many years +afloat, and now, with his "sea-time" put in, was an expert signal-man +ashore. He noticed me and saluted. + +"Look," exclaimed Dr. Sladen, taking me across to a bench against the +side of the life-boat shed. "What do you think of these?" and he took up +a white wig and a long white beard. + +I examined them. Then slowly replied, "There is much, very much more, in +this affair than any of us can at present see." + +"Certainly. Why should the young man go forth at night, under cover of +darkness, made up to exactly resemble the old one?" + +"To meet somebody in secret, no doubt; and that somebody killed him," I +said. + +"Did they--ah, that's just the point," said the doctor. "As far as we +can find there's no apparent cause of death, no wound whatever. The +superficial examination we have made only reveals a slight abrasion on +the left wrist, which might have been caused when he fell from the seat +to the ground. The wrist is much swollen--from a recent sprain, I think. +But beyond that we can find nothing." + +"Won't you prosecute your examination further?" I asked. + +"Certainly. This afternoon we shall make a post-mortem--after I get the +order from the coroner." + +"Ah. Then we shall know something definite?" + +"I hope so." + +"Gentlemen," exclaimed Inspector Frayne, addressing us all, "this latest +discovery, of the identity of the victim, is a very extraordinary and +startling one. I trust that you will all regard the matter as one of the +greatest secrecy--at least till after the inquest. Publicity now may +defeat the ends of justice. Do you all promise?" + +With one accord we promised. Then, crossing to where the body lay, I +lifted the heavy brown sail that covered it, and in the dim light gazed +upon the white, dead countenance. + +Yes. It was the face of Edward Craig. + +Frayne at that moment came up, and after two men had taken the covering +from the body, commenced to search the dead man's pockets. In the old +mackintosh cape was a pouch, from which the detective drew a small +wallet of crocodile leather, much worn, together with two letters. The +latter were carried to the light and at once examined. + +One proved to be a bill from a well-known hatter in Piccadilly. The +superscription on the other envelope, of pale blue-grey paper, was +undoubtedly in the hand of an educated woman. + +Frayne drew from this envelope a sheet of notepaper, which bore neither +address nor date, merely the words-- + +"At Ealing, at 10 p.m., on the twenty-ninth of August, where the two C's +meet." + +"Ah, an appointment," remarked Frayne. Then, looking at the post-mark, +he added: "It was posted the day before yesterday at Bridlington. I +wonder what it means?" + +"I see it is addressed to Mr. Gregory!" I pointed out, "not to the dead +man." + +"Then the old man had an appointment on the twenty-ninth of August +somewhere in Ealing--where the two C's meet. I wonder where that can be? +Some agreed-on spot, I suppose, where two persons, whose initials are C, +are in the habit of meeting." + +"Probably," was my reply. But I was reflecting deeply. + +In the wallet were four five-pound notes; a few of Gregory's cards; a +letter from a local charity, thanking him for a contribution of two +guineas; and a piece of paper bearing a number of very elaborate +calculations, apparently of measured paces. + +It seemed as though the writer had been working out some very difficult +problem of distances, for the half-sheet of quarto paper was absolutely +covered with minute pencilled figures; lengths in metres apparently. + +I looked at them, and at a glance saw that old Gregory had either +received his education abroad, or had lived for a long time upon the +continent when a young man. Why? Because, when he made a figure seven, +he drew a short cross-stroke half-way up the downward stroke, in order, +as foreigners do, to distinguish it from the figure one. + +"I wonder what all these sums can mean?" remarked the detective, as +Treeton and I looked over his shoulder. + +"Mr. Gregory was a business man," the local police officer said. "These +are, no doubt, his things, not his nephew's." + +"They seem to be measurements," I said, "not sums of money." + +"Perhaps the old man himself will tell us what they are," Frayne +remarked. Then again examining the wallet, he drew forth several slips +of thin foreign notepaper, which were carefully folded, and had the +appearance of having been carried there for a long time. Upon each was +written a separate word, together with a number, in carefully-formed +handwriting, thus-- + +"Lavelle 429; Kunzle 191; Geering 289; Souweine 17; Hodrickx 110." + +The last one we opened contained the word, "Cromer 900," and I wondered +whether they were code words. + +"These are rather funny, Mr. Vidal," Frayne remarked, as he slowly +replaced them in the wallet. "A little mysterious, eh?" + +"No doubt, old Mr. Gregory will explain," I said. "The great puzzle to +me is why the nephew should carry the uncle's belongings in his +pockets. There was some deep motive in it, without a doubt." + +Frayne returned to the body and made further search. There was nothing +more in the other pockets save a handkerchief, some loose silver and a +pocket-knife. + +But, around the dead man's neck, suspended by a fine gold chain, and +worn beneath his shirt, was a lady's tiny, round locket, not more than +an inch in diameter, and engine-turned like a watch, a thin, +neatly-made, old-fashioned little thing. + +Frayne carefully unclasped it, and taking it across to the light, opened +it, expecting to find a photograph, or, perhaps, a miniature. But there +was nothing. It had evidently not been opened for years, for behind the +little glass, where once had been a photograph, was only a little grey +powder. Something had been preserved there--some relic or other--that +had, with age, crumbled into dust. + +"This doesn't tell us much," he said. "Yet, men seldom wear such things. +Some relic of his sweetheart, eh?" Then he searched once more, and drew +from the dead man's hip-pocket a serviceable Browning revolver, the +magazine of which was fully loaded. + +"He evidently expected trouble, and was prepared for it," Treeton said, +as the Norwich detective produced the weapon. + +"Well, he certainly had no time to use it," responded Frayne. "Death +must have been instantaneous." + +"I think not," I ventured. "If so, why was he found several feet away +from the seat?" + +Again Frayne showed impatience. He disliked any expression of outside +opinion. + +"Well, Mr. Vidal, we've not yet established that it is a case of murder, +have we?" he said. "The young man may have died suddenly--of natural +causes." + +I smiled. + +"Curious," I exclaimed, a moment later, "that he should be made up to so +exactly resemble his uncle! No, Inspector Frayne, if I'm not greatly +mistaken, you'll find this a case of assassination--a murder by a very +subtle and ingenious assassin. It is a case of one master-criminal +against another. That is my opinion." + +The man from Norwich smiled sarcastically. My opinion was only the +opinion of a mere amateur, and, to the professional thief-catcher, the +amateur detective is a person upon whom to play practical jokes. The +amateur who dares to investigate a crime from a purely independent +standpoint is a man to jeer and laugh at--a target for ridicule. + +I could follow Frayne's thoughts. I had met many provincial police +officers of his type all over Europe, from Paris up to Petersburg. The +great detectives of Europe, are, on the contrary, always open to listen +to theories or suggestions. + +The three doctors were standing aside, discussing the affair--the +absence of all outward signs of anything that might have caused death. +Until the coroner issued his order they could not, however, put their +doubts at rest by making the post-mortem examination. The case puzzled +them, and they were all three eager to have the opportunity of deciding +how the young man had died. + +"The few symptoms offered superficially have some strange points about +them," I heard Dr. Sladen say. "Do you notice the clenched hands? and +yet the mouth is open. The eyes are open too--and the lips are curiously +discoloured. Yes, there is decidedly something very mysterious attaching +to the cause of death." + +And he being the leading practitioner in Cromer, his two colleagues +entirely agreed with him. + +After a long conversation, in which many theories--most of them +sensational, ridiculous, and baseless--had been advanced, Mr. Day, the +Chief Officer of Coast-guard, who had been outside the life-boat house, +chatting with some friends, entered and told us the results of some of +his own observations regarding the movements of the eccentric Mr. +Gregory. Day was a genial, pleasant man and very popular in Cromer. Of +course he was in ignorance that the body discovered was not that of the +old gentleman. + +"I've had a good many opportunities of watching the old man, Mr. Vidal," +said the short, keen-eyed naval man, turning to me with his hands in the +pockets of his pea-jacket, "and he was a funny 'un. He often went out +from Beacon House at one and two in the morning, and took long strolls +towards Rimton and Overstrand. But Mrs. Dean never knew as he wasn't +indoors, for I gather he used to let himself out very quietly. We often +used to meet him a-creepin' about of a night. I can't think what he went +out for, but I suppose he was a little bit eccentric, eh? Why," went on +the coast-guard officer, "he'd often come into the station early of a +mornin', and have a chat with me, and look through the big telescope. He +used, sometimes, to stand a-gazin' out at the sea, a-gazin' at nothing, +for half an hour on end--lost in thought like. I wonder what he fancied +he saw there?" + +"Yes," I said. "He was eccentric, like many rich men." + +"Well, one night, not long ago," Day went on, "there were some +destroyers a-passin' about midnight, and we'd been taking in their +signals by flash-light, when, in the middle of it, who should come into +the enclosure but old Mr. Gregory. He stood a-watchin' us for ten +minutes or so. Then, all at once he says, 'I see they're signalling to +the _Hermes_ at Harwich.' This remark gave me quite a start, for he'd +evidently been a-readin' all we had taken in--and it was a confidential +message, too." + +"Then he could read the Morse code," I exclaimed. + +"Read it? I should rather think he could!" was the coast-guard officer's +reply. "And mark you, the _Wolverene_ was a-flashin' very quick. It was +as much as I could do to pick it up through the haze. After that, I +confess I didn't like him hanging about here so much as he did. But +after all, I'm sorry--very sorry--that the poor old gent is dead." + +"Did you ever see him meet anybody on his nightly rambles?" I asked. + +"Yes, once. I saw him about six weeks ago, about three o'clock one dark, +and terrible wet, mornin', out on the cliff near Rimton Gap. As I passed +by he was a-talkin' to a tall young man in a drab mackintosh. Talkin' +excited, he was, and a-wavin' his arms wild-like towards the sea. The +young man spotted me first, and said something, whereupon the old gent +dropped his argument, and the two of 'em walked on quietly together. I +passed them, believing that his companion was only one of them +simple-like fools we get about here sometimes in the summer. But I'd +never seen him in Cromer. He was a perfect stranger to me." + +"That's the only time you've seen him with any companion on these secret +night outings?" I asked. + +"Yes. I don't remember ever having seen him in the night with anybody +else." + +"Not even with his nephew?" + +"No, not even with Mr. Craig." + +"When he dropped in to chat with you at the coastguard station, did he +show any inquisitiveness?" I asked. + +"Well, he wanted to know all about things, as most of 'em do," laughed +Day. "Ours is a war-station, you know, and folk like to look at the +inside, and the flash-lamp I invented." + +"The old fellow struck you as a bit of a mystery, didn't he?" Frayne +asked, in his pleasant Norfolk brogue. + +"Well, yes, he did," replied the coast-guard officer. "I remember one +night last March--the eleventh, I think it was--when our people at +Weybourne detected some mysterious search-lights far out at sea and +raised an alarm on the 'phone all along the coast. It was a very dirty +night, but the whole lot of us, from Wells right away to Yarmouth, were +at once on the look-out. We could see search-lights but could make +nothing of the signals. That's what puzzled us so. I went out along the +cliff, and up Rimton way, but could see nothing. Yet, on my way back, as +I got near the town, I suddenly saw a stream of light--about like a +search-light--coming from the sea-front here. It was a-flashin' some +signal. I was a couple of miles from the town, and naturally concluded +it was one of my men with the flash-lamp. As I passed Beacon House, +however, I saw old Mr. Gregory a-leanin' over the railings, looking out +to sea. It was then about two o'clock. I supposed he had seen the +distant lights, and, passing a word with him, I went along to the +station. To my surprise, I found that we'd not been signalling at all. +Then I recollected old Mr. Gregory's curious interest in the lights, and +I wondered. In fact, I've wondered ever since, whether that answering +signal I saw did not come from one of the front windows of Beacon House? +Perhaps he was practisin' Morse!" + +"Strange, very strange!" Frayne remarked. "Didn't you discover what +craft it was making the signals?" + +"No, sir. They are a mystery to this day. We reported by wire to the +Admiralty, of course, but we've never found out who it was a-signalling. +It's a complete mystery--and it gave us a bit of an alarm at the time, I +can tell you," he laughed. "There was a big Italian yacht, called the +_Carlo Alberta_, reported next day from Hunstanton, and it may, of +course, have been her. But I am not inclined to think so." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OPENS SEVERAL QUESTIONS + + +Our next step in the inquiry was a domiciliary visit to Beacon House. + +While the public, including Mr. Day, were expecting to see his nephew, +we, of course, were hoping to find old Gregory. + +In this we were disappointed. Already Treeton knew that both men were +missing from their lodgings. Yet while the police were watching +everywhere for the dandified young man from London, the queer, +white-haired old Sheffield steel manufacturer had slipped through their +fingers and vanished as though the earth had swallowed him up. + +Mrs. Dean's house was a typical seaside lodging-house, plainly and +comfortably furnished--a double-fronted house painted pale blue, with +large airy rooms and bay windows, which, situated high up and on the +very edge of the cliff, commanded extensive views up and down the coast. + +The sitting-room occupied by uncle and nephew, proved to be a big +apartment on the first-floor, to the left of the entrance. The houses in +that row had a front door from the asphalt path along the edge of the +cliff and also a back entrance abutting upon the narrow street which ran +into the centre of the town. Therefore, the hall went from back to +front, the staircase ascending in the centre. + +The room in which I stood with the detectives, was large, with a +cheerful lattice-work wall-paper, and substantial leather-covered +furniture. In the window was placed a writing-table, and upon it a +telescope mounted on a stand. A comfortable couch was placed against the +wall, while before the fire-place were a couple of deep-seated easy +chairs, and a large oval table in the centre. + +Indeed, the room possessed an air of homely comfort, with an absence of +the inartistic seldom found in seaside apartments. The windows were open +and the light breeze from the sun-lit sea slowly fanned the lace +curtains. On the writing-table lay a quantity of papers, mostly +tradesmen's receipts--all of which the old gentleman carefully +preserved--some newspapers, a tin of tobacco, and several pipes. + +Beside the fire-place lay a pair of Egyptian slippers in crimson +morocco, evidently the property of young Craig, while his straw hat and +cane lay upon the couch, together with the fawn Burberry coat which had +been one of the common objects in Cromer. Everywhere were signs of +occupation. Indeed, the cushions in the easy chairs were crumpled just +as if the two men had only a little while before arisen from them, while +in the grate were a number of ends of those gold-tipped cigarettes +without which Craig was never seen. + +Upon a peg behind the door hung another old grey mackintosh belonging to +old Gregory--an exact replica of which had been worn by the man who had +so mysteriously met his death. + +But where was old Gregory? Aye, that was the question. + +With Mrs. Dean, a homely person with hair brushed tightly back, and her +husband looking on, we began a thorough search of the room, as well as +of the two bedrooms on the next floor. The sitting-room was investigated +first of all, but in the writing-table we found nothing of interest. One +of the drawers had been emptied and a mass of tinder in the grate told a +significant tale. + +Old Mr. Gregory had burned a lot of documents before disappearing. + +Why? Were they incriminating? + +Why, too, had he so suddenly disappeared? Surely he would not have done +so without knowledge of his nephew's tragic death! + +For a full half-hour we rummaged that room and all that was in it, but, +alas, found nothing. + +In the old man's bedroom stood a battered leathern cabin-trunk bearing +many labels of Continental hotels. It was unlocked, and we found it +filled with clothes, but strangely enough, not the clothes of an old +man, but rather the smart attire of a middle-aged person of fashion. + +At first Frayne refused to believe that the trunk belonged to old +Gregory. But Mrs. Dean was precise upon the point. That was Mr. +Gregory's room. + +In the bottom of the cabin-trunk we found a number of folded sheets of +foolscap, upon which were written many cryptic calculations in feet and +metres; "wave-metres," it was written upon one slip. They seemed to be +electrical. Upon other sheets were lists of names together with certain +figures, all of which conveyed to us no meaning. Frayne, of course, took +possession of them for submission to examination later on. + +"May I look at them later?" I asked him. + +"Certainly, Mr. Vidal. They seem to be a bit of a puzzle, don't they? +They have something to do with electricity, I fancy." + +In the corner of the room, opposite the window, stood a large wooden +sea-chest, similar to those used by naval officers. It was painted +black, and bore, in white, the initials "V. G." It had an old and +battered appearance, and the many labels upon it told of years of +transit by rail and steamer. + +I bent to examine it, but found it securely locked and bound round with +iron bands. + +"That's very heavy, sir," Mrs. Dean remarked. "He always kept it locked, +so I don't know what's inside. When the old gentleman came in, he always +went straight over to it as though to ascertain whether the lock had +been tampered with." + +"Ah, then there's something in there he wished to keep away from prying +eyes!" said Frayne. "We must see what it is." + +I remarked that the lock was a patent one, but he at once ordered a +locksmith to be fetched, while we turned our attention to the adjoining +room, the one that had been occupied by young Craig. + +It was slightly smaller than the other one, and overlooked the narrow +street which ran along the back of the houses towards the church. + +We searched the drawers carefully, one after another, but found nothing +except clothes--a rather extensive wardrobe. Of cravats, Craig had +possessed fully a hundred, and of collars, dozens upon dozens. + +Upon his dressing-table stood the heavy silver fittings of a +travelling-bag, a very handsome set, and, in a little silver box, we +found a set of diamond studs, with several valuable scarf-pins. The +device of one of these was some intertwined initials, surmounted by a +royal crown in diamonds; apparently a present from some exalted +personage. + +Presently, however, Treeton, who had remained in Gregory's room +assisting in the perquisition, entered with an ejaculation of surprise, +and we found that on pulling out the small drawer of the washstand, he +had discovered beneath it some papers that had been concealed there. + +We at once eagerly examined them, and found that there were slips +exactly duplicating those discovered in old Gregory's wallet--slips with +names and numbers upon them--apparently code numbers. + +Together with these were several papers bearing more remarkable +calculations, very similar to those we had found at the bottom of the +cabin-trunk. The last document we examined was, however, something very +different. It was a letter written upon a large sheet of that foreign +business paper which is ruled in small squares. + +"Hulloa!" Frayne exclaimed, "this is in some foreign language--French or +German, I suppose." + +"No," I said, glancing over his shoulder. "It's in Italian. I'll read +it, shall I?" + +"Yes, please, Mr. Vidal," cried the detective, and handed it to me. + +It bore no address--only a date--March 17th, and translating it into +English, I read as follows:-- + +"Illustrious Master,--The business we have been so long arranging was +most successfully concluded last night. It is in the _Matin_ to-day, a +copy of which I send you with our greeting. H. left as arranged. J. +arrives back in Algiers to-morrow, and the Nightingale still sings on +blithely. I leave by Brindisi for Egypt to-night and will wire my safe +arrival. Read the _Matin_. Does H. know anything, do you think? +Greetings from your most devoted servant, EGISTO." + +"A very funny letter," remarked Treeton. "I wonder to what it alludes?" + +"Mention of the _Matin_ newspaper would make it appear that it has been +written from Paris," I said. Then, with Frayne's assent, I rapidly +scribbled a copy of the letter upon the back of an envelope which I took +from my pocket. + +A few moments later, the locksmith having arrived, we returned to old +Gregory's room, and watched the workman as he used his bunch of +skeleton-keys upon the lock of the big sea-chest. For ten minutes or so +he worked on unsuccessfully, but presently there was a click, and he +lifted the heavy wooden lid, displaying an old brown army blanket, +carefully folded, lying within. + +This we removed, and then, as our astounded gaze fell upon the contents +of the chest, all involuntarily gave vent to loud ejaculations of +surprise. + +Concealed beneath the rug we saw a quantity of antique ornaments of +silver and gold--rare objects of great value--ancient chalices, +reliquaries, golden cups studded with precious stones, gold coronets, a +great number of fine old watches, and a vast quantity of splendid +diamond and ruby jewellery. + +The chest was literally crammed with jewels, and gold, and silver--was +the storehouse of a magnificent treasure, that must have been worth a +fabulous sum. + +I assisted Frayne to take out the contents of the chest, until the floor +was covered with jewels. In one old brown morocco case that I opened, I +found a glorious ruby necklet, with one enormous centre stone of perfect +colour--the largest I had ever seen. In another was a wonderful collar +of perfectly matched pearls; in a third, a splendid diamond tiara worth +several thousand pounds. + +"Enough to stock a jeweller's shop," said Frayne in an awed voice. +"Why, what's this at the bottom?" + +He began to tug at a heavy square wooden box, which, when he had +succeeded in dragging it out and we opened it, we found to contain a +hand flash-lamp for signalling purposes--one of the most recent and +powerful inventions in night-signalling apparatus. + +"Ha!" Treeton cried. "That's the lamp which Day suspected had been +flashed from these windows on the night of the coast alarm." + +"Yes," I remarked reflectively, "I wonder for what purpose that lamp was +used?" + +"At any rate, the old man has a fine collection of curiosities," said +Frayne. "I suppose it was one of his eccentricities to carry them with +him? No wonder he was so careful that the lock should not be tampered +with!" + +I stood looking at that strange collection of valuables. There were +pieces of gold and silver plate absolutely unique. I am no connoisseur +of antique jewellery, but instinctively I knew that every piece was of +enormous value. And it had all been thrown pell-mell into the box, +together with some old rags--seemingly once parts of an old damask +curtain--in order to prevent the metal rattling. Much of the silver-ware +was, of course, blackened, as none of it had been cleaned for years. But +the gems sparkled and shone, like liquid drops of parti-coloured fire, +as they lay upon the shabby carpet. What could it all mean? + +Mrs. Dean, who was standing utterly aghast at this amazing discovery, +jumped with nervousness as Frayne suddenly addressed her. + +"Did Mr. Gregory have many visitors?" + +"Not many, sir," was her reply. "His secretary used to come over from +Sheffield sometimes--Mr. Fielder, I think his name was--a tall, thin +gentleman, who spoke with an accent as though he were a foreigner. I +believe he was a Frenchman, though he had an English name." + +"Anybody else?" + +"Mr. Clayton, the old schoolmaster from Sheringham, and--oh, yes--a lady +came from London one day, a short time ago, to see him--a young French +lady," replied Mrs. Dean. + +"What was her name?" + +"I don't know. It's about a fortnight ago since she came, one morning +about eleven, so she must have left London by the newspaper train. She +rang, and I answered the bell. She wouldn't let me take her name up to +Mr. Gregory, saying: 'She would go up, as she wanted to give him a +surprise.' I pointed out his door and she went in. But I don't think the +old gentleman exactly welcomed her." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Because I heard him raising his voice in anger," replied the landlady. + +"Was Mr. Craig there?" + +"No. He was out somewhere I think. My own belief is that the young lady +was Mr. Gregory's daughter. She stayed about an hour, and once, when I +opened the door, I heard her speaking with him very earnestly in French, +asking him to do something, it seemed like. But he flatly refused and +spoke to her very roughly; and at this she seemed very upset--quite +brokenhearted. I watched her leave. Her face was pale, and she looked +wretchedly miserable, as though in utter despair. But I forgot," added +Mrs. Dean. "Three days later I found her photograph, which the old man, +who was very angry, had flung into the waste-paper basket. I kept it, +because it was such a pretty face. I'll run down and get it--if you'd +like to see it." + +"Excellent," exclaimed Frayne, and the good woman descended the stairs. + +A few moments later she came back with a cabinet photograph, which she +handed to the detective. + +I glanced at it over his shoulder. + +Then I held my breath, staggered and dumbfounded. + +The colour must have left my cheeks, I think, for I was entirely +unprepared for such a shock. + +But I pulled myself together, bit my lip, and by dint of a great effort +managed to remain calm. + +Nevertheless, my heart beat quickly as I gazed upon the picture of that +pretty face, that most open, innocent countenance, that I knew so well. + +Those wide-open, trusting eyes, that sweet smile, those full red +lips--ah! + +And what was the secret? Aye, what, indeed? + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN WHICH THE SHADOW FALLS + + +"A very charming portrait," Frayne remarked. "I see it was taken in +London. We ought to have no great difficulty in discovering the +original--eh, Treeton--if we find it necessary?" + +I smiled to myself, for well I knew that the police would experience +considerable difficulty in ascertaining the identity of the original of +that picture. + +"Are you quite sure, Mrs. Dean, that it was the same lady who came to +visit Mr. Gregory?" I asked the landlady. + +"Quite positive, sir. That funny little pendant she is wearing in the +photograph, she was wearing when she came to see the old gentleman--a +funny little green stone thing--shaped like one of them heathen idols." + +I knew to what she referred--the small green figure of Maat, the Goddess +of Truth--an ancient amulet I had found, while prying about in the ruins +of a temple on the left bank of the Nile, a few miles beyond +Wady-Halfa--the gate of the Sudan. I knew that amulet well, knew the +hieroglyphic inscription upon its back, for I had given it to her as a +souvenir. + +Then Lola--the mysterious Lola, whose memory had occupied my thoughts, +both night and day, for many and many a month--had reappeared from +nowhere, and had visited the eccentric Gregory. + +In that room I stood, unconscious of what was going on about me; +unconscious of that glittering litter of plate and jewels; of fifteenth +century chalices and gem-encrusted cups; of sixteenth century silver, +much of it ecclesiastical--probably from churches in France, Italy, and +Spain--of those heavy nineteenth century ornaments, that wonderful array +of diamonds and other precious stones, in ponderous early-Victorian +settings, which lay upon the faded, threadbare carpet at my feet. + +I was thinking only of the past--of that strange adventure of mine, +which was now almost like some half-forgotten dream--and of Lola, the +beautiful and the mysterious--whose photograph I now held in my +nerveless fingers, just as the detective had given it to me. + +At that moment a constable entered with a note for his inspector, who +took it and opened it. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, turning to Frayne. "Here's another surprise for us! +I made inquiries this morning of the Sheffield police concerning old Mr. +Gregory. Here's their reply. They've been up to Messrs. Gregory and +Thorpe's works, but there is no Mr. Gregory. Mr. Vernon Gregory, senior +partner in the firm, died, while on a voyage to India, nearly a year +ago!" + +"What?" shrieked Mrs. Dean in scandalized tones. "Do you mean to say +that that there old man, my lodger, wasn't Mr. Gregory?" + +"He may have been _a_ Mr. Gregory, but he certainly was not Mr. Vernon +Gregory, the steel manufacturer," responded Treeton, calmly. + +"Well, that beats everything!" she gasped. "Then that old man was a +humbugging impostor--eh?" + +"So it seems," Frayne replied. + +"But it can't be true? I can't believe it! He was a real gentleman. See, +here, what he had got put away in that old box of his. Them there +Sheffield police is mistook, I'm sure they be. There'll be some good +explanation of all this, I'll be bound, if 'tis looked for." + +"I sincerely hope so," I remarked. "But at present I certainly don't see +any." + +Truth to tell, I was utterly staggered and confounded, the more so, by +that report from Sheffield. I confess I had all along believed old +Gregory to be what he had represented himself as being to the people of +Cromer. + +Now I realized that I was face to face with a profound and amazing +problem--one which those provincial police-officers, patient and +well-meaning as they were, could never hope to solve. + +Yes, old Vernon Gregory was an impostor. The reply from the Sheffield +police proved that beyond a doubt. Therefore, it also followed that the +man lying dead was certainly not what he had represented himself to +be--nephew of the great steel magnate. + +But who was he? That was the present great question that baffled us. + +The photograph I held in my hand bore the name: "Callard, Photographer, +Shepherd's Bush Road." But I knew that whatever inquiries were made at +that address, the result would be negative. The mysterious Lola was an +elusive little person, not at all likely to betray her identity to any +photographer. + +There were reasons for her secrecy--very strong reasons, I knew. + +So I smiled, when Frayne announced that he should send the picture up to +London, and put through an inquiry. + +I picked up some pieces of the jewellery that was lying at my feet. In +my hand I held a splendid golden coronet in which were set great +emeralds and rubies of enormous value. Even my inexpert eye could see +that the workmanship was very ancient, and the stones but roughly cut +and polished. I judged it to be a crown which had adorned the head of +some famous Madonna in an Italian or Spanish church; a truly regal +ornament. + +Again stooping, I picked up a small heavy box of blackened repoussé +silver of genuine Italian Renaissance work, and opening it, found it +filled with rings of all kinds, both ancient and modern. There were +signet rings bearing coats of arms; ladies' gem rings; men's plain gold +rings; and rings of various fancy devices. + +One I picked out was distinctly curious. A man's flat gold ring set with +eight finely-coloured turquoises at equal intervals. It looked brighter +and newer than the others, and as I fingered it, a small portion of the +outer edge opened, revealing a neatly enamelled inscription in French, +"Thou art Mine." On further examination I found that each of the spaces +in which a turquoise was set, opened, and in each was also a tender love +passage, "I love you," "Faithful and True," and so on, executed probably +a century ago. + +Yes, each piece in that wonderful collection was unique--the treasure of +one who was undoubtedly a connoisseur of gems and antiques. Indeed, in +no national collection had I ever seen a display more remarkable than +that flung out so unceremoniously upon the carpet, around that +mysterious flash-lamp. + +While one of the detectives, at Frayne's order, began repacking the +treasure, I went with the two inspectors to a sitting-room on the +ground-floor, where, with the door closed, we discussed the situation. + +Outside, upon the path in front of the house, were a knot of curious +persons, among them Mr. Day, and his subordinate officer who had made +the tragic discovery. + +"Well," exclaimed Frayne, slowly rubbing his chin, "it's a very curious +case. What will you do now, Treeton?" + +"Do?" asked the local officer. "Why, I've done all I can do. I've +reported it to the Coroner, and I suppose they'll make the post-mortem +to-day, and hold the inquest to-morrow." + +"Yes, I know," said the other. "But we must find this old man, Gregory. +He seems to have been pretty slick at getting away." + +"Frightened, I suppose," said Treeton. + +"What. Do you think he killed his nephew?" queried the man from Norwich. + +"Looks suspiciously like it," Treeton replied. + +"Yes, but why did Craig go out disguised as the old man--that's the +question?" + +"Yes," I repeated. "That is indeed the question." + +"And all that jewellery? The old man is not likely to leave that lot +behind--unless he's guilty," said Frayne. "Again, that visit of the +young lady. If we could only get track of her, she'd have something to +tell us without a doubt." + +"Of course," said Treeton. "Send the photograph to London, and find out +who she is. What a bit of luck, wasn't it, that Mrs. Dean kept the +picture she found in the waste-paper basket?" + +I remained silent. Yes, if we could only discover the original of that +photograph we should, no doubt, learn much that would be startling. But +I felt assured that we should never find trace of her. The police could +follow in her direction if they chose. I intended to proceed upon an +entirely different path. + +What I had learned in that brief hour, had staggered me. I could +scarcely realize that once again I was face to face with the mystery of +Lola--the sweetest, strangest, most shadowy little person I had ever met +in all my life. And yet she was so real, so enchanting, so +delightful--such a merry, light-hearted little friend. + +Lola! + +I drew a long breath when I recalled that perfect oval face, with the +wonderful blue eyes, the soft little hand--those lips that were made for +kisses. + +Even as I stood there in the plainly-furnished sitting-room of that +seaside lodging-house, I remembered a strangely different scene. A fine, +luxurious chamber, rich with heavy gilt furniture, and crimson damask, +aglow under shaded electric lights. + +I saw her upon her knees before me, her white hands grasping mine, her +hair dishevelled upon her shoulders, pleading with me--pleading, ah! I +remembered her wild, passionate words, her bitter tears--her terrible +confession. + +And this provincial detective, whose chief feats had been confined to +cases of petty larceny, speed limit, and trivial offences, dealt with by +the local Justices of the Peace, actually hoped to unravel a mystery +which I instinctively felt to be fraught with a thousand difficulties. + +Any swindler, providing he has made sufficient money by his tricks, has +bought a place in the country, and has been agreeable to the +Deputy-Lieutenant of the County, can become one of His Majesty's +Justices of the Peace. Some such are now and then unmasked, and off to +penal servitude have gone, men who have been the foremost to inflict +fines and imprisonment on the poor for the most trivial offences--men +who made the poaching of a rabbit a heinous crime. + +I venture to assert that the past of many a J. P. does not bear +investigation. But even when glaring injustices are exposed to the Home +Secretary, he is often afraid to order an inquiry, for political +reasons. It is always "Party" that must be first considered in this poor +old England of ours to-day. + +What does "Party" mean? Be it Liberal, Unionist, Conservative, Labour, +anything, there should at least be honesty, fair dealing, plain speaking +and uprightness. But alas, this is an age of sham in England. +Journalists, novelists, preachers, playwrights, are afraid to speak the +truth frankly, though they know it, and feel it. It is "Party" always. +Many a criminal has escaped conviction before our County Benches because +of "Party," and for the same reason many innocents have been condemned +and suffered. + +This case of Mr. Vernon Gregory was a provincial case. The amusing farce +of local investigation, and local justice, would no doubt be duly +played. The coroner always agrees with the evidence of his own family +doctor, or the prominent local medico, and the twelve honest tradesmen +forming the jury are almost invariably led by the coroner in the +direction of the verdict. + +Oh, the farce of it all! I hold no brief for France, Belgium, Germany, +or any other continental nation, for England is my native land. But I do +feel that methods of inquiry on the continent are just, though minutely +searching, that there Justice is merciful though inexorable, that her +scales weigh all evidence to the uttermost gramme. + +These reflections passed through my mind as I stood in that +lodging-house room, while the two police officers discussed as to their +further procedure in the amazing case with which they had been called +upon to deal. I could not help such thoughts arising, for I was dubious, +very dubious, as to the thoroughness of investigation that would be +given to the affair by the local authorities. Slackness, undue delay, +party or personal interests, any one of these things might imperil the +inquiry and frustrate the ends of justice. + +I knew we were confronted by one of the greatest criminal problems that +had ever been offered for solution, calling for the most prompt, +delicate and minute methods of investigation, if it was to be handled +successfully. And as I contrasted the heavy, cumbrous, restricted +conditions of English criminal procedure with the swift, far-reaching +methods in use across the Channel, I felt that something of the latter +was needed here if the mystery of Craig's death was ever to be solved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MYSTERY INEXPLICABLE + + +The town of Cromer was agog, when, next day, the coroner held his +inquiry. + +The afternoon was warm, and the little room usually used as the police +court was packed to suffocation. + +The jury--the foreman of which was a stout local butcher--having viewed +the body, the inquest was formally opened, and Mrs. Dean, the first +witness, identified the remains as those of her visitor, Mr. Edward +Craig. + +This, the first intimation to the public that Mr. Gregory was not dead +after all, caused the greatest sensation. + +In answer to the coroner, Mrs. Dean explained how, with his uncle, old +Mr. Gregory, Craig had taken apartments with her. She had always found +him a quiet, well-conducted young gentleman. + +"Was he quite idle?" asked the grave-faced coroner. + +"No. Not exactly, sir," replied the witness, looking round the closely +packed room. "He used to do a good deal of writing for his uncle, more +especially after the young man, Mr. Gregory's private secretary, had +been over from Sheffield." + +"How often did he come?" + +"At intervals of a week or more. He always carried a small despatch-box, +and on those occasions the three would sit together for half the day, +doing their business, with the door closed--and," added the landlady +vigorously, "Mr. Craig had no end of business sometimes, for he received +lots of telegrams. From what I heard him say one day to his Uncle, I +believe he was a betting man, and the telegrams were results of races." + +"Ah, probably so," remarked the coroner. "I believe you have not seen +the elder gentleman since the tragic evening of his nephew's death?" + +"No, sir. The last I saw of Mr. Gregory was when he wished me +'good-night,' and went to bed, as was his habit, about half-past ten, on +the night previous." + +"And, where was the deceased then?" + +"My servant Anne had taken up his hot water, and he had already gone to +bed." + +"And, did you find next day that the beds had been slept in?" + +"Mr. Craig's had, but Mr. Gregory's hadn't," was the reply. Whereat the +eager, listening crowd buzzed and moved uneasily. + +The grave-faced county official holding the inquiry, having finished +writing down the replies to his questions upon blue foolscap, looked +across to the row of twelve tradesmen, and exclaimed in his sharp, +brusque manner---- + +"Have the jury any questions to put to this witness?" + +"I'd like to ask, sir," said the fat butcher, "whether this Mr. Gregory +was not a very eccentric and extraordinary man?" + +"He was," replied the good woman with a smile. "He always suspected that +people was a-robbin' him. He'd strike out threepence from my weekly +bill, and on the very same day, pay six or seven shillings for a pound +of fresh strawberries." + +"During the night you heard nobody leave your house?" + +"No, neither me, nor my husband, heard any sound. Of course, our dog +knew both of 'em, and was very friendly, so he'd make no noise." + +"I would like to ask you, Mrs. Dean," said another juryman, the +thin-faced manager of a boot-shop, "whether Mr. Craig was in the habit +of receiving any strangers?" + +"No," interrupted the coroner, "we are not here to inquire into that. We +are here solely to establish the identity of the deceased and the cause +of his death. The other matters must be left to the police." + +"Oh! I beg pardon sir," ejaculated the offending juryman, and sat back +in his chair with a jerk. + +George Simmonds, a picturesque figure in his coast-guard uniform, was +called next, and minutely described how he had found deceased, and had, +from his dress, believed him to be old Mr. Gregory. Afterwards he was +cross-examined by the foreman of the jury as to whom he had met during +his patrol that night, and what he knew personally about the dead man. + +"I only know that he was a very nice young gentleman," replied the +coast-guard. "Both he and his uncle often used to pass the time o' day +with us out against the flagstaff, and sometimes they'd have a look +through the glass at the passing ships." + +The police evidence then followed, and, after that Dr. Sladen, the chief +medical man in Cromer, took the oath and made the following statement, +in clear, business-like tones, the coroner writing it down rapidly. + +"Henry Harden Sladen, Doctor of Medicine, 36, Cliff Avenue, Cromer. I +was called to see deceased by the police, at about half-past four on the +morning of the twelfth of June. He was lying upon a public seat on the +East Cliff, and on examination I found that he had been dead about two +hours or more." + +"Any signs of violence?" inquired the coroner, looking up sharply at the +witness, and readjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. + +"None whatever." + +"Yes, Dr. Sladen?" + +"Yesterday afternoon," continued the witness, "I made a post-mortem +examination in conjunction with Dr. Copping, of Cromer, and found the +body to be that of a young man about twenty-five years old, of somewhat +athletic build. All the organs were quite normal. There was an old wound +under the left shoulder, apparently a bullet wound, and two rather +curious scars on the right forearm, which, we agreed, had been received +while fencing. We, however, could find no trace of disease or injury." + +"Then to what do you attribute death?" inquired the coroner. + +"Well, I came to the conclusion that the young man had been suddenly +asphyxiated, but how, is a perfect mystery," responded the doctor. "It +would be difficult to asphyxiate any one in the open air without leaving +any mark of strangulation." + +"I take it that you discovered no mark?" + +"Not the slightest." + +"Then you do not think death was due to natural causes?" + +"It was due to asphyxiation--a rapid, almost instantaneous death it must +have been--but it was not due to natural causes." + +"Briefly put, then, you consider that the deceased was the victim of +foul play?" + +"Yes. The young man was murdered, without a doubt," replied the doctor, +slowly. "But so ingeniously was the crime committed, that no trace of +the methods by which death was accomplished has been left. The assassin, +whoever he was, must have been a perfect artist in crime." + +"Why do you think so?" asked the coroner. + +"For several reasons," was the reply. "The victim must have been sitting +upon the seat when suddenly attacked. He rose to defend himself and, as +he did so, he was struck down by a deadly blow which caused him to +stagger, reel, and fall lifeless some distance away from the seat. Yet +there is no bruise upon him--no sign of any blow having been struck. His +respiratory organs suddenly became paralysed, and he expired--a most +mysterious and yet instant death." + +"But is there no way, that you--as a medical man--can account for such a +death, Dr. Sladen?" asked the coroner dryly. + +"There are several ways, but none in which death could ensue in such +circumstances and with such an utter absence of symptoms. If death had +occurred naturally we should have been quickly able to detect the fact." + +After one or two pointless questions had been put to the witness by +members of the jury, his place was taken by his colleague, Dr. Copping, +a pushing young medico who, though he had only been in Cromer a year, +had a rapidly-growing practice. + +In every particular he corroborated Dr. Sladen's evidence, and gave it +as his professional opinion that the young man had met with foul play, +but how, was a complete mystery. + +"You do not suspect poison, I take it?" asked the coroner, looking up +from his writing. + +"Poison is entirely out of the question," was Dr. Copping's reply. "The +deceased was asphyxiated, and died almost instantly. How it was done, I +fail to understand and can formulate no theory." + +The public, seated at the back of the court, were so silent that one +could have heard the dropping of the proverbial pin. They had expected +some remarkable revelations from the medical men, but were somewhat +disappointed. + +After the evidence of Inspector Treeton had been taken, the coroner, in +a few brief words, put the matter before the jury. + +It was, he said, a case which presented several very remarkable +features, not the least being the fact that the nephew had gone out in +the night, dressed in his uncle's clothes and made up to resemble the +elder man. That fact made it evident that there was some unusual motive +for going out that night on the part of the deceased man--either a +humorous one, or one not altogether honest. The latter seemed the most +reasonable theory. The young man evidently went out to keep a tryst in +the early morning, and while waiting on the seat, was suddenly attacked +and murdered. + +"Well, gentlemen," he went on, removing his glasses, and polishing them +with his handkerchief, "it is for you to return your verdict--to say how +this young man met with his death, to-day, or, if you consider it +advisable, you can, of course, adjourn this inquiry in order to obtain +additional evidence. Personally, I do not see whence any additional +evidence can come. We have heard the depositions of all concerned, and +if you decide that it is a case of wilful murder, as both Dr. Sladen and +Dr. Copping have unhesitatingly stated it to be, the rest must be left +to the police, who will no doubt use their utmost endeavours to discover +the identity of this 'artist in crime,' as Dr. Sladen put it, who is +responsible for this young man's death. So far as I am concerned, and I +have acted as coroner for this district for twenty-three years, I have +never before held an inquiry into a case which has presented so many +puzzling features. Even the method by which the victim was done to death +is inexplicable. The whole thing, gentlemen, is inexplicable, and, as +far as we can discern, there is no motive for the crime. It is, of +course, for you to arrive at a verdict now, or to adjourn for a week. +Perhaps you will consult together." + +The twelve Norfolk tradesmen, under the leadership of the obese butcher, +whispered together for a few moments and were quickly agreed. + +The coroner's officer, a tall constable, standing near the door, saw +that the foreman wished to speak, and shouted: "Silence!" + +"We will return our verdict at once, Mr. Coroner," said the butcher. "We +find that deceased was murdered." + +"That is your verdict, eh? Then it will read, 'that deceased was +wilfully murdered by some person or persons unknown.' Is that what you +all agree?" he asked in his quick, business-like manner. + +"Yes, sir. That is our verdict," was the response. + +"Any dissentients?" asked the official. But there was none. + +"Then the rest must be left to the police," said the coroner, resuming +his writing. + +At those words, the public, disappointed at the lack of gory details, +began to file out into the street, while the jury were discharged. + +Who was the murderer? That was the question upon every one's tongue. + +And where was Vernon Gregory, the quaint, eccentric old fellow who had +become such a notable figure in Cromer streets and along the asphalted +parade. What had become of him? + +The police had, of course, made no mention in their evidence of the +search in the rooms occupied by the two men--of the discovery of the +splendid treasure of gold and jewels--or of the fact that the real Mr. +Vernon Gregory had died while on a voyage to India. + +With Frayne, I walked back to the police-station, where we found that no +trace had yet been discovered of the old man. He had disappeared swiftly +and completely, probably in clothes which in no way resembled those he +habitually wore, for, as his pocket-book and other things were found in +the cape worn by his nephew, we assumed that they were actually the +uncle's. Therefore, it would be but natural that old Gregory would have +left the house wearing clothes suitable to a younger man. + +The fact that Lola had visited him told me much. + +Gregory, whoever he was, was certainly no amateur in the art of +disguise. In all probability he now presented the appearance of a man of +thirty or so, and in no way resembled the eccentric old gentleman who +looked like a poet and whose habits were so regular. + +That there was a mystery, a strange, amazing mystery, I knew +instinctively. Edward Craig had, I felt confident, fallen the victim of +a bitter and terrible vengeance--had been ingeniously done to death by +one whose hand was that of a relentless slayer. + +So, as I walked past the grey old church of Cromer, back to the _Hôtel +de Paris_, I pondered deeply. + +My own particular knowledge I kept a fast secret to myself. Among that +heterogeneous collection of treasures had been one object which I +recognized--an object I had seen and handled once before, in very +different circumstances. + +How came it in that old sea-chest, and in the possession of the man who +was now exposed as an impostor? + +Mr. Day, the chief officer of the coast-guard, passed me by and saluted. +But I was so preoccupied that I scarcely noticed him. + +I had crossed by the path leading through the churchyard, and arrived +at the corner of Jetty Street--a narrow, old-fashioned lane which leads +along to the cliff-top in front of the _Hôtel de Paris_, and where an +inclined slope goes down to the pier. + +Suddenly, on raising my eyes at a passer-by, my gaze met that of a tall, +thin, pale-faced, rather gentlemanly man in a dark grey suit, and +wearing a grey felt hat. + +The stranger, without noticing me, went on with unconcern. + +But in that second I had recognized him. We had met before, and in that +instant I had fixed him as the one man who knew the truth regarding that +remarkable secret I had now set out to investigate. + +I halted aghast, and half-turned upon my heel to greet him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TELLS OF TWO MEN + + +The stranger, whose age was about forty-five, went on in the direction +of the post-office in the Church Square. + +Should I dash back, overtake him and claim acquaintance? Or should I +keep my knowledge to myself, and watch in patience? + +A single second had I in which to decide. And I decided. + +I turned back upon my heel again as though I had not recognized him. + +But what could that man's presence mean in that little East Coast town? +Aye, what indeed? + +I tried to think, to conjecture, to form some theory--but I was too +confused. Lola had been there--and now that man who had just passed! + +Along the narrow, old-fashioned Jetty Street I strode for some yards, +and then turned and retraced my steps till I saw him across the old +churchyard entering the post-office. + +Treeton was coming up in my direction, little dreaming how near he was +to the one man who knew the truth. I smiled to myself at the ignorance +of the local police. And yet my own knowledge was that of a man who had +led a strange cosmopolitan life, who had mixed with all classes on the +Continent, who had trodden the streets of more than one capital in +disguise, and who had assisted the _Sûreté_ in half a dozen countries. + +I smiled at Treeton as he went by, and he smiled back. That man in the +post-office yonder was a remarkable personage. That I well knew. What +would any agent in the _brigade mobile_ of Paris have given to be in my +place at that moment--to be able to enter the Cromer post-office and lay +hands upon Jules Jeanjean--the notorious Jules Jeanjean, of all men! + +My thoughts were of Lola. Phew! Had ever man such a strange reverie as I +had in those moments when I halted, pretending to look into the +shop-window of the jeweller at the corner--yet all the time watching in +the direction of the door of the post-office! + +To go back would betray recognition, so I was compelled to go +forward--to the hotel. + +I did not, however, allow the grass to grow beneath my feet. That night, +instead of dining at the hotel, I ate a sandwich in the bar of the +_Albion_, and soon discovered that the man I had seen passing Cromer +Church was living in apartments in the Overstrand Road, the aristocratic +quarter of Cromer, close to the Doctor's steps. + +I had kept careful watch all the evening. First, quite unconcernedly, he +had strolled along the East Cliff, past the seat where the man, now +dead, had sat early on that fatal morning. I had followed, and had +watched. + +He paused close by, ostensibly to light a cigarette with a patent +lighter, then, after covertly making observations, he went on away to +the edge of the links, and up the path near the _Links Hotel_, where he +gained the Overstrand Road. + +The evening was clear and bright, the sundown across the North Sea a +blaze of crimson and gold. There were many promenaders along that +well-trodden path, yet it required the exercise of all my cunning to +escape the observation of the shrewd and clever man I was following. + +At eight o'clock he entered his lodging. Half an hour later, as I +lounged past, I saw him seated at dinner between two elderly women, +laughing with that easy-going cosmopolitan air--that foreign charm of +his, which had carried him through so many strange adventures. + +Then I waited--waited until dusk deepened into night. Silent, and +without wind, the summer air was fresh and invigorating after the +oppressiveness of the day. The street-lamps were lit, yet I still +remained watching, and ever on the alert. + +The Norfolk constabulary were observing the old, slow, stereotyped, +routine methods of police investigation, as I had expected them to do. + +I alone had scented the clue to the mystery. + +Not a sign had been seen of the cunning old fugitive. Telegrams had been +dispatched by the dozen. Scotland Yard had been, of course, "informed," +but information from the country is there but lightly considered. +Therefore, in all probability, the shrewd old man, who had so cleverly +imposed upon the good people of Cromer, was by that time across the +Channel. + +But, would he leave that splendid treasure of his behind? + +All through that evening I waited in patience in the Overstrand +Road--waited to see if Jules Jeanjean would come forth again. + +At half-past ten, when the moon was shining brightly over the calm sea, +I saw him come out, wearing a soft grey felt hat and light drab +overcoat. He laughed at the neat maid who opened the door for him, and +instinctively put his hand to his hat to raise it, as foreigners so +often do. + +Instead of walking towards the town, as I had expected, he turned in the +direction of Suffield Park, the pretty suburb of Cromer, and actually +passed within a few yards of where I was crouching behind the laurel +hedge of somebody's front garden. + +I allowed him to get some distance ahead, then, treading lightly upon my +rubber heels, swiftly followed. + +He made in the direction of the great Eastern Railway Station, until he +came to the arch where the line crosses the road, when from the shadow +there crept silently another figure of a man. + +At that hour, and at that point, all was deserted. From where I stood I +could see the lights of the great _Links Hotel_ high up, dominating the +landscape, and nearer were the long, slowly-moving shafts of extreme +brilliance, shining from the lighthouse as a warning to mariners on the +North Sea. + +Jules Jeanjean, the man of a hundred adventures, met the stranger. It +was a tryst, most certainly. Under the shadow of a wall I drew back, and +watched the pair with eager interest. They whispered, and it was +apparent that they were discussing some very serious and weighty matter. +Of necessity I was so far away that I could not distinguish the features +of the stranger. All I could see was that he was very well dressed, and +wore dark clothes, a straw hat, and carried a cane. + +Together they walked slowly in the shadow. Jeanjean had linked his arm +in that of the stranger, who seemed young and athletic, and was talking +very earnestly--perhaps relating what had occurred at the inquest that +afternoon, for, though I had not seen him there, I suspected that he +might have been present. + +I saw Jeanjean give something to his companion, but I could not detect +what it was. Something he took very slowly and carefully from his pocket +and handed it to the young man, who at first hesitated to accept it, +and only did so after Jeanjean's repeated and firm insistence. + +It was as though the man I had recognized that afternoon in Cromer was +bending the other by his dominant personality--compelling him to act +against his will. + +And as I stood there I wondered whether after all Jeanjean had actually +recognized me when we met in Church Square--or whether he had been +struck merely by what he deemed a chance resemblance, and had passed me +by without further thought. + +Had he recognized me I do not think he would have dared to remain in +Cromer a single hour. Hence, I hoped he had not. The fact would render +my work of investigation a thousandfold easier. + +Presently, after a full quarter of an hour's conversation, the pair +strolled together along the moonlit road back towards the town, which at +that hour was wrapped in slumber. + +By a circuitous route they reached the narrow street at the back of the +house where old Mr. Gregory and his nephew had lived, and, after passing +and repassing it several times, returned by the way they had come. + +Near the railway bridge, where Jeanjean had first met the stranger, both +paused and had another earnest conversation. More than once in the +lamplight I had caught sight of the man's face, a keen face, with dark +moustache, and sharp, dark eyes. He had a quick, agile gait, and I +judged him to be about eight-and-twenty. + +Presently the two walked out beyond the arch, and I saw the younger man +go behind a hedge, from which he wheeled forth a motor-cycle that had +been concealed there. They bade each other adieu, and then, starting his +engine, the stranger mounted the machine, and next moment was speeding +towards Norwich without having lit his lamp, possibly having forgotten +to do so in his hurry to get away. + +The Frenchman watched his friend depart, then, leisurely lighting a +cigarette, turned and went back to the house in Overstrand Road where he +had taken up his temporary abode. + +It was half-past two when the night-porter at the _Hôtel de Paris_ +admitted me, and until the sun had risen over the sea, I sat at my open +window, smoking, and thinking. + +The discovery that Jules Jeanjean was in that little East Coast town was +to me utterly amazing. What was his business in Cromer? + +A wire to the _Sûreté_ in Paris, stating his whereabouts, would, I knew, +create no end of commotion, and Inspector Treeton would no doubt receive +urgent orders by telegram from London for the arrest of the seemingly +inoffensive man with the jaunty, foreign air. + +The little town of Cromer, seething with excitement over the mysterious +murder of Edward Craig, little dreamed that it now harboured one of the +most dangerous criminals of modern times. + +Next day, in the hotel, I was asked on every hand my opinion in regard +to the East Cliff murder mystery. The evidence at the inquest was given +verbatim in the Norwich papers, and every one was reading it. By reason +of my writings, I suppose, I had earned a reputation as a seeker-out of +mystery. But to all inquirers I now expressed my inability to theorize +on the affair, and carefully preserved an attitude of amazed ignorance. + +I scarce dared to go forth that day lest I should again meet Jeanjean, +and he should become aware of my presence in Cromer. Had he recognized +me when we met? I was continually asking myself that question, and +always I came to the conclusion that he had not, or he would not have +dared to keep his tryst with the mysterious motor-cyclist. + +Were either of the pair responsible for Edward Craig's death? That was +the great problem that was before me. + +And where was Gregory? If he were not implicated in the crime, why had +he absconded? + +I examined the copy of that curious letter signed by Egisto, but it +conveyed nothing very tangible to me. + +Frayne and his men were still passing to and fro in Cromer, making all +kinds of abortive inquiries, and were, I knew, entirely on the wrong +scent. Like myself, they were seeking the motive which caused the sudden +disappearance of old Gregory. They were actually looking for him in the +county of Norfolk! I knew, too well, that he must be already safely far +away, abroad. + +Frayne called in to see me after luncheon, and sat up in my room for an +hour, smoking cigarettes. + +"I'm leaving the rooms that were occupied by Craig and his uncle just as +they are," he said to me. "I'm not touching a thing for the present, so +that when we find Gregory we can make him give explanations of what we +have secured there. I thought first of taking that sea-chest and its +contents over to Norwich with me, but I have now decided to seal up the +room and leave everything as it is." + +"I understand," I replied, smiling to myself at his forlorn hope of ever +finding Mr. Vernon Gregory. For, the further my inquiries had gone, the +more apparent was it that the old man was a very wily customer. + +"We've made one discovery," said the detective as he lit a fresh +cigarette. + +"Oh, what's that?" I inquired. + +"A young fisherman, named Britton, has come forward and told me that on +the night of the murder he was going along the road to Gunton, at about +midnight, when he met a man on a motor-cycle, with an empty side-car, +coming from the direction of Norwich. The man dismounted and asked +Britton how far it was to Cromer. The fisherman told him, and the fellow +rode off. Britton, who had been to see his brother, returned just before +two, and met the same motor-cyclist coming back from Cromer, and +travelling at a very high speed. He then had somebody in the side-car +with him. In the darkness Britton could not get a very good view of the +passenger, but he believes that it was a woman." + +"A woman!" I echoed, somewhat surprised. + +"Yes, he was sure it was a woman," Frayne said. "One good point is, that +Britton is able to give a fairly good description of the motor-cyclist, +whose face he saw when the fellow got off his machine to speak to him. +He pictures him as a sharp-faced man, with a small black moustache, who +spoke broken English." + +"A foreigner, then?" + +"Evidently." Then Frayne went on to remark, "It was foolish of this +fellow Britton not to have come forward before, Mr. Vidal. But you know +how slow these Norfolk fishermen are. It was only after he was pressed +by his friends, to whom he related the incident, that he consented to +come to the police-station and have a chat with me." + +"Well--then you suspect the motor-cyclist and the woman?" + +"Not without some further proof," replied the detective, with a look of +wisdom on his face. "We don't know yet if the passenger in the side-car +was a woman. Britton only believes so. The foreigner evidently only came +into Cromer to fetch a friend." + +"But could not any foreigner come into Cromer to fetch a lady friend?" I +queried. + +"Yes. That's just why I do not attach much importance to the young +fellow's story." + +"Does he say he could recognize the cyclist again?" + +"He believes so. But, unfortunately, he's not a lad of very high +intelligence," laughed Frayne. + +To my companions the statement of that young fisherman evidently meant +but little. + +To me, however, it revealed a very great deal. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +REMAINS AN ENIGMA + + +Six days had gone by. + +The funeral of the unfortunate Edward Craig had taken place, and locally +the sensation caused by the tragic discovery had died down. + +The weather was beautifully warm, the sea calm, and gradually a few +holiday-makers were appearing in the streets; women in summer blouses, +knitted golf coats and cotton skirts, with flannel-trousered men. They +were of the class who are compelled to take their holidays early, before +their employers; with them came delighted children carrying spades and +buckets. + +Fearing recognition by the notorious Frenchman, I was greatly +handicapped, for I was compelled to remain in the hotel all day, and go +forth only at night. + +Frayne and his men had locked and sealed the rooms which had been +occupied by old Gregory and Craig, and had returned to Norwich. In their +place had come a plain-clothes man who, as far as I could gather, +lounged about the corners of the streets, and chatted idly with the +constables in uniform. + +The plain-clothes man in our county constabulary system is not an +overwhelming success. His only real use seems to be mostly that of a +catcher of small boys who go out stealing fruit. + +By dint of judicious inquiry, made by my manservant, Rayner, whom I had +summoned from London, I had discovered something regarding the foreign +gentleman, who had taken apartments in the Overstrand Road. + +Rayner could always keep a secret. He was a fair-haired, bullet-headed +chap of thirty-two whom I had found, eight years before the date of this +story, wandering penniless in the streets of Constantinople. I had taken +him into my service, and never once had occasion to regret having done +so. He was a model of discretion, and to a man constantly travelling, +like myself, a veritable treasure. + +Sometimes upon my erratic journeys on the Continent I took him with me, +at others he remained at home in my little flat off Berkeley Square. If +I ever called upon him to make inquiries for me, to watch, or to follow +a suspected person, he obeyed with an intelligence that would, I +believe, have done credit to any member of that remarkable combination +of brains--the Council of Seven, of New Scotland Yard. + +Living an adventurous life, as he had done, his wits had been sharpened, +and his perception had become as keen as that of any detective. +Therefore, I had called upon him, under seal of secrecy, to assist me in +the investigation of many a mystery. + +Knowing his value, I had wired to him to come to Cromer. He arrived when +I was out. First, he looked through my traps, folded my trousers and +coats, arranged my shirts and ties in order with professional precision, +and when I returned, entered my room, saying briefly-- + +"I'm here, sir." + +I threw myself into a chair and told him all that had occurred--of +course, under strictest secrecy. + +Then I gave him minute instructions as to making inquiries of the +servants at the house in the Overstrand Road. A servant can always get +useful information from other servants, for there is a freemasonry among +all who are employed in domestic capacities. + +Therefore, it was with interest that I sat in my room, overlooking the +sea, on the following day, and listened to Rayner's report. + +In his straw hat, and well-cut grey tweed suit, my man made a very +presentable appearance. It was the same suit in which he went out to +Richmond with his "young lady" on Sundays. + +"Well, sir," he said, standing by the window, "I've managed to get to +know something. The gentleman is a Belgian doctor named Paul Arendt. He +has the two best rooms in the house and is the only visitor staying +there at present. They say he's a bit eccentric; goes out at all hours, +but gives lots of money in tips. Seemingly, he's pretty rich." + +"Has he had any visitors?" I asked quickly. + +"One. Another foreigner. An Italian named Bertini, who rides a +motor-cycle." + +"Has he been there often?" + +"He came last Monday afternoon--three days ago," my man replied. + +"Anything else?" + +"Well, sir, I managed to make friends with the maidservant, and then, on +pretence of wanting apartments myself, got her to show me several rooms +in the house in the absence of her mistress. Doctor Arendt was out, too, +therefore I took the opportunity of looking around his bedroom. I'd +given the girl a sovereign, so she didn't make any objection to my +prying about a bit. Arendt is a rather suspicious character, isn't he, +sir?" asked Rayner, looking at me curiously. + +"That's for you to find out," I replied. + +"Well, sir, I have found out," was his quick answer. "In the small top +left-hand drawer of the chest of drawers in his room I found a small +false moustache and some grease-paint; while in the right-hand drawer +was a Browning revolver in a brown leather case, a bottle of strong +ammonia, and a small steel tube, about an inch across, with an +india-rubber bulb attached to one end." + +"Ah!" I said. "I thought as much. You know what the ammonia and rubber +ball are for, eh?" + +The man grinned. + +"Well, sir, I can guess," was his reply. "It's for blinding dogs--eh?" + +"Exactly. We must keep a sharp eye upon that Belgian, Rayner." + +"Yes, sir. I took the opportunity to have a chat with the maid about the +recent affair on the East Cliff, and she told me she believed that the +dead man and Doctor Arendt were friends." + +"Friends!" I echoed, starting forward at his words. + +"Yes, sir. The girl was not quite certain, but believes she saw the +Belgian doctor and young Mr. Craig walking together over the golf-links +one evening. It was her Sunday out and she was strolling that way just +at dusk with her sweetheart." + +"She is not quite positive, eh?" I asked. + +"No, sir, not quite positive. She only thinks it was young Mr. Craig." + +"Did Craig or Gregory ever go to that house while our friend has been +there?" + +"No, sir. She was quite positive on that point." + +"What does the doctor do with himself all day?" I asked. + +"Sits reading novels, or the French papers, greater part of the day. +Sometimes he writes letters, but very seldom. According to the books I +noticed in his room, he delights in stories of mystery and crime." + +I smiled. Too well I knew the literary tastes of Jules Jeanjean, the man +who was fearless, and being so, was eminently dangerous, and who was +passing as a Belgian doctor. He, who had once distinguished himself by +holding the whole of the forces of the Paris police at arms' length, and +defying them--committing crimes under their very noses out of sheer +anarchical bravado--was actually living there as a quiet, studious, +steady-going man of literary tastes and refinement--Doctor Paul Arendt, +of Liège, Belgium. + +Ah! Some further evil was intended without a doubt. Yet so clever were +Jeanjean's methods, and so entirely unsuspicious his actions, that I +confess I failed to see what piece of chicanery was now in progress. + +My next inquiry was in the direction of establishing the identity of the +motor-cyclist. + +That night Rayner kept watchful vigil instead of myself, for I had been +up five nights in succession and required sleep. But though he waited +near the house in the Overstrand Road from ten o'clock until four in +the morning, nothing occurred. Jeanjean had evidently retired to rest +and to sleep. + +After that we took it in turns to watch, I having made it right with the +night-porter of the hotel, for a pecuniary consideration, to take no +notice of our going or coming. + +For a whole week the notorious Frenchman did not emerge after he entered +the house at dinner-time. I was sorely puzzled regarding the identity of +that motor-cyclist. Would he return, or had he left the neighbourhood? + +Early one morning Rayner, having taken his turn of watching, returned to +say that Bertini, with his motor-cycle, had again met the "foreign +gentleman" at the railway bridge--the same spot at which I had seen them +meet. + +They had remained about half an hour in conversation, after which the +stranger had mounted and rode away again on the Norwich road, while +Jeanjean had returned to his lodgings. + +My mind was then made up. That same morning I took train to Norwich, +where I hired a motor-car for a fortnight, and paying down a substantial +deposit, drove the car--an open "forty," though a trifle +old-fashioned--as far as Aylsham, a distance of ten miles, or half-way +between Norwich and Cromer. There I put up at a small hotel, where I +spent the rest of the day in idleness, and afterwards dined. + +Aylsham is a sleepy little place, with nothing much to attract the +visitor save its church and ancient houses. Therefore, I devoted myself +to the newspapers until just before the hotel closed for the night. + +Then I rang up Rayner on the telephone as I had made arrangement to do. + +"That's me, sir," was his answer to my inquiry. + +"Well," I asked, "anything fresh?" + +"Yes, sir. A lady called to see you at seven o'clock--a young French +lady. I saw her and explained that you were away until to-morrow, +and----" + +"Yes, yes!" I cried eagerly. "A French lady. Did she give her name?" + +"No, sir. She only told me to tell you that if I mentioned the word +'nightingale,' you would know." + +"The Nightingale!" I gasped, astounded. It was Lola! And she had called +upon me! + +"When is she coming back?" I demanded eagerly. + +"She didn't say, sir--only told me to tell you how sorry she was that +you were out. She had travelled a long way to see you." + +"But didn't she say she'd call back?" I demanded, full of chagrin that I +should have so unfortunately been absent. + +"No, sir. She said she might be able to call sometime to-morrow +afternoon, but was not at all certain." + +I held the receiver in my trembling fingers in reflection. Nothing could +be done. I had missed her--missed seeing Lola! + +Surely my absence had been a great, and, perhaps, unredeemable +misfortune. + +"Very well," I said at last. "You know what to do to-night, Rayner?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And I will be back in the morning." + +"Very good, sir," responded my man, and I shut off. I paid my bill, went +outside and lit up the big headlamps of the car. Then I drove slowly out +of the yard, and out of the town, in the direction of Cromer. + +It had been a close day, and the night, dark and oppressive, was +overcast with a threatening storm. The dust swept up before me with +every gust of wind as I went slowly along that high road which led +towards the sea. I proceeded very leisurely, my thoughts full of my fair +visitor. + +Lola had called upon me! Why? Surely, after what had occurred, I could +never have hoped for another visit from her. + +Yes. It must be something of the greatest importance upon which she +wished to consult me. Evidently she knew of my presence in +Cromer--knew, possibly, of the efforts I was making to unravel the +mystery of old Vernon Gregory. + +Yet, I could only wait in impatience for the morrow. But would she +return? That was the question. + +The car was running well, but I had plenty of time. Therefore, after +travelling five miles or so, I pulled up, took out my pipe and smoked. + +I stopped my engine, and, in the silence of the night, strained my ears +to catch the sound of an approaching motor-cycle. But I could hear +nothing--only the distant rumble of thunder far northward across the +sea. + +By my watch I saw that it was nearly midnight. So I restarted my engine +and went slowly along until I was within a couple of miles of Cromer, +and could see the flashing of the lighthouse, and the lights of the town +twinkling below. Then again I stopped and attended to my headlights, +which were growing dim. + +A mile and a half further on I knew that Rayner, down the dip of the +hill, was lurking in the shadow. But my object in stationing myself +there was to follow the mysterious cyclist, not when he went to keep his +appointment, but when he left. + +In order to avert suspicion, I presently turned the car round with its +lights towards Norwich, but scarcely had I done so, and stopped the +engine again, when I heard, in the darkness afar off, the throb of a +motor-cycle approaching at a furious pace. + +My lamps lit up the road, while, standing in the shadow bending as +though attending to a tyre, my own form could not, I knew, be seen in +the darkness. + +On came the cyclist. Was it the man for whom I was watching? + +He gave a blast on his horn as he rounded the corner, for he could no +doubt see the reflection of my lamps from afar. + +Then he passed me like a flash, but, in that instant as he came through +the zone of light, I recognized his features. + +It was Bertini, the mysterious friend of Jules Jeanjean. + +I had but to await his return, and by waiting I should learn the truth. + +I confess that my heart beat quickly as I watched his small red light +disappear along the road. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DESCRIBES A NIGHT-VIGIL + + +The gusty wind had died down. + +In the silence of the night I listened to the receding noise of the +motor-cycle as it swept down the hill into Cromer town, where I knew +Rayner would be on the alert. + +The sound died away, therefore I relit my pipe, and mounting again into +the driver's seat, sat back thinking--thinking mostly of Lola, and my +ill-luck at having missed her. + +Before me, in the white glare of the lamps upon the road, where insects +of the night, attracted by the radiance, were dancing to their deaths, +there arose before me that sweet, perfect face, the face that had so +attracted me. I saw her smile--smile at me, as she did when first we had +met. Ah! How strange had been our friendship, stranger than novelist had +ever imagined. I had loved her--loved as I had never loved before, and +she had loved me, with that bright, intense look in her wonderful eyes, +the woman's look that can never lie. + +There is but one love-look. A man knows it by his instinct, just as does +a woman. A woman knows by intuition that the fool who takes her out to +the theatre and supper, and is so profuse in his protestations of +undying admiration, is only uttering outpourings of vapid nonsense. Just +so, a man meets insincerity with insincerity. The woman gets to know in +time how much her vain, shallow admirer is good for, for she knows he +will soon pass out of her life, while the man's instinct is exactly the +same. In a word, it is life--the life of this, our Twentieth Century. + +The man laughed at and derided to-day, is a hero ten years hence. + +A few years ago Mr. John Burns carried a banner perspiringly along the +Thames Embankment, in a May Day procession, and I assisted him. To-day +he is a Cabinet Minister. A few years ago my dear friend, George +Griffith, wrote about air-ships in his romance, _The Angel of the +Revolution_, and everybody made merry at his expense. To-day airships +are declared to be the chief arm of Continental nations. + +Ah, yes! The world proceeds apace, and the unknown to-morrow ever brings +its amazing surprises and the adoption of the "crank's" ideas of +yesterday. + +Lola had called to see me. That fact conjured up in my imagination a +thousand startling theories. + +Why? + +Why had she called, after all that had passed between us? + +I waited, waited for the coming of that mysterious cyclist, who arose +from nowhere, and whose business with Jules Jeanjean was of such vast +and secret importance. + +The very fact of Jeanjean being in Cromer had staggered me. As I sat +there smoking, and listening, I recollected when last I had heard +mention of his name. Hamard--the great Hamard--Chief of the _Sûreté_ of +Paris, had been seated in his private bureau in the offices of the +detective police. + +He had leaned back in his chair, and blowing a cloud of tobacco-smoke +from his lips, had said in French-- + +"Ah! Mon cher Vidal, we are face to face in this affair with Jules +Jeanjean, the most ingenious and most elusive criminal that we have met +this century in France. In other walks of life Jeanjean would have been +a great man--a millionaire financier, a Minister of the Cabinet, a +great general--a leader of men. But in the circumstances this +arch-adventurer, who slips through our fingers, no matter what trap we +set for him, is a criminal of a type such as Europe has never known +within the memory of living man. Personally I admire his pluck, his +energy, his inventiveness, his audacity, his iron nerve, and his amazing +cunning. Truly, now, cher ami, he is a marvel. There is but one +master-criminal, Jules Jeanjean." + +That was the character given him by Monsieur Hamard, the greatest French +detective since Lecoq. + +And now this master-criminal was beneath the railway arch at Cromer +meeting in secret a mysterious cyclist! + +What evil was now intended? + +I waited, my ears strained to catch every sound. But I only heard the +distant rumble of the thunder, away across the North Sea, and, +somewhere, the dismal howling of a dog. + +I waited, and still waited. The sky grew brighter, and I grew +perceptibly colder, so that I turned up my coat-collar, and shivered, +even though the previous day had been so unusually warm. The car smelt +of petrol and oil--a smell that nauseated me--and yet my face was turned +to the open country ready to follow and track down the man who had swept +past me to keep that mysterious tryst in the darkness. + +Looking back, I saw, away to the right, the white shafts of light from +the high-up lighthouse, slowly sweeping the horizon, flashing warning to +mariners upon that dangerous coast, while, far away in the distance over +the sea, I could just discern a flash from the lightship on the +Haisboro' Sands. + +In the valley, deep below, lay Cromer, the street-lamps reflecting upon +the low storm-clouds. At that moment the thunder-storm threatened to +burst. + +Yet I waited, and waited, watching the rose of dawn slowly spreading in +the Eastern sky. + +Silence--a complete and impressive silence had fallen--even the dog had +now ceased to howl. + +And yet I possessed myself in patience, my ears strained for the +"pop-pop" of the returning motor-cycle. + +A farmer's cart, with fresh vegetables and fruit for the Cromer shops on +the morrow, creaked slowly past, and the driver in his broad Norfolk +dialect asked me-- + +"Any trouble, sir?" + +I replied in the negative, whereupon he whipped up his horse, bade me a +cheery "good morning," and descended the hill. For a long time, as I +refilled and relit my pipe, I could hear the receding wheels, but no +sound of a motor-cycle could I hear. + +Time passed, the flush of dawn crept over the sea, brightened swiftly, +and then overcast night gave place to a calm and clear morning. The +larks, in the fields on either side, rose to greet the rising sun, and +the day broke gloriously. Many a dawn had I witnessed in various parts +of the world, from the snows of Spitzbergen to the baking sands of the +Sahara, but never a more glorious one than that June morning in +Poppyland, for Cromer is one of the few places in England where you can +witness the sun both rise from, and set in the sea. + +My headlights had burned themselves out long ago. It was now four +o'clock. Strange that the nocturnal cyclist did not return! + +All my preparations had, it seemed, been in vain. + +I knew, however, that I was dealing with Jules Jeanjean, a past-master +in crime, a man who, no doubt, was fully aware of the inquiries being +made by the plain-clothes officers from Norwich, and who inwardly +laughed them to scorn. + +The man who had defied the Paris _Sûreté_ would hardly entertain any +fear of the Norfolk Constabulary. + +Many country carts, most of them going towards Cromer, now passed me, +and their drivers wished me "Good morning," but I remained at my lonely +vigil until five o'clock. Then I decided that Jeanjean's friend must +have taken another road out of Cromer, either the Sheringham, the Holt, +or the Overstrand, the three other main roads out of the town. + +What had Rayner done, I wondered? Where was he? + +I sat down upon the grassy bank at the roadside, still pondering. Of all +the mysteries of crime I had assisted in investigating, in order to +write down the details in my book, this was assuredly the most +remarkable. + +I knew that I was face to face with some great and startling affair, +some adventure which, when the truth became known, would amaze and +astound the world. Jules Jeanjean was not the man to attempt small +things. He left those to smaller men. In his profession he was the +master, and a thousand _escrocs_, all over the Continent, forgers, +international thieves, burglars, coiners, _rats d'hotel_--most ingenious +of malefactors--regarded the name of Jeanjean with awe. + +One of his exploits was well known up and down the Continent--for the +_Matin_ had published the full story a year ago. Under another name, and +in the guise of a wealthy _rentier_ of Paris, he made the acquaintance +of one of the Inspectors of the Paris detective service. Inviting him to +his private sitting-room in the _Hôtel Royale_, on the Promenade des +Anglais, he gave him an _aperitif_ which in less than three minutes +caused the police official to lose consciousness. Thereupon Jeanjean +took from the Inspector's pocket his card of authority as a detective--a +card signed by the Prefect of Police--and at once left the hotel. + +Next night, at the _Café Américain_ in Paris, he went up to a wealthy +German who was spending a harmless but gay evening at that well-known +supper-resort and arrested him for theft, exhibiting his warrant of +authority. + +In a taxi he conducted him to the Prefecture of Police, but on their way +the German asked him if they could come to terms. The pseudo-Inspector +hesitated, then told the taxi-driver to go to a small hotel opposite +the Gare du Nord. There he and his prisoner discussed terms, it being +eventually agreed that the German--a well-known shipowner of +Hamburg--should in the morning telegraph to his bank for eighty thousand +marks, for which sum he would be allowed to go at liberty. + +It was well known, of course, to Jeanjean that his "prisoner" had been +guilty of the offence for which he had "arrested" him, and the _coup_ +was quite easy. + +He kept the German in the hotel till ten o'clock next morning, and then +the pair went to the Crédit Lyonnais together. At four o'clock--the +bogus Inspector still with his "prisoner,"--the money was brought to the +obscure hotel, and after Jeanjean had carefully counted through the +notes he allowed his prey to go at liberty, advising him to take the +next train back to Germany. + +At six o'clock, the sun shining out warm and brightly, my patience was +exhausted. I had spent the night hours there in vain. Yet I dare not +drive the car into Cromer, for I intended to repeat my effort on the +following night. Therefore I started the engine, and was soon back in +the yard of the small hotel in Aylsham. + +There I put up the car, breakfasted, and then taking the first train to +North Walsham, arrived in Cromer about half-past nine o'clock. + +When I entered my room at the _Hôtel de Paris_ the maid came quickly +along, saying-- + +"Will you please go up to see your servant, sir! He's very unwell!" + +"Unwell?" I said. "Why, what's the matter?" + +"I don't know, sir. The police brought him in about half an hour ago. +He's been out all night, they say. And they found him very ill." + +I darted upstairs and entered Rayner's room without knocking. + +He was lying upon the bed, still dressed, his face pale as death. + +"Ah, sir!" he gasped, "I--I'm so glad you've come back! I--I wondered +whether anything had happened to you. I--I----" + +He stretched out his hand to me, but no other word escaped his lips. + +I saw that he had fainted. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CONTAINS A CLUE + + +At once I knew that some startling incident had happened. + +Dr. Sladen, called by the police, entered the room a few moments +afterwards, whereupon I turned to him, and in order to allay any undue +curiosity, said-- + +"My man has been taken ill, doctor. Exhaustion, I suppose. He's a great +walker, and, unknown to me, has apparently been out for a night ramble." + +"Ah, yes," answered the quiet, old-fashioned medical man, peering at the +invalid through his glasses. + +Slowly he took Rayner's pulse, and then said-- + +"Heart a little weak, I suppose. There's nothing really wrong--eh?" + +"I think not. He was talking to me only a few moments ago, and then +suddenly fainted. Been on a long ramble, I should think." + +"At night, eh?" asked the doctor in some surprise. + +"It is a habit of his to walk at night. He does the same thing in +London--walks miles and miles." + +We dashed cold water into Rayner's face, gave him a smelling-bottle +belonging to one of the maids, and very soon he came round again, +opening his eyes in wonder at his surroundings. + +"Here's Doctor Sladen," I said. "You feel better now, don't you, +Rayner?" + +"Yes, sir," was his feeble reply. + +"Ah, you've been on one of your night rambles again," I said +reprovingly. "You over-do it, you know." + +Then Sladen asked him a few questions, and finding that he had +recovered, shook my hand and left. + +The instant the door was closed upon the doctor Rayner sat up, and with +a serious expression upon his face said-- + +"Something has happened, sir. I don't know what. I'll tell you all I +know. I went up to the railway arch as you directed, and lay down in the +hedge to wait. After a long time the foreigner from the Overstrand Road +came along, lit a cigar, and waited. He was wearing an overcoat, and I +suppose he must have waited a full half-hour, until, at last, the +cyclist came. They had a brief talk. Then the cyclist left his cycle +about fifty yards from where I was in hiding, and both men set off +towards the town. I, of course, followed at a decent distance, and they +didn't hear me because of the rubber soles on my boots." + +"Well, what then?" I inquired impatiently. + +"They separated just against the _Albion_, and then followed one another +past the church, and to the left, behind this hotel, and along to the +house where the dead man lived--the house you pointed out to me. Close +by they met another man who, in the darkness, I took to be a chauffeur. +But I had, then, to draw back into a doorway to watch their movements. +The chap I took to be a chauffeur, after a few words with the two +foreigners, came along in my direction, and passed within a yard of me, +when of a sudden he turned and faced me. 'What are you doing here?' he +asked quickly. 'Nothing,' was my reply. 'Then take that for your +inquisitiveness,' he said, and in a second I felt something over both my +nose and mouth. It was only for a second, but I recollect I smelt a +strong smell of almonds; and then I knew no more, nothing until I found +myself here." + +"That's most extraordinary!" I exclaimed. "Then you don't know what +became of the three men?" + +"Not in the least, sir," Rayner replied. "I was so thoroughly taken +aback, that I must have gone down like a log." + +"Then, that's all you know?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Scarcely had he finished relating his strange adventure than Inspector +Treeton entered, and greeting me, explained how Rayner had been found by +a constable, lying senseless, about three miles out of the town on the +road to Holt. + +By that I knew he must have been conveyed there, probably by a +motor-car, driven by the chauffeur who had so mysteriously attacked him, +apparently at the foreigners' orders. It was Jeanjean's work, no doubt. +The Frenchman had seemingly eyes at the back of his head, and had +evidently detected that his actions were being spied upon. + +To the police inspector I made no mystery of the affair, merely +replying, as I had to the doctor, that my manservant was in the habit of +taking long walks, long nocturnal rambles, and that he evidently had +overdone it. + +"Doctor Sladen has already been here and seen him," I added. "He says +he's quite right again." + +This satisfied the highly-esteemed local inspector, and presently he +left us, expressing the hope that Rayner would very soon be himself once +more. + +"Well," I said to my man when the inspector had gone, "it's evident that +while you were unconscious they picked you up, put you in the car, and +tipped you out upon the road outside the town. Perhaps they believed you +to be dead." + +"Like enough, sir," he said, smiling grimly. + +"They evidently trapped you, Rayner," I said, laughing. "You were not +sharp enough." + +"But, who'd have thought that the fellow could have come straight for +me, and rendered me insensible in a tick--as he did?" asked my man as he +lay, still extended on the bed, a dirty, dishevelled figure. "I know I +was caught, sir; those men were cleverer than I was, I admit." + +"Yes, Rayner," was my reply. "I don't blame you in the least. I'm only +glad that your plight isn't worse. The men had a motor-car, it seems, at +their disposal somewhere, and they went in the direction of Holt." + +"That appears so, sir." + +"Why, I wonder? Bertini probably obtained his machine and followed the +car. They must have gone either through Wells and Fakenham, or East +Dereham." + +"Back to Norwich, perhaps, sir. All roads from here seem to lead to +Norwich." + +"But you say the incident happened close to Beacon House, where old +Gregory lived--eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then they objected to you being present. Evidently something was +intended and you prevented it." + +"No. Perhaps I didn't prevent it. They prevented me instead." + +Rayner was a bit of a humorist. + +"Quite likely," I answered, smiling. But I was full of chagrin that I +had been out all night, waiting on that lonely road, while that +mysterious affair had been in progress. + +"Well, at any rate, Rayner, you've had a very funny experience," I said, +with a laugh. + +"And not the first, sir, eh?" he replied, stretching lazily on the bed. +"Do you recollect that funny case at Pegli, just outside Genoa? My word, +those two assassins nearly did me in that night, sir." + +"And three nights later we gave them over to agents of the Department of +Public Security," I said. "Yes, Rayner, you had a tough half-hour, I +know. But you're an adventurer, like myself. As long as we solve a +mystery we don't regret the peril, or the adventure, do we?" + +"No, sir. I don't--as long as you give a guiding eye over it. But I +tell you straight, sir, I don't like detectives. They're chumps, most of +'em." + +"No. Don't condemn them," I said. "Rather condemn the blind and silly +police system of England. The man who snares a rabbit gets a conviction +recorded against him, while the shark in the city pays toll to the Party +and becomes a Baronet. I'm no socialist," I added, "but I believe in +honesty in our daily life. Honesty in man, and modesty in woman, are the +two ideals we should always retain, even in this age of degeneracy and +irreligion." + +"I think the local police are blundering the whole of this affair," +Rayner went on. "Yet I can't make out by what means I was so suddenly +put out of action. That curious, strong smell of almonds puzzles me. +It's in my nostrils now." + +"Your fancy, I expect," I said. + +At that moment came a knock at the door, and the tall young constable +entered, the same man who had been on duty when I had gone up to inspect +the seat where Craig's body had been found. + +"The Inspector has sent me, sir," he exclaimed, saluting, "to say he'd +like to see you at once. He's just along the West Cliff--at Beacon +House, where Mr. Craig lived in." + +"Certainly," I replied. "Tell him I will come at once." + +The constable disappeared, and turning to Rayner, I said: "I wonder why +Treeton wishes to see me in such a hurry? What has happened now?" Then, +promising to return quickly, I went out. + +At Beacon House, I found Treeton standing in the front sitting-room, on +the ground-floor, talking seriously with the landlady. + +"Hulloa! Mr. Vidal," he exclaimed as I entered. "Something more has +occurred in this house during the night. The place has been broken into +by burglars, who've got clean away with all old Mr. Gregory's collection +of jewellery." + +"Burglary," I repeated slowly; and then all that Rayner had told me +flashed across my mind. I saw the reason for Jeanjean and his mysterious +cyclist companion being near the house, and also why Rayner, on being +detected, had been rendered senseless. + +"Have you found any trace of the thieves?" I asked, having already +decided to keep my own information to myself. + +"Lots of traces," laughed Treeton. "Come and see for yourself." + +We ascended the stairs, followed by the excited landlady and her +husband. + +"This is really terrible," moaned the woman. "I wish we'd never set eyes +upon the poor young man and his uncle. We heard nothing in the night, +nothing. In fact, I didn't discover that the room had been opened until +an hour ago, when I was sweeping down the stairs. Then I noticed that +the seals placed upon it had been broken, and the lock sawn right out. +Why we didn't hear them, I can't think!" + +"Ah, you don't hear much when the modern burglar is at work," declared +Treeton. "They're far too scientific for that." + +He showed me the door, from which the lock had been cut away, saying-- + +"They evidently got in by the window of the room downstairs, where we've +just been, for it was found closed but not latched. They came up these +stairs, cut out the lock, as you see--and look at that!" he added as we +entered the old man's room. + +The strong old sea-chest stood in the centre of the room. The lid, which +had been nailed down, and sealed by the police, had been wrenched off +and the box stood empty! + +"Look!" cried Treeton again. "Every scrap gone--and it must have been a +pretty bulky lot--a couple, or even three, sacksful at the least." + +I went to the two windows which overlooked the narrow street behind, and +examining the sills, saw marks where the paint had recently been rubbed +away. + +"Yes, I see," I remarked, "and they lowered the plunder to confederates +outside." + +"But who could have known of the existence of the jewellery, here?" +asked Treeton. "Only ourselves were aware of it. At the inquest all +mention of it was carefully suppressed." + +"Somebody, of course, must have talked, perhaps unthinkingly, about it, +and the news got round to the thieves," remarked the landlord. + +I remained silent. Had I not, from the first, marvelled that old Mr. +Gregory should disappear and leave behind him that collection of +valuables? + +"I've wired to Norwich, to Frayne, to come over at once, and see if he +can find any finger-prints," said the local inspector. "We've discovered +something here which the burglars left behind. Look at this." + +And from a corner of the room he picked up something and handed it to +me. + +It was a woman's little, patent leather walking-shoe, with two white +pearl buttons as fastening. The size I judged to be threes, but, as it +was still fastened, it must have been too large for the wearer, who +apparently having dropped it, was unable for some reason to regain it, +and so left it behind. + +"That's very strange!" I said, turning the little shoe over in my hand. +It was not much worn, and of very good quality. "A woman has evidently +been here!" + +"Evidently, Mr. Vidal," replied the officer. "But surely a woman would +never have the pluck to do a job of this sort. Nine people slept in this +house last night and never heard a sound." + +Truth to tell, I did not expect they would have done, now that I knew +the robbery had been engineered by Jules Jeanjean. + +"Very remarkable--very," I declared. "Probably Frayne, when he takes the +finger-prints, will find some clue," I added, laughing inwardly, for I +knew that those who had committed that robbery were far too clever to +leave behind any traces of their identity. Besides, to actually lower +the booty down into a public street showed a daring spirit which one +only finds in the most expert criminals. + +I could not, however, account for the discovery of that little shoe. Had +it really been lost--or had it been placed there in order to mystify and +mislead the police? + +The latter suggestion had, of course, never entered Treeton's head. + +"I wonder," I said to him, "if you would allow me to take this shoe +along to the hotel? I want to take the exact measurements." + +"Certainly, Mr. Vidal," was his reply. "You'll send it round to me, at +the station, afterwards?" + +"In an hour you shall have it," I promised him. Then I placed the shoe +in my pocket, and made a tour of the room, touching nothing because of +Frayne's coming hunt for finger-prints. + +Jeanjean always wore gloves, skin-thin, rubber-gloves, which left no +trace of his light touch. The curved lines of his thumb and forefinger +were far too well known in Paris, in London, in Berlin and Rome, where +the bureaux of detective police all possessed enlarged photographs of +them. + +Back in my room at the _Hôtel de Paris_, I took from a drawer the +plaster cast of the woman's footprints I had found near the spot where +Craig had been found. + +Then, carrying it down to the shore near the pier, I made a print with +the cast in the wet sand left hard by the receding tide. + +Afterwards, I took the tiny, patent leather shoe from my pocket, and +placed it carefully in the print. + +It fitted exactly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE AFFAIR ON THE SEVENTEENTH + + +The ingenious theft of old Gregory's treasure created the greatest +consternation amongst the police, though the truth was carefully +concealed from the public. + +Treeton pledged Mr. and Mrs. Dean and their servant to secrecy, +therefore all that was known in Cromer was that there had been an +attempted burglary at Beacon House. + +Cromer is a quiet, law-abiding town, and burglars had not been known +there for years. Therefore the inhabitants were naturally alarmed, and +now carefully locked and bolted their doors at night. + +I returned the shoe to the police-station, but made no mention of the +result of my test. + +From the first I had guessed that old Gregory would not leave his +treasure behind. Yet, if he were not guilty of Craig's murder, why had +he fled? + +Lola had visited him, and Jeanjean had been in Cromer. Those two facts +were, in themselves, sufficient to tell me that Gregory was an impostor +and that Craig, whoever he might really have been, had fallen the victim +of some deadly vengeance. + +Would Lola return to see me? + +In the days that followed--bright June days, with the North Sea lying +calm and blue below the cliffs--I waited in patience, scarce leaving the +hotel all day, in fear lest she might again seek me, and, paying me a +visit, find me absent. + +Rayner considered me inactive and grumbled in consequence. + +He spent his time lolling upon one of the seats on the cliff-top outside +the hotel, idly smoking Virginian cigarettes. He had openly expressed +his dissatisfaction that I had not made any attempt to follow the +mysterious Doctor Arendt and his Italian friend. + +Truth to tell, I was utterly confounded. + +To follow Jules Jeanjean, now that he had got clean away with Gregory's +treasure, would, I felt, be an utterly futile task. He was too clever to +leave any trace behind--a past-master in the art of evasion, and a man +of a hundred clever disguises. + +What would they say at the Prefecture of Police in Paris, when I related +to them the strange story of Jeanjean's exploits in England? Was it +possible, I wondered, that the master-criminal, finding the Continent of +Europe growing a trifle too hot for him, had come to England to follow +his nefarious profession. If so, then he would certainly cause a great +deal of trouble to the famous Council of Seven at the Criminal +Investigation Department in London. + +Thus days went on--warm, idle, summer days with holiday visitors daily +arriving, houses being repainted, and Cromer putting on her best +appearance for the coming "season." Seaside towns always blossom forth +into fresh paint in the month of June, window-sashes in white and doors +in green. But Cromer, with its golf and high-class music, is essentially +a resort of the wealthy, a place where the tripper is unwanted and where +there are no importunate long-shoremen suggesting that it is a "Nice day +for a bowot, sir!" + +Where was Lola? Would she ever return? + +I idled about the hotel, impatient and angry with myself. Yes, Rayner +was right after all! I ought to have made some effort to follow the +three men. But now, it was quite impossible. They were, no doubt, far +away, and probably old Gregory's treasure was by that time safe in his +own hands. + +The evidence of the shoe puzzled me. The wearer of that little shoe with +the two pearl buttons had, without doubt, been near that seat on the +East Cliff where Craig had been killed--present, in all probability, +when he had been so mysteriously stricken down. + +Was it possible that a woman--the same woman--had assisted in the +burglary, and had inadvertently lost her shoe? Perhaps she had taken +her shoes off in order to move noiselessly, and in trying to recover +them could only regain one! + +Lola, I remembered, possessed a very small foot. She was always +extremely neat and dainty about the ankles and wore silk stockings and +pretty shoes. Was it the print of her foot that I had found near that +fatal seat? Was it her shoe that had been found at Beacon House? + +Ah! If I could but see her? If she would only call upon me once again! + +Day after day I waited, but, alas, she did not come. + +That she was most anxious to see me was proved by the fact that she had +dared to call at all after what had occurred. She had some strong motive +in meeting me again, therefore I lived on in hope that she would return. + +The Nightingale! Heavens! What strange memories that one word brought +back to me as I sat in the window of my high-up room, gazing over the +summer sea. + +It was now July, and Cromer was rapidly filling with better-class folk. +Now and then I went to London, but only for the day, fearing lest Lola +should send me a telegram to meet her. In my absence Rayner always +remained on duty. + +I had written to her address in the Avenue Pereire, in Paris, but had +received no reply. Then I had sent a line to the concierge of the house +wherein the flat was situated. To this I had received an ill-scribbled +few lines in French, expressing a regret that Mademoiselle had vacated +the place some weeks previously and that her present address was +unknown. + +Unknown! Well, that, after all, scarcely surprised me. Lola's address +generally was unknown. Only her most intimate friends ever knew it; and +for obvious reasons. She existed always in a deadly fear. + +Perhaps it was that very fear which even now kept her from me! + +Several times I had advertised in the personal column of the _Matin_ in +the hope that she might see it and communicate with me, but all to no +avail. + +In Cromer the sensation caused by the mysterious crime had quite died +down. + +Frayne, in Norwich, had ceased to make further inquiry, and Treeton now +regarded the problem as one that would never be solved. So, with the +daily arrival of visitors, Cromer and its tradespeople and landladies +forgot the curious affair which had afforded them such a "nine days' +wonder." + +The month of July passed, and, with the London season over, every one +rushed to the seaside. Cromer was filled to overflowing. The narrow +streets were crowded with well-dressed folk, and large cars passed one +at every turn. Stifled town-dwellers were there to enjoy the strong, +healthy breezes from the North Sea, and to indulge in the bathing and +the golf. + +Yet, though August came, I still kept on my room at the _Paris_, hoping +against hope that Lola might yet return. + +Quite suddenly, one day, I recollected that curious letter in Italian, +signed "Egisto," and addressed to his "Illustrious Master," found at +Beacon House. + +It had referred to something which had appeared in the Paris _Matin_ of +March 17. Consequently I sent to Paris for a copy of the paper, and, one +morning, the pale yellow sheet arrived. + +"The business we have been so long arranging, was successfully concluded +last night," the writer of the letter had said, adding that a report of +it appeared in the _Matin_ on the day of this letter. + +Eagerly I searched the paper, which was, as usual, full of sensational +reports, for the French newspaper reader dearly loves a tragedy. + +The "feature" of the paper is always placed in the right-hand corner +near the bottom, and, as I searched, my eyes fell upon the words, in +bold capitals: "Motor Bandits: Dastardly Outrage near Fontainebleau." + +What followed, roughly translated into English, read-- + +"By telephone from Fontainebleau. Early this morning we have received +information of a dastardly outrage in which two lives have been +sacrificed. It appears that, just after midnight, Monsieur Charles +Benoy, the well-known jeweller of the Rue de la Paix, was travelling +from Paris to his château near Maret-sur-Loire, on the other side of the +Forest of Fontainebleau. He was accompanied by his son Pierre, aged +twenty-four, and driven by the chauffeur, named Petit. With him, in the +car, M. Benoy had in their leather cases four diamond collars of great +value, and two pearl necklaces, which he intended to show next day to a +certain American gentleman who has recently purchased the ancient +Château de Provins, and who was one of the jeweller's customers. + +"M. Benoy's intention was to take the jewels over to Provins in his car +on the following morning. Apparently all went well on the journey. They +passed through Melun, entered the Forest, and at a high speed passed +through the little hamlet of Chantoïseau, where they were seen by two +gendarmes. + +"According to the story of the chauffeur, when about four kilometres +beyond Chantoïseau, at a lonely point of the forest, he saw two red +lights being waved in the roadway, and reduced his speed on this sign of +danger. + +"As he did so, however, three men sprang out from the undergrowth. They +called upon him to stop, and a revolver was fired point-blank at him. +Next moment the bandits fired, without further ado, upon the occupants +of the car, but the chauffeur, severely wounded, then fainted, and knew +no more until he recovered consciousness in the barracks of the +Gendarmerie in Moret. + +"What happened, apparently, was that the three assassins, after shooting +all three of the occupants of the car, threw the bodies into the +roadway, seized the automobile, and drove off with the jewels. M. Benoy +and his son were dead when found, the father having two bullet-wounds in +his head, while the son had been struck in the region of the heart. The +chauffeur, Petit, lies in a critical condition, and only with great +difficulty has been able to give an account of the murderous attack. + +"Inquiries at M. Benoy's shop, in the Rue de la Paix, have revealed the +fact that the jewellery is worth about four hundred thousand francs. + +"The car was seen returning through Melun, being driven at a furious +pace by the bandits, but, unfortunately, all traces of it, and of the +three men, have been lost. + +"According to the chauffeur's description of one of the men, who wore +motor-goggles as a disguise, the police believe the outrage to be the +work of the notorious Jules Jeanjean, the ingenious criminal of whom the +police have been so long in search. + +"The occupants of the car were treated with inhuman brutality. The +bodies of both father and son, together with the number-plates of the +car, were thrown unceremoniously into the undergrowth; that of Petit was +allowed to lie across the footpath, but for what reason cannot be +guessed at. + +"From the fact that the number-plates of the car have been found, it +would appear that before the bandits moved off they replaced the correct +numbers by false ones. No doubt, also, a rapid attempt was made to alter +the appearance of the body of the car, because, close by, there were +found two pails containing grey paint, and large brushes with the paint +still wet in them. + +"From this it is seen that the intention of the bandits was to make a +long run, perhaps all through the following day, to reach some distant +point of safety. + +"It will be remembered that Jules Jeanjean was the prime mover in the +terrible outrage near Lyons, where three motorists were shot dead and +two wounded. Two men named Dubois, and Leblon, were arrested, and before +their condemnation confessed that Jeanjean, a dangerous anarchist, had +instigated the plot. + +"Readers of the _Matin_ will not need to be reminded of the many +desperate crimes of which this atrocious scoundrel has been the author; +of his amazing daring and marvellous cunning; and of the almost uncanny +ease with which he, time after time, defies every effort of the police +to trace and capture him. + +"M. Hamard, Chef de la Sûreté, and several inspectors have left Paris, +and are upon the scene of the outrage, while descriptions of the missing +jewellery have already been circulated." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LOLA + + +Several times I re-read the account of the dastardly outrage. + +Too well I knew how dangerous and desperate a man was Jules Jeanjean, +the studious, and apparently harmless, Belgian doctor, who had lodged in +the Overstrand Road, and had strolled about the pier and promenade of +Cromer. His name, during the last three years or so, had become well +known from end to end of Europe as an Anarchist who defied all the +powers of law and order; a man who moved from place to place with +marvellous swiftness, and who passed from frontier to frontier under the +very noses of the commissaries of police stationed there. + +His narrowest escape of capture had been one day in Charleroi, where, +while sitting before the _Café des XXV_, he had been recognized by an +inspector of the French _Sûreté_, who was in Belgium upon another +matter. The inspector called a local agent of police, who suddenly +pounced upon him, but in an instant Jeanjean had drawn a revolver, with +which he shot the unfortunate policeman dead, and, in the confusion, +escaped. + +He then wrote an impudent letter to the Prefecture of Police in Paris, +telling them that his intention was to serve any other police agent the +same who might attempt to arrest him. + +I took from my dispatch-box the copy I had made of the letter in +Italian, found at Beacon House. In the light of that newspaper report it +proved curious and interesting reading. + +Who was the writer, Egisto? Evidently one of the conspirators. It was a +report to his "Illustrious Master," of what had been done. Who was his +Master? Surely not Jules Jeanjean, because one sentence read, "J. +arrives back in Algiers to-morrow." + +Was it possible that the "Illustrious Master"--the man who actually +plotted and directed those dramatic coups--was none other than old +Gregory himself! + +The letter was certainly a report to the head of an association of +dangerous malefactors. Who "H." was, who had "left as arranged," I knew +not, but "J." evidently indicated Jules Jeanjean, and the fact that he +would arrive back in Algiers on the morrow, showed first, that his +hiding-place was on the other side of the Mediterranean; and, secondly, +that after the crime a dash had been made to the south to join the +mail-boat at Marseilles. The writer, Egisto, had left the other, +travelling via Brindisi, to Port Said, so leaving the Paris police to +again search for them in vain. + +"Does H. know anything, do you think?" was the question Egisto had asked +in his letter. + +Did "H." indicate Monsieur Hamard, the Chef de la Sûreté? + +My own theory was that "H." did indicate that well-known official, whom +the gang had so often defied. + +The writer, too, declared that "The Nightingale" still sang on blithely. + +I knew the singer, the pretty, refined, fair-haired girl, so neat and +dainty, with the sweet, clear contralto voice. It was Lola--Lola Sorel! + +On the morning of August 24, I was standing with Mr. Day on the +well-kept lawn outside the coast-guard station, watching the life-boat +being launched for the benefit of the visitors, and in order to collect +funds for the Life-boat Institution. The morning was perfect, with +bright sunshine, a clear sky and glassy sea. Below us, the promenade and +beach were thronged with summer visitors in light clothes, and the scene +was one of brightness and merriment. + +Amid the cheers of the waiting crowd the life-boat, guided by its +gallant crew of North Sea fishermen, wearing their cork belts, went +slowly down to the water's edge. The instant it was launched, Mr. Day, +who held a huge pistol in his hand, fired a green rocket high into the +air--the signal to the Haisboro' Lightship that aid was on its way. + +Just as he had done so, a telegraph-boy handed me a message. + +I tore it open and read the words-- + +"Can you meet me at the _Maid's Head Hotel_, Norwich, this afternoon at +four? Urgent. Reply, _King's Head Hotel_, Beccles--LOLA." + +My heart gave a great bound. + +From the messenger I obtained a telegraph-form, and at once replied in +the affirmative. + +Just before four o'clock I entered the covered courtyard of the old +_Maid's Head Hotel_, in Norwich, one of the most famous and popular +hostelries in Norfolk. John Peston mentioned it in 1472, when its sign +was _The Murtel_ or _Molde Fish_, and to-day, remodelled with taste, and +its ancient features jealously preserved, it is well known to every +motorist who visits the capital of Norfolk, the metropolis of Eastern +England. + +I engaged a small private sitting-room on the first-floor, a pretty, +old-fashioned apartment with bright chintzes, and a bowl of fresh roses +upon the polished table in the centre. Telling the waiter I expected a +lady, I stood at the window to await my visitor. + +As I stood there, all-impatient, the Cathedral chimes close by told the +hour of four, and shortly afterwards I heard the noise of a car turning +from the street into the courtyard. + +Was it Lola? + +From the room in which I was I could not see either roadway or +courtyard, therefore I waited, my ears strained to catch the sound of +footsteps upon the stairs. + +Suddenly I heard some one ascending. The handle of the door was turned, +and next second I found myself face to face with the slim, fair-haired +girl whose coming I had so long awaited. + +She came forward smiling, her white-gloved hand outstretched, her pretty +countenance slightly flushed, exclaiming in French-- + +"Ah! M'sieu' Vidal! After all this time!" + +"It is not my fault, Mademoiselle, that we are such strangers," I +replied with a smile, bowing over her hand as the waiter closed the +door. + +She was a charming little person, sweet and dainty from head to foot. +Dressed in a black coat and skirt, the former relieved with a collar of +turquoise silk, and the latter cut short, so that her silk-encased +ankles and small shoes were revealed. She wore a tiny close-fitting felt +hat, and a boa of grey ostrich feathers around her neck. + +Her countenance was pale with well-moulded features of soft sympathetic +beauty, a finely-poised head with pretty dimpled chin, and a straight +nose, well-defined eyebrows, and a pair of eyes of that clear blue that +always seemed to me unfathomable. + +I drew forward a chair, and she sank into it, stretching forth her small +feet and displaying her neat black silk stockings from beneath the hem +of her short skirt, which, adorned with big ball buttons, was discreetly +opened at the side to allow freedom in walking. + +"Well, and why did you not call again upon me in Cromer?" I asked in +English, for I knew that she spoke our language always perfectly. + +"Because--well, because I was unable," was her reply. + +"Why did you not write?" I asked. "I've been waiting weeks for you." + +"I know. I heard so," she said with a smile. "I am ve-ry sorry, but I +was prevented," she went on with a pretty, musical accent. "That same +evening I called upon you, I had to leave Cromer ve-ry hurriedly." + +A strange thought flashed across my mind. Had her sudden departure been +due to the theft at Beacon House? Had she been present then and lost her +shoe? + +I glanced at the shoes she wore. They were very smart, of black patent +leather, with a strip of white leather along the upper edge. Yes, the +size looked to me just the same as that of the little shoe which so +exactly fitted the imprint I had made in the sand. + +"Why did you leave so quickly?" I asked, standing before her, and +leaning against the table, as I looked into the wonderful eyes of the +chic little Parisienne. + +"I was compelled," was her brief response. + +"You might have written to me." + +"What was the use, M'sieu' Vidal? I went straight back to France. Then +to Austria, Hungary, and Russia," she answered. "Only the day before +yesterday I returned to London." + +"From where?" + +"From Algiers." + +Algiers! The mention of that town recalled the fact that it was the +hiding-place of the notorious Jules Jeanjean. + +"Why have you been in Algiers--and in August, too?" + +"Not for pleasure," she replied with a grim smile. "The place is a +perfect oven just now--as you may well imagine. But I was forced to go." + +"Forced against your will, Lola, eh?" I asked, bending towards her, and +looking her full in the face very seriously. + +"Yes," she admitted, her eyes cast down, "against my will. I had a +message to deliver." + +"To whom?" + +"To my uncle." + +"Not a message," I said, correcting her. "Something more valuable than +mere words. Is not that so?" + +The Nightingale nodded in the affirmative, her blue eyes still downcast +in shame. + +"Where was your starting-point?" I asked. + +"In St. Petersburg, a fortnight ago. I was given the little box in the +_Hôtel de l'Europe_, and that night I concealed its contents in the +clothes I wore. Some of them I sewed into the hem of my travelling-coat, +and, and----" + +"Stones they were, I suppose?" I said, interrupting. + +"Yes, from Lobenski's, the jeweller's in the Nevski," she replied. +"Well, that night I left Petersburg and travelled to Vienna, thence to +Trieste, where I found my uncle's yacht awaiting me, and we went down +the Adriatic and along the Mediterranean to Algiers. My uncle was +already at home. The _coup_ was a large one, I believe. Have you seen +reports of it in the English papers?" she asked. + +"Certainly," I replied. For a fortnight before I had read in several of +the newspapers of the daring robbery committed at the shop of Lobenski, +the Russian Court Jeweller, and of the theft of a large quantity of +diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The safe, believed to be impregnable, +had been fused by an oxygen acetylene jet, and the whole of its contents +stolen. From what Lola had revealed, it seemed that Jeanjean had had no +actual hand in the theft, for he had been in Algiers awaiting the booty. +But he always travelled swiftly after a _coup_. + +"Did the papers say much about it?" asked Lola, with interest. + +"Oh, just a sensational story," I replied. "But I never dreamt that you +were in Russia, Lola--that you had carried the stones across Europe sewn +in your dress!" + +"Ah! It is not the first time, as you know, M'sieu' Vidal," she sighed. +"There is always danger of some customs officer or agent of police +recognizing me. But uncle says I am unsuspected, and hence the work is +assigned always to me." + +"And you have come to England to see me--eh? Why?" I asked, looking +again into her clear blue eyes. + +"I have come, M'sieu' Vidal, in order to ask a further favour of you--a +request I almost fear to make after your great generosity towards me." + +"Oh! Don't let us speak of that," I said. "It is all past and over. I +only acted as any other man would have done in the circumstances, Lola!" + +"You acted as a gentleman would act," she said. "But, alas! How few real +gentlemen are met by a wretched girl like myself," she added bitterly. +"Suppose you had acted as thousands would have done. Where should I be +now? Spending my days in one of your female prisons here." + +"Instead of which you are still the little Nightingale, who sings so +blithely, and who is so inexpressibly dainty and charming," I said with +a smile. "At the best hotels up and down Europe, Lola Sorel is a +well-known figure, always ready to flirt with the idle youngsters, and +to make herself pleasant to those of her own sex. Only they must be +wealthy--eh?" + +She made a quick movement as though to arrest the flow of my words. + +"You are, alas! right, M'sieu' Vidal," she replied. "Ah, if you only +knew how I hate it all--how day by day, hour by hour--I fear that I may +blunder and consequently find myself in the hands of the police--if----" + +"Never, if you follow your uncle, Jules Jeanjean," I interrupted. "And, +I suppose, you are still doing so?" + +She sighed heavily, and a hard expression crossed her pretty face. + +"Alas! I am forced to. You know the bitter truth, M'sieu' Vidal--the +tragedy of my life." + +For a few moments I remained silent, my eyes upon her. + +I knew full well the strange, romantic story of that pretty French girl +seated before me--the sweet, refined little person--scarcely more than a +child--whose present, and whose future, were so entirely in the hands of +that notorious criminal. + +Why had I not telegraphed to the Paris police on discovering Jeanjean's +presence in Cromer? For one reason alone. Because his arrest would also +mean hers. He had too vowed in my presence that if he were ever taken +alive, he would betray his niece, because she had once, in a moment of +despair and horror, at one of his cold-blooded crimes, threatened to +give him away. + +As she sat there, her face sweet and soft as a child's, her blue eyes so +clear and innocent, one would never dream that she was the cat's-paw of +the most ingenious and dangerous association of jewel thieves in the +whole of Europe. + +Truly her story was a strange one--one of the strangest of any girl in +the world. + +She noticed my thoughtfulness, and suddenly put out her little hand +until it touched mine; then, looking into my eyes, she asked, in a low, +intense voice-- + +"What are you thinking about?" + +"I am thinking of you, Lola," I replied. "I am wondering what really +happened in Cromer, back in the month of June. You are here to +explain--eh? Will you tell me?" + +Her brows contracted slightly, and she drew her hand back from mine. + +"You know what happened," she said. + +"I don't. Explain it all to me in confidence," I urged. "You surely know +me well enough to rely upon my keeping the secret." + +"Ah, no!" she cried, starting up suddenly, a strange light of fear in +her eyes. "Never, M'sieu' Vidal! I--I can tell you nothing of +that--nothing more than what you already know. Please don't ask +me--never ask me again, for I--I can't tell you! It was all too +dastardly, too terrible!" + +And the girl, with a wild gesture, covered her pale face with her little +hands as though to shut out from memory the grim recollection of a scene +that was full of bitterness and horror. + +"But you will tell me the truth, Lola. Do. I beg of you?" I urged, +placing my hand tenderly upon her shoulder. + +"No," she cried in a voice scarcely above a whisper. "No. Don't ask me. +Please don't ask me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RELATES A STRANGE STORY + + +I stood before Lola, grieved at her distress. + +Too well I knew, alas! how deeply she had suffered, of all the +bitterness and remorse with which her young life was filled, blighted by +an ever-present terror, her youth sapped and her ideas warped by living +in an atmosphere of criminality. + +Rapidly, as I took her little hands in unspoken sympathy, recollections +of our strangely-made acquaintanceship ran through my memory, and before +me arose a truly dramatic and impressive scene. + +I had first seen Lola, two years before, seated alone at luncheon in the +pretty salle-à-manger of the _Hôtel d'Angleterre_ in Copenhagen. Many +eyes were upon her because of her youth and beauty, and many men sitting +at the various tables cast admiring glances at her. + +I was with my friend, Jack Bellairs, and we were breaking our journey +for a few days in the Danish capital, before going up to Norway +salmon-fishing. + +Jack first noted her, and drew my attention to the fact that she was +alone. At the time, I knew nothing of the two men who were lunching +together at another table at the further end of the room, and that the +name of one of them was Jules Jeanjean. + +The girl, we discovered from the concierge, had been living alone in the +hotel for a month, and had become on very friendly terms with a certain +very wealthy Hungarian lady, the Baroness Függer, of Budapest. She +accompanied the Baroness everywhere, but the reason she was lunching +alone that morning was because the Baroness was absent for the day at +Elsinore. + +During the next day or two we saw the stately old lady, whose chief +delight seemed to be the ostentatious display of jewellery, constantly +in Lola's company. The girl, though admired everywhere, treated all the +men about her with utter unconcern, being most modest and reserved. + +On the fourth morning of our stay, at about ten o'clock, the hotel was +thrown into the greatest commotion by an amazing report that the +Baroness's bedroom had been entered during the night and the whole +contents of her jewel-case stolen. The police were at once called, and +were mystified by the fact that the Baroness had locked her door before +retiring, and that it was still locked when she awoke in the morning. +Therefore, it seemed that the jewels had been abstracted immediately +before she had entered the room on the previous night--stolen by some +one well acquainted with their hiding-place--for the jewel-case was kept +for safety at the bottom of a trunk full of soiled linen. + +Naturally the police inquired if any of the visitors had left the hotel +since the previous night, but no person had left. All the visitors who +had been in the hotel the previous day at noon were still there. The +night-porter had not noticed anything suspicious, and nobody had heard +any unusual sound during the night. + +All of us in the hotel were closely interrogated, including Lola, who +preserved an air of deepest regret that her dear friend, the Baroness, +should have been so ingeniously robbed. Indeed, it was during that +interrogation that I had first exchanged words with her. + +"I can't understand it," she had declared to me in French. "I was in the +Baroness's room until she returned at a quarter to twelve, and I am +quite sure the jewels were there because, when she took off her diamond +necklet, I got out the case, and placed it with the other jewels." + +"The case might then have been already empty," said the Commissary of +Police, who was making the investigation. + +"It might have been, of course," replied the girl. "But the diamond +necklet is no longer there!" + +Well, to go into the whole details of the inquiry is unnecessary. +Suffice it to say that, though the police searched everywhere, and the +Baroness indignantly invoked the aid of her Legation, nothing was ever +recovered, and at last I departed for Norway, leaving the Baroness still +enjoying the bright companionship of the young and pretty Lola. + +The two sedate visitors, one of whom I knew later on as Jules Jeanjean, +also remained idling their days in the pleasant city, awaiting the +conclusion of a business deal, but, of course, holding no communication +with the fair-haired young girl. + +After that, quite a year passed, and I found myself, in the course of my +erratic wanderings, guest of Lord Bracondale at a shooting-party at +Balmaclellan Castle, up in Kirkcudbrightshire--in that wild, lonely, +heather-clad land which lies between New Galloway and the Solway Firth. + +As is well known, the Earl and Countess of Bracondale surround +themselves with a very smart set, and the party in question was a big +one. Indeed, most of the rooms in the historic Scottish Castle were +occupied, and while there was good sport by day, there was at night much +dancing in the fine old ball-room, and much bridge-playing. + +In the midst of all the gaiety came the County Ball at Dumfries, to +which the whole party went over, the ladies eclipsing each other with +their jewels, as the function is always one of the smartest in Scotland. + +My room at the castle, a big oak-panelled one, was in the east wing, at +the top of a steep flight of spiral stairs set in a corner tower, and on +the night following that of the ball, at about half-past two in the +morning, I awoke, and lay thinking, when I fancied I heard somebody +moving about, outside my door. + +I strained my ears to listen. + +The room next mine, further along the corridor, was occupied by a Mrs. +Forbes Wilson, the widow of the well-known American millionaire, while +further beyond slept Lady Oxborough, and beyond these were several other +visitors' rooms. + +I suppose I must have listened for nearly a quarter of an hour, drowsily +wondering who could be on the move, when suddenly I was thoroughly +roused by hearing a sharp click. The door of the room adjoining mine had +been closed! + +This struck me as distinctly curious, because, only at six o'clock the +previous evening, Mrs. Forbes Wilson had been called away suddenly to +the bedside of her little daughter, who had been taken ill at Wigton, +where she was stopping with friends. The widow had taken her maid with +her, and left very hurriedly, leaving her luggage behind, and promising +to return next day if there was nothing seriously wrong with her child. + +Some one was moving about in her room! + +I lay there wondering. But as the minutes passed, and I heard no further +sound, I began to believe that my imagination had deceived me. I had +almost dozed off to sleep again when suddenly a brilliant ray of +electricity shot across my room--the light of a small electric +torch--and I was immediately aware that my own door had been opened +noiselessly, and an intruder had entered. + +Quick as thought I sprang out of bed in my pyjamas, but, as I did so, I +heard a woman's light scream, while the torch was instantly +extinguished. + +I was at the door, behind the intruder, and when, next moment, I +switched on the light, to my astonishment I found myself confronted with +Lola Sorel! + +"You!" I gasped, as the girl shrank from me against the wall, her face +white as death. "You--Mademoiselle! What is the meaning of this +visit--eh?" + +"Will you--will you close the door, M'sieur?" she begged in a low +whisper, in broken English. "Some one may overhear." + +I did as she bade, and slipped on my dressing-gown, which was hanging +over the foot-rail of the bed. + +"Well?" I asked, with a good deal of severity, for I saw by her manner +that she was there for some nefarious purpose. She was dressed in plain +black, with a neat little velvet cap, and wore slippers with rubber +soles. Her hands were covered with india-rubber gloves, such as surgeons +often wear when operating or making post-mortem examinations. Her +electric torch was attached to her wrist, while, beneath her dark +golf-coat, which fell open, I saw that she wore around her waist a +capacious bag of black silk. + +"I--I never dreamed that this was your room, M'sieur," the girl +declared, terrified. "I--I----" + +But she did not conclude her sentence, for she realized how completely +she had been trapped. Her pretty countenance betrayed terror in every +line, her eyes were staring and haggard, and her hands were trembling. + +"I--I--know there is no escape," she said with her pleasing French +accent. "You are aware of the truth, M'sieur--of what occurred in +Copenhagen. Ah, yes. It is Fate that you and I should again meet--and in +these circumstances." + +"Please be seated, Mademoiselle," I said. "You have no cause for alarm. +Naturally, this encounter has upset you." + +I feared that she might faint, therefore I went to the table where, on +the previous night, the valet had placed some brandy and a siphon of +soda. Mixing a little, I gave it to her to drink. + +"This will do you good," I said. + +Then, when she had swallowed it, I asked her to explain the reason of +her nocturnal visit to the castle. + +She looked a pale, pathetic little figure, seated there before me, her +fair head bowed with shame and confusion, her terrified eyes staring +into space. + +"I--I--am entirely in your hands, M'sieur," she stammered at last. "I +came here to thieve, because--because I am forced to do so. It was work +of peril for all three of us--for me most of all. This room was the last +I intended to visit--and in it I found the very last person I wished to +meet--you!" + +"Tell me more about yourself," I urged. "I'm greatly interested." + +"What is there to tell you?" she cried, her eyes filling with bitter +tears. "I am a thief--that's all. You are a guest here--and it is your +duty to your host to keep me here, and call the police. Jules was +watching on the stairs below. By this time he knows you have trapped me, +and they have both escaped--without a doubt--escaped with the stuff I +handed to them ten minutes ago." + +"Jules? Who is he?" I asked quickly. + +"Jules Jeanjean--my uncle," she replied. + +"Jules Jeanjean!" I ejaculated, "that man!" for the name was synonymous +for all that was audacious and criminal. + +"Yes, M'sieur." + +"And he is your uncle?" + +"Yes. At his instigation I am forced to do these things against my +will," she declared in a hard, bitter voice. "Ah, if only you knew--if +you knew everything, M'sieur, I believe you would have pity and +compassion for me--you would allow me one more chance--a chance to +escape--a chance to try once more to break away from these hateful men +who hold me in the hollow of their hands!" + +She spoke so fervently, so earnestly, that her appeal sank deeply into +my heart. By her despairing manner I saw that she hoped for no clemency, +for no sympathy, especially from me, who had actually been suspected of +the robbery in Copenhagen which she and her confederates had committed. + +"What have you in that bag?" I asked, indicating the black silk bag +beneath her coat. + +She placed her small hand into it and slowly and shamefacedly drew forth +a splendid collar of large pearls. + +"I took it from the next room," she said briefly. "I will replace it +if--if only you would allow me to get away," she added wistfully. + +"And the other stuff you have stolen?" + +"Ah! My uncle has it. He has already gone--carrying it with him!" + +"Deserted you--and left you to your fate--as soon as he realized the +danger," I remarked. "The coward!" + +"Yes. But it was fortunate that you did not come out of this room--upon +the stairs," she said. + +"Why?" + +"Because he would have killed you with as little compunction as he would +kill a fly," she replied slowly. + +"I quite believe that. His reputation is known all over Europe," I said. +"Mine was, no doubt, a fortunate escape." + +"Will you let me put these pearls back?" she asked eagerly. + +"No. Leave them on the table. I will replace them," I said. + +"Then, what do you intend doing with me?" she asked very seriously. +"Only allow me to go, and I shall always be grateful to you, +M'sieur--grateful to you all my life." + +And with a sudden movement she took my hand in hers, and looked so +earnestly into my eyes, that I stood before her fascinated by her +wonderful beauty. + +The scene was indeed a strange one. She pleaded to me for her liberty, +pleaded to me, throwing herself wildly upon her knees, covering her face +with her hands, and bursting into a torrent of hot, bitter tears. + +My duty, both towards my host and towards the guests whose jewellery had +been stolen by that silent-footed, expert little thief, was to raise the +alarm, and hand her over to the police. + +Yet so pitiful was her appeal, so tragic the story she had briefly +related to me, so earnest her promise never to offend again, that I +confess I could not bring myself to commit her to prison. + +I saw that she was but the unwilling cat's-paw of the most dangerous +criminal in Europe. Therefore, I gently assisted her to rise to her feet +and began to further question her. + +In confidence she told me her address in Paris--a flat in the Boulevard +Pereire--and then, after nearly half an hour's further conversation, I +said-- + +"Very well, Lola. You shall leave here, and I hope to see you in Paris +very shortly. I hope, too, that you will succeed in breaking away from +your uncle and his associates and so have a chance to live a life of +honesty." + +"Ah!" she sighed, gripping my hand with heartfelt thanks, as she turned +to creep from the room, and down the stairs. "Ah! If I could! If I only +could. _Au revoir_, M'sieur. You are indeed generous. I--I owe my life +to you--_au revoir_!" + +And, then? Well, she had slipped noiselessly down the winding stair, +while I had taken the pearl necklace and replaced it in the room of Mrs. +Forbes Wilson. + +Imagine the consternation next morning, when it was discovered that +burglars had entered the place, and had got clean away with jewellery +worth in all about thirty thousand pounds. + +I watched the investigations made by the police, who were summoned from +Dumfries by telephone. + +But I remained silent, and kept the secret of little Lola Sorel to +myself. + +And here she was, once again--standing before me! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +WHEREIN CONFESSION IS MADE + + +"Well, Lola," I said at last, still holding her little hand in mine, +"and why cannot you reveal to me the truth regarding the mystery of the +death of Edward Craig?" + +"For a very good reason--because I do not myself know the exact +circumstances," was her prompt response, dropping into French. "I know +that you have made an investigation. What have you discovered?" + +"If you will be frank with me," I said, also in French, "I will be +equally frank with you." + +"But, have I not always been frank?" she protested. "Have I not always +told you the truth, ever since that night in Scotland when you trapped +me in your room. Don't you remember?" + +"Yes," I replied in a low voice. "I remember, alas! too well. You +promised in return for your liberty that you would break away from your +uncle." + +"Ah, I did--but I have been utterly unable, M'sieur Vidal," she cried +quickly in her broken English. "You don't know how much I have suffered +this past year--how terrible is my present position," she added in a +tone of poignant bitterness. + +"Yes, I quite understand and sympathize with you," I said, taking out a +cigarette and lighting it, while she sat back in the big old-fashioned +horse-hair arm-chair. "For weeks I have been endeavouring to find +you--after you came to Cromer to call upon me. You have left the +Boulevard Pereire." + +"Yes. I have been travelling constantly of late." + +"After the affair of the jeweller, Benoy--eh? Where were you at that +time?" + +"In Marseilles, awaiting my uncle. We crossed to Algiers together. +Thence we went along to Alexandria, and on to Cairo, where we met our +friends." + +"It was a dastardly business. I read of it in the _Matin_," I said. + +"Brutal--horrible!" declared the girl. "But is not my uncle an inhuman +brute--a fearless, desperate man, who carries out, with utter disregard +of human life, the amazing plots which are formed by one who is the +master of all the criminal arts." + +"Then he is not the prime mover of all these ingenious thefts?" I +exclaimed in some surprise, for I had always believed Jules Jeanjean to +be the head of that international band. + +"No. He acts under the direction of another, a man of amazing ingenuity +and colossal intellect. It is he who cleverly investigates, and gains +knowledge of those who possess rare jewels; he who watches craftily for +opportunities, who so carefully plans the _coups_, and who afterwards +arranges for the stones to be re-cut in Antwerp or Amsterdam." + +"Who is he?" I asked eagerly. "You may tell me in confidence. I will not +betray your secret." + +"He poses as a dealer in precious stones in London." + +"In London?" + +"Yes. He has an office in Hatton Garden, and is believed by other +dealers in precious stones to be a most respectable member of that +select little coterie that deals in gems." + +"What is his name?" + +The girl was silent for a few seconds. Then she said-- + +"In Cromer he has been known under the name of Vernon Gregory." + +"Gregory!" I gasped in astonishment. "What, to that quiet old man is due +the conception of all these great and daring robberies committed by +Jules Jeanjean?" + +"Yes. My uncle acts upon plans and information which the old man +supplies," Lola replied. "Being in the trade, the crafty old fellow +knows in whose hands lie the most valuable stones, and then lays his +cunningly-prepared plans accordingly--plans that my uncle desperately +carries out to the very letter." + +This statement much surprised me, for I had always regarded Jeanjean as +the instigator of the plots. But now, it appeared, old Gregory was the +head of Europe's most dangerous association of criminals. + +"Then the jewels found in Gregory's rooms at Cromer were all stolen +property?" + +"Yes. We were surprised that the police did not discover the real +owners," Lola replied. "The greater part of the jewels were taken from +the castle of the Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, just outside Kiev, +about nine months ago." + +"By you?" I asked with a grim smile. + +"Not all. Some," admitted the girl with a light laugh. Then she +continued: "We expected that when the old gentleman made such a hurried +flight from Cromer, the police would recognize the property from the +circulated description. But, as they did not, Uncle determined to regain +possession of it--which he did." + +"Who aided him?" + +"Egisto--a man who is generally known as Egisto Bertini." + +"The man who rode the motor-cycle?" + +She nodded. + +"And you assisted," I said. "Why did you leave your shoe behind?" + +"By accident. I thought I heard some of the occupants of the house +stirring, so fled without having an opportunity of recovering it. I +suppose it has puzzled the local police--eh?" she laughed merrily. + +"It did. You were all very clever, and my man, Rayner, was rendered +insensible." + +"Because he was a trifle too inquisitive. He was watching, and did not +know that my uncle, in such expeditions, has eyes in the back of his +head," she answered. "It was fortunate for him that he was not killed +outright, for, as you know, my uncle always, alas! believes in the old +maxim that dead men tell no tales." + +"The assassin!" I cried in fierce anger. "He will have many crimes to +answer for when at last the police lay hands upon him." + +"He will never be taken alive," she said. "He will denounce me, and then +kill himself. That is what he constantly threatens." + +"And because of that you fear to hold aloof and defy him?" I asked. "You +live in constant terror, Lola." + +"Yes. How can I act--how can I escape them? Advise me," she urged, her +face pale and intensely in earnest. + +I hesitated. It was certainly a difficult matter upon which to give +advice. The pretty girl before me had for several years been the +unwilling tool of that scoundrelly gang of bandits, whose organization +was so perfect that they were never arrested, nor was any of their booty +ever traced. + +The four or five men acting under the direction of the master-mind of +old Gregory were, in private life, all of them affluent and respected +citizens, either in England or in France, while Jules Jeanjean, I +afterwards learned, occupied a big white villa overlooking the blue sea +three miles out of Algiers. It was a place with wonderful gardens filled +with high date-palms and brilliant tropical flowers. There, in his hours +of retirement, Jules Jeanjean lived amid the most artistic and luxurious +surroundings, with many servants, and a couple of motor-cars, devoting +himself to experiments in wireless telegraphy, having fitted up a +powerful station for both receiving and transmitting. + +The science of wireless telegraphy was indeed his chief hobby, and he +spent many hours in listening to the messages from Pold, Poldhu, +Clifden, Soller, Paris, Port Said, or Norddeich on the North Sea, in +communicating with ships in the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Levant, +or on the Atlantic. + +I was wondering how to advise my little friend. Ever since our first +meeting my heart had been full of sympathy and compassion for her, so +frail seemed her frame, so tragic her life, and so fettered did she seem +to that disreputable gang. Yet, had she not pointed out to me, on the +several occasions on which we had met in Paris, the impossibility of +breaking the bonds which bound her to that detestable life? Indeed she +had, more than once, declared our meetings to be filled with peril for +myself. + +Her uncle knew me by repute as an investigator of crime, and if he ever +suspected me of prying into any affair in which he might be concerned, +then my life would most certainly be in jeopardy. Jules Jeanjean never +did things by halves. It was, I found, for that reason she had now +sought me--to beseech me to relinquish my efforts to fathom the mystery +of the death of Edward Craig. + +"Do heed what I say, M'sieur Vidal," she exclaimed with deep +earnestness. "My uncle knows that you are still in Cromer, and that you +have been investigating. In Algiers, a fortnight ago, he mentioned it to +me, and declared that very shortly you would cease to trouble him." + +"He intends foul play--eh?" I remarked with a grim smile, lighting +another cigarette. + +"He means mischief," she assured me. "He knows, too well, of your +success in other cases in which you have interested yourself," she +remarked quickly. "And he fears--fears lest you may discover the secret +of the young man's death." + +"And if I do?" I asked, looking straight into her face. + +"He does not intend that you shall," she replied very earnestly, adding: +"Ah! M'sieur Vidal, do heed my words--I beg you. Be warned by me!" + +"But, why?" I queried. "I am not afraid of Jules Jeanjean. I have never +done him an evil turn. Therefore, why should he conspire to take my +life? Besides, I already know of his connexion with the Cromer mystery, +the Benoy affair, and others. Could I not easily have sent a telegram to +the Prefecture of Police in Paris, when I recognized him in Cromer? But +I did not." + +"Why?" + +"For two reasons. First, I wished to stand aside and watch, and, +secondly, I feared to betray him for your sake, Lola." + +"Ah!" she exclaimed. "But you are always so generous. You know quite +well that he already believes that I have told you the truth. Therefore, +he suspects us both and is determined to put an end to your +inquisitiveness." + +"Unless I act swiftly--eh?" I suggested. + +"But think--what would then become of me?" she exclaimed, her eyes open +in quick alarm. + +"I can't see what you really have to fear," I said. "It is true, Lola, +that you live, like your friends, by dishonest methods, but have you not +been forced into it by your uncle? Even if you were arrested, the law +would treat you with the greatest leniency. Indeed, if necessary, I +would come forward and tell the Court all I have known and discovered +concerning the baneful influence which has been exercised upon you by +the man Jeanjean." + +She shook her head mournfully. + +"Alas! That would be of no avail," she declared in a low, strained +voice. + +"Why?" + +"Because--because, ah!--you do not know the truth," she faltered, her +face pale to the lips. + +"Cannot you explain it to me?" I asked, bending down to her, and placing +my hand tenderly upon her shoulder. + +I felt her shudder beneath my touch, while her big blue eyes were +downcast--downcast in shame. + +"No. I cannot explain," she replied. "If you knew, M'sieur Vidal, how +horrible, how terrible all this is for me, you would not press your +question." + +"But I do--in your interests," I said with deep earnestness. "I want to +help you to escape from these scoundrels--I want to stand as your +friend." + +"My friend!" she exclaimed blankly. "My friend--ah! that you can never +be." + +"Why not?" + +"You would not wish to cultivate my acquaintance further, M'sieur Vidal, +if--if you were aware of the actual truth. Besides, this friendship +which you have shown to me may, in itself, prove fatal to you. If you do +not exercise the greatest precaution, your reward for saving me, as you +did that night at Balmaclellan, will be death!" + +"You are apprehensive on my account?" I asked, wondering whether she +were really in earnest--or whether beneath her strange warning there lay +some subtle motive. + +"Yes," was her frank response. "Take great care, or death will come to +you at a moment when you least expect it." + +For an instant I was silent. Her warning was truly a curious and +disconcerting one, for I knew the dangerous character of Jules Jeanjean. +That if he threatened, he meant action. + +"I do not care for myself, Lola," I said at last. "I am thinking how I +can protect you, and rescue you from the hands of these unscrupulous +men." + +"You cannot," she declared, with a hard, fixed look of desperation. "No, +only be careful of yourself, and, at the same time, dismiss me from your +thoughts. I--I am unworthy of your regard," she murmured, her voice +choked by a sob. "Alas, entirely unworthy!" + +"No, no," I urged. "I will not allow you to speak like that, Lola. Ever +since you entered my room, on that well-remembered night in Scotland, I +have wondered how best I could assist you to lead an honest life; how I +could----" + +"I can accept no further assistance from you, M'sieur Vidal," she +interposed, in a quivering voice. "I repeat that I am utterly +unworthy," she cried, and shivered with despair, as she stood erect +before me. "And--and--if you only knew the truth--the terrible truth of +the past--you would at once, I know, turn and discard me--nay, you would +probably ring for the waiter and hand me over to the police without +either compunction or regret." + +And the girl, known as "The Nightingale," stood before me, her face +white and hard, her eyes with a strange light in them, staring straight +before her, her breast heaving and falling with emotion which she was +trying in vain to suppress. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONFIRMS CERTAIN SUSPICIONS + + +For yet another hour we sat together, but Lola would reveal nothing +further. + +She only repeated that serious warning, urging me to abandon this +investigation of the strange affair at Cromer. + +She refused to tell me the name under which old Gregory was known in +Hatton Garden, and she likewise firmly declined to give me any +information concerning the curious code which had been found in +Gregory's room. Indeed, she affected ignorance of it, as well as of the +mysterious spot in Ealing "where the two C's meet." + +"My uncle is in Antwerp," she told me in reply to a question. "I join +him to-morrow, and then we go travelling--where, I have no idea. But you +know how erratic and sudden our movements necessarily are. The master +usually meets my uncle in Antwerp, going there regularly in the guise of +a diamond merchant." + +"And you will not tell me the master's real name?" I asked +persuasively. + +"I am not allowed. If you discover it for yourself, then I shall not be +to blame," she said, with a meaning smile. "But do, I beg of you, give +up the search, M'sieu' Vidal. It can only end fatally if you still +persist." + +"You have warned me, Lola, and I thank you sincerely for doing so, but I +shall continue to act as I have begun." + +"At your own peril--a deadly peril!" she ejaculated, with an +apprehensive look. + +"I must accept the risk," I said quietly. "And I intend to still stand +your friend, Lola." + +"But you must not, you cannot!" she protested. "Of course I most deeply +appreciate all that you have done for me--and how generous you have +been, knowing that I am, alas! what I am. But I will not allow you to +risk your life further on my account." + +"That is really my own affair." + +"No. It is mine. I am here to-day, in secret, solely to warn you--to ask +you--to give up this inquiry, and allow the matter to rest a mystery," +she protested. "Will you not do this for my sake?" she pleaded. + +For a few seconds I paused, smiling at her. Then I replied-- + +"No. I cannot promise that. Young Craig was foully murdered, of that I +am confident, and I intend to unravel the mystery." + +"Even though it costs you your life?" she asked slowly. + +Why, I wondered, was she so frantically anxious for me to abandon the +inquiry? Was it really because she feared that her uncle might attempt +to rid himself of me, or had she some other hidden motive? + +The expression upon her sweet face had altered. It was eager and +apprehensive--a curious look, such as I had never witnessed there +before. + +Deeply in earnest, she was persuading me, with all the arts of which +she, as a woman, was capable to give up the investigation--why? + +My refusal evidently caused her the greatest anxiety--even deadly fear. +She would, however, reveal nothing more to me. Therefore, I told her +point-blank that I would make her no promise. + +"But you will think over my words," she said earnestly. "You will be +forewarned of the evil that is intended!" + +"If there is evil, then I will combat it," I replied briefly. "My first +concern is yourself, Lola. Do you remember our confidential talks when +we strolled together in the Bois--when you told me all your troubles, +and your fears?" + +"Yes," she replied in a strange, dreary voice. "But--but, I did not tell +you all. You do not know," she added in a whisper. + +"Tell me all," I urged. "I know you are--well, let us say it quite +plainly--a thief." + +"Ah! If I were only _that_, I might dare to look you in the face--to +crave your sympathy--your interest--your generosity once again. But I +cannot. No! I cannot," and she burst into tears. + +"Are we not friends?" I queried. "And between friends surely there may +be confidences." + +"To a certain degree, yes. But there is a limit even to confidences +between friends," was her slow, thoughtful reply, as she dried her eyes +with a little wisp of lace. + +I was disappointed. I had fully expected to obtain from her some clue +which might lead to a solution of the mystery of Craig's death. But she +was obdurate. + +"Lola," I said, taking her trembling hand again, "I wish to tell you +something." + +"Well, what is it?" she asked. + +"Simply this. I think I ought to tell you that, near that seat on the +cliff at Cromer, where Craig was found, there was discovered a clear +print of a lady's shoe," and I watched her countenance narrowly. + +Her face went paler in an instant, and in her eyes showed a quick look +of terror. But in a second she had recovered herself, and said-- + +"That is interesting. Do you think that its presence there gives any +clue to the assassin?" + +"I don't know," was my reply. I stood before her in wonder. Her perfect +sang-froid was truly amazing. "But," I went on, "curiously enough, the +same lady's shoe was found in Beacon House, after Gregory's property had +been carried off. It fitted exactly the imprint in the sand near the +seat." + +The only sign that her mind was perturbed by my knowledge was a slight +twitching at the corners of her pretty mouth. Yes, she preserved an +astounding calm. + +"That is curious," she remarked with unconcern. + +"Very," I declared, still gazing fixedly into her white face. "And can +you tell me nothing further regarding this affair?" I asked, bending to +her, and speaking in a whisper. + +She shook her head. + +I did not suspect--nay, I could not bring myself to believe--that Edward +Craig had fallen by her hand. Yet the facts were strange--amazingly +strange--and her demeanour was stranger still. + +We had tea together. She poured it out, and handed it to me daintily, +with a sweet smile upon her lips. Then after a further chat, she drew on +her long gloves, settled her skirts and prepared to leave. + +"A letter addressed to the Poste Restante at Versailles will always find +me," she said, in reply to my request for an address. "I use the name +Elise Leblanc." + +I made a rapid note of it upon my shirt-cuff, and having paid the bill, +we descended, and walked together, through the busy streets of Norwich, +to the Thorpe Station, where I saw her into the evening express for +London. + +"_Au revoir_, M'sieu' Vidal," she said, as she held my hand, before +entering the first-class compartment. "Do heed my warning, I beg of you. +Do not further imperil yourself. Will you?" + +"I cannot promise," I replied with a smile. + +"But you must not persist--or something will most surely happen," she +declared. "_Au revoir!_ If we meet again it must be in the strictest +secrecy. My uncle must never know." + +"_Au revoir!_" I said as the porter closed the door, and next moment the +train moved off. + +I saw her face smiling, and a white-gloved hand waving at the window, +and then "The Nightingale" had gone. + +A fortnight went by. I had packed my traps, and leaving Cromer, returned +to my rooms in London, and then crossed to Paris, where I spent a week +in close, anxious inquiry. + +Paris in August is given over to the Cookites and provincials, and most +of my friends were absent. + +The Prefecture of Police was, however, the chief centre of my sphere of +operations, for in that sombre room, with its large, littered +writing-table, its telephones, its green-painted walls, and green-baize +covered door, the private cabinet of my friend Henri Jonet--the famous +Chief Inspector of the _Sûreté_--I sat on several occasions discussing +the activity of Jeanjean and his clever gang. + +Jonet was a sharp-featured, clean-shaven man of about forty-five, short +and slightly stout, with a pair of merry dark eyes, his hair carefully +brushed and trousers always well creased. He was something of a dandy in +private life, even though he so often assumed various disguises, passing +very frequently as a camelot, or a respectable workman. Of his successes +in detection of crime all the world knew. + +Next to the Chef de la Sûreté, Chief Inspector Jonet was the most famous +police official in Paris, or even in France. In the course of the past +few years he had many times dealt unsuccessfully with crimes in which +the amazing Jules Jeanjean had been implicated. + +I had on many occasions assisted him in his investigations into other +matters, and, therefore, on the sultry afternoon, when I called and +presented my card, I was shown up immediately into his private +bureau--that dismal and rather depressing room, which I so well +remembered. + +We sat smoking together for a long time before I approached the subject +upon which I had called to consult him. + +He sat back in his chair enjoying the excellent Bogdanoff cigarette, a +fellow to which he had handed to me, and recalling a strange affair +that, a year ago, had occupied us both--a theft of bonds from a private +bank in the Boulevard Haussmann. + +Outside, the afternoon was blazing hot, therefore the green sun-shutters +were closed, and the room was in semi-darkness. Jonet's big +writing-table was piled with reports and correspondence, as well as one +or two recently-arrived photographs of persons wanted by the police +authorities of other European countries. + +Now and then the telephone buzzed, and he would reply, and give +instructions in a quick, sharp voice. Then he turned to me again and +continued our conversation. + +"The Benoy affair in March last was a sensational one--the murder of the +jeweller while in his motor-car in the Forest of Fontainebleau--you +remember," I remarked presently in French, leaning back in my chair and +puffing at my cigarette. "You made no arrest, did you?" + +"Yes, several. But we didn't get the culprits," he replied with a dry +smile. "It was our friend Jules Jeanjean again, without a doubt. But he +and his accomplices got clean away in the stolen car. It was found two +days later a mile out of Maçon, painted grey, and bearing another +number. The bandits evidently took train." + +"Where to?" + +"Who knows? Back to Paris, perhaps," was his reply, flicking the ash +from his cigarette. "Yet, though we made a close search, we found no +trace whatever of the interesting Jules. _Sapristí!_ I only wish I could +lay hands upon him. He is undoubtedly the most daring and dangerous +criminal in the whole of Europe," Jonet went on. "Of late we have had +reports of his doings from Germany and Russia, but he always escapes. A +big jewel robbery in Petersburg is his latest clever exploit. Yet how he +disposes of his booty always puzzles me. He must get rid of it +somewhere, and yet we never find any trace of it." + +I said nothing. From his words I saw how utterly ignorant even Jonet was +of the truth, and how little he suspected the actual fact that Jeanjean +was not the originator of those ingenious crimes but merely the +instrument of another and a master-brain. + +The great police official drew a long sigh, and expressed wonder as to +whether the elusive jewel-thief and assassin would ever fall into the +hands of justice. + +"At present he seems to bear quite a charmed life," he declared with a +smile. "He openly defies us each time--sometimes even going the length +of writing us an insulting letter, denouncing us as incompetent and +heaping ridicule upon the whole department of the _Sûreté_. It is that +which makes my officers so intensely keen to capture him." + +"I fear you will never do so," I remarked. + +"Why?" + +"Because Jeanjean is too clever to be caught. He is wary, rich, and +takes every precaution against surprise." + +"You know him--eh?" + +"Yes," I admitted. "But what is the latest information you have +regarding him?" + +Jonet took up the telephone and gave instructions for the dossier of the +great criminal to be brought to him. + +In a few moments a clerk entered bearing three formidable portfolios +full of reports, photographs, lists of stolen jewellery, and other +matters concerning the career of the man who had constantly baffled all +attempts to capture him. + +Jonet opened one of the portfolios and scanned several sheets of +closely-written reports. Then he said-- + +"It seems that he, with a young girl, said to be a niece of his, were in +Russia just prior to the great robbery from a jeweller in Petersburg. No +doubt they were implicated in it. The girl, travelling alone, passed the +frontier at Wirballen on the following day, but the telegram from the +Petersburg police arrived at the frontier too late, and in Germany she +disappeared." + +"And what about Jeanjean?" I asked. + +The famous Chief Inspector read on for a few moments. Then he replied-- + +"He was seen on the day of the theft, together with an Italian, believed +to be one of his accomplices, but after that nothing further was heard +of him until four days later. Then an inspector at Lille recognized him +from his circulated photograph, but not being quite certain, and also +knowing that, if the suspect were actually the man wanted, he would be +armed, and recollecting the affair at Charleroi, he did not care to make +a pounce single-handed. He went back to the police-station, but while he +was looking for the photograph, his man, evidently seeing he was +suspected, made his escape." + +"And have you a photograph of the girl?" I asked anxiously. + +"She has never been arrested, therefore we have no official portrait," +was his reply. "But last summer, one of my assistants, a young man named +Rothera, was in Dinard at the _Hôtel Royal_, keeping observation in +another matter, when one evening he saw a young girl, who was staying in +the hotel with an elderly aunt, meet in the Casino a man who greatly +resembled Jeanjean. The pair went out and had a long stroll, speaking +confidentially together. Meanwhile Rothera, like the inspector at Lille, +went to the local bureau de police to turn up the description of the +wanted man. Having done so, and having satisfied himself that it was +actually the master-criminal so long wanted, he took three men and +waited in patience in the country road along which the pair had +strolled. Two hours elapsed, when, to their dismay, the young girl +returned alone. Jeanjean, it was afterwards discovered, had a motor-car +awaiting him about four kilometres away along the Dinan road. Rothera +said nothing to the girl, but next day got into conversation with her in +the hotel. He was exceedingly attentive through several succeeding days, +and being an amateur photographer, asked to be allowed to take a +snapshot of her. He had satisfied himself that, from her description, +she was that female accomplice of the notorious jewel-thief, of whom we +possessed no portrait. She, quite unsuspecting, believed Rothera to be +an idle young man of means. He took the picture--and here it is," added +the Inspector, and passed over to me a photograph of post-card size. + +It was Lola. Lola, in a pretty white summer gown, lolling lazily in a +long cane chair upon the beach at Dinard, and laughing merrily, her hat +flung upon the ground, and her book in her lap. A pretty scene of summer +idleness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"WHERE THE TWO C'S MEET" + + +So Lola's portrait was in the hands of the French police. The fact +jarred upon me. + +But I was careful not to betray any of the agitation I felt, and after +gazing upon it in silence I remarked in a light tone to Jonet-- + +"That is the only portrait you've got--eh? Rather good-looking, isn't +she?" + +"Good-looking! Ah, mon cher Vidal, extremely beautiful, I call her," +declared the Inspector, taking the picture and gazing upon it. "Really," +he added, "it hardly seems possible that such a pretty girl should be +such a hardened and expert thief as she is reported to be." + +"I thought Jeanjean was the thief," I said with a pretence of surprise. + +Jonet lit a fresh cigarette, after offering me one. Then he said-- + +"It is on record here," and he tapped the damning portfolio that lay +under his hand, "that in at least half a dozen cases the methods have +been the same. The Nightingale--as the girl, whose real name is Lola +Sorel, but who has a dozen aliases--is called by her friends, goes with +her maid to one of the smartest hotels, say at Carlsbad, Nice, Aix, +Trouville, or London, Berlin, anywhere, where there are usually wealthy +women. She is a modest little person, and makes a long stay, keeping her +blue eyes well open for any visitor possessed of valuable jewellery. +Having fixed upon one, she carefully cultivates the lady's acquaintance, +is extremely affable, and soon becomes on such intimate terms with her +that she is admitted to her bedroom, and is then able to discover where +the lady's jewels are kept--whether the case is sufficiently small to be +portable, and if not, what kind of lock it has. Every detail she +carefully notes and passes on to Jeanjean, who, when the _coup_ is +ready, appears from nowhere. He is too wary to stay in the same hotel." + +"Then the girl has a maid with her!" I exclaimed. + +"Invariably," was Jonet's reply. "But the methods by which the robberies +are carried out are varied. In some cases the pretty Lola has simply +seized an opportunity to transfer her 'friend's' jewel-case to her own +room, whence it has been abstracted in her absence by Jeanjean. In other +cases while she has been out with the owner of the jewels, motoring, or +shopping, or at the theatre, Jeanjean, having had the tip from his +niece, has slipped in and secured the valuables. Again this method has +been varied by Lola stealing the best piece from the victim's room and +in the night handing it to Jeanjean from her bedroom window, as was done +at Cannes last winter, when the Princess Tynarowski lost her diamond +collar after a brief acquaintance with the fascinating Lola. The latter +remained in the hotel for nearly a fortnight following the theft and +left still enjoying the greatest friendship of the unsuspecting victim." + +"Then this girl must be very clever and daring," I exclaimed. + +"Yes. She is the tool of that scoundrel Jeanjean," declared Jonet, +closing the dossier. "Poor girl. Probably she acts entirely against her +will. The brute has her in his power, as so many girls are in the power +of unscrupulous men in the criminal under-world. They, in their +innocence, commit one crime, perhaps unconsciously, and for years +afterwards they are threatened with exposure to us; so, in order to +purchase their liberty, they are forced to become thieves and +adventuresses. Ah, yes, mon cher Vidal, that is a curious and tragic +side of criminal life, one of which the world never dreams." + +"Then you do not believe this girl is really a criminal from instinct?" +I asked eagerly. + +"No. She is under the all-compelling influence of Jeanjean, who will not +hesitate to take a life if it suits him; the man who has set at naught +every law of our civilized existence." + +"Her position must be one full of terror," I said. + +"Yes. Poor girl. Though I have never seen her, to my knowledge, yet I, +even though I am a police functionary, cannot help feeling pity for her. +Think what a girl forced into crime by such a man must suffer! Rothera +in his report says she is extremely refined and full of personal charm." + +"That is why wealthy women find her such a pleasant and engaging +companion, I suppose." + +"No doubt. Most middle-aged women take an interest in a pretty girl, +especially if she can tell a good story of her unhappiness with her +parents, or of some sorrowful love affair," remarked Jonet. "I expect +she can romance as well as you can, my friend," he laughed. "And you are +a professional writer." + +"Better, in all probability," I rejoined, also laughing. "At any rate it +seems that, by her romances, this fellow Jeanjean reaps a golden +harvest." + +"And I dare say her profits are not very much," said the police +official. "He probably pays all her hotel bills, and gives her a little +over for pocket money." + +"And the maid?" + +"Ah! She must be one of the gang. They would never risk being given away +by one who was not in the swim. The maid, if she were in ignorance of +what went on, would very quickly scent some mystery, for each time her +young mistress found a new friend in an hotel she would notice that +jewels invariably were reported missing, and a hue and cry raised. No. +The maid is an accomplice, and at this moment I am doing all I can to +fix the interesting pair." + +"And you will arrest them?" + +"Of course," he replied determinedly. "I sympathize with the pretty +little thief, yet I have my duty to perform. Besides, if I have the +interesting little lady here before me for interrogation, I shall, I +think, not be very long before I discover our friend Jeanjean in his +secret hiding-place." + +I did not answer for several minutes. + +A trap had evidently been laid for Lola, and, in her own interests, she +should be warned. + +Continuing, I further questioned my friend, and he told me some +astounding stories of Jeanjean's elusiveness. I, however, said nothing +of what I knew. I remained silent regarding the curious affair in +Cromer, and as to my knowledge that the pretty villa near Algiers +concealed the man for whom all the police of Europe were in search. + +My chief concern was for Lola, and that same evening I wrote to her at +the Poste Restante at Versailles giving her warning of what was +intended. She was probably in Brussels, but in due course would, no +doubt, receive my letter, and see me again, as I requested. + +On two other occasions I saw Jonet, but he had no further information +regarding Jeanjean and his gang. The chief point which puzzled him +seemed to be the fact that not a single stone, out of all the stolen +jewels, had been traced. + +"The receiver is an absolute mystery," he declared. "Perhaps the stuff +goes to London." + +"Perhaps," I said. "Have you made inquiry of Scotland Yard?" + +"Oh, yes. I was over there a month ago. But they either know nothing, or +else they are not inclined to help us." Then with a faint smile he +added, "As you know, mon cher ami, I have no very great admiration for +your English police. Their laws are always in favour of the criminal, +and their slowness of movement is astounding to us." + +"Yes. Your methods are more drastic and more effective in the detection +of crime," I admitted. + +"And in its prevention," he added. + +That day was the twenty-sixth of August, and as I walked along the Rue +de Rivoli back to the _Hotel Meurice_, I suddenly remembered the +mysterious tryst contained in that letter found in the pocket of Edward +Craig. The appointment at the spot, "where the two C's meet," at Ealing. + +I left Paris that night by the mail-train, crossed from Calais to Dover, +and at noon next day alighted at Ealing Broadway station. + +I had never been in Ealing before, and spent several hours wandering +about its quiet, well-kept suburban roads, many of them of +comfortable-looking detached villas. But I found the district a perfect +maze of streets, therefore I went and sat on one of the seats in the +small park in front of the station, wondering how best to act. + +Two clear days were still before me ere the meeting which had apparently +been arranged with old Gregory--the man with the master-mind. + +"Where the two C's meet." + +I lunched at the _Feathers Hotel_ near the station, and all that hot +afternoon wandered the streets, but failed to discover any clue. What +"C's" were meant? Possibly two persons whose initials were C were in the +habit of meeting at some spot, or in some house at Ealing--and Ealing is +a big place when one is presented with such a problem. + +Fagged and hungry, I returned to my rooms in Carlos Place, off Berkeley +Square, where Rayner was awaiting me. He knew the object of my search, +and as he admitted me, asked if I had been successful. + +"No, Rayner, I haven't," I snapped. "I can see no ray of daylight yet. +The appointment is an important one, no doubt, and one which we should +watch. But how?" + +"Well, sir," he replied, as I cast myself into my big arm-chair, and he +got out my slippers, "we could watch the two railway stations at Ealing, +and see if we detect old Gregory, or any of the others." + +"They might go to Ealing in a tram or a taxi," I suggested. + +"Yes, sir. But there'll be no harm in watching the trains, will there?" +my man remarked. "If he went in a taxi he might leave by train." + +"True," I said, and after a few seconds' reflection, added, "Yes. We'll +try the trains." + +So, on the night of the twenty-ninth, at about nine o'clock in the +evening, I took up my post in the small arcade which formed the exit of +the station and there waited patiently. + +I was in a shabby tweed suit, with patched boots, and a cloth golf-cap, +presenting the appearance of a respectable workman, as I smoked my +short briar-pipe and idled over the _Evening News_. + +As each train arrived I eagerly scanned the emerging passengers, while +pretending to look in the shop window, but I saw nobody whom I knew. + +The expression, "Where the two C's meet," kept running through my mind +as I stood there in impatient inactivity. It was already past nine, and, +in three-quarters of an hour, the fateful meeting, for somehow I felt +that it was a fateful meeting, would be held. + +The two "C's." The idea suddenly flashed across my mind, whether the +spot indicated could be the junction of two roads, or streets, the names +of which commenced with "C." Yet, how could I satisfy myself? If I +searched Ealing again for roads commencing with a "C," I could only do +so in daylight, too late to learn what I so dearly wished. + +Of a porter I inquired the time of arrival of the next underground train +and found that I had eight minutes. So I dashed along to the _Feathers +Hotel_, where I obtained a map of the Ealing district and eagerly +scanned it to find streets commencing with "C." + +For some minutes I was unsuccessful, until of a sudden I noticed +Castlebar Road, and examining the map carefully saw, to my excitement, +that at an acute angle it joined another road, called Carlton Road, a +triangular open space lying between the two thoroughfares. + +It was the spot in Ealing where the two C's met! + +I glanced at the clock. + +It still wanted a quarter to ten, therefore I drained my glass hastily +and, leaving the hotel, struck across the small open space opposite the +station, in which, in a direct line, lay the junction of the two roads. + +The evening was dark and sultry, with every indication of a +thunderstorm. I remembered Rayner's vigil, but alas! had no time to go +to him and explain my altered plans. + +Along the dark, rather ill-lit, suburban road I hurried until, before +me, I saw a big electric-light standard with four great inverted globes. + +It showed a parting of the ways. + +I looked at my watch as I passed a street-lamp, and saw that it wanted +two minutes to ten. + +And as I looked on ahead I saw, standing back in the shadow of the +trees, on the left-hand, a dark figure, but in the distance I could not +distinguish whether a man or a woman waited there. + +I hurried forward, full of eagerness, to witness the secret meeting, and +with an intention of watching and following those who met. + +Yet, could I have foreseen the due result of such inquisitiveness, I +scarcely think that I would have dared to tread ground so highly +dangerous. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +REVEALS ANOTHER PLOT + + +Approaching from Ealing Broadway, the huge electric-light standard, +which was also a sign-post, shed a bright glow across the junction of +the two roads. The thoroughfare on the right was Castlebar Road and on +the left Carlton Road. In the latter road stood half a dozen big old +trees, relics of a day when Ealing was a rural village and those trees +formed a leafy way. + +Beyond the sign-post, placed at the end of the triangle, lay a small +open space of grass, and behind it a pleasant house with many trees in +its spacious grounds. + +At that hour silence reigned in that highly respectable suburban +neighbourhood, and, as I went forward, I noticed that the figure beneath +the trees was that of a man, who, emerging from the shadow, crossed the +road leisurely and passed across the grass into the Castlebar Road, on +the right hand. + +He was dressed in dark clothes with a light grey felt hat, but so far +was I away that to see his features was impossible, though the zone of +light from the sign-post revealed his figure plainly. + +Once he halted and looked in my direction, on hearing my footsteps, I +suppose, but then continued his leisurely stroll. + +I was upon the left-hand pavement, and in order not to attract the man's +attention, passed along by the garden walls of the series of detached +villas, for about two hundred yards, until the road ran in a curve round +to the left, and thus I became hidden from his view. + +When I found that I had not attracted the attention of the waiting man +in the grey hat, I halted. + +Was that the spot indicated? Was he one of those keeping the +long-arranged appointment? + +Ten o'clock had struck fully five minutes before, therefore, treading +noiselessly, I retraced my steps until I could cautiously peep around +the corner and see over the triangular plot of grass to the Castlebar +Road. + +Yes, the man was still standing there awaiting somebody. I could see the +glowing end of his cigar. + +Fortunately, he had his back turned towards me, gazing in the direction +of the Broadway in apparent expectation. This allowed me to slip along a +few yards, and entering the garden gate of one of the villas, I crouched +down behind the low stone wall which separated the garden from the +footway. + +Kneeling there, I could watch without being seen, for fortunately the +stranger opposite had not seen me. + +I suppose I must have been there fully ten minutes. Several people +passed within a few inches of me quite unsuspicious of my presence. In +Castlebar Road a few people went along, but none interested the watcher. + +Of a sudden, however, after straining his eyes for a long time in the +direction whence I had come, he suddenly threw away his cigar and +started off eagerly. + +A few moments later I witnessed the approach of a short, thinnish man, +wearing a black overcoat, open, over his evening clothes, and an opera +hat. + +And as he approached I recognized him. It was none other than Gregory +himself! + +The two men shook hands heartily, and by their mutual enthusiasm I +realized that they could not have met for some considerable time. + +They halted on the kerb in eager consultation, then both with one accord +turned and strolled together in the direction of the station. + +Next moment I had slipped from my hiding-place and was lounging along at +a respectable distance behind them. + +How I regretted that I had had no time to hail Rayner, for he would have +had no difficulty in keeping observation upon the pair, while I, at any +moment, might be recognized by the cunning, clever old fellow to whose +inventiveness all the _coups_ of the notorious Jules Jeanjean were due. + +He seemed to walk more erect, and with more sprightliness, than at +Cromer, where his advanced age and slight infirmity were undoubtedly +assumed. In his present garb he really looked what he was supposed to +be--a wealthy dealer in gems. + +Engaged in earnest conversation, Gregory and his companion walked +together along the dark road until they came to a taxi-stand near the +station, when, entering the first cab, they drove rapidly away. + +The moment they had left, I leapt into the next cab and, telling the +driver to keep his friend in sight, we were soon moving along after the +red tail-light of the first taxi. + +The chase was an exciting one, for we whizzed along dark roads, quite +unfamiliar to me, roads lying to the south of Ealing towards the Thames. +My driver believed me to be a detective from my garb, and I did not +discourage the belief. + +Suddenly we turned to the right, when I recognized that we were in the +long, narrow town of Brentford, and travelling in the direction of Syon +House, the main road to Hounslow and Staines. At Spring Grove, which I +had known slightly in years gone by, we turned again to the right, and +were soon passing through a district of market-gardens and solitary +houses. + +On the way I had leaned out of the window and instructed the taxi-driver +to keep well behind the other cab, so as not to be discovered. +Therefore, in carrying out my orders, he suddenly put on his brakes and +stopped, saying-- + +"They're going into that house yonder, sir. See?" + +I nipped out quickly and saw that in the distance the other taxi had +pulled up and the two men had alighted before a garden gate. + +"Put out your lights, go back to the end of the road, and wait for me," +I said. + +Then I hurried forward to ascertain what I could. + +The taxi, having put down its two fares and been dismissed, turned and +passed me as I went forward. At last I had run the sly old fox, Gregory, +to earth, and I now meant to keep in touch with him. + +On approaching the house I found it to be a good-sized one, standing +back, lonely and deserted, in a weedy garden, and surrounded by big, +high elms. From the neglect apparent everywhere, the decayed oak fence, +and the grass-grown path leading to the front door, it was plain that +the place was unoccupied, though in two windows lights now shone, behind +dark-green holland blinds. + +The place seemed situated in the centre of some market-gardens, without +any other house in the near vicinity. A dismal, old-fashioned dwelling +far removed from the bustle of London life, and yet within hearing of +it, for, as I stood, I could see the night-glare of the metropolis +shining in the sky, upon my right, and could hear the roar of +motor-buses upon the main road through Spring Grove. + +For a few moments I stood up under the shadow of a big bush which +overhung the road, my eyes upon the lower window where the fights +showed. The house was half-covered with ivy and had bay-windows upon +each side of the front door, which was approached by a short flight of +moss-grown steps. + +That I was not mistaken in my surmise that the house was uninhabited was +proved by the "To Let" notice-board which I discerned lying behind the +fence, thrown down purposely, perhaps. + +Was old Gregory an intruder there? Had he purposely thrown down that +board in order that any person, seeing lights in the window, would not +have their suspicions sufficiently aroused to cause them to investigate? + +The house was a dark, weird one. But what would I not have given to be +inside, and to overhear what was being planned! + +Vernon Gregory was, according to Lola, the instigator of all those +marvellously ingenious thefts effected by Jeanjean. Was another great +robbery being planned? + +Perhaps the man in the grey hat had travelled from afar. Possibly so, +because of the long time in advance the appointment had been made. + +All was silent. Therefore I crept over the weedy garden until I stood +beneath the bay window in which a light was shining. + +I could hear voices--men's voices raised in controversy. Then, suddenly, +they only conversed in whispers. What was said, I could not distinguish. +They were speaking in French, but further than that I could catch +nothing. + +Sometimes they laughed heartily at something evidently hailed as a huge +joke. I distinctly heard Gregory's tones, but the others' I could not +recognize. As far as I could gather they were strangers to me. + +Was the place, I wondered, one of old Gregory's hiding-places? Though he +conducted his business in Hatton Garden, where he was well known, his +private address, Lola had told me, had always been a mystery, such pains +did he take to conceal it. + +Was that lonely house his place of abode? Had he met his friend in +Ealing and taken him there in order to place before him certain plans +for the future? + +I looked at the grim old house, with its mantle of ivy, and reflected +upon what quantities of stolen property it might contain! + +That the man I knew as Vernon Gregory was head of an association of the +cleverest jewel-thieves in the world, had been alleged by Lola, and I +believed her. His deep cunning and clever elusiveness, his amazing +craftiness and astounding foresight had been well illustrated by his +disappearance from Cromer, even though his flight had been so sudden +that he had been compelled to abandon his treasures. Yet as I stood +there, upon the carpet of weeds, with my ears strained, I could hear his +familiar voice speaking in slow measured tones, as he was explaining +something in elaborate detail. + +What was it? I stood there in a fever of excitement and curiosity. + +Yet I had one satisfaction. I had run him to earth at last. + +Presently the voices of the men were again raised in dissension. Gregory +had apparently made some statement from which the others--how many there +were, I knew not--dissented. They spoke rapidly in French, and I could +hear one man's mouth full of execrations, a hard, hoarse voice of one of +the lower class. + +Then I distinctly heard some one say in English-- + +"I don't believe it! He knows nothing. Why take such a step against an +innocent man?" + +"Because, I tell you, he knows too much!" declared Gregory, now speaking +loudly in English. "He was at Cromer, and discovered everything. Ah! you +don't know how shrewd and painstaking he is. Read his books and you will +see. He is the greatest danger confronting you to-day, my friends." + +I held my breath. They were discussing me! + +"I object," exclaimed the man who had first spoken in English. "He has +no evil intentions against us." + +"But he knows the Nightingale, and through her has learnt much," +Gregory replied promptly. + +"What?" gasped the unseen speaker. "Has she told him anything? Has the +girl betrayed us?" + +"Ask her," the old man urged. "She's upstairs. Call her." + +Lola was there--in that house! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DONE IN THE NIGHT + + +I heard the stranger's voice call-- + +"Lola! Lola! Come here. We want you." + +I heard her rather impatient reply, and then, a few moments later, she +descended the stairs and entered the room where the gang had been +discussing me. + +Some quick words in French were exchanged. Then I heard her cry-- + +"I tell you, I refuse!" + +A man's voice protested. + +"No, You shall not!" she declared in a loud, defiant voice. "If you do, +then the police shall know!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed old Gregory, whose voice I recognized. "Then you object, +Mademoiselle, eh?" + +"Yes. I do object, M'sieu'!" she cried. "If any attempt is made against +him, then I shall myself inform the police. Remember, M'sieu' Vidal is +my friend." + +"Your lover, perhaps," sneered the old man. + +"No," she cried in loud, angry protest. "He is not my lover! Would he +love a girl like myself--a girl who has been brought by you, and your +friends, to what I am?" + +"Well, you are a very pretty girl, and sometimes uncommonly useful to +your uncle," replied old Gregory tauntingly. + +"Of use to you!" she cried. "Yes, I know I am! And when you have no +further use for me, then--then--an accident will happen to me, and I +shall trouble you no further--an accident like that which you intend +shall befall Mr. Vidal!" + +I crouched against the window, my ears glued to the glass. I tried to +picture to myself the scene within--how the young girl I had befriended +in such curious circumstances was standing before them, defying them to +make any attempt to put me out of action. + +"You speak like a little fool, Lola," old Gregory declared. "You lead +the life of a lady of means. You travel with a maid, and all you have to +do is to be pleasant to people, and keep your eyes and ears open. For +that you receive very handsome rewards, and----" + +"And you make a million francs a year, M'sieur Gregory," she +interrupted. "Ah! when the police trace these marvellous plots to their +source, they will be surprised. One day the papers will be full of you +and your wicked doings--mark me!" + +"You are mad, you ungrateful little minx!" shouted the old man in +furious anger. "If you try to prevent me carrying out any of my schemes, +depend upon it you will rue it. I'm not a man to be played with!" + +"Neither am I to be played with, though I am only a girl!" she retorted. +"I'm desperate now--rendered desperate by you and your blackguardly +gang." + +"Because you fear for this novelist friend of yours--this prying person +who is so fond of investigating other people's affairs, and using the +material for his books, eh?" + +"Yes. I fear for him, because I know what is intended." + +"I tell you it's a matter which does not concern you," said the man with +the master-mind, as I listened attentively. + +"It does. He is my friend," she exclaimed in French. "I know that you +intend he shall die--and I will warn him." + +"You will, will you!" shouted Gregory, and I heard him spring to his +feet. "Repeat that, at your peril!" + +"I do repeat it!" said the girl wildly. "He shall not be harmed!" + +"Eh? So you are ready to betray us, are you!" said the old man in a +hard, hissing voice. + +"Yes," she cried in defiance. "I will, if you so much as touch a hair of +his head." + +"You will! Then take that!" screamed the old man, while, at the same +instant, I heard a heavy blow struck, followed by a woman's scream, and +a loud noise as she fell upon the floor. + +"_Dieu!_" I heard a man's voice exclaim. "Why--master--you've killed +her!" + +Then as I stood there, breathless, I heard some further conversation in +low tones. The ruffians were discussing the tragedy--for a tragedy I +felt it to be. A defenceless girl struck down by old Gregory--her lips +closed for ever because she had sought to protect me! + +These men feared me! This thought, despite the horror and anger with +which I was seething, flashed through my mind like fire. They believed +that I knew more than I really did. + +But it was a moment for action. Old Gregory had deliberately struck down +that unfortunate girl who had been trained until she had become an +expert thief, made a cat's paw and tool for that dangerous gang of +criminals. + +Creeping along the wall of the house, I managed to find and noiselessly +place against the window a rustic garden-chair, and discovering also a +heavy piece of wood. I prepared to make a dramatic entry into the room +where this tragedy had happened, and the conspiracy against my life was +being hatched. + +Again I listened. The voices were now so low that I could not catch the +words uttered. + +Then standing on a level with the window-sill, I raised my arm and with +the block of wood smashed one of the huge, long panes to fragments. + +The crash was startling, no doubt, but ere they could recover from it I +had dashed the holland blind aside and stepped boldly into the room, my +big Browning revolver in my hand, and my back instantly against the +wall. + +The scene there was truly a strange one. + +It was a dingy, old-fashioned drawing-room furnished in early Victorian +style, with ponderous walnut furniture, a brown threadbare carpet, ugly +arm-chairs, a what-not, and wax flowers under a glass dome, in the +fashion beloved by our grandmothers. By the fireplace was a cosy corner, +the upholstery of which was tattered and moth-eaten, while the stuffing +of some of the chairs appeared through the corners of the cushions. Near +where I stood was an old chintz-covered couch, and beyond, an arm-chair, +of the same inartistic description. + +The place smelt damp and musty, and in places the faded grey paper was +peeling from the walls. + +Three men were there. Gregory, and two others, strangers. The old man's +appearance had greatly altered from what it was when I had seen him +wandering about in Cromer. Then he had worn his white hair and beard +long, and with his broad forehead, his pointed chin, and wide-brimmed +slouch hat presented the picturesque appearance such as twenty years ago +used to be affected by literary men or artists. + +But now, as he stood before me, startled by my sudden appearance, I saw +that he wore both beard and hair much shorter, and, though he could not +alter his height, his facial expression was considerably different. + +In an instant I realized that I saw him now as he naturally was, while +in Cromer he had so disguised himself as to appear many years older than +was actually the case. + +His two companions were rather well-dressed men of perhaps thirty, one +of whom, a foreigner, wore a small pointed brown beard, while the other, +clean-shaven, was unmistakably an Englishman. Thieves they were both, +assuredly, yet in the street one would have passed them by as +respectable and rather refined citizens. + +"You! Vidal!" cried Gregory, starting back when I sprang so +unceremoniously into their midst. + +"Yes, Vidal, Mr. Gregory!" I cried, striving to remain calm. Yet how +could I, when my eyes fell upon the form of Lola, who, dressed in a +dark-brown walking-costume, was lying huddled up in a heap on the floor, +a few feet from where I stood. + +Blood was upon the bosom of her dress. She had been struck down brutally +with a knife! + +"I may tell you, Gregory," I said, as coolly as I could, "that I have +been listening to your interesting conspiracy to kill me. Well, do so +now, if you dare! My friends are outside. They will be charmed to meet +you, I assure you, especially after the foul deed you committed only a +few minutes ago." + +The three men started and exchanged glances. I saw by their faces that +they were frightened. Yet I dared not lower my pistol, or bend down to +Lola, for they would have jumped upon me instantly. + +As I spoke, I pushed forth my weapon threateningly, covering them with +it determinedly. But it required all my nerve to face them. + +"You are an assassin, sir!" I cried, "and I have caught you redhanded." + +"You haven't caught us yet," remarked the foreigner, defiantly, speaking +English with a strong accent; and the expressions upon the faces of all +three were villainous. + +My thoughts were not of myself, but to avenge that murderous blow which +had been struck at the poor defenceless girl. They were scoundrels, +without pity and without compunction, who held human life cheaply +whenever the existence of a person stood in the way of their schemes. + +And I knew that they intended that I, too, should die. + +But they were not quite sure whether I had the police waiting outside or +not. My bluff had worked. I saw how they hesitated. Even Gregory was +taken aback by my boldness in entering there and facing them. + +"I may tell you," I said, still keeping my back to the wall and my +useful Browning ready for business, "that I have discovered much more +concerning your interesting doings and your intentions than you +imagine." + +"Lola has told you!" burst forth old Gregory. "Well, she won't have +further opportunity of doing so." + +"And you will not have further opportunity of engineering your +remarkable thefts, my dear sir," I replied quite coolly. "The police +desire to see you, and to question you about a certain little affair at +Cromer, remember. You are extremely clever, Mr. Gregory--or whatever +your real name may be--but I tell you that you are at last unmasked. +To-morrow the papers will be full of your interesting career, and one +diamond-broker will disappear from Hatton Garden for ever." + +"Listen," cried the master-criminal to his companions, his face now +white as paper. "Hark what that little chit of a girl has been saying! +Was I not right to strike her down?" + +"Quite," admitted his two companions. + +"And now you will pay the penalty, my dear sir," I declared. "I intend +that you shall." + +"Put that revolver down," Gregory commanded. "Let us talk. You are +clever, Mr. Vidal, and I--well, I confess you have the whip hand of us." + +His companions looked at each other, dismayed at these words of the +Master. He had actually admitted defeat! + +For a few seconds I did not reply. I was reflecting, and it struck me +that this pretence of being vanquished might only be a ruse. Gregory was +far too clever and defiant a criminal to be beaten single-handed by the +man he so sincerely hated and feared. + +"No," I replied with a grim smile. "It is war between us, Mr. +Gregory--not peace. Therefore, I shall hold my revolver here until my +friends arrive. They will not be long, and I shall not suffer from +fatigue, I assure you." + +Gregory, quick-witted and shrewd, cast a rapid glance around as he stood +before me, a smart figure in his well-cut evening clothes, with a fine +diamond glistening in his pleated shirt-front. + +"Well," he exclaimed after a brief pause, "if you deliberately take on +the duties of the police, and pry into affairs which do not concern you, +then you must take the consequences." + +"For that very reason I have entered here," I said, "to become witness +of your dastardly crime. You have killed that girl--killed her because +you feared she would betray you." + +"She has betrayed us," he retorted. "And she deserves all she has got." + +"You infernal brute!" I cried. "If it were not that it would be +deliberate murder, I'd put a bullet through you in return." + +"Try it," he laughed jeeringly. "This quixotic temperament of yours will +be your undoing." + +"I befriended that unfortunate girl," I said. "And she has appreciated +what I did." + +"The little fool ran her head into a noose, I know," was his reply. "But +even though you befriended her, it gave her no right to betray us." + +"Nor any right to you to strike her down," I said, glancing at the white +face of the prostrate form. + +"Ah! You are her champion!" he laughed. "But you wouldn't be if you knew +the truth. She wasn't the innocent little person she led you to believe +she was." + +"No," I cried angrily. "You shall say nothing against your victim's +honour, curse you! I only thank Heaven that I'm here to-night--that I +know the truth regarding this tragedy. Your intention was--the intention +of all three of you, no doubt, was--to get rid of the evidence of your +crime. But that will now be impossible." + +As I uttered that last sentence, the bearded Frenchman made a movement +towards the door. + +"Halt!" I cried in a loud, imperious voice. "Come back here. Do not +attempt to leave this room or I'll shoot you," and as he glanced at me +he found himself looking into the barrel of my weapon. + +"Come," said Gregory. "Enough of this fooling! It's a drawn game between +us, Mr. Vidal. Why not let us discuss the future quietly and without any +ill-feeling on either side. I admit what I have done--killed the +traitress." + +"And by Heaven! you shall pay the penalty of your crime!" I cried. + +"Oh, shall I?" he laughed with a nonchalant air. "We shall see." + +Next instant I heard a sharp click in the passage outside and the room +was plunged in darkness. The electric light had been switched off by one +of Gregory's confederates out in the hall. + +I heard the door opened, and voices shouted wildly in French. + +"Just in time," I heard the new-comer cry. + +"Ah, Jules!" gasped Gregory. "You are late. Where have you been? Where +are you?" + +And, by the shuffling of feet, I knew that the men were groping about in +the darkness. + +Jules Jeanjean was there, in that room! + +"_Dieu!_ You were nearly trapped, all of you," I heard him cry. "Where +is he?" he asked, referring to myself. "He shall not live to blab. Mind +he doesn't get out by the window." + +But I still stood with my back against the wall, my pistol raised in +self-defence. + +A few moments elapsed--moments that seemed like hours--when of a sudden +my eyes were blinded by the ray of an electric torch which threw a +strong light upon me from the doorway. + +Ere I could realize my peril, there was a red flash, followed by a loud +explosion, and I felt a hot, stinging sensation in my throat. + +Then next second the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me, and I +knew no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RECORDS FURTHER FACTS + + +How long I remained there, or what subsequently happened to me, I did +not learn till long afterwards. + +I only knew, when I again awoke to consciousness, that it was day, and I +found myself in a narrow bed, with two nurses in blue linen dresses, and +white caps and aprons, standing near me, while two doctors were gazing +into my face with keen, anxious expressions. + +At first they would tell me nothing, even though, with a great effort, I +asked what had happened. Bandages were around my throat and across my +left shoulder, and I felt a nausea and a giddiness that I knew arose +from chloroform, and therefore that some operation had been performed. I +slowly struggled back to a knowledge of things about me. + +"It's all right, Mr. Vidal," the youngest of the two doctors assured me. +"Try and sleep. Don't worry. Everything is all right." + +I felt uncommonly drowsy, and again slept, and not until night had +fallen did I re-open my eyes. + +A night-nurse was seated at my bedside, reading by a green-shaded lamp. +The little room was in darkness, and I think I startled her when I +suddenly spoke. + +"Where am I, Nurse?" I inquired in a thin, weak voice, and with +difficulty. + +"This is the Cottage Hospital at Hounslow," was the reply. "You've been +here two days, but you are much better now. Don't talk, however, for the +doctor has forbidden it." + +"But I want to know what has happened," I protested. + +"Well, I don't exactly know," the dark-haired young woman answered. "I +only know what I've been told. That is, that a taxi-driver who took you +to some house beyond Spring Grove, grew tired of waiting for you, and on +going to the house found you in one of the rooms, dying." + +"Dying!" I gasped. "Ah! yes, I remember," I added, as recollections of +that fateful night arose within my memory. + +"Yes. You were suffering from a serious bullet-wound in the throat," she +went on. "The window of the room was smashed, but your friends had all +fled." + +"My friends!" I echoed. "Who said they were my friends?" + +"The taxi-driver said so, I believe." + +"Where is he?" + +"He has promised to come to-morrow, to see you." + +"But was not a lady found in the same room?" I inquired eagerly, trying +to raise myself. "She had been killed--deliberately struck down!" + +"Yes. I've heard that a lady was found there." + +"Was she brought here, with me?" + +"No" was the nurse's reply. "She was removed, but to what place I've not +heard." + +Lola was dead! Ah! The sight of that white, upturned face, so delicate +and sweet, and of that dark, ugly stream of blood across the bosom of +her dress, haunted me. I recollected those hideous moments when, being +on my guard against the assassins, I alas! had no opportunity of lending +her aid. + +She was found dead, apparently, and they had removed her body--probably +to the nearest mortuary to await an inquest. + +All my thoughts became confused when I realized the tragic truth. The +nurse saw that I was upset and urged to try to sleep again. Indeed she +gave me a draught which the doctor had ordered and, presently, though +much against my inclination, I again dozed off. + +It was once more day--a warm, sunny day--when I became thoroughly alive +to things about me. The doctors came and expressed satisfaction at my +improvement, dressed my wound, which I confess was very painful, and +declared that I had had a very narrow escape. + +"A quarter of an inch further to the left, Mr. Vidal," one of the +surgeons remarked, "and we couldn't have saved you." + +Towards noon the taxi-driver, cap in hand, came up to my bedside to +inquire how I was. His name was Stevens. The nurse would not, however, +allow me to put many questions to him. + +"You were such a long time gone, sir, that I thought I'd just come up +and see if you wanted me any more. I had to get over to Acton to the +garage, for I'd had a long day," he told me. "I'd just got to the garden +gate when I heard a pistol shot and, entering the garden, and seeing the +window smashed, I suspected something wrong. I got in at the window and +found the room in darkness. A light was burning in the hall and the door +was open. Quickly I found the electric switch and, turning it, saw you +lying on the floor close beside the body of a young lady." + +"Did you see the other men?" I asked eagerly. + +"At first sir, I believed it to be a case of murder and suicide," +answered Stevens, "but a moment later, as I stood in the room horrified +at the discovery, I heard several persons leave the house. I tried to +raise an alarm, but nobody heard me, so they got clean away. I examined +the young lady and yourself, then I rushed out for help. At the bottom +of the road I went towards my cab, but as I did so, I heard the engine +started and the red tail-lamp moved off, away from me. Those fellows +that had run from the house were inside. Yes, sir, them vagabonds had +stolen my cab!" + +"What did you do then?" I asked excitedly. + +"Why, I yelled after 'em, but nobody heard me, until presently I came +across a copper and told him what was up. We soon got another taxi and +went back to the house, and there we found you both a-lying as I'd left +you." + +"Was the lady alive?" I queried huskily. + +"Yes. She was a-breathing slightly, and as we thought she was injured +worse than you, the copper took her off at once to the Brentford +Hospital by herself, as there wasn't room for both of you in the cab. On +the way he sent another taxi back for me and I brought you here." + +"But is the young lady alive now?" I asked. + +"I believe so, but I'm not quite sure. She was last night when I called +at the hospital, but she was dreadful bad, and in great danger, they +told me." + +"Ah!" I sighed. "I only hope and pray that she may recover to face and +condemn her brutal enemies." + +"Was she a friend of yours, sir?" asked the man with some curiosity. + +"Yes, a great friend," was my reply. + +"But who tried to kill you, sir?" Stevens asked. "Those blokes as +escaped seemed to be a pretty desperate lot. My cab ain't been found +yet," he added. + +"They were her enemies as well as mine," I replied vaguely, for I had no +intention of telling him the whole story, though I thanked him sincerely +for his prompt help. Had it not been for him I fear that Lola and myself +would never have lived through the night. Jeanjean would have taken good +care that the lips of both of us were closed for ever. + +"Well, sir, you've had a pretty narrow shave of it," Stevens declared. +"There's something very queer about that house, it seems. People say +that though the place, as was to be let furnished, had nobody a-living +in it, strange lights have been seen a-moving about it, and in the +windows now and again and always very late at night." + +"Will you do a favour for me, Stevens?" I asked. + +"Certainly, sir." + +Then I gave him instructions first to go to the hospital where Lola was +lying, to inquire how she was. Then he was to go on to my flat in +Carlos Place, tell Rayner all that had occurred, and order him to come +to me at once. + +Just then the nurse kindly, but very firmly intervened, and the +taxi-driver rose from the chair at my bedside and left. + +For some hours I dozed. Then woke to find the faithful Rayner standing +by me, much concerned. + +"I've had an awful fright, sir," he said. "When you didn't come home for +forty-eight hours, I went to Vine Street Police Station and reported +that you were missing. Inspector Palmer, of the C.I. Department, knows +you well, sir, and he quickly stirred himself. But I heard nothing till +that taxi-driver came and told me you were here. He explained how you'd +been shot at a house in Spring Grove, Isleworth. I hope you're all right +again, sir?" + +"Yes, Rayner, so far," I answered rather feebly. "I've a bit of pain in +my throat, but they've bandaged me up all right, and I'll soon be about +again. That fellow you knew as Dr. Arendt, in Cromer, plugged me." + +"What! The man Jeanjean!" + +"The same," I said. "Gregory was there, too. I tracked them into their +den, and this is what I got for my trouble," I added grimly. + +"Well, sir, I'm no end glad you escaped. They're a desperate crowd and +you might very easily have gone under. Can I do anything?" + +"Yes. Take a message for me to the Brentford Hospital, to Mademoiselle +Sorel." + +"The lady the taxi-man told me about?" Rayner asked. + +"Yes. An attempt was made upon her life," I replied. "Go there, take +some nice flowers, and send up a message from me expressing a hope that +she's better, and say that I will see her as soon as ever I'm able." + +"Very well, sir. I'll be off at once," he replied. + +But for some time longer he sat with me, while I gave him instructions +regarding various matters. Then he left, promising me to quickly return +and bring me news of Lola. + +He was absent about a couple of hours, and on re-entering told me that +he had seen the Sister in charge, who had given Lola my flowers and my +message and had received one in return from her. This was that she felt +much better, and that until we met and consulted it would be best to +take no action against the assassins. + +That same evening, with the doctor's sanction, a tall, clean-shaven man +in grey tweeds approached my bed and, seating himself, announced that +his name was Warton, and that he was an Inspector of the Criminal +Investigation Department. + +He brought out a business-like book and pencil and in a rather abrupt +manner commenced to interrogate me regarding the events of that night +when I so narrowly escaped being murdered. + +From his methods I judged that he had risen from a constable. He was +bluff and to the point. He told me he was attached to the Brentford +Station, and I set him down as a man of similar mental calibre to +Frayne. + +No good could accrue at that moment from any full explanation, so, after +listening to him for some little time, I pretended to be very unwell and +only answered his questions with plain "yes" or "no." + +It was not likely that I would tell all I knew to this local detective. +Had Henri Jonet been present it would have been a different matter, but +I saw at a glance that Warton was a very ordinary type of +police-officer. + +He asked me what took me to the house in Spring Grove on that fateful +night. To this I merely replied with the one word-- + +"Curiosity." + +Then he asked-- + +"Did you know the lady who was found stabbed a few feet from you?" + +"Yes. I had met her," was my reply. + +"Do you know the circumstances in which she was struck down?" + +"I was not present then, therefore I could know nothing," was my evasive +response. + +"But the men in the house were friends of yours, were they not?" he +asked. + +"No. They were not," was my prompt reply. + +"Then, who were they?" he asked, scribbling down my answers with his +stumpy pencil. + +"I--I don't feel well enough to be questioned like this," I complained +to the Sister, who was standing by. "I've committed no crime, and I +object to the police making a cross-examination as though I were a +criminal. I appeal to you, Sister." + +The middle-aged woman in her cool linen uniform, with a silver medal +upon her breast, looked hard at me for a moment. Then, realizing the +situation, she turned to the detective, and said-- + +"You must come to-morrow. The patient still suffers much from shock, and +I cannot allow him to be questioned further. He is too weak." + +"Very well, Sister," replied Warton, as he closed his pocket-book. "I'll +come to-morrow. But a strange mystery envelopes that house in Spring +Grove, Mr. Vidal," he added, turning back to me. "You'll be surprised +when you go there and see for yourself." + +"Perhaps Mr. Vidal may be well enough to do so in a few days," said the +Sister. "We shall see." + +And with that the police-officer was forced to depart. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ANOTHER DISCOVERY IS MADE + + +On several occasions during the weary week that followed Inspector +Warton called and saw me, but I always managed, by one subterfuge or +another, to evade the more pointed of his questions. + +The three men who had attacked Lola and myself that night knew from the +papers that we both still lived as witnesses against them. + +The nurses would not allow me to see the papers, but from Rayner I +learnt that the more sensational section of the London Press had +published reports headed, "Novelist Found Shot." Indeed, a great many +reporters had called at the hospital, but had been promptly sent empty +away. + +At last, one morning, I was declared convalescent and sufficiently well +to be removed to my chambers. Therefore Rayner ordered Stevens to bring +his taxi for me, and we left the hospital. + +Though still feeling far from well, I was all curiosity to see the house +in Spring Grove by daylight, so we called at the police-station and a +stout sergeant of the T. Division accompanied us with the key, the place +being still in the hands of the police. + +As we pulled up in that unfrequented side-road I saw how mysterious and +desolate the place was in the warm sunshine--an old red-brick Georgian +house, with square, inartistic windows, standing solitary and alone, +half covered by its ivy mantle, and surrounded by a spacious garden +dotted with high trees, and neglected and overgrown with weeds. + +As we walked over the moss-grown flags leading to the steps, I noticed +the window I had smashed in making my entry that night. + +The constable unlocked the door and we found ourselves in a wide, +spacious hall, its stone flags worn hollow and containing some +old-fashioned furniture. The atmosphere of the house was musty and +close, and long cobwebs hung in festoons in the corners. + +The room on the right, the one in which I had been found, I remembered +well. It was just the same as when I had stood there in the presence of +the Master and the notorious Jules Jeanjean. Upon its brown threadbare +carpet were two ugly stains in close proximity to each other--the spots +where both Lola and I had lain! + +I saw the wall against which I had stood in defiance. An evening +overcoat still lay upon a chair--the coat which old Gregory had +abandoned in his hurried flight, when Stevens, the taxi-driver, had so +opportunely appeared upon the scene. + +"Nothing's been touched, sir," remarked the fat sergeant. "We've been +waiting for you to see the place, and to tell us what you know." + +I exchanged glances with Rayner. + +"I know very little," I replied. "I simply fell in with a very dangerous +set. They were evidently plotting something, and believing that I had +overheard, attempted to put me out of the way." + +"And the lady?" + +"I imagine the same sort of thing happened to her. They considered she +knew too much of their movements and might betray them." + +"But what were they plotting?" + +"They spoke in French, so I couldn't catch." + +"Oh! They were foreigners--eh?" exclaimed the sergeant in surprise. +"Coiners or anarchists, perhaps." + +"Perhaps," I said. "Who knows?" + +"Ah. I've heard that two strangers have been seen up and down here in +the night time," continued the sergeant. "We've got their description +from a constable who's been doing night-duty. He says he'd know 'em +again. Once he saw a woman with 'em, and he believes it was the young +lady now in the hospital." + +"He saw them together--eh?" + +"He says so." + +Then I changed the conversation, and I followed him from room to room +through the dirty, neglected house, which nevertheless, with slight +signs here and there, showed marks of recent occupation. + +Two of the beds in the upstairs rooms had been slept in, and there was +other evidence in both kitchen and dining-room that, as I had surmised, +it had been the secret hiding-place of the man who posed in Hatton +Garden as a substantial and respectable dealer in precious stones. + +No doubt he came there late at night, and if he remained during the day +he never went out. + +Surely the place was one where he might effectively conceal himself from +the police; yet to live in such a house, and in that manner, certainly +showed a daring and audacity unequalled. He, of course, never knew when +a prospective tenant might come to visit it, or the agents in Hounslow +might send to inspect its condition. + +"You had a very narrow escape here, sir," said the sergeant as we +descended the stairs. "Will you step outside? I want to show you +something." + +We all went out by the kitchen door into the weedy garden where, behind +a low wall, lay a mound of newly-dug earth. By its side I saw a rough, +yawning hole about five feet long by three broad. + +"That's the grave they'd prepared for you, sir, without a doubt! By gum! +It was lucky that taxi-driver got up here just in time, or they'd have +flung you in and covered you up, dead or alive!" + +I stood aghast, staring at the hole prepared for the concealment--not of +my body--but that of Lola. They had had no inkling of my expected +presence, hence that prepared grave had been for her--and her alone! + +She had been invited there by old Gregory, who had intended that she +should die, and ere morning broke all trace of the crime would have been +removed. + +Yes. The fat sergeant spoke the truth. Had not Stevens fortunately come +to that house at the moment he did, we should both have been flung into +that gaping hole and there buried. In a week the weeds of the garden +would have spread and all traces of the soil having been moved would +have been obliterated. + +How many secret crimes are yearly committed in the suburbs of London! +How many poor innocent victims of both sexes, and of all ages, lie +concealed beneath the floors of kitchens and cellars, or in the back +gardens of the snug, old-fashioned houses around London? Once, Seven +Dials or Drury Lane were dangerous. But to-day they are not half so +dangerous to the unwary as our semi-rural suburbs. The clever criminal +never seeks to dissect, burn, or otherwise get rid of his victim save to +bury the body. Burial conceals everything, and the corpse rapidly +moulders into dust. + +If the walls of the middle-class houses of suburban London could speak, +what grim stories some of them could tell! And how many quiet, +respectable families are now living in houses where, beneath the +basement floor, or in the little back garden, lie the rotting remains of +the victim of some brutal crime. + +It is the same in Paris, in Brussels, in Vienna, aye, in every capital. +The innocent pay the toll always. Men make laws and cleverer men break +them. But God reigns supreme, and sooner or later places His hand +heavily upon the guilty. + +Ask any of the heads of the police of the European Powers, and they will +tell you that Providence assists them to bring the guilty to justice. It +may be mere chance, mere coincidence, vengeance of those who have been +tricked, jealousy of a woman--a dozen motives--yet the result is ever +the same, the criminal at last stands before his judges. + +The great detective--and there are a dozen in Europe--takes no kudos +unto himself. He will tell you that his success in such and such a case +is due to some lucky circumstance. Ask him who controlled it, and he +will go further and tell you that the punishment meted out to the +assassin by man is the punishment decreed by his Creator. He has taken a +life which is God-given--hence his own life must pay the penalty. + +Rayner, as he looked into the hole which had been so roughly dug, was +inclined to hilarity. + +"Well, sir," he exclaimed. "It's hardly long enough for you, is it?" + +"Enough!" I said. "Had it not been for Stevens, I should have been +lying down there with the earth over me." + +"I was afraid I shouldn't get my fare," said the taxi-driver, simply. "I +didn't know you, sir, and I had four-and-sixpence on the clock--a lot to +me." + +"And a good job, too," declared Rayner. "If it had only been a bob fare +you might have gone back to Acton and left Mr. Vidal to his fate." + +"Ah! I quite agree," Stevens said. "It was only by mere chance, as I had +promised my wife to be home early that night, it being our wedding-day, +and we had two or three friends coming in." + +"Then your wedding anniversary saved my life, Stevens!" I exclaimed. + +"Well, if you put it that way, sir, I suppose it really did," he replied +with a laugh. "But this preparation of a grave is a surprise to me. They +evidently got it ready for the young lady--eh?" + +I paused. My blood rose against the crafty old Gregory and his +associates. They knew of Lola's friendship with me, and they had +deliberately plotted the poor girl's death. They had actually dug a +grave ready to receive her! + +Within myself I made a solemn vow that I would be even with the man whom +the mysterious Egisto had addressed as "Master." + +Surely I should have a strange and interesting story to relate to my +friend Jonet in Paris. + +I glanced at the surroundings. About the oblong excavation was a tangled +mass of herbage, peas and beans with fading leaves, for it was in the +corner of a kitchen-garden, which in the fall of the previous year had +been allowed to run wild. And in such a position had the grave been dug +that it was entirely concealed. + +That it had been purposely prepared for Lola was apparent. She had been +invited there to her death! + +Had it not been for my fortunate presence, combined with the fact that +Stevens had called just at the opportune moment, then the dainty little +girl who, against her will, was the cat's paw of the most daring and +dangerous gang of criminals in Europe, would be lying there concealed +beneath that long tangle of vegetables and weeds. + +"The house has been to let for nearly three years," the sergeant +informed me. "But this hole has only been recently dug, a little over a +week, we think. It was probably on the evening previous to your +adventure, sir." + +"Probably," I said, for the earth looked still fresh, though the rain +had caked it somewhat. Two spades were lying near, therefore, I +conjectured, the work had been accomplished by two men. The two I had +seen with Gregory, I presumed. + +"We're making inquiries regarding the intruders," the sergeant went on. +"I only wish Mr. Warton were here, but he had to go up to the Yard this +morning. Can't you give any description of the people you saw here?" + +"I thought you had described them, Stevens," I said, addressing the +taxi-driver. + +"So I have, sir. But in the dark I wasn't able to see very much." + +"Well," I exclaimed, in reply to the sergeant, "I, too, did not have +much opportunity of seeing them. The electric light was switched off the +moment I entered and I was shot by the aid of an electric torch. I had +no means of defending myself. I fired at the light at the time, it's +true, but the scoundrel evidently held it away from him, knowing that I +might shoot." + +I did not intend to assist the police. The Criminal Investigation +Department never showed very great eagerness to assist me in any of my +investigations. + +"But you saw the men?" + +"Yes. As I have already told Inspector Warton." + +"What brought you here?" + +"I followed two of the men from Ealing." + +"I know. But for what reason did you follow them?" + +"Because I believed that I recognized them." + +"But you were mistaken, eh?" asked the fat sergeant as we still stood at +the edge of the grave. + +"I hardly know," I answered vaguely, "except that a dastardly attempt +was made upon my life because I had pried into the men's business." + +The sergeant was silent for a few moments, and I had distinct suspicion +that, from the expression upon his face, he did not believe me. + +Then he remarked in a slow, reflective tone-- + +"I suppose, Mr. Vidal, you know that the young French lady who was found +here has made a statement to Inspector Warton?" + +"What!" I gasped. "What has she told him?" + +"I don't know, except that he's gone up to Scotland Yard to-day +regarding it." + +I held my breath. + +What indiscretions, I wondered, had Lola committed! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +EXPLAINS LOLA'S FEARS + + +After leaving the house in which I had so narrowly escaped death, I +dropped the sergeant at Spring Place station and, with Rayner, drove +over to Brentford, where, at the hospital, I stood beside Lola's bed. + +She looked a pale, frail, pathetic little figure, clad in a light blue +dressing-jacket, and propped up among the pillows. When she recognized +me she put forth a slim white hand and smiled a glad welcome. + +"I have been so very anxious about you, Lola," I said after the nurse +had gone. "You know, of course, what happened?" + +"Yes," she answered weakly in French. "I am so very sorry that you +should have fallen into the trap as well as myself, M'sieur Vidal. They +induced me to call there for one purpose--to kill me," she added in +English, with her pretty French accent. + +"I fear that is so," was my reply. "But did you not receive my warnings? +The Paris _Sûreté_ are searching for you everywhere, and Jonet is most +anxious to find you." + +"Ah, I know!" she exclaimed with a slight laugh. "Yes, I got your kind +letters, but I could not reply to them. There were reasons which, at the +time, prevented me." + +She looked very sweet, her fair, soft hair in two long plaits hanging +over her shoulders, the ends being secured by big bows of turquoise +ribbon. + +Yes, she was decidedly pretty; her big, blue, wide-open eyes turned upon +me. + +"I wrote to Elise Leblanc at Versailles," I said, for want of something +else to say. + +"I got the letters. I was in Dresden at the time." + +"With your uncle?" + +"No. He has been in Vienna," was her brief response. + +"But he was at that house in Spring Grove." + +"Yes. It was a trap for me--a dastardly trap laid for me by old +Gregory," she cried in anger. "He intended that I should die, but he +never expected you to come so suddenly upon the scene." + +"How was it that Jeanjean arrived there also?" I asked. + +"He came there to consult the Master," she replied. "A huge affair was +being planned to take place at the offices of one of the best known +diamond dealers in Hatton Garden. Gregory, being in the diamond trade, +knows most of the secrets of the other dealers, and in this case had +learned of the arrival of three very fine stones, among the most notable +diamonds known to the world. For three months he had carefully laid his +plans of attack, and on the night in question had called his +confederates together, as was his habit, in order to put his plans +finally before them, and to allocate each his work. Through my uncle, +however, I knew of the proposed robbery, and the old man, fearing me, +had decided that it would be in their interests if I died. Hence the +attack upon me." + +"A most base and brutal one!" I cried. "But thank Heaven! Lola, you are +recovering. I overheard all that you said regarding myself." + +She flushed slightly, but did not reply. + +"To-day I have heard that you have made a statement to the police," I +went on in a low voice so that I should not be overheard by the nurse +who stood outside the door of the small two-bedded ward, the second bed +being unoccupied. + +"Yes. An agent of police came and questioned me," was her reply, "but I +did not tell him much--at least, nothing which might give them any +clue--or which would jeopardize either of us. I had heard that you were +recovering, and therefore I thought you would prefer to unmask Gregory +and his associates yourself, rather than leave it to the London police. +Besides, they have escaped and I have no idea where they may now be." + +"Quite right," I replied, much relieved at her words. "You acted wisely, +for had you told them the truth they would in all probability have +arrested you." + +She smiled faintly. + +"Yes. That was one of the reasons which caused me to exercise +discretion. I felt that we should soon meet again, M'sieur Vidal," she +added. "They say that I shall be discharged from here in about a week." + +"I hope so," I declared earnestly. "You had a very narrow escape from +those fiends." + +"I was quite unsuspicious when I went there," she said. "That house has +been our meeting-place for the past eighteen months or so. Sometimes we +met at Gregory's flat in Amsterdam, and sometimes at the tenantless +house in Spring Grove, or at one which has been to let at Cricklewood, +and also at a house in West Hampstead." + +"The spot 'where the three C's meet' at Ealing is the usual rendezvous, +I suppose?" + +"Yes, the place is easy of access, quiet, and entirely unsuspicious. I +have met my uncle there sometimes when in London, and sometimes Gregory +or the others. The conference usually took place there, and then we went +together in a taxi to one or other of the meeting-places which Gregory +had established." + +"As soon as you have quite recovered we will lay a trap and secure the +whole gang," I whispered confidently. + +"Ah! I fear that will not be easy," she exclaimed, slowly shaking her +head. "We shall be too well watched." + +"And we can watch also," I remarked. "I know that from to-day I shall be +kept under close supervision because they will fear me more than ever. +But I shall manage to evade them, never fear. As soon as you leave +hospital we must join forces and exterminate this gang of assassins." + +She drew a long breath, bent her fair brows and looked straight across +at the pale-green wall. I could see that she was not at all confident of +escape. She knew how clever, designing and unscrupulous was the old man +Gregory; how cheaply her uncle, Jules Jeanjean, held human life. + +"Where is Gregory now, I wonder?" I exclaimed. + +"Who knows? They are all in France or Belgium, I expect. They may be in +Amsterdam, but I do not think so, as they might suspect me of making a +statement to the police." + +"What did you tell the police?" + +For a moment she hesitated. + +"Simply that I was enticed there by a young man whom I knew in Paris, +and found myself in the company of several men who were undoubtedly +thieves. These men I described. I stated that I was pressed to act as +their decoy, and on refusal was struck down." + +"Then they will be already searching for the men!" I exclaimed, +remembering that Warton had that morning gone up to consult his chief at +Scotland Yard. + +"They will be searching for men whose descriptions do not tally with +those of my uncle and his friends," she whispered frankly, with a +mischievous smile. + +"Tell me, Lola," I asked, after complimenting her upon her astuteness, +"do you recognize the names of Lavelle, Kunzle, Geering, or Hodrickx?" + +She started, staring at me. + +"Why? What do you know of them?" she inquired quickly, an apprehensive +look upon her pretty face. + +"They are associates of your uncle, are they not--in fact, members of +the gang?" + +"Yes. But how did you discover their true names?" + +Then I explained how, after poor Craig's death, I had found the paper +with the elaborate calculations, and the list of names with +corresponding numbers. + +"They are code-numbers, so that mention of them can be made in telegrams +or letters, and their identity still concealed." + +"And what were the columns of figures?" I asked, describing them. + +"Probably either the calculations of weights and values of precious +stones, or calculations of wave-lengths of wireless telegraphy in which +Gregory experiments," she replied. "After a _coup_ Gregory always valued +the stolen gems very carefully before they were sent to Antwerp or +Amsterdam to be re-cut and altered out of recognition. At one _coup_, a +year ago, when at Klein's, the principal jeweller in Vienna, the +night-watchman was killed and the safe opened with the acetylene jet. We +got clear away with jewels valued at three-quarters of a million francs. +Afterwards, I motored from Vienna to Antwerp, carrying most of the unset +stones and pearls in the radiator of my car. The prying _douaniers_ at +the frontiers never suspect anything there, nor in the inner tube of a +spare wheel. Besides, I was the daughter of the Baronne de Lericourt, +travelling with her maid, therefore nobody suspected, and Kunzle, a +young Dane, acted as my chauffeur." + +"In which direction did your uncle travel?" + +"To Algiers, by way of Trieste, and home to his hobby, wireless +telegraphy. He has high aerial wires across the grounds of his villa, +and can receive on his delicate apparatus messages from Clifden in +Ireland, Trieste, Paris, Madrid, London, Port Said, and stations all +over Europe." + +"Can he transmit messages?" I asked. + +She sighed slightly, her wound was giving her pain. + +"Oh, yes. His transmitter is very powerful, and sometimes, at night, he +can reach Poldhu in Cornwall." + +"Then your uncle is, apparently, a skilled scientist, as well as a +daring criminal!" I said, surprised. + +"_Oui_, M'sieur. He is just now experimenting with a wireless telephone, +and has already heard from Algiers, across the Mediterranean, to Genoa, +where his friend, the man Hodrickx, has established a similar station. +It was Hodrickx you saw at Spring Grove." + +"And the wireless is sometimes used for their nefarious purposes, I +suppose?" + +"Probably. But that is, of course, their own secret. I am told nothing," +was her reply, dropping into French. "Sometimes, when at home, my uncle +sits for hours with the telephones over his ears, listening--listening +attentively--and now and then, scribbling down the mysterious +call-letters he hears, and referring to his registers to see whose +attention is being attracted. Every night, at twelve o'clock, he +receives the day's news sent out from Clifden in Ireland to ships in the +Atlantic." + +"It must be an exceedingly interesting hobby," I remarked. + +"It is. If I were a man I should certainly go in for experimenting. +There is something weirdly mysterious about it," she said with a sweet +expression. + +"If he can speak by telephone across the Mediterranean to Genoa, then, +no doubt, such an instrument is of greatest use to him in the pursuit +of his shameful profession," I said. + +"I expect it is," she answered rather grimly, regarding me with +half-closed eyes. "But, oh! M'sieu', how can I bear the future? What +will happen now? I cannot tell. For me it must be either a violent +death, at a moment when I least expect it, or--or----" + +"Leave it all to me, Lola," I interrupted. "I'll leave no stone unturned +to effect the arrest of the whole gang." + +"Do be careful of yourself," she urged, with apprehension. "Remember, +they intend at all hazards to kill you! Gregory and my uncle fear you +more than they do the police. Ever since you unearthed that mystery in +Brussels, they have held you in terror. The evidence you gave in the +Assize Court against the man Lefranc showed them that you entertained +suspicion of who killed the jeweller, Josse Vanderelst, in the Avenue +Louise. And for that reason you have since been a marked man," she +added, looking very earnestly into my face. + +"I assure you I have now no fear of them, Lola. I will extricate you +from the guilty bonds in which they hold you, if you will only render me +assistance." + +For a moment she remained thoughtful, a very serious expression upon her +fair face. + +"_Bien!_ But if the men are arrested they will at once turn upon me," +she argued. "Then I too will stand in the criminal dock beside them!" + +"Not if you act as I direct," I assured her, placing my hand upon hers, +which lay outside the coverlet. + +Then, after a brief pause, during which I again looked straight into her +great blue eyes, I suddenly asked-- + +"Where can I find trace of old Gregory? As soon as I am a little better +I shall resume my investigations, and run the whole gang to earth." + +"I do not know where he lives. My uncle once remarked that he was so +evasive that he changed his abode as often as he did his collars. His +office, however, is in Hatton Garden over a watchmaker's named +Etherington, on the second floor. You will find on a door, 'Loicq +Freres, Diamond Dealers, Antwerp.' Mr. Gregory Vernon, not Vernon +Gregory, poses as the London manager of the firm of 'Loicq Freres,' who, +by reason of their wealth and the magnitude of their purchases and +sales, are well known in the diamond trade. So, by carrying on a genuine +business, he very successfully conceals his illegitimate one of +re-cutting stones and re-placing them upon the market." + +"Good!" I said, enthusiastically, in English. "I shall endeavour to +trace his hiding-place, for most certainly he is no longer in London, +now that he knows that his attempt upon you was unsuccessful." + +"And the police are now looking for mythical persons!" she laughed +merrily, displaying her white, even teeth. + +Yes, the more I saw of my dainty little divinity, the greater I became +attracted by her, even though force of circumstances had, alas! +compelled her, against her will, to become an expert jewel-thief, who by +reason of her charm, her beauty, and her astuteness, had passed without +suspicion. + +What a strange and tragic career had been that of the frail little +creature now smiling so sweetly at me! My heart went out in sympathy +towards her, just as it had done ever since that memorable night when I +had gripped her slim waist and captured her in my room. + +The nurse entered, so I rose from my chair, and clasping Lola's little +hand, bade her _au revoir_, promising to return again in two days' time, +and also suggesting that when she became convalescent I should take her +down to some friends of mine at Boscombe to recuperate. + +My suggestion she adopted at once, and then I turned, and thanking the +nurse for all her kindness, left the hospital. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ROAD OF RICHES + + +When my doctor first allowed me forth on foot it was fully a week later. + +I had driven to Brentford in a taxi on three occasions to visit Lola, +taking her fresh flowers, grapes and other dainties. Each time I +recognized a marked improvement in her. + +I felt certain that every movement of mine was being watched, but +neither Rayner nor myself could discover any one spying upon us. I had +always flattered myself that nobody could keep observation upon me +without I detected them, and I certainly felt considerable chagrin at my +present helplessness. + +Rayner, a shrewd, clever watcher himself, was up to every ruse in the +science of keeping observation and remaining unseen. Yet he also failed +to discover any one. + +Therefore, one morning I left Carlos Place in a taxi and drove to King's +Cross Station, where I alighted, paid the man, and went on to the main +line departure platform. Thence I passed across to the arrival platform, +so as to evade any pursuer, though no one had followed me to my +knowledge, and then I drove down to Brentford. + +Though still weak, I that afternoon accompanied the dainty little +invalid down to Bournemouth, where I saw her comfortably installed with +a very worthy family--a retired excise officer and his wife and +daughter, living at Boscombe--and, after a night at the _Bath Hotel_, I +returned to London to resume my investigations. + +Through three days following I felt very unwell and unable to go out, +the journey to Bournemouth having rather upset me in my weak state. +Indeed, it was not before another week that one afternoon I alighted +from a taxi at Holborn Circus and strolled leisurely down Hatton Garden +in search of the watchmaker's Lola had indicated. + +I found it with but little difficulty, about half-way down on the +left-hand side. + +A stranger passing along Hatton Garden, that dreary, rather mean street, +leading from busy Holborn away to the poverty-stricken district of +Saffron Hill, with its poor Italian denizens and its Italian church, +would never dream that it contained all the chief wholesale dealers in +precious stones in London. In that one street, hidden away in the safes +of the various dealers, Jew and Gentile, are gems and pearls worth +millions. + +The houses are sombre, grimed, and old-fashioned, and there is an air of +middle-class respectability about them which disguises from the stranger +the real character of their contents. The very passers-by are for the +most part shabby, though, now and then, one may see a well-dressed man +enter or leave one of the houses let out in floors to the diamond +dealers. + +It is a street of experts, of men who pay thousands of pounds for a +single stone, and who regard the little paper packets of glittering +diamonds as the ordinary person would regard packets of seed-peas. + +Many a shabby man with shiny coat, and rather down at heel, passing up +the street, carries in his pocket, in a well-worn leathern wallet, +diamonds, rubies or emeralds worth the proverbial king's ransom. + +On that autumn afternoon the sun was shining brightly as I passed the +house where "Gregory Vernon's" office was situated. Seldom, indeed, does +the sun shine in Hatton Garden or in Saffron Hill, but when it does it +brings gladness to the hearts of those sons and daughters of the sunny +Italy, who are wearing out their lives in the vicinity. To them, born +and bred in the fertile land where August is indeed the Lion Month, the +sun is their very life. Alas! it comes to them so very seldom, but when +it does, the women and children go forth into the streets bare-headed to +enjoy the "bella giornata." + +And so it was then. Some Italian women and children, with a few old +men, white-haired and short of stature, were passing up and down the +Road of Riches into which I had ventured. + +I knew not, of course, whether old Gregory was still in London. He might +be at his upper window for aught I knew. Therefore I had adopted the +dress of a curate of the Church of England, a disguise which on many an +occasion had stood me in good stead. And as I loitered through the road, +with eyes about me on all hands, I presented the appearance of the +hard-worked curate of a poor London parish. + +Before the watchmaker's I halted, looking in at the side door, where I +saw written up with the names in dark, dingy lettering, "Loicq Freres, +Second Floor." + +Beyond was a dark, well-worn stair leading to the other offices, but all +looked so dingy and so dismal, that it was hard to believe that within +were stored riches of such untold value. + +I did not hesitate long, but with sudden resolve entered boldly and +mounted the stairs. + +On the second floor, on a narrow landing, was a dingy, dark-brown door +on which the words "Loicq Freres" were painted. + +At this I knocked, whereupon a foreign voice called, "Come in." + +I entered a clerk's room where, at a table, sat a man who, when he +raised his head and sallow face, I recognized instantly as the +mysterious motor-cyclist of Cromer, the man Egisto Bertini, who had so +cleverly evaded me on the night of my long vigil on the Norwich road, +and who had assisted Gregory, or Vernon as he called himself, to remove +the jewels from Beacon House. + +He did not, of course, recognize me, though I knew his face in an +instant. He rose and came forward. + +"Is Mr. Gregory Vernon in?" I asked, assuming a clerical drawl. + +"No, sare," replied the dark-eyed Italian. "Can I gif him any message?" +he asked with a strong accent. + +The reply satisfied me, for my object in going there was not to see the +man whose real name was Vernon, but to get a peep at the unsuspicious +headquarters of the greatest criminal in Europe. + +"Ah, I--I called to ask him to be good enough to subscribe to an outing +we are giving to the poor children of my parish--that of St. Anne's. We +have much poverty, you know, and the poor children want a day in the +country before autumn is over. Several kind friends----" + +"Meester Vernon, he will not be able to make a subscription--he is +away," broke in the Italian. + +My quick eye had noticed that opposite me was a door of ground-glass. A +shadow had flitted across that glass, for the short curtains behind it +were inadvertently drawn slightly aside. + +Some one was within. If it were Vernon, then he might have a secret hole +for spying and would recognize me. Thereupon I instantly altered my +position, turning my back towards the door, as though unconsciously. + +"I'm sorry," I said. "Perhaps you could subscribe a trifle yourself, if +only one shilling?" and I took out a penny account book with which I had +provided myself. + +"Ah, no," was his reply. "I haf none to gif," and he shook his head and +held out his palms. "Meester Vernon--he reech man--me, no! Me only +clerk!" + +"I'm sorry," I said. "Perhaps you will tell Mr. Vernon that the Reverend +Harold Hawke called." + +"Yes, sare," replied the expert motor-cyclist, whom I knew to be one of +the clever gang. And he pretended to scribble something upon a pad. He +posed as a clerk perfectly, even to the shabbiness of his office-coat. +He presented the appearance of a poor, under-paid foreign clerk, of whom +there are thousands in the City of London. + +Standing in such a position that old Mr. Vernon could not see my face, I +conversed with the Italian a few moments longer as I wished to make some +further observations. What I saw surprised me, for there seemed every +evidence that a _bona fide_ trade was actually conducted there. + +The shadow across the private office had puzzled me. I entertained a +strong suspicion that old Vernon was within that room, and the man, +Egisto Bertini, had orders to tell all strangers that his master was +absent. + +If he feared arrest--as no doubt he did, knowing that Lola might make a +statement to the police--then it was but natural that he would not see +any stranger. + +No. I watched Bertini very closely as I chatted with him, feeling +assured that he was lying. + +So I apologized for my intrusion, as a good curate should do, and +descended the dark, narrow stairs with the firm conviction that Gregory +Vernon was actually in his office. + +In the street I walked leisurely towards Holborn, fearing to hurry lest +the crafty old man should be watching my departure. Having turned the +corner, however, I rushed to the nearest telephone and got on to Rayner. + +He answered me quickly, and I gave him instructions to dress instantly +as a poor, half-starved labourer--for my several suits of disguise +fitted him--and to meet me at the earliest moment at Holborn Circus, +outside Wallis's shop. + +"All right, sir," was the man's prompt reply. "I'll be there inside half +an hour." + +"And, Rayner," I added, "bring my small suit-case with things for the +night, and an extra suit. Drop it at the cloak-room at Charing Cross on +your way here. I may have to leave London." + +"Anything interesting, sir?" he asked, his natural curiosity rising. + +"Yes. I'll tell you when we meet," was my answer, and I rang off. + +I have always found clerical clothes an excellent disguise for keeping +observation. It may be conspicuous, but the clergyman is never regarded +with any suspicion, where an ill-dressed man who loiters is in peril of +being interfered with by the police, "moved on," or even taken into +custody on suspicion of loitering for the purpose of committing a +felony. England is not exactly the "free country" which those ignorant +of our by-laws are so fond of declaring. + +Having spoken to Rayner, I returned to the corner of Hatton Garden, and +idling about aimlessly, kept a sharp eye upon the watchmaker's shop. + +If my visit to the offices of Loicq Brothers had aroused any suspicion +in the mind of Gregory Vernon, then he would, no doubt, make a bolt for +it. If not, he would remain there till he left for his home. + +In the latter case I should certainly discover the place of his abode, +and take the first step towards striking the blow. + +On the one hand, I argued that Vernon would never dare to remain in +England after his brutal attack upon Lola, knowing that the police must +question her. Then there was the tell-tale excavation in the garden at +Spring Grove--the nameless grave ready prepared for her! But, on the +other hand, I recollected the subtle cunning of the man, his bold +audacity, his astounding daring, and his immunity hitherto from the +slightest suspicion. + +The flitting shadow upon the ground-glass was, I felt confident, his +silhouette--that silhouette I had known so well--when he had been in the +habit of passing the _Hôtel de Paris_, at Cromer, a dozen times a day. + +The afternoon wore on, but I still remained at the Holborn end of Hatton +Garden, ever watchful of all who came and went. Rayner was longer than +he had anticipated, for he had to drive down to Charing Cross before +coming to me. But at last I saw a wretched, ill-dressed, pale-faced man +alight from a bus outside Wallis's drapery shop, and, glancing round, he +quickly found me. + +I walked round a corner and, when we met, I explained in a few brief +words the exact situation. + +Then I instructed him to pass down Hatton Garden to the Clerkenwell +Road end and watch there while I maintained a vigilance in Holborn. When +Vernon came out we would both follow him, and track him to his +dwelling-place. + +I told Rayner of Bertini's presence there as a clerk, whereupon my man +grew full of vengeful anger, expressing a hope that later on he would +meet the Italian face to face and get even for the treatment meted out +to him on that memorable night at Cromer. + +We had walked together to the end of the Road of Riches in earnest +discussion, when, on suddenly glancing along the pavement in the +direction of the watchmaker's, I recognized the figure of a well-dressed +man coming in our direction. + +I held my breath, for his presence there was entirely unexpected. + +It was Jules Jeanjean. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FOLLOWS THE ELUSIVE JULES + + +The man of a hundred aliases, and as many crimes, was walking swiftly in +our direction, and I only just had time to nip back and cross to the +street refuge in the centre of Holborn Circus. + +Rayner recognized him in an instant, and I had just time to exclaim-- + +"There's Jeanjean! Take him up, but be careful. Got your revolver?" + +"Trust me, sir," Rayner laughed. "I don't forget Cromer." + +"Be careful," I whispered, and next instant we had separated. + +I saw Jeanjean gain the end of the drab thoroughfare and glance around +apprehensively. He was dressed smartly in a well-cut suit of blue serge +and wore a grey hat of soft felt, and a pair of yellow wash-leather +gloves, like those poor Craig had habitually affected. His quick, shifty +eyes searched everywhere for a few seconds, then he turned into the +bustle of the traffic in Holborn and walked westward in the direction of +Oxford Street. + +A moment later Rayner, a poor wretched-looking figure, penurious and +ill, crossed from the opposite side of the road and lounged slowly after +Jeanjean until I lost them amidst the crowd. + +I was divided in my intentions, for if I followed the pair I should miss +the Italian clerk, and as he undoubtedly was a member of the interesting +association, I felt that it would be judicious to follow and ascertain +where he lived. + +For nearly two hours, nevertheless, my vigilance remained unrewarded. +Office-boys came forth from the various houses laden with letters, and +middle-aged clerks carried in black bags packets of precious stones in +order to insure them for transmission by post. Then as the dusk crept +on, the offices and workshops in the vicinity emptied their workers, who +hurried home by train or motor-bus, while in a constant stream came +weary Italians, painfully and patiently dragging piano-organs and +ice-cream barrows on their way to their quarters at the other end of the +road, their day's wanderings over. + +A perfect panorama of London life passed by me as I stood there watching +in vain. + +At length, about seven o'clock, when it had grown dark and the +street-lamps had been lit, I saw the figure of the Italian emerge from +the door, and turning his back towards me, he walked in the direction of +Clerkenwell Road. + +In eagerness I took a few quick steps after him, but halted as a sudden +suggestion arose within me. If Jeanjean had been there it was for +consultation with his chief--the man he regarded as his master--the +master-mind of that daring and dangerous association. Was it possible, +therefore, that these two men had left the place at long intervals, +because of the suspicion in which they held the curate who had called +for a subscription? Was it possible that Gregory Vernon, alias Gregory, +and alias a dozen other names, no doubt, was still safe in his high-up +dingy little office wherein lay concealed stolen gems of untold value? + +Rayner was, without doubt, hot upon the track of the elusive bandit +whose _empreintes digitales_, and whose _cliches_ and _relevés_ were so +carefully preserved in that formidable dossier at the Prefecture of +Police of the Seine. Rayner was a past master in the art of observation, +and I felt convinced that ere long I should learn where Jeanjean made +his headquarters in London. + +Therefore, after a second's reflection, I decided not to follow Bertini, +but to still remain on and watch for the clever old rascal to whose +plots so many jewel robberies in Europe, with and without violence, were +due. By some vague intuition I felt that if Jeanjean dared to go to the +offices of Loicq Freres, then certainly the elder man would have no +hesitation. But their daring was astounding in face of the +circumstances. + +Perhaps, so completely and entirely did they hold Lola in their grip, +that they felt confident she dare not reveal the truth. Was it not a +fact, alas! that the sweet, dainty little girl was actually a thief, +forced into crime and trained by her uncle to act the part of decoy, her +very innocence disarming suspicion? Her youth was her protection, for +nobody would believe that she was actually a clever adventuress and a +professional thief. + +Ah! how I pitied her, knowing all that I did. How often recollections +arose in my mind of that never-to-be-forgotten night in Scotland when +she had inadvertently entered my bedroom, and I had seized her--of her +piteous appeal to me, and of her expression of heartfelt thanks when I +allowed her her liberty. Yes, assuredly Lola Sorel was to be pitied, not +blamed. She had been struggling all along to free herself from those +bonds of guilt which had bound her to that unscrupulous brutal gang of +malefactors who were undoubtedly the most dangerous criminals in Europe. +But, alas! all in vain. They had held her in their inexorable grip +until, fearing lest she should appeal to me and make revelations, the +sinister-faced old rascal who ruled them had ruthlessly struck her down +and left her for dead. + +Such a formidable band as that, constituted as it was, and with enormous +funds at command, could hold the police in contempt. Money was of no +object, and Lola had once told me how police officials, both in Berlin +and in Rome, had been judiciously "squared" by a certain obscure lawyer +who had an office in the Italian capital, and who, being a member of the +gang, conducted their legal affairs--which mainly consisted in the +obtaining of information concerning the whereabouts of jewels in the +possession of private families, and in bribing any obnoxious police +official, from a _sous-prefet_ down to a humble _agent_. + +Bribery among the Continental police is far more rife than is generally +supposed. Poor pay, especially in Italy, is the prime cause. There are, +of course, black sheep in every flock, even in England, but in the +southern countries the aspect of the flock is much darker than in the +northern ones. Many a law-breaker to-day pays toll to the police, even +in our own London, and from the street bookmaker in the East End slums +to the keeper of the luxurious gaming-house near Piccadilly Circus, +hundreds of men are allowed to carry on their nefarious practices by +sending anonymous presents to the private addresses of those who might +trouble them. + +So it is even in matters criminal. There is not a single member of the +Criminal Investigation Department who has not been sorely tempted at one +time or another. And perhaps in the light of certain recent +prosecutions, and the allegations of Mr. Keir Hardie, big names--the +names of certain men who are leaders of our present-day life and +thought--are suppressed, and grave scandals concealed by the judicious +application of gold. + +My watch proved a wearying one, especially in my weak state. + +With the darkness there were fewer people in the streets. The City +traffic had now died down, and at eight o'clock Hatton Garden had become +practically deserted. + +I had been chatting to the constable on duty, who, on account of my +clerical attire, had not viewed me with any suspicion, when of a sudden +Rayner alighted from a taxi and approached me. + +"Well?" I asked eagerly, when we were together. + +"He gave me the slip, sir," exclaimed my man breathlessly. "He's +devilish clever, he is, sir." + +"You surely knew that before, Rayner," I said, reproachfully. + +"Yes, and I took every precaution. But he did me in the end." + +"How?" + +"Well, when he left here, he walked as far as Gamage's very leisurely. +Then he took a taxi up to Baker Street Station. I followed him, and saw +that he took a ticket to Swiss Cottage, where he took another taxi along +the Finchley Road, alighting at the end of a rather quiet thoroughfare +of superior houses called Arkwright Road. He went into one of them, a +new red-brick house, called Merton Lodge." + +"You were near when he entered?" I asked. + +"Quite. I watched the door open to admit him, but couldn't see who +opened it," he replied. "Then I waited for nearly two hours, concealing +myself in the area of an unoccupied house close by. The road was so +quiet and unfrequented that I dare not show myself. The house seemed +smart and well-kept, with a large garden behind." + +"No one came out?" + +"Nobody. But at last I grew impatient and got out on to the pavement, +when, a few seconds later, the door opened, and a middle-aged, dark-eyed +man came out straight up to me. He had a Hebrew cast in his features. +Without ado, he asked me with indignation why I was watching his house. +Whereupon I told him I was waiting for a friend who had entered there. +In reply, he denied that any friend of mine was there. He said, 'I +object to my house being watched like this, and if you don't be off, I +shall telephone for the police, and have you arrested for loitering. I +believe you intend to commit a burglary.'" + +"Ah! that was rather disconcerting, eh, Rayner?" + +"Yes, sir. What could I do? I saw I'd been spotted, and so the game was +up. Well, a thought occurred to me, and I replied to him, 'Very good. +Telephone at once. I'll be pleased to have a constable here to help me.' +It was a bold move, but it worked. He believed me to be a detective, and +his tone altered at once. 'I tell you,' he said, 'I have nobody in my +house. Nobody has come in since I returned home at five o'clock. You may +search, if you wish!' I smiled and said, 'Oh, so you don't now suspect +me of being a thief?' 'Well,' he replied, 'if you think your friend is +here, come over and satisfy yourself.'" + +"Clever of him--very clever," I remarked. "But there might have been a +trap! Jeanjean would set one without the slightest hesitation." + +"Just what I suspected, sir," replied Rayner. "At first I hesitated, but +I had my revolver with me, so I resolved to search the place. Just as I +crossed the road a constable turned the corner idly, and in a moment I +was beside him. In a few words I asked him to accompany me, at the same +time slipping a couple of half-crowns into his hand, much to the chagrin +of the occupier of the house. To the constable I explained that I had +reason to believe that a friend of mine was hidden in the house and I +had been invited to search. So together we went in, and while the +constable remained in the hall, I went from room to room with the +dark-faced Hebrew. The place was well furnished, evidently the abode of +a man of wealth and taste. He was something of a student, too, for in a +corner of the small library at the rear, on the ground-floor, was a +table, and on it several queer-looking electrical instruments and a +telephone receiver. From room to room I went, and found nobody. Indeed, +there was nobody else in the house except a sallow-looking youth, the +son of the man who had invited me in. The back premises, however, told +their own tale. At the end of the dark garden was a door in the wall, +leading to a narrow lane beyond the tradesmen's entrance. By that way +Jules Jeanjean had escaped nearly two hours before!" + +"So he has eluded you, as he always does," I remarked regretfully. + +"Yes. But the owner of Merton Lodge no doubt knows him and gives him +shelter when he's in London," Rayner said. + +"He may, but, if I judge correctly, Jeanjean knew he was followed from +the first, and simply led you there to mystify you. He entered by the +front door and went out at once by the back one," I said. "In all +probability he only knows the owner of Merton Lodge quite slightly. If +not, why did the Hebrew come out so boldly and ask you to search?" + +"Bluff," declared Rayner promptly. + +"No, not exactly," I remarked. "If Jeanjean knew he was followed he +would never have gone to a house where he could be again found, depend +upon it. No. He perhaps told the person who opened the door to him some +cock-and-bull story, and only remained in the house a minute or two. To +me, all seems quite clear. He led you on a wild-goose chase, Rayner," I +laughed, as we stood together in Holborn. + +Yet scarcely had these words left my mouth when there passed close by us +a thin, old gentleman in black, and wearing a silk hat. His grey hair +and beard were close-cropped, but his broad forehead and narrow chin +could not be disguised. + +I held my breath as I recognized him at a glance. He had not noticed me, +for my back had been towards him. Yet my heart beat quickly, for might +he not have identified me by my clerical hat! + +It was the man I had suspected of lying closely concealed in his +office--old Gregory Vernon, the dealer in stolen gems. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MAKES A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + +He crossed Holborn, walking leisurely, and smoking a cigar, and +continued down St. Andrew Street and along towards Shoe Lane, I +strolling after him at some distance behind. + +At that hour the thoroughfare was practically deserted, therefore +concealment was extremely difficult. Yet by his leisurely walk I felt +convinced that in passing he had, fortunately, not recognized me. + +Behind me came Rayner to see, as he swiftly put it, "that no harm came" +to me. + +The old man in the full enjoyment of his cigar, and apparently quite +happy that if his offices were watched his two confederates would have +taken off the watchers, strolled along St. Bride Street as far as the +corner of Ludgate Hill, when he hailed a taxi and drove westward. His +example I quickly followed, leaving Rayner standing on the kerb, unable +to follow, as no third cab was in sight. + +Up Fleet Street we drove quickly and along the Strand as far as Charing +Cross, when the taxi I was pursuing turned into Northumberland Avenue +and pulled up before the _Hôtel Metropole_. + +I drew up further along, at the corner of the Embankment, at the same +time watching the old man pay the driver and enter, being saluted by +the uniformed porter, who evidently knew him. + +For about five minutes I waited. Then I entered the hotel, where I also +was well known, having very often stayed there. + +Of the porter at the door, who touched his hat as I went in, I asked the +name of the old gentleman who had just entered. + +"I don't know his name, sir. He often stays here. They'll tell you at +the key-office." + +So I ascended the stairs into the hall, and made inquiry of the +sharp-eyed, dark-faced man at the key-counter. + +"Oh, Mr. Vernon, you mean, sir? Been in about five minutes. He's just +gone up in the lift--Room 139_a_, first-floor--shall I send your name +up, Mr. Vidal?" + +"No, I'll go up," I said. "You're sure he is up in his room?" + +"Quite sure, sir. He took his key about five minutes ago." + +"Is he often here?" + +"Every month," was the reply. "He usually spends about a week with us, +and always has the same room." + +"What is he? Have you any idea?" + +"I've heard that he's a diamond-broker. Lives in Paris, I fancy." + +"Has he many callers?" + +"One or two business men sometimes; but only one lady." + +"A lady!" I echoed. "Who?" + +"Oh, a very pretty young French girl who comes sometimes to see him," +replied the clerk. Then, after reflection, he added: "I think the name +is Sorel--Mademoiselle Sorel." + +I started at mention of the name. + +"Does she come alone?" I asked. "Excuse me making these inquiries," I +added apologetically, "but I have strong reasons for doing so." + +"Once she came alone, I think about six weeks ago. But she generally +comes with a tall, rather ugly, but well-dressed Frenchman of about +forty-five, a man who seems to be Mr. Vernon's most intimate friend." + +I asked for a further description of her companion, and decided that it +was Jules Jeanjean. + +"Is the hotel detective about?" I asked. + +"Yes. He's somewhere down on the smoking-room floor. Do you want him?" +he asked, surprised. + +I replied in the affirmative. Whereupon a page was at once dispatched, +and returned with an insignificant-looking man, an ex-sergeant of +Scotland Yard, engaged by the hotel as its private inquiry agent. + +He knew me well, therefore I said-- + +"Will you come up with me to 139_a_. I want to see a Mr. Vernon, and +there may be a little trouble. I may have to call in the police." + +"What's the trouble, sir?" he asked in surprise, though he knew me to be +an investigator of crime. + +"Only a little difference between us," I said. "He may have a revolver. +Have you got one?" + +The detective smiled, and produced a serviceable-looking Colt from his +hip-pocket, while I drew a long, plated, hammerless Smith & Wesson, +which has been my constant companion throughout my adventurous life. + +Then together we ascended in the lift, and passed along the corridor +till we found the room which the clerk had indicated. + +I tapped loudly at the door, at the same moment summoning all my +self-possession. I was about to secure one of the most cunning and +clever criminals on earth. + +There was no answer. Yet I distinctly heard some one within the room. + +Again I knocked loudly. + +Then I heard footsteps advancing to the door, which was thrown open, and +a chambermaid stood there. + +"I'm sorry, sir," she said apologetically. + +I drew back in dismay. + +"Is Mr. Vernon in here?" I asked breathlessly. + +"Mr. Vernon--the gentleman in this room, sir?" + +"Yes. He has come up here, I know." + +"He did come in a few minutes ago, and took a small leather case, but he +went out again at once." + +"Went out? You saw him?" + +"Yes. He was coming out just as I came in, sir," replied the girl. + +"Gone!" I gasped, turning to the ex-sergeant. + +"He must have gone down the stairs, sir," the man suggested. + +With a glance round the room, which only contained a suit-case, I dashed +down the stairs and into the hall. + +Of the porter at the door I asked a quick question. + +"No, sir," he replied. "Mr. Vernon hasn't gone out this way. He may have +gone out by the door in Whitehall Place." + +I rushed through the hotel and, at the door indicated, the man in +uniform told me that Mr. Vernon had left on foot five minutes before, +going towards Whitehall. + +I hurried after him, but alas! I was too late. + +Again, he had evaded me! + +So I returned to my rooms utterly fagged by the long vigil, and feeling +thoroughly ill. Indeed, in my weak state, it had been a somewhat +injudicious proceeding, yet I felt anxious and impatient, eager to +strike a crushing blow against the daring band who held poor Lola so +completely in their power. + +The result of my imprudence, however, was another whole week in bed, and +a further confinement to my room for a second week. Meanwhile Rayner was +active and watchful. + +Observation upon the offices of Loicq Frères showed that only an English +clerk was left in charge, and that neither Vernon, Jeanjean nor Bertini +had since been there. Vigilance upon Merton Lodge, in Hampstead, also +resulted in nothing. It was clear, therefore, that the trio had become +alarmed at my visit to Hatton Garden, even though I had exercised every +precaution to avoid recognition. + +As I sat in my big arm-chair, day after day, unable to go out, I +carefully reviewed all the events of the past, just as I have set them +down in these pages. Somehow--how it came to pass, I cannot tell--I +found myself thinking more than ever of Lola Sorel, the sweet-faced, +innocent-looking girl whose career had been fraught with so much +tragedy, apprehension and bitterness. + +Every day, nay, every hour, her pretty, fair face arose before my +vision--that pale, delicately-moulded countenance, with the big, blue, +wondering eyes, larger and more perfect than the eyes of any woman I had +ever before met in the course of my adventurous career. + +Time after time I asked myself why my thoughts should so constantly +revert to her. Sleeping or waking, I dreamed ever of that dainty little +figure with its sweet, rather sad face, the pathetic countenance of the +pretty Parisienne who had so gradually fascinated and entranced me. + +Within myself, I laughed at my own feelings of sympathy towards her. Why +should I entertain any regard for a girl who, after all, was only a +thief--a girl whose innocence had decoyed men, and caused women to +betray the whereabouts of their jewels, so that her associates could rob +them with impunity? + +From the moment when I had seized her in my bedroom at Balmaclellan I +had pitied her, and that pity had now deepened into keen sympathy for +her, held, as she was, in those bonds of guilt, yet struggling always to +free herself, like a poor frightened bird beating its wings against the +bars. + +Had I fallen in love with her? Time after time I asked myself that +question. But time after time did I scout the very idea and laughed +myself to ridicule. + +The thought that I loved Lola Sorel, beautiful as she was, seemed +utterly absurd. + +Yes. During that fortnight of forced inactivity I had plenty of time to +carefully analyse the whole situation, to examine every detail of the +mystery surrounding the death of Edward Craig and, also, to formulate +fresh plans. + +One fact was evident--that Vernon and his friends intended that Lola +should die. In addition, so subtle were they, I knew not when some +secret and desperate attack might not be made upon myself. + +Foul play was intended. Of that I had no doubt. + +The autumn days were passing. Business London had returned from the +country and the sea, and even the blinds of houses in Berkeley Square +were, one after another, being raised, indicative of the fact that many +people in Society were already again in town. + +I exchanged letters with Lola almost daily. She was very happy and had +greatly improved, she said, and also expressed a hope that we should +soon meet, a hope which I devoutly reciprocated. + +My one great fear, however, was that some dastardly attack might be made +upon her if any of the bandits succeeded in discovering her +hiding-place. For that reason I sent Rayner to Bournemouth in secret to +watch the house, and to ascertain whether any signs of intended evil +were apparent. + +He remained there a week, until one morning in October I received an +urgent telegram from him asking me, if I were well enough, to lose no +time in coming to Bournemouth. He gave no reason for the urgency of his +message, but gravely apprehensive, I took the next train from Waterloo, +arriving in Bournemouth about four o'clock. Rayner refused to meet me +openly, so I drove to the _Grand Hotel_, where he was staying, and found +him in his room awaiting me. + +"There's something up, sir," he said very seriously, when I had closed +the door. "But I can't exactly make out what is intended. Mademoiselle +does not, of course, know I'm here. She went to the Winter Gardens with +two young ladies last night, and they were followed by a man--a +stranger. He went behind them to the concert, and sat in the back seats +watching them, and when they walked home, he followed." + +"Have you ever seen him before?" + +"Never, sir." + +"Is he young or old?" + +"Young, and looks like a gentleman." + +"A foreigner?" + +"No, an Englishman, sir," was my man's reply. "I dare say if we go along +to Boscombe to-night, and watch the house, we might see him. He's up to +no good, I believe." + +I readily adopted Rayner's suggestion. + +As soon as darkness fell, we took the tram eastward, and at length +alighted at the end of a quiet road of comfortable red-brick villas, in +one of which Lola was residing, a road which ran from the highway +towards the sea. + +Separating, I passed up the road, while my man waited at the corner. The +house of my friends stood in its own small garden, a neat, artistic +little red-and-white place with a long verandah in front and a pleasant +garden full of dahlias. As I passed it I saw that many of the rooms were +lit, and I was eager to go and ring at the door and meet Lola, after our +long separation. + +But I remembered I was there to watch and to ward off any danger that +might threaten. Therefore I turned upon my heel, and finding a hedge, +behind which lay some vacant land, I hid myself behind it and waited, +wondering what had become of Rayner. + +All was quiet, save for the rumble of electric trams passing along the +main road to Bournemouth. From where I lurked, smoking a cigarette, I +could hear a woman's sweet contralto voice singing gaily one of the +latest songs of the Paris Café concerts, which ran-- + + + "_C'est la femme aux bijoux, + Celle qui rend fou, + C'est une enjôleuse, + Tous ceux qui l'ont aimée, + Ont souffert, ont pleuré._ + + _Ell' n'aime que l'argent, + Se rit des serments, + Prends garde à la gueuse! + Le coeur n'est qu'un joujou, + Pour la femme aux bijoux!_" + + +_La femme aux bijoux!_ The words fell upon my ears, causing me to +ponder. Was she not herself "_La femme aux bijoux_"! How strangely +appropriate was that merry _chanson_ which I had so often heard in +Paris, Brussels, and elsewhere. + +Suddenly the train of my reflections was interrupted by the sound of a +light footstep coming in my direction, and, peering eagerly forth, I +discerned the figure of a rather smart-looking man advancing towards me. + +I watched him come forward, tall and erect, into the light of the +street-lamp a little to my left. He was well dressed in a smart suit of +dark brown with well-creased trousers, and wore a soft Hungarian hat of +dark-brown plush. On his hands were wash-leather gloves and he carried a +gold-mounted stick. + +As he came nearer I saw his face, and my heart gave a great leap. I +stared again, not being able to believe my own eyes! + +Was it, indeed, any wonder? How would you, my reader, have felt in +similar circumstances? I ask, for the man who came past me, within a +couple of feet from where I stood concealed, all unconscious of my +presence, was no stranger. + +It was Edward Craig--Edward Craig, risen from the dead! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IS MORE MYSTERIOUS + + +I stood there aghast, staggered, open-mouthed. The man was walking +slowly towards the house whence issued the gay _chanson_, the house +where, in the great bay window, shone a bright light across the tiny +strip of lawn which separated it from the roadway. + +I watched him like a man in a dream. As he approached the house he trod +lightly on tip-toe, unaware of my presence behind the bushes. In a flash +the recollections of that strange affair by the North Sea, in Cromer, +recurred to me. I remembered that green-painted seat upon the cliff, +where the coast-guard, in the early dawn, had found him lying dead, of +his strange disguise, and of the coroner's inquiry which followed. I +remembered too, all too well, the puzzling incidents which followed; the +presence of the notorious Jeanjean in that quiet little cliff-resort; +the disappearance of the man of master-mind; the discovery of his hoard +of gold and gems, and how, subsequently, it had been spirited away in a +manner which had absolutely flabbergasted the astute members of the +Norfolk Constabulary, unused as they were to cases of ingenious crime. + +Truly it was all amazing--utterly astounding. + +I watched Craig's receding figure in startled wonder, holding my breath, +and trying to convince myself that I had been mistaken in some +resemblance. + +But I was not. The man who had passed me was Edward Craig in the +flesh--the man upon whose death twelve honest tradesmen of Cromer had +delivered their verdict--the man who had been placed in his coffin and +buried. + +Was ever there incident such as this, I wondered? Had ever man met with +a similar experience? + +By the light of the street-lamp I saw him glance anxiously up and down +that quiet, dark road. Then satisfying himself that he was unobserved, +he crept in at the gate, crossed the lawn noiselessly, and peered in at +the window through the chink between the windowframe and the blind. + +For fully five minutes he remained with his eyes glued to the window. In +the light which fell upon him I saw that his face had assumed an angry, +vengeful look, and that his gloved hands were clenched. + +Yes. He certainly meant mischief. He was watching her as she sat, all +unconsciously, at the piano, singing the gay _chansons_ of the +boulevards, "Mimi d'Amour," "Le tic-tac du Moulin," "Petit Pierre," and +others, so popular in Paris at the moment. + +The family of the retired excise-officer knew but little French, but +they evidently enjoyed the spontaneous gaiety of the songs. + +That Edward Craig, after his mysterious death, should reappear as a +shadow in the night was certainly most astounding. At first I tried to +convince myself that only a strong resemblance existed, but his gait, +his figure, his face, the manner in which he held his cane, and the +slight angle at which he wore his hat--the angle affected by those +elegant young men who in these days are termed "nuts"--were all the +same. + +Yes. It was Edward Craig and none other! + +And yet, who was the man who so suddenly lost his life while +masquerading in the clothes of old Gregory Vernon? + +Aye, that was the question. + +With strained eyes I watched and saw him change his position in order to +obtain a better view of the interior of the room. There was no sign of +Rayner, who, I supposed, had not risked following him, knowing that I +was lurking close to the house. + +That his intentions were evil ones I could not doubt, and yet the light +shining upon his countenance revealed a strange, almost fascinated +expression, as his eyes were fixed into the room, and upon her without a +doubt. + +The music had not ceased. Her quick fingers were still running over the +keys, and in her sweet contralto she was singing the catching refrain-- + + + "_Mimi d'amour, + Petite fleur jolie, + Oui pour toujours + Je t'ai donné ma vie. + Les jours sont courts + Grisons-nous, ma chérie, + Petit' Mimi jolie, + Mimi d'amour!_" + + +Her voice ceased, and, as it did so, the silent watcher crept away, +gaining the pavement and walking lightly in my direction. + +As he passed, within a couple of feet of where I was concealed, I was +able to confirm my belief. There was no doubt as to his identity. By +this discovery the cliff-mystery at Cromer had become a more formidable +and astounding problem. Who could have been the actual victim? What +facts did Lola actually know? + +So well organized and so far extended the ramifications of the criminal +association of which Gregory Vernon was the head and brains, that I +became bewildered. + +I stood gazing over the hedge watching Craig disappear back towards the +main road, where at the corner a small red light now showed. + +When he had got a safe distance from me, I emerged and, crossing the +road quickly, hastened after him. Rayner was in waiting and would, no +doubt, take up the chase. + +Yet when he approached the corner I saw that he suddenly crossed to +where the red light showed, and entering the car, which was evidently +waiting for him, was driven swiftly off to the right in the direction of +Christchurch. + +Rayner met me in breathless haste a few moments after the car had turned +the corner, saying-- + +"I didn't know that car was waiting for him, sir. It only pulled up a +moment ago." + +"Was anybody in it?" + +"Only the driver." + +"Did you take the number?" + +"Yes, sir. It's local, we'll soon find out its owner." + +"You must do so," I said. "The police will help you. But do you know who +that man was?" + +"No, sir. He's a stranger to me," Rayner replied. + +"Well," I said, "he's Edward Craig." + +"Edward Craig!" echoed Rayner, staring at me as we stood at the street +corner together. "Why, that's the man who was murdered at Cromer!" + +"The same." + +"But he died. An inquest was held." + +"I tell you, Rayner, that Edward Craig--the man who is supposed to be +nephew of old Gregory Vernon--is still alive. I could identify him among +ten thousand." + +Rayner was silent. Then at last he said-- + +"Well, sir, that's utterly astounding. Who, then, was the man who was +killed?" + +"That's just what we have to discover," I replied. "We must find out, +too, why he wore old Vernon's clothes on that fatal night." + +Thoughts of the footprint, and the tiny shoe which had so exactly fitted +it, arose within me, but I kept my own counsel and said nothing. + +Having told Rayner to inquire of the police regarding the mysterious +car, and to return to the hotel and await me, I retraced my steps along +that quiet, eminently respectable road, inhabited mostly by retired +tradespeople from London or the North of England, who live in their +"model" villas or "ideal homes" so pleasantly situated, after the smoke +and bustle of business life. + +When I entered the pretty little drawing-room where Lola was, she sprang +to her feet to receive me, holding out her small white hand in glad +welcome. + +In her smiling, sweet face was a far healthier look than when I had +taken leave of her, and returned to London, and in reply to my question, +she declared that she felt much stronger. The sea air had done her an +immense amount of good. Yes, she was a delightful little person who had +been ever in my thoughts. + +She anxiously inquired after my health, but I laughingly declared that I +was now quite right again. + +Her hostess, Mrs. Featherstone, with her daughter, Winifred, and a young +fellow to whom the latter was engaged, were present, so I sat down for a +chat, all four being apparently delighted by my unexpected visit. Mr. +Featherstone had, I found, gone to London that morning and would not +return for three days. + +Presently mother and daughter, and the young man, probably knowing that +I wished to speak with Mademoiselle alone, made excuses and left the +room. + +Then when the door had closed I rose and walked over to where Lola, in a +simple semi-evening gown of soft cream silk, was reclining in an +arm-chair, her neat little shoes placed upon a velvet footstool. + +"To-night," I said in a low voice in French, as I stood near her chair, +my hand resting upon it. "To-night, Lola, I have made a very startling +discovery." + +"A discovery!" she exclaimed, instantly interested. "What?" + +"Edward Craig is still alive!" I answered. "He did not die in Cromer, as +we have all believed." + +"Edward Craig!" she echoed, amazed. "How do you know? I--I mean--_mon +Dieu_!--it's impossible!" + +"It seems impossible, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, Lola," I declared +in a low, earnest tone as I bent towards her. I had watched her face +and, by its expression, knew the truth. "And you," I added, slowly, +"have been aware of this all along." + +"I--I----" she faltered in French, opening her big blue eyes widely, as +the colour mounted to her cheeks in her confusion. + +"No," I interrupted, raising my hand in protest. "Please do not deny +it. You have known that Craig did not die, Lola. You may as well, at +once, admit your knowledge." + +"Certainement, I have not denied it," was her low reply. + +"How did you know he was alive?" I asked. + +"Well," and then she hesitated. But, after a few seconds' reflection, +she went on: "After that affair at Lobenski's in Petersburg, I was +leaving at night for Berlin, by the Ostend rapide, with some of the +stolen stones sewn in my dress, as I told you, when, just as the train +moved off from the platform, I fancied I caught sight of him. But only +for a second. Then, when I came to consider all the facts, I felt +convinced that my eyes must have deceived me. Edward Craig was dead and +buried, and the man on the railway platform must have only borne some +slight resemblance to him." + +Was she deceiving me? I wondered. + +"Have you since seen the same man anywhere else?" I asked her, +seriously. + +"Well, yes," she replied slowly. "Curiously enough, I saw the same +person once in Paris, and again in London. I was in a taxi going along +Knightsbridge on the afternoon of the day when I afterwards walked so +innocently into the trap at Spring Grove. He was just coming out of the +post-office in Knightsbridge, but did not notice me as I passed. I +turned to look at him a second time, but he had gone in the opposite +direction and his back was towards me. Yet I felt certain that he was +actually the same man whom I had seen as the Ostend Express had left +Petersburg. And now," she added, looking straight into my eyes, "you +tell me that Edward Craig still lives!" + +"He does. And he has been here--at this house--to-night!" + +"At this house!" gasped the Nightingale, starting instantly to her feet, +her face as pale as death. + +"Yes. He has been standing on the lawn outside, peering in at this +window, watching you seated at the piano," I explained. + +"Watching me!" + +"Yes," I replied. "And, if my surmise is correct, he is certainly no +friend of yours. He has watched you during the _coup_ in Petersburg, +again in Paris, and in London, and now he has discovered your +hiding-place," I answered. "What does it all mean?" + +Deathly pale, with thin, quivering lips, and hands clasped helplessly +before her, she stood there in an attitude of deadly fear, of blank +despair. + +"Yes," she whispered in a low, strained voice, full of apprehension. "I +believed that he was dead, that----" + +But she halted, as if suddenly recollecting that her words might betray +her. Her bosom, beneath the laces of her corsage, rose and fell +convulsively. + +"That--what?" I asked in a soft, sympathetic voice, placing my hand +tenderly upon her shoulder, and looking into her wonderful eyes. + +"Oh! I--I----" she exclaimed in a half-choked voice. "I thought him +dead. But now, alas! I find that my suspicions are well grounded. He is +alive--and he has actually been here!" + +"Then you are in fear of him--in deadly fear, Lola," I said. "Why?" And +I looked straight at my dainty little friend. + +She tried to make response, but though her white lips moved no sound +escaped them. I saw how upset and overwrought she was by the amazing +information I had conveyed to her. + +"Tell me the truth, Lola--the truth of what happened in Cromer," I +urged, my hand still upon her shoulder. "Do not withhold it from me. +Remember, I am your friend, your most devoted friend." + +She trembled at my question. + +"If the dead man was not Edward Craig, then, who was he?" I asked, as +she had made no reply. + +"How can I tell?" she asked in French. "I thought it was Craig. Was he +not identified as Craig and buried as him?" + +"Certainly. And I, too, most certainly believed the body to be that of +Craig," I answered. + +For a few moments there was a dead silence. Then I repeated my question. +I could see that she feared that young man's visit even more than she +did either her uncle or the old scoundrel Vernon. + +For some mysterious reason the fact that Craig still lived held her in +breathless suspense and apprehension. + +"Lola," I said at last, speaking very earnestly and sympathetically, "am +I correct in my surmise that this man, whom both you and I have believed +to be in his grave, is in possession of some secret of yours--some +weighty secret? Tell me frankly." + +For answer she slowly nodded, and next moment burst into a torrent of +hot, bitter tears, saying, in a faltering voice, scarce above a +whisper-- + +"Yes, alas! M'sieur Vidal. He--he is in possession of my +secret--and--and the past has risen against me!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +HOT-FOOT ACROSS EUROPE + + +By Lola's attitude I became more than ever mystified. I tried to induce +her to tell me the exact position of affairs, but she seemed far too +nervous and unstrung. The fact that Craig had found out her hiding-place +seemed to cause her the most breathless anxiety. + +That he knew some guilty secret of hers seemed plain. + +It was eleven o'clock before I rose to go, after begging her many times +in vain to tell me the truth. I felt confident that she could reveal +the strange mystery of Cromer, yet she steadfastly refused. + +"You surely see, Lola, that we are both in serious peril," I said, +standing before the chair upon which she had sunk in deep dejection. +"These daring, unscrupulous people must, sooner or later, make a fatal +attack upon us, if we do not deliver our blow against them. To invoke +the aid or protection of the police is useless. They set all authority +at defiance, for they are wealthy, and the ramifications of their +society extend all over Europe." + +"I know," she admitted. "Vernon has agents in every country. I have met +many of them--quite unsuspicious persons. My uncle has introduced me to +people at whose apparent honesty and respectability I have been amazed." + +"Then you must surely realize how insecure is the present position of +both of us," I said. + +"I do. But disaster cannot be averted," was her sorrowful response. + +"Unless you unite with me in avenging the attack made upon us at Spring +Grove." + +"What is the use?" she queried. "They have all left London." + +"What?" I exclaimed quickly. "You know that?" + +"Yes," she replied. "I know they have." + +"How?" + +"By an advertisement I saw in the paper three days ago," she answered. +"They use a certain column of a certain paper on a certain day to +distribute general information to all those interested." + +"In a code?" + +"In a secret cipher--known only to the friends of M'sieur Vernon," she +said. "They always look for his orders or his warnings on the eighteenth +of each month. My uncle is back at Algiers." + +"Where is Vernon?" + +"Ah! I do not know. Perhaps he is with my uncle." + +"But the young man, Craig. Why is he watching you? It can only be with +evil intent." + +She drew a long breath, but said nothing. And to all my further +questions she remained dumb, so that when I bent over her outstretched +hand and left, I felt annoyed at her resolute secrecy--a secrecy which +must, I felt, result fatally. + +And yet by her manner I was confident that she was still prevented by +fear from revealing everything to me. Yes, after all, I pitied her +deeply. + +At the _Grand_ I found Rayner awaiting me. He had already learnt from +the police that the car in which Craig had driven away belonged to a +garage in Bournemouth. + +On going there he had found the car had just returned. It had been hired +for the evening by Craig himself, who had first driven out to Boscombe +and was afterwards driven to Christchurch, where he had caught the +express for London. + +He had, therefore, gone. + +This news I scribbled in a note to Lola, and before midnight Rayner had +delivered it at Mr. Featherstone's house. + +Then I retired to rest full of strange thoughts and serious +apprehensions. The revelations of that night had indeed been astounding. +Craig was alive, and his intentions were, undoubtedly, sinister ones. + +But who was the man who had met with such a mysterious death and had +been buried as "Mr. Gregory's nephew?" + +At eleven o'clock next morning I took the tram along to Boscombe and +rang at the door of the house where my delightful little friend was +living. + +The neat maid who answered amazed me by saying-- + +"Mademoiselle left for London by the eight o'clock train this morning, +sir. She packed all her things after you left last night, and ordered a +cab by telephone." + +"Didn't she leave me any message?" I asked Mrs. Featherstone, when I +saw her a few moments later. + +"No, none, Mr. Vidal," replied the old lady. "After you had gone, and +she received your note, she became suddenly very terrified, why, I don't +know. Then she packed, and though we tried to persuade her to stay till +you called, she declined. All she said, besides thanking us, was that +she would write to you." + +"Most extraordinary!" I exclaimed. "I wonder what caused her such sudden +fear?" + +Could it have been that she had discovered any one else watching the +house? Strange, I thought, that she had not sent me word of her intended +departure. She could so easily have spoken to me on the telephone. + +Well, two hours later, I followed her to London, and began an inquiry of +hotels where I knew she had stayed on previous occasions--the _Cecil_, +the _Savoy_, the _Carlton_, the _Metropole_, the _Grand_, and so forth. +But though I spent a couple of hours on the telephone, speaking with +various reception clerks, I could get no news of Mademoiselle Sorel. + +Yet, was it surprising? She would hardly, in the circumstances, stay in +London in her own name. + +Ten days went by. By each post I expected news of Lola, but none came, +and I felt confident that she had gone abroad. + +I wired and wrote to Mademoiselle Elise Leblanc, at the Poste Restante +at Versailles. But I obtained no reply. At last I went down to Cromer +and remained at the _Hôtel de Paris_ for nearly a week, carefully going +over all the details of the mystery with Mr. Day and Inspector Treeton, +who were, of course, both as much puzzled as I was myself. + +The autumn weather was perfect. The holiday crowd had left, and Cromer +looked her brightest and best in the glorious sunshine and golden tints +of the declining year. On the links I played one or two most enjoyable +rounds, and once or twice I sat outside the Golf Club and smoked and +chatted with men I knew in London. + +Daily I wondered what had become of Lola. + +Time after time I visited that green-painted seat near which the dead +man had been found and where I had discovered the imprint of Lola's +shoe. But, beyond what I have already recorded in the foregoing pages, I +could discover absolutely nothing. The identity of the man who had +masqueraded in the clothes of the master-criminal was entirely +enshrouded in mystery. + +The law had buried Edward Craig, and in the cemetery, on the road to +Holt was a plain head-stone bearing his name and the date of his death. + +How could I have been mistaken in his identity? That was the chief fact +which held me puzzled and confused. I had looked upon his face, as +others had done, and all had agreed that the man who died was actually +Craig. + +I told Treeton nothing of my discovery, but one day, as I stood at the +window of the hotel gazing across the sea, I made a sudden resolve, and +that evening I found myself back again in my rooms in London, with +Rayner packing my traps for a trip across the Channel. + +My one most deadly fear was that Lola might, already, have fallen into +one or other of the pitfalls which were, no doubt, spread open for her. +The crafty, unscrupulous gang, with Vernon at their head, were +determined that we both should die. + +On the morning of my arrival from Cromer I left Charing Cross by the +boat-train, and that same evening entered the long, dusty _wagon-lit_ of +the night rapide for Marseilles. + +Marseilles! How many times in my life had I trod the broad Cannebière, +drank cocktails at the Louvre et Paix, ate my boullibuisse at the little +underground café, where the best in the world is served, or sauntered +along the double row of booths placed under the trees of the +boulevard--shops where one can buy anything from a toothpick to a +kitchen-stove. Yes, even to the blasé cosmopolitan, Marseilles is always +interesting, and as I drove along from the station up the Cannebière, I +found the place full of life and movement, with the masts of shipping +and glimpses of huge docks showing at the end of the broad, handsome +thoroughfare. + +From the station I drove direct to the big black mail-boat of the French +Transatlantic Company, and by noon we had swung out of the harbour past +the historic Château d'If, our bows set due south, for Algiers. Lola had +told me that Jeanjean had fled to his hiding-place. And I intended to +seek him and face him. + +There were few passengers on board--one or two French officers on their +way to join their regiments, a few commercial men; while in the third +class I saw more than one squatting, brown-faced Arab, picturesque in +his white burnouse and turban, placidly smoking, with his belongings +tied in bundles arranged around him on the deck. The sea in the Gulf of +Lyons was rough, as it usually is, yet the bright autumn weather on land +had seemed perfect. As soon, however, as we were away from the gulf and +in the open sea, following for hours in the wake of an Orient liner on +her way to Australia, the weather abated and the voyage became most +enjoyable. + +As a student of men, I found the passengers in the steerage far more +interesting than those in the saloon. Among the former was a knot of +young, active-looking men of various nationalities, who leaned over the +side watching the crimson sunset, and smoking and chattering, sometimes +trying to make each other understand. I saw they were in charge of a +military officer, and one of them being a smart, rather gentlemanly +young Englishman--the only other Englishman on board, as far as I could +gather--I spoke to him. + +"Yes," he laughed, "my comrades here are rather a queer lot. We've all +of us come to grief in one way or another. Bad luck, that's it. I speak +for myself. I had a commission in the Hussars, but the gambling fever +bit me hard, and I went a little too often to Dick Seddon's snug little +place in Knightsbridge. Then I came a cropper, the governor cut up +rough, and there was only one thing left to do--to hand in my papers, go +to Paris, and join the French Foreign Legion. So, here I am, drafted to +Algeria as a private with my friends, who are all in the same glorious +predicament. See that fair-bearded chap over there?" he added, pointing +to a well-set-up man of thirty-five who was just lighting a cigarette. +"He's a German Baron, captain of one of the crack regiments in +Saxony--quite a decent chap--a woman, I think, is at the bottom of his +trouble." + +And so, while the Arabs knelt towards Mecca, and touched the decks with +their foreheads, we chatted on, he telling me what he knew concerning +each of his hard-up companions who, under names not their own, were now +on their way to serve France, as privates, in the "Legion of the Lost +Ones," and start their careers afresh. + +At last, after a couple of days, the blue coast of Africa could be +discerned straight ahead, and gradually, as I stood leaning upon the +rail and watching, the long white front of Algiers, with its breakwater, +its white domes of mosques, and high minarets, and its heights crowned +by white villas, came into view. + +The city, dazzling white against the intense blue of the Mediterranean, +presented a picture like the illustration to a fairy tale, and I stood +watching, the sunny strip of African shore until at last we dropped +anchor in the shelter of the bay, and presently went ashore in a boat. + +I followed my traps across the sun-baked promenade to the nearest +hotel--the old-fashioned _Régence_, in The Place--and after a wash, and +a marzagran at the café outside, I inquired my way to the Prefecture of +Police, where, on presenting an open letter, which Henri Jonet, of the +_Sûreté_, had given me a couple of years before, and which had often +served as an introduction, I was received very cordially. + +To the French detective-inspector I said-- + +"I am making an inquiry, and I want, M'sieur, to ask you to allow me to +have one of your men. I am meeting an individual who may prove +desperate." + +"There is danger--eh? Why, of course, M'sieur, a man shall accompany +you." And he shouted through the open window to one of his underlings +who was seated on a bench in the inner courtyard. + +I made no mention of the name of Jules Jeanjean. Had I done so the +effect would, I know, have been electrical. + +But when I got outside with the dark-eyed, sunburnt little man in a +shabby straw hat and rather frayed suit, I exclaimed in French-- + +"There is a villa somewhere outside the town where some experiments in +wireless telegraphy are being conducted. Do you happen to know the +place?" + +"Ah! M'sieur means the Villa Beni Hassan, out near the Jardin d'Essai. +There are two high masts in the grounds with four long wires suspended +between them." + +"Who lives there?" + +"The Comte Paul d'Esneux." + +"Is he French?" I asked, at the same time inquiring his description. + +From the latter, as the detective gave it to me, I at once knew that the +Comte d'Esneux and Jules Jeanjean were one and the same. + +"Non, Monsieur," replied the man. "He is a great Belgian financier. He +comes here at frequent intervals, and carries on his experiments with +wireless telegraphy. It is said that he has made several discoveries in +wireless telephony, hence the Government have given him permission to +establish a station with as great a power as that at Oran." + +"And he is often experimenting?" + +"Constantly. It is said that he can actually transmit messages to Paris +and England. Last year, when the station at Oran was injured by fire, +the Government operators came here, took his instruments over and +worked them. The installation is, I believe, most up-to-date." + +"_Bien!_" I said. "Then let us go up there, and see this Comte +d'Esneux." + +And together we entered a ramshackle fiacre in The Place, and drove away +out by the city gate to the white, dusty high-road, along which many +white-robed Arabs and a few Europeans were trudging in the burning glare +of the African sun. + +When I had mentioned the Count as the person whom I wished to see, I +noticed that the detective hesitated, and, with a strange look, regarded +me with some apprehension. + +Did he suspect? Was he suspicious of the truth concerning the actual +identity of the wealthy Belgian financier who dabbled in wireless? + +Were rumours already afloat, I wondered? + +Had the ever-active Jonet at last succeeded in establishing the secret +hiding-place of the notorious Jules Jeanjean--the prince of European +jewel-thieves? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +OPENS A DEATH-TRAP + + +The Villa Beni Hassan, a great red-and-white house of Moorish +architecture, with three large domes, and many minarets, and long-arched +windows of stained glass, I found standing high up, facing the azure +sea, amid a wonderful tropical garden full of tall, feathery palms, dark +oleanders, fiery pointsettias, and a perfect tangle of aloes, roses, +giant geraniums and other brilliant flowers. + +A high white wall hid it from the dusty highway, its position being +between the road and the sea with spacious, well-kept grounds sloping +away down to the golden beach. Truly it was a princely residence, one of +the finest in the picturesque suburbs of Algiers. That afternoon beneath +the blazing African sun, shining like burnished copper, all was still in +the fiery heat, which, after the coolness of autumn in England, seemed +overpowering. + +At length the ricketty fiacre pulled up before great gates of ornamental +iron-work, the tops of which were gilded, and on ringing, a gigantic +Arab janitor in blue and gold livery appeared from the concierge's +lodge, and salaamed. + +In Arabic my companion explained that we wished to see the Comte, +whereupon he opened the gates, and on foot we proceeded up the winding, +well-kept drive, bordered by flowers, and shaded by palms of various +species. On our left, across a sun-baked lawn, in the centre of which a +big handsome fountain was playing, I caught sight of an aerial mast of +iron lattice nearly a hundred feet high, and across from it to another +similar mast were suspended four thin wires, kept apart by wooden +crosses. + +I held my breath. I was actually upon the domain of the most daring +criminal known to the European police. + +"There are the wires of the wireless station," the detective exclaimed. +"But why, M'sieur, do you wish to see the Comte?" he asked with sudden +curiosity. + +"To ask him a plain question," was my brief and, I fear, rather snappish +reply. "But tell me," I added, "have you ever seen his niece here +visiting him?" + +"Mademoiselle Sorel, M'sieur means. Yes, certainly. She has often been +here--young, about nineteen--_très petite_, and very pretty. She lives +in Paris." + +"Yes. When was she here last?" + +"Ah! I have not seen her here for several months," replied the man in +the shabby straw hat. "I saw the Comte only yesterday. I was in Mustapha +Pasha when he went past in his grey automobile. He had with him the +tall elderly Englishman who sometimes visits here, a M'sieur Vernon, I +think, is his name." + +"Vernon!" I exclaimed with quick satisfaction. "Is he here?" + +"I believe so, M'sieur. He was here yesterday." + +As he uttered the words we turned the corner, and the great white +Moorish house, with the broad dark-red bands upon the walls, and +dark-red decorations over the arched corridors, came into view. + +Boldly we approached the front door, before which was a great arched +portico lined with dark-blue tiles, delightfully cool after the sun +without. Yet scarcely had we placed our feet upon the threshold when a +tall servant, with face jet-black and three scars upon his cheeks, his +tribal marks, stood before us with a look of inquiry, silently barring +our further passage. + +Beyond we saw a cool courtyard, where vine were trailing overhead, and +water plashed pleasantly into a marble basin. + +Again the detective explained that we wished to see the Comte d'Esneux, +whereupon the silent servant, bowing, motioned us to enter a small +elegantly furnished room on the left of the courtyard, and then +disappeared, closing the door after him. + +The room, panelled in cedar-wood, was Moorish in character, the light +filtering in through long windows of stained glass. Around the vaulted +ceiling was a symmetrical device in Arabesque in gold, red and blue, +while about the place were soft Moorish divans and silken cushions, with +rich rugs on the floor, and a heavy brass arabesque lamp suspended from +the centre of the ornamented ceiling. The place was full of the subtlest +perfume of burning pastilles, and, in a cabinet, I noted a collection of +rare Arab gold and silver jewellery. + +And this was the home of the motor-bandit of the Forest of +Fontainebleau--the man who had shot dead the Paris jeweller, Benoy, with +as little compunction as he killed a fly. + +I strode around the room, bewildered by its Arabian Nights aspect. +Truly Jules Jeanjean lived in a style befitting an Eastern Prince. + +"Hush!" I exclaimed, and we both listened to a loud crackling. "That," I +said, "is the sound of wireless telegraphy. A message is being sent out +across the sea." + +Jeanjean was evidently in a room in the vicinity. + +Suddenly the noise ceased. The door-keeper, who had not asked our names, +had evidently sent in the message that two strangers desired to see his +master. + +But it was only a pause, for in a few seconds the message was resumed. I +could easily distinguish the long and short cracks of the spark across +the gap, as the electric waves were sent into the ether over the +Mediterranean to Europe. + +I happen to know the Continental Morse code, for I had dabbled in +wireless telegraphy two years before. So I stood with strained ears +trying to decipher the tapped-out message. I heard that it was directed +to some station the call-letters of which were "B. X." But the message +was a mere jumble of letters and numerals of some pre-arranged code. + +I listened attentively till I heard the rapid short sound followed by +four long sounds, and another short one, which indicated the conclusion +of the message. + +Then we both waited breathlessly. Who was B. X., I wondered? + +I felt myself upon the verge of a great and effective triumph. I would +give Jeanjean into custody upon a charge of murder, and if Vernon were +still there, he should also be captured at the point of the revolver. + +Those seconds seemed hours. + +In a whisper I urged my companion to hold himself in readiness for a +great surprise, and to have his revolver handy--which he had. + +I laughed within myself at the great surprise the pair would have. + +The heavy atmosphere of the room where, from a big old bowl of brass +with a pierced cover, ascended the blue smoke of perfume being burnt +upon charcoal ashes, became almost unbearable. The pastilles as burnt by +the Orientals is pleasing to the nostrils unless some foreign matter be +mixed with them, or the smoke is not allowed to escape. In this case the +round-headed stained glass windows were fully twelve feet from the +ground, had wire-work in front of them, and apparently did not open. The +designs of dark-blue, purple, red and yellow were very elegant, and they +were probably very ancient windows brought from some fairy-like palace +of the days before the occupation of Algeria by the French. + +Again I gazed around the delightfully luxurious apartment, so +essentially Moorish and artistic. Amid such surroundings had lived +Lola--the girl who had fled from me and disappeared. + +What would the world say when it became known that that magnificent +house, almost indeed a palace, was the home of the man of a hundred +crimes, the daring and unscrupulous criminal, Jules Jeanjean? + +I was listening for a repetition of the wireless signals to B.X., but +could distinguish nothing. Probably he was receiving their reply, in +which case there would be no sounds except in the head-telephones. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" gasped my companion, whose name he had told me was +Fournier. "This atmosphere is becoming suffocating!" + +I agreed, and tried to extinguish the fire within the brazier. +Unfortunately I failed to open the lid, which was held down by some +spring the catch of which I could not detect. + +Indeed, the thin column of blue smoke grew darker and denser, as we +watched. The room became full of a perfume which gradually changed to a +curious odour which suffocated us. + +We both coughed violently, and upon me grew the feeling that I was being +asphyxiated. My throat became contracted, my eyes smarted, and I could +only take short, quick gasps. + +"Let's get out of this," I exclaimed, reaching to open the door. + +But it was locked. + +We were caught like rats in a trap. + +In an instant we both realized that we were imprisoned, and began to +bang violently upon the heavy doors of iron-bound and unpolished oak, +shouting to be let out. The fool of an Arab had secured us there while +he went to announce our visit to his master. + +I took up a small ebony and pearl coffee-table inlaid with a verse from +the Koran, and raising it frantically above my head, attacked the locked +door. But when it struck the oak it flew into a dozen pieces. Fournier +took up a small chair with equally futile result, and then in silence we +exchanged glances. + +Could it be, that on our approach to the house, we had been recognized +by the owner and invited into that room which, with its rising fumes, +was nothing less than an ingenious death-trap. + +I remembered the sinister grin upon the villainous black face of the +silent servant. + +Again and again we attacked the door, for we knew that our lives +depended upon our escape. We shouted, yelled and banged, but attracted +no attention. We threw things at the windows, but they were protected by +the wire-work. + +Then a sudden thought occurred to me. + +Swiftly I bent down and examined the large keyhole. The key had been +taken and, it seemed to me, the heavy bolt of the lock had been shot +into a deep socket in the framework of the door. + +Without a word I motioned Fournier to stand back, and finding that the +barrel of my revolver was, fortunately, small enough to insert into the +keyhole, I pushed it in and pulled the trigger. + +A loud explosion followed, and splinters of wood and iron flew in all +directions. The bolt of the lock was blown away and the door forced +open. + +Next second, with revolvers in our hands, we stood facing two black +faced servants, who drew back in alarm as we rushed from that lethal +chamber. + +Fournier, excited as a Frenchman naturally would be in such +circumstances, raised his weapon and shouted in Arabic that he was a +police-officer, and that all persons in that house were to consider +themselves under arrest. Whereupon both men, Moors they were most +probably, fell upon their knees begging for mercy. + +My companion exchanged some quick words with them, and they entered into +a conversation, while at the same moment, casting my eyes across the +beautiful, blue-tiled, vaulted hall, I looked through an open door into +the room which the Count d'Esneux used for his experiments in wireless. + +At a glance I recognized, by the variety of the apparatus, the size of +the great spiral transmitting helix, by the pattern of the loose-coupled +tuning inductance, the big variable condensers, those strange-looking +circular instruments of zinc vanes enclosed in a round glass, used for +receiving, the electrolytic detector, and the big crystal detector, a +gold point working over silicon, carborundum, galena, and copper +pyrites--that the station must have a very wide range. The spark-gap was +bigger than any I had ever before seen, while there was a long loading +coil enabling any distant station using long wave-lengths to be picked +up, as well as the latest type of potentiometer, used to regulate the +voltage and current supplied to the detectors. + +At a glance I took in the whole arrangement, placed as it was, upon a +long table beneath a window of stained glass at the further end of that +luxurious little Moorish chamber. Apparently no cost had been spared in +its installation, and I fully believed that with it the notorious +criminal could communicate with any station within a radius of, perhaps, +two thousand miles. + +Fournier had questioned the native servants rapidly, and received their +replies, which were at first unsatisfactory. I saw by the fear in their +faces that he had threatened them, when suddenly one of them excitedly +made a statement. + +"_Diable!_" cried the detective in French, turning to me. "The Count +recognized us, and had us locked in that death-chamber while he and the +Englishman, M'sieur Vernon, got away!" + +"Escaped!" I gasped in dismay. "Then let us follow." + +A quick word in Arabic, and the two servants, without further +reluctance, dashed away along the big hall, through several +luxuriously-furnished rooms full of soft divans, where the air was heavy +with Eastern perfumes and the decorations were mostly in dark red and +blue. Then across a small cool courtyard paved with polished marble, +where another fountain plashed, and out to the sun-baked palm-grove +which sloped from the front of the house away to the calm sapphire sea. + +Excitedly the men pointed, as we stood upon the marble terrace, to a +white speck far away along the broken coast of pale brown rocks, a speck +fast receding around the next point, behind which was hidden the harbour +of Algiers. + +"By Gad!" I cried, gazing eagerly after it, "that's a motor-boat, and +they are making for the town! We mustn't lose an instant or they will +get away to some place of safety." + +So together we dashed back to the road as fast as our legs could carry +us, and drove with all possible speed back to the town, in order to +reach the harbour before the fugitives could land. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DESCRIBES A CHASE + + +The driver, with the southerner's disregard of the feelings of animals, +lashed his weedy horse into a gallop, as up-hill and down-hill we sped, +back to the town. + +Entering the city gate, the man scattered the dogs and foot-passengers +by his warning yells in Arabic, until at last we were down upon the +long, semi-circular quay, our eager eyes looking over the blue, sun-lit +sea. + +No sign could we discern of the motor-boat, but Fournier, with his hand +uplifted, cried-- + +"See! Look at that white steam-yacht at the end of the Mole--the long, +low-built one. That belongs to the Count. Perhaps he has already boarded +her!" + +I looked in the direction my companion indicated, and there saw lying +anchored about half a mile from the shore a small white-painted yacht, +built so low that her decks were almost awash, with two rakish-looking +funnels, and a light mast at either end with a wireless telegraph +suspended between them. The French tricolour was flying at the stern. + +From the funnels smoke was issuing, and from where I stood, I could see +men running backwards and forwards. + +"She's getting under weigh," I cried. "The fugitives must be aboard. We +must stop them." + +"How can we?" asked the Frenchman, dismayed. "Besides, why should +we--except that we were nearly suffocated in that room." + +"That man you know as the Comte d'Esneux is the most dangerous criminal +in all Europe," I told him. "To the Prefecture of Police in Paris--to +you in Algiers also--he is known as Jules Jeanjean!" + +"Jules Jeanjean!" choked out the man in the shabby straw hat. "Is that +the actual truth, M'sieur?" + +"It is," I replied. "And now you know the cause of my anxiety." + +"Why, there is a reward of four hundred thousand francs for his capture, +offered by companies who have insured jewels he has stolen," he cried. + +"I know. Now, what shall we do?" I asked, feeling myself helpless, for +at that moment I saw the motor-boat draw away from the yacht, with only +one occupant, the man driving the engine. It had turned and was speeding +along the coast back in the direction of the villa, white foam rising at +its elevated bows. + +"What can we do?" queried my companion. "That yacht is the fastest +privately owned craft in the Mediterranean. It is the _Carlo Alberta_, +the Italian torpedo-boat built at Spezzia two years ago. Because it did +not quite fulfil the specifications, it was disarmed and sold. The Count +purchased her, and turned her into a yacht." + +"But surely there must be some craft on which we could follow?" I +exclaimed. "Let's see." + +We drove down to the port, and after a few rapid inquiries at the bureau +of the harbour-master, found that there was lying beyond the Mole, a big +steam-yacht belonging to an American railway magnate named Veale. The +owner and some ladies were on board, and he might perhaps assist the +police and give chase. + +Quickly we were aboard the fast motor-boat belonging to the harbour +authorities, but ere we had set out, the _Carlo Alberta_, with long +lines of black smoke issuing from her funnels, had weighed anchor and +was slowly steaming away. + +Silas J. Veale, of the New York Central Railroad, a tall, very thin, +very bald-headed man in a smart yachting suit, greeted us pleasantly +when we boarded his splendid yacht. When he heard our appeal he entered +into the adventure with spirit and gave the order to sail at once. + +Beside us, on his own broad white deck, he stood scanning the +low-built, rapidly disappearing _Carlo Alberta_ through his binoculars. + +"Guess they'll be able to travel some! We'll have all our work cut out +if we mean to keep touch with them. Never mind. We'll see what the old +_Viking_ can do." + +Then he shouted another order to his captain, a red-whiskered American, +urging him to "hurry up and get a move on!" + +As we stood there, three ladies, his wife and two daughters, the latter +respectively about twenty-two and twenty, all of them in yachting +costumes, came and joined us, eagerly inquiring whither we were bound. + +"Don't know, Jenny," he replied to his wife. "We're just following a +couple of crooks who've got slick away in that two-funnelled boat +yonder, and we mean to keep in touch with them till they land. That's +all." + +"Then we're leaving Algiers!" exclaimed the younger girl regretfully. + +"Looks like it, Sadie," was his reply. "The police have requested our +aid, an' we can't very well refuse it." Then turning to me he exclaimed, +"Say, I wonder where they're making for?" + +"They are the most elusive pair of thieves in Europe," I replied. "They +are certain to get away if we do not exercise the greatest caution." + +The ladies grew most excited, and as the vessel began at last to move +through the water, the chief officer shouting at her men, the girl whose +name was Sadie, a smart, rather good-looking little person, though +typically American, exclaimed to me, as she fixed her grey eyes on the +fleeing vessel-- + +"Do you think they are faster than we are?" + +"I fear so," was my reply. "But your father has promised to do his +best." + +"What crime is alleged against the men?" inquired Mrs. Veale, in a +high-pitched, nasal tone. + +"Murder," replied Fournier, in French, understanding English, but never +speaking it. + +"Murder!" all three ladies echoed in unison. "How exciting!" + +And exciting that chase proved. Old Mr. Veale entered thoroughly into +the spirit of the adventure. With Fournier, I took off my coat and, +descending to the engine-room, assisted to stoke, we having put to sea +short-handed, three men being ashore. Amateur stoking, of course, is not +conducive to speed, but Veale himself, his coat also off, and perspiring +freely, directed our efforts. + +Still our speed was not up to what it should have been. Therefore the +owner of the yacht went along to the storeroom, and dragging out sides +of cured bacon, chopped them up, and with the pieces fed the furnaces, +until we got up sufficient steam-pressure, and were moving through the +calm, sun-lit waters at the maximum speed the fine yacht had attained on +her trials. + +As the golden sun sank away in the direction of Gibraltar, the fugitive +vessel held on her course to the north-east, straight to where the +nightclouds were rising upon the horizon. Far away we could see the long +line of black smoke lying out behind her upon the glassy sea. And though +we had every ounce of pressure in our boilers, yet with heart-sinking we +watched her slowly but very surely, getting further and further away +from us, growing smaller as each half-hour passed. + +The fiery sun sank into the glassy sea, and was followed by a wonderful +crimson afterglow, which shone upon our anxious faces as, ever and anon, +we left our work in the stifling stokehold, and went on deck for a +breath of fresh air. + +Fournier's face was grimy with coal-dust, and so was mine, while Veale +himself also took his turn in handling the shovel. + +The chase was full of wildest excitement, which was certainly shared by +the three ladies, to whom the hunting of criminals was a decided +novelty. + +With the aid of a whisky and soda now and then, and on odd ham +sandwich, we worked far into the night. + +The captain reported that before darkness had fallen the _Carlo Alberta_ +had, according to the laws of navigation, put up her lights. But an hour +after the darkness became complete she must have either extinguished +them or had passed through a bank of mist. For fully half an hour +nothing was seen of the lights, though most of the men on board were +eagerly on the watch for a sight of them. Suddenly, however, they again +reappeared. + +Then our captain, after consultation with Mr. Veale, decided to try a +ruse. He extinguished every light in the ship, but still held on his +course, following the distant yacht. For quite an hour we went +full-speed ahead with all lights extinguished, keeping an active +look-out for shipping, or for obstacles. + +We did this in order that the fugitives should believe we had given up +the chase. Though their vessel was so fast, it was apparent that +something must have happened to them, for they had not drawn away from +us so far as we had expected. An ordinary steam-yacht, however swift she +may be, can never hold her own with a destroyer. + +"Guess she's got engine-trouble," remarked the American captain as I +stood with him upon the bridge, peering into the darkness. "We may +overhaul her yet if you gentlemen keep the furnaces a-going as you have +been. Hot job, ain't it?" + +"Rather," I laughed. "But I don't mind as long as we can get alongside +that boat." And then I returned to my place in the stokehold, perspiring +so freely that I had not a stitch of dry clothing upon me. + +Half an hour later I was again on deck for a blow, and saw that the +fugitive steamer had perceptibly increased the distance between us. Had +her engines been working well she would, no doubt, have been well out of +sight two hours after we had left Algiers. Yet, as it was, we were still +following in her wake, all our lights out, so that in the darkness she +could not see us following. + +The whole of that night was an exciting one. All of us worked at the +furnaces with a will, pouring in coal to keep up every ounce of steam of +which our boilers were capable. No one slept, and Mrs. Veale, now as +excited as the rest, brought us big draughts of tea below. + +In the stokehold the heat became unbearable. I was not used to such a +temperature, neither were the railway magnate nor the detective. The +latter was all eagerness now that he knew who was on board the vessel +away there on the horizon. + +"She's making for Genoa, I believe," declared the captain, towards four +o'clock in the morning. "She's not going to Marseilles, that's very +evident. If only we had wireless on board we might warn the +harbour-police at Genoa to detain them, but, unfortunately, we haven't." + +"And they have!" I remarked with a grin. + +Dawn came at last, and the spreading light revealed us. From the two low +funnels of the escaping vessel a long trail of black smoke extended far +away across the sea, while from our funnel went up a whirling, +woolly-looking, dunnish column, due to our unprofessional stoking. + +All the bacon had been used, as well as other stores, to make as much +steam as possible, yet even though the _Carlo Alberta_ had plainly +something amiss with her engines, we found it quite impossible to +overhaul her. + +The day went past, long and exciting. The captain held to his opinion +that our quarry was making for Savona or Genoa. The weather was perfect, +and the voyage would have been most enjoyable had not the race been one +of life and death. + +To Veale and his party I related some of the marvellous exploits of the +criminal pair, and told how cleverly they had escaped us from the Villa +Beni Hassan. I described the dastardly attempt made upon my life, and +that of Lola, and my narrative caused every one on board to work with a +will in order to break up the desperate gang. + +As we had feared, when night again fell the vessel we were chasing +showed no lights. Only by aid of his night-glasses could our captain +distinguish her in the darkness, but fortunately it was not so cloudy as +on the previous night, and the moon shone from behind the light patches +of drifting vapour much, no doubt, to Jeanjean's chagrin, for it +revealed their presence and allowed us to still hang on to them. + +Our American captain was a tough-looking fellow, of bull-dog type, and +full of humorous remarks concerning the fugitives. + +I recollected what Lola had told me in regard to her uncle's wireless +experiments with a friend of his in Genoa. Yes. Finding themselves +pressed by us they, no doubt, intended to land at that port. How +devoutly we all wished that their engines would break down entirely. But +that was not likely in a boat of her powerful description. Yet something +was, undoubtedly, interfering with her speed. + +The second day passed much as the first. We were already within sight of +the rocky coast near Toulon, and in the track of the liners passing up +and down between Port Said and Gib'. We passed two P. and O. mail +steamers, and a yellow-funnelled North German Lloyd homeward bound from +China. Still we kept at our enemies' heels like a terrier, though the +seas were heavy off the coast, and a strong wind was blowing. + +Fournier suffered from sea-sickness, so did Mr. Veale's second daughter, +but we kept doggedly on, snatching hasty meals and performing the +monotonous, soul-killing work of stoking. The run was as hard a strain +as ever had been put upon the engines of the _Viking_, and I knew that +the engineer was in hourly dread of their breaking down under it. + +If she did, then all our efforts would be in vain. + +So he alternately nursed them, and urged them along through the long, +angry waves which had now arisen. + +Another long and weary night passed, and again we both steamed along +with all lights out, a dangerous proceeding now that we were right in +the track of the shipping. Then, when morning broke, we found we were +off the yellow Ligurian coast, close to Savona, and heading, as our +captain had predicted, for Genoa. The race became fiercely contested. We +stood on deck full of excitement. Even Fournier shook off his +sea-sickness. + +Soon the high, square lighthouse came into view through the haze, and we +then put on all the speed of which we were capable in a vain endeavour +to get closer to the fugitives. But again the black smoke trailed out +upon the horizon, and suddenly rounding the lighthouse, they were lost +to view. + +At last we, too, rounded the end of the Mole, and entered the harbour +where the _Carlo Alberta_ had moored three-quarters of an hour earlier. +Fournier instantly invoked the aid of the dock police and, with them, we +boarded the vessel, only, alas! to find that its owner and his English +guest had landed and left, leaving orders to the captain to proceed to +Southampton. + +The vessel was, we found, spick and span, luxuriously appointed, and +tremendously swift, though, on that run across the Mediterranean, one of +the engines had been under repair when the Count and his friend had so +unexpectedly come on board, and the other was working indifferently. + +The captain, a dark-bearded, pleasant-faced Englishman from Portsmouth, +believed that his master had dashed to catch the express for Rome. He +had, he said, heard him speaking with Mr. Vernon as to whether they +could catch it. + +"Did they use the wireless apparatus on board?" I asked quickly. + +"Once, sir," was the captain's reply. "The Comte was in the wireless +cabin last night for nearly an hour. He's always experimenting." + +"You don't know if he sent any messages--eh?" + +"Oh, yes. He sent some, for I heard them, but I didn't trouble to try to +read the sounds." + +Therefore, having thanked Mr. Veale and his family, I set forth, +accompanied by Fournier and the two Italian police officers, to the +railway station up the hill, above the busy docks. + +Eagerly I asked one of the ticket-collectors in Italian if the Rome +express had gone, knowing well that in Italy long-distance trains are +often an hour or more late. + +"No, Signore," was his reply. "It is still here, fifty-five minutes +late, from Turin." Then glancing down upon the lines, where several +trains were standing in the huge, vaulted station, he added: "Platform +number four. Hurry quickly, Signore, and you will catch it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE HOUSE IN HAMPSTEAD + + +I dashed down to the platform, three steps at a time, followed by my +three companions, but ere I gained it the train had begun to move out of +the station. + +One of the Italian police officers shouted to the scarlet-capped +station-master to have the train stopped, but that stately official, his +hands behind his back, only walked calmly in our direction to hear the +voluble words which fell from the French officer's lips. + +By that time the train had rounded the curve and was dropping from +sight. + +My heart sank within me. Once again Jeanjean had escaped! + +We were making frantic inquiry regarding the two fugitives when a +porter, who chanced to overhear my words, expressed a belief that they +had not left by the Rome express, but for Turin by the train that had +and started a quarter of an hour before. + +I rushed to the booking office, and, after some inquiry of the lazy, +cigar-smoking clerk, learned that two foreigners, answering the +descriptions of the men I wanted, had taken tickets for London by way of +the Mont Cenis Paris-Calais route. He gave me the ticket numbers. + +Yes. The porter was correct. They had left by the express for Turin, and +the frontier at Modane! + +With Fournier and the two policemen, I went to the Questura, or Central +Police Office, situated in a big, gloomy, old medieval palace--for Genoa +is eminently a city of ancient palaces--and before the Chief of the +Brigade Mobile, a dapper little man with bristling white hair and yellow +boots, I laid information, requesting that the pair be detained at the +frontier. + +When I revealed the real name of the soi-disant Comte d'Esneux, the +police official started, staring at me open-mouthed. Then, even as we +sat in his bare, gloomy office with its heavily-barred windows--the +original windows of the palace, in the days when it had also been a +fortress--he spoke over the telephone with the Commissary of Police at +Bardonnechia in the Alps, the last Italian station before the great Mont +Cenis tunnel is entered. + +After me he repeated over the wire a minute description of both men +wanted, while the official at the other end wrote them down. + +"They will probably travel by the train which arrives from Turin at +6.16," the Chief of the Brigade Mobile went on. "The numbers of their +tickets are 4,176 B. and 4,177 B., issued to London. Search them, as +they may have stolen jewels upon them. Understand?" + +An affirmative reply was given, and the white-haired little man +replaced the telephone receiver. + +Thanking him I went outside into the Via Garibaldi, with a sigh of +relief. At last the two men were running straight into the arms of the +police. My chief thought now was of Lola. Where could she be, that she +had not answered my urgent letters sent to the Poste Restante at +Versailles? + +The next train--the through sleeping-car express from Rome to +Calais--left at a few minutes to six, and for this we were compelled to +wait. + +I recollected that Lola had told me how Jeanjean was in the habit of +communicating with his confederate Hodrickx, who had also established a +wireless station in Genoa. Thereupon I made inquiry, and found that +aerial wires were placed high over the roof of a house close to the +Acqua Sola Gardens at the end of the broad, handsome Via Roma. + +The house, however, was tenantless, Hodrickx, apparently a Belgian, +having sold his furniture and disappeared, no one knew where, a +fortnight previously. + +At six o'clock we entered the Calais express, and travelling by way of +Alessandria and Turin, ascended, through the moon-lit Alps, that night a +perfect fairyland, up the long steep incline, mounting ever higher and +higher, until the two engines hauling the _train-de-luxe_ at last, at +midnight, pulled up at the little ill-lit station of Bardonnechia. +There, we hastily alighted and sought the Commissary of Police. + +To him Fournier presented his card of identity which every French +detective carries, and at once the brown-bearded official told us that, +although strict watch had been kept upon every train, the fugitives had +not arrived! + +"They may have left the train at Turin, and gone across to Milan, and +thence by the Gotthard route to Basle and Paris," he suggested to me. +"If they believe they were followed that is what they most certainly +would do." + +Then he swiftly turned over the leaves of a timetable upon the desk of +his little office, and, after a minute examination, added in Italian-- + +"If they have gone by that route they will join the same Channel-boat at +Calais as this train catches, whether they go from Basle, by way of +Paris, or direct on to Calais." + +The train we had travelled by was still waiting in the station, for one +of the engines was being detached. + +"Then you suggest that we had better go by this?" I said. + +"I certainly should, Signore, if I were you," was his polite answer. +"Besides they are wanted in England, you say, therefore it would be +better to arrest them on the English steamer, or on their arrival in +Dover, and thus avoid the long formalities of extradition. Our +Government, as you know, never gives up criminals to England." + +Instantly I realized the soundness of his argument, and, thanking him, +we both climbed back into the _wagon-lit_ we had occupied, and were soon +slowly entering the black, stifling tunnel. + +Need I further describe that eager, anxious journey, save to say that +when next day we traversed the Ceinture in Paris, and arrived from the +Gare de Lyon, at the Gare du Nord, we kept a vigilant and expectant +watch, for it was there that the two men might join our train. Our +watch, however, proved futile. They might have joined the ordinary +express from Paris to Calais which had left half an hour before us--ours +being a _train-de-luxe_. So we possessed ourselves in patience till at +length, after a halt at Calais-Ville, we slowly drew up on the quay near +where the big white Dover boat was lying. + +The soft felt hat I had bought in Genoa, I pulled over my eyes, and then +rushed along the gangway, and on board, with Fournier at my side, making +a complete tour of the vessel, peeping into every cabin, and in every +hole and corner, to discover the fugitives. + +Already the gangway was up, and the three blasts sounded upon the siren +announcing the departure of the boat. Therefore the pair, if on board, +could not now escape. + +Throughout the hour occupied in the crossing I was ever active, and when +we were moored beside the pier in Dover Harbour, I stood at the gangway +to watch every one leave. + +Yet all my efforts were, alas! in vain. + +They had evidently changed their route to London a second time, and had +travelled from Bâle to Brussels and Ostend! + +The thought occurred to me as I stood watching the last passengers +leaving the steamer. If they had travelled direct by way of Ostend, then +they would be seated in the train for Charing Cross, for the Ostend boat +had been in half an hour, we were told. + +The train, one of those gloomy, grimy, South-Eastern "expresses," was +waiting close by. Therefore I ran frantically from end to end, peering +into each carriage, but, to my dismay, the men I sought were not there! + +So Fournier and I entered a first-class compartment and, full of bitter +disappointment, travelled up to Charing Cross, where we arrived about +seven o'clock. + +I was alighting from the train into the usual crowd of arriving +passengers, and their friends who were present to meet them, for there +is always a quick bustle when the boat-train comes alongside the customs +barrier, when of a sudden my quick eyes caught sight of two men in +Homburg hats and overcoats. + +My heart gave a bound. + +Vernon and Jeanjean had alighted from the same train in which I and +Fournier had travelled, and were hurrying out of the station. + +Jeanjean carried a small brown leather handbag, while Vernon had only a +walking-stick. Both men looked fagged, weary and travel-worn. + +"Look!" I whispered to Fournier. "There they are!" + +Then, holding back in the crowd, and keeping our eyes upon the hats of +the fugitives, we followed them out into the station yard, where they +hurriedly entered a taxi and drove away, all unconscious of our +presence. + +In another moment we were in a second taxi, following them up Regent +Street, through Regent's Park, and along Finchley Road, until suddenly +they turned into Arkwright Road. + +Then I stopped our vehicle and descended, just in time to see them enter +the house called Merton Lodge--the house which Rayner had described to +me on the night of my long vigil at the corner of Hatton Garden. + +For a few moments I stood, undecided how to act. Should I drive at once +to Scotland Yard and lay the whole affair before them, or should I still +keep my counsel until I rediscovered Lola? + +I knew where they were hiding, and if I watched, I might learn something +further. Both Rayner and Fournier were known to the two culprits. +Therefore I decided to invoke the aid of an ex-detective-sergeant who, +since his retirement from Scotland Yard, had more than once assisted me. + +Truth to tell, I had a far higher opinion of the astuteness of the Paris +police than that of Scotland Yard. The latter disregarded my theories, +whereas Jonet was always ready to listen to me. For that reason I +hesitated to go down to the "Yard," preferring to send word to Jonet, +and allow him to act as he thought fit. + +William Benham lived in the Camberwell New Road; so I went to the +nearest telephone call-box and, ringing him up, asked him to meet me at +Swiss Cottage Station and bring a trustworthy friend. + +I knew that Merton Lodge had a convenient exit at the rear, hence, to be +watched effectively, two men must be employed. + +Towards half-past nine, leaving Fournier to watch at the end of the +road, I met Benham, who came attired as one of the County Council +employés engaged in watering the roads at night, accompanied by a +burly-looking labourer who was introduced to me as an ex-detective from +Vine Street. Without revealing the whole story, or who the two men were, +I explained that I had followed them post-haste from Algiers, and that +both were wanted for serious crimes. All I desired was that a strict +surveillance should be placed upon them, and that they should be +followed and all their movements watched. + +"Very well, Mr. Vidal," Benham replied. + +He was a pleasant-faced, grey-haired man, with a broad countenance, and +a little grey moustache. + +"I quite understand," he said. "We'll keep on them, and if I find it +necessary, I'll get a third person. They won't get very far ahead of us, +you bet," he laughed. + +"They're extremely wary birds," I cautioned. "So you'll both of you be +compelled to keep your eyes skinned." + +"You merely want to know what's doing-eh?" + +"Yes. I'm fagged out, and want a rest to-night. I'll come up and see you +in the morning," I said. + +Then we entered a bar, and having had a drink together, we went to +Arkwright Road, where I rejoined Fournier, and with him returned to my +rooms. + +Next day nothing happened. The two men wanted, wearing different +clothes, and Vernon in blue glasses, went out about eleven for a walk as +far as Hampstead Heath, and returned to luncheon. That was all my +watchers reported. + +On the following evening, however, I met Benham by appointment in a bar +in the Finchley Road, when he said-- + +"There's something in the wind, Mr. Vidal. But I can't make out what it +is. This afternoon a well-dressed man, apparently an Italian, called, +and about half an hour later a smart young French girl, with fair hair, +and wearing a short dark blue dress and brown silk stockings and shoes, +also paid the pair a visit. She's there now." + +From the further description he gave of her, I found that it tallied +exactly with the identity of Lola. + +And she was there! with Vernon and his two confederates. + +"There's also something else strange about that house, Mr. Vidal," added +Benham. "I dare say you didn't notice it in the dark, but away, +half-hidden by the trees in the garden, there's a long stretch of four +wires, suspended from two high poles. A wireless telegraph, I take it to +be." + +"Wireless at Merton Lodge!" I cried. + +"Yes. To-day I asked a man who was repairing an underground wire in the +Finchley Road, and he says it's a very powerful station, and he wonders +that the Post Office ever licensed it." + +"It was probably licensed as a small station, and then its power was +secretly increased," I suggested. + +"But you say that the young French lady is still there?" + +"Yes," replied Benham, "she was when I left ten minutes ago." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +NARRATES A STARTLING AFFAIR + + +I lost no time, but quickly hurried round to Arkwright Road, strolling +past the new, well-kept, red-brick house which, upon its gate, bore the +words in neat white letters, "Merton Lodge." + +In several of the windows were lights. What, I wondered, was the nature +of the consultation going on within? + +While I walked to the corner of Frognal, Benham remained at the Finchley +Road end, within call. + +I watched patiently, when, about half-past eight, the front door opened +and Lola, descending the steps, left the house, walking alone in my +direction. + +Drawing back quickly, I resolved to follow her, and doing so, went after +her straight up Arkwright Road, and up Fitzjohn's Avenue, till she came +to the Hampstead Tube Station, where, in the entrance, I was astounded +to see Edward Craig awaiting her. + +He raised his hat and shook her hand warmly, while she, flushed with +pleasure, strolled at his side up the steep hill towards the Heath. + +The attitude of the man, who was once supposed to have been dead and +buried, was now very different to what it had been when he had watched +her in secret at Boscombe. + +I stood watching the pair, puzzled and wondering. What could it mean? + +They were both smart and handsome. She, with all the vivacious +mannerisms of the chic Parisienne, was explaining something with much +gesticulation, while he strode at her side, bending to listen. + +Behind them, I came on unobserved, following them on the high road over +the dark, windy Heath, past the well-known inn called _Jack Straw's +Castle_--the Mecca of the East-End seeker after fresh air--and on across +the long, straight road which led to the ancient Spaniards, one of the +landmarks of suburban London. + +Half-way along that wide, open road, at that hour deserted, they sat +together upon a seat, talking earnestly, while I, leaving the road, lay +hidden in a bush upon the Heath. Lola seemed to be making some long +explanation, and then I distinctly saw him take her hand, and hold it +sympathetically, as he looked her full in the face. + +Presently they rose, and walked the whole length of the open road, which +led across the top of the Heath, as far as the Spaniards. On either +side, far below, lay the lights of London, while, above, the red +night-glare was reflected from the lowering sky. + +As they walked closely beside each other, with halting steps, as though +the moments of their meeting were passing all too rapidly, the man from +the grave was speaking, low and earnestly, into her ear. + +She seemed to be listening to him in silence. And I watched on, +half-inclined to the belief that they were lovers. + +Nevertheless, such an idea seemed ridiculous after Craig's demeanour +when he had watched her through the window on that night in Boscombe. + +Yes. The friendship between Lola and the man whom every one believed to +be in his grave, was a complete mystery. + +I followed them back, past the infrequent street-lamps, to the seat +whereon they had at first sat. Upon it they sank again, and until nearly +ten o'clock they remained in deep, earnest conversation. + +When they rose, at last, I thought he raised her hand reverently to his +lips. But I was so far away that I could not be absolutely certain. As +they sauntered slowly down the hill to the station, I lounged leisurely +after them. + +They were too occupied with each other to be conscious of my +surveillance. + +I saw them descend in the lift to the platform below, and I was +compelled to take the next lift. + +Fortunately, the train had not left ere I gained it, and I got in the +rear carriage, keeping a wary eye upon each platform as we reached it. + +At Oxford Street they alighted, and while they ascended by the lift, I +tore up the stairs two steps at a time, reaching the street just as they +entered the big, grey, closed motor-car, which was apparently there +awaiting them, and moved off down the street. + +In a moment I had hailed a taxi and was speeding after the grey car. + +The red light showing the number-plate and the "G.B." plaque, went +swiftly down to Piccadilly Circus, then turning to the right along +Piccadilly, pulled up suddenly before the _Berkeley Hotel_, where both +alighted. + +Craig went as far as the door and stood speaking with her for a moment +or two; then, raising his hat, re-entered the grey car and drove rapidly +in the direction of Hyde Park Corner. + +Having established the fact that Lola was staying at the _Berkeley_, I +re-entered my taxi, and in about half an hour alighted once more at the +junction of Arkwright Road with Finchley Road. + +Benham quickly detected my arrival, and approaching me from the +darkness, said-- + +"I wondered where you'd gone to, sir, all the evening. Nobody has come +out. The three men are in there still." + +I was very tired and hungry, therefore we both went into the +neighbouring bar and swallowed some sandwiches. Then we went forth +again, and though midnight chimed from a distant church clock, there was +no sign of the interesting trio. Perhaps Vernon and Jeanjean were +fatigued after their swift journey from the African coast. + +The solution of the mystery at Cromer was still as far off as ever. The +reappearance of the supposed dead man had increased the complications in +the amazing problem which had, long ago, been given up by Frayne of the +estimable Norfolk Constabulary as constituting an unsolvable "mystery." +Both he and Treeton were, no doubt, busily engaged in trapping motorists +who exceeded "the limit," for to secure a conviction is a far greater +credit to the local police officer than the patient unravelling of a +mystery of crime. Hence the persistent lack of intelligence amongst too +many of the country police. + +It was past one o'clock in the morning when, lurking together in a +doorway, we saw the portals of Merton Lodge open, and Vernon with his +two friends, all in evening dress, come out. They buttoned their black +overcoats, pressed their crush-hats upon their heads against the wind, +and all three sallied briskly forth in the direction of Fitzjohn's +Avenue. + +Bertini was, I noticed, carrying a small leather bag, very strong, like +those used by bankers to convey their coin. + +One thing, which struck me as curious, was that they made no noise +whatever as they walked. They were seemingly wearing boots with rubber +soles. Yet, being in evening clothes, they might all be wearing +dancing-pumps. + +We followed at a respectable distance, and, watching, saw some +astounding manoeuvres. + +Passing down Fitzjohn's Avenue to Swiss Cottage Station, they separated, +Vernon taking a taxi and the others crossing to the station, which still +remained open. + +I followed Vernon in another taxi while Benham, unknown to the other +two, stood upon the kerb in the darkness and lit a cigarette. + +Vernon's cab went direct to Tottenham Court Road, where, opposite the +_Horse Shoe_, he alighted, and turning to the right, strolled along +Oxford Street past the Oxford Music Hall, I dogging his steps all the +time. + +Half-way down Oxford Street he paused and, turning into Wells Street, +lit a cigar. Then he glanced up and down in expectancy till, some ten +minutes later, a taxi-cab pulled up some distance away, and his two +friends alighted from it. Close on their heels came a second taxi, from +which I saw Benham jump out. + +The trio separated, and neither took any notice of the others. + +Jeanjean came out into Oxford Street, where I was standing in the +shadow, and walking a few doors down in the direction of Great Portland +Street, halted suddenly before the door of a large jeweller's shop, +swiftly unlocked it with a key he held ready in his hand, and, ere I +could realize his intention, he was inside with the door closed behind +him. + +The key had, no doubt, been already prepared from a cast of the +original, and the scene of action well prospected. Otherwise he would +never have dared to act in that openly defiant manner almost under the +very noses of the police. + +I drew back and waited, watching the operations of the most notorious +jewel-thief in Europe, Benham keeping a wary eye upon the other pair. + +Vernon, after a few moments, crossed into Poland Street, a narrow +thoroughfare nearly opposite, while Bertini, carrying the bag, slipped +along to the jeweller's shop, and also entered by the unlocked door. + +In the heavy iron revolving shutters were gratings, allowing the police +on the beat to see within, but from where I stood I could see no light +inside. All was quite quiet and unsuspicious. It was a marvel to me how +silently and actively both men had slipped from view right under the +noses of the police in Oxford Street, who are ever vigilant at night. + +Vernon, watched by Benham, had hidden himself in a doorway with the +evident intention of remaining until the _coup_ was successfully +effected, and to immediately take over the spoils and lock them away in +his safes in Hatton Garden. + +Five, ten, fifteen breathless minutes went by. + +I saw the constable on the beat, walking with his sergeant, approaching +me. Both were blissfully ignorant that within a few yards of them was +the great Jules Jeanjean, for whose capture the French police had long +ago offered a vast reward. + +I was compelled to shift from my point of vantage, yet I remained in the +vicinity unseen by either. + +What if the constable were to try the jeweller's door as he passed? + +I watched the pair strolling slowly, their shiny capes on their +shoulders, for rain had begun to fall, watched them breathlessly. + +Of a sudden the constable halted as he was passing the jeweller's shop +door, and, stepping aside, tried it. + +My heart stood still. + +Next second, however, the truth was plain. The door had been +re-fastened, and the constable, reassured, went on, resuming his night +gossip with his sergeant at the point where he had broken off. + +Yes. The two thieves were inside, no doubt sacking the place of all that +was most valuable. + +Their daring, swiftness, and expert methods were astounding. Truly Jules +Jeanjean was a veritable prince among jewel-thieves. Not another man in +the whole of Europe could approach him either for knowledge as to +whether a gem were good or bad, for nerve and daring, for impudent +effrontery, or for swift and decisive action. He was a king among +jewel-thieves, and as such acknowledged by the dishonest fraternity +whose special prey was precious stones. + +I stood in blank wonder and amazement. + +My first impulse was to turn and step along to Oxford Circus, where I +knew another constable would be on point-duty. Indeed, I was about to +raise the alarm without arousing old Vernon's suspicions, when I saw the +jeweller's door open quickly and both men dashed out wildly and up Wells +Street as fast as their legs could carry them. + +In a moment I saw that they had been desperately alarmed and were +fleeing without waiting to secure their booty, for next second a man--a +watchman who had been sleeping on the premises--staggered out upon the +pavement, shouting, "Murder! Help! Thieves!" and then fell on the ground +senseless. + +I rushed over to him, and by the light of the street-lamp saw that blood +was flowing from a great wound in his skull. Then, in a moment, Benham +was beside me, and the constable and sergeant came running back, being +joined by a second constable. + +Meanwhile Vernon, as well as the two thieves, had disappeared. + +The man attacked was senseless. The wound in his head was a terrible +one, apparently inflicted by a jemmy or life-preserver; so quickly an +ambulance was sent for, and the poor fellow was swiftly conveyed, +apparently in a dying condition, to the Middlesex Hospital. + +At first the police regarded me with some suspicion, but when Benham +explained who he was, and that our attention had been attracted by +"something wrong," they were satisfied. We, however, went round to the +police-station and there made a statement that, in passing we had seen +two men--whom we described--enter the premises with a key, and as they +did not emerge, we waited, until we saw them escape, followed by the +injured watchman. + +Then--it being about half-past three in the morning--we went back to the +jeweller's, and there found the place in a state of great disorder. At +the back of the window pieces of black linen had been suspended, in +order to shut out the light from the small gratings in the shutters, +and, in what they had believed to be perfect security, the thieves, +wearing gloves, had forced open several show-cases and packed their most +valuable contents in a cotton bag ready for removal. The big safe, one +by a well-known maker, stood open, and the various valuable articles it +contained had been pulled roughly out, examined, and placed aside ready +to be packed up, together with a bag containing about one hundred +sovereigns, and a small packet of banknotes. + +On the floor lay a beautiful pearl collar, while everywhere empty cases +were strewn about. Yet, as far as could be ascertained from the manager, +who had come up hastily in a taxi, nothing had been taken. + +Detectives came and began a thorough examination of the premises, and +the damage done. + +They were looking for finger-prints, but it was not likely that +practised experts such as Jules Jeanjean and his companion would risk +detection by leaving any. + +I kept my knowledge to myself, and returned, weary and hungry, to my +rooms, Benham accompanying me, and there we discussed our plans for the +morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +"SHEEP OF THY PASTURE" + + +The autumn sun shone brightly into the artistic little sitting-room at +the _Berkeley Hotel_, overlooking Piccadilly and the Green Park, where, +next morning, I was seated alone with Lola. + +She was dressed in a pretty, neatly-made gown of a delicate brown shade, +with silk stockings and smart little shoes to match, and as she leaned +back in her cosy arm-chair, her pointed chin upon her white hand, her +big blue eyes, so full of expression, were turned upon me, their brows +slightly knit in her earnestness. + +Upon the centre table stood a big silver bowl of dahlias and autumn +foliage, while upon a sideboard was lying a fine bouquet of roses which +a page-boy had brought in as we had been chatting. + +I related my strange experience of the previous night, whereupon she had +said, in a low, intense voice-- + +"Yes. I heard yesterday afternoon, when I was at Vernon's house in +Hampstead, that an attempt was to be made somewhere. But I was not told +where." + +"Lola," I exclaimed, taking her hand tenderly, and looking into her +eyes, "I am here this morning to save you from these people, and to save +myself. If we remain inactive like this, they will deal us both a secret +blow. They fear you, and in addition they know that I have discovered +who they are, and the truth concerning some of their crimes." + +She nodded, but no sound escaped her lips. + +At last, however, by dint of long persuasion and argument, I succeeded +in convincing her that I really was her friend, and that even if I +exposed the gang, and caused them to be arrested, I could at the same +time keep her out of the sensational affair which must inevitably +result. + +She rose, and for a long time stood at the window, gazing out upon the +never-ceasing traffic in Piccadilly, her countenance very grave and +thoughtful. By the quick rising and falling of her bosom, and by her +pursed lips, I saw how deep was her agitation, how torn was her mind by +conflicting emotions. + +At last, as she leaned upon a chair, her eyes still fixed blankly out +upon the long, rather monotonous façade of the _Ritz Hotel_, she began +to tell me some of the facts she knew concerning her notorious uncle, +Jules Jeanjean. + +"He started life," she explained, "as an employé of the Nord Railway of +France, and, being honest and hardworking, rose from an obscure +situation in the goods-yard at Creil to become chief conductor on the +express line between Calais and Paris. His sister, who was my mother, +had married Felix Sorel, a leather-merchant in the Boulevard de Clichy, +and they had one daughter, myself. Jules, however, remained unmarried. +Apparently he held advanced Republican views, and soon entertained +Anarchist ideas, yet no fault was ever found with the performance of his +duties by the railway officials. He was, I have heard, a model servant, +always punctual, sober, and so extremely polite that all the habitual +passengers knew and liked him." + +She paused, reflecting. + +"It seems," she went on after a few moments, "it seems that as chief of +the express which left Calais for Paris each day, after the arrival of +the midday boat from Dover, his position was much coveted by the other +employés. After about two and a half years of this, however, the Company +one day offered him the post of Station-Inspector at Abbeville, where +the boat expresses stop for water. But, to the surprise of his friends, +he declined and, moreover, resigned from the service, pleading an +internal trouble, and left France." + +"Curious," I remarked. "He must have had some other motive than that for +his sudden decision, I suppose." + +Then, continuing her narrative, the pretty blue-eyed girl revealed to +me a very remarkable story. From what she said it appeared that during +his two and a half years' service between Calais and Dover, her uncle +had been reaping a golden harvest and placing great sums of money in an +English bank. The device by which the money had been gained was both +ingenious and simple. Employed in the Customs House at the Maritime +Station at Calais--through which all persons travelling from England by +that route have to pass--was a _douanier_ from Corsica who, though a +French subject, bore an Italian name, Egisto Bertini. Between Bertini +and the honest train-conductor a close friendship had arisen. Then +Bertini, who had become acquainted with a London diamond-broker, Mr. +Gregory Vernon, a constant traveller between the French and English +capitals, one day introduced his friend. Before long Vernon's +master-mind was at work, and at a meeting of the three men, held one +evening on Dover cliffs, a very neat conspiracy was formed. It was +simply this-- + +Bertini's duty was to examine passengers' baggage registered beyond +Paris, and when it was placed upon the counter in the Customs House, he +kept an open eye for any jewel-cases. Exercising his power, he would +have them opened and inspect their contents, and then, being replaced, +the box would be locked by the unsuspecting passenger. The Customs +Officer would, however, chalk a peculiar mark upon the trunk containing +the valuables, and during its transit between Calais and Paris Jeanjean +would go to the baggage-wagon, and, with a big bunch of duplicate keys, +unlock the marked trunks, abstract the jewellery, and relock it again. +By the time the unfortunate passenger discovered the loss, the stolen +property would probably be on its way into old Vernon's hands for +disposal in Antwerp or Amsterdam. + +Thus the two made some huge _coups_. In one instance, the pearls of the +Duchess of Carcassonne, valued at forty-five thousand pounds, were +secured, and never traced, for they were sold east of Suez. In another +instance the celebrated diamond necklace belonging to Mademoiselle +Montbard, the famous actress at the Ambigu in Paris, worth thirty +thousand pounds, was abstracted from her baggage. Emeralds to the value +of over twenty thousand pounds, the property of the wife of an American +millionaire, and the whole of the famous jewels of the Princess +Tchernowski were also among the articles stolen. + +So constant, however, were these mysterious thefts, that at last the +police established a strict surveillance upon all baggage, and hence the +interesting little game was at an end. + +Matters grew a trifle too warm, and though neither Jeanjean nor Bertini +changed their mode of life with their rapidly-gained wealth, yet it was +felt that to retire was best. So, within a month of each other, they +left. Jeanjean crossed over to England, and Bertini accepted promotion +to Boulogne, where he remained several months, fearing that if he +resigned too quickly suspicions might be aroused. + +Of course, after this, the organized thefts between Calais and Paris +ceased suddenly, though the Company never entertained the slightest +suspicion of the guilty persons, or of the mode in which each trunk +containing jewellery was made known to the thief. + +Vernon's craft and cunning were unequalled, for at his suggestion, +Jeanjean, though he had over fifty thousand pounds in the Bank of +England, now embarked upon the career of a jewel-thief, whose audacity, +daring and elusiveness was astounding. His anarchist views prompted him +to disregard human life wherever it interfered with his plans, and so +clever and ingenious were his _coups_, that the police of Europe, whom +he so often defied, stood dumbfounded. + +About this time Lola's father, the honest leather-merchant of Paris, +went bankrupt, and died a few weeks afterwards of phthisis, while Madame +Sorel, brokenhearted, followed her husband to the grave two months +later, leaving little Lola alone. She was then fifteen, and her uncle, +seeing that she might be of use to him, adopted her as his daughter, +and gradually initiated her into the arts and wiles of an expert-thief. +His whole surroundings were criminal, she declared to me. She lived in +an atmosphere of crime, for to the flat in the Boulevard Pereire, which +her uncle made his headquarters when in Paris, came the men, Bertini, +Vernon, Hodrickx, Hunzle, and others, great _coups_ being discussed +between them, and arranged, thefts carried out in various cities of +Europe, often at great cost and frequently with the assistance of Lola, +who was pressed into the service, and upon whom her uncle had bestowed +the name of "The Nightingale," on account of her sweet voice. + +Vernon was the brain of the organization. By his connection with the +diamond trade he obtained information as to who had valuable gems in +their possession, and by the exercise of his marvellous wit and +subterfuge would devise deep and remarkable plots of which the +assassination of the well-known Paris jeweller, M. Benoy, was one. In +three years the daring gang, so perfectly organized, perpetrated no +fewer than eighteen big jewel robberies as well as other smaller thefts +and burglaries. In many, robbery was, alas! accompanied by brutal +violence. The Paris _Sûreté_, Scotland Yard, and the Detective +Departments of Berlin, Brussels, and Rome were ever on the alert +endeavouring to trace, capture, and break up the gang, but with the +large funds at their disposal they were able to bribe even responsible +officials who became obnoxious, and by such means evade arrest. Of these +bribings there had been many sinister whispers, as Henri Jonet told me +months afterwards. + +"Ah! Lola!" I exclaimed. "How strangely romantic your career has been!" + +"Yes, M'sieur Vidal," she replied, turning her splendid eyes upon mine. +"And were it not for your generosity towards me, I should have been +arrested that night at Balmaclellan, and at this moment would have been +in prison." + +"I know that you have been associated with these men through no fault +of your own--that you have been forced to become a confederate of +thieves and assassins," I said. "Surely no other girl in all England, +or, indeed, in Europe, has found herself in a similar position--the +decoy of such a dangerous and unscrupulous gang." + +"No," faltered the girl. "It was not my fault, I assure you. Ah! Heaven +knows how, times without number, I have endeavoured to defy and break +away from them. But they were always too artful, too strong for me. My +uncle held me in his grip, and though he was never unkind, yet he was +always determined, and constantly threatened me with exposure if I did +not blindly do his bidding. Thus I was forced to remain his cat's paw, +even till to-day," she added, in a voice full of sorrow and regret. + +I recollected the scene I had witnessed on Hampstead Heath on the +previous night--her meeting with the man who had so mysteriously died in +Cromer, and as I gazed upon her fair face, I pondered. + +What could it mean? + +Apparently she was staying at the _Berkeley_ alone, and I mentioned this +fact. + +"Oh, they know me well, here. When I'm alone, I often stay here," she +explained, still speaking in French. "I like the place far better than +the _Carlton_ or the _Ritz_. I have had quite enough of the big hotels," +she added with a meaning smile. + +She referred to those hotels where she had lived in order to rub +shoulders with women who possessed rich jewels. + +At that moment a foreign waiter knocked at the door and interrupted our +_tête-à-tête_, by announcing-- + +"Mr. Craig to see you, miss." + +"Show him in," was her prompt reply in English, as she rose and glanced +quickly at me. I saw that her cheeks were slightly flushed in her sudden +excitement. + +And a few seconds later I stood face to face with the man upon whose +body a Coroner's verdict had been pronounced. + +He was tall, good-looking, and smartly-dressed in a grey lounge-suit, +carrying his plush Tyrolese hat in his hand. + +On seeing me he drew back, and cast a quick, inquisitive glance at Lola. + +"This is M'sieur Vidal," the girl exclaimed in her pretty broken +English, introducing us. "My very good friend of whom I spoke +yesterday--M'sieur Edouard Craig." + +We bowed to each other, and I thought I saw upon his face a look of +annoyance. He had evidently believed Lola to be alone. + +In an instant, however, the shadow fled from the young man's face, and +he exclaimed with frankness-- + +"I'm extremely pleased to know you, sir, more especially after what Lola +has told me concerning you." + +"What has she told you?" I asked, with a smile. "Nothing very terrible, +I hope?" + +For a second he did not reply. Then, looking over at her as she stood on +the opposite side of the table, he replied-- + +"Well, she has told me of your long friendship and--and--may I be +permitted to tell Mr. Vidal, Lola?" he suddenly asked, turning to her. + +"Tell him what you wish," she answered. + +"Then I will not conceal it," he went on, turning back to me. "Lola has +explained to me her position, her connection with certain undesirable +persons, whom we need not mention, and how you in your generosity +allowed her her freedom." + +"She has told you!" I gasped in surprise, not understanding in what +position he stood towards the dainty little Parisienne. "Well, Mr. +Craig, I thought you knew that long ago," I added after a pause. + +"Until last night, I was in entire ignorance of the whole truth. I met +Lola at Hampstead, and she explained many things that have astounded +me." + +"I have told Mr. Craig the truth," declared the girl, her cheeks flushed +with excitement. "It was only right that he should know who and what I +am--especially as----" she broke off suddenly. + +"Especially as--what?" I asked. + +"Especially as I love you, Lola, eh?" the young man chimed in, grasping +her hand and raising it to his lips fondly. + +This revelation staggered me. The pair were lovers! This man, whose +attitude when he saw her in secret at Boscombe was so antagonistic, was +now deeply in love with her! Surely I was living in a world of +surprises! + +How much, I wondered, had she revealed to this man who was believed to +have been buried? + +For some moments all three of us stood looking at each other, neither +uttering a word. + +Then I swiftly put to the young man several questions, and receiving +answers, excused myself, and went below to the telephone. + +I had three calls in various directions, and then returned to where Lola +and her lover were standing together. Heedless of my presence, so deeply +in love was he, that he was holding her hand and looking affectionately +into the girl's eyes as he bent, whispering lovingly, to her. + +Yes, they were indeed a well-matched pair standing there together. She +sweet and innocent-looking, he tall and athletic, with all the +appearance of a gentleman. + +Yet it was Edward Craig, the man who had lived at Beacon House at +Cromer, the man whom I had seen lying stark and dead, killed by some +mysterious means which medical men could not discover. Edward Craig, the +dead man in the flesh! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE TENTS OF UNGODLINESS + + +Frank Sommerville, Chief Inspector of the Criminal Investigation +Department, a big, dark-moustached man, stretched his long legs from the +easy chair in which he was sitting, some half an hour after my interview +with Lola and Edward Craig, clasped his hands behind his head, and +looking over at me, exclaimed-- + +"By Jove! Vidal. That's one of the most astounding stories I've ever +heard! And the young lady is actually in the next room with the 'dead' +man Craig?" + +"Yes, they're ready to go up to Hampstead," I said. "If we are shrewd we +shall catch all three. They did that burglary at Bennington's, in Oxford +Street, last night." + +"How do you know, my dear fellow?" he asked. + +"For the simple reason that I was there," I laughed. + +He looked astounded. + +"I remember the report on the Cromer mystery, last June, perfectly +well," he said. "But I never dreamed that you'd taken the matter up. We +shall certainly do well if we can lay hands on Jeanjean, for we get +constant reports from Paris about his wonderful exploits. I had one only +this morning. He is suspected of having done a big job at a jeweller's +in St. Petersburg, lately." + +"Very well," I answered. "Let us take a taxi up to Arkwright Road at +once. Benham, your ex-sergeant, is already there awaiting us, as well as +my servant, Rayner." + +Together we entered the next room, where Craig and Lola were sitting +closely together, and I introduced them to the well-known Chief +Detective-Inspector. Then, after Sommerville had telephoned to his +office, and ordered up to Hampstead three of his men, we waited for +another quarter of an hour to give them time to get to the appointed +spot--the public-house in the Finchley Road. + +At last we started, and on the way I explained many facts to my old +friend Sommerville, who, with a hearty laugh, said-- + +"Well, Vidal, I know you're pretty painstaking over an inquiry, but I +never thought you'd ferret out this great French jewel-thief when we had +failed! Of course, we've looked upon this man Vernon with suspicion for +some little time. He sold some stolen rubies in Antwerp two months ago, +and it was reported to us, but we couldn't get sufficient evidence. I +made some inquiry, and found that he's immensely wealthy, although he +lives such a changeful life. The house in Arkwright Road is his, but he +is never there more than two or three days at a time. He experiments in +wireless telegraphy, judging from the masts and wires in his back +garden." + +I told him of Jeanjean's powerful station in Algiers, and we agreed +that, by means of a code, the pair were in the habit of exchanging +messages, just as Jeanjean did with his confederate in Genoa. + +"Yes," Lola said. "At Merton Lodge there are big dynamos down in the +cellars, and when I've been with my uncle at the Villa Beni Hassan, he +has often come from the wireless room and told me he has been speaking +with his friend Vernon in London. Wireless telegraphy is wonderful, is +it not?" + +Briefly I had described the murderous attack made upon the girl and +myself at that untenanted house in Spring Grove, and, as I finished, the +taxi drew up a few doors from the bar to which I had directed the man to +drive. + +Ere we could alight, Benham, in the guise of a loafer, had opened the +door and touched his cap to me with a grin. + +In the bar we found the three sergeants from Scotland Yard, as well as +Rayner, who was greatly excited, and, of course, unaware of the identity +of the three men who had entered casually, and were chatting at his +elbow. + +"We're going to make three arrests in a house close by," Sommerville +explained to the trio. "They may make a pretty tough fight, and they +probably carry revolvers. So keep a sharp look-out." + +"All right, sir," the men replied, and were quickly in readiness. + +In order not to arouse the suspicion of the three men, we arranged that +Lola should first go there alone. Then we would surround the house, back +and front, while Sommerville went to the front door and made some +pretext. With a man behind him, he would wait until the door opened, and +then rush in, followed by myself and two detectives and the young man +Craig. + +The arrangements were made in the private room behind the bar, and +presently Lola, bidding us a merry _au revoir_, tripped out. + +We gave her about ten minutes, and then in pairs, and by different +routes, we approached the quiet, highly-respectable-looking house, first +having got a couple of constables off the beat. + +While Benham, as a loafer, went round to the back entrance, under the +pretext of asking for an odd job to clean up the garden, Sommerville and +one of his men slipped in and up the front steps. + +For a little time his ring remained unanswered, but suddenly the door +was opened slightly by Bertini. + +For a second there was a sharp tussle, the Italian raising the alarm, +but in a few moments I found myself, with Craig and Sommerville, inside +the house. + +Those moments were indeed exciting ones. Craig's only thought was for +Lola's safety, and I saw him rush down the prettily-furnished hall and +take her in his arms. + +Shouts were raised on all sides. + +In the scurry old Vernon dashed out of the room on the left and, meeting +Lola with her lover, raised the revolver he had drawn and fired +point-blank at her. + +Fortunately, he missed. One of the detectives instantly closed with +him, and I sprang to the officer's assistance. The old fellow, his face +livid, his eyes staring wildly from his head, fought like a tiger, +trying to turn his weapon upon us. He had forced the barrel of his big +revolver right against my jaw, and was in the act of firing, when I +ducked my head, and seizing his wrist, twisted it. + +At that moment there was a loud explosion, and before I knew the truth I +found his grip relaxing. + +The weapon had been turned upon him as he, in desperation, had fired, +and the bullet, entering his brain, had struck him dead. + +He collapsed in our arms and we laid him upon the tiled floor. + +Within the room, whence the old man had come, a desperate struggle was +in progress, and entering, I found it to be a small library, at one end +of which, upon a large table, was arranged a quantity of electrical +apparatus--the various instruments necessary for wireless telegraphy. +Close to this table, as we entered, stood Jules Jeanjean in the hands of +Benham and the two detectives, while Rayner was standing covering the +culprit resolutely with the revolver which he had wrenched from the +prisoner's grasp. + +Jeanjean's face was changed, his eyes wild and full of evil. In his +fierce dash for liberty his collar had been torn from its studs and the +sleeve of his smart blue serge jacket torn out. His hair was awry, and +from a long scratch on his left cheek blood was freely flowing. + +Truly he presented a weird, unkempt appearance, held as he was in the +grip of those three strong, burly officers. + +"Be careful!" I urged. "He'll get away if you don't exercise every care. +He's as slippery as an eel!" + +At my words his captors forced him back against the wall, redoubling +their grip upon him. + +Sommerville and Craig were standing beside Lola, who looked on, nervous +and pale-faced. She had been witness to the tragedy out in the hall, +and realized what a narrow escape she had had from the vicious old +scoundrel's bullet. + +Bertini was in the hall, held in a merciless grip by the two constables +who had been summoned from their beats, and was standing close to the +fallen body of the man who had so long been his acknowledged master. + +Jules Jeanjean, though forced against the wall by those four men, was +still wildly defiant, his face distorted by anger. He ceased struggling +in order to curse and abuse his captors, pouring out upon them torrents +of voluble French, a language with which only one of the four men, +Rayner, was acquainted, and he but slightly. + +"Listen, Jules Jeanjean!" said Sommerville, in a hard, commanding voice. +"I am a police officer, and I arrest you on charges of theft and +murder." + +"Fools!" snarled the prisoner in defiance. "You've made a mistake, a +great mistake! Arrest that girl yonder. Make inquiries about her, and +you will find lots that will interest you." + +"It is sufficient for the present to arrest you, my friend," was the +Chief Inspector's response. "One of your comrades is outside, dead, and +the other is under arrest." + +Then turning to Lola, he asked-- + +"Do you identify this man as Jules Jeanjean, Mademoiselle?" + +"Yes," the girl replied. "He is my uncle." + +"You infernal brat!" shrieked the prisoner, livid with fury. "So it is +you who have given me away, after all! I should have taken the old man's +advice, and have put you out of the way. _Dieu!_ You and your friend, +Vidal, over there, had a narrow escape at Spring Grove. Your grave was +already dug for you!" + +"And yours will also be dug for you before long--when the Judge has +sentenced you to death!" I cried. + +"Enough!" exclaimed Sommerville, holding up his hand to command +silence. "We want no recriminations, only the truth. You, and your +friend Bertini, will have plenty of opportunity for defending yourselves +when before the court. I think, Mademoiselle," he added, turning to +where Lola was standing beside the man once believed to be dead, "you +will have a strange story to relate to the Judge." + +"She'll lie, no doubt," declared Jeanjean with a sneer. "She always +does." + +"No," the girl cried in her pretty, broken English, "I shall the truth +speak. All of the truth." + +"Yes," I urged, eagerly. "Reveal to us now the truth concerning the +mystery on Cromer Cliffs. How it is that Edward Craig, the man who died, +is now standing beside you!" + +The prisoner, with a frantic struggle to free his arms, and throw +himself upon her, to silence her lips, made a sudden dash forward. But +his captors closed with him, pinioned him, and held him fiercely by the +throat. + +Lola, standing by, drew a long breath, but remained silent. + +Her frail little figure seemed unbalanced, she was unnerved and +trembling, two bright spots showing in the centre of her pale cheeks, as +she stood there. Upon her shoulder rested the tender hand of the man +whose end had been so wrapped in mystery. + +"Speak, Lola," I urged again. "Have no fear of these men now. Tell us +the plain truth." + +"Yes, Lola," Craig added earnestly, "tell them the strange story. There +is nothing now to be afraid of. Speak the truth and let the law deal +with that assassin." + +Again Jeanjean went into a perfect paroxysm of rage. But all to no +purpose, though he bit his lips till the blood came. The men held him so +firmly that he could move neither hand nor foot. + +The heavy hand of Justice had fallen upon him! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +DISCLOSES A STRANGE TRUTH + + +"I think, Lola, I had better explain to them the circumstances in which +we met," young Craig exclaimed with frankness. His hand was still upon +her shoulder, his eyes gazing straight into hers with that intense +love-light which, in this world of falsity and fraud, is one of the +things which can never be feigned. + +"Yes, do," she urged, clinging closely to him, her frail frame +trembling, for she was still upset and unnerved. + +"Well, last January, I was staying with my mother at the _Hôtel Adlon_, +in Berlin, for though I have a place near Monmouth called Huttoft Hall, +left to me by my father, Sir Alexander Craig, I am constantly on the +Continent. As a bachelor I prefer life abroad, and indeed, at that time, +I had not been in England since I came of age, four years before. At the +hotel, I found Lola staying with her uncle--that man!" and he pointed to +Jeanjean--held there prisoner. "He called himself Dr. Paul Arendt, and +gave himself out to be a Belgian from Liège. He was very affable, and we +became on friendly terms, while my mother took a great fancy to Lola. +After about ten days or so an English friend of Arendt's, a young man +named Richard Perceval, arrived, and we three men went about Berlin, and +saw the sights and the night-life, a good deal together. This went on +for nearly three weeks, Lola and I becoming very fast friends. At last, +however, her uncle being suddenly recalled to Paris, we were compelled +to part, though we constantly exchanged letters. From Berlin, my mother +moved to Cannes, and I followed her. We spent February and March on the +Riviera, and then went north to the Italian Lakes, the most lovely spot +in Europe in the springtide." He paused and, turning to the girl, said, +"Now, Lola, will you explain what happened?" + +The man under arrest again fought violently for freedom. His face was +flushed with exertion, his long teeth clenched, his black eyes starting +wildly from his head. Now that the villainous old man he had obeyed as +master was dead, he saw that he must, at all hazards, save himself. + +From his grey lips there issued a torrent of abuse, and the most fearful +maledictions, in the French tongue. + +Lola, requested by her lover to speak, held her breath for a moment, and +then, with an effort, calming the flood of emotion that arose within +her, said in her pretty English-- + +"After we met in Berlin, I, at my uncle's orders, ingratiated myself +with Lady Craig, for the purpose of ascertaining whether she had with +her jewellery of any value. Meanwhile, finding that Edouard had become +very friendly with me, he at once instituted inquiries and found that +Lady Craig was widow of Sir Alexander Craig, Knight, who had died +leaving his only son possessor of a great fortune and a large estate +near Monmouth. He also, through inquiries made by Vernon, found that +Edouard had not been in England since he came of age. Vernon and my +uncle met secretly one day at Frankfort, whereupon the crafty old man +elaborated an ingenious plan which, within a few days, was put into +execution. Among Vernon's wily confederates was a very smart, +gentlemanly young man named Richard Perceval, who had been an actor, and +who was the same height and much the same build as Edouard. This man +came to our hotel in Berlin, but with what object I was, then, entirely +ignorant. I now know that the reason he joined us was in order to +carefully watch Mr. Craig's manners, his gait, his style of dress, and +all his idiosyncrasies. While Edouard was unaware of it, he took many +snapshots of him in secret, and one day for a joke they both went to a +photographer's and had their portraits taken, the object of my uncle and +Perceval being to obtain a thoroughly good likeness of M'sieur Craig. +After three weeks, however, their preparations being completed, though +I, of course, had no suspicion as to what was intended, we left Berlin +and returned to Paris." + +"To Brussels," interrupted the notorious criminal. "Be correct, at +least." And his face broadened in an evil grin. + +"To Brussels first, and then next day to Paris," Lola went on. "For some +weeks nothing was done, it seems. I had constant letters from Edouard, +who was at Beau Site, at Cannes, and I frequently wrote to him there. +Then I accompanied my uncle to Algiers, where we remained some time, our +movements being always sudden and always uncertain. My uncle, at +Algiers, was engaged with his wireless telegraphy, sending and receiving +messages from nowhere. Meanwhile, old Vernon's wits were at work and he +laid his plans for a great _coup_. He took Richard Perceval to Cromer, +then dull, sleepy, and out-of-season, the young man arriving there as +his nephew, Edward Craig. He possessed an exact counterpart of M'sieur +Craig's wardrobe, his hair was cut in the style you see Edouard wearing +it, and by means of certain small but expert touches to his countenance, +so artistic as not to be discernible, he had become transformed into the +exact counterpart of the owner of Huttoft. Early in June we returned +from Algiers to Paris, and my uncle, leaving me, went to London. Then, +when he returned to the Boulevard Pereire three days later, I noticed a +great change in him. He seemed greatly incensed with the Master." + +"Had they quarrelled?" I inquired eagerly. + +"Yes, over the division of the profits arising from the theft, in the +month of March, of four hundred thousand francs' worth of diamonds, and +pearls from a Paris jeweller named Benoy, while he was in a motor-car in +the Forest of Fontainebleau. Vernon, he told me, had sold the stones and +had retained three-fourths of the plunder. My uncle was furious and +vowed most terrible vengeance. Next day, he sent me from Paris direct +to Norfolk with a letter to Vernon. On arrival in Cromer I was utterly +astounded to meet Perceval in the street dressed as Edouard Craig and +presenting an exact likeness to him! Perceval, however, did not see me, +and I went to Beacon House, delivered the letter to the old man, +obtained a reply, returned to London, and next day to Paris. From my +uncle, who became more incensed than ever against Vernon on receipt of +the reply to his letter, I managed to elicit what was intended. This was +that Vernon, knowing that Edouard lived always on the Continent, and had +not been home for four years, had devised a devilish plan by which +Perceval, representing himself to be the owner of Huttoft, was to obtain +from his late father's lawyers, a reputable firm whose address is in +Lincoln's Inn Fields, the deeds relating to the great Huttoft estate, as +well as a quantity of family jewels, and raise a large mortgage upon the +property from a well-known firm of money-lenders. The preliminary +negotiations with the latter had already been opened, and it was only a +question of days when the bogus Edouard Craig, already practised in the +art of forging the signature of the real M'sieur Craig, would present +himself to his late father's solicitors. The deep cunning of the whole +plot, and the fine and elaborate detail in which it had all been worked +out, held me aghast. If carried out, it was expected that fully seventy +thousand pounds would be neatly netted and the bogus Craig would +disappear into thin air!" + +"What did you do then?" I asked, amazed at her revelation. + +"At once I wrote to M'sieur Craig, who was at Villa d'Este, on the Lake +of Como, asking him to meet me in secret in Paris, at the earliest +possible moment. He met me one afternoon in the tea-rooms in the corner +of the Place Vendome, and there I told him what I had discovered. +And--and--well, I was forced to confess to him, for the first time, that +I was a thief." She added in a changed voice, "the cat's paw of my +uncle. I know I----" + +"That's enough, Lola!" exclaimed the young man. "We need not refer to +that. With Mr. Vidal, I am fully aware that your connection with those +terrible crimes has been a purely innocent one. You have been forced +into assisting them--held to them and to silence on pain of death." + +"Yes," I added, "that's true. Lola is innocent. I vouch for that." + +"Yes. Put upon my guard by Lola," Craig exclaimed, "I crossed at once to +London, and without revealing who it was who intended to personate me, I +told old Jerningham, the solicitor, to be careful. I remained in London +a week, and then, unable to further repress my curiosity, I went to +Cromer. I----" + +"Ah, perhaps I had better continue my narrative, so that we shall be +rightly understood," Lola interrupted, with cheeks flushed in her +excitement. "A couple of days after Edouard had gone to London, my +uncle, stung to fury by a letter he had received from old Vernon, +suddenly announced that we were both going to Cromer. Therefore, we left +Paris, and duly landed at Charing Cross, just in time to catch the last +train up to Cromer, where we arrived between ten and eleven o'clock at +night. In order to spring a surprise upon Vernon, we evaded the hotel +and went to some rooms in Overstrand Road for which he had already +telegraphed, having seen an advertisement in a railway guide." + +"To the house where he afterwards lodged?" I asked. + +"Yes. He had taken the same name he had used in Berlin, Doctor Arendt," +she replied. "Well, I had gone to my room, but was standing at the open +window, without switching on the light, when I saw him leave the house. +Wondering what might be in progress, I put on my knitted golf coat and +cap, and went after him. He took a long night-ramble past the flashing +lighthouse on the cliff, and away across the golf-links, towards +Overstrand, apparently reflecting deeply, his anger rising more and more +against Vernon, whom he had accused of robbing him. For a long time I +watched as he sat upon a log on top of the cliffs about a mile and a +half from the town, gazing out upon the sea, and smoking a cigar, I +having hid myself behind a bush. I was rather sorry I had come out, yet +in the circumstances, and in the interests of Edouard, I felt it my duty +to watch in patience. At last my uncle rose and strolled back over the +golf-course, along the cliff-path, towards the town. As he came along +over the low hill from the lighthouse, strolling on the grass, and +making no sound, he suddenly discerned upon a seat the figure of a man +in wide-brimmed hat and cape seated with his back to him and looking out +to sea. The night was warm and pleasant, a calm and perfect night on the +North Sea----" + +"Were you near him?" Sommerville interrupted. + +"I was walking along under the shadow of the hedge, while he walked over +the open, undulating ground," was the girl's reply. "On recognizing the +Master seated there, he was apparently seized by a sudden impulse of +revenge--perhaps cupidity as well--for I saw him creep up behind the +seat, and taking something from his pocket, thrust it quick as a flash +into the old man's face. The man attacked clawed the air frantically, +rose to his feet, staggered a few steps, and reeling, fell to the ground +without uttering a sound--dead. I saw, in my uncle's hand a +strange-looking and most terrible instrument, which he sometimes carried +when engaged on one of his desperate exploits, a specially-constructed +pistol the barrel of which was of soft india-rubber and finishing in a +bell-mouth about three inches across. This he had suddenly pressed over +the old man's nose and mouth--as he had done, alas! I knew, in other +cases where the victim had been found dead, and doctors had been unable +to establish the mysterious cause--then, pulling the trigger, he had +discharged a glass capsule containing a mixture of compressed amyl +nitrate and hydrocyanic gas, which, when released, a single inhalation +caused instant death. The discoverer of the compound killed himself +accidentally by it. Aghast, I stood watching him. He bent and examined +the dead man's face. Then he searched his pockets, took out something, +and then, moving quickly, dashed away towards the town, evidently +alarmed at his own action." + +And the girl paused, the accused man before her shouting strenuous +denials. + +"The instant he had gone," she continued, "I crept over the grass, past +the seat whereon the dead man had rested, and, bending to see if he was +still breathing, I found to my horror and dismay that it was not the +Master at all, but his supposed nephew, Richard Perceval! Back I hurried +to the house where we had rooms, and entering noiselessly--for I had +been taught to move without noise at night"--and she smiled grimly at +me. "I found my uncle had, fortunately, not yet come in. Therefore I +retired to bed. Next morning we left hurriedly for London, Jeanjean not +daring to face Vernon after what had occurred, and moreover, ignorant of +the fact that Vernon had left Cromer during the night, alarmed by the +real Edouard Craig calling upon him, and hinting that he knew the truth +concerning certain recent jewel robberies. Jeanjean, however, returned +to Cromer a few days later, and I followed and helped to secure the +jewels Vernon had left behind." + +"Yes," Craig exclaimed. "True. I saw nothing of Perceval on that evening +when I called upon old Vernon. My visit, however, completely upset him. +Lola had telegraphed to me that she was coming to England, therefore I +asked Vernon where she was. The old scoundrel replied that she was in +Cromer, and that if I went at a certain hour at night to a seat upon the +East Cliff, which he indicated, I should meet her there--that she had a +tryst with a secret lover. This naturally upset me, and I went, only to +discover Perceval, dressed in the old man's cape and hat, lying stark +dead. Why was he wearing those clothes, I wonder?" + +"I have only recently learnt the truth," Lola answered. "When you, saw +the old man, he believed me to be still in Paris, but when you inquired +for me he, keen and crafty as he was, instantly discerned a means by +which to entrap you. Therefore, saying nothing of his fear and intended +flight to Perceval, he arranged with that young impostor that the latter +should go to the seat dressed as himself, face you on your arrival, +Edouard, and close your mouth for ever by exactly the same dastardly, +silent and instant method as that adopted by Jeanjean--the gas pistol. +My uncle found the weapon upon the body and carried it off." + +"You had a very narrow escape, Mr. Craig," I remarked. "I sincerely +congratulate you." + +"Ah! I know," the young man said hastily. "Had not that man yonder +killed Perceval by mistake, I should most certainly by now have been a +dead man. But when I quickly realized the tragedy that had happened, and +feared lest I might be suspected, I went off, and making my way out of +the town, I walked through the night for twenty miles to Norwich, whence +I took train to London, and at once back to Italy." + +"Did you afterwards read of the affair in the papers?" asked +Sommerville, amazed, like ourselves at the startling revelations. + +"Of course. I followed every detail. But I did not come forward, for two +reasons. First I was--I frankly confess--deeply in love with Lola, and +feared to implicate her; and, secondly, for my mother's sake. I had no +desire to be mixed up in such an unsavoury and sensational affair, or +with such a notorious gang of criminals." + +"Did you see much of Lola after the affair at Cromer?" I queried. + +"I saw her once in Petersburg, where I followed her, also in Paris, and +again in London." + +"And also once at Boscombe--eh?" I added, "when you were so very +annoyed." + +"How do you know," he asked, starting, and at the same time laughing. + +"Because I met you, and believing you had arisen from the dead, I +watched you." + +"I was in entire ignorance of it," he declared. "Yes, I was annoyed +that night, for, on looking inside the room, I saw a young man standing +beside the piano, admiring Lola." + +"Oh!" she cried. "How foolish of you, Edouard! That was Mr. Burton, who +is engaged to Winifred Featherstone!" + +While these revelations had been made, Jules Jeanjean, wanted by the +police of nearly every country in Europe for a number of desperate +crimes, remained silent, listening to the words of Lola and her lover, +listening to the grim story of his own murderous treachery towards the +man whom he had acknowledged as Master. + +Suddenly, without warning, he burst from the men who held him, and with +a spring bounded like some wild animal towards Lola, and would have +thrown himself upon her, and strangled her, were it not that we all fell +upon him with one accord, and threw him to the ground, while handcuffs +were placed upon his wrists to prevent further violence. + +"You infernal devils!" he cried in French. "I vowed you should never +take me alive--and you shan't. You hear!" he yelled. "You shan't. I defy +you!" + +"Ah!" laughed Sommerville in triumph. "But thanks to Mr. Vidal, we have +at last got you, my ingenious friend." Then turning to Rayner, he said: +"Will you go and get two taxis? We'll take him to Bow Street, and the +other fellow also." + +Jeanjean cursed and shouted defiance, but his captors only laughed at +him. In those gyves of steel he was their prisoner, and held for the +justice he so richly deserved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +CONCERNS TO-DAY + + +The next day the London papers were full of the raid upon Merton Lodge, +the tragic death of the well-known diamond-broker, Gregory Vernon, and +the arrest of Jules Jeanjean and Egisto Bertini. + +The police had given but the most meagre details to the Press, therefore +the report was only vague, and no hint was forthcoming as to the actual +charges against the three men, or that they had any connection with the +cliff-mystery at Cromer. + +The most sensational passage of the report, which was regarded as "the +story," or principal feature by most of the papers, was the fact that +Jules Jeanjean, having been charged at Bow Street with robbery and +murder, was placed in the cells to be brought up next morning before the +magistrate. + +A warder, however, on going to the cell about half-past eight in the +evening, found the prisoner standing before him in defiance. + +"I refuse to be tried, after all!" he cried in English, in a loud voice, +"I'll escape you yet!" + +And before the man was aware of the prisoner's intention, he had placed +his right hand to his mouth, and with his left held his nostrils +tightly. + +The warder sprung upon him, but beneath his teeth the prisoner crushed a +small capsule of glass, while the fact that his nose was held caused him +to inhale the gas compressed within the capsule, and next second he +fell, inert, dead. + +I read the report in breathless eagerness, and then I realized that +Jules Jeanjean, alias Arendt, alias dozens of other names, had destroyed +himself with that combination of nitrate of amyl and hydrocyanic gas, a +single whiff of which was sufficient to cause instant death--the same +lethal gas which the criminal had discharged in the face of young +Perceval, and alas! into the faces of others of his victims who had been +found mysteriously dead on the scenes of the bandit's daring and +desperate exploits. + +Truly he had been a veritable artist in crime, but as he sowed, so also +had he reaped. The wages of sin are, indeed, death. + +From Sommerville, a few weeks later, I gathered a few further +interesting details. + +The man Hodrickx, together with two other men named Kunzle and Lavelle, +had been arrested while committing a clever burglary at a jeweller's in +the Corso in Rome; while tests at the private wireless station in +Arkwright Road and at the Villa Beni Hassan, near Algiers, had proved +conclusively that messages could be exchanged, as no doubt they often +were, but, being in a prearranged code, could not be read by the dozens +of other receiving stations, commercial and amateur, which picked them +up. + +In due course Bertini, the ex-customs officer of Calais, was extradited +to Paris, where he took his trial before the Assize Court of the Seine, +and was sentenced to a long term of penal servitude, which he is at +present serving at the penal island of New Caledonia, in the far +Pacific. + +As for myself, I still live in blessed singleness, and am a confirmed +bachelor, and a constant investigator of problems of crime. With the +ever-faithful Rayner, I still occupy my cosy rooms off Berkeley Square, +and, I may add, am still an intimate friend of Lola. + +But she is now Mrs. Edward Craig, mistress of Huttoft Hall, and wife of +an immensely wealthy man. She is a prominent figure in the country, but +none, save her husband, myself and Rayner, know that she was, not so +long ago, the confederate of the cleverest gang of international thieves +that has ever puzzled the police, or that she was then known to them as +"The Nightingale." + +Yes. The pair are both extremely happy, living solely for each other. +Perhaps if I were not such a confirmed bachelor, an iron-grey-headed +"uncle" to many a flapper niece, and jeered at by the schoolgirl reader +of novels as an "old man," I might be just a little jealous. + +But as things are, I am delighted to see my charming, delightful little +friend so happy. + +Often I am their guest at the fine, historic, sixteenth-century mansion +standing in its broad park, a few miles out of Monmouth. Indeed, it is +beneath their roof that, on this bright summer evening, while the +crimson after-glow is shining over the tops of the distant belt of dark +firs across the park, that I am setting down the concluding lines of +this strange story of daring and ingenious crime, this drama which so +nearly cost all three of us our lives at the hands of that unscrupulous +gang of dastardly malefactors. + +Edward Craig, and his wife, Lola, who returned from their honeymoon, +spent first in Khartoum, and afterwards in India, six months ago, and +have now quite settled, have just come in from tennis. As they stand +together, upon the threshold of the big oak-panelled library, a handsome +pair in white, hand-in-hand, hot and flushed from playing, Lola says, +with a merry smile upon her bright, open countenance and a pretty accent +in her voice-- + +"In your narrative of what has recently happened, M'sieur Vidal, please +tell the reader, man and woman, that the long, grim night has at last +passed, the dawn has broken, yet 'The Nightingale' still sings on more +blithely than ever, for she is at last supremely happy. At last, +Edouard!" she adds, throwing her white arms about her husband's neck. +"At last!" + +And the tall, handsome fellow in flannels bent until his lips met hers. + +"Ah, yes, Lola, darling!" he whispered earnestly. "You are +mine--mine--mine, for always. We have, as the Psalmist of old has put +it, passed through the Place of Dragons, and been covered with the +Shadow of Death. But God in His justice has smitten the transgressors, +and we have been delivered from the hand of the ungodly, into a world of +peace, of happiness, and of love." + + +THE END + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS + + +NOVELS BY + +_E. Charles Vivian_ + + +"Mr. Vivian is proving one of our most virile and entertaining writers +of the present day. Each succeeding work from his pen appears to grow in +strength and in characterization."--_The Bournemouth Graphic._ + +"This author has a fine sense of character, and can create atmosphere +quickly and effectively."--_Sunday Referee._ + + +Delicate Fiend +Double or Quit +Woman Dominant +Man Alone +The Forbidden Door +The Tale of Fleur +Nine Days +One Tropic Night +Unwashed Gods +Innocent Guilt +The Keys of the Flat +Ladies in the Case +Jewels Go Back +Seventeen Cards +Accessory After +The Capsule Mystery +Girl in the Dark +The Guardian of the Cup +Infamous Fame +Shadow on the House +Cigar for Inspector Head + + +_WARD, LOCK & CO., LTD., LONDON_ + + +NOVELS BY + +_Ben Bolt_ + + +"We know of few authors to-day whose works we enjoy so much as we do Mr. +Bolt's. He has the art of getting hold of a good story, unblemished by +any form of 'psycho' complication, and telling it really well, in a +style, too, that is free from split infinitives and the other solecisms +so common to the usual breathless novelist of the twentieth +century."--_Guardian._ + + +The Mystery of Belvoir Mansions +The Sword of Fortune +Captain Lucifer +The Badge +The Jewels of Sin +The Shadow of the Yamen +The Buccaneer's Bride +The Other Three +The Subway Mystery +The Coil of Mystery +The Diamond-Buckled Shoe +Diana of the Islands +The Forest Ranger +The Impossible Lover +The Pride of the Ring +The Sealed Envelope +The Bushmaster +The Mystery Hand +The Burnt Caravan +The Crooked Sign +The Green Arrow +The Lavenham Mystery +A Shot in the Night +The Snapshot Mystery +The Unseen Witness +Wayland of the Guides +The Green Lantern + + +_WARD, LOCK & CO., LTD., LONDON_ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Place of Dragons, by William Le Queux + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40434 *** |