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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Orange-Yellow Diamond, by J. S. Fletcher
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Orange-Yellow Diamond
+
+Author: J. S. Fletcher
+
+Posting Date: August 31, 2012 [EBook #9297]
+
+Release Date: November, 2005
+
+First Posted: September 17, 2003
+
+[Last updated: February 16, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Richard Prairie and PG
+Distributed Proofreaders.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                    THE
+
+                               ORANGE-YELLOW
+
+                                  DIAMOND
+
+                                    BY
+
+                              J. S. FLETCHER
+
+
+                                   1921
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+      I THE PRETTY PAWNBROKER
+
+	  II MRS. GOLDMARK'S EATING-HOUSE
+
+	  III THE DEAD MAN
+
+	  IV THE PLATINUM SOLITAIRE
+
+      V THE TWO LETTERS
+
+	  VI THE SPANISH MANUSCRIPT
+
+	  VII THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
+
+	  VIII THE INQUEST
+
+	  IX WHOSE WERE THOSE RINGS?
+
+      X MELKY INTERVENES
+
+	  XI THE BACK DOOR
+
+	  XII THE FRIEND FROM PEEBLES
+
+	  XIII THE CALL FOR HELP
+
+	  XIV THE PRIVATE LABORATORY
+
+	  XV CONFERENCE
+
+	  XVI THE DETECTIVE CALLS
+
+	  XVII WHAT THE LAMPS SHONE ON
+
+	  XVIII MR. STUYVESANT GUYLER
+
+	  XIX PURDIE STANDS FIRM
+
+	  XX THE PARSLETT AFFAIR
+
+	  XXI WHAT MANNER OF DEATH?
+
+	  XXII MR. KILLICK GOES BACK
+
+	  XXIII MR. KILLICK'S OPINION
+
+	  XXIV THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND
+
+	  XXV THE DEAD MAN'S PROPERTY
+
+	  XXVI THE RAT
+
+	  XXVII THE EMPTY HOUSE
+
+	  XXVIII THE £500 BANK NOTE
+
+	  XXIX MR. MORI YADA
+
+	  XXX THE MORTUARY
+
+	  XXXI THE MIRANDOLET THEORY
+
+	  XXXII ONE O'CLOCK MIDNIGHT
+
+	  XXXIII SECRET WORK
+
+	  XXXIV BAFFLED
+
+	  XXXV YADA TAKES CHARGE
+
+	  XXXVI PILMANSEY'S TEA ROOMS
+
+	  XXXVII CHANG LI
+
+	  XXXVIII THE JEW AND THE JAP
+
+	  XXXIX THE DIAMOND NECKLACE
+
+
+THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+
+THE PRETTY PAWNBROKER
+
+On the southern edge of the populous parish of Paddington, in a
+parallelogram bounded by Oxford and Cambridge Terrace on the south,
+Praed Street on the north, and by Edgware Road on the east and Spring
+Street on the west, lies an assemblage of mean streets, the drab
+dulness of which forms a remarkable contrast to the pretentious
+architectural grandeurs of Sussex Square and Lancaster Gate, close by.
+In these streets the observant will always find all those evidences of
+depressing semi-poverty which are more evident in London than in any
+other English city. The houses look as if laughter was never heard
+within them. Where the window blinds are not torn, they are dirty; the
+folk who come out of the doors wear anxious and depressed faces. Such
+shops as are there are mainly kept for the sale of food of poor
+quality: the taverns at the corners are destitute of attraction or
+pretension. Whoever wanders into these streets finds their sordid
+shabbiness communicating itself: he escapes, cast down, wondering who
+the folk are who live in those grey, lifeless cages; what they do, what
+they think; how life strikes them. Even the very sparrows which fight
+in the gutters for garbage are less lively than London sparrows usually
+are; as for the children who sit about the doorsteps, they look as if
+the grass, the trees, the flowers, and the sunlight of the adjacent
+Kensington Gardens were as far away as the Desert of Gobi. Within this
+slice of the town, indeed, life is lived, as it were, in a stagnant
+backwash, which nothing and nobody can stir.
+
+In an upper room of one of the more respectable houses in one of the
+somewhat superior streets of this neighbourhood, a young man stood
+looking out of the window one November afternoon. It was then five
+o'clock, and the darkness was coming: all day a gentle, never-ceasing
+rain had been bringing the soot down from the dark skies upon the
+already dingy roofs. It was a dismal and miserable prospect upon which
+the watcher looked out, but not so miserable nor so dismal as the
+situation in which he just then found himself. The mean street beneath
+him was not more empty of cheerfulness than his pockets were empty of
+money and his stomach of food. He had spent his last penny on the
+previous day: it, and two other coppers, had gone on a mere mouthful of
+food and drink: since their disappearance he had eaten nothing. And he
+was now growing faint with hunger--and to add to his pains, some one,
+downstairs, was cooking herrings. The smell of the frying-pan nearly
+drove him ravenous.
+
+He turned from the window presently and looked round at the small room
+behind him. It was a poor, ill-furnished place--cleanliness, though of
+a dingy sort, its only recommendation. There was a bed, and a
+washstand, and a chest of drawers, and a couple of chairs--a few
+shillings would have purchased the lot at any second-hand dealer's. In
+a corner stood the occupant's trunk--all the property he had in the
+world was in it, save a few books which were carefully ranged on the
+chimney-piece, and certain writing materials that lay on a small table.
+A sharp eye, glancing at the books and the writing materials, and at a
+few sheets of manuscript scattered on the blotting-pad, would have been
+quick to see that here was the old tale, once more being lived out, of
+the literary aspirant who, at the very beginning of his career, was
+finding, by bitter experience, that, of all callings, that of
+literature is the most precarious.
+
+A half-hesitating tap at the door prefaced the entrance of a woman--the
+sort of woman who is seen in those streets by the score--a tallish,
+thinnish woman, old before her time, perpetually harassed, always
+anxious, always looking as if she expected misfortune. Her face was
+full of anxiety now as she glanced at her lodger--who, on his part,
+flushed all over his handsome young face with conscious embarrassment.
+He knew very well what the woman wanted--and he was powerless to
+respond to her appeal.
+
+"Mr. Lauriston," she said in a half whisper, "when do you think you'll
+be able to let me have a bit of money? It's going on for six weeks now,
+you know, and I'm that put to it, what with the rent, and the rates--"
+
+Andrew Lauriston shook his head--not in denial, but in sheer perplexity.
+
+"Mrs. Flitwick," he answered, "I'll give you your money the very minute
+I get hold of it! I told you the other day I'd sold two stories--well,
+I've asked to be paid for them at once, and the cheque might be here by
+any post. And I'm expecting another cheque, too--I'm surprised they
+aren't both here by this time. The minute they arrive, I'll settle with
+you. I'm wanting money myself--as badly as you are!"
+
+"I know that, Mr. Lauriston," assented Mrs. Flitwick, "and I wouldn't
+bother you if I wasn't right pressed, myself. But there's the landlord
+at me--he wants money tonight. And--you'll excuse me for mentioning
+it--but, till you get your cheques, Mr. Lauriston, why don't you raise
+a bit of ready money?"
+
+Lauriston looked round at his landlady with an air of surprised enquiry.
+
+"And how would I do that?" he asked.
+
+"You've a right good gold watch, Mr. Lauriston," she answered. "Any
+pawnbroker--and there's plenty of 'em, I'm sure!--'ud lend you a few
+pounds on that. Perhaps you've never had occasion to go to a pawnbroker
+before? No?--well, and I hadn't once upon a time, but I've had to,
+whether or no, since I came to letting lodgings, and if I'd as good a
+watch as yours is, I wouldn't go without money in my pocket! If you've
+money coming in, you can always get your goods back--and I should be
+thankful for something, Mr. Lauriston, if it was but a couple o'
+pounds. My landlord's that hard--"
+
+Lauriston turned and picked up his hat.
+
+"All right, Mrs. Flitwick," he said quietly. "I'll see what I can do.
+I--I'd never even thought of it."
+
+When the woman had gone away, closing the door behind her, he pulled
+the watch out of his pocket and looked at it--an old-fashioned, good,
+gold watch, which had been his father's. No doubt a pawnbroker would
+lend money on it. But until then he had never had occasion to think of
+pawnbrokers. He had come to London nearly two years before, intending
+to make name, fame, and fortune by his pen. He had a little money to be
+going on with--when he came. It had dwindled steadily, and it had been
+harder to replace it than he had calculated for. And at last there he
+was, in that cheap lodging, and at the end of his resources, and the
+cheque for his first two accepted stories had not arrived. Neither had
+a loan which, sorely against his will, he had been driven to request
+from the only man he could think of--an old schoolmate, far away in
+Scotland. He had listened for the postman's knock, hoping it would
+bring relief, for four long days--and not one letter had come, and he
+was despairing and heartsick. But--there was the watch!
+
+He went out presently, and on the stair, feebly lighted by a jet of
+gas, he ran up against a fellow-lodger--a young Jew, whom he knew by
+the name of Mr. Melchior Rubinstein, who occupied the rooms immediately
+beneath his own. He was a quiet, affable little person, with whom
+Lauriston sometimes exchanged a word or two--and the fact that he
+sported rings on his fingers, a large pin in his tie, and a heavy
+watch-chain, which was either real gold or a very good imitation, made
+Lauriston think that he would give him some advice. He stopped
+him--with a shy look, and an awkward blush.
+
+"I say!" he said. "I--the fact is, I'm a bit hard up--temporarily, you
+know--and I want to borrow some money on my watch. Could you tell me
+where there's a respectable pawnbroker's?"
+
+Melky--known to every one in the house by that familiar substitute for
+his more pretentious name--turned up the gas-jet and then held out a
+slender, long-fingered hand. "Let's look at the watch," he said curtly,
+in a soft, lisping voice. "I know more than a bit about watches,
+mister."
+
+Lauriston handed the watch over and watched Melky inquisitively as he
+looked at it, inside and out, in a very knowing and professional way.
+Melky suddenly glanced at him. "Now, you wouldn't like to sell this
+here bit of property, would you, Mr. Lauriston?" he enquired, almost
+wheedlingly. "I'll give you three quid for it--cash down."
+
+"Thank you--but I wouldn't sell it for worlds," replied Lauriston.
+
+"Say four quid, then," urged Melky. "Here!--between friends, I'll give
+you four-ten! Spot cash, mind you!"
+
+"No!" said Lauriston. "It belonged to my father. I don't want to
+sell--I want to borrow."
+
+Melky pushed the watch back into its owner's hand.
+
+"You go round into Praed Street, mister," he said, in business-like
+fashion. "You'll see a shop there with Daniel Multenius over it. He's a
+relation o' mine--he'll do what you want. Mention my name, if you like.
+He'll deal fair with you. And if you ever want to sell, don't forget
+me."
+
+Lauriston laughed, and went down the stairs, and out into the dismal
+evening. It was only a step round to Praed Street, and within five
+minutes of leaving Melky he was looking into Daniel Multenius's window.
+He remembered now that he had often looked into it, without noticing
+the odd name above it. It was a window in which there were all sorts of
+curious things, behind a grille of iron bars, from diamonds and pearls
+to old ivory and odds and ends of bric-à-brac. A collector of
+curiosities would have found material in that window to delay him for
+half-an-hour--but Lauriston only gave one glance at it before hastening
+down a dark side-passage to a door, over which was a
+faintly-illuminated sign, showing the words: PLEDGE OFFICE.
+
+He pushed open that door and found himself before several small,
+boxed-off compartments, each just big enough to contain one person.
+They were all empty at that moment; he entered one, and seeing nobody
+about, tapped gently on the counter. He expected to see some ancient
+and Hebraic figure present itself--instead, light steps came from some
+recess of the shop, and Lauriston found himself gazing in surprise at a
+young and eminently pretty girl, who carried some fancy needle-work in
+her hand, and looked over it at him out of a pair of large, black eyes.
+For a moment the two gazed at each other, in silence.
+
+"Yes?" said the girl at last. "What can I do for you?"
+
+Lauriston found his tongue.
+
+"Er--is Mr. Multenius in?" he asked. "I--the fact is, I want to see
+him."
+
+"Mr. Multenius is out," answered the girl. "But I'm in charge--if it's
+business."
+
+She was quietly eyeing Lauriston over, and she saw his
+fresh-complexioned face colour vividly.
+
+"I do my grandfather's business when he's out," she continued. "Do you
+want to borrow some money?"
+
+Lauriston pulled out the watch, with more blushes, and pushed it
+towards her.
+
+"That's just it," he answered. "I want to borrow money on that. A
+friend of mine--fellow-lodger--Mr. Melky Rubinstein--said I could
+borrow something here. That's a real good watch, you know."
+
+The girl glanced at her customer with a swift and almost whimsical
+recognition of his innocence, and almost carelessly picked up the watch.
+
+"Oh, Melky sent you here, did he?" she said, with a smile. "I see!" She
+looked the watch over, and snapped open the case. Then she glanced at
+Lauriston. "How much do you want on this?" she asked.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+
+MRS. GOLDMARK'S EATING-HOUSE
+
+Lauriston thrust his hands in his pockets and looked at the girl in
+sheer perplexity. She was a very pretty, dark girl, nearly as tall as
+himself, slender and lissom of figure, and decidedly attractive. There
+was evident sense of fun and humour in her eyes, and about the corners
+of her lips: he suddenly got an idea that she was amused at his
+embarrassment.
+
+"How much can you lend me?" he asked. "What--what's it worth?"
+
+"No, that's not it!" she answered. "It's--what do you want to borrow?
+You're not used to pledging things, are you?"
+
+"No," replied Lauriston. "This is the first time. Can--can you lend me
+a few pounds?"
+
+The girl picked up the watch again, and again, examined it.
+
+"I'll lend you three pounds fifteen on it," she said suddenly, in
+business-like tones. "That do?"
+
+"Thank you," replied Lauriston. "That'll do very well--I'm much
+obliged. I suppose I can have it back any time."
+
+"Any time you bring the money, and pay the interest," replied the girl.
+"Within twelve calendar months and seven days." She picked up a pen and
+began to fill out a ticket. "Got any copper?" she asked presently.
+
+"Copper?" exclaimed Lauriston. "What for?"
+
+"The ticket," she answered. Then she gave him a quick glance and just
+as quickly looked down again. "Never mind!" she said. "I'll take it out
+of the loan. Your name and address, please."
+
+Lauriston presently took the ticket and the little pile of gold,
+silver, and copper which she handed him. And he lingered.
+
+"You'll take care of that watch," he said, suddenly. "It was my
+father's, you see."
+
+The girl smiled, reassuringly, and pointed to a heavily-built safe in
+the rear.
+
+"We've all sorts of family heirlooms in there," she observed. "Make
+yourself easy."
+
+Lauriston thanked her, raised his hat, and turned away--unwillingly. He
+would have liked an excuse to stop longer--and he did not quite know
+why. But he could think of none, so he went--with a backward look when
+he got to the door. The pretty pawnbroker smiled and nodded. And the
+next moment he was out in the street, with money in his pocket, and a
+strange sense of relief, which was mingled with one of surprise. For he
+had lived for the previous four days on a two-shilling piece--and
+there, all the time, close by him, had been a place where you could
+borrow money, easily and very pleasantly.
+
+His first thought was to hurry to his lodgings and pay his landlady. He
+owed her six weeks' rent, at ten shillings a week--that would take
+three pounds out of the money he had just received. But he would still
+have over fourteen shillings to be going on with--and surely those
+expected letters would come within the next few postal deliveries. He
+had asked the editor who had taken two short stories from him to let
+him have a cheque for them, and in his inexperience had expected to see
+it arrive by return of post. Also he had put his pride in his pocket,
+and had written a long letter to his old schoolmate, John Purdie, in
+far-away Scotland, explaining his present circumstances, and asking
+him, for old times' sake, to lend him some money until he had finished
+and sold a novel, which, he was sure, would turn out to be a small
+gold-mine. John Purdie, he knew, was now a wealthy young man--successor
+to his father in a fine business; Lauriston felt no doubt that he would
+respond. And meantime, till the expected letters came, he had
+money--and when you have lived for four days on two shillings, fourteen
+shillings seems a small fortune. Certainly, within the last half-hour,
+life had taken on a roseate tinge--all due to a visit to the pawnshop.
+
+Hurrying back along Praed Street, Lauriston's steps were suddenly
+arrested. He found himself unconsciously hurrying by an old-fashioned
+eating-house, from whence came an appetizing odour of cooking food. He
+remembered then that he had eaten nothing for four-and-twenty hours.
+His landlady supplied him with nothing: ever since he had gone to her
+he had done his own catering, going out for his meals. The last meal,
+on the previous evening, had been a glass of milk and a stale, though
+sizable bun, and now he felt literally ravenous. It was only by an
+effort that he could force himself to pass the eating-house; once
+beyond its door, he ran, ran until he reached his lodgings and slipped
+three sovereigns into Mrs. Flitwick's hands.
+
+"That'll make us right to this week end, Mrs. Flitwick," he said. "Put
+the receipt in my room."
+
+"And greatly obliged I am to you, Mr. Lauriston," answered the
+landlady. "And sorry, indeed, you should have had to put yourself to
+the trouble, but--"
+
+"All right, all right--no trouble--no trouble at all," exclaimed
+Lauriston. "Quite easy, I assure you!"
+
+He ran out of the house again and back to where he knew there was food.
+He was only one-and-twenty, a well-built lad, with a healthy appetite,
+which, until very recently, had always been satisfied, and just then he
+was feeling that unless he ate and drank, something--he knew not
+what--would happen. He was even conscious that his voice was weakening,
+when, having entered the eating-house and dropped into a seat in one of
+the little boxes into which the place was divided, he asked the
+waitress for the food and drink which he was now positively aching for.
+And he had eaten a plateful of fish and two boiled eggs and several
+thick slices of bread and butter, and drunk the entire contents of a
+pot of tea before he even lifted his eyes to look round him. But by
+that time he was conscious of satisfaction, and he sat up and inspected
+the place to which he had hurried so eagerly. And in the same moment he
+once more saw Melky.
+
+Melky had evidently just entered the little eating-house. Evidently,
+too, he was in no hurry for food or drink. He had paused, just within
+the entrance, at a desk which stood there, whereat sat Mrs. Goldmark,
+the proprietress, a plump, pretty young woman, whose dark, flashing
+eyes turned alternately from watching her waitresses to smiling on her
+customers as they came to the desk to pay their bills. Melky, his smart
+billy-cock hat cocked to one side, his sporting-looking overcoat
+adorned with a flower, was evidently paying compliments to Mrs.
+Goldmark as he leaned over her desk: she gave him a playful push and
+called to a waitress to order Mr. Rubinstein a nice steak. And Melky,
+turning from her with a well satisfied smile, caught sight of
+Lauriston, and sauntered down to the table at which he sat.
+
+"Get your bit of business done all right?" he asked, confidentially, as
+he took a seat opposite his fellow-lodger and bent towards him. "Find
+the old gent accommodating?"
+
+"I didn't see him," answered Lauriston. "I saw a young lady."
+
+"My cousin Zillah," said Melky. "Smart girl, that, mister--worth a pile
+o' money to the old man--she knows as much about the business as what
+he does! You wouldn't think, mister," he went on in his soft, lisping
+tones, "but that girl's had a college education--fact! Old Daniel, he
+took her to live with him when her father and mother died, she being a
+little 'un then, and he give her--ah, such an education as I wish I'd
+had--see? She's quite the lady--is Zillah--but sticks to the old
+shop--not half, neither!"
+
+"She seems very business-like," remarked Lauriston, secretly pleased
+that he had now learned the pretty pawnbroker's name. "She soon did
+what I wanted."
+
+"In the blood," said Melky, laconically. "We're all of us in that sort
+o' business, one way or another. Now, between you and me, mister, what
+did she lend you on that bit o' stuff?"
+
+"Three pounds fifteen," replied Lauriston.
+
+"That's about it," assented Melky, with a nod. He leaned a little
+nearer. "You don't want to sell the ticket?" he suggested. "Give you a
+couple o' quid for it, if you do."
+
+"You seem very anxious to buy that watch," said Lauriston, laughing.
+"No--I don't want to sell the ticket--not I! I wouldn't part with that
+watch for worlds."
+
+"Well, if you don't, you don't," remarked Melky. "And as to wanting to
+buy--that's my trade. I ain't no reg'lar business--I buy and sell,
+anything that comes handy, in the gold and silver line. And as you
+ain't going to part with that ticket on no consideration, I'll tell you
+what it's worth, old as it is. Fifteen quid!"
+
+"That's worth knowing, any way," said Lauriston. "I shall always have
+something by me then, while I have that. You'd have made a profit of a
+nice bit, then, if I'd sold it to you?"
+
+"It 'ud be a poor world, mister, if you didn't get no profit, wouldn't
+it?" assented Melky calmly. "We're all of us out to make profit. Look
+here!--between you and me--you're a lit'ry gent, ain't you? Write a
+bit, what? Do you want to earn a fiver--comfortable?"
+
+"I should be very glad," replied Lauriston.
+
+"There's a friend o' mine," continued Melky, "wholesale jeweller, down
+Shoreditch way, wants to get out a catalogue. He ain't no lit'ry
+powers, d'you see? Now, he'd run to a fiver--cash down--if some writing
+feller 'ud touch things up a bit for him, like. Lor' bless you!--it
+wouldn't take you more'n a day's work! What d'ye say to it?"
+
+"I wouldn't mind earning five pounds at that," answered Lauriston.
+
+"Right-oh!" said Melky. "Then some day next week, I'll take you down to
+see him--he's away till then. And--you'll pay me ten per cent. on the
+bit o' business, won't you, mister? Business is business, ain't it?"
+
+"All right!" agreed Lauriston. "That's a bargain, of course."
+
+Melky nodded and turned to his steak, and Lauriston presently left him
+and went away. The plump lady at the desk gave him a smile as she
+handed him his change.
+
+"Hope to see you again, sir," she said.
+
+Lauriston went back to his room, feeling that the world had changed. He
+had paid his landlady, he had silver and copper in his pocket, he had
+the chance of earning five pounds during the coming week--and he
+expected a cheque for his two stories by every post. And if John Purdie
+made him the loan he had asked for, he would be able to devote a whole
+month to finishing his novel--and then, perhaps, there would be fame
+and riches. The dismal November evening disappeared in a dream of hope.
+
+But by the end of the week hope was dropping to zero again with
+Lauriston. No letters had arrived--either from John Purdie or the
+editor. On the Sunday morning he was again face to face with the last
+half-crown. He laid out his money very cautiously that day, but when he
+had paid for a frugal dinner at a cheap coffee-shop, he had only a
+shilling left. He wandered into Kensington Gardens that Sunday
+afternoon, wondering what he had best do next. And as he stood by the
+railings of the ornamental water, watching the water-fowls' doings,
+somebody bade him good-day, and he turned to find the pretty girl of
+the pawnshop standing at his side and smiling shyly at him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+
+THE DEAD MAN
+
+Lauriston was thinking about Zillah at the very moment in which she
+spoke to him: the memory of her dark eyes and the friendly smile that
+she had given him as he left the pawnshop had come as a relief in the
+midst of his speculations as to his immediate future. And now, as he
+saw her real self, close to him, evidently disposed to be friendly, he
+blushed like any girl, being yet at that age when shyness was still a
+part of his character. Zillah blushed too--but she was more
+self-possessed than Lauriston.
+
+"I've been talking to my Cousin Melky about you," she said quickly.
+"Or, rather, he's been talking to me. He says he's going to introduce
+you to a man who wants his catalogue put in shape--for five pounds.
+Don't you do it for five pounds! I know that man--charge him ten!"
+
+Lauriston moved away with her down the walk.
+
+"Oh, but I couldn't do that, now!" he said eagerly. "You see I promised
+I'd do it for five."
+
+Zillah gave him a quick glance.
+
+"Don't you be silly!" she said. "When anybody like Melky offers you
+five pounds for anything, ask them double. They'll give it. You don't
+know much about money matters, do you?"
+
+Lauriston laughed, and gaining confidence, gave the girl a knowing look.
+
+"Not much," he admitted, "else I wouldn't have had to do that bit of
+business with you the other day."
+
+"Oh--that!" she said indifferently. "That's nothing. You'd be
+astonished if you knew what sort of people just have to run round to
+us, now and then--I could tell you some secrets! But--I guessed you
+weren't very well up in money matters, all the same. Writing people
+seldom are."
+
+"I suppose you are?" suggested Lauriston.
+
+"I've been mixed up in them all my life, more or less," she answered.
+"Couldn't help being, with my surroundings. You won't think me
+inquisitive if I ask you something? Were you--hard up--when you came
+round the other night?"
+
+"Hard up's a mild term," replied Lauriston, frankly. "I hadn't a penny!"
+
+"Excepting a gold watch worth twelve or fifteen pounds," remarked
+Zillah, drily. "And how long had you been like that?"
+
+"Two or three days--more or less," answered Lauriston. "You see, I've
+been expecting money for more than a week--that was it."
+
+"Has it come?" she asked.
+
+"No--it hasn't," he replied, with a candid blush. "That's a fact!"
+
+"Will it come--soon?" she demanded.
+
+"By George!--I hope so!" he exclaimed. "I'll be hard up again, if it
+doesn't."
+
+"And then you offer to do for five what you might easily get ten for!"
+she said, almost reproachfully. "Let me give you a bit of advice--never
+accept a first offer. Stand out for a bit more--especially from anybody
+like my cousin Melky."
+
+"Is Melky a keen one, then?" enquired Lauriston.
+
+"Melky's a young Jew," said Zillah, calmly. "I'm not--I'm
+half-and-half--a mixture. My mother was Jew--my father wasn't. Well--if
+you want money to be going on with, and you've got any more gold
+watches, you know where to come. Don't you ever go with empty pockets
+in London while you've got a bit of property to pledge! You're not a
+Londoner, of course?"
+
+"I'm a Scotsman!" said Lauriston.
+
+"To be sure--I knew it by your tongue," asserted Zillah. "And trying to
+make a living by writing! Well, you'll want courage--and money. Have
+you had any luck?"
+
+"I've sold two stories," answered Lauriston, who by that time was
+feeling as if the girl was an old friend. "They come to twenty pounds
+for the two, at the rate that magazine pays, and I've asked for a
+cheque--it's that I'm waiting for. It ought to come--any time."
+
+"Oh, but I know that game!" said Zillah. "I've two friends--girls--who
+write. I know how they have to wait--till publication, or till next
+pay-day. What a pity that some of you writers don't follow some other
+profession that would bring in a good income--then you could do your
+writing to please yourselves, and not be dependent on it. Haven't you
+thought of that?"
+
+"Often!" answered Lauriston. "And it wouldn't do--for me, anyway. I've
+made my choice. I'll stick to my pen--and swim or sink with it. And I'm
+not going to sink!"
+
+"That's the way to talk--to be sure!" said the girl. "But--keep
+yourself in money, if you can. Don't go without money for three days
+when you've anything you can raise money on. You see how practical I
+am! But you've got to be in this world. Will you tell me something?"
+
+"It strikes me," answered Lauriston, looking at her narrowly and
+bringing the colour to her cheeks, "that I'm just about getting to
+this--that I'd tell you anything! And so--what is it?"
+
+"How much money have you left?" she asked softly.
+
+"Precisely a shilling--and a copper or two," he answered.
+
+"And--if that cheque doesn't arrive?" she suggested.
+
+"Maybe I'll be walking round to Praed Street again," he said, laughing.
+"I've a bit of what you call property, yet."
+
+The girl nodded, and turned towards a side-walk that led across the
+Gardens.
+
+"All right," she said. "Don't think me inquisitive--I don't like to
+think of--of people like you being hard up: I'm not wrapped up in
+business as much as all that. Let's talk of something else--tell me
+what you write about."
+
+Lauriston spent the rest of that afternoon with Zillah, strolling about
+Kensington Gardens. He had lived a very lonely life since coming to
+London, and it was a new and pleasant experience to him to have an
+intelligent companion to talk to. There was a decided sense of
+exhilaration within him when he finally left her; as for Zillah, she
+went homewards in a very thoughtful mood, already conscious that she
+was more than half in love with this good-looking lad who had come so
+strangely into her life. And at the corner of Praed Street she ran up
+against Mr. Melky Rubinstein, and button-holed him, and for ten minutes
+talked seriously to him. Melky, who had good reasons of his own for
+keeping in his cousin's favour, listened like a lamb to all she had to
+say, and went off promising implicit obedience to her commandments.
+
+"Zillah ain't half gone on that chap!" mused Melky, as he pursued his
+way. "Now, ain't it extraordinary that a girl who'll come into a
+perfect fortune should go and fall head over ears in love with a
+red-headed young feller what ain't got a penny to bless hisself with!
+Not but what he ain't got good looks--and brains. And brains is brains,
+when all's said!"
+
+That night, as Lauriston sat writing in his shabby little room, a knock
+came at his door--the door opened, and Melky slid in, laying his finger
+to the side of his large nose in token of confidence.
+
+"Hope I ain't interrupting," said Melky. "I say, mister, I been
+thinking about that catalogue business. Now I come to sort of reflect
+on it, I think my friend'll go to ten pound. So we'll say ten
+pound--what? And I'll take you to see him next Friday. And I say,
+mister--if a pound or two on account 'ud be of any service--say the
+word, d'ye see?"
+
+With this friendly assurance, Melky plunged his hand into a hip-pocket,
+and drew out some gold, which he held towards Lauriston on his open
+palm.
+
+"Two or three pound on account, now, mister?" he said, ingratiatingly.
+"You're welcome as the flowers in May!"
+
+But Lauriston shook his head; he had already decided on a plan of his
+own, if the expected remittance did not arrive next morning.
+
+"No, thank you," he answered. "It's uncommonly good of you--but I can
+manage very well indeed--I can, really! Next Friday, then--I'll go with
+you. I'm very much obliged to you."
+
+Melky slipped his money into his pocket--conscious of having done his
+part. "Just as you like, mister," he said. "But you was welcome, you
+know. Next Friday, then--and you can reckon on cash down for this job."
+
+The Monday morning brought neither of the expected letters to
+Lauriston. But he had not spoken without reason when he said to Zillah
+that he had a bit of property to fall back upon--now that he knew how
+ready money could easily be raised. He had some pledgeable property in
+his trunk--and when the remittances failed to arrive, he determined to
+avail himself of it. Deep down in a corner of the trunk he had two
+valuable rings--all that his mother had left him, with the exception of
+two hundred pounds, with which he had ventured to London, and on which
+he had lived up to then. He got the rings out towards the end of Monday
+afternoon, determining to take them round to Daniel Multenius and raise
+sufficient funds on them to last him for, at any rate, another month or
+two. He had little idea of the real value of such articles, and he had
+reasons of his own for not showing the rings to Melky Rubinstein; his
+notion was to wait until evening, when he would go to the pawnshop at
+about the same time as on his previous visit, in the hope of finding
+Zillah in charge again. After their meeting and talk of the afternoon
+before, he felt that she would do business with him in a sympathetic
+spirit--and if he could raise twenty pounds on the rings he would be
+free of all monetary anxiety for many a long week to come.
+
+It was half-past five o'clock of that Monday evening when Lauriston,
+for the second time, turned into the narrow passage which led to the
+pawnshop door. He had already looked carefully through the street
+window, in the hope of seeing Zillah inside the front shop. But there
+was no Zillah to be seen; the front shop was empty. Nor did Zillah
+confront him when he stepped into the little boxed-in compartment in
+the pawnshop. There was a curious silence in the place--broken only by
+the quiet, regular ticking of a clock. That ticking grew oppressive
+during the minute or two that he waited expecting somebody to step
+forward. He rapped on the counter at last--gently at first, then more
+insistently. But nobody came. The clock--hidden from his sight--went on
+ticking.
+
+Lauriston bent over the counter at last and craned his neck to look
+into the open door of a little parlour which lay behind the shop. The
+next instant, with no thought but of the exigencies of the moment, he
+had leapt over the partition and darted into the room. There, stretched
+out across the floor, his head lying on the hearthrug, his hands lying
+inert and nerveless at his sides, lay an old man, grey-bearded,
+venerable--Daniel Multenius, no doubt. He lay very still, very
+statuesque--and Lauriston, bending over and placing a trembling hand on
+the high, white forehead, knew that he was dead.
+
+He started up--his only idea that of seeking help. The whole place was
+so still that he knew he was alone with the dead in it. Instinctively,
+he ran through the front shop to the street door--and into the arms of
+a man who was just entering.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+
+THE PLATINUM SOLITAIRE
+
+The newcomer, an elderly, thick-set man, who, in spite of his plain
+clothes, looked as if he were an official of some sort and carried some
+documents in his hand, at which he was glancing as he entered, started
+and exclaimed as Lauriston, in his haste, ran up against him. "Hullo!"
+he said. "What's the matter? You seem in a hurry, young fellow!"
+
+Lauriston, almost out of breath with excitement, turned and pointed to
+the open door of the little parlour.
+
+"There's an old man--lying in there--dead!" he whispered. "A
+grey-bearded old man--is it the pawn-broker--Mr. Multenius?"
+
+The man stared, craned his neck to glance in the direction which
+Lauriston's shaking finger indicated, and then started forward. But he
+suddenly paused, and motioned Lauriston to go first--and before
+following him he closed the street door.
+
+"Now then, where?" he said. "Dead, do you say?" He followed Lauriston
+into the parlour, uttered a sharp exclamation as he caught sight of the
+recumbent figure, and, bending down, laid a hand on the forehead.
+"Dead, right enough, my lad!" he muttered. "Been dead some minutes,
+too. But--where's the girl--the grand-daughter? Have you seen anybody?"
+
+"Not a soul!" answered Lauriston. "Since I came in, the whole place has
+been as still as--as it is now!"
+
+The man stared at him for a second or two, silently; then, as if he
+knew the ins and outs of the establishment, he strode to an inner door,
+threw it open and revealed a staircase.
+
+"Hullo there!" he called loudly. "Hullo! Miss Wildrose! Are you there?"
+
+This was the first time Lauriston had heard Zillah's surname: even in
+the midst of that startling discovery, it struck him as a very poetical
+one. But he had no time to reflect on it--the man turned back into the
+parlour.
+
+"She must be out," he said. "Do you say you found him?"
+
+"Yes--I found him," answered Lauriston. "Just now."
+
+"And what were you doing here?" asked the man. "Who are you?"
+
+Lauriston fancied he detected a faint note of suspicion in these
+questions, and he drew himself up, with a flush on his face.
+
+"My name's Andrew Lauriston," he answered. "I live close by. I came in
+on--business. Who are you?"
+
+"Well, if it comes to that, my lad," said the man, "I'm
+Detective-Sergeant Ayscough--known well enough around these parts! I
+came to see the old gentleman about these papers. Now--what was your
+business, then?"
+
+He was watching Lauriston very keenly, and Lauriston, suddenly
+realizing that he was in an awkward position, determined on candour.
+
+"Well, if you really want to know," he said, "I came to borrow some
+money--on these rings."
+
+And he opened his left hand and showed the detective the two rings
+which he had taken from his trunk--not half-an-hour before.
+
+"Your property?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Of course they're my property!" exclaimed Lauriston. "Whose else
+should they be?"
+
+Ayscough's glance wandered from the rings to a table which stood, a
+little to one side, in the middle of the parlour. Lauriston turned in
+that direction, also. Two objects immediately met his eye. On the table
+stood a small tray, full of rings--not dissimilar in style and
+appearance to those which he held in his hand: old-fashioned rings. The
+light from the gas-brackets above the mantel-piece caught the facets of
+the diamonds in those rings and made little points of fire; here and
+there he saw the shimmer of pearls. But there was another object. Close
+by the tray of old rings lay a book--a beautifully bound book, a small
+quarto in size, with much elaborate gold ornament on the back and side,
+and gilt clasps holding the heavy leather binding together. It looked
+as if some hand had recently thrown this book carelessly on the table.
+
+But Ayscough gave little, if any, attention to the book: his eyes were
+fixed on the rings in the tray--and he glanced from them to Lauriston's
+rings.
+
+"Um!" he said presently. "Odd that you have a couple of rings, young
+man, just like--those! Isn't it?"
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Lauriston, flushing scarlet. "You don't
+suggest--"
+
+"Don't suggest anything--just now," answered the detective, quietly.
+"But you must stop here with me, until I find out more. Come to the
+door--we must have help here."
+
+Lauriston saw there was nothing to do but to obey, and he followed
+Ayscough to the street door. The detective opened it, looked out, and
+waiting a few minutes, beckoned to a policeman who presently strolled
+along. After a whispered word or two, the policeman went away, and
+Ayscough beckoned Lauriston back into the shop.
+
+"Now," he said, "there'll be some of our people and a surgeon along in
+a few minutes--before they come, just tell me your story. You're an
+honest-looking young chap--but you must admit that it looks a bit queer
+that I should find you running out of this shop, old Multenius dead
+inside his parlour, and you with a couple of rings in your possession
+which look uncommonly like his property! Just tell me how it came
+about."
+
+Lauriston told him the plain truth--from the pawning of the watch to
+the present visit. Ayscough watched him narrowly--and at the end nodded
+his head.
+
+"That sounds like a straight tale, Mr. Lauriston," he said. "I'm
+inclined to believe every word you say. But I shall have to report it,
+and all the circumstances, and you'll have to prove that these two
+rings were your mother's, and all that--and you must stay here till the
+doctor comes with our people. Queer that the old man should be alone! I
+wonder where his grand-daughter is?"
+
+But just then the street door opened and Zillah came in, a big bunch of
+flowers under one arm, some small parcels in the other. At the sight of
+the two men she started; crimsoned as she saw Lauriston; paled again as
+she noticed that Ayscough was evidently keeping an eye on him.
+
+"Mr. Ayscough!" she exclaimed. "What's this?--is something the matter?
+What are you doing here?" she went on hurriedly, turning to Lauriston.
+"Inside the shop! What's happened?--tell me, one of you?"
+
+The detective purposely kept himself and Lauriston between Zillah and
+the open door at the rear of the shop. He made a kindly motion of his
+head towards her.
+
+"Now, my dear!" he said. "Don't get upset--your grandfather was getting
+a very old man, you know--and we can't expect old gentlemen to live for
+ever. Take it quietly, now!"
+
+The girl turned and laid her flowers and parcels on the counter.
+Lauriston, watching her anxiously, saw that she was nerving herself to
+be brave.
+
+"That means--he's dead?" she said. "I am quiet--you see I'm quiet. Tell
+me what's happened--you tell me," she added, glancing at Lauriston.
+"Tell me--now!"
+
+"I came in and found no one here, and I looked round through the door
+into the parlour there," answered Lauriston, "and I saw your
+grandfather lying on the floor. So I jumped over the counter and went
+to him."
+
+Zillah moved forward as if to go into the parlour. But the detective
+stopped her, glancing from her to Lauriston.
+
+"You know this young man, Miss Wildrose?" he asked. "You've met him
+before?"
+
+"Yes," replied Zillah, confidently. "He's Mr. Lauriston. Let me go in
+there, please. Can nothing be done?"
+
+But Ayscough only shook his head. There was nothing to be done--but to
+await the arrival of the doctor. They followed the girl into the
+parlour and stood by while she bent over the dead man. She made no
+demonstration of grief, and when Ayscough presently suggested that she
+should go upstairs until the doctor had come, she went quietly away.
+
+"Hadn't we better lift him on that sofa?" suggested Lauriston.
+
+"Not till our people and the police-surgeon have seen him," answered
+Ayscough, shaking his head. "I want to know all about this--he may have
+died a natural death--a seizure of some sort--and again, he
+mayn't--They'll be here in a minute."
+
+Lauriston presently found himself a passive spectator while a
+police-inspector, another man in plain clothes, and the doctor examined
+the body, after hearing Ayscough's account of what had just happened.
+He was aware that he was regarded with suspicion--the inspector
+somewhat brusquely bade him stay where he was: it would, indeed, have
+been impossible to leave, for there was a policeman at the door, in
+which, by his superior's orders, he had turned the key. And there was a
+general, uncomfortable sort of silence in the place while the doctor
+busied himself about the body.
+
+"This man has been assaulted!" said the doctor, suddenly turning to the
+inspector. "Look here!--he's not only been violently gripped by the
+right arm--look at that bruise--but taken savagely by the throat.
+There's no doubt of that. Old and evidently feeble as he was, the shock
+would be quite enough to kill him. But--that's how it's been done,
+without a doubt."
+
+The inspector turned, looking hard at Lauriston.
+
+"Did you see anybody leaving the place when you entered?" he asked.
+
+"There was no one about here when I came in--either at the street door
+or at the side door," replied Lauriston, readily. "The whole place was
+quiet--deserted--except for him. And--he was dead when I found him."
+
+The inspector drew Ayscough aside and they talked in whispers for a few
+minutes, eyeing Lauriston now and then; eventually they approached him.
+
+"I understand you're known here, and that you live in the
+neighbourhood," said the inspector. "You'll not object if the sergeant
+goes round with you to your lodgings--you'll no doubt be able to
+satisfy him about your respectability, and so on. I don't want to
+suggest anything--but--you understand?"
+
+"I understand," replied Lauriston. "I'll show or tell him anything he
+likes. I've told you the plain truth."
+
+"Go with him now," directed the inspector; "you know what to do,
+Ayscough!"
+
+Half an hour later, when the dead man had been carried to his room, and
+the shop and house had been closed, Melky Rubinstein, who had come in
+while the police were still there, and had remained when they had gone,
+stood talking to Zillah in the upstairs sitting-room. Melky was
+unusually grave: Zillah had already gathered that the police had some
+suspicion about Lauriston.
+
+"I'll go round there and see what the detective fellow's doing with
+him," said Melky. "I ain't got no suspicion about him--not me!
+But--it's an awkward position--and them rings, too! Now, if he'd only
+ha' shown 'em to me, first, Zillah--see?"
+
+"Do go, Melky!" urged Zillah tearfully. "Of course, he'd nothing to do
+with it. Oh!--I wish I'd never gone out!"
+
+Melky went downstairs. He paused for a moment in the little parlour,
+glancing meditatively at the place where the old man had been found
+dead. And suddenly his keen eyes saw an object which lay close to the
+fender, half hidden by a tassel of the hearthrug, and he stooped and
+picked it up--a solitaire stud, made of platinum, and ornamented with a
+curious device.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+
+THE TWO LETTERS
+
+Once outside the shop, Lauriston turned sharply on the detective.
+
+"Look here!" he said. "I wish you'd just tell me the truth. Am I
+suspected? Am I--in some way or other--in custody?"
+
+Ayscough laughed quietly, wagging his head.
+
+"Certainly not in custody," he answered. "And as to the other--well,
+you know, Mr. Lauriston, supposing we put it in this way?--suppose
+you'd been me, and I'd been you, half-an-hour ago? What would you have
+thought if you'd found me in the situation and under the circumstances
+in which I found you? Come, now!"
+
+"Yes," replied Lauriston, after a moment's reflection. "I suppose it's
+natural that you should suspect me--finding me there, alone with the
+old man. But--"
+
+"It's not so much suspicion in a case of this sort, as a wish to
+satisfy one's self," interrupted the detective. "You seem a
+gentleman-like young fellow, and you may be all right. I want to know
+that you are--I'd like to know that you are! It would be no
+satisfaction to me to fasten this business on you, I can assure you.
+And if you like to tell me about yourself, and how you came to go to
+Multenius's--why, it would be as well."
+
+"There's not much to tell," answered Lauriston. "I came from Scotland
+to London, two years ago or thereabouts, to earn my living by writing.
+I'd a bit of money when I came--I've lived on it till now. I've just
+begun to earn something. I've been expecting a cheque for some work for
+these last ten or twelve days, but I was running short last week--so I
+went to that place to pawn my watch--I saw the young lady there. As my
+cheque hadn't arrived today, I went there again to pawn those rings I
+told you about and showed you. And--that's all. Except this--I was
+advised to go to Multenius's by a relation of theirs, Mr. Rubinstein,
+who lodges where I do. He knows me."
+
+"Oh, Melky Rubinstein!" said Ayscough. "I know Melky--sharp chap he is.
+He sold me this pin I'm wearing. Well, that seems quite a
+straightforward tale, Mr. Lauriston. I've no doubt all will be
+satisfactory. You've friends in London, of course?"
+
+"No--none," replied Lauriston. "And scarcely an acquaintance. I've kept
+to myself--working hard: I've had no time--nor inclination, either--to
+make friends. Here's the house where I lodge--it's not much of a place,
+but come in."
+
+They had reached Mrs. Flitwick's house by that time, and Mrs. Flitwick
+herself was in the narrow, shabby passage as they entered. She
+immediately produced two letters.
+
+"Here's two letters for you, Mr. Lauriston," she said, with a sharp
+glance at Ayscough. "One of 'em's a registered--I did sign for it. So I
+kept 'em myself, instead of sending 'em up to your room."
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Flitwick," said Lauriston. He took the letters, saw
+that the writing on the registered envelope was his old friend John
+Purdie's, and that the other letter was from the magazine to which he
+had sold his stories, and turned to Ayscough. "Come up to my room," he
+continued. "We'll talk up there."
+
+Ayscough followed him up to his room--once inside, and the door shut,
+Lauriston tore open the letter from the magazine, and extracted a
+printed form and a cheque for twenty guineas. He took one look at them
+and thrust them into the detective's hands.
+
+"There!" he said, with a sigh of mingled relief and triumph. "There's a
+proof of the truth of one statement I made to you! That's the expected
+cheque I told you of. Excuse me while I look at the other letter."
+
+Out of the registered letter came a bank-note--for twenty pounds--and a
+hastily scribbled note which Lauriston eagerly read. "Dear old Andie,"
+it ran, "I've only just got your letter, for I've been from home for a
+fortnight, and had no letters sent on to me. Of course you'll make me
+your banker until your book's finished--and afterwards, too, if need
+be. Here's something to be going on with--but I'm coming to London in a
+day or two, as it happens, and will go into the matter--I'll call on
+you as soon as I arrive. Excuse this scrawl--post time. Always yours,
+John Purdie."
+
+Lauriston thrust that letter, too, into Ayscough's hands.
+
+"If I've no friends in London, there's proof of having one in my own
+country!" he exclaimed. "Ah!--if those letters had only come before I
+went off to Praed Street!"
+
+"Just so!" agreed the detective, glancing the letters and their
+accompaniments over. "Well, I'm glad you're able to show me these, Mr.
+Lauriston, anyway. But now, about those rings--between you and me, I
+wish they hadn't been so much like those that were lying in that tray
+on the old man's table. It's an unfortunate coincidence!--because some
+folks might think, you know, that you'd just grabbed a couple of those
+as you left the place. Eh?"
+
+"My rings have been in that trunk for two or three years," asserted
+Lauriston. "They were my mother's, and I believe she'd had them for
+many a year before she died. They may resemble those that we saw in
+that tray, but--"
+
+"Well, I suppose you can bring somebody--if necessary, that is--to
+prove that they were your mother's, can't you?" asked Ayscough.
+"That'll make matters all right--on that point. And as for the
+rest--it's very lucky you know Melky Rubinstein, and that the girl knew
+you as a customer. But, my faith!--I wish you'd caught a glimpse of
+somebody leaving that shop! For there's no doubt the old man met his
+death by violence."
+
+"I know nothing of it," said Lauriston, "I saw no one."
+
+Just then Melky came in. He glanced at the cheque and the bank-notes
+lying on the table, and nodded to Lauriston as if he understood their
+presence. Then he turned to Ayscough, almost anxiously.
+
+"I say, Mr. Ayscough!" he said, deprecatingly. "You ain't going to be
+so unkind as to mix up this here young fellow in what's happened. S'elp
+me, Mr. Ayscough, I couldn't believe anything o' that sort about him,
+nohow--nor would my cousin, Zillah, what you know well enough, neither;
+he's as quiet as a lamb, Mr. Ayscough, is Mr. Lauriston--ain't I known
+him, lodging here as he does, this many a month? I'll give my word for
+him, anyway, Mr. Ayscough! And you police gentlemen know me. Don't you
+now, Mr. Ayscough?"
+
+"Very well indeed, my boy!" agreed the detective, heartily. "And I'll
+tell you what--I shall have to trouble Mr. Lauriston to go round with
+me to the station, just to give a formal account of what happened, and
+a bit of explanation, you know--I'm satisfied myself about him, and so,
+no doubt, will our people be, but you come with us, Melky, and say a
+word or two--say you've known him for some time, d'ye see--it'll help."
+
+"Anything to oblige a friend, Mr. Ayscough," said Melky. He motioned to
+Lauriston to put his money in his pocket. "Glad to see your letters
+turned up," he whispered as they went downstairs. "I say!--a word in
+your ear--don't you tell these here police chaps any more than you
+need--I'll stand up for you."
+
+The detective's report, a little questioning of Lauriston, and Melky's
+fervent protestations on Lauriston's behalf, served to satisfy the
+authorities at the police-station, and Lauriston was allowed to
+go--admonished by the inspector that he'd be wanted at the inquest, as
+the most important witness. He went out into the street with Melky.
+
+"Come and have a bit o' supper at Mrs. Goldmark's," suggested Melky. "I
+shall have my hands full tonight at the poor old man's, but I ain't had
+nothing since dinner."
+
+Lauriston, however, excused himself. He wanted to go home and write
+letters--at once. But he promised to look round at the pawnshop later
+in the evening, to see if he could be of any use, and to give Melky a
+full account of his finding of the old pawnbroker.
+
+"Ah!" remarked Melky, as they pushed at the door of the eating-house.
+"And ain't it going to be a nice job to find the man that scragged
+him?--I don't think! But I'm going to take a hand at that game,
+mister!--let alone the police."
+
+Mrs. Goldmark was out. She had heard the news, said the waitress who
+was left in charge, and had gone round to do what she could for Miss
+Zillah. So Melky, deprived of the immediate opportunity of talk with
+Mrs. Goldmark, ordered his supper, and while he ate and drank,
+cogitated and reflected. And his thoughts ran chiefly on the platinum
+solitaire stud which he had carefully bestowed in his vest pocket.
+
+It was Melky's firm belief--already--that the stud had been dropped in
+Daniel Multenius's back parlour by some person who had no business
+there--in other words by the old man's assailant. And ever since he had
+found the stud, Melky had been wondering and speculating on his chances
+of finding its owner. Of one thing he was already certain: that the
+owner, whoever he was, was no ordinary person. Ordinary, everyday
+persons do not wear studs or tie-pins on chains made of platinum--the
+most valuable of all the metals. How came a solitaire stud, made of a
+metal far more valuable than gold, and designed and ornamented in a
+peculiar fashion, to be lying on the hearthrug of old Daniel
+Multenius's room? It was not to be believed that the old man had
+dropped it there--no, affirmed Melky to himself, with conviction, that
+bit of personal property had been dropped there, out of a loose
+shirt-cuff by some man who had called on Daniel not long before Andie
+Lauriston had gone in, and who for some mysterious reason had scragged
+the old fellow. And now the question was--who was that man?
+
+"Got to find that out, somehow!" mused Melky. "Else that poor chap'll
+be in a nice fix--s'elp me, he will! And that 'ud never do!"
+
+Melky, in spite of his keenness as a business man, and the fact that
+from boyhood he had had to fight the world by himself, had a peculiarly
+soft heart--he tended altogether to verge on the sentimental. He had
+watched Lauriston narrowly, and had developed a decided feeling for
+him--moreover, he now knew that his cousin Zillah, hitherto adamant to
+many admirers, had fallen in love with Lauriston: clearly, Lauriston
+must be saved. Melky knew police ways and methods, and he felt sure
+that whatever Ayscough, a good-natured man, might think, the superior
+authorities would view Lauriston's presence in the pawnshop with strong
+suspicion. Therefore--the real culprit must be found. And he, Melky
+Rubinstein--he must have a go at that game.
+
+He finished his supper, thinking hard all the time he ate and drank;
+finally he approached the desk to pay his bill. The young woman whom
+Mrs. Goldmark had left in charge lifted the lid of the desk to get some
+change--and Melky's astonished eyes immediately fell on an object which
+lay on top of a little pile of papers. That object was the duplicate of
+the platinum solitaire which Melky had in his pocket. Without
+ceremony--being well known there--he at once picked it up.
+
+"What's this bit of jewellery?" he demanded.
+
+"That?" said the waitress, indifferently. "Oh, one of the girls picked
+it up the other day off a table where a stranger had been sitting--we
+think he'd dropped it. Mrs. Goldmark says it's valuable, so she put it
+away, in case he comes again. But we haven't seen him since."
+
+Melky took a good look at the second stud. Then he put it back in the
+desk, picked up his change, and went away--in significant silence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+
+THE SPANISH MANUSCRIPT
+
+Lauriston, walking back to his room after leaving Melky at the door of
+the eating-house, faced the situation in which an unfortunate
+combination of circumstances had placed him. Ayscough had been placable
+enough; the authorities at the police-station had heard his own version
+of things with attention--but he was still conscious that he was under
+a certain amount of suspicion. More than that, he felt convinced that
+the police would keep an eye on him that night. Ayscough, indeed, had
+more than hinted that that would probably be done. For anything he
+knew, some plain-clothes man might be shadowing him even then--anyway,
+there had been no mistaking the almost peremptory request of the
+inspector that he should report himself at the police station in the
+morning. It was no use denying the fact--he was suspected, in some
+degree.
+
+He knew where the grounds of suspicion lay--in his possession of two
+rings, which were undoubtedly very similar to the rings which lay in
+the tray that he and the detective had found on the table in the
+back-parlour of the pawnshop. It needed no effort on the part of one
+who had already had considerable experience in the construction of
+plots for stories, to see how the police would build up a theory of
+their own. Here, they would say, is a young fellow, who on his own
+confession, is so hard up, so penniless, indeed, that he has had to
+pawn his watch. He has got to know something of this particular
+pawnshop, and of its keepers--he watches the girl leave; he ascertains
+that the old man is alone; he enters, probably he sees that tray of
+rings lying about; he grabs a couple of the rings; the old man
+interrupts him in the act; he seizes the old man, to silence his
+outcries; the old man, feeble enough at any time, dies under the shock.
+A clear, an unmistakable case!
+
+What was he, Lauriston, to urge against the acceptance of such a
+theory? He thought over everything that could be said on his behalf.
+The friendliness of Zillah and her cousin Melky towards him could be
+dismissed--that, when it came to it, would weigh little against the
+cold marshalling of facts which a keen legal mind would put into the
+opposite scale. His own contention that it was scarcely probable that
+he should have gone to the pawnshop except to pledge something, and
+that that something was the rings, would also be swept aside, easily
+enough: his real object, the other side would say, had been robbery
+when the old man was alone: what evidence had he that the two rings
+which he had in his hand when Ayscough found him hurrying out of the
+shop were really his?
+
+Here, Lauriston knew he was in a difficulty. He had kept these two
+rings safely hidden in his old-fashioned trunk ever since coming to
+London, and had never shown them to a single person--he had, indeed,
+never seen them himself for a long time until he took them out that
+afternoon. But where was his proof of that! He had no relations to whom
+he could appeal. His mother had possessed an annuity; just sufficient
+to maintain her and her son, and to give Lauriston a good education: it
+had died with her, and all that she had left him, to start life on, was
+about two hundred pounds and some small personal belongings, of which
+the rings and his father's watch and chain were a part. And he
+remembered now that his mother had kept those rings as securely put
+away as he had kept them since her death--until they came into his
+hands at her death he had only once seen them; she had shown them to
+him when he was a boy and had said they were very valuable. Was it
+possible that there was any one, far away in Scotland, who had known
+his mother and who would come forward--if need arose--and prove that
+those rings had been her property? But when he had put this question to
+himself, he had to answer it with a direct negative--he knew of no one.
+
+There was one gleam of hope in this critical situation. John Purdie was
+coming to London. Lauriston had always felt that he could rely on John
+Purdie, and he had just received proof of the value of his faith in his
+old schoolmate. John Purdie would tell him what to do: he might even
+suggest the names of some of Mrs. Lauriston's old friends. And perhaps
+the need might not arise--there must surely be some clue to the old
+pawnbroker's assailant; surely the police would go deeper into the
+matter. He cheered up at these thoughts, and having written replies to
+the two welcome letters and asked John Purdie to see him immediately on
+his arrival in town, he went out again to the post-office and to fulfil
+his promise to Melky to call at the pawnshop.
+
+Lauriston was naturally of quick observation. He noticed now, as he
+stepped out into the ill-lighted, gloomy street that a man was pacing
+up and down in front of the house. This man took no notice of him as he
+passed, but before he had reached Praed Street, he glanced around, and
+saw that he was following him. He followed him to Spring Street
+post-office; he was in his rear when Lauriston reached the pawnshop.
+Idly and perfunctorily as the man seemed to be strolling about,
+Lauriston was sure that he was shadowing him--and he told Melky of the
+fact when Melky admitted him to the shop by the private door.
+
+"Likely enough, mister," remarked Melky. "But I shouldn't bother myself
+about it if I were you. There'll be more known about this affair before
+long. Now, look here," he continued, leading the way into the little
+back-parlour where Lauriston had found Daniel Multenius lying dead,
+"here's you and me alone--Zillah, she's upstairs, and Mrs. Goldmark is
+with her. Just you tell me what you saw when you came in here, d'you
+see, Mr. Lauriston--never mind the police--just give me the facts. I
+ain't no fool, you know, and I'm going to work this thing out."
+
+Lauriston gave Melky a complete account of his connection with the
+matter: Melky checked off all the points on his long fingers. At the
+end he turned to the table and indicated the finely-bound book which
+Lauriston had noticed when he and the detective had first looked round.
+
+"The police," said Melky, "made Zillah lock up that tray o' rings that
+was there in a drawer what she had to clear out for 'em, and they've
+put a seal on it till tomorrow. They've got those rings of yours, too,
+mister, haven't they?"
+
+"They said it would be best for me to leave them with them," answered
+Lauriston. "Ayscough advised it. They gave me a receipt for them, you
+know."
+
+"All right," remarked Melky. "But there's something they ain't had the
+sense to see the importance of--that fine book there. Mister!--that
+there book wasn't in this parlour, nor in this shop, nor in this house,
+at a quarter to five o'clock this afternoon, when my cousin Zillah went
+out, leaving the poor old man alone. She'll swear to that. Now then,
+who brought it here--who left it here? Between the time Zillah went
+out, mister, and the time you come in, and found what you did find,
+somebody--somebody!--had been in here and left that book behind him!
+And--mark you!--it wasn't pawned, neither. That's a fact! And--it's no
+common book, that. Look at it, Mr. Lauriston--you'd ought to know
+something about books. Look at it!--s'elp me if I don't feel there's a
+clue in that there volume, whoever it belongs to!"
+
+Lauriston took the book in his hands. He had only glanced at it
+casually before; now he examined it carefully, while Melky stood at his
+elbow, watching. The mysterious volume was certainly worthy of close
+inspection--a small quarto, wonderfully bound in old dark crimson
+morocco leather, and ornamented on sides and back with curious gold
+arabesque work: a heavy clasp, also intricately wrought, held the
+boards together. Lauriston, something of a book lover, whose natural
+inclination was to spend his last shilling on a book rather than on
+beef and bread, looked admiringly at this fine specimen of the binder's
+art as he turned it over.
+
+"That's solid gold, isn't it?" he asked as he unfastened the clasp.
+"You know."
+
+"Solid gold it is, mister--and no error," assented Melky. "Now, what's
+inside? It ain't no blooming account-book, I'll bet!"
+
+Lauriston opened the volume, to reveal leaves of old vellum, covered
+with beautiful fine writing. He had sufficient knowledge of foreign
+languages to know what he was looking at.
+
+"That's Spanish!" he said. "An old Spanish manuscript--and I should say
+it's worth a rare lot of money. How could it have come here?"
+
+Melky took the old volume out of Lauriston's hands, and put it away in
+a corner cupboard.
+
+"Ah, just so, mister!" he said. "But we'll keep that question to
+ourselves--for awhile. Don't you say nothing to the police about that
+there old book--I'll give Zillah the tip. More hangs round that than we
+know of yet. Now look here!--there'll be the opening of the inquest
+tomorrow. You be careful! Take my tip and don't let 'em get more out of
+you than's necessary. I'll go along with you. I'm going to stop here
+tonight--watch-dog, you know. Mrs. Goldmark and another friend's going
+to be here as well, so Zillah'll have company. And I say, Zillah wants
+a word with you--stop here, and I'll send her down."
+
+Lauriston presently found himself alone with Zillah in the little
+parlour. She looked at him silently, with eyes full of anxiety: he
+suddenly realized that the anxiety was for himself.
+
+"Don't!" he said, moving close to her and laying his hand on her arm.
+"I'm not afraid!"
+
+Zillah lifted her large dark eyes to his.
+
+"Those rings?" she said. "You'll be able to account for them? The
+police, oh, I'm so anxious about you!"
+
+"The rings are mine!" he exclaimed. "It doesn't matter what the police
+say or think, or do, either--at least, it shan't matter. And--you're
+not to be anxious I've got a good friend coming from Scotland--Melky
+told you I'd had two lots of good news tonight, didn't he?"
+
+A moment later Lauriston was in the street--conscious that, without a
+word spoken between them, he and Zillah had kissed each other. He went
+away with a feeling of exaltation--and he only laughed when he saw a
+man detach himself from a group on the opposite side of the street and
+saunter slowly after him. Let the police shadow him--watch his lodgings
+all night, if they pleased--he had something else to think of. And
+presently, not even troubling to look out of his window to see if there
+was a watcher there, he went to bed, to dream of Zillah's dark eyes.
+
+But when morning came, and Lauriston realized that a fateful day was
+before him, his thoughts were not quite so rosy. He drew up his
+blind--there, certainly was a man pacing the opposite sidewalk.
+Evidently, he was not to escape surveillance; the official eye was on
+him! Supposing, before the day was out, the official hand was on him,
+too?
+
+He turned from the window as he heard his newspaper thrust under his
+door. He had only one luxury--a copy of the _Times_ every morning. It
+was a three-penny _Times_ in those days, but he had always managed to
+find his weekly eighteen pence for it. He picked it up now, and
+carelessly glanced at its front page as he was about to lay it aside.
+The next moment he was eagerly reading a prominent advertisement:
+
+"Lost in a Holborn to Chapel Street Omnibus, about 4 o'clock yesterday
+afternoon, a Spanish manuscript, bound in old crimson morocco. Whoever
+has found the same will be most handsomely rewarded on bringing it to
+Spencer Levendale, Esq., M.P., 591, Sussex Square, W."
+
+Lauriston read this twice over--and putting the paper in his pocket,
+finished his dressing and went straight to the police-station.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+
+THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
+
+Melky Rubinstein came out of the side-passage by Multenius's shop as
+Lauriston neared it; he, too, had a newspaper bulging from his coat
+pocket, and at sight of Lauriston he pulled it out and waved it
+excitedly.
+
+"What'd I tell you, mister?" exclaimed Melky, as Lauriston joined him,
+the shadowing plain-clothes man in his rear. "D'ye see this?" He
+pointed to an advertisement in his own paper, which he had marked with
+blue pencil. "There y'are, Mr. Lauriston!--that identical old book
+what's inside the parlour--advertised for--handsome reward, too, in the
+_Daily Telegraph_! Didn't I say we'd hear more of it?"
+
+Lauriston pulled out the _Times_ and indicated the Personal Column.
+
+"It's there, too," he said. "This man, Mr. Levendale, is evidently very
+anxious to recover his book. And he's lost no time in advertising for
+it, either! But--however did it get to Multenius's?
+
+"Mister!" said Melky, solemnly. "We'll have to speak to the
+police--now. There's going to be a fine clue in that there book. I
+didn't mean to say nothing to the police about it, just yet, but after
+this here advertisement, t'ain't no use keeping the thing to ourselves.
+Come on round to the police-station."
+
+"That's just where I was going," replied Lauriston. "Let's get hold of
+Ayscough."
+
+Ayscough was standing just inside the police-station when they went up
+the steps; he, too, had a newspaper in his hands, and at sight of them
+he beckoned them to follow him into an office in which two or three
+other police officials were talking. He led Lauriston and Melky aside.
+
+"I say!" he said. "Here's a curious thing! That book we noticed on the
+table in Multenius's back room last night--that finely bound book--it's
+advertised for in the _Daily Mail_--handsome reward offered."
+
+"Yes, and in the _Times_, too--and in the _Daily Telegraph_," said
+Lauriston. "Here you are--just the same advertisement. It's very
+evident the owner's pretty keen about getting it back."
+
+Ayscough glanced at the two newspapers, and then beckoned to a
+constable who was standing near the door.
+
+"Jim!" he said, as the man came up. "Just slip across to the
+newsagent's over there and get me the _News_, the _Chronicle_, the
+_Standard_, the _Morning Post_. If the owner's as keen as all that," he
+added, turning back to Lauriston, "he'll have put that advertisement in
+all the morning papers, and I'd like to make sure. What's known about
+that book at the shop?" he asked, glancing at Melky. "Does your cousin
+know anything?"
+
+Melky's face assumed its most solemn expression.
+
+"Mister!" he said earnestly. "There ain't nothing known at the shop
+about that there book, except this here. It wasn't there when my cousin
+Zillah left the old man alone at a quarter to five yesterday afternoon.
+It was there when this here gentleman found the old man. But it hadn't
+been pledged, nor yet sold, Mr. Ayscough--There'd ha' been an entry in
+the books if it had been taken in pawn, or bought across the
+counter--and there's no entry. Now then--who'd left it there?"
+
+Another official had come up to the group--one of the men who had
+questioned Lauriston the night before. He turned to Lauriston as Melky
+finished.
+
+"You don't know anything about this book?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing--except that Mr. Ayscough and I saw it lying on the table in
+the back room, close by that tray of rings," replied Lauriston. "I was
+attracted by the binding, of course."
+
+"Where's the book, now?" asked the official.
+
+"Put safe away, mister," replied Melky. "It's all right. But this here
+gentleman what's advertising for it--"
+
+Just then the constable returned with several newspapers and handed
+them over to Ayscough, who immediately laid them on a desk and turned
+to the advertisements, while the others crowded round him.
+
+"In every one of 'em," exclaimed Ayscough, a moment later. "Word for
+word, in every morning newspaper in London! He must have sent that
+advertisement round to all the offices last night. And you'll notice,"
+he added, turning to the other official, "that this Mr. Levendale only
+lost this book about four o'clock yesterday afternoon: therefore, it
+must have been taken to Multenius's shop between then and when we saw
+it there."
+
+"The old man may have found it in the 'bus," suggested a third police
+officer who had come up. "Looks as if he had."
+
+"No, mister," said Melky firmly. "Mr. Multenius wasn't out of the shop
+at all yesterday afternoon--I've made sure o' that fact from my cousin.
+He didn't find no book, gentlemen. It was brought there."
+
+Ayscough picked up one of the papers and turned to Melky and Lauriston.
+
+"Here!" he said. "We'll soon get some light on this. You two come with
+me--we'll step round to Mr. Levendale."
+
+Ten minutes later, the three found themselves at the door of one of the
+biggest houses in Sussex Square; a moment more and they were being
+ushered within by a footman who looked at them with stolid curiosity.
+Lauriston gained a general impression of great wealth and luxury, soft
+carpets, fine pictures, all the belongings of a very rich man's
+house--then he and his companions were ushered into a large room, half
+study, half library, wherein, at a massive, handsomely carved desk,
+littered with books and papers, sat a middle-aged, keen-eyed man, who
+looked quietly up from his writing-pad at his visitors.
+
+"S'elp me!--one of ourselves!" whispered Melky Rubinstein at
+Lauriston's elbow. "Twig him!"
+
+Lauriston was quick enough of comprehension and observation to know
+what Melky meant. Mr. Spencer Levendale was certainly a Jew. His dark
+hair and beard, his large dark eyes, the olive tint of his complexion,
+the lines of his nose and lips all betrayed his Semitic origin. He was
+evidently a man of position and of character; a quiet-mannered,
+self-possessed man of business, not given to wasting words. He glanced
+at the card which Ayscough had sent in, and turned to him with one word.
+
+"Well?"
+
+Ayscough went straight to the point.
+
+"I called, Mr. Levendale, about that advertisement of yours which
+appears in all this morning's newspapers," he said. "I may as well tell
+you that that book of yours was found yesterday afternoon, under
+strange circumstances. Mr. Daniel Multenius, the jeweller and
+pawnbroker, of Praed Street--perhaps you know him, sir?"
+
+"Not at all!" answered Levendale. "Never heard of him."
+
+"He was well known in this part of the town," remarked Ayscough,
+quietly. "Well, sir--Mr. Multenius was found dead in his back-parlour
+yesterday afternoon, about five-thirty, by this young man, Mr.
+Lauriston, who happened to look in there, and I myself was on the spot
+a few minutes later. Your book--for it's certainly the same--was lying
+on the table in the parlour. Now, this other young man, Mr. Rubinstein,
+is a relation of Mr. Multenius's--from enquiries he's made, Mr.
+Levendale, it's a fact that the book was neither pawned nor sold at
+Multenius's, though it must certainly have been brought there between
+the time you lost it and the time we found the old gentleman lying
+dead. Now, we--the police--want to know how it came there. And so--I've
+come round to you. What can you tell me, sir?"
+
+Levendale, who had listened to Ayscough with great--and, as it seemed
+to Lauriston, with very watchful--attention, pushed aside a letter he
+was writing, and looked from one to the other of his callers.
+
+"Where is my book?" he asked.
+
+"It's all right--all safe, mister," said Melky. "It's locked up in a
+cupboard, in the parlour where it was found, and the key's in my
+pocket."
+
+Levendale turned to the detective, glancing again at Ayscough's card.
+
+"All I can tell you, sergeant," he said, "is--practically--what I've
+told the public in my advertisement. Of course, I can supplement it a
+bit. The book is a very valuable one--you see," he went on, with a
+careless wave of his hand towards his book-shelves. "I'm something of a
+collector of rare books. I bought this particular book yesterday
+afternoon, at a well-known dealer's in High Holborn. Soon after buying
+it, I got into a Cricklewood omnibus, which I left at Chapel Street--at
+the corner of Praed Street, as a matter of fact: I wished to make a
+call at the Great Western Hotel. It was not till I made that call that
+I found I'd left the book in the 'bus--I was thinking hard about a
+business matter--I'd placed the book in a corner behind me--and, of
+course, I'd forgotten it, valuable though it is. And so, later on,
+after telephoning to the omnibus people, who'd heard nothing, I sent
+that advertisement round to all the morning papers. I'm very glad to
+hear of it--and I shall be pleased to reward you," he concluded,
+turning to Melky. "Handsomely!--as I promised."
+
+But Melky made no sign of gratitude or pleasure. He was eyeing the rich
+man before him in inquisitive fashion.
+
+"Mister!" he said suddenly. "I'd like to ask you a question."
+
+Levendale frowned a little.
+
+"Well?" he asked brusquely. "What is it?"
+
+"This here," replied Melky. "Was that there book wrapped up? Was it
+brown-papered, now, when you left it?"
+
+It seemed to Lauriston that Levendale was somewhat taken aback. But if
+he was, it was only for a second: his answer, then, came promptly
+enough.
+
+"No, it was not," he said. "I carried it away from the shop where I
+bought it--just as it was. Why do you ask?"
+
+"It's a very fine-bound book," remarked Melky. "I should ha' thought,
+now, that if it had been left in a 'bus, the conductor would ha'
+noticed it, quick."
+
+"So should I," said Levendale. "Anything else?" he added, glancing at
+Ayscough.
+
+"Well, no, Mr. Levendale, thank you," replied the detective. "At least
+not just now. But--the fact is, Mr. Multenius appears to have come to
+his death by violence--and I want to know if whoever took your book
+into his shop had anything to do with it."
+
+"Ah!--however, I can't tell you any more," said Levendale. "Please see
+that my book's taken great care of and returned to me, sergeant.
+Good-morning."
+
+Outside, Ayscough consulted his watch and looked at his companions.
+
+"Time we were going on to the inquest," he remarked. "Come on--we'll
+step round there together. You're both wanted, you know."
+
+"I'll join you at the Coroner's court, Mr. Ayscough," said Melky. "I've
+got a few minutes' business--shan't be long."
+
+He hurried away by a short cut to Praed Street and turned into Mrs.
+Goldmark's establishment.
+
+Mrs. Goldmark herself was still ministering to Zillah, but the young
+woman whom Melky had seen the night before was in charge. Melky drew
+her aside.
+
+"I say!" he said, with an air of great mystery. "A word with you,
+miss!--private, between you and me. Can you tell me what like was that
+fellow what you believed to ha' lost that there cuff stud you showed me
+in Mrs. Goldmark's desk?--you know?"
+
+"Yes!" answered the young woman promptly.
+"Tall--dark--clean-shaved--very brown--looked like one of those
+Colonials that you see sometimes--wore a slouch hat."
+
+"Not a word to nobody!" warned Melky, more mysteriously than ever. And
+nodding his head with great solemnity, he left the eating-house, and
+hurried away to the Coroner's Court.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+
+THE INQUEST
+
+Until he and Ayscough walked into this particular one, Lauriston had
+never been in a Coroner's Court in his life. He knew very little about
+what went on in such places. He was aware that the office of Coroner is
+of exceeding antiquity; that when any person meets his or her death
+under suspicious circumstances an enquiry into those circumstances is
+held by a Coroner, who has a jury of twelve men to assist him in his
+duties: but what Coroner and jury did, what the procedure of these
+courts was, he did not know. It surprised him, accordingly, to find
+himself in a hall which had all the outward appearance of a court of
+justice--a raised seat, on a sort of dais, for the Coroner; a box for
+the jury; a table for officials and legal gentlemen; a stand for
+witnesses, and accommodation for the general public. Clearly, it was
+evident that when any one died as poor old Daniel Multenius had died,
+the law took good care that everybody should know everything about it,
+and that whatever mystery there was should be thoroughly investigated.
+
+The general public, however, had not as yet come to be greatly
+interested in the death of Daniel Multenius. Up to that moment the
+affair was known to few people beyond the police, the relations of the
+dead man, and his immediate neighbours in Praed Street. Consequently,
+beyond the interested few, there was no great assemblage in the court
+that morning. A reporter or two, each with his note-book, lounged at
+the end of the table on the chance of getting some good copy out of
+whatever might turn up; some of the police officials whom Lauriston had
+already seen stood chatting with the police surgeon and a sharp-eyed
+legal looking man, who was attended by a clerk; outside the open door,
+a group of men, evidently tradesmen and householders of the district,
+hung about, looking as if they would be glad to get back to their
+businesses and occupations. Melky, coming in a few minutes after
+Lauriston had arrived, and sitting down by him, nudged his elbow as he
+pointed to these individuals.
+
+"There's the fellows what sits on the jury, mister!" whispered Melky.
+"Half-a-crown each they gets for the job--and a nice mess they makes of
+it, sometimes. They've the power to send a man for trial for his life,
+has them chaps--all depends on their verdict. But lor' bless yer!--they
+takes their tip from the Coroner--he's the fellow what you've got to
+watch."
+
+Then Melky looked around more narrowly, and suddenly espied the
+legal-looking man who was talking to the police. He dug his elbow into
+Lauriston.
+
+"Mister!" he whispered. "You be careful what you say when you get into
+that there witness-box. See that man there, a-talking to the
+detectives?--him with the gold nippers on his blooming sharp nose?
+That's Mr. Parminter!--I knows him, well enough. He's a lawyer chap,
+what the police gets when there's a case o' this sort, to ask questions
+of the witnesses, d'ye see? Watch him, Mr. Lauriston, if he starts
+a-questioning you!--he's the sort that can get a tale out of a dead
+cod-fish--s'elp me, he is! He's a terror, he is!--the Coroner ain't in
+it with him--he's a good sort, the Coroner, but Parminter--Lord love
+us! ain't I heard him turn witnesses inside out--not half! And here is
+the Coroner."
+
+Lauriston almost forgot that he was an important witness, and was
+tempted to consider himself nothing but a spectator as he sat and
+witnessed the formal opening of the Court, the swearing-in of the
+twelve jurymen, all looking intensely bored, and the preliminaries
+which prefaced the actual setting-to-work of the morning's business.
+But at last, after some opening remarks from the Coroner, who said that
+the late Mr. Daniel Multenius was a well-known and much respected
+tradesman of the neighbourhood, that they were all sorry to hear of his
+sudden death, and that there were circumstances about it which
+necessitated a careful investigation, the business began--and
+Lauriston, who, for professional purposes, had heard a good many legal
+cases, saw, almost at once, that the police, through the redoubtable
+Mr. Parminter, now seated with his clerk at the table, had carefully
+arranged the presenting of evidence on a plan and system of their own,
+all of which, so it became apparent to him, was intended to either
+incriminate himself, or throw considerable suspicion upon him. His
+interest began to assume a personal complexion.
+
+The story of the circumstances of Daniel Multenius's death, as unfolded
+in the witness-box into which one person went after another, appeared
+to be the fairly plain one--looked at from one point of view: there was
+a certain fascination in its unfolding. It began with Melky, who was
+first called--to identify the deceased, to answer a few general
+questions about him, and to state that when he last saw him, a few
+hours before his death, he was in his usual good health: as good, at
+any rate, as a man of his years--seventy-five--who was certainly
+growing feeble, could expect to be in. Nothing much was asked of Melky,
+and nothing beyond bare facts volunteered by him: the astute Mr.
+Parminter left him alone. A more important witness was the
+police-surgeon, who testified that the deceased had been dead twenty
+minutes when he was called to him, that he had without doubt been
+violently assaulted, having been savagely seized by the throat and by
+the left arm, on both of which significant marks were plainly visible,
+and that the cause of death was shock following immediately on this
+undoubted violence. It was evident, said this witness, that the old man
+was feeble, and that he suffered from a weak heart: such an attack as
+that which he had described would be sufficient to cause death, almost
+instantly.
+
+"So it is a case of murder!" muttered Melky, who had gone back to sit
+by Lauriston. "That's what the police is leading up to. Be careful,
+mister!"
+
+But there were three witnesses to call before Lauriston was called
+upon. It was becoming a mystery to him that his evidence was kept back
+so long--he had been the first person to find the old man's dead body,
+and it seemed, to his thinking, that he ought to have been called at a
+very early stage of the proceedings. He was about to whisper his
+convictions on this point to Melky, when a door was opened and Zillah
+was escorted in by Ayscough, and led to the witness-box.
+
+Zillah had already assumed the garments of mourning for her
+grandfather. She was obviously distressed at being called to give
+evidence, and the Coroner made her task as brief as possible. It
+was--at that stage--little that he wanted to know. And Zillah told
+little. She had gone out to do some shopping, at half-past-four on the
+previous afternoon. She left her grandfather alone. He was then quite
+well. He was in the front shop, doing nothing in particular. She was
+away about an hour, when she returned to find Detective-Sergeant
+Ayscough, whom she knew, and Mr. Lauriston, whom she also knew, in the
+shop, and her grandfather dead in the parlour behind. At this stage of
+her evidence, the Coroner remarked that he did not wish to ask Zillah
+any further questions just then, but he asked her to remain in court.
+Mrs. Goldmark had followed her, and she and Zillah sat down near Melky
+and Lauriston--and Lauriston half believed that his own turn would now
+come.
+
+But Ayscough was next called--to give a brief, bald, matter-of-fact
+statement of what he knew. He had gone to see Mr. Multenius on a
+business affair--he was making enquiries about a stolen article which
+was believed to have been pledged in the Edgware Road district. He told
+how Lauriston ran into him as he entered the shop; what Lauriston said
+to him; what he himself saw and observed; what happened afterwards. It
+was a plain and practical account, with no indication of surprise,
+bias, or theory--and nobody asked the detective any questions arising
+out of it.
+
+"Ain't nobody but you to call, now, mister," whispered Melky. "Mind
+your p's and q's about them blooming rings--and watch that Parminter!"
+
+But Melky was mistaken--the official eye did not turn upon Lauriston
+but, upon the public benches of the court, as if it were seeking some
+person there.
+
+"There is a witness who has volunteered a statement to the police,"
+said the Coroner. "I understand it is highly important. We had better
+hear him at this point. Benjamin Hollinshaw!"
+
+Melky uttered a curious groan, and glanced at Lauriston.
+
+"Fellow what has a shop right opposite!" he whispered. "S'elp
+me!--what's he got to say about it?"
+
+Benjamin Hollinshaw came forward. He was a rather young, rather
+self-confident, self-important sort of person, who strode up to the
+witness-box as if he had been doing things of importance and moment all
+his life, and was taking it quite as a matter of course that he should
+do another. He took the oath and faced the court with something of an
+air, as much as to imply that upon what he was about to say more
+depended than any one could conceive. Invited to tell what he knew, he
+told his story, obviously enjoying the telling of it. He was a
+tradesman in Praed Street: a dealer in second-hand clothing, to be
+exact; been there many years, in succession to his father. He
+remembered yesterday afternoon, of course. About half-past-five o'clock
+he was standing at the door of his shop. It was directly facing Daniel
+Multenius's shop door. The darkness had already come on, and there was
+also a bit of a fog in the street: not much, but hazy, as it were.
+Daniel Multenius's window was lighted, but the light was confined to a
+couple of gas-jets. There was a light in the projecting sign over the
+side entrance to the pawnshop, down the passage. For the first few
+minutes while he stood at his door, looking across to Multenius's, he
+did not see any one enter or leave that establishment. But he then saw
+a young man come along, from the Edgware Road direction, whose conduct
+rather struck him. The young man, after sauntering past Multenius's
+shop, paused, turned, and proceeded to peer in through the top panel of
+the front door. He looked in once or twice in that way. Then he went to
+the far end of the window and looked inside in the same prying fashion,
+as if he wanted to find out who was within. He went to various parts of
+the window, as if endeavouring to look inside. Finally, he stepped down
+the side-passage and entered the door which led to the compartments
+into which people turned who took things to pledge. He, Hollinshaw,
+remained at his shop door for some minutes after that--in fact, until
+the last witness came along. He saw Ayscough enter Multenius's front
+door and immediately pause--then the door was shut, and he himself went
+back into his own shop, his wife just then calling him to tea.
+
+"You saw the young man you speak of quite clearly?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"As clearly as I see you, sir," replied the witness.
+
+"Do you see him here?"
+
+Hollinshaw turned instantly and pointed to Lauriston.
+
+"That's the young man, sir," he answered, with confidence.
+
+Amidst a general craning of necks, Melky whispered to Lauriston.
+
+"You'd ought to ha' had a lawyer, mister!" he said. "S'elp me, I'm a
+blooming fool for not thinking of it! Be careful--the Coroner's
+a-looking at you!"
+
+As a matter of fact, every person in the court was staring at
+Lauriston, and presently the Coroner addressed him.
+
+"Do you wish to ask this witness any questions?" he enquired.
+
+Lauriston rose to his feet.
+
+"No!" he replied. "What he says is quite correct. That is, as regards
+myself."
+
+The Coroner hesitated a moment; then he motioned to Hollinshaw to leave
+the box, and once more turned to Lauriston.
+
+"We will have your evidence now," he said. "And--let me warn you that
+there is no obligation on you to say anything which would seem to
+incriminate you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+
+WHOSE WERE THOSE RINGS?
+
+Paying no attention to another attempted murmur of advice from Melky,
+who seemed to be on pins and needles, Lauriston at once jumped to his
+feet and strode to the witness-box. The women in the public seats
+glanced at him with admiring interest--such a fine-looking young
+fellow, whispered one sentimental lady to another, to have set about a
+poor old gentleman like Mr. Multenius! And everybody else, from the
+Coroner to the newspaper reporter--who was beginning to think he would
+get some good copy, after all, that morning--regarded him with
+attention. Here, at any rate, was the one witness who had actually
+found the pawnbroker's dead body.
+
+Lauriston, his colour heightened a little under all this attention,
+answered the preliminary questions readily enough. His name was Andrew
+Carruthers Lauriston. His age--nearly twenty-two. He was a native of
+Peebles, in Scotland--the only son of the late Andrew Lauriston. His
+father was a minister of the Free Church. His mother was dead, too. He
+himself had come to London about two years ago--just after his mother's
+death. For the past few weeks he had lodged with Mrs. Flitwick, in Star
+Street--that was his present address. He was a writer of
+fiction--stories and novels. He had heard all the evidence already
+given, including that of the last witness, Hollinshaw. All that
+Hollinshaw had said was quite true. It was quite true that he had gone
+to Multenius's pawnshop about five-thirty of the previous afternoon, on
+his own business. He had looked in through both doors and window before
+entering the side-door: he wanted to know who was in the shop--whether
+it was Mr. Multenius, or his grand-daughter. He wanted to know that for
+a simple reason--he had never done business with Mr. Multenius, never
+even seen him that he remembered, but he had had one transaction with
+Miss Wildrose, and he wished, if possible, to do his business with her.
+As a matter of fact he saw nobody inside the shop when he looked in
+through the front door and the window--so he went round to the
+side-entrance.
+
+All this had come in answer to questions put by the Coroner--who now
+paused and looked at Lauriston not unkindly.
+
+"I daresay you are already aware that there is, or may be, some amount
+of suspicious circumstances attaching to your visit to this place
+yesterday afternoon," he said. "Do you care to tell the court--in your
+own way--precisely what took place, what you discovered, after you
+entered the pawnshop?"
+
+"That's exactly what I wish to do," answered Lauriston, readily. "I've
+already told it, more than once, to the police and Mr. Multenius's
+relatives--I'll tell it again, as plainly and briefly as I can. I went
+into one of the compartments just within the side-door of the place. I
+saw no one, and heard no one. I rapped on the counter--nobody came. So
+I looked round the partition into the front shop. There was no one
+there. Then I looked round the other partition into the back parlour,
+the door of which was wide open. I at once saw an old man whom I took
+to be Mr. Multenius. He was lying on the floor--his feet were towards
+the open door, and his head on the hearth-rug, near the fender. I
+immediately jumped over the counter, and went into the parlour. I saw
+at once that he was dead--and almost immediately I hurried to the front
+door, to summon assistance. At the door I ran into Mr. Ayscough, who
+was entering as I opened the door. I at once told him of what I had
+found. That is the plain truth as to all I know of the matter."
+
+"You heard nothing of any person in or about the shop when you
+entered?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Nothing!" replied Lauriston. "It was all perfectly quiet."
+
+"What had you gone there to do?"
+
+"To borrow some money--on two rings."
+
+"Your own property?"
+
+"My own property!"
+
+"Had you been there before, on any errand of that sort?"
+
+"Only once."
+
+"When was that?"
+
+"Last week," answered Lauriston. "I pawned my watch there."
+
+"You have, in fact, been short of money?"
+
+"Yes. But only temporarily--I was expecting money."
+
+"I hope it has since arrived," said the Coroner.
+
+"Mr. Ayscough was with me when it did arrive," replied Lauriston,
+glancing at the detective. "We found it--two letters--at my lodgings
+when he walked round there with me after what I have just told you of."
+
+"You had done your business on that previous occasion with the
+grand-daughter?" asked the Coroner. "You had not seen the old man,
+then?"
+
+"I never to my knowledge saw Mr. Multenius till I found him lying dead
+in his own parlour," answered Lauriston.
+
+The Coroner turned from the witness, and glanced towards the table at
+which Mr. Parminter and the police officials sat. And Mr. Parminter
+slowly rose and looked at Lauriston, and put his first question--in a
+quiet, almost suave voice, as if he and the witness were going to have
+a pleasant and friendly little talk together.
+
+"So your ambition is to be a writer of fiction?" he asked.
+
+"I am a writer of fiction!" replied Lauriston.
+
+Mr. Parminter pulled out a snuff-box and helped himself to a pinch.
+
+"Have you published much?" he enquired, drily.
+
+"Two or three stories--short stories."
+
+"Did they bring in much money?"
+
+"Five pounds each."
+
+"Have you done anything else for a living but that since you came to
+London two years ago?"
+
+"No, I haven't!"
+
+"How much have you earned by your pen since you came, now?"
+
+"About thirty pounds."
+
+"Thirty pounds in two years. What have you lived on, then?"
+
+"I had money of my own," replied Lauriston. "I had two hundred pounds
+when I left home."
+
+"And that gave out--when?" demanded Mr. Parminter.
+
+"Last week."
+
+"And so--you took your watch to the pawnshop. And--yesterday--your
+expected money not having arrived, you were obliged to visit the
+pawnshop again? Taking with you, you said just now, two rings--your own
+property. Am I correct?"
+
+"Quite correct--two rings--my own property."
+
+Mr. Parminter turned and spoke to a police official, who, lifting aside
+a sheet of brown paper which lay before him, revealed the tray of rings
+which Lauriston and Ayscough had found on the table in Multenius's
+parlour. At the same time, Mr. Parminter, lifting his papers, revealed
+Lauriston's rings. He picked them up, laid them on the palm of his
+hand, and held them towards the witness.
+
+"Are these the rings you took to the pawnshop?" he asked.
+
+"Yes!" replied Lauriston. "They were my mother's."
+
+Mr. Parminter indicated the tray.
+
+"Did you see this tray lying in the parlour in which you found the dead
+man?" he enquired.
+
+"I did."
+
+"Did it strike you that your own rings were remarkably like the rings
+in this tray?"
+
+"No, it did not," answered Lauriston. "I know nothing about rings."
+
+Mr. Parminter quietly passed the tray of rings to the Coroner, with
+Lauriston's rings lying on a sheet of paper.
+
+"Perhaps you will examine these things and direct the attention of the
+jurymen to them?" he said, and turned to the witness-box again. "I want
+to ask you a very particular question," he continued. "You had better
+consider it well before answering it--it is more important--to
+you--than may appear at first hearing. Can you bring any satisfactory
+proof that those two rings which you claim to be yours, really are
+yours?"
+
+There followed on that a dead silence in court. People had been coming
+in since the proceedings had opened, and the place was now packed to
+the door. Every eye was turned on Lauriston as he stood in the
+witness-box, evidently thinking deeply. And in two pairs of eyes there
+was deep anxiety: Melky was nervous and fidgety; Zillah was palpably
+greatly concerned. But Lauriston looked at neither--and he finally
+turned to Mr. Parminter with a candid glance.
+
+"The rings are mine," he answered. "But--I don't know how I can prove
+that they are!"
+
+A suppressed murmur ran round the court--in the middle of it, the
+Coroner handed the rings to a police official and motioned him to show
+them to the jurymen. And Mr. Parminter's suave voice was heard again.
+
+"You can't prove that they are yours."
+
+"May I explain?" asked Lauriston. "Very well--there may be people, old
+friends, who have seen those two rings in my mother's possession. But I
+don't know where to find such people. If it's necessary, I can try."
+
+"I should certainly try, if I were you," observed Mr. Parminter, drily.
+"Now, when did those two rings come into your possession?"
+
+"When my mother died," replied Lauriston.
+
+"Where have you kept them?"
+
+"Locked up in my trunk."
+
+"Have you ever, at any time, or any occasion, shown them to any person?
+Think!"
+
+"No," answered Lauriston. "I can't say that I ever have."
+
+"Not even at the time of your mother's death?"
+
+"No! I took possession, of course, of all her effects. I don't remember
+showing the rings to anybody."
+
+"You kept them in your trunk until you took them out to raise money on
+them?"
+
+"Yes--that's so," admitted Lauriston.
+
+"How much money had you--in the world--when you went to the pawnshop
+yesterday afternoon?" demanded Mr. Parminter, with a sudden keen glance.
+
+Lauriston flushed scarlet.
+
+"If you insist on knowing," he said. "I'd just nothing."
+
+There was another murmur in court--of pity from the sentimental ladies
+in the public seats, who, being well acquainted with the pawnshops
+themselves, and with the necessities which drove them there were
+experiencing much fellow-feeling for the poor young man in the
+witness-box. But Lauriston suddenly smiled--triumphantly.
+
+"All the same," he added, glancing at Mr. Parminter. "I'd forty pounds,
+in my letters, less than an hour afterwards. Ayscough knows that!"
+
+Mr. Parminter paid no attention to this remark. He had been whispering
+to the police inspector, and now he turned to the Coroner.
+
+"I should like this witness to stand down for a few minutes, sir," he
+said. "I wish to have Miss Wildrose recalled."
+
+The Coroner gently motioned Zillah to go back to the witness-box.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+
+MELKY INTERVENES
+
+Zillah had listened to Lauriston's answers to Mr. Parminter's searching
+questions with an anxiety which was obvious to those who sat near her.
+The signs of that anxiety were redoubled as she walked slowly to the
+box, and the glance she threw at the Coroner was almost appealing. But
+the Coroner was looking at his notes, and Zillah was obliged to turn to
+Mr. Parminter, whose accents became more mellifluous than ever as he
+addressed her; Mr. Parminter, indeed, confronting Zillah might have
+been taken for a kindly benevolent gentleman whose sole object was to
+administer condolence and comfort. Few people in court, however, failed
+to see the meaning of the questions which he began to put in the
+suavest and softest of tones.
+
+"I believe you assisted your late grandfather in his business?"
+suggested Mr. Parminter.
+
+"Just so! Now, how long had you assisted him in that way?"
+
+"Ever since I left school--three years ago," replied Zillah.
+
+"Three years--to be sure! And I believe you had resided with him for
+some years before that?"
+
+"Ever since I was a little girl," admitted Zillah.
+
+"In fact, the late Mr. Multenius brought you up? Just so!--therefore,
+of course, you would have some acquaintance with his business before
+you left school?"
+
+"Yes--he taught me a good deal about it."
+
+"You were always about the place, of course--yes? And I may take it
+that you gradually got a good deal of knowledge about the articles with
+which your grandfather had to deal? To be sure--thank you. In fact, you
+are entitled to regard yourself as something of an expert in precious
+stones and metals?"
+
+"I know a good deal about them," replied Zillah.
+
+"You could tell the value of a thing as accurately as your grandfather?"
+
+"Ordinary things--yes."
+
+"And you were very well acquainted with your grandfather's stock?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Mr. Parminter motioned the official who had charge of it to place the
+tray of rings on the ledge of the witness-box.
+
+"Oblige me by looking at that tray and the contents," he said. "You
+recognize it, of course? Just so. Now, do you know where that tray was
+when you went out, leaving your grandfather alone, yesterday afternoon?"
+
+"Yes," replied Zillah, unhesitatingly. "On the table in the
+back-parlour--where I saw it when I came in. My grandfather had taken
+it out of the front window, so that he could polish the rings."
+
+"Do you know how many rings it contained?"
+
+"No. Perhaps twenty-five or thirty."
+
+"They are, I see, laid loosely in the tray, which is velvet-lined. They
+were always left like that? Just so. And you don't know how many there
+were--nor how many there should be there, now? As a matter of fact,
+there are twenty-seven rings there--you can't say that is the right
+number?"
+
+"No," answered Zillah, "and my grandfather couldn't have said, either.
+A ring might be dropped into that tray--or a ring taken out. They are
+all old rings."
+
+"But--valuable?" suggested Mr. Parminter.
+
+"Some--yes. Others are not very valuable."
+
+"Now what do you mean by that word valuable? What, for instance, is the
+value of the least valuable ring there, and what is that of the most
+valuable?"
+
+Zillah glanced almost indifferently at the tray before her.
+
+"Some of these rings are worth no more than five pounds," she replied.
+"Some--a few--are worth twenty to thirty pounds; one or two are worth
+more."
+
+"And--they are all old?"
+
+"They are all of old-fashioned workmanship," said Zillah. "Made a good
+many years ago, all of them. The diamonds, or pearls, are all right, of
+course."
+
+Mr. Parminter handed over the half-sheet of paper on which Lauriston's
+rings had been exhibited to the Coroner and the jurymen.
+
+"Look at those rings, if you please," he said quietly. "Are they of the
+same sort, the same class, of rings as those in the tray?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Zillah. "Something the same."
+
+"What is the value of those rings--separately?" enquired Mr. Parminter.
+"Please give us your professional opinion."
+
+Zillah bent over the two rings for a while, turning them about.
+
+"This is worth about thirty, and that about fifty pounds," she replied
+at last.
+
+"In other words, these two rings are similar in style and value to the
+best rings in that tray?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you recognize those two rings?"
+
+"No--not at all."
+
+Mr. Parminter paused a moment, and caught the jury's attention with a
+sharp glance of his eye before he turned again to the witness.
+
+"Could you have recognized any of the rings in that tray?" he asked.
+
+"No!" said Zillah. "I could not."
+
+"Then you could not possibly say--one way or another, if those rings
+were taken out of that tray?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"The fact is that all those rings--the two on the half-sheet of
+notepaper, and twenty-seven on the tray--are all of the same class as
+regards age and style--all very much of a muchness?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Zillah.
+
+"And you can't--you are on your oath remember!--you can't definitely
+say that those two rings were not picked up from that tray, amongst the
+others?"
+
+"No," replied Zillah. "But I can't say that they were! And--I don't
+believe they were. I don't believe they were our rings!"
+
+Mr. Parminter smiled quietly and again swept the interested jurymen
+with his quick glance.
+
+Then he turned to Zillah with another set of questions.
+
+"How long have you known the last witness--Andrew Lauriston?" he
+enquired.
+
+"Since one day last week," replied Zillah.
+
+She had flushed at the mention of Lauriston's name, and Mr. Parminter
+was quick to see it.
+
+"How did you get to know him?" he continued.
+
+"By his coming to the shop--on business."
+
+"To pawn his watch, I believe?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You attended to him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You had never seen him before?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Ever seen him since?"
+
+Zillah hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I saw him--accidentally--in Kensington Gardens, on Sunday," she
+answered at last.
+
+"Have any conversation with him?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Zillah.
+
+"About--pawnbroking?"
+
+"No!" retorted Zillah. "About his work--writing."
+
+"Did he tell you he was very hard up?"
+
+"I knew that!" said Zillah. "Hadn't he pawned his watch?"
+
+"Perhaps--you seem to be a very good business woman--perhaps you gave
+him some advice?"
+
+"Yes, I did! I advised him, as long as he'd anything on which he could
+raise money, not to let himself go without money in his pocket."
+
+"Excellent advice!" said Mr. Parminter, with a smile.
+
+He leaned forward, looking at his witness more earnestly. "Now, did
+Lauriston, on Sunday, or when you saw him before, ever mention to you
+that he possessed two rings of some value?"
+
+"No," replied Zillah.
+
+Mr. Parminter paused, hesitated, suddenly bowed to the Coroner, and
+dropping back into his seat, pulled out his snuff-box. And the Coroner,
+motioning Zillah to leave the witness-box, interrupted Mr. Parminter in
+the midst of a pinch of snuff.
+
+"I think it will be best to adjourn at this stage," he said. "It is
+obvious that we can't finish this today." He turned to the jurymen. "I
+propose to adjourn this enquiry for a week, gentlemen," he went on. "In
+the meantime--"
+
+His attention was suddenly arrested by Melky Rubinstein, who, after
+much uneasiness and fidgeting, rose from his seat and made his way to
+the foot of the table, manifestly desiring to speak.
+
+"What is it?" asked the Coroner. "Who are you? Oh!--the witness who
+identified the body. Yes?"
+
+"Mr. Coroner!" said Melky, in his most solemn tones. "This here inquest
+ain't being conducted right, sir! I don't mean by you--but these here
+gentlemen, the police, and Mr. Parminter there, is going off on a wrong
+scent. I know what they're after, and they're wrong! They're
+suppressing evidence, Mr. Coroner." Melky turned on Ayscough. "What
+about the clue o' this here old book?" he demanded. "Why ain't you
+bringing that forward? I'm the late Daniel Multenius's nearest male
+relative, and I say that clue's a deal more important nor what we've
+been hearing all the morning. What about that book, now, Mr. Ayscough?
+Come on!--what about it!--and its owner?"
+
+"What is this?" demanded the Coroner. "If there is anything--"
+
+"Anything, sir!" exclaimed Melky. "There's just this--between the time
+that my cousin there, Miss Zillah Wildrose left the old man alive, and
+the time when Mr. Lauriston found him dead, somebody came into the shop
+as left a valuable book behind him on the parlour table, which book,
+according to all the advertisements in the morning papers, is the
+property of Mr. Spencer Levendale, the Member of Parliament, as lives
+in Sussex Square. Why ain't that matter brought up? Why ain't Mr.
+Levendale brought here? I ask you, Mr. Coroner, to have it seen into!
+There's more behind it--"
+
+The Coroner held up a hand and beckoned the police inspector and Mr.
+Parminter to approach his desk; a moment later, Ayscough was summoned.
+And Lauriston, watching the result of this conference, was quickly
+aware that the Coroner was not particularly pleased; he suddenly turned
+on the inspector with a question which was heard by every one in court.
+
+"Why was not the matter of the book put before the Court at first?" he
+demanded. "It seems to me that there may be a most important clue in
+it. The fact of the book's having been found should most certainly have
+been mentioned, at once. I shall adjourn for a week, from today, and
+you will produce the book and bring Mr. Spencer Levendale here as a
+witness. This day week, gentlemen!"
+
+Melky Rubinstein turned, whispered a hurried word to Zillah and Mrs.
+Goldmark, and then, seizing Lauriston by the elbow, drew him quickly
+away from the court.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+
+THE BACK DOOR
+
+Once outside in the street, Melky turned down the nearest side-street,
+motioning Lauriston to follow him. Before they had gone many yards he
+edged himself close to his companion's side, at the same time throwing
+a cautious glance over his own shoulder.
+
+"There's one o' them blooming detectives after us!" said Melky. "But
+that's just what's to be expected, mister!--they'll never let you out
+o' their sight until one of two things happen!"
+
+"What things?" asked Lauriston.
+
+"Either you'll have to prove, beyond all doubt, that them rings is
+yours, and was your poor mother's before you," answered Melky, "or we
+shall have to put a hand on the chap that scragged my uncle. That's a
+fact! Mister!--will you put your trust and confidence in me, and do
+what I tell you? It's for your own good."
+
+"I don't know that I could do better," responded Lauriston, after a
+moment's thought. "You're a right good fellow, Melky--I'm sure of that!
+What do you want me to do?"
+
+Melky pulled out a handsome gold watch and consulted it.
+
+"It's dinner-time," he said. "Come round to Mrs. Goldmark's and get
+some grub. I'll tell you what to do while we're eating. I've been
+thinking things over while that there Parminter was badgering poor
+Zillah, and s'elp me, there only is one thing for you to do, and you'd
+best to do it sharp! But come on to Praed Street--don't matter if this
+here chap behind does shadow you--I can get the better of him as easy
+as I could sell this watch! It 'ud take all the detectives in London to
+beat me, if I put my mind to it."
+
+They were at Mrs. Goldmark's eating-house in five minutes: Melky, who
+knew all the ins and outs of that establishment, conducted Lauriston
+into an inner room, and to a corner wherein there was comparative
+privacy, and summoned a waitress. Not until he and his companion were
+half way through their meal did he refer to the business which was in
+his thoughts: then he leaned close to Lauriston and began to talk.
+
+"Mister!" he whispered. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"Peebles," answered Lauriston. "You heard me tell them so, in that
+court."
+
+"I'm no scholar," said Melky. "I ain't no idea where Peebles is, except
+that it's in Scotland. Is it far into that country, or where is it?"
+
+"Not far across the Border," replied Lauriston.
+
+"Get there in a few hours, I reckon?" asked Melky. "You could? Very
+well, then, mister, you take my tip--get there! Get there--quick!"
+
+Lauriston laid down his knife and fork and stared.
+
+"Whatever for?" he exclaimed.
+
+"To find somebody--anybody--as can prove that those rings are yours!"
+answered Melky solemnly and emphatically. "Tain't no use denying
+it--you're in a dangerous position. The police always goes for the
+straightest and easiest line. Their line was clear enough, just
+now--Parminter give it away! They've a theory--they always have a
+theory--and when once police gets a theory, nothing can drive it out o'
+their heads--their official heads, anyway. What they're saying, and
+what they'll try to establish, is this here. That you were hard up,
+down to less than your last penny. You went to Mr. Multenius's--you
+peeked and peered through the shop window and saw him alone, or,
+perhaps, saw the place empty. You went in--you grabbed a couple o'
+rings--he interrupted you--you scragged him! That's their line--and
+Zillah can't swear that those rings which you claim to be yours aren't
+her grandfather's, and up to now you can't prove that they're yours and
+were once your mother's! Mister!--be off to this here Peebles at
+once--immediate!--and find somebody, some old friend, as can swear that
+he or she--never mind which--knows them rings to be your property
+beyond a shadow of doubt! Bring that friend back--bring him if he has
+to come in an invalid carriage!"
+
+Lauriston was so much struck by Melky's argument and advice that it
+needed no more explanations to convince him of its wisdom.
+
+"But--how could I get away'" he asked. "There'll be that detective chap
+hanging about outside--I know I've been shadowed ever since last
+evening! They'll never let me get away from London, however much I
+wish. The probability is that if they saw me going to a railway station
+they'd arrest me."
+
+"My own opinion, mister, after what's taken place this morning, is that
+if you stop here, you'll be arrested before night," remarked Melky
+coolly. "I'd lay a tenner on it! But you ain't going to stop--you must
+go! There must be somebody in the old spot as can swear that them two
+rings o' yours is family property, and you must find 'em and bring 'em,
+if you value your neck. As to slipping the police, I'll make that right
+for you, proper! Now, then, what money have you about you, Mr.
+Lauriston?"
+
+"Plenty!" answered Lauriston. "Nearly forty pounds--the money I got
+last night."
+
+"Will you do exactly what I tell you?" asked Melky, "And do it at once,
+without any hesitation, any hanging about, any going home to Mother
+Flitwick's, or anything o' that sort?"
+
+"Yes!" replied Lauriston. "I'm so sure you're right, that I will."
+
+"Then you listen to me--careful," said Melky. "See that door in the
+corner? As soon as you've finished that pudding, slip out o' that door.
+You'll find yourself in a little yard. Go out o' that yard, and you'll
+find yourself in a narrow passage. Go straight down the passage, and
+you'll come out in Market Street. Go straight down Southwick
+Street--you know it--to Oxford and Cambridge Terrace, and you'll see a
+cab-rank right in front of you. Get into a taxi, and tell the fellow to
+drive you to Piccadilly Circus. Leave him there--take a turn round so's
+he won't see what you do--then get into another taxi, and drive to St.
+Pancras Church. Get out there--and foot it to King's Cross Station.
+You'll catch the 3.15 for the North easy--and after you're once in it,
+you're all right. Get to Peebles!--that's the thing! S'elp me, Mr.
+Lauriston, it's the only thing!"
+
+Five minutes later, there being no one but themselves in the little
+room, Lauriston gave Melky a hearty grip of the hand, walked out of the
+door in the corner, and vanished. And Melky, left alone, pulled out his
+cigarette case, and began to smoke, calmly and quietly. When the
+waitress came back, he whispered a word or two to her; the waitress
+nodded with full comprehension--for everybody knew Melky at Goldmark's,
+and if the waitresses wanted a little jewellery now and then, he let
+them have it at cost price.
+
+"So you can give me the checks for both," said Melky. "I'll pay 'em."
+
+But Melky let three-quarters of an hour elapse before he went to the
+desk in the outer shop. He sipped a cup of coffee; he smoked several
+cigarettes; it was quite a long time before he emerged into Praed
+Street, buttoning his overcoat. And without appearing to see anything,
+he at once saw the man who had followed Lauriston and himself from the
+Coroner's Court. Being almost preternaturally observant, he also saw
+the man start with surprise--but Melky showed, and felt, no surprise,
+when the watcher came after him.
+
+"You know me, Mr. Rubinstein," he said, almost apologetically. "You
+know, of course, we're keeping an eye on that young Scotch
+fellow--we've got to! He went in there, to Goldmark's, with you? Is he
+still there?"
+
+"Strikes me you ain't up to your job!" remarked Melky, coolly. "He went
+out, three-quarters of an hour ago. Gone home, I should say."
+
+The man turned away, evidently puzzled, but just as evidently taking
+Melky's word. He went off in the direction of Star Street, while Melky
+strolled along to the pawnbroker's shop. It was necessary that he
+should tell his cousin of what he had done.
+
+Mrs. Goldmark was still with Zillah--Melky unfolded his story to the
+two of them. Zillah heard it with unfeigned relief; Mrs. Goldmark, who,
+being a young and pretty widow, was inclined to sentiment, regarded
+Melky with admiration.
+
+"My!--if you ain't the cute one, Mr. Rubinstein!" she exclaimed,
+clapping her plump hands. "As for me, now, I wouldn't have thought of
+that in a hundred years! But it's you that's the quick mind."
+
+Melky laid a finger to the side of his nose.
+
+"Do you know what, Mrs. Goldmark?" he said. "I ain't going to let them
+police fellows put a hand on young Lauriston, not me! I've my own ideas
+about this here business--wait till I put my hand on somebody, see?
+Don't it all come out clear to you?--if I find the right man, then
+there ain't no more suspicion attaching to this young chap, ain't it?
+Oh, I'm no fool, Mrs. Goldmark; don't you make no mistake!"
+
+"I'm sure!" asserted Mrs. Goldmark. "Yes, indeed--you don't carry your
+eyes in your head for nothing, Mr. Rubinstein!"
+
+Zillah, who had listened abstractedly to these compliments suddenly
+turned on her cousin.
+
+"What are you going to do then, Melky?" she demanded. "What's all this
+business about that book? And what steps are you thinking of taking?"
+
+But Melky rose and, shaking his head, buttoned up his overcoat as if he
+were buttoning in a multitude of profound secrets.
+
+"What you got to do, just now, Zillah--and Mrs. Goldmark too," he
+answered, "is to keep quiet tongues about what I done with young
+Lauriston. There ain't to be a word said! If any o' them police come
+round here, asking about him, you don't know nothing--see? You ain't
+seen him since he walked out o' that court with me--see? Which, of
+course--you ain't. And as for the rest, you leave that to yours truly!"
+
+"Oh, what it is to have a mind!" exclaimed Mrs. Goldmark "I ain't no
+mind, beyond managing my business."
+
+"Don't you show your mind in managing that?" said Melky, admiringly.
+"What do I always say of you, Mrs. Goldmark? Don't I always say you're
+the smartest business woman in all Paddington? Ain't that having a
+mind? Oh, I think you've the beautifullest mind, Mrs. Goldmark!"
+
+With this compliment Melky left Mrs. Goldmark and Zillah, and went away
+to his lodgings. He was aware of a taxi-cab drawn up at Mrs. Flitwick's
+door as he went up the street; inside Mrs. Flitwick's shabby hall he
+found that good woman talking to a stranger--a well-dressed young
+gentleman, who was obviously asking questions. Mrs. Flitwick turned to
+Melky with an air of relief.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell this gentleman where Mr. Lauriston is, Mr.
+Rubinstein?" she said. "I ain't seen him since he went out first thing
+this morning."
+
+Melky looked the stranger over--narrowly. Then he silently beckoned him
+outside the house, and walked him out of earshot.
+
+"You ain't the friend from Scotland?" asked Melky. "Him what sent the
+bank-note, last night?"
+
+"Yes!" assented the stranger. "I see you're aware of that. My name is
+Purdie--John Purdie. Where is Lauriston? I particularly want to see
+him."
+
+Melky tapped the side of his nose, and whispered.
+
+"He's on his way to where you come from, mister!" he said. "Here!--I
+know who you are, and you'll know me in one minute. Come up to my
+sitting-room!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+
+THE FRIEND FROM PEEBLES
+
+Melky, as principal lodger in Mrs. Flitwick's establishment, occupied
+what that lady was accustomed to describe as the front drawing-room
+floor--a couple of rooms opening one into the other. Into one of these,
+furnished as a sitting-room, he now led Lauriston's friend, hospitably
+invited him to a seat, and took a quiet look at him. He at once sized
+up Mr. John Purdie for what he was--a well-to-do, well-dressed,
+active-brained young business man, probably accustomed to controlling
+and dealing with important affairs. And well satisfied with this
+preliminary inspection, he immediately plunged into the affair of the
+moment.
+
+"Mister," began Melky, pulling up a chair to Purdie's side, and
+assuming a tone and manner of implicit confidence. "I've heard of you.
+Me and Mr. Lauriston's close friends. My name's Mr. Rubinstein--Mr.
+Melchior Rubinstein, commonly called Melky. I know all about
+you--you're the friend that Lauriston asked for a bit of help to see
+him through, like--ain't it? Just so--and you sent him twenty pounds to
+be going on with--which he got, all right, last night. Also, same time,
+he got another twenty quid for two of his lit'ry works--stories,
+mister. Mister!--I wish he'd got your money and the other money just an
+hour before it come to hand! S'elp me!--if them there letters had only
+come in by one post earlier, it 'ud ha' saved a heap o' trouble!"
+
+"I haven't the remotest notion of what you're talking about, you know,"
+said Purdie good-naturedly. "You evidently know more than I do. I knew
+Andie Lauriston well enough up to the time he left Peebles, but I've
+never seen or heard of him since until he wrote to me the other week.
+What's it all about, and why has he gone back to Peebles? I told him I
+was coming up here any day now--and here I am, and he's gone!"
+
+Melky edged his chair still nearer to his visitor, and with a cautious
+glance at the door, lowered his voice.
+
+"I'm a-going to tell you all about it, mister," he said. "I know you
+Scotch gentlemen have got rare headpieces on you, and you'll pick it up
+sharp enough. Now you listen to me, Mr. Purdie, same as if I was one of
+them barrister chaps stating a case, and you'll get at it in no time."
+
+John Purdie, who had already recognized his host as a character, as
+interesting as he was amusing, listened attentively while Melky told
+the story of Lauriston's doings and adventure from the moment of his
+setting out to pawn his watch at Multenius's pledge-office to that in
+which, on Melky's suggestion, he had made a secret and hurried
+departure for Peebles. Melky forgot no detail; he did full justice to
+every important point, and laid particular stress on the proceedings
+before the Coroner. And in the end he appealed confidently to his
+listener.
+
+"And now I put it up to you, mister--straight!" concluded Melky. "Could
+I ha' done better for him than to give him the advice I did? Wasn't it
+best for him to go where he could get some evidence on his own behalf,
+than to run the risk of being arrested, and put where he couldn't do
+nothing for himself? What d'you say, now, Mr. Purdie?"
+
+"Yes," agreed Purdie, after a moment's further thought. "I think you
+did well. He'll no doubt be able to find some old friends in Peebles
+who can surely remember that his mother did possess those two rings.
+But you must bear this in mind--the police, you say, have shadowed him
+since yesterday afternoon. Well, when they find he's flown, they'll
+take that as a strong presumptive evidence of guilt. They'll say he's
+flying from justice!"
+
+"Don't matter, mister, if Lauriston comes back with proof of his
+innocence," replied Melky.
+
+"Yes, but they'll not wait for that," said Purdie. "They'll set the
+hue-and-cry on to him--at once. He's not the sort to be easily mistaken
+or overlooked--unless he's changed a lot this late year or two--he was
+always a good-looking lad."
+
+"Is so now, mister," remarked Melky, "is so now!"
+
+"Very well," continued Purdie. "Then I want to make a suggestion to
+you. It seems to me that the wisest course is for you and me to go
+straight to the police authorities, and tell them frankly that
+Lauriston has gone to get evidence that those rings are really his
+property, and that he'll return in a day or two with that evidence.
+That will probably satisfy them--I think I can add a bit more that will
+help further. We don't want it to be thought that the lad's run away
+rather than face a possible charge of murder, you know!"
+
+"I see your point, mister, I see your point!" agreed Melky. "I'm with
+you!--I ain't no objection to that. Of course, there ain't no need to
+tell the police precisely where he has gone--what?"
+
+"Not a bit!" said Purdie. "But I'll make myself responsible to them for
+his re-appearance. Now--did you and he arrange anything about
+communicating with each other?"
+
+"Yes," replied Melky. "If anything turns up this next day or two I'm to
+wire to him at the post-office, Peebles. If he finds what he wants,
+he'll wire to me, here, at once."
+
+"Good!" said Purdie. "Now, here's another matter. You've mentioned Mr.
+Spencer Levendale and this book which was so strangely left at the
+pledge-office. I happen to know Mr. Levendale--pretty well."
+
+"You do, mister!" exclaimed Melky. "Small world, ain't it, now?"
+
+"I met Mr. Spencer Levendale last September--two months ago," continued
+Purdie. "He was staying at an hotel in the Highlands, with his children
+and their governess: I was at the same hotel, for a month--he and I
+used to go fishing together. We got pretty friendly, and he asked me to
+call on him next time I was in town. Here I am--and when we've been to
+the police, I'm going to Sussex Square--to tell him I'm a friend of
+Lauriston's, that Lauriston is in some danger over this business, and
+to ask him if he can tell me more about--that book!"
+
+Melky jumped up and wrung his visitor's hand.
+
+"Mister!--you're one o' the right sort," he said fervently. "That there
+book has something to do with it! My idea is that the man what carried
+that book into the shop is the man what scragged my poor old
+relative--fact, mister! Levendale, he wouldn't tell us anything much
+this morning--maybe he'll tell you more. Stand by Lauriston,
+mister!--we'll pull him through."
+
+"You seem very well disposed towards him," remarked Purdie. "He's
+evidently taken your fancy."
+
+"And my cousin Zillah's," answered Melky, with a confidential grin.
+"Zillah--loveliest girl in all Paddington, mister--she's clear gone on
+the young fellow! And--a word in your ear, mister!--Zillah's been
+educated like a lady, and now that the old man's gone, Zillah'll
+have--ah! a fortune that 'ud make a nigger turn white! And no error
+about it! See it through, mister!"
+
+"I'll see it through," said Purdie. "Now, then--these police. Look
+here--is there a good hotel in this neighbourhood?--I've all my traps
+in that taxi-cab downstairs--I drove straight here from the station,
+because I wanted to see Andie Lauriston at once."
+
+"Money's no object to you, I reckon, mister?" asked Melky, with a
+shrewd glance at the young Scotsman's evident signs of prosperity.
+
+"Not in reason," answered Purdie.
+
+"Then there's the Great Western Hotel, at the end o' Praed Street,"
+said Melky. "That'll suit a young gentleman like you, mister, down to
+the ground. And you'll be right on the spot!"
+
+"Come with me, then," said Purdie. "And then to the police."
+
+Half-an-hour's private conversation with the police authorities enabled
+Purdie to put some different ideas into the official heads. They began
+to look at matters in a new light. Here was a wealthy young Scottish
+manufacturer, a person of standing and position, who was able to vouch
+for Andrew Lauriston in more ways than one, who had known him from
+boyhood, had full faith in him and in his word, and was certain that
+all that Lauriston had said about the rings and about his finding of
+Daniel Multenius would be found to be absolutely true. They willingly
+agreed to move no further in the matter until Lauriston's return--and
+Purdie noticed, not without a smile, that they pointedly refrained from
+asking where he had gone to. He came out from that interview with
+Ayscough in attendance upon him--and Melky, waiting without, saw that
+things had gone all right.
+
+"You might let me have your London address, sir," said Ayscough. "I
+might want to let you know something."
+
+"Great Western Hotel," answered Purdie. "I shall stay there until
+Lauriston's return, and until this matter's entirely cleared up, as far
+as he's concerned. Come there, if you want me. All right," he
+continued, as he and Melky walked away from the police-station. "They
+took my word for it!--they'll do nothing until Lauriston comes back.
+Now then, you know this neighbourhood, and I don't--show me the way to
+Sussex Square--I'm going to call on Mr. Levendale at once."
+
+John Purdie had a double object in calling on Mr. Spencer Levendale. He
+had mentioned to Melky that when he met Levendale in the Highlands,
+Levendale, who was a widower, had his children and their governess with
+him. But he had not mentioned that he, Purdie, had fallen in love with
+the governess, and that one of his objects in coming to London just
+then was to renew his acquaintance with her. It was chiefly of the
+governess that he was thinking as he stood on the steps of the big
+house in Sussex Square--perhaps, in a few minutes, he would see her
+again.
+
+But Purdie was doomed to see neither Mr. Spencer Levendale nor the
+pretty governess that day. Mr. Levendale, said the butler, was on
+business in the city and was to dine out that evening: Miss Bennett had
+taken the two children to see a relative of theirs at Hounslow, and
+would not return until late. So Purdie, having pencilled his London
+address on them, left cards for Mr. Levendale and Miss Bennett, and,
+going back to his hotel, settled himself in his quarters to await
+developments. He spent the evening in reading the accounts of the
+inquest on Daniel Multenius--in more than one of the newspapers they
+were full and circumstantial, and it needed little of his shrewd
+perception to convince him that his old schoolmate stood in
+considerable danger if he failed to establish his ownership of the
+rings.
+
+He had finished breakfast next morning and was thinking of strolling
+round to Melky Rubinstein's lodgings, to hear if any news had come from
+Lauriston, when a waiter brought him Ayscough's card, saying that its
+presenter was waiting for him in the smoking-room. Purdie went there at
+once: the detective, who looked unusually grave and thoughtful, drew
+him aside into a quiet part of the room.
+
+"There's a strange affair occurred during the night, Mr. Purdie," said
+Ayscough, when they were alone. "And it's my opinion it's connected
+with this Multenius affair."
+
+"What is it?" asked Purdie.
+
+"This," replied Ayscough. "A Praed Street tradesman--in a small
+way--was picked up, dying, in a quiet street off Maida Vale, at twelve
+o'clock last night, and he died soon afterwards. And--he'd been
+poisoned!--but how, the doctors can't yet tell."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+
+THE CALL FOR HELP
+
+Purdie, whose temperament inclined him to slowness and deliberation in
+face of any grave crisis, motioned the detective to take a seat in the
+quiet corner of the smoking-room, into which they had retreated, and
+sat down close by him.
+
+"Now, to begin with," he said, "why do you think this affair is
+connected with the affair of the old pawn-broker? There must be some
+link."
+
+"There is a link, sir," answered Ayscough. "The man was old Daniel
+Multenius's next door neighbour: name of Parslett--James Parslett,
+fruit and vegetable dealer. Smallish way of business, but well known
+enough in that quarter. Now, I'll explain something to you. I'm no hand
+at drawing," continued the detective, "but I think I can do a bit of a
+rough sketch on this scrap of paper which will make clear to you the
+lie of the land. These two lines represent Praed Street. Here, where I
+make this cross, is Daniel Multenius's pawnshop. The front part of
+it--the jeweller's shop--looks out on Praed Street. At the side is a
+narrow passage or entry: from that you get access to the pledge-office.
+Now then, Multenius's premises run down one side of this passage:
+Parslett's run down the other. Parslett's house has a side-door into
+it, exactly opposite the door into Multenius's pledge office. Is that
+clear, Mr. Purdie?"
+
+"Quite!" answered Purdie. "I understand it exactly."
+
+"Then my theory is, that Parslett saw the real murderer of Daniel
+Multenius come out of Multenius's side-door, while he, Parslett, was
+standing at his own; that he recognized him, that he tried to blackmail
+him yesterday, and that the man contrived to poison him, in such a
+fashion that Parslett died shortly after leaving him," said Ayscough,
+confidently. "It's but a theory--but I'll lay anything I'm not far out
+in it!"
+
+"What reason have you for thinking that Parslett blackmailed the
+murderer?" asked Purdie.
+
+"This!" answered the detective, with something of triumph in his tone.
+"I've been making some enquiries already this morning, early as it is.
+When Parslett was picked up and carried to the hospital--this St.
+Mary's Hospital, close by here--he was found to have fifty pounds in
+gold in his pocket. Now, according to Parslett's widow, whom I've seen
+this morning, Parslett was considerably hard up yesterday. Trade hasn't
+been very good with him of late, and she naturally knows his
+circumstances. He went out of the house last night about nine o'clock,
+saying he was going to have a stroll round, and the widow says she's
+certain he'd no fifty pounds on him when he left her--it would be a
+wonder, she says, if he'd as much as fifty shillings! Now then, Mr.
+Purdie, where did a man like that pick up fifty sovereigns between the
+time he went out, and the time he was picked up, dying?"
+
+"He might have borrowed it from some friend," suggested Purdie.
+
+"I thought of that, sir," said Ayscough. "It seems the natural thing to
+think of. But Mrs. Parslett says they haven't a friend from whom he
+could have borrowed such an amount--not one! No, sir!--my belief is
+that Parslett saw some man enter and leave Multenius's shop; that he
+knew the man; that he went and plumped him with the affair, and that
+the man gave him that gold to get rid of him at the moment--and
+contrived to poison him, too!"
+
+Purdie considered the proposition for awhile in silence.
+
+"Well," he remarked at last, "if that's so, it seems to establish two
+facts--first, that the murderer is some man who lives in this
+neighbourhood, and second, that he's an expert in poisons."
+
+"Right, sir!" agreed Ayscough. "Quite right. And it would, of course,
+establish another--the innocence of your friend, Lauriston."
+
+Purdie smiled.
+
+"I never had any doubt of that," he said.
+
+"Between ourselves, neither had I," remarked Ayscough heartily. "I told
+our people that I, personally, was convinced of the young fellow's
+complete innocence from the very first--and it was I who found him in
+the shop. It's a most unfortunate thing that he was there, and a sad
+coincidence that those rings of his were much of a muchness with the
+rings in the tray in the old man's parlour--but I've never doubted him.
+No, sir!--I believe all this business goes a lot deeper than that! It's
+no common affair--old Daniel Multenius was attacked by
+somebody--somebody!--for some special reason--and it's going to take a
+lot of getting at. And I'm convinced this Parslett affair is a
+development--Parslett's been poisoned because he knew too much."
+
+"You say you don't know what particular poison was used?" asked Purdie.
+"It would be something of a clue to know that. Because, if it turned
+out to be one of a very subtle nature, that would prove that whoever
+administered it had made a special study of poisons."
+
+"I don't know that--yet," answered Ayscough. "But," he continued,
+rising from his chair, "if you'd step round with me to the hospital, we
+might get to know, now. There's one or two of their specialists been
+making an examination. It's only a mere step along the street."
+
+Purdie followed the detective out and along Praed Street. Before they
+reached the doors of the hospital, a man came up to Ayscough: a solid,
+substantial-looking person, of cautious manner and watchful eye, whose
+glance wandered speculatively from the detective to his companion.
+Evidently sizing Purdie up as some one in Ayscough's confidence, he
+spoke--in the fashion of one who has something as mysterious, as
+important, to communicate.
+
+"Beg your pardon, Mr. Ayscough," he said. "A word with you sir. You
+know me, Mr. Ayscough?"
+
+Ayscough looked sharply at his questioner.
+
+"Mr. Goodyer, isn't it?" he asked. "Oh, yes, I remember. What is it?
+You can speak before this gentleman--it's all right."
+
+"About this affair of last night--Parslett, you know," said Goodyer,
+drawing the detective aside, and lowering his voice, so that passers-by
+might not hear. "There's something I can tell you--I've heard all about
+the matter from Parslett's wife. But I've not told her what I can tell
+you, Mr. Ayscough."
+
+"And--what's that?" enquired the detective.
+
+"I'm Parslett's landlord, you know," continued Goodyer. "He's had that
+shop and dwelling-house of me for some years. Now, Parslett's not been
+doing very well of late, from one cause or another, and to put it in a
+nutshell, he owed me half a year's rent. I saw him yesterday, and told
+him I must have the money at once: in fact, I pressed him pretty hard
+about it.--I'd been at him for two or three weeks, and I could see it
+was no good going on. He'd been down in the mouth about it, the last
+week or so, but yesterday afternoon he was confident enough. 'Now, you
+needn't alarm yourself, Mr. Goodyer,' he said. 'There's a nice bit of
+money going to be paid to me tonight, and I'll settle up with you
+before I stick my head on the pillow,' he said. 'Tonight, for certain?'
+says I. 'Before even I go to bed!' he says. 'I can't fix it to a
+minute, but you can rely on me calling at your house in St. Mary's
+Terrace before eleven o'clock--with the money.' And he was so certain
+about it, Mr. Ayscough, that I said no more than that I should be much
+obliged, and I'd wait up for him. And," concluded Goodyer, "I did wait
+up--till half-past twelve--but he never came. So this morning, of
+course, I walked round here--and then I heard what happened--about him
+being picked up dying and since being dead--with fifty pounds in gold
+in his pocket. Of course, Mr. Ayscough, that was the money he referred
+to."
+
+"You haven't mentioned this to anybody?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Neither to the widow nor to anybody--but you," replied Goodyer.
+
+"Don't!" said Ayscough. "Keep it to yourself till I give you the word.
+You didn't hear anything from Parslett as to where the money was coming
+from?"
+
+"Not one syllable!" answered Goodyer. "But I could see he was dead sure
+of having it."
+
+"Well--keep quiet about it," continued Ayscough. "There'll be an
+inquest, you know, and what you have to tell'll come in handy, then.
+There's some mystery about all this affair, Mr. Goodyer, and it's going
+to take some unravelling."
+
+"You're right!" said Goodyer. "I believe you!"
+
+He went off along the street, and the detective turned to Purdie and
+motioned him towards the hospital.
+
+"Queer, all that, sir!" he muttered. "Very queer! But it all tends to
+showing that my theory's the right one. Now if you'll just stop in the
+waiting-room a few minutes, I'll find out if these doctors have come to
+any conclusion about the precise nature of the poison."
+
+Purdie waited for ten minutes, speculating on the curiosities of the
+mystery into which he had been so strangely plunged: at last the
+detective came back, shaking his head.
+
+"Can't get a definite word out of 'em, yet," he said, as they went
+away. "There's two or three of 'em--big experts in--what do you call
+it--oh, yes, toxology--putting their heads together over the analysing
+business, and they won't say anything so far--they'll leave that to the
+inquest. But I gathered this much, Mr. Purdie, from the one I spoke
+to--this man Parslett was poisoned in some extremely clever fashion,
+and by some poison that's not generally known, which was administered
+to him probably half-an-hour before it took effect. What's that argue,
+sir, but that whoever gave him that poison is something of an expert?
+Deep game, Mr. Purdie, a very deep game indeed!--and now I don't think
+there's much need to be anxious about that young friend of yours. I'm
+certain, anyway, that the man who poisoned Parslett is the man who
+killed poor old Daniel Multenius. But--we shall see."
+
+Purdie parted from Ayscough outside the hospital and walked along to
+Mrs. Flitwick's house in Star Street. He met Melky Rubinstein emerging
+from the door; Melky immediately pulled out a telegram which he thrust
+into Purdie's hand.
+
+"Just come, mister!" exclaimed Melky. "There's a word for you in it--I
+was going to your hotel. Read what he says."
+
+Purdie unfolded the pink paper and read.
+
+"On the track all right understand Purdie is in town if he comes to
+Star Street explain all to him will wire again later in day."
+
+"Good!" said Purdie. He handed back the telegram and looked
+meditatively at Melky. "Are you busy this morning?" he asked.
+
+"Doing no business whatever, mister," lisped Melky, solemnly. "Not
+until this business is settled--not me!"
+
+"Come to the hotel with me," continued Purdie. "I want to talk to you
+about something."
+
+But when they reached the hotel, all thought of conversation was driven
+out of Purdie's mind for the moment. The hall-porter handed him a note,
+remarking that it had just come. Purdie's face flushed as he recognized
+the handwriting: he turned sharply away and tore open the envelope.
+Inside, on a half-sheet of notepaper, were a few lines--from the pretty
+governess at Mr. Spencer Levendale's.
+
+"Can you come here at once and ask for me? There is something seriously
+wrong: I am much troubled and have no one in London I can consult."
+
+With a hasty excuse to Melky, Purdie ran out of the hotel, and set off
+in quick response to the note.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+
+THE PRIVATE LABORATORY
+
+As he turned down Spring Street towards Sussex Square, Purdie hastily
+reviewed his knowledge of Mr. Spencer Levendale and his family. He had
+met them, only two months previously, at a remote and out-of-the-way
+place in the Highlands, in a hotel where he and they were almost the
+only guests. Under such circumstances, strangers are soon drawn
+together, and as Levendale and Purdie had a common interest in fishing
+they were quickly on good terms. But Purdie was thinking now as he made
+his way towards Levendale's London house that he really knew very
+little of this man who was evidently mixed up in some way with the
+mystery into which young Andie Lauriston had so unfortunately also
+become intermingled. He knew that Levendale was undoubtedly a very
+wealthy man: there were all the signs of wealth about him; he had
+brought several servants down to the Highlands with him: money appeared
+to be plentiful with him as pebbles are on a beach. Purdie learnt bit
+by bit that Levendale had made a great fortune in South Africa, that he
+had come home to England and gone into Parliament; that he was a
+widower and the father of two little girls--he learnt, too, that the
+children's governess, Miss Elsie Bennett, a pretty and taking girl of
+twenty-two or three, had come with them from Cape Town. But of
+Levendale's real character and self he knew no more than could be
+gained from holiday acquaintance. Certain circumstances told him by
+Melky about the rare book left in old Multenius's parlour inclined
+Purdie to be somewhat suspicious that Levendale was concealing
+something which he knew about that affair--and now here was Miss
+Bennett writing what, on the face of it, looked like an appealing
+letter to him, as if something had happened.
+
+Purdie knew something had happened as soon as he was admitted to the
+house. Levendale's butler, who had accompanied his master to the
+Highlands, and had recognized Purdie on his calling the previous day,
+came hurrying to him in the hall, as soon as the footman opened the
+door.
+
+"You haven't seen Mr. Levendale since you were here yesterday, sir?" he
+asked, in a low, anxious voice.
+
+"Seen Mr. Levendale? No!" answered Purdie. "Why--what do you mean?"
+
+The butler looked round at a couple of footmen who hung about the door.
+
+"Don't want to make any fuss about it, Mr. Purdie," he whispered,
+"though it's pretty well known in the house already. The fact is, sir,
+Mr. Levendale's missing!"
+
+"Missing?" exclaimed Purdie. "Since when?"
+
+"Only since last night, sir," replied the butler, "but the
+circumstances are queer. He dined out with some City gentlemen,
+somewhere, last night, and he came home about ten o'clock. He wasn't in
+the house long. He went into his laboratory--he spends a lot of time in
+experimenting in chemistry, you know, sir--and he called me in there.
+'I'm going out again for an hour, Grayson,' he says. 'I shall be in at
+eleven: don't go to bed, for I want to see you for a minute or two.' Of
+course, there was nothing in that, Mr. Purdie, and I waited for him.
+But he never came home--and no message came. He never came home at
+all--and this morning I've telephoned to his two clubs, and to one or
+two other places in the City--nobody's seen or heard anything of him.
+And I can't think what's happened--it's all so unlike his habits."
+
+"He didn't tell you where he was going?" asked Purdie.
+
+"No, sir, but he went on foot," answered the butler. "I let him out--he
+turned up Paddington way."
+
+"You didn't notice anything out of the common about him?" suggested
+Purdie.
+
+The butler hesitated for a moment.
+
+"Well, sir," he said at last, "I did notice something. Come this way,
+Mr. Purdie."
+
+Turning away from the hall, he led Purdie through the library in which
+Levendale had received Ayscough and his companions into a small room
+that opened out of it.
+
+Purdie, looking round him, found that he was standing in a laboratory,
+furnished with chemical apparatus of the latest descriptions.
+Implements and appliances were on all sides; there were rows of bottles
+on the shelves; a library of technical books filled a large book-case;
+everything in the place betokened the pursuit of a scientific
+investigator. And Purdie's keen sense of smell immediately noted the
+prevalent atmosphere of drugs and chemicals.
+
+"It was here that I saw Mr. Levendale last night, sir," said the
+butler. "He called me in. He was measuring something from one of those
+bottles into a small phial, Mr. Purdie--he put the phial in his
+waistcoat pocket. Look at those bottles, sir--you'll see they all
+contain poison!--you can tell that by the make of 'em."
+
+Purdie glanced at the shelf which the butler indicated. The bottles
+ranged on it were all of blue glass, and all triangular in shape, and
+each bore a red label with the word _Poison_ prominently displayed.
+
+"Odd!" he said. "You've some idea?" he went on, looking closely at the
+butler. "Something on your mind about this? What is it?"
+
+The butler shook his head.
+
+"Well, sir," he answered, "when you see a gentleman measuring poison
+into a phial, which he carefully puts in his pocket, and when he goes
+out, and when he never comes back, and when you can't hear of him,
+anywhere! why, what are you to think? Looks strange, now, doesn't it,
+Mr. Purdie?"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Levendale well enough to say," replied Purdie. "There
+may be some quite good reason for Mr. Levendale's absence. He'd no
+trouble of any sort, had he?"
+
+"He seemed a bit upset, once or twice, yesterday--and the night
+before," said the butler. "I noticed it--in little things. Well!--I
+can't make it out, sir. You see, I've been with him ever since he came
+back to England--some years now--and I know his habits, thoroughly.
+However, we can only wait--I believe Miss Bennett sent for you, Mr.
+Purdie?"
+
+"Yes," said Purdie. "She did."
+
+"This way, sir," said the butler. "Miss Bennett's alone, now--the
+children have just gone out with their nurses."
+
+He led Purdie through the house to a sitting-room looking out on the
+garden of the Square, and ushered him into the governess's presence.
+
+"I've told Mr. Purdie all about it, miss," he said, confidentially.
+"Perhaps you'll talk it over with him! I can't think of anything more
+to do--until we hear something."
+
+Left alone, Purdie and Elsie Bennett looked at each other as they shook
+hands. She was a fair, slender girl, naturally shy and retiring; she
+was manifestly shy at renewing her acquaintance with Purdie, and Purdie
+himself, conscious of his own feelings towards her, felt a certain
+embarrassment and awkwardness.
+
+"You sent for me," he said brusquely. "I came the instant I got your
+note. Grayson kept me talking downstairs. You're bothered--about Mr.
+Levendale?"
+
+"Yes," she answered. Then she pointed to a chair. "Won't you sit down?"
+she said, and took a chair close by. "I sent for you, because--it may
+seem strange, but it's a fact!--I couldn't think of anybody else! It
+seemed so fortunate that you were in London--and close by. I felt
+that--that I could depend on you."
+
+"Thank you," said Purdie. "Well--you can! And what is it?"
+
+"Grayson's told you about Mr. Levendale's going out last night, and
+never coming back, nor sending any message?" she continued. "As Grayson
+says, considering Mr. Levendale's habits, that is certainly very
+strange! But--I want to tell you something beyond that--I must tell
+somebody! And I know that if I tell you you'll keep it secret--until,
+or unless you think you ought to tell it to--the police!"
+
+Purdie started.
+
+"The police!" he exclaimed. "What is it?"
+
+Elsie Bennett turned to a table, and picked up a couple of newspapers.
+
+"Have you read this Praed Street mystery affair?" she asked. "I mean
+the account of the inquest?"
+
+"Every word--and heard more, besides," answered Purdie. "That young
+fellow, Andie Lauriston, is an old schoolmate and friend of mine. I
+came here yesterday to see him, and found him plunged into this
+business. Of course, he's absolutely innocent."
+
+"Has he been arrested?" asked Elsie, almost eagerly.
+
+"No!" replied Purdie. "He's gone away--to get evidence that those rings
+which are such a feature of the case are really his and were his
+mother's."
+
+"Have you noticed these particulars, at the end of the inquest, about
+the book which was found in the pawnbroker's parlour?" she went on.
+"The Spanish manuscript?"
+
+"Said to have been lost by Mr. Levendale in an omnibus," answered
+Purdie. "Yes! What of it?"
+
+The girl bent nearer to him.
+
+"It seems a dreadful thing to say," she whispered, "but I must tell
+somebody--I can't, I daren't keep it to myself any longer! Mr.
+Levendale isn't telling the truth about that book!"
+
+Purdie involuntarily glanced at the door--and drew his chair nearer to
+Elsie's.
+
+"You're sure of that?" he whispered. "Just so! Now--in what way?"
+
+"It says here," answered Elsie, tapping the newspapers with her finger,
+"that Mr. Levendale lost this book in a 'bus, which he left at the
+corner of Chapel Street, and that he was so concerned about the loss
+that he immediately sent advertisements off to every morning newspaper
+in London. The last part of that is true--the first part is not true!
+Mr. Levendale did not lose his book--he did not leave it in the 'bus!
+I'm sorry to have to say it--but all that is invention on his
+part--why, I don't know."
+
+Purdie had listened to this with a growing feeling of uneasiness and
+suspicion. The clouds centring round Levendale were certainly
+thickening.
+
+"Now, just tell me--how do you know all this?" he asked. "Rely on
+me--to the full!"
+
+"I'll tell you," replied Elsie, readily. "Because, about four o'clock
+on the afternoon of the old man's death, I happened to be at the corner
+of Chapel Street. I saw Mr. Levendale get out of the 'bus. He did not
+see me. He crossed Edgware Road and walked rapidly down Praed Street.
+And--he was carrying that book in his hand!"
+
+"You're sure it was that book?" asked Purdie.
+
+"According to the description given in this account and in the
+advertisement--yes," she answered. "I noticed the fine binding.
+Although Mr. Levendale didn't see me--there were a lot of people
+about--I was close to him. I am sure it was the book described here."
+
+"And--he went in the direction of the pawnshop?" said Purdie. "What on
+earth does it all mean? What did he mean by advertising for the book,
+when--"
+
+Before he could say more, a knock came at the door, and the butler
+entered, bearing an open telegram in his hand. His face wore an
+expression of relief.
+
+"Here's a wire from Mr. Levendale, Miss Bennett," he said. "It's
+addressed to me. He says, 'Shall be away from home, on business, for a
+few days. Let all go on as usual.' That's better, miss! But," continued
+Grayson, glancing at Purdie, "it's still odd--for do you see, sir,
+where that wire has been sent from? Spring Street--close by!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+
+CONFERENCE
+
+Purdie was already sufficiently acquainted with the geography of the
+Paddington district to be aware of the significance of Grayson's
+remark. The Spring Street Post Office, at which Levendale's wire had
+been handed in, was only a few minutes' walk from the house. It stood,
+in fact, between Purdie's hotel and Sussex Square, and he had passed it
+on his way to Levendale's. It was certainly odd that a man who was
+within five minutes' walk of his own house should send a telegram
+there, when he had nothing to do but walk down one street and turn the
+corner of another to give his message in person.
+
+"Sent off, do you see, sir, twenty minutes ago," observed the butler,
+pointing to some figures in the telegram form. "So--Mr. Levendale must
+have been close by--then!"
+
+"Not necessarily," remarked Purdie. "He may have sent a messenger with
+that wire--perhaps he himself was catching a train at Paddington."
+
+Grayson shook his head knowingly.
+
+"There's a telegraph office on the platform there, sir," he answered.
+"However--there it is, and I suppose there's no more to be done."
+
+He left the room again, and Purdie looked at the governess. She, too,
+looked at him: there was a question in the eyes of both.
+
+"What do you make of that?" asked Purdie after a pause.
+
+"What do you make of it?" she asked in her turn.
+
+"It looks odd--but there may be a reason for it," he answered. "Look
+here!--I'm going to ask you a question. What do you know of Mr.
+Levendale? You've been governess to his children for some time, haven't
+you?"
+
+"For six months before he left Cape Town, and ever since we all came to
+England, three years ago," she answered. "I know that he's very rich,
+and a very busy man, and a member of Parliament, and that he goes to
+the City a great deal--and that's all! He's a very reserved man,
+too--of course, he never tells me anything. I've never had any
+conversation with him excepting about the children."
+
+"You're upset about this book affair?" suggested Purdie.
+
+"Why should Mr. Levendale say that he left that book in the omnibus,
+when I myself saw him leave the 'bus with it in his hand, and go down
+Praed Street with it?" she asked. "Doesn't it look as if he were the
+person who left it in that room--where the old man was found lying
+dead?"
+
+"That, perhaps, is the very reason why he doesn't want people to know
+that he did leave it there," remarked Purdie, quietly. "There's more in
+all this than lies on the surface. You wanted my advice? Very well
+don't say anything to anybody till you see me again. I must go
+now--there's a man waiting for me at my hotel. I may call again, mayn't
+I?"
+
+"Do!" she said, giving him her hand. "I am bothered about this--it's
+useless to deny it--and I've no one to talk to about it. Come--any
+time."
+
+Purdie repressed a strong desire to stay longer, and to turn the
+conversation to more personal matters. But he was essentially a
+business man, and the matters of the moment seemed to be critical. So
+he promised to return, and then hurried back to his hotel--to find
+Melky Rubinstein pacing up and down outside the entrance.
+
+Purdie tapped Melky's shoulder and motioned him to walk along Praed
+Street.
+
+"Look here!" he said. "I want you to take me to see your cousin--and
+the pawnshop. We must have a talk--you said your cousin's a good
+business woman. She's the sort we can discuss business with, eh?"
+
+"My cousin Zillah Wildrose, mister," answered Melky, solemnly, "is one
+of the best! She's a better headpiece on her than what I have--and
+that's saying a good deal. I was going to suggest you should come
+there. Talk!--s'elp me, Mr. Purdie, it strikes me there'll be a lot of
+that before we've done. What about this here affair of last
+night?--I've just seen Mr. Ayscough, passing along--he's told me all
+about it. Do you think it's anything to do with our business?"
+
+"Can't say," answered Purdie. "Wait till we can discuss matters with
+your cousin."
+
+Melky led the way to the side-door of the pawnshop. Since the old man's
+death, the whole establishment had been closed--Zillah had refused to
+do any business until her grandfather's funeral was over. She received
+her visitors in the parlour where old Daniel had been found dead: after
+a moment's inspection of her, and the exchange of a few remarks about
+Lauriston, Purdie suggested that they should all sit down and talk
+matters over.
+
+"Half-a-mo!" said Melky. "If we're going to have a cabinet council,
+mister, there's a lady that I want to bring into it--Mrs. Goldmark. I
+know something that Mrs. Goldmark can speak to--I've just been
+considering matters while I was waiting for you, Mr. Purdie, and I'm
+going to tell you and Zillah, and Mrs. Goldmark, of a curious fact that
+I know of. I'll fetch her--and while I'm away Zillah'll show you that
+there book what was found there."
+
+Purdie looked with interest at the Spanish manuscript which seemed to
+be a factor of such importance.
+
+"I suppose you never saw this before?" he asked, as Zillah laid it on
+the table before him. "And you're certain it wasn't in the place when
+you went out that afternoon, leaving your grandfather alone?"
+
+"That I'm positive of," answered Zillah. "I never saw it in my life
+until my attention was drawn to it after he was dead. That book was
+brought in here during my absence, and it was neither bought nor
+pawned--that's absolutely certain! Of course, you know whose book it
+is?"
+
+"Mr. Spencer Levendale's," answered Purdie. "Yes I know all those
+particulars--and about his advertisements for it, and a little more.
+And I want to discuss all that with you and your cousin. This Mrs.
+Goldmark--she's to be fully trusted?"
+
+Zillah replied that Mrs. Goldmark was worthy of entire confidence, and
+an old friend, and Melky presently returning with her, Purdie suggested
+they should all sit down and talk--informally and in strict privacy.
+
+"You know why I'm concerning myself in this?" he said, looking round at
+his three companions. "I'm anxious that Andie Lauriston should be fully
+and entirely cleared! I've great faith in him--he's beginning what I
+believe will be a successful career, and it would be a terrible thing
+if any suspicion rested on him. So I want, for his sake, to thoroughly
+clear up this mystery about your relative's death."
+
+"Mister!" said Melky, in his most solemn tones. "Speaking for my cousin
+there, and myself, there ain't nothing what we wouldn't do to clear Mr.
+Lauriston! We ain't never had one moment's suspicion of him from the
+first, knowing the young fellow as we do. So we're with you in that
+matter, ain't we, Zillah?"
+
+"Mr. Purdie feels sure of that," agreed Zillah, with a glance at
+Lauriston's old schoolmate. "There's no need to answer him, Melky."
+
+"I am sure!" said Purdie. "So--let's put our wits together--we'll
+consider the question of approaching the police when we've talked
+amongst ourselves. Now--I want to ask you some very private questions.
+They spring out of that rare book there. There's no doubt that book
+belongs to Mr. Levendale. Do either of you know if Mr. Levendale had
+any business relations with the late Mr. Rubinstein?"
+
+Zillah shook her head.
+
+"None!--that I know of," she answered. "I've helped my grandfather in
+this business for some time. I never heard him mention Mr. Levendale.
+Mr. Levendale never came here, certainly."
+
+Melky shook his head, too.
+
+"When Mr. Ayscough, and Mr. Lauriston, and me went round to Sussex
+Square, to see Mr. Levendale about that advertisement for his book," he
+remarked, "he said he'd never heard of Daniel Multenius. That's a fact,
+mister!"
+
+"Had Mr. Multenius any private business relations of which he didn't
+tell you?" asked Purdie, turning to Zillah.
+
+"He might have had," admitted Zillah. "He was out a good deal. I don't
+know what he might do when he went out. He was--close. We--it's no use
+denying it--we don't know all about it. His solicitor's making some
+enquiries--I expect him here, any time, today."
+
+"It comes to this," observed Purdie. "Your grandfather met his death by
+violence, the man who attacked him came in here during your absence.
+The question I want to get solved is--was the man who undoubtedly left
+that book here the guilty man? If so--who is he?"
+
+Melky suddenly broke the silence which followed upon this question.
+
+"I'm going to tell something that I ain't told to nobody as yet!" he
+said. "Not even to Zillah. After this here parlour had been cleared, I
+took a look round. I've very sharp eyes, Mr. Purdie. I found this
+here--half-hidden under the rug there, where the poor old man had been
+lying." He pulled out the platinum solitaire, laid it on the palm of
+one hand, and extended the hand to Mrs. Goldmark. "You've seen the like
+of that before, ain't you?" asked Melky.
+
+"Mercy be upon us!" gasped Mrs. Goldmark, starting in her seat. "I've
+the fellow to it lying in my desk!"
+
+"And it was left on a table in your restaurant," continued Melky, "by a
+man what looked like a Colonial party--I know!--I saw it by accident in
+your place the other night, and one o' your girls told me. Now then,
+Mr. Purdie, here's a bit more of puzzlement--and perhaps a clue. These
+here platinum solitaire cuff-links are valuable--they're worth--well,
+I'd give a good few pounds for the pair. Now who's the man who lost one
+in this here parlour--right there!--and the other in Mrs. Goldmark's
+restaurant? For--it's a pair! There's no doubt about that,
+mister!--there's that same curious and unusual device on each.
+Mister!--them studs has at some time or other been made to special
+order!"
+
+Purdie turned the solitaire over, and looked at Zillah.
+
+"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" he asked.
+
+"Never!" said Zillah. "It's as Melky says--specially made."
+
+"And you have its fellow--lost in your restaurant?" continued Purdie,
+turning to Mrs. Goldmark.
+
+"Its very marrow," assented Mrs. Goldmark, fervently, "is in my desk!
+It was dropped on one of our tables a few afternoons ago by a man who,
+as Mr. Rubinstein says, looked like one of those Colonials. Leastways,
+my waitress, Rosa, she picked it up exactly where he'd been sitting. So
+I put it away till he comes in again, you see. Oh, yes!"
+
+"Has he been in again?" asked Purdie.
+
+"Never was he inside my door before!" answered Mrs. Goldmark
+dramatically. "Never has he been inside it since! But--I keep his
+property, just so. In my desk it is!"
+
+Purdie considered this new evidence in silence for a moment.
+
+"The question now is--this," he said presently. "Is the man who seems
+undoubtedly to have dropped those studs the same man who brought that
+book in here? Or, had Mr. Multenius two callers here during your
+absence, Miss Wildrose? And--who is this mysterious man who dropped the
+studs--valuable things, with a special device on them? He'll have to be
+traced! Mrs. Goldmark--can you describe him, particularly?"
+
+Before Mrs. Goldmark could reply, a knock came at the side-door, and
+Zillah, going to answer it, returned presently with a middle-aged,
+quiet-looking, gold-spectacled gentleman whom she introduced to Purdie
+as Mr. Penniket, solicitor to the late Daniel Multenius.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+
+THE DETECTIVE CALLS
+
+Mr. Penniket, to whom the two cousins and Mrs. Goldmark were evidently
+very well known, looked a polite enquiry at the stranger as he took the
+chair which Melky drew forward for him.
+
+"As Mr. Purdie is presumably discussing this affair with you," he
+observed, "I take it that you intend him to hear anything I have to
+tell?"
+
+"That's so, Mr. Penniket," answered Melky. "Mr. Purdie's one of us, so
+to speak--you can tell us anything you like, before him. We were going
+into details when you come--there's some strange business on, Mr.
+Penniket! And we want to get a bit clear about it before we tell the
+police what we know."
+
+"You know something that they don't know?" asked Mr. Penniket.
+
+"More than a bit!" replied Melky, laconically. "This here affair's
+revolving itself into a network, mister, out of which somebody's going
+to find it hard work to break through!"
+
+The solicitor, who had been quietly inspecting Purdie, gave him a sly
+smile.
+
+"Then before I tell you what I have just found out," he said, turning
+to Melky, "I think you had better tell me all you know, and what you
+have been discussing. Possibly, I may have something to tell which
+bears on our knowledge. Let us be clear!"
+
+He listened carefully while Purdie, at Zillah's request, told him
+briefly what had been said before his arrival, and Purdie saw at once
+that none of the facts surprised him. He asked Mrs. Goldmark one or two
+questions about the man who was believed to have dropped one of his
+cuff-links in her restaurant; he asked Melky a question as to his
+discovery of the other; he made no comment on the answers which they
+gave him. Finally, he drew his chair nearer to the table at which they
+were sitting, and invited their attention with a glance.
+
+"There is no doubt," he said, "that the circumstances centring round
+the death of my late client are remarkably mysterious! What we want to
+get at, put into a nut-shell, is just this--what happened in this
+parlour between half-past four and half-past five on Monday afternoon?
+We might even narrow that down to--what happened between ten minutes to
+five and ten minutes past five? Daniel Multenius was left alone--we
+know that. Some person undoubtedly came in here--perhaps more than one
+person came. Who was the person? Were there two persons? If there were
+two, did they come together--or singly, separately? All that will have
+to be solved before we find out who it was that assaulted my late
+client, and so injured him that he died under the shock. Now, Miss
+Wildrose, and Mr. Rubinstein, there's one fact which you may as well
+get into your minds at once. Your deceased relative had his secrets!"
+
+Neither Zillah nor Purdie made any comment on this, and the solicitor,
+with a meaning look at Purdie, went on. "Not that Daniel Multenius
+revealed any of them to me!" he continued. "I have acted for him in
+legal matters for some years, but only in quite an ordinary way. He was
+a well-to-do man, Mr. Purdie--a rich man, in fact, and a considerable
+property owner--I did all his work of that sort. But as regards his
+secrets, I know nothing--except that since yesterday, I have discovered
+that he certainly had them. I have, as Miss Wildrose knows--and by her
+instructions--been making some enquiries at the bank where Mr.
+Multenius kept his account--the Empire and Universal, in Lombard
+Street--and I have made some curious unearthings in the course of them.
+Now then, between ourselves--Mr. Purdie being represented to me as in
+your entire confidence--I may as well tell you that Daniel Multenius
+most certainly had dealings of a business nature completely outside his
+business as jeweller and pawnbroker in this shop. That's positively
+certain. And what is also certain is that in some of those dealings he
+was, in some way or another, intimately associated with the man whose
+name has already come up a good deal since Monday--Mr. Spencer
+Levendale!"
+
+"S'elp me!" muttered Melky. "I heard Levendale, with my own two ears,
+say that he didn't know the poor old fellow!"
+
+"Very likely," said Mr. Penniket, drily. "It was not convenient to
+him--we will assume--to admit that he did, just then. But I have
+discovered--from the bankers--that precisely two years ago, Mr. Spencer
+Levendale paid to Daniel Multenius a sum of ten thousand pounds. That's
+a fact!"
+
+"For what, mister?" demanded Melky.
+
+"Can't say--nobody can say," answered the solicitor. "All the same, he
+did--paid it in, himself, to Daniel Multenius's credit, at the Empire
+and Universal. It went into the ordinary account, in the ordinary way,
+and was used by Mr. Multenius as part of his own effects--as no doubt
+it was. Now," continued Mr. Penniket, turning to Zillah, "I want to ask
+you a particular question. I know you had assisted your grandfather a
+great deal of late years. Had you anything to do with his banking
+account?"
+
+"No!" replied Zillah, promptly. "That's the one thing I never had
+anything to do with. I never saw his pass-book, nor his deposit-book,
+nor even his cheque-book. He kept all that to himself."
+
+"Just so," said Mr. Penniket. "Then, of course, you don't know that he
+dealt with considerable sums--evidently quite outside this business. He
+made large--sometimes very heavy--payments. And--this, I am convinced,
+is of great importance to the question we are trying to solve--most of
+these payments were sent to South Africa."
+
+The solicitor glanced round his audience as if anxious to see that its
+various members grasped the significance of this announcement. And
+Melky at once voiced the first impression of, at any rate, three of
+them.
+
+"Levendale comes from those parts!" he muttered. "Came here some two or
+three years ago--by all I can gather."
+
+"Just so," said Mr. Penniket. "Therefore, possibly this South African
+business, in which my late client was undoubtedly engaged, is connected
+with Mr. Levendale. That can be found out. But I have still more to
+tell you--perhaps, considering everything, the most important matter of
+the whole lot. On Monday morning last--that would be a few hours before
+his death--Mr. Multenius called at the bank and took from it a small
+packet which he had entrusted to his banker's keeping only a fortnight
+previously. The bankers do not know what was in that packet--he had
+more than once got them to take care of similar packets at one time or
+another. But they described it to me just now. A packet, evidently
+enclosing a small, hard box, some four or five inches square in all
+directions, wrapped in strong cartridge paper, and heavily sealed with
+red wax. It bore Mr. Multenius's name and address--written by himself.
+Now, then, Miss Wildrose--he took that packet away from the bank at
+about twelve-thirty on Monday noon. Have you seen anything of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" answered Zillah with certainty. "There's no such packet
+here, Mr. Penniket. I've been through everything--safes, drawers,
+chests, since my grandfather died, and I've not found anything that I
+didn't know of. I remember that he went out last Monday morning--he was
+away two hours, and came in again about a quarter past one, but I never
+saw such a packet in his possession as that you describe. I know
+nothing of it."
+
+"Well," said the solicitor, after a pause, "there are the facts. And
+the question now is--ought we not to tell all this to the police, at
+once? This connection of Levendale with my late client--as undoubted as
+it seems to have been secret--needs investigation. According to Mr.
+Purdie here--Levendale has suddenly disappeared--or, at any rate, left
+home under mysterious circumstances. Has that disappearance anything to
+do with Multenius's death? Has it anything to do with the death of this
+next door man, Parslett, last night? And has Levendale any connections
+with the strange man who dropped one platinum solitaire stud in Mrs.
+Goldmark's restaurant, and another in this parlour?"
+
+No one attempted to answer these questions for a moment; then, Melky,
+as if seized with a sudden inspiration, smote the table and leaned over
+it towards the solicitor.
+
+"Mr. Penniket!" he said, glancing around him as if to invite approval
+of what he was about to say. "You're a lawyer, mister!--you can put
+things in order and present 'em as if they was in a catalogue! Take the
+whole business to New Scotland Yard, sir!--let the big men at
+headquarters have a go at it. That's what I say! There's some queer
+mystery at the bottom of all this, Mr. Penniket, and it ain't a one-man
+job. Go to the Yard, mister--let 'em try their brains on it!"
+
+Zillah made a murmured remark which seemed to second her cousin's
+proposal, and Mr. Penniket turned to Purdie.
+
+"I understand you to be a business man," he remarked. "What do you say?"
+
+"As far as I can put things together," answered Purdie, "I fully agree
+that there is some extraordinary mystery round and about Mr.
+Multenius's death. And as the detective force at New Scotland Yard
+exists for the solution of such problems--why, I should certainly tell
+the authorities there everything that is known. Why not?"
+
+"Very good," said Mr. Penniket. "Then it will be well if you two come
+with me. The more information we can give to the heads of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, the better. We'll go there at once."
+
+In a few moments, the three men had gone, and Zillah and Mrs. Goldmark,
+left alone, looked at each other.
+
+"Mrs. Goldmark!" said Zillah, after a long silence. "Did you see that
+man, yourself, who's supposed to have dropped that platinum solitaire
+in your restaurant?"
+
+"Did I see him?" exclaimed Mrs. Goldmark. "Do I see you, Zillah? See
+him I did!--though never before, and never since! And ain't I the good
+memory for faces--and won't I know him again if he comes my way? Do you
+know what?--I ain't never forgotten a face what I've once looked at!
+Comes from keeping an eye on customers who looks as if they might have
+forgot to bring their moneys with 'em!"
+
+"Well, I hope you'll see this man again," remarked Zillah. "I'd give a
+lot to get all the mystery cleared up."
+
+Mrs. Goldmark observed that mysteries were not cleared up in a day, and
+presently went away to see that her business was being conducted
+properly. She was devoting herself to Zillah in very neighbourly
+fashion just then, but she had to keep running into the restaurant
+every hour or two to keep an eye on things. And during one of her
+absences, later in the early evening of that day, Zillah, alone in the
+house, answered a knock at the door, and opening it found Ayscough
+outside. His look betokened news, and Zillah led him into the parlour.
+
+"Alone?" asked Ayscough. "Aye, well, I've something to tell you that I
+want you to keep to yourself--for a bit, anyway. Those rings, you know,
+that the young fellow, Lauriston, says are his, and had been his
+mother's?"
+
+"Well?" said Zillah, faintly, and half-conscious of some coming bad
+news. "What of them?"
+
+"Our people," continued the detective, "have had some expert
+chap--jeweller, or something of that sort, examining those rings, and
+comparing them with the rings that are in your tray. And in that tray
+there are several rings which have a private mark inside them. Now,
+then!--those two rings which Lauriston claims are marked in exactly the
+same fashion!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+
+WHAT THE LAMPS SHONE ON
+
+Zillah leaned suddenly back against the table by which she was
+standing, and Ayscough, who was narrowly watching the effect of his
+news, saw her turn very pale. She stood staring at him during a
+moment's silence; then she let a sharp exclamation escape her lips, and
+in the same instant her colour came back--heightened from surprise and
+indignation.
+
+"Impossible!" she said. "I can't believe it; There may be marks inside
+our rings--that's likely enough. But how could those marks correspond
+with the marks in his rings?"
+
+"I tell you it is so!" answered Ayscough. "I've seen the marks in
+both--with my own eyes. It occurred to one of our bosses this evening
+to have all the rings carefully examined by an expert--he got a man
+from one of the jeweller's shops in Edgware Road. This chap very soon
+pointed out that inside the two rings which young Lauriston says are
+his, and come to him from his mother, are certain private
+marks--jewellers' marks, this man called 'em--which are absolutely
+identical with similar marks which are inside some of the rings in the
+tray which was found on this table. That's a fact!--I tell you I've
+seen 'em--all! And--you see the significance of it! Of course, our
+people are now dead certain that young Lauriston's story is false, and
+that he grabbed those two rings out of that tray. See?"
+
+"Are you certain of it--yourself?" demanded Zillah.
+
+Ayscough hesitated and finally shook his head.
+
+"Well, between ourselves, I'm not!" he answered. "I've a feeling from
+the first, that the lad's innocent enough. But it's a queer thing--and
+it's terribly against him. And--what possible explanation can there be?"
+
+"You say you've seen those marks," said Zillah. "Would you know them
+again--on other goods?"
+
+"I should!" replied Ayscough. "I can tell you what they are. There's
+the letter M. and then two crosses--one on each side of the letter.
+Very small, you know, and worn, too--this man I'm talking of used some
+sort of a magnifying glass."
+
+Zillah turned away and went into the shop, which was all in darkness.
+Ayscough, waiting, heard the sound of a key being turned, then of a
+metallic tinkling; presently the girl came back, carrying a
+velvet-lined tray in one hand, and a jeweller's magnifying glass in the
+other.
+
+"The rings in that tray you're talking about--the one you took
+away--are all very old stock," she remarked. "I've heard my grandfather
+say he'd had some of them thirty years or more. Here are some similar
+ones--we'll see if they're marked in the same fashion."
+
+Five minutes later, Zillah had laid aside several rings marked in the
+way Ayscough had indicated, and she turned from them to him with a look
+of alarm.
+
+"I can't understand it!" she exclaimed. "I know that these rings, and
+those in that tray at the police-station, are part of old stock that my
+grandfather had when he came here. He used to have a shop, years ago,
+in the City--I'm not quite sure where, exactly--and this is part of the
+stock he brought from it. But, how could Mr. Lauriston's rings bear
+those marks? Because, from what I know of the trade, those are private
+marks--my grandfather's private marks!"
+
+"Well, just so--and you can imagine what our people are inclined to say
+about it," said the detective. "They say now that the two rings which
+Lauriston claims never were his nor his mother's, but that he stole
+them out of your grandfather's tray. They're fixed on that, now."
+
+"What will they do?" asked Zillah, anxiously. "Is he in danger?"
+
+Ayscough gave her a knowing look.
+
+"Between you and me," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, "I came
+around here privately--on my own hook, you know. I should be sorry if
+this really is fixed on the young fellow--there's a mystery, but it may
+be cleared up. Now, he's gone off to find somebody who can prove that
+those rings really were his mother's. You, no doubt, know where he's
+gone?"
+
+"Yes--but I'm not going to tell," said Zillah firmly. "Don't ask me!"
+
+"Quite right--I don't want to know myself," answered Ayscough. "And
+you'll probably have an idea when he's coming back? All right--take a
+tip from me. Keep him out of the way a bit--stop him from coming into
+this district. Let him know all about those marks--and if he can clear
+that up, well and good. You understand?--and of course, all this is
+between you and me."
+
+"You're very good, Mr. Ayscough," replied Zillah, warmly. "I won't
+forget your kindness. And I'm certain this about the marks can be
+cleared up--but I don't know how!"
+
+"Well--do as I say," said the detective. "Just give the tip to your
+cousin Melky, and to that young Scotch gentleman--let 'em keep
+Lauriston out of the way for a few days. In the meantime--this is a
+very queer case!--something may happen that'll fix the guilt on
+somebody else--conclusively. I've my own ideas and opinions--but we
+shall see. Maybe we shall see a lot--and everybody'll be more
+astonished than they're thinking for."
+
+With this dark and sinister hint, Ayscough went away, and Zillah took
+the rings back to the shop, and locked them up again. And then she sat
+down to wait for Mrs. Goldmark--and to think. She had never doubted
+Lauriston's story for one moment, and she did not doubt it now. But she
+was quick to see the serious significance of what the detective had
+just told her and she realized that action must be taken on the lines
+he had suggested. And so, having made herself ready for going out, she
+excused herself to Mrs. Goldmark when that good lady returned, and
+without saying anything to her as to the nature of her errand, hurried
+round to Star Street, to find Melky Rubinstein and tell him of the new
+development.
+
+Mrs. Flitwick herself opened the door to Zillah and led her into the
+narrow passage. But at the mention of Melky she shook her head.
+
+"I ain't set eyes on Mr. Rubinstein not since this morning, miss," said
+she. "He went out with that young Scotch gentleman what come here
+yesterday asking for Mr. Lauriston, and he's never been in again--not
+even to put his nose inside the door. And at twelve o'clock there come
+a telegram for him--which it was the second that come this morning. The
+first, of course, he got before he went out; the one that come at
+noon's awaiting him. No--I ain't seen him all day!"
+
+Zillah's quick wits were instantly at work as soon as she heard of the
+telegram.
+
+"Oh, I know all about that wire, Mrs. Flitwick!" she exclaimed. "It's
+as much for me as for my cousin. Give it to me--and if Mr. Rubinstein
+comes in soon--or when he comes--tell him I've got it, and ask him to
+come round to me immediately--it's important."
+
+Mrs. Flitwick produced the telegram at once, and Zillah, repeating her
+commands about Melky, hurried away with it. But at the first street
+lamp she paused, and tore open the envelope, and pulled out the
+message. As she supposed, it was from Lauriston, and had been handed in
+at Peebles at eleven o'clock that morning.
+
+"Got necessary information returning at once meet me at King's Cross at
+nine-twenty this evening. L."
+
+Zillah looked at her watch. It was then ten minutes to nine. There was
+just half an hour before Lauriston's train was due. Without a moment's
+hesitation, she turned back along Star Street, hurried into Edgware
+Road and hailing the first taxi-cab she saw, bade its driver to get to
+the Great Northern as fast as possible. Whatever else happened,
+Lauriston must be met and warned.
+
+The taxi-cab made good headway along the Marylebone and Euston Roads,
+and the hands of the clock over the entrance to King's Cross had not
+yet indicated a quarter past nine when Zillah was set down close by.
+She hurried into the station, and to the arrival platform. All the way
+along in the cab she had been wondering what to do when she met
+Lauriston--not as to what she should tell him, for that was already
+settled, but as to what to advise him to do about following Ayscough's
+suggestion and keeping out of the way, for awhile. She had already seen
+enough of him to know that he was naturally of high spirit and courage,
+and that he would hate the very idea of hiding, or of seeming to run
+away. Yet, what other course was open if he wished to avoid arrest?
+Zillah, during her short business experience had been brought in
+contact with the police authorities and their methods more than once,
+and she knew that there is nothing the professional detective likes so
+much as to follow the obvious--as the easiest and safest. She had been
+quick to appreciate all that Ayscough told her--she knew how the police
+mind would reason about it: it would be quite enough for it to know
+that on the rings which Andy Lauriston said were his there were marks
+which were certainly identical with those on her grandfather's
+property: now that the police authorities were in possession of that
+fact, they would go for Lauriston without demur or hesitation, leaving
+all the other mysteries and ramifications of the Multenius affair to be
+sorted, or to sort themselves, at leisure. One thing was certain--Andie
+Lauriston was in greater danger now than at any moment since Ayscough
+found him leaving the shop, and she must save him--against his own
+inclinations if need be.
+
+But before the train from the North was due, Zillah was fated to have
+yet another experience. She had taken up a position directly beneath a
+powerful lamp at the end of the arrival platform, so that Lauriston,
+who would be obliged to pass that way, could not fail to see her.
+Suddenly turning, to glance at the clock in the roof behind her, she
+was aware of a man, young, tall, athletic, deeply bronzed, as from long
+contact with the Southern sun, who stood just behind a knot of
+loungers, his heavy overcoat and the jacket beneath it thrown open,
+feeling in his waistcoat pockets as if for his match-box--an unlighted
+cigar protruded from the corner of his rather grim, determined lips.
+But it was not at lips, nor at the cigar, nor at the searching fingers
+that Zillah looked, after that first comprehensive glance--her eyes
+went straight to an object which shone in the full glare of the lamp
+above her head. The man wore an old-fashioned, double-breasted fancy
+waistcoat, but so low as to reveal a good deal of his shirt-front. And
+in that space, beneath his bird's-eye blue tie, loosely knotted in a
+bow, Zillah saw a stud, which her experienced eyes knew to be of
+platinum, and on it was engraved the same curious device which she had
+seen once before that day--on the solitaire exhibited by Melky.
+
+The girl was instantly certain that here was the man who had visited
+Mrs. Goldmark's eating-house. Her first instinct was to challenge him
+with the fact--but as she half moved towards him, he found his
+match-box, struck a match, and began to light his cigar. And just then
+came the great engine of the express, panting its way to a halt beside
+them, and with it the folk on the platform began to stir, and Zillah
+was elbowed aside. Her situation was perplexing--was she to watch the
+man and perhaps lose Lauriston in the crowd already passing from the
+train, or--
+
+The man was still leisurely busy with his cigar, and Zillah turned and
+went a few steps up the platform. She suddenly caught sight of
+Lauriston, and running towards him gripped his arm, and drew him to the
+lamp. But in that moment of indecision, the man had vanished.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+
+MR. STUYVESANT GUYLER
+
+Lauriston, surprised beyond a little at seeing Zillah, found his
+surprise turned into amazement as she seized his arm and forced him
+along the platform, careless of the groups of passengers and the
+porters, crowding about the baggage vans.
+
+"What is it?" he demanded. "Has something happened? Where are we going?"
+
+But Zillah held on determinedly, her eyes fixed ahead.
+
+"Quick!" she said, pantingly. "A man I saw just now! He was there--he's
+gone--while I looked for you. We must find him! He must have gone this
+way. Andie!--look for him! A tall, clean-shaven man in a slouched hat
+and a heavy travelling coat--a foreigner of some sort. Oh, look!"
+
+It was the first time she had called Lauriston by his name, and he gave
+her arm an involuntary pressure as they hastened along.
+
+"But why?" he asked. "Who is he--what do you want with him? What's it
+all about?"
+
+"Oh, find him!" she exclaimed. "You don't know how important it is! If
+I lose sight of him now, I'll very likely never see him again. And he
+must be found--and stopped--for your sake!"
+
+They had come to the end of the platform, by that time, and Lauriston
+looked left and right in search of the man described. Suddenly he
+twisted Zillah round.
+
+"Is that he--that fellow talking to another man?" he asked. "See
+him--there?"
+
+"Yes!" said Zillah. She saw the man of the platinum stud again, and on
+seeing him, stopped dead where she was, holding Lauriston back. The
+man, leisurely smoking his cigar, was chatting to another man, who,
+from the fact that he was carrying a small suit-case in one hand and a
+rug over the other arm, had evidently come in by the just-arrived
+express. "Yes!" she continued. "That's the man! And--we've just got to
+follow him wherever he goes!"
+
+"What on earth for?" asked Lauriston. "What mystery's this? Who is he?"
+
+At that moment the two men parted, with a cordial handshake; the man of
+the suit-case and the rug turned towards the stairs which led to the
+underground railway; the other man walked slowly away through the front
+of the station in the direction of the Great Northern Hotel. And Zillah
+immediately dragged Lauriston after him, keeping a few yards' distance,
+but going persistently forward. The man in front crossed the road, and
+strode towards the portico of the hotel--and Zillah suddenly made up
+her mind.
+
+"We've got to speak to that man!" she said. "Don't ask why, now--you'll
+know in a few minutes. Ask him if he'll speak to me?"
+
+Lauriston caught up the stranger as he set foot on the steps leading to
+the hotel door. He felt uncomfortable and foolish--but Zillah's tone
+left him no option but to obey.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Lauriston, as politely as possible,
+"but--this lady is very anxious to speak to you."
+
+The man turned, glanced at Zillah, who had hurried up, and lifted his
+slouched hat with a touch of old-fashioned courtesy. There was a strong
+light burning just above them: in its glare all three looked at each
+other. The stranger smiled--a little wonderingly.
+
+"Why, sure!" he said in accents that left no doubt of his American
+origin. "I'd be most happy. You're not mistaking me for somebody else?"
+
+Zillah was already flushed with embarrassment. Now that she had run her
+quarry to earth, and so easily, she scarcely knew what to do with it.
+
+"You'll think this very strange," she said, stammeringly, "but if you
+don't mind telling me something?--you see, I saw you just now in the
+station, when you were feeling for your match-box, and I noticed that
+you wore a platinum stud--with an unusual device on it."
+
+The American laughed--a good-natured, genial laugh--and threw open his
+coat. At the same moment he thrust his wrists forward.
+
+"This stud!" he said. "That's so!--it is platinum, and the device is
+curious. And the device is right there, too, see--on those solitaire
+cuff-studs! But--"
+
+He paused looking at Zillah, whose eyes were now fastened on the
+cuff-studs, and who was obviously so astonished as to have lost her
+tongue.
+
+"You seemed mighty amazed at my studs!" said the stranger, with another
+laugh. "Now, you'll just excuse me if I ask--why?"
+
+Zillah regained her wits with an effort, and became as business-like as
+usual.
+
+"Don't, please, think I'm asking idle and purposeless questions," she
+said. "Have you been long in London?"
+
+"A few days only," answered the stranger, readily enough.
+
+"Have you read of what's already called the Praed Street Murder in the
+papers?" continued Zillah.
+
+"Yes--I read that," the stranger said, his face growing serious. "The
+affair of the old man--the pawnbroker with the odd name. Yes!"
+
+"I'm the old man's granddaughter," said Zillah, brusquely. "Now, I'll
+tell you why I was upset by seeing your platinum stud. A solitaire
+stud, made of platinum, and ornamented with exactly the same device as
+yours, was found in our parlour after my grandfather's death--and
+another, evidently the fellow to it, was found in an eating-house,
+close by. Now, do you understand why I wished to speak to you?"
+
+While Zillah spoke, the American's face had been growing graver and
+graver, and when she made an end, he glanced at Lauriston and shook his
+head.
+
+"Say!" he said. "That's a very serious matter! You're sure the device
+was the same, and the material platinum?"
+
+"I've been reared in the jewellery trade," replied Zillah. "The things
+I'm talking of are of platinum--and the device is precisely the same as
+that on your stud."
+
+"Well!--that's mighty queer!" remarked the American. "I can't tell you
+why it's queer, all in a minute, but I do assure you it's just about
+the queerest thing I ever heard of in my life--and I've known a lot of
+queerness. Look here!--I'm stopping at this hotel--will you come in
+with me, and we'll just get a quiet corner and talk some? Come right
+in, then."
+
+He led the way into the hotel, through the hall, and down a corridor
+from which several reception rooms opened. Looking into one, a small
+smoking lounge, and finding it empty, he ushered them aside. But on the
+threshold Zillah paused. Her business instincts were by this time fully
+aroused. She felt certain that whoever this stranger might he, he had
+nothing to do with the affair in Praed Street, and yet might be able to
+throw extraordinary light on it, and she wanted to take a great step
+towards clearing it up. She turned to the American.
+
+"Look here!" she said. "I've told you what I'm after, and who I am.
+This gentleman is Mr. Andrew Lauriston. Did you read his name in the
+paper's account of that inquest?"
+
+The American glanced at Lauriston with some curiosity.
+
+"Sure!" he answered. "The man that found the old gentleman dead."
+
+"Just so," said Zillah. "There are two friends of ours making enquiries
+on Mr. Lauriston's behalf at this moment. One of them's my cousin, Mr.
+Rubinstein; the other's Mr. Purdie, an old friend of Mr. Lauriston's.
+I've an idea where'll they'll be, just now--do you mind if I telephone
+them to come here, at once, so that they can hear what you have to tell
+us?"
+
+"Not in the least!" assented the American heartily. "I'll be glad to
+help in any way I can--I'm interested. Here!--there's a telephone box
+right there--you go in now, and call those fellows up and tell 'em to
+come right along, quick!"
+
+He and Lauriston waited while Zillah went into the telephone box: she
+felt sure that Melky and Purdie would have returned to Praed Street by
+that time, and she rang up Mrs. Goldmark at the Pawnshop to enquire.
+Within a minute or two she had rejoined Lauriston and the
+American--during her absence the stranger had been speaking to a
+waiter, and he now led his two guests to a private sitting-room.
+
+"We'll be more private in this apartment," he observed. "No fear of
+interruption or being overheard. I've told the waiter man there's two
+gentlemen coming along, and they're to be brought in here as soon as
+they land. Will they be long?"
+
+"They'll be here within twenty minutes," answered Zillah. "It's very
+kind of you to take so much trouble!"
+
+The American drew an easy chair to the fire, and pointed Zillah to it.
+
+"Well," he remarked, "I guess that in a fix of this sort, you can't
+take too much trouble! I'm interested in this case--and a good deal
+more than interested now that you tell me about these platinum studs. I
+reckon I can throw some light on that, anyway! But we'll keep it till
+your friends come. And I haven't introduced myself--my name's
+Stuyvesant Guyler. I'm a New York man--but I've knocked around
+some--pretty considerable, in fact. Say!--have you got any idea that
+this mystery of yours is at all connected with South Africa?
+And--incidentally--with diamonds?"
+
+Zillah started and glanced at Lauriston.
+
+"What makes you think of South Africa--and of diamonds?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, well--but that comes into my tale," answered Guyler. "You'll see
+in due course. But--had it?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of diamonds, but I certainly had of South Africa,"
+admitted Zillah.
+
+"Seems to be working in both directions," said Guyler, meditatively.
+"But you'll see that when I tell you what I know."
+
+Purdie and Melky Rubinstein entered the room within the twenty minutes
+which Zillah had predicted--full of wonder to find her and Lauriston in
+company with a total stranger. But Zillah explained matters in a few
+words, and forbade any questioning until Mr. Stuyvesant Guyler had told
+his story.
+
+"And before I get on to that," said Guyler, who had been quietly
+scrutinizing his two new visitors while Zillah explained the situation,
+"I'd just like to see that platinum solitaire that Mr. Rubinstein
+picked up--if he's got it about him?"
+
+Melky thrust a hand into a pocket.
+
+"It ain't never been off me, mister, since I found it!" he said,
+producing a little packet wrapped in tissue paper. "There you are!"
+
+Guyler took the stud which Melky handed to him and laid it on the table
+around which they were all sitting. After glancing at it for a moment,
+he withdrew the studs from his own wrist-bands and laid them by its
+side.
+
+"Yes, that's sure one of the lot!" he observed musingly. "I guess
+there's no possible doubt at all on that point. Well!--this is indeed
+mighty queer! Now, I'll tell you straight out. These studs--all of
+'em--are parts of six sets of similar things, all made of that very
+expensive metal, platinum, in precisely the same fashion, and
+ornamented with the same specially invented device, and given to six
+men who had been of assistance to him in a big deal, as a little mark
+of his appreciation, by a man that some few years ago made a fortune in
+South Africa. That's so!"
+
+Zillah turned on the American with a sharp look of enquiry.
+
+"Who was he?" she demanded. "Tell us his name!"
+
+"His name," replied Guyler, "was Spencer Levendale--dealer in diamonds."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+
+PURDIE STANDS FIRM
+
+The effect produced by this announcement was evidently exactly that
+which the American expected, and he smiled, a little grimly, as he
+looked from one face to another. As for his hearers, they first looked
+at each other and then at him, and Guyler laughed and went on.
+
+"That makes you jump!" he said. "Well, now, at the end of that inquest
+business in the papers the other day I noticed Spencer Levendale's name
+mentioned in connection with some old book that was left, or found in
+Mr. Daniel Multenius's back-parlour. Of course, I concluded that he was
+the same Spencer Levendale I'd known out there in South Africa, five
+years ago. And to tell you the truth, I've been watching your papers,
+morning and evening, since, to see if there was any more news of him.
+But so far I haven't seen any."
+
+Purdie and Melky exchanged glances, and in response to an obvious hint
+from Melky, Purdie spoke.
+
+"We can give you some news, then," he said. "It'll be common property
+tomorrow morning. Levendale has mysteriously disappeared from his
+house, and from his usual haunts!--and nobody knows where he is. And
+it's considered that this disappearance has something to do with the
+Praed Street affair."
+
+"Sure!" assented Guyler. "That's just about a dead certainty. And in
+the Praed Street affair, these platinum stud things are going to play a
+good part, and when you and your police have got to the bottom of it,
+you'll sure find that something else has a big part, too!"
+
+"What?" asked Purdie.
+
+"Why, diamonds!" answered the American, with a quiet smile. "Just
+diamonds! Diamonds'll be at the bottom of the bag--sure!"
+
+There was a moment of surprised silence, and then Melky turned eagerly
+to the American.
+
+"Mister!" he said. "Let's be getting at something! What do you know,
+now, about this here Levendale?"
+
+"Not much," replied Guyler. "But I'm open to tell what I do know. I've
+been a bit of a rolling stone, do you see--knocked about the world,
+pretty considerable, doing one thing and another, and I've falsified
+the old saying, for I've contrived to gather a good bit of moss in my
+rollings. Well, now, I was located in Cape Town for a while, some five
+years ago, and I met Spencer Levendale there. He was then a dealer in
+diamonds--can't say in what way exactly--for I never exactly knew--but
+it was well known that he'd made a big pile, buying and selling these
+goods, and he was a very rich man. Now I and five other men--all of
+different nationalities--were very useful to Levendale in a big deal
+that he was anxious to carry through--never mind what it was--and he
+felt pretty grateful to us, I reckon. And as we were all warmish men so
+far as money was concerned, it wasn't the sort of thing that he could
+hand out cheques for, so he hit on the notion of having sets of studs
+made of platinum--which is, as you're aware, the most valuable metal
+known, and on every stud he had a device of his own invention carefully
+engraved. Here's my set!--and what Mr. Rubinstein's got there is part
+of another. Now, then, who's the man who's been dropping his cuff-links
+about?"
+
+Purdie, who had listened with deep attention to the American's
+statement, immediately put a question.
+
+"That's but answered by asking you something," he said. "You no doubt
+know the names of the men to whom those sets of studs were given?"
+
+But to Purdie's disappointment, the American shook his head.
+
+"Well, now, I just don't!" he replied. "The fact is--as you would
+understand if you knew the circumstances--this was a queer sort of a
+secret deal, in which the assistance of various men of different
+nationality was wanted, and none of us knew any of the rest. However, I
+did come across the Englishman who was in it--afterwards. Recognized
+him, as a matter of fact, by his being in possession of those studs."
+
+"And who was he?" asked Purdie.
+
+"A man named Purvis--Stephen Purvis," answered Guyler. "Sort of man
+like myself--knocked around, taking up this and that, as long as there
+was money in it. I came across him in Johannesburg, maybe a year after
+that deal I was telling of. He didn't know who the other fellows were,
+neither."
+
+"You've never seen him since?" suggested Purdie. "You don't know where
+he is?"
+
+"Not a ghost of a notion!" said Guyler. "Didn't talk with him more than
+once, and then only for an hour or so."
+
+"Mister!" exclaimed Melky, eagerly. "Could you describe this here
+Purvis, now? Just a bit of a description, like?"
+
+"Sure!" answered the American. "That is--as I remember him. Biggish,
+raw-boned, hard-bitten sort of a man--about my
+age--clean-shaven--looked more of a Colonial than an Englishman--he'd
+been out in South Africa, doing one thing and another, since he was a
+boy."
+
+"S'elp me if that doesn't sound like the man who was in Mrs. Goldmark's
+restaurant!" said Melky. "Just what she describes, anyhow!"
+
+"Why, certainly--I reckon that is the man," remarked Guyler. "That's
+what I've been figuring on, all through. I tell you all this mystery is
+around some diamond affair in which this lady's grandfather, and Mr.
+Spencer Levendale, and this man Purvis have been mixed up--sure! And
+the thing--in my humble opinion--is to find both of them! Now, then,
+what's been done, and what's being done, in that way?"
+
+Melky nodded at Purdie, as much as to invite him to speak.
+
+"The authorities at New Scotland Yard have the Levendale affair in
+hand," said Purdie. "We've been in and out there, with Mr. Multenius's
+solicitor, all the afternoon and evening. But, of course, we couldn't
+tell anything about this other man because we didn't know anything,
+till now. You'll have no objection to going there tomorrow?"
+
+"Not at all!" replied Guyler, cheerfully. "I'm located at this hotel
+for a week or two. I struck it when I came here from the North, a few
+days back, and it suits me very well, and I guess I'll just stop here
+while I'm in London this journey. No, I've no objection to take a hand.
+But--it seems to me--there's still a lot of difficulty about this young
+gentleman here--Mr. Lauriston. I read all the papers carefully, and
+sized up his predicament. Those rings, now?"
+
+Zillah suddenly remembered all that Ayscough had told her that evening.
+She had forgotten the real motive of her visit to King's Cross in her
+excitement in listening to the American's story. She now turned to
+Purdie and the other two.
+
+"I'd forgotten!" she exclaimed. "The danger's still there. Ayscough's
+been at the shop tonight. The police have had an expert examining those
+rings, and the rings in the tray. He says there are marks--private,
+jewellers' marks in the two rings which correspond with marks in our
+rings. In fact, there's no doubt of it. And now, the police are certain
+that the two rings did belong to our tray--and--and they're bent on
+arresting--Andie!"
+
+Lauriston flushed hotly with sheer indignation.
+
+"That's all nonsense--what the police say!" he exclaimed. "I've found
+out who gave those two rings to my mother! I can prove it! I don't care
+a hang for the police and their marks--those rings are mine!"
+
+Purdie laid a quiet hand on Lauriston's arm.
+
+"None of us know yet what you've done or found out at Peebles about the
+rings," he said. "Tell us! Just give us the brief facts."
+
+"I'm going to," answered Lauriston, still indignant. "I thought the
+whole thing over as I went down in the train. I remembered that if
+there was one person living in Peebles who would be likely to know
+about my mother and those rings, it would be an old friend of hers,
+Mrs. Taggart--you know her, John."
+
+"I know Mrs. Taggart--go on," said Purdie.
+
+"I didn't know if Mrs. Taggart was still living," continued Lauriston.
+"But I was out early this morning and I found her. She remembers the
+rings well enough: she described them accurately--what's more she told
+me what I didn't know--how they came into my mother's possession. You
+know as well as I do, John, that my father and mother weren't over well
+off--and my mother used to make a bit of extra money by letting her
+rooms to summer visitors. One summer she had a London solicitor, a Mr.
+Killick, staying there for a month--at least he came for a month, but
+he was taken ill, and he was there more than two months. My mother
+nursed him through his illness--and after he'd returned to London, he
+sent her those rings. And--if there are marks on them," concluded
+Lauriston, "that correspond with marks on the rings in that tray, all I
+have to say is that those marks must have been there when Mr. Killick
+bought them!--for they've never been out of our possession--my mother's
+and mine--until I took them to pawn."
+
+Zillah suddenly clapped her hands--and she and Melky exchanged
+significant glances which the others did not understand.
+
+"That's it!" she exclaimed. "That's what puzzled me at first. Now I'm
+not puzzled any more. Melky knows what I mean."
+
+"What she means, mister," assented Melky, tapping Purdie's arm, "is
+precisely what struck me at once. It's just as Mr. Lauriston here
+says--them private marks were on the rings when Mr. Killick bought
+them. Them two rings, and some of the rings in the tray what's been
+mentioned all come from the same maker! There ain't nothing wonderful
+in all that to me and my cousin Zillah there!--we've been brought up in
+the trade, d'ye see? But the police!--they're that suspicious
+that--well, the thing to do, gentlemen, is to find this here Mr.
+Killick."
+
+"Just so," agreed Purdie. "Where is he to be found, Andie?"
+
+But Lauriston shook his head, disappointedly.
+
+"That's just what I don't know!" he answered. "It's five and twenty
+years since he gave my mother those rings, and according to Mrs.
+Taggart, he was then a middle-aged man, so he's now getting on in
+years. But--if he's alive, I can find him."
+
+"We've got to find him," said Purdie, firmly. "In my opinion, he can
+give some evidence that'll be of more importance than the mere
+identifying of those rings--never mind what it is I'm thinking of, now.
+We must see to that tomorrow."
+
+"But in the meantime," broke in Zillah. "Andie must not go home--to
+Mrs. Flitwick's! I know what Ayscough meant tonight--and remember, all
+of you, it was private between him and myself. If he goes home, he may
+be arrested, any minute. He must be kept out of the way of the police
+for a bit, and--"
+
+Purdie rose from the table and shook his head determinedly.
+
+"No," he said. "None of that! We're going to have no running away, no
+hiding! Andie Lauriston's not going to show the least fear of the
+police, or of any of their theories. He's just going to follow my
+orders--and I'm going to take him to my hotel for the night--leave him
+to me! I'm going to see this thing right through to the finish--however
+it ends. Now, let's separate. Mr. Guyler!"
+
+"Sir?" answered the American. "At your service."
+
+"Then meet me at my hotel tomorrow morning at ten," said Purdie.
+"There's a new chapter to open."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+
+THE PARSLETT AFFAIR
+
+At a quarter past ten o'clock on the morning following Ayscough's
+revelation to Zillah, the detective was closeted with a man from the
+Criminal Investigation Department at New Scotland Yard in a private
+room at the local police station, and with them was the superior
+official who had been fetched to the pawnshop in Praed Street
+immediately after the discovery of Daniel Multenius's body by Andie
+Lauriston. And this official was stating his view of the case to the
+two detectives--conscious that neither agreed with him.
+
+"You can't get over the similarity of the markings of those rings!" he
+said confidently. "To my mind the whole thing's as plain as a
+pikestaff--the young fellow was hard up--he confessed he hadn't a penny
+on him!--he went in there, found the shop empty, saw those rings,
+grabbed a couple, was interrupted by the old man--and finished him off
+by scragging him! That's my opinion! And I advise getting a warrant for
+him and getting on with the work--all the rest of this business belongs
+to something else."
+
+Ayscough silently glanced at the man from New Scotland Yard--who shook
+his head in a decided negative.
+
+"That's not my opinion!" he said with decision. "And it's not the
+opinion of the people at headquarters. We were at this affair nearly
+all yesterday afternoon with that little Jew fellow, Rubinstein, and
+the young Scotch gentleman, Mr. Purdie, and our conclusion is that
+there's something of a big sort behind old Multenius's death. There's a
+regular web of mystery! The old man's death--that book, which Levendale
+did not leave in the 'bus, in spite of all he says, and of his
+advertisements!--Levendale's unexplained disappearance--the strange
+death of this man Parslett--the mystery of those platinum studs dropped
+in the pawnbroker's parlour and in Mrs. Goldmark's eating
+house--no!--the whole affair's a highly complicated one. That's my view
+of it."
+
+"And mine," said Ayscough. He looked at the unbelieving official, and
+turned away from him to glance out of the window into the street. "May
+I never!" he suddenly exclaimed. "There's young Lauriston coming here,
+and Purdie with him--and a fellow who looks like an American. I should
+say Lauriston's got proof about his title to those rings--anyway, he
+seems to have no fear about showing himself here--case of walking
+straight into the lions' den, eh?"
+
+"Bring 'em all in!" ordered the superior official, a little surlily.
+"Let's hear what it's all about!"
+
+Purdie presently appeared in Ayscough's rear, preceding his two
+companions. He and the detective from New Scotland Yard exchanged nods;
+they had seen a good deal of each other the previous day. He nodded
+also to the superior official--but the superior official looked at
+Lauriston.
+
+"Got that proof about those rings?" he enquired. "Of course, if you
+have--"
+
+"Before Mr. Lauriston says anything about that," interrupted Purdie, "I
+want you to hear a story which this gentleman, Mr. Stuyvesant Guyler,
+of New York, can tell you. It's important--it bears right on this
+affair. If you just listen to what he can tell--"
+
+The two detectives listened to Guyler's story about the platinum studs
+with eager, if silent interest: in the end they glanced at each other
+and then at the local official, who seemed to be going through a
+process of being convinced against his will.
+
+"Just what I said a few minutes ago," muttered the New Scotland Yard
+man. "A highly complicated affair! Not going to be got at in five
+minutes."
+
+"Nor in ten!" said Ayscough laconically. He glanced at Guyler. "You
+could identify this man Purvis if you saw him?" he asked.
+
+"Why, certainly!" answered the American. "I guess if he's the man who
+was seen in that eating-house the other day he's not altered any--or
+not much."
+
+The man at the desk turned to Purdie, glancing at Lauriston.
+
+"About those rings?" he asked. "What's Mr. Lauriston got to say?"
+
+"Let me tell," said Purdie, as Lauriston was about to speak. "Mr.
+Lauriston," he went on, "has been to Peebles, where his father and
+mother lived. He has seen an old friend of theirs, Mrs. Taggart, who
+remembers the rings perfectly. Moreover, she knows that they were given
+to the late Mrs. Lauriston by a Mr. Edward Killick, a London solicitor,
+who, of course, will be able to identify them. As to the marks, I think
+you'll find a trade explanation of that--those rings and the rings in
+Multenius's tray probably came from the same maker. Now, I find, on
+looking through the directory, that this Mr. Edward Killick has retired
+from practice, but I've also found out where he now lives, and I
+propose to bring him here. In the meantime--I want to know what you're
+going to do about Mr. Lauriston? Here he is!"
+
+The superior official glanced at the New Scotland Yard man.
+
+"I suppose your people have taken this job entirely in hand, now?" he
+asked.
+
+"Entirely!" answered the detective.
+
+"Got any instructions about Mr. Lauriston?" asked the official. "You
+haven't? Mr. Lauriston's free to go where he likes, then, as far as
+we're concerned, here," he added, turning to Purdie. "But--he'd far
+better stay at hand till all this is cleared up."
+
+"That's our intention," said Purdie. "Whenever you want Mr. Lauriston,
+come to me at my hotel--he's my guest there, and I'll produce him. Now
+we're going to find Mr. Killick."
+
+He and Lauriston and Guyler walked out together; on the steps of the
+police-station Ayscough called him back.
+
+"I say!" he said, confidentially. "Leave that Mr. Killick business
+alone for an hour or two. I can tell you of something much more
+interesting than that, and possibly of more importance. Go round to the
+Coroner's Court--Mr. Lauriston knows where it is."
+
+"What's on?" asked Lauriston.
+
+"Inquest on that man Parslett," replied Ayscough with a meaning nod.
+"You'll hear some queer evidence if I'm not mistaken. I'm going there
+myself, presently."
+
+He turned in again, and the three young men looked at each other.
+
+"Say!" remarked Guyler, "I reckon that's good advice. Let's go to this
+court."
+
+Lauriston led them to the scene of his own recent examination by Mr.
+Parminter. But on this occasion the court was crowded; it was with
+great difficulty that they contrived to squeeze themselves into a
+corner of it. In another corner, but far away from their own, Lauriston
+saw Melky Rubinstein; Melky, wedged in, and finding it impossible to
+move, made a grimace at Lauriston and jerked his thumb in the direction
+of the door, as a signal that he would meet him there when the
+proceedings were over.
+
+The inquest had already begun when Purdie and his companions forced
+their way into the court. In the witness-box was the dead man's
+widow--a pathetic figure in heavy mourning, who was telling the Coroner
+that on the night of her husband's death he went out late in the
+evening--just to take a walk round, as he expressed it. No--she had no
+idea whatever of where he was going, nor if he had any particular
+object in going out at all. He had not said one word to her about going
+out to get money from any one. After he went out she never saw him
+again until she was fetched to St. Mary's Hospital, where she found him
+in the hands of the doctors. He died, without having regained
+consciousness, just after she reached the hospital.
+
+Nothing very startling so far, thought Purdie, at the end of the
+widow's evidence, and he wondered why Ayscough had sent them round. But
+more interest came with the next witness--a smart, bustling,
+middle-aged man, evidently a well-to-do business man, who entered the
+box pretty much as if he had been sitting down in his own office, to
+ring his bell and ask for the day's letters. A whisper running round
+the court informed the onlookers that this was the gentleman who picked
+Parslett up in the street. Purdie and his two companions pricked their
+ears.
+
+Martin James Gardiner--turf commission agent--resident in Portsdown
+Road, Maida Vale. Had lived there several years--knew the district
+well--did not know the dead man by sight at all--had never seen him,
+that he knew of, until the evening in question.
+
+"Tell us exactly what happened, Mr. Gardiner--in your own way," said
+the Coroner.
+
+Mr. Gardiner leaned over the front of the witness-box, and took the
+court and the public into his confidence--genially.
+
+"I was writing letters until pretty late that night," he said. "A
+little after eleven o'clock I went out to post them at the nearest
+pillar-box. As I went down the steps of my house, the deceased passed
+by. He was walking down Portsdown Road in the direction of Clifton
+Road. As he passed me, he was chuckling--laughing in a low tone. I
+thought he was--well, a bit intoxicated when I heard that, but as I was
+following him pretty closely, I soon saw that he walked straight
+enough. He kept perhaps six or eight yards in front of me until we had
+come to within twenty yards or so of the corner of Clifton Road. Then,
+all of a sudden--so suddenly that it's difficult for me to describe
+it!--he seemed to--well, there's no other word for it than--collapse.
+He seemed to give, you understand--shrank up, like--like a concertina
+being suddenly shut up! His knees gave--his whole body seemed to
+shrink--and he fell in a heap on the pavement!"
+
+"Did he cry out--scream, as if in sudden pain--anything of that sort?"
+asked the Coroner.
+
+"There was a sort of gurgling sound--I'm not sure that he didn't say a
+word or two, as he collapsed," answered the witness. "But it was so
+sudden that I couldn't catch anything definite. He certainly never made
+the slightest sound, except a queer sort of moaning, very low, from the
+time he fell. Of course, I thought the man had fallen in a fit. I
+rushed to him; he was lying, sort of crumpled up, where he had fallen.
+There was a street-lamp close by--I saw that his face had turned a
+queer colour, and his eyes were already closed--tightly. I noticed,
+too, that his teeth were clenched, and his fingers twisted into the
+palms of his hands."
+
+"Was he writhing at all--making any movement?" enquired the Coroner.
+
+"Not a movement! He was as still as the stones he was lying on!" said
+the witness. "I'm dead certain he never moved after he fell. There was
+nobody about, just then, and I was just going to ring the bell of the
+nearest house when a policeman came round the corner. I shouted to
+him--he came up. We examined the man for a minute; then I ran to fetch
+Dr. Mirandolet, whose surgery is close by there. I found him in; he
+came at once, and immediately ordered the man's removal to the
+hospital. The policeman got help, and the man was taken off. Dr.
+Mirandolet went with him. I returned home."
+
+No questions of any importance were asked of Mr. Gardiner, and the
+Coroner, after a short interchange of whispers with his officer,
+glanced at a group of professional-looking men behind the witness-box.
+
+"Call Dr. Mirandolet!" he directed.
+
+Purdie at that moment caught Ayscough's eye. And the detective winked
+at him significantly as a strange and curious figure came out from the
+crowd and stepped into the witness-box.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+
+WHAT MANNER OF DEATH?
+
+One of the three companions who stood curiously gazing at the new
+witness as he came into full view of the court had seen him before.
+Lauriston, who, during his residence in Paddington, had wandered a good
+deal about Maida Vale and St. John's Wood, instantly recognized Dr.
+Mirandolet as a man whom he had often met or passed in those excursions
+and about whom he had just as often wondered. He was a notable and
+somewhat queer figure--a tall, spare man, of striking presence and
+distinctive personality--the sort of man who would inevitably attract
+attention wherever he was, and at whom people would turn to look in the
+most crowded street. His aquiline features, almost cadaverous
+complexion, and flashing, deep-set eyes, were framed in a mass of
+raven-black hair which fell in masses over a loosely fitting,
+unstarched collar, kept in its place by a voluminous black silk cravat;
+his thin figure, all the sparer in appearance because of his broad
+shoulders and big head, was wrapped from head to foot in a mighty
+cloak, raven-black as his hair, from the neck of which depended a
+hood-like cape. Not a man in that court would have taken Dr. Mirandolet
+for anything but a foreigner, and for a foreigner who knew next to
+nothing of England and the English, and John Purdie, whose interest was
+now thoroughly aroused, was surprised as he heard the witness's answer
+to the necessary preliminary questions.
+
+Nicholas Mirandolet--British subject--born in Malta--educated in
+England--a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the Royal
+College of Physicians--in private practice at Portsdown Road, Maida
+Vale, for the last ten years.
+
+"I believe you were called to the deceased by the last witness, Dr.
+Mirandolet?" asked the Coroner. "Just so! Will you tell us what you
+found?"
+
+"I found the deceased lying on the pavement, about a dozen yards from
+my house," answered Dr. Mirandolet, in a sharp, staccato voice. "A
+policeman was bending over him. Mr. Gardiner hurriedly told us what he
+had seen. My first thought was that the man was in what is commonly
+termed a fit--some form of epileptic seizure, you know. I hastily
+examined him--and found that my first impression was utterly wrong."
+
+"What did you think--then?" enquired the Coroner.
+
+Dr. Mirandolet paused and began to drum the edge of the witness-box
+with the tips of his long, slender white fingers. He pursed his
+clean-shaven lips and looked meditatively around him--leisurely
+surveying the faces turned on him. Finally he glanced at the Coroner,
+and snapped out a reply.
+
+"I do not know what I thought!"
+
+The Coroner looked up from his notes--in surprise.
+
+"You--don't know what you thought?" he asked.
+
+"No!" said Dr. Mirandolet. "I don't. And I will tell you why. Because I
+realized--more quickly than it takes me to tell it--that here was
+something that was utterly beyond my comprehension!"
+
+"Do you mean--beyond your skill?" suggested the Coroner.
+
+"Skill?" retorted the witness, with a queer, twisting grimace. "Beyond
+my understanding! I am a quick observer--I saw within a few seconds
+that here was a man who had literally been struck down in the very
+flush of life as if--well, to put it plainly, as if some extraordinary
+power had laid a blasting finger on the very life-centre within him. I
+was--dumfounded!"
+
+The Coroner sat up and laid aside his pen.
+
+"What did you do?" he asked quietly.
+
+"Bade the policeman get help, and an ambulance, and hurry the man to
+St. Mary's Hospital, all as quickly as possible," answered Dr.
+Mirandolet. "While the policeman was away, I examined the man more
+closely. He was dying then--and I knew very well that nothing known to
+medical science could save him. By that time he had become perfectly
+quiet; his body had relaxed into a normal position; his face, curiously
+coloured when I first saw it, had become placid and pale; he breathed
+regularly, though very faintly--and he was steadily dying. I knew quite
+well what was happening, and I remarked to Mr. Gardiner that the man
+would be dead within half-an-hour."
+
+"I believe you got him to the hospital within that time?" asked the
+Coroner.
+
+"Yes--within twenty-five minutes of my first seeing him," said the
+witness. "I went with the ambulance. The man died very soon after
+admission, just as I knew he would. No medical power on earth could
+have saved him!"
+
+The Coroner glanced at the little knot of professional men in the rear
+of the witness-box and seemed to be debating within himself as to
+whether he wanted to ask Dr. Mirandolet any more questions. Eventually
+he turned again to him.
+
+"What your evidence amounts to, Dr. Mirandolet, is this," he said. "You
+were called to the man and you saw at once that you yourself could do
+nothing for him, so you got him away to the hospital as quickly as you
+possibly could. Just so!--now, why did you think you could do nothing
+for him?"
+
+"I will tell you--in plain words," answered Dr. Mirandolet. "Because I
+did not recognize or understand one single symptom that I saw! Because,
+frankly, I knew very well that I did not know what was the matter! And
+so--I hurried him to people who ought to know more than I do and are
+reputedly cleverer than I am. In short--I recognized that I was in the
+presence of something--something!--utterly beyond my skill and
+comprehension!"
+
+"Let me ask you one or two further questions," said the Coroner. "Have
+you formed any opinion of your own as to the cause of this man's death?"
+
+"Yes!" agreed the witness, unhesitatingly. "I have! I believe him to
+have been poisoned--in a most subtle and cunning fashion. And"--here
+Dr. Mirandolet cast a side-glance at the knot of men behind him--"I
+shall be intensely surprised if that opinion is not corroborated.
+But--I shall be ten thousand times more surprised if there is any
+expert in Europe who can say what that poison was!"
+
+"You think it was a secret poison?" suggested the Coroner.
+
+"Secret!" exclaimed Dr. Mirandolet. "Aye--secret is the word.
+Secret--yes! And--sure!"
+
+"Is there anything else you can tell us?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Only this," replied the witness, after a pause. "It may be material.
+As I bent over this man as he lay there on the pavement I detected a
+certain curious aromatic odour about his clothes. It was strong at
+first; it gradually wore off. But I directed the attention of the
+policeman and Mr. Gardiner to it; it was still hanging about him, very
+faintly, when we got him to the hospital: I drew attention to it there."
+
+"It evidently struck you--that curious odour?" said the Coroner.
+
+"Yes," answered Dr. Mirandolet. "It did. It reminded me of the East--I
+have lived in the East--India, Burmah, China. It seemed to me that this
+man had got hold of some Eastern scent, and possibly spilt some on his
+clothes. The matter is worth noting. Because--I have heard--I cannot
+say I have known--of men being poisoned in inhalation."
+
+The Coroner made no remark--it was very evident from his manner that he
+considered Dr. Mirandolet's evidence somewhat mystifying. And Dr.
+Mirandolet stepped down--and in response to the official invitation Dr.
+John Sperling-Lawson walked into the vacated witness-box.
+
+"One of the greatest authorities on poisons living," whispered
+Lauriston to Purdie, while Dr. Sperling-Lawson was taking the oath and
+answering the formal questions. "He's principal pathologist at that
+hospital they're talking about, and he constantly figures in cases of
+this sort. He's employed by the Home Office too--it was he who gave
+such important evidence in that Barnsbury murder case not so long
+since--don't you remember it?"
+
+Purdie did remember, and he looked at the famous expert with great
+interest. There was, however, nothing at all remarkable about Dr.
+Sperling-Lawson's appearance--he was a quiet, self-possessed,
+plain-faced gentleman who might have been a barrister or a banker for
+all that any one could tell to the contrary. He gave his evidence in a
+matter-of-fact tone--strongly in contrast to Dr. Mirandolet's somewhat
+excited answers--but Purdie noticed that the people in court listened
+eagerly for every word.
+
+He happened to be at the hospital, said Dr. Sperling-Lawson, when the
+man Parslett was brought in, and he saw him die. He fully agreed with
+Dr. Mirandolet that it was impossible to do anything to save the man's
+life when he was brought to the hospital, and he was quite prepared to
+say that the impossibility had existed from the moment in which
+Gardiner had seen Parslett collapse. In other words, when Parslett did
+collapse, death was on him.
+
+"And--the cause of death?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Heart failure," replied the witness.
+
+"Resulting from--what?" continued the Coroner.
+
+Dr. Sperling-Lawson hesitated a moment--amidst a deep silence.
+
+"I cannot answer that question," he said at last. "I can only offer an
+opinion. I believe--in fact, I am sure!--the man was poisoned. I am
+convinced he was poisoned. But I am forced to admit that I do not know
+what poison was used, and that after a most careful search I have not
+yet been able to come across any trace or sign of any poison known to
+me. All the same, I am sure he died from the effects of poison, but
+what it was, or how administered, frankly, I do not know!"
+
+"You made a post-mortem examination?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Yes," replied the specialist, "in company with Dr. Seracold. The
+deceased was a thoroughly healthy, well-nourished man. There was not a
+trace of disease in any of the organs--he was evidently a temperate
+man, and likely to live to over the seventy years' period. And, as I
+have said, there was not a trace of poison. That is, not a trace of any
+poison known to me."
+
+"I want to ask you a particularly important question," said the
+Coroner. "Are there poisons, the nature of which you are unacquainted
+with?"
+
+"Yes!" answered the specialist frankly. "There are. But--I should not
+expect to hear of their use in London."
+
+"Is there any European expert who might throw some light on this case?"
+asked the Coroner.
+
+"Yes," said Dr. Sperling-Lawson. "One man--Professor Gagnard, of Paris.
+As a matter of fact, I have already sent certain portions of certain
+organs to him--by a special messenger. If he cannot trace this poison,
+then no European nor American specialist can. I am sure of this--the
+secret is an Eastern one."
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Coroner, "we will adjourn for a week. By that
+time there may be a report from Paris."
+
+The crowd surged out into the damp November morning, eagerly discussing
+the evidence just given. Purdie, Lauriston, and Guyler, all equally
+mystified, followed, already beginning to speculate and to theorize.
+Suddenly Melky Rubinstein hurried up to them, waving a note.
+
+"There was a fellow waiting outside with this from Zillah," said Melky.
+"She'd heard you were all here, and she knew I was. We're to go there
+at once--she's found some letters to her grandfather from that man
+Purvis! Come on!--it's another step forward!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+
+MR. KILLICK GOES BACK
+
+Ayscough and the man from New Scotland Yard came out of the court at
+that moment in close and serious conversation: Melky Rubinstein left
+the other three, and hurried to the two detectives with his news;
+together, the six men set off for Praed Street. And Purdie, who by this
+time was developing as much excited interest as his temperament and
+business habits permitted, buttonholed the Scotland Yard man and walked
+alongside him.
+
+"What's your professional opinion about what we've just heard in
+there?" he asked. "Between ourselves, of course."
+
+The detective, who had already had several long conversations with
+Purdie at headquarters during the previous afternoon and evening, and
+knew him for a well-to-do young gentleman who was anxious to clear his
+friend Lauriston of all suspicion, shook his head. He was a quiet,
+sagacious, middle-aged man who evidently thought deeply about whatever
+he had in hand.
+
+"It's difficult to say, Mr. Purdie," he answered. "I've no doubt that
+when we get to the bottom of this case it'll turn out to be a very
+simple one--but the thing is to get to the bottom. The ways are
+complicated, sir--uncommonly so! At present we're in a maze--seeking
+the right path."
+
+"Do you think that this Parslett affair has anything to do with the
+Multenius affair?" asked Purdie.
+
+"Yes--undoubtedly!" answered the detective. "There's no doubt whatever
+in my own mind that the man who poisoned Parslett is the man who caused
+the old pawnbroker's death--none! I figure it in this way. Parslett
+somehow, caught a glimpse of that man leaving Multenius's shop--by the
+side-door, no doubt--and knew him--knew him very well, mind you! When
+Parslett heard of what had happened in Multenius's back-parlour, he
+kept his knowledge to himself, and went and blackmailed the man. The
+man gave him that fifty pounds in gold to keep his tongue quiet--no
+doubt arranging to give him more, later on--and at the same time he
+cleverly poisoned him. That's my theory, Mr. Purdie."
+
+"Then--the only question now is--who's the man?" suggested Purdie.
+
+"That's it, sir--who's the man?" agreed the detective. "One thing's
+quite certain--if my theory's correct. He's a clever man--and an expert
+in the use of poisons."
+
+Purdie walked on a minute or two in silence, thinking.
+
+"It's no use beating about the bush," he said at last. "Do you suspect
+Mr. Levendale--after all you've collected in information--and after
+what I told you about what his butler saw--that bottle and phial?"
+
+"I think that Levendale's in it," replied the detective, cautiously.
+"I'm sure he's in it--in some fashion. Our people are making no end of
+enquiries about him this morning, in various quarters--there's
+half-a-dozen of our best men at work in the City and the West End, Mr.
+Purdie. He's got to be found! So, too, has this man Stephen
+Purvis--whoever he is. We must find him, too."
+
+"Perhaps these letters that Melky Rubinstein speaks of may throw some
+light on that," said Purdie. "There must be some way of tracing him,
+somewhere."
+
+They were at the pawnshop by that time, and all six trooped in at the
+side-entrance. Old Daniel Multenius, unconscious of all the fuss and
+bother which his death had caused, was to be quietly interred that
+afternoon, and Zillah and Melky were already in their mourning
+garments. But Zillah had lost none of her business habits and
+instincts, and while the faithful Mrs. Goldmark attended to the funeral
+guests in the upstairs regions, she herself was waiting in the
+back-parlour for these other visitors. On the table before her,
+evidently placed there for inspection, lay three objects to which she
+at once drew attention--one, an old-fashioned, double-breasted fancy
+waistcoat, evidently of considerable age, and much worn, the others,
+two letters written on foreign notepaper.
+
+"It never occurred to me," said Zillah, plunging into business at once,
+"at least, until an hour or two ago, to examine the clothes my
+grandfather was wearing at the time of his death. As a matter of fact
+he'd been wearing the same clothes for months. I've been through all
+his pockets. There was nothing of importance--except these letters. I
+found those in a pocket in the inside of that waistcoat--there! Read
+them."
+
+The men bent over the unfolded letters, and Ayscough read them aloud.
+
+"MACPHERSON'S HOTEL, CAPE TOWN,
+
+"_September 17th_, 1912.
+
+"Dear Sir,--I have sent the little article about which I have already
+written you and Mr. L. fully, to your address by ordinary registered
+post. Better put it in your bank till I arrive--shall write you later
+about date of my arrival. Faithfully yours,
+
+"Stephen Purvis."
+
+"That," remarked Ayscough, glancing at the rest, "clearly refers to
+whatever it was that Mr. Multenius took from his bank on the morning of
+his death. It also refers to Mr. Levendale--without doubt."
+
+He drew the other letter to him and read it out.
+
+"CAPE TOWN,
+
+"_October 10th_, 1912.
+
+"Dear Sir,--Just a line to say I leave here by s.s. _Golconda_ in a day
+or two--this precedes me by today's mail. I hope to be in England
+November 15th--due then, anyway--and shall call on you immediately on
+arrival. Better arrange to have Mr. S. L. to meet you and me at once.
+Faithfully,
+
+"Stephen Purvis."
+
+"November 15th?" remarked Ayscough. "Mr. Multenius died on November
+19th. So--if Purvis did reach here on the 15th he'd probably been about
+this quarter before the 19th. We know he was at Mrs. Goldmark's
+restaurant on the 18th, anyway! All right, Miss Wildrose--we'll take
+these letters with us."
+
+Lauriston stopped behind when the rest of the men went out--to exchange
+a few words alone with Zillah. When he went into the street, all had
+gone except Purdie, who was talking with Melky at the entrance to the
+side-alley.
+
+"That's the sure tip at present, mister," Melky was saying. "Get that
+done--clear that up. Mr. Lauriston," he went on, "you do what your
+friend says--we're sorting things out piece by piece."
+
+Purdie took Lauriston's arm and led him away.
+
+"What Melky says is--go and find out what Mr. Killick can prove," he
+said. "Best thing to do, too, Andie, for us. Now that these detectives
+are fairly on the hunt, and are in possession of a whole multitude of
+queer details and facts, we'll just do our bit of business--which is to
+clear you entirely. There's more reasons than one why we should do
+that, my man!"
+
+"What're you talking about, John?" demanded Lauriston. "You've some
+idea in that head of yours!"
+
+"The idea that you and that girl are in love with each other!" said
+Purdie with a sly look.
+
+"I'll not deny that!" asserted Lauriston, with an ingenuous blush. "We
+are!"
+
+"Well, you can't ask any girl to marry you, man, while there's the
+least bit of suspicion hanging over you that you'd a hand in her
+grandfather's death!" remarked Purdie sapiently. "So we'll just eat a
+bit of lunch together, and then get a taxi-cab and drive out to find
+this old gentleman that gave your mother the rings. Come on to the
+hotel."
+
+"You're spending a fine lot of money over me, John!" exclaimed
+Lauriston.
+
+"Put it down that I'm a selfish chap that's got interested, and is
+following his own pleasure!" said Purdie. "Man alive!--I was never
+mixed up in a detective case before--it beats hunting for animals, this
+hunting for men!"
+
+By a diligent search in directories and reference books early that
+morning, Purdie and Lauriston had managed to trace Mr. Edward Killick,
+who, having been at one time a well-known solicitor in the City, had
+followed the practice of successful men and retired to enjoy the fruit
+of his labours in a nice little retreat in the country. Mr. Killick had
+selected the delightful old-world village of Stanmore as the scene of
+his retirement, and there, in a picturesque old house, set in the midst
+of fine trees and carefully trimmed lawns, Purdie and Lauriston found
+him--a hale and hearty old gentleman, still on the right side of
+seventy, who rose from his easy chair in a well-stocked library to look
+in astonishment from the two cards which his servant had carried to him
+at the persons and faces of their presenters.
+
+"God bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "Are you two young fellows the sons
+of old friends of mine at Peebles?"
+
+"We are, sir," answered Purdie. "This is Andrew Lauriston, and I am
+John Purdie. And we're very glad to find that you remember something
+about our people, Mr. Killick."
+
+Mr. Killick again blessed himself, and after warmly shaking hands with
+his visitors, bade them sit down. He adjusted his spectacles, and
+looked both young men carefully over.
+
+"I remember your people very well indeed!" he said. "I used to do a bit
+of fishing in the Tweed and in Eddleston Water with your father, Mr.
+Purdie--and I stopped some time with your father and mother, at their
+house, Mr. Lauriston. In fact, your mother was remarkably kind to
+me--she nursed me through an illness with which I was seized when I was
+in Peebles."
+
+Lauriston and Purdie exchanged glances--by common consent Purdie became
+spokesman for the two.
+
+"Mr. Killick," he said, "it's precisely about a matter arising out of
+that illness of yours that we came to see you! Let me explain something
+first--Andie Lauriston here has been living in London for two
+years--he's a literary gift, and he hopes to make a name, and perhaps a
+fortune. I've succeeded to my father's business, and I'm only here in
+London on a visit. And it's well I came, for Andie wanted a friend.
+Now, Mr. Killick, before I go further--have you read in the newspapers
+about what's called the Praed Street Mystery?"
+
+The old gentleman shook his head.
+
+"My dear young sir!" he answered, waving his hand towards his books.
+"I'm not a great newspaper reader--except for a bit of politics. I
+never read about mysteries--I've wrapped myself up in antiquarian
+pursuits since I retired. No!--I haven't read about the Praed Street
+Mystery--nor even heard of it! I hope neither of you are mixed up in
+it?"
+
+"Considerably!" answered Purdie. "In more ways than one. And you can be
+of great help. Mr. Killick--when you left Peebles after your illness,
+you sent Mrs. Lauriston a present of two valuable rings. Do you
+remember?"
+
+"Perfectly--of course!" replied the old gentleman. "To be sure!"
+
+"Can you remember, too, from whom you bought those rings?" enquired
+Purdie eagerly.
+
+"Yes!--as if it were yesterday!" said Mr. Killick. "I bought them from
+a City jeweller whom I knew very well at that time--a man named Daniel
+Molteno!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+
+MR. KILLICK'S OPINION
+
+The old solicitor's trained eye and quick intelligence saw at once that
+this announcement immediately conveyed some significant meaning to his
+two young visitors. Purdie and Lauriston, in fact, had immediately been
+struck by the similarity of the names Molteno and Multenius, and they
+exchanged another look which their host detected and knew to convey a
+meaning. He leaned forward in his chair.
+
+"Now, that strikes you--both!" he said. "What's all this about? Better
+give me your confidence."
+
+"That's precisely what we came here to do, sir," responded Purdie, with
+alacrity. "And with your permission I'll tell you the whole story. It's
+a long one, and a complicated one, Mr. Killick!--but I daresay you've
+heard many intricate stories in the course of your legal experience,
+and you'll no doubt be able to see points in this that we haven't seen.
+Well, it's this way--and I'll begin at the beginning."
+
+The old gentleman sat in an attitude of patient and watchful attention
+while Purdie, occasionally prompted and supplemented by Lauriston, told
+the whole story of the Praed Street affair, from Lauriston's first
+visit to the pawnshop up to the events of that morning. Once or twice
+he asked a question; one or twice he begged the narrator to pause while
+he considered a point: in the end he drew out his watch--after which he
+glanced out of his window.
+
+"Do I gather that the taxi-cab which I see outside there is being kept
+by you two young men?" he asked.
+
+"It is," answered Purdie. "It's important that we should lose no time
+in getting back to town, Mr. Killick."
+
+"Just so!" agreed Mr. Killick, moving towards his library door. "But
+I'm going with you--as soon as I've got myself into an overcoat. Now!"
+he added, a few minutes later, when all three went out to the cab.
+"Tell the man to drive us straight to that police-station you've been
+visiting of late--and till we get there, just let me think quietly--I
+can probably say more about this case than I'm yet aware of. But--if it
+will give you any relief, I can tell you this at once--I have a good
+deal to tell. Strange!--strange indeed how things come round, and what
+a small world this is, after all!"
+
+With this cryptic utterance Mr. Killick sank into a corner of the cab,
+where he remained, evidently lost in thought, until, nearly an hour
+later, they pulled up at the door of the police-station. Within five
+minutes they were closeted with the chief men there--amongst whom were
+Ayscough and the detective from New Scotland Yard.
+
+"You know me--or of me--some of you?" observed the old solicitor, as he
+laid a card on the desk by which he had been given a chair. "I was very
+well known in the City police-courts, you know, until I retired three
+years ago. Now, these young gentlemen have just told me all the facts
+of this very strange case, and I think I can throw some light on it--on
+part of it, anyway. First of all, let me see those two rings about
+which there has been so much enquiry."
+
+Ayscough produced the rings from a locked drawer; the rest of those
+present looked on curiously as they were examined and handled by Mr.
+Killick. It was immediately evident that he had no doubt about his
+recognition and identification of them--after a moment's inspection of
+each he pushed them back towards the detective.
+
+"Certainly!" he said with a confidence that carried conviction. "Those
+are the rings which I gave to Mrs. Lauriston, this young man's mother.
+I knew them at once. If it's necessary, I can show you the receipt
+which I got with them from the seller. The particulars are specified in
+that receipt--and I know that I still have it. Does my testimony
+satisfy you?"
+
+The chief official present glanced at the man from New Scotland Yard,
+and receiving a nod from him, smiled at the old solicitor.
+
+"I think we can rely on your evidence, Mr. Killick," he said. "We had
+to make certain, you know. But these marks--isn't that a curious
+coincidence, now, when you come to think of it?"
+
+"Not a bit of it!" replied Mr. Killick. "And I'll tell you why--that's
+precisely what I've come all the way from my own comfortable fireside
+at Stanmore to do! There's no coincidence at all. I've heard the whole
+story of this Praed Street affair now from these two lads. And I've no
+more doubt than I have that I see you, that the old pawnbroker whom you
+knew hereabouts as Daniel Multenius was the same man Daniel
+Molteno--from whom I bought those rings, years ago! Not the slightest
+doubt!"
+
+None of those present made any remark on this surprising announcement,
+and Mr. Killick went on.
+
+"I was, as some of you may know, in practice in the City--in Moorgate
+Street, as a matter of fact," he said. "Daniel Molteno was a jeweller
+in Houndsditch. I occasionally acted for him--professionally. And
+occasionally when I wanted anything in the way of jewellery, I went to
+his shop. He was then a man of about fifty, a tall, characteristically
+Hebraic sort of man, already patriarchal in appearance, though he
+hadn't a grey hair in his big black beard. He was an interesting man,
+profoundly learned in the history of precious stones. I remember buying
+those rings from him very well indeed--I remember, too, what I gave him
+for them--seventy-five pounds for the two. Those private marks inside
+them are, of course, his--and so they're just the same as his private
+marks inside those other rings in the tray. But that's not what I came
+here to tell you--that's merely preliminary."
+
+"Deeply interesting, anyway, sir," observed Ayscough. "And, maybe, very
+valuable."
+
+"Not half so valuable as what I'm going to tell you," replied Mr.
+Killick, with a dry chuckle, "Now, as I understand it, from young Mr.
+Purdie's account, you're all greatly excited at present over the
+undoubted connection with this Praed Street mystery of one Mr. Spencer
+Levendale, who is, I believe, a very rich man, a resident in one of the
+best parts of this district, and a Member of Parliament. It would
+appear from all you've discovered, amongst you, up to now, that Spencer
+Levendale has been privately mixed up with old Daniel Multenius in some
+business which seems to be connected with South Africa. Now, attend to
+what I say:--About the time that I knew Daniel Molteno in Houndsditch,
+Daniel Molteno had a partner--a junior partner, whose name, however,
+didn't appear over the shop. He was a much younger man than Daniel--in
+fact, he was quite a young man--I should say he was then about
+twenty-three or four--not more. He was of medium height, dark,
+typically Jewish, large dark eyes, olive skin, good-looking, smart,
+full of go. And his name--the name I knew him by--was Sam Levin." The
+other men in the room glanced at each other--and one of them softly
+murmured what all was thinking.
+
+"The same initials!"
+
+"Just so!" agreed Mr. Killick. "That's what struck me--Sam Levin:
+Spencer Levendale. Very well!--I continue. One day I went to Daniel
+Molteno's shop to get something repaired, and it struck me that I
+hadn't seen Sam Levin the last two or three times I had been in.
+'Where's your partner?' I asked of Daniel Molteno. 'I haven't seen him
+lately.' 'Partner no longer, Mr. Killick,' said he. 'We've dissolved.
+He's gone to South Africa.' 'What to do there?' I asked. 'Oh,' answered
+Daniel Molteno, 'he's touched with this fever to get at close quarters
+with the diamond fields! He's gone out there to make a fortune, and
+come back a millionaire.' 'Well!' I said. 'He's a likely candidate.'
+'Oh, yes!' said Daniel. 'He'll do well.' No more was said--and, as far
+as I can remember, I never saw Daniel Molteno again. It was some time
+before I had occasion to go that way--when I did, I was surprised to
+see a new name over the shop. I went in and asked where its former
+proprietor was. The new shopkeeper told me that Mr. Molteno had sold
+his business to him. And he didn't know where Mr. Molteno had gone, or
+whether he'd retired from business altogether; he knew nothing--and
+evidently didn't care, either, so--that part of my memories comes to an
+end!"
+
+"Mr. Spencer Levendale is a man of just under fifty," remarked
+Ayscough, after a thoughtful pause, "and I should say that twenty-five
+years ago, he'd be just such a man as Mr. Killick has described."
+
+"You can take it from me--considering all that I've been told this
+afternoon--" said the old solicitor, "that Spencer Levendale is Sam
+Levin--come back from South Africa, a millionaire. I'm convinced of it!
+And now then, gentlemen, what does all this mean? There's no doubt that
+old Multenius and Levendale were secretly mixed up. What in? What's the
+extraordinary mystery about that book--left in Multenius's back parlour
+and advertised for immediately by Levendale as if it were simply
+invaluable? Why has Levendale utterly disappeared? And who is this man
+Purvis--and what's he to do with it? You've got the hardest nuts to
+crack--a whole basketful of 'em!--that ever I heard of. And I've had
+some little experience of crime!"
+
+"I've had some information on Levendale and Purvis this very
+afternoon," said Ayscough. He turned to the other officials. "I hadn't
+a chance of telling you of it before," he continued. "I was at
+Levendale's house at three o'clock, making some further enquiries. I
+got two pieces of news. To start with--that bottle out of which
+Levendale filled a small phial, which he put in his waistcoat pocket
+when he went out for the last time--you remember, Mr. Purdie, that his
+butler told you of that incident--well, that bottle contains
+chloroform--I took a chemist there to examine it and some other things.
+That's item one. The other's a bit of information volunteered by
+Levendale's chauffeur. The morning after Mr. Multenius's death, and
+after you, Mr. Lauriston, Mr. Rubinstein, and myself called on
+Levendale, Levendale went off to the City in his car. He ordered the
+chauffeur to go through Hyde Park, by the Victoria Gate, and to stop by
+the Powder Magazine. At the Powder Magazine he got out of the car and
+walked down towards the bridge on the Serpentine. The chauffeur had him
+in view all the way, and saw him join a tall man, clean-shaven, much
+browned, who was evidently waiting for him. They remained in
+conversation, at the entrance to the bridge, some five minutes or
+so--then the stranger went across the bridge in the direction of
+Kensington, and Levendale returned to his car. Now, in my opinion, that
+strange man was this Purvis we've heard of. And that seems to have been
+the last time any one we've come across saw him. That night, after his
+visit to his house, and his taking the phial of chloroform away with
+him, Levendale utterly disappeared, too--and yet sent a wire to his
+butler, from close by, next morning, saying he would be away for a few
+days! Why didn't he call with that message himself!"
+
+Mr. Killick, who had listened to Ayscough with close attention,
+laughed, and turned to the officials with a sharp look.
+
+"Shall I give you people a bit of my opinion after hearing all this?"
+he said. "Very well, then--Levendale never did send that wire! It was
+sent in Levendale's name--to keep things quiet. I believe that
+Levendale's been trapped--and Purvis with him!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+
+THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND
+
+His various listeners had heard all that the old solicitor had said,
+with evident interest and attention--now, one of them voiced what all
+the rest was thinking.
+
+"What makes you think that, Mr. Killick?" asked the man from New
+Scotland Yard. "Why should Levendale and Purvis have been trapped?"
+
+Mr. Killick--who was obviously enjoying this return to the arena in
+which, as some of those present well knew, he had once played a
+distinguished part, as a solicitor with an extensive police-court
+practice--twisted round on his questioner with a sly, knowing glance.
+
+"You're a man of experience!" he answered. "Now come!--hasn't it struck
+you that something went before the death of old Daniel
+Multenius--whether that death arose from premeditated murder, or from
+sudden assault? Eh?--hasn't it?"
+
+"What, then?" asked the detective dubiously. "For I can't say that it
+has--definitely. What do you conjecture did go before that?"
+
+Mr. Killick thumped his stout stick on the floor.
+
+"Robbery!" he exclaimed, triumphantly. "Robbery! The old man was robbed
+of something! Probably--and there's nothing in these cases like
+considering possibilities--he caught the thief in the act of robbing
+him, and lost his life in defending his property. Now, supposing
+Levendale and Purvis were interested--financially--in that property,
+and set their wits to work to recover it, and in their efforts got into
+the hands of--shall we suppose a gang?--and got trapped? Or," concluded
+Mr. Killick with great emphasis and meaning, "for anything we
+know--murdered? What about that theory?"
+
+"Possible!" muttered Ayscough. "Quite possible!"
+
+"Consider this," continued the old solicitor. "Levendale is a
+well-known man--a Member of Parliament--a familiar figure in the City,
+where he's director of more than one company--the sort of man whom, in
+ordinary circumstances, you'd be able to trace in a few hours. Now, you
+tell me that half-a-dozen of your best men have been trying to track
+Levendale for two days and nights, and can't get a trace of him! What's
+the inference? A well-known man can't disappear in that way unless for
+some very grave reason! For anything we know, Levendale--and Purvis
+with him--may be safely trapped within half-a-mile of Praed Street--or,
+as I say, they may have been quietly murdered. Of one thing I'm dead
+certain, anyway--if you want to get at the bottom of this affair,
+you've got to find those two men!"
+
+"It would make a big difference if we had any idea of what it was that
+Daniel Multenius had in that packet which he fetched from his bank on
+the day of the murder," remarked Ayscough. "If there's been robbery,
+that may have been the thief's object."
+
+"That pre-supposes that the thief knew what was in the packet," said
+Purdie. "Who is there that could know? We may take it that Levendale
+and Purvis knew--but who else would?"
+
+"Aye!--and how are we to find that out?" asked the New Scotland Yard
+man. "If I only knew that much--"
+
+But even at that moment--and not from any coincidence, but from the law
+of probability to which Mr. Killick had appealed--information on that
+very point was close at hand. A constable tapped at the door, and
+entering, whispered a few words to the chief official, who having
+whispered back, turned to the rest as the man went out of the room.
+
+"Here's something likely!" he said. "There's a Mr. John Purvis, from
+Devonshire, outside. Says he's the brother of the Stephen Purvis who's
+name's been in the papers as having mysteriously disappeared, and wants
+to tell the police something. He's coming in."
+
+The men in the room turned with undisguised interest as the door opened
+again, and a big, fresh-coloured countryman, well wrapped up in a stout
+travelling coat, stepped into the room and took a sharp glance at its
+occupants. He was evidently a well-to-do farmer, this, and quite at his
+ease--but there was a certain natural anxiety in his manner as he
+turned to the official, who sat at the desk in the centre of the group.
+
+"You're aware of my business, sir?" he asked quietly.
+
+"I understand you're the brother of the Stephen Purvis we're wanting to
+find in connection with this Praed Street mystery," answered the
+official. "You've read of that in the newspaper, no doubt, Mr. Purvis?
+Take a seat--you want to tell us something? As a matter of fact, we're
+all discussing the affair!"
+
+The caller took the chair which Ayscough drew forward and sat down,
+throwing open his heavy overcoat, and revealing a whipcord riding-suit
+of light fawn beneath it.
+
+"You'll see I came here in a hurry, gentlemen," he said, with a smile.
+"I'd no thoughts of coming to London when I left my farm this morning,
+or I'd have put London clothes on! The fact is--I farm at a very
+out-of-the-way place between Moretonhampstead and Exeter, and I never
+see the daily papers except when I drive into Exeter twice a week. Now
+when I got in there this morning, I saw one or two London papers--last
+night's they were--and read about this affair. And I read enough to
+know that I'd best get here as quick as possible!--so I left all my
+business there and then, and caught the very next express to
+Paddington. And here I am! And now--have you heard anything of my
+brother Stephen more than what's in the papers? I've seen today's, on
+the way up."
+
+"Nothing!" answered the chief official. "Nothing at all! We've
+purposely kept the newspapers informed, and what there is in the
+morning's papers is the very latest. So--can you tell us anything?"
+
+"I can tell you all I know myself," replied John Purvis, with a solemn
+shake of his head. "And I should say it's a good deal to do with
+Stephen's disappearance--in which, of course, there's some foul play!
+My opinion, gentlemen, is that my brother's been murdered! That's about
+it!"
+
+No one made any remark--but Mr. Killick uttered a little murmur of
+comprehension, and nodded his head two or three times.
+
+"Murdered, poor fellow, in my opinion," continued John Purvis. "And
+I'll tell you why I think so. About November 8th or 9th--I can't be
+sure to a day--I got a telegram from Stephen, sent off from Las Palmas,
+in the Canary Islands, saying he'd be at Plymouth on the 15th, and
+asking me to meet him there. So I went to Plymouth on the morning of
+the 15th. His boat, the _Golconda_, came in at night, and we went to an
+hotel together and stopped the night there. We hadn't met for some
+years, and of course he'd a great deal to tell--but he'd one thing in
+particular--he'd struck such a piece of luck as he'd never had in his
+life before!--and he hadn't been one of the unlucky ones, either!"
+
+"What was this particular piece of luck?" asked Mr. Killick.
+
+John Purvis looked round as if to make sure of general attention.
+
+"He'd come into possession, through a fortunate bit of trading, up
+country in South Africa, of one of the finest diamonds ever
+discovered!" he answered. "I know nothing about such things, but he
+said it was an orange-yellow diamond that would weigh at least a
+hundred and twenty carats when cut, and was worth, as far as he could
+reckon, some eighty to ninety thousand pounds. Anyway, that was what
+he'd calculated he was going to get for it here in London--and what he
+wanted to see me about, in addition to telling me of his luck, was that
+he wanted to buy a real nice bit of property in Devonshire, and settle
+down in the old country. But--I'm afraid his luck's turned to a poor
+end! Gentlemen!--I'm certain my brother's been murdered for that
+diamond!"
+
+The police officials, as with one consent, glanced at Mr. Killick, and
+by their looks seemed to invite his assistance. The old gentleman
+nodded and turned to the caller.
+
+"Now, Mr. Purvis," he said, "just let me ask you a few questions. Did
+your brother tell you that this diamond was his own, sole property?"
+
+"He did, sir!" answered the farmer. "He said it was all his own."
+
+"Did he tell you where it was--what he had done with it?"
+
+"Yes! He said that for some years he'd traded in small parcels of such
+things with two men here in London--Multenius and Levendale--he knew
+both of them. He'd sent the diamond on in advance to Multenius, by
+ordinary registered post, rather than run the risk of carrying it
+himself."
+
+"I gather from that last remark that your brother had let some other
+person or persons know that he possessed this stone?" said Mr. Killick.
+"Did he mention that? It's of importance."
+
+"He mentioned no names--but he did say that one or two knew of his
+luck, and he'd an idea that he'd been watched in Cape Town, and
+followed on the _Golconda_," replied John Purvis. "He laughed about
+that, and said he wasn't such a fool as to carry a thing like that on
+him."
+
+"Did he say if he knew for a fact that the diamond was delivered to
+Multenius?" asked Mr. Killick.
+
+"Yes, he did. He found a telegram from Multenius at Las Palmas,
+acknowledging the receipt. He mentioned to me that Multenius would put
+the diamond in his bank, till he got to London himself."
+
+Mr. Killick glanced at the detective--the detectives nodded.
+
+"Very good," continued Mr. Killick. "Now then--: you'd doubtless talk a
+good deal about this matter--did your brother tell you what was to be
+done with the diamond? Had he a purchaser in view?"
+
+"Yes, he said something about that," replied John Purvis. "He said that
+Multenius and Levendale would make--or were making--what he called a
+syndicate to buy it from him. They'd have it cut--over in Amsterdam, I
+think it was. He reckoned he'd get quite eighty thousand from the
+syndicate."
+
+"He didn't mention any other names than those of Multenius and
+Levendale?"
+
+"No--none!"
+
+"Now, one more question. Where did your brother leave you--at Plymouth?"
+
+"First thing next morning," said John Purvis. "We travelled together as
+far as Exeter. He came on to Paddington--I went home to my farm. And
+I've never heard of him since--till I read all this in the papers."
+
+Mr. Killick got up and began to button his overcoat. He turned to the
+police.
+
+"Now you know what we wanted to know!" he said. "That diamond is at the
+bottom of everything! Daniel Multenius was throttled for that
+diamond--Parslett's death arose out of that diamond--everything's
+arisen from that diamond! And, now that you police folks know all
+this--you know what to do. You want the man, or men, who were in Daniel
+Multenius's shop about five o'clock on that particular day, and who
+carried off that diamond. Mr. Purvis!--are you staying in town?"
+
+The farmer shook his head--but not in the negative.
+
+"I'm not going out of London, till I know what's become of my brother!"
+he said.
+
+"Then come with me," said Mr. Killick. He said a word or two to the
+police, and then, beckoning Lauriston and Purdie to follow with Purvis,
+led the way out into the street. There he drew Purdie towards him. "Get
+a taxi-cab," he whispered, "and we'll all go to see that American man
+you've told me of--Guyler. And when we've seen him, you can take me to
+see Daniel Multenius's granddaughter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+
+THE DEAD MAN'S PROPERTY
+
+Old Daniel Multenius had been quietly laid to rest that afternoon, and
+at the very moment in which Mr. Killick and his companions were driving
+away from the police station to seek Stuyvesant Guyler at his hotel,
+Mr. Penniket was closeted with Zillah and her cousin Melky Rubinstein
+in the back-parlour of the shop in Praed Street--behind closed and
+locked doors which they had no intention of opening to anybody. Now
+that the old man was dead and buried, it was necessary to know how
+things stood with respect to his will and his property, and, as Mr.
+Penniket had remarked as they drove back from the cemetery, there was
+no reason why they should not go into matters there and then. Zillah
+and Melky were the only relations--and the only people concerned, said
+Mr. Penniket. Five minutes would put them in possession of the really
+pertinent facts as regards the provisions of the will--but there would
+be details to go into. And now they were all three sitting round the
+table, and Mr. Penniket had drawn two papers from his inner pocket--and
+Zillah regarding him almost listlessly, and Melky with one of his
+quietly solemn expression. Each had a pretty good idea of what was
+coming and each regarded the present occasion as no more than a
+formality.
+
+"This is the will," said Mr. Penniket, selecting and unfolding one of
+the documents. "It was made about a year ago--by me. That is, I drafted
+it. It's a short, a very short and practical will, drafted from precise
+instructions given to me by my late client, your grandfather. I may as
+well tell you in a few words what it amounts to. Everything that he
+left is to be sold--this business as a going concern; all his shares;
+all his house property. The whole estate is to be realized by the
+executors--your two selves. And when that's done, you're to divide the
+lot--equally. One half is yours, Miss Wildrose; Mr. Rubinstein, the
+other half is yours. And," concluded Mr. Penniket, rubbing his hands,
+"you'll find you're very fortunate--not to say wealthy--young people,
+and I congratulate you on your good fortune! Now, perhaps, you'd like
+to read the will?"
+
+Mr. Penniket laid the will on the table before the two cousins, and
+they bent forward and read its legal phraseology. Zillah was the first
+to look up and to speak.
+
+"I never knew my grandfather had any house property," she said. "Did
+you, Melky?"
+
+"S'elp me, Zillah, if I ever knew what he had in that way!" answered
+Melky. "He had his secrets and he could be close. No--I never knew of
+his having anything but his business. But then, I might have known that
+he'd invest his profits in some way or other."
+
+The solicitor unfolded the other document.
+
+"Here's a schedule, prepared by Mr. Multenius himself, and handed by
+him to me not many weeks ago, of his property outside this business,"
+he remarked. "I'll go through the items. Shares in the Great Western
+Railway. Shares in the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway.
+Government Stock. Certain American Railway Stock. It's all
+particularized--and all gilt-edged security. Now then, about his house
+property. There's a block of flats at Hampstead. There are six houses
+at Highgate. There are three villas in the Finchley Road. The rents of
+all these have been collected by Messrs. Holder and Keeper, estate
+agents, and evidently paid by them direct to your esteemed relative's
+account at his bank. And then--to wind up--there is a small villa in
+Maida Vale, which he let furnished--you never heard of that?"
+
+"Never!" exclaimed Zillah, while Melky shook his head.
+
+"There's a special note about that at the end of this schedule," said
+Mr. Penniket. "In his own hand--like all the rest. This is what he
+says. 'N. B. Molteno Lodge, Maida Vale--all the furniture, pictures,
+belongings in this are mine--I have let it as a furnished residence at
+£12 a month, all clear, for some years past. Let at present, on same
+terms, rent paid quarterly, in advance, to two Chinese gentlemen, Mr.
+Chang Li and Mr. Chen Li--good tenants."
+
+Zillah uttered another sharp exclamation and sprang to her feet. She
+walked across to an old-fashioned standup desk which stood in a corner
+of the parlour, drew a bunch of keys from her pocket, and raised the
+lid.
+
+"That explains something!" she said. "I looked into this desk the other
+day--grandfather used to throw letters and papers in there sometimes,
+during the day, and then put them away at night. Here's a cheque here
+that puzzled me--I don't know anything about it. But--it'll be a
+quarter's rent for that house. Look at the signatures!"
+
+She laid a cheque before Melky and Mr. Penniket and stood by while they
+looked at it. There was nothing remarkable about the cheque--made out
+to Mr. Daniel Multenius on order for £36--except the two odd looking
+names at its foot--_Chang Li: Chen Li_. Otherwise, it was just like all
+other cheques--and it was on a local bank, in Edgware Road, and duly
+crossed. But Melky instantly observed the date, and put one of his long
+fingers to it.
+
+"November 18th," he remarked. "The day he died. Did you notice that,
+Zillah?"
+
+"Yes," answered Zillah. "It must have come in by post and he's thrown
+it, as he often did throw things, into that desk. Well--that's
+explained! That'll be the quarter's rent, then, for this furnished
+house, Mr. Penniket?"
+
+"Evidently!" agreed the solicitor. "Of course, there's no need to give
+notice to these two foreigners--yet. It'll take a little time to settle
+the estate, and you can let them stay on awhile. I know who they
+are--your grandfather mentioned them--two medical students, of
+University College. They're all right. Well, now, that completes the
+schedule. As regards administering the estate--"
+
+A sudden gentle but firm knock at the side-door brought Zillah to her
+feet again.
+
+"I know that knock," she remarked. "It's Ayscough, the detective. I
+suppose he may come in, now?"
+
+A moment later Ayscough, looking very grave and full of news, had
+joined the circle round the table. He shook his head as he glanced at
+Mr. Penniket.
+
+"I came on here to give you a bit of information," he said. "There's
+been an important development this afternoon. You know the name of this
+Stephen Purvis that's been mentioned as having been about here? Well,
+this afternoon his brother turned up from Devonshire. He wanted to see
+us--to tell us something. He thinks Stephen's been murdered!"
+
+"On what grounds?" asked the solicitor.
+
+"It turns out Stephen had sent Mr. Multenius a rare fine
+diamond--uncut--from South Africa," answered Ayscough. "Worth every
+penny of eighty thousand pounds!"
+
+He was closely watching Zillah and Melky as he gave this piece of news,
+and he was quick to see their utter astonishment. Zillah turned to the
+solicitor; Melky slapped the table.
+
+"That's been what the old man fetched from his bank that day!" he
+exclaimed. "S'elp me if I ain't beginning to see light! Robbery--before
+murder!"
+
+"That's about it," agreed Ayscough. "But I'll tell you all that's come
+out."
+
+He went on to narrate the events of the afternoon, from the arrival of
+Mr. Killick and his companions at the police station to the coming of
+John Purvis, and his three listeners drank in every word with rising
+interest. Mr. Penniket became graver and graver.
+
+"Where's Mr. Killick now--and the rest of them?" he asked in the end.
+
+"Gone to find that American chap--Guyler," answered Ayscough. "They did
+think he might be likely--having experience of these South African
+matters--to know something how Stephen Purvis may have been followed.
+You see--you're bound to have some theory! It looks as if Stephen
+Purvis had been tracked--for the sake of that diamond. The thieves
+probably tracked it to this shop--most likely attacked Mr. Multenius
+for it. They'd most likely been in here just before young Lauriston
+came in."
+
+"But where does Stephen Purvis come in--then?" asked Mr. Penniket.
+
+"Can't say yet--," replied Ayscough, doubtfully. "But--it may be that
+he--and Levendale--got an idea who the thieves were, and went off after
+them, and have got--well, trapped, or, as John Purvis suggests,
+murdered. It's getting a nicer tangle than ever!"
+
+"What's going to be done?" enquired the solicitor.
+
+"Why!" said Ayscough. "At present, there's little more to be done than
+what is being done! There's no end of publicity in the newspapers about
+both Levendale and Purvis. Every newspaper reporter in London's on the
+stretch for a thread of news of 'em! And we're getting posters and
+bills out, all over, advertising for them--those bills'll be outside
+every police-station in London--and over a good part of England--by
+tomorrow noon. And, of course, we're all at work. But you see, we
+haven't so far, the slightest clue as to the thieves! For there's no
+doubt, now, that it was theft first, and the rest afterwards."
+
+Mr. Penniket rose and gathered his papers together.
+
+"I suppose," he remarked, "that neither of you ever heard of this
+diamond, nor of Mr. Multenius having charge of it? No--just so. An
+atmosphere of secrecy all over the transaction. Well--all I can say,
+Ayscough, is this--you find Levendale. He's the man who knows."
+
+When the solicitor had gone, Ayscough turned to Zillah.
+
+"You never saw anything of any small box, packet, or anything of that
+sort, lying about after your grandfather's death?" he asked. "I'm
+thinking of what that diamond had been enclosed in, when he brought it
+from the bank. My notion is that he was examining that diamond when he
+was attacked, and in that case the box he'd taken it from would be
+lying about, or thrown aside."
+
+"You were in here yourself, before me," said Zillah.
+
+"Quite so--but I never noticed anything," remarked Ayscough.
+
+"Neither have I," replied Zillah. "And don't you think that whoever
+seized that diamond would have the sense to snatch up anything
+connected with it! I believe in what Mr. Penniket said just now--you
+find Levendale. If there's a man living who knows who killed my
+grandfather, Levendale's that man. You get him."
+
+Mrs. Goldmark came in just then, to resume her task of keeping Zillah
+company, and the detective left. Melky snatched up his overcoat and
+followed him out, and in the side-passage laid a hand on his arm.
+
+"Look here, Mr. Ayscough!" he whispered confidentially. "I want you!
+There's something turned up in there, just now, that I ain't said a
+word about to either Penniket or my cousin--but I will to you. Do you
+know what, Mr. Ayscough--listen here;"--and he went on to tell the
+detective the story of the furnished house in Maida Vale, its Chinese
+occupants, and their cheque. "Dated that very day the old man was
+scragged!" exclaimed Melky. "Now, Mr. Ayscough, supposing that one o'
+those Chinks called here with that cheque that afternoon when Zillah
+was out, and found the old man alone, and that diamond in his hand--eh?"
+
+Ayscough started and gave a low, sharp whistle.
+
+"Whew!" he said. "By George, that's an idea! Where's this house, do you
+say? Molteno Lodge, Maida Vale? I know it--small detached house in a
+garden. I say!--let's go and take a look round there!"
+
+"It's what I was going to propose--and at once," responded Melky. "Come
+on--but on the way, we'll pay a bit of a call. I want to ask a question
+of Dr. Mirandolet."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+
+THE RAT
+
+Ayscough and Melky kept silence, until they had exchanged the busy
+streets for the quieter by-roads which lie behind the Paddington
+Canal--then, as they turned up Portsdown Road, the detective tapped his
+companion's arm.
+
+"What do you know about these two Chinese chaps that have this
+furnished house of yours?" he asked. "Much?--or little?"
+
+"We don't know nothing at all, Mr. Ayscough--me and my cousin Zillah,"
+replied Melky. "Never heard of 'em! Never knew they were there! Never
+knew the old man had furnished house to let in Maida Vale! He was
+close, the old man was, about some things. That was one of 'em.
+However, Mr. Penniket, he knew of this--but only recently. He says
+they're all right--medical students at one of the hospitals--yes,
+University College. That's in Gower Street, ain't it? The old man--he
+put in a note about there here Molteno Lodge that these Chinks were
+good tenants. I know what he'd mean by that!--paid their rent regular,
+in advance."
+
+"Oh, I know they've always plenty of money, these chaps!" observed
+Ayscough. "I've been wondering if I'd ever seen these two. But Lor'
+bless you!--there's such a lot o' foreigners in this quarter,
+especially Japanese and Siamese--law students and medical students and
+such like--that you'd never notice a couple of Easterns
+particularly--and I've no doubt they wear English clothes. Now, what do
+you want to see this doctor for?" he asked as they halted by Dr.
+Mirandolet's door. "Anything to do with the matter in hand?"
+
+"You'll see in a minute," replied Melky as he rang the bell. "Just a
+notion that occurred to me. And it has got to do with it."
+
+Dr. Mirandolet was in, and received his visitors in a room which was
+half-surgery and half-laboratory, and filled to the last corner with
+the evidences and implements of his profession. He was wearing a white
+linen operating jacket, and his dark face and black hair looked all the
+darker and blacker because of it. Melky gazed at him with some awe as
+he dropped into the chair which Mirandolet indicated and found the
+doctor's piercing eyes on him.
+
+"Just a question or two, mister!" he said, apologetically. "Me and Mr.
+Ayscough there is doing a bit of looking into this mystery about Mr.
+Multenius, and knowing as you was a big man in your way, it struck me
+you'd tell me something. I was at that inquest on Parslett, you know,
+mister."
+
+Mirandolet nodded and waited, and Melky gained courage.
+
+"Mister!" he said, suddenly bending forward and tapping the doctor's
+knee in a confidential fashion. "I hear you say at that inquest as how
+you'd lived in the East?"
+
+"Yes!" replied Mirandolet. "Many years. India--Burmah--China!"
+
+"You know these Easterns, mister, and their little way?" suggested
+Melky. "Now, would it be too much--I don't want to get no professional
+information, you know, if it ain't etiquette!--but would it be too much
+to ask you if them folks is pretty good hands at poisoning?"
+
+Mirandolet laughed, showing a set of very white teeth, and glared at
+Ayscough with a suggestion of invitation to join in his amusement. He
+clapped Melky on the shoulder as if he had said something diverting.
+
+"Good hands, my young friend?" he exclaimed. "The very best in the
+world! Past masters! Adepts. Poison you while they look at you!"
+
+"Bit cunning and artful about it, mister?" suggested Melky.
+
+"Beyond your conception, my friend," replied Mirandolet. "Unless I very
+much mistake your physiognomy, you yourself come of an ancient race
+which is not without cunning and artifice--but in such matters as you
+refer to, you are children, compared to your Far East folk."
+
+"Just so, mister--I believe you!" said Melky, solemnly. "And--which of
+'em, now, do you consider the cleverest of the lot--them as you say
+you've lived amongst, now? You mentioned three lots of 'em, you
+know--Indians, Burmese, Chinese. Which would you consider the
+artfullest of them three--if it came to a bit of real underhand work,
+now?"
+
+"For the sort of thing you're thinking of, my friend," answered
+Mirandolet, "you can't beat a Chinaman. Does that satisfy you?"
+
+Melky rose and glanced at the detective before turning to the doctor.
+
+"Mister," he said, "that's precisely what I should ha' said myself.
+Only--I wanted to know what a big man like you thought. Now, I know!
+Much obliged to you, mister. If there's ever anything I can do for you,
+doctor--if you want a bit of real good stuff--jewellery, you know--at
+dead cost price--"
+
+Mirandolet laughed and clapping Melky's shoulder again, looked at
+Ayscough.
+
+"What's our young friend after?" he asked, good-humouredly. "What's his
+game?"
+
+"Hanged if I know, doctor!" said Ayscough, shaking his head. "He's got
+some notion in his head. Are you satisfied, Mr. Rubinstein?"
+
+Melky was making for the door.
+
+"Ain't I just said so?" he answered. "You come along of me, Mr.
+Ayscough, and let's be getting about our business. Now, look here!" he
+said, taking the detective's arm when they had left the house. "We're
+going to take a look at them Chinks. I've got it into my head that
+they've something to do with this affair--and I'm going to see 'em, and
+to ask 'em a question or two. And--you're coming with me!"
+
+"I say, you know!" remarked Ayscough. "They're respectable
+gentlemen--even if they are foreigners. Better be careful--we don't
+know anything against 'em."
+
+"Never you fear!" said Melky. "I'll beat 'em all right. Ain't I got a
+good excuse, Mr. Ayscough? Just to ask a civil question. Begging their
+pardons for intrusion, but since the lamented death of Mr. Daniel
+Multenius, me and Miss Zillah Wildrose has come into his bit of
+property, and does the two gentlemen desire to continue their tenancy,
+and is there anything we can do to make 'em comfortable--see? Oh, I'll
+talk to 'em all right!"
+
+"What're you getting at, all the same?" asked the detective. "Give it a
+title!"
+
+Melky squeezed his companion's arm.
+
+"I want to see 'em," he whispered. "That's one thing. And I want to
+find out how that last cheque of theirs got into our back-parlour! Was
+it sent by post--or was it delivered by hand? And if by hand--who
+delivered it?"
+
+"You're a cute 'un, you are!" observed Ayscough. "You'd better join us."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Ayscough, but events has happened which'll keep me busy
+at something else," said Melky, cheerfully. "Do you know that my good
+old relative has divided everything between me and my cousin?--I'm a
+rich man, now, Mr. Ayscough. S'elp me!--I don't know how rich I am.
+It'll take a bit o' reckoning."
+
+"Good luck to you!" exclaimed the detective heartily. "Glad to hear it!
+Then I reckon you and your cousin'll be making a match of it--keeping
+the money in the family, what?"
+
+Melky laid his finger on the side of his nose.
+
+"Then you think wrong!" he said. "There'll be marriages before
+long--for both of us--but it'll not be as you suggest! There's Molteno
+Lodge, across the road there--s'elp me, I've often seen that bit of a
+retreat from the top of a 'bus, but I never knew it belonged to the
+poor old man!"
+
+They had now come to the lower part of Maida Vale, where many detached
+houses stand in walled-in gardens, isolated and detached from each
+other--Melky pointed to one of the smaller ones--a stucco villa, whose
+white walls shone in the November moonlight. Its garden, surrounded by
+high walls, was somewhat larger than those of the neighbouring houses,
+and was filled with elms rising to a considerable height and with tall
+bushes growing beneath them.
+
+"Nice, truly rural sort of spot," said Melky, as they crossed the road
+and approached the gate in the wall. "And--once inside--uncommon
+private, no doubt! What do you say, Mr. Ayscough?"
+
+The detective was examining the gate. It was a curious sort of gate,
+set between two stout pillars, and fashioned of wrought ironwork, the
+meshes of which were closely intertwined. Ayscough peered through the
+upper part and saw a trim lawn, a bit of statuary, a garden seat, and
+all the rest of the appurtenances common to a London garden whose
+owners wish to remind themselves of rusticity--also, he saw no signs of
+life in the house at the end of the garden.
+
+"There's no light in this house," he remarked, trying the gate. "Looks
+to me as if everybody was out. Are you going to ring?"
+
+Melky pointed along the front of the wall.
+
+"There's a sort of alley going up there, between this house and the
+next," he said. "Come round--sure to be a tradesman's entrance--a
+side-door--up there."
+
+"Plenty of spikes and glass-bottle stuff on those walls, anyhow!"
+remarked Ayscough, as they went round a narrow alley to the rear of the
+villa. "Your grandfather evidently didn't intend anybody to get into
+these premises very easily, Mr. Rubinstein. Six-foot walls and what you
+might call regular fortifications on top of 'em! What are you going to
+do, now?"
+
+Melky had entered a recess in the side-wall and was examining a stout
+door on which, plainly seen in the moonlight, were the words
+_Tradesman's Entrance_. He turned the handle--and uttered an
+exclamation.
+
+"Open!" he said. "Come on, Mr. Ayscough--we're a-going in! If there is
+anybody at home, all right--if there ain't, well, still all right. I'm
+going to have a look round."
+
+The detective followed Melky into a paved yard at the back of the
+villa. All was very still there--and the windows were dark.
+
+"No lights, back or front," remarked Ayscough. "Can't be anybody in.
+And I say--if either of those Chinese gents was to let himself in with
+his key at the front gate and find us prowling about, it wouldn't look
+very well, would it, now? Why not call again--in broad daylight?"
+
+"Shucks!" said Melky. "Ain't I one o' the landlords of this desirable
+bit o' property? And didn't we find that door open? Come round to the
+front."
+
+He set off along a gravelled path which ran round the side of the
+house, and ascended the steps to the porticoed front door. And there he
+rang the bell--and he and his companion heard its loud ringing inside
+the house. But no answer came--and the whole place seemed darker and
+stiller than before.
+
+"Of course there's nobody in!" muttered Ayscough. "Come on--let's get
+out of it."
+
+Melky made no answer. He walked down the steps, and across the lawn
+beneath the iron-work gate in the street wall. A thick shrubbery of
+holly and laurel bushes stood on his right--and as he passed it
+something darted out--something alive and alert and sinuous--and went
+scudding away across the lawn.
+
+"Good Lord!" said Ayscough. "A rat! And as big as a rabbit!"
+
+Melky paused, looked after the rat, and then at the place from which it
+had emerged. And suddenly he stepped towards the shrubbery and drew
+aside the thick cluster of laurel branches. Just as suddenly he started
+back on the detective, and his face went white in the moonbeams.
+
+"Mr. Ayscough!" he gasped. "S'elp me!--there's a dead man here! Look
+for yourself!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+
+THE EMPTY HOUSE
+
+Ayscough had manifested a certain restiveness and dislike to the
+proceedings ever since his companion had induced him to enter the back
+door of Molteno Lodge--these doings appeared to him informal and
+irregular. But at Melky's sudden exclamation his professional instincts
+were aroused, and he started forward, staring through the opening in
+the bushes made by Melky's fingers.
+
+"Good Lord!" he said. "You're right. One of the Chinamen!"
+
+The full moon was high in a cloudless sky by that time, and its rays
+fell full on a yellow face--and on a dark gash that showed itself in
+the yellow neck below. Whoever this man was, he had been killed by a
+savage knifethrust that had gone straight and unerringly through the
+jugular vein. Ayscough pointed to a dark wide stain which showed on the
+earth at the foot of the bushes.
+
+"Stabbed!" he muttered. "Stabbed to death! And dragged in here--look at
+that--and that!"
+
+He turned, pointing to more stains on the gravelled path behind
+them--stains which extended, at intervals, almost to the entrance door
+in the outer wall. And then he drew a box of matches from his pocket,
+and striking one, went closer and held the light down to the dead man's
+face. Melky, edging closer to his elbow, looked, too.
+
+"One of those Chinamen, without a doubt!" said Ayscough, as the match
+flickered and died out. "Or, at any rate, a Chinaman. And--he's been
+dead some days! Well!--this is a go!"
+
+"What's to be done?" asked Melky. "It's murder!"
+
+Ayscough looked around him. He was wondering how it was that a dead man
+could lie in that garden, close to a busy thoroughfare, along which a
+regular stream of traffic of all descriptions was constantly passing,
+for several days, undetected. But a quick inspection of the
+surroundings explained matters. The house itself filled up one end of
+the garden; the other three sides were obscured from the adjacent
+houses and from the street by high walls, high trees, thick bushes. The
+front gate was locked or latched--no one had entered--no one, save the
+owner of the knife that had dealt that blow, had known a murdered man
+lay there behind the laurels. Only the rat, started by Melky's
+footsteps, had known.
+
+"Stay here!" said Ayscough. "Well--inside the gate, then--don't come
+out--I don't want to attract attention. There'll be a constable
+somewhere about."
+
+He walked down to the iron-work gate, Melky following close at his
+heels, found and unfastened the patent latch, and slipped out into the
+road. In two minutes he was back again with a policeman. He motioned
+the man inside and once more fastened the door.
+
+"As you know this beat," he said quietly, as if continuing a
+conversation already begun, "you'll know the two Chinese gentlemen who
+have this house?"
+
+"Seen 'em--yes," replied the policeman. "Two quiet little fellows--seen
+'em often--generally of an evening."
+
+"Have you seen anything of them lately?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Well, now I come to think of it, no, I haven't," answered the
+policeman. "Not for some days."
+
+"Have you noticed that the house was shut up--that there were no lights
+in the front windows?" enquired the detective.
+
+"Why, as a matter of fact, Mr. Ayscough," said the policeman, "you
+never do see any lights here--the windows are shuttered. I know that,
+because I used to give a look round when the house was empty."
+
+"Do you know what servants they kept--these two?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"They kept none!" answered the policeman. "Seems to me--from what bit I
+saw, you know--they used the house for little more than sleeping in.
+I've seen 'em go out of a morning, with books and papers under their
+arms, and come home at night--similar. But there's no servants there.
+Anything wrong, Mr. Ayscough?"
+
+Ayscough moved toward the bushes.
+
+"There's this much wrong," he answered. "There's one of 'em lying dead
+behind those laurels with a knife-thrust through his throat! And I
+should say, from the look of things, that he's been lying there several
+days. Look here!"
+
+The policeman looked--and beyond a sharp exclamation, remained stolid.
+He glanced at his companions, glanced round the garden--and suddenly
+pointed to a dark patch on the ground.
+
+"There's blood there!" he said. "Blood!"
+
+"Blood!" exclaimed Ayscough. "There's blood all the way down this path!
+The man's been stabbed as he came in at that door, and his body was
+then dragged up the path and thrust in here. Now then!--off you go to
+the station, and tell 'em what we've found. Get help--he'll have to be
+taken to the mortuary. And you'll want men to keep a watch on this
+house--tell the inspector all about it and say I'm here. And
+here--leave me that lamp of yours."
+
+The policeman took off his bull's eye lantern and handed it over.
+Ayscough let him out of the door, and going back to Melky, beckoned him
+towards the house.
+
+"Let's see if there's any way of getting in here," he said. "My
+conscience, Mr. Rubinstein!--you must have had some instinct about
+coming here tonight! We've hit on something--but Lord bless me if I
+know what it is!"
+
+"Mr. Ayscough!" said Melky. "I hadn't a notion of aught like that--it's
+give me a turn! But don't I know what it means, Mr. Ayscough--not half!
+It's all of a piece with the rest of it! Murder, Mr. Ayscough--bloody
+murder! All on account of that orange-yellow diamond we've heard of--at
+last. Ah!--if I'd known there was that at the bottom of this affair,
+I'd ha' been a bit sharper in coming to conclusions, I would so!
+Diamond worth eighty thousand pounds--."
+
+Ayscough, who had been busy at the front door of the house, suddenly
+interrupted his companion's reflections.
+
+"The door's open!" he exclaimed. "Open! Not even on the latch. Come on!"
+
+Melky shrank back at the prospect of the unlighted hall. There was a
+horror in the garden, in that bright moonlight--what might there not be
+in that black, silent house?
+
+"Well, turn that there bull's eye on!" he said. "I don't half fancy
+this sort of exploration. We'd ought to have had revolvers, you know."
+
+Ayscough turned on the light and advanced into the hall. There was
+nothing there beyond what one would expect to see in the hall of a
+well-furnished house, nor was there anything but good furniture, soft
+carpets, and old pictures to look at in the first room into which he
+and Melky glanced. But in the room behind there were evidences of
+recent occupation--a supper-table was laid: there was food on it, a
+cold fowl, a tongue--one plate had portions of both these viands laid
+on it, with a knife and fork crossed above them; on another plate close
+by, a slice of bread lay, broken and crumbled--all the evidences showed
+that supper had been laid for two, that only one had sat down to it:
+that he had been interrupted at the very beginning of his meal--a glass
+half-full of a light French wine stood near the pushed-aside plate.
+
+"Looks as if one of 'em had been having a meal, had had to leave it,
+and had never come back to it," remarked Ayscough. "Him outside, no
+doubt. Let's see the other rooms."
+
+There was nothing to see beyond what they would have expected to
+see--except that in one of the bedrooms, in a drawer pulled out from a
+dressing-table and left open, lay a quantity of silver and copper, with
+here and there a gold coin shining amongst it. Ayscough made a
+significant motion of his head at the sight.
+
+"Another proof of--hurry!" he said. "Somebody's cleared out of this
+place about as quick as he could! Money left lying about--unfinished
+meal--door open--all sure indications. Well, we've seen enough for the
+present. Our people'll make a thorough search later. Come downstairs
+again."
+
+Neither Ayscough nor Melky were greatly inclined for conversation or
+speculation, and they waited in silence near the gate, both thinking of
+the still figure lying behind the laurel bushes until the police came.
+Then followed whispered consultations between Ayscough and the
+inspector, and arrangements for the removal of the dead man to the
+mortuary and the guardianship and thorough search of the house--and
+that done, Ayscough beckoned Melky out into the road.
+
+"Glad to be out of that--for this time, anyway!" he said, with an air
+of relief. "There's too much atmosphere of murder and mystery--what
+they call Oriental mystery--for me in there, Mr. Rubinstein! Now then,
+there's something we can do, at once. Did I understand you to say these
+two were medical students at University College?"
+
+"So Mr. Penniket said," replied Melky. "S'elp me! I never heard of 'em
+till this afternoon!"
+
+"You're going to hear a fine lot about 'em before long, anyway!"
+remarked Ayscough.
+
+"Well--we'll just drive on to Gower Street--somebody'll know something
+about 'em there, I reckon."
+
+He walked forward until he came to the cab-rank at the foot of St.
+John's Wood Road, where he bundled Melky into a taxi-cab, and bade the
+driver get away to University College Hospital at his best pace. There
+was little delay in carrying out that order, but it was not such an
+easy task on arrival at their destination to find any one who could
+give Ayscough the information he wanted. At last, after they had waited
+some time in a reception room a young member of the house-staff came in
+and looked an enquiry.
+
+"What is it you want to know about these two Chinese students?" he
+asked a little impatiently, with a glance at Ayscough's card. "Is
+anything wrong?"
+
+"I want to know a good deal!" answered Ayscough. "If not just now,
+later. You know the two men I mean--Chang Li and Chen Li--brothers, I
+take it?"
+
+"I know them--they've been students here since about last Christmas,"
+answered the young surgeon. "As a matter of fact they're not
+brothers--though they're very much alike, and both have the same
+surname--if Li is a surname. They're friends--not brothers, so they
+told us."
+
+"When did you see them last?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Not for some days, now you mention it," replied the surgeon. "Several
+days. I was remarking on that today--I missed them from a class."
+
+"You say they're very much alike," remarked the detective. "I suppose
+you can tell one from the other?"
+
+"Of course! But--what is this? I see you're a detective sergeant. Are
+they in any bother--trouble?"
+
+"The fact of the case," answered Ayscough, "is just this--one of them's
+lying dead at our mortuary, and I shall be much obliged if you'll step
+into my cab outside and come and identify him. Listen--it's a case of
+murder!"
+
+Twenty minutes later, Ayscough, leading the young house-surgeon into a
+grim and silent room, turned aside the sheet from a yellow face.
+
+"Which one of 'em is it?" he asked.
+
+The house-surgeon started as he saw the wound in the dead man's throat.
+
+"This is Chen!" he answered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+
+THE £500 BANK NOTE
+
+Ayscough drew the sheet over the dead man's face and signed to his
+companion to follow him outside, to a room where Melky Rubinstein,
+still gravely meditating over the events of the evening, was awaiting
+their reappearance.
+
+"So that," said Ayscough, jerking his thumb in the direction of the
+mortuary, "that's Chen Li! You're certain?"
+
+"Chen Li! without a doubt!" answered the house-surgeon. "I know him
+well!"
+
+"The younger of the two?" suggested Ayscough.
+
+The house-surgeon shook his head.
+
+"I can't say as to that," he answered. "It would be difficult to tell
+which of two Chinese, of about the same age, was the older. But that's
+Chen. He and the other, Chang Li, are very much alike, but Chen was a
+somewhat smaller and shorter man."
+
+"What do you know of them?" inquired Ayscough. "Can you say what's
+known at your hospital?"
+
+"Very little," replied the house-surgeon. "They entered, as students
+there--we have several foreigners--about last Christmas--perhaps at the
+New Year. All that I know of them is that they were like most
+Easterns--very quiet, unassuming, inoffensive fellows, very assiduous
+in their studies and duties, never giving any trouble, and very
+punctual in their attendance."
+
+"And, you say, they haven't been seen at the hospital for some days?"
+continued Ayscough. "Now, can you tell me--it's important--since what
+precise date they've been absent?"
+
+The house-surgeon reflected for a moment--then he suddenly drew out a
+small memorandum book from an inner pocket.
+
+"Perhaps I can," he answered, turning the pages over. "Yes--both these
+men should have been in attendance on me--a class of my own, you
+know--on the 20th, at 10.35. They didn't turn up. I've never seen them
+since--in fact, I'm sure they've never been at the hospital since."
+
+"The 20th?" observed Ayscough. He looked at Melky, who was paying great
+attention to the conversation. "Now let's see--old Mr. Multenius met
+his death on the afternoon of the 18th. Parslett was poisoned on the
+night of the 19th. Um!"
+
+"And Parslett was picked up about half-way between the Chink's house
+and his own place, Mr. Ayscough--don't you forget that!" muttered
+Melky. "I'm not forgetting--don't you make no error!"
+
+"You don't know anything more that you could tell us about these two?"
+asked the detective, nodding reassuringly at Melky and then turning to
+the house-surgeon. "Any little thing?--you never know what helps."
+
+"I can't!" said the house-surgeon, who was obviously greatly surprised
+by what he had seen and heard. "These Easterns keep very much to
+themselves, you know. I can't think of anything."
+
+"Don't know anything of their associates--friends--acquaintances?"
+suggested Ayscough. "I suppose they had some--amongst your students?"
+
+"I never saw them in company with anybody--particularly--except a young
+Japanese who was in some of their classes," replied the house-surgeon.
+"I have seen them talking with him--in Gower Street."
+
+"What's his name?" asked Ayscough, pulling out a note-book.
+
+"Mr. Mori Yada," answered the house-surgeon promptly. "He lives in
+Gower Street--I don't know the precise number of the house. Yes, that's
+the way to spell his name. He's the only man I know who seemed to know
+these two."
+
+"Have you seen him lately?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Oh, yes--regularly--today, in fact," said the house-surgeon.
+
+He waited a moment in evident expectation of other questions; as the
+detective asked none--"I gather," he remarked, "that Chang Li has
+disappeared?"
+
+"The house these two occupied is empty," replied Ayscough.
+
+"I am going to suggest something," said the house-surgeon. "I
+know--from personal observation--that there is a tea-shop in Tottenham
+Court Road--a sort of quiet, privately-owned place--Pilmansey's--which
+these two used to frequent. I don't know if that's of any use to you?"
+
+"Any detail is of use, sir," answered Ayscough, making another note.
+"Now, I'll tell this taxi-man to drive you back to the hospital. I
+shall call there tomorrow morning, and I shall want to see this young
+Japanese gentleman, too. I daresay you see that this is a case of
+murder--and there's more behind it!"
+
+"You suspect Chang Li?" suggested the house-surgeon as they went out to
+the cab.
+
+"Couldn't say that--yet," replied Ayscough, grimly. "For anything I
+know, Chang Li may have been murdered, too. But I've a pretty good
+notion what Chen Li was knifed for!"
+
+When the house-surgeon had gone away, Ayscough turned to Melky.
+
+"Come back to Molteno Lodge," he said. "They're searching it. Let's see
+if they've found anything of importance."
+
+The house which had been as lifeless and deserted when Melky and the
+detective visited it earlier in the evening was full enough of energy
+and animation when they went back. One policeman kept guard at the
+front gate; another at the door of the yard; within the house itself,
+behind closed doors and drawn shutters and curtains, every room was
+lighted and the lynx-eyed men were turning the place upside down. One
+feature of the search struck the newcomers immediately--the patch of
+ground whereon Melky had found the dead man had been carefully roped
+off. Ayscough made a significant motion of his hand towards it.
+
+"Good!" he said, "that shows they've found footprints. That may be
+useful. Let's hear what else they've found."
+
+The man in charge of these operations was standing within the
+dining-room when Ayscough and Melky walked in, and he at once beckoned
+them into the room and closed the door.
+
+"We've made two or three discoveries," he said, glancing at Ayscough.
+"To start with, there were footprints of a rather unusual sort round
+these bushes where the man was lying--so I've had it carefully fenced
+in around there--we'll have a better look at 'em, in daylight. Very
+small prints, you understand--more like a woman's than a man's."
+
+Ayscough's sharp eyes turned to the hearth--there were two or three
+pairs of slippers lying near the fender and he pointed to them.
+
+"These Chinamen have very small feet, I believe," he said. "The
+footprints are probably theirs. Well--what else?"
+
+"This," answered the man in charge, producing a small parcel from the
+side-pocket of his coat, and proceeding to divest it of a temporary
+wrapping. "Perhaps Mr. Rubinstein will recognize it. We found it thrown
+away in a fire-grate in one of the bedrooms upstairs--you see, it's
+half burnt."
+
+He produced a small, stoutly-made cardboard box, some three inches
+square, the outer surface of which was covered with a thick,
+glossy-surfaced dark-green paper, on which certain words were deeply
+impressed in gilt letters. The box was considerably charred and only
+fragments of the lettering on the lid remained intact--but it was not
+difficult to make out what the full wording had been.
+
+. . . . _enius_,
+  . . ._nd jeweller_,
+    . . _ed Street_.
+
+"That's one of the late Mr. Multenius's boxes," affirmed Melky at once.
+"Daniel Multenius, Pawnbroker and Jeweller, Praed Street--that's the
+full wording. Found in a fireplace, d'ye say, mister? Ah--and what had
+he taken out of it before he threw the box away, now, Mr.
+Ayscough--whoever it was that did throw it away?"
+
+"That blessed orange and yellow diamond, I should think!" said
+Ayscough. "Of course! Well, anything else?"
+
+The man in charge carefully wrapped up and put away the jeweller's box;
+then, with a significant glance at his fellow-detective, he slipped a
+couple of fingers into his waistcoat pocket and drew out what looked
+like a bit of crumpled paper.
+
+"Aye!" he answered. "This! Found it--just there! Lying on the floor, at
+the end of this table."
+
+He opened out the bit of crumpled paper as he spoke and held it towards
+the other two. Ayscough stared, almost incredulously, and Melky let out
+a sharp exclamation.
+
+"S'elp us!" he said. "A five-hundred-pound bank-note!"
+
+"That's about it," remarked the exhibitor. "Bank of England note for
+five hundred of the best! And--a good 'un, too. Lying on the floor."
+
+"Take care of it," said Ayscough laconically. "Well--you haven't found
+any papers, documents, or anything of that sort, that give any clue?"
+
+"There's a lot of stuff there," answered the man in charge, pointing to
+a pile of books and papers on the table, "but it seems to be chiefly
+exercises and that sort of thing. I'll look through it myself, later."
+
+"See if you can find any letters, addresses, and so on," counselled
+Ayscough. He turned over some of the books, all of them medical works
+and text-books, opening some of them at random. And suddenly he caught
+sight of the name which the house-surgeon had given him half-an-hour
+before, written on a fly-leaf: Mori Yada, 491, Gower Street--and an
+idea came into his mind. He bade the man in charge keep his eyes open
+and leave nothing unexamined, and tapping Melky's arm, led him outside.
+"Look here!" he said, drawing out his watch, as they crossed the hall,
+"it's scarcely ten o'clock, and I've got the address of that young Jap.
+Come on--we'll go and ask him a question or two."
+
+So for the second time that evening, Melky, who was beginning to feel
+as if he were on a chase which pursued anything but a straight course,
+found himself in Gower Street again, and followed Ayscough along,
+wondering what was going to happen next, until the detective paused at
+the door of a tall house in the middle of the long thoroughfare and
+rang the bell. A smart maid answered that ring and looked dubiously at
+Ayscough as he proffered a request to see Mr. Mori Yada. Yes--Mr. Yada
+was at home, but he didn't like to see any one, of an evening when he
+was at his studies, and--in fact he'd given orders not to be disturbed
+at that time.
+
+"I think he'll see me, all the same," said Ayscough, drawing out one of
+his professional cards. "Just give him that, will you, and tell him my
+business is very important."
+
+He turned to Melky when the girl, still looking unwilling, had gone
+away upstairs, and gave him a nudge of the elbow.
+
+"When we get up there--as we shall," whispered Ayscough, "you watch
+this Jap chap while I talk to him. Study his face--and see if anything
+surprises him."
+
+"Biggest order, mister--with a Jap!" muttered Melky. "Might as well
+tell me to watch a stone image--their faces is like wood!"
+
+"Try it!" said Ayscough. "Flicker of an eyelid--twist of the
+lip--anything! Here's the girl back again."
+
+A moment later Melky, treading close on the detective's heels, found
+himself ushered into a brilliantly-lighted, rather over-heated room,
+somewhat luxuriously furnished, wherein, in the easiest of chairs, a
+cigar in his lips, a yellow-backed novel in his hand, sat a
+slimly-built, elegant young gentleman whose face was melting to a smile.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
+
+
+MR. MORI YADA
+
+Ayscough was on his guard as soon as he saw that smile. He had had some
+experience of various national characteristics in his time, and he knew
+that when an Eastern meets you with a frank and smiling countenance you
+had better keep all your wits about you. He began the exercise of his
+own with a polite bow--while executing it, he took a rapid inventory of
+Mr. Mori Yada. About--as near as he could judge--two or three and
+twenty; a black-haired, black-eyed young gentleman; evidently
+fastidious about his English clothes, his English linen, his English
+ties, smart socks, and shoes--a good deal of a dandy, in short--and,
+judging from his surroundings, very fond of English comfort--and not
+averse to the English custom of taking a little spirituous refreshment
+with his tobacco. A decanter stood on the table at his elbow; a syphon
+of mineral water reared itself close by; a tumbler was within reach of
+Mr. Yada's slender yellowish fingers.
+
+"Servant, sir!" said Ayscough. "Detective Sergeant Ayscough of the
+Criminal Investigation Department--friend of mine, this, sir, Mr. Yada,
+I believe--Mr. Mori Yada?"
+
+Mr. Yada smiled again, and without rising, indicated two chairs.
+
+"Oh, yes!" he said in excellent English accents. "Pleased to see
+you--will you take a chair--and your friend! You want to talk to me?"
+
+Ayscough sat down and unbuttoned his overcoat.
+
+"Much obliged, sir," he said. "Yes--the fact is, Mr. Yada, I called to
+see you on a highly important matter that's arisen. Your name, sir, was
+given to me tonight by one of the junior house-surgeons at the hospital
+up the street--Dr. Pittery."
+
+"Oh, yes, Dr. Pittery--I know," agreed Yada. "Yes?"
+
+"Dr. Pittery tells me, sir," continued Ayscough, "that you know two
+Chinese gentlemen who are fellow-students of yours at the hospital, Mr.
+Yada?"
+
+The Japanese bowed his dark head and blew out a mouthful of smoke from
+his cigar.
+
+"Yes!" he answered readily, "Mr. Chang Li--Mr. Chen Li. Oh, yes!"
+
+"I want to ask you a question, Mr. Yada," said Ayscough, bending
+forward and assuming an air of confidence. "When did you see those two
+gentlemen last--either of them?"
+
+Yada leaned back in his comfortably padded chair and cast his quick
+eyes towards the ceiling. Suddenly he jumped to his feet.
+
+"You take a little drop of whisky-and-soda?" he said hospitably,
+pushing a clean glass towards Ayscough. "Yes--I will get another glass
+for your friend, too. Help yourselves, please, then--I will look in my
+diary for an answer to your question. You excuse me, one moment."
+
+He walked across the room to a writing cabinet which stood in one
+corner, and took up a small book that lay on the blotting-pad; while he
+turned over its pages, Ayscough, helping himself and Melky to a drink,
+winked at his companion with a meaning expression.
+
+"I have not seen either Mr. Chang Li or Mr. Chen Li since the morning
+of the 18th November," suddenly said Yada. He threw the book back on
+the desk, and coming to the hearthrug, took up a position with his back
+to the fire and his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He nodded
+politely as his visitors raised their glasses to him. "Is anything the
+matter, Mr. Detective-Sergeant?" he asked.
+
+Ayscough contrived to press his foot against Melky's as he gave a
+direct answer to this question.
+
+"The fact of the case is, Mr. Yada," he said, "one of these two young
+men has been murdered! murdered, sir!"
+
+Yada's well-defined eyebrows elevated themselves--but the rest of his
+face was immobile. He looked fixedly at Ayscough for a second or
+two--then he let out one word.
+
+"Which?"
+
+"According to Dr. Pittery--Chen Li," answered Ayscough. "Dr. Pittery
+identified him. Murdered, Mr. Yada, murdered! Knifed!--in the throat."
+
+The reiteration of the word murdered appeared to yield the detective
+some sort of satisfaction--but it apparently made no particular
+impression on the Japanese. Again he rapped out one word.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"His body was found in the garden of the house they rented in Maida
+Vale," replied Ayscough. "Molteno Lodge. No doubt you've visited them
+there, Mr. Yada?"
+
+"I have been there--yes, a few times," assented Yada. "Not very lately.
+But--where is Chang Li?"
+
+"That's what we don't know--and what we want to know," said Ayscough.
+"He's not been seen at the hospital since the 20th. He didn't turn up
+there--nor Chen, either, at a class, that day. And you say you haven't
+seen them either since the 18th?"
+
+"I was not at the hospital on the 19th," replied Yada. He threw away
+the end of his cigar, picked up a fresh one from a box which stood on
+the table, pushed the box towards his visitors, and drew out a silver
+match-box. "What are the facts of this murder, Mr. Detective-Sergeant?"
+he asked quietly. "Murder is not done without some object--as a rule."
+
+Ayscough accepted the offered cigar, passed the box to Melky and while
+he lighted his selection, thought quietly. He was playing a game with
+the Japanese, and it was necessary to think accurately and quickly. And
+suddenly he made up his mind and assumed an air of candour.
+
+"It's like this, Mr. Yada," he said. "I may as well tell you all about
+it. You've doubtless read all about this Praed Street mystery in the
+newspapers? Well, now, some very extraordinary developments have arisen
+out of the beginnings of that, it turns out."
+
+Melky sat by, disturbed and uncomfortable, while Ayscough reeled off a
+complete narrative of the recent discoveries to the suave-mannered,
+phlegmatic, calmly-listening figure on the hearthrug. He did not
+understand the detective's doings--it seemed to him the height of folly
+to tell a stranger, and an Eastern stranger at that, all about the fact
+that there was a diamond worth eighty thousand pounds at the bottom of
+these mysteries and murders. But he discharged his own duties, and
+watched Yada intently--and failed to see one single sign of anything
+beyond ordinary interest in his impassive face.
+
+"So there it is, sir," concluded Ayscough. "I've no doubt whatever that
+Chen Li called at Multenius's shop to pay the rent; that he saw the
+diamond in the old man's possession and swagged him for it; that
+Parslett saw Chen Li slip away from that side-door and, hearing of
+Multenius's death, suspected Chen Li of it and tried to blackmail him;
+that Chen Li poisoned Parslett--and that Chen Li himself was knifed for
+that diamond. Now--by whom? Chang Li has--disappeared!"
+
+"You suspect Chang Li?" asked Yada.
+
+"I do," exclaimed Ayscough. "A Chinaman--a diamond worth every penny of
+eighty thousand pounds--Ah!" He suddenly lifted his eyes to Yada with a
+quick enquiry. "How much do you know of these two?" he asked.
+
+"Little--beyond the fact that they were fellow-students of mine,"
+answered Yada. "I occasionally visited them--occasionally they visited
+me--that is all."
+
+"Dr. Pittery says they weren't brothers?" suggested Ayscough.
+
+"So I understood," assented Yada. "Friends."
+
+"You can't tell us anything of their habits?--haunts?--what they
+usually did with themselves when they weren't at the hospital?" asked
+the detective.
+
+"I should say that when they weren't at the hospital, they were at
+their house--reading," answered Yada, drily. "They were hard workers."
+
+Ayscough rose from his chair.
+
+"Well, much obliged to you, sir," he said. "As your name was mentioned
+as some sort of a friend of theirs, I came to you. Of course, most of
+what I've told you will be in all the papers tomorrow. If you should
+hear anything of this Chang Li, you'll communicate with us, Mr. Yada?"
+
+The Japanese smiled--openly.
+
+"Most improbable, Mr. Detective-Sergeant!" he answered. "I know no more
+than what I have said. For more information, you should go to the
+Chinese Legation."
+
+"Good idea, sir--thank you," said Ayscough.
+
+He bowed himself and Melky out; once outside the street-door he drew
+his companion away towards a part which lay in deep shadow. Some
+repairing operations to the exterior of a block of houses were going on
+there; underneath a scaffolding which extended over the sidewalk
+Ayscough drew Melky to a halt.
+
+"You no doubt wondered why I told that chap so much?" he whispered.
+"Especially about that diamond! But I had my reasons--and particularly
+for telling him about its value."
+
+"It isn't what I should ha' done, Mr. Ayscough," said Melky, "and it
+didn't ought to come out in the newspapers, neither--so I think!
+'Tain't a healthy thing to let the public know there's an
+eighty-thousand pound diamond loose somewhere in London--and as to
+telling that slant-eyed fellow in there--"
+
+"You wait a bit, my lad!" interrupted Ayscough. "I had my reasons--good
+'uns. Now, look here, we're going to watch that door awhile. If the Jap
+comes out--as I've an idea he will--we're going to follow. And as
+you're younger, and slimmer, and less conspicuous than I am, if he
+should emerge, keep on the shadowy side of the street, at a safe
+distance, and follow him as cleverly as you can. I'll follow you."
+
+"What new game's this?" asked Melky.
+
+"Never mind!" replied Ayscough. "And, if it does come to following, and
+he should take a cab, contrive to be near--there's a good many people
+about, and if you're careful he'll never see you. And--there, now, what
+did I tell you? He's coming out, now! Be handy--more depends on it than
+you're aware of."
+
+Yada, seen clearly in the moonlight which flooded that side of the
+street, came out of the door which they had left a few minutes earlier.
+His smart suit of grey tweed had disappeared under a heavy fur-collared
+overcoat; a black bowler hat surmounted his somewhat pallid face. He
+looked neither to right nor left, but walked swiftly up the street in
+the direction of the Euston Road. And when he had gone some thirty
+yards, Ayscough pushed Melky before him out of their retreat.
+
+"You go first," he whispered, "I'll come after you. Keep an eye on him
+as far as you can--didn't I tell you he'd come out when we'd left? Be
+wary!"
+
+Melky slipped away up the street on the dark side and continued to
+track the slim figure quickly advancing in the moonlight. He followed
+until they had passed the front of the hospital--a few yards further,
+and Yada suddenly crossed the road in the direction of the Underground
+Railway. He darted in at the entrance to the City-bound train, and
+disappeared, and Melky, uncertain what to do, almost danced with
+excitement until Ayscough came leisurely towards him. "Quick! quick!"
+exclaimed Melky. "He's gone down there--City trains. He'll be off
+unless you're on to him!"
+
+But Ayscough remained quiescent and calmly relighted his cigar.
+
+"All right, my lad," he said. "Let him go--just now. I've seen--what I
+expected to see!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY
+
+
+THE MORTUARY
+
+Melky, who had grown breathless in his efforts to carry out his
+companion's wishes, turned and looked at him with no attempt to conceal
+his wonder.
+
+"Well, s'elp me if you ain't a cool 'un, Mr. Ayscough!" he exclaimed.
+"Here you troubles to track a chap to this here Underground Railway,
+seen him pop into it like a rabbit into a hole--and let's him go! What
+did we follow him up Gower Street for? Just to see him set off for a
+ride?"
+
+"All right, my lad!" repeated Ayscough. "You don't quite understand our
+little ways. Wait here a minute."
+
+He drew one of his cards from his pocket and carrying it into the
+booking office exchanged a few words with the clerk at the window.
+Presently he rejoined Melky. "He took a ticket for Whitechapel,"
+remarked Ayscough as he strolled quietly up. "Ah! now what does a young
+Japanese medical student want going down that way at eleven o'clock at
+night? Something special, no doubt, Mr. Rubinstein. However, I'm going
+westward just now. Just going to have a look in at the Great Western
+Hotel, to see if Mr. Purdie heard anything from that American chap--and
+then I'm for home and bed. Like to come to the hotel with me?"
+
+"Strikes me we might as well make a night of it!" remarked Melky as
+they recrossed the road and sought a west-bound train. "We've had such
+an evening as I never expected! Mr. Ayscough! when on earth is this
+going to come to something like a clearing-up?"
+
+Ayscough settled himself in a corner of a smoking-carriage and leaned
+back.
+
+"My own opinion," he said, "is that it's coming to an end. Tomorrow,
+the news of the Chinaman's murder'll be the talk of the town. And if
+that doesn't fetch Levendale out of whatever cranny he's crept into,
+hanged if I know what will!"
+
+"Ah! you think that, do you?" said Melky. "But--why should that news
+fetch him out?"
+
+"Don't know!" replied Ayscough, almost unconcernedly. "But I'm almost
+certain that it will. You see--I think Levendale's looking for Chen Li.
+Now, if Levendale hears that Chen Li's lying dead in our
+mortuary--what? See?"
+
+Melky murmured that Mr. Ayscough was a cute 'un, and relapsed into
+thought until the train pulled up at Praed Street. He followed the
+detective up the streets and across the road to the hotel, dumbly
+wondering how many times that day he had been in and about that quarter
+on this apparently interminable chase. He was getting dazed--but
+Ayscough who was still smoking the cigar which Yada had given him,
+strode along into the hotel entrance apparently as fresh as paint.
+
+Purdie had a private sitting-room in connection with his bedroom, and
+there they found him and Lauriston, both smoking pipes and each
+evidently full of thought and speculation. They jumped to their feet as
+the detective entered.
+
+"I say!" exclaimed Lauriston. "Is this true?--this about the Chinese
+chap? Is it what they think at your police-station?--connected with the
+other affairs? We've been waiting, hoping you'd come in!"
+
+"Ah!" said Ayscough, dropping into a chair. "We've been pretty busy, me
+and Mr. Rubinstein there--we've had what you might call a pretty full
+evening's work of it. Yes--it's true enough, gentlemen--another step in
+the ladder--another brick in the building! We're getting on, Mr.
+Purdie, we're getting on! So you've been round to our place?--they told
+you, there!"
+
+"They gave us a mere outline," answered Purdie. "Just the bare facts. I
+suppose you've heard nothing of the other Chinaman?"
+
+"Not a circumstance--as yet," said Ayscough. "But I'm in hopes--I've
+done a bit, I think, towards it--with Mr. Rubinstein's help, though he
+doesn't quite understand my methods. But you, gentlemen--I came in to
+hear if you'd anything to tell about Guyler. What did he think about
+what John Purvis had to tell us this afternoon?"
+
+"He wasn't surprised," answered Purdie. "Don't you remember that he
+assured us from the very start that diamonds would be found to be at
+the bottom of this. But he surprised us!"
+
+"Aye? How?" asked Ayscough. "Some news?"
+
+"Guyler swears that he saw Stephen Purvis this very morning," replied
+Purdie. "He's confident of it!"
+
+"Saw Stephen Purvis--this very morning!" exclaimed Ayscough. "Where,
+now?"
+
+"Guyler had business down in the City--in the far end of it," said
+Purdie. "He was crossing Bishopsgate when he saw Stephen Purvis--he
+swears it was Stephen Purvis!--nothing can shake him! He, Purvis, was
+just turning the corner into a narrow alley running out of the street.
+Guyler rushed after him--he'd disappeared. Guyler waited, watching that
+alley, he says, like a cat watches a mouse-hole--and all in vain. He
+watched for an hour--it was no good."
+
+"Pooh!" said Ayscough. "If it was Purvis, he'd walked straight through
+the alley and gone out at the other end."
+
+"No!" remarked Lauriston. "At least, not according to Guyler. Guyler
+says it was a long, narrow alley--Purvis couldn't have reached one end by
+the time he'd reached the other. He says--Guyler--that on each side of
+that alley there are suites of offices--he reckoned there were a few
+hundred separate offices in the lot, and that it would take him a week
+to make enquiry at the doors of each. But he's certain that Purvis
+disappeared into one block of them and dead certain that it was Stephen
+Purvis that he saw. So--Purvis is alive!"
+
+"Where's the other Purvis--the farmer?" asked Ayscough.
+
+"Stopping with Guyler at the Great Northern," answered Lauriston.
+"We've all four been down in the City, looking round, this evening.
+Guyler and John Purvis are going down again first thing in the morning.
+John Purvis, of course, is immensely relieved to know that Guyler's
+certain about his brother. I say!--do you know what Guyler's theory is
+about that diamond of Stephen's?"
+
+"No--and what might Mr. Guyler's theory be, now Mr. Lauriston?"
+enquired the detective. "There's such a lot of ingenious theories about
+that one may as well try to take in another. Mr. Rubinstein there is
+about weary of theories."
+
+But Melky was pricking his ears at the mere mention of anything
+relating to the diamond.
+
+"That's his chaff, Mr. Lauriston," he said. "Never mind him! What does
+Guyler think?"
+
+"Well, of course, Guyler doesn't know yet about the Chinese
+development," said Lauriston. "Guyler thinks the robbery has been the
+work of a gang--a clever lot of diamond thieves who knew about Stephen
+Purvis's find of the orange-yellow thing and put in a lot of big work
+about getting it when it reached England. And he believes that that
+gang has kidnapped Levendale, and that Stephen Purvis is working in
+secret to get at them. That's Guyler's notion, anyhow."
+
+"Well!" said Ayscough. "And there may be something in it! For this
+search--how do we know that at any rate one of these Chinamen mayn't
+have had some connection with this gang? You never know--and to get a
+dead straight line at a thing's almost impossible. However, we've taken
+steps to have the news about the diamond and about this Chen Li appear
+in tomorrow morning's papers, and if that doesn't rouse the whole
+town--"
+
+A tap at the door prefaced the entrance of a waiter, who looked
+apologetically at its inmates.
+
+"Beg pardon, gentlemen," he said, "Mr. Ayscough? Gentleman outside
+would like a word with you, if you please, sir."
+
+Ayscough picked up his hat and walked out--there, waiting a little way
+down the corridor, an impressive figure in his big black cloak and
+wide-brimmed hat, stood Dr. Mirandolet. He strode forward as the
+detective advanced.
+
+"I heard you were here, so I came up," he said, leading Ayscough away.
+"Look here, my friend--one of your people has told me of this affair at
+Molteno Lodge--the discovery of the Chinaman's dead body."
+
+"That young fellow, Rubinstein, who called on you early this evening,
+and got me to accompany him discovered it," said Ayscough, who was
+wondering what the doctor was after. "I was with him."
+
+"I have heard, too," continued Mirandolet, "also from one of your
+people, about the strange story of the diamond which came out this
+afternoon, from the owner's brother. Now--I'll tell you why after--I
+want to see that dead Chinaman! I've a particular reason. Will you come
+with me to the mortuary?"
+
+Ayscough's curiosity was aroused by Mirandolet's manner, and without
+going back to Purdie's room, he set out with him. Mirandolet remained
+strangely silent until they came to the street in which the mortuary
+stood.
+
+"A strange and mysterious matter this, my friend!" he said. "That
+little Rubinstein man might have had some curious premonition when he
+came to me tonight with his odd question about Chinese!"
+
+"Just what I said myself, doctor!" agreed Ayscough.
+
+"It did look as if he'd a sort of foreboding, eh? But--Hullo!"
+
+He stopped short as a taxi-cab driven at a considerable speed, came
+rushing down the street and passing them swiftly turned into the wider
+road beyond. And the sudden exclamation was forced from his lips
+because it seemed to him that as the cab sped by he saw a yellow-hued
+face within it--for the fraction of a second. Quick as that glimpse
+was, Ayscough was still quicker as he glanced at the number on the back
+of the car--and memorized it.
+
+"Odd!" he muttered, "odd! Now, I could have sworn--" He broke off, and
+hurried after Mirandolet who had stridden ahead. "Here we are, doctor,"
+he said, as they came to the door of the mortuary. "There's a man on
+night duty here, so there's no difficulty about getting in."
+
+There was a drawing of bolts, a turning of keys; the door opened, and a
+man looked out and seeing Ayscough and Dr. Mirandolet, admitted them
+into an ante-room and turned up the gas.
+
+"We want to see that Chinaman, George," said the detective. "Shan't
+keep you long."
+
+"There's a young foreign doctor just been to see him, Mr. Ayscough,"
+said the man. "You'd pass his car down the street--he hasn't been gone
+three minutes. Young Japanese--brought your card with him."
+
+Ayscough turned on the man as if he had given him the most startling
+news in the world.
+
+"What?" he exclaimed, "Japanese? Brought my card?"
+
+"Showed me it as soon as he got here," answered the attendant,
+surprised at Ayscough's amazement. "Said you'd given it to him, so that
+he could call here and identify the body. So, of course, I let him go
+in."
+
+Ayscough opened his mouth in sheer amazement. But before he could get
+out a word, Mirandolet spoke, seizing the mortuary-keeper by the arm in
+his eagerness.
+
+"You let that man--a Japanese--see the dead Chinaman--_alone_?" he
+demanded.
+
+"Why, of course!" the attendant answered surlily. "He'd Mr. Ayscough's
+card, and--"
+
+Mirandolet dropped the man's arm and threw up his own long white hands.
+
+"Merciful Powers!" he vociferated. "He has stolen the diamond!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
+
+
+THE MIRANDOLET THEORY
+
+The silence that followed on this extraordinary exclamation was
+suddenly broken: the mortuary keeper, who had been advancing towards a
+door at the side of the room, dropped a bunch of keys. The strange
+metallic sound of their falling roused Ayscough, who had started aside,
+and was staring, open-mouthed, at Mirandolet's waving hands. He caught
+the doctor by the arm.
+
+"What on earth do you mean?" he growled. "Speak man--what is it?"
+
+Mirandolet suddenly laughed.
+
+"What is it?" he exclaimed. "Precisely what I said, in plain language!
+That fellow has, of course, gone off with the diamond--worth eighty
+thousand pounds! Your card!--Oh, man, man, whatever have you been
+doing? Be quick!--who is this Japanese?--how came he by your card?
+Quick, I say!--if you want to be after him!"
+
+"Hanged if I know what this means!" muttered Ayscough. "As to who he
+is--if he's the fellow I gave a card to, he's a young Japanese medical
+student, one Yada, that was a friend of those Chinese--I called on him
+tonight, with Rubinstein, to see if we could pick up a bit of
+information. Of course, I sent in my professional card to him. But--we
+saw him set off to the East End!"
+
+"Bah!" laughed Mirandolet. "He has--what you call done you brown, my
+friend! He came--here! And he has got away--got a good start--with that
+diamond in his pocket!"
+
+"What the devil do you mean by that?" said Ayscough, hotly. "Diamond!
+Diamond! Where should he find the diamond--here? In a deadhouse? What
+are you talking about?"
+
+Mirandolet laughed again, and giving the detective a look that was very
+like one of pitying contempt, turned to the amazed mortuary keeper.
+
+"Show us that dead man!" he said.
+
+The mortuary keeper, who had allowed his keys to lie on the floor
+during this strange scene, picked them up, and selecting one, opened,
+and threw back the door by which he was standing. He turned on the
+light in the mortuary chamber, and Mirandolet strode in, with Ayscough,
+sullen and wondering, at his heels.
+
+Chen Li lay where the detective had last seen him, still and rigid, the
+sheet drawn carefully over his yellow face. Without a word Mirandolet
+drew that sheet aside, and motioning his companion to draw nearer,
+pointed to a skull-cap of thin blue silk which fitted over the
+Chinaman's head.
+
+"You see that!" he whispered. "You know what's beneath it!--something
+that no true Chinaman ever parts with, even if he does come to Europe,
+and does wear English dress and English headgear--his pigtail! Look
+here!"
+
+He quietly moved the skull-cap, and showed the two astonished men a
+carefully-coiled mass of black hair, wound round and round the back of
+the head. And into it he slipped his own long, thin fingers--to draw
+them out again with an exclamation which indicated satisfaction with
+his own convictions.
+
+"Just as I said," he remarked. "Gone! Mr. Detective--that's where Chen
+Li hid the diamond--and that Japanese man has got it. And now--you'd
+better be after him--half-an-hour's start to him is as good as a week's
+would be to you."
+
+He drew the sheet over the dead face and strode out, and Ayscough
+followed, angry, mystified, and by no means convinced.
+
+"Look here!" he said, as they reached the ante-room; "that's all very
+well, Dr. Mirandolet, but it's only supposition on your part!"
+
+"Supposition that you'll find to be absolute truth, my good friend!"
+retorted Mirandolet, calmly. "I know the Chinese--better than you
+think. As soon as I heard of this affair tonight, I came to you to put
+you up to the Chinese trick of secreting things of value in their
+pigtails--it did not occur to me that the diamond might be there in
+this case, but I thought you would probably find something. But when we
+reached this mortuary, and I heard that a Japanese had been here,
+presenting your card when he had no business to present it, I guessed
+immediately what had happened--and now that you tell me that you told
+him all about this affair, well--I am certain of my assertion. Mr.
+Detective--go after the diamond!"
+
+He turned as if to leave the place, and Ayscough followed.
+
+"He mayn't been after the diamond at all!" he said, still resentful and
+incredulous. "Is it very likely he'd think it to be in that dead chap's
+pigtail when the other man's missing? It's Chang that's got that
+diamond--not Chen."
+
+"All right, my friend!" replied Mirandolet. "Your wisdom is superior to
+mine, no doubt. So--I wish you good-night!"
+
+He strode out of the place and turned sharply up the street, and
+Ayscough, after a growl or two, went back to the mortuary keeper.
+
+"How long was that Jap in there?" he asked, nodding at the death
+chamber.
+
+"Not a minute, Mr. Ayscough!" replied the man. "In and out again, as
+you might say."
+
+"Did he say anything when he came out?" enquired the detective.
+
+"He did--two words," answered the keeper. "He said, 'That's he!' and
+walked straight out, and into his car."
+
+"And when he came he told you I'd sent him?" demanded Ayscough.
+
+"Just that--and showed me your card," assented the man. "Of course, I'd
+no reason to doubt his word."
+
+"Look here, George!" said Ayscough, "you keep this to yourself! Don't
+say anything to any of our folks if they come in. I don't half believe
+what that doctor said just now--but I'll make an enquiry or two. Mum's
+the word, meanwhile. You understand, George?"
+
+George answered that he understood very well, and Ayscough presently
+left him. Outside, in the light of the lamp set over the entrance to
+the mortuary, he pulled out his watch. Twelve o'clock--midnight. And
+somewhere, that cursed young Jap was fleeing away through the London
+streets--having cheated him, Ayscough, at his own game!
+
+He had already reckoned things up in connection with Yada. Yada had
+been having him--even as Melky Rubinstein had suspected and
+suggested--all through that conversation at Gower Street. Probably,
+Yada, from his window in the drawing-room floor of his lodging-house,
+had watched him and Melky slip across the street and hide behind the
+hoarding opposite. And then Yada had gone out, knowing he was to be
+followed, and had tricked them beautifully, getting into an underground
+train going east, and, in all certainty, getting out again at the next
+station, chartering a cab, and returning west--with Ayscough's card in
+his pocket.
+
+But Ayscough knew one useful thing--he had memorized the letters and
+numbers of the taxi-cab in which Yada had sped by him and Mirandolet,
+L.C. 2571--he had kept repeating that over and over. Now he took out
+his note-book and jotted it down--and that done he set off to the
+police-station, intent first of all on getting in touch with New
+Scotland Yard by means of the telephone.
+
+Ayscough, like most men of his calling in London, had a considerable
+amount of general knowledge of things and affairs, and he summoned it
+to his aid in this instance. He knew that if the Japanese really had
+become possessed of the orange and yellow diamond (of which
+supposition, in spite of Mirandolet's positive convictions, he was very
+sceptical) he would most certainly make for escape. He would be off to
+the Continent, hot foot. Now, Ayscough had a good acquaintance with the
+Continental train services--some hours must elapse before Yada could
+possibly get a train for Dover, or Folkstone, or Newhaven, or the
+shortest way across, or to any other ports such as Harwich or
+Southampton, by a longer route. Obviously, the first thing to do was to
+have the stations at Victoria, and Charing Cross, and Holborn Viaduct,
+and London Bridge carefully watched for Yada. And for two weary hours
+in the middle of the night he was continuously at work on the
+telephone, giving instructions and descriptions, and making
+arrangements to spread a net out of which the supposed fugitive could
+not escape.
+
+And when all that was at last satisfactorily arranged, Ayscough was
+conscious that it might be for nothing. He might be on a wrong track
+altogether--due to the suspicions and assertions of that queer man,
+Mirandolet. There might be some mystery--in Ayscough's opinion there
+always was mystery wherever Chinese or Japanese or Hindus were
+concerned. Yada might have some good reason for wishing to see Chen
+Li's dead body, and have taken advantage of the detective's card to
+visit it. This extraordinary conduct might be explained. But meanwhile
+Ayscough could not afford to neglect a chance, and tired as he was, he
+set out to find the driver of the taxicab whose number he had carefully
+set down in his notebook.
+
+There was little difficulty in this stage of the proceedings; it was
+merely a question of time, of visiting a central office and finding the
+man's name and address. By six o'clock in the morning Ayscough was at a
+small house in a shabby street in Kentish Town, interviewing a woman
+who had just risen to light her fire, and was surlily averse to calling
+up a husband, who, she said, had not been in bed until nearly four. She
+was not any more pleased when Ayscough informed her of his professional
+status--but the man was fetched down.
+
+"You drove a foreigner--a Japanese--to the mortuary in Paddington last
+night?" said Ayscough, plunging straight into business, after telling
+the man who he was. "I saw him--just a glimpse of him--in your cab, and
+I took your number. Now, where did you first pick him up?"
+
+"Outside the Underground, at King's Cross," replied the driver promptly.
+
+This was precisely what Ayscough had expected; so far, so good; his own
+prescience was proving sure.
+
+"Anything wrong, mister?" asked the driver.
+
+"There may be," said Ayscough. "Well--you picked him up there, and
+drove him straight to the mortuary?"
+
+"No--I didn't," said the man. "We made a call first. Euston. He went in
+there, and, I should say, went to the left luggage office, 'cause he
+came back again with a small suit-case--just a little 'un. Then we went
+on to that mortuary."
+
+Euston! A small suit-case! More facts--Ayscough made notes of them.
+
+"Well," he said, "and when you drove away from the mortuary, where did
+you go then?"
+
+"Oxford Circus," answered the driver, "set him down--his orders--right
+opposite the Tube Station--t'other side of the street."
+
+"Did you see which way he went--then?" enquired Ayscough.
+
+"I did. Straight along Oxford Street--Tottenham Court Road way," said
+the driver, "carrying his suitcase--which it was, as I say, on'y a
+little 'un--and walking very fast. Last I see of him was that, guv'nor."
+
+Ayscough went away and got back to more pretentious regions. He was
+dead tired and weary with his night's work, and glad to drop in at an
+early-opened coffee-shop and get some breakfast. While he ate and drank
+a boy came in with the first editions of the newspapers. Ayscough
+picked one up--and immediately saw staring headlines:--
+
+THE PADDINGTON MYSTERIES. NEW AND STARTLING FEATURES. DIAMOND WORTH
+£80,000 BEING LOOKED FOR MURDER IN MAIDA VALE
+
+Ayscough laid down the paper and smiled. Levendale--if not dead--could
+scarcely fail to see that!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
+
+
+ONE O'CLOCK MIDNIGHT
+
+Five minutes after Ayscough had gone away with Dr. Mirandolet the hotel
+servant who had summoned him from Purdie's sitting-room knocked at the
+door for the second time and put a somewhat mystified face inside.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," he said, glancing at Purdie, who was questioning
+Melky Rubinstein as to the events of the evening in their relation to
+the house in Maida Vale. "Two ladies outside, sir--waiting to see you.
+But they don't want to come in, sir, unless they know who's here--don't
+want to meet no strangers, sir."
+
+Purdie jumped to his feet, and putting the man aside looked into the
+dimly-lighted corridor. There, a few paces away, stood Zillah--and,
+half hidden by her, Mrs. Goldmark.
+
+"Come in--come in!" he exclaimed. "Nobody here but Andie Lauriston and
+Melky Rubinstein. You've something to tell--something's happened?"
+
+He ushered them into the room, sent the hotel servant, obviously in a
+state of high curiosity about these happenings, away, and closed the
+door.
+
+"S'elp me!" exclaimed Melky, "there ain't no other surprises, Zillah?
+You ain't come round at this time o' night for nothing! What you got to
+tell, Zillah?--another development?"
+
+"Mrs. Goldmark has something to tell," answered Zillah. "We didn't know
+what to do, and you didn't come, Melky--nobody come--and so we locked
+the house and thought of Mr. Purdie. Mrs. Goldmark has seen somebody!"
+
+"Who?" demanded Melky. "Somebody, now? What somebody?"
+
+"The man that came to her restaurant," replied Zillah. "The man who
+lost the platinum solitaire!"
+
+Mrs. Goldmark who had dropped into the chair which Purdie had drawn to
+the side of the table for her, wagged her head thoughtfully.
+
+"This way it was, then," she said, with a dramatic suggestion of
+personal enjoyment in revealing a new feature of the mystery, "I have a
+friend who lives in Stanhope Street--Mrs. Isenberg. She sends to me at
+half-past-ten to tell me she is sick. I go to see her--immediate. I
+find her very poorly--so! I stop with her till past eleven, doing what
+I can. Then her sister, she comes--I can do no more--I come away. And I
+walk through Sussex Square, as my road back to Praed Street and Zillah.
+But before I am much across Sussex Square, I stop--sudden, like that!
+For what? Because--I see a man! That man! Him what drops his cuff-link
+on my table. Oh, yes!"
+
+"You're sure it was that man, Mrs. Goldmark?" enquired Melky,
+anxiously. "You don't make no mistakes, so?"
+
+"Do I mistake myself if I say I see you, Mr. Rubinstein?" exclaimed
+Mrs. Goldmark, solemnly and with emphasis. "No, I don't make no
+mistakes at all. Is there not gas lamps?--am I not blessed with good
+eyes? I see him--like as I see you there young gentleman and Zillah.
+Plain!"
+
+"Well--and what was he doing?" asked Purdie, desirous of getting at
+facts. "Did he come out of a house, or go into one, or--what?"
+
+"I tell you," replied Mrs. Goldmark, "everything I tell you--all in
+good time. It is like this. A taxicab comes up--approaching me. It
+stops--by the pavement. Two men--they get out. Him first. Then another.
+They pay the driver--then they walk on a little--just a few steps. They
+go into a house. The other man--he lets them into that house. With a
+latch-key. The door opens--shuts. They are inside. Then I go to Zillah
+and tell her what I see. So!"
+
+The three young men exchanged glances, and Purdie turned to the
+informant.
+
+"Mrs. Goldmark," he said, "did you know the man who opened the door?"
+
+"Not from another!" replied Mrs. Goldmark. "A stranger to me!"
+
+"Do you know Mr. Levendale--by sight?" asked Purdie.
+
+"Often, since all this begins, I ask myself that question," said Mrs.
+Goldmark, "him being, so to speak, a neighbour. No, that I do not, not
+being able to say he was ever pointed out to me."
+
+"Well, you can describe the man who pulled out his latch-key and opened
+the door, anyhow," remarked Purdie. "You took a good look at him, I
+suppose!"
+
+"And a good one," answered Mrs. Goldmark. "He was one of our people--I
+saw his nose and his eyes. And I was astonished to see so poor-looking
+a man have a latch-key to so grand a mansion as that!--he was dressed
+in poor clothes, and looked dirty and mean."
+
+"A bearded dark man?" suggested Purdie.
+
+"Not at all," said Mrs. Goldmark. "A clean-shaved man--though dark he
+might be."
+
+Purdie looked at Melky and shook his head.
+
+"That's not Levendale!" he said, "Clean-shaven! Levendale's bearded and
+mustached--and I should say a bit vain of his beard. Um! you're dead
+certain, Mrs. Goldmark, about the other man?"
+
+"As that I tell you this," insisted Mrs. Goldmark. "I see him as plain
+as what I see him when he calls at my establishment and leaves his
+jewellery on my table. Oh, yes--I don't make no mistake, Mr. Purdie."
+
+Purdie looked again at Melky--this time with an enquiry in his glance.
+
+"Don't ask me, Mr. Purdie!" said Melky. "I don't know what to say.
+Sounds like as if these two went into Levendale's house. But what man
+would have a latch-key to that but Levendale himself? More
+mystery!--ain't I full of it already? Now if Mr. Ayscough hadn't gone
+away--"
+
+"Look here!" said Purdie, coming to a sudden decision, "I'm going round
+there. I want to know what this means--I'm going to know. You ladies
+had better go home. If you others like to come as far as the corner of
+Sussex Square, come. But I'm going to Levendale's house alone. I'll
+find something out."
+
+He said no more until, Zillah and Mrs. Goldmark having gone homeward,
+and he and his two companions having reached a side street leading into
+Sussex Square, he suddenly paused and demanded their attention!
+
+"I've particular reasons for wanting to go into that house alone," he
+said. "There's no danger--trust me. But--if I'm not out again in a
+quarter of an hour or so, you can come there and ask for me. My own
+impression is that I shall find Levendale there. And--as you're aware,
+Andie--I know Levendale." He left them standing in the shadow of a
+projecting portico and going up to Levendale's front door, rang the
+bell. There was no light in any of the windows; all appeared to be in
+dead stillness in the house; somewhere, far off in the interior, he
+heard the bell tinkle. And suddenly, as he stood waiting and listening,
+he heard a voice that sounded close by him and became aware that there
+was a small trap or grille in the door, behind which he made out a face.
+
+"Who is that?" whispered the voice.
+
+"John Purdie--wanting to see Mr. Levendale," he answered promptly.
+
+The door was just as promptly opened, and as Purdie stepped within was
+as quickly closed behind him. At the same instant the click of a switch
+heralded a flood of electric light, and he started to see a man
+standing at his side--a man who gave him a queer, deprecating smile, a
+man who was not and yet who was Levendale.
+
+"Gracious me!" exclaimed Purdie, "it isn't--"
+
+"Yes!" said Levendale, quietly. "But it is, though! All right,
+Purdie--come this way."
+
+Purdie followed Levendale into a small room on the right of the hall--a
+room in which the remains of a cold, evidently impromptu supper lay on
+a table lighted by a shaded lamp. Two men had been partaking of that
+supper, but Levendale was alone. He gave his visitor another queer
+smile, and pointed, first to a chair and then to a decanter.
+
+"Sit down--take a drink," he said. "This is a queer meeting! We haven't
+seen each other since--"
+
+"Good God, man!" broke in Purdie, staring at his host. "What's it all
+mean? Are you--disguised?"
+
+Levendale laughed--ruefully--and glanced at the mean garments which
+Mrs. Goldmark had spoken of.
+
+"Necessity!" he said. "Had to! Ah!--I've been through some queer
+times--and in queer places. Look here--what do you know?"
+
+"Know!" cried Purdie. "You want me to tell you all I know--in a
+sentence? Man!--it would take a month! What do you know? That's more
+like it!"
+
+Levendale passed a hand across his forehead--there was a weariness in
+his gesture which showed his visitor that he was dead beat.
+
+"Aye, just so!" he said. "But--tell me! has John Purvis come looking
+for his brother?"
+
+"He has!" answered Purdie. "He's in London just now."
+
+"Has he told about that diamond?--told the police?" demanded Levendale.
+
+"He has!" repeated Purdie. "That's all known. Stephen Purvis--where is
+he?"
+
+"Upstairs--asleep--dead tired out," said Levendale. "We both are! Night
+and day--day and night--I could fall on this floor and sleep--"
+
+"You've been after that diamond?" suggested Purdie.
+
+"That--and something else," said Levendale.
+
+"Something else?" asked Purdie. "What then?"
+
+"Eighty thousand pounds," answered Levendale. "Just that!"
+
+Purdie stood staring at him. Then he suddenly put a question.
+
+"Do you know who murdered that old man in Praed Street?" he demanded.
+"That's what I'm after."
+
+"No!" said Levendale, promptly. "I don't even know that he was
+murdered!" He, too, stared at his visitor for a moment; then "But I
+know more than a little about his being robbed," he added significantly.
+
+Purdie shook his head. He was puzzled and mystified beyond measure.
+
+"This is getting too deep for me!" he said. "You're the biggest mystery
+of all, Levendale. Look here!" he went on. "What are you going to do?
+This queer disappearance of yours--this being away--coming back without
+your beard and dressed like that!--aren't you going to explain? The
+police--"
+
+"Yes!" said Levendale. "Ten o'clock this morning--the police-station.
+Be there--all of you--anybody--anybody who likes--I'm going to tell the
+police all I know. Purvis and I, we can't do any more--baffled, you
+understand! But now--go away, Purdie, and let me sleep--I'm dead done
+for!"
+
+Within ten minutes of leaving them, Purdie was back with Lauriston and
+Melky Rubinstein, and motioning them away from Sussex Square.
+
+"That's more extraordinary than the rest!" he said, as they all moved
+off. "Levendale's there, in his own house, right enough! And he's
+shaved off his beard and mustache, and he's wearing tramp's clothes and
+he and Stephen Purvis have been looking night and day, for that
+confounded diamond, and for eighty thousand pounds! And--what's more,
+Levendale does not know who killed Daniel Multenius or that he was
+murdered! But, by George, sirs!" he added, as high above their heads
+the clock of St. James's Church struck one, "he knows something
+big!--and we've got to wait nine hours to hear it!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
+
+
+SECRET WORK
+
+The inner room of the police-station, at ten o'clock that morning, was
+full of men. Purdie, coming there with Lauriston at five minutes before
+the hour, found Melky Rubinstein hanging about the outer door, and had
+only just time to warn his companion to keep silence as to their
+midnight discovery before Guyler and John Purvis drove up in one cab
+and Mr. Killick in another. Inside, Ayscough, refreshed by his
+breakfast and an hour's rest, was talking to the inspector and the man
+from New Scotland Yard--all these looked enquiringly at the group which
+presently crowded in on them.
+
+"Any of you gentlemen got any fresh news?" demanded the inspector, as
+he ran his eye over the expectant faces "No?--well, I suppose you're
+all wanting to know if we have?" He glanced at Ayscough, who was
+pointing out certain paragraphs in one of the morning newspapers to the
+Scotland Yard man. "The fact is," he continued, "there have been queer
+developments since last night--and I don't exactly know where we are!
+My own opinion is that we'd better wait a few hours before saying
+anything more definite--to my mind, these newspapers are getting hold
+of too much news--giving information to the enemy, as it were. I think
+you'd all better leave things to us, gentlemen--for a while." There was
+rather more than a polite intimation in this that the presence of so
+many visitors was not wanted--but John Purvis at once assumed a
+determined attitude.
+
+"I want to know exactly what's being done, and what's going to be done,
+about my brother!" he said. "I'm entitled to that! That's the job I
+came about--myself--as for the rest--"
+
+"Your brother's here!" said Purdie, who was standing by the window and
+keeping an eye on the street outside. "And Mr. Levendale with
+him--hadn't you better have them straight in?" he went on, turning to
+the inspector. "They both look as if they'd things to tell."
+
+But Ayscough had already made for the door and within a moment was
+ushering in the new arrivals. And Purdie was quick to note that the
+Levendale who entered, a sheaf of morning papers in his hand, was a
+vastly different Levendale to the man he had seen nine hours before,
+dirty, unkempt, and worn out with weariness. The trim beard and
+mustache were hopelessly lost, and there were lines on Levendale's face
+which they concealed, but Levendale himself was now smartly groomed and
+carefully dressed, and business-like, and it was with the air of a man
+who means business that he strode into the room and threw a calm nod to
+the officials.
+
+"Now, Inspector," he said, going straight to the desk, while Stephen
+Purvis turned to his brother. "I see from the papers that you've all
+been much exercised about Mr. Purvis and myself--it just shows how a
+couple of men can disappear and give some trouble before they're found.
+But here we are!--and why we're here is because we're beaten--we took
+our own course in trying to find our own property--and we're done! We
+can do no more--and so we come to you."
+
+"You should have come here at first, Mr. Levendale," said the
+Inspector, a little sourly. "You'd have saved a lot of trouble--to
+yourselves as well as to us. But that's neither here nor there--I
+suppose you've something to tell us, sir?"
+
+"Before I tell you anything," replied Levendale, "I want to know
+something." He pointed to the morning papers which he had brought in.
+"These people," he said, "seem to have got hold of a lot of
+information--all got from you, of course. Now, we know what we're
+after--let's put it in a nutshell. A diamond--an orange-yellow
+diamond--worth eighty thousand pounds, the property of Mr. Stephen
+Purvis there. That's item one! But there's another. Eighty thousand
+pounds in bank-notes!--my property. Now--have any of you the least idea
+who's got the diamond and my money? Come!"
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then Ayscough spoke.
+
+"Not a definite idea, Mr. Levendale--as yet."
+
+"Then I'll tell you," said Levendale. "A Chinese fellow--one Chang Li.
+He's got them--both! And Stephen Purvis and I have been after him for
+all the days and nights since we disappeared--and we're beaten! Now
+you'll have to take it up--and I'd better tell you the plain truth
+about what's no doubt seemed a queer business from the first.
+Half-an-hour's talk now will save hours of explanation later on. So
+listen to me, all of you--I already see two gentlemen here, Mr.
+Killick, and Mr. Guyler, who in a certain fashion, can corroborate some
+particulars that I shall give you. Keep us free from interruption, if
+you please, while I tell you my story."
+
+Ayscough answered this request by going to the door and leaning against
+it, and Levendale took a chair by the side of the desk and looked round
+at an expectant audience.
+
+"It's a queer and, in some respects, an involved story," he said, "but
+I shall contrive to make matters plain to you before I've finished. I
+shall have to go back a good many years--to a time when, as Mr. Killick
+there knows, I was a partner with Daniel Molteno in a jewellery
+business in the City. I left him, and went out to South Africa, where I
+engaged in diamond trading. I did unusually well in my various
+enterprises, and some years later I came back to London a very
+well-to-do man. Not long after my return, I met my former partner
+again. He had changed his name to Multenius, and was trading in Praed
+Street as a jeweller and pawnbroker. Now, I had no objection to
+carrying on a trade with certain business connections of mine at the
+Cape--and after some conversation with Multenius he and I arranged to
+buy and sell diamonds together here in London, and I at once paid over
+a sum of money to him as working capital. The transactions were carried
+out in his name. It was he, chiefly, who conducted them--he was as good
+and keen a judge of diamonds as any man I ever knew--and no one here
+was aware that I was concerned in them. I never went to his shop in
+Praed Street but twice--if it was absolutely necessary for him to see
+me, we met in the City, at a private office which I have there. Now you
+understand the exact relations between Daniel Multenius and myself. We
+were partners--in secret.
+
+"We come, then, to recent events. Early in this present autumn, we
+heard from Mr. Stephen Purvis, with whom I had had some transactions in
+South Africa, that he had become possessed of a rare and fine
+orange-yellow diamond and that he was sending it to us. It arrived at
+Multenius's--Multenius brought it to me at my city office and we
+examined it, after which Multenius deposited it in his bank. We decided
+to buy it ourselves--I finding the money. We knew, from our messages
+from Stephen Purvis, that he would be in town on the 18th November, and
+we arranged everything for that date. That date, then, becomes of
+special importance--what happened at Multenius's shop in Praed Street
+on the afternoon of November 18th, between half-past four and half-past
+five is, of course, the thing that really is of importance. Now, what
+did happen? I can tell you--save as regards one detail which is,
+perhaps, of more importance than the other details. Of that detail I
+can't tell anything--but I can offer a good suggestion about it.
+
+"Stephen Purvis was to call at Daniel Multenius's shop in Praed Street
+between five o'clock and half-past on the afternoon of November
+18th--to complete the sale of his diamond. About noon on that day,
+Daniel Multenius went to the City. He went to his bank and took the
+diamond away. He then proceeded to my office, where I handed him eighty
+thousand pounds in bank notes--notes of large amounts. With the diamond
+and these notes in his possession, Daniel Multenius went back to Praed
+Street. I was to join him there shortly after five o'clock.
+
+"Now we come to my movements. I lunched in the City, and afterwards
+went to a certain well-known book-seller's in Holborn, who had written
+to tell me that he had for sale a valuable book which he knew I wanted.
+I have been a collector of rare books ever since I came back to
+England. I spent an hour or so at the book-seller's shop. I bought the
+book which I had gone to see--paying a very heavy price for it. I
+carried it away in my hand, not wrapped up, and got into an omnibus
+which was going my way, and rode in it as far as the end of Praed
+Street. There I got out. And--in spite of what I said in my
+advertisement in the newspapers of the following morning,--I had the
+book in my hand when I left the omnibus. Why I pretended to have lost
+it, why I inserted that advertisement in the papers, I shall tell you
+presently--that was all part of a game which was forced upon me.
+
+"It was, as near as I can remember, past five o'clock when I turned
+along Praed Street. The darkness was coming on, and there was a slight
+rain falling, and a tendency to fog. However, I noticed something--I am
+naturally very quick of observation. As I passed the end of the street
+which goes round the back of the Grand Junction Canal basin, the street
+called Iron Gate Wharf, I saw turn into it, walking very quickly, a
+Chinaman whom I knew to be one of the two Chinese medical students to
+whom Daniel Multenius had let a furnished house in Maida Vale. He had
+his back to me--I did not know which of the two he was. I thought
+nothing of the matter, and went on. In another minute I was at the
+pawn-shop. I opened the door, walked in, and went straight to the
+little parlour--I had been there just twice before when Daniel
+Multenius was alone, and so I knew my way. I went, I say, straight
+through--and in the parlour doorway ran into Stephen Purvis.
+
+"Purvis was excited--trembling, big fellow though he is, do you see? He
+will bear me out as to what was said--and done. Without a word, he
+turned and pointed to where Daniel Multenius was lying across the
+floor--dead. 'I haven't been here a minute!' said Purvis. 'I came
+in--found him, like that! There's nobody here. For God's sake, where's
+my diamond?'
+
+"Now, I was quick to think. I formed an impression within five seconds.
+That Chinaman had called--found the old man lying in a fit, or possibly
+dead--had seen, as was likely, the diamond on the table in the parlour,
+the wad of bank-notes lying near, had grabbed the lot--and gone away.
+It was a theory--and I am confident yet that it was the correct one.
+And I tell you plainly that my concern from that instant was not with
+Daniel Multenius, but with the Chinaman! I thought and acted like
+lightning. First, I hastily examined Multenius, felt in his pockets,
+found that there was nothing there that I wanted and that he was dead.
+Then I remembered that on a previous visit of mine he had let me out of
+his house by a door at the rear which communicated with a narrow
+passage running into Market Street, and without a second's delay, I
+seized Purvis by the arm and hurried him out. It was dark enough in
+that passage--there was not a soul about--we crossed Market Street,
+turned to the right, and were in Oxford and Cambridge Terrace before we
+paused. My instinct told me that the right thing to do was to get away
+from that parlour. And it was not until we were quite away from it that
+I realized that I had left my book behind me!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
+
+
+BAFFLED
+
+Levendale paused at this point of his story, and looked round the
+circle of attentive faces. He was quick to notice that two men were
+watching him with particularly close attention--one was Ayscough, the
+other, the old solicitor. And as he resumed his account he glanced
+meaningly at Mr. Killick.
+
+"I daresay some of you would like to question me--and Stephen Purvis,
+too--on what I've already told you?" he said. "You're welcome to ask
+any questions you like--any of you--when I've done. But--let me
+finish--for then perhaps you'll fully understand what we were at.
+
+"Purvis and I walked up and down in Oxford and Cambridge Terrace for
+some time--discussing the situation. The more I considered the matter,
+the more I was certain that my first theory was right--the Chinaman had
+got the diamond and the bank-notes. I was aware of these two Chinamen
+as tenants of Multenius's furnished house--as a matter of fact, I had
+been present, at the shop in Praed Street, on one of my two visits
+there when they concluded their arrangements with him. What I now
+thought was this--one of them had called on the old man to do some
+business, or to pay the rent, and had found him in a fit, or dead, as
+the result of one, had seen the diamond and the money on the table,
+placed there in readiness for Purvis's coming, and had possessed
+himself of both and made off. Purvis agreed with me. And--both Purvis
+and myself are well acquainted with the characteristic peculiarities,
+and idiosyncrasies of Chinamen!--we knew with what we had to deal.
+Therefore we knew what we had to do. We wanted the diamond and my
+money. And since we were uncomfortably aware of the craft and subtlety
+of the thief who'd got both we knew we should have to use craft
+ourselves--and of no common sort. Therefore we decided that the very
+last thing we should think of would be an immediate appeal to the
+police.
+
+"Now, you police officials may, nay, will!--say that we ought to have
+gone straight to you, especially as this was a case of murder. But we
+knew nothing about it being a case of murder. We had seen no signs of
+violence on the old man--I knew him to be very feeble, and I believed
+he had been suddenly struck over by paralysis, or something of that
+sort. I reckoned matters up, carefully. It was plain that Daniel
+Multenius had been left alone in house and shop--that his granddaughter
+was out on some errand or other. Therefore, no one knew of the diamond
+and the money. We did not want any one to know. If we had gone to the
+police and told our tale, the news would have spread, and would
+certainly have reached the Chinaman's ears. We knew well enough that if
+we were to get our property back the thief must not be alarmed--there
+must be nothing in the newspapers next morning. The Chinaman must not
+know that the real owners of the diamond and the bank-notes suspected
+him--he must not know that information about his booty was likely to be
+given to the police. He must be left to believe--for some hours at any
+rate--that what he had possessed himself of was the property of a dead
+man who could not tell anything. But there was my book in that dead
+man's parlour! It was impossible to go back and fetch it. It was
+equally impossible that it should not attract attention. Daniel
+Multenius's granddaughter, whom I believed to be a very sharp young
+woman, would notice it, and would know that it had come into the place
+during her absence. I thought hard over that problem--and finally I
+drafted an advertisement and sent it off to an agency with instructions
+to insert it in every morning newspaper in London next day. Why?
+Because I wanted to draw a red herring across the trail!--I wanted, for
+the time being, to set up a theory that some man or other had found
+that book in the omnibus, had called in at Multenius's to sell or pawn
+it, had found the old man alone, and had assaulted and robbed him. All
+this was with a view to hoodwinking the Chinaman. Anything must be
+done, anything!--to keep him ignorant that Purvis and I knew the real
+truth.
+
+"But--what did we intend to do? I tell you, not being aware that old
+Daniel Multenius had met his death by violence, we did not give one
+second's thought to that aspect and side of the affair--we concentrated
+on the recovery of our property. I knew the house in which these
+Chinese lived. That evening, Purvis and I went there. We have both been
+accustomed, in our time, to various secret dealings and manoeuvres, and
+we entered the grounds of that house without any one being the wiser.
+It did not take long to convince us that the house was empty. It
+remained empty that night--Purvis kept guard over it, in an outhouse in
+the garden. No one either entered or left it between our going to it
+and Purvis coming away from it next morning--he stayed there, watching
+until it was time to keep an appointment with me in Hyde Park. Before I
+met him, I had been called upon by Detective Ayscough, Mr. Rubinstein,
+and Mr. Lauriston--they know what I said to them. I could not at that
+time say anything else--I had my own concerns to think of.
+
+"When Purvis and I met we had another consultation, and we determined,
+in view of all the revelations which had come out and had been
+published in the papers, that the suspicion cast on young Mr. Lauriston
+was the very best thing that could happen for us; it would reassure our
+Chinaman. And we made up our minds that the house in Maida Vale would
+not be found untenanted that night, and we arranged to meet there at
+eleven o'clock. We felt so sure that our man would have read all the
+news in the papers, and would feel safe, and that we should find him.
+But, mark you, we had no idea as to which of the two Chinamen it was
+that we wanted. Of one fact, however, we were certain--whichever it was
+that I had seen slip round the corner of Iron Gate Wharf the previous
+day, whether it was Chang Li or Chen Li, he would have kept his secret
+to himself! The thing was--to get into that house; to get into
+conversation with both; to decide which was the guilty man, and
+then--to take our own course. We knew what to do--and we went fully
+prepared.
+
+"Now we come to this--our second visit to the house in Maida Vale. To
+be exact, it was between eleven and twelve on the second night after
+the disappearance of the diamond. As on the previous night, we gained
+access to the garden by the door at the back--that, on each occasion,
+was unfastened, while the gate giving access to the road in Maida Vale
+was securely locked. And, as on the previous night, we quickly found
+that up to then at any rate, the house was empty. But not so the
+garden! While I was looking round the further side of the house, Purvis
+took a careful look round the garden. And presently he came to me and
+drew away to the asphalted path which runs from the front gate to the
+front door. The moon had risen above the houses and trees--and in its
+light he pointed to bloodstains. It did not take a second look,
+gentlemen, to see that they were recent--in fact, fresh. Somebody had
+been murdered in that garden not many minutes--literally,
+minutes!--before our arrival. And within two minutes more we found the
+murdered man lying behind some shrubbery on the left of the path. I
+knew him for the younger of the two Chinese--the man called Chen Li.
+
+"This discovery, of course, made us aware that we were now face to face
+with a new development. We were not long in arriving at a conclusion
+about that. Chang Li had found out that his friend had become possessed
+of these valuable--he might have discovered the matter of the diamond,
+or of the bank-notes or both--how was immaterial. But we were
+convinced, putting everything together, that he had made this
+discovery, had probably laid in wait for Chen Li as he returned home
+that night, had run a knife into him as he went up the garden, had
+dragged the body into the shrubbery, possessed himself of the loot, and
+made off. And now we were face to face with what was going, as we knew,
+to be the stiffest part of our work--the finding of Chang Li. We set to
+work on that without a moment's delay.
+
+"I have told you that Purvis and I have a pretty accurate knowledge of
+Chinamen; we have both had deep and intimate experience of them and
+their ways. I, personally, know a good deal of the Chinese Colony in
+London: I have done business with Chinamen, both in London and South
+Africa, for years. I had a good idea of what Chang Li's procedure would
+be. He would hide--if need be, for months, until the first heat of the
+hue and cry which he knew would be sure to be raised, would have cooled
+down. There are several underground warrens--so to speak--in the East
+End, in which he could go to earth, comfortably and safely, until there
+was a chance of slipping out of the country unobserved. I know already
+of some of them. I would get to know of others.
+
+"Purvis and I got on that track--such as it was, at once. We went along
+to the East End there and then--before morning I had shaved off my
+beard and mustache, disguised myself in old clothes, and was beginning
+my work. First thing next morning I did two things--one was to cause a
+telegram to be sent from Spring Street to my butler explaining my
+probable absence; the other to secretly warn the Bank of England about
+the bank-notes. But I had no expectation that Chang Li would try to
+negotiate those--all his energies, I knew, would be concentrated on the
+diamond. Nevertheless, he might try--and would, if he
+tried--succeed--in changing one note, and it was as well to take that
+precaution.
+
+"Now then, next day, Purvis and I being, in our different ways, at work
+in the East End, we heard the news about the Praed Street tradesman,
+Parslett. That seemed to me remarkable proof of my theory. As the
+successive editions of the newspapers came out during that day, and
+next day, we learnt all about the Parslett affair. I saw through it at
+once. Parslett, being next-door neighbour to Daniel Multenius, had
+probably seen Chen Li--whom we now believed to have been the actual
+thief--slip away from Multenius's door, and, when the news of Daniel's
+death came out, had put two and two together, and, knowing where the
+Chinamen lived, had gone to the house in Maida Vale to blackmail them.
+I guessed what had happened then--Parslett, to quieten him for the
+moment, had been put off with fifty pounds in gold, and promised
+more--and he had also been skilfully poisoned in such a fashion that he
+would get safely away from the premises but die before he got home. And
+when he was safe away, Chang Li had murdered Chen Li, and made off.
+So--as I still think--all our theories were correct, and the only thing
+to do was to find Chang."
+
+But here Levendale paused, glanced at Stephen Purvis, and spread out
+his hands with a gesture which indicated failure and disappointment.
+His glance moved from Stephen Purvis to the police officials.
+
+"All no good!" he exclaimed. "It's useless to deny it. I have been in
+every Chinese den and haunt in East London--I'm certain that Chang Li
+is nowhere down there. I have spent money like water--employed Chinese
+and Easterns on whom I could depend--there isn't a trace of him! And
+so--we gave up last night. Purvis and I--baffled. We've come to you
+police people--"
+
+"You should have done that before, Mr. Levendale," said the Inspector
+severely. "You haven't given us much credit, I think, and if you'd told
+all this at first--"
+
+Before the Inspector could say more, a constable tapped at the door and
+put his head into the room. His eyes sought Ayscough.
+
+"There's a young gentleman--foreigner--asking for you, Mr. Ayscough,"
+he said. "Wants to see you at once--name of Mr. Yada."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
+
+
+YADA TAKES CHARGE
+
+Ayscough had only time to give a warning look and a word to the others
+before Mr. Mori Yada was ushered in. Every eye was turned on him as he
+entered--some of the men present looking at him with wonder, some with
+curiosity, two, at any rate--Levendale and Stephen Purvis--with doubt.
+But Yada himself was to all outward appearance utterly indifferent to
+the glances thrown in his direction: it seemed to John Purdie, who was
+remembering all he had heard the night before, that the young Japanese
+medical student was a singularly cool and self-possessed hand. Yada,
+indeed, might have been walking in on an assemblage of personal
+friends, specially gathered together in his honour. Melky Rubinstein,
+who was also watching him closely, noticed at once that he had
+evidently made a very careful toilet that morning. Yada's dark
+overcoat, thrown negligently open, revealed a smart grey lounge suit;
+in one gloved hand he carried a new bowler hat, in the other a
+carefully rolled umbrella. He looked as prosperous and as severely in
+mode as if no mysteries and underground affairs had power to touch him,
+and the ready smile with which he greeted Ayscough was ingenuous and
+candid enough to disarm the most suspicious.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Detective," he began, as he crossed the threshold
+and looked first at Ayscough and then at the ring of attentive faces.
+"I want to speak to you on that little affair of last night, you know.
+I suppose you are discussing it with these gentlemen? Well, perhaps I
+can now give you some information that will be useful."
+
+"Glad to hear anything, Mr. Yada," said Ayscough, who was striving hard
+to conceal his surprise. "Anything that you can tell us. You've heard
+something during the night, then?"
+
+Yada laughed pleasantly, showing his white teeth. He dropped into the
+chair which Ayscough pushed forward, and slowly drew off his gloves.
+
+"I assured myself of something last night--after you left me," he said,
+with a knowing look. "I used your card to advantage, Mr. Detective. I
+went to the mortuary."
+
+Ayscough contrived to signal to the Inspector to leave the talking to
+him. He put his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, assumed an
+easy attitude as he leaned against the door, and looked speculatively
+at the new comer.
+
+"Aye?--and what made you do that now, Mr. Yada?" he asked,
+half-carelessly. "A bit of curiosity, eh?"
+
+"Not idle curiosity, Mr. Detective," replied Yada. "I wanted to know,
+to make certain, which of the two Chinamen it really was who was
+there--dead. I saw him. Now I know. Chen Li!"
+
+"Well?" said Ayscough.
+
+Yada suddenly twisted round in his chair, and slowly glanced at the
+listening men on either side of the desk. They were cool, bold,
+half-insolent eyes which received face after face, showing no
+recognition of any until they encountered Melky Rubinstein's watchful
+countenance. And to Melky, Yada accorded a slight nod--and turned to
+Ayscough again.
+
+"Which," he asked calmly, "which of these gentlemen is the owner of the
+diamond? Which is the one who has lost eighty thousand pounds in
+bank-notes? That is what I want to know before I say more."
+
+In the silence which followed upon Ayscough's obvious doubt about
+answering this direct question, Levendale let out a sharp,
+half-irritable exclamation:
+
+"In God's name!" he said, "who is this young man? What does he know
+about the diamond and the money?"
+
+Yada turned and faced his questioner--and suddenly smiling, thrust his
+hand in his breast pocket and drew out a card-case. With a polite bow
+he handed a card in Levendale's direction.
+
+"Permit me, sir," he said suavely. "My card. As for the rest, perhaps
+Mr. Detective here will tell you."
+
+"It's this way, you see, Mr. Levendale," remarked Ayscough. "Acting on
+information received from Dr. Pittery, one of the junior house-surgeons
+at University College Hospital, who told me that Mr. Yada was a
+fellow-student of those two Chinese, and a bit of a friend of theirs, I
+called on Mr. Yada last night to make enquiries. And of course I had to
+tell him about the missing property--though to be sure, that's news
+that's common to everybody now--through the papers. And--what else have
+you to tell, Mr. Yada?"
+
+But Yada was watching Levendale--who, on his part, was just as narrowly
+watching Yada. The other men in the room watched these
+two--recognizing, as if by instinct, that from that moment matters lay
+between Levendale and Yada, and not between Yada and Ayscough. They
+were mutually inspecting and appraising each other, and in spite of
+their impassive faces, it was plain that each was wondering about his
+next move.
+
+It was Levendale who spoke first--spoke as if he and the young Japanese
+were the only people in the room, as if nothing else mattered. He bent
+forward to Yada.
+
+"How much do you know?" he demanded.
+
+Yada showed his white teeth again.
+
+"A plain--and a wide question, Mr. Levendale!" he answered, with a
+laugh. "I see that you are anxious to enlist my services. Evidently,
+you believe that I do know something. But--you are not the owner of the
+diamond! Which of these gentlemen is?"
+
+Levendale made a half impatient gesture towards Stephen Purvis, who
+nodded at Yada but remained silent.
+
+"He is!" said Levendale, testily. "But you--can do your talking to me.
+Again--how much do you know in this matter?"
+
+"Enough to make it worth your while to negotiate with me," answered
+Yada. "Is that as plain as your question?"
+
+"It's what I expected," said Levendale. "You want to sell your
+knowledge."
+
+"Well?" assented Yada, "I am very sure you are willing to purchase."
+
+Once more that duel of the eyes--and to John Purdie, who prided himself
+on being a judge of expressions, it was evident that the younger man
+was more than the equal of the older. It was Levendale who gave
+way--and when he took his eyes off Yada, it was to turn to Stephen
+Purvis.
+
+Stephen Purvis nodded his head once more--and growled a little.
+
+"Make terms with him!" he muttered. "Case of have to, I reckon!"
+
+Levendale turned once more to the Japanese, who smiled on him.
+
+"Look you here, Mr. Yada," said Levendale, "I don't know who you are
+beyond what I'm told--your card tells me nothing except that you
+live--lodge, I suppose--in Gower Street. You've got mixed up in this,
+somehow, and you've got knowledge to dispose of. Now, I don't buy
+unless I know first what it is I'm buying. So--let's know what you've
+got to sell?"
+
+Yada swept the room with a glance.
+
+"Before these gentlemen?" he asked. "In open market, eh?"
+
+"They're all either police, or detectives, or concerned," retorted
+Levendale. "There's no secret. I repeat--what have you got to sell?
+Specify it!"
+
+Yada lifted his hands and began to check off points on the tips of his
+fingers.
+
+"Three items, then, Mr. Levendale," he replied cheerfully. "First--the
+knowledge of who has got the diamond and the money. Second--the
+knowledge of where he is at this moment, and will be for some hours.
+Third--the knowledge of how you can successfully take him and recover
+your property. Three good, saleable items, I think--yes?"
+
+Purdie watched carefully for some sign of greed or avarice in the
+informer's wily countenance. To his surprise, he saw none. Instead,
+Yada assumed an almost sanctimonious air. He seemed to consider
+matters--though his answer was speedy.
+
+"I don't want to profit--unduly--by this affair," he said. "At the same
+time, from all I've heard, I'm rendering you and your friend a very
+important service, and I think it only fair that I should be
+remunerated. Give me something towards the expenses of my medical
+education, Mr. Levendale: give me five hundred pounds."
+
+With the briefest exchange of glances with Stephen Purvis, Levendale
+pulled out a cheque-book, dashed off a cash cheque, and handed it over
+to the Japanese, who slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"Now--your information!" said Levendale.
+
+"To be sure," replied Yada. "Very well. Chang Li has the diamond and
+the money. And he is at this moment where he has been for some days, in
+hiding. He is in a secret room at a place called Pilmansey's Tea Rooms,
+in Tottenham Court Road--a place much frequented by medical students
+from our college. The fact of the case is, Mr. Policeman, and the rest
+of you generally, there is a secret opium den at Pilmansey's, though
+nobody knows of it but a few frequenters. And there!--there you will
+find Chang Li."
+
+"You've seen him there?" demanded Levendale.
+
+"I saw him there during last night--I know him to be there--he will be
+there, either until you take him, or until his arrangements are made
+for getting out of this country," answered Yada.
+
+Levendale jumped up, as if for instant action. But the Inspector
+quietly tapped him on the elbow.
+
+"He promised to tell you how to take him, Mr. Levendale," he said.
+"Let's know all we can--we shall have to be in with you on this, you
+know."
+
+"Mr. Police-Inspector is right," said Yada. "You will have to conduct
+what you call a raid. Now, do precisely what I tell you to do.
+Pilmansey's is an old-fashioned place, a very old house as regards its
+architecture, on the right-hand side of Tottenham Court Road. Go there
+today--this mid-day--a little before one--when there are always plenty
+of customers. Go with plenty of your plain-clothes men, like Mr.
+Ayscough there. Drop in, don't you see, as if you were customers--let
+there be plenty of you, I repeat. There are two
+Pilmanseys--men--middle-aged, sly, smooth, crafty men. When you are all
+there, take your own lines--close the place, the doors, if you
+like--but get hold of the Pilmansey men, tell them you are police,
+insist on being taken to the top floor and shown their opium den. They
+will object, they will lie, they will resist--you will use your own
+methods. But--in that opium den you will find Chang Li--and your
+property!"
+
+He had been drawing on his gloves as he spoke, and now, picking up his
+hat and umbrella, Yada bowed politely to the circle and moved to the
+door.
+
+"You will excuse me, now?" he said. "I have an important lecture at the
+medical school which I must not miss. I shall be at Pilmansey's,
+myself, a little before one--please oblige me by not taking any notice
+of me. I do not want to figure--actively--in your business."
+
+Then he was gone--and the rest of them were so deeply taken with the
+news which he had communicated that no one noticed that just before
+Yada fastened his last glove-button, Melky Rubinstein slipped from his
+corner and glided quietly out of the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
+
+
+PILMANSEY'S TEA ROOMS
+
+Two hours later, it being then a quarter-to-one o'clock, Purdie and
+Lauriston got out of a taxi-cab at the north-end of Tottenham Court
+Road and walked down the right-hand side of that busy thoroughfare,
+keeping apparently careless but really vigilant eyes open for a first
+glimpse of the appointed rendezvous. But Pilmansey's Tea Rooms required
+little searching out. In the midst of the big modern warehouses,
+chiefly given up to furniture and upholstery, there stood at that time
+a block of old property which was ancient even for London. The
+buildings were plainly early eighteenth century: old redbrick erections
+with narrow windows in the fronts and dormer windows in the high,
+sloping roofs. Some of them were already doomed to immediate
+dismantlement; the tenants had cleared out, there were hoardings raised
+to protect passers-by from falling masonry, and bills and posters on
+the threatened walls announced that during the rebuilding, business
+would be carried on as usual at some other specified address. But
+Pilmansey's, so far, remained untouched, and the two searchers saw that
+customers were going in and out, all unaware that before evening their
+favourite resort for a light mid-day meal would attain a fame and
+notoriety not at all promised by its very ordinary and commonplace
+exterior.
+
+"An excellent example of the truth of the old saying that you should
+never judge by appearances, Andie, my man!" remarked Purdie, as they
+took a quick view of the place. "Who'd imagine that crime, dark
+secrets, and all the rest of it lies concealed behind this?--behind the
+promise of tea and muffins, milk and buns! It's a queer world, this
+London!--you never know what lies behind any single bit of the whole
+microcosm. But let's see what's to be seen inside."
+
+The first thing to be seen inside the ground floor room into which they
+stepped was the man from New Scotland Yard, who, in company with
+another very ordinary-looking individual was seated at a little table
+just inside the entrance, leisurely consuming coffee and beef
+sandwiches. He glanced at the two men as if he had never seen them in
+his life, and they, preserving equally stolid expressions with credit
+if not with the detective's ready and trained ability, passed further
+on--only to recognize Levendale and Stephen Purvis, who had found
+accommodation in a quiet corner half-way down the room. They, too,
+showed no signs of recognition, and Purdie, passing by them, steered
+his companion to an unoccupied table and bade him be seated.
+
+"Let's get our bearings," he whispered as they dropped into their
+seats. "Looks as innocent and commonplace within as it appeared
+without, Andie. But use your eyes--it ought to make good copy for you,
+this."
+
+Lauriston glanced about him. The room in which they sat was a long,
+low-ceiling apartment, extending from the street door to a sort of
+bar-counter at the rear, beyond which was a smaller room that was
+evidently given up to store and serving purposes. On the counter were
+set out provisions--rounds of beef, hams, tongues, bread, cakes,
+confectionery; behind it stood two men whom the watchers at once set
+down as the proprietors. Young women, neatly gowned in black and
+wearing white caps and aprons, flitted to and fro between the counter
+and the customers. As for the customers they were of both sexes, and
+the larger proportion of them young. There was apparently no objection
+to smoking at Pilmansey's--a huge cloud of blue smoke ascended from
+many cigarettes, and the scent of Turkish tobacco mingled with the
+fragrance of freshly-ground coffee. It was plain that Pilmansey's was
+the sort of place wherein you could get a good sandwich, good tea or
+coffee, smoke a cigarette or two, and idle away an hour in light
+chatter with your friends between your morning and afternoon labours.
+
+But Lauriston's attention was mainly directed to the two men who stood
+behind the bar-counter, superintending and directing their neat
+assistants. Sly, smooth, crafty men--so they had been described by Mr.
+Mori Yada: Lauriston's opinion coincided with that of the Japanese, on
+first, outer evidence and impression. They were middle-aged, plump men
+who might be, and probably were, twins, favouring mutton chop whiskers,
+and good linen and black neckcloths--they might have been strong,
+highly-respectable butlers. Each had his coat off; each wore a spotless
+linen apron; each wielded carving knives and forks; each was busy in
+carving plates of ham or tongue or beef; each contrived, while thus
+engaged, to keep his sharp, beady eyes on the doings in the room in
+front of the counter. Evidently a well-to-do, old-established business,
+this, and highly prosperous men who owned it: Lauriston wondered that
+they should run any risks by hiding away a secret opium den somewhere
+on their ancient premises.
+
+In the midst of their reflections one of the waitresses came to the
+table at which the two friends sat: Lauriston quicker of wit than
+Purdie in such matters immediately ordered coffee and sandwiches and
+until they came, lighted a cigarette and pretended to be at ease,
+though he was inwardly highly excited.
+
+"It's as if one were waiting for an explosion to take place!" he
+muttered to Purdie. "Even now I don't know what's going to happen."
+
+"Here's Ayscough, anyway," said Purdie. "He looks as if nothing was
+about to happen."
+
+Ayscough, another man with him, was making his way unconcernedly down
+the shop. He passed the man from New Scotland Yard without so much as a
+wink: he ignored Levendale and Stephen Purvis; he stared blankly at
+Purdie and Lauriston, and led his companion to two vacant seats near
+the counter. And they had only just dropped into them when in came Mr.
+Killick, with John Purvis and Guyler and slipped quietly into seats in
+the middle of the room. Here then, said Lauriston to himself, were
+eleven men, all in a secret--and there were doubtless others amongst
+the company whom he did not know.
+
+"But where's Melky Rubinstein?" he whispered suddenly. "I should have
+thought he'd have turned up--he's been so keen on finding things out."
+
+"There's time enough yet," answered Purdie. "It's not one. I don't see
+the Jap, either. But--here's the Inspector--done up in plain clothes."
+
+The Inspector came in with a man whom neither Purdie nor Lauriston had
+ever seen before--a quietly but well-dressed man about whom there was a
+distinct air of authority. They walked down the room to a table near
+the counter, ordered coffee and lighted cigarettes--and the two young
+Scotsmen, watching them closely, saw that they took a careful look
+round as if to ascertain the strength of their forces. And suddenly, as
+Lauriston was eating his second sandwich, the Inspector rose, quietly
+walked to the counter and bending over it, spoke to one of the
+white-aproned men behind.
+
+"The game's begun!" whispered Lauriston. "Look!"
+
+But Purdie's eyes were already fixed on the Pilmanseys, whom he
+recognized as important actors in the drama about to be played. One of
+them slightly taller, slightly greyer than the other, was leaning
+forward to the Inspector, and was evidently amazed at what was being
+said to him, for he started, glanced questioningly at his visitor,
+exchanged a hurried word or two with him and then turned to his
+brother. A second later, both men laid down their great knives and
+forks, left their counter, and beckoned the Inspector to follow them
+into a room at the rear of the shop. And the Inspector in his turn,
+beckoned Ayscough with a mere glance, and Ayscough in his, made an
+inviting movement to the rest of the party.
+
+"Come on!" said Purdie. "Let's hear what's happening."
+
+The proprietors of the tea-rooms had led the Inspector and the man who
+was with him into what was evidently a private room--and when Lauriston
+and Purdie reached the door they were standing on the hearth rug, side
+by side, each in a very evident state of amazement, staring at a
+document which the Inspector was displaying to them. They looked up
+from it to glance with annoyance, at the other men who came quietly and
+expectantly crowding into the room.
+
+"More of your people?" asked the elder man, querulously. "Look here,
+you know!--we don't see the need for all this fuss, not for your
+interrupting our business in this way! One or two of you, surely, would
+have been enough without bringing a troop of people on to our
+premises--all this is unnecessary!"
+
+"You'll allow us to be the best judge of what's necessary and what
+isn't, Mr. Pilmansey," retorted the Inspector. "There'll be no fuss, no
+bother--needn't be, anyway, if you tell us what we want to know, and
+don't oppose us in what we've got power to do. Here's a
+warrant--granted on certain information--to search your premises. If
+you'll let us do that quietly."
+
+"But for what reason?" demanded the younger man. "Our premises, indeed!
+Been established here a good hundred years, and never a word against
+us. What do you want to search for?"
+
+"I'll tell you that at once," answered the Inspector. "We want a young
+Chinaman, one Chang Li, who, we are informed, is concealed here, and
+has valuable stolen property on him. Now, then, do you know anything
+about him? Is he here?"
+
+The two men exchanged glances. For a moment they remained silent--then
+the elder man spoke, running his eye over the expectant faces watching
+him.
+
+"Before I say any more," he answered, "I should just like to know where
+you got your information from?"
+
+"No!" replied the Inspector, firmly. "I shan't tell you. But I'll tell
+you this much--this Chang Li is wanted on a very serious charge as it
+is, and we may charge him with something much more serious. We've
+positive information that he's here--and I'm only giving you sound
+advice when I say that if he is here, you'll do well to show us where
+he is. Now, come, Mr. Pilmansey, is he here?"
+
+The elder Pilmansey shook his head--but the shake was more one of doubt
+than of denial.
+
+"I can't say," he answered. "He might be."
+
+"What's that mean?" demanded the Inspector. "Might be? Surely you know
+who's in your own house!"
+
+"No!" said the elder man, "I can't say. It's this way--we've a certain
+number of foreigners come here. There are few--just a few--Chinese and
+Japanese--medical students, you know. Now, some time ago--a couple of
+years ago--some of them asked us if we couldn't let them have three or
+four rooms at the top of the house in which to start a sort of little
+club of their own, so that they could have a place for their meetings,
+you understand. They were all quiet, very respectable young fellows--so
+we did. They have the top floor of this house. They furnished and
+fitted it up themselves. There's a separate entrance--at the side of
+the shop. Each of them has a latch-key of his own. So they can go in
+and out as they like--they never bother us. But, as a matter of fact,
+there are only four or five of them who are members now--the others
+have all left. That's the real truth--and I tell you I don't know if
+Mr. Chang Li might be up there or not. We know nothing about what they
+do in their rooms--they're only our tenants."
+
+"Let me ask you one question," said the Inspector, "Have either of you
+ever been in those rooms since you let them to these people!"
+
+"No!" answered the elder man. "Neither of us--at anytime!"
+
+"Then," commanded the Inspector, "I'll thank you to come up with us to
+them--now!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
+
+
+CHANG LI
+
+Not without some grumbling as to waste of time and interference with
+business, the Pilmansey brothers led the way to a side door which
+opened into a passage that ran along the side of the shop and from
+whence a staircase rose to the upper regions of the house. The elder
+pointed, significantly, to the street door at the end.
+
+"You'll take notice that these young fellows I told you of get to the
+rooms we let them through that?" he observed. "That door's always
+locked--they all have latch-keys to it. They never come through the
+shop--we've nothing to do with them, and we don't know anything about
+whatever they may do in their rooms--all we're concerned with is that
+they pay their rent and behave themselves. And quiet enough they've
+always been--we've had no reason to complain."
+
+"And, as they all have latch-keys, I suppose they can get into the
+place at any hour of the day--or night?" suggested the Inspector.
+"There's no bar against them coming here at night?"
+
+"They can come in--and go out--whenever they please," answered the
+elder man. "I tell you we've nothing to do with them--except as their
+landlords."
+
+"Where do you live--yourselves?" asked the Inspector. "On these
+premises?"
+
+"No, we don't," replied the younger brother, who, of the two, had
+showed the keenest, if most silent, resentment at the police
+proceedings. "We live--elsewhere. This establishment is opened at eight
+in the morning, and closed at seven in the evening. We're never here
+after seven--either of us."
+
+"So that you never see anything of these foreigners at night-time?"
+asked the Inspector. "Don't know what they do, I suppose?"
+
+"We never see anything of 'em at any time," said the elder brother. "As
+you see, this passage and staircase is outside the shop. We know
+nothing whatever about them beyond what I've told you."
+
+"Well--take us up, and we'll see what we can find out," commanded the
+Inspector. "We're going to examine those rooms, Mr. Pilmansey, so we'll
+get it done at once."
+
+The intervening rooms between the lower and the top floors of the old
+house appeared to be given up to stores--the open doors revealed casks,
+cases, barrels, piles of biscuit and confectionery boxes--nothing to
+conceal there, decided the lynx-eyed men who trooped up the dingy
+stairs after the grumbling proprietors. But the door on the top floor
+was closed--and when Ayscough turned its handle he found it to be
+locked from within.
+
+"They've keys of their own for that, too," remarked the younger
+Pilmansey. "I don't see how you're going to get in, if there's nobody
+inside."
+
+"We're going in there whether there's anybody or not," said the
+Inspector. "Knock, Ayscough!--knock loudly!"
+
+The group of men gathered behind the leaders, and filling the whole of
+the lobby outside the closed door, waited, expectant and excited, in
+the silence which followed on Ayscough's loud beating on the upper
+panel. A couple of minutes went by: the detective knocked again, more
+insistently. And suddenly, and silently, the door was opened--first, an
+inch or two, then a little wider, and as Ayscough slipped a stoutly
+booted foot inside the crack a yellow face, lighted by a pair of
+narrow-slitted dark eyes, looked out--and immediately vanished.
+
+"In with you!" said the Inspector. "Careful, now!"
+
+Ayscough pushed the door open and walked in, the rest crowding on his
+heels. And Purdie, who was one of the foremost to enter, was
+immediately cognizant of two distinct odours--one, the scent of
+fragrant tea, the other of a certain heavy, narcotic something which
+presently overpowered the fragrance of the tea and left an acid and
+bitter taste.
+
+"Opium," he whispered to Lauriston, who was close at his elbow. "Opium!
+Smell it?"
+
+But Lauriston was more eyes than nose just then. He, like the rest of
+his companions, was staring at the scene on which they had entered. The
+room was of a good size--evidently, from its sloping ceilings, part of
+the attic story of the old house. The walls were hung with soft,
+clinging, Oriental draperies and curtains; a few easy chairs of
+wickerwork, a few small tables of like make, were disposed here and
+there: there was an abundance of rugs and cushions: in one corner a
+gas-stove was alight, and on it stood a kettle, singing merrily.
+
+The young man who had opened the door had retreated towards this stove;
+Purdie noticed that in one hand he held a small tea-pot. And in the
+left-hand corner, bent over a little table, and absorbed in their game,
+sat two other young men, correctly attired in English clothes, but
+obviously Chinese from their eyebrows to their toes, playing chess.
+
+The holder of the tea-pot cast a quick glance at the disturbance of
+this peaceful scene, and set down his tea-pot; the chess-players looked
+up for one second, showed not the faintest sign of perturbation--and
+looked down again. Then the man of the tea-pot spoke--one word.
+
+"Yes?" he said.
+
+"The fact is, Mister," said the elder Pilmansey, "these are
+police-officers. They want one of your friends--Mr. Chang Li."
+
+The three occupants of the room appeared to pay no attention. The
+chess-players went on playing; the other man reached for a canister,
+and mechanically emptied tea out of it into his pot.
+
+"Shut and lock that door, Ayscough," said the Inspector. "Let somebody
+stand by it. Now," he continued, turning to the three Chinese, "is one
+of you gentlemen Mr. Chang Li?"
+
+"No!" replied one of the chess-players. "Not one of us!"
+
+"Is he here?" demanded the Inspector. Then seeing that he was to be met
+by Oriental impassivity, he turned to the Pilmanseys. "What other rooms
+are there here?" he asked.
+
+"Two," answered the elder brother, pointing to the curtains at the rear
+of the room. "One there--the other there. Behind those hangings--two
+smaller rooms."
+
+The Inspector strode forward and tore the curtains aside. He flung open
+the first of the doors--and started back, catching his breath.
+
+"Phew!" he said.
+
+The heavy, narcotic odour which Purdie had noticed at once on entering
+the rooms came afresh, out of the newly-opened door, in a thick wave.
+And as the rest of them crowded after the Inspector, they saw why. This
+was a small room, hung like the first one with curiously-figured
+curtains, and lighted only by a sky-light, over which a square of blue
+stuff had been draped. In the subdued life they saw that there was
+nothing in that room but a lounge well fitted with soft cushions and
+pillows--and on it, his spare figure wrapped in a loose gown, lay a
+young Chinaman, who, as the foremost advanced upon him, blinked in
+their wondering faces out of eyes the pupils of which were still
+contracted. Near him lay an opium pipe--close by, on a tiny stand, the
+materials for more consumption of the drug.
+
+The man who had accompanied the Inspector in his entrance to the
+tea-shop strode forward and seized the recumbent figure by the
+shoulder, shaking him gently.
+
+"Now then!" he said, sharply, "wake up, my man! Are you Chang Li?"
+
+The glazed eyes lifted themselves a little wonderingly; the dry lips
+moved.
+
+"Yes," he muttered. "Chang Li--yes. You want me?"
+
+"How long have you been here?" demanded the questioner.
+
+"How long--yes? Oh--I don't know. What do you want?" asked Chang Li. "I
+don't know you."
+
+The tea-maker thrust his head inside the room.
+
+"He can't tell you anything," he said, with a grin. "He has been--what
+you call on the break-out--with opium--ever so many days. He
+has--attacks that way. Takes a fit of it--just as some of your people
+take to the drink. He's coming out of it, now--and he'll be very, very
+unhappy tomorrow."
+
+The Inspector twisted round on the informant.
+
+"Look here!" he said. "Do you know how long he's been here--stupifying
+himself? Is it a day--or days?"
+
+One of the chess-players lifted a stolid face.
+
+"He has been here--like that--several days," he said. "It's useless
+trying to do anything with him when he takes the fit--the craving, you
+understand?--into his head. If you want any information out of him,
+you'd better call again in a few hours."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me he's been here--like that--several days?"
+demanded the Inspector.
+
+The young man with the tea-pot grinned again.
+
+"He's never been at a class at the medical school since the 17th," he
+announced. "I know that--he's in some classes with me. He's been
+here--all the time since then."
+
+The Inspector turned sharply on Ayscough.
+
+"The 17th!" he exclaimed. "And that affair was on the 18th! Then--"
+
+Chang Li was fumbling in a pocket of his gown. He found something
+there, raised a hand to his lips, swallowed something. And in a few
+seconds, as his eyes grew brighter, he turned a suspicious and sullen
+glance on the group which stood watching him.
+
+"What do you want?" he growled. "Who are you?"
+
+"We want some information from you," said the Inspector. "When did you
+last see your brother, or friend, or whatever he is--Chen Li?"
+
+Chang Li shook his head--it was obvious that he had no clear
+recollection.
+
+"Don't know," he answered. "Perhaps just now--perhaps tomorrow--perhaps
+not for a long time."
+
+"When were you last at home--in Maida Vale?" asked the Inspector.
+
+But Chang Li gave no answer to that beyond a frown, and it was evident
+that as his wits cleared his temper was becoming ugly. He began to look
+round with more intelligence, scanning one face after another with
+growing dislike, and presently he muttered certain observations to
+himself which, though not in English, sounded anything but
+complimentary to those who watched him. And Ayscough suddenly turned to
+the superior officials.
+
+"If this man's been here ever since the 17th," he said, "he can't have
+had anything to do with the affairs in Praed Street and Maida Vale!
+Supposing, now--I'm only supposing--that young Jap's been lying all the
+time?" He turned again--this time on the two chess-players, who had now
+interrupted their game and were leaning back in their chairs, evidently
+amused at the baffled faces of the searchers. "Here!" he said, "do you
+know one Yada--Mori Yada--a Japanese? Is he one of you?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" answered one of the chess-players. "Yada,--yes! We know
+him--a very smart fellow, Yada. You know him--too?"
+
+But before Ayscough could reply to this somewhat vexatious question, a
+man who had been left in the tearooms came hurrying up the staircase
+and burst in upon them. He made straight for the Inspector.
+
+"Man from the office, sir, outside in a taxi!" he exclaimed
+breathlessly. "You're on the wrong track--you're to get to Multenius's
+shop in Praed Street at once. The real man's there!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
+
+
+THE JEW AND THE JAP
+
+When Melky Rubinstein slipped quietly out of the police-station, he
+crossed the street, and taking up a position just within a narrow alley
+on the other side, set himself to watch the door which he had just
+quitted. There was a deep design in his mind, and he meant to carry it
+out--alone.
+
+Mr. Mori Yada, apparently as cool and unconcerned as ever, presently
+tripped down the steps of the police-station and went leisurely off,
+swinging his neatly rolled umbrella. As long as he was within sight of
+the police-station windows he kept up the same gentle pace--but as soon
+as he had turned the first corner his steps were quickened, and he made
+for a spot to which Melky had expected him to make--a cab-rank, on
+which two or three taxi-cabs were drawn up. He had reached the first,
+and was addressing the driver, when Melky, who had kept a few yards in
+the rear, stole gently up to his side and tapped him on the shoulder.
+
+"Mister!" said Melky. "A word--in private!"
+
+Yada turned on his interrupter with the swiftness of a snake, and for a
+second his white teeth showed themselves in an unmistakable snarl, and
+a savage gleam came into his dark eyes. Both snarl and gleam passed as
+quickly as they had come, and the next instant he was smiling--as
+blandly as ever.
+
+"Oh, yes!" he said. "It is you--how do you do? Perhaps you are going my
+way--I can give you a lift--Yes?"
+
+Melky drew his man away a yard or two, and lowered his voice to a
+whisper.
+
+"Mister!" he said, with a note of deep confidence which made Yada look
+at him with a sudden sense of fear. "Mister!--I wouldn't go no way at
+all if I was you--just now. You're in danger, mister--you shoved your
+head into the lions' den when you walked in where I've just seen you!
+Deep, deep is them fellows, mister!--they're having you on toast. I
+know where you're thinking of going, mister, in that cab. Don't
+go--take my tip!"
+
+"How do you know where I'm going?" demanded Yada.
+
+"I was looking over Levendale's shoulder when he wrote that bit of a
+cheque, mister," answered Melky, in his quietest accents. "You're off
+to his bank to turn it into cash. And--if you walk into that
+bank--well, you'll never walk out again, alone! Mister!--they're going
+to collar you there--there's a trap laid for you!"
+
+Melky was watching Yada's face out of his own eye-corners, and he saw
+the olive-tinted skin pale a little, and the crafty eyes contract. And
+on the instant he pursued his tactics and his advantage. He had
+purposely steered the Japanese into a more crowded part of the street,
+and now he edged him into a bye-alley which led to a rookery of narrow
+bye-streets beyond. He felt that Yada was yielding--oppressed by a fear
+of the unknown. But suddenly Yada paused--drawing back from the hand
+which Melky had kept on his arm.
+
+"What are you after?" he demanded. "What is your game, eh? You think to
+alarm me!--what do you want?"
+
+"Nothing unreasonable, mister," answered Melky. "You'll easily satisfy
+me. Game? Come, now, mister--I know your game! Bank first--to get some
+ready--then somewhere to pick up a bit of luggage--then, a railway
+station. That's it, ain't it, now? No blooming good, mister--they're
+ready for you the minute you walk into that bank! If they don't take
+you then, they'll only wait to follow you to the station. Mister!--you
+ain't a cat's chance!--you're done--if you don't make it worth my while
+to help you! See?"
+
+Yada looked round, doubtfully. They had turned two or three corners by
+that time, and were in a main street, which lay at the back of Praed
+Street. He glanced at Melky's face--which suggested just then nothing
+but cunning and stratagem.
+
+"What can you do for me?" he asked. "How much do you want? You want
+money, eh?"
+
+"Make it a hundred quid, mister," said Melky. "Just a hundred of the
+best, and I'll put you where all the police in London won't find you
+for the rest of today, and get you out of it at night in such a fashion
+that you'll be as safe as if you was at home. You won't never see your
+home in Japan, again, mister, if you don't depend on yours truly! And a
+hundred ain't nothing--considering what you've got at stake."
+
+"I haven't a hundred pounds to give you," answered Yada. "I have
+scarcely any money but this cheque."
+
+"In course you ain't, mister!" agreed Melky. "I twigged your game
+straight off--you only came there to the police-station to put yourself
+in funds for your journey! But that's all right!--you come along of me,
+and let me put you in safety--then you give me that cheque--I'll get it
+cashed in ten minutes without going to any banks--see? Friend o' mine
+hereabouts--he'll cash it at his bank close by--anybody'll cash a
+cheque o' Levendale's. Come on, now, mister. We're close to that little
+port o' refuge I'm telling you about."
+
+The bluff was going down--Melky felt, as much as saw, that Yada was
+swallowing it in buckets. And he slipped his hand within his
+companion's arm, piloted him along the street, across Praed Street,
+round the back of the houses into the narrow passage which communicated
+with the rear of the late Daniel Multenius's premises, and in at the
+little door which opened on the parlour wherein so many events had
+recently taken place.
+
+"Where are you taking me?" asked Yada, suspiciously, as they crossed
+the threshold.
+
+"All serene, mister!" answered Melky, reassuringly. "Friend o' mine
+here--my cousin. All right--and all secure. You're as safe here as you
+will be in your grave, mister--s'elp me, you are! Zillah!"
+
+Zillah walked into the parlour and justified Melky's supreme confidence
+in her by showing no surprise or embarrassment. She gave Yada the
+merest glance, and turned to Melky.
+
+"Bit o' business with this young gentleman, Zillah," said Melky. "That
+little room, upstairs, now--what?" "Oh, all right!" said Zillah,
+indifferently. "You know your way--you'll be quiet enough there."
+
+Melky signed to Yada to follow him, and led the way up the stairs to
+the very top of the house. He conducted the Japanese into the small
+room in which were some ancient moth-and-worm-eaten bits of furniture,
+an old chest or two, and a plenitude of dust--and carefully closed the
+door when he and his captive had got inside.
+
+"Now, mister!" he said, "you're as safe here as you could be in any
+spot in the wide world. Let's get to business--and let's understand
+each other. You want that cheque turned into cash--you want to get out
+of London tonight? All right--then hand over your cheque and keep quiet
+till I come back. Is there anything else now--any bit of luggage you
+want?"
+
+"You do all this if I pay you one hundred pounds?" asked Yada.
+
+"That'll do me, mister," answered Melky. "I'm a poor fellow, d'ye
+see?--I don't pick up a hundred quid every day, I assure you! So if
+there is anything--"
+
+"A suit-case--at the luggage office at Oxford Circus Tube," said Yada.
+"I must have it--papers, you understand. If you will get me that--"
+
+"Give me the ticket--and that cheque," said Melky. He slipped the two
+bits of paper into his pocket, and made for the door. "I'll turn the
+key outside," he said. "You'll be safer. Make yourself comfortable,
+mister--I'll be back in an hour with the money and the goods."
+
+Two minutes later Melky confronted Zillah in the parlour and grinned at
+her. Zillah regarded him suspiciously.
+
+"What's this, Melky?" she demanded. "What're you up to?"
+
+"Zillah!" said Melky, "you'll be proud of your cousin, Melky
+Rubinstein, before ever it's dinner-time--you will do, Zillah! And in
+the meantime, keep your counsel, Zillah, while he fetches a nice large
+policeman."
+
+"Is that Japanese locked in that little room?" asked Zillah.
+
+Melky tapped the side of his nose, and without a word looked out into
+the street. A policeman, large enough for all practical purposes, was
+lounging along the side-walk; another, equally bulky, was looking into
+a shop-window twenty yards away across the street. Within a couple of
+minutes Melky had both in the back-parlour and was giving them and
+Zillah a swift but particular account of his schemes.
+
+"You're sure you're right, Melky?" asked Zillah. "You're not making any
+mistake?"
+
+"Mistake!" exclaimed Melky, satirically. "You'll see about that in a
+minute! Now," he added, turning to the policemen, "you come quietly
+up--and do exactly what I've told you. We'll soon know about mistakes,
+Zillah!"
+
+Yada, left to himself, had spent his time in gazing out of the dirty
+window of his prison. There was not much of a prospect. The window
+commanded the various backyards of that quarter. As if to consider any
+possible chance of escape, he looked out. There was a projection
+beneath him, a convenient water-pipe--he might make a perilous descent,
+if need arose. But, somehow, he believed in that little Jew: he
+believed, much more, in the little Jew's greed for a hundred pounds of
+ready money. The little Jew with the cunning smile had seen his chance
+of making a quiet penny, and had taken it--it was all right, said Yada,
+all right. And yet, there was one horrible thought--supposing, now that
+Melky had got the cheque, that he cashed it and made off with all the
+money, never to return?
+
+On top of that thought, Melky did return--much sooner than Yada had
+expected. He opened the door and beckoned the prisoner out into the
+dark lobby at the top of the stairs.
+
+"Come here a minute, mister," said Melky, invitingly. "Just a word!"
+
+Yada, all unsuspecting, stepped out--and found his arms firmly gripped
+by two bulky policemen. The policemen were very quiet--but Melky
+laughed gleefully while Yada screamed and cursed him. And while he
+laughed Melky went through his prisoner's pockets in a knowing and
+skilful fashion, and when he had found what he expected to find, he
+made his helpers lock Yada up again, and taking them downstairs to the
+parlour laid his discoveries on the table before them and Zillah. There
+was a great orange-yellow diamond in various folds of tissue-paper, and
+a thick wad of bank-notes, with an indiarubber band round them.
+
+These valuables lay, carelessly displayed, on the table when the party
+from Pilmansey's Tea Rooms came tumbling into the shop and the parlour,
+an hour later. Melky was calmly smoking a cigar--and he went on smoking
+it as he led the Inspector and his men upstairs to the prisoner. He
+could not deprive himself of the pleasure of a dig at Ayscough.
+
+"Went one better than you again, Mr. Ayscough," he said, as he laid his
+hand on the key of the locked room. "Now if I hadn't seen through my
+young gentleman--"
+
+But there, as Melky threw open the door, his words of assurance came to
+an end. His face dropped as he stared into an empty room. Yada had
+risked his neck, and gone down the water-pipe.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
+
+
+THE DIAMOND NECKLACE
+
+For the better part of a fortnight the sleuth-hounds of New Scotland
+Yard hunted for Mr. Mori Yada in all the likely and unlikely places in
+London and sent out their enquiries much further afield. They failed to
+find him. One small clue they got, with little difficulty. After the
+hue-and-cry was fairly out, an Edgware Road pawnbroker came forward and
+informed the police that at two o'clock, or thereabouts, on the
+afternoon of the day on which Yada had made his escape from the window,
+a young Japanese gentleman who gave his name as Mr. Motono and his
+address at a small hotel close by and who volunteered the explanation
+that he was temporarily short of cash until a remittance arrived, had
+borrowed five pounds from him on a pearl tie-pin which he had drawn
+from his cravat. That was Yada, without a doubt--but from that point
+Yada vanished.
+
+But hunger is the cleverest detective, and at the end of the fortnight,
+certain officials of the Japanese embassy in London found themselves
+listening to a strange tale from the fugitive, who had come to the end
+of his loan, had nowhere to turn and no one but the representatives of
+his nation to whom he could appeal. Yada told a strange tale--and all
+the stranger because, as the police officials who were called in to
+hear it anew recognized that there was probably some truth in it. It
+amounted, when all was heard, to this--Yada was willing to confess that
+for a few days he had been a successful thief, but he stoutly denied
+that he was a murderer.
+
+This was his story:--On the 18th November, in the evening, he was at
+the club which housed itself in Pilmansey's attic. There he saw Chang
+Li, who, according to the other members who were there, was beginning
+one of his periodic fits of opium smoking, and had been in the inner
+room, stupifying himself, since the previous day. Yada knew that it was
+highly necessary that Chang Li should be in attendance at certain
+classes at the medical school during the next few days, and tried to
+rouse him out of his debauch, with no result. Next day, the 19th, he
+went to Pilmansey's again--Chang Li was still in the realms of bliss
+and likely to stop there until he had had enough of them. For two days
+nobody at the club nor at the school had seen Chen Li--and Chen Li was
+the only person who could do anything with Chang. So, late that night
+of the 19th November, Yada went up to Maida Vale, taking Chang Li's
+keys with him. He admitted himself to garden and house and found the
+house empty. But just as he was entering the front door he heard the
+voice of Chen Li at the garden gate; he also heard the voice of an
+Englishman. Also he caught something of what that Englishman said. He
+was telling Chen Li that he'd better take him, the Englishman, inside,
+and settle with him--or things would be all the worse. And at that, he,
+Yada, had slipped into the house, quietly closed the front door behind
+him, gone into the front room, hidden himself behind a curtain and
+waited.
+
+Into that front room, Chen Li had presently conducted a man. He was,
+said Yada, a low-class Englishman--what is called a Cockney. He had
+begun to threaten Chen Li at once. He told his tale. He was, said this
+fellow, next door neighbour to Mr. Daniel Multenius, in Praed Street,
+Chen Li's landlord: his name, if Chen Li wanted to know it, was
+Parslett, fruitier and green-grocer, and it was there, bold as brass,
+over his shop-door, for him or anybody to look at. He had a side-door
+to his house: that side-door was exactly opposite a side-door in Mr.
+Multenius's house, opening into his back-parlour. Now, the previous
+afternoon, he, Parslett, had had a consignment of very fine mushrooms
+sent in--rare things at that time of year--and knowing that the old man
+had a great taste for them and didn't mind what price he paid, he
+stepped across with a dish of them to tempt him. He found Mr. Multenius
+in his parlour--he was counting a lot of bank-notes--they must, said
+Parslett, have represented a large sum. The old man bade him leave the
+mushrooms, said he'd send him the money across presently, and motioned
+him out. Parslett put the dish of mushrooms aside on a chiffonier and
+went away. Somewhat later, chancing to be at his front door and looking
+out into the street, he saw Chen Li open the door of Multenius's shop
+and go swiftly away. Half-an-hour after that he heard that something
+had happened at Multenius's--later in the evening he heard definitely
+that the old man had been assaulted under circumstances which pointed
+to murder for the sake of robbery. And then he, Parslett, now put two
+and two together--and had fixed on Chen Li as the culprit. And now--how
+much was Chen Li going to pay for silence?
+
+According to Yada, Chen Li had had little to say--his chief anxiety,
+indeed, had been to find out what the man wanted. Parslett was definite
+enough about that. He wanted a thousand pounds--and he wanted it in
+gold, and as much of it as Chen Li could hand out there and then. He
+refused to believe that Chen Li hadn't gold in considerable quantity
+somewhere about--he must, said Parslett, have changed some of those
+notes since he had stolen them the previous day. Chen Li protested that
+he had but some fifty or sixty pounds in gold available--but he
+promised to have the rest of the thousand ready on the following
+evening. Finally, he handed Parslett fifty pounds, arranged that he
+should call the next night--and then invited him to take a drink.
+Parslett pocketed the money and accepted the invitation--and Yada, from
+his hiding-place, saw Chen Li go to the sideboard, mix whisky and soda
+and pour into the mixture a few drops from a phial which he took from
+his waistcoat pocket. Parslett drank off the contents of the glass--and
+Chen Li went down to the gate with him.
+
+Yada followed to the front door and, through a slight opening, watched.
+The garden was fairly well lighted by the moon, which had recently
+risen. He saw Chen Li let the man out. He saw him turn from the gate
+and slowly come back towards the house. And then he saw something
+else--the sudden spring, from behind a big laurel bush, of a man--a
+short-statured, slight-figured man, who leapt on Chen Li with the
+agility of a panther. He saw the flash of a knife in the moonlight--he
+heard a muffled cry, and startled groan--and saw Chen Li pitch forward
+and lie evidently lifeless, where he fell. He saw the assailant stoop,
+seize his victim by the shoulders and drag him behind the shrubbery.
+Then, without further delay, the murderer hurried to the gate.
+Evidently assured himself that there was no one about, let himself out,
+and was gone.
+
+By all the solemn oaths that he could think of, Yada swore that this
+was true. Of another thing he was certain--the murderer was a Chinese.
+
+Now began his own career of crime. He was just then very hard up. He
+had spent much more than his allowance--he was in debt at his lodgings
+and elsewhere. Somewhere, he felt sure, there was, in that house, the
+money which Chen Li had evidently stolen from old Multenius. He
+immediately set to work to find it. But he had no difficulty--the
+bank-notes were in the drawer from which he had seen Chen Li take the
+gold which he had given to the blackmailer, Parslett. He hurriedly
+transferred them to his own pocket, and got away from the house by the
+door at the back of the garden--and it was not until late that night,
+in the privacy of his own rooms, that he found he had nearly eighty
+thousand pounds in his possession.
+
+For some days, said Yada, he was at a loss what to do with his booty.
+He was afraid of attempting to change five hundred pound notes. He made
+cautious enquiries as to how that could be done--and he began to think
+that the notes were so much waste paper to him. And then Ayscough
+called on him--and for the first time, he heard the story of the
+orange-yellow diamond.
+
+That gave him an idea. He had a very accurate knowledge of Chinese
+habits and characteristics, and he felt sure that Chen Li would have
+hidden that diamond in his pig-tail. So he took advantage of his
+possession of the detective's card to go to the mortuary, to get a
+minute or two alone with the body, and to slip his hand underneath the
+dead man's silk cap. There he found the diamond--and he knew that
+whether the bank-notes were to be of any value to him or not, the
+diamond would be if he could only escape to the Continent.
+
+But--he wanted funds; wanted them badly. He thereupon conceived the
+bold idea of getting a reward for his knowledge. He went to the
+police-station with a merely modest motive in his mind--fifty pounds
+would carry him to Vienna, where he knew how to dispose of the diamond
+at once, with no questions asked. But when he found the owners of the
+diamond and the bank-notes present he decided to play for higher
+stakes. He got what he asked for--and, if it had not been for that
+little Jew, he said malevolently, he would have got out of England that
+eventful afternoon. But--it was not so written--and the game was up.
+Only--what he had said was true. Now let them do what they could for
+him--but let them search for Chen Li's murderer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The folk who had been chiefly concerned about the orange-yellow diamond
+and the eighty thousand pounds' worth of Bank of England notes were not
+so much troubled about proving the truth of Yada's strange story as
+Yada himself was--the main point to them was that they had recovered
+their property. Naturally they felt remarkably grateful to Melky
+Rubinstein for his astuteness in circumventing Yada at what might have
+been the last moment. And one day, at that portion of it when business
+was slack and everybody was feeling comfortable after dinner, Melky
+called on Mrs. Goldmark and became confidentially closeted with her in
+a little parlour behind her establishment which she kept sacred to
+herself. Mrs. Goldmark, who had quick eyes, noticed that Melky was
+wearing his best clothes, and a new silk hat, and new gloves, and had
+put his feet into patent-leather boots which she secretly and
+sympathizingly--felt to be at least a size too small for him. He sighed
+as he sat near her on the sofa--and Mrs. Goldmark looked at him with
+concern.
+
+"Such a time you have lately, Mr. Rubinstein, don't you?" she said
+feelingly. "Such worries--such troubles! And the risk you ran taking
+that wicked young man all by yourself--so brave of you! You'd ought to
+have one of these medals what they give to folks, so!"
+
+"You think that?" responded Melky, brightening suspiciously. "Oh, Mrs.
+Goldmark, your words is like wine--all my life I been wishing some
+beautiful woman would say them things to me! Now I feel like I was two
+foot taller, Mrs. Goldmark! But I don't want no medals--not me. Mr.
+Levendale and Mr. Purvis, they came to me and say they must give me a
+reward--handsome reward, you understand, for getting back their goods.
+So I say no--I won't have nothing for myself--nothing. But, I say, just
+so--there is one that should be rewarded. Mrs. Goldmark!--do you know
+what? I think of you when I say that!"
+
+Mrs. Goldmark uttered a feeble scream, clasped her hands, and stared at
+Melky out of her melting eyes.
+
+"Me?" she exclaimed. "Why--I ain't done nothing, Mr. Rubinstein!"
+
+"Listen to me," persisted Melky. "What I says to Mr. Levendale is this
+here--if Mrs. Goldmark hadn't had her eating establishment, and if Mr.
+Purvis hadn't gone into it to eat a chop and to drop his platinum
+solitaire on the table, and if Mrs. Goldmark hadn't taken care of that
+platinum solitaire, and if things hadn't sprung from it--eh, what then,
+I should like to know? So Mrs. Goldmark is entitled to whatever little
+present there is!--that's how I put it, Mrs. Goldmark. And Mr.
+Levendale and Mr. Purvis, they agreed with me--and oh, Mrs. Goldmark,
+ain't you going to be nice and let me put this round your beautiful
+neck?"
+
+Mrs. Goldmark screamed again as Melky produced a diamond necklace,
+lying in a blue velvet bed in a fine morocco case. The glitter of the
+diamonds turned both beholders hoarse with emotion.
+
+"Do you know what, Mrs. Goldmark!" whispered Melky. "It cost a thousand
+guineas--and no error! Now you bend your lovely head, and I puts it on
+you--oh, ain't you more beautiful than the Queen of Sheba! And ain't
+you Melky's queen, Mrs. Goldmark--say you was!"
+
+"Lor', Mr. Rubinstein!" said Mrs. Goldmark, coyly. "It's as if you was
+proposing to me!"
+
+"Why, ain't I?" exclaimed Melky, gathering courage. "Don't you see I'm
+in all my best clothes? Ain't it nothing but weddings, just now?
+There's Mr. Lauriston a-going to marry Zillah, and Mr. Purdie's
+a-fixing it up with Levendale's governess, and--oh, Mrs. Goldmark,
+ain't I worshipped you every time I come to eat my dinner in your
+eating house? Ain't you the loveliest woman in all Paddington. Say the
+word, Mrs. Goldmark--don't you see I'm like as if I was that hungry I
+could eat you?"
+
+Then Mrs. Goldmark said the word--and presently escaped from Melky's
+embrace to look at herself and her necklace in the mirror.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Orange-Yellow Diamond, by J. S. Fletcher
+
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