I had, I confess, allowed my anger to rise above my gorge. That action
of mine in attacking Kirk was both ill-timed and very injudicious, for
in an instant--before even those frantic words had left my lips--I found
myself looking down the ugly black barrel of a big Browning revolver,
that most effective and deadly of all man-killing weapons.
"Kindly release me, Holford," he said, rather hoarsely and with some
difficulty, as my muscular fingers had closed upon his scraggy throat.
"Come, this is all very foolish! Let me go! I have no desire to harm
you," he added, quite calmly.
"Then tell me where I can find my wife," I repeated.
"I would--if I could."
"Tell me who can!" I demanded fiercely, my fingers still closed upon
his throat, so that he breathed only with great difficulty.
"Give me time--time to make--inquiry!" he gasped. "I've only just
returned, and am in ignorance of a great deal of what has transpired."
"Upon your own admission, Mabel has fallen a victim of a plot merely
because I became too active and too inquisitive. You feared lest I
might discover something."
"I have admitted nothing, my dear sir!" he cried. "One day you will
withdraw all these malicious words--mark me," he added, in a hard voice,
lowering his weapon and replacing it in his hip-pocket as I released my
convulsive grip.
"I've lost my wife, Mr. Kirk, and you know where she is," I said.
"In that you are quite mistaken," he declared. "As I've already
explained, I've not yet had opportunity for making inquiry. I
believed," he added in reproach, "that you would assist me in this
strange affair concerning Professor Greer. Yet my confidence in you,
Holford, has been sadly misplaced. Recall for one moment what I told
you--of the seriousness of what was at stake, and of the absolute
necessity for complete secrecy. Yet to-night you threaten to bungle the
whole affair by going to the police."
"I've lost my wife!" I interrupted. "She's the victim of some plot or
other, and it is to find her that I intend to invoke the aid of Scotland
Yard."
"Well, by adopting that course, you would not find her--but you'd lose
her," was the old fellow's brief response.
"Antonio told me the very same thing when we met in Rome!" I exclaimed.
"Your threat shows me that you are in league in this conspiracy of
silence."
Kershaw Kirk burst out laughing, as though he considered my anger a huge
joke. It annoyed me that he did not take me seriously, and that he
regarded the loss of Mabel so lightly.
"Look here, Mr. Holford," he said at last, looking straight into my
face. "It's plain that you suspect me of being the assassin of
Professor Greer. That being so, I've nothing more to say. Yet I would
ask you to regard the present situation both logically and calmly. Do
you for one moment suppose that were I guilty I would have taken you to
Sussex Place and explained the whole affair in detail? Is it, indeed,
to be supposed that I would place myself so entirely and completely in
the hands of a stranger?"