"The Professor!" Kirk exclaimed. "He has returned. I'll introduce
you."
I rose from my chair, my teeth set together, my hand gripping the edge
of the table.
An instant later the door opened, and I stood boldly face to face with
the impostor.
Kirk, with that calm suavity of manner that so annoyed and irritated me,
introduced us.
But I bowed coldly to the well-dressed, elderly impostor, a man with
keen, deep-set eyes, and a short, scrubby grey beard, asking of my
companion:
"Is this farce really necessary, Mr. Kirk, when I know the truth?"
The new-comer looked askance at his accomplice, who gave him a quick,
meaning look.
"Ah! my dear Mr. Holford!" exclaimed the bogus Professor, "I've been
most anxious to meet you for a considerable time. This is a great
pleasure."
"And one which I most heartily reciprocate," was my hard reply. "I've
been endeavouring to find you for a long time. I followed you in
Edinburgh, in Glasgow, and later on in Birmingham."
"Then surely it is a rather happy circumstance that we have met to-day?"
he said, rather fussily.
"Happy for me, but perhaps unhappy for you!" I replied, with a dry
laugh.
"Why?"
"Because I now intend to expose your very clever plot. The secret you
have sold to Sir Mark Edwards does not belong to you at all, but to
Professor Ernest Greer, the man who was killed in the room yonder--in
his own laboratory!"
His lips grew paler and set themselves hard. I saw in his dark eyes an
expression of fear. He held me in terror--that was quite plain.
"Holford, you are mistaken," declared Kirk.
"In what way?" I demanded.
"Professor Ernest Greer stands before you!"
"No!" I cried. "This man is the impostor--the impostor who wrote to my
wife, and enticed her from her home."
"I wrote to Mrs. Holford, certainly," was the fellow's cool reply. "But
without any evil intent; of that she will herself assure you."
"Where is she?"
"You will, no doubt, see her before very long, and she will explain the
reason of her absence."
"Ah!" I said, "you adventurers dare not tell me the truth with your own
lips. Remember, I saw the Professor lying dead in this house. You
cannot induce me to believe that my eyes deceived me!"
"And yet you see the Professor alive before you now!" declared Kirk with
a triumphant laugh.
But I made a gesture of disgust, declaring that I refused to be fooled
further.
"You are not being fooled, Mr. Holford," asserted the man in a calm,
distinct voice, as he opened the door and called to Antonio.
The grave-eyed man-servant entered in a few seconds, and as he did so
the new-comer said: "Antonio, will you please tell this gentleman who I
am?"
"You are my dear master, signore--the Signor Professor Ernest Greer."
"I already know, Antonio, that you're a clever liar," I cried, "so you
can retire."
"The Signorina Ethelwynn has just arrived, signore," remarked the highly
respectable manservant.
"Ah! then tell my daughter to come up?" he cried. "She will no doubt
satisfy Mr. Holford that I am no impostor."
"Miss Ethelwynn saw her father lying dead, as I did; how, therefore, can
she identify you as her deceased parent? Have you a half-brother, or
some relation strongly resembling you?"
"No, I have not," was his quick reply. "I am simply Professor Ernest
Greer, whom a thousand persons living can identify."
At that moment the fair-haired girl neatly attired in fur jacket,
tailor-made skirt, and toque entered, and, with a spring, fell into the
impostor's arms and kissed him.
That piece of acting was, without doubt, perfect. Yet I stood aside and
smiled. Had not Kirk previously admitted to me that his earnest
endeavour was to secure my silence?
"Am I your father?" asked the dark-eyed man of Ethelwynn, standing with
his hand upon her shoulder.
"Of course you are, dear dad! Why?"
"Because this gentleman will not believe it!" he laughed.
"This is my father, Mr. Holford," the girl declared, turning to me.
"But did not you, with your own eyes, see your father dead in his
laboratory?" I asked seriously. "Are you not being misled, as these
men are trying to mislead me?" I suggested.
She hesitated, glancing towards the man who posed as the Professor as
though expecting him to reply for her.
"No," I went on, "this is a conspiracy--a plot to place this man in a
dead man's shoes. And you know it, Miss Ethelwynn."
"I tell you he's my father!" the girl persisted. "Cannot you believe
us?"
"Not without some independent proof," I said. This persistence angered
me.
"Then what proof do you require?" asked the man. "Shall I call the
park-keeper at Clarence Gate? He has known me and seen me every day for
a number of years."
"Call him, if you wish," I said, though, truth to tell, I did not intend
to be longer fooled by the ingenious machinations of Kirk and his gang.
Antonio was sent to find the park-keeper, who, in due time, appeared,
carrying his gold-laced hat in his hand.
"You've known Professor Greer a long time?" I asked the white-headed
man.
"Several years, sir," was his quick reply.
"And do you recognise this gentleman as the Professor?" I asked.
"Certainly, sir; I saw him pass in at the gate this morning. He's cut
off his beard, and that makes a bit of difference to a man, you know!"
He laughed.
"You have no hesitation in identifying him, eh?" I asked. "You'll be
able to swear to him in a court of law?"
"Yes, sir, in any court of law. The Professor's been very kind to me,
once or twice; therefore it isn't likely that I forget either his face
or his voice."
This bewildered me. Was it possible that this impostor was the
Professor's twin brother? I felt confident that Kirk was continuing
some very ingenious conspiracy. Was not his suggestion to me that I
should forget the tragedy sufficient proof of double dealing?
I thanked the park-keeper, who withdrew with Antonio, whereupon Kirk
asked me whether I was not satisfied.
"No," I said, "and I shall never be satisfied until I discover the
identity of the man who killed Professor Greer."
"But Professor Greer stands before you!" declared Ethelwynn; "nobody
killed him!"
"So you wish me to believe," I said with a smile, "but as my secrecy has
been demanded on your account, I can only suspect that you were, in some
way, implicated in the crime."
She went pale as death. My words, I saw, had a startling effect upon
her. She looked first at Kirk and then at the man posing as her
father--the man who had secured many thousands of pounds for a secret
that was not his own.
"Then you refuse to accept even the park-keeper's testimony?" Kirk
remarked, while the man who had assumed the Professor's identity walked
across to the writing-table and began looking at some letters lying upon
it.
"I do; my intention is to unmask you all!" The impostor, the fading
light falling upon his clear-cut countenance, turned quickly, and upon
his face rested an expression of deadly fear that I had not previously
noticed. Hitherto his attitude had been one of bold unconcern. But
now, realising my determination, he had grown alarmed. He saw that he
had carried the imposture too far.
"Ethelwynn," he said, in a low, strained voice, "I--I wish to speak with
Mr. Holford. Will you leave us for a little while, dear. Go into the
Red Room, and we'll join you there later."
"My dear sir," I exclaimed, "I don't desire to hear any more of your
denials."
"I'll go, dad, of course," replied the girl, who, in obedience with his
suggestion, left the room.
I turned to follow her, but with a sudden movement he placed himself
before the door, exclaiming anxiously:
"Mr. Holford, pray hear me for one moment, I beg of you. I want to tell
you something--to confess!"
"Ah!" I laughed triumphantly. "At last! you will confess! Good! I am
all attention."
"Listen carefully to the facts, Holford," urged Kirk. "The Professor's
peril lies in the knowledge possessed by one man--yourself. It is
therefore but just that you should know the truth."
"I do not expect the truth from you," I laughed. "How can I, after all
that has passed?"
"The deceit I've practised upon you has been imperative," was his
audacious answer.
"Let me explain," interrupted the impostor, advancing to the fireplace
near which I stood. "First, I repeat that I am Professor Ernest Greer,
and that this is my house. My statement can be verified later, but for
the present I ask you to accept it as the truth. My old friend here,
Kershaw Kirk, is not an adventurer, though he so often poses as such.
But it is under necessity, for his real profession is that of a
confidential agent of the British Government, the trusted head official
of our Intelligence Department."
At this I smiled incredulously, wondering what fantastic story he was
about to relate, for even then I did not recognise him by the photograph
I had obtained just before going up to Scotland. He was thinner, and
his eyes were quite unlike those of the photograph, being narrower and
deeper set.
"The plain facts are as follows," he went on, after a second's pause.
"I had been experimenting until I had discovered an easy method of
obtaining from the air those subtle elements helium and neon. My
success had incidentally confirmed Sir William Ramsay's estimation that
the proportion of neon and helium in the atmosphere was about one to two
in each hundred thousand, when a suggestion occurred to me that my
process of hardening armour plates might be improved upon, and a
substance of great cutting power created. My experiments were long and
tedious, but were at last crowned with success. I very foolishly gave,
in the French scientific journal _Cosmos_, some account of these
experiments, and a month later I was secretly informed by Kirk that the
German Government--always our rivals where improvements in war material
are concerned--was actively endeavouring to obtain my secret. As you
know, I always kept my laboratory locked, and allowed no one within upon
any pretext. My only confidante was my daughter Ethelwynn."
And again he paused, glancing across at where Kirk stood, narrow-eyed
and silent.
"Well," he went on, "after another month had passed, Kirk returned from
Germany, where he had been upon a secret mission for the Government, and
then he urged me to exercise the greatest care. A very clever German
agent, by name Max Leftwich, who had resided in London for some years,
had been instructed to obtain my secret at all hazards. Kirk warned me
that he was a man of remarkable tact and ability, and that under his
control were fully a dozen agents rendering him assistance. It was he
who had obtained for his employers in Berlin the secret of our new
submarine boat, and who had controlled the survey of the Suffolk coast
in view of the coming invasion. I confess that I laughed at Kirk's
fears--fears which were repeated to me by one of the Lords of the
Admiralty only a week later. I saw no reason, however, for any serious
apprehension. My laboratory was always locked, and could not be entered
either from the skylight or conservatory, while the only keys of those
double doors were secure upon my chain. But, alas! I had, like many
another man, foolishly lulled myself into a sense of false security."
And he sighed as he again paused.