THE LOST FORMULA
The two young men stood side by side before the window of the Milan
smoke-room--Ambrose Lavendale, the American, and his friend Captain
Merrill from the War Office. Directly opposite to them was a narrow
street running down to the Embankment, at the foot of which they could
catch a glimpse of the river. A little to the left was a dark and
melancholy building with a number of sightless windows.
'Wonder what sort of people live in that place?' Merrill asked
curiously. 'Milan Mansions they call it, don't they?'
The other nodded.
'Gloomy sort of barracks,' he remarked. 'I've never seen even a face
at the window.'
'There's a new experience for you, then,' Merrill observed, pointing a
little forward,--'a girl's face, too.'
Lavendale was stonily silent, yet when the momentarily raised curtain
had fallen he gave a little gasp. It could have been no hallucination.
The face, transfigured though it was, in a sense, by its air of
furtiveness, was, without a doubt, the face of the girl who had been
constantly in his thoughts for the last three weeks. He counted the
windows carefully from the ground, noted the exact position of the room
and passed his arm through his friend's.
'Come along, Reggie,' he said.
'Where to?'
'Don't ask any questions,' Lavendale begged. 'Just wait.'
They left the hotel by an unfrequented way, Lavendale half a dozen
paces ahead. Merrill ventured upon a mild protest.
'Look here, old chap,' he complained, 'you might tell me where we are
off to?'
Lavendale slackened his speed for a moment to explain.
'To that room,' he declared. 'Didn't you recognize the girl's face?'
Merrill shook his head.
'I scarcely noticed it.'
'It was the girl whom we found unconscious, half poisoned by that
fellow Hurn's diabolical invention,' Lavendale explained. 'She wasn't
there by accident, either. I caught her listening in the Milan
Grill-room when Hurn was talking to me, and the day after the inquest
she disappeared.'
Merrill laid a hand upon his friend's arm.
'Even if this is so, Lavendale,' he expostulated, 'she probably doesn't
want us bothering over here. What are you going to say to her? Pretty
sort of asses we shall look if we blunder in upon her like this.'
Lavendale continued to climb the stairs. By this time they had reached
the second landing.
'If you feel that way about it, Merrill,' he said, 'you can wait for
me--or clear out altogether, if you like. I want to have a few words
with this young lady, and I am going to have them.'
Merrill sighed.
'I'll see you through it, Ambrose,' he grumbled. 'All the same, I'm
not at all sure that we are not making fools of ourselves.'
They mounted yet another flight. A crazy lift went lumbering past them
up to the top of the building. Lavendale paused outside a door near
the end of the passage.
'This should be the one,' he announced.
He rang a bell. They could hear it pealing inside, but there was no
response. Once more he pressed the button. This time it seemed to
them both that its shrill summons was ringing through empty spaces.
There was no sound of any movement within. The door of the next flat,
however, opened. A tall, rather stout man, very untidily dressed, with
pale, unwholesome face and a mass of ill-arranged hair, looked out.
'Sir,' he said, 'it is no use ringing that bell. The only purpose you
serve is to disturb me at my labours. The flat is empty.'
'Are you quite sure about that?' Lavendale asked.
'Absolutely!'
'How was it, then, that I saw a face at one of the windows a quarter of
an hour ago?' Lavendale demanded.
'You are mistaken, sir,' was the grim reply. 'The thing is impossible.
The porter who has the letting of the flat is only on duty in the
afternoon, and, as a special favour to the proprietors, I have the keys
here.'
'Then with your permission I will borrow them,' Lavendale observed. 'I
am looking for rooms in this neighbourhood.'
The man bowed and threw open the door.
'Come in, sir,' he invited pompously. 'I will fetch the keys for you.
My secretary,' he added, with a little wave of his hand, pointing to a
florid, over-buxom and untidy-looking woman who was struggling with an
ancient typewriter. 'You find me hard at work trying to finish a play
I have been commissioned to write for my friend Tree. You are aware,
perhaps, of my--er--identity?'
'I am sorry,' Lavendale replied. 'You see, I am an American, not a
Londoner.'
'That,' the other declared, 'accounts for it. My name is
Somers-Keyne--Hamilton Somers-Keyne. My work, I trust, is more
familiar to you than my personality?'
'Naturally,' Lavendale assented, a little vaguely.
The dramatist, who had been searching upon a mantelpiece which seemed
littered with cigarette ends, scraps of letters and an empty tumbler or
so, suddenly turned around with the key in his hand.
'It is here,' he pronounced. 'Examine the rooms for yourself, Mr.----?'
'Lavendale.'
'Mr. Lavendale. They are furnished, I believe, but as regards the rent
I know nothing except that the myrmidon who collects it is unpleasantly
persistent in his attentions. If you will return the key to me, sir,
when you have finished, I shall be obliged.'
'Certainly,' Lavendale promised.
The two young men opened the door and explored a dusty,
barely-furnished, gloomy, conventional little suite, consisting of a
single bedroom, a boxlike sitting-room, and a bathroom in the last
stages of dilapidation. The rooms were undoubtedly empty, nor was
there anywhere any sign of recent habitation. Lavendale stood at the
window, leaned over and counted. When he drew back his face was more
than ever puzzled. He looked once more searchingly around the
unprepossessing rooms.
'This was the window, Reggie,' he insisted.
Merrill had lost interest in the affair and did not hesitate to show it.
'Seems to me you must have counted wrongly,' he declared. 'In any
case, there's no one here now, and it's quite certain that no one has
been in during the last hour or so.'
Lavendale said nothing for a moment. He examined the flat once more
carefully, locked it up, and took the key back to Mr. Somers-Keyne's
room. The dramatist opened the door himself.
'You were favourably impressed, I trust, with the rooms?' he inquired,
holding out his hand for the key.
'I am not sure,' Lavendale replied. 'Tell me, how long is it since any
one occupied them?'
'They are dusted and swept once a week,' Mr. Somers-Keyne told him,
looking closely at his questioner from underneath his puffy eyelids,
'and they may have been shown occasionally to a prospective tenant.
Otherwise, no one has been in them for nearly a month.'
'No one could have been in them this morning, then?'
'Absolutely impossible,' was the confident answer. 'The keys have not
been off my shelf.'
'We must not interrupt you further,' Lavendale declared. 'I shall
apply for a first night seat when your production is presented, Mr.
Somers-Keyne.'
'You are very good, sir,' the other acknowledged. 'Your face, I may
say, is familiar to me as a patron of the theatre. What are the
chances, may I inquire, of your taking up your residence in this
building?'
'I have not made up my mind,' Lavendale replied. 'There are some other
particulars I must have. I shall call and interview the hall-porter
this afternoon.'
'If a welcome, sir, from your nearest neighbour is any inducement,' Mr.
Somers-Keyne pronounced, 'let me offer it to you. My secretary, too,
Miss Brown--I think I mentioned Miss Brown's name?--is often nervous
with an empty flat next door. I am out a great deal in the evening,
Mr. Lavendale. My work demands a constant study of the most modern
methods of dramatic production. You follow me, I am sure?'
'Absolutely,' Lavendale assured him. 'By the by, sir, we are returning
for a moment or two to the bar at the Milan. If you will accompany
us----'
Mr. Somers-Keyne was already reaching out for his hat.
'With the utmost pleasure, my dear young friends,' he consented. 'The
Milan bar was at one time a hallowed spot to me. Misfortunes of
various sorts--but I will not weary you with a relation of my troubles.
If Tree rings up, Flora, say that I shall have finished the second act
to-night. You can tell him that it is wonderful. Now, gentlemen!'
They left the building together and a few moments later were ensconced
in a corner of the bar with a bottle of whisky and some tumblers before
them. Lavendale helped his guest bountifully. He had hard work,
however, to keep the trend of the conversation away from the subject of
Mr. Somers-Keyne's early triumphs upon the stage, which it appeared
were numerous and remarkable. With every tumblerful of whisky and
soda, indeed, he seemed to grow more forgetful of his home across the
way. As he expanded he grew more untidy. His tie slipped, his collar
had flown open, his waistcoat was spotted with the liquid which had
fallen from the glass in his unsteady efforts to lift it to his lips.
His pasty face had become mottled. Lavendale, who had been watching
his guest closely, fired a sudden question at him.
'You don't happen to know a Miss de Freyne, do you?' he inquired
innocently.
The change in the man was wonderful. From a state of maudlin
amiability he seemed to be stricken with an emotion of either fear or
anger. His eyes narrowed. He set his glass down almost steadily,
although he was obliged to breathe heavily several times before he
spoke.
'Miss de Freyne,' he repeated. 'What about her?'
Lavendale pointed towards the window behind them.
'Nothing except that when I was in here an hour ago I saw Miss de
Freyne's face at the window of that empty suite next to yours,' he said.
Mr. Somers-Keyne rose to his feet. A splendid dignity guided his
footsteps and kept his voice steady.
'Sir,' he pronounced, 'I am able to surmise now the reason for your
excessive hospitality. I wish you good morning!'
He turned towards the door.
'Mr. Somers-Keyne,' Lavendale began, rising hastily to his feet----
The dramatist waved him away. His gesture, if a little theatrical, was
final. The honours remained with him....
Lavendale, a few minutes later, on his way to his luncheon-table in the
grill-room, threw his accustomed glance across the room towards the
corner which was still possessed of a peculiar interest for him. He
paused in the act of taking his place. At her same table, with a
little pile of manuscript propped up in front of her, Miss de Freyne
was seated, studying the luncheon menu. For a moment he hesitated.
Then he rose to his feet and, crossing the room, addressed her.
'Miss de Freyne!'
She glanced up in some surprise. She seemed, indeed, scarcely to
recognize him.
'You have not forgotten me, I hope?' he continued. 'My name is
Lavendale.'
'Of course,' she assented slowly. 'You were the friend of that strange
little creature with the marvellous invention, weren't you?'
'I was scarcely his friend,' Lavendale corrected, 'but I did my best to
help him.'
She made a pencil mark in the margin of the manuscript and laid it face
downwards upon the table. Then she leaned back in her chair and looked
at him.
'Tell me what happened?' she begged. 'I was obliged to leave London
the next day and I have only just returned. Was it suicide or murder?'
'The man was murdered, without a doubt,' Lavendale replied.
'Is that so, really?' she asked gravely. 'Tell me, had he given over
his formula to the War Office?'
Lavendale sighed.
'Unfortunately no! He was to have handed it over at eleven o'clock the
next morning.'
'Was it found amongst his effects?'
'Not a written line of any sort.'
'Is any one suspected?' she inquired, dropping her voice a little.
Lavendale hesitated and glanced cautiously around.
'Scarcely that,' he answered, 'but you remember the man Jules, the
_maîtres d'hôtel_ here?'
She nodded.
'A Swiss, wasn't he? I was just wondering what had become of him.
'During the investigations the next day,' Lavendale continued, 'it was
discovered that his papers were forged and that he was in reality an
Austrian. He was interned at once, of course, and I believe there was
a certain amount of secrecy about his movements on that night. So far
as I know, though, nothing has been discovered.'
She raised her eyebrows deprecatingly.
'The detective system over here,' she remarked, 'is sometimes hopeless,
isn't it?'
'Yet in one respect,' Lavendale pointed out, 'they certainly were
prompt on that night. I understand that Jules was interned within an
hour of the discovery of the murder.'
Miss de Freyne drew her manuscript towards her with a little shrug of
the shoulders.
'They failed to find the formula, though,' she reminded him.
Lavendale, accepting his dismissal, returned to his place, finished his
lunch and made his way round to the Milan Mansions. A caretaker was
established now in his office in the hall. He was a small and rather
melancholy-looking man, who hastily concealed a blackened pipe as
Lavendale entered.
'I understand that you have a suite to let,' the latter began, 'upon
the third floor?'
The man pulled out a list.
'We have several suites to let, sir,' he replied; 'nothing upon the
third floor, though.'
'What about number thirty-two?'
The caretaker shook his head.
'Number thirty-two is let, sir.'
'Are you sure?' Lavendale persisted. 'I called this morning and was
allowed to look over it by Mr. Somers-Keyne, who had the keys.'
'It was taken by a young lady just before one o'clock, at our head
office,' the man told him. 'With regard to the other suites, sir----'
'Could you tell me the young lady's name?' Lavendale interrupted.
'I haven't heard it yet,' the man answered shortly. 'With regard to
the other suites----'
Lavendale slipped a coin into his hand.
'Thank you,' he said, 'there is no other suite in which I am interested
for the moment.'
He stepped out. Almost on the threshold he met Miss de Freyne, face to
face.
'Are you coming,' he asked, raising his hat, 'to take possession of
your new abode?'
She was entirely at her ease. She looked at him, however, a little
curiously. It was as though she were trying to make an appreciative
estimate of him in her mind.
'I suppose,' she observed, with a little sigh, 'that we are playing at
cross-purposes. You are an American, are you not, Mr. Lavendale?'
'I am,' he answered.
'German-American?'
'No!'
'English-American?'
'No!'
'What then?'
'American.'
'Tell me exactly what that means?' she insisted.
'It means that my sympathies are concentrated upon my own country,' he
answered. 'Those prefixes--German-American or English-American--are
misnomers. Wherever my personal sympathies may be, my patriotism
overshadows them. Now you know the truth about me. I am an American
for America.'
She sighed.
'Yes,' she murmured, 'I had an idea that was your point of view. I am
a Frenchwoman, you see, for France.'
'Our interests,' he remarked, 'should not be far apart.'
'If I were sure of that,' she declared, 'the rest would be easy. I am
for France and for France only. You are for America, and, I am afraid,
for America only.'
'Chance, in this instance,' he ventured, 'has at any rate made us
allies.'
'I should like to feel quite sure about that,' she said. 'If you are
not busy, will you walk with me on to the Embankment?'
They strolled down the narrow street and found a seat in the gardens.
'Between thieves,' she continued, looking him in the face, 'there is
sometimes honour. Why not amongst those who are engaged upon affairs
which, if not nefarious, are at least secret? Let us see whether we
can be allies, and, if not, where our interests clash. You know
perfectly well, as I do, that Jules murdered that little chemist from
Chicago and stole the formula. You know very well that the suite in
which you take so much interest in the Milan Mansions, belongs to
Jules. You know very well that he was arrested there a quarter of an
hour after he left the hotel, and that he had had no time to dispose of
the formula. You know that the place has been searched, inch by inch,
but that the formula has not been found.'
'I have just arrived exactly as far as that myself,' Lavendale assented
mendaciously.
'You are some time behind me, but it is true that we have arrived at
the same point,' she continued. 'Now the question is, can we work
together? What should you do with the formula if ever it came into
your possession?'
His lips tightened.
'I cannot tell you that,' he said firmly.
'I believe that I know,' she went on. 'Well, let me put you to the
test.'
She opened a black silk bag which she was carrying, a little trifle
with white velvet lining and turquoise clasp. From a very dainty
pocket-book in the interior she drew out a crumpled sheet of paper,
covered with strange, cabalistic signs. She smoothed it out upon her
knee and handed it to him.
'Well,' she exclaimed, 'there it is! Now you shall tell me what you
are going to do with it?'
His hand had closed over the piece of paper. He gripped it firmly.
Before she could stop him he had transferred it to his own pocket. She
shrugged her shoulders.
'You had better return it to me,' she advised.
'I shall not,' he replied. 'Forgive me. I did not ask you for the
formula--I did not know you had discovered it--but since I have it, I
want you to remember that it was the discovery of an American and I
shall keep it for my country.'
'But your country is not in need of anything of the sort,' she
protested.
'I will be so far frank with you as to explain my motive,' he said. 'A
few months ago I was attached to the American Embassy here. I have
been attached to the Embassy in Paris, and for two months I was in
Berlin. I have come to certain conclusions about America, in which I
differ entirely from the popular opinion and the popular politics of my
country. England has been living for many years in great peril, but
there have been many who have recognized that. The peril of America is
at least as great, and has remained almost altogether unrecognized. We
have no army, a small navy, an immense seaboard, wealth sufficient to
excite the cupidity of any nation. And we have no allies. We make the
grave and serious mistake of ignoring world politics, of believing
ourselves outside them and yet imagining ourselves capable of
protecting the interests of American citizens in foreign countries.
That is where I know we are wrong. I have resigned from the Diplomatic
Service of America but I remain her one secret agent. I intend to keep
this formula for her. She will need it.'
Suzanne de Freyne shook her head.
'You will not be able to leave the gardens alive with it,' she assured
him.
He glanced at her incredulously. Her smooth face was unwrinkled. She
had the air of looking at him as though he were a child.
'You are in the kindergarten stage of your profession,' she observed.
'Now watch. You see those two men seated on the bench a little way
further down?'
'Well?'
She rose from her seat, shook out her skirt and sat down again. The
two men, also, had risen and were advancing towards them. She held up
her hand--they seemed somehow to drift away.
'I repeat,' she went on, 'that you would not leave this garden alive.
But, my friend, we will not quarrel over a worthless scrap of paper,
for that is precisely what you have carefully buttoned up in your
pocket-book. I have failed to find the formula. That is a dummy.
Keep it, if you will. There isn't a single intelligible sign upon it.'
He drew it from his pocket and glanced at it. Even with his slight
knowledge of chemistry he was compelled to admit that her words were
truth.
'Keep it or give it me back, as you like,' she continued. 'It has no
value. The fact remains that in his brief journey from the service
room at the Milan Grill-room to his rooms in the Milan Mansions, Jules
managed to conceal somewhere or other the paper which he has taken from
Hurn. If he passed it on to some one else, it is by this time in
Germany, but we have reason to know that he did not. The paper is
still in concealment. It is still to be found.'
'And the means?' he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders lightly.
'Alas!' she exclaimed, 'how can I tell you now? How can I even engage
your help? You have disclosed your hand.'
He sat gazing gloomily out at the river.
'Very well,' he decided at last, 'let me help and I will be content
with a copy of the formula.'
She smiled.
'That is rather sensible of you,' she said. 'To tell you the truth, I
require your help. For reasons which I need not explain, we do not
wish this matter to be dealt with in any way officially. I am in
perfect accord with the English Secret Service, but we do not wish to
have their men seen about the Milan Mansions. To-night, Jules
re-enters into possession of his rooms. I offer you an adventure. It
is what you wish?'
'But I thought Jules was interned?'
'He was and is,' she told him, 'but the greater powers are working.
This afternoon he will be permitted to escape--he thinks through the
agency of friends. He will come to London in a motor-car, he will come
at once to his rooms, and, although every inch of them has been
searched, I am perfectly convinced that somewhere in them or between
them and the Milan, he will lay his hands upon the formula. You care
about this adventure?'
His eyes flashed.
'Care about it!' he repeated enthusiastically.
She smiled and rose to her feet.
'Leave me now,' she begged. 'I want to speak to one of those men for a
minute. You can dine with me in the Grill-room at the Milan at seven
o'clock, in morning clothes. Till then, _au revoir!_'
* * * * *
The spirit of adventure warmed Lavendale's blood that night. He
ordered his dinner with unusual care, and he was delighted to find his
guest sufficiently human to appreciate the delicacies he had chosen and
the vintage of the champagne which he had selected. Their conversation
was entirely general, almost formal. They had both lived for some time
in Paris and found mutual acquaintances there. As they neared the
conclusion of the meal she was summoned to the telephone. She was
absent only for a short time but when she returned she began to collect
her few trifles.
'The car passed through Slough,' she said, 'a quarter of an hour ago.
I think perhaps we had better be moving.'
Lavendale signed his bill and they left the hotel together.
'Nothing else you think you ought to tell me, I suppose?' he remarked,
as they crossed the narrow street. 'I am rather in the dark, you know.
The idea is, isn't it, that Jules is coming up to get the formula from
some hiding-place in his room? Where shall we be?'
'Wait,' she begged.
They climbed the stairs in silence--the girl had purposely avoided the
lift. Arrived on the third floor, she passed the door of number
thirty-two and knocked softly at the adjoining one. There was, for a
moment, no answer. At the second summons, however, the door was
cautiously opened. The untidy secretary admitted them. In her soiled
black dress, shapeless and crumpled, with her fat, peevish face and
dishevelled peroxidized hair, she was by no means an attractive object.
She pointed half indignantly to where Mr. Somers-Keyne was lying upon
the couch, gazing towards them in incapable silence with a fatuous
smile upon his lips.
'If it's from you he gets the money for this sort of thing,' she said
sharply, 'why, I wish you'd keep it, and that's straight. How are we
to get on with our work or anything, with him in that condition?'
'Scondition'sh all right,' Mr. Somers-Keyne insisted, making a weak
effort to rise.
Miss de Freyne frowned for a moment as she appreciated the situation.
Then she waved him back.
'Don't try to get up, Mr. Somers-Keyne, she begged. 'We can manage
without you. Lie down and rest for a little time.'
Mr. Somers-Keyne sank back with a sigh of content.
'Very shorry,' he murmured. 'Tree'sh awfully annoyed with me.
Promished go down and shee him sh'evening.'
'Is this fellow one of your helpers?' Lavendale asked.
She nodded.
'In a small way. Never mind, we don't need him to-night. Come here.'
She led him to the side of the wall nearest the adjoining apartment.
Her fingers felt about the pattern of the paper. Presently she found a
crack, pushed for a moment and a sliding door rolled back. She
stretched out her hand through the darkness and turned a small knob. A
wardrobe door swung outwards. They looked into the shadowy obscurity
of the adjoining room. Lavendale whistled softly.
'This is all very well,' he said, 'but how can we watch Jules whilst
the door is closed?'
She pointed to two or three little ventilation holes near the top of
the wardrobe. Lavendale applied his eye to one of them and nodded.
'That's all right,' he admitted. 'There's just enough light. Listen!'
They could both of them hear the quick, eager footsteps of a man
lightly shod, stealthy, ascending the last flight of stairs. Her
fingers gripped his arm for a moment. An excitement more poignant than
any begotten by their hazardous adventure suddenly thrilled him. The
greatest adventure of all was at hand....
The footsteps paused, the door slowly opened. It was Jules who
entered. He stood looking around for a moment, then unexpectedly
fingered the switch which stood upon the wall. The apartment was
flooded with light. Jules stood in the centre of it, distinctly
visible. He was paler even than usual, and his eyes were a little
sunken, but he had lost, somehow or other, that bearing of graceful
servility which had distinguished him in his former avocation. An
expression of subdued cunning had taken its place. He looked around
the apartment searchingly. His eyes rested for a moment upon a small
print at the further end of the room, which was hanging upon the wall
in a crooked position. As his eyes fell upon it, he frowned. He
seemed suddenly to stiffen into a new attention. He glanced once more
around him as though in fear and picked up his overcoat from the bed.
Before they could realize what his intentions were, he had left the
room, closing the door behind him.
'What does that mean?' Lavendale whispered.
She pushed open the wardrobe door. A little breath of fresher air was
grateful to both of them. Then she turned and pointed towards the
opposite wall.
'It was that print,' she murmured. 'It must have been a signal to him
that he was being watched. You see, it is on one side. I am perfectly
certain that when I was here this morning it was straight.'
'A signal from whom?'
She had no time to answer him. They could hear the door of the next
room open. Their eyes met.
'Mr. Somers-Keyne!' he exclaimed.
They stepped back into the wardrobe. Her fingers felt for the spring.
Suddenly they both heard, within a few inches of them, on the other
side of the wall, the sound of a click. She pressed the spring in
vain. Then she stepped back and turned on the electric light in the
room.
'Try the door,' she whispered.
Lavendale tried it. As they both expected, it was locked. She drew a
master-key from her pocket and opened it swiftly. They were out in the
corridor now, empty and silent. They could not even hear the sound of
any one moving about in Mr. Somers-Keyne's room. Lavendale stood
before the latter's door and listened. There was a mumbling as though
of smothered voices, then suddenly an angry exclamation.
'Sick of the lot of you, that's what I am! Here's the old man dictates
his rubbish for about an hour a day and talks drivelling, drunken
piffle for the rest of it! Where's my salary coming from, that's what
I want to know?'
They heard Jules apparently trying to soothe her.
'My dear Miss Brown, in a few days, if you will only be patient----'
'Patient! Who's going to be patient with that old drunkard blithering
around all the time? I've had enough!'
They heard the sound of stamping footsteps and Mr. Somers-Keyne's
sonorous voice.
'Flora, my dear, mosht unreasonable, I'm sure. Shimply asked you go
out for a few minutes while Mr. Jules and I dishcuss important matter.'
'And I'm going out for a minute,' Miss Brown shouted, suddenly opening
the door, 'and you may thank your stars when you see me again!'
She appeared upon the threshold, holding a slatternly hat upon her head
with one hand and sticking hatpins in with the other. She stared
insolently at Lavendale and his companion, and brushed her way past
them.
'Here's visitors for you,' she called out over her shoulder. 'You'll
have to get rid of them now before you start on your precious business.'
She flopped down the stairs. The newcomers stepped across the
threshold. Jules stared at them in surprise. Mr. Somers-Keyne nodded
his head ponderously. His mind seemed to be still running upon Miss
Brown's departure.
'A mosht ungrateful young woman,' he declared. 'Mish--er--de Freyne,
your shervant. Thish gentleman is the tenant of the roomsh you looked
over other day. Mr. Lavendale, don't like you. Don't want you here.
Ashked me questions about you, Mish de Freyne. Not a nice young man at
all. You lishen to me a moment.'
He staggered to his feet. Jules stood in the background. There was
something of the old obsequiousness about his manner. Mr. Somers-Keyne
swayed for a moment upon his feet. Then Lavendale felt a sudden
inspiration. He turned on his heel.
'Excuse me for one moment,' he whispered to the girl by his side.
He turned away with no show of haste, though the eyes of both men
seemed to follow him. Then he ran down the stairs on tiptoe, taking
them three at a time as he neared the ground floor. The motor-car was
drawn up outside, there was no sign of any one else in the street. He
sprang to the other side of the way and saw at once the object of his
pursuit, hurrying down towards the Embankment. He followed her as
stealthily as possible. Without looking around she increased her own
pace, crossed the Embankment and leaned for a moment over the wall. A
few yards further on were the steps and a little pier, and close by a
small tug was waiting. Lavendale, who was within reach of her now,
stretched out his hand and seized her shoulder.
'I want you, Miss Brown!' he exclaimed.
She turned and confronted him, her face mottled and flushed with the
unusual exercise, a strand of her unwholesome-looking hair hanging down
to her shoulder.
'Now what's wrong with you?' she shouted. 'Can't you leave me alone?
I'm not coming back.'
'Where are you going?' he asked.
'That's none of your business,' she snapped. 'Let me pass.'
He glanced at the tug and his hand closed upon her wrist. He was a
strong man, but she almost succeeded in wrenching herself free.
'Look here, Miss Brown,' he said, 'the game's up. I want that paper
you're keeping for Jules.'
She suddenly showed her teeth. Her face was like the face of a wild
animal. She struggled so violently that they swayed towards the
parapet. Her left hand slipped into the bosom of her gown. Before he
could stop her, her fingers were making pulp of the paper which she had
drawn up in crushed fragments. She threw it over the parapet into the
black water. Then she ceased to struggle. She laughed hysterically
and leaned back against the wall. The water near where the fragments
of paper had fallen was all churned up--the little tug had hurried off.
'Clever, ain't you?' she mocked. 'Any need to hold on to me any more?'
He released her wrist. The car had come thundering down the little
street. It suddenly pulled up with a grinding of brakes. Suzanne
sprang lightly out.
'The formula?' she cried.
He pointed downwards to the water.
'Destroyed!'
Her sigh was almost one of relief.
'Was there a tug here?' she asked eagerly.
He nodded.
'It made off when they saw us struggling.'
'He told the truth, then!' she exclaimed. 'Jules shot himself as soon
as he realized that the game was up--there in the room before me, a few
minutes ago. He told me with his last breath that the formula was on
its way down the river to Germany.'
Lavendale smiled grimly.
'It's on its way down the river, right enough,' he assented, 'but I
don't think it will reach Germany.'