THE CHILVERTON ANTI-CLIMAX
The chief allowed himself to take a quick searching glance at the two men
he had indicated. He had already heard of Van Koon and of his sudden
disappearance from the hotel after the chance encounter with Chilverton,
and he now regarded him with professional interest.
"The tall man, you mean?" he asked.
"Just so," answered Allerdyke. "The other man I don't know. But that's
Van Koon. What's he here for, now? Is he in this, after all?"
The chief made no reply. He was furtively watching the two men, who had
dropped into chairs at a vacant table beneath the shade of the trees and
were talking to a waitress. Having taken a good look at Van Koon, he
turned his attention to Van Koon's companion, a little, dapper man,
smartly dressed in bright blue serge, and finished off with great care in
all his appointments. He seemed to be approaching middle age; there were
faint traces of grey in his pointed beard and upward-twisted moustaches;
he carried his years, however, in very jaunty fashion, and his white
Homburg hat, ornamented with a blue ribbon, was set at a rakish angle on
the side of his close-cropped head. In his right eye he wore a
gold-rimmed monocle; just then he was bringing it to bear on the waitress
who stood between himself and his companion.
"You don't know the other man, either of you?" asked the chief suddenly.
Allerdyke shook his head, but Appleyard nodded.
"I know that chap by sight," he said. "I've seen him in the City--about
Threadneedle Street--two or three times of late. He's always very smartly
dressed--I took him for a foreigner of some sort."
The chief turned to his coffee.
"Well--never mind him," he said. "Pay no attention--so long as that man
is Van Koon, I'll watch him quietly. But you may be sure he has come here
on the same business that has brought us here. I--"
Allerdyke, whose sharp eyes were perpetually moving round the crowded
enclosure and the little groups which mingled outside it, suddenly nudged
the chief's elbow.
"Miss Slade!" he whispered. "And--Rayner!"
Appleyard had caught sight of his two fellow inmates of the Pompadour at
the very moment in which Allerdyke espied them. He slightly turned away
and bent his head; Allerdyke followed his example.
"You can't mistake them," he said to the chief. "I've described the man
to you--a hunchback. They're crossing through the crowd towards the
tea-house door."
"And they've gone in there," replied the chief in another minute.
"Um!--this is getting more mysterious than ever. I wish I could get a
word with some of our men who really know something! It seems to me--"
But at that moment Blindway came strolling along, his nose in the air,
his eyes fixed on the roofs of the houses outside the park, and he
quietly dropped a twisted scrap of paper at his superior's feet as he
passed. The chief picked it up, spread it out on the marble-topped table,
and read its message aloud to his companions.
"City men say the informant is here and will indicate the men to be
arrested in a few minutes."
The chief tore the scrap of paper into minute shreds and dropped them on
the grass.
"Things are almost at the crisis," he murmured with a smile. "It seems
that we, gentlemen, are to play the part of spectators. The next thing to
turn up--"
"Is Fullaway!" suddenly exclaimed Allerdyke, thrown off his guard and
speaking aloud. "And, by Gad!--he's got that man Chilverton with him.
This--by the Lord Harry, he's caught sight of us, too!"
Fullaway was coming quickly up the lawn from the direction of the
Serpentine; he looked unusually alert, vigorous, and bustling; by his
side, hurrying to keep pace with him, was the New York detective. And
Fullaway's keen eyes, roving about, fell on Allerdyke and the chief
and he made through the crowd in their direction, beckoning Chilverton
to follow.
"Hullo--hullo!" he exclaimed, clapping a hand on Allerdyke's shoulder,
nodding to the chief, and staring inquisitively at Appleyard. "So you're
here, too, eh, Allerdyke? It wasn't you who sent me that mysterious
message, was it?"
"What message?" growled Allerdyke. "Be careful! Don't attract
attention--there are things going on here, I promise you! Drop into
that chair, man--tell Chilverton to sit down. What message are you
talking about?"
Fullaway, quick to grasp the situation, sat down in a chair which
Appleyard pulled forward and motioned his companion to follow his
example.
"I got a queer message--typewritten--on a sheet of notepaper which bore
no address, about an hour ago," he said. "It told me that if I came here,
to this Hyde Park tea-house, at two o'clock, I'd have this confounded
mystery explained. No signature--nothing to show who or where it came
from. So I set out. And just as I was stepping into a taxi to come on
here, I met Chilverton, so he came along with me. What brings you, then?
Similar message, eh? And what--"
"Hush!" whispered Appleyard. "Miss Slade's coming out of the tea-house!
And who's the man that's with her?"
All five men glanced covertly over their shoulders at the open door of
the tea-house, some twenty to thirty yards away. Down its steps came Miss
Slade, accompanied by a man whom none of them had ever seen before--a
well-built, light-complexioned, fair-haired man, certainly not an
Englishman, but very evidently of Teutonic extraction, who was talking
volubly to his companion and making free use of his hands to point or
illustrate his conversation. And when he saw this man, the chief turned
quickly to Allerdyke and intercepted a look which Allerdyke was about to
give him--the same thought occurred to both. Here was the man described
by the hotel-keeper of Eastbourne Terrace and the shabby establishment
away in the Docks!
"Miss Slade!" exclaimed Fullaway. "What on earth are you talking about?
That's my secretary, Mrs. Mar--"
"Sh!" interrupted the chief. "That's one of your surprises, Mr. Fullaway!
Quiet, now, quiet. Our job is to watch. Something'll happen in a minute."
Miss Slade and her talkative companion edged their way through the crowd
and passed out to an open patch of grass whereon a few children were
playing. And as they went, two or three men also separated themselves
from the idlers around the tables and strolled quietly and casually in
the same direction. Also, Van Koon and the man with him left their table,
and, as if they had no object in life but mere aimless chatter and
saunter, wandered away towards the couple who had first emerged from the
enclosure. And thereupon, Fullaway, not to be repressed, burst out with
another exclamation.
"My God, Chilverton!" he cried. "There is Van Koon! And, by all that's
wonderful, Merrifield with him. Now what--"
The New York detective, who was under no orders, and knew no reason why
he should restrain himself, wasted no time in words. Like a flash, he had
leapt from his chair, threaded his way through the surrounding people,
and was after his quarry. And with a muttered exclamation of anger, the
chief rose and followed--and it seemed to Allerdyke that almost at the
same instant a score of men, up to that moment innocently idling and
lounging, rose in company.
"Damn it!" he growled, as he and Appleyard got up. "That chap's going to
spoil everything. What is he after? Confound you, Fullaway!--why couldn't
you keep quiet for a minute? Look there!"
Van Koon had turned and seen Chilverton. So, too, had Van Koon's
companion. So, also, had Miss Slade and the man she was walking with.
That man, too, saw the apparent idlers closing in upon him. For a second
he, and Van Koon, and the other man stared at each other across the
grass; then, as with a common instinct, each turned to flee--and at that
instant Miss Slade, with a truly feminine cry, threw herself upon her
companion and got an undeniably firm grip on his struggling arms.
"This is the Eastbourne Terrace man!" she panted as Allerdyke and
half-a-dozen detectives relieved her. "Get the other two--Van Koon and
Merrifield. Quick!"
But Van Koon was already in the secure grip of Chilverton, and the person
in the light blue suit was being safely rounded up by a posse of
grim-faced men.