KIMBERLEY
Dessert was being placed upon the table when Bernard Megger went out to
the telephone, and a fairly general conversation upon the all-absorbing
topic had sprung up when he returned--pale, flabby--a stricken man!
"Vignoles!" he said hoarsely. "A word with you."
The host, who did not care for the society of Mr. Megger, rose in some
surprise and stepped aside with his wife's guest.
"I am a ruined man!" said Megger. "My chambers have been entered and my
safe rifled!"
"But----" began Vignoles, in bewilderment.
"You do not understand!" snapped the other, "and I cannot explain. It is
Séverac Bablon who has robbed me!"
"Séverac Bablon?"
"Yes! I must be off at once and learn exactly what has happened. I shall
call at Scotland Yard----"
"_Ssh!_" whispered Vignoles. "There is no need for that! The man
speaking to Miss Oppner there is Detective-Inspector Pepys!"
"Detective-Inspector Pepys! But what----"
"Never mind now, Megger; he is--that's the point. I'll bring him into
the billiard-room. No doubt he can arrange to accompany you."
Too perturbed in mind to wonder greatly at the presence of a police
officer at Lord Vignoles' dinner-table, Bernard Megger strode hurriedly
into the billiard-room, his obese body quivering with his suppressed
emotions, and was almost immediately joined by his host, accompanied by
Pepys. The latter began at once:
"I understand that your chambers have been burgled by Séverac Bablon? By
a curious instance of what literary critics term the long arm of
coincidence I am in charge of the Séverac Bablon case--I and Inspector
Sheffield."
"Before we go any further," said Megger rudely, "I don't share your
tomfool ideas about the rogue!"
"No?" replied Pepys blandly. "Well, never mind. You must not suppose
that, because of them, I am any less anxious to apprehend my man. Tell
me, when was the burglary committed?"
"While Simons, my servant, was out on an errand. He returned to find the
safe open--and empty. He immediately rang me up here."
"I believe you have already communicated with Scotland Yard in regard to
Séverac Bablon?"
"Yes, I have. He has threatened me."
"In what form?"
"He endeavoured to extort money."
"By what means?"
Bernard Megger frowned, angrily. His flabby cheeks were twitching
significantly.
"The point is," he said sharply, "that he has rifled my safe."
"Did it contain valuables?"
"Certainly."
"Diamonds?"
"It contained valuable papers."
"Where is the safe situated?"
"It is concealed, I thought securely, at the back of a bookcase. No one
else holds a key. No one--not even my man--knows of its location.
_Curse_ Séverac Bablon! How, in Heaven's name, has he discovered it? I
thought it secure from the fiend himself!"
Detective-Inspector Pepys scratched his chin thoughtfully, and Bernard
Megger seemed to experience some difficulty in meeting the disconcerting
gaze of his eyes.
"Possibly," said the inspector slowly, "an examination of your chambers
may afford a clue. With your permission, Lord Vignoles, we will start at
once."
"Certainly," said Vignoles. "I fear I have no car in readiness, so
someone shall call a cab."
He moved to the bell.
"What's that, Jerry?" came a musical American voice. "Someone want a
lift?"
The three men looked towards the door and saw there Zoe Oppner, a
bewitching picture in her motor-furs.
"I was coming to say good-night," she explained. "I'm off to pick up Pa.
But I've got time to run as far as Brighton and back, say. Nearly half
an hour anyway!"
"You will not be called upon to create that amazing record, Zoe,"
responded Lord Vignoles. "Inspector Pepys and Mr. Megger are merely
proceeding to Victoria Street."
"Is it something exciting?" asked Zoe, her bright eyes glancing from one
to another of the three.
"Very!" replied the inspector. "A robbery at Mr. Megger's chambers!"
"Come right along!" said Zoe. "I'm glad I didn't miss this!" And the odd
trio departed forthwith.
"Can I come in?" she asked, with characteristic disregard of the
conventional, as her luxuriously appointed car pulled up in Victoria
Street.
"I should greatly prefer that you did not, Miss Oppner!" said Pepys
quietly.
"That's unkind! Why mayn't I?"
"I have a reason, believe me. If you will carry out your original plan
and go on to join Mr. Oppner, it will be better."
She met the gaze of his earnest eyes frankly.
"All right!" she agreed. "But will you come to the hotel to-morrow,
Inspector, and tell me all about it?"
"If you will inform no one of the appointment and arrange to be
alone--yes, at eleven o'clock!"
Zoe's big eyes opened widely.
"You are mysterious!" she said; "but I shall expect you at eleven
o'clock!"
"I shall be punctual!"
With that he turned and passed quickly through the door behind Bernard
Megger. Up the stairs he ran and reached the first floor in time to see
the other entering his chambers.
"Simons!" cried Megger, loudly.
But there was no reply.
"He must have gone at once to Scotland Yard," said Pepys. "Where is the
safe?"
Megger switched on the light and unlocked a door on his immediate left.
It gave access to a study. In the dim glow of the green shaded lamps the
place looked quiet and reposeful. Everything was neatly arranged, as
befits the sanctum of a business man. Nothing seemed out of place.
"There are no signs of burglars here!" said Pepys, in a surprised
manner.
"Simons may have reclosed the safe door," replied Megger.
His voice trembled slightly.
Wheeling a chair across the thick carpet, he placed it by a tall,
unglazed bookcase and mounted upon the seat.
"The safe is not open," he muttered excitedly.
And the man watching him saw that his puffy hand shook like a leaf in
the breeze.
Removing a small oil-painting from the wall adjoining, he tore at his
collar and produced a key attached to a thin chain about his neck. This
he inserted in the cunning lock which the picture served to conceal. The
next moment a hoarse cry escaped him.
"It hasn't been opened at all!" he shouted.
Snatching at the cord of a hanging lamp, he wildly hurled books about
the floor and directed the light into a cavity that now had revealed
itself. The other observed him keenly.
"Are you certain _nothing_ is gone?" he asked.
Megger plunged his hand inside and threw out several boxes and some
bundles of legal-looking documents. Leaning yet farther forward, he
touched a hidden spring that operated with a sharp _click_.
"_That_ hasn't gone, Inspector!" he cried triumphantly, and held out a
large envelope, sealed in several places.
His eyes were feverish. His features worked.
"You are wrong, Isaac Jacobsen!" rapped Pepys, and snatched the packet
in a flash. "It has!"
The man on the chair lurched. Every speck of colour fled from his
naturally florid face, leaving it a dull, neutral grey. He threw out one
hand to steady himself, and with the other plunged to his hip.
"Both up!" ordered Pepys crisply.
And Mr. Bernard Megger found himself looking down a revolver barrel that
pointed accurately between his twitching eyebrows, nor wavered one
hair's breadth!
Unsteadily he raised his arms--staring, with dilated pupils, at this
master of consummate craft.
"It is by such acts of fatuity as your careful preservation of these
proofs of identity," came in ironic tones, "that all rogues are bowled
out, Jacobsen! I will admit that you had them well hidden. It was good
of you to find them. I had despaired of doing so myself!" With that the
speaker backed towards the open door.
"Inspector Pepys!" gasped Bernard Megger, swallowing between the words,
"I shall remember you!"
"You will be wasting grey matter!" replied the man addressed, and was
gone.
Megger, dropping heavily into the chair, saw that the departing visitor
had thrown a slip of pasteboard upon the carpet.
As the key turned in the lock, and the dim footsteps sounded upon the
stair, he lurched unsteadily to his feet, and, stooping, picked up the
card.
Simons, his man, returned half an hour later, having been detained in
his favourite saloon by a chance acquaintance who had conceived a
delirious passion for his society. He found his master locked in the
study--with the key on the wrong side--and, furthermore, in the grip of
apoplexy, with a crumpled visiting-card crushed in his clenched right
hand.