"The man who holds Burton Blair's secret also holds certain secrets
concerning his friends." Then I added meaningly, "The Ceco is well
known in Florence and in Lucca."
His face blanched, his thin, sinewy fingers moved again, and the
twitching at the corners of his mouth showed how intensely excited he
had become at that mention of his nickname.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "He has played me false, then, after all--he has
told you that--eh? Very well!" And he laughed the strange hollow laugh
of a man who contemplates revenge. "Very well, gentlemen. I see my
position in this affair is that of an intruder."
"To tell you the truth, sir, it is," exclaimed Reggie. "You were
unknown until the dead man's will was read, and I do not anticipate that
the young lady will care to be compelled to employ a stranger."
"A stranger!" he laughed, with a haughty touch of sarcasm. "Dick Dawson
a stranger! No, sir, you will find that to her I am no stranger. On
the other hand you will, I think, discover that instead of resenting my
interference, the young lady will rather welcome it. Wait and see," he
added, with a strangely confident air. "To-morrow I intend to call upon
Mr. Leighton, and to take up my duties as secretary to the daughter of
the late Burton Blair, millionaire," and laying stress on the final
word, he laughed again defiantly in our faces.
He was not a gentleman. I decided that on the instant he had entered
the room. Outwardly his bearing was that of one who had mixed with
respectable people, but it was only a veneer of polish, for when he grew
excited he was just as uncouth as the bluff seafarer who had so suddenly
expired. His twang was pronouncedly Cockney, even though it was said he
had lived in Italy so many years that he had almost become an Italian.
A man who is a real born Londoner can never disguise his nasal "n's,"
even though he live his life at the uttermost ends of the earth. We had
both quickly detected that the stranger, though of rather slim built,
was unusually muscular. And this was the man who had had those frequent
secret interviews with the grave-eyed Capuchin, Fra Antonio.
That he stood in no fear of us had been shown by the bold and open
manner in which he had called, and the frankness with which he had
spoken. He was entirely confident in his own position, and was inwardly
chuckling at our own ignorance.
"You speak of me as a stranger, gentlemen," he said, buttoning his
overcoat after a short pause and taking up his stick. "I suppose I am
to-night--but I shall not be so to-morrow. Very soon, I hope, we shall
learn to know one another better, then perhaps you will trust me a
little further than you do this evening. Recollect that I have for many
years been the dead man's most intimate friend."
It was on the point of my tongue to remark that the reason of the
strange clause in the will was because of poor Burton's fear of him, and
that it had been inserted under compulsion, but I fortunately managed to
restrain myself and to wish the fellow "Good-evening" with some show of
politeness.
"Well, I'm hanged, Gilbert," cried Reggie, when the one-eyed man had
gone. "The situation grows more interesting and complicated every
moment. Leighton has a tough customer to deal with, that's very
evident."
"Yes," I sighed. "He has the best of us all round, because Blair
evidently took him completely into his confidence."
"Burton treated us shabbily, that's my opinion, Greenwood!" blurted
forth my friend, selecting a fresh cigar, and biting off the end
viciously.
"He left his secret to me remember."
"He may have destroyed it after making the will," my friend suggested.
"No, it is either hidden or has been stolen--which is not at all plain.
For my own part, I consider that the theory of murder is gradually
becoming dispelled. If he had any suspicion that he had been the victim
of foul play, he surely would have made some remark to us before he
died. Of that I feel absolutely convinced."
"Very probably," he remarked, rather dubiously, however. "But what we
have now to discover is whether that little bag he wore is still in
existence."
"The man Dawson was evidently in England before poor Blair's death. It
may have passed into his possession," I suggested.
"He would, in all probability, endeavour to get hold of it," Reggie
agreed. "We must establish where he was and what he was doing on that
day when Blair was so mysteriously seized in the train. I don't like
the fellow, apart from his alias and the secrecy of friendship with
Blair. He means mischief, old chap--distinct mischief. I saw it in
that one eye of his. Remember what he said about Blair giving him away.
It struck me that he contemplates revenge upon poor Mabel."
"He'd better not try to injure her," I exclaimed fiercely. "I've my
promise to keep to poor Burton, and I'll keep it--by Heaven, I will!--to
the very letter. She sha'n't fall into the hands of that adventurer,
I'll take good care."
"She's in fear of him already. I wonder why?"
"Unfortunately she won't tell me. He probably holds some guilty secret
of the dead man's, the truth of which, if exposed, might, for all we
know, have the effect of placing Mabel herself outside the pale of good
society."
Seton grunted, lolled back in his chair, and gazed thoughtfully into the
fire.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, after a brief silence. "I wonder whether that
is so?"
On the following morning, as we were seated at breakfast, a note from
Mabel was brought by a boy-messenger, asking me to come round to
Grosvenor Square at once. Therefore without delay I swallowed my
coffee, struggled into my overcoat, and a quarter of an hour later
entered the bright morning-room where the dead man's daughter, her face
rather flushed by excitement, stood awaiting me.
"What's the matter?" I inquired quickly as I took her hand, fearing
that the man she loathed had already called upon her.
"Nothing serious," she laughed. "I have only a piece of very good news
for you."
"For me--what?"
Without answering, she placed on the table a small plain silver
cigarette-box, upon one corner of the lid of which was engraved the
cipher double B, that monogram that was upon all Blair's plate,
carriages, harness and other possessions.
"See what is inside that," she exclaimed, pointing to the box before
her, and smiling sweetly with profound satisfaction.