“To serve you, Miss Gwen, and to return a favour to my friend the
Doctor, I’ll keep you informed of what transpires on our side,” he
promised at last. “I’d like to call and see your father. When’s the
best time?”
“He will be pleased to see you at any time you may appoint! Why not
ring me up on the telephone--if you are not able to make an appointment
now?”
“Very well,” he replied, “I will.”
He saw that she wanted to ask him something, but was hesitating, as
though not daring to put her question.
At last she asked:
“Mr Mullet, will you not reveal to me in confidence who it is who is
thus working against us?”
“A person of highest reputation as far as financial reputation in London
goes, and of enormous influence. He has at his service every power that
wealth can command.”
“And is he nameless?”
“Alas! he must be,” was “Red Mullet’s” decisive answer. The truth was
that he feared to tell the girl, lest her surprise might lead her to
expose the secret, which must at once reflect upon herself. He was glad
that she had not recognised Challas from the many photographs which so
constantly appeared in the illustrated papers.
A door somewhere in the small flat clicked again, but neither took any
notice of it, attributing it to the wind from the open window.
They had no suspicion of an eavesdropper who had silently entered after
them with the latch-key he possessed, and had just as silently left
again, and crept down the stairs.
“Miss Gwen,” exclaimed her friend a few moments later, “I would really
urge you to have a care of yourself. Your enemies evidently mean
mischief. You have, by a blackguardly ruse, been parted from the man
you love--hence you are defenceless.”
“Except for you--my true friend.”
“I may have to leave London suddenly, while at any moment, you may, if
you are not careful, fall again into the net they will, no doubt, spread
and cleverly conceal. They fear your father and his friends, and from
him will demand a price for you--a price for your honour, most likely.”
“What do you mean?” she cried, starting, and staring at him.
“I am compelled to speak frankly, Miss Gwen; please forgive me,” he
said. “I know these men, remember. I know they will hesitate at
nothing in order to gain their dastardly ends. They will compel your
father to pay the price--and it will be the relinquishing of the
struggle, and the leaving of it to them.”
“We will never relinquish it!” declared the girl. “But do have a care
of yourself,” urged the man with the bristly moustache in deep
earnestness. “If you again fall into the hands of these two men, you
will not, I fear, escape without disaster.”
“I know that, alas! only too well. I owe everything to your kindness
and the pity you had for me. How can I ever sufficiently repay you?”
“You are now repairing me--repaying me with all you love most dearly.
Your silence has cost you your lover.”
She sighed, and hot tears rose to her splendid eyes. He was quick to
notice her sudden change, and deftly turned the conversation into a
different channel.
Then, when he had smoked another cigarette, chatting the while, he
reminded her to tell her father of Erich Haupt, and to say that he, “Red
Mullet”, would call on the following day.
At last they descended together into the street, and at the corner of
Oxford Street entered into a taxi-cab in which they drove back to
Notting Hill Gate station.
There he raised his hat as she descended and hurried across into
Pembridge Gardens, while he gave the man directions to return to his own
chambers.
“By Jove!” he exclaimed, aloud, as they went along the Bayswater Road
with the horn “honking.”
“The whole situation is now a terribly complicated one. To throw in my
lot with the Professor and his daughter would mean a ‘stretch’ for me,
without a doubt. Challas is vindictive, because I allowed her to escape
from his infernal clutches. He meant to serve her the same as he did
that poor young German girl! Hang me! I may be an outsider, but I’m
not going to stand by and see another woman fall a victim. Now what is
the best game to play in the interests of Griffin and Diamond? Stand
by, watch old Erich, and if he gets hold of anything tangible, give it
to them at once. That’s the only way that I can see. Yet--yet I may
already be suspected of playing a double game--and if I am, it means
that I’ll be given away to the police at the first opportunity. No,” he
added with great bitterness, “in this game Felix Challas and Jim
Jannaway hold all the cards. Money talks here, and it does always,” he
sighed.
And he sat back in his cab in a deep reverie. Already he was tired of
London, though he had not set foot in it for three years. He was too
near Challas. When absent on the Continent, he simply obeyed orders,
and led the easy-going life of the cosmopolitan concession-hunter,
always well-dressed, always apparently flush of money, always merry and
prosperous-looking, and always outwardly, at least, presenting the
appearance of a gentleman.
Here, in London, however, he was simply the cat’s-paw of an unscrupulous
parvenu who cloaked his evil doings beneath the remarkable sanctity and
generous philanthropy.
“It’s a blackguardly shame that poor little Gwen, a smart little girl
and yet sweet and innocent as a child, should be parted from her lover
like this!” he went on, still murmuring to himself. “No doubt this man
Farquhar, whoever he is, doubts her. I’d do the same if the girl to
whom I was engaged ran away from home, stayed away a few days, and then
on her return refused to give any account of herself. Frank Farquhar
isn’t a fool, and I admire him for that. I’m to blame for the whole
thing,” he added with a bitter imprecation, “because I’m a coward and
fear nowadays to face the music. Yes,” he went on, “Red Mullet is in
fear of his enemies! It’s no good denying it. Hitherto he’s always
defied them, even at the muzzle of a gun! But recently they’ve become
just one too many for him!”
He paused and lit a cigarette. Then with a sudden gesture of despair he
asked himself aloud: “How can I assist the little girl to get back her
lover? Frank Farquhar is a good fellow, I’ve discovered. And he’s
devoted to her. How can I compel him to believe in her?”
When he entered his chambers, he flung himself again into the armchair
in which Gwen had sat.
“It would be a cursed shame if ever the sacred relics of Israel fell
into the hands of such a blackguardly hypocrite as Challas. What does
he care for their antiquity, or their religious significance? Nothing.
The gold he’d melt down and sell at its market value per ounce, while
the sacred objects of the Holy of Holies he would wantonly destroy, in
face of the Jews and in order to laugh them to scorn. He shan’t do
that! By Heaven! he shan’t. If the treasure is still there it shall be
recovered by the Doctor and Griffin. I’ll help them, and I’ll still
remain little Gwen’s protector, even if it costs me my liberty to do so.
Besides--”
His fierce words of determination were interrupted by a ring at the
front door bell, and he went along the small hall to open it.
Jim Jannaway, in a light overcoat and crush hat, stood upon the mat.
“By Jove, Charlie!” he cried, “I’m jolly glad you’re at home, old chap!”
“Why?” asked Mullet admitting him, and closing the door.
“Well, my dear fellow,” he said in a breathless voice. “Something ugly
has happened. You’ve been given away. Somebody has recognised that
you’re back in London!”
“Who?” gasped the red-haired man.
“Ah! that we don’t know yet. The ‘boss’ has just sent me round to tell
you to clear out at once--this instant!”
“H’m,” remarked “Red Mullet.” “Now that’s deuced funny! Why didn’t he
keep his fears to himself, and let me take the consequences--eh?”
“Why, of course he wouldn’t do that. He never lets us down--you surely
know him too well for that,” remarked the other.
“And he gives me the tip to clear out!” said Charlie Mullet. “It’s
really very kind and considerate of him.”
“Well, my dear fellow. You don’t seem to appreciate his kindness very
much.”
“I never appreciate the solicitude of my enemies, my dear Jim,” he
replied with perfect nonchalance. “It’s my failing, I suppose.”
Jannaway disregarded the sarcasm, and said:
“I was with him only half an hour ago round in Berkeley Square, and he
told me to come along at once to you, and urge you to get away. He gave
me these for you,” and from his pocket he produced three thousand-franc
notes.
“My dear Jim, both you and Felix seem to take me for a silly mug,”
laughed Red Mullet defiantly, “but you must please remember that I’ve
been mug-hunting too long to be bluffed like this. The exemplary
Baronet is desirous that I should leave London, and sends you, his
emissary, to give me timely warning. Well, my dear boy. I want no
warning,” he said, for he was now on his mettle. “I shall simply remain
here. If they send anybody from Scotland Yard--well, here’s a drink for
them,” and he indicated the tantalus and glasses upon a side table.
“But surely you don’t wish to remain here, and give the whole game
away!” cried Jannaway, anxiously, standing in the centre of the room,
his hat pushed slightly to the back of his head.
“What does it matter to me? I never move without just cause. I’m
growing rather sceptical in my old age. What proof have I of this
extraordinary _contretemps_?”
“What proof do you want? I’m here to warn you. Are you a fool,
Charlie?”
“Yes. Until I know why this warning has been given me. How does Felix
know?”
“He has a pal down at Scotland Yard--a sergeant whom he helped ‘over the
stile’ a few years ago. He gives him valuable tips sometimes. One of
them is that you’ve been recognised, and that the warrant has been given
for your arrest to-night.”
“Ah, my boy,” replied “Red Mullet,” lighting a fresh cigarette without
turning a hair, “that’s really interesting. And if I go down to Bow
Street depend upon it I shan’t go alone. So you can just go back to
Berkeley Square, and tell Felix what I say.”
“Why--what’s the matter with you to-night, Charlie?” asked the other,
looking at him in surprise.
What could the man know, he wondered? He seemed to scent the betrayal
intended as soon as he was across the Channel.
“Matter?” he echoed. “Why, my dear Jim, I merely keep my eyes skinned,
that’s all.”
“And you refuse to heed Felix’s warning?”
“Yes, I’m very comfortable at home here--and here I mean to stay. Let
the police come along if they like and I’ll entertain them with a very
interesting story. They re fond of hearing stories from men like
myself, Jim.”
“What the devil is the matter with you!” cried Jannaway, turning upon
him fiercely.
“Nothing, I’m only surprised to find you such a fool, Jim. I thought
better of you,” was the other’s calm response. “Do you know,” he added,
“you people who live in London want the moss scraped off you. We boys
on the Continent are a lot sharper. We see the word danger written up,
even when it’s beyond the horizon and the detective is still off the
map. You people here deliberately run your heads into nooses.”
“How?”
“Well, you and Felix have arranged the little loop for yourselves in
this affair, my dear boy. So do go home and sleep on it,” he laughed
merrily.
“You’re a fool!” declared the other, turning from him impatiently.
“Of course. I’m a fool for not falling into the very clever trap which
Sir Felix Challas and his sharp ‘cat’s-paw’, Jim Jannaway, have laid for
me,” he answered, looking the fellow straight in the face.
“Bah! All this quarrel arises over a girl--a little chit of a girl who,
after all, hasn’t much of a reputation to lose.”
“And to whom do you refer, pray?” asked Charlie, indignantly.
“To Griffin’s girl, of course--the girl who was with you so long in
these chambers, and whom you pretended to regard with such paternal
care,” he sneered.
“You cast a slur upon the poor girl who was your victim!” cried the
red-haired man angrily.
“I cast no slur. I speak the truth.”
“Then you’re an accursed liar!” cried Mullet, angrily. “Having failed
to entrap her, you come here to-night to try and have me! But your ruse
is a little bit too thin! Let the police come and learn from me the
truth concerning our beautiful Birthday Baronet! I’ll welcome them. So
first go back with my compliments to Berkeley Square.”
“Then your intention, now you’re in danger, is to give us away--eh?”
exclaimed Jannaway, now flushed and excited. And in a second he had
snatched up a heavy bronze ornament from the mantelshelf, intending to
bring it down upon the other’s head with a blow that must have crushed
him.
In an instant, however, Mullet was on his guard. He was not a man to be
taken by surprise.
“Now put that down at once, Jim, and clear out of my rooms,” he cried,
and Jannaway found himself looking down the plated barrel of a
serviceable-looking Smith-Wesson revolver.
“Curse you!” cried the man, and he cast the ornament heavily upon the
floor.
“My dear Jim,” said the other, “the best place for you would really be
on the Continent. You would learn wisdom, and would never attempt a
bluff on a pal like this. You can’t attempt a four-flush with me, you
know. So first go back to the ‘Birthday Money-Spinner’ and tell him
‘Red Mullet’s’ decision is to remain in London, and if necessary--to
tell Scotland Yard the tale!”
“But--”
“Curse you! There are no buts!” cried Red Mullet, his eyes now flashing
with anger while he held his revolver straight at his enemy’s head.
“Out of my rooms with you, or by Gad! I’ll plug you! I see through
your clever little game. Once I’m over there, then you’d send me to
prison without the least compunction--because I let the girl slip
through your blackguardly fingers. But no more gas. I mean business
to-night. Out you go--and quick!”
“You wouldn’t say this if I had a gun!” remarked Jannaway between his
teeth.
“I care less for your gun than I do for you, my dear boy,” laughed “Red
Mullet;” “go back to Challas, and tell him that to-night he’s tried to
bluff the wrong man, and that he’ll have to pay heavily for losing the
game.”
“You talk like an idiot.”
“And you’ve acted as one. Out and begone!”
And the man who, when he had entered, believed that he held all the
honours in the game, was compelled to walk slowly out beneath the
threatening muzzle of the weapon, cowed and vanquished.
“And now, Jim Jannaway!” Mullet cried, when he was on the threshold,
“send your detectives along as soon as you like, for I’ll go to bed in
an hour, and if they come afterwards I shan’t admit them. Understand
that? Good-night and bad luck to you!” And with a laugh he slammed the
door.
Then he held his breath, and stood staring straight before him,
wondering whether that bold action had not been his own undoing.