NEARLY
It was past one o'clock in the morning when I returned to the hotel,
yet the porter who admitted me pointed toward the figure of a man who
stood waiting in the dimly lit hall.
"There is a person here who has been waiting to see you for some
hours, sir," he said. "His name is Fritz."
"To see me?" I repeated.
The man came a step forward and saluted. I recognized him at once. It
was the _commissionnaire_ at the Cafe Universel.
"It is quite right," I told the porter. "You had better come up to my
rooms," I added, turning to Fritz.
I led the way to the lift and on to my sitting-room. There I turned up
the electric lights and threw myself into an easy-chair.
"Well, Fritz," said I, "I hope that you have brought me some news."
"I have lost my job, sir," the man answered, a little sullenly.
"How much was it worth to you?" I asked.
"It was worth nearly two pounds a week with tips," he declared,
speaking with a strong foreign accent.
"Then I take you into my service at two pounds ten a week from
to-night," I said. "The engagement will not be a long one, but you may
find it lucrative."
The man fingered his hat and looked at me stolidly.
"I am not a valet, sir," he replied.
"If you were I should not employ you," I answered. "You can make
yourself very useful to me in another direction, if you care to."
"I am very willing, sir," the man declared,--"very willing indeed. I
have a wife and children, and I cannot afford to be out of
employment."
"Come, then," I said. "The long and short of it is this. I want to
discover the whereabouts of the man who was with the Chinaman at your
restaurant last evening."
The man looked at me with something like surprise in his face.
"You do not know that?" he said.
"I do not," I admitted. "Your business will be to find out."
"And what do I get," the man asked, "if I do discover the staying
place of that gentleman?"
"A ten-pound note," I answered, "down on the nail."
A slow smile suffused Fritz's face.
"I will tell you now," he said. "You have the ten pounds, so?"
"I have it ready," I answered, rising to my feet. "Come on, Fritz, you
are a brave fellow, and I promise you it shall not end at ten pounds."
"You are serious?" Fritz persisted. "This is not a joke?"
"Not in the least," I assured him. "Why should you think so?"
The smile on the man's face broadened.
"Because," he said, "that gentleman--he is staying here, in this very
hotel."
For a moment I was silent. The thing seemed impossible!
"How on earth do you know that, Fritz?" I asked.
"I will tell you," Fritz answered. "There was a night, not long ago,
when he did come to the restaurant with the Chinese gentleman. They
talked for a long time, and then I was sent for into the private room
where they were taking dinner. The gentleman he wrote a note and he
gave it to me. He said, 'You will take a hansom cab and you will drive
to Claridge's Hotel. You will give this to the cashier, and he will
hand you a small parcel which you will bring here.' I told him that I
could not leave my post, but he had already seen the proprietor. So I
came to this very hotel with that note, and I did take back to the
restaurant a small parcel wrapped in brown paper."
"Fritz," I said, "sit down in that easy-chair and help yourself to
whiskey and soda. I am sorry that I have not beer, but you must do the
best you can with our own national drink. Take a cigar, too. Make
yourself quite comfortable. I am going downstairs to the reception
office. If I find that what you have told me is true, there will be
two five-pound notes in my hand for you when I come back."
"So!" Fritz declared, accepting my hospitality with calm satisfaction.
I descended into the hall of the hotel and made my way to the
reception office. The one clerk on duty was reading a novel, which he
promptly laid aside at my approach. It occurred to me that my task,
perhaps, might not prove so easy, as Delora would scarcely be staying
here under his own name.
"I wanted to ask you," I said, "if you have a gentleman here named
Delora."
The man shook his head.
"There is no one of that name in the hotel, sir," he answered.
"I scarcely expected that there would be," I remarked. "The fact is,
the gentleman whom I want to find, and whom I know is or was staying
here, is using another name which I have not heard. You know who I
am?"
"Certainly, Captain Rotherby!" the man replied. "You are Lord
Welmington's brother."
"You will understand, then," I said, "that if I ask questions which
seem to you impertinent, I do so because the matter is important, and
not from any idle curiosity."
"Quite so, sir," the man answered. "I shall be pleased to tell you
anything I can."
"This gentleman of whom I am in search, then," I answered, "he would
have arrived probably last Wednesday evening from the Continent. I do
not know what name he would give, but it would probably not be the
name of Delora. He is rather tall, pale, thin, and of distinctly
foreign appearance. He has black eyes, black imperial, and looks like
a South American, which, by the bye, I think he is. Does that
description help you to recognize him?"
"I think so, sir," the man answered. "Do you happen to know whether,
by any chance, he would be a friend of the Chinese ambassador?"
"I should think it very likely," I answered. "He is staying here,
then?"
"He was staying here until a few hours ago, sir," the man answered.
"He came in about ten o'clock and went at once to his rooms, sent for
his bill, and left the hotel in a great hurry. I remember the
circumstance particularly, because he had said nothing about his
going, and from the manner of his return and his hasty departure it is
quite clear that he had not expected to leave so soon himself."
I was a little staggered. It seemed hard luck to have so nearly
succeeded in my search, only to have failed at the last moment. It was
maddening, too, to think that for all these hours I had been in the
same hotel as the man whom I so greatly desired to find!
"Tell me, did he leave any address?" I asked.
"None whatever, sir," the man answered. "Our junior clerk here asked
him where he would wish letters to be forwarded, and he replied that
there would not be any. I think he said that he was leaving for abroad
almost at once, but would call before he sailed in case there were any
letters or messages for him."
"Tell me under what name he stayed here?" I asked.
"Mr. Vanderpoel," the man told me.
"He was quite alone, I suppose?" I asked.
"Absolutely," the man answered. "He had a few callers at different
times, but he spent most of his time in his rooms. If you are
particularly anxious to discover his whereabouts," the clerk
continued, "the night porter who would have started him off is still
on duty."
"I should like very much to speak to him," I said.
The clerk touched a bell, and the porter came in from outside.
"You remember Mr. Vanderpoel leaving this evening?" the clerk asked.
"Certainly, sir," the man answered. "He went at about eleven o'clock."
"Did he go in a cab?" the clerk asked.
"In a four-wheeler, sir," the porter answered.
"Do you remember what address he gave?"
The porter looked dubious for a moment.
"I don't absolutely remember, sir," he said, "but I know that it was
one of the big railway stations."
The clerk turned to me.
"Is there anything else you would like to ask?" he inquired.
I shook my head.
"No, thanks!" I answered. "I am afraid there is nothing more to be
learned."
The porter went back to his duties, and I bade the clerk good
night. Up in my room Fritz was waiting anxiously.
"You were right and wrong," I announced. "Mr. Delora has been staying
here and left to-night."
"He has gone!" Fritz exclaimed.
"He left at eleven o'clock," I answered. "He saw me, and I suppose he
knew that I was looking for him. Here's half your money, anyhow," I
continued, giving him a five-pound note. "The next thing to do is to
find out where he has gone to. I think you could help here, Fritz."
"What must I do?" the man asked.
"First of all," I said, "go to the big railway hotels and try and find
out from one of the porters--you Germans all stick together--whether
any one arrived in a four-wheel cab at between eleven and twelve this
evening, whose description coincides with that of Mr. Delora. I reckon
that will take you most of to-morrow. When you have finished come to
me at the Milan Court, and let me know how you have got on."
"So!" the man remarked, rising from his seat. "To-morrow morning I will
do that. They will tell me, these fellows. I know many of them."
"Good night, Fritz, then!" I said. "Good luck!"