AN UNEXPECTED MOVE
On the whole the discovery was startling enough. It proved to
demonstration that the man who called himself Bates must have been in
some way connected with the one-time unfortunate owner of the Four Finger
Mine. There was very little said as the two friends walked down the
street together. Venner paused presently, and stood as if an idea had
occurred to him.
"I have a notion that something will come of this," he said. "I had a
great mind to go back to the agent's and try to get the key of the empty
house under some pretext or another."
"What do you want it for?" Gurdon asked.
"I am not sure that I want it for anything," Venner admitted. "I have a
vague idea, a shadowy theory, that I am on the right track at last, but I
may be wrong, especially as I am dealing with so unscrupulous an opponent
as Fenwick. All the same, I think I'll step round to that agent's office
this afternoon and get the key. Sooner or later, I shall want a town
house, and I don't see why that Portsmouth Square place shouldn't suit me
very well."
Venner was true to his intention, and later in the afternoon was once
more closeted with the house-agent.
"Do you really want to let the place?" he asked.
"Well, upon my word, sir, I'm not quite sure," the agent replied. "As
I said before, it is such a difficult matter to get in contact with
the owner."
"But unless he wanted to let it, why did he put it in your hands?" Venner
asked. "Still, you can try to communicate with him, and it will save time
if you let me have the keys to take measurements and get estimates for
the decorating, and so on. I will give you any references you require."
"Oh, there can be no objection to that," the agent replied. "Yes, you can
have the keys now, if you like. You are not in the least likely to run
away with the place."
Venner departed with the keys in his possession, and made his way back to
the hotel. He had hardly reached his own room before a waiter came in
with a note for him. It was from Vera, with an urgent request that Venner
would see her at once, and the intimation that there would be no danger
in his going up to the suite of rooms occupied by Mark Fenwick. Venner
lost no time in answering this message. He felt vaguely uneasy and
alarmed. Surely, there must be something wrong, or Vera would not have
sent for him in this sudden manner. He could not quite see, either, how
it was that he could call at Fenwick's rooms without risk. However, he
hesitated no longer, but knocked at the outer door of the self-contained
rooms, which summons was presently answered by Vera herself.
"You can come in," she said. "I am absolutely alone. Mr. Fenwick has gone
off in a great hurry with all his assistants, and my own maid will not be
back for some little time."
"But is there no chance of Fenwick coming back?" Venner asked. "If he
caught me here, all my plans would be ruined. My dear girl, why don't you
leave him and come to me? I declare it makes me miserable to know that
you are constantly in contact with such a man as that. It isn't as if you
were any relation to him."
"Thank goodness, I am no relation at all," Vera replied. "It is not for
my own sake that I endure all this humiliation."
"Then, why endure it?" Venner urged.
"Because I cannot help myself. Because there is someone else whom I have
to look after and shield from harm. Some day you will know the whole
truth, but not yet, because my lips are sealed. But I did not bring you
here to talk about myself. There are other and more urgent matters. I am
perfectly sure that something very wrong is going on here. Not long after
breakfast this morning, Mr. Fenwick was sitting here reading the paper,
when he suddenly rose in a state of great agitation and began sending
telegrams right and left. I am certain that there was terribly disturbing
intelligence in that paper; but what it was, I, of course, cannot say. I
have looked everywhere for a clue and all in vain. No sooner were the
telegrams dispatched than the three or four men here, whom Mr. Fenwick
calls his clerks, gathered all his papers and things together and sent
them off by express vans. Mr. Fenwick told me that everything was going
to the place that he had taken at Canterbury, but I don't believe that,
because none of the boxes were labelled. Anyway, they have all gone, and
I am instructed to remain here until I hear from Mr. Fenwick again."
Venner began to understand; in the light of his superior knowledge it was
plain to him that these men had been interrupted in some work, and that
they feared the grip of the law. He expressed a wish to see the paper
which had been the cause of all the trouble. The news-sheet lay on the
floor where Fenwick had thrown it, and Venner took it up in his hands.
"This has not been disturbed?" he asked.
"No," Vera replied. "I thought it best not to. I have looked at both
sides of the paper myself, but I have not turned over a leaf. You see,
it must have been on one side or another of this sheet that the
disturbing news appeared, and that is why I have not looked further.
Perhaps you will be able to pick out the particular paragraph? There is
plenty of time."
Very carefully Venner scanned the columns of the paper. He came at length
to something that seemed to him to bear upon the sudden change of plans
which appeared to have been forced upon Fenwick. The paragraph in
question was not a long one, and emanated from the New York correspondent
of the _Daily Herald_.
"We are informed," the paragraph ran, "that the police here believe that
at length they are on the track of the clever gang of international
swindlers who were so successful in their bank forgeries two years ago.
Naturally enough, the authorities are very reticent as to names and other
details, but they declare that they have made a discovery which embraces
what is practically a new crime, or, at any rate, a very ingenious
variant upon an old one. As far as we can understand, the police were
first put on the track by the discovery of the fact that the head of the
gang had recently transported some boxes of gold dust to London. Quite by
accident this discovery was made, and, at first, the police were under
the impression that the gold had been stolen. When, however, they had
proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the gold in question was
honestly the property of the gang, they naturally began to ask themselves
what it was intended for. As the metal could be so easily transferred
into cash, what was the object of the gang in taking the gold to Europe?
This question the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department feels
quite sure that he has successfully solved. The public may look for
startling developments before long. Meanwhile, two of the smartest
detectives in New York are on their way to Europe, and are expected to
reach Liverpool by the _Lusitania_ to-day."
"There is the source of the trouble," Venner said. "I hardly care about
telling you how I know, because the less information you have on this
head the better. And I don't want your face to betray you to the sharp
eyes of Mark Fenwick. But I am absolutely certain that that paragraph is
the source of all the mischief."
"I daresay it is," Vera sighed. "I feel so terribly lonely and frightened
sometimes, so afraid of something terrible happening, that I feel
inclined to run away and hide myself. What shall I do now, though I am
afraid you cannot help me?"
"I can help you in a way you little dream of," Venner said through his
teeth. "For the present, at any rate, you had better do exactly as
Fenwick tells you. I am not going to leave you here all alone, when we
have a chance like this; after dinner, I am going to take you to a
theatre. Meanwhile, I must leave you now, as I have much work to do, and
there is no time to be lost. It will be no fault of mine if you are not
absolutely free from Mark Fenwick before many days have passed."
Venner sat alone at dinner, keeping a critical eye open for whatever
might be going on around him. He had made one or two little calculations
as to time and distance, and, unless his arithmetic was very far out, he
expected to learn something useful before midnight.
The meal had not proceeded very far when two strangers came in and took
their places at a table close by. They were in evening dress and appeared
to be absolutely at home, yet, in some subtle way, they differed
materially from the other diners about them. On the whole, they might
have passed for two mining engineers who had just touched civilisation
after a long lapse of time. Venner noticed that they both ate and drank
sparingly, and that they seemed to get through their dinner as speedily
as possible. They went off to the lounge presently to smoke over their
coffee, and Venner followed them. He dropped into a seat by their side.
"You have forgotten me, Mr. Egan," he said to the smaller man of the two.
"Don't you remember that night on the Bowery when I was fortunate enough
to help you to lay hands on the notorious James Daley? You were in rather
a tight place, I remember."
"Bless me, if it isn't Mr. Venner," the other cried. "This is my friend,
Grady. I daresay you have heard of him."
"Of course I have," Venner replied. "Mr. Grady is quite as celebrated
in his way as you are yourself. But you see, there was a time when I took
a keen interest in crime and criminals, and some of my experiences in New
York would make a respectable volume. When I heard that you were coming
over here--"
"You heard we were coming here?" Egan exclaimed. "I should very much like
to know how you heard that."
"Oh, you needn't be alarmed," Venner laughed. "Nobody has betrayed your
secret mission to Europe, though, strangely enough, I fancy I shall be in
a position to give you some considerable assistance. I happened to see a
paragraph in the _Herald_ to-day alluding to a mysterious gang of
swindlers who had hit upon a novel form of crime--something to do with
gold dust, I believe it was. At the end of the paragraph it stated that
two of the smartest detectives in the New York Force were coming over
here, and, therefore, it was quite fair to infer that you might be one of
them. In any case, if you had not been, I could have introduced myself to
your colleagues and used your name."
Egan looked relieved, but he said nothing.
"You are quite right to be reticent," Venner said. "But, as I remarked
before, I think I can help you in this business. You hoped to lay hands
on the man you wanted in this hotel."
"I quite see you know something," Egan replied. "As a matter of fart, we
are a long way at present from being in a position to lay hands on our
man with a reasonable hope of convicting him. There will be a great deal
of watching to do first, and a lot of delicate detective work. That is
the worst of these confounded newspapers. How that paragraph got into the
_Herald,_ I don't know, but it is going to cause Grady and myself a great
deal of trouble. To be quite candid, we did expect to find our man here,
but when he had vanished as he did, just before we arrived, I knew at
once that somebody must have been giving him information."
"Do I know the name of the man?" Venner asked.
"If you don't, I certainly can't tell you," Egan said. "One has to be
cautious, even with so discreet a gentleman as yourself."
"That's very well," Venner said. "But it so happens that I am just as
much interested in this individual as yourself. Now let me describe him.
He is short and stout, he is between fifty and sixty years of age, he has
beady black eyes, and a little hooked nose like a parrot. Also, he has an
enormous bald head, and his coloring is strongly like that of a yellow
tomato. If I am mistaken, then I have no further interest in the matter."
"Oh, you're not mistaken," Egan said. "That is our man right enough.
But tell me, sir, do you happen to know what his particular line is
just at present?"
"I have a pretty good idea," Venner said; "but I am not quite sure as
yet. I have been making a few inquiries, and they all tend to confirm my
theory, but I am afraid I cannot stay here discussing the matter any
longer, as I have an important appointment elsewhere. Do you propose to
stay at the Empire Hotel for any time?"
Egan replied that it all depended upon circumstances. They were in no way
pressed for time, and as they were there on State business they were not
limited as to expenses. With a remark to the effect that they might meet
again later on in the evening, Venner went on his way and stood waiting
for Vera at the foot of the stairs. She came down presently, and they
entered a cab together.
"We won't go to a theatre at all," Venner said. "We will try one of the
music halls, and we shall be able to talk better there; if we have a box
we shall be quite secure from observation."
"It is all the same to me," Vera smiled. "I care very little where I go
so long as we are together. How strange it is that you should have turned
up in this extraordinary way!"
"There is nothing strange about it at all," Venner said. "It is only Fate
making for the undoing of the criminal. It may be an old-fashioned theory
of mine, but justice always overtakes the rogue sooner or later, and
Fenwick's time is coming. I have been the instrument chosen to bring
about his downfall, and save you from your terrible position. If you
would only confide in me--"
"But I can't, dear," Vera said. "There is somebody else. If it were not
for that somebody else, I could end my troubles to-morrow. But don't let
us talk about it. Let us have two delightful hours together and thank
Providence for the opportunity."
The time passed all too quickly in the dim seclusion of one of the boxes;
indeed, Vera sat up with a start when the orchestra began to play the
National Anthem. It seemed impossible that the hour was close upon
twelve. As to the performance itself, Vera could have said very little.
She had been far too engrossed in her companion to heed what was taking
place upon the stage.
"Come along," Venner said. "It has been a delightful time, but all too
brief. I am going to put you in a cab and send you back to the hotel, as
I have to go and see Gurdon."
Vera made no demur to this arrangement, and presently was being conveyed
back to the hotel, while Venner thoughtfully walked down the street. Late
as it was, the usual crop of hoarse yelling newsboys were ranging the
pavement and forcing their wares on the unwilling passers-by.
"Here you are, sir. 'Late Special.' Startling development of the Bates
Case. The mystery solved."
"I'll take one of those," Venner said. "Here's sixpence for you, and you
can keep the change. Call me that cab there."