“And if I were in your place here, I daresay I should; but you understand that officially you know nothing about them. All that I wish you to do is to receive for safe custody the property of an American citizen to be dealt with as that citizen desires.”
“That’s all very well, but if any fuss came and enquiries were made about them, think what a stink there might be,” he objected nervously.
“I tell you for all I know to the contrary they may be mere sheets of blank paper. I hand you two packets of valuable securities, that’s all; and I ask you to accept instructions as to their disposition. You can surely do that? If an American can’t get a trifle like that done for him in his own country’s Embassy, it’s a pretty pass.”
“And what are your instructions?” he asked suspiciously.
“I shall either call here every day before twelve o’clock or send you a letter before that time, requesting you to hold them for a further twenty-four hours. If you do not see or hear from me, you are to hand them over to the person who produces a letter from me dated to-day, requesting you to deliver them to the bearer, and signed by me in this fashion: ‘Harper Clarence Denver, sophomore, citizen of the United States.’”
“Who will present that letter?”
“What has that to do with the Embassy? It will be signed in that way to prevent any forgery.”
“I think I can do that,” he agreed after a pause.
“I know you can; and there is only one thing further. The day you part with them ask your friend, Prince Kalkov, in what prison he has ventured to lock me up, and use all the powers of the Embassy to find me. You may gamble on it that I shall need all the help you can afford.”
“I don’t like it, Denver, and that’s the truth. I wish you’d let us take the thing up in the usual way.”