“I hate upsetting you like this,” Edmund continued, “but you simply must be told.”
“Of course,” I said; “go on.”
“Fortunately,” he continued, “you have done nothing wrong. You will have no difficulty in clearing yourself. But obviously Welfare and I would become your essential witnesses, and nothing you could say, nothing in heaven or earth, would stop us giving evidence on your behalf. But I know, I understand. Everything you have worked so hard for, would be, well—simply done in! You wanted to save me, to save the family name. You cannot save me if Jakoub is a prisoner, but surely you see, every straight man must see, that my disgrace, as far as the family honour goes, would be far more than balanced by your—your infernal decency.”
I found myself out of my chair and tottering foolishly about the room.
“It can’t happen! It must not happen!” I exclaimed.
“It may not happen,” Edmund said, “but you and I must be ready for it if it does happen.”
“Tell me,” I said, calming myself with an effort, “tell me just what the risks are. How did Welfare hear? What did Van Ermengen say?”
“Welfare picked up his letters in London yesterday, and among them were two from Van Ermengen. You probably don’t realise that Van Ermengen is convinced that you have collared the whole cargo in order to sell it yourself. What puzzles him is that there should have been anyone in the trade unknown to himself; especially anyone capable of controlling Welfare. He is not sure now where Welfare stands in the matter, and his first letter simply appeals to him to remain ‘loyal’ and assist in squeezing you. The second letter was to say that he had smuggled Jakoub on to this tramp as a stoker, partly to get him out of Egypt where he is no longer safe, and partly to help in blackmailing you. His fear is that the police may trace Jakoub to the ship and get him arrested at this end. You see Van Ermengen is naturally as anxious as we are to keep Jakoub out of the grip of the law. Van Ermengen is more hopelessly compromised than any of us, and he knows Jakoub.”
Edmund’s apparent imperturbability, his calm exposition of the situation, did a great deal to restore my nervous equilibrium. I sat down opposite to him, and for a time there was silence as we both thought out the probabilities. Edmund’s meditations had evidently reached the same point as mine when he broke the silence.
“It is about five to one,” he remarked, “that the police here will have been warned and will try to arrest him.”