“I’ve warned you once already,” said Dr. O’Grady, “what will happen if you persist in talking that way. Even supposing the poor old Emperor is all you say, isn’t it a great deal better to blow up a few armies, than to go about the country deceiving innocent women when each of you has a wife at home? Patsy Devlin will bear me out in saying that the Emperor is a most respectable man, large-hearted, generous to a fault; a little eccentric, perhaps, but a thoroughly good sort.”
“Do explain,” said Lord Manton, “who the Emperor is, and how you and Patsy Devlin and the Members of Parliament and the police all come to be here, playing leapfrog in an attic.”
“The Emperor,” said Dr. O’Grady, “is Mr. Red. He sent for me to attend a servant of his who had unfortunately scorched the back of his legs while assisting in some scientific experiments in the Chamber of Research.”
“The drawing-room?” asked Lord Manton.
“The room that used to be the drawing-room,” said Dr. O’Grady. “I have been in attendance on the man ever since, earning a fee of five pounds a day. That doesn’t look as if I was badly treated, does it; or as if I was kept here against my will? There’s no other reason, so far, why the poor Emperor should be ruthlessly pursued, as these gentlemen suggest.”
“No,” said Lord Manton. “So far his record is clear. Go on.”
“Patsy Devlin,” said Dr. O’Grady, “came here to take refuge from the police. He hadn’t done anything particularly wrong, nothing worse than usual; but some one had put out the absurd story that he had murdered me, and advised him to fly to America.”
“I’m afraid I was responsible for that,” said Lord Manton. “I wanted——”
“Very well,” said Dr. O’Grady. “If the Emperor is pursued and caught, that story will come out too. You will have to explain in open court why you treated Patsy Devlin in such a way.”
“And why you treated me as you did,” said Miss Blow.