Granger grinned. He was comfortably stretched out on his back and his eyes were lazily studying the arabesques in the ceiling.
“Anyhow, my clothes are harmless. That’s more than can be said for my name. On the square, I am surprised to see you this morning.”
“Why so?”
There was a twinkle in the reporter’s eyes as he turned them on the Phantom. “Because you went in for a lot of trouble when you annexed my identity. I was pickled last night, and you took my breath away when you yanked off the mustache. Till then I hadn’t had the faintest idea that my abductor was the Gray Phantom. If I hadn’t been so flabbergasted I might have given you a friendly tip.”
“A tip?”
“To the effect that Tommie Granger was a marked man. I’ll tell you something interesting if you promise not to fall out of the chair. I am a member of the Duke’s gang.”
The Phantom’s brows went up. For several hours he had been aware of Granger’s membership in the criminal organization, but the glib admission surprised him. He had intended to pull the Duke’s communication out of his pocket with a dramatic gesture and startle a confession out of the reporter and he was wholly unprepared for the latter’s frank and voluntary avowal.
“Surprised you, didn’t it?” Granger chuckled as if mildly amused. “I can hardly get used to the idea myself. Membership in that gang of cutthroats and grafters is nothing to be proud of, exactly. I’ve always had a sneaking admiration for the Gray Phantom, but the Duke’s different. He’s smooth and artful enough, but he’s made of coarser stuff.”
“Yet you are a member of his organization?”
“Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? Well, since I have told you the beginning, I’ll have to tell you the rest. The cause of it all dates back to my birth. I came into the world with the face I’m wearing to-day, though it’s undergone a process of beautification in the intervening years. You see, my face is the mainspring that has determined most of my actions in recent years—some of the more important ones, anyhow. I wouldn’t be a newspaper man to-day if I had been born with a different face.”