Joe stared at the number that he had jotted down as Belden had called it off. 36754. There were the two figures, 7 and 4, the 7 coming first as he remembered.
It was not proof. But it was corroboration, enough, anyway, to justify the audacious bluff that he had in mind.
Jim returned shortly afterward with Louis Anderson, who greeted Joe, gratefully.
“It’s an awful lot of trouble you two young men are putting yourselves to for me,” he declared in a grateful voice.
“That’s all right,” returned Joe. “It was a dastardly thing that was done to you, and the man who did it has got to pay for it if we can make him. But you mustn’t build your hopes too high. We’ve only probabilities to go on instead of certainties.”
They stepped into the taxicab which Jim had retained, and were soon at the Albemarle where Fleming was stopping.
“Suppose he refuses to receive us when the clerk sends up your card,” asked Jim. “You can’t very well force your way into his rooms.”
“There isn’t going to be any card,” replied Joe. “Reggie gave me the number of his suite and we’ll just go up in the elevator without being announced.”
“But he may slam the door in your face when he sees who it is,” Jim remarked.