“Then you’re not as bright as I thought you were,” he declared. “I’ve been very frank and open with you. I’ve admitted that I’m a criminal; I’ve involved the most important members of our board of directors, and I’ve told you quite a lot about the society itself. Hasn’t it occurred to you to wonder why I’ve been so indiscreet?”
“I suppose because you’re going to admit me into the society,” the waiter answered promptly.
Atherton’s laugh had a disagreeable ring.
“Not at all,” he said. “Better guess again, Max. I’ve told you so much because I know you will never be able to reveal what I’ve told you to any one else. In other words—I’m sorry to say it, because I’m really fond of you in a way—you’ll never leave this apartment alive!”
As he spoke, he touched a bell, and in hardly more time than it takes to tell it, three stalwart menservants glided into the room.
“Fine specimens, aren’t they?” queried Atherton. “I call them my bodyguard. As I’ve told you, they’re all members of the order, and are sworn to obey my commands even at the cost of their own lives. Now, perhaps you see that you’ve made a little mistake in coming here so trustfully?”
But the waiter never turned a hair. He toyed with his revolver, glanced for a second at the street below, and then coolly studied the newcomers, making no attempt to rise from his chair.
“These melodramatic proceedings leave me cold,” he said wearily. “I’m quite able to defend myself with this old friend here, and, what’s more, if you or these fellows were to attempt to molest me, I should instantly smash this window and shout for help.”
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be of much use to you,” Atherton informed him. “You would be dead long before anybody arrived, and my men here would unanimously swear that you had attacked me, and that I had shot you in self-defense. You hadn’t thought of that, I suppose?”
“I confess I hadn’t,” Max returned, unmoved. “Perhaps there’s something, though, which you haven’t thought of. My death wouldn’t save you from exposure and ruin. I wasn’t born yesterday, Mr. Alfred Knox Atherton. Before I came here, I wrote out and signed a full account of all that happened at Meadowview last night. I gave the paper to my wife, and I told her that if I hadn’t returned by six o’clock she was to take the document to police headquarters.”