“What a ripping girl! Gad, but there are some splendid women in the world, are there not, Mr. Narkom? What has happened, dear friend, to change her opinion regarding the elder Mr. Trent’s guilt?”
“The disappearance of the son under similar circumstances to that of the father, and from the same locality. She knows now that the elder Mr. Trent can have no part in the matter, since he is at present in America, the financial crisis has been safely passed, and the son—who could have no possible reason for injuring the lad, who is, indeed, remarkably fond of him, and by whose invitation he visited the building—is solely in charge and as wildly anxious as man can be to have the abominable thing cleared up without delay. He now knows why she so abruptly closed up the other case, and he is determined that nothing under heaven shall interfere with the prosecution of this one to the very end. It is he who is the client, and both he and his fiancée will be here presently to lay the full details before you.”
“Here!” Cleek leaned forward in his chair with a sort of lunge as he flung out the word, and there was a snap in his voice that fairly stung. “Good heavens above, man! They mustn’t come here. Get word to them at once and stop them.”
“It wouldn’t be any use trying, I’m afraid, old chap; I expect they are here already. At all events, I told them to watch from the other side of the way until they saw me enter, and then to come in and go straightway to the public tearoom and wait until I brought you to them.”
“Well, of all the insane——Whatever prompted you to do a madman’s trick like that? A public character like Miss Larue, a woman whom half London knows by sight, who will be the target for every eye in the tearoom, and the news of whose presence in the hotel will be all over the place in less than no time! Were you out of your head?”
“Good lud! Why, I thought I’d be doing the very thing that would please you, dear chap,” bleated the superintendent, despairingly. “It seemed to me such a natural thing for an actress to take tea at a hotel—that it would look so innocent and open that nobody would suspect there was anything behind it. And you always say that things least hidden are hidden the most of all.”
Cleek struck his tongue against his teeth with a sharp, clicking sound indicative of mild despair. There were times when Mr. Narkom seemed utterly hopeless.
“Well, if it’s done, it’s done, of course; and there seems only one way out of it,” he said. “Nip down to the tearoom as quickly as possible, and if they are there bring them up here. It’s only four o’clock and there’s a chance that Waldemar may not have returned to the hotel yet. Heaven knows, I hope not! He’d spot you in a tick, in a weak disguise like that.”
“Then why don’t you go down yourself and fetch them up, old chap? He’d never spot you. Lord! your own mother wouldn’t know you from Adam in this spiffing get-up. And it wouldn’t matter a tinker’s curse then if Waldemar was back or not.”
“It would matter a great deal, my friend—don’t deceive yourself upon that point. For one thing, Captain Maltravers is registered at the office as having just arrived from India after a ten years’ absence, and ten years ago Miss Margaret Larue was not only unknown to fame, but must have been still in pinafores, so how was he to have made her acquaintance? Then, too, she doesn’t expect to see me without you, so I should have to introduce myself and stop to explain matters—yes, and even risk her companion getting excited and saying something indiscreet, and those are rather dangerous affairs in a public tearoom, with everybody’s eyes no doubt fixed upon the lady. No, you must attend to the matter yourself, my friend; so nip off and be about it. If the lady and her companion are there, just whisper them to say nothing, but follow you immediately. If they are not there, slip out and warn them not to come. Look sharp—the situation is ticklish!”