He said “No. 7 Sault Algonquin” precisely and clearly. He wanted the Englishman behind the door to hear it. Clement Seadon behind the door heard it, and chuckled silently. He was certainly having great good fortune.
“Did—did Siwash say where he had found Henry Gunning? I suppose he has found him?” The woman was not playing up so well, Mr. Neuburg frowned bleakly; and yet, swiftly, he made her question serve his ends.
“Siwash knows better than to talk of matters like that over the telephone,” he said. “I take it that he has discovered the lurking place of our besotted friend Gunning. But I shall not know until to-night. I meet him at Algonquin at 10:30. He will report then.”
He said the last words very clearly. The Englishman was to hear them. Clement heard them and congratulated himself.
There was a pause in Mr. Neuburg’s room, then Clement heard the massive man speak again, “What are you doing to-night—you and the girl?”
“O-oh,” said the woman. “We are going to a concert of old habitant French songs. One of the ladies from the Empress told the girl she must not miss it for the world, so she booked seats.... But if you wanted me at Algonquin, I could have a headache.”
“You will not have a headache,” said Mr. Neuburg, very distinctly. “I do not want you at Algonquin. I want you by that girl’s side. But, and attend to this carefully, my dear Méduse, if anything untoward occurs you must come to the gluemaker’s immediately. Understand that—you must come yourself. I will not have telephoning. I do not trust a woman on the telephone in so delicate a business as this. Follow carefully what I have to say. You may take a taxi, if you like, as far as the docks, but you must not take it into the Sault Algonquin, or to the door of No. 7. You understand? No curiosity, particularly that of the gluemaker’s neighbors, must be aroused. For that reason you will not knock at the door, which, you know, is in a cart gate, or wait about outside. All you need do is to push against the little door in the gate. It will be open. It will purposely be left open. Now you understand that perfectly?”
The woman understood that perfectly. She repeated the directions to show that she had it perfectly. Mr. Neuburg said, “That is good. I do not think anything untoward will occur, but we must always plan for any event. And now that you know everything, you had better go back to your room and await the girl. We cannot risk suspicion of any sort. Let us hope that Siwash will bring us definite and good news of Henry Gunning, and that what I hear at 10:30 to-night may mean a speedy finish to our big scheme.”
Clement echoed the sentiments. He hoped, in fact he felt certain, that what Siwash Mike would have to say about the vanished Henry would give him (Seadon) facts which, in addition to the other damning material he had, would enable him to settle the accounts of these rogues swiftly and for all time when he spoke of them in his talk with Heloise Reys to-morrow morning.
He felt, indeed, that it was all part of fate working on his side.