I thanked him and expressed great pleasure at his invitation.
Why, I wondered, had Feng hurriedly disappeared? He had passed into that adjoining room which was a bedroom, and thence, I supposed, out into the corridor. Or perhaps he was in the next apartment listening to our conversation.
Over a whiskey and soda I told Humphreys of the desperate attempt that had been made upon my life, and described all the circumstances. Somehow I felt confidence in him, even though he had Harold Ruthen in his employ. I suspected Feng the more because of the manner in which he had kept secret watch upon Thelma.
“By jove!” said Humphreys, when I had finished. “You certainly had a very narrow escape.”
“Yes. But fortunately the dose given was not fatal, though the doctor has told me that had I swallowed a few more drops I should certainly have died.”
“But the letter to the Coroner!” remarked the old man. “Your enemy took care to complete the picture of suicide, didn’t he?”
“I should have had some difficulty in disproving the charge of attempted suicide if it were not for the handwriting,” I said. “The assassin did not reckon on the chance that I should escape and prove the letter to be a forgery!”
Then I told him of the visit paid to my rooms and the theft of Thelma’s letters.
“Ah!” he said. “It is your association with that little lady which has brought you into danger. Depend upon it there is some secret connected with Audley that, at all hazards, has to be kept—even if it involves plotting your death. You have had a pretty severe warning and if I were you I should certainly heed it. Whatever the secret may be—and it clearly must be something very serious—it evidently does not concern you personally and if you drop the whole affair you will be safe enough. Surely there is no reason why you should run any further risk?”
“It concerns Thelma,” I said doggedly, “and for her sake I have determined, no matter at what risk to myself, and no matter who threatens me, to elucidate the mystery of Audley’s dual rôle, and his curious disappearance. For the future at least I shall be forearmed.”