“Louise!” he gasped, staring straight before him. He recollected that woman’s pale, pinched face at the corner of Berkeley Street that night—that face which he had tried to forget and believe to be a mere fancy. “Louise alive—a living witness!” he cried, plainly terrified. “And Felix always told me that he—he’d killed her with his own hand to prevent her giving the alarm! She came into the room and discovered me at the safe, and she paid for it, I always thought, with her life. Then the young woman found dead must have been the servant!”
“Come, you’d better say no more,” urged the officer, who, turning to the man who had opened the door, said: “Just whistle a cab, Hall.”
“No!” cried Jim Jannaway, hoarsely; “You—you shan’t take me alive. I—I’ll—I’ll die game, too!” and before the inspector could prevent him he had whipped out his revolver, placed the muzzle in his mouth and fired, falling lifeless next second at the officer’s feet.
God’s wrath had fallen upon the evil-doers.
Next day—the very day when the great sensation of Sir Felix Challas’s tragic end, which every one recollects, appeared in the papers—“Red Mullet” ascended the stairs at Pembridge Gardens, and grasped the hand which the Professor stretched forth.
At his side stood Frank Farquhar, to whom he was introduced by the Professor.
“I’m most delighted, Mr Mullet, to have the opportunity of at last knowing you,” Frank exclaimed. “The Professor has to-day shown me your letters and telegrams. In the circumstances, the situation is as satisfactory as it possibly can be. We can only hope that the Sultan will, after all the eventualities have been fully considered, grant to you the concession to search. It is fortunate, indeed, that you enjoy the friendship of the Grand Vizier.”
“Yes,” laughed the tall fellow, “his Excellency has been good enough to give me quite a lucrative appointment in the Department of Mines. I’m entering the Turkish service on the first of next month, when—well—I hope I’ll be able to lead an honest life in the future.”
“Let’s hope so,” exclaimed the Professor. “These revelations concerning Sir Felix Challas and your friend Jannaway, in the papers to-day, are most astounding.”