"my dear mr. meredith,"i cannot tell you how unhappy and humiliated i feel that mylittle joke with you should have had such an uncomfortableending. as you know, and as i have given you proof, i have thegreatest admiration in the world for one whose work forhumanity has won such universal recognition.
"i hope that we shall both forget this unhappy morning and thatyou will give me an opportunity of rendering to you in person,the apologies which are due to you. i feel that anything lesswill neither rehabilitate me in your esteem, nor secure for methe remnants of my shattered self-respect.
"i am hoping you will dine with me next week and meet a mostinteresting man, george gathercole, who has just returned frompatagonia, - i only received his letter this morning - havingmade most remarkable discoveries concerning that country.
"i feel sure that you are large enough minded and too much a manof the world to allow my foolish fit of temper to disturb arelationship which i have always hoped would be mutuallypleasant. if you will allow gathercole, who will beunconscious of the part he is playing, to act as peacemakerbetween yourself and myself, i shall feel that his trip, whichhas cost me a large sum of money, will not have been wasted.
"i am, dear mr. meredith,"yours very sincerely,"remington kara."kara folded the letter and inserted it in its envelope. he rang abell on his table and the girl who had so filled t. x. with asense of awe came from an adjoining room.
"you will see that this is delivered, miss holland."she inclined her head and stood waiting. kara rose from his deskand began to pace the room.
"do you know t. x. meredith?" he asked suddenly.
"i have heard of him," said the girl.
"a man with a singular mind," said kara; "a man against whom myfavourite weapon would fail."she looked at him with interest in her eyes.
"what is your favourite weapon, mr. kara?" she asked.
"fear," he said.
if he expected her to give him any encouragement to proceed he wasdisappointed. probably he required no such encouragement, for inthe presence of his social inferiors he was somewhat monopolizing.
"cut a man's flesh and it heals," he said. "whip a man and thememory of it passes, frighten him, fill him with a sense offoreboding and apprehension and let him believe that somethingdreadful is going to happen either to himself or to someone heloves - better the latter - and you will hurt him beyondforgetfulness. fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible thanthe rack, more potent than the stake. fear is many-eyed and seeshorrors where normal vision only sees the ridiculous.""is that your creed?" she asked quietly.
"part of it, miss holland," he smiled.
she played idly with the letter she held in her hand, balancing iton the edge of the desk, her eyes downcast.
"what would justify the use of such an awful weapon?" she asked.
"it is amply justified to secure an end," he said blandly. "forexample - i want something - i cannot obtain that somethingthrough the ordinary channel or by the employment of ordinarymeans. it is essential to me, to my happiness, to my comfort, ormy amour-propre, that that something shall be possessed by me. ifi can buy it, well and good. if i can buy those who can use theirinfluence to secure this thing for me, so much the better. if ican obtain it by any merit i possess, i utilize that merit,providing always, that i can secure my object in the time,otherwise"he shrugged his shoulders.
"i see," she said, nodding her head quickly. "i suppose that ishow blackmailers feel."he frowned.
"that is a word i never use, nor do i like to hear it employed,"he said. "blackmail suggests to me a vulgar attempt to obtainmoney.""which is generally very badly wanted by the people who use it,"said the girl, with a little smile, "and, according to yourargument, they are also justified.""it is a matter of plane," he said airily. "viewed from mystandpoint, they are sordid criminals - the sort of person that t.
x. meets, i presume, in the course of his daily work. t. x., hewent on somewhat oracularly, "is a man for whom i have a greatdeal of respect. you will probably meet him again, for he willfind an opportunity of asking you a few questions about myself. ineed hardly tell you - "he lifted his shoulders with a deprecating smile.
"i shall certainly not discuss your business with any person,"said the girl coldly.
"i am paying you 3 pounds a week, i think," he said. "i intendincreasing that to 5 pounds because you suit me most admirably.""thank you," said the girl quietly, "but i am already being paidquite sufficient."she left him, a little astonished and not a little ruffled.
to refuse the favours of remington kara was, by him, regarded assomething of an affront. half his quarrel with t. x. was thatgentleman's curious indifference to the benevolent attitude whichkara had persistently adopted in his dealings with the detective.
he rang the bell, this time for his valet.
"fisher," he said, "i am expecting a visit from a gentleman namedgathercole - a one-armed gentleman whom you must look after if hecomes. detain him on some pretext or other because he is ratherdifficult to get hold of and i want to see him. i am going outnow and i shall be back at 6.30. do whatever you can to preventhim going away until i return. he will probably be interested ifyou take him into the library.""very good, sir," said the urbane fisher, "will you change beforeyou go out?"kara shook his head.
"i think i will go as i am," he said. "get me my fur coat. thisbeastly cold kills me," he shivered as he glanced into the bleakstreet. "keep my fire going, put all my private letters in mybedroom, and see that miss holland has her lunch."fisher followed him to his car, wrapped the fur rug about hislegs, closed the door carefully and returned to the house. fromthence onward his behaviour was somewhat extraordinary for awell-bred servant. that he should return to kara's study and setthe papers in order was natural and proper.
that he should conduct a rapid examination of all the drawers inkara's desk might be excused on the score of diligence, since hewas, to some extent, in the confidence of his employer.
kara was given to making friends of his servants - up to a point.
in his more generous moments he would address his bodyguard as"fred," and on more occasions than one, and for no apparentreason, had tipped his servant over and above his salary.
mr. fred fisher found little to reward him for his search until hecame upon kara's cheque book which told him that on the previousday the greek had drawn 6,000 pounds in cash from the bank. thisinterested him mightily and he replaced the cheque book with thetightened lips and the fixed gaze of a man who was thinkingrapidly. he paid a visit to the library, where the secretary wasengaged in making copies of kara's correspondence, answeringletters appealing for charitable donations, and in the hack wordswhich fall to the secretaries of the great.
he replenished the fire, asked deferentially for any instructionsand returned again to his quest. this time he made the bedroomthe scene of his investigations. the safe he did not attempt totouch, but there was a small bureau in which kara would haveplaced his private correspondence of the morning. this howeveryielded no result.
by the side of the bed on a small table was a telephone, the sightof which apparently afforded the servant a little amusement. thiswas the private 'phone which kara had been instrumental in havingfixed to scotland yard - as he had explained to his servants.
"rum cove," said fisher.
he paused for a moment before the closed door of the room andsmilingly surveyed the great steel latch which spanned the doorand fitted into an iron socket securely screwed to the framework.
he lifted it gingerly - there was a little knob for the purpose -and let it fall gently into the socket which had been made toreceive it on the door itself.
"rum cove," he said again, and lifting the latch to the hook whichheld it up, left the room, closing the door softly behind him. hewalked down the corridor, with a meditative frown, and began todescend the stairs to the hall.
he was less than half-way down when the one maid of kara'shousehold came up to meet him.
"there's a gentleman who wants to see mr. kara," she said, "hereis his card."fisher took the card from the salver and read, "mr. georgegathercole, junior travellers' club.""i'll see this gentleman," he said, with a sudden brisk interest.
he found the visitor standing in the hall.
he was a man who would have attracted attention, if only from thesomewhat eccentric nature of his dress and his unkempt appearance.
he was dressed in a well-worn overcoat of a somewhat pronouncedcheck, he had a top-hat, glossy and obviously new, at the back ofhis head, and the lower part of his face was covered by a raggedbeard. this he was plucking with nervous jerks, talking tohimself the while, and casting a disparaging eye upon the portraitof remington kara which hung above the marble fireplace. a pairof pince-nez sat crookedly on his nose and two fat volumes underhis arm completed the picture. fisher, who was an observer ofsome discernment, noticed under the overcoat a creased blue suit,large black boots and a pair of pearl studs.
the newcomer glared round at the valet.
"take these!" he ordered peremptorily, pointing to the books underhis arm.
fisher hastened to obey and noted with some wonder that thevisitor did not attempt to assist him either by loosening his holdof the volumes or raising his hand. accidentally the valet's handpressed against the other's sleeve and he received a shock, forthe forearm was clearly an artificial one. it was against awooden surface beneath the sleeve that his knuckles struck, andthis view of the stranger's infirmity was confirmed when the otherreached round with his right hand, took hold of the gloved lefthand and thrust it into the pocket of his overcoat.
"where is kara?" growled the stranger.
"he will be back very shortly, sir," said the urbane fisher.
"out, is he?" boomed the visitor. "then i shan't wait. what thedevil does he mean by being out? he's had three years to be out!""mr. kara expects you, sir. he told me he would be in at sixo'clock at the latest.""six o'clock, ye gods'." stormed the man impatiently. "what dogam i that i should wait till six?"he gave a savage little tug at his beard.
"six o'clock, eh? you will tell mr. kara that i called. give methose books.""but i assure you, sir, - " stammered fisher.
"give me those books!" roared the other.
deftly he lifted his left hand from the pocket, crooked the elbowby some quick manipulation, and thrust the books, which the valetmost reluctantly handed to him, back to the place from whence hehad taken them.
"tell mr. kara i will call at my own time - do you understand, atmy own time. good morning to you.""if you would only wait, sir," pleaded the agonized fisher.
"wait be hanged," snarled the other. "i've waited three years, itell you. tell mr. kara to expect me when he sees me!"he went out and most unnecessarily banged the door behind him.
fisher went back to the library. the girl was sealing up someletters as he entered and looked up.
"i am afraid, miss holland, i've got myself into very serioustrouble.""what is that, fisher!" asked the girl.
"there was a gentleman coming to see mr. kara, whom mr. karaparticularly wanted to see.""mr. gathercole," said the girl quickly.
fisher nodded.
"yes, miss, i couldn't get him to stay though."she pursed her lips thoughtfully.
"mr. kara will be very cross, but i don't see how you can help it.
i wish you had called me,""he never gave a chance, miss," said fisher, with a little smile,"but if he comes again i'll show him straight up to you."she nodded.
"is there anything you want; miss?" he asked as he stood at thedoor.
"what time did mr. kara say he would be back?""at six o'clock, miss," the man replied.
"there is rather an important letter here which has to bedelivered.""shall i ring up for a messenger?""no, i don't think that would be advisable. you had better takeit yourself."kara was in the habit of employing fisher as a confidentialmessenger when the occasion demanded such employment.
"i will go with pleasure, miss," he said.
it was a heaven-sent opportunity for fisher, who had beeninventing some excuse for leaving the house. she handed him theletter and he read without a droop of eyelid the superscription"t. x. meredith, esq., special service dept., scotland yard,whitehall."he put it carefully in his pocket and went from the room tochange. large as the house was kara did not employ a regularstaff of servants. a maid and a valet comprised the whole of theindoor staff. his cook, and the other domestics, necessary forconducting an establishment of that size, were engaged by the day.
kara had returned from the country earlier than had beenanticipated, and, save for fisher, the only other person in thehouse beside the girl, was the middle-aged domestic who wasparlour-maid, serving-maid and housekeeper in one.
miss holland sat at her desk to all appearance reading over theletters she had typed that afternoon but her mind was very farfrom the correspondence before her. she heard the soft thud ofthe front door closing, and rising she crossed the room rapidlyand looked down through the window to the street. she watchedfisher until he was out of sight; then she descended to the halland to the kitchen.
it was not the first visit she had made to the big undergroundroom with its vaulted roof and its great ranges - which wereseldom used nowadays, for kara gave no dinners.
the maid - who was also cook - arose up as the girl entered.
"it's a sight for sore eyes to see you in my kitchen, miss," shesmiled.
"i'm afraid you're rather lonely, mrs. beale," said the girlsympathetically.
"lonely, miss!" cried the maid. "i fairly get the creeps sittinghere hour after hour. it's that door that gives me the hump."she pointed to the far end of the kitchen to a soiled looking doorof unpainted wood.
"that's mr. kara's wine cellar - nobody's been in it but him. iknow he goes in sometimes because i tried a dodge that my brother- who's a policeman - taught me. i stretched a bit of whitecotton across it an' it was broke the next morning.""mr. kara keeps some of his private papers in there," said thegirl quietly, "he has told me so himself.""h'm," said the woman doubtfully, "i wish he'd brick it up - thesame as he has the lower cellar - i get the horrors sittin' hereat night expectin' the door to open an' the ghost of the mad lordto come out - him that was killed in africa."miss holland laughed.
"i want you to go out now," she said, "i have no stamps."mrs. beale obeyed with alacrity and whilst she was assuming a hat- being desirous of maintaining her prestige as housekeeper in theeyes of cadogan square, the girl ascended to the upper floor.
again she watched from the window the disappearing figure.
once out of sight miss holland went to work with a remarkabledeliberation and thoroughness. from her bag she produced a smallpurse and opened it. in that case was a new steel key. shepassed swiftly down the corridor to kara's room and made straightfor the safe.
in two seconds it was open and she was examining its contents. itwas a large safe of the usual type. there were four steel drawersfitted at the back and at the bottom of the strong box. two ofthese were unlocked and contained nothing more interesting thanaccounts relating to kara's estate in albania.
the top pair were locked. she was prepared for this contingencyand a second key was as efficacious as the first. an examinationof the first drawer did not produce all that she had expected.
she returned the papers to the drawer, pushed it to and locked it.
she gave her attention to the second drawer. her hand shook alittle as she pulled it open. it was her last chance, her lasthope.
there were a number of small jewel-boxes almost filling thedrawer. she took them out one by one and at the bottom she foundwhat she had been searching for and that which had filled herthoughts for the past three months.
it was a square case covered in red morocco leather. she insertedher shaking hand and took it out with a triumphant little cry.
"at last," she said aloud, and then a hand grasped her wrist andin a panic she turned to meet the smiling face of kara.
