B. Fletcher Robinson

“ There is more of a fighter than a dilletante in you, after all. Come, then—over you go.”
A jump, a scramble, and all three of us were over the wall, dropping into a ragged shrubbery of laurel. We groped and stumbled our way through the growth of bushes until we emerged on a grass plot. Then I understood. We were at the back of Amaroff's studio. On the side where we stood was the out-house, its sloping roof reaching up to the long windows under the eaves—the upper lights, as sculptors call them. ”

“ Doubtless the presence of detectives was no incentive to trade in the bars of Maiden Square.
“This Greatman—what more do you know of him?”
“We have had nothing against him before; but all the same, it's his private room that has the sanded floor.”
The inspector's prophecy of the previous night came back to me with a sudden remembrance: “Amaroff was murdered in a room with a sanded floor, probably at no great distance from Leman Street, seeing that they carried him there in a coster's barrow.” I began to understand the morbid significance of the private room in this little foreign club. ”

“ The Odessa forgery will carry you there by English law—but, remember, it is for something more than forgery that you will have to answer when you arrive.”
There was a silence, and then Nicolin spoke again—two words.
“Sagalien Island.”
“I shall not go there,” said the prisoner, simply. “I shall not go there—Nicolin the spy, Nicolin the murderer and liar!”
“Then you will achieve a miracle. For, as the Czar rules, before a week is out you will be on the sea, and within a month—stop him, stop him!” ”

“ Alexandre, you have the door-key of the studio; give him to the inspector here.”
So it was the door-key, thought I, of which Mr. Alexandre obtained a memento behind the roller-top desk!
Peace gave a polite good-bye to his companions on the step, locked up the little green door, and then started down the street at my side.
I had no business to come poking my nose into your affairs,” I said. “Anything you say I shall thoroughly deserve.”
“Don't apologize,” he smiled. “I was pleased to see you.”
“And why?”
“You can do better things than remain a wealthy dilettante, Mr. Phillips. ”

“ For forgery a man might be extradited from England. Once in Russia the charge would be altered to nihilism, and then—Siberia. It was not pleasant for the caretaker of a nihilist club to be at the mercy of a black-bearded spy lounging on the step outside. “It was that which drove me to the brandy;” said poor Greatman, alias Kroll.
About the end of August there began, he continued, a duel of wits between the two men, Amaroff and Nicolin, the reasons and causes of which did not, if he might be permitted to say, concern us. Nicolin's career was dependent on his success. ”

“ He withdrew it with remarks on the police force which were distinctly audible, and opposed to the complimentary. Suddenly the inspector turned to me with a motion of half-apology, as if at the neglect of a guest.
“There are times, Mr. Phillips,” he said, “when evidence runs in absurd contradictions. Observe the present case, in which you are so good as to interest yourself. We have it from the Russian police that Amaroff is their man, and that in their opinion—they being well qualified to judge—he was murdered by Nihilists. ”

“ Greatman,” said the inspector, “you have told us your story, and I thank you for your confidence. But I advise you now to leave things alone. I will see justice done—don't be afraid about that. For the rest, please to keep a silent tongue in your head—it will be safer. There is still Siberia for Ivan Kroll just as there may be dangers from your friends in the club yonder for Julius Greatman, who arranged so indiscreet a meeting in his private room. Good night to you.”
The caretaker did not reply, but opening the door, bowed us into the passage that led to the big room. ”

“ Tolstoi fanatics, dishonest presidents, anarchists, royalists, Armenians, Turks, Carlists, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia—a finer collection than even America itself can show. On the Continent—well, we should be running them in, and they would be throwing bombs. But here no one troubles them so long as they pay rent and taxes, and keep their hands out of each other's pockets or from each other's throats. They understand us, too, and stop playing at assassins and conspirators. But once in a while habit is too strong for them, and something happens.”
“As it happened to Amaroff?” ”

“ You are too broad in the shoulders, too clear in the head, for living in the world that is dead. Such little incidents as these—they drag you out of the shell you are building about you. That is why I was pleased to see you. ”

“ But when he heard how Nicolin had fooled him, he was anxious to get square by risking all and smuggling the bombs to Paris himself. Moreover, Mr. Phillips, I wanted to locate that dynamite. It is not well to have bombs floating about London, ready to the hand of well-bred lunatics. They breed international squabbles in which we, the police, get jumped upon.”
“And they were hidden in the bust?”
“A very good place too. With careful packing, they would have got to Paris safe enough. The Nero was a known work of art. ”

“ A perfect servant was old Hendry, once sergeant of infantry, and now a combination of cook, valet, and housemaid, who kept my rooms in spotless order, grilled a steak to a turn, was a fair hand with a needle, and spent his spare time in producing the most inartistic wood carving I have ever seen. ”

“ After all, there's nobody left to punish and nobody to pity, barring Greatman, who had the makings of a man in him. Amaroff was a romantic murderer, and Nicolin a practical one; but neither of them were at all the sort of people to encourage. ”

“ And now let us suppose that Amaroff was not a police spy at all; being, in fact, a dangerous Nihilist. What then?”
“Why set yourself such a puzzle?”
“Not for amusement,” he said, with his quiet smile. “And now I propose a little experiment. You must introduce us to this club, Jackson; the door-keeper will know you, and pass us in. Afterwards you will go to the back entrance in the yard you spoke of, and wait. It should be easy to conceal yourself.”
“Yes, sir. Am I to stop Greatman if he comes out?”
“No. Stop nobody. We had better be going.” ”

“ They call themselves social democrats, but our special branch men tell me that a full half of the crowd are anarchists, and such rats as that. I think it must be so, for Nicolin and his Russians have had the place under close observation for weeks. And you know what that means, sir.”
“Yes, I know what that means.”
“Amaroff was not a member, but used to drop in there from time to time. He was very thick with the man who runs the place, Greatman, as he calls himself. They tell me that Greatman sat as a model for some statue he was doing, back in July. ”

“ In a side street the cab drew to a standstill. It was the mortuary, the inspector told me. A young policeman at the door touched his hat, and led the way down a passage to a bare stone chamber. On a slab in the centre the body lay with an elderly man in ill-fitting clothes bending over it. He looked up as we entered, and nodded to the inspector. ”

“ The Czar enters Paris in two days, and when the Czar travels the political police of all the capitals are kept on the run. I suppose Amaroff showed an excess of zeal that made his absence from London desirable. Anyway, he was found dead, and the Russians reasonably conclude it is the Nihilists who killed him."
“Who were those men in the studio?”
“The big fellow was Nicolin, the head of the Russian service over here. I don't know a better man in his profession nor one with fewer scruples. ”

“ The man was of good position, a sculptor, and, I believe, a Pole. A cab is waiting at the door. It is late, I know, Mr. Phillips; it cannot fail to be a great personal inconvenience; but will you drive down with me and take a look at him? ”

“ You had better join the others in Harden Place. Keep within hearing, and if I whistle, kick in the side door of the studio—it can be done. There is a man who I fancy will have a key to the door that is due in about five minutes. ”