Thomas W. Hanshew

“ Now is the time when he needs a friend. Now is the time for his father to be a father; and opportunity counts for so much in the devil’s gamble for souls. Get to him, daddy—get to him and stand by him—and you’ll have given me the finest reward in the world.”
And here, making his adieus to Lady Leake, whose wet eyes followed him with something of reverence in them, and shaking heartily the hand Sir Mawson held out, he linked arms with Narkom, and together they passed out, leaving a great peace and a great joy behind them. ”

“ What happened from that moment, Cleek, nobody knows. At seven o’clock this morning the valet, going to his master’s room with his shaving-water, found that he had never gone to bed at all, and, on hastening to the Stone Drum, found that a light was still burning within and faintly illuminating the bowman’s slits; but although he knocked on the door and called again and again to his master, he could get no answer. Alarmed, he aroused the entire household; but despite the fact that a dozen persons endeavoured to get word from the man within, not so much as a whisper rewarded them. ”

“ But if we took it we should be sure to meet Bevis. That is his especial playground, you know, and if he were to see his father and me we shouldn’t be able to get rid of him again. No! Don’t misunderstand, Mr. Cleek. I am not one of those mothers who find their children a nuisance in their nursery stage. Bevis is the dearest little man! But he is so full of pranks, so full of questions, so full of life and high spirits—and I couldn’t stand that this morning. Besides, he has no one to play with him to-day. This is Miss Miniver’s half holiday. Pardon? Yes—his nursery governess. ”

“ It was ten minutes later. The message had gone its way and Narkom was back in the lifeboat’s shadow again, and 26 close on the bows the lamps of Calais pier shone yellow in the blue-and-silver darkness. On the deck below people were bustling about and making for the place where the gangplank was to be thrust out presently, and link boat and shore together. On the quay, customs officials were making ready for the coming inspection, porters were scuttling about in their blue smocks and peaked caps, and, back of all, the outlines of Calais Town loomed, shadowy and grim through the crowding gloom. ”

“ Narkom! Quick! Played sir, played. Come in, Petrie; come in, Hammond. Gentlemen, here they are, all three of them: Lieutenant Eric Edgburn, his daughter Rose, and Señor Juan Alvarez, the three brute beasts who sent five men to their death for the sake of a lode of sapphires and the devil’s lust for gain!”
“It’s a lie!” flung out the girl who had been known as Rose Valmond.
“Oh, no, it’s not, you vixen! You loathsome creature that prostituted holy things and made a shield of religion to carry on a vampire’s deeds. ”

“ What publicity are you in dread of, please?”
“That which could only bring shame to a dear, lovable young fellow if any hint of what I believe to be the truth should get out, Mr. Cleek,” he replied. “To you I may confess it: I appeal to no medical man because I fear, for young Claude’s sake, that investigation may lead to a discovery of the truth; for both my wife and I feel—indeed, we almost know—that it is his own grandmother, Lady Essington, who is injuring the boy and that it will not be long before she attempts to direct suspicion against us.” ”

“ Count Irma has told! Count Irma has come, as the special envoy of the people, for Queen Karma’s son! For the King they want! For you!” flung out Narkom, getting excited as he proceeded. “It’s all out at last and—I know now. Everybody does. I’m to lose you. Mauravania is to take you from me after all. A palace is to have you—not the Yard. Get in, please, sir—Sire—your Majesty. Get in. They’re waiting for you at the embassy. Get in and go! Good luck to you! God bless you! I mean that. It’s just about going to break my heart, Cleek, but I mean it every word! ”

“ Who is that man, then, since it’s clear he’s not Loti?”
“A very excellent actor in his day, Mr. Trent; his name is James Colliver,” replied Cleek. “I came to this place fully convinced that Loti had murdered him; I now know that he murdered Loti, and that to that crime he has added a yet more abominable one by killing his own son!”
“It’s a lie! It’s a lie! I didn’t! I didn’t! I never saw the boy!” screeched out Colliver in a very panic of terror. “I’ve never killed any one. Loti sold out to me! Loti went back to France. I pawned the jewels to get the money to pay him to go.” ”

“ Rested and refreshed, they made such good time that two o’clock found them in the Morcam Abbey district, just over the borders of Cumberland, and, with appetites sharpened for luncheon, bearing down on a quaint little hostlery whose signboard announced it as the Rose and Thistle.
“Well, there’s hospitality if you like,” said Cleek, as, at their approach, a cheery-faced landlady bobbed up at an open window and, seeing them, bobbed away again and ran round to welcome them with smiles and curtseys delivered from the arch of a vine-bowered door. ”

“ Killed!” half-cried, half-groaned the superintendent, staggering a bit as the crowd flew on up the alley 322 and vanished around the corner of the street into which it merged. “Oh, my God! After all my care; after all my love for him! Killed like a dog. Oh, Cleek! Oh, Cleek! The dearest friend—the finest pal—the greatest detective genius of the age!” And then, swinging his arm up and across his eyes and holding it there, made a queer choking sound behind the sheltering crook of it. ”

“ Cleek made no response; nor yet did Trent. By this time even he had begun to think that accident more than brains must have been at the bottom of the man’s many successes; that he was, in reality, nothing more than a blundering muddler; and, after another ten minutes of putting up with his crazy methods, had just made up his mind to appeal to Narkom for the aid of another detective, when the end which was all along being prepared came with such a rush that it fairly made his head swim. ”

“ Fancy chucking up a reward for the sake of a chap you never saw before, and who treated you like a mere nobody. Why, man alive, you could have had almost any reward—a thousand pounds if you’d asked it—for finding a priceless thing like that.”
“I fancy I’ve helped to find something that is more priceless still, my friend, and it’s cheap at the price.”
“But a thousand pounds, Cleek! a thousand pounds! God’s truth, man, think what you could do with all that money—think what you could buy!” ”

“ Probably the most beautiful, unscrupulous, reckless, dare-devil spy in all Europe, Sir Charles. She is a Russian by birth, but owns allegiance to no country and to no crown. Together with her depraved brother Boris, and her equally desperate paramour, Nicolo Ferrand, she forms one of the trio of paid bravos who for years have been at the beck and call of any nation despicable enough to employ them; always ready for any piece of treachery or dirty work, so long as their price is paid—as cunning as serpents, as slippery as eels, as clever as the devil himself, and as patient. ”

“ So, if by any chance, something has occurred which threatens the safety of that amazing necklace—and you and Sir Mawson are in a position to know the facts——Come! Take me into your confidence, and—perhaps! Who knows?”
Before he had fairly finished speaking, Lady Leake caught up his hand, and, holding it fast squeezed in both her own, looked up at him with bright, wet eyes.
“It must have been heaven itself that sent you to us this morning,” she cried. “If any man in the world can help us, I believe in my soul that you are the man. ”

“ Cleek’s voice struck in so suddenly and with such vehemence that it was almost a bark, like that of a startled terrier, and Mr. Narkom, knowing the signs, fairly jumped at him.
“You’ve found out something, I know!” he cried. “What is it, old chap—eh?”
“Let me alone, let me alone!” flung back Cleek, irritably. “I want the dockmaster! I want him at once! Where is the man? Oh, there you are, Mr. Beachman. Speak up—quickly. Was that ‘Hilmann’ woman ever allowed to enter this room? Did she ever make use of this typewriter at any time?”
“Yes, sir—often,” he replied. ”

“ Alexander MacInery, a stolid, unemotional Scotsman of middle age, with a huge knotted forehead, eyebrows like young moustaches, and a face like a face of granite; and he found, too, reason to believe that each of these was, in his separate way, a man to inspire confidence and respect.
“I can hardly express to you, Mr. Cleek, how glad I am to meet you and to have you make this quick response to my appeal,” said the Admiral Superintendent, offering him a welcoming hand. “I feel that if any man is likely to get to the bottom of this mysterious business you are that man. ”

“ Then he passed on and round the curve of the deckhouse to the promenade on the other side; and “Monsieur,” with the paper hard shut in the grip of a tense hand, moved fleetly back toward the smoke-room.
But not unknown any longer.
“Gawd’s truth—a woman!” gulped Dollops in a shaking voice.
“No, not a woman—a devil!” said Narkom through his teeth. “Margot, by James! Margot, herself! And what is he—what is Cleek?—that a king should enter into compact with a woman to kill him? Margot, dash her! ”

“ Armroyd had left them, “Miss Renfrew, tell me something please: Have you any suspicion regarding the identity or the purpose of the person who murdered your uncle?”
“Not in the slightest, Mr. Headland. Of course, in the beginning, my thoughts flew at once to Sir Ralph Droger, but I now see how absurd it is to think that such as he——”
“I am not even hinting at Sir Ralph Droger,” interposed Cleek. “Two other people in the world have a ‘motive’ quite as strong as any that might be assigned to him. You, of course, feel every confidence in the honour and integrity of Mr. Charles Drummond?” ”

“ Afterward he declared that that was the proudest moment of his life; for if it was not the proudest of Cleek’s, his looks belied him. For, as his foot touched the crimson carpet, a band within swung into the stately measure of the Mauravanian National Anthem, an escort came down the hall and down the steps and lined up on either side of him, and if ever man looked proud of his inheritance, that man was he. ”

“ Good lud, don’t talk rubbish. What good would following some one else do if they were after you?”
“Come and see,” said Cleek again, and would say no more, but merely walked on faster than ever—up one thoroughfare and down another—flicking eager glances to right and to left in search of the red limousine.
In the thick of the High Street they caught sight of it at last, tooling about aimlessly, while Lennard kept constant watch on the crowd of shoppers that moved up and down the pavement.
“Cut ahead and stop it and we shall see what we shall see, Mr. Narkom. ”

“ It is a recognized fact in police circles that crime has a curious propensity for indulging in periodical outbursts of great energy, great fecundity, and then lapsing into a more or less sporadic condition for a time—like a gorged tiger that drowses, and stirs only to lick its chops after a hideous feast. So that following the lines of these fixed principles the recent spell of criminal activity was succeeded by a sort of lull, and the next two weeks were idle ones for Cleek. ”

“ Why, I thought I’d be doing the very thing that would please you, dear chap,” bleated the superintendent, despairingly. “It seemed to me such a natural thing for an actress to take tea at a hotel—that it would look so innocent and open that nobody would suspect there was anything behind it. And you always say that things least hidden are hidden the most of all.”
Cleek struck his tongue against his teeth with a sharp, clicking sound indicative of mild despair. There were times when Mr. Narkom seemed utterly hopeless. ”