"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "play is over for to-night. We are, without a doubt, the victims of an attempted robbery. The lights were turned out from the controlling switch by the lift man, who has disappeared. I will ask you to leave the room one by one; and, for all our sakes, I beg that any unknown to us will submit themselves to be searched."
There was a little angry murmur. Mr. Rubenstein looked pleadingly round.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he begged, "you will not object, I am sure. I am a poor man. Two thousand pounds of my money has gone from that table--all the money I kept in reserve to make a bank for you. If any one will return it now nothing shall be said. But to lose it all--I tell you it would ruin me!"
The perspiration stood out on his forehead. He looked anxiously round, as though seeking for sympathy. Mr. Parker came over to his side.
"Say, Mr. Rubenstein," he declared, "there isn"t any one here who wants you to lose a five-pound note--that"s a sure thing! But there is just one difficulty about this searching business: How can you identify your notes?
If I, for instance, were to insist that I had brought with me two thousand pounds in banknotes in my pocket--which, let me hasten to a.s.sure you, I didn"t--how could you deny it?"
"My notes," Mr. Rubenstein replied feverishly, "all bear the stamp of Lloyd"s Bank and to-day"s date. They can all be recognized."
"In that case," Mr. Parker continued, "I recommend you, Mr. Rubenstein, to insist upon searching every person here not thoroughly known to you; and I recommend you, ladies and gentlemen," he added, looking round, "to submit to be searched. It will not be a very strenuous affair, because no one can have had time to conceal the notes very effectively. I think you will all agree with me that we cannot allow our friend, who has provided us with amus.e.m.e.nt for so many nights, to run the risk of a loss like this. Begin with me, Mr. Rubenstein. No--I insist upon it. You know me better than most of your clients, I think; but I submit myself voluntarily to be searched."
"I thank you very much indeed, sir," Mr. Rubenstein declared quickly. "It is very good of you to set the example," he continued, thrusting his hand into Mr. Parker"s pockets. "Ah! I see nothing here--nothing! Notes in this pocket--ten, twenty, thirty. Not mine, I see--no Lloyd"s stamp. Gold! A pleasant little handful of gold, that. Mr. Parker, I thank you, sir. If you will be so good as to pa.s.s into the next room."
I brought Eve up. We were recognized as having been sitting upon the divan and Mr. Rubenstein, with a bow and extended hand, motioned to us to pa.s.s on.
"You will visit us again, I trust," he said, "when we are not so disturbed."
"Most certainly!" Mr. Parker promised in our names. "Most certainly, Mr.
Rubenstein. We will all come again. Good night!"
We walked out to the landing and, descending the stairs, reached the street and stepped into the motor car that was waiting for us. It rolled off and turned into Piccadilly.
"How much was it, father?" Eve asked suddenly, from her place in the corner.
"I am not sure," Mr. Parker answered. "There is a matter of eight hundred pounds in my right shoe, and a little more than that, I think, in my left.
The note down my back was, I believe, a hundred-pound one. Quite a pleasant little evening and fairly remunerative! The lift man will cost me a hundred--but he was worth it."
I sat quite still. I felt that Eve"s eyes were watching me. I set my teeth for a moment; and I turned toward her, my cigarette case in my hand.
"You don"t mind?" I murmured as I lit a cigarette.
She shook her head. Her eyes were still fixed upon me.
"Where can we drop you?" Mr. Parker inquired.
"If the evening is really over and there are no more excitements to come, you might put me down at the Milan Court," I told him, "if that is anywhere on your way."
Mr. Parker lifted the speaking tube to his lips and gave an order. We glided up to the Milan a few minutes later.
"I have enjoyed my evening immensely," I a.s.sured Eve impressively, "every moment of it; and I do hope, Mr. Parker," I added as I shook hands, "that you and your daughter will give me the great pleasure of dining with me any night this week. If there are any other little adventures about here in which I could take a hand I can a.s.sure you I should be delighted. I might even be of some a.s.sistance."
They both of them looked at me steadfastly. Then Eve at last glanced away, with a little shrug of the shoulders, and Mr. Joseph H. Parker gripped my hand.
"Say, you"re all right!" he p.r.o.nounced. "You just ring up 3771A Gerrard to-morrow morning between ten and eleven."
CHAPTER III--CULLEN GIVES ADVICE
At ten o"clock the following morning my telephone bell rang and a visitor was announced. I did not catch the name given me, and it was only when I opened the door to him in response to his ring that I recognized Mr.
Cullen. In morning clothes, which consisted in his case of a blue serge suit that needed brushing and a bowler hat of extinct shape, he seemed to me, if possible, a little more objectionable than I had found him the previous night. He presented himself, however, in a wholly non-aggressive spirit.
"Mr. Walmsley," he said, as he took the chair to which I motioned him, "I have called to see you very largely in your own interests."
I murmured something to the effect that I was extremely obliged.
"I have made inquiries concerning you," he went on, "and I find that you not only have a blameless record but that you are possessed of considerable means, and that you belong to a highly esteemed county family."
"And what of it, Mr. Cullen?" I asked.
"This," he answered, "that I feel it my duty to warn you against the companions with whom you spent a portion of last evening."
"You mean Mr. and Miss Parker?"
"I mean Mr. and Miss Parker."
"Are you making any definite charges against this young lady and gentleman?" I inquired after a moment"s pause.
"Very definite charges indeed!" he replied. "I warn you, Mr. Walmsley, that this man and his daughter are in bad repute with us, and to be seen a.s.sociated with them is to bring yourself under police surveillance. We had a special warning when they sailed from New York, and since their arrival in London they have already been concerned in two or three very shady transactions."
"If they break the law," I inquired, "why do you not arrest them?"
"Because I have had bad luck--rotten bad luck!" Mr. Cullen declared firmly. "I am perfectly convinced that this Mr. Parker, as he calls himself, has been financing one of the greatest artists in banknote counterfeits ever known to the police. I am perfectly convinced that Mr.
Parker left this young man in Adam Street last night, with a packet of notes upon his person for which he had just paid two hundred pounds, and if I could have arrested him then the game would have been up. He dodged me by going into the Cecil, leaving by the back way and coming through the Savoy; but I picked him up again within two minutes of his reaching Stephano"s.
"Obviously with your collusion--you"ll pardon me, sir, but there the facts are--he was seated at your table as though in the middle of a dinner. I had him searched, but there wasn"t a thing on him. I am not going to ask you what he did with the notes he had--whether he palmed them off on you or not--but I will simply say that between the time of his entering Stephano"s and the time of my searching him he got rid of a thousand pounds" worth of counterfeit notes."
"Sounds very clever of him!" I remarked. "How do you know that he didn"t get rid of them to some one in either the Cecil or the Savoy?"
"Because," Mr. Cullen explained, "he was followed by one of my men through both places and not lost sight of for a single second. You see, I made sure he would come to Stephano"s and I was on the other side of the Strand, but I had left a man in case he went the other way. I tell you he was under the strictest surveillance the whole time, except during the few minutes--I might almost say seconds--when he disappeared in the restaurant."
"Anything else against him?" I asked.
"I am not inclined," Mr. Cullen continued slowly, "to mention specifically the various cases that have come under my notice and in which I believe him to be concerned; but, among other things, he is a frequenter of half the gambling houses in London and a tout for their owners. Trouble follows wherever he goes. But, Mr. Walmsley, mark my words! I am not a man given to idle speech and I a.s.sure you that within a few weeks--perhaps within a few days--I shall have him; aye, and the young lady, too! You don"t want to be mixed up in this sort of business, sir. I am here to give you the advice to sheer off! They"ll only rob you and bring you, too, under suspicion."
I lit a cigarette and stood on the hearthrug with my hands behind me.
"Mr. Cullen," I said, "it is, of course, very kind of you to come to me in this disinterested manner. You don"t seem to have anything to gain by it, so I will accept your att.i.tude as being a bona fide one. I will, if I may, be equally frank with you. I met both Mr. Parker and his daughter last night for the first time----"
"Then that dinner was a plant!" Mr. Cullen interrupted swiftly. "I knew it!"
I ignored the interruption.
"For the first time," I repeated; "and I find them both most delightful companions. As to how far our acquaintance may progress, that is entirely a matter for chance to decide. You have doubtless come here with very good motives, but I see no reason why I should accept your statements concerning Mr. Parker and his daughter. You understand? My suggestion is that you are mistaken. Until I have proved them to be other than they represent themselves to be," I added with infinite subtlety, "I shall continue to derive pleasure from their society."