Think of the risk I ran--the danger I am now in. I deposited those notes on the morrow as security at my bank, and I met all my engagements. The crisis is over! Those notes are in a safe deposit vault in Chancery Lane! I only wish to Heaven that I could find the owner!"
"And the doc.u.ment?" Bellamy asked. "The doc.u.ment?"
"It is in the hotel safe," Laverick answered.
Bellamy drew a long sigh of relief. Then he emptied his tumbler and lit a cigarette.
"Laverick," he declared, "I believe you."
"Thank G.o.d!" Laverick muttered.
"I am no crime investigator," Bellamy went on thoughtfully. "As to who killed Von Behrling, or why, I cannot now form the slightest idea. That twenty thousand pounds, Laverick, is Secret Service money, paid by me to Von Behrling only half-an-hour before he was murdered, in a small restaurant there, for what I supposed to be the doc.u.ment. He deceived me by making up a false packet. The real one he kept. He deserved to die, and I am glad he is dead."
Laverick"s face was suddenly hopeful.
"Then you can take these notes!" he exclaimed.
Bellamy nodded.
"In a few days," he said, "I shall take you with me to a friend of mine--a Cabinet Minister. You shall tell him the story exactly as you"ve told it to me, and restore the money."
Laverick laughed like a child.
"Don"t think I"m mad," he apologized, "but I am not a person like you, Bellamy,--used to adventures and this sort of wild happenings.
I"m a steady-going, matter-of-fact Englishman, and this thing has been like a hateful nightmare to me. I can"t believe that I"m going to get rid of it."
Bellamy smiled.
"It"s a great adventure," he declared, "to come to any one like you.
To tell you the truth, I can"t imagine how you had the pluck--don"t misunderstand me, I mean the moral pluck--to run such a risk. Why, at the moment you used those notes," Bellamy continued, "the odds must have been about twenty to one against your not being found out."
"One doesn"t stop to count the odds," Laverick said grimly. "I saw a chance of salvation and I went for it. And now about this letter."
Bellamy rose to his feet.
"On the King"s service!" he whispered softly.
They walked once more to the cashier"s desk. A stranger greeted them.
Laverick produced his receipt.
"I should like the packet I deposited here this evening," he said.
"I am sorry to trouble you, but I find that I require it unexpectedly."
The clerk glanced at the receipt and up at the clock. "I am afraid, sir," he answered, "that we cannot get at it before the morning."
"Why not?" Laverick demanded, frowning.
"Mr. Dean has just gone home," the man declared, "and he is the only one who knows the combination on the "L" safe. You see, sir," he continued, "we keep this particular safe for doc.u.ments, and we did not expect that anything would be required from it to-night."
Bellamy drew Laverick away.
"After all," he said, "perhaps to-morrow morning would be better.
There"s no need to get shirty with these fellows. As a matter of fact, I don"t think that I should have dared to receive it without making some special preparations. I can get some plain clothes men here upon whom I can rely, at nine o"clock."
They strolled back into the hall.
"Tell me," Laverick asked, "do you know who the man was who forged my name to the order a few hours ago?"
Bellamy nodded.
"It was Adolf Kahn, an Austrian spy. I have been watching him for days. If they"d given him the paper I had four men at the door, but it would have been touch and go. He is a very prince of conspirators, that fellow. To tell you the truth, I think I might as well go home."
Bellamy was drawing on his gloves when the hall-porter brought a note to Laverick.
"A messenger has just left this for you, sir," he explained.
Laverick tore open the envelope. The contents consisted of a few words only, written on plain note-paper and in a handwriting which was strange to him.
"Ring up 1232 Gerrard."
Laverick frowned, turned over the half sheet of paper and looked once more at the envelope. Then he pa.s.sed it on to his companion.
"What do you make of that, Bellamy?" he asked.
Bellamy smiled as he perused and returned it.
"What could any one make of it?" he remarked, laconically. "Do you know the handwriting?"
"Never saw it before, to my knowledge," Laverick answered. "What should you do about it?"
"I think," Bellamy suggested, "that I should ring up number 1232 Gerrard."
They crossed the hall and Laverick entered one of the telephone booths.
"1232 Gerrard," he said.
The connection was made almost at once.
"Who are you?" Laverick asked.
"I am speaking for Miss Zoe Leneven," was the reply. "Are you Mr.
Laverick?"
"I am," Laverick answered. "Is Miss Leneveu there? Can she speak to me herself?"
"She is not here," the voice continued. "She was fetched away in a hurry from the theatre--we understood by her brother. She left two and sixpence with the doorkeeper here to ring you up and explain that she had been summoned to her brother"s rooms, 25, Jermyn Street, and would you kindly go on there."
"Who are you?" Laverick demanded.