"They were afraid of her, sir," said Stafford.
Sir Stanley laughed softly.
"I can"t imagine Boundary being afraid of a girl."
"She was Solly White"s daughter," said Stafford.
"Even then I can"t understand it," replied the chief, "unless--by jove!
Of course."
He hit his knee a smack and Stafford waited.
"Probably they"ve got some other game on, but I"ll tell you one of the ideas of taking that girl--it is to bring back Solomon White. He disappeared, didn"t he?"
Stafford nodded.
"That"s the game--to bring back Solomon White. And whatever the danger to himself, he"ll be in London to-morrow as soon as this news is known."
Sir Stanley sat thinking, with his chin in his hand, his forehead wrinkled.
"There"s some other reason, too. Now, what is it?"
Stafford guessed, but did not say.
"That girl will take some recovering before harm comes to her," said Sir Stanley softly, "your only hope is that friend Jack comes to your rescue."
"Jack o" Judgment?"
Sir Stanley nodded and the other smiled sadly.
"That"s unlikely," he said; "indeed, it is impossible. I think I might as well tell you my own theory as to why she was taken and why Boundary took so much trouble to capture her."
"What is your theory?" asked Sir Stanley curiously.
"My theory, sir, is that she is Jack o" Judgment," said Stafford King.
"She--Jack o" Judgment?"
Sir Stanley was on his feet staring at him.
"Impossible! It is a man----"
"You seem to forget, sir," said Stafford, "that Miss White is a wonderful mimic."
"But why?"
"She wants to clear her father. She told me that only a week ago. And then I"ve been making inquiries on my own. I found that she was seen coming out of the Albemarle mansion, the night that Jack made his last visit to Boundary"s flat."
Sir Stanley rose.
"Wait," he said and left the room.
Presently he came back with something in his hand.
"If Miss White is Jack o" Judgment, and if she were captured to-night, how do you account for this? it was under my pillow when I woke up."
He laid on the table the familiar Jack of Clubs.
CHAPTER XVI
IN THE TURKISH BATHS
Colonel Boundary had a breakfast party of three. Though he had been up the whole of the night, he showed no signs of weariness. Not so Pinto or Crewe, who looked f.a.gged out and all the more tired because they were both conspicuously unshaven.
"Half the game"s won," said the colonel. "We"ll get rid of this girl and Solly White by the same stroke. I"m afraid of Solly, he knows too much.
By the way, Raoul is coming over."
"Raoul!" said Crewe, sitting up suddenly, "why, colonel, you"re mad!
Didn"t the Scotland Yard man tell you----"
"That he suspected a French hand in the case of "Snow" Gregory? All the more reason why Raoul should come," said the colonel calmly; "he ought to report this morning."
"You"re taking a risk," growled Pinto.
"Nothing unusual," replied the colonel, sh.e.l.ling a plover"s egg. "It is the last thing in the world they would suspect at Scotland Yard after their warning, that I should bring Raoul over again. Besides, they don"t know him anyway. He"s just a harmless young French cabinet-maker. He doesn"t talk and I will get him out of the silly habit of leaving his visiting-card."
There was a silence, which Crewe broke.
"You want him for----"
He did not finish the sentence.
"For work," replied the colonel. "It is a thousand pities, but it would be a thousand times more so if you and I were jugged, and waiting in the condemned cell for the arrival of Mr. Ellis, the eminent hangman.
Raoul"s a workman. We can trust him. He doesn"t try any funny business.
He lives out of this country and I can cover his tracks. Besides," the colonel went on, "I shall give him enough to live in comfort for the next two years. Raoul is a grateful little beast, and thank G.o.d! he can neither read nor write."
"I don"t like it," said Crewe. "I hate that kind of thing. Why not give Solly a chance? Why not get up a fight--a duel, anything but cold-blooded murder?"
The colonel turned his cold eyes upon the other, and his lips parted in a mirthless smile.
"You"re speaking up to your character now, aren"t you, Crewe?" he said unpleasantly. "You"re "Gentleman Crewe" once again, eh? Want to do everything in the public school fashion? Well, you can cut out all that stuff and feed it to the pigs. I"m Dan Boundary, looking forward to a pleasant old age. There"s nothing of the Knights of the Round Table about me."
Crewe flushed.
"All right," he said, "have it your own way."