"To the Egyptian Museum," I cried to the driver, as I took my seat in the vehicle, "and as quickly as you can go!"
The man whipped up his horse, and in less than ten minutes from the time the butler closed the front door upon me at Medenham House I was entering the stately portico of the world-famous Museum. For some years I had been a constant visitor there, and as a result was well known to the majority of the officials. I inquired from one, whom I met in the vestibule, whether I should find Sir George in his office.
"I am not quite certain, sir," the man replied. "It"s only just gone half past ten, and unless there is something important doing, we don"t often see him much before a quarter to eleven. However, if you will be kind enough, sir, to step this way, I"ll very soon find out."
So saying he led me along the corridor, past huge monuments and blocks of statuary, to a smaller pa.s.sage on the extreme left of the building.
At the farther end of this was a door, upon which he knocked. No answer rewarded him.
"I am very much afraid, sir, he has not arrived," remarked the man, "but perhaps you will be good enough to step inside and take a seat. I feel sure he won"t be very long."
"In that case I think I will do so," I replied, and accordingly I was ushered into what is perhaps the most characteristic office in London.
Having found the morning paper and with unconscious irony placed it before me, the man withdrew, closing the door behind him.
I have said that the room in which I was now seated was characteristic of the man who occupied it. Sir George Legrath is, as every one knows, the most competent authority the world possesses at the present time on the subject of ancient Egypt. He had graduated under my own poor father, and, if only for this reason, we had always been the closest friends. It follows as a natural sequence that the walls of the room should be covered from ceiling to floor with paintings, engravings, specimens of papyrus, and the various odds and ends acc.u.mulated in an Egyptologist"s career. He had also the reputation of being one of the best-dressed men in London, and was at all times careful to a degree of his appearance.
This accounted for the velvet office-coat, a sleeve of which I could just see peeping out from behind a curtain in the corner. Kindly of heart and the possessor of a comfortable income, it is certain that but few of those in need who applied to him did so in vain; hence the pile of begging letters from charitable inst.i.tutions and private individuals that invariably greeted his arrival at his office. I had not been waiting more than five minutes before I heard an active step upon the stone flagging of the pa.s.sage outside. The handle of the door was sharply turned, and the man for whom I was waiting entered the room.
"My dear Cyril," he cried, advancing toward me with outstretched hand, "this is indeed a pleasure! It is now some weeks since I last saw you, but, on the other hand, I have heard of you. The fame of your picture is in every one"s mouth."
"Every one is very kind," I replied, "but I am afraid in this instance the public says rather more than it means."
"Not a bit of it," answered my friend. "That reminds me, however, that there is one point in the picture about which I want to talk to you."
"At any other time I shall be delighted," I replied, "but to-day, Sir George, I have something else to say to you. I have come to you because I am very much worried."
"Now that I look at you I can see you are not quite the thing," he said.
"But what is this worry? Tell me about it, for you know if I can help you I shall be only too glad to do so."
"I have come to seek your advice in a rather strange matter," I replied, "and before I begin I must ask that everything I say shall remain in the strictest confidence between us."
"I will give you that promise willingly," he said, "and I think you know me well enough to feel certain I shall keep it. Now let me hear your troubles."
"In the first place I want you to tell me all you know of an extraordinary individual who has been seen a good deal in London society of late. I refer to a man named Pharos."
While I had been speaking Sir George had seated himself in the chair before his writing-table. On hearing my question, however, he sprang to his feet with an exclamation that was as startling as it was unexpected.
It did not exactly indicate surprise, nor did it express annoyance or curiosity; yet it seemed to partake of all three. It was his face, however, that betrayed the greatest change. A moment before it had exhibited the ruddiness of perfect health, now it was ashen pale.
"Pharos?" he cried. Then, recovering his composure a little, he added, "My dear Forrester, what can you possibly want with him?"
"I want to know all you can tell me about him," I replied gravely. "It is the greatest favour I have ever asked of you, and I hope you will not disappoint me."
For some moments he paced the room as if in anxious thought. Then he returned to his seat at the writing-table. The long hand of the clock upon the mantelpiece had made a perceptible movement when he spoke again. So changed was his voice, however, that I scarcely recognised it.
"Cyril," he said, "you have asked me a question to which I can return you but one answer, and that is--may G.o.d help you if you have fallen into that man"s power! What he has done or how he has treated you I do not know, but I tell you this, that he is as cruel and as remorseless as Satan himself. You are my friend, and I tell you I would far rather see you dead than in his clutches. I do not fear many men, but Pharos the Egyptian is to me an incarnate terror."
"You say Pharos the Egyptian. What do you mean by that?"
"What I say. The man is an Egyptian, and claims, I believe, to be able to trace his descent back at least three thousand years."
"And you know no more of him?"
As I put the question I looked at Sir George"s hand, which rested on his blotting-pad, and noticed that it was shaking as if with the palsy.
Once more a pause ensued.
"What I know must remain shut up in my own brain," he answered slowly and as if he were weighing every word before he uttered it; "and it will go down to my grave with me. Dear lad, fond as I am of you, you must not ask any more of me, for I can not satisfy your curiosity."
"But, Sir George, I a.s.sure you, with all the earnestness at my command, that this is a matter of life and death to me," I replied. "You can have no notion what it means. My honour, my good name--nay, my very existence itself--depends upon it."
As if in answer to my importunity, my friend rose from his chair and picked up the newspaper which the attendant had placed on the table beside me. He opened it, and, after scanning the pages, discovered what he was looking for. Folding it carefully, he pointed to a certain column and handed it to me. I took it mechanically and glanced at the item in question. It was an account of the murder of the unfortunate curiosity dealer, but, so far as I could see, my name was not mentioned. I looked up at Sir George for an explanation.
"Well?" I said, but the word stuck in my throat.
"Though you will scarcely credit it, I think I understand everything,"
he replied. "The murdered man"s shop was within a short distance of your abode. A witness states that he saw some one leave the victim"s house about the time the deed must have been committed and that he made his way into your street. As I said, when you first asked me about him, may G.o.d help you, Cyril Forrester, if this is your trouble!"
"But what makes you connect Pharos with the murder described here?" I asked, feigning a surprise I was far from feeling.
"That I can not tell you," he replied. "To do so would bring upon me----But no, my lips are sealed, hopelessly sealed."
"But surely you are in a position to give me that man"s address? Lady Medenham told me you were aware of it."
"It is true I was, but I am afraid you have come too late."
"Too late! What do you mean? Oh, Sir George, for Heaven"s sake do not trifle with me!"
"I am not trifling with you, Forrester," he replied seriously. "I mean that it is impossible for you to find him in London, for the simple reason that he left England with his companion early this morning."
On hearing this I must have looked so miserable that Sir George came over to where I sat and placed his hand upon my shoulder.
"Dear lad," he said, "you don"t know how it pains me to be unable to help you. If it were possible, you have every reason to know that I would do so. In this case, however, I am powerless, how powerless you can not imagine. But you must not give way like this. The man is gone, and in all human probability you will never see his face again. Try to forget him."
"It is impossible. I a.s.sure you, upon my word of honour, that I shall know neither peace nor happiness until I have seen him and spoken to him face to face. If I wish ever to be able to look upon myself as an honourable man I _must_ do so. Is there no way in which I can find him?"
"I fear none; but stay, now I come to think of it, there is a chance, but a very remote one. I will make inquiries about it and let you know within an hour."
"G.o.d bless you! I will remain in my studio until your messenger arrives."
I bade him good-bye and left the Museum. That he did not forget his promise was proved by the fact that within an hour a cab drove up to my door and one of the attendants from the Museum alighted. I took in the note he brought with him at the door, and, when I had returned to the studio, tore open the envelope and drew forth a plain visiting card. On it was written:
"_Inquire for the man you seek from_ CARLO ANGELOTTI, _Public Letter-writer, In the arches of the Theatre San Carlo, Naples._"
CHAPTER V.
If there is one place more than another for which I entertain a dislike that is akin to hatred, it is for Naples in the summer time--that wretched period when every one one knows is absent, all the large houses are closed, the roads are knee-deep in dust, and even the noise of the waves breaking upon the walls of the Castello del" Ovo seems unable to alleviate the impression of heat and dryness which pervades everything.