"All right. In future I will allude to him by his proper t.i.tle. Well, Monsieur Dubois strolled towards me with the easy confidence of a man who was sure of himself.
""This affair bores me," he said. "I see no reason why I, who am in no way concerned with the Sultan"s collection of precious stones, should sit up all night keeping guard over them with these very earnest gentlemen here. I am going to my hotel. I have sent my portmanteau to the Carlton. Will you honour me by driving there and telling me something about your wonderful London as we go?"
"The man looked at me with a meaning in his eyes that conveyed quite plainly the intimation--
""We can talk quietly in the cab, and I can explain much that is at present hidden." Unfortunately I fell in with his suggestions.
"We crossed the dining-room together. We were searched by the police in the hall, much to his apparent surprise, and then we drove off through St. George"s Place.
"He at once aroused my curiosity by telling me sensational details of a widespread plot to dethrone the Sultan. An essential part of the conspiracy was to obtain possession of the diamonds before they had been cut, as they were an heirloom from the Prophet, and it would be a terrible thing in the eyes of the more fanatical section of the Mohammedans if they were tampered with in any way.
"This sounded reasonable enough, as the same story had been dinned in my ears for several weeks.
"He made out that for reasons of State the Sultan had decided to change the Minister Plenipotentiary charged with secret mission to London.
"Altogether he talked so candidly, and with such an air of treating the whole business as the bugbear of a timid monarch, that I really believed him.
"At last we reached the Carlton. We got out and he paid the cabman, who drove off round the corner; then my new acquaintance explained to me that he placed no greater trust in his fellow-countrymen than did their ruler. Therefore he had led them to believe he was staying at that hotel, whereas he had in reality taken up his abode in the flat of a French family with whom he was acquainted. If I would come with him for a moment he promised to place me in possession of certain doc.u.ments which would render easy my explanations to the Foreign Office next morning.
"I accompanied him without hesitation, secure in the knowledge that a strong force of police guarded my charge at Albert Gate, both inside and outside the house. We went to the mansions where he said he lived. The place had a perfectly respectable exterior, and is situated, as you know, in a reputable thoroughfare. We ascended to the second floor, entered the flat, and were ushered by a middle-aged Frenchwoman into a sort of sitting-room.
"Dubois turned to a writing-desk and unlocked a drawer.
""Here are the doc.u.ments I promised you, Mr. Talbot," he said; but, to my amazement, he whipped out a revolver and held it within two feet of my breast.
""If you move, or attempt to cry out, you are a dead man!" he cried.
"At the same instant a door behind me opened and some three or four persons entered. I was so furious at the trick that had been played upon me that I disregarded his threat and sprang at him, but he did not fire.
Flinging the revolver behind him on the writing-table he closed with me.
Before I well knew what had happened I was tied hand and foot, gagged, and placed helpless in a chair. A few minutes later, after a muttered consultation between my captors, I was taken to the room in which Fairholme found me, and I never left the place until nearly nine o"clock last night.
"It was a most ghastly experience. I would sooner die than go through it again.
"If ever I get within measurable distance of Monsieur Henri Dubois I promise you that I will repay him with interest some of the agony he inflicted on me. I never thought I should hate a man as I hate that Frenchman. I do not want to kill him. I want to torture him!"
This was the first sign that Talbot had given of the anger that filled his soul. For a moment no one spoke. Edith stifled a sob, and Sir Hubert Fitzjames broke the tension by swearing as vehemently as ever did the army in Flanders.
"You have suffered," said Brett quietly, "but not in vain. It is only by the manner in which these blackguards treated you that we have obtained so much knowledge. Your capture was a necessary part of their scheme. I wonder now that after you had served their purpose they did not kill you. It was not out of pity, believe me. The fact that you were spared confirms me in the opinion that the Albert Gate murders were a gigantic blunder, never contemplated by the expert criminal who planned the theft. But continue. What happened afterwards?"
Talbot almost summoned up a smile as he said--"Really, the next thing was so grotesque that were not the whole business so serious a one you would be compelled to laugh at it.
"Looking back now to those first ghastly hours when I laid on the bed tied hand and foot, I find it difficult to recall any definite impressions. It would be absurd to say that I suffered, either mentally or physically. I was sunk in a sort of stupor of rage, and my bonds did not hurt me so long as I kept quiet. Curiously enough, my thoughts were somewhat altruistic. Instead of speculating as to my own fate I rather wondered what would be the outcome of the whole mysterious business. I could not bring myself to believe that, cleverly as the rogues had outwitted me, they would be able to similarly dupe a strong body of Metropolitan police, not to mention Mehemet Ali and his a.s.sistants.
"At last I fell asleep, dozing fitfully at first, but finally giving way to the deep slumber of exhaustion.
"I was awakened by someone shaking me, though not roughly. It took me some time to recover my scattered senses, and at first I was almost unable to move, owing to the constrained position of my limbs. As well as I could judge it was not yet daylight, for the electric lamps were turned on, and I subsequently found that such rays of natural light as penetrated into my room during the day did not arrive for a considerable time.
"Thenceforth, of course, my sole method of judging the progress of time was by the alternation of meals and the difference of light between day and night.
"Someone a.s.sisted me to a.s.sume a sitting posture, the cords attached to my wrists were relaxed, and I was firmly held by two men--one a Turk whom I had not seen before, the other a Frenchman whom you found in the flat.
"At the foot of the bed were standing Dubois and a closely-veiled female--a young woman, as well as I could judge, and a person of tall and elegant stature, who, it would appear, spoke only French.
"Dubois addressed me calmly.
""I hope," he said, "you are in a better temper, my dear Talbot?"
""It does not appear to me that the state of my temper is of any material significance," I answered.
""No," he replied nonchalantly. "The game is in my hands, and will probably remain there for a considerable period. But I do not wish to be unkind. You have, I am given to understand, a highly respectable uncle and a very charming sister, who will no doubt suffer much perturbation owing to your mysterious disappearance. Now, you may not think it, but I am a very humane sort of fellow. Consequently, I am quite agreeable that you should write them a brief note, omitting of course all superfluous information, such as dates, addresses, and other embarra.s.sing facts, but simply telling them that you are well. I will guarantee its safe delivery."
"Naturally, I jumped at the offer. The veiled lady supplied me with a sheet of notepaper and an envelope, and I scribbled the unfortunate letter which was subsequently posted in Paris and caused such a sensation. I had only one hand at liberty, so Dubois politely offered to seal the envelope for me, first, however, reading carefully what I had written.
""That is quite correct," he said; "it will relieve their feelings and prove at the same time highly serviceable to me, as the letter will be posted in Paris and not in London. You see, my dear Talbot, how readily you fall in with my plans. You are as putty in my hands. Now, I suppose, being a brave Englishman, you would sooner have died than written this letter if you had guessed it would prove of material a.s.sistance to me?"
"I fear I used some very bad language to Dubois, notwithstanding the presence of the lady, but he paid little heed to me, and the pair at once undertook the most curious proceedings I have ever witnessed.
"They had before them a table set out with all sorts of paint, paste, and powders, such as one might expect to find in an actor"s dressing-room.
"Sitting himself astride a chair so that the light fell on his face, Dubois submitted himself to the skilful hands of the woman, who forthwith began to make him up in an exact resemblance to me. The right side of his face was towards me, but when, in obedience to her requirements, he turned somewhat, I noticed to my astonishment that the scar which I have mentioned had completely disappeared, and then I saw that his Turkish complexion had also vanished, leaving him a particularly white-skinned Frenchman, with a high colour."
"Ah!" said Brett, leaning back in his chair and attentively surveying the ceiling.
"You must remember," went on Talbot, "that my wits were somewhat confused by the extraordinary circ.u.mstances of the hour. Having been so suddenly awakened from a sound sleep, and subsequently annoyed by the incident of the letter, it took me some moments to recognize these discrepancies in his appearance. At first, so to speak, I knew him immediately as Dubois, but the more I looked at him the less confident I would have been were it not that his voice and manner supplied unerring indications of his ident.i.ty.
"The lady proceeded with her work in the most business-like fashion, and to my intense amazement he quickly a.s.sumed a marked resemblance to myself. Not such, perhaps, as would bear close scrutiny, but rather the effect attained by a skilful artist in a rapid sketch, or caught by a fleeting glance whilst pa.s.sing a mirror.
""What is the game now?" I cried, when the true nature of their purpose dawned upon me.
""Oh, just the same," replied Dubois, grinning, "I merely wish to puzzle the thick-headed brains of you Englishmen a little more. That is all."
""Halloa!" I cried, "you understand English?"
""Yes," he answered coolly. "It is frequently necessary in my business."
""Well," I said, "there can be no doubt that you are an accomplished villain. What you intend to achieve by masquerading in this fashion I utterly fail to understand. You can never be such a fool as to think that you will be able to gain admittance to Albert Gate by impersonating me. Were you even to succeed you would still be as far off as ever from securing your booty, which, I suppose, is the Imperial diamond and its companions."
""Really," he said, with a sneer, "I thought that you, Mr. Talbot, were endowed with a little more intelligence than the average. Pardon, Mignon, _pour un moment_."
"He rose from his chair, unfastened a case which he took from the breast-pocket of his overcoat, and showed me the diamonds which had been the object of so much care and solicitude on my part during many weeks.
""You see," he continued, seating himself again, whilst the lady resumed her task without a word, "the business has been satisfactorily accomplished, Mr. Talbot. The diamonds are here; so are you.
Unfortunately his Excellency and the secretaries are with the Prophet.
You will, I am sure, express my regrets to the police, to the Foreign Office, and to all concerned, that the Sultan"s commissionaries should have been so unceremoniously despatched to Paradise. It was not my fault, believe me, nor was it altogether necessary. I am in no way responsible for the bungling measures adopted by my Turkish a.s.sistants.
You see, in Constantinople they are accustomed to these drastic means of settling disputes."
"He rattled on so pleasantly that I hardly grasped the true significance of his words, so I replied with almost equal flippancy--