"H"m!" grunted the Baronet, unconvinced. "Perhaps one day, my dear Farloe, you will regret this attempt to wriggle out of a very awkward situation." Then, after a pause, he added: "You know quite as well as I, with others, know, that my friend Monkton is missing!" and the Baronet turned abruptly, leaving Farloe standing in the Lobby. He pa.s.sed the two police constables and the idling detective, and entered the House itself.
Farloe, utterly aghast at Sir Archibald"s remarks and the knowledge he evidently possessed, walked blindly out of St Stephen"s full of grave thoughts.
Not only were the police hot upon the trail which might lead them to the astounding truth concerning the death of the man who, dressed in the Colonial Minister"s clothes, had expired in the house in Chesterfield Street, but the facts were being rumoured that night in the world of politics, and to-morrow the chattering little world which revolves in the square mile around Piccadilly and calls itself Society, would also be agog with the sinister story.
At the corner of Dean"s Yard, not a hundred yards from where the taxi-man Davies had been hailed and the unidentified stranger had been put into his cab, Farloe found a pa.s.sing taxi and in it drove to his rooms, a cosy little first-floor flat in Ryder Street, St James"s.
So eager was he that, without taking off his hat, he went at once to the telephone on his writing-table and asked for "trunk." Ten minutes later he spoke to somebody.
"Get in your car, and come here at once!" he said. "There"s not an instant to be lost. I"ll wait up for you, but don"t delay a moment. I can"t talk over the "phone, but the situation is very serious. Bring a suit-case. You may have to go to the Continent by the nine o"clock train in the morning."
He listened attentively to the reply.
"Eh--what? Oh!--yes. I sent a boy with a letter to Knightsbridge station. She"s got away all right. Do get here as quickly as you can-- won"t you? Leave your car in some garage, and walk here. Don"t stop the car outside. I"ll leave the hall-door ajar for you. No--I can"t tell you anything more over the "phone--I really can"t."
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
MAINLY CONCERNS MR STENT.
James Farloe hung up the telephone receiver, and, lighting a cigar, sat down to think, while wailing for his visitor.
He was rather a good-looking young fellow, but, examined closely, his face was not prepossessing. There was a certain furtive expression about him, as of a man continually on the watch lest he should betray himself, and the eyes were shifty. His sister was probably as insincere as himself, but, on the whole, she made a better impression.
He was too perturbed to sit for long, for, truth to tell, his thoughts were not pleasant company. Two or three times he got up and paced the room, with a noiseless stealthy tread that was characteristic of him.
Then, tired of the monotony of waiting, he selected a book from the limited store in a small revolving bookcase, and tried to read.
But the words danced before his unquiet eyes, and conveyed no meaning.
Again and again he had to resort to his noiseless pacings of the thickly-carpeted room, to allay the tedium of waiting.
But the slow minutes pa.s.sed at last. He drew out his watch, noted the time, and drew a sigh of relief. It was one-thirty a.m.
"He can"t be long now," he muttered. "At this hour of the night he can put on any speed he likes. He"s an obstinate devil, but he would be pretty sure to start straight away, after my urgent summons."
Even as he spoke, the figure of a man in a motor-cap and heavy overcoat was stealing quietly along Ryder Street. A moment more, and footsteps were heard on the stairs.
Farloe hastened to open the hall-door of his cosy little suite, and closed it noiselessly after the entrance of his visitor. They nodded to each other. The man advanced, and stood under the electric light suspended from the middle of the ceiling.
He was of medium height, well-dressed, and of gentlemanly appearance.
He had aquiline features, and piercing dark eyes.
He was the man who had been identified by Davies the driver as one of the two who had put the dying man in his taxi at Dean"s Yard, with instructions to drive him to Chesterfield Street--the man known to the police, through the information given by Mrs Saxton, by the name of Stent.
They did not waste time in preliminary remarks or greetings; they were probably too old acquaintances to indulge in such trivial formalities, but proceeded to business at once.
"So she got clear away?" remarked the man known as Stent. "I always said she was one of the smartest women in England. How did she outwit the detective?"
Farloe smiled. "It was beautifully simple," he replied. "She "phoned me up in the morning to say she was starting in a few moments, and that she was sure this fellow would hang on to her as long as he could. She asked me if I could suggest any way of outwitting him. At the moment I couldn"t."
Stent darted a glance at his companion which was not exactly one of appreciation. "Your sister is quicker at that sort of thing than you,"
he said briefly.
Farloe did not appear to notice the slight conveyed in the words and tone, and went on in his smooth voice:
"I expect so. Anyway, she had it cut and dried. She was going to lead him a nice little dance till it was time to get rid of him. She would take him down to Piccadilly Circus, trot him about there for some little time, and then get back to the Knightsbridge Tube Station."
"Yes--and then?"
"I was to send a boy with a note to the Tube station at a certain time.
I picked up a boy, giving him a full description of her, and packed him off. All happened as she expected. The man was tempted away by the boy, out of whom he could get nothing that would be of any use to him, and for a few moments left her unwatched. Hers was a bold stroke.
While he was interviewing the urchin, she slipped into a descending lift, and left Mr Detective glaring at her from outside."
Stent laughed appreciatively. "Well done!" he remarked. "But I have no doubt she would have hit upon something else had that failed."
Farloe a.s.sented briefly. He was very fond of his sister, but it had always been rather a sore point with him to know that she had impressed everybody with the fact that she was much the cleverer and subtler of the two.
There was a brief pause. Then Farloe pointed to the table, upon which stood gla.s.ses, a decanter of whisky, and a syphon of soda-water.
"Help yourself, and sit down while we chat," he said pleasantly. "I"m sorry to have brought you out so late."
Stent helped himself liberally to the spirit, took a long draught, and sat down in one of the two big saddle-bag chairs. When he had entered the room, Farloe had noticed certain signs of irritation. Perhaps the soothing influence of the whisky helped to restore him to a more equable frame of mind. Anyway, when he answered Farloe his voice was quite smooth and amiable.
"Yes, I was deucedly put out at having to start off at a minute"s notice. If I hadn"t said good-bye to nerves long ago, you would have made me feel quite jumpy, with your talk about bringing a suit-case with me, and having to cross the Channel. Now let me know the meaning of it all. I"ve brought the suit-case in the car. Tell me," he urged, fixing the younger man with his keen piercing gaze. Farloe shifted a little uneasily under that intense glance. Somehow, he never felt quite at his ease in Stent"s presence.
"I haven"t your nerves, or, rather the want of them, that I admit. And perhaps I take fright a little too easily. Still, I think you ought to be informed of this: that certain people are beginning to know--well--a bit too much."
Stent"s hard, resolute mouth curved in a smile that was half incredulous, half contemptuous.
"Certain people always know too much--or too little. In this case, I should say it was the latter."
But Farloe stuck to his guns. "I was tackled to-night at the House by Sir Archibald Turtrell. You know of him, of course?"
The other nodded. There was vindictiveness in his tone, as he replied: "A regular old cackler and bore."
"I don"t dispute he is both, but that doesn"t alter the fact that he pushed me very hard with some searching questions. I parried them as best I could, but from his last remarks I could see he didn"t believe a word I was saying."
Stent shifted uneasily in his chair; his ill-humour was evidently returning.
"My dear Farloe, you must excuse me for saying that you don"t always act with the greatest discretion. Why the devil do you want to go to the House at all for, laying yourself open to be cross-examined by anybody and everybody you meet? Look how differently your sister has acted; she has lain as low as possible, and finally shown them a clean pair of heels. I don"t advise you to do exactly the same, for obvious reasons, but it would be advisable to keep very much out of the way till things have blown over."
The younger man was evidently not thin-skinned, or he would have indulged in some outburst at those very candid remarks. Stent went on, in his hard, but not altogether unpleasant voice:
"It has often struck me that this sort of thing is not quite suitable to a man of your temperament. But now you are in it, you must cultivate the art of keeping your nerves in better order, as I have done. Don"t start at shadows. What you have told me doesn"t disturb me in the least; it is just what might be expected."
"You haven"t forgotten that young beggar Varney is on the track?" put in Farloe quietly. "I saw him go into Monkton"s house as late as yesterday. He is more to be feared than Smeaton, in my opinion."
"I don"t care a snap of the finger for the young pup," cried the other, in his most obstinate voice, and a tightening of the resolute jaw that was so well-matched with the dark, piercing eyes.
Farloe waited till his companion"s momentary irritation had subsided, then he put a question.