Part 32 (1/2)

When I met my friend Hambledon in secret at two o'clock that day under the trees at a spot in the Retiro, not far from the great Plaza de la Independencia, we sat down and I described to him my strange midnight adventure.

He listened in amazement, which was increased when I told him how the police had recognized in the inoffensive lawyer of Burgos the notorious bandit Despujol, who was wanted not only by Scotland Yard, but by the police of Europe.

”But those carpet pins are a curious feature of the affair, Hughie,”

he remarked.

”Yes. The police seem to attach no importance to them--but I do.”

”So do I. The opinion of Professor Vega may throw some light upon the affair.”

”I shall call at the Princesa Hospital to-morrow,” I said, and then I inquired the latest information concerning De Gex and his French friend.

There was little to report. De Gex had not been out of the hotel, though Suzor had gone to purchase some cigars at eleven o'clock that morning. While Suzor was absent De Gex had, according to the friendly concierge, received a visitor, a middle-aged Spanish woman of the middle-cla.s.s. She had asked to see him, and on her name being sent up the great one at once gave orders for her to be admitted.

Again the floor waiter became inquisitive, and heard the financier speaking in English with his visitor.

”Unfortunate! Most unfortunate!” he heard De Gex say. ”I am very glad, however, that you have come to me so quickly. You had a telegram from Siguenza--eh?”

”I received it only a quarter of an hour ago, sir,” the woman had replied in broken English.

Then De Gex had apparently given her something for her services, and dismissed her.

”A telegram from Siguenza!” I exclaimed, when my friend Harry had told me this. ”Now Siguenza is on the direct line from here to the Pyrenees and the French frontier! That telegram may be from Despujol while in flight. If so, the police have set a trap for him at his journey's end, either at Jaca beneath Mont Perdu, or at Pamplona. I wonder if he'll be caught?”

”He might go on to Zaragoza and then turn to Barcelona and Ma.r.s.eilles,” Hambledon remarked.

”All the frontiers are watched, so it seems almost impossible for him to escape. But,” I added, ”I wonder if this information conveyed by the Spanish woman really concerned the fugitive?”

”I wonder. A man like De Gex, with so many financial irons in the fire, and with agents in every European capital, is bound to receive visits from all sorts and conditions of people who bring him information for profit. When one deals in colossal sums as he does, one has to cultivate people of all cla.s.ses,” Hambledon said.

”Personally, I don't think the woman's information had anything to do with your mysterious friend's hurried departure,” he added.

”I do. I'm highly suspicious. There was some motive that he did not attack me, as he could so easily have done, for he's a most desperate character and has committed several murders when cornered. His explanation was really wonderful, and I admit that I was so completely deceived that I actually apologized to him! But,” I went on, ”we may perhaps know more when we learn the truth from Professor Vega.”

Hence at noon next day I called at the great hospital in the Calle Alberto Aguilera, and was ushered into the Professor's room.

”Ah, my dear monsieur!” he exclaimed in French, knowing that I spoke Spanish only with the greatest difficulty. ”I am very glad you have called. Those bra.s.s-headed pins which upholsterers often use, and which you have submitted to me, are most interesting from a toxicological point of view.”

”What?” I gasped. ”Were they poisoned?”

”Undoubtedly,” replied the grave-faced old expert. ”And by somebody who is _au courant_ with the very latest and undetectable poison. I searched for alkaloids and glucosids, and used Kippenberger's process, and then the tests of Marne, Meyer, Scheiblen and Dragendorff. Since you brought the three pins to me I have been active all the time, for the problem much interests me. At last--though I did not think that the substance could possibly contain so subtle, deadly, and as yet unknown poison--I applied Sonnenschein's reagent--phosph.o.m.olybdic acid--and then I obtained a result--only an hour ago indeed!”

”And what was the result, Professor?”

He looked me straight in the face, and replied: ”You have had a very narrow escape from death, monsieur--a very narrow one. Had you placed your foot upon one of those upturned points you would have fallen dead within five seconds!”

”Why?”

”Because each of the points of those three pins, left there as though by accident by some upholsterer employed by the hotel, was impregnated by one of the most deadly of all newly-discovered poisons. It is called by men of my profession orosin, after its discoverer Orosi, and is certainly a most dangerous poison in the hands of anyone with criminal intent, because no post-mortem examination known to the medical profession to-day would be able to detect whether the victim had been murdered or died of natural causes.”

”It astounds me!” I gasped.