Part 52 (1/2)

”Don't come in! Don't come in here!” she shrieked. ”Mr. Laverick, do you hear? Go away! Don't come in here alone!”

Her brother was the first to reach her, his hand fell upon her mouth brutally. Her little effort was naturally a failure--defeating, in fact, its own object. Laverick, hearing her cries, simply hastened his coming, threw open the door without waiting to knock, and stepped quickly across the threshold. He saw a man dressed in shabby workman's clothes, unshaven, dishevelled, holding Zoe in a rough grasp, and with a single well-directed blow he sent him reeling across the room. Then something in the man's cry, a momentary glimpse of his white face, revealed his ident.i.ty.

”Morrison!” he cried. ”Good G.o.d, it's Morrison!”

Arthur Morrison was crouching in a corner of the room, his evil face turned upon his aggressor. Laverick took quick stock of his surroundings. There was the tall, fair young man--Adolf Kahn--whom he had seen at the Milan a few hours ago--the man who had unsuccessfully forged his name. There was La.s.sen, the man who, under pretence of being her manager, had been a spy upon Louise. There was Streuss, with blanched face and hard features, standing with his back to the door. There was Zoe, and, behind, her brother. She held out her hands timidly towards him, and her eyes were soft with pleading.

”I did not want you to come here, Mr. Laverick,” she cried softly.

”I tried so hard to stop you. It was not I who sent that message.”

He took her cold little fingers and raised them to his lips.

”I know it, dear,” he murmured.

Then a movement in the room warned him, and he was suddenly on guard.

La.s.sen was close to his side, some evil purpose plainly enough written in his pasty face and unwholesome eyes. Laverick gave him his left shoulder and sent him staggering across the floor. He was angry at having been outwitted and his eyes gleamed ominously.

”Well, gentlemen,” he exclaimed, ”you seem to have taken unusual pains to secure my presence here! Tell me now, what can I do for you?”

It was Streuss who became spokesman. He addressed Laverick with the consideration of one gentleman addressing another. His voice had many agreeable qualities. His demeanor was entirely amicable.

”Mr. Laverick,” he answered, ”let us first apologize if we used a little subterfuge to procure for us the pleasure of your visit. We are men who are in earnest, and across whose path you have either wilfully or accidentally strayed. An understanding between us has become a necessity.”

”Go on,” Laverick interrupted. ”Tell me exactly who you are and what you want.”

”As to who we are,” Streuss answered, ”does that really matter? I repeat that we are men who are in earnest--let that be enough. As to what we want, it is a certain doc.u.ment to which we have every claim, and which has come into your possession--I flatter you somewhat, Mr. Laverick, if I say by chance.”

Laverick shrugged his shoulders.

”Let that go,” he said. ”I know all about the doc.u.ment you refer to, and the notes. They were contained in a pocket-book which it is perfectly true has come into my possession. Prove your claim to both and you shall have them.”

Streuss smiled.

”You will admit that our claim, since we know of its existence,” he asked suavely, ”is equal to yours?”

”Certainly,” Laverick answered, ”but then I never had any idea of keeping either the doc.u.ment or the money. That your claim is better than mine is no guarantee that there is not some one else whose t.i.tle is better still.”

Streuss frowned.

”Be reasonable, Mr. Laverick,” he begged. ”We are men of peace--when peace is possible. The money of which you spoke you can consider as treasure trove, if you will, but it is our intention to possess ourselves of the doc.u.ment. It is for that reason that we are here in London. I, personally, am committed to the extent of my life and my honor to its recovery.”

A declaration of war, courteously veiled but decisive. Laverick looked around him a little defiantly, and shrugged his shoulders.

”You know very well that I do not carry it about with me,” he said.

”The gentleman on my left,” he added, pointing to Kahn, ”can tell you where it is kept.”

”Quite so,” Streuss admitted. ”We are not doing you the injustice to suppose that you would be so foolhardy as to trust yourself anywhere with that doc.u.ment upon your person. It is in the safe at the Milan Hotel. I may add that probably, if it had not occurred to you to change your quarters, it would have been in our possession before now. We are hoping to persuade you to return to the hotel with one of our friends here, and procure it.”

”As it happens,” Laverick remarked, ”that is impossible. The man who set the combination for that particular safe has gone off duty, and will not be back again at the hotel till to-morrow morning.”

”But he is to be found,” Streuss answered easily. ”His present whereabouts and his address are known to us. He lives with his family at Harvard Court, Hampstead. We shall a.s.sist you in making it worth his while to return to the hotel or to give you the combination word for the safe.”