Part 27 (1/2)

He drove to Cirey's cafe in Regent Street, where he dismissed the driver of his hansom and strolled in with the air of an habitue. He selected a corner table, ordered some refreshment, and asked for a box of dominoes.

The place was fairly well filled. A few women were sitting about; a sprinkling of Frenchmen were taking their aperitif; here and there a man of affairs, on his way from the city, had called in for a gla.s.s of vermouth. Peter Ruff looked them over, recognizing the type--recognizing, even, some of their faces. Apparently, the person whom he was to meet had not yet arrived.

He lit a cigarette and smoked slowly. Presently the door opened and a woman entered in a long fur coat, a large hat, and a thick veil. She raised it to glance around, disclosing the unnaturally pale face and dark, swollen eyes of a certain type of Frenchwoman. She seemed to notice no one in particular. Her eyes traveled over Peter Ruff without any sign of interest. Nevertheless, she took a seat somewhere near his and ordered some vermouth from the waiter, whom she addressed by name. When she had been served and the waiter had departed, she looked curiously at the dominoes which stood before her neighbor.

”Monsieur plays dominoes, perhaps?” she remarked, taking one of them into her fingers and examining it. ”A very interesting game!”

Peter Ruff showed her a domino which he had been covering with his hand--it was a double four. She nodded, and moved from her seat to one immediately next him.

”I had not imagined,” Peter Ruff said, ”that it was a lady whom I was to meet.”

”Monsieur is not disappointed, I trust?” she said, smiling. ”If I talk ba.n.a.lities, Monsieur must pardon it. Both the waiters here are spies, and there are always people who watch. Monsieur is ready to do us a service?”

”To the limits of my ability,” Peter Ruff answered. ”Madame will remember that we are not in Paris; that our police system, if not so wonderful as yours, is still a closer and a more present thing. They have not the brains at Scotland Yard, but they are persistent--hard to escape.”

”Do I not know it?” the woman said. ”It is through them that we send for you. One of us is in danger.”

”Do I know him?” Peter Ruff asked.

”It is doubtful,” she answered. ”Monsieur's stay in Paris was so brief.

If Monsieur will recognize his name--it is Jean Lemaitre himself.”

Peter Ruff started slightly.

”I thought,” he said, with some hesitation, ”that Lemaitre did not visit this country.”

”He came well disguised,” the woman answered. ”It was thought to be safe. Nevertheless, it was a foolish thing. They have tracked him down from hotel to apartments, till he lives now in the back room of a wretched little cafe in Soho. Even from there we cannot get him away--the whole district is watched by spies. We need help.”

”For a genius like Lemaitre,” Peter Ruff said, thoughtfully, ”to have even thought of Soho, was foolish. He should have gone to Hampstead or Balham. It is easy to fool our police if you know how. On the other hand, they hang on to the scent like leeches when once they are on the trail. How many warrants are there out against Jean in this country?”

”Better not ask that,” the woman said, grimly. ”You remember the raid on a private house in the Holloway Road, two years ago, when two policemen were shot and a spy was stabbed? Jean was in that--it is sufficient!”

”Are any plans made at all?” Peter Ruff asked.

”But naturally,” the woman answered. ”There is a motor car, even now, of sixty-horse-power, stands ready at a garage in Putney. If Jean can once reach it, he can reach the coast. At a certain spot near Southampton there is a small steamer waiting. After that, everything is easy.”

”My task, then,” Peter Ruff said, thoughtfully, ”is to take Jean Lemaitre from this cafe in Soho, as far as Putney, and get him a fair start?”

”It is enough,” she answered. ”There is a cordon of spies around the district. Every day they seem to chose in upon us. They search the houses, one by one. Only last night, the Hotel de Netherlands--a miserable little place on the other side of the street--was suddenly surrounded by policemen and every room ransacked. It may be our turn to-night.”

”In one hour's time,” Peter Ruff said, glancing at his watch, ”I shall present myself as a doctor at the cafe. Tell me the address. Tell me what to say which will insure my admission to Jean Lemaitre!”

”The cafe,” she answered, ”is called the Hotel de Flandres. You enter the restaurant and you walk to the desk. There you find always Monsieur Antoine. You say to him simply--'The Double-Four!' He will answer that he understands, and he will conduct you at once to Lemaitre.”

Ruff nodded.

”In the meantime,” he said, ”let it be understood in the cafe--if there is any one who is not in the secret--that one of the waiters is sick. I shall come to attend him.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

”As well that way as any other,” she answered. ”Monsieur is very kind. A bientot!”