Part 46 (1/2)
The house was, in more than one way, a curiosity. It had a secret exit through a mews at the rear--now converted into a garage--and several other mysterious contrivances which were unsuspected by visitors.
”It would hardly do for him to know what we know, Mr. Peters--eh?”
Hugh heard Howell say a moment later. It was the habit of The Sparrow's accomplices to address their great director--the brain of criminal Europe--by the name under which they inquired for him. The Sparrow had twenty names--one for every city in which he had a cosy _pied-a-terre_.
In Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Ma.r.s.eilles, Vienna, Hamburg, Budapest, Stockholm and on the Riviera, he was, in all the cities, known by a different name. Yet each was so distinct, and each individuality so well kept up, that he snapped his fingers at the police and pitied them their red tape, ignorance, and lack of initiative.
Truly, Il Pa.s.sero, the cosmopolitan of many names and half a dozen nationalities, had brought criminality to a fine art.
Hugh, standing there breathless, listened to every word. Who was this man Howell?
”Hus.h.!.+” cried The Sparrow suddenly. ”What a fool I am! I quite forgot to close the ventilator in the room to which the young fellow has been shown! I hope he hasn't overheard! I had Evans and Janson in there an hour ago, and they were discussing me, as I expected they would! It was a good job that I took the precaution of opening the ventilator, because I learned a good deal that I had never suspected. It has placed me on my guard. I'll go and get young Henfrey. But,” he added, ”be extremely careful. Disclose nothing you know concerning the affair.”
”I shall be discreet, never fear,” replied his visitor.
A moment later The Sparrow entered the room where Henfrey was, and greeted him warmly. Then he ushered him down the pa.s.sage to the room wherein stood his mysterious visitor.
The room was such a distance away that Hugh was surprised that he could have heard so distinctly. But, after all, it was an uncanny experience to be a.s.sociated with that man of mystery, whose very name was uttered by his accomplices with bated breath.
”My friend, Mr. George Howell,” said The Sparrow, introducing the slim, wiry-looking, middle-aged man, who was alert and clean-shaven, and plainly but well dressed--a man whom the casual acquaintance would take to be a solicitor of a fair practice. He bore the stamp of suburbia all over him, and his accent was peculiarly that of London.
His bearing was that of high respectability. The diamond scarf-pin was his only ornament--a fine one, which sparkled even in that dull London light. He was a square-shouldered man, with peculiarly shrewd, rather narrow eyes, and dark, bushy eyebrows.
”Glad to meet you, Mr. Henfrey,” he replied, with a gay, rather nonchalant air. ”My friend Mr. Peters has been speaking about you. Had a rather anxious time, I hear.”
Henfrey looked at the stranger inquisitively, and then glanced at The Sparrow.
”Mr. Howell is quite safe,” declared the man with the gloved hand. ”He is one of Us. So you may speak without fear.”
”Well,” replied the young man, ”the fact is, I've had a very apprehensive time. I'm here to seek Mr. Peters' kind advice, for without him I'm sure I'd have been arrested and perhaps convicted long ago.”
”Oh! A bit of bad luck--eh? Nearly found out, have you been? Ah! All of us have our narrow escapes. I've had many in my time,” and he grinned.
”So have all of us,” laughed the bristly-haired man. ”But tell me, Henfrey, why have you come to see me so quickly?”
”Because they know where I'm in hiding!”
”They know? Who knows?”
”Miss Rans...o...b..knows my whereabouts and has written to me in my real name and addressed the letter to Shapley.”
”Well, what of that?” he asked. ”I told her.”
”She tells me that my present hiding-place is known!”
”Not known to the police? _Impossible_!” gasped the black-gloved man.
”I take it that such is a fact.”
”Why, Molly is there!” cried the man Howell. ”If the police suspect that Henfrey is at Shapley, then they'll visit the place and have a decided haul.”