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The Pawns Count, a fiction by E. Phillips Oppenheim |
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CHAPTER IV |
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_ The last of the supper-guests had left Henry's Restaurant, the commissionaire's whistle was silent. The light laughter and frivolous adieux of the departing guests seemed to have melted away into a world somewhere beyond the pale of the unseasonable fog. The little strip of waste ground adjoining was wrapped in gloom and silence. The exterior of the bare and deserted chapel, long since unconsecrate, was dull and lifeless. Inside, however, began the march of strange things. First of all, the pinprick of light of a tiny electric torch seemed as though it had risen from the floor, and Hassan, pushing back a trap-door, stepped into the bare, dusty conventicle. He listened for a moment, then made a tour of the windows, touched a spring in the wall, and drew down long, thick blinds. Afterwards he passed between the row of dilapidated benches and paused at the entrance door. He stooped down, examined the keyless lock, shook it gently, gazed upwards and downwards as though in vain search of bolts that were never there. His white teeth gleamed for a moment in the darkness. He turned away with a little shiver. "Not my fault," he muttered to himself. "Not my fault." He listened for a moment intently, as though for footsteps outside. The disturbance, however, came from the other end of the building. There was a sharp knocking from the trap-door by which he had ascended. He touched an electric knob. The place was dimly yet sufficiently illuminated. He hastened towards the further end of the place and pulled up the trap-door. A melancholy-looking little procession slowly emerged. First of all came Joseph, stepping backwards, supporting the head and shoulders of Graham, still bound and gagged. After him came a dark, swarthy-faced wine waiter, who supported Graham's feet. Behind followed Fischer, carrying his silk hat and cane in his hand. He paused for a moment as he stepped on the floor of the chapel, and brushed the dust from his trousers. "You can take out the gag now," he ordered the two men. "There isn't much shout in him." They laid him upon a couch, and Joseph obeyed the order. Graham's head swung helplessly on one side. His eyes opened, however, and he struggled for consciousness. His lips twitched for a moment. In these long hours he had almost forgotten the habit of speech. The words, when they came, sounded strange to him. "What--where am I? What do you want with me?" Fischer laid his hat and stick upon a table, on which also stood a telephone instrument. "The formula, my young friend," he replied, "for that wonderful explosive of which you spoke in the lobby." A sudden accession of nervous strength brought something almost like passion into the young man's reply, although to himself there still seemed some unreality in the words which might have come from the walls or the roof--surely not from his lips. "I'll see you damned first!" Fischer smiled. The man was good-looking, in his way, but this was a pale and ugly smile. "My request was merely a matter of courtesy," he remarked. "The difficulty of searching you is not formidable. It would have been undertaken long ago but for the fact that the restaurant has been crowded and gags sometimes slip. Besides, there was no hurry. Observe!" He leaned over Graham, who for the first time struggled furiously but ineffectually with his bonds. His fingers all the time were straining towards the inside pocket of his coat. Fischer nodded understandingly. "Allow me to anticipate you," he said. With a quick thrust he drew a little handful of papers from the pocket of his captive. One by one he glanced them through and flung them on to the floor. As he came towards the end of his search, however, his expression of confident complacency vanished. His lips shrivelled up a little, his eyes narrowed. The last folded sheet of paper--a little perfumed note from Peggy, thanking Sandy for his beautiful roses--he crumpled fiercely into a little ball. He opened his lips to speak, then he paused. A new light broke in upon him. The fury had passed from Sandy Graham's face. In its stead there was an expression of blank astonishment. "Where is the formula?" Fischer asked fiercely. There was no reply. Sandy Graham was still staring at the little pile of papers upon the floor. Fischer made a brief examination of the other pockets. Then he stepped back. His voice shook, his face was dark and malevolent. "Joseph, Hassan, Jules--listen to me!" he ordered. "Did any one else enter the musicians' room whilst he was lying in the alcove?" "Impossible!" Jules declared. "The door was locked," Hassan murmured. "Stop!" Joseph exclaimed. Fischer wheeled round upon him. "Well?" he exclaimed. "Get on, then. Who?" Joseph moistened his lips. He was still feeling sore and dizzy, but he began to see his way. "You noticed, perhaps," he said, "the American girl--the beautiful young lady with this guy's friends? She was waiting with the others for Captain Graham to come down. I saw her go up the stairs. I saw her come down again, three minutes later." "Miss Van Teyl?" Fischer exclaimed, with a frown. "You're mad, Joseph!" The negro laughed grimly. "Am I!" he retorted. "I tell you this, Master Fischer. She was in Berlin where I was, and she was at the Embassy every day. She was asked to leave there. They put her over the frontier into Holland. I knew her when she came into the restaurant. She's no society young lady, she ain't! Bet you she was on to the goods." Fischer hesitated for a moment. The thoughts were chasing one another through his brain. Then he took up the receiver from the telephone instrument which stood upon the table. "1560 Mayfair," he asked in a low tone. They all stood listening, grouped around Graham's writhing figure. "Hullo! Is that Claridge's Hotel?" Fischer went on. "I am speaking from Giro's. Put me through, if you please, to Miss Van Teyl's apartments... What? Repeat that, will you?... Thank you." Fischer laid down the receiver. He turned towards the others. He was breathing a little quickly, and his eyes glittered behind his gold-rimmed spectacles. "Miss Van Teyl," he announced, "has left for Tilbury. She is going out on the _Lapland_ this morning. My God, she's got the formula!" There was a moment's silence. Joseph was standing by with a wicked look on his face. "I saw her slip away," he muttered, "and I watched her come down again. There was just time." Fischer turned suddenly to where Graham was lying. He drew a sheet of writing paper from the rack upon the table, and a pencil from his pocket. There was an evil and concentrated significance in his tone. "That formula," he said, "can be written again. I think you had better write it." "I'll see you damned first!" was the weak but prompt reply. Fischer bent a little lower over the prostrate figure, "Look here," he went on, "we don't run risks like this for nothing. You're better dead than alive, so far as we are concerned, anyway. We'd planned to take the formula from you, and you can guess the rest. There are cellars underneath here into which no one ever goes who matters. Now here's a chance of life for you. Write down that formula--truthfully, mind--and we'll discuss the matter of taking your parole." "See you damned first!" Graham repeated, his voice a little more tremulous but still convincing. Fischer stood upright and turned to Jules. "Get a bottle of brandy and a glass," he ordered. The man pushed open the trap-door and disappeared. He came back again in a few moments, with a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. Fischer poured out some of the cordial and drew a small table up to Graham's side. "There," he said, loosening the cord around his left wrist, "drink that, and think it over. We shall be gone for about ten minutes. If you change your mind before, ring that little hand-bell. If you have not changed your mind when we return, it will be the cellars." "Beasts!" Graham muttered. Fischer shrugged his shoulders. For a moment he had straightened himself. His face had softened, but it was in tune with his thoughts. "I would twist the necks of a million fools like you," he said, "for the sake of--" He paused, leaving his sentence uncompleted, and beckoned to the other men. They followed him through the trap-door and down into the cellars below. The place was once more silent. Graham rolled from side to side, drew a long breath, and tugged vainly at his bonds. The effort overtaxed his strength. He seemed to feel the darkness closing in upon him, the rushing of the sea in his ears.... _ |
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