Peter Ruff had descended from his apartments on the top floor of thebuilding, in a new brown suit with which he was violently displeased, tomeet a caller.
"I am sorry to intrude--Mr. Ruff, I believe it is?" Sir Richard Dysonsaid, a little irritably--"but I have not a great deal of time tospare--"
"Most natural!" Peter Ruff declared. "Pray take a chair, Sir Richard.You want to know, of course, about Lord Merries and poor Masters."
Sir Richard stared at his questioner, for a moment, without speech. Oncemore the fear which he had succeeded in banishing for a while, shone inhis eyes--revealed itself in his white face.
"Try the easy-chair, Sir Richard," Ruff continued, pleasantly. "Leaveyour hat and cane on the table there, and make yourself comfortable. Ishould like to understand exactly what you have come to me for."
Sir Richard moved his head toward Miss Brown.
"My business with you," he said, "is more than ordinarily private. Ihave the honour of knowing Miss--"
"Miss Brown," Peter interrupted quickly. "In these offices, this younglady's name is Miss Violet Brown."
Sir Richard shrugged his shoulders.
"It is of no importance," he said, "only, as you may understand, mybusiness with you scarcely requires the presence of a third party, evenone with the discretion which I am sure Miss--Brown possesses."
"In these matters," Ruff answered, "my secretary does not exist apartfrom myself. Her presence is necessary. She takes down in shorthandnotes of our conversation. I have a shocking memory, and there arealways points which I forget. At the conclusion of our business,whatever it may be, these notes are destroyed. I could not work withoutthem, however."
Sir Richard glanced a little doubtfully at the long, slim back of thegirl who sat with her face turned away from him. "Of course," he began,"if you make yourself personally responsible for her discretion--"
"I am willing to do so," Ruff interrupted, brusquely. "I guarantee it.Go on, please."
"I do not know, of course, where you got your information from," SirRichard began, "but it is perfectly true that I have come here toconsult you upon a matter in which the two people whose names you havementioned are concerned. The disappearance of Job Masters is, of course,common talk; but I cannot tell what has led you to associate with it thetemporary absence of Lord Merries from this country."
"Let me ask you this question," Ruff said. "How are you affected by thedisappearance of Masters?"
"Indirectly, it has caused me a great deal of inconvenience," SirRichard declared.
"Facts, please," murmured Peter.
"It has been rumoured," Sir Richard admitted, "that I owed Masters alarge sum of money which I could not pay."
"Anything else?"
"It has also been rumoured," Sir Richard continued, "that he was seento enter my house that day, and that he remained there until late in theafternoon."
"Did he?" asked Ruff.
"Certainly not," Sir Richard answered.
Peter Ruff yawned for a moment, but covered the indiscretion with hishand.
"Respecting this inconvenience," he said, "which you admit that thedisappearance of Job Masters has caused you, what is its tangible side?"
Sir Richard drew his chair a little nearer to the table where Ruff wassitting. His voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"It seems absurd," he said, "and yet, what I tell you is the truth. Ihave been followed about--shadowed, in fact--for several days. Men, evenin my own social circle, seem to hold aloof from me. It is as though,"he continued slowly, "people were beginning to suspect me of beingconnected in some way with the man's disappearance."
Ruff, who had been making figures with a pencil on the edge of hisblotting paper, suddenly turned round. His eyes flashed with a new lightas they became fixed upon his companion's.
"And are you not?" he asked, calmly. Sir Richard bore himself well. Fora moment he had shrunk back. Then he half rose to his feet.
"Mr. Ruff!" he said. "I must protest--"
"Stop!"
Peter Ruff used no violent gesture. Only his forefinger tapped the deskin front of him. His voice was as smooth as velvet.
"Tell me as much or as little as you please, Sir Richard," he said, "butlet that little or that much be the truth! On those terms only I maybe able to help you. You do not go to your physician and expect him toprescribe to you while you conceal your symptoms, or to your lawyer foradvice and tell him half the truth. I am not asking for your confidence.I simply tell you that you are wasting your time and mine if you chooseto withhold it."
Sir Richard was silent. He recognized a new quality in the man--but thetruth was an awful thing to tell! He considered--then told.
Ruff briskly asked two questions. "In alluding to your heavy settlementwith Masters, you said just now that you could not have paid him--then."
"Quite so," Sir Richard admitted. "That is the rotten part of the wholeaffair. Four days later a wonderful double came off--one in which wewere all interested, and one which not one of us expected. We've drawn aconsiderable amount already from one or two bookies, and I believe evenMasters owes us a bit now."
"Thank you," Ruff said. "I think that I know everything now. My fee isfive hundred guineas."
Sir Richard looked at him.
"What?" he exclaimed.
"Five hundred guineas," Ruff repeated.
"For a consultation?" Sir Richard asked.
Peter Ruff shook his head.
"More than that," he said. "You are a brave man in your way, Sir RichardDyson, but you are going about now shivering under a load of fear. Itsits like a devil incarnate upon your shoulders. It poisons the airwherever you go. Write your cheque, Sir Richard, and you can leavethat little black devil in my wastebasket. You are under my protection.Nothing will happen to you."
Sir Richard sat like a man mesmerised. The little man with the amiableexpression and the badly fitting suit was leaning back in his chair, hisfinger tips pressed together, waiting.
"Nothing will happen!" Sir Richard repeated, incredulously.
"Certainly not. I guarantee you against any inconvenience which mightarise to you from this recent unfortunate affair. Isn't that all youwant?"
"It's all I want, certainly," Sir Richard declared, "but I mustunderstand a little how you propose to secure my immunity."
Ruff shook his head.
"I have my own methods," he said. "I can help only those who trust me."
Sir Richard drew a cheque book from his pocket. "I don't know why Ishould believe in you," he said, as he wrote the cheque.
"But you do," Peter Ruff said, smiling. "Fortunately for you, you do!"