Chapter 5
At midday I had an appointment with the Home Secretary. He received me with the utmost kindness, and we had half an hour of highly confidential talk. The implications of it will appear later. This is not the place for it.
Towards the end I informed him that I had a request to make.
"Tell me," he answered at once, "and let me repeat that the Government has every confidence in you, Sir John. Don't take this too hardly, I beg of you."
I had a sudden impulse. "I trust," I said, "that my anxiety for the public welfare is in no degree overshadowed by a private sorrow. Indeed, I am sure it isn't. But, if I may speak in confidence, I would like you to know, sir, that I was engaged to be married to Miss Constance Shepherd."
There was a perceptible silence. I heard the great man take a long inward breath, and murmur to himself, "Poor fellow!" Then he did the right, the quite perfect thing: he stretched out his hand, and took mine in a firm, warm grasp.
When I could speak, I returned to business. "My request, sir, is this. I want to disappear for a month."
"Disappear, Sir John?"
"That's what it amounts to. Practically, I'm going to ask for four weeks' leave of absence. It must be private, though. If the news were published, the public would misunderstand, and think I was deserting my post in a time of difficulty and danger."
"Whereas?"
"Whereas I want to investigate this affair in my own way. I believe that the theories of the Press and public, and also those of Scotland Yard -- with whom I have been in consultation -- are quite wrong. Nor do my communications with America give me any reason to change my opinion. This is a matter of life and death to me. I owe the Government, who have promoted me so rapidly to the high position I occupy, a solution of this mystery. I owe them and the public that the fiends who have committed these outrages should be brought to justice. And, if God allows me, I will do it. My honour and that of my department are at stake. Those two things come before anything else. In addition, I have the private reasons of which I have told you. And, in order to succeed, I am persuaded that my way is the only way."
"You have certainly the strongest motives a man could have to urge you on. But can you be a little more explicit?"
"I want to leave Mr. Muir Lockhart in charge at the office. He's perfectly capable of taking charge. He has everything at his fingers' ends. And I'll arrange it so he can communicate with me at any time."
The Home Secretary thought for a moment, and drummed with his fingers on the arm of his chair. He had been a famous barrister, and renowned for the perfection of his turnout. His fingernails were pink and polished as the light fell on them, and I wondered if he had them manicured.
Then he looked up. "Very well, do as you like," he said suddenly. "I take it you know what you're about. And heartfelt good wishes for your success."
So this is how I plunged into a series of dangerous adventures, a dark underworld of crime and almost superhuman cunning, probably without parallel in modern times.
Arrangements were soon made at Whitehall. Muir Lockhart was an understanding man, and by three o'clock in the afternoon I walked out into the sunshine free from all official cares for a month. I took a long, deep breath as I crossed the Horse Guards Parade and made my way to the long, green vista of the Mall.
My expensive but delightful chambers in Half Moon Street were on the second floor -- a sitting room, dining room, bed and dressing rooms and bath.
The sitting room was panelled in cedar wood, which had been stained a delicate olive-green, with the mouldings of the panels picked out in dull gold. Connie and her bright and cheerful young friends, when they came to have tea with me, or supper after the theatre, used to say that it was one of the most charming rooms in London.
As I entered and flung myself wearily into a chair, the afternoon sunlight poured in through the half-drawn curtains of sea-green silk. In the ceiling a hidden electric fan was whirring, and the room was deliciously cool. And as I looked round, the place seemed hateful beyond all expression. I was sick of it, loathed its beauty and comfort. An insane desire came to take a hammer and wreak havoc there as my eyes fell on the only photograph in the room. It was one of Constance, in a frame of dull silver, studded with turquoises, and she had given it to me no longer than a fortnight ago.
Charles Thumbwood slept at the top of the house. My valet came in, after I had been resting for a few minutes.
"I've made the necessary arrangements, Charles," I said, "and we'll start operations at once." I had no secrets from this devoted friend and servant.
"Glad to hear it, Sir John. I've been round the town this morning, and there's a lot of talk."
He followed me into the sitting-room and brought me cigars.
"You see," he went on confidentially, "a gentleman's servant, especially if he belongs to the club just off Jermyn Street, and more specially still if he's been a racing man, hears all that's going on quicker than anyone. This morning I've been talking to the porters and valets of two of the best clubs, Sir John. Then I 'ad a crack with Meggit, the bookmaker, what does all the St. James' smaller commissions, and after that I strolled to the Parthenon Theatre and took out the stage doorkeeper and filled him up and made 'im talk a bit. 'Im and me is great friends consequent of my taking so many messages and flowers for you, sir, when Miss Shepherd was acting there."
"Ah, I see you haven't wasted your time." I smiled inwardly at Thumbwood's idea of helping me.
"No, Sir John. I've learned a lot of funny little things, just trifles, so to say, but they may prove useful later on. There's one thing you ought to know at once. Them theatricals have been talking, and it's all over town that Miss Shepherd travelled down to Plymouth with you. It's certain to be in the papers this afternoon, if it ain't already. There's been half a dozen reporters buzzing round the theatre this morning."
I ground my teeth with anger, but only for a moment. Of course, the thing was inevitable. There was only one thing to do.
I took up the telephone on the writing-table and got put through to the Evening Wire. "I am Sir John Custance," I said to the editor. "I hear there's a good deal of talk going about London in respect of Miss Constance Shepherd and myself. To avoid the least misconception, I authorize you to state, in your next edition, that Miss Shepherd and I are engaged to be married. I'll send my servant down to your office at once, with a note confirming this conversation."
It was the only way, much as I hated it, to stop malicious gossip, and I scribbled a chit to the editor.
"Get into a taxi and take that at once," I said to Thumbwood. As I gave him the letter, there was a ring at the front door bell.
The little man went out and I heard voices, one harsh and deep, that seemed familiar.
"Who is it?" I asked as Charles returned. "I don't have time to see anyone...."
"Wouldn't take any denial, sir. It's the American gentleman who picked up Captain Pring after the attack on the Albatros. Says he must see you."
"Mr. Van Adams?"
"Yes, Sir John."
"Show him in."
A moment afterwards I was shaking hands with the thickset man whose jaw was like a pike's and whose eyes resembled animated steel. Thumbwood went off with the letter. I heard the front door close after him.
Now I don't suppose at that moment I would have seen any other man in London unconnected with my office at Whitehall. I didn't even want to see the millionaire, but directly he was inside the room my irritation vanished. He had set out determined to see me. He had now accomplished his end, and I had a firm conviction that sentries with fixed bayonets would not have kept him out.
He sat down quietly in the chair I indicated, and took a cigar with great deliberation. I was not in the least impatient. I was now glad he had come, and waited for him to begin. When he did speak the harsh voice was considerably modified, and no one whatever could have said he was an American.
"Any success I may have made in life," he said without preliminary, "has com
e from the faculty of judging men. I started, as a youth, with this power in a more than ordinary degree. I've been developing it ever since."
He puffed thoughtfully at his cigar. He had said this with calm determination, not in the least as if he were speaking of himself, but merely as a man stating a fact which would be useful a little later on.
For my part I said nothing. I felt as though I was playing a sort of decorous game with rigid rules.
"I have a pretty good idea of you, Sir John. You're not an ordinary man. That's why I'm here. I want to help you. I can help you. It's for you to say if you want me."
Now there could only be one answer to a question like that. The man in my armchair was one of the most powerful men on earth. Moreover, his reputation stood high. He was no financial crook. The whole world trusted him.
"I answer that, Mr. Van Adams, with just two words: Thank you."
He nodded as if pleased. "Quite!" he said. Then half turning in his chair, "Of course I don't ask you to tell me any official secrets...."
I laughed at that. The Government would have let this man know all there was to be known on his simple request.
He saw that I understood. "There are none," I told him. "You know exactly as much as my department knows, as I told the Home Secretary this morning. There are no developments, except, of course, the protective measures we and the States are taking, although there is one thing I can tell you, and which is in strict confidence. I've arranged for my official duties to be carried on by my assistant for a month. From this afternoon I am absolutely free to do what I like and go where I like. No one will know of this but my confidential servant. I intend to devote this evening to mapping out a plan of campaign."
"That's good, Sir John. That's just what I wanted to hear. Let me explain my motives. They are not complicated. One is that, as one of the chief money brokers of the world, I naturally want to prevent any financial panic. Next, I'm a bit of a sportsman in my way. I like hunting things down. This pursuit appeals to me a good deal. And, last -- when I was five-and-thirty, a desperate gang of crooks in San Francisco kidnapped my little daughter Pearl -- she's the Duchess of Shropshire now -- and held her up to ransom. It was before you would have known about it, for I'm close on seventy, but the episode created some considerable stir at the time. I can pretty well guess what you're going through now."
As he looked at me, his eyes were no longer like living steel, nor his jaw like a pike's.
So he also understood! I mumbled something or other.
"Quite," he answered quickly, and then went on. "In thinking over various ways in which I could be of use I've come to a certain conclusion. Money, I suppose, won't help you -- though, of course, any sum is available?"
"I have the Government behind me, and I myself am not poor, thank you."
"Quite! Now I'll come to what I can do for you." He rose slowly from his chair and came up to me. When he spoke he had dropped his voice a full tone.
"I must let you into one or two little secrets about myself," he said. "In the first place, a man as rich as I am doesn't become rich without making powerful and unscrupulous enemies. Also, American methods are direct. It will probably surprise you to hear that my life has been attempted twelve or fifteen times, but that is the case. Some of the methods were diabolically ingenious, too. However, I stand here today, unharmed and safe. Why? I'll tell you.
"Early in my successful career I saw what would happen. I watched other men assassinated, and was determined it shouldn't happen to me. How was it to be avoided? I thought that point out carefully, and came to a conclusion. I must find, and then attach to my person, someone of extraordinary intelligence, cunning, skill and personal prowess. My ambitions ran high. I wanted someone who would devote his whole life to my service, a familiar spirit, no less! It took me three years of steady work to find that familiar spirit -- to discover the exact combination of qualities I required. But a multi-millionaire is the Magician of today, and I have a Genie as clever and infallible as any out of the old 'Arabian Nights.' I pay him the salary of a cinema star, and I say, meaning every word of it, that there is not another like him in the world. Do you think this tall talk, Sir John?"
It was certainly amazing, but I could not but believe him. "You startle and you interest me deeply," I replied. "You're to be congratulated."
"I am -- on a unique human possession. Well, you can't have failed to see what I'm driving at. I will lend you this man, place his services entirely at your disposal, for a month."
For a moment or two I was silent. I believed every word that Van Adams said, and I was not hesitating -- only just letting the offer, and what it meant, sink into my mind. It became plain. It was like the offer of a rope ladder to a man in prison, a light and a pickaxe to an entombed miner.
"That is the most generous offer I've ever heard of, Mr. Van Adams. I can't express my thanks. You really mean this?"
"I do. And as an ounce of proof is worth a ton of talk -- allow me to introduce you to Mr. Danjuro."
He turned round as he spoke and I with him. I gave a cry of astonishment, which I could not have kept back to save my life.
Standing some yard or so away was a small Japanese gentleman, not much more than five feet high. He wore a gold pince-nez, a neat blue lounge suit, and brown boots. There was nothing noticeable about him in any way, except an unusually fine cranial development -- a massive forehead and a great space between the corners of the dark eyes and the ears.
"Good heavens, how did he get here?" I said.
Van Adams laughed. "I daresay he'll tell you; but I don't know," he answered. "I just told him to be here. I wanted to give you an object lesson. Now, Mr. Danjuro knows everything I know. You can trust him absolutely. He knows what will be in front of him, and he knows where to find me when I'm wanted. Now I'll leave you together and say good-afternoon."
He was gone almost before I could thank him.