recognisehim. Then, as they drew nearer, he said:
"Why--who'd ever have thought it! Here's your father, Aggie!"
"Father!" echoed the girl, staring at the man approaching. "No, dad,surely that isn't my father! You're my own father." And the child,with her fair hair falling upon her shoulders, clung affectionately tohis arm.
In a few moments the two men met.
"Hulloa, Doc!" cheerily cried the man known to his intimates as "RedMullet". "Thought I'd give you a bit of a surprise. And little Aggie,too! My hat! what a big girl she grows! Why, my darling," heexclaimed, bending and kissing her, "I'd never have recognised you--never in all my life!"
Her father's bristly red moustache brushed the child's face, and shewithdrew bashfully.
"Ah! my pet," cried the tall, gaunt man, "I suppose you hardly knew me--eh? You were quite a little dot when I was here last. But though yourdad travels a lot, and is always on the move, yet he's ever thinking ofyou." He sighed. "See here!" And diving his hand into hisbreast-pocket, he took out a well-worn leather wallet which contained aphotograph. "That is what your other dad sent to me last year! Yourpicture, little one."
The child exchanged glances with the Doctor, still clinging to his arm.To her, Doctor Diamond was her father. She loved him, for he was alwayskind to her and always interested in her childish pleasure. True thepayments made by "Red Mullet" were irregular and far between, but theugly little man had formed a great attachment for the child, and whennot at the village school she was usually in his company.
"Your wife told me the direction from which you would come, so I thoughtI'd just take a stroll and meet you," the tall fellow said. "Horsforddoes not seem to change a little bit."
"It hasn't changed, they say, for the past two centuries," laughed theDoctor. "We are quiet, steady-going folk here." And as he spoke thesweet-toned chimes rang forth from the square grey Norman tower on theirleft, the tower to see which archaeologists so often came from far andnear.
"Well, well," exclaimed Mullet. "I had no idea my little Aggie hadgrown to be such a fine big girl. Very soon she'll be leaving school;she knows more about geography and grammar now than her dad does, thatI'll be bound."
"Mr Holmes, the schoolmaster, is loud in her praises," remarked theDoctor, whereat the girl blushed and smiled.
"And how would you like to go back with me, and live in Paris--eh?"inquired the father.
In a moment, however, the child clung closer to Diamond, and, buryingher face upon his arm, burst into tears.
"No, no, dear," declared the red-haired man. "I didn't mean it. Why, Iwas only joking! Of course you shall stay here, and finish youreducation with the Doctor, who is so good and kind to you. See--I'vebrought you something."
And taking from his pocket a child's plain hoop bangle in gold, heplaced it upon her slim wrist. Aggie, with a child's pardonable vanity,stretched forth her arm and showed the Doctor the effect. Then at theletter's suggestion, she raised her face and kissed her father for thepresent of the first piece of jewellery she had ever possessed in herlife.
They walked back together to the cottage, and after a homely cup of tea,"Red Mullet" sat with the Doctor in the cosy panelled dining-room, thefire burning brightly, and the red-shaded lamp upon the table.
"I'm glad you're pleased at the appearance of little Aggie," remarkedthe Doctor between deep puffs of his pipe. "She's quite a sweet child.Every one in the village loves her."
"I wonder, Doctor, what they'd think if they knew she was my daughter--the daughter of `Red Mullet'--eh?" asked the red-haired man grimly.
The Doctor pulled a wry face but did not reply. Alas, he was well awarethat Mr Mullet did not bear the best of reputations, and as a matter offact he was wondering the reason why he now risked a sojourn on Britishsoil.
"But--I--er--is that door closed?" he asked of the ugly little man as heglanced suspiciously behind him.
The Doctor rose and latched it. Then he resumed his seat.
"The fact is, I came down here to-day for two reasons--to see littleAggie and also to make some inquiries."
"Inquiries!" echoed Diamond. "What about?"
"About something that concerns you," was "Red Mullet's" reply. "Aboutcertain papers which belonged to a man named Blanc, who died in a littlehotel opposite the Gare du Nord."
"I--I don't understand you. What do you mean?" asked Diamond, with aperceptible start.
"Come, my dear Doc, you may just as well be frank and open with me. Youknow the kind of man I am. You've got hold of papers which don't belongto you--and well, all praise to you, I say, if they're worth anything.I don't see why you shouldn't deal with a dead man's property if hedeliberately wished to destroy it."
"How do you know all this, Mr Mullet?" asked the Doctor, his face paleand much surprised.
"Well, my source of information don't matter very much, does it?"remarked the other, stretching out his long legs to the warmth of thefire. "But I can tell you it's lucky for you and your friends that I'vefound out about it--or--well, I can only tell you something would havehappened--something very unfortunate."
"I don't follow you."
"I don't expect you do," was "Red Mullet's" reply, as he laughedlightly. "Just be open with me, Doc, and I'll tell you something--something that'll interest you, no doubt. What is the purport of thisprecious document about which there's all this fuss?"
"It's a secret--a great and remarkable problem which, up to the present,I'm unable to solve."
"My dear old chap, there are a good many problems in this world whichwant solving. The first of them is Woman," laughed the other.
"Admitted. But woman doesn't concern this particular matter."
"That's just where you are mistaken, Doc," Mullet interrupted. "Youlive down in this rural solitude, and you don't know what goes on up inLondon. There is a woman in the case--a woman who is very deeplyinvolved in it."
"Who?"
"We can leave her out of it for the present," replied Mullet. "I wantto know something about the document."
Doctor Diamond hesitated. Had this man, whose reputation was so bad,and against whom he had so often been warned, come there for the purposeof levying blackmail? It seemed as though he had! "Well," he answered,"I really see no reason why we should discuss what is, after all, my ownprivate business, Mr Mullet."
"I should not ask you if I had not a distinct object," said the other."I may as well tell you that I've already acted in your interests, andat considerable risk to myself, too," he added.
"For which I thank you most sincerely," responded the ugly little man,now very much on the alert.
He was extremely puzzled to know by what means Mullet had learnt hissecret. Surely he could not have been a friend of that man who, on hisdeathbed, had refused his name?
"I merely came down here to give you warning," Mullet said. "You arenot the only person interested in the discovery."
"I know. I have been compelled to take certain persons into myconfidence, and they will share in the profits which, we hope, willeventually accrue."
"I'm not speaking of your friends, Doc. I'm speaking of enemies--peoplewho are working actively against you."
"Against me!" cried Diamond, starting. "Who else knows about it besidesourselves?"
"Ah!" exclaimed Mullet, smiling. "That's just the point. While youpossess only a few scraps of the dead man's manuscript, those working inopposition to you have in their possession a complete copy!"
"What!" cried the ugly little Doctor, starting up. "Then the context isknown! The whole document has been read!"
"Without a doubt. And I should have been in ignorance of yourconnection with it had it not been for a pure accident," answeredMullet.
"Who are my enemies?" demanded the Doctor. "They are powerful--but I'mnot at liberty to mention their names. I can only say, Doctor, that ifI can help you in secret in this affair I will. There's money in it--lots of money--that's my firm opinion."
"Then you kno
w all about it?"
"Well--I know that the discovery is one of the most remarkable of theage, and that it seems more than likely you'll be able to locate thehidden treasure of Solomon's temple. I'm not much of a classical orBiblical scholar, but I understand that the theory has utterly staggeredcertain