"But--well, we can't walk about the street in order to talk, can we? Why notdrive to my rooms? You're not afraid of me now--are you?" he laughed.
"No, Mr Mullet," was her quick answer. "I trust you, because you havealready proved yourself my good friend."
Truth to tell, however, she was not eager to go to that place where shehad spent those anxious never-to-be-forgotten days, yet, as he suggestedit, she could not very well refuse. One thing was quite certain, shewas as safe in his hands as in her own home.
Therefore, he hailed a "taxi" from the rank across the way, and they atonce drove in the direction of the Marble Arch.
Hardly, however, had they left the kerb, when a second "taxi" upon therank, turned suddenly into the roadway and followed them. Within,lolling back and well-concealed in the darkness, sat Jim Jannaway.
A quarter of an hour later, Mullet let himself in with his latch-key,and the girl ascended those carpeted stairs she recollected so well.
In his own warm room Mullet stirred the fire until it blazed merrily,and then helping the girl off with her jacket, drew up a chair for her,taking one himself.
Her sweet innocent face, frankness of manner, and neatness of dresscharmed him again, as it had when he had been forced against his will tokeep her prisoner there. As he gazed across at her, he, carelessadventurer that he had been for years, a man, with a dozen _aliases_ andas many different abodes, recollected their strange _menage_.
"Well," he said with a smile, "I was really delighted to get a note fromyou, Miss Griffin. You said in it that you wished to consult me. Whatabout?"
"About several things, Mr Mullet," answered the girl, leaning her elbowupon the chair arm and looking straight in his face. "First, I am veryunhappy. My position is an extremely uncomfortable one."
"How?"
"I have kept the promise of silence I gave you, and as a consequenceFrank Farquhar, the man to whom I was engaged, has left me."
"Left you!" he echoed. "He suspects something wrong--eh?"
She nodded in the affirmative.
"That's bad, Miss Gwen--very bad!" he said with a changed countenance."I know well what you must suffer, poor girl. You love him--eh?"
"Very dearly."
"And I am the cause of your estrangement," he remarked in a lowsympathetic tone.
"Ah! it was not your fault, Mr Mullet," she cried, "I know that. Donot think that I am blaming you. The real blackguard is that red-facedman and his accomplice--the man who enticed me here on such a plausiblepretext."
"I am also to blame. Miss Gwen," replied the big fellow with thebristly red moustache. "A deep game is being played, and, alas! I amcompelled to be one of the players. It is being played against yourfather."
"I know that," she said. "I overheard Doctor Diamond telling my fatherhow you had furnished him with a copy of that document describing theremarkable discovery of Professor Holmboe."
"Hush!" cried Mullet quickly, glancing at the door that stood slightlyajar. "There's nobody here, for the man who usually does for me is ill.Yet we'd better not discuss that action of mine, Miss Gwen. I only didit in order to repay in part a great service the little Doctor hasrendered me. So," he added, "the Doctor took the copy to your father?"
"Yes. He had previously, through Mr Farquhar, consulted my fatherregarding the half-burnt fragments in his possession. But the other dayhe came, bearing the full document, which they discussed for a couple ofhours or more. Now, Mr Mullet," she said, "you have been a very goodand kind friend to me; therefore, I'm wondering if you would render us afurther service?"
"Anything in my power I will most willingly do," replied the _blase_man, seeking permission to light his cigarette.
"I first want to know," she exclaimed, "who is that blackguard who camehere and demanded to know my father's business?"
"He's a person of whom you need have no concern," was his evasive reply.
"But he possesses a copy of the statement by Professor Holmboe?"
"He does. And he has instituted an active search in which three of thegreatest scholars on the Continent are assisting, in order to ascertainthe key to the cipher alleged by the Russian professor to exist in theprophecy of Ezekiel."
"But does he possess any manuscript of the Professor's relating to thecipher?" inquired the girl, eagerly.
"Ah! that I do not know," was his answer, "as far as I'm aware, he doesnot."
"Nothing definite has yet been ascertained, I suppose?"
"Nothing actually definite," he said. "But you can tell your fatherthat Erich Haupt believes that at last he has struck the right line ofinquiry."
"Haupt!" she repeated. "Who is he?"
"Your father will know him as the great professor of Leipzig. He is nowstaying at the Waldorf Hotel."
"But--well, Mr Mullet," she said with some hesitation. "Pardon me forsaying so, but your friends seem a very unscrupulous and remarkablelot."
"And they are just as influential as they are unscrupulous," he laughed.Then growing serious next moment, he added with a sigh, "Ah! MissGwen, if you only knew all, you'd realise how very delighted I'd be tocut myself adrift from such a rascally association."
"Why don't you?" she asked, looking straight into his eyes. "Thisbusiness of the treasure of Israel is surely a big and lucrative one.Why don't you leave them, and join my father, Mr Farquhar, and DoctorDiamond?"
"Well--shall I tell you the truth, Miss Griffin?" he asked, blowing acloud of smoke from his lips as he contemplated the red end of hiscigarette, "Because--well, because I dare not!"
"Dare not?"
"No," he said in a strained voice. "You see my part has not been analtogether blameless one. Need I explain more than to say that veryoften, for my very bread, I have to depend upon these persons who areworking against your father."
The girl sighed, a painful expression crossing her brow.
"I wish I could help you, Mr Mullet," she said seriously. "Can't youpossibly disassociate yourself from those scoundrels?"
He shook his head sadly.
The next instant she turned towards the door exclaiming:
"Hark! What was that? I heard a noise!"
"Nothing," he laughed. "The window of the next room is open a little,and the wind has blown the door to."
By this, she was reassured, even though she feared that the horridred-faced man whose name he refused to tell her, might again reappearthere as her inquisitor.
"It seems to me," she said, "that your friends, whoever they are, aredishonourable men whose bread you are compelled to eat. Surely you arein a position quite as wretched as I am?"
"Yes," he admitted. "But do me one favour, Miss Gwen. Never breathe toa soul that I've handed the copy of that document to the Doctor. Ifthey knew that, they would never forgive me."
"I will remain silent, and I'll tell my father also to regard youraction as confidential."
"Tell Mr Farquhar also," he urged.
"Ah!" sighed the girl. "Unfortunately I never see him now. He alwaysmeets my father at the Royal Societies Club--in order to avoid me."
"Then there is an actual breach between you?"
"Yes," she replied hoarsely. "He asked me certain questions, to which Icould not reply without betraying you."
"And you risked your love for a worthless fellow like myself!"
"Well? And did you not risk your liberty for my sake?" she asked. "Didyou not protect me from that blackguard who would have struck me becauseI refused to answer his questions?"
"Oh, that was nothing, Miss Gwen. I am thinking of you."
"Can you--will you assist my father?" she urged. "For myself I carenothing. But for my father's reputation--in order to enhance it, andalso that through him Israel shall recover her sacred relics, I am readyto sacrifice anything. Disassociate yourself from these men, and assistus, Mr Mullet. Do."
"That is, alas! impossible," was his slow response. "It would mean myinstant ruin. Would it not be better if I remained in the enemy's camp?Reflect
for a moment."
"I wish you could meet my father," she said.
"Well, if he'd really like to see me, perhaps I might call upon him."
"He wants so much to know you. He was only saying so when we sattogether last night after dinner."
"But you know, Miss Gwen, I'm not the sort of man that he would care toassociate with."
"You have been my friend and