engineer were to go out to Jerusalem and make secretinvestigation. The surveyor, whom Griffin proposed to send out withFarquhar to make secret survey upon the measurements contained in thecipher, was a young man in business at Richmond, a friend of his, towhom he proposed to give a small interest in the syndicate.
"We are agreed, I suppose, Doctor, that at all hazards the most sacredrelics and the archives of the Kingdom of Israel which are no doubtpreserved there, shall be restored to the Jews?" Griffin said.
"Most certainly," was Diamond's reply. "This man Challas intends, itseems, to revenge himself upon the Jews by desecrating the treasure."
"But, dad!" cried the girl, "surely he would never be allowed todesecrate sacred relics!"
"If he discovered them upon land he had purchased he might very easilydestroy them before he could be prevented," her father pointed out."There lies the great danger. Fortunately, however, he will be unableto do that. Farquhar must go out to Jerusalem at the earliest possiblemoment. And I'll get young Pettit, the surveyor, up from Richmond thisafternoon."
Gwen's face was blanched, she stood rooted there, still staring downinto the street, inexpressibly gloomy that winter's morning. Lightswere in the rooms of some of the houses opposite, while outside NottingHill Gate Station, at the end of the road, the big electric globes wereshedding their brilliance, as they did each night.
How should she act? She was calmly contemplating what might occur. Herhead reeled, for she had not closed her eyes since she had last stood inthat room face to face with her enemy--the man who had filched thesecret from them and departed.
His threats rang in her ears. If she revealed the truth, then Mulletwould be arrested, and in addition a foul lie, which alas! she could notrefute, would be told both her lover and her father! She shuddered andheld her breath. Had she not already promised secrecy to Mullet! Couldshe, after his self-sacrifice, deliberately bring ruin upon him?
No. She was hemmed in on every side by the impossible. And even if shetold the truth, it was now too late, alas! Sir Felix Challas, greatfinancier that he was, had agents in all the capitals, and possessedsecret channels of information against which their little combinationwould be utterly powerless. Alas! they were now only tilting at thewind.
That red-faced blatant parvenu, that Jew-hating hypocrite who did hisevil doings behind his moneybags, had triumphed!
Whatever she said, whatever allegation she made against the Baronet orJim Jannaway--for she now for the first time had learnt his name--wouldmake no difference. The bitterness of it all must fall upon her, andher alone.
Her young heart was crushed, stifled, broken.
If she spoke, or if she were silent, it was the same--she must play herlover false.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
THE VICTIM OF SHAME.
The tall red-moustached man stood in the dining-room with Gwen Griffin.
She had seen his approach from the window, and dashing downstairs, hadadmitted him. Taking him at once into the room she had closed the door,and in a few brief hasty words had admitted him to her confidence.
"What!" he cried, staring at her in amazement. "Jim Jannaway has daredto come here, to read the documents, and then to threaten you with this!Look here, Miss Griffin, the matter is much more serious for you than Ihad imagined. Those fellows, Felix and Jim, will stick at nothing, butthey shall not ruin your reputation. Leave that to `Red Mullet'."
"But, Mr Mullet," she cried, "he threatens your arrest if I tell myfather the truth. Besides, have I not promised secrecy to you?"
"My dear child," he said, "go at once and tell your father the truth.Then leave the rest to me."
"But what will he think of me?" she asked, her face blanched to thelips.
"Let your father--indeed, let the world--think what it will of you, MissGriffin. You are an innocent victim of the avarice of these men, justas I am. I stood your friend that day when I released you frombondage--and I will stand your friend still!"
"They possess our secret."
"That is a most unfortunate fact," he admitted. "Still we must try anddefy them. I will do my best. But if I fail," he added in a lowearnest voice, "it will not be for want of endeavour, I promise you. Itried to save you and your father once--and I will try again. We mustwin even if we make some sacrifice."
"But do not imperil yourself," she urged. "Do not, I beg of you, MrMullet."
"I shall act with both firmness and discretion, and if we but unmaskthese blackguards who have tried again to entrap you, we shall have donea service to society at large. Unfortunately," he added with a sigh,"my own hands are none too clean."
"You will see my father. The Doctor is upstairs with him," she urged.
"No--later!" he exclaimed hastily. "At the present moment not a secondis to be lost. I must go to them, and see what we can do by firmness.Tell your father of Jim's visit here, but do not say you have seen me,and say nothing regarding the past--remember, nothing. Promptness ofaction is now our only safeguard."
And leaving the girl standing there bewildered, he passed out of theroom, and next second she heard the front door closed behind her.
Of his power to avert the natural flow of events she had but littleconfidence. He was beneath the thumb of Sir Felix Challas, therefore,how could he hope to wrest back the secret which Jim Jannaway hadlearned?
In any case, the good-looking scoundrel to whom a woman's honour was ofno account, would carry out his threat, and Frank must, ere long, turnhis back upon her, as he had done before.
Her heart beat fast, and she placed her hand upon her breast, as if tostay its anxious throbbing.
Mullet, though an adventurer himself, was right. It was her duty totell her father the truth, and not allow him to continue further in thatsense of false security.
Yet at what cost must her statement be made! At cost, alas! of her ownhonour.
Ere long she would not be able to look Frank in the face, for JimJannaway would lie so circumstantially that both her father and he wouldbelieve it to be the shameful truth. Mullet would not admit the past."Say nothing regarding the past," he had urged! He had some strongmotive in this--a motive that must, of itself, prevent him revealing thetruth, and clearing her of the blemish placed upon her good name.
Besides, would Frank ever accept the excuses made for her by a man of"Red Mullet's" stamp? The actual truth was an ugly one. She had beenabsent from home, and on returning, had refused to give an account ofwhere she had been. And now it was to be revealed that she had lived in"Red Mullet's" chambers!
She burst into a flood of tears on recognising her own utterhelplessness.
Circumstances were entirely against her. She could never hope to defendher own honour in the face of such dark facts.
Suddenly she dried her eyes with a great effort, and looked at herselfin the big mirror at the back of the high, old-fashioned carvedsideboard. She started to notice how pale she was, and how dark beneaththe eyes.
Then slowly she went out of the room, and up the stairs, in obedience toher protector, "Red Mullet."
Hardly knowing what she did, or what words escaped her, she re-enteredthe study where her father, her lover and the Doctor were inconsultation, and standing before them, described the scene that hadoccurred in that room during the night-hours.
The three men, when they heard the astounding truth, started to theirfeet with one accord.
"You!--Gwen--my daughter!" gasped the old Professor in a voice of bitterreproach. "And you have allowed this--you allowed that man to gain oursecret without alarming me! I am ashamed of your conduct--heartilyashamed!"
"I could not, father," answered the girl, panting and pale-faced, "I--Iwas afraid--I feared him!"
She raised her eyes to Frank's, and saw in them a look of blankdisappointment. She now fully realised that if she had raised thealarm, the communication of the secret to Challas might perhaps havebeen prevented. She pointed to the broken bell-push, and explained howbefore her entry there, t
he resourceful scoundrel had disarranged it asa precaution.
Diamond paced the room in a frenzy of despair. The little man raisedhis clenched fists above his head and uttered curses upon his enemies,for he saw that through his fingers at the very moment of success, therehad slipped a colossal fortune.
"Frank!" exclaimed the girl, in a low piteous voice, standing before himwith bent head, "forgive me. I--I was helpless last night. I amhelpless now!"
"Forgive!" echoed her father in furious anger. "How can he ever forgiveyou--how can I forgive you? You might have been in fear of him at thatmoment, but upon your own showing, you knew him, is not that so?"
"Yes, father," she faltered. "I--I did know him."
"Then you have had dealings