The Romance of the Secret Service Fund by Fred M. White (top ebook reader .TXT) 📖
- Author: Fred M. White
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Only don’t fail me tonight as you love your country.”
A brilliant audience filled the Thespian. The stalls were one flash of
colour and glitter of gems. The comedy was lively and sparkling, there
was a strong story on which the jewels were threaded.
From the corner of his box Moore followed the progress of the play.
The first act was nearing its close. There were two characters in the
caste still unaccounted for, and one of these must of necessity be the
man Moore was after. The crux of the act was approaching. A thin, dark
man stood on the stage. In style and carriage he had a marked resemblance
to Mazaroff. He came to the centre of the stage and laid a hand on the
shoulder of the high comedy man there.
“And where do I come in?” he asked gently.
It was a quotation, the first line of the play-part spread out on the
ledge of the box before Moore. He gave a gasp. He saw a chance here that
he determined to take. As the curtain fell on the second act he sent
round his card. A little later and he was in Manningtree’s private room.
“Who is the man playing the part of Paul Gilroy?” he asked.
“Oh, come,” Manningtree protested. “You’re not going to deprive me of
Hermann. He has made the piece.”
“I am going to do nothing of the kind,” Moore replied. “We don’t make
public anything we can possibly keep to ourselves. Only Hermann has some
information I require, and there is only one way of getting it. Tell me
all you know about that man.”
“Well, in the first place, he is a German with an American mother. He
seems to have been everything, from a police spy up to a University
Fellow. He speaks four or five languages fluently. A shady sort of a
chap, but a brilliant actor, as you are bound to admit. Wait till you see
him in the last act.”
“He has all what you call the ‘fat,’ I presume?”
“He is on the stage the whole time. Five-and-twenty minutes the act
plays. Take my advice and don’t miss a word of it.”
“I am afraid I shall miss it all,” Moore replied in a dropping voice. “I
am afraid that I shall be compelled to wander into Mr. Hermann’s dressing
- room by mistake. In an absent-minded kind of way I may also go
through his pockets. Don’t protest, there’s a good fellow. You know me
sufficiently well to be certain that I am acting in high interests. Say
nothing, but merely let me know which is my man’s dressing-room.”
“You’re a rum chap,” Manningtree grumbled, “but you always manage to get
your own way. You are running a grave risk, but you will have to take the
consequences. If you are caught I cannot save you.”
“I won’t ask you to,” Moore replied.
Manningtree indicated the room and strolled away. The room was empty.
Hermann’s dresser had disappeared, knowing probably that his services
would not be required for the next half-hour. There was a quick tinkle
of the bell, and the curtain drew up on the last act. Moore from his dim
corner heard Hermann “called,” and the coast was clear at last.
Just for a moment Moore hesitated. He had literally to force himself
forward, but once the door had closed behind him his courage returned.
Hermann’s ordinary clothing first. It hung up on the door. For some time
Moore could find nothing of the least value, to him at any rate. He came
at length to a pocket-book, which he opened without ceremony. There
were papers and private letters, but nothing calculated to give a clue.
In one of the flaps of the pocket a card, an ordinary visiting-card,
had been stuck. It bore the name of Emile Nobel.
Moore fairly danced across the floor. He hustled the pocket-book back
in its place and flashed out of the room. Nobody was near, nobody heard
his chuckle. The whole atmosphere trembled with applause, applause that
Moore in his strange way took to himself. He had solved the problem.
The name on the card was one perfectly well known to him. Every tyro in
the employ of the Secret Service Fund had heard of Emile Nobel. For he
was perhaps the chief rascal in the Rogues’ Gallery of Europe. Newton
Moore knew him both by name and by sight.
Stolen dispatches, purloined plans, nothing came amiss to the great,
gross German, who seemed to have been at the bottom of half the mischief
which it was the business of the Secret Service to set right. Moore had
never come in actual contact with Nobel before, but he felt pretty sure
that he was going to do so on this occasion. He was dealing with a clever
coward, a man stone deaf, strange to say, but a man of infinite resources
and cunning. Added to all this, Nobel was a chemist of great repute. The
Secret Service heard vague legends of mysterious murders done by Nobel,
all strictly in the way of business. And Nobel had this gun-Moore felt
certain of that. Hermann had accomplished the theft, doubtless for a
substantial pecuniary consideration. Nobel must be found.
Moore saw his way clearly directly. It was a mere game of chance. If
Hermann really knew Nobel-and the possession of the latter’s visiting -
card seemed to prove it-the thing might be easily accomplished. If not,
then no harm would be done.
Moore made his way rapidly past the dark little box by the stage-door
into the street. Then he whistled softly. A figure emerged from the gloom
of the court.
“You called me, sir,” a voice whispered.
“I did, Joseph,” Moore replied. “One little thing and you can retire for
tonight. Take this card. In a few minutes you are to present it-as your
own, mind-to the keeper of the stage-door yonder. Take care that the
door-keeper does not see your face, and address him in fair English
with a strong German accent. You will ask to see Mr. Hermann, and the
stage-door keeper will inform you that you cannot see him for some
time. You are to say that you are stone deaf, and get him to write what
he says on paper. Then you leave your card for Mr. Hermann saying that
you must see him on most important business tonight. Will he be good
enough to come round and see you? That is all, Joseph.”
Then Moore slipped back into the theatre. He had the satisfaction of
hearing the message given, and his instructions carried out without a
hitch. And a little later on he had the further satisfaction of hearing
the stage-door keeper carry out Joseph’s instructions as far as Hermann
was concerned. Had Nobel’s address been on the card all this would have
been superfluous. As the address was missing, the little scheme was
absolutely necessary.
There was just a chance, of course, that Hermann might deny all knowledge
of Moore’s prospective quarry, not that Moore had much fear of this,
after the episode of the borrowed cloak and the play-part. Hermann
stood flushed and smiling as he received the compliments of fellow
comedians. Moore watched him keenly as the stage-door keeper delivered
the card and the message.
“Most extraordinary,” Hermann muttered. “You say that Mr. Nobel was here
himself. What was he like?”
“Big gentleman, sir, strong foreign accent and deaf as a post.”
Hermann looked relieved, but the puzzled expression was still on his
face.
“All right, Blotton,” he said. “Send somebody out to call a cab for me in
ten minutes. Sorry I can’t come and sup with you fellows as arranged. A
matter of business has suddenly cropped up.”
Moore left the theatre without further delay. His little scheme had
worked like a charm. All lay clear before him now. Hermann had important
business with Nobel, he knew where the latter was staying, he was going
unceremoniously to conduct Moore to his abode. And where Nobel was at
present there was the Mazaroff rifle. There could be no doubt about that
now. Naturally the upshot of all this would be that both the conspirators
would discover that someone was on the trail, but Moore could see no way
of getting the desired information without alarming the enemy. Once he
knew where to look for the thimble he felt that the search would be easy.
Also he was prepared for a bold and audacious stroke if necessary.
With his vivid and delicate fancy, it was only the terrors conjured up by
his own marvellous imagination that terrified him. He was one bundle of
quivering nerves, and the power of the cigarettes he practically lived on
jangled the machine more terribly out of tune.
But there was a sense of exultation now; the mad, feline courage Moore
always felt when his clear, shrewd brain was shaping to success. At
moments like these he was capable of the most amazing courage. He had a
presentiment that success lay broadly before him.
A cab crawled along the dingy street at the mouth of the court, leading
to the stage-door of the Thespian. Moore hailed it and got in.
“Don’t move till I give you the signal,” said he, “and keep the trap
open.”
The cabman grinned and chuckled. This was evidently going to be one of
the class of fares that London’s gondoliers dream of but so seldom see.
Presently the cab bearing Hermann away shot past.
“Follow that,” Moore cried, “and when the gentleman gets out slacken
speed, but on no account stop. I will drop out of the cab when it is
still moving. There is a sovereign for you in any case, and there is my
card in case I should have a very long journey. Now push her along.”
It was a long journey. Neither cab boasted horse-flesh of high calibre,
and after a time the pursuit dawdled down to a funeral procession.
Near the flagstaff at Hampstead Heath the first cab stopped and Hermann
descended. Moore’s cab trotted by, but Moore was no longer inside. If
Hermann had any suspicion of being followed, it was allayed by this neat
stroke of Moore’s.
Hermann hurried forward, walking for half an hour until he came to a long
new road at the foot of the hill between Cricklewood and Hampstead. Only
one of the fairly large houses there seemed to be inhabited, the rest
were in the last stages of completion. The opposite side of the road was
an open field.
The houses were double-fronted ones with a large porch and entrance
hall, and a long strip of lawn in front. Hermann paused before the house
which appeared to be inhabited, and passing up the path opened the front
door and entered, closing the big door behind him. In the room on the
left-hand side of the hall a brilliant light gleamed, but no glimmer
showed in the hall itself. Beyond a doubt Emile Nobel was here.
Moore followed cautiously along the drive. He softly tried the front
door, only to find the key had been turned in the lock.
“They are alarmed,” he muttered; “the covey has been disturbed. By this
time Nobel and Hermann know that they have been hoaxed. Also they will
have a pretty good idea why. If I am any judge of character, audacity
more than pluck is Hermann’s strong point. He will leave Nobel in the
lurch as soon as possible. If I could only hear what is going on! But
that is impossible.”
Moore could hear nothing beyond the murmur of Nobel’s heavy voice,
Hermann
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