E. Phillips Oppenheim - 21 Greatest Spy Thrillers in One Premium Edition (Mystery & Espionage Series)

“You are a queer little person,” he said kindly, as they went down in the lift. “Haven’t you any friends?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“What sort of friends could I have?” she asked. “The girls in the chorus with me are very nice, some of them, but they know so many people whom I don’t, and they are always out to supper, or something of the sort.”

“And you?”

She shook her head.

“I went to one supper-party with the girl who is near me,” she said. “I liked it very much, but they didn’t ask me again.”

“I wonder why?” he remarked.

“Oh, I don’t know!” she went on drearily. “You see, I think the men who take out girls who are in the chorus, generally expect to be allowed to make love to them. At any rate, they behaved like that. Such a horrid man tried to say nice things to me and I didn’t like it a bit. So they left me alone afterwards. The girl I lived with and her mother are quite nice, and they have a few friends we go to see sometimes on Sunday or holidays. It’s dull, though, very dull, especially now they’re away.”

“What on earth made you think of going on the stage at all?” he asked.

“What could one do?” she answered. “My mother’s money died with her—she had only an annuity—and my stepfather, who had promised to look after me, lost all his money and died quite suddenly. Arthur was in a stockbroker’s office and he couldn’t save anything. My only friend was my old music-master, and he had given up teaching and was director of the orchestra at the Universal. All he could do for me was to get me a place in the chorus. I have been there ever since. They keep on promising me a little part but I never get it. It’s always like that in theatres. You have to be a favorite of the manager’s, for some reason or other, or you never get your chance unless you are unusually lucky.”

“I don’t know much about theatres,” he admitted. “I am afraid I am rather a stupid person. When I can get away from work I go into the country and play cricket or golf, or anything that’s going. When I am up in town, I am generally content with looking up a few friends, or playing bridge at the club. I never have been a theatre-goer.

“I wonder,” she asked, as they seated themselves at a small round table in the restaurant which he had chosen,—“I wonder why every now and then you look so serious.”

“I didn’t know that I did,” he answered. “We’ve had thundering hard times lately in business, though. I suppose that makes a man look thoughtful.”

“Poor Mr. Laverick,” she murmured softly. “Are things any better now?”

“Much better.”

“Then you have nothing really to bother you?” she persisted.

“I suppose we all have something,” he replied, suddenly grave. “Why do you ask that?”

She leaned across the table. In the shaded light, her oval face with its little halo of deep brown hair seemed to him as though it might have belonged to some old miniature. She was delightful, like Watteau-work upon a piece of priceless porcelain—delightful when the lights played in her eyes and the smile quivered at the corner of her lips. Just now, however, she became very much in earnest.

“I will tell you why I ask that question,” she said. “I cannot help worrying still about Arthur. You know you admitted last night that he had done something. You saw how terribly frightened he was this morning, and how he kept on looking around as though he were afraid that he would see somebody whom he wished to avoid. Oh! I don’t want to worry you,” she went on, “but I feel so terrified sometimes. I feel that he must have done something—bad. It was not an ordinary business trouble which took the life out of him so completely.”

“It was not,” Laverick admitted at once. “He has done something, I believe, quite foolish; but the matter is in my hands to arrange, and I think you can assure yourself that nothing will come of it.”

“Did you tell him so this morning?” she asked eagerly.

“I did not,” he answered. “I told him nothing. For many reasons it was better to keep him ignorant. He and I might not have seen things the same way, and I am sure that what I am doing is for the best. If I were you, Miss Leneveu, I think I wouldn’t worry any more. Soon you will hear from your brother that he is safe in New York, and I think I can promise you that the trouble will never come to anything serious.”

“Why have you been so kind to him?” she asked timidly. “From what he said, I do not think that he was very useful to you, and, indeed, you and he are so different.”

Laverick was silent for a moment.

“To be honest,” he said, “I think that I should not have taken so much trouble for his sake alone. You see,” he continued, smiling, “you are rather a delightful young person, and you were very anxious, weren’t you?”

Her hand came across the table—an impulsive little gesture, which he nevertheless found perfectly natural and delightful. He took it into his, and would have raised the fingers to his lips but for the waiters who were hovering around.

“You are so kind,” she said, “and I am so fortunate. I think that I wanted a friend.”

“You poor child,” he answered, “I should think you did. You are not drinking your wine.”

She shook her head.

“Do you mind?” she asked. “A very little gets into my head because I take it so seldom, and the manager is cross if one makes the least bit of a mistake. Besides, I do not think that I like to drink wine. If one does not take it at all, there is an excuse for never having anything when the girls ask you.”

He nodded sympathetically.

“I believe you are quite right,” he said; “in a general way, at any rate. Well, I will drink by myself to your brother’s safe arrival in New York. Are you ready?”

She glanced at the clock.

“I must be there in a quarter of an hour,” she told him.

“I will drive you to the theatre,” he said, “and then go round and fetch my ticket.”

As he waited for her in the reception hall of the restaurant, he took an evening paper from the stall. A brief paragraph at once attracted his attention.

Murder in the City.—We understand that very important information has come into the hands of the police. An ARREST is expected to-night or to-morrow at the latest.

He crushed the paper in his hand and threw it on one side. It was the usual sort of thing. There was nothing they could have found out—nothing, he told himself.

Table of Contents

As soon as he had gone through his letters on the following morning, Laverick, in response to a second and more urgent message, went round to his bank. Mr. Fenwick greeted him gravely. He was feeling keenly the responsibilities of his position. Just how much to say and how much to leave unsaid was a question which called for a full measure of diplomacy.

“You understand, Mr. Laverick,” he began, “that I wished to see you with regard to the arrangement we came to the day before yesterday.”

Laverick nodded. It suited him to remain monosyllabic.

“Well?” he asked.

“The arrangement, of course, was most unusual,” the manager continued. “I agreed to it as you were an old customer and the matter was an urgent one.”

“I do not quite follow you,” Laverick remarked, frowning. “What is it you wish me to do? Withdraw my account?”

“Not in the least,” the manager answered hastily.

“You know the position of our market, of course,” Laverick went on. “Three days ago I was in a situation which might have been called desperate. I could quite understand that you needed security to go on making the necessary payments on my behalf. To-day, things are entirely different. I am twenty thousand pounds better off, and if necessary I could realize sufficient to pay off the whole of my overdraft within half-an-hour. That I do not do so is simply a matter of policy and prices.”