The Pauper of Park Lane

by William Le Queux

upon me rested the burden of guilt."

  "Then your suggestion is that I should go and tell him openly myintentions?"

  "Decidedly. The more open you are, the greater will be the old man'sterror, and the easier our ultimate task."

  "He'll refuse to see me."

  "He goes down to the City sometimes. Better call there and present afalse card. He won't care to be faced in the vicinity of his managersand clerks. It will show him from the first that the great home ofStatham is tottering."

  "And it shall fall!" declared Adams, with a triumphant chuckle. "Wehold the trump cards, it is true. The only matter to be decided is howwe shall play them."

  "They must be played very carefully, if we are to win."

  "Win?" echoed the other. "Why, man, we can't possibly lose."

  "Suppose he died?"

  "He won't die, I'll take care of that," said Adams, with a fierceexpression upon his somewhat evil countenance. "No; the old blackguardshall live, and his life shall be rendered a hell of terror and remorse.He made my life so bitter that a thousand times I've longed for death.He taunted me with my misfortunes, ruined me and laughed in my face,jeered at my unhappiness and flaunted his wealth before me when I waspenniless. But through all these years I have kept silence, laughingwithin myself because of his ignorance that I alone held his secret, andthat when I chose I could rise and crush him.

  "He had no suspicion of my knowledge until one blazing day in a foreigncity I betrayed myself. I was a fool, I know. But very soon afterwardsI repaid the error by death. I died and was buried, so that he thenbelieved himself safe, and has remained in self-satisfied security untilthis morning, when his gaze met mine through the window. I have risenfrom the dead," he added, with a short, dry laugh; "risen to avengemyself by his ruin."

  "And his death," added the hunchback.

  "Don't I tell you he shall not die?" cried Adams. "What satisfactionshould I have were he to commit suicide? No; I mean to watch his agony,to terrify him and drive him to an existence constantly fearing exposureand arrest. He shall not enjoy a moment's peace of mind, but shall betortured by conscience and driven mad by terror. I will repay his evilactions towards me and mine a hundredfold."

  "How can you prevent him escaping you by suicide?"

  "He'll never do that, for he knows his suicide would mean the ruin ofStatham Brothers, and perhaps the ruin of hundreds of families. Thecanting old hypocrite would rather do anything nowadays than ruin thepoor investor."

  "Yet look at his operations in earlier days! Did he not lay thefoundation of the house by the exercise of cunning and unscrupulousdouble-dealing? Was it not mainly by his influence that a great war wasforced on, and did he not clear, it is declared, more than half amillion by sacrificing the lives of thousands? And he actually has theaudacity to dole out sums to charities, and contributions to hospitalsand convalescent homes!"

  "The world always looks at a man's present, my dear old chap, never athis past," responded the hunchback.

  "Unfortunately that is so, otherwise the truth would be remembered andthe name of Statham held up to scorn and universal disgust. Yet," Adamswent on, "I grant you that he is not much worse than others in the samecategory. The smug frock coat and light waistcoat of the successfulCity man so very often conceals a black and ungenerous heart."

  "But if you really make this exposure as you threaten, it will arousethe greatest sensation ever produced in England in modern years," Lyleremarked, slowly lighting a fresh cigarette.

  "I will make it--and more!" he declared, bringing his fist down heavilyupon the table. "I have waited all these years for my revenge, and,depend upon it, it will be humiliating and complete."

  For a few moments neither man spoke. At last Lyle said: "I have morethan once wondered whether you are not making a mistake in yourassociation with that young man Barclay."

  "Max Barclay is a fool. He doesn't dream the real game we are playingwith him."

  "No. If he did, he wouldn't have anything to do with us."

  "I suppose he wouldn't. But the whole thing appears to him such agilt-edged one that we've fascinated him--and he'll be devilish usefulto us in the near future."

  "You've inquired about that girl, I suppose?"

  "Yes. She's in a drapery shop--at Cunnington's, in Oxford Street, and,funnily enough, is sister of old Sam's secretary."

  "His sister! By Jove! we ought to know her--one of us. She might beable to find out something."

  "No: we must keep away from her at present," Adams urged. Then, in acurious voice, he added: "We may find it necessary to become her enemy,you know. And if so, she ought not to be personally acquainted witheither of us. Do you follow me?"

  "You mean that we may find it necessary to secure Max Barclay's aid atsacrifice of the girl--eh?"

  His companion smiled meaningly.

  "We must be careful how we use Barclay," Lyle said. "The young man hashis eyes open."

  "I know. I'm well aware of that," Adams said, quickly. "He will be ofthe greatest assistance to us."

  "If he has no suspicions."

  "What suspicion can he have?" laughed the other. "All that we've toldhim he believes to be gospel truth. Only the night before last we dinedtogether at Romano's, and after an hour at the Empire he took me to hisclub to chat and smoke."

  "He, of course, believes the story of the railway concession to begenuine," Lyle suggested. "Let me see, the concession is somewhere inthe Balkans, isn't it?"

  "Yes; the railroad from Nisch, in Servia, across Northern Albania, toSan Giovanni di Medua, on the Adriatic. A grand scheme that's beentalked of for years, and which the Sultan has always prevented byrefusing to allow the line to pass through Turkish territory.

  "Our story is," added Adams, "that his Majesty has at last signed anirade granting permission, and that within a month or so the wholeconcession will be given over to an English group of whom I am therepresentative. I saw that the scheme appealed to him from the veryfirst. He recognised that there was money in it, for such a line wouldtap the whole trade of the Balkans, and by a junction near the IronGates of the Danube, take the trade of Roumania, Hungary, andSouth-Western Russia to the Adriatic instead of as at present into theBlack Sea.

  "For the past week I've met Barclay nearly every day. He suggestedthat, as the railway would be a matter of millions, he should approachold Sam Statham and ask him to lend us his support."

  "Does he know Statham?"

  "Slightly. But I at once declined to allow him to speak about thescheme."

  "Why?"

  "Because old Sam, with the aid of his spies and informants in diplomaticcircles, could in three days satisfy himself whether our story was trueor false. It would have given the whole story away at once. So I madean excuse for continued secrecy."

  "Quite right. We must not court failure by allowing any inquiry to beprematurely made," said Lyle. "Make the project a secret one, and speakof it with bated breath. Hint at diplomatic difficulties between Turkeyand England, if the truth were known."

  "That's just what I have done, and he's completely misled. I explainedthat Germany would try and bring pressure upon the Sultan to withdrawthe irade as soon as it were known that the railway had fallen intoBritish hands. And he believed me implicitly!"

  "He had no suspicion of whom you really are?"

  "Certainly not. He believes that I've never met Statham but that I havethe greatest admiration for his financial stability and his excellentpersonal qualities," Adams replied: "He knows me as Jean Adam, of Paris,as they do here in these flats--a man who has extensive businessrelations in the Near East, and therefore well in with the pashas of theSublime Porte and the officials of the Yildiz. I tell you, Lyle, theyoung fellow believes in me."

  "Because you're such a confoundedly clever actor, Adams. You'd deceivethe cutest business man in London, with your wonderful documents, yourrosy prospectuses, and your tales of fortunes ready to be picked up ifonly a few thousands are invested. Y
ou've thoroughly fascinated youngMax Barclay, who, believing that you've obtained a very valuableconcession, is seized with a laudable desire to share the profits and toobtain a lucrative occupation as a director of the company in question."

  "Once he has fallen entirely in our power, the rest will be easy,"answered the adventurer. "I mean to have my revenge, and you receivethirty thousand as your share."

  "But what form is this revenge of yours to take?"