CHAPTER XXXII
MORRISON IS DESPERATE
Certainly it was a strange little gathering that waited in Morrison'sroom for the coming of Laverick. There was Lassen--flushed, ugly,breathing heavily, and watching the door with fixed, beady eyes.There was Adolf Kahn, the man who had strolled out from the MilanHotel as Laverick had entered it, leaving the forged order behindhim. There was Streuss--stern, and desperate with anxiety. Therewas Morrison himself, in the clothes of a workman, worn to a shadow,with the furtive gleam of terrified guilt shining in his sunkeneyes, and the slouched shoulders and broken mien of the habitualcriminal. There was Zoe, around whom they were all standing, withanger burning in her cheeks and gleaming out of her passion-filledeyes. She, too, like the others, watched the door. So they waited.
Streuss, not for the first time, moved to the window and drawingaside the curtains looked down into the street.
"Will he come--this Englishman?" he muttered. "Has he courage?"
"More courage than you who keep a girl here against her will!" Zoepanted, looking at him defiantly. "More courage than my poorbrother, who stands there like a coward!"
"Shut up, Zoe!" Morrison exclaimed harshly. "There is nothing foryou to be furious about or frightened. No one wants to ill-treatyou. These gentlemen all want to behave kindly to us. It isLaverick they want."
"And you," she cried, "are content to stand by and let him walkinto a trap--you let them even use my name to bring him here!Arthur, be a man! Have nothing more to do with them. Help me toget away from this place. Call out. Do something instead ofstanding there and wasting the precious minutes."
He came towards her--ugly and threatening.
"I'll do something in a minute," he declared savagely,--"somethingyou won't like, either. Keep your mouth shut, I tell you. It's meor him, and, by Heavens, he deserves what he'll get!"
Streuss turned away from the window and looked towards Zoe.
"Young lady," he said quietly, "let me beg you not to distressyourself so. I sincerely trust that nothing unpleasant will happen.If it does, I promise you that we will arrange for your temporaryabsence. You shall not be disturbed in any way."
"And as regards your brother, have a care, young lady," Lassengrowled. "If any one's in danger, it's he. He'll be lucky if hesaves his own skin."
The young man glowered at her.
"You hear that, you little fool!" he muttered. "Keep still, can'tyou?"
Her face was full of defiance. He came nearer to her and changedhis tone.
"Zoe," he whispered hoarsely, "don't you understand? If they can'tget what they want from Laverick, they'll visit it upon me. They'redesperate, I tell you. They mean mischief all the time."
"Yet you let him be brought here, your partner who looked after youwhen you were ill, and who helped you to get away!" she criedindignantly.
He laughed unpleasantly.
"When it comes to a matter of life or death, it's every man forhimself. Besides, if I'd known as much about Laverick as I knownow, I'm not sure that I should have been so ready to go--notempty-handed, by any manner of means."
"What have you done that you should be so much in the power ofthese people?" she demanded, fixing her dark eyes upon himsearchingly.
The terror whitened his face once more. The perspiration stood outin beads upon his forehead.
"Don't dare to ask me questions!" he exclaimed nervously. "I shouldlike to know what Laverick is to you, eh, that you take so muchinterest in him? Listen here, my fine young lady. If I've been mugenough to do the dirty work, he hasn't made any bones about takingadvantage of it. He's a nice sort of sportsman, I can tell you."
The man at the window suddenly dropped the curtain and spoke acrossthe room to them all.
"He is here," he announced.
"Alone?" Lassen asked thickly.
"Alone," Streuss echoed.
A little thrill seemed to pass through the room. Zoe made no attemptto cry out. Instead she leaned forward towards the door, as thoughlistening. Her attitude seemed harmless enough. No one took anymore notice of her. They all watched the entrance to the apartment.Zoe remembered the two flights of stairs. She was absorbed in abreathless calculation. Now--now he should be coming quite close.Her whole being was concentrated upon one effort of listening. Atlast she raised her head. The room resounded with her cries.
"Don't come in! Don't come in here!" she shrieked. "Mr. Laverick,do you hear? Go away! Don't come in here alone!"
Her brother was the first to reach her, his hand fell upon her mouthbrutally. Her little effort was naturally a failure--defeating,in fact, its own object. Laverick, hearing her cries, simplyhastened his coming, threw open the door without waiting to knock,and stepped quickly across the threshold. He saw a man dressed inshabby workman's clothes, unshaven, dishevelled, holding Zoe in arough grasp, and with a single well-directed blow he sent him reelingacross the room. Then something in the man's cry, a momentaryglimpse of his white face, revealed his identity.
"Morrison!" he cried. "Good God, it's Morrison!"
Arthur Morrison was crouching in a corner of the room, his evil faceturned upon his aggressor. Laverick took quick stock of hissurroundings. There was the tall, fair young man--Adolf Kahn--whomhe had seen at the Milan a few hours ago--the man who hadunsuccessfully forged his name. There was Lassen, the man who, underpretence of being her manager, had been a spy upon Louise. There wasStreuss, with blanched face and hard features, standing with his backto the door. There was Zoe, and, behind, her brother. She held outher hands timidly towards him, and her eyes were soft with pleading.
"I did not want you to come here, Mr. Laverick," she cried softly."I tried so hard to stop you. It was not I who sent that message."
He took her cold little fingers and raised them to his lips.
"I know it, dear," he murmured.
Then a movement in the room warned him, and he was suddenly on guard.Lassen was close to his side, some evil purpose plainly enoughwritten in his pasty face and unwholesome eyes. Laverick gave himhis left shoulder and sent him staggering across the floor. He wasangry at having been outwitted and his eyes gleamed ominously.
"Well, gentlemen," he exclaimed, "you seem to have taken unusualpains to secure my presence here! Tell me now, what can I do foryou?"
It was Streuss who became spokesman. He addressed Laverick withthe consideration of one gentleman addressing another. His voicehad many agreeable qualities. His demeanor was entirely amicable.
"Mr. Laverick," he answered, "let us first apologize if we used alittle subterfuge to procure for us the pleasure of your visit. Weare men who are in earnest, and across whose path you have eitherwilfully or accidentally strayed. An understanding between us hasbecome a necessity."
"Go on," Laverick interrupted. "Tell me exactly who you are andwhat you want."
"As to who we are," Streuss answered, "does that really matter? Irepeat that we are men who are in earnest--let that be enough. Asto what we want, it is a certain document to which we have everyclaim, and which has come into your possession--I flatter yousomewhat, Mr. Laverick, if I say by chance."
Laverick shrugged his shoulders.
"Let that go," he said. "I know all about the document you refer to,and the notes. They were contained in a pocket-book which it isperfectly true has come into my possession. Prove your claim toboth and you shall have them."
Streuss smiled.
"You will admit that our claim, since we know of its existence," heasked suavely, "is equal to yours?"
"Certainly," Laverick answered, "but then I never had any idea ofkeeping either the document or the money. That your claim is betterthan mine is no guarantee that there is not some one else whose titleis better still."
Streuss frowned.
"Be reasonable, Mr. Laverick," he begged. "We are men of peace--whenpeace is possible. The money of which you spoke you canconsider as treasure trove, if you will, but it is our intentionto
possess ourselves of the document. It is for that reason thatwe are here in London. I, personally, am committed to the extentof my life and my honor to its recovery."
A declaration of war, courteously veiled but decisive. Lavericklooked around him a little defiantly, and shrugged his shoulders.
"You know very well that I do not carry it about with me," he said."The gentleman on my left," he added, pointing to Kahn, "can tellyou where it is kept."
"Quite so," Streuss admitted. "We are not doing you the injusticeto suppose that you would be so foolhardy as to trust yourselfanywhere with that document upon your person. It is in the safeat the Milan Hotel. I may add that probably, if it had notoccurred to you to change your quarters, it would have been inour possession before now. We are hoping to persuade you to returnto the hotel with one of our friends here, and procure it."
"As it happens," Laverick remarked, "that is impossible. The manwho set the combination for that particular safe has gone off duty,and will not be back again at the hotel till to-morrow morning."
"But he is to be found," Streuss answered easily. "His presentwhereabouts and his address are known to us. He lives with hisfamily at Harvard Court, Hampstead. We shall assist you in makingit worth his while to return to the hotel or to give you thecombination word for the safe."
"You are rather great on detail!" Laverick exclaimed.
"It is our business. The question for you to decide, and to decideimmediately, is whether you are ready to end this, in some respects,constrained situation, and give your word to place that document inour hands."
"You are ready to accept my word, then?" Laverick asked.
"We have a certain hold upon you," Streuss continued slowly. "Yourpartner Mr. Morrison's position in connection with the murder inCrooked Friars' Alley is, as you may have surmised, a somewhatunfortunate one. Your own I will not allude to. I will simplysuggest that for both your sakes publicity--any measure ofpublicity, in fact, as regards this little affair--would not bedesirable."
Laverick hesitated. He understood all that was implied. Morrison'seyes were fixed upon him--the eyes of a craven coward. He felt theintensity of the moment. Then Zoe turned suddenly towards him.
"You are not to give it up!" she cried, with trembling lips. "Theycannot hurt you, and it is not true--about Arthur."
Kahn, who was nearest, clapped his hand over her mouth and Laverickknocked him down. Instantly the pacific atmosphere of the room waschanged. Lassen and Morrison closed swiftly upon Laverick fromdifferent sides. Streuss covered him with the shining barrel of arevolver.
"Mr. Laverick," he said, "we are not here to be trifled with. Keepyour sister quiet, Morrison, or, by God, you'll swing!"
Laverick looked at the revolver--fascinated, for an instant, byits unexpected appearance. The face of the man who held it hadchanged. There was lightning playing about the room.
"It's the dock for you both!" Streuss exclaimed fiercely,--"foryou, Laverick, and you, Morrison, too, if you play with us anylonger! One of you's a murderer and the other receives the booty.Who are you to have scruples--criminals, both of you? Your placeis in the dock, and you shall be there within twenty-four hours ifthere are any more evasions. Now, Laverick, will you fetch thatdocument? It is your last chance."
Upon the breathless silence that followed a quiet voice intervened--avoice calm and emotionless, tinged with a measure of politeinquiry. Yet its level utterance fell like a bomb among the littlecompany. The curtain separating this from the inner room had beendrawn a few feet back, and Bellamy was standing there, in blackovercoat and white muffler, his silk hat on the back of his head,his left hand, carefully gloved, resting still upon the curtainwhich he had drawn aside.
"I hope I am not disturbing you at all?" he murmured softly.
For a moment the development of the situation remained uncertain.The gleaming barrel of Streuss's revolver changed its destination.Bellamy glanced at it with the pleased curiosity of a child.
"I really ought not to have intruded," he continued amiably. "Ihappened to hear the address my friend Laverick gave to the taxicabdriver, and I was particularly anxious to have a word or two withhim before I left for the Continent."
Streuss was surely something of a charlatan! His revolver haddisappeared. The smile upon his lips was both gracious andunembarrassed.
"One is always only too pleased to welcome Mr. Bellamyanywhere--anyhow," he declared. "If apologies are needed at all," hecontinued, "it is to our friend and host--Mr. Morrison here.Permit me--Mr. Arthur Morrison--the Honorable David Bellamy!These are Mr. Morrison's rooms."
Morrison could do no more than stare. Bellamy, on the contrary,with a little bow came further into the apartment, removing his hatfrom his head. Lassen glided round behind him, remaining betweenBellamy and the heavy curtains. Adolf Kahn moved as thoughunconsciously in front of the door of the room in which they were.
Bellamy smiled courteously.
"I am afraid," he said, "that I must not stay for more than a moment.I have a car full of friends below--we are on our way, in fact, tothe Covent Garden Ball--and one or two of them, I fear," he addedindulgently, "have already reached that stage of exhilaration whichsuch an entertainment in England seems to demand. They willcertainly come and rout me out if I am here much longer. There!" he exclaimed, "you hear that?"
There was the sound of a motor horn from the street below. Streuss,with an oath trembling upon his lips, lifted the blind. There weretwo motor-cars waiting there--large cars with Limousine bodies,and apparently full of men. After all, it was to be expected.Bellamy was no fool!
"Since we are to lose you, then Mr. Laverick," Streuss remarked witha gesture of farewell, "let us say good night. The little matterof business which we were discussing can be concluded with yourpartner."
Laverick turned toward Zoe. Their eyes met and he read their messageof terror.
"You are coming back to your own rooms, Miss Leneveu," he said."You must let me offer you my escort."
She half rose, but in obedience to a gesture from Streuss Morrisonmoved near to them.
"If you leave me here, Laverick," he muttered beneath his breath,--"ifyou leave me to these hounds, do you know what they will do?They will hand me over to the police--they have sworn it!"
"Why did you come back?" Laverick asked quickly.
"They stopped me as I was boarding the steamer," Morrison declared."I tell you they have eyes everywhere. You cannot move without theirknowledge. I had to come. Now that I am here they have told meplainly the price of my freedom. It is that document. Laverick, itis my life! You must give in--you must, indeed! Remember you'rein it, too."
"Am I?" Laverick asked quietly.
"You fool, of course you are!" Morrison whispered hoarsely. "Didn'tyou come into the entry and take the pocket-book? Heaven knows whatpossessed you to do it! Heaven knows how you found the pluck to usethe money! But you did it, and you are a criminal--a criminal as Iam. Don't be a fool, Laverick. Make terms with these people. Theywant the document--the document--nothing but the document! Theywill let us keep the money."
"And you?" Laverick asked, turning suddenly to Zoe. "What do yousay about all this?"
She looked at him fearlessly.
"I trust you," she said. "I trust you to do what is right."
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