“The game’s begun!” whispered Lauriston. “Look!”
But Purdie’s eyes were already fixed on the Pilmanseys, whom he recognized as important actors in the drama about to be played. One of them slightly taller, slightly greyer than the other, was leaning forward to the Inspector, and was evidently amazed at what was being said to him, for he started, glanced questioningly at his visitor, exchanged a hurried word or two with him and then turned to his brother. A second later, both men laid down their great knives and forks, left their counter, and beckoned the Inspector to follow them into a room at the rear of the shop. And the Inspector in his turn, beckoned Ayscough with a mere glance, and Ayscough in his, made an inviting movement to the rest of the party.
“Come on!” said Purdie. “Let’s hear what’s happening.”
The proprietors of the tea-rooms had led the Inspector and the man who was with him into what was evidently a private room–and when Lauriston and Purdie reached the door they were standing on the hearth rug, side by side, each in a very evident state of amazement, staring at a document which the Inspector was displaying to them. They looked up from it to glance with annoyance, at the other men who came quietly and expectantly crowding into the room.
“More of your people?” asked the elder man, querulously. “Look here, you know!–we don’t see the need for all this fuss, not for your interrupting our business in this way! One or two of you, surely, would have been enough without bringing a troop of people on to our premises–all this is unnecessary!”
“You’ll allow us to be the best judge of what’s necessary and what isn’t, Mr. Pilmansey,” retorted the Inspector. “There’ll be no fuss, no bother– needn’t be, anyway, if you tell us what we want to know, and don’t oppose us in what we’ve got power to do. Here’s a warrant–granted on certain information–to search your premises. If you’ll let us do that quietly.”
“But for what reason?” demanded the younger man. “Our premises, indeed! Been established here a good hundred years, and never a word against us. What do you want to search for?”
“I’ll tell you that at once,” answered the Inspector. “We want a young Chinaman, one Chang Li, who, we are informed, is concealed here, and has valuable stolen property on him. Now, then, do you know anything about him? Is he here?”
The two men exchanged glances. For a moment they remained silent–then the elder man spoke, running his eye over the expectant faces watching him.
“Before I say any more,” he answered, “I should just like to know where you got your information from?”
“No!” replied the Inspector, firmly. “I shan’t tell you. But I’ll tell you this much–this Chang Li is wanted on a very serious charge as it is, and we may charge him with something much more serious. We’ve positive information that he’s here–and I’m only giving you sound advice when I say that if he is here, you’ll do well to show us where he is. Now, come, Mr. Pilmansey, is he here?”
The elder Pilmansey shook his head–but the shake was more one of doubt than of denial.
“I can’t say,” he answered. “He might be.”
“What’s that mean?” demanded the Inspector. “Might be? Surely you know who’s in your own house!’
“No!” said the elder man, “I can’t say. It’s this way–we’ve a certain number of foreigners come here. There are few–just a few–Chinese and Japanese–medical students, you know. Now, some time ago–a couple of years ago–some of them asked us if we couldn’t let them have three or four rooms at the top of the house in which to start a sort of little club of their own, so that they could have a place for their meetings, you understand. They were all quiet, very respectable young fellows–so we did. They have the top floor of this house. They furnished and fitted it up themselves. There’s a separate entrance–at the side of the shop. Each of them has a latch-key of his own. So they can go in and out as they like–they never bother us. But, as a matter of fact, there are only four or five of them who are members now–the others have all left. That’s the real truth–and I tell you I don’t know if Mr. Chang Li might be up there or not. We know nothing about what they do in their rooms–they’re only our tenants.”
“Let me ask you one question,” said the Inspector, “Have either of you ever been in those rooms since you let them to these people!”
“No!” answered the elder man. “Neither of us–at anytime!”
“Then,” commanded the Inspector, “I’ll thank you to come up with us to them–now!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHANG LI
Not without some grumbling as to waste of time and interference with business, the Pilmansey brothers led the way to a side door which opened into a passage that ran along the side of the shop and from whence a staircase rose to the upper regions of the house. The elder pointed, significantly, to the street door at the end.
“You’ll take notice that these young fellows I told you of get to the rooms we let them through that?” he observed. “That door’s always locked– they all have latch-keys to it. They never come through the shop–we’ve nothing to do with them, and we don’t know anything about whatever they may do in their rooms–all we’re concerned with is that they pay their rent and behave themselves. And quiet enough they’ve always been–we’ve had no reason to complain.”
“And, as they all have latch-keys, I suppose they can get into the place at any hour of the day–or night?” suggested the Inspector. “There’s no bar against them coming here at night?”
“They can come in–and go out–whenever they please,” answered the elder man. “I tell you we’ve nothing to do with them–except as their landlords.”
“Where do you live–yourselves?” asked the Inspector. “On these premises?”
“No, we don’t,” replied the younger brother, who, of the two, had showed the keenest, if most silent, resentment at the police proceedings. “We live–elsewhere. This establishment is opened at eight in the morning, and closed at seven in the evening. We’re never here after seven–either of us.”
“So that you never see anything of these foreigners at night-time?” asked the Inspector. “Don’t know what they do, I suppose?”
“We never see anything of ’em at any time,” said the elder brother. “As you see, this passage and staircase is outside the shop. We know nothing whatever about them beyond what I’ve told you.”
“Well–take us up, and we’ll see what we can find out,” commanded the Inspector. “We’re going to examine those rooms, Mr. Pilmansey, so we’ll get it done at once.”
The intervening rooms between the lower and the top floors of the old house appeared to be given up to stores–the open doors revealed casks, cases, barrels, piles of biscuit and confectionery boxes–nothing to conceal there, decided the lynx-eyed men who trooped up the dingy stairs after the grumbling proprietors. But the door on the top floor was closed –and when Ayscough turned its handle he found it to be locked from within.
“They’ve keys of their own for that, too,” remarked the younger Pilmansey. “I don’t see how you’re going to get in, if there’s nobody inside.”
“We’re going in there whether there’s anybody or not,” said the Inspector. “Knock, Ayscough!–knock loudly!”
The group of men gathered behind the leaders, and filling the whole of the lobby outside the closed door, waited, expectant and excited, in the silence which followed on Ayscough’s loud beating on the upper panel. A couple of minutes went by: the detective knocked again, more insistently. And suddenly, and silently, the door was opened–first, an inch or two, then a little wider, and as Ayscough slipped a stoutly booted foot inside the crack a yellow face, lighted by a pair of narrow-slitted dark eyes, looked out–and immediately vanished.
“In with you!” said the Inspector. “Careful, now!”
Ayscough pushed the door open and walked in, the rest crowding on his heels. And Purdie, who was one of the foremost to enter, was immediately cognizant of two distinct odours–one, the scent of fragrant tea, the other of a certain heavy, narcotic something which presently overpowered the fragrance of the tea and left an acid and bitter taste.
“Opium,” he whispered to Lauriston, who was close at his elbow. “Opium! Smell it?”
But Lauriston was more eyes than nose just then. He, like the rest of his companions, was staring at the scene on which they had entered. The room was of a good size–evidently, from its sloping ceilings, part of the attic story of the old house. The walls were hung with soft, clinging, Oriental draperies and curtains; a few easy chairs of wickerwork, a few small tables of like make, were disposed here and there: there was an abundance of rugs and cushions: in one corner a gas-stove was alight, and on it stood a kettle, singing merrily.
The young man who had opened the door had retreated towards this stove; Purdie noticed that in one hand he held a small tea-pot. And in the left- hand corner, bent over a little table, and absorbed in their game, sat two other young men, correctly attired in English clothes, but obviously Chinese from their eyebrows to their toes, playing chess.
The holder of the tea-pot cast a quick glance at the disturbance of this peaceful scene, and set down his tea-pot; the chess-players looked up for one second, showed not the faintest sign of perturbation–and looked down again. Then the man of the tea-pot spoke–one word.
“Yes?” he said.
“The fact is, Mister,” said the elder Pilmansey, “these are police- officers. They want one of your friends–Mr. Chang Li.”
The three occupants of the room appeared to pay no attention. The chess- players went on playing; the other man reached for a canister, and mechanically emptied tea out of it into his pot.
“Shut and lock that door, Ayscough,” said the Inspector. “Let somebody stand by it. Now,” he continued, turning to the three Chinese, “is one of you gentlemen Mr. Chang Li?”
“No!” replied one of the chess-players. “Not one of us!”
“Is he here?” demanded the Inspector. Then seeing that he was to be met by Oriental impassivity, he turned to the Pilmanseys. “What other rooms are there here?” he asked.
“Two,” answered the elder brother, pointing to the curtains at the rear of the room. “One there–the other there. Behind those hangings–two smaller rooms.”
The Inspector strode forward and tore the curtains aside. He flung open the first of the doors–and started back, catching his breath.
“Phew!” he said.
The heavy, narcotic odour which Purdie had noticed at once on entering the rooms came afresh, out of the newly-opened door, in a thick wave. And as the rest of them crowded after the Inspector, they saw why. This was a small room, hung like the first one with curiously-figured curtains, and lighted only by a sky-light, over which a square of blue stuff had been draped. In the subdued life they saw that there was nothing in that room but a lounge well fitted with soft cushions and pillows–and on it, his spare figure wrapped in a loose gown, lay a young Chinaman, who, as the foremost advanced upon him, blinked in their wondering faces out of eyes the pupils of which were still contracted. Near him lay an opium pipe– close by, on a tiny stand, the materials for more consumption of the drug.
The man who had accompanied the Inspector in his entrance to the tea-shop strode forward and seized the recumbent figure by the shoulder, shaking him gently.
“Now then!” he said, sharply, “wake up, my man! Are you Chang Li?”
The glazed eyes lifted themselves a little wonderingly; the dry lips moved.
“Yes,” he muttered. “Chang Li–yes. You want me?”
“How long have you been here?” demanded the questioner.
“How long–yes? Oh–I don’t know. What do you want?” asked Chang Li. “I don’t know you.”
The tea-maker thrust his head inside the room.
“He can’t tell you anything,” he said, with a grin. “He has been–what you call on the break-out–with opium–ever so many days. He has–attacks that way. Takes a fit of it–just as some of your people take to the drink. He’s coming out of it, now–and he’ll be very, very unhappy tomorrow.”
The Inspector twisted round on the informant.
“Look here!” he said. “Do you know how long he’s been here–stupifying himself? Is it a day–or days?”
One of the chess-players lifted a stolid face.
“He has been here–like that–several days,” he said. “It’s useless trying to do anything with him when he takes the fit–the craving, you understand?–into his head. If you want any information out of him, you’d better call again in a few hours.”
“Do you mean to tell me he’s been here–like that–several days?” demanded the Inspector.
“The young man with the tea-pot grinned again.
“He’s never been at a class at the medical school since the 17th,” he announced. “I know that–he’s in some classes with me. He’s been here–all the time since then.”
The Inspector turned sharply on Ayscough.
“The 17th!” he exclaimed. “And that affair was on the 18th! Then–“
Chang Li was fumbling in a pocket of his gown. He found something there, raised a hand to his lips, swallowed something. And in a few seconds, as his eyes grew brighter, he turned a suspicious and sullen glance on the group which stood watching him.
“What do you want?” he growled. “Who are you?”
“We want some information from you,” said the Inspector. “When did you last see your brother, or friend, or whatever he is–Chen Li?”
Chang Li shook his head–it was obvious that he had no clear recollection.
“Don’t know,” he answered. “Perhaps just now–perhaps tomorrow–perhaps not for a long time.”
“When were you last at home–in Maida Vale?” asked the Inspector.
But Chang Li gave no answer to that beyond a frown, and it was evident that as his wits cleared his temper was becoming ugly. He began to look round with more intelligence, scanning one face after another with growing dislike, and presently he muttered certain observations to himself which, though not in English, sounded anything but complimentary to those who watched him. And Ayscough suddenly turned to the superior officials.
“If this man’s been here ever since the 17th,” he said, “he can’t have had anything to do with the affairs in Praed Street and Maida Vale! Supposing, now–I’m only supposing–that young Jap’s been lying all the time?” He turned again–this time on the two chess-players, who had now interrupted their game and were leaning back in their chairs, evidently amused at the baffled faces of the searchers. “Here!” he said, “do you know one Yada– Mori Yada–a Japanese? Is he one of you?”
“Oh, yes!” answered one of the chess-players. “Yada,–yes! We know him–a very smart fellow, Yada. You know him–too?”
But before Ayscough could reply to this somewhat vexatious question, a man who had been left in the tearooms came hurrying up the staircase and burst in upon them. He made straight for the Inspector.
“Man from the office, Sir, outside in a taxi!” he exclaimed breathlessly. “You’re on the wrong track–you’re to get to Multenius’s shop in Praed Street at once. The real man’s there!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
THE JEW AND THE JAP
When Melky Rubinstein slipped quietly out of the police-station, he crossed the street, and taking up a position just within a narrow alley on the other side, set himself to watch the door which he had just quitted. There was a deep design in his mind, and he meant to carry it out–alone.
Mr. Mori Yada, apparently as cool and unconcerned as ever, presently tripped down the steps of the police-station and went leisurely off, swinging his neatly rolled umbrella. As long as he was within sight of the police-station windows he kept up the same gentle pace–but as soon as he had turned the first corner his steps were quickened, and he made for a spot to which Melky had expected him to make–a cab-rank, on which two or three taxi-cabs were drawn up. He had reached the first, and was addressing the driver, when Melky, who had kept a few yards in the rear, stole gently up to his side and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Mister!” said Melky. “A word–in private!”
Yada turned on his interrupter with the swiftness of a snake, and for a second his white teeth showed themselves in an unmistakable snarl, and a savage gleam came into his dark eyes. Both snarl and gleam passed as quickly as they had come, and the next instant he was smiling–as blandly as ever.
“Oh, yes!” he said. “It is you–how do you do? Perhaps you are going my way–I can give you a lift–Yes?”
Melky drew his man away a yard or two, and lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Mister!” he said, with a note of deep confidence which made Yada look at him with a sudden sense of fear. “Mister!–I wouldn’t go no way at all if I was you–just now. You’re in danger, mister–you shoved your head into the lions’ den when you walked in where I’ve just seen you! Deep, deep is them fellows, mister!–they’re having you on toast. I know where you’re thinking of going, mister, in that cab. Don’t go–take my tip!”
“How do you know where I’m going?” demanded Yada.
“I was looking over Levendale’s shoulder when he wrote that bit of a cheque, mister,” answered Melky, in his quietest accents. “You’re off to his bank to turn it into cash. And–if you walk into that bank–well, you’ll never walk out again, alone! Mister!–they’re going to collar you there–there’s a trap laid for you!”
Melky was watching Yada’s face out of his own eye-corners, and he saw the olive-tinted skin pale a little, and the crafty eyes contract. And on the instant he pursued his tactics and his advantage. He had purposely steered the Japanese into a more crowded part of the street, and now he edged him into a bye-alley which led to a rookery of narrow bye-streets beyond. He felt that Yada was yielding–oppressed by a fear of the unknown. But suddenly Yada paused–drawing back from the hand which Melky had kept on his arm.
“What are you after?” he demanded. “What is your game eh? You think to alarm me!–what do you want?”
“Nothing unreasonable, mister,” answered Melky. “You’ll easily satisfy me. Game? Come, now, mister–I know your game! Bank first–to get some ready– then somewhere to pick up a bit of luggage–then, a railway station. That’s it, ain’t it, now? No blooming good, mister–they’re ready for you the minute you walk into that bank! If they don’t take you then, they’ll only wait to follow you to the station. Mister!–you ain’t a cat’s chance!–you’re done–if you don’t make it worth my while to help you! See?”
Yada looked round, doubtfully. They had turned two or three corners by that time, and were in a main street, which lay at the back of Praed Street. He glanced at Melky’s face–which suggested just then nothing but cunning and stratagem.
“What can you do for me?” he asked. “How much do you want? You want money, eh?”
“Make it a hundred quid, mister,” said Melky. “Just a hundred of the best, and I’ll put you where all the police in London won’t find you for the rest of today, and get you out of it at night in such a fashion that you’ll be as safe as if you was at home. You won’t never see your home in Japan, again, mister, if you don’t depend on yours truly! And a hundred ain’t nothing–considering what you’ve got at stake.”
“I haven’t a hundred pounds to give you,” answered Yada. “I have scarcely any money but this cheque.”
“In course you ain’t, mister!” agreed Melky. “I twigged your game straight off–you only came there to the police-station to put yourself in funds for your journey! But that’s all right!–you come along of me, and let me put you in safety–then you give me that cheque–I’ll get it cashed in ten minutes without going to any banks–see? Friend o’ mine hereabouts–he’ll cash it at his bank close by–anybody’ll cash a cheque o’ Levendale’s. Come on, now, mister. We’re close to that little port o’ refuge I’m telling you about.”
The bluff was going down–Melky felt, as much as saw, that Yada was swallowing it in buckets. And he slipped his hand within his companion’s arm, piloted him along the street, across Praed Street, round the back of the houses into the narrow passage which communicated with the rear of the late Daniel Multenius’s premises, and in at the little door which opened on the parlour wherein so many events had recently taken place.
“Where are you taking me?” asked Yada, suspiciously, as they crossed the threshold.
“All serene, mister!” answered Melky, reassuringly. “Friend o’ mine here –my cousin. All right–and all secure. You’re as safe here as you will be in your grave, mister–s’elp me, you are! Zillah!”
Zillah walked into the parlour and justified Melky’s supreme confidence in her by showing no surprise or embarrassment. She gave Yada the merest glance, and turned to Melky.
“Bit o’ business with this young gentleman, Zillah,” said Melky. “That little room, upstairs, now–what?” “Oh, all right!” said Zillah, indifferently. “You know your way–you’ll be quiet enough there.”
Melky signed to Yada to follow him, and led the way up the stairs to the very top of the house. He conducted the Japanese into the small room in which were some ancient moth-and-worm-eaten bits of furniture, an old chest or two, and a plenitude of dust–and carefully closed the door when he and his captive had got inside.
“Now, mister!” he said, “you’re as safe here as you could be in any spot in the wide world. Let’s get to business–and let’s understand each other. You want that cheque turned into cash–you want to get out of London tonight? All right–then hand over your check and keep quiet till I come back. Is there anything else now–any bit of luggage you want?”
“You do all this if I pay you one hundred pounds?” asked Yada.
“That’ll do me, mister,” answered Melky. “I’m a poor fellow, d’ye see?–I don’t pick up a hundred quid every day, I assure you! So if there is anything–“
“A suit-case–at the luggage office at Oxford Circus Tube,” said Yada. “I must have it–papers, you understand. If you will get me that–“
“Give me the ticket–and that cheque,” said Melky. He slipped the two bits of paper into his pocket, and made for the door. “I’ll turn the key outside,” he said. “You’ll be safer. Make yourself comfortable, mister– I’ll be back in an hour with the money and the goods.”
Two minutes later Melky confronted Zillah in the parlour and grinned at her. Zillah regarded him suspiciously.
“What’s this, Melky?” she demanded. “What’re you up to?”
“Zillah!” said Melky, “you’ll be proud of your cousin, Melky Rubinstein, before ever it’s dinner-time–you will do, Zillah! And in the meantine, keep your counsel, Zillah, while he fetches a nice large policeman.”
“Is that Japanese locked in that little room?” asked Zillah.
Melky tapped the side of his nose, and without a word looked out into the street. A policeman, large enough for all practical purposes, was lounging along the side-walk; another, equally bulky, was looking into a shop- window twenty yards away across the street. Within a couple of minutes Melky had both in the back-parlour and was giving them and Zillah a swift but particular account of his schemes.
“You’re sure you’re right, Melky?” asked Zillah. “You’re not making any mistake?”
“Mistake!” exclaimed Melky, satirically. “You’ll see about that in a minute! Now,” he added, turning to the policemen, “you come quietly up– and do exactly what I’ve told you. We’ll soon know about mistakes, Zillah!”
Yada, left to himself, had spent his time in gazing out of the dirty window of his prison. There was not much of a prospect. The window commanded the various backyards of that quarter. As if to consider any possible chance of escape, he looked out. There was a projection beneath him, a convenient water-pipe–he might make a perilous descent, if need arose. But, somehow, he believed in that little Jew: he believed, much more, in the little Jew’s greed for a hundred pounds of ready money. The little Jew with the cunning smile had seen his chance of making a quiet penny, and had taken it–it was all right, said Yada, all right. And yet, there was one horrible thought–supposing, now that Melky had got the cheque, that he cashed it and made off with all the money, never to return?
On top of that thought, Melky did return–much sooner than Yada had expected. He opened the door and beckoned the prisoner out into the dark lobby at the top of the stairs.
“Come here a minute, mister,” said Melky, invitingly. “Just a word!”
Yada, all unsuspecting, stepped out–and found his arms firmly gripped by two bulky policemen. The policemen were very quiet–but Melky laughed gleefully while Yada screamed and cursed him. And while he laughed Melky went through his prisoner’s pockets in a knowing and skilful fashion, and when he had found what he expected to find, he made his helpers lock Yada up again, and taking them downstairs to the parlour laid his discoveries on the table before them and Zillah. There was a great orange-yellow diamond in various folds of tissue-paper, and a thick wad of bank-notes, with an indiarubber band round them.
These valuables lay, carelessly displayed, on the table when the party from Pilmansey’s Tea Rooms came tumbling into the shop and the parlour, an hour later. Melky was calmly smoking a cigar–and he went on smoking it as he led the Inspector and his men upstairs to the prisoner. He could not deprive himself of the pleasure of a dig at Ayscough.
“Went one better than you again, Mr. Ayscough,” he said, as he laid his hand on the key of the locked room. “Now if I hadn’t seen through my young gentleman–“
But there, as Melky threw open the door, his words of assurance came to an end. His face dropped as he stared into an empty room. Yada had risked his neck, and gone down the water-pipe.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
THE DIAMOND NECKLACE
For the better part of a fortnight the sleuth-hounds of New Scotland Yard hunted for Mr. Mori Yada in all the likely and unlikely places in London and sent out their enquiries much further afield. They failed to find him. One small clue they got, with little difficulty. After the hue-and-cry was fairly out, an Edgware Road pawnbroker came forward and informed the police that at two o’clock, or thereabouts, on the afternoon of the day on which Yada had made his escape from the window, a young Japanese gentleman who gave his name as Mr. Motono and his address at a small hotel close by and who volunteered the explanation that he was temporarily short of cash until a remittance arrived, had borrowed five pounds from him on a pearl tie-pin which he had drawn from his cravat. That was Yada, without a doubt–but from that point Yada vanished.
But hunger is the cleverest detective, and at the end of the fortnight, certain officials of the Japanese embassy in London found themselves listening to a strange tale from the fugitive, who had come to the end of his loan, had nowhere to turn and no one but the representatives of his nation to whom he could appeal. Yada told a strange tale–and all the stranger because, as the police officials who were called in to hear it anew recognized that there was probably some truth in it. It amounted, when all was heard, to this–Yada was willing to confess that for a few days he had been a successful thief, but he stoutly denied that he was a murderer.
This was his story:–On the 18th November, in the evening, he was at the club which housed itself in Pilmansey’s attic. There he saw Chang Li, who, according to the other members who were there, was beginning one of his periodic fits of opium smoking, and had been in the inner room, stupifying himself, since the previous day. Yada knew that it was highly necessary that Chang Li should be in attendance at certain classes at the medical school during the next few days, and tried to rouse him out of his debauch, with no result. Next day, the 19th, he went to Pilmansey’s again –Chang Li was still in the realms of bliss and likely to stop there until he had had enough of them. For two days nobody at the club nor at the school had seen Chen Li–and Chen Li was the only person who could do anything with Chang. So, late that night of the 19th November, Yada went up to Maida Vale, taking Chang Li’s keys with him. He admitted himself to garden and house and found the house empty. But just as he was entering the front door he heard the voice of Chen Li at the garden gate; he also heard the voice of an Englishman. Also he caught something of what that Englishman said. He was telling Chen Li that he’d better take him, the Englishman, inside, and settle with him–or things would be all the worse. And at that, he, Yada, had slipped into the house, quietly closed the front door behind him, gone into the front room, hidden himself behind a curtain and waited.
Into that front room, Chen Li had presently conducted a man. He was, said Yada, a low-class Englishman–what is called a Cockney. He had begun to threaten Chen Li at once. He told his tale. He was, said this fellow, next door neighbour to Mr. Daniel Multenius, in Praed Street, Chen Li’s landlord: his name, if Chen Li wanted to know it, was Parslett, fruitier and green-grocer, and it was there, bold as brass, over his shop-door, for him or anybody to look at. He had a side-door to his house: that side-door was exactly opposite a side-door in Mr. Multenius’s house, opening into his back-parlour. Now, the previous afternoon, he, Parslett, had had a consignment of very fine mushrooms sent in–rare things at that time of year–and knowing that the old man had a great taste for them and didn’t mind what price he paid, he stepped across with a dish of them to tempt him. He found Mr. Multenius in his parlour–he was counting a lot of bank- notes–they must, said Parslett, have represented a large sum. The old man bade him leave the mushrooms, said he’d send him the money across presently, and motioned him out. Parslett put the dish of mushrooms aside on a chiffonier and went away. Somewhat later, chancing to be at his front door and looking out into the street, he saw Chen Li open the door of Multenius’s shop and go swiftly away. Half-an-hour after that he heard that something had happened at Multenius’s–later in the evening he heard definitely that the old man had been assaulted under circumstances which pointed to murder for the sake of robbery. And then he, Parslett, now put two and two together–and had fixed on Chen Li as the culprit. And now– how much, was Chen Li going to pay for silence?
According to Yada, Chen Li had had little to say–his chief anxiety, indeed, had been to find out what the man wanted. Parslett was definite enough about that. He wanted a thousand pounds–and he wanted it in gold, and as much of it as Chen Li could hand out there and then. He refused to believe that Chen Li hadn’t gold in considerable quantity somewhere about –he must, said Parslett, have changed some of those notes since he had stolen them the previous day. Chen Li protested that he had but some fifty or sixty pounds in gold available–but he promised to have the rest of the thousand ready on the following evening. Finally, he handed Parslett fifty pounds, arranged that he should call the next night–and then invited him to take a drink. Parslett pocketed the money and accepted the invitation– and Yada, from his hiding-place, saw Chen Li go to the sideboard, mix whisky and soda and pour into the mixture a few drops from a phial which he took from his waistcoat pocket. Parslett drank off the contents of the glass–and Chen Li went down to the gate with him.
Yada followed to the front door and, through a slight opening, watched. The garden was fairly well lighted by the moon, which had recently risen. He saw Chen Li let the man out. He saw him turn from the gate and slowly come back towards the house. And then he saw something else–the sudden spring, from behind a big laurel bush, of a man–a short-statured, slight- figured man, who leapt on Chen Li with the agility of a panther. He saw the flash of a knife in the moonlight–he heard a muffled cry, and startled groan–and saw Chen Li pitch forward and lie evidently lifeless, where he fell. He saw the assailant stoop, seize his victim by the shoulders and drag him behind the shrubbery. Then, without further delay, the murderer hurried to the gate. Evidently assured himself that there was no one about, let himself out, and was gone.
By all the solemn oaths that he could think of, Yada swore that this was true. Of another thing he was certain–the murderer was a Chinese.
Now began his own career of crime. He was just then very hard up. He had spent much more than his allowance–he was in debt at his lodgings and elsewhere. Somewhere, he felt sure, there was, in that house, the money which Chen Li had evidently stolen from old Multenius. He immediately set to work to find it. But he had no difficulty–the bank-notes were in the drawer from which he had seen Chen Li take the gold which he had given to the blackmailer, Parslett. He hurriedly transferred them to his own pocket, and got away from the house by the door at the back of the garden –and it was not until late that night, in the privacy of his own rooms, that he found he had nearly eighty thousand pounds in his possession.
For some days, said Yada, he was at a loss what to do with his booty. He was afraid of attempting to change five hundred pound notes. He made cautious enquiries as to how that could be done–and he began to think that the notes were so much waste paper to him. And then Ayscough called on him–and for the first time, he heard the story of the orange-yellow diamond.
That gave him an idea. He had a very accurate knowledge of Chinese habits and characteristics, and he felt sure that Chen Li would have hidden that diamond in his pig-tail. So he took advantage of his possession of the detective’s card to go to the mortuary, to get a minute or two alone with the body, and to slip his hand underneath the dead man’s silk cap. There he found the diamond–and he knew that whether the bank-notes were to be of any value to him or not, the diamond would be if he could only escape to the Continent.
But–he wanted funds; wanted them badly. He thereupon conceived the bold idea of getting a reward for his knowledge. He went to the police-station with a merely modest motive in his mind–fifty pounds would carry him to Vienna, where he knew how to dispose of the diamond at once, with no questions asked. But when he found the owners of the diamond and the bank- notes present he decided to play for higher stakes. He got what he asked for–and, if it had not been for that little Jew, he said malevolently, he would have got out of England that eventful afternoon. But–it was not so written–and the game was up. Only–what he had said was true. Now let them do what they could for him–but let them search for Chen Li’s murderer.
* * * * *
The folk who had been chiefly concerned about the orange-yellow diamond and the eighty thousand pounds’ worth of Bank of England notes were not so much troubled about proving the truth of Yada’s strange story as Yada himself was–the main point to them was that they had recovered their property. Naturally they felt remarkably grateful to Melky Rubinstein for his astuteness in circumventing Yada at what might have been the last moment. And one day, at that portion of it when business was slack and everybody was feeling comfortable after dinner, Melky called on Mrs. Goldmark and became confidentially closeted with her in a little parlour behind her establishment which she kept sacred to herself. Mrs. Goldmark, who had quick eyes, noticed that Melky was wearing his best clothes, and a new silk hat, and new gloves, and had put his feet into patent-leather boots which she secretly and sympathizingly–felt to be at least a size too small for him. He sighed as he sat near her on the sofa–and Mrs. Goldmark looked at him with concern.
“Such a time you have lately, Mr. Rubinstein, don’t you?” she said feelingly. “Such worries–such troubles! And the risk you ran taking that wicked young man all by yourself–so brave of you! You’d ought to have one of these medals what they give to folks, so!”
“You think that?” responded Melky, brightening suspiciously. “Oh, Mrs. Goldmark, your words is like wine–all my life I been wishing some beautiful woman would say them things to me! Now I feel like I was two foot taller, Mrs. Goldmark! But I don’t want no medals–not me. Mr. Levendale and Mr. Purvis, they came to me and say they must give me a reward–handsome reward, you understand, for getting back their goods. So I say no–I won’t have nothing for myself–nothing. But, I say, just so– there is one that should be rewarded. Mrs. Goldmark!–do you know what? I think of you when I say that!”
Mrs. Goldmark uttered a feeble scream, clasped her hands, and stared at Melky out of her melting eyes.
“Me?” she exclaimed. “Why–I ain’t done nothing, Mr. Rubinstein!”
“Listen to me,” persisted Melky. “What I says to Mr. Levendale is this here–if Mrs. Goldmark hadn’t had her eating establishment, and if Mr. Purvis hadn’t gone into it to eat a chop and to drop his platinum solitaire on the table, and if Mrs. Goldmark hadn’t taken care of that platinum solitaire, and if things hadn’t sprung from it–eh, what then, I should like to know? So Mrs. Goldmark is entitled to whatever little present there is!–that’s how I put it, Mrs. Goldmark. And Mr. Levendale and Mr. Purvis, they agreed with me–and oh, Mrs. Goldmark, ain’t you going to be nice and let me put this round your beautiful neck?”
Mrs. Goldmark screamed again as Melky produced a diamond necklace, lying in a blue velvet bed in a fine morocco case. The glitter of the diamonds turned both beholders hoarse with emotion.
“Do you know what, Mrs. Goldmark!” whispered Melky. “It cost a thousand guineas–and no error! Now you bend your lovely head, and I puts it on you–oh, ain’t you more beautiful than the Queen of Sheba! And ain’t you Melky’s queen, Mrs. Goldmark–say you was!”
“Lor’, Mr. Rubinstein!” said Mrs. Goldmark, coyly. “It’s as if you was proposing to me!”
“Why, ain’t I?” exclaimed Melky, gathering courage. “Don’t you see I’m in all my best clothes? Ain’t it nothing but weddings, just now? There’s Mr. Lauriston a-going to marry Zillah, and Mr. Purdie’s a-fixing it up with Levendale’s governess, and–oh, Mrs. Goldmark, ain’t I worshipped you every time I come to eat my dinner in your eating house? Ain’t you the loveliest woman in all Paddington. Say the word, Mrs. Goldmark–don’t you see I’m like as if I was that hungry I could eat you?”
Then Mrs. Goldmark said the word–and presently escaped from Melky’s embrace to look at herself and her necklace in the mirror.
THE END