Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat. E. Phillips Oppenheim

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СКАЧАТЬ away,' Mr. Hurn assented. 'And, General,' he went on, swaggering a little as he shambled along by the side of the tall, alert, military figure—queerest contrast in the world—'give me a factory—one of your ordinary factories will do, all your ordinary appliances will do, but give me control of it for one month and you can invite me to Berlin to the peace signing.'

      *****

      At about half-past eight that evening, after having waited about for some time in the hall of the Milan Grill-room, Lavendale handed his coat and hat to the vestiaire and passed into the crowded restaurant. A young man of excellent poise and balance, he was almost bewildered at his own sensations as he elbowed his way through the throng of waiters and passers-by. At the corner of the glass screen he paused. The girl was there, seated at the same table, with a newspaper propped up in front of her. Her black hair seemed glossier than ever; her face, unshadowed by any hat, a little more pallid and forceful. A fur coat had fallen back from her white shoulders. She seemed to be wholly absorbed in the paper in front of her.

      'A table, monsieur?' a soft voice murmured at his elbow.

      Lavendale shook off his abstraction and glanced reluctantly away.

      'I am dining with Mr. Hurn, Jules,' he replied. 'He said eight o'clock, but I can't see anything of him.'

      Jules pointed to a table close at hand, evidently reserved for two people. There were hors d'oeuvres waiting and a bottle of wine upon the ice.

      'Mr. Hurn ordered dinner for eight o'clock punctually, sir,' he announced. 'I have been expecting him in for some time.'

      The girl, as though attracted by their voices, had raised her eyes. She looked towards the unoccupied table by the side of which Jules was standing. The three of them for a moment seemed to have concentrated their regard upon the same spot, and Lavendale was conscious of a queer little emotion, an unanalyzable foreboding.

      'The gentleman ordered a very excellent dinner,' Jules observed. 'I have already sent back the cocktails twice.'

      Lavendale glanced at the clock. Almost at the same time his eyes met the girl's. There was a quiver of recognition in her face. He took instant advantage of it and moved towards her.

      'You are quite recovered, I trust, Miss de Freyne?'

      She raised her eyes to his. Again he felt that sense of baffling impenetrability. It was impossible even to know whether she appreciated or resented his question.

      'I am quite recovered, thank you,' she said. 'You have seen nothing more of our queer little friend?'

      'Nothing at all,' she told him.

      'He invited me to dine with him,' Lavendale explained, 'at eight o'clock punctually. I have been waiting outside for nearly half an hour.'

      She glanced at the clock and Lavendale, with a little bow, passed on.

      'Perhaps he meant me to go up to his room,' he remarked, addressing Jules. 'Do you know his number?'

      'Eighty-nine in the Court, sir,' the man replied. 'Shall I send up?'

      'I'll go myself,' Lavendale decided.

      Jules bowed and, although Lavendale did not glance around, he felt that the girl's eyes as well as the man's followed him to the door. He rang for the lift and ascended to the fourth floor, made his way down the corridor and paused before number eighty-nine. He knocked at the door—there was no reply. Then he tried the handle, which yielded at once to his touch. Inside all was darkness. He turned on the electric light and pushed open the door of the sitting-room just in front.

      'Mr. Hurn!' he exclaimed, raising his voice.

      There was still no reply—a strange, brooding silence which seemed to possess subtle qualities of mystery and apprehension. Lavendale had all the courage and unshaken nerves of youth and yet at that moment he was afraid. His groped along the wall for the switch and found it with an impulse of relief. The room was flooded with soft light—Lavendale's hand seemed glued to the little brass knob. He stood there with his back to the wall, his face set, speechless. Mr. Daniel H. Hurn was seated in an easy-chair in what appeared at first to be a natural attitude. His head, however, had fallen back, and from his neck drooped the long end of a silken cord. Lavendale took one step forward and then paused again. The man's face was visible now—white, ghastly, with wide-open, sightless eyes. …

      The valet, who was passing down the corridor, paused and looked in at the door.

      'Is there anything wrong, sir?' he asked.

      Lavendale seemed to come back with a rush into the world of real things. He withdrew the key from the door, stepped outside and locked it.

      'You had better take that to the manager,' he said. 'I will wait outside here. Tell him to come at once.'

      'Anything wrong, sir?' the valet repeated.

      Lavendale nodded.

      'The man there in the chair is dead!' he whispered.

CHAPTER II

       THE LOST FORMULA

       Table of Contents

      The two young men stood side by side before the window of the Milan smoke-room—Ambrose Lavendale, the American, and his friend Captain Merrill from the War Office. Directly opposite to them was a narrow street running down to the Embankment, at the foot of which they could catch a glimpse of the river. A little to the left was a dark and melancholy building with a number of sightless windows.

      'Wonder what sort of people live in that place?' Merrill asked curiously. 'Milan Mansions they call it, don't they?'

      The other nodded.

      'Gloomy sort of barracks,' he remarked. 'I've never seen even a face at the window.'

      'There's a new experience for you, then,' Merrill observed, pointing a little forward—'a girl's face, too.'

      Lavendale was stonily silent, yet when the momentarily raised curtain had fallen he gave a little gasp. It could have been no hallucination. The face, transfigured though it was, in a sense, by its air of furtiveness, was, without a doubt, the face of the girl who had been constantly in his thoughts for the last three weeks. He counted the windows carefully from the ground, noted the exact position of the room and passed his arm through his friend's.

      'Come along, Reggie,' he said.

      'Where to?'

      'Don't ask any questions,' Lavendale begged. 'Just wait.'

      They left the hotel by an unfrequented way, Lavendale half a dozen paces ahead. Merrill ventured upon a mild protest.

      'Look here, old chap,' he complained, 'you might tell me where we are off to?'

      Lavendale slackened his speed for a moment to explain.

      'To that room,' he declared. 'Didn't you recognize the girl's face?'

      Merrill СКАЧАТЬ