The Best Murder Mysteries in One Edition. Эдгар Аллан По

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      The door opened, and Julius burst in with his usual violence. He held an open newspaper in his hand.

      “Say, what’s all this? They seem to have got some fool idea about Tuppence.”

      “It’s true,” said Tommy quietly.

      “You mean they’ve done her in?”

      Tommy nodded.

      “I suppose when they got the treaty she—wasn’t any good to them any longer, and they were afraid to let her go.”

      “Well, I’m darned!” said Julius. “Little Tuppence. She sure was the pluckiest little girl——”

      But suddenly something seemed to crack in Tommy’s brain. He rose to his feet.

      “Oh, get out! You don’t really care, damn you! You asked her to marry you in your rotten cold-blooded way, but I LOVED her. I’d have given the soul out of my body to save her from harm. I’d have stood by without a word and let her marry you, because you could have given her the sort of time she ought to have had, and I was only a poor devil without a penny to bless himself with. But it wouldn’t have been because I didn’t care!”

      “See here,” began Julius temperately.

      “Oh, go to the devil! I can’t stand your coming here and talking about ‘little Tuppence.’ Go and look after your cousin. Tuppence is my girl! I’ve always loved her, from the time we played together as kids. We grew up and it was just the same. I shall never forget when I was in hospital, and she came in in that ridiculous cap and apron! It was like a miracle to see the girl I loved turn up in a nurse’s kit——”

      But Julius interrupted him.

      “A nurse’s kit! Gee whiz! I must be going to Colney Hatch! I could swear I’ve seen Jane in a nurse’s cap too. And that’s plumb impossible! No, by gum, I’ve got it! It was her I saw talking to Whittington at that nursing home in Bournemouth. She wasn’t a patient there! She was a nurse!”

      “I dare say,” said Tommy angrily, “she’s probably been in with them from the start. I shouldn’t wonder if she stole those papers from Danvers to begin with.”

      “I’m darned if she did!” shouted Julius. “She’s my cousin, and as patriotic a girl as ever stepped.”

      “I don’t care a damn what she is, but get out of here!” retorted Tommy also at the top of his voice.

      The young men were on the point of coming to blows. But suddenly, with an almost magical abruptness, Julius’s anger abated.

      “All right, son,” he said quietly, “I’m going. I don’t blame you any for what you’ve been saying. It’s mighty lucky you did say it. I’ve been the most almighty blithering darned idiot that it’s possible to imagine. Calm down”—Tommy had made an impatient gesture—“I’m going right away now—going to the London and North Western Railway depot, if you want to know.”

      “I don’t care a damn where you’re going,” growled Tommy.

      As the door closed behind Julius, he returned to his suit-case.

      “That’s the lot,” he murmured, and rang the bell.

      “Take my luggage down.”

      “Yes, sir. Going away, sir?”

      “I’m going to the devil,” said Tommy, regardless of the menial’s feelings.

      That functionary, however, merely replied respectfully: “Yes, sir. Shall I call a taxi?”

      Tommy nodded.

      Where was he going? He hadn’t the faintest idea. Beyond a fixed determination to get even with Mr. Brown he had no plans. He re-read Sir James’s letter, and shook his head. Tuppence must be avenged. Still, it was kind of the old fellow.

      “Better answer it, I suppose.” He went across to the writing-table. With the usual perversity of bedroom stationery, there were innumerable envelopes and no paper. He rang. No one came. Tommy fumed at the delay. Then he remembered that there was a good supply in Julius’s sitting-room. The American had announced his immediate departure, there would be no fear of running up against him. Besides, he wouldn’t mind if he did. He was beginning to be rather ashamed of the things he had said. Old Julius had taken them jolly well. He’d apologize if he found him there.

      But the room was deserted. Tommy walked across to the writing-table, and opened the middle drawer. A photograph, carelessly thrust in face upwards, caught his eye. For a moment he stood rooted to the ground. Then he took it out, shut the drawer, walked slowly over to an arm-chair, and sat down still staring at the photograph in his hand.

      What on earth was a photograph of the French girl Annette doing in Julius Hersheimmer’s writing-table?

      Chapter 22

       In Downing Street

       Table of Contents

      THE Prime Minister tapped the desk in front of him with nervous fingers. His face was worn and harassed. He took up his conversation with Mr. Carter at the point it had broken off. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Do you really mean that things are not so desperate after all?”

      “So this lad seems to think.”

      “Let’s have a look at his letter again.”

      Mr. Carter handed it over. It was written in a sprawling boyish hand.

      “DEAR MR. CARTER,

      “Something’s turned up that has given me a jar. Of course I may be simply making an awful ass of myself, but I don’t think so. If my conclusions are right, that girl at Manchester was just a plant. The whole thing was prearranged, sham packet and all, with the object of making us think the game was up—therefore I fancy that we must have been pretty hot on the scent.

      “I think I know who the real Jane Finn is, and I’ve even got an idea where the papers are. That last’s only a guess, of course, but I’ve a sort of feeling it’ll turn out right. Anyhow, I enclose it in a sealed envelope for what it’s worth. I’m going to ask you not to open it until the very last moment, midnight on the 28th, in fact. You’ll understand why in a minute. You see, I’ve figured it out that those things of Tuppence’s are a plant too, and she’s no more drowned than I am. The way I reason is this: as a last chance they’ll let Jane Finn escape in the hope that she’s been shamming this memory stunt, and that once she thinks she’s free she’ll go right away to the cache. Of course it’s an awful risk for them to take, because she knows all about them—but they’re pretty desperate to get hold of that treaty. BUT IF THEY KNOW THAT THE PAPERS HAVE BEEN RECOVERED BY US, neither of those two girls’ lives will be worth an hour’s purchase. I must try and get hold of Tuppence before Jane escapes.

      “I want a repeat of that telegram that was sent to Tuppence at the Ritz. Sir James Peel Edgerton said you would be able to manage that for me. He’s frightfully clever.

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