The Man Who Knew. Edgar Wallace

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СКАЧАТЬ who do not look at other people's faces under these circumstances know them."

      "Curiously enough," said Frank, with a little smile, "there is some one here I know," and he caught the eye of Constable Wiseman.

      That ornament of the Sussex constabulary touched his cap.

      "I thought I recognized you, sir. I have often seen you at Weald Lodge," he said.

      Further conversation was cut short as they lifted the body on to a stretcher and put it into the interior of the ambulance. The little group watched the white car disappear, and the crowd of idlers began to melt away.

      Constable Wiseman took a professional leave of his comrade, and came back to Frank a little shyly.

      "You are Mr. Minute's nephew, aren't you, sir?" he asked.

      "Quite right," said Frank.

      "I used to see you at your uncle's place."

      "Uncle's name?"

      It was the little man's pert but wholly inoffensive inquiry. He seemed to ask it as a matter of course and as one who had the right to be answered without equivocation.

      Frank Merrill laughed.

      "My uncle is Mr. John Minute," he said, and added, with a faint touch of sarcasm: "You probably know him."

      "Oh, yes," said the other readily. "One of the original Rhodesian pioneers who received a concession from Lo Bengula and amassed a large fortune by the sale of gold-mining properties which proved to be of no especial value. He was tried at Salisbury in 1897 with the murder of two Mashona chiefs, and was acquitted. He amassed another fortune in Johannesburg in the boom of '97, and came to this country in 1901, settling on a small estate between Polegate and Eastbourne. He has one nephew, his heir, Frank Merrill, the son of the late Doctor Henry Merrill, who is an accountant in the London and Western Counties Bank. He—"

      Frank looked at him in undisguised amazement.

      "You know my uncle?"

      "Never met him in my life," said the little man brusquely. He took off his silk hat with a sweep.

      "I wish you good afternoon," he said, and strode rapidly away.

      The uniformed policeman turned a solemn face upon the group.

      "Do you know that gentleman?" asked Frank.

      The constable smiled.

      "Oh, yes, sir; that is Mr. Mann. At the yard we call him 'The Man Who Knows!'"

      "Is he a detective?"

      The constable shook his head.

      "From what I understand, sir, he does a lot of work for the commissioner and for the government. We have orders never to interfere with him or refuse him any information that we can give."

      "The Man Who Knows?" repeated Frank, with a puzzled frown. "What an extraordinary person! What does he know?" he asked suddenly.

      "Everything," said the constable comprehensively.

      A few minutes later Frank was walking slowly toward Holborn.

      "You seem to be rather depressed," smiled the girl.

      "Confound that fellow!" said Frank, breaking his silence. "I wonder how he comes to know all about uncle?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, dear, this is not a very cheery evening for you. I did not bring you out to see accidents."

      "Frank," the girl said suddenly, "I seem to know that man's face—the man who was on the pavement, I mean—"

      She stopped with a shudder.

      "It seemed a little familiar to me," said Frank thoughtfully.

      "Didn't he pass us about twenty minutes ago?"

      "He may have done," said Frank, "but I have no particular recollection of it. My impression of him goes much farther back than this evening. Now where could I have seen him?"

      "Let's talk about something else," she said quickly. "I haven't a very long time. What am I to do about your uncle?"

      He laughed.

      "I hardly know what to suggest," he said. "I am very fond of Uncle John, and I hate to run counter to his wishes, but I am certainly not going to allow him to take my love affairs into his hands. I wish to Heaven you had never met him!"

      She gave a little gesture of despair.

      "It is no use wishing things like that, Frank. You see, I knew your uncle before I knew you. If it had not been for your uncle I should not have met you."

      "Tell me what happened," he asked. He looked at his watch. "You had better come on to Victoria," he said, "or I shall lose my train."

      He hailed a taxicab, and on the way to the station she told him of all that had happened.

      "He was very nice, as he always is, and he said nothing really which was very horrid about you. He merely said he did not want me to marry you because he did not think you'd make a suitable husband. He said that Jasper had all the qualities and most of the virtues."

      Frank frowned.

      "Jasper is a sleek brute," he said viciously.

      She laid her hand on his arm.

      "Please be patient," she said. "Jasper has said nothing whatever to me and has never been anything but most polite and kind."

      "I know that variety of kindness," growled the young man. "He is one of those sly, soft-footed sneaks you can never get to the bottom of. He is worming his way into my uncle's confidence to an extraordinary extent. Why, he is more like a son to Uncle John than a beastly secretary."

      "He has made himself necessary," said the girl, "and that is halfway to making yourself wealthy."

      The little frown vanished from Frank's brow, and he chuckled.

      "That is almost an epigram," he said. "What did you tell uncle?"

      "I told him that I did not think that his suggestion was possible and that I did not care for Mr. Cole, nor he for me. You see, Frank, I owe your Uncle John so much. I am the daughter of one of his best friends, and since dear daddy died Uncle John has looked after me. He has given me my education—my income—my everything; he has been a second father to me."

      Frank nodded

      "I recognize all the difficulties," he said, "and here we are at Victoria."

      She stood on the platform and watched the train pull out and waved her hand in farewell, and then returned to the pretty flat in which John Minute had installed her. As she said, her life had been made very smooth for her. There was no need for her to worry about money, and she was able to devote her days to the work she loved best. The East End Provident Society, of which she was president, was wholly financed by the Rhodesian millionaire.

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