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Show The Secret Adversary j ,T . t By AGATHA CHRISTIE t (Copyright Dodd. Mead & Company) CHAPTER XVI Continued. 20 "But on t'.ie Sunday afternoon a message was brought to the house. They were all very disturbed. Without With-out their knowing, I listened. Word had come that he was to be killed. I needn't tell the next part, because you know It." She paused. "Then the papers," said Sir James slowly, "are still at the back of the picture In that room." "Yes." The girl had sunk back on the sofa exhausted with the strain of the long story. Sir James rose to his feet. He ooked at his watch. ' 1 "Come," he said, "we must go at once. You have been followed here not a doubt of it. When we leave the house we shall be followed again, but not molested, for It is Mr. Brown's plan that we are to lead him. But the Soho house Is under police supervision super-vision night and day. There are several sev-eral men watching it. When we enter that house, Mr. Brown will not draw back he will risk all, on the chance of obtaining the spark to fire his mine. And he fancies the risk not great he will enter in the guise of friend!" Tuppence flushed, then opened her mouth impulsively. "You know who Mr. Brown Is. don't you?" "Yes," said Sir James gravely. "I have been morally certain of his Identity Iden-tity for some time ever since the night of Mrs. Vandemeyer's mysterious mysteri-ous death." "Ah !" breathed Tuppence. "For there we are up against the logic of facts. There are only two solutions. Either the chloral was administered ad-ministered by her own hand, which theory I reject utterly, or else " "Yes?" "Or else It was administered In the brandy you gave her. Only three people touched that brandy you, Miss Tuppence, I myself, and one other Mr. Julius Hersheimmer !" Jane Finn stirred and sat up, regarding re-garding the speaker with wide, astonished aston-ished eyes. Springing to her feet, she cried out angrily : "What do you meaj? What are you J trying to suggest? That Mr. Brown Is Julius? Julius my own cousin!" .- "No, Miss Finn," said Sir James. "Not your cousin. The man who calls I himself Julius Hersheimmer Is no relation re-lation to you whatsoever." CHAPTER XVII Mr. Brown. Sir James' words came like a bombshell. bomb-shell. Both girls looked equally puzzled. puz-zled. The lawyer went across to his desk, and returned with a small newspaper news-paper cutting, which he handed to - Jane. Tuppence read It over her shoulder. It referred to the mysteri-' mysteri-' - ous man found dead In New York. "As I was saying to Miss Tuppence," Tup-pence," resumed the lawyer, "I set to work to prove the Impossible pos- sible. The great stumbling-block was the undeniable fact that Julius Hersheimmer Hers-heimmer was not an assumed name. When I came across this paragraph my problem was solved. Julius Hers-j Hers-j helmmer set out to discover what had become of his cousin. He went out West, where he obtained" news of her and her photograph to aid him in his search. On the eve of his departure I from New York he was set upon and murdered. His body was dressed In .shabby clothes, and the face disfigured disfig-ured to prevent Identification. Mr. Brown took his place. He sailed immediately im-mediately for England. Since then he had been hand and glove with those sworn to hunt hhn down. Every secret se-cret of theirs has been known to him. j Only once did he come near disaster. Mrs. Vandemeyer knew his secret. It was no part of his plan that that huge bribe should ever he offered to her. But for Miss Tuppence's fortunate change of plan, she would have been far away from the fiat when we arrived ar-rived there. Exposure stared him in the face. He took a desperate step, trusting In his assumed character to avert suspicion. He nearly succeeded but not quite. "Now we're ready. I know better than even to suggest going without I you, Miss Tuppence " "I should think so Indeed !" Sir James' car drew up at the corner cor-ner of the square and they got out. A policeman produced a key. They all knew Sir James well. The three entered en-tered the house, pulling the door to i behind them. Slowly they mounted the rickety stairs. At the top was the ragged curtain hiding the recess where Tommy had hidden that day. Tuppence Tup-pence had heard the story from Jane in her character of "Annette." She looked at the tattered velvet with Interest. In-terest. Even now she could almost swear It moved as though someone was hehind It. Supposing Mr. Brown Julius was there waiting. Impossible of course! She must not give way to this foolish fancying this curious Insistent feeling that Mr. Brown was in the house. RafS! What was that? A stealthy ! toolstep on. the stairs? There was someone in the. hous ! Absurd ! She j was bc-comlng hysterical. Jane had gone straight to the pic- tor of Marguerite. She unhooked It i with a steady hand. The dust lay thick upon it, and festoons of cobwebs lay between it and the wall. Sir James handed her a pocket-knife, and she ripped away the brown paper from the back. . . . The advertisement page of a magazine fell out. Jane picked it up. Holding apart the frayed inner edges, she extracted two thin sheets covered with writing! No dummy this time! The real thing! "We've got It," said Tuppence. "At last. . . ." Sir James took it, and scrutinized it attentively. "Yes," he said quietly, "this Is the ill-fated draft treaty !" "We've succeeded," said Tuppence. There was awe and an almost wondering won-dering unbelief in her voice. Sir James echoed her words as he folded the paper carefully and put it away In his pocket-book, then he looked curiously round the dingy room. "It was here that our young friend was confined for so long, was it not?" he said. "A truly sinister room. You notice the absence of windows, and the thickness of the close-fitting door. Whatever took place here would never be heard by the outside world. "You feel as we all feel THE PRESENCE OF MR. BROWN. Yes" as Tuppence made a movement "not a doubt of it MR. BROWN IS HERE. . . ." "In this house?" "In this'' room. . . . You don't understand? I AM Mil. BROWN. . . ." Stupefied, unbelieving, they stared at him. The very lines of his face had changed. It was a different man who stood before them. He smiled a slow cruel smile. "Neither of you will leave this room alive! Shall I tell you how it will be? Sooner or later the police will break In, and they will find three victims of Mr. Brown three, not two, you understand, under-stand, but fortunately the third will not be dead, only wounded, and will be able to describe the attack with a wealth of detail ! The treaty? It is in the hands of Mr. Brown. So no one will think of searching the pockets pock-ets of Sir James Peel Edgerton !" There was a faint sound behind him, but, intoxicated with success, he did not turn his head. He slipped his hand into his pocket. "Checkmate to the Young Adventurers," Adven-turers," he said, and slowly raised a big automatic. But, even as he did so, he felt himself him-self seized from behind in a grip of Iron, The revolver was wrenched from his hand, and the voice of Julius Hersheimmer Her-sheimmer said drawlingly: "I guess you're caught redhanded with the goods on you." The blood rushed to the K. C.'s face, but his self-control was marvelous, as he looked from one to the other of his two captors. He looked longest at Tommy. "You," he said beneath his breath. "You ! I might have known." Seeing that he was disposed to offer no resistance, their grip slackened. Quick as a flash his left hand, the hand which bore the big signet ring, was raised to his lips. . . . " 'Ave, Caesar ! te morlturi salu-tant,' salu-tant,' " he said, still looking at Tommy. Then his face changed, and with a long convulsive shudder he fell forward for-ward In a crumpled heap, whilst an odor of bitter almonds filled the air. CHAPTER XVIII A Supper Party at the "Savoy." The supper party given by Mr. Julius Hersheimmer to a few friends on the evening of the 30th will long be remembered re-membered In catering circles. It took place In a private room, and Mr. Her-shelmmer's Her-shelmmer's orders were brief and forcible. for-cible. He gave carte blanche and when a millionaire gives carte blanche he usually gets It I The list of guests was small tand select. The American ambassador, Mr. Carter, who had taken the liberty, he said, of bringing an old friend, Sli William Beresford, with him, Archdeacon Archdea-con Cowley, Dr. Hall, those two youth ful adventurers. Miss Prudence Cowley and Mr. Thomas Beresford, and last, but not least, as guest of honor, Miss Jane Finn. To most people the 29th, the much-heralded much-heralded "Labor Day," had passed much as any other day. Speeches were made in the Park and Trafalgar fsquare. Straggling processions, singing the "Red Flag," wandered through the streets in a more or less aimless manner. man-ner. Newspapers which had hinted at a general strike, and the inauguration of a reign of terror, were forced to hide their diminished heads. The bolder bold-er and more astute among them sought to prove that peace had been effected by following their counsels. In the Sunday Sun-day piipers a brief notice of the sudden sud-den death of Sir James Peel Edgerton, the famous K. C. had appeared. Monday's Mon-day's paper dealt appreciatively with the (lead man's career. The exact manner man-ner of his sudden death was never made public. Tommv had been right in his forecast fore-cast of the situation. It had been a one-man show. Deprived of their chief, the organization fell to pieces. Kranienln Md made a precipitate re turn to Russia, leaving England early on Sunday morning. The gang had fled from Astley Priors in a panic, leaving behind, In their haste, various damaging documents which compromised compro-mised them hopelessly. With these proofs of conspiracy in their hands, aided further by a small brown diary taken from the pocket of the dead man which had contained a full and damning damn-ing resume of the whole plot, the government gov-ernment had called an eleventh-hour conference. The labor leaders were forced to recognize that they had been used as a cat's-paw. Certain concessions conces-sions were made by the government, and were eagerly accepted. It was to be Peace, not War ! But the cabinet knew by how narrow nar-row a margin they had escaped utter disaster. And burnt In on Mr. Carter's Car-ter's brain was the strange scene which had taken place in the house in Soho the night before. He had entered the squalid room to find that great man, the friend of a lifetime, dead betrayed out of his own mouth. From the dead man's pocket-book he had retrieved the Ill-omened Ill-omened draft treaty, and then and there, in the presence of the other three, It had been reduced to ashes. . . . England was saved I And now, on the evening of the 30th, In a private room at the Savoy, Mr. Julius P. Hersheimmer was receiving his guests. Soon the supper party was in full swing, and with one accord Tommy was called upon for a full and complete com-plete explanation. "Tommy's been the goods this trip! And, Instead of sitting there as dumb as a fish, let him banish his blushes, and tell us all about It" "Hear! hear!" "There's nothing to tell," said Tommy, Tom-my, acutely uncomfortable. "I was an awful mug right up to the time I found that photograph of Annette, and realized that she was Jane Finn. Then I remembered how persistently she had shouted out that word 'Mar- "It's Her Handwriting, All Right." guerite' and I thought of the pictures, pic-tures, and well, that's that. Then of course I went over the whole thing to see where I'd made an ass of myself." my-self." "Go on," said Mr. Carter, as Tommy showed signs of taking refuge in silence si-lence once more. "That business about Mrs. Vandemeyer Vande-meyer had worried me when Julius told me about It. On the face of it, It seemed that he or Sir James must have done the trick. But I didn't know which. Finding that photograph In the drawer, after that story of how it had been got from him by Inspector Brown, made me suspect Julius. Then I remembered that It was Sir James who had discovered the false Jane Finn. In the end, I couldn't make up my mind and just decided to take no chances either way. I left a note for .Julius, In case he was Mr. Brown, saying say-ing I was off to the Argentine, and I dropped Sir James' letter with the offer of the job by the desk so that he would see It was a genuine stunt. Then I wrote my letter to Mr. Carter and rang up Sir James. And then I got a bogus note from Tuppence and I knew !" "But how?" Tommy took the note in question from his pocket and passed It round the table. "It's her handwriting all right, but I knew It wasn't from her because of the signature. She'd never spell lr name 'Twopence,' but anyone who'd never seen it written might quite easily do so. Julius had soon it lie showed me a note of hers to him once but Sir James hadn't! After that everything was plain sailing. I scut eff Albert post-haste to Mr. Carter. I pretended to go away, but doubled back agiin. When Jr.l'.us came bursting up In his car, I felt it wasn't part of Mr. Brown's plan and that there would probably be trouble. Unless Sir James was actually ac-tually caught In the act. so to s-"ak, I knew Mr Carter would never believe it at him on my unsupported word " "I didn't," interposed Mr. Csrter, ruefully. "That's why I sent the girls off to Sir James. I was sure they'd fetch up at the house in Soho 6ooner or later. I threatened Julius with the revolver, because 1 wanted Tuppence to repeat that to Sir James, so that he wouldn't worry about us. The moment the girls were out of sight I told Julius to drive like h 11 for London, and as we went along I told him the whole story. We got to the Soho house in plenty of time and met Mr. Carter outside. After arranging ar-ranging things with him we went in and hid behind the curtain in the recess. re-cess. The policemen had orders to say, if they were asked, that no one had gone into the house. That's all." I And Tommy came to an abrupt halt. There was silence for a moment. "By the way," said Julius suddenly, "you're all wrong about that photograph photo-graph of Jane. It was taken from me but I found it again." "Where?" cried Tuppence. "In that little safe on the wall In Mrs. Vandemeyer's bedroom." "We all kept back something or other," said Tuppence, thoughtfully. "I suppose secret service work makes you like that!" Mr. Carter rose to his feet. "I will give you a toast. The Joint Venture which has so amply justified itself by success !' It was drunk with acclamation. "There's something more we want to hear," continued Mr. Carter. He looked at the American ambassador. "I speak for you also, I know. We'll ask Miss Jane Finn to tell us the story that only Miss Tuppence has heard so far but before we do so we'll drink her health. The health of one of the bravest of America's daughters, to whom Is due the thanks and gratitude of two great countries !" CHAPTER XIX And After. "That was a mighty good toast, Jane," said Mr. Hersheimmer, as he and his cousin were being driven back in the Rolls-Royce to the Ritz. "The one to the Joint Venture?" "No the one to you. There isn't a other girl In the world who could havo carried It through as you did. Yon were just wonderful !" Jane shook her head. "I don't feel wonderful. At heart I'm just tired and lonesome and longing long-ing for my own country." "That brings me to something 1 wanted to say. I heard the ambassador ambassa-dor telling you his wife hoped yon would come to them at the embassy right away. That's good enough, but I've got another plan. Jane I want you to marry me! Don't get scared and say no at once. You can't love rap right away, of course, that's impossible. impossi-ble. But I've loved you from the very moment I set eyes on your photo and now I've seen you I'm simply crazy about you 1 If you'll only marry me, 1 won't worry you any you shall take your own time. Maybe you'll never come to love me, and if that's the case I'll manage to set you free. But I want the right to look after you and take care of you." "Oh, Julius!" "Yell, I don't want to hustle you, Jane, but there's no sense In waiting about. Don't be scared I shan't expect ex-pect you to love me all at once." But a small hand was slipped Into his. "I love you now, Julius," said Jane Finn. "I loved you the first moment in the car when the bullet grazed your cheek. ..." In the meantime the Young Adventurers Adven-turers were sitting bolt upright, very stiff and ill at ease, in a taxi. They sat very straight and forebore to look at each other. At last Tuppence made a desperate effort. "Rather fun, wasn't It?" "Rather." Another silence. "I like Julius," essayed Tuppence, again. Tommy was suddenly galvanized into life. "It has been fun, hasn't It, Tommy? I do hope we shall have lots more adventures." ad-ventures." "You're insatiable, Tuppence. I've had quite enough adventures for the present." "Well, shopping is almost as good," said Tuppence, dreamily. "Think of buying old furniture, and bright carpets, car-pets, and futurist silk curtains, and a polished dining table, and a divan wltk lots of cushions " "Hold hard," said Tommy. "What's all this for?" "Possibly a house but I think a flat." "Whose flat?" "You think I mind saying It, but I don't In the least! Ours, so there!" "You darling!" cried Tommy, his arms tightly round her. "I was determined deter-mined to make you say it. I owe you something for the relentless way you've squashed me whenever I've tried to he sentimental." Tuppence raised her face to his. The taxi proceeded on a course round the north side of Regent's park. "You haven't really proposes now," pointed out Tuppence. "Not what our grandmothers would call a proposal. But after listening to a rotten one like Julius's, I'm Inclined to let you off." "You won't be able to pet nut of marrying mar-rying me, so don't you think of It." "What fur. It will i.e." responded Tuppence. "Marriage Is called all sorts of things, a haven, and a refuge and a crowning glory. mikI a state of bondage, ar.n lots more. But do yon know what I think It Is?" "What?" "A spnrt !" "And a d d good sport, too," gal 3 j Tommy. ; I THE ENDJ I |
