The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation

  CHAPTER V

  THE NASTIRSEVITCH JEWELS

  Allerdyke, like all true Yorkshiremen, had been born into the world witha double portion of caution and a triple one of reserve, and instead ofanswering the question he took a leisurely look at the questioner. He sawbefore him a tall, good-looking, irreproachably attired man of fromthirty to thirty-five years of age, whose dark eyes were ablaze withexcitement, whose equally dark, carefully trimmed moustache did notconceal the agitation of the lips beneath. Mr. Franklin Fullaway, inspite of his broad shoulders and excellent muscular development, wasevidently a highly strung, nervous, sensitive gentleman; nothing could beplainer than that he had travelled from town in a state of great mentalactivity which was just arriving at boiling-point. Everything about hismovements and gestures denoted it--the way in which he removed his hat,laid aside his stick and gloves, ran his fingers through his dark, curlyhair, and--more than anything--looked at Marshall Allerdyke. ButAllerdyke had a habit of becoming cool and quiet when other men grewexcited and emotional, and he glanced at his visitor with seemingindifference.

  "Mr. Fullaway, I suppose?" he said, phlegmatically. "Aye, to be sure! Sityou down, Mr. Fullaway. Will you take anything?--it's a longish ride fromLondon, and I daresay you'd do with a drink, what?"

  "Nothing, nothing, thank you, Mr. Allerdyke," answered Fullaway,obviously surprised by the other's coolness. "I had lunch on the train."

  "Very convenient, that," observed Allerdyke. "I can remember when therewasn't a chance of it. Aye--and what might this be that you're askingabout, now, Mr. Fullaway? What do you refer to?"

  Fullaway, after a moment's surprised look at the Yorkshireman's stolidface, elevated his well-marked eyebrows and shook his head. Then he edgedhis chair nearer to the table at which Allerdyke sat.

  "You don't know, then, that your cousin had valuables on him?" he askedin an altered tone.

  "I know exactly what my cousin had on him, and what was in hisbaggage, when I found him dead in his room," replied Allerdyke drily."And what that was--was just what I should have expected to find.But--nothing more."

  Fullaway almost leapt in his chair.

  "Nothing more!" he exclaimed. "Nothing more than you would have expectedto find! Nothing?"

  Allerdyke bent across the table, giving his visitor a keen look.

  "What would you have expected to find if you'd found him as I found him?"he asked. "Come--what, now?"

  He was watching the American narrowly, and he saw that Fullaway'sexcitement was passing off, was being changed into an attentiveeagerness. He himself thrust his hand into his breast pocket and drew outthe papers which had been accumulating there since his arrival anddiscovery.

  "We'd best be plain, Mr. Fullaway," he said. "I don't know you, but Igather that you knew James, and that you'd done business together."

  "I knew Mr. James Allerdyke very well, and I've done business with himfor the last two years," replied Fullaway.

  "Just so," assented Allerdyke. "And your business--"

  "That of a general agent--an intermediary, if you like," answeredFullaway. "I arrange private sales a good deal between European sellersand American buyers--pictures, curiosities, jewels, antiques, and so on.I'm pretty well known, Mr. Allerdyke, on both sides the Atlantic."

  "Quite so," said Allerdyke. "I'm not in that line, however, and I don'tknow you. But I'll tell you all I do know and you'll tell me all youknow. When I searched my cousin for papers, I found this wire fromyou--sent to James at St. Petersburg. Now then, what does it refer to?Those valuables you hinted at just now?"

  "Exactly!" answered Fullaway. "Nothing less!"

  "What valuables are they?" asked Allerdyke.

  "Jewels! Worth a quarter of a million," replied Fullaway.

  "What? Dollars?"

  Fullaway laughed derisively.

  "Dollars! No, pounds! Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, my dearsir!" he answered.

  "You think he had them on him?"

  "I'm sure he had them on him!" asserted Fullaway. He, in his turn, beganto produce papers. "At any rate, he had them on him when he was inChristiania the other day. He was bringing them over here--to me."

  "On whose behalf?" asked Allerdyke.

  "On behalf of a Russian lady, a Princess, who wished to find a purchaserfor them," replied the American promptly.

  "In that case--to come to the point," said Allerdyke, "if my cousinJames had that property on him when he landed here last night and itwasn't--as it certainly wasn't--on him when I found him thismorning---he's been robbed?"

  "Robbed--and murdered that he might be robbed!" answered Fullaway.

  The two men looked steadily at each other for a while. Then Allerdykelaid his papers on the table between them.

  "You'd better tell me all you know about it," he said quietly. "Let'shear it all--then we shall be getting towards knowing what to do."

  "Willingly!" exclaimed the American. He produced and spread out a coupleof cablegrams on which he laid a hand while he talked. "As I have alreadysaid, I have had several deals in business with Mr. James Allerdyke. Ilast saw him towards the end of March, in town, and he then mentioned tome that he was just about setting out for Russia. On April 20th Ireceived this cable from him--sent, you see, from St. Petersburg. Allowme to read it to you. He says. 'The Princess Nastirsevitch is anxious tofind purchaser for her jewels, valued more than once at about a quarterof million pounds. Wants money to clear off mortgages on her son'sestate, and set him going again. Do you know of any one likely to buy inone lot? Can arrange to bring over myself for buyers' inspection ifchance of immediate good sale. James Allerdyke.' Now, as soon as Ireceived that from your cousin I immediately thought of a possible andvery likely purchaser--Mr. Delkin, a Chicago man, whose only daughter isjust about to marry an English nobleman. I knew that Mr. Delkin had amind to give his daughter a really fine collection of jewels, and I wentat once to him regarding the matter. In consequence of my interview withMr. Delkin, I cabled to James Allerdyke on April 21st, saying--"

  "This is it, no doubt," said Allerdyke, producing the message of the datementioned.

  "That is it," assented Fullaway, glancing across the table. "Very well,you see what I said. He replied to that at once--here is his reply. Itis, you see, very brief. It merely says, 'All right--shall wire detailslater--keep possible buyer on.' I heard no more until last Thursday,May 8th, when I received this cablegram, sent, you see, fromChristiania. In it he says: 'Expect reach Hull Monday night next. Shallcome London next day. Arrange meeting with your man. Have got allgoods.' Now those last four words, Mr. Allerdyke, if they mean anythingat all, mean that your cousin was bringing these valuable jewels withhim; had them on him when he cabled from Christiania. And if you didnot find them when you searched him--where are they? Two hundred andfifty thousand pounds' worth!"

  Allerdyke took the three cablegrams from his visitor and carefully readthem through, comparing them with the dates already known to him, andwith Fullaway's messages in reply. Eventually he put all the paperstogether, arranging them in sequence. He laid them on the table betweenFullaway and himself, and for a moment or two sat reflectively drummingthe tips of his fingers on them.

  "Who is this Princess Nastirsevitch?" he asked suddenly looking up."Royalty, eh?"

  "No," answered Fullaway, with a smile. "I don't know much about theseEuropean titles and dignities, but I don't think the title of Princemeans in Russia what it does in England. A Prince there, I think, is somesort of nobleman, like your dukes and earls, and so on, here. But,anyway, the Princess Nastirsevitch isn't a Russian at all, except bymarriage--she's a countryman of my own. I guess you've heard of her--shewas Helen Hamilton, the famous dancer."

  Allerdyke shook his head.

  "Not my line at all," he said. "It was a bit in James's, though. Dancer,eh? And married a Prince?"

  "Twenty-five years ago," replied Fullaway. "Ancient history, that. But Iknow a good deal about her. She made a big fortune with her dancing, andshe invested largely in pearl
s and diamonds--I know that. I also happento know that she'd one son by her marriage, of whom she's passionatelyfond. And I read this thing in this way: I guess the old Prince's estates(he's dead, a year or two ago) were heavily mortgaged, and she hit on thenotion of clearing all off by selling her jewels, so that her son mightstart clear--no encumbrances on the property, you know."

  Allerdyke pursed his lips and rubbed his chin.

  "What I don't understand is that she confided a quarter of a million'sworth of goods of that sort to a man whom she couldn't know so verywell," he observed. "I never heard James speak of her."

  "That may be." replied Fullaway. "But he may have known her very well forall that. However, there are the facts. And," he added, with emphasis,"there, Mr. Allerdyke, are those four words, sent from Christiania, 'Havegot all goods!' Now, we can be reasonably sure of what he meant. He'dgot the Princess's jewels. Very well! Where are they?"

  Allerdyke got to his feet, and, thrusting his hands in his pockets,began to stride about the room. All this was not merely puzzling, but,in a way which he could not understand, distasteful to him. Somehow--hedid not know why, nor at that moment try to think why--he resented thefact that any one knew more about his dead cousin than he did. And hebegan to wonder as he strode about the room how much this Mr. FranklinFullaway knew.

  "Did my cousin James ever mention this Princess to you?" he suddenlyasked, stopping in his walk to and fro. "I mean--before he went over toRussia this last time?"

  "He just mentioned that he knew her--mentioned it in casualconversation," answered Fullaway. "She and I being fellow Americans, thesubject interested me, of course. But--he only said that he had met herin Russia."

  "Aye, well," said Allerdyke musingly, "it's true he did go across toRussia a good deal, and no doubt he knew folk there that he never told meabout."

  "Well," he went on, throwing himself into his chair again, "what'sto be done? Do you honestly think that he had those things on him when hecame here last night? You do? Very well, then, he's been murdered by somedevil or devils who's got 'em! But how? And who are they--or who'she--or--good Lord! it might be who's she?"

  "Poisoned," said Fullaway. "That's my answer to your question of--how? Asto your other question--is there no clue to anything? you forget--I don'tknow any details. I only know that he was found dead. Under whatcircumstances?"

  Allerdyke pulled his chair nearer to his visitor.

  "I'd forgotten," he said. "I'll tell you the lot. See if you can makeaught out of it--they always say you Yankees have sharp brains. Try tosee a bit of daylight! So far it licks me."

  He gave the American a brief yet full account of all that had happenedsince his receipt of James Allerdyke's wireless message. And Fullawaylistened in silence, taking everything in, making no interruption, and atthe end he spoke quietly and with decision.

  "We must find that woman--Miss Celia Lennard--and at once," he said."That's absolutely necessary."

  "Just so," agreed Allerdyke. "But look here--I've been thinking thatover. Is it very likely that a woman who'd stolen two hundred and fiftythousand pounds' worth of stuff from an hotel would wire back to itsmanager, giving her address, for the sake of a shoe-buckle, even one setwith diamonds?"

  "I'm not--for the moment--supposing that she is the thief," answeredFullaway. "Why I want--and must--find her at once is to ask her asimple question. What was she doing in James Allerdyke's room?For--I've an idea."

  "What?" demanded Allerdyke.

  "This," replied Fullaway. "They were fellow-passengers on the _Perisco_.Your cousin--as I daresay you know--was the sort of man who readilymakes friends, especially with women. My idea is that if this MissLennard went into his room last night it was to be shown the PrincessNastirsevitch's jewels. Your cousin was just the sort of man who knew howa woman would appreciate an exhibition of such things. And--"

  At that moment a waiter tapped at the sitting-room door and announcedDr. Orwin.