Aunt Jane's Nieces out West
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ADVANTAGE OF A DAY
That evening Le Drieux appeared in the lobby of the hotel and sat himselfcomfortably down, as if his sole desire in life was to read the eveningpaper and smoke his after-dinner cigar. He cast a self-satisfied andrather supercilious glance in the direction of the Merrick party, whichon this occasion included the Stantons and their aunt, but he made noattempt to approach the corner where they were seated.
Maud, however, as soon as she saw Le Drieux, asked Arthur Weldon tointerview the man and endeavor to obtain from him the exact date whenJack Andrews landed in New York. Uncle John had already wired to MajorDoyle, Patsy's father, to get the steamship lists and find which boatAndrews had come on and the date of its arrival, but no answer had as yetbeen received.
Arthur made a pretext of buying a cigar at the counter and thenstrolled aimlessly about until he came, as if by chance, near to whereLe Drieux was sitting. Making a pretense of suddenly observing the man,he remarked casually:
"Ah, good evening."
"Good evening, Mr. Weldon," replied Le Drieux, a note of ill-suppressedtriumph in his voice.
"I suppose you are now content to rest on your laurels, pending theformal examination?" said Arthur.
"I am, sir. But the examination is a mere form, you know. I have alreadycabled the commissioner of police at Vienna and received a reply statingthat the Austrian ambassador would make a prompt demand for extraditionand the papers would be forwarded from Washington to the Austrian consullocated in this city. The consul has also been instructed to render meaid in transporting the prisoner to Vienna. All this will require severaldays' time, so you see we are in no hurry to conclude the examination."
"I see." said Arthur. "Is it, then, your intention to accompany theprisoner to Vienna?"
"Of course. I have not mentioned the fact to you before, but I hold acommission from the Chief of Police of Vienna authorizing me to arrestJack Andrews wherever I may find him, and deliver him up for trial. Myfirm procured for me this commission, as they are very anxious to recoverthe lost pearls."
"Why?"
"Well, to be frank, sir, the countess still owes our firm a large sum forpurchases. She had almost her entire fortune tied up in that collection,and unless it is recovered--."
"I can well appreciate the anxiety of your firm. But aside from that, Mr.Le Drieux, I suppose a big reward has been offered?"
"Not big; just a fair amount. It will repay me, quite handsomely, for mytrouble in this affair; but, of course, my firm gets half of the reward."
"They are not too generous. You deserve it all."
"Thank you. It has been an interesting episode, Mr. Weldon."
"It has been more than that. I consider this escapade of Andrews quite aromance; or is it more of a tragedy, in your opinion?"
"It will be a tragedy for Andrews, before he's through with it," repliedLe Drieux grimly. "They're pretty severe on the long-fingered gentry,over there in Europe, and you must remember that if the fellow livesthrough the sentence they will undoubtedly impose upon him in Vienna, hehas still to answer for the Paris robbery and the London murder. It's allup with Andrews, I guess; and it's a good thing, too, for he is tooclever to remain at large."
"I do not consider him so clever as his captor," said Arthur smoothly."It did not take you long to discover where he had hidden. Why, he hasonly returned to America about fifteen months ago."
"Eleven months ago--even less than that, I think," retorted Le Drieux,with much pride. "Let me see," taking out a notebook, "Andrews landedfrom the _Princess Irene_ on the twenty-seventh of January last."
"Oh, the twenty-seventh? Are you sure of that?" said Arthur.
"Of course."
"I was under the impression he landed on the twenty-fifth."
"No; you are wrong. Why, I met the boat myself, but missed him, althoughhe was on the passenger list. He disembarked very slyly, I afterwardlearned, being doubtless afraid he would be arrested. But at that time Ihad no positive evidence against him."
Arthur asked a few more questions of no importance and then bade LeDrieux good night and rejoined the girls.
"You win, Maud," he remarked as he sat down. "That clew of yours was aninspiration. Andrews arrived in America on January twenty-seventh, justone day after Jones had a motion picture of himself taken at thestockholders' meeting of the Continental Film Company."
"Then we needn't worry over Ajo any longer!" asserted Patsy joyfully."With this evidence and the testimony of Captain Carg and his pearls, themost stupid judge on earth would declare the boy innocent. Why, Beth, weshall get our theatres built, after all!"