protector, Mr Mullet, and surely that issufficient I have always found you a gentleman--more so than many otherswho pose as honest men."
"Well," he said. "I don't pose. I've told you the simple truth."
"And I admire you for it. You once said you'd tell me all about yourown little daughter."
He was silent for a moment, and she saw she had touched a tender chordin his memory.
"I'll tell you about little Aggie one day; not now, please, MissGriffin."
"Well, tell me, then, why your friends are so antagonistic towards myfather?"
"For several reasons. One is that the man you don't like--the one withthe red-face--is a fierce hater of the Jewish race. His own avariceknows no bounds, and he has sworn to recover the treasure of Israel ifit still exists and when recovered he will break up and melt the sacredvessels and destroy the sacred relies in order to exhibit to the Jewshis malice and his power."
"Why, it would be disgraceful to desecrate such objects--even though heis a Gentile."
"Certainly. But your father's known leaning towards the Jews--hisfriendship with certain Rabbis, and the assistance he has once or twicerendered the Jewish community in London, have aroused the ire of thisman, who is now his bitterest and most unscrupulous opponent."
"Then you can assist us, Mr Mullet--if you will."
"I fear that is impossible--certainly not openly," was his reply."Personally, I would not lift a finger to help one whose fixed idea isdespoliation and desecration of the sacred objects. My sympathies, mydear Miss Gwen, are entirely with you in your own unfortunate position,and with your father in his strenuous efforts to discover the key tothis cipher, and afterwards place the expedition to Palestine upon afirm business basis, the most sacred treasures to be handed over totheir rightful owners, the Jews."
"Why does this man, whose name you refuse to tell me, so hate the Jews?"
"Because, in certain of his huge financial dealings, they have actuallyousted him by their shrewdness combined with honesty," he answered. "Ithas ever been, and still is, the accepted fashion to cast opprobriumupon the Jews. Yet, in my varied career, I have often found a Jew morehonest than a Christian, and certainly he never hides dishonesty beneatha cloak of religion in which he does not believe, as do so many of yourso-called Christians in the City."
"Then you are, like my father, an admirer of the Hebrew race?" she said,rather surprised.
"I am. In them as a class I find no cant or hypocrisy, no humbug oftheir clerical life as we have it, alas! apparent so often in our ownchurches, while among the Jews themselves a helpful hand is outstretchedeverywhere. They settle their own quarrels in their own courts of lawand they adhere strictly to their religious teaching. Of course, thereare good and bad Jews, as there are good and bad Christians. But withthe anti-Jewish feeling so apparent everywhere throughout Europe, I havenothing in common."
"And because of that, Mr Mullet, you will assist us--won't you?" sheurged.
The red-haired adventurer hesitated.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
IN WHICH A DESPERATE GAME IS PLAYED.
"To serve you, Miss Gwen, and to return a favour to my friend theDoctor, I'll keep you informed of what transpires on our side," hepromised at last. "I'd like to call and see your father. When's thebest time?"
"He will be pleased to see you at any time you may appoint! Why notring me up on the telephone--if you are not able to make an appointmentnow?"
"Very well," he replied, "I will."
He saw that she wanted to ask him something, but was hesitating, asthough not daring to put her question.
At last she asked:
"Mr Mullet, will you not reveal to me in confidence who it is who isthus working against us?"
"A person of highest reputation as far as financial reputation in Londongoes, and of enormous influence. He has at his service every power thatwealth can command."
"And is he nameless?"
"Alas! he must be," was "Red Mullet's" decisive answer. The truth wasthat he feared to tell the girl, lest her surprise might lead her toexpose the secret, which must at once reflect upon herself. He was gladthat she had not recognised Challas from the many photographs which soconstantly appeared in the illustrated papers.
A door somewhere in the small flat clicked again, but neither took anynotice of it, attributing it to the wind from the open window.
They had no suspicion of an eavesdropper who had silently entered afterthem with the latch-key he possessed, and had just as silently leftagain, and crept down the stairs.
"Miss Gwen," exclaimed her friend a few moments later, "I would reallyurge you to have a care of yourself. Your enemies evidently meanmischief. You have, by a blackguardly ruse, been parted from the manyou love--hence you are defenceless."
"Except for you--my true friend."
"I may have to leave London suddenly, while at any moment, you may, ifyou are not careful, fall again into the net they will, no doubt, spreadand cleverly conceal. They fear your father and his friends, and fromhim will demand a price for you--a price for your honour, most likely."
"What do you mean?" she cried, starting, and staring at him.
"I am compelled to speak frankly, Miss Gwen; please forgive me," hesaid. "I know these men, remember. I know they will hesitate atnothing in order to gain their dastardly ends. They will compel yourfather to pay the price--and it will be the relinquishing of thestruggle, and the leaving of it to them."
"We will never relinquish it!" declared the girl. "But do have a careof yourself," urged the man with the bristly moustache in deepearnestness. "If you again fall into the hands of these two men, youwill not, I fear, escape without disaster."
"I know that, alas! only too well. I owe everything to your kindnessand the pity you had for me. How can I ever sufficiently repay you?"
"You are now repairing me--repaying me with all you love most dearly.Your silence has cost you your lover."
She sighed, and hot tears rose to her splendid eyes. He was quick tonotice her sudden change, and deftly turned the conversation into adifferent channel.
Then, when he had smoked another cigarette, chatting the while, hereminded her to tell her father of Erich Haupt, and to say that he, "RedMullet", would call on the following day.
At last they descended together into the street, and at the corner ofOxford Street entered into a taxi-cab in which they drove back toNotting Hill Gate station.
There he raised his hat as she descended and hurried across intoPembridge Gardens, while he gave the man directions to return to his ownchambers.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, aloud, as they went along the Bayswater Roadwith the horn "honking."
"The whole situation is now a terribly complicated one. To throw in mylot with the Professor and his daughter would mean a `stretch' for me,without a doubt. Challas is vindictive, because I allowed her to escapefrom his infernal clutches. He meant to serve her the same as he didthat poor young German girl! Hang me! I may be an outsider, but I'mnot going to stand by and see another woman fall a victim. Now what isthe best game to play in the interests of Griffin and Diamond? Standby, watch old Erich, and if he gets hold of anything tangible, give itto them at once. That's the only way that I can see. Yet--yet I mayalready be suspected of playing a double game--and if I am, it meansthat I'll be given away to the police at the first opportunity. No," headded with great bitterness, "in this game Felix Challas and JimJannaway hold all the cards. Money talks here, and it does always," hesighed.
And he sat back in his cab in a deep reverie. Already he was tired ofLondon, though he had not set foot in it for three years. He was toonear Challas. When absent on the Continent, he simply obeyed orders,and led the easy-going life of the cosmopolitan concession-hunter,always well-dressed, always apparently flush of money, always merry andprosperous-looking, and always outwardly, at least, presenting theappearance of a gentleman.
Here, in London, however, he was simply the cat's-paw of an unscrupulousparven
u who cloaked his evil doings beneath the remarkable sanctity andgenerous philanthropy.
"It's a blackguardly shame that poor little Gwen, a smart little girland yet sweet and innocent as a child, should be parted from her loverlike this!" he went on, still murmuring to himself. "No doubt this manFarquhar, whoever he is, doubts her. I'd do the same if the girl towhom I was engaged ran away from home, stayed away a few days, and thenon her return refused to give any account of herself. Frank Farquharisn't a fool, and I admire him for that. I'm to blame for the wholething," he added with a bitter imprecation, "because I'm a coward andfear nowadays to face the music.