feet. In aflash I looked down, and to my astonishment found Colonel Napier'sclumber spaniel gazing at me with the most appealing eyes.
"Hulloa, Fate!" I said, giving him his customary but oddly suggestivename. "Where have you sprung from? What are you doing here? Did yourun after your master's carriage when the colonel came with LordCuthbertson and get locked in some cupboard in the office here, or didyou fall asleep on a pile of papers?"
The dog looked up, wagging his tail. Then all at once he gave a sharpbark, and swinging round he tore through the open door down the streetas hard as he could pelt. For an instant I was quite astonished. As arule the dog would stop and fuss with me and play several tricks. Nowhis manner was so curious that I decided at last he must have expected Ishould follow him.
"But that must be a long time yet," I told myself, with a sigh. "I cannever see Doris now until I have cleared up this mystery of themanuscripts for Don Jose." And, shrugging my shoulders, I made my wayback to the bedroom where, feeling sleep was out of the question, andthat I must try in real earnest to solve the mystery of the expeditionof the Spaniard, I had a tub, and made a hurried toilet, and then set towork to get myself some breakfast.
In about half-an-hour's time, however, Don Jose returned, and when hecaught sight of me up and dressed he gave such a start of terror Ithought that he would drop on the floor in a fit.
"Well," I said lightly. "You didn't expect to see me about, did you?Fact was, I couldn't sleep, so I got up to make myself a cup of tea.Where have you been to at this ungodly hour?"
"To a friend's," he stammered. "A friend's in Whitehall Court. Just acall--a friendly call. A man I know in Whitehall Court."
"In Whitehall Court," I repeated, bending over some toast I wasbuttering. "Why, that's where Colonel Napier lives! Did you happen tosee a clumber spaniel heading in that direction? He was here a fewminutes ago, but suddenly he bolted for his home in great distress, andI thought that--"
But I never completed the sentence.
All at once I was startled by the sound of a loud fall.
I looked round.
To my surprise I found that Don Jose Casteno had dropped to the floor ina dead faint.
CHAPTER NINE.
THE HUNCHBACK TRIES A NEW RUSE.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, as the sequel must determine, Don JoseCasteno's attack of faintness was not of long duration. Almost, indeed,as I snatched up a flask of brandy from my travelling case and dartedacross the office to his assistance, he gave a long deep sigh, hiseyelids fluttered, and the next moment he sat up, gazing in a bewilderedfashion round the room. He took, however, a deep draught of the spiritwhen I pressed it upon him, but when I ventured to inquire what it wasthat had caused him to collapse after his walk through the streets fromthe Embankment to the Strand his eyes grew large and troubled, althoughhe made a tremendous effort to hide his agitation.
"Really, nothing happened to me," he said in a quick, disjointedfashion. "I visited the man at Whitehall I wished to see, and then,fearing I had done wrong in leaving you unprotected as you slepttrusting to my presence, I ran as hard as I could back to your office.The fact is, I must have got rather out of condition of late, and theexertion took more out of me than I intended. You must forgive me thistime, and I'll be more careful in future."
"Then you didn't see anything of Colonel Napier's clumber spaniel?" Iqueried, and in spite of myself there arose a certain accent ofsuspicion in my tones.
"No, I didn't," he replied, but he kept his gaze steadily averted frommine. "No doubt I ran too fast to notice anything. Besides, I alwayskeep my head down." And, pretending to yawn, he rose unsteadily to hisfeet and took a seat near the table, whereon I had laid breakfast for usboth.
Of course, I should like to have asked him about the knife which I hadwatched him sharpen with so much diabolical care, but I realised thatfor some secret reason this innocent-looking Spaniard was not reallytelling me the truth about his early morning mission; and, not wantingto be filled up with any more fables, I decided to hold my tongue aboutthe matter, for a time at all events. The incident, however, had put methoroughly on my guard, and, without letting him become conscious ofwhat was, after all, a rather subtle change of front, I kept a muchcloser watch than usual on him right through the meal, when we chatted alot of commonplaces.
All the same, he seemed to feel that we had little time to waste whenbreakfast was finished and we had started our cigarettes. As theseconds slipped on, and I showed no unusual haste to be off, his mannergrew jerky and nervous, and finally he gave the signal to rise with aquick apology to me.
"Really, we must be off," he said. "I feel quite anxious about what ishappening at the hunchback's. Do let us get into some secure place ofconcealment before Lord Fotheringay or his envoy appears again on thescene."
With a great affectation of laziness I rose and followed him downStanton Street; and this time I put a double safety-lock on my office,to save me from any more surprise visits from men like Lord CyrilCuthbertson. Now, as it happens, the quickest route from Stanton Streetto the Strand is by way of a long, dark, narrow passage, and althoughCasteno hurried past I made him retrace his steps for a few yards andwalk with me through this. At first I imagined I had done this frompurely British obstinacy and habit, but all at once I became consciousthat some deeper influence and habit must have been at work, for onrounding a bend I was startled to come across a group of early printers'boys and charwomen gathered excitedly around some object that lay on theground. This tiny crowd instinctively parted at our approach, and as wepassed into their midst I was horrified to see Colonel Napier's clumberspaniel Fate stretched on the path, with a great gaping cut over itsheart!
"Some brute has stabbed it," said one of the boys, who had been kneelingbeside it endeavouring to stop the flow of blood with his dirtyhandkerchief. "I did my best for him, but he was too far gone. He'salmost dead." But suddenly the dog seemed to rouse himself--to lift hishead--then, catching sight of Casteno, he gave a low growl and made amovement as if he would snap at his legs.
The Spaniard jumped back nimbly, and one of the women exclaimed: "Why,mister, he seems to know you."
"He doesn't. I have never seen him before," cried Casteno. And justthen death convulsions seized the poor brute, and as the crowd watchedthe dog die the incident passed rapidly out of mind. I did not,however, forget it totally, nor the fact that Fate was one in a thousandfor sagacity and faithfulness. But what, perhaps, impressed me the mostwas the shape and size of the wound in the dog's side. I could havesworn that it had been made by the dagger I had seen Don Jose sharpen inthe glare of my office fire!
Unfortunately, up to that point I had nothing definite to go upon exceptthe most wild and improbable suspicion. After all, why should theSpaniard kill Colonel Napier's dog? Nothing was to be gained by a pieceof petty revenge such as that. As a consequence, I did not worry myselfabout the incident further, but contented myself by giving the boy whohad spoken to me first a shilling to wheel the dead dog to WhitehallCourt, and then Casteno and I hastened along Parliament Street and soonappeared outside the closed curio shop.
To all appearances, then, nothing unusual had happened to Peter Zoucheor to his premises. The street in which the old curiosity store stoodwas just as silent and deserted as it had been the previous night whenMr Cooper-Nassington and I drove up and had that memorable interviewwith the hunchback about the contents of the manuscripts. Nobody seemedastir, no detective appeared on the watch.
Like shadows we crossed the road, inspected the shutters, and gently butnoiselessly tried the handle of the door. We soon saw that there was nochance of gaining admission by these methods, but a moment later Icaught sight of a long iron pipe that ran from the roof to the ground bythe side of the door.
"Can you climb?" I whispered to the Spaniard, recalling, all at once,the favourite method of the portico thief.
He nodded. "I served as a sailor once," he returned.
"Then follow me," I
said, and seizing this pipe I travelled up by handsand knees until I reached the level of the first-floor window-sill.Then out I whipped my knife, and, forcing back the catch, I raised thesash, with the result that in less than twenty seconds after I had hiton this ruse the window had been closed again, and both of us stoodinside the hunchback's stronghold in perfect freedom and safety.
"This is better than waiting until the assistant comes to open theshop," I said. "After all, he might have given us some trouble, whereashere we are landed all right before he appears at all. Now to exploreand to get into position where you can see, without being seen, all thatMaster Zouche is up to."
And we turned and picked our way carefully through the maze of curioswith which the place was