TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTER
THE SPARROW'S NEST
Mademoiselle Lisette met her two guests at Vian's small but exclusiverestaurant in the Rue Daunou, and all three had a merry meal together.Afterwards The Sparrow smoked a good cigar and became amused at theyoung girl's chatter.
She was a sprightly little person, and had effectively brought offseveral highly successful coups. Before leaving his cosy flat in the Ruedes Petits Champs, The Sparrow had sat for an hour calmly reviewingthe situation in the light of what Lisette had told him and of Hugh'sexciting adventure on the Arles road.
That he had successfully escaped from a very clever trap was plain, butwho was the traitor? Who, indeed, had fired that shot which, failing tokill Yvonne, had unbalanced her brain so that no attention could be paidto her wandering remarks?
He had that morning been on the point of trying to get into touch withhis friend Howell, but after Lisette's disclosures, he was very gladthat he had not done so. His master-mind worked quickly. He could sum upa situation and act almost instantly where other men would be inclinedto waver. But when The Sparrow arrived at a decision it was unalterable.All his associates knew that too well. Some of them called him stubborn,but they had to agree that he was invariably right in his suspicions andconclusions.
He had debated whether he should tell Hugh what Lisette had allegedconcerning the forgery of his father's will, but had decided to keep thematter to himself and see what further proof he could obtain. Thereforehe had forbidden the girl to tell Henfrey anything, for, after all, itwas quite likely that her statements could not be substantiated.
After their coffee all three returned to the Rue des Petits Champs whereLisette, merry and full of vivacity, joined them in a cigarette.
The Sparrow had been preoccupied and thoughtful the whole evening. Butat last, as they sat together, he said:
"We shall all three go south to-morrow--to Nice direct."
"To Nice!" exclaimed Lisette. "It is hardly safe--is it?"
"Yes. You will leave by the midday train from the Gare de Lyon--and goto Madame Odette's in the boulevard Gambetta. I may want you. We shallfollow by the _train-de-luxe_. It is best that Mr. Henfrey is out ofParis. The Surete will certainly be searching for him."
Then, turning to Hugh, he told him that he had better remain his guestthat night, and in the morning he would buy him another suit, hat andcoat.
"There will not be so much risk in Nice as here in Paris," he added."After all, we ought not to have ventured out to Vian's."
Later he sat down, and after referring to a pocket-book containingcertain entries, he scribbled four cryptic telegrams which were,apparently, Bourse quotations, but when read by their addressees were ofquite a different character.
He went out and himself dispatched these from the office of the GrandHotel. He never entrusted his telegrams of instructions to others.
When he returned ten minutes later he took up _Le Soir_, and searchingit eagerly, suddenly exclaimed:
"Ah! Here it is! Manfield has been successful and got away all rightwith the German countess's trinkets!"
And with a laugh he handed the paper to Lisette, who read aloud anaccount of a daring robbery in one of the best hotels in Cologne--jewelsvalued at a hundred thousand marks having mysteriously disappeared.International thieves were suspected, but the Cologne police had noclue.
"M'sieur Manfield is always extremely shrewd. He is such a real ladies'man," laughed Lisette, using some of the _argot_ of the Montmartre.
"Yes. Do you recollect that American, Lindsay--with whom you hadsomething to do?"
"Oh, yes, I remember. I was in London and we went out to dinner togetherquite a lot. Manfield was with me and we got from his dispatch-box thepapers concerning that oil well at Baku. The company was started lateron in Chicago, and only two months ago I received my dividend."
"Teddy Manfield is a very good friend," declared the man with the glovedhand. "Birth and education always count, even in these days. To anyex-service man I hold out my hand as the unit who saved us from becominga German colony. But do others? I make war upon those who have profitedby war. I have never attacked those who have remained honest during thegreat struggle. In the case of dog-eat-dog I place myself on the side ofthe worker and the misled patriot--not only in Britain, but in allthe countries of the Allies. If members of the Allied Governments areprofiteers what can the man-in-the-street expect of the poor littlescraping-up tradesman oppressed by taxation and bewildered by waste? Butthere!" he added, "I am no politician! My only object is to solve themystery of who shot poor Mademoiselle Yvonne."
The pretty decoy of the great association of _escrocs_ smoked anothercigarette, and gazed into the young man's face. Sometimes she shudderedwhen she reflected upon all she knew concerning his father's unfortunateend, and of the cleverly concocted will by which he was to marry LouiseLambert, and afterwards enjoy but a short career.
Fate had made Lisette what she was--a child of fortune. Her own lifewould, if written, form a strange and sensational narrative. For she hadbeen implicated in a number of great robberies which had startled theworld.
She knew much of the truth of the Henfrey affair, and she had nowdecided to assist Hugh to vanquish those whose intentions weredistinctly evil.
At last she rose and wished them _bon soir_.
"I shall leave the Gare de Lyon at eleven fifty-eight to-morrow, and godirect to Madame Odette's in Nice," she said.
"Yes. Remain there. If I want you I will let you know," answered TheSparrow.
And then she descended the stairs and walked to her hotel.
Next evening Hugh and The Sparrow, both dressed quite differently, leftby the Riviera _train-de-luxe_. As The Sparrow lay that night in the_wagon-lit_ he tried to sleep, but the roar and rattle of the trainprevented it. Therefore he calmly thought out a complete and deliberateplan.
From one of his friends in London he had had secret warning that thepolice, on the day he left Charing Cross, had descended upon ShapleyManor and had arrested Mrs. Bond under a warrant applied for by theFrench police, and he also knew that her extradition for trial in Parishad been granted.
That there was a traitor in the camp was proved, but happily HughHenfrey had escaped just in time.
For himself The Sparrow cared little. He seemed to be immune fromarrest, so cleverly did he disguise his true identity; yet now thatsome person had revealed his secrets, what more likely than the person,whoever it was, would also give him away for the sake of the big rewardwhich he knew was offered for his apprehension.
Before leaving Paris that evening he had dispatched a telegram, a replyto which was handed him in the train when it stopped at Lyons early nextmorning.
This decided him. He sent another telegram and then returned to whereHugh was lying half awake. When they stopped at Marseilles, both menwere careful not to leave the train, but continued in it, arriving atthe great station of Nice in the early afternoon.
They left their bags at a small hotel just outside the station, andtaking a cab, they drove away into the old town. Afterwards theyproceeded on foot to the Rue Rossetti, where they climbed to the flatoccupied by old Giulio Cataldi.
The old fellow was out, but the elderly Italian woman who kept housefor him said she expected him back at any moment. He was due to come offduty at the cafe where he was employed.
So Hugh and his companion waited, examining the poorly-furnished littleroom.
Now The Sparrow entertained a strong suspicion that Cataldi knew moreof the tragedy at the Villa Amette than anyone else. Indeed, of late, ithad more than once crossed his mind that he might be the actual culprit.
At last the door opened and the old man entered, surprised to findhimself in the presence of the master criminal, The Sparrow, whom he hadonly met once before.
He greeted his visitors rather timidly.
After a short chat The Sparrow, who had offered the old man a cigarettefrom a cheap plated case much worn, began to make certain inquiries.
r /> "This is a very serious and confidential affair, Cataldi," he said. "Iwant to know the absolute truth--and I must have it."
"I know it is serious, signore," replied the old man, much perturbed bythe unexpected visit of the king of the underworld, the elusive Sparrowof whom everyone spoke in awe. "But I only know one or two facts. Irecognize Signor Henfrey."
"Ah! Then you know me!" exclaimed Hugh. "You recognized me on that nightat the Villa Amette, when you opened the door to me."
"I do, signore. I recollect everything. It is all photographed upon mymemory. Poor Mademoiselle! You questioned her--as a gentlemanwould--and you demanded to know about your father's death. Sheprevaricated--and----"
"Then you overheard it?" said Hugh.
"Yes, I listened. Was I not Mademoiselle's servant? On that night shehad won quite a large sum at the Rooms, and she had given me--ah! shewas always most generous--five hundred francs--twenty pounds in yourEnglish money. And they were acceptable in these days of high prices.I heard much. I was interested. Mademoiselle was my mistress whom I hadserved faithfully."
"You wondered why this young Englishman should call upon her at thathour?" said The Sparrow.
"I did. She never received visitors after her five o'clock tea. It wasthe habit at the Villa Amette to lunch at one o'clock, English tea atfive o'clock, and dinner at eight--when the Rooms were slack save forthe tourists from seven till ten. Strange! The tourists always thinkthey can win while the gambling world has gone to its meals! They getseats, it is true, but they always lose."
"Yes," replied The Sparrow. "It is a strange fact that the greatestlosses are sustained by the players when the Rooms are most empty.Nobody has yet ever been able to account for it."
"And yet it is so," declared old Cataldi. "I have watched it day by day.But poor Mademoiselle! What can we do to solve the mystery?"
"Were you not with Mademoiselle and Mr. Benton when you both brought offthat great coup in the Avenue Louise, in Brussels?" asked The Sparrow.
"Yes, signore," said the old man. "But I do not wish to speak of itnow."
"Quite naturally. I quite appreciate it. SinceMademoiselle's--er--accident you have, I suppose, been leading an honestlife?"
"Yes. I have tried to do so. At present I am a cafe waiter."
"And you can tell me nothing further regarding the affair at the VillaAmette?" asked The Sparrow, eyeing him narrowly.
"I regret, signore, I can tell you nothing further," replied the staid,rather sad-looking old man; "nothing." And he sighed.
"Why?" asked the man whose tentacles were, like an octopus, upon ahundred schemes, and as many criminal coups in Europe. He sought asolution of the problem, but nothing appeared forthcoming.
He had strained every effort, but he could ascertain nothing.
That Cataldi knew the key to the whole problem The Sparrow felt assured.Yet why did not the old fellow tell the truth?
At last The Sparrow rose and left, and Hugh followed him. Both werebitterly disappointed. The old man refused to say more than that he wasignorant of the whole affair.
Cataldi's attitude annoyed the master criminal.
For three days he remained in Nice with Hugh, at great risk ofrecognition and arrest.
On the fourth day they went together in a hired car along the windingroad across the Var to Cannes.
At a big white villa a little distance outside the pretty winter town offlowers and palms, they halted. The house, which was on the Frejus road,was once the residence of a Russian prince.
With The Sparrow Hugh was ushered into a big, sunny room overlooking thebeautiful garden where climbing geraniums ran riot with carnations andviolets, and for some minutes they waited. From the windows spread awide view of the calm sapphire sea.
Then suddenly the door opened.