She listened attentively while Mr. Superbus described the misdoings of the impersonator.
“There’s nothing this fellow can’t do, miss,” said Superbus impressively. “He can make himself fat, he can make himself thin; he can impersonate a tall man or a short man, an old man or a young man. By all accounts he was an actor onthealls.”
“Onthealls?” She wrinkled her brow, thinking for the moment that Mr. Superbus had dug up one of those natty colloquialisms that enlivened the Senate in those days when Cicero could always be depended upon to pass a few bright, snappy remarks about the Tribune Clodius.
“An actor onthealls,” repeated Mr. Superbus, astounded that he was unintelligible.
“Oh, I see!” a great light dawning upon her mind. “On the halls? You mean the vaudeville stage?”
“So they say,” said Mr. Superbus. “Anyway, he’s been too clever for the regular police. It’s now up to them who have made a study of crime, so to speak, to bring him to justice.”
He looked cautiously round the apartment and lowered his voice.
“By all accounts, Mr. Selsbury’s the next.”
“You means he’s to be the next person robbed?”
“I’ve dropped an ’int, miss,” said Julius. “But on the whole it’s better that he didn’t know. A man gets jiggered, so to speak, if he knows a crook is after him, and that hampers the officers of the law.” He shook his head. “Many a good case have I lost that way.”
“What do you mean exactly by impersonation?” asked Diana, troubled. “Do you mean to say that, when Mr. Selsbury is out, somebody who looks very much like him is liable to walk into this house and help himself to anything that he can find?”
“Cheques mostly, or money,” affirmed Julius. “He works big, this fellow. Nothing small about him, you understand. You could leave your silver around, and he wouldn’t touch so much as an egg-spoon. He’s one of the big gang--I’ve had my eye on him for years.”
“This is very alarming,” said Diana after a long silence.
“It is alarming,” agreed Julius, “but at the same time, if you’ve got the right kind of man around to protect you, a fellow who’s a bit sharp, it’s not alarming. But he’s got to be clever, and he’s got to have experience of what I might term the criminal classes, I should say.”