The cometist inflated his lungs and held the comet to his lips in readiness. The footmen seized Mr. Merriwether by the arms and legs, one man to each limb.
A sixth man came from behind the portières. He had some tin cans in his hand--plainly labeled ether--and also a cylinder of compressed laughing-gas and an inhaler.
"Expert! Anesthetics!" said the man, curtly, to Mr. Merriwether. "We propose to take you out of this house if we kidnap you. If we decide to kill you we have arranged to do it right here at home. I think we'll kidnap you. A week or two will make you amenable to reason. We realize, of course, that every day you spend under our hospitable roof will make it a little bit more difficult to get the million into our clutches. Would you like to know how we propose to kidnap you and get away with it?"
"Yes," replied Mr. E. H. Merriwether, with a pleasant smile.
"Tell our Mr. E. H. Merriwether to come in," said the man to the cometist, who thereupon disappeared and presently returned, followed by a man made up to resemble the great financier.
The task was rendered easy by the famous flat-brimmed hat, with the crown like a truncated cone, so familiar to newspaper-readers through the cartoonists' efforts. The resemblance was not striking enough to deceive at close range, but it probably would work at a distance.
The fake Mr. Merriwether walked up and down the room with the curious swaggering, jockey-like jauntiness of the little railroad man. From time to time he snapped his fingers impatiently in the same characteristic way Mr. E. H. Merriwether almost always used when giving an order to subordinates.
"That will do!" said the man, with a broad grin at the impersonator of the little financial giant. The double left the room--still walking _à la_ E. H. M.
"I have had that man--an actor of about your build with a gift of mimicry--coached for weeks to imitate you. We told him it was a joke and guaranteed him an appearance before the most select audience in New York at one of Mrs. Garrettson's world-famous functions. We pledged him to a secrecy so natural, under the circumstances, as to rouse no suspicions. A few minutes ago we sent a footman to tell your chauffeur to go away and return at one. He wouldn't do it. The footman said the boss said so. Your man retorted that he took orders from only the boss himself--especially when countermanding previous orders.