Very early the next morning John Mark went straight to the apartment of his protégé. It was his own man, Northup, who answered the bell and opened the door to him. He had supplied Northup to Jerry Smith, immediately after Caroline accomplished the lifting of the Larrigan emeralds. That clever piece of work had proved the worth of the girl and made it necessary to spare no expense on Jerry. So he had given him the tried and proven Northup.
The moment he looked into the grinning face of Northup he knew that the master was not at home, and both the chief and the servant relaxed. They were friends of too long a term to stand on ceremony.
"There's no one here?" asked Mark, as a matter of form.
"Not a soul--the kid skipped--not a soul in the house."
"Suppose he were to come up behind the door and hear you talk about him like this, Northup? He's trim you down nicely, eh?"
"Him?" asked Northup, with an eloquent jerk of his hand. "He's a husky young brute, but it ain't brute force that I work with." He smiled significantly into the face of the other, and John Mark smiled in return. They understood one another perfectly.
"Isn't this earlier than his usual time for starting the day?"
"It is, by five hours. The lazy pup don't usually crack an eye till one in the afternoon."
"Something rare--something it would have done your heart good to see!"
"I was routed out of bed at eight by a jangling of the telephone. The operator downstairs said a gentleman was calling on Mr. Smith. I said, of course, that Mr. Smith couldn't be called on at that hour. Then the operator said the gentleman would come up to the door and explain. I told him to come ahead.
"At the door of the apartment I met as fine looking a youngster as I ever laid eyes on, brown as a berry, with a quick, straight look about the eyes that would have done you good to see. No booze or dope in that face, chief. He said--"
"Didn't give a name. 'I've come to surprise Jerry,' he says to me.
"'Anybody would surprise Jerry at this hour of the morning,'" says I.
"'Then this is going to be one of the exceptions,' says he.
"'If you knew Jerry better you wouldn't force yourself on him,' says I.
"Is this the way you talk to Smith?" broke in Mark.