AM sorry to disturb you.”
In the gray of the morning Wilbur Smith stood, hat in hand, at the door of a small apartment and the elderly man who had opened the door, clad in an old overcoat which was worn over his pajamas, gazed sleepily upon the unexpected visitor.
“Here is my card.”
The man took it and read.
“Secret service!” he said, startled. “Why, whatever has happened?”
“There's nothing wrong”
“Don't tell me that Maisie”
“There's nothing very wrong in the sense that your daughter is responsible. I suppose Miss Maisie Bishop is your daughter?”
“Come in, sir,” said the man. “Just one minute while I light the gas.”
The little room was furnished neatly but poorly.
“Is it about the money?” said the man anxiously. “I didn't understand it. You see, Maisie asked Mr. Alwin because he had been so kind to her in the past. I was amazed when she brought the money back. I didn't know he was that rich. I thought there must be some mistake. Mr. Alwin has sent you”
Wilbur shook his head.
“Not exactly,” he said. “But if you don't mind I would like to see your daughter.”
He waited in some anxiety and was relieved to hear the girl's voice. Presently she came in, a little pale but looking pretty, he thought. She carried in her hand a little bundle of notes.
“Is it about these?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Mr. Alwin gave them to me,” she said, speaking agitatedly. “I thought there was a mistake, but I didn't think he would send”
“He has not sent anybody, be assured of that. I have really come to see that you are safe,” said Wilbur kindly. “As to the money, you need not worry. I shall want it for a few days. At the end of that time if nothing happens I will return it to you.”
“I hated asking Mr. Alwin at all,” she said, “but daddy has been troubled about money, and we owed a lot of rent. I tried everybody before I asked Mr. Alwin, and I think I should have sunk through the floor with shame if he had refused. It is awful to ask,” she faltered.
“Don't worry about that, please,” said Wilbur with a little smile. “I am only concerned about you, about the danger”
“The danger?” she asked quickly. “What do you mean? You said something about my safety.”
He was examining the notes under the gas. They each bore the yellow stamp.
“These are they,” he said, and drew from his pocket a big bundle of notes which Frank had handed to him. The girl's mouth opened in astonishment at the sight of so much money.
“You see, the numbers are consecutive. I had better take a note of these.”
He jotted some figures down on the leaf of his notebook and tore it out.
“Keep this for reference,” he said. “Those are the numbers of the bills I have taken, and as I say they will be returned to you—if nothing happens. In the meantime,” he drew his own bill fold from his pocket, “you must tell me how much money you wanted to borrow from Mr. Alwin and let me supply your needs.” He saw the flush that rose to the girl's cheek and laughed. “You must take this as a loan from Frank Alwin,” he said, and winced at the thought that Alwin at that moment was probably dead.
She named a sum in a low tone and he extracted the bills from his bill fold and passed them to her.
When he got to his office that morning after two or three hours' sleep he found a group of reporters waiting for him. Wilbur Smith had one way with the press, and it was the way of frankness, which he had found to pay ninety-nine per cent of the time; the one per cent didn't matter anyway.
“Yes, boys, it is perfectly true that Mr. Alwin has disappeared, and so far as I know he has not been seen since last night.” He had been on the phone before coming to the office. “There's a pretty big mystery behind this disappearance, and I think I have some sort of clew.”
“Is there any connection between this crime and the Higgins Tenement Murder?” asked a reporter, and the detective nodded.
“I don't know how that story has got round, but there's a lot of truth in it,” he said. “Alwin is a very good friend of mine, and you may be sure that I am not going to rest until I have tracked him down, as well as the men who took him away. Now, in case you get these facts mixed up, I will tell you just what has occurred,” he added, and related the story of his meeting the actor in the theater, of their supping together, and of Alwin going out to answer a telephone call and disappearing. He made no reference either to the money or to The Golden Hades.