Laverick hesitated. He understood all that was implied. Morrison's eyes were fixed upon him--the eyes of a craven coward. He felt the intensity of the moment. Then Zoe turned suddenly towards him.
"You are not to give it up!" she cried, with trembling lips. "They cannot hurt you, and it is not true--about Arthur."
Kahn, who was nearest, clapped his hand over her mouth and Laverick knocked him down. Instantly the pacific atmosphere of the room was changed. Lassen and Morrison closed swiftly upon Laverick from different sides. Streuss covered him with the shining barrel of a revolver.
"Mr. Laverick," he said, "we are not here to be trifled with. Keep your sister quiet, Morrison, or, by God, you'll swing!"
Laverick looked at the revolver--fascinated, for an instant, by its unexpected appearance. The face of the man who held it had changed. There was lightning playing about the room.
"It's the dock for you both!" Streuss exclaimed fiercely,--"for you, Laverick, and you, Morrison, too, if you play with us any longer! One of you's a murderer and the other receives the booty. Who are you to have scruples--criminals, both of you? Your place is in the dock, and you shall be there within twenty-four hours if there are any more evasions. Now, Laverick, will you fetch that document? It is your last chance."
Upon the breathless silence that followed a quiet voice intervened--a voice calm and emotionless, tinged with a measure of polite inquiry. Yet its level utterance fell like a bomb among the little company. The curtain separating this from the inner room had been drawn a few feet back, and Bellamy was standing there, in black overcoat and white muffler, his silk hat on the back of his head, his left hand, carefully gloved, resting still upon the curtain which he had drawn aside.
"I hope I am not disturbing you at all?" he murmured softly.
For a moment the development of the situation remained uncertain. The gleaming barrel of Streuss's revolver changed its destination. Bellamy glanced at it with the pleased curiosity of a child.
"I really ought not to have intruded," he continued amiably. "I happened to hear the address my friend Laverick gave to the taxicab driver, and I was particularly anxious to have a word or two with him before I left for the Continent."
Streuss was surely something of a charlatan! His revolver had disappeared. The smile upon his lips was both gracious and unembarrassed.
"One is always only too pleased to welcome Mr. Bellamy anywhere--anyhow," he declared. "If apologies are needed at all," he continued, "it is to our friend and host--Mr. Morrison here. Permit me--Mr. Arthur Morrison--the Honorable David Bellamy! These are Mr. Morrison's rooms."