The Voice in the Fog - Page 81/93

He stood up and pulled down the roller-top violently. The crash of it

sent every clerk, bookkeeper and stenographer huddling over his or her

work. Two bangs all in one morning? What had happened to the coffee

market? As a matter of fact, coffee fell off a quarter point between

then and closing; which goes to prove that the stock-market depends

upon its business less in the matter of supply and demand than in

"signs."

On board the yacht Killigrew laid the affair before Crawford.

"What do you believe?"

"I've reached the point," said Crawford, "where I believe in nothing

except this young lady," and he laid his hand over his wife's. "For

ten years I had a valet named Mason. I would have staked my life on

his integrity, his honesty. He turned out to be an accomplished rogue.

Went with me into the wilds of Africa and Persia, through deserts,

swamps, over mountains; tireless, resourceful, dependable; and saved my

life twice. Its knocked a hole in my faith in mankind."

"Listen here," said Haggerty. "Without your knowing it, he always

carried a bunch o' first-class skeleton keys. I'm dead sure he was

working his game all th' time. He came back for them keys, but he

didn't get 'em. He's in New York somewheres. D' y' think y' could

recognize him if y' saw him?"

"Instantly."

"A man can change his looks in two years," said Forbes. "Remember File

Number 113?"

"This is real life, Mort; not a detective story."

"How would you recognise him?"

"That I'm unable to explain. It's what Haggerty here calls a hunch."

Haggerty nodded. "An' if y' depend on 'em y' generally land. I've

made some mistakes in my time, not believing in my hunches. This Webb

business goes t' show. I had a hunch that something was wrong, but

your Webb had such a kid face, th' hunch pulled for him. Well, if y'

ever see Mason again, what'll y' do?"

"I don't know. It's a tough proposition. Somehow or other, I want to

be quits with Mason. I want to wipe out those obligations. If I could

do that, the next time I saw him I'd hand him over."

"You're a sentimental duffer, Crawffy," said the artist, smiling.

"And I shouldn't love him at all if he wasn't," the wife defended.

"But this Webb affair doesn't add up right," said Killigrew morosely.

"There's th' hull game," declared Haggerty. "It's nothing but adding

an' subtracting, this gum-shoe work. Y've got t' keep at it till it

adds right. Y' don't realize, Mr. Crawford, how many times I almost

put my hand on your shoulder; but y' didn't add up right. I shan't go

at Webb like a load o' bricks. I'll nose around first. Take a peek

int' his belongings while you folks keep him busy downstairs. No

sapphires, no Thomas; I'll let it go at that. But how was this man

Jameson t' know anything about sapphires if they wasn't any?"