sobbing. Charles was seated at the table, his head supported by his hands. Andrew was suddenly conscious of a wave of contemptuous pity for them all.
“Look here, sir,” he ventured, addressing his newly discovered father-in-law, “I don’t know what you want to do about these people, but they don’t seem worth powder and shot to me. There are the tickets for America, everything arranged. Why not let them go—clear them out of the country and not be bothered with them again. Félice didn’t suffer, except that she was poor all her girlhood. She’s all right now, and they haven’t fallen on any specially good times.”
Protinoff looked up with a gleam of hope in his watery eyes.
“The money did me no good,” he groaned. “Everything I touched was loss, loss, loss. We have been penniless now for months, except for what Félice brought us.”
The newcomer held up his hand, palm outwards. They all stumbled to their feet.
“My son-in-law has spoken,” he said. “Out of this country as fast as train and steamboat can get you! Never let me see the face of any one of you again. On that condition, you can go free… . Come, Félice! Come, my son-in-law!”
They hurried out into the street, Félice clinging to her father’s arm. Andrew led the way to his car.
“My God, what an atmosphere!” he exclaimed, opening his cigarette case. “Won’t you try one of these, sir?”
His father-in-law accepted with a smile.
“I see,” he said gravely, “that my daughter has married an Englishman indeed. I have known many of your country people. They thrive always on fresh air and open windows.”
“You knew my father, sir,” Andrew told him. “He was at St. Petersburg, as it was then, in your time. I heard him speak of you often.”
They stepped into the car. Behind them the family of Protinoff were recklessly throwing everything they possessed into bags and trunks.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Mr. Felix Main, for the twentieth time that afternoon, pulled out from the drawer of his writing table a small, brightly polished automatic pistol. He examined the catch, charged and uncharged it, tried to remember the instructions given him by the gunmaker that morning, and finally left it carefully loaded in the half-opened drawer. He was not a brave man, and it was an afternoon to which he looked forward with quaking fear. Every step on the stairs gave him a nervous tremor. At last the moment came. His little typist sauntered in.
“That tall young fellow’s here,” she announced. “What about it?”
“You can show him in,” her employer directed, “but remember my instructions.”
“That’s all right,” the girl assured him. “You’re afraid he’s going to cut up rough. If I hear a noise, I’m to fetch a policeman. I get a box of chocolates if the policeman gets here in time to save you from being laid out.”
Mr. Felix Main shivered.
“You are very unfeeling, Mabel,” he complained. “Do take this matter seriously. The young man is sure to fancy himself aggrieved. He is strong and young; I am neither. You don’t want to come in and find me battered to death, do you?”
“I’ll fetch the policeman like a streak,” she promised. “Just bang the bell, that’s all.”
She departed, and a moment later Charles entered on her heels. He could scarcely wait for the door to be closed. So far it had been a wonderful morning. One of the great fears of their lives had been removed for ever. If only this other thing could be arranged.
“Have you done anything with the stones, Main?” he asked breathlessly.
“Very little as yet,” the detective admitted, taking up a pencil and tracing some hieroglyphics on a scrap of paper. “Not much time, you see. These affairs—”
“Look here,” Charles interrupted, “I have the chance to get away to America—passage bought and everything. Leaving to-morrow from Southampton. Once there, I shall drop away down south. I want to make a deal with you.”
“In what way?” was the cautious query.
“The necklace is insured for thirty thousand pounds and is very likely worth far more,” the young man continued. “You think you can probably get twenty thousand for it. That would be ten thousand each. Now, can you find five thousand certain to-day —well, before eleven o’clock to-morrow morning— If so, I’ll give you the rest. There’s a deal for you. With five thousand I can start down in Buenos Ayres—that’s the place I want to get to. I know I’m safe here, thanks to your cleverness, but I’ve got nervous. I want to get right away from the whole thing. I don’t want to see a newspaper, don’t want to know anything that happens. I want to wipe out this year from my mind altogether.”
Mr. Felix Main scratched his chin reflectively.
“And this man Drayton,” he questioned thoughtfully, “he is to hang then?”
Charles stared at him in amazement.
“What is the matter with you?” he demanded. “We’ve talked that out. The fellow was a burglar, anyhow. He’d have shot first if he could, I expect.”
“He had no gun,” Felix Main said slowly.
“What the hell are you talking about that for now?” Charles broke in angrily. “That’s finished with. The thing is, can you raise five thousand pounds? If you can, the necklace is yours. You ought to clear at least fifteen thousand pounds.” Felix Main shook his head.
“No,” he replied, “I could not find anything like such a sum. I am a very poor man, Mr. de Suess. Five thousand pounds is a great deal to me.”
“Find me three then,” Charles proposed, “and send the rest on.”
“I cannot find you even three,” the other declared, his right hand resting upon the drawer. “I cannot find you any more at all.”
The young man glared at him across the table.
“Just what do you mean?” he demanded.
“I will explain,” Felix Main said, his narrow eyes watching every movement of his vis-a-vis. “I have been very worried since you confided to me your story and the necklace—very worried indeed. In the first place, in helping you to escape I am letting another man who is innocent, at any rate of this particular crime, be hanged. That is not a very good thing—not sporting, eh? In the second place, I am running a great risk in handling the disposal of this necklace, Mr. de Suess. There is nothing against me at police headquarters at present. I am a respectable man living a respectable life. I am summoned sometimes on the jury. I have my vote, my little house in the country. I have come to the conclusion, Mr. de Suess, that I must not risk my character in a transaction of this sort.”
“Will you leave off talking b——y rot and tell me what you mean?” Charles interrupted thickly.
“I
