The Mysterious Mr. Miller. Le Queux William
idea that my friend was joking at his expense.
The stranger was not aware that I had detected the fierce look of hatred that, for a single instant, showed in his dark shining eyes. It was an expression that I did not like – an expression of fierce, relentless, even murderous resentment.
I was about to assure him of Sammy’s utter disinclination to poke fun at any foreigner, when I saw that if I did so I should only aggravate the situation. Therefore I let it pass.
The Italian was a man of refinement, exquisite of manner towards the ladies as was all his race, and though I cannot explain it he struck me as being well-born, and superior to those sitting at table with him. Yet he vouchsafed but little as regards himself. Italy was his home – that was all. And Italy is a great place; a country of a hundred nations. The Venetian is of a different race from the Sicilian, the Tuscan from the Calabrian. I still suspected he was a Tuscan, yet he spoke the Italian tongue so well that at one moment I put him down as a born Florentine, while at the next as a Livornese or a Roman.
He saw that I knew Italy and the Italians, and was purposely endeavouring to mislead me.
That same night, just after midnight, Jane, one of the maids-of-all-work, rapped at my door, saying: —
“Please, sir, the Italian gentleman’s been taken awful ill. We can’t make out what ’e wants. Would you kindly go to ’im?”
I dressed hurriedly, and, ascending to the stranger’s room, asked, in Italian, permission to enter.
A faint voice responded, and a moment later I was at the stranger’s bedside. The feeble light of the single candle showed a great change in his countenance, and I saw that he was suffering severely and seemed to be choking.
“I – I thank you very much, signore, for coming to me,” he said, with considerable difficulty. “I am having one of my bad attacks – I – I – ”
“Had you not better see a doctor? I’ll call a friend of mine, if you’ll allow me.”
“Yes. Perhaps it would really be best,” was his reply, and I saw that his hands were clenched in sudden pain.
Therefore, after telling Sammy of the foreigner’s illness, I put on my hat and went round into the Holland Road for my friend Tulloch.
The latter came with me at once, and as soon as I had interpreted the stranger’s symptoms, and he had made a careful examination, he turned to me and said in English: —
“The man’s very bad – cancer in the stomach. He’s evidently been near death half a dozen times, and this will probably prove fatal. Don’t frighten him, Godfrey, but just put it to him as quietly as you can. Tell him that he’s really very much worse than he thinks.”
“Is it worth while to tell the poor fellow the truth?” I argued. “It may only have a bad effect upon him.”
“His other doctors have, no doubt, already warned him. Besides it’s only fair that he should know his danger. I never keep the truth from a patient when things are desperate, like this.”
“Then you hold out but little hope of him?”
Bob Tulloch, who had been with me at Charterhouse, stroked his dark beard and replied in the negative, while the stranger, who had been watching us very closely, said in Italian in a low faint voice: —
“I know! I know! I’m dying – dying!” and he laughed curiously, almost triumphantly. “I’m dying – and I shall escape them. Ah! signore,” he added, with his bright black eyes fixed upon mine, “if you only knew the truth – the terrible, awful truth – you would pity me – you would, I am convinced, stand my friend. You would not believe the evil that men say of me.”
“Then tell me the truth,” I urged quickly, bending down to him in eagerness.
But he only shook his head and clenched his even white teeth.
“No,” he said, with a fierce imprecation in Italian. “Mine is a secret – her secret – a secret that I have kept until now – a secret that none shall know!”
Chapter Two
Touches a Woman’s Honour
Tulloch left half an hour later, and Sammy, whose curiosity had been aroused concerning the foreigner, entered the room and inquired after the patient.
But hoping to learn more from the stricken man, I sent my friend back to bed and remained there through the night, administering to the patient what my friend Tulloch had ordered.
The long hours dragged on in silence. Only the ticking of the cheap American clock broke the quiet. Lying upon his back the stranger fixed his dark eyes upon me, until his hard gaze caused me quite an uncomfortable feeling. It is unpleasant to have a dying man’s eyes fixed so attentively upon one. Therefore I shifted my chair, but even then I could not escape that intent penetrating gaze. He seemed as if he were reading my very soul.
If I spoke he answered only in low monosyllables. Whenever I attempted to put a question he made a quick gesticulation, indicating his impossibility to reply. And so passed the whole long vigil until day broke in brightening grey, and the sun shone forth again.
Yet the man’s hard stony stare was horrifying. Somehow it utterly unnerved me.
Had Tulloch not declared that the fellow was dying, I should certainly have left him; yet I felt it was my duty as a man to remain there, for was I not the only person in that household acquainted with the Italian tongue?
Ever and anon he clenched his teeth tightly and drew a long hard breath, as though bitterly vengeful at thought of some incident of the past.
“Accidenti!” was an ejaculation that escaped his lips now and then, and by it I knew that he was praying that an accident might befall his enemies – whoever they were. He uttered the most bitter curse that an Italian could utter.
Presently, about five o’clock, just as the sun’s rays entering through the opening between the dingy old rep curtains fell across the threadbare carpet in a golden bar, he became quiet again.
“Ah, signore,” he said gratefully, “it is really extremely good of you to put yourself out on my account – a perfect stranger.”
“Nothing, nothing,” I assured him. “It is only what you would do for me if I were ill in a foreign country where I could not speak the language.”
“Ay, that I would,” he declared. And after a pause he added: “Nearness to death causes us to make strange friendships – doesn’t it?”
“Why?” I asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Well – in me, for instance, you are making a strange friend,” he said, with a queer, harsh laugh.
“Why strange?”
“Because you are utterly unaware of who or what I am.”
“I know your name – that is all,” I responded quietly. “You know the name by which I choose to be known here. It is not likely that I should disclose my real identity.”
“Why not?”
“Because – well, there are strong reasons,” was his vague answer, and his mouth shut with a snap, as though he discerned that he had already said too much. Then a moment later he added: “As I’ve already told you, you have made a strange acquaintance in me. You will probably be surprised if ever you really do ascertain the truth, which is, however, not very likely, I think. At least I hope not.”
I recollected that he had spoken of a secret – some woman’s secret – which he intended, at all hazards, to preserve. What was it, I wondered?
The thin drawn face upon the white pillow wore a wild, desperate expression. The stranger had actually laughed in triumph at the suggestion of death. A man must be desperate ere he can face the open grave with a smile upon his lips.
After a few minutes he raised his thin yellow finger beckoning me closer, and in a fainter voice said: —
“You are the only friend I have in this great