The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK ®. Sapper
prevent me going straight to the police. No consideration of unpleasant results for me will count even for half a second. Well, do you accept?”
“There is just one point. Captain Drummond,” remarked the clergyman mildly. “Supposing that I am able to persuade certain people to—er—expedite the return of Mrs. Drummond in exchange for that little bag, where do you and I stand after the bargain is transacted. Do you still intend to tell the police of your extraordinary delusions with regard to me?”
“Not unless they should happen to become acquainted with the ridiculous hallucination that I am the leader of the Black Gang,” answered Drummond. “That was for your ears alone, my little one, and as you knew it already, you won’t get fat on it, will you? No, my intentions—since we are having a heart-to-heart talk—are as follows. Once the exchange is effected we will start quite fair and square—just like last time, Carl. It doesn’t pay you to go to the police: it doesn’t pay me, so we’ll have a single on our own. I am frightfully anxious to add you to my collection of specimens, and I can’t believe you are burning with zeal to go. But we’ll see, Carl, we’ll see. Only—no more monkey-tricks with my wife. Don’t let there be any misunderstanding on that point.”
The clergyman smiled benevolently.
“How aptly you put things!” he murmured. “I accept your terms, and I shall look forward afterwards to the single on our own that you speak about. And now—as to details. You must bear in mind that just as Mrs. Drummond is more valuable to you than diamonds, she is also somewhat larger. In other words, it will be obvious at once whether those whom I represent have kept their side of the bargain by producing your wife. It will not be obvious whether you have kept yours. The diamonds may or may not be in your pocket, and once you have your wife in your arms again the incentive to return the diamonds would be diminished. So I suggest. Captain Drummond, that you should bring the diamonds to me—here in this room, before six o’clock as a proof of good faith. You may keep them in your possession; all that I require is to see them. I will then engage on my side to produce Mrs. Drummond within a quarter of an hour.”
For a moment Drummond hesitated, fearing a trick. And yet it was a perfectly reasonable request, as he admitted to himself. From their point of view it was quite true that they could have no proof that he would keep his word, and once Phyllis was in the room there would be nothing to prevent the two of them quietly walking out through the door and telling the Reverend Theodosius to go to hell.
“Nothing can very well happen at the Ritz, can it?” continued the clergyman suavely. “And you see I am even trusting you to the extent that I do not actually ask you to hand over the diamonds until your wife comes. I have no guarantee that even then you will not get up and leave the room with them still in your possession. You are too big and strong a man. Captain Drummond, to allow of any horseplay—especially—er—in a clergyman’s suite of rooms.”
Drummond laughed. “Cut it out, Carl!” he exclaimed. “Cut it out, for heaven’s sake! All right. I agree. I’ll go round and get the stones now.”
He rose and went to the door.
“But don’t forget, Carl—if there are any monkey-tricks, heaven help you.”
The door closed behind him, and with a snarl the clergyman spun round on the girl.
“How the devil has he spotted us?” His face was convulsed with rage. “He’s the biggest fool in the world, and yet he spots me every time. However, there’s no time to worry about that now; we must think.”
He took one turn up and down the room, then he nodded his head as if he had come to a satisfactory decision. And when he spoke to the girl, who sat waiting expectantly on the sofa, he might have been the head of a big business firm giving orders to his managers for the day.
“Ring up headquarters of A Branch,” he said quietly. “Tell them to send round Number 13 to this room at once. He must be here within a quarter of an hour.”
“Number 13,” repeated the girl, making a note. “That’s the man who is such a wonderful mimic, isn’t it? Well?”
“Number 10 and the Italian are to come with him, and they are to wait below for further orders.”
“That all?” She rose to her feet as the Reverend Theodosius crossed rapidly to the door which led to the bathroom. “What about that silly little fool—his wife?”
For a moment the man paused, genuine amazement on his face.
“My dear girl, you don’t really imagine I ever intended to produce her, do you? And any lingering doubt I might have had on the matter disappeared the moment I found Drummond knew us. There’s going to be no mistake this time over that young gentleman, believe me.”
With a slight laugh he disappeared into the bathroom, and as little Janet put through her call a tinkling of bottles seemed to show that the Reverend Theodosius was not wasting time.
CHAPTER XIV
In Which a Rolls-Royce Runs Amok
Some ten minutes later he emerged from the bathroom carefully carrying a saucer in his hand. The girl’s announcement that Number 13 had started at once had been received with a satisfied grunt, but he had spoken no word. And the girl, glancing through the door, saw him, with his shirt sleeves rolled up above his elbows, carefully mixing two liquids together and stirring the result gently with a glass rod. He was completely absorbed in his task, and with a faint smile on her face she went back to the sofa and waited. She knew too well the futility of speaking to him on such occasions. Even when he came in, carrying the result of his labours with a pair of india-rubber gloves on his hands, she made no remark, but waited for him to relieve her curiosity.
He placed the mixture on the table and glanced round the room. Then he pulled up one of the ordinary stuff arm-chairs to the table and removed the linen head-rest, which he carefully soaked with the contents of the saucer, dabbing the liquid on with a sponge, so as not to crumple the linen in any way. He used up all the liquid, and then, still with the same meticulous care, he replaced the head-rest on the chair, and stood back and surveyed his handiwork.
“Look all right?” he asked briefly.
“Quite,” answered the girl. “What’s the game?”
“Drummond has got to sit in that chair,” he returned, removing the saucer and the sponge to the bathroom, and carefully peeling off his gloves. “He’s got to sit in that chair, my dear, and afterwards that linen affair has got to be burnt. And whatever happens “—he paused for a moment in front of her—”don’t you touch it.”
Quietly and methodically, he continued his preparations, as if the most usual occurrence in the world was in progress. He picked up two other chairs, and carried them through into the bedroom; then he returned and placed an open dispatch-case with a sheaf of loose papers on another one.
“That more or less limits the seating accommodation,” he remarked, glancing round the room. “Now if you, cara mia, will spread some of your atrocious woollen garments on the sofa beside you, I think we can guarantee the desired result.”
But apparently his preparations were not over yet. He crossed to the sideboard and extracted a new and undecanted bottle of whisky. From this he withdrew about a dessertspoonful of the spirit, and replaced it with the contents of a small phial which he took out of his waistcoat pocket. Then he forced back the cork until it was right home, and with the greatest care replaced the cap of tinfoil round the top of the bottle. And the girl, coming over to where he was working, saw that the bottle was again as new.
“What a consummate artist you are, cheri!” she said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
The Reverend Theodosius smiled and passed his arm round her waist.
“One of the earliest essentials of our—er—occupation, my little one, is to learn how to insert dope into an apparently untouched bottle.”
“But do you think you will get him to drink even out of a new bottle?”
“I