THERE are still restaurants in Paris where a well chosen dinner delights the chef who is called upon to cook it and the waiters who serve. And although it is true that most of the diners of to-day know little of that art which is now disappearing, it happened that Steven Denby was one who delighted the heart of the Ambassadeurs’ chef.
Monty was a happy soul who had never been compelled to consult his pocketbook in a choice of restaurants, and Mrs. Michael Harrington was married to a gourmand who well distinguished the difference between that and the indefensible fault of gluttony. Thus both of Denby’s guests were in a sense critical. They admitted that they had dined with one who agreed with Dumas’ dictum that a dinner is a daily and capital action that can only worthily be accomplished by gens d’esprit.
There are few places in Paris where a dinner in summer can be more pleasantly eaten than the balcony at the Ambassadeurs, among slim pillars of palest green and banks of pink roses. In the distance—not too near to be disturbed by the performers unless they chose—the three Americans saw that idol of the place, the great Polin at his best. French waiters do not bring courses on quickly with the idea of using the table a second time during the dining-hour. The financial genius who calculates l’addition knows a trick worth two of that.
Still a little anxious that Denby might not be able to stand the expense, Monty fell to thinking of the charges that Parisian restaurateurs can make. “They soaked me six francs for a peach here once,” he said for the second time that day.
“That’s nothing to what Bignon used to charge,” Alice Harrington returned. “Once when Michael’s father was dining there he was charged fifteen francs. When he said they must be very scarce in Paris, Bignon said it wasn’t the peaches that were scarce, it was the Harringtons.”
“Good old Michael,” said Monty, “I wish he were here. Why isn’t he?”
“Something is being reorganized and the other people want his advice.” She laughed. “I suppose he is really good at that sort of thing, but he gets so hopelessly muddled over small accounts that I can’t believe it. He was fearfully sorry not to have seen his colt run at Deauville. I shall have to tell him all about it.”
“I read the account,” said Denby. “St. Mervyn was the name, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “He won by a short head. Michael always likes to beat French horses. I’m afraid he isn’t as fond of the country as I am. The only thing he really likes here is the heure de l’aperitif. He declares it lasts from four-thirty till seven.” She laughed. “He has carried the habit home with him.”
“Did you win anything?” Denby asked.
“Enough to buy some presents at Cartier’s,” she returned. “I’ve bought something very sweet for Nora Rutledge,” she said, turning to Monty. “Aren’t you curious to know what? It’s a pearl la vallière.”
“Then for Heaven’s sake, declare it!” Monty cried.
“Oh, no,” she said, “I’ll pay if it’s found, but it’s a sporting risk to take and you can’t make me believe smuggling’s wrong. Michael says it’s a Democratic device to rob Republican women.”
“Ask Mr. Denby,” Monty retorted. “He knows.”
“And what do you know, Mr. Denby?” she demanded.
“That the customs people and the state department see no humor in that sort of a joke any longer. You read surely that society women even have been imprisoned for taking sporting risks?”
“Milliners who make a practice of getting things through on their annual trip,” she said lightly. “Of course one wouldn’t make a business of it, but I’ve always smuggled little things through and I always shall.”
“Well, I wouldn’t if I were you,” said Monty. “Mr. Denby has frightened me.”
Alice Harrington looked at him curiously.
“Have you been caught?” she asked with a smile.
“I’ve seen others caught,” he returned, “and if any sister of mine had to suffer as they did by the publicity and the investigation the customs people are empowered and required to make, I should feel rather uncomfortable.”
“What a depressing person you are,” she laughed. “I had already decided where to hide the things. I think I shall do it after all. It’s been all right before, so why not now?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It may be the new brooms are sweeping clean or it may be the state department has said smuggling shall no longer be condoned. I only know that things are done very differently now.”
Monty looked at him in amazement. His expression plainly meant that he considered his friend the proprietor of an unusually large supply of sheer gall.
“I heard about that,” she said, “but one can’t believe it. There’s a mythical being known only by his initials who is investigating for the state department. Even Michael warned me, so he may have some inside tip. Have you heard of him, Mr. Denby?”
“I was thinking of him,” he answered. “I think they call him R. B. or R. D. or some non-committal thing like that.”
“And you believe in him?” she asked sceptically.
“I’m afraid I do,” he returned.
“The deuce you do!” Monty cried, aggrieved. He had been happy for the last few hours in the belief that his friend was too well armed to get detected, and here he was admitting, in a manner that plainly showed apprehension, that this initialed power might be even on his track.
“You never smuggle,” Alice Harrington said, smiling. “You haven’t the nerve, Monty, so you need not take it to heart.”
“But I do nevertheless,” he retorted.
“Monty,” she cried, “I believe you’re planning to smuggle something yourself! We’ll conspire together and defeat that abominable law.”
“If you must,” Denby said, still gravely, “don’t advertise the fact. Paris has many spies who reap the reward of overhearing just such confidences.”
“Spies!” She laughed. “How melodramatic, Mr. Denby.”
“But I mean it,” he insisted. “Not highly paid government agents, but perhaps such people as chambermaids in your hotel, or servants to whom you pay no attention whatsoever. How do you and I know for example that Monty isn’t high up in the secret service?”
“Me?” cried Monty. “Well, I certainly admire your brand of nerve, Steve!”
“That’s no answer,” his friend returned. “You say you have been two years here studying Continental banking systems. I’ll bet you didn’t even know that the Banque de France issued a ten thousand franc note!”
“Of course I did,” Monty cried, a little nettled.
Denby turned to Mrs. Harrington with an air of triumph.
“That settles it, Monty is a spy.”
“I don’t see how that proves it,” she answered.
“The Banque de France has no ten thousand franc note,” he returned; “its highest value is five thousand francs. In two years Montague Vaughan has not found that out. The ordinary tourist who passes a week here and spends nothing to speak of might be excused, but not a serious student like Monty.”
“I will vouch for him,” Mrs. Harrington said. “I’ve known him for years and I don’t think it’s a life suited to him at all, is it, Monty?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said he airily. “I may be leading a double life.” He looked at her not without an expression of triumph. Little did she know in what a conspiracy he was already enlisted. After an excellent repast and a judicious indulgence in some rare wine Monty felt he was extraordinarily well fitted for delicate intrigue, preferably of an international character. He stroked his budding moustache with the air of a gentleman adventurer.
Alice Harrington smiled. She was a good judge of character and Monty was too well known to her to lend color to any such notion.
“It won’t do,” she averred, “but Mr. Denby has every earmark of it. There’s that piercing look of his and the obsequious way waiters attend on him.”
Monty laughed heartily. He was in possession of a secret that made such an idea wholly preposterous. Here was a man with a million-franc pearl necklace in his pocket, a treasure he calmly proposed to smuggle in against the laws of his country, being taken for a spy.
“Alice,” he said still laughing, “I’ll go bail on Steve for any amount you care to name. I am also willing to back him against all comers for brazen nerve and sheer gall.”
Denby interrupted him a little hastily.
“As we two men are free from suspicion, only Mrs. Harrington remains uncleared.”
“This is all crazy talk,” Monty asserted.
“I know one woman, well known in New York, who goes over each year and more than once has made her expenses by tipping off the authorities to things other women were trying to get through without declaration.”
“You speak with feeling,” Mrs. Harrington said, and wondered if this friend of Monty’s had not been betrayed by some such confidence.
“Are you going to take warning?” Denby asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ve been reading the American papers and are deceived by the annual warnings to intending European tourists. I’m a hardened and successful criminal.” She leaned forward to look at a dancer on the stage below them and Denby knew that his monitions had left her unmoved.
“When were you last at home?” she demanded presently of Denby.
“About six months ago,” he answered. “I shall be there a week from to-morrow if I live.”
The last three words vaguely disturbed Monty. Why, he wondered crossly, was Denby always reminding him of danger? There was no doubt that what his friend really should have said was: “If I am not murdered by criminals for the two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of valuables they probably know I carry with me.”
“Have you booked your passage yet?” she asked.
It occurred to her that it would be pleasant to have a second man on the voyage. Like all women of her world, she was used to the attentions of men and found life deplorably dull without them, although she was not a flirt and was still in love with her husband.
“Not yet,” he answered, “but La Provence goes from Havre to-morrow.”
“Come with us,” she insisted. “The Mauretania sails a couple of days later but gets you in on the same morning as the other.” She turned to Monty. “Isn’t that a brilliant idea?”
“It’s so brilliant I’m blinded by it,” he retorted, gazing at his friend with a look of respect. Not many hours ago Steven had asserted that he and Monty must sail together on the fastest of ships, and now he had apparently decided to forsake the Compagnie Transatlantique only on account of Alice Harrington’s invitation.
“I shall be charmed,” was all he had said.
Monty felt that he was a co-conspirator of one who was not likely to be upset by trifles. He sighed. A day or so ago he had imagined himself ill-used by Fate because no unusual excitement had come his way, and now his prayers had been answered too abundantly. The phrase “If I live” remained in his memory with unpleasant insistency.
“We ought to cross the Channel by the afternoon boat to-morrow,” Alice said. “There are one or two things I want to get for Michael in London.”
“It will be a much nicer voyage for me than if I had gone alone on La Provence,” Denby said gratefully, while Monty continued to meditate on the duplicity of his sex.
When they had taken Mrs. Harrington to her hotel Monty burst out with what he had been compelled to keep secret all the evening.
“What in thunder makes you so careful about people smuggling?” he demanded.
“About other people smuggling, you mean,” Denby corrected.
“It’s the same thing,” Monty asserted.
“Far from it,” his friend made answer. “If Mrs. Harrington is suspected and undeclared stuff found on her, you and I as her companions will be more or less under suspicion too. It is not unusual for women to ask their men friends to put some little package in their pockets till the customs have been passed. The inspectors may have an idea that she has done this with us. Personally I don’t relish a very exhaustive search.”
“You bet you don’t,” his friend returned. “I shall probably be the only honest man aboard.”
“Mrs. Harrington may ask you to hold some small parcel till she’s been through the ordeal,” Denby reminded him. “If she does, Monty, you’ll be caught for a certainty.”
“Damn it all!” Monty cried petulantly, “why can’t you people do the right thing and declare what you bring in, just as I do?”
“What is your income?” Denby inquired. “Your father was always liberal with you.”
“You mean I have no temptation?” Monty answered. “I forgot that part of it. I don’t know what I’d do if there wasn’t always a convenient paying teller who passed me out all the currency I wanted.”
He looked at his friend curiously, wondering just what this act of smuggling meant to him. Perhaps Denby sensed this.
“You probably wondered why I wrung that invitation out of Mrs. Harrington instead of being honest and saying I, too, was going by the Cunard line. I can’t tell you now, Monty, old man, but I hope some day if I’m successful that I can. I tell you this much, though, that it seems so much to me that no little conventionalities are going to stand in my way.”
Monty, pondering on this later when he was in his hotel room, called to mind the rumor he had heard years ago that Steven’s father had died deeply in debt. It was for this reason that the boy was suddenly withdrawn from Groton. It might be that his struggles to make a living had driven him into regarding the laws against smuggling as arbitrary and inequitable just as Alice Harrington and dozens of other people he knew did. Denby, he argued, had paid good money for the pearls and they belonged to him absolutely; and if by his skill he could evade the payment of duty upon them and sell them at a profit, why shouldn’t he? Before slumber sealed his eyes, Montague Vaughan had decided that smuggling was as legitimate a sport as fly-fishing. That these views would shock his father he knew. But his father always prided himself upon a traditional conservatism.
LESS than an hour before the Mauretania reached Quarantine, James Duncan, whose rank was that of Customs Inspector and present assignment the more important one of assistant to Daniel Taylor, a Deputy-Surveyor, threw away the stub of cigar and reached for the telephone.
When central had given him his number he called out: “Is that you, Ford?” Apparently the central had not erred and his face took on a look of intentness as he gave the man at the other end of the line his instructions. “Say, Ford,” he called, “I’ve got something mighty important for you. Directly the Mauretania gets into Quarantine, go through the declarations and ’phone me right away whether a man named Steven Denby declares a pearl necklace valued at two hundred thousand dollars. No. No, not that name, Denby, D-E-N-B-Y. Steven Denby. That’s right. A big case you say? I should bet it is a big case. Never you mind who’s handling it, Ford. It may be R. J., or it may not. Don’t you worry about a little thing like that. It’s your job to ’phone me as soon as you get a peek at those declarations. Let Hammett work with you. Bye-bye.”
He hung up the receiver and leaned back in his chair, well satisfied with himself. He was a spare, hatchet-faced man, who held down his present position because he was used to those storm warnings he could see on his chief’s face and knew enough to work in the dark and never ask for explanations.
He did not, for instance, lean back in his chair and smoke cigars with a lordly air when Deputy-Surveyor Daniel Taylor was sitting in his big desk in the window opposite. At such times Duncan worked with silent fury and felt he had evened up matters when he found a Customs Inspector whom he could impress with his own superiority.
When a step in the outside passage warned him that his chief might possibly be coming in, he settled down in an attitude of work. But there entered only Harry Gibbs, dressed in the uniform of a Customs Inspector. Gibbs was a fat, easy man, whose existence was all the more pleasant because of his eager interest in gossip. None knew so well as Gibbs the undercurrent of speculation which the lesser lights of the Customs term office politics. If the Collector frowned, Gibbs instantly dismissed the men upon whom his displeasure had fallen and conjured up erroneous reasons concerning high official wrath. Since Duncan was near to a man in power, Gibbs welcomed any opportunity to converse with him. He seldom came away from such an interview empty-handed. He was a pleasant enough creature and filled with mild wonder at the vagaries of Providence.
Just now he seemed hot but that was not unusual, for he was rarely comfortable during the summer months as he complained frequently. He seemed worried, Duncan thought.
“Hello, Jim,” he said when he entered.
Duncan assumed the inquisitorial air his chief had in a marked degree.
“Thought you were searching tourists on the Olympic this afternoon,” he replied.
Gibbs mopped his perspiring head, “I was,” he answered. “I had two thousand crazy women, all of ’em swearing they hadn’t brought in a thing. Gosh! Women is liars.”
“What are you doing over here?” Duncan asked.
“I brought along a dame they want your boss Taylor to look over. It needs a smart guy like him to land her. Where is he?”
“Down with Malone now; he’ll be back soon.”
Gibbs sank into a chair with a sigh of relief. “He don’t have to hurry on my account. I’ll be tickled to stay here all day. I’m sick of searching trunks that’s got nothing in ’em but clothes. It ain’t like the good old days, Jim. In them times if you treated a tourist right he’d hand you his business card, and when you showed up in his office next day, he’d come across without a squeal. I used to know the down-town business section pretty well in them days.”
“So did I. Why, when I was inspector, if you had any luck picking out your passenger you’d find twenty dollars lying right on the top tray of the first trunk he opened up for you.”
Gibbs sighed again. It seemed the golden age was passing.
“And believe me,” he said, “when that happened to me I never opened any more of his trunks, I just labeled the whole bunch. But now—why, since this new administration got in I’m so honest it’s pitiful.”
Duncan nodded acquiescence.
“It’s a hell of a thing when a government official has to live on his salary,” he said regretfully. “They didn’t ought to expect it of us.”
“What do they care?” Gibbs asserted bitterly, and then added with that inquiring air which had frequently been mistaken for intelligence: “Ain’t it funny that it’s always women who smuggle? They’ll look you right in the eye and lie like the very devil, and if you do land ’em they ain’t ashamed, only sore!”
Duncan assumed his most superior air.
“I guess men are honester than women, Jim, and that’s the whole secret.”
“They certainly are about smuggling,” the other returned. “Why, we grabbed one of these here rich society women this morning and pulled out about forty yards of old lace—and say, where do you think she had it stowed?”
“Sewed it round her petticoat,” Duncan said with a grin. He had had experience.
Gibbs shook his head, “No. It was in a hot-water bottle. That was a new one on me. Well, when we pinched her she just turned on me as cool as you please: ‘You’ve got me now, but damn you, I’ve fooled you lots of times before!’”
Gibbs leaned back in enjoyment of his own imitation of the society lady’s voice and watched Duncan looking over some declaration papers. Duncan looked up with a smile. “Say, here’s another new one. Declaration from a college professor who paid duty on spending seventy-five francs to have his shoes half-soled in Paris.”
But Gibbs was not to be outdone.
“That’s nothing,” said he, “a gink this morning declared a gold tooth. I didn’t know how to classify it so I just told him nobody’d know if he’d keep his mouth shut. It was a back tooth. He did slip me a cigar, but women who are smugglin’ seem to think it ain’t honest to give an inspector any kind of tip.” Gibbs dived into an inner pocket and brought out a bunch of aigrettes. “The most I can do now is these aigrettes. I nipped ’em off of a lady coming down the gangplank of the Olympic. They ain’t bad, Jim.”
Duncan rose from his chair and came over to Gibbs’ side and took the plume from his hand.
“Can’t you guys ever get out of the habit of grafting?” he demanded. “Queer,” he continued, looking at the delicate feathers closely, “how some soft, timid little bit of a woman is willing to wear things like that. Do you know where they come from?”
“From some factory, I s’pose,” Gibbs answered with an air of candor.
“No they don’t,” Duncan told him. “They take ’em from the mother bird just when she’s had her young ones; they leave her half dead with the little ones starving. Pretty tough, I call it, on dumb animals,” he concluded, with so sentimental a tone as to leave poor Gibbs amazed. He was still more amazed when his fellow inspector put them in his own pocket and went back to his desk.
“Say, Jim,” Gibbs expostulated, “what are you doing with them?”
“Why, my wife was asking this morning if I couldn’t get her a bunch. These’ll come in just right.”
“You’re a funny guy to talk about grafting,” Gibbs grumbled, “I ain’t showing you nothin’ more.”
“Never you mind me,” Duncan commanded. “You keep your own eyes peeled. Old man Taylor’s been raising the deuce around here about reports that some of you fellows still take tips.”
Gibbs had heard such rumors too often for them to affect him now. “Oh, it’s just the usual August holler,” he declared.
Duncan contradicted him, “No, it isn’t,” he observed. “It’s because the Collector and the Secretary of the Treasury have started an investigation about who’s getting the rake-off for allowing stuff to slip through. I heard the Secretary was coming over here to-day. You keep your eyes peeled, Harry.”
“If times don’t change,” Gibbs said with an air of gloom, “I’m going into the police department.”
He turned about to see if the steps he heard at the door were those of the man he had come to see. He breathed relief when he saw it was only Peter, the doorkeeper.
“Mr. Duncan,” said the man, “Miss Ethel Cartwright has just ’phoned that she’s on her way and would be here in fifteen minutes.”
Gibbs looked from one to the other with his accustomed mild interest. He could see that the news of which he could make little had excited Duncan. It was evidently something important. Directly the doorkeeper had gone Duncan called his chief on the telephone and Gibbs sauntered nearer the ’phone. To hear both sides of the conversation would make it much easier.
“Got a cigar, Jim?” he inquired casually of the other, who was holding the wire.
“Yes,” said Duncan, taking one from his pocket.
Gibbs reached a fat hand over for it, “Thanks,” he returned simply.
Duncan bit the end off and put it in his own mouth. “And I’m going to smoke it myself,” he observed.
Gibbs shook his head reprovingly at this want of generosity and took a cigar from his own pocket. “All right then; I’ll have to smoke one of my own.”
Just then Duncan began to speak over the wire. “Hello. Hello, Chief. Miss Ethel Cartwright just ’phoned she’d be here in fifteen minutes.... Yes, sir.... I’ll have her wait.”
When he had rung off, Gibbs could see his interest was increasing. “What do you think of her falling for a bum stall like that?”
“Who?” Gibbs demanded. “Which? What stall?”
“Why, Miss Cartwright!” said Duncan. “Ain’t I talking about her?”
“Well, who is she?” the aggrieved Gibbs cried. “Is she a smuggler?”
“No. She’s a swell society girl,” said Duncan in a superior manner.
“If she ain’t a smuggler, what’s she here for then?” Gibbs had a gentle pertinacity in sticking to his point.
“The Chief wants to use her in the Denby case, so he had me write her a letter saying we’d received a package from Paris containing dutiable goods, a diamond ring, and would she kindly call this afternoon and straighten out the matter.” Duncan now assumed an air of triumph. “And she fell for a fake like that!”
“I get you,” said Gibbs. “But what does he want her for?”
“I told you, the Denby case.”
“What’s that?” Gibbs entreated.
Duncan lowered his voice. “The biggest smuggling job Taylor ever handled.”
“You don’t say so,” Gibbs returned, duly impressed. “Why, nobody’s told me anything about it.”
“Can you keep your mouth shut?” Duncan inquired mysteriously.
“Sure,” Gibbs declared. “I ain’t married.”
“Then just take a peek out of the door, will you?” Duncan directed.
The other did as he was bid. “It’s all right,” he declared, finding the corridor empty.
“I never know when he may stop out there and listen to what I’m saying. You can hear pretty plain.”
“He is the original pussy-foot, ain’t he,” Gibbs returned. He had known of Taylor’s reputation for finding out what was going on in his office by any method. “Now, what’s it all about?”
Duncan grew very confidential.
“Last week the Chief got a cable from Harlow, a salesman in Cartier’s.”
“What’s Cartier’s?” Gibbs inquired.
“The biggest jewelry shop in Paris. Harlow’s our secret agent there. His cable said that an American named Steven Denby had bought a pearl necklace there for a million francs. That’s two hundred thousand dollars.”
“Gee!” Gibbs cried, duly impressed by such a sum, “But who’s Steven Denby? Some new millionaire? I never heard of him.”
“Neither did I,” Duncan told him; “and we can’t find out anything about him and that’s what makes us so suspicious. You ought to be able to get some dope on a man who can fling two hundred thousand dollars away on a string of pearls.”
Gibbs’ professional interest was aroused. “Did he slip it by the Customs, then?”
“He hasn’t landed yet,” Duncan answered. “He’s on the Mauretania.”
“Why, she’s about due,” Gibbs cried.
“I know,” Duncan retorted, “I’ve just had Ford on the ’phone about it. This fellow Denby is traveling with Montague Vaughan—son of the big banker—and Mrs. Michael Harrington.”
“You mean the Mrs. Michael Harrington?” Gibbs demanded eagerly.
“Sure,” Duncan exclaimed, “there’s only one.”
Gibbs was plainly disappointed at this ending to the story.
“If he’s a friend of Mrs. Harrington and young Vaughan, he ain’t no smuggler. He’ll declare the necklace.”
“The Chief has a hunch he won’t,” Duncan said. “He thinks this Denby is some slick confidence guy who has wormed his way into the Harringtons’ confidence so he won’t be suspected.”
Gibbs considered the situation for a moment.
“Maybe he ain’t traveling with the party at all but just picked ’em up on the boat.”
Duncan shook his head. “No, he’s a friend all right. She’s taking him down to the Harrington place at Westbury direct from the dock. One of the stewards on the Mauretania is our agent and he sent us a copy of her wireless to old man Harrington.”
“He sounds to me like a sort of smart-set Raffles,” Gibbs asserted.
“You’ve got it right,” Duncan said approvingly.
“What’s Taylor going to do?” Gibbs asked next.
“He’s kind of up against it,” Duncan returned. “I don’t know what he’ll do yet. If Denby’s on the level and we pinch him and search him and don’t find anything, think of the roar that Michael Harrington—and he’s worth about ninety billion—will put up at Washington because we frisked one of his pals. Why, he’d go down there and kick to his swell friends and we’d all be fired.”
“I ain’t in on it,” Gibbs said firmly; “they’ve no cause to fire me. But how does this Miss Cartwright come in on the job?”
“I don’t know except that she is going down to the Harringtons’ this afternoon and Taylor’s got some scheme on hand. I tell you he’s a pretty smart boy.”
“You bet he is,” Gibbs returned promptly, “and may be he’s smarter than you know. Ever hear of R. J.?”
“R. J.?” Duncan repeated. “You mean that secret service agent?”
“Yes,” Gibbs told him with an air of one knowing secret things. “They say he’s a pal of the President’s.”
“Well, what’s that to do with this?” Duncan wanted to know.
“Don’t you know who he is?”
“No,” Duncan retorted, “and neither does anyone else. Nobody but the President and the Secretary of the Treasury knows who he really is.”
Gibbs rose from his chair and patted his chest proudly. “Well, I know, too,” he declared.
Duncan laughed contemptuously. “Yes, you do, just the same as I do—that he’s the biggest man in the secret service, and that’s all you know.”
Gibbs smiled complacently. “Ain’t it funny,” he observed, “that you right here in the office don’t know?”
“Don’t know what?” Duncan retorted sharply; he disliked Gibbs in a patronizing rôle.
“That your boss Taylor is R. J.”
“Taylor!” Duncan cried. “You’re crazy! The heat’s got you, Harry.”
“Oh, indeed!” Gibbs said sarcastically. “Do you remember the Stuyvesant case?”
Duncan nodded.
“And do you remember that when Taylor took his vacation last year R. J. did some great work in the Crosby case? Put two and two together, Jim, and may be you’ll see daylight.”
“By George!” Duncan exclaimed, now impressed by Gibbs’ news. “I believe you’re right. Taylor never will speak about this R. J., now I come to think of it.” He raised his head as the sound of voices was heard in the passage.
“There he is,” Duncan whispered busying himself with a sheaf of declarations.
Gibbs looked toward the opening door nervously. It was one thing to criticize the deputy-surveyor in his absence and another to meet his look and endure his satire. His collar seemed suddenly too small, and he chewed his cigar violently.
DANIEL TAYLOR entered quickly without acknowledging the presence of his inferiors and crossed to his desk by the window. He was a man above medium height, broad of shoulder, thick through the chest and giving the idea of one who was alert and aggressive mentally and physically. Those in the service who had set themselves against him had been broken. His path had been strewn with other men’s regrets; but Taylor climbed steadily, never caring for what was below, but grasping eagerly for power.
Naturally a man of his type must have had other qualities than mere aggressiveness to aid him in such vigorous competition. He had commended himself to the powers above him for snap judgment and quick action. And although men of his temperament must inevitably make mistakes, it was notorious that Taylor made fewer than his rivals.
Toward men like Duncan and Gibbs who were not destined to rise, men who could be replaced without trouble, Taylor paid small heed. They did what he told them and if they failed he never forgot. It was to the men above him that Taylor showed what small social gifts nature had given him. He had sworn to rise in the service and he cultivated only those who might aid him.
After glancing over the papers arranged on his desk he called to Duncan: “Has Miss Cartwright been here yet?”
“No, sir,” Duncan responded promptly.
His superior pushed the buzzer on his desk and then looked across at the uncomfortable Gibbs. “Want to see me?” he snapped.
“Yes, sir,” Gibbs made answer as Peter the doorkeeper entered in answer to Taylor’s summons.
“Then wait outside,” Taylor said, “I’ll see you in five minutes.”
“Yes, sir,” Gibbs said obediently and made his exit.
The deputy-surveyor turned toward the attendant. “Peter, let me know the instant Miss Cartwright arrives. Don’t forget; it’s important. That’s all.”
He dismissed Peter with a nod and then called to Duncan.
“Did Bronson of the New York Burglar Insurance Company send over some papers to me relating to the theft of Miss Cartwright’s jewels?”
Duncan took a long envelope and laid it on his chief’s desk. “Here they are, sir.”
Taylor looked at the documents eagerly. “By George!” he cried, when he had looked into them, “I knew I was right. I knew there was something queer about the way her diamonds were stolen.”
Duncan looked at him frowning. He prided himself upon his grasp of detail and here was the Chief talking about a case he knew naught of. “What diamonds?” he asked. “The case wasn’t in our office, was it?”
“No,” said Taylor, “this is a little outside job my friend Bronson’s mixed up in, but it may be a help to us.” He went on reading the papers and presently exclaimed: “It’s a frame-up. She wasn’t robbed, although she collected from the company on a false claim.”
“But I can’t see—” the puzzled Duncan returned.
“No,” said his chief, cutting him short. “If you could, you’d have my job. Has the Mauretania got to Quarantine yet?”
“Not yet, sir,” Duncan answered.
“Telephone Brown to notify you the minute she does. Tell him we’ve got to know as soon as possible whether Denby declares that necklace; everything depends on that.”
“But he may declare it,” Duncan observed sagely.
“If he does we haven’t a case,” his superior said briefly, “but I’ve a feeling there’s not going to be a declaration.”
“I think so, too,” Duncan asserted, “and I’m holding Ford and Hammett to search him.”
Taylor frowned and drummed on the desk with his fingers. “I don’t know that I want him searched. Let them do nothing without my instructions.”
“But, Chief,” Duncan protested, “if he doesn’t declare the necklace and you don’t have him searched he’ll smuggle it in.”
“I know, I know,” Taylor said impatiently, “but I’ve got to be cautious how I go about taking liberties with a friend of Michael Harrington’s. He has more influence than you’ve any idea of. We’ve got to be sure we have the goods on Denby.”
Duncan looked at the other with grudging admiration. “Well, I guess it won’t take R. J. very long to land him.”
Taylor turned on the speaker with a scowl. “What’s he got to do with this?”
“I thought you might have interested him in it,” Duncan said meaningly.
“I don’t know anything about him,” Taylor returned.
It was like the Chief to refuse to take his underlings into his confidence, Duncan thought, so he took his cue and changed the subject.
“Well,” he said, reverting to the proposed search of Denby, “if we don’t go through him at the dock, what are we going to do?”
“Let him slide through easily and think he’s fooled us,” Taylor said. “He may be pretty clever. Do you remember that man who stuck the sapphire we were hunting for into a big rosy apple he gave to a woman in the second cabin and then took it away from her before she had time to eat it? We’ll see if he talks to anyone, but I think he’ll take the pearls right down to Westbury. He’ll be off his guard when once he gets down there.”
“Have you got one of the Harrington servants to spy for us?” Duncan cried.
“I’ve got what will be better than that with a little luck,” Taylor said with a smile. “Don’t you know that Miss Ethel Cartwright is going down to Westbury this afternoon to spend the week-end with the Harringtons?”
“You don’t mean you’re going to use her?” Duncan exclaimed, incredulity in his tone.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it, Jim?”
“It would be a peach of an idea if you could do it, but can you?”
Taylor chuckled. It was plain he had some scheme in his crafty brain that pleased him more than a little.
“I’m going to answer that as soon as I’ve had a little confidential chat with Miss Cartwright.”
He broke off to turn to the doorway through which Gibbs’ head protruded.
“Can I see you now, Chief?” Gibbs asked.
“What is it?” Taylor snapped.
“There’s a deaf and dumb chicken out here,” Gibbs replied anxiously.
“A what?” the other demanded.
“A girl that can’t hear or speak or write. They say she’s smuggled a bracelet in but they’ve searched her eight times and can’t get a trace of it, so they sent her to you.”
“They don’t expect me to make the ninth attempt, do they?” the Chief queries.
“Why, no,” Gibbs told him, “but they thought you might hand her the third degree.”
“Bring her in,” the autocrat commanded. When Gibbs had closed the door Taylor turned to Duncan. “She’s probably bluffing. Put that chair here. We’ll try the gun gag on her. There’s a revolver in my second drawer. When I say ‘Go,’ you shoot. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Duncan said, anticipating a theatrical scene in which his chief would shine as usual. Duncan always enjoyed such episodes; he felt he shone with reflected power.
Gibbs dragged in a young girl and stood her in front of the chair to which the Chief had beckoned. “Sit down,” Gibbs commanded. The afflicted woman who was named, so Gibbs said, Sarah Peabody, remained standing. “Hey, squattez-vous,” her captor commanded again in a louder voice. Still Sarah was unmoved. Gibbs scratched his head and summoned his linguistic attainments to his aid.
“Setzen sie,” he shouted, but Miss Peabody remained erect.
Gibbs turned away with a gesture of despairing dignity. “I’m done,” he asserted; “that’s all the languages I know. I used to think it was a terrible thing that women could talk, but I guess the Almighty knowed more than I did.”
Duncan essayed more active measures. He pushed her into the seat. “Hey you,” cried he, “sit down there.”
Gibbs watched a little apprehensively. If Sarah Peabody had been normal, he would have pictured her as a slangy and fluent young woman with a full-sized temper. He had dealt with such before and they invariably defeated him in wordy combat. In duels of this sort Gibbs was slow to get off the mark.
Taylor came toward the afflicted one and looked shrewdly into her face. “She’s not shamming,” said he. “She’s got that stupid look they all have when they’re deaf and dumb.” He watched her closely as he said this.
“She ain’t spoke all day,” Gibbs volunteered, “and no woman what could, would keep from talking that long.”
“Women will do a lot for diamonds,” his chief observed.
“None of ’em ever do me for none,” Gibbs remarked placidly.
Suddenly Taylor addressed the girl roughly. “If you’re acting,” he cried, “you’d better give it up, because I’m certain to find out, and if I do, I’ll send you to jail.” Still the girl paid no attention but only stared ahead blankly. “So you won’t answer, eh?” said her inquisitor. “Going to force my hand, are you?” He raised his hand to signal Duncan and then added: “Go.”
The loud report of the revolver, while it made Gibbs jump, had no effect upon the young woman. Taylor shook his head wisely. “I guess she’s deaf and dumb all right, poor girl. What’s it all about, Gibbs? What is it you think she’s done?”
“She’s got a bracelet chuck-full of diamonds, and we can’t find it.”
“How do you know she’s got it?” the Chief asked.
“She showed it to a woman who was in the same cabin,” Gibbs returned, “and the woman came and tipped us off.”
“Why, the dirty hussy!” cried the girl, who had previously been bereft of hearing and speech, rising to her feet, her eyes flashing, and her whole face denoting rage.
Gibbs looked at her, his eyes bulging with startled surprise, and then turned his ox-like gaze upon Taylor.
“For the love of Mike!” said Gibbs at length, but Sarah Peabody cut short any other exclamations.
“Do you know why she told about me?” the girl demanded. “She wanted to alibi herself and make you folks thinks she was an honest God-fearing lady that would never smuggle—and she had four times as much as I did. Why, it was her who put me up to smuggling and taught me to be deaf and dumb.” Sarah ground her white teeth in anger. “I’d like to meet her again some time.”
“You shall,” Taylor cried. “When we arrest her we’ll need your evidence to testify against her.”
“You can bet I won’t be deaf and dumb then,” Miss Peabody cried viciously.
“Where’s the bracelet?” Taylor snapped. “Don’t waste time now.”
But the smuggler was no fool and not intimidated by his tones. “Wait a minute,” she said craftily. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“Produce it, pay the duty, and we’ll let you go free for the tip.”
“You’re on,” said Sarah joyously. “Just take a look at the ring handle of my parasol. I’ve painted over the stones, that’s all.”
Gibbs grabbed it from her and examined it closely. “Well, can you approach that?” he said helplessly. “And I’ve been carrying it around all day!”
Taylor turned from his examination of the parasol as Peter the doorkeeper entered. “Miss Cartwright here?” he asked quickly.
“Yes, sir,” answered the man. “She’s just arrived.”
“Bring her in as soon as these get out,” Taylor said dismissing him.
“Take her away now, Gibbs,” he said, indicating the owner of the magic parasol. “Turn her over to Shorey, he can handle her from now on.”
“All right, sir,” Gibbs said, still undecided as to why he had been fooled.
Sarah looked at him with scorn. “I’ll be glad to have someone else on the job. I’m sick o’ trottin’ around with a fat guy like him.”
“Say, now,” Gibbs protested in an injured manner.
But Taylor had a bigger scheme on hand and waved her away impatiently. “Take her along, Gibbs.”
She gave Taylor an impudent little nod of farewell. “Ta-ta old Sport. I certainly fooled you, when you had that gun shot off.”
Gibbs had grabbed her by the arm and was now pushing her toward the door. “And I could have kept it up,” Miss Peabody asserted in a shrill tone, “if it hadn’t made me sore, her putting over one on me like that. And she was so blamed nice to me. But when one woman’s nice to another she means mischief, you can bet your B. V. D.’s.”
Even Taylor smiled as she went. He had nearly met defeat but his habitual luck had made him victor in the end. He hoped it would aid him in a far more difficult interview which was to come.
Duncan took advantage of his good humor to ask a question.
“Do you really think you can get Miss Cartwright to help us on the Denby case?”
He had so often seen her name in the society columns that he doubted if his chief, clever as he was, could successfully influence her.
Taylor looked at him curiously. There was in his eyes a look that spoke of more than a faint hope of success. Few knew better than Duncan of his ability to make men and women his tools.
“Jim,” he said with an air of confidence, “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she offered to help us.”
The door opened and Peter entered.
“Miss Ethel Cartwright,” he announced.
Taylor rose to his feet as she entered and bowed with what grace he could as he motioned her to a chair.
Miss Cartwright was a tall, strikingly pretty woman of twenty-seven, who looked at the deputy-surveyor with the perfect self-possession which comes so easily to those whose families have long been of the cultured and leisured classes. It was plain that this rather languid young lady regarded him merely as some official whom she was bound to see regarding a matter of business.
“Sorry if I kept you waiting, Miss Cartwright,” Taylor said briskly.
“It doesn’t matter in the least,” she returned graciously. “I’ve never been at the Customs before. I found it quite interesting.”
“My name is Taylor,” he said, “and I’m a deputy-surveyor.”
“You wanted to see me about a ring, I think, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he answered. “The intention evidently was to smuggle it through the Customs.”
“Do you really think so?” she demanded, interested. “I haven’t the faintest idea who could have sent it to me.”
“Of course you haven’t,” he said in his blandest, most reassuring manner. It was a manner that made the listening Duncan wonder what was to follow. His chief was always most deadly when he purred. “It’s a mistake,” he continued, “but the record will probably shed some light on the matter. Duncan,” he called sharply, “go and get those papers relating to Miss Cartwright.”
His assistant looked at him blankly.
“Papers?” he repeated. “What papers, sir?”
“The papers relating to the package sent Miss Cartwright from Paris.” There was a significance in his tone that was not lost on Duncan. Gibbs would have argued it out, but Duncan though in the dark followed his cue.
“Oh, those papers,” he answered. “I’ll get ’em, sir.”
When he had gone the girl turned to Taylor.
“Do you know,” she asserted, “I feel quite excited at being here and sitting in a chair in which you probably often examine smugglers. One reads about it constantly.”
“It’s being done all the time,” he responded, “among all sorts of people. Now, Miss Cartwright, since we are talking of smuggling, I’d like to have a little business chat with you if I may.”
The girl looked at him astonished. She could not conceive that a man like the one looking at her could be serious in talking of a business proposition.
“With me?” she demanded, and Taylor could see that the idea was not pleasing. He resolved to abandon his usual hectoring tactics and adopt softer modes.
“I mean it,” he asserted. “You said you’ve read about all this smuggling and so on. Believe me, you’ve not read a thousandth part of what’s going on all the time, despite all our efforts to check it. The difficult part is that many of the women are so socially prominent that it isn’t easy to detect them. They move in the sort of world you move in.” He leaned forward and spoke impressively. “But it’s a world where neither I nor my men could pass muster for a moment. Do you follow me?”
“I hear what you say,” she said, “but—”
He interrupted her, “Miss Cartwright, we are looking for someone who belongs in society by right. Someone who is clever enough to provide us with information and yet never be suspected. We want someone above suspicion. We want someone, for instance, like you.”
That his proposition was offensive to her he could see from the faint flush that passed over her face and the rather haughty tone that she adopted.
“Really, Mr. Taylor,” she cried, “you probably mean well, but—”
Again he cut her short.
“Just listen a moment, Miss Cartwright,” he begged. “I have reason to know that your family has been in financial difficulties since your father died.” He looked at her shrewdly. “The position I hinted at could be made very profitable. How would you like to enter the secret service of the United States Customs?” He could see she was far from being placated at his hint of financial reward.
“This is quite too preposterous,” she said icily. “It may possibly be your idea of a joke, Mr. Taylor, but it is not mine.”
“I’m not joking,” he cried, “I’m in dead earnest.”
“If that’s the case,” she returned, rising, “I must ask you to get the papers regarding the ring.”
“They’ll be here at any moment,” he answered. “I’m sorry you don’t care to entertain my proposition, but it’s your business after all. By the way,” he added, after a moment’s pause, “there’s another little matter I’d like to take up with you while we’re waiting. Do you recall a George Bronson, the claim agent of the New York Burglar Insurance Company, the company which insured the jewels that were stolen from you?”
“I think I do,” she returned slowly, “but—”
“Well, that company has had a great deal of trouble with society women who have got money by pawning their jewels and then putting in a claim that they were stolen and so recovering from the company on the alleged loss.”
The girl looked at him, frowning. “Are you trying to insinuate that—”
“Certainly not,” Taylor purred amiably. “Why, no. I’m merely explaining that that’s what Bronson thought at first, but after investigating, he found out how absurd the idea was.”
“Naturally,” she said coldly.
She had come into the deputy-surveyor’s office with an agreeable curiosity regarding a present sent her from Paris. But the longer she stayed, the less certain did she feel concerning this hard-faced man opposite her, who had the strangest manner and made the most extraordinary propositions. What business was it of his that her jewels had been stolen?
“But there were some things he could not understand,” Taylor went on.
“May I ask,” she cried, “what Mr. Bronson’s inability to understand has to do with you?”
“Simply,” said Taylor with an appearance of great frankness, “that he happens to be a very good friend of mine and often consults me about things that puzzle him. The theft of those jewels of yours mystified him greatly.”
“Mystified him?” the girl retorted. “It was perfectly simple.”
“Perhaps you won’t mind telling me the circumstances of the case.”
“Really,” she returned sub-acidly, “I don’t quite understand how this concerns the Customs.”
“It doesn’t,” he agreed readily, “I am acting only as Bronson’s friend and if you’ll answer my questions I may be able to recover the jewels for you.”
The girl’s face cleared. So far from acting inimically, Mr. Taylor was actually going to help her. She smiled for the first time, and resumed her seat.
“That will be splendid,” she exclaimed. “I did not understand. Of course I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“The first feature that impressed Bronson,” said the deputy-surveyor, “and me, I’m bound to add, was that the theft seemed to be an inside job.”
“What does that mean?” Miss Cartwright queried, interested.
“That there was no evidence that a thief had broken into your home.”
“But what other explanation could there be?” she inquired. “Our family consists of just my mother, my sister and myself, and two old servants who have lived with us for years, so of course it wasn’t any of us.”
“Naturally not,” Taylor agreed as though this explanation had solved his doubts. “But how did you come to discover the loss of the diamonds?”
“I didn’t discover it myself,” she told him. “I was at Bar Harbor.”
“Oh,” said Taylor with the confidential air of a family physician. “You were away. I see! Who did find out?”
“My sister. It was she who missed them.”
“Oh, your sister missed them, did she?” he said.
He pushed the buzzer and wrote something on a slip of paper.
“So of course,” the girl continued, “it must have been some thief from the outside.”
Taylor looked thoughtful. “I suppose you’re right,” he admitted, and then asked quickly: “I wonder if you’d mind telephoning your sister to come down here now?”