“Well!” The girl’s voice cut into his train of thought and he hurriedly pulled himself together.
“The last thing I want is for the incident to finish,” he said fervently. “Why—it’s only just begun.”
“Then you’ll help me?”
“That’s what I’m here for.” With a smile Drummond lit another cigarette. “Tell me all about it.”
“The trouble,” she began after a moment, “is that there is not very much to tell. At present it is largely guesswork, and guesswork without much of a clue. However, to start with, I had better tell you what sort of men you are up against. Firstly, Henry Lakington—the man who spoke to me. He was, I believe, one of the most brilliant scientists who has ever been up at Oxford. There was nothing, in his own line, which would not have been open to him, had he run straight. But he didn’t. He deliberately chose to turn his brain to crime. Not vulgar, common sorts of crime—but the big things, calling for a master criminal. He has always had enough money to allow him to take his time over any coup—to perfect his details. And that’s what he loves. He regards a crime as an ordinary man regards a complicated business deal—a thing to be looked at and studied from all angles, a thing to be treated as a mathematical problem. He is quite unscrupulous; he is only concerned in pitting himself against the world and winning.”
“An engaging fellah,” said Hugh. “What particular form of crime does he favour?”
“Anything that calls for brain, iron nerve, and refinement of detail,” she answered. “Principally, up to date, burglary on a big scale, and murder.”
“My dear soul!” said Hugh incredulously. “How can you be sure? And why don’t you tell the police?”
She smiled wearily. “Because I’ve got no proof, and even if I had …” She gave a little shudder, and left her sentence unfinished. “But one day, my father and I were in his house, and, by accident, I got into a room I’d never been in before. It was a strange room, with two large safes let into the wall and steel bars over the skylight in the ceiling. There wasn’t a window, and the floor seemed to be made of concrete. And the door was covered with curtains, and was heavy to move—almost as if it was steel or iron. On the desk in the middle of the room lay some miniatures, and, without thinking, I picked them up and looked at them. I happen to know something about miniatures, and, to my horror, I recognised them.” She paused for a moment as a waiter went by their table.
“Do you remember the theft of the celebrated Vatican miniatures belonging to the Duke of Melbourne?”
Drummond nodded; he was beginning to feel interested.
“They were the ones I was holding in my hand,” she said quietly. “I knew them at once from the description in the papers. And just as I was wondering what on earth to do, the man himself walked into the room.”
“Awkward—deuced awkward.” Drummond pressed out his cigarette and leaned forward expectantly. “What did he do?”
“Absolutely nothing,” said the girl. “That’s what made it so awful.
“ ‘Admiring my treasures?’ he remarked. ‘Pretty things, aren’t they?’ I couldn’t speak a word: I just put them back on the table.
“ ‘Wonderful copies,’ he went on, ‘of the Duke of Melbourne’s lost miniatures. I think they would deceive most people.’
“ ‘They deceived me,’ I managed to get out.
“ ‘Did they?’ he said. ‘The man who painted them will be flattered.’
“All the time he was staring at me, a cold, merciless stare that seemed to freeze my brain. Then he went over to one of the safes and unlocked it. ‘Come here, Miss Benton,’ he said. ‘There are a lot more—copies.’
“I only looked inside for a moment, but I have never seen or thought of such a sight. Beautifully arranged on black velvet shelves were ropes of pearls, a gorgeous diamond tiara, and a whole heap of loose, uncut stones. And in one corner I caught a glimpse of the most wonderful gold chaliced cup—just like the one for which Samuel Levy, the Jew moneylender, was still offering a reward. Then he shut the door and locked it, and again stared at me in silence.
“ ‘All copies,’ he said quietly, ‘wonderful copies. And should you ever be tempted to think otherwise—ask your father, Miss Benton. Be warned by me; don’t do anything foolish. Ask your father first.’ ”
“And did you?” asked Drummond.
She shuddered. “That very evening,” she answered. “And Daddy flew into a frightful passion, and told me never to dare to meddle in things that didn’t concern me again. Then gradually, as time went on, I realised that Lakington had some hold over Daddy—that he’d got my father in his power. Daddy—of all people—who wouldn’t hurt a fly: the best and dearest man who ever breathed.” Her hands were clenched, and her breast rose and fell stormily.
Drummond waited for her to compose herself before he spoke again. “You mentioned murder, too,” he remarked.
She nodded. “I’ve got no proof,” she said, “less even than over the burglaries. But there was a man called George Dringer, and one evening, when Lakington was dining with us, I heard him discussing this man with Daddy.
“ ‘He’s got to go,’ said Lakington. ‘He’s dangerous!’
“And then my father got up and closed the door; but I heard them arguing for half an hour. Three weeks later a
