Читать книгу The Mysterious Investment - Ambrose Pratt - Страница 7

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MR. STELFOX-STEEL eyed my modest breakfast table with a surprise he took no trouble to conceal; then he glanced around the room and back again.

"Humph!" he said, "you are quite a Spartan!"

"I thought of getting something extra for you," I remarked, "but finally decided you required a lesson in simplicity of dieting. You are—pardon me—unnecessarily corpulent—and last night I saw you eating truffles?"

"Do you always breakfast so? Chocolate and toast?"

"Always—and I never take more than two meals a day—this and dinner. That is how retain my condition despite the life I lead. Though you may not guess it, I am physically one of the soundest and strongest men who enjoy the honor of your acquaintance, Mr. Steel."

The financial magnate bit thoughtfully at a slice of toast. "You are a queer bird—and that's a fact," he observed. "Where did you go after you left the Hammonds'?"

"Into that room yonder. I had some arrears of slumber to make up. Did you think I went to call on M. Rovenski?"

"I thought it possible."

"What is your business with me?"

Stelfox-Steel put down his toast and sat straight up in his chair, gripping the table tightly with both hands as he did so. "Whatever conclusion we arrive at, I expect you to respect my confidence, Sir Francis."

"Parole d'honneur."

"Thank you—the business is rather intricate, so kindly give me your absolute attention!"

I lighted a cigarette and crossed my knees. "Russian, of course?" I suggested.

He nodded and frowned. "Unhappily it is, since because of it for many reasons I am working at a disadvantage. But to begin:—Some nine months ago I contracted with a Russian syndicate on behalf of a combination of American firms to supply the former with a certain sum of money on certain conditions. The contract was in terms or steel, but the private understanding was that only gold should pass immediately. Do you grasp me?"

"Perfectly."

"Well, the loan—for such it was in effect—was to be secured with bonds carrying interest at ten per cent, and repayable at the expiration of two years; and these bonds were to be signed by a very high personage, a very high personage indeed."

"So!"

Stelfox-Steel's enormous jaws snapped shut. "I don't wish to mislead you, Coates," he said through his shut teeth. "The transaction had nothing to do with the Russian Government; it was a purely private one, although the personage who was to sign the bonds occupied a position of pre-eminence."

"Quite so!"

"To continue, then: the arrangement was that half the money should be paid down upon the transfer of the bonds, and that the remainder should be retained by us in pre-payment of steel orders."

"I see."

"This was done—the bonds for the full amount were handed to me; and I paid over the sum agreed upon to the syndicate's representative—eight months ago. Since then the steel orders have been executed, by us—but——" he paused of a sudden, and eyed me very searchingly. I returned him stare for stare. "I'm taking a big risk," he muttered.

"Not because you want to exactly, eh?" said I. His brow cleared a little, but he thought it proper to treat me to a rather original sort of threat. "Sooner or later you'd eat skilly if you played me false," he said softly. "I've never met the man yet I couldn't put in gaol by trying hard enough!"

"It is my privilege to enlarge your experience," I retorted with a laugh. "But do get on with your story, Mr. Steel—I'm booked for a game of billiards at the club in an hour. You were saying that the steel orders had been executed by you——"

"Humph!" he growled—"just so—but they have not been delivered." Then he paused again.

"No? Something wrong?" I suggested after a moment. "A fly in the amber?"

"See here, Coates, I'm going to trust you fully!" he rejoined with a scowl. "So kindly quit fooling if you can, and give me a serious assurance."

I sat up at that and bowed to him. "My word is my bond, however lightly passed," I answered gravely. "You have it already."

He nodded, and for the first time in the interview he smiled. But that soon faded, and a look of real anxiety, was in his eyes as he said: "It was more than a fly, my lad. In the meanwhile, God knows how, the Russian syndicate broke up. I am only aware of the result. Two of the members, one a prince, the other an admiral, were publicly discredited and banished from the Court. Another went insolvent. A fourth was degraded and appointed to some petty post in Vladivostock. A fifth disappeared. The sixth and last came to London, and is here now."

"But the high personage?" I cried, now deeply interested.

"It became necessary for me to inform him we were ready to complete two months ago," he answered gloomily. "His reply was an official and most absolute repudiation of all knowledge of the syndicate and its affairs!"

"But the bonds—the bonds he had signed?"

"He has declared them to be forgeries."

I whistled my astonishment away. "Then how do you stand?" I demanded.

"In an ugly hole, Sir Francis, a very ugly hole indeed. My Government declines to do anything in face of the official repudiation I informed you of; and the firms for whom I acted not only insist that I shall bear single-handed the entire loss of the money which I handed to the syndicate, but that I shall, furthermore, pay them the price agreed upon for the steel contracts."

"But can they force you to? You were only their agent, were you not?"

"Exactly, but I could not afford to resist them. Nor would I dream of doing so. In fact, I am now negotiating to compromise with their demands."

"Is a large amount involved?"

"A tidy sum. To be exact, two million five-hundred thousand pounds."

I distinctly felt the room rock. When I was able to speak I stammered out, "And you could not afford to refuse to pay a sum like that?"

"Exactly!" said the magnate calmly. "For in that case there is not a bit of paper I hold which those combined firms would not presently contrive to render valueless. And I should have to reckon, too, with the fact that I should lose their trade."

"But they would be rascals—wolves—to treat you so."

He smiled pityingly at me. "I wouldn't say that, Sir Francis. There is no friendship in business."

"And no such thing as commercial morality?" I interjected hotly.

"Depends on how you define the expression. In business the weak go always to the wall, and only fools squeal when they are pinched. I'm not squealing, my lad. Far from it. It has been a nasty blow to me, I admit, but I've got over it already, and my game now is to try and pull something out of the fire. That is why I have eaten half a slice of your toast this morning."

"I see. How can I help you?"

"Your mother was the Countess Irma Volodyovski?" he asked irrelevantly.

"Before my father married her."

"You were brought up in St. Petersburg, were you not?"

"Not altogether. I came to England soon after my twelfth birthday."

"You have estates in Russia, though?"

"They were confiscated—my mother was proscribed, you know."

"But you did not share in her proscription?"

"On the contrary. Indeed, I have twice since been a guest at the Czar's Court; but I shall never get back my estates, I fear. They are in the hands of the Church!"

The magnate nodded. "That's a pity. But never mind; if you pull off this business for me you will not need them. How do you feel about a trip to Russia, Sir Francis?"

"Well," said I, "I could do without one nicely. When would you want me to start?"

"Within a week, perhaps."

"So many people would be disappointed!" I objected.

"——their disappointment," he retorted rudely. "Look here, my lad," and he leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I have got it into my head, in spite of that official disclaimer and repudiation, that those bonds were genuinely signed. Hey, what?"

"But—but—in that case—this high personage of yours—if you are right—would be a liar and a thief!"

"Wrong, he need be nothing of the sort. He may be an innocent victim like myself."

"Then this high personage of yours must be the Czar!" I said, looking straight into his eye.

The magnate started back and flung a hasty glance around the room. Then, reassured, he turned to me again. "You have guessed correctly, Coates," he muttered.

"Then your idea is that one of his entourage or more than one, interested in the swindle, have dared to answer your inquiries in their master's name?"

He nodded, his eyes gleaming like stars. "It would be more than worth their while," he whispered, "for, can't you see, as well as the money they have got already, they will, when the bonds mature, pocket the amount of the redemption."

"But what about the steel orders? How could the Czar fail to suspect something wrong when they did not arrive?"

"I firmly believe that they have already arrived—on paper!" said the magnate quietly. "The Czar is a mere cipher. His Ministers have all the real power. Of all the things that happen or appear to happen in his realm, he only knows that which they choose to tell him. Why, his very private correspondence is overlooked and carefully examined before it reaches him; and I dare say that of even that a proportion is either censored or destroyed. You can see for yourself, Coates, that the thing is feasible."

"But you must have some other ground for your suspicions, Mr. Steel. So far, I tell you frankly, they appear to me chimerical."

The magnate pursed up his lips. "The bonds were in the first instance, soon after they reached me, sent to America," he replied. "Well, the messenger who accompanied them was assassinated in his cabin. Fortunately, however, he had taken the precaution to deposit them with the purser when he went aboard, and they reached their destination safely. The murderer was an Italian, certainly; and the fact put me off the scent at the time; but, after all, it proved nothing. To resume: they were returned into my keeping six weeks since per medium of the post. My partners thought them valueless, you see. Since then my office has been twice burgled; and on the latter occasion, my strong-room door was bored through in three places. These last facts are only, naturally, known to the police. It would damage me to make them public. But there they are. What do you make of them?"

"Curious coincidences."

"I shall give you another: every member of the now disbanded syndicate (although most of them were in responsible positions at the moment of the loan) was in reality, financially speaking, a man of straw; and, mark me, Coates, as well as that, a Nihilist."

"Oh! Oh!" said I. "I begin to share your suspicions, Mr. Steel."

"One thing more," he muttered; "not one of those members of the defunct syndicate, who occupied a responsible position at the moment of the loan, had held his appointment for a longer period than three months prior to the day on which I parted with the money."

I drew a deep breath. "Mr. Steel," said I, "you are the victim of a base conspiracy, and I have little doubt that the Czar is your companion in misfortune."

"Just so," he replied. "But the thing is to unmask it."

"Why not go yourself to Russia, and demand to see His Majesty?"

The magnate sardonically smiled. "It is scarcely a week since I returned from St. Petersburg, Sir Francis. The Czar declined to receive me, and my own ambassador as good as told me that I was qualifying rapidly for a lunatic asylum, when I hinted at the reason why I wished him to insist upon an audience."

"Did they offer you no redress at all?"

"Oh, yes, the Minister of the Interior expressed his pleasant readiness to prosecute the syndicate; but he mentioned—casually, you understand—that such a course would render my detention necessary in the capital, as a witness, for many weeks, perhaps, even months."

"Ah," said I. "So you concluded not to press the matter."

"In that form, Sir Francis. Well, you know everything now, my lad. Will you go to Russia?"

"But what to do?"

"To put a letter into the Czar's hands."

"You mean to attempt to do so. He is guarded carefully at all times, and surely with a thousand-fold intenser caution now. My life upon it—your enemies, the guilty bureaucrats—are anxiously expecting the advent of just such an emissary as you propose to send. In fact, Mr. Steel, if I undertake your mission I shall run a certain risk of ending my existence in Siberia."

"William Penn founded Pennsylvania," said the magnate drily. "Any new point in this affair that you can give me I shall pay you for at the rate of a hundred pounds a word."

"You have considered the matter very thoroughly?"

"Swept it with a hand-broom and a dust-pan—on my knees."

"Then you doubtless know exactly what you can afford to offer for my services. Name the limit at once, if you please; for I warn you that all the money you possess would fail, once said, to change my 'no' into a 'yes'."

"I am not a chafferer myself," he answered, with a scowl. "My terms, take them or leave them, are a thousand pounds down for your expenses; a thousand, win or lose, for your fee, to be paid on your return; and, should your efforts be successful in recovering all or my portion of the money, ten per cent. of the gross amount restored to me."

"Then," I said, as calmly as I could, for my heart was beating like a trip-hammer, "it is on the cards that I may make £251,000 if I accept the proposition."

"A little more if the Czar concludes to pay both principal and interest. Well?"

"Yes," I answered.

Mr. Stelfox-Steel put out his hand. "It's a bargain. Shake!" he said.

A moment later we were both afoot. "When shall I start?" I asked.

"As soon as we have got the strength of the member of the syndicate who is in London!"

"Do you believe he can be of use to us?"

"He may be. Nothing is impossible. My impression is that he is not utterly dishonest—one of your well-meaning rogues."

"You have seen him, then?" I cried.

"I have; but for certain personal reasons, which I need not go into with you, I do not intend to meet him again if I can help it."

"Then how——?" I began.

"You will deal with him in my place," replied the magnate. "And I wish you to waste no time in opening up negotiations. See him to-day if possible, and bring him to book as quickly as you can. The method—terms, etc.,—I leave entirely to your judgment. No doubt he will want a substantial bribe——"

"We could arrest and prosecute him!" I exclaimed.

"We can't; for the contract was made in Russia. You can play that card, though, and threaten him if it seems worth while; but take my word for it, your joker will be my purse. Don't deplete it any more than you can help, however—I hate throwing good money after bad. Well—good-day, Sir Francis. Drop in at my office when you have something to tell me. Au revoir!"

He put on his hat, and I opened the door for him. "Au revoir," I repeated—as he passed out; then I cried, in the same breath, "But, stay—you've forgotten to tell me the man's name—and where he lives."

"I think you know where to find him," answered the magnate, with a curious smile and backward glance. "His name is Paul Rovenski."