Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction; Swindlers and swindling -- Fiction
"He is tall, standing fully six feet, I should think," she said at last,
"with red hair and watery blue eyes, in the left of which there is a
slight cast. He is broad-shouldered and, in spite of his long residence
in America, speaks with a decided brogue. I know them for desperate
men, and if they come over to England may God help us all. Mr. Klimo,
you don’t think the police will take my father?"
"Not if you implicitly obey my instructions," he answered.
Klimo thought for a few seconds, and then continued: "If you wish me to
undertake this business, which I need hardly tell you is out of my usual
line, you will now go home and send me the photograph you spoke of a few
moments since. After that you will take no sort of action until you
hear from me again. For certain reasons of my own I shall take this
matter up, and will do my utmost to save your father. One word of
advice first, say nothing to anybody, but pack your father’s boxes and
be prepared to get him out of England, if necessary, at a moment’s
notice."
The girl rose and made as if she would leave the room, but instead of
doing so she stood irresolute. For a few moments she said nothing, but
fumbled with the handle of her parasol and breathed heavily. Then the
pluck which had so far sustained her gave way entirely, and she fell
back on her chair crying as if her heart would break. Klimo instantly
left his box and went round to her. He made a figure queer enough to
please any one, in his old-fashioned clothes, his skull-cap, his long
grey hair reaching almost to his shoulders, and with his smoked glass
spectacles perched upon his nose.
"Why cry, my dear young lady?" said Klimo. "Have I not promised to do my
best for you? Let us, however, understand each other thoroughly. If
there is anything you are keeping back you must tell me. By not speaking
out you are imperilling your own and your father’s safety."
"I know that you must think that I am endeavoring to deceive you," she
said; "but I am so terribly afraid of committing myself that I hardly
know what to tell and what not to tell. I have come to you, having no
friends in the whole world save my husband, who is in Marseilles, and my
father, who, as I have said, is lying dangerously ill in our house.
"Of course I know what my father has been. Surely you cannot suppose
that a grown-up girl like myself could be so dense as not to guess why
few save Irishmen visited our house, and why at times there were men
staying with us for weeks at a time, who lived in the back rooms and
never went outside our front door, and who, when they did take their
departure, sneaked out in the dead of night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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