Three days after his search of Silvers Rents, business took Mr. Mann to
Camden Town. To be exact, he had gone at the request of the police to
Holloway Jail to see a prisoner who had turned state's evidence on a
matter in which the police and Mr. Mann were equally interested. Very
foolishly he had dismissed his taxi, and when he emerged from the doors
there was no conveyance in sight. He decided, rather than take the trams
which would have carried him to King's Cross, to walk, and, since he
hated main roads, he had taken a short cut, which, as he knew, would
lead him into the Hampstead Road.
Thus he found himself in Flowerton Road, a thoroughfare of respectable
detached houses occupied by the superior industrial type. He was
striding along, swinging his umbrella and humming, as was his wont, an
unmusical rendering of a popular tune, when his attention was attracted
to a sight which took his breath away and brought him to a halt.
It was half past five, and dull, but his eyesight was excellent, and it
was impossible for him to make a mistake. The houses of Flowerton Road
stand back and are separated from the sidewalk by diminutive gardens.
The front doors are approached by six or seven steps, and it was on the
top of one of these flights in front of an open door that the scene was
enacted which brought Mr. Mann to a standstill.
The characters were a young man and a girl. The girl was extremely
pretty and very pale. The man was the exact double of Frank Merrill. He
was dressed in a rough tweed suit, and wore a soft felt hat with a
fairly wide brim. But it was not the appearance of this remarkable
apparition which startled the investigator. It was the attitude of the
two people. The girl was evidently pleading with her companion. Saul
Arthur Mann was too far away to hear what she said, but he saw the
young man shake himself loose from the girl. She again grasped his arm
and raised her face imploringly.
Mr. Mann gasped, for he saw the young man's hand come up and strike her
back into the house. Then he caught hold of the door and banged it
savagely, walked down the stairs, and, turning, hurried away.
The investigator stood as though he were rooted to the spot, and before
he could recover himself the fellow had turned the corner of the road
and was out of sight. Saul Arthur Mann took off his hat and wiped his
forehead. All his initiative was for the moment paralyzed. He walked
slowly up to the gate and hesitated. What excuse could he have for
calling? If this were Frank, assuredly his own views were all wrong, and
the mystery was a greater mystery still.
His energies began to reawaken. He took a note of the number of the
house, and hurried off after the young man. When he turned the corner
his quarry had vanished. He hurried to the next corner, but without
overtaking the object of his pursuit. Fortunately, at this moment, he
found an empty taxicab and hailed it.
"Grimm's Hotel, Jermyn Street," he directed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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