Battle, Superintendent (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Police -- England -- Fiction
She was just deciding that it must be at least six o'clock in the
morning when a welcome sound came to her ears, the sound of the
unlocking of a door.
In another minute the electric light was switched on. The hum of
voices, which had come to her for a minute or two rather like the
far-off roar of sea waves, ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and
Bundle heard the sound of a bolt being shot. Clearly someone had
come in from the gaming room next door, and she paid tribute to the
thoroughness with which the communicating door had been rendered sound
proof.
In another minute the intruder came into her line of vision--a line of
vision that was necessarily somewhat incomplete but which yet answered
its purpose. A tall man, broad shouldered and powerful looking, with a
long black beard. Bundle remembered having seen him sitting at one of
the baccarat tables on the preceding night.
This, then, was Alfred's mysterious Russian gentleman, the proprietor
of the club, the sinister Mr. Mosgorovsky. Bundle's heart beat faster
with excitement. So little did she resemble her father that at this
minute she fairly gloried in the extreme discomfort of her position.
The Russian remained for some minutes standing by the table, stroking
his beard. Then he drew a watch from his pocket and glanced at the
time. Nodding his head as though satisfied, he again thrust his hand
into his pocket, and, pulling out something that Bundle could not see,
he moved out of her line of vision.
When he reappeared again, she could hardly help giving a gasp of
surprise.
His face was now covered by a mask--but hardly a mask in the
conventional sense. It was not shaped to the face. It was a mere piece
of material hanging in front of the features like a curtain in which
two slits were pierced for the eyes. In shape it was round and on it
was the representation of a clock face, with the hands pointing to six
o'clock.
"The Seven Dials!" said Bundle to herself.
And at that minute there came a new sound--seven muffled taps.
Mosgorovsky strode across to where Bundle knew was the other cupboard
door. She heard a sharp click, and then the sound of greetings in a
foreign tongue.
Presently she had a view of the newcomers.
They also wore clock masks, but in their case the hands were in a
different position--four o'clock and five o'clock respectively. Both
men were in evening dress--but with a difference. One was an elegant,
slender young man wearing evening clothes of exquisite cut. The grace
with which he moved was foreign rather than English. The other man
could be better described as wiry and lean. His clothes fitted him
sufficiently well, but no more, and Bundle guessed at his nationality
even before she heard his voice.
"I reckon we're the first to arrive at this little meeting."
A full pleasant voice with a slight American drawl, and an inflection
of Irish behind it.
The elegant young man said in good, but slightly stilted, English:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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