www.freeclassicebooks.com

farther across so that it shielded him completely from sight. There were several

rents and slits in the ancient material which afforded him a good view. He would

watch events, and any time he chose could, after all, join the assembly, modelling

his behaviour on that of the new arrival.

The man who came up the staircase with a furtive, soft-footed tread was quite

unknown to Tommy. He was obviously of the very dregs of society. The low

beetling brows, and the criminal jaw, the bestiality of the whole countenance were

new to the young man, though he was a type that Scotland Yard would have

recognized at a glance.

The man passed the recess, breathing heavily as he went. He stopped at the door

opposite, and gave a repetition of the signal knock. A voice inside called out

something, and the man opened the door and passed in, affording Tommy a

momentary glimpse of the room inside. He thought there must be about four or

five people seated round a long table that took up most of the space, but his

attention was caught and held by a tall man with close-cropped hair and a short,

pointed, naval-looking beard, who sat at the head of the table with papers in front

of him. As the new-comer entered he glanced up, and with a correct, but

curiously precise enunciation, which attracted Tommy's notice, he asked:

"Your number, comrade?"

"Fourteen, gov'nor," replied the other hoarsely.

"Correct."

The door shut again.

If that isn't a Hun, I'm a Dutchman!" said Tommy to himself. "And running the

show darned systematically too--as they always do. Lucky I didn't roll in. I'd have

given the wrong number, and there would have been the deuce to pay. No, this is

the place for me. Hullo, here's another knock."

This visitor proved to be of an entirely different type to the last. Tommy

recognized in him an Irish Sinn Feiner. Certainly Mr. Brown's organization was a

far-reaching concern. The common criminal, the well-bred Irish gentleman, the

pale Russian, and the efficient German master of the ceremonies! Truly a strange

and sinister gathering! Who was this man who held in his finger these curiously

variegated links of an unknown chain?

In this case, the procedure was exactly the same. The signal knock, the demand

The Secret Adversary