Chapter XVII

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      Sir Angus Kinross, Chief Commissioner of Police, stood gazing down, with a look of frowning perplexity, at the sheet of typewritten paper he held in his hand.

      For what seemed a very long time to the other three people now present in the big light room overlooking the Embankment, he remained silent. But at last he exclaimed, "I think it very probable that this is a hoax—a stupid, cruel hoax!" And, as no one spoke, he added slowly, "Whether it be so or not can soon be ascertained."

      He saw a look of almost convulsive relief flash over Laura Pavely's face. It was Laura who attracted Sir Angus in the little group of people which now stood before him. He knew that it was this beautiful, tragic-looking young woman who had insisted, against his strongly expressed wish and judgment, on offering the reward which had already brought a swarm of semi-lunatics and adventurers into the case. As for the other woman there, he only looked upon her as a friend of Mrs. Pavely.

      Ladies in the painful position of Mrs. Pavely generally bring a sister, or a close female friend, with them to Scotland Yard.

      Sir Angus was keenly interested in this business of the country banker's disappearance, more interested than he had been in any other matter of the kind for a long time. He had all the threads of the affair very clearly set out in his shrewd, powerful mind, and only that morning he had learnt something which he believed none of the three people now standing before him—Mrs. Pavely, Mrs. Winslow, and Lord St. Amant—knew, or were likely ever to know, except, of course, if certain eventualities made the fact important.

      Sir Angus had just learnt that Godfrey Pavely had spent some hours of a day he had passed at York in the company of a woman, and both he and the very able man he had put in charge of the case, had made up their minds that here, at last, was the real clue to the banker's disappearance. Godfrey Pavely, so they argued at "The Yard," was certainly alive, and either on the Continent, or hidden snugly in some English or Scottish country town—not alone.

      As so often happens, the fact that Mr. Pavely had been in York with a lady had come to light in a very simple way. When the fact of the well-known country banker's disappearance had been announced in the Press, the manager of the Yorkshire branch of a London bank had written to Scotland Yard, and stated that on a certain afternoon about a fortnight ago—he could not remember the exact day, unfortunately—he had seen Mr. Godfrey Pavely, of Pewsbury, in the company of a lady whom he, the bank manager, had naturally supposed to be Mrs. Pavely. He had looked at the banker with a good deal of interest, owing to the fact that he and Mr. Pavely had for a while worked in the same bank in Paris about fifteen years ago.

      He had not met the couple face to face, he had seen them pass by from the window of his private room at the bank. He could swear to Mr. Pavely, but he had not paid any special attention to the lady—for one thing, she had had her veil down, and he, feeling sure that she was Mrs. Pavely, had not troubled to observe her very particularly.

      Sir Angus had sent some one down to York to see this gentleman, but nothing of further value had been elicited, excepting, yes, that the lady had struck him as being young and attractive.

      So it was that the extraordinary typewritten letter received by Mrs. Pavely that morning very much upset the calculations and the theories of Sir Angus and of his staff.

      With frowning brow he sat down at his table and touched the electric bell which lay concealed close to his hand.

      "Ask Mr. Dowden to come to me," and a minute later Mr. Dowden came in.

      "I want to know anything you can tell me about Duke House, if indeed there is such a place as Duke House in Piccadilly. I can't remember the name."

      But at once the other answered: "It's that big new building they've erected on the site of St. Andrews House. It fell in to the Crown on the death of the Duke of St. Andrews, and an American syndicate bought the site. Duke House, as they call it, was only opened last October. The lower storeys are big bachelor flats, and the top half of the building contains offices. Mr. Biddle, the American millionaire, has taken the first floor, but he hasn't settled in yet, and I don't think any of the offices have been let at all. They are asking very big rents, and they are justified, as it's one of the finest sites in the West End."

      "I want you to get through to the porter of Duke House. Find out for me whether they have got an office let to a man—a Portuguese merchant I take him to be, of the name of Fernando Apra." He spelt out the name. "If you have any difficulty in getting the information, just go up there yourself in a taxi, and find out. But I'd like you to go back into your own rooms and try by telephone first."

      There followed a long, painful ten minutes, during which Sir Angus, though as a rule he was a man of few words, tried to while away the time by explaining to the three people who were there why he thought it unlikely that the letter was genuine.

      "You'd be amazed," he said, "to know the number of letters we receive purporting to contain important information which turn out to be false in every particular. There must be a whole breed of individuals who spend their time in writing annoying, futile letters, which, even if signed, are very seldom signed by the writer's real name. Some of those people are actuated by vulgar, stupid spite; others are hypnotised by the thought of a reward. And then, again, such letters are often written by people who have a grudge against the police, or, even more often, by some one who has a grudge against some ordinary person who has, maybe, done them a bad turn, or to whom they have done a bad turn! In the last few days we've had innumerable letters, from all over the kingdom, concerning Mr. Pavely's disappearance. It is just possible that this man"—he looked down again at the sheet of typewritten paper—"has an office in Duke House, but I think it very unlikely that Mr. Godfrey Pavely was even acquainted with him——"

      The door opened.

      "Yes, sir, the party in question has got an office there right enough, but he hasn't been at Duke House for some time—some three weeks, the porter said. He took the office late in October, and for a time he was there, on and off, a good deal. The porter don't quite know what his business is, but as far as he knows he gives him a good character. His office is right at the very top of the house, the only one let on that floor."

      An unpleasant little trickle of doubt came over Sir Angus's mind. When he had first read the typewritten letter, he had doubted very much if there was such a building in existence as Duke House, Piccadilly. Then, after he had heard that the place was there, after, as a matter of fact, it had been recalled to his memory by his subordinate, he had fallen back on the belief that there would be no person of the name of Fernando Apra to be found in Duke House.

      He now fell back on a third position. Doubtless this extraordinary letter had been written by some enemy of the man Apra who wished to cause him the unpleasantness of a visit from the police.

      After a few moments' thought Sir Angus Kinross proposed something which none of the three people there knew to be a most surprising departure from his usual rule.

      "What would you say, Lord St. Amant, if you and I were to go up there now, to Duke House—accompanied, of course, by two of my men? That, at any rate, would put an end to Mrs. Pavely's suspense. If she doesn't mind doing so, Mrs. Pavely and her friend can wait here, in my private room."