“May the devil take away all scruples!” he cried. “My friends, I’m yours heart, body and soul. You may rely on me.”

  The earl and Kennan exchanged a look of triumph.

  “Of course we share and share alike,” said the wily solicitor. “It’s true, I come in rather late, but the part I play is also a most important one and you do need my help.”

  “You will have your share,” answered Kennan rather evasively.

  “One more word,” said the solicitor. “Are you sure that the lord has kept nothing back? I know he hardly saw the infant, but James saw it and he would come forward immediately if he suspected foul play to defend the name and honor of the Swaffham family.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “James, as you said, was against the substitution. Are we sure he didn’t foresee the chance of such a case as this arising?”

  Kennan’s expression changed. He now looked grave.

  “I’ve thought about it, but what can we do?”

  “I will find out,” said Johnson. “James trusts me and I will question him.”

  The cold calmness of the solicitor had vanished. Johnson displayed the zealous eagerness of a man who, admitted at a late hour into a scheme, which would be immensely lucrative, burns to do as much as he can to further it.

  “But,” he added as an after-thought, “how can we be certain that there is no one to recognize the real Allen?”

  “I can answer for that,” said Kennan. “His poverty has isolated him from his family and old friends. They live up North.”

  “We have nothing, then, to fear from them?” asked the earl.

  “Nothing and while you get on with your work, I will finalize the wedding between Allen and Carey Lett. Apart from that I also have to preside over the wedding of our good friend Baron Jason St. Ives and Miss Cora Bletchley.”

  “I think that it’s about that time of day most people gather around the table for dinner,” said Earl Keresley and turning to the youngest member of the association, he added, “Come, Allen, let us go forth, my son.”

  But Allen didn’t move and then for the first time they saw that the poor man had drifted off into reverie.

  “Surely,” said the earl, “it’s not the idea of a tattoo needle, which has so frightened you?”

  Allen shook his head. “It’s not that,” he said.

  “What, then?”

  “Simply that my best friend knows me and my past.”

  “What do you mean?” they cried.

  “My friend, he came to London and saw my name on the lorry. That’s how he found me.”

  “Explain yourself,” cried Kennan, who was the first to come to his senses.

  “Simply this. His father and my father have been neighbors for fifty years. We went to school together and I was at his wedding. He was at mine. I had to invite him. He had lent me the money for the wedding. He was at the hospital with me, when my son was born in Newcastle.”

  “And where,” asked Kennan quickly, “is this young man? What is his name and what does he do for a living?”

  “He’s a doctor. His name is Frank Defoe and he lives in my street.”

  A curse from Kennan’s mouth interrupted him. Earl Keresley and Whittaker Johnson were also alarmed.

  “What do you intend to do?” asked Acheson.

  “I don’t know yet,” he answered. “I do know that doctors have a habit of drowning in blood .”

  When Joseph Kennan spoke of murdering the man, who stood in his way with such ease as if he was talking about peeling an orange, he was not aware that there was one obstacle, which significantly increased the difficulty of this task, because Dr. Frank Defoe had been warned. He had been warned through a letter he had received from Cora Bletchley, Count Bletchley’s younger sister, in which she spoke in despairing terms of her approaching marriage, which she had been forced to agree to to save the honor and thereby the life of her brother. At least that was the story that Jane had told her.

  His alarm had been heightened by a long conversation he had had with Mrs. Diss, a distant cousin and her neighbor, Mr. Jules Poiret, a private detective, in which it was unanimously decided that Count and Countess Bletchley were victims of some plot of which Jason St. Ives was one of the leading participants. He had no idea where to look for the danger, but he had an instinctive feeling that it was coming near. He took measures, therefore, to defend against any eventuality. It was not only his life, which was in danger, but also Cora, the woman he loved and their future happiness. Mr. Poiret had expressed his serious apprehensions for the safety of the man for whom he had great respect and regard.

  “Poiret, he is sure,” he said, “that we have to do with the experienced blackmailers and the difficulty is that we must do the work ourselves, because we can not ask the police for the help. First, because we have not the proof of any of this and the police, they will not do anything on the mere allegations. Secondly, we do not know if we are not putting the police on the, how do you say, scent of certain acts in the past lives of those we are trying to help. We do not know what terrible secret these wretches, they are holding over the heads of the Bletchleys. Apart from that, our friendship is with Miss Cora Bletchley, not with her brother and her sister-in-law. We must, therefore, act with the caution. Please to remember, that if you are out at night, to avoid the dark alleys, because it would be the easiest thing in the world for them to put the knife in your back.”

  They came to the conclusion that for the moment the doctor and Mr. Poiret would stop meeting each other so frequently. They were convinced that they were watched and their friendship would certainly be brought to the attention of St. Ives and they had every desire to make him think that they were not acting in concert to bring him down. They decided that each would act alone against Jason St. Ives and that they would meet in the evenings, if necessary, to compare notes in a small pub in Oxford Street, not far from the surgery in which the doctor was at work.

  His courage was as high as ever since Cora had told him she couldn’t marry him, because of the danger her brother had found himself in. The unselfish young woman had been talked into marrying Jason St. Ives to alleviate the danger her brother was in, but Frank couldn’t accept losing her love to a man, who didn’t love her and who used the services of blackmailers to get the woman he desired, even when she loved another.

  Frank fully realized that cunning and treachery had to be met similarly. He did not wish to end the commission offered to him by Mr. Greenstreet, to keep him healthy for a grueling set of opera performances in the city. The doctor had not come from a privileged background and he was in need of money, so he could not end this engagement, although watching Mr. Greenstreet was a time consuming affair, not in the least because the rotund singer had an appetite for everything the doctor told him not to eat, drink or do.

  Mr. Greenstreet had a shrewd mind, however and Frank, remembering the big man’s kindness, decided to confide his troubles to him. With this in mind he called on him the next morning. To his surprise he saw Ralph Greenstreet, the singer’s estranged son, in the courtyard. He was the same Ralph, who had asked his father for money to marry his lover Mrs. Delaford, which had caused a huge row between father and son. Ralph was smoking his cigar with an air of desperation and looked tired and haggard.

  As Frank came near the entrance, the young man caught sight of him.

  “Hullo!” he said. “There goes our medicine man. I bet that you have come to ask my father for a favor.”

  “You’re right. Is he in?”

  “The governor is in a bad mood. He has shut himself up in his bedroom and refuses to see me.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Not I. The old man is a regular drama queen and I’m quite sick of it.”

  Noticing that one of the servants was listening to them, Ralph pulled the doctor a little to one side.

  “Do you know,” he asked, “that the old man has tightened the screws and has vowed that he will advertise in all papers that he will no longer underwrite the debts of yours truly. I cannot believe he will do so, because that would be a regular disaster for me. You haven’t such a trifle as ten thousand shilling on you that you could lend me, have you, my man? I will give you twenty thousand for the honor, when the old man sings his last tune.”

  “I’m afraid…” said Frank.

  “All right. Never mind. I understand. If you had the money, you wouldn’t be working for a tyrant like my father. Still I’m in a terrible need of funds. Ah, hang it all! I signed bills to that amount payable to James Wexler. Do you know the fellow?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “No? Why, he’s the director of the London Loan Bank. The only thing that’s bothering me is that he talked me into writing down the wrong name. But I received the money.”

  “Great heavens! That’s forgery,” said Frank.

  “Not if I pay the money back. Besides, I needed the money to square a bigger problem, Carl Esprey. You do know the South African, I hope?”

  “No.”

  “Well, he loans money to those in need. He has a gambling establishment in the heart of Soho. But it’s out and out the old man’s fault. He drove me to desperation. Yes, it’s all his doing. He wasn’t satisfied with harassing me. He was also transfixed by that poor, helpless woman of mine. She never did him any harm. It’s right down cowardly to hurt Mrs. Delaford and make her lose her job at the opera house.”

  “Mrs. Delaford,” repeated the doctor, who didn’t recognize the name.

  “Yes, Mrs. Delaford. Well, the old man has gone mad and filed a complaint against her. He thinks she’s after me, because of his fame and money. She’s a world class pianist in her own right. She doesn’t need him.” Ralph shook his head. “As if I was a fellow anyone could deceive.”

  Tears appeared in the young man’s eyes as he talked.

  “Ah, poor Mrs. Delaford,” he added. “I have never loved a woman like I love her. And how beautiful she is! Why, the hairdresser said he had never seen such beautiful hair in his life. As soon as she was told she had lost her position, her first thoughts were of me and she cried out, “Oh, poor Ralph will kill himself, when he finds out.” Her cook told me this and added that her mistress’s sufferings on my account were terrible. I tried to see her, but she refuses to talk to me as long as she feels she is standing between a father and a devoted son.”

  The young man’s voice broke into a sob.

  “Come,” said Frank, “keep up your spirits.”

  “Oh, God! You will see if I don’t marry her as soon as I have gotten hold of some money. I don’t put all the blame on my father. He’s being advised by his solicitor, a beast of a man by the name of Whittaker Johnson. Do you know the man?”

  “No.”

  “I say, you don’t know anyone. Well, I’m challenging him to a duel tomorrow. I have my seconds already picked out. Would you like to be one?”

  “I have no experience in such matters.”

  “Ah, then you are of no use. My seconds should frighten the wits out of him.”

  “Are you sure…”

  “I know what you’re going to say. You mean that I should think twice, but, let’s be honest here. I’m the insulted party and I wish it settled by drawing pistols at ten paces. If that frightens him, he should tell my father to pay me my allowance again, so I can marry Mrs. Delaford.”

  Had his mind not been occupied with his own personal miseries, Ralph’s would have amused Frank very much, but now all he could think of was the quickest way to end the meeting.

  Just then a servant emerged from the house.

  “Sir,” he said to Frank Defoe, “my master has seen you from his window and he wishes to speak to you.”

  “I will go up and see him now,” answered Frank. He held out his hand to Ralph, who shook it heartily and took leave of him with a few words of encouragement.

  When the doctor had left the young man to himself and had been ushered in Mr. Greenstreet’s presence, the change in the big gentleman’s appearance struck him with horror. His eyes were red and swollen as if he had been weeping. As soon as he caught sight of his physician, his face brightened and he welcomed him warmly.

  “It warms my heart to see you here today and I bless the good fortune, which brought you to my attention.”

  “I’m afraid I haven’t come with happy tidings,” answered Frank, as he shook his head sadly.

  Greenstreet noticed the air of gravity, which surrounded the young man and the dark expression on his face.

  “What ails you, Frank?” he asked.

  “Troubles of the heart.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m desperate.”

  “I’m your friend, Frank,” said the man, “and I would gladly be of service to you. Tell me if I can be of any use?”

  “I come to you, Mr. Greenstreet, to ask you for a favor.”

  “You are in need and you thought of me, then? I thank you for doing so. Give me your hand. I like to feel the grasp of an honest man’s hand. It makes me forget my son is a failure.”

  “It’s the secret of my life,” he said, with some sadness.

  Mr. Greenstreet didn’t reply, but theatrically struck his clenched fist on his heart, as though to show that any secret confided to him would be locked up in the safe security of his heart.

  Frank didn’t hesitate any longer and without mentioning any names, he told the singer the whole story of how he found and was now soon to lose the love of his life love, due to the schemes of blackmailers, who had entangled her in their web of extortion.

  “How can I help you?” asked Greenstreet.

  “Allow me,” said Frank, “to hand over the work with which you have entrusted me to one of my friends, a very learned doctor in Harley Street. I will retain responsibility for your health, but will merely act as one of the doctors. This will allow me time to fight back at the evil, which has surrounded me and at the same time I will be earning some money, which I’m afraid is of importance to me.”

  “That’s hardly worth the name of favor!”

  “It certainly is and a very great one at that.”

  Greenstreet stood up from his huge arm-chair and opening a cabinet drawer, which stood in a corner of the room, he took a bundle of banknotes and placed them on the table in front of the doctor.

  “Here, my young friend,” he said. “Take what you need.”

  The kindness of the big man, who seemed to forget his own sorrows in his wish to aid a fellow man, affected Frank deeply.

  “I don’t need money,” he mumbled, hesitantly.

  A theatrical wave of his hand was enough for Greenstreet to inspire silence.

  “How much wine, song and women, can a man stand? Or do you wish me to leave it all to my fool of a son?” he said. “Take these twenty thousand shillings and then let me tell you what you can do for me.”

  A refusal would have wounded the sensitive artist deeply and so Frank took the loan. Greenstreet sat back in his chair and remained gloomily silent for some time.

  “My dear friend,” he said, in a voice broken by emotion, “you know of the trouble, which I’m living under. I have no patience or money left for that young fool of a son.”

  Frank had already guessed that the big man’s problems had been due to something connected with Ralph.

  “Your son is behaving very irresponsibly,” he said, “but remember he’s still young.”

  A sad smile passed over the singer’s face.

  “My son is not young, but dumb,” he replied. “I’ve thought the matter over. Yesterday he was screaming outside the door that he would kill himself, if I didn’t let him in. That frightens me. I’m weak, my friend and it’s no use to hide it. The stupid boy is infatuated with a divorcee, named Mrs. Delaford and I have forbidden her to take one step in my house or in my theatre. But I’ve made up my mind. I’m giving in. I will give her back her employment and allow her to sit at my table in the company of my son. It’s weak folly to allow him his allowance, but what am I to do? I’m his father. I care not for her, but nature and law oblige me to love him.”

  Frank didn’t reply. Greenstreet went on.

  “I don’t deceived myself. I know my son is destined for failure. I can only stand by and watch it happen. I have not been able to get through to him, since his mother passed away. She had a very profound influence on him. You know, Frank, if this Mrs. Delaford is not everything that is evil, maybe she could be a positive influence on him. But I want someone to talk to her, to weigh her opinion, to make her understand what’s expected of her and I had hoped, Frank, that you would have been able to take this important task on your shoulders.”

  The doctor didn’t think he was the man for the job and that besides his plate was full with his efforts devoted to the interests of Cora and himself, but at the same time he couldn’t disappoint the kind man. He decided to accede to the aggrieved father’s wishes and told him that he would do everything he could to help him. Mr. Greenstreet thanked him warmly. Frank sat down at the table and the two men entered into a long discussion as to what the best course of action would be. It was finally decided that the doctor would be playing the role of peacemaker. It would allow Mr. Greenstreet to hold his ground and keep refusing any gestures of peace by his son or his fiancée. He would only change his mind, a little, after Frank would intercede on their behalf. The reason for their plan of action soon became clear.

  Ralph was even more depressed than the doctor had thought. When the young doctor left the house, he was waiting for him anxiously. As soon as he saw him coming down the steps he sprang forward to talk to him.

  “And?” he asked, eagerly.

  “Your father,” answered Frank, “is terribly angry with you, but I hope to calm him down and get him to do something for you.”

  “Will he give Mrs. Delaford back her position?”

  “Perhaps he will. We must give him something more than promises that you will better your life. He wants solid guarantees.”

  At these words Ralph’s face turned white.

  “Solid guarantees,” he asked sulkily. “But my word as a gentleman must be enough?”