k here!" he said. "I know this man, too--but
not as Federman. I'm not mistaken about him, and I don't think Miss
Lennard or M. Bonnechose are, either. But I knew him as Fritz Ebers. He
acted as my valet at the Waldorf from the beginning of April to about the
end of the first week in May last. And--since we now know what we
do--it's my opinion that there--there in that dead man--is the last of
the puppets! The Frenchwoman--Lydenberg--now this fellow--all three got
rid of! Now, then--where's the man who pulled the strings! Where's the
arch-murderer!"
CHAPTER XXV
THE CARD ON THE DOOR
The chief made no immediate reply to Fullaway's somewhat excited
outburst; he led his little party from the room, and in the corridor
turned to Celia and the cafe keeper.
"That's all, Miss Lennard, thank you," he said. "Sorry to have to ask you
to take part in these painful affairs, but it can't be helped. M.
Bonnechose, I'm obliged to you--you'll hear from me again very soon. In
the meantime, keep counsel--don't talk to anybody except Madame--no
gossiping with customers, you know. Mr. Allerdyke, will you see Miss
Lennard downstairs and into a cab, and then join Mr. Fullaway and me
again?--we must have a talk with the police and the hotel people."
When Allerdyke went back into the hotel he found Blindway waiting for him
at the door of a ground-floor room in which the chief, Fullaway, a City
police-inspector and a detective were already closeted with the landlord
and landlady. The landlord, a somewhat sullen individual, who appeared to
be greatly vexed and disconcerted by these events, was already being
questioned by the chief as to what he knew of the young man whose body
they had just seen, and he was replying somewhat testily.
"I know no more about him than I know of any chance customer," he was
saying when Allerdyke was ushered in by Blindway, who immediately closed
the door on this informal conclave. "You see what this house is?--a
second-class house for gentlemen having business in this part, round
about the Docks. We get a lot of commercial gentlemen, sea-faring men,
such-like. Lots of our customers are people who are going to foreign
places--Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and so on--they put up here just for
the night, before sailing. I took this young man for one of that sort--in
fact, I think he made some inquiry about one of the boats."
"He did," affirmed the landlady. "He asked William, the head-waiter, what
tim
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