The other replied in the negative, as Tuppence rose and went to speak to the head waiter. Presently she returned, just as the coffee was brought.
Tommy drank a large cup of it, sipping it slowly, then rose.
“My cane, Miss Ganges? Thank you. Directions, please?”
It was a moment of agony for Tuppence.
“One right, eighteen straight. About the fifth step, there is a waiter serving the table on your left.”
Swinging his cane jauntily, Tommy set out. Tuppence kept close beside him, and endeavored unobtrusively to steer him. All went well until they were just passing out through the doorway. A man entered rather hurriedly, and before Tuppence could warn the blind Mr. Blunt, he had barged right into the newcomer. Explanations and apologies ensued.
At the door of the Blitz a smart landaulette was waiting. The Duke himself aided Mr. Blunt to get in.
“Your car here, Harker?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Yes. Just round the corner.”
“Take Miss Ganges in it, will you.”
Before another word could be said, he had jumped in beside Tommy, and the car rolled smoothly away.
“A very delicate matter,” murmured the Duke. “I can soon acquaint you with all the details.”
Tommy raised his hand to his head.
“I can remove my eyeshade now,” he observed pleasantly. “It was only the glare of artificial light in the Restaurant necessitated its use.
But his arm was jerked down sharply. At the same time he felt something hard and round being poked between his ribs. “No, my dear Mr. Blunt,” said the Duke’s voice-but a voice that seemed suddenly different. “You will not remove that eyeshade. You will sit perfectly still and not move in any way. You understand? I don’t want this pistol of mine to go off. You see, I happen not to be the Duke of Blairgowrie at all. I borrowed his name for the occasion, knowing that you would not refuse to accompany such a celebrated client. I am something much more prosaic-a ham merchant who has lost his wife.”
He felt the start the other gave.
“That tells you something,” he laughed. “My dear young man, you have been incredibly foolish. I’m afraid-I’m very much afraid that your activities will be curtailed in future.”
He spoke the last words with a sinister relish.
Tommy sat motionless. He did not reply to the other’s taunts.
Presently the car slackened its pace and drew up.
“Just a minute,” said the pseudo Duke. He twisted a handkerchief deftly into Tommy’s mouth, and drew up his scarf over it.
“In case you should be foolish enough to think of calling for help,” he explained suavely.
The door of the car opened and the chauffeur stood ready. He and his master took Tommy between them and propelled him rapidly up some steps and in at the door of a house.
The door closed behind them. There was a rich oriental smell in the air. Tommy’s feet sank deep into velvet pile. He was propelled in the same fashion up a flight of stairs and into a room which he judged to be at the back of the house. Here the two men bound his hands together. The chauffeur went out again, and the other removed the gag.
“You may speak freely now,” he announced pleasantly. “What have you to say for yourself, young man?”
Tommy cleared his throat and eased the aching corners of his mouth.
“I hope you haven’t lost my hollow cane,” he said mildly. “It cost me a lot to have that made.”
“You have nerve,” said the other, after a minute’s pause. “Or else you are just a fool. Don’t you understand that I have got you-got you in the hollow of my hand? That you’re absolutely in my power? That no one who knows you is ever likely to see you again?”
“Can’t we cut out the melodrama?” asked Tommy plaintively. “Have I got to say ‘You villain, I’ll foil you yet?’ That’ sort of thing is so very much out of date.”
“What about the girl?” said the other, watching him, “Doesn’t that move you?”
“Putting two and two together during my enforced silence just now,” said Tommy, “I have come to the inevitable conclusion that that chatty lad Harker is another of the doers of desperate deeds, and that therefore my unfortunate secretary will shortly join this little tea party.”