“And who, may I ask, are we?” Laverick inquired.
“If you do not know, what does it matter? Will you give it to me?”
Laverick shook his head.
“I have no document.”
The man in the chair leaned forward. The muzzle of his revolver was very bright, and he held it in fingers which were firm as a rock.
“Give it to me!” he repeated. “You ought to know that you are not dealing with men who are unaccustomed to death. You have it about you. Produce it, and I’ve done with you. Deny me, and you have not time to say your prayers!”
Laverick was leaning against a small table which stood near the door. His fingers suddenly gripped the ledger which lay upon it. He held it in front of his face for a single moment, and then dashed it at his visitor. He followed behind with one desperate spring. Once, twice, the revolver barked out. Laverick felt the skin of his temple burn and a flick on the ear which reminded him of his school-days. Then his hand was upon the other man’s throat and the revolver lay upon the carpet.
“We’ll see about that. By the Lord, I’ve a good mind to wring the life out of you. That bullet of yours might have been in my temple.”
“It was meant to be there,” the man gasped. “Hand over the document, you pig-headed fool! It’ll cost you your life—if not to-day, to-morrow.”
“I’ll be hanged if you get it, anyway!” Laverick answered fiercely. “You assassin! Scoundrel! To come here and make a cold-blooded effort at murder! You shall see what you think of the inside of an English prison.”
The man laughed contemptuously.
“And what about the pocket-book?” he asked.
Laverick was silent. His assailant smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Come,” he said, “I have made my effort and failed. You have twenty thousand pounds. That’s a fair price, but I’ll add another twenty thousand for that document unopened.”
“It is possible that we might deal,” Laverick remarked, kicking the revolver a little further away. “Unfortunately, I am too much in the dark. Tell me the real position of the murdered man? Tell me why he was murdered? Tell me the contents of this document and why it was in his possession? Perhaps I may then be inclined to treat with you.”
“You are either an astonishingly ingenuous person, Mr. Laverick,” his visitor declared, “or you’re too subtle for me. You do not expect me to believe that you are in this with your eyes blindfolded? You do not expect me to believe that you do not know what is in that sealed envelope? Bah! It is a child’s game, that, and we play as men with men.”
Laverick shook his head.
“Your offer,” he asked, “what is it exactly?”
“Twenty thousand pounds,” the man answered. “The document is worth no more than that to you. How you came into this thing is a mystery, but you are in and, what is more, you have possession. Twenty thousand pounds, Mr. Laverick. It is a large sum of money. You find it interesting?”
“I find it interesting,” Laverick answered dryly, “but I am not a seller.”
The intruder moved his hand away from his eyes. His expression was full of wonder.
“Consider for a moment,” he said. “While that document remains in your possession, you walk the narrow way, your life hangs upon a thread. Better surrender it and attend to your stocks and shares. Heaven knows how you first came into our affairs, but the sooner you are out of them the better. What do you say now to my offer?”
“It is refused,” Laverick declared. “I regret; to add,” he continued, “that I have already spared you all the time I have at my disposal. Forgive me.”
He pressed a button with his finger. His visitor rose up in anger.
“You are not such a fool!” he exclaimed. “You are not going to send me away without it? Why, I tell you that there won’t be a safe corner in the World for you!”
Halsey opened the door. Laverick nodded toward his visitor.
“Show this gentleman out, Halsey,” he ordered.
Halsey started. The noise of the revolver shot had evidently been muffled by the heavy connecting doors, but there was a smell of gunpowder in the room, and a little wreath of smoke. The man rose slowly to his feet, still blinking.
“It must be as you will, of course. I wonder if you would be so good as to let your clerk direct me to an oculist? I am, unfortunately, a helpless man in this condition.”
“There is one a few yards off,” Laverick answered. “Put on your hat, Halsey, and show this gentleman where he can get some glasses.”
His visitor leaned towards Laverick.
“It is your life which is in question, not my eyesight,” he muttered. “Do you accept my offer? Will you give me the document?”
“I do not and I will not,” Laverick replied. “I shall not part with anything until I know more than I know at present.”
The man stood motionless for a moment. His fingers seemed to be twitching. Laverick had a fancy that he was about to spring, but if ever he had had any thoughts of the kind, Halsey’s reappearance checked them.
“I am much obliged to you, Mr. Laverick,” he said quietly. “We shall, perhaps, resume this discussion at some future date.”
With that he turned and followed Halsey out of the room. Laverick went to the window and threw it wide open. The smoke floated out, the smell of gunpowder was gradually dispersed. Then he walked back to his seat. Once more he locked up the notes. The document was safe in his pocket. There was a slight mark by the side of his temple, and his ear, he discovered, was bleeding. He rang the bell and Halsey entered.
“Has our friend gone, Halsey?”
“I left him in the optician’s, sir,” the clerk answered. “He was buying some spectacles.”
Laverick glanced at the floor, where the remains of those gold-rimmed glasses were scattered.
“You had better send for a locksmith at once,” he said. “The gentleman who has been here had a skeleton key to my safe. We’ll have a combination put on.”
“Very good, sir,” Halsey answered.
“And, Halsey,” his master continued, “be careful about one thing, for your own sake as well as mine. If that man presents himself again, don’t let him come into my room unannounced. If you can help it, don’t let him come in at all. I have an idea that he might be dangerous.”
The clerk’s face was a study.
“If he presents himself here, sir,” he announced stiffly, “I shall take the liberty of sending for the police.”
Laverick made no reply.
XXVIII. LAVERICK’S NARROW ESCAPE
At precisely a quarter past four, nothing having happened in the meantime but a steady rush of business, Laverick ordered a taxicab to be summoned. He then unlocked his safe, placed the pocket-book securely in his breast pocket, walked through the office, and directed the man to drive to Chancery Lane. Here at the headquarters of the Safe Deposit Company he engaged a compartment, and down in the strong-room locked up the pocket-book. There was only now the document left. Stepping once more into the street, he found that his taxicab had vanished. He looked up and down in vain. The man had not been paid