"'There's the article,' he said, bringing his hand down emphatically upon it.'The cuss was hard up.Luck had gone agin him and he had lost every cent he had.Jem Macey was a-dealin' and Cazot didn't seem to grasp that fact, but kept bettin' heavy.You see, young feller, ye ain't over likely to win at cards when yer playin' agin the dealer.Cazot didn't know this and I wouldn't tell him, for he was rather fly with the cards himself when he wan't watched too close.Well, he struck me for a loan; said his little girl was hungry and he hadn't a cent to buy bread.Gad, but he looked wild though! I always thought he was more'n half loony.Well, as I had helped to fleece him I lent him a hundred and took this here note.
That's the last I ever see of M.Henri Cazot,' and he handed the paper to me.I glanced at the signature.It was the same hand that had written 'Weltz' and 'Rizzi' upon the library slips.There was that unmistakable z and the peculiar r which had just attracted my attention! It required considerable effort on my part to so restrain my feelings as not to appear especially interested in what I had learned.I think, however, I succeeded, as they freely answered my questions regarding Cazot and the daughter of whom he had spoken.
They knew nothing further, they said, than what they had told me.
"'It was a year ago come next month that I lent him the money,' my informant continued.He pocketed it, hurried out, and that is the last I have ever seen or heard of him.Shouldn't wonder if he'd blown his brains out long ago.He used to have a mighty desperate look at times.He was one of them Monte Carlo fellers, I reckon.'
"That's all I have been able to learn thus far.It isn't very much, but it shows we are on the right track.By the way, Doc, I'm going to change that ad to-morrow, offering treatment by letter.Perhaps our man is too shy to apply in person.At all events we'll give the other method a trial."CHAPTER III
When we least expect it the Ideal meets us in the street of the Commonplace and locks arms with us.Nevermore shall we choose our paths uninfluenced.A new leaven has entered our personality to dominate and direct it.
The new advertisement duly appeared and on the next day, which was Wednesday - I remember it because it was my hospital day - I received several written answers, and among them, one in which I felt confident I recognised the peculiar z*'s and r*'s of Weltz and Rizzi.
I took it at once to Maitland.He glanced at it a moment and then impulsively grasped my hand."By Jove, Doc!" he exclaimed, "if this crafty fox doesn't scent the hound, we shall soon run him to earth.
You see he has given no address and signs a new name.We are to write to Carl Cazenove, General Delivery, Boston.Good! we will do so at once, and I will then arrange with the postal authorities to notify me when they deliver the letter.Of course this will necessitate a continuous watch, perhaps for several days, of the general delivery window.It is hardly likely our crafty friend will himself call for the letter, so it will be imperative that someone be constantly on hand to shadow whomsoever he may send as a substitute.May I depend on your assistance in this matter?""I will stand by you till we see the thing through," I said, "though I have to live in the Post Office a month."Well, I wrote and mailed the decoy letter and Maitland explained the situation to the postal authorities, who furnished us a comfortable place inside and near the general delivery window.They promised to notify us when anyone called for our letter.Our vigil was not a very long one.On Thursday afternoon the postal clerk signalled to us that Carl Cazenove's mail had been asked for, and, while he was consuming as much time as possible in finding our letter, Maitland and I quietly stepped out into the corridor.The sight that met our gaze was one for which we had not been at all prepared.There at the window stood a beautiful young girl just on the verge of womanhood.
Her frank blue eyes met mine with the utmost candour as I passed by her so that she should be between Maitland and me, and thus unable to elude us, whichever way she turned upon leaving the window.We had previously planned how we should shadow our quarry, one on each side of the street in order not to attract attention, but these tactics seemed to be entirely unnecessary, for the young lady did not have the slightest suspicion that anyone could be in the least interested in her movements.She walked leisurely along, stopping now occasionally to gaze at the shop windows and never once turning to look back.She did not even conceal the letter, but held it in her hand with her porte-monnaie, and I could see that the address was uppermost.A strange sensation came over me as I dogged her steps.I felt as an assassin must feel who tracks his victim into some lonely spot where he may dare to strike him.It was useless for me to tell myself that I was on the side of justice and engaged in an honourable errand.A single glance at the girl's delicate face, as frank and open as the morning light, brought the hot blush of shame to my cheek.In following her I dimly felt that, in some way, I was seeking to associate her with evil, which seemed little less than sacrilege.I could do nothing, however, but keep on, so I followed her through Devonshire Street, to New Washington and thence down Hanover Street almost to the ferry.Here she turned into an alleyway and, waiting for Maitland to come up, we both saw her enter a house at its farther end.
George glanced hastily up at the house and then said, as he seized me impatiently by the arm: "It's a tenement house; come on, the chase is not up yet; we, too, must go in!"So in we went.The young lady had disappeared, but as we entered we heard a door close on the floor above, and felt sure we knew where she had gone.We mounted the stairs as noiselessly as possible and listened in the hall.We could distinguish a woman's voice and occasionally that of a man, but we could not hear what passed between them.On our right there was a door partly ajar.
