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At Frater's · The Three Just Men

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  Chapter twenty eight of The Three Just Men by Edgar Wallace. This LibriVox recording
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  is in the public domain. At Freighter's Manford suggested an early dinner at the
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  Laski, where the soup was to his fastidious taste. Leon, who had
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  eaten many crumpets for tea he had a weakness for this indigestable article of diet,
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  was prepared to dispense with the dinner, and Pochard had views. Being
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  a man of steady habits. They dined at the Laski, and Leon ordered
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  a baked onion and expatiated upon the two wasted years of Poitard's life, employing
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  a wealth of imagery and a beauty of diction worthy of a better subject.
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  Manfred looked at his watch. Where are they dining? He asked, I
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  don't know yet, said Leon. Our friend will be here in a few
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  minutes. When we go out, he will tell us. You don't want
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  to see her. Manfred shook his head. No, he said, I
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  am going to be bored, complained Whatchart. Then you should have let me
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  bring Alma, said Leon, promptly, exactly. Raymond nodded his sober head.
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  I have the feeling that I am saving a lady from an unutterably dreary
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  evening. There was a man waiting for them when they came out of the
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  restaurant, a very uninteresting looking man who had three sentences to say saudo vouce
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  as they stood near him, but apparently in ignorance of his presence. I
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  do not wish to go to Merrow, said Manford, but as we have
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  the time, I think it would be advisable to stroll in that direction.
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  I am curious to discover whether this is really Aberjon's little treat or whether the
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  idea emanated from the unadmirable mister Newton. And how will you go, George,
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  asked Gonzales by the car. If Aberjon is master of the ceremonies,
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  we shall find his machine park somewhere in the neighborhood. If it is Newton's
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  idea, then Aberjon's limousine which brought them from South London will have returned,
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  and Newton's car will be in its place. Merrows was one of the most
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  fashionable of dining clubs, patronized not only by the elite of society, but
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  having on its books the cream of the theatrical world. He was situated in
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  one of those quiet old world squares which are to be found in the very
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  heart of London, enjoying, for some mysterious reason immunity from the hands of
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  the speculative property owner. The square retained the appearance it had in the days
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  of the Georges. And though some of the fine mansions had been given over
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  to commerce and the professions, and the lawyer and the manufacturer's agent occupied the
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  drawing rooms and bedrooms sacred to the bucks and beauties of other days, quite
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  a large number of the houses remained in private occupation. There was nothing in
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  the facia of Merrows to advertise its character. The club premises consisted of three
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  of these fine old dwellings. The uninitiated might not even suspect that there was
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  communication between the three houses, for the old doorways and doorsteps remin remained untouched,
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  though only one was used. They strolled along two sides of the square,
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  before amidst the phalanx of cars that stood wheel to wheel, their backs
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  to the railings of the center gardens, they saw Aberjon's car. The driver
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  sat with his arms folded on the wheel in earnest conversation with a pale faced
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  man, slightly and neatly bearded, and dressed in faultless evening dress. He
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  was evidently a cripple. One shoulder was higher than the other, and when
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  he moved, he walked painfully with the aid of a stick. Manfred saw
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  the driver point up the line of cars, and the lame gentlemen limped in
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  the direction the chauffeur had indicated, and stopped to speak to another man in
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  livery. As they came abreast of him, they saw that one of his
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  boots had a thick sole, and the limp was explained. The gentleman has
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  lost his car, said Manfred, for now he was peering short sightedly at
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  the number plates. The theft of cars was a daily occurrence. Leon Hill
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  had something to say on the potentialities of that branch of crime. He owned
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  to an encyclopedic knowledge of the current fashions and wrongdoing, and in a few
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  brief sentences, indicated the extent of these thefts. Fifty a week are shipped
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  to India and the colonies after their numbers are erased and another substituted. In
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  some cases, the knockers off, as they call the thieves, dried them
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  straightway into the packing cases, which are prepared for every make of car.
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  The ends are nailed up, and they are awaiting shipmen at the docks before
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  the owner is certain of his loss. There are almost as many stolen cars
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  in India, South Africa and Australia as there are honest ones. They walked
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  slowly past the decorous portals of marrows and caught a glimpse through the curtained windows
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  of soft table lamps, burning of bare armed women and white shirted men,
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  and hurt faintly, the strains of an orchestra playing a Viennese waltz. I
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  should like to see our Jane, said Gonzalez. She never came to you,
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  Dicchi. She came, but I didn't see her, said Manfred.
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  From the moment she leaves the theater, she must not be left. Leon
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  nodded. I have already made that arrangement, he said Digby. Digby takes
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  up his duty at midnight, said Manfred. He has been down to Auberjhan's
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  place to get the lie of the land. He thought it advisable that he
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  should study the topography in daylight, and I agreed. He might get himself
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  into an awkward tangle. If he started exploring the canal bank in the dark
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  hours summer or winter, there is usually a mist on the water. They
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  reached Freighter's Theater so early that the queues at the pit door were still unadmitted,
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  and Leon suggested that they make a circuit of this rambling house of entertainment.
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  It stood in Shaftesbury Avenue and occupied an island sight on either side.
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  Two narrow streets flanked the building, whilst the rear formed the third side of
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  a small square, one of which was taken up by a County council dwelling
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  mainly occupied by artist since from the square a long passageway led to Cranbourne Street,
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  whilst, in addition to the alley which opened just at the back of
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  the theater, as Street ran parallel to Shaftesbury Avenue from Charing Cross Road to
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  Rupert Street. The theater itself was one of the best in London, and
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  although it had had a succession of failures, its lucked turn and the new
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  Mystery play was drawing all London. That is the stage door, said Leon.
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  They had reached the square and those are emergency exits. He pointed back
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  the way they had come, which are utilized at the end of her performance
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  to empty the theater. Why are you taking such an interest in the theater
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  itself, asked Pochart, Because, said Gonzalez slowly, I am in agreement
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  with George. We should have found Newton's car parked in Fitzreef Gardens, not
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  Auberjon's, and the circumstances are a little suspicious. The doors of the pitting
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  gallery were open now. The queues were moving slowly to the entrances, and
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  they watched the great buildings swallow up the devotees of the drama before their return
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  to the front of the house. Cars were beginning to arrive, at first
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  in intervals, but as the hour of the play's beginning approached, in a
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  ceaseless line that made a congestion and rendered the traffic police articulate and occasionally unkind.
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  It was short of the half hour after eight when Manfred saw Oberjone's glistening
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  car in the block, and presently it pulled up before the entrance of the
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  theater. First Joan and then Monty Newton alighted and passed out of view.
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  Gonzalez thought he had never seen the girl looking quite as radiantly pretty. She
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  had the coloring and the shape of youth, and though the more fastidious might
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  object to her daring toilette, the most cantankerous could not cavil at the pleasing
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  effect. It is a great pity, Leon spoke in Spanish, a thousand
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  pities. I have the same feeling when I see a perfect block of marble
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  placed in the hands of a tombstone maker to be mangled into. As Manfred
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  put out his hand and drew him back into the shadow, a cab was
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  dropping the lame man. He got out with the aid of a link man,
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  paid the driver, and limped into the vestibule. He was not a
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  remarkable coincidence. The gentleman had evidently come from Marrows, and as all London
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  was flocking to the drama, there was little that was odd in finding him
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  here. They saw that he went up into the dress circle, and later,
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  when they took their places in the stalls, Leon, glancing up,
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  saw the pale, bearded face, and noted that he occupied the end seat
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  of the front row. I have met that man somewhere, he said,
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  irritated. Nothing annoys me worse than to forget not a face, but where
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  I have seen it, did gerthr, but know he had achieved the height
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  of his ambition. He had twice passed under the keen scrutiny of the cleverest
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  detectives in the world, and had remained unrecognized. End of Chapter twenty eight