I
do not wish to be blackmailed or bullied. I would ask you,
therefore, to make your inquiries with discretion."
"I'll be careful, sir," the man answered.
Mr. Sabin handed to each of them a roll of notes. The cabdriver
lingered upon the threshold. Mr. Sabin looked up.
"Well?"
"Could I speak a word to you--in private, sir?"
Mr. Sabin motioned Duson to leave the room. The baggage porter
had already departed.
"When I cleaned out my cab at night, sir, I found this. I didn't
reckon it was of any consequence at first, but from the questions
you have been asking it may be useful to you."
Mr. Sabin took the half-sheet of note-paper in silence. It was the
ordinary stationery of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and the following
words were written upon it in a faint delicate handwriting, but in
yellow pencil:--
"Sept. 10th.
"To LUCILLE, Duchesse de SOUSPENNIER.-
"You will be at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the main corridor
at four o'clock this afternoon."
The thin paper shook in Mr. Sabin's fingers. There was no signature,
but he fancied that the handwriting was not wholly unfamiliar to him.
He looked slowly up towards the cabman.
"I am much obliged to you," he said. "This is of interest to me."
He stretched out his hand to the little wad of notes which Duson had
left upon the table, but the cabdriver backed away.
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