“Please to come up at once, sir, the gentleman said,” was the boy’s urgent appeal.
Forsyth, with a feeling of having “burned his ships,” obeyed with equal alacrity, and was shown into the suite made memorable by the raid of his Highness the Thakore of Bhurtnagur, otherwise General Sadgrove’s faithful orderly, Azimoolah Khan. He noticed in passing in that the door of the next suite—that of Mrs. Talmage Eglinton—was slightly ajar, but his attention was immediately claimed by the welcome he received in Mr. Ziegler’s apartments. Just inside the door he was met by a tall, bold-eyed man whom, from Beaumanoir’s description, he had no difficulty in recognizing as the sham “Colonel Anstruther Walcot,” but who introduced himself as Leopold Benzon, Mr. Ziegler’s private secretary.
The idea of a professional criminal being served with such specious pomp tickled Forsyth’s sense of humor; but, restraining an impulse to laugh in the fellow’s face, he responded gravely to the salutation and stated his business. He had come, he said, after mentioning his name, on behalf of the Duke
[239]
