A DISTURBED NIGHT FOR DEAR OLD SQUIFFY
Peril the intellect. Archie’s mind as a in a and of way, but now it got going with a and a whir. He the room. He had a room so of satisfactory cover. And then there came to him a scheme, a ruse. It offered a of escape. It was, indeed, a of all right.
Peter, the snake, about the carpet, himself by what the Encyclopaedia calls the “distensible gullet” and looked up reproachfully. The next moment he was in his again; and Archie, into the bathroom, was the off his dressing-gown.
There came a at the door. A voice spoke sternly. A voice this time.
“Say! Open this door!”
Archie the dressing-gown to the of the bag, to the window, opened it, the to a piece of iron on the sill, Peter and the into the depths, and closed the window again. The whole took but a seconds. Generals have the thanks of their nations for less on the of battle.
He opened the door. Outside the woman, and her a bullet-headed with a on the of his head, in Archie the hotel detective.
The hotel also Archie, and the of his relaxed. He a but smile. He imagined—erroneously—that Archie, being the son-in-law of the owner of the hotel, had a with that gentleman; and he to he his job.
“Why, Mr. Moffam!” he said, apologetically. “I didn’t know it was you I was disturbing.”
“Always to have a chat,” said Archie, cordially. “What to be the trouble?”
“My snake!” the queen of tragedy. “Where is my snake?”
Archie, looked at the detective. The looked at Archie.
“This lady,” said the detective, with a little cough, “thinks her is in your room, Mr. Moffam.”
“Snake?”
“Snake’s what the lady said.”
“My snake! My Peter!” Mme. Brudowska’s voice with emotion. “He is here—here in this room.”
Archie his head.
“No here! Absolutely not! I noticing when I came in.”
“The is here—here in this room. This man had it in a bag! I saw him! He is a thief!”
“Easy, ma’am!” the detective. “Go easy! This is the boss’s son-in-law.”
“I not who he is! He has my snake! Here—here in this room!”
“Mr. Moffam wouldn’t go snakes.”
“Rather not,” said Archie. “Never a in my life. None of the Moffams have gone about snakes. Regular family tradition! Though I once had an uncle who gold-fish.”
“Here he is! Here! My Peter!”
Archie looked at the detective. The looked at Archie. “We must her!” their said.
“Of course,” said Archie, “if you’d like to search the room, what? What I to say is, this is Liberty Hall. Everybody welcome! Bring the kiddies!”
“I will search the room!” said Mme. Brudowska.
The at Archie.
“Don’t me for this, Mr. Moffam,” he urged.
“Rather not! Only too you’ve in!”
He took up an easy against the window, and the of the explore. Presently she desisted, baffled. For an she paused, as though about to speak, then from the room. A moment later a door across the passage.
“How do they that way?” the detective, “Well, g’bye, Mr. Moffam. Sorry to have in.”
The door closed. Archie waited a moments, then to the window and in the slack. Presently the appeared over the of the window-sill.
“Good God!” said Archie.
In the and of events he must have to see that the that the was properly closed; for the bag, as it jumped on to the window-sill, at him like a face. And it there was nothing.
Archie as out of the window as he manage without suicide. Far him, the traffic took its and the moved to and upon the pavements. There was no crowding, no excitement. Yet only a moments a long green with three hundred ribs, a gullet, and must have on that like the rain from Heaven upon the place beneath. And nobody interested. Not for the time since he had in America, Archie at the of the New Yorker, who himself to be at nothing.
He the window and moved away with a heart. He had not had the of an with Peter, but he had of him to his qualities. Somewhere Peter’s three hundred there had a of gold, and Archie for his loss.
Archie had a dinner and theatre that night, and it was late when he returned to the hotel. He his father-in-law about the lobby. There to be something on Mr. Brewster’s mind. He came up to Archie with a on his square face.
“Who’s this man Seacliff?” he demanded, without preamble. “I he’s a friend of yours.”
“Oh, you’ve met him, what?” said Archie. “Had a little together, yes? Talked of this and that, no!”
“We have not said a word to each other.”
“Really? Oh, well, dear old Squiffy is one of those strong, you know. You mustn’t mind if he’s a dumb. He says much, but it’s the that he thinks a lot. It was in the of nineteen-thirteen that Squiffy was on the point of making a remark, but it came to anything.”
Mr. Brewster with his feelings.
“Who is he? You to know him.”
“Oh yes. Great of mine, Squiffy. We through Eton, Oxford, and the Bankruptcy Court together. And here’s a coincidence. When they me, I had no assets. And, when they Squiffy, he had no assets! Rather extraordinary, what?”
Mr. Brewster to be in no mood for coincidences.
“I might have he was a friend of yours!” he said, bitterly. “Well, if you want to see him, you’ll have to do it my hotel.”
“Why, I he was stopping here.”
“He is—to-night. To-morrow he can look for some other hotel to up.”
“Great Scot! Has dear old Squiffy been the place up?”
Mr. Brewster snorted.
“I am that this friend of yours entered my grill-room at eight o’clock. He must have been intoxicated, though the waiter tells me he noticed nothing at the time.”
Archie approvingly.
“Dear old Squiffy was always like that. It’s a gift. However he might be, it was to it with the eye. I’ve the dear old many a time to the eyebrows, and looking as as a bishop. Soberer! When did it to on the in the grill-room that the old egg had been pushing the out?”
“The waiter,” said Mr. Brewster, with cold fury, “tells me that he got a hint of the man’s condition when he got up from his table and the of the room, off all the table-cloths, and that was on them. He then a number of at the diners, and left. He to have gone to bed.”
“Dashed of him, what? Sound, practical chap, Squiffy. But where on earth did he the—er—materials?”
“From his room. I enquiries. He has six large cases in his room.”
“Squiffy always was a of resource! Well, I’m sorry this should have happened, don’t you know.”
“If it hadn’t been for you, the man would have come here.” Mr. Brewster coldly. “I don’t know why it is, but since you came to this hotel I’ve had nothing but trouble.”
“Dashed sorry!” said Archie, sympathetically.
“Grrh!” said Mr. Brewster.
Archie his way to the lift. The of his father-in-law’s him. It was and all that to be for that in the Hotel Cosmopolis.
While this was in progress, Lord Seacliff was a sleep in his room on the fourth floor. Two hours passed. The noise of the traffic in the away. Only the of an occasional the silence. In the hotel all was still. Mr. Brewster had gone to bed. Archie, in his room, meditatively. Peace may have been said to reign.
At half-past two Lord Seacliff awoke. His hours of were always irregular. He sat up in and the light on. He was a shock-headed man with a red and a eye. He and himself. His was a little. The room to him a close. He got out of and open the window. Then, returning to bed, he up a book and to read. He was of a little jumpy, and reading sent him to sleep.
Much has been on the of bed-books. The of opinion is that a gentle, slow-moving makes the best opiate. If this be so, dear old Squiffy’s choice of had been injudicious. His book was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and the particular which he for was the one entitled, “The Speckled Band.” He was not a great reader, but, when he read, he liked something with a of to it.
Squiffy absorbed. He had read the before, but a long time back, and its were fresh to him. The tale, it may be remembered, with the of an who a snake, and used to it into people’s as a to on their insurance. It gave Squiffy thrills, for he had always had a particular of snakes. As a child, he had from visiting the house at the Zoo; and, later, when he had come to man’s and had put off things, and settled in to his self-appointed mission of up all the in England, the for Ophidia had lingered. To a for had been added a from those which only in his imagination. He still his on the occasion, three months before, when he had a long, green which a majority of his had him wasn’t there.
Squiffy read on:—
“Suddenly another audible—a very gentle, sound, like that of a small of steam from a kettle.”
Lord Seacliff looked up from his book with a start. Imagination was to play him tricks. He have that he had actually that sound. It had to come from the window. He again. No! All was still. He returned to his book and on reading.
“It was a that met our eyes. Beside the table, on a chair, sat Doctor Grimesby Rylott, in a long dressing-gown. His was and his were in a dreadful, at the of the ceiling. Round his he had a yellow band, with speckles, which to be his head.”
“I took a step forward. In an his head-gear to move, and there itself from among his the squat, diamond-shaped and of a serpent...”
“Ugh!” said Squiffy.
He closed the book and put it down. His was than ever. He now that he had read something else. No read himself to sleep with this of thing. People ought not to this of thing.
His gave a bound. There it was again, that sound. And this time he was sure it came from the window.
He looked at the window, and staring, frozen. Over the sill, with a graceful, movement, a green was crawling. As it crawled, it its and from to side, like a man looking for his spectacles. It a moment on the of the sill, then to the and to the room. Squiffy on.
It would have Peter deeply, for he was a of great sensibility, if he had how much his entrance had the of the room. He himself had no but for the man who had opened the window and so him to in out of the night air. Ever since the had open and him out onto the of the window Archie’s, he had been waiting for something of the to happen. He was a who took as they came, and was prepared to it a if necessary; but for the last hour or two he had been that somebody would do something practical in the way of him in out of the cold. When at home, he had an to sleep on, and the of the window-sill was a little trying to a of regular habits. He across the under Squiffy’s bed. There was a pair of there, for his had when not in a of mind to his and place them upon a chair. Peter looked the over. They were not an quilt, but they would serve. He up in them and to sleep. He had had an day, and was to turn in.
After about ten minutes, the of Squiffy’s relaxed. His heart, which had to its operations, again. Reason itself. He under the bed. He see nothing.
Squiffy was convinced. He told himself that he had in Peter as a thing. It to that there couldn’t be a in his room. The window looked out on emptiness. His room was above the ground. There was a stern, set on Squiffy’s as he out of bed. It was the of a man who is over a new leaf, starting a new life. He looked about the room for some which would out the he had to do, and out one of the curtain-rods. Using this as a lever, he open the of the six cases which in the corner. The soft and split. Squiffy out a straw-covered bottle. For a moment he looking at it, as a man might at a friend on the point of death. Then, with a determination, he into the bathroom. There was a crash of and a sound.
Half an hour later the telephone in Archie’s room rang. “I say, Archie, old top,” said the voice of Squiffy.
“Halloa, old bean! Is that you?”
“I say, you here for a second? I’m upset.”
“Absolutely! Which room?”
“Four-forty-one.”
“I’ll be with you or right speedily.”
“Thanks, old man.”
“What to be the difficulty?”
“Well, as a of fact, I I saw a snake!”
“A snake!”
“I’ll tell you all about it when you come down.”
Archie Lord Seacliff seated on his bed. An of mixed drinks the atmosphere.
“I say! What?” said Archie, inhaling.
“That’s all right. I’ve been my stock away. Just the last bottle.”
“But why?”
“I told you. I I saw a snake!”
“Green?”
Squiffy slightly.
“Frightfully green!”
Archie hesitated. He that there are moments when is the best policy. He had been himself over the case of his friend, and now that Fate to have provided a solution, it would be to to the old bean’s mind. If Squiffy was going to he he had an snake, not to let him know that the was a one.
“Dashed serious!” he said.
“Bally serious!” Squiffy. “I’m going to cut it out!”
“Great scheme!”
“You don’t think,” asked Squiffy, with a touch of hopefulness, “that it have been a snake?”
“Never of the management them.”
“I it under the bed.”
“Well, take a look.”
Squiffy shuddered.
“Not me! I say, old top, you know, I can’t sleep in this room now. I was if you give me a in yours.”
“Rather! I’m in five-forty-one. Just above. Trot along up. Here’s the key. I’ll tidy up a here, and join you in a minute.”
Squiffy put on a dressing-gown and disappeared. Archie looked under the bed. From the the of Peter up with its of enquiry. Archie pleasantly, and sat on the bed. The problem of his little friend’s wanted over.
He a cigarette and for a while in thought. Then he rose. An had presented itself. He Peter up and him in the pocket of his dressing-gown. Then, the room, he the stairs till he the seventh floor. Outside a room half-way the he paused.
From within, through the open transom, came the of a good man taking his after the of the day. Mr. Brewster was always a sleeper.
“There’s always a way,” Archie, philosophically, “if a only thinks of it.”
His father-in-law’s took on a note. Archie Peter from his pocket and him through the transom.
