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Page 36
He found himself helplessly tied. In which direction should he
move and to what end? Inclination prompted him in one direction,
common sense held him back. As was his custom, he took a pencil
and wrote upon a little block:
Find means to force Brinn to speak.
He lay back in his chair again, deep in thought, and presently
added the note:
Obtain interview with Ormuz Khan.
Just as he replaced the pencil on the table, his telephone bell
rang. The caller proved to be his friend, Inspector Wessex.
"Hello, Mr. Harley," said the inspector. "I had occasion to
return to the Yard, and they told me you had rung up. I don't
know why you are interested in this Ormuz Khan, unless you want
to raise a loan."
Paul Harley laughed. "I gather that he is a man of extensive
means," he replied, "but hitherto he has remained outside my
radius of observation."
"And outside mine," declared the inspector. "He hasn't the most
distant connection with anything crooked. It gave me a lot of
trouble to find out what little I have found out. Briefly, all I
have to tell you is this: Ormuz Khan--who is apparently entitled
to be addressed as 'his excellency'--is a director of the
Imperial Bank of Iran, and is associated, too, with one of the
Ottoman banks. I presume his nationality is Persian, but I can't
be sure of it. He periodically turns up in the various big
capitals when international loans and that sort of thing are
being negotiated. I understand that he has a flat somewhere in
Paris, and the Service de Surete tells me that his name is good
for several million francs over there. He appears to have a
certain fondness for London during the spring and early summer
months, and I am told he has a fine place in Surrey. He is at
present living at Savoy Court. He appears to be something of a
dandy and to be very partial to the fair sex, but nevertheless
there is nothing wrong with his reputation, considering, I mean,
that the man is a sort of Eastern multimillionaire."
"Ah!" said Harley, who had been listening eagerly. "Is that the
extent of your information, Wessex?"
"That's it," replied Wessex, with a laugh. "I hope you'll find it
useful, but I doubt it. He hasn't been picking pockets or
anything, has he?"
"No," said Harley, shortly. "I don't apprehend that his
excellency will ever appear in your province, Wessex. My interest
in him is of a purely personal nature. Thanks for all the trouble
you have taken."
Paul Harley began to pace the office. From a professional point
of view the information was uninteresting enough, but from
another point of view it had awakened again that impotent anger
which he had too often experienced in these recent, strangely
restless days.
At all costs he must see Ormuz Khan, although how he was to
obtain access to this man who apparently never left his private
apartments (if the day of his vigil at the Savoy had been a
typical one) he failed to imagine.
Nevertheless, pausing at the table, he again took up his pencil,
and to the note "Obtain interview with Ormuz Khan" he added the
one word, underlined:
"To-morrow."
CHAPTER X. HIS EXCELLENCY ORMUZ KHAN
The city clocks were chiming the hour of ten on the following
morning when a page from the Savoy approached the shop of Mr.
Jarvis, bootmaker, which is situated at no great distance from
the hotel. The impudent face of the small boy wore an expression
of serio-comic fright as he pushed open the door and entered the
shop.
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