Chapter 6 Raffles Reaches His Goal
A magnificent company had gathered at the railway king's.
Mrs. Hundley was also present. She wished to prove to the world that she was a stranger to her husband's crime, and had placed herself under the protection of Raffles, who was also her host.
Newton had also been invited by the railway king, under pretence of being a guest, and he had also had several of his officials represented as waiters for the evening . John Raffles had noticed that the detective often looked attentively at him. He had noticed the intimate friendship between Mrs. Hundley and Raffles. He immediately assumed the possibility that the supposed Edward Bird could be the great Unknown.
At the time of Hundley's arrest, Newton had heard much of the millionaire 's intimate life and had also heard Hundley's accusation that Bird was his wife's lover.
Therefore it was also possible that he had committed the theft at Hundley's, because on the day before the burglary Mrs. Hundley had left the villa. It was also possible that she knew something about the contents of the safe.
The burglary did have the aftertaste of personal revenge.
Among the officials disguised as servants was one who had only returned from San Francisco that same morning.
This officer had been with him only two months, and had previously been employed in London.
He even claimed to know John Raffles.
His name was James Green.
When dinner was over, the assistant approached his chef and whispered:
“John Raffles is here, I recognized him.”
For several seconds Newton gasped for air.
“ Are you not mistaken , Green?” the detective asked emphatically.
“Certainly not,” was the decided answer.
Their conversation was interrupted by Mrs. Hundley, who came up to the detective on Raffles' arm and greeted him:
“I thank you, Mr. Newton,” she said, “for having succeeded in arresting this appalling man, who forced me by threats to become his wife.”
Newton looked up in surprise.
“Under threats…?”
“That's right, sir.”
“I should be really interested to hear something more about that,” replied the detective, his features betraying great tension.
A light pressure on her arm, that the great Unknown in his, warned her against further statements.
However imperceptibly this was done, Newton nevertheless became suspicious, which was still further increased when the beautiful woman now said:
“I would rather not talk about my private affairs.”
For the moment the detective had no choice but to make a polite gesture of assent; then he said briefly:
“As you wish, Mrs. Hundley.”
“I ask that you call me by my maiden name; I will not do this honor to a criminal again.”
“I can't blame you for that.”
With that the conversation was over. They exchanged a few more polite words and then went on.
“You nearly did a foolish thing,” whispered Raffles to his companion, as they went on; “for heaven's sake don't mention the crime.”
At this moment a young Frenchman, named Henry Suchard, who had only been a guest at the Hamilton Club in New York for a few weeks, approached Raffles and was introduced to Mrs. Hundley.
From afar Newton watched this scene. Again his assistant joined him.
“Are you quite certain that Raffles is among the guests?” the chief asked him again emphatically.
“Yes,” the detective replied decisively.
“Can you show him to me?”
“Look at the gentleman standing there by a grove of palm trees, with a lady in a soft pink dress,” replied the inquirer, pointing to Mrs. Hundley's attendant.
“Wonderful! So my suspicions were not wrong ,” exulted the chief.
“I have seen in him for an hour the long-sought Raffles.”
“How are you?” asked Mr. Meyer, the host, at this moment.
“Very well,” was the answer, “I believe your celebration will be a day of remembrance in the judicial history of the world: “Raffles is here.” ”
The arch-millionaire paled, although he was an exceptionally powerful man with strong nerves.
“For God's sake,” he said, “keep it quiet. All my guests would flee the house.”
“Do not worry, I will take my measures, and the capture will also be done without any fuss.”
“I beg you.”
He left Mr. Newton, who turned again to his detective:
“Inform our police posts and stand in the vestibule so that you can catch Raffles when he wants to get into the carriage.”
“I'll keep an eye on him.”