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Look here we've got to do something, and at once!" But Millwaters shook his head. "Not my job, Mr. Perkwite!" he answered. "My business is with the man Cave! I've nothing to do with Miss Wickham, sir, nor with the old lady that's taken her in there. Cave's my mark! Queer that the young lady's gone there, no doubt, but no affair of mine." "It's going to be an affair of mine, then," said Perkwite.
But Millwaters woke to action as their own car progressed up Whitechapel Road, and suddenly he gave a warning word to the barrister and a smart tap on the window behind their driver. The car came to a halt by the curb; and Millwaters, slipping out, pushed some money into the man's hand and drew Perkwite amongst the people who were crowding the sidewalk.
That'll be far better than calling the police in." "Give me your telephone-number, then," said Perkwite, "and keep a strict watch while I'm away." Millwaters repeated some figures and a letter, and Perkwite ran off up the street and toward the Whitechapel Road, anxiously seeking for a telephone booth.
It was a mere detail to charter the next, and to give a quiet word and wink to its chauffeur, who was opening its door for Millwaters when a third person came gently alongside and tapped the clerk's shoulder. Millwaters turned sharply and encountered Mr. Perkwite's shrewd eyes. "All right, Millwaters!" said the barrister. "I know what you're after! I'm after the same bird. We'll go together."
And if there's need, ring me up here, and let's know what's happening, or if you want assistance." There was no need for Millwaters to promise faithful compliance; Portlethwaite knew well enough that to put him on a trail was equivalent to putting a hound on the scent of a fox or a terrier to the run of a rat.
"I'm going off to the police!" Millwaters put out a detaining hand. "Don't, Mr. Perkwite!" he said. "To get police into a quarter like this is as bad as putting a light to dry straw. I'll tell you a better plan than that, sir find the nearest telephone-box and call up our people call Mr. Carless, tell him what you've seen and get him to come down and bring somebody with him.
Millwaters, shorter in the leg than the tall man in front, had to hurry to keep him in sight, but he was never far behind as Cave hastened along Craven Road and made for the terminus.
"We followed Cave," said Perkwite, "because Millwaters had been ordered to do so, and because I considered his conduct mysterious. Then, when we saw what was going on here, your arrival following on that of Miss Wickham and Mrs. Killenhall, we telephoned for Mr. Carless and more help. Carless and Lord Ellingham, and a couple of detectives, are at the front now.
"Not while Viner's in there," said Millwaters quietly. "I might possibly have gone and rung the bell myself, but for that. But Viner's in there wait!" And Perkwite waited, chafing, at the corner of the dismal street, until a quarter of an hour had passed. Then a car came hurrying along and pulled up as Millwaters and his companion were reached, and from it sprang Mr.
He did not care the value of a brass button if Cave was Earl of Ellingham or Duke of Ditchmoor; his job was to keep his eye on him, whoever he was. And so when Viner and his party went round to Markendale Square, Millwaters slunk along in their rear, and at a corner of the Square he remained, lounging about, until his quarry reappeared.
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