Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo | Page 7

that he was listening and thinking with absorbed interest.

"So far," Draconmeyer pointed out, "I have laid my cards on the table. I
have told you the solemn truth. I regret that it did not occur to me to do
so many months ago in London. Now to proceed. I ask you to emulate
my frankness, and in return I will give you information which should
enable us to work hand in hand for the peace which we both desire."
"You ask me," Hunterleys said thoughtfully, "to be perfectly frank with
you. In what respect? What is it that you wish from me?"
"Not political information," Mr. Draconmeyer declared, his eyes
blinking behind his glasses. "For that I certainly should not come to
you. I only wish to ask you a question, and I must ask it so that we may
meet on a common ground of confidence. Are you here in Monte Carlo
to look after your wife, or in search of change of air and scene? Is that
your honest motive for being here? Or is there any other reason in the
world which has prompted you to come to Monte Carlo during this
particular month--I might almost say this particular week?"
Hunterleys' attitude was that of a man who holds in his hand a puzzle
and is doubtful where to commence in his efforts to solve it.
"Are you not a little mysterious this afternoon, Mr. Draconmeyer?" he
asked coldly. "Or are you trying to incite a supposititious curiosity? I
really cannot see the drift of your question."
"Answer it," Mr. Draconmeyer insisted.
Hunterleys took a cigarette from his case, tapped it upon the table and
lit it in leisurely fashion.
"If you have any idea," he said, "that I came here to confront my wife,
or to interfere in any way with her movements, let me assure you that
you are mistaken. I had no idea that Lady Hunterleys was in Monte
Carlo. I am here because I have a six months' holiday, and a holiday for
the average Englishman between January and April generally means, as
you must be aware, the Riviera. I have tried Bordighera and San Remo.
I have found them, as I no doubt shall find this place, wearisome. In the
end I suppose I shall drift back to London."

Mr. Draconmeyer frowned.
"You left London," he remarked tersely, "on December first. It is
to-day February twentieth. Do you wish me to understand that you have
been at Bordighera and San Remo all that time?"
"How did you know when I left London?" Hunterleys demanded.
Mr. Draconmeyer pursed his lips.
"I heard of your departure from London entirely by accident," he said.
"Your wife, for some reason or other, declined to discuss your
movements. I imagine that she was acting in accordance with your
wishes."
"I see," Hunterleys observed coolly. "And your present anxiety is to
know where I spent the intervening time, and why I am here in Monte
Carlo? Frankly, Mr. Draconmeyer, I look upon this close interest in my
movements as an impertinence. My travels have been of no importance,
but they concern myself only. I have no confidence to offer respecting
them. If I had, it would not be to you that I should unburden myself."
"You suspect me, then? You doubt my integrity?"
"Not at all," Hunterleys assured his questioner. "For anything I know to
the contrary, you are, outside the world of finance, one of the dullest
and most harmless men existing. My own position is simply as I
explained it during the first few sentences we exchanged. I do not like
you, I detest my wife's name being associated with yours, and for that
reason, the less I see of you the better I am pleased."
Mr. Draconmeyer nodded thoughtfully. He was, to all appearance,
studying the pattern of the carpet. For once in his life he was genuinely
puzzled. Was this man by his side merely a jealous husband, or had he
any idea of the greater game which was being played around them?
Had he, by any chance, arrived to take part in it? Was it wise, in any
case, to pursue the subject further? Yet if he abandoned it at this
juncture, it must be with a sense of failure, and failure was a thing to

which he was not accustomed.
"Your frankness," he admitted grimly, "is almost exhilarating. Our
personal relations being so clearly defined, I am inclined to go further
even than I had intended. We cannot now possibly misunderstand one
another. Supposing I were to tell you that your arrival in Monte Carlo,
accidental though it may be, is in a sense opportune; that you may, in a
short time meet here one or two politicians, friends of mine, with whom
an