The Spider Strain | Page 8

confidence this time, confound it!"
"Then it must be the locket," Togo said.
"What locket?" Warwick demanded. "Am I always to be surrounded by riddles? My word! It's enough to make a man take to drink, and all that sort of thing!"
"I--I cannot tell you, sar, if The Spider will not," Togo said. "I am sure you will pardon me, sar."
"My word! What mystery is this? I had thought that it was just a silly locket that somebody wanted badly enough to pay for. Other chaps are after the thing, too, it appears. Jolly old Spider told me to watch out for them!"
"Then it must be the locket I mean," Togo said. "You must be very careful, sar."
"Do I happen to have a reputation for being reckless?" Warwick demanded. "My word! A man would think that I was about to abduct the sultan of Turkey, or some little thing like that."
"It seems to be only a very simple thing, sar, but, believe me, it is not!" Togo told him.
"How on Earth does it happen that a woman like Mrs. Burton Barker is wearing a locket there could be so much fuss about? Why, the woman has had the thing for years! It seems to be a sort of pet of hers. Everybody wonders why she wears the thing. Impression is abroad that she is superstitious, and all that, and thinks the fool locket brings her good luck. Can't fathom this thing at all!"
"I--I certainly wish that I could tell you, sar, but I dare not without the permission of the master," Togo declared. "But I beg of you to be most careful, sar, and to watch out for those others you have mentioned."
"It seems to me that I have accomplished tasks far more difficult than this," Warwick said. "Is the greatest diamond in the world concealed in the thing, or some silly rot like that?"
"I believe that the locket is not of very great value in itself, sar," Togo replied.
"I fancy not, since I am to receive only ten thousand if I succeed in getting the thing. Sure you can't tell me more about it?"
"I dare not, sar!"
"My word! How very disgusting! Never did like such mysteries--get on a man's nerves, what?"
"If I only could help you, sar!" Togo exclaimed. "At least, sar, please allow me to be in the neighborhood of the Barker residence this evening. You may have need of me, sar. And, if you expect to be married soon, you will want nothing bad to happen."
"I should think not!" Warwick said. "But, this is amazing! Thought it was just a silly locket!"
"It is called the Locket of Tragedy, sar!"
"My word!" Warwick exclaimed, staring at the valet. "What a perfectly silly name to give a locket--and a cheap one at that! Nothing very tragic about Mrs. Burton Barker, I'm sure. She is just a silly butterfly of a woman!"
"It is true that she may have that appearance, sar," said Togo. "But, if you will pardon me, she is nothing of the sort. She is a dangerous woman, sar!"
"You know her?"
"I know of her, sar," said Togo. "Be on your guard, sar, when you attempt this thing. She may be expecting somebody to make an attempt to get the locket. And if you are suspected--"
"I understand, honorable Togo. Thanks, too, for this surprising warning. I always considered the woman rather shallow myself. Sort of a little girl masquerading in a grown-up's costume, what? I've known her for a score of years, since she was a girl--"
"Pardon, sar!" Togo interrupted. "But, during all those years, were there no times, when you were traveling, when you did not see her and heard nothing of her for years?"
"Of course! She was in school--and then she came out and spent the usual time abroad--"
"Ah!" Togo said significantly.
"So that is it, eh? She got mixed up with The Spider while abroad--what? Why, it can't be possible! The girl had a mother who watched her like a hawk!"
"Nevertheless, sar, something happened at that time that influenced this woman's whole life."
"She never looked like a woman of tragedy to me!" Warwick declared. "Can't imagine old Barker marrying a woman of that sort--his fancy always ran to the other kind."
"Perhaps her husband knows nothing of it."
"Of what?" Warwick asked.
"Of the locket and what it means," Togo replied.
John Warwick got up and began pacing the room. Togo piled the dishes on the tray, carried them into the hall, and rang for the waiter in the restaurant below.
"Never heard of such a thing!" Warwick grumbled. "All this row about a locket and a foolish woman! I'll bet there's nothing to it after all! I'll get the thing as quickly as I can and take it to The Spider. If I can't get a locket from a woman like Mrs. Burton Barker,