The Spider Strain | Page 9

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, I must be getting old,

slowing up--what? My word, yes!"
Warwick walked to a dark corner of the room, stepped to a window
there, and looked down at the street. The lights were just being turned
on. A stream of automobiles was passing, men of affairs going to their
homes from their offices.
Warwick glanced across the street, where there was a drug store with
windows brilliantly lighted. He stepped closer to the window--and
looked again Standing before one of the store windows and looking at
the apartment house was the man who had followed Warwick in the
roadster.
"He's watching me rather closely--what?" Warwick told himself. "I'll
have to look into this matter, I'm afraid. Always did detest a mystery!"
He stepped to his desk, got an automatic pistol from one of the drawers,
and slipped it into the pocket of his overcoat. He put into his coat
pocket a tiny pair of pincers so sharp that they would cut through
strands of any ordinary metal--say, a gold chain. He called to Togo to
order the chauffeur to have the limousine in front immediately and then
put on his hat and coat--but not his gloves.
"You'll be careful, sar?" Togo asked.
"Naturally!" Warwick replied. "Can't understand this sudden idea that I
may get reckless! Never knew me to be reckless before, did you? My
word!"
"And I cannot help you, sar?" Togo implored.
"Oh, you may happen to be in the neighborhood, if that will appease
you in the least," Warwick answered. "Fail to see how you can be of
help to me, though."
"Thanks, sar!" Togo cried. "Perhaps I may be of service to you, sar! It
will be a difficult task, I fear. It is not the easy one you seem to think,
sar."

"Nonsense!" Warwick exclaimed. "Upon my word, I never heard such
utter rot before! I'll have the silly old locket before midnight--make you
a good wager on it! I never saw you quite like this before, honorable
Japanese! Makes me wonder what the old world is coming to, you
know. Nonsense! A man would think, from your actions and words,
that I was going into a battle, or something like that!"
Togo's answer rather startled him. "You are, sar!" Togo said.
Chapter 4
One Known Foe
JOHN WARWICK left the apartment house, stepped out into the street,
and then walked briskly across it. He entered the drug store and
purchased a package of cigarettes. There was no particular sense in that,
since he had an ample supply in his rooms, and even some in his pocket,
but it gave him a chance to pass within six feet of the man who had
been watching him.
Warwick did not give him as much as a glance as he entered the store.
The man moved down the street a dozen feet or so, and stood by the
curb. Warwick walked from the drug store, stopped to light one of the
cigarettes he had purchased, tossed away the burned match, and then
whirled around and stepped up to the man at the curb.
"See here!" he exclaimed, in a low, tense voice. "I'd like very much to
be informed just as to why you show such a remarkable and unusual
interest in my affairs!"
"What's that?" the other snarled.
"I fancy that you both heard and understood me," Warwick said. "You