Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/23

Rh "I beg your pardon, Bournemouth. His Grace has taken a house near Bournemouth for the summer."

"Very well then—to-morrow morning you will go back to Bournemouth and continue to ingratiate your self with father and son. You will also begin to implant in the boy's mind a desire for travel. Don't let him become aware that his desire has its source in you—but do not fail to foster it all you can. I will communicate with you further in a day or two. Now go."

Baxter in his turn left the room. The door closed. Dr. Nikola picked up the photograph and studied it carefully.

"The likeness is unmistakable—or it ought to be. My friend, my very dear friend, Wetherell, my toils are closing on you. My arrangements are perfecting themselves admirably. Presently when all is complete I shall press the lever, the machinery will be set in motion, and you will find yourself being slowly but surely ground into powder. Then you may be sorry you thought fit to baulk Dr. Nikola!"

He rang the bell and ordered his bill. This duty discharged he placed the cat back in its prison, shut the lid, descended with the basket to the hall, and called a hansom. When he had closed the apron, the porter enquired to what address he should order the cabman to drive. Dr. Nikola did not reply for a moment, then he said, as if he had been thinking something out:

"The Green Sailor public house, East India Dock Road."