Just before I turned in for the night, I heard from Godfrey again, for my telephone rang, and it was his voice that answered.

“I just wanted to tell you, Lester,” he said, “that your guess was right.  The mysterious Frenchman came over on La Touraine, landing at noon yesterday.  He came in the steerage, and the stewards know nothing about him.  What time was it he got to Vantine’s?”

“About two, I should say.”

“So he probably went directly there from the boat, as you thought.  That accounts for nobody knowing him.  The steamship company is holding a bag belonging to him.  I’ll get them to open it to-morrow, and perhaps we shall find out who he was.”

“But, Godfrey,” I broke in, “how about this other fellow—­the man with the burning eyes?  He’s getting on my nerves!”

“Don’t let him do that, Lester!” he laughed.  “We’re in no danger so long as we are not around that cabinet!  That’s the storm centre!  I can’t tell you more than that.  Good-night!” and he hung up without waiting for me to answer.

CHAPTER XIII

A DISTINGUISHED CALLER

It was shortly after I reached the office, next morning, that the office-boy came in and handed me a card with an awed and reverent air so at variance with his usual demeanour that I glanced at the square of pasteboard in some astonishment.  Then, I confess, an awed and reverent feeling crept over me, also, for the card bore the name of Sereno Hornblower.

That name is quite unknown outside the legal profession of the three great cities of the east, New York, Boston and Philadelphia; for Sereno Hornblower has never held a public office, has never made a public speech, has never responded to a toast, has never served on a public committee, has never, so far as I know, conducted a case in court or addressed a jury—­has never, in a word, figured in the newspapers in any way; and yet his income would make that of any other lawyer in the country look like thirty cents.

For Sereno Hornblower is the confidential attorney of most of our “best families.”  He has held that position for years, and it is said that no case placed unreservedly in his hands ever resulted in a public scandal.  He accepts clients with great care; he has steadfastly refused the business of Pittsburgh millionaires, remunerative as it was certain to be; but he seems to take a sort of personal pride in keeping intact the reputations of the old families, even when their scions embark in the most outrageous escapades.  If you are descended from the Pilgrims or the Patroons, Mr. Hornblower will ask no further recommendation.

His reputation for tact and delicacy is tremendous; and yet those who have found themselves opposed to him have never been long in realising that there was a most redoubtable mailed fist under the velvet glove.  Altogether a remarkable man, whose memoirs would make absorbing reading, could he be persuaded to write them—­which is quite beyond the bounds of possibility.  I had never met him either professionally or personally, and it was with some eagerness that I told the office-boy to show him in at once.