Then Dunbar spoke with blunt directness:
"I am very pleased to have you with us, Mr. Max," he said; "but might I
ask what your presence in London means?"
M. Gaston Max shrugged in true Gallic fashion.
"It means, monsieur," he said, "--murder--and MR. KING!"
XII
MR. GIANAPOLIS
It will prove of interest at this place to avail ourselves of an
opportunity denied to the police, and to inquire into the activities of
Mr. Soames, whilom employee of Henry Leroux.
Luke Soames was a man of unpleasant character; a man ever seeking
advancement--advancement to what he believed to be an ideal state, viz.:
the possession of a competency; and to this ambition he subjugated all
conflicting interests--especially the interests of others. From narrow
but honest beginnings, he had developed along lines ever growing
narrower until gradually honesty became squeezed out. He formed the
opinion that wealth was unobtainable by dint of hard work; and indeed
in a man of his limited intellectual attainments, this was no more than
true.
At the period when he becomes of interest, he had just discovered
himself a gentleman-at-large by reason of his dismissal from the
services of a wealthy bachelor, to whose establishment in Piccadilly he
had been attached in the capacity of valet.
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