Here the two men left us,
to seek certain distinguished passengers, I suppose, whose views upon
the questions of the day were (presumably) anxiously awaited by an
expectant public. Godfrey stopped in front of the purser's office,
and passed his card through the little window to the man inside the
cage.
"I should like to see M. Pigot, of the Paris _Service du Surete_" he
said. "Perhaps you will be so kind as to have a steward take my card
to him?"
"That is unnecessary, sir," replied the purser, courteously. "That is
M. Pigot yonder--the gentleman with the white hair, with his back to
us. You will have to wait for a moment, however; the gentleman
speaking with him is from the French consulate, and has but this
moment come aboard."
I could not see Inspector Pigot's face, but I could see that he held
himself very erect, in a manner bespeaking military training. The
messenger from the legation was a youngish man, with waxed moustache
and wearing an eyeglass. He was greeting M. Pigot at the moment, and,
after a word or two, produced from an inside pocket an
official-looking envelope, tied with red tape and secured with an
immense red seal.
M. Pigot looked at it an instant, while his companion added a
sentence in his ear; then, with a nod of assent, the detective turned
down one of the passage-ways, the other man at his heels.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254