22 
LAND & WATER 
March 15, 191 7 
{Continued from page 20) 
looking more and more surprised. And Simeon proceeded 
with his statement : . jit 
" 1 am a Greek subject. Greece is a neutral, mdeed, 1 
may say, a friendly country ; and I can easily obtam a 
passport and leave France. But, for personal reasons, 1 \vant 
the passport made oat not in my o^^^^ name but in some other, 
which you and I will decide upon together. 
The doctor rose to his feet indignantly. 
Simoon persisted : 
" Oh, please don't be theatrical ! It's a question of price, 
is it not ? My mind is made up. How much do you want ? 
The doctor pointed to the door. 
Simeon raised no protest. He put on his hat. But, on 
reaching the door, he said : ^^ 
" Twenty thousand francs ? Is that enough ? ' _ 
" Do you want me to ring ? " asked the doctor, ' and have 
vou turned out ? " r u 
Simeon laughed and quietly, with a pause after each 
" Thirty thousand ? " he asked. " Forty ? . . Fifty ? 
. . . Oh, I see, we're playing a great game, we want a 
round sum. ... All right. Only, you know, everything 
luust be included in the price we settle. Youmust not only 
lix me up a passport so genuine that it can't be disputed, 
but you must guarantee me the means of leaving France, as 
\ou did for Mme. Mosgranem, on terms not half so handsome, 
by Jove ! However, I'm not haggling. I need your assistance. 
Is it a bargain ? A hundred thousand francs ? " 
Dr. Geradec bolted the door, came back, sat down at his 
desk, and said, simply : 
" We'll talk about it." 
" I repeat the question," said Simeon, coming closer. 
" Are we agreed at a hundred thousand ? " 
" We are agreed," said the doctor, " unless any comphca- 
tions appear later." 
" What do you mean ? " 
" I mean that the figure of a hundred thousand francs 
forms a suitable basis for discussion, that's all." 
Simeon hesitated a second. The man struck him as rather 
greedy. However, he sat down once more ; and the doctor 
at once resumed the conversation : 
" Your real name, please." 
" You mustn't ask me that. I tell you, there are 
reasons. ..." 
" Then it will be two hundred thousand francs. 
" Eh ? " said Simeon, with a start.__ " I say, that's a bit 
steep ! 1 never heard of such a price." 
" You're not obliged to accept," repUed Geradec calmly. 
■ We are discussing a bargain. You are free to do as you 
please." 
" But, look here, once you agree to fi.x me up a false pass- 
port, what can it matter to you whether you know my name 
or not ? " 
" It matters a great deal. I run an infinitely greater nsk 
in assisting the escape— for that's the only word— of a spy 
than 1 do in assisting the escape of a respectable man." 
" I'm not a spy." 
" How do I know ? Look here, you come to me to propose 
a shady transaction. You conceal your name and your 
identity ; and you're in such a hurry to disappear from sight 
that you're prepared to pay me a hundred thousand francs 
to help you. And, in the face of that, you lay claim to being 
a respectable man ! Come, come 1 It's absurd ! A^respectable 
man does not behave like a burglar or a murderer." 
Old Simeon did not wince. He slowly wiped his forehead 
with his handkerchief. He was evidently thinking that 
Geradec was a hardy antagonist, and that he would perhaps 
have done better not to go to him. But, after all, the con- 
tract was a conditional one. There would always be time 
enough to break it off. 
" I say, I say 1 " he said, with an attempt at a laugh. 
" You're using big words ! " 
" They're only words," said the doctor. " I am stating 
no hypothesis. I'm content to sum up the position and 
justify my demands." 
" You're quite right." 
" Then we're agreed ? " 
" Yes. Perhaps, however — and this is the last observation 
I propose to make— you might let me off more cheaply con- 
sidering that I'm a friend of Mme. Mosgranem's." 
" Wliat do you suggest by that ? " asked the doctor. 
" Mme. Mosgranem herself told me that you charged her 
nothing." „ ,. , „ j , 
" That's true, I charged her nothmg, rephed the doctor, 
with a fatuous smile, " but perhaps she presented me with 
a ■^ood deal. Mme. Mosgranem was one of those attractive 
wuinen whose favours command their own price." 
There was a silence. Old Simeon seemed to feel more and 
more uncomfortable in his interlocutor's presence. At last 
the doctor sighed : 
" Poor Mme. Mosgranem ! " 
" What makes you speak Uke that ? " asked Simeon. 
" What 1 Haven't you heard ? " 
" I have had no letters from her since she left." 
" I see. I had one last night ; and I was greatly surprised 
to learn that she was back in France." 
" In France ! Mme. Mosgranem ! " • 
" Yes. And sh^ even gave me an appointment for this 
morning, a very strange appointment." 
" Where ? " asked Simeon, with visible concern. 
" You'll never guess. On a barge, yes, called the 
Nonchalante, moored at the Quai de Passy. alongside Berthou's 
wharf." 
" Is it possible ? " said Simeon. 
" It's as I tell you. And do you know how the letter was 
signed ? It was signed Gregoire. 
" Gregoire ? A man's name ? " muttered the old man. 
almost with a groan. 
" Yes, a man's name. Look, I have the letter on me. She 
tells me that she is leading a very dangerous life, that she 
distrusts the man with whom her fortunes are bound up and 
that she would like to ask my advice." 
" Then . . . then you wenl; ? " 
" Yes, I was there, this morning, while you were ringing 
up here. Unfortunately . . ." 
" Well ? " 
" I arrived too late. Gregoire, or rather Mme. Mosgranem, 
was dead. She had been strangled." 
" So you know nothing more than that ? " asked Simeon, 
who seemed unable to get his words out. 
" Nothing more about what ? " 
" About the man whom she mentioned." 
" Yes, I do, for she told me his name in the letter. He's 
a Greek, who calls himself Simeon Diodokis. She even gave 
me a description of him. I haven't read it very carefully." 
He unfolded the letter and ran his eyes down the second 
page, mumbling : 
" A broken-down old man . . . Passes himself off 
as mad . . . Always goes about in a comforter and a pair 
of large yellow spectacles . . ." 
Dr. Geradec ceased reading and looked at Simeon with an 
air of amazement. Both of them sat for a moment without 
speaking. Then the doctor said : 
" You are Simeon Diodokis." 
The other did not protest. All these incidents were so 
strangely and, at the same time, so naturally interlinked as to 
persuade him that lying was useless. 
" This alters the situation," declared the doctor. " The 
time for trifling is past. It's a most serious and terribly 
dangerous matter for me. I can tell you ! You'll have to 
make it a million." 
" Oh, no 1 " cried Simeon, excitedly. " Certainly not ! 
Besides, I never touched Mme. Mosgranem. I was myself 
attacked by the man who strangled her, the same man— a 
negro called Ya-Bon— who caught me up and took me by the 
throat." 
" Ya-Bon ? Did you say Ya-Bon ? " 
"Yes, a one-armed Senegalese." 
The doctor shrugged his shoulders with a smile : 
" Listen sir, to a curious coincidence. When I left the 
barge, I met half-a-dozen wounded soldiers. They spoke to 
me and said they were looking for a comrade, this very 
Ya-Bon, and also for their Captain, Captain Belval, and a 
friend of this officer's and a lady, the lady they were staying 
with. All these people had disappeared ; and they accused 
a certain person . . . Wait, they told me his nam^ 
.... Oh, but this is more and more curious ! The 
man's name was Simeon Diodokis. It was you they accused ! 
Isn't it odd ? But, on the other hand, you must 
confess that all this constitutes fresh facts and therefore . . ." 
There was a pause. Then the doctor formulated his demand 
in plain tones : 
" I shall want two millions." 
This time Simeon remained impassive. He felt that he 
was in the man's clutches, Uke a mouse clawed by a cat. 
" This is blackmail," he said quietly. 
The doctor nodded : 
" Suppose I refuse to submit ? " 
" Then I shall telephone to the headquarters of the pohce, 
with whom I stand in great favour at present, as I am able 
to do them a good turn now and again." 
Simeon glanced at the window and at the door. Tlie 
doctor had his hand on the receiver of the telephone. There 
was no way out of it. 
" Very well," he declared. " After all, it s better _so. 
You know me ; and I know you. We can come to terms." 
(To be continued). 
