The lights flickered once again. Jennings turned and opened the door. He stepped into the outer hall. The door closed behind him. The shrouded room was plunged in darkness.
Jennings groped his way from the house. He stole cautiously along the alley. He walked briskly down the street, turned a corner, walked another block and came to an avenue. There he hailed a passing cab.
As the valet stepped into the waiting vehicle, a dark shadow seemed to form about him. The man did not notice it.
He gave the driver a destination not far from the home of Hubert Banks. As the cab moved away from the curb, Jennings did not look back. Thus he failed to see the tall figure clad in black that stood by the wall of the nearest house.
But he did crouch in sudden alarm at the sound which reached his ears. From some unknown place came the low, weird tone of a chilling, mocking laugh that aroused terrifying thoughts. It made Jennings remember the weird room where he had received his final instructions.
More than that, it brought back chilling remembrances of stories that he had heard in the underworld, before he had come beneath the sway of The Black Master. Jennings had heard the laugh of The Shadow!
CHAPTER XV. HARRY OBEYS ORDERS
ON the morning of June 1st, Harry Vincent found two letters lying on the table when he came down to breakfast.
Hubert Banks had not yet risen. Harry was alone in the breakfast room. He looked curiously at the postmarks on the envelopes, then summoned the butler.
"When did these letters come in?" he demanded.
"Graham gave them to me this morning," replied the butler.
"Get Graham, then."
When the valet arrived, Harry lost no time in questioning him.
"One of them came this morning, Mr. Vincent," explained the valet. "I answered the door when the postman arrived. I put the mail on the tray, after sorting it, and while I was doing so, I saw something lying on the floor beside the table.
"It was the other letter, Mr. Vincent. It must have dropped there yesterday. So I put it on the tray, sir, and gave the tray to Hubert."
The man's explanation was reasonable. Harry glanced at the letter in question. The envelope was a trifle dusty.
"It must have been there since day before yesterday," he said. Then he looked at the more recent letter.
"Well, this one bears yesterday's postmark. It's all right Graham."
The valet bowed and left the room.
Harry opened the first letter. It was brief and written in the familiar code: No instructions. Await important letter. Expect it within three days. Acknowledge it without details. This applies to June the first.
He watched the writing disappear. Then he opened the second envelope: Leave house secretly after dinner tomorrow. Wear valet's coat and hat. Take taxicab waiting at corner opposite Uptown Garage. Further instructions in envelope on back seat of cab.
Harry read the message rapidly; then he began to scan the inked lines a second time.
He thought that he had detected a slight error in one of the coded words — something that had never occurred in any message from The Shadow. But before he had found the word in question, the message began to disappear. Harry then recalled that the ink of these two letters had been slightly different in color from the ink used in the first letters. Evidently there had been some change in the chemical formula.
He looked at the two blank pieces of paper. They bore the telltale edge marks of number six and number seven. That gave the letters the authentic proof that was required. It put Harry's mind at ease.
After breakfast, he wrote a brief note, stating that the instructions in number seven would be followed exactly. He went to the drug store to purchase some cigars. The solemn-faced clerk was already on duty. The envelope passed from Harry to the clerk.
Hubert Banks appeared in a troubled mood at breakfast. Although Harry had finished eating, he sat and talked with the millionaire while the latter ate his morning meal.
Harry knew instinctively that it would be wise to watch Hubert Banks on this eventful day. The millionaire had made no reference to the date. Harry hoped that he had forgotten it.
The morning went by rapidly. Then, during the afternoon, Banks did the unexpected. He ordered the car and decided to take a ride to Long Island, where work was being done to repair his summer home, which had been damaged by a mysterious fire.
Harry accompanied him, but Banks was silent during most of the journey. Whatever was troubling him, he was at least keeping it to himself, and Harry regarded this as somewhat encouraging. They arrived back in New York at half-past six, in time to dress for dinner.
Hubert Banks possessed a large stock of pre-prohibition liquor, and he had ordered it served plentifully at dinner that evening. While Harry abstained from drinking, he noted that Banks drank much more than was his usual custom.
When they retired to the living room, after dinner, the millionaire ordered Herbert to bring more drinks.
While the butler was gone, Harry arose.
"I must leave you for a short while," he said to Banks. "I expect to be back very soon."
"Don't make it too long," said Banks. "Want to talk with you tonight, old top! Don't be gone long!"
Harry took advantage of the butler's absence to go to the closet where the servants kept their coats.
There found Graham's hat and coat and donned them as he went out the front door.
It was raining heavily. The downpour had begun with a drizzle in the afternoon. There was no light on the porch and Harry was virtually invisible in the darkness as he slipped down the side steps and cut through a back driveway that led to a rear street.
He splashed along through the rain until he reached the corner opposite the Uptown Garage. There he found a cab, with the driver in the front seat. The man held up his hand as Harry started to open the door.
"I'm waiting for a passenger, boss," said the cabman. "This here cab's reserved!"
"I'm the man you're waiting for — Mr. Vincent."
"Yes, sir! Get right in, sir! Been waiting here a half hour for you!"
In the cab Harry found an envelope wedged behind the cushion of the back seat.
"This cab is all paid for, sir," he heard the driver say. "Where do you want me to take you?"
"Wait a minute," Harry replied. He read the message. It instructed him to leave the cab at a certain corner, go three houses west and to turn through an alley to the first door on the right, where he was to tap and await admittance.
Harry directed the cabdriver and saw the writing of the coded message disappear. He turned off the light and settled back against the cushions.
As the taxi wallowed through the rain-soaked streets, Harry began to wonder about this unexpected mission. Often, when in the service of The Shadow, he had gained some inkling of what lay ahead. Now he could not even imagine what his duty might be.
It had seemed obvious that something was due to happen at the home of Hubert Banks. Yet here was Harry, bound for an unknown destination.
He lighted a cigar. The cab became stuffy and he lowered a window to get some air. Then he remembered that he had not destroyed and thrown away the message that he had found in the cab.
Such action was actually unnecessary; but Harry always adopted it as a precaution. He had always known that if someone found a letter to be blank after he had been seen reading it, that in itself would be suspicious. He turned on the light. The sheet of paper was on the floor. Harry picked it up and began to tear it in half.
He felt the texture of the paper to be different from that used in the previous notes.
According to the system, this should be number eight of the series. Since the paper was different, it must be the beginning of a new group of messages. If so, he had missed letter number eight. Perhaps he had missed more — unless this should be number one of the new group. He ran his fingers around the edges of the paper, seeking telltale indentations. He found none!