M r. Hoffman was a big solid-looking man. He gave the appearance of being carved out of wood—preferably teak.
His face was so expressionless as to give rise to surmise—could such a man be capable of thinking—of feelingemotion? It seemed impossible.
His manner was highly correct.
He rose, bowed, and held out a wedge-like hand.
“Chief-Inspector Davy? It is some years since I had the pleasure—you may not even remember—”
“Oh yes I do, Mr. Hoffman. The Aaronberg Diamond Case. You were a witness for the Crown—a most excellentwitness, let me say. The defence was quite unable to shake you.”
“I am not easily shaken,” said Mr. Hoffman gravely.
He did not look a man who would easily be shaken.
“What can I do for you?” he went on. “No trouble, I hope—I always want to agree well with the police. I have thegreatest admiration1 for your superb police force.”
“Oh! There is no trouble. It is just that we wanted you to confirm a little information.”
“I shall be delighted to help you in any way I can. As I say, I have the highest opinion of your London PoliceForce. You have such a splendid class of men. So full of integrity, so fair, so just.”
“You’ll make me embarrassed,” said Father.
“I am at your service. What is it that you want to know?”
“I was just going to ask you to give me a little dope about Bertram’s Hotel.”
Mr. Hoffman’s face did not change. It was possible that his entire attitude became for a moment or two even morestatic than it had been before—that was all.
“Bertram’s Hotel?” he said. His voice was inquiring, slightly puzzled. It might have been that he had never heardof Bertram’s Hotel or that he could not quite remember whether he knew Bertram’s Hotel or not.
“You have a connection with it, have you not, Mr. Hoffman?”
Mr. Hoffman moved his shoulders.
“There are so many things,” he said. “One cannot remember them all. So much business—so much—it keeps mevery busy.”
“You have your fingers in a lot of pies, I know that.”
“Yes.” Mr. Hoffman smiled a wooden smile. “I pull out many plums, that is what you think? And so you believe Ihave a connection with this—Bertram’s Hotel?”
“I shouldn’t have said a connection. As a matter of fact, you own it, don’t you?” said Father genially2.
This time, Mr. Hoffman definitely did stiffen3.
“Now who told you that, I wonder?” he said softly.
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” said Chief-Inspector Davy, cheerfully. “Very nice place to own, I should say. In fact, youmust be quite proud of it.”
“Oh yes,” said Hoffman. “For the moment—I could not quite remember—you see—” he smiled deprecatingly—“Iown quite a lot of property in London. It is a good investment—property. If something comes on the market in what Ithink is a good position, and there is a chance of snapping it up cheap, I invest.”
“And was Bertram’s Hotel going cheap?”
“As a running concern, it had gone down the hill,” said Mr. Hoffman, shaking his head.
“Well, it’s on its feet now,” said Father. “I was in there just the other day. I was very much struck with theatmosphere there. Nice old-fashioned clientele, comfortable, old-fashioned premises4, nothing rackety about it, a lot ofluxury without looking luxurious5.”
“I know very little about it personally,” explained Mr. Hoffman. “It is just one of my investments—but I believe itis doing well.”
“Yes, you seem to have a first-class fellow running it. What is his name? Humfries? Yes, Humfries.”
“An excellent man,” said Mr. Hoffman. “I leave everything to him. I look at the balance sheet once a year to seethat all is well.”
“The place was thick with titles,” said Father. “Rich travelling Americans too.” He shook his head thoughtfully.
“Wonderful combination.”
“You say you were in there the other day?” Mr. Hoffman inquired. “Not—not officially, I hope?”
“Nothing serious. Just trying to clear up a little mystery.”
“A mystery? In Bertram’s Hotel?”
“So it seems. The Case of the Disappearing Clergyman, you might label it.”
“That is a joke,” Mr. Hoffman said. “That is your Sherlock Holmes language.”
“This clergyman walked out of the place one evening and was never seen again.”
“Peculiar,” said Mr. Hoffman, “but such things happen. I remember many, many years ago now, a great sensation.
Colonel—now let me think of his name—Colonel Fergusson I think, one of the equerries of Queen Mary. He walkedout of his club one night and he, too, was never seen again.”
“Of course,” said Father, with a sigh, “a lot of these disappearances6 are voluntary.”
“You know more about that than I do, my dear Chief-Inspector,” said Mr. Hoffman. He added, “I hope they gaveyou every assistance at Bertram’s Hotel?”
“They couldn’t have been nicer,” Father assured him. “That Miss Gorringe, she has been with you some time, Ibelieve?”
“Possibly. I really know so very little about it. I take no personal interest, you understand. In fact—” he smileddisarmingly—“I was surprised that you even knew it belonged to me.”
It was not quite a question; but once more there was a slight uneasiness in his eyes. Father noted7 it without seemingto.
“The ramifications8 that go on in the City are like a gigantic jigsaw,” he said. “It would make my head ache if I hadto deal with that side of things. I gather that a company—Mayfair Holding Trust or some name like that—is theregistered owner. They’re owned by another company and so on and so on. The real truth of the matter is that itbelongs to you. Simple as that. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I and my fellow directors are what I dare say you’d call behind it, yes,” admitted Mr. Hoffman rather reluctantly.
“Your fellow directors. And who might they be? Yourself and, I believe, a brother of yours?”
“My brother Wilhelm is associated with me in this venture. You must understand that Bertram’s is only a part of achain of various hotels, offices, clubs and other London properties.”
“Any other directors?”
“Lord Pomfret, Abel Isaacstein.” Hoffman’s voice was suddenly edged. “Do you really need to know all thesethings? Just because you are looking into the Case of the Disappearing Clergyman?”
Father shook his head and looked apologetic.
“I suppose it’s really curiosity. Looking for my disappearing clergyman was what took me to Bertram’s, but then Igot—well, interested if you understand what I mean. One thing leads to another sometimes, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose that could be so, yes. And now?” He smiled. “Your curiosity is satisfied?”
“Nothing like coming to the horse’s mouth when you want information, is there?” said Father, genially. He rose tohis feet. “There’s only one thing I’d really like to know—and I don’t suppose you’ll tell me that.”
“Yes, Chief-Inspector?” Hoffman’s voice was wary9.
“Where do Bertram’s get hold of their staff? Wonderful! That fellow what’s-his-name—Henry. The one that lookslike an Archduke or an Archbishop, I’m not sure which. Anyway, he serves you tea and muffins—most wonderfulmuffins! An unforgettable experience.”
“You like muffins with much butter, yes?” Mr. Hoffman’s eyes rested for a moment on the rotundity of Father’sfigure with disapprobation.
“I expect you can see I do,” said Father. “Well, I mustn’t be keeping you. I expect you’re pretty busy taking overtake-over bids, or something like that.”
“Ah. It amuses you to pretend to be ignorant of all these things. No, I am not busy. I do not let business absorb metoo much. My tastes are simple. I live simply, with leisure, with growing of roses, and my family to whom I am muchdevoted.”
“Sounds ideal,” said Father. “Wish I could live like that.”
Mr. Hoffman smiled and rose ponderously10 to shake hands with him.
“I hope you will find your disappearing clergyman very soon.”
“Oh! That’s all right. I’m sorry I didn’t make myself clear. He’s found—disappointing case, really. Had a caraccident and got concussion—simple as that.”
Father went to the door, then turned and asked:
“By the way, is Lady Sedgwick a director of your company?”
“Lady Sedgwick?” Hoffman took a moment or two. “No. Why should she be?”
“Oh well, one hears things—Just a shareholder11?”
“I—yes.”
“Well, good-bye, Mr. Hoffman. Thanks very much.”
Father went back to the Yard and straight to the AC.
“The two Hoffman brothers are the ones behind Bertram’s Hotel—financially.”
“What? Those scoundrels?” demanded Sir Ronald.
“Yes.”
“They’ve kept it very dark.”
“Yes—and Robert Hoffman didn’t half like our finding it out. It was a shock to him.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, we kept it all very formal and polite. He tried, not too obviously, to learn how I had found out about it.”
“And you didn’t oblige him with that information, I suppose.”
“I certainly did not.”
“What excuse did you give for going to see him?”
“I didn’t give any,” said Father.
“Didn’t he think that a bit odd?”
“I expect he did. On the whole I thought that was a good way to play it, sir.”
“If the Hoffmans are behind all this, it accounts for a lot. They’re never concerned in anything crooked12 themselves—oh no! They don’t organize crime—they finance it though!
“Wilhelm deals with the banking13 side from Switzerland. He was behind those foreign currency rackets just after thewar—we knew it—but we couldn’t prove it. Those two brothers control a great deal of money and they use it forbacking all kinds of enterprises—some legitimate—some not. But they’re careful—they know every trick of the trade.
Robert’s diamond broking is straightforward14 enough — but it makes a suggestive picture — diamonds — bankinginterests, and property—clubs, cultural foundations, office buildings, restaurants, hotels—all apparently15 owned bysomebody else.”
“Do you think Hoffman is the planner of these organized robberies?”
“No, I think those two deal only with finance. No, you’ll have to look elsewhere for your planner. Somewherethere’s a first-class brain at work.”
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1
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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disappearances
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| n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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ramifications
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| n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
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9
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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ponderously
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11
shareholder
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| n.股东，股票持有人 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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13
banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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14
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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