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Then he stretched out his hands and laid them upon Wrayson's shoulders. "What if they are?" he declared cheerfully. "They won't eat you. Besides, it is very likely the dead man's rooms they are watching." "They followed me home from the inquest," Wrayson muttered. The Colonel laughed. "And if I'd been living here," he remarked, "they'd have followed me home just the same.
Wrayson shrugged his shoulders. "He may find it necessary to disclose it, and before very long," he remarked. "Well, go on." Mr. Bentham discreetly ignored the covert threat in Wrayson's words. "My mission to you, Mr. Wrayson" he declared, "is a somewhat delicate one. It is not, in fact, connected with the actual tragedy to which you have alluded.
"How did you hear of this place?" he asked, watching the smoke curl upwards into the breathless air. "I fancy that you and I are the only guests here." Wrayson's companion, tall, broad-shouldered, and heavily bearded, was busy filling a pipe from a pouch by his side. His features were unmistakably Saxon, and his cheeks were tanned, as though by much exposure to all sorts of weathers.
"It is not hospitable, this! I only wished to see the chateau by moonlight!" Wrayson's fellow guest at the Lion d'Or turned to follow them. "The fellow might try to escape," he muttered; but again Madame de Melbain called to him. "You must not go away," she said, "yet!"
He changed his position so that he could see his captor better. "Ah!" he muttered, "you have seen me before, eh? And I you, perhaps! Let me think! Was it " Wrayson's friend leaned a little forwards, and with the careless ease of one flicking away a fly, he struck the speaker with the back of his hand across the face.
"Supposing," he said, "that he turned out to be the man whom you have in your mind, what is he to you?" "My brother," she answered simply. Wrayson's first impulse was of surprise. Then he drew a long breath of relief. He looked back upon his long hours of anxiety, and cursed himself for a fool. "What an idiot I have been!" he declared. "Of course, I know that you lost a brother in South Africa.
"I know enough of him, however, to be quite sure that the advice which I have given you is good." The carriage drew up in the Albert Road, within a hundred yards or so of Wrayson's own block of flats. The Baroness alighted first. "You must come in and have a whisky and soda," she said to Wrayson. "If I may," he answered, looking at Louise. The Baroness passed on.
You must excuse my coming to Battersea, as I understand that your flat is subjected to a most inconvenient surveillance. May I call at the office of your paper, at say eleven o'clock tomorrow?" "Yes!" Wrayson answered. "You know where it is?" "Certainly! I shall be there. A Mr. Bentham will ask for you. Good night!" Wrayson's unknown friend had rung off.
"Ah, then, you know him," the Baroness declared. "It is a friend, without doubt." "He belongs to my club," Wrayson answered. "His name is Heneage. I beg your pardon! I hope that wasn't my fault." The Baroness had dropped her lorgnettes on the floor. She stooped instantly to discover them, rejecting almost peremptorily Wrayson's aid. When she sat up again she pushed her chair a little further back.
Barnes who used to live here. He is keeping the flat on for a short time." The Baroness was surprised, and showed it. Without a moment's hesitation, however, she accepted Wrayson's words as an introduction to the young man, and held out her hand to him with a brilliant smile. "I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Barnes," she said, "even under such painful circumstances.
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