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A few odd papers found lying on the desk have nothing to do with the case and may therefore be dismissed." Mr. Manderton paused and then, with the deliberation which distinguished his every movement, walked round the desk to the window. "The fire in this room," he said, turning and facing his audience, "was smoking. The butler will testify to this and state that Mr.
His manner was perfectly respectful, but reserved almost to a tone of menace. "In that case," said Robin, "I'll tell you something you don't know, Mr. Manderton. Has Bude told you what he heard after I had passed him in the hall?" Interest flashed at once into the detective's face. He turned quickly to the butler. Robin felt he had scored. "What did you hear?" he said sharply.
Manderton raised his head and looked out towards the frost-strewn gardens. "Maybe he hears a step, more probably he sees a face staring at him out of the dark. Very much to his surprise he recognizes Jeekes, his principal private secretary I say to his surprise because he must have believed Jeekes, who had the week-end free, to be in London.
"You can say I'm at home and ask them in," he said. He heard the heavy oaken door swing open, a murmur of voices in the hall. The next moment Detective-Inspector Manderton entered the sitting-room, The detective's manner had undergone some subtle change which Robin, watching him closely as he came into the room, was quick to note. Mr.
His eyes, well-open, keenly observant, in perpetual motion, lent an air of alertness, of shrewdness, to his heavy, florid countenance. "That is my name," said Robin, answering his question. "I am a barrister. I have met some of your people at the Yard, but I don't think...." "Detective-Inspector Manderton," interjected the big man, and paused as though to say, "Let that sink in!"
"I'd have laid a shade of odds," he cried merrily, "that you were watching the gentleman at Amerongen, sir ..." "Tut, tut, Manderton," said the Chief, raising his hand to silence the other; "you run on too fast, my friend! I wish," he went on, changing the subject, "I could be with you at Harkings to-morrow to witness your reconstruction of the crime, Manderton. You'll go, I suppose, Greve?"
But we can get this point cleared up at once. There's the telephone. Ring up Harkings and ask her now." "Why not?" said Mr. Manderton and moved to the telephone. There is little delay on the long-distance lines on a Sunday evening, and the call to Harkins came through almost at once. Bude answered the telephone at Harkings. Manderton asked for Miss Trevert.
Mary Trevert had gone to Rotterdam for a few days in company with her cousin, Major Euan MacTavish. Mr. Manderton had received this astonishing information by telephone from Harkings a few minutes before. "It bothers me properly, Mr. Greve, sir," the detective had added. "There's only one thing for it, Manderton," Robin had said; "I'll have to go after her ..."
"The tragedy of it, my dear," she said, "is that you have sent away the man you love at a time when you will never need him so badly again ..." There was a discreet tapping at the door. "Come in!" said Lady Margaret. Bude appeared. "Mr. Manderton, the detective, my lady, was wishing to know whether he might see Miss Trevert ..." "Yes. Ask him to come up here," commanded Lady Margaret.
"And where did you pick him up, I'd like to know?" whispered Manderton in Robin's ear with a backward jerk of the head, as they glided through the brightly lit streets. "D'you mean the doctor?" asked Robin. "No, your other friend!" "Miss Trevert had a letter to him. Something in the Secret Service, isn't he?" Mr. Manderton snorted. "'Something in the Secret Service," he repeated disdainfully.
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